Back in Harness

The Situation

A driver was stuck in a traffic jam on the beltway outside of Washington DC.

Nothing moved.

Suddenly, a man knocked on the car window.

When the driver rolled down the window, he asked, "What's going on?"

"Terrorists have kidnapped the entire US Congress, and they're asking for a $100 million dollar ransom. If they don't get it, they're going to douse them all in gasoline and set them on fire. We're going from car to car, asking for donations."

"How much is everyone giving, on average," the driver asks?

The man replied, "Roughly a gallon."

The Baby

Ok, he's my grandson, but he's cute. My daughter ended up spending six days in the hospital because of some health concerns, but everyone is home, and life is cycling back to normal.

During the time that I was out of action with grandson and daughter issues, a friend was killed in a head-on collision, and I heard of an acquaintance who died of a heart attack. Sic Transit Glori Mundi. Life begins and life ends, and on day the time will run out for all of us. I have funerals to attend at the end of the week.

People seem amazed that I left 'civilization' to move up to the White Wolf Mine. But let me assure you now that I'm home again, that civilization as presently constituted, is highly over rated.

China

The situation in Hong Kong and the trade war is a daily conversation among people on the mainland. The communists can't take the hit for bad decisions that led to an insurrection in Hong Kong and a declining economy, so the USA is blamed. However, Chinese investment in manufacturing plants in the US and Mexico continues as they react to a changing landscape on the Mainland. For those pundits who claim that there is an imminent kinetic war between the US and China, I suggest that they take a step back.

If/when the People's Republic of China marches the People's Liberation Army into Hong Kong, the international reaction is likely to make their economic situation worse. China is able to endure severe hardship. We've all seen that. But that was old China...and the expectations of people living in New China (Modern China) are quite different. The weapons that they will face from the World is simply a place that won't buy their wares. Embargo and quarantine are often a more effective weapon than armies and navies. 

This past weekend, 1.7 million people in Hong Kong marched peacefully (about 20% of the residents). That sort of people power is simply difficult to ignore. Is the cause and effect limited to that particular movement? No.

Many Chinese companies are reacting by expanding into Mexico and to a lesser extent, the US, to avoid the coming crisis' impact on them. My company has been asked to assist Chinese companies wishing to do this with risk assessment and other services. We've done it in the past but the present scope is much larger.

And what does the man on the street in Shanghai think? To some extent, they swallow the propaganda. To some extent they think that removing the yoke of the Central Government  in Beijing makes sense. And those are dangerous thoughts.

Friday Wrap Up

Hong Kong

I can't add much to the news, that is now being circulated about the current situation. I'm meeting with a shot caller from the PRC on Sunday to talk about a few issues and HK might come up. If so, it might be enlightening. If it is, and if I can share it, I will, without attribution.

The PRC has pulled some people out of retirement to advise them on handling the police situation and while it may help in the short term, it's not even a bandaid on the underlying problem. I know some of those pensioners myself and they're competent. The current problem has nothing to do with the USA and allegations of meddling. 

It's unusual for the PRC to have to deal with a groundswell of profound discontent in Big China. Usually the police can nip that in the bud and send the discontent to Western China to become farmers in stony soil... But this is something else and it's been allowed to go too far. You know all that.

The Blue Dress

From Fox News reporting, the painting of Bill Clinton wearing a blue dress, hanging in Michael Epstein's living room, came as a total shock to the Clintons. When asked whether or not it was a legitimate reaction, the Clintons replied, "Ask Mike."

The Big Swap

h/t Babylon Bee - every bit as credible and 'real' as CNN

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The American state department has come up with an ingenious plan to solve China's democratic protest problems and make our nation great again in one fell swoop. 

Through some great negotiating on the part of Donald Trump, we've struck a deal to trade all of our country's Communists for Hong Kong's democratic protesters. 

After the deal was made, the military began rounding up the Communists---who didn't complain, as they're all for an authoritarian state---and putting them in cargo planes...

It would be a useful swap for the ChiComs. They'd get a bunch of deadbeat communists who want everything free - promise of the worker's paradise - and America would get a bunch of hard working, freedom loving people in exchange. Our fellow blogger, Mike_C made this suggestion the other day, and now maybe it could be a reality. 

Imagine Bernie Sanders replacing Carrie Lam as Governor of Hong Kong, implementing his socialist vision and cheering with the crowds as the PLA goose-stepped down the street in front of his reviewing stand. Maybe Elizabeth Warren could run a re-education camp for those Hong Kong citizens who didn't make the flight out? Beto O'Rorque could serve as the brain trust for New Hong Kong! 

For those of you who don't think that Sanders, Warren and O'Rorque couldn't find productive labor, and who can blame you, this is the final solution. I'm sure that President Xi would be thrilled to have these die-hard communists in China.

Passing Comments

Do you know this couple?

No, I'm not writing about myself, but yes, I do know them...or their clones.

Now the Mail: Mid-Week Round Up

Lonestar Parson - And I don't see how the China thing ends well, but perhaps I'm missing something?

The Hong Kong situation won't work out well for the locals, however, it does unmask the communist oligarchs in China and their agendas in terms of their feelings toward freedom. Recall with me if you will, that the British obtained control over portions of Hong Kong's territory through three treaties with Qing China. The 1842 Treaty of Nanking: Hong Kong Island ceded in perpetuity. The other territory of modern Hong Kong was under crown rule for 156 years. In 1997, the British gave it to the Communists. And the communists have decided that it's time to bring the people in the Special Administrative District into line. The people in Hong Kong don't want to be communists. And millions of them are speaking.

WSF - One hopes we have a President smart enough to keep us from getting sucked into the mess. Sucks to be Chinese but it is their world and their problem. US investments there? You pays your money and you take your chances.

Do the Communist mandarins have enough resources to invade Formosa and crush Hong Kong at the same time? If they try, do you see the other parts of China taking advantage of the situation to break away? Interesting times!

The People's Liberation Army and the People's Liberation Army's Navy (PRC Navy title) have enough to handle both situations at the same time if we're speaking of situations where the US does not become involved. Given sufficient notice, US submarines can deny the Straits of Formosa to a Chinese fleet, and Taiwan's Nationalist Chinese Air Force can restrain a PRC air fleet/paratroops. Ultimately, the Red Chinese can reduce Taiwan and Hong Kong to cinders, no matter what the US does. And they become a pariah state, burning their ambitions to the ground. It's a sticky wicket.

Old AF Sarge - As to China, without the PLA, the oligarchs in Beijing would have been swinging from a lamppost a long time ago...

Yes indeed.  

The balance of power requires the loyalty and approval of the People's Liberation Army, and upon it's willingness to drive tanks over the Chinese people wherever and whenever required. 

Raven - Congratulations! You are a truly wealthy man!

The PLA crushing Hong Kong militarily has so many potential unexpected consequences- no matter how much propaganda they emit,this action will confirm in some Chinese that the gov. is the enemy, and to prepare accordingly. Your description sounds like Tito's Yugoslavia - disparate cultures and countries held together by commie-glue, aka military force and fear.

Wonder if the Taiwanese are screwing devices together. Along with the Japanese. Wouldn't that be an odd alliance! 

Not as odd of an alliance as one might think. They've cooperated for a very long time despite the "rape of Formosa" when the Japanese Army invaded during WW2. Intelligence agencies often find strange bedfellows - and not just in a Bond Film.

Modern China is very much like Yugoslavia, but the competing interests are not ethnic, so much as they are regional economic empires.  

Family is wealth, love is wealth, and much of what people value in our modern world is not.

Beans - If Hong Kong falls quickly to the PLA, after the PAP do the Harkonnen under the Beast Rabban thing of screwing things up majorly, and the PLA comes in to 'make things better' then expect them to jump at Taiwan very soon.

Now, if Vietnam was smart, they'd be aiding in any HK resistance, along with Singapore, Taiwan and Japan.

That is a bigger problem for China than the US is. They currently blame the US, but the nations that want to vex China are not limited to the US. Not by a long shot. 

Hong Kong is a vertical city. Armor and soft skinned vehicles have to navigate streets in what is substantially the bottoms of valleys. That's a military situation that no military commander wants to find himself in. Particularly if the people of Hong Kong receive (maybe have received) anti-tank weapons....and pre-positioned them. The tops of tanks have thinner armor than frontal and side armor...

There will be no way to 'limit' casualties, and I don't think the ChiComs will want to.

It will definitely let the world know that they must to oppose the PRC/PLA - and end their international ambitions.

Mike_C - @raven: Taiwan and Japan working together would not be as weird as it sounds. The people calling themselves ("native") Taiwanese (but whose ancestors migrated from Fujian some 400 years ago; the actual aboriginal inhabitants are <3 1945="" a="" and="" anti-japanese.="" aped="" are="" as="" auslander.="" before="" born="" called="" came="" chiang="" chinese="" communists.="" customs="" derogation.="" descendants="" dislike="" div="" escape="" generally="" generation="" in="" it="" japanese="" kai-shek="" lived="" many="" meaning="" not="" occupation="" of="" older="" out="" over="" people="" post-1945="" ren="" shen="" spoke="" state="" strongly="" taiwanese="" term="" the="" their="" they="" to="" translates="" under="" wai="" well.="" who="" with="" word-for-word="" wwii="">

Right on

On the Hong Kong thing, I've said elsewhere, only semi-facetiously, that we should state clearly that it's an internal matter for China. BUT, offer immigration to any HK resident who wants to settle in the US, so long as they agree to go to Detroit, Baltimore, [list of other failed shitholes goes here], or Los Angeles county, and live there for 10 years.

While I'm quite anti-immigration in general these days, two can play at the replacement game. And if we're going to import people who don't fit in all that great, let's at least import high-IQ, entrepreneural people (who admittedly also tend to be grasping and rude). Our current policy of favoring low-IQ, low impulse control, uneducated and anti-Christian people is clearly not working well for us.

Why?

1. Torques off China. We will be scrupulous about letting them handle their territory. But we will remove the bulk of their human capital. Or rather let it remove itself.

2. Torques off the progs. Especially after the first mass atrocity happens in HK. "Look! We're importing non-white people! Non-whites with seriously credible threats against their lives. Go ahead and go on the record as being against that, you race baiting, victimhood pushing assholes."

3. Detroit, Baltimore, etc can only be improved by dilution of their present populations. Was that racist? Sorry, but you must be mistaken. These are persons of color!

Will the Chicoms slip in their own agents and provocateurs into the tide of Hong Kong exodus? Of course they will. But the US is *already* chock full of those people. And maybe Senator Feinstein can finally find a replacement driver, or whatever that Chicom spy of hers supposedly did for her.

Well said. I can't add anything. 

LA - I too will be a grandpa to a VERY young lady already named Claire.

I'm excited for you. Great moments, wonderful experiences - and love just grows.

Mid-Week Round Up

Stork News: My daughter, Emilie, delivered a healthy baby boy, Michael Bryan, yesterday. It is a miracle, it's wonderful, and all of those things. The big worry is always that the baby and mom are healthy, and that's the case. It's usually the case - but things can go horribly wrong and that's a worry. So I'm on vacation of sorts in SoCal, hanging with buddies, hanging with kids and grandkids and so forth. 

The guy looks like a little boxer who's taken a few hits. I may call him "Rocky"?

The Situation in Hong Kong

Chinese authorities have denied requests by two US Navy ships to call at Hong Kong. The amphibious dock landing ship USS Green Bay was to arrive on the 17th. The guided missile cruiser USS Lake Erie was scheduled to visit in September.

Given that the protesters are carrying US flags and are singing The Star Spangled Banner, the Chinese view the incendiary nature of US warships at Hong Kong as problematic. I can't help but agree. 

Hong Kong enjoyed freedom under the British Crown and it's challenging for the Red Chinese to stuff that genie back into the bottle. I've been speaking with people in China by telephone. Officials assert that it's all the fault of the Americans. And that's absurd. Somewhere along the lines of 5 million people in Hong Kong identify with the protesters, leaving 2 million or so who are on the fence or side with the communist overlords. I wish that the CIA was that good, but they're not. It's an organic movement (much like the original or more recent Tea Party was in the US) and while freedom, such as that which is available in the USA is an aspiration, it's not the result of US propaganda. 

The Chinese move to snuff out incoming bank wires through HSBC, didn't change anything. Neither did the other moves that they've made. Flights into and out of the airport are spotty and capital is being wired out of Hong Kong at a frantic pace. There are about 1,000 US owned companies that have their headquarters in Hong Kong and many of those are reconsidering their presence. 

The Beijing government is preparing to move large elements of the People's Armed Police into Hong Kong. Essentially, they guard government buildings in China and serve as a type of "SWAT Team" when needed. They are a separate police force that is not part of the Public Security Bureau or the People's Liberation Army. Unofficially, they're in place in the event that the Public Security Bureau (the Police) get out of line. 

And lest you think this will solve the problem, it won't. The People's Armed police are an oafish group of poorly trained troops who will either over react or they'll get their asses kicked...or both. They will likely make the situation worse. And then the People's Liberation Army will move in. 

Armies only do one thing well. Putting ordnance on target. And once the People's Liberation Army moves in, the resistance, currently being organized primarily by actors from Taiwan, will kick into full gear. Smuggled anti-tank weapons and sniper rifles will go into play and the People's Liberation Army will turn the financial center of Asia into a smoldering hulk, ripping the mask from the image of a kinder and gentler Red China. Hong Kong people will flee as best they can or they'll be placed into a new gulag system, constructed for their re-education.

China's Problem

The reality is that if there was no People's Liberation Army, China would balkanize TOMORROW. Meaning, literally, tomorrow. Shanghai would go it alone as would Guangzhou, and so forth. Nobody feels as if they either need or want the mandarin oligarchs in Beijing. There is no outside force that has any interest in invading China. We've seen what's happening in Hong Kong and from an aspirational sense, the same thing could/would happen elsewhere if the central government didn't have the army backing its play.

Thus, they will destroy Hong Kong to make a point. 

Update

Stork Update: No Stork yet.

Emilie has been in labor over 50 hours now and it all continues. She started Saturday at 8 am and it's now Monday at 2 pm. She's about 3 cm/water long since broken. Emilie has ObamaCare and the insurance company doesn't want to pay for a C-Section, so they want to keep the process running. It may not be until Tuesday. I can't say and neither, apparently, can anyone else.

Mail Bag: Inheriting Life in the Modern

Kle - That self-driving car/truck thing... 10 years is dreaming.
Quite possibly 50, though.

I can only speculate when, but it will happen and on that day, the world will change in ways that are catastrophic to many people. Others, of course, are cool with it. Automation is an interesting servant and master and the holy grail is the self-driving car/truck at the moment.

Jonathan H. August - The Army has been trying to get self driving gear to work for 30 years, to the tune of billions of dollars - and they haven't succeeded; a group of self important internet millionaires who constantly get distracted by the next shiny thing won't do any better. 

It's apples and oranges to a great degree. The Army wants an all terrain robot. The civilian market wants a vehicle that will traverse the hardball roads that your Google Street Map delineates. And the Army has been working on it for more than 30 years. I can recall a DOD project of that sort at least 40 years ago. Which is indicative of my age.

LSP - When everything's automated who'll buy the things the robots make? Our elite rulers, obviously.

Once a robot slave army can make more robots, elites will have no need of feisty, deplorable, humans and they may need to "think the ranks". I think that they may start in Texas. Of course, they'll spare Beto (Irish Bob), because he's more progressive than you are.

LindaG - Complete automation will allow the elite to control who gets what, completely.

I'm afraid that you're right on. And the Stork drama continues.

Inheriting Life in the Modern

The Top 1% - Who wants it?

By Dr. Jordan Peterson - worth a few minutes of your time. What is the relationship between money and well-being? 

"The more female doctors that you have, the more female doctors that you need to have" 

Occupational Redundancy Planning

Within the next ten years, one of the aggressively inventive AI companies will build a reliable self-driving and navigating system for private and commercial vehicles. That will put somewhere in the order of 4.5 million Americans out of work. (3.5 million truck drivers and another million misc. drivers who make their living that way) It's something to think about, worth a pause. There are a lot of jobs like barrel maker, cable splicer, ice cutter, pin setter, switchboard operator, etc. that no longer exist and won't be coming back. 'Driver' will be one of those. Twenty years from now, the young won't really grasp that you have to drive the automobile. Just state the destination and play games, or sleep until you arrive. 

Taking people out of the mix (overhead) and replacing them with robots will create an increasingly disassociated group of people who won't be able to find the sort of work that they're accustomed to doing. I've blogged about this before, but I see it getting worse.

Propaganda and Political Correctness

I have no idea how long the present propaganda machine will grind on. As our fellow blogger, Mike C points out, the big news now is that criticizing Jeffrey Epstein, late famous exploiter of children is being put out as 'anti Semitic'. Thus, if you're bothered by his conduct (or that of his friends) while he lived, you're a Jew hater. I realize that one doesn't conflate with the other, but the media machine spins continually. Maybe there will be a tipping point, but maybe not? Orwellian studies indicate that the Ministry of Truth scenario grinds on and on and on. Face it. You're all racists. Embrace it and move on.

There are more American flags on the surface of the Moon than were present at the Democrat Party's debates. They seem to be ashamed of being Americans. Curious, isn't it? Why would they want to be commander-in-chief if not to damage things? 

Stork Biz

My grandson will be born on Monday, whether naturally or by C-Section. As of 11 pm on the Pacific Coast, labor continues, and I wanted to put a box around this blog for the night. Hospitals are hospitals. I'm not particularly fond of hanging out in them.

Whenever another grandchild is delivered, I wonder what sort of world they will inherit. No matter what, the world around them will be different than the world that I (and we) inherited half a century ago.

The Curious Case of the Epstein Suicide

First, a Brief Update on the Stork

It's still circling the hospital as my youngest daughter is in labor to deliver a baby boy. Progressives would be calling for the mother's right to murder this full term baby. I can only be grateful that the people in my family and the medical community doesn't see it that way.

Mothers pass through the 'shadow of the Valley of Death' to deliver new life. It's a precious, scary, painful, wonderful thing that they gave to us and that they give to all who live. It's a family event, ideally, with the women joining with the mother as they are invited, to give comfort in this moment of pain that only other 'mothers' can truly understand. I expect that we'll see white smoke, etc. sometime today when little Michael Bryan comes into the world.

What sort of world will he inherit? Now, that's always a question for the ages, isn't it?

Second, the Mail:

Ed: I wonder if he saw it coming.

They may have sedated him through his food? But difficult to say. Conspiracy theories abound and since the CCTV that covered that area of the detention facility was apparently out of service, we may never know.

Many/most of us knew that the Clintons or friends of the Clintons would work diligently to have Epstein eliminated, so it was hardly a shock to find that he hung himself.

Linda: Not surprised that Killary wins again. Their time will come.

They'll be spending a lot of time with Epstein on 'the other side'. 

Odie: It's really getting dangerous to be "Friends of the Clintons"

I think that it's always been like that, for them. I don't know what the body count is up to, but people who track those things put it at least into the 30's and maybe more when you consider enemies whose airplanes have malfunctioned in flight, taking everybody down, augering into the ground, 20,000 ft. below.

Beans: Well, in his defense, they removed him from suicide watch days ago.

Just like in all the prison movies, where some guard accidentally leads an inmate into a section of the prison not covered by a camera. So, well, maybe his suicide is actually a suicide, maybe an assist, maybe a full-blown case of Arkancide.

That's the thing, isn't it? We don't know. One thing is certain. Many tens of millions of Americans thought that he'd never live to see a trial. And while in federal custody, having attempted suicide a couple of weeks prior, he 'committed suicide' successfully (finally). There is a lot of explaining to do. I laid out a few questions (below). Will you trust the findings of the FBI in this matter? How could you, given their recent track record? Who in the FBI has been bought by powerful DC interests in this matter? We know they sell their integrity cheaply. We know that they leak for the benefit of the Deep State and are not held to account. We know that they bungled a coup attempt against the presidency - but they did it and in some circles are celebrated (by the mainstream media) for their corruption. Big Jim Comey is said to be working on a sequel to his book with a tour to rake in another couple million to help fund his retirement.

WSF: Epstein. He is no longer in jail. A body was removed from the jail. Was it his body? If so, was he actually dead?

Questions worth asking.

Dan: While there is a tiny outside chance that Epstein's death was faked and he's on a beach somewhere sipping a MaiThai it's far more probable that he is now worm food. Alive he would ALWAYS pose a threat to powerful people...not just the Clintons....but a lot of others also. The best way to keep his trap shut was to close it for him....forever. And anyone who actually believes this was a suicide needs to come see some prime beachfront property I can sell you for a good price.....it's conveniently located EAST of Reno Nevada......

There isn't enough money on the planet for Epstein to bribe his way out of this one. As you suggest, it's not just the Clintons, but a lot of people who visited the island and 'raped' young girls (and boys?). Were many of the children used, snuffed afterward? That's the suggestion. Epstein's knowledge of the fate of the molested/raped children would be interesting reading. The Democrats can't let their chosen go down like that, and neither can Republicans or foreign leaders who were close to Epstein. 

Questions:

1. Considering the nature of the charges against him and the danger he faced, why wasn’t Epstein in special protective custody (called 'the hole' in custody parlance) from the start with 24-hour cameras and security monitoring him in jail? Who makes such decisions?

2. Even if Epstein wasn’t carefully monitored initially, how could he have been returned to the same cell under “suicide watch,” yet end up dead?

3. What does the video that was monitoring Epstein’s jail cell show?

4. What did guards and other inmates see and hear?

5. What did Epstein supposedly use to commit suicide, since all items that could help an inmate accomplish that are supposed to be removed from the cell?

6. Who, specifically, was responsible for watching Epstein and ensuring he remained unharmed?

7. What, exactly, did Epstein tell his attorney and medical personnel after his reported suicide attempt last month? Was his interview recorded?

8. Is there any chance Epstein isn’t dead, but was put into witness protection?

9. Will there be an autopsy and will the results be released?

Part of the strange story surrounding Epstein’s death may be told in the coming days through the official response. Will we learn the names of those who surrounded Epstein in jail and those who were responsible for watching him? Will their testimony be released? Will they be held accountable? 

After Epstein’s July arrest, Democrat political strategist Christine Pelosi, daughter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, tweeted a warning that it was “quite likely” that Epstein would implicate major political figures.

“This Epstein case is horrific and the young women deserve justice. It is quite likely that some of our faves are implicated but we must follow the facts and let the chips fall where they may—whether on Republicans or Democrats.”

I expect that the story will be spiked, the matter will remain 'under investigation' until people forget about it and the Clintons and their powerful friends will remain in business. Chelsea Clinton is said to be groomed for a run to capture a seat in the US Senate. The problem with that legacy move is that she apparently didn't inherit her mother's cunning or her father's charm. 

How stupid are New York voters? Oh, they're stupid enough to seat Chelsea, if enough grease is applied. Handlers can manage Chelsea no matter how stupid she is. Jeb! Bush was a governor, Al Franken was a senator, The Squad obtained seats in the House of Representatives. Senile old Slow Joe Biden is the Democrat front runner for 2020.

Add Epstein's name to the Clinton Dead Pool (here). 

Of Passing Interest

Thanks to everyone for your concern. As of this writing, the stork has not yet arrived and it might be a day or so of induced labor before the big event. Everyone is safe and happy. I'm feeling better but am a bit weak from the medical issues.

"Suicide Watch" means someone will definitely 

be watching to make sure you die?

All of the conspiracy theorists were correct to theorize that Jeffrey Epstein would never make it to trial, where he would testify about former President Bill Clinton. As I've stated elsewhere, he could have choked on a piece of baloney or just had 'a stroke' in his cell. Taking a suicidal, high risk prisoner off suicide watch after a failed attempt and putting him in a regular cell where he had the 'means to do it successfully' and insuring that there was no CCTV coverage of the hallway or the cell only makes sense.... if you're a conspiracy theorist. Story over, everybody moves on.

Nobody lives to testify against the Clintons.

They're a lot slicker these days now that they learned from the Vince Foster 'suicide in the park' where no bullet and no firearm was ever found. They use military grade professionals these days. 

Forty or fifty years ago, whoever, would hire somebody like Jack Ruby to walk into the jail with a handgun and dispatch Lee Harvey Oswald...and then Ruby would die, and his family would find new, lucrative business opportunities.

The only reason that the Russia Conspiracy Hoax against President Trump took wings was because CNN and MSNBC blasted it as truth 24/7/365. It was a clumsy, oafish move that incorporated the FBI fools who e-mailed endlessly about the plot, but when you control the lying, filthy, smug, sly, media, you can clean that up. It could have been professionally done too, but the Clintons were cheap and involved the goofy FBI. Not so with Epstein. He went to that place where the dead go with the scene behind him clean as a whistle.

The Media

It's like the little girl at the zoo, leaning into the lion's cage. Suddenly the lion grabs her by the collar of her jacket and tries to pull her inside to slaughter her under the eyes of her screaming parents.

A bystander intervenes beating the lion back, and bringing the girl to her parents, who thank him endlessly. A reporter who witnessed the events remarks, "That was the bravest, most gallant thing that I've ever seen."

The reporter, wanting to tell the story of what he'd seen asks the man what he did for a living and what his political affiliation was.

The man says, "I'm a US Marine, a Republican and I voted for Trump."

The next day the headline reads, "US MARINE ASSAULTS AFRICAN IMMIGRANT AND STEALS HIS LUNCH".