Before The Murder Of Cecil The Lion Teddy Roosevelt Bagged 9 Lions In Africa

The murder of Cecil the Lion by a psychopathic American dentist has outraged, appalled and disgusted people all over the planet.

The murdering dentist thinks he is participating in the sport of hunting. He lured Cecil from his home, shot him with an arrow, then trailed Cecil for 40 hours before completing the murder with a gunshot. Followed by severing Cecil's head and skinning him.

The fact that much of the world is outraged over the murder of Cecil the Lion indicates the planet has evolved into being a more humane planet over the past hundred years.

In March of 1909, shortly after turning over the presidency to William Howard Taft, Theodore Roosevelt took off to Africa to do some big game hunting in a year long safari.

At the end of year long safari hunt Roosevelt listed nearly 300 animals that he "bagged".

"Bagged" is Roosevelt's word for killed. Among the animals Roosevelt listed as having bagged were nine lions, five elephants, thirteen rhinoceroses, and seven hippopotamuses.

This safari was known as the Smithsonian-Roosevelt African Expedition. The purpose of the safari was to hunt for specimens for the Smithsonian Institution and New York City's American Museum of Natural History.

In addition to the 300 animals Roosevelt bagged, the Expedition as a whole killed or trapped some 11,400 animals, ranging from insects to rats to hippos to elephants.

Of the 11,400 specimens taken, 512 of were big game animals,  including six rare white rhinos. The animals killed which were intended for exhibits were skinned, preserved in salt and shipped to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

Tons of dead animals were shipped back to America. It  took many years for the Smithsonian to taxidermize them all.

After the safari Roosevelt wrote about the experience in African Game Trails, were Roosevelt detailed the excitement of bagging the big game.

Roosevelt must have received some criticism about his mass murder of so many defenseless animals. Roosevelt defended the mass murder by saying, "I can be condemned only if the existence of the National Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, and all similar zoological institutions are to be condemned".

I suspect if Teddy Roosevelt was still around he would join in the world wide condemnation of the murder of Cecil the Lion.

Bellingham's Better Way For Police To Defuse A Tense Situation Without Fatal Force

Each time there is a new incident where police use fatal force to defuse a threatening situation, such as someone waving a knife, gun or just acting nuts, with the police shooting multiple bullets, I always wonder why there is not a better, safer, saner way?

Such as some sort of stun gun. Something less dire than shooting a taser dart.

And then I read that which you see screen capped here on Facebook, telling the story of how Bellingham, Washington Police Department police defused a confrontation with a man wielding a knife in a threatening manner.

Read this and ask why this is not standard operating procedure for all the police patrolling America.....

Just prior to 1 p.m. today our officers were dispatched to check on a man in his early 40's that was in a gravel lot near the McDonalds on Hannegan Road. Callers reported that he was displaying a kitchen knife and was yelling. The first two officers to arrive requested more assistance as the man was posturing as if he was going to attack them. Based on his behavior, and proximity to nearby citizens, the man could not simply be left alone. With additional resources on scene the officers were able to convince the man to set the knife down and as he moved away officers tried to block his path back to the knife. Seeing this the man lunged back toward the knife and an officer armed with a less lethal shotgun deployed bean bag style impact munitions striking the extremities of the man. The intent of the pain compliance measure was to drive him away from the knife and worked for a short time. A second officer deployed a Taser which successfully disrupted the man's ability to move long enough for an officer to place handcuffs on him. The man was quickly checked for injuries and then taken to the hospital for a mental health evaluation. He will likely be charged with brandishing a weapon and resisting arrest but his medical needs take priority. 

We are proud of the actions of our officers in this tense situation. Using proper equipment that they are well trained in likely prevented this situation from escalating to a deadly force scenario. Well done!

Liberals Possess A Generous Heart With A Broad Enlightened Mind Free From Narrowness

On right wing talk radio, or reading comments online, like on Facebook, or comments to an article on an online news source, over and over and over again you will hear and read comments from those who think themselves to be "conservatives" besmirching those they believe to be liberals.

Liberals are referred to in various ways, as libs, libbies, libbers, libtards. and others I am not remembering right now.

Many a time I have thought to myself that those conservative right wing sorts, who so drastically disdain liberals, if asked to explain what a liberal is would be left dumbstruck, unable to articulate the meaning of "liberal".

You can see liberal defined above by Webster.

Possessing or manifesting a free and generous heart with a broad and enlightened mind, free from narrowness, bigotry or bondage to authority or creed, a person who advocates liberty of thought, speech and action.

Any of those positive attributes sound like any conservative republican sort you know of? No? Me either.

To me the definition of a liberal sounds like the Ideal American operating in the Ideal American Way.

Regarding being a liberal, someone had this to say, which I agree with...

"The conservatives say liberal with such disdain, like its meaning is so nasty. Call me liberal anytime."...