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GOP lawmakers are calling for the United States to shoot down the alleged Chinese spy balloon found floating over Montana on Wednesday. The Pentagon said it would not shoot down the balloon, arguing it "does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground at this time," and China blamed the incursion into U.S. airspace on a civilian aircraft that had deviated off course. Montana is home to sensitive nuclear military installations. "It was a mistake to not shoot down that Chinese spy balloon when it was over a sparsely populated area," Sen. Marco Rubio (FL), the...

Ryan Zinke, formerly Montana’s At-Large representative and the 52nd Interior Secretary, wants to represent the Treasure State in Congress again with the creation of a second congressional seat. Zinke is running to represent the newly-formed MT-1 District, which encompasses “15 counties in western Montana and part of Pondera County, including the cities of Missoula, Kalispell, Butte, Bozeman and Hamilton.” Right now, he’s favored to win the “Likely Republican” district. If elected again, Zinke will resume support for pro-Second Amendment and pro-public lands legislation. I recently spoke with former Secretary Zinke at the 44th annual Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show...

A PAC supporting six Navy SEAL combat veterans running for Congress this year released a powerful ad spotlighting their determination to defeat what they have identified as the “one grave threat” left to America: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and the Democrats who control Congress. Highlighting the sacrifices these men made to protect America “from enemies all over the world,” the ad features black-and-white photos of the six American heroes, taken from their days serving in combat zones around the world: Morgan Luttrell (running in Texas’ eighth district), Brady Duke (running in Florida’s seventh district), Eli Crane (running in Arizona’s...

Well here we are in the Year of our Lord Anthony Fauci.....OK......well a set of songs ending with Noel Paul Stookey "wherever two or more are gathered...there is love" and we need "love" right now that reaches out to help others be free..... In Iowa yesterday a Republican photo op with VP Pence and GOP Governor Kim Reynolds, the GOP Senators Grassley and Ernst. They were with religious leaders and Iowa will allow regulated worship services that comply with social distancing and sanitary rules. The government regulating churches. That is so like China... And it was so like the USSR...the...

Bill Withers who passed away at the age of 81 in Los Angeles sings one of his well-known songs... It is time for us to lean on each other and support each other the sentiment expressed by Ammon Bundy this week saying: "....I don't think there's ever been a time in our lifetime anyway where there's more need for us to unite to be united on important matters to be supporting each other to be bringing truth to each other and protection for each other...." In face of all the government restrictions Bundy bringing together people for a meeting in...

“Bernhardt got this nomination as a reward for months of work cramming America’s natural heritage into a wood chipper,” Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “He’s already done more damage to our environment than anyone else in Interior Department history. Confirming him as Interior secretary would be a boon to polluters and a colossal disaster for our public lands and endangered species.” Center for Western Priorities' Executive Director Jennifer Rokala called Bernhardt's nomination "an affront to America's parks and public lands." "As an oil and gas lobbyist, Bernhardt pushed to open...

With a week to go before Christmas here are some stories from Washington to think about? Who will President Trump pardon?..... Will President Trump get a bill on his desk to let a lot of people out of federal prison? Criminal Justice Reform passed the House and now before the Senate.... For now the President wants to review the case of a former Green Beret charged with murder for shooting a man in Afghanistan in 2010.... No evidence of President Trump colluding with Russia. That's what Ken Starr...... Saudi Arabia has condemned the US Senate for passing resolutions..... North Korea...

The latest hot rumor (well… more than just a rumor since the President confirmed it) in White House personnel shakeups is that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will be submitting his resignation this week. While the two-year mark in any administration is a time when cabinet members tend to pack it in if they don’t plan to stay for a full term, there were signs that this might be coming for the past several months. There’s been an obvious and concerted effort to gin up any sort of “scandals” they could find surrounding Zinke, much the same as with other Trump...

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will depart the administration amid growing controversy over allegations that he violated ethics rules, President Trump announced Saturday. Trump tweeted early Saturday that Zinke "will be leaving the Administration at the end of the year after having served for a period of almost two years." "Ryan has accomplished much during his tenure and I want to thank him for his service to our Nation," Trump wrote. He did not specify whether Zinke resigned or was fired, and said he will announce a new secretary next week. Whoever Trump nominates will likely have to go through Senate...

Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke will be leaving the Administration at the end of the year after having served for a period of almost two years.

Since this week’s surprise announcement that Nikki Haley would depart by year’s end, everyone wants to know who’ll replace America’s UN ambassador — who was first dismissed, then hated, then feared and eventually appreciated, heck, even loved (at least by some). The answer, obviously, is up to the never-predictable President Trump, so most names bandied about are speculative, with many driven by wishful thinking. So here’s a wish: Christopher Burnham. Never heard of him? You may soon. Sure, there are other worthy candidates; Washington reporters come up with new ones daily. The much-advertised front-runner, former Deputy National Security Adviser Dina...

President Trump was on the stump for Republican candidates in Mississippi last night...... Trump said that a vote for Cindy Hyde-Smith is a vote for him, but many in the crowd at the rally wore red T-shirts saying "Trump Voters for Chris McDaniel" in support of the conservative state senator..... President Trump also made a comment about Saudi Arabia at the Mississippi rally...... Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has said that the United States can blockade Russian energy production to prevent its export..... And the United States Ambassador to NATO, former Republican Senator from Texas, Kay Bailey Hutchison, says that a...

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) on Thursday called President Trump’s furious reaction to an anonymous administration official's op-ed disparaging him in The New York Times a “manifestation of his instability.” Pelosi said her “first thought” was that Vice President Pence penned the opinion piece, which described efforts among staffers in the Trump administration to push back against the president's instincts. Not long after the op-ed was published Wednesday afternoon, Trump tweeted “Treason?” in all caps. He later demanded the Times identify the piece's author "for National Security purposes." “The president saying it’s treason is, again, a manifestation of his...

I don’t pull my punches over destructive, inhumane or just plain lunatic policies demanded by extreme environmentalists. I criticize them, as well as friends and “good guys,” when I think they got it wrong on energy or environmental issues. I also offer praise when it is deserved.When Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Ryan Zinke – whom I admire greatly – let a last-minute Obama endangered species designation for the “Rusty Patched Bumblebee” (RPB) take effect in March 2017, I faulted the decision (here and here). Now I want to praise his recent decision to reopen certain wildlife refuges to...

Truth Bomb: Interior Secretary and former Montana congressman Ryan Zinke blasted “environmental terrorist groups” over their mindless lockstep opposition to proper forest management including logging as being a major contributing factor to several massive fires burning up the West. In an op-ed for USA Today, Zinke wrote that there are about 100 wildfires currently burning, mostly across the western United States, and that most of them were largely preventable. He also wrote that he had just returned from the massive Ferguson Fire in California while praising POTUS Donald Trump for quickly declaring portions of the state disaster areas so they...

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is listing 35 minerals used in aircraft, cellphones, and other important technologies as "vital" to national security in a move to wean the U.S. off foreign suppliers. The list includes such valuable metals as aluminum and titanium, as well as uranium, helium, lithium, platinum, potash, and strontium. The materials are used in aircraft and other aerospace technologies. Lithium is used in batteries to power a wide range of products from cellphones to electric cars. A final rule to be published Friday says the U.S. is "heavily reliant" on imports of the minerals. "This dependency of the...

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke downplayed the importance of diversity in the workforce and at his department on multiple occasions, CNN reported Monday.

An operative for American Bridge 21st Century (Founder DAVID BROCK), a pro-Democrat political action committee, has been charged with assaulting a staffer working for Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, according to the Associated Press. Wilfred Stark was charged with simple assault after he allegedly approached Zinke, yelling at him, outside of a hearing. Stark then “used his full body to push” Zinke's spokeswoman, Heather Swift, as she moved to leave the room, according to the police report cited by the AP. “He is a big guy. He came up behind me fast, aggressive and very physical,” Swift said in a statement...

An operative for a political committee that supports Democrats has been charged with assault following a confrontation with a staffer for Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke outside a congressional hearing. Capitol Police charged Wilfred M. Stark, 49, of Falls Church, Virginia, with simple assault following a confrontation with Heather Swift, a spokeswoman for Zinke. Stark works for American Bridge 21st Century, a group that supports Democratic candidates. According to a police report, Stark approached Zinke after a House hearing Thursday and started yelling at him. Zinke continued walking out of the hearing room at the Longworth House Office Building and Stark...

Which is more harmful: Being given a friendly (but arguably distasteful and ill-timed) greeting or being knocked to the ground?  The answer is obvious to anybody with common sense but, in the mainstream media, the former is currently being reported on with great outrage while the latter is ignored. Both events happened on Thursday during and just after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke testified before a congressional committee. You can see the "horror" of Zinke's greeting below as well as an ABC report on the subsequent outrage: