A Facebook Post

One of my Facebook friends posed the question, "Why are all the investigations costing taxpayers so much money? Aren't the investigators on taxpayer's payroll?"

I never answered her question. 

Instead, I explained why I am not too fussed about it anymore.  That's because my opinion on the Mueller investigation has changed over the last four months or so, and I think that in the end, it might even prove to be money well spent! This is how I answered:

 Let's ask ourselves a few questions. Don't worry, the following question will contain a hint for the previous answer.

If you wanted to drain the swamp and prosecute corruption in the deep state, what, (other than the obvious evidence,) would you need?
Why would it be important to have wide-spread grassroots support?
How would having the support of millions of average Americans help reduce rioting and vandalism when corrupt 'celebrity' politicians are arrested?
What is the greatest stumbling block in gaining wide-spread support of the citizenry?
Why does the old media keep pumping out anti-Trump propaganda?
Why does the mainstream media have a symbiotic relationship with the Deep State?
What is an effective way for Trump to overcome media propaganda?
Can you name something other than Twitter?
Why might feeding the Media with a real investigation of a fake charge be useful?
Why would the media fall for reporting a fake story like Trump/Russian collusion?
What real collusion would make them presume that?
How is Mueller's employment history linked to past Democrat leaders?
When Mueller fails to find Trump/Russian collusion, who comes off looking like the bad (or inept, or crazy) guys?
Would this make Americans more likely to distrust the media that had been telling them for over a year that Trump/Russian collusion was the greatest crime in American politics?
What would happen if an "irate" (theatrically angry, but actually sly) Trump declassifies all documents to "prove" his vindication?
What if the declassified documents point to the swamp-dwellers?
How will those who voted Democrat all their life deal with this cognitive dissonance?
If Mueller's investigation and Democrat stalling tied up enough time that two Supreme Court judges have been replaced, how would that work against the Deep State?
If courts are no longer legislating in favor of the Left, but are deciding cases based on evidence, would this increase or decrease the likelihood of a conviction or of being tossed on a technicality?
*** Yes, I think that Trump is using the Mueller investigation to change public opinion, which in turn will make it easier to drain the swamp. The more who get mad at the Mueller investigation, the more people will come around!    

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But, if you do not like that line of thought, then there is this:
Considering that under the Trump administration more than 2 million jobs have been created and the overall unemployment rate dropped to a 17-year low, while unemployment for Blacks reached the lowest since they began collecting statistics—all of which will mean more taxpayers contributing and fewer persons in need of assistance; considering the stock market reached an all-time high, consumer confidence is at a 17-year high, mortgage applications for new homes rose to levels not seen since Obama's early "honeymoon" months; and considering that Americans will no longer be told they must pay billions of dollars, the spending of which will be decided by foreigners who are administrating the Paris Climate Accord, and because Trump's tossing out of over-regulation has contributed to U.S. total energy exports hitting record highs, by comparison with improvement in the economy, Mueller is spending chump change.

Parable Reflections & Military Parades

That's the bibliography citation for the source of a Facebook post I found in my feed this morning.  The post quoted from a Newsweek article that began, "President Donald Trump's military parade is set to kick off on Veterans Day, but at a cost that even conservative estimates show could feed every homeless veteran for at least two weeks, a Newsweek analysis found."

That's a well-crafted sentence if your purpose is to belittle the President, because using 'conservative" as an adjective to mean a traditional, not over-the-top standard of estimation will simultaneously and subliminally insert the notion that "even conservatives," the political bloc, are against him. But that is not the case. Many patriots see this parade as a brilliant part of a larger plan.
 
My first response was this—

What Trump understands about money and Newsweek apparently does not is that this parade is going to generate tons of support for our veterans and our military. So yes, he could feed the veterans Chicken à la King for two weeks, or, he could inspire the we-the-people across the nation to invest in the VA and push their representatives to help fix what Obama had deconstructed. If Newsweek really wants to find money to feed the vets, they can always go investigate the sums that we are spending to feed the border-crashers. That money would feed our Veterans a lot longer than two weeks. The article was just another whine about Trump.

It's fairly easy to see that Newsweek has abandoned the wisdom old proverb about teaching a man to fish:  Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. And no, I am not suggesting that all veterans need to go back to school. Retraining may help some, but we are not dealing with a one-size-fits-all answer. I am talking about Newsweek's argument being based on a short-term remedy, after which, one is left with the original problem unchanged.

A parade would inspire many to see the value of our military, both past and future. It says that those who contribute to national security are worth investing in. It's a great recruiting device, not just for enlistments, but to recruit national pride and support among the citizenry. That's the genius of MAGA: recruit national pride and that form of self-respect motivates the citizens to do better and work more enthusiastically as a team.

The idea of a parade does more than make an appeal to patriots, however. Running across its surface is a streak of inspiration where Trump potentially plays the Left.  The Left claims to be all about safety. They want safety so much that they believe we ought to be willing to give up a prodigious selection of our freedoms for it! A parade is a balancing trick for them. If they oppose the military too harshly, Americans will see that they don't care about safety as much as they claim; but if they support it too much, their enemy Trump wins. About the only card they can play is the one that attempts to make Trump look like a spendthrift.

But some actions that look wasteful on the surface are investments that produce great returns. This came up in Jesus' ministry when John records this scene in Chapter 12 of his gospel:

5"Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" 6Judas did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money bag, he used to take from what was put into it…

In context, Mary (not Jesus' mother, but Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus) had taken roughly a pint of an essential oil called nard¹ and poured it over Jesus's feet. And here we see Judas complaining that this was too extravagant, just as Newsweek is complaining that a military parade is too extravagant. But the Bible then explains that Judas's compassion for the poor was fake and that he had very different motives. Similarly, Newsweek has exposed itself as having a motive other-than compassion for our Veterans. Their contention that a parade is too extravagant quickly falls apart when their true motives are exposed.

Often, God is extravagant. And Jesus was fine, even impressed, with Mary's extravagant in this situation.  "Leave her alone," Jesus replied. "She was intended to keep this perfume to prepare for the day of My burial,"  John 12:7.


Extravagance is God's true nature.²  But while we are living here on the Bootcamp Planet, He wants us to learn Value. If all we ever knew was His extravagance, it would be our normal and we would never develop a standard or baseline to appreciate God. Remember, Adam tried the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and as a consequence, we learn about the evil of lack as well as the provision of a good God. And we also learn about the evil of using fake motives to manipulate outcomes.

Judas's little speech was befitting the description of Psalm 55:21, His speech is smooth as butter, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, yet they are swords unsheathed.  And Newsweek's article fits this characterization as well.

Newsweek will probably be out of business before the parade. They have been in financial trouble for a long time, as far back as ending the dollar-sucking print edition in 2013. That was to give them more time and a reboot, but this past March, an audio recording surfaced with one of their executives saying that the publication has "only weeks to get out of financial straits or it will die." (sources: Newsmax, Daily Beast)
It has been three months now, and they are still pumping out articles with an anti-Trump bias. Perhaps the rising tide has kept their boat afloat a bit longer.

One of the most important things we can learn on this Bootcamp Planet is to judge things in line with God's values, which are usually radically different than man's values. God values things as simple as a cup of water.³ He also values a heart with pure motives. If you understand that the Lord places a high value on pure motives, then you will be able to understand why He also considers slander to be such a Big Sin. Slander is the destruction of someone's character by giving false witness. When that false witness is against something that God highly values, such as a pure motive, the sin is compounded. President Trump has been clear that he wants to make America great again. Anyone who still questions the authenticity of his motive by slander is putting himself in double jeopardy for divine judgment.

Bring on the parade! It is motivated by the intent to help make America better. 


Footnotes

Nard

¹ Nard is an intensely aromatic oil that is collected by crushing the rhizomes of a flowering plant. The oil is then distilled, purifying and thickening it. Nard was an ingredient in the special incense the Israelite priests burned in the temple in Jerusalem and was also used in local synagogues on Shabbat. It is estimated that the value of the nard Mary used was equal to the average annual income at that time.
² God's extravagance ought to be self-evident, but if you need a footnote, think about how He is Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent. Think about the extravagant variation of Creation. Think about how he loved the world so much that He gave His only son; that's omnibenevolence.
³ Matthew 10:42 — And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is My disciple, truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.

Trump goes to Big Sky Country

It has been years since I've been to Montana.  I'd love to go back with a friend and with bug spray.

Last night, President Trump gave a speech at a Montana campaign rally for the Republican senate candidate, Matt Rosendale. Amid the impressive job statistics and the accompanying talk of how those numbers are largely due to tossing out regulations and lowering taxes, and tucked in among other concerns about how illegal immigration threatens national security, there was this odd verbal gallivant:

I have broken more Elton John records, he seems to have a lot of records. And I, by the way, I don’t have a musical instrument. I don’t have a guitar or an organ. No organ. Elton has an organ. And lots of other people helping. No, we’ve broken a lot of records. We’ve broken virtually every record. Because you know, look I only need this space. They need much more room. For basketball, for hockey and all of the sports, they need a lot of room. We don’t need it. We have people in that space. So we break all of these records. Really we do it without like, the musical instruments. This is the only musical: the mouth. And hopefully the brain attached to the mouth. Right? The brain, more important than the mouth, is the brain. The brain is much more important.

Okay, that sounds loopy. If I wanted to play nice, I would have said it "sounds off-script." But I want to play truthful, and truthfully, it sounds dotty, bonkers, and haywire.  Say, what?

Is there a method in this madness, or is it simply face-value madness? You can see why the press doesn't understand him. But I think I've got this one.

Best Guess: Trump is a Troll! Yes, he is trolling!

But first, some background. A little over five years ago, the American Psychological Association downgraded pedophilia from  a 'disorder' to an 'orientation.'  It is a further slide down the slope to decriminalization. And here is how that works:
Pedophilia as a disorder means that the perpetrator enjoys inflicting psychological stress and physical abuse on his victims. Pedophilia as an orientation means that the perpetrator enjoys it. Somehow, the well-being of the child disappears into the ethos.

But further back, almost two decades ago now, Elton John performed at a London gala honoring a homosexual-rights group. His stage act included six teenage strippers dressed as Cub Scouts. A September 2007 story by the Daily Mail reported, "Sir Elton John has admitted that an art exhibit seized by police as part of a child pornography probe is his."
Elton is a pedo.

Well, President Donald J Trump doesn't look so crazy now, does he?  He is trolling Elton John.
"Organ" is obviously a phallic thing, not a harpsichord with wind pipes.  And Elton isn't just tending to his own personal needs.  There are "lots of other people helping."

Trump then says, "No, we’ve broken a lot of records. We’ve broken virtually every record."
The best-fit explanation for this is "the record" of arrests for crimes involving pedophilia.

Donald Trump became president on Jan. 20. And in one short month, there were more than 1,500 arrests for sex crimes ranging from trafficking to pedophilia.

Big deal? You bet. In all of 2014, there were fewer than 400 sex trafficking-related arrests, according to FBI crime statistics.  dailywire.com March 2017

The Department of Justice today announced the arrest of more than 2,300 suspected online child sex offenders during a three-month, nationwide, operation conducted by Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces. The task forces identified 195 offenders who either produced child pornography or committed child sexual abuse, and 383 children who suffered recent, ongoing, or historical sexual abuse or production of child pornography. Department of Justice, June 2018

Apparently AG Jeff "do-nothing" Sessions has been busy after all.  Thousands of pervs are off the streets, seemingly with "More To Come" if we believe the President's speech last night. And where will those arrests be?  According to Trump's clues, sports team's locker rooms might be good guess, although wee-morning at-home raids while they are just beginning to sleep off post-game victory beers would also be fitting.

It sounds as if the arrests are imminent. "We have people in that space," Trump trolled.

He would know. The brain is much more important.