Category: Politics

Welcome to the age of the troll

Published by Daniel on February 24, 2025

am officially calling the time we are in the “Age of the Troll.”

Yesterday, I ran across an article from “NottheBee,” which reported from CPAC this week on a small group trying to get traction on a movement called the “Third Term Project,” which, as you might guess, would open the door for President Trump—as well as any future president—to run for a third term.

It turns out it isn’t just the left that needs a Civics or History class after all.

Then again, it kind of smells like something as a satire, or trolling, designed to get what the troll might hope to get a response out of people, usually an opponent.

I am writing this as though either scenario could be the case.

First, if this was a real thing, Notthebee was correct in calling this movement an idea from a bunch of ‘doofuses.” The Third Term Project, according to Notthebee, promoted their idea as introducing a Constitutional amendment that would overturn the 22nd Amendment, which limited the president to two terms.

Prior to that amendment, a president serving only two terms was a tradition set by George Washington, who officially didn’t run for a third term because he simply wanted to retire. However, he also cautioned about the executive branch becoming too powerful and felt two terms was enough.

Though not constitutionally forbidden, most presidents kept that tradition. Only a few actually ran for a third term, and none of them won until FDR.

Shortly after, a constitutional amendment (the 22nd) was proposed and passed, and now is the law of the land.

Now no one can run for a third term unless a new amendment passes overturning the 22nd, which is unlikely if not impossible today.

I am perfectly alright with a two-term presidency—even if I really like the guy. For one obvious reason is this: what if the guy running for a third term was an abject failure? Given how much the media, the bureaucracy, and the academic elitists carried his water for him, imagine allowing Biden a third term (that is if his age and mental decline wasn’t an issue).

Whatever the case, I find the constitution and its prescribed limits on government is a good thing. If we can’t get around within its limits, then it likely will take us in directions we would regret. If it is important enough for a change, then go through the amendment process, which is by design very difficult.

But, if the Third Term Project is a real thing, why would I be against it?

If Caesar is good, then why not let him rule for a life time?

Because of history.

I am a deep proponent of George Santayana’s maxim, “Those who fail to remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

As far back as ancient Athens, whenever the city-state would fall on severe crisis, there would always be one person who claimed he could fix it with unlimited power.

And often, he would fix it. Sometimes pretty effectively.

The problem with tyrants is that, once they fixed said problem, their only aim became remaining in power.

Therein lies the issue.

History has shown itself to repeat time and time again, and the ones who usually fall for it are the ones ignorant in history.

Now, don’t misunderstand me. I am pretty much in agreement with the current president: closing the border, removing the cancer of DEI, and shrinking a government which has been and is completely out of control. For every good thing it does, there seem a hundred corrupt things. So much money is unaccounted for, and the incessant whining from the bureaucrats about being held accountable seems worthy of an audit and even complete reformation. (It sure is nice to see the national debt clock slowing: currently it’s growing in the ten-thousands-per-second, as opposed to the ten-millions-per-second when I showed it to a class in October.)

Again, a lesson from history is a nation that loses control of its economy will implode from within—no matter the good it does.

So, I am perfectly thrilled with what Trump is doing. So far, at least five courts, have thrown out attempts to stop him, so as of yet, what he is doing is not illegal. This is also why Trump is moving so fast: he knows his time is limited.

But at the suggestion of offering a proposal to remove the 22nd Amendment, I balk. In fact, I oppose it outright.

One criticism I’ve had on the left is the fact that if they fail to get their policies passed, they simply move the goalposts: a recession is well-defined until it’s not; when they thought they would take the Senate, they talked about getting rid of the filibuster and packing the Supreme Court (notice how quiet they are about these now that they are in the minority—hmm.)

I believe our government can exist and function within these boundaries of the Constitution. So, no, I don’t believe it needs to change to give my side an added advantage. That method is short term thinking: eventually my political philosophy will be in the minority and know those advantages will be used against my side.

Which brings me to my other guess that this is nothing more than a troll.

This is why we have reached a point that can only be known as the “Age of the Troll.” We need to have our radar up with everything.

The troll’s objective is simple: get a rise out of what we would call our opposition. The troll ultimately seeks to expose those who are so rabidly caught up in affirming their own confirmation bias that they’ll latch on to anything.

Last week, Trump mentioned a third term and openly asked with tongue planted firmly in cheek, What do you think?

Then to springboard off of that, the official White House Instagram account later posted a satire of a Time magazine cover had a smug crowned president wrapped in purple robes, overlooking the New York skyline with the caption “Long live the king.” It had one objective: get a rise out of the media who has become so predictable their overreaction would result in laughter. His opponents took the bait with either “See! See! I told you! He wants to be a dictator.” or “I don’t find that funny at all.”

Whether you like it or not is open to debate. But currently that’s just the way that it is.

Either way, he got the response he was looking for. The objective is to once again expose the hysterical insanity of his opponents.

I am pretty certain the Third Term Project making the rounds at CPAC last week was a troll.

Using the word “Project” in its name seems intentional, alluding perhaps to the mysterious and conspiratorial “Project 2025” that the left tries to tie to the right, even though many on the right have never heard of it before other than on MSNBC.

If the Third Term Project was a troll, it fell flat. It got virtually no traction in CPAC that I am aware of (only Nottthebee commented on it).

If it was a legitimate movement, attendees of CPAC were smart enough to throw cold water on it.

If it was a troll, it fell flat because, contrary to the troll’s hopes, few if any bought it.

Welcome to the “Age of the Troll.”

We can complain or criticize it, but the trend is here for the time being.

We must use caution. We need to be smart enough to think everything through and raise flags if something doesn’t pass the smell test.

If we stupidly fall for a troll, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

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Everyone’s gonna die: crying wolf

Published by Daniel on February 18, 2025

Remember the Aesop story of the boy who cried “wolf!” The fable goes that a bored shepherd boy, anxious for a little action, cried “wolf!” to the villagers.

Concerned for their flocks, the villagers ran to the boy only to realize the shepherd boy’s game.

The boy got a kick out of this, and after a few weeks had passed, he cried out even louder, “Wolf! Wolf!” Once again the villagers came, and once again they realized they had been duped.

Then one night, a wolf actually appeared. The boy cried “wolf,” only the villagers didn’t come. They wouldn’t be duped again. Only this time, their sheep fell prey to the beast.

Anyone with half a brain could find the moral to this story. If you cry wolf too many times, and the wolf doesn’t show, people tend to not bother—even when real danger approaches.

The American political debate has included far too many instances of crying wolf.

Only it looks a little different.

“Nancy Pelosi warns ‘hundreds of thousands of people will die’ if GOP health bill passes,” CBS headline, June 26, 2017

Federal agencies are “banned from making policy recommendations that are inconvenient for Trump…And many Americans will die as a result,” from Paul Krugman essay entitled, “Donald Trump wants you to die,” January 24, 2025

“’People Will Die’ from Trump’s Trans Prisoner Crackdown, Experts Warn,” headline from The Appeal, January 22, 2025 (That one has to be true. After all, it comes from “the experts.”

Trump’s spending freeze will result in “chaos that will kill,” and “a death sentence for millions.” Indivisible website

“Let us be clear and this is not trying to be overly dramatic: Thousands of people will die if the Republican health care bill becomes law,” Senator Bernie Sanders, June 2017 tweet.

“Overturning Roe and outlawing abortions will never make them go away…It only makes them more dangerous, especially for the poor [and] marginalized. People will die because of this decision,” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Business Insider, June 24, 2022.

“’Women are going to die’: Hillary Clinton on Supreme Court’s overturning Roe v. Wade ruling on abortion rights,” headline, CBS News, June 28, 2022

“It’s estimated that 200 million people will die by the time I finish this talk,” Joe Biden, Sept 20, 2020

Republican Representative Michelle Buchanan once argued that Obamacare “literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens.”

“Biden warns of winter of ‘severe illness and death’ for unvaccinated due to Omicron,” CNN Headline, December 16, 2021

“Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Warns, ‘World Is Going to End in 12 Years,’ Reiterating Claims of Recent U.N. Climate Change Report,” headline, Newsweek, January 22, 2019.

Republican Senator Tom Coburn, on the passage of the Affordable Care Act, “you’re going to die soon.”

“’Millions will die,’ Catholic humanitarian organizations warn, if halt in US aid continues,” RNS headline, Feb 13, 2025

If the left feels the rest of the world isn’t listening to their “People will die” arguments, it’s because we’re not.

In past posts, I argued that throwing around the word “Nazi” to describe someone with whom you don’t agree is actually dangerous because it desensitizes us to the term. God forbid if Nazism resurfaces as a legitimate political movement, the public will be blunted to it: “Nazi? Is that the group of people who refused to get the COVID vaccine? Meh.”

Such is the problem with crying wolf. Speaking of COVID, do you remember the panic it instilled in the general public? Policies were mandated by unelected officials that changed at will. Experts were predicting the apocalypse. Social media was shutting down posts from real virologists going against the narrative, who were even threatened with having their medical licenses being taken away. Governments were assigning fines (most of which were overturned). People lost their careers for refusing the shot. Schools were shut down (five years later, we’re still feeling the effects of that in education). People were treated as second class citizens. The concept of the “Karen” was born. For crying out loud, there was a run on toilet paper.

All because of a largely recoverable, raspatory disease.

I remembered then thinking, “What happens when a REAL pandemic hits—one that doesn’t have a 97% recovery rate among the majority of the population, one that has, say, only a 30% recovery rate? Like, say, a new strain of Ebola or even the plague.”

Nobody will listen. They bought in to the narrative once before; they’re going to be skeptical when it happens again. They won’t respond until it is too late.

This is the caution against “crying wolf.” When a real emergency arises in the world, the public will simply brush it off until it becomes too late.

Use that line sparingly and with wisdom.

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Reaching rock-bottom rhetoric

Published by Daniel on February 15, 2025

“We are at war”; “We will fight them in the streets”; [Elon Musk] is a musky moo-moo”; “Elon Musk is a d—“; “We must f— Trump and Musk.”

Those are some examples coming from the left recently, and what makes this especially bizarre is that all these comments came from Democratic Representatives from the United States Congress.

That’s been the extent of their rhetoric in the first weeks of Donald Trump.

For the those on the right, this is good news. That means if this rhetoric is the best they got, then the Democratic Party has much further to fall.

The definition of “rhetoric,” according to the Cambridge Dictionary, is “speech or writing intended to be effective and influence people.”

In other words, it is the art of persuasion.

I teach speech, debate, and even direct the school plays. These classes are exercises in rhetoric, persuading another toward an objective.

It is not simply reciting a speech or delivering scripted lines. It is about convincing an audience, persuading said audience that your point is valid, or your role is real. It is more than just making a claim—” I believe X is true”—but also being able to defend your premise.

I remind my students not to just state an opinion, but to be ready for the “why?”

Rhetoric is an exercise is persuading another that your point is valid. You might not succeed in actually swaying the opposition (we are too entrenched in our opinions and sacred cows), but you can say it wasn’t about you not successfully delivering your point.

Let me be the first to say that I in no way consider myself a master rhetorician. Not at all.

However, at minimum, one should at least be aware of one’s own rhetoric. It is not a weakness to ask others or even myself if my point made sense.

Americans are notoriously horrible at rhetoric. Once again, I lie the reason for this at our overuse of social media.

It is tempting to simplify our rhetoric to nothing more than what I can a “mic drop,” a moment in which one makes their point with a blunt witticism that they think will leave their opponent in stunned silence as they swagger away.

My all-time favorite Mic-drop came during the 1984 presidential debate when Reagan, responding to claims made by his opponent Walter Mondale and the media that Reagan was too old, masterfully proclaimed, “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”

Mondale’s Campaign Manager decades later said that it was at that moment he knew Mondale lost the election.

Mic-drop moments, however, rarely happen.

Some attempts are downright idiotic. During the election campaign, an individual in a Harris rally yelled: “Jesus is Lord.” Without missing a beat, Kamala replied, “I’m sorry. You’re at the wrong rally.”

Um.

In a single attempt at a mic-drop, Harris declared her candidacy to be welcoming only to atheists.

Arguably the most significant example of rhetoric is The Federalist Papers, a series 85 “letters to editor” if you will to be published in a New York newspaper. Published under the pseudonym “Publius,” their authors—John Jay, who would become the first Supreme Court Justice; Alexander Hamilton, who would become the first Secretary of Treasury; and James Madison, the primary author of the Constitution who would become the fourth president—argued in favor of the ratification of the Constitution.

They chose to publish these letters not in a states that supported ratification in a state that was heavily against.

This is risky strategy was the only way to go. The Federalists’ objective was to persuade not rally.

America needs to return to the art of persuasion.

I’ve thought about this over the last several days as I am provided on a daily basis examples of poor, asinine rhetoric.

Each day that Elon Musk and the Doge team finds yet another tens of billions of dollars in government, the shrill gets even higher in the Democrat Party.

The left was caught flat-footed. They frankly weren’t prepared. So, they resorted to their default rhetoric that has been proven in the last election to be ineffective.

One tactic used is to throw manure against the wall to sees what sticks. IL Rep Jan Schakowsky stated in a legitimate House committee meeting that she believes the reason fewer women work in manufacturing is because “the name sounds just like a guy.”

Try to de-legitimatize the election. TX Rep. Jasmine Crockett said Trump “allegedly got elected.”

They attempted to articulate the fact that Elon Musk wasn’t elected. Ok, legitimate argument one might say, except for the fact they had no problem using unelected Anthony Fauci to ruin our lives. Don’t get me started about the FBI, EPA, CIA, DOJ, Department of Education, and yes USAID—which every day seems to have corruption and waste outweighing any good they have done. None of those are elected but operated at the will of the executive—just like Doge (the fact that they are using the courts to slow the process affirms my suspicion bureaucrats with personal agendas are running the asylum.

They say Trump (and Doge) are not transparent. Trump has stood before and took questions from the press more in the last three weeks than Biden had in the previous four years. He has told the press exactly what he was doing and planned to do. Then to make his case, DOGE and the White House produced receipts. Yet still they’re not transparent. The press really seems to have forgotten the previous four years as well as Kamala’s campaign strategy of speaking obvious mistruths if not avoiding the press altogether.

From there, the talking point of the day was “F— Donald Trump. F—Elon Musk.” These were representatives in the United States Congress talking like 8th graders. Do they really think that’s effective?

Then it was a “constitutional crisis.” Even Democrat Senator John Fetterman thought that was nuts: “There isn’t a constitutional crisis, and all of these things ― it’s just a lot of noise. That’s why I’m only gonna swing on the strikes.”

Today’s talking point is to call Musk “president.” You can tell it’s an official talking point because it is parrotted as many times as possible from every media source. Say it enough times and maybe it’ll stick.

Or at least until the release the next one.

Another rhetorical tactic used is the ad hominem attack. This is a Latin term meaning “Attack on the Man.” In other words, it’s a personal insult. All during the 2024 elections, ad hominem attacks were used widely by the left. Anyone who didn’t agree with them was a nazi, racist, misogynist, homophobe, xenophobe, MAGA, Ultra-MAGA, stupid, garbage. etc. People who are conservative are dumb, uneducated redneck Neanderthals who cannot distiguish our facts (which come from “propaganda”) from their facts (which come the media) which are apparently far superior.

Also apparently, this heirarchy of facts never changes.

The ad hominem attack dissipated shortly after the election, but since the inauguration, it seems to have seen the greatest uptick lately, crossing the line toward goofy. Trump (now Elon) have always been called a Nazi, Hitler, a dictator, etc.; however, MA Rep Ayanna Pressley upped the ante recently by calling Musk “a nazi nepo baby.” (Earlier, Pressley stated that she is willing to come along side someone who is serious about “doing the work of censoring the American people and advancing progress.” Did she misspeak or was this just a Freudian slip?)

Not be outdone, MO Rep. Emanuel Cleaver called Musk “A musky moo-moo.”

NY Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—a former bartender—called Musk—founder of SpaceX and Tesla—the most “unintelligent billionaire” she ever met.

Robert Garcia of California called Musk “a d—” during a congressional oversight hearing and then defended himself on CNN: “He is a d—.”

Then there are the outright threats. Imagine if Trump said any of these things:

We will “fight them in the streets,” Rep. Hakeem Jefferies stated.

“We are at war,” Rep. LaMonica McIver

“No one likes violence, but sometime violence is necessary,” Tennessee Pastor Steve Caudle preached.

Sounds like insurrection (by the previous administration’s definition. Perhaps Trump’s DOJ should arrest them and slow walk their court dates while they sit in jail for years.

If you want to persuade someone over to your point of view. Name-calling, belittling and threatening might generate chuckles within one’s own echo chamber but it is not going to be effective. No one is persuaded to rethink their position after being belittled.

It didn’t work in the last election. It’s not working now.

Fetterman agrees, “I think [Democrats’] primary currency was shaming and scolding and talking down to people. Just because someone may have voted for President Trump does not mean they are fascist or support insurrections.”

The left need to work on their rhetoric.

The more they reuse the same old drivel, the less relevant they become.

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Politics and the kingdom worldview

Published by Daniel on January 19, 2025

am a follower of Jesus.

Though I lean to the right politically, my worldview is a kingdom worldview.

As it should be for all followers of Jesus.

I say that to say this.

In a matter of hours, Donald Trump will become the 47th president of the United States. I will be the first to admit that I was thrilled with the election results across the nation last November. I was thrilled the official narrative was rejected and the media was rendered an irrelevant, toothless lion.

However, I feel as a kingdom follower that I must also throw out a caution to my fellow Christians on the right.

It is perfectly fine to celebrate what is about to happen tomorrow. I, like you, have a bit of hope that things might get back to some sense of normalcy. I personally feel a sigh of relief that the chaos and narrative of the last four years has been vehemently rejected by the American people.

But Donald Trump is *not* the savior.

Though he will be president, he does not sit on the throne.

We serve only one king.

He, like all of us, is an imperfect person who will make mistakes. He, like us, is a broken, sinful man.

Though those of us on the right feel a sense of relief, we cannot forget who the real Savior is.

Jesus saves the world, not Donald Trump.

What does this mean?

It means that we with the kingdom worldview must not lose our moral compass. We must hold our new president and leaders accountable. We must not tolerate being lied to and having the wool pulled over our eyes.

We must not excuse immorality simply because he’s “our guy.” If we don’t hold Donald Trump and our leaders to the same standards as we had Joe Biden then we lose the moral high ground, and more importantly–our prophetic voice, for generations.

One caveat: I know his opponents will join the mantra: “Yeah, but he’s a convicted felon. You’re excusing that, aren’t you?” Possibility of redemption aside (remember Chuck Colson?), it actually might mean something if he wasn’t “convicted” using the most Stalinistic tactics (“Show me the man, I will show you the crime.”). Virtually every legal scholar predicts the verdict will be overturned on appeal once it gets out of the New York Court System Gulag. All but Trump’s most vocal opponents see those charges as joke. A “convicted crime” is not automatically a crime when it comes in a corrupt justice system. So let’s have the debate whether I am right or wrong on this, let’s not try to cover it up or pressure me into silence.

Back to my primary point.

Mistakes are going to made in the White House, and it is more than ok to call them out. We must not do semantic somersaults to justify them. That doesn’t mean we must stop supporting him, nor does it mean all hope is diminished.

If lies are told (note: “lie” does not mean “My personal interpretation or policy does not agree”), we must hold our leaders accountable. We *must* not look the other way.

Is America heading into a Golden Age? If you’re on the left, no bit of economic data will be taken as positive; if you’re on the right, no bumps will be seen as negative. I hope so, only time will tell.

If America is entering a “Golden Age,” Jesus still reigns. If things go sideways, Jesus still reigns.

As Christ-followers, we must also not get lazy. Politically, Christians on the right might feel a sense of being unburdened by the constant attacks by our own government. As Paul reminds us, “our battle is not against flesh and blood.”

We must not retreat to our comfort zones. We must go forward and fight.

How?

By not sitting back and letting the government do our kingdom work for us. We must not sit back and simply call out immorality. Hashtag activism is worthless.

Instead, we must do. As Micah 6:8 says, we love “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly.”

We must continue to assist those thousands in North Carolina still suffering by Hurricane Helene as well those who lost everything in the Los Angeles fires. This does not matter if they are liberal or conservative, or if they are poor, rural people or are wealthy city folks.

We must love and care for the homeless, many of whom do not feel worthy to deserve a “normal” life.

We must come along side those who struggle with identity and show them that they are created in God’s image and this is where they find their value.

Now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned, we must come alongside and support young, unwed mothers both during and after the pregnancy.

We must care for the widows or those who need an extra hand, of which are all around us.

In other words, we must serve and care for the world that might hate us.

Our future relies solely on Jesus Christ, not Donald Trump or the Republican leadership.

We must never forget who we ultimately serve.

Humanly speaking, I am excited about inauguration day.

However, as a kingdom believer, I am most hopeful in the One who saved us all.

Nations fall and nations rise, but He is the One forever on the throne.

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The end of TikTok in the U.S.?

Published by Daniel on January 18, 2025

Tomorrow, Tiktok will go dark in the United States.

Well, kind of.

Americans can still use the app if they have it already installed, and no one will be coming after them for using it. Tiktok will just become unavailable on the Apple and Google Play store. Unconfirmed reports are circulating that incoming President Trump might extend the deadline 90 days.

The one “out” Tiktok has is to sell the platform to someone with no ties to the Chinese government. Yesterday (Friday), “Shark Tank” billionaire Kevin O’Leary put an offer on the table to buy the platform for $20 billion in cash, but as of yet he has received no response.

However, as a response to this ban, Gen Z users across America are downloading another Chinese owned social media app called Red Note, which ironically is named after Chinese totalitarian dictator Mao Zedong’s Little Red Book, which launched the Chinese rebellion into Communism resulting in the slaughter of millions.

That’ll show us.

Now, I am against censorship in all forms. (One could argue that no individual user is being “censored”–there’s a swamp of social media platforms out there. The business itself is deemed a threat to national security.)

Part of me is uncomfortable with this ban. However, the outcry of the banning of Tiktok has me more than a little puzzled.

A little over a year ago, Tiktok was seen as very dangerous to national security. To this day, all federal and state government devices cannot have the app installed because of those ties to China.

This is the same China that flew a spy balloon the size of a school bus over all important military bases across the United States, collecting and transmitting God knows how many secrets back across the Pacific.

This is the same China buying up land bordering United States’ military bases, including Minot Air Force Base, and even Malmstrom Air Force Base here in Montana, which by the way, happens to control the launches of ICBMs in the northern plains states. Nothing suspicious there.

It is also the same China that, according to NBC News, have hacked our infrastructures—including but not limited to the Treasury Department and Office of Personal Management—and building dossiers on tens of millions of Americans. Apparently, they have done this under our noses since 2014.

Surely, there is nothing nefarious going on in back doors of the Tiktok app which, under communism’s economic structure, is ultimately owned not by ByteDance but by the Chinese government itself.

Then, to add fuel to my suspicion, no one seems to remember that following the Hamas invasion of Israel and the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, Tiktok’s algorithms showed clear favoritism toward pro-Palestinian posts nearly 10-to-1 over pro-Israeli posts.

I also remember listening to Podcaster Joe Rogan “going down the rabbit hole” reading the Tiktok Terms of Service live on-air.

These included, according to Rogan, Tiktok’s right to collect the user’s “mobile carrier, time zone settings, identifiers for advertising purpose, model of your device, the device system, network type, device IDs, your screen resolution and operating system, app and file names and types.”

Of course, the average naïve Gen Z user responds with a shrug and a flippant, “So what. I’ve got nothing to hide.”

Rogan continues, ‘So all your apps and all your file names, all the things you have filed away on your phone, they have access to that…File names and types, keystroke patterns or rhythms. So they’re monitoring your keystrokes, which means they know every f***ing thing you type. [Including passwords].” If you login to multiple devices, Tiktok “will be able to use your profile information to identify your activity across devices…We may also associate you with information collected from devices other than those you use to log into the platform.”

Tiktok possesses enough information on you to even “shut down people’s accounts [including financial].”

How quickly we’ve forgotten.

Knowing this level of manipulation, I am not necessarily sad to see Tiktok placed under pressure to sell or go away.

I am troubled that, knowing all this information, many Americans just don’t care. It seems Tiktok users and highly misnamed “influencers” are willing to sell their souls for seconds of meaningless entertainment and cash.

China doesn’t need to invade us. We are willing to give ourselves over to the threat solely on our own.

China is using our own nation’s strengths against us.

Honestly, Tiktok shouldn’t need to be banned. Americans should be much smarter and wiser.

TikTok users in the United States should have the presence of mind to know that a nation that hates everything we stand for is leading us right off a cliff.

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Some thoughts on Inauguration 2025

Published by Daniel on January 17, 2025

In a matter of days, the United States will swear in a new leader, the 47th President of the United States. Of course, this also means another presidential term will thankfully shuffle awkwardly off the stage, probably in the opposite direction of the door.

I have never been more relieved the current president’s term is over. The last four years, historically speaking, have been an unmitigated disaster. Afghanistan, out-of-control inflation that everyone but the wealthy would understand, gas prices are down, DEI, a Ministry of Truth–I mean a Department of Misinformation, pressuring social media companies to censor points-of-view, lawfare, the border is closed, there is no mental decline, and the making of the nation’s crack intelligence agencies look more like the Keystone Cops.

Most of all, his administration absolutely and completely destroyed trust in the institution of the federal government. To borrow from a tired, old joke: how do you know when the federal government is lying? Their lips are moving.

The White House and their faithful messengers, the media, was all about maintaining the narrative. We were told that everything’s fine—there’s nothing to see here. All the bad things you see is all in your head. It’s the fastest growing economy in history. You just can’t see it.

Truth didn’t matter, only the narrative. The narrative was god. The narrative must be defended at all costs. Loyalty to the narrative was all that was to be worshipped.

I am not saying that the incoming president will be this bastion of truth. He is human. I pray he doesn’t take on the tactic of making a narrative.

The left seems unwilling to let the idea of narrative go. CNN’s Jim Acosta insisted “the press is not the enemy of the people.

The press is the defender of the people.” Ideally, yes. In reality, no. They lied, spun, and covered up the truth. Personally, it will be a long time before I trust anything they say.

During Biden’s farewell address last night, he threw another possible narrative against the wall hoping it might stick: the country will led by billionaire oligarch. Today, on nearly every news outlet, journalists echoed that their biggest fear was the nation being ruled by billionaire oligarchs. (Never mind the fact that day before Biden awarded thr Presidential Medal of Freedom to George Soros, a billionaire whose only action was donating millions to liberal causes and candidates.)

Given the public trust in the media, I highly doubt it will stick.

This whole idea of narrative-as-truth has got to be thrown out onto the ash heap of bad ideas.

I am so thankful the American people made the statement on the narrative of the last four years. I am thankful we have seen the truth the narrative worked so hard to hide.

I honestly don’t know what the future will bring. My main prayer is that America can breathe a brief sigh of relief that the narrative of the last four years.

Perhaps (?) normalcy might return.

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Truth versus narrative

Published by Daniel on January 3, 2025

One thing that came out of the rise of postmodernism in the 00’s was a regained prominence of narrative as means of understanding truth. In his book titled “The Postmodern Condition,” philosopher Jean Francois-Lyotard argued that contrary to the West’s enlightenment belief that all truth must be filtered through science to be considered legitimate knowledge, it is actually narrative which should be the arbiter of truth. Narrative can do something science is unable to do: bring meaning. I actually saw great potential in Lyotard’s idea.

I am naturally a story-teller. I see the power in story, a way of discovering deeper meaning. It’s not only a way to entertain, it is a way to encourage another to let their guard down, to see things from a different perspective as well as to find deeper meaning to life’s questions that rational arguments cannot explain.

After all, why do you think Jesus taught using parables rather than bullet points and sermons? One could argue that the Bible itself is presented largely as a narrative.

That does not mean the story I believe in Scripture is false.

Au contraire.

It means truth—the Truth—and meaning can be packaged within fiction. Within story.

C.S. Lewis is most famous for taking deep theological elements and wrapping them up in a series of children’s literature based in Narnia. He often used phrases elsewhere such as “myth become fact” and a “baptized imagination.”

There is great power in the theology of story. When it come to introducing Jesus to a non-believer or skeptic, it is usually not argument that brings them to understanding.

It is story, either by telling others how Jesus works in my broken life or showing others Jesus through the story of my day to day actions.

This makes sense to me.

However, a danger can also exists in Lyotard’s idea, one that I had also fallen into: the idea that a person’s story is all that matters. In other words, MY story is supreme. God enters into MY story, not the other way around.

The trajectory of this idea leads to the primary problem of our society today: subjectivism. What’s true for you is not necessarily what’s true for me.

Humanity actually circled back to the serpent’s temptation to Eve in the Garden: “You will be like God.” The individual gets to decide their truth, i.e., their definitions of good and evil.

This subjectivity (“My truth”) is where narrative falls flat.

2024 might have seen the death of this idea of narrative. (I’m not for certain, but I hope and pray).

All year long (and even in the years prior to), I would watch something play out on the news only to be told later by the same news source that is not what I saw. I was told by the “experts” that everything I am personally experiencing is not happening.

“The economy is great!” even though my grocery and gas bill doubled. “The President is at the top of his game and sharp as ever!” even though he clearly was not. “White supremacy is the most dangerous threat to our nation!” even though the most notable cases seem to turn out to be frauds and as of New Year’s Day, everyone’s talking about ISIS cells embedded around the nation. “The border is closed!” even though I am watching caravans of illegal aliens storming gates and ripping through razor wire in Eagle Pass, Texas. And most recently, a spokeswoman for the FBI declared the terrorist attack in New Orleans was most definitely NOT a terrorist attack as pictures of an ISIS flag on the back of the attacker’s pick up truck circulated across the internet. I saw “fact-checkers”—supposedly under the banner of truth spew the biggest narratives.

Institutions that we once trusted and that we should trust have lost all credibility. This is because the necessity of truth has been replaced by the necessity of maintaining a narrative. These institutions worked exceptionally hard to get their narrative before the public’s eyes. If anyone raised questions, they would be called quacks, conspiracy theorists, and somehow, white supremacist.

Often during 2024, when I would post that I hope truth prevails, I was not speaking of a candidate. I was hoping that Americans would see through the narrative presented.

I was hoping to see that America understood that there is such a thing as truth and that truth would always prevail over narrative.

And truth prevailed, not because Trump won but because narrative lost.

Hopefully, society will reject the idea that there is no such thing as objective truth, and that we might see narrative for what it is when it presented as fact yet is highly contrary to that truth.

There is truth—Jesus is that Truth. It is objective, real, and not defined by ourselves.

And it is good to know that Jesus as Truth has survived the harshest attacks for millennia, both physically and philosophically, and continues to grow strong throughout the world.

Finding truth in narrative can be a good thing. Creating narrative as a substitute for truth is nefarious.

There is a truth beyond us. We must rest on that truth because if we rest on any man-made truth, that foundation will crumble.

Kind of like what we saw in 2024.

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Final thoughts of the 2024 election

Published by Daniel on December 31, 2024

2024 just about reaching its end, and though it has been quite an eventful year, I must admit I am glad to see it go.

Undoubtedly the most significant event that came out of 2024 was the election in November. Depending where you fall on the political spectrum, the results were either the most catastrophic or brought the greatest relief (Personally, I fall more toward the latter).

However, even more important than who won the election, it was what won: the truth (as opposed to the narrative). Further, it was also who lost: the media.

Mark Twain once said, if you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember what you said.

By saying the truth won, I am not associating Trump as a banner of Truth. He is a fallen human like all of us who need God’s grace. There is only one who states, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

What I mean by “the truth won” was that the American people saw through the narrative upheld by government officials, bureaucrats, the media, and the “experts.”

Their objective was trying to uphold a perception of reality, building upon it, plugging its many holes, running block against those who attempt to criticize. It’s a façade and one that must be maintained.

All year long (more accurately: during the last four years), the nation has been gas lit countless times by the powers-that-be who seemed more concerned with perfecting the Jedi Mind Trick than solving anything (Note: they weren’t that good at it).

In this narrative, we were told:

• the economy was the fastest growing in history;

• that inflation was transitory;

• that gas prices were lower than when Biden took office;

• that the world respected us;

• that we should trust “science” and the “experts” who, ironically, also insisted men could become pregnant;

• that most existential threat to democracy must be defeated by using the most undemocratic tactics available; or for that matter,

• that all the evils the left accused Trump of, the left was guilty of doing it themselves;

• that Trump was Satan incarnate himself if not worse;

• that two assassination attempts were brought on by the victim himself for his heated rhetoric;

• that the president was sharp as a tack, until Trump argued with one a degree up from zombie in the debate;

• that the media tried to rewrite history before our very eyes with the hope that we were actually as stupid as they thought we were;

• that Kamala was the Border Czar, until she wasn’t;

• that the response to a trans kid shooting up a Christian school was to be empathetic toward the trans community;

• that we should vote for Kamala because it’s patriotic (further, if we didn’t—even if we didn’t because we had no idea what she was for, then we were misogynist);

• that millions actually believed that the candidate who spent nearly two billion dollars and wound up $20 million in debt (and still lost) would be the best one to run the nation;

• that the justice system must be respected except when forgiving student loans despite the Supreme Court ruling to the contrary and pardoning his son for any crime committed over a ten-year span despite his words to the contrary;

• that the president’s replacement was the best choice despite four years of stumbling and bumbling through her term as VP;

• that it was reported that the president regretted his choice to appoint Merrick Garland as Attorney General because he didn’t go after Trump enough and spent too much time pursuing Hunter (see previous point of the president saying justice must be trusted);

The media tried to cover it up, deny it, and ridicule those who actually saw it.

Then, when the powers-that-be realized that the American people weren’t as stupid as they thought, they called us Nazis and garbage.

However, the strategy of maintaining this narrative had one major flaw: it was based on foundation that Americans are stupid, that we couldn’t think for ourselves. For a while, I was afraid that was the case.

They also seemed to have forgotten that there is video.

Fortunately, the narrative propped up by so many elitists contained so many inconsistencies that couldn’t stand up under its own weight. As Twain said above, they couldn’t keep everything on solid ground. The narrative crumbled—badly.

All the propaganda the media forced down our throats was outright rejected. Americans saw the flawed narrative and decided that is not the reality in which we live.

They’re lying to us. They really think we are dumb. They see us as wards of the state and not as their bosses.

And ultimately, that was the best thing to come out of 2024: the media lost its voice and, most importantly, its relevance.

This election was as much a referendum against the media as it was against Biden and Harris.

Two months after the election, they are still trying to come to terms with that. The media was forced down a new road something they had never experienced before: self-awareness. Thankfully, some—a few—in the media are engaging in self-reflection. Most others, not so much (look up Don Lemon’s recent scree on Trump voters).

Whether this journey into self-awareness maintains any traction remains to be seen.

Building a narrative rather than accepting truth as it is is never a good strategy. It is a house built on sand. We witnessed this before our very eyes.

For now, Trump will enter his second term knowing the media are nothing more than a toothless lion.

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Light punching through darkness: the relevance of Advent

Published by Daniel on December 1, 2024

It’s nearly 4:00 as I write this. The sun is already on the western horizon. Within an hour, it will dip below the Continental Divide. Darkness falls.

That deep, heavy, winter darkness.

The Christmas season tends to be described as the most depressing and lonely for many. For others, the season is something to sneer at for its empty commercialism and tiresome stupid Christmas songs.

However, the church body—whether it is out of concern for the downtrodden or for disdain for the materialism—tries to ignore the Christmas season for as long as possible.

Sundays look and feel just like any other Sunday of the year. No trees, lights, or candles—the very symbols of hope—will grace the sanctuary. It will likely be another couple of Sundays before a carol might even be incorporated in the Sunday worship.

The hope—the anticipation—of the coming of our Savior needs more remembrance, more celebration, more proclamation and excitement than just the obligatory Christmas service.

For the lonely, sad, and depressed, they need to be reminded the coming of Emmanuel—God with Us—who stepped into this broken world to make things right once and for all. For a society entranced by the materialism of the “Christmas season,” the universal church—the body of Christ—must break that trance by the proclamation of a coming king.

The church must not acquiesce to the world’s declaration of getting that new great toy or to their martyr complex of being so busy. We have something to proclaim that is much more real than Christmas busyness. The church must promote that redemptive reality every Sunday of Advent. If we can’t get excited for anticipation of the birth of our king, then is there really anything to get excited for?

It is no accident that the Advent season falls during the darkest month of the year (if you happen to live in the northern hemisphere, that is). December contains the least amount of light and the shortest day of the year. That darkness is so emblematic of pretty much every human on this planet.

It is through that darkness that the anticipation of a coming Messiah must be proclaimed.

However, December also has a distinction no other month can claim: it is the month wherein light returns. A few days before the day we celebrate as Christmas, the winter solstice occurs. The days start getting longer. Light returns. Darkness gets pushed away.

The world needs hope. The world needs to know that it is within this darkness that hope shines. The world must be reminded that this darkness will end.

I encourage all Christ-followers not to approach this season with contrived dread. Instead, approach this season with the thrill of anticipation and the excitement of the proclamation.

After all, for most of us, we get more excited about the anticipation of Christmas than the actual day itself.

Advent ends on December 24, Christmas Eve. It was on the night the angels punched through the darkness and proclaimed to the lonely shepherds, “Unto you a child is born.”

As I post this less than an hour later, it is dark outside. And my Christmas lights just came on.

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Two weeks after the 2024 election

Published by Daniel on November 16, 2024

It’s been a couple of weeks since the election. I have been silent on commenting largely out of curiosity to see how the media would respond to the election of Trump as president of the United States.

Election night had been quite a surprise. I was expecting that, by this time, ballots would be counted and recounted, lawyers would be involved, and America would still be waiting to find out who would be president.

Instead, much to everyone’s surprise, the race was called by 11:30 (mountain time). Though everyone predicted it would be a photo finish, Trump won the electoral college in a landslide as well as won the popular vote by a wide margin. Trump grew in his support among black males, Hispanics, and even white women. In addition, the Senate flipped by the GOP who also widened their margin by a few seats in the House.

Conservatives celebrated, many of the left melted down. On the right, there was relief that the nightmare of the last four years was coming to an end; on the left, they would, for some reason, packing their bags for internment camps.

Social media was quite enjoyable to watch. Many media wannabes who actually think they would be missed announced they were deleting the Twitter accounts (“Oh, please don’t! We need your sage like wisdom,” said nobody). Feminists filmed themselves shaving their heads in protests and vowed to refuse sex to all males (as though that were a bad thing). And videos showing themselves weeping were—forgive the insensitivity—were a tad melodramatic (it was kind of hard not to laugh).

Overall, however, I felt this election was as much against the media as it was against Harris and the Biden Presidency. A TV network had been quoted in the New York Magazine as saying that if Trump won, journalism, in its current form and having lost all influence, would be dead.

Thus the reason I waited to follow up. I realize they would all be licking their wounds over these last two weeks. I was also hoping that they might get enlightened with a little self-awareness. Would they realize they overplayed their hand when it came to bias? Would they see that a scant few actually listen to let alone believe them?

I have heard moments of this. For example, (I think it was on CNN) a pundit said, “This election is a referendum not just against Democrats but Republicans as well that the American people are tired of not being listened to.”

The owner of the L.A. Times canned his editorial staff and will bring the paper back to journalistic standards which include all points of view. Jeff Bazos, owner of the Washington Post and some upper levels of ABC News made similar comments as well. Word is even out that ABC News is looking to add (real) conservative voices to “The View,” which I am pretty sure will give the current hosts aneurisms.

Beyond that and a smattering of other voices, most of the media, once they caught their breath on doubling down. This election’s results, they insist, is not their faults.

It is Biden’s fault for not stepping away from reelection sooner (even though they did everything they thought possible to ignore his mental decline until the debate). Harris just did not have enough time, they insist, to communicate her non message to the nation (even though spent their every waking moments trying to communicate it on her behalf).

It’s Harris’s fault because—well, nobody liked Harris (even though they spent their remaining waking moments trying to canonize her.

Finally, sadly, they insist it’s the American people’s fault. We’re misogynists (though I would vote for Governor and Secretary of Department of Homeland Security nominee Kristi Noem for President in 2028 in a heartbeat). We’re racists (welcome , black males and Latinos to this club).

Interestingly, the one ad hominum attack I haven’t heard since election night was “Nazi.” Perhaps some of the intellectuals on the left encouraged those on their side to learn about what a Nazi really is.

Sadly, two weeks after the election, the media continues to show a severe lack in self-awareness. Currently, they are loudly whining about Trump’s cabinet picks.

Admittedly, a couple—let’s just say—intrigue me, though I am wildly thrilled about others. I am especially thrilled that some dude will not get picked solely because he wears a skirt.

Hopefully with a few national newspapers and a network or two leading the way the American media will look to reform its industry.

This early out, it still remains to be seen.

However, we Americans must continue to demand we be heard. I am saying this not only to Democrats who will use every trick to get in the way (though I find it curious as to why Democratic senators no longer want to get rid of the filibuster now that they are in the minority.. hmmm…). I am also saying this to the new Republican congress. Don’t try the old bait -and-switch.

And to media: for the love of everything, stop lying to us.

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