Monday, March 25, 2019

What Did You Really Expect?


On May 17, 2017, Robert Mueller was appointed as special counsel to oversee an investigation into allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller when the Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, recused himself from the matter.


Mueller received his B.A. from Princeton University and an M.S. in International Relations from New York University. In 1968 he joined the U.S. Marine Corps – he signed up, he wasn’t drafted – serving his country during the Vietnam War. He earned a Bronze Star with valor, a Purple Heart, and many more commendations. His final rank was Captain. He then enrolled at the University of Virginia Law School, graduating in 1973.


Mueller served under four U.S. Presidents during his career. In 1986 he was appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts by President Ronald Reagan. In 1990 President George H.W. Bush appointed Mueller to the U.S. Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division. President Bill Clinton appointed him U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California in 1998, and President George W. Bush appointed him Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General in 2001, although later that same year he named him Director of the FBI. Mueller remained FBI Director until 2013, more than half-way through the administration of President Obama.

By all counts, Robert Mueller served honorably.

Your Captain holds Mr. Mueller in the highest regard.

So in May of 2017, when Mueller was appointed special counsel, I knew it would be done right.

Whatever the outcome.

Mueller was charged with giving oversight to the investigation into "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump, and any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation".

In the carrying out of his duty, Mueller brought forth 37 indictments, 7 guilty pleas, and (so far) 4 people going to prison; many of these were insiders and confidants of the President.


Thus, it was disappointing to many when the Trumpf-appointed Attorney General William Barr received the Mueller Report – which took more than a year-and-a-half to prepare – and condense it down to a four-page summary for Congress.

All in the matter of a couple days.

And what did Mueller reportedly find through all of this?

According to Barr’s summary, “While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”

This from one who was obviously appointed to protect the President.

The President and his people immediately launched a campaign declaring him “completely exonerated”.

Say it often enough and people will believe you!

But that’s not what AG Barr said though. He said Mueller didn’t find “sufficient evidence” to bring charges against the President.

The President. 

Of The United States. 

Of America.
 
And Barr has already decreed that a sitting President cannot be indicted… unless, I guess, it is a Democrat – so that doesn’t surprise anyone.

What Barr did actually say is, “it also does not exonerate him”.

Naturally, the Democrats in Congress – and your Captain – want to read the full report.  The decision to release the full report has not been made yet.


And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (as well as KY Senator Rand Paul) has blocked efforts in the Senate to call for release of the document.

Perhaps because their names are mentioned?

Disappointing, I know. But Mueller’s job was not to have the President arrested. His job was to rigorously pursue the facts and turn his findings over to the Attorney General, who would presumably make his decision based on evidence presented.

Which he has done.
Image result for eye roll

Your Captain commends Robert Mueller for conducting a thorough and professional inquiry. He ignored the daily insults of Trumpf, the caterwauling of the Right, and the demands of the Left; and somehow, in Washington D.C. in 2019, he was able to do so with a necessary level of secrecy.

Of course, Trumpf and his ilk have decried the whole process, calling it “illegal”, a “witch-hunt”, etc. Some want to go back now and dredge up yet another investigation of Hillary Clinton. Alex Jones and Sara Huckabee Sanders want to prosecute execute those who accused the President for treason.

Get over your own damned self!

And life goes on.

But please note, mateys, that all of the main characters in this national tragedy – the Deputy Attorney General, the Special Counsel, the current Attorney General – are all Republicans.

Did you really expect a different resolution?


Friday, March 22, 2019

Holy Wars


[Mates, this will be a rant, pure and simple. If you’ve not the stomach for it, check back next week; the Captain will try to post something a little more positive and uplifting then.]

Today, as your Captain was walking in to one of my favorite lunch spots, my eye caught a stack of flyers suspended on a bulletin board in a carboard carton. The visible portion declared,

CHRISTIAN,
Are you disturbed by all the un-Christian things going on
in so many Churches, nowadays? Are you, for example: …

Of course your Captain had to see what heinous things were going on in so many churches “nowadays”.

I wasn’t disappointed.

Methodist or Episcopalian, offended by radical revisions of your Faith?
Does loss of the 39 Articles, the traditional 1928 BCP, The old reliable
hymnals and the whole English Reformation make you wonder if you still
belong to a real Church, at all? If so, Welcome Home!

Frankly, no, those things don’t bother me as much as your excessive use of commas and random capitalization of letters!

Lutheran or Presbyterian, tired of fractious debates between factions or
over social causes? Seeking regular partaking of the Sacraments of our
Lord? Do you want to worship as the founders of the Reformation did it?
If so, try us. Welcome Home!

Yes, brothers, let’s not fight over social causes. After all, we’re situated in the very center of a county well-known for its racism and misogynism.

“And don’t get me started about them gays!”

Evangelical, maybe Baptist or Church of Christ or Disciple, looking
for sound Biblical teaching, inerrancy of God’s Word, and a true
connection to the Church instituted by Our Lord, continued by His
Apostles, and identified by the Reformers? Do you believe that
“worship” means more than sitting thru a lecture and singing along to
“bouncing ball” hymns on a screen? If so, check our doctrines, then try
us. Welcome Home!

Growing up in a nearby town, it was always the Church of Christ printing shit like this! And this guy thinks even the Church of Christ folks are too liberal?

Roman Catholic, wishing you could worship the way the Church used
to, without Medieval additions to or Puritan subtractions from the ancient
faith? Do you wish you could come to worship, sit down, close your
eyes, and just breathe a sigh of relief? Want Apostolic Succession,
respect for the Church Fathers, the Sacrament, Real Presence and sound
teaching? If so, try us. Welcome Home!

Your Captain has studied the Church and Worship and important stuff like that for more than 40 years. And it has always struck me as humorous – downright funny! – when people start talking about the “right way” to worship God.


High Church with all its smells and bells? Plainsong or chant? Taizé? Contemporary? Drum circles?

In which century did we get it right?

Anyway, if any of this sounds interesting to you, the pastor of this self-styled “Anglican” church (he left the Episcopalian Church because of “the gays”) located out in the middle of a cornfield in Bible Belt, America wants you to know:

Our is historic Christianity: taught in the 3 ancient Creeds the 39 Articles of
Religion, and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. We do not experiment
with fads or novel ministry or espouse current and popular social causes.
We do not reject any part of Holy Scripture because it doesn’t agree with
some modern man-centered ideas.

I also happen to know that they only use the King James Bible 1611.

The very Word of God...

Or so some believe...

Captain’s Note: King James I authorized an official translation of the Christian Scriptures, but ordered the translators to be sure it fell within the doctrines of the Church of England. James was also a believer in witchcraft, and there is compelling evidence to suggest he was likely gay.


Now mates, you know by now that your Captain is a “live and let live” kind of guy. Do what you enjoy so long as you don’t hurt anyone else.

What bothers me about this little tract is that we live in a county of only 31,000 people and – based on a non-scientific survey of the area – probably 30,000 churches.

Mostly Baptists.

And absolutisms such as he heralds will likely only stir up angry feelings.

And it gives me the willies!

Does the Anglican pastor really want to start a Holy War?

Really?

Because, if so, your Captain will roll out the canon!

"Prepare to be boarded!"