Perseverance is more than endurance. It is endurance combined with absolute assurance and certainty that what we are looking for is going to happen. If your hopes seem to be experiencing disappointment right now, it simply means that they are being purified. Every hope or dream of the human mind will be fulfilled if it is noble and of the Source. However, one of the greatest pleasures in life is learning to have patience for God. From the very beginning of the discipline, sociologist have highlighted the powerful influence of groups and organization on people’s thoughts and behaviors. Virtually all important human activities are embedded in groups and organizations; we would not function, let alone prosper, without them. Diverse groups and organizations establish a range of possibilities for what all of us can think and feel, as well as become and achieve. The creative person—the artist, computer science engineer, writer, journalist, musician, woodworker, photographer, decorator, inventor, landscaper, gardener, architect, and more thrives when able to spend enough time alone to engage in uninterrupted creative purists. #RyanPhillippe 1 of 8

There are times when one has to be alone. The opportunity cost of an item is what you give up to get that item. When making any decision, such as whether to attend college, decision makers should be aware of the opportunity costs that accompany each possible action because nothing it free. An actor can earn millions if they drop out of college and make movies, and they are well aware that their opportunity cost of college is very high. It is not surprising that they often decide that the benefit of college is not worth the cost if they have signed a deal to make several movies and it is garneted that they will make millions. Economist normally assume that people are rational. Rational people systematically and purposefully do the best they can to achieve their objective, given the prospects they have. Rational people know with increasing frequency decisions in life are not always easy. For instance, if an actor forgoes a million-dollar movie career for college, it is not guaranteed that he will ever graduate, for unforeseeable reasons, and could spend the rest of his life struggling to pay off rent and pay off his student loans.  #RyanPhillippe 2 of 8

Throughout life, we all have to make marginal changes, which are small incremental adjustments to a plan of action. A rational decision maker takes an action if and only if the marginal benefit of the action exceeds the marginal cost. This why should would choose a multi-million-dollar picture deal over a college education. It can take some time to get used to the logic of marginal thinking, but even risking your college career for millions has a cost.  Incentives are crucial to analyzing any decision you make. An incentive is something (such as the prospect of punishment or a reward) that induces a person to act. Because rational people make decisions by comparing costs and benefits, they respond to incentives. People respond to incentives. The rest is commentary. What do you think of when you hear the word bureaucracy? For many of us, it evokes images of long lines and delays and petty officials rigidly adhering to rules at the expense of reason. Bureaucracy could become an iron cage, as it may shrink a person’s moral capacity into a mere duty to obey. #RyanPhillippe 3 of 8

At the same time, however, many people are most impressed with bureaucracy’s ability to coordinate the activities of large groups of people—especially in business, medicine, and the military—and to outperform and out produce all other forms of organizations. Bureaucracies owe their technical superiority to other forms of organization because of five basic characteristics: Specialization and division of labor, task are accomplished by people trained to perform specific duties, and each person is held responsible for a small portion of the total operation. Hierarchical structure requires that positions are arranged in a tiered fashion, and rank and authority increase as one moves from the entry level position to management, then to the top of the bureaucracy, and authority is clear at each level. However, directives and orders never flow downward. There are also formal rules, regulations and procedures. Written rules and regulation specify the goals of the organization to be performed, and what workers can and cannot do. In principle, formal, written rules ensure uniformity of operations and provide continuity regardless of changes in personnel or organizational goals.  #RyanPhillippe 4 of 8

Bureaucracies tend to be impersonal. Interactions with clients and colleagues are guided by rules, not personal feelings. Ideally, emotional detachment ensures that everyone will be treated equally and that personal considerations will not cloud official judgements or subvert goals. Positions in the bureaucracy are based on qualification and performance, which benefit the organization and gives people a sense of continuity and security; a meritocracy enables people to plan for careers, which ideally ensures a stronger worker identification and a greater commitment to the organization and its goals. To be perfectly efficient and rational, ideal bureaucracy requires that almost all traces of humanity be eliminated and that people consistently act in a cold and calculating manner, and most humans are not able to do this because they get too emotionally involved, and they base their decision of feelings and not regulation or facts, and this usually leads to the development of informal structures, with their own statuses, beliefs, norms, practices, and goals. This process occurs in environments as diverse as the newsroom, the kill floor at a beef packing plant, the courthouse, and the supermarket, where soon after people have joined to accomplish an organization’s formal goal, they begin to develop their own ways of doing things. #RyanPhillippe 5 of 8

Informal structures sometimes promote greater bureaucratic efficiency. At other times they may have the opposite effect. For example, United States Attorney Richard Durbin, Jr., and FBU Special Agent in Charge, Christopher Combs (San Antonio Division) in Del Rio,  announced that they uncovered a bribery and kickback scheme involving city leaders: former Crystal City Mayor Pro-Tem Rogelio Mata, age 43, and his brother, former Crystal City Councilman Roel Mata, age 44, admittedly used their official positions since February 2015 to enrich themselves by soliciting and accepting cash bribes from persons seeking to do business in Crystal City. The defendants also admitted that they voted, in 2015, to award a contract to a person who had provided them with cash bribes. Appearing before United States District Judge Alia Moses, Rogelio Mata, and Roel Mata pleaded guilty to one count of federal programs bribery. As a result of their guilty pleas, the defendants face up to ten years in federal prison; a fine of up to $250,000.00; a $12,291,73 monetary judgment; and, forfeiture of approximately $1,000.00 in U.S. currency seized by authorities during this investigation. Sentencing has yet to be scheduled. #RyanPhillippe 6 of 8

Rogelio Mata and Roel Mata are the second and third defendants to enter guilty pleas in this case. On 26 May 2016, 38-year-old-business man, Ngoc Tri Nguyen, pleaded guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit bribery involving an entity receiving over $10,000.00 in federal funds. By pleading guilty, Ngoc Tri Nguyen admittedly paid $6,000.00 in bribes in exchange for various official acts from his o-defendants. Ngoc Tri Nguyen, who faces up to ten years in federal prison, is scheduled for sentencing at 3.00pm, on 9 November 2016, in Del Rio, and the judge will be Judge Moses.  Former City Attorney and City manager William James Jonas, age 54, former Crystal City Mayor Ricardo Lopez, age 40, and former City Councilman Gilbert Urrabazo, age 45, all remain under indictment, charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery involving an entity receiving over $10,000.00 in federal funds. City Manager William James Jonas also faces three substantive federal programs bribery charges. Mayor Ricardo Lopez and City Councilman Gilbert Urrabazo also faces one substantive federal programs bribery charge. The matter is currently scheduled for Docket Call on 11 October 2016. #RyanPhillippe 7 of 8

The discovery of this informal structure, which broke down and because corrupt, was due to an ongoing joint investigation that is being conducted by the FBI and the San Antonio Police department with assistance from the Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigative Division and the Texas Rangers. Individuals who have first-hand information about corruption, fraud, or bribery related to Crystal City are urged to contact the FBI at (210) 225-6741. Assistant United States Attorneys Jay Huling and William R. Harris are prosecuting this case on behalf of the Government. An indictment is merely a charge and should not be considered as evidence of guilt. Jonas, Lopez, and Urrabazo are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Proof must be built up stone by stone. The end crowns the work. It is not enough that Justice should be morally certain; she must be certain legally, that is. We have no right in Christian service to be guided by our own interests and desires. #RyanPhillippe 8 of 8