Blitz- Marshall Defense (3M)

                                     I played black in this Queen's gambit declined Marshall defense.

Gov Closure May Remain Until People Remember Anti-Security Democrat Posich

Democrats would rather let the U.S. Government be closed than to fund national security. The point is plain yet in the cascading news cycle people tend to forget that. 

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trumps-christmas-message-to-democrats-government-shutdown-will-last-until-we-have-a-wall

If the U.S. Government remains partly closed for a month or two people will remember that later. They will recall that Democrats would not fund $5 billion to be spent in the United States even though the U.S. Government has pledged $10 billion dollars for Central America to help alleviate the economic motivation to illegally migrate to the U.S.A.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/dec/18/us-pledges-10-billion-boost-central-america-and-me/

Blitz Chess- (3M)-D5 Mason Attack

                                                                                                                      I played white in this game.

What Does James Mean- Faith Without Works is Dead?

James 2:14-26 King James Version (KJV)
"14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?"

Jesus saves the elect. One can become very technical perhaps in soteriological details. Yet the saved, have a different spirit than the worldly. They care about others; to love thy neighbor as oneself, and have a spirit of service so far as they can. Christians will at least be aware of the way others are with concern. Their works differ from those that haven't faith and grace over time They will work to relieve others from suffering, provide saving knowledge sharing the gospel, and feel the calling to be more of a servant unto the will of the Lord God.

It isn't the quantity or quality of works that matter. It is being indwelt with the Holy Spirit. The Lord is good and nothing that occurs does so without a purpose as it fulfills His will for mankind. God is good and mankind has original thermodynamic sin outside the garden. Christians try to help others if possible in the fallen world. The Benefits for others the saved may provide flow from the grace of God. Christians may imperfectly act to work good for-others, yet they have a spirit of caring to work for what is right. That is different than the material spirit of much of mankind. A Christian concerned about the state of society may have quite different objectives than more Machiavellian secularists pursuing personal egoist goals.  There are innumerable ways to work for a better social state of affairs and to help those living find the Lord.

There is no question that millions and millions of unsaved people will work for the benefit of others intentionally. Yet they may offset a substantal part of that effort with other goals- worldly goals- that are inimical to human well-being.

I think that Christians should not look for perfect forms and perfect examples wholistically of works in any human. People all have original sin and are imperfect. They lack omniscience and omnipotence and cannot work their own will to change the world into a utopia within the kingdom of God. They have the opportunity to work this or that if grace provides the cicumstance and if they are willing and able to act. Jesus said that it is better to give than receive.

People often regard economic giving as the most important meaning for works, yet without spiritual regeneration, confering benefits upon the spiritually dead provides nothing more than temporal relief.

Works without faith leave one spiritually dead.

Why Christmas is Celebrated on 25 December

Picking a day to commemorate and celebrate the birth of the Lord is a good thing. In some ways the particular day might be compared to President's Day near George Washington's birthday. The day has no particular relevance to the Presidents- it was set by politicians in Congress, yet it is important to some. Why Constantine choose to set Christ mass on the 25th of December isn't certain for me, yet there are likely several reasons, and it did unify the day of celebration. Such days have had important historical, social value for ordinary people. Perhaps it's is like the tomb of the unknown soldier if he can't be identified. Some important dates in history aren't known because they happened before good historical writing method was common. Maybe some day science will find a way to actually know exactly when the birth of the Lord happened and the celebration day will change.

Democrat Party Pedants Say Walls Aren't Security Devices

Democrats seem to prefer self-delusion on security issues and more. Sartre called that false-consciousness. Maybe because it sells as their brand of existential cornucopia such as the USA has too few people with just 330 million people and infinite wilderness. They are like the Russian appanage princes of a thousand years ago that kept subdividing their inheritance. Dostoyevski wrote a good book about a landless prince named 'The Idiot'. Walls remain a very ordinary security measure used in innumerable applications. Of course they cannot stop all cross border illegal traffic. The wall is a mereological element- a part of the security equation.

No Change to the Stall on Faster Than Light Communications

Quantum telecommunications including the Internet may be on the horizon. Quantum communications seemingly could theoretically travel faster than light if one tangles particles and eliminate communication delays between Earth and missions in space.

https://www.sciencealert.com/new-study-proves-that-global-quantum-communication-is-going-to-be-possible

Physicists apparently believe that causality of the usual universe would be disturbed with faster than light communications. Entangled particles have a net change in spin state of zero so if one is made to be a left particle with waveform collapse through observation the entangled particle partner would need to have a right spin.

Many articles explains why the FTL nature of entangled particles for communication don't allow FTL communications. Here is one useful one... https://www.azoquantum.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=74

I wouldn't think it means the FTL system is forever stalled. Conservation of a complete system might be possible. A moon base will have another topic for research.