Pope Francis is waging a war on Christmas. Christians should join him.

The title is from the article by the Washington Post. The notion being that the not-yet-announced program by Trump to make Christmas more explicit is NOT something that JC himself would have participated in. Nor a Christianity that project dominance and strength. Although, it is possible that the answer is in Two Corinthians, eh?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/12/24/pope-francis-is-waging-a-war-on-christmas-christians-should-join-him

So, if you're a USA citizen, could you prove it?

One quadrant of my family was from Mexico, except then it became part of the USA with the signing of the Guadalupe Treaty in 1848. My grandmother was from Santa Fe "New" Mexico and born there in 1896, long before the Territory became a state. The notion that one has to prove who they are without legal aid is flatly wrong. Two of our sons are adopted from Ecuador. As they grew up in the (then) lily white suburbs of N. Dallas, they were harassed by the local cops. That was in the 1980s, early 90s. Read it and weap....

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/22/504031635/you-say-you-re-an-american-but-what-if-you-had-to-prove-it-or-be-deported

Am I the first one to see this won't work?

Now, in order to stop 'em in their tracks, we'll have 'em tell us their social media accounts.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/foreign-travelers-social-media-232930

I sure hope that none of the bad guys/gals have multiple or hidden social media accounts. Or fake accounts..... Why do I think that this is not going to work while at the same time lessen the privacy of just about everyone? If they want to know who is doing what on Facebook, my opinion is to start waterboarding Mark Z. to give up the security codes to the Facebook domain.

Science and Economics, Not Politics, Will Strand Fossil Fuels

My Master's degree thesis, back in the stone age of 1977, was on wind energy measurement at Kansas State Univ. All we were trying to do was just get a handle on "what's out there".  Turns out that if you drive I-70 you'll find out the answer. Or try driving in the Dodge City / SW Kansas quadrant.
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/ugc/articles/2016/12/14/science-and-economics-not-politics-will-strand-fossil-fuels.html

Godspeed, John Glenn

Ever heard a president say that the TV news is nothing but lies?

Bolivian TV is nothing but lies: president (in Spanish)
    I'll bet you never heard a president of a country (or president elect?) say that everything on TV are lies from the opposition? These were not casual comments today, but rather the discourse of the President of Bolivia to an assembly of Bolivian ambassadors to other countries. Bashing the press is pretty typical in Bolivia by the government. We will see how it looks in the USA after January 20.....

Back in Texas: similarities to Bolivian "populist" government dominated by military figures

After 13 years and 4 months, we have returned to Texas. A *lot* of water has gone under the bridge.

We have some perspectives to share of "populist" leaders. Bolivia has been led by Evo Morales since 2006. There are certain characteristics that we have noted in Bolivia. One is the use of the state apparatus to hound the opposition. Usually for corruption, and usually they are probably guilty. But notable as the party in power (now 10 years) seems to constantly be chasing down opposing leaders or previous leaders.
   Another characteristic is that there seems to always be a tinge of corruption involving the government as well. The latest: the airliner that crashed with the Brazilian soccer team.

Bolivian flight official claims coverup The official works at the airport where the flight took off and reportedly had rejected the flight plan for five different deficiencies, one of which was inadequate range of the aircraft without refueling. Yet it was a different airport organization that runs flight operations that "somehow" gave the flight to proceed in spite of the rejected flight plan. It turns out that the government official that authorized the company to fly (approval in 2015) is a relative of one of the airline officials. And, it turns out, that the company apparently was flying without flight insurance. A typical Bolivian case. What is interesting, and possibly pertinent to the next administration in the USA, is that the military folks are deep into a lot of enterprises, like this airline company and another.

Stay tuned.....