Tonight, we avoid the rocky shoals of paranoia, and find clear sailing through the Gulf of Sports.

I saw in my newsfeed where the Washington Redskins hired the former coach of the Carolina Panthers to coach the team next year. It is another “usual suspects” hiring. I wish Coach Rivera well. The larger questions are “Will there be football in 2030? And, if yes, who will play and coach the game, humans or robots and supercomputers?

Given the physical punishment to the body, especially head trauma, will fewer and fewer parents want their children to play football? Will the appeal of robotics introduce itself into the sport, as AI, robotics, virtual reality, and computer gaming make more inroads into our habits of leisure.

Look for remote controlled drones playing certain positions. A drone pass receiver could have pass patterns programmed into it. Consider that.

I think these are the last days of football played by humans. The machines are coming.

My brother was paranoid about what the government, any government, local, national, or foreign,could or might do. He had his reasons and for six years, he was a spook in one of The Navy’s spook departments.

Paranoid stories begin to take on a life of their own. When I begin to dismiss a paranoid thought, e.g, my post President Pelosi, the contingent factors broaden. What foreign power could the domestic perpetrators blame the assassination on? The ripples ever broaden across the pond.

What one has to understand is that this government, ruled by laws, works only to the extent that its citizenry, including the political, military and civil service establishments, are willing to follow the rule of law. It’s that simple.

If bad actors within a government want to subvert or ignore popular will, very little can stop them. Brexit is an excellent example.

If anyone thinks the Democrats and their allies are going to let Donald Trump be re-elected, they are incredibly naïve.

The impeachment will fail. Trump will be acquitted. What is left? Assassination of both Trump and Vice President Pence. Pence will be poisoned to give the appearance he died of natural causes. Trump will be violently assassinated by one of the hired killers to whom John Brennan, former CIA Director, has access.

That makes Nancy Pelosi President. She will use the tools of control already available to imprison or otherwise neutralize potential opponents. The Never Trumpers will be bought off with a Mitt Romney appointment as the  new Vice President. The ability of supercomputer surveillance of the population will be made fully evident. The Social Security system will be weaponized to suppress dissent. Disagree? Lose your Social Security. Marijuana and other recreational drugs will be legalized by Executive Order. They will serve as a valuable tool in social control. The drug gangs will suddenly have legitimacy.

The Supreme Court will be imprisoned under the pretense of a national emergency.

Firearms will be shown to be useless in playing a part in resistance. The new Civil War will be a cyber war.

The National Emergency Charade will eliminate dissent. A civil service bureaucracy will reward Democratic Party members.

Who needs an electoral victory in November? We could lose this free Republic in a matter of weeks. Paranoid? Yeah.

This is the 8th day of the Octave of Christmas. So there is a Solemn High Mass, honoring The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Our Lord.

I went to Mass this morning. It was a Christmas celebration for those who missed the first one or just wanted a reprise. There was incense, lovely fragrant incense, and Latin chants of the sung portions of the Mass, Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, et. al. And the church is A sanctuary for beauty, stained glass windows, marble statuary, frescoes, and terrazo work. I need this beauty. From it, I regain a modicum of sanity and serenity.

No, I don’t want to argue about the Truth of Catholicism, the corruption within the Church, both financial and sexual, or Her policy positions on a myriad of subjects. There is the time when I need the serenity and the peace. I don’t think I am alone.

The five saints are Augustine, Gregory, Benedict, Jerome, and Ambrose. the figures in relief are the Apostles present at The Last Supper, plus Judas Iscariot (not in my picture).

Our current priest doesn’t celebrate the Mass, ad orientam. Hence the low altar is used.

I just can’t sleep. I’m physically exhausted. I just can’t let go of being awake. I don’t get it.

One hour and forty minutes into 2020 and I find it looks a lot like 2019. I can remember when The Old Year was represented by a white-bearded Father Time carrying a scythe. The New Year was a baby wearing a diaper and a sash bearing the number of the new year. I don’t see those two figures very often any more.

I just made a pot of decaf. I am watching old Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes cartoons. I must have seen these cartoons countless times over my lifetime. This particular collection has a lot of World War Two themed cartoons with Bugs, Daffy, Porky and Elmer giving der Führer what for.

J has been resting well with the kidney stone. It must have shift to a less irritating position.

I could be just plain old bored. I don’t want to sleep because something interesting might come along and I would miss it. That and the tears are always pressing against my eyes but never forthcoming.

Happy New Year.

Kidney stone. J is miserable. She is upstairs with a heating pad and all the pain relief acetaminophen can afford, thanks to the government policy that keeps pain-relieving drugs out of the hands of the suffering.

This is the Horatio Greenough statue of Washington, completed around 1835. Greenough was the first academically trained American sculptor yet this work has consistently met with ridicule. (I don’t know why?!)

Here are some modern takes on this oeuvre.

There is tons O’Fun available with this,