Dream: McDonald's Invaders

A quick and simple one.  Last night I dreamed that instead of those ordering screens in the lobby, McDonalds had video game machines that also let you order food.  You would play a level of a 3D Space Invaders style game, but with flying food instead of aliens.  You would attempt to only shoot the items you wanted to order.  If you successfully got through the level unscathed, you could submit the order and get 10% off the ticket.

This kept the line down at the counter, since most people wanted to play the game and get the discount.  Unfortunately, the line to the video game machines was pretty long, so people who were in a hurry still ordered at the counter.

Also, I slept in a barn, and discovered kittens under my bed.  Oh, and I went grocery shopping with Disney's animated Hercules.  But I don't remember much about that.

Dream: The Soulless

Some dreams are so good that I dream them more than once, with some variations.  Last night I went to see a Disney/Pixar movie that I had already seen in a previous dream.

It was basically a kid-safe zombie movie, though it was still very scary.  People were being turned into what they called "The Soulless" - bald, pale-skinned, mindless zombies who reminded me of the Darkseekers in 2007's "I Am Legend".  

The Soulless didn't eat people, they just grabbed them and turned them into more Soulless.  The Soulless were afraid of the light.  I don't think it actually damaged them, just caused them pain.  Or maybe light was just too bright, since they could see in the dark.  They would wander around aimlessly in the dark, until they detected a human, then they would converge on them.  

I say the movie was kid-friendly because it was animated, bloodless, and because nobody gets killed.  It ended with someone finding a cure, and everyone changing back to normal.  That said, it was still a very frightening movie due to how it was directed.  Plenty of suspense, lots of jump scares.  The animation reminded me of Onward or Frozen - CGI, and everyone has big, friendly eyes.  Even the Soulless were a little reminiscent of Casper, which dulled some of the scariness.

The theater I saw it in was interesting.  First off, it was absolutely freaking huge, like the kind of auditorium where you'd see a rock concert, with a monstrous IMAX-style screen.  Secondly, while the seating section closest to the screen was fairly standard, the back rows were on an incredibly steep incline, so that it was practically a vertical wall of seats.  No danger of anyone's head being in your way, ever.  

Oh, and the seats were extra wide, like loveseats.  Some people even brought blankets so they could stretch out and relax.  I'll tell you, I'd even be willing to watch Wayne's World 2 again if it was at a theater like this.

Anyway, dreams being what they are, sometimes I was in the movie, and other times I was just watching it.  Or a little of both - I was in the theater watching the movie, but the Soulless were attacking the theater itself.  I didn't get to see much of the movie itself this time, so I'm glad I'd already seen it in a previous dream.

Seuss, Potatoes, and Cancel Culture

I grew up on the periphery of Dungeons & Dragons.  Meaning that I never really played it, but I somehow wound up drawn to it in every other way.  I liked the dice, I liked the miniatures, I liked looking through the Monster Manuals... I just didn't have enough friends who were allowed to play it.

My best friend in elementary school came from a family of Christian fundamentalists.  His mother was especially devoted, and reminded me a lot of the mother in Carrie.  My friend had an Intellivision, while I had an Atari, so we had a lot of fun playing new games when we'd visit each other's houses.

I was jealous because there was a Dungeons & Dragons game for the Intellivision.  I asked him if he was going to get it, and he said, "My family isn't allowed to play Dungeons & Dragons."  I pressed him on that, and learned about all the kids who had gone crazy playing the game.  

Of course we now know this was all just an urban legend.  Supposedly there was a kid who jumped off a roof because he thought he could magically fly.  Basically an updated version of an older legend about a kid who tried to fly after reading a Superman comic.  

Now, I was sure the video game was nothing like the tabletop game, but my friend's family decided to play it safe, avoiding anything with the D&D branding.  Though oddly enough, they did allow him to watch the cartoon.  (A side note:  Decades later I did get to play the Intellivision D&D game, thanks to a collection on the Playstation.  It sucks, so I'm glad I didn't miss much.)

Anyway, this is actual Cancel Culture.  Thanks to an urban legend, I wasn't able to collect enough friends to give D&D a try.  The game was effectively cancelled for me, as it was impossible to play without friends.

Recently, Mr. Potato Head got a new branding.  The character will still be called "Mr. Potato Head", but the actual toy line will just be called "Potato Head".  They weren't pressured to do this because of pitchfork-wielding "SJW commie Liberals" or whatever, they did it because they thought more inclusivity would expand their market.  In other words, more girls will buy them.

Also recently, the company that publishes Dr. Seuss books decided to stop printing six of them, due to racist imagery.  I'd only heard of two of them.  One of them, "And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street", was a childhood favorite of mine.  I do hope that they edit the objectionable parts, so they can republish it someday.  But again, this was a business decision, from a company that wants to stay relevant.

And also recently, Warner Bros decided not to put Pepe Le Pew in the new Space Jam sequel.  If someone hadn't made a big stink about it (pun intended), I doubt most people would have noticed he wasn't there.  It seems kind of a random thing to complain about.  I mean, do you really expect every single Bug Bunny character to appear in every single Bugs Bunny cartoon?  I mean, there were 49 Road Runner shorts, none of which featured Elmer Fudd (as far as I know).  Is that also Cancel Culture?

Yes, Le Pew is problematic.  His older cartoons make light of sexual assault.  He's the Leisure Suit Larry of Loony Tunes, and I'm not surprised they want to phase out the character.  But it's still a company choosing not to include one character (out of hundreds of Looney Tunes characters) in an upcoming movie.  

If you really like Pepe Le Pew, feel free to get mad if/when they exclude his cartoons from future Loony Tunes DVD sets.  But you have nothing to get mad about right now.  He wasn't deleted from the movie, he just wasn't written into the movie.  And what do you want to bet that most of the people complaining never even planned to see Space Jam 2?

And also also also in recent news, in addition to the Muppet Warnings (which I already covered in an earlier blog), Disney+ is moving a couple of their animated movies out of the children's section of their app.  Not taking them down, just no longer putting them in the kid's section.  

None of these are Cancel Culture.  A company deciding not to continue publishing a product, is not the same as a book being banned.  A company relabeling a product isn't the same as taking it off the shelves.  A company deciding not to include a character in an upcoming movie isn't the same as erasing the character from history.  And content warnings are not censorship.

But when the religious right tries to make everyone live under their rules, effectively cancelling other religions so that there's is the only one left - That's the real Cancel Culture.  When someone says, "I find this movie offensive, so no one should be allowed to see it," that's Cancel Culture, and it's a lot more common among Conservatives than it is with Liberals.

I'm not saying people aren't easily offended these days.  There are a lot of people out there getting offended by things they probably shouldn't.  A few months ago I got reamed out on Twitter just for saying Barbara Gordon was my favorite Batgirl.  Apparently you're considered ableist if you don't think Babs belongs in a wheelchair.

Burger King came under fire recently from feminists, for tweeting a bad joke.  Except, I've heard feminists make the same joke in the past.  I'm one of the most feminist people I know*, but I do think people are going overboard here.  But that may just mean that I don't have the same life experiences as the offended parties.  There are some jokes that just get really old, really fast when they involve things that happen to you.  

(* Disclaimer: I'm not saying I'm a great feminist, I'm just saying I know a lot of really sexist people.)

I'm just sick of everyone pointing fingers at everyone else, when it's obvious both sides are just as brittle.  I'm sick of what used to be universal issues being split along party lines.  Everyone is offended, but everyone claims it's the other side that's too easily offended.  If you're a Liberal Democrat SJW, you're supposed to be offended by some of the Muppet humor that hasn't aged well.  If you're a Conservative Republican Christian, you're supposed to be offended by the warning labels before the Muppet show.  For some reason.

The thing is, getting offended because you think people are too easily offended... doesn't that seem hypocritical somehow?  (Side note: Is it hypocritical to write this blog, which is essentially me being offended by the hypocrisy of people getting offended by other people getting offended?  I'll have to say no, because I'm not the one claiming I never get offended.)

Instead of getting triggered by other people's "offensensitivity", maybe stop for a second, and try to see it from the other person's point of view.  So, you don't personally find the crows offensive in Dumbo.  But you're white.  Is it possible, at all, that the reason you don't find the crows offensive is because they aren't making fun of you?  Is it possible that the reason you're not offended by the Chinese caricature in a Dr. Seuss book, is because it's not making fun of you?  

And maybe you're thinking, "But if they made fun of white stereotypes, I'd laugh too.  Why can't they take a joke?"  Look, I could try to explain why "punching down" is bullying while "punching up" is satire.  But if you have to ask the question, you're not going to believe the answer.  You probably also don't believe in racial/sexual inequality or institutionalized bigotry, and I'm just not qualified to convince you.

But at the very least, don't be a hypocrite.  If you're going to gripe about other people being too sensitive, then you don't get to be triggered by Muppet warnings and rebranded Potatoheads.  At best it makes you look like a whiner, and at worst it makes you just as guilty as the people you accuse.

Disney+, Muppet Warnings, Gina Carano, Hypocrites and Immature Whiners

You've heard the news, The Muppet Show is now available on Disney+.  But the show now comes with a disclaimer about how certain aspects of the show might be offensive to modern audiences.  Of course, this is true of most TV shows more than 40 years old.  Society marches on, and values change.

The disclaimer is the best of both worlds, really.  It means Disney doesn't have to hunt through the episodes and edit out specific bits that might be problematic.  It also means fans won't whine about censorship. (Though some musical numbers have been deleted for rights issues.)  With this disclaimer, they can show the full, unedited episodes, and no one can say they weren't warned.

And yet, some people are still pissed off that there's a disclaimer.  They're still outraged at the whole "woke, politically correct, SJW bullshit" implied by it.  The warning only lasts about 7 seconds, but you would think it was seven seconds of Kermit peeing on a cross, judging by their reaction.  

They joke about how the woke crowd is "triggered" by whatever the vague warning is supposed to be warning us of, but they're the ones triggered by the existence of the warning.  It's really no different than movies having PG and R ratings, but for some reason it makes them foam at the mouth here.  

Yeah, it's another symptom of how divided we are now.  Everything has to be a political statement now.  If you show an ounce of compassion for anyone, anywhere, you're a commie pinko liberal socialist SJW.  Even if all you're doing is trying to warn people they might not like a TV program.

I'm not saying the warning was necessary.  In fact, it's so vague that I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to find offensive.  It serves to protect Disney more than anyone else, by saying "don't judge our values by this show."  It's a token gesture, nothing more.  But that's no reason to lose your mind over it.

In other Disney+ news, Gina Carano was fired from future Star Wars shows.  She's been on my radar for a while for her anti-transgender views, but apparently what sealed her fate was some anti-Semitic tweets.

Look, I'm a little torn about whether people should get fired for having crappy opinions.  Honestly, it does make me a little uncomfortable that people can be fired for "thoughtcrime".  It worked in my favor today, but what about tomorrow?  What if I'm fired because I like pineapple on pizza?

But there are opinions, and there are opinions.  It's one thing to say you hate chocolate, it's another thing to hate Jewish people.  And remember, we're talking about celebrities here.  High profile people.  It's not like they fired some copy editor.  The actors are the face of the company.

Disney has every right to cut ties with actors who might tarnish their image.  Yes, it's ironic that they fired Carano for anti-Semitism, when Walt Disney himself was reportedly anti-Semitic.  But that was a long time ago.

What really brings me here is the hypocrisy of those defending Carano.  When the Force Awakens came out, a certain segment of the internet complained that the two main protagonists weren't white males.  When Rogue One came out, the same people complained that it had a female lead.

And of course, those same people complained about Cara Dune.  A woman with m-m-m-muscles?  Or more likely, a woman who isn't specifically designed to cater to male fantasies?  We can't have that!  All female characters have to look good in a gold bikini!  Yes, she had her fans, but a good number of people called the Mandalorian "SJW trash" for showcasing a strong woman.

But when she came out as anti-Semitic, suddenly the same people loved her to death.  Think about that for a moment.  "I hate women, unless they're also bigots" is a hell of a take.  Again, I'm not saying it's right to fire someone over their beliefs.  But it is to be expected, when you're dealing with high profile people.  

If you think there's any chance you might be famous someday, you really need to watch what you Tweet.  Actually, better yet, watch what you believe.  We don't need more famous bigots.

Luck and Probability

One time when I was a kid, I was playing "Miner 2049er" on my Commodore 64.  There was this one particularly difficult board that I'd never gotten past.  I spent a long time playing that level over and over.  Finally, I made one really lucky jump, and finished the level.  I was so happy I said a short prayer.  "Thank you, God," I said, and the game immediately locked up.  It was frustrating but hilarious.

I don't believe in God, but occasionally I do see coincidences that make me wonder.  When these things happen, it's not that I actually ponder the existence of the literal Christian God, but more like I find myself thinking, "Someone's writing this."  That "someone" could be a known god of any given religion, or the programmer of an artificial universe, or really any sort of cosmic author archetype.

For example:  Back in the mid 90's, I was living in Kentucky, and very, very poor.  One month, I was unable to make my car insurance payment, and they cancelled my insurance.  It's illegal to drive without insurance in KY, but it's also impossible to feed your spouse without going to work, so I just had to hope I didn't get pulled over.

One night I was driving home from work, when I got pulled over.  Shit.  The officer said, "I was just letting you know you have a headlight out.  Can I see your license, registration, and proof of insurance?"  I handed him the license and registration.  I was just starting to say, "I don't have insurance" when the officer interrupted me.  "Is your car overheating?"  Steam was coming from my hood.

He handed my stuff back.  It was a cold night, so he let me sit in the back of the police car while my car cooled off.  We chatted about various things, and he completely forgot about my insurance.  The car eventually cooled down, and I was able to drive home without incident.  

The timing was so perfect, that it felt like God was protecting me.  On the other hand, helping someone break the law doesn't seem like God's style, but maybe he had plans for me that required me not being in trouble with the law.  Or maybe God recognized how unfair these laws can be for poor people.  Or maybe it was just a big honking coincidence.

The recent ice storm is what got me thinking about this.  If this had happened earlier in my life, I would have been screwed.  Maybe I would have missed work, leaving me with a short paycheck, unable to pay all the bills.  Maybe I would have been so incentivized to go to work anyway, that I would have wrecked on the way home.

But it happened at a time when I'm actually able to work from home.  Not only that, but even if my power had gone out, I work at a job where I can take paid time off for emergencies.  Plus it happened on a four day week, so that helped a little too.

If there is a god, apparently they still love me despite my atheism, and that's awesome.  But it feels less awesome when I look at those who aren't so lucky.  People are dying in Texas.  People who probably devoted a lot more of their lives to God than I have.

So why me?  Why am I supernaturally lucky?  The fact is, there are 8 billion people on this planet.  I don't think most people realize how big a number that is.  Heck, most people don't understand how big a million is.  The fact is, there are enough people on Earth that if a combination of events can happen, it will happen to someone.  

For every time a fortunate coincidence benefits someone, similar conditions lead to predictably tragic outcomes for millions of other people.  With numbers that high, the coincidence is no longer unlikely.  I mean, it's unlikely that I will personally win the lottery, even if I buy 100 tickets.  But it is likely that someone will win, given the millions of tickets sold.  Even in my own life, for every story about how I narrowly avoided an accident, I can give you another story about how I met an unlikely misfortune.

A member of my gaming group passed away recently.  I can't say I actually knew her.  I had played with her in five or six online sessions, but I never met her in person, nor have I ever seen her face.  But she seemed like a great person, and finding out about her death was like a punch in the stomach.

Before I go any further, let me say that I feel a bit skeevy using a friend's death to make a point in a random blog.  Especially when I don't know all the details.  But everyone grieves in their own way, and my way is to shake my fist at the world, getting my anger out in online rants.  

COVID-19 was a factor in her death.  I don't know if it was the main cause, or if it just worsened her existing health problems.  But if it weren't for COVID, I believe she would still be alive right now.  And yet, there's a vaccine for COVID, it just hasn't reached everyone yet.  

For every person who got out of a traffic ticket because a random event distracted the officer, a thousand people probably died of COVID when they were just weeks from getting the vaccine.  Dying from COVID was always a tragedy, but it seems especially tragic when we're this close to the finish line.  If not for a better distribution plan, many victims would be alive today.

You didn't think we'd get out of this without slinging some mud at Trump, did you?  But of course I blame Trump.  He's been out of office for over a month now, and people are still suffering for his lack of action over the past year.  If he'd enforced a real quarantine, or had an actual vaccine distribution plan, fewer people would be dying now.  

I'm not blaming Trump for every single COVID death in the US, but I do think at least a quarter of them would have been avoided if we'd had an actual functioning adult for president.  That's at least 125,000 deaths that could have been prevented if more people had voted responsibly.  

But because some of you are so afraid of immigrants and poor people, you just had to vote for someone who clearly didn't have the temperament to manage a crisis.  Thousands of deaths are on your hands, and if there is a god, there is no version of Christianity where you're going to come out on top.  Yes, I am angry.  I am pissed at the loss of my friend, as well as the thousands of other COVID victims who might be alive right now if Republicans actually followed the religion they claim to support.

But I digress.  My point is, for every amazing happy coincidence, there are many more tragic coincidences.  People love to point out the happy ones as evidence that God loves us, but handwave all the tragedies as "God's mysterious plan."  This is the equivalent of defending an abusive husband because he occasionally brings home flowers.

The truth is, either there is no God, or he's a total bastard.

Love, Hate, and Finger Pointing

I come across a lot of memes about how "hateful" Democrats are, claiming that Republicans are much more loving.  Some Republicans complain about how "the party of tolerance" is the one that's always cancelling people.  Republicans complain about BLM protests that get out of hand, but when a clearly right-wing mob storms the Capitol, suddenly the Republicans are full of excuses.

When Republicans talk about the vindictiveness of Democrats, my jaw drops open.  Are they watching the same news I'm watching?  (The answer is no.)  Are they visiting the same news sites?  (Again, no.)  There's a lot of finger pointing on both sides.  But the truth is, whichever side you're on, the other side is going to be hostile to you.

Whether a person is "good" or "bad" has very little to do with their political party.  If a group of Republicans beats up a gay person, or kills an abortion doctor, my Republican friends are quick to say "We're not all like that, don't judge all Republicans based on that one."  Likewise, if a Democrat rally turns violent, other Democrats will handwave it as being provoked.

A few years ago, a friend of mine told me about a group of GLBT protestors he'd seen.  He said that the protestors were very hateful and shouting obscene things, and it gave him a bad impression of GLBT people overall.  Now, I don't know the full context of that particular protest, but I imagine they were unpleasant because they'd been driven to it.  Years of bigotry lead to some very pissed off people.

Meanwhile, whenever I go to a Pride event, there's always a group of protestors nearby, shouting hateful things at the crowd.  Some of them carry signs that express sentiments like "God Hates Gays" or "Fornicators Will Burn In Hell".  Again, some of my friends tell me not to judge all religious people by these fringe idiots.  Other people think the protestors are being totally reasonable, helpful even, by trying to save people's souls.

I was raised Republican but eventually turned Democrat.  I've been on both sides of the fence.  I've seen angry Democrats speak out against my beliefs, and I've seen angry Republicans spit on my opinions.  Both sides look bad when you're on the opposite side, mainly because you're on the opposite side.  I will say that - having experienced both sides - Republicans tend to be much worse.  But your mileage may vary.

This is not an attempt to reach across the aisle.  In general, I believe there are good and bad people on both sides.  However, actual Republican policies are racist, classist, short-sighted, economically unsound, and often deadly.  To clarify - I'm not saying you have to be racist (for example) to be Republican, I'm saying that Republican policies tend to be racist, and the average Republican just doesn't realize it.

The point of this rant is, you should learn the difference between what people do for their party, and what people do because they're angry.  If someone yells at you for your beliefs, that's not because they're Republican, Democrat, Conservative, or Liberal.  People on every side yell.  If it seems like your opponents yell more often than your allies, well duh.  Of course your opponents are going to yell at you more than your allies will, you dipshit.

No matter what your political bent, you are always going to see more unpleasant people on the opposite side.  That is because they are on the opposite side.  The fact that people are yelling at you doesn't mean that everyone in their party is bad.  

So what does make people bad?  Well, we all have our own opinions on that.  Some people think I'm a bad person because I'm a Pro-Choice transgender atheist.  I think you're bad if you promote bigotry and disregard science.  Both sides think they're the party of love, and that the other side only promotes hate.  The truth is that we all focus our love on different things.  

But once you really start to research the sides, to see how certain policies affect certain people, and learn the basic human empathy it takes to see past your own nose, I think there's a clear winner.  An individual Republican may or may not be a hateful person.  But the policies they support are certainly hateful, whether they know it or not.  

And maybe that's what bothers me most - that with a just a little bit of unbiased research, they would realize they're on the wrong side.

Swarming The Capitol

I've been trying to post something about this since the 6th, but whenever I think about it, I get too angry to type.  I'm still pissed off enough to be incoherent, and I might jump around a lot.  But IDGAF, it's my blog.

January 6th was frightening.  By the end of the day, my Republican friends were split into two groups:  Those who said it must have been Antifa in disguise, and those who felt the whole thing was no big deal because it's a public building.

Both sides are idiots.  The Antifa angle is laughable - I mean, just check social media.  These fools are proud of what they've done, and they even posted selfies on Twitter.  Their Facebook feeds show years of supporting Trump.  To be fair, there was a Washington Times article early on that claimed some people had been identified as Antifa, but that claim was retracted later.  Funny how the correction didn't get spread as far as the original article.  It's almost like people believe what they want to believe.

Besides, the Antifa theory falls apart when you follow Trump's timeline - He invited them to DC, he held a rally, he told them to head for the Capitol.  This isn't up for debate.  We have the tweets, we have the video.  Even if every one of the crowd was really Antifa, they were still following Trump's orders.

And why would Anitfa rush the Capitol?  Their guy won the election.  Was it just to make Trumpers look bad?  Trumpers already look bad.  Dressing shit up like shit doesn't make it look more like shit.

But the "no big deal" crowd pisses me off more.  Here's a hint - if you have to break a window to get in, you're probably not welcome.  But the people who committed the crime bragged about it on Facebook, like they were unaware of having crossed a line.  I have family members who support them.  Everybody glosses over the deaths and the bombs, and claims that BLM caused more damage in their riots.

To anyone who thinks "no harm done", shame on you.  Four people died, more murders were attempted, bombs were found, and the perpetrators might be gearing up to do it again on inauguration day.

Now, you can argue that Trump didn't specifically tell people to break into the Capitol.  All he did was rile up an angry mob and tell them where to stand.  But here's the thing - As President, you can't say things like that.  There are 328 million people in this country.  That is a huge number.  When you're dealing with that many people, you can't just imply strong-arm tactics and expect all of them to know it's a metaphor.  If even 0.1% take you seriously, that's still 328 thousand people who think you just asked them to take the Capitol by force.

My Republican friends also argue about whether the Capitol riot was worse than the BLM riots.  Before we get into that, let's get a couple of things straight.  The majority of BLM protests were peaceful, and for the most part, only the violent ones made the news.  Of the violent ones, the police usually threw the first punch.  

But of the remaining BLM riots, the ones where BLM/Antifa/whatever were actually at fault - if any - I have thoughts about that.  I'm not going to say those riots were good or bad.  I'm not going to say they were justified, but I am going to say they were inevitable.  There's only so long you can poke someone with a stick before they retaliate.   

As a white person, I will never know what it's like to be that afraid of police.  To get pulled over for no reason, and then spend the next few minutes worried that any move you make will get you shot.  If I reach to get my registration out of the glove compartment, will the officer think I'm reaching for a gun?  Black people tell us their stories, but too many white people dismiss them.  "If I didn't see it, it didn't happen."  

They live in a different country than we do.  Privileged white Americans talk in hushed tones about other countries, where jackbooted officers spread fear instead of the safety you would expect from the police.  But they never realize it's also happening in their own country.  And they refuse to believe it, because they've had nothing but pleasant interactions with police.

I don't think all cops are bad, but I do think the system is structured in a way that gives the bad cops too much power.  The good cops are afraid to stand up to the bad ones, and over the years, some of them become corrupted as well.  It's not a character flaw, so much as an aspect of human nature that is exploited by the power structure.

And that's what I mean by riots being inevitable.  People like to think that they're above their baser instincts.  But at our core, we are still animals, and mob mentality is a real phenomenon.  You put enough angry people in a crowd, and one or two break a window, then suddenly you have hundreds of people breaking windows.  Sometimes the ones who break the first window aren't even part of that movement, and are just exploiting mob mentality to start a riot.  

So when Trump riled up his followers and  put them where they could do the most damage, it wasn't coincidence.  You can claim he didn't know what would happen, but he also understands mob mentality.  Charles Manson was one of the worst killers in history, but as far as we know, he never killed anyone with his own hands.  Trump is the same way.  He knows that if you put the right people in the right place, it just takes a little push.  He didn't know exactly what would happen, but he knew there was a good chance something would, and that he was far enough removed to deny it later.  

Who was the first one in the Capitol crowd to cross the line?  How did it go from "let's stand around and chant" to "let's head on in?"  Was the first one to advance secretly Antifa?  I doubt it, but again, it doesn't matter.  Because Trump is the one who poisoned people's minds then told them to head for the Capitol.  

Besides, given the bombs and whatnot, it's pretty obvious that the event was premeditated for at least part of the crowd.  So if that imaginary Antifa agent hadn't started the riot, someone else in the crowd would have.  Some of those Trumpers had an agenda, and to deny that is insane.

I'm currently reading the manga adaptation of the Star Wars novel "Lost Stars".  I know I said this five years ago when I read the actual novel, but it does a great job of showing how bad guys can think they're the good guys.  It shows how minds can be changed through misinformation, and how once an ideology takes root, it's hard to weed it back out.  

One of the Imperial characters is from Alderaan.  When the Death Star blows up his homeworld, it only strengthens his resolve.  Yes, he's distraught and angry, but he focuses his ire on the Rebellion for forcing the Empire to take such drastic measures.  And if Trump were to personally blow up California tomorrow, his followers would praise him for eliminating the Liberal threat.  

My mom and my brother argued on Facebook about why it isn't fascism for Twitter to ban Trump's account.  Seriously?  Trump spent four years violating Twitter's terms of service.  He only got away with it because Twitter was afraid of him.  I've had friends on Twitter get suspended for ridiculously small violations; why should the president be above the rules?

I love how Twitter and Facebook have been putting disclaimers on certain memes lately.  "This is Disputed" and whatnot.  But this feature came years too late.  The ideology has taken root, and people only want to believe what their candidate says.

Here's what I want from the next four years: 

From the Republicans, I want them to separate the Trumpers from the real Republicans.  I've been saying for four years now that Trump isn't Republican, and that the best thing Republicans can do is to distance themselves from Trump.  That has become a necessity.  If the Republicans want their party to survive, they have to cut all ties now.  

From the Democrats, I want a war on disinformation.  The seeds of this insurrection started when Obama was elected.  Racists were so angry that this black man - a man so obviously beneath them - was in charge of the country and actually doing a good job.  So they turned to Fox News, who always had some "Obama is evil" story that made them feel better about themselves.  

It didn't matter that half of Fox's reports got debunked by Snopes.  Fox viewers turned it around, claimed that Snopes itself had been "debunked" somehow, despite Snopes always posting their sources.  Other fact-checking sites joined the fight, but Fox watchers ignored them and kept on lying.

Then Trump ran for president.  The first time he labeled a reputable news source as "Fake News", it was the beginning of the end.  After years of having their brains turned into mush by Fox News, Republicans were highly susceptible to the idea that "only news I agree with is accurate."

I'm tired of Fox News and similar programs being allowed to spread misinformation.  I'm tired of websites that use loopholes to present opinions as facts.  I'm tired of people reposting memes that support their argument, while refusing to make sure the meme is accurate.

If Biden accomplishes nothing else in the next four years, I want him to make the news accurate again.  I want news outlets to be required to vet their sources.  I want more libel and slander lawsuits.  I want severe punishments for news programs that refuse to do fact checks.  

And yes, I know.  To a Republican, what I'm saying probably sounds like I want Liberals to control the information.  But I'm not encouraging news programs to follow any particular slant.  I just want them to be required to tell the truth.  If that sounds like silencing Conservative voices, that's only because reality skews Liberal.