Reflecting on Babylon 5's Crusade (or Rearranging the Chairs on the Deck of the Titanic)

With the reboot of Babylon 5 on the horizon for a possible debut in Fall of 2022.  I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the failed attempts to expand the original universe back in the day. In 2007 Babylon 5: The Lost Tales was an attempt to do direct to home video stories, but the home video market was in flux and creator J. Michael Straczynski was disappointed with the outcome and didn’t want to do anymore low budget revivals. In 2002 SciFi Channel attempted a spin off series called Babylon 5: Legend of the Rangers. Set three years after the original five-year arc and focused on a misfit crew of Rangers on beat up ship. The pilot movie, “To Live and Die in Starlight,” was well cast with great characters and had potential. Sure, it had a few missteps here and there, but it was a stronger pilot than its original parent series had almost a decade earlier.

And then there was 1999’s Crusade.

Plagued by network interference that led to it being cancelled prior to the first episode being broadcast, it has created a very mixed response from fans. I’m a fan that loves the show. It was extremely well cast. The characters were compelling. The basic premise of a prototype spaceship looking for the cure to a plague that was deliberately visited on Earth by its enemies was an interesting hook. Some people hated the premise, but most fans knew it was just a way to get into the new five-year arc. We know it would change drastically since we saw in the series finale of Babylon 5, which was set 14 years after the events of Crusade, that Earth is doing just fine. Even the creator said the plague would be cured during season two, and that the main thrust of the story would revolve around the dark discoveries made while in search for the cure.

Crusade was set up by “A Call to Arms,” the last tv movie made during the fifth and final season of Babylon 5, and I maintain that if you take that “pilot” movie and the thirteen episodes produced and compare them to the original Babylon 5 pilot, “The Gathering,” and it’s first 13 filmed episodes, then Crusade, even with all the network interference, stands taller than its processor and is full of more potential.

Crusade star Gary Cole as Capt. Gideon

Babylon 5 has been a tough sell to fans for years. Initially dismissed as a low budget Star Trek rip off, only the very literary sci-fi fans seemed to embrace the show and that was because of its promise of a novel for television with a pre-planned story arc. Creatively there were stumbles but overall, it achieved its goal. The result was fantastic to anyone who had stuck with it.

It was the little space station that could.

Since Straczynski had done the impossible, he was going to try it again. I think Crusade would have been even better. He had done it once and learned a lot. With this second story he could apply what he had learned and craft a better story. But alas, TNT had other ideas. While initially thrilled with Babylon 5 ratings (they showed the first re-runs as well as the first broadcast of season 5), they realized the show was not growing an audience. The Babylon 5 viewers that tuned in did not stick around for their other shows and the regular viewers tuned out when Babylon 5 was on. However, they realized this too late, they had already committed to Crusade.

A lot of things happened behind the scenes that disrupted production and eventually led to its stillborn debut. If you are interested, you can read about it in Straczynski’s autobiography Becoming Superman. The behind-the-scenes debate is not what this blog is about.

It’s about the nerdiest of the nerdy. A recommended viewing order for new viewers of Crusade.

Periodically, Babylon 5 finds its way to new viewers. This year it popped up on HBOMax, last year it was running on Comet TV, prior to that it was on Amazon Prime. Sometimes the pilot movie is included, but the four tv movies that were filmed during seasons 4 and 5 are usually not, nor is the Legend of the Rangers pilot, The Lost Tales or Crusade. The fans that stick with it and get hooked (and if you stick with it, you will get hooked) eventually go searching out the movies and Crusade on DVD. But the behind-the-scenes drama resulted in a sometimes-confusing watchlist.

Here is the “Original Broadcast/DVD” order of the episodes (the numbers in parenthesis are the production order):

00. A Call to Arms
01. War Zone (108)
02. The Long Road (107)
03. The Well of Forever (106)
04. The Path of Sorrows (109)
05. Patterns of the Soul (110)
06. Ruling from the Tomb (111)
07. The Rules of the Game (112)
08. Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
09. Racing the Night (103)
10. The Memory of War (102)
11. The Needs of Earth (101)
12. Visitors from Down the Street (104)
13. Each Night I Dream of Home (105)

This order is NOT recommended by fans even those of us who watched it unfold in this order over three months in the summer of 1999. Here is a little back story on production without getting into too much of the tall grass of the behind-the-scenes drama.

Matheson (Daniel Day Kim) & Gideon in the original costumes.

The first five produced episodes (101-105) were intended to be the first five broadcast but ended up being the last five. TNT put the show on production hiatus after the first five episodes and requested changes including replacing the stiff gray uniforms with new more comfortable looking black costumes. However, they also mandated a new first episode WITH the new costumes. The show went back to filming with two completed scripts (106-107) while a new series opener was created (108), then filming continued (109-112) while an episode was created to explain the costume changes (113) another episode was set to be filmed that would explain the change back (114). At this point the plan was to air the new premier (108) a couple of episodes including the episode explaining the uniform changes (107 and 113) then the “first five” with the original gray uniforms (101-105) then the episode explaining the change back to the black uniforms (114) then proceed at pace with the remainder of episodes (106, 109-112, 115-122).

Then TNT cancelled the show before broadcasting a single episode. Production ended with 113, so the broadcast batch was stuck with the new premiere (108) all the remaining post hiatus episodes (106, 107, 109-113) and finally the first five (101-105).

This caused continuity issues:

Gideon and Lockley first meet twice in “Each Night I Dream of Home” (105) and again “Ruling from the Tomb” (111) The former was “fixed” at the last minute with a looped line of dialogue (I’ll talk about this more later).

A nano virus shield was used in “Patterns of the Soul” (110) before it was discovered in “The Memory of War” (102).

On screen dates of May 13^th in “Visitors from Down the Street” (104) and June 5^th in “Ruling from the Tomb” (111) have the episodes in reverse order.

In “The Memory of War” (102) the Apocalypse Box warns Gideon not to trust Galen after his actions in “The Well of Forever” (106) instead of before.

This doesn’t even count the contradiction between the new first episode “War Zone” (108) and the dream sequence/memory/flashback of Gideon getting command in “Racing the Night” (103) which I will also address later.

When Sci-Fi Channel got the rights to re-run Crusade, Straczynski provided a new order for the show to broadcast. It ignored continuity of the costumes and stuck the mandated episodes at the end of the run.

Gideon in "Visitors from Down the Street"

This is the Straczynski/Sci-Fi Channel Broadcast order:

01. Racing the Night (103)
02. The Needs of Earth (101)
03. The Memory of War (102)
04. The Long Road (107)
05. Visitors from Down the Street (104)
06. The Well of Forever (106)
07. Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
08. Patterns of the Soul (110)
09. The Path of Sorrows (109)
10. Ruling from the Tomb (111)
11. The Rules of the Game (112)
12. War Zone (108)
13. Appearances and Other Deceits (113)

This order did build a better audience for the network than the TNT order, but fans, again, do NOT recommend it for new viewers since the last two episodes are the “new premiere” and the episode that explains the costume changes at the end. It’s bewildering to those who don’t know the events behind the scenes creating more continuity issues than the ones it fixes. According to Straczynski was “best from a story point of view, even though it means some visual inconsistencies in terms of unexplained costume changes.” He may be the “great maker,” but the continuity havoc kills any verisimilitude for me and takes me right out of the story.

Another order later emerged for the Official Babylon 5 Chronology.

00. A Call to Arms
01. War Zone (108)
02. The Long Road (107)
03. Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
04. The Memory of War (102)
05. The Needs of Earth (101)
06. Racing the Night (103)
07. Visitors from Down the Street (104)
08. Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
09. The Path of Sorrows (109)
10. Ruling from the Tomb (111)
11. Patterns of the Soul (110)
12. The Well of Forever (106)
13. The Rules of the Game (112)

Straczynski endorsed this version among several others. 

It appeared in the Official Babylon 5 Chronology. The author explained the running order was changed to fill Straczynski’s desire to have the first five incorporated episodes from the post hiatus break.

There is also a version that also includes unproduced scripts which were published briefly online and in the Crusade script books but many viewers (especially first timers) won’t have access the scripts.  

Initially this version fixes some continuity errors, but several stubbornly remain:

It fixes the nanovirus shield issue (102/110) and the Apocalypse Box warning (102/106).

Gideon & Lochley (Tracy Scoggins) in "Each Night I Dream of Home"

However, Gideon and Lochely still meet in “Each Night I Dream of Home” (105) and appear to know each other, but then meet for the first time in “Ruling from the Tomb” (111), thanks to the looped dialogue that was used to fix the issue initially.

“Racing the Night” (103) still starts with a dream/memory that contradicts new premiere, “War Zone” (108). The grey uniforms disappear without explanation after 101-105.

There are some other viewing order versions floating around on the internet but these three are the most prevalent.

This brings us to the first of my two suggested viewing orders. The first one I will call:  “Altered Production” Order:

00. A Call to Arms
01. War Zone (108)
02. Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
03. The Memory of War (102)
04. The Needs of Earth (101)
05. Racing the Night (103)
06. Visitors from Down the Street (104)
07. Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
08. Well of Forever (106)
09. Long Road (107)
10. The Path of Sorrows (109)
11. Patterns of the Soul (110)
12. Ruling from the Tomb (111)
13. Rules of the Game (112)

I start by putting all the episodes in production order. The reason is very simple. While *some* episodes are intentionally filmed out of order, for the most part shows are made in the order they should be seen so the actors play the process and not the result. The network mandates threw a lot of that out the window with Crusade so that leaves me with an altered version of the production order.

Then, I move the ones that *have* to be moved. The new introduction episode “War Zone” (108) must be first right after “A Call to Arms” and “Appearances and Other Deceits” (113) must go before all the gray uniform episodes (101-105). Next, we flop 101 and 102. The recording Natchak Var hears of Dr. Chambers in “The Needs of Earth” (101) appears to be referring to “The Memory of War” (102), which makes sense if you consider the original broadcast order was supposed to be 103, 102 then 101 to start the series (more on that below).

With this new order, fixed is the “Nano-Virus Shield” which requires “The Memory of War” (102) be before “Patterns of the Soul” (110) Also fixed the order of on screen dates of May 13^th in “Visitors from Down the Street” (104) and June 5^th in “Ruling from the Tomb” (111) and now in “The Memory of War” (102) the Apocalypse Box warns Gideon not to trust Galen before his actions in “The Well of Forever” (106).

It’s still not perfect.

The grey uniforms abruptly disappear without explanation, but it’s easy to assume they are dumped off screen, also not irrational since Gideon hated them.

We still have the issue of Gideon and Lochley meeting in “Each Night I Dream of Home” (105) and appearing to know each other, but then meeting for the “first time” in “Ruling from the Tomb” (111) but I rationalize this as Lochley is frustrated and distracted when Gideon walks up to her in the latter episode. Either way it makes far more sense for “Rules of the Game” (113) to be their last meeting (unlike the original broadcast order which has it before “Each Night I Dream of Home” (105) since the feeling in that episode is one of emotional distance.)

Crusade cast with the revised costumes.

Problematic in *any* list is “Racing the Night” (103). It was originally intended to be the series premiere after “A Call to Arms” and starts with a dream/memory/flashback that contradicts the new mandated series opener: “War Zone” (108). However, it has some wiggle room. The events in the dream that take place on Babylon 5 could have happened after “War Zone,” but because it was a dream it could be mingled with memories of seeing The Excalibur for the first time at Mars. The events are real but jumbled and mixed up in the dream like haze. Not an irrational leap (certainly less so than the other rationalizations) plus if Gideon was on Babylon 5, it would explain meeting Lochley and them appearing to know each other in “Each Night I Dream of Home” (105).

Note: There is a temptation to move “Racing the Night” (103) to the third slot, since it was originally intended to be the first episode, but the creation of “War Zone” (108)  makes that mostly moot plus it would seem abrupt for Dr. Chambers to go from seeing a softer side of Max in “Appearances and Other Deceits” (113) only to call him “king of the pig people” in Racing the Night (103)  So a few episodes including one with the alien porn in “The Needs of Earth” (101) allows for a reset for her view of his character.

This brings me to my second recommended viewing order. I call it “Alternate Production Order” (for Alternating Order):

00. A Call to Arms
01. War Zone (108)
02. Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
03. The Memory of War (102)
04. Long Road (107)
05. The Needs of Earth (101)
06. The Path of Sorrows (109)
07. Racing the Night (103)
08. Patterns of the Soul (110)
09. Visitors from Down the Street (104)
10. Ruling from the Tomb (111)
11. Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
12. Well of Forever (106)
13. Rules of the Game (112)

Most lists (unless they ignore continuity) do one of two things. Either have the gray uniform episodes (101-105) last after “Appearances and other Deceits” (113) (like the original broadcast) or move them up as far as possible and have the gray uniforms vanish unexplained off screen (I do that myself in the “Altered Production Order”).

This thinking has hemmed in viewers to two options both of which result in continuity issues. However, there is one obvious way to get around this that no one seems to have thought of. In fact, it never really occurred to me until I was watching seaQuest DSV (ironic since it looks like the mandated TNT uniforms appear modeled after the first season black uniforms on that show). On that series we would see the crew wearing different uniforms (tan and black in the first season). At first it seemed mission specific, so that would not translate to Crusade, but then it would vary, sometimes in the same episode. So, I thought, why assume an “all or nothing” attitude to the uniforms post “Appearances and Other Deceits” (113)? If we can assume they simply vanish off screen as some lists do, then why can’t we make an equally valid assumption that they chose to alternate between the two uniforms?

seaQuest DSV

This led me to an alteration to the “Altered Production Order” where we alternate the gray and black uniforms episodes implying that the new uniforms are worn part of the time and the regular uniforms are also warn part of the time after “Appearances and Other Deceits” (113). Since 114 was never produced to transition back it’s not a stretch to assume both versions could be used. The real military has various classes of duty uniforms. Plus, it would free up room to fix other issues.

We start with my “Altered Production Order.”

First we move “Ruling from the Tomb” (111) between “Visitors from Down the Street” (104) and “Each Night I Dream of Home” (105) fixing the Gideon/Lockley meeting AND keeps the on-screen dates in the correct order.

Cole on set after the hiatus

Next, we fill in the gaps between the grey uniform (“first five”) episodes by moving up episodes using the production numbers except for “Well of Forever” (106), which I will cover below.

Long Road (107) moves up behind The Memory of War (102).

Path of Sorrows (109) moves up behind Needs of Earth (101).

Patterns of the Soul (110) moves up behind Racing the Night (103)

The reason for moving those three up and not “Well of Forever” (106) is that the aliens scanned by Matheson in “The Needs of Earth” (101) and “Visitors from Down the Street” (104) are the ones Mr. Jones mentions in “Well of Forever” (106) meaning it must go after “Each Night I Dream of Home” (105) since “Ruling from the Tomb” (111) has already taken the slot between “Visitors from Down the Street” (104) and “Each Night I Dream of Home” (105). It keeps it closer to production order and keeps it well after “The Memory of War” (102) when the Apocalypse Box warns Gideon not to trust Galen.

We are out of gray uniform episodes, so we end with “Rules of the Game” (112) which has a nice symmetry since it ends with a shot of Babylon 5.

So, there you have it. If you dig my two options or hate them, let me know.

A quick shout out to another blogger whose posts inspired this blog and my examination of the viewing order list. He goes into far more details on alternate viewing orders and even does a watch through on his favorite version (one not listed here). You can check it all out here: https://greysector.wordpress.com/2016/03/18/crusade-the-continuity-order-watch-through/

Also check out another blogger who did a far more detailed re-working of Babylon 5’s first season viewing order, which was also a big influence on this piece. https://b5season1order.wordpress.com/

Yes, sometimes obsession and too much time on my hands are a bad combination. I should seek treatment.

 

Why lie about Trump's accomplishments?

I have watched several variations of this post pop up on my timeline by people who copied and pasted it.

The problem is that it is excrement of a bovine nature.

Here is the post:

************

“I am making this post so it will show back up as a future memory on my timeline: Today is 2 days after the 2020 election with still no winner declared due to corruption.

Gasoline is currently $1.88 per gallon and $2.08 per gallon diesel.

The stock market closed at 27,848, even though we have been fighting the COVID for 9 months. Our GDP growth for the 3rd Qtr was 33 percent.

We had the best economy ever until COVID and it is recovering well.

We have not had any new wars or conflicts in the last 4 years.

North Korea has been under control and has not been testing any missiles.

Isis has not been heard from for over 3 years.

Interest rates are 2.78 percent for a 30 year mortgage. The housing market is the strongest it has been in years.  Homes have appreciated at an unbelievable rate and sell well.

What is next for our country is scary and i worry for my child’s future.

Copy and pasted

Let’s see what it’s like 1 year from now.

This is so true. I don’t understand why people can’t see this. The funny thing is the people who hate President Trump have no idea why they hate him. He is not a perfect man but he loves God, our military, police officer’s, unborn children, and our country. Plus he is a brilliant business man. I’m praying that God will show mercy on our country once again”

***********

OK, let’s break this turd down.

“still no winner declared due to corruption.”

The delay is actually because of the unusually high volume of mail in ballots, due to the pandemic…

https://6abc.com/us-election-vote-count-2020-presidential-allegheny-county-clark/7675708/#:~:text=As%20eager%20Americans%20sit%20on%20the%20edge%20of,machine%2C%20being%20processed%20and%20counted%20on%20the%20spot.

… in fact, the biggest threat to our election is not “corruption” but misinformation (like this post, which was probably originally written by a Russian operative).

https://who13.com/news/politics/secretary-pate-biggest-election-threat-is-misinformation/

“Gasoline is currently $1.88 per gallon and $2.08 per gallon diesel.”

Gas prices are low because of COVID, in April gas prices were under a dollar per gallon and dropping…

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/04/18/gas-prices-2020-coronavirus-lowest-gasoline-prices-covid-19/5160056002/

…internationally, crude oil prices dropped on $0 per barrel for the first time in history on April 20^th due to the pandemic. It had nothing to do with Trump.

https://abc7news.com/what-does-negative-oil-prices-mean-live-crude-price-in-dollar-will-gas-go-down-to-how-much-drop/6118783/

“We had the best economy ever until COVID”

Trump inherited economy from Obama… https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/2c298bda-8aee-4923-84a3-95a54f7f6e6f/did-trump-create-or-inherit-the-strong-economy-final.pdf

… and ruined it by going 1.9 trillion in debt for tax cuts to the rich resulting in a poor GDP to debt ratio that lead to the recession started *BEFORE* lockdown/COVID.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/us-recession-started-in-february-researchers-say

The stock market is not the economy. A Wall Street recovery is less and less linked to a Main Street recovery.

https://www.salon.com/2020/11/02/the-stock-market-is-not-the-economy_partner/

“Our GDP growth for the 3rd Qtr was 33 percent” sounds great but it is misleading. It fell 31.4 percent in the second quarter (the largest shrinkage on record), so most of that was regaining ground from most people going back to work after lockdown. Actual growth from where we started would only be 1.6 percent.

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2020/10/3a96396360b5-urgent-us-economy-grows-record-331-in-3rd-qtr-after-plunge-amid-pandemic.html

“North Korea has been under control and has not been testing any missiles.”

Not even close, there have been over 32 North Korea missile tests during Trump’s four years in office. The most recent was in March of this year. (FYI there were 7 in all 8 years of the Obama Administration.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_North_Korean_missile_tests

“Isis has not been heard from in three years.”

There have been 40 Isis attacks in the last three years resulting in appx 1,600 deaths and over 2,350 wounded.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_linked_to_ISIL

“Interest rates are 2.78 percent for a 30 year mortgage.  The housing market is the strongest it has been in years.  Homes have appreciated at an unbelievable rate and sell well.”

As us usually done in bad economic times, to get people to borrow money to spend, interest rates were cut by the Federal Reserve. This was done in March due to COVID. For the first time ever, it was cut to .01 percent…

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/15/economy/federal-reserve/index.html

… mortgage rates were cut as well resulting in a temporarily stronger than average housing market…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/mortgage-rates-are-down-due-to-covid-19-should-you-refinance/ar-BB11H7ZZ

… which may even lead to a housing bubble that may burst and cause harm to our future economy (2008 anyone?).

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-09-25/there-s-a-housing-bubble-lurking-in-the-recession

“He’s a brilliant businessman” No, not really.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/as-a-businessman-trump-was-the-biggest-loser-of-all

“The funny thing is the people who hate President Trump have no idea why they hate him.”

Nope I know exactly why I hate him because he’s a racist, sexist, incompetent, venal, greedy con man sexual predator who traffics in conspiracy theories and transactional ethics. I hate him because he embarrasses me when he alienates our allies abroad and cozies up to dictators and most of all I hate liars and he LIES more than any politician ever in the history of our country. That is not hyperbolic exaggeration but actual counted, documented, verifiable, blatant lies.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/factcheck/fact-checker-president-trump-made-19127-false-or-misleading-claims-in-1226-days/ar-BB14RCpH

 

Four ways to fix the government

 First eliminate the Electoral College.

Conservatives whine that they do not want to get rid of it because they don't want to be ruled by decisions of people in New York and California. Which seems bigoted. Those are both large and diverse states. It is code for “liberal” but truthfully, they are more mixed politicly than most states in the conservative South. Proof it is bigoted: They don’t mention Texas which has 10 million more people than New York, but it is conservative, so it works against their argument.

The problem with the EC is just that it flips their concern around giving more power to 1-3 swing states. In 2000 a mere 537 votes in Florida counted more than the 543,816 nationwide votes.

In 2016 they credit the upsets in Wisconsin (122,748 vote difference), Pennsylvania (44,292) and Michigan (10,704) as why Clinton lost. Meaning 177,744 votes spread across three states counted more than the almost 3 million nationwide votes.

There is something intrinsically broken here in terms of representation when one party has gotten the most votes in 4 of the last 5 elections but "lost" 3 out of those same 5.

 

Second Make the Senate Representational.

If the country had a senate based on population it would better represent the country. California’s senators represent almost 20 million people each, while Wyoming’s senators represent 286,191 each. That’s slightly less than a 1:80 ratio. The lack of representation extends out like ripples in a pond. Even though they have a majority, Republicans they represent 15 million less Americans than their Democratic colleagues and using this majority they denied Obama (who actually got the most votes) a SCOTUS selection giving Trump the opportunity to select his third. That means a 6th GOP justice (making the court 6-3) will be nominated by president who lost the popular vote by almost 3 million votes and will be confirmed by senators representing 15 million less Americans.

This is not representational government.  It’s tyranny of the minority.

  

Third Eliminate Gerrymandering.

Gerrymandering is redrawing political districts in states to favor one party over the other. Both parties do it (although republicans do it more), and they do it to keep “safe” seats. But the problem with “safe” seats is both complacency and intractability. Eliminating gerrymandering means elected officials must change with the times as issues evolve and make compromises to appeal to voters across the political spectrum. They must address issues at a local level instead of nationalizing local elections. This will reduce extremes in both parties, which reduces rhetoric and fosters cooperation since they have to win the votes of a cross section of society and not just a sampling of their own party.

 

Fourth Reinstate the Fairness Doctrine (and make sure it extends to internet outlets).

Instated in 1949 by the FCC to ensure honest, equitable and balanced presentation of controversial issues, the fairness doctrine was eliminated by Reagan in 1987. This gave rise to infotainment of Fox News and Conservative Talk Radio. This has led to people getting information not based on truth or accuracy but rather what they are comfortable with based on their implicit biases. Sadly, when given an option many people will not base their opinions of facts (as it should be) but rather seeking out information that reinforces their existing beliefs even if it is not true. Over the decades it has been weaponized. Legitimate media has been vilified by propaganda. Science and provable facts have been repeatedly ignored. Foreign adversaries have used social media to take advantage of it putting out misinformation. Websites like The Blaze and Breitbart put out information to create division and resentment sometimes using false information and other times using true information but taking it out so of context that it can be interpreted as meaning the opposite of what it actually says.  This type of Infotainment has resulted conservatives demonizing the left so completely that people believe we are pedophiles that are trafficking children in pizza parlor basements and drinking their blood to stay young. That is an actual conspiracy theory on the right. It has gone mainstream with actual representatives saying they believe it and actual office holders refusing to denounce it. Nonsense this extreme would not have reached a national level if the Fairness Doctrine were still in effect.

Being on the right side of history

 As I said before, I would much rather be posting about sci-fi, writing, tv, comics, movies, and books but because Trump is such an existential danger to our country and the Constitution, I have to speak out. I used to *only* post about those things. But now...

A little while ago local photographer mocked me sarcastically saying he could see I was changing so many minds. Make no mistake my feelings were not hurt, because his barely literate posts revealed that he was not burdened with an over abundance of education or understanding. But he made a point (probably by accident).

I'm not changing minds.

If you care more about party than country you will still vote for Trump no matter the number of laws violated. No matter how much of the Constitution is violated. No matter how much our credibility abroad is diminished. No matter how many lies are told. No matter how many lives are lost. You will gobble up the untrue smears against BLM, Antifa, scientists and journalists. No matter how many people are murdered, no matter how emboldened the white supremacists become, no matter what facts are provided, no matter the sources sighted or recordings exist.

I really do believe that Dr. King was right and that the arc of our history of our country, while long, will bend toward justice. Depending on how this election and the next few years unfold, it may be decade, or a generation, or a century, but eventually, people will look back at this Administration and see what we see when we look back at Nixon, or McCarthy, or with the current revelation of forced sterilization in ICE detentions centers, possibly even Hitler (without it being hyperbole).

However, the question persists: Why continue when it falls on deaf ears (or due to unfollowing or unfriending is simply "preaching to the choir")?

A.J. Muste nailed it with this quote when he was asked a similar question by a reporter.

Twenty years of propaganda has led to hate... and Trump.

 I miss posting about comics, sci-fi, writing and other nerdy things. I really do. I used to avoid posting about politics, but now my entire social media feed is virtually political. The reason is simple.

This is not any other election. This is not any other President.

With each day our commander in chief becomes more unstable, craven and venal. With over 20 years of Fox News and the advent of right wing propaganda sites like the Blaze, Breitbart, InfoWars, etc. The right has demonized the left to the degree that they hate us more than the Russians. They don't see us as Americans, hell, they barely see us has human. Their hate is so all consuming they will follow anyone who opposes us. They will ignore facts, science and truth if they don't fit their political view and will accept fake news and lies because they are more comfortable with what they are hearing.

Enter Donald Trump, who is at worst a traitor to America and at best a useful idiot to Putin. A man who who is sexist, racist, and cowardly. But he is still followed by a staunch 40-something percent of the electorate. They share posts that are factually incorrect or just plain hateful. They don't even care because the ends appear to justify the means. They will over look the hundreds of thousands that have died due to his mishandling of COVID (in fact many prolong it by refusing to wear a mask). They will overlook the graft of overcharging the secret service at Tump resorts and hotels. They will overlook the violations of the Constitution like asking the foreign countries for help during an election or holding people without benefit of counsel. They will overlook violations Hatch act during the RNC. They will overlook the appointments of cronies that have conflicts of interest like the Post Master General, who owns stock in the private industry competition. They will overlook mocking a disabled reporter. They will overlook eliminating oversight on COVID relief for small business that resulted in millions going to large companies before small companies could get aid. They will repeat and accept talking points that are divisive. Like trying to turn people who are working against those who lost their jobs because they are collecting unemployment. Or blame immigrants for the shrinking job market. They will accuse those who want everyone to have health care of being a communist. They will accuse those who are dedicated to fighting fascism of being fascists. Or the false notion that all protesters are looting and rioting when 93% of BLM protests are peaceful (and how many of the remaining 7% were actually started by BLM and not outside agitators trying to make BLM look bad?). They will overlook ordering violence toward peaceful protesters for a photo op in front of a church. They will repeat scare tactic lies that the left are going to take your guns or outlaw Christianity even though they made that claim in 2008 and 2012 and it didn't happen then either. Let us not forget the lies. Lie after lie after lie. Even thought there is video to prove the lies. He lies like others breath. And yet he is supported by people who claim to be Christian. In fact, his followers will launch smear campaigns against good people if they disagree with the president (like they have Fauci). They spread ridiculous conspiracy theories (QAnon, PizzaGate). Their hypocrisy is mindboggling. They will defend him no matter how great the evidence and attack the other side no matter how slim the evidence or small the issue. No moral act is too repugnant (like mocking Biden for visiting his son's grave, or ignoring Trump bragging about sexual assault, attacking and insulting Gold Star families and service men and women, or stealing from a children's cancer charity). They will give him credit for the economy that he inherited from Obama and ruined by going a trillion dollars into deeper into debt to give the rich tax cuts, resulting in the US going into a recession literally the month before COVID hit. They defend his change in immigration policy that resulted in the inhumane caging of children, separating them from their parents. They ignore the 14 year old warning from the FBI that white supremacist are infiltrating police at local levels across the country and find excuses to look the other way when countless people color are killed. "He had a record, he committed a crime, it was self defense." Even when the victims were unarmed, cuffed, outnumbered 4 to 1, shot in the back, or asleep. They pretend to support "law and order" but cheer the murder and assault of legal protesters who are doing nothing wrong or simply defending themselves. And yet, at the end, we are treated like the traitors and animals. We are beaten and maced and shot at like it's a liberal safari.

We are compared to demons and falsely accused of wanting to teach pedophilia as a normal sexuality in schools because we support LGBTQ issues. They falsely accuse us of being baby killers because we support a woman's right to chose, even going so far as falsely claiming liberals are taking newborns slitting their throats thin putting them back in the mothers and claiming it's an abortion. A horrifying notion. One only a sick mind could come up with, and yet it's a false claim they make about us. (They truth about abortion is the conservatives don't want to end it because they want to use it has a wedge issue for elections. If you don't believe me consider this: Since Roe v. Wade in 1973 we have had a conservative majority on the Supreme Court for 45 of those 47 years. Enough to over turn it. We have had six Republican presidents - 28 years). These repeated lies and conspiracy theories that make them hate us, and make them want to harm us. They also make them turn there backs on all the moral and decent things they have spent years claiming to support: truth, family values, honesty, integrity, dealing fairly with others or even treating others as they wish to be treated.

These repeated lies and conspiracy theories have caused unreasonable resentment and hate in the hearts of our friends and neighbors. At least I hope that's what caused it. I pray that's what cause it. Because the alternative is that they were always bloodthirsty, dishonest people who hid their hatred behind false piety.