Examples of “evidence” I discount:
• Your boyfriend’s uncle’s friend survived a house invasion only because he kept a loaded gun under his pillow.
* You saw a YouTube video/Snapchat/Tweet/X post/Facebook story that proves there is a cabal of dems holding torturous events at the local pizza palace.
• You found the photo that proves how people in favor of abortion celebrated a legal victory by eating a cake shaped like an unborn child.*

Have I read these stories? Yes, I have.

I see them all the time. It’s been a lot worse since the current administration began promoting so much fear and so many lies. On Facebook I’ve unfriended a couple of paranoid right-wingers who sent me stuff like that. Sometimes those people are family, and I feel bad about that. This was absolutely necessary when I was still teaching. I politely asked people not to use language and spew hate. Sometimes they wouldn’t stop. Many of my students used to read my Facebook page so I felt an obligation.

[I have been told the gun invasion story in various iterations a dozen times, and I can only say that statistics show the most likely person to be shot in a gun-owner’s home is not some drug-crazed home-invader but a member of the family. “The two age groups most likely to unintentionally shoot themself or others are high schoolers between the ages of 14 and 17, followed by preschoolers ages five and younger.” Toddlers shoot family members on a fairly regular basis—often enough that there are statistics. “Some might assume that toddlers and young children may not be strong enough to pull a trigger, but that is not the case, experts said. At least 895 children aged 5 and under have managed to find a gun and unintentionally shoot themselves or someone else from 2015 to 2022, according to Everytown.” Little children usually shoot themselves and they usually die from their wounds. After your three-year-old shoots the new baby, maybe you decide a gun safe isn’t such a bad idea?]

These unlikely stories used to come only from my students who didn’t know enough to research and verify what they found, but now seem to come from people I would have thought should know better. It wasn’t only that these right-wing conspiracy messages were ugly, but that they were almost always untrue. At best they began as others’ mistakes, and at worse they were malicious lies. The lie started somewhere, even if the person repeating it to me believed it.

Now I’m finding the left-wing versions accosting me. Stories that might be true or inventions, stories that seem unlikely, stories I cannot verify and the person telling the story has not even tried to verify. Do I appreciate such stories coming from my more liberal friends? No, I do not.

A little skepticism, people, a little objectivity.

Here’s a recent example: The people who believed all the stories about Epstein having a list now feel betrayed because after first claiming the proof was right there, the administration now claims there is nothing to see.

One of the following must be true: 1. Trump lied about Epstein being the head of an organization supported by whomever and exploiting young children and he kept records. 2. There is a list of participants that would be embarrassing to Trump and/or his people. 3. Epstein didn’t keep an actual list of people in his circle, but did keep records of something else that is embarrassing to the MAGA White House. 4. Epstein did keep files and tapes, and recordings, and maybe even a list, but when he realized his legal jeopardy, he destroyed most of it. 5. Some combination of the above.

There are photos of Trump making jolly-nice with Epstein and direct quotes of Trump praising Epstein and specifically chuckling about Epstein’s preference for young girls, there’s Trump’s unfortunate description of his own daughter as being dateable, not to mention a long and well-documented history of Trump’s inappropriate behavior toward girls and women, sexual predation and abuse. There are witnesses under oath and physical evidence. This is actual testimony and evidence, not conjecture, not what someone said somewhere without evidence, not rumor or someone’s lie.

Were other famous men implicated in Epstein’s disgusting activities? There is court testimony supporting this. Did these men represent a range of political perspectives? Again, testimony and evidence supports the fact that they do.

On the other hand, Trump now insists there is nothing to see? The hard right MAGAs cry foul. Has evidence been hidden or destroyed? What seems most likely? Is there any innocent way for the administration to spin this Epstein story?

Seriously. Think about it.

In the mean time, essential medical research and care and educational services around the world and here at home are being cut. People are being snatched from their workplace by government agents wearing masks and without warrants, being denied due process and sent to prisons in countries where they may not even speak the language.** There is starvation in Gaza and war in Ukraine, brutality all over the map. But some of us still worry about what’s going on the backroom of the pizza place.

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• * Someone posted this on Facebook. When I responded that the image appeared to be AI, she called me names I will not repeat. She still claims I unfriended her because we disagree about abortion. No dear, we disagree about posting trash and claiming it’s God’s truth.
• ** Seriously? “People are being snatched from their workplace by government agents wearing masks and without warrants, being denied due process and sent to prisons in countries where they may not even speak the language.” Doesn’t that sound like some crazy conspiracy theory? Isn’t fear of this sort of aggression on the part of government agents the very reason I was hearing for why I need a loaded pistol under my pillow?