You would think Baby New Year would be frightened away by all that midnight gunfire …
GIF found on Pinterest.

The new year is now a couple of days old. It doesn’t look over 1. I wish I could say the same.

I’m sure I’m not the only one glad the dumpster fire that was 2018 is over. Between the mass shootings, wildfires, earthquakes and tweetstorms, there wasn’t much of a chance to get a nap in without missing … well, just about everything. I swear, last year felt like about five years.

Some things I’d be thrilled to never see again:

😵 People accepting things without question, as long as they come from “their” side. I’ve said many, many (Lord, so many) times that we should consume a variety of news sources from across the political spectrum. Still, we have too many people who believe that only those sources that reflect their worldviews are worthy of paying heed to.

Remember, this is the guy who said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any votes.
Editorial cartoon by Kevin Kallaugher, The Economist.

That includes not just traditional (newspapers, broadcasters) and newer (cable, Internet) media, but also social media, which it seems some think is a reliable source, judging by the number of people regurgitating, often word for word, the president’s latest spurious claims in letters to the editor. (There’s a reason he’s the only person to qualify for bottomless Pinocchios from The Washington Post. If you want your letter using those claims to run, attribute them to him. It’s really that easy.) I mean, seriously, how in the world could the minority party hold up confirmations that need only a simple majority??

We should be curious and skeptical when it comes to news, and know the difference between opinion and news, for that matter. Unnamed sources should be taken with a grain of salt, as should stories that use only one or two sources. Stories that are exactly the same on multiple sites should also set off red flags—newspapers, for example, typically re-edit wire stories (though not the content) to fit their house style and space available in the print edition, and the headlines usually vary paper to paper; some stories on Internet media will show up on multiple sites, exactly the same, right down to the headlines, and often with no byline. If that doesn’t set off warning bells, well … And then there’s satire, which a whole lot of people just don’t seem to get, no matter how obvious it is.

I generally don’t do this on weekends. Wonder why.
GIF found on Tenor.

This is why I bang my head on the wall.

💀 Journalists being afraid to go to work. The U.S. hasn’t been much of a danger for journalists other than the hard-hitting investigative types until recently. Now we have folks threatening to kill people simply for working in the media rather than because we’re about to uncover some deep, dark secret about them. They have no real connection to these media members but have been made to believe that news is fake because they don’t agree with it and the media is trying to take down the country. The killing of five Capital Gazette employees in Maryland last year threw cold water on the idea that media members had nothing to fear from the atmosphere that’s been created.

And they still put out a paper. That’s what journalists do.
Image found on Sky News.

So again … news is not fake just because it reflects poorly on you or you don’t agree with it. The people who write the news are doing their jobs, just like anyone else, and taking over the world is very low on the list of priorities, far behind things like paying bills, providing for their families, etc. Denouncing them for doing their jobs is not only irresponsible, it’s dangerous, and only an idiot would … oh …

⚰️ Speaking of the Capital Gazette, mass shootings in general. There are ways that we could lessen the possibility that we could be killed at work, church, school, etc., by someone who shouldn’t have access to guns but does.

Nah … there aren’t too many … if we just arm everyone, including people with anger management issues, everything will be just fine! The NRA says so!
Editorial cartoon by Rick McKee, Augusta Chronicle.

No, not banning guns; the logistics of that in a nation where guns outnumber people make that unlikely. Definitely not arming everyone; when everyone is armed, how are police to know who the actual criminal is? No, not focusing entirely on mental health, especially since the mentally ill are more likely to be victims rather than perpetrators of gun crimes. We should look at universal background checks and restricting access to certain guns. It’s not infringing on Second Amendment rights to do this.

I know, that will bring out the Second Amendment absolutists who seem to be constitutional originalists on every amendment but that one. Hope they like muskets.

👮‍♀️ The undermining of our law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Sure, there are bad actors, but they are the exception, not the rule. Just because you don’t agree with an investigation is no reason to lie and badmouth the investigators. If you’re innocent, you have nothing to fear because the investigation will prove that.

Or you can keep tweeting threats and whining about how you’re being mistreated instead of just cooperating with the investigation. Because that makes you look really innocent.

The FBI is only bad if it’s investigating your side of the aisle.
Editorial cartoon by David Fitzsimmons, Arizona Daily Star.

👺 Fear and chaos where they needn’t be. There is absolutely no good reason to create an atmosphere where everyone is constantly on edge because you need the attention (fawning, of course) to be on you at all times. We need to get back to understanding that government is not a game of winners and losers. Compromise is how things get done, and no one can get everything they want, no matter how much they bully. The goal should be the greater good for the most people … but sure, keep right on sowing fear and ignoring the wishes of the voters.

Yeah, none of those things will go away anytime soon. Nor will all these new gray hairs. Yippee. I really need to get to the salon.

I look up to these kids, especially their drive.
Time cover image found on Glamour.

There were a few bright spots in 2018, even as a result of dark happenings, such as the newfound political activism after the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla. The passion the Parkland survivors bring to their #NeverAgain campaign is inspiring, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see at least a few of them in elective office in a few years. David Hogg, Emma Gonzalez and others … I can definitely see them making a real difference.

The Thai cave drama brought people across the globe together in efforts to rescue the young soccer players trapped in the cave. For nearly three weeks, we hoped and prayed the boys would be safely rescued, and were thrilled when they were.

There were also the random weird occurrences like the message Lake Worth, Fla., residents got warning them of power outages due to “extreme zombie activity.”

Then there was the chocolate spill in Germany, the camel that showed up in a Pennsylvania snowstorm, and the stolen giant inflatable model of a colon.

These are the kinds of things that keep me (relatively) sane through all that bad stuff. Let’s keep up the weird and wonderful, everyone. I think we’re going to need it.

Don’t click on Twitter. Go for the kitty GIFs.
GIF found on Tenor.