"....if we put it after "today"? It would match the information about death in the rest of the Bible. The dead know nothing, for instance."
Out of context. If we belong to Him, we go to heaven when we die - we know nothing about what is happening on earth, because earth is sinful and we have already been washed clean, which is why the saints cannot pray for you - Jesus intercedes directly for us - He is our advocate in Heaven.
"...Jesus was not in Paradise that day, but rested in the tomb until He was resurrected, and He would not have lied to the thief."
Again, Heaven is outside the box of space and time - it is not like here