Sp many people I talked to on Friday mentioned the war threat. It was everywhere. I have never seen an atmosphere like this.
The Lyft driver had the news on in the car instead of music. That was a first. He was listening to NPR and when I got in he changed it to music. I said, don’t change to music on my account I am also interested in the news. So he flipped it back to WBUR.
We rode mostly in silence with none of the “how is your day” chit chat drivers usually engage in to try to appear friendly (or sometimes out of genuine friendliness). The news was so dire, the speculation so chilling. The quote from North Korea and the phrase “thermonuclear war” just hangs in the air every time you hear it.
A group of people were sitting together before the Good Friday service with sad looks on their faces and it had nothing to do with piety of the day. They wanted to pray for the future of the country and the world and they wanted to do it with other people because sitting at home alone was nerve wracking.
It was a day to reach out and connect.
There was a lot of black humor about going home to be with family just in case the worst did happen, and how ironic it would be if World War III started on Good Friday.
Then right after the service ended I got into a conversation with someone who was asking about my involvement in resistance work, who had heard of Daily Kos and said he was a regular reader here. I should have told him my screen name! But I guess I am not at that point yet, although I keep saying I want to be.
As I passed a group of kids standing by the youth center, a snippet of profanity-laden references to DJT floated out to my ear. I was momentarily thrilled that children that age were paying attention to politics, just as I had when I was a pre-teen. But then I remembered how very young they are, and that cursing and bravado often cover up their wish that there was someone somewhere taking care of them instead of leaving them to take care of themselves. They try so hard to look tough and everyone assumes they don’t need or want comfort. But people three and four and five times their age are quaking in their boots. At least they have each other to talk to.
Then at the grocery store I overheard people talking about North Korea while we were waiting in line to buy fish. Massachusetts has a large Roman Catholic population, and while not eating meat on Fridays has not been the rule for decades, folks are still expected to abstain on Good Friday, so the line at the fish counter was long.
The fear just hangs in the air and is even greater than the disdain people have for DJT, which is really saying something in the People’s Republic of Cambridge. DJT’s name hardly came up, but his incompetence and his unsuitability for meddling in the middle of a military mess were on everyone’s lips. No one needed to say the actual name of the person they were all referring to. “He just has no idea what he is doing” and “He has no idea how complicated this is” and similar statements can only be about one man.
It was just the theme of the day. It was just everywhere.
The level of tension is new for this generation.
I only have vague memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis because I was really little.
But the other times when I thought we were at the brink of war didn’t feel like this.
Sure, we thought Reagan might start something. But he was surrounded by a wider variety of voices, including GHWB who for his day was a reliable moderate in the rock-ribbed New England Republican vein.
As goofy as Bush 43 was, he never made noises about nuclear war. He talked about stopping other countries from building and using nukes, but never threatened to use them himself that I can remember.
In spite of the drumbeat on hateradio about bombing folks back to the Stone Age and turning the desert into a sheet of glass after 9/11, I never had a day like this where you could see the war anxiety on almost everyone’s face.
Sometimes I feel like that character in the Star Trek episode The Empath, where I can feel the weight of all the fear and longing around me pressing in on my soul. I want to reach out an heal everyone and i can’t. I am treading water just with respect to keeping my own self afloat, struggling moment by moment to avoid sinking into the mire of despair.
And in my usual role of calming people down I first have to be the beneficiary of my own advice. First I had to calm down so I could help calm others, because when two agitated people start talking they fuel each other’s agitation.
For the first time I began to question why I am even writing every day.
If I am trying to create some kind of record for when this is all over, that must mean I expect that it will be over and we will survive it.
In the meantime we have to hold each other up as much as possible.
Have you been having encounters and conversations with strangers about the war talk?
Does it create a sense of community?
It is comforting you or is it adding to the general level of agitation?
Is it helping or making things worse?
okay i know it’s trendy to hate Nickelback but i kind of like this song. and i like How you Remind Me also!
PREVIOUS TRUE BLUE REPORT diaries
Apr 13: Three ways to respond to the stress overload of current political news
Apr 12: Republicons--the party of cruelty
Apr 11: Spicer’s comment was MUCH more than just an “insensitive reference to the holocaust”
Apr 10: If DJT changes policy based on televised images... let’s show him some
Apr 9: TBR SUNDAY: DJT supporters do not realize nuclear war could mean the end of the world
Apr 8: BLUE RIBBONS: Jeff Merkley, Gina Mathew & Connor Balthazor, 70 (!) advertisers dump Bill-O
Apr 7: Not taking our eyes off Heitkamp, Manchin and Donnelly—they should be primaried
Apr 6: Take Me to Your Leader
Apr 5: DJT ran for POTUS to get back at Obama but the person he is discrediting is himself
Apr 4: Obama’s is bigger—Twitter following, inauguration crowd size, and approval rating
Apr 3: Filibuster a SCt nominee? Ds are changing the rules! This never happened before !1!
Apr 2: TBR SUNDAY: Put Your Lights On
Apr 1: BLUE RIBBONS for 4/1/17—Dick Cheney, Richard Burr, Rick Wilson
MARCH
Mar 31: The possible reasons Flynn was refused immunity are all good for the Blue Team
Mar 30: Special Assistant Ivanka—every word she says from now on is a DJT advertising ploy
Mar 29: “It’s just that valuable” — do you know the MAIN reasons Ryan wants to pass the AHCA?
Mar 28: Nipping at their heels
Mar 27: In cheering Republicon failures, think like a surgeon
Mar 26: TBR SUNDAY: Dare we hope the tide is turning? Or is that unrealistically optimistic?
Mar 25: BLUE RIBBONS: Sheldon Whitehouse, Al Franken, Bobby Brooks, Betsy Anderson, ACA phone callers
Mar 24: HaHaHa-Ha-Ha You’re gonna need Congressional approval and you don’t have the votes
Mar 23: Rcons hate Obamacare for selfish, greedy, racist reasons, but not enough to fix it.
Mar 22: Neil Gorsuch’s attempt to seem wide-eyed and innocent makes him look even worse
Mar 21: Using Trump as a bad example—no Trump Sleep, Trump Food or other Trump habits
Mar 20: Is DJT a compulsive liar, or out of touch with reality? Five scenarios...
Mar 19: TBR SUNDAY: A budget is a moral document—a statement of public compassion
Mar 18: BLUE RIBBONS: CBO scorers, Senate Intelligence Committee, Judge Derrick Watson
Mar 17: They know DJT is lying. Here’s one sad reason they follow him anyway.
Mar 16: Mick Mulvaney's ignorant, callous, evil, Republicon definition of compassion
Mar 15: Message Discipline 101—Pushback against Rcon talking points re DJT 2005 tax return
Mar 14: Message Discipline 101—Pushback against Rcon talking points about Obamacare repeal
Mar 13: Culture, Civilization, Rural America, Working Families—the missing word is a “tell”
Mar 12: TBR SUNDAY: The Rcon definition of Christians is as wrong as the Rcon definition of Democrats.
Mar 11: BLUE RIBBONS: A Day Without a Woman, Native Nations Rise, Voting Rights Act still lives
Mar 10: How to talk to people who have trouble understanding actions have consequences
Mar 9: Where’s the fire? The real reason Rs are trying to rush TrumpCare through Congress
Mar 8: Message Discipline 101: TrumpCare, RyanCare, GOPCare, DonTCare—what’s in a name?
Mar 7: How very hard it is for a woman to go a day without paid (or unpaid) work
Mar 6: Can DJT really be stumbling into the exact investigation we want?
Mar 5: TBR SUNDAY: How is it even possible that deplorables see a man of faith when they look at DJT?
Mar 4: BLUE RIBBONS: Chris Hayes, Malcolm Nance, Cierra Fields
Mar 3: I’m glad Bannon, Conway, Carson, Sessions, Miller, et al. are in the DJT Administration
Mar 2: “In every major fire it always starts with smoke. And smoke is what kills you.”
Mar 1: Am I the only one whose skin crawled at the Carryn Owens BIRGing moment?
FEBRUARY
Feb 28: Spinspotting 101: Special Prosecutor for what? It’s so easy to answer that question
Feb 27: Spinspotting 101: I’ve seen no evidence because I haven’t looked for any evidence!
Feb 26: TBR SUNDAY: If Neil Gorsuch were a man of integrity, he would decline the S.Ct. appointment
Feb 25: BLUE RIBBONS: Russia Flag trolling, Dixie Swastika grabbing, District Days demonstrating
Feb 24: There is no such thing as a compassionate conservative
Feb 23: Chief of Staff, Nat’l Security Advisor, GOP Head, President Bannon—too many hats!
Feb 22: DJT has a few questions for you—SMURF THIS POLL!
Feb 21: The end of “access journalism” means it’s time to #sendtheinterns
Feb 20: KAC lying low for now… can we banish her (and all her ilk) from the airwaves completely?
Feb 19: TBR SUNDAY: DeVos cartoon, Ruby Bridges, unearned unhappiness and childlike faith
Feb 18: BLUE RIBBONS: Vice Adm. Harward, Melissa McCarthy, and intel whistleblowers
Feb 17: And Ain’t I an American?
Feb 16: Please tell your family and friends—If you regret your DJT vote, speak up NOW
Feb 15: R-supported forced childbirth laws deny the autonomy of women
Feb 14: What did the president know? Everything. When did he know it? From the beginning.
Feb 13: Coping with The Madness of King Donald by hoping political comedy will save us
Feb 12: TBR SUNDAY: The Poverty and Justice Bible
Feb 11: BLUE RIBBONS: Swastika removers, Ninth Circuit Panel, and the Persisterhood!
Feb 10: The first three words of the Constitution are “We, the People” not “I, the President”
Feb 9: Who first inspired your political activism? Who inspires you now?
Feb 8: We cannot and will not be silenced—Here’s what to do if they try to silence you
Feb 7: Plain Talk Tuesday: Tell people the Affordable Care Act is the same as OBAMACARE
Feb 6: Interview Skills 101—Internalized oppression and what Ryan Lizza did right. BRAVO!
Feb 5: TBR SUNDAY: These protest signs with Bible cites will confuse and befuddle RWNJs
Feb 4: BLUE RIBBONS: Temple B’Nai Israel, Judge Robart, CNN, Senate Phone Callers
Feb 3: Not rich, not smart, not a good businessman, not a winner—DJT is NOTHING he claims to be
Feb 2: Thursday action—Encouragement, thanks, and apologies (pick one or more)
Feb 1: July 7, 2009 to August 25, 2009 and September 25, 2009 to February 4, 2010
JANUARY
Jan 31: If you’re on overload that’s part of their plan—there’s more than one way to #resist
Jan 30: Interview Skills 101 for reporters attempting to interview KAC and other Rcons
Jan 29: TBR SUNDAY: Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness
Jan 28: BLUE RIBBONS: Women's March participants and #NoMuslimBan demonstrators and...
Jan 27: I wish Steve Bannon would tell me to keep my mouth shut
Jan 26: Thursday Action—Have you ever written a letter to the editor? Here’s how to start
Jan 25: The Asch Conformity Study, inauguration crowds, and the importance of speaking out
Jan 24: #ResistTrumpTuesday—good news day or another paying dues day?
Jan 23: Spy the Lie 101: How to enjoy watching Rcon spokesbot interviews, even KAC!
Jan 22: TBR SUNDAY: Why I prayed for the President* today
Jan 21: The only silver lining in the midst of these clouds
Inaugural (!) diary: Stop expecting Republicons to make sense