Conversation over coffee

[madamesilverspurs]

He stands a strapping 6’5”. Burly. He clearly manifests his Viking ancestry. His large hands are calloused from a lifetime of building houses and furniture and boats. He carries the scars of his three tours in Viet Nam.

As he watches the news he tells me, “Y'know, I haven’t always liked the outcome of presidential elections. Some presidents I liked and admired. Others I’ve disliked, sometimes they made me angry.” I nod in agreement. Then he says, “But this is the first time I’ve actually been afraid of the new guy.” He looks down and shakes his head, and I notice that the hand wrapped around his coffee mug is shaking.

Once more reality is driven home. Hard.


.

[efhmc]

1. i hear this all the time. Yet here we are.

[blue cat]

2. I've noticed

that my dad and sister aren't standing as proud as the did right after the election. Hehe.

[democrank]

3. I send a wish for peace to this Vietnam Vet.

I hope he knows a lot of us have his back.

[whathehell]

24. Yes, after all he's gone through

He certainly doesn't,' deserve this.

[progressoid]

4. Yup.

This is an awful feeling.

[Auntie Bush]

5. What a coincidence! My daughter said that exact same thing to me today...regarding

Being the first time I've been afraid.😢

[Jacob Boehme]

6. I sincerely believe...

That all those brave souls who've died on the many fields of battle our country has been engaged in so we can enjoy the freedoms we have are 'weeping' in sorrow at what is about to transpire in these United States.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

7. I'm not religious, but the thought of Trump with the nuclear codes...

makes me want to do this sometimes:

[dionysus]

19. He can't unilaterally launch nukes, they won't let him.

[bettyellen]

23. They can't legally stop him. As if legality was ever a concern for DT.

[GoneOffShore]

8. Merde. That is the way that we're all feeling right now

A friend's mother-in-law who has been on that side of the aisle for years, suddenly is interested in helping refugees.

[yuiyoshida]

13. I find myself looking at the Calendar, like a person would

checking the time. Our time is running out, and soon enough, he will take the oath of office, and than all hell will break loose. I can feel it in my bones...

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

9. I keep on thinking that this might be what it was like

in Germany in 1933. The writing was on the wall, just still a bit smudged.

If you haven't already, all of you who might see this post, read In the Garden of the Beasts by Erik Larson. William Dodd became our first ambassador to Nazi Germany, FDR's first ambassador to Germany, and he, a relatively obscure college professor in Chicago, got the job because no one else wanted it.

Read it.

Actually, everything Erik Larson writes is worth reading.

[radical noodle]

10. I love Erik Larson's books

History is my favorite genre and he makes it into a story one cannot put down.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

11. Yep. I've had the pleasure of seeing him at books talks.

The first for "Isaac's Storm" the second for "The Devil in the White City". He is absolutely amazing in person. If you ever have a chance to see him do so.

[radical noodle]

15. Thanks for the tip!

The details about the World's Fair in The Devil in the White City really were amazing. The lengths they went to in order to make things perfect and then at the end tore it all down (except for the one building that became the Museum of Science and Industry) was so shocking to me.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

16. There was another book written about that World's Fair, and I seem to have been

the only person in North America who read it. I think Larson references it in his book. I read it long enough ago that I no longer remember the specifics, but there was something of a mass murderer on the loose, and the other book, the one I can't recall clearly, is much more about that. The Larson book is more about the fair in general.

And yes, Larson is amazing. I'm the sort of person who just loves author talks, and I go to them whenever I can. I used to live near Kansas City, MO, and there's a totally fantastic book store there, Rainy Day Books, which sponsors several hundred (I don't think I'm exaggerating here) authors and book talks every year. I've gotten to see all sorts of amazing authors. One of my genuine regrets about leaving that part of the country was losing those book/author events. I do get some in my area, but not as frequent, not always the caliber of authors. I will settle for what I can get.

[csziggy]

28. Robert Bloch wrote one - American Gothic (1974)

But that was a fictionalized version.

The case was notorious in its time and received wide publicity through a series of articles in William Randolph Hearst's newspapers. Interest in Holmes's crimes was revived in 2003 by Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America, a best-selling nonfiction book that juxtaposed an account of the planning and staging of the World's Fair with Holmes's story. His story had been previously chronicled in The Torture Doctor by David Franke (1975) and Depraved: The Shocking True Story of America's First Serial Killer by Harold Schechter (1994), as well as "The Monster of Sixty-Third Street" chapter in Gem of the Prairie: An Informal History of the Chicago Underworld by Herbert Asbury (1940, republished 1986). The 1974 novel American Gothic by horror writer Robert Bloch was a fictionalized version of the story of H. H. Holmes.[41] In 2003, cartoonist/illustrator Rick Geary published a graphic novel about Holmes titled The Beast of Chicago: The Murderous Career of H. H. Holmes.[42]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._H._Holmes#Media

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

32. It must have been "Depraved" that I read.

Thanks for giving me the title.

[murielm99]

12. I read that one. Amazing book.

[baldguy]

21. Waiting for kristallnacht

[Pacifist Patriot]

22. Agreed. Great book and author.

[WiffenPoof]

25. You have sparked my interest...

I'm going to Amazon right now and looking up Erik Larson right now. Thanks

[BlancheSplanchnik]

33. Tha thank you!!! I shall check this book. n/t

[inanna]

14. I really do HATE the distress

Trump is causing to my fellow DU'ers.

[SammyWinstonJack]

20. The hours of stress and anxiety these days are endless.

[uponit7771]

17. An older guy compared MiniPoot to Nixon, I just don't remember Nixon being so greedy

[brer cat]

18. Nixon tried to hide it.

trump is in our face with it; arrogant, smug and defiant.

[yardwork]

35. Trump is much worse than Nixon. Unfortunately.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

26. We cannot be afraid...

Fear is what freezes us into inactivity.. Best to look straight into the eyes of our fear and combat the feeling.
Fear is what "he" wants you to feel. It is the first way to subjecate us.

"Stand up swallow the vomit you have in your mouth and charge up the hill, eyes open and spirit willing."

That is what my commander told us in Vietnam. Holds true now.

Fear is a mind killer.

[madamesilverspurs]

27. Yes, but ...

This veteran knew to expect danger in war. He's saying that he never imagined to have to expect danger from the White House. He's standing up to it, make no mistake. But he's mightily pissed about having to do so. None of us are practiced in confronting the unthinkable.


.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

31. Agreed. Nt

[BlancheSplanchnik]

34. I share the fear...and from the whitehouse....

Hard to imagine. Yet...here we are.

[Wounded Bear]

29. Veterans mostly know....nt

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

30. Yes, yes we do. ...

I never thought tho that I'd need to rely on my experience at this time in my life. Training stays with you.