With the rest of the United States, I wait and hope for a sign.

It is overcast in Milwaukee so I probably won’t see it. I don’t have glasses for it anyway. It’s supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but I didn’t bother to find out until too late that I am in the wrong place for it. Back in Kansas City it’s going to be great (assuming it’s not cloudy there, too).

Truth be told, I didn’t bother to look for information about today’s eclipse because I’ve been too wrapped up in current events in the country and in the world. I hoped for the best but prepared for the worst this past weekend. The Boston “free speech” rally – the nazis and alt-right participants/organizers aimed to downplay the white supremacy part to attract more people so they called it “free speech” and told their people not to bring nazi flags – was attended by somewhere between a few dozen and a hundred people. There were at least 40,000 counter protesters though there is no doubt they weren’t protesting free speech; the counter protesters were shouting anti-KKK and anti-nazi slogans. The nation had braced for more violence, but instead it was generally peaceful with between 27-33 arrests mostly for disorderly conduct. No law enforcement or protesters were injured. None.

Between Bannon’s exit from the White House on Friday, the president’s/GOP member’s equivocation over the last week punctuated by the occasional ignorant and/or racist comment, and the horrid comments from the right on Heather Heyer’s death, I was afraid Saturday would go very differently. Since those right-wing protesters left early on Saturday I’ve been able to relax just a bit and take a breath. It feels a little like emerging after a terrible storm; I move slowly, cautiously.

The storm can’t be over. We watched, hopeful, as #TrumpResign trended for hours last night. We’ll keep watching for signs, but in the meantime we plan for our part in the demonstrations, we keep pushing back against the storm, against the hate. The clouds have to clear sometime.

Link: “White House aide: ‘You have no idea how much crazy stuff we kill’” – by Steve Benen at MSNBC

Link: “‘Deep divisions across our country’: Here’s the memo that just went out to JPMorgan staff” – by Matt Turner at Business Insider

Link: “Behind the Bluster of Steve Bannon’s #War Cry” – by Jim Rutenberg at The New York Times