As I read Heather Cox Richardson this morning, I’m with these words from Writer’s Almanac.

On this day, in 1912, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and sank.  It was built to be unsinkable, but not to “scrape along the side of an iceberg for 10 seconds opening numerous separate compartments”.  

“The accident happened at 11:40 p.m.; less than an hour before, a nearby ship attempted to radio the Titanic to beware of ice ahead. The ship’s wireless operator on duty, overwhelmed with his job of relaying personal messages to passengers, replied, “Shut up, shut up, I’m busy …””

And here we are, very busy.

From Heather Cox Richardson: This evening, lawyers for the Department of Justice told a federal court that the administration does not believe it has a legal obligation to return Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to the United States, despite a court order to do so. 

She explains what Trump is delighting in doing, and writes: When White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says, “The president’s idea for American citizens to potentially be deported, these would be heinous violent criminals who have broken our nation’s laws repeatedly,” remember that just days ago, Trump suggested that a former government employee was guilty of treason for writing a book about his time in the first Trump administration that Trump claimed was “designed to sow chaos and distrust” in the government.

She goes on to conclude with this.  At least some people understand this. The president of North America’s Building Trades Unions, Sean McGarvey, received a standing ovation when he said to a room full of his fellow union workers: “We need to make our voices heard. We’re not red, we’re not blue. We’re the building trades, the backbone of America. You want to build a $5 billion data center? Want more six-figure careers with health care, retirement, and no college debt? You don’t call Elon Musk, you call us!… And yeah, that means all of us. All of us. Including our brother [International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers] apprentice Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who we demand to be returned to us and his family now! Bring him home!”

And now back to the sinking of the indestructible Titanic.  Are we so busy with personal messages, we’re saying “Shut up, shut up, I’m busy …” as the ship of Democracy sinks, its separate compartments, its balance of power destroyed by the glacial greed and hatred of Trump and those who support him?

Meanwhile, this morning, blue sky, and when I look up I see the fog responding to the warmth of the last few days and venturing in.