Following every inch of the hellbound highway

I went out Friday evening to see a movie in a movie theater. The theater was the Detroit Film Theater, a part of the Detroit Institute of Arts. They had advertised their COVID protocols – show proof of vaccine, wear a mask, and the audience size would be limited – so I felt safe enough. I also bought my ticket online. The show was the documentary On Broadway. Yep, a history of the Broadway theater district. There was a brief mention of the 1950s – Oklahoma and such – before delving into the 1968-72 era, which was about as low as Broadway has ever been. It was quite seedy at the time. Then the district tended to go in waves – everyone trying to do the tried and true until something came along to push things out of the rut and draw in a new audience: A Chorus Line (which was developed in a non-profit theater). Sondheim. Cats and the British Musical invasion, which happened because the American theater was decimated by AIDS. Rent. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, which didn’t go well, followed by The Lion King, which went very well. Angels in America. August Wilson’s Fences and the rest of his cycle of plays. And Hamilton. During the 2018-2019 season several shows opened. One of them, The Nap, allowed the crew to film some of the rehearsals and a bit of opening night. These bits were spread through the documentary, allowing a discussion of how risky it is to put on a Broadway show. This show is important because a lead character is transgender, played by a transgender actor, and being transgender is not the point of the character. There was also a discussion of how high ticket prices are and one little bit showed that a ticket bought for over $400 could be resold for $1000. Yes, this was pretty much a valentine to Broadway. And a pretty good one too. This afternoon I saw a performance at the Metropolitan Opera broadcast into local movie theaters. This was the new opera Fire Shut Up In My Bones. The story is from Charles Blow’s memoir of that name, the libretto by Kasi Lemmons, and the music by Terence Blanchard. This is a big deal because it is the first opera by a black composer on the Met stage – yes there are operas by black composers dating all the way back to the 1930s (at least) that are worthy of being seen and heard on the Met stage. Since this is taken from a memoir the main character is Charles. The story starts at age 7 (played by a tall 13 year old who had played Young Simba in The Lion King). He is the youngest of five brothers and feels neglected. A ways into the first act he is sexually abused. Much of the rest of the opera is coming to terms with that. While that much of the story happens to kids of all races, there are black specific incidents as well. I’m pretty sure no other opera has a scene in a chicken processing plant. They also deal with persistent poverty and a chance to go to college only because he is offered a free ride. One scene happens in a black Baptist church. And, of course, there are a lot of black idioms in the music sung by an all black cast. It is nicely melodic and accessible, not at all the avant garde that many audiences dislike. In once scene, the college fraternity initiation, the instrumentalists stop and the music is carried on by the beat of the dancer’s feet. I very much enjoyed the afternoon. Though this opera is new to the Met, it has been around for a while and premiered in St. Louis. This was the Met’s last performance and it will be on the radio in February as part of their Saturday afternoon broadcasts. I’m glad I saw it with the visuals. Mark Sumner of Daily Kos reported that by Sen. Manchin fighting for coal and against the climate protection projects of the human infrastructure bill he is signing the death certificate of his home state of West Virginia. Coal is to the point where to maintaining a coal fired plant is more expensive than building new electric capacity powered by solar, wind, or gas. Coal isn’t feasible to burn even if coal mining companies gave it away. And when a coal mining company shuts down they leave behind huge environmental consequences they don’t pay for, huge health bills for their former employees, and a default on pension payments. When coal leaves a town there is nothing left.

I’ve been there. I’ve seen them. It’s not just that the only industry in town has left, it’s that the industry left behind valleys filled with rubble, streets edged with coal that spilled from passing trucks, a water supply spoiled by acid runoff. I’ve been there. I grew up there. And in my decades as a geologist for a major coal mining company, I helped perpetuate it. When the mining stops, what’s left are sick people and a failing town; the kind of community where even those who have worked themselves into “middle class respectability” suddenly find that their home is worth nothing, their local schools are bankrupt, and all their debts are as big as ever. Right now, Joe Manchin is standing in the way of a reconciliation bill that offers West Virginia an off ramp on the road to ruin. ... There is an alternative for Manchin. It’s one that was demonstrated ably by the state’s most successful legislator, Robert Byrd. Byrd didn’t fight against federal spending. He made the price of his support seeing that a disproportionate share of that spending went to his state. Manchin could do that now. Rather than fighting against the clean energy provisions of the reconciliation bill, Manchin could demand—and get—hundreds of millions, if not billions, of extra dollars channeled into his state. Manchin could demand an unreasonably high payout to his state for new jobs, new technologies, new opportunities. And he could get it. Instead, he seems dead set on following every inch of the hellbound highway. And we all know where it ends.

Manchin is acting like a supremacist. One way to make your life high in the social hierarchy look better is to make the lives of those under you worse. And Manchin is working quite hard to make the lives of his West Virginia constituents much worse. Joan McCarter of Kos reported the voting rights bill came up for a vote in the Senate on Wednesday. This vote was whether to debate the bill and required 60 votes to proceed. All 50 Republicans voted against it. That means Manchin did not find “10 good people” among the Republicans as he had said he would find (this is a bill he helped craft). The filibuster is still in place. We get the filibuster or democracy, not both. McCarter concluded:

How many doomed votes is Schumer going to have before the tactic loses all utility, before it becomes rote and no longer outrageous that Republicans would obstruct voting rights? We’re nearly there, and when that happens, when it’s business as usual for Republicans to openly plot the theft of our elections, pretty much everything is lost.

Michael Knigge tweeted:

Wow. Twitter’s algorithms amplify tweets from the political right more than from the political left in six (US, UK, Canada, France, Spain, Japan) out of seven countries studied according to Twitter’s own research published today. The outlier: Germany.

Knigge linked to a post in what looks to be Twitter’s own blog with the details. I scanned it and even that didn’t explain why Germany was the outlier. Bill in Portland, Maine, in his Cheers and Jeers column for Kos, listed some quotes from people born in October. Here’s one:

There’s a reason white supremacy attacks history. Opposition to teaching bigotry’s history and where it leads—from the slave trade to the Holocaust—is about erasing society’s tools to recognize prejudice & prevent atrocity. Holocaust denial has no place in our society. None. —Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY)

And from a collection of late night commentary:

A California ranch once owned by Ronald Reagan is being threatened by a large wildfire. Crews are hoping to put out the blaze by pouring water onto a nearby hill and hoping it trickles down. —Michael Che, SNL

I downloaded Michigan COVID data today. As a reminder, I get it from here and the link labeled “Cases and Deaths by County by Date of Onset of Symptoms and Date of Death.” My charting program shows the new cases per day in Michigan might be leveling off after a steady three month rise. Last week I reported that earlier that week the cases per day hit 4990. That number has been adjusted and the peaks for the last five weeks are 3455, 3905, 4352, 4346, 4248. The deaths per day have been peaking in the 41-49 range for the last six weeks.