They can't survive there without our money

I just finished the novel The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. Yes, that Achilles – the one from the Iliad, the story of the war on Troy. I had read a version of the Odyssey – Odysseus and his ten year journey after leaving Troy and his encounters with they Cyclops, Circe, and all the rest. And how Penelope waited twenty years for his return. But I don’t think I’ve read a version of the Iliad until now. Of course, I knew the basic story – well at least the beginning and end – Helen is abducted and taken to Troy and the Greeks hide in a huge wooden horse to bring the city’s downfall. And that the war took ten years and somewhere along the way the gods were displeased with something. Thus, I don’t know how closely this version follows the original, though from the author’s notes it follows rather closely. There are a couple differences in this version. First the narrator is Patroclus, a minor character in the original. A tradition in Ancient Greece was for a prince to designate a companion, a lad (perhaps a prince from another territory) who would spend all his time with the prince and grow into the role of trusted advisor. Patroclus is surprised when Achilles chooses him. Second, Patroclus and Achilles become gay lovers. This is more than a release before they take wives – neither takes a wife. The author notes in the Iliad Patroclus’ relationship to Achilles is not spelled out. She wanted to fill in the details and tell us about their lives before the war started. Patroclus always describes Achilles in golden terms, even when both were pre-teens, so we can easily guess where their relationship is going. However, their relationship adds a different view to the story when captured Trojan women are brought into the Greek camp and Achilles claims several of them because he knows many of the other Greek leaders will treat them roughly and he and Patroclus will not. From a young age Achilles is described as the best warrior in all of Greece – sheesh, he’s designated a general at the age of 16 before he’s seen a battlefield. While still studying with Chiron, the centaur asks an important question: Because of your skill in fighting kings will ask you to fight for them. What will you say? His mother, the goddess Thetis, gives his prophecy: You can become quite famous but die young, or you can live to an old age and be a nobody. Since we know about Achilles today you can see which he chose. It is not an answer Patroclus likes. I recommend this one. I now know what the Iliad is all about. Miller tells a beautiful story. Miller has a second book out about the Odyssey – actually focusing on the character Circe. It has received praise, though I haven’t read it. I didn’t watch a movie this evening. I got an email saying the final concert of a handbell event was to be livestreamed. So, of course, I watched. This event was Distinctly Bronze (handbells are made of bronze) and is for advanced ringers. Yes, an event to gather to play the hard stuff. I could apply to take part and colleagues have said they would recommend me (they definitely want to be sure attendees really are advanced ringers). For a while my schedule didn’t permit going. Lately I’m so sure I wanted to put in the work prior to the three intense days of rehearsal. It was beautiful concert. Last night was another concert livestream, the opening concert of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra season. I had season tickets for 37 years, but not this year. Last season was virtual only with the members playing pieces that used smaller groups, perhaps 25 players instead of 95. The DSO is back in the hall at full strength with a live audience. And I felt I wasn’t ready for that, even though they require proof of vaccination. So I’ll take advantage of the DSO pioneering the livestream concert and enjoy from home and reassess in a couple months. I downloaded the Michigan COVID data yesterday. The peaks in new cases per day over the last five weeks have been 3049, 3236, 3439, 3761, 4683. This is now 56% of the peaks in previous surges. If you remember my post a week ago, the peak for the week before last has been adjusted downward. But this past week’s peak shows we’re still increasing. That’s not good. Those previous surges spiked and were done in two months. This surge is still rising after three months. The peaks in deaths per day over the last five weeks have been 34, 40, 45, 38, 30. I’m pretty sure the counts for the last two weeks will be revised upward. Now that September is over I generated a map showing the strength of COVID in Michigan counties. The hot area for the month, based on COVID cases as a percent of population, was the eastern two thirds of the Upper Peninsula. The highest percent is 0.216. Wayne County is low. Detroit even lower. A week ago Michael Harriot tweeted:

COVID has now killed more Americans that Hitler, Stalin, Hirohito, communism, socialism, Nazis, international terrorism and ALL OF THE FOREIGN WARS American soldiers have ever fought in, combined. And muhf---as at school board meetings whining about masks taking their “freedoms.”

A few days ago ABC News tweeted:

More Americans have died from COVID-19 this year than from the virus in all of 2020, according to newly updated data from Johns Hopkins University.

The tweet linked to a short article providing the numbers:

More than 353,000 COVID-19 deaths have been reported since Jan. 1, compared with 352,000 COVID-19 deaths in the first 10 months of the pandemic. Over the last month, the U.S. has reported more than 47,000 deaths.

Chitown Kev, in his pundit roundup for Daily Kos, quoted Lucian Truscott of Salon:

All of the states that refused Medicaid expansion and have passed restrictions on voting and abortion are controlled by the Republican Party. Many of those same states have also passed bans on mask and vaccine mandates, and nearly all of them have endured more cases per capita of COVID-19, more hospitalizations and more deaths from the virus. In effect, without any states (yet) seceding from the Union, we already live in two Americas.

A year ago Moscow Mitch said he wanted to stop “blue state bailouts.” People were quick to pounce, saying blue states send more money to Washington than they get back and red states receive more from Washington than they send. It is red states that are getting the bailout. More from Truscott:

This is what I mean when I say that Republicans have already seceded. They're a white party and they're forming a white country with white laws and white companies and white jobs where white votes count and others don't. They can live in the states that comprise that country, but they can't survive there without our money. It was the same way with the South before the Civil War. They lived in their states with slavery, but they couldn't survive without the economy of the North, so they started a war. They never intended to "secede." They intended to win, and run the new country, which would be the South writ large, with slave-owners in power and slavery everywhere.