A mild, temporary, and mostly performative scolding

Yesterday I titled my post, “Why do we need to know the gender of another person?” I used that title because I discussed the web comic Assigned Male and a scene where an adult asks the gender of a small child and an older child says it’s none of their business. My friend and debate partner said, “But, among adults... Really, can you think of NO reason that an adult might need to know the gender of another adult?” A doctor would need to know. Even a medical researcher, since males and females show disease symptoms and respond to medication differently. My debate partner then discussed gender expression as being vital to personal development. There I agree that people frequently use clothing and other gendered social signals to proclaim who they are. A great number of people will make their gender obvious. That’s good, but not what I was thinking of. Yes, a person should be allowed to express their gender any way they want. My question was more about do other people need to know a person’s gender. An employer? We’re in an age where women are trying to get equal pay for equal work. Maybe not knowing an employee’s gender will equalize pay. Are there any jobs that one gender can do and another can’t? Acting? Maybe. But the emphasis should be on who can play the role (which indeed may be gendered) and has the appropriate look, rather than the gender of the actor. A woman probably isn’t appropriate for a male role but a transgender man might. I’ve seen quite a bit of discussion about whether straight men can or should play gay roles. In a society soaked in patriarchy this is an important point. In a world where we don’t worry about gender, maybe not. Sports? We clearly have men’s sports and women’s sports. But I’ve heard biologists have a hard time precisely defining “woman.” There’s also a big issue with a lot of Republicans trying to ban transgender athletes. I’m not advocating for women to play on men’s teams. I am advocating for transgender athletes – actually all athletes – to play on the team that matches their identity. Dating? There are many stories where one person falls in love with another and finds they’re not quite how they originally portray themselves. The movie The Crying Game is one where this works out reasonably well. The play Consider the Oyster ends well too. The movie Boys Don’t Cry is one where it doesn’t. Gender should matter only to the people in the relationship. So I think my question still stands. There are a few situations where other people do need to know a person’s gender. But in most situations the gender of a person shouldn’t matter and it is up to the person to define their own gender as they wish, using a culture’s social cues as they wish. I didn’t listen to Biden’s State of the Union speech Tuesday evening. I did hear about parts of it the next morning and today I read various Daily Kos posts about it. Of course, Kos – definitely progressive – delighted in the way Biden controlled the room. And the big part of that was the part of the speech where he got the Republicans to agree by consent that trying to hold Medicare and Social Security hostage during the debt limit debate is off the table. Laura Clawson has a description and the video. Another important moment, according to Rebekah Sager of Kos, was Biden acknowledging that black and brown parents must have The Talk with their children, especially sons, saying the cops may not protect them and may attack them and this is how they have a better chance of keeping themselves alive. Biden then admitted it is a talk he did not need to have with his own children. This was part of his call for police reform. This moment is important because this is the first time a president has acknowledged and devoted time to The Talk in a State of the Union speech. Kerry Eleveld of Kos described the overall speech as masterful and a thing of beauty. It stopped any questions about Biden’s vigor. He bested Republicans in front of a national audience. He grew in stature as some Republicans were reduced to hurling insults. Bill in Portland, Maine, in his Cheers and Jeers column for Kos, quoted Rex Huppke of USA Today:

I’ve never seen anything like it in a State of the Union speech—they ran at him like a pack of lemmings and, with a wink and a grin, he politely directed them to the cliff.

There was a lot of reporting about the Chinese spy balloon that drifted over the US and which Biden ordered shot down once it was over the ocean and falling debris was not a threat to people. I’ll only mention a couple memes. First, Mike Luckovich of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweeted a cartoon of “America’s greatest balloon threat” – a clown balloon twisted into the shape of an elephant. Michael Harriot, who writes about black history, used the balloon to talk about race. He included a tweet by Roy Wood Jr., the guy who shot down the balloon. Then Harriot added:

Why is Roy Woods so anti-balloon? Most balloons are good balloons. Why not praise weather instruments, breast enhancements & birthday decorations? The “deflate the balloon” movement makes balloons feel uncomfortable & teaches kids to hate their own balloons All balloons matter

Liz Truss is remembered for having the shortest tenure of any British Prime Minister, a mere 49 days, after implementing policies that cratered her nation’s economy. She did some soul searching and concluded it was the liberal’s fault (she learned nothing). And, as Hunter of Kos reported, she came to visit Republicans. Will they learn anything from her quick exit? Hunter answered that question with a hard no. Truss was part of a system that has, on occasion, political consequences. American Republicans aren’t.

Say what you want about American democracy, but there's probably no other country where you can send an armed mob after your political opponents and confidently believe you won't get punched for it. We Are Unique. So then, the question again: Will Republicans be cowed into second-guessing their plan (again) to shutter government (again) and at least temporarily (again) default on the national debt? No, of course not. What a ridiculous question. If you can assist a coup, get citizens killed, and still be on handshake terms with fellow politicians who don't necessarily like the idea of rebellion but aren't invested enough in that belief to cause a scene or anything, there is little chance you're going to be worried that causing an international economic crisis will get you more than a mild, temporary, and mostly performative scolding. This isn’t Europe. There aren’t consequences for doing the transparently worst, most predictably catastrophic thing.

Dartagnan of Kos quoted Sahil Kapur of NBC News reporting about what the nasty guy said about the 2024 campaign season:

Two days after the poll results were released, Trump was asked in an interview whether, if he lost the nomination, he would support the GOP nominee. Trump answered, “It would have to depend on who the nominee was.” Translation: no.

My expanded translation: “It would have to depend on whether the nominee was me.” Dartagnan then discussed the growing realization within the Republican Party that they may be screwed in this election cycle. Many want to move on. But, run the nasty guy and he will lose in the general. Don’t run the nasty guy and he fractures the party, which loses in the general. Clawson reported on a hearing by the House Oversight and Reform Committee into why Twitter limited propaganda about Hunter Biden, including nude photos of him. Republicans were using their time to get a 30 second clip to be used on conservative media on how Twitter and other social platforms are being mean to conservatives. Democrats took the opportunity to look at other things Twitter was doing. Clawson wrote:

Let’s talk about the incitements to violence on Jan. 6. Let’s talk about Russian disinformation. And, since Republicans are insisting that Twitter was stacking the deck for Democrats, let’s talk about the relationship between Republicans and Twitter, especially since we’re talking about a time period before Donald Trump was banned, when he was using the platform to abuse his political opponents and encourage his supporters to reject the results of the 2020 elections.

An example: One of the witnesses was Anika Collier Navaroli, formerly the most senior member of Twitter’s content moderation team. The nasty guy had made nasty comments about the progressive squad, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. AOC asked Navaroli about it, who said yes, this was a clear violation of Twitter policy. But Navaroli was overruled my her supervisor – and then the rules were changed to permit that kind of attack. That’s Democrats making a fact-based case. Sure, go ahead and claim that Twitter is biased against conservatives. Which they’ll do because all they want out of this hearing is the soundbites. Luckovich with another cartoon of a speaker at a podium in the House chamber, saying:

... and to our Democrat colleagues calling us “clowns,” we are Jesters!

Clawson reported on a legal case that may have significant implications for medication abortions. The suit before a US District Court isn’t whether mifepristone, one of two drugs used to trigger an abortion, should be banned. It is about the FDA approval of the drug, which happened back in 2000. The claim is that the drug has too many side effects and should not have been approved. No doubt the “side effect” is that it assists in causing an abortion. However, using mifepristone before misoprostol has a 99.6% success rate, while using misoprostol alone is only 80% successful, requiring other interventions that are much riskier and much more of a burden on pregnant people. This medication abortion is far less dangerous than pregnancy and birth. The case is going before a very conservative judge – Republicans are very good a judge-shopping. He will likely overturn the FDA approval. If so, the consequences are much more severe than banning the drug. It doesn’t affect just that district. It doesn’t affect just the Circuit Court region. It bans the drug for the entire country. Any appeal – and the Justice Department says it will vigorously defend the FDA, though it will take a while – goes to the highly conservative 5th Circuit and any appeal from there goes to the highly conservative Supremes. Yes, this is scary, no matter where you live. Sager reported the story of the Urban Christian Academy, a K-8 school in a low-income neighborhood of Kansas City. For over a decade it has been quietly supporting its LGBTQ students. Its founder and director Kalie Callaway-George said, “As a Christian school, we believe that each of these beloved humans was made in the image of God.” A year ago Callaway-Geoge said it was time to go public about their support – to tell the community all people were welcome and celebrated. They didn’t want to contribute to the hurt and pain the queer members of the community were feeling. In response, all eight churches that funded the school pulled their support. Other sources of funding dried up. Each time the school gets some attention the hate flows again, distracting the faculty and staff from actual teaching. The school will have to close soon. Mark Sumner of Kos and who used to work in the coal industry discussed reports that say if the whole country switches to electric vehicles the electric grid won’t be able to handle it and we’ll always need electricity generated from gas. For example, an articles says a truck stop for electric trucks will need “as much power as a small town.” Sumner’s response is they’re thinking about it all wrong. One reply to these stories: Instead of building a smaller number of huge recharging centers, build a lot more small charging centers. Another: Think of that EV as “traveling energy storage.” When solar and wind can generate a lot of power it can be stored in vehicles. When the renewable generators aren’t producing enough or when the power goes out, pull the power out of the vehicles. This smooths out the demand and is a lot less susceptible to damage from terrorists.