Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

Renown sent me a survey about my experience with my new doctor. I gave her the highest ratings that I could, and also said in the comments that in these troubled times, I am very glad that Renown is living up to the standards in their stated policies. When you have other institutions knuckling under to the Glorious Orange God-Emperor for Life and Beyond, and worse, complying in advance rather than standing up to his blatantly unconstitutional, unethical, and evil orders, it's nice to know that not everyone is doing so.

At the moment, the prospects for LGBTQ+ people look a bit grim in the USA. (Also in the UK and other countries, but I'm concentrating on the USA at the moment.) It's probably worst for trans people, as there are those who, while nominally "progressives," seem to think that if we could just get rid of those scary trans people, all of those right-wingers would flock to vote Democratic. That's just stupid, and unfortunately reveals the bigotry of those nominally-progressive people.

You cannot be progressive and freedom-loving if you want to try and negotiate away other people's bodily autonomy and rights. Throwing trans people under the train will not improve the lot of any other group of people. Moreover, the people telling you, "Just give us this one thing and we'll go away," are lying. They will not back down, not ever. Give them a centimeter and they'll take a kilometer. And in particular, if they catch you giving away trans people's rights, they'll say, "Great! Now let's get rid of same-sex marriage and criminalize homosexuality again! After all, you were willing to give away those people's rights, so giving away other people's rights is no big deal, right?"

There is a photograph going around showing a white woman in front of a whites-only women's toilet comparing it to that hateful Congress member putting "Biological" on a women's room in the capitol building. It's a very apt comparison. I have pointed it out to transphobes. Now I think their responses are in bad faith, but it is just vaguely possible that some of them really do not realize that the same arguments they use about keeping toilets safe for "biological" women are the same ones used for keeping toilets safe for white women just a few generations ago. And don't think we can't be returned to those bad old days, because we can, if we allow ourselves to be divided and conquered piecemeal.

My LGB friends: we are all in this together. If we allow the haters to think they've driven a wedge between the LGB and the T, that means they can drive wedges everywhere. Everyone: straight, gay, bi, ace, trans, cis, enby and everything else can be broken up so that only the Strong Vicious Leadership controls everyone and everything. In such a situation, nobody is safe. Nobody's body is safe. Our collective safety depends on our unity and for looking out for everyone else, not just ourselves.

To our Democratic and progressive politicians: You will not win by becoming a copy of the Republican party. Stay true to progressive ideas and for freedom for everyone, not just a few Strong White Men. There is no way to gain more freedom for yourself by taking it away from other people. Either we all stand up for all of our rights, or we're all doomed to be dominated by the evil people who I think want to return this country to the 50s — the 1850s!

I have written to my member of Congress (a Republican), and I am going to write to my two Democratic senators. I don't expect to actually influence our Republican Congress member, but maybe my senators will pay attention when I say that if they fail to strongly support LGBTQ+ rights, I will find someone else to whom to give my vote in the next election. I encourage all of my fellow Americans to do the same thing. We really need to convince the Democratic party that the days of "playing nice" and compromising with people who would deny so many people equality and decency under the law are over. I do not know what the next four years are going to be like, and yes, I'm frightened, even as I sit pretty high on the privilege pyramid, but I know we have to stand up for our rights and not submit to oppression in advance.

I had expected better from my fellow citizens. Now we have to figure out if the winners will do what they said they wanted to do: replace American democracy with a totalitarian Christo-fascist dictatorship. And what the relatively sane parts of the USA will do if ordered to treat the Constitution like toilet paper and simply Follow Orders from Glorious Permanent Leader. And for that matter, what the US military will do when given illegal orders, given that Glorious Leader is certain that anything he says Is The Law.

Now I've made comparisons to what's happening here and what happened in Germany in the 1930s, but I've had it pointed out to me that in the 1930s, the Wiemar Republic was a new thing, and many Germans were more accustomed to a Strong Central Leader, so maybe they weren't so bothered when they got one. The USA has been a republic for more than 200 years, and maybe, just maybe, some of those people who voted for the Leopards will realize what a mistake they made before they get their faces eaten.

But no, I have no idea what comes next. Will the Trumpists start parading through the streets of Fernley demanding that we all come out and grovel at their feet and hauling people like me out of our homes to be burned alive for the Glory of the Emperor? Or will they figure that everything will stay the same, except that somehow they personally with get paid more or something like that.

Mind you, Glorious Orange Leader can't live forever, despite what his sycophants may think. Is there anyone who can take his place and exercise the strange charisma that has half of the US population worshiping him? Most of the nominal candidates for that job (including the VP-elect) are deeply unpleasant people whose fellow-travelers don't like either. Maybe they'll be like the dog that chased the car and not know what they'll do when they catch it.

No, I didn't watch the presidential debate tonight. Lisa and I got pizza and we watched an episode of Time Team. I think that was a much better use of my evening, and my blood pressure is lower because of it.

As I mentioned a few days ago, I voted (by mail) in Nevada's Democratic Presidential Preference Primary.

Because at least one person was confused by this, here's a clarification:

( Primary Neepery )

The Nevada BallotTrax system sent me email that I received to day confirming that they received my mail ballot.

I hope this clarifies any questions anyone may have had.

Lisa and I are now effectively immune from any further political advertising for this season.

( No Turning Back )

After mailing our ballots, we went on an excursion about which I will write tomorrow. If you have followed me for at least a year, you may be able to guess what it was by checking out my posts from a year ago.

So, as expected, most of the Republican members of the US Senate decided that it was more important to be loyal to Great Glorious Dear Leader in Exile Trump than to convict him for inciting a mob of traitors to kill the members of Congress, the Vice President, and to end the American Republic and set up a dictatorship under his Glorious Highness Donald Trump, i.e. King Donald I of Trumplandia.

( Lots of Politics )

Again, this is not the end, and our republic is definitely still not safe for democracy. Free countries have fallen after initial attempts to destroy their governments. We have to remain vigilant, and we need to keep hammering on Republicans for their attempts to destroy the American republic. We need to get rid of the filibuster, pass a new expanded Voting Rights Act, give statehood to at least Puerto Rico (if they vote for it) and maybe DC, and certainly Uncap the House and increase its membership to where it should be if it hadn't been frozen at 435 a century ago. (I propose 690 based on the cube-root rule, but that's arguing details.) We really don't have that much time. The traitors who want to destroy the American Republic will be encouraged by Trump's acquittal in the Senate, and they will be back for another round of sedition.

I was able to watch much of today's first day of the Second Trump Impeachment trial. Today was dedicated to debating the procedural question of whether or not the Senate has the right to try the impeachment of a former President. Remember that this is not a judicial question. Impeachment is explicitly a political trial. That's why the only penalties that can be imposed is removal from office and disqualification from future office. The Senate itself is the last word on the question. You can't appeal it to the Supreme Court because the Court doesn't address political questions.

Up first were the Managers from the House of Representatives, which used 90 of their 120 minutes in what I thought was a well-argued case, laying out the history of impeachment, the precedents, and the logic of why it makes no sense to give an official an "escape hatch" that would allow them to escape punishment by simply resigning, or in this case by committing their offenses before the Congress could realistically take action. they reserved 30 minutes for rebuttal.

Trumps' attorneys responded with a meandering mess of word salad that ignored precedents, appealed to emotion, simultaneously claimed that the feelings of the people who voted for Trump would be hurt and admitting on the record that Trump lost the election. (I wonder what Trump thought of his own attorneys admitting what everyone with two brain cells to rub together already knew.) It was, I think, and embarrassing performance, but what can you expect from these third-stringers arguing a procedural point that is so well-established that it shouldn't require four hours of debate to establish.

The Trump response was so disjointed jointed and confused that the House managers waived their rebuttal, ending the debate 30 minutes early, In effect, they said it wasn't worth trying to rebut such foolish arguments. So it went to a vote.

On the "test" procedural vote when the Articles of Impeachment were initially delivered to the Senate, the vote was 55-45; that is, five Republicans sided with the Democrats. This time, six Republicans had the courage to vote in favor of all practice and precedent, and the final vote to rule that yes, the Senate does have the right to try an impeachment of a President who is no longer in office was 56-41.

Of course it appears unlikely that there will be the 67 votes (including 17 Republicans) necessary to convict Trump on the charge of inciting an insurrection and disqualifying him from every holding public office again. There are too many Republicans who are terrified of their own voters, and are sure that if they vote against Trump, they'll be "primaried" at best or possibly become the target of assassination by their own constituents. Some of them probably think they can somehow get Trumpist votes without Trump himself. I'm not that sure. I think The Orange One is effectively already running for President in 2024, and all of the Republicans who thought they could take take advantage of the Trumpists are in the position of someone riding a tiger and thinking that they're the ones in charge.

At least the Senate did not vote to overturn all precedent and create the "January exception" that would allow any public official with bad intentions to do anything they want, knowing that it would be impossible to touch them before the clock ran out. Assuming American democracy survives (which is going to be a near-run thing), we've dodged a procedural blow here, for now at least.

Don't let my writing about mundane things like tire repairs and buying firewood fool you. I'm still paying attention to the mess that is the USA right now. If things weren't so awful, they'd be fascinating. I understand why the Senate can't come back into session to consider an impeachment from the House. It's because they adjourned by unanimous consent on three-day intervals between now and January 19 to evade the rule about requiring the House's consent to adjourn. It would require unanimous consent to override the pro forma sessions this week and that will never happen, even if Mitch McConnell wanted it (which he might at this point, in order to save his own skin). It isn't even unusual; they do it all the time. But the wrinkle that perhaps some have not considered is that the House could impeach this week and then not officially inform the Senate for a while, even after Biden is sworn in.

Why would they do this? Well, once Harris is sworn in as VP and the two new Georgia senators take their seats, the Democrats control the Senate, and the first things they may want to do is get Biden's cabinet appointees approved. An impeachment would take precedence over that, and the Republicans might decide to gum up the procedural works in order to delay those cabinet appointments and other things the Democrats want to do immediately. It does appear that you can impeach someone after they've left office, so the Democrats could wait until they've done the most pressing things, then start the impeachment trial. They might even be able to scratch up the 17 Republican Senators they would need to convict.

What's the point of a post-service impeachment trial? Well, it would first of all bar Trump from ever holding office again. Second, it would strip him of all of his retired-Presidential perks, which are quite substantial, and given that there's a lot of rumors that he's actually broke, he may need them. And finally, it would remove just about any shield at all from him being prosecuted for any state-level crimes. Finally, it might just prove to the rest of the world that the USA has not lost its collective mind the way it may appear right now.

We can but hope that sanity returns eventually. I live in Trump country, and I wonder what the Trumpistas are going to do. They've been relatively quiet these past few days, but there are still Trump flags flying from houses around here.

So tomorrow is when we'll find out what happens with the electoral vote count, and whether the Vice President and the seditious cabal really does try to pull off a coup. Considering that in Pennsylvania, the Republican-dominated Senate kicked their presiding officer (the Lieutenant Governor) out and refused to seat a Democrat whose opponent is disputing his election, I guess I wouldn't be surprised if Pence really does try to unilaterally ignore any votes for anyone but Great Glorious Leader. I hope I'm being too pessimistic, but I guess very little would surprise me now other than the Republican members of Congress following the law and the Constitution.

OTOH, the fact that Trump seemed to be trying to plan a trip to Scotland for January 19th, maybe even he has realized that he's not really going to pull off a coup.