Dr. X's Free Associations

An Iranian Green Card Holder Speaking Today About An Airport Protest

First, though, Sean Hannity:

And here's a 3-minute phone call to a local NPR program from an Iranian-born man who has lived in the US for 10 years. He discusses his experience at the airport during a demonstration.

Has Trump Barred Entry To White French Canadians?

Trump press secretary Sean Spicer on the Quebec mosque terror attack:

“It’s a terrible reminder of why we must remain vigilant and why the president is taking steps to be proactive rather than reactive when it comes to our nation’s safety and security.”

Confessed mosque shooter Alexandre Bissonnette

Monday Quickie

Movie Anachronism: Hidden Figures, a based-on-real-life film about the hardships and achievements of black women who did mathematical computations for NASA, included a closeup of an IBM Selectric typing letters on a page some time after Alan Shepard's historic May 5, 1961 suborbital flight, but before Gus Grissom's July 21, 1961 Liberty Bell 7 flight.

The Selectric wasn't introduced by IBM until July 31, 1961, 10 days after Grissom's flight.

I didn't know the introduction date of the Selectric. I thought it was introduced in the mid-60s, but checking on my phone (a theater no-no), I was surprised to learn that the error was such a close call. Did NASA have special pre-introduction Selectrics? I have no idea, but movie anachronisms are discovered all the time. Every historical film has a few.

If and when I have more time this week, I'll be back with more thoughts on Hidden Figures, Paterson, Zero Days and the L Word Mississippi: Hate The Sin. For now, I'd suggest that you catch Zero Days, a documentary exposé on the Stuxnet worm, which was used to attack the Iranian nuclear program. It's a must-see in today's world of nation-sponsored cyber-spying and cyber-warfare.

The Dark Triad

The dark triad is a personality organization that comprises three psychological traits: psychopathy, narcissism and Machiavellianism. These three traits are considered conceptually distinct, though they overlap and often co-occur within a personality. A fourth trait, everyday sadism, is also conceptually distinct, but if present, it typically appears alongside other traits in the triad, forming an even darker tetrad.

Because of its association with criminal behavior, the dark triad has been studied within the field of forensic psychology. It has also been studied by business researchers because the triad is sometimes found in organizational leaders. In an article for Harvard Business Review, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic briefly described behavioral manifestations of the three traits (bold added):

More Vote Fraud News

Last Monday, Donald Trump presented his notion of evidence of illegal voting during a meeting with congressional leaders. Trump told a story about the voting-day experience of a man described as a supporter – a professional golfer named Bernhard Langer.

Mr. Langer, a 59-year-old native of Bavaria, Germany — a winner of the Masters twice and of more than 100 events on major professional golf tours around the world — was standing in line at a polling place near his home in Florida on Election Day, the president explained, when an official informed Mr. Langer he would not be able to vote.

Ahead of and behind Mr. Langer were voters who did not look as if they should be allowed to vote, Mr. Trump said, according to the staff members — but they were nonetheless permitted to cast provisional ballots. The president threw out the names of Latin American countries that the voters might have come from.

Mr. Langer, whom he described as a supporter, left feeling frustrated, according to a version of events later contradicted by a White House official.

The anecdote, the aides said, was greeted with silence, and Mr. Trump was prodded to change the subject by Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, and Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas.

Just one problem: Mr. Langer, who lives in Boca Raton, Fla., is a German citizen with permanent residence status in the United States who is, by law, barred from voting, according to Mr. Langer’s daughter Christina.

“He is a citizen of Germany,” she said, when reached on her father’s cellphone. “He is not a friend of President Trump’s, and I don’t know why he would talk about him.”

I love the part where Trump said that the other people did not look as if they should be allowed to vote.

Rogue Accounts

In response to administration efforts to restrict normal public communications by federal agencies, "rogue" twitter accounts allegedly run by agency staffers have been springing up and rapidly gaining massive followings.

US Department of Defense Advisory

Tweeted last Monday.

Social media postings sometimes provide an important window into a person’s #mentalhealth. Know what to look for. https://t.co/B0tPAHwjVK pic.twitter.com/AbXrw2QhQd

— U.S. Dept of Defense (@DeptofDefense) January 23, 2017

Better Investigate Tiffany Trump

Today, Trump complained about people who are registered to vote in two or three states, and concluded they vote in all of them.

Today, we also learned that his daughter Tiffany is registered to vote in NY and PA.  Also registered in two states: his advisor, Steve Bannon and his Treasury nominee, Steven Mnuchin.

Also, GOP chairman Reince Priebus and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner are registered at more than one address each, according to MSNBC analyst David Corn.

Paying for the Wall Through Extortion

Extortion: the practice of obtaining something, especially money, through force or threats. synonyms: blackmail, shakedown, exaction.

Throughout his career, Donald Trump has stolen mountains of money by hiding behind the shield of expensive lawyers and technicalities in the law. He orders services and then stiffs vendors who can't afford to sue him. He ties them up in court. He reneges on agreements, cheating people on the other end of his contracts. He committed blatant fraud in promoting Trump University, then bragged when he settled because, he claimed, he settled for much less than a court might have ordered if he'd gone to trial. He steals by staying just along the civil side of the edge between civil and criminal torts. But no matter you slice it, he steals from people.

It's no surprise, then, that Trump plans to extort payment for the wall from Mexico. Technically, as president, extorting from a foreign power isn't a crime, but he'll be relying on the methods of a criminal to extort payment.

Free countries don't pay for walls to keep their own citizens from leaving. Mexicans are free to leave Mexico without government permission, just as Americans are free to leave the United States without government permission. If a nation wants a barrier to keep outsiders from entering, that nation is free to erect barriers at its own expense to enforce the immigration laws of that nation. Only a person with a criminal mentality thinks extortion from others is an acceptable way to pay the bills.

Gun-controlled Chicago

This was the headline at the alt-right website Breitbart two days ago.

Causes behind the rise in Chicago homicides are disputed, but here's a refresher on the reality of "gun-controlled Chicago."

Chicago handgun ban lifted 2010.

Concealed carry ban lifted 2012.

Gun registry ended 2013.

Gun shop ban ended 2014.

I'm not attributing cause here, but let's stay moored in reality. Police blame weak repercussions for illegal possession of guns by felons. That isn't something new, so it may explain why Chicago has lagged in homicide reduction compared with cities like New York, but it doesn't explain the recent rise.