Dr. X's Free Associations

Trump Various

Another rally without distancing or masks. Trump continues to ridicule efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

The president making fun of his opponent for following social distancing guidelines during the middle of a pandemic. pic.twitter.com/svZM0wi7Ru

— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) September 13, 2020

Also, without evidence, Trump again accused the Democrats of trying to rig the election.

We are at the point where vast swathes of America will not accept the election results because a psychopath has destroyed any semblance of confidence in the electoral process and any chance of a normal transition of power.

Trump's malign effort to convince voters that the election is rigged has nothing to do with ensuring free and fair elections. It's all about Trump's perceived self-interest. The man who lied about COVID, claiming he didn't want to create a panic, is trying to cause panic around the election results and anything else that might benefit him. Post-election chaos is the aim.

On a more hopeful note, there seems to be some point at which a Trump supporter can change their mind. My cousin posted the item below to Facebook. His mother, my dad's youngest sib, was in her 70s when she passed away. I don't know about the agent orange claim about my uncle--it was suspected but I don't think you can prove causation--but my aunt definitely died from COVID-19.

The point of reposting this isn't whether my cousin's comment is correct in every detail; it's about the perceived insult of his parents' legacy. It's finally enough for him to be done with Trump.

Sexism in Silicon Valley

Sarah Millman:

I host conferences that are prominent in the tech sector, and I've had Adria Richards speak at two of them. I could write a book about what went down last week, but none of us is in the mood for that, so I'm going to highlight just a few angles that have been overlooked or underplayed in this episode. (Incredibly, there are such angles.)

I. First off, what happened? At PyCon last week, during a keynote session, Adria heard some guys behind her making jokes that involved sexual language. The PyCon code of conduct states clearly, "Sexual language...is not appropriate for any conference venue." Adria was bothered by the jokes, and referring to the code, she tweeted to the conference organizers, asking for help. They pulled aside the guys, who apolgized, and returned to the conference. Subsequently, PlayHaven, the guys' employer and a sponsor of the conference, fired one of them. Adria then received a stream of virulent attacks and threats online. Her employer, SendGrid, was later subject to DDoS attacks demanding that she be fired, and they did so.

A lot of adult men with teenage boy brains out there. Okay, that's not quite fair. I've known plenty of teenage boys who are much better than this.