tingilinde

sometimes borowitz really strikes home

On the endangered Earth

a tip of the hat to Sukie

 

the dog moms pageant

If you want a break from the dangerously serious craziness these days, this piece on a dog mom's pageant has some cute writing. 

snip

...

You might assume that someone would have thought of this perfect Venn diagram of social media, beauty pageant, puppy adoration, grinning female empowerment, and Gilded Age excess by now. But in fact, this was the first ever Miss Dog Mom USA pageant. The spectacle onstage was a live-action mash-up of “Best in Show” and “Drop Dead Gorgeous,” with a dollop of “Dance Moms” on the side.

And to be perfectly clear: this was a serious event. Any high comedy that ensued — the moment when a three-pound, bug-eyed Chihuahua named Voldemort decided to stop walking, for instance, forcing his owner to drag him across the stage like a dust bunny on a string — was purely incidental.

The dogs, it would be fair to say, had no real agenda for the evening. But the women were there to win, to walk away with $1,000 and the sateen sash and a yearlong contract to wave from parade floats and officiate at canine weddings (yes, they exist) as Miss Dog Mom 2019.

...

 

the myth maker

How Trump forces others to paper over his business failures.  (via The Washington Post)

His core skills are lying about everything and being a thug and a bully.  Apparently core values for about forty percent of the country and one political party.

 

 

 

crowdsourcing a second bill of rights

 government needs fixing.  

Greg has the right idea 

snip

...

A crowdsourced Bill of Rights would echo the public-driven process that molded not only the original Bill of Rights, but popular referenda in various states as well. Blonder points to Florida, where voters last November enacted voting rights for felons. Other states’ voters have created independent redistricting commissions to draw congressional district boundaries that aren’t gerrymandered.

State-level lawmaking by referendum has been criticized for creating ill-informed and expensive mandates, and for being vulnerable to misinformation from deep-pocketed interest groups. But supposed legal experts in Congress and the courts shouldn’t puff themselves up, Blonder says. Similar bungles have bedeviled their lawmaking over the centuries, from Constitutional amendments like Prohibition to Supreme Court decisions like Dred Scott, which upheld slavery.

If We Amend “could just get people thinking about their government, realizing that they’re part of the solution,” the effort will be worthwhile, he figures. Given our polarized, gridlocked politics, he adds, it may be the only way to translate public wishes into public laws.

...

He has a mechanism..  if people could only just get engaged.

the failure of the education system

Teaching critical thinking should be central - but this (via The New York Times)

 no wonder we get Trumped. 

 

on drawing horses

A wonderful visual piece in The New Yorker.

 

 

psychopathic leadership

A case study (open access)

 

Psychopathic Leadership A Case Study of a Corporate Psychopath CEO

 

Clive R. Boddy

Abstract

This longitudinal case study reports on a charity in the UK which gained a new CEO who was reported by two middle managers who worked in the charity, to embody (respectively) all or most of the ten characteristics within a measure of corporate psychopathy. The leadership of this CEO with a high corporate psychopathy score was reported to be so poor that the organisation was described as being one without leadership and as a lost organisation with no direction. This paper outlines the resultant characteristics of the ensuing aimlessness and lack of drive of the organisation involved. Comparisons are made to a previous CEO in the same organisation, who was reportedly an authentic, effective and transformational leader. Outcomes under the CEO with a high corporate psychopathy score were related to bullying, staff withdrawal and turnover as effective employees stayed away from and/or left the organisation. Outcomes also included a marked organisational decline in terms of revenue, employee commitment, creativity and organisational innovativeness. The paper makes a contribution to both leadership and to corporate psychopathy research as it appears to be the first reported study of a CEO with a high corporate psychopathy score.

 

a tip of the hat to Lynn

 

 

tom hofeller and gop gerrymandering

A fascinating audio post from Slate - on the GOP's gerrymandering expert.  How the Republicans stay in power and resist fundamental change.

 

 

 

right wing nutjobs - the "straight pride parade"

A "straight pride parade" presumably sounds like a great idea to people who think white ink and black ink are both good choices for writing on white paper.

 

foreign policy to the highest bidder and pedophilia

George Nader, associated with child porn now, met with Donald Trump Jr in the Summer of 2016 and told him the Saudis and UAE were committed to helping his Dad win the election,

The takeaway is pedophiles weren't in the basement of the Washington DC pizza parlor that didn't have a basement, but rather were on the Trump campaign plane.