*Prince of Whine | Institutional Decay | Omarosa’s Revenge

“Today, it is unusual to meet someone with an institutional mindset. We live in an age of institutional anxiety, when people are prone to distrust large organizations. This is partly because we’ve seen the failure of these institutions and partly because in the era of the Big Me, we put the individual first. We tend to prize the freedom to navigate as we wish, to run our lives as we choose, and never to submerge our own individual identities in conformity to some bureaucracy or organization. We tend to assume that the purpose is to lead the richest and fullest individual life, jumping from one organization to the next as it suits our needs. Meaning is found in these acts of self-creation, in the things we make and contribute to, in our endless choices.

Nobody wants to be an Organization Man. We like startups, disruptors, and rebels. There’s less prestige accorded to those who tend to the perpetual reform and repair of institutions….This mentality has contributed to institutional decay. As the editor Tim Brown has put it, if everybody is told to think outside the box, you’ve got to expect that the boxes themselves will begin to deteriorate.” – David Brooks

It’s Gettin’ Hot in Here, So Analyze the Economy: The planet is getting hotter, and heat is killing people. It’s sweltering—India to Arizona, Manila to Montreal— but not everyone suffers. Those who can afford it have air conditioning. Those who can’t, and happen to live in urban areas, have a higher risk of allergies, asthma, lung disease, and death. Densely populated urban areas are reaching killer temperatures faster than those less populated. They might be young or elderly, isolated or homeless – and poor. It boils down to this: the next big inequality issue is what? Heat.

A public health researcher at UC San Diego found there’s a strong correlation between an area’s green spaces and its wealth. Shade from tree canopies can lower a surface’s peak temperature by 11-25 degrees Celsius. People living in less vegetated areas have a 5 percent higher risk of death from heat-related causes, meaning in heatwaves, “landscape is a predictor for morbidity.”

Horrible People and their Horrible Tech: One parent, Leonard Pozner, who lost a child in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting, spends hours each day trying to erase online conspiracy theories that claim the attack was a hoax. Undoubtedly thanks to Pozner’s relentless efforts, Apple, Facebook and Google’s YouTube removed from their platforms last week videos and podcasts from Infowars, the Alex Jones’ conspiracy site. Twitter and WordPress.com, however, have allowed the content to remain. (NYT)

Saudi Crown Prince of Whine: On August 3 the Canadian foreign ministry chided Saudi Arabia in a tweet, saying it was “gravely concerned” over the arrest of Saudi civil society and women’s rights activists, and urging the government to “immediately release them.” Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman went ballistic, expelling Canada’s ambassador, suspending new trade and investment with Ottawa, making plans to remove thousands of Saudi students and medical patients from Canada, and suspending the state airline’s flights to and from Canada. Meanwhile the US and UK threw up their hands and said “not our problem,” prompting a former Canadian policy director to lament on Twitter: “We don’t have a single friend in the entire world.” (NYT and Guardian)

President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho: President Trump doesn’t quite get time zones, or geography, or world leader etiquette, or pronunciation for that matter. He’s attempted to telephone Japan’s prime minister in the middle of the night, walked ahead of Queen Elizabeth, and pronounced “Nepal” “nipple” and “Bhutan” “button,” but only after an aide told him what those two countries were between India and China. These examples are just the tip of the faux pas iceberg. (Politico)

Nein Bottles of Beer on the Wall. Nein Bottles of Beer: There are definitely worse things than a beer bottle shortage, but try telling that to German beer brewers. They’re running out of bottles because thirsty drinkers aren’t returning the empties fast enough. So how about increasing deposits to make it worth their while? (NPR)

Oui Oui: You’re on a romantic cruise down the River Seine in Paris. As the boat approaches the exquisite Notre Dame cathedral, you glance up and there on the sidewalk is a bright red, fully exposed urinal, complete with an engaged customer. Environmentally friendly? Maybe. This idea? Really? (BBC)

It Follows 2: The Squeakquel: Just when you thought it was safe to go outside in general, it comes for you. All you can do is cower in fear and accept your impending doom. But what is it? Is it a demon? Is it a ghost? It’s a baby squirrel. Wait, what? Really? Coming soon to a theater near you and to this guy’s therapist next Thursday at 5:00PM. (Guardian)

An Overheated Turkish Economy: The US and Turkey aren’t just NATO allies; some would argue their leaders are cut from the same populist cloth. As President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accumulated power, he is using his practically authoritarian executive authority to pass a flurry of decrees to bring government under his control. He has brought in only outsiders who share his views, appointing senior officials in almost every area of life, while purging institutional systems and programs of civil servants with real expertise. The chairman of Istanbul’s Center for Economic and Foreign Policy Studies put it this way: “There’s going to be a convergence of the party and the state… lower levels of the bureaucracy will be open to politicization as career advancement will be increasingly linked to political affiliation.” Turkey’s economy is seeing damaging effects, and it’s not just from increased US sanctions resulting from Erdogan’s refusal to release an American clergyman.

Last May, before his re-election, Erdogan told Bloomberg TV he wanted more control over the central bank and interest-rate policy. After July’s election he appointed his son-in-law to the newly combined position of treasury and finance minister. Erdogan’s decision to keep interest rates low has caused inflation to rise and his currency’s value to fall. Credit-rating agencies and investment specialists blame the political management of Turkey’s economy for scaring away investors. Citizens are becoming agitated and Erdogan is becoming more isolated. The new US tariffs are adding to the economic hardship, but Erdogan’s response is vowing to boycott iPhones, and to seek allies elsewhere.

Celebrity Apprentice or Celebrity Deathmatch: Donald Trump has met his match with ex-aide and former Celebrity Apprentice contestant Omarosa Manigault Newman (Troll Master vs Troll Padawan?). She’s hitting all the cable channels touting her new tell-all book that’s critical of the president. It’d be a toss-up over who has less credibility, except for those supposed pesky tape recordings Omarosa made during her time at the White House. Now Trump’s election campaign has filed suit against Miss Machiavelli for allegedly violating a (probably unenforceable) 2016 non-disclosure agreement. The presidency has survived the Whiskey Ring scandal, Teapot Dome scandal, Watergate, and our endless war in Afghanistan. Will it whether the infighting within Trump’s staff? (BBC)

Government Sanctioned Death by Opioids: Carey Dean Moore had been in a Nebraska prison since 1980, convicted of killing two taxi drivers. Seven times in the past Moore was scheduled for execution. This time the state wanted to use a lethal injection of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, but when concerns were raised over how the state obtained the drug, Moore didn’t object. So Tuesday morning Moore became the first prisoner in the country to be executed with an injection of fentanyl. (NPR)

Spotlight on Bishop Scandal: A Pennsylvania grand jury released a searing report Tuesday accusing bishops and other leaders of Pennsylvania’s Roman Catholic Church with covering up child sexual abuse by more than 300 priests over a 70-year period. The report covered six of the state’s eight Catholic dioceses and found more than 1,000 identifiable victims. Are there any American institutions that will survive 2018 with its reputation intact? (NYT)

Bobby, I’m Your Father!: Just when you thought you were the biggest parental disappointment of all time, meet Bobby Goodlatte – the man campaigning against his father, House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte. On 8/12 Bobby tweeted that he had just donated to his father’s political opponent, Jennifer Lewis, and urged his 53,000 followers to do the same. He also called the firing of FBI agent Peter Strzok a “low point for Congress” and blamed it on “my father’s political grandstanding.” Next Thanksgiving dinner is going to be real awkward. (NPR)

– “Vanguard Warns of Worsening Odds for the Economy and Markets: The chances of a recession by the end of 2020 are mounting.” Our vision of 2020 is looking horrible. (NYT)

– “How Bill Browder Became Russia’s Most Wanted Man: The hedge-fund manager has offered a fable for why the West should confront Putin.” (New Yorker)

– This week in Elon Musk Makes A Mistake: “Goldman’s Missing Mandate Adds to Clues Musk Tweeted Out of Turn” and “Elon Musk’s Vast Oil Conspiracy Ends With Saudi Billions” Tune in next week when the giant robot he built in his garage learns to love AND hate. (Bloomberg)

– “‘Everybody Immediately Knew That It Was for Amazon’: Has Bezos Become More Powerful in D.C. Than Trump?” He can make the trains run on time and the deliveries come in just two days. (Vanity Fair)

– “Millions of Android Devices Are Vulnerable Right Out of the Box” We’re vulnerable when we come out of our shell… (Wired)

– “How to find and delete where Google knows you’ve been: Even if “Location History” is off on your phone, Google often still stores your precise location.” (AP)

– “What Chrome Means by ‘Not Secure’: Google’s recent update to the browser warns users when websites aren’t automatically protecting their communication.” (NYT)

“Start your work from where you live, with the small concrete needs right around you. Help ease tension in your workplace. Help feed the person right in front of you. Personalism holds that we each have a deep personal obligation to live simply, to look after the needs of our brothers and sisters, and to share in the happiness and misery they are suffering.” – David Brooks

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