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Study links career success with narcissism and psychopathy

Justine Hofherr
boston.com
Tue, 03 Nov 2015 14:56 UTC
Image
© iStock
In a recent study of German employees, narcissism was linked to higher salaries, while Machiavellianism was tied to leadership positions and career satisfaction.
New research may support the phrase "Nice guys finish last," made famous by baseball player Leo Durocher—at least when it comes to the workplace.

In a recent study from the University of Bern in Switzerland, researchers found that German employees with high levels of narcissism were linked to higher salaries, while those displaying "Machiavellianism" (traits related to manipulation and superficial charm) were tied to leadership positions and career satisfaction.

Researchers Daniel Spurk, Anita C. Keller, and Andreas Hirschi analyzed the effects of "Dark Triad" traits (psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism) on outcomes like salary and leadership positions, and found a correlation between employees demonstrating those traits and career success, even when controlling for the effects of demographics, job tenure, organization size, and hours worked.

It's worth noting, as Harvard Business Review points out, that the Dark Triad personality traits aren't clinical diagnoses. They're more like personality traits and are "normally distributed in the population."
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Pistol

'Crisis of confidence': Police shootings in Los Angeles double in 2015


RT
Wed, 11 Nov 2015 14:18 UTC
Los Angeles police
© Mario Anzuoni / Reuters
The number of shootings by Los Angeles police has nearly doubled in 2015, the city's new police commission president said. He says changes will be made to stop the "alarming" trend and make the Los Angeles Police Department a "model for the entire nation."

This year, Los Angeles has seen 45 officer-involved shootings, compared to 23 through the same period last year. Of these, 19 shootings have been fatal, compared to 18 last year and 14 in 2013, according to Matthew Johnson, the president of the Los Angeles Police Commission.

Johnson called the increase an "alarming development," according to local media, as he unveiled a roadmap for improving the LAPD.

"I believe we can work toward vastly reducing the number of use-of- force incidents through extensive training and modifying our tactics," he said.

Comment: The LAPD has a long history of corruption. Johnson will have his hands full trying to bring about change.

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Hearts

Delaware cop caught: Gives shoes to barefoot homeless man


RT
Wed, 11 Nov 2015 13:24 UTC
New Jersey police
© Kayla Christine Palmer‎ / Facebook
A Delaware River Port Authority policeman was called to escort a homeless man off a bus because he wasn't wearing shoes. He did and then proceeded to buy the man a pair, an act of decency that was caught on camera by a passing citizen.

"I just felt like the gentlemen simply was on hard times. He wanted to ride on the bus but he couldn't afford shoes, there was no need for me to arrest him for that," Officer Kenya Joyner, of Wilmington, Delaware, later told KYW-TV.

This was shot on camera by Kayla Palmer of Pine Hill, New Jersey, who told NBC10 her father saw the homeless man being kicked off the bus.

"We saw the officer pull back up and we thought he was gonna tell him to leave," Palmer said. "Instead he came out with a box of shoes."

Comment: Nice to know some police really do care about people.

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Vader

Belgium gives Facebook 48 hours to stop tracking non-users or pay €250K per day


RT
Tue, 10 Nov 2015 04:56 UTC
Image
© Beck Diefenbach / Reuters
A Belgian court has given Facebook 48 hours to stop tracking the online activities of non-Facebook users in Belgium unless they have their explicit consent or face a daily fine of €250,000. The internet giant has pledged to appeal the decision.

"If a surfer doesn't have their own Facebook account, Facebook from now on will have to explicitly solicit consent and provide the needed explanations," the Brussels court of first instance said.

Comment: Exactly how could a tracking cookie determine if someone is a legitimate visitor or possible attacker? Seems like a bizarre argument to make.

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Stormtrooper

Cop had been stalking man's fiancée before murdering his 6-year old son

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Tue, 10 Nov 2015 21:54 UTC
cop-killed 6year-old
© The Free Thought Project
More information is coming to light about the two Marksville City Marshals, who ruthlessly shot to death a 6-year-old boy as he was buckled into the back seat of a vehicle.

Officers Derrick Stafford and Norris Greenhouse, Jr. are currently being held, each with a $1 million bail for the murder of Jeremy Mardis and the attempted murder of his father, Chris Few.

Few's attorney, Mark Jeansonne said Monday, that the body camera video shows the father of this 6-year-old autistic boy who was shot to death in his car, had his hands in the air and did not pose a threat.

After it was revealed that the officers had fabricated a story about Chris Few having an outstanding warrant and being armed, the family is left wondering why in the world he was stopped in the first place.

Couple their lies with the fact that Few's attorney said he had his hands up during the stop, and a dark and ominous scenario begins to unfold.

Until now, there was still no logical reason for the stop, leaving everyone wondering why these officers went after Few at all. However, all that changed when Few's fiancée came forward about her relationship to one of the murdering cops, Norris Greenhouse, Jr.
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Alarm Clock

Eight-year-old Alabama boy charged with murder after 1-year-old girl is beaten to death

Nikki Wolfe
Rawstory
Tue, 10 Nov 2015 03:14 UTC
Image

Kelci
An eight-year-old boy has been charged with murder in Birmingham, Alabama, after an infant left in his care was beaten to death.

The child's mother, who has been named as 26-year-old Katerra Lewis, has been charged with manslaughter after leaving her one-year-old daughter Kelci in the care of a group of children all younger than nine.

On 11 October, police said, Katerra Lewis and her friend left to go to a club at around 11.30pm. The women returned at around 2am, but did not check on Kelci until the following morning, according to Birmingham police spokesman Sean Edwards.

Comment: It's actually the mother who should be arrested. Who leaves an eight-year-old in charge of an infant in order to go to the club?

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Robot

Meet "RoboCop": The cop who has the most complaints against him and still gets away with it


FilmingCops
Wed, 11 Nov 2015 02:10 UTC
robocop
© FilmingCops
No one knows how William Melendez earned the nickname "RoboCop"; however, one thing is for sure: the police officer is well acquainted with dodging punishment for his reported wrongful conduct. He has a well-publicized list of cases against him.

On various occasions he has been accused of planting evidence, wrongfully killing civilians, producing false police reports and carrying out unlawful arrests. At one point, while he was employed by Detroit police, he had complaints against his name than any other officer in the department.

The suburb of Inkster is expected to pay huge sums as payout to his victims - but, things are not as straightforward. The budget is tight and every time a settlement is reached, the amount is passed on as tax to the residents.

Comment: Yikes! These are just the reported incidents, just imagine the stuff that didn't make it into the reports.

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Arrow Down

The rich get their organ transplant quicker

Marcus Hondro
Digital Journal
Tue, 10 Nov 2015 02:11 UTC
Organ Transplant
© Brendan Smialowski/AFP
Doctors inspect a kidney after it was removed during a transplant in 2012.
A new look at the numbers surrounding organ transplants in the U.S. has shown what some of you may have suspected — the rich get their organs quicker and are less likely to die waiting for a transplant.

Organ transplant data

The lead author of the study, Dr. Raymond Givens of New York's Columbia University, presented the results at an American Heart Association conference in Orlando, Florida on Monday. Dr. Givens found the wealthy can more easily get on multiple transplant waiting lists, making it less likely they'll die while waiting for a kidney, heart or other organ.

Organs are supposed to be given to the sickest patients who have waited the longest but many wealthy patients can afford to put themselves on two, three or more wait lists, travelling to other states and paying the fees for the tests needed at each one. Tests can cost from $23,000 for a kidney all the way up to $51,000 for a heart.

"Multiple-listed patients were more likely to get transplanted and less likely to die," Dr. Givens said. He adds that getting on more than one wait list is a "rational thing to do" for those who can afford it.

Some states, such as New York, have comparatively fewer organs available, while others, such as California, have more. Wealthy people from New York often travel to California and pay for tests and get on wait lists there.
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Bomb

Scores of tech workers laid off, forced to train foreign replacements

Patrick Thibodeau
ComputerWorld
Mon, 09 Nov 2015 01:47 UTC
Image
The IT workers at Cengage Learning in the company's Mason, Ohio offices learned of their fates game-show style. First, they were told to gather in a large conference room. There were vague remarks from an IT executive about a "transition." Slides were shown that listed employee names, directing them to one of three rooms where they would be told specifically what was happening to them. Some employees were cold with worry.

The biggest group, those getting pink slips, were told to remain in the large conference room. Workers directed to go through what we'll call Door No. 2, were offered employment with IT offshore outsourcing firm Cognizant. That was the smallest group. And those sent through Door No. 3 remained employed in Cengage's IT department. This happened in mid-October.

"I was so furious," said one of the IT workers over what happened. It seemed "surreal," said another. There was disbelief, but little surprise. Cengage, a major producer of educational content and services, had outsourced accounting services earlier in the year. The IT workers rightly believed they were next.

The employees were warned that speaking to the news media meant loss of severance. Despite their fears, they want their story told. They want people to know what's happening to IT jobs in the heartland. They don't want the offshoring of their livelihoods to pass in silence.
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Bomb

400 richest people control more wealth than every country on Earth except the U.S., China and Japan

Brendan Coffey
Bloomberg Business
Wed, 11 Nov 2015 01:02 UTC
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So much money they can afford to light cigars with 100 dollar bills while 10% of people in the world live in extreme poverty.

Comment: As you read the following story keep in mind that there are approximately 7.5 billion people living on Earth today...


Jeff Bezos has edged past Carlos Slim to become the world's fourth-richest person, buoyed by a 113 percent rally this year in Amazon.com Inc.

The 51-year-old founder of the world's largest online retailer passed the Mexican telecommunications tycoon Tuesday after Amazon rose $4.19 by the close of trading in New York. Bezos commands a fortune of $58.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Slim, who was the world's richest person as recently as May 2013, is now ranked fifth with $57.2 billion. He's lost $15.4 billion in 2015, more than any other billionaire on the index.

Bezos has increased his fortune 103.5 percent in 2015 as investors have cheered profits at Amazon and growth in its cloud storage business. His $29.6 billion year-to-date gain is the biggest of any billionaire on the Bloomberg index, a daily ranking of the world's 400 richest people.

Comment: Such gross excessive hording of wealth! Meanwhile an estimated 100 million people in the world are homeless; approximately 795 million do not have enough food to lead a healthy active life; and nearly half the world (3.5 billion people) have less than $2.50 per day to survive and according to UNICEF 22,000 children die every day due to extreme poverty.

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