‘Cracker Barrel’s CEO ouster surprised Wall Street but not women’
Beth Kowitt at Bloomberg
Though it “seemed like” Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Felss Masino “saved her job,” her recent firing “left some analysts scratching their heads,” says Beth Kowitt. But “boards are moving much faster to fire the big boss when things go bad,” and the “phenomenon is even more acute for female CEOs, who have always been under more intense scrutiny than their male counterparts.” Masino’s “tenure at Cracker Barrel is a textbook example of how we’ve ended up with these statistics.”
‘The great tick explosion: A tiny threat tests America’s love of nature.’
Patti Waldmeir at the Financial Times
It’s “easy to see why ticks loom so large in the American imagination,” says Patti Waldmeir. Headlines “portray them as a frightening new public health threat: Unfamiliar ticks turning up in unexpected places, bringing exotic new illnesses such as red meat allergies, debilitating infections and even death.” But “much can be done to reduce risk: Stick to the center of the trail, tuck socks into long trousers, check behind knees, groin and scalp after outings, wear insect repellent and use permethrin-treated clothing.”
‘Refugee Convention at 75: The world must keep the promise that saved me.’
Yusra Mardini at Al Jazeera
This year “marks the 75th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention, the international agreement created after one of history’s darkest chapters to ensure that people forced to flee persecution would never again be left without protection,” says Syrian ex-refugee Yusra Mardini. Too “often, however, refugees are discussed only as numbers, political problems or security challenges.” Rarely “are they recognized for who they are: people.” Every refugee “should have the opportunity to seek safety,” and “every refugee deserves dignity.”
‘Yale loses the capitulation bowl’
Robert Kuttner at The American Prospect
Yale University’s president “got caught trying to make a deal with the Trump administration to change its admission procedures as a way to settle an administration investigation of Yale and the threat of sanctions,” says Robert Kuttner. But “instead of a deal, the secret negotiations have produced massive protests by faculty, students and alums.” Yale’s “efforts to give in to Trump blackmail are in striking contrast to the evolution of negotiations between the administration and Harvard.”