304 ball valve

Because my years of work in this newspaper require me to maintain a fair skin on many things, you may not know this: I am a fan of UNC Sports. (I know I know.)
The reason I hate it is not because K brought the Blue Devils into five national championships, or because he has participated in the Tar Heel basketball project since 1980 and became the rock of Nike shoes. In the past 40 years, he has Compete with the champions of these five countries. I admit and appreciate greatness, K is a great coach. Maybe it’s a goat.
I used to think I was a fan of Special K, but because of the company I mainly rely on, I had to keep it closed.
For many years, people have been peeling K onions, and many ugliness have been exposed. We don’t need to go there today, but if you want to learn more, Google is your friend.
One thing I don’t like about K is that he likes to talk about mortals like me, and does so with an indomitable smirk. His team returned to the game this week after losing to Illinois on Tuesday night. This is the second defeat this season for the Blue Devils at the Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils looked mediocre without madness, at least from their lofty level.
K wondered aloud whether college basketball should continue during a pandemic that is clearly worsening rather than worsening. Two days later, he announced that the Blue Devils would no longer play non-conference games, because there were only two games, so one game and one game had been cancelled. Interestingly, this decision was made the day after my team Tar Heels actually added a non-competition game, which will be held today at North Carolina Central University.
Of course, K has a pivotal position in college basketball and even sports. But his comments did not arouse people’s suspicion. Some people questioned whether they were a reminder from the loss rather than the concern for the child. This is how he packed it.
This is not just a game. High schools, colleges, and professional sports, despite the cancellation and postponement of Everest, are a pain for the American soul, because we are told to wear masks, maintain social distancing, wash hands and stay home if possible. I support them all, even if I am not so patiently waiting for the dividend.
In the past six months or so, sports has provided pandemic scripts, providing guidance on how to get the game safe for everyone. As expected, the agreement has been improved as needed, but success stories are everywhere-NBA, PGA, Major League Baseball, and even college football are nearing completion, but they are likely to reach their goals. The protocol is mainly based on testing, which is fast and available, and based on the notion that it is easier to operate in a team environment than to disperse participants in a riskier community.
The gameplay has brought normality to the United States, providing an opportunity for athletes whose COVID-19 risk is close to zero to show off their skills, setting a table for people employed in sports, and giving our fans the thrill of victory And the pain of failure.
Today’s column will be on the Facebook post I saw earlier this week, depicting the United States, except Hawaii, all with a burning orange, which means “uncontrolled spread.” His editorial comment: “Enjoy the map. This is the case when half of the countries don’t give (atrocities) and the other half just give up.”
I am convinced of this: the answer is not to catch the ball home as K suggested. We have done it.
On the contrary, because this virus robbed the things we depend on and threatened our collective sanity, I think sports provides us with a path worth following. If the virus is going to kill me, then I want to die while trying to survive. What better way?
Today is the first day of my 13th grade, and holding a bag of tissues of ox heart tissue in my hand keeps me alive.
It was on Thursday, January 15, 2009, that Chad Hughes, a cardiac surgeon at Duke Medical Center saw my chest open and put me on a heart bypass machine, which took about seven hours to come. Repairing congenital defects-Bicuspid aortic valve leakage is slow. If it is not resolved, it will eventually kill me without notice.
I remember, only vaguely, when I was told that I had a so-called “heart murmur” as a child. The problem in the mid-1960s was that there was no medical treatment, so the doctor advised my parents that they could try to protect the young Donny to extend his life, or make me an active child, because I knew my heart could explode at any time .
My parents threw me a basketball and told me to go out and play. I try not to consider this decision, but to thank them.
An interesting thing happened between the day the noise was discovered and the day Dr. Hughes repaired it: I can say that I forgot to be on the clock.
I think I haven’t been to a doctor for regular checkups since before I went to college and sometime at the turn of the century (I am in my 40s). My late and dear friend, Dr. David Richardson, may have persuaded me to take part in a routine fitness exercise while playing golf or chasing mackerel 18 miles away in the sea. I did it, but only on the premise of telling David that he would find me healthy-even though I spent a lot of time in my life trying to destroy it.
Soon after the trauma-you know what I’m talking about-David asked me to sit down and start talking about my heart, saying something was wrong and we needed an MRI. To do this, I knew that one day my chest would crack, and that was a mystery.
David is sick. This is another doctor, James “Brownie” McLeod, whose job is to keep me alive by monitoring my heart. I will never forget the first time Dr. McLeod listened to my heart. He called the intern and said, “Listen to this. You won’t believe it.”
At the time, I was told that it was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving in 2008, and I asked to meet with the surgeon.
I asked him whether he would use an artificial valve or a tissue valve. Hughes said it was artificial, and the ensuing dialogue began.
Hughes told me that what I want to bet on is that when my valve needs to be replaced, I can do a Catherine operation instead of tearing my chest. I place a bet.
On the morning of January 15, 2009, I arrived early as instructed. A group of nurses surrounded my naked self and inserted needles everywhere. I don’t remember the joke I just said, but it was a gallows, and the nurse in charge said: “I think it’s time to hit a.”
The second thing I remember was waking up and asking the nurse to switch the TV to ESPN so that I can watch the UNC basketball team, which is marching towards the national championship, playing Virginia with an 83-61 victory. I also saw news reports that the pilot named Captain Chesley Sally Sully landed the jetliner safely on the Hudson River.
My recovery is excellent. I have never taken painkillers. On the 6th day, I started walking three miles on Bald Head Island. Two miles away, I call for help.
Seventeen days after the operation, I returned to the Robertsonian School, about six weeks earlier than planned, maybe two weeks sooner. I have my reasons.
When I started as a terrible teenager full of repair ability, I would like to thank those doctors who kept me here-Thad Wester, who found the defect, David Richardson, rediscovered the defect, Brownie McLeod, took me to the operating room, And, of course, Chad Hughes, who does sex work.
The COVID-19 pandemic is clearly one of the most serious incidents that have hit humanity in modern history. In the days to come, the global death toll will exceed 2 million-of course, this is only part of the story. In addition to directly taking human lives, the virus has destroyed or destroyed millions of lives-through its lasting health effects on many infections and survivors, it has caused terrible psychological harm throughout society, and of course huge Economic destruction.
Part of the explanation for this terrible situation is the annoying nature of the coronavirus itself. As FiveThirtyEight.com poll expert Nate Silver observed in a podcast discussion on December 28, the coronavirus poses (and poses) a particularly difficult challenge for elected leaders.
For example, if the virus is as highly infectious as some other viruses, it is likely to have run uncontrollably throughout the population. Up to now, it may have infected all human beings. This result is indeed shocking, but it may have caused the phenomenon of “herd immunity” that is widely discussed.
On the other hand, if the spread of the virus can be easily detected through relatively modest interventions (as Silver said, through the instruction of only “wear a mask and closed strips”), it will be easier to ensure public acceptance work together.
However, it turns out that the virus “places the leader among the hard rocks”. It used to be and can be contained, but it can only be achieved with long-term tremendous efforts, organization and public cooperation-the Trump administration is completely unable to achieve this goal.
Therefore, almost a year has passed since the crisis. Although the death toll and the infection rate continue to rise, there is still a struggle on how and when to implement basic public health preventive measures.
Of course, the satisfactory and almost miraculous long-term solution to the current crisis lies in the widespread and rapid deployment of the vaccine-despite a lot of trouble and sniffing, it looks like the vaccine will actually be done in the vaccine. The next few months.
However, at the same time, two major lessons of the past year are worth noting.
The first question concerns how we will spend the extremely dark weeks and months in the near future. In short, we have no choice but to redouble our efforts to implement strict public health policies.
Yes, the damage will be huge. The economy will be in trouble. Students will fall further behind. Social mental health will be affected.
But all these options are still far superior to other options: millions of new and preventable deaths. Especially because of the deployment of highly effective vaccines, the light at the end of the tunnel has become visible, and it is time for us to relax our vigilance.
The combination of strict public health rules and what people hope is that an aggressive new federal relief program (ideally partly funded by a surcharge for super-rich people who performed so well last year) is combined to sustain the American people until sunny days. Provided hope. Later this year, society will fully recover.
The second lesson involves how we prepare for and avoid crises in the future. It goes like this:
Sometimes freedom and freedom are more than just low taxes and small government. Yes, lower tax rates are a good choice, but in the end, they are of little use when the basic public structure that connects our society is broken and has little effect.
During the pandemic, we learned this lesson again, because we have seen the federal government fail repeatedly in basic functions, such as keeping us safe and operating the economy.
This is not to say that responding to a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic will be simple or easy. In the best case, it will be a daunting challenge to take a consistent response to a pluralistic and multi-ethnic country of billionaires.
However, in strong, well-funded public structures and systems (public health, education, healthcare, social safety nets, transportation, and environmental protection) and no savvy and firm national leaders can trust this infrastructure and know how to use it In the absence of infrastructure, the task will always be much more difficult.
The most important thing is: with such a system, everyone at least has real strength in enjoying the blessings of a free society. Without them, even the rich can find their prisoners in their homes, no matter how low their tax burdens are.
RALEIGH-In response to the COVID-19 epidemic, our school is moving in a different direction. Some public school districts that closed last spring have never reopened to face-to-face learning at any level. Others welcome their young students back to school at least as young charter schools and private schools do.
I think the latter group is correct. Online learning has its place. However, due to the delivery of such software to a large number of students in the past year without the adequate preparation or support of teachers without best practice training, virtual teaching has largely gone bankrupt.
In addition, the best evidence suggests that the risk of spreading COVID in schools is minimal, especially if the school follows basic protection protocols. Children do not seem to be infected or spread the virus like adults. Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill researchers’ latest study of North Carolina schools concluded: “Infections in schools are extremely rare.”
However, I don’t want to revisit this issue, but rather focus on another aspect of the education system’s response to the pandemic. As North Carolina has a wider choice of schools in crisis, families in North Carolina are better served than families in many other states.
If the parents of school-age children cannot even bear the slight risk that their children may be infected or carry the virus, they are free to continue virtual learning in every school district in the state regardless of the state’s “default” location. Some North Carolina people in the area will never let their children into schools, preschools, restaurants, shops or community centers unless extensive vaccinations are carried out to give the herd immunity. I disagree with their risk calculations, but they have both the right and the means to take action.
On the other hand, quite a few parents who have different risk calculation methods (the catastrophic consequences of unemployment tell them) have other options. Many charter schools and private schools have been overwhelmed by requests. There are also home school providers and support groups.
Across our state, enterprising parents and educators have also formed “learning packages” so that students who are turned away can get help in online learning. For example, a parent of a child who is proficient in teaching algebra may help students from multiple families in exchange for other educational or parenting help.
Although North Carolina people are lucky enough to choose more schools than the national average, there are still too many parents with school bags. Even though we enter the spring semester, many people still insist. It is still empty.
The conference and decision makers in other countries should view this challenging experience as an opportunity for learning. The more options, the better. The more options there are, the more likely the family will find the educational arrangement that best suits their needs and circumstances.
Does advocating for more parents to choose education means that I disdain local public schools? almost not. I am grateful to the many excellent educators who work in it, just like my parents do in most occupations. Millions of North Carolina people cherish local schools. They want to see them improved, not destroyed.
The Parent Choice Program can also achieve this goal. When schools must compete to attract and retain students, their services usually become better and the results are better. Empirical research does not consistently support this effect-this is not how academic research works-but well-structured research has linked high school competition to higher student performance for decades.
In a new paper published in the Journal of Applied Economics, the three professors delved into the Mississippi case. They found that in communities with a high concentration of private schools with religious beliefs, especially public schools, tend to respond in a way that promotes learning. The author concludes: “Policy makers should consider competition-based school reform policies to improve public school performance.”
I think in two senses, the COVID experience will ultimately revolutionize our education system.
On Wednesday, January 6, 2021, live on a notorious day with November 22, 1963 and December 7, 1941, 9/11.
This time, unlike Pearl Harbor and 9/11, the attacks on the United States did not come from foreign enemies or foreign terrorists. It comes from American terrorists.
Unlike the assassination of John F. Kennedy, it is not the job of a lone, twisted gunman. This is the work of thousands of twisted and hateful militiamen who connected online and conspired to invade Washington, overthrow the government, and take over the United States on January 6. They call it “storm”.
They are close. They occupied the Capitol and closed the Parliament. They killed a policeman. They ransacked the center and symbol of the Republic, smugly took pictures, and stole anything they could carry.
They were instigated by President Trump. They waved the Confederate flag and the Trump flag. At least one of them held the state flag of North Carolina.
They may blow up the building. Senator Lindsey Graham said: “Some of the backpacks are bigger than my desk.”
Some of them have zippers and ropes. They could have taken hostages and threatened to kill them all until Congress overthrew the election.
The Congressional Police were not prepared. According to reports, they delayed the request for reinforcements. This must be investigated. But the large numbers and overwhelmed officials saved the lives of members of Congress, staff, journalists and visitors.
The mob will not “stand down”. They think the election was stolen. Trump told them it was stolen. The congressman said it was stolen. Their media said it was stolen.
If they believe this, they will believe that, as Barry Goldwater put it, “the extremism that defends freedom does no harm.”
In the end, the terrorists did not stop from certifying that Biden and Kamala Harris were elected to Congress. But six Republicans in the Senate and 121 Republicans in the House of Representatives (mostly Republicans) voted to block voters in Arizona. Seven senators and 138 members of the House of Representatives voted against voters in Pennsylvania.
We avoided a violent coup. But how close are we to a political coup? Trump hopes that Vice President Mike Pence will ultimately reject voters in the state. Penny refused, but what if he didn’t? Can Congress stop him?
Democrats love and hate selenium. Mitch McConnell (Mitch McConnell). But he made a powerful speech on the floor. He warned: “If this election is overturned only because of the allegations of the losing party, our democracy will fall into a death spiral. We will never see the whole country accept the election again. Every four years will compete for power at all costs.”
A few minutes later, the news of “staking power at all costs” reached the Senate. The police drove McConnell and the other senators out of the secret room before the rioters rushed in.
Senator Mitt Romney of Utah declared: “What happened here today is a riot instigated by the President of the United States.”
Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina said: “The president is responsible for today’s events by promoting baseless conspiracy theories.”
For 216 years since John Adams resigned to Thomas Jefferson in 1800, Americans congratulated themselves with a comfortable cliché: “a peaceful transition of power.”
Hope we can do better next time. Let’s fix it, our system will continue to exist until the next time.
RALEIGH-In the summer of 1987, when I first walked into the U.S. Capitol to work instead of visiting.
As part of the summer program, I spent several months doing an internship with co-columnist Don Lambro. Tang didn’t let me go to work or drink coffee, but directly sent me to attend committee meetings and lurking in the General Affairs Office, so he would be one of the first to accept the newly released GAO government waste audit (obviously a man who passed my own heart of).
I love it. I used to work as a local government reporter, so news errors have made me sad. An exhilarating summer in the Capitol was a press pass and a fascination with politics. (Have you heard of “Iran and International Affairs”?)
In the spring of the second year, I returned to Washington and received a scholarship for a semester through the School of Journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. I spent most of my money in the office of Trent Lot, a minority in the House of Representatives at the time. When I was in charge of civil affairs and correspondence, I spent most of my time in committee rooms and corridors, meeting all kinds of people-from young staff and trapped reporters to experienced lobbyists and powerful Of Members.
A year later, when I returned to the US capital as a journalist and researcher for the New Republic for the third time, I again spent most of my time on Capitol Hill. I like this job. I am immersed in the history and grandeur of this place.
So, when I saw a group of thugs wandering in the Capitol on January 6, how did I feel, fighting police officers, destroying property and trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power in an ignorant and ineffective way?
Of course I am angry. Yes, but I do feel gastrointestinal discomfort. They are destroying the place I respect. They destroyed an institution, regardless of its inherent limitations and obvious flaws, these institutions have inspired future generations at home and abroad. They are destroying the American Republic itself.
Mobs were taken into buildings and inspired by a group of right-wing provocateurs, they also created priceless propaganda for our enemies. A Russian official wrote: “The celebration of democracy is over.” “The United States no longer forges that road and therefore loses the right to define it. It is much less likely to impose it on others. A state-owned China The newspaper headlined the news in this way: “Iconic humiliation! The madness of the Capitol has dragged America’s status into Waterloo!
Well, I am both disgusted and angry. I am deeply sad. What happened on January 6 was not an isolated incident. This is the latest in a series of fierce attacks on our political body. Attempted to assassinate and kidnap public officials. Other public buildings from the state capitol to the police station were attacked by riots. Property destruction and vandalism. Violence and threats of violence.
Mob psychology has been widely studied. We know that humans often do things as part of the mob, they never thought they would do it themselves.
Reversing this dangerous turn in American life and politics will require multiple steps. First, all of us must condemn violence throughout the political sphere. We must tell all activists, including activists with whom we may have common goals, whether they are frustrated by election or legislative results, they have no right to take the law in their own hands. period.
Actually, that is the easy part. This is the more difficult one: when choosing a leader, all of us, in every aspect, must make integrity our number one criterion. The mob destroying the Capitol is constantly attracted by misleading statements, exaggerated claims and false promises. President Trump and his allies lied to them and publicized them in Congress.
The Capitol will be spared. But will the United States’ institutions of freedom and self-government? Only we have promoted true leaders to the highest positions in the Republic with honesty and courage.
I used to believe that the most difficult part of getting old is pain and suffering, not being able to do what was and was once possible.
The most difficult part of getting old is that friends and family grow up with you. As time goes by, they don’t help their health, but when they leave us, your heart is leaking and you stare helplessly. With.
On the first day of 2021, my heart hurts, and that year should be better. Although I have lost several good partners in recent years, this is the first time I have written a letter about this. This tells you what I think about Danny Wade Lassiter, who checked many friendship boxes for me, including his self-deprecating sense of humor.
There was a time when we played golf with other friends several times a week. He now joins a futsal club including David Richardson, Frank McGrath Jr., Walter Hewitt and Stuart Jones, but DL takes his club. Go to Fairmont and collect dust for him for about 15 years. I can’t-both sad and angry-remember the last time we organized it together.
DL is a very good golfer. In fact, he is a very good athlete. He is an outstanding pitcher of Lumberton High. He likes to play professional baseball. My guess is that DL has played golf with me more than a thousand times, and I know how many times he has played me. Gosh, please let DL read it.
Danny is very happy to lose his temper on the golf course. Although I have been away from the development zone longer, he can definitely get more flying time by swinging. I have seen him throw away a club more than once to disperse furniture that has been stuck in the tree.
When DL entered Pinecrest CC’s No. 16 three-shot, he wrestled with the EZ-Go steering wheel and liberated him from the mount. This is the story of golf. Danny somehow manipulated the trolley to the 17th teeing ground, exited the steering wheel, and held the scorecard in his arms, his signature smiley grinning asking everyone for the number 16 score. shop.
Danny was never a boastful person, and I don’t remember how he once shared stories about his baseball achievements. But I remembered this vividly: it was the mid-90s, when I was working at Fayetteville Observer, Danny was golfing in Scothurst, Scotland. Call me after the first golf tournament held by the club.
“Downey, I shot 66 and I’m leading the game,” he told me. “Think about your want to interview me and take pictures.”
He likes this excavation work, and there are many other things I take care of. This is another choice. However, my first game of all time was undertaken by Danny. When he tried to give me business about the FootJoy golf cap I was wearing, he came, called it ugly and asked FJ’s position. I can’t say what I told him F stands for, but I did say that J is silent and represents Danny. It was a rare moment when he was speechless.
Danny is a fan of Tar Heels in North Carolina, and the other checkbox is checked. It was he who invited me to join Fairmont’s Fantasy Baseball League in 1990, called the Ashpole League, where I met a large number of new friends who are now old friends. .
Danny will undoubtedly be the first person to complete the draft, and is almost always second to last in the league rankings, which saves me from insults. I will tell him that when he completes the draft before everyone else, “At least you didn’t put a lot of effort into the final effort.” Patience is not his strength.
When we gather at Fairmont in early April to recruit this year’s team, there will be another empty chair. I think the last place is mine now. I would suggest a trophy, named after the last Danny.
Although I don’t know the last time Danny and I played golf, I remember the last time I saw him. Danny is a fan of my cat boots (Boots) and bought a book I wrote in which Boots made fun of me, which is probably why Danny bought it. He also bought some Boots T-shirts and did a good job where he works, because he sometimes calls me and asks me how many pairs I want to send. He will always ask for a commission.
He joked that I was not only an old man with a cat, but I wrote a book about it and I was flying on a T-shirt.
One definition of the term in the Collins dictionary is “an intellectual, usually a well-known expert in a specific field, who is widely known among the public for his willingness to comment on current events.”
I think the public intellectual is a smart person, an expert in important fields such as history, economics, science, and health, and has won the trust of the public.
On the national stage, you can think of people like Jon Meacham, a best-selling author of presidents and American history. When he uses history lessons to explain modern political challenges, people listen. Similarly, North Carolina presidential historian William Leuchtenburg (William Leuchtenburg) will celebrate his 100th birthday next year, but he is still writing and commenting on current issues.
On health issues, Dr. Antony Fauci used his profound knowledge and experience in infectious diseases to explain the complexity of how the coronavirus works to political leaders and national audiences.
Similarly, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Mandy Cohen (Mandy Cohen) explained that science drives people to take controversial, restrictive and unpopular government actions against the threat of coronavirus. The public gained authority.
Although I don’t know whether the definition of public intellectual is widely accepted, others still use some common themes to describe these people: as everyone knows, smart and knowledgeable people whose works are not only recognized by academia, but also by non-academic Recognized by the world and scholars. society.
The technical writing business Untold Content provides the following definition: “We define public intellectuals as individuals who pursue knowledge creation and knowledge sharing-those who have an irrepressible belief in the importance of fact investigation, research, sharing insights, and hearing decisions. The opinions of the makers and the decision makers are different.”
This definition fits Ferrel Guillory, who retired on December 31 after 23 years of outstanding service. He is the professor and director of the Public Life Program at the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at UNC-Chapel Hill.
He is a native of Louisiana, graduated from Columbia School of Journalism, and came to North Carolina in 1972 to join News and Observer. First served as the chief congressional correspondent, and then as a reporter for more than 20 years, as the Washington bureau chief. As a columnist, he tried to understand and explain the needs of the state and region and the obstacles to meeting those needs.
In 1995, he left N&O to work with MDC, an organization established in the 1960s to expand opportunities in the region. There, he wrote and wrote the annual publication “Southern Countries”, which comprehensively reviewed the challenges and possible countermeasures facing the region.
In 1997, he joined the School of Journalism and soon began to use his contacts to bring journalists, political and community leaders, and decision makers together with students, faculty and staff. He ensures that they learn from each other and face the difficult facts about the needs of countries and regions. He focuses on education and labor training, but shares with all his internal political wisdom pools.
He helped organize non-profit organizations, such as the NC Public Policy Research Center and its subsidiary EducationNC, to continue to focus on the challenges facing the state and region.
His friend and colleague Gerry Hancock (Gerry Hancock) paid tribute to Gilori, “For decades, in addition to the current formal work, Ferrer has also served as governor, congressman, journalist, student, and aspiring leader. People and countless others provided quiet and generous advice. A major challenge facing our country and people.”
After Guillory resigns, we can hope that he will be promoted again and continue to serve as one of our most important public intellectuals.
RALEIGH-In the spirit of exception, most liberals accept the key role of the government in the fight against infectious diseases.
In a free society, voluntary communication based on private property and the rule of law is the default. This is the best way to solve problems, resolve disputes and make our lives continue to improve. But easily spreading bacteria can complicate the informed consent process. As they spread, they expose third parties to potential illness and death.
With the COVID-19 hitting the world in early 2020, most conservatives and liberals at the time agreed that the government has both legal power and responsibility to respond. However, we insist on two constraints: process and prudence.
Regarding procedures, we believe that although state governments have inherent police powers, they can be used to restrict private companies or implement security agreements, but neither Congress nor the President have such powers. Regardless of the wisdom of using cover-up authorization, the state can promulgate it according to law. The federal government cannot.
In North Carolina, we also believe that Governor Roy Cooper’s authority in medical emergencies is statutory, not constitutional. We believe that the General Assembly has never intended to give people unlimited power. Any governor does whatever he thinks is the best, an unlimited amount of time, without the approval of the council elected by the country or Congress.
Although our critics have made other demands, we are not merely dressing up ideology or party interests in procedures. My friend Jeannette Doran of the North Carolina Constitutional Law School made this point when he criticized Cooper’s Dec. 21 executive order to allow mixed drinks.
Dolan believes that North Carolina people should be able to buy mixed drinks in bars or stores and consume them when they return home, which is permitted by Cooper’s executive order. me either. It is not difficult to understand how providing bars with this kind of money-making option might help them survive in a difficult environment.
“If the governor ignores the ABC law, which law is next?” Dolan asked. “Will North Carolina let Cooper use only a giant executive eraser to erase the entire regulation, removing the parts that he finds inconvenient?”
Just as the process remains important during a pandemic, so is caution. Even if the government enforces a legal order and may reduce the spread of COVID to a certain extent, it is still unwise. During the health crisis, it is perfectly legal for government officials to weigh the costs and benefits of each regulation-in fact, I would say it is necessary.
The cost of limiting COVID is not limited to lost wages, work or social connections. This includes medical expenses. Two new papers just published by the National Bureau of Economic Research explore these costs in more detail.
First, Casey Mulligan of the University of Chicago studied the problem of “excessive death.” Since medical diagnoses are not always fully or accurately reported, one way to estimate the impact of diseases such as pandemics is to look at the mortality rate in the past few years and compare it with the mortality rate in the relevant period. When Mulligan did this in the 2020 data as of early October, he found that there were more deaths than officially reported deaths from COVID.
Mulligan estimates that about 17,000 of them actually died from complications of COVID, but it has not been reported. However, there are still 30,000 deaths due to incidents such as suicides and heart attacks, which may be caused by regulations and financial difficulties in the COVID era.
Another NBER paper published by researchers from Duke University, Harvard University and Johns Hopkins University predicts that the soaring unemployment rate in the COVID era will cause excessive mortality in the future. They called their prediction “astonishing”: There will be 890,000 additional deaths in the next 15 years.
Yes, our leaders should take this pandemic seriously. This includes serious consideration of the long-term impact on life, freedom and the rule of law.
Raleigh (RALEIGH)-With Democrats responsible for the White House and the U.S. House of Representatives, and (possibly at the time of writing) the U.S. Senate, you can expect left-wing activists and politicians to push for the abolition of certain federal reductions enacted by former Republicans The tax measures are signed by Congress and by President Trump.
In North Carolina, pandemic-related concerns about state taxes, coupled with re-elected Governor Roy Cooper (Roy Cooper) and the financial requirements of the spending halls that support him, will prompt progressives to overthrow Republican leadership. Tax reduction measures established by the legislature.
In the debate that follows, you will hear about our “progressive” tax system, or that many Americans do not pay taxes at all, or the strong demand for “plugging loopholes” as a reasonable alternative to raising taxes.
You will hear these propositions of the left, right, and centrists. You should be discounted. Every claim is wrong.
Does our tax system manipulate the interests of the rich? almost not. Whether the US tax system is modest or modest depends on how you define terms. In this case, “progressive” means that as your household income increases, your share of income in taxes (not just the dollars paid) will increase.
Declining taxes are the opposite. As income increases, the share of income paid in taxes decreases.
At the state and local level, most tax laws are indeed somewhat skewed. This is mainly because most people use sales tax. Of course, there is no business tax on the saved income. Although most goods are taxed, many large service sectors (such as healthcare) are not taxed. High-income people tend to save more income and use more income for tax-free services.
On the other hand, even after the tax changes in the Bush and Trump eras, our federal tax law is quite progressive. It taxed the rich at a much higher rate than the less-rich. If you combine the effects of all taxes, and you should pay taxes at multiple levels because all of us, and because many federal funds are lost in the states and regions, then the federal influence will dominate.
According to the latest model of the Institute of Tax and Economic Policy, the lowest-fifth (or 20%) of American households pay 20% of their income directly or indirectly (directly or indirectly) to governments at all levels (by paying more High prices (for example, tax commodities). The second lowest quintile pays 22%. The middle fifth of the population pays 26%. The income in the upper quintile is 28%. The high-income quintile pays 31%.
By the way, please note that even the quintile of the lowest income has to pay 20% of the income tax. The conservative claims to a large number of tax loosers should be relaxed. Of course, most of these families have no net debt to federal income tax. Thanks to exclusions, deductions, and child tax credits, they end up receiving more refunds than the taxes paid.
But the federal income tax is far from that. The payroll tax still hit them hard. The same is true for business taxes, consumption taxes, customs duties and property taxes (even if you rent a house, you have to bear most of the actual costs of property taxes applicable to the apartment or house).
Finally, let us consider what is often claimed to be an attractive option for raising taxes. Although some real special benefit gifts are embedded in federal and state tax laws, such as certain investment or energy sector credits, most of the “loopholes” are attempts (albeit clumsy) to define income correctly so that it can be fair and reasonable. Determine income. Tax effectively.
The government should not tax gross revenue. They should tax the net income. (Actually, in North Carolina, this is a constitutional requirement.) If a household or business spends money on raw materials, supplies, tools, equipment, training, marketing, or other expenses, that amount must be deducted before income tax is deducted . . If you think this is easy, consult an accountant.
Whichever tax policy our leaders choose, it should be based on a clear understanding of facts-not wrong, but widely repeated myths.
I can end this because I am not sure that even if the number of words is not limited, I will not be able to better describe the situation in 2020, but writing this column has brought me some salary, and the Robertsonist may argue that with Three words work hard.
I will follow all the efforts we have made during 2020, at least those who survived, and the soldiers who continue to advance. Although it has not flowed freely in the past 366 days, it has been very difficult. (Yes, this is the worst day in years.)
In the year when the pandemic and the presidential election split the country, the hope is not that despair is that the failure of 2020 should be something we can hold on to and shout in harmony, rather than worry about another debate.
I see that there are two things that can make us a nation. These two vaccines can make us take another risk outside the house one day safely, and the oath of the new president can open a page that we need to open.
By the way, this country has not been divided for four years, but it has been divided for twelve years. I blame the people, not the president, so this should anger almost everyone.
Of course, the New Year is the time to solve problems. It is always easy for me to solve problems because I realize that there are many things that need attention. I am not good at keeping resolutions, so instead of making a new list, I reclaimed the old list. There will be an appendix in 2021.
By the end of 2020, the last day is cold, humid and dull, begging for something irritating. Not sure if I can complete the task, but I will try my best.
In 2020, what I see from 20 to 20 is us and me, me and us, our scarcity and our scarcity.
I am not tired of receiving daily lectures on the necessity of wearing masks, social distancing and washing hands, and suggest that doing so can protect not only myself, but also others. Someone told us that with a different attitude of humility, this is a civic duty.
I was also tired of the verbal reaction wrapped in the flag and expressed it with different attitudes of contempt. Not wearing a mask, not being alienated from social activities, and not washing hands hard is a manifestation of our freedom.
On Wednesday night, when I tried to write this column in my mind with the cotton bowl on TV, as a problem for the Florida Gators, it was eliminated because the college football game changed the trend of the game. “-Resolved by Oklahoma Sooners: Florida football players are thinking when they participate in a game because their teammates are insulted on national television?
I may encounter very similar ideas tonight, like my exhausted tar heels conquering Texas A&M on the orange bowl. This is an event I have been waiting for all my life, but now it seems impossible to be a Fair fight.
I know what I hope those players are thinking, but I am not sure what they are: they have failed their teammates and themselves.
not me. Not a fan. Not a university, this provides them with opportunities. Not even their coach. Their teammates and themselves.
As we enter 2020, we’d better reduce our thinking about “me and us” and think more about us. Talk less, listen more. Understand that everyone’s reality is different. Don’t assign bad faith every time someone dares to raise an objection. Generosity, understanding.
RALEIGH-After making many wrong political predictions in 2016, including but not limited to the results of the presidential election, I threw away my favorite crystal ball and started to build a new one.
Of course, metaphorically. I no longer rely on the voting aggregator I built ten years ago. I rarely look at the aggregators established by other experts and political websites. Instead, I looked at broader indicators-survey data about public attitudes rather than partisan preferences, and trends in voter registration and behavior.
I also started talking with more sources of resources via phone and email. I cast a bigger net. I considered John Stuart Mill’s warning more seriously, which is, “Although everyone knows that they are easy to make mistakes, few people think it is necessary to take any precautions to prevent their mistakes.”
Then, in the 2020 political season that just ended, I had no confidence in my predictions-and more accurately. Undoubtedly, these two things are related. I think Republicans will do a good job in the legislative and judicial race in North Carolina. I think Tom Tiris will be re-elected. I don’t think Donald Trump will. It turns out I was right.
Nevertheless, past performance does not guarantee future results. In the past few weeks, I’ve been fishing again with people I’ve contacted-extensively networked to find sensible guesses about North Carolina’s politics in the coming year. Although the possible answers are small, a reasonable consensus has been reached around five major issues. Here is the problem:
—Will Roy Cooper sign a new state budget for North Carolina? The government has been operating in accordance with the budget originally formulated in 2018, and then made some changes to the “small budget” bill passed after the Democratic Governor and Republican-led conference reached an agreement. Cooper refused to sign all the budget bills enacted by the legislature because they did not expand the Medicaid program and did not increase teacher salaries as he wanted.
By vetoing them, he sacrificed short-term benefits (for example, the teacher became rigid), hoping to gain long-term benefits from the Democratic takeover of one or two legislative chambers. This is a bad choice.
-Can the new legislation of the General Assembly and Congress map withstand legal challenges? Although past lawsuits have produced some constructive changes in North Carolina’s rezoning process-legislative leaders have vowed to preserve these changes when the map is redrawn in 2021-no matter what the new district is, Democrats will certainly bring them up. litigation.
I think it is unlikely that legislative leaders will pass a series of neutral redistribution standards as separate bills at the 2021 meeting and then apply these standards when obtaining census data to mitigate the possibility of challenges. But lawmakers may have other ideas.
—Will widespread immunization lead to rapid employment recovery? Despite some good job growth in recent months, North Carolina’s economy has still dropped by approximately 242,000 jobs since the beginning of the COVID pandemic. The overall employment rate fell by 5.2%. However, for workers in the accommodation and food service industry (down 21%) and arts, entertainment and leisure (down 24%), the pain is much more severe. If government regulations or consumer indifference continue to discourage these workers and companies, please look forward to vigorous lobbying for more state aid.
-Will the new generation of higher education leaders, including Peter Hans of the state’s public university and Thomas Steith of the community college, help their institutions effectively respond to the final stages of the COVID pandemic? For college students and their families, 2020 is a strange and frustrating year. They may have considered the value of the dollar more than ever. As for community colleges, many people face both new opportunities and the challenge of declining enrollment.
-In the first few months of the new year, will there be multiple candidates actively running for Democratic and Republican candidates to fill the Senate seat Richard Burr’s vacancy in 2022?
Oh wait, it’s okay. Even my hard-won humility toward political predictions will not prevent me from offering a solid “yes” on this issue.
About a year ago, I had a conversation with Governor Roy Cooper’s broadband working group members and pointed out that from the perspective of anyone looking at broadband access issues objectively, the North Carolina Coalition advocates The public-private partnership model of the municipality is “easily” people.
Since then, many things have happened in the world. This year, the FIBER NC Act, the legislation supported by our organization, failed to pass, mainly due to the opposition of larger existing telecommunications companies. At the same time, Frontier Communications, another major Internet provider in the state, announced Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and on Wall Street, more and more people speculated that CenturyLink would sell its residential business after years of retail. Business shrinks.
Even recently, AT&T announced that it will reduce services to 1,000 or more households in states that provide aging and slow DSL services, which means that these houses may not provide service at all.
Of course, these developments are happening in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forces students and employees to study and work at home.
If local governments are allowed to take on the responsibility of solving the critical infrastructure problems of our time, it is a matter of course in December 2019, then it is even more natural in December 2020.
It has become unacceptable and unbelievable that several companies have joined forces to prevent municipalities from building and operating their own systems for nearly a decade before allowing this to happen, and they claim to do so to allow them to resolve Digital issues. Split state.
What makes this public-private partnership easier is that there are some small local companies in North Carolina who want to be the private side of these partners, connecting houses and businesses, and operating retail services. In order for the business model to function properly, they need a fiber backbone or existing infrastructure that the municipality can provide.
Let us be clear. These types of partnerships will be completely open to the same company that doesn’t want this status. They can participate. In fact, in Missouri, CenturyLink has partnered with the City of Springfield to bring lightning-fast Internet to residents there.
It is these larger telecommunications companies that do not want to compete, even in places where service is poor and they may be far away. For some people, they are in debt, but they have outdated technology, and they don’t have enough funds to invest to narrow the digital divide and bring reliable, fast Internet to the entire area of ​​North Carolina.
It is time to admit this reality. In doing so, the North Carolina State Assembly should make it a top priority in the legislation passed in January, which incorporates the principles of the FIBER NC Act and takes a substantial step towards bridging our digital divide.
Lamberton-Lamberton Boys Basketball Team won the state championship last season because of defense.
As today’s Robesonian version hits the streets, the country is ready to witness the president-elect Biden take the oath of office and become the 46th president of the United States of America.
Lamberton-According to the Lamberton Police Department, one person has been killed in a car crash.
Shown are three of the six coyotes seen on Tuesday, wondering near the residential area near 24th Street in Lumberton. According to the NC Wildlife Commission, coyotes rarely attack humans, although small pets can be used as prey. The committee recommends making loud noises when coyotes approach, waving their arms in a threatening manner, and even spraying water hoses.
Rocky Mountain (ROCKY MOUNT)-The deadline for applying for the Gold Leaf Scholarship for the 2021-2022 academic year is March 1.
RALEIGH — Two natives in Robertson County have been appointed to the senior leadership team of the North Carolina State Labor Commissioner.
Fairmont-On Tuesday, the committee members here voted to hire a new mayor, but it depends on the outcome of the contract negotiations with the town’s lawyers.
LUMBERTON-A 45-year-old Shannon man was killed in a frontal collision of NC 71 near Lumber Bridge.
ST. Paul-A 50-year-old Fayetteville man was sentenced to jail on Sunday when a Saint Paul officer who imposed a traffic ban learned of an attempted arrest in Cumberland.
Bloomberg-The Department of Physical Education at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke will develop a gender equality plan and will strive to fully comply with Article 9 in the next few years.
ELIZABETHTOWN — Maxton residents face multiple charges after they were arrested during an anti-drug operation conducted by the Bladen County Sheriff’s Office in the Bladenboro area.
Pembroke-Pembroke University (UNC) Pembroke University men’s basketball team will continue to play three home games on Wednesday night. The Braves will compete with Flagler for the Taoyuan Belt Conference standings. Top spot. Tipoff is scheduled to be held at the Lumbee Guarantee Bank Court at 5:30 pm.


Post time: Jan-20-2021

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