littlemissmartypants
littlemissmartypants's JournalNC Spin Balanced Debate from the Old North State Episode #1086
NC SPIN episode #1086 Air Date 9/6/19
We may be cleaning up from Dorian but on Tuesday voters in two congressional districts will elect new Congressmen. This week's NC SPIN talks about the races, the candidates and the expectations of these elections. Our panel also looks ahead to the 2020 elections. Joining the panel are Becki Gray, VP of The John Locke Foundation; Brad Crone, political and communications consultant; Chris Fitzsimon, Director of The Newsroom; and John Hood, syndicated columnist and author. Be sure to watch NC SPIN on UNC-TV Friday night at 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 12:30 p.m. or you can always video stream the program by visiting our website. Be sure to subscribe to the NC SPIN podcast and YouTube channel while there.
Gratitude Thread for The Ferret
If you have enjoyed reading Shower Cap's The Ferret's posts here at DU and at the blog, please consider sending him beer money to celebrate two years of exceptional writing.
Time flies when you're having fun, so the saying goes and he's definitely made life better and more bearable with his delicious humor and writing talents.
He's been dependable in his reporting and steadfast in his conviction to shine much needed sunlight on the spigot of never-ending poo that is our current fate.
Insightful and hilarious, after two solid years entertaining us, the least we can do is buy him a beer.
So raise a glass and make a toast. We made it through two years with help from our talented friend.
Heres to two more.
Please follow this link to support his cause:
http://showercapblog.com/buy-cap-beer/
The entire site can be found here:
http://showercapblog.com/
His journal of posts here:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/~TheFerret
Thank you. ❤
Barry Myers
Barry Lee Myers is an American attorney and businessman who served as chief executive officer and general counsel for AccuWeather, a privately owned for-profit weather-forecasting company founded by his elder brother, Joel Myers.[1] As an AccuWeather executive, Myers lobbied unsuccessfully to restrict or undermine the National Weather Service, a governmental service which provides free weather forecasting and thus competes with AccuWeather's business model.[2]
Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere
Assuming office
TBD*
*Pending Senate confirmation
In 2017, Myers was nominated by President Donald Trump to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).[3] Myers's nomination was controversial because he lacked scientific expertise (in contrast to previous NOAA leaders) and because of concern over Myers's financial conflicts of interest,[3][4] and as of April 2019 Myers's appointment had not been voted upon by the U.S. Senate. In 2018, a federal investigation found rampant, pervasive, and severe sexual harassment at AccuWeather, and determined that the company, under Myers's leadership, ignored the harassment and retaliated against victims who complained.[5][6]
...snip...
Prior to becoming CEO of AccuWeather in September 2007, Myers served as the company's executive vice president and general counsel. Since 1990, Myers has been a member of the board of directors of the American Weather and Climate Industry Association,[8] the weather industry's trade association, serving as the industry's chief federal-relations office. Myers also served as an advisor to the director of the U.S. National Weather Service at the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization Meetings in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2001 and 2008.[9]
Political activities
Myers has donated to the campaigns of Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Mitt Romney.[10] Myers also donated to Rick Santorum's campaigns for U.S. Senate.[10] In 2005, Santorum sponsored a bill entitled the National Weather Service Duties Act of 2005, which failed to pass.[10][11] Myers publicly supported the bill, which would have required the National Weather Service to stop providing weather information to the general public.[10]
On January 6, 2019, it was announced that Myers had departed AccuWeather on January 1 and had sold all his interest in the company to move into a role leading the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under President Trump.[12]
Nomination to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Edit
On October 12, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Myers to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.[13] Myers has said he will liquidate his holdings in the family-owned company.[10] His brothers will remain as the president, chairman of the board, and chief operating officer of AccuWeather.[10] At his confirmation hearing, opponents of his confirmation hearing pointed out that the family connection would still represent a major conflict of interest.[14]
Myers was selected for the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere position by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.[10] Myers's deputies will include Assistant Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere Timothy Gallaudet, a Navy Rear Admiral with a doctorate in oceanography, and Assistant Secretary for Environmental Observation and Prediction Neil Jacobs, who was chief atmospheric scientist at the Panasonic Avionics Corporation.[15] If confirmed, Myers will be the second NOAA administrator without a science degree, and the first since Richard A. Frank left office in 1981.[16] The agency employee's labor union opposes Myers nomination, citing his support of the Santorum bill.[10]
His nomination was returned to President Trump by the Senate on January 3, 2018,[17] resubmitted on January 8, returned on January 3, 2019,[18] and resubmitted on January 16.[19]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Lee_Myers
The Wisdom of Ram Dass Is Now Online: Stream 150 of His Enlightened Spiritual Talks as Free Podcasts
in Podcasts, Religion | September 4th, 2019
Over the course of his life, it would appear that Ram Dass has led two vastly different lives, writes Katie Serena in an All Thats Interesting profile of the man formerly known as Richard Alpert. By embodying two distinct, but equally influential, beings in one lifetime, he has also embodied the fusion, and division, of two significant cultural inheritances from the 60s: the psychedelic drug culture and the hippie syncretism of Eastern religion Christianity, Yoga, etc.
These strains did not always come together in the healthiest of ways. But Ram Dass is a unique individual. As Alpert, the Massachusetts-born Harvard psychology professor, he began controlled experiments with LSD at Harvard with Timothy Leary.
When both were dismissed, they continued their famous sessions in Millbrook, New York, from 1963 to 1967, in essence creating the laboratory conditions for the counterculture, in research that has since been validated once again as holding keys that might unlock depression, anxiety, and addiction.
https://art19.com/shows/ram-dass-here-and-now/episodes/08ca8009-fdef-4980-9c1c-6f330a075f83/embed?theme=light-gray-blue%22
Then, Alpert travelled to India in 1967 with a friend who called himself Bhagavan Das, beginning an epic spiritual journey that rivals the legends of the Buddha, as he describes it in the trailer below for the new documentary Becoming Nobody. He transformed from the infamous Richard Alpert to the soon-to-be-world-famous Ram Dass (which means "servant of god'), a guide for Western seekers who encourages people not to leave it all behind and do as he did, but to find their path in the middle of whatever lives they happen to be living.
Much more at the link.
http://m.newslocker.com/en-us/news/culture-and-media/the-wisdom-of-ram-dass-is-now-online-stream-150-of-his-enlightened-spiritual-talks-as-free-podcasts/view/
Animations Show the Melting Arctic Sea Ice, and What the Earth Would Look Like When ...
Animations Show the Melting Arctic Sea Ice, and What the Earth Would Look Like When All of the Ice Melts
in Current Affairs, Science | May 24th, 2017
http://m.newslocker.com/en-us/news/culture-and-media/animations-show-the-melting-arctic-sea-ice-and-what-the-earth-would-look-like-when-all-of-the-ice-melts/view/
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4510
If you're curious what this could all lead to--well, you can also watch a harrowing video that models what would happen when all the ice melts and the seas rise some 216 feet. It isn't pretty. The video below is based on the 2013 National Geographic story, "What the World Would Look Like if All the Ice Melted." http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2013/09/rising-seas-ice-melt-new-shoreline-maps/
Chain of Events Video
RECONNECTING ROOTS
Chain of Events
Episode 6 | 26m 48s
https://video.scetv.org/video/chain-of-events-8xlrhv/
If there's a memory that most every American has in common, it's learning to ride a bike. In the last century, the bicycle has pedaled out of our memories and into the skies. See how the bicycle led to the automobile and to the airplane, while remaining a staple in the American garage.
Aired: 07/06/19
Rating: NR
America, meet your president with the Hare Psychopathy Checklist...
The Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) is a diagnostic tool used to rate a person's psychopathic or antisocial tendencies. People who are psychopathic prey ruthlessly on others using charm, deceit, violence or other methods that allow them to get [away] with [what] they want. The symptoms of psychopathy include: lack of a conscience or sense of guilt, lack of empathy, egocentricity, pathological lying, repeated violations of social norms, disregard for the law, shallow emotions, and a history of victimizing others.
Originally designed to assess people accused or convicted of crimes, the PCL-R consists of a 20-item symptom rating scale that allows qualified examiners to compare a subject's degree of psychopathy with that of a prototypical psychopath. It is accepted by many in the field as the best method for determining the presence and extent of psychopathy in a person.
The Hare checklist is still used to diagnose members of the original population for which it was developed adult males in prisons, criminal psychiatric hospitals, and awaiting psychiatric evaluations or trial in other correctional and detention facilities. Recent experience suggests that the PCL-R may also be used effectively to diagnose sex offenders as well as female and adolescent offenders.
Read more: http://www.minddisorders.com/Flu-Inv/Hare-Psychopathy-Checklist.html#ixzz5ybatqWyG
Emphasis mine.
Much more at the link.
http://www.minddisorders.com/Flu-Inv/Hare-Psychopathy-Checklist.html
Thank you for sharing this, malaise. ❤
Gerrymandering Lawsuit Win!!
Cross post from General Discussion
Hat Tip to brooklynite
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212434427#post6
NEWS We just won our NC state court gerrymandering lawsuit! The trial court struck down the current state House and state Senate plans and required that new plans be drawn immediately.
https://twitter.com/Dan_F_Jacobson/status/1168975522497515521?s=19
Check out Daniel Jacobson (@Dan_F_Jacobson): https://twitter.com/Dan_F_Jacobson?s=09
ETA others sources:
Breaking news: A 3-judge panel struck down North Carolina's state legislative districts as unlawful partisan gerrymanders. The court said the maps violated the state constitution and gave lawmakers until 9/18/2019 to draw new maps https://t.co/0COOid70bL
https://twitter.com/srl/status/1168979420532695040?s=19
Check out Sam Levine (@srl): https://twitter.com/srl?s=09
NEWS: A North Carolina court has just struck down the state's current state house and senate districts as partisan gerrymanders in violation of the North Carolina constitution.
Congratulations to @CommonCause and @arnoldporter for this amazing victory. https://t.co/rtOCqFiKWt
https://twitter.com/PubIntLawCtr/status/1168987712252239874?s=19
Check out Public Interest Law Center (@PubIntLawCtr): https://twitter.com/PubIntLawCtr?s=09
Additional Hat Tip to Roland99
cross posting from General Discussion
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212434350
Hat Tip to pnwmom
Cross Post from LBN
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142363154
What do we get out of impeachment?
What's the actual end game?
I'm not sure what, if anything, it will do to make things better. Someone please help me understand what we will actually gain from it.
I know it's a process but what is the final outcome? Will anything actually change?
I am feeling frustrated and confounded. I just want to know, how it is going to actually help us?
List of Imports Affected by Tarriffs
This is the link to a PDF Download
https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/enforcement/301Investigations/List_4A_%28Effective_September_1%2C_2019%29.pdf
By Christopher S. Rugaber, Associated Press
Economy Sep 1, 2019 10:51 AM EDT
WASHINGTON The United States and China went ahead with their latest tariff increases on each other's goods Sunday, potentially raising prices Americans pay for some clothes, shoes, sporting goods and other consumer items in advance of the holiday shopping season.
PDF: A 122-page list of the Chinese imports now subject to new tariffs https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/enforcement/301Investigations/List_4A_%28Effective_September_1%2C_2019%29.pdf
The 15% U.S. taxes apply to about $112 billion of Chinese imports. All told, more than two-thirds of the consumer goods the United States imports from China now face higher taxes. The administration had largely avoided hitting consumer items in its earlier rounds of tariff hikes.
After Sunday's tariff hike, 87% of textiles and clothing the United States buys from China and 52% of shoes will be subject to import taxes.
But with prices of many retail goods now likely to rise, the Trump administration's move threatens the U.S. economy's main driver: consumer spending. As businesses pull back on investment spending and exports slow in the face of weak global growth, American shoppers have been a key bright spot for the economy.
As a result of Trump's higher tariffs, many U.S. companies have warned that they will be forced to pass on to their customers the higher prices they will pay on Chinese imports. Some businesses, though, may decide in the end to absorb the higher costs rather than raise prices for their customers.
Tariff List (Sept. 1, 2019) by PBS NewsHour on Scribd
https://www.scribd.com/document/424013238/Chinese-imports-subject-to-new-tariffs-on-Sept-1
Snip...
More at the link.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/economy/latest-us-chinese-tariff-hikes-take-effect-in-trade-war/div]
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