The Daily Moth 3-12-2025
(Rough transcript)
Hello it is Wednesday, March 12, 2025. I’m not in the studio this week as I’m on a spring break trip. I tried to go LIVE on YouTube, but I had some tech issues with my streaming setup, so I’m uploading a recorded video. I will try again tomorrow.
Here are today’s top stories.
U.S. WAITING FOR RUSSIA’S RESPONSE TO CEASEFIRE
The U.S. is still waiting for Russia and its President Putin to respond to a proposed 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine that Ukraine has agreed to.
President Trump today warned that he could pressure Russia to accept the ceasefire by imposing “devastating” sanctions. Trump said he doesn’t want to do this, though.
Sec. of State Rubio said the real question here is what Russia will say to the proposal.
NORTH SEA SHIP COLLISION
On Monday, a U.S. tanker that was carrying jet fuel for the U.S. military, while it was anchored in the North Sea off the coast of England, was hit by a cargo ship called the Solong and it caused both ships to burst into fames. One person from the Solong is missing and presumed dead, while all other crew members from both ships evacuated to safety. The collision sent jet fuel into the sea and there are concerns of damage to the environment and wildlife, but latest news updates said the damage is not as bad as initially feared. The captain of the Solong is Russian and he was detained by British police on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter. The cause of the collision is under investigation but authorities said there’s no indication of foul play. The weather is usually foggy but there is technology available for ships to detect others and avoid collision and the Solong should have had a lookout to avoid the anchored tanker.
EUROPE AND CANADA IMPOSE FEES AND TARIFFS ON USA
The European Union and Canada imposed retaliatory fees and tariffs against the U.S. in response to President Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum. Canada said it would impose additional fees on $20 billion worth of U.S. goods, which will raise the prices for Canadians buying American imports of metal, computers, sporting goods, and other things. This could make American businesses less desirable to Canadian buyers and they may look elsewhere — damaging our relationship. The E.U. said it would impose tariffs on $28 billion of U.S. goods starting on April 1 but said they’re hopeful they can make a deal with the U.S. to avoid doing this. President Trump said he intends to stay firm on his tariffs.
MEASLES OUTBREAK SPREADS TO THREE STATES
The measles outbreak in West Texas has spread to two other states, New Mexico and Oklahoma, with at least 258 cases in total. 33 cases are in New Mexico while 2 cases are in Oklahoma. Most of the cases involved patients who never got the MMR vaccine but at least five illnesses were in vaccinated people. One school-aged child in Texas died on Feb. 25. A CDC team has been working in West Texas for over a week.
GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN LOOMING
There may be a government shutdown this weekend because Democrats in the Senate are not willing to support a Republican short-term funding bill that passed the House yesterday. Republicans need at least eight Senate Democrats to vote, but it looks like none are willing to. Democrats are objecting that they were not involved with the funding bill, which was written exclusively by Republicans. We’ll see what happens the next two days.
MACAULAY CULKIN SIGNS “ILY”
Now, here are two Deaf News briefs. The first is that there is a viral video on Facebook that shows Macaulay Culkin, the “Home Alone” actor, fingerspelling “NYC” then showing the ILY handshape during a WWE event in New York City. The link to the video is in the transcript and it was posted by Michael R. Gonzalez. Nice to see that Macaulay knows some ASL! I wonder who taught him ASL. I think many Deaf people would say ILY right back.
MARLEE MATLIN “NOT ALONE ANYMORE” SHOWS AT SXSW
The second is that the “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore” documentary, directed by Shoshannah Stern, was shown at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. It first premiered at Sundance in January. There is a neat interview by Fox 7 Austin that shows remarks by Matlin, Stern, and Lauren Ridloff, who is one of the people who appear in the documentary. She also had the same role that Matlin had as the Deaf woman/janitor at a Deaf school in “Children of a Lesser God” but hers was on a Broadway rendition a few years back. Ridloff said Matlin inspired her. This is even cooler — I saw on Shoshannah’s Instagram that the three also visited the Texas School for the Deaf and gave a presentation. Nice of them to make an impact on them, I’m sure the kids at TSD were very thrilled to have three Deaf celebrities show up!
THAT’S ALL THE NEWS FOR TODAY. I’LL BE LIVE AGAIN TOMORROW NIGHT HOPEFULLY. Stay with the light.
Russia ceasefire: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/03/12/trump-russia-ukraine-war-ceasefire/82313160007/?tbref=hp
Ship collision: https://apnews.com/article/ship-collision-north-sea-oil-spill-environment-47b208024d166aece39b66e216c05229
Canada/EU tariffs: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/03/12/business/trump-tariffs-steel-aluminum
Measles: https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/11/health/measles-outbreak-texas-oklahoma-new-mexico/index.html
Shutdown: https://www.axios.com/2025/03/12/senate-democrats-government-shutdown
Macaulay Culkin: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1349038959448668
SXSW Interviews: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wCTO-jFu-I
Shoshonnah Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DHGvjKcRZPX/?img_index=6