The Daily Moth 1-14-2020
Hello, welcome to The Daily Moth! It is Tuesday, January 14. Ready for news?
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Impeachment trial could start Tuesday
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House of Representatives will vote tomorrow on a resolution to transmit the articles of impeachment against President Trump to the Senate. The resolution would also name the impeachment managers, who will have the role of prosecutors in a Senate trial.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) said the trial would likely begin next Tuesday.
Trump was impeached in December with charges of abuse of power and obstruction of justice.
We may see some preliminary actions this week such as swearing-in of senators for their roles as jurors and the swearing-in of Chief Justice John Roberts for his role in presiding over the trial.
Senators will debate a resolution that lays out the terms for the trial. Democrats want witnesses to be called, but Republicans wouldn’t give any guarantees.
A key witness would be former national security adviser John Bolton.
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo) said the trial could last more than two weeks and said that President Trump might have to give his State of the Union address before the trial is over.
Former President Bill Clinton gave a SOTU address in 1999 while his impeachment trial was underway.
So, we are nearing a historic moment -- an impeachment trial -- during an election year.
https://www.axios.com/trump-impeachment-nancy-pelosi-transmit-articles-vote-f56aceea-94cb-46c3-8241-7379f672018b.html
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-impeachment-live-01-14-2020/index.html
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US troops had advance warning of Iranian missile attack
Reporters from AP News went to visit the Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq and took pictures of the damage from the Iranian missile attack and did interviews with U.S. soldiers.
At least two top officials said that the night of January 7, soldiers on the base were informed that there might be something coming and were already on lockdown and took cover in bunkers before the first missile hit early morning on January 8.
The missile strikes continued for two hours. There were about 15 to 30 minutes in between strikes. One soldier said after the first boom, he was confused and peered outside to see what it was and a second boom blew debris on his face.
Nobody was injured, but some had treatments for concussions from the blasts.
AP showed images of damage from the missiles, which consisted of large craters, damaged portable housing, and damaged military trailers. There was heavy equipment brought in for clean-up.
In separate but related news, Iranian President Rouhani said that they have arrested over 20 people in relation to the shooting down of an Ukrainian passenger plane with 176 people on it on January 8. They blamed U.S. President Trump for causing tensions when the U.S. conducted an airstrike that killed a top Iranian general on January 2.
News videos show that there are still protests in Iran led by people angry with the Iranian government over the shooting down of the Ukrainian plane.
In another news, the governments of France, Germany, and U.K. pressured Iran to get back in full compliance to the Iranian nuclear deal, formally known as the JCPOA, within 60 days. Iran may face UN sanctions that were relaxed after the JCPOA agreement. The three countries said they ultimate goal is for the nuclear deal to be preserved.
https://apnews.com/ae79cb0f18f7adf15a2a57e88f469dd7
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Sports News: LSU wins national championship; Houston Astros disciplined for sign-stealing
Here are two sports news briefs.
The first — Louisiana State University (LSU) won the College Football Playoff National Championship last night in New Orleans. They defeated the defending champions Clemson 42 to 25 and ended Clemson’s 29-game winning streak.
LSU finished their season undefeated, 15 wins and zero losses. It is LSU’s fourth national championship. LSU quarterback Joe Burrow broke a college football record by throwing for 60 touchdown passes in a season. He is expected to be the first pick in the 2020 NFL draft in April.
The second news — MLB team Houston Astros’ owner fired their general manager and manager after the team was disciplined by the MLB for cheating during the 2017 season. The Astros won the World Series that year.
The MLB said the team illegally used a camera to steal signs -- I mean signs, not “signs” -- referring to the catcher’s signals from the opposing team’s catcher and pitcher to give their batters an advantage in knowing what kind of pitch was coming next.
The Astros was fined $5 million and had several draft picks taken away.
Alex Cora, who was the Astros bench coach in 2017 and is now the Boston Red Sox’s manager, is considered the one who organized the sign-stealing and is expected to be disciplined in the near future.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/recap?gameId=401135295
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28476780/astros-jeff-luhnow-aj-hinch-fired-sign-stealing
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/13/sports/baseball/sign-stealing.html
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Body of missing Ohio boy found in chimney
In Port Clinton, Ohio, police announced they found the body of a 14-year-old boy who was missing since December 20 in a chimney of a vacant house that was across the street from his home.
The boy’s name was Harley Dilly. He disappeared after he left for school before 7 a.m. There was a massive search effort with helicopters, trained dogs, and multiple law enforcement agencies, but they couldn’t find anything.
On Monday, authorities went in the vacant house. It was a summer home that was undergoing renovation. They found Harley’s coat and glasses on the second floor of the house next to a brick chimney. They then found a body they believe is Harley’s in the chimney.
Police said they think Harley climbed an antenna tower and then entered the chimney, but it was blocked between the second and first floor, and he was trapped. It is not known why he entered the chimney, which was 9 inches by 13 inches. Police said it appears to be an accident.
There is an autopsy today to confirm his identity and determine the cause of death.
Ohio Attorney General said they “are heartbroken by this outcome but know every effort was made to find Harley.”
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/01/14/missing-boy-harley-dilly-found-dead-in-chimney/
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Interview with Deaf Australian firefighter
Here is an interview with a deaf Australian firefighter, Peter Busch. He is 61 years old.
PETER BUSCH:
I am a volunteer firefighter for 45 years.
(Peter shows his helmet and fire uniform and points out that there are “I’M DEAF” stickers on it)
I must have the “I’M DEAF” stickers, so that people I meet who don’t know that I am deaf and are yelling behind my back, they know to instead grab me by my back, or to pull on my hose to let me know for safety reasons.
[Text: Busch is a volunteer with the Country Fire Authority (CFA) He lives in the state of Victoria. His father was a fireman and he learned from him when he was a teenager. He said it’s the worst fire season he’s ever seen.]
It is the worst that I have ever seen in my life. Never seen fires so bad and big, I’ve experienced smaller ones but this is huge.
(Images)
Before November, there was a fire in New South Wales near Sydney, up north. A group of us flew on the Army plane C-130 and stayed there for 5 days to fight the fires.
(Images)
We came back here and that's when it started, a little bit here and there and it kept on growing. We were going all over to the places to fight the fires. We saw many houses that burned down, farms burnt to the ground, the animals - cows and sheep all gone. Very sad, I’m just a volunteer helping out the best I can.
(Images)
ALEX:
Busch shared that in 2014, there was a fire from a lightning strike that burned almost all of his farm except for his house. He said his community helped him rebuild the fencing around the farm and he will help others rebuild their farms and fencings after the fire season.
PETER:
I have seen some families struggle during the fires and we tell them they need to go, they need to leave. They are in shock and are panicking which is disastrous. We help them to leave so we can try to save the house. Sometimes we are sorry and cannot save their home, the winds are too strong and it stings, it hurts. I need to remember to save myself first and remove myself from the path of the fire, instead we go around to the back of the fire.
(Images)
ALEX:
Many news articles about the bushfires are about the wildlife that is affected. I asked Busch if he has seen this himself.
PETER:
I’ve seen some (animals) and some dead ones, its very sad. Can’t help that. I’ve seen some slightly burnt animals, such as their paws and hands. We pick them up and they go to hospitals where people look after them and bandage their wounds. Not me but other people look after them while we continue to fight the fires.
(Images)
ALEX:
Busch said he knows of five other culturally and signing deaf firefighters in Australia.
PETER:
There are five deaf firefighters in Australia.
Two deaf firefighters from Sydney, who are my friends — they’re both husband and wife. The wife had to go out to fight the fires while the husband stayed home to look after their daughter, they both take turns.
At that time, the wife was out there with 4 trucks driving together along there road where the fires have been, one tree fell down in front of the 4 trucks, causing it to roll and it killed two of the men in the truck.
The deaf female firefighter was in the second truck, she was lucky to be safe from the incident. If she was in the first truck, she may have been killed. She was shocked, assisted in the CPR but they were not able to be saved. The tree fell onto them and the truck.
She went to the funeral in Sydney. So many people went, it is very sad.
ALEX:
News articles confirm this. Their names were Andrew O’Dwyer (32) and Geoffrey Keaton (36). They were fathers to 19-month-old children. Andrew’s daughter was photographed using his father’s helmet as she stood by his casket during the funeral.
We see that a dangerous part of firefighting is driving fire trucks through burning areas. Busch will describe his experiences.
PETER:
I have driven through fires twice, we had to because we couldn’t turn back - it was full on so we had to drive through. Sometimes I drive the truck, we all share responsibility and take turns in driving it. I drove through the fires twice, it was very scary but it was okay because the truck has water sprinting out on top to the sides to help us get through the fires.
The fires were about 20 feet tall, we went through them. The length of the fires were about 100 feet long, we drove through it to make it out into the open. We were coughing throughout that drive. We have the masks, eyewear, and other things.
As firefighters, we all work as a team to work out which way to escape and leave. Hearing firefighters have radios in which they communicate about their surroundings especially for times when they are unsure of the way out due to the fires, the radio communications assists in telling them which way out is best. When I drive the truck, the hearing people in my team tap my shoulder and tell me which way to go.
ALEX:
Busch said the fires in his area has been relentless and exhausting for him and other firefighters. They have to stop and rest and go into shifts.
He said the fires in Victoria are similar to the fires that have ravaged parts of California in recent years.
(Images)
Thank you for your time and for sharing your stories, Peter Busch.
https://people.com/human-interest/2-australian-firefighters-new-dads-die-in-wildfires/
https://people.com/human-interest/girl-wears-australian-firefighter-dads-helmet-at-funeral/
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That is all for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!
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