The Daily Moth 1-22-2020
Hello, welcome to The Daily Moth! It is Wednesday, January 22. Ready for news?
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Recap of first day of impeachment trial
Here is a recap of the first day of the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump that started on Tuesday afternoon and continued until early Wednesday morning.
Trump is charged by the House of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer proposed 11 different amendments to subpoena witnesses and documents, but it failed a Senate vote almost every time along party lines — 53 Republicans and 47 in the Democratic caucus.
House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler accused the White House of engaging in a cover-up and said history will judge them. White House counsel Pat Cipollone said Nadler should apologize for making false allegations.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts admonished both sides for behaving in a way that is “not conducive to civil discourse.” He reminded the involved parties that they were in the Senate, the “world’s greatest deliberative body.”
Senators were not allowed to speak during the trial proceedings . Some of them passed handwritten notes to one another.
Republicans said they want to vote on subpoenas after both sides have finished presenting their opening arguments. They got their way when Senate leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky)’s resolution for trial rules passed along party lines. The trial adjourned at 1:50 a.m. on Wednesday.
The Senate will be able to debate whether to subpoena witnesses or documents after six days of opening arguments. Both sides will have 24 hours over three days to present their cases.
As I sign this news, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif) is presenting opening arguments. The Democrats will have today, Thursday, and Friday to present their case for impeachment. Then Trump’s legal team will have Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday to present their defense.
President Trump said in a news conference in Switzerland that the process is a disgraceful hoax and that he did nothing wrong with Ukraine. He has left the country and is on his way back to the White House.
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/trump-impeachment-trial-senate-proceedings-set-to-begin-as-rules-come-into-focus-2019-01-21/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/01/22/trump-impeachment-trial-john-roberts-reminds-both-sides-civil/4539886002/
https://www.axios.com/trump-impeachment-trial-recap-day-1-senators-approve-rules-b466b9d1-43cf-4310-b709-78a9b834c17c.html
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China closes off Wuhan after 17 dead from coronavirus outbreak
The number of people reported dead from a strain of coronavirus that came from Wuhan, China has shot up to 17. Over 470 people are infected. There is at least one man in the U.S. who is infected, a man in his 30s who is in Washington state.
Many of the infected visited a seafood and animal market in Wuhan. The virus is believed to have transmitted from an animal to a human, and it can be transmitted from human to human.
Chinese officials announced they would “close off” Wuhan by canceling planes and trains leaving the city beginning Thursday and suspending buses, subways, and ferries within it. The government said residents should not leave the city until they had an urgent reason to do so. Wuhan has 11 million residents.
The World Health Organization had an emergency meeting today and was supposed to announce whether the virus was considered a “public health emergency,” but said they would reconvene tomorrow after looking at more evidence.
The first person to die was a 61-year-old man on January 9. All of the deaths happened in China. There are reports of people being infected in Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea.
CBS News reported that one hospital patient is said to have infected 14 medical workers, so it appears to be very contagious.
Dr. Tara Narula told CBS News that people should not panic because coronaviruses are found around the world and typically cause mild to moderate respiratory illnesses — and pointed out that those who died were older than 60 and might have had other medical issues.
The doctor did warn that the virus can mutate and change and said that people don’t have immunity to it because it is a new strain, so there needs to be a strong and unified public health approach.
The National Institutes of Health is now researching the virus and hopes to be able to discover a vaccine.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-china-virus-what-is-mystery-illness-deaths-toll-us-case-confirmed-today-2020-01-21/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-china-death-toll-rises-doctor-tara-narula-be-proactive-do-not-panic/
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10784540/coronavirus-death-toll-wuhan-china/
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-cases/china-confirms-473-cases-of-new-coronavirus-state-media-idUSKBN1ZL1II
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/22/world/asia/china-coronavirus-travel.html?smid=tw-bna
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Jeff Bezos phone hack
The United Nations accused Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of hacking into Amazon CEO, Washington Post owner, and the richest man in the world Jeff Bezos’ phone in May 2018. UN investigators said that Bezos’ WhatsApp account received a message from an account that was owned by bin Salman that contained a malicious video that extracted data from his phone.
The UN said the cyberattack was a part of a “complex series of conflicts among Bezos, the Saudis, President Trump and the National Enquirer tabloid.”
Last year the Enquirer reported that Bezos had an affair with Lauren Sanchez about the same time Bezos announced that he was divorcing his wife. The articles included details of private text messages and pictures.
Bezos then paid a personal investigator to find out how his phone was hacked and the investigator shared the details with the public and with UN.
There were also separate reports that said Lauren Sanchez’s brother, Michael, was paid $200,000 to leak the texts of the affair to the Enquirer.
Why would Saudi Arabia be involved? Journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was Saudi Arabian, wrote columns for the Washington Post that criticized the Saudi government. He was killed in October 2018 in a Saudi consulate in Turkey. The CIA said bin Salman ordered the killing, but President Trump cast doubts on if bin Salman knew about it or not.
The National Enquirer is published by American Media Inc, whose CEO is David Pecker, who is a friend of President Trump. Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen testified that Pecker would help Trump by buying exclusive rights to negative news stories about Trump but end up never publishing it, a practice known as “catch and kill.”
President Trump has often accused Bezos of using the Washington Post to push out biased and negative coverage of him and his administration.
The Saudi Embassy in USA tweeted this morning that media reports that they were behind the hacking of Bezos’ phone is “absurd.”
This afternoon, Bezos tweeted an image of him and other people placing their hands on a memorial in Istanbul to honor Khashoggi.
So, we are seeing a lot of bizarre connections and controversy with some of the most powerful people in the world.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jan/21/amazon-boss-jeff-bezoss-phone-hacked-by-saudi-crown-prince
https://www.axios.com/saudi-crown-prince-mbs-bezos-phone-hacking-report-24f3e1a9-4fbf-4079-aa46-f6df593e80c0.html
https://apnews.com/a490f73620f267ac3c96c6cd25348f6b?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP
https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-national-enquirer-investigation-timeline-2019-2#hours-after-news-of-the-bezos-divorce-broke-the-national-enquirer-reported-that-jeff-bezos-has-been-dating-a-former-tv-host-named-lauren-sanchez-and-said-that-it-had-conducted-a-4-month-long-investigation-into-the-affair-5
https://twitter.com/SaudiEmbassyUSA/status/1219792870389035008 https://twitter.com/JeffBezos/status/1220059386694922240
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-the-national-enquirer-got-bezos-texts-it-paid-200-000-to-his-lovers-brother-11552953981
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Coca-Cola says customers still want plastic bottles
Coca-Cola (Coke) said they will not stop producing single-use plastic bottles because customers still want them and like them because they can reseal and are lightweight.
BBC reported that Coca-Cola is one of the biggest producers of plastic waste in the world, producing about 200,000 bottles a minute.
An environmental organization said Coca-Cola was the most polluting brand in the world.
Coca-Cola had previously pledged to recycle as many plastic bottles as it uses by 2030 and to use 50% recycled material in their packaging by that time.
The company’s head of sustainability, Bea Perez, said they can’t immediately stop using plastic because it could turn away customers and hurt their sales. She said we have to show the consumer what the opportunities are (for recycling) and they will change with them.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51197463
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Guide on thickness of ice
We are in the middle of January and for people who live in cold states, ice is starting to thicken on bodies of water. How do you know if it is safe to walk on it or drive a truck on it?
Vermont State Parks posted a nice guide on Instagram. Here it is.
[Image]
Yes, there is an AT-AT walker from Star Wars and a Godzilla-looking animal on that chart.
So we see that if the ice is 2 inches or less, you should not attempt to walk on it.
If it is 4 inches, you can go skating or ice fishing.
If it is 5 inches, you can go snowmobiling on it.
If it is 8 to 12 inches, you can drive a car or a small truck on it.
If it is 12 to 15 inches, you can drive a pickup truck on it.
If it is 36 to 40 inches, you can drive a semi truck on it.
If it is 60 inches and you have an AT-AT walker, then you don’t have to worry about operating one on it.
If it is 100 or more inches thick, then Godzilla or a generic lizard monster can stand on it.
An article on outsideonline.com said you can test the thickness of ice by using an ice chisel, auger, or cordless drill. Then you can use a tape measure to see how deep it is. You should avoid areas that have cracks or moving water and keep in mind that clear ice is stronger than white ice, which is filled with bubbles.
https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2020/01/10/vt-parks-want-protect-your-vehicle-falling-through-ice/4429428002/
https://www.outsideonline.com/1770296/ice-thick-enough-skate
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That is all for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!
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