The Daily Moth 10-17-19

Elijah Cummings passes away | Pence and Pompeo in Turkey on ceasefire deal amid D.C. “meltdown” | Boxer passes away after being knocked out in fight | Chicago public school teachers on strike | News Briefs: NBA fan raises $43k to pass out t-shirts supporting Hong Kong; Trump’s Doral golf resort chosen as next G-7 venue

[Transcript] Hello, welcome to The Daily Moth! It is Thursday, October 17. Ready for the news?

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Elijah Cummings passes away

This morning many were shocked and saddened to find out that Maryland Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D), who was the chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, passed away at 68 years of age after a long battle with health problems.

Cummings’s House committee is in the middle of an impeachment inquiry against President Trump and is conducting another probes on Trump’s taxes and finances.

Prior to his time in Congress, he was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates.

Elijah was a son of a sharecropper and grew up in his hometown of Baltimore. He said in a speech in April that when he was 11, he and other black children were barred from swimming in a community pool. He and others organized protests and said when they went ahead and entered the pool, they were spit on from white mobs who threatened them and called them names. He said he was cut by a thrown bottle and that experience transformed his entire life.

He attended Howard University in Washington D.C. and then the University of Maryland School of Law and became a lawyer before becoming involved in politics.

The NAACP tweeted that they are devastated by his death and said he was a fearless champion of justice who fought tirelessly for civil rights & equality for everyone, including his beloved Baltimore.

Cummings’ widow, Maya, said it has been an honor to walk by his side on this incredible journey, that she loved him deeply and will miss him dearly.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R ) will announce a special elections to fill the vacancy.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) will become the Acting Chair of the House Oversight committee until a permanent Chair is elected.

Flags at the U.S. Capitol and the White House are at half-staff to mark Cummings’ death.

https://apnews.com/472ab99bda374c3ba906366d2f0a6d00

https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-pol-cummings-dies-20191017-bbwnrp72nndejatug3v7rj2zga-story.html

https://twitter.com/NAACP/status/1184814487657955329

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/elijah-cummings-house-oversight-committee-dies-dle/index.html

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Pence and Pompeo in Turkey on ceasefire deal amid D.C. “meltdown”

Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo went to Turkey today to meet with Turkish President Erdogan to push for a ceasefire in northern Syria. This afternoon they announced that Turkey has agreed to a ceasefire and that the U.S. won’t impose more economic sanctions.

Pence said this ceasefire would last for 120 hours to allow Kurdish YPG forces to withdraw, then there would be a permanent ceasefire. It is not known if the YPG will actually leave.

Last night the White House released a letter from President Trump that was sent to Erdogan last week.

Trump said in the letter that they should work out a good deal with a Kurdish general, threatened to destroy Turkey’s economy if Erdogan slaughtered thousands of people, and said that history would look at Erdogan forever as the devil if good things don’t happen.

News reports said Erdogan threw away Trump’s letter last week and began their military offensive into Syria.

But now the violate situation in northern Syria appears to be defused for now after Pence and Pompeo’s meeting. Pence said that Trump is very grateful for the ceasefire.

Yesterday Trump made comments that made it seem like he didn’t care anymore about Syria, as he said “let them fight their own wars” and that “they’ve got a lot of sand over there, So that’s a lot of sand that they can play with.” He said Americans shouldn’t lose their lives over a border battle.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham (SC) warned that if people thought the Middle East did not matter to America, they need to remember 9/11.

CBS News reported yesterday that Erdogan would only agree to the ceasefire if Kurdish fighters abandoned their weapons and retreated from their positions on the Turkish border.

In separate but related news, there was yet another feud between Trump and House Speaker Pelosi after they met in the White House to talk about Syria. Pelosi and top Democrats walked out of the meeting, then both sides said the other had a meltdown.

Trump tweeted three images of the meeting, which showed Pelosi staring at Trump stone-faced, Pelosi standing up and pointing her finger at Trump, and of three empty seats after Pelosi and top Democrats walked out.

Pelosi said that she accused Trump of working to benefit Russian President Putin because now Russia has a foothold in the Middle East in Syria and because Putin benefited from the withholding of Ukrainian aid.

Fox News reported that Trump told Pelosi that he hated ISIS more than she did, and that Pelosi said, “You don’t know that.” Trump then called Pelosi a “third-rate politician” and that’s when the Democrats walked out.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pence-pompeo-travel-to-turkey-seeking-a-ceasefire-between-turkey-and-kurds/

https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/syria-turkey-10-17-2019/index.html

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-pelosi-heat-up-war-of-words-after-dem-walkout-of-white-house-syria-meeting

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump

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Boxer passes away after being knocked out in fight

Boxer Patrick Day passed away yesterday after he was seriously injured in the head after being knocked out in a boxing fight with Charles Conwell.

Day was only 27 years old. The fight was Saturday night in Chicago. A video shows Conwell punching Day hard several times on his head and chin before he stumbled backwards and fell on his head on the canvas.

He was taken away on a stretcher and had brain surgery on Sunday. He never woke up and yesterday while surrounded by his family, he was disconnected from machines that kept him alive.

Day was from Long Island and was considered one of the top professional fighters to come out of the area.

Conwell posted a message on Instagram saying he never meant for this to happen and that all he ever wanted to do was win and that if he could take it back he would. He said he was so devastated he thought of quitting boxing but he knows that’s not what Day would have wanted. He said he would use Day as motivation every day to continue to fight and win a world title because that’s what both of them wanted.

https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/27861877/patrick-day-dies-brain-injuries-four-days-knockout

https://fox8.com/2019/10/17/if-i-could-take-it-back-i-would-cleveland-boxer-threw-punch-that-killed-patrick-day/

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Chicago public school teachers on strike

Over 25,000 public school teachers in Chicago and 8,000 support staff workers went on strike today after failed negotiations between the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools.

Classes were cancelled for more than 300,000 students, but Reuters reported that school buildings stayed open for children who who need a place to go during the strike.

Strikers and their supporters wore bright red tops and gathered in picket lines in front of hundreds of schools.

The Chicago Teachers Union is demanding wage increases, and more funding to reduce classroom overcrowding and hire more support staff.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said there is a financial crisis in Chicago but that they have made generous offers for both teachers and support staff and are hopeful for a resolution on other issues such as prep time or how fast teachers’ raises would come.

This strike is similar to recent strikes in West Virginia, Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona, Los Angeles and Denver.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chicago-education/classes-canceled-for-361000-students-as-chicago-teachers-go-on-strike-idUSKBN1WW1AR?utm_source=reddit.com

https://abc7chicago.com/education/live-thousands-of-striking-cps-teachers-hit-picket-lines-across-city-/5625169/

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News Briefs: NBA fan raises $43k to pass out t-shirts supporting Hong Kong; Trump’s Doral golf resort chosen as next G-7 venue

Here are two top news briefs.

The first — an NBA fan from California raised $43,000 on GoFundMe to print t-shirts to show support for Hong Kong and pass them out during the LA Lakers’ season opener on October 22.

The shirt has the words, “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong,” which is exactly what Houston Rockets’ GM tweeted that caused the NBA-China controversy.

The choice of LA Lakers’ venue is clearly a response to star player LeBron James’ statements criticizing the Rockets GM’s tweet because of the impact it had on the NBA and players. Many accused LeBron of siding with China against Hong Kong.

So, it is very possible we’ll see many wearing the t-shirts, and clearly the NBA is now embedded in the China-Hong Kong crisis.

The second news — the White House announced that President Trump will host the next G-7 summit with top world leaders at his Doral golf resort in Miami.

Trump said at the recent G-7 summit in France that he thought Doral would be a great place, and now this is turning into reality.

House Democrats are opposed to this idea and said this violates the Constitutional prohibition of emoluments — which bans people in federal office from receiving any gift, payment, or a thing of value from a foreign entity.

Democrats said this is the first publicly known instance in which foreign governments would be required to pay President Trump’s private businesses in order to conduct business with the United States.”

The White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said he was skeptical about using Doral, but that officials told him that it was the best option for G-7.

https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/hong-kong-lakers/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/17/white-house-g-7-held-trumps-doral-property-florida/3983425002/

https://www.britannica.com/story/what-is-the-emoluments-clause

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That is all for today! See you tomorrow and stay with the light!

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TOP STORIESAlex AbenchuchanOctober 17, 2019