The Daily Moth 12-5-19

Hello, welcome to The Daily Moth! It is Thursday, December 5. Ready for news?

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Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard shooting

On Wednesday night at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, a sailor shot and killed two civilian employees of the Defense Department, then shot and killed himself. A fourth person was wounded.

The sailor was identified as Petty Officer Gabriel Romero (22) and he worked on the submarine USS Columbia. He used his M4 military rifle to shoot at others and then used his M9 pistol to shoot himself.

A witness told CBS News that he was at his desk when he heard gunshots and when he looked out the window, he saw three people on the ground and the shooter shoot himself.

The base, located in Hawaii, was under lockdown for over an hour. The Navy is now leading an investigation. It is not known what the motive was.

One of the victims was identified as Vincent Kapoi Jr and he was 30.

The shipyard is across the harbor from the National Pearl Harbor Memorial. This Saturday will be the 78th anniversary of the attack from Japan during World War II.

https://www.axios.com/pearl-harbor-naval-shipyard-shooting-be6c3ec0-dd02-4b2e-80d9-c217d27433a1.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/joint-base-pearl-harbor-hickam-reported-shooting-today-live-updates-2019-12-05/

https://nypost.com/2019/12/05/suspect-in-pearl-harbor-shooting-identified-as-petty-officer-gabriel-romero/

https://heavy.com/news/2019/12/gabriel-romero/

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pearl-harbor-bombed

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House Speaker Pelosi says House will proceed with articles of impeachment

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced she wants the impeachment inquiry to proceed with drafting articles of impeachment against President Trump.

Pelosi said Trump abused his power for his own personal political benefit and hurt our national security, and that Trump’s actions have violated the Constitution and threatens our democracy.

A reporter asked her if she hates Trump. She criticized the reporter and said she resents the word “hate” because she doesn’t hate anyone and that she prays for the President all the time. She said this is about the Constitution and the President’s violation of his oath of office.

President Trump tweeted that Democrats have gone crazy and if they are going to impeach him, to do it now, fast, so they can have a fair trial in the Senate. He said he would call the Bidens, Pelosi, and Chairman Schiff to testify.

Yesterday (Wednesday) there was a hearing by the House Judiciary Committee where four law professors answered questions on if the evidence for Trump’s alleged misconduct qualifies for impeachment.

Three of the professors were called as witnesses by Democrats and strongly criticized Trump’s actions with Ukraine, saying they were impeachable. The fourth professor was called by Republicans and he said the case is “woefully inadequate” and trying to impeach him can be dangerous.

The possible articles of impeachment that would be brought before a full House vote are 1) Abuse of Power and Bribery, 2) Obstruction of Congress, and 3) Obstruction of Justice.

The first charge has to do with Trump’s mixing of a request for an investigation on Joe Biden’s son’s business dealings in Ukraine with $400 million in U.S. military aid, while the second and third charges have to do with the White House refusing to cooperate in the inquiry.

The Senate is responsible for the trial. To convict Trump and remove him from the Oval Office, 67 out of 100 senators would have to vote for it. The Senate is controlled by Republicans and Senate leaders have defended Trump and said the whole process is a sham.

https://www.axios.com/donald-trump-impeachment-articles-nancy-pelosi-682fea1a-1df4-443d-b12b-6fee4a4e3bc3.html

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump

https://www.axios.com/house-judiciary-hearing-articles-of-impeachment-dbaa9cd2-5ace-4d62-988a-1e7bb91d0db4.html

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/05/politics/nancy-pelosi-dont-mess-with-me/index.html

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Trump administration announces changes in food stamps program

The Trump administration announced that there would be changes in the food stamp program — the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Current rules say that people between the ages of 18 and 49 who do not have children and are not disabled are required to work at least 20 hours a week for more than three months in a three-year period to qualify for food stamps.

Some states can waive this rule for areas with high unemployment, but now the new rule will limit the waivers and only allow it for areas that have a 6 percent unemployment rate or higher.

This means about 688,000 people would lose their access to food stamps in 2021. It would save the government $5.5 billion over five years.

Approximately 36 million Americans receive SNAP benefits.

Officials from the USDA said the program’s purpose is to help American citizens when they go through tough times, and that it is not intended to be a “way of life.”

Democratic leaders said the rule changes would hurt people who are struggling to make ends meet or those who have unreliable, seasonal work schedules.

The Trump administration is expected to make two more rule changes to the SNAP food stamp program in the future.

It doesn’t look like this will have a significant impact on deaf people who receive SNAP benefits, because of disability.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/neaarly-700-000-will-lose-food-stamps-usda-work-requirement-n1095726

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2019-12-05/california-nevada-among-states-expected-to-feel-harsher-impact-of-new-snap-rule

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Deaf woman tried to help BART train stabbing victim before he died

A deaf and oral woman, Sophie Humphrey, was in local news in the California Bay Area because she witnessed a fatal stabbing that happened in a BART train and tried to help the victim before he died. This happened on November 19.

I will summarize what happened and then show you video clips of an interview with her.

Sophie, who uses a wheelchair, was on an elevator at the San Leandro BART station between Oakland and Fremont. There was a man in the elevator with no shoes named Jermaine J. Brim. He was acting strange. Sophie said she felt nervous around him and when they got on the platform, as Brim went into a BART car, Sophie went into a different car.

SOPHIE HUMPHREY:

There were two cars. Brim went to one and I went to the other. I went inside and was sitting down. About five minutes later, Brim walked through the door towards my car. I was watching him.

ALEX:

Brim walked through the door to her car and looked at people’s shoes. Brim approached a man who was asleep. Brim tried to pry his shoes from him.

Another man, named Oliver “Tyrone” Williams, told Brim to stop trying to take his shoes.

Sophie said Brim did stop and left the car. But about three minutes later, he came back and told Tyrone to give his shoes to him, and when he said no, Brim started to throw punches.

Sophie said Brim then grabbed a knife and started to stab Tyrone in the neck five to 10 times. There was a lot of blood.

SOPHIE:

The attacker took a knife and started stabbing five to ten times in his neck. He was bleeding.

ALEX:

Several passengers ran away from the car. When the train reached the next station, Brim rushed out of the train. Sophie told a passenger to please go to the conductor and tell him to stop the train.

Sophie then got out of her wheelchair and went to Tyrone, who was bleeding. She tried to stop the bleeding by applying pressure to his neck. She had plastic gloves in her bag because she is a nursing student at Ohlone College.

SOPHIE:

I tried to stop the bleeding by applying pressure.

ALEX:

Sophie said she used a text relay service to call 911 and that it took a while for paramedics to arrive. When emergency crews arrived, Sophie moved to a different place to give comments to police. Paramedics later informed her that Tyrone died.

Brim was arrested a short time later after he allegedly tried to steal a car from a dealership and fought with a man there.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that authorities said prior to the train incident, Brim walked away from a hospital in San Leandro and was listed as a missing person at risk.

The knife belonged to Tyrone. Brim was able to get it somehow and allegedly used it to kill him.

Brim was charged with murder, carjacking, and attempted robbery and made his first court appearance in a courtroom in Dublin two weeks ago.

Tyrone was 49 years old and was honored by his friends and family as a hero and a father. His family started a GoFundMe for his family that has reached over $10,000 in donations.

Sophie said she met with Tyrone’s family and that they thanked her because Tyrone did not die alone.

SOPHIE:

His family told me, “Thank you.” They thanked me because the victim did not die alone.

ALEX:

She will be going to his funeral on Saturday.

I asked Sophie if she was scared. She said she thought about the victim and that she had no time to be scared. She also said she wanted to be sure to tell the police that Tyrone did not start the fight.

Sophie wants to be a nurse in the future. I asked her if she was scared to ride BART trains in the future. She no, that she still rides on it. Here is a video comment.

SOPHIE: I know that the world have evil people. But I know they are few as there are more people who are beautiful humans.

ALEX:

Thank you, Sophie, for your time.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/Witness-to-BART-killing-says-victim-had-defended-14853795.php

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/He-died-a-hero-Friends-family-remember-14853620.php

https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/11/21/man-accused-of-fatal-bart-stabbing-charged-with-murder-carjacking/

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

TOP STORIESAlex Abenchuchan