The Daily Moth 2-13-2020
Jeff Bezos purchases $165 million estate and is criticized; Man busted for using large stuffed dinosaur as a HOV passenger; Senate Approves Iran War Powers resolution; Shoshannah Stern to be a deaf doctor on “Grey’s Anatomy”
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Hello, welcome to The Daily Moth! It is Thursday, February 13. Ready for news?
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Jeff Bezos purchases $165 million estate and is criticized
The world’s richest man Jeff Bezos has made news headlines for two different reasons.
The first — he bought a mansion in Beverly Hills called the Warner Estate for $165 million dollars. The sale is now an all-time record in the Los Angeles area for residential real estate. The mansion is on a 9.4 acre property and was built by Jack Warner of the Warner Bros Studio in 1937.
He also bought a 120-acre estate that is 1.7 miles away for $90 million. That property used to belong to Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who died in 2018.
The second Bezos news — CNBC reported that he has sold about $4 billion worth of Amazon shares in the past two weeks. Bezos said in the past that he sells about $1 billion of Amazon stock a year to fund his spaceflight company Blue Origin. He also does a lot of charitable work.
CNN reported on February 3 that a rise of 7% in Amazon shares meant Bezos added $8 billion to his fortune. The rise in stock came after great earnings reports for the 2019 holiday season.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is a top Democratic presidential contender, tweeted that we live in a “rigged economy” because Bezos was able to add $13 billion to his wealth in 15 minutes two weeks ago. He said, “think about that compared to the pain and struggle of millions of Americans who are living paycheck to paycheck.”
Robert Reich, a college professor, author, and former Sec. of Labor, tweeted a criticism of Bezos’ lavish purchase, saying Whole Foods, which Bezos owns, “cut health benefits for part-time workers to save money.” He said “tax the rich.”
So, we can see that Bezos’ purchase and wealth is a controversial and a political topic.
President Donald Trump is a billionaire — he has a net worth of about $3 billion.
The Democratic 2020 field has a new rising contender — former NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who is worth about $60 billion. He has spent over $350 million on TV, internet, and radio ads, and it’s caused him to rise in Democratic polls. Trump and Bloomberg have started trading barbs on the internet.
https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/1227775783982239745
https://twitter.com/RBReich/status/1228014117677518848
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Man busted for using large stuffed dinosaur as a HOV passenger
Trooper Rick Johnson from the Washington State Patrol tweeted an image of a man who tried to use a large green stuffed dinosaur as a passenger for a HOV (carpool) lane on I-5.
The identity of the driver was not disclosed. He was pulled over for speeding and that’s when the fake dinosaur was discovered. Trooper Johnson said the dinosaur does not count as a passenger.
UPI.com explained in an article that the driver faces almost $400 in fines because there is a $186 fine for a HOV violation with a $200 additional fine if the driver used a dummy, doll, or other human facsimile to make it seem like there is a passenger.
https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/02/12/Driver-caught-using-carpool-lanes-with-stuffed-dinosaur-passenger/4761581531010/?sl=5
https://twitter.com/wspd2pio/status/1227623103691313152
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Senate Approves Iran War Powers resolution
The Senate passed in a 55-45 vote a resolution that aims to limit President Trump’s authority to attack Iran.
Politico explained in an article that the resolution, introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) directs Trump to get congressional approval first before attacking Iran and to cease all hostilities targeting Iran within 30 days unless Congress approves it.
Sen. Kaine introduced the resolution after President Trump ordered an airstrike that killed Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani. Kaine said “we have a special obligation to make sure we deliberate — and deliberate carefully — before we send troops into harm’s way.”
Eight Republican Senators joined all 47 Democrats to pass the resolution.
President Trump tweeted yesterday that he was opposed to the resolution because “we are doing very well with Iran and this is not the time to show weakness.” He said Democrats are doing this to embarrass the Republican Party.
The Republican Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, James Inhofe (OK) said “there is no war with Iran. An airstrike is not war.”
But Republican Senator Mike Lee (UT) said this is to “make sure that we don’t get involved too easily, too quickly, in an unconstitutional way, in any war.”
The resolution is expected to pass the House, but President Trump can veto it when it reaches his desk.
Axios explained that the Senate does not have the two-thirds majority needed to override Trump’s veto. This means that the resolution is unlikely to become law and binding, but it shows that the majority of the Senate feels strongly that they need to have authority in decisions involving war.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/13/cotton-amendment-war-powers-bill-114815
https://www.axios.com/senate-passes-iran-war-resolution-640cee2d-4ee7-42cc-8302-6ea74f768f91.html
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Shoshannah Stern to be a deaf doctor on “Grey’s Anatomy”
Deaf actress Shoshannah Stern will be a doctor on “Grey’s Anatomy” at 9 p.m. Eastern Time tonight on ABC.
Before I go into her role, I want to let you know that there will be a deaf girl, Kiera Vincent-Rose, on “Station 19” tonight. It is also on ABC, but at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.
The California School for the Deaf, Riverside announced on Facebook that Kiera is an elementary student at CSDR. Station 19 is a drama TV series about firefighters. Nyle DiMarco had a role on Station 19 last year as a deaf firefighter.
So, that’s two straight shows tonight on ABC with deaf roles. Nice. Now, let’s go back to Stern’s role on “Grey’s Anatomy.”
According to ET Online and Variety, the role is Dr. Lauren Riley, a signing deaf diagnostics expert. She is recruited to come to the Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital to treat a patient with a mysterious ailment. She will have to deal with different opinions from other doctors. ET Online said it will be a multi-episode arc, so we can expect to see more of Dr. Riley after tonight. Stern told Variety that the “Grey’s Anatomy” team reached out to several real-life deaf doctors to check on if what they wrote about Dr. Riley was accurate.
ET and Variety reported that Dr. Riley was the “first deaf doctor” on primetime television, but there were deaf doctor roles cast by Phyllis Frelich (ER) and Marlee Matlin (Law and Order: SVU).
California Association of the Deaf (CAD) Media and Jack Jason took to Twitter to make the corrections. Stern said it was never her intention to take anything away from any member of my community and that she was told about the “first” in error. Variety and ET edited their stories.
Stern said she is honored “to follow in these giant footsteps,” referring to Frelich and Matlin.
A real-life deaf doctor — ear surgeon Dr. Chad Ruffin — tweeted that he is “proud to have collaborated with the show’s writers to help create a deaf physician character.”
The Association of Medical Professionals with Hearing Losses (AMPHL) also tweeted in support of Stern’s role.
https://twitter.com/Shoshannah7/status/1227762061007917056
https://twitter.com/ChadRuffinMD/status/1222394581288808449
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That is all for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!