The Daily Moth 3-3-2020
Hello, welcome to The Daily Moth! It is Tuesday, March 3. Ready for news?
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Deadly twisters hit Nashville; at least 22 killed
The Nashville, Tennessee area was hit by several tornadoes early this morning. At least 22 people died and over 40 buildings were destroyed. Over 150 were injured and transported to hospitals. There are several people who are missing.
Two twisters hit downtown Nashville. Over 40,000 people are without power.
A person on Twitter named Sam Shamburger filmed a large tornado passing north of the state capitol building. You could see flashes of bright light from the ground, likely from power lines that were ripped up by the twister.
There were several videos on social media of tornadoes approaching the Nashville area. They were scary looking storms with a dark, swirling funnel moving through bursts of lightning.
Some people only had a few minutes in between tornado warnings and impact.
Images on social media showed houses with walls torn off, exposing indoor furniture, some apartment buildings had a collapsed roof, and there were downed trees and debris scattered on the streets.
News pictures and videos showed blocks of destroyed residential homes.
Tennessee is one of the states that are voting in Super Tuesday, and there were many polling locations in the Nashville area that had to be delayed or moved because of the tornadoes.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper said that last night was a reminder of how fragile life is and called the tornado a massive act of nature.
President Trump tweeted prayers for all of those who were affected and said that the federal government is with the state all the way during this difficult time.
https://twitter.com/i/events/1234743249526378497
https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/tennessee-tornado-march-2020/index.html
https://twitter.com/WKRN/status/1234864376949223426
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L.A. deputies facing discipline for allegedly sharing Kobe helicopter crash photos
There are eight Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies who are facing discipline for allegedly sharing pictures of the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and seven others on January 26.
The Los Angeles Times first reported that someone saw photos of the crash on an official’s phone in a setting that had nothing to do with the crash investigation. It seems like some first responders took images and then shared it with others, maybe by texting or emailing them.
The Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva said they identified eight deputies and said that they came to him on their own and admitted they took photos. Villanueva said he made sure all photos were deleted. So far there is no indication that the photos have been posted on the internet.
Vanessa Bryant, Kobe’s widow, said in a statement on Sunday that she is absolutely devastated and that it is inexcusable that the photos would be taken and shared.
Helicopter: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/03/us/kobe-bryant-crash-photos-deputies-identified/index.html
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News Briefs: Chris Matthews resigns; Fed cuts interest rate due to coronavirus
Here are two top news briefs.
The first — MSNBC host Chris Matthews of “Hardball,” announced last night on TV that he would be resigning/retiring after over 22 years on the air. He apologized for making inappropriate remarks to women who were a part of his show. Why now? On Friday, a political columnist named Laura Bassett wrote an article in GQ describing how Matthews would make unwanted flirtatious remarks towards her and pointed out that she was not the only one. Since then many other examples of inappropriate remarks by Matthews have resurfaced and now Matthews is ending his career with MSNBC.
The second news — the Federal Reserve announced that the interest rate would be cut half a percentage because the coronavirus was putting a risk to economic activity. When rates are cut, it is usually to simulate the economy by making it cheaper to borrow money. The DOW Jones jumped over 1,000 points on Monday, but is now down 800 points as of signing this news. So it’s wildly going up and down. Many people are just not sure about what kind of impact the coronavirus will have on the economy.
Fed: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/03/business/stock-market-today.html
Chris Matthews: https://www.gq.com/story/chris-matthews-experience
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Three weeks ago a deaf doctor from the U.K., Dr. Justine Durno, spoke before an U.N. assembly in New York City about how deaf women and deaf people in general often face barriers to enter the medical and STEM fields. Check out this clip.
[Image of Dr. Justine Durno with text that says, “Born in Scotland, currently works and lives in London. Completed 5 years of medical school, currently training in histopathology (human tissue). Was asked by Princess Nisreen El-Hashemite of Iraq to write and present about deaf women in science for the U.N.]
[Video clip of Dr. Durno at the U.N. with burned-in captions]
Dr. Durno:
The current education system is failing deaf children right from the very beginning. Deaf children are increasingly being integrated into mainstream education, many with no specialised Teachers of the Deaf and deaf schools are being shut down. Where there (are) Teachers of the Deaf, the UK government has mandated that they have level one competency in British Sign Language, BSL. At level one, you can communicate in simple words and phrases. You can have simple, everyday conversations in BSL. These are the people who are educating our future generation of deaf doctors and scientists. Is it any wonder that deaf children are underachieving? Once the deaf person has navigated their way to medical school, they’re faced with even more hurdles. The UK standards of medical fitness to train mandates hearing fitness to train mandates hearing and speech to be at a certain standard. This is phonocentric, archaic and immediately deaf individuals who use sign language as their first language are set up to fail. The standards fail to acknowledge that there are many ways to overcome perceived or actual barriers. I use sign language interpreters and assistive technology at work, for instance. We need to move with the times.
Alex:
“The Daily Moth” reporter Renca Dunn was able to sit down with her for an interview.
Dr. Durno:
I want deaf people to see this video and see that they can become doctors. This information can be passed on to deaf children to inspire them that they can be doctors in the future. For hearing people, well we experience a lot of oppression from the hearing communities. So, they need to know about this video because it can change their perspective on the Deaf community. Maybe it can also change their language use in the future, change their approach, change what they do.
Dr. Durno:
Also, I want to add that the Deaf community needs to be given tools for how to fight for their rights. It is pointless to post only on your own social media to your Deaf community. No. You need to pick the right people to approach, pick the right words to say, debate, and fight for your rights in the right way. I think that is something that the Deaf community needs to develop more. The Deaf community needs to know how to fight against the people who are in top positions.
Renca:
Yes, very true. It is a big world with hearing people as the majority. We Deaf people are the minority. It is hard to fight against them. So, we need to play smart and get through cracks to the right people. If we keep our information to each other, the Deaf community only, nothing will change. We need to stand up to the hearing people so they see that we are here.
Dr. Durno:
Yes, exactly!
Dr. Durno:
That’s why I took this opportunity because this was a great platform. I hope this will give the Deaf community more confidence, strength, and new motivation to push for what they believe in.
Renca:
Definitely.
Alex:
Thank you Renca and Dr. Durno for your time. She made a great point that we need to fight for change by taking it up with those in power rather than just talk about issues on social media. Here’s hoping we’ll continue to fight to remove barriers so more deaf women and deaf people can enter the medical and STEM fields.
https://www.facebook.com/justine.durno/videos/10158093562383466/https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/envision2030.html
https://eca.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2018/02/in-the-words-of-dr-nisreen-el-hashemite
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