The Daily Moth 3-5-2020
Hello, welcome to The Daily Moth! It is Thursday, March 5. Ready for news?
———
Elizabeth Warren ends bid for 2020
Elizabeth Warren announced she is dropping out of the 2020 presidential race. It is not shocking news as she did not win any states or finish in the top two from Iowa to Super Tuesday. She came in third in her home state of Massachusetts.
She told reporters in Cambridge, Massachusetts that she needs time and space to think on endorsing either Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden. She said it could come, but not right now. She said she has no regrets and that it is an honor of a lifetime to have this chance. She was asked if she thought there was sexism in the campaign, and she said she would have more to say about that later on. She said the hardest part of leaving is that girls all over would have to wait four more years for a female president.
Warren tweeted “our work continues, the fight goes on, and big dreams never die. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.”
There is now only one female candidate and a person of color in the 2020 race — Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI), but she only has one delegate so far.
Warren ran as a progressive, left-leaning Democrat who had views that were similar to Bernie Sanders. News reports said she has talked with both candidates, Bernie and Biden, but is reportedly “weighing” whether to take a side.
We remember that Bernie and Warren had a bit of a controversy in January when Warren confirmed news reports that Bernie told her that he did not think a woman could beat Trump. Bernie said this was not true and the two had a confrontation in full public view on a debate stage. So it won’t be easy for Warren to jump in the Bernie camp.
President Trump tweeted that she dropped out of the Democratic primary three days too late and said that it cost Bernie Massachusetts, Minnesota and Texas and probably cost him the nomination.
Warren has a total of 40 delegates and if she endorses a candidate, then those delegates can go towards them.
Biden currently has 584 delegates to Bernie’s 509. 1,991 is needed to win the Democratic nomination.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/us/politics/elizabeth-warren-drops-out.html
https://medium.com/@teamwarren/the-fight-goes-on-8f5ca2b4b557
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elizabeth-warren-dropping-out-of-presidential-race-after-disappointing-super-tuesday-finish/
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/elizabeth-warren-ends-presidential-run-n1150436?fbclid=IwAR0wipdcXBMFPAKSPKb59pEmeaeTiU_nqVdXtAICkDcafden-5x1_n1WTv0
———
Supreme Court hears arguments on Louisiana abortion law
The Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday on an abortion law in Louisiana that would require doctors who provide abortion services at clinics to have the right to admit patients at hospitals within 30 miles.
The state of Louisiana said the law is necessary to protect the health of pregnant women because there could be an emergency that requires the patient to go to a nearby hospital, while a Louisiana clinic that provides abortions said the law is meant to restrict access to abortion because the procedure can be done safely in a clinic.
There was a similar law in Texas in was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2016, but now the Supreme Court now leans conservative with two new Trump-appointed justices — Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
Sen. Chuck Schumer caused controversy by saying in a speech yesterday at a rally in the front of the Court that Gorsuch and Kavanaugh “won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions” and that they would “pay the price.”
Chief Justice John Roberts released a statement rebuking Schumer, saying that criticism of justices is normal but that threatening statements are inappropriate and dangerous.
Top Republican leaders and President Trump said the senator’s words were threats.
Schumer said today that he shouldn’t have used the words he did but emphasized he did not make a threat.
The Court is expected to issue their final decision on the Louisiana law this summer on whether doctors are required to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals or not.
https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/03/argument-analysis-justices-grapple-with-louisiana-abortion-law/
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/chief-justice-roberts-rare-rebuke-schumer-calling-comments-kavanaugh-gorsuch-dangerous
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/486117-schumer-walks-back-words-he-used-on-supreme-court-justices
———
Cruise ship affected by coronavirus blocked from docking in California
Yesterday California announced the state’s first death from coronavirus — a 69-year-old man who recently went on a trip on a cruise ship named the Grand Princess.
This is not the same ship as the Diamond Princess ship that was quarantined in Japan, but is under the same “Princess” cruise line.
Now the Grand Princess is in waters off the San Francisco coast after completing a voyage to Hawaii and will be stranded for an unknown time because California Gov. Gavin Newsom has banned it from docking in any California port. There are at least 21 passengers and crew members who have exhibited flu-like symptoms.
Helicopters from the U.S. Coast Guard delivered coronavirus test kits from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The test kits were administered by a medical team on the cruise and the kits were sent back via helicopter. Officials said they will decide where the ship should dock after getting test results.
There are 2,283 passengers and 1,100 crew members on the ship, but less than 100 received the tests. The ship was on a voyage to Hawaii. People are concerned about what will happen to the Grand Princess because the Diamond Princess had a serious outbreak with over 700 infected and four fatalities.
The deceased California patient was on the ship when it was on a voyage to Mexico from February 11 to 21. There is now a potential cluster of coronavirus cases in Northern California from passengers who disembarked from that trip, as well as 62 passengers who went on both voyages to Mexico and Hawaii.
Princess Cruises announced that a planned Grand Princess voyage that was supposed to start on March 9 is cancelled with refunds for all guests.
Here are some more coronavirus updates.
The Senate passed a $8 billion emergency spending bill that would fund agencies responding to the outbreak.
There are now about 200 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States. About 70 of them are in Washington state, with the most cases in the Seattle area. A school district near Seattle has closed all its schools for 14 days, affecting 22,000 students. A total of 11 people have died in Washington. Local officials and businesses are asking employees to work from home if they can.
Almost 100,000 people are infected worldwide with 3,300 deaths.
The Dow Jones took another dive today, going down over 1,000 points.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/travel/update-coronavirus-cruises.html
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/coronavirus-daily-news-update-march-5-what-to-know-today-about-covid-19-in-the-seattle-area-washington-state-and-the-nation/
———
Deaf Nashville residents describe close calls with tornadoes
I was able to reach out to several deaf survivors of the tornadoes that hit the Nashville, Tennessee area early Tuesday morning. Their homes were not destroyed, but they were barely hit and some did not even realize there were tornadoes because they were deaf.
Here is a video from Jon and Amy Stockard.
JON STOCKARD:
Hello, my name is Jon Stockard.
AMY STOCKARD:
Hi! I’m Amy Stockard.
JON:
We live in East Nashville. It’s half a mile away from the tornado’s path.
AMY:
We slept when it happened at 12:39 a.m. The weather alerts didn’t work for us. We had no idea and slept overnight. We woke up in the morning.
JON:
Our phones were full of notifications and text messages. I didn’t understand what was going on.
AMY:
“Are you okay?” “Are you alive?” “Contact me!” They were so worried. I didn’t understand what was going on until I watched the news. It’s really horrible.
JON:
We were shocked. We slept through it! The tornado was so close, only half a mile away. We feel blessed.
AMY:
Absolutely. Our neighbors said they heard sirens go off but because we’re deaf we couldn’t hear it. We saw horrible devastation. Homes and businesses.
[Images by Jon and Amy that shows the destruction in the Nashville area.]
JON:
We walked around and saw many bizarre things, such as a wooden piece of scrap embedded in a concrete wall. I also saw a metal sign that was completely wrapped around a tree like it was nothing.
[Images by Jon and Amy that shows the destruction in the Nashville area.]
AMY:
I couldn’t believe it. It was like a war zone. But the wonderful thing is that we did see the community come together to help each other. Neighbors helped each other. You know why? What is Tennessee called?
JON:
Volunteers. They all came over.
AMY:
That.
JON:
Tennessee never really asks for help from others. The same thing happened during the 2010 floods. We can take care of ourselves.
AMY:
We help each other. Nashville will come back.
JON:
Yes, right now businesses will feel a big impact because that street is famous for tourists. So it will hurt their business, but they will rebound and get back up.
JON AND AMY:
We are Nashville Strong.
THE DAILY MOTH:
Thank you Jon and Amy for sharing. What a close call, and we see that there is a wonderful spirit in Nashville.
Next is a video from William Ellis, Jr..
WILLIAM ELLIS, JR:
My name is William Ellis. I’m from Tennessee. I live in Putnam County which is where Cookeville is in. That night we were all asleep. It was peaceful. I was asleep then at 2:00 in the morning, maybe 2:15 a.m., my oldest son woke me up. He was crying and scared. He heard something really loud. Like a roaring lion. My wife was asleep next to me and my other son was asleep. My daughter was over at her boyfriend’s home. I looked through the window and did not see anything. I went outside where the carport was. It is not a garage but a carport. I was puzzled that my cooler was moved away and saw that my beach chairs (camping chairs) were tossed away. It was 3 a.m. outside. Half of the sky was clear while the other half was black and stormy. I saw power flashes, surges of electricity flash towards Cookeville. I live in Baxter, the next town. It’s only a mile away in the same county. So I saw the power flashes go all the way there. I was confused. It looked like it was just a rainstorm. I looked at my phone and saw that there was a tornado warning. I checked my surroundings and there was nothing. I was very nervous but didn’t want to wake up my wife. I looked through the windows and did not notice anything. It looked like it went past us. I stayed awake then I saw many police officers and ambulances zoom by towards Cookeville. All kinds of first responders went there. People rushed to help. I could only look through the window and did not know what was going on. Later on I was ready to go to bed as I was tired. In the morning, when I got up, I wanted to check out the outside and saw a downed tree. It was now clear, unlike the dark night. There was a broken tree. I went outside and saw that it was so close… my house is here. My wife’s “sister/best friend” lived across the street. The tornado path went behind her house and around us and down to Cookeville. Yes, it went around us. I saw destruction all around me. My area is okay, there were just torn off shingles. But a mile down, there was so much destruction. Entire homes were leveled.
[Video by Xydeni Badriyah Ellis showing destruction from the tornado]
I felt so sad, so bad. It was very emotional. They lost everything. I started to blame myself because we are very lucky, but not for them. They’re gone. If the tornado hit us, we would have been dead. But it went around.
THE DAILY MOTH:
Thank you for sharing. It is scary to think that something so terrible could pass by so close by your home without you realizing it.
The last is a statement from Paige and Chris, who live in Hermitage, Tennessee. I will sign in ASL a summary of an email they sent.
Paige said a tornado missed her home by 1/4 of a mile. She said she knew there would be a thunderstorm, but did not realize how bad it would be. She stayed up late to watch a television show and got a cellphone alert twice but did not take it seriously. She and Chris debated if they should hide in the basement — then the power went out — and they looked outside in the backyard and said it looked so scary with a severe thunderstorm and then it eventually went calm with only rain. When Chris went on his Facebook, he found out there was a tornado and couldn’t sleep overnight. They kept track of updates through Facebook and Instagram because there was no power. They got a generator to keep the refrigerator running. Later that evening, they drove around to see the damage and saw that an elementary school less than 5 minutes away was completely gone along with its surrounding neighborhood.
[Nighttime video footage by Paige and Chris of severely damaged buildings and toppled power lines]
She said cellphone alerts are helpful for deaf people but if she went to bed instead of staying up late, she wouldn’t have realized there was a tornado until the morning. She said she learned a lesson to never underestimate tornado warnings.
Thank you Paige and Chris for sharing.
We can see the impact that the tornadoes have on deaf people and how they face greater risks because of an inability to hear sirens or the tornadoes themselves.
At least 24 people died from the storms, including five children under the age of 13. There are three people who are missing.
News reports said at least two tornadoes hit the Nashville region — one was an EF-4 tornado with 175 mph winds that hit Putnam county and the other was an EF-3 with 165 mph winds that hit Davidson, Wilson and Smith counties.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/3-still-missing-after-ef-4-tornado-tennessee-s-putnam-n1150221
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/03/04/nashville-tornadoes-what-we-know-deaths-damage-path/4950396002/
https://www.gofundme.com/f/cookeville-tornado-relief-fund-2020?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link-tip&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&fbclid=IwAR0EjA1OXwXdjbJ9gVvXg7d0KiAGzSA89o3YPp4_ZNwXDK1qwU2kCOb8WBc
———
That is all for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!