The Daily Moth 5-31-2019
World News Briefs: Report says North Korea executed envoy to U.S.; Trump to impose tariffs on Mexico; Hundreds of puffins found starved to death in Alaska; researchers point to climate change; Is the phrase “falling on deaf ears” disrespectful?; New Mexico School for the Deaf basketball star signs full-ride scholarship; Deaf Bing: ILY
Hello, welcome to the Daily Moth! It is Friday, May 31. Ready for news?
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World News Briefs: Report says North Korea executed envoy to U.S.; Trump to impose tariffs on Mexico
Here are two political news briefs.
The first — a South Korean newspaper reported that North Korea executed their special envoy to the United States after unsuccessful talks with President Trump during their second summit.
His name was Kim Hyok-chol. The report says he was executed by firing squad in March after being charged with spying. The report also says four other officials were also executed.
U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo said they are looking in the reports. The South Korean government couldn’t confirm this.
The second news — President Trump announced that starting on June 10th, the U.S. will impose a 5% tariff (trade tax) on all goods coming into our country from Mexico until illegal migrants stop coming through Mexico and into the U.S.
The tariffs could go up by 5% on the first of each of the coming months for a maximum of 25% on October 1st.
U.S. immigration agencies said they are overwhelmed with border crossings as they reach record-breaking numbers. There are over 80,000 migrants and over 2,350 unaccompanied children in custody.
Mexican President Obrador said he wants to have dialogue with Washington D.C. and has sent the Foreign Affairs Secretary there. He said the country has taken actions on this issue and said that social problems are not solved with duties or coercive measures.
Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. has been working on a new trade deal and this tariff announcement could complicate things.
North Korea Execution: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/30/world/asia/north-korea-envoy-execution.html
Mexico Tariffs: https://www.axios.com/trump-new-tariffs-mexico-a5c01e9a-fcc4-41c6-bc31-38b13ce4206a.html
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/president-obrador-says-mexico-wont-react-desperately-to-trumps-tariff-threat
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/05/31/mexico-president-amlo-reacts-trumps-tariff-immigration-threats/1296665001/
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Hundreds of puffins found starved to death in Alaska; researchers point to climate change
A report from “New Scientist” said in Alaska, there are hundreds of tufted puffins that are starving to death because of climate change.
More than 350 puffins carcasses, who showed signs of being severely emaciated, washed ashore on the St Paul Island on the Bering sea between October 2016 and January 2017.
A researcher from the University of Washington estimates that there could be between 3,000 to 9,000 birds that died in total. Those that washed ashore did not show signs of infection or elevated levels of toxins. So, the cause of death appears to be starvation.
The puffins eat fish and marine invertebrates, which eat phytoplankton.
Another report in The Atlantic quoted another researcher who said the amount of deaths was about 70 times higher than normal and that tufted puffins rarely wash up dead.
Researchers say changes in atmospheric conditions, the ongoing heatwave, and less winter sea-ice has disrupted the marine ecosystems and caused other fish to either die off or move away, which impacts the food supply.
The puffins that were found dead were adults in the process of moulting (shedding old feathers), a process that makes them unable to fly for about a month. Puffins needs more nutritional energy than normal in this phase.
Researchers said this factor and others is likely the reason so many died.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2204764-hundreds-of-puffins-are-starving-to-death-because-of-climate-change/
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/05/hundreds-puffins-washed-dead-alaskan-beach/590356/
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Is the phrase “falling on deaf ears” disrespectful?
Is the phrase “falling on deaf ears” disrespectful?
Karamo Brown, one of the hosts on Netflix’s Queer Eye, started a good discussion on Twitter last week when he said he thought the phrase, “falling on deaf ears” is inappropriate and seems to be disrespectful to the deaf and hard of hearing community. Look at this.
[@Karamo: “Someone just said to me, “I feel like my message is falling on deaf ears...” and I told them that I felt that “saying” is inappropriate. It seems disrespectful and rude to the deaf & HOH community. She said I was being over sensitive. Thoughts?”]
Karamo has shown himself to be sensitive to the Deaf community, as he has committed himself to captioning his Twitter videos and had helped to speak out about faulty captioning on Netflix shows.
So, what do you think? Do you agree that the phrase, “falling on deaf ears” is inappropriate? Or is he being oversensitive?
There were multiple responses by Deaf people who agreed with Karamo that it was inappropriate.
For me on a personal level, whenever I see that phrase, I always visualize this.
[Skit]
On a serious note, I do agree with Karamo. I do feel annoyed when I see that phrase, “falling on deaf ears.” I’d prefer people to simply say they feel their message is being ignored. They don’t have to mention, “deaf ears.”
https://twitter.com/Karamo/status/1131620527678689280
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New Mexico School for the Deaf basketball star signs full-ride scholarship
A New Mexico School for the Deaf senior, Deven Thompson, has signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Northern New Mexico College on a full ride scholarship. He is 6’10 tall and weighs 260 pounds.
The Albuquerque Journal did a report on his signing and said he is NMSD’s first athlete to achieve the full-ride scholarship.
The New Mexico School for the Deaf posted several images on Facebook of his signing ceremony.
Thompson averaged 25.7 points, 15.9 rebounds, and 3.2 blocks per game this season and led the school to their first district championship since 1976.
Thompson told the newspaper that it is an awesome chance for him, that it will improve his skills and lead to a better life.
The NNMC coach, Ryan Cordova, said he was very impressed with his play and that he works really hard. He said the coaching staff and other players will have to learn (sign) language. He said it would be similar to other kids he’s recruited from other countries.
KOB4 News reported that Thompson won a state title in discus on the track team.
Congratulations to Deven Thompson!
NMSD: http://bit.ly/2WANeNR
AlbuquerqueJournal: http://bit.ly/2QAMzGM
KOB4 News: http://bit.ly/2JPRH9f
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Deaf Bing: ILY
Deaf Bing: we have different ways of saying, “ILY.”
I will share four.
The first — this is the strong expression of love. The ILY handshape is firm and doesn’t move. This is to show true love.
The second — the quick, flexible, waving ILY. This is good for goodbyes for friends. This is not love-love, but to express ILY in a casual way.
The third — the “punch” ILY. This is for brotherly or sisterly love, or someone you have a strong bond with.
The fourth ILY is a “sarcastic” one. The key is using this face with the ILY. This might be when you’re telling someone they don’t want to do. Such as — please clean your room.
So, you can see that ILY holds many different meanings.
ILY!
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That is all for this week. Thank you for watching “The Daily Moth!” Have a wonderful weekend and stay with the light!