The Daily Moth 5-7-2019
Hello, welcome to the Daily Moth! It is Tuesday, May 7! Ready for news?
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Top News Briefs: Pamela Anderson visits Julian Assange in jail; Georgia signs “fetal heartbeat” abortion bill
Here are two top news briefs.
The first — Pamela Anderson, former Playboy model and Baywatch actress, visited Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in a London jail.
Fox News reported that the two has a close relationship.
After the visit, Anderson tweeted a handwritten note saying Assange is the world’s most innocent man that is being treated as the world’s most dangerous man.
Tweet: [@pamfoundation “Julian Assange is the world’s most innocent man.” (Image of a handwritten note)]
Last week Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for jumping bail in 2012. The U.S. wants to extradite him here on a charge of conspiring to crack a government password.
The second news — Georgia Governor Kemp signed a law that would make abortions illegal after a heartbeat is detected in an embryo. This usually happens between five to six weeks.
Kemp said Georgia is a state that values life and that they protect the innocent.
Abortion rights activists said the law is like a ban on abortion, because many mothers realize they are pregnant at the fifth or sixth week.
There are already several organizations that said they would sue the state, saying they violated the U.S. Constitution and the 1973 Roe v Wade Supreme Court ruling that said women have a right to abort up to about 24 to 25 weeks.
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/pamela-anderson-julian-assange-arrest
Tweet: https://twitter.com/pamfoundation/status/1125718757723267072
Assange Sentenced: https://wapo.st/2PR9vBe
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/georgia-abortion-law-governor-brian-kemp-signs-heartbeat-abortion-bill-into-law-today-2019-05-07/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46994583
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Lady Gaga strips down to her bra at the Met Gala
Every year the Met Gala is hosted at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Costume Institute in New York City. It is a fundraiser event and the ticket price is about $30,000. It is also an event known for stars appearing in extravagant, creative, and exaggerated fashion. Last night was the 71st Met Gala and the theme was "Camp (does not mean actual camping, but means exaggerated fashion): Notes on Fashion."
Lady Gaga, a well known singer and actress from “A Star Is Born” movie, went to the annual Met Gala in New York City with 4 outfit changes on the carpet. Her four outfits were designed by Brandon Maxwell who is her close friend and one of her original stylists before he left to start his own line.
She had 4 outfits on and she started with a big parachute sized pink dress with a pink bow then she ended with her 4th outfit with her glittery bra and underwear and platform shoes. Here are pictures of her transformation that happened on the carpet.
[Images of Lady Gaga’s outfit]
Many news articles mentioned that Lady Gaga certainly made a grand entrance especially after her brief hiatus.
Other stars were also wearing rad outfits at the Met Gala such as Serena Williams wearing a yellow Versace dress with pink leaf-look-alike patterned all over, flashing her neon yellow sneakers underneath. Jared Leto showed up with his Gucci outfit and a fake decapitated head that looked like him. Cardi B came with a dress made out of tulle and silk which it took 35 people to help make and over 2,000 hours to create. Katy Perry wore a chandelier outfit first then later she changed to a hamburger outfit.
The theme for Met Gala 2020 will be announced this October.
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/lady-gaga-met-gala-four-outfits
https://people.com/style/met-gala-2019-lady-gaga-red-carpet-outfit-changes/
https://www.eonline.com/news/1039142/22-pound-dresses-and-1-million-crystals-details-on-the-craziest-2019-met-gala-looks#photo-1003027
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Kentucky dad face charges of killing his infant son over losing a video game
***Correction: the infant was 1 month old, not one year old.
In Louisville, Kentucky, a father was charged with murdering his 1 year old son.
Police said Anthony Trice was home alone with his son, De’Anthony. He was playing a video game and lost. He got frustrated, threw the controller at the child’s head and punched him. He took his son to quiet him but dropped him in the kitchen.
Police said later, Trice made his son a bottle, set him upright, and went to the bathroom. When he returned, he noticed that his son was in pain so he called 911.
De’Anthony was taken to the children hospital where he died after two days.
Other family members are very shocked and have set up a GoFundMe to help with funeral costs.
Trice’s bond is set to 1 million dollars.
https://www.wvlt.tv/content/news/Bond-raised-for-father-charged-with-murder-for-punching-newborn-son-after-losing-video-game-509546631.html
https://www.foxnews.com/us/kentucky-dad-murder-punching-infant-video-game
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Deaf man completes 40th straight Broad Street Run
Philadelphia has an annual run named “Broad Street Run” which is one of the largest 10 miles road race in the USA. This race started in 1980 and one Deaf man, Joe Farrell Jr. (71) has run every single race for the last 39 years. This recent Sunday was his 40th race and last one.
[Clip of Joe running]
JOE FARRELL JR: The race was awful. It ran when it was constantly raining, I’ve never seen that before. I kept on and made it for my 40th year! It was overwhelming. Wow! Wow! After the finish line, I had pains all over. It isn’t like what it was when I was younger and faster. Today my feet hurt. But I’m happy and enjoy it. I remember the first annual one up to the 4oth. There is a big difference. In the 2000’s I was much faster. Now I have a bad average of over two hours, because of my age.
Renca: Joe is one of the four runners and the only Deaf person who has been involved with this run annually since the first run in 1980. Joe’s daughter, Colleen, who is also Deaf, has been running with him for the last 10 years. The Daily Moth asked her to share her experiences and if she will continue running.
COLLEEN FARRELL:
I’ve always admired my father reaching the finish line every year even through cancer. That’s such big deal to me. Now, when it comes to me doing another one next year, let’s leave that to next year and see if I’ll actually do a 11th event or not. Let’s see!
Thank you Colleen for sending in the videos. Joe decided this year's run would be his last because he feels that his time is up. Joe was featured on a NBC Philadelphia article. You can find the link in the transcript. Congratulations to Joe for finishing his 40th and last race.
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Delco-Man-to-Run-in-40th-Straight-Broad-Street-Run_Philadelphia-509288201.html?_osource=SocialFlowFB_PHBrand&fbclid=IwAR1aXgfwap9E9mZsIfJufK6E3XrRby29-e8XcIbb4fvBCtIppPnW9ftEjv8
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Seattle passes ordinance requiring closed captioning on public TVs
Three weeks ago, the Seattle City Council passed an ordinance that requires people owning or managing a place of public accommodations to turn on closed captioning on televisions.
[Image of ordinance. It reads, “‘CITY OF SEATTLE: ORDINANCE 125805, COUNCIL BILL 119487.’ AN ORDINANCE relating to public accommodations; requiring persons owning or managing a place of public accommodations to activate closed captioning on television receivers; and adding a new Chapter 14.05 to the Seattle Municipal Code.”]
A Deaf man, Eric Scheir, who is the Co-Chair of the Seattle Commission for People with disAbilities, said he led the effort to write the bill and pass it.
ERIC SCHIER: To make this bill successful, we must research, gather data and compare it with other city and states that have their own data. With their data, we can determine what best fits this city of Seattle.
Alex: He explained that he worked with the commission to reach out to local business leaders to answer questions and concerns and to push for accessibility.
Scheir: Get everyone involved. If you want your city to provide captions, I encourage you all to be involved whether it’s as an elected representative on a committee, a board or whatever your city calls them. Get involved then try to replicate our bill. Ours is public information and is available on the internet. Replicate the bill then adjust it so it fits the needs of your city, then work with your city council or townspeople or with the mayor. Whichever works for you to pass the bill. That’s the best way, really. Instead of protesting and making demands for captioning, these do not work. It’s best to get involved in politics, get involved in a political group and make it happen. It works.
Alex: The ordinance is in effect now, but there is a six-month grace period before it is enforced. This period of time is to ensure there is enough time to educate business leaders, including various communities who speak a different language, about the new rules.
After six months — in October — businesses who don’t turn on CC will receive a letter or email from the Director of the Seattle Office for Civil Rights. They then will have 30 days to respond and remedy the issue or face potential fines up to $300.
The ordinance text pointed to a similar ordinance already passed in Portland, Oregon as an example.
[Text: “WHEREAS, The Commission for People with disAbilites agrees with the findings of the City Council of Portland, Oregon in adopting Ordinance 187454… which requires activating closed captioning, where available, on televisions used in places of public accommodation…”]
Schier explained that Seattle added more specifications to their ordinance by requiring that the captions have a black background color, white text size of 24, and specific fonts. He said this was to prevent venues from choosing transparent captions to “get around” the rules, which was an issue in Portland.
Scheir said he recently went to a restaurant in Seattle with his husband and was pleased to see captioning on the TVs and thanked the staff.
Scheir: It’s very critical that when you walk into a business and see that the captions are on. It’s important to acknowledge people who work there and thank them for providing the captions. They’ll appreciate that and this will increase the patronage thus their business.
Now, Scheir hopes to make this ordinance into a statewide law.
Scheir: Right now, with this bill, I’m working with my colleague who is a state representative for the state of Washington with the goal of implementing this bill statewide. We have several cities in the state who are having issues with not providing captioning and aren’t able to pass the bill on their own. It depends on who’s on the councils. If we do this on the state level, it would require the whole state to provide captions.
Schier said he’s received questions about this becoming federal law, but he is focusing on achieving his goals one step at a time.
Another Deaf activist who lives in Seattle, Melissa echo Greenlee, who started “Deaffriendly,” gave some thoughts on the ordinance.
“This is a huge win for Deaf and hard of hearing people in the city of Seattle. Not only will Deaf and hard of hearing people have access to information like their peers, but businesses will start to understand over time that this bill impacts them positively too”
Greenlee explained that she noticed there were many people who complained about the new rule, but she said it is because of ignorance and that she doesn’t have a lot of time or space for people who put their own privileged comfort above Deaf and hard of hearing people’s access to information.
She said captioning on TVs will allow Deaf and hard of hearing people to have access to major world news at the same time as others and be able to connect with others.
Thank you two for your time and comments.
The link to the ordinance is in the transcript. Maybe you can consider proposing this in your local community.
Ordinance text: http://bit.ly/2ZZejsK
Commission: https://www.seattle.gov/commission-for-people-with-disabilities/who-we-are
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New Zealand Prime Minister Ardern signs in NZSL to celebrate NZSL week
The Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, used New Zealand Sign Language in a video to recognize and celebrate NZSL Week. The video was posted by an organization, Deaf Aotearoa.
[Video clip from Facebook/Deaf Aotearoa: Jacinda Ardern: “My name is Jacinda. I’m the Prime Minister of New Zealand/Aotearoa. I’m excited to be involved in NZSL Week again. Congratulations Deaf Aotearoa for 13 years of NZSL Week!”]
It’s a nice display of respect for NZSL from the country’s leader, who won the world’s respect and admiration for her leadership in response to the Christchurch attacks. She regularly gives press conferees with a NZSL interpreter and the ripple effects of her example has reached lawmakers around the world. Last week a Canadian senator said she noticed the NZSL interpreter during a testimony on ASL/LSQ recognition. There’s a global impact.
The President of Deaf Aotearoa, Oliver Ferguson, said they work closely with the NZ government to advocate for improved access and services for Deaf people, which includes raising awareness of NZSL, changing attitudes, and removing barriers.
He explained a bit of history and context behind the week.
[Image of Ferguson with quote] "Deaf Aotearoa established NZSL Week in 2007 and initially funded this via a mix of charity grants and public money. In the last few years NZSL Week has been funded by the Government’s NZSL Board annual funding allocation and the Ministry of Education. As NZSL is an official language of New Zealand, Deaf Aotearoa believe NZSL Week should receive ongoing and permanent funding, similarly to Maori Language Week funding.”]
Thank you for sharing, Oliver.
On the Deaf Aotearoa Facebook page, you can see several clips of government officials and business leaders signing in NZSL.
Clip of PM Ardern: http://bit.ly/2DTMKaV
More info on Deaf Aotearoa: http://deaf.org.nz/
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That is all for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!