The Daily Moth 9-16-19
Oil facilities attacked in Saudi Arabia; Top News Briefs: Auto workers strike; Felicity Huffman sentenced; Maine building explosion; New sexual misconduct allegation against Brett Kavanaugh; Texas girl dies from brain-eating amoeba
[Transcript] Hello, welcome to The Daily Moth! Hope your weekend was good. Ready for news?
———
Oil facilities attacked in Saudi Arabia
Last weekend in Saudi Arabia, two major oil facilities were attacked. The U.S. released satellite images that shows parts of the facility burning. It seems like it was bombed.
The damage forced Saudi Arabia to stop production of more than half of their global daily exports and caused worldwide oil prices to sharply rise.
President Trump said he was “locked and loaded” and waiting for Saudi Arabia to confirm who was behind the attack. The White House has blamed it on Iran.
Iran denied being responsible and said if the U.S. attacks them, they were ready to carry out a counterattack against U.S. military targets.
Houthi rebels, who are based in Yemen and backed by Iran, claimed responsibility for the attacks and explained that they used drones launched from Yemen. The U.S. has dismissed the Houthis’ claims.
The Saudi-led military coalition who are battling the Houthis said Iranian weapons was used in the attack, that Yemen was not the launching stage, and is investigating where the launch position was.
This is the latest confrontation between the U.S. and Iran and the most serious one since June, when the Iranian military shot down a U.S. drone. It also has dashed hopes of a meeting between Trump and Iranian President Rouhani.
https://apnews.com/3c3ce6a941f5489eaa778ccc5db2437c
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-aramco-coalition/saudi-led-coalition-evidence-indicates-iranian-arms-used-in-saudi-attack-idUSKBN1W11N5?il=0
https://apnews.com/b5e55c91023441d8a05ff95a9fd2d6eb
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-tells-saudi-arabia-oil-attacks-were-launched-from-iran-11568644126?mod=hp_lead_pos1
———
Top News Briefs: Auto workers strike; Felicity Huffman sentenced; Maine building explosion
Here are three news briefs.
The first — about 50,000 United Auto Workers members from several different states went on strike last night after failed negotiations with General Motors. Why now? There was a four-year contract between GM and the UAW that expired without an agreement on a new contract.
The UAW’s vice president said the two sides haven’t been able to agree on wages, health care benefits, temporary workers, job security, and profit sharing. The strike is still going on and negotiations are also taking place.
The second news — on Friday, actress Felicity Huffman was sentenced to 14 days in prison for paying $15,000 for someone to correct her oldest daughter’s SAT exam so she could enter elite university programs.
There are multiple other parents involved in this college admissions cheating scandal, and Huffman is the first one to be sentenced. She will report to prison on October 25. She apologized to her family, to the educational community, and to other students.
The third news — in Farmington, Maine, there was a building that was completely obliterated by an explosion that is believed to come from a propane leak. Sadly a firefighter was killed. Five other firefighters were injured along with the building’s maintenance director.
The building was a central office for a program that supports a group home for disabled adults. It was evacuated after an employee smelled propane and exploded when firefighters and the maintenance director went in to inspect it.
https://news.yahoo.com/general-motors-auto-workers-call-strike-us-173343962.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tens-thousands-general-motors-auto-workers-go-strike-n1054701
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2019/09/16/felicity-huffman-prison-sentence-john-legend-opposes-lock-up/2339221001/
https://abcnews.go.com/US/firefighter-dead-people-hurt-explosion-maine-officials/story?id=65639606&cid=clicksource_4380645_null_twopack_hed
———
New sexual misconduct allegation against Brett Kavanaugh
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh is now facing a new accusation of sexual misconduct from his time as a Yale student.
The New York Times reported that Max Stier, who was a Yale student at the same time as Kavanaugh, told the FBI last year that he saw Kavanaugh at a drunken dorm party with his pants down. Stier said Kavanaugh was pushed by his friends, which caused his penis to touch the hand of a female student.
The Times later added an update that several friends of the female student said she did not recall the incident and that she declined to be interviewed.
Aides for Democratic Senator Chris Coons (Del) confirmed that the senator wrote a letter to the FBI last October asking them to talk with Stier. The Times said the FBI did not investigate this report.
President Trump said the Times, the “LameStream Media,” and the Democrats were working together to put out lies and fake news to assault Kavanaugh.
Several Democratic presidential candidates said Kavanaugh should be disciplined or impeached.
ABC News said they reached out to the female and that she said she did not want to talk about the allegations again. When ABC asked her if she could name others who witnessed the incident, she said “ask Brett.”
The new accusation is almost the same as the one made by another Yale student, Deborah Ramirez, who said Kavanaugh thrust his penis in her face at a party and caused her to touch it when she pushed him away. This came up a week after Christine Blasey Ford gave her testimony during Kavanaugh’s confirmation process.
Kavanaugh forcefully denied the accusations and was ultimately confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate to become President Trump’s second successful nominee for the Supreme Court.
The Times’ report is a preview of a soon-to-be-released book, “The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation,” which is mostly about Ramirez’s accusations and claims that the FBI did not do a thorough investigation.
https://www.axios.com/kavanaugh-accused-of-new-sexual-misconduct-claim-nyt-22e7ad8b-869c-4d16-a688-b74507db80f1.html
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/book-reveals-allegations-brett-kavanaugh-fbis-handling-probe/story?id=65625607&cid=clicksource_4380645_null_card_hed
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/16/politics/chris-coons-brett-kavanaugh-letter/index.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/brett-kavanaugh-sexual-misconduct-accusation-sets-off-calls-for-supreme-court-impeachment/
———
Texas girl dies from brain-eating amoeba
A 10-year-old girl from Texas, Lily Mae Avant, passed away in a hospital from a brain-eating amoeba she contracted after she went swimming in the Brazos River and Lake Whitney near Waco during Labor Day weekend.
KWTX 10 News said Lily had a headache and a fever after swimming in a pool one week later. She was hospitalized and there was an outpouring of support for her from her local community for her to pull through, but she died overnight today.
Texas health officials said the girl had primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, which is a brain infection caused by the amoeba Naegleria fowleri. The amoeba is said to be present in freshwater across Texas and elsewhere in the U.S. and enters through the nose, where it causes an infection that is almost always fatal. It is extremely rare for this to happen.
Lily’s family said doctors couldn’t do anything more for her because “the (amoeba) claims its victims so quickly.”
Texas health officials advise people to reduce their risk of infection by avoiding being in warm freshwater during high water temperatures and low water levels.
https://www.kwtx.com/content/news/Central-Texas-girl-fights-for-life-after-contracting-brain-eating-amoeba-560176551.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/brain-eating-amoeba-kills-girl-in-texas-swimming-brazos-river-naegleria-fowler/
———
That is all for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!
———
Supported by:
Convo [https://convo.click/2mVhM8h]
Gallaudet University: [gallaudet.edu]