Feb 22
Feb 22
As recently as yesterday, President Trump sent a tweet using his old, unsecured Android phone. This happened just three days after Congressman Ted Lieu and 14 other House Democrats sent a letter to the Oversight Committee demanding an investigation into this blatantly bad security practice. Everybody agrees that it’s…
Feb 22
Any luxury SUV fan knows a new Range Rover is something worth getting excited over, and so consider our curiosity piqued at the British marque’s upcoming car. The Range Rover Velar will be the fourth member of the automaker’s line-up, borrowing a historic name from the late 60s. Intriguingly, though, it’ll actually be the first production vehicle to launch with … Continue reading
Feb 22
The fitness app Strava has arrived for the Apple Watch Series 2, the company behind it has announced. This gives athletes and other users the ability to use the Strava app and the Series 2 wearable without an iOS tether, and enables the fitness app to fully utilize the watch’s GPS feature, among other things. This announcement follows Strava’s support … Continue reading
Feb 22
There are plenty of gadgets out there for making music on your mobile device, but they’re relatively sedentary affairs. BeatMoovz turns things arounds with a music tool that gets you up and dancing: instead of moving with the music, you dance and cre…
Feb 22
Dutch lawmakers have made a “historic breakthrough” on marijuana legalization, passing a measure in the lower house of Parliament to decriminalize cannabis cultivation.
MPs narrowly passed a bill Tuesday that would build on the country’s existing policies of relaxed enforcement of marijuana consumption and sale. However, the legislation still needs to clear the upper house, where it isn’t certain to win the majority’s support, according to The Associated Press.
Nonetheless, Alexander Pechtold, leader of the Democrats 66 party, called the bill’s passage a “historic breakthrough.”
Vera Bergkamp, a member of the D66 party, introduced the bill. She said in a statement that regulating the marijuana industry reflects the desires of local officials and the public.
“This puts an end to the lopsided tolerance policy where you can sell weed, but cannot grow,” Bergkamp said.
The Netherlands has long had a tolerance policy on soft drugs. Selling pot in coffee shops is against the law but is not prosecuted, and individuals are allowed to possess small quantities of pot. But the rules are stricter for growing marijuana, and possessing more than five plants can lead to prosecution.
Police in the Netherlands have cracked down on pot cultivation. In 2015, they busted nearly 6,000 marijuana grow operations, according to the Dutch news site NRC.
According to the Financial Times, the measure that advanced Tuesday would eliminate a “legal grey area” by regulating the supply chain and ending a loophole that currently makes it possible to prosecute sellers for transporting marijuana to their shops.
In a Facebook post, Pechtold argued that regulating the industry would be good for public health, saying it would free up police to focus on more serious crimes and would benefit the public through tax revenue.
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Feb 22
The humanitarian consequences of President Donald Trump’s “poisonous” rhetoric will be felt far beyond U.S. borders, Amnesty International warned Tuesday.
The nonprofit organization released its comprehensive annual report outlining the state of human rights in 159 countries around the world and the growing influence of populist leadership.
Trump’s hateful rhetoric exemplifies “a global trend towards angrier and more divisive politics,” the report said. Other prominent watchdogs, including Human Rights Watch, have labeled Trump and other self-proclaimed “anti-establishment” leaders as international threats to human rights.
Adotei Akwei, Amnesty’s managing director of government relations, pointed to the Trump administration’s evolving Muslim ban, which was introduced to restrict U.S. entry for citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries and refugees, and its planned wall on the Mexican border, intended to curb illegal immigration, as clear examples of divisive policies.
Beyond the direct effect on residents of the targeted nations, Akwei warned, the ban and wall set dangerous examples and could embolden other governments that have been watching closely.
“We believe that Trump’s policies will not only become a model for governments to use, but also, by implementing them, the United States will sort of be giving a blessing or an encouragement that ‘this is acceptable for us, so you guys can get away with it also,’” Akwei told The Huffington Post.
Speaking about the Muslim ban, he added, “That kind of exclusionary tactic ― and, in particular, one that uses faith as a criteria ― is something that could really be very scary and replicated in other countries.”
Trump’s influence has already spread to Europe, where populism has been on the rise in countries such as France, Britain and Italy. A chief government spokesperson in Hungary said earlier this month that “a change of perspective in the U.S.” vindicated Budapest’s draconian refugee policies.
Amnesty’s report details a “toxic, dehumanizing ‘us vs. them’” approach that politicians like Trump have used to divert blame and generate fear to advance their agendas.
“I think one of the implications of [Trump’s] ‘America First’ foreign policy is that it will be purely transactional; if you are not with us [the United States], you are against us and there will be consequences,” Akwei said.
Even before taking office, Trump received scathing condemnation for cultivating hateful and often false narratives about groups including Muslims, Mexicans and refugees for his political gain.
“Divisive fear-mongering has become a dangerous force in world affairs,” Salil Shetty, secretary general of Amnesty International, said in a statement released ahead of the report. “Today’s politics of demonization shamelessly peddles a dangerous idea that some people are less human than others, stripping away the humanity of entire groups of people.”
Trump’s presidential campaign, “marked by misogyny and xenophobia” as well as blatant pledges to roll back established civil liberties, foreshadowed a government that could be profoundly inimical to human rights, Amnesty warned. His election has also yielded “serious concerns” about U.S. human rights commitments domestically and globally.
“This report comes as a reminder that the rest of the world is still out there, and that the world needs the United States to be a force for good,” Akwei said. “Hopefully discussions will be generated about what road the United States should be taking, as opposed to the one that it currently appears to be on.”
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Feb 22
An interracial couple whose Connecticut home was vandalized last month with a racial slur is refusing to erase the obscenity until Stamford police “do their job” and find the vandals, even as the city fines them $100 a day.
Heather Lindsay, who is white, and her common-law husband Lexene Charles, who is black, expressed their frustration with the fine to the Stamford Advocate Monday, sharing that this is not the first time someone in the neighborhood has harassed them over their race.
The difference this time, they said, is they’re insisting police make their case a priority. The graffiti has been on the couple’s garage door since Jan. 14, and they say they’re not removing it.
“[Authorities should] not just cover it up and sweep it under the table as they have done in the past,” Lindsay told the local news site.
Members of the local NAACP chapter agree.
“We think the police should open up a live investigation, and that means they should interview people,” Darnell Crosland, from the Connecticut NAACP, told ABC 7 during a press conference Monday.
“They should create a police report, and they should have a case number. I don’t even know if this situation has a case number yet, and I think that is an affront to all of us,” he added.
City and police officials told the local ABC station they are working on the case but have been unable to find witnesses or video evidence of the culprits.
The police department has offered to remove the slur but the couple has refused, the Stamford Advocate reported. According to NBC New York, Stamford Police Chief Jonathan Fontneau visited the home and said that the couple faces arrest, in addition to the daily $100 blight citation, if the slur stays on their garage door.
The couple said they’ll go to court if they have to.
“I’d like to find out who did it because it has to stop,” Charles told ABC 7.
The Stamford police did not immediately return a request for comment.
The police department’s website stresses the harm graffiti has on communities.
“Its existence has serious economic as well as psychological consequences in neighborhoods and communicates alarm,” the website reads. It further encourages the removal of graffiti within 24-48 hours to “prevent the vandals from receiving the recognition they desire.”
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Feb 22
A powerful hashtag is here to remind us that love is diverse and beautiful.
Last year, the Twitter account @BeautyInColor created the hashtag #POCInLove to bring visibility to relationships between people of color. Last week, the 23-year-old behind the account revived the hashtag for Valentine’s Day.
The photos tweeted by couples so far are unbelievably sweet:
Really, could these two be any cuter?
Some tweets are poetry-filled:
Other people talk about how they had to cross a cultural divide to be together:
The woman behind the hashtag told The Huffington Post that she created the hashtag as a response to the lack of couples of color and LGBT couples portrayed in movies and TV.
“It’s important all types of love are celebrated,” she said. “Relationships are hard as it is but it’s even harder when you’re dealing with racism, homophobia or your families not accepting your partner.”
With this hashtag, “it’s just nice for people to show off the person they’re with and possibly had to fight to be with.”
See more of the adorable couples below:
Us right now:
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Feb 22
No, Jennifer Lopez doesn’t exclusively date younger men ― she just happens to end up with them quite a bit recently. (We see you, Casper Smart and possibly Drake.)
In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres Tuesday, the 47-year-old pop star and actress objected when the talk show host suggested she has a thing for younger men.
“I don’t date younger men. It’s not like you have to be younger, it’s not about that. You just meet people and if I go out with them, I go out with them,” the mom of two said.
“If I like them, I like them and if I don’t, I don’t. It’s just about the person. It’s about who they are, it has nothing to do with age,” she added.
After asking Lopez if she and Drake were a thing (”We’re just hanging out,” J.Lo said), DeGeneres got the superstar to play a round of “Who’d You Rather: Celebrity Edition.” Apparently, Jenny from the block is a One Direction fan because she picked Harry Styles over and over again.
Watch the clip above to see how the whole thing went down.
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