ZTE has made a name for itself by selling affordable smartphones that are best described as “not bad.” Now, the company is extending its “affordable premium” philosophy to Android Wear watches with the Quartz — a sub-$200 wearable running Google’s n…
Last night, Paris was struck yet again by a terror attack, killing a police officer and has leaving two other people critically injured. But if you see the video below, purporting to show “a crowd of ‘moderate’ Muslims celebrating the Paris terror attack in London,” don’t believe it. It’s not what it appears to be.
Perhaps there is a perfectly reasonable explanation why Microsoft doesn’t seem to be so invested in its Windows 10 Mobile platform or the devices that rely on it. It might, instead, be more interested in getting a full Windows 10 version running on ARM-based devices. Either way, such kinds of devices are really in the works. At least that’s what … Continue reading
Algae so toxic that it’s causing fatal brain damage in California sea lions is the latest problem plaguing ocean animal rescue operations along the Pacific coast.
Domoic acid poisoning is emerging as a key threat this year to the animals that ingest the toxin while eating fish and other sea creatures that feed on algae, rescue organizations in southern California warn.
Some birds and dolphins have also been affected by the algae, which authorities warn can be harmful to humans who eat shellfish.
The neurotoxin that the Pseudo nitzschia algae produces can destroy the brains of sea lions until they no longer know basic survival functions, such as how to evade predators and find food. It can cause sea lions to have seizures and paralysis, while one of the key signs of this dementia is when they are seen rolling their heads repeatedly.
And a spokesman for the Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute told the Ventura County Star that this is the “worst year ever” for cases of domoic acid poisoning.
Marine Animal Rescue has reported picking up 33 disoriented sea lions suffering from symptoms this month alone.
In Laguna Beach, the Pacific Marine Mammal Center has reported 14 sea lion deaths so far this month from domoic acid poisoning. Many of the effected animals were pregnant females, primarily because they’re feeding especially heavily now to support their pregnancies.
Rescue centers try to flush the toxin out of an animal’s system, but sometimes their brains are too significantly damaged to save.
No cases in humans have yet been reported this year. Commercially harvested seafood is tested before it goes to market, but the California Department of Health sent out a warning last week against eating mussels, clams or whole scallops harvested by sports shellfish collectors in Santa Barbara County.
“Dangerous levels of domoic acid have been detected in mussels from this region, making them unsafe to consume,” the statement warned.
The Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing Systems at Scripps Institution of Oceanography issued a domoic acid alert last week off Orange County.
Domoic acid poisoning was also a major problem 10 years ago, when 175 sea lions reportedly showed clinical signs of being affected. But the sheer number of animals the algae has sickened in such a short space of time this year has shocked welfare groups.
Marine Mammal Care Center of Los Angeles veterinarian Dr. Lauren Palmer said the group had taken in 15 adult sea lions in 10 days this month that had showed clinical signs of domoic acid. “It is unusual to see this many in a 10-day period,” she told the Orange County Register.
Keith Matassa, executive director of the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, called the sea lions the “canaries of the marine environment” because they are indicators of an ocean’s health.
Many scientists say that the development of the toxin is a byproduct of increased ocean pollution and higher water temperatures that allow it to thrive. With heavy rains this year, more fertilizer and waste water has washed into the sea.
“We do know society is shaping harmful algal blooms,” Clarissa Anderson, head of the Scripps operation, told the Beach Reporter. “We are having an effect. We are seeing more of them. We are seeing bigger ones, more toxic ones all the time all over the entire world.”
You can help sea lions by contributing to groups that help them. Visit the Pacific Marine Mammal Center’s website here, CIMWI’s website here, Marine Animal Rescue here and the Marine Mammal Care Center of Los Angeles here.
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Jimmy Kimmel hails Starbucks’ new “Unicorn Frappuccino” as “the first frappuccino that looks like a windbreaker from the ’80s.”
But if that’s not enough to lure you in, the host on Thursday introduced another Starbucks concoction for troubled times: the F**k-it-ccino.
A funny mock ad on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” boasts that the ingredients include pancake batter and vodka.
Drink up, America!
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President Trump’s first-quarter approval ratings set a depressing new record. Forty percent of Americans say they doubt anything could change their minds about the president. And support for marijuana legalization is, well, higher than ever. This is HuffPollster for Friday, April 21, 2017.
GALLUP GIVES TRUMP HISTORICALLY LOW FIRST-QUARTER RATINGS – HuffPollster: “President Donald Trump received substantially worse ratings for his initial months in office than any other president elected to his first term since World War II, according to Gallup. Even presidents who’ve gone on to be unpopular generally enjoyed high ratings during their first months in office. But Trump’s average rating since Inauguration Day is just 41 percent, Gallup finds, making him the only president in their polling history to fall short of majority approval during his first quarter. Former President Bill Clinton, the next-lowest ranked, had an average approval rating of 55 percent for that time period, while former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush enjoyed first quarter ratings of 63 percent and 58 percent, respectively.” [HuffPost, Gallup]
An increasing divide along partisan lines – More from HuffPollster: “What sets Trump apart isn’t a lack of support from his own party. About 87 percent of Republicans approve of his performance, several points above the average for previous presidents and similar to the numbers Obama and Bush saw at this point in their presidencies. Rather, Trump’s ratings reflect the near-complete absence of support from Democrats, just 9 percent of whom approve of his performance so far. Americans’ willingness to support a president across the aisle has shrunk dramatically in recent years. This early in their terms, former Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter all saw majority support from their opposing party, a feat that seems almost unimaginable in the modern political environment. But Obama still managed to garner the approval of about 30 percent of Republicans during the first quarter of 2009, while Bush saw a 32 percent rating among Democrats in the first quarter of 2001.” Another way of looking at it: Republicans are 78 points more likely than Democrats to approve of Trump’s job performance. Until Clinton took office, that gap was never above 50 points.
4 IN 10 AMERICANS SAY THERE’S NOTHING TRUMP CAN DO TO CHANGE THEIR MINDS ABOUT HIM – HuffPollster on a new HuffPost/YouGov poll: “Sixty-three percent of Americans who currently disapprove of Trump say there’s almost nothing the president can do to win their approval. Conversely, a relatively modest 24 percent of Americans who currently approve of Trump say there’s almost nothing he could do to lose their approval. That adds up to a combined 40 percent of the population saying that at just over four months into Trump’s presidency, there’s little he can do to change their minds about his performance ― 10 percent because they’ll never stop liking him, and 30 percent because they’ll never start….Among Americans who disapprove of Trump overall, 64 percent say Trump hasn’t done anything they approve of, according to the HuffPost/YouGov survey, while just 24 percent say that he’s earned their approval for some actions. Fifty-one percent of Americans who currently approve of Trump say he’s done nothing so far to earn their disapproval, with 31 percent saying he’s done at least something they disapprove of.” [HuffPost]
Trump’s “reluctant” supporters are largely still with him – Clare Malone, on a FiveThirtyEight/SurveyMonkey poll: “About 15 percent of Trump voters said they weren’t excited to cast a ballot for him. This group differs demographically and has different policy priorities from the rest of the Trump cohort….The biggest difference between the two groups is education level: 37 percent of reluctant Trumpers had at least a college degree, while only 25 percent of other Trump supporters had a college or postgraduate degree….But as of right now, reluctant Trump voters approve of Trump, and not even reluctantly, though at nowhere near the same levels of other Trump voters: 74 percent of reluctant Trumpers approved of the president, while a whopping 97 percent of more enthusiastic Trump voters approved of him….But there are danger signs for Trump and the GOP: Nearly 80 percent of Trump’s enthusiastic voters said they approved of his budget proposal, which essentially serves as an outline of the White House’s priorities. Only about half of reluctant Trump voters approved of the budget.” [538]
[INSERT YOUR OWN “RECORD HIGH” JOKE HERE] – Nick Wing: “Sixty-one percent of Americans are now in favor of legalizing marijuana for recreational use, according to a CBS News poll released Thursday. That’s the highest mark this particular poll has ever found, and it’s not an outlier. Similar surveys taken over the past year have shown that public support for legal cannabis is higher now than it has ever been before. Widespread acceptance of legalization ― itself a rejection of the longstanding federal prohibition on marijuana ― is a relatively new phenomenon in the U.S. The nation first reached majority support for legalizing weed in 2013, when polls showed slightly more than 50 percent of Americans favoring the move. Although approval fluctuated somewhat after that, a number of surveys conducted over the past year have shown support for legal recreational marijuana crossing the 60 percent threshold, with fewer and fewer Americans expressing opposition.” [HuffPost, CBS]
HUFFPOLLSTER VIA EMAIL! – You can receive this update every Tuesday and Friday morning via email! Just click here, enter your email address, and click “sign up.” That’s all there is to it (and you can unsubscribe anytime).
FRIDAY’S ‘OUTLIERS’ – Links to the best of news at the intersection of polling, politics and political data:
-Quinnipiac charts President Trump’s approval during his first 100 days in office. [Quinnipiac]
-Morning Consult asks voters to grade Trump’s job performance. [Morning Consult]
-The Chicago Council compares Trump’s foreign policies against public opinion. [Chicago Council]
-Harry Enten draws five takeaways from the GA-06 special election. [538]
-David Wasserman argues that the GA-06 election results have been blown out of proportion. [Cook Political]
-David Byler takes an early look at Virginia’s 2017 gubernatorial race. [RCP]
-Geoffrey Skelley and Kyle Kondik lay out initial 2018 gubernatorial race ratings. [Sabato’s Crystal Ball]
-Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann argue that Democrats’ path to a House majority runs through the Sunbelt. [NBC]
-D’Vera Cohn explores a potential change in how the Census asks about race [Pew]
-Christopher Ingraham highlights a startling chart from the Office of Government Ethics. [WashPost]
-The Economist raises concerns about the consistency of French election polling. [The Economist]
-GOP pollsters Neil Newhouse and Erin Murphy propose an alternate question to measure support for Trump. [POS (R)]
-Marist finds that most football fans don’t want their favorite team to draft domestic abusers. [Marist]
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
President Donald Trump on Friday complained that a deadline he set for himself for various policy plans was unfair.
Trump’s first 100 days in office ends April 29, and critics have pointed out that he has yet to achieve many of his own goals.
Shortly before the election, he laid out his plan for his first 100 days, including two of his biggest campaign promises: building a wall along the Mexican border and repealing the Affordable Care Act. He has yet to fulfill either commitment.
Then, days after the election, Trump released a video detailing many more accomplishments he’d hoped to make by the time his first 100 days were up. The video included promises to pull the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, crack down on illegal immigration and get rid of regulations on coal mining― all of which he did.
In a separate announcement made in the wake of reports of Russian election meddling, Trump also promised to release a report on cybersecurity within 90 days of taking office. That report never materialized.
It’s not just journalists who have struggled to see the president’s actions as meeting his goals. White House press secretary Sean Spicer also had a hard time naming a single legislative win.
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A government plan to introduce online convictions, allowing those who’ve committed petty crimes to plead guilty and pay fines without having to go to court, has been scrapped. The online option was provided in the Prison and Courts Bill, which has be…
In the future, it’d be nice to expect our smart home will just know when we’re on our way home and prepare for our arrival. In the meantime, voice assistants from Google and Amazon let us control our devices without all of that fiddly button pressing…
Australia got its first Legoland Discovery Center this week in Melbourne, but some Lego fans aren’t too happy about it. A handful of adult men are pissed that the Playground area is restricted to children. And one is even threatening to file a human rights complaint.
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