Apr 16
When Star Wars themed lands open at Walt Disney World and Disneyland in 2019, things are going to be interactive. Maybe, a little too interactive.
Apr 16
This appears to be the week for Motorola leaks. Just days after new shots of the Moto Z2 Force turned up, we’re getting a better look at the upcoming Moto E4 Plus, including clear shots of the front and back of the non-flagship device. While obviously a thicker smartphone than we’re used to seeing these days, it’s likely this is … Continue reading
Apr 16
Few subjects have been more hotly debated, scrutinized, and endlessly rehashed, then whether Number 45 Trump can or will be impeached. A deluge of petitions has been circulated online, and tens of thousands of signatures have been gathered for his removal. The issue of a Trump impeachment roared back on the public and media plate at a recent anti-Trump tax disclosure rally in Washington D.C. where speaker after speaker called for his head by way of impeachment.
The article in the Constitution, the so-called “impeachment clause,” on the surface seems clear enough. A president can be impeached for committing treason, bribery, or the vague, hazy and thoroughly ambiguous, “high crimes and misdemeanors.” The House would initiate the action and then the Senate would have to convict him. That’s never happened.
At this point, there’s little chance that can happen with Trump either. The biggest knock against him is that he has grotesquely violated the Foreign Emolument Clause by refusing to fully divest himself of his business holdings. This supposedly puts him squarely in conflict of interest and, even more damaging, leaves him wide open to the charge that he is selling political favors to enrich his businesses.
Trump took that allegation off the table when he supposedly plopped his business interests in a hands-off trust administered by family members and a board. Trump as usual was being disingenuous. He can still draw income from the trust with the approval of the board. And what are the odds of the board, in this case, his family saying no to him? The problem, though, in trying to nail Trump for mixing and mingling his business affairs with his government office is proving that he fattened his account by selling favors. There must be proof that Trump got a gift, donation, bribe from, or turned a business deal with a foreign government and, in return, that government got a clearly defined, tangible benefit from the deal with Trump. There’s the huge cry that foreign leaders and governments are spending cash to stay at Trump hotels or rent space in his various other real estate holdings. But that doesn’t mean that Trump has promised them favors, let alone that they have received any political favors from their presence there and the money they spent there. It would take iron-clad evidence that Government X spent say $100,000 on a hotel suite at a Trump hotel or golf resort and then Trump facilitated an exclusive contract from say the Department of Energy to purchase oil, or gas supply equipment from Government X. There would have to be a paper trail to tie Trump to such a deal.
Trump’s team is well-versed on the rules about what public officials can do when it comes to business and government here. They know that eyes are carefully watching him to catch him in any dirty dealing. So, him doing something that crudely illegal is almost unimaginable. Another possible charge bandied about is that with the lawsuits he’s been hit with, his tax disclosure dodges, and accusations of borderline shady deals, that a case can be made that he perjured himself in his disclosures or, more likely, non-disclosure of his financial dealings.
Trump avoided that potential trap in one big lawsuit, the Trump University scam. He settled before the case moved to trial. Thus, he avoided subjecting himself to having to answer questions in lengthy and potentially damaging depositions. Trump has a phalanx of top gun attorneys around him who know all the ins and outs of depositions and interrogatories and carefully advise him on what is legally permissible to say and what to keep quiet on.
The charge that has drawn the most scrutiny and poses a potential impeachment charge is Trump’s Russia connection. One focus of this is whether Trump colluded with the Russians in their open meddling in the U.S. presidential election to tip the vote to him in three key states. Another is whether his entangled business dealings with the Russians rises to the level of blatant favoritism. Something. of course, could turn up in a deep probe congressional investigation of his supposed tie with the Russians.
The two problems with this is that the likelihood of a GOP congressional committee taking on such a probe is slim to none. The election tampering angle is near impossible to prove. It would take smoking gun proof that Trump directed Putin and his cronies to cook the election books for him.
So, for now we’re back to square one. Lots of talk, speculation and hope that #45 can be tripped up enough to bring a strong case for his removal. But to make that case it’s going to take solid evidence of wrongdoing that meets the high Constitutional bar to oust a president. That’s never happened in the nation’s history. But, there’s four years for something to happen to reach that bar with Trump.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is the author of the forthcoming ebook How the Democrats Can Win in The Trump Era (Amazon Kindle). He is an associate editor of New America Media. He is a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on Radio One. He is the host of the weekly Hutchinson Report on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles and the Pacifica Network.
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Apr 16
The technology world just lost one of its most prominent innovators. Robert Taylor, best known as the mastermind of ARPAnet (the internet’s precursor), has died at 85. As the director of the US military’s Advanced Research Projects Agency from 1965 u…
Apr 16
Along with its duties of maintaining copies of important news, literature, scientific information, and old MySpace pages, the Internet Archive also loves to create emulations for you to fiddle with inside your browser. Today, the lovable non-profit organization has made it easy for you to relive the glory years of the…
Apr 16
Volkswagen opted for a court settlement with the California Air Resources Board and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency following the Diesel Gate scandal which revealed that the company was cheating on emissions tests for its diesel cars. Aside from providing compensation to affected owners and agreeing to invest $2 billion in electric car infrastructure in the United States, Volkswagen is going to build a “nationwide 150kW+ fast charging network” in the country.
It was reported last month that Volkswagen was going to install super-fast 320kW chargers for electric cars in California. The latest plan released by VW and the EPA shows that the company is also going to install chargers throughout the country.
VW is going to set up a nationwide 150kW+ fast-charging network for electric cars along highways. This is going to take the pain out of long cross-country journeys for most electric car owners who may suffer from range anxiety when they set out on a long road trip without knowing for sure if there will be charging stations along the way.
For this purpose, VW is going to set up a new subsidiary called Electrify America which is going to built this network independent of the automotive giant. The chargers are not going to be proprietary to VW and will rely on Combined Charging System (CCS), CHAdeMO and open protocols such as the Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP).
The first fast-charging stations being set up by Electrify America will be operational by Q2 2018.
Volkswagen Building 150kW+ Charging Network For Electric Cars In USA , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Apr 16
There has been a lot of Star Wars-related news over the weekend. Following the Star Wars Celebration, director of the upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi movie Rian Johnson made an appearance on Good Morning America where he was asked for more information about the upcoming movie. He was particularly asked about Rey’s parents to which Johnson said that it’s something which will be addressed in The Last Jedi.
The character Rey made her first appearance in last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It’s the first movie in this rebooted trilogy which established the identity of Kylo Ren’s parents but left us all wondering who Rey’s parents were. Even she appears to be unaware about that.
During his appearance on Good Morning America, Johnson responded to a question about Rey’s parentage and mentioned that “It’s something that is absolutely going to be addressed.” He didn’t reveal more information about how the movie is going to reveal this crucial bit of information that might be instrumental to the entire story.
Johnson pointed out that the upcoming movie is going to have a lot of surprises for fans and that the idea is to keep all of it a secret so that viewers can find it all out for themselves when the movie hits theaters later this year in the fall.
An official trailer was released for Star Wars: The Last Jedi over the weekend. The movie itself is going to be released on December 15th, 2017.
EXCLUSIVE: @StarWars director @rianjohnson says Rey’s parentage will absolutely be addressed in #TheLastJedi. #SWCO pic.twitter.com/wgupPzYDkB
— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 14, 2017
Rey’s Parentage Will Be Addressed In Star Wars: The Last Jedi , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Apr 16
Pope Francis used his Easter address Sunday to speak out against the most recent bombing in Syria.
In an “Urbi et Orbi” (“To the City and the World”) speech with an audience of thousands, Francis called for the support of those working to bring peace to Syrians, who are “so greatly suffering from a war that continues to sow horror and death,” he said at the Vatican on Sunday.
“Yesterday saw the latest vile attack on fleeing refugees, resulting in the death and injury of many,” he continued. “May he grant peace to the entire Middle East, beginning with the Holy Land, as well as in Iraq and Yemen.”
At least 126 people, including 68 children, were killed in a bomb attack Saturday near Aleppo when a vehicle loaded with explosives hit buses transporting evacuees from mostly government-held towns. The attack left many more injured, UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Francis has been vocal in condemning actions in Syria. In one his weekly speeches earlier this month, he spoke out against the use of chemical weapons in the region and made an appeal to “the consciences of those who have political responsibilities, on a local and international level, to halt this tragedy and bring relief to the population that has been sorely tried by war for far too long.”
Francis also called for peace in Ukraine and famine-stricken South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He’s also acknowledged “all those victimized by old and new forms of slavery, inhuman labour, illegal trafficking, exploitation and discrimination, and grave forms of addiction.”
— 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.
Apr 16
Nintendo has sent out a press release confirming that its new console, called Nintendo Switch, has sold faster in its launch month more than any other gaming console in the company’s history. Based on data provided by the NPD Group which tracks video game sales in the United States, Nintendo writes in its press release that it sold more than 906,000 units of the Nintendo Switch in the United States last month.
Nintendo claims that selling 906,000 units in the month of March makes the Nintendo Switch one of the fastest-selling video game systems of all time. It notes that this sales surge has been accomplished in a month that’s nontraditional for a console launch.
The company also points out in the press release that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild game has sold more than 1.3 million units, this includes a total of more than 925,000 units sold for the Switch and almost 460,000 units sold for the Wii U.
It acknowledges that this means that Nintendo sold more of this game for the Nintendo Switch than it sold Nintendo Switch units which give it an attach rate of more than 100 percent.
The company adds that it’s going to provide a full accounting of worldwide Nintendo Switch sales, alongside other financial information, will be revealed on April 27th.
Nintendo Switch Sales Close To One Million Units In The U.S. , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Apr 16
Ex-Snapchat employee Anthony Pompliano has sued the company for dubious business practices under CEO Evan Spiegel. One of the things he mentioned in his statement was a remark Spiegel allegedly made in a meeting when he was told that the app wasn’t performing well in foreign markets. He’s claimed to have said that “this app is only for rich people. I don’t want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain.” That comment has been refuted by the company.
A spokesperson for Snap Inc., which is the registered name of the company that owns Snapchat, said that this allegation is “ridiculous,” adding that “Obviously Snapchat is for everyone! It’s available worldwide to download for free.”
The company’s statement also pointed out that Evan has been particularly working to promote entrepreneurship in India and that he even traveled to the country in 2015 to speak at the Economic Times Startup Awards.
Just the allegation of the statement has not been taken kindly in India where the hashtag BoycottSnapchat has been gaining a lot of steam. Users are urged to leave a one-star rating for the app and then uninstall it in protest.
Snapchat’s app ratings have fallen considerably over the past couple of days as a result of this protest but this goes to show that the company is going to fight these allegations and won’t take it lying down.
Snapchat Refutes CEO’s Alleged Controversial ‘India Is Poor’ Remark , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
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