Those closely following Samsung’s movements, arguably the second largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, probably knows by now how it is pushing Bixby as its Siri, Google Assistant, and Cortana rival. In fact, it has long abandoned some features that more or less provided that functionality. Apparently, however, Samsung forgot to clean up after itself and has let the S … Continue reading
Jimmy Kimmel gave a group of dads an early Father’s Day gift on Thursday.
The late night host asked kids to admit the worst thing they’ve ever done and to do so while standing right next to their dads.
The revelations prompted plenty of embarrassed looks from both the parents and their children.
Check out the full segment above.
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Canadians pay some of the highest wireless rates of any G7 nation, and to add insult to injury, they often have to shell out $50 or more to unlock cellphones when switching operators. However, the nation’s wireless regulator, the CRTC, has now ordere…
The Pentagon will soon deploy about 4,000 new troops to Afghanistan, according to an Associated Press report late Thursday that cites an unnamed official in the Trump administration.
The news comes a day after President Donald Trump reportedly gave Defense Secretary Jim Mattis the authority to set troop levels in the country in an effort to combat the spread of insurgent groups like the Islamic State and the Taliban. There are currently about 8,400 U.S. troops officially stationed in Afghanistan and an additional 2,000 not included in official tallies.
The AP reports the decision could be announced as soon as next week, and the new troops would mostly be assigned to train Afghan forces.
The Pentagon refuted the AP report in a statement to Reuters late Thursday, saying “no decisions have been made” regarding troop numbers.
“We are not winning in Afghanistan right now,” Mattis told the Senate Armed Services Committee this week. “And we will correct this as soon as possible.”
In his testimony, Mattis also said the Taliban were “surging” in the country, according to Reuters.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, lashed out at the defense secretary earlier this week over the White House’s handling of the now 15-year war in the country, declaring there were “problems within this administration.”
“All I can tell you is that, unless we get a strategy from you, you’re going to get a strategy from us,” McCain told Mattis during the hearing, according to media accounts. “We want a strategy. I don’t think that’s a hell of a lot to ask.”
Following a meeting at the White House on Wednesday, McCain later said the situation was “finally moving forward,” The Hill reported.
Earlier this year, Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, told Congress he needed a “few thousand” additional troops to overcome what he described as a “stalemate.” The New York Times notes the president rarely discussed the issue during the campaign and said, despite any increase in deployment, which “would cost billions of dollars, … there is no guarantee of a clear win.”
At the height of the conflict in Afghanistan in 2011, the U.S. had 100,000 troops in the country. President Barack Obama said he would pull all remaining troops from the field in 2014, but then announced a policy reversal a year later that left the current troop numbers in the country to this point.
“While America’s combat mission in Afghanistan may be over, our commitment to Afghanistan and its people endures,” Obama said in 2015. “I will not allow Afghanistan to be used as safe haven for terrorists to attack our nation again.”
The Times this month said six American soldiers have been killed in the country this year, five of whom may have been killed by their own side.
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The Uber passenger who was brutally raped by her driver in India in 2014 has sued the ride-hailing firm for improperly obtaining and sharing her medical records. See, while the company showed support for her plight and publicly declared that it will…
Thousands of people at the U.S. Open golf tournament in Wisconsin were shocked when a commercial blimp flying over the golf course crashed and burst into flames Thursday.
The pilot, who was still inside the airship when it crashed, suffered serious burns. He was taken to a Milwaukee hospital in serious condition, but his injuries were not considered life-threatening.
The blimp was advertising PenFed Credit Union above the Erin Hills golf course, about 35 miles north of Milwaukee, during the U.S. Open. It was operated by aerial advertising firm AirSign.
Here’s what we know.
Trevor Thompson, the pilot of the downed blimp, had been involved in two forced landings in the past three years. In 2016, Thompson was forced to make an emergency landing in Philadelphia after the engine failed mid-flight. Thompson also made a forced landing in 2015 when his airship was caught in high winds during a flight over traffic in Long Island, New York, headed to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Air Safety Investigator Pamela Sullivan said in a news conference Thursday that Thompson had reached an altitude of 1,000 feet when he noticed that the winds were too strong. Thompson said that he heard panels rip from the blimp during his descent, then his airship pitched nose down. The envelope of the airship collapsed and caught fire from the burners, which still burned residual fuel after the pilot shut them off.
Patrick Walsh, president of AirSign, believes the crash was caused by a failure of the airship’s skin, which likely caused the blimp to depressurize, The Guardian reported.
Walsh told Milwaukee news station WTMJ-TV that Thompson was an experienced and careful pilot who was wearing a fireproof flight suit at the time of the crash. The crash left Thompson with burns on 40 percent of his body.
Thursday’s crash involved a hot air balloon known as a thermal airship, according to Jon Radowski, owner of hot air balloon manufacturer Apex Balloons. Unlike a traditional blimp, which is inflated with helium, a thermal airship uses propane burners to fill the balloon with hot air.
Another difference between blimps and thermal airships: Blimps are always inflated with helium from the day they launch to the day they’re permanently grounded. An airship can be deflated and transported in a truck or trailer as needed.
Thompson was alone in the airship when it crashed near the U.S. Open golf tournament, although airships like the one he piloted Thursday can hold up to three passengers.
Thermal airships “typically carry only the pilot,” Alvaron Bellon, a trustee of the Lighter-Than-Air Society, an organization for blimp and airship pilots, told HuffPost in an email. “In the case of the traditional helium-filled blimps, the pilot would be accompanied by a television operator.”
Despite earlier reports, Thompson did not deploy a parachute prior to the crash. The pilot stayed in the airship as it crashed to the ground, according to Wired.
Since blimp and airship crashes are rare, pilots usually don’t wear parachutes or carry them aboard. Airships also travel relatively close to ground, just above 1,000 feet, which Radowski said is “too low for parachutes.”
“If [blimps] were to develop a leak (from a tear, or possibly even a gunshot) the loss of helium or hot air would be very slow as they are inflated at practically zero pressure,” Bellon said. “This allows ample time to land the airship.”
Although there is no official tally on airships, the Van Wagner Airship Group estimates that there are 20 to 25 blimps in the world and at least 13 active advertising blimps.
Bellon told HuffPost that there are “quite a few thermal airships in use around the world” but said there was no accurate estimate of how many are being used today.
A crew in a vehicle on the ground typically follows airships during flights to assist with flight operations, takeoffs and landings. Goodyear blimp flights require 20 to 25 people, including the pilot, to complete a successful flight, Michael Dougherty, Goodyear’s chief pilot, told HuffPost.
It is unclear how many crew members were assisting AirSign’s craft on ground, but a member of that team reportedly pulled the pilot from the wreckage, according to Wired.
Pilots who have commercial licenses start training to be blimp pilots by working with ground crews and eventually work their way up to being airship pilots. Some companies require blimp pilots to complete a substantial amount of flight time before they are allowed to operate their airships. Goodyear, for example, requires its pilots to complete 170 to 225 hours of flight time.
“Blimp pilot training is essentially on the job,” Bellon said. Candidates “will start working as a ground crew member and then get in-house, on-the-job training. The training culminates with a blimp certification from the FAA.”
There is no official count of how many airship pilots exist in the U.S., but Dougherty and Radowski agreed that there are definitely more astronauts than there are commercial blimp or airship pilots.
In case you were wondering, there are 50 active astronauts and 35 management astronauts, according to NASA.
A blimp that had Goodyear branding caught fire and crashed in Germany in 2011. The pilot instructed passengers to jump out of the airship when it was close to ground. Without the weight of the passengers, the blimp lifted into the air and continued burning with the pilot still inside. The pilot was the only fatality.
A German airship known as the Hindenburg caught fire and crashed while attempting to land at an airfield at Lakehurst, New Jersey. The accident killed 35 of the 97 passengers and crew on board.
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Conservative rocker Ted Nugent, who has a history of inflammatory remarks, vowed Thursday to tone down his act and called for civility on both sides of the political aisle.
“I have reevaluated my approach,” he told Curtis Sliwa and Eboni Williams on ABC radio in New York. He said he was a “street fighter” who used “certain harsh terms.”
He did not mention the terms, but he has called President Barack Obama a “subhuman mongrel” and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a “worthless bitch,” among other things.
But he said he plans to watch himself now.
“At the tender age of 69, my wife has convinced me that I just can’t use those harsh terms. I cannot, and I will not,” he said, adding:
“And I encourage even my friends/enemies on the left in the Democrat and liberal world that we have got to be civil to each other, that the whole world is watching America, where you have the God-given right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and we have got to be more respectful to the other side.”
His comments came one day after an attacker opened fire on Republicans practicing for a baseball game. Six people were injured ― including two members of Congress ― and the gunman was killed in the attack in Alexandria, Virginia.
Nugent said that people really are angry and that it’s “crazy” that “people on the left don’t want secure borders.”
But he said he wanted civil discourse over this and other issues.
“I’m going to take a deep breath, and I’m going to back it down, and if it gets fiery, if it gets hateful, I’m going away,” he said. “I’m not going to engage in that kind of hateful rhetoric anymore.”
Nugent said he wouldn’t make excuses for his “wild-ass comments” made while on stage but blamed it on the “adrenaline and intensity” when performing.
He said he would be “feisty” and “passionate,” but added, “I will avoid anything that can be interpreted as condoning or referencing violence.”
Nugent also claimed he’s never referenced violence, but Williams wouldn’t let that one slide.
“Well, come on, Ted,” she chided. “I think some people might have taken it that way for sure. Yeah.”
During a 2007 performance, Nugent held up what appeared to be two machine guns and said that Obama could “suck on my machine gun” and that Clinton could “ride one of these into the sunset.”
He also drew the attention of the Secret Service in 2012 when he said he would be “dead or in jail by this time next year” if Obama got reelected.
However, Nugent is now promising to turn down the volume on his rhetoric and called on others to do the same.
“Here’s the battle cry for America: zero violence.”
Listen to the full interview here:
Earlier this year, Nugent joined former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and Kid Rock on a visit to the White House, where they posed for a photo under Hillary Clinton’s portrait.
Many found the image disrespectful, but it could have been worse: Nugent told The New York Times someone in the group suggested they pose with the middle finger extended.
“I politely declined,” he was quoted as saying. “Let the juxtaposition speak for itself.”
— 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.
AT&T’s DirectTV Now over-the-top streaming television service came on strong last fall. Launched against heavy competition from Sling TV and PlayStation Vue, AT&T decided to sweeten the deal for subscribers by giving away a free Apple TV, a y…
By trying to release the Galaxy Note 8 very early, Samsung will inevitably have to cut some corners. For example, it might not have the mythical on-screen fingerprint sensor because the technology isn’t yet ready for Samsung’s expedited schedule. It might not also have the soon to be latest Android release, Android 8.0 “O”, because of it. And that is … Continue reading
Today, the California legislature passed the first bill in the country to put a moratorium on immigration detention expansion and give a state agency the power to monitor federal immigration detention facilities.
California’s budget bill, Assembly Bill 103, gave the Attorney General of California the power to monitor all California immigration detention facilities―both private and public. California also appropriated $1 million dollars per year for the next 10 years for the Attorney General to oversee immigration detention facility conditions.
In addition, the state of California implemented a moratorium on all new contracts between California municipalities and the federal government for immigration detention facilities. This includes contracts for both adult and child detention facilities. The budget action also prevents current municipalities, such as Orange County, from modifying their contracts to expand their publically-run immigration detention facilities.
In May, the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted to expand their immigration detention bed space by 120 jail cells. If signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, Assembly Bill 103 should block this expansion from going into effect.
This bill comes on the heels of the Trump administration’s announcement that it will curtail protections for detained immigrants, while expanding the immigration detention regime.
ICE and its contractors already operate with impunity in California. My organization, Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC), filed a federal civil rights complaint and we gathered data through the Freedom of Information Act about sexual and physical assault in detention. We found that in the last 6 years, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) received over 33,000 complaints of sexual or physical assault against DHS component agencies. DHS’ Inspector General investigated less than 1 percent of these complaints.
If the federal government is unable or unwilling to regulate detention facilities, it is time for the state of California to provide its own oversight over immigration detention.
Today’s budget action goes hand in hand with the Dignity Not Detention Act, Senate Bill 29, which will get local government out of the business of for-profit immigration detention in California.
This week, 42 women and men went on hunger strike to protest inhumane detention conditions at the Adelanto Detention Facility, the largest for-profit immigration detention facility in California. Rather than addressing their concerns, ICE and the private prison corporation GEO Group have adopted a head-in-the-sand approach, denying that any problems exist. Earlier this week, GEO guards drenched the men in pepper-spray, beat them, and took them into a high security part of of the prison. The women were threatened with the same abuse.
The Dignity Not Detention Act, which will end for-profit immigration detention contracting for facilities such as Adelanto, passed the California Senate last month and is headed to the Assembly floor this summer. Together, AB 103 and SB 29 will provide a comprehensive response to our complex and broken immigration detention system.
While our ultimate goal is to abolish immigration detention nationwide, this is a powerful first step in a state with the largest economy in the country. California holds the most immigrants after Texas. About a quarter of all people in immigration detention pass through California detention facilities each year. What we do here in California has a direct effect on the national immigration detention context.
While California cannot end immigration detention on its own, California can lead as it has on other issues. The Trump administration may seek to expand immigration detention in states that welcome the imprisonment of people for profit, like Texas that recently tried to issue licenses for family immigration detention centers under lowered standards. But we cannot allow a race to the bottom to prevent California from seeking humane treatment for immigrants in detention.
This bill sends a very loud and clear message. We will not permit the Trump administration to expand its detention regime in the state of California or operate with impunity behind locked doors. We hope that this bill inspires others states to take our lead.
Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC) and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) consulted on AB 103’s immigration detention provisions. CIVIC and the ILRC also drafted and co-sponsored the Dignity Not Detention Act, authored by Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens).
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