Amazon knows how to keep you topping up your gift card balance: offer a little money in return. It’s introducing a Prime Reload perk that gives American shoppers 2 percent cash back whenever they reload their balance using a debit card. That’s not…
LG has long been a trusted name when it comes to consumer electronics, and this particular South Korean behemoth has not disappointed for a long, long time. It does not look as though the company is going to do so anytime soon. Gamers who wished that they had something better to look forward to, literally speaking, can always check out the all new 21:9 UltraWide premium gaming monitor that is powered by G-Sync technology, making it available to retailers already.
This 34-inch monster offers a 21:9 aspect ratio in the form of a curved UltraWide gaming monitor, carrying the model number 34UC89G. It is considered to be a new premium high-resolution monitor that has been specially designed to deliver an immersive viewing experience, in addition to optimizing gameplay. To make sure that happens, NVIDIA G-Sync display technology and a 144Hz (overclock 166Hz) refresh rate has been thrown into the mix.
As the LG 34UC89 comes with a 21:9 aspect ratio, this will be able to help it significantly expand overall screen real estate and Full HD resolution (2560 x 1080 pixels) to deliver intense clarity. Apart from that, the monitor’s 21:9 curved IPS panel also boasts of a widened color gamut, allowing it to deliver more than 99% of the sRGB color space by up to 99 per cent, even at wide viewing angles, and shorter input lag. These excellent display features ensures a well-rounded premium gaming experience regardless of the game format, meaning you can indulge in FPS, MMO, RTS and racing games without missing a beat.
The LG 34UC89G’scutting-edge NVIDIA G-Sync gaming display technology will be able to dynamically match the 144Hz (overclockable to 166Hz) refresh rate of the display to the frame rate output of the GPU. This helps to get rid of tearing, minimizing stutter and input lag, all the while delivering an incredibly smooth gaming graphics experience. Unique display modes such as Black Stabilizer, Dynamic Action Sync, and Crosshair are also part of the deal for maximum tactical gameplay. The LG 34UC89 will not come cheap though with a $999.99 price tag, but you get what you pay for in this instance.
[ LG Curved UltraWide Gaming Monitor offers NVIDIA G-Sync and 144Hz capabilities copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
It’s not common for carriers to run promotions aimed at stealing subscribers from their rivals and if anything, Sprint’s latest promotion is doing that a bit too blatantly. Sprint has just announced that it’s going to give a free year of unlimited service on its network to customers who switch from one of its rivals.
Sprint is now offering unlimited data, talk, and text to customers who switch to its network with an eligible handset. All existing postpaid subscribers at Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile are eligible to take advantage of this latest promotion.
Family plans are also covered so those who are thinking about switching can bring their entire family along for the ride to Sprint. New subscribers will have to pay a $30 activation fee but even that will be refunded within two billing cycles.
All new Sprint customers can take advantage of this promotion if they sign up before June 30th and port a number from one of the carrier’s major rivals. The free year of service that they receive will be valid until July 30th, 2018.
The carrier does point out that customers will have to pay for the SIM card aside from having to pay taxes and fees monthly. They will also have to pay other monthly charges if they decide to turn off AutoPay or eBilling.
More details about this promotion are available on Sprint’s website. It’s always best to go through the fine print first before deciding to take advantage of an offer like this.
Get Free Unlimited Sprint Service If You Switch Carriers , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
President Donald Trump told Republican senators on Tuesday that the House health care bill he championed last month is “mean,” The Associated Press and CNN reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed congressional sources.
Trump’s reported remarks came during a lunch with 15 Republican senators. He reportedly said the Senate version of the bill should be “more generous.”
Trump hailed the Republican-written House measure when it was passed on May 4.
“It was a GREAT day for the United States of America!” Trump tweeted that day. “This is a great plan that is a repeal & replace of ObamaCare. Make no mistake about it.”
The White House said it wouldn’t comment “on rumors about private conversations that may or may not have happened.”
Trump’s flip-flop didn’t go without notice.
Politico, citing sources familiar with Trump’s meeting with senators, reported the president believes the House version of the bill is difficult to defend, and said he’d like to see more robust tax credits for people who buy health insurance as individuals.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated in March that the original House health care bill would lead to 24 million fewer people with insurance over the next decade. It would create higher premiums for older customers, allow for lower premiums for young, healthy people, and cut taxes for Trump and other millionaires.
The Senate has been secretly working on its own health care bill. It’s unclear how senators will address Trump’s suggestion to be “more generous.”
Republican senators have been crafting health care legislation behind closed doors without holding any hearings, though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) insisted to reporters on Tuesday that they’re “free to ask anybody anything.”
Senate GOP leaders also on Tuesday issued, then retracted a rule barring reporters from asking questions in public hallways outside of hearing rooms.
— 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.
Like what you read below? Sign up for HUFFPOST HILL and get a cheeky dose of political news every evening!
Jeff Sessions appeared before the Senate intelligence committee and we’re going to go ahead and give his appearance three-out-of-four Dainty White Glove Slaps™ on HuffPost’s patented Southern Gentry Outrage System© . On that note, Washington hasn’t been this preoccupied by what did or didn’t happen at the Mayflower since Eliot Spitzer checked in as George Fox. And Senate Republicans tried to stymie reporting on Capitol Hill; we’re old enough to remember when politics worked and lawmakers simply body-slammed reporters rather than take official action against them. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Tuesday, June 13th, 2017:
SESSIONS TESTIFIES… Sari Horwitz and Matt Zapotosky: “Attorney General Jeff Sessions refused to comment Tuesday on whether he spoke to President Trump about former FBI Director James B. Comey’s handling of the investigation into coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential race. Sessions told the Senate Intelligence Committee he could not discuss his conversations with Trump because they were private. ‘I am not able to discuss with you or confirm or deny the nature of private conversations that I may have had with the president on this subject or others,’ Sessions said. Sessions opened his testimony to the panel with a fiery assertion that he never had any conversations with Russians about ‘any type of interference’ in the 2016 presidential election. ‘The suggestion that I participated in any collusion…is an appalling and detestable lie,’ Sessions said.” [WaPo]
…DISPUTE’S COMEY’S TESTIMONY – Ryan J. Reilly: “Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday disputed the sworn testimony of former FBI Director James Comey, who said last week that Sessions ‘did not reply’ when Comey raised concerns that President Donald Trump was violating rules limiting contacts between the Justice Department and the White House. Sessions, testifying before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Tuesday, also said that direct discussions between Comey and Trump would only be problematic if they had discussed ongoing investigations. ‘There’s nothing wrong with the president having a communication with the FBI director,’ Sessions said.” [HuffPost]
Sessions didn’t recall any meetings with Russians at the Mayflower.
Bwaaaaaaaa?!? “Sessions, who, as attorney general, is the country’s top law enforcement official, claims he has never received a classified briefing about Russian interference in last year’s election.” [HuffPost’s Live Blog]
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told the Senate intelligence committee that he ― not Trump ― has the power to fire special prosecutor Robert Mueller.
SENATE GOP TRIES TO CLAMP DOWN ON CONGRESSIONAL REPORTING – Michael Calderone: “Reporters on Capitol Hill are facing alarming new restrictions when trying to interview senators, journalists from multiple media outlets said Tuesday. NBC News reporter Kasie Hunt tweeted that ‘reporters at Capitol have been told they are not allow [sic] to film interviews with senators in hallways.’ And Bloomberg News’ Kevin Cirilli tweeted that he was told he couldn’t ‘stand outside of the Budget Committee hearing room to interview lawmakers.’ The tweets sent shockwaves around the Capitol on Tuesday, with reporters and senators trying to understand…now reporters were being told they need permission from the specific senator and the Senate Rules Committee…. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), who chairs the Senate Rules Committee, was reportedly behind the decision, with even some members of his own committee apparently learning about the news from Twitter.” [HuffPost]
A senior GOP House aide sends us their thoughts on their Senate counterparts’ move: “I understand the frustration from lawmakers because of the increased media presence on the Hill, but this seems like an overreaction from the Senate. I think there are ways to address the issue without shutting down press access. Plus, don’t senators want to be on TV?? “ [More reporting from HuffPost’s congressional team]
A senior Democratic Senate aide lets loose (while referencing this): “It’s a total unforced error…. [T]his new rule is an unenforceable overreach that feeds into the anti-press narrative that Trump has fomented. The financial industry lobbyists that Shelby leverages to buy himself fancy dinners and stay at luxury resorts with the help if his unnecessarily large campaign war chest will be able to work the hallways without scuffing their wingtips, no matter how big the scrums get. There’s no reason to jam the press so lobbyists can make their appointments following a long lunch at Bistro Bis.”
What life reporting on Capitol Hill is like, from Eliot’s book: “If White House reporting is characterized by the highly controlled environs of the West Wing, then congressional reporting is defined by the access that its practitioners have to their sources. Outside of the chamber floors, members’ offices, and closed-door meetings, there aren’t many places reporters can’t go in the Capitol complex…. The open world of the Capitol can make congressional reporting feel a bit like a legislative Grand Theft Auto, but without the violence and only slightly less misogyny and drugs.” [A great summer read, we swear!]
@kkrawchenko: POTUS interviewed Mueller for FBI Director a day before he was appointed special counsel, a WH official confirms to CBS News
Haircuts: Susan Nelson (h/t Eliot’s mom, Susan Nelson), CNN diplomatic correspondent Michelle Kosinski’s kid (h/t Nick Baumann), Amanda Terkel (h/t Ashley Alman), some kid (h/t his mom)
DAILY DELANEY DOWNER – Joseph Erbentraut and Arthur Delaney: “In an apparent effort to siphon more business from retail competitors, the online ordering giant Amazon is offering discounts to welfare recipients, though experts say it’s unlikely that many will sign up. Last week, Amazon announced that it would offer membership to its Amazon Prime service — which comes with perks including free expedited shipping and access to its video and music streaming platforms — at a discounted rate of $5.99 per month for active recipients of federal assistance like food stamps. Most people won’t be able to actually spend benefits online ― at least not yet. But Amazon is likely betting that someday soon, they will. And when that day comes, the corporate giant wants a cut of the action, which is already worth billions to Walmart and other big retailers. “ [HuffPost]
Like HuffPost Hill? Then order Eliot’s book, The Beltway Bible: A Totally Serious A-Z Guide To Our No-Good, Corrupt, Incompetent, Terrible, Depressing, and Sometimes Hilarious Government
Does somebody keep forwarding you this newsletter? Get your own copy. It’s free! Sign up here. Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to eliot@huffpost.com. Follow us on Twitter – @HuffPostHill
DEMOCRATIC SOUL-SEARCHING IN VIRGINIA – Daniel Marans: “Virginia Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam squares off against progressive favorite Tom Perriello on Tuesday in the state’s highly competitive Democratic gubernatorial primary, where the left flank of the party hopes national momentum will carry it to a win. Thanks to Virginia’s status as one of two states with gubernatorial races this year (the other is New Jersey), the primary has attracted historic levels of attention and resources from Democrats eager to land a blow against President Donald Trump. Northam, a 57-year-old pediatric neurologist, had locked up the support of virtually every major elected official in Virginia and was poised to cruise to the nomination until Perriello, a 42-year-old former diplomat and one-term congressman, announced his run in January.” [HuffPost]
This is fine: “President Donald Trump’s job approval weekly average edged down to 37% during the week ending June 11. This rating is one percentage point below the previous week’s rating and is the lowest weekly average of his administration. His disapproval rating for the same week, 58%, was his highest to date.” [Gallup]
THE THINKING MAN’S SELF-DEPORTATION – Looks like the House minority leader is throwing some cold water on the rush by a handful of Dems to introduce articles of impeachment. Heather Caygle and John Bresnahan: “House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi believes President Donald Trump will ‘self-impeach’ and that Democrats should wait for the Russia investigations — especially special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe — to play out before pushing to remove him from the Oval Office. Pelosi also believes that if Trump fired Mueller — which some Trump allies are encouraging the president to do — it would be enough to push Republicans to begin seriously considering acting against the president on their own…. Pelosi’s comments came during a tense discussion over controversial actions from Rep. Brad Sherman, who circulated a draft article of impeachment Monday and said he might force debate on the issue on the House floor. Sherman’s tactic prompted a stern rebuke from fellow Democratic Rep. Mike Capuano of Massachusetts during Tuesday’s caucus meeting.” [Politico]
TRUMP’S SOCIAL MEDIA TEAM BLOCKING PEOPLE ON TWITTER – Wow, what if we have a constitutional crisis because someone slid into someone else’s DMs? Sam Stein: “At 8:10 a.m. Tuesday, the progressive veterans advocacy group VoteVets alerted its Twitter followers that it had been blocked by President Donald Trump. Hours later, the novelist Stephen King let it be known that he too had been stymied from viewing Trump’s 140 character missives. Jordan Uhl, an organizer known for quickly responding to Trump’s tweets with what can best be described as trollish behavior, said he also was blocked on Tuesday. As did Brandon Neely, a former Guantanamo Bay guard who’s been a Trump critic…. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University is representing the legion of the Trump-blocked…. [Knight executive director] Jaffer said that all told, ‘close to 40 people’ now have reached out to the Knight Institute to alert them that they’ve been blocked.” [HuffPost]
BECAUSE YOU’VE READ THIS FAR – Here are some police puppies.
MAN AND CHICKEN HAVE MOMENT – ‘Abortion chicken’ is just another instance of our search history confusing the Russians tasked with hacking our computers. Laura Bassett: “Republican state Rep. Mike Moon of Missouri posted a video of himself slaughtering a chicken on Monday to spotlight his new bill to ban abortion in the state. In the Facebook video, Moon breaks a chicken’s neck and rips its heart out while explaining to the camera that Gov. Eric Greitens (R) has called lawmakers back for a special session this summer to limit abortion. Then, wearing a blood-spattered white t-shirt, Moon announces his own legislation…. ‘Whatever Mike Moon does with a chicken in the privacy of his home is his own business,’ Alison Dreith, the executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri, told the Missouri Times. ‘But we will not let him use the rights of women across Missouri as some kind of political prop. His call to ban abortion is disturbing and dangerous, no matter what he does with that chicken.’” [HuffPost]
COMFORT FOOD
– Sleeping pig greatly appreciates any and all peppermints you can provide.
– A handy web app that will predict when robots will take your job.
– Twitter is not keen to have dinner with President Trump.
TWITTERAMA
Got something to add? Send tips/quotes/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to Eliot Nelson (eliot@huffpost.com)
— 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.
It’s already a given that Apple wants to give the iPhone 8 the biggest possible display for 2017, but the jury is still out on where that leaves its fingerprint sensor. Getting rid of the home button has obvious benefits, but a rear-mounted Touch ID scanner is ergonomically questionable, while integrating it into the Retina display is technologically tricky. Now, … Continue reading
This is totally worthy of a hair flip.
Laetitia KY, a 21-year-old from Abidjan, Ivory Coast, has recently made waves on Instagram with her hair-raising hairstyles.
The avid art lover can create things like hands, bunny ears and dancing women atop of her head with her lovely locks.
“A little over a year ago, I fell in love with an album on Instagram that showed hairstyles that women were wearing a long time ago from certain African tribes,” she told HuffPost. “They were really impressive and artistic hairstyles, which made me want to use hairstyling as a means of expression.”
Laetitia said that she’s “inspired by everything and nothing at once” and most of her ideas for over-the-top styles come to her spontaneously, “like a flash.”
Due to that, the amount of time it takes to achieve one of her hair sculptures varies ― from under 20 minutes to over an hour and a half ― as does the tools she uses to achieve each look. But she says that pins, thread, fabric, wire and hair extensions are used often.
And although each hairstyle is inspired by different things, her intent in making sculptures out of her hair has one strong underlying theme.
“The only thing I really want to express is the beauty of difference,” she said. “I live in a beautiful country with extraordinary and creative people who unfortunately are afraid of expressing themselves for fear of being judged, which I find is a shame. “
“Therefore,” she continued, “I want to show that affirming your uniqueness doesn’t bring negative feedback and that it’s really important to allow yourself to express what’s inside you.”
Preach!
— 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.
The city of Atlanta, Georgia has decided to show their pride — permanently.
During Atlanta Pride Week in 2015, a rainbow crosswalk was temporarily installed on the intersection of Piedmont Avenue and 10th Street, an area that is known as a hub for the city’s LGBTQ community.
On Tuesday, which marked one year since the Pulse shooting in Orlando, Atlanta’s mayor, Kasim Reed, announced that the city would make the rainbow crosswalks a permanent fixture.
“For the past year, Atlanta has grieved alongside Orlando,” Reed said in a release. “Our city has rallied around our LGBT community, and we have not shied from demonstrating our unity and solidarity. And with this spirit, I cannot think of a more important time to reaffirm our unwavering and unqualified support for our LGBTQ residents.”
In May, more than 20,000 people signed a petition in support of the crosswalks being a year-round addition to the neighborhood.
Sarah Rose, an LGBTQ advocate who helped gather signatures for the crosswalk, told WSB-TV, a local news channel in Atlanta, that the crosswalk makes a powerful statement.
“It signifies that the LGBTQ community is part of Atlanta’s story,” Rose said. “And I think it’s important to recognize that like any other part of our history.”
— 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.
Just months after Barack Obama left the Oval Office, views of his tenure as president have improved modestly across a variety of issues, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll.
Obama’s overall approval rating ― 49 percent in the survey ― remains virtually identical to the 48 percent he scored in a late December poll.
But Americans now give the former president more positive ratings for his handling of a number of issues.
Forty-seven percent of Americans now approve of the work Obama did to help people like them, up from 41 percent in December. While his ratings for addressing the way things work in Washington, at 39 percent, remains among his lowest, it’s up from 32 percent last year.
Obama also saw modestly improved ratings on immigration, social issues, the economy and health care.
It’s not uncommon for former presidents’ ratings to rise once they leave office.
“Americans tend to be more charitable in their evaluations of past presidents than they are when the presidents are in office,” Gallup’s Jeffrey M. Jones noted in 2013. “Former presidents likely transcend politics when they leave office, moving into a more nonpolitical role compared with the highly political environment in which presidents operate. And Americans’ retrospective views of presidents may focus more on their accomplishments as president rather than the day-to-day political decisions or the state of the nation that are big influences on their approval ratings while in office.”
Use the widget below to further explore the results of the HuffPost/YouGov survey, using the menu at the top to select survey questions and the buttons at the bottom to filter the data by subgroups:
The HuffPost/YouGov poll consisted of 1,000 completed interviews conducted June 2-4 among U.S. adults, using a sample selected from YouGov’s opt-in online panel to match the demographics and other characteristics of the adult U.S. population.
HuffPost has teamed up with YouGov to conduct daily opinion polls. You can learn more about this project and take part in YouGov’s nationally representative opinion polling. Data from all HuffPost/YouGov polls can be found here. More details on the polls’ methodology are available here.
Most surveys report a margin of error that represents some, but not all, potential survey errors. YouGov’s reports include a model-based margin of error, which rests on a specific set of statistical assumptions about the selected sample rather than the standard methodology for random probability sampling. If these assumptions are wrong, the model-based margin of error may also be inaccurate. Click here for a more detailed explanation of the model-based margin of error.
— 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.
Shakespeare in the Park’s production of “Julius Caesar” with the man himself looking uncannily like Donald Trump has caused a stir. So much so in fact that some of the corporate sponsors have decided to withdraw financial support. These include Bank of America and Delta Airlines with the latter stating “No matter what your political stance may be, the graphic staging of ‘Julius Caesar’ does not reflect Delta’s values.” I wonder what on earth this means. So let’s dig a little further into why a play written more than 400 years ago could create such a reaction.
To begin with, Shakespeare can rightly be called the most contemporary of all playwrights. His characters describe psychological types and states of mind that even Freud thought were extraordinary. His plays can be staged in any number of ways from period costumes to modern dress, from demure Elizabethan backdrop to the Fascist brutalism of the1930s. His ideas are so vast and his understanding of our humanness so all consuming that his plays can fit any age and any approach. Somehow he always provides the opportunity for the essence of his drama to survive and shine no matter how radical the treatment. He was a careful politician in his time when a careless word or action could lead to terrible reprisals. His only slip was a re-staging of “Richard II” specially requested by the Earl of Essex, Queen Elizabeth’s erstwhile favorite who was about to fall from power and end up on the block. “Richard II” is about a sovereign who looses his crown and staging it at a time of possible national insurrection by Essex was an unwise move.
Then there is Shakespeare’s political handling of the character of Julius Caesar. This had nothing to do with government but with management of his actors. Why is the play called “Julius Caesar” when our eponymous hero has only five percent of the lines and is killed in Act 3, Scene 1? Compare this to Brutus at 28 percent of the lines, Cassius 20 percent and Mark Antony 13 percent. Shakespeare had a dilemma with this play. He had written three great parts, parts that actors everywhere still fight over from Orson Welles and Marlon Brando to Ralph Fiennes and Kenneth Branagh. He could easily have called the play “Brutus” or even “Mark Antony” but if he had, the fall-out from his star actors would have meant company internecine warfare. So the compromise was to call it “Julius Caesar” to whom he gives some of the best one-liners of all time:
‘I am constant as the northern star,’ ‘Cowards die many times before their deaths, the valiant never taste of death but once,’ ‘Let me have men about me that are fat.’
He obviously revered Caesar and made him a sympathetic character following his historic source material in Plutarch, even down to showing that he had lost his hearing in one ear.
Portraying Caesar as Trump is probably well within contemporary performance practice, but maybe a little cheap and obvious. It’s certainly not something to get fired up about. We live in an open society; there is the First Amendment, which applies as well to theatre directors and we are mature experienced adults who can deal with the slings and arrows of outrageous stage performances. Well, can’t we? If you are intent on getting offended, then watch Bill Maher or John Oliver on HBO delivering their own style of political commentary. (I believe that such commentary is really important in a free society.)
If you really wanted to create a sensation with a Trumpian figure in Shakespearean form then you could conceive of a new “Macbeth” with King Duncan recast as Hillary, or better still a white Othello surrounded by an all black cast with those blonde curls taking us from victorious battles (signifying the election perhaps) to the murderous bedchamber scene about which we can only imagine. Now that might be really nicely provocative and stir up some really great discussion and debate. But getting upset about a small character in a big play looking like the President, well really, get over it and get some courage because we are going to need it for the next few years.
In keeping with that thought, I offer some lines inspired by but not written by Shakespeare—the result of a Shakespearean improvisation competition between my son and me. (He won.)
Fear not this temporal King whose pride is ripe as autumn’s berries.
Think not upon your vaunted ambition to lie upon his smoking image
For it will change and when ‘tis done a lighter place will smile upon our offerings
And make them bright as a child’s glad laughter,
So now think your way through and bring your honest courage to this our noble charge.
— 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.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
