Lego announces new set themed around the women of NASA
- Toy manufacturer Lego Group has announced it will be creating a set of Legos based around the women of NASA, Community Specialist Hasan Jensen wrote in a blog post for the company on Tuesday.
- The idea for the project was originally pitched by Maia Weinstock, who submitted it to Lego through the company’s Lego Ideas program.
- The set will include five women who contributed to NASA’s mission, including computer scientist Margaret Hamilton, mathematician Katherine Johnson, astronaut Sally Ride, astronomer Nancy Grace Roman and astronaut Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman to enter space in 1992. Read more (2/28/17 5:53 PM)
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House Republicans block Democratic attempt to debate Trump’s Russia ties
- Republicans on a House committee on Tuesday voted to block a Democratic attempt to force the Department of Justice to release information on the investigation into whether Trump and his aides had ties to Russia during his campaign.
- Questions over Trump’s relationship with Russia has dogged his administration for the past few weeks, and cost him his National Security Adviser Mike Flynn.
- The vote was on an obscure legislative tactic called a resolution of inquiry, which gives Congress the opportunity to compel the executive branch to hand over documents, according to Politico. Read more (2/28/17 7:52 PM)
Trump honors Carryn Owens, widow of slain Navy SEAL Ryan Owens, at joint address
- Carryn Owens, the widow of Navy SEAL Ryan Owens — killed in during a military intelligence operation in Yemen — received a rousing ovation Tuesday night at Trump’s joint address to Congress.
- She cried as the audience stood for minutes applauding her late husband’s sacrifice.
- After a long applause, Trump went off script to joke that Ryan Owens was likely looking down on the address and smiling because he “broke a record” for sustained applause.
- The mission that cost Owens his life has become a political problem for Trump, who is accused of signing off on a rushed operation that senior administration officials say yielded no “actionable intelligence."
- Trump even took the time in a Tuesday interview to blame the military for Owens’ death. Read more (2/28/17 10:35 PM)
Here are the biggest lies, mistruths and “alternative facts” from Trump’s joint address
9:11 p.m.: “A new surge of optimism is placing impossible dreams firmly in our grasp.”
Polls show Americans are broadly anxious about the future of the U.S. under Trump.
9:16 p.m.: Trump name-checks companies he says have kept jobs in the U.S. under his presidency
According to the New York Times, several companies which the president is taking credit for personally convincing to keep or create jobs in the U.S. were actually just following through on previously announced plans, including Sprint (owned by Softbank) and Chrysler.
Trump has cited misleading numbers of jobs he supposedly saved at Carrier, an air conditioning manufacturer.
9:22 p.m.: Trump claims enforcing immigration laws will make Americans safer
“By finally enforcing our immigration laws, we will raise wages, help the unemployed, save billions of dollars, and make our communities safer for everyone,” Trump said.
On the last point, multiple studies have concluded immigrants commit less crime than U.S. citizens, according to the New York Times. According to the Times, census data shows immigrant men aged 18-49 are one-fifth to one-half as likely to face incarceration as natural-born citizens, while non-citizens (comprising 7% of the population) are only 5% of the state and federal prison population.
9:25 p.m.: Trump misleads on his role in saving money on the F-35 program
While Trump has touted his supposed role in saving $700 million on the much-criticized, $1 trillion-plus F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, according to Politifact, program costs have been coming down for years.
9:27 p.m.: Trump defends his de facto Muslim ban, saying U.S. cannot afford a “beachhead of terrorists” or “sanctuary for extremists”
No nationals from the seven countries specifically named in Trump’s executive order have committed terror attacks resulting in U.S. fatalities since 1975 and his plan would do little to prevent terrorism, which is mostly homegrown.
9:29 p.m.: Trump cites highly misleading figures on the labor force
As Politico’s Michael Grunwald noted, the vast majority of those in the 94 million figure are not typically considered working constituencies.
9:55 p.m.: “According to the National Academy of Sciences, our current immigration system costs America’s taxpayers many billions of dollars a year.”
According to the New York Times, the study in question actually concluded immigration results in “positive net benefits to the U.S. economy during the last two decades of the 20th century,” and “the infusion of human capital by high-skilled immigrants has boosted the nation’s capacity for innovation, entrepreneurship and technological change.”
It also concluded that while first-generation immigrants create a net government cost of $57.4 billion, second and third-generation adults “create a benefit of $30.5 billion and $223.8 billion, respectively.”
10:00 p.m.: Trump says Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines will create tens of thousands of jobs
As the Washington Post noted, while Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska would each hire between 2,700 and 4,000 construction workers to complete the pipelines, and Kansas would hire 200, the average length of those jobs would be just 19.5 weeks. According to Politifact, the Keystone XL pipeline would only create 35 permanent jobs.
10:04 p.m.: Trump says the Yemen raid produced actionable intelligence
Trump claimed a recent Yemen raid which resulted in the death of a U.S. Navy SEAL and 30 civilians, including children, claimed “large amounts of vital intelligence.” One report citing senior officials, however, contested that account and said no significant information was recovered. The target of the raid, Qassim al-Rimi, escaped the assassination attempt and reportedly recorded an audio message mocking Trump as the “fool of the White House.”
Read more (2/28/17 10:20 PM)
10:39 p.m.: Trump fails to mention violent crime is at historic lows
“The murder rate in 2015 experienced its largest single-year increase in nearly half a century,” Trump said. “In Chicago, more than 4,000 people were shot last year alone — and the murder rate so far this year has been even higher. This is not acceptable in our society.”
As the Washington Post noted, Trump’s claims here are, strictly speaking, correct. 2015’s murder rate increased more in a single year than it has since 1970-1971, and 2016 saw increases in homicide rates in the nation’s largest 30 cities (largely attributable to Chicago).
But there’s the straight statistics Trump cited, and then there’s the context in which those numbers are occurring, which the president left out of his speech. As FactCheck.org noted in July 2016, violent crime overall was at its lowest rate since 1970, and it’s fallen even faster in recent decades.
The murder rate is also at historic lows, standing at 4.5 per 100,000 people in 2014 — the lowest rate since 1960, not including the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. Read more (2/28/17 10:45 PM)
Here are the biggest lies, mistruths and “alternative facts” from Trump’s joint address
9:11 p.m.: “A new surge of optimism is placing impossible dreams firmly in our grasp.”
Polls show Americans are broadly anxious about the future of the U.S. under Trump.
9:16 p.m.: Trump name-checks companies he says have kept jobs in the U.S. under his presidency
According to the New York Times, several companies which the president is taking credit for personally convincing to keep or create jobs in the U.S. were actually just following through on previously announced plans, including Sprint (owned by Softbank) and Chrysler.
Trump has cited misleading numbers of jobs he supposedly saved at Carrier, an air conditioning manufacturer.
9:22 p.m.: Trump claims enforcing immigration laws will make Americans safer
“By finally enforcing our immigration laws, we will raise wages, help the unemployed, save billions of dollars, and make our communities safer for everyone,” Trump said.
On the last point, multiple studies have concluded immigrants commit less crime than U.S. citizens, according to the New York Times. According to the Times, census data shows immigrant men aged 18-49 are one-fifth to one-half as likely to face incarceration as natural-born citizens, while non-citizens (comprising 7% of the population) are only 5% of the state and federal prison population.
9:25 p.m.: Trump misleads on his role in saving money on the F-35 program
While Trump has touted his supposed role in saving $700 million on the much-criticized, $1 trillion-plus F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, according to Politifact, program costs have been coming down for years.
9:27 p.m.: Trump defends his de facto Muslim ban, saying U.S. cannot afford a “beachhead of terrorists” or “sanctuary for extremists”
No nationals from the seven countries specifically named in Trump’s executive order have committed terror attacks resulting in U.S. fatalities since 1975 and his plan would do little to prevent terrorism, which is mostly homegrown.
9:29 p.m.: Trump cites highly misleading figures on the labor force
As Politico’s Michael Grunwald noted, the vast majority of those in the 94 million figure are not typically considered working constituencies.
9:55 p.m.: “According to the National Academy of Sciences, our current immigration system costs America’s taxpayers many billions of dollars a year.”
According to the New York Times, the study in question actually concluded immigration results in “positive net benefits to the U.S. economy during the last two decades of the 20th century,” and “the infusion of human capital by high-skilled immigrants has boosted the nation’s capacity for innovation, entrepreneurship and technological change.”
It also concluded that while first-generation immigrants create a net government cost of $57.4 billion, second and third-generation adults “create a benefit of $30.5 billion and $223.8 billion, respectively.”
10:00 p.m.: Trump says Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines will create tens of thousands of jobs
As the Washington Post noted, while Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska would each hire between 2,700 and 4,000 construction workers to complete the pipelines, and Kansas would hire 200, the average length of those jobs would be just 19.5 weeks. According to Politifact, the Keystone XL pipeline would only create 35 permanent jobs.
10:04 p.m.: Trump says the Yemen raid produced actionable intelligence
Trump claimed a recent Yemen raid which resulted in the death of a U.S. Navy SEAL and 30 civilians, including children, claimed “large amounts of vital intelligence.” One report citing senior officials, however, contested that account and said no significant information was recovered. The target of the raid, Qassim al-Rimi, escaped the assassination attempt and reportedly recorded an audio message mocking Trump as the “fool of the White House.”
Read more (2/28/17 10:20 PM)
Trump suggests anti-Semitic bomb threats against Jewish centers are false flag operations
- President Donald Trump on Tuesday told a group of state attorneys general the recent bomb threats targeted at Jewish Community Centers across the country were a false flag operation, according to BuzzFeed.
- Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Schapiro said Trump told the attorneys general, “Sometimes it’s the reverse, to make people – or to make others – look bad,” according to BuzzFeed. Read more (2/28/17 7:19 PM)
This 5-year-old girl posed as iconic black women for a photo every day of Black History Month. | follow @the-movemnt
Trump is in regular contact with Alex Jones, who thinks Sandy Hook was a government hoax
- Alex Jones, noted conspiracy theorist and founder of the rightwing conspiracy site Infowars, says he’s not only been in regular contact with Trump, but is giving him ideas, according to a new profile published by the German news outlet Der Spiegel.
- “Trump and I have talked several times since the election — about freedom and our common goal to destroy our enemies,” Jones said.
- Jones brings bizarre and offensive conspiracy theories floating in the dark corners of the internet to huge audiences, including Trump, who has also been a guest on Jones’ show.
- “It is surreal to talk about issues here on air, and then word-for-word hear Trump say it two days later,” Jones said during the campaign.
- Among Jones’ most belabored conspiracy theories is that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were an “inside job.” Read more (2/28/17 1:25 PM)
Google Doodle honors Muslim philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi
- Google paid homage to Abdul Sattar Edhi, who had been dubbed the “Angel of Mercy” in Pakistan, on what would be the late Muslim philanthropist’s 89th birthday.
- “Today’s Doodle honors Abdul Sattar Edhi, a global-reaching philanthropist and humanitarian who made it his life’s mission to helping those in need,” Google’s statement read.
- Edhi was born in Bantva, Gurajat, India before Pakistan’s partition on Feb. 28, 1928.
- When Pakistan was formed in 1947, Edhi moved to Karachi where he dedicated his life mission to serve the poor and the most vulnerable.
- He was 20, and impoverished himself, when he begun his philanthropic work Then three years later, in 1951, Edhi established the Edhi Foundation with only $500.
- The foundation, now surviving only on private donations, provides free 24-hour health care and social services. Read more (2/28/17 10:42 AM)
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Israeli Holocaust memorial asks Amazon to stop selling Holocaust-denying literature
- A director at Israel’s official Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, has reached out to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to ask that the online retail giant stop selling materials that deny or spread lies about the Holocaust, the Associated Press reported Sunday.
- Robert Rozett, a director of libraries at the memorial, said he sent a letter offering Amazon his help in curbing “the spread of hatred.”
- According to a report earlier this month from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Amazon U.S. and U.K. carried such titles as Did Six Million Really Die?: The Truth at Last, The Six Million: Fact or Fiction? and The Myth of the Extermination of the Jews. Read more (2/27/17 6:47 PM)
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Leaders of historically black colleges are hopeful after Trump’s HBCU executive order
- On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order that moved the initiative on HBCUs from the Department of Education to the White House but, according to the document, offered no additional funding for the schools, many of whom rely heavily on federal aid.
- Trump reassured HBCU leaders in attendance that their concerns would be a priority for his administration.
- “President Trump’s executive order issued today is a significant and a positive first step in what we hope to be a productive working relationship,” the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, an advocacy group representing dozens of HBCUs, said in a statement Tuesday after the order was signed. Read more (2/28/17 5:39 PM)
- Jaquarrius Holland, an 18-year-old transgender woman living in Monroe, Louisiana, was murdered on Feb. 19 and, due to initial misgendering, was not reported as transgender.
- KARD and KTVE reported that Holland was shot during a verbal altercation on Feb. 19, but the news report continues to misgender her.
- Friends of Holland’s have since corrected the reports on social media and identified Holland as a transgender woman.
- Chesna Littleberry, a friend of Holland’s, set up a GoFundMe campaign to be used toward Holland’s funeral.
- The GoFundMe uses both male and female pronouns, as Holland’s family continued to use male pronouns to describe Holland. Littleberry has raised $355 out of a $5,000 goal. Read more (2/28/17 12:29 PM)
Amazon AWS S3 is what’s causing internet issues and outages today
Don’t worry, it’s not just you. The internet on the East Coast is unbearable right now, and you can blame Amazon. On Thursday afternoon, you probably noticed images and video were slow to load on some popular websites. The culprit is AWS S3, or Amazon Web Services, a massive cloud storage service run by the online retail giant, which became unreachable sometime early Tuesday afternoon.
East Coast internet outage: Why is the internet down? What’s causing internet issues today?
The internet isn’t technically down, but Amazon S3 services are down in the Northeast region of the U.S. — which is affected any website or company that use it to host files.
What is AWS S3?
AWS S3 hosts images, pictures and videos for other companies and websites (the S3 stands for simple storage service). So when it has issues, it means that you may still be able to visit websites, but any large files they use that are hosted by AWS won’t show appear or may look broken. According to the Independent, some of the websites affected by Tuesday’s issues include Imgur, Medium and SoundCloud.
How do Amazon Web Services work?
AWS charges users for the service of storing their data. So other sites use it to host their files, including images, videos and audio, and then link out to them. That way, the smaller websites can rely on AWS to host larger files.
Is there an AWS status page I can check?
Yes — Amazon has a status page that users can check for news about outages. But Amazon is notoriously bad about reporting its own issues, and, on Tuesday afternoon, the AWS status page indicated that most service was operating normally and featured a small alert at the top warning users of “Increased Error Rates.” The note also said “We’re continuing to work to remediate the availability issues for Amazon S3 in US-EAST-1.”
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