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Southern California man to sue feds claiming unconstitutional phone search at LAX


Ars Technica
Tue, 18 Dec 2018 20:34 UTC
EFF mobile phone search
A Southern California man has become the latest person to sue the federal government over what he says is an unconstitutional search of his phone at the Los Angeles International Airport.

According to his lawsuit, which was recently filed in federal court in Los Angeles, Haisam Elsharkawi had arrived at LAX on February 9, 2017 and was headed to Saudi Arabia to go on a hajj, the Muslim religious pilgrimage.

After clearing the security checkpoint, Elsharkawi, an American citizen, was pulled aside from the Turkish Airlines boarding line by a Customs and Border Protection officer, who began questioning him about how much cash he was carrying and where he was going. Elsharkawi complied with the officer's inquiries and dutifully followed him to a nearby table.

"As the questioning continued and became increasingly aggressive, Mr. Elsharkawi asked if there was a problem and whether he needed an attorney," the complaint states. "Officer Rivas then accused Mr. Elsharkawi of hiding something because of his request for an attorney."

Comment: I'll never bring my phone on an international flight again. Neither should you
The fourth amendment protects you against unreasonable search and seizure. The fifth amendment protects you against self-incrimination. If a police officer were to stop you on the street of America and ask you to unlock your phone and give it to them, these amendments would give you strong legal ground for refusing to do so.

But unfortunately, the US border isn't technically the US, and you don't have either of these rights at the border. It's totally legal for a US Customs and Border Patrol officer to ask you to unlock your phone and hand it over to them. And they can detain you indefinitely if you don't. Even if you're a American citizen.
See also:

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Arrow Down

Veteran suicide rates continue to climb

Dave Philipps
The New York Times
Thu, 20 Dec 2018 19:33 UTC
National Mall
© Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
Flags on the National Mall in 2014 representing the 1,892 veterans and service members who died by suicide from January to March that year. The suicide rate among veterans is rising, especially among those who served during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Suicide prevention efforts by the Department of Veterans Affairs fell off sharply in the last two years, even though reducing the high suicide rate among veterans is the agency's top clinical priority, according to a new report.

With the department's top management in turmoil, the suicide prevention effort lacked leadership, planning meetings were repeatedly canceled, millions of dollars budgeted for outreach went unspent, and the television and radio ads that had been broadcast thousands of times across the country in previous years went all but silent.

The striking breakdown in prevention efforts is detailed in a Government Accountability Office report released late Monday. The report says that bureaucratic confusion and vacancies in key posts are largely to blame.

Comment: Let's not pretend that the vet suicide rate hasn't been extremely high in the US over the past decade. This doesn't stem from an administrative 'mismanagement' issue, although that could be compounding the issue. Here's a thought: stop marching soldiers into illegal and unjust 'wars' that destroy whole societies, and maybe that will reduce the suicide rate.

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Cupcake Choco

Average American edging closer to being borderline obese

Alexandre Tanzi
Bloomberg | Quint
Thu, 20 Dec 2018 19:14 UTC
cupcake
© David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
The average American is heavier than at the start of the 21st Century -- and very close to being obese, according to Centers for Disease Control data on body metrics.

The average American man is 5-feet, 9-inches tall and weighs 198 pounds; an average woman is 5-feet, 4-inches and 171 pounds, based on CDC data. That compares with 189.1 pounds and 163.6, respectively, at the start of the century.

A man of average height is considered overweight between 169 and 202 pounds and obese above 202 pounds. A woman of average height is considered overweight between 140 and 174 and obese above 175 pounds. The average non-Hispanic white American male weighs 202.2 pounds.

The Obesity Society, a scientific research organization, this month classified obesity as a worldwide, non-communicable chronic disease. "Obesity meets all criteria for being a disease, and therefore, should be characterized as such," said Cathy Kotz, the society's vice president and a professor at the University of Minnesota.
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Arrow Up

What sanctions? Russia's agricultural exports booming, expected to hit $25 billion this year


RT
Thu, 20 Dec 2018 19:21 UTC
wheat
© Reuters / Bogdan Cristel
Farming production in Russia is booming. With record harvests during the past two years, the country's agricultural exports are bringing in tens of billions of dollars, according to President Vladimir Putin.

"Last year, exports of agricultural products were $20 billion. This year, they will reach $25 billion," Putin said on Thursday during his annual Q&A session. He added: "We couldn't even imagine such figures earlier."

Boosting competitiveness and improving infrastructure is key to increasing exports further, the Russian president said, promising the government's support. Some 400 billion rubles ($6 billion) will be allocated for the development of infrastructure, including seaports and roads, he said.
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Snowflake

Aquarium apologizes after Twitter outrage police condemn fat otter tweet


RT
Thu, 20 Dec 2018 19:00 UTC
otter
© Global Look / Ronen Tivony
A chubby sea otter doesn't need much help reaching iconic meme status, but Monterey Bay Aquarium tried to help one of its charges along by adding some sassy phrases to a tweet featuring the animal.

To celebrate Abby, a rather substantial sea otter, the aqarium tried to emulate an innocent fat cat meme - but doomed itself by including a few slang words typically used to appreciably describe large black women.

Monterey Bay Aquarium is in California, - and also on Twitter, - so it didn't go well. Cultural appropriation isn't something the woke crowd will let slide - even from a body-positive sea mammal.
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Gift

How your holiday shopping drives US Amazon workers to exhaustion

Anonymous
The Guardian
Wed, 19 Dec 2018 18:51 UTC
amazon
© Illustration: Joan Wong
In the third installment of The Amazon Diaries, a worker describes the madness that is the six-week 'peak' season

Time at Amazon is measured in the amount of "peak" you work. Peak, we are told, is the time when Amazon associates shine. We are forged in peak; we are made complete by packing and shipping the Christmas and holiday dreams of people worldwide. Records are set, and we have fun while making history.

Peak refers to the "peak" season, lasting from the week before Black Friday through Christmas. During this six-week period, the volume of packages running through our fulfillment, sortation and delivery centers soars. Full-time workers receive "mandatory extra-time", working up to 60 hours per week with exhausting 11.5-12 hour days, while part-time workers are encouraged to take as many extra shifts as possible. Our workforce doubles with "seasonal" workers who are paid less, not given benefits, and put on a restrictive time-off allowance, ensuring they'll be working through the holiday season.

Walking into my sort center, where packages are organized on pallets ready to be sent out to customers, it's clear it's mid-peak. Posters are scattered throughout the warehouse showing an associate holding an electronic scanner, like she's in a photoshoot for Charlie's Angels, with the slogan, "Be All Peak Pro". We're told to post our #Peak18 rallying cry to the company's Instagram page, @amazonvestlife. My friend tells me that if I ever post him to @amazonvestlife he'll kill me.
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Stock Down

Oil prices tumble to lowest level in a year as stock market continues to decline

Stephanie Kelly
Reuters
Thu, 20 Dec 2018 18:38 UTC
oil rig
© AP Photo / Vahid Salemi
Oil prices fell about 3 percent on Thursday, hitting their lowest in more than a year on worries about oversupply and the outlook for energy demand as a U.S. interest rate rise knocked stock markets.

Brent crude LCOc1 futures fell $1.53 to $55.71 a barrel, a 2.7 percent loss, by 10:55 a.m. EST (1555 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures fell $1.55 to $46.62 a barrel, a 3.2 percent loss.

Brent earlier hit a session low of $54.64 a barrel, the weakest since mid-September 2017, while WTI sank to $45.82, near its lowest since late August 2017.
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Snakes in Suits

Award-winning Der Spiegel journalist revealed to have made up fake stories for years

Kate Connolly
The Guardian
Wed, 19 Dec 2018 18:31 UTC
Claas Relotius
© SKA/HSS/AEDT/WENN.com
Der Spiegel’s Claas Relotius
The German news magazine Der Spiegel has been plunged into chaos after revealing that one of its top reporters had falsified stories over several years.

The media world was stunned by the revelations that the award-winning journalist Claas Relotius had, according to the weekly, "made up stories and invented protagonists" in at least 14 out of 60 articles that appeared in its print and online editions, warning that other outlets could also be affected.

Relotius, 33, resigned after admitting to the scam. He had written for the magazine for seven years and won numerous awards for his investigative journalism, including CNN Journalist of the Year in 2014.

Earlier this month, he won Germany's Reporterpreis (Reporter of the Year) for his story about a young Syrian boy, which the jurors praised for its "lightness, poetry and relevance". It has since emerged that all the sources for his reportage were at best hazy, and much of what he wrote was made up.
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Snowflake

Colleges de-stress students for finals: therapy horses, coloring, massages, Fortnite tourneys

Matthew Pinna
The College Fix
Thu, 20 Dec 2018 18:16 UTC
stressed
Therapy dogs and miniature horses. Coloring books. Massages. Even Fortnite tournaments.

All this and more are ways in which universities across the nation are working to help students de-stress as finals unfold, hosting a plethora of interesting activities or all out "De-stress Fests."

One of the most common services provided come in the form of therapy dogs, specifically trained to be as calm and affectionate as possible. Campuses such as the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and Michigan State are just two out of many that recently offered the friendly puppers to pet and relax with in between study sessions.

Duke University went one step further. On top of bringing in puppies, the school offered what it called a "Stampede of Love" - miniature horses. Students were invited on the Friday before Finals Week to partake in an event led by a Raleigh-based nonprofit, staffed by two of their tiny horses, named "Kiwi" and "Lola."

Comment: There will be no such amenities provided to these young adults when they hit the workforce, so are university administrators really doing them a favor by making their life as comfortable as possible? This seems more like the behavior of a company that wants to keep its customers happy than an institution of higher learning preparing its students for the real world.

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Arrow Down

Homeless deaths increase by 24% over last five years in UK

Patrick Greenfield
The Guardian
Thu, 20 Dec 2018 18:16 UTC
homeless man
© Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
The average age of a rough sleeper at death was 44 years for men and 42 years for women. Men made up 84% of homeless deaths, ONS figures show.
Nearly 600 homeless people died on the streets or in temporary accommodation in England and Wales in 2017, up 24% in five years, according to the first government figures on the issue.

After a slight drop in 2013, deaths have risen every year since, from 475 in 2014 to 597 last year, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show. The average age of a rough sleeper at death was 44 years for men and 42 years for women. Men made up 84% of homeless deaths.

London and the north-west had the highest mortality of homeless people in England and Wales. More than half of the deaths in 2017 were caused by drug poisoning, suicide or alcohol abuse. No figures were calculated for 2018.
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