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A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

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Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#441
post #120

Especially with a USG-owned device, this seems like it would have been a ripe time to assert one's citizenship for entry and just let them steal the device. The last time I traveled internationally, I purposely brought only an old laptop. To return, I zeroed the hard drive and physically removed it from the machine so the scum would have pretext to steal less of my property. For my preparation I was rewarded with abs…

Which government agencies can detain agents of other government agencies?

An employee of an agency is not necessarily an agent.

An agent is someone who is authorized to act on behalf of someone or something ("The Agency.")

FBI Agents pass a threshold to be empowered to act with the full force of the US Government.

Most NASA employees are not NASA Agents.

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#442
Intersting thought...since this appears to be the law of the land, and the border is controlled by the Executive Branch, what happens if somebody who works in one of the other two branches is stopped? It seems they would have a good claim that it's unconstitutional given the Separation of Powers that the constitution provides.

I would think that once a lawyer frames the possibility of this in front of a judge, that the law will be stricken down.

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#443

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dilapidated arrival halls, endless lines and queues in the peak season, aggressive UK Border posters everywhere that make you feel like you're entering a prison visiting lounge, face/RFID scanners that frequently crap out, miserable/hostile border staff barking at you. I felt like a harassed cow going through an industrialised slaughter house the last time I flew in to Gatwick in the Summer. Quite a contrast when you…

My wife and I used the UK for a base last summer for a European tour. Big mistake: it doesn't matter which airport you're flying into: the lines are 80 miles long at LHR, the border agents at LGW look like it's 4:45PM on Friday no matter the day of the week, and a bottle of water costs 3 GBP at LCY. We could have avoided all of this idiocy by simply moving our base of operations to a Schengen country -- no internal b…

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Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#444

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fifth amendment is of course broad, but is it so broad that the president signing a piece of paper can be considered due process? Even if everyone has perfect intentions (doubtful), you need checks and balances to prevent human error.

I'm sure the area where US laws apply can be discussed to greater lengths, but they're not applicable outside of the (geographical) US, regardless if you're a citizen or not. Even if the subject of the action is an US citizen. (except for the taxation of non-resident citizens, which is a whole can of worms I'm sure) This is for better or worse. Extra-judicial killings happen a lot. In the case of self-defense for exa…

I don't know why you think your constitutional rights disappear outside the geographic US. That is not the case. Constitutional rights protect citizens from our government regardless of their physical location. Indeed, geography was not a part of the Obama administration's justification.

As for your other point, self defense is a long established affirmative defense for murder, yes. However that has nothing to do with the issue at hand.

If the government has a case to kill a citizen, that case needs to be made in court and evaluated by a jury of peers.

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#445
Supposedly the reason being analysed is his South Indian name ' Sidd Bikkannavar ' ; I'm curious to know the story behind his name being a South Indian myself. The part of the name 'annavar' is generally found in interior villages being associated with village gods but I have never come across anyone named this way, perhaps it was 'Siddarth' which got shortened to Sidd.

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#446

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It's a broken hole in our system that needs to change, but don't expect any change for at least 2-4 years. Why didn't Obama do anything about it?

Frankly, despite initial campaign promises during his first campaign, hes been as bad or worse than the GWB administration in a number of ways. Why he got a pass on a lot of it is beyond me.

We get our information mainly from the media. They decide what the majority of the country knows and doesn't know, and who gets a pass and who doesn't, because most of us don't have the time or desire to obtain first-hand knowledge of what's going on in the world.

I didn't vote for President in the last election, because he became a clown with his antics and she (IMO) is a crook. I'm not partial to one side or the other: I hate all politicians equally.

I'd like to hear facts about what is happening in the new administration, but have had to stop listening to all media because it is so incredibly lopsided it's infuriating and only gets me agitated.

Whereas the media used to report primarily facts, it seems to me that now they primarily report opinions, speculations, and prophecies. We're not able to form our own opinions on issues based on facts, because we don't hear many facts, and the facts we do hear are definitely not in any kind of balance on the many sides of complex issues.

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure the area where US laws apply can be discussed to greater lengths, but they're not applicable outside of the (geographical) US, regardless if you're a citizen or not. Even if the subject of the action is an US citizen. (except for the taxation of non-resident citizens, which is a whole can of worms I'm sure) This is for better or worse. Extra-judicial killings happen a lot. In the case of self-defense for exa…

I don't know why you think your constitutional rights disappear outside the geographic US. That is not the case. Constitutional rights protect citizens from our government regardless of their physical location. Indeed, geography was not a part of the Obama administration's justification. As for your other point, self defense is a long established affirmative defense for murder, yes. However that has nothing to do wit…

> Constitutional rights protect citizens from our government regardless of their physical location.

Well, the constitution is the rules and limits that apply to the US Government mainly (for the benefit of not only the US citizens).

However the Constitution is pretty much defined as the Law of the Land (Article VI https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_St... )

And if the case is as you describe then it seems it's a case for a federal prosecutor to make in Court.

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#448

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Somebody hits us within ISIS — you wouldn`t fight back with a nuke?"

That's obviously really stupid, but John McCain jokingly sang "bomb bomb bomb Iran" about a decade ago while campaigning. I don't want to make light of that statement or be pedantic but that's not genocide. I have no idea what Trump thinks he would nuke to target ISIS, but coming from a guy who said he'd make Mexico pay for a wall and at times is incoherent, that strikes me less as a plan and more of the kind of dumb…

Trump wasn't joking when he was talking about using nukes. And looking at his current senior staff Iran seems to be a reasonable target for hitting ISIS. And if he nukes Iran it is really pedantic to argue if this is a genocide or not.

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Somebody hits us within ISIS — you wouldn`t fight back with a nuke?"

That's obviously really stupid, but John McCain jokingly sang "bomb bomb bomb Iran" about a decade ago while campaigning. I don't want to make light of that statement or be pedantic but that's not genocide. I have no idea what Trump thinks he would nuke to target ISIS, but coming from a guy who said he'd make Mexico pay for a wall and at times is incoherent, that strikes me less as a plan and more of the kind of dumb…

> who said he'd make Mexico pay for a wall.

Why are you sure he will not do that? Could be easily done by an tax on Mexican imports. Didn't you think the Muslim ban was a joke also?

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's obviously really stupid, but John McCain jokingly sang "bomb bomb bomb Iran" about a decade ago while campaigning. I don't want to make light of that statement or be pedantic but that's not genocide. I have no idea what Trump thinks he would nuke to target ISIS, but coming from a guy who said he'd make Mexico pay for a wall and at times is incoherent, that strikes me less as a plan and more of the kind of dumb…

> who said he'd make Mexico pay for a wall. Why are you sure he will not do that? Could be easily done by an tax on Mexican imports. Didn't you think the Muslim ban was a joke also?

A tariff, duty, import tax, or whatever you want to call it, is paid by the domestic (US) consumer on the imported good. Out of the price paid by the US consumer for the Mexican product, the sticker price is paid to the Mexican producer, while an extra amount equal to the original price times the tariff rate is paid by the US consumer to the US government.
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