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Illinois Amazon Warehouse Employees Allege Racially Hostile Work Environment 

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Employees at an Amazon warehouse in Joliet, Illinois have filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the company. The employees are alleging that they’ve experienced corporate abuse, racial discrimination, and retaliation. 

According to the official complaint, which was filed Tuesday, a group of Black employees have cited confederate imagery on coworkers clothing, racist death threats written in bathroom stalls, and an overall lack of security/accountability from management to combat the issue. The employees are stating that they’ve been in a racially hostile work environment since late 2021. 

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Tamra Holder is the institutional abuse and women’s rights attorney representing the group. Holder stated that the group is now seeking monetary compensation for emotional duress caused by stressful working conditions, in addition to a change in workplace and acknowledgement of the issue at hand. 

“We don’t know what that amount comes to at this point. But I can tell you that after working in a climate where it’s racially hostile, people are experiencing extreme emotional distress,” Holder said to the media. 

“Our message to Amazon is that their behavior after our cases come to light is only increasing our damages because people are becoming more afraid rather than less.”

Holder also explained that employees have become hesitant to speak out any more regarding these claims due to fear of retaliation from management, especially since the case is receiving media attention now. 

“They are allegedly telling their employees that if they speak out, they will be fired because they signed an agreement to remain silent,” Holder said.

Holder says “former MDW2 employee Tori Davis was the first to make contact with [her] about the warehouse’s work environment.”

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Davis claimed that the death threats were dismissed by Amazon, and she was fired earlier this month after raising concern over the racial issues her and other employees have been experiencing. 

“They were trying to sweep it under the rug. The way that this situation was handled, it was strange,” Davis stated. 

A spokesperson for Amazon, Richard Rocha, issued a statement:

“Amazon works hard to protect our employees from any form of discrimination and to provide an environment where employees feel safe. Hate or racism have no place in our society and are certainly not tolerated by Amazon,” the statement read.

Holder said she “plans to do everything in my power to see the complaint through and ensure that my clients’ voices are heard.”

“I think that they had an opportunity here to make it better. And instead they’re taking a very, very different aggressive stance to make it worse. They are not too big for me and they are not too big for the people that I represent…We are not going away,” she exclaimed.

Judge Gavel

Judge Denies Roman Polanski’s Bid To Rejoin The Academy

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Roman Polanski’s bid to get back into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was denied this Tuesday after a Los Angeles judge upheld his initial expulsion from the organization in 2018. 

Polanski sued the Academy in 2019 after his expulsion, seeking reinstatement on the grounds that his expulsion was “improper and invalid.” His lawsuit also claimed that he wasn’t notified ahead of time of the move to expel; which the judge didn’t think was fully necessary given the circumstances. 

Judge Mary Strobel also stated that the Academy board already corrected the failing of notifying Polanski of his expulsion by giving him a fair hearing before the decision was fully finalized. In her final ruling she said the board had plenty of cause to expel Polanski. 

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“While the Board could have found the circumstances surrounding Petitioner’s continued fugitive status, the Board’s decision is supported by the evidence, was not arbitrary or capricious, and was not an abuse of discretion.”

The Academy spoke with the media recently about this decision, asserting that they were “pleased the court confirmed the Academy’s procedures were fair and reasonable.” Polanski’s attorney, Harland Braun, said that they wouldn’t be pursuing an appeal, as it would be a waste of time and money.

Braun claims that all the judges in Los Angeles stick together and “cover each other’s misconduct,” and “The Academy membership is actually worthless,” despite his clients valiant efforts to reclaim that position.  

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Polanski was kicked out of the Academy back in 2018 alongside comedian Bill Cosby. At the time, Cosby had just been convicted and imprisoned on charges of sexual assault. Polanski was on the board for over fifty years before his expulsion; despite a majority of that time being spent as a well-known fugitive from California justice. 

In 1978, Polanski fled the country after pleading guilty to the rape of a 13-year-old girl. Apparently at the time, Polanski learned that the judge in his case had planned to sentence him to a long prison sentence instead of abiding by a negotiated plea bargain, prompting him to flee. After that he lived in France, Switzerland, or Poland, successfully avoiding California authorities attempts to extradite him. 

He’s been unable to return to the United States, despite winning an Oscar for best director in 2003 for “The Pianist,” and being nominated for the same category in 1981 for “Tess”. 

Braun has represented Polanski throughout the past 42 years through all of the legal issues. The pair are still attempting to get the Los Angeles District Attorney to drop its case and extradite Polanski from serving the remaining few months on his sentence in the US, as well as paying a large fee for fleeing in the first place; so far they’ve been unsuccessful.

Christmas Gifts

Unique Gift Ideas for Holiday 2019

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With Black Friday only a few weeks away, it’s not too early to start thinking about the perfect holiday gifts for everyone on your list this year. Whether you are buying gifts for relatives, close friends, coworkers or a significant other, the Internet is a tremendous resource not only for finding deals and obscure items, but for researching gift ideas that will leave your loved ones surprised and delighted. For help shopping for the person in your life who seems to already have everything, or for the person who refuses to give hints about their ideal gift, this guide offers several suggestions for unique and fun presents this holiday season.

For the person in your life who loves technology, accessories for their devices are always a good idea. Redbubble offers a wide selection of designs for laptop skins, allowing near-limitless customization opportunities. You can order a skin featuring designs from your loved one’s favorite movie, TV show, or video game, as well as a number of custom, abstract design. Additionally, Redbubble offers skins and cases for iPhones, iPads, and other devices, as well as custom wall art in the form of posters, canvas prints, and even metal prints. For even more help, Redbubble’s website even has a page dedicated to gift suggestions. Redbubble’s extensive variety of designs and customizability ensures that you’ll be able to find the perfect gift for someone interested in technology and art.

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Another unique gift idea is a custom map, which can depict an area of your choosing and makes for sleek custom wall art. The maps are available in a number of aesthetically-pleasing designs, and include the option for custom text. The area depicted on the map can represent a person’s hometown, a place that is special to them, or even a place they’d like to visit someday. Prices start at $49 for a paper map, but the maps can be printed on canvas or metal if you prefer for an additional charge. This gift is ideal for someone with whom you have a shared memory from a particular place, as the map serves as a reminder of the relationship between you and your giftee.

Scented candles are a frequent choice for gift-givers, as few people will complain about being gifted a candle. However, ordinary scented candles can be a bit boring. For a more personalized option, consider gifting a candle with scents that bring back memories of a particular place or time. Homesick candles, available on Amazon, are categorized not by scent but by more abstract ideas, such as states, cities, and environments. Instead of attempting to replicate the smell of these places, the scents of Homesick candles are based on input from residences of the places in question in order to invoke a mood associated with the place. The Seattle-themed candle, for instance, smells like “a strong cup of coffee on a perfectly rainy afternoon.”

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For children who enjoy video games but don’t already have a Nintendo Switch, the newly-released Switch Lite is a great option. The handheld costs $100 less than the original console, and while it loses detachable controllers and the ability to play on a TV, it retains compatibility with nearly the entire library of Switch titles, including the critically acclaimed The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey. The Switch Lite is available in grey, yellow, and turquoise, and its smaller form factor and more durable construction is perfect for young gamers.

Finally, while most people already have a case for their phone, a new phone case nonetheless presents an opportunity for a personalized, unique gift option. Casetify’s Sand Liquid cases react to gravity and the movement of the phone, creating a dynamic and visually interesting pattern in colors of your choosing. 

Samsung Galaxy Buds

Samsung Galaxy Buds: A Worthy Alternative to Airpods?

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Over the past several years, true wireless earphones – ones that operate as two independent wireless devices that connect via Bluetooth to one’s smartphone – have exploded in popularity. The development of this trend can be traced back to Apple’s Airpods, which were released at the end of 2016 but really gained traction over a year later. Though sales were initially relatively slow, and some critics commented that the earphones resembled Q-Tips, consumers began to appreciate the product’s unique form factor and convenience. Airpods soon became a status symbol, and owing in part to the earphones’ unique feature set and ease of use, turned into a common sight in public places like the grocery store and the office.

For all their popularity and convenience, however, there are some notable drawbacks associated with the product, particularly for people who have Android phones. While Airpods will connect via bluetooth to both iOS and Android devices, the product’s featureset is much more limited when used with the latter operating system. Because Airpods are designed by Apple to work with iPhones, they can take advantage of custom software to optimize audio quality, automatically connect with different Apple devices and seamlessly transition between them, and offer features like Live Listen Audio, which allows users to use their earphones as a hearing aid. On the other hand, Android recognizes Airpods as generic bluetooth audio devices, allowing only for limited audio quality and the bare minimum featureset. For this reason and given the number of other options available, Android users would be foolish to purchase Apple’s wireless earphone solution.

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Samsung’s Galaxy Buds, which were released earlier this year, are a direct competitor to Apple’s Airpods, and offer similar bespoke functionality when paired with a Samsung Galaxy device. While the two products aim to occupy a similar consumer niche, there actually exist significant differences between them, the most immediate being their respective prices; Samsung’s offering can be purchased for $99 online, making them effectively half the price of their main competitor. When paired with a compatible device, the Galaxy Buds offer superior audio quality compared to Airpods, as their in-ear design enables deeper bass and enhanced clarity. Like the Airpods, the Galaxy Buds offer an Ambient Aware mode, letting sounds from the environment play over music or other audio and permitting greater awareness of one’s surroundings during use. And also like the newest generation of Airpods, the Galaxy Buds come with a case that charges wirelessly, enabling convenience and making the product truly wireless in every sense of the word. (Although the Galaxy Buds do work with iPhones, the Ambient Aware and automatic sync features will be disabled.)

The Galaxy Buds are likely to be the best wireless earphone solution for the foreseeable future.

Reviews comparing the two products generally favor Samsung’s offering for a number of reasons. Consumer Reports, for instance, conducted sound testing that clearly favored the audio quality of the Galaxy Buds, and found the battery life in Samsung’s product to be superior as well. Business Insider had similar findings, and praised the Galaxy Buds for being offered in a number of colors, whereas Airpods come only in white. And CNet preferred the appearance, customizability, and sound quality of the Buds, while noting that the Airpods were slightly more comfortable and offered better call quality. 

If you’re in the market for wireless earbuds, however, it may pay off it wait a little while longer. This is because Amazon is rumored to be entering the wireless earphone space as well, and their upcoming product is thought to offer fitness tracking capabilities, including a potential heart-rate monitor and Alexa integration. That being said, if you’re not interested in fitness tracking or Alexa functionality and own an Android phone, the Galaxy Buds are likely to be the best wireless earphone solution for the foreseeable future.