#Child abduction statistics 2020

[polhclever]

Child abduction statistics 2020

Department of State’s, International Parental Child Abduction website. ** If you have questions about international parental child abduction and want to know more about available services, please visit the U.S. Prevention Branch staff members can assist with enrolling your child in the Children’s Passport Issuance Alert Program. You may also contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s 24-hour hotline at 1-87.Ĭontact the Office of Children’s Issues Prevention Branch at 1-88. Ask your law enforcement contacts to enter your child as a missing person in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database. What do I do?Ĭontact local, state, and federal law enforcement authorities and provide them with your custody order, a physical description of your child, and your child’s most recent photograph. My child has been abducted within the United States. Child Abduction by a Parent or Family Member is a CrimeĪnuncio de Servicio Público El Secuestro de un Niño por Parte de un Padre o Familiar es un Delito Through the launching of this PSA, we aim to create awareness and increase the reporting and investigation of family abduction cases. In an effort to increase awareness and educate the public on how common family abduction is and the importance of getting involved, the Public Service Announcement Child Abduction by a Parent or Family Member is a Crime has been developed. The counts for each of the status reports is based on cancellations during the same year the entry was made. According to the United States Department of Justice, each year more than 200,000 children become victims of family abduction. It seems that kidnapping and age do have an inverse relationship. (Statista) Based on the latest child abduction statistics for 2020, there were 178 747 teen male kidnapping cases, while the number of girls was much higher, at 209 375 cases. What is more common and less understood is abduction by a parent or family member. How many children are victims of crime According to the ABS 2018 Recorded Crime statistics, there were around 9,300 sexual assault, kidnapping/abduction. In 2020, almost 400 000 youth were abducted in the US. Administered by the National Institute of Justice, NamUs is the first national online repository for missing records and unidentified decedent cases. While the words “child abduction” strike fear in families, friends, schools, and communities, most people visualize child abduction as a stranger taking a child. NCMEC works to locate and recover missing children and raises public awareness about ways to prevent child abduction, molestation, and sexual exploitation. Child abduction is prevalent in California. The lack of numbers, and the discrepancy in the numbers that do exist, is one of the key reasons why ICMEC developed and advocates for the Model Missing Child Framework, which assists countries with building strong, well-rounded national responses, and facilitates more efficient investigations, management, and resolution of missing children cases.

[mywebmains]

Child abduction statistics 2020

Per NCMEC's 2020 database, here’s the breakdown of missing children by age.Ĭhildren reported missing in 2020 by age:ĥ3 children reported missing were unknown ages This reflects the fact that the vast majority of missing children are runaways, and older children are both more likely and capable to run away. The largest number of minors reported missing in the NCMEC’s 2020 database were between the ages of 12 and 17. More than 99% of missing children return home alive. The recovery rate in highest-risk cases for missing children rose to 97% in 2011 from 62% in 1990. In 2011, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported that a child goes missing every 40 seconds in the United States. Only 1 out of every 10,000 missing children reported to the police is the victim of murder. In 2020, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) helped law enforcement, families, and child welfare with 29,782 cases of missing children. In 2019, the total number of missing children entries into the FBI's National Crime Information Center system (NCIC) was 421,394. In the United States, an estimated 460,000 children are reported missing every year. Here are some statistics about missing children in the United States. The largest number of missing children are runaways, and 99% of them return home safely. As you’ll see below, the United States has far more reports of missing children each year than are seen in other countries like Japan, the United Kingdom, Russia, and India. Hundreds of thousands of children have gone missing since 1999. National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART) groups episodes where children go missing into five categories: The vast majority are runaways, but some are abducted by strangers, and still others by family members. And among the children who go missing, roughly 9 in 10 are runaways.Ĭhildren can go missing for a number of reasons. The vast majority of people who go missing in the United States each year - nearly 73% in 2015 - are children. Resources for International Missing Children Resources for Missing Children in the United States International Missing Children StatisticsĬhild Abduction Statistics by Family and ParentsĬhild Abduction Statistics by Non-Family Members Missing Children Statistics in the United States Here are the most recent missing children statistics, missing persons statistics, and kidnapping statistics along with resources. According to the National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART), approximately 2,300 children go missing every day in the United States. Child abductions and kidnappings are reported with alarmingly high frequency both in the U.S.

[samschimmel]

Resolution 504 and the Amber Alert System in Tribal Communities

The Amber Alert System, initially established to help recover missing and abducted children, has been at the forefront of efforts to ensure the safety and security of young individuals across the United States. However, the effectiveness of this system in Native American communities has been the subject of ongoing concern, culminating in significant legislative and advocacy efforts to ensure it serves all communities equitably. Among these efforts, Resolution 504 stands out as a pivotal measure aimed at addressing the unique challenges faced by Native American communities in the realm of child and adult safety.

The history of legislative action to address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and children is marked by several key milestones. In 2018, Congress passed the Ashlynne Mike Amber Alert in Indian Country Act, named after an 11-year-old girl from the Navajo Nation who was tragically abducted and murdered. This legislation amended the Protect Act, enabling federally recognized tribes to integrate their Amber Alert plans with state or regional programs for the first time. Despite this progress, challenges persisted, including difficulties in coordinating with state Amber Alert coordinators and adapting the program to the unique geographical and infrastructural realities of reservations.

Further legislative action included the enactment of Savanna's Act and the Not Invisible Act, signed into law in 2020. These pieces of legislation underscored the federal government's commitment to addressing the epidemic of violence against Indigenous women and girls, who experience disproportionately high rates of abduction, violence, and murder.

Resolution 504, passed during the 2024 American Bar Association Midyear Meeting, signifies a crucial step forward in this ongoing battle. Drafted with contributions from various ABA entities and inspired by advocacy from Native American legal professionals and students, the resolution urges U.S. legislators to further amend the Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to End the Exploitation of Children Today Act (the act that established the national Amber Alert program) to better serve Native American communities. Specifically, it calls for the appointment of a national tribal coordinator to oversee Amber Alerts for missing, abducted, or endangered Alaska Natives and American Indians. It also advocates for the extension of Amber Alerts to cover adults within these communities and recommends the hiring of regional tribal Amber Alert coordinators.

The need for such measures is underscored by the dire statistics surrounding missing and murdered Indigenous people (MMIP). Indigenous women face murder rates significantly higher than those of white women, and more than 80% have experienced violence. The crisis is particularly acute in certain areas, where Indigenous women's murder rates can be up to 10 times the national average. Despite these alarming figures, cases involving missing Indigenous women often receive little media attention, highlighting the importance of systemic solutions like Amber Alerts.

The adoption of Resolution 504 and similar measures addresses several critical issues. First, it acknowledges the disproportionate risks of abduction and violence faced by Native American communities. Second, it seeks to improve communication and coordination between tribal, local, and state law enforcement agencies. Finally, it aims to rectify the underrepresentation of Indigenous people in state and federal missing persons databases, which hampers effective response and recovery efforts.

The Amber Alert System's evolution to better serve Native American communities exemplifies a broader commitment to justice, equity, and safety for all Americans. By recognizing the unique challenges faced by these communities and taking targeted action to address them, legislators and advocates are working to ensure that the Amber Alert System fulfills its promise as a vital tool in the protection of vulnerable populations across the nation.

[greenninjagal-blog]

I really like your fic recs and I don’t really keep very up to date with the latest sanders sides stuff on ao3 so, favorite fics from the past week?

Oh uh... lets see today is 8/5/2020... and I’ll do my fav fics that have just been posted or updated this week: 

Swept Away - Part Three of my favorite Sirens au, where Logan gets swept up in a storm and wonders if anyone will miss him (they will).

The Variables -  Logan bought a house in the middle of nowhere so he could avoid having to ever talk to anyone else ever again. The ghosts have other plans.

You Can Picani Family You Want - Emile fosters two kids and quickly learns he’ll do anything to see them smile.

Atypical Destiny - LAMP soulmates are determined to make their polyamory work, even if no one else thinks it will.

‘Cause Every Time We Touch, I Get This Feeling - Touch starved Janus falls for touchy-feely Patton.

Rays on My Skin - Virgil is six when he discovers that he has multiple soulmates and absolutely none of them speak his language. Oh and also three of them don’t know he exists.

If You Give a Side a Lion - Remus and Roman have some things to work out, but first it looks like theyre gonna have to save the universe, along with three other guys, an alien prince, and his assistant. A Voltron AU that I didn’t know I needed.

The Story of Emile the Seer - Emile is unfortunately born with the ability to see the future. Theres a lot of awful things people would do about that.

Alleyway - Logan finds a baby in a dumpster in an alley and decides to keep it.

Slower Than Words - Virgil can’t see. Patton can’t hear. But theyre stuck in a cell together while people conduct unethical experimentation on them, so maybe they can learn to communicate?

Old Scars, Future Hearts - Virgil has a problem asking for help when he’s overwhelmed, but this time? This time the others are already angry at him. And they wont want to help him if they’re angry at him, right?

the shapes in the silence - Virgil turns into a cat-sized Dragon when he gets overwhelmed which only becomes a problem when Patton finds him hiding in the pantry and thinks he’s a figment from imagination and not another side. And if the Light sides like him so much as a dragon....well maybe he should stay that way.

breathing and other rhythms that used to be easy - A Nightmare brings Virgil back to the dark side of the mindscape, just to check, just to make sure, just to see that Deceit and Remus are still breathing and thats it. In and out. They won’t even know he was there.

Road Trips and Missing Persons - Patton goes out for groceries and doesn’t come back home because he gets kidnapped by a child with a knife. Virgil is on the run from his crazy mother after she killed his father. Janus will do anything to get to his brother before his mother does. Remy isn’t actually dead. And Logan will strangle his entire family for not answering their phones.

Bounty - A sequel to Abduction in the Space Family series: Space, aliens and Virgil is a human in the middle of it all. Excellent series, 20/10 and I will cry about it. thanks.

The Curse of Hanahaki - In which Remus plays himself by cursing Imagination so that anyone who falls in love will cough up flowers. Aka Hanahaki but with a tangible plot.

fall out of in love with me - Deceit asks Remus to make him a potion to dilute his intense feelings for Virgil before they crush him at the absolute worst possible time for Virgil.

A Wager. - Virgil meets professional gambler and they mage a wager they both come out winning in.

i’ll sink for you - Deceit can hypnotize anyone, but Virgil is all to willing to be his plaything. 

Save the Moment - Patton takes pictures of everything. Janus notices more than he should.

Lavender - Patton can’t handle the sound of Logan and Roman’s argument, but thankfully Janus steps up to the plate. 

Mind Over Matter - Being a human in Space is just asking for trouble. Being forced to fight in fighting ring just makes Virgil another sad statistic. However, choosing not to fight his clearly harmless opponent....that makes him different.

The Apartment - Virgil moves into his first apartment and becomes best friends with the elderly man who lives next door and tells fond stories of his numerous grandkids that can never seem to make time for him. Virgil is unaware this is how to get himself adopted into a new family.

sweet tea in the summer - Roman and Patton are the sweetest of lovers through the years.

How two exasperated doctors adopted three robots - Rival Scientists Janus and Logan both have the great idea to see what their company is hiding on the same night. They were not prepared for the answer, but they can definitely get used to it. (Bickering Loceit? uh hell yeah.)

Breathe Out - Virgil will become minion for one chance to get out of the closet, thanks. aka: The other darksides are terrible, and Janus thinks that he and Virgil might be able to work well together, and somehow that puts Virgil on track becoming a Light side whether he wants to or not. (And I gush because everything this author writes is amazing)

The Debate - Part of The Other Side of the Mirror au, where Janus, Remus, and Virgil are Thomas’s core sides and big bad scary Logan shows up to ruin everything. Except that he’s actually helping and Janus might have to reconsider if the other sides are actually as bad as he’s made them out to be. 

And It Fell Away - Patton and Virgil are part of the Earth Kingdom army. Janus is part of the Fire Kingdom infantry. It seems that the only thing they all have in common are their need to escape the current battle and then the war itself, if just to save their own lives.

Come Alive - Patton tries to end it all but not-so-friendly vampire Janus stops him. Now there’s just an agreement: Patton spends one year as a vampire in the underworld city for the supernatural, and if they decide living still isn’t worth it they can take a stake to themselves, but...Janus is willing to bet they can find at least one person whos worth it. Ft: everyone falls in love with Patton at first sight, as it should be.

by the book - Librarian Virgil runs the adult section of the library, but his most interesting visitor is the tiny child who talks too fast and has really super attractive dads.

Pen Pal - Logan’s roommates all get together and Logan doesn’t think he has a place there with them, so he withdraws and turns to his pen pal for company.

Wedding Crashers -  While standing at the alter for his arranged marriage to a princess he will never love, Logan doesn’t think his really lovers are coming for him. He’s pleasantly surprised.

You Haunt Me And I Like It - Ghost Virgil has had a lot of roommates before without ever needing to show himself, but this one is just too skeptical for him to leave alone.

Wow that is a lot more than I thought I had! 

Looking for more fics? I’m got more lists here on my Fic Rec Masterlist!

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Blessed Child podcast: Part 1. Belvedere – Drink ’n’ hide, and Part 2. Rice and French Fries

with Renée

https://anchor.fm/blessed-child2/episodes/Pt-1-Belvedere-Drinkn-hide-e19btfp

Trigger warnings: sexual assault, suicide, sex trafficking⚠️⚠️⚠️ This episode is part 1 of 2 where we reach back to Irvington, NY, to interview two fellow classmates and reflect about what life was like growing up with a secret cult in their hometown.

Contact Kyle Sullivan: ktsullivan91@gmail.com.

Contact Andrew on instagram at @eastham90

Feedback for blessed child can be sent to reneethomasart@yahoo.com. 🔥

For BBC ‘Rev. Sun Myung Moon: Emperor of the Universe’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1KruPlKi68 Transcript of the full 60 minutes, with images, here: https://tragedyofthesixmarys.com/emperor-of-the-universe/

In-jin’s letter “Save Bo Hi Pak” http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/InJinMoon/InJinMoon-050800.htm

James Park sells Paradigm the same year Bo Hi Pak gets out of prison https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/08/02/joe-biden-investigation-hunter-brother-hedge-fund-money-2020-campaign-227407/

Bo Hi Pak spends two years in prison: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Hi_Pak

Unification Church leader, Bo Hi Pak, was detained on fraud charges in 2004

Bo Hi Pak and the KCFF scam – and Sun Myung Moon’s ROFA scam

East Garden Museum: https://eastgarden.org/gallery/

Bowling alley in East Garden: Fun with numbers

Qanon Annonymous debunks Qanon and goes undercover at Moonie event: Episode 163: Attending the Rod of Iron Freedom Festival https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-163-attending-the-rod-of-iron-freedom-festival/id1428209307?i=1000539120793

___________________________________________

Part 2. Rice and French Fries

https://anchor.fm/blessed-child2/episodes/Part-2--Rice-and-French-Fries-e19ijmv

“To promote family but then rip them apart”

Join Kyle, Andrew and myself as we talk Moonies and how they found out what the Unification Church was really all about. 

Thank you Kyle for this episode art, circa 2008.

Podcast list: FallingOut pod with Elgen Strait https://www.fallingoutpod.com/

Jen Kiaba’s ‘Lessons on leaving’ https://www.jenkiaba.com/lessons-on-leaving

Qanon Anonymous Episode 160: The Moonies Conquer DC feat. Elgen Strait https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-160-the-moonies-conquer-dc-feat-elgen-strait/id1428209307?i=1000536467019

The Cult Vault https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/3-the-unification-church-aka-the-moonies/id1514656568?i=1000475494521

https://www.cultvaultpodcast.com/podcast/episode/3602db47/123-the-unification-church-an-english-perspective

Luna stream done by current 2nd generation members https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/luna-stream/id1525727762?uo=4

What the faith https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-the-faith/id1507877416

_________________________________

Moonie labor trafficking in Generation Peace Academy: Generation Peace Academy  info from the GPA website: “GPA is a full-time, year-long program for high school graduates to receive life of faith education and leadership training, serve developing countries, and become global missionaries. Your tax-deductible support helps our current and future participants cover the costs of workshops, travel, and service projects. 481 8th Avenue, Box A-12, New York, NY 10001″

The address given is for the New Yorker Hotel, owned by the Unification Church.

_________________________________

In Part 2, the history between Korea and Japan was mentioned. The Korean UC leaders taught a false version of that history to Japanese members to fill them with guilt and shame concerning the colonial period. The issue of the Korean comfort women was used as a main tactic. The claim that Myung-hee Kim, destined to be True Mother in the 1950s, was raped by a Japanese man is another lie taught to the Japanese.

The Comfort Women controversy

1. Meet Miki Dezaki, Director of the film, Shusenjo: The Main Battleground Of The Comfort Women Issue. 2. Thousands of Korean men and women tricked, kidnapped or forcibly abducted Korean girls to be ‘comfort women’. Statistical Yearbook of the Governor-General of Korea, from 1931-1943. 8. Chart of Comfort Station managers, revealing they were Korean 10. ‘Comfort Women Urgently Wanted’ – Ads in Korean newspapers

Footnotes 1. Professor C. Sarah Soh interviewed at SFSU in 1999 6. A few more of the hundreds of Korean newspaper reports on the continuous fight against Korean men and women who lured Korean (and Japanese) girls and women into prostitution. There were many arrests of traffickers and hundreds of girls were released.

Sun Myung Moon’s third wife – Kim Myung-hee

The lie that Kim Myung-hee was raped in Japan

Moon church of Japan used members for profit, not religious purposes

Japanese woman recruited by the Moon church and sold to a Korean farmer

Human trafficking in the Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han is despicable

[thisweekingundamwing]

This Week in Gundam Wing August 30 - 12 September 2020

Here’s this week’s roundup! Aug 30 - 12 Sep!

Remember to give your content creators some love! And join in on the events at the bottom!

~Mod Hel

Fanfiction/Snippets/AU Ideas:

@angelselene​

Stand Without Flinching (Ch. 20) https://archiveofourown.org/works/22763293/chapters/63998467

Gundam Wing, Marvel Cinematic Universe

F/F, F/M, M/M, Duo Maxwell/Heero Yuy, Chang Wufei/Sally Po, Trowa Barton/Quatre Raberba Winner, Wanda Maximoff/Vision, Duo Maxwell/OMC, Heero Yuy/OFC, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark

Duo Maxwell, Tony Stark, Quatre Raberba Winner, Trowa Barton, Sally Po, Lady Une, Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, Wanda Maximoff, Vision (Marvel), Clint Barton, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Heero Yuy, Relena Peacecraft, Shinigami - Character, James "Bucky" Barnes

Mature, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Civil War Fix-It, Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Real Family, Not Gundam Wing: Frozen Teardrop Compliant, Enhanced Gundam Pilots, Preventers (Gundam Wing), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Ambiguous Morality, Morally Ambiguous Character, undecided ships to come, Family Reunification Act, Parent Tony Stark, Slow Burn, Found Family

For Duo Maxwell, family are the people he has loved and lost and whose names he bears.

For Tony Stark, family has always been blood and a name and Howard's shadow looming over him.

@bobo-is-tha-bomb​

Twenty Kisses (Ch. 12) https://archiveofourown.org/works/24038704/chapters/63863065

F/M, Heero Yuy/Reader

Heero Yuy, Reader

Romance, Kissing, Drabble Collection, Reader-Insert

Prompt: a hoarse whisper “kiss me”.

Deadly Intent (Ch. 3) https://archiveofourown.org/works/25576657/chapters/64129522#workskin

F/M, Heero/Reader, ???/Reader

Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Wufei Chang, Lady Une, Relena Peacecraft, Reader

Mature, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Reader Insert, Drama, Angst, Romance, Violence, Lime

Eleven years is a long time for a ghost to come back and haunt him. But Heero Yuy finds himself unable to dodge or outrun it. It’s the start of a dangerous cat and mouse game between one of the most powerful organizations in the world and a loner who has every intention of dragging him down with her. After all, she has come with deadly intent.

Twenty Kisses (Ch. 13) https://archiveofourown.org/works/24038704/chapters/64158358

F/M, Heero Yuy/Reader

Heero Yuy, Reader

Romance, Kissing, Drabble Collection, Reader-Insert

Prompt: following the kiss with a series of kisses down the neck.

@coffeetailor​

Touched by the Stars (Ch. 3&4) https://archiveofourown.org/works/26314657/chapters/64358008

M/M, Chang Wufei/Duo Maxwell, Chang Wufei/Heero Yuy, Trowa Barton/Chang Wufei, Chang Wufei/Quatre Raberba Winner

Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, Quatre Raberba Winner, Chang Wufei

Explicit, thar be porn, Dubious Consent, Aliens, Alien Abduction, Alternate Universe, mention of MPREG, everyone takes a turn with Wufei, alien anatomy and interesting dicks, Tentacles, Monster Boys, Slime, Double Cocks, Cum Inflation, Knotting, Oral, multiple dicks, Xeno, Spitroasting

University instructor Chang Wufei didn't even believe in aliens, much less intentionally attract their attention. But that doesn't mean much when they decided he'd be the ideal final mate for their group and scoop him off of the planet to take home to their queen. Enjoying him on the trip there, of course.

@duointherain​

Beneath: Leprechauns and Clovers (Ch. 12) https://duointherain.tumblr.com/post/627927154018205696/beneath-leprechauns-and-clovers-1212

“Goddamn SON of a Bitch!” Duo screamed, staring at the place that Martha had been. Rage sparked around his head, amethyst lightening dancing around hair that just didn’t want to be constrained. He held out his left hand and his favorite scythe appeared. It was the one that Heero had given him on that first mission where Relena had been included. It sparked to life with a green fiery rage. “I have been trying to be so good! I have been trying to be friendly and peaceful and civilian! I look at the people at school and mom’s nice polite house and I have tried SO fucking hard!

TheManwell

The Silencer and the Sicarian (Ch. 7&8) https://archiveofourown.org/works/25478938/chapters/61806169

M/M, Trowa Barton/Duo Maxwell, Chang Wufei/Solo

Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, Chang Wufei, Solo (Gundam Wing), Hilde Schbeiker, Catherine Bloom, Kyouju H | Instructor H, Middie Une, Sister Helen (Gundam Wing), Heero Yuy, Professor G (Gundam Wing), Doctor J (Gundam Wing), Quatre Raberba Winner, Rashid Kurama, Abdul (Gundam Wing), Roushi O | Master O, Doktor S (Gundam Wing)

Explicit, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Wufei POV, Duo POV, Trowa POV, Solo POV

It was just one vow. A simple but necessary promise to respect life -- both human and fey -- but can Duo hold to it when his resolve is put to the ultimate test?

@tziganecaffiends

In the Bleak Midwinter https://archiveofourown.org/works/26219125/chapters/63812077

M/M, Chang Wufei/Treize Khushrenada

Chang Wufei, Treize Khushrenada, Mariemaia Khushrenada

Explicit, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Trauma, Childhood Trauma, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Torture, Enemies to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Sleepy Cuddles, Prisoner of War, Eye Trauma, Angst with a Happy Ending, random cameos, Post-War, Character Death Fix, Fix-It of Sorts, Parent/Child Incest, Frozen Teardrop has a lot to answer for, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Mecha, Battle, Multiverse, Hurt/Comfort, Mental Health Issues, Everyone Needs Therapy, Treize gets a dog, Garbage cat, Drinking

Something that had happened down in the office had been bothering him, wanting to come out. The veil of pretending had been pulled down, perhaps, and there was an unspeakable relief in having it said out loud, in having argued with Treize. Someone that smart shouldn't be that much of an idiot. As if there would only be one right way to end things? ZERO was fucked up and weirdly layered. It gave battle statistics, yes, but it also had a limited future function if someone fiddled with it long enough, and Wufei had.

Wufei had looked. Treize had apparently been happy to end with everyone goes on but me. And whatever had driven him to stop looking in ZERO was still in his head. Whatever it was that made a man just tap out hadn't magically resolved itself, which was a shame because Treize was carrying on as if it had. He couldn't fix that. Didn't know where to start unpicking that rats' nest in the man's skull, and it wasn't his responsibility.

Fanart/Crafts/Photo Manips:

@bobo-is-tha-bomb​

https://bobo-is-tha-bomb.tumblr.com/post/628530984276639744/its-here-cue-last-impression

Wing Zero, gunpla

@gundammeta​

https://gundammeta.tumblr.com/post/628112239191293952

Tallgeese and the Goose™, fanart

@gwfrozentears​

https://gwfrozentears.tumblr.com/post/628482816007634944/al-fin-terminado-me-decidi-usar-stickers-en-lugar

Duo Maxwell, fanart

@silkytea-art​

https://silkytea-art.tumblr.com/post/628646956308348928/was-anyone-elses-childhood-spent-pining-for-the

Heero Yuy, fanart

@the-efaf-draws​

https://the-efaf-draws.tumblr.com/post/628475380147322880/long

WuFei Chang, fanart

Photosets/Gifsets/Screenshots/Manga Pages:

@janaverse​

https://janaverse.tumblr.com/post/628542891987435520/all-together-now-despite-the-five-of-them

5 pilots together, Sims

Quotes:

@incorrectgundamwingquotes​

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/628011527357808640/heero-look-i-know-that-from-the-outside-it-seems

Heero & Trowa

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/628540026505052160/trowa-practicing-pick-up-lines-i-can-take-you-to

Trowa & Heero

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/628929354629513216/duo-so-whats-for-dinner-heero-staring-at-the

Duo & Heero

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/628991226010632192

Quatre cat cry

@disturbed02girl​

Calendar Events:

@gwcocktailfriday​

Cocktail Fridays!

Post responses on Friday, during Happy Hour between 3 & 5 pm in your own timezone.

Here’s the prompt for Friday, September 18th! https://gwcocktailfriday.tumblr.com/post/629061052992225280/cocktail-friday-post-responses-on-friday

In need of WINTER/SPRING prompts!

@gwoc-october​

GW OC October 2020!

Calendar and Prompt list will be posted up on September 17th! Watch for it!

@thisweekingundamevents

Events Calendar https://thisweekingundamevents.tumblr.com/post/624053314842230784/event-calendar-update

GW Holiday Gift Exchange 2020

Information: https://thisweekingundamevents.tumblr.com/post/627952774875906048/gw-holiday-gift-exchange-2020

Sign-up Form: https://thisweekingundamevents.tumblr.com/post/628041703013662720/gw-holiday-gift-exchange-2020-sign-ups

If you are hosting an event currently, or are planning on one, hit us up with links and dates! We’ll add them to the Calendar and reblog your notices to get the word out! 

There may potentially be something, happening somewhere, for Halloween spookiness!

[childabusesurvivor]

Sharing - Why We Can't Ignore Lies, Even When We Know They're Lies

New Post has been published on https://www.childabusesurvivor.net/reviews/2020/10/02/sharing-why-we-cant-ignore-lies-even-when-we-know-theyre-lies/

Sharing - Why We Can't Ignore Lies, Even When We Know They're Lies

We think we can be rational, when we find out something isn’t true, we ignore it and it has no affect on our decisions, right? Maybe not.

” When we see outlandish information, even when we know it is untrue, it sways our judgment. This is especially true if the information appeals to us on an emotional level. Our emotions do affect our decision-making and we are more likely to accept information that matches our desired emotional state. Fear makes us more attuned to risk information and anger makes us less aware of risk. “

As Camille points out, studies suggest that our brains have evolved to take in any and all information that we can, and keep it. Even when it’s not true, and we know it’s not true, it still stays in there and has an emotional impact. She shares a classic study where both scenarios wound up at the same result, but the response was massively different when another bit of information was suggested, and then proven false.

Think about it, we know the vast majority of abused children are not randomly abducted, they are abused by people they already know and trust. Often within the family. Yet, what do we see as breaking news in the media? Any story of a child being abducted is on a non-stop broadcast loop, leading many people to believe it happens way more often than it does, and then when we see fake news stories about the millions of kids being abducted in parking lots, which isn’t true, but it still stokes that fear response in our DNA. That fear response then has a great influence in how we act and make decisions, even though we know it was stoked by false information.

We know millions of kids aren’t being abducted, but we share stories that imply that, literally, anyone, anywhere, at any time, is at risk of being abducted. You know, “just in case”. What we don’t realize is that, we are actually contributing to the fear response of everyone who sees that, making them more anxious about strangers, more nervous about public spaces, and less likely to be as fearful about the people they already know, who, statistically, are more likely to be dangerous.

I believe this is why social media has made us more anxious. Not because it is intending to be harmful, but because it’s so easy to be influenced and have an emotional reaction to what we see on social media. It’s the immediacy of our response, and the fact that this information about our brains, is no secret. Marketers have known this for years. Con artists have known this for years. Propaganda machines, have known this for years. Social media is an absolute playground for them. So, what can we do about it? I have talked about this for years now, so rather than repeat myself, I’ll quote Dr. Camille Johnson from the article below:

 If you find your social media full of emotionally-charged messages, don’t “like” them, don’t give it a heart or anger face—that just signals to Facebook that it needs to send you more emotionally-charged messages. Don’t click on those posts and do unfollow pages that provide daily (and hourly) doses of anger and fear.

  And, remember that we are all purveyors of information. So, when you see a post that makes you feel outraged, stop before reposting. Wait 24 hours (or two hours) and then decide if this is information that needs to be shared and why. Think about your goal in sharing the information.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/its-all-relative/202009/why-we-cant-ignore-lies-even-when-we-know-theyre-lies

#Facebook, #SocialMedia

[app-development-solutions]

How Is RFID Changing Telemedicine App Development For Best?

 RFID might sound alien to you. But, RFID-based technology has changed the healthcare industry in more ways than anyone could imagine. Patient tracking and real-time equipment location help keep the medical fraternity on the front lines.

And we have only brushed the surface!

Don't take it as a surprise if you notice elderly couples having RFID tags around their ankles or wrists on your next hospital visit. Even newborns will interact with an RFID tag first and their family members later.

Telemedicine app development is shaping a new era for the healthcare market.

As per Grandview research, RFID was globally valued at USD 2.58 billion in 2018. It is expected to rise to a CAGR of 22.4% by 2025.

Another such research by Precedence has similar statistics. RFID will reach US$ 12 billion by 2027 and a rising CAGR of 21% from 2020 to 2027.

We can see that RFID is increasingly being used to improve the healthcare system from top to bottom. Let's first understand what RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) is.

How does RFID function?

RFID-based wireless communication systems have been used for years to protect patients from abduction or exchange. These are specifically useful for newborns from kidnapping or other criminal activities. It helps the office administration keep a better watch on their patients.

Telemedicine app developers can ensure that the system shifts on smartphones to facilitate better movement of the security personnel and improved accessibility to the rest of the staff.

An RFID tag is a simple and lightweight tag with the ability to attach itself to a newborn's ankle. Every RFID system has a unique ID and helps to track the location in real-time.

The reason behind typing it is that the tag can sense location change. Suppose the RFID is interfered with or moves beyond a specified parameter. In that case, the security or administration will be alarmed by the change. It is a life-saver.

Do you know that most mothers can't identify their children in the beginning? Just after a child is born, they are tied with a matching RFID tag to their child, which helps avoid mix-ups in newborns.

It happens in the case of senior citizens with memory loss. They wander off the hospital premises unknowingly and end up getting lost or hurt. It becomes difficult for hospitals to contain the patients with elopement risks and memory loss, further the possibility of hurting others or getting hurt.

In this way, elderly care institutions and asylums can use RFID extensively where the staff has a free hand to take care of other important tasks at hand.

With RFID's efficiency, more healthcare institutions and telemedicine app development services are relying on innovation in the present times.

Let's look at some RFID applications in the customized telemedicine software solutions.

What are some popular applications of RFID in the healthcare hierarchy?

1. RFID Asset Tracking

Apart from keeping track of patients on the hospital premises, RFID also has a broader application in tracking hospital equipment. Theft and tampering can be greatly reduced, and the hospital staff responsible for taking care of the equipment can be held accountable for their recklessness in equipment handling.

mHealth app developers can use RFID in mobile apps to show the location of high-investment equipment in real-time. It's the most value-for-money innovation for the medical industry as the staff doesn't have to do looking for a single asset throughout the entire hospital.

2. Avoid Medicine Counterfeiting

The hospital warehouse located at remote locations can effectively manage and keep track of their inventory of latex, gloves, syringes, etc., and other single-use items. In this way, RFID with telemedicine app development makes the most challenging medical industry jobs seamless.

Hospitals and pharmacies can also use RFID for the authentication of medication. The high cost and lack of availability of life-saving medicines lead to counterfeiting.

An encrypted RFID tag will help pharmacists ensure that they get access to real medicines. The tag can be inside the packaging or even outside.

The staff can also put RFID on surgery tools, linens, and other stuff. It makes a point that these assets are sterilized and washed when transferring from one patient to another.

3. Temperature and Humidity Control with RFID

With efficient care comes the medical staff's responsibility to ensure that the food, vaccine, and medication are stored at a specific temperature to keep them intact. Storage units need to have a proper temperature and humidity to maintain the integrity of the products within.

With Wi-Fi, RFID can direct hospitals to check the humidity in refrigerators, storage units, and even operating rooms. The manual effort is saved, and compliances are also met with zero losses to the materials.

Here the RFID tags will sync the temperatures and humidity scale of products with the cloud. The staff can easily access, control, and monitor the readings and protect perishables. If the readings are abnormal, the team will get notified using an SMS or email to check the abnormality.

Every telemedicine app development company is trying to integrate RFID into its systems.

4. Performance Measurement of Staff

RFID is not only this but much more. The doctors and nurses can be tabbed for the number of patients they see daily, making the entire medical system more accountable.

What was once only thought of is made possible using RFID integration in the medical industry by telemedicine app developers.

Closing Words-

With Consagous Technologies' customized telemedicine software solutions, you can establish your supremacy in efficient patient care and hospital management.

Reach us today to experience exceptional telemedicine app development services in the shortest duration. Our web and mobile app development company in LA, USA is something you can never go wrong with.

Original Source:

[ammg-old]

When today’s activists talk about the problem of trafficking, knowing exactly what they’re referring to can be difficult. They cite statistics that actually offer global estimates of all forms of labor trafficking. Or they mention outdated and hard-to-parse figures about the number of children who go “missing” in the United States every year—most of whom are never in any immediate danger—and then start talking about children who are abducted by strangers and sold into sex slavery.

While stereotypical kidnappings—what you picture when you hear the word—do occur, the annual number hovers around 100. Sex trafficking also occurs in the United States. The U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline has been operated by the anti-trafficking nonprofit Polaris Project and overseen and partially funded by the Department of Health and Human Services since 2007. In 2019, it recorded direct contacts with 14,597 likely victims of sex trafficking of all ages. (The average age at which these likely victims were first trafficked—“age of entry,” as the statistic is called—was 17.) The organization itself doesn’t regard its figure for direct contacts as one that should be used with too much confidence—it is probably low, but no more solid data exist.

There is a widely circulated number, and it’s even bigger than the one Laura Pamatian and her volunteer chapter publicized: 800,000 children go missing in the U.S. every year. The figure shows up on T-shirts and handmade posters, and in the captions of Instagram posts. But the number doesn’t mean what the people sharing it think it means. It comes from a study conducted in 1999 by the Justice Department, and it’s an estimate of the number of children who were reported missing over the period of a year for any reason and for any length of time. The majority were runaways, children caught up in custody disputes, or children who were temporarily not where their guardians expected them to be. The estimate for “nonfamily abductions” reported to authorities was 12,100, which includes stereotypical kidnappings, but came with the caveat that it was extrapolated from “an extremely small sample of cases” and, as a result, “its precision and confidence interval are unreliable.”

Later in the report, the authors noted that “only a fraction of 1 percent of the children who were reported missing had not been recovered” by the time they were counted for the study. The authors also clarified that a survey sent to law-enforcement agencies found that “an estimated 115 of the nonfamily abducted children were victims of stereotypical kidnapping.” The Justice Department repeated the study in 2013 and found that reports of missing children had “significantly decreased.”

Plenty of news outlets have pointed out how misleading the 800,000 figure is. Yet it has been resilient. It appeared on colorful handmade posters at hundreds of Save the Children marches that began taking place in the summer of 2020, many of which were covered credulously by local TV news. Narrating footage of a march in Peoria, Illinois, a reporter for the CBS affiliate WMBD did not mention the QAnon hashtags on some of the signs and passed along without comment information from the organizer, Brenna Fort: “Fort says her research shows that at least 800,000 children go missing every year.” The segment ended by zooming in on a plastic baby doll wearing a cloth diaper on which someone had written NOT FOR SALE in red marker.

– The Great (Fake) Child-Sex-Trafficking Epidemic

[gadgetgirl71]

Amazon First Reads October 2020

Wow October all ready!! Halloween seems as though it’s just a few days away then before we know it, it’ll be Guy Fawkes/Bonfire Night. I digress as it’s all about Amazon First Reads for October and again Amazon are letting their Prime Members choose two books instead of just the one.

So now I need to decide which books I’m going to choose, I always get so excited when we get a chance to choose more than one free book. As you know I can’t resist free books.

This months choices are:

Memoir

The Boy Between by Amanda Prowse & Josiah Hartley, Pages: 286, Publication Date: 1 November 2020

Synopsis: Bestselling novelist Amanda Prowse knew how to resolve a fictional family crisis. But then her son came to her with a real one…

Josiah was nineteen with the world at his feet when things changed. Without warning, the new university student’s mental health deteriorated to the point that he planned his own death. His mother, bestselling author Amanda Prowse, found herself grappling for ways to help him, with no clear sense of where that could be found. This is the book they wish had been there for them during those dark times.

Josiah’s situation is not unusual: the statistics on student mental health are terrifying. And he was not the only one suffering; his family was also hijacked by his illness, watching him struggle and fearing the day he might succeed in taking his life.

In this book, Josiah and Amanda hope to give a voice to those who suffer, and to show them that help can be found. It is Josiah’s raw, at times bleak, sometimes humorous, but always honest account of what it is like to live with depression. It is Amanda’s heart-rending account of her pain at watching him suffer, speaking from the heart about a mother’s love for her child.

For anyone with depression and anyone who loves someone with depression, Amanda and Josiah have a clear message—you are not alone, and there is hope.

Suspense

Girls of Brackenhill by Kate Moretti, Pages: 330, Publication Date: 1 November 2020

Synopsis: Haunted by her sister’s disappearance, a troubled woman becomes consumed by past secrets in this gripping thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Year.

When Hannah Maloney’s aunt dies in a car accident, she returns to her family’s castle in the Catskills and the epicenter of a childhood trauma: her sister’s unsolved disappearance. It’s been seventeen years, and though desperate to start a new life with her fiancé, Hannah is compelled to question the events of her last summer at Brackenhill.

When a human bone is found near the estate, Hannah is convinced it belongs to her long-lost sister. She launches her own investigation into that magical summer that ended in a nightmare. As strange happenings plague the castle, Hannah uncovers disturbing details about the past and startling realizations about her own repressed childhood memories.

Fueled by guilt over her sister’s vanishing, Hannah becomes obsessed with discovering what happened all those years ago, but by the time Hannah realizes some mysteries are best left buried, it’s too late to stop digging. Overwhelmed by what she has exposed, Hannah isn’t sure her new life can survive her old ghosts.

Thriller

The Cipher by Isabella Maldonado, Pages: 332, Publication Date: 1 November 2020

Synopsis: To a cunning serial killer, she was the one that got away. Until now…

FBI Special Agent Nina Guerrera escaped a serial killer’s trap at sixteen. Years later, when she’s jumped in a Virginia park, a video of the attack goes viral. Legions of new fans are not the only ones impressed with her fighting skills. The man who abducted her eleven years ago is watching. Determined to reclaim his lost prize, he commits a grisly murder designed to pull her into the investigation…but his games are just beginning. And he’s using the internet to invite the public to play along.

His coded riddles may have made him a depraved social media superstar—an enigmatic cyber-ghost dubbed “the Cipher”—but to Nina he’s a monster who preys on the vulnerable. Partnered with the FBI’s preeminent mind hunter, Dr. Jeffrey Wade, who is haunted by his own past, Nina tracks the predator across the country. Clue by clue, victim by victim, Nina races to stop a deadly killer while the world watches.

Book Club Fiction

This Magnificent Dappled Sea by David Biro, Pages: 255, Publication Date: 1 November 2020

Synopsis: Two strangers—generations and oceans apart—have a chance to save each other in this moving and suspenseful novel about family secrets and the ineffable connections that lead us to one another.

In a small Northern Italian village, nine-year-old Luca Taviano catches a stubborn cold and is subsequently diagnosed with leukemia. His only hope for survival is a bone marrow transplant. After an exhaustive search, a match turns up three thousand miles away in the form of a most unlikely donor: Joseph Neiman, a rabbi in Brooklyn, New York, who is suffering from a debilitating crisis of faith. As Luca’s young nurse, Nina Vocelli, risks her career and races against time to help save the spirited redheaded boy, she uncovers terrible secrets from World War II—secrets that reveal how a Catholic child could have Jewish genes.

Can inheritance be transcended by accidents of love? That is the question at the heart of This Magnificent Dappled Sea, a novel that challenges the idea of identity and celebrates the ties that bind us together.,m.

Historical Fiction

The Last Correspondent by Soraya M Lane, Pages: 336, Publication Date: 1 November 2020

Synopsis: When journalist Ella Franks is unmasked as a woman writing under a male pseudonym, she loses her job. But having risked everything to write, she refuses to be silenced and leaps at the chance to become a correspondent in war-torn France.

Already entrenched in the thoroughly male arena of war reporting is feisty American photojournalist Danni Bradford. Together with her best friend and partner, Andy, she is determined to cover the events unfolding in Normandy. And to discover the whereabouts of Andy’s flighty sister, Vogue model Chloe, who has followed a lover into the French Resistance.

When trailblazing efforts turn to tragedy, Danni, Ella and Chloe are drawn together, and soon form a formidable team. Each woman is determined to follow her dreams “no matter what”, and to make her voice heard over the noise of war.

Europe is a perilous place, with danger at every turn. They’ll need to rely on each other if they are to get their stories back, and themselves out alive. Will the adventure and love they find be worth the journey of their lives?

Gothic Fiction

The Haunting of Brynn Wilder by Wendy Webb, Pages: 288, Publication Date: 1 November 2020

Synopsis: From the #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author of Daughters of the Lake comes an enthralling spellbinder of love, death, and a woman on the edge.

After a devastating loss, Brynn Wilder escapes to Wharton, a tourist town on Lake Superior, to reset. Checking into a quaint boardinghouse for the summer, she hopes to put her life into perspective. In her fellow lodgers, she finds a friendly company of strangers: the frail Alice, cared for by a married couple with a heartbreaking story of their own; LuAnn, the eccentric and lovable owner of the inn; and Dominic, an unsettlingly handsome man inked from head to toe in mesmerizing tattoos.

But in this inviting refuge, where a century of souls has passed, a mystery begins to swirl. Alice knows things about Brynn, about all of them, that she shouldn’t. Bad dreams and night whispers lure Brynn to a shuttered room at the end of the hall, a room still heavy with a recent death. And now she’s become irresistibly drawn to Dominic—even in the shadow of rumors that wherever he goes, suspicious death follows.

In this chilling season of love, transformation, and fear, something is calling for Brynn. To settle her past, she may have no choice but to answer.

Historical Fiction

Spellbreaker by Charlie N Holmberg, Pages: 300, Publication Date: 1 November 2020

Synopsis: A world of enchanted injustice needs a disenchanting woman in an all-new fantasy series by the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Paper Magician.

The orphaned Elsie Camden learned as a girl that there were two kinds of wizards in the world: those who pay for the power to cast spells and those, like her, born with the ability to break them. But as an unlicensed magic user, her gift is a crime. Commissioned by an underground group known as the Cowls, Elsie uses her spell-breaking to push back against the aristocrats and help the common man. She always did love the tale of Robin Hood.

Elite magic user Bacchus Kelsey is one elusive spell away from his master-ship when he catches Elsie breaking an enchantment. To protect her secret, Elsie strikes a bargain. She’ll help Bacchus fix unruly spells around his estate if he doesn’t turn her in. Working together, Elsie’s trust in—and fondness for—the handsome stranger grows. So does her trepidation about the rise in the murders of wizards and the theft of the spell-books their bodies leave behind.

For a rogue spellbreaker like Elsie, there’s so much to learn about her powers, her family, the intriguing Bacchus, and the untold dangers shadowing every step of a journey she’s destined to complete. But will she uncover the mystery before it’s too late to save everything she loves?

Contemporary Fiction

Perfectly Impossible by Elizabeth Topp, Pages: 314, Publication Date: 1 November 2020

Synopsis: In this witty debut novel, Elizabeth Topp crafts a story that ventures behind the fanciful facade of Park Avenue and into the life of one lovable type A assistant.

Anna’s job is simple: prevent the unexpected from happening and do everything better than perfectly. An artist at heart, Anna works a day job as a private assistant for Bambi Von Bizmark, a megarich Upper East Side matriarch who’s about to be honored at the illustrious Opera Ball.

Caught between the staid world of great wealth and her unconventional life as an artist, Anna struggles with her true calling. If she’s supposed to be a painter, why is she so much more successful as a personal assistant? When her boyfriend lands a fancy new job, it throws their future as a couple into doubt and intensifies Anna’s identity crisis. All she has to do is ensure everything runs smoothly and hold herself together until the Opera Ball is over. How hard could that be?

Featuring a vibrant array of characters from the powerful to the proletarian, Perfectly Impossible offers a glimpse into a world you’ll never want to leave.

Children’s Picture Book

Some Days Written & Illustrated by Maria Wernicke, Translated by: Lawrence Schimel, Pages: 24, Publication Date: 1 November 2020

Synopsis: From an Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award nominee comes a touching story of family, security, and loss.

A young girl tells her mother about a passageway in their yard. Down this passageway, it is not cold, there is no danger, and nothing bad can ever happen—and the person she longs for is with her again. The only problem is that, on some days, the passageway is not there. But maybe, together, mother and daughter can find a way to carry that feeling with them always.

First published in Argentina, this lovely picture book will tug on the heartstrings of anyone who knows what it means to miss a loved one.

#AmazonFirstReads, #Amazonkindle, #AmazonPrimeMembers, #BookClubFiction, #Books, #ChildrensPictureBook, #ContemporaryFiction, #GothicFiction, #HistoricalFiction, #Kindle, #KindleBooks, #Memoir, #Suspense, #Thriller

[jamesschiisler]

Avoiding Cybersecurity Placebos in Your Organization

When it comes to your organization, especially its technology, some of the buzzwords you hear floating around can be pretty convincing, almost intoxicating. Unfortunately, like most buzzwords, many of these are aggrandized beyond their worth to the average business. Let’s take a look at how this can impact a business’ perception of its cybersecurity, as well as dig into the reality behind these terms.

To begin, let’s examine a phrase coined in the early 2000s by cybersecurity technologist Bruce Schneier: “security theater.”

What is “Security Theater?”

Security theater is a simple shorthand for any security efforts put in place that do little to better ensure one’s security, despite making one much more comfortable, generally for some considerable cost. The idea behind it is that security exists as both a reality based in math and science, and as a perception that is based in emotion.

In a 2007 blog article, Schneier cited a personal anecdote where a friend’s newborn was fitted with an RFID tag to help prevent infant abduction during their stay in the maternity ward. However, the rates of infant abduction were astoundingly low at that point. In his blog post, Schneier posits that these bracelets were a form of security theater, meant more to placate the parents when their bundle of joy was out of sight than it was to help prevent the rare case of infant abduction.

While security theater may have perceived benefits, Schneier says, the true concerns come with the costs that are associated with it.

Let’s return to his example of the tracking tags on newborns. With such a low rate of infant abduction, there was realistically little-to-no practical risk of someone’s child being abducted from the hospital. However, as the low-cost RFID bracelets allowed parents to breathe a little easier when their baby wasn’t in the room with them, hospitals found this investment to be worthwhile. Another example that Schneier gives is the introduction of tamper-resistant packaging on over-the-counter drugs in the 1980s. With poisonings getting some significant coverage by the press in this era, the idea that medications would be tampered with was relieved.

It didn’t matter that the statistical likelihood of a drug being altered was negligible, or even that the tamper-resistant packaging wasn’t all that effective anyways. The theater of the tamper-resistant packaging that companies would use helped align the perceived threat with the practical odds.

The Trade-Offs

However, there is a point at which security theater can become detrimental: when the investment (real or perceived) into your security is generating negative returns—or in other words, when your security measures are actually making you less secure. One glaring example from recent years is the 2013 hack into Target, where numerous security teams dropped the ball as numerous failsafe notifications and procedures were ignored. Let’s go into how you might be “overacting,” so to speak, when it comes to some of the security theater you have in your office.

Excessive Password Updates

Forcing your employees to update their passwords each month has long been established as a counterproductive security measure, as this will only encourage them to adopt other behaviors that will directly undermine your resiliency. Perhaps these passwords will become embarrassingly predictable, or your users will resort to writing them down somewhere to keep track of them all. Instead, use other methods of reinforcing your business security, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) or single sign-on solutions, paired with a more moderate password policy.

That said, we’re not advocating never changing passwords, but the bad habits it causes are much worse than what mandatory password changes do for the greater good.

Alert Overload

A never-ending barrage of security notifications can have a few negative repercussions on your users. Naturally, their workflows will suffer from consistent interruptions, but there is also the fact that these notifications will eventually be tuned out. As a result, if a real issue does eventually present itself, it is more likely to be ignored. An MSP’s services can help to separate the wheat from the chaff, preventing your users from encountering interruption in most cases.

Lacking User Awareness

Think back for a second: when you last had a cybersecurity training session for your users, what was the general format? Was it primarily a lecture, or were your employees involved and engaged in the process? When was your last training initiative? Many companies figure that these seminar-style sessions serve their purpose, but the more effective means of instilling good cybersecurity training is through shorter, more frequent, and (most importantly) more interactive efforts.

We have the tools and resources that can help you to better ensure your security efforts are contributing to your practical security. Check out the solutions that we have to offer your team today.

source https://www.cimasg.com/2020/09/avoiding-cybersecurity-placebos/ source https://cimasg1.blogspot.com/2020/09/avoiding-cybersecurity-placebos-in-your.html

[cimasg1]

Avoiding Cybersecurity Placebos in Your Organization

When it comes to your organization, especially its technology, some of the buzzwords you hear floating around can be pretty convincing, almost intoxicating. Unfortunately, like most buzzwords, many of these are aggrandized beyond their worth to the average business. Let’s take a look at how this can impact a business’ perception of its cybersecurity, as well as dig into the reality behind these terms.

To begin, let’s examine a phrase coined in the early 2000s by cybersecurity technologist Bruce Schneier: “security theater.”

What is “Security Theater?”

Security theater is a simple shorthand for any security efforts put in place that do little to better ensure one’s security, despite making one much more comfortable, generally for some considerable cost. The idea behind it is that security exists as both a reality based in math and science, and as a perception that is based in emotion.

In a 2007 blog article, Schneier cited a personal anecdote where a friend’s newborn was fitted with an RFID tag to help prevent infant abduction during their stay in the maternity ward. However, the rates of infant abduction were astoundingly low at that point. In his blog post, Schneier posits that these bracelets were a form of security theater, meant more to placate the parents when their bundle of joy was out of sight than it was to help prevent the rare case of infant abduction.

While security theater may have perceived benefits, Schneier says, the true concerns come with the costs that are associated with it.

Let’s return to his example of the tracking tags on newborns. With such a low rate of infant abduction, there was realistically little-to-no practical risk of someone’s child being abducted from the hospital. However, as the low-cost RFID bracelets allowed parents to breathe a little easier when their baby wasn’t in the room with them, hospitals found this investment to be worthwhile. Another example that Schneier gives is the introduction of tamper-resistant packaging on over-the-counter drugs in the 1980s. With poisonings getting some significant coverage by the press in this era, the idea that medications would be tampered with was relieved.

It didn’t matter that the statistical likelihood of a drug being altered was negligible, or even that the tamper-resistant packaging wasn’t all that effective anyways. The theater of the tamper-resistant packaging that companies would use helped align the perceived threat with the practical odds.

The Trade-Offs

However, there is a point at which security theater can become detrimental: when the investment (real or perceived) into your security is generating negative returns—or in other words, when your security measures are actually making you less secure. One glaring example from recent years is the 2013 hack into Target, where numerous security teams dropped the ball as numerous failsafe notifications and procedures were ignored. Let’s go into how you might be “overacting,” so to speak, when it comes to some of the security theater you have in your office.

Excessive Password Updates

Forcing your employees to update their passwords each month has long been established as a counterproductive security measure, as this will only encourage them to adopt other behaviors that will directly undermine your resiliency. Perhaps these passwords will become embarrassingly predictable, or your users will resort to writing them down somewhere to keep track of them all. Instead, use other methods of reinforcing your business security, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) or single sign-on solutions, paired with a more moderate password policy.

That said, we’re not advocating never changing passwords, but the bad habits it causes are much worse than what mandatory password changes do for the greater good.

Alert Overload

A never-ending barrage of security notifications can have a few negative repercussions on your users. Naturally, their workflows will suffer from consistent interruptions, but there is also the fact that these notifications will eventually be tuned out. As a result, if a real issue does eventually present itself, it is more likely to be ignored. An MSP’s services can help to separate the wheat from the chaff, preventing your users from encountering interruption in most cases.

Lacking User Awareness

Think back for a second: when you last had a cybersecurity training session for your users, what was the general format? Was it primarily a lecture, or were your employees involved and engaged in the process? When was your last training initiative? Many companies figure that these seminar-style sessions serve their purpose, but the more effective means of instilling good cybersecurity training is through shorter, more frequent, and (most importantly) more interactive efforts.

We have the tools and resources that can help you to better ensure your security efforts are contributing to your practical security. Check out the solutions that we have to offer your team today.

source https://www.cimasg.com/2020/09/avoiding-cybersecurity-placebos/

[eriicarmstrong]

Avoiding Cybersecurity Placebos in Your Organization

When it comes to your organization, especially its technology, some of the buzzwords you hear floating around can be pretty convincing, almost intoxicating. Unfortunately, like most buzzwords, many of these are aggrandized beyond their worth to the average business. Let’s take a look at how this can impact a business’ perception of its cybersecurity, as well as dig into the reality behind these terms.

To begin, let’s examine a phrase coined in the early 2000s by cybersecurity technologist Bruce Schneier: “security theater.”

What is “Security Theater?”

Security theater is a simple shorthand for any security efforts put in place that do little to better ensure one’s security, despite making one much more comfortable, generally for some considerable cost. The idea behind it is that security exists as both a reality based in math and science, and as a perception that is based in emotion.

In a 2007 blog article, Schneier cited a personal anecdote where a friend’s newborn was fitted with an RFID tag to help prevent infant abduction during their stay in the maternity ward. However, the rates of infant abduction were astoundingly low at that point. In his blog post, Schneier posits that these bracelets were a form of security theater, meant more to placate the parents when their bundle of joy was out of sight than it was to help prevent the rare case of infant abduction.

While security theater may have perceived benefits, Schneier says, the true concerns come with the costs that are associated with it.

Let’s return to his example of the tracking tags on newborns. With such a low rate of infant abduction, there was realistically little-to-no practical risk of someone’s child being abducted from the hospital. However, as the low-cost RFID bracelets allowed parents to breathe a little easier when their baby wasn’t in the room with them, hospitals found this investment to be worthwhile. Another example that Schneier gives is the introduction of tamper-resistant packaging on over-the-counter drugs in the 1980s. With poisonings getting some significant coverage by the press in this era, the idea that medications would be tampered with was relieved.

It didn’t matter that the statistical likelihood of a drug being altered was negligible, or even that the tamper-resistant packaging wasn’t all that effective anyways. The theater of the tamper-resistant packaging that companies would use helped align the perceived threat with the practical odds.

The Trade-Offs

However, there is a point at which security theater can become detrimental: when the investment (real or perceived) into your security is generating negative returns—or in other words, when your security measures are actually making you less secure. One glaring example from recent years is the 2013 hack into Target, where numerous security teams dropped the ball as numerous failsafe notifications and procedures were ignored. Let’s go into how you might be “overacting,” so to speak, when it comes to some of the security theater you have in your office.

Excessive Password Updates

Forcing your employees to update their passwords each month has long been established as a counterproductive security measure, as this will only encourage them to adopt other behaviors that will directly undermine your resiliency. Perhaps these passwords will become embarrassingly predictable, or your users will resort to writing them down somewhere to keep track of them all. Instead, use other methods of reinforcing your business security, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) or single sign-on solutions, paired with a more moderate password policy.

That said, we’re not advocating never changing passwords, but the bad habits it causes are much worse than what mandatory password changes do for the greater good.

Alert Overload

A never-ending barrage of security notifications can have a few negative repercussions on your users. Naturally, their workflows will suffer from consistent interruptions, but there is also the fact that these notifications will eventually be tuned out. As a result, if a real issue does eventually present itself, it is more likely to be ignored. An MSP’s services can help to separate the wheat from the chaff, preventing your users from encountering interruption in most cases.

Lacking User Awareness

Think back for a second: when you last had a cybersecurity training session for your users, what was the general format? Was it primarily a lecture, or were your employees involved and engaged in the process? When was your last training initiative? Many companies figure that these seminar-style sessions serve their purpose, but the more effective means of instilling good cybersecurity training is through shorter, more frequent, and (most importantly) more interactive efforts.

We have the tools and resources that can help you to better ensure your security efforts are contributing to your practical security. Check out the solutions that we have to offer your team today.

Via https://www.cimasg.com/2020/09/avoiding-cybersecurity-placebos/

source https://cimasg.weebly.com/blog/avoiding-cybersecurity-placebos-in-your-organization

[mileycfan4eva33]

Fandom: SVU

Title: Covenant From The Heart

Chapter 1: Violent Moment

P O V: Amanda Rollins

(A/N: Noah, Jessie, Billie do not exist in this fic. I own nothing except my ideas and original characters. All others belong to Wolf Entertainment and NBC.)

Saturday, June 2020

Christopher Street, New York, NY

"I hope you don't mind

I hope you don't mind

That I put down in words

how wonderful life is while you're in this world."

The radio plays as I sit inside the back of the Covenant House Van across from my Captain Olivia Benson, along with two trained Crisis Counselors from Covenant House, New York. Andrea O'Sullivan and Robert "Bobby J" Rodriquez. "Thanks for coming again with me, Amanda."

My smile is tight as I look back at Olivia there is a sadness in her eyes as we turn towards each other. "You're welcome, Liv, did Kat give any reason as to why she couldn't make it tonight?" "her mom has to work a double, and they couldn't find a babysitter last minute on a Saturday."

"Yeah, I hear that could be hard." Olivia sips her coffee, trying to keep warm. "I never mind helping Captain. Covenant House is such an amazing place Olivia, I'm always happy to volunteer for whatever they need."

"Thank you, detective Rollins we try. It isn't easy when we have 20,494 youth who are homeless." Andy's statement sends tremors down my spine. I try to hide the fact that I am shivering, as a cop, I knew those statistics. The number of homeless children in the United States is at its highest in more than a decade.

I can even break down the statistics that roughly 800,000 children are reported missing each year in the United States that's 2,000 kids who go missing every day in the USA. There are 115 child stranger abduction cases, LGBTQ youth represent as much as 40% of the homeless youth population. Between 1.6-2.8 million youth runaway each year in the United States. Children can begin running as young as ages 10-14. The youngest are the most at-risk for the dangers of street life.

Too many people take the attitude of Children who runaway make their own decisions to go. Let them be, they've made their personal choice and must deal with the consequences. If they want to come home, they will. That is so wrong because once these kids hit the streets, they have hours of reaching an inner-city before they become targets for these pimps. Once the pimps get their hands on these kids, they no longer have a choice. They are property of those pimps, and these monsters would take a bullet before they lose their 'product.' It is estimated that many young people, especially girls, begin engaging in survival sex within 48 hours of leaving home. Sex for food and a place to stay can quickly escalate into formalized prostitution.

I've seen what happens to those kids after becoming branded; they learn quickly to harden themselves and trust no one. The treacherous environment in which they must learn to survive is heartbreaking. They do not always outwardly present as sympathetic victims. They also frequently suffer from short–term and long–term psychological effects such as depression, self-hatred, and feelings of hopelessness. These child victims also need specialized services that are not widely available given they often have illnesses, drug addictions, physical and sexual trauma, lack of viable family and community ties, and total dependence—physical and psychological—on their abusers.

"Amanda, do you want some coffee?" "no, thanks, Liv, I'm good." "Sure you are; that's why I can see those goosebumps on your arms, Rollins." Olivia's left-hand grazes across my left arm, which she has now caused to go stiff in fear. Olivia's touch, smile Liv has no idea how she effects me.

Every hair is standing at attention, my heart racing, face flushed. My brain stutters to find words to respond to Olivia. It should be simple to say those words to tell Olivia how I feel; this is 2020, not 1990. I shouldn't be afraid of rejection to tell someone I have a deep crush on that I have a crush. I've told more than a half of a dozen women in my past that I liked them. I am not ashamed to identify as a lesbian.

Which brings me to question why I haven't confided in anyone I have worked with over the past nine years. Swallow Amanda, just swallow and relax. Olivia has no idea how you feel; she isn't asking you to spill how you feel. She's asking you for a drink stop freaking out you'll look like a fool.

"No, I'm good save the coffee for the kids, they need it more than I do. I'm okay."

"Detective Rollins we have more than enough." that's a lie I know before it even escapes Andy's lips she's just being nice to us since it's rare for cops to volunteer to do ride a long's, the department does not sanction them. 1PP truthfully goes out of their way to discourage us from doing them because they are so dangerous because these pimps could recognize one of us and blow our covers in the future. Sometimes I think they fear we will become too sympathetic with a homeless kid because God forbid NYPD cops be human and understand what life on the streets is actually like; we might let these kids go when indeed we are forced to pick them up for simply trying to stay alive.

Saturday nights are one of the busiest nights in New York City, especially for the homeless population in our impact zones. Turning down Bleeker Street, which is alive with nightclubs blaring music. Flashing neon signs obnoxiously calling out $2 dance bars—other signs signaling their bars, clubs, stores. Panhandlers line every corner, many with bloodshot eyes, sniffling noses, and scanning the crowd from our blackened windows. I can see swindlers working in pairs trying to rob the tourists who unsuspectingly stroll among them the glittering, neon buildings. Many are walking with cell phones out, looking for directions.

Olivia and I both exchange a look knowing half of them will be robbed. There's so much we both want to say but don't. Drug deals go down in plain sight to the untrained eye. It would be easily missed, in between the blaring lights and smells of Colombian bakeries, beauty salons, Mexican restaurants, and bars like the Gentlemen's Club advertising beautiful female dancers. People along this stretch of road hand out business cards emblazoned with half-naked women or fruits and flowers all that advertise "Free Delivery" and typically list the hours of operation between 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. It's a cover, of course, the cards are marketing tools of brothels that have set up shop inside private homes and apartments.

As the hour is growing later, the tourists are fading away; the clubs are starting to shut down, and the other Christopher Street, the one never mentioned in magazines, or featured on the nightly news and morning talk shows comes alive. This is our Christopher Street teens strutted past in the dark, often stopping to air kiss, catcall, or sometimes brawl.

Young LGBTQ youth in platform thigh-high boots, buttocks-revealing denim shorts, red-pleather boleros with matching caps and tops of the backless, sleeveless, or even frontless variety, those on the nightly parade here do anything but hide. They compete for best outfit, /best moves in nightly dance battles that rage beside the Hudson River to the sound of a boombox on the pier at the end of the street.

The teens are beautiful, but the night-life here is ugly, violent, and scary; the teens themselves often fight turning violent. Customers drunk throw glasses, bottles, or try to take the girls, ripping hair out, beating them. Not every person working is trying to cause problems; of course, there are many just trying to get by to pay rent that now topples over $3,000. I can barely afford my apartment in Brooklyn with my salary.

Cops are lining every street, but we are not here as cops Olivia and I are riding with the covenant house team to help them reach the kids whoa re too afraid to find Covenant House or don't know that help exists. We are reaching to find kids who need food, warmth, and shelter. We provide sandwiches, beverages, ears to the kids if they are ready to tell their stories.

In the van we provide education about sex, pregnancies, STD prevention, we give them condoms. We let them cry, scream, ask questions, or sit in silence; we let the kids choose what they need when they need it. Many have never been given a choice of anything in their lives. We gain the kids' trust and, when ready, we will get them to our crisis shelters, where they're given love and support to permanently stay off the streets. Some stay only a few days and decide they aren't ready to give up the life they know. They have to be willing to be drug-free and make other commitments to stay at Covenant House. Some, however, remain with Covenant House and complete the whole program.

Frequently it takes multiple interactions before the kids will trust those of us on the outreach team enough to accept our offers of help they've simply been burned by adults too many times in their lives.

"So Captain Benson, my boss tells me you've been coming on these rides along's since you joined SVU in 1999. Any specific reasons?"

Andy's question perks my interests in the nine years I have known Olivia; I have never known the answer to this question myself. For the first six years, when I went on these outreach trips, I never knew she went along. I only found out three years ago when we were paired together by accident on a night when they had more volunteers than vans. I never asked myself for fear of having to answer the same question back; it's a part of my past. I have kept hidden for many years. I have no intention of starting to share that story now.

"I was on the job about two months with Special Vics when we came across the case of a fourteen-year-old girl who we had to arrest for selling drugs to her classmates, sometimes in exchange for sexual favors. The whole Squad called her Spoiled Sally because she came from the upper west side, went to a private school. She had all the advantages of a rich kid, yet she chose to squander her life by selling drugs."

"You thought there was more to her story though, Olivia, didn't you?"

"You know me well, Amanda." Olivia has no idea how well I know her how I have spent my whole adult life, and most of my teens years studying her career trying to be half the cop she is. Olivia has no idea that I listen to every conversation hoping to gather a new detail I didn't know already. I know her favorite, color, movie, TV show, her worst fears, her dreams. I know which ice cream flavor she likes best, her favorite spot for ice cream, who her favorite baseball team is, and which sport she hates the most. I know Olivia uses vanilla body lotion but hates vanilla ice cream.

My body shivers despite being June. The temperature is dropping fast the later it gets. "I did think there was more, so I started investigating further. Interviewing her friends, teachers, classmates. Came to learn Sally transferred schools six times over the last year, she had moved from city to city since she was six years old."

Olivia bites her lower lip as she laughs slightly "Amanda you'll love this part, my boss told me to drop it, or he would transfer me, I couldn't drop it, I defied his orders and kept digging. I matched her picture into enhanced facial recognizing came to discover our Spoiled little Sally was Marcella Marginals, a kidnapped girl from Mexico who vanished at age six when her family was on vacation over there. They let go of her hands for two minutes, and she was snatched. Marcella was smuggled into different cities by different men. Who caged her up like an animal beat her raped her, sold her from family to family."

"This last family was an elderly couple who never had kids of their own; the man who sold her to them kept weekly checks on her forced her to sell drugs for him. Raped her weekly to keep her in-line raped the wife weekly to keep the parents quite. When we went to collect Marcella, the bastard was there raping the wife, the husband an 82-year-old man who could barely move was tied to the chair. A battle broke out between the police and the pimp, Marcella was shot in the battle, by my gun. I was devastated. I felt as if it was my fault if I had left it alone, as my boss told me. Marcella would be alive no matter how hard her life was, at least she drew breath. Because of me, that sweet girl was dead."

"All my co-workers kept telling me it wasn't my fault; it was just part of the job. I had to accept it as God's plan. I couldn't though, I mean, how did God see that to be fair? How could any God justify a fourteen-year-old girl being raped, beaten suffering every day as okay?"

"So I headed to my favorite bar to get there I had to pass the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, I wasn't raised in any dominant religion growing up, but I felt drawn to it. I felt like I needed to talk to God, to let him know how angry I was at him."

"At first, all I could do was sit there, staring at the candles, the altar, tears running down my face. I have no idea how long I sat there for; till I felt the gentle touch of Sister Mary Rose McGeady, she sat by me and listened to me. Then she said something to me that has stayed with me my whole life; she replied ours is not to ask God why; ours is simply to close our eyes and listen to our hearts, and believe God always has a reason why. It's hard at times, but I made a promise to God to listen; he has to lead me to my calling to help kids on the street, his kids."

"As you know at the time, Sister McGeady was the president of Covenant House from 1990-2003. She took me to the house and showed me the center; I spoke to counselors, volunteers, and the kids themselves. I fell in love with the mission, with the kids the staff. I knew I had to try to make a difference."

"I started doing the outreach van around 12 years ago, at first, it was just because it was always so short-staffed, not many people volunteer to do something so dangerous. Then it became another passion for me."

I reach over and take Olivia's hand "you know Marcella's death wasn't your fault, Liv. No more than Easter's was mine."

"I know Amanda, up here, I know that." She points to her head, "But in here." Olivia's hand moves to her heart. "that takes reminding I am sorry I couldn't comfort you after telling you about Easter, I should have held you talked to you instead of getting up and walking away. The memories of that day hit me so hard; I think I am moving on, and then I am hit with a wave of guilt so intense it takes my breath away."

"Liv, it's okay. I needed my Captain than you did what I needed. You gave me time to cry, scream you stayed in the room, so I knew you were there, but you gave me privacy. No one can take someone else to pain away. But having you in that room brought me comfort."

Olivia smiles at me as Bobby J speaks "You two should come Tuesday for our annual Sleep-out for Covenant House, we have a line-up of stars who are performing and over 1,000 people who have signed up to raise money for our kids by sleeping out."

"Yeah, sounds good, Amanda?" "I'm in for sure."

"So Miss southern sweet tea, what is your story? I know you got one." My body tenses at his suggestion I feel all eyes on me my heart races as my stomach twists. How am I suppose to get out of this one? "Don't be bashful to spill your game." Bobby J nudges me as I fight to keep my nausea from spilling out onto the van's floor. If Olivia knew the truth, she would never look at me the same ever again.

"Help me!" Loud, intense screams ricochet off the buildings in the side-street where we are parked; a young girl comes racing out of the cover of darkness shadow. So fast her legs stumble, but she doesn't allow herself to fall; she can't she's running for her life. Those skinny legs barely hold her body up, yet she hurls herself forward, never glancing back. I can hear her heavy breathing as she approaches "not here." she points to two streets over. Eyes glance at us. I see the pain and fear "My man he's watching he'll see me get in, I'm dead then, he'll know where to find me."

She's gone in a flash, hurling her skinny body down the side streets in a race for her life, dodging into different avenues. The van squeals to life as our driver Michelle steps on the gas, the girl's arms pump flying as she dodges cars, people she isn't quitting or playing. It's pitch black out here now except the glow of a few broken street lights.

Michelle flips off our headlights as we reach the street the girl wanted us to, we sit in silence the radio shut off now. Our heartbeats are the only sounds slowly. I get out my legs a little shaky from being crouched in a van for hours. Olivia follows me closely behind as seconds tick into minutes both of us praying her man as she called him didn't find her, which we know damn well means her pimp. Rustling has us both turning around I spot her first she comes running full speed towards us, fooling her pimp she had run around the block twice; New York blocks ain't no joke either, they are long.

This girl is in eight-inch heels her feet must hurt so bad I feel tears well up I can barely walk in those types of heels nerve mind run. The girl is only twenty- yards away from us. I can see the depth of fear in her cyan blue eyes. An ocean deep of pain she is so close to safety just within feet of being saved Olivia and I are both tense ready to grab her up. The squeals of tires alert us to a sense of danger; I don't think twice I take off "Rollins!" Olivia yells as I pump my legs harder than they have ever been pumped before. Hoping that this girl can see it in my eyes that she can trust me, she can reach better days if she reaches out, allows me to take her hands. Gets in this van with me, I can help her find the sunshine behind these rainy days. Sometimes one person can make a difference. I close my eyes every day I pray I can be that person.

My hands reach the girl at the very last second my lungs are screaming in pain, I can barely breathe my muscles are straining with every-step. "Grab my hands, don't let go no matter what I got you." My arms wrap around the girl's frail body as my feet make a sudden turn burning my heels. I pull her body racing to the van as doors fly open. "Rollins, get down!" Olivia screams as a hail of bullets rain down on us I push the girl into the van slam the door and bang on it. Michelle takes off my legs give out as I crash to the ground Olivia is returning fire. I can't breathe or think my legs are twitching in pain I can feel my blood filling my mouth as I start to cough.

I can't seem to focus on anything. Every breath is harder to inhale and exhale. "Amanda, it's Olivia we've got to move, they took off, but they'll be back we just cost them a major investment. Can you move at all?"

Olivia's arms lift me pain stabs me at every angle it's mild though so after a few breaths I can put pressure on my legs she doesn't let go of my arm though pulling me along with her as we race to meet the van a few blocks over. Sweat pours down my body as my stomach cramps I feel flushed. I'm losing blood I can feel how weak I am, but I have no idea where or how serious it is. "Amanda that was stupid as hell, we are off-duty you know the department does not cover any injury you get, any action you take as a citizen which means you face the same charges they face. No union rep to cover for you."

"Yeah, I know Liv, and it also means I don't have to play by the rules."

"Amanda, it doesn't mean you get to risk your life."

"It's mine to risk Olivia, and if you ain't willing to risk your life, why are you out here?"

"Uh! Why are all the bad-asses so damn stubborn!"

"That's what makes us hot."

"Yeah, I know that's why the bad-asses like you are always the one who looks the most fuckable."

My ears ring did Olivia Benson just say she wanted to what with me? I stop moving physically, yet my Vertigo didn't get the message. I can't speak all I can do is stare at Olivia, watch her long legs so muscular her statuesque frame so lean and beautiful, long dark hair loosely held back with a decorative clip. Her appearance takes my breath away. She smiles as she slowly moves us towards the van.

All I can do is picture her lying on top of me on her bed as she places her mouth over my clit. A direct hit, her gorgeous lips closing around it and lapping at it with her tongue. Her hands hold my hips as I try to buck against her face; she is a master at getting me off like this. I can feel an orgasm building in my walls, I can feel the heat rising as I writhe under her face, and just as she is about to push me over the edge, she inserts a single slender finger inside as she does I feel the first wave of fire rising and spreading through me. I come hard onto her hand as she rapidly pumps two fingers in and out while she sucks on my clit.

"Amanda, move!" My head peaks up from the daydream of Olivia, and I making love seconds too late as the car comes speeding towards us headlights as bright as the Georgia summer sun. Michelle rushes towards us, Andy and Bobby J throw open the doors. "Get in!" Olivia's hands push my body into the van's. I feel Andy and Bobby grab me pulling my limp body up as Olivia screams at Michelle. to"Go."

Wait, where is Olivia going? Why didn't she get in with me? Gunfire fills the air as I try to stand but am thrown back against the wall hard as Michelle takes off, tires squealing. "Calvin!" I hear Olivia's scream as my head slams into the floor, sending me crashing into a world of blackness. All I can do is pray; God keep Olivia safe.

A/N: For More information on how you can help Covenant House and Homeless Youth visit their website

Our Youth deserve a kinder, better world than the one we have today. Let us commit to building this world together. https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13643440/1/Covenant-From-The-Heart

[narsolstuff]

What keep us safe? It's sure not the sexual offense registry

Published 4/16 at Life on the List Guest post by Sandy Rozek Sex offenders have always been with us. Those who are convicted of committing rape and sexual assault and child molestation have always been punished and then released into the community. They were not registered. They did not have to “check in” with law enforcement once they were no longer on probation or parole. Their presence in the community as former sexual offenders was largely unknown. They lived and worked wherever they could with no restrictions on where; there were no imaginary lines drawn around parks or schools, no prohibition against trick-or treat or other Halloween activities, no requirement to notify law enforcement if their telephone number or place of employment changed. According to the wisdom of today, reoffense should have been rampant. As each year more individuals, virtually all “first-timers,” are released after serving a sentence for a sexual crime, the sheer mass of these felons unleashed on an unsuspecting public, with no one tracking or constantly monitoring them, must have resulted in ever-increasing numbers of victims. Stranger-rape victims must have been piling up in the streets. Those suffering from sexual assault must have overwhelmed the hospital system. Children must have been kidnapped from schools and parks in record numbers on a daily basis. But none of those things happened. Statistics are hard to come by. A study done in New York City (p.324), the Mayor’s Committee Report on Sex Offenses covering the years 1930 - 1939, reports, among others, these findings: There was no wave of sex crime in New York City during the 1930's. Although sex crimes receive more public attention than other types of crime, they represent only a small fraction of the sum total coming to the attention of the Police Department. Most sex crimes are by first offenders . . . Offenders charged with sex felonies are less inclined to have records than other types of felons. Sex crime is not habitual behavior for the great majority of convicted sex offenders. Police Department fingerprint records disclose that only 7%, 40 out of 555 offenders convicted of sex crimes in 1930, were again arrested on the same charge during the period from 1930 to 1941. A Bureau of Justice report published in 1997 gives this information for forcible rape: In 1976, 53 instances for each 100,000 female victims (Male victims were not counted until later.) In 1980, 65 per 100,000 In 1988, 66 per 100,000 In 1995, 66 per 100,000 This was all pre-Megan’s Law registries. Furthermore, children were not being assaulted or kidnapped from parks or schools. Schools had no security monitors, no screening devices; parents and other members of the public were, for the most part, free to come and go as they wished. Children played in parks, in the streets, in neighbors’ yards, unmonitored and unharmed. The rare, rare occasion of a child being taken by a stranger – e.g., – Jaycee Dugard; Elizabeth Smart -- was so remarkable that it dominated news cycles for months and even years. The only recorded instance, ever, of a child being abducted and harmed on Halloween is the tragic case of Lisa French in Fond du Luc, Wisconsin, in 1973. The man who molested and killed her while she was trick or treating had no record of a previous sexual crime. To this day, in the United States, there is no other reported instance of a stranger molestation of a child during Halloween activities, neither before the proliferation of sexual offense registries and Halloween restrictions nor after. Those convicted of sexual crimes did what those convicted of other crimes did: They served their sentences, struggled to gain employment on release, and assimilated into society as best they could. The only difference between former sexual offenders and those convicted of other offenses is that the reoffense rate for the former was and remains remarkably lower than for the later. So what happened? Jacob Wetterling happened (1987). Megan Kanka happened (1994). And years before them, although never proven to have been the result of a sexual crime, Adam Walsh had happened (1981). These three children were all tragically murdered. Jacob and Megan were victims of sexual offenders. Their cases were rare, horrific, and catalytic. In the years that followed, we saw the Jacob Wetterling Act (1994) that requires states to implement a sex offender and crimes against children registry, Megan’s Law (1996) requiring law enforcement authorities to make information available to the public regarding registered sex offenders, and the Adam Walsh Act (2006) outlining a plethora of requirements pertaining to those on a sexual offense registry. Individual states, not to be outdone by the federal government, rushed to implement further “protections.” Restrictions against where a registrant could live, work, or even be were proposed and eagerly passed by the voting public as they were presented as essential to “keep our children safe.” A wide variety of Halloween restrictions were implemented; an informal research project found that such restrictions were non-existent prior to 2003, when there were three articles announcing them. From there they climbed each year, and by 2014 numbered 177. At least one state makes it illegal for a person on the registry to give candy or a gift at Halloween, Christmas, Easter, or other holidays to any person 17 or younger; the statute makes no exception for one’s own children. And now, fueled by politicians who yearly propose new legislation further restricting the rights and movements of persons required to register and adding new offenses yearly, and by the media, who quickly discovered that “sex offender” in a header is automatic click-bait, the American public is convinced that the registry and all of the restrictions against and requirements of registered persons are the only things standing between them and wholesale rape and destruction of women and children. Fueled additionally by proliferation of the “frightening and high” recidivism myth and by a total disregard for studies that debunk essentially everything the public believes about those who commit sexual crime as well as for best practices for managing them, we find ourselves in the midst of a health crisis in which best practices and recommendations from health officials are either withheld from those on the registry or treated with dismay or hostility where they are extended. Virtually every announcement of releases from prisons, recommended by experts, makes it clear that “sex offenders” will not be included. Only four states to date have put state-wide holds on the required in-person visits to verify or change information by those on a registry, also highly recommended. When the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Dept. in Washington posted March 18 on their Facebook page that, in keeping with limiting face-to-face exposure as much as possible due to the Covid-19 crisis, “RSO services and check-ins will be delayed until April 6, 2020. Change of addresses can still be conducted by Certified Mail,” the comments included, “Who made the choice to close this? I am talking about the office where sex offenders check in? Was there absolutely no other step you could of taken? This makes me, a community member feel very concerned!” and “. . . sex offenders not having to check in until the office reopens. That in itself has caused me concern.” Those remarks, however, showed remarkable restraint in light of those posted in response to New York releasing prisoners, including some with sexual offenses. “Wouldn't a better approach be to use them as human test subjects? We could test all kinds of things on them and then expose them to COVID-19 and see what substances work. We could try cyanide, strychnine...” and “Did they castrate them first at least?” are representative of these. National crises are wont to bring out both the best and the worst in humanity. This one will be no exception. It is impossible at this point to know what changes in our society and our relationships with one another will occur as a result of our confrontation with the Coronavirus. One excellent thing that could come is a broader understanding of the actual and multi-faceted nature of sexual crime and those who commit it and a realization that the myriad of restraints placed on those with sexual crime convictions are not what has kept and will keep us safe. There will always be sexual offenders. Sadly, that will not change. Those who are convicted will serve their sentences and again become a part of society. An almost minuscule percentage of those will reoffend. The vast majority will not. And our modern-day attempts at monitoring and tracking and restricting and controlling every aspect of their lives will have little to nothing to do with whether they do or whether they don’t. Read the full article