National Preparedness Month, Sept. 2018

National Preparedness Month (NPM), recognized each September, provides an opportunity to remind us that we all must prepare ourselves and our families now and throughout the year.

Take time to learn lifesaving skills − such as CPR and first aid, check your insurance policies and coverage for the hazards you may face, such as flood, earthquakes, and tornados. Make sure to consider the costs associated with disasters and save for an emergency. Also, know how to take practical safety steps like shutting off water and gas.

Make an Emergency Plan

Build a Kit
 
Take a Course - Learn to Protect Your Home or Small Business from Disaster

Los Angeles to Become First in US to Install Subway Body Scanners

The Los Angeles subway system will become the first in the U.S. to install body scanners that screen passengers for weapons and explosives, officials said Tuesday.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Transportation Security Administration had been testing several different types of body scanners for about a year.

The scanners that are being deployed are portable, and project waves to do a full-body screening of passengers walking through a station without slowing them down.

The machines, which scan for metallic and non-metallic objects on a person's body, can detect suspicious items from 30 feet (9 meters) away and have the capability of scanning more than 2,000 passengers per hour. (KOMO 4 News, August 14, 2018)
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No!, No!, No! & No! - Scanners that can be used from 30 feet away can scan you without your knowledge or consent. And while those who like the idea of body scanners in subway stations may envision something like the Total Recall Body Scanner (Movie Clip), the reality I think will be far worse.

Social Engineering

This is how hackers hack you using simple social engineering (YouTube Video).

If you want to learn more about social engineering, check out
"The Art of Deception" by Kevin Mitnick.

 



 

Selling Your Car? Clear Your Personal Data From The Vehicle's Systems First

Is a new car in your future? You might first have some unfinished business with your old one. While you’re cleaning out your personal items, think about the personal information stored in the car’s electronic system.

Your car is a computer that stores a lot of information about you — just like your smartphone or home computer. When you sell or donate your car, that personal data might be accessible to the next owner if you don’t take steps to remove it.

Some cars have a factory reset option that will return the settings and data to their original state. But even after a factory reset, you may still have work to do. For example, your old car may still be connected to subscription services like satellite radio, mobile wi-fi hotspots, and data services. You need to cancel these services or have them transferred to your new vehicle.

Here are types of data you want to remove from the electronic system before selling or donating your car:

• Phone contacts and an address book may have been downloaded when you synced your phone with your vehicle.
• Mobile apps’ log-in information, or data that’s gathered and stored on mobile apps, may be stored in the car.
• Digital content like music may be stored on a built-in hard drive.
• Location data like addresses or the routes you take to home, work, and favorite places may be stored in your navigation system.
• Garage door codes for your home or office may be on your system.

Besides the information stored on your vehicle, check to make sure you’ve cleared connections between your devices and the car as well. For example, car manufacturers may provide an app that lets you control the car’s functions or find the car — you should disconnect the app from the car when you sell it or trade it in.

For more information about resetting and removing your information, check your owner’s manual, contact your dealer, and visit your vehicle manufacturer’s website. (Federal Trade Commission, August 27, 2018)


-- Think about this when returning a rental car as well. --

 

 

 

School Shooting Data Is Massively Inflated

According to a Mises Institute report (August 29, 2018) Shooting Data Is Massively Inflated.

The report states: "This spring the U.S. Education Department reported that in the 2015-2016 school year, "nearly 240 schools ... reported at least 1 incident involving a school-related shooting." The number is far higher than most other estimates.

But NPR reached out to every one of those schools repeatedly over the course of three months and found that more than two-thirds of these reported incidents never happened. Child Trends, a nonpartisan nonprofit research organization , assisted NPR in analyzing data from the government's Civil Rights Data Collection.

We were able to confirm just 11 reported incidents, either directly with schools or through media reports.

In 161 cases, schools or districts attested that no incident took place or couldn't confirm one. In at least four cases, we found, something did happen, but it didn't meet the government's parameters for a shooting. About a quarter of schools didn't respond to our inquiries.

The Education Department, asked for comment on our reporting, noted that it relies on school districts to provide accurate information in the survey responses and says it will update some of these data later this fall. But, officials added, the department has no plans to republish the existing publication .

A separate investigation by the ACLU of Southern California also was able to confirm fewer than a dozen of the incidents in the government's report, while 59 percent were confirmed errors. ...

Most of the school leaders NPR reached had little idea of how shootings got recorded for their schools. For example, the CRDC reports 26 shootings within the Ventura Unified School District in Southern California. "I think someone pushed the wrong button," said Jeff Davis, an assistant superintendent there. The outgoing superintendent, Joe Richards, "has been here for almost 30 years and he doesn't remember any shooting," Davis added. "We are in this weird vortex of what's on this screen and what reality is."
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The FBI is Seeking Victims of Seattle Sex-Trafficker David Delay

Seattle-Area Sex Trafficker, David Delay, Duped Victims With Promise of Fame and Riches.

Delay was indicted in 2015 and was convicted last November on 17 charges related to sex trafficking and child pornography. He was sentenced in April to 33 years in prison. Comer pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking in 2015 and was later sentenced to three years in prison. Although the case is now closed, the FBI is asking for Delay’s other victims to come forward so they can be provided with services, such as counseling.

If you or someone you know was one of David Delay’s victims, the FBI can connect you to services you are entitled to, such as mental health counseling. If you believe you may be a victim of David Delay, please e-mail ReportDDMC@fbi.gov.

There are 15 known victims in this case, and investigators believe there could be more, both victims of his prostitution scheme, as well as possible victims of child pornography that he may have coerced others into creating.

“[Delay] is already going to be in prison for a very long time,” said FBI Seattle Victim Specialist Stefanie Hanley. “But it’s really about trying to make right those other wrongs and helping those victims with where they are at and what they have been through, which we can’t do unless they come forward.”  (FBI, August 30, 2018)
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Court May Reconsider Ruling on Police Deadly Force Measure I-940

The question of whether Washington voters will have their say on a measure designed to make it easier to prosecute police for negligent shootings might not be over, after all.

The day after ruling that Initiative 940 should appear on the November ballot, the state Supreme Court requested briefing by the end of the day Wednesday about how the justices' various opinions should be interpreted.

De-Escalate Washington submitted I-940 to the Legislature early this year after collecting nearly 360,000 signatures. The measure is designed to improve police training in de-escalation tactics and to eliminate a requirement that prosecutors prove officers acted with malice to get a conviction in negligent shootings.

Law enforcement groups objected to some of the initiative's provisions, however, and both sides came together with lawmakers to craft a compromise. The Legislature then passed the original as well as a bill to amend and replace it with the compromise language.

That was unprecedented. Under the state Constitution...  (KOMO 4 News, August 29, 2018)
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According to Kris Carrasco, Attorney at Law:

"Washington Law allows any person to use reasonable force to defend themselves when they are being attacked or have a reasonable belief that they are about to be attacked. A person may not use more force than is necessary given the situation. The law does not impose a duty to retreat.

Washington Law states that the use of force is lawful whenever used to prevent an offense against another person.

Under certain situations, a person may use force to defend against a “malicious trespass or interference" with real or personal property. This means that if someone is entering your home or taking or damaging your property and they are doing so with an evil purpose, you can defend your property by force."

So, the question posed by I-940 and similar debates is whether police officers should have some special privilege and immunity when it comes to use of deadly force against others?

A Seattle Times review of 213 fatal encounters with police in Washington state from 2005 to 2014 found only one where a police officer was charged. An opinion piece by Jason Rantz from February 2018, "I-940 is absolutely anti-cop" 16 percent (34 people) shot by police did not have weapons on them when they were killed.

Mr. Rantz suggests that I-940 will make it easier for an "anti-cop jury" to put a police officer in jail after he or she kills someone while on duty. This is true if we accept the idea that there is such a thing as an "anti-cop" jury, that all 12 jurors would return a verdict against a police officer simply because he or she is a police officer. - I think however that such an "anti-cop jury" is an extremely unlikely scenario - just as unlikely as police officers shooting subjects when there was not a clear self-defense (defense of self or others) need to do so.