Delaware police say a man repeatedly raped the same girl 250 times over the course of five years.
41-year-old Richard White Jr. was recently indicted on 11 counts of second-degree rape, four counts of sexual exploitation of a child and possession of child porn.
Police detail that the raping started back in 2012.
SINCERELY, X AUDIO PODCASTThis week on Sincerely, X, a podcast from TED and Audible where speakers share ideas anonymously. Episode 8 features a woman whose bravery after a devastating assault allowed her to reclaim her own personal power. Available now on Apple Podcasts, the TED Android app, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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The Respect Award comes to me from Danica Piche at Living The Beautiful Life. Hugs to you my dear friend. I’m honored. If you’re not already following her blog, you are missing a slice of the pie. http://www.danicapiche@wordpress.com
What is the Respect Award?
The Respect Award is given by Rob once a year to acknowledge and show respect to fellow bloggers who, in his words, make him a better blogger and make him feel human. They also:
What are the rules for The Respect Award?
Nominees don’t have to do a thing. Nothing.
This is a no obligation award, which means you don’t have to nominate anyone.
I’m taking the award at face value of doing nothing.
A Big Texas thank y’all to everyone who follows, comments, likes, or peaks in my blog.
M
The Respect Award comes to me from Robert at Art by Rob Goldstein. Thank you so much, Robert. My Blog is Award Free, I accept for the reason of no commitment. This is the second year to receive the award, I’m very grateful. If you’re not already following his blog, please pay him a visit —your world will never be the same.
What is the Respect Award?
The Respect Award is given by Rob once a year to acknowledge and show respect to fellow bloggers who, in his words, make him a better blogger and make him feel human. They also:
What are the rules for The Respect Award?
Nominees don’t have to do a thing. Nothing.
I plan the do nothing route. Thanks again Robert.
A huge Texas thank y’all to everyone who follows, comments, likes, or drops in for a peak. Melinda
Reblogging is a frustrating feeling and one I’ve heard for years. Last week I could not remember how to find post to reblog. Here’s the most simplistic way I know to reblog. Go back to basic’s. There’s information on WordPress on the process of reblogging if you want to read.
You can write from either Writer page, the key is where you are when publishing. The newer stark white Writer with all tools compact on the right side. I write in this section often but do not reblog from here. I do cleanup, previews all the processes we go thru.
Then make sure it’s saved and I switch over to old Writer. I hit the back button at top left next to name of blog. Then go down to Admin, click, scroll to post and you arrive at old Writer. The page is laid out vertical with the tools down below post and you scroll thru each process.
After preview and last-minute changes, I save draft, then click publish. once published at the Top Left of Page it reads, Preview Post. Click their, scroll down your post to find reblog button is there.
M
I’m honored to join the community at Men’s Movement. Being apart of the men’s community, sharing to help others always fills me with sunshine. There is another important aspect to joining the community, expanding my knowledge. I can’t speak for men and how they process mental illness or other trauma. I urge you to check out the site, http://www.mensmovement.com Exciting growth is happening, webcast are in development and a second site is coming together. M
Here at The Men’s Movement Community we are passionate about on-line (and off-line) transformative education, and we promote and sell books, apps and courses in psychology, therapy, and coaching. The products we sell is often within a narrow niche and deals with a highly specific problem and offer a very particular solution. We will present solutions in anger management, neurodiversity, and sexual abuse healing.
Our goal is to bring the most effective tools in personal development out to the general male population, not only as a producer and seller of programs but also as a campaigner for the raising of men’s collective self-awareness, self-compassion, and self-care. We are using the latest technology to deepen our humanity.
Our work centers around men’s personal development, helping you to Step Into Your Power. The Men’s Movement community is about empowering you to live who you are. Your empowering can take many forms depending on where you are in life, what struggles you are in, and where you think you’re going. No matter where that is, we want to be a part of that journey and provide the best support possible.
The Men’s Movement Community is raising all the good examples of people doing fantastic work around issues deeply affecting boys and men, such as sexual abuse, eating, addiction, violence, grief, and relationships, among others. We have only started this work and invite any therapist, coach or instructor working with boys or men to become a member and enrich the community members lives with your work.
It is our dream that this site in a few years will become mainstream, or rather, that the content and information shared here will be common knowledge, something everybody knows. We can pretend that it is the year 2030, and what we would like to see is:
As we see when we read this list we have som little work to do. Welcome to join the movement, to join our force of societal progression. Help us give tools to all the beautiful men out so that they can find what is inside their hearts and so that they can start giving their gifts.
FAQ Men’s Movement Community
What is the Men’s Movement Community?
The Men’s Movement Community is an online personal development community for men. It’s a gathering place for men and the people who love and support them. We built the community around an online social network with support groups, a blog with guest authors and a course catalogue filled with courses in transformational learning and personal development. We are also creating a database of available resources for men.
What is the aim of The Men’s Movement Community?
We are a safe space for men to share our story and to get support, knowledge, and resources to get on with the journey we are on. We share around situations like; divorce, custody battles, legal struggle, struggle with mental health, a personal crisis, a career shift, midlife changes or an exploration of one’s story.
In service
David Pilbäck
Founder of the Men’s Movement community
Five weeks ago I broadened my Advocacy work by jumping on Twitter. On 7/5/17 there were 100 followers, today the number is 1,962. What a nice surprise.
The configuration on my Twitter timeline only shows the organizations I follow. The timeline updates twice a day focussing on organizations I follow, avoiding the toxic dump.
I’m writing for Men’s Movement in Sweden. My first post is in review. Focusing a limited number helps gain more information outside their mission statement.
I want to thank you for supporting, encouraging and cheerleading me on. Moving my Advocacy to the level is a goal important to me. Let’s celebrate! The New York Times twitter feed gave a shout out for the content this week. Big surprise and honored.
Next week I’m writing an overview of Men’s Movement. Thrilled to join of the community.
I want to share the names of the some of the organizations.
M
This is a feel good story, those who don’t make it to Network News. She has a heart of gold to give back to her community. I was so proud of the effort she takes with each woman. It looks like a social gathering, what a great way to affirm one another. M
My lyme brain is missing this week, as you tell I don’t know what day it is. I like the videos very their strong survival skills of kicking addiction, abusive behavior or coming from the depths of depression. I don’t often say, I’m fighting the black dog, I’m Survive.
TAKING CONTROL BACK, SURVIVORS! M
Another Genetic Study from 23 & Me, gives me hope and makes by blood boil. One technology will allow people who suffer with mental illness, have a better life. New drugs, clinical trials, preclinical trials, cover you ass just in case issues. I believe there are drugs being tested now who will make a difference for future generations.
I don’t foresee a cure, but anything is possible after I’m long gone. If we have the Genetic information to determine if an antidepressant will work, where is it! I spent my 20 & 30’s suffering, wanting ti die many times. Taking over 40 medications, having ECT 20 times, implanted with a Vagus Nerve Stimulator to get any relieve from the black dog.
Maybe it’s not cost effect to roll out or on the scale needed for the general public. Logically I know every generation moves the bar closer for the next generation. I firmly believe its up to us to speak out, shout out with Advocates Groups for better care and cost of insurance. We have the right to vote people in or out of office based on track record and views on Mental Illness.
I’m more outspoken and angry because the black dog has me by the neck pulling me further done. I also want people with Stigma’s to get out of dark ages and educate themselves.
Many of you know part of my brain doesn’t work so if I forgot what it said or misunderstood, please read and make up your mind what it means to our community. The black dog is choking me hard, I’m eager to hear from my doctor for some relief. I’m tired of not liking myself and not being productive.
Thank you Melinda
“Hope. Courage. Freedom. Fearlessness. All things are possible with an open heart—and a joyful heart.”
NEW YORK – The Joyful Heart Foundation today announced that Texas has become the first state in the nation to implement comprehensive rape kit reform. With the passage of H.B. 281, which requires the Department of Public Safety to establish a comprehensive statewide tracking system to monitor rape kits from collection to analysis, Texas has now enacted all six pillars of reform recommended by Joyful Heart and leaders in this field.
“Joyful Heart is proud to stand with State Representative Donna Howard, former State Senator Wendy Davis, and our tireless advocacy partners, including the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, who have fought for years for comprehensive rape kit reform,” said Ilse Knecht, Joyful Heart’s Director of Policy and Advocacy. “With this passage, Texas has demonstrated its commitment to bringing justice to survivors, holding violent perpetrators accountable for their crimes, and promoting public safety for all residents.”
Ending the rape kit backlog requires a coordinated effort and deep commitment at all levels of our government and in communities across the United States. Joyful Heart has developed a national campaign that combines direct legislative efforts, press and media outreach, strategic partnerships, and survivor advocacy. The goal: pass comprehensive rape kit reform legislation in all 50 states by 2020.
Joyful Heart’s campaign was developed following a comprehensive review of rape kit reform efforts, as well as interviews with trusted experts across the country—advocates, survivors, prosecutors, investigators, and crime lab personnel—and local, state and national leaders. The assessment formalized six essential pillars for comprehensive rape kit reform:
“Since 2011, Texas legislators have worked to implement pieces of rape kit reform. Today, Texas becomes the first state to pass all key pillars necessary to truly address a state’s untested sexual assault kits,” said Knecht. “In particular, the tracking of rape kits mandated by H.B. 281 is critical. Only after law enforcement agencies track and account for the untested kits in their custody can communities begin to take steps to test those kits, hold offenders accountable, and bring justice to sexual assault survivors whose cases have languished, often for years—or even decades.”
Joyful Heart has created the premier national resource about the rape kit backlog, which includes an interactive map and resources for survivors, legislators, and the media. Learn more at: ENDTHEBACKLOG.org.
For Immediate Release: June 7, 2017
Contact: Melissa Schwartz, media@endthebacklog.org.
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The mission of the Joyful Heart Foundation is to heal, educate and empower survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse, and to shed light into the darkness that surrounds these issues.
ENDTHEBACKLOG is a program of the Joyful Heart Foundation to shine a light on the backlog of untested rape kits throughout the United States. Our goal is to end this injustice by conducting groundbreaking research identifying the extent of the nation’s backlog and best practices for eliminating it, expanding the national dialogue on rape kit testing through increased public awareness, engaging communities and government agencies and officials and advocating for comprehensive rape kit reform legislation and policies at the local, state and federal levels. We urge you to learn more about the backlog, where it exists and why it matters. We invite you to take action and support efforts to test rape kits. Help us send the message that we must take rape seriously.
Rebirth, life lessons, stretching, separation, payback
Unconditional Love, what if, can I count on, will you be there
Real Friends, love, anger, time apart, life at stake, friends are the last to give up
I listened to new songs tonight, wanting something to kick me hard, make me think. What do I stand for?
I stand for truth, falling to pieces, rebirth, existence, people who would die for my life. My life isn’t complete, there’s many potholes, shame, fear and depression. I know in my heart Life Is About To Get Good. I hope you enjoy. M
I met Author Jeff Emmerson on Twitter, he’s motivating, a tireless advocate for Mental Heath and shines a bright light on ADHD for which he was misdiagnosed. Jeff’s book Beyond ADHD-Overcoming the Label and Thriving is on pre-order at Amazon and with an August release date.
Beyond ADHD weaves Emmerson’s personal story of his ADHD diagnosis, exploring along the way the latest medical, scientific and societal explanations and tools for managing and living with the condition. Including interviews with a number of experts at the forefront of next-generation ADHD diagnostics and treatment, he questions the cookie-cutter way ADHD is commonly diagnosed and treated. Suggesting that the list of symptoms often used to identify ADHD can be attributed to many other disorders and conditions, he explores how and why ADHD diagnoses have increased by 50% in the last ten years.
He has more than 600,000 followers on his @IAmJeffEmmerson Twitter account, 15,000+ LinkedIn connections, a large viewership on YouTube, and is currently gaining about 7,500 followers per week. His e-mail list has over 26,000 subscribers.
Emmerson is aligned with a number of leading medical, neuroscience and behavioral experts, many of whom are quoted prominently in his book. He’s written for EverydayHealth.com, AdditudeMag.com, and AOL Health, and has been interviewed on NPR.
His most recent title, Just Add Water, the biography of autistic surfing great Clay Marzo (2015: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), has been nominated for the Dorothy Gray Children’s Literature Award and an International Book Award.
He also works with author Kevin Hines, whose Cracked, Not Broken (2013: Rowman-Littlefield) is revered worldwide for its discussion of bipolar disorder and suicide prevention. Yehling has also edited published titles on traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder and autism. Another book on which he provided direct author assistance, Home Sweet Anywhere by Lynn Martin (2014: Sourcebooks), was a bestseller.
A professional journalist since 1976, Yehling was the recipient of the 2007 Independent Publishers Book Award for his title, Writes of Life: Using Personal Experiences in Everything You Write. He also has won national awards for his work in magazine journalism, online journalism, website editing, and a Bank of America Liberal Arts Award.
Besides writing and editing, Yehling teaches cause-based writing and other topics at writers’ conferences and workshops throughout the United States.
“Courageous, tenacious, smart, and full of a hockey goalie’s all-star heart,
Jeff Emmerson probes behind the slogans and labels to get at the truth.
A man on a mission, Jeff does the world of ADHD a great service with this book.”
– Edward Hallowell, MD, author of Driven to Distraction and many other books;
Founder of The Hallowell Centers; host of the weekly podcast Distraction
“A beautiful amalgam of lived experience and first rate science writing. Helpful
and inspiring for those who suffer with ADHD; essential for those who need
protection from misdiagnosis and careless drug prescriptions.”
– Allen Frances, MD, DSM-IV Task Force; and professor emeritus, Duke University School of Medicine
You can pre-order on Amazon.com or dates listed below.
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 260 • Size: 6 x 9
978-1-4422-7510-2 • Hardback • August 2017 • $36.00 • (£24.95)
978-1-4422-7511-9 • eBook • August 2017 • $35.99 • (£24.95) (coming soon)
Subjects: Psychology / Psychopathology / Attention-Deficit Disorder (ADD-ADHD), Psychology / General, Self-Help / General, Self-Help / Mood Disorders / General
END THE BACKLOG is an initiative of the Joyful Heart Foundation to shine a light on the backlog of untested rape kits throughout the United States. Our goal is to end this injustice by conducting groundbreaking research identifying the extent of the nation’s backlog and best practices for eliminating it, expanding the national dialogue on rape kit testing through increased public awareness, engaging communities and government agencies and officials and advocating for comprehensive rape kit reform legislation and policies at the local, state and federal levels. We urge you to learn more about the backlog, where it exists and why it matters. We invite you to take action and support efforts to test rape kits. Help us send the message that we must take rape seriously.
Today’s guest author is Wendy Davis, former Texas state senator and founder of the advocacy organization Deeds Not Words. Here, she discusses the rape kit reform laws she sponsored in the Senate and addresses the need for survivors’ voices to drive policy solutions.
I first started working on the issue of sexual violence in 2009 while serving in the Texas Senate. A representative from the state’s forensic lab came to my office, sat down with my staff, and laid out their belief that we had a significant number of untested rape kits sitting in law enforcement evidence rooms across our state. At this point, Illinois had already started the same self-analysis and had exposed an alarming problem—thousands of untested kits on evidence room shelves.
I started by working with survivors and stakeholders to pass a law requiring law enforcement agencies throughout the state to conduct an inventory of their untested kits. This should be easy, I thought. It’s simply a matter of counting them, and we aren’t asking that they be tested at this point, so no funding will be needed—or so my logic went.
Boy, was I wrong. To my surprise, several law enforcement agencies began to push back behind the scenes (rather than coming to committee hearings to publicly oppose the bill). How dare someone tell them what they needed to do with their evidence? If they had untested kits, their argument went, they had them because they had made the judgment call not to test the kits, believing testing them would not yield anything helpful to a criminal investigation.
We pushed back hard with the help of jurisdictions like Fort Worth, Dallas, and Houston, where leaders understood we had a problem and wanted to be part of the solution. Ultimately, we were successful in passing the audit requirement, making Texas the second state to conduct such an analysis.
We were not prepared for the result. We discovered almost 20,000 untested kits—the highest number uncovered in any state to this day—collecting dust on shelves throughout Texas. This number is still not complete because—believe it or not—there are still jurisdictions that have not reported their numbers.
Following the inventory, we knew that approximately 20,000 untested rape kits sat on shelves. What next?
Around this time, I heard the story of Lavinia Masters, who was raped by a stranger in her home when she was only 13. After filing a police report, Lavinia was taken to a hospital and subjected to the hours-long, invasive process of collecting DNA evidence left behind by the attacker. Lavinia and her family were never told what happened to her kit. Two decades later, Lavinia saw a news story about the backlog, and wondered, was my kit ever even tested? After waiting for months while police searched for the missing kit, forensic technicians analyzed it, developed a DNA profile, and ran it through the national database. Lavinia’s rapist was finally identified. He was already in prison for other crimes and no longer eligible for prosecution for her rape. The statute of limitations had run out.
Lavinia’s story was a wake-up call for me. The backlog wasn’t just a number. It wasn’t just a matter of thousands of boxes sitting on shelves. It was a matter of thousands of real people—survivors—who had never received the justice they deserved.
It was also a matter of wrongful convictions secured through incomplete investigations. It was the story of Johnny Pinchback, who was in his 20s when he was accused of two rapes he didn’t commit. He was sentenced to 99 years in prison, and spent 27 years behind bars, before being exonerated when the state began testing backlogged rape kits.
These stories launched me on a journey, working alongside wonderful, committed advocates from the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault (TAASA), Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs), law enforcement leaders, and local elected officials on reform.
In 2011, we passed a law requiring that all kits collected from that point in time be submitted to the lab for testing within 30 days. In 2013, we successfully set aside $11 million in the state budget to help test the backlogged kits. We were also successful in securing $5 million in grants awarded to law enforcement jurisdictions in Dallas, Houston, and Austin to address their own backlogs.
We were finally going to address the backlog and ensure that this never happened again.
In 2013, we also passed a law requiring law enforcement jurisdictions to keep rape survivors apprised of the status of their kits. Last year, we learned that the law was not working as we’d hoped. A survivor reached out to her elected official, State Representative Donna Howard, and explained that she didn’t have any real way to know the status of her rape kit. Rep. Howard set out to find a solution. If UPS can track a package from one part of the world to another using a barcode system, why can’t we do the same for a rape kit?, she thought. Rep. Howard worked tirelessly this year to pass a law that will create a computerized tracking system to aid police jurisdictions in keeping track of their evidence and, more importantly, will allow survivors to log in and check the status of their kits.
By creating this statewide tracking system, Texas became the first in the nation to implement the six key pillars of legislative rape kit reform, as recommended by Joyful Heart. Work remains, but we are proud to be the first in the nation to achieve this milestone.
There is a common thread in every step of reform. Each success occurred because someone who had been traumatized by rape came forward and made their story known. They shook us out of our comfortable realities and laid bare the need for each of us to do something.
If there is anything I have learned in my public service career, it’s that there is no challenge you can’t overcome with the strength of a courageous individual who is willing to come forward, share her or his unique story, and work to create change. Knowing who, rather than just what, we are fighting for is the most important incentive for a policymaker when faced with obstacles in making change.
There is still so much work to be done—not only to create appropriate criminal justice responses and remedies for survivors of sexual assault, but also to prevent assaults from occurring. It is slow and often frustrating work. But we are chipping away at it, one legislative solution at a time, thanks to each brave person who comes forward and reminds us who it is we are fighting for.
-By Wendy Davis, July 18, 2017
I planned a nice gallery of photos from different times in life. Planned but it is not happening. In this photo I’m smiling ear to ear galloping around the kitchen on my second birthday. My grandparents bought the pony I dreamed of.
I’m overjoyed to have my WordPress friends here, let’s share the day with hugs, best wishes and lots of chocolate and vanilla cake. Sorry Vegans, I can offer a cold bottle of water.
The video reminds me we are all miracles and can do anything we apply ourself to. It’s touching around the World people can relate.
M
My grandparents loved me unconditionally with words, most importantly their actions. They saw the effects of abuse and neglect from a distance, I never said anything or make accusations. Granny spent extra time with me, giving me a long bath, washing my hair, scrubbing dirty feet, knees and elbows. She pampered me with few words spoken. She had the ritual, after drying off and hair not dripping she would wrap me in the towel, carry me to the bed, put baby powder on me then tell what a cute and funny/beautiful/any compliment I could comprehend at the age.
Granny knew I was dead inside from years of abuse, she never spoke bad of my mother even though tormented by my pain My grandparents made sacrifices until God deemed the time was right. My music teacher called me into the hall and would not accept my explanation for the bruises all over the my face. She asked me go to the Counselors office, I begged you don’t understand saying anything only makes it worse for me. I arrive in Counselor’s office, asking to call my Granny. I told her everything, she had seen the bruises, my underarms bruised and bleeding from my mothers stabbed finger nails.
Some of the most traumatic years followed. God knew when the time was right, at 12 yrs old my grandparents received full custody. It came with one condition, giving the Sate of Texas custody for one year for punishment by placing me in a reform school.
At 12 yrs old I was probation for carrying a gun, skipping 45 days of school, underage drinking, disturbing the police, resisting arrest and distribution of marijuana. I meet with the probation officer monthly, never saying a word until the seven month. The State of Texas wanted me committed to a reform boot camp style facility. My thug behavior had to change before I could function in a positive environment. I had visions of my behavior getting violent, kill before being killed, I had no fear of dying.
My grandparents knew I would not reform or make it out alive with other violent girls. Granny worked with the probation officer to come up with another solution. She remembered a girl when she was younger who went to a Convent School for bad girls. As it happened, the Convent had converted to a school again for girls with severe behavioral problems. At first glance it was the perfect solution until expenses were laid out. This was the mid 1970’s and cost $2000 per month, a strict lengthy list of uniforms, every detail down to how many towels and the money in an account to buy a soda and candy bar.
Unconditional love, my future and not having the money clashed. The probation officer called back with an option. Give custody to the State of Texas for a year and the state would cover the $2000 a month.
My grandparents put their faith in my probation officer, they wanted me to turn the right direction. I needed discipline in a strict structured environment. The Convent boarding school taught me about positive affirmations, I wanted so much more, it was missing in my bones. Responsibility, leadership and controlling my mouth. A year later, without a single disciplinary action, I left a better person. The lessons learned have served me well in life.
Children are precious, require proper discipline, parents must make decisions out of love not revenge. Most important is a child’s mental health, safety and happiness.
M
Have you peaked at my Twitter timeline lately? My passion has changed from Rock Stars to Support Resources, from Charities, Organizations and OutReach Programs who support the issues closest to my heart. The mix includes resources for PTSD, Sexual Abuse of Men and Women and Mental Health, Child Abuse and Physical Challenges. I follow 40 Charities, Organizations and Survivors. There is a learning curve, I will share thru post once comfortable how support services are delivered.
I hope you will take at look at the retweets, conversations and resources on the Twitter feed, updated daily. Once confident my understanding of the group/mission, I’ll share via post. When possible, I’ll ask a few questions and ask them to talk about the who, what, when and why. One of the few lessons learned in Journalism class.
In sixth grade I set a goal to work as a Photo Journalist for Life magazine. Tossed aside when I turned down a scholarship and passed on college. Men’s Movement has asked me to write for them, my pride bubbles over. At 53 the opportunity is far greater than Life magazine, now defunct.
Everyone I’ve talked with seems genuine, in a few short weeks I have over 100 followers, many of which have visited my site. Taking my Advocacy work to Twitter looks like a good decision.
I’m interested in your ideas and suggestions.
M
A Tennessee jury on Friday found a former Vanderbilt University football player guilty of raping an unconscious female student in a teammate’s dormitory room in 2013.
The Nashville jury found Brandon Banks, 23, guilty of aggravated rape and aggravated sexual battery after deliberating for about 15 hours over two days. The case stoked simmering concern about sexual assault on college campuses by athletes.
Banks faces at least 15 years in prison, Assistant District Attorney Roger Moore told media. Sentencing will be Aug. 18.
“We are very satisfied with their verdict,” Moore said.
Defense attorney Mark Scruggs did not respond to a request to comment. He was quoted by The Tennessean newspaper as saying that Banks was “shocked but understands that this is only the first part of this process. There’s a lot more to do from here on.”
Teammates Brandon Vandenburg and Cory Batey, two of the four former Vanderbilt football players charged in the case along with Banks, were found guilty when tried together in January 2015 but a mistrial was declared.
Batey was later retried, convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Vandenburg was found guilty in June 2016 and sentenced to 17 years in prison.
A fourth player, Jaborian “Tip” McKenzie, who testified against his three teammates, has yet to stand trial in the case.
The players used cell phones to record their crimes, and those videos – shown to the jurors in all the trials – played crucial roles in the prosecution’s case.
Vandenburg and the victim, who had been dating, met for drinks at a bar popular with Vanderbilt students. Both had been drinking prior to meeting, according to testimony.
Vandenburg tried to take the victim, who was unconscious, to her apartment, but could not get in. He then took her back to his dormitory, where the other three men charged in the case helped cart her to his room, which was the site of the attacks, prosecutors said.
The victim, who has not been named, testified against all three men for their roles in the rapes.
Banks testified in his own defense and said he was intimidated by the other players and participated because he was scared of retribution that night and later on the football field.
(Reporting by Tim Ghianni; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Leslie Adler)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-tennessee-rape-trial-idUSKBN19F01V
A shout out to Casey Sims, http://www.livingwithparalysis.wordpress.com. He is the newest Contributor at Survivors Blog Here. http://www.survivorsbloghere.wordpress.com. We are thrilled he joins us…his enthusiasm for life is infectious.
Casey was involved in a horrifying car accident which left him paralyzed from the waist down. His positive, no holes barred attitude will have you trying to keep up. Stop by, say hello, he’s cool, relaxed and comfortable answering your questions.
It was dark week around the world. Give some extra smiles on Social Media in the coming week. One young man said to me, he would not live in fear by giving power to the few. I agree.
I’m glad you stopped by, hope you enjoyed yourself…every Thursday is a great day to take time out to enjoy the tunes. Xx M
This morning the AOL Sports Section wrote more articles on Sexual Assault cases than I could count. Lots of excuses as well. One College football player said “I had oral sex with her but no intercourse”, did she consent? It’s long past time for accountability, all sports, girls and boys, men and women, all ages. By allowing owners and coaches to look the other way is deplorable.
A football player sexually assaults a woman with no jail time, a 20-year-old shares marijuana brownies with friends and spends 20 years in Texas jail. What is wrong with this picture?
Sports Team Owners, Team managers, College Administrators, High School Superintendents, Olympic Coaches and The Court System all need to serve jail time for their gross negligence.
Isn’t someone ashamed, enough excuses. I vote for harsh jail terms, no return to sports and permanently placed on Sex Offender list.
Listen carefully and long enough to get the message. I think Change.org partnered with the Video company.
https://static.change.org/product/embeds/v1/change-embeds.js
Talk to me! I shake my head but know we all have to move forward before change happens.
Xx M
Continued
WHERE IN HELL IS THAT FAMILY OF MINE? ARE THEY EATING PRIME RIB AND CELEBRATING? I’LL BET THEY ARE. THEY HAVE THE EASY PART IN ALL OF THIS. THEIR THEATER TICKET OFFERS A FREE DRINK AND REFRESHMENTS…while I stroll through hell…
The little girl dances into my world after midnight. Drug free from day one, but moms chucking her insides out and there are four nurses pummeling me, explaining something about blood flow, placenta, oh hell, I don’t know the jest of it all! I was too busy loosing my insides, suffering a notorious headache and begging for water.
…
Now, the vivid memory.
I am not sure how to write about it, other than to say that it belongs to my Megan. It belongs to her and I. Beginning early in the days before we even left the hospital, something was amiss. Sadly, I felt no maternal bliss, and I feared that I knew nothing. All those books I’d read on childbirth, the before and after. None of those had prepared me for the roller-coaster ride , the journey in to hell and the fear that would one day it would descend into thoughts of infanticide.
I warn you. This is not an easy read, and although Megan is almost two thousand miles from me today, I would give anything to sit beside her and hold her hand as I attempt to answer her questions and to allay her fears. But I can’t, and since I have promised that I would find a way to communicate something to her within the 31 days of May’s Challenge, today is our day.
I could not sleep. For three days in the hospital, and for days, off and on, once we were home. Irrational fears would enter my head and I would quickly try to change my thinking. I cuddled my angel. I played with her. I fed her and I connected with her as best I could, but I was afraid that those so-called baby blues would consume me. I tried talking to my husband about them, but he didn’t get it, and how could he, had anyone in the male species been through this birthing thing?
Days dragged, literally. I became consumed with schedules. I laboriously centered my life around a list of ‘to-do’s’ to fill my time, to keep me busy. But, I still was not sleeping. And then one day I could not eat. Literally. I could not swallow. I choked each time I tried. But I had to eat and drink, I had to sleep. I had a little one that relied upon me and I was breastfeeding, so it was more important than ever that I find a way to get ahold of myself.
Then I found myself dwelling on a pair of scissors. I’d been in the baby’s room wrapping a gift. I saw the scissors, and I remember thinking, “These could kill the baby.”
The thought became obsessive. It overwhelmed me with grief and shame. And try as I might, I could not shake the image, nor the auditory, “These could kill the baby.”
I tried hiding the scissors, but I couldn’t find a place to put them, somewhere that was ‘safe’ … someplace where they couldn’t talk to me.
I forced myself to put them back in the spot where I always kept them. If they could talk to me. I could talk to them. I could tell them, “NO!”
For days I fought this battle, until I realized it was beyond me. I attempted to express my concern for the baby to my husband, but I did not tell him about the scissors, or the voices.
I became so exhausted. And then the hallucinatory began its foray. I was fighting an army, and I was ill-equipped for its challenge.
I no longer felt connected to anyone except for my baby. I felt as if I could protect her I could win the inner war, but I was losing.
The phone would ring. I wouldn’t answer it. I had nothing I could communicate.
A couple of my favs. XxM Greg you gave us all.
AOL Story: https://www.aol.com/article/entertainment/2017/05/27/southern-rock-music-star-gregg-allman-dead-at-69/22112691/
The article written by Mental Health America looks very informative. I am adding to resource page. Let me know what you think of article and first impression of company.
Thank you
Xx M
I’ve started to walk again, it fells great and very unstable. Throughout my battle with Lyme I prayed for my Granny’s strength. My Granny had to learn to walk twice as an adult. The first was from a terrible accident leaving her in a wheelchair or walker for years.
She cleaned new houses for extra money, whatever the job required she would get it done. One day while cleaning the windows in the cathedral ceiling she fell 1 1/2 stories, landing on her feet. Both feet and ankles shattered, the Doctors has to fuse bone together to give her a foot. It took two surgeries to achieve best results. It was a very dark time, being dependent and not spending time outside weighed heavy on her mind. She always said she would walk again, there was never a question in my mind. She was strong enough to handle anything.
Years later she woke up on day and couldn’t walk. Doctor’s could not find anything wrong, doctor after doctor. Thankfully she was not in pain, which gave me the freedom to make the wheelchair a race car. I would take her to mall most weekends, just get her out of the house. I starting making screeching brake noises as we turned corners, I would push real hard and hop on back rolling freely down the long walkways. We would look at blouses, deep in the department, I would make vroom-vroom noises, saying it’s time to buy or move on.
Those were difficult times but we made it thru the best we could. God put many challenges in front of Granny, she always knew she would overcome. She never giving up on God or herself. Her strength and positive thinking carved its was into my personality.
She never gave on me.
Today I walk again.
Xx M
On my first business trip, I was 24 years old and clueless. The company was celebrating a milestone. Once we were bored, around 20 of us found a bar and settled in. This is the time for a stalker, large groups of people, and pick your target.
First, he sent me a dozen white roses every day. I was young and naive about stalking. I assumed he had money.
The cards started coming and he started asking me to come to Boston. The phone calls were coming more often. I didn’t know how a stalker reeled in their target.
After months of roses and cards, I gave in. Once in Boston, his lies were easy to see. The parents owned the house, he lived in a small house over the garage. My radar is up about but nothing else. There was a party at a friend’s house, let’s see how many are losers. The party was fun I talked about food, wine, and traveling. He paraded me around like a 100-lb piece of meat.
We had a selection of drugs, hash, cocaine, and some using a needle. I don’t use a needle period. I enjoyed the selection of smokes. We left heading for his house, he was high and driving. We arrive, had problems with the stairs, which were too high, and laughing ass off. I told him before arriving, that I would not sleep with him, ok no problem he says. We started doing a line of coke, no memory of how many lines, it didn’t matter
I was stoned. He tried to get to lay on the bed and he wouldn’t touch me. The other sleeping option was the couch, I chose the couch. His personality changed to anger. He begged me for what seemed like an hour. He finally gave up, leaving him to plan his next move.
I left my cell phone at home and used his phone to call Granny. BAD MOVE. We had lunch with his parents. They seemed normal, which was good, maybe the thoughts were a reaction from past experiences.
We went to the mall so he could buy me a leather jacket. WEIRD. Before leaving he takes me to a 5-star restaurant on the water. Then off to the airport, and listened to more lies.
The calls to my office and home were nonstop, leaving messages on my phone with his voice getting angrier, making threats. What can he do to me he’s in Boston. NAIVE.
The fear escalated over six years, always looking over my shoulder, and avoiding crowds. Years went by and I thought it was over, NOT, he wrote me a letter at my new address. Dating was worse, you have to tell them about this crazy person. One guy I dated had two boys, and afraid for them he would go to the car alone in case a bomb ignited.
It’s been 15 years and more traumatic memories. Now another Stalker has me in sight. I’m 53 not a kid anymore and I still get scared. I thought the Stalker had left me alone, there still watching, always there, letting me know.
I wrote in an earlier post about how I taunted the Stalker. Don’t take my lead and attack back, expressing your anger. Their anger can grow and aggression can escalate.
Don’t keep the secret to yourself, it’s a heavy load.
Don’t allow yourself to be bait, stalkers can take years grooming,
Melinda
Survivors get up brush of the toxic waste and move forward. I have talked to hundreds of people over the years, one element I notice is everyone has a concept of Survival yet they are still carrying around the baggage of the trauma and may not realize their toxic
Survivors work thru the issue and take another step? Are you carrying around all the baggage, all the toxic waste thrown at us? Look straight ahead, are you moving forward
Xx M
I read Margie’s post in tears, feeling empathy, above all I knew she was a strong woman. A woman who made tough decisions for the better of her children’s future. Her story touched me deeply, I had to meet her. We worked together on the series. Unfortunately Margie had a family emergency and can’t be with us.
She is dedicated to sharing her story at the cost of lingering pain. Margie takes us thru the arrival at hospital until the moment she reached out for help.
The Series will post starting next Monday and consecutive Mondays. Margie’s participation in the app is dear to her heart. She encourages everyone to download the app, get familiar with the resources available and the DNA initiative.
March 28, 2016 •
Thank you to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill , for this initiative. I will forever be indebted to your servitude.
This past week I noticed a story on CNN of an upcoming app that was to be released. I am submitting this after receiving an email today giving me permission to submit my article to the organization responsible for this International Study of Women Suffering/or have suffered from Postpartum Depression, and/or, Psychosis. It is my sincere hope that you will spread this information in an effort to draw attention to this program. They are looking to collect thousands of participants for this study. You can find the app, for free. Look for PPD ACT app. I found it through the Apple Store.
I literally had tears running down my face when I read that this initiative was taking place. In 1984, at the time of my episode, there was not much information readily available to women suffering from PPD. This study will no doubt change that, and with it, the lives of thousands upon thousands of women. It is my understanding that one in five women will experience some sort of the so-called, ‘baby blues’ and some will not be as fortunate as those of us who have survived the mayhem of insanity that swallowed our souls. Thankfully, we have returned to tell a story, using genetic markers they may one day find the answer to helping others from being driven into the abyss.
Bring hope to those who have lost theirs by sharing this initiative. Again,
I thank you.
Do you see the resemblance in style or sound of the Bay Brothers, my buddies assure me they are brothers. I followed James Bay and team so long, I’m a member of TeamBay. I love seeing my name on Tweets. This is far better than the Donny Osmond Fan Club.
James Arthur found success with his first album, something held him back. He has a new album and a growing fan base. On the charts now is “Say You Won’t Let Go”.
Alex Francis Bay, his style is a multiple genre. I like the upbeat, hair up and grooving style myself. He is not on guitar.
What a talented family, blessed by music. Let me know what you think. Xx M
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