Pudgy

MyVideo_1wrwc.mp4 The actual view is much smoother than the choppy capture in the video.

No, but it raises a better one.
Please address Jesus’ words that seemingly make him a liar: 
“and everyone who is living and exercises faith in me will never die at all.”

True, and real happiness depends in most part on lowering your expectations.
 
 
 

…… Could be worse…… Could be a US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
 

By blog I mean a forum a lot like this where many persons can respond. And they can correct one another too. It's not his own conclusions that matter so much. It's all the evidence that he has been able to gather. He does a ton of the legwork. You are free to come to your own conclusions about what the evidence can mean.

…. They had a credit card account at Home Depot.
 

…. They had a credit card account at Home Depot.
 

…. They had a credit card account at Home Depot.
 

Sometimes I realize it was not a cruel twist of fate, that I am drawn without cartoon thought bubbles above my head.

dereck1958:
First of all   . WOW! .... a reply to a 2017 posting!
Since the topic, and the question you supposedly answered (but did not) was "Why doesn't the Society translate and provide the Russian Court Transcripts for us?", your credibility is either 100% ....or zero ..... depending on whether or not you actually checked and KNOW that the translations of the Russian Court Transcripts are really there, and know what they say so that you can actually make a credible statement.
I think it would be very fair to assume, since you did not give a link, that you did NOT check, and further, that you do NOT know if "All the information about Brothers in Russia is on the Russian website access anytime.".
If you can provide a valid and credible reference that actually is to the Russian Court Transcripts, translated into English .... please accept my humble apologies for assuming what is the normal case, that you are living in an agenda driven self-constructed fantasy world, completely divorced from reality, and I will here publicly apologize to you.

PS: A summary paraphrased or a general synopsis is NOT a Transcript.

If memory serves, You are getting the two letter writing campaigns mixed up.
The politically motivated one was a complete failure.
The personal one to the imprisoned Brothers a complete success.
 

And just how would that be obvious that someone opened ANY of 48,000,000 "overseas" letters?
Paper is just thin sheets of wood .... the winters are bitter cold ... and they had 11 boxcars full of "fuel at the proper time", and $57,000,000 to buy Vodka.
but.... as a reasonable concession, I will give you that perhaps 1,000 letters were opened and read by low-level clerks and other functionaries, until the pattern and value .. as they value pattern and value, was established.
What we really DO KNOW, is that 48,000,000 letters, had absolutely no effect whatsoever in influencing the Russian Court system, or politics.
A complete waste of money and time .... for that purpose.
Years ago, there was a movie "Bridge on the River Kwai" where the Japanese had captured British soldiers and put them to work building a bridge and rail line through the jungle, and the ranking officer remarked to his lower officers that he was glad his soldiers had work to do. Otherwise they would get into trouble.
This is, in my opinion, a valuable thing to do, and besides, later, Commandos blew up the bridge.
 

You need to take either a reading comprehension course, or a course in the elements of joke composition.
 
... or both.

Sigh …….
Do you even understand that both those things are ONLY RELEVANT if it answers the Topic’s question?
Sigh ……. Let me rephrase …….,
New question.
Two parts.
 1.) Premise: the Brotherhood spent about $84,000,000 sending 11 railroad boxcars packed with letters to the Russian Government to try and influence them, which were never delivered, and never read, for which the Universal Postal Union paid the Russian Government about $57,000,000 to deliver (70% of face value of the postage). The 60% of the Brotherhood that sent 10 letters each spent about a day each doing this. That is 4.8 million days, engaged in political activity, attempting to influence the Russian Court system.
2.) The rephrased question:
Do you think the GB should respect the Brotherhood enough to provide translated Official Russian Court transcripts, so the Brotherhood can see the results of the fruits of their labors?
………………….
I mean, after all, the Russkies were paid about $57,000,000 for SOMETHING! ….. and the Society IS IN the translation “business”.

I am not hostile to what was done, or any side effects that were incidental, correctly labeled.
 
I WOULD however, like to read the original un-edited Russian Court transcripts in English.…… something tangible.  I think it is INCREDIBLY important not to base one’s understanding of those events on third-hand agenda driven very abbreviated summaries.
As far as a massive witness given the world over about this ….. the legal and political battle was fought with “the army they had” …. and they lost, miserably.

….. better to row towards shore.

If you are piloting a sailboat to Australia from the United States, and you drown, the goal was to get to Australia, not serve as a shining example of the courage of man..

Of course not, but that WOULD HAVE been an unintended consequence other than the clearly stated goal of the project, which was to influence the Russian Government to stop the persecution of the Brotherhood.
It’s sorta like renaming the goals and moving the goal posts AFTER the footballl game is lost to the other team, and declaring that your efforts were a success, because you sold a lo of hot dogs and beer. 

I think this is all a diversion from the REAL question originally asked, and never answered by the guy that resurrected it from 2017.
Why doesn't the Society translate and provide the Russian Court Transcripts for us?

Another good question would be to ask is:
Why would any sane person have 5 of 8 million Brothers write 48 million letters, each at international postage rates, to lobby the outcome of a Russian kangaroo  court system, where the outcome was decided (obviously, to all sane people ….), BEFORE the trial started?
If it was a bribe attempt, funneling $57,000,000 through the Universal Postal Union, which the Russian Government did get …. It was a complete failure, as nothing was achieved except to enrich the Russians. 

Show trials in Russia are just political theater to consolidate and enhance political power and authority, and perhaps …. just perhaps …. sucker someone into a useless and very expensive lobbying effort. 

In the USA, Congress does most of the political theater …. Usually tragic self-destructive comedy.
 

In any conflict between Nations, either on the battlefield, or in the cultures, or in this case, a Tribe (JWs), and a Nation (Russia), the first casualty is Truth.
"Make sure of all things, hold fast to what is fine." is apparently a casualty of this conflict .... shot in the back from "Friendly Fire".
Not only that, the very concept of "making sure" is disparaged as an unnecessary unimportant chore, worthy of disdain.
Very, very sad.

That’s a very good point.
The sword cuts both ways.
What’s good for the Goose is good for the Gander. 
 
 

I wish HGP had been around when the subject was first discussed, it might’ve saved about 1 million words.
But, willy-nilly, I still would like to have accurate information of exactly what went on during the court cases, so I suppose I’ll have to write the Russian embassy in Washington DC.
I will do that later on this weekend.

…

That’s a very good point.
The sword cuts both ways.
What’s good for the Goose is good for the Gander.