Jack Ryan

Kissing Hank's Ass

Emma Thompson is a judge who must determine if she will force a JW child to undergo a blood transfusion.

I am starting to get requests for these items posted previously. Enjoy!

Video removed from Youtube. Scroll down for another copy.

Romy Maple and Barbara Anderson expose the horrendous child sexual abuse cover ups. You know it's bad when the program starts with this:

MoviePass is putting the critics on silent. Its parent company, Helios and Matheson Analytics, intends to acquire Emmett Furla Oasis Films (EFO Films), controlling 51% of the joint venture (thanks for the scoop, Variety). You might know Helios: Its shares have dropped from $38.86 to around 42 cents since October. You can thank MoviePass's $10 per month, movie-a-day model, which burns about $20 million a month. It has about $42 million left in the bankfi... You also might know EFO, with popular movies like Rambo, Lone Survivor, and Escape Plan. So what's Helios up to? It's called MoviePass Films, but you can call it a long-term, Hail Mary for MoviePass. Burning this much cash has brought nearly 3 million users into the company's ecosystem. Now it just needs to monetize... With EFO it can: (1) Generate revenue through its library of movies. (2) Start producing its own movies for theaters and digital streaming. Its first movie, American Animals (which it acquired the rights to), hits theaters Friday.

Walmart (+2.07%) rolled out a plan to help fund its employees' college tuition, books, and fees. For just $1 a day, Walmart employees will be able to earn an associate's or bachelor's degree in Business or Supply Chain Management, or pursue a minor in yodeling. Which schools? The University of Florida, Brandman University, and Bellevue University (go Bruins!)—colleges that specialize in adult learning. Why it's a big deal: With 1.4 million workers, Walmart is the largest private U.S. employer. And as you might have heard...it doesn't have a great reputation for how it treats employees. But it can't afford that reputation anymore Unemployment is below 4%, which means companies are in a giant rugby scrum for qualified workers. What that looks like IRL: Employers are pulling out all the stops (raising the minimum wage, expanding parental leave, tuition reimbursement) to attract and retain qualified workers.

Another common question asked by the public about Jehovah's Witnesses

Another common question the public asks about JW's.

This is another common question the public asks about JW's.

This is a common question from the public.

Have you ever wondered what the typical coding whiz makes at Google? What about a rank-and-file chocolatier at a Hershey factory? Or the standard refinery worker at Exxon Mobil? Well wonder no longer, because we've got data. For the first time ever, public companies were required to spill the beans on what they paid their median employee in 2017 (in addition to executive compensation). That's a result of a Dodd-Frank mandate coming into effect. The idea is that more transparency around salaries (especially the pay ratio between the CEO/median worker) might dampen the corporate greed that contributed to the financial crisis. But before you read on, keep this in mind: The law gives corporations flexibility in how they report the numbers. So do you include paid time off in the calculations? Equity? Bonuses? Just base salary? There's no perfect formula here, and companies definitely took advantage to paint themselves in the most flattering light. Alright, enough backstory...let's cut right to the chase Here are three major takeaways (from an excellent WSJ analysis): Pharma pays. Yeah, you probably shouldn't have skipped that CHEM223 lecture. Of the four S&P companies whose average worker made over $200,000, three develop drugs (Incyte, Celgene, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals). The fourth company on that list? Facebook. Size matters. If you're looking to maximize your salary, narrow your job search to companies that have about 17,000 employees—that's the sweet spot where you'll see the best-paying jobs. The larger corporations (average 82,000 employees) have the lowest median pay. Geography? Also matters. It shouldn't come as a surprise that workers around the world are paid relative to how developed their country's economy is. So multinationals that employ many workers in less wealthy countries than the U.S. (think manufacturers) will have a lower median wage. Exhibit A: The typical worker at whitey tighty-maker Hanesbrands (~90% of employees work internationally) is an equipment operator in Honduras. She makes $5,237 a year. And things get interesting when you compare the median worker to the CEO The NYTimes found that the median Walmart employee (salary $19,177) would need to work a long time—try more than 1,000 years—to make as much as CEO Doug McMillon's 2017 pay ($22.2 million). Then there's Time Warner, where the typical worker does just fine with a salary of $75,217. But they'll still need to put in a few overtime hours (right around 651 years) to hit the $49 million annual pay for CEO Jeff Bewkes. Bottom line: These new disclosures are important to the broader debate on how corporate profits are distributed among workers. For now, we can all agree the more information...the better.

UZBEKISTAN: Criminal prosecution follows Easter worship meeting? By Mushfig Bayram, Forum 18 Police raided and threatened Urgench Baptists with criminal prosecution for meeting at Easter. SSS secret police and ordinary police raided Mubarek Baptists' worship, an illegal court fining two. In Karshi police targeted hearing and speech impaired Baptists. A Samarkand Jehovah's Witness was fined when enquiring about state registration. Uzbek police have threatened members of a Baptist Church in Urgench [Urgench] in the north-western Khorezm Region with criminal prosecution. The threats followed raids by officers of the police Department for the Struggle with Extremism and Terrorism on successive Sundays in April on the Church's Sunday meetings for worship. The first raid was on the day the Church celebrated Easter. On 8 April police disrupted the Baptists' shared meal to celebrate Easter. During the 15 April raid, officers confiscated Christian books and materials, detained and brought some church members to a police station, questioned them, and warned them that a criminal case would be opened against them (see below). On 15 April the State Security Service (SSS) secret police and ordinary police raided the Sunday meeting for worship of a Baptist Church in Mubarek in the southern Kashkadarya Region. Police filmed and questioned church members, and illegally confiscated religious literature without a warrant. A court later fined two church members without any proper hearing or due process, including one Baptist who complained about the police's illegal actions (see below). Similarly, on 6 May police in Karshi [Qarshi] in Kashkadarya Region broke into the home of a Baptist, Viktor Tashpulatov, where the Baptist Church was holding its Sunday worship meeting. Police targetted two hearing and speech impaired Church members, apparently to pressure them into incriminating themselves and others (see below). Congregations of the Baptist Council of Churches meet for worship without seeking state permission, as is their right under international human rights law. But Uzbekistan, against its international human rights obligations, bans any collective exercise of the freedom of religion and belief without state permission The authorities have also continued to raid and fine communities such as the Jehovah's Witnesses. When a Jehovah's Witness in Samarkand, in the centre of the country, went to their local mahalla (state district administrative committee) to enquire about registering a Jehovah's Witness community, the mahalla called the police. Police then confiscated his mobile phone, and he was subsequently fined twice the minimum monthly salary for having Jehovah's Witness publications on his mobile phone (see below). Jehovah's Witnesses think that the police tortured Anvar Tajiyev in Urgench because their local community had between January and March 2017 unsuccessfully asked for state registration The authorities have allowed Jehovah's Witnesses to register only one congregation in the country, in Chirchik in Tashkent Region. All other congregations risk raids and fines for meeting for worship without state permission Urgench: Easter 8 April celebration raided On 8 April, Easter Sunday, Urgench Police's Department for the Struggle with Extremism and Terrorism raided the flat of a Baptist, Stanislav Kim, where the local Baptist Church was meeting to celebrate Easter. "At around 11 am Struggle with Extremism and Terrorism Department officers knocked on our door," Kim told Forum 18 on 15 May. "We agreed that only one officer could come in, to see that we are peacefully worshipping." The police officer refused to identify himself and "after sitting down in a chair demanded that the worshippers come up to him one by one so he could write down their names". He left and then promised that police would come back in one hour. As soon as the Baptists finished the worship and began to eat a meal together in celebration of Easter, "a group of police officers broke into the house, and began to force the participants out of the house onto the street to take down their names." The police refused to give their names to the Baptists and then left. The authorities have frequently raided, prosecuted, and fined Baptists in Urgench for exercising their right to freedom of religion and belief – including staging a "show trial" for state TV Kim told Forum 18 that Major Khamro Masimov, Chief of Urgench Police's Department for the Struggle with Extremism and Terrorism, did not particpate in the 8 April raid but his officers did. Asked why police raided the Easter celebration, and why the authorities keep raiding and prosecuting the Baptists, Major Masimov claimed to Forum 18 on 15 May that "we are not doing anything unlawful. Our Religion Law demands that all exercise of freedom of religion and belief must be registered, and so we must carry on controlling all exercise of this freedom." Major Masimov has recently refused, against Uzbekistan's international human rights obligations, to arrest or investigate his subordinates who tortured a Jehovah's Witness in October 2017. Hospitals refused for fear of the police to treat Anvar Tajiyev who lost his hearing in one ear and still suffers headaches. Many complaints to President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, national and local Prosecutor's Offices have led to no arrests or prosecutions. Masimov of the police Department for the Struggle with Extremism and Terrorism claimed to Forum 18 that "our officers did not violate the law" When Forum 18 pointed out that the Baptists are exercising their fundamental human rights, which are also guaranteed by the Constitution, Major Masimov replied: "Please tell this to our Parliament. We do not decide which laws there should be. We are only responsible for making sure that the laws are observed." Urgench: 15 April raid and criminal prosecution threat Seven officers of Urgench Police Department for the Struggle with Extremism and Terrorism, led by Major Masimov and his deputy Captain Mukhammad Rakhimov, once again on 15 April raided Kim's home while Baptists were meeting for Sunday worship. One of the officers filmed everyone present. "Officers conducted an unauthorised search, and confiscated a Bible and Children's Bible in Russian, a New Testament in Uzbek, a Bible commentary book, a Baptist song book, 12 copies of ‘Herald of Truth' Baptist magazine, 30 Baptist post-cards, and a personal diary," Kim told Forum 18. "Police ignored our demands to show their identity documents and the legally-required warrant for the search", Kim told Forum 18. Asked why they did not show their identity documents and the legally-required search warrant to the Baptists, Major Masimov replied that "if we did anything unlawful they can write a complaint to the authorities." He then refused to talk more to Forum 18. All seven adult participants in the meeting were taken to Urgench Police Station for questioning. Major Masimov himself questioned Kim. Police demanded that we write statements and sign a police report", Kim told Forum 18. "When we told the police that their actions are unlawful, and refused to sign any papers, the officers threatened that they may open a criminal case against us", he said. After two hours of questioning, police released the Baptists. Kim told Forum 18 on 21 May that he thinks police may be preparing a case under Criminal Code Article 244-3 ("Illegal production, storage, import or distribution of religious literature" If there has been a previous Administrative Code conviction (as there has been in Kim's case) the punishment is a fine of between 100 and 200 times the minimum monthly wage, or up to three years' corrective labour. Kim thinks that it's possible, as has happened in other cases, that the authorities may punish him with a short-term prison sentence (see Forum 18's Uzbekistan religious freedom survey http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2314). "The case is in Urgench Prosecutor's Office, and they are deciding whether to open an administrative or criminal case", Major Masimov told Forum 18 on 15 May. "It is an administrative violation, but because it is a repeated violation the Prosecutor's Office can decide to open a criminal case." He claimed that the Prosecutor's Office would make a decision "in two or three days", but refused to give Forum 18 more details. On 22 May Kamol Almatov, Assistant to Urgench Prosecutor Javlan Davletov, refused to answer when asked about the possible prosecution annd asked Forum 18 to call back the following day. On 23 May neither Almatov nor Davletov answered their phones. As of 24 May Kim has had no information on whether he may be prosecuted, and if so on what charges. Mubarek: Raid, arrest for complaining about police illegality On 15 April the Sunday meeting for worship of a Council of Churches Baptist Church in Mubarek in Kashkadarya Region was raided, The raid involved State Security Service (SSS) secret police Major Ruzimurod Narboyev, Mubarek Police Criminal Investigation Department head Senior Lieutenant Khurshid Abdiyev, local mahalla committee Chair Kholmurod Nabiyev, and four ordinary police officers. The Church, which refuses to seek state registration as is its right under international human rights law, has often been raided and its members fined "As soon as the officials arrived at the Church they began filming the worshippers without asking our permission," church member Vladimir Khanyukov told Forum 18 on 15 May. "They also without showing a search warrant confiscated our Christian literature." Church member Vitaly Provodin called the Regional Police in Karshi to complain about the unlawful actions of the police, but very soon after the call the police arrested Provodin and took him for questioning to Mubarek Police Station. There, police tried to pressure him into registering the Church. They also told to after his release bring a copy of his passport and a testimonial from the local mahalla committee to the Police Station. On 21 May mahalla Chair Nabiyev and the police contradicted each other to Forum 18 as to who was responsible for the raid, Nabiyev claiming that "I have nothing against Baptists" and that the raid was led by the SSS. He then refused to talk more. But Senior Lieutenant Abdiyev told Forum 18 that "I have a letter from the mahalla Committee informing us of the illegal activity of the Baptists and requesting us to check them." Mahalla committees are a key element in the state's restrictions on freedom of religion and belief Anonymous Judge, illegal hearing, fines Senior Lieutenant Abdiyev on 15 May summoned church members Khanyukov and Provodin to a hearing of Mubarek Administrative Court at a mahalla committee in a neighbouring District. "The Judge did not introduce himself and directly began reading us his decision," Khanyukov told Forum 18. There was no kind of hearing or opportunity for the Baptists to defend themselves He fined Khanyukov and Provodin five times the minimum monthly wage. "We have not yet been given a copy of the decision [which is an illegal action of the authorities], but we were charged with illegal religious meeting and having religious literature." Unfair trials and flagrant violations of due process are common in Uzbekistan Asked why the authorities keep raiding and fining Baptists and others in violation of Uzbekistan's international human rights obligations, Senior Lieutenant Abdiyev replied: "It's your opinion that we violate the laws. It is the Baptists who violate our Religion Law." Asked what will happen if the Baptists continue to exercise their right under international law not to register their Church, Abdiyev replied: "We will give them new fines". Karshi: Police raid worship meeting On 6 May police in Karshi broke into the home of Viktor Tashpulatov where his Baptist Council of Churches Church was meeting for Sunday worship. Major Firdavs Khamroyev from Karshi Police's Department for the Struggle with Extremism and Terrorism led six officers from Kashkadarya Regional Police in the raid. The Church, which refuses to seek state registration as is its right under international human rights law, has often been raided (including by Major Khamroyev) and its members fined "Police banged on our doors when we were holding our worship service, and immediately they entered officers began filming the worshippers without asking permission", Tashpulatov told Forum 18 on 21 May. Police wrote down the names of about 50 participants, including children, but despite pressure "none of us wrote statements or signed the police report." As police left they threatened "wait for the court to summon you", but there has not been any summons. Asked about the raid on 22 May, Major Khamroyev claimed to Forum 18 that "it's a wrong number". Hearing and speech impaired persons targetted Officer Jamol Sharapov from the police Department for the Struggle with Extremism and Terrorism on 20 May told Tashpulatov to bring two speech and hearing impaired Church mebers to police for questioning. "I told him that it is his duty to do so and not mine", Tashpulatov told Forum 18. Tashpulatov suspects that the police want to pressure the two Church members to write statements incriminating themselves and other Church members. Officer Sharopov claimed to Forum 18 on 23 May that "I am not involved in that case." When asked why he called Tashpulatov asking him to bring his fellow church members for questioning, he claimed "It's a wrong number" and refused to talk more. Raids, fines, punished for enquiring about state registration In April and May, the authorities raided Jehovah's Witness worship meetings in homes in Samarkand and Fergana [Farghona], and twice raided a home in Karshi. The authorities also Jehovah's Witnesses homes for religious literature in Urgench and in the Yangiyul District of Tashkent Region. After the Yangiyul search a court fined two members of the local community five times the minimum monthly wage each under Administrative Code Article 184-2 ("llegal production, storage, or import into Uzbekistan, with the intent to distribute or actual distribution, of religious materials by physical persons"). Such fines are common When a Jehovah's Witness in Samarkand, in the centre of the country, went to their local mahalla (state district administrative committee) to enquire about registering a Jehovah's Witness community, the mahalla called the police. Mahalla committees are a key element in the state's restrictions on freedom of religion and belief, including via their role in approving registration applications When police arrived at the mahalla they immediately confiscated the Jehovah's Witnesses mobile phone, and he was subsequently fined twice the minimum monthly salary for having Jehovah's Witness publications on the phone. This is not the only punishment possible for seeking state registration. Jehovah's Witnesses think that the police tortured Anvar Tajiyev in Urgench because their local community had between January and March 2017 unsuccessfully asked for state registration The authorities have allowed Jehovah's Witnesses to register only one congregation in the country, in Chirchik in Tashkent Region. All other congregations risk raids and fines for meeting for worship without state permission http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2380

Investigation: Did Jehovah’s Witnesses clergy know about abuse of 4-year-old girl? WEBVTT COUNTY, TO -- DANIELLE WOODS WGAL NEWS EIGHT. RON: NEW TONIGHT, A WGAL NEWS 8 EXCLUSIVE. A YORK COUNTY MAN HAS TURNED HIMSELF IN FOR CHARGES RELATED TO SEXUAL ASSAULT OF A 4-YEAR-OLD, DATING BACK 13 YEARS. JANELLE: AND THERE ARE QUESTIONS TONIGHT ABOUT WHETHER CLERGY AT THE JEHOVAH’S WITNESS CHURCH IN RED LION KNEW ABOUT THE ABUSE, AND FAILED TO REPORT IT. WGAL NEWS 8’S BECCAH HENDRICKSON HAS BEEN INVESTIGATING THIS STORY FOR WEEKS. BECCAH: ABBY HAUGH’S MOM AND DAD TELL ME THEY WISH THEY’D GONE TO POLICE WHEN THEY LEARNED THEIR DAUGHTER WAS SEXUALLY ASSAULTED IN CHURCH, BUT INSTEAD, THEY SAY THEY WENT TO THE PEOPLE THEY TRUSTED MOST, THE CLERGY OF THEIR JEHOVAH’S WITNESS CONGREGATION. I HAVE TO WARN YOU, THE STORY YOU’RE ABOUT TO HEAR IS DISTURBING. >> SO I FOLLOWED HIM INTO THE BACK AND HE SAT ON THE CHAIR AND PULLED ME ONTO HIS LAP AND HE TOUCHED ME IN PLACES THAT WERE INAPPROPRIATE. BECCAH: THIS WAS 2005. ABBY WAS JUST 4-YEARS-OLD. HER FATHER SAYS HE WALKED IN ON HIS NEPHEW MOLESTING ABBY IN THEIR JEHOVAH’S WITNESS KINGDOM HALL IN RED LION. POLICE ARRESTED JOHN LOGAN HAUGH WEDNESDAY IN CONNECTION WITH THAT ALLEGED ASSAULT, 13 YEARS AFTER ABBY’S PARENTS CLAIM THEY TOLD THE SPIRITUAL LEADERS OF THE CHURCH, KNOWN AS ELDERS. PENNSYLVANIA LAW REQUIRES CLERGY TO REPORT SUSPECTED CHILD ABUSE TO POLICE. THE ELDERS THE HAUGHS SAY KNEW OF THE ABUSE ARE LISTED ON THE AFFIDAVIT THAT LED TO HAUGH’S ARREST. AFTER WEEKS OF ME TRYING TO CONTACT THEM BOTH VISITING THE RED LION KINGDOM HALL AND CALLING THEM I FINALLY GOT A RESPONSE JUST HOURS AFTER JOHN LOGAN HAUGH TURNED HIMSELF IN TO POLICE. THEY REFUSED AN ON CAMERA INTERVIEW INSTEAD SENDING ME THIS LETTER WHICH WAS POSTED ON THE INTERNATIONAL JEHOVAH’S WITNESS WEBSITE 3 WEEKS AGO. IT SAYS IN PART THEY ABHOR CHILD ABUSES AND VIEW IT AS A CRIME. AND THE ELDERS DO NOT SHIELD ANY PERPETRATOR OF CHILD ABUSE FROM THE AUTHORITIES. THE HAUGH’S SAY THEY BELIEVED AT THE TIME TELLING SECULAR AUTHORITIES WAS GOING AGAINST THEIR CHURCH. >> WE STILL BELIEVED ARMAGEDDON WAS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER, THAT ALL 7 BILLION PEOPLE WOULD BE KILLED, ONLY THE 8 MILLION JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES WOULD LIVE ON THE EARTH. SO, IF WE LEFT THE ORGANIZATION, WE WOULD DIE IN ARMAGEDDON. SO WE WERE SCARED. I WAS SCARED TO GO AGAINST THE ORGANIZATION. BECCAH: THE JEHOVAH’S WITNESS LETTER GOES ON TO SAY, VICTIMS AND THEIR PARENTS HAVE THE RIGHT TO REPORT AN ACCUSATION OF CHILD ABUSE TO THE AUTHORITIES AND ELDERS DO NOT CRITICIZE ANYONE WHO CHOOSES TO MAKE SUCH A REPORT. THE HAUGHS SAY THEY BROKE WITH THEIR CONGREGATION AND WENT TO POLICE IN 2017. >> I WROTE A LETTER TO EVERYBODY SAYING WHY I WAS LEAVING, WHY I WAS DONE, AND I EMAILED IT TO EVERYONE. SO OF COURSE, NOBODY CONTACTED ME. MY DAD HAS BEEN AN ELDER FOR DECADES. BECCAH: THE HAUGH’S SAY SINCE THEY’VE GONE TO POLICE AND LEFT THE CONGREGATION, THEY’VE ALSO LOST THE ONLY FAMILY THEY’VE EVER KNOWN. >> MY BROTHER TOLD ME THEY ACTED LIKE WE WERE DEAD. BECCAH: THE CHURCH’S POSITION ON CHILD ABUSE POSTED ONLINE THIS MONTH SAYS ELDERS STRIVE T TREAT VICTIMS OF CHILD ABUSE WITH COMPASSION, UNDERSTANDING, AND KINDNESS AND THAT THE ALLEGED ABUSER WILL BE KICKED OUT OF THE CHURCH IF HE IS NOT REPENTANT. THE DAGSBORO, DELAWARE CONGREGATION OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESS TOLD ME THAT JOHN LOGAN HAUGH IS A MEMBER THERE. HAUGH IS BEING HELD IN YORK COUNTY PRISON ON $20,000 http://www.wgal.com/article/jehovah-s-witnesses/20897421

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/jehovahs-witnesses-children-sexual-abuse-arrest-20180524.html Martin Haugh rolled out of bed one morning earlier this month, shuffled into his kitchen, and turned on his coffee maker. While the machine gurgled to life, he glanced at his phone. A new voice message was waiting. He filled up a mug and hit play, and heard the voice of a cop from the York Area Regional Police Department deliver some long-awaited news: The man who allegedly sexually molested Haugh’s then-4-year-old daughter in 2005 at the Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Hall that his family belonged to in Red Lion, York County, had finally been arrested. “I had to listen to it three times to make sure I was not having a dream,” Haugh said. After a final replay, he ran upstairs and told his wife, Jennifer, and their children about the arrest. His daughter, now 16, was overjoyed. “Her response,” he said, “was, ‘Holy s—, dude!” The man was arraigned Wednesday in York County District Court. The story of what happened to Haugh’s daughter all those years ago has been layered with frustration and pain. The identity of her alleged abuser was never a mystery; he was an adopted relative named John Logan Haugh. But Martin and Jennifer had waited years to report the incident to police because their congregation elders — the Witnesses’ equivalent of parish priests — had instructed them to not contact law enforcement, in keeping with the organization’s well-practiced efforts to keep the lid on child sex-abuse allegations across the country and around the world. Police issued an arrest warrant for John Logan Haugh on misdemeanor charges of indecent assault in October, but only recently caught a break in the case. Martin said investigators told him that an elder contacted police and provided an address for the 26-year-old after reading about the molestation last month in an Inquirer and Daily News report on the culture of secrecy that pervades the Witnesses. John Logan Haugh was arrested on May 3 by police in Dagsboro, a small town in southern Delaware. A court official there said Haugh was released after posting 10 percent of $2,000 bail — and with orders to surrender to authorities in York County. He finally complied on Wednesday afternoon, when he appeared in court before Magisterial District Judge John Fishel. His father posted bail, which was set at $20,000 this time, according to court records. Haugh’s attorney, Jeffrey Marshall, declined to comment. Jennifer Haugh was “beyond happy” when she found out about the arrest. “I truly feel that wouldn’t have happened if the article hadn’t run,” she said. The Jehovah’s Witnesses kingdom hall in Red Lion, Pa., where Martin Haugh, a former member of the congregation, said he discovered his daughter being molested by a relative when she was 4. TIM TAI / Staff Photographer Jennifer and Martin left the religion in 2016, fed up with the way they’d been manipulated and intimidated by an organization that had once been a main pillar in their lives. Witnesses who disobey elders’ orders or reject some of the religion’s teachings can be disfellowshipped or shunned, cut off from their relatives and closest friends — a particularly devastating consequence, since followers often have few close relationships outside of the religion. Witness officials previously declined to discuss the Haugh case, and instead issued a statement that noted the organization abhors child abuse. But a growing number of ex-Witnesses continue to go public with their experiences — 267 allegations of sexual abuse were reported in the Netherlands last month — and the organization now finds itself battling litigation on a near-constant basis. (More than 50 women and men have contacted the Inquirer and Daily News through this form to share their stories.) York Area Regional Police Chief Timothy Damon encouraged survivors to report their abuse to their local police departments. His officers, meanwhile, are trying to determine if elders at the Red Lion Kingdom Hall violated a state law that requires clergy, school employees, and health officials to report suspected child abuse. But the Haugh case isn’t the only potential new legal headache for the religion. On May 18, Barbara Anderson, an ex-Witness-turned-whistleblower who worked for a decade at the religion’s onetime headquarters in Brooklyn, filed a complaint with the New York State Attorney General’s Office that accused top Witness officials of “covering up criminal activities committed by up to 775” pedophiles who lurked within the organization. Anderson, 77, spent much of the last year compiling the 113-page complaint, leveraging a trove of internal records and memos that she amassed while she worked in the 1980s and ’90s for the Witnesses’ leadership, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York. The complaint compares the zero-tolerance policy the religion publicly claims to have regarding child abuse with steps its leaders took behind the scenes to gather and protect damaging information, beginning with a March 1997 letter from the Watchtower, which instructed elders to send information about suspected pedophiles in specially marked blue envelopes to its Brooklyn headquarters. A second letter in 1998 reminded elders of the need for confidentiality, and warned that court officials could hold the Watchtower responsible for appointing known child molesters to positions of authority, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by the Inquirer and Daily News. At least 775 blue envelopes were mailed to the Watchtower, a figure Anderson derived from the 2017 testimony of an attorney who was hired by the organization to defend it against a lawsuit that was filed in California by Jose Lopez, a San Diego man who was molested as a child by an alleged serial predator. In that case, the Watchtower incurred more than $2 million worth of fines for refusing to share its internal list of accused child molesters. Anderson’s complaint also mentions a letter she received in 1997 from Harry Peloyan, a former editor of a Witness magazine, Awake! Peloyan told her that the organization’s leaders had been slow to understand that child predators are likely to reoffend, and had little interest in publishing information about child abuse. “Had we continued on a blind course,” he wrote, “we would have had more megabuck lawsuits against the Society.” In an interview earlier this week, Anderson said submitting the complaint felt like a “momentous” development in her life. “I said to myself, ‘If this doesn’t do anything, then I don’t know what will.’ We have to get justice for the victims.” The millenarian religion was founded in Pittsburgh in the 1870s, and teaches followers that only they will survive a fast-approaching Armageddon. Its members are very much out in the world — going to school, working, trying to attract new recruits through door-to-door missionary work — but their personal lives can revolve almost entirely around the organization. Some former members told me they weren’t allowed to play sports or have friends outside of the religion as children. Others were instructed to avoid news coverage and entertainment that wasn’t produced by the Witnesses’ online TV network. Ironically, the organization is facing greater scrutiny from the mainstream media than ever before. Actress Leah Remini is reportedly working on a project for the A&E Network about the Witnesses, following in the footsteps of her three-season show Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath. And former 20/20 coanchor Elizabeth Vargas is devoting the May 29 episode of her new A&E series, Cults and Extreme Belief, to the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Vargas said she knew little about the Witnesses before she began working on the series, but was struck by some of the religion’s cultural quirks — followers aren’t allowed to celebrate holidays or birthdays, and are discouraged from attending college — and was disturbed by a rule that required sex-abuse victims to produce two eyewitnesses to support their claims. “I’m not a cult expert,” she said, “but we have cult experts who believe, without a doubt, that Jehovah’s Witnesses is a cult.” The organization has long insisted that it is not a cult, even devoting a section of its website to refuting the idea. But Vargas noted that all of the groups she’s examined share a common trait of cutting its members off from the rest of society and discouraging any dissent. “You start to lose your perspective,” she said.

A CAMPAIGNER who wants to overturn a two-witness rule over child abuse within a major religious organisation has enlisted the support of his MP. Steve Rose, from Hartlepool, a former Jehovah’s Witness, has been protesting against the rule, which stops senior figures in the church from acting against wrongdoing unless there are two witnesses. Now he has contacted Hartlepool MP Mike Hill, who is raising the issue with Cheltenham MP Alex Chalk, who in turn is bringing the debate to Parliament, saying it was an ongoing child safety concern. Mr Rose, who was once a member of HartlepoolÂ’s Kingdom Hall, said the two-witness rule makes it nearly impossible for action to be taken against perpetrators within the church who are brought to the attention of elders. And he claims anyone who reports the abuse faces being shunned by the congregation. The church says the two-witness rule does not stop victims reporting allegations to the police. A safeguarding inquiry by the Charity Commission is ongoing. http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/16245545.MP_to_raise_church_child_abuse_concerns/

As close to immortality as one can get.

JJ Kramer - Urban Legend

I would have to eat that rooster... LOL

This is the future of dentistry! ?

@James Thomas Rook Jr. How would you respond to Mr. Beau Willimon? just curious.

Has anyone tried interacting with faithleaks? Is it similar to this website where what I post can be shared to any social media website easily? Do they offer some special protection for whistleblowers that I am not aware of?