James Thomas Rook Jr.

A " helicopter parent" is a parent who hovers over his or her children, ever watchful, ever close-by ... ready to guide and direct the children wherever and whenever needed, but at a manageable distance, and close enough to provide real, not imagined protection and security.
Like admin says... it may take ten minutes for police to respond, whereas I have the capability to make bad guys behave themselves (probably) faster than the speed of sound ....about 1100 feet per second.
I have been armed every day of my life, for the past  half-century or so, and have avoided at least three "incidents" just by being obviously armed ( I had to pull my gun, which is otherwise always concealed.
That gun I posted the picture of on another thread is small and light, and has a one-watt green laser on the top, ( my own modification so it works in bright sunlight ...) and still fits in my front right pocket.
I do not expect to get into gun battles ... merely restrain or stop the stupid and undisciplined.  I am never without it, except in courthouses, where it is not allowed ... and airports, and in the bath ... where it is on the adjacent toilet seat, under a towel.
If I expect a sustained fight, I "dress heavier", and differently.
Carrying an unloaded gun around is a good way to get killed .... like trying to outrun an avalanche in a snowmobile with no gas.
OF COURSE IT'S LOADED!
There are people that are sheep, and there are people that are Sheepdogs, like myself ... who have fangs and consider it my genetic duty to protect the innocent (myself included).
An incompetent defense is no defense at all .... and that's why they get eaten by wolves, and  eventually .... the sheep get sheared,  eaten by their Shepherds.
Think of me as a "helicopter gunship" Sheepdog parent.
Once you get that image in your mind ... you may need several beers.
 

Billy:
That is a whole SEPARATE issue:
The Constitution of the United States  tells the Federal Government what powers it is allowed to have.
Everything NOT SPECIFICALLY ENUMERATED ... is reserved to the States, or to the People.
Constitutionally, the United States Federal Government is NOT permitted to be in the Health Care business.
Period.
Besides.... The ACA or "Obamacare" was never actually "insurance", anyway... because of the allowance that you could get it with pre-existing conditions.
Try getting fire insurance on your home..... AFTER .... you home is already on fire.
If you can, what you have bought is NOT insurance .... it is insanity.
Same with Health Insurance ... Obamacare was fiscally bankrupt, before the first policy was sold.

You would think they would be right, more often.

In matter of defending themselves, perhaps first thing in mind is about how to defend/escape/minimize injuries on you alone.... and, i think, you have no time and space to meditate about how to be nice and kind or not to kick too strong this hooligan. 
I have no experience in such situations. So, i guess, i would be beating to death if bastards find me in some dark place.    

Okay, I shouldn’t get into this. I really shouldn’t. I really really shouldn’t. But..   https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-posts-video-of-himself-singing-green-acres-theme-song-ahead-of-farm-bill-signing   I’m sorry, but I like it. If only this fellow was not so bashful...   Probably I over-analyzed this, but...   1) Hootersville is to NYC as Washington is to Manhattan. (It works if you are ridiculing ‘the swamp’)   2) Melania, like Lisa, did not want to leave her home.   3) As much as politicians like to carry on about the dignity they think they are owed, the people governed rarely think that the job done is so laudable that they should not take their dose of ridicule instead. And there are few things I relish more than puncturing the assumed dignity of pompous ones.   Whether this is a good idea or not, I’ve not the foggiest clue. But the sense of unabashed humor displayed absolutely cracks me up. It is the kind of thing that I might do if I was but bright enough to think of it.   Incidentally, it took a very long time for me to realize that the occasion was his signing a farm bill, because no comments I read on Twitter made any mention of that. They all advanced, in the strongest possible terms, their authors contempt for what an embarrassment he was. None of them recognized the context. They all took it for pure unexpected idiocy coming straight out of left field, with no connection to anything.   And I’m sure it doesn’t hurt to add that I absolutely loved the Green Acres show— probably THAT is what prompts my writing—for the coordinated lunacy on display, all directed at Oliver, as though it was he that was crazy & not the other way around. I mean, whenever some absolutely loopy thing happened, only he was flummoxed. To everyone else it was the most natural thing in the world. 

That's what happens when you don't "volunteer" to give up a seat on an overbooked flight. They randomly pick someone to get literally pulled off the plane. Yet, the airlines overbook on purpose, knowing that they almost never get 100% to show up, at which point they can usually accommodate a few stand-by travelers to fill up the plane.
I have been on many planes where an attendant asked for volunteers to get off the plane for the next flight home (often the next day), and it usually comes with an offer for a local hotel, a couple of meal vouchers, and a free round-trip flight to be used later in the year. Traveling alone for business, I often took them up on it, since I was always reimbursed anyway and didn't have to give the extra ticket back to the company. 
If the flight is having trouble finding volunteers, the usual way is to just up the offer, like $100 plus all of the above, then $200 plus all of the above. Someone always volunteers. It's cheaper than losing your brand reputation!

I know that we almost got a discussion going about this, but most of the Western propaganda about famines under Russian communism were originally made up as Nazi propaganda. The United States actually hired some of the Nazi propagandists after the war. Because, historically, so many officials in United States have had such a fear of communism, or even socialism since the 1800's, it was useful and necessary to make up lies about the so-called purposeful state-sponsored starvation(s) and accidental state-induced famines through errors. Once the propaganda had taken root, the next stage of propaganda was to pump up the number of victims by multiplying originally claimed numbers into the 1,000s, then 10,000s, then millions. For China, some "experts" have decided they can literally get away with making up numbers on the order of hundreds of millions.
Most Americans and other Westerners never think to question the propaganda. Most Westerners and even anti-communists in Russia since Yeltsin have been happy to go along with the old Nazi sponsored propaganda. It either fits a strongly-entrenched world view, or it helps to strengthen a grip on the current power structure.
Here is just an overview of what actually happened with reference to the "famines under communism."
RUSSIA
No one doubts that there were famines, it is a good part of what led to the 1917 revolution in the first place, because the wealth of the czars was compared with the induced shortages among the commoners. It was similar to the French revolution of the late 1780's/1790's when the Queen was supposed to have said "Let them eat cake." A good representation of the way that the governments "induced" such famines can be found especially in the last season of the PBS series "Poldark" set in the late 1700's and early 1800's. In that presentation, the starving miners and fishermen watched their landowners and merchants illegally sell local grain and food to places like Portugal. They were not punished for the illegal actions, but if a starving commoner rioted in response he could be executed by hanging. These conditions were similar to the conditions in czarist Russia.
So after communism in 1917, there were still terrible conditions, but the famines were finally ending under Lenin's "collectivization." Under Stalin, famines were completely eliminated after the 1933 famine. The only exception was the Nazi-induced famines from the willful German destruction of 27 million Russian lives along with their means of production brought back a famine that lasted even for a time after WW2. It's obviously ludicrous to try to blame the Nazi induced destruction on communism but, believe it or not, some "experts" have done this very thing.
CHINA
China, once a very poor country with a very high percentage of poverty, suffered famine especially in the 1960's. To an extent agricultural policy contributed. (e.g., the "Three Pests Campaign.") But some of these policies only lasted for a short period and were scrapped when found to be not working. But these mistakes weren't the explanation for the famines, nor for the high number of deaths. A full one-third of China's arable land was destroyed by droughts in the north. And for a while during this time, extreme flooding and storms hit the south. Entire rivers had dried up completely. India suffered a famine at the same time killing millions, but the propagandists care very little about the famine in India, because it can't be blamed on communism.
Currently, who would have thought that it would be communism in China that would make it a global economic competitor? Who would have thought that it would be communism in China that has created more economic stability, economic growth, more stable (and better) unemployment numbers, lower incarceration rates, with huge gains in bringing a higher percentage of people out of poverty. It's still a developing country, of course, and a lot is still left to the global market, making it sensitive to global problems. Yet, in a trade war between China and the US, the US is actually being hurt worse, so far.
Capitalism has made a lot of dumb decisions, too, with instability and crisis actually built into its economic foundations. We have been taught to see regular recessions, depressions, and even financial collapse of large parts of the economy as just "the old normal." Our economists try to present the rules of capitalism, and "free market" as stable. Someone showed me their notes from a recent class at Harvard taught by a presidential economics advisor where he showed a smooth graph of economic growth/strength/stability throughout American History. When asked about 2008, and 1929, and 1876, etc., he said "these are just anomalies that we can ignore for the purposes of understanding the foundations of our economic system." In fact, it's just the opposite: these so-called anomalies (crisis/corrections) are so much a part of the system, that we would be going through famines here and now if it weren't for a counteracting, bullying military and foreign policy program that can plunder other nations for "American interests."
I hope you'll understand that this is no defense of communism or any other form of human government. It's just that we have been led to believe a lot of what we believe because propaganda and lies are a very important part of the governmental apparatus. Communist governments must also lie about Western and capitalist powers, too.

Perhaps he will comment, about my presumption.
I have found as a general observation the more snow a culture has to endure, the less of a sense of humor they have.
Hardship trying to stay alive sometimes does that.
Of course, if you are the Cook, almost EVERYBODY finds your jokes funny !
... everyone has to eat !

The Muppet Show. Swedish Chef telling a joke (317).mp4

My solution would be to NOT actively encourage anybody being totally incompetent when violence strikes..
If you tell , and teach people to not learn how to defend themselves, and they trust you ... perhaps because you are  seemingly representing the will of God ...then ....  you SHARE responsibility for their deaths or injuries.
Stupid people, and victims of chance and circumstance, and/or deliberate evil .... do not need help to become MORE incompetent.
 

Srecko Sostar has a sense of humor, that comes across even across the language barrier.
I understand (most of the time) humor, Satire, and Parody.
It's only confrontational for those with a limited sense of humor, irony, parody, and satire ... who are not conversational in that "language".

It's proof the male population is generally bat-crap crazy.
If I wanted to "feel included" .... I would not choose THAT!

Talking about food rationing - I think, as things progress, they will slowly starve millions/billions because farming will be reduced and food rationed.  It brings the famines under communism to mind. 
Moral decline is happening daily in front of our eyes.  Saw a clip yesterday where the professor is drawing attention to a school in Ireland which is now teaching their students that boys can have periods so they do not feel excluded.   When they start messing with reality in such a way - what chance do the children have?
We will see the difference between the wicked and righteous clearly as Jehovah indicated. Lift up your heads......
 

You know, admin, that in my quiet moments, I am thinking of how to start a Church that is completely legal, I can siphon money away from the gullible, and live the lifestyle of which I would like to become accustomed.
I think I will call it "The Fifth Third Reform Church of Automatic Deposit", and the Credo will be "It is better to give, that to receive".
The main Credo will be " Don't Worry, Be Happy Now, and on Sunday, get to the Golden Corral before the Baptists do!".
It will involve a Ministry of having adherents to the faith work on repairing my house, doing yard work, and fixing and preparing meals for the Great Founder.
...... not to be confused with the "Great Flounder", my Choir Director, who takes "D" size batteries.
.
5th3rd Church Choir Directoe .mp4

Sure they do, as any other worldly organization, they have the same rights as another.
This organization claims it belongs to God.   It claims it is “spirit-directed”.  Does this put the blame on God if a battle for worldly rights is lost?   Whenever the nation of Israel followed God’s decrees they were blessed with victory, with each person receiving protection from God.  How many JWs languish in prisons world-wide, some for years?  How many victims of child-abuse are disfellowshipped because their emotional make-up is crushed by “God’s organization” failing to shepherd them with love and understanding? WT's leaders are at war in the court systems with these victims who want recompense for spiritual and emotional damage.  Warwick is praised and visited daily by JWs, while many who have dedicated their life to “Jehovah’s organization” have little to nothing, or face prison walls on the same day crowds stare in awe at the organization’s feat to build a “Bethel” – house of God.  Blasphemy.     The WT calls itself “Zion” on earth.  It should come across as the most powerful entity on this earth since it purports to represent the true God, even if it is smaller than the surrounding “nations”.  Deut 7:7  God would graciously allow it to flourish.  Lev chapter 26 (corrected)
And…if it can’t be compared to the early nation of Israel, (although the GB regularly does so) then why must every JW who questions the organization’s route taken, as it develops its counterfeit Zion, be considered spiritually “dead”?  Rev 13:15
The true spiritual house/”organization” is built on faithful anointed ones – the “Israel of God”.  1 Pet 2:5,9; 1 Cor 3:16,17; Eph 2:20-22   Surrounding them, is an earthly “idol” under the rule of a Wicked Slave. 
Preposterous, you say?
Now all in God’s visible organization say with Micah: “We, for our part, shall walk in the name of Jehovah our God to time indefinite, even forever.” (Micah 4:5) The modern-day organization is gathered around “the Israel of God,” which is called in the Bible “a people for his name.” (Galatians 6:16; Acts 15:14; Isaiah 43:6, 7; 1 Peter 2:17) Hence, to be part of Jehovah’s organization means to be part of a people who seek, and receive, protection in God’s name.” w98 9/1 pp. 8-13
Of course, “Israel”, the Temple of God, (1 Cor 3:16,17) must not bond with each other, but remain silent since the “Gentile” elder body has been given authority to rule over them.  Matt 24:48-51; 2 Thess 2:3,4; Rev 11:1,2   These are the true “witnesses” of God…that must listen and obey the direction of men.  (Wt 16/1 pg 24)  Isa 43:10; 1 Pet 2:5,9,10; Rom 14:4; Isa 2:22
“Now when the thousand years have expired,
…which began when Jesus sat down at the right hand of his Father Ps 110:1,2; John 16:33; 1 Cor 15:25; 1 John 3:8; Rev 3:21
“Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. 9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.”  Rev 20:7-9
Ezek 38:8b,10,11,14-16-23  https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezek+38%3A8b%2C10%2C11%2C14%2C16-23&version=NKJV 
 Only a false prophet would claim it directs a “modern day” earthly organization that must have the same rights as any other organization in the world of ‘commercial business’.  Luke 4:5-7; Rev 13:1,11,14-17 
Sir, you concentrated on the organization’s right to worldly benefits and failed to notice the hypocrisy brought out in the first quote I presented.   How is it that JWs can easily skip over the sins of their own leaders and still be expected to be blessed by God?  Could it be the stubbornness of the heart?  John 12:40
 
 
 
 

Whoa there buddy. Even Paul appealed to Caesar when he had the opportunity. Millions of Christians accept social security and other government benefits. Are you suggesting they should forego these things because they are supposed to be no part of the world? 
What about fire and police protection? Should we also forego assistance from these brave folks because we proclaim we are no part of the world? Of course not. After the same scripture you quoted above also states that governments are God's servants. They frequently do a measure of good and we all benefit when governments exercise their authority in a fine way. 
 

The witnesses have the right to fight for their rights. I would be very disappointed if witnesses decided not to put up a fight if any government try to make them pay for taxes when other religious group are not. We call that discrimination.
You are saying because witnesses claimed to be God’s people it is ok for them to let others treat them unfairly in the name of Jesus and Jehovah. 
It is the law in many western countries religious organizations are exempt from taxes.
it is like you are saying, the government is giving families a tax break because you are a witness you will not take it for whatever your reasons are. This is a nonsensical subject. 
They are other things you can criticize the watchtower organization for, this is not one of them. This is an an idiotic subject, you are telling a group of people to let themselves be treated unfairly and be discriminated just in the name of God. What kind of God will be ok with that?

Billy ElKiddo:
I mean this in the nicest kind of way.
About this issue you are too uninformed to even have a conversation with.
Your ignorance is only surpassed by your agenda driven naivety.
 
 
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See also the video on this post:
 

The purpose of the Awake! is to keep people busy, both at Bethel, and in the Field.
I am not entirely critical of this idea, for if you saw the movie "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (winning 7 Acadamy Awards) the British Colonel expressed it was a good thing the Japanese were keeping his POW  men busy doing SOMETHING.
I this case, building a railway bridge.
I actually think it is a GOOD idea keeping people busy doing "busywork", if they lack discipline and initiative on their own.
It keeps them out of trouble.

You can sue someone for ANYTHING.
Winning is quite another thing.
The WTB&TS, in anything that involves money, will ignore Justice, and appeal, and appeal, and appeal until the Plaintiffs are bankrupt.
Here is how tax exempt religious organizations are defined (Please expand the video to full size, and turn up your speakers ...):

Televangelists_ Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO).mp4

I am glad this is in #AJOpinion, because it is ONLY someone's over-thought opinion.
Anyone that understands "arm's length" transactions knows the logic is bogus..
It is like Ray Steven's song and chart about how he is able to PROVE, through reason and logic, that he is his own Grandfather.
The logic may be unassailable, but in the REAL WORLD it is a complete fantasy.
Such is the power of words.
It is clear that some people make a good living playing with words.
 
I'm My Own Grandpa- Ray Stevens ( with family tree diagram).mp4

The point the critics are missing is that the superior authorities have the right to demand taxes as well as to waive taxes.  If you say they have to demand taxes on every occasion you are saying they can't use their discretion. It is like saying a pensioner should pay taxes although the government prescribes the income bands wherein a pensioner can be tax free.  What pensioner would go tell the government that they don't appreciate that reprieve from paying taxes on a small income. It would be tantamount to showing lack of appreciation for the government's consideration and sympathy for the person now earning one-third to one-fifth of what they used to work for. Governments are not run by robots that can only think one way.  Decisions are made by people who are themselves workers and would look forward to that same treatment when they can no longer receive full salary.
It is the same with religious organizations.  These organizations did not ask the government for this consideration.  It was a gift  or a concession to them because of the nature of their work.  All religious organizations avail themselves of that right, and are viewed equally,  just like all pensioners have the privilege of being tax-free where their income fall below a certain threshold.  So saying that they must still pay taxes is showing lack of appreciation for this concession and is also saying that the government is a one-way thinking robot and cannot use discretion.  It is simple-mindedness.
Jesus once said that the "sons are really tax-free" and that taxes should really be collected from foreigners *  But he said because of conscience we should be willing and ready to pay. JWs would be willing and ready to pay if the government changed its mind and started to tax all religious organizations - but if it told JWs that only they had to pay, they would fight it for sure, as that would not be fair. There are  secular organizations where their employees and premises and income are tax-exempt - because the governments say they do not want them to pay taxes for various reasons, especially international organizations with employees from various countries.  People should educate themselves on these matters.   Any person or entity can demand payment or can waive payment for various reasons.  It is like saying that if a business decides to give a customer a free product, the customer has to give it back or insist that he pays for it.  The government needs taxes, but the government can decide to forego payment in areas where it wishes to do so.
______________
*(Matthew 17:24-27) 24 After they arrived in Ca·perʹna·um, the men collecting the two drachmas tax approached Peter and said: “Does your teacher not pay the two drachmas tax?” 25 He said: “Yes.” However, when he entered the house, Jesus spoke to him first and said: “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth receive duties or head tax? From their sons or from the strangers?” 26 When he said: “From the strangers,” Jesus said to him: “Really, then, the sons are tax-free. 27 But that we do not cause them to stumble, go to the sea, cast a fishhook, and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth, you will find a silver coin. Take that and give it to them for me and you.”
 

you're right its not, but it is humiliation in front of friends and family. 
 
 
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14753634.2013.778485
Since power is central to humiliation, the victim of an act of humiliation can be described not as feeling but as being humiliated, as the victim of an act of power. Humiliation is something actively done by one person to another, even if through institutions or directed in principle at groups. It is a demonstration of the capacity to use power unjustly with apparent impunity.
 
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-legacy-distorted-love/201209/shaming-children-is-emotionally-abusive
Shaming and humiliating children is emotionally abusive. It is not ok to smack children physically or with words. Young people deserve and are entitled to reach out, attach and bond with their caretakers. It is an expectation that the parent will provide safety, protection, acceptance, understanding and empathy. When this does happen, children grow up knowing their worth and demanding respect from others and themselves. When children are emotionally or psychologically abused, they grow up feeling unloved, unwanted, and fearful. Normal development is interrupted and it sends the wounded child into exile. This is when negative internal messages are developed and why we have so many adults today feeling “not good enough.”
Shaming and humiliation causes fear in children. This fear does not go away when they grow up. It becomes a barrier for a healthy emotional life and is difficult to eradicate. If these same children become parents, the possibility also exists that the fear and negativity can be unwittingly passed through the generations.
 
http://www.childhoodrevered.com/sentient/parenting/2010/08/humiliation-far-reaching-effects-on-children-adults-society/
Importantly, the more a victim is aware of human rights values, the more likely they are to feel humiliated. When one is acted upon in a way that undermines one’s sense of equal dignity, as it is enshrined in human rights, the psychological damage of humiliation is being inflicted. It is this damage that is particularly hard to recover and heal from. Lindner believes that humiliation is the necessary concept for defining victimhood as “victimhood” and as such has to be considered as the key ingredient that makes conflict comprehensible and thus preventable and manageable. According to Lindner, “victimhood at the hands of fellow human beings must entail the notion of humiliation, otherwise it would not be seen as victimhood but as pro-social event or natural disaster.”
 
 

The U.N. Library is mirrored in several other places.  If memory serves the New York City Public Library, and in at least one New York University, the name escapes me at the moment.  You can just walk in and read for free.
The fact was that the WTB&TS were active NGO associates of the United Nations Department of Public Information for 9-1/2 Years.... until they got "caught" by the U.K "Guardian" newspaper.  They used this for political influence and "tickets of admission" at world government conferences.
This has been extensively documented and has been FULLY explored in past JW-Archive discussions.
The "All we signed up for is a Library Card" explanation was by simpletons, for simpletons who wish there was a magical "Rainbow Bridge".