James Thomas Rook Jr.

I have suffered from both types of liars, too. But I don't think Stephen Lett is either. He was a District Overseer that included my present circuit. I've seen him up close in front of a congregation and at assemblies, although I can't say I have seen him interact closely with elders or other individuals. But he was known to be a man full of a lot of love and concern for others.
When it comes to defending something he loves -- and he loves the organization -- he is prone to the same kinds of mistakes that all humans make. They will often "spin" and exaggerate and filter out negative details to try to put the thing they love in the best light possible. Most people do this naturally when it come to speaking about their children, their spouses, and other loved ones. If you listen closely to what he said, it was also obvious that it was calculated to be a true statement. He didn't say that we have no trouble with such crimes, or that we are better than other religions. He said that we don't protect sexual predators and a claim that we protect predators is a lie that finds its source in apostate lies.
It turns out that he was trying to generalize, and probably spoke from a belief he holds to be true.
I believe he is wrong in some serious ways, but I don't know that he knew he was wrong. I think he thought he was right. I do have direct evidence that we have upheld policies that have protected criminals more than we have protected the victims of these criminals. This may have even protected criminal elders more than others persons in congregations where such crimes have been committed. I think that even now there are policies and procedures that tend to protect criminals more than they protect children, but the written policy is almost as good as it can be made under the restrictions of the two-witness policy (as we currently think we must apply it).

I have often wondered it it was me, or EVERYBODY else, that had problems with delirium ...... and then I realized ! ...
... For me, it's not a problem ....
.... I rather ENJOY IT

I have often wondered it it was me, or EVERYBODY else, that had problems with delirium ...... and then I realized ! ...
... For me, it's not a problem ....
.... I rather ENJOY IT

So ... assume every five years a branch bends over to touch the Earth, and it reproduces a tree trunk ... and the old trunk dies out..
That means that the trunk has replanted itself, and the old trunk died 1,912 times.
Boy, if the math had worked out to 1914 years this would have been GREAAAAT! to plug into the GB Body Member David Splaine's "overlapping generations chart!"
Now... 9,570 years divided by 5 DOES make 1914 years, plus ... you can get a "9" out of it and a "570", which sounds very biblical.
It is late ... I have the flu, and am very tired and congested.   I will let better minds than mine figure out the obvious typical / anti-typical ramifications.

Ouch!
 

So ... assume every five years a branch bends over to touch the Earth, and it reproduces a tree trunk ... and the old trunk dies out..
That means that the trunk has replanted itself, and the old trunk died 1,912 times.
Boy, if the math had worked out to 1914 years this would have been GREAAAAT! to plug into the GB Body Member David Splaine's "overlapping generations chart!"
Now... 9,570 years divided by 5 DOES make 1914 years, plus ... you can get a "9" out of it and a "570", which sounds very biblical.
It is late ... I have the flu, and am very tired and congested.   I will let better minds than mine figure out the obvious typical / anti-typical ramifications.

The storm trooper avatar of mine is due to someone I know, was an avid star wars fan when he was alive, he always dressed up as a storm trooper many many times even at random, and my avatars elsewhere is the same thing, it poses as a reminder for all my avatars is storm trooper related. Compared to me, my friend was not as bible savvy, but he always did like learning of what the scriptures say for the both of us were not fans of the badness taking place in the world, moreover, he was not the fastest learner when it came to this stuff, for back then, he wanted me to explain Revelations when he went into it randomly, at the time, I had no idea and was very confused with Revelations, but today, I am well aware of what it means, hence when I began learning the bible even more, I started from Revelations and read to Genesis.
But yeah, as clumsy as storm troopers are, they tend to be a reminder of something for some people, for me, anything related to storm troopers poses as a reminder for me.
Unlike storm troopers though, when I aim with scripture, it always hits, sometimes it hits rather way too well to the point it tends to surprise me and I am not the type of person to be surprised easily either. My laser fire is truth, the truth is the scriptures.

I have a question for Space Merchant.
Why wear that clumsy white Star Wars armor? 
It only seems to make you run like a girl balancing oranges, appears to be no protection whatsoever, even against hand weapons, and impairs  your aim so you cannot hit someone directly in front of you ?
I  mean .....
What with THAT!

I have a question for Space Merchant.
Why wear that clumsy white Star Wars armor? 
It only seems to make you run like a girl balancing oranges, appears to be no protection whatsoever, even against hand weapons, and impairs  your aim so you cannot hit someone directly in front of you ?
I  mean .....
What with THAT!

I have submitted to, and answered ALL your questions I ever remember you asking, specifically, and in detail ... and to everybody elses' questions they have submitted ... year after year after year.
The REASON for cross examinations is to arrive at the TRUTH of any matter.  
I submit to all cross-examinations ... and have told many very personal  things about myself to stimulate controversy so that the pot is stirred, and hopefully TRUTHS of all kinds will separate and rise to the top, and have, here on the Archive, for somewhere around six or seven years.
The TRUTH is painful .... and hard .... and soul searching.
The REASON for cross examinations is to arrive at the TRUTHS of many matters   ...  but without them we swim with chains, and we share those chains with others who swim.
There is ALWAYS enough chains.
We both believe in the same God, the Same Christ, the same Kingdom, and the same basic principles, except for only one principal thing, as far as I can see.
You are afraid of the water ... I am afraid of the chains.
 
 

I have edited two points of the quote of my above referenced comment  (click read more), changing  two points to red and bold to highlight what two ideas  go together.
... but of course since you are looking at anything I say trough AGENDA DRIVEN sunglasses, you do not comprehend what you read, so I will try to be clearer.
Ahem .... the following six lines quoted are separated by "air spaces" ... that means they are SEPARATE  definitions ... that means they are SEPARATE judicial systems.
1.) Transylvanian dictator Vlad the Impaler had a definition of "due process"
2.) Soviet Josef Stalin had a definition of "due process".
3.) The Nazi Gestapo and Department of Justice had a definition of "due process".
4.) The WTB&TS has a definition of "due process"
5.) The USA court systems have their definitions of "due process"
I clearly was talking about six completely separate and distinct forms, styles and characteristics of applied "Justice".
Completely different....completely separate.
I find it VERY SAD AND TELLING  that you, yourself made the connection, true or false, or partially true or partially false, that
" I mean, that last remark was as long as it was just plain unhinged - comparing the Watchtower to Stalin, the Gestapo, and to ...... Vlad the Impaler?! "
You AND YOU ALONE are the one that made that connection between deliberately isolated points ... you and you alone ... when my point was ONLY ... and what was also clearly stated :
" If your life was on the line, which system would YOU choose to get what approximates Justice?"
Which as usual ... as always ... the questions you NEVER answer.
I do know WHY you never answer my  questions, but go off on a tangents of misconstruction.
                                                        It's painful                                                                                                       
  although I deliberately kept the ideas separate ... with your own mind you saw that connection.
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TTH: ".. period of silence"?
You look for meaning in personal attributes, like dissecting a picture of a guy taking off a sleeve stained suit coat and becoming more worldly, as in Sunday's WT, and see nuances where there are none whatsoever.
You might have well have said he was being chased by bees!
".. period of silence"?
I do have to sleep and eat, and go to the ..... grocery store, and do yard work, etc., etc., etc.
Besides ... it's not the swing of the pendulum, as it goes to and fro ... but the essence that drives it, that makes us go.
Wha-de-do-DAH.
 
 

"Quod est necessarium est licitum"
That which is necessary, is legal.
If I ... with premeditation ...  I deliberately murdered a Sister out in Service by shooting her through the head through her car side window ...who was screaming in horror and pain, her body and face ON FIRE ...burning to death in a car fire, and nobody could not get her out ....
... how do you think the Congregational Judicial Committee would handle it?
... how do you think a civil Jury would handle it?
... how do you think any sane, reasonable adult would see it?
 

The "human court systems" are ..oh...what's the word I want to say...um.. oh yeah... HUMAN.
They are for the most part completely transparent, and open for review by all affected, or even interested parties having nothing to do with specific proceedings.
If Justice is being perverted, it can be plainly seen and documented, as it was clearly seen in the recent Russian Federation banning of Jehovah Witnesses Organization
If I want to, I can go to my County Courthouse and sit in the back and watch the daily administration of Justice.
They know this, and are therefore open, transparent, conscientious, and accountable.
... Unless they are following a script for political reasons ... but that too, can be watched, and is a lesson in itself.
When the 60 MINUTES TV show news team and video truck shows up at a Kingdom Hall you know it's GOING to be a bad day.
All judicial processes take place in secret, with no recordings allowed, and no witnesses allowed to see and hear the deliberations, even if an accused wants it.
The accused is not allowed representation, and no notes are taken that he or she is allowed to see and review.
The concept of a transcript is laughed at.
The Civil courts of today closely resemble the court system of Ancient Israel, where trials were held in the city gates, and EVERYTHING was open to all who passed through ... they could stand and watch for awhile,  or speak up and add whatever they thought might be pertinent testimony. 
The accusers, defenders, and judges were ALL watched by EVERYONE with complete transparency.  This system served for an honest and stable system of jurisprudence for over two thousand years.
WHAT WE DO, is a secret to the congregation, is behind closed doors, and people are afraid if they express any interest in how the wheels turned ...  they might be NEXT to get pulled into the back to "Room 101", "The Little Back Room", the "Red Room" for a Star Chamber style interrogation.
.... In the kindest possible way of course.
If Justice is being perverted, it is COMPLETELY HIDDEN AND UNDOCUMENTED, in contrast to what was able to be clearly seen in the recent Russian Federation banning of Jehovah's Witnesses Organization. They banned the Corporation at the same time honoring a Russian Jehovah's Witness Family.
It may be whispered about among elders ... but that's about it.
AN INVISIBLE STEEL FIST IN SATIN COVERED GLOVE.
I see and have seen how both judicial systems work, not in theory, but in actual practice, over many, many years.
And Star Chambers always evolve into Kangaroo Courts .. and although the Brotherhood may have never heard those terms ...  the chilling factor of feeling the effects on a gut level ... goes clear to the bone.
OF COURSE I have praise for the "human court systems".
God gave US a BETTER system ... roughly imitated by Civil Governments today ... and we ABANDONED it for what we have now.
 
 
 
But ... they get lentils .... AND MEAT .... at Bethel, and brag about it.
 
 

TTH:
Many legal firms have been bankrupted along WITH their clients over never ending litigation.
I even think there was a movie about that years ago, if memory serves, starring Richard Gere.
( placekeeper here if I ever find it ..)
The movie starts out he is in a busy law firm making millions, and he is driving around in a VERY expensive exotic sports car, and $3,000 dollar suits.
The last scene of the movie shows him in Bankruptcy Court, he's living in a cheap motel and before the Bankruptcy Judge, says his only possession is a radio.
and as far as my cartoon collection ... I think you are just Jealous ... I remember before that after ranting about my posting style, you said you were going to try and emulate it, or words to that effect.
The legal means the Society's Lawyers always use are GOOD ones! ... if winning at all costs is the goal, and Justice is not.
Actually, their legal and fiduciary responsibility to their client is to WIN ... NOT pursue Justice.
That is the Governing Body's Job.
... to pursue Justice ... even if it means losing a billion dollars and all the real estate they own.

Excerpt from the above news article:
Also, in Delaware, a similar case was being adjudicated, and the Court stopped the Society's Lawyers from changing the venue to a county where the court system was overloaded and the trial would not take place for YEARS. Their startegy is to wear out any seekers of justice and to bankrupt them.
They KNOW what Justice is ... but to not hemorrhage MONEY, pervert it in every way possible. The Lawyers and accountants are now deciding what is proper theocratic protocol, and that has been the case since the "rise of the Governing Body".
Spend about an hour reading the sad history of this case on Google.
Just Google "Jehovah's Witnesses vs State of Delaware".
Read it and weep!

From the Newspaper the “San Diego Reader” - October 12, 2017
Jehovah's Witnesses look in other direction
Lawyers for religious group argue against daily fines in sex-abuse case
By Dorian Hargrove, Oct. 12, 2017
 
Attorneys for the Jehovah's Witness church appeared before a state appellate court yesterday (October 11) in hopes of overturning the $4000 daily sanctions that a trial court ordered them to pay for refusing to turn over documents in one of two sex-abuse cases.
 
Osbaldo Padron, a former parishioner of the Linda Vista Jehovah's Witness congregation, filed his lawsuit against the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, JehovahÂ’s WitnessesÂ’ governing body, in 2013. Padron was one of seven people who sued the kingdom over sexual abuse they suffered by a former church elder, Gonzalo Campos.
As detailed in an August 30 Reader article, Campos admitted to molesting seven children from 1982 to 1999. Despite his admission, church elders agreed to let Campos rejoin the congregation after a four-year expulsion.
 
In a 1999 letter, Linda Vista church elder Eduardo Chavez argued for reinstating Campos. He wrote, “In our meeting with him he said he was very repentant for what he did. He stated that he wanted to return to Jehovah. He is willing to face the victims and ask their forgiveness. He now wants to obey Jehovah. Before, when he would speak to people on the platform he would not meditate on what he was doing. Although he needed to confess, he felt shameful and had fear of mankind. He would deceive himself thinking that he could continue serving as an elder. Now he realized that he could not change without help. Ever since his expulsion he has not abused anyone."
 
In 2010, five victims sued the Watchtower for allowing Campos to serve as an elder despite having knowledge that he molested several children in the congregation. Watchtower settled that case in 2012. The terms of the settlement as well as the evidence against the Watchtower were sealed.
 
Two more victims, Padron and José Lopez, followed suit.
 
In 2013, San Diego Superior Court judge Joan Lewis ordered Watchtower to pay $13.5 million for repeatedly refusing to turn over documents that showed the church was aware of sexual abuse and did nothing to stop it.
 
Attorneys for the Watchtower filed an appeal. They argued that Judge Lewis had acted too soon in issuing the $13.5 million in sanctions and instead the trial court should have imposed less severe sanctions. The appellate court agreed.
 
In their ruling, the justices wrote, "We conclude the court erred in ordering terminating sanctions because there was no evidence that lesser sanctions would have failed to obtain Watchtower's compliance with the document production order and because there were other possible sanctions that could have effectively remedied the discovery violation. On remand, the court has broad discretion to start with a different sanction that does not wholly eliminate Watchtower's right to a trial."
 
Then, last year in the Padron case, a different superior court judge, Richard Strauss, followed the appellate court's advice and instead of issuing terminating sanctions imposed $4000 daily sanctions on the Watchtower for refusing to turn over the documents that Padron's attorneys had requested.
Again, Watchtower's attorneys filed an appeal.
 
On October 11, those attorneys appeared before the Fourth District Appellate Court to argue that the trial court was wrong to issue daily sanctions — exactly what they had argued for in the appellate court Lopez case just months prior.
 
Justice Richard Huffman did not hide his displeasure that Watchtower's attorneys were arguing against what they had previously supported to the same court.
"You can't have it both ways," Huffman said during argument. "[The Lopez] ruling has come around to bite you and now you're saying, 'not fair, not fair.' You were headed in one direction before and now youÂ’re headed another way. It's a breathtaking position to listen to."
The appellate court has 90 days to issue its formal ruling."
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Our donations are being used to OBSTRUCT JUSTICE !
 

Let's say you want a cover for an International magazine, that graphically depicts the fact that the Russian Federation is now in the business of BANNING BIBLES !
FIRST: hire some very creative photographers with the latest expensive equipment .. in this case a $50,000 medium format digital camera and articulated support, and a pot load of lighting equipment, and a studio ... and oh yeas... write a check for about $20,000.
SECOND: Get a pickup truck and go down to your local big game taxidermist and rent a stuffed Russian bear.
THIRD: build some supports under the stuffed bear, and figure out angles and lighting  ... and get a copy of the specific Bible that the Russkies are banning ... in this case ... the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.
FOURTH: Make claw marks on the NWT, using great skill and creativity.
FIFTH: Make sure the photo is PERFECTLY lit, with a PERFECT background, and PERFECT angle.  You are probably in your second day of taking the ONE picture you want.
SIXTH: compose and crop the picture so that the magazine staff can add commentary, and of course their "mast", or name of the magazine.
SEVENTH: Deliver the photo by hand to the editor of the magazine, get your check COD, and go to THEIR bank and cash it. THIS is the most important part!!
Graphically .... it looks something like this .......
 

You can save a LOT of money with a fabric car that runs on either electricity, or that you can pedal .... and spend it all on Hospital Bills when you get hit!

In the United States ... with FOUR wheels, this would not be "street legal" ... but with THREE wheels , it would be.
A bicycle has TWO wheels... hence the name "BI"-cycle
A tricycle has THREE wheels ... hence the name "TRI"-cycle
A car has at least four wheels, derived from the word "CAR"-riage , or "carriage"
We have very under powered motorcycles that USED to have pedals in past years, and some few still do, , that need no license, tags, or registration, (in most States) and you can drive them in most States without a Driver's License.
These are called "drunk-mobiles", and are used primarily by those whose Driver's Licenses have been revoked for driving while drunk.

I'm guessing that in the first picture Angela Merkel is saying: "Did you hear the one about the Japanese man who  . . . . ?"
That could explain the second picture.

 
Remember focal plane shutters on film cameras where you could get dramatically different flash/available light balanced  pictures, depending on whether or not the "x" (electronic flash setting) was set to "at first curtain", or "at second curtain"?
I took a photo of a basketball player, years ago, jumping to put the ball in the basket, with a strong flash, and the combination of blurred available light and secondary flash  at about a 15th of a second, and the photo looked like his white front teeth, trailing the flash image,  were about 12 feet long, in an arc.
I bet some interesting photos could be made of GB member, Brother Stephen Lett, in action.
I used to rely on GB cards, but found that some were typical, and some were anti-typical, and I could never make any sense of the overlapping photos.
For those in Rio Linda, that is ultra-dry Gobi Desert humor.

 
Remember focal plane shutters on film cameras where you could get dramatically different flash/available light balanced  pictures, depending on whether or not the "x" (electronic flash setting) was set to "at first curtain", or "at second curtain"?
I took a photo of a basketball player, years ago, jumping to put the ball in the basket, with a strong flash, and the combination of blurred available light and secondary flash  at about a 15th of a second, and the photo looked like his white front teeth, trailing the flash image,  were about 12 feet long, in an arc.
I bet some interesting photos could be made of GB member, Brother Stephen Lett, in action.
I used to rely on GB cards, but found that some were typical, and some were anti-typical, and I could never make any sense of the overlapping photos.
For those in Rio Linda, that is ultra-dry Gobi Desert humor.

As a professional photographer, I know that photos taken fractions of a second apart can make people and dynamics look completely different ... and keep my camera on "continuous" shooting bursts 5 pictures to the second. 
Now that "film" is free, with digital cameras when I shoot a wedding sometimes I take two or three thousand pictures for that very reason.  My 64GB SD card will take more than 10,000 high resolution pictures before I have to change the card.  I do take along spare cameras and six fully charged batteries.
A fraction of a second can make all the difference!

 
Remember focal plane shutters on film cameras where you could get dramatically different flash/available light balanced  pictures, depending on whether or not the "x" (electronic flash setting) was set to "at first curtain", or "at second curtain"?
I took a photo of a basketball player, years ago, jumping to put the ball in the basket, with a strong flash, and the combination of blurred available light and secondary flash  at about a 15th of a second, and the photo looked like his white front teeth, trailing the flash image,  were about 12 feet long, in an arc.
I bet some interesting photos could be made of GB member, Brother Stephen Lett, in action.
I used to rely on GB cards, but found that some were typical, and some were anti-typical, and I could never make any sense of the overlapping photos.
For those in Rio Linda, that is ultra-dry Gobi Desert humor.

Probably by selecting just the right one, you could suggest of any wedding that they will be divorced in two weeks.