James Thomas Rook Jr.

The Daily Signal published another photo, taken moments apart:
No particular tension in this one. 

It makes one wonder how much is real and how much is selected just to convey a desired effect.

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!

Here's a relevant quote:
Angela Merkel is now the leader of the free world, not Donald Trump  -https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/angela-merkel-donald-trump-democracy-freedom-of-press-a7556986.html
The US President isn’t motivated by protecting liberal democracy or freedom, his sole ideology is Trumpism: corporate autocracy with a populist facade. And he surrounds himself with white nationalists even more hostile to liberal democracy than he is
Also see the Daily Mail article from a couple of years ago: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3303677/Putin-declared-powerful-man-world-Forbes-magazine-Angela-Merkel-replacing-President-Obama-second-place.html
Putin is declared the most powerful man in the world by Forbes magazine... with Angela Merkel replacing President Obama in second place
Vladimir Putin is declared world's most powerful for third year in a row German Chancellor Angela Merkel steals runner-up from Barack Obama First year a sitting U.S. President has not made it into the top two   
It's a comment on how much power the US has supposedly lost due loss of trust in the US Gov't for negotiating power. Trump's pulling out of prior international agreements indicates to nations that the US cannot be trusted to keep an agreement, and therefore the US loses powerful leverage as a player among other nations. Germany keeps control over international monetary policy in a way that the US can no longer manage. And the potential drain on the "full faith and credit of the US Govt" backing our Treasury bonds. (The way we [USA] try to sell our debt to other countries to pay for things like Trump's trillion dollar tax cut to favor the wealthy. As it is we will have to raise interest rates on Treasury bonds to entice foreign countries to fund this trillion dollars.)

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!

Yes, because unfortunately so far one has been finding out things from 3rd parties, and most are false,  but just to complicate things, some turn out to be true.  So in my humble opinion it would be better if we were informed directly in the first place, so that we could happily ignore information from those 3rd parties......transparency is the word.
 

I do recall an announcement, I think quoted quite  publically, as at a district convention or circuit assembly, around 1980, to the effect that Bethel just finished massive expenditures on letterpress upgrades just before the entire industry switched to offset printing, making much equipment instantly obsolete.
I hate to think how of you will hand me my head on a platter with that one.

hMMMMmmmm ...
I thought there was only ONE unforgivable sin .....
Telling a racially offensive joke to white people ... that was NOT outrageously funny !

This might be another topic, but yes, I noticed that, therefor after the meeting I immediately asked an elder who was sitting in front of me. I said it was odd, why mention two questions and then only talk about one. (At that point my husband fled). He said because the second question would be off topic, since the discussion was about dedication to Jehovah. So I said sure, but without answering yes to the second question you couldn't get baptised. He said the second question would probably get discussed in the next lesson. I told him no, I looked. So he said not to worry, it will come up sometime....

My wife and I have cut back our contributions back about 70% for the last three years, SOLELY due to how the WTB&TS has handled their pursuit and perversions of Justice by their legal staff.  Whether or not the GB is aware of that and everything else that is going on financially I do not have solid proof for, but understanding people in general, makes me dislike them even more.
Since I still believe Jehovah's Witnesses are "The only game in town", and there is clear hard evidence that the "game has been rigged", and I have no vote whatsoever ... and neither do you ..... I have only two choices.
Vote with my feet ... or vote with my wallet.
It appears MILLIONS of Jehovah's Witnesses are doing that exact same thing.
Sometimes .... as many Congregations are finding out, as their Kingdom Halls THEY built and THEY paid for are cruelly confiscated and sold out from under them ... you have to just stand there, and allow yourself to be robbed.
Ever notice in this year's Watchtower Study Editions they have prominently mentioned the baptism Dedication Oath , and ONLY cited the FIRST of the two questions? 
I have noticed this twice ... but they did NOT cite the second question.
There is an OBVIOUS reason for this.
This is WHY the Baptismal Dedication Oath was changed in 1985 to include "Part Two", to make us a vassal of the Governing Body and its lawyers .... and why we can now be legally disfellowshipped for such nebulous, undefined things as "brazen conduct". 
It cost them several millions of dollars in lawsuits to figure that out.
What is this undefined, "brazen conduct"?
If you call them to account for things needing serious reform, it means they do not LIKE you.
You cannot expect to treat people with pervasive, institutionalized cruelty, even in mild mannered, soothing gentle tones .... and expect them to like you back.
It is a double edged sword that cuts both ways.
I was showing my eldest son various weapons I have, and I stopped .... paused ....
... and in a conspiratorial low voice asked "I don't have any ammunition for it, but would you like to see the most powerful weapon ever developed in modern times?"
With wide-eyed awe, he wondered what I had that would be that weapon, and he replied in a nodding whisper .... that he would.
I turned around, and out of my desk drawer, I showed him my checkbook.
And yes, dear young ones .... be assured that Jehovah loves you ... and the Governing Body loves you.
Just be sure to keep that saved ice cream money rolling in.
 
 
 

My elderly parents in Southern California have been attending their beautiful local hall for years and have been asked to go a few more miles to another hall for a few weeks while their own hall is being remodeled. Same situation. They just found out the beautiful hall is being sold and that was the reason for the remodeling. My father is still an elder but his health has now forced him to be the accounts auditor (just a second set of eyes on the accounts). And even he didn't find out the "bad" news until just a couple weeks ago, after it would be too late for the congregation to have any say. I am in the midst of helping them sell their old house and move, but they chose a new place before realizing where the new Hall would be. But it also forces some very odd meeting times, since they are squeezing 4 congregations from their original Hall into 3 nearby Halls. It seems that the new ownership of the Hall allows for decisions to be made without consulting any of the local elders of at least one of the congregations that used the Hall. Don't know if the other congregations were consulted.
The year 2000 was supposed to be a big year for the organization when more experienced legal and management personnel began making financial decisions (instead of the GB who would become ecclesiastical). But according to these videos, the GB is still very much involved. But I saw first-hand in the late 70's early 80's and know experiences through the 90's that indicate some financially bad decisions were made by experienced brothers who were given their decision-making authority for their Bethel (bureaucratic) seniority, not for their minds. Brother Dean Songer was the closest they had to a mathematical mind and was sometimes called the "rocket scientist." But his decisions would be overridden by a Max Larson or Richard Wheelock or Daniel Sydlik. The younger factory overseers were the only ones who were being trained in the modern methods of printing, while some of the older decision-makers thought we should have the biggest presses in the world, but of the obsolete kind of presses they were accustomed to. Literally millions of dollars were wasted as they could never get the Behemoth to work. Then when my friends from IBM back home got brought in to Bethel in the new computer department, they claimed that it was a constant fighting match that wasted millions on bad decisions where the "spiritual" decision-maker who was put in charge (for Bethel seniority) kept using that as his leverage to throw out decisions by IBM managers who warned him of his lack of ability to manage any kind of computer project.
I notice that a place in one video seems to throw Brother Sydlik under the bus for constantly quoting Psalm 50:10 and like verses to indicate that Jehovah will always provide, in spite of our mistakes.
10for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. . . . for the world is mine, and all that is in it. (NIV) I would say that these were exceptions, but I have also heard fairly good evidence that Barbara Anderson, a former accountant (prior to Bethel) and now ex-JW, was promoted to Research in Writing after exposing to Brother Don Adams that the JW construction companies they were using for windows or other supplies had been stealing hundreds of thousands from the Watchtower. She had seen the same things in her accounting job in the "world."

That is a good point. Considering what Jehovah has to work with....can only mean it's only because of him we've come this far. I always say that.

It does seem serious. Seems probable that the sale of large Brooklyn properties was due at least in part to a debt emergency. The buildings weren't put on the market until the absolute worst time in US History for real estate. They were fortunate in that some didn't go on the market until there was some rebounding. Most publishing houses in the world went through the same type of budget discussions due to the initial expenditures to succeed in Internet marketing as print fades away. Equipment and training and a lot of outside expenditure on a many sub-projects at once would apparently require some debt.
Remember too that it was not just the sale of Kingdom Halls. It was the handing over of the value to a Trust indirectly controlled by the WTS along with a refinancing of a perpetual "loan" that could never be paid off. In other words whatever "maximum" that the congregation had been willing to contribute to the building loan to get the KH in the first place. When they were voting as a congregation to pay back something as quickly as possible along with the excitement of a new or rebuilt hall, the brothers and sisters are typically ready to stretch their budget slightly. That loan payback was dropped, but the new recommended amount to pay INDEFINITELY should now be equal to that maximum: the new contribution goal. Congregations are no longer paying anything back, but paying in perpetuity whether the Kingdom Hall loan would already have paid back or not.
In listening to all the available videos, I was struck by how, except for the scriptural interludes, they sound exactly like every budget and yearly financial meeting I have been to in a large corporation for the last 15 years. All the language and definitions and reasons are the same, and the ideas and recommendations are the same.
Also, I take it there is some future worry based on real pending events. There was some guessing that Geoffrey Jackson had some of this in mind at a recent Assembly Hall dedication where someone claims he made the following points. (I'll give a link, but do NOT recommend any Witness goes there because much of what he says needs to be edited out. I will copy the relevant parts here.)
https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/8oatmt/geoffrey_jackson_preparing_the_rf/
This weekend in France there was the inauguration of a new Convention Hall. Since it was some "never before seen project" (because done by 3 countries together : France, Switzerland and Italy... wow what an achievement!) they had to do something special. So they Had Geoffrey Jackson giving talks and those being streamed to a lot of congregations. Lots of rank file were invited to the Convention Hall, the rest got to see it over TV. The weekend meeting was cancelled and we had two days of this 2-hour retransmissions. So he made an illustration. He made sure that everyone got the fact that it was an illustration, not an announcement (laughter in the audience, whats funny about it?). Then he said (I'm quoting him best I can remember, but you'll get the idea): "Imagine if next week I go back to US and you see in the news that the whole GB was arrested for no reason. How'd you react? Well, surely you'd say to your coworkers or neighbours: "Jesus warned us. They were arrested for no reason." You would feel bad for us but be proud because you are sure it's persecution from Satan and that we're innocent. Now that's not really possible because in the US because you can't arrest someone with no reason like in Russia. So imagine they would make up false accusations, with false witnesses and false testimonies and all the newspaper would talk about how the GB was arrested for stealing billions of $$ to their followers. How would you react when coworker talk about it? Be ashamed? Would you believe it? Well Satan will attack us using lies. Lying about our high morality. Maybe they will accuse us of covering child sexual abuser. Would you believe it? Surely we know those lies come from Satan." Both issues, the "confiscation" of billions of dollars, and accusations of covering child sexual abuse, might well be based on false accusations, but BOTH these items have already been dangerously close to becoming full-blown legal cases, class action and otherwise.

That was a contingency fund for just the 2016 service year, but already just about spent, the speaker says. I imagine that they will feel a need for a similar amount every year, so that over 10 years this would be $250,000,000 or a quarter billion. But a contingency is only for the likely percentage of error in forecasting and budgeting the future. It takes longer than planned to wind down a construction project and re-negotiate contracts accordingly. It takes longer to complete projects than predicted. When Trump brags about so many of his projects that were "on time and under budget" it turned out that meant that they were only off by 100% to 200% in scheduling and they only ran over by a few $100,000,000 -- or they were a complete failure and resulted in a half-billion dollars lost. So it's just assumed that "on time and under budget" doesn't really happen in any real life project.
So it could be that a budget line for legal expenses was already considered to need $25,000,000 per year and therefore the contingency budget of ANOTHER $25,000,000 would be spent on legal expenses if those costs and liabilities were higher, or for other areas of mis-judged future expenses.
The WTS had already been paying out many millions in legal expenses for child abuse cases long before the first articles began coming out on Child Abuse in the 1990's. They probably overpaid because they were overly concerned with buying silence prior to learning so many other available maneuvers practiced in more recent cases.

It's really quite simple .......
Overlapping Donations.

GOOD  IDEA'S  YOU  HAVE.....   I  WILL  TRY  IT  SIMILAR  !!  hahaha

I hope my frozen nipples do not punch holes in my under shirt.

I have been thinking about using the empty flat mouthwash bottles ( I save bottles ...) and freezing water inside of them, and putting them inside my suit coat inside pockets.
It will make me look like I have a lot of chest muscles !
I will be SOOooo cool !

That's how much I sweated last Saturday out in Field Service ....
I am going to have to take a small towel with me next time.
... and some deodorant!

There is no consistent meaning to a generation in the Bible?
Of course there is!
It's the same consistent meaning everyone has EVER used .. no matter what time or place they lived in since humanity started counting its years ... and counting its children.
" A generation is the time between ONE statistically average persons'  birth, and his death. ".
Except the Society's Governing Body ...  to TRY and validate a failed "prophesy" of "Millions Now Living Will Never Die", starting in 1914 .... which is 103 YEARS AGO.
..... and keep the money rolling in.
To cherry pick data .. FIRST YOU HAVE TO HAVE SOME CHERRIES.
There is NO scripture to support their idea.
Reality does NOT support their idea.
The common experience and definitions of the entire human race ... for all time ... and everywhere .. does NOT support their idea.
The overlapping generations idea is made up from THIN AIR.
It is supported by NOTHING except arrogance, and the desire not to have to get a REAL job of tedium and drudgery, or as old unemployable old men, push grocery carts with all their earthly possessions piled high, in the rain, on the streets of New York City.
It's NOT about TRUTH.
It's about MONEY!

ONLY $25 million in contingency funds for a global corporation? That seems staggeringly low for what I would have imagined.
One lawsuit alone in California wiped that all away.

It's really quite simple .......
Overlapping Donations.

@Jack Ryan Your post is already in this large subforum for JW related stuff. Thx. 
https://www.theworldnewsmedia.org/forum/3-jehovahs-witnesses/

@JW Insider I would guess these are the financial controllers of the major branch offices?
@James Thomas Rook Jr. You often asked for accounts and transparency... here it is served up. ?
@The Librarian  Add this to your archive... LOL....
 

In 2015 the Russian Federation passed a law that said if the ECHR made any judgements that the Russian Federation did not like ... they could legally be ignored.
We are not talking about red dot Indians laying down in front of British Tanks, and the tanks stop.
If the India Indians had laid down in front of Nazi Tanks, they would have been ground into bloody meat scraps.
" ... Last hour
Strasbourg court request a order for Russia to return ownership of Jehovah's Witnesses ...".
The Strasbourg court has its nicey-nicey request ... and the Russkies have bayonets and machine guns !
... and millions and millions of dollars of valuable former WTB&TS Real Estate.
The WTB&TS confiscated all the Kingdom Halls on Earth from the local congregations who built and paid for them several years ago.
...... everything that goes around .... comes around.
Philosophical "Karma" is quite real.
...... everything that goes around .... comes around.