James Thomas Rook Jr.

Huh?
Naw ... I was thinking about very old microwaved a dozen times, cheese.
If you have ever stepped in a Lego in the darkness, in bare feet, that other stuff might come to mind ....
Ever come home from work and in trying to determine why your VCR is not working, discover the cassette opening is the same size as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?

My favorite beer is Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer ... which my much-more sophisticated children think is incredibly droll, and back woods.
I make a point of telling people ... like I am doing now .... that I much prefer Pabst over any of the many very pricey and "cool" beers they drink, and watch them screw up their faces and go "Ewwwww!", at the very mention of Pabst.
Then I mention "You know, Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer is the favorite beer of Clint Eastwood ....".
It is interesting to watch their disgust turn to confusion and acceptance in just three heartbeats.
... such is the power of peer pressure.
There is no one currently alive that is "cooler" than Clint Eastwood.

So what?....Collateral damage maybe, but the threat is gawn.....isn't it?

You didn't use your spell-checker again!!!!!

It's pretty easy to misunderstand this image as a statement against Christianity. I think it would have made more sense to swap the two scriptures on the two different images.
I think I'll just get a big tattoo that says:
Jesus Christ
2 BCE - 33 CE

crowd of working people, proletariat, working class  ....that is how this males looked to me :))) maybe they belong to Labour Union, Branch ? 305 - metal workers  :)))))

also, i can not see Lord Jesus wearing a tie :))))

When they make trees of "E Pluribus Unum", I will then go out and endeavor to  prune 'em.
 
 

I fully agree with you, Steve:
However, I do not think you have ANY IDEA that all Assemblies are profit centers.
After the monies get to the District Level, there is no public (to the Brotherhood .. or anyone else) accountability to ANYONE.
Not a single word of objection was raised by the GB over the commercialization of Caleb and Sophia merchandise.
Caleb and Sophia Merchandise, purses, briefcases, pins, buttons, slacks, suspenders and bow ties, and pictures, back car window decals, book covers, wall posters, 3d dolls like GB Bro. Anthony Morris III has in his Bethel Office, Videos, DVDs, coloring books, decorated birthd...er... baptism cakes, stand up displays, literature bags, greeting cards.
Sophia colorful tote bags for girls, and Sophia cloth shopping bags for Wal-Mart, etc., book markers, key chains, 3d Printer statues of Caleb, ball point pens, and penlights, pins and brooches for older Sisters, and cartoon wall hangings for the inside of Caleb and Sophia dioramas, or JW.ORG men's ties, lapel pins, wristwatches, aluminum military style dog tags, rings, aluminum pendants for neck chains and charm bracelets, car bumper stickers, car window decals, women's pocket mirrors, flags to tie to radio aerials, put on flagpoles outside Chilean Kingdom Halls ( ... what's a Chilean Kingdom Hall doing with a flagpole, anyway ...?).
Swiss Assembly Grounds, and OTHER places where a pale blue flag would look spiffy, and in the absence of a breeze, look like a U.N. Flag hanging limp.
Then there is the JW.ORG blue oversized umbrellas, Unisex Hoodie Jackets, neck lanyards, hand lunch boxes with Paradise scenes, and of course Caleb and Sophia., and to contrast, from Peru, a BRIGHT Pink Caleb and Sophia Bible cover entitled New World Translation of the HOLY SCRIPTURES ... over a large picture of guess whom?
Of course the refrigerator magnets and motivational jewelry are big sellers, not so much for the Caleb crochetable doll.
I often wonder if they charge product licensing fees, and that is why  there was no concern over that.
Many things are "Slippery Slopes" ..... once you get on them ... it's a muddy slide to the bottom.
How about a wicker picnic basket with hinged wooden top for $49.95, with a large red and white checkerboard tablecloth, and large box of Passover style unleavened bread, and a nice bottle of  "The Memorial" branded  (tm) red wine?
I hear 2018 will be a good year.
.

....
 

I agree ... that is why women have larger and more channel and volume controls .
Don't forget to put arms straight up over head for antennas.

In context, these are actually the words of Robert Ringer, but I do recognize them as being valid.
Unfortunately, the Society's Lawyers, who should be fighting for Truth, and Justice, and honoring Jehovah's Name and purposes, have the same attitude towards victims of institutionalized child sex abuse ... and fight the victims and pervert true JUSTICE to save money for their clients, whoever they might be.
Actually, they are in a "Catch 22" situation ... they legally have a fiduciary responsibility to work in their employer's interests ... and Justice be damned .....
...and it is.
The reasons Lawyers can swim in any ocean on Earth, and not fear being bitten by sharks ... is professional courtesy.
 

Wasn't that Janet Joplin's? Did Joanie do it, too? or even write it for her?
Al Capp used to call her "Phony Joanie."

There are probably several appropriate applications we could find in the parable. I think the primary idea is found in the context of Matthew, especially:
(Matthew 19:27-30) 27 Then Peter said in reply: “Look! We have left all things and followed you; what, then, will there be for us?” 28 Jesus said to them: “Truly I say to you, in the re-creation, when the Son of man sits down on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit everlasting life. 30 “But many who are first will be last and the last first. That is what immediately preceded the parable in Matthew, and the following comes right after it...
(Matthew 20:16-28) 16 In this way, the last ones will be first, and the first ones last.” 17 While going up to Jerusalem, Jesus took the 12 disciples aside privately. . . 20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebʹe·dee approached him with her sons, doing obeisance and asking for something from him. 21 He said to her: “What do you want?” She replied to him: “Give the word that these two sons of mine may sit down, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your Kingdom.” 22 Jesus answered: “You do not know what you are asking for. . . . to sit down at my right hand and at my left is not mine to give, but it belongs to those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” 24 When the ten others heard about it, they became indignant at the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to him and said: “You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them and the great men wield authority over them. 26 This must not be the way among you; but whoever wants to become great among you must be your minister, 27 and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. 28 Just as the Son of man came, not to be ministered to, but to minister and to give his life as a ransom in exchange for many.” So, I think the primary point is not about preaching, per se, although preaching is one of the valid ministries in response to learning about the Kingdom of the Heavens, so it's included. But the context shows that there are those who would begin thinking that they deserved a bigger and better reward for their ministries. They wanted titles. If it applied to the current preaching work it would be more related to the idea that a person who might give up more things (perhaps giving up 60 or 70 hours a month as opposed to one who gives up only a ten hours a month) might feel entitled to a title. Not that there is anything wrong with titles as goals or incentives on their own. It's a matter of feeling that reaching certain goals in the ministry makes one more deserving of a reward. Among humans, there is always a tendency to create a hierarchy of rewards and titles. In Christianity, there is only one basic reward, everlasting life. (Ironically, there are religions, including our own, that try to distinguish between "everlasting life" and "immortality," as a way to create a hierarchy of rewards.) Even that reward, however, is not the same as the way that humans think of giving rewards -- it's not for a certain amount of work, or a certain level of responsibility, or based on how much one has given up. There is no reward for serving and preaching and doing good things for others. In Christianity, there is only a "reward" for good motives. The road to eternal life is paved with good intentions, not good works. It's only the intentions (motives) that count. It's when Jehovah sees that our actions are motivated by love for God and love for neighbor.

You obfuscated and did not answer such simple and straight forward and fair  questions after repeated requests.
THAT ... says it all.

The Royal commission does not have the authority to subpoena someone from the Governing Body based in the United States to come to Australia to testify ... but they DID have the right to subpoena an Australian Citizen who was the PMQ (Person most Qualified) that they could get their hands on who WAS ALREADY IN AUSTRALIA, and  already in their sovereign territory.
... and they did !
Just as here in the United States, Congress can appoint "Special Counsels" to conduct investigations, and give them subpoena powers.
THAT ... is where "The Rubber Meets The Road".
If you can avoid being served a subpoena ... you can without fear of punishment skip town, but once served, if you do ... you are a fugitive.
Without the power to subpoena witnesses, and demand their presence under penalty of fine or imprisonment for not appearing, Court systems and Government Inquirys could not function.
 
 

On the expression: "Follow the Money"
I think you misunderstand the colloquial expression .... it might be better expressed as "Follow the "TRAIL" of where the money goes, and it will always lead you to the Truth. 
I cannot think of any time this is not true.
Another one I like is "When a man speaks of his honor and righteousness ... make him pay CASH (And check to see if it is counterfeit ... AND be prepared to shoot him when he tries to take it back).
There are those that are genuinely sorrowful when they rob you through deception ... but they do it anyway.
As Robert Ringer says in his self help book "Winning through Intimidation" ( which is really about how NOT to be intimidated yourself), there are only three types of people when money is part of the picture.
 
Winning Through Intimidation by Robert J. Ringer
The Theory of Reality:
Reality isn’t the way you wish things to be, or the way they appear to be, but the way they actually are. You either acknowledge reality and use it to your benefit, or it will automatically work against you.
Most people wish that business took place on a nursery school playground, with fairness being enforced. The reality is that the game of business is played in a vicious jungle.
 
1. Theory of Sustenance of a Positive Attitude Through the Assumption of a Negative Result
a. Prepare yourself for long-term success by being prepared for short-term failure
b. A person shouldn’t enter a sales situation feeling he can’t make the sale, but he should realistically assume that he won’t make the sale. If you’re prepared, then you’re able to feel confident that you are capable of making the sale if it is possible to be made. Hope for the best, but realistically assume the worst.
c. No matter how well prepared you are, only a small percentage of deals actually control, because there are an endless number of factors beyond your control.
d. Each negative result is an educational experience from which you can extract lessons learned, and then forget about the negative result.
2. Uncle George Theory
a. If you keep your nose to the grindstone and work long, hard hours, you’re guaranteed to get one thing in return: Old. Hard work will not, in and of itself, assure a person of success.
3. Theory of Relativity
a. Language is relative and subjective; you have to make sure that you define exactly what people’s statements really mean.
4. Theory of Relevance
a. The most important factor to consider is whether something is relevant to what you’re trying to accomplish. Work only on things that are relevant.
b. For example, the builder’s cost is irrelevant to a buyer. All the buyer cares about is cash flow. Also, whether or not a person is “honest” is irrelevant. What matters is what he puts down in writing.
5. Thirty Year Theory
a. You are going to die. Therefore, you should go after all you can get, as quickly as you can get it, because the reality is that your time is limited.
6. Ice Ball Theory
a. In 50 billion years, the sun will burn out and the Earth will be a frozen ice ball. Nothing you do now could possibly matter then. So don’t take yourself too seriously. Life is a game, and play to win. There’s no reason to be afraid to be aggressive or take chances. The reality is that there’s no way you’re going to get out of this thing alive, so why play conservatively.
7. Three Type Theory
a. There are only three types of people in the business world
i. Type 1: Lets you know that he’s out to get all of your chips. Then he tries to do just that.
ii. Type 2: Assures you that he’s not interested in getting your chips. Then he tries to grab all of your chips anyway.
iii. Type 3: Assures you that he’s not interested in getting your chips, and honestly means it. However, in the end, he tries to grab all of your chips anyway.
b. In business, no one ever does anything for anybody else without expecting to gain something in return.
8. Leapfrog Theory
a. A person has no legal or moral obligation or, for that matter, logical reason to “work his way up through the ranks.” The quickest way to the top is not by fighting your way through the pack, it is to leapfrog over the pack and simply proclaim that you’re above it. However, you must be prepared to be above it, or reality will knock you back down.
9. Theory of Intimidation
a. The problems most people have in reaching their objectives revolve around the fact that they constantly allow themselves to be intimidated.
b. The results a person obtains are inversely proportional to the degree to which he is intimidated.
10. Posture Theory
a. It’s not what you do or say that counts, but what your posture is when you say or do it. You need to maneuver yourself into a position of power.
11. Types of Power
a. Money: The ability to walk away—nice if you can get it
b. Image: The ability to prompt respect
c. Legal: The law, plus the Law of Universal Attorney-Attorney Respect. Always have everything in writing. Don’t be afraid to ask for it.
d. Performance: Be the best at what you do and deliver. Be fanatical about execution. This backs up your Image and Legal Power.
i. Don’t let anything get in the way of making the deal. If there are questions, dig out the answers yourself if necessary, rather than waiting for someone else to do it.
12. The 5 Steps of Sales Success
a. Obtain a product to sell
b. Locate a market for the product
c. Implement a marketing method
d. Be able to close the sale
e. GET PAID.
13. Generating Image Power
a. Ringer used a spectacular, expensive, hard-bound brochure to intimidate potential sellers.
b. Every interaction was designed to show the buyer or seller that they needed to sell Ringer on working on their deal
c. When he went to meet them, he brought along everything that he might need, from typewriters, to law books, to 2-3 secretaries—so that nothing could hold up the deal, and to intimidate the hell out of people.
14. Makeable Deal Theory
a. It’s more efficient to work hard on finding a few makeable deals, rather than working hard on an endless number of unmakeable deals and clinging to the faint hope that you’ll somehow close one. People have a masochistic tendency to work on “pie-in-the-sky” deals that have little possibility of closing.
15. Phrasing Matters
a. Don’t say, I can “sell” the property, say I can “do something” with the property.
b. Don’t call a contract a contract, call it a “one-page understanding.”
i. Try to avoid looking legal and attracting the attention of the Deal-Killing Attorney.
ii. Ringer would have a contract done and signed on the spot, rather than waiting and allowing time to pass.
16. Fiddle Theory
a. The longer a person fiddles around with something, the greater the odds that the result will be negative. Time is always against you when trying to make a deal—any kind of deal.
17. Boy-Girl Theory and Better Deal Theory
a. If boy plays it cool, then girl wants boy. If boy comes on like hungry dog chasing a squirrel, then girl doesn’t want boy. A man will usually want the deal he can’t have, and won’t want the deal he can have.
b. Before a person closes any kind of deal, he always worries that there may be a better deal down the road.
c. To combat the effect of these factors, bring the deal as quickly as possible to the point where the money is on the table and the papers are ready to be signed. Then it’s put up or shut up time.
i. Don’t let the speed depend on everyone else. If necessary, fly a secretary to the office to pick up the documents and hand deliver them.
ii. You MUST take matters into your own hands and move swiftly once you smell victory. At the crucial moment, the great quarterback takes control of the game.
18. Attorney Goal Line Defense
a. Attorneys are not subject to intimidation like normal people, but if you cower, they will smell blood and strike. Instead of being tough or humble, play it cool. Be calm and matter of fact. Adopt an air that indicates you have no concern over the deal, that everyone knew the deal would happen.
i. “Problems” don’t represent obstacles to the closing, but just normal “points” which had to be “handled” as a natural part of every deal.
ii. “That’s a darn good point. I’m glad you brought that up. Here are many ways we can handle that particular point.” The only reason all are gathered is to “handle” the normal “points” that always come up.
iii. As a last resort, indicate the willingness to walk away. “Well, I guess that’s it. It looks like we just can’t make this one happen.”
19. Dirty Laundry
a. There will almost always be several major undisclosed deal-killers that pop up at the 1-yard line. Soften the blow by setting expectations with the buyer ahead of time. That way, the dirty laundry reinforces your posture of expertise.
20. Bluff Theory
a. The best way to bluff is not to bluff. Wealthy people are good bluffers because when they threaten to walk away, they mean it. They can’t be intimidated.
b. If you’re not wealthy, the best substitute is guts. It’s more painful, but it works. Draw a clear line, and stick to it.
 
 

This just in from the Charlotte, NC Charlotte Observer Newspaper:
Sex abuse cases against Jehovah's Witnesses church settled
"The Associated Press   March 06, 2018 07:50 PM
Updated 1 hour 41 minutes ago
SAN DIEGO Two men who say they were sexually abused by a leader at Jehovah's Witnesses congregations in San Diego in the 1990s have settled their lawsuits against the church's governing body.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reports Tuesday that the settlements were finalized last week. Both sides say they aren't authorized to discuss the terms.
A New York state appeals court in November upheld $4,000-a-day penalty against Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York for failing to comply with a court order to hand over internal documents about knowledge of church leaders who had been accused of sexually abusing children.
Both plaintiffs say church elders knew of the abuse as early as 1982 but covered it up and allowed the leader to keep working with children."
In this case,  the Courts SUBPOENAED the records ( demanding that they appear ...) and it cost the WTB&TS $4,000 a day for every day THEY REFUSED.  Several months ago, it was up to 2.1 million dollars. 
What breaks my heart is that children are giving their ice cream money to an organization that pays a team of supposedly theocratic  lawyers ... to ACTIVELY obstruct Justice ..... for MONEY!
Same thing is going on in Delaware as we speak.
 

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/nation-world/national/article203828784.html#storylink=cpy

Ahem... the word I used was subpoena, which BECOMES a functional summons.
For your obfuscation and irrelevancy, and deliberate agenda driven lack of reading comprehension. AllenSmith ......  I sentence you to a lifetime of being you.

Aha!
...but Geoffrey Jackson was an Australian Citizen .... visiting in Australia, and he was served the summons IN AUSTRALIA.
He was legally compelled under pain of contempt to appear ... AND TRIED NOT TO.
HE WAS NOT A WILLING PARTICIPANT.
.... and I noticed that you answer was "Nothing" ... which does not apply in this case,.
Let me rephrase my question and see if you can wiggle out of giving a REAL answer .....
2.)  If you were in the exact same circumstances in EVERY WAY that Geoffrey Jackson was ... would you have disobeyed the summons ?
3.) and to repeat my FIRST question with the criteria of question No. 2,:  " 1.) If YOU were issued a summons, and it was served on YOU, to appear in court, and YOU refused to appear ... what do you think would happen?"
What DO you think would happen?
 

This just in from the Charlotte, NC Charlotte Observer Newspaper:
Sex abuse cases against Jehovah's Witnesses church settled
"The Associated Press   March 06, 2018 07:50 PM
Updated 1 hour 41 minutes ago
SAN DIEGO Two men who say they were sexually abused by a leader at Jehovah's Witnesses congregations in San Diego in the 1990s have settled their lawsuits against the church's governing body.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reports Tuesday that the settlements were finalized last week. Both sides say they aren't authorized to discuss the terms.
A New York state appeals court in November upheld $4,000-a-day penalty against Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York for failing to comply with a court order to hand over internal documents about knowledge of church leaders who had been accused of sexually abusing children.
Both plaintiffs say church elders knew of the abuse as early as 1982 but covered it up and allowed the leader to keep working with children."
In this case,  the Courts SUBPOENAED the records ( demanding that they appear ...) and it cost the WTB&TS $4,000 a day for every day THEY REFUSED.  Several months ago, it was up to 2.1 million dollars. 
What breaks my heart is that children are giving their ice cream money to an organization that pays a team of supposedly theocratic  lawyers ... to ACTIVELY obstruct Justice ..... for MONEY!
Same thing is going on in Delaware as we speak.
 

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/nation-world/national/article203828784.html#storylink=cpy

Ah yes, the IRS, for from Pre-School into college days, out into the slave pens, with the very meaning of the IRS is engrave on our ball and chain, strapped to our foot as we work to the bone like hamsters running the wheel, and it cannot be removed, for such a thing we take to the grave, and what we did not finish is the burden of our children and or relatives, who also have the IRS up on their necks, for the cycle continues like an endless bad dream -  insanity, the same thing over and over again, for even if you snap, it continues. For the Government controls, brainwashes, and oppresses everything and everyone, a time will come when they will put their hands on education, religion, businesses, etc, but this time, with an iron fist - but they are binding their time.
So yeah, the IRS is always going to be on us, they will always tax us, we will also have bills to pay where it involves them, and sometimes when we have tax refunds, they have their hand in it also.

 
But in all seriousness, Slavery is still relevant today, even in the US. For its presence is within Human Trafficking and or holding people for hard labor work against their will. On a serious tone, The United States have single handled handed helped out in turning Libya into a den for Terrorism, reviving Black Slavery (which is huge in Libya), swiftly and quickly after they took out Muammar Gaddafi, in addition to refugees being taken into the Slave Trade. Elsewhere in the Middle East, because of the United States, politicians and conservative political Evangelicals, they were for what happen to Syranic Christians, for those who did not escape ended up being killed, taken as slaves, and or wives by ISIS due to the Kurds, supported by the US, leaving them Syrianic Christians by themselves. Not to mention the illegal blood and organ trade, which also goes with the slave trade in Liyba, as well as around the globe.
 
As much as I DISLIKE CNN , this is what I speak of:
 
The Syranic Christian one is regarding this video, what isn't mention is that some trading of their faith to take arms to fight ISIS:
 
All in all, even today, some Christians, on the down low, either are for slavery or unknowingly support the very government that are accomplice to slavery, for in the end, all that matters it the $ money $ that comes from it as with other things regarding war and corruption, hence why they silence people like Serena Shim, Seth Rich, Klaus Eberwein, John Ashe, Peter Smith, as for Elizabeth Beck, well, shes on the run and in hiding, especially with that disturbing and yet shocking interview she gave.
Makes you think, does God really bless America with all the shenanigans going on in the states, and the actions of the US and the EU around the globe?

@James Thomas Rook Jr. ... your comment made me google this... and sure enough an article from yesterday is out there:
"...Smoot-Hawley, Reynolds points out, passed the House in May 1929, and stocks were battered every time the act moved through the legislative process. On Oct. 23 of that year, a Wednesday, it became clear the tariffs would be much broader than first believed.
The very next day, of course, was Black Thursday. Markets dropped 9% in a day and kicked off a yearslong stock meltdown.
As Reynolds sums up, “market participants do not wait for a major law to pass” before retrenching their positions. In 1929, they were right to sell. Smoot-Hawley ultimately raised tariffs on tens of thousands of products, and trade policy analyst Bill Krist points out that by the end of 1934, global trade had tanked by 66% from 1929 levels.
The parallels to the current moment are distressing. The Trump tariffs are not in effect yet, and so far they are officially limited to steel and aluminum. But in coming days, stock traders will be acting on their beliefs about what the future will bring. There are signals, just as there were in 1929, that tariffs could expand from their modest start — U.S. trade partners have already said they will retaliate if tariffs go into effect, while President Trump posits that “trade wars are good.”
Even if we accept arguments like Reynolds’, tariffs were just one factor in the Depression, and most of the others aren’t substantial now. But history has provided us with a strong cautionary lesson about the real impact of tariffs, and the stock market is "
http://fortune.com/2018/03/04/did-tariffs-cause-the-great-depression/

Remember ... it was Tariffs that caused the American Great Depression, and money stopped flowing.

Summons are a polite way of asking for something?
HahaHAHAhahaha
Next time you get a summons from the local court system, or the IRS ... just ignore it.
...You are in for a REVELATION !
If I point a gun at your head and request in a nice way that you eat dirt ... you may of your own free will eat that dirt ... but if I asked it WITHOUT the gun ... of your own free will you would NOT have eaten that dirt.
Sovereign States have the guns to back up their polite requests in the same manner.