TrueTomHarley

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

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

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.

Oh YEAH??!! Well what about OUR TRUMP?!!!
(No, I am just kidding. I do not regard either of them as “ours,” no any human spokesperson. And I know you do not either; it is but a speechism.)

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Yes, If you let them get away with it, the next step will be to single out certain individuals I could name. 

You should not think I am speaking specifically of you. (Nor should you think I am not) I am deliberately vague, not pointing fingers because A. I don't want to point fingers, and B. I don't want to come off as cocksure as though I know who to point them at. It is a general observation I make that fits in with the overall topic of this thread, but should not be taken as aimed at anyone specifically.
Moreover, I am considerably grateful to you. You have set me straight on several points over the months and the writings I have released are much better for it.
P.S. I am allowed to put verse in today's vernacular. That doesn't mean you are.  (are YOU the Librarian's favorite pupil, or am I?)

"The hand of Jehovah is short, is it?" I fear there are many on the Internet who would answer 'Yes'
"Grab 300 men and go take out the Midianites." I fear there are many on the internet who would say: "You're nuts."
'Mum's the word with regard to Rabshekah. Don't open your mouth, you on the castle wall.' I guarantee there are many who would say: "you are just trying to muzzle us to protect your own rear end and reputation. If you hadn't have mismanaged this show, none of this would have happened!"
Did they overreach some? If so, they will have to pull in somewhere and that will not be painless. Maybe when they publish those ubiquitous photo's of husband and wife pulling their hair out grappling with the bills, they are thinking of more than John and Mary Q. Publisher. So be it. All has been for the advancement of the good news. Besides, maybe relief will come from some unanticipated source.
I really worry when I see all the grousing online over the GB. To modify Paul's words to the Galatians: "You are bitching over this, and bellyaching over that. I really fear for you, that somehow I have toiled in vain over you."
The other verse about 'Jehovah preserved them through the Red Sea, but afterwards destroyed some not showing faith?' So the 40-year  trek is a template for today. And it was constant going weak at the knees and crying over leadership that the verses offer up as examples of not 'showing faith.' It's the wilderness slog back then. No one said it was the French Riviera cruise ship.
If you don't fill the Kingdom Halls up, it makes perfect sense to consolodate some, and use the proceeds elsewhere, to build where there is overcrowding, in the home country or overseas, where one dog of an underperformer can finance 100 new Halls.  Of course that will cause inconvience. It still beats pounding sand in the desert. The only enduring objection to this move is brothers getting 'proprietary' and focusing on self.
Christianity is nothing if not focusing on the good of all, and not just one's immediate advantage. We only go to the building twice a week. Is a longer drive truly the end of the world? 
With all the sniping, I worry that there may well come some moment where Jehovah directs something or other through those taking the lead, as he has in the past, and sullen-like, the grumblers refuse cooperation, and it works to their detriment. Sort of like Korah, who refused to be summoned.
From all that I read in verse, God has always cut considerable slack to those taking the lead, and little to those who would grouse over it. When there is correction for those leading, it doesn't come from "the people." What! Witness or someone is going to storm the Bastille, release the 'true annointed" and lead an insurrection to guilotine the ones now presiding? I don't think so. I mean, I can picture her attempting it, but I can't picture God blessing it.
For crying out loud, one can always return to where they get visions that the head guy needs yet another jet airplane so we won't have to stop for gas, or where he decides to guarantee the bottom line with a decree that everyone must tithe.
 

You should not think I am speaking specifically of you. (Nor should you think I am not) I am deliberately vague, not pointing fingers because A. I don't want to point fingers, and B. I don't want to come off as cocksure as though I know who to point them at. It is a general observation I make that fits in with the overall topic of this thread, but should not be taken as aimed at anyone specifically.
Moreover, I am considerably grateful to you. You have set me straight on several points over the months and the writings I have released are much better for it.
P.S. I am allowed to put verse in today's vernacular. That doesn't mean you are.  (are YOU the Librarian's favorite pupil, or am I?)

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.

My friend is a private person. He no doubt wants to live his life in peace. it would be most innapropriate for me to identify him. No. I will not. His identity is safe with me. 
But the name of the GB member was John Barr.

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.

Sigh...I'm not even going to go there with my cute story of how I wrote my friend a 'happy anniversary' card, and it was the GB member of the same first and last name who sent me a gracious, chatty reply. You will probably tell me that he wrote it from prison.

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.

There was never a time when they were not allowed. Who's going to 'not allow' them?

As the whole-wide-world international version of Newsweek ran the cover of religious persecution in Russia, the American cover was of Bernie Sanders.
I mean, Bernie Sanders is so 'been there done that.' This country is insane over politics.
I thought I had taken the following out of 'No Fake News but Plenty of Hogwash' when I revised it to remove much of what was political, but instead I recalled that I had merely modified it, liking it for the family reference:
"It is steering the supertanker for four-to-eight years through rough seas and around treacherous shoals that will not matter in the long run. It polarized families. I saw it in my own extended family. One cousin I hadn’t seen in years began to extol the virtues of Trump. “Well, let me tell you about your Mr. Trump,” another cousin whom I also hadnÂ’t seen in years cranked up. Everyone else cleared the room. The exodus was considerable, for I come from a dairy farm family where the kitchen table might easily be twelve feet in length, and it will figure into this book in later pages. Years after everyone left their agrarian roots, we would still refer to such reunions as ‘going down to the farm.Â’"
The insanity over politics only intensifies and it peaks in the routine reports that 'Trump falsely stated" or "Trump charged without evidence." Now, there have been (and are) countless liars, villains, scoundrels, and neer-do-wells throughout history, but I have never heard a, for example, "Putin falsely stated," "Kim falsely stated," "Benedict Arnold falsely stated," or even "Hitler falsely stated." No matter what sort of drivel or poppycock anyone serves up, media just repeats it without pre-screening. I get it, already. They hate him.
It is almost like inviting guests into your home and they proceed to hash out their battles right in your living room. It gets so old.

On the other hand, i will tone down the "nobody" to "others did not."
After all it is not my intention to wave a red flag before a bull.

An 'anti-cult expert' I keep my eye on invites his followers to watch him on a TV iterview, where he makes the point that Trump was elected due to cult influences.   If you think half the country fell victim to cult influence, does it not mean that you have drunk too much of the Kool-Aid yourself? Time was when the word meant something. If you fell under the spell of a charismatic leader and withdrew from normal life, you just might be part of a cult. These days simply thinking outside of the box suffices, and the definition expands to include ‘people we don’t like.’   Can Witnesses be a cult (the latest slam)? How can it be? You cannot join them without a period of study and experimentation, seldom lasting under a year. All the while you are 95% in familiar routine and surroundings. College is more cult-like by this definition, where a student is separated almost 24/7 from family and prior stabilizing influences. It is only because Witnesses come to think outside the mainstream that they are called a cult by those who permit no deviation.

According to the group InvisibleChildren.org, 1 out of 5 children in the United States will be sexually abused before they turn 18 years old. It follows that you should be able to look anywhere and find a bumper crop of abuse cases. Most likely, child sexual abuse within the Jehovah’s Witness community is significantly less prevalent than in the greater world. The reason abuse is linked with Jehovah’s Witnesses is that the latter make a point of investigating wrongdoing in their ranks for the purpose of applying discipline and safeguarding congregation members from such ones. There are cumulatively a lot of child sexual abuse cases, but there are many more anywhere else. However, they are never linked with religion (how often do you hear religious affiliation when an abuser is nabbed by the authorities?) because no one else is proactive enough to look into such things in their own ranks.
Witnesses worldwide attend annual Regional Conventions, for (usually) three days of instruction based upon Bible teachings. During 2017 a section dealing with child sexual abuse was a part of the program. Especially emphasized was the fact that a perpetrator is likely to be someone a child knows and trusts. If a relative, or friend, or anyone else, seems overly attentive to your child, it is a reason to be watchful, said the program speaker.  If there are tickling sessions, if there are sleepovers, if there are trips alone to the public restroom, if—there were several other scenarios. They are all potential red flags: maybe harmless, but maybe not, and the parent must be aware.
Nobody, but nobody, assembles their entire membership as Jehovah’s Witnesses did and reviews detailed scenarios under which abuse might happen so that parents, the first line of defense, can educate their children and themselves. Thus the Witness organization is quite proactive at combatting what has turned out to be a worldwide pandemic.
It is not accurate to say that Jehovah’s Witnesses are forbidden to contact outside authorities in the event of child sexual abuse; plain statements appear on both their printed and digital literature that they are free to do so. I would not challenge, however, that many, especially in the past, have been loath to do so, as it is the very opposite of what they aspire to be and of what they advertise.
The new ebook addresses the topic in a chapter of 9000-some words. After relating matters pertaining to the Russian ban, Part 2 explores the accusation s made against the Witness organization and the defences on might make. (Pedophile charges did not come up there, but they do in other areas)
The ebook is entitled Dear Mr. Putin – Jehovah’s Witnesses Write Russia, and can be downloaded for free in PDF and EPUB version at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/815620
There is also a version that is exactly the same except that all quotes from extremist sources are redacted: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/826384
Chapter 12 is entitled Pedophiles.

I hate when people do this.
Ford had just assumed the presidency and pardoned Nixon. At a NYC District Convention the next day, the speaker held aloft the NYDaily headlines - "Peace and Security!" and said: "Have you seen this headline??!!!"
It was irresistable. I would have done it, too.