JeffT

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Posts by JeffT

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  11530

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  original reddit post (removed).

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  JeffT

  I'm going to go down the street and get myself a trophy. Maybe have it engraved "King of the Apostates" or some such.
  
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  8

  Social Media is facing the First Amendment in the US.

  by Fisherman in

  1. social
  2. current

  law makers in the us want to pass laws that apply the first amendment of the us constitution to social media forums such as tiktok and youtube that have banned poster for speech and content violations.. in the us, 1a usually applies unhindered to traditional public forums (such as sidewalks and parks) with restrictions only as to time place and manner..

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  JeffT

  Part of the fight is the question are these outlets platforms or publishers. If they are a platform anybody can say anything and the people running are not responsible for what is said. If they are a publisher they are (or in my opinion should be) responsible for the content, meaning they have to verify everything and can be sued if somebody is putting out misinformation.

  The problem (in my opinion) is that the outlets are trying to have it both ways. They want to screen posts for political content they don't like, but don't want to be sued for something written by somebody totally unconnected with the website. Laws like this are an attempt to solve the problem. The social media has to publish whatever gets submitted, and accepts the protection from lawsuits.

  The alternative is they put a out a clear and detailed statement of what is and is not allowed, and employ an army of fact checkers to examine ever single message for compliance. If something gets through they can be sued.

  Edited to add: the first amendment protection of speech has always applied to the publisher. If I'm publishing a newspaper the government can't tell me what I can or can not put in my newspaper. If you submit an article and I decline to print I have not violated your rights. You can start your own newspaper anytime you want, and publish what you want.
  
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  10

  Babylon the Great and the last Pope

  by mikeflood in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  what do you guys think of the evangelicals theory about babylon the great and the last pope...just starting this big book out of curiosity...like 500 pages...it seems there is a lot of different thinking from the borg.

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  JeffT

  Can Gandalf beat Dumbledore?

  I've had my fill of trying to predict the unpredictable. When something happens, I'll believe it.
  
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  26

  ARMAGEDDON

  by Lost in the fog in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  can i ask please especially for all who are pomo?.

  we've taken a decision similar to revelation 18:4 to get out of the watchtower and not share in its sins.. how many of you still believe that god will one day terminate the world's many systems by means of an armageddon?.

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  JeffT

  The universe will end in a few billion years. I'm more concerned with issues closer to home, than trying to pin a date on that, or any similar, event.
  
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  27

  Ron DeSantis: "We do not require assistance. The people of Florida will rebuild on our own"

  by BettyHumpter in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as if.no, of course he's already asking for federal aid.

  it's the republican way.

  florida needs the rest of the country to pitch in taxpayer dollars because it's different when it happens to me.

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  JeffT

  Civil rights are covered in the 13th,14th and 15th amendments, passed in 1865 and 1870. It took the bloodiest war in the history of the United States to get them passed. A century later we're still struggling over it. I never said it was perfect I'm saying that's how it supposed to work. The people of Mississippi are welcome to be poor if they want. If they think they'll be happier if their state looks like California, they can do that.

  Should we have just marched on for all eternity as if Article 1 section 8 were handed down by god himself?

  I never said that, don't put words in my mouth. There is a process for amending the constitution. If don't like it, start working on changing it. All I was saying was we don't need to split the country, I believe we should let people live the way they want to, not the way somebody no where near where I live should be able to tell me how to live. (provided I'm living peaceably)
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  27

  Ron DeSantis: "We do not require assistance. The people of Florida will rebuild on our own"

  by BettyHumpter in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as if.no, of course he's already asking for federal aid.

  it's the republican way.

  florida needs the rest of the country to pitch in taxpayer dollars because it's different when it happens to me.

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  JeffT

  No need to split the country in two. Just run it the way it's supposed to run. The federal government deals with things that effect the country as a whole. These are enumerated in Article one, section 8 of the Constitution:

  To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

  To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

  To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

  To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

  To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

  To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

  To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

  To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

  To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

  To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

  To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

  To provide and maintain a Navy;

  To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

  To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

  To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

  To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;—And

  To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

  Everything else is left to state and local governments. In this scenario New York and Mississippi can deal with their problems as they see fit. Unfortunately far too many people look past local government and demand action from Washington, DC, and one size does not fit all.
  
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  30

  Another congregation closed

  by hoser in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  15 years ago there were 5 congregations now there is only one and it is still struggling.

  congregations closing their doors doesn’t mean business is good.

  it looks like this last one to fold had no young witnesses, they either left the religion or moved.

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  JeffT

  My first Kingdom Hall was the one in Pullman, Washington. Pullman is a small college town in the middle of a sea of grain fields. The next nearest Hall is in Moscow, Idaho eight miles away. In the summer of 1982 my wife began making plans to build an FHA (federal program) financed house in Albion, Washington which isn't really a town, it's a cluster of houses six miles from Pullman. The elders told us not to make the move because we'd never want to drive all that distance and we'd miss lots of meetings. It is true that the people living in Pullman look at all those wheat fields and think something five miles away is a long distance commute.

  But now I see that they've apparently closed the Hall in Moscow which means they've told the people there they have to drive 8 miles to meetings. I wonder if they even asked anybody in the area what they thought of that idea.
  
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  11530

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  original reddit post (removed).

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  JeffT

  Gotta have quick access to that thing, eh?

  Having something between me and the zipper is more important.
  

  
  
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  11530

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  original reddit post (removed).

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  JeffT

  I posted the following on the "Books from XJW" thread. I think the same thing applies here, just substitute "Activism" where I wrote books. Anybody who thinks they can make a living off being an XJW is probably deluding themselves. The target market just isn't big enough to support somebody full time. And at some point the information some one has will reach its "sell by" date. I stopped going to the Kingdom Hall in 1988. My personal experiences are now thirty or forty years old. If somebody wants information about the good old days I can supply that. I wouldn't expect to be able to sell it, any more than I can make a living selling stale bread.

  Here's what I wrote on the other thread.

  World wide there are not enough people that care about JW's for books to have any impact. I don't think I'm a bad writer, I looked back at my Amazon account, my alternate history trilogy has sold almost 4,000 copies in all formats. My mystery/suspense novel based loosely on my time as a JW ("Armageddon's Disciples") has sold three.

  As witnesses we were taught that our religion was at the center of all human history. Like every thing else the Watchtower told us, that is wrong. I don't believe the Witnesses have had any impact on the rest of human society. The closest they've come so far is a few supreme court cases in the US, and even most Americans don't know much (if anything) about that.
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  7

  Incredible News from History

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

  you think you know things, then you come across something that makes you do a double-take.

  how was it kept so qiet?.

  for instance, how many were killed in the jones-town massacre?

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  JeffT

  They sent bombs in balloon via the jet-stream and caused almost no damage whatsoever.

  Not entirely true. They killed a housewife and five kids. I think I read somewhere they were church members going on a picnic. Link below has some details about it.

  https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/1945-japanese-balloon-bomb-killed-six-americansfive-them-children-oregon-180972259/

  I'm a history buff, military history is a focus for me. My family will tell you I'm a fountain of useless trivia.
  

  Edited to add, we also dropped an H-Bomb on Spain.

  https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/h-bomb-lost-in-spain