Posts by John Davis

127

PORTUGAL: Filed a petition to the parliament to erase the legal entity of the Jehovah's Witness

by EdenOne in

based on legal arguments that revolve around violations of several articles of the portuguese constitution, and of the law of religious freedom, a petition to the portuguese parliament has been set in motion to extinguish the legal entity that represents the jehovah's witness in portugal and remove this community from the national register of recognized religions protected by law.

the petition does not seek to ban the jehovah's witness as a whole in the country.

the petition denounces the institutional policy of shunning former members as a violation of basic human rights and psychological torture, and asks the portuguese legislators and judicial authorities to take action to stop this abuse, and suspend legal recognition to the branch office entity until the policies of shunning are changed.

John Davis

Morpheus:

A petition even with the requiset number of signatures can still be denied to be received and reviewed on it's face if it meets certain requirements:

Exercise of the Right of Petition

Law no. 43/90 of 10 August 1990, as amended by Law no. 6/93 of 1 March 1993, Law no. 15/2003 of 4 June 2003, Law no. 45/2007 of 24 August 2007 and Law no. 51/2017 of 13 July 2017 (Declaration of Rectification no. 23/2017 of 5 September 2017) In accordance with Articles 52, 164(d), 168(b)

Article 12

Immediate denial A petition shall immediately be denied when it is manifest that:

a) Its goal is illegal;

b) It seeks the reconsideration of court decisions, or of administrative acts which are not subject to appeal

; c) It seeks the reconsideration by the same entity of cases that have already been considered following exercise of the right of petition, save only if new grounds for consideration are invoked or have occurred.

2 - A petition shall also immediately be denied if:

a) It was submitted anonymously and studying it has not made it possible to identify the person or persons it came from;

b) It is groundless.

127

PORTUGAL: Filed a petition to the parliament to erase the legal entity of the Jehovah's Witness

by EdenOne in

based on legal arguments that revolve around violations of several articles of the portuguese constitution, and of the law of religious freedom, a petition to the portuguese parliament has been set in motion to extinguish the legal entity that represents the jehovah's witness in portugal and remove this community from the national register of recognized religions protected by law.

the petition does not seek to ban the jehovah's witness as a whole in the country.

the petition denounces the institutional policy of shunning former members as a violation of basic human rights and psychological torture, and asks the portuguese legislators and judicial authorities to take action to stop this abuse, and suspend legal recognition to the branch office entity until the policies of shunning are changed.

John Davis

It is interesting. This petition intends to solve what is called a constitutional violation of a constitutional violation. What you are asking the government to do is coerce Jehovah's Witnesses to change their religious beliefs in order for them to be treated like other religions that receive tax-exempt status.

I am not familiar with the constitution of Portugal but most other countries the civil rights that a country's constitution enshrines protects those rights for citizens from being violated not by other private citizens but by the government. Most countries another citizen or another private organization can violate someone else's civil rights without any negative impact. In fact even in the US during the civil rights movement, activists couldn't sue a business over a civil rights violation just on the constitution alone, it required the Civil Rights Act for it to finally require private businesses, organizations and individuals that enforce civil rights.

21

Wait one minute here!!! Did the GB PURPOSEFULLY launch a D.O.S. attack on Russia? (aka the letter writting campaign)

by GTSfromSY in

i know this sounds very outlandish by the title but hear this one out:.

a few months back i spoke to an old friend of mine raised "around the truth", but never baptized and wanting nothing to do with the wt.

he is very hip to what is going on in the wt however.

John Davis

A DOS by definition is requests made with no legitimate purpose or no purpose by an outside observer as having a legitimate purpose. If you promote your website or if you do something that people don't like and your hosting infrastructure is not ready to take an influx of requests that don't qualify as a DOS attack. You may not think that the letters were written for any legitimate service but a number of people did. That included governments that sent communicates to the Russian government including the US Government. So by your own definition, the US Goverment along with a number of European Countries participated in a Terrorist Attack against the Russian Goverment.

11

"Get Out" - Best Picture Nomination for 2018 Academy Awards

by Gayle in

about a type of cult - not religious.

just a movie.

however, about had several earmarks of a cult.

John Davis

How in the world is Get Out anything having to do with a cult?

48

Larry Nasser..... WOW....

by DATA-DOG in

do you think the gb are watching the live report??

will they learn from all this?

are they scared shitless as the reality of social media delivers one bitch-slap of truth after another?

John Davis

Freddo:

You're actually incorrect. A number of countries age of consents applies even if one of the parties is an adult and even an older adult. Such as in France the age of consent is 13 and can only be prosecuted if there is clear evidence of coesion by the adult. Just recently there were cases in France where the courts refused to prosecute grown men because the child was past the age of consent and there couldn't be clear evidence of any coercion.

In countries such as France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Spain and other countries around the world an adult could legally have sex with a child as young as 13 or 14 as long as the adult didn't use clear coercion, paid for the intercourse or had authority over the child prior to the act. And these aren't old laws Germany just raised their age of consent from 13 to only 14 very recently. In France, they want to raise the age of Consent from 13 and not to 18 but to only 15.

So again each society chooses what they feel is acceptable, no matter what you think is the right thing to do.

48

Larry Nasser..... WOW....

by DATA-DOG in

do you think the gb are watching the live report??

will they learn from all this?

are they scared shitless as the reality of social media delivers one bitch-slap of truth after another?

John Davis

Diogenesister:

With regards to US lawyers using the ARC as either common law jurisdiction or persuasive authority. I am not sure but it does seem very unlikely because well the ARC was not a court. There was no due process in the same fashion as a court in either Australia or the US. That is why the ARC cannot enforce anything it was strictly an advisory role, they duty was to make recommendations to the Australian Federal Government and send things to local police and prosecutors for further investigation or review. If there were further prosecution or judicial action it would have to be with full due process.

It might be possible for a US lawyer to use the ARC testimony as a means to impeach a witness, because I do believe the witnesses testifying before the ARC were put under oath which carries the full penalties of perjury. But that I think would be up to the trial judge to determine if you can use the testimony of another witness in another country to impeach the testimony in an instant case.

I am not sure if the majority of the cases are settled out of court since not all cases are reported in a public fashion by either party nor are they required to do so. I think that because Watchtower settled the famous 18 suits that Zalkin brought like 6 years ago that it is assumed that they are all settled. Many of them are dismissed either because of statute of limitations or failing to state claim, because Watchtower is found to have no fiduciary duty nor a duty to warn or a duty to protect. The famous of those instances include the Conti case where the awarded was shaved down and the court of appeals ruled that there is no duty to warn or protect and that there is only a duty to supervise when conducting congregation sponsored events. The other cases include the Lewis, Berry a recent case in Louisiana and a number of recent cases in Texas were again there is found to be no fiduciary duty. Other courts have also found that there is no civil claim that can be made even if a report is not made.

Courts have found that if there is a criminal statute, that if a case of child abuse is not reported that does not automatically mean that a civil case can be filed against the person who violated that law. Courts have found that only if the statute gives a private claim of action can a civil case be brought. Some have claimed that a civil action would force people to report these instances. But courts have found that if the law doesn’t give the right to a civil claim, that it is up to the legislatures to find a remedy to enforce those laws it is not a right of a victim to enforce it through a civil claim.

Even the ARC recognized that not all 1800 cases that they found would a payment have to be made nor would the victim qualify for a payment. The ARC recommended that payment be made only if they meet certain criteria including that the abuse took place by someone who was an agent of the organization and that the organization had prior notice that previous instances occurred and didn’t do anything not in general with agents but for a specific agent.

315

Pillowgate - John Cedars

by CitizenofEarth in

is this true?

is this really true?!.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qirjv48c55m.

John Davis

yes because it happens at a hotel it is wrong to try and stop it from happening to the place where several thousand people live together. Again it is funny. But it is not this giant scandal.

315

Pillowgate - John Cedars

by CitizenofEarth in

is this true?

is this really true?!.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qirjv48c55m.

John Davis

BTW I meant it is one thing to make fun of it which most people on here were doing. But it is a completely different thing to make it seem like it is a huge scandal or a conspiracy. Sure it is funny.

But you also have to think that those pillowcases get rotated around to other people after they are washed, would you wear someone else's underwear even if they were cleaned. Probably not because they touched someone else's junk.

315

Pillowgate - John Cedars

by CitizenofEarth in

is this true?

is this really true?!.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qirjv48c55m.

John Davis

It is one thing to talk about it which is whatever. But calling it a gate which started because of the Watergate scandal where laws were broken and political power was wrongly exercised is a different thing. Or putting up not just one video but two videos about how awful it is is completely different.

315

Pillowgate - John Cedars

by CitizenofEarth in

is this true?

is this really true?!.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qirjv48c55m.

John Davis

These bethel entrance videos have been around for a long time. A lot of it is just how to live in an institutionalised setting. Some in the past have dealt with proper oral and body hygiene because not all new bethelietes have the same standards of living as each other. They also go into proper decorum when at the table or during spiritual activities such as not asking the family doctor what that weird rash is at the breakfast table and waiting to make an appointment. It can also be a sensitive subject to bring up with a roommate if they are openly masturbating in the room with you there, so I am sure they found this way a lot more sensitive.

Not every little thing needs to be blown out of proportions.