shepherdless

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Posts by shepherdless

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  11

  I don't believe there are 8 million JWS

  by Hotpepper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  with all the closing of halls.

  and all the csa cases.

  and all the jws not only slipping out the back door.

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  shepherdless

  Thanks Corney for that link to that interesting article.

  By the way, it supports Neat Blue Dog’s assertion, in that there are around 20 million people who self-identify as JW’s.
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  41

  Prime Minister of Australia announces intention to revoke Jehovah’s Witnesses charity status

  by jwleaks in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  today, marking the second anniversary of the australian national apology to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, the prime minister of australia has announce in federal parliament the intention to place sanctions against the jehovah’s witnesses in relation to child sexual abuse.. quote from prime minister:.

  the royal commission [into institutional response to child sexual abuse], the [national] apology [to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse] and these yearly reports are about accountability: bringing the truth into the light ... we still have, reprehensibly, four institutions that have been named publicly and that have blatantly refused to join the redress scheme.

  they are jehovah's witnesses ... it's not acceptable.

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  shepherdless

  Sorry, I'm not much versed with Australian law and economy. Losing charitable status vs. joining national redress scheme Which one is more financially damaging?

  I was actually listening to some speeches in Parliament about the matter. (The Government and Opposition are very much in lock step on this issue, by the way.) One of the Ministers stated the average payout per victim so far under the national redress scheme is just over A$80,000. From memory, there were about 1600 jw victims, so the potential liability to the Borg would be around A$128,000,000.

  Losing charitable status would mean the Borg would have to pay income tax. From listening in to zoom meetings, our congregation has to pay $7.20 per publisher per month for the Worldwide Pedophile Protection Racket Preaching Work fund. The Borg would probably have to pay 30% tax on that income, less deductions. 0.3 x 7.2 x 12 x 60,000 = $A1.6 million per annum. In addition, the Borg and it’s congregations hold a significant amount of real estate, and may find itself liable for local government rates, without concession or deduction. These are significant amounts, probably bigger than income tax in total. There would probably be a few other taxes that they would be liable for.
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  41

  Prime Minister of Australia announces intention to revoke Jehovah’s Witnesses charity status

  by jwleaks in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  today, marking the second anniversary of the australian national apology to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, the prime minister of australia has announce in federal parliament the intention to place sanctions against the jehovah’s witnesses in relation to child sexual abuse.. quote from prime minister:.

  the royal commission [into institutional response to child sexual abuse], the [national] apology [to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse] and these yearly reports are about accountability: bringing the truth into the light ... we still have, reprehensibly, four institutions that have been named publicly and that have blatantly refused to join the redress scheme.

  they are jehovah's witnesses ... it's not acceptable.

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  shepherdless

  When they say "Commonwealth" they don't mean the whole Commonwealth, do they? That would be brilliant! Or is "Commonwealth" a term for all states/Australia?

  The formal name for Australia is the “Commonwealth of Australia”. Depending on context, “Commonwealth” usually means just the Australian federal government, not state governments.
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  1

  New Doorbell Available

  by frozen2018 in

  1. social
  2. humour

  https://babylonbee.com/news/new-smart-doorbell-will-argue-with-jehovahs-witnesses-for-you?utm_content=buffer99875&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer.

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  shepherdless

  Very funny.

  Reminds me of this:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq1PmsiR1Ac
  
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  5

  The Netflix Documentary on Social Media

  by smiddy3 in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i`m not sure this is the right subject for this topic?.

  has anybody watched this program ?

  are you concerned by the content ?

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  shepherdless

  Thanks Smiddy.

  Recently, my wife sat the kids and me down and we all watched the documentary “The Social Dilemma” together. Ironically, within half hour afterwards we were all back staring down at our devices.

  I definitely recommend watching it, and particularly getting kids to watch it, so at least they understand how they are being manipulated.
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  5

  The Netflix Documentary on Social Media

  by smiddy3 in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i`m not sure this is the right subject for this topic?.

  has anybody watched this program ?

  are you concerned by the content ?

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  shepherdless

  I think you are referring to a Netflix documentary called “The Social Dilemma”, where ex-Facebook and Ex-Google employees talk about the “monster” they created.

  A quick synopsis, from memory: When you do an internet search, the results are not uniform; they are tailored to your preferences, based on what is known about you. These companies have algorithms that try to predict what you want to read in order to get as much of your attention as possible (because more attention = more advertising revenue). They deliberately design their websites so as to make the material more addictive. They even slowly change your behaviour and views over time. An unexpected by-product of that is that various crack-pot conspiracy theories thrive (perhaps because the truth is boring) and people’s political views become more and more divided. The reason people’s political views become divided is that the info pushed to any individual will inevitably support that person’s political views, and so pretty quickly those at either end of the political spectrum live in alternative realities, and think the other side must be stupid or evil (because why else would their views be so contrary to the “facts” as they see them). The documentary particularly concentrates on the harm this is doing to children and teenagers.

  Another similar documentary on Netflix from about 8 months ago is “The Great Hack”. Very informative, but it could have got to the point sooner. The documentary concentrated on Cambridge Analytica. Essentially, Cambridge Analytica data mined Facebook for huge amounts of personal details of individuals. It did this partly using surveys. It didn’t matter if a “user” didn’t respond to the survey, because the algorithms gathered data on all the “friends” of the “user”. Ie, if you had a Facebook “friend” who completed a survey, Cambridge Analytica knew a lot about you as well.

  Cambridge Analytica then used the data to influence the outcome of elections. They had a spectacular success in a Caribbean country, and claimed success in a number of other countries. According to the documentary, the Trump team used Cambridge Analytica in 2016. Tactics were different for different countries, but for USA, they looked for what they termed, “persuadables”. These were a minority of the population why had the right level of fear etc that they though they could manipulate them by bombarding them with certain tailor-made stories and info. CA had so much data, that they knew which electorate each “persuadable” lived in. Hence obviously they concentrated on “persuadables” in swing states.
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  12

  I noticed that a lot if not all JWs I watch on FB now have private Freinds and photos

  by mickbobcat in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  some have done it for a while but in the last couple of years most all of the jws from my old congregation and others i know have privatized the fb and other social pages.

  i wonder if its just happenstance or if its come down from on high to shut this off to further keep them isolated from the apostates?.

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  shepherdless

  I think it’s perhaps a wider trend on Facebook. In fact, is Facebook in general going out of fashion? I think there are growing signs it’s past its peak.

  What I have noticed anecdotally is that kids don’t seem to use Facebook as much. It seems to be becoming an older person’s platform. I think kids use others, such as Instagram etc.

  Often there are semi official WhatsApp groups maintained by group elders for spreading official instructions and information. (Such as meeting times, and basic health news of members)

  I personally don’t know of JWs using Whatsapp, but it would not surprise me. For some reason, Whatsapp doesn’t seem to be as popular in Australia as in other countries (although I personally think Whatsapp is a fantastic app). I think it is seen a bit as an encrypted communication app that drug dealers would use.
  
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  20

  You know you're really dim-witted when? (You actually think a defeated President can successfully REFUSE to step down)

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when you're easily convinced about a total impossibility.. such as what?.

  such as a defeated president actually being able to refuse.

  to step down from office.

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  shepherdless

  You know you're really dim-witted when? (You actually think a defeated President can successfully REFUSE to step down)

  Well it has happened plenty of times in the past; particularly in Africa. And that was despite constitutions that were (on paper) better drafted than the US Constitution.
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  193

  My Prediction: Trump Wins Big

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a month ago it might have been questionable.

  not now.

  after bader’s death and biden’s inability, this shouldn’t be close.

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  shepherdless

  If you watch only ABC CBS etc. you will only know what you have been fed.

  Yes, that is true. But the same is also applies if you just watch Fox News.
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  193

  My Prediction: Trump Wins Big

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a month ago it might have been questionable.

  not now.

  after bader’s death and biden’s inability, this shouldn’t be close.

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  shepherdless

  Pale Emperor, I think it is primarily down to Fox News, and such news services. Outside USA, few people see Fox News and the international media just plays all the crazy stuff he says and does. Hence outside of the USA, he seems to have very few fans.

  However, If you watch Fox News (you can get it on live stream), it is like “stepping through stargaze”. Everything is viewed in a very different way. (I could say more but I don’t really want to get into politics.) I go to the Fox News website occasionally, just so I can try to understand how some people think, because, I can’t understand it otherwise.