Simon

Joined

• started 1,144 topics
• posted 29,838 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by Simon

• 
  9

  Trial return to kingdom halls

  by road to nowhere in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there was a comment that in australia ( i think) the experiment ended with no apparent outcome.

  anyone know how this is working any where?

  there was also a mention of a hall being sold.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Simon

  A good start

  You're no longer welcome to post here.
• 
  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. 
• 

  Simon

  Screenshots from what program though? In 2008, I don’t know of any email program that looked like that threading style at all. Not outlook or Apple mail, and certainly not gmail.

  My understanding is that they are alleged to be from a chat-site, likely a web-based chat / forum type setup. So recognizing it maybe a challenge if it isn't a common package or has been customized. Kind of like someone trying to identify the email program used based on screenshots of this forum from 14 years ago ... good luck with that :)

  On the other hand, I also don't know of a single email faking website that has that look and feel either.

  This to me makes it look more legit. The fact that it isn't just a set of gmail messages. It looks like some lesser used system (which I'm sure someone might be able to identify if a sanitized copy of something was posted on an appropriate tech or internet history site). Also, the font and anti-aliasing looks old, and appropriate for the era which would actually be a challenge to fake nowadays and something I'm sure a faker would easily forget to do.

  And I don't think "they maybe faked it 14 years ago and only just released it now" is really plausible,
• 
  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. 
• 

  Simon

  Anyone watched The Goonies recently? Now all I can think of is "the truffle shuffle".

  Maybe he'll do a movie review of it soon ...
• 
  48

  Marc O'Donell's statement: Lloyd and the conflict of Interest

  by Diogenesister in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  as expected from a man who prioritizes the most vulnerable members of our community, marc has made a sober statement that explains why there's a deep conflict of interest between lloyds recent behaviour and the work they do at jw watch.

  you can read it here:.

  public statement of mark o’donnell.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Simon

  Obviously it's worse if the Thai girls were 15 but to me it's still pretty bad even if they were 18.

  It utterly spins my head that people don't get why a young girl in a poverty stricken country, coerced, enslaved or otherwise, being bought by a 40+ yr old man from a wealthy nation that claims to represent rape victims, is beyond sic

  Exactly. I was thinking today about the trafficking stats someone posted earlier. I forget the exact numbers and which thread, but say it was something like 40%.

  That means if you go to a random prostitute once you have a 40% chance that you are raping a trafficked girl. Or to put it another way, a 60% chance that you are not.

  What if you go every 2 months for 4 years, i.e. 24 times? The chance of "missing" every time for those 24 visits is 0.60 x 0.60 x 0.60 ... 24 times, or 0.60 ^ 24 ... that comes out to 0.000004738381338, or 0.0004738381338%. Reversing it again, it's 99.9995261618662% probability that you raped a trafficked girl.

  Obviously, this is just if you chose completely at random, but I think it shows that while you might kid yourself that you haven't really committed a crime, the reality is that I don't believe people are really capable of knowing for sure and the probability that they have goes up pretty quickly, whatever the exact figures are you put in.

  The bottom line is, if you are a sex tourist going to areas where poverty and trafficking are a big problem then you shouldn't be surprised if some people think you are a low-life sleazy abusive piece of shit.
• 
  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. 
• 

  Simon

  That correct?

  No, I think he moved back to his dad's congregation from another in the UK so daddy could take care of his mess (sex chats with "girls"), then he left the UK subsequent to that (because Elder powers don't work on the muggles in law-enforcement)

  He was never Df'd for apostasy AFAIK, or else I would imagine he would have recorded it and made a big deal of it. So what he was Df'd for is probably something he doesn't want anyone to know about.

  Otherwise, what possible reason could there be for someone who makes a career and income from ranting about the sins of the WTS for keeping his damning knowledge / bargaining chip about them secret?

  One thought might be that whatever it was, it maybe involved him ... and "girls" again?

  BTW: I believe that "the girls that are definitely older than 20" were the Thai prostitutes, not necessarily other "girls".
• 
  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. 
• 

  Simon

  Yeah, but Lloyd is white.

  Yeah, LOL

  But it boils down to certain crimes being higher priority than others, and "how much work is this going to be vs chance of success" definitely playing a factor.

  Even with the most serious of crimes, the police aren't great, let's be honest. They are often outright useless even with glaringly obvious evidence.

  https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-59576717

  https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/dec/10/mets-failings-contributed-to-deaths-of-stephen-ports-victims-inquest-finds

  So do I think "evidence has been given to the police" will achieve much? I don't have much confidence, even if it was clear and obvious, they'd still find a way to screw it up.

  The police in real life are not at all like the police in detective shows.
• 
  48

  Marc O'Donell's statement: Lloyd and the conflict of Interest

  by Diogenesister in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  as expected from a man who prioritizes the most vulnerable members of our community, marc has made a sober statement that explains why there's a deep conflict of interest between lloyds recent behaviour and the work they do at jw watch.

  you can read it here:.

  public statement of mark o’donnell.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Simon

  We attended the 50th anniversary of a couple that have been friends of the family for years. (I even dated one of their daughters.) At the party we learned she was 65 years old and he was 75 years old. That means at the time of their marriage she was 15 and he was 25. I believe they were from Arkansas. (US readers will get that.)

  Did they meet in a car-park, in secret, while he was married to someone else with no intention of ever marrying her?

  Obviously not. So not the same thing at all.

  The full context matters. Intent and behavior matters.
• 
  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. 
• 

  Simon

  Why Lloyd is sitting quiet instead of going on and on a out the false accusations...? That's the only thing that makes me wonder if it actually can be truth ...

  I would expect him to do whatever will be most beneficial to him. His "I'm watching movies" seems like a way of waving a virtual finger and saying he doesn't care and doesn't need to answer to anyone.

  My expectation is that the police won't be able to do much with what they have been given, especially as he's no longer resident in the UK. Even if they do have a formal complaint by a victim, it's simply too much work for the crime concerned - I know that sounds like down-playing it, but it's simply being realistic based on how much evidence they have ignored of previous far worse crimes by entire grooming and abuse gangs.

  So expect no satisfactory outcome. No one will ever know for sure and some will chose to believe him, because they want to, and use the lack of prosecution as evidence of innocence, and to lesson his other behavior based on a comparison. Others will see a repeated pattern of behavior and believe there is no smoke without fire, and that it's just another manifestation of a narcissistic, misogynistic bad-actor who has done untold damage to ex-JWs and bullied many good people away so he can control what he sees as a profitable market.

  But at the very least, people should be able to make an informed choice if he's really the kind of person they want to give money for, and whether that money truly goes to anti-Watchtower activities or enabling sleazy behavior.
• 
  48

  Marc O'Donell's statement: Lloyd and the conflict of Interest

  by Diogenesister in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  as expected from a man who prioritizes the most vulnerable members of our community, marc has made a sober statement that explains why there's a deep conflict of interest between lloyds recent behaviour and the work they do at jw watch.

  you can read it here:.

  public statement of mark o’donnell.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Simon

  Because the rest of Europe are savages, and missed out on anglo-saxon history and law-making. Just one more example of how the UK was never really part of EU.
• 
  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. 
• 

  Simon

  It would mean his father was comfortable covering up crimes and advising how to evade justice, but apostasy is much worse and he must be shunned

  Remember, we only have his word and story on anything that happened in his life. We know he lies like an Elder (sorry, couldn't resist that one) so why believe anything he's told us? As slimboyfat said, he's not the most trustworthy narrator and hasn't been since day 1.

  Isn't it entirely possible that someone could find him a disgusting embarrassment and want nothing todo with him and at the same time cover up what he did because they see "protecting the organization" as the prime directive?

  Don’t be quick to blame a spouse for condoning behaviour. We have no idea how horrendous the situation may truly be. No wonder she never wanted to appear in videos and he had to “surprise” her to get her on camera sometimes.

  I'm not so sympathetic anymore. Past a certain point, people deserve the lives they have. They make the choices, they get to live with them. She knew about him many years ago, from his own admission, and if he's now rebuilding his studio then he's not been kicked out in spite of what she knows now. So I'm no longer going with the "poor her" theory, I'm going with "maybe likes the money" theory. Without his "activism" he'd probably be washing windows and she'd be a window-washers-wife (no offence to window washers). Either that, or he's absolutely domineering, and someone with more personal acquaintance with her needs to get her serious help to escape.