GrreatTeacher

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Posts by GrreatTeacher

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  70

  Is it possible for any Country to have “Reasonable” Gun Laws? What would they be?

  by pistolpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  so the new biden/harris gun policies are starting to appear.

  it’s not clear yet, what they will be.. some suggestions; confiscate all guns.------buyback programs in each state.. there is much talk on social media that if this happens, the pandemic, + all the riots, + all the damaged property, + all the annual murders in america, - put together-will be like a sunday afternoon picnic, compared to all the deaths and property damage that will result because of “civil uprising” by millions of 2nd amendments advocates and just plain gun lovers.

  americans love guns!.

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  GrreatTeacher

  Thank you S. Molineaux for sharing your wisdom.

  I love the gratuitous capitalizing of the word government.

  Not necessary, but neither is capitalizing the word bible.

  English is so laissez-faire these days.
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  40

  Goodbye yhwh-Goodbye jesus

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  interesting report in a oxford university blog - the world is becoming less religious, (hurray!!!).

  quote: "an analysis of religious trends from 1981 to 2007 in 49 countries containing 60% of the world’s population did not find a global resurgence of religion—most high-income countries were becoming less religious—however, it did show that in 33 of the 49 countries studied, people had become more religious (norris and inglehart, 2011).

  but since 2007, things have changed with surprising speed.

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  GrreatTeacher

  I don't quite understand the current Christian obsession with abortion.

  The church was never concerned about it for hundreds of years.

  It's only been since about the 1980s that there has been any interest at all.
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  15

  Biden says first 100 days his his cabinate will wear a ball gag

  by mickbobcat in

  1. social
  2. current

  so did biden make a gaff again?

  he said his first 100 days his cabinet will have to wear ball gags.

  lol that is some good news.

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  GrreatTeacher

  His first wife and daughter died in a car wreck in 1972.

  His son Beau died in 2015 from brain cancer.

  That's 3 family members 2 of which were kids.
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  25

  Car Projects

  by peacefulpete in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  how many of you enjoy car projects?

  we do one for the parade most every year.

  this year was a bust but the project is done and ready for next july.

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  GrreatTeacher

  We used to have a '71 Volkswagen Type 3 Squareback. Clementine orange.

  It needed work. It was getting toxic to drive. The seal for the engine compartment was rotting and since it was literally in the back of the station wagon in the cabin, we were driving with the windows open to avoid choking on CO2.

  We found a parts car on the other side of the city. Being young and stupid, we hooked up the parts car with a chain to the back of our decrepit Squareback and decided to tow it home through the city. I would be in the parts car steering and braking. My husband drove, and through hand signals out the window, he signaled to me in the parts car when to brake.

  Traffic began to get pretty bad, stop and go, then we saw traffic cops directing traffic and realized that there was a parade! In the early nineties without GPS, we had no idea of the extent of it.

  As we approached an intersection, a traffic cop signaled emphatically to stop. We saw the parade approaching and resigned ourselves to sitting there awhile. At least we would have a front row seat for the parade. And here it comes, the Popemobile with the pontiff waving to the masses of the faithful!

  We then noticed vendors, and my husband got out to buy souvenirs for his Catholic relatives and left me sitting in a dead car towed behind a car sitting there without a driver.

  The traffic cop wanted us to move, and now, and I shouted to my husband to get in the damn car. By the time he did, the cop was strenuously pointing in the direction he wanted us to go immediately. It happened to be directly behind the end of the parade. So, the faithful that were gathered in the streets pointed and laughed and we waved back while trying not to wreck and find a street that would get us home.

  Zero out of five stars. Would not recommend. We should have had it towed, but that would've probably been more than the value of the car!
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  8

  Covid19 vaccines

  by Beth Sarim in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the breaking news in canada today is the rollout of the pfizer/biontech vaccines.

  perhaps we can put this pandemic nightmare to bed soon.. i hate to rain on the parade, but we yet are not clear of any allergic reactions, side effects there might be as they roll out.

  but, just have to wait and see...to state the obvious.

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  GrreatTeacher

  Thanks, bennyk. I translated the articles to English and heard the same thing on my local news.

  There were two anaphylactic reactions from the Pfizer vaccine in two nurses who took the first shot/jab in England.

  The nurses carried Epipens because of having reactions like this in the past.

  England is recommending people who have had these reactions before NOT take the vaccine.

  Pfizer is investigating possible causes of these reactions.
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  14

  Do not fellowship with greedy drunkards

  by road to nowhere in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  pounding the disfellowship crap this week.

  that nnea3n we should avoid the drunk on the gb and ignore the pleas for money?.

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  GrreatTeacher

  Greedy drunkards? No, never fellowship with them.

  It's always better to hang out with the kind of drunkards that will buy the next round.
• 
  40

  Goodbye yhwh-Goodbye jesus

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  interesting report in a oxford university blog - the world is becoming less religious, (hurray!!!).

  quote: "an analysis of religious trends from 1981 to 2007 in 49 countries containing 60% of the world’s population did not find a global resurgence of religion—most high-income countries were becoming less religious—however, it did show that in 33 of the 49 countries studied, people had become more religious (norris and inglehart, 2011).

  but since 2007, things have changed with surprising speed.

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  GrreatTeacher

  I don't trust people who need religion in order to be good people.

  Is it really that hard?

  You really need the threat of hell or the promise of heaven?

  Why not just use your conscience?

  Surely you don't believe WTs guff about needing your conscience to be trained?
• 
  40

  Goodbye yhwh-Goodbye jesus

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  interesting report in a oxford university blog - the world is becoming less religious, (hurray!!!).

  quote: "an analysis of religious trends from 1981 to 2007 in 49 countries containing 60% of the world’s population did not find a global resurgence of religion—most high-income countries were becoming less religious—however, it did show that in 33 of the 49 countries studied, people had become more religious (norris and inglehart, 2011).

  but since 2007, things have changed with surprising speed.

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  GrreatTeacher

  Thank you, Phizzy.
• 
  39

  ExElder Friend Had To Go To His Former Kingdom Hall and this what he told me!

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  he was the secretary before he resigned years ago.

  he has a business that kept him involved with the kingdom hall.

  the hall was sold to another church.

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  GrreatTeacher

  Ahh, Terry always comes up with the best information!

  Can you tell us how to remove the wheels without a wheel lock?

  Open the doors without a keyfob?

  Start a vehicle without an ignition to jam a screwdriver into? Or not a manual transmission parked on a hill?

  So much has changed. I can't keep up!
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  8

  European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) dismissed numerous JW tax cases against Armenia

  by Corney in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  by three decisions handed down over the last year, the strasbourg court has declared 12 complaints, all named "christian religious organization of jehovah's witnesses against armenia", inadmissible.

  the cases concerned imposition of value-added tax (vat) on imported literature - on 67 shipments received between 2007 and 2015, to be exact.

  in short, the organization claimed that, first, the shipments should be tax-free pursuant to article 12 of the freedom of conscience act ("monetary and other gifts received by religious organisations, as well as income received from citizens shall not be subject to taxation"); secondly, the customs authorities arbitrarily determined the customs value of the imports based on, for example, the prices the bible society of armenia (affiliated with the dominant armenian apostolic church) sold imported religious literature.. up until march 2007, there were constant problems receiving regular shipments of religious literature, which should be tax-free but which customs arbitrarily reassessed at unpredictable higher values and then imposed a value-added tax of 20 percent.

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  GrreatTeacher

  "47. In particular, the domestic courts found that the applicant organisation was not eligible for the tax exemption since the religious literature received by it had been a “donation” within the meaning of Article 605 of the Civil Code and not a “gift” as defined in Article 594 of the same Code (see paragraph 24 above). Thus, in its decision of 30 July 2013 the Administrative Court, drawing a distinction between the notions of a “gift” and a “donation”, found that the reason the applicant organisation had been unable to benefit from the tax exemption under section 12 of the Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organisations Act was that the shipment in question had constituted a “donation”, whereas the provision provided for a tax exemption in respect of “gifts” (see paragraph 18 above)."

  *And paragraph 13:

  "under the [VAT Act] transactions (operations) defined by law are subject to tax (considered a taxable object). ‘Monetary and other gifts or income received from citizens’ are not subject to [VAT] ... therefore ... the exception stated in [the Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organisations Act] does not concern taxation under [the VAT Act] "

  
  

  *And paragraph 18:

  "(4) importation of goods under the ‘import for free turnover’ customs regime with the exception of cases defined by law.

  
  In accordance with section 12 of [the Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organisations Act] ... monetary and other gifts received by religious organisations are not subject to taxation.

  For the above-mentioned provision to be applicable, a religious organisation is required to receive a gift.

  Article 594 of the Civil Code [of the Republic of Armenia] defines the concept of a ‘gift’, in particular pursuant to a gift contract, as one party (the donor) transferring or undertaking to transfer gratuitously property or property rights to the other party (the donee) ...

  Article 605 of the same Code in its turn defines the concept of a donation; in particular, a donation is a gift of property or a right for public interest purposes.

  It is clear from the above-mentioned provisions that the notions of ‘gift’ and ‘donation’ are unequivocally different from each other and they regulate different legal relations of a different nature.

  The examination of the contract referred to by the applicant shows that the religious literature has been donated to the applicant and therefore it is a donation and not a gift."