Clarification: "I need to store my own blood for an upcoming surgery and I don't want to be seen as a hypocrite." -- Random Governing Body Member.
It would not surprise me if this was the real reason. Religious fanatics always seem to change the rules when their harsh punishments may apply to them.
A further question: what does it COST to store one's own blood? I can't imagine that it's a no-charge deal, never mind the costs of phlebotomy to put up however many units of whole blood might be necessary for a procedure. Could the average JW afford it?
My brother talked to a couple of them last year. He's very good at subtly seeming to agree while really planting seeds of doubt about their idea of having the exclusive truth.
He did get a really good Bible with lots of real factual info and maps of the area, which is useful to him as research only (he's a war gaming and history guy).
As a kid, I remember JW kids in pizza parlors looking on SO SADLY at other kids' birthday parties.
A female friend once answered the door clad only in a large boa constrictor. The only way you could bathe them is by wrapping them around yourself in a shower.
Naked woman with purple hair and a snake.
They couldn't get out of there fast enough! Word got around; not only the JW's but the Mormons and others never showed again.
A friend of mine got the Mormons to clean his loo for him. Told them he didn’t have time to listen cos he had chores to do before he went out, so they offered to help while talking. He said it was the best deal he ever had! They didn’t see him put his earphones back in 🤣
All the religions had been door knocking the area constantly and she was just sick of it. She looked out and ID'd them as JWs. If it had been anyone else, she'd have put down the snake and thrown on clothes, but when you get an opportunity like that, you take it.
I saw that in Ecuador too. Also in Estonia, San Francisco, and Malta.
But I don’t think they actually care if anybody stops and talks to them. Like the letter letters that we received at our old address periodically from the local JW Aberschnakle, telling us about all these wonderful things you get when you join the JW’s, it was strictly performative.
We have 3 separate teams use the bench at the end of our street for this: one in English, the others in Polish and Romanian (lots of migrants round here). No one talks to any of them, they just chat amongst themselves.
Ugh, we get the exact same thing here in Australia - a portable rack of propaganda with a couple of JWs standing around being utterly ignored unless you count me giving them the finger.
I've had JWs knock on my door looking to proselytize. I think I shocked the living daylights out of that poor woman when I told her that my husband and I were happy atheists and really not interested, she actually thanked me for being nice about it.
There was a local couple who denied their diabetic child insulin, because their religion didn't believe in medical intervention. The child died. Their babysitter and next-door neighbor commented on their FB page she had the the child in the hospital, and had an epidural for the pain.
That was my first thought also. Why can't they just pause and say if we misunderstood this what else are we misunderstanding and let's give ourselves, our members and outsiders the grace be like we don't know. But then they might b fine out there's less JWs
As someone who was raised a JW, and made to sign one of those little "No Blood" cards at 5 years old. Fuck that entire cult organization. This is an absolute reversal
Thanks! It's been 20 years and I have no regrets. Been trying to open the eyes and minds of some family members that are half in / half out for years but they believe you have to believe in "the truth" to be a good person and just believe the Bible is fact so it's' been tough.
Interesting that they say that you have to believe “the truth” to be a good person. Your question, should you decide to accept it, is:
“So, are you telling me that the only thing stopping you from murdering someone else, raping someone else, or robbing a bank is your religion? Excuse me while I back slowly out of the room.”
For an omniscient entity he got quite a lot of things wrong, he didn't seem to know that teh Flud was a story stolen from the Epic of Gilgamesh, and he thought it really happened.
"Anyone who looks to the bible for health care needs to have their head examined."
The prescription against eating shellfish and pork was sensible in its day, but it is no longer a good rule but religious dogma. Anyone following religious dogma needs to have their head examined
'proscription'? Probably. That word has been in the news a lot recently here in the UK because our right wing Labour government proscribed Palestine Action, on organisation acting against genocide.
I try to understand what you wrote. Is it "UK government led by Labour label those who fight or protest against the genoside of the Palestine happening right now as terrorists."? If yes, this is newspeak, right?
What you put in quotes is an accurate description of the situation. What Airlane wrote is also true. Labour is no longer leftist, but more like right-of-centre. They are certainly right of Lib Dems, who bill themselves as centrist. The current lefty party in England is the Greens. (Varies in other parts of UK)
While I have little use for any flavor of Christianity, I really don’t know where to begin with the JW’s. Their sect has been making predictions for the last century that all failed to materialize. They just come up with some post-hoc rationalizations and go their merry way. They’ve also suppressed a lot of child abuse.
After I came out (at age 15), I clandestinely dated a JW boy who was also my age. I have NO idea how he was able to reconcile being JW and gay.
My understanding is that after it was discovered he was gay, quite some time after he and I had broken up as a couple, he was disfellowshipped and disowned by his family. I felt really, really badly for him. I know what that is like, given that I was disfellowshipped, excommunicated and formally shunned by the Reformed Baptist church I attended as a child after I came out.
They're also the ones most likely to show up at your front door, hawking their bilge. I had at least ... what ... six or seven encounters with them when we lived in Bedford Heights, and in each case, I held my own against their bullshit, if I may say so myself. They haven't shown up here in Massillon yet, but then we've only been here six months.
And my arguments have only gotten sharper with time.
The last time they showed up on my doorstep, maybe 15 years or so ago, maybe more, they had a little boy about seven or eight years old with them. He was their spokesman. Or spokes boy.
He said: “do you know who is the king of the universe?” that was a new low, even for the JW’s. Who’s going to argue with a cute little boy? I got down on one knee so that I could look him right in the eye, and I said, “I don’t know, and neither do you. you know what these people told you to say to me. That’s all that you know.”
Then I got off of my knee, and told them never to come back. And if I’m recalling correctly, they didn’t.
They are either a pair of women ‘of a certain age’ or a young family (kids in tow) that turn up here. We get them every 6mo or so. I don’t always answer the door. If I do, I tell them that I’m an escaped Catholic and I’m not looking to start the habit up again.
Happened to a friend of mine, he was in the bath when they called. He answered the door wrapped in a towel. As he saw the pamphlets, he picked up the plastic skull that had recently been used in a production of "Hamlet" and said, "Oh good, the opposition has arrived". The JWs legged it down the drive, and he hasn't been troubled since.
I live in a retirement community in the burbs of north Dallas. I've never seen a JW here, and very few religious door knockers genereally. People in their 70's and 80's have already made up their minds.
Last time we had JWs on our door was two y.a. One of them was a childhood friend of mine. He looked happy, he was never smiling as a kid. I am certain he was mistreated as a kid, but I had to become an adult before I understood. None of the grown ups did anything.
The question here is obvious: Just WHAT JW DIED because of this stupid policy that caused them to rethink their dogma? Or how many died and where did they stand in the JW scheme of things? This stupidity has been adamantine to their cult for over 80 years now, and all of a sudden, they are CLARIFYING their policy?
Shit like this doesn't happen in a vacuum. This needs to be dug into ... with a backhoe!
Probably a very rich donor had died; someone who belong to the JW died and their rich and well connected family is threatened a lawsuit or some other very PUBLIC dressing down, so now the JW is changing their policy. If an average member would have died, I am sure nothing would have changed. Things only change in religions when it effect the elite members of that religion!
Cheetolini reacted with his usual level of class and tact, in that both of those concepts cringed away from his hideous visage and ran screaming for the hills.
Which, y'know... you're not exactly doing anything to dispel the notion that he was onto something, Donnie. You only sound guiltier and guiltier every time you open your hamberder hole; if Bob Mueller did 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 wrong, it was not pinning your rancid, Putin-fellating face to the wall when he had the chance- but he's hardly the only public official who didn't press hard enough, because he still had too much faith in the integrity of the institutions you're set on destroying. But he did, at least, drag a huge steaming pile of your soiled shorts out into the light of day, and we have at least that much to thank him for. He was more of a patriot than your orange, flag-molesting ass could ever be.
Trump is Putin’s penis puffer! I recommend a statue (made of tin covered with FOOLS GOLD) of Trumpyboy on his knees giving a Russian bear oral sex with the caption: TRUMP TRIES TO BLOW UP RUSSIA!
Why wait, people should be able to tell that brain dead, inbred, ugly orange skunk ape that has as much empathy, compassion, integrity, and decency as a dead armadillo’s putrid ass; what they think of him and how Trumpyboy makes them feel!
I hope to never speak of the bastard again, when he finally enters his final career as fertilizer. He's wasted enough of my breath- and my time, and my rights, and my liver- already.
More meaningless mouth-noise from Republicans who want to be 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 as still having some semblance of morality, but who never actually 𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦 as if they do.
There is absolutely no reliable evidence of the existence of a supernatural being. None, zilch. Any religion on earth is based on fables, superstition and fairytales. And there must be an awful lot of people on this earth, who cannot get that simple reality through their skull. For god’s sake, get wise man!
Far out! Our last Cleveland Orchestra concert for this season is a complete performance of Götterdämmerung! I'm not that wild for Wagner, but it's still worth seeing and hearing!
Wagnerian operas are notorious for being long-winded and not at all structured like most Viennese or Italian operas. Still, it's worth experiencing at least once, though generally, Der Ring Ohne Worte holds me as it comes to Wagner.
You mean the ring without all of those people yakking constantly, but very very very slowly, and taking forever to say it.
As Mark Twain didn’t actually say, Wagner is much better than he sounds. The last one I was able to sit through was the Flying Dutchman, and even that I didn’t make it to the end.
Two years ago, I saw one of my favorite operas, cosi fan Tutte. I’ll see it almost anytime it’s performed. But a 3 1/2 to 4 hours, it’s a little too much for me to sit for, either. Give me a nice Janaček. Two hours, fabulous music, and everybody who needs to die is dead.
I haven't seen an opera for years, but it was a very good production of "The Marriage of Figaro", which has the advantage of being funny and no Ragnarok and "only" running 3 1/2 hours.
I wonder if they disfellowshipped children who sucked on their minor wounds. I mean, that is literally eating blood and not the mental gymnastics consuming blood that transplants are.
Anyway, I’m in LA and I probably won’t be posting much for the next week.
I'm in the self described "Steampunk Capital" ... maybe of the world, or just NZ, I dunno. There's some sort of weekend celebration. Seems to be mostly middle aged/old people dressing up like teens ... or is that too judgmental?
We arrived today around 11 and we did Venice Beach and Griffin Observatory (typing from the Uber stand right now). Our hotel is half a block away from Capital Records. We can see Paramount from our window.
We just got done with Universal. Heading to Long Beach tomorrow. We leave Friday. Hopefully TACO will restore TSA by then. It’s going to be a huge shit show.
I’m ELCA Lutheran, and we believe in all sorts of strange things: the Big Bang theory; evolution; the Earth revolves around the Sun and there are billions upon billions of galaxies and solar systems which contain planets where life is certainly possible; meteorology; climatology; mathematics; philosophy; that one does not “NEED” to be a Christian; one can be a truly good person without God; etc.
I also believe strongly in vaccinations — all the more since I have developed a genetically-transmitted disease which runs in my family: pulmonary fibrosis, which makes the lungs inelastic.
My MAGA, Christian Nationalist extended family (father AND mother’s side) eschew vaccinations OF ANY KIND. I’m determined to live to age 80. I stay absolutely current on ALL vaccinations. If they get the flu, it’s uncomfortable. If I get the flu, it’s life-threatening.
In their eyes, I’m a HEEEEEEEEEEEathen apostate for getting vaccinated and maintaining vaccinations. I’ve been removed from family chat. I’m left out of family get-togethers. Oh: because of my due diligence, my disease is in remission.
What have *I* done? Built a life, and a circle of friends (of all kinds) which excludes the MAGA and Christian Nationalists. If they feel the need to exclude me because I don’t follow “MAGA political correctness” then I’m certainly not going to woo them to include me.
That said: I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts (and I make wicked doughnuts, from scratch!) that one of the JW elders decided to change the rules before undergoing some major surgery which involved severe blood loss.
My late BFF was ELCA. She believed all that too. Her church was very chill; they'd run out the old-guard hardliners several years ago. Her memorial was presided over by a Black woman pastor, and they didn't care at all about us oddly-dressed heathens. The Ladies' group made EXCELLENT cookies.
I came to substitute for an organist who was leaving: his partner of 56 years was the organist there, and the partner developed cancer. He survived the cancer, but the chemotherapy killed him. (I had cancer when I was 36, and I know how harsh chemotherapy can be. The aftereffects of chemo nearly destroyed my left hand, and an orthopedic specialist who works specifically with musicians' hands made it possible for me to play piano again.)
My organist friend really liked that church, but each time he played he visualized his late partner being there. He asked if I could substitute for Lent, which I did. (I'm a pianist, but I've made about 200 organ to piano transcriptions and these are typically virtuoso pieces, so I have a BIG technique!).
After Lent, they asked if I would be willing to stay on as their pianist. They're very progressive; they walk their talk (the church has been housing homeless people this winter because our winter was unusually harsh); and I'm openly gay and they have no problem with it.
I also found out they cook like FIENDS, which I think is a very good reason to stay!
My JW husband and I got into a *very* heated argument about how he eats red meat but he can't "have" blood. "Why do you think it's called RED meat????" I asked. He actually begrudgingly admitted he was "taking in blood." You can bet BIG money that an elder's relative needs surgery.
“ On Friday, Governing Body member Gerrit Lösch announced that it was now perfectly fine to store your own blood for a future transfusion.”
And…
‘Qui bono?”, Asks Hemant.
Ooohhhh! PIck me! PIck me!!!!!
BLoody hell! I see three things going on here. First, the JW’s are very conscious of their image. They don’t want to appear totally backward in the modern world.* Second, if they are like every other religion, they are hemorrhaging members. It’s one thing to hemorrhage members, it’s quite another thing to have them die off because of an idiotic policy that has absolutely nothing to do with reality. As a rabbi once said to me regarding gay people, “the Torah cannot condemn what the Torah knows nothing about.” to say that the Bible forbid transfusions is, as Hemant notes, simply overlaying whatever the Bible does say with a human directive.
There is a third possibility, of course. Check the stock portfolios of the governing body and see how many of them own shares in blood storage facilities. Or check which of the governing body men might need a blood transfusion, or have a wife or child in need of a blood Transfusion.
But a thought like that would be totally, totally cynical and I would never express a totally cynical thought whenever it comes to conservative religion.
If JWs down't want to appear totally backward, they picked one hell of a hill to die on, and now, of course, they've all but decided that the hill isn't worth the fuss. This just makes me wonder all the more what is at the root of this decision.
I'm perfectly fine with adults doing whatever silly shit they want with their own bodies. Children shouldn't be subject to fuckwittery based on their parents' mythology cosplaying.
Theaters are packed and both audiences and critics are raving. With the success of both "The Martian" and "Project: Hail Mary," maybe Weir's book "Artemis" will be optioned for the big screen.
The main character wasn’t just a science teacher but a PhD in molecular biology. He apparently can’t comprehend the fiction aspect of science “fiction.”
Not keen paying money for a blog I don't frequent that often. specially when it used to be free. All I was going to say was ... I remember "The neutrinos are mutating".
Clarification: "I need to store my own blood for an upcoming surgery and I don't want to be seen as a hypocrite." -- Random Governing Body Member.
It would not surprise me if this was the real reason. Religious fanatics always seem to change the rules when their harsh punishments may apply to them.
A further question: what does it COST to store one's own blood? I can't imagine that it's a no-charge deal, never mind the costs of phlebotomy to put up however many units of whole blood might be necessary for a procedure. Could the average JW afford it?
Unlikely.
"A further question: what does it COST to store one's own blood?"
I would think it depends on whether it is going to be used in a scheduled operation, or "Just in case I am involved in a road accident, and need it" †
† The bible says nothing about travelling in cars, should the JWs actuall be doing this?
(Here is a picture I took in Ecuador
https://ibb.co/84Yq9f6w
Has anyone ever seen anybody stop and talk to the JWs?)
My brother talked to a couple of them last year. He's very good at subtly seeming to agree while really planting seeds of doubt about their idea of having the exclusive truth.
He did get a really good Bible with lots of real factual info and maps of the area, which is useful to him as research only (he's a war gaming and history guy).
As a kid, I remember JW kids in pizza parlors looking on SO SADLY at other kids' birthday parties.
A female friend once answered the door clad only in a large boa constrictor. The only way you could bathe them is by wrapping them around yourself in a shower.
Naked woman with purple hair and a snake.
They couldn't get out of there fast enough! Word got around; not only the JW's but the Mormons and others never showed again.
A friend of mine got the Mormons to clean his loo for him. Told them he didn’t have time to listen cos he had chores to do before he went out, so they offered to help while talking. He said it was the best deal he ever had! They didn’t see him put his earphones back in 🤣
I have to figure out a way to work that into my book. It would be such a great scene.
All the religions had been door knocking the area constantly and she was just sick of it. She looked out and ID'd them as JWs. If it had been anyone else, she'd have put down the snake and thrown on clothes, but when you get an opportunity like that, you take it.
As a nudist I applaud her ingenuity. They just stare at my boobs because I don't own a snake.
Excellent point. One wonders if JWs actually TAKE VACATIONS! 😏
I saw that in Ecuador too. Also in Estonia, San Francisco, and Malta.
But I don’t think they actually care if anybody stops and talks to them. Like the letter letters that we received at our old address periodically from the local JW Aberschnakle, telling us about all these wonderful things you get when you join the JW’s, it was strictly performative.
I see them around the city as well and nobody is ever talking with them.
We have 3 separate teams use the bench at the end of our street for this: one in English, the others in Polish and Romanian (lots of migrants round here). No one talks to any of them, they just chat amongst themselves.
Ugh, we get the exact same thing here in Australia - a portable rack of propaganda with a couple of JWs standing around being utterly ignored unless you count me giving them the finger.
I've had JWs knock on my door looking to proselytize. I think I shocked the living daylights out of that poor woman when I told her that my husband and I were happy atheists and really not interested, she actually thanked me for being nice about it.
The "average JW" is delusional enough to be a JW, so I doubt he's contemplating a future where he needs blood for a medical emergency.
Those JW's I knew about are dead now, but they were filthy rich. Mostly because they got payd for helping the nazi government in Norway during ww2.
Edit to ad: Their big and valuable farms helped to keep them rich too.
My thought too - or someone in their family.
My thoughts exactly! You just *know* this wasn’t out of concern for the myriad wives and daughters who needed this during childbirth!
There was a local couple who denied their diabetic child insulin, because their religion didn't believe in medical intervention. The child died. Their babysitter and next-door neighbor commented on their FB page she had the the child in the hospital, and had an epidural for the pain.
That was my first thought also. Why can't they just pause and say if we misunderstood this what else are we misunderstanding and let's give ourselves, our members and outsiders the grace be like we don't know. But then they might b fine out there's less JWs
As someone who was raised a JW, and made to sign one of those little "No Blood" cards at 5 years old. Fuck that entire cult organization. This is an absolute reversal
Congrats on getting OUT!
Thanks! It's been 20 years and I have no regrets. Been trying to open the eyes and minds of some family members that are half in / half out for years but they believe you have to believe in "the truth" to be a good person and just believe the Bible is fact so it's' been tough.
Interesting that they say that you have to believe “the truth” to be a good person. Your question, should you decide to accept it, is:
“So, are you telling me that the only thing stopping you from murdering someone else, raping someone else, or robbing a bank is your religion? Excuse me while I back slowly out of the room.”
Sending healing vibes over to your 5 yr old self ✨
Anyone who looks to the bible for health care needs to have their head examined.
Isn't it this book that advises people to wash in the blood of Jesus and wash in the blood of their enemies?
Never mind Jesus saying not to wash your hands before eating because it's what comes OUT that defiles, et cetera. It's all madness.
Kegsbreath hasn't washed his hands in over a decade because...get this...he says "germs aren't real." *eye roll*
Oh, but our Iran war is RIGHTEOUS somehow, according to him (I've forgotten the exact phrase he used). He SO needs to be forced to refresh his resume!
For an omniscient entity he got quite a lot of things wrong, he didn't seem to know that teh Flud was a story stolen from the Epic of Gilgamesh, and he thought it really happened.
"Anyone who looks to the bible for health care needs to have their head examined."
The prescription against eating shellfish and pork was sensible in its day, but it is no longer a good rule but religious dogma. Anyone following religious dogma needs to have their head examined
'proscription'? Probably. That word has been in the news a lot recently here in the UK because our right wing Labour government proscribed Palestine Action, on organisation acting against genocide.
I try to understand what you wrote. Is it "UK government led by Labour label those who fight or protest against the genoside of the Palestine happening right now as terrorists."? If yes, this is newspeak, right?
What you put in quotes is an accurate description of the situation. What Airlane wrote is also true. Labour is no longer leftist, but more like right-of-centre. They are certainly right of Lib Dems, who bill themselves as centrist. The current lefty party in England is the Greens. (Varies in other parts of UK)
Thank you for explaining. I can’t know and understand everything all by myself.
Who can? I’m a bit closer to it, being in England 😉
“ Anyone who looks to the bible for health care needs to have their head examined."
Well that won’t work. They’d have to go to a doctor for that.
Why do I have to explain everything?!?!?!🤪🤪🤪😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘
Bacause you are worthy
So true! So very very true!
You could have stopped at “Anyone who looks to the bible…”
And still have been spot on!
While I have little use for any flavor of Christianity, I really don’t know where to begin with the JW’s. Their sect has been making predictions for the last century that all failed to materialize. They just come up with some post-hoc rationalizations and go their merry way. They’ve also suppressed a lot of child abuse.
The children in these families are who I feel bad for. Just being born into a JW family is abuse.
After I came out (at age 15), I clandestinely dated a JW boy who was also my age. I have NO idea how he was able to reconcile being JW and gay.
My understanding is that after it was discovered he was gay, quite some time after he and I had broken up as a couple, he was disfellowshipped and disowned by his family. I felt really, really badly for him. I know what that is like, given that I was disfellowshipped, excommunicated and formally shunned by the Reformed Baptist church I attended as a child after I came out.
Terribly sad. I’m so sorry to hear this 💔
They're also the ones most likely to show up at your front door, hawking their bilge. I had at least ... what ... six or seven encounters with them when we lived in Bedford Heights, and in each case, I held my own against their bullshit, if I may say so myself. They haven't shown up here in Massillon yet, but then we've only been here six months.
And my arguments have only gotten sharper with time.
The last time they showed up on my doorstep, maybe 15 years or so ago, maybe more, they had a little boy about seven or eight years old with them. He was their spokesman. Or spokes boy.
He said: “do you know who is the king of the universe?” that was a new low, even for the JW’s. Who’s going to argue with a cute little boy? I got down on one knee so that I could look him right in the eye, and I said, “I don’t know, and neither do you. you know what these people told you to say to me. That’s all that you know.”
Then I got off of my knee, and told them never to come back. And if I’m recalling correctly, they didn’t.
Nice move.
I thought it was pretty clever at the time. Occasionally, someone appreciates my genius.
They are either a pair of women ‘of a certain age’ or a young family (kids in tow) that turn up here. We get them every 6mo or so. I don’t always answer the door. If I do, I tell them that I’m an escaped Catholic and I’m not looking to start the habit up again.
JWs in my area have a knack for— an absolute GIFT for showing up at the worst possible times, and not taking “No” for an answer:
- the day before my ex-partner’s funeral, when I was already crazy from grief and going to spread his ashes the next day;
- the day before I left for my first European concert tour;
- when I had viral meningitis;
- the morning we were packing the van to move away from Austin.
It’s like they know “Mark is seriously stressed” so they descend like murder hornets!
Happened to a friend of mine, he was in the bath when they called. He answered the door wrapped in a towel. As he saw the pamphlets, he picked up the plastic skull that had recently been used in a production of "Hamlet" and said, "Oh good, the opposition has arrived". The JWs legged it down the drive, and he hasn't been troubled since.
I live in a retirement community in the burbs of north Dallas. I've never seen a JW here, and very few religious door knockers genereally. People in their 70's and 80's have already made up their minds.
Last time we had JWs on our door was two y.a. One of them was a childhood friend of mine. He looked happy, he was never smiling as a kid. I am certain he was mistreated as a kid, but I had to become an adult before I understood. None of the grown ups did anything.
See my comment for the most effective way to get rid of them. :)
Charles Taze Russell, the founder of JW, was a conman and a hypocrite (surprise surprise)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Taze_Russell
(Be sure to click on "Controversies")
Is there any founder of a religion who wasn't a conman¹ or a hypocrite?
¹ or conwoman.
Very short answer: NO
Long answer: HELL FUCKING NO
The question here is obvious: Just WHAT JW DIED because of this stupid policy that caused them to rethink their dogma? Or how many died and where did they stand in the JW scheme of things? This stupidity has been adamantine to their cult for over 80 years now, and all of a sudden, they are CLARIFYING their policy?
Shit like this doesn't happen in a vacuum. This needs to be dug into ... with a backhoe!
Probably a very rich donor had died; someone who belong to the JW died and their rich and well connected family is threatened a lawsuit or some other very PUBLIC dressing down, so now the JW is changing their policy. If an average member would have died, I am sure nothing would have changed. Things only change in religions when it effect the elite members of that religion!
OT#2- Robert Mueller dead at 81: https://apnews.com/article/robert-mueller-fbi-director-trump-russia-investigation-7aca939dc25d4652815376f73e0f9aaf
Cheetolini reacted with his usual level of class and tact, in that both of those concepts cringed away from his hideous visage and ran screaming for the hills.
Which, y'know... you're not exactly doing anything to dispel the notion that he was onto something, Donnie. You only sound guiltier and guiltier every time you open your hamberder hole; if Bob Mueller did 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 wrong, it was not pinning your rancid, Putin-fellating face to the wall when he had the chance- but he's hardly the only public official who didn't press hard enough, because he still had too much faith in the integrity of the institutions you're set on destroying. But he did, at least, drag a huge steaming pile of your soiled shorts out into the light of day, and we have at least that much to thank him for. He was more of a patriot than your orange, flag-molesting ass could ever be.
Trump is Putin’s penis puffer! I recommend a statue (made of tin covered with FOOLS GOLD) of Trumpyboy on his knees giving a Russian bear oral sex with the caption: TRUMP TRIES TO BLOW UP RUSSIA!
Trump ... classy as ever. Pity he won't be around to hear what's said about him when he's dead.
Why wait, people should be able to tell that brain dead, inbred, ugly orange skunk ape that has as much empathy, compassion, integrity, and decency as a dead armadillo’s putrid ass; what they think of him and how Trumpyboy makes them feel!
I hope to never speak of the bastard again, when he finally enters his final career as fertilizer. He's wasted enough of my breath- and my time, and my rights, and my liver- already.
Ending up as fertilizer is too good for him. Or, because he would hate being useful, that would be perfect.
1. Trumplethinskin suffers personal criticism for his comments about Mueller
2. He threatens to “hit and obliterate” Iranian power plants – “starting with the biggest one first”
"Cheetolini reacted with his usual level of class and tact"
Seems lots of people are disgusted with his comments - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/21/trump-robert-mueller-death
More meaningless mouth-noise from Republicans who want to be 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 as still having some semblance of morality, but who never actually 𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦 as if they do.
There is absolutely no reliable evidence of the existence of a supernatural being. None, zilch. Any religion on earth is based on fables, superstition and fairytales. And there must be an awful lot of people on this earth, who cannot get that simple reality through their skull. For god’s sake, get wise man!
Don't. Hold. Your. Breath.
I am going to the opera next week, to see "Siegfried". The cast features a real god, Odin.
The road I live in is named "Frøyas road" another real god. Odin is the son of a friends of mine. He is really nice.
I used to know a very nice Thor.
Far out! Our last Cleveland Orchestra concert for this season is a complete performance of Götterdämmerung! I'm not that wild for Wagner, but it's still worth seeing and hearing!
I loved Wagner when I was younger, and I still think his music is wonderful. But I cannot sit through anything as long as most Wagner operas.
Wagnerian operas are notorious for being long-winded and not at all structured like most Viennese or Italian operas. Still, it's worth experiencing at least once, though generally, Der Ring Ohne Worte holds me as it comes to Wagner.
You mean the ring without all of those people yakking constantly, but very very very slowly, and taking forever to say it.
As Mark Twain didn’t actually say, Wagner is much better than he sounds. The last one I was able to sit through was the Flying Dutchman, and even that I didn’t make it to the end.
Two years ago, I saw one of my favorite operas, cosi fan Tutte. I’ll see it almost anytime it’s performed. But a 3 1/2 to 4 hours, it’s a little too much for me to sit for, either. Give me a nice Janaček. Two hours, fabulous music, and everybody who needs to die is dead.
Janacek, eh? Could I interest you in a little Sinfonietta?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aFTv50AoEQ
That first movement with the massed trumpets is just DELICIOUS, as is its mirror in the coda of the last movement. The whole thing is just EXCELLENT.
I haven't seen an opera for years, but it was a very good production of "The Marriage of Figaro", which has the advantage of being funny and no Ragnarok and "only" running 3 1/2 hours.
Supertitles ROCK.
I think it was Puccini who said that Wagner has some wonderful moments, but some dreadful quarters of an hour...
I think it was Rossini that said that. he was known as a bit of a wit. Puccini was not exactly known for his sense of humor.
BuT both rossini and Puccini made enormous amounts of money from their work, so they were entitled to an opinion.
Ha ha. You said “reliable” evidence. 😜😜😜😜😜
I wonder if they disfellowshipped children who sucked on their minor wounds. I mean, that is literally eating blood and not the mental gymnastics consuming blood that transplants are.
Anyway, I’m in LA and I probably won’t be posting much for the next week.
I'm in the self described "Steampunk Capital" ... maybe of the world, or just NZ, I dunno. There's some sort of weekend celebration. Seems to be mostly middle aged/old people dressing up like teens ... or is that too judgmental?
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11261194/
What are you doing in Louisiana? : )
No, LaLa Land
We arrived today around 11 and we did Venice Beach and Griffin Observatory (typing from the Uber stand right now). Our hotel is half a block away from Capital Records. We can see Paramount from our window.
♫Well, I just got into town about an hour ago
Took a look around, see which way the wind blow
Where the little girls in their Hollywood bungalows
Are you a lucky little lady in the city of light?
Or just another lost angel?
City of night, city of night
City of night, city of night
Woo! Come on!♫
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O17i437KIBI&list=RDO17i437KIBI&start_radio=1
LA woman? Is your mojo risin'?
I came to California with flowers in my hair.
Had I known, I would have suggested a meet up at a local Dairy Queen. We were out in San Bernardino yesterday. Almost next door.
How long are you in cali?
About 6'3", same as at home.
We're heading back tomorrow.
We just got done with Universal. Heading to Long Beach tomorrow. We leave Friday. Hopefully TACO will restore TSA by then. It’s going to be a huge shit show.
I’m ELCA Lutheran, and we believe in all sorts of strange things: the Big Bang theory; evolution; the Earth revolves around the Sun and there are billions upon billions of galaxies and solar systems which contain planets where life is certainly possible; meteorology; climatology; mathematics; philosophy; that one does not “NEED” to be a Christian; one can be a truly good person without God; etc.
I also believe strongly in vaccinations — all the more since I have developed a genetically-transmitted disease which runs in my family: pulmonary fibrosis, which makes the lungs inelastic.
My MAGA, Christian Nationalist extended family (father AND mother’s side) eschew vaccinations OF ANY KIND. I’m determined to live to age 80. I stay absolutely current on ALL vaccinations. If they get the flu, it’s uncomfortable. If I get the flu, it’s life-threatening.
In their eyes, I’m a HEEEEEEEEEEEathen apostate for getting vaccinated and maintaining vaccinations. I’ve been removed from family chat. I’m left out of family get-togethers. Oh: because of my due diligence, my disease is in remission.
What have *I* done? Built a life, and a circle of friends (of all kinds) which excludes the MAGA and Christian Nationalists. If they feel the need to exclude me because I don’t follow “MAGA political correctness” then I’m certainly not going to woo them to include me.
That said: I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts (and I make wicked doughnuts, from scratch!) that one of the JW elders decided to change the rules before undergoing some major surgery which involved severe blood loss.
My late BFF was ELCA. She believed all that too. Her church was very chill; they'd run out the old-guard hardliners several years ago. Her memorial was presided over by a Black woman pastor, and they didn't care at all about us oddly-dressed heathens. The Ladies' group made EXCELLENT cookies.
I came to substitute for an organist who was leaving: his partner of 56 years was the organist there, and the partner developed cancer. He survived the cancer, but the chemotherapy killed him. (I had cancer when I was 36, and I know how harsh chemotherapy can be. The aftereffects of chemo nearly destroyed my left hand, and an orthopedic specialist who works specifically with musicians' hands made it possible for me to play piano again.)
My organist friend really liked that church, but each time he played he visualized his late partner being there. He asked if I could substitute for Lent, which I did. (I'm a pianist, but I've made about 200 organ to piano transcriptions and these are typically virtuoso pieces, so I have a BIG technique!).
After Lent, they asked if I would be willing to stay on as their pianist. They're very progressive; they walk their talk (the church has been housing homeless people this winter because our winter was unusually harsh); and I'm openly gay and they have no problem with it.
I also found out they cook like FIENDS, which I think is a very good reason to stay!
My JW husband and I got into a *very* heated argument about how he eats red meat but he can't "have" blood. "Why do you think it's called RED meat????" I asked. He actually begrudgingly admitted he was "taking in blood." You can bet BIG money that an elder's relative needs surgery.
“ On Friday, Governing Body member Gerrit Lösch announced that it was now perfectly fine to store your own blood for a future transfusion.”
And…
‘Qui bono?”, Asks Hemant.
Ooohhhh! PIck me! PIck me!!!!!
BLoody hell! I see three things going on here. First, the JW’s are very conscious of their image. They don’t want to appear totally backward in the modern world.* Second, if they are like every other religion, they are hemorrhaging members. It’s one thing to hemorrhage members, it’s quite another thing to have them die off because of an idiotic policy that has absolutely nothing to do with reality. As a rabbi once said to me regarding gay people, “the Torah cannot condemn what the Torah knows nothing about.” to say that the Bible forbid transfusions is, as Hemant notes, simply overlaying whatever the Bible does say with a human directive.
There is a third possibility, of course. Check the stock portfolios of the governing body and see how many of them own shares in blood storage facilities. Or check which of the governing body men might need a blood transfusion, or have a wife or child in need of a blood Transfusion.
But a thought like that would be totally, totally cynical and I would never express a totally cynical thought whenever it comes to conservative religion.
*a day late, and a genuine Creflo Dollar short.
If they’re hemorrhaging (members), they need that blood, stat! Their (quack religious) body will die without it. Not really a bad thing IMHO.
Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Cause that’s OK.
Nah, I use a lovely blue lavender body wash. I don’t wish to smell like rotted meat.
Just dab a little bit behind your ears. Think of the Republican men that you’ll attract.
Ugh. More likely I’d attract flies. Which come to think of it, would be preferable.
Most non Christian fascist women would prefer a rabid kangaroo chewing off their face, than have MAGA misogynist man coming on to them!
Or the proverbial bear.
If JWs down't want to appear totally backward, they picked one hell of a hill to die on, and now, of course, they've all but decided that the hill isn't worth the fuss. This just makes me wonder all the more what is at the root of this decision.
This matter isn't over by a long shot.
I'm perfectly fine with adults doing whatever silly shit they want with their own bodies. Children shouldn't be subject to fuckwittery based on their parents' mythology cosplaying.
OT: Happy 95th birthday to Bill Shatner.
Live long and prosper, indeed.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9b777d3fcd3eb6f3838b9fe9d3ed063770beee06842f67afb1f731fe9187cf91.jpg
🤣
OT: Went to see Project Hail Mary. Nice diversion from the world on a rainy sunday.
Just came back from seeing it. Good stuff.
Theaters are packed and both audiences and critics are raving. With the success of both "The Martian" and "Project: Hail Mary," maybe Weir's book "Artemis" will be optioned for the big screen.
I was entertained and honestly in this timeline, I can’t ask for much more.
According to Box Office Mojo, the film raked in $80.6 million over the 3-day weekend. And the weekend isn't over yet. 😎
More money will be made by this movie than that full of crap movie Melanie or whatever how it is spelled!
George Soros, that known box-office suppressor of good MAGA entertainment, at it again./s
The theater we were at was packed.
"The Martian" was so much fun, both as a novel and as a movie (haven't read or seen PHM yet).
Somebody else went to see it and didn't think it was a nice diversion.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/22/the-last-andy-weir-movie-i-will-ever-waste-money-on/
The main character wasn’t just a science teacher but a PhD in molecular biology. He apparently can’t comprehend the fiction aspect of science “fiction.”
The PhD in molecular biology is fiction.
Just like the movie.
Then why did you bring it up?
Because that was one of the complaints in the ‘review’ by Pharyngula you mentioned, that the main character was a middle school science teacher.
I read movie "reviews" like the one Myers engaged in and hear/see the following
youtu.be/j95kNwZw8YY
Not keen paying money for a blog I don't frequent that often. specially when it used to be free. All I was going to say was ... I remember "The neutrinos are mutating".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXdBzpRDR5I&t=2s
Freethoughtblogs are free.