Funny I just replied to another OP with a similar reaction. I find it fascinating that there is people in this group that still find anything rescuable in Trump. The man could speak with a machine that turns his voice into that of Tony Morris and you could not tell the difference. He drags a cult like following after himself.
StarTrekAngel
JoinedPosts by StarTrekAngel
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53
Make America Great Again Hats...would you wear one?
by minimus ini like trump but i would be reticent wearing that hat.🤠.
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Farewell Liberals - Doug Ford Wins in Ontario
by Simon inthe conservatives have won in ontario and the liberals who held power there for 15 years crashed so hard they didn't get enough seats to even retain official party status.
people are sick of them and the mess they make!.
hopefully this is the start of a wave across canada that will sweep the liberals from positions where they can do harm, ending with the king of the clowns, trudeau..
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StarTrekAngel
I've always been curious on how we can split our political views. Even in places like here, where we all have been in the receiving end of narcissistic ultraconservatives who feel they are entitled to the praise and money of their followers. I would expect that anyone who been where we have been would shy away from political views such us those. I am not taking about right wing ideas as whole. I am more fiscally conservative but the idea of a politician bringing their religious belief into office really scares me. Enough that I would rather vote something else. May be independent.
Not taking sides between left or right, I agree with OnTheWayOut. All politicians are the same and just as much of a hypocrite. The thing that worries me about the conservative parties and right wing ideals is this lining with religion. At least here in the US they have really cranked up the rhetoric lately. This raise of conservative, populist governments have me worried. Specially when the US begins to hang out with North Korea ( I don't really care what they "claim" the purpose to be)
Sometimes I think a world like the one depicted in the show "Handmaids Tale" is not far fetched. In fact, if the GB could be president, it would most likely happen.
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Is it clergy privilege?
by StarTrekAngel injust wanted to pose the question to the group and see what the general opinion is vs what the wt may have claimed in other cases.. we all know that they have argued over clergy privilege when elder learn of a crime but keep quiet about it.
regardless of what one may feel about this, lets assume for a minute that they are correct.. all elders are directed to contact the branch when they learn of a case of child abuse.
would the conversation between the elder and the branch be considered under the "clergy privilege"?
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StarTrekAngel
Just wanted to pose the question to the group and see what the general opinion is vs what the WT may have claimed in other cases.
We all know that they have argued over clergy privilege when elder learn of a crime but keep quiet about it. Regardless of what one may feel about this, lets assume for a minute that they are correct.
All elders are directed to contact the branch when they learn of a case of child abuse. Would the conversation between the elder and the branch be considered under the "clergy privilege"? Doesn't clergy privilege apply only when a priest/pastor speaks with a congregant?
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Help me spread the word. Local TV station looking for abuse survivors willing to share story. Deep South Texas area
by StarTrekAngel inyou all may recall a recent news article i posted.
it was about a bus driver who abused several school children.
while the news never really dived into his personal life, i did mention here that he is a well known elder to the hall i used to attend.. two new charges have been brought against him and now the bail is up to $420,000.
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StarTrekAngel
Bump!
The elder in question was released on bail but re arrested for new charges a couple of days ago
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Help me spread the word. Local TV station looking for abuse survivors willing to share story. Deep South Texas area
by StarTrekAngel inyou all may recall a recent news article i posted.
it was about a bus driver who abused several school children.
while the news never really dived into his personal life, i did mention here that he is a well known elder to the hall i used to attend.. two new charges have been brought against him and now the bail is up to $420,000.
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StarTrekAngel
You all may recall a recent news article I posted. It was about a bus driver who abused several school children. While the news never really dived into his personal life, I did mention here that he is a well known elder to the hall I used to attend.
Two new charges have been brought against him and now the bail is up to $420,000. I wrote a letter to a local TV station and they responded with interest. Me and my other apostate friends met up with two reporters last night.
We covered the child abuse subject and we made it clear that we had no additional information about the case but that we thought it was good for the community to know that this man could have a hidden past. They took all sort of notes and asked question about the religion and its belief. We made sure to make the apostate community proud.
While they feel there is a good story here, they are not aiming at simply putting out another broadcast simply saying "this man is a JW". They told us that the best approach is to find someone local. Someone who is a survivor or related to one (parents, etc) and that may have gone thru the motions of dealing with a judicial committee.
Local would mean somewhere in the vicinity of the Rio Grande Valley of Texas or someone who may have lived in the RGV when the abused happened.
Help me spread the word. If you know anyone, let them know. If you can repost this in other forums or social media, please do so.
Thanks
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Random Musing of an ex-JW between a rock and a hard place.
by StarTrekAngel inmany of you may recall pass postings of mine where i mentioned my plans of moving away from my current neighborhood.
mainly because my office got moved and now my commute is about one hour each way.
my employer is pretty flexible so showing up on time, for now, is not an issue.
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StarTrekAngel
Thanks all for your input.
The reason I am working with a builder is because this is a master planned community. I am sure I do have some wiggle room to negotiate but probably not a whole lot. They really did a great job with the development and lots are going fast. It is a 30 year project that just started two years ago. Based on the plans the are showing, a total of 5000 families will be living in this community. It will have college and all levels of schooling within walking distance. Private security, a local police station within it and tons of other amenities. Everyone is moving there and lots are going fast. I really like the idea of not having to drive my kids to school or eve college. No dorm, no car... you get the picture. There are lakes in the property to kayak and fish.
There is also plenty of other houses nearby but I really like this place.
In the bright side... things have a funny way of working out. Yesterday I was given the news that my employer is giving my a nice relocation allowance and they are considering me for another promotion. With that I really had to say F... this. I am pulling the trigger. Talked to the wife and we agreed we have until about moving day (October) to figure this out. None the less, while she doesn't blame me for it, she feels torn between two people. As you would expect.
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Random Musing of an ex-JW between a rock and a hard place.
by StarTrekAngel inmany of you may recall pass postings of mine where i mentioned my plans of moving away from my current neighborhood.
mainly because my office got moved and now my commute is about one hour each way.
my employer is pretty flexible so showing up on time, for now, is not an issue.
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StarTrekAngel
Absolutely agree as far as her choices and the rules. But if my MIL doesn't give in and neither do I, then my wife is put between this choice. Either-way is bad.
My whole point was how you can never have a normal life with these people around.
Fuck this cult.
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Random Musing of an ex-JW between a rock and a hard place.
by StarTrekAngel inmany of you may recall pass postings of mine where i mentioned my plans of moving away from my current neighborhood.
mainly because my office got moved and now my commute is about one hour each way.
my employer is pretty flexible so showing up on time, for now, is not an issue.
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StarTrekAngel
She could be that crazy. Specially if her craze is fed by other manipulative sisters. Also, keep in mind that most people in our current area have given up on trying to get us back in. Moving to a new hall and actually meeting new brothers and sisters means a new determination to work with us. Means the same old stress coming back. I am moving away to avoid exactly that.
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The emotionally manipulative techniques JW families use.
by stuckinarut2 ini am really disturbed by some methods that jw family members try and use to emotionally manipulate us back into the organization.. one of our fellow posters here has had a family member send several photos of them as a child either out witnessing, and at an assembly.. no words - just those pictures.. it seems such an infantile and manipulative technique to employ?!.
do they think that we will all simply ignore the logical and factual reasons we no longer attend, just because we see some sentimental picture?
do they not see that this actually may reinforce our understanding that we were raised as children in a high-control religious group where we had to please our parents.
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Random Musing of an ex-JW between a rock and a hard place.
by StarTrekAngel inmany of you may recall pass postings of mine where i mentioned my plans of moving away from my current neighborhood.
mainly because my office got moved and now my commute is about one hour each way.
my employer is pretty flexible so showing up on time, for now, is not an issue.
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StarTrekAngel
Many of you may recall pass postings of mine where I mentioned my plans of moving away from my current neighborhood. Mainly because my office got moved and now my commute is about one hour each way. My employer is pretty flexible so showing up on time, for now, is not an issue. I do, however, have other reasons to make sure I am available to my subordinates but also can't phantom the idea of wasting two hours of my day, every day, just driving.
Moving would also bring and end to the PTSD feelings I get when I run into my ex-friends from the old hall. They have not come around to bother me at home but I know for sure they are probably hounding my mother in law, who had not bothered with asking questions.... until recently.
This new career path has brought about a nice bump in pay as well as nice, open relationship with the top dogs at the company. The future is bright for me and, in consequence, for my family. My wife decided to also go back to work a few years back. My mother in law has never been opposed to reduce her preaching hours in order to watch our kids in the summers and after school. We don't demand that she do anything nor do we ask her for money. Every now and then she'd bring a load of groceries or pay for a nice dinner. We've taken her on vacations half way around the world. All in our dime. If I had to actually lay down the accounting, I believe she is more than well compensated for her contributions.
In a way, we are the only choice that she's got and she somewhat knows it. Her JW son lives mere blocks away from us yet there is a much better chance that he'd see her in meetings than showing up around our house. This has little to do with our spiritual state. He's always been that way. Mother in law is diabetic and losing her eye sight rapidly. She not only has regular doctors visits to attend, but also needs to be watched because she does not take care of herself. My wife has gotten pretty good at analyzing her surroundings and knowing when she has been misbehaving. In the others hand, her son's idea of taking care of mom consists on taking her out once a month, from sun up to sun down and raid every restaurant and movie concession stand for all the wrong foods. It is up to my wife afterwards, to make sure she recovers from that.
Going back to our moving plans, we found this very nice development that just started no more than two years ago. If features very nice homes with all levels of schooling within walking distance, including a Texas A&M campus. With a 14 year old getting ready to make a college choice in the next couple of years, is the perfect place to raise a family and it puts me a mere 20 min away from work.
Like everything in nice, is costs a pretty penny and there are trade off. The builder requires several thousand dollars on deposit in order to begin construction of the home and, if your mortgage is approved, the deposit is credited to your account but it is not refundable is you decided to walk away from the deal.
This long story bring me to the hard place. After much deliberating and working on a relocation package with my employer, I am ready to tie the knot. I have a meeting scheduled with the builder to sign off this Friday. If I sign, this would be a point of no return since I am pretty sure I will qualify for the loan. But that is not the hard place.
The hard place is my mother in law, whom had hesitated for a while as to whether she will be moving with us or not. Yesterday my wife informed me that she had finally decided that she will..... but with one condition... that my wife returns to meetings.
Yeap.. there you have it. The captive organization that Mr Stewart of the ARC so finely pointed out is now in action. Despite being away from its clutches for years, I am back under their foot. If I go thru with it and my wife does not go to the meetings, MIL will most likely leave us. This means having to pay for daycare, and probably even a provider for her because we can't trust my brother in law. If we don't go thru with the move, my job is just going to turn ever more complicated as my boss' patience is going to wear out. Not to mention this new place is not only shelter for us, is also a good investment opportunity. Regardless of what we ultimately do, the line has been drawn and if we don't stand on the right side of it, the grief and anguish will still be there.
I am ever more convinced that there is no such a thing as leaving a cult. You avoid them, sometimes at a price. No wonder ex-cult members are often called cult "survivors". Surviving is what I will be doing, at least until my MIL passes away. By then, many of these opportunities now present would have probably passed me on. The last thing I want is to strain the relationship between my wife and her mom.
I have a bit over 2 days to decide what to do... wish me luck