Isabella

UNITED NATIONS, November 18. /TASS/. The Third Committee of the UN General Assembly has Wednesday adopted the Ukraine-sponsored resolution condemning alleged human rights violations in Crimea, as the resolution was supported by 63 countries, 85 abstained and 22 opposed it. The document has been considered annually since 2016 and is not mandatory.
The resolution in particular calls on Russia "to take all measures necessary to bring an immediate end to all violations and abuses against residents of Crimea." The document notes "discriminatory measures and practices, arbitrary detentions and arrests, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, sexual and gender-based violence, including to compel apprehended persons to self-incriminate or ‘cooperate’ with law enforcement" among these abuses.
Moscow is urged "to repeal laws imposed in Crimea by the Russian Federation that allow for forced evictions and the confiscation of private property, including land in Crimea, in violation of applicable international law."
The resolution also calls on Russia "to respect the right to freedom of religion or belief and guarantee its enjoyment by all residents of Crimea, including but not limited to parishioners of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Muslim Crimean-Tatars and Jehovah’s Witnesses."
 
Russia’s response
 
Russia’s deputy permanent envoy Gennady Kuzmin said that "the resolution co-authors had been trying to punish Crimea’s population for their free choice in favor of Russia by shedding "crocodile tears" about Crimeans."
Full article here: https://tass.com/world/1225305

A college pizza delivery boy arrived at the house of Mr.Smith. He delivered the pizza to his trailer. After giving it to him, Mr. Smith asked: "What is the usual tip?"

"Well," replied the youth, "this is my first trip here, but the other guys say if I get a quarter out of you, I'll be doing great." 

"Is that so?" snorted Mr. Smith. "Well, just to show them how wrong they are, here's five dollars."

"Thanks," replied the youth, "I'll put this in my school fund."

"What are you studying in school?" asked Larry.

The lad smiled and said: "Applied psychology."

🤣🤣🤣

The ten largest gold mines in the world:

1. South Deep gold mine, South Africa
2. Grasberg gold mine, Indonesia
3. Olimpiada gold mine, Russia
4. Lihir gold mine, Papua New Guinea
5. Norte Abierto gold mine, Chile
6. Carlin Trend gold mine, USA
7. Boddington gold mine, Western Australia
8. Mponeng gold mine, South Africa
9. Pueblo Viejo gold mine, Dominican Republic
10. Cortez gold mine, USA
 
https://www.mining-technology.com/features/feature-top-ten-biggest-gold-mines-south-africa/
Leading countries in gold production in Latin America in 2019
https://www.statista.com/statistics/873931/top-latin-american-countries-gold-production/

More than 400 Jehovah’s Witnesses have been charged or convicted in Russia since the country banned the religious group as an “extremist” organization three years ago, the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia has said.
Since the April 2017 ban by Russia’s Supreme Court, law enforcement officers raided the homes of 1,166 worshippers’ families, the Jehovah’s Witnesses said
Authorities have opened 175 criminal cases into “extremism” against worshippers as of late October 2020, with 148 of them still in progress, the Christian denomination said on its website. 
More than half of the 400 worshippers spent between several days to three years in detention while awaiting trial. Some 310 have lost their jobs, businesses, pensions and bank accounts as a result of the “extremist” label.
Four Jehovah’s Witnesses have died while under investigation.

The Jehovah's Witnesses religious group has been banned in Russia as an "extremist" organization since April 2017
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/11/10/over-400-jehovahs-witnesses-charged-or-convicted-in-russia-group-says-a71998

More than 400 Jehovah’s Witnesses have been charged or convicted in Russia since the country banned the religious group as an “extremist” organization three years ago, the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia has said.
Since the April 2017 ban by Russia’s Supreme Court, law enforcement officers raided the homes of 1,166 worshippers’ families, the Jehovah’s Witnesses said
Authorities have opened 175 criminal cases into “extremism” against worshippers as of late October 2020, with 148 of them still in progress, the Christian denomination said on its website. 
More than half of the 400 worshippers spent between several days to three years in detention while awaiting trial. Some 310 have lost their jobs, businesses, pensions and bank accounts as a result of the “extremist” label.
Four Jehovah’s Witnesses have died while under investigation.

The Jehovah's Witnesses religious group has been banned in Russia as an "extremist" organization since April 2017
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/11/10/over-400-jehovahs-witnesses-charged-or-convicted-in-russia-group-says-a71998

It doesn't hurt to take a hard look at yourself from time to time, and this should help get you started.

During a visit to the mental asylum, a visitor asked the director what the criterion was that defined whether or not a patient should be institutionalized.

"Well," said the Director, "we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub."

"Oh, I understand," said the visitor. "A normal person would use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup."

"No," said the Director, "A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a room with or without a view?"

Allowing the customers to select their next grave.... interesting concept.

American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX jets sit parked at a facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S., May 10, 2019.
American Airlines/Handout

And this is microscopic 😅
 

A team of physicists at a university in the Netherlands have 3D-printed a microscopic version of the USS Voyager, an Intrepid-class starship from Star Trek.
The miniature Voyager, which measures 15 micrometers (0.015 millimeters) long, is part of a project researchers at Leiden University conducted to understand how shape affects the motion and interactions of microswimmers.
Microswimmers are small particles that can move through liquid on their own by interacting with their environment through chemical reactions. The platinum coating on the microswimmers reacts to a hydrogen peroxide solution they are placed in, and that propels them through the liquid.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/08/us/star-trek-3d-microscopic-spaceship-scn-trnd/index.html

U.S. reports 125,000 new coronavirus cases, setting world record for the 3rd day in a row
To put it into context, last Friday was when the US hit 80k then 90k for the first time.
Now casually hitting 100k isn't a big deal.
   

In addition, he said, Jehovah’s Witnesses are banned in 34 countries and it is reportedly difficult or illegal to run a humanist organization in over 30 countries.
Shaheed said the right to legal identity and citizenship has also been stripped because of religion and beliefs.
“Shia Muslims in Bahrain, Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, and Jehovah’s Witnesses in Eritrea and Russia have had their citizenship revoked or denied on the basis of their religious identity,” he said. “In Vietnam, Hmong and Montagnard Christians have been unable to secure the necessary `house register’ documentation for citizenship. Non-Muslims may not obtain citizenship in Maldives.”
In Iran, unrecognized religious or belief groups, including the Baha'is, are unable to access employment, housing, university-level education, health care and social services, including pensions,” Shaheed said. And in Egypt and Malaysia, human rights organizations report that identity cards issued to minorities often fail to display their religious identity leading to discrimination in government services.
Full article: https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/world/un-investigator/46MXMZSYGEUYPTXDBD4O5IXR4Q/

Rustamjon Norov, a 22-year-old Jehovah's Witness from the capital Dushanbe, is being held in the northern city of Khujand awaiting trial to punish him for refusing military service on grounds of conscience. No trial date has yet been set. Prosecutors accuse him of falsifying his medical history to evade military service, charges he denies. He had offered to perform an alternative civilian service, but Tajikistan does not offer this. He faces two to five years' imprisonment if convicted.
 
The Assistant to Saidali Rakhmanzoda Chair of the Supreme Court's Military Collegium, refused to comment on its rejection of Nurov's appeal against pre-trial detention. He also refused to put Forum 18 through on 5 November to the Chair or the Judges who made the decision. He referred it to the international section of the Supreme Court (see below).

Asked why Tajikistan still has no alternative to compulsory military service and why the authorities continue punishing conscientious objectors, Khaydar Kadyrov, Chief of the Supreme Court's international section, replied: "I cannot comment on these questions because they are political. Our section is not competent to answer such questions" (see below).

The prosecution of Norov comes as another jailed conscientious objector, fellow Jehovah's Witness Jovidon Bobojonov, was freed on 1 November under a presidential prisoner amnesty. He had served nine months of a two-year prison term. His sentence was deemed to run from January 2020, even though he had been in army detention from October 2019, during which time he was tortured. That torture remains unpunished (see below).

Shodigul Moyonshoyeva, the responsible official for complaints from citizens at the General Prosecutor's Office in Dushanbe, declined to say why complaints about Bobojonov's torture were not investigated and why the responsible military officials have not been put on trial. "Sorry we are in the midst of disinfection works because of the pandemic," she told Forum 18 (see below).

Military service of two years is compulsory for almost all able-bodied young men between the ages of 16 and 27 (see below).

Jehovah's Witnesses are conscientious objectors to military service and their beliefs do not allow them to undertake any kind of activity supporting any country's military. But they are willing to undertake an alternative, totally civilian form of service, as is the right of all conscientious objectors to military service under international human rights law.

In defiance of its international human rights obligations, and despite repeated requests from the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee and UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Tajikistan has not introduced a possibility for a genuinely civilian alternative service to the military conscription imposed on young men (see below).
http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2615

Rustamjon Norov, a 22-year-old Jehovah's Witness from the capital Dushanbe, is being held in the northern city of Khujand awaiting trial to punish him for refusing military service on grounds of conscience. No trial date has yet been set. Prosecutors accuse him of falsifying his medical history to evade military service, charges he denies. He had offered to perform an alternative civilian service, but Tajikistan does not offer this. He faces two to five years' imprisonment if convicted.
 
The Assistant to Saidali Rakhmanzoda Chair of the Supreme Court's Military Collegium, refused to comment on its rejection of Nurov's appeal against pre-trial detention. He also refused to put Forum 18 through on 5 November to the Chair or the Judges who made the decision. He referred it to the international section of the Supreme Court (see below).

Asked why Tajikistan still has no alternative to compulsory military service and why the authorities continue punishing conscientious objectors, Khaydar Kadyrov, Chief of the Supreme Court's international section, replied: "I cannot comment on these questions because they are political. Our section is not competent to answer such questions" (see below).

The prosecution of Norov comes as another jailed conscientious objector, fellow Jehovah's Witness Jovidon Bobojonov, was freed on 1 November under a presidential prisoner amnesty. He had served nine months of a two-year prison term. His sentence was deemed to run from January 2020, even though he had been in army detention from October 2019, during which time he was tortured. That torture remains unpunished (see below).

Shodigul Moyonshoyeva, the responsible official for complaints from citizens at the General Prosecutor's Office in Dushanbe, declined to say why complaints about Bobojonov's torture were not investigated and why the responsible military officials have not been put on trial. "Sorry we are in the midst of disinfection works because of the pandemic," she told Forum 18 (see below).

Military service of two years is compulsory for almost all able-bodied young men between the ages of 16 and 27 (see below).

Jehovah's Witnesses are conscientious objectors to military service and their beliefs do not allow them to undertake any kind of activity supporting any country's military. But they are willing to undertake an alternative, totally civilian form of service, as is the right of all conscientious objectors to military service under international human rights law.

In defiance of its international human rights obligations, and despite repeated requests from the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee and UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Tajikistan has not introduced a possibility for a genuinely civilian alternative service to the military conscription imposed on young men (see below).
http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2615

Cast of Bohemian Rhapsody v actual members of Queen

Genial! 

I just attended a memorial service for my uncle yesterday. At least 800 persons tried to attend through Zoom. My uncle was part of a large extended family. About 400 stayed for the comments afterward, and they lasted for more than 2.5 more hours, making the entire memorial about 3.5 hours long. There were attendees from all over the world, including Dubai and China, but mostly Californian and South Carolina. Based on statistical averages there is probably a fair chance that at least one of the other 16,700 members of this forum was also on that same Zoom call, assuming most of those members are JWs.
The brother who gave the talk continued to "host" the whole time. My aunt and a cousin allowed for anyone to speak who wanted to say something. Dozens of persons had examples to share of his sense of humor, funny incidents that happened in field service, and a lot of nice things to say about his sincerity and kindness when it came to shepherding. He had been a circuit overseer and substitute circuit overseer for a good part of his life.
This second portion of course is mostly a new Zoom thing for us, where the personal experiences are offered, and even children sometimes speak about their grandpa and great-grandpa. But I saw so much love coming through, and no one seemed to want the experience to stop.
It's only the second of such memorial services I have attended like this, but I have heard of another one a month ago.
Just looking for comments, I guess, on whether others have experienced this. I think it's a very good thing, and I was glad that some non-Witness relatives could share this experience.

I think with this post I was just trying to justify my terrible decision to procure a .org domain.
I should have gone with .com in retrospect.
Oh well. Live and learn.

T. THOMAS — Residents will soon be able to access the Watchtower magazine with a few keystrokes on the Jehovah’s Witnesses website.
That’s because the a special edition of the magazine entitled “What is God’s Kingdom” will be distributed in both print and electronic format as part of a global campaign that kicks off Sunday and throughout the month of November.
“The answer to that question has captivated the attention of people from many different faiths for centuries,” and Jehovah’s Witnesses will distribute the magazine to the general public, business owners, local and national government officials as well as court officials, according to Javier De La Rosa, a local spokesperson for Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The printed editions will be mailed out, he said.
“Due to COVID-19 we’re respecting both members and the households by mailing the printed edition and not going door to door,” De La Rosa said. “We will make efforts to reach out to business and government officials so that it can be mailed to them.”
An electronic copy in over 300 languages will be available on the website at jw.org under the link Library/Magazines.
http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/jehovah-s-witnesses-to-distribute-special-issue-of-watchtower-magazine-online-via-mail/article_e19e9ee2-a68e-5fd1-addf-94134de47770.html

T. THOMAS — Residents will soon be able to access the Watchtower magazine with a few keystrokes on the Jehovah’s Witnesses website.
That’s because the a special edition of the magazine entitled “What is God’s Kingdom” will be distributed in both print and electronic format as part of a global campaign that kicks off Sunday and throughout the month of November.
“The answer to that question has captivated the attention of people from many different faiths for centuries,” and Jehovah’s Witnesses will distribute the magazine to the general public, business owners, local and national government officials as well as court officials, according to Javier De La Rosa, a local spokesperson for Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The printed editions will be mailed out, he said.
“Due to COVID-19 we’re respecting both members and the households by mailing the printed edition and not going door to door,” De La Rosa said. “We will make efforts to reach out to business and government officials so that it can be mailed to them.”
An electronic copy in over 300 languages will be available on the website at jw.org under the link Library/Magazines.
http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/jehovah-s-witnesses-to-distribute-special-issue-of-watchtower-magazine-online-via-mail/article_e19e9ee2-a68e-5fd1-addf-94134de47770.html

T. THOMAS — Residents will soon be able to access the Watchtower magazine with a few keystrokes on the Jehovah’s Witnesses website.
That’s because the a special edition of the magazine entitled “What is God’s Kingdom” will be distributed in both print and electronic format as part of a global campaign that kicks off Sunday and throughout the month of November.
“The answer to that question has captivated the attention of people from many different faiths for centuries,” and Jehovah’s Witnesses will distribute the magazine to the general public, business owners, local and national government officials as well as court officials, according to Javier De La Rosa, a local spokesperson for Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The printed editions will be mailed out, he said.
“Due to COVID-19 we’re respecting both members and the households by mailing the printed edition and not going door to door,” De La Rosa said. “We will make efforts to reach out to business and government officials so that it can be mailed to them.”
An electronic copy in over 300 languages will be available on the website at jw.org under the link Library/Magazines.
http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/jehovah-s-witnesses-to-distribute-special-issue-of-watchtower-magazine-online-via-mail/article_e19e9ee2-a68e-5fd1-addf-94134de47770.html

She taugth us Patience. When she wanted to use her belt and we ran away she didn't go after us. She patiently waited next to the door saying that at any moment we were going to pass by that door 😄