Isabella

Can't keep workers working if their kids aren't at school
If children aren't in school parents are taking time off work to look after them. If people aren't working the economy isn't growing. Politicians will say the priority is children, but it's always about money.
 

#1 would allow for #'s 3 & 6 eventually. 😉

3 & 6

A Russian judge on Friday imposed an eight-year suspended prison sentence for a 24-year-old Jehovah’s Witness and a seven-year suspended sentence for his 27-year-old wife, capping a week that marked some relief amid continued persecution for the faith in Russia.
An international spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses expressed gratitude that “this young couple will not need to be separated by prison bars” after the judge’s decision in Kostroma, 200 miles northeast of Moscow. The conviction comes a day after another judge in Ulyanovsk, on the Volga River, convicted six members of the persecuted faith. Those sentences were also suspended.
“We are pleased that they were not imprisoned. Yet it remains a gross injustice for them to be convicted simply for their peaceful Christian worship,” said Jarrod Lopes, spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses, in a statement.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/oct/9/climactic-week-for-jehovahs-witnesses-in-russia/

His murderous crusade ended on July 21, 1985 when he blew up the Jehovah’s Witnesses hall at Casula in southern Sydney, killing Graham Wykes and seriously injuring 13 others.
“He‘s had 35 years of life. That’s 35 years my husband didn’t have. Nothing makes up for that, but I’m pleased with the outcome,” Mr Wykes’ ex-wife Joy said outside court.
Of the 71 parishioners who were hospitalised, 16 were children and five were babies.
Warwick targeted the congregation because some of its members helped Ms Blanchard move out of Sydney to the NSW mid-north coast.
“In a final act of unspeakable evil, (Warwick) then sought to wreak revenge on innocent members of the Lurnea congregation,” Justice Garling said.
https://www.couriermail.com.au/breaking-news/family-court-bomber-leonard-warwick-sentenced-to-life/news-story/f166dd276da851e8dc8355a511f71ba1

(RNS) — A day after a Jehovah’s Witness became the first to be acquitted in Russia since a 2017 ruling declared his faith group “extremist,” six Russian members received suspended sentences for gathering for worship.
The developments come a week after dozens of scholars from across the globe called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The pacifist faith organization said six men and women were given suspended sentences ranging from 2 ½ to four years; in addition, they were given orders of “restricted freedom” from seven to 10 months in a court in the western city of Ulyanovsk. Freedom restrictions can include limitations on where they can travel and with whom they can associate.
“We are pleased that they were not imprisoned, yet it remains a gross injustice for them to be convicted simply for their peaceful Christian worship,” said Jarrod Lopes, spokesman for the Jehovah’s Witnesses, in a Thursday (Oct. 😎 statement.
https://religionnews.com/2020/10/08/one-jehovahs-witness-acquitted-russia-others-get-months-restrictions/

Cardinal Joseph Zen (陳日君) fled the communist takeover of China as a teenager and found sanctuary in Hong Kong, a bastion of religious freedom that he now fears could disappear under Beijing’s tightening grip.
The 88-year-old former bishop of Hong Kong has spent his retirement looking on with increasing alarm at the Vatican’s embrace of Beijing — and the imposition of a sweeping security law has only heightened his fears.
“As I can see in the whole world, where you take away the freedoms of the people, religious freedoms also disappear,” Zen said from Salesian Mission he joined as a novice seven decades ago.
Hong Kong has been a haven for faiths both before and after its 1997 handover to China. On the authoritarian — and officially atheist — mainland, religion is strictly controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) crackdowns have intensified — from the demolition of underground churches to the widespread incarceration of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang and a new campaign to “sinicize” religions.
In contrast, Hong Kong boasts a dizzying array of faiths, including proselytizing groups barred from the mainland, such as the Latter Day Saints, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Falun Gong.
However, Zen wonders how long that can last.
After huge and often violent democracy protests convulsed Hong Kong last year, China’s leaders launched a clampdown and on June 30, imposed a broadly worded National Security Law that outlawed certain views and ushered in a new political chill.
https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2020/10/09/2003744881

His speed: 8mph in a 2mph zone. He was caught by a policeman in a bicycle.

When the knock came at the door at six in the morning, Sergei and Maria Silaev feared the worst.
The couple first thought it was the Russian police, coming to arrest them for being Jehovah’s Witnesses.
But it was the upstairs neighbour, telling them there was a water leak above their apartment.
They were relieved, but after that had many anxious nights. "I couldn’t sleep," said Maria. From that moment on they knew they needed to leave Russia.
The Silaevs life changed in 2017 when the Russian Supreme Court labelled their church an extremist organization and banned all Jehovah’s Witnesses organizations and gatherings in that country — a ruling that forced them, and other members, to go underground and meet in secret in their homes.
Although no official reasons have been given for the persecution, it could be because members of the church are pacifist, refuse to serve in the military, don’t vote, and won’t salute the flag or take part in other nationalistic displays of loyalty.
According to Human Rights Watch, Russian authorities have carried out at least 780 house raids since 2017 in more than 70 towns and cities across Russia.
Altogether, more than 300 Jehovah’s Witnesses have been charged, are on trial, or have been convicted of criminal "extremism" for practising their faith. At least 32 are in prison, with sentences ranging from two to six years for leading or participating in church meetings. There are allegations of torture.
"For Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia, practising their faith means risking their freedom," said Rachel Denber, deputy director of Human Rights Watch for Europe and Central.
The Silaevs decided not to wait to see if they would be added to the list of the accused and arrested.
In January they came to Canada as tourists, seeking refugee status after arriving. Soon after, they moved to Winnipeg to await a verdict on their claim. Speaking through a translator over Zoom, they shared their story with me.
The Silaevs who have no children, lived in Tver, a city of about 400,000 people 200 kilometres north of Moscow. Sergei, 29, worked as a maintenance supervisor; Maria, 27, was a hairdresser and also helped her husband in his work.
The effects of the persecution were felt gradually, they said, starting with a ban on the New World Translation, the version of the Bible used by Jehovah’s Witnesses. The couple got rid of their printed version, but kept a copy on their computer.
This made Maria sad. "I enjoyed turning the pages and reading it," she said of her physical copy of the Bible.
Then there was a ban on door-to-door and street witnessing — a hallmark of the church, in that country and around the world.
Read more: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/faith/jehovahs-witnesses-flee-russia-572391362.html

In nine cases concluded in September at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), Azerbaijan admitted it violated freedom of religion or belief and the ECtHR has closed the cases. Yet, as lawyer Khalid Agaliyev noted, despite many ECtHR judgments against Azerbaijan, "we don't see any follow-up from these judgments. We want the general human rights situation to change under the influence of these judgments. Unfortunately, this is not happening".
In nine cases concluded in September at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg, Azerbaijan admitted that it violated the rights of people to freedom of religion or belief. The regime pledged to pay compensation to the victims within three months of the ECtHR decisions. On 3 September the Court issued its decisions and then closed all nine of the cases.
Azerbaijan has admitted to the Court its violation of the freedom of religion or belief of Muslims and Jehovah's Witnesses in earlier cases (see below).

The government admitted violating the rights of four Jehovah's Witnesses punished for meeting for worship in 2010, and the Jehovah's Witness community in the capital Baku denied permission to import religious literature in 2011. It also admitted violating the rights of seven Muslims punished for discussing their faith in a meeting raided by police in 2015 (see below).

"The Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan hereby wishes to express – by way of unilateral declaration – acknowledgement of the fact that there have been violations of the applicants' rights guaranteed under the Convention [European Convention on Human Rights]," the government admitted in the case of those punished for meeting for worship. The wording in the other cases varied only over whether there was one or more applicant.
http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2605

I don't use Twitter but I thought I could see this post  

Jehovah’s Witnesses Resolve Copyright Dispute With FaithLeaks
The Jehovah’s Witnesses and the owners of the religious whistleblower site FaithLeaks resolved their dispute over the site’s unauthorized posting of copyrighted materials, according to a filing in Manhattan federal court.
FaithLeaks admitted to reproducing 74 Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society of Pennsylvania videos without permission and agreed to stop displaying them on its website, according to the consent judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said.
FaithLeaks once collected documents from whistleblowers in religious communities “to enable and expand news reporting, public commentary, and criticism related to religion,” its website said.
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/jehovahs-witnesses-resolve-copyright-dispute-with-faithleaks

A group of 50 religion scholars from around the world is calling on President Vladimir Putin and his administration to end the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia.
The scholars' statement, released Thursday, follows the Center for Studies on New Religions’ one-day conference, “Jehovah’s Witnesses and Their Opponents: Russia, the West, and Beyond,” held online from Vilnius, Lithuania, in early September.
“As institutions and individuals concerned with religious freedom, we have followed the events in Russia with increasing alarm,” the CESNUR statement reads.
Among those events is a reported armed raid of 110 homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia’s Voronezh region in July that the scholars call the “largest number of coordinated raids on Jehovah’s Witnesses in modern Russia” and an “escalation” in the persecution of Witnesses in the country.
More than 170 Jehovah’s Witnesses have reportedly been imprisoned or put in pre-trial detention in Russia since 2017 for practicing their faith.
https://www.sightmagazine.com.au/news/17366-scholars-call-out-putin-and-the-escalation-of-persecution-against-jehovah-s-witnesses-in-russia
https://www.cesnur.org/2020/jehovahs-witnesses-statement.htm

A group of 50 religion scholars from around the world is calling on President Vladimir Putin and his administration to end the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia.
The scholars' statement, released Thursday, follows the Center for Studies on New Religions’ one-day conference, “Jehovah’s Witnesses and Their Opponents: Russia, the West, and Beyond,” held online from Vilnius, Lithuania, in early September.
“As institutions and individuals concerned with religious freedom, we have followed the events in Russia with increasing alarm,” the CESNUR statement reads.
Among those events is a reported armed raid of 110 homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia’s Voronezh region in July that the scholars call the “largest number of coordinated raids on Jehovah’s Witnesses in modern Russia” and an “escalation” in the persecution of Witnesses in the country.
More than 170 Jehovah’s Witnesses have reportedly been imprisoned or put in pre-trial detention in Russia since 2017 for practicing their faith.
https://www.sightmagazine.com.au/news/17366-scholars-call-out-putin-and-the-escalation-of-persecution-against-jehovah-s-witnesses-in-russia
https://www.cesnur.org/2020/jehovahs-witnesses-statement.htm

A group of 50 religion scholars from around the world is calling on President Vladimir Putin and his administration to end the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia.
The scholars' statement, released Thursday, follows the Center for Studies on New Religions’ one-day conference, “Jehovah’s Witnesses and Their Opponents: Russia, the West, and Beyond,” held online from Vilnius, Lithuania, in early September.
“As institutions and individuals concerned with religious freedom, we have followed the events in Russia with increasing alarm,” the CESNUR statement reads.
Among those events is a reported armed raid of 110 homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia’s Voronezh region in July that the scholars call the “largest number of coordinated raids on Jehovah’s Witnesses in modern Russia” and an “escalation” in the persecution of Witnesses in the country.
More than 170 Jehovah’s Witnesses have reportedly been imprisoned or put in pre-trial detention in Russia since 2017 for practicing their faith.
https://www.sightmagazine.com.au/news/17366-scholars-call-out-putin-and-the-escalation-of-persecution-against-jehovah-s-witnesses-in-russia
https://www.cesnur.org/2020/jehovahs-witnesses-statement.htm

A group of 50 religion scholars from around the world is calling on President Vladimir Putin and his administration to end the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia.
The scholars' statement, released Thursday, follows the Center for Studies on New Religions’ one-day conference, “Jehovah’s Witnesses and Their Opponents: Russia, the West, and Beyond,” held online from Vilnius, Lithuania, in early September.
“As institutions and individuals concerned with religious freedom, we have followed the events in Russia with increasing alarm,” the CESNUR statement reads.
Among those events is a reported armed raid of 110 homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia’s Voronezh region in July that the scholars call the “largest number of coordinated raids on Jehovah’s Witnesses in modern Russia” and an “escalation” in the persecution of Witnesses in the country.
More than 170 Jehovah’s Witnesses have reportedly been imprisoned or put in pre-trial detention in Russia since 2017 for practicing their faith.
https://www.sightmagazine.com.au/news/17366-scholars-call-out-putin-and-the-escalation-of-persecution-against-jehovah-s-witnesses-in-russia
https://www.cesnur.org/2020/jehovahs-witnesses-statement.htm

I just had the hardest time finding RC Cola in Fred Meyer's.....I swear they were hiding it from shoppers.
(Don't tell anyone that I also love RC Cola. 😉 )
 

90 Sands Street, the former Jehovah’s Witness Dormitory, towers over its neighbors in Dumbo, Brooklyn alongside the Manhattan Bridge. The Jehovah’s Witness properties, which extended between Brooklyn Heights and Dumbo, have been parceled out over the last few years. The largest tract was transformed into the mixed-use campus Panorama which opened earlier this year. 90 Sands Street is unique however, as it is being redeveloped by the supportive housing provider, Breaking Ground. Closed since 2017, 90 Sands is very much frozen in time with ’90s era wallpaper and decor throughout. We were recently taken on a truly fascinating tour inside the 30-story building, from the basement levels all the way up to the observation deck which offers nearly 360 degree views of Manhattan and Brooklyn.

The view from the observatory at 90 Sands Street

The commercial kitchen in the cellar that once fed 1,000 people multiple times a day. On the right are commercial sized coffee urns.

One of the former dining rooms in 90 Sands

On our visit to 90 Sands, we were also able to see the original lobby, designed in a very ’90s-esque vibe with tiled and carpeted floors and a pale pink and mauve palette. There are six elevator banks with brass style buttons.
Read more: https://untappedcities.com/2020/09/18/inside-90-sands-street-former-jehovah-witness-dormitory/

wow