Just-Cos-You-Feel-It-Doesn't-Mean-It's-There

Someone should tell The Mail that a bar representing 84% has a lot more blue in it...

JD Vance is lecturing the Pope on Catholicism and Pierre Poilievre is lecturing Mark Carney on economics and RFK Jr is lecturing scientists about vaccines and Donald Trump is lecturing the world on tariffs and Pete Hegseth is quoting Pulp Fiction and thinking it’s the Bible

He makes a good point here…

The British right made a huge bet on the American alliance holding together when they took us out of the EU. Trump has blown up the American alliance and so we head back to Europe

Starmer signals major UK pivot towards EU after Trump taunts ft.trib.al/nCaQkBH

🚨 BREAKING: Keir Starmer says he will form a new partnership with the EU in the coming weeks "As the world continues down this volatile path, our long-term national interest requires closer partnership with our allies in Europe and with the European Union"

As another man who once worked with me declares himself saddened by my beliefs on gender and sex, I thought it might be useful to compile a list for handy reference. Which of the following do you imagine makes actors and directors who aren’t involved with the HBO reboot of Harry Potter so miserable? Is it my belief that women and girls should have their own public changing rooms and bathrooms? That women should retain female-only rape crisis centres? That men don’t belong in women’s sport? That female prisoners shouldn’t be incarcerated with violent men and male sex offenders? That women should remain a protected class in law, because they have sex-specific needs and issues? That language should reflect reality rather than ideological jargon, especially in a medical context? That women shouldn’t be harassed, persecuted or fired for refusing to pretend humans can change sex? That women should not be threatened with violence and rape when they assert their rights? That freedom of speech and belief are essential to a pluralistic democratic society? That troubled minors, especially those who are gay, autistic and trauma-experienced, should be given mental health support instead of irreversible surgeries and drug treatments on non-existent evidence of benefit? That gay people shouldn’t be pressured to include the opposite sex in their dating pools, nor should they be smeared as ‘genital fetishists’ when they don’t? That cross-dressing heterosexual male fetishists aren’t actually oppressed, but having the time of their lives piggybacking off gender identity ideology? That said ideology, and the privileged, blinkered fools pushing it because they suffer zero consequences themselves, have done more damage to the political left’s credibility than Trump and Farage could have achieved in a century? Let me have your thoughts.

How many Nigerian jw can afford the cost of storing their blood for future use?

“To the bodies of Jehovah Witness, my great grandma, grandma, and mom didn’t make it past 70 years because of your blood transfusion arrangement. Five years after my mother's death you guys decided to amend your blood transfusion policy.” — Man laments

@herbeautifulplz @elnathan_john And don't you dare fall back on the cliche of moral delinquency. It takes moral courage to leave a life behind and lose your entire support network for the principle of truth. If there is any moral shortcomings look at the blind eye you are turning to child abuse cover ups.

@elnathan_john But facts remain facts. Whether people label it a cult or not doesn’t change reality. Any level-headed person who truly wants to understand should take their Bible off the shelf and visit jw.org to examine the teachings and draw their own conclusions.

As someone who was born and grew up in this religion, this makes me so, so angry. I am finishing a novel set inside the religion and it took me 10 years to overcome the fear, shame and indoctrination to begin writing about life inside.

@herbeautifulplz @elnathan_john Quite the opposite. I was raised to value truth and when it became apparent that the JWs had no such thing - merely a manipulated, convoluted interpretation of an ancient book - already many times manipulated - used to front an American real estate corporation, I had no choice.

@elnathan_john Many so-called ex–Jehovah’s Witnesses fueling the noise around this blood update know deep down why they left—often because of the organization’s firm stand on Bible-based issues on Morality. For some, that has been hard, and they’ll use moments like this to keep denigrating.

If this report is accurate, then it is a welcome step. Many doctors know the heartbreak of having a patient in a life-threatening emergency, knowing blood could save them, only to hear: “We are Jehovah’s Witnesses.” I will never forget a woman who was transferred to our obstetrics ward after delivery with severe postpartum hemorrhage. She was bleeding heavily. Blood transfusion was the only real chance to save her. She and her husband refused. We struggled to save her. She died and left behind a one-week-old baby. So yes, any shift toward preserving life is welcome. But allowing people to store their own blood may only help in limited, planned situations. Most emergencies are not planned. Bleeding from trauma is not planned. The real question is whether doctrine should ever stand in the way of a clearly preventable death. No doctor should have to watch a treatable patient die because blood was refused.

I remember back in 2006 when my older brother was a 5th year medical student at Korle Bu and he caused a big family quarrel during a brief holiday in Lagos where he mentioned casually that he regularly administered blood transfusions to his patients. My dad believed that as a Jehovah Witness, my brother should decline to take part in any medical procedure involving blood transfusion on religious grounds. He didn't even want to know whether such a refusal was even possible under the terms of medical practise (it isn't) - all he knew was that 12 white men in Brooklyn who regularly spoke to "Jehovah" had decreed it so, and how dare us children from a JW family not prioritise those instructions over everything else. And because he convinced himself that his placenta was tied to these stupid Jehovah's Witnesses, he went on to lose his whole family that he spent decades building an empire for, and he died rich, miserable and alone. His first child got married and didn't even inform him because she knew he wouldn't approve. His 2nd child (my brother) invited him to his wedding and he declined because the bride was Catholic. His 4th child (me) got married and he was also absent, and he never met any of the 2 grandchildren he had before he died confused and heartbroken. And after thoroughly fucking up his life, the cult just wakes up one day and changes the entire fundamental doctrine that made him go to war with his own children. There is no way to quantify the damage that has been caused here, and even if there were, oyibo man is definitely never going to pay. As in my dad's case and in the case of every other brainwashed, spiritually lost black person, African wey no gree get sense, na oyibo go kill am. All we can do is cry over spilled milk now.

I sent this text message to my parents & my in-laws on Wednesday when @Larchwood20 leaked the changes to the Jehovah’s Witness blood policy. It’s been 2.5 years since any of them have spoken a word to me. Roughly 48 hours…still no reply. Norway please make the right decision.

@kangminlee Nope. This is high-school level geology. The Himalayas are the youngest mountain range on earth & were the bottom of the Tethys Sea over 50 million years ago, prior to the collision of the Indian & Eurasian Plates. That collision pushed the sea floor up & it became the Himalayas.

Will anybody lose their job over this one? Doubtful.

Marie Antoinette would even be telling him to read the room a little at this point.

No more security dependency on Trump. No more bullying from Putin. No more blackmailing from Orban. No more bazar bargaining with Erdogan. United we will be a top world power. It is Time for a European Federation! peterlang.com/document/11591…

.@JamesTalarico: Christian nationalists walk around with a mouth full of scripture and a heart full of hate. Don't tell me what you believe. Show me how you treat other people, and I'll tell you what you believe

Watchtower New York letter to body of elders on Child Maltreatment: “Please delete or destroy any electronic or paper copies of this letter (including the original)”