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1The use of red herring arguments by message followers
Toggle The use of red herring arguments by message followers subsection
1.1Voice of God Recording's basic argument
1.1.1Differences in Paul's Conversion Experiences
1.1.2Abranham's prophecy was also wrong
1.1.3Differences in the Gospel Accounts
1.2Pastor Wisper Gwena's use of the red herring
1.2.1Elijah and the red herring
1.2.2Ahab repented
1.2.3The message to Elijah was not a prophecy, it was a command
2Why a Comparison to William Branham's Failed Prophecies is a Smokescreen
Toggle Why a Comparison to William Branham's Failed Prophecies is a Smokescreen subsection
2.1Jonah prophesied against Nineveh but it was not destroyed
3Conclusion
4Video Script
Red Herring Arguments
(Redirected from Failed Prophecies)
This article examines the response of people in the message to the failed visions.
The use of red herring arguments by message followers
Message believers have to reconcile what they believe (that William Branham was a prophet) with historic facts (that William Branham's prophecies did not all come to pass). The easiest way to do this is to trivialize the importance of facts until the person feels comfortable ignoring them. This is required because of a psychological condition which is common in people involved in cults that is referred to as Cognitive Dissonance.
There is no such fish as a "red herring"; it refers to a particularly strong kipper, a fish (typically a herring) that has been strongly cured in brine and/or heavily smoked. This process makes the fish particularly pungent smelling and, with strong enough brine, turns its flesh reddish. The term "red herring" was thought to have originated from the technique of training young fox hounds. When the dog was being trained to follow the faint odour of a fox, the trainer would drag a red herring (whose strong scent would confuse the animal) acreoss the animal's trail to confuse the dog. The dog eventually learned to follow the scent of the fox rather than the stronger scent of the red herring.
In the area of logic or arguments, a red herring is an issue or fact that is introduced to deliberately mislead or distract a person from the actual concern that is being raised. A red herring is a distracting argument that leads people towards a false conclusion. A red herring might be intentionally used (particularly where there are no real arguments against the issue), or it could be inadvertently used during an argument as a result of poor logic.
Voice of God Recordings explanation of why William Branham's failed prophecies are not important relies totally on the use of red herring arguments.
Voice of God Recording's basic argument
Voice of God Recordings ("VoGR"), is an entity led by William Branham's sons and dedicated to sharing his sermons. In a publication called Catch the Vision(2012, Volume 2), they explain away the failures in William Branham's prophecies without discussing the facts. Their argument flows as follows:
William Branham's Message has mistakes in it.
The Bible has mistakes in it.
We still believe the Bible despite its mistakes.
Therefore, we can believe William Branham's Message confidently.
Three examples of Biblical "errors" that VOGR gives are:
Paul's story of his conversion experience differs between Acts 9 and Acts 22. How can you believe the Bible if it can't get its facts straight on whether Paul companions heard the voice or not?
Genesis 15:13 says that the Egyptians would afflict the Israelits for four hundred year but Exodus 12:40 states that "the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. How can the Bible be trusted if there is a difference of 30 years?
Every Gospel tells the resurrection story differently. How can the Bible be true if a story this important is different in all four accounts (i.e. the number of women and angels present at the tomb)?
The problem with this reasoning is that it assumes that the "problems" in the Bible are the same as the problems in the message. But the problems aren't the same.
For starters, the Bible accounts are written by different people thousands of years ago, while the Message is from one source (William Branham) and his spoken words can be searched in an electronic database online. Second, William Branham spoke English, while the Bible is translated from an ancient form of Greek and Hebrew. The King James Bible in itself is a translation of Hebrew and Greek into Latin, and then into English.
Let's address the specific examples provided by VoGR:
Differences in Paul's Conversion Experiences
Message ministers don't understand Greek. In fact, they like to mock and scoff those that study it (for example, listen to Vin Dayal's sermon of January 13, 2013). For them, perhaps ignorance is bliss. But if you were a non-English speaker, how could you really hope to understand what William Branham is really saying if you don't speak English? And what if the translator was translating into your mother toungue but using language from 400 years ago? Do you understand that there might be a bit of a problem?
But for those of you who might be curious, here is something to ponder.
Acts 9:7 (KJV) states, "The men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man."
Acts 22:9 (KJV) reads, "And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me."
These statements seem contradictory, with one saying that Paul's companions heard a voice, while the other account says that no voice was heard. However, a knowledge of Greek solves this difficulty.
The construction of the verb 'to hear' (akouo) is not the same in both accounts. In Acts 9:7 it is used with the genitive, in Acts 22:9 with the accusative. The construction with the genitive simply expresses that something is being heard or that certain sounds reach the ear; nothing is indicated as to whether a person understands what he hears or not.
The construction with the accusative, however, describes a hearing which includes mental apprehension of the message spoken. From this it becomes evident that the two passages are not contradictory.
Acts 22:9 does not deny that the associates of Paul heard certain sounds; it simply declares that they did not hear in such a way as to understand what was being said. Our English idiom in this case simply is not so expressive as the Greek.
This is very clear in a modern English like the NASB, where VoGr's problem with the Bible suddenly disappears:
Acts 9:7 (NASB95) - The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.
Acts 22:9 (NASB95) - And those who were with me saw the light, to be sure, but did not understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me.
What Voice of God and Joseph Branham have done is to exaggerate the differences in the accounts of Paul's conversion experience. They are throwing the Bible under the bus in an attempt to get message followers to overlook the problems with William Branham's failed visions and lack of credibility.
Abranham's prophecy was also wrong
The Old Testament (Genesis 15:13) and the New Testament (Acts 7:6) both agree that Abraham's offspring would dwell in a foreign land, and would be afflicted. The term of this is 400 years, and either refers to 400 years of slavery, or from the date of the prophecy until the end of the slavery.
The Old Testament (Exodus 12:40) also states that the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was 430 years. The New Testament then confirms that the law came 430 years after God's covenant with Abraham about his offspring (Galatians 3:16-17).
Both the 400 year period and the 430 year period end with the exodus from Egypt (Genesis 15:14, Exodus 12:41), after which they head straight to Mt. Sinai to receive the law. The difference between the 400 year and 430 year periods is two different important starting events, 30 years apart from each other.
400 Years of Slavery
The position of some ancient Jewish rabbis is that Genesis 15:13 speaks of Israel's affliction in Egypt and Exodus 12:40 speaks of the longer gap of their sojourning (i.e. they were not afflicted immediately, but only after a Pharaoh came to power who did not know Joseph). Hence, this latter span includes the additional 30 years.
400 Years from the start of affliction
God's covenant with Abraham marks the start of the 430 year period (Galatians 3), after which Isaac was born 25 years later. The 400 year period of suffering would have then started with the sacrifice of Isaac on Mount Moriah. Isaac, the son of promise, is a type of Jesus Christ and a representative of the affliction that the Son of God would eventually endure.
Here are two reasonable explanations (one Jewish, and the other Christian) which are provided as to why no real issue problem exists between Genesis 15:13 ("400 years") and Exodus 12:40 ("430 years").
This red herring was also used by Pastor Wisper Gwena in his recent defense of William Branham.
Differences in the Gospel Accounts
There are a number of explanations for the differences in the stories between the Gospel accounts, the simplest being: There are 4 different people telling the same story. Who in their right mind would expect them to be exactly the same? If you have 4 eye witnesses at the scene of an accident, will they all agree? In particular, when none of the men who wrote the accounts were actually present at the tomb with the women, they are simply relying on the memories that they recalled.
There are four different men telling the story and we are supposed to be shocked and surprised that their accounts are slightly different? Seriously?
The biggest problem is that VoGR does not truly state the facts in the case. Far from its being true that two of the Gospels state that they "saw only one angel," not one of the Gospels states that they saw only one angel. It is true that Matthew says that "they saw an angel" (Matt 28:1–5), and Mark says: "They saw a young man," presumably an angel (Mark 16:5–7); but neither Matthew nor Mark says that they saw "only" one angel. Saying that they saw one does not preclude the possibility of their seeing two.
Furthermore, it is not true that two of the Gospels state that the women saw two angels at the grave. It is true that Luke says (Luke 24:3–4) that after they had entered into the sepulcher two men (presumably angels) stood by them in dazzling apparel. But this apparently does not refer to the incident that Matthew refers to at all, for the angel there mentioned was an angel who was outside the sepulcher. Nor does it seem to refer to the same fact of which Mark speaks, for the young man (or angel) in Mark's gospel was one who was sitting on the right side of the sepulcher. This angel may have been joined later by the one who was on the outside, and these two together may have stood by the women. This seems more likely, as the message uttered by the two in Luke is in part the same as that uttered by the angel outside the sepulcher in Matthew, and by the young man inside the sepulcher in Mark (Luke 24:5–6; Matthew 28:5–7; Mark 16:5–7).
The very simple solution is that there was an angel outside the tomb when the women approached, and they saw another one inside sitting. The one outside entered, and the one sitting arose, and standing by the women they uttered together or after one another the words recorded in Matthew and in Mark and in Luke.
But how about the account in John? John does tell us that there were two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain (John 20:12–13). How can we reconcile that with the other three?
It was not the group of women at all that saw these two angels, but we are distinctly told it was Mary alone. Mary started out with the other women for the sepulcher, got a little ahead of the group, was the first to see the stone rolled away from the tomb (John 20:1), immediately jumped at the conclusion that the tomb had been rifled, and ran at top speed to the city to carry the news to Peter and John (John 20:2). While she was going into the city, the other women reached and entered the tomb, and the things recorded in Matthew, Mark and Luke occurred. These women left the sepulcher before Mary reached it the second time. Peter and John had also left it when Mary reached the sepulcher; and two angels, the one who had been on the outside and the one who at first had been sitting on the inside, were both sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain.
All the other apparent contradictions in the four accounts of the resurrection — and they are quite numerous — also disappear on careful study.
But as we mentioned above, these apparent contradictions are themselves proof of the truth and the accuracy of the accounts.
It is evident that these four accounts are separate and independent accounts. If four different persons had sat down to make up a story in collusion of a resurrection that never occurred, they would have made their four accounts appear to agree, at least on the surface. Whatever contradictions there might be in the four accounts would only come out after minute and careful study.
But just the opposite is the case here. It is all on the surface that the apparent contradictions occur. It is only by careful and protracted study that the real agreement shines forth. It is just such a harmony as would not exist between four accounts fabricated in collusion. It is just such an agreement as would exist in four independent accounts of substantially the same circumstances, each narrator telling the same story from his own standpoint, relating such details as impressed him, omitting other details which did not impress him but which did impress another narrator and which the other narrator related.
Sometimes two accounts would seem to contradict one another, but the third account would come in and unintentionally reconcile the apparent discrepancies between the two. This is precisely what we have in the four accounts of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We should thank God that there are these apparent discrepancies among them. The more one studies the four accounts of the resurrection, the more they will be convinced, if the person is honest, that they are separate and independent accounts, and a truthful narration of what actually occurred. They could not have been fabricated in collusion with one another — the very discrepancies urged prove this. Much less could they have been fabricated independently of one another. Four men sitting down independently of one another to fabricate an account of something that never occurred would have agreed with one another nowhere, but in point of fact the more we study these four accounts the more clearly we discover how well they fit in with one another.
In the basic fundamental truths, the Gospels have absolutely no contradictions. The so-called variations in the narratives are only the details which were mostly vividly impressed on one mind or another of the witnesses of our Lord's resurrection, or on the mind of the writers of these four respective Gospels.
The closest, most critical, examination of these narratives throughout the ages has never destroyed and can never destroy their powerful testimony to the truth that Christ did rise from the dead on the third day, and was seen of many.
Pastor Wisper Gwena's use of the red herring
The Off The Shelf podcast did a 5 episode series commenting on Pastor Wisper Gwena's 2017 defense of William Branham. Pastor Gwena is a pastor of a message congregation in North London, UK.
Pastor Gwena's argument is this:
William Branham's appears to be a false prophet according to Deut 18:20-22.
Abraham and Elijah in the Old Testament also could appear to be false prophets according to Deut 18:20-22.
But the Bible tells us that both Abraham and Elijah were men of God.
Therefore, we have biblical precedence to excuse William Branham's failures as well.
Pastor Gwena adopted Voice of God's red herring argument as outlined above. However, he also introduced a new red herring with respect to the prophet Elijah.
Elijah and the red herring
In 1 Kings 19:16-16, we read:
And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. And the LORD said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room.[1]
The problem is that Elijah did not anoint Jehu.
According to Pastor Gwena, "we have a scriptural precedent of things said to a prophet which a prophet does not fulfill and yet we still accept him to be a prophet." This is taken as a reason to accept William Branham's status as a prophet regardless of his failed visions. It is taken as a reason to ignore Deuteronomy 18:20-22.
The problem with this explanation is that it is done without a true knowledge of the scripture. However, there are two good explanations for the failure of Elijah to anoint Jehu.
Ahab repented
We read of Ahab's repentence in 1 Kings 21:27-29:
And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly. 28 And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 29 Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house.[2]
Ahab's repentence brought about a delay in God's judgment. We find this principle outlined in Jeremiah 18:
At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it.[3]
So God has clearly outlined the conditions under which a prophecy will not come to pass. But those conditions do not apply to ANY of William Branham's failed prophecies.
The message to Elijah was not a prophecy, it was a command
Elijah did not see a vision. From scripture, we read that God audibly spoke to Elijah and told him what he was to do.
Elijah did not say "Thus Saith The Lord, I will anoint Jehu." God told Elijah what to he was to do. And then, as a result of Ahab's repentence, he did not require Elijah's obedience.
God delayed the judgment on Ahab's house and Jehu was eventually anointed King of Israel in 2 Kings 9:
Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the prophet poured the oil on Jehu's head and declared, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I anoint you king over the LORD's people Israel. You are to destroy the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the LORD's servants shed by Jezebel. The whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel—slave or free.[4]
This is completely unlike William Branham, who pointed to himself and said:
Remember it's on tape here, I seen a great huge brown bear. That might be a Kodiak and it wouldn't have worked down there in Canada, 'cause they're not there, you see. But wherever it will be, it'll be. It will be, that's THUS SAITH THE LORD. It will be.[5]
Now, I'm going back into the country, that you might know, when I come back next year. I'm going to get a brown bear that's almost twice that size. You see if it's right or not. I seen it. When we was standing, put my hands on his haunches laying on the ground, like that. And I could put my hands on his hips like that, and him laying down. Now, you find out if that's right or not. There's a whole lot to that. But I just happened to think, I'm supposed to be teaching Sunday school. See? Oh, friends. You all see these little visions around here? No wonder you minister brothers sometimes get suspicious. "Well, it might be mental telepathy. It might be psychology." Show me somewhere else it's going on. What about these great psychologists, telepathists? They guess. It sometimes happens, sometimes it never. And it's this, that, or the other. But God's perfect and never fails.[6]
While it is clear why Elijah did not fulfill the command of the Lord, there is no valid scriptural reason for William Branham's failed vision. And while Pastor Gwena states that he has "biblical precedents" to explain the failed brown bear vision, the red herring arguments of Abraham and Elijah simply aren't valid. They are red herrings.
Why a Comparison to William Branham's Failed Prophecies is a Smokescreen
The issues in the failed or flawed prophecies of William Branham are completely different from the two issues raised above.
One needs to look at each of the prophecies to determine what the problem is.
For example, The Municipal Bridge Vision was not fulfilled. No one died. For more details on why we can say this, look at our article on the subject. This is not similar to any of the so-called discrepancies in the Bible that we discussed above. Similarly, it has nothing to do with speaking judgement against a nation and the nation repenting. The big problem is that William Branham said that the vision was fulfilled but it was not.
The African Vision was also not fulfilled. This is again not a case of a nation avoiding judgement by repenting. It is not a case of a slight discrepancy in a story. This is a case where William Branham prophesied that he would speak to 300,000 people but he didn't it never happened. This simply cannot be compared to the issues raised with the Bible. They're just not the same.
We could go on and on. What we would ask is those that read this to be honest. Please prove us wrong. If we have any incorrect facts, we will change them as soon as we receive reliable evidence to prove that our position is incorrect.
Jonah prophesied against Nineveh but it was not destroyed
Jonah prophesied against Nineveh saying that it would be destroyed but but it wasn't. Similarly William Branham prophesied certain things and they didn't come to pass. Sometimes prophets say things that don't come to pass, message people explain.
The problem with this explanation is that it is done without a true knowledge of the scripture.
God told Jeremiah:
So God has clearly outlined the conditions under which a "Thus Saith The Lord" prophecy will not come to pass. But those conditions do not apply to ANY of William Branham's failed prophesies.
The Municipal Bridge Vision involves a vision which William Branham said was fulfilled. The problem is that it was not fulfilled. How can you compare that with Jonah and Nineveh?
In the vision of the brown bear, William Branham states with an emphatic "Thus Saith The Lord" that he will shoot a huge brown bear. He didn't. How can anyone validly compare that with Jonah and Nineveh?
The real problem, the Biblical problem, with William Branham's unfulfilled visions is Deuteronomy 18:20-22.
But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.' You may say in your heart, 'How will we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?' When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.[8]
William Branham agreed with this being the Biblical standard.
But we both know that the visions God gives me NEVER FAIL. NOT ONCE. If anyone can prove a vision ever failed I want to know about it. Now that you follow me this far here is my story.[9]
"If there be a prophet among you, or one who professes to be, and what he says doesn't come to pass, then don't you fear him. It's not right. But if the Lord has spoke to him, He will bring it to pass." See? That's the way you will know it. God give us instructions whether to know. Where we don't have to presume anything, nothing. You don't have to just imagine; you can have an experience to know it. Yes, sir.[10]
He said here was the test of a prophet: if a prophet prophesied, and that what he said come to pass, then hear him. But if it don't come to pass, then God hasn't spoke. That's all. So don't--don't fear him. That's right. "If there be one among you who's spiritual or a prophet, I, the Lord God, will make myself known unto him in visions, speak to him in dreams. And if it comes to pass, then I--that's Me speaking." Sure, God ain't going to lie. You know He can't lie there's nothing in Him to lie. He's the Fountain of all purity, all truth, is God. So it can't be a lie come from God. He's perfect, pure.[11]
The people that rely on the excuse (and it is an excuse) that the Bible has errors in it, simply don't have a good understanding of the Bible (and this includes those message ministers that use this claim). They are simply yielding to the normal progression of Cognitive Dissonance. The first easy answer that they get is good enough for them.
Those that state that some of the failed prophesies of William Branham are comparable to that of Jonah's failed prophecy similarly fail to understand the principles of Biblical prophecy.
So to VoGR, Ed Byskal, Vin Dayal and others who are using these red herring arguments to overcome their own Cognitive Dissonance, please go back and address the issues we raise with each of the failed prophecies. We want this website to reflect only one thing - the truth.
Video Script
Would you recognize a red herring if you saw one?
In a discussion, a red herring is an issue that is introduced to deliberately mislead or distract a person from the actual concern that is being discussed.
In our Humble Pie article, we raised a number of serious questions that go to the heart of whether William Branham was a prophet.
We initially raised our questions with anyone that would listen… and even some that didn't want to.
However, at no time did we ever get a serious response to the many questions that we were asking.
Since we posted the Humble Pie article, we have had almost 50,000 people from 179 different countries visit our website. We have repeatedly asked for anyone to prove the conclusions of our research wrong or to correct any incorrect information that we have posted.
However, we have had only one serious response to our request, the results of which can be found on a website called "Searching for Vindication". These people actually faced the issue, and have published their research material and findings. We recommend that you look at this site.
What has surprised us most is that the most common response to our questions from message ministers has been to focus on completely irrelevant topics to divert attention away from the real issues.
Instead of producing answers, these ministers have been producing Red Herrings.
Let's start with Voice of God Recordings,
If you read the 2012 Catch the Vision newsletter, volume 2 – you were told that, since skeptics can bring "reasonable" arguments against the Bible, believers should not be surprised when skeptics bring what sound like "reasonable" arguments against the message.
You were asked whether it would have been reasonable to believe that Jesus was a "false prophet, wine bibber, law breaker, and Sabbath violator" who was "justly" convicted and sentenced to death by the federal government... Or would it have been more reasonable to believe the testimony of a group of former prostitutes, illiterate fishermen, and tax collectors?
The problem with all of these questions, and similar issues raised by a host of message ministers, is this:
They have absolutely nothing to do with the questions that we raised.
We have asked questions about failed prophecies, prophecies that have changed over time, and stories that William Branham told that hold no bearing to reality.
These are issues that ministers have been aware of for years - but chose to hide from their congregations.
Sure, we know that William Branham as a man was not perfect. But that also has nothing to do with the difficulties we have raised regarding failed prophecies.
We have been mocked for having the nerve to raise these questions. One minister compared us to the Three Stooges, attempting to make our questions look foolish. But they aren't foolish questions.
In fact, the apostle Paul commended the people of Berea for searching the scriptures to determine whether what he said was true.
We also have diligently searched the scriptures and want to know, in the light of all of the warnings in the Old and New Testaments about false prophets, how can William Branham be considered a true prophet if even one of his prophecies failed to come to pass?
One minister ridiculed us because we raised the issue of William Branham plagiarizing from the works of other men.
But in the light of Jeremiah 23:30, this is a serious issue.
So I, the Lord, affirm that I am opposed to those prophets who steal messages from one another that they claim are from me.[12]
While William Branham didn't use the phrase "red herring", he did use the same concept. He called it "barking up the wrong tree", which means that when you go hunting with a lying dog, you will come home empty-handed every time.
Our advice to you is this – if you see a red herring, or think your pastor is barking up the wrong tree, just go and ask him for a direct answer to the specific question that you have. If he cares about you, he will answer your question. However, you will probably be asked to be quiet or leave the church, which is what happened to me.
To be perfectly honest, there are actually good answers for all of the questions raised by ministers relating to problems with the Bible. However, we have not seen any good answers to the questions we have asked about William Branham's prophecies and his message.
Why are they avoiding these issues? Is a red herring the best they can do? Are you really paying them to bark up the wrong tree?
Josh McDowell and Don Douglas Stewart, Answers to Tough Questions (Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers, 1993)
Ted Cabal, Chad Owen Brand, E. Ray Clendenen et al., The Apologetics Study Bible: Real Questions, Straight Answers, Stronger Faith, 1756 (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2007).
R. A. Torrey, Difficulties in the Bible: Alleged Errors and Contradictions (Willow Grove: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1998).
This article is one in a series outlining a number of William Branham's visions that appear to have failed - you are currently in the article that is in bold:
The Municipal Bridge Vision
The Vision of the Meetings in South Africa
The Franklin D. Roosevelt Prophecy
The Brown Bear Vision
Fred Barker
Failed Prophecies
There were also many visions that changed significantly over time.
↑ The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), 1 Ki 19:13–16.
↑ Jeremiah 18:7–8 (NASB95)
↑ The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 2 Ki 9:6–8.
↑ William Branham, 62-0506 - Possessing All Things, para. 11
↑ William Branham, 62-0610M - Presuming, para.341
↑ Deut 18:22(NASB)
↑ PERGAMEAN CHURCH AGE - CHURCH AGE BOOK CPT 5
↑ PRESUMING PHOENIX.AZ WEDNESDAY 62-0117
↑ THE SIGNS OF HIS COMING CLEVELAND TN SATURDAY 62-0407
↑ Jeremiah 23:30 (NET)
Retrieved from "http:///index.php?title=Red_Herring_Arguments&oldid=26347"
Critical analysis of William Branham
Prophecies and Visions of William Branham
Honesty and Credibility


There's a traditional saying that, red-haired men don't get a good press. But I think the redhead males can be an object of desire. Today's Man Crush Monday is going to list the 100 hottest natural redheads!
There's something about those fiery looks that makes you wonder, "What if I had dyed my hair bright red"! Especially when compared to the likes of Ewan McGregor, or the likes of Josh Homme. They have an unapologetically seductive nature in their looks. And when you combine red hair with blue eyes, one of the rarest combination in the world. Most of the natural redheads have brown eyes, and few with hazel or green shades. But red hair and blue eyes, amazing! It's like the perfect match to be blessed with. Only 0.01% people in the world have this rare combination. Look at Rupert Grint. He has the most wonderful greenish blue eyes you will ever find.
In some cases you will find that just being a ginger will not make you attractive. And on the silver screen, you'll realize it, in the harsh way. Take Seth Green for example. The guy is neither a hero nor a villain, more like a compelling douche. But enough said for today. I just wanted to point out that red heads are not the objectives of jokes like people think. They have their own way of attraction and popularity.
Below is the complete A-List of Top 100 Hottest Red Haired Men for this Man Crush Monday.


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Unraveling The Unique Mindset That Made Justin Kimbrough The Elite Investor He Is Today
ACCESSWIRE January 15, 2020
LAS VEGAS, NV / ACCESSWIRE / January 15, 2020 / How does one achieve true success and transform as many lives as possible in the process? Well, this was the question investor and serial entrepreneur Justin Kimbrough asked himself at the start of his journey to success.
Justin Kimbrough is an entrepreneur who's helped hundreds of people scale their brands to six - eight figure businesses, and in this article, we uncover how he went from trading penny stocks to building successful business empires.
Subtle Beginnings
Kimbrough began his entrepreneurial journey at a very young age. He is one of the very few people who can proudly claim that they earned a six-figure status at the age of eighteen by trading penny stocks.
Although he gained huge success in the stock market, Kimbrough didn't let it end there, he set out to explore other industries such as e-commerce, software development, credit repair, digital marketing and, of course, real estate. His nomadic journey and curiosity to explore new horizons proved profitable and landed him in the ranks of the world's elite entrepreneurs.
At first glance, it might seem that Kimbrough had a smooth start to his career but when you take a closer look, you will discover that he didn't; he faced a lot of obstacles.
As a young entrepreneur, problems were a daily affair in his life. He faced common entrepreneurial problems such as losses, low sales, and rejection from clients. Kimbrough also experienced more personal problems like the lack of funds to live a decent life and doubt from people close to him.
Apart from the obstacles he faced, Kimbrough denied himself a lot of things. He rarely hung out with friends, had a lot of nights and early mornings, and worked unimaginable hours every day just to make sure he achieved his dream.
The world of business is an unforgivable place, so one might wonder how Kimbrough built a seven-figure empire from such a young age.
Well, the answer lies in his mindset. Kimbrough is a huge advocate of the universal laws of success and his good fortune in life is hugely attributed to these laws. Virtues such as the law of attraction, vibration and association along with self-discipline, dedication, hard work, and patience just to name a few that have helped his career soar.
At the outset, he made sure that he wasn't distracted by the materialistic things that were brought before him. This gave him a great advantage over other entrepreneurs and investors. He focused on his goals, sought out mentors to help guide him and developed his knowledge on areas where he lacked experience.
Building a successful empire will require you to build relationships and network with a lot of people, including fellow entrepreneurs, employees, and clients. Kimbrough has spent an ample amount of time developing solid relationships with his network. In a recent interview with him, he pointed out that relationships are extremely important.
"The goal isn't to have copious amounts of money, it's to have people, money is useless but people are powerful, you should never con your fellow human being because of money." - Kimbrough said.
But building relationships with someone you don't know can be quite gruesome, especially to entrepreneurs who don't have time to leave their offices. At a very young age, Kimbrough understood the importance of building relationships, he knew that the only way to get someone to hear you out was by offering enough value first. This was how he connected with most of his mentors. He also identified the people in his life who were not contributing to his goals and cut them off.
People who are generally unproductive tend to rub off their outlook on life on anyone who decides to befriend them. And Kimbrough made it a staple to avoid them and other idle relationships with friends.
Kimbrough has been into business for over five years now and he's gradually transformed the lives of everyone who's come in contact with him. At the very start of his career, he pledged to himself not to achieve success solely for the purpose of making money, but also for the value he would add to people's lives.
He built his personal brand around this and hasn't faltered since then. And Unlike other individuals in the industry, his business model is genuine and transparent. He won't sell a product to a customer for the reason of making a profit, instead, he makes sure that the product is well crafted to meet the customer's needs, and if it's not, he doesn't force them to purchase.
In Recent Times
Kimbrough's future in the entrepreneurship/investment space seems to be very promising, when asked about how he intends to move forward, he states that he is doubling down on whatever efforts that have worked for him in the past and focusing on what truly matters; transforming the lives of everyone around him.
You can reach out to Kimbrough on his Instagram Page
Contact Name: Vance Fundora
Company Name: Fundora Enterprises
Email: Contact@VanceFundora.com
Website: www.vancefundora.com
SOURCE: Vance Fundora
https://www.accesswire.com/573196/Unraveling-The-Unique-Mindset-That-Made-Justin-Kimbrough-The-Elite-Investor-He-Is-Today

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Why Engage In Social Marketing? 5 Good Reasons For The Doubters.
Why Engage In Social Marketing? 5 Good Reasons For The Doubters Out There.
As pervasive as Facebook and Twitter are, it's not always easy to sell a small business on the idea that social marketing is for them.
Lots of business owners will admit they "need to figure out this Facebook thing" but not all are convinced that it's important. A lot of small business owners see Facebook as a fad and Twitter as the "anti-social" social media.
For those of you firmly in the "it's a fad" camp or even if you're just on the fence and waiting for a shove over, here are a few good reasons to cast aside your doubts and get on this particular bandwagon. In a couple of years, when there's a new fad, we'll talk about it. But for now, this is what we've got and this is where marketing is hot.
1. If It's Good Enough For Frito Lay, BMW And Office Max, It's Good Enough For You.
Just about every major national brand is on Facebook and a great number of them are on Twitter. Pier One? Both. Allstate? Both. Whole Foods? Both. Starbucks? Both. Southwest Airlines? Both.
I can tell you from personal experience that the minute something goes wrong with my internet or cable TV service, I hop onto Twitter and Comcast responds in about 2.6 seconds, follows up with a phone call and gets everything resolved.
Do you want to snub the playground that the coolest kids are hanging out in, or do you want to join the game?
And in the case of social media it's better for you than for the big brands, because unlike expensive TV spots, glossy magazine ads and radio commercials, the cost of entry to social media is zero.
Sure, there's a marketing expense associated with hiring a professional to help you run and manage your campaigns but it's a heck of a lot less than traditional advertising expenses where not only do you have to hire a professional to develop the creative and write the scripts, but you then have to pay for the ad space in whatever limited run you can afford.
So stop staring in at the fence. Social media levels the playing field and lets small businesses get the attention they deserve. With a much more affordable investment you can compete in the same space as the big brands and run campaigns that are just as effective in your market.
2. Your Customers Are There.
I want you to go home tonight and do a little experiment. Watch the TV commercials instead of fast forwarding though them, and count how many of those commercials end by directing you to the company's website vs. the company's Facebook page. I bet you'll find a bunch.
Do you know why? Because those are the smart companies, who know that their customers are logging into Facebook a dozen times a day to see the latest photo of their neighbor's cute cat, the newest Rebecca Black parody posted by their best friend or where their boss last "checked in" on a Saturday afternoon.
Oh, and while they're on Facebook? They can see your latest update along with the cats, videos and even the updates of those big brands we just talked about. Sure you have to entice your customers to "Like" your Facebook page first, but that's a one-time deal, and then you're in front of them and can essentially advertise over and over and over, without asking them to exert one iota of additional effort.
You never have to worry whether they remember your website address because you're going to be putting it in front of them regularly. You don't have to worry if they're fast forwarding through your expensive commercial because you're going to be chatting with them personally. You don't have to wonder if they're getting your emails because you're going to be giving them the coupon codes and announcing the new products right there where they're looking – every single day.
3. You Can Learn Things You Can't With Other Types Of Advertising.
You've got 5,000 people on your email list. Every month you send out a newsletter letting customers know about your new products, telling them about your services or offering them a great deal if they do business with you. If you're using a good email service, you can get a good idea of how many people are opening and reading your emails and what links they're clicking. You may even get some feedback as people unsubscribe letting you know why they unsubscribed.
This is all useful information that you can use to improve your marketing and generate more business. But how many of the people who read your email found it interesting? How many people wished you had given them a little more information? How many people hate your cappuccino scented candles and wish you had vanilla bean instead?
Email marketing, banner ads, print, TV or radio… these are all types of "push" marketing. You pick your message and you send it out to hopefully become implanted in the brains of your customers. But social media is "pull" marketing, where you can go out there as the humble, customer-centric business that you are and find out what your customers want and need.
How? Ask. Put a question in a status update. Run a mini-poll. Hold a contest. Use an app to generate feedback. The more you know about your customers, the better you'll be able to refine your services around what they need. And the more you give them what they need, the more they will do business with you.
Social media gives you the perfect opportunity to find out what your customers are thinking and to use that to your advantage.
4. There's Still Something To Be Said For Loyalty.
In a tough economy, it doesn't take much to get a "brand-loyal" person to switch to the next cheapest thing, especially if the quality is comparable. And face it: plenty of us do things that a lot of other people do. To our eternal disappointment, we are not unique snowflakes. So what's a business to do when, in the customer's eyes, we're all generally interchangeable? We turn to social media.
To a large extent, business is still about personal preference. People do business with people they like. And studies have demonstrated that people make purchasing decisions based less on logic than on emotion. Especially in an age of "information overload", there's only so much that a human brain can process.
In the face of all that information, decision-making tends to shut down and emotion tends to kick in. Does this feel right? Do I like this company? Can I identify with this? Social media gives you the platform to build the relationship, develop the trust and create the emotional bond that will get customers coming back to you again and again instead of turning to a competitor, even one that may be "cheaper".
Whether you like it or not, Facebook and Twitter are there. Businesses are using them every day along with millions of consumers. It's the direction marketing is trending right now and it's an opportunity you'd be wise to meet. Like I said, we might be talking about a different fad or a new opportunity in a couple of years but right now these are the tools available.
You can't avoid social media by shrugging it off or diminish its potential by telling yourself it's for someone else, but not for you. Imagine if businesses had decided that television was just some newfangled rage and refused to take its marketing potential seriously.
And who knows, TV commercials might very well be an archaic curiosity in the future.
The influence and reach of Facebook and Twitter is growing every day. That's where people are comfortable and where people are looking for friendships, relationships, entertainment, recommendations and connections. One friend's "Like" of your product is worth more than a thousand email campaigns. It's a community that your business can be a part of and it's there, waiting for you to join.
Marketing is a moving target and right now social media is hovering near the center. So take advantage of it and capitalize on the opportunity for creativity and engagement that it offers.
You won't be sorry if you give it a shot, but you will regret it if you don't.


text:
Q: Scrapy Playwright Click and loop through Virtual Javascript page I'm working on a scrapy bot that can get specific details for optics.
I need to click on a javascript button to show a virtual page, so that
my scrapy bot can scrape the Optic details.
This is what I need the playwright to click on show in a red rectangle.
Details tab highlighted in red
On certain pages, the first item details page is already showing. Example:
Virtual page details tab open
I probably need to create some sort of If else statement for this?
I would to work on it but I've been stuck on the prior issue.
import scrapy

class UpperSpider(scrapy.Spider):
    name = 'Optic'
    start_urls = [
        'https://www.brownells.com/optics-mounting/scopes/rifle-scopes/strike-eagle-1-6x24mm-rifle-scope-prod135114.aspx']

    def start_requests(self):
        for url in self.start_urls:
            yield scrapy.Request(url=url,
                                    meta={'playwright': True})

    # Issue Here is I'm not sure if this is working I want to click on the Details Tab
    def virtualpage(self, response, page):
        # Virtual Page button
        vpButton = response.css('div[id="wrap"]')
        for page in vpButton:
            page.click('#detailTab')

    # Also some pages for instance https://www.brownells.com/optics-mounting/electronic-sights/red-dot-sights/carbine-optic-aco--prod73112.aspx
    # Already have there virtual pages showing. I think I would need a if .. statement to make sure it didn't close the page.

    def parse(self, response):
        container = response.css('div[id="wrap"]')
        for products in container:
            yield {
                'ProductName': products.css('span[itemprop="name"]::text').get(),
                'Stock': products.css('span[itemprop="availability"]::text').get(),
                'Brand': response.css('#listMain .wrap .mbm a::text').get(),
                'Name': response.css('#listMain span+ span::text').get(),
                'Price': products.css('#priceContainer > span > p > span::text').get(),
                'Image': products.css('#lnkImgSku img::attr(src)').get(),
                'Battery': products.css('section:nth-child(1) p:contains("Battery")::text').get(),
                'Length': products.css('section:nth-child(1) p:contains("Length")::text').get(),
                'Weight': products.css('section:nth-child(1) p:contains("Weight")::text').get(),
                'URL': response.url,
                'Reticle': products.css('#detailWrap p:contains("Reticle")::text').get()
            }

Okay, So I tried to make scrapy crawler work. I'm pretty sure I know the problem is at my start_request for URL in self.start_urls: I believe it's telling the playwright to start at Start_URLS. How do I tell the playwright to also start on each crawled page? So that "Clickallbtns" can run?
import scrapy
from scrapy.linkextractors import LinkExtractor
from scrapy.spiders import CrawlSpider, Rule
from scrapy_playwright.page import PageCoroutine

class UpperSpider(CrawlSpider):
    name = 'Upper'
    allowed_domains = ['brownells.com']
    start_urls = ['https://www.brownells.com/optics-mounting/electronic-sights/red-dot-sights/index.htm']

    le_item_details = LinkExtractor(restrict_css='.listing')

    rule_product_detail = Rule(le_item_details,
                                callback='parse_item',
                                follow=True,
                                )
    rules = (
        rule_product_detail,
    )

    def start_requests(self):
        for url in self.start_urls:
            yield scrapy.Request(url,
                                    meta={'playwright': True,
                                        'playwright_page_coroutines': {
                                            #"waitforload": PageCoroutine("waitforNavagation", 'url'),
                                            "clickallbtns": PageCoroutine("evaluate", 'document.querySelectorAll("#detailTab").forEach(x=>x.click())'),
                                        }
                                        }
                                    )

    def parse_item(self, response):
        container = response.css('div[id="wrap"]')
        for products in container:
            yield {
                'ProductName': products.css('span[itemprop="name"]::text').get(),
                'Stock': products.css('span[itemprop="availability"]::text').get(),
                'Brand': response.css('#listMain .wrap .mbm a::text').get(),
                'Name': response.css('#listMain span+ span::text').get(),
                'Price': products.css('#priceContainer > span > p > span::text').get(),
                'Image': products.css('#lnkImgSku img::attr(src)').get(),
                'Battery': products.css('section:nth-child(1) p:contains("Battery")::text').get(),
                'Length': products.css('section:nth-child(1) p:contains("Length")::text').get(),
                'Weight': products.css('section:nth-child(1) p:contains("Weight")::text').get(),
                'URL': response.url,
                'Reticle': products.css('#detailWrap p:contains("Reticle")::text').get()
                }

A: You need to include the clicking logic in the playwright PageCoroutines dictionary so that the buttons are clicked before the response is returned.
See below sample code. If you are defining the scrapy-playwright values in settings.py then you can comment out the custom_settings variable. Otherwise if you are running it from a script, the below code will be sufficient (using scrapy 2.6.1).
import scrapy
from scrapy_playwright.page import PageCoroutine

class UpperSpider(scrapy.Spider):
    name = 'Optic'
    custom_settings = dict(
        DOWNLOAD_HANDLERS={
            "https": "scrapy_playwright.handler.ScrapyPlaywrightDownloadHandler",
        },
        TWISTED_REACTOR="twisted.internet.asyncioreactor.AsyncioSelectorReactor",
    )

    start_urls = [
        'https://www.brownells.com/optics-mounting/scopes/rifle-scopes/strike-eagle-1-6x24mm-rifle-scope-prod135114.aspx']

    def start_requests(self):
        for url in self.start_urls:
            yield scrapy.Request(url=url,
                        meta={'playwright': True,
                            'playwright_page_coroutines': {
                                "clickallbtns": PageCoroutine("evaluate", 'document.querySelectorAll("#detailTab").forEach(x=>x.click())'),
                                }
                            }
                    )

    def parse(self, response):
        container = response.css('div[id="wrap"]')
        for products in container:
            yield {
                'ProductName': products.css('span[itemprop="name"]::text').get(),
                'Stock': products.css('span[itemprop="availability"]::text').get(),
                'Brand': response.css('#listMain .wrap .mbm a::text').get(),
                'Name': response.css('#listMain span+ span::text').get(),
                'Price': products.css('#priceContainer > span > p > span::text').get(),
                'Image': products.css('#lnkImgSku img::attr(src)').get(),
                'Battery': products.css('section:nth-child(1) p:contains("Battery")::text').get(),
                'Length': products.css('section:nth-child(1) p:contains("Length")::text').get(),
                'Weight': products.css('section:nth-child(1) p:contains("Weight")::text').get(),
                'URL': response.url,
                'Reticle': products.css('#detailWrap p:contains("Reticle")::text').get()
            }

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: A 1960s short science fiction story that ends with the phrase "then the floor drops out" It was a short story about a group of people (scientists?) from Earth on an alien planet. It was from a book of short stories that I read back in the 1960's, or possible the early 1970's.
One member of the group notices herds of small, yellow creatures that feed on the grass of the planet.  The man tries the grass and finds it is hallucinogenic.  He eats it several times, only to find he no longer knows what is real and what isn't.  The story ends with the phrase "then the floor drops out."

A: Sounds like Robert Silverberg's "Sundance" (1969).
One member of the group notices herds of small, yellow creatures that feed on the grass of the planet.

They are spherical, bulky, slow-moving creatures, covered by masses of coarse orange fur.

The man tries the grass and finds it is hallucinogenic.

The Eaters are nibbling the lemon-colored perforated globes, nibbling the stalks as well. They thrust their plants at me. It is a religious ceremony, I see. Take from us, eat with us, join with us, this is the body, this is the blood, take, eat, join. I bend forward and put a lemon-colored globe to my lips. I do not bite; I nibble, as they do, my teeth slicing away the skin of the globe. Juice spurts into my mouth while oxygen drenches my nostrils.

He eats it several times, only to find he no longer knows what is real and what isn't. The story ends with the phrase "then the floor drops out."

It is like falling through many trapdoors, looking for the one room whose floor is not hinged. Everything that has happened on this planet is your therapy, you tell yourself, designed to reconcile an embittered aborigine to the white man's conquest; nothing is really being exterminated here. You reject that and fall through and realize that this must be the therapy of your friends; they carry the weight of accumulated centuries of guilts and have come here to shed that load, and you are here to ease them of their burden, to draw their sins into yourself and give them forgiveness. Again you fall through, and see that the Eaters are mere animals who threaten the ecology and must be removed; the culture you imagined for them is your hallucination, kindled out of old churnings. You try to withdraw your objections to this necessary extermination, but you fall through again and discover that there is no extermination except in your mind, which is troubled and disordered by your obsession with the crime against your ancestors, and you sit up, for you wish to apologize to these friends of yours, these innocent scientists whom you have called murderers. And you fall through.


text:
John Ashbery: "Interesting People of Newfoundland"
John Ashbery was born on this date (July 28) in 1927. In recognition of the occasion, I suggest readers view the above video, which was recorded upon Ashbery's winning the 2008 International Griffin Poetry Prize for his volume, Notes from the Air: Collected Later Poems. The video clip contains an excerpt from the Judges' Citation—including the observation that "Ashbery's is one of the best and most intense poetry productions of the twentieth century. Its famous difficulty does not repel: it invites"—and Ashbery reading one of his poems, "Interesting People of Newfoundland."
The complete Judges' Citation appears as follows: "The pleasure of reading John Ashbery's poetry defies explanation. The YOU the author makes reference to is ME, the transcription being rendered, paradoxically, by a poet who eschews autobiography; thus the I as well as the YOU names the reader. Ashbery's is one of the best and most intense poetry productions of the twentieth century. Its famous difficulty does not repel: it invites. It offers a 'site of survival,' a real mirror for human beings today, providing a place of honour and dignity for the very personal and secret hidden in everyone. His poems reach the private part of each individual. No wonder he has declared in interviews that he's 'like everybody else'—the body breathing inside the poem is as much himself as ourselves. But the person who knows how to observe and therefore how to be unique is John Ashbery, ungraspable, inexplicable and as mysterious as the Delphic oracle. In Notes from the Air, Ashbery has taken the opportunity provided a long-living poet not to collect but to select what in his opinion constitutes the best part of his later production. These 'notes' proceeding from the air or written by it honour the defining economy of poetry, unique lexical territory where one cannot go against the plurality of meaning embodied in words. He grants unity to this volume by sequencing poems deftly linked, forged with the delicateness of time, its overwhelming theme. The vigilant eye cast on this selection is omnipresent, and does not let a single detail go loose. With this personal organization of the most meaningful part of his work, Ashbery offers a new way of reading it, testing language by virtue of the American tongue, making it a true 'remnant of energy' for which only the poet can take responsibility."
As a way to celebrate John Ashbery's birthday, readers will find additional articles concerning him on "One Poet's Notes" in the following posts: "John Ashbery: 'Forties Flick,'" "John Ashbery, Pierre Martory, and Jackson Pollock," "John Ashbery and Fairfield Porter," "John Ashbery: 'Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror,'" "Poet of the Year: John Ashbery," "John Ashbery: 'My Philosophy of Life,'" and "Poetry, Painting, and Economy: Rothko, Warhol, and Ashbery."
Posted by Edward Byrne at Tuesday, July 28, 2009
This reminds me very much of something I would hear from Gurney Norman. Something very down homey about it, and it's not even close to being my home. Geographically that is.
The ease with which his words flow is admirable; something for which I strive always for in my own poetry.
It's not Ashbery's home, either. He's never been to Newfoundland, it was written/collaged from an old children's book. It's interesting to compare this piece to "The Instruction Manual" from JA's first book, SOME TREES.


Friday, May 12, 2017 — 40 years after the world lost the King of Rock & Roll, Los Kingdom is paying tribute to Elvis with their new EP, Devil In Disguise - featuring six completely reimagined renditions of Elvis Presley classics. Devil In Disguise is available at all digital retailers today (Friday, May 12, 2017).
Los Kingdom is comprised of Los Angeles-based singer/songwriters Arielle Verinis and Dave Green. With Arielle's East Coast roots and Dave's British upbringing, the duo adapts historic American songs for today's Alt-Americana music scene. Following their debut album of historic spirituals, The Patron Saint, they found inspiration during a tour stop at Graceland last summer. The duo's latest recordings cover some of Elvis Presley's most popular songs including "Love Me Tender," "Devil In Disguise" and "Can't Help Falling In Love," rearranged with Beatle-like harmonies and Johnny & June style duets that will certainly draw comparisons to contemporaries like The Civil Wars. It was really important for them to keep the arrangements and production stripped down and intimate, which has been captured in these emotional interpretations.
A media tour is planned for late May with stops in Los Angeles, New York City, Memphis, TN and Tupelo, MS, where Los Kingdom will be performing live at Tupelo Elvis Festival on June 1st & 2nd, an annual celebration drawing thousands of Elvis fans from around the world to the birthplace of Elvis.
Los Kingdom (https://www.loskingdom.com) is managed by Brian Klein at iminmusic management (home to the platinum-selling pop sensation Fitz & The Tantrums).
Review copies and Interviews are available upon request.


text:
Recollections of a Labour Pioneer
By Francis William Soutter
Paperback: 9781138328914
SAVE ~$8.00
Available for pre-order. Item will ship after 15th May 2020
$40.00$32.00 SAVE ~$8.00 12 Month Rental - $24.00 6 Month Rental - $20.00
First published in 1923. This autobiographical study by Francis William Soutter, an English Radical activist and an advocate for independent labour representation in Parliament, will be of interest to anyone interested in political and social history. This title examines Soutter's background, his fight for labour representation, and provides an extensive overview of his political activity.
Introduction T. P. O'Connor; Author's Foreword; 1. Parentage and Youth 2. The First Fight for Labour Representation 3. In the Grip of the Law 4. Southwark and its Representation 5. Miss Helen Taylor 6. My Journalistic Adventure: The "Radical" 7. In the Grip of the Law 8. In the Grip of the Law (continued) 9. The Gilded Chamber 10. In the Grip of the Law 11. The First Woman Rate Collector 12. Lord Buckmaster's First Brief 13. In Memoriam
Francis William Soutter (23 April 1844 – 9 May 1932) was an English Radical activist. Soutter was an advocate for independent labour representation in Parliament and campaigned for labour candidates, sometimes in opposition to Liberal candidates. The Free Trade Union employed Soutter as a speaker.
Routledge Library Editions: The Labour Movement
This set of 44 volumes, originally published between 1924 and 1995, amalgamates a wide breadth of research on the Labour Movement, including labour union history, the early stages and development of the Labour Party, and studies on the working classes. This collection of books from some of the leading scholars in the field provides a comprehensive overview of the subject, how it has evolved over time, and will be of particular interest to students of political history.
HIS000000


text:
Journal of International Women's Studies
Home > Journals and Campus Publications > JIWS > Vol. 14 > Iss. 2 (2013)
Introduction: Women and Gender in the Middle East: Recognition, Reflection, and Realignment: A Bridgewater State University Conference
Sarah Wiggins, Bridgewater State UniversityFollow
Jabbar Al-Obaidi, Bridgewater State UniversityFollow
Note on the Author
Sarah Wiggins is an Associate Professor of History at Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts, USA. Her research focuses on gender in nineteenth and early twentieth-century England. She is the former coordinator of the Women's and Gender Studies Program at BSU and now serves as Assistant Director of the BSU Honors Program.
Currently, Professor Jabbar Al-Obaidi serves as the Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at Bridgewater State University, and was the chairperson of the Communication Studies Department 2005-2011. He teaches courses in media studies and communication technologies, media theories, global media, media ethics and law, Middle Eastern media, and documentary film. His research interests include global media, information and security, digital media and new frontiers, media in the Middle East. He is the author of Media Censorship in the Middle East (2007) and Broadcast, Internet, and TV Media in the Arab World and Small Nations (2010).
Wiggins, Sarah and Al-Obaidi, Jabbar (2013). Introduction: Women and Gender in the Middle East: Recognition, Reflection, and Realignment: A Bridgewater State University Conference. Journal of International Women's Studies, 14(2), 1-2.
Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol14/iss2/1
Women's Studies Commons
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Special Issues:
Gender Relations, Equality, and Inclusion in Indonesia: Contradictions, Complexity, and Diversity
Issue #2 (of 2) Women's Movements and the Shape of Feminist Theory and Praxis in Latin America
Women's Movements and the Shape of Feminist Theory and Praxis in Latin America, Part 1
JIWS Special Feature: film interview with Dr. Nawal El-Saadawi
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HomeBlockchainHow smart regulation can improve the future of blockchain
How smart regulation can improve the future of blockchain
With extreme positions on both sides, some would have us believe that decentralized technology and regulation are mutually exclusive. As pervasive as that narrative has become, a more evolved view is that both decentralization and regulation are inevitable, so the best results will flow with regulators and innovators coming together. But what will that cooperation look like?
At the Stellar Development Foundation, our view is that regulators and innovators will (and should) influence each other, and that means both sides should be prepared to compromise. Let's start with some honest self-reflection: There is no inherent quality of blockchain or cryptocurrency that deserves to be wholly unregulated, but on the other hand, neither does the technology deserve to be banned or unfairly regulated simply because it is new or different.
The Financial Action Task Force
Distributed ledger technology is a paradigm shift. Traditional finance is vertical and intermediated, while decentralized finance (DeFi) is flat and peer-to-peer (P2P). The problem we now face is that financial regulations are almost uniformly premised on regulating intermediaries — no intermediary means no jurisdictional hook. It is this lack of clear jurisdiction that makes regulators nervous about a decentralized future. The Financial Action Task Force, or FATF, admitted this fear explicitly in its recent draft guidance on virtual assets and VASPs:
"Moreover, full maturity of these protocols that enable P2P transactions could foreshadow a future without financial intermediaries, potentially challenging the effectiveness of the FATF Recommendations."
However, as we previously noted, when it comes to the FATF draft guidance, fears of lost market share or shrinking regulatory turf do not form a basis for sound policymaking.
Related: FATF draft guidance targets DeFi with compliance
Often, the fears that follow a paradigm shift result in a regulatory crackdown. De-risking is a prime example. As regulators promulgate ever-tougher Anti-Money Laundering regulations, businesses respond by cutting off service to less profitable customers. As a result, regulatory and business interests are served, but more and more individuals, particularly the global poor and businesses that serve them, find themselves locked out of the financial system. The FATF recently acknowledged its role in perpetuating this pernicious problem. But, those forced out of the financial system by regulation are the very people blockchain technology most empowers by reducing their dependence on intermediaries. At the Stellar Development Foundation, we see this firsthand through our work with partners like Leaf Global and Tala, which empower the working poor and migrants fleeing disaster or persecution in their home countries with blockchain-based access to financial services.
Despite such benefits, country-level responses to blockchain have been mixed. Where countries like India, Turkey and Nigeria saw fear, others like Singapore, Switzerland, Bermuda, Ukraine — and now El Salvador — recognized the opportunity, developing new regulatory frameworks embracing blockchain's decentralized nature. And they are reaping the reward. These nations are becoming global blockchain technology hubs.
Innovators and entrepreneurs are drawn to their certain and stable regulatory environments. While calls for a regulatory crackdown on cryptocurrencies grow louder in the United States and European Union, those countries listed above jump further ahead.
The U.S. and other advanced economies, particularly in the West, are rapidly approaching an inflection point. The decision ahead is no longer whether to regulate, but how. Fortunately, policymakers do not have to decide in a vacuum and would do well to learn from the two groups of countries mentioned above — those trying to keep crypto out and those welcoming it in. Without exception, those countries that proactively tailored their regulatory bodies to the technology have been more successful than those that tried to ban it. And yet, while it is not too late for the U.S. to follow the successful examples, it must affirmatively choose to do so.
FinCEN
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's (FinCEN) proposed self-hosted wallet rule provides a useful case study of this choice. From the outset, FinCEN's proposal was hostile toward decentralization and individual empowerment. While it would not expressly ban self-hosted wallets, many believe it would in practice. However, the blockchain community responded in force, delivering a record number of comments in a very short time. One of the themes that emerged from those comments was that FinCEN already had access to most of the information the proposal sought due to the inherent transparency of public blockchains. To its credit, FinCEN appears to have listened and will be seeking further engagement with those who know the technology best.
While we will have to wait to see how the story ends, FinCEN seems to now be engaging in the collaborative approach with industry envisioned — but not always practiced — by the rulemaking process. Compromise isn't easy, but it yields the best results.
Related: Authorities are looking to close the gap on unhosted wallets
The mission of regulators is to safeguard markets, not to ensure they never change. Policymakers should accept that decentralization is a new, different paradigm deserving of its own regulatory approach. The industry's resistance thus far is not so much to the idea of being regulated, but rather to being forced into a regulatory framework that doesn't fit. Despite this, regulators and innovators can find middle ground, but only if both sides keep an open mind.
Similarly, the blockchain community must do a better job of explaining why and how the technology is different, educating policymakers about the actual risks while highlighting real examples of its benefits. Moreover, we should embrace appropriately tailored regulation.
After all, the legitimacy that would come from regulatory acceptance of the technology may very well be the final hurdle on the path to mass adoption.
Seth Hertlein is the head of policy and government relations at the Stellar Development Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports the development and growth of Stellar, an open-source network that connects the world's financial infrastructure. Seth began his career as a securities regulator and most recently served as executive director and assistant general counsel for public policy and regulatory affairs at FS Investments, a leading alternative asset manager. Seth holds an MBA in finance from Wright State University and a JD from The Ohio State University.
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The Patriot™ Chop/Wetout Systems deliver unprecedented precision, power, versatility and rugged construction for long lasting use.
The Patriot™ Chop/Wetout system is a versatile pumping system that addresses many of the problems experienced in composites material application. If your goal is to make quality parts with minimal overspray and greatly reduce waste materials, then the precision of this system is what you need.
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The Ultimate Picnic! What would you bring?
Join and let me know!
Hello Pascale, I recently joined Pinterest and really love your boards. Can I also contribute?
sorry I forgot to mention, my pinterst account id is leonlits. Thank you very much!


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HotSpots H2O: Acute Hunger Could Double Worldwide Due to Covid-19 Crisis, WFP Warns
April 27, 2020 /in HotSpots H2O, WEF/by Kayla Ritter
Drought in Bogor Regency, Indonesia. Photo courtesy of Flickr.
The World Food Programme and other aid organizations warn that the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic reverberations could cause a substantial spike in global food insecurity.
Based on UN estimates, around 820 million people worldwide face some level of food shortage. According to the recently published Global Report on Food Crises 2020, some 135 million people in 55 countries are experiencing acute food insecurity. The WFP estimates that an additional 130 million people could become acutely food insecure due to the Covid-19 pandemic, bringing the global total to 265 million.
Most food insecure people live in countries affected by conflict, climate change, or economic crisis — countries like Yemen, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, and Venezuela. The WFP notes that food insecurity in these places has deteriorated because of the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The agency warns that new areas are also vulnerable to food shortages as economies unravel.
Acute hunger begins at stage three in the five-stage international classification system for hunger. It starts when households have nutrition deficits or they have to sell assets to pay for food.
Many more households are beginning to feel the pinch. The Global Report on Food Crises 2020 says that countries that rely on food imports, oil exports, tourism, or remittances from migrants working abroad will be especially prone to worsening hunger crises. These sectors have been severely constrained by economic shutdowns.
"Covid-19 is potentially catastrophic for millions who are already hanging by a thread. It is a hammer blow for millions more who can only eat if they earn a wage," Arif Husain, the WFP chief economist, said in a statement. "Lockdowns and global economic recession have already decimated their nest eggs. It only takes one more shock – like Covid-19 – to push them over the edge. We must collectively act now to mitigate the impact of this global catastrophe."
Lola Castro, regional director for WFP in southern Africa, voiced similar fears, noting that Covid-19 is likely to exacerbate food insecurity in countries already hit by multi-year drought.
"The lean season has been very, very hard for the last three years with almost no rain and poor harvests which have left 45 million people food insecure with 8.1 million supported by the WFP," Castro told The Guardian.
In a report earlier this month, the WFP noted that the Covid-19 pandemic has not yet had a detrimental impact on the global food supply chain. Basic staples, at this point, remain well supplied and low priced.
Kayla Ritter
Kayla Ritter is a recent graduate of Michigan State University, where she studied International Relations and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. She is currently based in Manton, Michigan. Kayla enjoys running, writing, and traveling. Contact Kayla Ritter
Tags: HotSpots H2O, slider
https://i0.wp.com/www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/3743846699_004a3f4857_h.v1.jpg?fit=1600%2C1067&ssl=1 1067 1600 Kayla Ritter https://www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Circle-of-Blue-Water-Speaks-600x139.png Kayla Ritter2020-04-27 00:01:352020-04-26 23:52:06HotSpots H2O: Acute Hunger Could Double Worldwide Due to Covid-19 Crisis, WFP Warns
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Christmas Fiction: A New Trend?
It seems like there are more fiction authors than ever who are publishing Christmas titles. Many can be categorized as "women's fiction," but there are a number of Christmas crime books as well. Why is it so popular (and lucrative) to write a Christmas novel? Is this a new trend or simply a tradition?
Christmas novels have been around since roughly Charles Dickens' time. Sir Walter Scott wrote the Christmas poem "Christmas in the Olden Time" (1904) and William Sandys' Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern (1833) are examples of Christmas titles that pre-date Dickens, but A Christmas Carol by Dickens was among the first Christmas titles in the form of what we consider a "novel" today. Dickens felt that the best way to educate people about poverty and social injustice was through an emotional, touching Christmas story, rather than through political pamphlets. He wanted people to be kind and generous toward one another, and used "the spirit of Christmas" to make his point (1).
Kids InfoBits New Content Now Available!
As an American, I have zero knowledge of what Boxing Day is in practice. To be honest, I thought it had something to do with the sport of boxing. I know there are soccer matches held on Boxing Day, why couldn't it have had something to do with boxing? But it turns out, no. It's actually to do with packages. Two kinds of packages – and some of the best kinds — gifts and left-overs. Boxing Day is an extension of Christmas. Interestingly, modern Boxing Day is a bit of "Christmas [or Hanukkah, I'd presume] with the family you chose, eating all of the delicious food remaining from family holiday celebrations.
I love this, and believe America must adopt it at once!


The maritime industry has traditionally turned to technology and procedure to enhance safety. This is gradually changing as the value of embracing a broader and more holistic approach to safety is emerging. This implies that safety standards in the future will focus on prevention rather than relying on accidents to drive change.
Ship bridge simulators have been used within the maritime world for decades, both for engineering and training purposes. Their ability to test the consequences of what will happen if a project is implemented is instrumental in reaching and making the right decisions. The value of the decisions lies in screening various solutions and quantifying the risk.