• Brands are willing to take extreme measures to maintain their luxury status
• READ MORE: Hermès is sued over Birkin-buying 'scheme'

Opulence, exclusivity and cost: these qualities give a brand its luxury status and keep it in high demand among consumers.

A number of labels are willing to take extreme measures to maintain these attributes and prevent their products from ending up in the wrong hands.

Hermès, the latest brand facing scrutiny, is currently embroiled in a lawsuit filed by two customers, alleging that the fashion house imposes expensive requirements on clients to qualify for the chance to purchase one of its bags.

Burberry admitted to burning unsold goods, while H&M was intentionally destroying 12 tonnes of unsold clothing each year.

Furthermore, Richemont, the parent company of Cartier and Montblanc, disposed of £400million worth of designer watches to prevent unauthorised resale.

Hermès

Hermès is currently embroiled in a lawsuit filed by two customers who claim that the fashion house enforces costly prerequisites for clients to be eligible to purchase one of its bags.

Hermès is being accused of antitrust and unfair business practices after taking advantage of the 'unique desirability, incredible demand and low supply' of the designer bags.

The lawsuit was filed by the plaintiffs, Tina Cavalleri and Mark Glinoga, in Northern California on Tuesday.

Tina and Mark have alleged that Hermès uses the exclusive bags to boost their sales of other products - claiming that shoppers are told to develop a close relationship with their sales associate and work their way up to procuring the handbag by purchasing other items first.

The duo has accused the design house of having 'a scheme to exploit the market power' of the Birkin, by 'requiring consumers to purchase other, ancillary products from [it] before they will be given an opportunity to purchase.'

The plaintiffs accused Hermès sales associates of having the ability to 'only offer Birkin handbags' to people with the correct purchase history of other products, including shoes, belts, scarves and more.

Tina said in the complaint that she ended up spending tends of thousands of dollars, and when she asked about buying another Birkin in September 2022, the sales associate said that those bags go to 'clients who have been consistent in supporting our business.'

Burberry

Continued below.

Please just pray for me. Sorry for keeping asking

Pray that India's Judicial Court Judges immediately rule to Release India's Opposition politicians from jail because they are being locked up based on spurious charges:

India throws another opposition leader in jail as elections loom

Hi,

Is it written clearly in the bible that fornication is a sin, no doubt about this.
But the question is why is it a sin ?
If two fully grown responsible financially stable adults decide to fornicate what could go wrong ?
They say unwanted pregnancy ? Wel take birth control pill and use condom, unwanted pregnancy won't happen.
They say STD, well get tested first before being intimate.
They say if you are intimate and then decide to breakup it will hurt, well it will hurt those two people only, what if the two people are fully aware of this and still decide to do it, no pain no gain they say ? no risk no pain no reward they say ?

Br,

When we are born into this world, we are born with sin natures, without God, without hope, and destined to spend eternity in hell. God loved us so much, though, that he sent his only begotten Son into the world that whoever believes in him should not perish but should have everlasting life with God. God is not willing that any of us should perish, but that all of us should come to repentance and to faith in his Son, Jesus Christ. When we repent, we turn from our lifestyles of sin, and we turn to follow Jesus Christ with our lives. We die to sin in order that we might live to righteousness – all in the power of the Spirit living within us.

Many people do not yet know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Some people profess to know him, but they never repented of their sins, and thus they were not born again, crucified with Christ to sin, that they might live to him and to righteousness. Others know him, but they are not walking with him in obedience. They have drifted from their pure devotion to their Lord, and they need to be brought back. Any of these may be living to please self, and may be caught up in wasting their lives away on what will never satisfy the deep longings of their souls. So, the encouragement here is to call on Jesus, to listen to him, to turn from your sins, and to walk in victory over sin, living to him and to his righteousness.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Give Ear to Jesus

An Original Work / February 16, 2016
Based off Isaiah 55

Call on your Savior.
Seek the Lord while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way;
Turn to the Lord.
God will have mercy.
He’ll forgive you of your sin.
He will freely pardon you
And give peace within.
Turn from your sin, follow Jesus,
Be cleansed from sin.

Give ear to Jesus.
Come to Him. Your soul will live.
Listen to Him speaking to you:
“Eat what is good.”
If you are thirsty,
Come to Jesus, drink from Him.
Drink His Spirit given to you.
Be born again.
Listen to Him. Do what He says.
Rejoice in Him.

God’s Word, eternal,
Will achieve what He desires.
He is willing none should perish,
Saved by His blood.
Share now the gospel.
Jesus died so we’d go free.
Walk in vict’ry,
Free from your sin, eternally.
Die to sin, and live to Jesus.
In Him believe.

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Now, I am not going to go into the history of all of this, but I am going to share with you the message that I believe the Lord has for us today through this passage of Scripture. For when we believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives that is a marriage commitment to Jesus Christ. He is now our husband, and we are his bride, and he is now the authority over our heads. And now our commitment is to our relationship with him to be faithful, pure, honest, and to live to please him as our Lord and Savior.

But just like a marriage between a husband and a wife, it is a lifetime commitment, and it must be kept alive by the faithfulness of both – until death us do part. Only if we remain faithful to the Lord we will not depart from him, but we will live with him for eternity, so to the point of our death or to the point of his return when he takes his faithful bride home to be with him forever. But this requires that we remain faithful, and that our lives are committed to serving him and to doing whatever he says we are to do.

For we are not saved once and now all our sins are forgiven and now heaven is guaranteed us regardless of how we live. Like a “bank clearing,” our salvation from sin “denotes all activities from the time a commitment is made for a transaction until it is settled.” For we are saved (past), we are being saved (present active), and we will be saved (future) when Jesus Christ returns for his faithful bride and he takes us to be with him for eternity, which is when our salvation will be settled (completed).

[John 8:31-32; John 14:15,21,23-24; John 15:10; Romans 8:3-14,24; Romans 11:17-24; Romans 13:11; 1 Corinthians 1:18; 1 Corinthians 15:2; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 5:3-6; Colossians 1:21-23; 2 Timothy 2:10-13; 2 Peter 1:5-11; Hebrews 3:6,14-15; Hebrews 5:9; 1 Peter 1:5; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 2:15; 1 John 2:24-25; 1 John 3:4-10,24; 1 John 4:19-20; Titus 2:11-14; 1 John 2:24; John 10:27-30, etc.]

Therefore, we must be careful that we do not take God’s word lightly and that we think we know better and that we can chart our own course and go our own way while giving him a “passing hi.” But this is what many are doing these days, not listening to the Lord, not heeding his counsel and his warnings, but walking it alone without the Lord and without his guidance and protection. For they have convinced themselves that no harm will come to them because they made some profession of faith in Jesus Christ one time.

So they have this false sense of security that God will not judge them, and that nothing will come against them, and that they will be safe in the arms of Jesus regardless of how they treat him in return. But the New Testament Scriptures do not teach that. Please read the noted Scriptures above. If we walk according to the flesh, and not according to the Spirit, and if we walk in sin, and not in obedience to our Lord, we don’t even know God, we are not in fellowship with Christ, and heaven is not our eternal destiny. Hell is!

But so many people professing faith in Jesus Christ, at least here in America, are making their own path to follow, and they are not following the ways of the Lord as defined for us in the New Testament Scriptures. They ignore what they do not want to hear and they only listen to what makes them feel good, or what agrees with how they want to live their lives. And so they ignore all the warnings to us in the Scriptures because those make them uncomfortable. So they say, “Tell us pleasant things.”

But sadly, if any of us ignore the commands of the Lord, and we decide to go our own way, and not the way he has for us to go, then we are in serious danger of judgment, especially if we know the ways of the Lord but we decide to go our own way, instead. And I am well aware that this passage in Jeremiah is from the Old Testament, but the New Testament gives us similar warnings with similar or equal consequences. For we cannot ignore God and go our own way and still have eternal life with God (Matthew 7:21-23).

Have Thine Own Way, Lord

Words by Adelaide A. Pollard, 1907
Music by George C. Stebbins, 1907

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine!

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o'er my being absolute sway.
Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me!

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Times really haven’t changed all that much. What they said to the prophets of old they will say to us who speak the truth of the Scriptures to the people today. Especially in today’s world here in America, which has infiltrated the American church, at large, we are going to hear more and more people tell us to stop sharing the stuff that people don’t want to hear and to speak to the people what makes them feel good, whether or not it is the truth.

But so much of what they are sharing are Scriptures being taught outside of their appropriate context, and thus they are being applied in ways which are not biblical. For even all of God’s promises in the New Testament to his people have conditions that must be met for those promises to be fulfilled. So if we tell the people the promises, as though they apply to them, when they do not, we are lying to them, and lies are never kind, but they destroy!

But don’t be surprised if you are teaching what the Scriptures teach, in context, if you have others who profess faith in Jesus Christ oppose you and speak out against you and what you are doing. Don’t be surprised if they try to talk you out of teaching the fulness of the Scriptures and if they try to convince you to dilute and to alter the Scriptures to make them more appealing and appeasing to human flesh and to the ungodly of the world.

For so many people today who profess faith in Jesus Christ are unwilling to hear the instruction of the Lord, for it makes them uncomfortable. And so they will say to those who are teaching the Scriptures, in their fulness, the same kinds of things that were said to the prophets of old. They will want us to stop speaking what is right, and they will want us to speak to them “smooth things” and “illusions” that make them feel good.

They will want us to leave the way of the truth and the way of righteousness and to teach the broad road as the road leading to heaven and to life eternal rather than us teaching the narrow (restricted) road as the only path to life with God. For they are listening to these teachers who are telling them that the truth is “negative” and the lies (half-truths) are “positive,” and that we need to be less negative (or not negative) and more (or only) positive.

But they have “negative” and “positive” flip-flopped. For it is positive to tell people the truth that they need to hear, if spoken in love, and it is negative to dilute the truth to make it less offensive to people and thus to lie to them and to give them a false hope of salvation from sin and of eternal life with God based in a deliberate half-truth (lie). Lies may feel good in this life, but they won’t feel good when Jesus says, “Depart from me, I never knew you!”

So, if we are followers of Jesus Christ, we need to keep speaking the truth of the Scriptures, in context, and not be those who alter the truth to make people feel good. Jesus never altered the truth to make people feel good about themselves. In fact, many who had followed him ceased to follow him for they found his teachings to be too hard to listen to. And most everyone called for his crucifixion, even though he had only done good to them.

So, don’t be surprised if, when you are teaching the truth, that you are not well liked, and if people pull away from you and don’t listen to you and don’t want to hear what you are saying, and if they try to convince you to change what you are teaching to make it more acceptable to human flesh. For that is how they treated the prophets of old, and that is how they treated Jesus, and that is how they treated the NT apostles. But remain faithful to God!

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Jn 17:14; Ac 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

All Through the Night

An Original Work / December 7, 2013
Based off Various Scriptures

Blessed are you when you’re persecuted
Because of your faith in Jesus Christ.
Blessed are you when people insult you,
And falsely say what leads folks to doubt.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is
Great in the heavens. You’re not alone.

When you are persecuted in one place,
Flee to another. God will be there.
You will be hated by all the nations
Because you testify of God’s grace.
Many will seize you and persecute you,
And put to death the foll’wers of Christ.

Yet do not fear what humans may do to you,
For I’m with you all through the night.
I tell you, love your enemies with my love,
And forgive as I forgave you.
Pray for those who do evil against you.
Rest in my love and grace from above.

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Was gonna post a prayer request for a couple of health issues, but then The Lord healed me before I even could. To God be the glory!

I'm so scared bc I'm not doing my fast perfectly. I didn't read much. I prayed but probably not enough. I'm doing all this on very little sleep and drinking energy drinks just so I can get up and get my kids, clean my home,make dinner and go to work.

I called my Dr's office still no luck.

I'm so afraid God won't help me. I feel I'm not someon3 he cares for and I have to twist his arm to care about som3thing major like this.

I'm afraid God will let me d*e

I'm scared b c I can't get God to care anymore than I need him too. I'm terrified b c I'm doing all I know. Idk what else to do besides scream.

I have so much going for me I don't get why I'm dealing with this now.

I wish there were help for me. I feel hopeless

Ron Johnson did Russia's 'bidding' on Biden, ex-Giuliani figure Lev Parnas tells Congress.​

A former associate of ex-Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday accused Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson of “doing the bidding” of Russia in his attempts to find evidence of corruption linked to the Biden family.

Lev Parnas, who worked with Giuliani to dig up damaging information in Ukraine on Joe Biden and his son Hunter in the runup to the 2020 election, mentioned the Oshkosh Republican as he described to the House Oversight Committee efforts from Donald Trump and allies to “manipulate the public” with unvetted information about the Bidens.

Parnas told the panel that Donald Trump, Giuliani and “various cohorts of individuals in government and media positions” lied to the public. He said accusations of Biden’s corruption “were untrue then, and they’re untrue now.”

“Congressman Pete Sessions, then-Congressman Devin Nunes, Sen. Ron Johnson and many others understood they were pushing a false narrative,” Parnas testified. He referenced right-wing media personalities and Fox News for using “this narrative to manipulate the public ahead of the 2020 election.”

"Sen. Ron Johnson was our guy in the Senate," Parnas said later in the hearing. "It was told to me that when we push the information, he's gonna push it in the halls of Congress."

MSN

This has been going on since Republicans took the House. It is looking more and more like a fake probe that's turning into a big joke.

Buy 1 get 2 more free.. food with a 25 year shelf life. Survival food. Is it time to consider this?

Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, represents Americans in religious freedom cases who have been turned away from hospitals because they refuse to take a vaccine for COVID-19.

“It’s disgraceful to put anyone on medical death row simply because they’re not willing to take a very controversial experimental vaccine, which is now proven to be very counterproductive,” Dacus tells “The Daily Signal” podcast in an interview conducted in February at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention here.

Some of the Pacific Justice Institute’s clients need organ transplants, he says, but “a minority of hospitals” are denying them.


“Most say no problem, you don’t have to be vaxxed, but these few out there are saying yes, you have to, and it just so happens we discovered they have contracts with Big Pharma,” Dacus says.

The lawyer argues that “more than 99% of those in the hospital with COVID-19, with serious conditions, are people who were vaxxed. The non-vaxxed are not in the hospitals, and yet [a minority of hospitals] continue to push it.”

“We’re defending people based on their sincerely held religious beliefs and convictions, and—needless to say—we’re making great progress and saving thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of jobs for brothers and sisters in Christ across the nation,” Dacus says. “There has been a more than a 13,000% increase in the number of 12- to 19-year-olds who have myocarditis, a very serious heart inflammation disease.”

Dacus cites a 2022 study from the British Medical Journal finding “net harm” caused by booster shots for young adults.

Why does the public think it's going up? “There is definitely more disorder in cities than there was five years ago," said one expert. “People confuse disorder and crime."

New FBI data confirms previous indications that crime in the U.S. declined significantly in 2023, continuing a post-pandemic trend and belying widespread perceptions that crime is rising.

“It suggests that when we get the final data in October, we will have seen likely the largest one-year decline in murder that has ever been recorded,” said Jeff Asher, a former CIA analyst who now studies crime trends.

I went shopping the other day to look for some plastic tubs and there was no shortage of them , the stores had mountains of them.
And these stores also sold packets of plastic cutlery and even straws.

After purchasing my items I then went to a takeaway shop where the woman placed my food into a plastic container along with a napkin and wooden or bamboo fork.
I said I don't like eating with these wooden forks would you have a plastic one ? And she said i'm sorry but we are not allowed to give you any plastic cutlery , it's a policy the Government has put in place , and if we are caught giving our customers plastic cutlery we will receive a huge fine.

Now you might be asking yourself why did this guy place this thread in the conspiracy forum , well hello!!

So I'm going to fast. My medicaid lapsed to I can't be seen by my GP. I worked last night and been up since 3a, had to drink energy drinks to stay awake and take kids to school.

I thought I'd be able to get a little sleep but my son has a parent training meeting for his autism at 11:30a so I have to stay awake for that.

I don't know if I'll be able to get any sleep but my mental health is dipping and I need God to help and answer me. Please pray he will take the anxiety and su*** thoughts away bc I can't make it any other way.

Also what should I do during a fast it's been a while.

Hi everyone, I would greatly appreciate your prayers. For several months now I have been having a problem with my body involuntarily jerking, sometimes it happens in my face and other times it is in my body, this happens several times a day. Also several times a day my tongue starts quivering. This does stop but then later it comes back. If you wouldn't mind pray that this all stops. Thank you!

I’m really struggling right now, I’ve not been preaching very long and it seems like every time I do it’s just a struggle to get the words that I want to speak out. I continuously fumble and don’t ever speak very long as I just don’t know how to. I really don’t know how much longer I can do this

I try to be decent with everyone online and off. I’ve been getting hints that there is gossip going about behind the scenes through PM’s. Seriously, why do people do such things especially when they know nothing about fellow posters? I remember once being contacted asking if I was having an affair with a fellow poster that made it his mission to make me miserable on the board. What makes people do these things? Especially on the internet? It seems really pathological to me but I have always ignored it even when I knew they were involved. I’m just curious if anyone else has experienced this and have any thoughts as to why people do such strange things. This is the first time I have asked for thoughts on this topic but seeing as it seems to go through cycles, I wanted hear others opinions or experiences. I just find it so odd.

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Video is AOC's questioning and not knowing what that RICO is a crime

RICO is codified under 18 U.S.C. ch. 96 as 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961–1968.

It is a crime and the bartender has no clue

Patricia Silva was barred from the gym in Alaska after she detailed an incident online - where she said she saw a transgender woman in her locker room.
Following backlash against the ban, the company said although some members may feel uncomfortable sharing facilities, 'this discomfort is not a reason to deny access to the transgender member.'
I don't think biological men should be allowed in women's locker rooms. If a school or a gym wants to build special facilities for trans I would be fine with that.

House Republicans James Comer and Jim Jordan, who are leading an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, refused to second a motion made by Representative Jared Moskowitz, a Florida Democrat, to impeach the president.


Unless the GOP does not actually have the evidence to impeach Mr Biden why wait?

This thread here (below) (about piracy) got me started thinking about this?


What do you think God's views are on artistic or intellectual property?

God Bless.