Che grew up in a well off Argentinian family that was well read and left wing. His parents gave him a wide education that extended from the centre left to far left, celebrating poetry of Walt Whitman, Robert Frost and Pablo Neruda. It was pitiless and unhinged. He went to medical school, toured South America making contact with other extreme leftists and came into contact with the Castro brothers. The outrage Guevara felt at the conditions of some workers in South America is understandable .. Banana republics were appalling. Miners often did not prosper. poverty was rife. Che heard the grumblings of the poor and disenfranchised and applied his full intelligence to come up with a solution he applied in Cuba and later .. killing innocent people to scare others. Applying injustice as a weapon against those who disagreed with him. Che decided to win, he must taunt the corpse of an opponent.
He was particularly uncompromising and blood thirty and was placed in charge of a political prison by Fidel Castro. As second in charge in Cuba, Che shot defectors and labelled deserters as traitors, whom he would then track down and despatch. When he found a poor uneducated person, Che would deluge them with leftist literature. Those surrounding Che felt he was smart. And uncompromising. Castro booted him from Cuba and gave him assignments in foreign lands stirring up trouble. He got to address the UN where he was received like a rock star. He aligned himself with the Soviet Union, but felt they were too soft. From Algeria, the Congo and Bolivia, Che pursued armed rebellion, and to this day, where he went, there is little prosperity, but substantial poverty.
It was in Bolivia that Che was finally cornered, with Bolivia having aid of the CIA. Che was captured and killed. Unlike his birth day, that was a liberating day. On this day in 1940, Germany occupied Paris. Not even the birth of Alan Carr in 1976 makes the day cheerful. Worth remembering is that Benedict Arnold died on this day in 1801. Arnold had intended to betray the united states by surrendering West Point. He then fought as a general for the British. It is telling that his last days were as a free merchant. Unlike leftism, the free peoples of the United States offered prosperity, not perpetual enmity.
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For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to remedy my distress. I leave it up to him if he chooses to address the issue. Regardless of your opinion of conservative government, the issue is pressing. Please sign my petition at https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/tony-abbott-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball
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Happy birthday and many happy returns to those born on this day, across the years, along with
- 1444 – Nilakantha Somayaji, Indian astronomer and mathematician (d. 1544)
- 1479 – Giglio Gregorio Giraldi, Italian poet and scholar (d. 1552)
- 1691 – Jan Francisci, Slovak organist and composer (d. 1758)
- 1780 – Henry Salt, English artist, diplomat, and Egyptologist (d. 1827)
- 1801 – Heber C. Kimball, American religious leader (d. 1868)
- 1811 – Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author and activist (d. 1896)
- 1840 – William F. Nast, American attaché, railroad executive and inventor, and father of Condé Nast (d. 1893)
- 1856 – Andrey Markov, Russian mathematician (d. 1922)
- 1864 – Alois Alzheimer, German psychiatrist and neuropathologist (d. 1915)
- 1893 – Siggie Nordstrom, American singer and actress (Nordstrom Sisters) (d. 1980)
- 1909 – Burl Ives, American actor and singer (d. 1995)
- 1917 – Lise Nørgaard, Danish journalist and author
- 1919 – Sam Wanamaker, American actor and director (d. 1993)
- 1926 – Hermann Kant, German author
- 1928 – Che Guevara, Argentinian-Cuban physician, author, and guerrilla leader (d. 1967)
- 1936 – Renaldo Benson, American singer-songwriter (The Four Tops) (d. 2005)
- 1939 – James Wright, British academic
- 1942 – Andy Irvine, English-Irish singer-songwriter and bouzouki player (Planxty, Sweeney's Men, and Patrick Street)
- 1946 – Donald Trump, American businessman, founded the Trump Entertainment Resorts
- 1947 – Paul Rudolph, Canadian singer, guitarist, bassist and cyclist (Pink Fairies and Hawkwind)
- 1949 – Alan White, English drummer (Yes, Plastic Ono Band, White, and Circa)
- 1950 – Rowan Williams, Welsh archbishop
- 1958 – Pamela Geller, American blogger and author
- 1961 – Boy George, English singer-songwriter and producer (Culture Club, Bow Wow Wow, and Jesus Loves You)
- 1969 – Steffi Graf, German tennis player
- 1976 – Alan Carr, English comedian and actor
- 1984 – Siobhán Donaghy, English singer-songwriter (Sugababes)
- 1993 – Svetlana Issakova, Estonian figure skater
Matchs
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A great line-up for the show tomorrow.
Editorial: About Tanya Plibersek and “Nigel No-friends"…
My guest: Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Iraq. Is Obama losing it?
The panel: former Treasurer Peter Costello and former NSW Treasurer Michael Costa on the AWU scandal and more.
NewsWatch: Rowan Dean. Examining the media narrative of a stumble-bum PM.
On Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm.
The videos of the shows appear here.
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Hoax alert: The NSW Police Force has received numerous enquiries on social media about this letter.
While police promote safety awareness messages on a regular basis, this letter is a hoax that is designed to create unnecessary fear in our community.
The incidents outlined are, to the best knowledge of NSW Police, entirely fictitious. There is no known gang in NSW called the 'Bloods' that usesthis method of initiation. This particular hoax has been circulating the internet for 20 years and adapted to different locations in the world.
The NSW Police Force actively uses social media, however, any serious crime is the subject of mainstream media release as well as social media posting. We urge social media users not to share the hoax letter.
For more information about this hoax, please see:http://www.snopes.com/
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Allyson Christy
Timing is always so guided under a precision-based, politicised agenda. Timing, within any political sphere, is everything, after all, and of the essence to any agenda; needed or otherwise.
Amid rising scandals, it seems fitting that the White House now formally acknowledges a 'red line' was crossed specific to Syria.
"Congress has been notified that the United States will acknowledge that Syria has used chemical weapons on a small scale multiple times and a "red line" has been crossed, according to congressional sources.
The intelligence community has concluded that sarin gas was used and 100-150 people have died, a senior intelligence official said Thursday.
The Syrian government and rebels have accused each other of using chemical weapons on the battlefield, prompting the United Nations to call for the deployment of an international team of investigators. Both sides have denied using chemical weapons.
The Syrian government has been battling a rebellion for more than two years." - CNN Breaking News
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The NSA Director walks into a bar.
Bartender: I've got a new joke for you.
NSA Director: Heard it.
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Hamas continues its efforts to teach children to support terrorism against Israel. This summer, Hamas will run summer camps to spread its extremist ideology among Gaza's youth:http://www.idfblog.com/
Share the truth about Hamas' idea of education.
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Allyson Christy via Martin Sherman
"No matter how often the doctrine of political appeasement and territorial concession failed to win approval at the ballot box, it nevertheless continued to dominate the policy-making decisions of governments – even of those elected in express opposition to it.
Astonishingly, time and time again, the prescriptions of the vanquished became the policy of the victors.
It is thus an accumulated consequence of individual decisions and actions driven by the short-term pursuit of prestige and profit of a group of empowered individuals, and which trump considerations of the long-term interest of the wider collective.
It will not be remedied by electing different politicians...but by promoting, emplacing and empowering new competing civil society elites who can challenge the incumbents and displace them from their positions of unelected influence....
The first step in advancing this crucial revolution is to engender a total revaluation of the strategy of giving by right-wing benefactors.
For one cannot win a war without a war chest..." - Martin Sherman
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A rare hunk of poop from a Tyrannosaurus rex will soon be making its way to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C.http://oak.ctx.ly/r/68xq
The fossil was deposited about 65 million years ago in southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada, and will be appearing in the "Putting Dinosaurs in Their Place" exhibit, opening next year.
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What's a derecho? Meaning "straight" in Spanish a derecho is an impressively far-reaching and long-lived windstorm that is quite rare and difficult to predict, and as its name suggests, this type of storm packs powerful straight-line winds, in contrast to the spinning winds of a tornado.http://oak.ctx.ly/r/68xm
Here, an ominous line of clouds portends the approaching derecho in La Porte, Indiana.
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Taco Pie!! >>> Food Fanatics <<<
Recipe: http://
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‘Founding Founders’? White House creates gender neutral birth of a nation ==>http://twitchy.com/2013/
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This place has become a regular part of my photographic life, teaching others the how to's with the Aperture Academy while avoiding being overtaken by the ocean waves. I always get one shot in for myself. This is my shot from last Saturday. — at Fort Cronkhite.
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" The world knew about the Holocaust and did nothing, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said from the Auschwitz death camp Thursday, vowing that Israel would take matters into its own hands to prevent a second Holocaust.
“The Allied leaders knew about the Holocaust as it was happening. They understood perfectly what was taking place in the death camps. They were asked to act, they could have acted, and they did not,” said Netanyahu. “For us Jews, the lesson is clear. We must not stand idle before the threats of annihilation. We must not bury our heads in the sand, or let others do our work. From here, the place that provides testimony for the will to eradicate us, I, the prime minister of Israel, the Jewish state, tell all the nations of the world: The State of Israel will do whatever is necessary to prevent a second Holocaust.” "
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Flashback Friday #TobyMaguire at #FoxStudios #ff#GreatGatsby #KitchenNinja
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“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”” Luke 11:13 NIV
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- 1158 – Munich is founded by Henry the Lion on the banks of the river Isar.
- 1216 – First Barons' War: Prince Louis of France captures the city of Winchester and soon conquers over half of the Kingdom of England.
- 1276 – While taking exile in Fuzhou in southern China, away from the advancing Mongol invaders, the remnants of the Song Dynasty court hold the coronation ceremony for the young prince Zhao Shi, making him Emperor Duanzong of Song.
- 1285 – Second Mongol invasion of Vietnam: Forces led by Prince Trần Quang Khải of the Trần Dynasty destroy most of the invading Mongol naval fleet in a battle at Chuong Duong.
- 1287 – Kublai Khan defeats the force of Nayan and other traditionalist Borjigin princes in East Mongolia and Manchuria.
- 1381 – Richard II of England meets leaders of Peasants' Revolt on Blackheath. The Tower of London is stormed by rebels who enter without resistance.
- 1789 – Mutiny on the Bounty: HMS Bounty mutiny survivors including Captain William Bligh and 18 others reach Timor after a nearly 7,400 km (4,600 mi) journey in an open boat.
- 1789 – Whiskey distilled from maize is first produced by American clergyman the Rev Elijah Craig. It is named Bourbon because Rev Craig lived in Bourbon County, Kentucky.
- 1807 – Emperor Napoleon's French Grande Armée defeats the Russian Army at the Battle of Friedland in Poland (modern Russian Kaliningrad Oblast) ending the War of the Fourth Coalition.
- 1822 – Charles Babbage proposes a difference engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society entitled "Note on the application of machinery to the computation of astronomical and mathematical tables".
- 1900 – Hawaii becomes a United States territory.
- 1937 – U.S. House of Representatives passes the Marihuana Tax Act.
- 1940 – World War II: Paris falls under German occupation, and Allied forces retreat.
- 1940 – A group of 728 Polish political prisoners from Tarnów become the first residents of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
- 1949 – Albert II, a rhesus monkey, rides a V2 rocket to an altitude of 134 km (83 mi), thereby becoming the first monkey in space.
- 1951 – UNIVAC I is dedicated by the U.S. Census Bureau.
- 1954 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill into law that places the words "under God" into the United States Pledge of Allegiance.
- 1959 – Disneyland Monorail System, the first daily operating monorail system in the Western Hemisphere, opens to the public in Anaheim, California.
- 1985 – TWA Flight 847 is hijacked by Lebanese Islamist organization Hezbollah shortly after take-off from Athens, Greece.
- 2002 – Near-Earth asteroid 2002 MN misses the Earth by 75,000 miles (121,000 km), about one-third of the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
Despatches
- 767 – Abū Ḥanīfa, Iraqi scholar (b. 699)
- 1497 – Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandia, Italian son of Pope Alexander VI (b. 1474)
- 1801 – Benedict Arnold, American general (b. 1741)
- 1928 – Emmeline Pankhurst, English activist (b. 1857)
- 1936 – G. K. Chesterton, English author, poet, and playwright (b. 1874)
- 1994 – Henry Mancini, American composer and conductor (b. 1924)
ABBOTT IN AMERICA
Tim Blair – Saturday, June 14, 2014 (3:57pm)
Leftoids desperately wished for an Obama smackdown on Tony Abbott. Instead, this happened:
Continuing what has been a remarkably successful US tour, the PM next visited the Lone Star state:
Continuing what has been a remarkably successful US tour, the PM next visited the Lone Star state:
Mr Abbott declared he wanted Australia to be “an affordable energy superpower” like Texas, the “world energy capital”.
He was greeted with applause when he announced a fully fledged consulate-general would be placed in Houston to promote trade and investment.
Excellent.
FLYING PIE
Tim Blair – Saturday, June 14, 2014 (2:57pm)
Vanessa Badham’s recipe for bacon and egg pie:
Preheat oven to 200. Line flan plan with a sheet of puff pastry. Lay in 200g of bacon you have fried in a pan. Season. Sprinkle with a handful of chopped fresh parsley and chives. Now, carefully add five eggs, yolks intact. Season. Add five more eggs, yolks intact. Sprinkle another handful of chives and parsley across what’s in the pan. Seal lid with sheet of puff pastry. Brush lid with one beaten raw egg. Punctuate lid with pretty patterns made by fork. Reduce oven heat to 180. Put pie in. Cool for 20 mins or until fabulous golden brown.
And the crucial final step: throw it at a wall.
The Bolt Report tomorrow
Andrew Bolt June 14 2014 (12:04pm)
A great line-up for the show tomorrow.
Editorial: About Tanya Plibersek and “Nigel No-friends"…
My guest: Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Iraq. Is Obama losing it?
The panel: former Treasurer Peter Costello and former NSW Treasurer Michael Costa on the AWU scandal and more.
NewsWatch: Rowan Dean. Examining the media narrative of a stumble-bum PM.
On Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm.
The videos of the shows appear here.
Ignore the ABC conspiracy theory on the AWU scandal
Andrew Bolt June 14 2014 (11:20am)
Hedley Thomas on ABC attempts to discredit the royal commission now investigating the AWU slush fund - and the activities of Julia Gillard:
===THERE are two theatres now busily engaged in starkly different productions about the Australian Workers Union slush fund scandal…Gillard says she did not receive that cash and did nothing wrong.
The big theatre is the national royal commission into union corruption. It has hard evidence, forensic examinations, legal rules, witnesses and documents in its lead-up to eventual findings on a fraud that has followed Julia Gillard for 22 years.
The noisier, smaller theatre revolves around former union boss Bruce Wilson. It is rich with vaudeville and make-believe, heavily reliant on helpful reviews from friendly sections of the media, junk on Twitter, Mark Latham and other politically partisan silliness. It is setting up a conspiracy theory devoid of substance and evidence…
The even more important outcome from this purpose of the little theatre is the hosing-down of troubling allegations at the royal commission from credible witnesses — such as retired builder Athol James and former AWU archivist Wayne Hem — about wads of cash handed over by Wilson for his then girlfriend, Gillard…
The sideshow relies on one slice of Wilson’s witness statement — his evidence-free claims that a retired lawyer, Harry Nowicki, had offered him large sums of money to confess all about the AWU slush fund, and even to make up evidence detrimental to Gillard. The problem with Wilson’s claims, even if true (Nowicki, a former Builders Labourers Federation lawyer who has been researching the AWU slush fund for two years, says they are the “lies of a con man’’ facing criminal charges), is they have zero connection to the actual slush fund fraud. Wilson’s contact with Nowicki over the past two years is not remotely connected by time, events or circumstances to what happened in the slush fund from 1992-95, when it was siphoning hundreds of thousands of dollars from building company, Thiess....
This sideshow is designed to undermine former High Court judge Dyson Heydon’s royal commission so that any findings that may be adverse to Wilson — or to Gillard, due to her role as the solicitor who helped set up his slush fund — are less damaging in the court of public opinion…
When the Nowicki portion of Wilson’s witness statement was leaked to Melbourne-based ABC radio broadcaster Jon Faine, a former lawyer, and read aloud on Tuesday morning as the royal commission was set to restart its public hearings, ... Faine said: “It’s an explosive counter-narrative. The claim is made by Wilson that he was told that anonymous benefactors were financially backing and bankrolling the campaign in pursuit of Gillard.’’
Faine stressed: “This claim goes to the motivation and the credibility of many of the witnesses lined up for this week at the royal commission hearings in Sydney.
“If true, then Wilson’s claims destroy the credibility of many of the witnesses that this royal commission seeks to rely upon.”
How? People such as the 84-year-old James and Hem — two witnesses who gave evidence on Wednesday about wads of cash handed to Gillard and deposited into her bank account on Wilson’s instruction — have never met Nowicki; they had “no contact with him whatsoever’’…
Heydon ruled late on Thursday: “As the evidence stands then, there is no witness who has accepted that anything he or she was going to say was the result of any overture from Mr Nowicki...”
How DiCaprio fights global warming
Andrew Bolt June 14 2014 (10:23am)
The talk:
===The walk:
HOLLYWOOD star Leo DiCaprio has hired billionaire Man City owner Sheikh Mansour’s mega yacht so he and 21 pals can enjoy the World Cup in style. The actor and his friends jetted into Rio de Janeiro yesterday/on Wednesday, a day after the sheikh’s POUNDS 400 million super yacht Topaz docked in the city.
Which of the two visits was the embarrassing one?
Andrew Bolt June 14 2014 (10:04am)
Labor foreign affairs spokesman Tanya Plibersek last week:
Prime Minister Julia Gillard visits the White House:
===Australians have to worry that he’ll be embarrassing us on the world stage.Hmm. Spot the embarrassment.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard visits the White House:
The pair met at the White House for 40 minutes before a visit to nearby Wakefield High School.Prime Minister Tony Abbott visits the White House:
Not only did the US President extend the planned one hour meeting with the PM, he had brought in six of his most senior Cabinet members and several advisors [including] his vice president Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry.(Thanks to reader Peter H.)
How does Fox Sports justify this anti-Abbott propaganda?
Andrew Bolt June 14 2014 (8:45am)
AAP in March sends a picture with this caption:
It’s not really wrong, of course, given his full name:
If it can’t justify these claims, could it explain why this kind of reporting is tolerated?
(Thanks to reader the Village Idiot.)
===SOCCEROOS FRIENDLY PRESSER LONDONThe ABC in May sends this report:
New Socceroos captain Mike Jedinak (left) and coach Ange Postecoglou speak during a press conference at The Den in London, Tuesday, March 4, 2014. The Socceroos verse Ecuador in a World Cup friendly in London on Wednesday. (AAP Image/Julian Drape) NO ARCHIVING
Byline JULIAN DRAPE
Credit AAPIMAGE
Source AAP
In this Update: Australians dominate stage 11 of the Giro D’Italia; midfielder Mike Jedinak will captain the Socceroos at the World Cup in Brazil.
It’s not really wrong, of course, given his full name:
Mile Jedinak has been Australia’s standout performer in the past year… Michael John Jedinak is excellent captaincy material and just could be the Socceroos skipper for many years to come.But now Fox Sports jeers - and even invents “upset Canadians” and earlier “gaffes”:
PRIME Minister Tony Abbott, draped in a Socceroos scarf, has called the team’s captain Mile Jedinak “Mike” in a message of support posted on his YouTube channel…Could Fox Sports name a single Canadian “upset” by Abbott’s “minor slip of the tongue”? Could it explain why Abbott’s highly successful overseas trip actually amounts to a “tough couple of weeks”? Could it justify its claim that Abbott has “often been prone to gaffes”?
It has been a tough couple of weeks for Mr Abbott, who upset Canadians with a minor slip of the tongue when he referred to the country as Canadia.
He has often been prone to gaffes, including a recent one where he caught winking mid interview to an ABC radio host when a sex worker called in to talk to him.
If it can’t justify these claims, could it explain why this kind of reporting is tolerated?
(Thanks to reader the Village Idiot.)
Obama rules out troops for Iraq hours after hinting he wouldn’t. Abbott left hanging
Andrew Bolt June 14 2014 (8:11am)
Two days ago, in a press conference with Tony Abbott, President Barack Obama hinted he could - reluctantly - even send troops back into Iraq:
===So my team is working around the clock to identify how we can provide the most effective assistance to them. I don’t rule out anything, because we do have a stake in making sure that these jihadists are not getting a permanent foothold in either Iraq or Syria, for that matter.I have no doubt that this is why Abbott, too, then refused to rule out sending troops:
But the basic principle obviously is that we, like all nations, are prepared to take military action whenever our national security is threatened. Where the issues have to do with the broader international order—humanitarian concerns, concerns around rights to navigation, concerns around our ability to deal with instability or fragile states or failed states, and the consequences for populations there and refugee flows—those sorts of international issues, wherever we can, our preference should be to partner with other countries....
And that’s why—well, that’s part of where Australia is so important to us. There are a handful of countries in the world that we always know we can count on, not just because they share our values, but we know we can count on them because they’ve got real capacity. Australia is one of those countries… And Aussies know how to fight, and I like having them in a foxhole if we’re in trouble. So I can’t think of a better partner.
Asked if he would rule out military intervention, Mr Abbott replied: “Look, I don’t. I hope it doesn’t come to that of course, but this is a serious situation and it does need to be dealt with.But Obama backtracks hours later - showing all the dithering leadership that has cost the US so badly:
“America and its allies, including Australia, liberated Iraq from Saddam Hussein some years ago and I don’t think any of us liberated Iraq from Saddam to see Iraq fall into people who are like the Taliban or worse, to fall into their hands...’’
No troops to Iraq, but other options are being considered.George W Bush refuses to criticise:
That was President Barack Obama’s message Friday… In a statement delivered from the White House South Lawn, Obama said the United States “will not be sending U.S. troops back into combat in Iraq,” but that he would be reviewing a range of other options in coming days.
Former President George W. Bush has been reluctant to weigh in on the latest developments in the region where he spent years deploying military assets that Obama would later pull back.
A request for comment from the former president was met with a non-response from his communications director Freddy Ford, who told MailOnline: ‘I don’t have a comment for you. When he left office President Bush decided not to criticize his successor.’
The madness of the Abbott haters
Andrew Bolt June 14 2014 (7:24am)
Labor and its media allies have embarrassed themselves over Tony Abbott’s trip overseas.
Simon Benson:
Gerard Henderson:
===Simon Benson:
THE political pre-occupation with Tony Abbott’s anticipated failure at everything is getting ridiculous…It wasn’t just Labor, though, who made these absurd claims. Here is Laurie Oakes last week:
Even before the Prime Minister had left the shores of Normandy last week, where he marked the commemoration of the D-Day landings, Labor had already labelled his onward trip to the US as a failure and an embarrassment… The chief protagonist has been Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek. But even Labor leader Bill Shorten, who should know better, has been at it.
Describing the PM’s meeting with President Obama (a Labor-aligned Democrat) as part of an overseas “sabbatical” and an embarrassing failure, before it had even happened, did not go unnoticed by US officials who get briefed by the embassy in Canberra. The greater embarrassment, of course, was the premise on which Labor’s attacks this week were based…
Plibersek labelled Abbott an embarrassment because he had apparently ditched a meeting with IMF boss Christine Lagarde and World Bank president Jim Yong Kim.
“Australians have to worry that he’ll be embarrassing us on the world stage,” Plibersek said this week.
Well, she was wrong. In fact, Abbott did meet with Lagarde — last night at an official reception at the Australian Ambassador’s residence in Washington DC.
Abbott was also toweled up for apparently cancelled meetings with the chair of the US Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. Wrong again. He will see them today. The only thing Plibersek got right was her praise of Abbott’s decision to again extend Kim Beazley’s term as Australian Ambassador to the United States.
THERE was some consternation among bureaucrats in Canberra this week when word spread that Tony Abbott had decided against meeting three of the most important economic policy figures in Washington during his forthcoming visit.Another dud anti-Abbott prediction from Oakes two weeks ago:
Arrangements had been made for the Prime Minister to meet Jack Lew, the US Treasury Secretary. He was also scheduled to hold talks with Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, and World Bank president Jim Yong Kim.
The meetings were locked into the diaries of those key officials. Then the arrangements were cast into doubt by Abbott’s office.
President Obama described climate change as “a creeping national security crisis”.UPDATE
Politics watchers in Washington were already predicting climate change would be “the elephant in the room” when the two leaders meet in the Oval Office…
But with Abbott there is little common ground and considerable potential for embarrassment.
Even if Abbott and Obama tiptoe around the issue, journalists might not co-operate at the customary joint media conference.
Gerard Henderson:
AS the saying goes, we’ve seen the movie before. It’s called"Coalition PM Travels Overseas and Embarrasses Australians”. The original starred John Howard. Remake, Tony Abbott.
It all started on Monday when online news reported that, during an official visit to Ottawa, the Prime Minister said “Canadia, Canada, probably has more involvement in the affairs of Europe than Australia often has"…
It came as no surprise when Labor frontbencher David Feeney threw the switch to ridicule with a tweet laughing at Abbott…
Last Monday, the Nine Network’s evening news bulletin gave prominence to Abbott’s slip of the tongue. Journalist Lane Calcutt reported that “he has trouble saying” Canada.
Some serious commentators also joined in. Erik Jensen commented: “What can you expect from the Australian Prime Minister?” Jensen is editor of the super-boring The Saturday Paper.
...on ABC radio, Sydney morning presenter Linda Mottram began an interview on Tuesday with journalist Mark Riley as follows: “You can feel the pain, can’t you? ‘Canadia’ — I mean, it’s just a stumble, isn’t it? One of those things when you’re jet-lagged?”
Well, yes. Yet Mottram consciously decided to start an interview with this instantly corrected error. The true story of the Prime Minister’s Canada visit is that it appears to have been a success…
The Prime Minister had not even commenced his official visit to the US before it was dismissed by Fairfax Media (apart from The Australian Financial Review). Last Saturday, the key story on page one of The Age was titled “US ties at risk over climate"… To depict the relationship as hinging on future approaches to climate change is tosh.
ABC latest: Abbott driving women to prostitution
Andrew Bolt June 13 2014 (9:08pm)
Gerard Henderson notes the ABC’s curious willingness to believe Tony Abbott is driving women to prostitution:
Let’s go to the transcript:
Linda Mottram, should know this. Yet, in her role as presenter, she went along with Jo’s suggestion that the Abbott government is “forcing young kids into prostitution” and that this is “what the Abbott government is doing”.
And the same Nice Mr Scott wonders why the ABC is criticised for the hostility to the Coalition evident in such programs as Mornings with Linda Mottram.
===Let’s go to the transcript:
Linda Mottram [ABC radio 702]: Let’s chat to Jo who’s on the line. You own a lingerie store, Jo. Good morning.Goodness, gracious – as the saying goes. The fact is that, in its nine months in office, the Abbott government has not increased university fees or reduced benefits payable to tertiary students. Moreover, there had been no increase in unemployment.
Jo : Hi Linda. Look I was waiting on this because I really felt compelled to tell you of my experience that I’ve had through the week and it’s becoming more common now what’s happening. I own a lingerie store and I had a young girl come in through the week, sheepishly walking around the store. She would be no more than twenty, twenty one. Anyway we got to the end of the conversation and I had to serve her and I served her some nice lingerie but it couldn’t be black because she’s not allowed to wear black. And I said, “Oh, he doesn’t like black?” and she said “No, I’m an escort”.
And she was explaining to me how hard it is to get a job number one, how difficult it is to go to uni and find that she needs money…
But my concern is – I’m a mum and I was talking to my other co-workers as well. Our daughters, are they being pushed into, not my daughter, well hopefully
not my daughter. And are they being pushed into with what the new government’s actually forcing these young kids to do. Into prostitution.
Linda Mottram : Interesting, interesting point. And you say this isn’t the only case you’ve seen?
Jo : Not at all and its growing. Her friends are all doing it.
Linda Mottram : Goodness
Jo: She has to survive.
Linda Mottram : Yeah, yeah, yeah, you need money…
Jo : Yeah but my concern is, you know, what the Abbott government is doing. And, you know, we do have a lot of kids come in say, “Do you have any jobs? And I’m finding more kids coming in asking if we have any employment in the store. And that’s on the increase as well.
Linda Mottram : Yeah well, thanks for the insight Jo – much appreciated.
Linda Mottram, should know this. Yet, in her role as presenter, she went along with Jo’s suggestion that the Abbott government is “forcing young kids into prostitution” and that this is “what the Abbott government is doing”.
And the same Nice Mr Scott wonders why the ABC is criticised for the hostility to the Coalition evident in such programs as Mornings with Linda Mottram.
Former ACTU president attacks ABC whitewash of AWU slush fund boss
Andrew Bolt June 13 2014 (9:03pm)
Jennie George, former ACTU president and Labor MP, is not impressed by one ABC presenter’s attempt to whitewash Bruce Wilson:
===JON Faine, well known ABC broadcaster, gives a free plug to Bruce Wilson reading from his unsworn statement. At the same time, the counsel assisting the royal commission puts the case as to why Wilson should face criminal charges. Supporters of the ABC expect the public broadcaster to act impartially and in accordance with its charter. Faine has failed the test.
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G’day,
I guess it’s a toss up of what is acceptable advertising and what is deemed as going too far and just downright offensive. Personally, I think both images in the sky fit the latter!
Godspeed and I hope you have a glorious weekend!!!
Zeg
Freelance Editorial Cartoonist
0414293765
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4 her, so she can see how I see her===
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Hoax alert: The NSW Police Force has received numerous enquiries on social media about this letter.
While police promote safety awareness messages on a regular basis, this letter is a hoax that is designed to create unnecessary fear in our community.
The incidents outlined are, to the best knowledge of NSW Police, entirely fictitious. There is no known gang in NSW called the 'Bloods' that usesthis method of initiation. This particular hoax has been circulating the internet for 20 years and adapted to different locations in the world.
The NSW Police Force actively uses social media, however, any serious crime is the subject of mainstream media release as well as social media posting. We urge social media users not to share the hoax letter.
For more information about this hoax, please see:http://www.snopes.com/
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Allyson Christy
Timing is always so guided under a precision-based, politicised agenda. Timing, within any political sphere, is everything, after all, and of the essence to any agenda; needed or otherwise.
Amid rising scandals, it seems fitting that the White House now formally acknowledges a 'red line' was crossed specific to Syria.
"Congress has been notified that the United States will acknowledge that Syria has used chemical weapons on a small scale multiple times and a "red line" has been crossed, according to congressional sources.
The intelligence community has concluded that sarin gas was used and 100-150 people have died, a senior intelligence official said Thursday.
The Syrian government and rebels have accused each other of using chemical weapons on the battlefield, prompting the United Nations to call for the deployment of an international team of investigators. Both sides have denied using chemical weapons.
The Syrian government has been battling a rebellion for more than two years." - CNN Breaking News
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The NSA Director walks into a bar.
Bartender: I've got a new joke for you.
NSA Director: Heard it.
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Holly Sarah Nguyen'
The promise of Gods words are YES and AMEN...
===Hamas continues its efforts to teach children to support terrorism against Israel. This summer, Hamas will run summer camps to spread its extremist ideology among Gaza's youth:http://www.idfblog.com/
Share the truth about Hamas' idea of education.
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Allyson Christy via Martin Sherman
"No matter how often the doctrine of political appeasement and territorial concession failed to win approval at the ballot box, it nevertheless continued to dominate the policy-making decisions of governments – even of those elected in express opposition to it.
Astonishingly, time and time again, the prescriptions of the vanquished became the policy of the victors.
It is thus an accumulated consequence of individual decisions and actions driven by the short-term pursuit of prestige and profit of a group of empowered individuals, and which trump considerations of the long-term interest of the wider collective.
It will not be remedied by electing different politicians...but by promoting, emplacing and empowering new competing civil society elites who can challenge the incumbents and displace them from their positions of unelected influence....
The first step in advancing this crucial revolution is to engender a total revaluation of the strategy of giving by right-wing benefactors.
For one cannot win a war without a war chest..." - Martin Sherman
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A rare hunk of poop from a Tyrannosaurus rex will soon be making its way to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C.http://oak.ctx.ly/r/68xq
The fossil was deposited about 65 million years ago in southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada, and will be appearing in the "Putting Dinosaurs in Their Place" exhibit, opening next year.
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What's a derecho? Meaning "straight" in Spanish a derecho is an impressively far-reaching and long-lived windstorm that is quite rare and difficult to predict, and as its name suggests, this type of storm packs powerful straight-line winds, in contrast to the spinning winds of a tornado.http://oak.ctx.ly/r/68xm
Here, an ominous line of clouds portends the approaching derecho in La Porte, Indiana.
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Taco Pie!! >>> Food Fanatics <<<
Recipe: http://
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‘Founding Founders’? White House creates gender neutral birth of a nation ==>http://twitchy.com/2013/
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This place has become a regular part of my photographic life, teaching others the how to's with the Aperture Academy while avoiding being overtaken by the ocean waves. I always get one shot in for myself. This is my shot from last Saturday. — at Fort Cronkhite.
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" The world knew about the Holocaust and did nothing, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said from the Auschwitz death camp Thursday, vowing that Israel would take matters into its own hands to prevent a second Holocaust.
“The Allied leaders knew about the Holocaust as it was happening. They understood perfectly what was taking place in the death camps. They were asked to act, they could have acted, and they did not,” said Netanyahu. “For us Jews, the lesson is clear. We must not stand idle before the threats of annihilation. We must not bury our heads in the sand, or let others do our work. From here, the place that provides testimony for the will to eradicate us, I, the prime minister of Israel, the Jewish state, tell all the nations of the world: The State of Israel will do whatever is necessary to prevent a second Holocaust.” "
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Flashback Friday #TobyMaguire at #FoxStudios #ff#GreatGatsby #KitchenNinja
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June 14: Liberation Day in the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (1982); Trooping the Colour and the Queen's Official Birthday in the United Kingdom and several other Commonwealth countries (2014); Flag Day in the United States
- 1285 – Forces led by Prince Trần Quang Khải of Vietnam's Trần dynasty destroyed most of the invadingMongol naval fleet in a battle at Chuong Duong.
- 1846 – Anglo-American settlers in the Town of Sonomabegan a rebellion against Mexico, proclaiming the California Republicand eventually raising a homemade flag with a bear and star (digital reproduction pictured).
- 1940 – Four days after the French government fled Paris, German forces occupied the French capital, essentially ending the Battle of France.
- 1982 – Argentine forces surrendered to the British, essentially ending theFalklands War.
- 1994 – After the Vancouver Canucks lost to the New York Rangers in ice hockey's Stanley Cup Finals, a riot ensued in Downtown Vancouver, causing C$1.1 million in damage.
Events[edit]
- 1158 – Munich is founded by Henry the Lion on the banks of the river Isar.
- 1216 – First Barons' War: Prince Louis of France captures the city of Winchester and soon conquers over half of the Kingdom of England.
- 1276 – While taking exile in Fuzhou in southern China, away from the advancing Mongol invaders, the remnants of the Song Dynasty court hold the coronation ceremony for the young prince Zhao Shi, making him Emperor Duanzong of Song.
- 1285 – Second Mongol invasion of Vietnam: Forces led by Prince Trần Quang Khải of the Trần Dynasty destroy most of the invading Mongol naval fleet in a battle at Chuong Duong.
- 1287 – Kublai Khan defeats the force of Nayan and other traditionalist Borjigin princes in East Mongolia and Manchuria.
- 1381 – Richard II of England meets leaders of Peasants' Revolt on Blackheath. The Tower of London is stormed by rebels who enter without resistance.
- 1645 – English Civil War: Battle of Naseby – 12,000 Royalist forces are beaten by 15,000 Parliamentarian soldiers.
- 1667 – The Raid on the Medway by the Dutch fleet in the Second Anglo-Dutch War ends. It had lasted for five days and resulted in the worst ever defeat of the Royal Navy.
- 1775 – American Revolutionary War: the Continental Army is established by the Continental Congress, marking the birth of the United States Army.
- 1777 – The Stars and Stripes is adopted by Congress as the Flag of the United States.
- 1789 – Mutiny on the Bounty: HMS Bounty mutiny survivors including Captain William Bligh and 18 others reach Timor after a nearly 7,400 km (4,600 mi) journey in an open boat.
- 1789 – Whiskey distilled from maize is first produced by American clergyman the Rev Elijah Craig. It is named Bourbon because Rev Craig lived in Bourbon County, Kentucky.
- 1800 – The French Army of First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte defeats the Austrians at the Battle of Marengo in Northern Italy and re-conquers Italy.
- 1807 – Emperor Napoleon's French Grande Armée defeats the Russian Army at the Battle of Friedland in Poland (modern Russian Kaliningrad Oblast) ending the War of the Fourth Coalition.
- 1821 – Badi VII, king of Sennar, surrenders his throne and realm to Isma'il Pasha, general of the Ottoman Empire, ending the existence of that Sudanese kingdom.
- 1822 – Charles Babbage proposes a difference engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society entitled "Note on the application of machinery to the computation of astronomical and mathematical tables".
- 1830 – Beginning of the French colonization of Algeria: 34,000 French soldiers begin their invasion of Algiers, landing 27 kilometers west at Sidi Fredj.
- 1839 – Henley Royal Regatta: the village of Henley-on-Thames, on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, stages its first regatta.
- 1846 – Bear Flag Revolt begins – Anglo settlers in Sonoma, California, start a rebellion against Mexico and proclaim the California Republic.
- 1863 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Winchester – a Union garrison is defeated by the Army of Northern Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley town of Winchester, Virginia.
- 1863 – Second Assault on the Confederate works at the Siege of Port Hudson during the American Civil War.
- 1872 – Trade unions are legalised in Canada.
- 1900 – Hawaii becomes a United States territory.
- 1900 – The Reichstag approves a second law that allows the expansion of the German navy.
- 1907 – Norway grants women the right to vote.
- 1919 – John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown depart from St. John's, Newfoundland on the first nonstop transatlantic flight.
- 1926 – Brazil leaves the League of Nations
- 1937 – Pennsylvania becomes the first (and only) state of the United States to celebrate Flag Day officially as a state holiday.
- 1937 – U.S. House of Representatives passes the Marihuana Tax Act.
- 1940 – World War II: Paris falls under German occupation, and Allied forces retreat.
- 1940 – The Soviet Union presents an ultimatum to Lithuania resulting in Lithuanian loss of independence.
- 1940 – A group of 728 Polish political prisoners from Tarnów become the first residents of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
- 1941 – June deportation: the first major wave of Soviet mass deportations and murder of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians, begins.
- 1944 – World War II: After several failed attempts, the British Army abandons Operation Perch, its plan to capture the German-occupied town of Caen.
- 1945 – World War II: Filipino troops of the 15th, 66th and 121st Infantry Regiment, Philippine Commonwealth Army, USAFIP-NL liberate the captured in Ilocos Sur and start theBattle of Bessang Pass in Northern Luzon.
- 1949 – Albert II, a rhesus monkey, rides a V2 rocket to an altitude of 134 km (83 mi), thereby becoming the first monkey in space.
- 1951 – UNIVAC I is dedicated by the U.S. Census Bureau.
- 1952 – The keel is laid for the nuclear submarine USS Nautilus.
- 1954 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill into law that places the words "under God" into the United States Pledge of Allegiance.
- 1955 – Chile becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
- 1959 – Disneyland Monorail System, the first daily operating monorail system in the Western Hemisphere, opens to the public in Anaheim, California.
- 1959 – A group of Dominican exiles depart from Cuba and land in the Dominican Republic with the intent of overthrowing the totalitarian government of Rafael Trujillo. All but four are killed or executed.
- 1962 – The European Space Research Organisation is established in Paris – later becoming the European Space Agency.
- 1966 – The Vatican announces the abolition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum ("index of prohibited books"), which was originally instituted in 1557.
- 1967 – Mariner program: Mariner 5 is launched towards Venus.
- 1967 – The People's Republic of China tests its first hydrogen bomb.
- 1982 – Falklands War: Argentine forces in the capital Stanley conditionally surrender to British forces.
- 1985 – TWA Flight 847 is hijacked by Lebanese Islamist organization Hezbollah shortly after take-off from Athens, Greece.
- 1987 – Greece beats the Soviet Union by 103-101 in overtime during the European Basketball Championship Final, snatching her first title in one of the biggest surprises in professional team sports.
- 1994 – The 1994 Stanley Cup riot occurs after the New York Rangers win the Stanley Cup from Vancouver, causing an estimated CA$1.1 million, leading to 200 arrests and injuries.
- 2002 – Near-Earth asteroid 2002 MN misses the Earth by 75,000 miles (121,000 km), about one-third of the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
Births[edit]
- 1444 – Nilakantha Somayaji, Indian astronomer and mathematician (d. 1544)
- 1479 – Giglio Gregorio Giraldi, Italian poet and scholar (d. 1552)
- 1529 – Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria (d. 1595)
- 1691 – Jan Francisci, Slovak organist and composer (d. 1758)
- 1730 – Antonio Sacchini, Italian composer (d. 1786)
- 1763 – Simon Mayr, German composer (d. 1845)
- 1780 – Henry Salt, English artist, diplomat, and Egyptologist (d. 1827)
- 1796 – Nikolai Brashman, Czech-Russian mathematician (d. 1866)
- 1798 – František Palacký, Czech historian and politician (d. 1876)
- 1801 – Heber C. Kimball, American religious leader (d. 1868)
- 1811 – Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author and activist (d. 1896)
- 1812 – Fernando Wood, American politician, 73rd Mayor of New York City (d. 1881)
- 1819 – Henry Gardner, American politician, 23rd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1892)
- 1820 – John Bartlett, American author and publisher (d. 1905)
- 1840 – William F. Nast, American attaché, railroad executive and inventor, and father of Condé Nast (d. 1893)
- 1855 – Robert M. La Follette, Sr., American politician, 20th Governor of Wisconsin (d. 1925)
- 1856 – Andrey Markov, Russian mathematician (d. 1922)
- 1864 – Alois Alzheimer, German psychiatrist and neuropathologist (d. 1915)
- 1868 – Karl Landsteiner, Austrian biologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1943)
- 1870 – Sophia of Prussia (d. 1932)
- 1871 – Hermanus Brockmann, Dutch rower (d. 1936)
- 1871 – Jacob Ellehammer, Danish engineer (d. 1946)
- 1872 – János Szlepecz, Slovene priest (d. 1936)
- 1877 – Jane Bathori, French soprano (d. 1970)
- 1878 – Léon Thiébaut, French fencer (d. 1943)
- 1879 – Arthur Duffey, American sprinter (d. 1955)
- 1884 – John McCormack, Irish tenor (d. 1945)
- 1884 – Georg Zacharias, German swimmer (d. 1953)
- 1890 – May Allison, American actress (d. 1989)
- 1893 – Siggie Nordstrom, American singer and actress (Nordstrom Sisters) (d. 1980)
- 1894 – Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (d. 1924)
- 1895 – Jack Adams, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager (d. 1968)
- 1899 – Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
- 1903 – Alonzo Church, American mathematician and logician (d. 1995)
- 1904 – Margaret Bourke-White, American photographer and journalist (d. 1971)
- 1905 – Steve Broidy, American businessman (d. 1991)
- 1905 – Arthur Davis, American animator and director (d. 2000)
- 1907 – Nicolas Bentley, English author and illustrator (d. 1978)
- 1907 – René Char, French poet (d. 1988)
- 1907 – Chico Landi, Brazilian race car driver (d. 1989)
- 1909 – Burl Ives, American actor and singer (d. 1995)
- 1910 – Rudolf Kempe, German conductor (d. 1976)
- 1913 – Joe Morris, English-Canadian union leader (d. 1996)
- 1913 – Werner Heyking, Danish actor (d. 1974)
- 1914 – Pauline Moore, American actress (d. 2001)
- 1916 – Dorothy McGuire, American actress (d. 2001)
- 1917 – Lise Nørgaard, Danish journalist and author
- 1917 – Gilbert Prouteau, French poet and director (d. 2012)
- 1917 – Atle Selberg, Norwegian mathematician (d. 2007)
- 1919 – Gene Barry, American actor (d. 2009)
- 1919 – Sam Wanamaker, American actor and director (d. 1993)
- 1920 – Jacques Datin, French songwriter (d. 1973)
- 1920 – Jean Madiran, French author (d. 2013)
- 1921 – Martha Greenhouse, American actress (d. 2013)
- 1922 – Kevin Roche, Irish-American architect, designed Bank of America Plaza and the Central Park Zoo
- 1922 – K. Asif, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1971)
- 1922 – Harvey Littleton, American glass artist and educator (d. 2013)
- 1923 – Ivan Gubijan, Yugoslavian hammer thrower (d. 2009)
- 1923 – Judith Kerr, German-born British writer
- 1923 – Green Wix Unthank, American judge (d. 2013)
- 1924 – James Black, Scottish pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2010)
- 1925 – Pierre Salinger, American journalist and politician, 11th White House Press Secretary (d. 2004)
- 1926 – Hermann Kant, German author
- 1926 – Don Newcombe, American baseball player
- 1928 – Che Guevara, Argentinian-Cuban physician, author, and guerrilla leader (d. 1967)
- 1929 – Cy Coleman, American pianist and composer (d. 2004)
- 1929 – Johnny Wilson, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (d. 2011)
- 1930 – Odile Versois, French actress (d. 1980)
- 1931 – Marla Gibbs, American actress, singer, and screenwriter
- 1931 – Junior Walker, American saxophonist and singer (d. 1995)
- 1932 – Joe Arpaio, American police officer
- 1933 – Jerzy Kosiński, Polish-American author (d. 1991)
- 1933 – Vladislav Rastorotsky, Russian gymnast and coach
- 1936 – Renaldo Benson, American singer-songwriter (The Four Tops) (d. 2005)
- 1936 – Irmelin Sandman Lilius, Finnish author
- 1937 – Jørgen Leth, Danish actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1937 – Willie Louis, American witness in the Emmett Till murder trial (d. 2013)
- 1937 – Trevor Smith, British politician
- 1938 – Julie Felix, American folk singer
- 1939 – Steny Hoyer, American politician
- 1939 – Peter Mayle, English author
- 1939 – Hugh Detmar Torrens O'Neill, Irish hereditary peer and businessman
- 1939 – Colin Thubron, English travel writer and novelist
- 1939 – James Wright, British academic
- 1940 – Jack Bannon, American actor
- 1940 – Ben Davidson, American football player and actor (d. 2012)
- 1941 – Yvonne Moores, British chief nursing officer for England
- 1941 – Mike Yarwood, British entertainer
- 1942 – Andy Irvine, English-Irish singer-songwriter and bouzouki player (Planxty, Sweeney's Men, and Patrick Street)
- 1942 – Jonathan Raban, British author
- 1943 – Barry Burman, English painter (d. 2001)
- 1943 – Jennifer Gretton, British Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire
- 1943 – John Miles, English race car driver
- 1943 – Spooner Oldham, American organist and songwriter
- 1943 – Harold Wheeler, American composer, conductor, and producer
- 1944 – Laurie Colwin, American author (d. 1992)
- 1944 – Joe Grifasi, American actor
- 1945 – Rod Argent, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player (The Zombies and Argent)
- 1945 – Carlos Reichenbach, Brazilian director and producer (d. 2012)
- 1945 – Marilyn Schreffler, American actress (d. 1988)
- 1945 – Richard Stebbins, American sprinter
- 1946 – Robert Louis-Dreyfus, French businessman (d. 2009)
- 1946 – Donald Trump, American businessman, founded the Trump Entertainment Resorts
- 1947 – Roger Liddle, English political adviser
- 1947 – Kat Martin, American author
- 1947 – Barry Melton, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Country Joe and the Fish and The Dinosaurs)
- 1947 – Hiroshi Miyauchi, Japanese actor
- 1947 – Paul Rudolph, Canadian singer, guitarist, bassist and cyclist (Pink Fairies and Hawkwind)
- 1948 – Laurence Yep, American author
- 1949 – Jim Lea, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (Slade)
- 1949 – Malcolm McMahon, English prelate, Archbishop of Liverpool
- 1949 – Antony Sher, British writer and actor
- 1949 – Harry Turtledove, American author
- 1949 – Alan White, English drummer (Yes, Plastic Ono Band, White, and Circa)
- 1950 – Rowan Williams, Welsh archbishop
- 1951 – Paul Boateng, British politician
- 1952 – Robert Lepikson, Estonian businessman, politician and rally driver (d. 2006)
- 1952 – Pat Summitt, American basketball player and coach
- 1952 – Leon Wieseltier, American journalist
- 1953 – Janet Mackey, New Zealand politician
- 1953 – David Thomas, American singer-songwriter (Rocket from the Tombs and Pere Ubu)
- 1954 – Will Patton, American actor
- 1955 – Michael D. Duvall, American politician
- 1955 – Paul O'Grady, English comedian, actor, and writer
- 1956 – King Diamond, Danish singer-songwriter and producer (Black Rose, Mercyful Fate, and Brats)
- 1956 – Fred Funk, American golfer
- 1956 – Gianna Nannini, Italian singer-songwriter
- 1956 – Sam Irvin, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1957 – Maxi Jazz, English rapper (Faithless)
- 1957 – Suzanne Nora Johnson, American lawyer
- 1957 – Mona Simpson, American author and English professor at the University of California, Los Angeles
- 1958 – Pamela Geller, American blogger and author
- 1958 – Eric Heiden, American skater
- 1959 – Eddie Mekka, American actor
- 1959 – Marcus Miller, American bass player and producer (SMV)
- 1960 – Tonie Campbell, American hurdler
- 1960 – Mike Laga, American baseball player
- 1961 – Boy George, English singer-songwriter and producer (Culture Club, Bow Wow Wow, and Jesus Loves You)
- 1961 – Dušan Kojić, Serbian singer-songwriter and bass player (Disciplina kičme and Disciplin A Kitschme)
- 1961 – Sam Perkins, American basketball player
- 1963 – Stuart Evans, Welsh rugby football player
- 1964 – Peter Gilliver, English lexicographer
- 1964 – Kaija Parve, Estonian biathlete
- 1965 – Mike Scaccia, American guitarist (Ministry, Rigor Mortis, Lard, and League of Blind Women) (d. 2012)
- 1966 – Traylor Howard, American actress
- 1967 – Dedrick Dodge, American football player
- 1967 – Kumar Mangalam Birla, Indian businessman
- 1968 – Yasmine Bleeth, American actress
- 1968 – Campbell Brown, American journalist
- 1968 – Faizon Love, Cubian-American actor
- 1969 – Elroy Chester, American murderer (d. 2013)
- 1969 – Éric Desjardins, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1969 – Michael Gerber, American author
- 1969 – Steffi Graf, German tennis player
- 1969 – Kyle Hebert, American voice actor
- 1969 – MC Ren, American rapper (N.W.A)
- 1970 – Heather McDonald, American comedian, actress, and author
- 1971 – Bruce Bowen, American basketball player
- 1971 – Ramon Vega, Swiss footballer
- 1972 – Rick Brunson, American basketball player and coach
- 1972 – Michael Cade, American actor
- 1972 – Matthias Ettrich, German computer scientist, founded KDE
- 1972 – Shaun Keaveny, English radio host
- 1972 – Danny McFarlane, Jamaican hurdler and sprinter
- 1973 – Ceca, Serbian singer
- 1973 – Sami Kapanen, Finnish-American ice hockey player and manager
- 1974 – Sutan Amrull, American drag queen performer and makeup artist
- 1974 – Jang Jin-young, South Korean actress (d. 2009)
- 1974 – Joshua Radin, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1974 – Phillip Rhys, English actor
- 1975 – Ryuji Miki, Japanese race car driver
- 1976 – Alan Carr, English comedian and actor
- 1976 – Massimo Oddo, Italian footballer
- 1977 – Chris McAlister, American football player
- 1977 – Massimiliano Neri, Italian model
- 1977 – Joe Worsley, English rugby union player
- 1978 – Steve Bégin, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1978 – Diablo Cody, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1978 – Annia Hatch, Cuban-American gymnast
- 1981 – Lonneke Engel, Dutch model
- 1981 – Chauncey Leopardi, American actor
- 1982 – Jamie Green, English race car driver
- 1982 – Nicole Irving, Australian swimmer
- 1982 – Luda Kroiter, Moldavian-born 5 time world salsa champion and Dancing with the Stars instructor
- 1982 – Lang Lang, Chinese pianist
- 1983 – Hirofumi Araki, Japanese actor and singer
- 1983 – Trevor Barry, Bahamian high jumper
- 1983 – Louis Garrel, French actor
- 1983 – J. R. Martinez, American soldier and actor
- 1983 – John Stocco, American football player
- 1984 – Lorenzo Booker, American football player
- 1984 – Siobhán Donaghy, English singer-songwriter (Sugababes)
- 1984 – Yury Prilukov, Russian swimmer
- 1985 – Andy Soucek, Spanish race car driver
- 1986 – Jonathan Clare, English cricketer
- 1986 – Matt Read, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1987 – Andrew Cogliano, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1987 – Mohamed Diamé, Senegalese footballer
- 1988 – Adrián Aldrete, Mexican footballer
- 1988 – Kevin McHale, American singer, dancer, and actor (NLT)
- 1989 – Lucy Hale, American actress and singer
- 1989 – Courtney Halverson, American actress
- 1989 – Joao Rojas, Ecuadorian footballer
- 1991 – Erick Barrondo, Guatemalan race-walker
- 1991 – Kostas Manolas, Greek footballer
- 1992 – Joel Crouse, American singer-songwriter
- 1992 – Daryl Sabara, American actor
- 1991 – Jesy Nelson, English singer (Little Mix)
- 1993 – Svetlana Issakova, Estonian figure skater
Deaths[edit]
- 767 – Abū Ḥanīfa, Iraqi scholar (b. 699)
- 1161 – Emperor Qinzong of Song (b. 1100)
- 1381 – Simon Sudbury, English archbishop (b. 1316)
- 1497 – Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandia, Italian son of Pope Alexander VI (b. 1474)
- 1544 – Antoine, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1489)
- 1548 – Carpentras, French composer (b. 1470)
- 1594 – Orlande de Lassus, Flemish composer (b. 1532)
- 1662 – Henry Vane the Younger, English-American politician, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1613)
- 1674 – Marin le Roy de Gomberville, French author and poet (b. 1600)
- 1703 – Jean Herauld Gourville, French adventurer (b. 1625)
- 1794 – Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1718)
- 1800 – Louis Desaix, French general (b. 1768)
- 1800 – Jean Baptiste Kléber, French general (b. 1753)
- 1801 – Benedict Arnold, American general (b. 1741)
- 1825 – Pierre Charles L'Enfant, French-American architect and engineer, designed Washington, D.C. (b. 1754)
- 1837 – Giacomo Leopardi, Italian poet and philosopher (b. 1798)
- 1883 – Edward FitzGerald, English poet (b. 1809)
- 1886 – Alexander Ostrovsky, Russian playwright (b. 1823)
- 1907 – William Le Baron Jenney, American architect and engineer, designed the Home Insurance Building (b. 1832)
- 1907 – Bartolomé Masó, Cuban patriot (b. 1830)
- 1908 – Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, English captain and politician, 6th Governor General of Canada (b. 1841)
- 1914 – Adlai Stevenson I, American politician, 23rd Vice President of the United States (b. 1835)
- 1916 – João Simões Lopes Neto, Brazilian author (b. 1865)
- 1920 – Max Weber, German sociologist and economist (b. 1864)
- 1926 – Mary Cassatt, American painter (b. 1843)
- 1927 – Ottavio Bottecchia, Italian cyclist (b. 1894)
- 1927 – Jerome K. Jerome, English author (b. 1859)
- 1928 – Emmeline Pankhurst, English activist (b. 1857)
- 1932 – Dorimène Roy Desjardins, Canadian businesswoman, co-founded Desjardins Group (b. 1858)
- 1933 – Justinien de Clary, French target shooter (b. 1860)
- 1936 – G. K. Chesterton, English author, poet, and playwright (b. 1874)
- 1936 – Hans Poelzig, German architect, painter, and designer, designed the IG Farben Building (b. 1869)
- 1946 – John Logie Baird, Scottish engineer (b. 1888)
- 1967 – Eddie Eagan, American boxer (b. 1897)
- 1968 – Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian author and poet, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1901)
- 1975 – Pablo Antonio, Filipino architect (b. 1902)
- 1977 – Robert Middleton, American actor (b. 1911)
- 1979 – Ahmad Zahir, Afghan singer-songwriter (b. 1946)
- 1980 – Charles Miller, American saxophonist and flute player (War) (b. 1939)
- 1982 – Marjorie Bennett, Australian actress (b. 1896)
- 1986 – Jorge Luis Borges, Argentinian author and poet (b. 1899)
- 1986 – Alan Jay Lerner, American composer (b. 1918)
- 1990 – Erna Berger, German soprano (b. 1900)
- 1991 – Peggy Ashcroft, English actress (b. 1907)
- 1994 – Lionel Grigson, British pianist, composer, and educator (b. 1942)
- 1994 – Henry Mancini, American composer and conductor (b. 1924)
- 1994 – Marcel Mouloudji, French singer and actor (b. 1922)
- 1995 – Els Aarne, Estonian composer and pedagogue (b. 1917)
- 1995 – Rory Gallagher, Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Taste) (b. 1949)
- 1995 – Roger Zelazny, American author (b. 1937)
- 1997 – Richard Jaeckel, American actor (b. 1926)
- 1999 – Bernie Faloney, American-Canadian football player (b. 1932)
- 2000 – Attilio Bertolucci, Italian poet (b. 1911)
- 2002 – June Jordan, American author and activist (b. 1936)
- 2003 – Dale Whittington, American race car driver (b. 1959)
- 2004 – Ulrich Inderbinen, Swiss mountain climber and guide (b. 1900)
- 2004 – Eamonn McGirr, Irish-American singer (b. 1941)
- 2005 – Carlo Maria Giulini, Italian conductor (b. 1914)
- 2005 – Mimi Parent, Canadian painter (b. 1924)
- 2006 – Monty Berman, English cinematographer, director, and producer (b. 1905)
- 2006 – Jean Roba, Belgian author and illustrator (b. 1930)
- 2007 – Ruth Graham, Chinese-American poet, author, and painter (b. 1920)
- 2007 – Robin Olds, American general and pilot (b. 1922)
- 2007 – Kurt Waldheim, Austrian lieutenant and politician, 9th President of Austria (b. 1918)
- 2008 – Jamelão, Brazilian singer-songwriter (b. 1913)
- 2008 – Esbjörn Svensson, Swedish pianist (Esbjörn Svensson Trio) (b. 1964)
- 2009 – Bob Bogle, American guitarist (The Ventures) (b. 1934)
- 2009 – Ivan Della Mea, Italian singer-songwriter, journalist, and author (b. 1940)
- 2009 – William McIntyre, Canadian judge (b. 1918)
- 2012 – Peter Archer, Baron Archer of Sandwell, English politician, Solicitor General for England and Wales (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Al Brancato, American baseball player (b. 1919)
- 2012 – Bob Chappuis, American football player (b. 1923)
- 2012 – Bob Hank, Australian footballer (b. 1923)
- 2012 – Margie Hyams, American pianist and vibraphone player (b. 1920)
- 2012 – Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, German pianist and academic (b. 1930)
- 2012 – Hassan Kassai, Iranian flute player and educator (b. 1928)
- 2012 – Jesse Powell, American football player (b. 1947)
- 2012 – Kaka Radhakrishnan, Indian actor (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Carlos Reichenbach, Brazilian director and producer (b. 1945)
- 2012 – Erik Rhodes, American porn actor (b. 1982)
- 2012 – Gitta Sereny, Austrian-English historian, journalist, and author (b. 1921)
- 2012 – Mako Tabuni, Indonesian activist
- 2012 – Yvette Wilson, American actress (b. 1964)
- 2013 – Betty Burstall, Australian director, founded the La Mama Theatre (b. 1926)
- 2013 – Olav Sigurd Carlsen, Norwegian politician (b. 1930)
- 2013 – Pa Dillon, Irish hurler (b. 1938)
- 2013 – Al Green, American wrestler (b. 1955)
- 2013 – Hugh Maguire, Irish violinist (b. 1926)
- 2013 – Gene Mako, Hungarian-American tennis player (b. 1916)
- 2013 – Elroy Schwartz, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1923)
- 2013 – Tom Tall, American singer (b. 1937)
- 2013 – Olwen Wymark, American-English playwright (b. 1932)
Holidays and observances[edit]
- Christian Feast Day:
- Basil the Great, Doctor, Bishop of Caesaria, Cappadocia, CE 379 (commemoration, Anglicanism)
- Cappadocian saints (Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa, Macrina) (Lutheran)
- Elisha (Roman Catholic and Lutheran)
- Methodios I of Constantinople
- Richard Baxter (Church of England)
- Gilbert Keith Chesterton (The Episcopal Church)
- June 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Flag Day (United States)
- Liberation Day (Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands)
- Mourning and Commemoration Day or Leinapäev (Estonia)
- Mourning and Hope Day in Lithuania.
- Women's Day (Iraq)
- World Blood Donor Day (International observance)
“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”” Luke 11:13 NIV
===
Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
"Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
Revelation 22:17
Revelation 22:17
Jesus says, "take freely." He wants no payment or preparation. He seeks no recommendation from our virtuous emotions. If you have no good feelings, if you be but willing, you are invited; therefore come! You have no belief and no repentance,--come to him, and he will give them to you. Come just as you are, and take "Freely," without money and without price. He gives himself to needy ones. The drinking fountains at the corners of our streets are valuable institutions; and we can hardly imagine any one so foolish as to feel for his purse, when he stands before one of them, and to cry, "I cannot drink because I have not five pounds in my pocket." However poor the man is, there is the fountain, and just as he is he may drink of it. Thirsty passengers, as they go by, whether they are dressed in fustian or in broadcloth, do not look for any warrant for drinking; its being there is their warrant for taking its water freely. The liberality of some good friends has put the refreshing crystal there and we take it, and ask no questions. Perhaps the only persons who need go thirsty through the street where there is a drinking fountain, are the fine ladies and gentlemen who are in their carriages. They are very thirsty, but cannot think of being so vulgar as to get out to drink. It would demean them, they think, to drink at a common drinking fountain: so they ride by with parched lips. Oh, how many there are who are rich in their own good works and cannot therefore come to Christ! "I will not be saved," they say, "in the same way as the harlot or the swearer." What! go to heaven in the same way as a chimney sweep. Is there no pathway to glory but the path which led the thief there? I will not be saved that way. Such proud boasters must remain without the living water; but, "Whosoever will, let him TAKE THE WATER OF LIFE FREELY."
Evening
"Remove far from me vanity and lies."
Proverbs 30:8
Proverbs 30:8
"O my God, be not far from me."
--Psalm 38:21
Here we have two great lessons--what to deprecate and what to supplicate. The happiest state of a Christian is the holiest state. As there is the most heat nearest to the sun, so there is the most happiness nearest to Christ. No Christian enjoys comfort when his eyes are fixed on vanity--he finds no satisfaction unless his soul is quickened in the ways of God. The world may win happiness elsewhere, but he cannot. I do not blame ungodly men for rushing to their pleasures. Why should I? Let them have their fill. That is all they have to enjoy. A converted wife who despaired of her husband was always very kind to him, for she said, "I fear that this is the only world in which he will be happy, and therefore I have made up my mind to make him as happy as I can in it." Christians must seek their delights in a higher sphere than the insipid frivolities or sinful enjoyments of the world. Vain pursuits are dangerous to renewed souls. We have heard of a philosopher who, while he looked up to the stars, fell into a pit; but how deeply do they fall who look down. Their fall is fatal. No Christian is safe when his soul is slothful, and his God is far from him. Every Christian is always safe as to the great matter of his standing in Christ, but he is not safe as regards his experience in holiness, and communion with Jesus in this life. Satan does not often attack a Christian who is living near to God. It is when the Christian departs from his God, becomes spiritually starved, and endeavours to feed on vanities, that the devil discovers his vantage hour. He may sometimes stand foot to foot with the child of God who is active in his Master's service, but the battle is generally short: he who slips as he goes down into the Valley of Humiliation, every time he takes a false step invites Apollyon to assail him. O for grace to walk humbly with our God!
===Rahab
The Woman God Took From the Dunghill
Name Meaning - The first part of Rahab - "Ra," was the name of an Egyptian god. As an Amorite, Rahab belonged to an idolatrous people, and had a name meaning "insolence," "fierceness," or "broad," "spaciousness."
Family Connections - While Rahab's parents, brothers and sisters were alive at the time of her association with the spies Joshua sent out, we are not given any of their names (Joshua 2:13). Some of the ancient Jewish fathers who held her in high reputation reckoned that she was the wife of Joshua himself, but in the royal genealogy of Jesus, Rahab is referred to as being the wife of Salmon, one of the two spies she sheltered. In turn, she became the mother of Boaz, who married Ruth from whose son, Obed, Jesse the father of David came, through whose line Jesus was born (Matthew 1:5, where the asv reads, "Salmon begat Boaz of Rahab" - not Rachab). Salmon was a prince of the house of Judah, and thus, Rahab, the one time heathen harlot, married into one of the leading families of Israel and became an ancestress of our Lord, the other foreign ancestresses being Tamar, Ruth and Bathsheba. The gratitude Salmon felt for Rahab ripened into love, and when grace erased her former life of shame he made her his wife. Jerome's comment of the inclusion of the four foreign women in Matthew's genealogy is suggestive -
In it none of the holy women are included, only those whom the Scriptures blame, in order that He who came in behalf of sinners, Himself being born of sinners, might destroy the sins of all.
Both Jewish and Christian writers have tried to prove that Rahab was a different woman from the one whom the Bible always speaks of as a "harlot." To them it was abhorrent that such a disreputable person should be included in our Lord's genealogy and by Paul, as a woman of faith, and so her story has been distorted in order to further a scheme of salvation based upon human goodness. Although man's sense of refinement may be shocked, the fact remains that Rahab, Tamar and Bathsheba were sinful women who were purged by God, and had their share in the royal line from which Jesus sprang.
It has been suggested that the word "harlot" can be translated "innkeeper," thus making Rahab the landlady of a wayside tavern. Guesses have been made that she had been a concubine, such as Hagar and Zilpah had been, but that in Jericho she was a reputable woman identified with a respectable business. The Bible, however, makes no attempt to smooth over the unpleasant fact that Rahab had been a harlot. Endeavoring to understand her character, we have -
Her Sin
Three times over Rahab is referred to as "the harlot," and the Hebrew term zoonah and the Greek word porne have at no time meant anything else but "harlot" - a woman who yields herself indiscriminately to every man approaching her. Rahab indulged in venal wantonness as traveling merchants came her way and were housed in her illfamed abode. Evidently Rahab had her own house and lived apart from her parents and family. Although she never lost her concern for her dear ones, perhaps she was treated as a moral leper. We are told that prostitution was not regarded with the same horror then, as now, but the Bible with one voice speaks of harlotry with moral revulsion and social ostracism.
Rahab's house was built against the town wall with the roof almost level with the ramparts, and with a stairway leading up to a flat roof that appears to be a continuation of the wall. Thus, the people of Jericho knew all about the men who entered and left such a disreputable house. While her name came to be sanctified and ennobled, both Paul and James affix the label to her name, Rahab the harlot . She still carried the evil, distinguishing name, thus declaring the peculiar grace of the transforming power of God. How Rahab came to forsake her evil career we are not told! Like many a young girl today perhaps she found the restrictions of her respectable home too irk-some. She wanted a freer life, a life of thrill and excitement, away from the drab monotony of the home giving her birth and protection. So, high-spirited and independent she left her parents, set up her own apartment with dire consequences. Frequently women like Rahab are more often sinned against than sinners. Man's lust for the unlawful is responsible for harlotry.
Her Scheme
It was from some of the travelers Rahab entertained and sinned with, that she came to learn the facts of the Exodus of Israel, the miracle of the Red Sea, and the overthrow of Sihon and Og. So, when the two spies from Joshua sought cover in her house, she knew that sooner or later the king of Jericho would get to know of the accommodation she gave them. Here were two men, different from other men who came seeking her favors. These were men of God, not idolaters, bent on one mission, namely, the overthrow of the enemies of His people, and brilliantly she planned their protection and escape. The flax that she spread on her roof and the scarlet cord she used as a sign indicated that Rahab manufactured linen and also dyed it. If only, like Lydia, she had kept to such an honorable occupation, what a different story would have been hers.
Rahab's skillful scheme succeeded. The two Jewish spies were in desperate straits, seeing the Amorite pursuers were hot on their trail, but Rahab, although her safety and patriotism as an Amorite would be assured if she informed against the spies, decided to hide and preserve them. Seeing their hunted and dreaded look, Rahab assuredly said, "Fear not, I will not betray you nor your leader. Follow me," and taking them up to the flat roof of her house, bade the men cover themselves completely with a pile of flax lying there to dry. Shortly after, when the pursuers had tracked the two spies to Rahab's house, she met them with a plausible excuse that they were there but had left by way of the Eastern Gate. If they doubted her word, they could come in and search her house. But off the pursuers went to catch up with their prey, not knowing that the spies were being befriended by Rahab. As soon as the way was clear, under cover of night, she let the spies down from the window in the wall and, knowing the country, guided the spies in the best way to escape capture.
There are one or two features associated with this clever plan of Rahab which are worthy of notice. First of all, idolater though she had been, with a phase of immorality associated with her idolatrous life, she witnessed to a remarkable understanding of the sovereignty of the true God for she said to the spies -
I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us.... The Lord, your God he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath ( Joshua 2:9-11).
Harlot though Rahab had been, intuition from above had been given her that the spies were men of God, the forerunners of His people who were to execute His will, and that to take sides with them was to take sides with God Himself.
Further, there was in Rahab's mind, no matter how faintly understood, a distinct call from God, that she was being singled out from her own idolatrous people to aid the God she had a growing conception of. Her faith of this God who worked great wonders was altogether marvelous and singular. It was such a call that made her willing to sacrifice her own nation - an act which would have been otherwise treasonable. Does not her confession of God's power and purpose, and her service for the spies indicate that she knew the race of which she was part was accursed of God for its crimes and idolatry, and that she wished to be separated from such a doomed people, and identified with the people of God? The declaration of faith given by this Canaanite woman places her in a unique position among the women of the Bible.
Her Sacrifice
When Rahab hid the spies, put those who sought them on a false trail and helped the spies to escape and melt away into the shadows of night, and lay concealed until they could reach Joshua with their report, she took her life in her own hands. We cannot but admire her courage and willingness to risk her own neck. Had those spies been discovered hiding in her house, she would have died at the hands of the king of Jericho. Yet with a calm demeanor, and without the slightest trace of inner agitation, she met the searchers and succeeded in setting them out on a false trail. By her act Rahab was actually betraying her own country, and for such treason certain death would have been hers had she been found out. To hide spies was a crime punishable with death. Seeing the faces of the spies filled with fear, Rahab assured their hearts that she was on their side, and in spite of the sacrifice involved said, "I will not betray you. Follow me!" By military law the spies were likewise liable to instant death because of the threat of war, and Rahab, willing to do all in her power to protect her nation's enemies, faced a like terrible end. How gloriously daring was her faith, and how richly rewarded she was for her willingness to sacrifice her life in a cause she knew to be of God!
Her Sign
As Rahab offered to shelter the spies and aid them in their escape, she received from them the promise that when they returned to her country, along with Joshua and his army, that she and her family would be spared alive. While her sin had possibly estranged her from her loved ones, she was concerned about their safety as well as her own. Rahab wanted the kindness she was showing the spies to be reciprocated, and they assured her that she would be dealt with "kindly and truly." The spies said, "Our life for yours if ye utter not this our business." Then the sign of the scarlet rope - their means of escape - was arranged. "According unto thy words, so be it," said Rahab as she let the spies down, and making fast the scarlet rope, she awaited her own deliverance. That red token at the window was likewise a signal to the outside world that Rahab believed in the ultimate triumph of Jehovah.
Much has been said of Rahab's deceit when confronted by the king of Jericho. She told a lie and Scripture forbids a lie or any "evil doing, that good may come of it" (Romans 3:7, 8 ). But under the rules of war, Rahab is not to be blamed for her protection of those righteous forces set against the forces of evil. What the Bible commends is not her deception, but the faith which was the mainspring of her conduct. The characteristic feature of the scarlet rope was that it had to be placed outside the window for Joshua and his men to see. Those inside did not see the token of security. As that scarlet line, because of its color and sign of safety, speaks of the sacrificial work of Christ (Hebrews 9:19, 22), the ground of our assurance of salvation is not experience or feelings within, but the token without. Like the Israelites, Rahab and her relatives might not have felt safe within the house, but the same promise prevailed, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you" (Exodus 12:13).
Her Salvation
Jericho was the worst of the cities of the Amorites, thus God commanded Joshua to destroy both the city and the inhabitants. By divine decree, it was to be given over to a perpetual desolation. When Joshua entered the city he set about the execution of the divine command, but respected the promise made to Rahab by the spies. Under the protection of the scarlet line, Rahab and all her kindred were brought out of the house. The spies came to her house, not to indulge in sin with Rahab, but to prepare the way for Joshua to take Jericho. She saved the spies not out of human pity, or because of expediency, but because she knew that they were servants of the Lord. In turn, she was saved. The spies she had hid brought her, and her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had out of her doomed house, and made them secure without the camp of Israel (Joshua 6:17-25). Brought out of an accursed city, and from her own sins which were as scarlet, Rahab is a fitting illustration of another miracle of divine grace, namely, the calling forth of His church out of a godless, Gentile world.
Her Status
The threefold reference to Rahab in the New Testament reveals how she became a faithful follower of the Lord. She had been taken from the dunghill and placed among the saints in the genealogy of the Saviour (Matthew 1:5 where Rachab [kjv] and Rahab [asv ], are to be identified as the same person). Her remarkable faith was a sanctifying faith leading her to a pure life and honorable career. As the result of her marriage to Salmon, one of the two spies whom she had saved, who "paid back the life he owed her by a love that was honourable and true," Rahab became an ancestress in the royal line from which Jesus came as the Saviour of lost souls. "Poor Rahab, the muddy, the defiled, became the fountainhead of the River of the Water of Life which floweth out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." Her name became sanctified and ennobled, and is worthy of inclusion among many saints.
Paul highly commends Rahab for her energetic faith and gives her a place on the illustrious roll of the Old Testament of those who triumphed by faith. "By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she received the spies with peace" (Hebrews 11:31). What a suggestive touch that is, "with peace." There was not only faith in her heart that God would be victorious, but also an assured peace when she hid the spies that her deliverance from destruction would be taken care of. She knew the rest of faith. In fact, Rahab is the only woman besides Sarah who is designated as an example of faith in the great cloud of witnesses. What a manifestation of divine grace it is to find the one-time harlot ranked along with saints like Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses and David!
The Apostle James adds to Paul's record about Rahab being justified by faith by saying that she was likewise justified by works (James 2:25 ), and there is no contradiction between these two aspects for Rahab's courageous deed was but faith in practice. Faith had wrought in her a change of heart and life, and it likewise enabled her to shield the spies as she did in the confidence God would triumph over His enemies. She exemplified her faith by her brave act, and so James quotes Rahab as exemplifying justification by works evidentially. As Fausset puts it -
Paul's justification by faith alone means a faith, not dead but working by love (Galatians 5:6 ). Again, Rahab's act cannot prove justification by works as such, for she was a woman ofbad character. But as an example of grace, justifying through an operative as opposed to mere verbal faith, none could be more suitable than the saved "harlot." She believed, so as to act on her belief, what her countrymen disbelieved; and this in the face of every improbability that an unwarlike force would conquer a well armed one, far more numerous. She believed with the heart (Romans 10:9, 10), confessed with the mouth, and acted on her profession at the risk of her life.
In conclusion, what are the lessons to be gathered from the harlot whom God used to fulfill His purpose? First of all, we are reminded by Rahab's change of heart and life, that "His blood can make the vilest clean," and that "His blood avails for me." Was it not a wonderful condescension on the part of the Redeemer when He became manifest in the flesh to take hold of a root so humble in type as poor, despised Rahab to magnify His abounding grace for all sinners? Rahab was well worth saving from her evil life both for her own sake and for the place she had in God's plan. Other women in Jericho saw no beauty in Rahab that they should desire her company, but through faith she became one of God's heroines, and is included among the harlots entering the kingdom of God before the self-righteous. Rahab's sins had been scarlet, but the scarlet line freeing the spies, and remaining as a token of her safety, typified the red blood of Jesus whereby the worst of sinners can be saved from sin and hell (Matthew 21:31, 32). While the door of mercy stands ajar, the vilest sinner can return and know what it is to be saved and safe.
A further lesson to be gleaned from Rahab the harlot is that of deep concern for the salvation of others. With the shadow of death and destruction over Jericho, Rahab extracted a promise from Joshua's spies not only to spare her, but also all those bound to her by human ties. While her life of sin and shame had estranged her from her family, self was not her sole consideration in her request for safety. She desired all her loved ones to share in the preservation. What a vein of gold that was in such a despised character! When the mighty change took place in Rahab's life, and she was transformed from a whore into a worshiper of Jehovah, we are not told. As she received and hid the spies, her tribute to God's omnipotence and sure triumph over His foes reveals a spiritual insight God grants to all who believe. And restored to honor and holiness, the redeemed harlot pleads for her parents, and brothers, and sisters. Do we make Rahab's prayer for the salvation of her family, the cry for our own homes? Is ours the same passionate supplication for all of our dear ones that when death strikes they may be found sheltered by the atoning blood of the Redeemer? When at evening the sun goeth down, will our loved ones be as stars in our crown?
The practical lessons to be learned from the history of Hagar have been fittingly summarized by Dr. James Crichton in his article on Hagar in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia -
The life and experience of Hagar teach, among other truths, the temptations incident to a new position; the foolishness of hasty action in times of trial and difficulty; the care exercised over the lonely by the all-seeing God; the Divine purpose in the life of everyone, however obscure and friendless; how God works out His gracious purposes by seemingly harsh methods; and the strength, comfort and encouragement that ever accompany the hardest experiences of His children.
It only remains to be said that Paul uses the story of Hagar as an allegory to distinguish law from grace (Galatians 4:21-31 ). Hagar the bondwoman is contrasted with Sarah the freewoman, and Ishmael "born after the flesh" with Isaac "born through promise"; thence freedom and grace appear as the characteristic qualities of Christianity. Hagar represents the Old Covenant and Sarah the New Covenant which is superior to the Old with its ordinances. Under grace all within the household of faith live by faith, and Sarah represents "the Jerusalem that is above" - "our mother" (rv), which is the free spiritual city to which all children of the promise even now belong ( Philippians 3:21).
===
Joseph
[JÅ'zeph] - may god add or increaser.
[JÅ'zeph] - may god add or increaser.
The husband of Mary, and foster-father of our Lord (Matt. 1:16-24; 2:13; Luke 1:27; 2:4-43; 3:23; 4:22; John 1:45; 6:42).
The Man of Wood and Nails
It is somewhat unique that two Josephs were associated with Christ, one at His birth and the other at His death. Both of these godly men gave Jesus of their best. In this section we think of Joseph the carpenter, who was present at the manger when Jesus was born, even though he was not His father. While Christ came as the Son of Man, He was never a son of a man.
Joseph's presence at Christ's birth witnesses to a severe test that had emerged triumphant. Mary was the pure young woman he had fallen in love with, and was about to make his wife. Yet the Child she was about to bear would not be his. Seeing her "great with child," without fanfare Joseph was minded to put her away. He never acted rashly with his espoused, although he was baffled by her condition. This serves for all time as an example of godly wisdom and tender consideration for others.
Bitterly disappointed that Mary had apparently betrayed him, yet believing, he made no haste. As a praying man he waited upon God, and his love for and patience with Mary were rewarded. God understood his mental difficulties and rewarded Joseph's conscientious attitude toward Mary by revealing His redemptive plan. God never fails those who carry their anxieties to Him. Joseph received a direct and distinct revelation from God, and at once his fears were banished, and his line of duty made clear.
Tenderly he cared for his dear one as if the Child she was bearing were his own. Overawed by the mystery of it all, that his beloved Mary had been chosen as the mother of the Lord he as a devout Jew had eagerly anticipated, we can imagine how he would superintend every detail of the Nativity.
What holy thoughts must have filled the mind of Mary's guardian. Where suspicion regarding Mary's purity once lurked, strong faith now reigned as he looked into the lovely face of Mary's Child. At last God's promises had been fulfilled and before him was the Babe through whom God's covenants would be established.
When it became necessary because of Herod's hatred to flee into Egypt, Joseph cared for Mary and her first-born Son with reverent devotion until tidings came that Herod was dead, and that they could safely return to their own land. While a shroud of secrecy covers the thirty years Christ spent at home, we can be sure of this, that between Jesus and Joseph there was an affection strong and deep.
Briefly stated, we have these glimpses of Joseph:
I. He was "a son of David" and could claim royal or priestly descent (Matt. 1:20).
II. His family belonged to Bethlehem, David's city.
III. He followed the trade of carpenter, and doubtless taught Christ how to use wood and nails (Matt. 13:55).
IV. He was a pious Israelite, faithful in all the ordinances of the Temple (Luke 2:22-24, 41, 42).
V. He was a kindly, charitable man, treating Mary gently in her time of need (Matt. 1:19; Luke 2:1-7).
VI. He was faithful in his care of Christ, and deserved to be called His "father" (Luke 2:33. John 1:45; 6:42).
VII. He never appears in the Gospels after Christ was twelve years of age and became "a son of the Law" (Luke 2:41-51), which may suggest that he died during the interval. This would explain why Jesus at His death asked John to care for His mother.
VIII. He died, tradition says, at the age of 111 years, when Jesus was but eighteen years of age.
===Today's reading: Ezra 6-8, John 21 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Ezra 6-8
The Decree of Darius
1 King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the archives stored in the treasury at Babylon. 2 A scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana in the province of Media, and this was written on it:
Memorandum:
3 In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem:
Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices, and let its foundations be laid. It is to be sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide, 4 with three courses of large stones and one of timbers. The costs are to be paid by the royal treasury. 5 Also, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, are to be returned to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; they are to be deposited in the house of God....
Today's New Testament reading: John 21
Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish
1 Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3 "I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing....
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