Australia has a proud military tradition and her soldiers often fulfil important independent functions in bureaucracy. But many who don't, who simply are not capable of being in administration, but want a political identity, the Australian Defence League (ADL) might be appealing. Only the ADL is a far right organisation, desperate to be heard and bereft of ideas. There is no intellectual discipline underpinning ADL theory .. they have knee jerk reactions that neither address issues nor solve problems. They oppose multiculturalism and cultural diversity, they oppose immigration, they have economy destroying big government ideas that are similar to the left because they oppose Liberal Party ideals. They are trying to be different to the centrist conservative parties.
Australia has a modern economy but the money the ADL craves is not there. So they created the Australian Tea Party so as to link up with the US variety and sponge off the US political cycle which has lots of cash. Also, the ADL has tried to colonise parliaments and in one case had a local counsellor, Hajnal Ban as a member. Hajnal has a wikipedia entry, the ADL do not. The ADL are not notable according to wikipedia, which suits the ADL who encourage that thought. But their English counterparts, the EDL are known. Unlike other parties in Australia, the ADL do not have gifted policy makers. They have memes that would betray their supporters if they were ever made implemented policy.
Today is the hundredth anniversary of idiot fascists who used force to implement their ideas. They wanted what the Austro Hungarian heir offered, had he lived. But they killed him and his wife and tens of millions died as a result. And still, nothing worked the way they had wanted it. Australia does not have a far right political party presence, and she doesn't need it either.
===
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
===
Matches
- 1098 – Fighters of the First Crusade defeat Kerbogha of Mosull.
- 1360 – Muhammed VI becomes the tenth Nasrid king of Granada after killing his brother-in-law Ismail II.
- 1776 – The Battle of Sullivan's Island ends with the first decisive American victory in the American Revolutionary War leading to the commemoration of Carolina Day.
- 1776 – Thomas Hickey, Continental Army private and bodyguard to General George Washington, is hanged for mutiny and sedition.
- 1838 – Coronation of Victoria of the United Kingdom.
- 1841 – The Paris Opera Ballet premieres Giselle in the Salle Le Peletier
- 1880 – The Australian bushranger Ned Kelly is captured at Glenrowan.
- 1895 – Court of Private Land Claims rules James Reavis' claim to Barony of Arizona is "wholly fictitious and fraudulent."
- 1902 – The U.S. Congress passes the Spooner Act, authorizing President Theodore Roosevelt to acquire rights from Colombia for the Panama Canal.
- 1914 – Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and his wife Sophie are assassinated in Sarajevo by Bosnia Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip, the casus belli of World War I.
- 1919 – The Treaty of Versailles is signed in Paris, bringing fighting to an end in between Germany and the Allies of World War I.
- 1922 – The Irish Civil War begins with the shelling of the Four Courts in Dublin by Free State forces.
- 1926 – Mercedes-Benz is formed by Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz merging their two companies.
- 1942 – World War II: Nazi Germany started its strategic summer offensive against the Soviet Union, codenamed Case Blue
- 1948 – The Cominform circulates the "Resolution on the situation in the Communist Party of Yugoslavia"; Yugoslavia is expelled from the Communist bloc.
- 1948 – Boxer Dick Turpin beats Vince Hawkins at Villa Park in Birmingham to become the first black British boxing champion in the modern era.
- 1950 – Korean War: North Korean Army conducted Seoul National University Hospital Massacre.
- 1956 – in Poznań, workers from HCP factory went to the streets, sparking one of the first major protests against communist government both in Poland and Europe.
- 1967 – Israel annexes East Jerusalem.
- 1969 – Stonewall Riots begin in New York City, marking the start of the Gay Rights Movement.
- 1973 – Elections are held for the Northern Ireland Assembly, which will lead to power-sharing between unionists and nationalists in Northern Ireland for the first time.
- 1976 – The Angolan court sentences US and UK mercenaries to death sentences and prison terms in the Luanda Trial.
- 1981 – A powerful bomb explodes in Tehran, killing 73 officials of Islamic Republic Party.
- 1987 – For the first time in military history, a civilian population is targeted for chemical attack when Iraqi warplanes bombed the Iranian town of Sardasht.
- 1994 – Members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult release sarin gas in Matsumoto, Japan; Seven people are killed, 660 injured.
- 1997 – Holyfield–Tyson II: Mike Tyson is disqualified in the 3rd round for biting a piece off Evander Holyfield's ear.
- 2001 – Slobodan Milošević is deported to ICTY to stand trial.
Hatches
- 1476 – Pope Paul IV (d. 1559)
- 1491 – Henry VIII of England (d. 1547)
- 1503 – Giovanni della Casa, Italian author and poet (d. 1556)
- 1547 – Cristofano Malvezzi, Italian organist and composer (d. 1599)
- 1577 – Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish painter (d. 1640)
- 1703 – John Wesley, English cleric and theologian (d. 1791)
- 1712 – Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Swiss philosopher and polymath (d. 1778)
- 1734 – Jean-Jacques Beauvarlet-Charpentier, French organist and composer (d. 1794)
- 1852 – Charles Cruft, English showman, founded Crufts Dog Show (d. 1938)
- 1875 – Henri Lebesgue, French mathematician (d. 1941)
- 1902 – Richard Rodgers, American composer (d. 1979)
- 1915 – David "Honeyboy" Edwards, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2011)
- 1926 – Mel Brooks, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1932 – Pat Morita, American actor (d. 2005)
- 1941 – Joseph Goguen, American computer scientist, developed the OBJ language (d. 2006)
- 1945 – David Knights, English bass player and producer (Procol Harum)
- 1948 – Kathy Bates, American actress, singer, and director
- 1951 – Lalla Ward, English actress and author
- 1966 – John Cusack, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1977 – Mark Stoermer, American bass player, songwriter, and producer (The Killers)
- 1986 – Shadia Simmons, Canadian actress
- 1989 – Lucy Rose, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1991 – Seohyun, South Korean singer, dancer, and actress (Girls' Generation and Girls' Generation-TTS)
- 1996 – Donna Vekić, Croatian tennis player
Despatches
- 548 – Theodora I, Byzantine wife of Justinian I (b. 500)
- 1194 – Emperor Xiaozong of Song (b. 1127)
- 1836 – James Madison, American politician, 4th President of the United States (b. 1751)
- 1914 – Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg (b. 1868)
- 1914 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (b. 1863)
- 1915 – Victor Trumper, Australian cricketer (b. 1877)
- 1960 – Jake Swirbul, American businessman, co-founded the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation (b. 1898)
- 1975 – Rod Serling, American actor, screenwriter, and producer (b. 1924)
WE NEED THIS
Tim Blair – Saturday, June 28, 2014 (4:17pm)
A fine example for Australian towns and cities to follow:
Sandy Springs, Georgia may look like any other town in America. It has parks, roads, and beautiful places to live. But there’s one thing that separates this town from every other town: Sandy Springsprivatized almost everything.
It seems like a great place. Do read on.
FORTY-TWO YEARS OF HAT
Tim Blair – Saturday, June 28, 2014 (3:52pm)
BARGAIN BUDDY
Tim Blair – Saturday, June 28, 2014 (3:23pm)
Before Lance Franklin had even played one game for Sydney, Peter FitzSimons trashed him:
I predict tears. Many tears before bedtime.
After Franklin’s unsuccessful first match, a vindicated FitzSimons slammed his recruitment as “insanity”. But Sydney is now shooting for ten straight wins, something the club has not accomplished for 80 years, and Franklin is largely responsible:
Lance Franklin’s $10 million price tag is shaping as a massive bargain with the Swans on target to pay off the debt in just two years.In every way you want to measure Sydney’s financial performance Franklin and the Swans are kicking goals.Membership will tip over the 40,000 mark for the first time in the club’s history, an increase of more than 3600 … Corporate support is up a massive $2 million …Franklin has also had another obvious effect on the Swans — he’s helping them win football games.In the last two matches he has been the difference between winning and losing.
I predict tears … from FitzSimons.
WORD EFFED
Tim Blair – Saturday, June 28, 2014 (2:43am)
An inspired decision by Barry Humphries:
The Australian comic, known worldwide for his character Dame Edna Everage, has banned performers from dropping the F-bomb at the next Adelaide Cabaret Festival.“I have found, without wanting to sound prudish, that too many young comedians — many of great brilliance — still resort to the F-word to get a laugh,” Humphries, who is the incoming director of the event, told the Adelaide Advertiser .“So there’s only one rule: I’m banning it. It will be a good discipline for them — and it might be a relief to members of the public. Festival is the only F-word we’re using next year.”
The language-limited are upset:
Adelaide stand-up John Brooks has slammed the idea.“I think it’s a bit rich because (Humphries) is the master of some of the filthiest innuendos ever to pass the lips of someone on the stage or screen,” he said.
Really? Examples, please. Louis CK, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock and Ricky Gervais discussed this topic last year – watch the whole thing, but the f-issue appears at 17:00, 27:40, and 35:20:
HAIRY STRAW
Tim Blair – Saturday, June 28, 2014 (1:35am)
Australia’s newest and fastest-growing activist group, Twitter Women Against Tim, is absolutely seething. Again. Looks like it’ll be a fun weekend. Meanwhile, the strangest line from a previously-linked article is this complaint from Margo Kingston:
Kingston says the final straw was a comment to the effect that she had hair on her palms.“Like I was an animal, just pretending to be human, but not really human at all.”
I’m not really sure if any animals actually have hairy palms – it would kind of defeat their purpose – but that is beside the point. Margo, practically alone among English-speakers older than 30, is unaware that the phrase (not used by me, by the way) doesn’t refer to animals at all.
UPDATE. Clementine Ford sends this note:
“The standard leftist response to satire or criticism is to instantly become all prissy and middle-class, and to beg for the polite respect they decline others.” Is that why you’ve been calling Jane Gilmore all day and threatening her with legal action?
This isn’t true. I called Gilmore on Thursday night and asked if her piece had been legalled prior to publication. She said it had. I pointed out two claims in the opening paragraphs that might be legally problematic and suggested she again submit the piece for a legal check.
She said she hadn’t written those paragraphs, incorrectly denied the piece claimed my site “specialises in personal abuse” (Gilmore: “That’s your word") and asked if I intended to sue for defamation. I said no, not at this time, and repeated my advice that the piece be checked again by a lawyer. This is actually the opposite of threatening to sue – instead, it’s providing a way to avoid any legal problems. Besides which, I’d already linked to the piece, which would be hugely counter-productive if I intended to sue. Also, I did not ask that the piece be taken down.
Our conversation followed an agreement from Gilmore that it would be off the record. Within minutes a distorted version of our chat was on Twitter – via Clementine Ford.
I spoke to Gilmore just once more on Friday morning. Sadly, shortly after asking her what “off the record” means, Gilmore’s phone suddenly developed connectivity problems. A few subsequent attempts to reach her yesterday morning failed. There was no legal threat in our solitary Friday conversation. Indeed, there have been no legal threats.
The Bolt Report tomorrow
Andrew Bolt June 28 2014 (11:06am)
On Sunday on Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm…
Editorial: How did Clive Palmer manage to fool so many warmist journalists so easily? Names named.
My guest: Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews on new plans to reform welfare and handouts.
The panel: former Gillard media advisor Sean Kelly and former Howard chief of staff Grahame Morris.
NewsWatch: Gerard Henderson on giving extremists a platform - and the anti-Murdoch witch-hunt.
Plus spin of the week, the dark side of al Jazeera and more.
The videos of the shows appear here.
===Editorial: How did Clive Palmer manage to fool so many warmist journalists so easily? Names named.
My guest: Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews on new plans to reform welfare and handouts.
The panel: former Gillard media advisor Sean Kelly and former Howard chief of staff Grahame Morris.
NewsWatch: Gerard Henderson on giving extremists a platform - and the anti-Murdoch witch-hunt.
Plus spin of the week, the dark side of al Jazeera and more.
The videos of the shows appear here.
The “nuanced” argument for murdering disobedient women
Andrew Bolt June 28 2014 (10:53am)
Gerard Henderson on the “honour killings” fiasco of the Left-stacked Festival of Dangerous Ideas:
UPDATE
Jeremy Sammut:
===In its infancy, the [Festival of Dangerous Ideas] was essentially a leftist-stack. After criticism of its initial programs, the FODI decided to invite a few conservatives along who invariably end up being targets against whom audiences can attest their higher morality. At the 2014 FODI, Judith Sloan, Tom Switzer and Bettina Arndt will be heard. But the Australian-speaker contingent is dominated by the likes of Jane Caro, Tim Flannery, Dan Ilic, Mark Latham, Chip Rolley and, of course, John Pilger. Only two people with contemporary or previous associations with the Liberal Party are on the speakers’ list. Namely, Malcolm Fraser and John Hewson — both vocal critics of the current Liberal Party leadership…May I suggest an alternative topic than the justification for murdering uppity wives and daughters? How about: “the planet hasn’t actually been warming”. Or is that an idea even more dangerous than murdering women?
(T)he 2014 FODI organisers considered the topic “Honour killings are morally justified” as suitable for discussion among consenting adults. They invited Islamic radical Uthman Badar along to lead the discussion. He heads the Australian arm of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamic organisation which advocates the introduction of sharia law in Australia.
After a decision was made to drop the session, the St James Ethics Centre’s Simon Longstaff tweeted: “The session to explore ‘honour killing’ has been cancelled. Alas, people read the session title — and no further. Just too dangerous.” Later he commented: “Have not the ‘Islamophobes’ already won the day when a person dare not speak out on controversial matters because he is a Muslim.” Later still he added that “the session title was a mistake as it does not do justice to the nuanced argument we would have heard”.
How twee can you get? Only an intellectual would declare that there is a “nuanced argument” worth hearing about murdering women.
UPDATE
Jeremy Sammut:
The fact is that not all questions are worth asking and not all answers are worth listening too.(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
A dangerous idea worth discussing is one that challenges a prevailing orthodoxy and which, if implemented, would generate public and/or private benefits, without generating public or private harms to others.
It should go without saying, but honour killings comprehensively fail this test.
It is disturbing that the Sydney Opera House and the St James Ethics Centre – organisations that claim to provide cultural and thought leadership – failed to understand why it was not worth talking about justifying the murder of women just because they happen to be born as Muslims.
ReachTEL poll: Palmer loses a third of his vote in Fairfax
Andrew Bolt June 28 2014 (10:11am)
Hopeful, if accurate:
===CLIVE Palmer is losing votes in his backyard and would not retain his Queensland seat of Fairfax if an election were held now…(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
(O)ne-third of the people who voted directly for him last September have abandoned him, according to a 7 News-ReachTEL poll…
The poll of 1000 Fairfax voters on Thursday shows his support has tumbled from 26.5 per cent to 17.7 per cent. Liberal National Party support rose from 41.4 per cent to 44 per cent and it would be likely to win back the seat. Labor’s support lifted from 18.2 per cent to 20.2 per cent. Fairfax was the closest lower-house seat at the last election: Mr Palmer won by just 53 votes.
A separate 7 News-ReachTEL poll of 3376 voters nationwide found 35 per cent of voters believed Mr Palmer’s influence was good for Australia, 35 per cent thought it was bad and 30 per cent were undecided.
Whoopi Goldberg’s fashionable racism
Andrew Bolt June 28 2014 (10:04am)
Whoopi Goldberg demonstrates the new racism of the Left in debating Will Cain:
===That is spoken like a true white guy! And I don’t mean it in a bad way!Jim Treacher:
No, you just mean it in a way that’s intended to shut him up.
Goldberg admits she doesn’t know Cain’s background. She doesn’t need to know his background, or anything about him, because she can see the color of his skin. All people with white skin are alike. Right?
Welfare ghettos do not work, and nor does Aboriginal culture
Andrew Bolt June 28 2014 (9:48am)
We cannot expect great improvement in the lives of Aborigines in bush settlements while we valorise Aboriginal culture and keep funding towns kept alive almost solely with welfare payments:
More cultural imperialism by “Europeans” and our institutions may do more good than the kind of pandering we’ve seen too often. From 2007:
===This isn’t a crisis caused by lack of government money:
INCOME management will continue for another two years in the indigenous communities participating in the Cape York Welfare Reform trial.UPDATE
Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews and Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion said the extension of the trial in Aurukun, Coen, Hope Vale and Mossman Gorge would be covered by the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2013…
The Cape York trial, which has received a total of about $100 million from the federal and Queensland governments, includes funding for economic development projects, but is centred on the Family Responsibility Commission.
More cultural imperialism by “Europeans” and our institutions may do more good than the kind of pandering we’ve seen too often. From 2007:
It is difficult to imagine a worse message for vulnerable girls and women on indigenous communities everywhere than the one sent by [Queensland District Court judge Sarah Bradley] over the incident that took place at Aurukun on Cape York two years ago…Then there is the deadly “stolen generations” myth - that ultimate pandering to Aboriginal “culture” and the grievance industry:
As The Australian’s Tony Koch reports today, nine men, six of them juveniles, admitted having sex with the 10-year-old-girl at Aurukun. The six juveniles are aged 14 to 16 years, and the adults aged 17 to 26. Judge Bradley sentenced the adults to six months’ imprisonment, fully suspended for 12 months. The juveniles were each placed on probation for 12 months, with no conviction recorded.
In passing sentence, Judge Bradley gave little indication that she considered the charges to be much more than an episode of tomfoolery that the participants should not repeat. “All of you have pleaded guilty to having sex with a 10-year-old girl,” she said. “All of you have to understand you cannot have sex with a girl under 16. If you do, you are breaking the law.”
Judge Bradley said she accepted the girl involved “was not forced and that she probably agreed to have sex with all of you, but you were taking advantage of a 10-year-old girl and she needs to be protected, and young girls generally in this community need to be protected”.
A senior departmental official yesterday told The Australian that the child involved was sexually abused at age seven and, as a safety measure, was put with various foster families, eventually ending up in 2005 with a non-indigenous family in Cairns. But she was returned nine months later to Aurukun, where she was gang-raped by the nine males.(Thanks to reader Correllio.)
“These non-indigenous people were fantastic - ensuring she went to school, and the father actually took a year off his work to personally supervise this girl,” he said. “But two new social workers were appointed to the north and they expressed the view, which was repeated many times to the investigating committee, that putting an indigenous child with white foster parents was another stolen generation...”
How did Palmer fool so many journalists while saving himself a motza?
Andrew Bolt June 28 2014 (9:00am)
How on earth did so many journalists let themselves be fooled so completely by Clive Palmer’s hoax conference with Al Gore?
Paul Kelly marvels:
Fact is, Palmer was simply scrapping a tax that cost him $6 million a year, but wanted to seem noble in doing it:
UPDATE
Palmer’s plan for an emissions trading scheme one our major trading partners (China, US, Europe, Japan and Korea) all have one too was just some tinsel put out to dazzle and distract warmist journalists. Palmer’s conditions mean the scheme would never happen.
Even Greens leader Christine Milne now admits such an international trading scheme won’t happen any time soon:
===Paul Kelly marvels:
Palmer’s proposal to move an amendment to create a new ETS with a carbon price of zero coming into effect at some unknown time when Australia’s main trading partners establish such a scheme is a grand hoax.The ABC’s Sarah Ferguson:
The purpose was to fool people into thinking he is an enthusiast for action. A surprising number of people were keen to be fooled.
Provided this remains an unconditional amendment — as Palmer says — then it has no leverage. Abbott will not support it. He has no reason to support it. Indeed, it would be sign of serious weakness.
The hoax ETS amendment, therefore, faces certain defeat. But Palmer will be happy that his purpose is achieved. Much of the Thursday morning coverage took him seriously and even elevated him to quasi-heroic status.
Now the green miner is putting himself at the vanguard of climate change policy...The Financial Review headline:
Palmer hijacks Abbott’s vow to repeal carbon taxSydney Morning Herald columnist Mike Carlton:
Amused that the Queensland populists always screw the Tories.The Age headline:
PALMER IN CARBON TAX BLOW TO PMABC boss Mark Scott:
Sensing hyperventilation in The Australian’s editorial room. #palmgoreLaura Tingle:
Clive Palmer’s stunning wedging of not just Tony Abbott but Labor and the Greens means climate change remains on the table as an issue for the next election. But not in the way the Prime Minister envisaged.The Sydney Morning Herald front page:
The lethal message for Tony Abbott is that an emissions trading scheme can be resuscitated – without the agony of renegotiating an entire carbon scheme – when anyone but Abbott is Prime Minister.
Clive Palmer has thrown into chaos Tony Abbott’s plan to abolish the carbon tax, demanding the Prime Minister instead create an emissions trading scheme...The Sydney Morning Herald editorial (falsely claiming Palmer made scrapping the tax conditional on enacting his highly qualified plan for an emissions trading scheme):
At last welcome signs of a positive approach to climate change… The key proposals put on the table by Palmer United Party leader Clive Palmer on Wednesday evening are based on a rationale the Herald has pushed… Mr Palmer revealed the three incoming PUP senators who in effect hold the balance of power would vote to scrap the carbon tax… Crucially, PUP will only do so if it is replaced with a dormant emissions trading scheme… The Palmer plan is a game-changer that recognises, as the Herald has argued, the world is moving quickly towards combined action on global warming.Astonishing. Just astonishing.
Fact is, Palmer was simply scrapping a tax that cost him $6 million a year, but wanted to seem noble in doing it:
This is about self-interest, not the national interest. Palmer is freed from a carbon tax bill likely to be about $6 million annually. He tells the anti-carbon tax brigade that he is keeping his word. He teams up with Al Gore to generate the optics of a climate change activist. He tells the ABC’s Tony Jones that he has changed his mind on climate change because he is concerned “about the wellbeing of the Australian people”.Simply by getting Al Gore to stand next to him, Palmer fooled the cream of the Canberra press gallery - and proved that some people just listen with their eyes.
When the celebrity and atmospherics are swept away, what is Palmer’s core position? It is opposition to the climate change policies of both major parties. He is killing the Labor-Greens ETS, perhaps the most comprehensive ETS in the world, contemptuously saying “we’ll just chuck it out”. He wants to strangle Abbott’s “direct action” policy before it gets any life, again treating Abbott’s policy with contempt. Yet his own ETS proposal is a fraud.
UPDATE
Palmer’s plan for an emissions trading scheme one our major trading partners (China, US, Europe, Japan and Korea) all have one too was just some tinsel put out to dazzle and distract warmist journalists. Palmer’s conditions mean the scheme would never happen.
Even Greens leader Christine Milne now admits such an international trading scheme won’t happen any time soon:
Oh, the entire world won’t move to an emissions trading scheme in the foreseeable future...
From India? Then they aren’t refugees
Andrew Bolt June 28 2014 (8:40am)
If they are from India they are not refugees, but such is the desperation of the Left to attack the Abbott Government border policies that they will accept anyone:
===Passengers claiming to be refugees say they are in a leaking boat 300 kilometres off Christmas Island after spending two weeks at sea during a non-stop journey from India.Note how these boat people had the phone numbers already of the “refugee” activists of the far Left here in Australia, who are turning this into a propaganda event with the active help of sympathetic journalists:
After being contacted by a refugee advocate, Fairfax Media spoke to two of the 153 people allegedly onboard the boat, who told of their plight via satellite phone…
Another man, who spoke Tamil came to the phone saying, ‘’We have come to Christmas Island because we don’t have anything. We have travelled all the way from India…
The boat allegedly left India from Puducherry in the south of India...
Fairfax Media has informed the Australian Maritime Safety Authority of the details of the boat.
Neil Mitchell: don’t mention the jihad
Andrew Bolt June 28 2014 (8:27am)
How far will some journalists go to cover up the link between Islam and terrorism?
Here is 3AW host Neil Mitchell, quizzed by a talkback caller on the terrorist group now rampaging through Iraq:
===Here is 3AW host Neil Mitchell, quizzed by a talkback caller on the terrorist group now rampaging through Iraq:
Damian: I was just wondering if you thought that any of this stuff that was happening in Iraq and Bagdad had anything to do with Islam.
Mitchell: Well, it’s funny you should mention that. I’ll be getting some advice from a Muslim leader after 9 o’clock. I don’t know. I don’t claim to understand it. I look at what’s happening, I read about what’s happening and I can’t claim to understand it.
Damian: Neil, can you tell me what ISIS stands for?
Mitchell: Not off the top, no.
Damian: You don’t know what ISIS stands for?
Mitchell: Well I do know but I don’t have it in front of me. It’s also called ISIL, with an L, isn’t it?
Damian: No, Neil, I think you are being very devious here. You do know what ISIS stands for but you just don’t want to say it.
Mitchell: All right. What’s it stand for?
Damian: I want to hear you say it.
Mitchell: No, you tell me.
Damian: Look, you can’t even say it. Is it that…
Mitchell (interrupting): Islamic State in Iraq and Levant, and Syria.
Damian: Thank you.
Mitchell: So what?
Damian: Now that we’ve got that clear, do you actually think Islam has anything to do with what is going on there?
Mitchell: Of c… Look Damian I just don’t claim to understand it … of course, there’s an Islamic element to it.
Save Our Scenery: rescuing landscape from Palmer’s ban
Andrew Bolt June 28 2014 (8:20am)
It would actually be better to stop all funding to projects to “stop” global warming - other than research:
And anything that saves us from having more landscape scarred by wind farms has to be good.
THE Clean Energy Finance Corporation is likely to be directed away from lending to wind farms in favour of programs that support the Coalition’s “direct action” plan such as energy-efficiency schemes and leasing for solar hot water systems.Still, it’s a useful way to deliver Coalition policy without increasing spending, given Clive Palmer’s silly decision to help the Labor-Greens stop the scrapping of the CEFC.
In the wake of Clive Palmer’s declaration this week that his senators will vote to retain the CEFC, it has emerged that Joe Hockey and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann have the power to alter the CEFC’s investment mandate without parliament being able to reverse the move.
Senior government sources have told The Weekend Australian the CEFC could be instructed to favour direct action-style programs such as providing leasing for households to install solar hot water systems and for energy-efficiency programs instead of wind farms. Twenty-two per cent of the CEFC’s loans in its first year were for wind projects.
And anything that saves us from having more landscape scarred by wind farms has to be good.
===
True wit: Humphries declares war on the F-word
Andrew Bolt June 28 2014 (8:06am)
The great Barry
Humphries bans comedians at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival from getting
cheap laughs by using the F-word. F-ing outrage ensues from those
without true wit. Tim Blair hosts a discussion on the issue.
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G’day,
I gotta hand it to the big boof head from Queensland, because he has really knocked the Greens and the Leftist Media cheer team down a beautiful side step. Did anyone see a photo of the leader of the Greens, Christine Milne and Former Demoncrat Vic President & Global Warming Alarmist Guru, Al Gore actually together whilst he was here? ……I didn’t!, in fact I doubt they ever met. Think about that if you still believe that Al Gore is on some great environmental crusade to save the planet! Also what about the eggs on the faces of the Canberra Press Gallery and all of the other “Useful Idiots” in the Media, who have all drunk the “Cool aide”, that had a Love/Hate relationship with Palmer from day one. Now that their enemies enemy is not as they thought and Palmer is actually going help the Carbon & Mining Taxes be sent to the historical trash bin of ALP Crap Policy, the big cuddly Clive can no longer be seen as a trustworthy friend of the ABC and Co.
I think it’s pretty obvious now to understand just what Turnbull had negotiated with Palmer at
the infamous Chinese Restuarant meeting. Turnbull and his G&Sachs buddies (including Gore)
want an Emissions Trading Scheme badly. It is literally making money out of trading thin air and the
greater part of the Ponzi Scheme than a CO2 Tax or any of the other Marxist redistribution of wealth
agenda’s attached to this whole global AGW scam.
The PM doesn’t believe in AGW or Man-made Climate Change any more than most sensible people do but
his “Direct Action Plan” is a 3 billion dollar political
con to win over swinging voters who can’t vote for the Left but have swallowed the DR Gore’s
Magic Mystical Cure All Elixir called “An InconvieniantTruth” LIE. It’s a case of the old
political adage of appearing to be doing something is always better than doing nothing, even for
this PM. Turnbull has been Machivellian in the design of this and Palmer is as much a puppet as
a player. If the ETS is even on the table as a possible in the near future (regardless of whether
or not the world plays), then Turnbull will be vilified. Remember he lost his leadership because
he backed an ETS. This so called “compromise deal” with the PUP to make sure the CO2 Tax is
repealed has a lot more to do with Turnbull’s future ambitions than getting rid of this insidious
tax. Mark my words, if there is an ETS accepted by the Coalition as a way for the CO2 Tax to
go, then not only will this favour the financial interests of the likes of Big Business Traders like
Gore, Palmer, Turnbull and Co but it will make Turnbull look a lot more saleable when numbers
are counted again for the next leadership spill. Abbott should tell Palmer to stick his Cap &
Trade deal, along with his other stupid ideas and if the Carbon tax repeal is blocked then call
another election. I believe that our PM has the balls to run the country and not to make deals with
egomaniacs like Palmer and that he would win the another Federal Poll.
Godpseed
Zeg
I gotta hand it to the big boof head from Queensland, because he has really knocked the Greens and the Leftist Media cheer team down a beautiful side step. Did anyone see a photo of the leader of the Greens, Christine Milne and Former Demoncrat Vic President & Global Warming Alarmist Guru, Al Gore actually together whilst he was here? ……I didn’t!, in fact I doubt they ever met. Think about that if you still believe that Al Gore is on some great environmental crusade to save the planet! Also what about the eggs on the faces of the Canberra Press Gallery and all of the other “Useful Idiots” in the Media, who have all drunk the “Cool aide”, that had a Love/Hate relationship with Palmer from day one. Now that their enemies enemy is not as they thought and Palmer is actually going help the Carbon & Mining Taxes be sent to the historical trash bin of ALP Crap Policy, the big cuddly Clive can no longer be seen as a trustworthy friend of the ABC and Co.
I think it’s pretty obvious now to understand just what Turnbull had negotiated with Palmer at
the infamous Chinese Restuarant meeting. Turnbull and his G&Sachs buddies (including Gore)
want an Emissions Trading Scheme badly. It is literally making money out of trading thin air and the
greater part of the Ponzi Scheme than a CO2 Tax or any of the other Marxist redistribution of wealth
agenda’s attached to this whole global AGW scam.
The PM doesn’t believe in AGW or Man-made Climate Change any more than most sensible people do but
his “Direct Action Plan” is a 3 billion dollar political
con to win over swinging voters who can’t vote for the Left but have swallowed the DR Gore’s
Magic Mystical Cure All Elixir called “An InconvieniantTruth” LIE. It’s a case of the old
political adage of appearing to be doing something is always better than doing nothing, even for
this PM. Turnbull has been Machivellian in the design of this and Palmer is as much a puppet as
a player. If the ETS is even on the table as a possible in the near future (regardless of whether
or not the world plays), then Turnbull will be vilified. Remember he lost his leadership because
he backed an ETS. This so called “compromise deal” with the PUP to make sure the CO2 Tax is
repealed has a lot more to do with Turnbull’s future ambitions than getting rid of this insidious
tax. Mark my words, if there is an ETS accepted by the Coalition as a way for the CO2 Tax to
go, then not only will this favour the financial interests of the likes of Big Business Traders like
Gore, Palmer, Turnbull and Co but it will make Turnbull look a lot more saleable when numbers
are counted again for the next leadership spill. Abbott should tell Palmer to stick his Cap &
Trade deal, along with his other stupid ideas and if the Carbon tax repeal is blocked then call
another election. I believe that our PM has the balls to run the country and not to make deals with
egomaniacs like Palmer and that he would win the another Federal Poll.
Godpseed
Zeg
Freelance Editorial Cartoonist/Caricaturist
0414293765
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=== Posts from last year ===
4 her, so she can see how I see her===
Cooked gluten free chicken schnitzel with lemon zest and parsley and a sweet potato and coriander mash #wifey #masterchef #glutenfree #schnitzel
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Bridges of New York.
A lot of the shoreline was closed off due to damages caused by the mega storm Sandy. The weather on this night was very warm and there was a host of people hanging out where I took this. My travel companion and friend Deepak stood watch to make certain I was not mugged. A great night! Taken while I was on tour with Yahoo!, as their weather photographer. The new Freedom tower glows on the right side of this image. — in New York, NY.
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PIC: “No Firearms Allowed” at the Safeway in the City of ClaytonIt is good the doors are automatic .. so law abiding citizens don't have to shoot their way in - ed
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this video captured his style and shows it to the world - ed
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Even so, when a video surfaces of Palestinian terrorists firebombing Israeli Defense Forces while hiding behind journalists, you might expect the media to cover it; especially considering that the human shields in the incident are the colleagues and friends of the very reporters and editors ignoring the story. And yet… not a peep from the popular press.
http://blog.camera.org/archives/2013/06/wheres_the_coverage_palestinia_6.html#comments
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There is poetry in the following exchange in Elie Wiesel’s story, “A Man and His Little Sister”:
One more thing.
Yes?
When you speak of your little sister leaving you like that, without a hug, without a goodbye, without wishing you a good journey, will you say that it was not her fault?
It was not your fault.
Then whose fault was it?
I shall find out. And I shall tell. I swear it to you, little sister. I shall.
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What do you think ? There were Nazis who never hurt or killed anyone. Does this mean that these Nazis were all wonderful moderate peace-loving people? Or that only the Nazis who actually murdered were evil?
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An Egged bus traveling through the 'Palestinian' village of Harawa in northern Samaria came under fire on Tuesday morning. You won't read about it in any mainstream media, because thank God no one was hurt.
Terrorists opened fire Tuesday on a bus that was traveling through the village of Hawara, south of Shechem, in Samaria.
No one was hurt.
Large police and army forces arrived on the scene, and located a bullet lodged in the bus's luggage compartment. The security forces are combing the area in search of the shooter.
A similar attack took place in Hawara less than three weeks ago.
Just another morning preparing for 'peace talks'....
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‘Ima kill me a cracka’: Death threats against George Zimmerman, random white people explode during trial ==>http://twitchy.com/2013/
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Thavee Rose Ftk
The Lord is my light and my salvation-
whom shall i fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life-
of whom shall I be afraid?
I am still confident if this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
WAIT FOR THE LORD;
BE STRONG AND TAKE HEART
AND WAIT FOR THE LORD.
(Psalms 27:1,13-14)
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LABOR’S GONSKI CONSKI EXPOSED
Yesterday the Auditor General confirmed that Labor’s so-called Gonski education reforms will result in net spending on education FALLING $20.6m in 2014-15 and $135.6m in 2015-16.
Those running around the place proclaiming “I give a Gonski”, have been hoodwinked.
The Auditor General has made it clear – those that support Labor’s education “reforms”, are supporting CUTTING FUNDS to education by $20.6 million in 2014/5 and a further CUT of $135.6 million in 2015/16.
Just another reminder that Labor can’t be believed or trusted.
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Letting go is hard. for 20 years they were a friend, but I had to walk away 14 years ago .. they weren't good friends .. scratching, gouging taking. Recently I welcomed them back. They wrote "This is why we cannot be friends anymore ... and that breaks my heart It really does ... . Yes, duh, violence breeds violence. you have just been violent to me; now I am violent to you. Look and learn
I am not beating N#### to death and i am molesting you, either. You cannot be a man of justice till you get things in proportion, David."
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What he said was that Oslo was over, the Peace ‘process’ is over and there is no purpose in flogging an idea that was stillborn 20 years ago and hasn’t magically come to life since. He said simply, that Israelis are fed up with pretending there’s anyone on the other side of the table at all. There is not. Not an enemy, not a partner, nothing. No one. He said that the tactic of talking to yourself at the behest of the President of the US or Tony Blair is a dead end. That the so called “Arab Plan” which was concocted by Saudi Arabia in 2002 and pulled off the shelf last month is still the dead letter it always was. He said the details don’t matter because the whole farce is imaginary.
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WALKING IN ERETZ YISRAEL: REDISCOVERY & REAFFIRMATION
(by Bat Zion Susskind-Sacks)
"Even though I own a car, I choose, on many occasions, to walk into town when I need to run errands.
I do it because of what I see and experience along the way. This simple walk becomes a journey each time I embark on it, a journey to rediscover and reaffirm the right decision in coming back to Eretz Yisrael.
It should take no more than about 15-20 minutes of a brisk walk to get to my destination. However, the journey ends up taking much longer. I guess one loses track of time when one enters the path of falling in love with a nation, with a place, with a HOME.
How can I walk by a young mother who is pushing a stroller
where a cheerful young baby is smiling at me? How can I not stop and return a smile, bend down and play with or hold the hand of that tiny spark of hope for Israel and my Jewish people?
How can I pass by a group of youngsters and not stop and express a silent prayer that G-d will watch over them and keep them safe for many years to come?
How can I not stop and offer help to the elderly lady who is carrying the heavy load of groceries and help relieve, at least momentarily, her worries about the hardships of life?
How can I not stop and marvel at these wonderful, brave people, who by no choice of their own were born in this country, caress them with my eyes in an effort to reassure them that all will be well?
How can I not stop and congratulate those I end up striking a conversation with on their decision to move Home when I find out that they are new in this country?
How can I ever stop loving my people? How can I ever stop loving my country? How can I ever stop loving my HOME!?
Shabbat Shalom~" from Kosher Culture Foundation ✡www.facebook.com/
[image via www.kulfoto.com]
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Team! @aliceinframes . Just completed my 395th episode on Kitchen Whiz #Channel9 #GO!#teamwork #kungfuAction
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June 28: Armed Forces Day in the United Kingdom (2014)
- 1651 – Khmelnytsky Uprising: The Zaporozhian Cossacksbegan clashing with forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth at the Battle of Berestechko in theVolhynia Region of present-day Ukraine.
- 1895 – The United States Court of Private Land Claimsruled that the title claimed by James Reavis to 18,600 sq mi (48,000 km2) in present-day Arizona and New Mexico was "wholly fictitious and fraudulent".
- 1914 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were assassinated (Ferdinand's blood-stained uniform pictured) by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip during a motorcade in Sarajevo, sparking the outbreak of World War I.
- 1969 – In response to a police raid at the Stonewall Inn in New York City, groups of gay and transgender people began to riot against New York City Police officers, a watershed event for the worldwide gay rights movement.
- 2004 – The Coalition Provisional Authority dissolved after handing the governance of Iraq to the Iraqi Interim Government.
Events[edit]
- 1098 – Fighters of the First Crusade defeat Kerbogha of Mosull.
- 1360 – Muhammed VI becomes the tenth Nasrid king of Granada after killing his brother-in-law Ismail II.
- 1389 – Battle of Kosovo between Serbian and Turkish armies.
- 1461 – Edward IV is crowned King of England.
- 1519 – Charles V is elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
- 1635 – Guadeloupe becomes a French colony.
- 1651 – The Battle of Beresteczko between Poland and Ukraine starts.
- 1709 – Peter the Great defeats Charles XII of Sweden at the Battle of Poltava.
- 1745 – War of the Austrian Succession: A New England colonial army captures Louisbourg, New France, after a forty-seven-day siege (New Style).
- 1776 – The Battle of Sullivan's Island ends with the first decisive American victory in the American Revolutionary War leading to the commemoration of Carolina Day.
- 1776 – Thomas Hickey, Continental Army private and bodyguard to General George Washington, is hanged for mutiny and sedition.
- 1778 – The American Continentals engage the British in the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse resulting in standstill and British withdrawal under cover of darkness.
- 1807 – Second British invasion of the Río de la Plata; John Whitelock lands at Ensenada on an attempt to recapture Buenos Aires and is defeated by the locals.
- 1838 – Coronation of Victoria of the United Kingdom.
- 1841 – The Paris Opera Ballet premieres Giselle in the Salle Le Peletier
- 1859 – The first conformation dog show is held in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England.
- 1865 – The Army of the Potomac is disbanded.
- 1880 – The Australian bushranger Ned Kelly is captured at Glenrowan.
- 1881 – Secret treaty between Austria and Serbia.
- 1882 – The Anglo-French Convention of 1882 marks the territorial boundaries between Guinea and Sierra Leone.
- 1894 – Labor Day becomes an official US holiday.
- 1895 – El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua form the Greater Republic of Central America.
- 1895 – Court of Private Land Claims rules James Reavis' claim to Barony of Arizona is "wholly fictitious and fraudulent."
- 1896 – An explosion in the Newton Coal Company's Twin Shaft Mine in Pittston City, Pennsylvania results in a massive cave-in that kills 58 miners.
- 1902 – The U.S. Congress passes the Spooner Act, authorizing President Theodore Roosevelt to acquire rights from Colombia for the Panama Canal.
- 1904 – The SS Norge runs aground and sinks
- 1914 – Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and his wife Sophie are assassinated in Sarajevo by Bosnia Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip, the casus belli of World War I.
- 1919 – The Treaty of Versailles is signed in Paris, bringing fighting to an end in between Germany and the Allies of World War I.
- 1921 – Serbian King Alexander I proclaimed the new constitution of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, known thereafter as the Vidovdan Constitution.
- 1922 – The Irish Civil War begins with the shelling of the Four Courts in Dublin by Free State forces.
- 1926 – Mercedes-Benz is formed by Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz merging their two companies.
- 1936 – The Japanese puppet state of Mengjiang is formed in northern China.
- 1940 – Romania cedes Bessarabia (current-day Moldova) to the Soviet Union after facing an ultimatum.
- 1942 – World War II: Nazi Germany started its strategic summer offensive against the Soviet Union, codenamed Case Blue
- 1945 – Poland's Soviet-allied Provisional Government of National Unity is formed over a month after V-E Day.
- 1948 – The Cominform circulates the "Resolution on the situation in the Communist Party of Yugoslavia"; Yugoslavia is expelled from the Communist bloc.
- 1948 – Boxer Dick Turpin beats Vince Hawkins at Villa Park in Birmingham to become the first black British boxing champion in the modern era.
- 1950 – Korean War: Seoul is captured by North Korean troops.
- 1950 – Korean War: Suspected communist sympathizers, argued to be between 100,000 and 200,000 are executed in the Bodo League massacre.
- 1950 – Korean War: Packed with its own refugees fleeing Seoul and leaving their 5th Division stranded, South Korean forces blow up the Hangang Bridge to in attempt to slow North Korea's offensive.
- 1950 – Korean War: North Korean Army conducted Seoul National University Hospital Massacre.
- 1956 – in Poznań, workers from HCP factory went to the streets, sparking one of the first major protests against communist government both in Poland and Europe.
- 1964 – Malcolm X forms the Organization of Afro-American Unity.
- 1967 – Israel annexes East Jerusalem.
- 1969 – Stonewall Riots begin in New York City, marking the start of the Gay Rights Movement.
- 1973 – Elections are held for the Northern Ireland Assembly, which will lead to power-sharing between unionists and nationalists in Northern Ireland for the first time.
- 1976 – The Angolan court sentences US and UK mercenaries to death sentences and prison terms in the Luanda Trial.
- 1978 – The United States Supreme Court, in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke bars quota systems in college admissions.
- 1981 – A powerful bomb explodes in Tehran, killing 73 officials of Islamic Republic Party.
- 1983 – Partial collapse of Connecticut's busy I-95 Mianus River Bridge, killing three.
- 1987 – For the first time in military history, a civilian population is targeted for chemical attack when Iraqi warplanes bombed the Iranian town of Sardasht.
- 1989 – On the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo, Slobodan Milošević delivers the Gazimestan speech at the site of the historic battle.
- 1992 – The Constitution of Estonia is signed into law.
- 1994 – Members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult release sarin gas in Matsumoto, Japan; Seven people are killed, 660 injured.
- 1996 – The Constitution of Ukraine is signed into law.
- 1997 – Holyfield–Tyson II: Mike Tyson is disqualified in the 3rd round for biting a piece off Evander Holyfield's ear.
- 2001 – Slobodan Milošević is deported to ICTY to stand trial.
- 2004 – Sovereign power is handed to the interim government of Iraq by the Coalition Provisional Authority, ending the U.S.-led rule of that nation.
- 2009 – Honduran president Manuel Zelaya is ousted by a local military coup following a failed request to hold a referendum to rewrite the Honduran Constitution. This was the start of the 2009 Honduran political crisis.
Births[edit]
- 1476 – Pope Paul IV (d. 1559)
- 1490 – Albert of Mainz, German archbishop (d. 1545)
- 1491 – Henry VIII of England (d. 1547)
- 1503 – Giovanni della Casa, Italian author and poet (d. 1556)
- 1547 – Cristofano Malvezzi, Italian organist and composer (d. 1599)
- 1577 – Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish painter (d. 1640)
- 1582 – William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele, English politician (d. 1662)
- 1641 – Marie Casimire Louise de La Grange d'Arquien, Polish wife of John III Sobieski (d. 1716)
- 1664 – Nicolas Bernier, French composer (d. 1734)
- 1703 – John Wesley, English cleric and theologian (d. 1791)
- 1712 – Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Swiss philosopher and polymath (d. 1778)
- 1719 – Étienne François, duc de Choiseul, French general and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1785)
- 1734 – Jean-Jacques Beauvarlet-Charpentier, French organist and composer (d. 1794)
- 1742 – William Hooper, American lawyer, physician, and politician (d. 1790)
- 1824 – Paul Broca, French physician, anatomist, and anthropologist (d. 1880)
- 1831 – Joseph Joachim, Austrian violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1907)
- 1836 – Emmanuel Rhoides, Greek journalist (d. 1904)
- 1852 – Charles Cruft, English showman, founded Crufts Dog Show (d. 1938)
- 1867 – Luigi Pirandello, Italian author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1936)
- 1873 – Alexis Carrel, French surgeon and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1944)
- 1875 – Henri Lebesgue, French mathematician (d. 1941)
- 1883 – Pierre Laval, French politician, 101st Prime Minister of France (d. 1945)
- 1884 – Lamina Sankoh, Sierra Leonean banker and politician (d. 1964)
- 1888 – George Challenor, Barbadian cricketer (d. 1947)
- 1890 – Howard Drew, American sprinter (d. 1957)
- 1891 – Esther Forbes, American historian and author (d. 1968)
- 1891 – Carl Panzram, American serial killer (d. 1930)
- 1891 – Carl Andrew Spaatz, American general (d. 1974)
- 1900 – Bob Taggart, Scottish centenarian (d. 2009)
- 1902 – Richard Rodgers, American composer (d. 1979)
- 1906 – Maria Goeppert-Mayer, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
- 1907 – Jimmy Mundy, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1983)
- 1907 – Emily Perry, English actress and dancer (d. 2008)
- 1909 – Eric Ambler, English author (d. 1998)
- 1912 – Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, German physicist and philosopher (d. 2007)
- 1913 – Franz Antel, Austrian director and producer (d. 2007)
- 1913 – Walter Oesau, German pilot (d. 1944)
- 1914 – Aribert Heim, Austrian physician (d. 1992)
- 1915 – David "Honeyboy" Edwards, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2011)
- 1916 – Olle Björklund, Swedish actor and journalist (d. 1981)
- 1917 – Katherine Rawls, American swimmer (d. 1982)
- 1918 – Maxine Stuart, American actress (d. 2013)
- 1918 – William Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw, Scottish politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1999)
- 1920 – A. E. Hotchner, American author and playwright
- 1921 – P. V. Narasimha Rao, Indian lawyer and politician, 9th Prime Minister of India (d. 2004)
- 1922 – Lloyd La Beach, Panamanian sprinter (d. 1999)
- 1922 – Michael Vale, American actor (d. 2005)
- 1923 – Pete Candoli, American trumpet player (d. 2008)
- 1923 – Adolfo Schwelm Cruz, Argentinian race car driver (d. 2012)
- 1923 – Gaye Stewart, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2010)
- 1926 – Mel Brooks, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1927 – Correlli Barnett, English historian
- 1927 – Frank Sherwood Rowland, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012)
- 1928 – Hans Blix, Swedish politician, 33rd Minister for Foreign Affairs for Sweden
- 1928 – Harold Evans, English-American journalist
- 1928 – Cyril Smith, English politician (d. 2010)
- 1930 – Itamar Franco, Brazilian politician, 33rd President of Brazil (d. 2011)
- 1930 – Jack Gold, British film director
- 1931 – Junior Johnson, American race car driver
- 1931 – Lucien Victor, Belgian cyclist (d. 1995)
- 1931 – Patrick Wright, British diplomat
- 1932 – Geoffrey Copland, British physicist
- 1932 – Pat Morita, American actor (d. 2005)
- 1933 – Gusty Spence, Irish politician (d. 2011)
- 1934 – Robert Carswell, Irish judge
- 1934 – Bette Greene, American author
- 1934 – Carl Levin, American lawyer and politician
- 1935 – John Inman, English actor and singer (d. 2007)
- 1936 – Richard H. Cracroft, American author and academic (d. 2012)
- 1936 – Chuck Howley, American football player
- 1937 – Richard Bright, American actor (d. 2006)
- 1937 – George Knudson, Canadian golfer (d. 1989)
- 1937 – Fernand Labrie, Canadian medical researcher
- 1937 – Ron Luciano, American baseball umpire and author (d. 1995)
- 1937 – Tom Magliozzi, American radio host
- 1938 – John Byner, American actor
- 1938 – Leon Panetta, American politician, 23rd United States Secretary of Defense
- 1940 – Karpal Singh, Malaysian lawyer and politician (d. 2014)
- 1940 – Roderick Wright, Scottish bishop (d. 2005)
- 1940 – Muhammad Yunus, Bangladeshi economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1941 – Al Downing, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1941 – Joseph Goguen, American computer scientist, developed the OBJ language (d. 2006)
- 1941 – David Johnston, Canadian academic, lawyer, and politician, 28th Governor-General of Canada
- 1941 – Ann Leslie, Indian-English journalist
- 1942 – Chris Hani, South African politician (d. 1993)
- 1942 – Hans-Joachim Walde, German decathlete (d. 2013)
- 1942 – Frank Zane, American bodybuilder
- 1943 – Jens Birkemose, Danish painter
- 1943 – Donald Johanson, American paleontologist
- 1943 – Klaus von Klitzing, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1944 – Martin Harris, British academic
- 1945 – Ken Buchanan, Scottish boxer
- 1945 – David Knights, English bass player and producer (Procol Harum)
- 1945 – Raul Seixas, Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 1989)
- 1946 – Robert Asprin, American author (d. 2008)
- 1946 – Howard Barker, English playwright
- 1946 – Bruce Davison, American actor and director
- 1946 – David Duckham, English rugby player
- 1946 – Roger Godsiff, English politician
- 1946 – Jaime Guzmán, Chilean lawyer and politician (d. 1991)
- 1946 – Gilda Radner, American actress and singer (d. 1989)
- 1947 – Robert Bondi, American politician
- 1947 – Mark Clark, American activist (d. 1969)
- 1947 – Anny Duperey, French actress and author
- 1947 – Mark Helprin, American journalist and author
- 1947 – Laura Tyson, American economist
- 1948 – Kathy Bates, American actress, singer, and director
- 1948 – Sergei Bodrov, Russian-American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1948 – Deborah Moggach, English writer
- 1948 – John Pugh, English politician
- 1948 – Dominic Walker, English bishop
- 1948 – Daniel Wegner, Canadian-American psychologist and educator (d. 2013)
- 1950 – David Lanz, American pianist
- 1950 – Mauricio Rojas, Chilean-Swedish economist and politician
- 1950 – Chris Speier, American baseball player and coach
- 1951 – Mark Shand, English conservationist and author (d. 2014)
- 1951 – Lalla Ward, English actress and author
- 1952 – Ray Ashcroft, English actor
- 1952 – Pietro Mennea, Italian sprinter and politician (d. 2013)
- 1952 – Jean-Christophe Rufin, French physician and author
- 1954 – A. A. Gill, Scottish author and critic
- 1954 – Alice Krige, South African-English actress
- 1955 – Shirley Cheriton, English actress
- 1955 – Eric Gates, English footballer
- 1955 – Steven M. Greer, American ufologist and author
- 1955 – Thomas Hampson, American opera singer
- 1956 – Amira Hass, Israeli journalist
- 1956 – Noel Mugavin, Australian footballer
- 1957 – Lance Nethery, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1957 – Georgi Parvanov, Bulgarian historian and politician, 4th President of Bulgaria
- 1957 – Mike Skinner, American race car driver
- 1957 – Jim Spanarkel, American basketball player and sportscaster
- 1958 – Donna Edwards, American lawyer and politician
- 1958 – Félix Gray, French singer-songwriter
- 1959 – Clint Boon, English singer and keyboard player (Inspiral Carpets and The Clint Boon Experience)
- 1959 – Bridgette Monet, American pornographic actress
- 1959 – Sally Morgan, British politician
- 1960 – John Elway, American football player
- 1960 – Roland Melanson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1961 – Jeff Malone, American basketball player and coach
- 1961 – Eliezer Melamed, Israeli rabbi and author
- 1962 – Anișoara Cușmir-Stanciu, Romanian long jumper
- 1962 – Artur Hajzer, Polish mountaineer (d. 2013)
- 1962 – Kieth O'dor, English racing driver (d. 1995)
- 1962 – Ann-Louise Skoglund, Swedish hurdler
- 1963 – Peter Baynham, Welsh actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1963 – Charlie Clouser, American keyboard player, songwriter, and producer (Nine Inch Nails)
- 1963 – Wisit Sasanatieng, Thai director and screenwriter
- 1963 – Tierney Sutton, American singer
- 1964 – Mark Grace, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1964 – Francis Hare, Irish and British peer
- 1964 – Tommy Lynn Sells, American serial killer (d. 2014)
- 1964 – DJ Quicksilver, Turkish-German DJ and producer
- 1964 – Steve Williamson, English saxophonist and composer
- 1965 – Belayneh Densamo, Ethiopian long-distance runner
- 1965 – Jessica Hecht, American actress
- 1965 – Sonny Strait, American voice actor and singer
- 1966 – Peeter Allik, Estonian painter and illustrator
- 1966 – Bobby Bare, Jr., American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1966 – John Cusack, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1966 – Mary Stuart Masterson, American actress, director, and producer
- 1966 – Sara Stewart, Scottish actress
- 1967 – Leona Aglukkaq, Canadian politician
- 1967 – Gil Bellows, Canadian actor and producer
- 1967 – Zhong Huandi, Chinese long-distance runner
- 1967 – Lars Riedel, German discus thrower
- 1968 – Chayanne, Puerto Rican singer and actor (Los Chicos)
- 1968 – Adam Woodyatt, English actor
- 1969 – Tichina Arnold, American actress and singer
- 1969 – Danielle Brisebois, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress (New Radicals)
- 1969 – Fabrizio Mori, Italian hurdler
- 1969 – Ayelet Zurer, Israeli-American actress
- 1970 – Mushtaq Ahmed, Pakistani cricketer and coach
- 1970 – Steve Burton, American actor
- 1970 – Tom Merritt, American journalist
- 1970 – Mike White, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1971 – Lorenzo Amoruso, Italian footballer
- 1971 – Fabien Barthez, French footballer
- 1971 – Kenny Cunningham, Irish footballer and coach
- 1971 – Norika Fujiwara, Japanese model and actress
- 1971 – Bobby Hurley, American basketball player and coach
- 1971 – Ron Mahay, American baseball player
- 1971 – Louise Mensch, English politician and author
- 1971 – Aileen Quinn, American actress, singer, and director
- 1971 – Ray Slijngaard, Dutch rapper (2 Unlimited and Ray & Anita)
- 1972 – Ngô Bảo Châu, Vietnamese-French mathematician
- 1972 – Jon Heidenreich, American wrestler
- 1972 – Christopher Leslie, English politician
- 1972 – Alessandro Nivola, American actor
- 1973 – Adrián Annus, Hungarian hammer thrower
- 1973 – Corey Koskie, Canadian baseball player
- 1974 – Rob Dyrdek, American skateboarder, actor, and producer
- 1975 – Ning Baizura, Malaysian singer and producer
- 1975 – Jon Nödtveidt, Swedish singer-songwriter, and guitarist (Dissection and Ophthalamia) (d. 2006)
- 1976 – Shinobu Asagoe, Japanese tennis player
- 1976 – Seth Wescott, American snowboarder
- 1977 – Measha Brueggergosman, Canadian soprano and actress
- 1977 – Chris Spurling, American baseball player
- 1977 – Mark Stoermer, American bass player, songwriter, and producer (The Killers)
- 1977 – Harun Tekin, Turkish singer and guitarist (Mor ve Ötesi)
- 1978 – Ha Ji-won, South Korean actress and singer
- 1978 – Simon Larose, Canadian tennis player
- 1979 – Jeanette Aw, Singaporean actress, singer, and dancer
- 1979 – Felicia Day, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
- 1979 – Kaidi Jekimova, Estonian footballer
- 1979 – Randy McMichael, American football player
- 1979 – Florian Zeller, French author and playwright
- 1979 – Neil Shanahan, Irish racing driver (d. 1999)
- 1980 – Jevgeni Novikov, Estonian footballer
- 1981 – Michael Crafter, Australian singer-songwriter (Confession, I Killed the Prom Queen, Carpathian, and Bury Your Dead)
- 1981 – Guillermo Martínez, Cuban javelin thrower
- 1981 – Brandon Phillips, American baseball player
- 1982 – Ibrahim Camejo, Cuban long jumper
- 1982 – Elaine Tan, English actress
- 1983 – Maui Taylor, Filipino-English model, actress, and singer
- 1984 – Tamara Ecclestone, Italian-English model and television host
- 1985 – Phil Bardsley, English footballer
- 1986 – Kellie Pickler, American singer-songwriter
- 1986 – Shadia Simmons, Canadian actress
- 1987 – Sonata Tamošaitytė, Lithuanian hurdler
- 1987 – Bailey Tzuke, English singer-songwriter
- 1987 – Terrence Williams, American basketball player
- 1988 – Gaku Hamada, Japanese actor
- 1988 – Lacey Schwimmer, American dancer and singer
- 1989 – Nicole Rottmann, Austrian tennis player
- 1989 – Lucy Rose, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1989 – Julia Zlobina, Russian-Azerbaijani figure skater
- 1990 – Nick Purcell, American actor
- 1990 – Jasmine Richards, Canadian actress and singer
- 1990 – Daisy Turner, English model and actress
- 1991 – Seohyun, South Korean singer, dancer, and actress (Girls' Generation and Girls' Generation-TTS)
- 1991 – Kevin De Bruyne, Belgian footballer
- 1991 – Kang Min-hyuk, South Korean drummer, actor and singer (CN Blue).
- 1993 – Daehyun, South Korean singer and dancer (B.A.P)
- 1993 – Bradley Beal, American basketball player
- 1994 – Hussein bin Abdullah, Crown Prince of Jordan
- 1994 – Madeline Duggan, English actress
- 1995 – Kåre Hedebrant, Swedish actor
- 1996 – Donna Vekić, Croatian tennis player
Deaths[edit]
- 548 – Theodora I, Byzantine wife of Justinian I (b. 500)
- 572 – Alboin, Lombard king (b. 530)
- 683 – Pope Leo II (b. 611)
- 767 – Pope Paul I (b. 700)
- 928 – Louis the Blind, Roman emperor (b. 880)
- 1061 – Floris I, Count of Holland (b. 1020)
- 1175 – Andrey Bogolyubsky, Russian saint (b. 1111)
- 1189 – Matilda of England, Duchess of Saxony (b. 1156)
- 1194 – Emperor Xiaozong of Song (b. 1127)
- 1385 – Andronikos IV Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1348)
- 1586 – Primož Trubar, Slovenian author and reformer (b. 1508)
- 1598 – Abraham Ortelius, Flemish cartographer and geographer (b. 1527)
- 1716 – George FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, English general (b. 1665)
- 1813 – Gerhard von Scharnhorst, Prussian general (b. 1755)
- 1834 – Joseph Bové, Russian architect, designed the Triumphal Arch of Moscow (b. 1784)
- 1836 – James Madison, American politician, 4th President of the United States (b. 1751)
- 1880 – Texas Jack Omohundro, American cowboy and actor (b. 1846)
- 1881 – Jules Armand Dufaure, French politician, 33rd Prime Minister of France (b. 1798)
- 1889 – Maria Mitchell, American astronomer (b. 1818)
- 1892 – Alexandros Rizos Rangavis, Greek poet and politician (b. 1810)
- 1913 – Manuel Ferraz de Campos Sales, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 4th President of Brazil (b. 1841)
- 1914 – Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg (b. 1868)
- 1914 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (b. 1863)
- 1915 – Victor Trumper, Australian cricketer (b. 1877)
- 1916 – Ştefan Luchian, Romanian painter (b. 1868)
- 1922 – Velimir Khlebnikov, Russian poet and playwright (b. 1885)
- 1929 – Edward Carpenter, English poet and philosopher (b. 1844)
- 1936 – Alexander Berkman, American author and activist (d. 1870)
- 1946 – Raymond Lawler, American soccer player (b. 1888)
- 1960 – Jake Swirbul, American businessman, co-founded the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation (b. 1898)
- 1962 – Mickey Cochrane, American baseball player and manager (b. 1903)
- 1962 – Cy Morgan, American baseball player (b. 1878)
- 1965 – Red Nichols, American cornet player, bandleader, and composer (The California Ramblers) (b. 1905)
- 1971 – Franz Stangl, Austrian SS officer (b. 1908)
- 1974 – Frank Sutton, American actor (b. 1923)
- 1975 – Constantinos Apostolou Doxiadis, Greek architect (b. 1913)
- 1975 – Serge Reding, Belgian weightlifter (b. 1941)
- 1975 – Rod Serling, American actor, screenwriter, and producer (b. 1924)
- 1976 – Stanley Baker, Welsh actor and producer (b. 1927)
- 1978 – Clifford Dupont, English-Rhodesian politician, 1st President of Rhodesia (b. 1905)
- 1980 – José Iturbi, Spanish pianist and conductor (Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra) (b. 1895)
- 1981 – Terry Fox, Canadian runner and activist (b. 1958)
- 1984 – Yigael Yadin, Israeli archeologist, general, and politician (b. 1917)
- 1985 – Lambros Konstantaras, Greek actor (b. 1913)
- 1985 – Lynd Ward, American author and illustrator (b. 1905)
- 1989 – Joris Ivens, Dutch journalist, director, and producer (b. 1898)
- 1989 – Mike Sebastian, American football player and coach (b. 1910)
- 1992 – Mikhail Tal, Latvian chess player (b. 1936)
- 1992 – Guy Nève, Belgian racing driver (b. 1955)
- 1993 – GG Allin, American singer-songwriter (The Murder Junkies and The Jabbers) (b. 1956)
- 1995 – Petri Walli, Finnish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Kingston Wall) (b. 1969)
- 2000 – Jane Birdwood, Baroness Birdwood, Canadian-English politician and activist (b. 1913)
- 2000 – Nils Poppe, Swedish actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1908)
- 2001 – Mortimer J. Adler, American philosopher and author (b. 1902)
- 2001 – Joan Sims, English actress (b. 1930)
- 2003 – Joan Lowery Nixon, American journalist and author (b. 1927)
- 2003 – Willem Slijkhuis, Dutch runner (b. 1923)
- 2004 – Anthony Buckeridge, English author (b. 1912)
- 2005 – Brenda Howard, American activist (b. 1946)
- 2005 – Michael P. Murphy, American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1976)
- 2006 – Jim Baen, American publisher, founded Baen Books (b. 1943)
- 2006 – George Page, American television host and producer (b. 1935)
- 2006 – Peter Rawlinson, Baron Rawlinson of Ewell, English lawyer and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (b. 1919)
- 2006 – George Unwin, English pilot and commander (b. 1913)
- 2007 – Eugene B. Fluckey, American admiral, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1913)
- 2007 – Kiichi Miyazawa, Japanese politician, 78th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1919)
- 2008 – Ruslana Korshunova, Kazakhstani model (b. 1987)
- 2009 – A. K. Lohithadas, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1955)
- 2009 – Billy Mays, American salesman (b. 1958)
- 2009 – Fred Travalena, American comedian and actor (b. 1942)
- 2010 – Bill Aucoin, American band manager (b. 1943)
- 2010 – Robert Byrd, American lawyer and politician (b. 1917)
- 2011 – Angélico Vieira, Portuguese singer and actor (D'ZRT) (b. 1982)
- 2012 – Richard Isay, American psychiatrist and author (b. 1934)
- 2012 – Leontine T. Kelly, American bishop (b. 1920)
- 2012 – Zhang Ruifang, Chinese actress (b. 1918)
- 2012 – Robert Sabatier, French author and poet (b. 1923)
- 2012 – Doris Sams, American baseball player (b. 1927)
- 2012 – Chris Sanderson, Canadian lacrosse player and coach (b. 1974)
- 2012 – Norman Sas, American businessman (b. 1925)
- 2012 – Paul Stassino, Greek actor (b. 1930)
- 2013 – Yiye Ávila, Puerto Rican televangelist (b. 1925)
- 2013 – Bhavna Chikhalia, Indian politician (b. 1955)
- 2013 – Fred Gibson, Jamaican-English cricketer (b. 1912)
- 2013 – Ted Hood, American sailor (b. 1927)
- 2013 – Tamás Katona, Hungarian historian and politician (b. 1932)
- 2013 – Kenneth Minogue, New Zealand-Australian political scientist and academic (b. 1930)
- 2013 – Matt Osborne, American wrestler (b. 1957)
- 2013 – F.D. Reeve, American author and academic (b. 1928)
- 2013 – David Rubitsky, American sergeant (b. 1917)
- 2013 – Charlie L. Russell, American playwright (b. 1932)
- 2013 – Silvi Vrait, Estonian singer and actress (b. 1951)
Holidays and observances[edit]
- Christian Feast Day:
- Constitution Day (Ukraine)
- Earliest day on which Vartavar can fall, while August 1 is the latest; celebrated on the 14th weeks after Easter. (Armenia)
- Family Day (Vietnam)
- Poznań Remembrance Day (Poland)
- Soviet Occupation Day (Moldova)
- Vidovdan, celebrating St. Vitus and an important day in Serbian history. (Eastern Orthodox Church)
“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” Matthew 16:25 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
"Only ye shall not go very far away."
Exodus 8:28
Exodus 8:28
This is a crafty word from the lip of the arch-tyrant Pharaoh. If the poor bondaged Israelites must needs go out of Egypt, then he bargains with them that it shall not be very far away; not too far for them to escape the terror of his arms, and the observation of his spies. After the same fashion, the world loves not the non-conformity of nonconformity, or the dissidence of dissent; it would have us be more charitable and not carry matters with too severe a hand. Death to the world, and burial with Christ, are experiences which carnal minds treat with ridicule, and hence the ordinance which sets them forth is almost universally neglected, and even condemned. Worldly wisdom recommends the path of compromise, and talks of "moderation." According to this carnal policy, purity is admitted to be very desirable, but we are warned against being too precise; truth is of course to be followed, but error is not to be severely denounced. "Yes," says the world, "be spiritually minded by all means, but do not deny yourself a little gay society, an occasional ball, and a Christmas visit to a theatre. What's the good of crying down a thing when it is so fashionable, and everybody does it?" Multitudes of professors yield to this cunning advice, to their own eternal ruin. If we would follow the Lord wholly, we must go right away into the wilderness of separation, and leave the Egypt of the carnal world behind us. We must leave its maxims, its pleasures, and its religion too, and go far away to the place where the Lord calls his sanctified ones. When the town is on fire, our house cannot be too far from the flames. When the plague is abroad, a man cannot be too far from its haunts. The further from a viper the better, and the further from worldly conformity the better. To all true believers let the trumpet-call be sounded, "Come ye out from among them, be ye separate."
Evening
"Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called."
1 Corinthians 7:20
1 Corinthians 7:20
Some persons have the foolish notion that the only way in which they can live for God is by becoming ministers, missionaries, or Bible women. Alas! how many would be shut out from any opportunity of magnifying the Most High if this were the case. Beloved, it is not office, it is earnestness; it is not position, it is grace which will enable us to glorify God. God is most surely glorified in that cobbler's stall, where the godly worker, as he plies the awl, sings of the Saviour's love, aye, glorified far more than in many a prebendal stall where official religiousness performs its scanty duties. The name of Jesus is glorified by the poor unlearned carter as he drives his horse, and blesses his God, or speaks to his fellow labourer by the roadside, as much as by the popular divine who, throughout the country, like Boanerges, is thundering out the gospel. God is glorified by our serving him in our proper vocations. Take care, dear reader, that you do not forsake the path of duty by leaving your occupation, and take care you do not dishonour your profession while in it. Think little of yourselves, but do not think too little of your callings. Every lawful trade may be sanctified by the gospel to noblest ends. Turn to the Bible, and you will find the most menial forms of labour connected either with most daring deeds of faith, or with persons whose lives have been illustrious for holiness. Therefore be not discontented with your calling. Whatever God has made your position, or your work, abide in that, unless you are quite sure that he calls you to something else. Let your first care be to glorify God to the utmost of your power where you are. Fill your present sphere to his praise, and if he needs you in another he will show it you. This evening lay aside vexatious ambition, and embrace peaceful content.
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Athaliah
The Woman Who Was a Notorious Murderess
Name Meaning - Taken away of the Lord, or Jehovah has afflicted. Athaliah is also the name of two males ( 1 Chronicles 8:26, 27; Ezra 8:7).
Family Connections - She was the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, and so was half Israelite and half Phoenician, and she personified all the evil of her ill-famed parents and transferred the poison of idolatry into Jerusalem's veins. She was the granddaughter of Omri, 6th king of Israel, "who waded through slaughter to a throne he never inherited." Athaliah married Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat. After many years of strife between the kingdoms of Judah and Israel political relations were more friendly, and as a mother of political expediency on the part of Jehoshaphat - which remains a blot upon his otherwise good memory - he gave his eldest son, Jehoram, in marriage to Athaliah whose brothers, loyal to the worship of Jehovah were murdered by Jehoram. Of this union Ahaziah was born who, with such a revolting figure as a mother, licentious and the personification of despicable arrogance, never had a chance to develop finer qualities of character. With such a mother as his wicked counselor what else could he do but walk in the ways of godless Ahab (2 Chronicles 22:3).
After reigning for eight years Jehoram died, unmourned, of a predicted incurable disease. While he reigned, he was dominated by Athaliah who had the stronger character of the two, and who, having inherited from her evil mother strength of will and fanatical devtion to the worship of Baal, made Judah idolatrous. Ahaziah only reigned for a year. Wounded in battle by Jehu, he fled to Megiddo, where he died, and his wicked mother (2 Chronicles 24:7 ) became envious of the throne. But the sons of Ahaziah stood in her way, and with fanatical ambition she seized the opportunity and massacred all the legal heirs - so she thought. This wholesale, merciless, cruel-hearted murderess sought to exterminate the last vestiges of the House of David through which the promised Messiah was to come. Behind her dastardly crime to destroy "The Seed Royal" we can detect the evil machinations of the devil - a murderer from the beginning - to annihilate the promised seed of the woman predestined to bruise the satanic head. A bad woman bent on destruction is doubly dangerous.
After putting to death her young grandsons, Athaliah reigned for six years, and was the only woman to reign as queen of Judah. The daughter of a king, wife of a king, mother of a king, she is now queen. While her husband reigned she was the powerbehind the throne - now she is the poweron the throne, and proof of her energy, forcefulness and ability are seen in the length of her reign. A despotic ruler, her every gesture had to be obeyed. During her reign part of the Temple of Jehovah was pulled down and the material used in the building of a temple of Baal. But the God who over-rules in the destinies of men and nations, intervened to redeem His promise of a Saviour from the tribe of Judah.
Unknown to Athaliah as she set out to massacre all her grandsons, the youngest was hid from the orgy of destruction. The sister of Ahaziah, Jehosheba, wife of Jehoiada the high priest hid Joash until he was seven years old ( 2 Kings 11:2; 2 Chronicles 22:11). Jehoiada had plotted to put Joash (Jehoash) on the throne and waited for the opportune moment to declare the remaining son of Ahaziah the lawful king of Judah. Athaliah came into the Temple as the coronation of Joash took place, and rending her robe, cried: "Treason!" To save the Temple from being defiled with her evil blood she was slain just outside the door where the avenging guards waited to end her infamous life. Thus, as Edith Deen expresses it,
The horses trampled over her body where she lay dead at the gates. In her miserable end Athaliah bore a singular resemblance to her mother Jezebel, who was abandoned to the dogs. Athaliah was left in a horse-path, to be trampled upon. Like her mother she died a queen, but without a hand to help her or an eye to pity her.
Among the lessons one can gather from the record of the murderess is that we reap what we sow. To Athaliah life was cheap, and thus those who thwarted her purpose must be destroyed. But taking the sword, she perished by it. She breathed out murder, and was in turn murdered. A further lesson we learn from her stained history is that no one can thwart God's purposes of grace. Having promised a sinful world a Saviour, none could make such a promise null and void. Persecution and martyrdom have never been able to destroy the loyal worship of the true God. Idolatry and infidelity cannot possibly annihilate the imperishable Word of God. As we leave the shameful story of Athaliah we find ourselves in full agreement with the summary of her bloody career as given by Dr. Robert G. Lee -
Her very name is an execration. She put the whole nation under the shadow of a great horror. She trampled on all faith. She violated all obligation. She lived with the shrieks of those she butchered in her ears. She lived with her hands red with the blood of princes and princesses. She died, frantic with rage, with the accusation of Treason on her lips. She died in the barnyard under the battleaxes of an aroused people.
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Tychicus
[Tĭch'ĭcŭs] - fortunate or fortuitous. A Christian in Asia Minor, who traveled in advance of Paul as well as with him at times (Acts 20:4). Paul sent him to Ephesus where he delivered, and likely read, the circular letter, the Epistle to the Ephesians, to the Church there (Eph. 6:21). Then he went to Colosse and did the same with Colossians (Col. 4:7 ). He also had a mission to fulfill in Crete (2 Tim. 4:12; Titus 3:12). Paul speaks of him in affectionate terms - "A brother beloved and faithful minister in the Lord," and able to "comfort your hearts."
[Tĭch'ĭcŭs] - fortunate or fortuitous. A Christian in Asia Minor, who traveled in advance of Paul as well as with him at times (Acts 20:4). Paul sent him to Ephesus where he delivered, and likely read, the circular letter, the Epistle to the Ephesians, to the Church there (Eph. 6:21). Then he went to Colosse and did the same with Colossians (Col. 4:7 ). He also had a mission to fulfill in Crete (2 Tim. 4:12; Titus 3:12). Paul speaks of him in affectionate terms - "A brother beloved and faithful minister in the Lord," and able to "comfort your hearts."
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Today's reading: Job 8-10, Acts 8:26-40 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Job 8-10
Bildad
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
2 "How long will you say such things?
Your words are a blustering wind.
3 Does God pervert justice?
Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
4 When your children sinned against him,
he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.
5 But if you will seek God earnestly
and plead with the Almighty,
6 if you are pure and upright,
even now he will rouse himself on your behalf
and restore you to your prosperous state.
7 Your beginnings will seem humble,
so prosperous will your future be.
Your words are a blustering wind.
3 Does God pervert justice?
Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
4 When your children sinned against him,
he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.
5 But if you will seek God earnestly
and plead with the Almighty,
6 if you are pure and upright,
even now he will rouse himself on your behalf
and restore you to your prosperous state.
7 Your beginnings will seem humble,
so prosperous will your future be.
Today's New Testament reading: Acts 8:26-40
Philip and the Ethiopian
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road-the desert road-that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza."27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means "queen of the Ethiopians"). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. 29The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it...."
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