Thu Nov 20th Todays News

Under the rock

Obeid, McDonald to be charged from ICAC investigation. Their conduct is a thread leading to the heart of the ALP. Former Premier of NSW Nathan Rees has referred to the conduct of the duo as having led to serious damage of the body politic in NSW, but Rees diminishes that by referring to Liberal Party people who got caught in faux corruption charges. ALP Leader in NSW Robertson also pats himself on the back pointing out the duo have been dumped by the ALP. But the corruption of the duo was kindled inside the ALP, not the Liberal Party, and does not end with the duo. In fact, both Rees and Robertson have yet to answer for their part in fostering the corruption surrounding the duo, some of which does not include the duo. A minister, ALP who was a pedophile is in jail, but the whistleblower that outed him was shabbily treated. The ALP went through many leaders, and the wheels stopped after Robertson had been let in by Obeid. There is no exemplar conduct of the ALP suggesting they have reformed or cleaned up corruption. 

Protecting the ALP from criticism is the job of the biased ABC. And for the public broadcaster, their conduct is corrupt, as their charter does not cover the activity. To call the ABC merely biased, which is evident, is to deny what is also apparent, that the ABC has a depraved indifference to victims of ALP corruption. They have a narrative markedly different from reality and they rely on support from their media stablemates to maintain the narrative. Which is why ALP corruption going back decades and involving drugs, murder and pedophilia has not been prosecuted. They laud the corrupt and incompetent. But as to the incompetent, while there is much evidence they were in fact corrupt, there is no reason to assume they were merely inept. But if the ABC wish to show they are inept and not corrupt, they should provide the evidence. Media Watch hasn't. 

Also under the rock is the bigot comic Leunig. The equivocation of the ABC that there is fighting on both sides in Palestine ignores the truth that terrorism is being committed by the so called Palestinians and that Israel is acting with extraordinary discipline in the face of that terrorism. Leunig has labelled Israel as Nazis in his comics. That is propaganda Goebels might have been proud of. But in his defence, Leunig wonders why his anti semitism is being pointed to at all. It is because it is a character flaw that is unbecoming in a successful comic and unacceptable in the public domain unchallenged. It should fall foul of 18c, only that law is selectively used, and leftist bigots are protected. 

Also under the rock is the Human Rights Council who have endorsed people smugglers drowning asylum seekers as preferable to an orderly immigration scheme. HRC have endangered aboriginal children by championing a dangerous myth of a stolen generation. HRC champion the bad law of 18c and they pay money to leftists, whom they laud, not conservatives, whom they ignore or oppose. 

All of the above will focus on idiots or inflated shortcomings of conservatives. It is the case conservatives get it wrong sometimes. Lambie is not a conservative, and she has a strong pro ALP voting record. But the above will attempt to hold conservatives to account for Lambie's actions. So now, we will give advice to Mr Abbott regarding popularity and getting things done. Don't worry mate. Just keep doing your best and voters will reward you. 

from 2013

The well remunerated ABC are aiming for a diplomatic incident between Australia and Indonesia. They hope that people will drown, and they blame Abbott for Rudd's indiscretions. But not all Rudd's indiscretions. There is the matter of Rudd's attempted assassination of the top leaders of Timor in '08. No media reports about that because it doesn't reflect badly on Abbott. Nothing that has been trumped up between Australia and Indonesia reflects badly on Abbott, but Indonesia is gearing up for election and media are allowing grandstanders to capture the public eye at the expense of good government. It is illustrative of what the media do in Australia too, which is why the Liberal Government in Victoria is struggling. Certainly the ALP offer nothing beyond corruption for Victorians, but the media would have you believe Victorians hunger for bad government. 

Zero Tolerance works to stop violence. Police need this scope to address drunken violence which has claimed lives recently. Good government would act to implement it. Mr O'Farrell, will you act on this? 

ALP leaders may not have integrity, but they have conviction that they are right. That kind of hubris can't be healthy, and evidently isn't. Still, it allowed a bad marriage between the ALP and Greens. But like all bad marriages, there is now a dispute over how to divide the innocent ones. The wisdom of Solomon assumes a good parent. Neither fits that description. They kill asylum seekers just to appear compassionate. Is there hope for ALP leader Shorten? Bolt thought so for a few moments, but no. Shorten has all the ability of a Nathan Reese who has stepped down as ALP shadow minister in NSW after caught having an extra marital affair with a constituent. I still won't contact Zangari, who is my local member. But I know Zangari won't help me because he says so. 

A special shout out to Pope Francis. I'm not Catholic, but approve of his message and actions. Not all conservatives agree on everything. That is something that lefties do, and it results in group think. which results in things like the Obama Presidency and NSW ALP corruption. Francis is right to point to what unites his flock, not dwell on what divides it. But then Francis is not paid to lie and mislead as the ABC is. Also, many applause from me to the Executive Council of Australia Jewry who made a media release on the Armenian Genocide issue. I agree with the executive council on each point. Free speech means that idiot is allowed to say what he allegedly thinks. It also means I am free to show how stupid such 'thoughts' are. To suggest the killing of a million people over years was not something a government is responsible for is no different to voting for a person who has a particular skin colour. It is bigoted and inexcusable. It is irresponsible and natural justice suggests that it be addressed and redressed. I note it is not technically feasible to raise the dead or take back torture, so monetary compensation is part of what must happen. Also, those who have held up the process of natural justice should face jail.
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Historical Perspective on this day

In 284, Diocletian was chosen as Roman emperor. In 762, during the An Shi Rebellion, the Tang dynasty, with the help of Huihe tribe, recaptured Luoyang from the rebels. In 1194, Palermo was conquered by Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor. In 1407, a truce between John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy and Louis of Valois, Duke of Orléans was agreed upon under the auspices of John, Duke of Berry. Orléans would be assassinated three days later by Burgundy. In 1695, Zumbi, the last of the leaders of Quilombo dos Palmares in early Brazil, was executed by the forces of Portuguese bandeirante Domingos Jorge Velho. In 1739, start of the Battle of Porto Bello between British and Spanish forces during the War of Jenkins' Ear. In 1776, American Revolutionary War: British forces landed at the Palisades and then attacked Fort Lee. The Continental Army started to retreat across New Jersey. In 1789, New Jersey became the first U.S. state to ratify the Bill of Rights. 

In 1805, Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio premiered in Vienna. In 1820, an 80-ton sperm whale attacked the Essex (a whaling ship from Nantucket, Massachusetts) 2,000 miles from the western coast of South America. (Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick was in part inspired by this story.) In 1845, Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata: Battle of Vuelta de Obligado. In 1861, American Civil War: Secession ordinance was filed by Kentucky's Confederate government. In 1910, Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero issued the Plan de San Luis Potosí, denouncing Mexican President Porfirio Díaz, calling for a revolution to overthrow the government of Mexico, effectively starting the Mexican Revolution. In 1917, World War I: Battle of Cambrai began – British forces made early progress in an attack on German positions but were later pushed back. Also, Ukraine was declared a republic.

In 1936, José Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder of the Falange, was killed by a republican execution squad. In 1940, World War II: Hungary became a signatory of the Tripartite Pact, officially joining the Axis powers. In 1943, World War II: Battle of Tarawa (Operation Galvanic) began – United States Marines landed on Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands and suffered heavy fire from Japanese shore guns and machine guns. In 1945, Nuremberg trials: Trials against 24 Nazi war criminals started at the Palace of Justice at Nuremberg. In 1947, The Princess Elizabeth married Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, who became the Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey in London. In 1952, Slánský trials – a series of Stalinist and anti-Semitic show trials in Czechoslovakia. In 1962, Cuban missile crisis ended: In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, U.S. President John F. Kennedy ended the quarantine of the Caribbean nation. In 1968, a total of 78 miners were killed in an explosion at the Consolidated Coal Company’s No. 9 mine in Farmington, West Virginia in the Farmington Mine disaster In 1969, Vietnam War: The Plain Dealer published explicit photographs of dead villagers from the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam. Also, Occupation of Alcatraz: Native American activists seized control of Alcatraz Island until being ousted by the U.S. Government on June 11, 1971.

In 1974, the United States Department of Justice files its final anti-trust suit against AT&T Corporation. This suit later led to the breakup of AT&T and its Bell System. In 1977, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel, when he met Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and spoke before the Knesset in Jerusalem, seeking a permanent peace settlement. In 1979, Grand Mosque Seizure: About 200 Sunni Muslims revolted in Saudi Arabia at the site of the Kaaba in Mecca during the pilgrimage and took about 6000 hostages. The Saudi government received help from Pakistani special forces to put down the uprising. In 1980, Lake Peigneur drained into an underlying salt deposit. A misplaced Texaco oil probe had been drilled into the Diamond Crystal Salt Mine, causing water to flow down into the mine, eroding the edges of the hole.
1982 – The General Union of Ecuadorian Workers (UGTE) is founded. In 1982, Microsoft Windows 1.0 was released. 1989, Velvet Revolution: The number of protesters assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia swelled from 200,000 the day before to an estimated half-million.

In 1991, an Azerbaijani MI-8 helicopter carrying 19 peacekeeping mission team with officials and journalists from Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan was shot down by Armenian military forces in Khojavend District of Azerbaijan. In 1992, in England, a fire broke out in Windsor Castle, badly damaging the castle and causing over £50 million worth of damage. In 1993, Savings and loan crisis: The United States Senate Ethics Committee issued a stern censure of California senator Alan Cranston for his "dealings" with savings-and-loan executive Charles Keating. In 1994, the Angolan government and UNITA rebels signed the Lusaka Protocol in Zambia, ending 19 years of civil war. (Localized fighting resumed the next year.) In 1998, a court in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan declared accused terrorist Osama bin Laden "a man without a sin" in regard to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. Also, the first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, was launched. In 2001, in Washington, D.C., U.S. President George W. Bush dedicated the United States Department of Justice headquarters building as the Robert F. Kennedy Justice Building, honoring the late Robert F. Kennedy on what would have been his 76th birthday. In 2003, after the November 15 bombings, a second day of the 2003 Istanbul bombings occured in Istanbul, Turkey, destroying the Turkish head office of HSBC Bank AS and the British consulate. In 2008, after critical failures in the US financial system began to build up after mid-September, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached its lowest level since 1997.
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This column welcomes feedback and criticism. The column is not made up but based on the days events and articles which are then placed in the feed. So they may not have an apparent cohesion they would have had were they made up.
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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

Or the US President at
https://www.change.org/p/barack-obama-change-this-injustice#
or
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/change-injustice-faced-david-daniel-ball-after-he-reported-bungled-pedophile-investigation-and/b8mxPWtJ or http://wh.gov/ilXYR

Douglas Sutherland-Bruce via David Daniel Ball

Mr Ball, I will not sign your petition as it will do no good, but I will share your message and ask as many of friends who read it, to share it also. Let us see if we cannot use the power of the internet to spread the word of these infamous killings. As a father and a former soldier, I cannot, could not, justify ignoring this appalling action by the perpetrators, whoever they may; I thank you Douglas. You are wrong about the petition. Signing it is as worthless and meaningless an act as voting. A stand up guy would know that. - ed

Lorraine Allen Hider I signed the petition ages ago David, with pleasure, nobody knows what it's like until they've been there. Keep heart David take care.

I have begun a bulletin board (http://theconservativevoice.freeforums.net) which will allow greater latitude for members to post and interact. It is not subject to FB policy and so greater range is allowed in posts. Also there are private members rooms in which nothing is censored, except abuse. All welcome, registration is free.
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Happy birthday and many happy returns Daniel Nguyen. Born on the same day, across the years, along with

• 270 – Maximinus II, Roman emperor (d. 313)
• 1877 – Herbert Pitman, English ship officer, survivor of the Sinking of the RMS Titanic (d. 1961)
• 1889 – Edwin Hubble, American astronomer (d. 1953)
• 1908 – Alistair Cooke, English-American journalist (d. 2004)
• 1924 – Benoît Mandelbrot, Polish-French mathematician (d. 2010)
• 1925 – Robert F. Kennedy, American politician, 64th United States Attorney General (d. 1968)
• 1926 – John Gardner, English author (d. 2007)
• 1956 – Bo Derek, American actress and producer
• 2000 – Connie Talbot, English singer

November 20: Universal Children's Day; Transgender Day of Remembrance; National Sovereignty Day in Argentina

• 284 – Diocletian (bust pictured) became Roman emperor, eventually establishing reforms that ended the Crisis of the Third Century.
• 1739 – War of Jenkins' Ear: A British naval force captured the settlement of Portobelloin the Spanish Main (modern Panama).
• 1902 – While discussing how to promote the newspaper L'Auto, sports journalist Géo Lefèvre came up with the idea of holding a cycling race that later became known as the Tour de France.
• 1968 – An explosion at a coal mine in West Virginia, US, killed 78 people and served as the catalyst for several new laws that were passed to protect miners.
• 1994 – In accordance with the Lusaka Protocol, the Angolan government signed a ceasefire with UNITA rebels in a failed attempt to end the Angolan Civil War.

You've been busted being great. Don't blame the ear, it what is heard. You have been promoted. Try not to blow things out of proportion. We have a cease fire. Let us party. 
Matches

• 284 – Diocletian is chosen as Roman emperor.
• 762 – During the An Shi Rebellion, the Tang dynasty, with the help of Huihe tribe, recaptures Luoyang from the rebels.
• 1194 – Palermo is conquered by Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1407 – A truce between John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy and Louis of Valois, Duke of Orléans is agreed upon under the auspices of John, Duke of Berry. Orléans would be assassinated three days later by Burgundy.
• 1695 – Zumbi, the last of the leaders of Quilombo dos Palmares in early Brazil, is executed by the forces of Portuguese bandeirante Domingos Jorge Velho.
• 1739 – Start of the Battle of Porto Bello between British and Spanish forces during the War of Jenkins' Ear.
• 1776 – American Revolutionary War: British forces land at the Palisades and then attack Fort Lee. The Continental Army starts to retreat across New Jersey.
• 1789 – New Jersey becomes the first U.S. state to ratify the Bill of Rights.
• 1805 – Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio premieres in Vienna.
• 1820 – An 80-ton sperm whale attacks the Essex (a whaling ship from Nantucket, Massachusetts) 2,000 miles from the western coast of South America. (Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick is in part inspired by this story.)
• 1845 – Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata: Battle of Vuelta de Obligado.
• 1861 – American Civil War: Secession ordinance is filed by Kentucky's Confederate government.
• 1910 – Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero issues the Plan de San Luis Potosí, denouncing Mexican President Porfirio Díaz, calling for a revolution to overthrow the government of Mexico, effectively starting the Mexican Revolution.
• 1917 – World War I: Battle of Cambrai begins – British forces make early progress in an attack on German positions but are later pushed back.
• 1917 – Ukraine is declared a republic.
• 1936 – José Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder of the Falange, is killed by a republican execution squad.
• 1940 – World War II: Hungary becomes a signatory of the Tripartite Pact, officially joining the Axis powers.
• 1943 – World War II: Battle of Tarawa (Operation Galvanic) begins – United States Marines land on Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands and suffer heavy fire from Japanese shore guns and machine guns.
• 1945 – Nuremberg trials: Trials against 24 Nazi war criminals start at the Palace of Justice at Nuremberg.
• 1947 – The Princess Elizabeth marries Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, who becomes the Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey in London.
• 1952 – Slánský trials – a series of Stalinist and anti-Semitic show trials in Czechoslovakia.
• 1962 – Cuban missile crisis ends: In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, U.S. President John F. Kennedy ends the quarantine of the Caribbean nation.
• 1968 - A total of 78 miners are killed in an explosion at the Consolidated Coal Company’s No. 9 mine in Farmington, West Virginia in the Farmington Mine disaster
• 1969 – Vietnam War: The Plain Dealer publishes explicit photographs of dead villagers from the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam.
• 1969 – Occupation of Alcatraz: Native American activists seize control of Alcatraz Island until being ousted by the U.S. Government on June 11, 1971.
• 1974 – The United States Department of Justice files its final anti-trust suit against AT&T Corporation. This suit later leads to the breakup of AT&T and its Bell System.
• 1977 – Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel, when he meets Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and speaks before the Knesset in Jerusalem, seeking a permanent peace settlement.
• 1979 – Grand Mosque Seizure: About 200 Sunni Muslims revolt in Saudi Arabia at the site of the Kaaba in Mecca during the pilgrimage and take about 6000 hostages. The Saudi government receives help from Pakistani special forces to put down the uprising.
• 1980 – Lake Peigneur drains into an underlying salt deposit. A misplaced Texaco oil probe had been drilled into the Diamond Crystal Salt Mine, causing water to flow down into the mine, eroding the edges of the hole.
• 1982 – The General Union of Ecuadorian Workers (UGTE) is founded.
• 1985 – Microsoft Windows 1.0 is released.
• 1989 – Velvet Revolution: The number of protesters assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia swells from 200,000 the day before to an estimated half-million.
• 1991 – An Azerbaijani MI-8 helicopter carrying 19 peacekeeping mission team with officials and journalists from Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan is shot down by Armenian military forces in Khojavend District of Azerbaijan.
• 1992 – In England, a fire breaks out in Windsor Castle, badly damaging the castle and causing over £50 million worth of damage.
• 1993 – Savings and loan crisis: The United States Senate Ethics Committee issues a stern censure of California senator Alan Cranston for his "dealings" with savings-and-loan executive Charles Keating.
• 1994 – The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign the Lusaka Protocol in Zambia, ending 19 years of civil war. (Localized fighting resumes the next year.)
• 1998 – A court in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan declares accused terrorist Osama bin Laden "a man without a sin" in regard to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
• 1998 – The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, is launched.
• 2001 – In Washington, D.C., U.S. President George W. Bush dedicates the United States Department of Justice headquarters building as the Robert F. Kennedy Justice Building, honoring the late Robert F. Kennedy on what would have been his 76th birthday.
• 2003 – After the November 15 bombings, a second day of the 2003 Istanbul bombings occurs in Istanbul, Turkey, destroying the Turkish head office of HSBC Bank AS and the British consulate.
• 2008 – After critical failures in the US financial system began to build up after mid-September, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level since 1997.

Hatches

• 270 – Maximinus II, Roman emperor (d. 313)
• 1602 – Otto von Guericke, German physicist and politician (d. 1686)
• 1620 – Avvakum, Russian priest and saint (d. 1682)
• 1625 – Paulus Potter, Dutch painter (d. 1654)
• 1660 – Daniel Ernst Jablonski, Czech-German theologian and reformer (d. 1741)
• 1750 – Tipu Sultan, Indian ruler (d. 1799)
• 1761 – Pope Pius VIII (d. 1830)
• 1765 – Thomas Fremantle, English admiral and politician (d. 1819)
• 1781 – Karl Friedrich Eichhorn, German captain and jurist (d. 1854)
• 1813 – Franc Miklošič, Slovenian linguist and philologist (d. 1891)
• 1839 – Christian Wilberg, German painter (d. 1882)
• 1841 – Victor D'Hondt, Belgian mathematician, lawyer, and jurist (d. 1901)
• 1841 – Wilfrid Laurier, Canadian lawyer and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1919)
• 1851 – Margherita of Savoy (d. 1926)
• 1858 – Selma Lagerlöf, Swedish author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1940)
• 1866 – Kenesaw Mountain Landis, American lawyer and judge (d. 1944)
• 1869 – Clark Griffith, American baseball player and manager (d. 1955)
• 1874 – James Michael Curley, American politician, 53rd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1958)
• 1877 – Herbert Pitman, English ship officer on the RMS Titanic (d. 1961)
• 1880 – Walter Brack, German swimmer (d. 1919)
• 1880 – George McBride, American baseball player and manager (d. 1973)
• 1881 – Arthur Marshall, American ragtime composer and performer (d. 1968)
• 1882 – Andy Coakley, American baseball player and coach (d. 1963)
• 1884 – Norman Thomas, American minister and politician (d. 1968)
• 1886 – Bray Hammond, American historian and author (d. 1968)
• 1886 – Robert Hunter, American golfer (d. 1971)
• 1886 – Karl von Frisch, Austrian-German ethologist and zoologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1982)
• 1889 – Edwin Hubble, American astronomer and cosmologist (d. 1953)
• 1892 – James Collip, Canadian biochemist and academic, co-discovered insulin (d. 1965)
• 1896 – Chiyono Hasegawa, Japanese super-centenarian (d. 2011)
• 1900 – Chester Gould, American cartoonist (d. 1985)
• 1903 – Alexandra Danilova, Russian-American ballerina (d. 1997)
• 1905 – François de Noailles, French father of Hélie de Noailles (d. 2009)
• 1906 – Guy Anderson, American painter (d. 1998)
• 1907 – Fran Allison, American actress and singer (d. 1989)
• 1907 – Henri-Georges Clouzot, French director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1977)
• 1908 – Alistair Cooke, English-American journalist (d. 2004)
• 1910 – Kees Bastiaans, Dutch painter (d. 1986)
• 1910 – Willem Jacob van Stockum, Dutch mathematician, pilot, and academic (d. 1944)
• 1912 – Otto von Habsburg, Austrian-German politician (d. 2011)
• 1913 – Judy Canova, American actress and singer (d. 1983)
• 1913 – Kostas Choumis, Greek footballer (d. 1981)
• 1914 – Emilio Pucci, Italian fashion designer and politician (d. 1992)
• 1915 – Kon Ichikawa, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2008)
• 1916 – Evelyn Keyes, American actress and singer (d. 2008)
• 1917 – Robert Byrd, American lawyer and politician (d. 2010)
• 1917 – Bobby Locke, South African golfer (d. 1987)
• 1919 – Maurice Paul Delorme, French bishop (d. 2012)
• 1919 – Phyllis Thaxter, American actress (d. 2012)
• 1919 – Lucilla Andrews, British writer (d. 2006)
• 1921 – Jim Garrison, American lawyer and judge (d. 1992)
• 1923 – Nadine Gordimer, South African author and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2014)
• 1924 – Benoit Mandelbrot, Polish-American mathematician and economist (d. 2010)
• 1924 – Henk Vredeling, Dutch politician, Dutch Minister of Defence (d. 2007)
• 1925 – Kaye Ballard, American actress and singer
• 1925 – Robert F. Kennedy, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 64th United States Attorney General (d. 1968)
• 1925 – Maya Plisetskaya, Russian ballerina, choreographer, and director
• 1926 – John Gardner, English soldier and author (d. 2007)
• 1926 – Terry Hall, English ventriloquist (d. 2007)
• 1926 – Tôn Thất Đính, Vietnamese general (d. 2013)
• 1927 – Ed Freeman, American soldier and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2008)
• 1927 – Estelle Parsons, American actress and director
• 1928 – Aleksey Batalov, Russian actor and director
• 1928 – John Disley, Welsh horse racer
• 1929 – Penelope Hobhouse, Irish garden designer, author, and educator
• 1929 – Don January, American golfer
• 1930 – Bernard Horsfall, English-Scottish actor (d. 2013)
• 1932 – Richard Dawson, English-American actor and game show host (d. 2012)
• 1936 – Don DeLillo, American author and playwright
• 1936 – Charles R. Larson, American admiral (d. 2014)
• 1936 – Bill Wallis, English actor and comedian (d. 2013)
• 1937 – Rhys Isaac, South African-Australian historian and author (d. 2010)
• 1937 – René Kollo, German tenor
• 1937 – Ruth Laredo, American pianist (d. 2005)
• 1937 – Eero Mäntyranta, Finnish skier (d. 2013)
• 1937 – Viktoriya Tokareva, Russian author and screenwriter
• 1939 – Dick Smothers, American actor and singer (Smothers Brothers)
• 1940 – Helma Sanders-Brahms, German director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
• 1941 – Haseena Moin, Pakistani screenwriter and playwright
• 1941 – Oliver Sipple, American soldier and activist (d. 1989)
• 1942 – Joe Biden, American lawyer and politician, 47th Vice President of the United States
• 1942 – Bob Einstein, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
• 1942 – Norman Greenbaum, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1942 – Meredith Monk, American composer and choreographer
• 1942 – Paulos Faraj Rahho, Iraqi archbishop (d. 2008)
• 1943 – Veronica Hamel, American actress and producer
• 1944 – Louie Dampier, American basketball player and coach
• 1944 – Mike Vernon, English record producer, founded Blue Horizon
• 1945 – Paul Langford, English historian and academic
• 1945 – Rick Monday, American baseball player and sportscaster
• 1945 – Nanette Workman, American-Canadian singer-songwriter and actress
• 1946 – Duane Allman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Allman Brothers Band, Hour Glass, Derek and the Dominos, and The Allman Joys) (d. 1971)
• 1946 – Greg Cook, American football player and sportscaster (d. 2012)
• 1946 – Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow
• 1946 – John Small, American football player (d. 2012)
• 1946 – Judy Woodruff, American journalist and educator
• 1947 – Joe Walsh, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (Eagles, James Gang, and Barnstorm)
• 1948 – John R. Bolton, American lawyer and diplomat, 25th United States Ambassador to the United Nations
• 1948 – Park Chul-soo, South Korean director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
• 1948 – Barbara Hendricks, American-Swedish soprano and actress
• 1948 – Richard Masur, American actor and director
• 1949 – Jeff Dowd, American film producer and activist
• 1949 – Thelma Drake, American politician
• 1951 – Rodger Bumpass, American actor and singer
• 1951 – David Walters, American politician, 24th Governor of Oklahoma
• 1952 – John Van Boxmeer, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1954 – Berit Andnor, Swedish politician, Swedish Minister of Social Affairs
• 1954 – Steve Dahl, American radio host
• 1956 – Gareth Chilcott, English rugby player
• 1956 – Bo Derek, American actress and producer
• 1956 – Mark Gastineau, American football player
• 1956 – Natasha Vlassenko, Russian-Australian pianist and educator
• 1957 – Stefan Bellof, German race car driver (d. 1985)
• 1957 – Mike Craven, English footballer
• 1957 – John Eriksen, Danish footballer (d. 2002)
• 1958 – Rickson Gracie, Brazilian mixed martial artist
• 1959 – Orlando Figes, English historian and academic
• 1959 – James McGovern, American politician
• 1959 – Sean Young, American actress and dancer
• 1960 – Veronika Bellmann, German politician
• 1960 – Marc Labrèche, Canadian actor
• 1961 – Jim Brickman, American singer-songwriter and pianist
• 1961 – Tim Harvey, English race car driver
• 1961 – Larry Karaszewski, American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1961 – Dave Watson, English footballer and manager
• 1963 – Timothy Gowers, English mathematician and academic
• 1963 – Ming-Na Wen, Macanese-American actress
• 1963 – Wan Yanhai, Chinese-American activist
• 1964 – Boris Dežulović, Croatian journalist
• 1964 – Sophie Fillières, French film director
• 1964 – Doug Ford, Jr., Toronto politician
• 1964 – John MacLean, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1964 – Mark Taylor, English footballer
• 1965 – Yoshiki Hayashi, Japanese musician, songwriter, composer and record producer (X Japan, S.K.I.N. and Globe)
• 1965 – Mike D, American rapper and drummer (Beastie Boys and The Latch Brothers)
• 1965 – Sen Dog, Cuban-American rapper (Cypress Hill and SX-10)
• 1965 – Jimmy Vasser, American race car driver
• 1966 – Kevin Gilbert, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1996)
• 1966 – Jill Thompson, American author and illustrator
• 1967 – Teoman, Turkish singer-songwriter and actor
• 1967 – Chris Childs, American basketball player
• 1968 – Tommy Asinga, Surinamese runner
• 1968 – Chew Chor Meng, Singaporean actor
• 1969 – Callie Thorne, American actress and producer
• 1970 – Matt Blunt, American lieutenant and politician, 54th Governor of Missouri
• 1970 – Phife Dawg, American rapper (A Tribe Called Quest)
• 1970 – Delia Gonzalez, American boxer
• 1970 – Geoffrey Keezer, American pianist
• 1970 – Sabrina Lloyd, American actress
• 1970 – Joe Zaso, American actor and producer
• 1971 – Joey Galloway, American football player and sportscaster
• 1971 – Joel McHale, American comedian, actor, and producer
• 1971 – Marco Oppedisano, American guitarist and composer
• 1972 – Sheema Kalbasi, Iranian poet and activist
• 1973 – Angelica Bridges, American actress and singer
• 1973 – Neil Hodgson, English motorcycle racer
• 1974 – Taavi Veskimägi, Estonian businessman and politician
• 1975 – Dierks Bentley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1975 – Ryan Bowen, American basketball player and coach
• 1975 – J. D. Drew, American baseball player
• 1975 – Joshua Gomez, American actor
• 1975 – Davey Havok, American singer-songwriter and actor (AFI, Blaqk Audio, and Son of Sam)
• 1976 – Dominique Dawes, American gymnast
• 1976 – Laura Harris, Canadian actress
• 1976 – Tusshar Kapoor, Indian actor
• 1976 – Jason Thompson, Canadian actor
• 1976 – Theodoros Velkos, Greek badminton player
• 1976 – Cemal Yıldız, Turkish footballer and manager
• 1977 – Rudy Charles, American wrestling referee
• 1977 – Daniel Svensson, Swedish drummer (In Flames and Diabolique)
• 1977 – Josh Turner, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
• 1978 – Freya Lim, Taiwanese-Malaysian singer and radio host
• 1978 – Nadine Velazquez, American actress and model
• 1979 – Maree Bowden, New Zealand netball player
• 1979 – Ericson Alexander Molano, Colombian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1979 – Jacob Pitts, American actor
• 1980 – James Chambers, English footballer
• 1981 – Carlos Boozer, American basketball player
• 1981 – Sam Fuld, American baseball player
• 1981 – Kimberley Walsh, English singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress (Girls Aloud)
• 1982 – Margo Stilley, American model and actress
• 1984 – Tashard Choice, American football player
• 1984 – Ferdinando Monfardini, Italian race car driver
• 1984 – Justin Hoyte, English footballer
• 1985 – Juan Cruz Álvarez, Argentinian race car driver
• 1985 – Dan Byrd, American actor
• 1985 – Aaron Yan, Taiwanese singer and actor (Fahrenheit)
• 1986 – Ashley Fink, American actress and singer
• 1986 – Özer Hurmacı, Turkish footballer
• 1986 – Oliver Sykes, English singer-songwriter (Bring Me the Horizon)
• 1988 – Max Pacioretty, American ice hockey player
• 1988 – Rhys Wakefield, Australian actor
• 1989 – Cody Linley, American actor
• 1989 – Agon Mehmeti, Swedish footballer
• 1989 – Sergei Polunin, Ukrainian ballet dancer
• 1990 – Mark Christian, Manx cyclist
• 1991 – Anthony Knockaert, French footballer
• 1992 – Maiha Ishimura, Japanese singer (Berryz Kobo)
• 1993 – Sumire Satō, Japanese singer (AKB48)
• 2000 – Connie Talbot, English singer

Despatches

• 811 – Li Fan, Chinese politician (b. 754)
• 855 – Theoktistos, Byzantine chief minister
• 869 – Edmund the Martyr, English king (b. 841)
• 1022 – Bernward of Hildesheim, English bishop and saint (b. 960)
• 1314 – Albert II, Margrave of Meissen (b. 1240)
• 1316 – John I of France (b. 1316)
• 1437 – Thomas Langley, English bishop (b. 1363)
• 1518 – Marmaduke Constable, English courtier and soldier (b. 1458)
• 1518 – Pierre de la Rue, Flemish singer-songwriter (b. 1452)
• 1529 – Karl von Miltitz, German pope (b. 1490)
• 1591 – Christopher Hatton, English academic and politician, Lord Chancellor of England (b. 1540)
• 1612 – John Harington, English courtier and author (b. 1561)
• 1651 – Mikołaj Potocki, Polish soldier (b. 1595)
• 1662 – Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (b. 1614)
• 1695 – Zumbi, Brazilian king (b. 1655)
• 1704 – Charles Plumier, French botanist and painter (b. 1646)
• 1737 – Caroline of Ansbach (b. 1683)
• 1742 – Melchior de Polignac, French cardinal and poet (b. 1661)
• 1758 – Johan Helmich Roman, Swedish composer (b. 1694)
• 1764 – Christian Goldbach, Prussian mathematician and theorist (b. 1690)
• 1778 – Francesco Cetti, Italian priest, zoologist, and mathematician (b. 1726)
• 1856 – Farkas Bolyai, Romanian-Hungarian mathematician (b. 1775)
• 1864 – Albert Newsam, American painter and illustrator (b. 1809)
• 1894 – Anton Rubinstein, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1829)
• 1898 – Sir John Fowler, 1st Baronet, English engineer (b. 1817)
• 1908 – Georgy Voronoy, Ukrainian-Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1868)
• 1910 – Leo Tolstoy, Russian author and playwright (b. 1828)
• 1922 – Peter Ratican, American soccer player (b. 1887)
• 1925 – Alexandra of Denmark (b. 1844)
• 1934 – Willem de Sitter, Dutch mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (b. 1872)
• 1936 – Buenaventura Durruti, Spanish activist (b. 1896)
• 1936 – José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Spanish lawyer and politician (b. 1903)
• 1938 – Enzo Matsunaga, Japanese author (b. 1895)
• 1938 – Maud of Wales (b. 1869)
• 1941 – Elmar Muuk, Estonian linguist and author (b. 1901)
• 1943 – Emil Kellenberger, Swiss target shooter (b. 1864)
• 1945 – Francis William Aston, English chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1877)
• 1950 – Francesco Cilea, Italian composer (b. 1866)
• 1951 – Adolf Spinnler, Swiss gymnast (b. 1879)
• 1951 – Thomas Quinlan, English businessman (b. 1881)
• 1954 – Clyde Vernon Cessna, American pilot and aircraft designer, founded the Cessna Aircraft Corporation (b. 1879)
• 1957 – Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Russian-American painter (b. 1875)
• 1965 – Johannes Kaiv, Estonian soldier and diplomat (b. 1897)
• 1973 – Allan Sherman, American actor, singer, and producer (b. 1924)
• 1975 – Francisco Franco, Spanish general and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (b. 1892)
• 1976 – Trofim Lysenko, Ukrainian-Russian biologist and agronomist (b. 1898)
• 1978 – Giorgio de Chirico, Greek-Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1888)
• 1978 – Vasilisk Gnedov, Russian soldier and poet (b. 1890)
• 1980 – John McEwen, Australian politician, 18th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1900)
• 1983 – Marcel Dalio, French actor and playwright (b. 1900)
• 1984 – Kristian Djurhuus, Faroese politician, 2nd Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (b. 1895)
• 1984 – Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Pakistani journalist and poet (b. 1911)
• 1992 – Raul Renter, Estonian economist and chess player (b. 1920)
• 1994 – Jānis Krūmiņš, Latvian basketball player (b. 1930)
• 1994 – John Lucarotti, English-Canadian screenwriter (b. 1926)
• 1995 – Sergei Grinkov, Russian figure skater (b. 1967)
• 1995 – Robie Macauley, American author and critic (b. 1919)
• 1997 – Dick Littlefield, American baseball player (b. 1926)
• 1998 – Galina Starovoytova, Russian ethnographer and politician (b. 1946)
• 1999 – Amintore Fanfani, Italian journalist and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1908)
• 2000 – Mike Muuss, American computer programmer, created Ping (b. 1958)
• 2000 – Kalle Päätalo, Finnish author (b. 1919)
• 2003 – Robert Addie, English actor (b. 1960)
• 2003 – Loris Azzaro, Tunisian-French fashion designer (b. 1933)
• 2003 – David Dacko, African politician, 1st President of the Central African Republic (b. 1930)
• 2003 – Eugene Kleiner, American businessman, co-founded Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (b. 1923)
• 2003 – Roger Short, English diplomat (b. 1944)
• 2003 – Jim Siedow, American actor (b. 1920)
• 2003 – Kerem Yılmazer, Turkish actor and singer (b. 1945)
• 2004 – David Grierson, Canadian radio host (b. 1955)
• 2004 – Jenny Ross, English singer-songwriter (Section 25) (b. 1962)
• 2005 – Manouchehr Atashi, Iranian journalist and poet (b. 1931)
• 2005 – Nora Denney, American actress (b. 1928)
• 2005 – James King, American tenor (b. 1925)
• 2005 – Chris Whitley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1960)
• 2006 – Robert Altman, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1925)
• 2006 – Zoia Ceaușescu, Romanian mathematician (b. 1950)
• 2006 – Donald Hamilton, American author (b. 1916)
• 2006 – Andre Waters, American football player and coach (b. 1962)
• 2007 – Ian Smith, Rhodesian lieutenant and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Rhodesia (b. 1919)
• 2008 – Bennie Gonzales, American architect, designed the Heard Museum (b. 1924)
• 2008 – Sven Inge, Swedish painter (b. 1935)
• 2009 – Lino Lacedelli, Italian mountaineer and author (b. 1925)
• 2010 – Laurie Bembenek, American murderer (b. 1958)
• 2010 – Roxana Briban, Romanian soprano (b. 1971)
• 2010 – Chalmers Johnson, American author and scholar (b. 1931)
• 2010 – Rob Lytle, American football player (b. 1954)
• 2010 – Danny McDevitt, American baseball player (b. 1932)
• 2012 – Kaspars Astašenko, Latvian ice hockey player (b. 1975)
• 2012 – Pedro Bantigue y Natividad, Filipino bishop (b. 1920)
• 2012 – David C. Copley, American publisher and philanthropist (b. 1952)
• 2012 – William Grut, Swedish pentathlete (b. 1914)
• 2012 – Ivan Kušan, Croatian author (b. 1933)
• 2012 – David O'Brien Martin, American soldier and politician (b. 1944)
• 2012 – Flora Martirosian, Armenian singer (b. 1957)
• 2013 – Pavel Bobek, Czech singer (b. 1937)
• 2013 – Sylvia Browne, American psychic and author (b. 1936)
• 2013 – Joseph Paul Franklin, American serial killer (b. 1950)
• 2013 – Dan Gerrity, American actor (b. 1953)
• 2013 – Peter Griffiths, English politician (b. 1928)
• 2013 – Dieter Hildebrandt, Polish-German actor and screenwriter (b. 1927)
• 2013 – Frank Lauterbur, American football player and coach (b. 1925)
• 2013 – Oleg Minko, Ukrainian painter and educator (b. 1938)
• 2013 – Klaus Praefcke, German chemist and academic (b. 1933)

===
2014

• Africa Industrialization Day (international)
• Black Awareness Day (Brazil)
• Christian feast day:
  • Bernward of Hildesheim
  • Edmund the Martyr
  • November 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• National Sovereignty Day (Argentina)
• Earliest day on which the Feast of Christ the King can fall, while November 26 is the latest; celebrated on the last Sunday before Advent. (Roman Catholic Church)
• Revolution Day (Mexico)
• Teachers' Day or Ngày nhà giáo Việt Nam (Vietnam)
• Transgender Day of Remembrance (LGBT community)
• Universal Children's Day (International)
• Wedding day of Elizabeth II (United Kingdom)

===

Persecuting Leunig for his sweet pictures of wicked Jews

Andrew Bolt November 20 2014 (11:34am)

I have mentioned Michael Leunig 18 times in print in five years, often because of his viciously anti-Israel cartoons.
But it doesn’t take much for some people to imagine their enemies are supersized and obsessive:

Leunig is still frequent fodder for conservative columnists such as Andrew Bolt and Gerard Henderson, and seems bruised and confused by the attention. ”I think Andrew Bolt must lay awake half his life thinking of horrible things to say about me”. 

I might with equal justice suggest Leunig lays awake half his life thinking of horrible things to draw about Israel, but that would be absurd. Wouldn’t it? 

===

ABC bias watch: some of today’s examples

Andrew Bolt November 20 2014 (9:43am)

Israel:

Palestinian jihadists in Israel have recently murdered four rabbis, killed a policeman, stabbed two Israelis to death, killed a baby and three other people by driving cars into crowds, and shot and stabbed others. Yet Lateline last night portrayed this surge in jihadist attacks as actually a two-way battle - as “violence between Jews and Palestinians”:

TONY JONES, PRESENTER: The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the recent upsurge in violence between Jews and Palestinians a “battle for Jerusalem”.

The short report focuses on Israeli reprisals, and does not mention Hamas and Palestinian Authority incitements.

ABC cuts:

On ABC Radio National Breakfast Fran Kelly and Paul Bongiorno categorically brand the cuts to the ABC as a broken promise. No ABC staffer or regular commentator notes that Abbott, yes, spoke far too loosely on SBS on election eve but that he referred to what Joe Hockey had said on the ABC itself.
Abbott:

I trust everyone actually listened to what Joe Hockey has said last week and again this week. No cuts to education, no cuts to health, no change to pensions, no change to the GST and no cuts to the ABC or SBS.

Hockey three weeks earlier on Q&A: 

TONY JONES:  is the ABC immune from cuts? …
JOE HOCKEY: I’d just say to you is there any waste in the ABC at all, Tony? /// Well, if there is waste, we will cut it.

Yes, conservative Janet Albrechtsen is later brought on to defend the cuts, but as a voice from “outside”. Where are the ABC voices to defend the cuts and the attempts to rein in ABC bias?

Bob Ellis:

Bob Ellis, the former Labor speechwriter, has become vile in his apparent desperation for attention. For instance, after the beheading of US journalist James Foley, he sneered: “Beheadings occur routinely in Game of Thrones. And no complaint has been laid. Why then all the fuss?” Some of Ellis’s abuse of Abbott and his family is so vile it cannot be repeated.  He has defended Saddam Hussein and called murderous jihadists “honourable men”. His abuse is contemptible, and includes calling Paul Kelly a “c..t”. Yet no Leftist is too vile for the ABC to embrace them. Ellis is the honoured and promoted guest of Life Matters today, which hails his wisdom.

Israel:

Daniel Eisenbud, Khaled Abu Toameh, Jerusalem Post, Monday: 

AMID an onslaught of unfounded claims in the Palestinian media Monday that an Arab bus driver was murdered by Jewish settlers Sunday night in Jerusalem, an autopsy report concluded the driver’s death was self-inflicted, resulting from hanging himself inside the vehicle ... the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, Wafa, said in several dispatches that “settlers” had “executed” ­Ramuni by hanging. ... the PA Foreign Ministry held Prime Minister ­Benjamin Netanyahu “personally” responsible for the “assassination” of the bus driver ... PLO spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi ... claimed that ­Ramuni had been tortured before being hanged to death. However, she did not back up her charge with any evidence. ... Hamas joined the chorus of charges ... and called on ­Palestinians to “rise up against this ugly racist crime.”

Staff, Jerusalem Post, Tuesday:

THE Arab doctor (at the autopsy, Dr Saber Al-Aloul) operated freely and consented to the findings (police said). “During the autopsy, there was consensus on the various findings and their significance, and there was no suspicion that the death was caused by another man,” (police said).

ABC RN Breakfast, yesterday:

FRAN Kelly: Hamas is calling for the continuation of ... what they describe as revenge operations, this one, apparently in revenge for the hanging of a man ... a Palestinian bus driver who was hanged ... near this area.

Anti-Abbott, anti-Pyne, anti-conservatives:

ABC presenter Jonathan Green, who celebrated the downfall of John Howard by having guests bash a Howard piñata:

On the other hand, give Tony Jones credit:

TONY JONES: Now Malcolm Turnbull says there’s been no broken promise on ABC and SBS funding because both he and the Treasurer warned time and time again in the leadup to the election that the public broadcasters would not be exempt from efforts to eliminate waste and inefficiencies. It’s true those warnings were given, isn’t it?
JASON CLARE: Look, I don’t think that passes the pub test…
TONY JONES: But it passes the truth test, does it, but not the pub test?
JASON CLARE: Well, what he’s effectively saying ... is that Tony Abbott didn’t break a promise because even though Tony Abbott said there’d be no cuts to the ABC, what he really meant was that there’ll be no cuts over and above the cuts that I said there’d be to the ABC ... People know the Prime Minister promised the night before the election that there’d be no cuts to the ABC…
TONY JONES: I’ll just go back to take up Malcolm Turnbull’s point. Joe Hockey, in the same Q&A program, sitting next to in me in fact, answering a questioner as to whether the ABC’s funding would be cut, said, essentially, he couldn’t rule out changes due to waste and inefficiencies. And Malcolm Turnbull says he’s gone through this process now methodically. He’s appointed a review of waste and inefficiency, effectively. Now he’s acting on that.

UPDATE

Israel:

ABC news describes a road accident, not a murder:

Israel destroys home of Palestinian who rammed car into Jerusalem pedestrians Israel has destroyed the home ofhttp://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-19/israel-destroys-home-of-palestinian-who-killed-two-at-tram-stop/5904360” title=” a Palestinian who ran over"> a Palestinian who ran over and killed two people at a Jerusalem tram stop last month.

(Thanks to readers Peter of Bellevue Hill and Andrew.)   

===

Your future in the hands of these ferals

Andrew Bolt November 20 2014 (8:20am)

Absolutely pathetic. So juvenile, so feral - yet these screeching, squabbling and backbiting attention-junkies, with Labor and the Greens, are deciding which reforms to our finances may pass and which, more often, are blocked:

CLIVE PALMER, PUP LEADER: Oh, well, it’s a very, very sad situation for Jacqui. She’s been removed as Deputy Leader and Deputy Whip of our party and she’s been suspended from attending further parliamentary party meetings until she can get her life back together.
JACQUI LAMBIE: I understand that he’s under pressure because of bad political decisions and legal action that’s been taken against him. However, that doesn’t give him the right to spread hurtful rumours about me in an effort to intimidate.
[REPORTER]: That earned another comeback from Mr Palmer, who issued a press release accusing Senator Lambie of “lying to the Senate” and “planning to set up an alternate political party.”

UPDATE
The Abbott Government’s job just got a whole lot harder, not least because Lambie is saying she’ll vote against everything until the Government doubles it pay increase to the defence forces. The Government cannot now make deals with Clive Palmer that win it four of the six Senate votes it needs to overcome a Labor/Greens Senate bloc.
Rosie Lewis:

JACQUI Lambie will consider her political future at the weekend after an attack in parliament yesterday against Clive Palmer, saying he was trying to “intimidate” her because of his poor political decisions and legal battles…
In a further sign of dysfunction within the PUP, Mr Palmer said Senator Lambie needed to “see a doctor” and was talking “fantasy”.
“She needs to go and see a doctor as soon as she can because I think her behaviour is irrational,” Mr Palmer said…
Early yesterday, PUP senator Zhenya Wang ... asked Senator Lambie for “written agreement” to the party’s ultimatums, but the Tasmanian PUP has refused and is seeking legal advice about the letter and party’s personal attacks.
She will discuss her future in Tasmania at the weekend, asking her family, friends and electorate what action they believe she should take.

Niki Savva says if, if, if:

Hysterics aside, Government insiders fear Jacqui Lambie has struck a chord on defence force pay. She has Clive Palmer by the short and curlies, probably Abbott too now. She should accept the offer of help from crossbenchers Bob Day and David Leyonhjelm. Day says while her tactics are awry, her strategy is right, so if they can tutor her in the sweet art of compromise, everybody, except Palmer, could benefit.

Mark Kenny:

Who’s running this ramshackle show we call the Australian Senate? 
Is it the PUPs as we had thought or is it the COCS [coalition of common sense], who have just insinuated themselves into its arcane workings? 

(T)he answer will take some time to emerge…
Lambie’s tenure as a PUP member looks to be over already… PUP’s clout has taken a hit. It may regroup but it is already damaged and unlikely to regain its intimidatory strength. In all likelihood, it will now represent just three votes at best: Glenn Lazarus and Zhenya “Dio” Wang, as formal PUP members and Muir, if he decides to stay close. But even then, his departure on [financial advice reforms, reversing his vote,] has made a repeat more likely on other issues. For him, that’s where the power lies.
Ms Lambie is more of a loose cannon. Her vote is now anyone’s guess.  For the government this might mean some bills are easier to get through, but it will probably find itself ceding ground on multiple fronts simultaneously as it horse-trades on a bill-by-bill basis.
While its GP co-payment and higher education changes were already blocked, the partial re-atomisation of Senate crossbench numbers presents an opportunity, if a diabolical one.

The danger is that whatever the Government does get through is so highly compromised - and comes with so many trade-offs - that the country suffers.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 

===

What Abbott must do to survive

Andrew Bolt November 20 2014 (7:51am)

Politics - federal

THE Abbott Government must change or die. Newspoll now shows it trailing Labor by a disastrous 45 per cent to 55. 

Other polls are tighter, but all agree — the Government has been behind for months. And it’s excuses are running thin.
The Government argues the polls flatter Labor. Come the election, voters will reject an Opposition that won’t turn back boats, cut spending or axe its planned carbon tax.
True, but Labor could change.
The Government argues it’s making hard decisions now to fix the Budget and has two years left to make voters feel better.
Yes, but the Budget keeps blowing out and more pain must come.
So here’s what needs fixing.
(Read full article here.) 

===

Why is the Leftist Human Rights Commission using our money to reward other Leftists?

Andrew Bolt November 20 2014 (7:32am)

Nicolle Flint gives yet another example of the Left using taxpayers’ money to reward each other for thinking Left:

FOR a taxpayer-funded organisation that’s all about ‘‘diversity’’, the Human Rights Commission certainly has a funny way of showing it.
Just look at the finalists for their Human Rights “Media” Awards, announced last week.
The short-listed television, radio, print and online nominees appear to be more a list of the Commission’s like-minded and government-supported mates, than a cross-section of the best of Australian journalism on issues like refugees or the plight of Aboriginal Australians.
Of the 12 “Media’’ Awards finalists, eight had their work published or broadcast by a taxpayer-funded or subsidised organisation.
Three of the short-listed programs were broadcast by the ABC… A further three were broadcast by the SBS and National indigenous Television… Noongar Radio and the Griffith Review, which receive some government support, achieved one nomination each.
Just two commercial media outlets made the finals, the Fairfax-owned The Age and the now defunct The Global Mail. Notably, The Global Mail was funded by entrepreneur Graeme Wood, who helped bankroll the left-leaning online publication The Guardian. Mr Wood also provided the Greens with $1.6 million in funding for their 2010 federal election campaign.
This is hardly a diverse bunch of finalists. But let’s give the Human Rights Commission the benefit of the doubt… Maybe journalists like Andrew Bolt, Chris Kenny or Miranda Devine weren’t nominated for their work reminding politicians, policymakers and the public that strong border protection policies stop people drowning at sea, or that the reason asylum seekers ended up in detention centres like Manus Island was because of the failed policies of Labor and the Greens.
And maybe the journalists and opinion makers at The Australian weren’t nominated for their relentless work highlighting the endemic issues in Aboriginal communities, and suggesting solutions for problems which decades of policymakers have failed to solve…
[But] the lopsided list of media finalists should encourage the Human Rights Commission to reflect on its charter that recognises “the inherent value of each person, regardless of background, where we live, what we look like, what we think or what we believe”. 

===

To explain my recent criticism…

Andrew Bolt November 20 2014 (7:17am)

I like Tony Abbott. Indeed, in many ways I admire him. He is warm, kind, selfless, thoughtful, modest and introspective. I also think his Government means well and has done many good things.
That I criticise him and his Government’s performance in no way reflects some disenchantment or dislike of Abbott.
It comes more from a frustration that the Government isn’t doing as well in the polls as it deserves and that it cannot do as much good as it intends.
And there is this: I am often asked by people who don’t like the Abbott they see on TV what he’s really like, and always I respond that if they knew the real man as I do they would change their minds.
The very opposite was true of Kevin Rudd.
Niki Savva suggests many other Abbott supporters feel the same:

Those who know Abbott have trouble reconciling the public with the private persona. Some leaders come alive in front of cameras. Abbott shrinks. He looks awkward, his speech is stilted and he slips too easily into slogans or inappropriate rhetoric.
His narrow opening remarks to the G20 leaders retreat were embarrassing. Inside the privacy of the meetings, participants were taken by his warmth and sure handling of proceedings.

Matching this reality with the image is a key job of the Abbott team. 

===

Throwback: a lot of bang for 4000 bucks

Andrew Bolt November 20 2014 (12:56am)

Cairns-based Travis Bain made Throwback with just $4000 of his own money. He tells me:

“Throwback” was shot for a ludicrously low budget of only $4000 yet it has racked up ten international film festival screenings (plus numerous awards), and is set to be released on DVD across Australia, the UK, the US and New Zealand in 2015. The movie harks back to classic “creature features” and adventure serials and guest-stars Vernon Wells from “Mad Max 2” and “Commando.” I financed the movie myself - not a dollar of taxpayers’ money from any of the film funding bodies was spent on it!
I know it sounds impossible to make a feature film with such a tiny amount of money, but it can be done. None of the actors got paid, except for Vernon Wells, but he was happy to accept a nominal amount. I was the entire crew, with some help from my lead actor and his 13-year-old son. I shot the movie on a 2007 Canon camcorder and edited it on my home computer. The fake blood we used was chocolate syrup and red food colouring. And the beautiful Far North QLD locations we used helped add to the production value. By begging and borrowing and calling in a lot of favours, we got it done. 

I’ve only seen the trailer, which has a great look. But people who have seen the movie seem to rate it:

Throwback has ... won awards including Best Foreign Feature (at the Famous Monsters Film Festival, California) and Best Feature (at the Tri-Cities International Fantastic Film Festival, Washington state.

Because get-up-and-go and can-do appeal to me (even if horror doesn’t), here’s the spiel:

Throwback is about two treasure hunters, a female park ranger and an unhinged ex-cop who encounter a Yowie, Australia’s answer to Bigfoot, in the jungles of northern Australia.
Starring Shawn Brack, Anthony Ring, Melanie Serafin and Vernon Wells..., the award-winning 90-minute feature will screen at Melbourne’s Cinema Nova on Sunday 30th November at 1pm, followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers. [Tickets here.]
Now in its fourth year, Monster Fest is Melbourne’s premier celebration of independent genre cinema, dedicated to bringing the latest cult and horror cinema from around the world to Australian screens. 

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Are our journalists the world’s most warmist?

Andrew Bolt November 20 2014 (12:30am)

Global warming - propaganda

AFTER the G20 summit we must ask: does any country have journalists this obsessed with the warming faith? 

Take the following figures from the press conferences on Sunday with Prime Minister Tony Abbott, US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron.

QUESTIONS Australian journalists asked about global warming: five out of 11.
QUESTIONS non-Australian journalists asked about global warming: two out of 23.

Conclusion: Australian journalists were five times more likely to ask a political leader about global warming. Forget creating jobs, increasing trade or spreading democracy.
It was a similar story at yesterday’s press conference with Abbott and French President Francois Hollande.
(Read full article here.) 

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Post by Diamond Imports.

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Post by ByteFoundry.

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Post by Matt Granz.

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Post by AJC - Global Jewish Advocacy.

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Post by Liberal Victoria.

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4 her, so she can see how I see her
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Post by Matt Granz.

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Australian Jewish Communal Lobby

It is with our bleeding hearts that we wish the families of the horrific terror attack in Jerusalem yesterday a long life. A long life, filled with the warm memories of these wonderful people who were taken by such a heinous, cowardly attack. 

You will never be forgotten - 

Baruch dayan ha'emet, may you all go from strength to strength 

Rabbi Aryeh Kopinsky, 43, Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, 68, and Rabbi Calman Levine, 55, all from Har Nof, and Rabbi Moshe Twersky, 59, Zidan Saif, 30, He was the father of a four-month-old baby

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What is being said about Eddie Obeid http://t.co/GL3o926z1t via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 20, 2014

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Eddie Obeid faces prosecution: ICAC http://t.co/s5lonx3sEV via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 20, 2014

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Louisa Collins died in a gruesome 1889 hanging for husband’s murder, but did she do it? http://t.co/IMpZYBt4KH
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 20, 2014

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Why left feminists don’t like kids http://t.co/PjQ2E9zjtq
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 20, 2014

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Government spends $5.7 million upgrading Wetherill St, in Smithfield. http://t.co/w01C2bBCyu
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 20, 2014

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Viewers the big winners .. Mark Scott the big loser as axe strikes ABC | The Australian http://t.co/DNvvfbWsRp
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 20, 2014

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Secret mafia initiation caught on camera http://t.co/EzFojdT938 via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 20, 2014

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Articles: A Suicidal Collapse of Western Civilization? http://t.co/SYa6gfOm2l
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 19, 2014

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Government passes law allowing it to put more information out on internet without being sued http://t.co/HhreHGua82 via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 19, 2014

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Is satellite Object 2014-28E A new Putin power play? http://t.co/yMlqxDw1GD via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 19, 2014

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ALP shows what bad government it would be .. Labor rail extension underfunded: Vic Gov http://t.co/4PIplK0cvg via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 19, 2014

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ridiculous story .. marriage means little to those not religious. A peek inside open marriages http://t.co/YPAEqvXdXJ via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 19, 2014

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Simpleton says .. Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie hits back at Clive Palmer’s claim she is a liar http://t.co/xAAtEIu7eo via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 19, 2014

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Black Holes point to a cosmic clue http://t.co/tjWyGRJM9X via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 19, 2014

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Brisbane: Severe storms and flash flooding cause chaos http://t.co/OXNEG4OzoF via @newscomauHQ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 19, 2014

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Happy fifth anniversary for Tony Abbott, but there’s no time to relax | The Australian http://t.co/5AEH0bQug8
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 19, 2014

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Eco-Hypocrisy as Sea Shepherd Vessel Dumps 500 Litres of Diesel Into Sea - Breitbart http://t.co/yKVXNjQvK9 via @BreitbartNews
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 19, 2014

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Photo: oatmeal: More comics here. http://t.co/LETuaMkCY9
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 19, 2014

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Photo: Paul Zanetti ‘toon. Mr Abbott is doing a brilliant job, but the media are merciless http://t.co/TjqzWewJAg
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) November 19, 2014

=== Posts from last year ===

The JFK Conspiracy Theory Is the Conspiracy | FrontPage Magazine

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/the-jfk-conspiracy-theory-is-the-conspiracy/

The ongoing plot to conceal left-wing terrorism and murder.

Not disagreeing with the article. I was entranced by a recent documentary which suggested it was an accident by a secret service agent which completed the assassination. LHO having shot kennedy through the throat with a full metal jacket .. an agent for the Secret Service looked to return fire, picked up a loaded rifle ready to fire, undid the safety, and discharged a dum-dum bullet which blew out JFK's brain. After the accident, the brain was hidden .. so LHO did it on his own, but had accidental help. If that got out, the Dem position of victimhood would be destroyed. - ed

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Cannot. Bear. To see this. *Sobs*

Heart-wrenching photos show the moment dog owners say goodbye to dying friend

www.news.com.au

WHEN man loses his best friend, the heartache is hard to describe in words.

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/home/heartwrenching-photos-show-the-moment-dog-owners-say-goodbye-to-dying-friend/story-fngwib2y-1226764254217
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The war against Abbott by Fairfax. Pity, but unsurprisingly, they have to lie.

What happens after Tony Abbott gets sprung snooping? Or the Sydney Morning Herald is sprung...

www.michaelsmithnews.com

This has now been changed online by Fairfax. You'll have to follow a few steps to see the way it was first published. Go to google. Search for "after tony abbott is sprung snooping" You'll see this. which has now been changed after Fairfax got sprung bullshitting.

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/11/what-happens-after-tony-abbott-gets-sprung-snooping-or-the-sydney-morning-herald-is-sprung-bullshitt.html
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“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night.” Psalm 1:1-2 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"Avoid foolish questions."
Titus 3:9

Our days are few, and are far better spent in doing good, than in disputing over matters which are, at best, of minor importance. The old schoolmen did a world of mischief by their incessant discussion of subjects of no practical importance; and our Churches suffer much from petty wars over abstruse points and unimportant questions. After everything has been said that can be said, neither party is any the wiser, and therefore the discussion no more promotes knowledge than love, and it is foolish to sow in so barren a field. Questions upon points wherein Scripture is silent; upon mysteries which belong to God alone; upon prophecies of doubtful interpretation; and upon mere modes of observing human ceremonials, are all foolish, and wise men avoid them. Our business is neither to ask nor answer foolish questions, but to avoid them altogether; and if we observe the apostle's precept (Titus 3:8) to be careful to maintain good works, we shall find ourselves far too much occupied with profitable business to take much interest in unworthy, contentious, and needless strivings.

There are, however, some questions which are the reverse of foolish, which we must not avoid, but fairly and honestly meet, such as these: Do I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Am I renewed in the spirit of my mind? Am I walking not after the flesh, but after the Spirit? Am I growing in grace? Does my conversation adorn the doctrine of God my Saviour? Am I looking for the coming of the Lord, and watching as a servant should do who expects his master? What more can I do for Jesus? Such enquiries as these urgently demand our attention; and if we have been at all given to cavilling, let us now turn our critical abilities to a service so much more profitable. Let us be peace-makers, and endeavour to lead others both by our precept and example, to "avoid foolish questions."

Evening

"O that I knew where I might find him!"
Job 23:3

In Job's uttermost extremity he cried after the Lord. The longing desire of an afflicted child of God is once more to see his Father's face. His first prayer is not "O that I might be healed of the disease which now festers in every part of my body!" nor even "O that I might see my children restored from the jaws of the grave, and my property once more brought from the hand of the spoiler!" but the first and uppermost cry is, "O that I knew where I might find Him, who is my God! that I might come even to his seat!" God's children run home when the storm comes on. It is the heaven-born instinct of a gracious soul to seek shelter from all ills beneath the wings of Jehovah. "He that hath made his refuge God," might serve as the title of a true believer. A hypocrite, when afflicted by God, resents the infliction, and, like a slave, would run from the Master who has scourged him; but not so the true heir of heaven, he kisses the hand which smote him, and seeks shelter from the rod in the bosom of the God who frowned upon him. Job's desire to commune with God was intensified by the failure of all other sources of consolation. The patriarch turned away from his sorry friends, and looked up to the celestial throne, just as a traveller turns from his empty skin bottle, and betakes himself with all speed to the well. He bids farewell to earth-born hopes, and cries, "O that I knew where I might find my God!" Nothing teaches us so much the preciousness of the Creator, as when we learn the emptiness of all besides. Turning away with bitter scorn from earth's hives, where we find no honey, but many sharp stings, we rejoice in him whose faithful word is sweeter than honey or the honeycomb. In every trouble we should first seek to realize God's presence with us. Only let us enjoy his smile, and we can bear our daily cross with a willing heart for his dear sake.

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Today's reading: Ezekiel 11-13, James 1 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Ezekiel 11-13

God’s Sure Judgment on Jerusalem

¹ Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the gate of the house of the LORD that faces east. There at the entrance of the gate were twenty-five men, and I saw among them Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, leaders of the people. ² The LORD said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who are plotting evil and giving wicked advice in this city.³ They say, ‘Haven’t our houses been recently rebuilt? This city is a pot, and we are the meat in it.’ ⁴ Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, son of man.”

⁵ Then the Spirit of the LORD came on me, and he told me to say: “This is what the LORD says: That is what you are saying, you leaders in Israel, but I know what is going through your mind. ⁶ You have killed many people in this city and filled its streets with the dead....

...read the rest on Bible Gateway

Today's New Testament reading: James 1

¹ James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:

Greetings.

Trials and Temptations

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. ⁶ But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷ That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do....

...read the rest on Bible Gateway

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