Monday, October 24, 2016

Mon Oct 24th Todays News

3AW broadcasts news I trust, but question too. It is not unthinking trust as with the defence of Hillary Clinton’s confession that she had emails the Russians hacked. Leftists follow Clinton and Clinton takes her followers for granted. My trust is that I can question their material and place it within my world. The issue was driven home to me today when Neil Mitchell, who tends to lightly favour the left, was interviewing a Green former mayor. He was asking for what the secret was for Green success in recent Greater Dandenong election. I listened to a few absurd declarations, and then called in to provide a reply. 3AW has never accepted any of my calls. The Green vote is increasing in local councils. But that is not because of improved garbage collection or trust in Green administration. In my ward of Red Gum in Greater Dandenong, three Greens sympathisers hold the seats. They all look to have been re elected. The most ambitious of them, the best performer, has 27% of the first preference vote. That, after taking a year off work to focus solely on politics. The last act of the last council was to deny 100 houses approval to be built. They were medium development in Noble Park and Keysborough and the land was zoned medium development. But they were knocked back on spurious grounds. Several investors will lose money because they wanted to develop land in Greater Dandenong. Green policy is to prevent overdevelopment. But none of them can point out to me what has been over developed.

Businesses I have visited tell me they need things, like more flexible opening hours and car parks that make their business more accessible. Greens oppose this. Garbage collection is weekly and recycling is fortnightly with vegetable waste collected alternate weeks to recycling. There might be a reason for it to be that way. In Italy, garbage collection is daily from a local depot. Recycling seems expensive when land is abundant for landfill. Maybe people are fooled and vote Green. But the questions should be put to them. If they can justify their decision, they should. And if they can’t, they shouldn’t be protected. To be fair to Neil Mitchell, he did ask about BDS. But then Mitchell said BDS might be harshly judged as being labelled anti-semitic. In fact, BDS is almost by definition anti-semitic.
Donald Trump's speech at Gettysburg is frightening media. They have supported and protected insider corruption for a long time. Trump will clean up the festering wound, and make America great again. 
=== from 2015 ===
Hillary Clinton has admitted she lied to the US peoples re Benghazi. She had a hand picked gay man who was a good man and she refused to send him aid when she knew he had been attacked by Al Qaeda. Then she blamed a film maker to the US peoples. The film maker was persecuted and targeted by jihadists so Hilary could shield Obama running for re election. Press helped shield Obama. Hilary is more than a doormat. She is a liar who should face charges of treason. 

For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
From 2014
It hasn't been covered by mainstream media well, but Lachlan Murdoch spoke cogently at the Keith Murdoch lecture and has raised worthy issues of free speech while reminding us of history. Only, his message is bigger than he seems aware and it informs us in ways he doesn't seem to mean. Lachlan was addressing the issue of censorship over security which is growing as a result of the war on terror. The war on terror has fifth columnists who feel it is legitimate to attack cultural assets regardless of consequence. Some really stupid people are falling for terrorist propaganda partly because of censorship which prevents the average person from saying what they think on cultural and religious issues. Lachlan seems to accept those restrictions, while objecting to increased security which might arbitrarily have a field security officer deeming a news article to not be in the public interest. 

A brilliant example by Lachlan is to remind of the activity of Keith Murdoch to end the Gallipoli campaign. Keith had been tasked by the Australian PM, Fisher, to find the truth about what was happening. Many younger journalists had been heavily censored by the war office regarding casualties and losses. Keith was alarmed at what he heard from Charles Beane, bad officers and needless death through incompetence. Keith tried to get a colleague to write to the Great Britain's PM, Asquith, but the letter was censored, so Keith wrote to Fisher directly and sent a copy to Asquith. Within weeks the campaign was ended and the commanding officer relieved of command. Lachlan asks if the new legislation would prevent another Keith today from their action then. 

Keith was young then, and would not know what he had done, and few today seem aware of it, even though there is no active censorship regarding it. Keith had messed up big time and many tens of millions of deaths from civilians around the world have resulted from his activity. Keith did not improve the officer corp prosecuting the war. He ended a campaign shortly before it might have been successful. Certainly the retreat was hailed as bloodless after the Turks failed to press home an advantage. Had the campaign been successful Europe would have been open through the back door and the war ended, possibly by Christmas. Russia might not have fallen to Communism and China might not now be communist. There might never have been a Soviet Union, a Vietnam War or Korean war. The reparations on Germany might have been less and Nazism might have been crushed within Germany. Not to blame Keith Murdoch, but position what a civilian knows about military activity and the damage they do through ignorance. 

Currently the press show no awareness of the role of radical Islam in an open society, where we question what is right and fail to say what is wrong. 

Who is willing to say that a prize fighter's embrace of Islam is not manly, but a personal choice? Who is willing to say that terrorists don't speak for a majority? Impotent Islamic leaders haven't. But one must also, to be fair, point out that many impotent Christian leaders have failed to point to their cultural assets too. Lachlan is wrong not to push for an end of 18c first. He is wrong to flag press sensitivity to security when they are so actively working with the left wing to threaten world peace for Jews and conservatives and poor people who aren't on a left wing bandwagon. Currently the Australian Broadcasting Corporation is promoting an idea of a memorial to Whitlam. Maybe such a memorial is a nuclear crater in the middle of Tehran. 
From 2013
If Obama has to lie about helping a pregnant woman, what can he be relied on? A clue comes from a fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Vice President Al Gore, who claimed PM Abbott was wrong to say that Global Warming wasn't behind Sydney Bush-fires. Actually, Gore claimed Abbott was like one of those who denied the link between smoking and cancer. Gore would know about that, he grew up on a tobacco farm. Gore accepted donations from tobacco companies for years after his sister died from lung cancer. Gore lives denial. 

Global Warming has paused for fifteen years, so if it were the cause of bush fires in Sydney, why not last year? Or the year before? The truth is the major cause of uncontrollable bush fires is fuel in the bush from lack of controlled burning related to ALP/Green policy. Bob Carr is responsible for the lost houses and people killed, which is worth considering as he resigns from his senate position to resume his extraordinarily large pension. 

Meanwhile, Obama has authorised Iran's pursuit of nuclear power despite UN advice. 
Historical perspective on this day
Not done
=== Publishing News ===
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.
===
Thanks to Warren for this advice on watching Bolt
Warren Catton Get this for your PC or MAC https://www.foxtel.com.au/foxtelplay/how-it-works/pc-mac.html Once you have installed it start it up and press Live TV you don't need a login to watch Sky News!
===
I am publishing a book called Bread of Life: January. 

Bread of Life is a daily bible quote with a layman's understanding of the meaning. I give one quote for each day, and also a series of personal stories illustrating key concepts eg Who is God? What is a miracle? Why is there tragedy?

January is the first of the anticipated year-long work of thirteen books. One for each month and the whole year. It costs to publish. It (Kindle version) should retail at about $2US online, but the paperback version would cost more, according to production cost.If you have a heart for giving, I fundraise at gofund.me/27tkwuc
===
Editorials will appear in the "History in a Year by the Conservative Voice" series, starting with August, September, October, or at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/1482020262/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_dVHPub0MQKDZ4  The kindle version is cheaper, but the soft back version allows a free kindle version.

List of available items at Create Space
Happy birthday and many happy returns J.w Show. Born on the same day, across the years, as
51 – Domitian, Roman emperor (d. 96)
1561 – Anthony Babington, English leader of the Babington Plot (d. 1586)
1632 – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Dutch microbiologist (d. 1723)
1896 – Jack Warner, English actor (d. 1981)
1930 – The Big Bopper, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1959)
1936 – Bill Wyman, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (The Rolling Stones and Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings)
1939 – F. Murray Abraham, American actor
1942 – Frank Delaney, Irish novelist, journalist and broadcaster
1947 – Kevin Kline, American actor
1953 – David Wright, English keyboard player, songwriter, and producer
1954 – Malcolm Turnbull, Australian politician
1960 – Ian Baker-Finch, Australian golfer
1981 – Tila Tequila, American model, actress, and singer
1997 – Raúl Chávez Sarmiento, Peruvian scientist
William Lassell
We have peace again. The moon is clear. We have victory. Musashi is with the fish. It is all good. Lets party. 
Deaths
===
Tim Blair


===
Andrew Bolt


===

ALL ABOARD THE WAYNE TRAIN

Tim Blair – Saturday, October 24, 2015 (3:25am)

According to the latest Morgan Poll, this is the current order of preferred Labor leaders:
1: Tanya Plibersek (27 per cent)
2: Anthony Albanese (23 per cent)
3: Wayne Swan (10 per cent)
4: Bill Shorten (9 per cent)
Shorten is behind Wayne Swan. He is behind Wayne Swan.
===

SINKING SLOWLY IN THE WEST

Tim Blair – Saturday, October 24, 2015 (3:20am)

Goodbye, Perth: 
Growing demand for water in Perth has caused the city to sink at up to 6mm a year and could be responsible for an apparent acceleration in the rate of sea level rise, according to new research released by Curtin University …
Will Featherstone, professor of geodesy at Curtin and the lead author of the study, described the effect as “like slowly letting the air out of a balloon”.
“If you take the water out of the ground, the overburden of all the rocks above pushes down,” he told Guardian Australia. 
Why, it’s just like when Guam capsized because of overpopulation.
===

NEW BYLINE PIC READY

Tim Blair – Saturday, October 24, 2015 (3:07am)

Annoyingly, smart Daily Telegraph contributor Rachel Corbett’s TV spaz face is still far more attractive than my normal TV face:



Context: Rachel was reacting to this Four Corners moment during discussion on last night’s Paul Murray Live. So it’s entirely understandable. 
===

IF YOU CAN CALL IT WINNING

Tim Blair – Saturday, October 24, 2015 (2:50am)

The Left only win when they lie.
===

GLOOMY SKY

Tim Blair – Saturday, October 24, 2015 (1:41am)

A few years ago I decided not to appear any more on the ABC. This was made considerably easier by the fact that several ABC shows (Q & A, The Insiders) had already stopped inviting me, as is their right. But still occasional requests arrived, from the Chaser folks and various others.
Most requests were extremely polite, but there were also other, more sinister invitations. For example, on the day of the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris last January, three ABC staffers from different news programs sought interviews. Here is one of their emails: 
I’m producing a TV package for tonight’s 7pm news on Charlie Hebdo and its history. I notice you were the only Australian journalist to republish the cartoons of the Prophet back in 2006. I’m wondering if you’d be free to do an interview today about your motivations for doing this, press freedoms, ethics etc? 
The other two requests also mentioned my republication, nearly a decade earlier, of those cartoons. It is interesting that the ABC’s immediate reaction to the Islamic fundamentalist slaughter of 12 people over Charlie Hebdo‘s cartoons was to seek out a local offender: “Attention, Islamic State enthusiasts! We now cross live – for the time being – to a Mohammed-mocking infidel right here in Sydney!” One of the requests actually proposed filming a piece at my house, which was a thoughtful touch. Interesting, too, is that in the years between 2006 and 2015 the ABC showed very little curiosity about my views on media freedom.
Sky News is not the ABC. Sky actually presents conservative (and non-conservative) views respectfully and at length, without attempting to get conservatives killed. Hosts Chris Kenny and Paul Murray are excellent and have both given me massive time on their shows. They are also friends of mine. Their producers, and indeed all other Sky News staff I’ve dealt with, are universally professional and fair.
But Sky’s coverage of the stabbing attacks in Israel – sourced from Sky in the UK, but presented prominently here – has been so poisonously anti-Israel that this week I declined my scheduled Sky appearance. It was impossible for me to reconcile appearing on a network currently running pieces that could have been scripted by Farfour the Jew-hating mouse.
This little protest may continue, obviously more to my disadvantage than Sky’s. Many better TV talkers than me are available. If readers think I’m being overly precious, I’m prepared to listen. 
===

OLD SPARKLESS

Tim Blair – Saturday, October 24, 2015 (1:25am)

Despite $4.9 billion in government subsidies, Tesla still can’t build a reliable car: 
Consumer Reports said it would no longer recommend Tesla’s Model S sedan due to reliability concerns, in a blow to the luxury electric-powered car initially awarded the highest-ever score in the U.S. magazine’s performance ratings.
The decision, based on the influential publication’s annual survey of vehicle reliability, sent shares of Tesla Motors Inc reeling and underscored the risk of introducing cutting-edge fuel-saving technology and digital multimedia systems in vehicles. 
Via J.F. Beck, who also has an entertaining take on our old friend Clementine Ford.
===

On The Bolt Report tomorrow, October 25

Andrew Bolt October 24 2015 (9:56am)

 At 10 tomorrow…
Editorial:  Bill Shorten. Uh, oh. His three deadly problems.
My guest: First they came for the Jews… Labor MP Michael Danby on what the media isn’t telling you about the latest jihadist attacks on Israel.
 
The panel: Former Labor advisor Nicholas Reece and Victorian Liberal Georgina Downer.

NewsWatch:Gerard Henderson, head of the Sydney Institute, columnist with The Australian and author of the wildly popular Media Watch Dog blog.
Among the topics:  Is Malcolm Turnbull taking the party too far to the Left? Is he dodging the big debates? The latest boat-people beat up. The “negro” fuss. And much more.

The videos of the shows appear here.
UPDATE
Terrribly sorry, More vroom vrooms to disturb our schedule - for the last time this year, I am told.
The 10 am screening is as usual everywhere except in Perth, where it will be on at 11am on ONE.
The 3pm encore will be on One - not 10 - everywhere except Perth, where it will be on 10 at 4pm.
You are most kind to keep finding us. 
===

Why are Sweden’s feminists silent? Is criticising multiculturalism worse than rape?

Andrew Bolt October 24 2015 (9:25am)


David P Goldman says Swedish women are paying a high price for their country’s “compassion”:
The incidence of rape in Sweden has tripled in the past ten years as the country became Europe’s premier destination for Muslim immigrants. Writing for the Gatestone Institute, Ingrid Carlqvist and Lars Hedegaard observe, 
Since 2000, there has only been one research report on immigrant crime. It was done in 2006 by Ann-Christine Hjelm from Karlstads University. It emerged that in 2002, 85% of those sentenced to at least two years in prison for rape in 2002 were foreign born or second-generation immigrants. 
A 1996 report by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention reached the conclusion that immigrants from North Africa (Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia) were 23 times as likely to commit rape as Swedish men. The figures for men from Iraq, Bulgaria and Romania were, respectively, 20, 18 and 18. Men from the rest of Africa were 16 times more prone to commit rape; and men from Iran, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, 10 times as prone as Swedish men. 
A new trend reached Sweden with full force over the past few decades: gang rape — virtually unknown before in Swedish criminal history. The number of gang rapes increased spectacularly between 1995 and 2006. Since then no studies of them have been undertaken.
Sweden not only stands by while large number of its women are raped, but outlaws public discussion of the causes. Michael Hess, a Social-Democratic population, was condemned by a Swedish court under a law forbidding denigration of ethnic groups. for writing in 2014, “There is a strong connection between rapes in Sweden and the number of immigrants from MENA-countries [Middle East and North Africa].”
The Hess trial showed that truth no longer matters in an age where giving offence is the great sin:

During his trial, [Hess] provided evidence of how sharia law deals with rape, and statistics to indicate that Muslims are vastly overrepresented among perpetrators of rape in Sweden. However, the court decided that facts were irrelevant: 
“The Court [Tingsrätten] notes that the question of whether or not Michael Hess’s pronouncement is true, or appeared to be true to Michael Hess, has no bearing on the case. Michael Hess’s statement must be judged based on its timing and context. ... At the time of the offense, Michael Hess referred neither to established research nor to Islamic sources. It was only in connection with his indictment that Michael Hess tried to find support in research and religious writings. The Court therefore notes that Michael Hess’s pronouncement was obviously not a part of any reasoned [saklig] or trustworthy [vederhäftig] discussion. Michael Hess’s pronouncement must therefore be viewed as an expression of disdain for immigrants with an Islamic faith.”
... As part of the evidence Michael Hess presented in court, he made use of whatever statistics existed on immigrant criminality in Sweden before the statistical authorities stopped measuring.... Twenty-one research reports from the 1960s until today are unanimous in their conclusions: Whether or not they measured by the number of convicted rapists or men suspected of rape, men of foreign extraction were represented far more than Swedes. And this greater representation of persons with a foreign background keeps increasing: 
1960-1970s – 1.2 to 2.6 times as often as Swedes 
1980s – 2.1 to 4.7 times as often as Swedes 
1990s – 2.1 to 8.1 times as often as Swedes 
2000s – 2.1 to 19.5 times as often as Swedes
Be warned: the truth will soon not count here, either. The media and political class now consider the multicultural society they’ve built as so potentially explosive that the naked flame of free speech must be doused. And since the truth hurts most, it will not be protected.
(Thanks to reader Greg.) 
===

Reith attacks Costello

Andrew Bolt October 24 2015 (8:57am)

Another brawl in the Liberal Party:

Former minister Peter Reith has ... unleashed an extraordinary barrage of criticism aimed at former treasurer Peter Costello. 
In a memoir that draws on contemporary notebooks, Mr Reith slams Mr Costello for “undisciplined arrogance”, suspected leaking to journalists, “positioning” for the leadership, being “missing in action” during key policy debates and describes him as “a dope”.
Mr Reith says Mr Howard ­elevated Tony Abbott to cabinet because he could challenge Mr Costello in a future leadership contest. “He wanted Abbott into cabinet because he and Abbott are philosophically close and he sees Abbott as having the potential to challenge/supplant Costello,” he wrote in 2001....
[Reith] praises the Howard government’s achievements and Mr Costello’s record as treasurer, but his attacks on his former colleague permeate the book.
“When it comes to a stoush Peter is usually hiding in a cupboard,” Mr Reith wrote in 2001, “e.g. when we were losing ministers back in 1997; in the waterfront dispute; in the 1998 election he was missing in action; even in cabinet’s expenditure review committee when I told him I’d not agree to Treasury plans to cut defence and he walked out.
“Before the 1998 election he mused about the leadership — as if he’d do anything about it! On fiscal policy Howard rolls him every time — e.g. homebuyers’ assistance scheme, setting the Age Pension at 25 per cent of average weekly earnings, the GST negotiations with the Democrats.”
Mr Costello rejected this characterisation.
“...In 1998, I was introducing and defending a GST — the biggest tax change in Australian history, which dwarfed any other issue and which nearly brought down the government, and would have if we mishandled it. “I did 12 expenditure review committees. Sometimes we staged walkouts. Sometimes we forced walkouts. And sometimes we let them run all night. That’s the tactics you had to do if you wanted to balance budgets.”
I can’t say I recall Costello dogging many debates at all. Nor is it a surprise that a Prime Minister can overrule his Treasurer, for good or bad. 
===

Chairman Mal lifts Australians to their feet

Andrew Bolt October 24 2015 (8:53am)

Even Peter Hartcher, the Abbott-hater granted Malcolm Turnbull’s first press interview as Prime Minister, is kind of surprised, but puts a positive spin on it:
Malcolm Turnbull’s ambitiousness is remarkable. Taking the prime ministership, it turns out, was just the beginning. 
What remarkable “ambitiousness” is he describing?
He not only wants to change a raft of policies, he wants to change the way Australia makes policies. He wants to change the way the country works. “I am a reformer by nature, very much so,” he tells Fairfax Media.

Most profoundly, he wants to change the culture; the culture of government, the culture of politics, the culture of business. Even the way Australia presents itself to the world. 
He cites the founder of modern China, Mao Zedong, in a famous declaration attributed to him in the creation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 when he said: “The Chinese people have stood up!”
And Turnbull adapts it for Australia: “Modern China is built upon an assertion of national sovereignty. And that is why we say to China, ‘The Australian people stand up!”’ repeating it in Mandarin. “So we stand up for our interests and our sovereignty,” Turnbull continues, “and we engage with China and indeed with any other country, clear-eyed, honestly explaining what is in our national interest.” 
It does sound awfully like Rudd revisited. With a touch of the Whitlams.
Apparently Australians were supine and rudderless until Chairman Mal was imposed upon them.
UPDATE
Yes, awfully like Rudd:
He wants to trigger a big surge in Australian spending on infrastructure by changing the way the federal government has always operated. 
He cheerfully admits that this is “an argument I lost in the Howard government” as minister responsible for water…

It’s now urgent with the economy slowing as the mining boom recedes. Infrastructure investment will partly take up “the slack”, he says…
“I think the Commonwealth should take a more active role,” he tells Fairfax Media. “We should be prepared to actually invest as opposed to simply making grants...”

UPDATE
This is better:
Malcolm Turnbull has pledged to put new laws aimed at curbing union corruption and power on the frontline of the next election campaign unless the Labor Party “comes to its senses"… 
Mr Turnbull said he was “very happy to talk” to the Opposition Leader and the ACTU leadership over passing stalled laws to curb corruption in the building and construction industry and provide transparency in union management.
There couldn’t be a better time than now to fight for these reforms, given the evidence from the royal commission into union corruption and the pressure on Bill Shorten over his own dodgy deals.
But yet again Turnbull makes clear he will not fight and risk his popularity on a cause if it is resisted:

But, Mr Turnbull said, he wouldn’t waste parliament’s time if the new industrial laws were not going to be passed…
I know - and said at the time - that Tony Abbott picked too many fights he could not win. But there is a danger in swinging too wildly the other way. You then do only what the opposition wishes.
UPDATE
Another sign that Turnbull may be dedicated to avenues of least resistance, putting his popularity above principle:
CRITICAL counter-terrorism laws giving the federal government the power to strip dual-citizen jihadists of their Australian citizenship may not pass the parliament before the end of the year. 
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has refused to guarantee the legislation, which was to be debated in parliament last week, will pass in the final three parliamentary sitting weeks of the year.
Mr Turnbull has previously raised concerns about the controversial legislation, which was crafted by former prime minister Tony Abbott and was due to be voted on in September before Mr Turnbull replaced Mr Abbott as PM. The new PM has been heavily criticised for using soft ­language in response to the Parramatta terrorist attack, describing it as being “politically motivated” rather than a religious act of extremism.
(Thanks to reader Paul.) 
===

End the fashionable alienation on which jihadists also feed

Andrew Bolt October 24 2015 (8:43am)

One of the most important things Australian intellectuals could do to help fight Islamist extremism is to show Australia is worth an immigrant’s love and loyalty. Stop declaring it hateful.
Gerard Henderson, my guest on tomorrow’s Bolt Report:

In reviewing John Howard’s The Menzies Era in The Times Literary Supplement last May, Clive James ... wrote: “Until recently, in Australia, every ethnic group that came in was assimilated if it wanted to: the Muslim extremists are the first consignment of immigrants to hate Western ­civilisation almost as much as the resident intellectuals do.” ... 
ABC’s 7.30 last Monday ... interviewed a 19-year-old supporter of the so-called Islamic State ... who came to Australia as a refugee from Afghanistan 10 years ago… Asked why he found it hard to say that [Curtis] Cheng’s murder [by an Islamist] was a tragedy for the victim and his family, the reply was brutal: “Why should I please the kafir — the ­disbelievers?"…
The uncomfortable truth is that there are a number of Jabars in contemporary Australia who are prepared to kill kafirs, to die for what they believe is Allah’s cause....
In view of this reality, it makes sense for the rest of the Australian community to focus on what unites us rather than what divides. Yet this is not the fashion in Australia ...
This is evident, for example, in the indigenous community. Talented actress Miranda Tapsell was interviewed by Karl Stefanovic on the Nine Network’s The ­Verdict on October 15. Despite her evident success, Tapsell said no when asked if she identified herself as Australian. Asked the reason for this, she replied: “When I go to Australia Day, I don’t feel like an Australian that day because people are telling me I can’t be part of that.” It is not clear who made such an assertion…
Deborah Cheetham, associate dean of music at the University of Melbourne, ... revealed that she had declined an invitation to sing Advance Australia Fair at the Australian Football League grand final in Melbourne this month…
In short, Cheetham will not sing the words “For we are young and free” primarily because she believes it is condescending to indigenous Australians to describe the nation as “young"… But it is also true that the Commonwealth of Australia was created in January 1901, which makes the country relatively young…

Mick Dodson in 2009 raised the familiar question as to whether Australia Day should be called “Invasion Day”. That was a reasonable point, provided that all Aborigines who have some ­non-indigenous ancestors acknow­ledge that they are part “invaded” and part “invaders”. The threat to democratic ­society is real and immediate. It makes sense to embrace the reality of a young and free nation and to reject alienation, whether it is sparked by discontented intellectuals or murder-endorsing ­extremists.
===

The art of Turnbull

Andrew Bolt October 24 2015 (8:09am)

I like a Prime Minister (and his wife) taking an interest in art. Malcolm Turnbull’s taste is emphatically a Sydney one:

The new Prime Minister readily concedes that his wife, Lucy, picked much of the artwork on display, including Lloyd Rees’s Passing Vision and an intricate and delicate work of petit point by modern artist Narelle Jubelin, of the Infanta.... 
The huge John Olsen work Sydney Seaport Table was commissioned from the artist by the Turnbulls in 1997 and, after hanging in their Sydney harbourside home, has accompanied Mr Turnbull into every parliamentary office he has had since entering parliament…
The Olsen seascape from the Turnbull home would have had an interesting addition if Ms Turnbull had allowed her husband his way — he wanted Olsen to include him on a kayak being chased by a shark but was vetoed by a force more powerful than a prime minister. Apart from the major piece from the Turnbull personal art collection there is another, smaller, harbourside painting by his grandmother...
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It’s not just the ABC, I’m afraid

Andrew Bolt October 24 2015 (7:26am)

Tim Blair makes a gutsy stand against a broadcaster we both fundamentally like and which is indirectly part-owned by our bosses:
Sky’s coverage of the stabbing attacks in Israel – sourced from Sky in the UK, but presented prominently here – has been so poisonously anti-Israel that this week I declined my scheduled Sky appearance. It was impossible for me to reconcile appearing on a network currently running pieces that could have been scripted by Farfour the Jew-hating mouse.
I’m not sure which stories Blair is referring to, but here’s a possible example. And another. And another. 
===

Conservatives deceived over Lomborg Centre

Andrew Bolt October 24 2015 (7:07am)

I was for the Lomborg centre; Labor education spokesman Kim Carr was against. I am for intellectual freedom; Carr seems against.
But on one thing we’re united. The Turnbull Government has been secretive and deceptive in killing the former Abbott Government’s plan to spend $4 million on Bjorn Lomborg’s Consensus Centre, which would have discussed, among other things, the pointlessness of spending billions on global warming programs that make no difference to the climate:
[Education Minister Simon] Birmingham [on Wednesday] revealed that former Minister Pyne withdrew the funding on 17 September 2015.

Despite this, Flinders University was actively discussing hosting Dr Bjorn Lomborg’s Australian Consensus Centre as recently as 1 October 2015.

When directly asked about the status of Dr Bjorn Lomborg’s Australian Consensus Centre being established at Flinders University on Adelaide radio at that time, Senator Birmingham said:
”I stand for academic freedom and autonomy of universities and that is entirely a matter for Flinders University.” [ABC Radio 891, Thursday 1 October 2015] 
Now the Minister says he knew full well that the $4 million in funding for the Australian Consensus Centre had already been withdrawn and the proposal dumped.  Yet he only advised Flinders University of the news this morning. It is clear that the Liberals have sought to hide what they have been doing with the Consensus Centre, with no public announcement being made.  
But hiding from whom? The only people cross at the cave in would be conservatives who believe in evidence above ideology.
UPDATE
Asked about his seemingly deceptive answer on October 1, Birmingham has an unconvincing answer:
At the Senate estimates hearing, Birmingham said he did not think his comments were misleading. “I do recall at the time being asked these questions being very conscious of not making an off-the-cuff announcement in relation to information that I was privy to,” he said.

(Thanks to reader Ros.) 
===

Clinton exposed as a liar. But Biden’s retreat leaves her the favorite

Andrew Bolt October 24 2015 (6:52am)

Only the FBI and Department of Justice can now stop Hillary Clinton becoming the Democratic nominee for president - and most likely the next President, too. Charles Krauthammer on Joe Biden’s no-but-yes refusal to join the race:
It was a two-part speech where the two parts were totally unconnected. ‘I’m not running,’ and then he gave what was obviously an announcement speech… 
What he did with that speech, which was essentially an announcement speech, was to say I’m ready. I’m tanned, I’m rested, and if lightning strikes Hillary, meaning if the Department of Justice indicts her or something really out of the ordinary happens, and somehow she disappears, I just bought myself a stand-by ticket on Air Force One. So he’s first in line.
There’s nothing he could have done as a candidate to depose her, particularly after the debate. It was a 13-point swing in her standing against Sanders. But right now he’s waiting in line. If something happens, he’s just announced that he’s ready. And I think he would be the logical candidate. So he’s got the best of both worlds… I think she has the nomination. I think the race ended in the debate when Bernie Sanders said, ‘we’re tired of hearing about your damn emails.’ That was a concession speech. He handed over his sword, it was over. It remains over. And Biden understood that. He’s not a dummy. He understands how, how the forces here work and he knew he had zero chance. I think this is all in the hands of the Department of Justice. It’s not in the hands of the of the Benghazi committee. They will determine the 1 in 100 chance that she falls, otherwise she’s the nominee.
UPDATE
And so an astonishing liar advances, despite more damning testimony - too late - from the Benghazi inquiry. Kimberley Strassel:
Thanks to Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi testimony on Thursday, we now understand why the former secretary of state never wanted anyone to see her emails and why the State Department sat on documents. Turns out those emails and papers show that the Obama administration deliberately misled the nation about the deadly events in Libya on Sept. 11, 2012 ... in an apparent attempt to avoid blame for a terror attack in a presidential re-election year… 
What [the House Select Committee on Benghazi] did Thursday was finally expose the initial deception…
(F)our Americans [including Ambassador Christopher Stevens] in Benghazi were dead. It appeared the White House had slept through a terror attack on the anniversary of 9/11.
The administration instead immediately presented the attack as a spontaneous mob backlash to an anti-Muslim YouTube video. At 10:30 on the night of the attack, Mrs. Clinton issued a statement about the violence, blaming the video. She repeated the charge in a speech the next day. President Obama gave his own speech that day, referring to the video and refusing to use the word “terrorism.”
The next day, Mrs. Clinton mentioned the video twice more. The day after that, Press Secretary Jay Carney said: “We have no information to suggest that it was a preplanned attack.” Mrs. Clinton promised the father of one of the victims that the administration would “make sure that the person who made that film is arrested and prosecuted.” In his weekly address, Mr. Obama talked about the video. When the Libyan president said there was evidence the attack was planned months in advance, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice contradicted him. She instead told five Sunday talk shows—five days after the attack—that “based on the best information we have to date,” the attack “began spontaneously” in response to “this hateful video.” Mr. Obama for two full weeks continued to talk about YouTube.
Here’s what the Benghazi committee found in Thursday’s hearing. Two hours into Mrs. Clinton’s testimony, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan referred to an email Mrs. Clinton sent to her daughter, Chelsea, at 11:12 the night of the attack, or 45 minutes after the secretary of state had issued a statement blaming YouTube-inflamed mobs. Her email reads: “Two of our officers were killed in Benghazi by an Al Queda-like group.” Mrs. Clinton doesn’t hedge in the email; no “it seems” or “it appears."…
That same evening, Mrs. Clinton spoke on the phone with Libyan President Mohamed Magariaf, around 8 p.m. The notes from that conversation, in a State Department email, describe her as saying: “We have asked for the Libyan government to provide additional security to the compound immediately as there is a gun battle ongoing, which I understand Ansar as Sharia [sic] is claiming responsibility for.” Ansar al Sharia is al Qaeda’s affiliate on the Arabian Peninsula. So several hours into the attack, Mrs. Clinton already believed that al Qaeda was attacking U.S. facilities....
The next afternoon, Mrs. Clinton had a call with the Egyptian Prime Minister Hesham Kandil. The notes from it are absolutely damning. The secretary of state tells him: “We know that the attack in Libya had nothing to do with the film. It was a planned attack—not a protest.” And yet Mrs. Clinton, and Ms. Rice and Mr. Obama for days and days continued to spin the video lie.
In other news Thursday, Judicial Watch unveiled a new cable, sent the day after the attack, from the Defense Intelligence Agency to the State Department Command Center. It explains that the attack was carried out by a “Salafi terrorism group” in “retaliation for the killing of an Al Qaeda operative.” The cable says “the attack was an organized operation with specific information that the U.S. Ambassador was present.” 
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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WORLD’S WHITEST RAPPER WINS

Tim Blair – Friday, October 24, 2014 (5:39pm)

Greens councillor Matthew Robertson bravely turns his back on the rising oceans:



This guy might be the finest Greens representative since pantomime performer Geoff Ebbs. But wait – here’s epsilon male Scott Ludlam rapping about data retention laws. You win, Scott. You are the Prime Green. The entire obscene debacle may be seen here.
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TAGS AWAY

Tim Blair – Friday, October 24, 2014 (1:42pm)

Scores more women have been  abducted by Boko Haram Islamists in Nigeria. You know what this means, Twitter activists: deploy the hashtags!


(By A.R.M. Jones) 
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LOSING EVERYTHING

Tim Blair – Friday, October 24, 2014 (12:57am)

Send this far and wide. Mark Steyn on the latest Canadian Islamist atrocity: 
The sub-title of my new book is “Don’t Say You Weren’t Warned”. I have been writing for over a decade now about the west’s wannabe jihadists, often born and raised in Canada and America and Britain and Australia and Europe, some of them converts – or “reverts”, as they call them.
Throughout that period, the multiculti delusionists have insisted that Islam’s contribution to the diversity mosaic is no less positive than that of Poles or Italians. Now we have pure laine Quebeckers and Nigerian South Londoners converting to Islam because it’s the coolest gang on the planet. And one consequence of that is that a relaxed, open capital city will descend into the same panopticon security state as Washington.
I love Ottawa – I know every yard of that stretch of Wellington Street connecting Parliament and the Cenotaph: Chateau Laurier is where I always stay when in town; not so long ago I walked past the war memorial with a senior Minister of the Crown and we talked about how simple and dignified and profoundly moving it was; and during my battles with the “human rights” commissions I had the honour of testifying to the House of Commons and strolling that same Centre Block corridor that that Allahu Akbar loon rampaged down today.
That security-lite Ottawa is gone, and that is a loss. But there will be others in the years ahead. Because the price of welcoming and incubating and growing Islam in the west is, ultimately, the loss of everything else. 
Do read on. And click on the video.
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Ricky Muir’s staff aren’t enthusiasts

Andrew Bolt October 24 2014 (9:07pm)

Ricky Muir is one of the Senators deciding how to run the country.
Pity he can’t even run his own office:
Motoring Enthusiast Senator Ricky Muir has lost his second chief of staff in three months after Sarah Mennie quit on Friday. 
Ms Mennie had previously worked for independent senator Nick Xenophon and the head of the Fair Work Building and Construction commission, Nigel Hadgkiss.
Her exit comes after the so-called “preference whisperer”, Glenn Druery, was sacked by Senator Muir in August.
At the time, Mr Druery blamed his exit on Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party founder Keith Littler, who he accused of plotting to take Senator Muir’s seat in Parliament.
Another staffer, Susan Bloodworth, quit in protest at Mr Druery’s sacking. And just days later another staffer, Peter Breen joined the exodus as Senator Muir’s office imploded. 
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The Greens’ Les Patterson - without the jokes

Andrew Bolt October 24 2014 (9:00pm)

 Even by the Greens’ standards, Senator Scott Ludlam is embarrassing - and foul-mouthed.
(Via Tim Blair.) 
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Another attack

Andrew Bolt October 24 2014 (8:47pm)

 Possibly a copycat, possibly just a madman ... but:
New York police fear that a crazed hatchet attack on four police officers in Jamaica, Queens, today could be linked to terrorism. 
Suspect Zale Thompson, 32, pictured in surveillance footage, was shot dead on the scene after slashing one cop in the arm and the other in the head at around without warning about 2pm.
The officer struck in the head was critically injured.
A 29-year-old female bystander a half-a-block away from the attack was critically injured after being shot by an errant police round. She is currently recovering from surgery at Jamaica Hospital and is listed in ‘grave’ condition.

Police say they were investigating whether Thompson’s attack on the cops was linked to Islamic terrorism. ISIS has urged fighters to launch lone wolf attacks in the United States. Thompson’s Facebook page features a photograph of a man dressed in Middle Eastern garb and a cover photo displaying Arabic writing.
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The Bolt Report on Sunday, October 26

Andrew Bolt October 24 2014 (4:45pm)

On The Bolt Report on Channel 10 tomorrow at 10am and 4pm.
Editorial:  More jihadist attacks. How to fight back.
My guest:  former Greenpeace boss Dr Patrick Moore on global warming and oiher green frauds.
The panel: Michael Costa and Peter Costello - on jihadism, Whitlam’s real legacy and the economy.
NewsWatch:  Rowan Dean on the ABC in mourning.
And lots more, including: is Jacquie Lambie unAustralian?

The videos of the shows appear here.
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No, not a parody. ABC presenter wants Whitlam memorial

Andrew Bolt October 24 2014 (9:58am)

Melbourne ABC presenter Join Faine is now running a campaign to erect a memorial to Gough Whitlam, who ruled for less than three years, left the economy a ruin and lost his last two elections in landslides.
Suggestions, please. 
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More women enslaved by Boko Haram

Andrew Bolt October 24 2014 (9:42am)

In the name of Islam:
SCORES of women and children in northern Nigeria have been abducted by militants, only a day after the military declared a ceasefire with the Boko Haram Islamist group. 
As reports of the kidnappings emerged,fresh violence rocked the town of Azare in Bauchi state.
A police spokesman for the state, Mohammed Haruna, said a bomb blast at a bus station in Azare killed five people, with their bodies “burnt beyond recognition,” and injured 12 others. No-one claimed responsibility, but Bauchi has been attacked repeatedly throughout Boko Haram’s brutal five-year uprising, which has left more than 10,000 people dead.
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Palmer scrambles for members, dead or alive

Andrew Bolt October 24 2014 (9:37am)

Clive Palmer seems to lurch from one problem to another:
THE Palmer United Party, under pressure to come up with a list of 500 Queensland members by Monday or face deregistration, is trying to claim people who have resigned from the party as active members.   
The party has four more days to prove to the Electoral Commission Queensland that it should remain eligible for inclusion on the state’s Register of Political Parties. But former members have told The Australian the PUP advised them their memberships were automatically being reinstated, and that they would be listed as members of the political party in the PUP’s submission to the ECQ.  
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Jihadists just agree with the Left: the West is rotten

Andrew Bolt October 24 2014 (9:31am)

Tanveer Ahmed is right - Leftist hatred of our traditions and history has created a gap now being filled for some by the fierce pride of the jihadist:
Recent stormy debate over a T-shirt bearing an Australian flag and the slogan ‘Love it — or leave’ illustrates how difficult it is for Australian progressives to embrace outward displays of patriotism… 
Patriotism is a dirty word. Indeed, hip-hop artist Matt Colwell not only labelled the Australian flag “racist” on the ABC’s Q&A, he said later: “The way those people have used the flag has so tarnished the flag for me personally that it stands for a sort of swastika symbol in my mind."…
Two world wars left a deep scar on the European psyche, especially on the notion of nationalism, which was seen as causing the rise of fascist Italy and Germany.
This ambivalence spawned a belief that countries such as Britain should be a culturally blank canvas; that patriotism is an old fashioned trapping of empire and countries such as Britain could be shaped afresh with new cultures living side by side in unity.
While we may lack the imperial guilt, there can be little doubt this view is apparent in Australia…
While Islamic terrorism is attractive to a very small proportion of the population, it highlights a weakness of liberal democracies in their lukewarm, sometimes conflicted promotion of a collective identity.
The gap for Islamists is filled by the fierce transnational identity that the Islamic notion of the ummah can build, a piety so strong they are prepared to sacrifice their lives. Macabre, evil and disgusting the actions may be, but the intensity of belief is in stark contrast to the relative apathy of mild-mannered secular atheists… The strong patriotism of the US that integrates its extremely diverse population so successfully may explain why so few American-Muslims, as a proportion of the population, have gone to fight in Syria, compared with many thousands from Europe. The several hundred estimated to have travelled from Australia, as a percentage of our Muslim population, are many multiples greater than in America.
Jihadists, some educated in our universities, are taking the Left at its word - that this is an illegitimate nation built on theft, genocide, racism, rape and destruction. The jihadists just intend to do something vigorous about it. In many ways the Left has contributed to the rise of Islamism, through its cultural self-hated, its promotion of mass immigration, its gags on free speech and its constant rationalisation of jihadist attacks, notably those on Israel.
Ahron Shapiro:
Recent polls show that Islamic State is more popular overall — not just among Muslims — in some Western states than in most Middle Eastern ones. A poll by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy found just 3 per cent of Egyptians expressed a positive opinion about it, as did 5 per cent of Saudis. In Lebanon, it was less than 1 per cent. Yet in a poll in Aug­ust by ICM Research, 7 per cent of British respondents had a favourable view of the group, as did 16 per cent of French polled — rising to 27 per cent in the 18-24 demographic… 
The message is chilling — Islamic State appears to have a tremendous ability to appeal to disaffected Muslims living in free societies in the West, more so than to populations within the Middle East, who perhaps have homes and families at stake, are more grounded in reality and less likely to be swept away by the hyped-up promise of a revolution.
This almost certainly also ­applies to some degree in Australia, as evidenced by the numerous Australians who have travelled to Syria and Iraq to join up, and the positive view of this behaviour ­expressed by some of their peers.
The allure of groups such as Islamic State should be understood as similar to that which drew people to past murderous totalitarian movements and their atrocities — Nazism, fascism, communism, Maoism. All claimed their violence and genocide were a justified self-defence against race, class or external enemies.
It begins with rationalisations that extreme violence is justifiable under the right circumstances, that terrorists are humans and their behaviour is understandable and motivated by injustice. Once that red line has been crossed, the distance from justification to embracing the violence, and then glorifying it, is short.
No wonder conservatives, more likely to value this society, are also the most likely to lead in its defence. Tony Abbott, for instance.
UPDATE
The Left abandoned Israel first, and even now there’s little outrage if a jihadist  murders a baby in Israel rather than a soldier in Canada.
Reader Ash:

Horrible events in Canada over the last few days with terrorists running over two soldiers, and the murder at the war memorial. Global congratulations for the sergeant of arms at Canadian Parliament who is lauded as a hero for killing the terrorist.
Contrast to events yesterday in Jerusalem, where a Hamas terrorist drove across a divided road, over the median strip and ploughed into a crowd of people at a light rail station. The terrorist killed a 3 month old baby and injured 7 others. He then fled on foot, but was shot by the police.
Hamas and other Palestinian organisations have praised the act as “a heroic blow against Israel”. There has barely been any (if any at all) coverage of this in Australia. No outcry about a 3 month baby being killed. No “scorecards” of number of deaths. No pictures of dead babies (although they are available). Certainly no marches in the streets protesting the tragic deaths of innocent children. And remarkably - the global coverage by Associated Press was headlined “Israeli Police shoot man in East Jerusalem”.
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Praise the hero, scorn the jihadist

Andrew Bolt October 24 2014 (9:24am)

Kevin Vickers, Sergeant-at-Arms of the Canadian Parliament, grabbed his gun and shot dead jihadist Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, who’d just murdered an unarmed soldiers before taking his shotgun into Parliament.
The next day Vickers once again carried the ceremonial mace into the House of Commons:
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Public servants skip three weeks of work a year

Andrew Bolt October 24 2014 (9:15am)

Absolutely astonishing:
Public servants at the government’s largest department took more than three weeks off work on average in the past year in “unscheduled absence,” mostly sickies… 
The 35,000-strong Human Services has reported another increase in its rate of unscheduled absences with the average full-time public servant at DHS failing to front for work on 16.25 days in the 2013-2014 financial year.
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Meet Patrick Moore, a Greenpeace co-founder

Andrew Bolt October 24 2014 (8:55am)

Dr. Patrick Moore helped to create Greenpeace and was director of Greenpeace International for seven years, when it became the world’s largest environmental activist organisation.
But as Greenpeace became more radical and religious, Moore became more disillusioned and left Greenpeace in 1986;
Moore is in Australia for a speaking tour, discussing the global warming scare and other pathologies.
Catch him in Melbourne for the following functions:
Today
At 5:30pm
CQ Functions,
113 Queen Street
$20 at the door i
27 October
Noon
The Australian Club
110 William Street
$110, lunch included.
Full itinerary here.
Moore will also be my guest on The Bolt Report on Sunday. 
===

The ABC using its funding to shout down rivals

Andrew Bolt October 24 2014 (8:15am)

The ABC is the country’s biggest media outfit by far, and unlike its rivals does not have to make money to survive.
Instead, it uses taxpayers’ cash to push its overwhelming Leftist agenda, shout down dissenting views and put other media out of business:
THE ABC is spending tens of thousands of dollars to damage its commercial media rivals by buying Google rankings that lure internet users to stories on its own news website. 
Spending on “search engine marketing” ensures the ABC’s stories rank ahead of those written by other news organisations when users type in search terms such as “politics news”.
On Tuesday this week, the ABC outbid its commercial rivals to buy the term “Gough Whitlam” to ensure stories on its website ranked ahead of those by outlets such as News Corp (publisher of The Australian), Fairfax Media and the television networks. It spent an estimated $10,000. ­Higher-ranked stories typically attract significantly more readers.
I cannot understand why the Liberals continue to accept this gross abuse of power and taxes - and this gross distortion of public debate. Self-interest alone would demand action.
And the public interest is also not served by allowing a vast government media empire crush rival voices:
Former ABC chairman Maurice Newman described the practice as “unfair competition” that could diminish media diversity. 
===

First we lost free speech. Then we lost free movement

Andrew Bolt October 24 2014 (7:40am)

Mark Steyn on the Islamist attacks in Canada:
I have been writing for over a decade now about the west’s wannabe jihadists, often born and raised in Canada and America and Britain and Australia and Europe, some of them converts – or “reverts”, as they call them. 
Throughout that period, the multiculti delusionists have insisted that Islam’s contribution to the diversity mosaic is no less positive than that of Poles or Italians. Now we have pure laine Quebeckers and Nigerian South Londoners converting to Islam because it’s the coolest gang on the planet. And one consequence of that is that a relaxed, open capital city will descend into the same panopticon security state as Washington… That security-lite Ottawa is gone, and that is a loss. But there will be others in the years ahead. Because the price of welcoming and incubating and growing Islam in the west is, ultimately, the loss of everything else. 
Steyn’s warning risks action under anti-vilification laws, both a symbol of this loss of freedom and a gag to prevent us from resisting.
Yes, first we lost some of our freedom to frankly criticise Islam and then we lost some of freedom to move around without fear.
Remember the very first case brought under Victoria’s racial and religious vilification laws a decade ago?
Pastor Daniel Scot and Pastor Danny Nalliah were last week found to have committed religious vilification after the first trial under this new law.
Judge Michael Higgins found Scot offended by quoting the Koran in a way that got “a response from the audience at various times in the form of laughter"…
Meet May Helou, an official of the Islamic Council of Victoria, who’d also been hired by the Equal Opportunity Commission to ensure “Arabic and Muslim communities are aware of their rights under anti-discrimination laws”.
In 2002, Helou alerted several Muslim converts at the ICV to a seminar on jihad to be run by a Pentecostal church, Catch the Fire…
So they went, and were horrified to hear Scot, from Muslim Pakistan, discuss the Koran. Once they’d reported their horror to Helou, the case against Scot and Nalliah, the Catch the Fire leader, was on…
So what did Judge Higgins finally find in his summary judgment...? Most of his summary criticises Scot, who had “made fun of Muslim beliefs and conduct”. The judge gave 13 examples, starting like this: 
“Pastor Scot, during the course of the seminar, made statements -- 
“(1) that the (Koran) promotes violence, killing and looting 
“(2) that it treats women badly ... 
“(5) that Allah is not merciful and a thief’s hand is cut off for stealing ... 
“(12) Muslim people have to fight Christians and Jews, humiliate them and fight them until they accept true religion (sic)...”
Indeed, at least eight of the accusations arose from Scot quoting the Koran at the seminar, and—it seems to me—for the most part accurately. The Koran indeed tells Muslims to “kill disbelievers where you find them” in defending Islam, to “fight those who believe not in God ... until they pay the jizya (a penalty tax for non-Muslims)”, and to share loot after a war.
It also instructs men how to punish “ill-conduct” in their wives—“admonish them (first), (next), refuse to share their beds (and last) beat them (lightly)”.
Thieves must indeed have hands lopped off, and so on. So what did Scot, in those 13 examples the judge gave, say that was actually false?
Yes, this verdict was overturned on appeal, but trial by process is enough to warn people off opening their mouths.
Then just this year the Prime Minister explained he would not reform the Racial Discrimination Act - which also stifles debate on racial or ethnic politics - because he, too, had to placate the Muslim community and prevent even more violence:
Mr Abbott said he was dumping Senator Brandis’s draft laws, which would have removed key sections of the Racial Discrimination Act which the Attorney-General said made it illegal to “hurt the feelings of others”. 
The PM said he had made a “leadership call” to abandon the changes, because they had become a “complication” in the Government’s relationship with the Australian Muslim community.
“When it comes to counter-terrorism, everyone needs to be part of Team Australia,” Mr Abbott said. “The Government’s proposals to change 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act have become a complication in that respect....”
(Via Tim Blair.) 
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THE BENEFACTORS OF MANKIND by Prof. Paul Eidelberg
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No nation has been a greater benefactor of mankind than Israel and America—the one endowed humanity with spiritual freedom, the other with political freedom. Alfred North Whitehead, perhaps the world’s greatest philosopher of science and civilization, related these two blessings by saying: “The Jews are the first people that refused to worship the State.” This he could rightly say because the Jews taught mankind that there exists an Authority higher than the State—a revolutionary idea!
This revolutionary idea was dramatically manifested in 1776, when the American people issued their theologically-inspired Declaration of Independence. This primary foundational document of the United States acknowledges God in four ways: as the Creator, as the Author of the Laws of Nature, as the Supreme Judge, and as the Providential Benefactor of mankind, hence, as the ultimate Source of Plenitude and Justice.
Mankind is also indebted to America for its brilliant method of achieving wealth and justice by means of a Constitution whose system of institutional checks and balances secures the Declaration’s sacred ends of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The Constitutionsl system secures the dignity of the individual by fostering private enterprise on the one hand, and by limiting the powers of government on the other.
This grand idea was first conceived not by John Locke or Adam Smith or Montesquieu but by the Hebrew Republic of antiquity. Enough to cite Harvard President Samuel Langdon, a Christian Hebraist who, at outbreak of the American Revolution, recommended the ancient Hebrew Republic—shorn of its ceremonial laws—as an excellent model for the emerging government of the United States. (Sadly, during the past 100 years, this portrait of American history has been eradicated from “higher learning”—a mark of profound ingratitude, the first sin of mankind, according to the Sages of Israel).
Now the question arises: if Israel and America have been the greatest benefactors of mankind, why is it that neither nation enjoys a “good press” in the world at large? The obvious answer is envy. This envy, however, is a manifestation of ingratitude—precisely the sin of which both nations are guilty insofar as both have more or less abandoned their Biblical heritage. “Measure for measure” is one of the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” or of Divine Providence.
The lesson is clear: The benefactors of mankind must not forget their ultimate Benefactor.◙
✔ Like ✔ Comment ✔ Share the Kosher Culture Foundation ✡www.facebook.com/KosherCulture
[image via www.jewlicious.com]
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Beyond Words – Rabbi Meir Kahane at His Very Best
http://www.jewishpress.com/blogs/felafel-on-rye/beyond-words-rabbi-meir-kahane-at-his-very-best/2012/06/03/
Why be a Jew!!! It is an agonizing cry from the souls of tens of thousands of young Jews who assimilate, integrate and disappear into the outer space beyond Judaism. It is THE cry, THE question. It is asked by young men and women who have seen the emptiness and the vapidness of the Judaism they grew...
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“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning


"Will ye also go away?"
John 6:67

Many have forsaken Christ, and have walked no more with him; but what reason have you to make a change? Has there been any reason for it in the past? Has not Jesus proved himself all-sufficient? He appeals to you this morning--"Have I been a wilderness unto you?" When your soul has simply trusted Jesus, have you ever been confounded? Have you not up till now found your Lord to be a compassionate and generous friend to you, and has not simple faith in him given you all the peace your spirit could desire? Can you so much as dream of a better friend than he has been to you? Then change not the old and tried for new and false. As for the present, can that compel you to leave Christ? When we are hard beset with this world, or with the severer trials within the Church, we find it a most blessed thing to pillow our head upon the bosom of our Saviour. This is the joy we have today that we are saved in him; and if this joy be satisfying, wherefore should we think of changing? Who barters gold for dross? We will not forswear the sun till we find a better light, nor leave our Lord until a brighter lover shall appear; and, since this can never be, we will hold him with a grasp immortal, and bind his name as a seal upon our arm. As for the future, can you suggest anything which can arise that shall render it necessary for you to mutiny, or desert the old flag to serve under another captain? We think not. If life be long--he changes not. If we are poor, what better than to have Christ who can make us rich? When we are sick, what more do we want than Jesus to make our bed in our sickness? When we die, is it not written that "neither death, nor life, nor things present, nor things to come, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!" We say with Peter, "Lord, to whom shall we go?"

Evening


"Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation."
Luke 22:46

When is the Christian most liable to sleep? Is it not when his temporal circumstances are prosperous? Have you not found it so? When you had daily troubles to take to the throne of grace, were you not more wakeful than you are now? Easy roads make sleepy travellers. Another dangerous time is when all goes pleasantly in spiritual matters. Christian went not to sleep when lions were in the way, or when he was wading through the river, or when fighting with Apollyon, but when he had climbed half way up the Hill Difficulty, and came to a delightful arbour, he sat down, and forthwith fell asleep, to his great sorrow and loss. The enchanted ground is a place of balmy breezes, laden with fragrant odours and soft influences, all tending to lull pilgrims to sleep. Remember Bunyan's description: "Then they came to an arbour, warm, and promising much refreshing to the weary pilgrims; for it was finely wrought above head, beautified with greens, and furnished with benches and settles. It had also in it a soft couch, where the weary might lean." "The arbour was called the Slothful's Friend, and was made on purpose to allure, if it might be, some of the pilgrims to take up their rest there when weary." Depend upon it, it is in easy places that men shut their eyes and wander into the dreamy land of forgetfulness. Old Erskine wisely remarked, "I like a roaring devil better than a sleeping devil." There is no temptation half so dangerous as not being tempted. The distressed soul does not sleep; it is after we enter into peaceful confidence and full assurance that we are in danger of slumbering. The disciples fell asleep after they had seen Jesus transfigured on the mountain top. Take heed, joyous Christian, good frames are near neighbours to temptations: be as happy as you will, only be watchful.
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Today's reading: Jeremiah 1-2, 1 Timothy 3 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Jeremiah 1-2


1 The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. 2 The word of the LORD came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, 3 and through the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.

The Call of Jeremiah

4 The word of the LORD came to me, saying,

5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
6 “Alas, Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”
7 But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD.
9 Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. 10See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant....”

Today's New Testament reading: 1 Timothy 3

Qualifications for Overseers and Deacons
1 Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. 2 Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. 5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.
8 In the same way, deacons are to be worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. 9 They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons....
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