Sunday, November 20, 2016

Sun Nov 20th Todays News

IPA Review (Nov 2016) features a Matthew Lesh article on “Australian Tax Mutineers” and it includes Chinese migrants in Australia 1859 - 62. The headline is misleading, as Chinese had been part of Sydney colony since foundation, with various Chinese peoples forming part of the crews of ships. My own great great great great grandfather, Mak Sai Ying came to Australia in 1818 as a ship board wood worker and stayed in Sydney, becoming the first known Chinese migrant to Australia. Ying started a business specialising in funeral arrangements for Chinese people, and a pub in Parramatta, and oversaw a Chinese port a decade before the first Opium war as well as starting a family. Ying also started a surname, Shying, which began in Sydney but is now worldwide. It is said that Australia had racist foundations, but that wasn’t the direct experience of my ancestor or his family. But there was a tax rebellion which occurred because of a racist act in 1859 which had Chinese peoples paying a fortune in protection money each year. My great great grandfather bought a large chunk of Broad Street in Croydon Park in 1901 for ten pounds. In 1859, every Chinese person was paying a landing fee of ten pounds, a gold digging tax of one pound and an annual fee of 1 pound protection money. Some argued they didn’t have to pay because they were British subjects from Hong Kong (Mak Sai Ying had come from Canton Province). 3000 Chinese migrants marched on Castlemaine’s local warden’s residence in 1859. By 1862, with Chinese resistance including not paying the tax, the tax was repealed.

Bureaucratic racism to Chinese did not end in 1862. In NZ, laws prevented Chinese ownership of property until 1972.
=== from 2015 ===
The left wing do not know that President Bush was right to invade Iraq. He did so to protect the world from things like the Sabbath 13th November Paris atrocity. Saddam had paid for such atrocities and committed many of his own. Saddam's people suffered. Since Saddam was toppled, Iraq was privileged with a Democracy, which became a puppet administration to Iran after Obama became President. Liars say things like life was better in Iraq under Saddam, which isn't true and can be illustrated by looking at the population which was depressed under Saddam but strongly growing since. Apparently people didn't want their sons killed in pointless wars and their daughters raped by friends of Saddam. Saddam had chemical weapons given to him by Jimmy Carter, used against his own people and later against Syrians. For the left wing, it is a story about oil. As if it would be wrong to fight for national interests too. But oil was definitely not the deciding interest, as if it had been Venezuela would be a US state. 

For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
From 2014
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.
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 Palisadesand 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 Dealerpublished 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, EgyptianPresident 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, MicrosoftWindows 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 bombingsoccured 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.
=== 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.
===
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 Solly Eilenberg and Daniel Nguyen. Born on the same day, across the years, along with
Statue of Diocletian
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. 
Deaths
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Piers Akerman


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Tim Blair


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Andrew Bolt


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We must decide which refugees we accept

Piers Akerman – Thursday, November 19, 2015 (10:30pm)

COALITION prime minister John Howard famously declared “We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come”.
The UN has now made it clear it will take that decision out of Australians’ hands.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'We must decide which refugees we accept'
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Why halal food process is leaving such a bad taste

Piers Akerman – Thursday, November 19, 2015 (10:29pm)

ISLAM, a minority religion in Australia, is literally being forced down the throats of unknowing Australians and few politicians are brave enough to stand up and challenge the fact.
This situation will explode when the senate economics reference committee reports on its inquiry into food certification — principally halal food certification — at the end of the month.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'Why halal food process is leaving such a bad taste'
===

No to Turnbull’s tax grab

Andrew Bolt November 20 2015 (12:42pm)

Former Treasury secretary John Stone is right - better no GST “reform” than this smokescreen for a tax grab:

It all began on Sunday, November 1, when Cabinet Secretary Arthur Sinodinos was interviewed at length on Sky News’s Australian Agenda program. Speaking with, obviously, the Prime Minister’s undoubted approval, he urged the need for “tax reform” involving a major Goods and Services Tax increase. 
For the next ten days the ensuing crusade (it was nothing less) supporting this daft idea was pursued in “The Oz” ... Labor could hardly believe its luck.

Now it is true, as this newspaper has been pointing out, that on pure tax efficiency grounds, raising the GST solely to reduce taxes commensurately on personal and/or corporate income would produce net benefits to productivity and growth. But the proceeds should definitely not facilitate more spending by either federal or State governments. At the political level, however, no “reform” proponent has suggested such a clean swap. Everyone stressed the need to ensure “no disadvantage to the most vulnerable Australians”.
With that “wedge” accepted, it is obvious that any GST rise must result in a rise in total government spending – and hence, ultimately, a rise in total taxation…
This vicarious thought bubble from Malcolm Turnbull (also known as the great communicator) has been enormously damaging to the Coalition, including particularly to those marginal seat holders whose panic two months ago led to overthrowing the man to whom they owed their election.And the crusade? Well, last Thursday The Australian unblushingly editorialised that “practice shows lifting GST leads to even bigger government”; and that “indeed, increasing the GST automatically lifts government spending as a share of the economy because part of the extra revenue must be paid out… as compensation”. Precisely.
===

On The Bolt Report on Sunday, November 22

Andrew Bolt November 20 2015 (12:34pm)

On Sunday at 10am and 3pm.
Editorial: Malcolm Turnbull and national security.
My guest: Anthony Albanese, Labor’s transport and infrastructure spokesman. The Labor challenge.
The panel: Victorian Liberal president Michael Kroger and Parnell McGuinness, business strategist and thought leadership consultant.
NewsWatch: Rowan Dean, editor of Spectator Australia and columnist with the Courier Mail and Financial Review. On journalists dodging the issues after Paris.
Terror and surrender. Shorten’s woes. Budget messaging and more.
The videos of the shows appear here.
===

YouTube clicks may not be a good measure of the public’s sentiment

Andrew Bolt November 20 2015 (8:35am)

A totally unscientific measure, of course - but so are the YouTube clicks I heard so much about this week.
Whatever, Waleed Aly’s argument vs mine - an interesting result.   
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Not Syrian, not refugees, and a Syrian peace deal won’t stop them

Andrew Bolt November 20 2015 (8:21am)

Don’t believe the media spin that most of the illegal immigrants streaming into Europe are refugees from Syria’s war, and a peace deal will stop them.
In fact, European Union statistics reveal that of 600,000 refugees, only 20 per cent are Syrian - and 72 per cent are men:
Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency, said that by August, 600,000 had arrived at the union’s border seeking asylum, but just 121,500 were from Syria. The rest came from a collection of other countries including Kosovo, Afghanistan and Pakistan. 
Pew noted that while the number of Syrians fleeing was lower than the impression given by the media coverage, many from other countries are claiming to be Syrian because people from that nation appear to be on the fast-track for asylum.
(Thanks to reader observer.) 
===

You have denied nothing, Malcolm. Rule out the Islamic State

Andrew Bolt November 20 2015 (7:45am)

Malcolm Turnbull’s denials deny nothing about his astonishing peace proposal for the Islamic State: 

Andrew Bolt wrote he was “staggered” by these comments and that Mr Turnbull had suggested a “ceasefire” with Islamic State, making him Australia’s Neville Chamberlain — a reference to the British prime minister who appeased Hitler…
Mr Turnbull did not name Bolt yesterday, but rejected the criticism. “I might say I read somewhere that someone had suggested a political settlement would mean that Daesh would be at the table,” Mr Turnbull said, speaking in Manila, where he is attending a regional summit. “Nobody is suggesting that, least of all me. Daesh or the so-called Islamic State seeks to establish its own caliphate. It has no interest in any political settlement and I’m not aware of anyone having any interest in raising it with them.”
Note well: Turnbull does not deny he proposed a peace deal that could involve power sharing with supporters or representatives of the Islamic State - and he proposed it not one week after the Islamic State butchered 129 people in Paris. He says only that he expects the Islamic State would not support such a deal.
Here are his original quotes, showing he not only proposed a “ceasefire” but made it perfectly clear that if the Islamic State chose to be part of a power-sharing deal, Turnbull would not object:
JOURNALIST: 
... Prime Minister, your call for some power-sharing there, how open are you to extending that to include some of the Sunni elements that are part of or linked to Daesh?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, this is, you know, in Australia we are, what you need, what we need there is a political settlement. And it is clear that the principal determinants of, the people that will decide who can be in or out are going to be the people in Syria. You know the dictating terms from foreign capitals is unlikely to be successful…
There needs to be a ceasefire as has been asked for in Vienna, and there needs to then be a power-sharing deal, as I mentioned, you know the example of Lebanon is given, I mean, that obviously has had its imperfections as well. But nonetheless, there needs to be a power-sharing deal…
I repeat: Turnbull is our Neville Chamberlain.  If journalists were not judging this purely through some Abbott/Turnbull prism - with Abbott, of course, cast as the blundering war monger - they would see how crazy this is.
Yes, a polticial settlement with Assad.  But no to any with Islamic State. How hard can it be to say so? To repeat those very words?
But contrast: when al Qaeda struck in New York, George Bush and John Howard resolved to destroy it in Afghanistan. When the Islamic State struck in Paris, Barack Obama and Malcolm Turnbull resolved to strike a power sharing deal in Syria that could include it. One duo punished terrorists, the other seems bent on appeasing.
(Thanks to reader Gab.) 
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Shock finding: Kumbayah and group hugs don’t work

Andrew Bolt November 20 2015 (6:55am)

I am sure this wlil surprise you about as much as it surprises me, but terrorism is not stopped by group hugs, Kumbayah, pleas to be nice and rosy assurances that your culture is just as nice as mine:

Only one of 87 federally funded “countering violent extremism” projects run over the past five years as part of the effort to ­prevent the rise of home-grown terrorism actually involves dealing with people who have been ­radicalised.
A comprehensive new study of this work has found most of the millions of dollars poured into the effort have instead been spent on diffuse programs promoting multiculturalism ..
Published in a forthcoming edition of the peer-reviewed journal Behavioural Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, however, the study identifies deep flaws in the work done in Australia since 2010… “There is little independent evaluation or ­evidence-based research to suggest that social cohesion or prevention initiatives have led to an actual reduction in violent ­extremism anywhere in the Western world,” the study finds. 
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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.)   
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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.) 
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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.) 
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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”. 
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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. 
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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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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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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....

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....
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