Last Christmas Dan Andrews, Premier of Victoria, asked Victorians not to say “Merry Christmas” but instead “Happy Holidays.” Andrews argued that people could be offended by Christmas references. Not in Sri Lanka where the world’s largest Christmas Tree was built, to the disgust of the Catholic Church who viewed the exercise as waste. No offence in Lebanon, Malaysia or Singapore where Christmas is also celebrated. So who are the Christmas cheer fearing people Andrews is shielding? ISIS supporters? This year, Andrews warns against excessive consumption. Andrews seems to be a terrorist promoting atheist wowser of the worst order. Andrews illustrates why Trump is so popular. Turnbull is the reason why Trump popularity is not strongly expressed in Australia. Andrews (and Shorten) are bad leaders, but Turnbull is not a credible alternative. Malcolm Turnbull is PM, but has bad judgement and no authority without his bedwetters.
=== from 2015 ===
It is good to look a the Christmas postings. Some celebrating the birth of jesus, while some are celebrating family and love. I wasn't raised to know God, and I get how most anyone feels in their posts. Except the hate posts. The dark hopes that people will suffer. There is plenty to go around without wanting more. But note, if I thank service men and women who are working on Christmas to keep people safe, they aren't the haters. And I thank them because their service suggests devotion and love. I read an article blaming Israel, and so called Palestinians, for violence in Bethlehem. Apparently the 'reprehensible' Israelis are being stabbed and run over by cars and trying to live. The press want those Israelis to give peace a chance. Another article declares refugees are being burned out of their premises by the hundreds in Germany. Or near mosques in the US. The suggestion being that Islamic peoples aren't safe in the west. But such memes are dangerous. The truth is terrorists rule in so called Palestine. They call themselves Islamic and the reform Islam movement suggests they aren't. Calling all Muslims terrorists is stupid, and feeds the conflagration of memes that terrorists use to justify their insane acts. And the people who post the utter rubbish get to see the fruit of their work as those that serve work extra hard to protect them. Support those who are victims. Love those who are family and friends. And resist those who promote terror. And send so called Palestinians back to Jordan.
Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas.
From 2014
The passing of Jeremy Lloyd a groundbreaking comedian. Born in 1930, he was the son of a show dancer and a petroleum engineer. He had begun manual labour, his parents viewing him as a failure, and at age 28 became a writer after making a concept script and forcing a Rank studio executive to hear about it. He became a regular writer when a previous one had moved on and he was asked to replace them. He called them to ask how they had done it, and offered them half the pay. Jeremy was old school. He wrote what became groundbreaking series like "Are You Being Served" and "Allo, Allo" but they have since been surpassed with modern writing teams applying dramatic theory. It is no longer actors delivering lines from a single author. And yet Jeremy delivered that when it was fresh and charming. Situation comedy reached a peak with him, and he had not been raised to it, but applied himself to it because of the turgid nature of post WW2 movie comedy. He died 22nd December at age 84 of pneumonia. One can still learn much watching the master's work.
An eight hour siege in Gold coast finished with the gunman walked out of a unit in handcuffs. It isn't analogous to Sydney, where there were hostages. The gunman threatened to harm the property he was holed up in. He had fired two 'warning shots' and police got a siege squad with negotiators involved. The man is said to be suffering from diverse personal issues, but did not appear to be drunk or drug affected.
US police shooting. Man pulled gun on police and was killed as they fired in self defence. It is important that police always do that, and not hesitate. To hesitate is to risk the police being the victim. Pulling a gun on police is supposed to be dangerous. Meanwhile the mother has tried to create a riot suggesting her son had been chased and shot by police. Video evidence shows that is not true. It is apparent her son had been with a friend involved with theft at a petrol station. The friend is not yet apprehended.
Nanobots .. the next best thing since GM food. Expect scare stories meant to prevent research into something useful.
Students need to participate in activities. All of them. The idea that protesting an activity is enlightened, is harmful for kids, as was the idea of exploiting kids for the Chinese cultural revolution or for the Nazi fascist ideal. There is consistent anecdotal evidence that despite the protest movement instilling the unproductive practice of students protesting worthwhile activity such as math drill work or non routine exercises such as BMI discovery, still the AGW hysteric movement has successfully exploited children to support their movement. Critical thinking is important, but obstruction is disempowering.
An eight hour siege in Gold coast finished with the gunman walked out of a unit in handcuffs. It isn't analogous to Sydney, where there were hostages. The gunman threatened to harm the property he was holed up in. He had fired two 'warning shots' and police got a siege squad with negotiators involved. The man is said to be suffering from diverse personal issues, but did not appear to be drunk or drug affected.
US police shooting. Man pulled gun on police and was killed as they fired in self defence. It is important that police always do that, and not hesitate. To hesitate is to risk the police being the victim. Pulling a gun on police is supposed to be dangerous. Meanwhile the mother has tried to create a riot suggesting her son had been chased and shot by police. Video evidence shows that is not true. It is apparent her son had been with a friend involved with theft at a petrol station. The friend is not yet apprehended.
Nanobots .. the next best thing since GM food. Expect scare stories meant to prevent research into something useful.
Students need to participate in activities. All of them. The idea that protesting an activity is enlightened, is harmful for kids, as was the idea of exploiting kids for the Chinese cultural revolution or for the Nazi fascist ideal. There is consistent anecdotal evidence that despite the protest movement instilling the unproductive practice of students protesting worthwhile activity such as math drill work or non routine exercises such as BMI discovery, still the AGW hysteric movement has successfully exploited children to support their movement. Critical thinking is important, but obstruction is disempowering.
From 2013
As it is Christmas Day, regular columnists haven't posted. Yesterday's editorial focused on criticism of the church. Todays is about Jesus of Nazareth. This blog is secular and welcomes people of all religious persuasions, or none. This writer is a Christian and believes that Jesus was Christ, the son of God. I have embraced two decisions before coming to that conclusion. The first was to accept that God was possible, which at age eighteen, being raised by devout atheists, was a big leap. I had known the straw dogs which are often drawn to demolish the plausibility of a concept such as God. God, as I'd thought before I accepted the possibility, was not only not possible, but absurd. If God could do anything, could he build a bridge so vast he couldn't leap across it? If he couldn't leap across it, he wasn't God, if he couldn't build it he wasn't God, ergo, God could not exist as it is not possible to satisfy both conjectures. Clearly, if God were to exist, he would not be capable of all things. But the mistake of my thinking, I later came to believe, was that my construction of God was what was not possible. If God exists, he is clearly not what I was portraying Him as being. What is the world like without God? Is it any different? Why would God make the world the way he did if he had existed? I accepted that God was possible only after I admitted he was different to what I had constructed him as being.
The second decision took twenty five years for me. It was to accept that the resurrection was real. I had thought it inspired by an army of devout believers and hucksters. But, for some reason, it is natural for a person to be religious, and those that don't tend to suffer. The accounts of the gospels and contemporaneous sources are compelling for me that the resurrection happened .. a group of late teen, early twenties men and women who were not well educated did not deceive the best learners of the age. The authorities could have challenged assertions but chose not to. If one accepts the resurrection happened, and that God is possible .. there is debate in Christian circles as to how to worship God, but there is unanimity of thought too .. Jesus was God, and he died for a purpose, and he resurrected. What that means for you, is only something you and the Lord know. Maybe he wasn't born on this precise Day. Maybe he wasn't thirty three years old when he was crucified. But, what does it mean? Merry Christmas.
Special thanks to birthday girl Chih Yun, who founded, with her husband, David, the Jesus Family Centre in Cabramatta over twenty years ago. Thanks to her choice to open a church for Chinese peoples living in Sydney, the church has grown to embrace peoples of all nationalities and ethnicities. They accepted me on Christmas Day in 2007. I had become a recluse, besieged by some very bad people. But her family gave me a home.
Historical perspective on this day
In 333, Roman Emperor Constantine the Great elevated his youngest son Constans to the rank of Caesar. 336, First documentary sign of Christmas celebration in ancient Rome 350, Vetranio met Constantius II at Naissus (Serbia) and was forced to abdicate his title (Caesar). Constantius allowed him to live as a private citizen on a state pension. 496, Clovis I, king of the Franks, was baptized into the Catholic faith at Reims, by Saint Remigius. 597, Augustine of Canterbury and his fellow-labourers baptised in Kent more than 10,000 Anglo-Saxons. 800, Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome. 1000, the foundation of the Kingdom of Hungary: Hungary was established as a Christian kingdom by Stephen I of Hungary. 1025, Coronation of Mieszko II Lambert as King of Poland 1066, William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy was crowned king of England, at Westminster Abbey, London. 1076 coronation of Bolesław II the Generous as king of Poland.
In 1100, Baldwin of Boulogne was crowned the first King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity. 1130, Count Roger II of Sicily was crowned the first King of Sicily. 1261, John IV Laskaris of the restored Eastern Roman Empire was deposed and blinded by orders of his co-ruler Michael VIII Palaiologos. 1492, Carrack Santa María captained by Christopher Columbus ran onto reefs off Haiti due to a proper watch not being kept. Local natives helped to save food, armory and ammunition but not the ship. 1553, Battle of Tucapel: Mapucherebels under Lautaro defeated the Spanish conquistadors and executed the governor of Chile, Pedro de Valdivia. 1643, Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean found and named by Captain William Mynors of the English East India Company vessel, the Royal Mary. 1776, George Washington and the Continental Army crossed the Delaware River at night to attack Hessian forces serving Great Britain at Trenton, New Jersey, the next day. 1809, Dr. Ephraim McDowell performed the first ovariotomy, removing a 22 pound tumor. 1814, Rev. Samuel Marsden held the first Christian service on land in New Zealand at Rangihoua Bay. 1815, the Handel and Haydn Society, oldest continuously performing arts organisation in the United States, gave its first performance. 1826, the Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy concluded after beginning the previous evening. 1837, Second Seminole War: American general Zachary Taylor led 1100 troops against the Seminoles at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee. 1868, United States President Andrew Johnson granted unconditional pardon to all Civil War Confederate soldiers.
In 1914, a series of unofficial truces occurred across the Western Front to celebrate Christmas. 1926, Emperor Taishō of Japan died. His son, Prince Hirohito, succeeded him as Emperor Shōwa. 1927, the Vietnamese Nationalist Party was founded. 1932, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Gansu, China killed 275 people. 1941, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz arrived at Pearl Harbor to assume command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet Also 1941, World War II: Battle of Hong Kong ended, beginning the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. Also 1941, Admiral Émile Muselier seized the archipelago of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which became the first part of France to be liberated by the Free French Forces. 1946, the first in Europe artificial, self-sustained nuclear chain reaction was initiated within Soviet F-1 nuclear reactor. 1947, the Constitution of the Republic of China went into effect. 1950, the Stone of Scone, traditional coronation stone of British monarchs, was taken from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalist students. It later turned up in Scotland on April 11, 1951. 1963, Turkish Cypriot Bayrak Radio began transmitting in Cyprus after Turkish Cypriots were forcibly excluded from Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation. 1965, the Yemeni Nasserist Unionist People's Organisation is founded in Ta'izz 1968, Apollo program: Apollo 8 performed the very first successful Trans-Earth injection (TEI) manoeuvre, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit. Also 1968, Kilvenmani massacre, 44 Dalits(untouchables) burnt to death in Kizhavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, a retaliation for a campaign for higher wages by Dalit labourers.
In 1974, Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin, Northern Territory Australia. Also 1974, Marshall Fields drove a vehicle through the gates of the White House, resulting in a four-hour standoff. 1977, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin met in Egypt with its president Anwar Sadat. 1989, deposed President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, First-Deputy Prime-Minister Elena Ceaușescu were condemned to death and executed after a summary trial. 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as General Secretary of the Soviet Union (the union itself was dissolved the next day). Ukraine's referendum was finalized and Ukraine officially left the Soviet Union. 2000, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill into law that officially established a new National Anthem of Russia, with music adopted from the anthem of the Soviet Union that was composed by Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov. 2003, the ill-fated Beagle 2 probe, released from the Mars Express spacecraft on December 19, disappeared shortly before its scheduled landing. 2004, Cassini orbiter released Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005. 2009, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab unsuccessfully attempted a terrorist attack against the US while on board a flight to Detroit Metro Airport Northwest Airlines Flight 253 2012, an Antonov An-72 plane crashed close to the city of Shymkent, killing 27 people.
In 1100, Baldwin of Boulogne was crowned the first King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity. 1130, Count Roger II of Sicily was crowned the first King of Sicily. 1261, John IV Laskaris of the restored Eastern Roman Empire was deposed and blinded by orders of his co-ruler Michael VIII Palaiologos. 1492, Carrack Santa María captained by Christopher Columbus ran onto reefs off Haiti due to a proper watch not being kept. Local natives helped to save food, armory and ammunition but not the ship. 1553, Battle of Tucapel: Mapucherebels under Lautaro defeated the Spanish conquistadors and executed the governor of Chile, Pedro de Valdivia. 1643, Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean found and named by Captain William Mynors of the English East India Company vessel, the Royal Mary. 1776, George Washington and the Continental Army crossed the Delaware River at night to attack Hessian forces serving Great Britain at Trenton, New Jersey, the next day. 1809, Dr. Ephraim McDowell performed the first ovariotomy, removing a 22 pound tumor. 1814, Rev. Samuel Marsden held the first Christian service on land in New Zealand at Rangihoua Bay. 1815, the Handel and Haydn Society, oldest continuously performing arts organisation in the United States, gave its first performance. 1826, the Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy concluded after beginning the previous evening. 1837, Second Seminole War: American general Zachary Taylor led 1100 troops against the Seminoles at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee. 1868, United States President Andrew Johnson granted unconditional pardon to all Civil War Confederate soldiers.
In 1914, a series of unofficial truces occurred across the Western Front to celebrate Christmas. 1926, Emperor Taishō of Japan died. His son, Prince Hirohito, succeeded him as Emperor Shōwa. 1927, the Vietnamese Nationalist Party was founded. 1932, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Gansu, China killed 275 people. 1941, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz arrived at Pearl Harbor to assume command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet Also 1941, World War II: Battle of Hong Kong ended, beginning the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. Also 1941, Admiral Émile Muselier seized the archipelago of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which became the first part of France to be liberated by the Free French Forces. 1946, the first in Europe artificial, self-sustained nuclear chain reaction was initiated within Soviet F-1 nuclear reactor. 1947, the Constitution of the Republic of China went into effect. 1950, the Stone of Scone, traditional coronation stone of British monarchs, was taken from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalist students. It later turned up in Scotland on April 11, 1951. 1963, Turkish Cypriot Bayrak Radio began transmitting in Cyprus after Turkish Cypriots were forcibly excluded from Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation. 1965, the Yemeni Nasserist Unionist People's Organisation is founded in Ta'izz 1968, Apollo program: Apollo 8 performed the very first successful Trans-Earth injection (TEI) manoeuvre, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit. Also 1968, Kilvenmani massacre, 44 Dalits(untouchables) burnt to death in Kizhavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, a retaliation for a campaign for higher wages by Dalit labourers.
In 1974, Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin, Northern Territory Australia. Also 1974, Marshall Fields drove a vehicle through the gates of the White House, resulting in a four-hour standoff. 1977, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin met in Egypt with its president Anwar Sadat. 1989, deposed President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, First-Deputy Prime-Minister Elena Ceaușescu were condemned to death and executed after a summary trial. 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as General Secretary of the Soviet Union (the union itself was dissolved the next day). Ukraine's referendum was finalized and Ukraine officially left the Soviet Union. 2000, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill into law that officially established a new National Anthem of Russia, with music adopted from the anthem of the Soviet Union that was composed by Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov. 2003, the ill-fated Beagle 2 probe, released from the Mars Express spacecraft on December 19, disappeared shortly before its scheduled landing. 2004, Cassini orbiter released Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005. 2009, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab unsuccessfully attempted a terrorist attack against the US while on board a flight to Detroit Metro Airport Northwest Airlines Flight 253 2012, an Antonov An-72 plane crashed close to the city of Shymkent, killing 27 people.
=== 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
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
The Amazon Author Page for David Ball
UK .. http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B01683ZOWGFrench .. http://www.amazon.fr/-/e/B01683ZOWG
Japan .. http://www.amazon.co.jp/-/e/B01683ZOWG
German .. http://www.amazon.de/-/e/B01683ZOWG
Happy birthday and many happy returns Smail Cehic, Tina, Chih Yun and Jesus of Nazareth. Born on this day, across the years, along with
Deaths
|
Tim Blair
AUSTRALIA WINS
CHRISTMAS 2016
MERRY CARBONMAS
Tim Blair – Friday, December 25, 2015 (12:30am)
Best wishes to all readers, commenters and emailers from everyone here at the Blair compound’s Christmas Carbon Creation Centre, and let’s keep burning it up in 2016:
HAVE AN ELVIS CHRISTMAS
Tim Blair – Thursday, December 25, 2014 (2:41pm)
Readers are invited to celebrate Christmas with Andy Kaufman’s uncanny Elvis Presley impersonation:
UPDATE. Click and scroll for an epic Christmas tune showdown between Iowahawk and veteran music critic Kurt Loder, whose own bizarre Elvis connection is revealed here.
UPDATE. Click and scroll for an epic Christmas tune showdown between Iowahawk and veteran music critic Kurt Loder, whose own bizarre Elvis connection is revealed here.
BLACK IS WHITE
Tim Blair – Wednesday, December 24, 2014 (7:03pm)
Earlier this month, Lady Pages writer Ruby Hamad found herself troubled by diversity:
On Saturday, the day of Victoria’s election, the Rise Up Australia Party posted the above photo to their Facebook page.Yes, it appears that Australia’s far right, ultra-nationalist, evangelical Christian, anti-abortion, and anti-immigration party has an extraordinary amount of gender and racial diversity. More so, as I noted someone comment dryly under the photo, than The Greens.How is this possible?
It is easily possible once you realise that superwhite middle- and upper-class Greens make Casper look like Blind Joe Reynolds. To get around this conundrum, Hamad literally argues that black is white:
Whiteness is essentially those cultural beliefs, practices, norms and values that are sanctioned by white, western society. The term “Judeo-Christian” values is simply a handy shorthand for all of the above. Rise Up Australia is an example of how you can share in the bounty of white privilege even if you are not white, as long as you are willing to play by the rules. And one of these rules is to talk about race in a way that legitimises the dominance of white culture.
Hamad concludes that people who don’t conform to her narrow notions of race and culture have “betray[ed] their respective communities. And themselves.” Yep. She’s straight-up calling them a bunch of Uncle Toms. Interestingly, Hamad previously complained about a too-white panel discussing multiculturalism. Yet, for all she knows, some may hold culural beliefs allowing them to share in the bounty of black history even if they are not black.
===
Holly Sarah Nguyen
Misinformation and lies can strain families and relationships all the way to the grave. It takes real courage to give the truth and live the truth. That means going out of your way to see that it is correct and doing repair work when wrong. I know we each do not see things the same. We can make amends and someone can still be unsatisfied. Only do what you can from the well of a good heart, let the rest play out.
John Tran It is so true, and especially around this time of the year where family gets together.. it hurts more because it's family who can perpetuate misinformation and ill feelings. But I always turn to my wife and say "remember how when we met, we wanted a loving family ever since we grew up surrounded by the ones that let us down, this just reminds us to raise our kids by good example"
John Tran It is so true, and especially around this time of the year where family gets together.. it hurts more because it's family who can perpetuate misinformation and ill feelings. But I always turn to my wife and say "remember how when we met, we wanted a loving family ever since we grew up surrounded by the ones that let us down, this just reminds us to raise our kids by good example"
=
Sometimes we feel unappreciated and alone as if we do not matter. It is key to try to remember feelings are not always accurate and they can be challenged. We are not prisoners of our thoughts. We can change them to be more realistic and less emotional... ((((Hugs)))) My Christmas wish to you is that we may know peace, serenity, and calmness from the start of the day til the end and may it begin again the following day.. Merry Christmas!!!
===
www.foxnews.com
===
Walt Whitman
"This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body."
===
Zaya Toma
How Do You Explain Jesus Christ?
“A young man whose father is a carpenter grows up working in his father’s shop. He has no formal education. He owns no property of any kind. One day he puts down his tools and walks out of his father’s shop. He starts preaching on street corners and in the nearby countryside. Walking from place to place preaching all the while even though he is in no way an ordained minister he never gets farther than an area perhaps 100 miles wide at the most.
He does this for three years. Then he is arrested, tried and convicted. There is no court of appeal so he is executed at age 33 along with two common thieves. Those in charge of his execution roll dice to see who gets his clothing—the only possessions he has. His family cannot afford a burial place so he is interred in a borrowed tomb.
End of story? No, this uneducated, propertyless young man who preached on street corners for only three years who left no written word has for 2000 years had a greater effect on the entire world than all the rulers, kings and emperors, all the conquerors, the generals and admirals, all the scholars, scientists and philosophers who ever lived—all put together. How do we explain that?
Unless He really was what He said he was.”—Ronald Reagan
===“A young man whose father is a carpenter grows up working in his father’s shop. He has no formal education. He owns no property of any kind. One day he puts down his tools and walks out of his father’s shop. He starts preaching on street corners and in the nearby countryside. Walking from place to place preaching all the while even though he is in no way an ordained minister he never gets farther than an area perhaps 100 miles wide at the most.
He does this for three years. Then he is arrested, tried and convicted. There is no court of appeal so he is executed at age 33 along with two common thieves. Those in charge of his execution roll dice to see who gets his clothing—the only possessions he has. His family cannot afford a burial place so he is interred in a borrowed tomb.
End of story? No, this uneducated, propertyless young man who preached on street corners for only three years who left no written word has for 2000 years had a greater effect on the entire world than all the rulers, kings and emperors, all the conquerors, the generals and admirals, all the scholars, scientists and philosophers who ever lived—all put together. How do we explain that?
Unless He really was what He said he was.”—Ronald Reagan
www.washingtonpost.com
===
www.news.com.au
This is why we can't have nice things? - ed
John Tran ...Yep, the trouble with guns is that it takes little skill to kill. So therefore there is little thought involved in training how to use a gun. He could've easily yell out "identify yourself or I will shoot". But a nervous person with a deadly weapon can't think straight.
===
<Yet despite all the evidence morons still keep electing these left wing Socialist alliance cretins.>
mrcltd.org.au
===
israeltheviewfromhere.blogspot.com
===
israeltheviewfromhere.blogspot.se
===
www.jihadwatch.org
===
www.frontpagemag.com
===
===
Via Jack DeLowe
http://jcpa.org/
===
===
===
===
www.jta.org
===
www.timesofisrael.com
===Via Jack DeLowe
http://jcpa.org/
===
===
===
calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.se
===
www.israpundit.com
======
www.algemeiner.com
======
israelisoldiersmother.blogspot.com
===
unitycoalitionforisrael.org
===.. there is a specific reason for what is happening .. and it isn't because of Israel. What has happened is the US has voted in a weak President .. he might agree with what is happening, but it is still an erosion of his power. - ed===
www.algemeiner.com
===
www.algemeiner.com
===
www.foxnews.com
===
www.washingtonpost.com
===
www.imra.org.il
===
www.tlvfaces.com
===
www.israelnationalnews.com
===
www.israelnationalnews.com
===
palwatch.org
=== - 333 – Roman Emperor Constantine the Great elevates his youngest son Constans to the rank of Caesar.
- 336 – First documentary sign of Christmas celebration in Rome.
- 350 – Vetranio meets Constantius II at Naissus (Serbia) and is forced to abdicate his title (Caesar). Constantius allows him to live as a private citizen on a state pension.
- 496 – Clovis I, king of the Franks, is baptized into the Catholic faith at Reims, by Saint Remigius.
- 597 – Augustine of Canterbury and his fellow-labourers baptise in Kent more than 10,000 Anglo-Saxons.
- 800 – The Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome.
- 820 – Emperor Leo V is assassinated in the Hagia Sophia at Constantinople and is succeeded by Michael II.
- 1000 – The foundation of the Kingdom of Hungary: Hungary is established as a Christian kingdom by Stephen I of Hungary.
- 1025 – Coronation of Mieszko II Lambert as king of Poland.
- 1066 – William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy is crowned king of England, at Westminster Abbey, London.
- 1076 – Coronation of Bolesław II the Generous as king of Poland.
- 1100 – Baldwin of Boulogne is crowned the first King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
- 1130 – Count Roger II of Sicily is crowned the first king of Sicily.
- 1261 – John IV Laskaris of the restored Eastern Roman Empire is deposed and blinded by orders of his co-ruler Michael VIII Palaiologos.
- 1492 – The carrack Santa María, commanded by Christopher Columbus, runs onto a reef off Haiti due to an improper watch.
- 1553 – Battle of Tucapel: Mapuche rebels under Lautaro defeat the Spanish conquistadors and executes the governor of Chile, Pedro de Valdivia.
- 1559 – Pope Pius IV is elected.
- 1776 – George Washington and the Continental Army cross the Delaware River at night to attack Hessian forces serving Great Britain at Trenton, New Jersey, the next day.
- 1809 – Dr. Ephraim McDowell performs the first ovariotomy, removing a 22-pound tumor.
- 1814 – Rev. Samuel Marsden holds the first Christian service on land in New Zealand at Rangihoua Bay.
- 1815 – The Handel and Haydn Society, oldest continually performing arts organization in the United States, gives its first performance.
- 1826 – The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy concludes after beginning the previous evening.
- 1831 – The Great Jamaican Slave Revolt begins; up to 20% of the island's slaves mobilize in an ultimately unsuccessful fight for freedom.
- 1837 – Second Seminole War: American general Zachary Taylor leads 1100 troops against the Seminoles at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee.
- 1868 – United States President Andrew Johnson grants an unconditional pardon to all Confederate veterans.
- 1914 – A series of unofficial truces occur across the Western Front to celebrate Christmas.
- 1927 – The Vietnamese Nationalist Party is founded.
- 1932 – A magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Gansu, China kills 275 people.
- 1935 – Regina Jonas is ordained as the first female rabbi in the history of Judaism.
- 1941 – Admiral Chester W. Nimitz arrives at Pearl Harbor to assume command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet
- 1941 – World War II: Battle of Hong Kong ends, beginning the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong.
- 1941 – Admiral Émile Muselier seizes the archipelago of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which become the first part of France to be liberated by the Free French Forces.
- 1946 – The first European self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction is initiated within the Soviet Union's F-1 nuclear reactor.
- 1947 – The Constitution of the Republic of China goes into effect.
- 1950 – The Stone of Scone, traditional coronation stone of British monarchs, is taken from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalist students. It later turns up in Scotland on April 11, 1951.
- 1962 – The Soviet Union conducts its final above-ground nuclear weapon test, in anticipation of the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
- 1963 – Turkish Cypriot Bayrak Radio begins transmitting in Cyprus after Turkish Cypriots are forcibly excluded from Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation.
- 1965 – The Yemeni Nasserist Unionist People's Organisation is founded in Ta'izz
- 1968 – Apollo program: Apollo 8 performs the very first successful Trans-Earth injection (TEI) maneuver, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit.
- 1968 – Kilvenmani massacre, 44 Dalits (untouchables) are burnt to death in Kizhavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, a retaliation for a campaign for higher wages by Dalit laborers.
- 1977 – Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with its president Anwar Sadat.
- 1989 – Deposed President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, First-Deputy Prime-Minister Elena are condemned to death and executed after a summary trial.
- 1991 – Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as President of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day). Ukraine's referendum is finalized and Ukraine officially leaves the Soviet Union.
- 2000 – Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a bill into law that officially establishes a new National anthem of Russia, with music adopted from the anthem of the Soviet Union that was composed by Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov.
- 2003 – The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe, released from the Mars Express spacecraft on December 19, stops transmitting shortly before its scheduled landing.
- 2004 – The Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005.
- 2009 – Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab unsuccessfully attempts a terrorist attack against the US while on board a flight to Detroit Metro Airport Northwest Airlines Flight 253
- 2012 – An Antonov An-72 plane crashes close to the city of Shymkent, killing 27 people.
- 1250 – John IV Laskaris, Byzantine emperor (d. 1305)
- 1461 – Christina of Saxony (d. 1521)
- 1505 – Christine of Saxony (d. 1549)
- 1583 – Orlando Gibbons, English organist and composer (d. 1625)
- 1584 – Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain (d. 1611)
- 1628 – Noël Coypel, French painter and educator (d. 1707)
- 1642 (OS) – Isaac Newton, English physicist and mathematician (d. 1726/1727)
- 1652 – Archibald Pitcairne, Scottish physician, anatomist, and scholar (d. 1713)
- 1665 – Lady Grizel Baillie, Scottish-English poet and songwriter (d. 1746)
- 1674 – Thomas Halyburton, Scottish minister and theologian (d. 1712)
- 1686 – Giovanni Battista Somis, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1763)
- 1700 – Leopold II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (d. 1758)
- 1711 – Jean-Joseph de Mondonville, French violinist and composer (d. 1772)
- 1716 – Johann Jakob Reiske, German physician and scholar (d. 1774)
- 1717 – Pope Pius VI (d. 1799)
- 1728 – Johann Adam Hiller, German composer and conductor (d. 1804)
- 1730 – Philip Mazzei, Italian-American physician and philosopher (d. 1816)
- 1745 – Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Caribbean-French violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1799)
- 1757 – Benjamin Pierce, American general and politician, 17th Governor of New Hampshire (d. 1839)
- 1771 – Dorothy Wordsworth, English author and poet (d. 1855)
- 1776 – Sydney, Lady Morgan, Irish author and poet (d. 1859)
- 1810 – L. L. Langstroth, American apiarist, clergyman and teacher (d. 1895)
- 1817 – John Hewitt Jellett, Irish priest and academic (d. 1888)
- 1821 – Clara Barton, American nurse and humanitarian, founded the American Red Cross (d. 1912)
- 1825 – Stephen F. Chadwick, American lawyer and politician, 5th Governor of Oregon (d. 1895)
- 1829 – Patrick Gilmore, Irish-American composer and bandleader (d. 1892)
- 1856 – Pud Galvin, American baseball player and manager (d. 1902)
- 1856 – Hans von Bartels, German painter and academic (d. 1913)
- 1860 – Manwel Dimech, Maltese journalist, author, and philosopher (d. 1921)
- 1861 – Madan Mohan Malaviya, Indian educator, lawyer, and politician, President of the Indian National Congress (d. 1946)
- 1865 – Evangeline Booth, English 4th General of The Salvation Army (d. 1950)
- 1869 – Charles Finger, English-American journalist and author (d. 1941)
- 1870 – Helena Rubinstein, Polish-American businesswoman and philanthropist (d. 1965)
- 1873 – Otto Frederick Hunziker, Swiss-American agriculturalist and educator (d. 1959)
- 1874 – Lina Cavalieri, Italian soprano and actress (d. 1944)
- 1875 – Francis Aveling, Canadian psychologist and priest (d. 1941)
- 1875 – Theodor Innitzer, Austrian cardinal (d. 1955)
- 1876 – Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Indian-Pakistani lawyer and politician, 1st Governor-General of Pakistan (d. 1948)
- 1876 – Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1959)
- 1878 – Louis Chevrolet, Swiss-American race car driver and businessman, co-founded Chevrolet (d. 1941)
- 1878 – Noël, Countess of Rothes, philanthropist, social leader and heroine of Titanic disaster (d. 1956)
- 1878 – Joseph M. Schenck, Russian-American film producer (d. 1961)
- 1883 – Hugo Bergmann, Czech-Israeli philosopher and academic (d. 1975)
- 1883 – Hana Meisel, Belarusian-Israeli agronomist and politician (d. 1972)
- 1884 – Samuel Berger, American boxer (d. 1925)
- 1884 – Evelyn Nesbit, American model and actress (d. 1967)
- 1886 – Malak Hifni Nasif, Egyptian poet and activist (d. 1918)
- 1886 – Kid Ory, American trombonist and bandleader (d. 1973)
- 1887 – Conrad Hilton, American businessman, founded the Hilton Hotels & Resorts (d. 1979)
- 1889 – Lila Bell Wallace, American publisher and philanthropist, co-founded Reader's Digest (d. 1984)
- 1890 – Noel Odell, English geologist and mountaineer (d. 1987)
- 1890 – Robert Ripley, American anthropologist and publisher, founded Ripley's Believe It or Not! (d. 1949)
- 1891 – Kenneth Arthur Noel Anderson, Indian-English general and politician, Governor of Gibraltar (d. 1959)
- 1891 – Clarrie Grimmett, New Zealand-Australian cricketer (d. 1980)
- 1899 – Humphrey Bogart, American actor (d. 1957)
- 1901 – Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (d. 2004)
- 1902 – Barton MacLane, American actor, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1969)
- 1902 – William Bell, American tuba player and educator (d. 1971)
- 1903 – Antiochos Evangelatos, Greek composer and conductor (d. 1981)
- 1904 – Gerhard Herzberg, German-Canadian physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
- 1906 – Lew Grade, Baron Grade, Ukrainian-English film producer (d. 1998)
- 1906 – Ernst Ruska, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1988)
- 1907 – Cab Calloway, American singer-songwriter and bandleader (d. 1994)
- 1907 – Mike Mazurki, Ukrainian-American wrestler and actor (d. 1990)
- 1907 – Glenn McCarthy, American businessman, founded the Shamrock Hotel (d. 1988)
- 1908 – Quentin Crisp, English author and illustrator (d. 1999)
- 1908 – Ernest L. Massad, American general (d. 1993)
- 1908 – Jo-Jo Moore, American baseball player (d. 2001)
- 1909 – Zora Arkus-Duntov, Belgian-American engineer (d. 1996)
- 1911 – Louise Bourgeois, French-American sculptor and painter (d. 2010)
- 1913 – Candy Candido, American singer, bass player, and voice actor (d. 1999)
- 1913 – Tony Martin, American singer (d. 2012)
- 1913 – Henri Nannen, German journalist and publisher (d. 1966)
- 1914 – James Fletcher Jnr, New Zealand businessman (d. 2007)
- 1914 – Oscar Lewis, American anthropologist of Latin America (d. 1970)
- 1915 – Pete Rugolo, Italian-American composer and producer (d. 2011)
- 1916 – Ahmed Ben Bella, Algerian soldier and politician, 1st President of Algeria (d. 2012)
- 1917 – Lincoln Verduga Loor, Ecuadorian journalist and politician (d. 2009)
- 1918 – Anwar Sadat, Egyptian lieutenant and politician, 3rd President of Egypt, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981)
- 1919 – Naushad Ali, Indian composer and director (d. 2006)
- 1919 – Paul David, Canadian cardiologist and politician, founded the Montreal Heart Institute (d. 1999)
- 1921 – Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah, Indian-Pakistani journalist and author (d. 2000)
- 1921 – Steve Otto, Polish-Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1989)
- 1922 – William Demby, American author (d. 2013)
- 1923 – René Girard, French-American historian, philosopher, and critic (d. 2015)
- 1923 – Louis Lane, American conductor and educator (d. 2016)
- 1924 – Rod Serling, American screenwriter and producer, created The Twilight Zone (d. 1975)
- 1924 – Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Indian poet and politician, 10th Prime Minister of India
- 1925 – Carlos Castaneda, Peruvian-American anthropologist and author (d. 1998)
- 1925 – Ned Garver, American baseball player
- 1925 – Sam Pollock, Canadian businessman (d. 2007)
- 1926 – Enrique Jorrín, Cuban violinist and composer (d. 1987)
- 1927 – Nellie Fox, American baseball player and coach (d. 1975)
- 1927 – Leo Kubiak, American basketball and baseball player
- 1928 – Dick Miller, American actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1929 – Christine M. Jones, American educator and politician (d. 2013)
- 1929 – China Machado, Chinese-born Portuguese-American fashion model, editor and television producer (d. 2016)
- 1930 – Emmanuel Agassi, Iranian-American boxer and coach
- 1930 – Armenak Alachachian, Armenian basketball player and coach
- 1930 – Salah Jahin, Egyptian poet and illustrator (d. 1986)
- 1932 – Mabel King, American actress and singer (d. 1999)
- 1933 – Basil Heatley, English runner
- 1935 – Sadiq al-Mahdi, Sudanese politician, Prime Minister of Sudan
- 1935 – Stephen Barnett, American scholar and academic (d. 2009)
- 1935 – Jeanne Hopkins Lucas, American educator and politician (d. 2007)
- 1936 – Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy
- 1936 – Ismail Merchant, Indian-English director and producer (d. 2005)
- 1938 – Duane Armstrong, American painter
- 1938 – David Borden, American composer and academic
- 1938 – Noel Picard, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1939 – Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Pakistani businessman and politician
- 1939 – Bob James, American keyboard player, songwriter, and producer
- 1939 – Akong Rinpoche, Tibetan-Chinese spiritual leader (d. 2013)
- 1940 – Pete Brown, English singer-songwriter and poet
- 1940 – Hilary Spurling, English journalist and author
- 1941 – Kenneth Calman, Scottish physician and academic
- 1942 – Françoise Dürr, French tennis player and coach
- 1942 – Barbara Follett, English politician
- 1942 – Barry Goldberg, American keyboard player, songwriter, and producer
- 1942 – Enrique Morente, Spanish singer-songwriter (d. 2010)
- 1943 – Wilson Fittipaldi Júnior, Brazilian race car driver and businessman
- 1943 – Hanna Schygulla, German actress
- 1945 – Rick Berman, American screenwriter and producer
- 1945 – Eve Pollard, English journalist and author
- 1945 – Mike Pringle, Zambian-Scottish lawyer and politician
- 1945 – Noel Redding, English singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2003)
- 1945 – Ken Stabler, American football player and sportscaster (d. 2015)
- 1946 – Jimmy Buffett, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor
- 1946 – Larry Csonka, American football player and sportscaster
- 1946 – Christopher Frayling, English author and academic
- 1946 – Gene Lamont, American baseball player and manager
- 1948 – Kay Hymowitz, American sociologist and writer
- 1948 – Barbara Mandrell, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1948 – Joel Santana, Brazilian footballer and manager
- 1949 – Simone Bittencourt de Oliveira, Brazilian singer
- 1949 – Nawaz Sharif, Pakistani lawyer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan
- 1949 – Sissy Spacek, American actress
- 1950 – Peter Boardman, English mountaineer and author (d. 1982)
- 1950 – Yehuda Poliker, Israeli singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1950 – Karl Rove, American journalist and diplomat, White House Deputy Chief of Staff
- 1950 – Manny Trillo, Venezuelan baseball player and manager
- 1952 – Tolossa Kotu, Ethiopian runner and coach
- 1952 – C. C. H. Pounder, Guyanese-American actress
- 1953 – Kaarlo Maaninka, Finnish runner
- 1954 – Annie Lennox, Scottish singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1954 – Steve Wariner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1955 – Brett Vroman, American basketball player
- 1957 – Chris Kamara, English footballer and sportscaster
- 1957 – Shane MacGowan, English-Irish singer-songwriter
- 1958 – Cheryl Chase, American voice actress and singer
- 1958 – Hanford Dixon, American football player, coach, and sportscaster
- 1958 – Rickey Henderson, American baseball player and coach
- 1958 – Konstantin Kinchev, Russian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1958 – Alannah Myles, Canadian singer-songwriter and actress
- 1959 – Michael P. Anderson, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2003)
- 1959 – Ramdas Athawale, Indian poet and politician
- 1961 – Íngrid Betancourt, Colombian political scientist and politician
- 1964 – Ian Bostridge, English tenor
- 1964 – Gary McAllister, Scottish footballer and manager
- 1964 – Bob Stanley, English keyboard player, songwriter, producer, and journalist
- 1965 – Ed Davey, English politician, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
- 1965 – David Rath, Czech physician and politician
- 1966 – Toshi Arai, Japanese race car driver
- 1967 – Jason Thirsk, American bass player (d. 1996)
- 1968 – Helena Christensen, Danish model and actress
- 1968 – Jim Dowd, American ice hockey player
- 1969 – Frederick Onyancha, Kenyan runner
- 1969 – Nicolas Godin, French musician (Air)
- 1970 – Emmanuel Amunike, Nigerian footballer and manager
- 1970 – Rodney Dent, American basketball player
- 1971 – Dido, English singer-songwriter
- 1971 – Noel Hogan, Irish guitarist and producer
- 1971 – Justin Trudeau, Canadian educator and politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Canada
- 1972 – Josh Freese, American drummer and songwriter
- 1972 – Mac Powell, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1972 – Qu Yunxia, Chinese runner
- 1973 – Robbie Elliott, English footballer and coach
- 1973 – Chris Harris, American wrestler
- 1973 – Daisuke Miura, Japanese baseball player and coach
- 1973 – Alexandre Trudeau, Canadian journalist and director
- 1975 – Daniel Mustard, American singer-songwriter
- 1975 – Hideki Okajima, Japanese baseball player
- 1975 – Choi Sung-yong, South Korean footballer and manager
- 1975 – Marcus Trescothick, English cricketer
- 1976 – Tuomas Holopainen, Finnish keyboard player, songwriter, and producer
- 1976 – Tim James, American basketball player and coach
- 1976 – Atko Väikmeri, Estonian footballer
- 1976 – Armin van Buuren, Dutch DJ and record producer
- 1977 – Israel Vázquez, Mexican boxer
- 1977 – Ali Tandoğan, Turkish footballer
- 1978 – Simon Jones, Welsh cricketer
- 1978 – Joel Porter, Australian footballer and manager
- 1979 – Ferman Akgül, Turkish singer-songwriter
- 1979 – Laurent Bonnart, French footballer
- 1979 – Robert Huff, English race car driver
- 1979 – Hyun Young-min, South Korean footballer
- 1980 – Marcus Trufant, American football player
- 1981 – Trenesha Biggers, American wrestler and model
- 1981 – Christian Holst, Danish-Faroese footballer
- 1981 – Willy Taveras, Dominican baseball player
- 1982 – Shawn Andrews, American football player
- 1982 – Rob Edwards, Welsh footballer
- 1982 – Ethan Kath, Canadian keyboard player, songwriter and producer
- 1982 – Chris Rene, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1984 – Locó, Angolan footballer
- 1984 – Chris Cahill, Samoan footballer
- 1984 – Alastair Cook, English cricketer
- 1984 – Jessica Origliasso, Australian singer-songwriter
- 1984 – Lisa Origliasso, Australian singer-songwriter
- 1984 – Chris Richard, American basketball player
- 1985 – Martin Mathathi, Kenyan runner
- 1986 – Aleksei Anatolyevich Kozlov, Russian footballer
- 1987 – Ceyhun Gülselam, Turkish footballer
- 1987 – Julian Lage, American guitarist and composer
- 1987 – Ma Qinghua, Chinese race car driver
- 1987 – Justin Sweeney, Australian footballer
- 1987 – Demaryius Thomas, American football player
- 1988 – Joãozinho, Brazilian footballer
- 1988 – Heather Cooke, American soccer player
- 1988 – Eric Gordon, American basketball player
- 1988 – Lukas Hinds-Johnson, German rugby player
- 1989 – Djameleddine Benlamri, Algerian footballer
- 1989 – Shahzaib Hasan, Pakistani cricketer
- 1989 – Keri Wong, American tennis player
- 1989 – Adrian von Ziegler, Swiss composer and producer
- 1990 – Conny Perrin, Swiss tennis player
Births[edit]
- 304 – Saint Anastasia
- 795 – Pope Adrian I (b. 700)
- 820 – Leo V the Armenian, Byzantine emperor (b. 775)
- 940 – Makan ibn Kaki, Iranian general
- 1147 – Guy II, Count of Ponthieu (b. c. 1120)
- 1156 – Peter the Venerable, French abbot and saint (b. 1092)
- 1505 – George Grey, 2nd Earl of Kent, English politician (b. 1454)
- 1553 – Pedro de Valdivia, Spanish explorer and politician, 1st Royal Governor of Chile (b. 1500)
- 1635 – Samuel de Champlain, French soldier, geographer, and explorer (b. 1567)
- 1676 – William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire (b. 1592)
- 1676 – Matthew Hale, English lawyer and jurist, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales (b. 1609)
- 1683 – Kara Mustafa Pasha, Ottoman general and politician, 111th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1634)
- 1758 – James Hervey, English priest and author (b. 1714)
- 1784 – Yosa Buson, Japanese poet and painter (b. 1716)
- 1824 – Barbara von Krüdener, German mystic and author (b. 1764)
- 1868 – Linus Yale, Jr., American engineer and businessman (b. 1821)
- 1875 – Young Tom Morris, Scottish golfer (b. 1851)
- 1880 – Fridolin Anderwert, Swiss lawyer and politician, President of the Swiss National Council (b. 1828)
- 1824 – William Lawless, Irish revolutionary, later French Army general (b. 1772)
- 1916 – Albert Chmielowski, Polish saint, founded the Albertine Brothers (b. 1845)
- 1921 – Vladimir Korolenko, Russian journalist, author, and activist (b. 1853)
- 1925 – Karl Abraham, German psychoanalyst and author (b. 1877)
- 1926 – Emperor Taishō of Japan (b. 1879)
- 1928 – Miles Burke, American boxer (b. 1885)
- 1930 – Jakob Mändmets, Estonian journalist and author (b. 1871)
- 1933 – Francesc Macià, Catalan colonel and politician, 122nd President of Catalonia (b. 1859)
- 1935 – Paul Bourget, French author and critic (b. 1852)
- 1938 – Karel Čapek, Czech author and playwright (b. 1890)
- 1940 – Agnes Ayres, American actress (b. 1898)
- 1941 – Richard S. Aldrich, American lawyer and politician (b. 1884)
- 1944 – George Steer, South African-English journalist and author (b. 1909)
- 1946 – W. C. Fields, American actor, comedian, juggler, and screenwriter (b. 1880)
- 1947 – Gaspar G. Bacon, American lawyer and politician, 51st Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1886)
- 1949 – Leon Schlesinger, American animator and producer, founded Warner Bros. Cartoons (b. 1884)
- 1950 – Neil Francis Hawkins, English politician (b. 1903)
- 1952 – Margrethe Mather, American photographer (b. 1886)
- 1953 – Patsy Donovan, Irish-American baseball player and manager (b. 1865)
- 1953 – William Haselden, British cartoonist (b. 1872)
- 1956 – Robert Walser, Swiss author and playwright (b. 1878)
- 1957 – Charles Pathé, French record producer, founded Pathé Records (b. 1863)
- 1961 – Owen Brewster, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 54th Governor of Maine (b. 1888)
- 1961 – Otto Loewi, German-American pharmacologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1873)
- 1963 – Tristan Tzara, Romanian-French poet, playwright, painter, and critic (b. 1896)
- 1970 – Michael Peto, Hungarian-English photographer and journalist (b. 1908)
- 1973 – İsmet İnönü, Turkish general and politician, 2nd President of Turkey (b. 1884)
- 1973 – Gabriel Voisin, French pilot and engineer (b. 1880)
- 1975 – Gaston Gallimard, French publisher, founded Éditions Gallimard (b. 1881)
- 1975 – Gunnar Kangro, Estonian mathematician and author (b. 1913)
- 1977 – Charlie Chaplin, English actor and director (b. 1889)
- 1979 – Joan Blondell, American actress and singer (b. 1906)
- 1979 – Jordi Bonet, Canadian painter and sculptor (b. 1932)
- 1980 – Fred Emney, English actor and comedian (b. 1900)
- 1983 – Joan Miró, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1893)
- 1988 – Shōhei Ōoka, Japanese author and critic (b. 1909)
- 1988 – Edward Pelham-Clinton, 10th Duke of Newcastle, English entomologist and lepidopterist (b. 1920)
- 1989 – Benny Binion, American poker player and businessman (b. 1904)
- 1989 – Elena Ceaușescu, Romanian politician, First Lady of Romania (b. 1916)
- 1989 – Nicolae Ceaușescu, Romanian general and politician, 1st President of Romania (b. 1918)
- 1989 – Betty Garde, American actress (b. 1905)
- 1989 – Frederick F. Houser, American judge and politician, 34th Lieutenant Governor of California (b. 1905)
- 1989 – Billy Martin, American baseball player and manager (b. 1928)
- 1989 – Florică Murariu, Romanian rugby player and soldier (b. 1955)
- 1989 – Robert Pirosh, American director and screenwriter (b. 1910)
- 1992 – Monica Dickens, British-American nurse and author (b. 1915)
- 1993 – Pierre Victor Auger, French physicist and academic (b. 1899)
- 1994 – Zail Singh, Indian politician, 7th President of India (b. 1916)
- 1995 – Emmanuel Levinas, Lithuanian-French philosopher and academic (b. 1906)
- 1995 – Dean Martin, American singer and actor (b. 1917)
- 1996 – Bill Hewitt, Canadian sportscaster (b. 1928)
- 1997 – Anatoli Boukreev, Kazakh mountaineer and explorer (b. 1958)
- 1997 – Denver Pyle, American actor (b. 1920)
- 2000 – Neil Hawke, Australian cricketer and footballer (b. 1939)
- 2000 – Willard Van Orman Quine, American philosopher and academic (b. 1908)
- 2001 – Alfred A. Tomatis, French otolaryngologist and academic (b. 1920)
- 2003 – Nicholas Mavroules, American politician (b. 1929)
- 2004 – Gennadi Strekalov, Russian engineer and astronaut (b. 1940)
- 2005 – Derek Bailey, English guitarist (b. 1930)
- 2005 – Robert Barbers, Filipino police officer, lawyer, and politician, 15th Filipino Secretary of the Interior (b. 1944)
- 2005 – Birgit Nilsson, Swedish operatic soprano (b. 1918)
- 2005 – Joseph Pararajasingham, Sri Lankan journalist, businessman, and politician (b. 1934)
- 2006 – James Brown, American singer-songwriter (b. 1933)
- 2007 – Des Barrick, English cricketer (b. 1927)
- 2007 – Jim Beauchamp, American baseball player and coach (b. 1939)
- 2008 – Eartha Kitt, American singer and actress (b. 1927)
- 2009 – Vic Chesnutt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1964)
- 2010 – Carlos Andrés Pérez, Venezuelan politician, 66th President of Venezuela (b. 1922)
- 2011 – Giorgio Bocca, Italian journalist (b. 1920)
- 2011 – Jim Sherwood, American saxophonist (b. 1942)
- 2011 – Simms Taback, American author and illustrator (b. 1932)
- 2012 – Erico Aumentado, Filipino journalist, lawyer, and politician (b. 1940)
- 2012 – Halfdan Hegtun, Norwegian radio host and politician (b. 1918)
- 2012 – Joe Krivak, American football player and coach (b. 1935)
- 2012 – Turki bin Sultan, Saudi Arabian politician (b. 1959)
- 2012 – Şerafettin Elçi, Turkish lawyer, politician, government minister (b. 1938)
- 2013 – Anthony J. Bryant, American historian and author (b. 1961)
- 2013 – David R. Harris, English geographer, anthropologist, archaeologist and academic (b. 1930)
- 2013 – Wayne Harrison, English footballer (b. 1967)
- 2013 – Mike Hegan, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1942)
- 2013 – Mel Mathay, Filipino politician, 8th Mayor of Quezon City (b. 1932)
- 2014 – Ricardo Porro, Cuban-French architect (b. 1925)
- 2014 – Geoff Pullar, English cricketer (b. 1935)
- 2015 – George Clayton Johnson, American author and screenwriter (b. 1929)
Deaths[edit]
- Children's Day (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Republic of Congo)
- Christian feast day:
- Christmas Day, Christian holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus. (International)
- Constitution Day (Taiwan)
- Malkh-Festival (Nakh peoples of Chechnya and Ingushetia)
- Quaid-e-Azam's Day (Pakistan)
- Takanakuy (Chumbivilcas Province, Peru)
Holidays and observances[edit]
“So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” Luke 2:16-20 NIV
===
Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
The Lord Jesus Christ was eternally rich, glorious, and exalted; but "though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor." As the rich saint cannot be true in his communion with his poor brethren unless of his substance he ministers to their necessities, so (the same rule holding with the head as between the members), it is impossible that our Divine Lord could have had fellowship with us unless he had imparted to us of his own abounding wealth, and had become poor to make us rich. Had he remained upon his throne of glory, and had we continued in the ruins of the fall without receiving his salvation, communion would have been impossible on both sides. Our position by the fall, apart from the covenant of grace, made it as impossible for fallen man to communicate with God as it is for Belial to be in concord with Christ. In order, therefore, that communion might be compassed, it was necessary that the rich kinsman should bestow his estate upon his poor relatives, that the righteous Saviour should give to his sinning brethren of his own perfection, and that we, the poor and guilty, should receive of his fulness grace for grace; that thus in giving and receiving, the One might descend from the heights, and the other ascend from the depths, and so be able to embrace each other in true and hearty fellowship. Poverty must be enriched by him in whom are infinite treasures before it can venture to commune; and guilt must lose itself in imputed and imparted righteousness ere the soul can walk in fellowship with purity. Jesus must clothe his people in his own garments, or he cannot admit them into his palace of glory; and he must wash them in his own blood, or else they will be too defiled for the embrace of his fellowship.
O believer, herein is love! For your sake the Lord Jesus "became poor" that he might lift you up into communion with himself.
Evening
"The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together."
Isaiah 40:5
Isaiah 40:5
We anticipate the happy day when the whole world shall be converted to Christ; when the gods of the heathen shall be cast to the moles and the bats; when Romanism shall be exploded, and the crescent of Mohammed shall wane, never again to cast its baleful rays upon the nations; when kings shall bow down before the Prince of Peace, and all nations shall call their Redeemer blessed. Some despair of this. They look upon the world as a vessel breaking up and going to pieces, never to float again. We know that the world and all that is therein is one day to be burnt up, and afterwards we look for new heavens and for a new earth; but we cannot read our Bibles without the conviction that--
"Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Does his successive journeys run."
We are not discouraged by the length of his delays; we are not disheartened by the long period which he allots to the church in which to struggle with little success and much defeat. We believe that God will never suffer this world, which has once seen Christ's blood shed upon it, to be always the devil's stronghold. Christ came hither to deliver this world from the detested sway of the powers of darkness. What a shout shall that be when men and angels shall unite to cry "Hallelujah, hallelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!" What a satisfaction will it be in that day to have had a share in the fight, to have helped to break the arrows of the bow, and to have aided in winning the victory for our Lord! Happy are they who trust themselves with this conquering Lord, and who fight side by side with him, doing their little in his name and by his strength! How unhappy are those on the side of evil! It is a losing side, and it is a matter wherein to lose is to lose and to be lost forever. On whose side are you?
===
Today's reading: Habakkuk 1-3, Revelation 15 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Habakkuk 1-3
1 The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.
Habakkuk’s Complaint
2 How long, LORD, must I call for help,
but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you do not save?
3 Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed,
and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
so that justice is perverted....
but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you do not save?
3 Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed,
and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
so that justice is perverted....
Today's New Testament reading: Revelation 15
Seven Angels With Seven Plagues
1 I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. 2 And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God 3and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb:
“Great and marvelous are your deeds,Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
King of the nations.
4 Who will not fear you, Lord,
and bring glory to your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed....”
No comments:
Post a Comment