IPA Review (Nov 2016) features a Peter Gregory article “Taming the Final Frontier” on the importance of property rights in space for discovery and profit. The abysmal PM Hawke acceded to the 1979 UN Moon Treaty in ’86, preventing commercial activity in space. If one prevents growth, they condemn all to poverty. If Hawke had ruled Spain in 1492, the Americas would never have been discovered. He is that progressive. The US has a more sensible policy. If a US citizen can mine it in space, they can keep it. There are endless possibilities, but mining Helium -3 on the moon, where it is recoverable, could feed nuclear generators without waste. Space colonies could be better than self sustaining. The only losers would be the progressives who opposed it. Similar to the progressives who opposed watering Australia viably.
=== from 2015 ===
Turnbull, in seizing the PM's position before a by-election cemented Mr Abbott's position, sidelined the National Party, so that only Liberals got to vote for their leader. This weighted Turnbull's position but the Nationals demanded that Turnbull promise he would never make a Carbon Tax. Mr Turnbull, in promising a billion dollars a year be diverted from foreign aid towards the corrupt AGW lobby has broken that assurance. Australia is short many billions of dollars, and so she will have to pay for it, and Turnbull is looking to increase tax. The money is being diverted from the world's poorest towards a billion dollar a day scam run by wealthy elite. Mr Turnbull promised improved communication, not obfuscation. All that he has delivered is adulation from extreme left wing journalists for taking out Mr Abbott. And now Turnbull is white anting his likely successor of Morrison. Meanwhile Julie Bishop has lied about her role.
For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
From 2014
Women who abandon their children sometimes to death, are mentally ill and need help. The public desire to punish such behaviour is understandable, but what is better is to understand the issue and work to prevent it from happening. Such women are not fit mothers, but they can still contribute to society. But crime and punishment is not the issue when do gooders try to address the problem by suggesting such women are not mentally ill and require some outrageous public promises designed to not shame them. The eighteenth century London solution is to have a baby drop place that is safe for the child to be left at anonymously. Children need to have their past, including medical history of family and cultural history and that means they need to be able to know who their mother was, even if their mother is not part of their lives. So the modern baby drop off may be private, but should never be anonymous.
Victoria's ALP begin predictably, by cancelling a project on infrastructure but wanting to keep the federal money meant for infrastructure. The Victorian ALP are free to squander what they will that is Victorian. However, Mr Abbott prudently planned to make sure that if the plan derailed, the money would not go there. Minorities will run the Victorian senate, but it is too soon to know how many. Greens lose in poll that should have favoured them, with ALP benefiting from the corrupt union campaign. Greens had anticipated 18% of the vote, but received only 11%. Meanwhile the LNP results showed they lost long time core supporters. If you stand for nothing you will fall for anything. They had been a competent government, without being inspired. Andrews, speaking on the ABC Monday, said he could not work as an adult with the federal government. He said they have to be blamed for imaginary health and education cuts first.
Federally, fall out from the Victorian election has highlighted the ALP have no plan or policy. They block cuts, but could not replace those with any savings. They created the anticipated $650 billion deficit which could well become more. Clearly the narrative of what had happened in the campaign is wrong. The narrative has it that independent peoples stood up for the CFMEU in support of the ALP. But the fact is that the LNP were right to point out that the ALP were too close to the CFMEU. What saved the ALP was the slush funds and the partisan press who were complicit with covering up the corruption. But Shorten, who has no policy, blames Mr Abbott for the loss of Victoria despite the polling extending two years prior to Mr Abbott being PM. The LNP is made to look bad by the partisan press, but they have done nothing wrong and have worked as an inspired unit. The senate blockage is related to ALP having control prior to July and Palmer's PUP blocking things after.
Palmer has real power and he abuses it. He met with Lambie. The outcome of their discussions are not yet known, but they will probably favour the ALP.
People usually have a negative view of politics generally, and the detail becomes too hard to scan. They don't really care about things, but feel the ALP are good for spending money on workers and LNP are good for small business. Which isn't true, but which the partisan press portrays consistently. The ALP are corrupt and negligent and policy less. One example of ALP red tape is highlighted by the fact that Rinehart had to make over 3000 applications to open a mine. The time delays and cost mean Australia is not profitable to mine compared to most other nations. That means that everyone, workers, small business and big business suffer. The only ones who profit are environmental activists.
Victoria's ALP begin predictably, by cancelling a project on infrastructure but wanting to keep the federal money meant for infrastructure. The Victorian ALP are free to squander what they will that is Victorian. However, Mr Abbott prudently planned to make sure that if the plan derailed, the money would not go there. Minorities will run the Victorian senate, but it is too soon to know how many. Greens lose in poll that should have favoured them, with ALP benefiting from the corrupt union campaign. Greens had anticipated 18% of the vote, but received only 11%. Meanwhile the LNP results showed they lost long time core supporters. If you stand for nothing you will fall for anything. They had been a competent government, without being inspired. Andrews, speaking on the ABC Monday, said he could not work as an adult with the federal government. He said they have to be blamed for imaginary health and education cuts first.
Federally, fall out from the Victorian election has highlighted the ALP have no plan or policy. They block cuts, but could not replace those with any savings. They created the anticipated $650 billion deficit which could well become more. Clearly the narrative of what had happened in the campaign is wrong. The narrative has it that independent peoples stood up for the CFMEU in support of the ALP. But the fact is that the LNP were right to point out that the ALP were too close to the CFMEU. What saved the ALP was the slush funds and the partisan press who were complicit with covering up the corruption. But Shorten, who has no policy, blames Mr Abbott for the loss of Victoria despite the polling extending two years prior to Mr Abbott being PM. The LNP is made to look bad by the partisan press, but they have done nothing wrong and have worked as an inspired unit. The senate blockage is related to ALP having control prior to July and Palmer's PUP blocking things after.
Palmer has real power and he abuses it. He met with Lambie. The outcome of their discussions are not yet known, but they will probably favour the ALP.
People usually have a negative view of politics generally, and the detail becomes too hard to scan. They don't really care about things, but feel the ALP are good for spending money on workers and LNP are good for small business. Which isn't true, but which the partisan press portrays consistently. The ALP are corrupt and negligent and policy less. One example of ALP red tape is highlighted by the fact that Rinehart had to make over 3000 applications to open a mine. The time delays and cost mean Australia is not profitable to mine compared to most other nations. That means that everyone, workers, small business and big business suffer. The only ones who profit are environmental activists.
From 2013
I never watched a Fast and Furious movie. In 2006, on the last day of school, some year 9 wanted to watch one but I couldn't and wouldn't let them. It was rated 'M.' But I also despised the kind of movie .. facile and promoting social vice to the young, packaged as adventurous, edgy and sexy. So the tragic death of one of the stars highlights a vice of mine. I am bitter. I don't like it when the uber wealthy promote bad behaviour which would cripple their fans who might try to copy it. Not everyone has the money to get out of a killing ala OJ Simpson. Or out of Michael Jackson's depraved indulgence. But the death is a tragedy. Test driving a new car into a tree. It wasn't the tree's fault. North of Los Angeles, it was unlikely to be an icy road, although global warming is very disappointingly slight. In some ways, the actor has given his fans a moral message as strong as Diana's. But I'd rather be envious of his highly paid under achieving as an actor.
Speaking of extraordinary indulgence, we have an abysmal Governor General trying to be sacked for being partisan, and egged on by irresponsible and unprofessional journalists. PM Abbott is unlikely to sack the fool, as it would carry poison over to the next appointment. It is only a few months. And then, I would love it were the GG to face questions, and possibly serve time, for obstruction of justice re Heiner.
Another indulgence is Gonski. A woman in the NT is knitting wool sourced from her vagina, which she presumably inserts. It is performance art, paid by the tax payer via SBS. Gonski is a similar indulgence which the ALP and press are demanding. No program cut from not honouring Gonski will adversely affect a child. The only result is teachers doing what they are already paid to do. Principals of public schools, taking the lead of the GG, are speaking out and lying about what Gonski cuts mean. which isn't to say that education cannot improve. Centralising education can mean centralising bad practice, as the common core experience in the US shows. But there is an opportunity to expand best practice too.
Speaking of extraordinary indulgence, we have an abysmal Governor General trying to be sacked for being partisan, and egged on by irresponsible and unprofessional journalists. PM Abbott is unlikely to sack the fool, as it would carry poison over to the next appointment. It is only a few months. And then, I would love it were the GG to face questions, and possibly serve time, for obstruction of justice re Heiner.
Another indulgence is Gonski. A woman in the NT is knitting wool sourced from her vagina, which she presumably inserts. It is performance art, paid by the tax payer via SBS. Gonski is a similar indulgence which the ALP and press are demanding. No program cut from not honouring Gonski will adversely affect a child. The only result is teachers doing what they are already paid to do. Principals of public schools, taking the lead of the GG, are speaking out and lying about what Gonski cuts mean. which isn't to say that education cannot improve. Centralising education can mean centralising bad practice, as the common core experience in the US shows. But there is an opportunity to expand best practice too.
Historical perspective on this day
In 800, Charlemagne judged the accusations against Pope Leo III in the Vatican. In 1420, Henry V of England entered Paris. In 1577, Francis Walsingham was knighted. In 1640, end of the Iberian Union: Portugal acclaimed as King João IV of Portugal, ended 60 years of personal union of the crowns of Portugal and Spain and the end of the rule of the Philippine Dynasty. In 1768, the slave ship Fredensborg sank off Tromøy in Norway. In 1822, Peter I was crowned Emperor of Brazil. In 1824, United States presidential election, 1824: Since no candidate received a majority of the total electoral college votes in the election, the United States House of Representatives was given the task of deciding the winner in accordance with the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In 1826, French philhelleneCharles Nicolas Fabvier forced his way through the Turkish cordon and ascended the Acropolis of Athens, which had been under siege. In 1828, Argentine general Juan Lavallemade a coup against governor Manuel Dorrego, beginning the Decembrist revolution. In 1834, slavery was abolished in the Cape Colony in accordance with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. In 1862, in his State of the Union Address President Abraham Lincoln reaffirmed the necessity of ending slavery as ordered ten weeks earlier in the Emancipation Proclamation. In 1864, Great Fire of Brisbane. In 1865, Shaw University, the first historically black universityin the southern United States, was founded in Raleigh, North Carolina. In 1885, first serving of the soft drink Dr Pepper at a drug store in Waco, Texas.
In 1913, the Buenos Aires Metro, the first underground railway system in the Southern Hemisphere and in Latin America, began operation. Also, the Ford Motor Companyintroduced the first moving assembly line. Also, Crete, having obtained self rule from Turkeyafter the First Balkan War, was annexed by Greece. In 1918, Transylvania united with the Kingdom of Romania, following the incorporation of Bessarabia (March 27) and Bukovina(November 28), thus concluding the Great Union. Also, the Kingdom of Iceland became a sovereign state, yet remained a part of the Danish kingdom. Also, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) was proclaimed. In 1919, Lady Astor became the first female Member of Parliament to take her seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. (She had been elected to that position on November 28.) Also, the first issue of Diário de Noite was published from Goa. In 1934, in the Soviet Union, Politburo member Sergey Kirov was shot dead by Leonid Nikolaev at the Communist Partyheadquarters in Leningrad. In 1941, World War II: Emperor Hirohito of Japan gave the final approval to initiate war against the United States. Also, World War II: Fiorello La Guardia, Mayor of New York City and Director of the Office of Civilian Defense, signed Administrative Order 9, creating the Civil Air Patrol. In 1948, Taman Shud Case: The body of an unidentified man was found in Adelaide, Australia, involving an undetectable poison and a secret code in a very rare book; the case remains unsolved and is "one of Australia's most profound mysteries."
In 1952, the New York Daily News reported the news of Christine Jorgensen, the first notable case of sexual reassignment surgery. In 1955, American Civil Rights Movement: In Montgomery, Alabama, seamstress Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man and was arrested for violating the city's racial segregation laws, an incident which led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In 1958, the Central African Republic attains self-rule within the French Union. Also, the Our Lady of the Angels School fire in Chicago killed 92 children and three nuns. In 1959, Cold War: Opening date for signature of the Antarctic Treaty, which set aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and banned military activity on the continent. In 1960, Paul McCartney and Pete Best were arrested (and later deported) from Hamburg, Germany, after accusations of attempted arson. In 1963, Nagaland became the 16th state of India. In 1964, Vietnam War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson and his top-ranking advisers met to discuss plans to bomb North Vietnam. Also, Malawi, Malta and Zambia joined the United Nations. In 1965, India's Border Security Force was established. In 1966, the first Gävle goat, an annual Swedish Yule Goat tradition, was erected in Gävle. In 1969, Vietnam War: The first draft lottery in the United States was held since World War II. In 1971, Cambodian Civil War: Khmer Rouge rebels intensify assaults on Cambodiangovernment positions, forcing their retreat from Kompong Thmar and nearby Ba Ray. In 1973, Papua New Guinea gained self-governance from Australia. In 1974, TWA Flight 514, a Boeing 727, crashed northwest of Dulles International Airport, killing all 92 people on board. Also, Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 6231, another Boeing 727, crashed northwest of John F. Kennedy International Airport. In 1976, Angola joined the United Nations.
In 1981, Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308, a McDonnell Douglas MD-80, crashes in Corsica, killing all 180 people on board. In 1984, NASA conducted the Controlled Impact Demonstration, wherein an airliner was deliberately crashed in order to test technologies and gather data to help improve survivability of crashes. In 1988, Benazir Bhutto was appointed Prime Minister of Pakistan. In 1989, 1989 Philippine coup attempt: The right-wing military rebel Reform the Armed Forces Movement attempted to oust Philippine President Corazon Aquino in a failed bloody coup d'état. Also, Cold War: East Germany's parliament abolished the constitutional provision granting the Communist Party the leading role in the state. In 1990, Channel Tunnel sections started from the United Kingdom and France met 40 metres beneath the seabed. In 1991, Cold War: Ukrainian voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum for independence from the Soviet Union. In 1997, in the Indian state of Bihar, Ranvir Sena attacked the CPI(ML) Party Unity stronghold Lakshmanpur-Bathe, killing 63 lower caste people. In 2001, Captain Bill Compton brought Trans World Airlines Flight 220, an MD-83, into St. Louis International Airport bringing to an end 76 years of TWA operations following TWA's purchase by American Airlines. In 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon, which amends the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community, which together comprise the constitutional basis of European Union, came into effect. In 2013, China launched Yutu or Jade Rabbit, its first lunar rover, as part of the Chang'e 3 lunar exploration mission. Also, at least four are dead and 63 are injured following a Metro-North Railroad train derailment near Spuyten Duyvil, Bronx, New York City.
=== 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 Josephine Salerno, John T Tran, Tiffany Lee-Shoy and David Vuong. Born on the same day, across the years. Along with
Deaths
|
Tim Blair
Andrew Bolt
IF NOT FOR DOUBLE STANDARDS, SHE’D HAVE NONE AT ALL
Tim Blair – Tuesday, December 01, 2015 (1:14pm)
“Actions have consequences,” writes Clementine Ford. Indeed they do – but not for Clementine.
A rude fellow recently called the Fairfax columnist a “slut” on her Facebook page. By Clementine’s standards, this was not particularly extreme. Ford has previously called Daily Telegraph columnist Miranda Devine a “f**king c**t”and wrote of Iranian-born Rita Panahi: “No matter how hard she tries, she’ll never be a white man.”
Clem sure can dish it out. When abuse is directed at her, however, she can’t take even a single word of it. Following the “slut” comment, Ford contacted the man’s employers and had him fired:
A man has been dismissed from his job at Meriton Apartments after calling popular feminist writer and Fairfax columnist Clementine Ford a “slut” …In an update today, Ford told followers Meriton Group had contacted her to confirm it had investigated the matter.“Meriton Group does not condone this type of behaviour. Michael Nolan was removed from the Meriton site on Saturday 28th November pending an investigation, and as of 2:30pm today 30th November 2015, he no longer works for the Meriton Group,” correspondence from the group, shared by Ford, said.
A few points:
One. Nolan’s witless and crude comment was obviously offensive and should not have been posted. Dumb abuse is dumb abuse, no matter against whom it is aimed.
Two. Clementine is an extraordinary hypocrite. She is more abusive than almost all of her critics, yet takes the most extreme action possible when even a tiny amount of that abuse is returned.
Three. Clementine’s attitude towards the word “slut” is ambivalent, to say the least. In 2013, she told an interviewerthat use of the word was:
… something that’s completely beneath me to even engage with. Because I feel like anyone who would use that word legitimately as an insult to try and tear down a woman is not worthy of my time or even recognition of their argument.
Until she felt like getting someone sacked. By 2015, incidentally, Ford was using “slut” in the introduction to speeches and columns:
This is a letter to the chicks. It’s a letter to the bitches and the broads, the sluts and the whores.
Four. Consider, as might a leftist, the relative power of Ford and her now-unemployed attacker. He’s an ex-apartment supervisor with no extensive online reach. She’s a widely-read media personality with sufficient presence to frighten PR-conscious businesses into sacking their staff. Leftists refer to Ford’s tactic as punching down:
Punching down is a concept in which you’re assumed to have a measurable level of power and you’re looking for a fight. Now, you can either go after the big guy who might hurt you, or go after the little guy who has absolutely no shot. Either way, you’ve picked a fight, but one fight is remarkably more noble and worthwhile than the other. Going after the big guy, punching up, is an act of nobility. Going after the little guy, punching down, is an act of bullying.
Five. Ford isn’t done yet. Yesterday she alerted – in a now-deleted post – JB Hi-Fi to the use of “slut” by one of the company’s staffers. Following criticism, Ford responded:
Who said anything about firing him? It’s up to JB what they do. Perhaps they just need to tighten their social media policy.
Or perhaps, as Fairfax does in reaction to Clementine’s continual breaches, they could completely ignore it. Ford is immune to censure, which makes this Clemmy comment especially notable:
I guess if you can’t handle the consequences of writing comments online then maybe reconsider writing comments online.
Six. Like Clementine, I also receive numerous abusive and obscene comments and emails from the angry and unknown. Unlike Clementine, I avoid identifying the authors of those comments, much less run crying to their employers. A final word from Ford:
“To anyone who suggests I have caused a man to lose his job, I’d like to say this: He is responsible for his actions.”
So are you, Clementine. So are you.
ANTI-OINK BRIGADE
Tim Blair – Tuesday, December 01, 2015 (11:03am)
In Mumbai, India, local Muslims are furious:
Offices of the Marathi newspaper Lokmat witnessed angry protests on Sunday by outraged Muslims who claimed that the newspaper had insulted their faith by publishing a blasphemous picture.Copies of the newspaper were burnt at various cities in Maharashtra and the protesting men demanded arrest of the editor and the artist who drew the illustration. A couple of offices are reported to have been attacked too, as the editor extended an immediate apology.
MUGABE’S MINIONS
Tim Blair – Tuesday, December 01, 2015 (10:15am)
We live in troubled times, people. Dangerously stupid climate change conferences are happening even as we speak, flooding our media with frightening levels of Turnbull and Shorten. Yesterday those money-burning muppets were in Paris as an environmental visionary called for idiocy to be piled upon evil:
Robert Mugabe will show them the way forward. Today’s Daily Telegraph editorial:
Robert Mugabe will show them the way forward. Today’s Daily Telegraph editorial:
Australia’s enormous presence at the Paris climate conference is difficult to explain. Our nation produces barely more than 1 per cent of the planet’s man-made climate gases. Even if Australia were to abandon all industry, ban fossil fuel use and outlaw coal mining, resulting carbon dioxide savings would quickly be matched by industrial growth in China and India.Observed from that angle, our presence in Paris is comparable to landlocked Chad attending a coastal flooding conference.
At least Pachamama is getting something out of this.
How will Germany stop this brawling when these “refugees” leave their shelters?
Andrew Bolt December 01 2015 (7:01pm)
Welcome to Germany’s new arrivals, so grateful to their new home:
UPDATE
Meanwhile, on the Greek-Macedonian border:
More proof that screening the “refugees” is no safeguard:
===Clashes broke out Sunday between hundreds of asylum seekers at a shelter in Berlin, in the second mass brawl to erupt over the weekend in Germany’s crowded migrant accommodations.How will police later separate these “refugees” from German Christians under this peace-keeping strategy of separating by religion and country of origin?
Several people were arrested at the fight that started in the food distribution queues at the former airport of Tempelhof, which has been turned into a temporary accommodation for 1,200 refugees, an AFP photographer witnessed.
The brawl came just hours after another mass fight at a refugee shelter in the Berlin suburb of Spandau, where migrants went at each other with fire extinguishers, a police spokesman said.
Windows were smashed, sofas were thrown, and fire extinguishers emptied, said police, adding that several residents of the shelter were wounded…
Separately, two other fights broke out in other shelters… Germany expects to take in a million asylum seekers this year alone… Germany’s police union had called for refugees to be separated by religion and by country of origin to minimise the potential for conflict.
UPDATE
Meanwhile, on the Greek-Macedonian border:
UPDATE
More proof that screening the “refugees” is no safeguard:
The Paris attacks have raised fears of terrorists slipping into Europe by posing as refugees. But in Germany, the top migrant destination, security officials have another worry: Local extremists will recruit the newcomers to join the Islamist cause once they arrive.
German authorities warn that migrants seeking out Arabic-language mosques in search of the familiar are increasingly ending up at those attended by Islamist radicals. In interviews, security officials from Berlin to the southwest German state of Saarland said they have registered a sharp rise in the number of asylum-seekers attending mosques they believed attracted extremists. Federal officials said they have counted more than 100 cases in which Islamists known to them have tried to establish contact with refugees.
Liberals at war: Abbott accuses Bishop of falsehoods
Andrew Bolt December 01 2015 (6:48pm)
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s reputation is getting a battering, and the rift in the Liberals is getting worse - driven in part by alarm at where Malcolm Turnbull is taking the party:
===Tony Abbott has unleashed a public attack on his former deputy, Julie Bishop, to accuse her of telling falsehoods.
The former prime minister told Fairfax Media it was “false” that Ms Bishop had warned him of a phone call where Malcolm Turnbull was making plans for a post-Abbott government seven months before he challenged for the leadership…
In the February 8 call, Mr Turnbull offered Scott Morrison the treasurer’s post in a future Turnbull government… Ms Bishop was in the same room as Mr Turnbull at the time, a silent participant in the call....
When Ms Bishop was asked on Channel Nine on Tuesday whether she had told Mr Abbott about the call, she responded: “Of course, of course.”
But Mr Abbott said: “The claim that Julie Bishop made on Channel Nine that she told me about the conversation between Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison that she witnessed is false.”
On a second point, Mr Abbott said it was not true that Ms Bishop had urged him to appoint two more women to his first cabinet.
In part two of Fairfax’s Shirtfronted, Ms Bishop is said to have suggested that Marise Payne and Sussan Ley be appointed to the cabinet, but met opposition from Mr Abbott’s then chief of staff, Peta Credlin…
But Mr Abbott told Fairfax Media: “The suggestion that Julie Bishop lobbied me to get Marise Payne and Sussan Ley into cabinet in September 2013 is false. The suggestion that Peta Credlin opposed that is also false."…
He challenged her remark that his cabinet had held firm during the first and unsuccessful leadership spill in February.
Ms Bishop had said: “The cabinet held absolutely firm… I certainly was not aware of white-anting, although I’m sure that the former prime minister has a number of concerns about what went on in those last six months of his time as prime minister.”
Mr Abbott said: “Julie Bishop’s claim that the cabinet was solidly behind me was rendered ridiculous by the leaking that so obviously took place.”
How well is Turnbull really doing?
Andrew Bolt December 01 2015 (4:16pm)
Malcolm Turnbull is up against a terrible Labor leader.
He has the uncritical and lavish support of much of the media, from writers on the Australian to those on The Age and ABC.
He has avoided making a single tough decision that could alientate anyone.
He has business leaders licking his hand.
It cannot get better than this for Turnbull. Yet despite all these massive advantages, Turnbull’s lead is surprisingly brittle:
(Thanks to reader Alan RM Jones.)
===He has the uncritical and lavish support of much of the media, from writers on the Australian to those on The Age and ABC.
He has avoided making a single tough decision that could alientate anyone.
He has business leaders licking his hand.
It cannot get better than this for Turnbull. Yet despite all these massive advantages, Turnbull’s lead is surprisingly brittle:
And the Government is yet to admit that the deficit is blowing out again.
(Thanks to reader Alan RM Jones.)
Sexism alert: abusive Clementine Ford applauds sacking of abusive man
Andrew Bolt December 01 2015 (3:58pm)
Fairfax columnist Clementine Ford has printed and sold “F… Abbott” T-shirts.
Fairfax columnist Clementine Ford has jeered that a female journalist of Iranian background ”will never be a white man”.
Fairfax columnist Clementine Ford has called former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman a ”c..t”.
Fairfax columnist Clementine Ford has called conservative columnist Miranda Devine a ”f...ing c..t”.
Now that Fairfax columnist Clementine Ford has helped get a man sacked for his abuse, will Fairfax uphold the same standards and sack Ford, or are feminists not held to the very standards they applaud for men?
(Thanks to many readers.)
===Fairfax columnist Clementine Ford has jeered that a female journalist of Iranian background ”will never be a white man”.
Fairfax columnist Clementine Ford has called former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman a ”c..t”.
Fairfax columnist Clementine Ford has called conservative columnist Miranda Devine a ”f...ing c..t”.
Now that Fairfax columnist Clementine Ford has helped get a man sacked for his abuse, will Fairfax uphold the same standards and sack Ford, or are feminists not held to the very standards they applaud for men?
A Sydney hotel supervisor has lost his job after making a sexist and offensive comment on the Facebook page of Fairfax Media columnist Clementine Ford.Why are there no consequences for Ford’s actions?
The Meriton Group confirmed that Michael Nolan was no longer employed by the company, after he labelled Ford a “slut” when she spoke out publicly against misogyny and online harassment…
On his Facebook profile, Mr Nolan listed that he was a supervisor at Meriton Apartments, prompting Ford to tag the Meriton Group on Facebook and query whether they were aware that one of their employees was making such degrading comments…
Ford originally said she highlighted Mr Nolan’s comment because “these men don’t get to just go around leaving these kinds of comments and attempting to degrade women just for the hell of it. Why should they get away with it? Why should there be no consequences at all for them?"… After receiving a message from the Meriton Group confirming that Mr Nolan was no longer working for the company, Ford applauded the company’s actions.
(Thanks to many readers.)
If Bhutan is the warmists’ “role model”, start worrying
Andrew Bolt December 01 2015 (9:41am)
Climate Action Tracker, a prominent global warming activist group, claims Bhutan is our role model:
Life expectancy in Bhutan: 68
Life expectancy in Australia: 82
How happy are hungry people?:
UPDATE
Meanwhile, warmists save the planet from overconsumption, one course at a time:
===We rate Bhutan “role model”. This means that Bhutan’s target is in line with a global 2°C pathway… In such a context, the country has also put forward the concept of “Gross National Happiness”, in contrast with the established notion of “Gross Domestic Product”, and the utilitarian political theory.Let’s check the happiness factor in the warmists’ “role model”, which lacks the wicked emissions of a thriving economy.
Life expectancy in Bhutan: 68
Life expectancy in Australia: 82
How happy are hungry people?:
It is estimated that 34 percent of children in Bhutan are stunted as a result of malnutrition and 11 percent show signs of wasting. While malnutrition and stunting is found to be slightly higher in rural regions of western and eastern Bhutan, national statistics from Bhutan show that at least 15 percent of children under five are undernourished.This is the green dream?
UPDATE
Meanwhile, warmists save the planet from overconsumption, one course at a time:
(Thanks to reader Relevance Please.)
Bernard Keane’s contempt for soldiers who served this nation
Andrew Bolt December 01 2015 (8:49am)
Rudyard Kipling on the posturing Left:
Let’s compare the records of Keane, Nikolic and Hastie in serving this nation. Let’s sort out the real bozo:
Andrew Nikolic, Liberal MP for Bass:
(Thanks to reader John.)
===\Making mock o’ uniforms that guard you while you sleep.Today’s example, Crikey’s Bernard Keane:
“Militarist bozos”?
Let’s compare the records of Keane, Nikolic and Hastie in serving this nation. Let’s sort out the real bozo:
Andrew Nikolic, Liberal MP for Bass:
During his 31 year career in the Army, he has completed three postings to the Middle East:Andrew Hastie, Liberal MP for Canning:
As United Nations Team Leader in Israel, Syria and South Lebanon (1990-91); As Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of Australia’s initial contribution to Afghanistan (2001-02); andIn addition to his national command responsibilities in Southern Iraq, he concurrently served as Chief of Staff of the British-led Multinational Division.
As the first Australian National Commander in Southern Iraq (2005).
Andrew has taught tactics at the Royal Military College and has served as the Commanding Officer / Chief Instructor of the Parachute Training School…
In 2003 Andrew became the first officer appointed to lead the Army Recruit Training Centre to have also graduated as a soldier. In 2007 he was promoted to Brigadier.
Andrew is a graduate of the Army Command and Staff College, Joint Services Staff College, Armed Forces of the Philippines Joint College, the United States Army War College, the United Nations Senior Leader’s Course, and the Australian Institute of Company Directors. In addition to his military qualifications he holds two Bachelors Degrees in Arts and Social Science, and three Masters Degrees in Management, International Relations and Strategic Studies.
Wangaratta-born and Sydney-raised, Capt. Hastie arrived in WA in 2010 after passing the gruelling SAS selection process, as documented in the SBS documentary SAS: The Search for Warriors. “I then completed the 18-month-long training cycle developing expertise in shooting, parachuting, diving, boating and other niche commando skills,” his application says.Bernard Keane, writer for Crikey, the internet gossip site:
He had a troop command role for three years in charge of 30 soldiers, deploying to Afghanistan three times.
“My tasks have included leading sensitive strategic operations on behalf of the Australian Government in Afghanistan in 2012 and 2013 working alongside Afghan partner forces, conducting strike missions against Taliban leadership,” he wrote.
In 2013 he advised a Government team reviewing “critical security infrastructure in support of Operation Sovereign Borders”. In 2014-15, he was in the Middle East for coalition operations against Islamic State working with Western partners to better understand the threat of terrorism to the West.
Bernard Keane has been Crikey‘s correspondent in Canberra since 2008, writing on politics, media and economics. He was educated at the University of Sydney, where he received a PhD in history. Before joining Crikey, he was a public servant and speechwriter in transport and communications. In ... 2014 he wrote A Short History of Stupid with Helen Razer, about the debasement of public debate.Keane owes Nikolic and Hastie an apology.
(Thanks to reader John.)
Who is your big hope of the conservative side?
Andrew Bolt December 01 2015 (8:34am)
So who do you think will emerge as the great hope of the conservative wing of the Liberal party, now increasingly concerned with Malcolm Turnbull’s direction?
UPDATE
A lot of support in comments below for Andrew Hastie down the track. Dutton, Frydenberg and Abbott the favourites so far. Taylor is supported, but is battling a recognition factor.
UPDATE
James Massola on the souring of support for Scott Morrison:
===Tony AbbottI had my own say on our 2GB/3AW/4BC show last night. Listen here. (Very impressive contribution from MP Michael Sukar, too.)
Peter Dutton
Scott Morrison
Josh Frydenberg
Angus Taylor
UPDATE
A lot of support in comments below for Andrew Hastie down the track. Dutton, Frydenberg and Abbott the favourites so far. Taylor is supported, but is battling a recognition factor.
UPDATE
James Massola on the souring of support for Scott Morrison:
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton ... is now being discussed as a possible future deputy leader by conservatives who are angry with Mr Morrison as well as deputy leader Julie Bishop, over the events of September…(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
Along with Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, Mr Dutton – who has maintained a hardline approach to border protection – is now seen as the most senior conservative in the cabinet following the axing of former ministers Kevin Andrews and Eric Abetz.
Fairfax Media spoke to half a dozen conservatives who said that Mr Morrison’s standing with the party’s right had been damaged by his handling of the switch from Mr Abbott to Mr Turnbull. One said that “neither side now trusts Morrison; he has identified himself as being for sale” while Ms Bishop had also been “irrevocably damaged” by her involvement in the spill.
Another said that “ ... Dutton is now the most senior conservative ... if you want to raise an issue, you go to Dutton not Morrison."…
Another MP mentioned as a possible future leaders of the party’s conservative wing is new cabinet minister Josh Frydenberg, who has launched a strong defence of coal exports since becoming Resources Minister and who on Sunday accused the Grand Mufti of Australia, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, of a failure of leadership in recent comments about the Paris terrorist attacks. Mr Frydenberg also supported Mr Abbott until the end but is, however, a strong supporter of same-sex marriage, which sets him apart from conservative colleagues.
Why aren’t these “refugees” fighting like the Kurds?
Andrew Bolt December 01 2015 (8:28am)
The Kurds have a point:
(Thanks to reader Lachie.)
===So I never quite understand the people who make this point:
The Iraqi foreign minister says the terrorist activities committed by Takfiri Daesh terrorists show the terror group’s hatred toward the entire world, noting that Muslims are the main victims of terrorist attacks.True enough. So why aren’t Muslims here also the main campaigners against Islamist terrorism?
(Thanks to reader Lachie.)
Pick which way is best: speaking honestly about Islam, or speaking like Burke and Dreyfus?
Andrew Bolt December 01 2015 (8:05am)
Labor frontbenchers Mark Dreyfus and Tony Burke, both with substantial Muslim minorities in their electorates, think it’s bad to speak the truth about Islam and the Mufti:
Burke has actually endorsed radicalism, rather than challenge it, in his now notorious speech to the Friends of Palestine group:
And Dreyfus apparently prefers to close his eyes to real trouble and say the opposite of the truth:
In Britain, too. Labour is surrendering its values - even unwinding the battles fought by suffragettes more than a century ago:
(Thanks to reader Never Again Socialism.)
===LABOR frontbenchers Tony Burke and Mark Dreyfus said the language used by some government MPs calling for Islam to change risked returning to “old rhetoric” of the Liberal party.So how would Dreyfus and Burke talk about Islam, jihadism and Muslim immigration?
Mr Dreyfus [said Liberals were] “… irresponsibly stirring up division between Muslim and non-Muslims"… Mr Burke ... said Resources Minister Josh Frydenberg’s comments on the Grand Mufti were “needlessly aggressive” and “self-defeating”, adding others who’ve joined such statements risked reigniting sectarian debates.
Burke has actually endorsed radicalism, rather than challenge it, in his now notorious speech to the Friends of Palestine group:
For those who are political advocates within Palestine itself, I will never know the bravery that comes with putting your life on the line and at risk, in engaging in politics in different ways.Pardon? What “different ways”? Involving putting lives “on the line”? Like stabbing attacks on Jews? Suicide attacks? What precisely?
And Dreyfus apparently prefers to close his eyes to real trouble and say the opposite of the truth:
[Dreysfus] talks about his electorate:UPDATE
Isaacs MP Mark Dreyfus said..."One third of Australians were born overseas and Greater Dandenong is home to citizens representing 150 different nationalities,” he said. “Our community is a wonderful example to others of a modern, diverse and harmonious society.”This week:
...Community leaders have joined police on regular patrols in Dandenong as the force tries to improve ties with troubled ethnic youths. The ethnically diverse city has crime rates almost 40 per cent higher than the state average… Pacific Islander and Sudanese community leaders were informed by Victoria Police last year that their populations were overrepresented in crime statistics.
In Britain, too. Labour is surrendering its values - even unwinding the battles fought by suffragettes more than a century ago:
Labour faced a sexism row today after men and women were segregated at an Asian party rally.Of course, segregation like this in a Muslim enclave is precisely what multicultural policies dictate.
The meeting organised by the party’s Friends of Bangladesh group was held ahead of Thursday’s crucial by-election, which Labour is in danger of losing.
Photographs of the event in Oldham West and Royton, where one in five voters is from an ethnic minority, shows Asian men and women sitting in separate rows. Critics said allowing the sexes to be split up at the party-run event was ‘shameful’ and accused Labour of ‘putting political correctness ahead of equality’ in order to win votes.
(Thanks to reader Never Again Socialism.)
Turnbull promises $1 billion of your money to global warming scare
Andrew Bolt December 01 2015 (7:49am)
Robbing hungry Peter to pay warmist Paul:
Turnbull’s excuse:
UPDATE
You wouldn’t think Turnbull faces a Budget that is blowing out by billions, with no sign of an end to our deficits. Or maybe you’d understand it only too well:
Any hype will do. Environment Minister Greg Hunt reports “widespread applause and acclamation” for Turnbull in Paris:
Why the hell is the ABC’s 7.30 crossing to an activist - Erwin Jackson from the Climate Institute - to give a roundup on the Paris global warming conference?
Not even the pretence now of balance.
===Malcolm Turnbull has promised to spend “at least” $1 billion helping vulnerable nations cope with climate change, as he told the climate change conference in Paris Australia wouldn’t be daunted by the challenge.That’s our money, gone to feed a gigantic scare.
Like the $200 million pledged for a global climate fund at similar talks in Peru last year, the additional $800 million will be redirected from the existing foreign aid budget.
Turnbull’s excuse:
Some of the most vulnerable nations are our Pacific neighbours and we are helping them to build resilience through practical action and assistance. To this end, Australia will contribute at least $1 billion over the next five years from our existing aid budget both to build climate resilience and reduce emissions.In fact:
New Zealand coastal geomorphologist Paul Kench, of the University of Auckland’s School of Environment, and colleagues in Australia and Fiji, who have been studying how reef islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans respond to rising sea levels… Their analysis, which now extends to more than 600 coral reef islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, indicates that about 80 percent of the islands have remained stable or increased in size (roughly 40 percent in each category)… Tuvalu’s main atoll, Funafuti—33 islands distributed around the rim of a large lagoon—has gained 75 acres (32 hectares) of land during the past 115 years.And those islands face fewer cyclones and probably not stronger ones, admits the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change:
In summary, confidence in large scale changes in the intensity of extreme extratropical cyclones since 1900 is low… Over periods of a century or more, evidence suggests slight decreases in the frequency of tropical cyclones making landfall in the North Atlantic and the South Pacific...Why is Turnbull ignoring this science? Why is he spending $1 billion on a false premise? Why aren’t journalists calling him out and reporting the science?
UPDATE
You wouldn’t think Turnbull faces a Budget that is blowing out by billions, with no sign of an end to our deficits. Or maybe you’d understand it only too well:
It has already emerged that during the summit Australia will be signing up to a global clean energy technology initiative that would see the government double its $100 million a year commitment to research and development in the field over the next five years.UPDATE
Any hype will do. Environment Minister Greg Hunt reports “widespread applause and acclamation” for Turnbull in Paris:
Jill Jacks listens closely and thinks “widespread applause and acclamation” is a vast exaggeration:
UPDATE
Why the hell is the ABC’s 7.30 crossing to an activist - Erwin Jackson from the Climate Institute - to give a roundup on the Paris global warming conference?
Not even the pretence now of balance.
Standing up for the law - and for our culture
Andrew Bolt December 01 2015 (7:00am)
NSW Attorney-General Gabrielle Upton finally stands up for the law and insists a Muslim extremist does, too:
And how can we expect other children to defend what they are told is contemptible?
===ISLAMIC extremist Milad bin Ahmad-Shah al-Ahmadzai could face contempt charges after NSW Attorney-General Gabrielle Upton finally lost patience with his repeated lack of respect for the judiciary.It is important that on all fronts we now stand up for our culture. We cannot keep teaching the children of immigrants that Australia is a racist and land-raping country founded on theft and genocide, even stealing children just because they were Aboriginal. Not only is that untrue, or at best an obscene exaggeration, it is also dangerous. How can we expect children from other, prouder cultures to pledge loyalty to this when we sell it so soiled?
Al-Ahmadzai has refused to stand up in courts for well over a year, claiming he is “not at the behest of any authority other than Islam"…
Ms Upton wrote to Solicitor-General Michael Sexton SC last night ordering him to consider contempt charges.
“I have also sought advice from the Department of Justice for possible changes to the law so accused persons show respect for judicial officers and our system of justice,” she said.
Mr Sexton has the power to prosecute al-Ahmadzai, 25, who did not stand for Judge Gregory Farmer SC yesterday as his trial for car theft and attempted murder continued at Parramatta District Court.
And how can we expect other children to defend what they are told is contemptible?
Fairfax admits its papers are part of a warmist lobby group
Andrew Bolt December 01 2015 (6:48am)
The Sydney Morning Herald’s official warming alarmist chides the Turnbull Government:
===Turnbull will have to convince his party that Australia must lift its climate ambitions if it’s to do its fair share to keep global warming to less than two degrees - a case that will be easier to make if Paris produces a credible pathway to such an outcome.At the bottom of this sermon, this declaration:
Fairfax Media is a global partner of the United Nations FoundationThat makes Fairfax papers - The Age and Sydney Morning Herald - just propaganda sheets for an activist group pushing global warming. Do not expect any balance or impartiality in their coverage.
Europe grants Turks easier entry
Andrew Bolt December 01 2015 (6:31am)
See Europe while it’s still there:
===Turkey’s 75 million citizens will be given the right to travel to and within Europe without a visa next year after European Union leaders took a gamble yesterday that the country could solve the continent’s migration crisis.It’s meant to be a payment for help in stopping illegal immigration:
EU leaders on Sunday signed a deal meaning that Ankara will take back deported migrants from European countries in exchange for visa restrictions to be lifted and talks on Turkey joining the EU to be accelerated.But the price could be more legal immigration instead:
The EU also said that it will re-open talks on whether to allow Turkey, which has a population of more than 70 million, to join the EU. Critics have warned that allowing Turkey to join the EU would result in large numbers of migrants attempting to travel to the UK.But pennies are finally starting to drop:
Unless it can secure its borders, the EU risks the same fate as the Roman Empire, according to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.So far:
“As we all know from the Roman Empire, big empires go down if the borders are not well protected,” said Rutte, whose country takes over the presidency of the Council of the EU in January. “We really have an imperative that it is handled.”
Some 850,000 people [illegal immigrants] have entered the European Union this year, more than half of them landing in Greece…(Thanks to reader Correllio.)
Say it ain’t so: surely Turnbull won’t back Rudd as UN boss
Andrew Bolt November 30 2015 (7:48pm)
Leigh Sales cannot get former Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd tonight to criticise Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
More reason to heed the whispers: that Turnbull could actually back this failed leader’s bid to be UN Secretary General.
Say it ain’t so, Malcolm.
===More reason to heed the whispers: that Turnbull could actually back this failed leader’s bid to be UN Secretary General.
Say it ain’t so, Malcolm.
WINKLER IN SHARK-JUMP DRAMA
Tim Blair – Monday, December 01, 2014 (5:39pm)
An appropriate name, considering the circumstances:
A shark has reportedly leapt from the water during a surf competition involving a mothers club in Coffs Harbour …Surfer Sharni Winkler told the Advocate “it was real” and that her arms were aching from the frantic paddle back to shore.
Click for the photograph. Of course, the original Winkler preferred to jump sharks rather than be jumped by a shark:
(Via A.R.M. Jones)
(Via A.R.M. Jones)
SOCIAL FABRIC
Tim Blair – Monday, December 01, 2014 (12:45pm)
Feminists should pay more attention to clothes. No, wait – that sounds sexist. What I mean to say is that feminists should pay more attention to the complicated and interconnected issues associated with clothes in the broader context of an oppressive capitalist patriarchy.
Continue reading 'SOCIAL FABRIC'THESE PEOPLE VOTE
Tim Blair – Monday, December 01, 2014 (12:01pm)
Protesters make their various, er, points during the G20 summit:
GO FOR IT
Tim Blair – Monday, December 01, 2014 (11:30am)
Politics, most of the time, is a necessarily cautious game. This is why the Greens usually hold their party conferences behind closed doors, away from any media attention. No point exposing the public to the absolute madness behind the Greens’ carefully contrived mainstream facade.
There are two circumstances where governments may be justified in taking a risky approach. One is when polls show a large enough lead that even policies which alienate some voters still won’t do enough damage to wreck chances of re-election.
Continue reading 'GO FOR IT'TACOS OPENLY CELEBRATED
Tim Blair – Monday, December 01, 2014 (11:14am)
Joe Hildebrand discovers a hotbed of cultural insensitivity on the north coast of NSW:
I bet they didn’t even have any lecturers to explain Mexican history. This looks like a job for the Autonomous Collective Against Racism.
I bet they didn’t even have any lecturers to explain Mexican history. This looks like a job for the Autonomous Collective Against Racism.
Does Leyonhjelm want his conservative supporters to be equally absolutist with him?
Andrew Bolt December 01 2014 (7:57pm)
I’m not sure David Leyonhjelm would want to give his many conservative admirers reason to drop off him - not when the Left won’t ever thank him enough to vote for him anyway:
===Prime Minister Tony Abbott faces opening up a new battle front in the Senate, with Liberal Democratic senator David Leyonhjelm pledging to block government legislation if MPs are not allowed to properly debate his same-sex marriage bill.
Last week, Senator Leyonhjelm introduced a bill into the Senate that would amend the Marriage Act to allow marriage between same-sex couples, as well as for transgender and intersex Australians.
In response to Mr Abbott’s comments, Senator Leyonhjelm observed that newly independent senator Jacqui Lambie was not the only one on the crossbench who could veto the government’s legislation in protest.
Glenn Lazarus taken to hospital
Andrew Bolt December 01 2014 (1:14pm)
Party leader Clive Palmer says his Senate leader has been taken to hospital for a “condition”.
UPDATE
And Palmer won’t been feeling well after his car-crash appearance at the National Press Club today, with several journalists trying to ask him about his court case. In the end Palmer just kept talking over the questions to stop them being asked, and personally insulted the journalists asking them.
This man is a clown, yes. He is also sinister. Imagine him with real power.
Oh, wait....
===UPDATE
And Palmer won’t been feeling well after his car-crash appearance at the National Press Club today, with several journalists trying to ask him about his court case. In the end Palmer just kept talking over the questions to stop them being asked, and personally insulted the journalists asking them.
This man is a clown, yes. He is also sinister. Imagine him with real power.
Oh, wait....
Campaigns matter less, performance more
Andrew Bolt December 01 2014 (12:54pm)
Simon Benson makes a good point about not just the Victorian election:
===If the extraordinarily high number of pre-poll votes is a sign of a new phenomenon, parties will have to rewrite the election campaign guide book.(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
With one million Victorians voting three weeks before the poll, campaigns can no longer rely on a surge of promises in the final two weeks ... John Howard always said it that you can’t fatten a pig on market day. Never before has that been truer.
Abbott changes
Andrew Bolt December 01 2014 (11:56am)
Tony Abbott has heard and is starting to change. His press conference today was probably his longest yet and arguably his best.
We wanted him to show he was listening and learning from his stumbles. He acknowledged last week’s performance was “ragged” and said he would restore the allowances that were being cut from defence services’ pay.
We wanted to him to make changes in his staff. He said highly experienced diplomat Michael Thawley, a top public servant with serious experience in the private sector, would become head of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Yes, he did defend his personal staff, as he should, but he hasn’t ruled out changes there - and should make them.
We wanted him to sound less scripted and more heartfelt. His tone today - and the sheer length of the press conference - was spot on. This was genuine Abbott being more open about his stumbles and the challenges he was trying to balance.
We wanted him not to treat people like idiots and to stop denying he’d broken promises. He admitted his cuts to the ABC were “at odds with what I said immediately prior to the election”. That’s still not quite good enough. Abbott simply stuffed up in that one interview in mistaking what was clear and explicit and often-repeated policy, but this is miles better than last week’s evasions.
We wanted him to focus more on the purpose to the pain, to describe the sunny uplands. There was some of that, too, albeit not yet enough. Just as importantly, though, he sounded confident, calm and focussed.
We wanted him to ditch the unaffordable - notably the paid parental leave scheme. Well, he won’t quite do that, saying he’d promised it so often, but hinted that it might be further modified to get Senate support.
But we also wanted him not to stray from the central story, and, indeed, to focus more on it - that the nation does face a financial crisis and spending must be restrained if we are to give people jobs. There was plenty of that, and Abbott crucially did not give in on the ADF pay offer itself - a 1.5 per cent increase. We simply cannot afford more, he said.
I thought this was a very promising start.
Abbott needs to give people, especially his critics, a reason or excuse to give him another look, another chance.
That requires him to acknowledge but also to change. We’re getting a fair bit of the first but not yet enough of the second, which will take time. His office needs beefing up, his ministers need some reshuffling, his ministers need to sell harder, his ministers need more freedom, the Government’s policies need sharpening, the constitutional recognition campaign needs to be quietly buried, the job queues need to be tackled, the government needs to show it gets people and is helping them in their daily lives.
Abbott needs to go harder on his strengths - the can-do man and community volunteer. Surround himself with more friends - the quiet doers. Fixing their problems. Lauding their virtues. Giving strength to their arm. Abbott’s Australia.
But after today I am feeling a lot more optimistic about the Abbott Government than I have for a few weeks.
UPDATE
But this remains the greatest threat to the Government’s re-election:
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
===We wanted him to show he was listening and learning from his stumbles. He acknowledged last week’s performance was “ragged” and said he would restore the allowances that were being cut from defence services’ pay.
We wanted to him to make changes in his staff. He said highly experienced diplomat Michael Thawley, a top public servant with serious experience in the private sector, would become head of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Yes, he did defend his personal staff, as he should, but he hasn’t ruled out changes there - and should make them.
We wanted him to sound less scripted and more heartfelt. His tone today - and the sheer length of the press conference - was spot on. This was genuine Abbott being more open about his stumbles and the challenges he was trying to balance.
We wanted him not to treat people like idiots and to stop denying he’d broken promises. He admitted his cuts to the ABC were “at odds with what I said immediately prior to the election”. That’s still not quite good enough. Abbott simply stuffed up in that one interview in mistaking what was clear and explicit and often-repeated policy, but this is miles better than last week’s evasions.
We wanted him to focus more on the purpose to the pain, to describe the sunny uplands. There was some of that, too, albeit not yet enough. Just as importantly, though, he sounded confident, calm and focussed.
We wanted him to ditch the unaffordable - notably the paid parental leave scheme. Well, he won’t quite do that, saying he’d promised it so often, but hinted that it might be further modified to get Senate support.
But we also wanted him not to stray from the central story, and, indeed, to focus more on it - that the nation does face a financial crisis and spending must be restrained if we are to give people jobs. There was plenty of that, and Abbott crucially did not give in on the ADF pay offer itself - a 1.5 per cent increase. We simply cannot afford more, he said.
I thought this was a very promising start.
Abbott needs to give people, especially his critics, a reason or excuse to give him another look, another chance.
That requires him to acknowledge but also to change. We’re getting a fair bit of the first but not yet enough of the second, which will take time. His office needs beefing up, his ministers need some reshuffling, his ministers need to sell harder, his ministers need more freedom, the Government’s policies need sharpening, the constitutional recognition campaign needs to be quietly buried, the job queues need to be tackled, the government needs to show it gets people and is helping them in their daily lives.
Abbott needs to go harder on his strengths - the can-do man and community volunteer. Surround himself with more friends - the quiet doers. Fixing their problems. Lauding their virtues. Giving strength to their arm. Abbott’s Australia.
But after today I am feeling a lot more optimistic about the Abbott Government than I have for a few weeks.
UPDATE
But this remains the greatest threat to the Government’s re-election:
THE torrent of revenue delivered by the resources boom to the federal government has dried up sooner than expected, all but destroying Tony Abbott’s promise to return the federal budget to surplus even if he manages to convince the Senate to pass his controversial savings.Where’s Labor’s plan? Why is it actively sabotaging the rescue of the economy? Why is it putting its ambitions ahead of the interests of the Australians who need jobs for themselves and their children?
The mid-year budget update, due within weeks, will reveal a deficit blowout of more than $35 billion over the next four years and show that for the first time in more than a decade the state of the economy has become a drag on the budget, according to a report by economic forecaster Deloitte Access Economics....
Deloitte says that sharper-than-expected falls in the price of Australia’s biggest export, iron ore — down more than 35 per cent since May to less than $US70 a tonne — and sluggish wage growth at home have lopped more than $9bn from projected revenues over the next two years alone, rendering hopes of a surplus in 2017-18 “well and truly toast"…
Chris Richardson, head of economics at Deloitte ... points out that about 80 per cent of the deterioration in the budget’s bottom line since 2000 was due to extra spending rather than tax cuts…
At the peak of the boom in 2007, the revenue bonanza was adding about $80bn a year to government revenues but the state of the economy will now subtract $24bn from the budget over the next four years…
In his report, Mr Richardson says the budget delivered in May is “the only road map to structural fiscal repair Australia has”.
“The opposition and minor parties have washed their hands of setting out detailed alternatives, preferring populist posturing...”
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
Rinehart: more than 3000 approvals just to build a mine
Andrew Bolt December 01 2014 (9:52am)
A strong speech from mining boss Gina Rinehart on this bizarre culture of crippling the investments we need to pay for all we demand:
===Mining is the largest earner of export income generating more than $200 billion in much needed revenue for our country, a country in record debt…
For an industry that delivers so much, wouldn’t you think that there would be just a little more understanding and less negativity for what mining contributes to our country?…
Recently, the Boston Consulting Group looked at the performance of the major exporting nations and put Australia at the bottom of the list… Expensive labor and energy costs were significant and so was low productivity.
Despite all the talk of reform, when it comes to international comparisons, Australia is going backwards. We’re now bundled in with Italy and France.
The report found, our wages grew by 48 percent from 2004 to 2014, but labour productivity remained virtually flat.
In the same period, electricity costs rose by about 60%.
What has definitely grown though is government imposed costs - regulation and compliance.
Deloitte recently calculated that regulation is costing Australia an incredible $250 billion a year.... They estimate the red tape industry unproductively employs more than 1 million people nationwide now – and consider this – compliance has become Australia’s fastest growing sector!
Of course, mining remains THE most regulated of all industries…
When I was at Port Hedland the day before yesterday, for the two thirds milestone of our Roy Hill project, I heard that one Department wants us to spend approximately $3million to re-vegetate an access road which had cost us about $12 million to build. Whereas the locals don’t want the road closed and want to be able to use it after us. Why waste $15 million dollars? And then how much would it take the government to then rebuild with taxpayers money a similar access road, no doubt much more than this!…
We can’t change international commodity prices, and Australians are reluctant to have their wages lowered, so it should be blindingly obvious that we must reduce our costs, so government burdens have to be reduced…
I’ve spoken of our Roy Hill experience with its 3000 plus approvals and licences.
But at a coal project we used to have 100% of in Queensland, guess how many approvals and licences our staff found were required? Firstly they advised after years of searching, over 3000! But later they found even more, more than 5000 approvals and licences were required. And we’re not talking a simple short form . Some of these approvals require thousands of pages to be submitted, a recent approval it was published utilised 500 consultants. If I’d known this beforehand, I doubt I would have even bothered to invest and advance the project. Contrast the Australian experience to how mining is treated in our competitor nations and we should start to think. Just take for instance the USA, a much more heavily populated and built up country. We’re told approvals and licences required for major projects would be less than 100 in total. I’ve heard as low as 35.
Russell was right
Andrew Bolt December 01 2014 (9:30am)
Bertrand Russell:
===Much that passes as idealism is disguised hatred or disguised love of power.Take Damiya Hayden, who has been an Oaktree Foundation ambassador and Australian Young Greens campaign co-coordinator and ticks many of the boxes of the identity politics that define the Left:
I’m a white, queer, disabled, middle class Italian-Australian womanAnd her suffering hasn’t made her more conspicuously compassionate:
(Via Menzies House.)
The devil meets his imp
Andrew Bolt December 01 2014 (9:11am)
Lambie meets with “the devil” who spent up to $700,000 to win her seat for her:
Jacqui Lambie… met Clive Palmer for a drink to discuss her ex-leader’s position on better pay for the defence force.
A photograph emerged on social media on Sunday night showing the pair meeting at Canberra’s Hotel Hotel, a surprising move given the toxic nature of the pair’s relationship…
”I did have a meeting with the devil himself,” she told reporters.
Liberals and Nationals lose loyalists in Victoria. Swing biggest in safest seats
Andrew Bolt December 01 2014 (9:02am)
Demographer and former Labor Senator John Black says Victorian Liberals lost their base:
But the message seems clear: the Victorian Liberals and Nationals did not have a happy base.
That’s very true of the Nationals:
ABC presenter Jon Faine, a Greens sympathiser, gloats that the Victorian result shows elections can’t be won from the radical right, and this was the “last roar of the dinosaurs” of the Liberals. The Liberals must move to the centre.
We know why Faine, who offered no such analysis following the fall of Labor, would want this to be true. But what makes that analysis so transparently self-serving is that is relies on imagining the Baillieu and Napthine governments as radical right-wing. The exact opposite is true.
Faine has form. This is the same ABC radical who, after the fall of the Howard Government, asked the editor of the Herald Sun if he’d then have a “cleansing” of his conservative columnists (of whom there were but me and Terry McCrann):
To celebrate this morning, Faine gives a very kind interview to the Greens, with none of the rude heckling that he invariably gives to Coalition MPs. The Greens look like holding just one of the 88 seats in the lower house.
Too transparent, Jon.
UPDATE
Excellent piece by Roger Franklin:
Professor Sinclair Davidson:
===...a lead-footed, hesitant Coalition government got clobbered by an effective and populist Labor campaign. On the current political settings, the same thing is likely to happen to Tony Abbott in 2016 for the same reasons....The swing to Labor overall was indeed 2.5 per cent. But the swing in many of the safest Liberal and Nationals seats was much higher.
Saturday’s Victorian swing of 2.5 per cent was not big enough to be emphatic; nor was it concentrated on 2010 Coalition marginal seats, where it picked up six or seven seats out of a dozen marginals....
This means the biggest swings to Labor came from hardcore Coalition voters in seats such as Sandringham, Hawthorn, Bass, Caulfield, Nepean, Benambra, Gippsland, Murray Plains, Werribee, Kew and Warrandyte. Get the picture? Labor didn’t win this election. Hardcore Liberal voters chucked out their own. Just as hardcore Labor voters chucked out state Labor governments during the chaotic Rudd/Gillard era.
The swing in Shepparton - 32.5 per cent.Yes, Hawthorn and Kew had sitting members quit. Special factors were at play in Shepparton, with the Nationals losing to an independent. And, of course, fewer people are rusted on these days, as Labor has already found.
Sandringham - 8.3
Hawthorn - 8.1
Caulfield - 6.7
Murray Plains - 6.2
Warrandyte - 5.6
Kew - 5.6
Brighton - 4.5
Malvern - 4.3
But the message seems clear: the Victorian Liberals and Nationals did not have a happy base.
That’s very true of the Nationals:
The National Party faces losing party status in Victoria, with its state-wide primary vote reduced to about 5.3 per cent, compared to 6.8 per cent in 2010.Which suggests Abbott’s big push on the Monday after the Victorian election is exactly not what’s needed if he wants to inspire his own troops to fight:
Although thousands of pre-poll votes are still to be counted, the Nationals appear to have lost the seat of Shepparton, which it has held for 47 years, to rural independent Suzanna Sheed after suffering a whopping 32.5 per cent swing. The seat of Morwell is also under a cloud, with Nationals incumbent Russell Northe suffering an 11.6 per cent swing.
TONY Abbott has stepped up the campaign to recognise indigenous Australians in the Constitution with a passionate and direct appeal to constitutional monarchists, the group most against reforms and the constituency he successfully led to defeat the 1999 republican referendum. Delivering the Neville Bonner Oration to Australians for a Constitutional Monarchy on Friday night, the Prime Minister argued that as a “constitutional conservative” he did not want to change the Constitution, just “complete it"…That Abbott is explicitly and openly taking on conservatives says everything. This is not a winning strategy - to antagonise your allies without placating your foes:
“The challenge is to find a way to acknowledge Aboriginal people in the Constitution without otherwise changing it,” he told the private function in Sydney. In an ardent appeal to the group he once led against constitutional change, Mr Abbott said: “I invite the friends of the Constitution to suspend scepticism...”
Indigenous leader Mick Dodson ... criticised the Abbott government for contributing to a “discourse of negativity” about Aboriginal people and ...said the government’s focus on child protection, community safety and employment in indigenous affairs emphasised failure.John Black continues:
“The negativity actually makes people sick....”
Which moves us neatly onto Abbott. His erratic leadership of a cabinet of angry old men is reminding me more and more of the last few months of John Gorton. The problems for Abbott lie not just with his cabinet, an ineffectual Treasurer, an unsellable budget, a bogan Senate and duff policies.UPDATE
The problems for Abbott start with Abbott himself.
ABC presenter Jon Faine, a Greens sympathiser, gloats that the Victorian result shows elections can’t be won from the radical right, and this was the “last roar of the dinosaurs” of the Liberals. The Liberals must move to the centre.
We know why Faine, who offered no such analysis following the fall of Labor, would want this to be true. But what makes that analysis so transparently self-serving is that is relies on imagining the Baillieu and Napthine governments as radical right-wing. The exact opposite is true.
Faine has form. This is the same ABC radical who, after the fall of the Howard Government, asked the editor of the Herald Sun if he’d then have a “cleansing” of his conservative columnists (of whom there were but me and Terry McCrann):
JON FAINE: I want to expand our discussion to another aspect of media which I think is quite intriguing as the Rudd Government is about to start it’s first session in the parliament, and that is whether or not the media needs to go through a bit of a rethink, as it would seem, according to last year’s election, the nation has. Have things moved on and have some of the staples of the media in the Howard era worn out their usefulness as we enter a Rudd era? ... I’m going to talk in particular about columnists… and Bruce you have some notorious ones of your own? ... so you’re not going through a cleansing process?But Faine called for no “cleansing” of “notorious” Leftists at the ABC or Fairfax (like himself) when Labor just five years later lost the federal election and was left in power only in South Australia. There was no talk then of the “last roar of the dinosaurs”.
To celebrate this morning, Faine gives a very kind interview to the Greens, with none of the rude heckling that he invariably gives to Coalition MPs. The Greens look like holding just one of the 88 seats in the lower house.
Too transparent, Jon.
UPDATE
Excellent piece by Roger Franklin:
Advance your enemies, betray your friends – that might be another epitaph worth inscribing on the Liberal headstone.UPDATE
As to the next four years, well, it is a horror-show script. For starters, the incoming government has sworn that it will shut down much of the state’s coal-burning capacity to generate electricity. Plus, there are some $30 billion dollars worth of promises, a union thugocracy waiting to issue orders, and emergency service workers to be lavishly rewarded for their truculence with pay raises that will set the scale for many, many more of similar size to come. If Victorians wish to glimpse the future, look not to Andrews’ promises but across Bass Strait, where Tasmania’s basket-case economy sets the benchmark.
Professor Sinclair Davidson:
The problem with the Victorian Liberals is that they are embarrassed by their constituents – they want the votes, but don’t want to deliver. Ronald Reagan is said to have observed that you’ve got to go home with the one that brung you to the dance. Well, true – but before you go home, you’ve got to dance with the one that brung you too.(Thanks to reader Gab.)
The Victorian Liberals don’t get that. These are people who won office in 2010 promising to repeal the Charter of Human Rights and by 2014 the same people were campaigning to retain 18c. I can’t imagine why any liberally minded person could ever vote for them – the Victorian Liberals were so useless they couldn’t articulate any reason why they should remain in office either.
Timid, tongue-tied government in turmoil smashed. The real lessons for Tony Abbott
Andrew Bolt December 01 2014 (7:34am)
IF you’re a Liberal, be scared. If you’re Prime Minister Tony Abbott, be alarmed. The Liberals should never have lost Victoria’s election.
No other Victorian government in the past 59 years has been thrown out after just one term.
This one shouldn’t have been, either.
Its Budget is the healthiest in the country. It’s had no major scandals, and no Labor-style desalination plant disaster bleeding billions.
It’s also had no inspirational Opposition. New Labor Premier Daniel Andrews is a man from the Socialist Left who vowed to tear up a massive road contract at God knows what cost, and made at least $24 billion of promises.
Labor even remains formally tied to the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union, many of whose officials have had charges recommended against them by the counsel assisting the royal commission into union corruption. The new Planning Minister is a CFMEU member.
And to make things worse, the Greens, as predicted, may help control the balance of power in the Upper House, and have at least one seat in the Lower House. When did Labor and Greens between them last deliver prosperity?
Yet the Liberals lost. And the Abbott Government may well lose, too, especially if it’s now panicked into repeating the mistakes that helped lose Victoria.
True, Abbott cost the Liberals votes. Labor didn’t put up posters of his face at every polling station because voters love him.
But let’s not exaggerate.
(Read full article here.)
Oh dear. Another government needing fringe parties’ support
Andrew Bolt December 01 2014 (7:20am)
Increasingly we must ask whether upper houses and proportional representation gives us more democracy or more instability:
===MINOR parties have claimed victory in the battle to control Victoria’s upper house, with the new Labor government likely to require support from the Shooters and Fishers Party, the Sex Party or other electoral minnows to pass its legislation.
Less than 60 per cent of the vote had been counted by yesterday afternoon, but the early figures suggest Labor will hold 13 seats, the Greens five and the Coalition 16 in the 40-seat Legislative Council.
That leaves six seats open, with the possibility that the Shooters could emerge as a major winner with two or possibly three seats.
The Australian Sex Party is also likely to claim its first MP… The Democratic Labour Party and the Country Alliance are also ahead, as is Vote 1 Local Jobs, which ran chiefly in the Western Victorian district. Created by Moyne Shire councillor James Purcell, who has previously stood as an independent, the party opposes foreign ownership of agricultural land...
Greens support static in Victoria
Andrew Bolt December 01 2014 (7:06am)
Yes, the Greens won at least one seat in Victoria’s lower house and maybe five in the upper. But after polls predicting a vote of up to 18 per cent, the reality is more sober:
=== When counting resumes on Monday the party’s first preference result will be hovering on the same 11 per cent figure it won four years ago.The Greens celebrate winning Melbourne by murdering plants and handing the corpses to new MP Ellen Sandell:
- 800 – Charlemagne judges the accusations against Pope Leo III in the Vatican.
- 1420 – Henry V of England enters Paris.
- 1577 – Francis Walsingham is knighted.
- 1640 – End of the Iberian Union: Portugal acclaims as King João IV of Portugal, ending 60 years of personal union of the crowns of Portugal and Spain and the end of the rule of the Philippine Dynasty.
- 1768 – The former slave ship Fredensborg sinks off Tromøy in Norway.
- 1822 – Peter I is crowned Emperor of Brazil.
- 1824 – United States presidential election, 1824: Since no candidate received a majority of the total electoral college votes in the election, the United States House of Representatives is given the task of deciding the winner in accordance with the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
- 1828 – Argentine general Juan Lavalle makes a coup against governor Manuel Dorrego, beginning the Decembrist revolution.
- 1834 – Slavery is abolished in the Cape Colony in accordance with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833.
- 1862 – In his State of the Union Address President Abraham Lincoln reaffirms the necessity of ending slavery as ordered ten weeks earlier in the Emancipation Proclamation.
- 1865 – Shaw University, the first historically black university in the southern United States, is founded in Raleigh, North Carolina.
- 1913 – The Buenos Aires Metro, the first underground railway system in the Southern Hemisphere and in Latin America, begins operation.
- 1913 – Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving assembly line.
- 1913 – Crete, having obtained self rule from Turkey after the First Balkan War, is annexed by Greece.
- 1918 – Transylvania unites with the Kingdom of Romania, following the incorporation of Bessarabia (March 27) and Bukovina (November 28), thus concluding the Great Union.
- 1918 – The Kingdom of Iceland becomes a sovereign state, yet remains a part of the Danish kingdom.
- 1918 – The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) is proclaimed.
- 1919 – Lady Astor becomes the first female Member of Parliament to take her seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. (She had been elected to that position on November 28.)
- 1934 – In the Soviet Union, Politburo member Sergey Kirov is shot dead by Leonid Nikolaev at the Communist Partyheadquarters in Leningrad.
- 1941 – World War II: Emperor Hirohito of Japan gives the final approval to initiate war against the United States.
- 1941 – World War II: Fiorello La Guardia, Mayor of New York City and Director of the Office of Civilian Defense, signs Administrative Order 9, creating the Civil Air Patrol.
- 1952 – The New York Daily News reports the news of Christine Jorgensen, the first notable case of sex reassignment surgery.
- 1955 – American Civil Rights Movement: In Montgomery, Alabama, seamstress Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat to a white man and is arrested for violating the city's racial segregation laws, an incident which leads to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
- 1958 – The Central African Republic attains self-rule within the French Union.
- 1958 – The Our Lady of the Angels School fire in Chicago kills 92 children and three nuns.
- 1959 – Cold War: Opening date for signature of the Antarctic Treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on the continent.
- 1960 – Paul McCartney and Pete Best are arrested (and later deported) from Hamburg, Germany, after accusations of attempted arson.
- 1964 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson and his top-ranking advisers meet to discuss plans to bomb North Vietnam.
- 1969 – Vietnam War: The first draft lottery in the United States is held since World War II.
- 1971 – Cambodian Civil War: Khmer Rouge rebels intensify assaults on Cambodian government positions, forcing their retreat from Kompong Thmar and nearby Ba Ray.
- 1973 – Papua New Guinea gains self-governance from Australia.
- 1974 – TWA Flight 514, a Boeing 727, crashes northwest of Dulles International Airport, killing all 92 people on board.
- 1974 – Northwest Airlines Flight 6231, another Boeing 727, crashes northwest of John F. Kennedy International Airport.
- 1981 – Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308, a McDonnell Douglas MD-80, crashes in Corsica, killing all 180 people on board.
- 1984 – NASA conducts the Controlled Impact Demonstration, wherein an airliner is deliberately crashed in order to test technologies and gather data to help improve survivability of crashes.
- 1989 – Philippine coup attempt: The right-wing military rebel Reform the Armed Forces Movement attempts to oust Philippine President Corazon Aquino in a failed bloody coup d'état.
- 1989 – Cold War: East Germany's parliament abolishes the constitutional provision granting the Communist Party the leading role in the state.
- 1990 – Channel Tunnel sections started from the United Kingdom and France meet 40 metres beneath the seabed.
- 1991 – Cold War: Ukrainian voters overwhelmingly approve a referendum for independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1997 – In the Indian state of Bihar, Ranvir Sena attacked the CPI(ML) Party Unity stronghold Lakshmanpur-Bathe, killing 63 lower caste people.
- 1081 – Louis VI of France (d. 1137)
- 1083 – Anna Komnene, Byzantine physician and scholar (d. 1153)
- 1521 – Takeda Shingen, Japanese daimyo (d. 1573)
- 1525 – Tadeáš Hájek, Czech physician and astronomer (d. 1600)
- 1580 – Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, French astronomer and historian (d. 1637)
- 1690 – Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, English lawyer and politician, Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom (d. 1764)
- 1709 – Franz Xaver Richter, Czech singer-songwriter, violinist, and conductor (d. 1789)
- 1716 – Étienne Maurice Falconet, French sculptor (d. 1791)
- 1743 – Martin Heinrich Klaproth, German chemist and academic (d. 1817)
- 1761 – Marie Tussaud, French-English sculptor, founded Madame Tussauds Wax Museum (d. 1850)
- 1792 – Nikolai Lobachevsky, Russian mathematician and geometer (d. 1856)
- 1800 – Mihály Vörösmarty, Hungarian poet (d.1855)
- 1844 – Alexandra of Denmark (d. 1925)
- 1846 – Ledi Sayadaw, Burmese monk and philosopher (d. 1923)
- 1847 – Julia A. Moore, American poet (d. 1920)
- 1869 – Eligiusz Niewiadomski, Polish painter and critic (d. 1923)
- 1871 – Archie MacLaren, English cricketer (d. 1944)
- 1883 – Henry Cadbury, American historian, scholar, and academic (d. 1974)
- 1884 – Torben Meyer, Danish-American actor (d. 1975)
- 1884 – Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, German painter and etcher (d. 1976)
- 1886 – Rex Stout, American author and poet (d. 1975)
- 1886 – Zhu De, Chinese general and politician, 1st Vice Chairman of the People's Republic of China (d. 1976)
- 1894 – Afrânio Pompílio Gastos do Amaral, Brazilian herpetologist (d. 1982)
- 1895 – Henry Williamson, English farmer, soldier, and author (d. 1977)
- 1896 – Georgy Zhukov, Russian general and politician, 2nd Minister of Defence for the Soviet Union (d. 1974)
- 1897 – Cyril Ritchard, Australian-American actor and singer (d. 1977)
- 1898 – Stuart Garson, Canadian lawyer and politician, 12th Premier of Manitoba (d. 1977)
- 1901 – Ilona Fehér, Hungarian-Israeli violinist and educator (d. 1988)
- 1905 – Alex Wilson, Canadian sprinter and coach (d. 1994)
- 1910 – Alicia Markova, English ballerina and choreographer (d. 2004)
- 1911 – Walter Alston, American baseball player and manager (d. 1984)
- 1911 – Calvin Griffith, Canadian-American businessman (d. 1999)
- 1912 – Minoru Yamasaki, American architect, designed the World Trade Center (d. 1986)
- 1913 – Mary Martin, American actress and singer (d. 1990)
- 1916 – Wan Li, Chinese educator and politician, 4th Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China (d. 2015)
- 1917 – Thomas Hayward, American tenor and actor (d. 1995)
- 1917 – Marty Marion, American baseball player and manager (d. 2011)
- 1920 – Peter Baptist Tadamaro Ishigami, Japanese priest, 1st Bishop of Naha (d. 2014)
- 1921 – Vernon McGarity, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2013)
- 1922 – Vsevolod Bobrov, Russian ice hockey player, footballer, and manager (d. 1979)
- 1923 – Morris, Belgian cartoonist (d. 2001)
- 1923 – William F. House, American otologist and physician (d. 2012)
- 1923 – Dick Shawn, American actor (d. 1987)
- 1923 – Stansfield Turner, American admiral and academic, 12th Director of Central Intelligence
- 1924 – Masao Horiba, Japanese businessman, founded Horiba (d. 2015)
- 1924 – Shaitan Singh, Indian soldier (d. 1962)
- 1925 – Martin Rodbell, American biochemist and endocrinologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
- 1926 – Mother Antonia, American-Mexican nun and activist (d. 2013)
- 1926 – Allyn Ann McLerie, Canadian-American actress, singer, and dancer
- 1926 – Keith Michell, Australian actor (d. 2015)
- 1926 – Robert Symonds, American actor (d. 2007)
- 1926 – Colin Tennant, 3rd Baron Glenconner, Scottish businessman (d. 2010)
- 1927 – Micheline Bernardini, French dancer and model
- 1928 – Emily McLaughlin, American actress (d. 1991)
- 1928 – Malachi Throne, American actor (d. 2013)
- 1929 – David Doyle, American actor (d. 1997)
- 1930 – Marie Bashir, Australian psychiatrist, academic, and politician, 37th Governor of New South Wales
- 1930 – Joachim Hoffmann, German historian and author (d. 2002)
- 1931 – Jimmy Lyons, American saxophonist (d. 1986)
- 1931 – Jim Nesbitt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2007)
- 1933 – Lou Rawls, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (d. 2006)
- 1933 – Violette Verdy, French ballerina (d. 2016)
- 1935 – Woody Allen, American actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1936 – Igor Rodionov, Russian general and politician, 3rd Russian Minister of Defence (d. 2014)
- 1937 – Muriel Costa-Greenspon, American soprano and actress (d. 2005)
- 1937 – Gordon Crosse, English composer and academic
- 1937 – Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, Latvian psychologist and politician, 6th President of Latvia
- 1939 – Lee Trevino, American golfer and sportscaster
- 1940 – Mike Denness, Scottish-English cricketer and referee (d. 2013)
- 1940 – Richard Pryor, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2005)
- 1940 – Tasso Wild, German footballer
- 1942 – Mohamed Kamel Amr, Egyptian politician, Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs
- 1942 – John Crowley, American author and academic
- 1942 – Ross Edwards, Australian cricketer
- 1943 – Kenny Moore, American runner and journalist
- 1944 – Eric Bloom, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1944 – John Densmore, American drummer and songwriter
- 1944 – Michael Hagee, American general
- 1944 – Tahar Ben Jelloun, Moroccan author and poet
- 1945 – Bette Midler, American singer-songwriter, actress and producer
- 1946 – Jonathan Katz, American comedian and actor
- 1946 – Kemal Kurspahić, Bosnian journalist and author
- 1946 – Gilbert O'Sullivan, Irish singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1947 – Alain Bashung, French singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2009)
- 1947 – Elizabeth Baur, American actress
- 1947 – Bob Fulton, English-Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster
- 1948 – George Foster, American baseball player and radio host
- 1948 – Sarfraz Nawaz, Pakistani cricketer and politician
- 1948 – John Roskelley, American mountaineer and author
- 1948 – Neil Warnock, English footballer and manager
- 1948 – N. T. Wright, English bishop and scholar
- 1948 – Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, Nigerian civil servant and politician, Governor of Kaduna State (d. 2012)
- 1949 – Jan Brett, American author and illustrator
- 1949 – Sebastián Piñera, Chilean businessman and politician, 35th President of Chile
- 1950 – Manju Bansal, Indian biologist and academic
- 1950 – Ross Hannaford, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2016)
- 1950 – Gary Panter, American illustrator and painter
- 1950 – Filippos Petsalnikos, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Justice
- 1950 – Richard Keith, American actor and drummer
- 1951 – Obba Babatundé, American actor, director, and producer
- 1951 – Jaco Pastorius, American bass player, songwriter, and producer (d. 1987)
- 1951 – Treat Williams, American actor
- 1952 – Stephen Poliakoff, English director, producer, and playwright
- 1954 – Alan Dedicoat, English journalist
- 1954 – Judith Hackitt, English chemist and engineer
- 1954 – François Van der Elst, Belgian footballer
- 1955 – Veikko Aaltonen, Finnish actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1955 – Verónica Forqué, Spanish actress
- 1955 – Pat Spillane, Irish footballer and sportscaster
- 1955 – Karen Tumulty, American journalist
- 1957 – Chris Poland, American guitarist and songwriter
- 1957 – Vesta Williams, American singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2011)
- 1958 – Javier Aguirre, Mexican footballer and manager
- 1958 – Candace Bushnell, American journalist and author
- 1958 – Alberto Cova, Italian runner
- 1958 – Lisa Fischer, American singer-songwriter
- 1958 – Gary Peters, American lieutenant and politician
- 1959 – Billy Childish, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and painter
- 1959 – Wally Lewis, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster
- 1960 – Carol Alt, American model and actress
- 1960 – Shirin M. Rai, Indian-English political scientist and academic
- 1960 – Jane Turner, Australian actress, producer, and screenwriter
- 1961 – Safra A. Catz, Israeli-American businesswoman
- 1961 – Raymond E. Goldstein, American biophysicist and academic
- 1961 – Jeremy Northam, English actor and singer
- 1962 – Sylvie Daigle, Canadian speed skater
- 1962 – Sayoko Hagiwara, Japanese actress
- 1962 – Pamela McGee, American basketball player and coach
- 1963 – Marco Greco, Brazilian race car driver
- 1963 – Nathalie Lambert, Canadian speed skater
- 1963 – Arjuna Ranatunga, Sri Lankan cricketer and politician
- 1964 – Salvatore Schillaci, Italian footballer
- 1964 – Jo Walton, Welsh-Canadian author and poet
- 1965 – Henry Honiball, South African rugby player
- 1966 – Andrew Adamson, New Zealand director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1966 – Larry Walker, Canadian baseball player and coach
- 1967 – Bang Eun-hee, South Korean actress
- 1967 – Nestor Carbonell, American actor
- 1967 – Reggie Sanders, American baseball player
- 1968 – Justin Chadwick, English actor and director
- 1968 – Sarah Fitzgerald, Australian squash player
- 1968 – Anders Holmertz, Swedish swimmer
- 1969 – Richard Carrier, American author and blogger
- 1970 – Jouko Ahola, Finnish strongman and actor
- 1970 – Jonathan Coulton, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1970 – Kirk Rueter, American baseball player
- 1970 – Sarah Silverman, American comedian, actress, and singer
- 1970 – Tisha Waller, American high jumper and educator
- 1971 – Emily Mortimer, English actress
- 1971 – Christian Pescatori, Italian race car driver
- 1971 – Mika Pohjola, Finnish-American pianist and composer
- 1971 – John Schlimm, American author and educator
- 1972 – Bart Millard, American singer-songwriter
- 1973 – Steve Gibb, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1973 – Jon Theodore, American drummer
- 1974 – Costinha, Portuguese footballer and manager
- 1975 – Matt Fraction, American author
- 1975 – Isaiah "Ikey" Owens, American keyboard player and producer (d. 2014)
- 1975 – Thomas Schie, Norwegian race car driver and sportscaster
- 1975 – Sophia Skou, Danish swimmer
- 1976 – Tomasz Adamek, Polish boxer
- 1976 – Laura Ling, American journalist and author
- 1976 – Evangelos Sklavos, Greek basketball player
- 1977 – Brad Delson, American guitarist and producer
- 1977 – Lee McKenzie, Scottish journalist
- 1977 – Akiva Schaffer, American actor, rapper, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1979 – Ryan Malone, American ice hockey player
- 1979 – Stephanie Brown Trafton, American discus thrower
- 1980 – Iftikhar Anjum, Pakistani cricketer
- 1980 – Angelique Bates, American actress and singer
- 1980 – Mohammad Kaif, Indian cricketer and politician
- 1980 – Roger Peterson, Aruban-Dutch singer-songwriter
- 1980 – Mubarak Hassan Shami, Kenyan-Qatari runner
- 1981 – Park Hyo-shin, South Korean singer-songwriter and actor
- 1981 – Luke McPharlin, Australian footballer
- 1981 – I Made Wirawan, Indonesian footballer
- 1982 – Riz Ahmed, English actor and rapper
- 1982 – Lloyd Doyley, English footballer
- 1982 – Christos Kalantzis, Greek footballer
- 1982 – Christos Melissis, Greek footballer
- 1985 – John Coughlin, American figure skater
- 1985 – Janelle Monáe, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1985 – Chanel Preston, American porn actress and director
- 1985 – Emiliano Viviano, Italian footballer
- 1986 – DeSean Jackson, American football player
- 1987 – Simon Dawkins, English footballer
- 1987 – Tabarie Henry, Virgin Islander sprinter
- 1987 – Vance Joy, Australian singer-songwriter
- 1987 – Brett Williams, English footballer
- 1988 – Dan Mavraides, Greek-American basketball player
- 1988 – Tyler Joseph, American musician and singer
- 1989 – Sotelúm, Mexican trumpet player, composer, and producer
- 1990 – Tomáš Tatar, Slovak ice hockey player
- 1991 – Hilda Melander, Swedish tennis player
- 1991 – Sun Yang, Chinese swimmer
- 1992 – Masahudu Alhassan, Ghanaian footballer
- 1992 – Linos Chrysikopoulos, Greek basketball player
- 1992 – Marco van Ginkel, Dutch footballer
- 1993 – Reena Pärnat, Estonian archer
- 1994 – Seedy Njie, English footballer
- 1995 – Agnė Čepelytė, Lithuanian tennis player
- 1995 – James Wilson, English footballer
Births[edit]
- 1135 – Henry I of England (b. 1068)
- 1241 – Isabella of England (b. 1214)
- 1433 – Emperor Go-Komatsu of Japan (b. 1377)
- 1455 – Lorenzo Ghiberti, Italian goldsmith and sculptor (b. 1378)
- 1521 – Pope Leo X (b. 1475)
- 1530 – Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy (b. 1480)
- 1580 – Giovanni Morone, Italian cardinal (b. 1509)
- 1581 – Alexander Briant, English Roman Catholic priest, martyr and saint (b. 1556)
- 1581 – Edmund Campion, English Roman Catholic priest, martyr, and saint (b. 1540)
- 1581 – Ralph Sherwin, English Roman Catholic priest, martyr, and saint (b. 1550)
- 1602 – Kobayakawa Hideaki, Japanese daimyo (b. 1582)
- 1640 – Miguel de Vasconcelos, Portuguese politician, Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1590)
- 1660 – Pierre d'Hozier, French genealogist and historian (b. 1592)
- 1729 – Giacomo F. Maraldi, French-Italian astronomer and mathematician (b. 1665)
- 1750 – Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr, German mathematician, astronomer, and cartographer (b. 1671)
- 1755 – Maurice Greene, English organist and composer (b. 1696)
- 1767 – Henry Erskine, 10th Earl of Buchan, Scottish politician (b. 1710)
- 1825 – Alexander I of Russia (b. 1777)
- 1865 – Abraham Emanuel Fröhlich, Swiss pastor, poet, and educator (b. 1796)
- 1866 – George Everest, Welsh geographer and surveyor (b. 1790)
- 1867 – Charles Gray Round, English lawyer and politician (b. 1797)
- 1884 – William Swainson, English-New Zealand lawyer and politician, Attorney-General of the Crown Colony of New Zealand (b. 1809)
- 1913 – Juhan Liiv, Estonian poet and author (b. 1864)
- 1914 – Alfred Thayer Mahan, American captain and historian (b. 1840)
- 1916 – Charles de Foucauld, French priest and martyr (b. 1858)
- 1923 – Virginie Loveling, Belgian author and poet (b. 1836)
- 1928 – José Eustasio Rivera, Colombian-American lawyer and poet (b. 1888)
- 1933 – Pekka Halonen, Finnish painter (b. 1865)
- 1934 – Sergey Kirov, Russian engineer and politician (b. 1886)
- 1935 – Bernhard Schmidt, Estonian-German optician, invented the Schmidt camera (b. 1879)
- 1943 – Damrong Rajanubhab, Thai historian and educator (b. 1862)
- 1947 – Aleister Crowley, English magician, poet, and mountaineer (b. 1875)
- 1947 – G. H. Hardy, English mathematician and theorist (b. 1877)
- 1950 – Ernest John Moeran, English pianist and composer (b. 1894)
- 1954 – Fred Rose, American pianist, composer, and publisher (b. 1898)
- 1964 – J. B. S. Haldane, English-Indian geneticist and biologist (b. 1892)
- 1964 – Charilaos Vasilakos, Greek runner (b. 1877)
- 1968 – Nicolae Bretan, Romanian opera singer, composer, and conductor (b. 1887)
- 1968 – Darío Moreno, Turkish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (b. 1921)
- 1973 – David Ben-Gurion, Polish-Israeli lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1886)
- 1975 – Nellie Fox, American baseball player and coach (b. 1927)
- 1975 – Ernesto Maserati, Italian race car driver and engineer (b. 1898)
- 1975 – Anna Roosevelt Halsted, American journalist (b. 1906)
- 1981 – Russ Manning, American author and illustrator (b. 1929)
- 1984 – Roelof Frankot, Dutch painter and photographer (b. 1911)
- 1986 – Frank McCarthy, American general and film producer (b. 1912)
- 1987 – James Baldwin, American novelist, poet, and critic (b. 1924)
- 1987 – Punch Imlach, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager (b. 1918)
- 1988 – J. Vernon McGee, American pastor and theologian (b. 1904)
- 1989 – Alvin Ailey, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1931)
- 1990 – Carla Lehmann, Canadian-English actress (b. 1917)
- 1991 – George Stigler, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
- 1993 – Ray Gillen, American singer-songwriter (b. 1959)
- 1995 – Hopper Levett, English cricketer (b. 1908)
- 1995 – Colin Tapley, New Zealand-English actor (b. 1907)
- 1995 – Maxwell R. Thurman, American general (b. 1931)
- 1996 – Peter Bronfman, Canadian businessman (b. 1928)
- 1997 – Michel Bélanger, Canadian banker and businessman (b. 1929)
- 1997 – Stéphane Grappelli, French violinist (b. 1908)
- 1997 – Endicott Peabody, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 62nd Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1920)
- 2001 – Ellis R. Dungan, American director and producer (b. 1909)
- 2002 – Edward L. Beach Jr., American captain and author (b. 1918)
- 2002 – Dave McNally, American baseball player (b. 1942)
- 2003 – Clark Kerr, American economist and academic (b. 1911)
- 2003 – Eugenio Monti, Italian bobsledder (b. 1928)
- 2004 – Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld (b. 1911)
- 2004 – Bill Brown, Scottish-Canadian footballer (b. 1931)
- 2005 – Gust Avrakotos, American CIA officer (b. 1938)
- 2005 – Mary Hayley Bell, English actress and playwright (b. 1911)
- 2005 – Freeman V. Horner, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1922)
- 2006 – Claude Jade, French actress (b. 1948)
- 2006 – Bruce Trigger, Canadian archaeologist, anthropologist, and historian (b. 1937)
- 2007 – Ken McGregor, Australian tennis player and footballer (b. 1929)
- 2008 – Paul Benedict, American actor (b. 1938)
- 2008 – Joseph B. Wirthlin, American businessman and religious leader (b. 1917)
- 2010 – Adriaan Blaauw, Dutch astronomer and academic (b. 1914)
- 2010 – Hillard Elkins, American actor and producer (b. 1929)
- 2011 – Christa Wolf, German author and critic (b. 1929)
- 2012 – Jovan Belcher, American football player (b. 1987)
- 2012 – Arthur Chaskalson, South African lawyer and judge, 18th Chief Justice of South Africa (b. 1931)
- 2012 – Mitchell Cole, English footballer (b. 1985)
- 2012 – Rick Majerus, American basketball player and coach (b. 1948)
- 2012 – Ed Price, American soldier, pilot, and politician (b. 1918)
- 2013 – Richard Coughlan, English drummer (b. 1947)
- 2013 – Stirling Colgate, American physicist and academic (b. 1925)
- 2013 – Edward Heffron, American soldier (b. 1923)
- 2013 – Martin Sharp, Australian cartoonist and songwriter (b. 1942)
- 2014 – Mario Abramovich, Argentinian violinist and composer (b. 1926)
- 2014 – Dimitrios Trichopoulos, Greek epidemiologist, oncologist, and academic (b. 1938)
- 2014 – Rocky Wood, New Zealand-Australian author (b. 1959)
- 2015 – Rob Blokzijl, Dutch physicist and computer scientist (b. 1943)
- 2015 – Joseph Engelberger, American physicist and engineer (b. 1925)
- 2015 – John F. Kurtzke, American neurologist and academic (b. 1926)
- 2015 – Jim Loscutoff, American basketball player (b. 1930)
- 2015 – Trevor Obst, Australian footballer and coach (b. 1940)
Deaths[edit]
- Christian feast day:
- Earliest day on which Farmers' Day (Ghana) can fall, while December 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Friday in December. (Ghana)
- Earliest day on which Good Neighborliness Day can fall, while December 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday in December. (Turkmenistan)
- Damrong Rajanubhab Day (Thailand)
- Feast for Death of Aleister Crowley (Thelema)
- First President Day (Kazakhstan)
- Freedom and Democracy Day (Chad)
- Military Abolition Day (Costa Rica)
- National Day (Myanmar)
- Great Union Day, the National Day of Romania, celebrates the Union of Transylvania with Romania in 1918
- Republic Day (Central African Republic)
- Restoration of Independence Day (Portugal)
- Rosa Parks Day (Ohio and Oregon, United States)
- Self-governance Day or Fullveldisdagurinn (Iceland)
- Teachers' Day (Panama)
- World AIDS Day (International)
Holidays and observances[edit]
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives” 2 Peter 3:10-11 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
"And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The Lord is able to give thee much more than this."
2 Chronicles 25:9
2 Chronicles 25:9
A very important question this seemed to be to the king of Judah, and possibly it is of even more weight with the tried and tempted O Christian. To lose money is at no times pleasant, and when principle involves it, the flesh is not always ready to make the sacrifice. "Why lose that which may be so usefully employed? May not the truth itself be bought too dear? What shall we do without it? Remember the children, and our small income!" All these things and a thousand more would tempt the Christian to put forth his hand to unrighteous gain, or stay himself from carrying out his conscientious convictions, when they involve serious loss. All men cannot view these matters in the light of faith; and even with the followers of Jesus, the doctrine of "we must live" has quite sufficient weight.
The Lord is able to give thee much more than this is a very satisfactory answer to the anxious question. Our Father holds the purse-strings, and what we lose for his sake he can repay a thousand-fold. It is ours to obey his will, and we may rest assured that he will provide for us. The Lord will be no man's debtor at the last. Saints know that a grain of heart's-ease is of more value than a ton of gold. He who wraps a threadbare coat about a good conscience has gained a spiritual wealth far more desirable than any he has lost. God's smile and a dungeon are enough for a true heart; his frown and a palace would be hell to a gracious spirit. Let the worst come to the worst, let all the talents go, we have not lost our treasure, for that is above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Meanwhile, even now, the Lord maketh the meek to inherit the earth, and no good thing doth he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
Evening
"Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels."
Revelation 12:7
Revelation 12:7
War always will rage between the two great sovereignties until one or other be crushed. Peace between good and evil is an impossibility; the very pretence of it would, in fact, be the triumph of the powers of darkness. Michael will always fight; his holy soul is vexed with sin, and will not endure it. Jesus will always be the dragon's foe, and that not in a quiet sense, but actively, vigorously, with full determination to exterminate evil. All his servants, whether angels in heaven or messengers on earth, will and must fight; they are born to be warriors--at the cross they enter into covenant never to make truce with evil; they are a warlike company, firm in defence and fierce in attack. The duty of every soldier in the army of the Lord is daily, with all his heart, and soul, and strength, to fight against the dragon.
The dragon and his angels will not decline the affray; they are incessant in their onslaughts, sparing no weapon, fair or foul. We are foolish to expect to serve God without opposition: the more zealous we are, the more sure are we to be assailed by the myrmidons of hell. The church may become slothful, but not so her great antagonist; his restless spirit never suffers the war to pause; he hates the woman's seed, and would fain devour the church if he could. The servants of Satan partake much of the old dragon's energy, and are usually an active race. War rages all around, and to dream of peace is dangerous and futile.
Glory be to God, we know the end of the war. The great dragon shall be cast out and forever destroyed, while Jesus and they who are with him shall receive the crown. Let us sharpen our swords tonight, and pray the Holy Spirit to nerve our arms for the conflict. Never battle so important, never crown so glorious. Every man to his post, ye warriors of the cross, and may the Lord tread Satan under your feet shortly!
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Today's reading: Ezekiel 37-39, 2 Peter 2 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Ezekiel 37-39
The Valley of Dry Bones
1 The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.”
4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breathenter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them....
Today's New Testament reading: 2 Peter 2
False Teachers and Their Destruction
1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping....
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Seraiah [Sĕra ī'ah]—jehovah is prince, the lord is my prince, orsoldier of the lord.
- One of king David’s scribes (2 Sam. 8:17; see 1 Chron. 18:16for Shavsha).
- The son of Azariah and chief priest at Jerusalem when Nebuchadnezzar took it. This Seraiah, along with other renowned captives, was put to death at Riblah ( 2 Kings 25:18; 1 Chron. 6:14; Ezra 7:1;Jer. 52:24).
- A son of Tanhumeth, from Netophah, whom Gedaliah advised to submit to the Chaldeans. He was one of “the captains of the forces” (2 Kings 25:23; Jer. 40:8).
- The second son of Kenez, brother of Othniel and father of Joab (1 Chron. 4:13, 14).
- A prince of Simeon, son of Asiel and grandfather of Jehu, who drove furiously (1 Chron. 4:35).
- One of the twelve leaders, a priest who returned from exile with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:2; Neh. 10:2; 12:1, 12).
- A priest, son of Hilkiah, dwelling in Jerusalem after the exile and called “ruler of the house of God” (Neh. 11:11;12:1).
- A chief man, son of Aziel, and sent by Jehoiakim to apprehend Jeremiah and Baruch (Jer. 36:26).
- A son of Neriah and brother of Baruch, a prince of Judah who went to Babylon with Zedekiah (Jer. 51:59, 61). For “quiet prince” the RV has “chief chamberlain.”
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