Some things should not happen, but they do. The federal budget is real politic. It is not conservative and does not address structural problems with the economy that need to be addressed. There has not been a poll bounce for the government, which may be cheered they haven't done any worse. The government is behind 47-53 in the polls, and they have not got an aspirational policy which will get them over the line. And while the ALP is playing the game of being a small target and having no policy beyond more spending. Turnbull only seems to promise he isn't Tony Abbott. Quite so.
I am very good and don't deserve the abuse given me. I created a video raising awareness of anti police feeling among western communities. I chose the senseless killing of Nicola Cotton, a Louisiana policewoman who joined post Katrina, to highlight the issue. I did this in order to get an income after having been illegally blacklisted from work in NSW for being a whistleblower. I have not done anything wrong. Local council appointees refused to endorse my work, so I did it for free. Youtube's Adsence refused to allow me to profit from their marketing it. Meanwhile, I am hostage to abysmal political leadership and hopeless journalists. My shopfront has opened on Facebook.
Here is a video I made On His Blindness
John Milton (9 December 1608 -- 8 November 1674) was an English poet, author, polemicist, Puritan and civil servant for the Commonwealth of England. He is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost.
| WHEN I consider how my light is spent | |
| E're half my days, in this dark world and wide, | |
| And that one Talent which is death to hide, | |
| Lodg'd with me useless, though my Soul more bent | |
| To serve therewith my Maker, and present | 5 |
| My true account, least he returning chide, | |
| Doth God exact day-labour, light deny'd, | |
| I fondly ask; But patience to prevent | |
| That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need | |
| Either man's work or his own gifts, who best | 10 |
| Bear his milde yoak, they serve him best, his State | |
| Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed | |
| And post o're Land and Ocean without rest: | |
| They also serve who only stand and waite. |
=== from 2016 ===
I have moved to a good home. I leave behind the ice house. Dan Andrews would rather I lived with an ice addict, and that you should too.
For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
=== from 2015 ===
It doesn't matter that the ALP are not in government, many gravy trains for their supporters are in place. Holding onto the public teat even though it isn't the public will. Shaping the public will. Movie producers, directors and actors in Australia are not a big crowd, and they are parochial. They stick to a monoculture even though that does not reflect Australian diversity. They are also politically partisan. They use 'balance' in much the same way weasels use words. They will praise counter culture which promotes ALP values, from Don's Party through to Australia, highlighting an Australia unrepresentative and undesirable. Calling Australians racist while espousing racism for indigenes. Mr Hockey, circa '05, gathered together industry insiders to find a way forward so that the Libs could back an independent body that was not hostile. But the insiders would rather cut their own throats than let a non partisan, culturally diverse, industry flourish. Even the current Australia Council issues grants notably directed to safe ALP seats. And the quality of the projects are questionable. Which in turn means artists know they must be partisan to attract money. The problem is pernicious. Teachers, lawyers, judges, police all tend to be partisan to the left so that a teacher who is conservative cannot join a union and have their opinion valued. Universities are partisan, willing to give up public funding rather than pursue excellence in research.
Hockey questions Shorten's rhetoric on the budget reply. Rather than report the substance of Hockey's words, partisan journalists denounce them as plagiarism. Facts are subject to plagiarism rules. Were Hockeys words part of an academic document, no doubt he would have chosen them better. But they weren't and Hockey needed to use words readily understood to convey a message. It was sad when Shorten plagiarised another speech without adding to it or making it relevant. Hockey's speech was salient. That will confuse the partisan media who want to heckle.
Sometimes the partisan lefty refers to the date, and wonders why things aren't better in reflecting that date. This is the year 2015, and so we should not have domestic violence or sexual slavery. We should not have had that in 1955 either. However sixty years ago, Rosa Parks refused to sit in the back of a bus for a white person to be able to sit in the front. The racist custom was obscene and the path to racial equality was begun. But we have gone backwards. In 2015, at the University of Western Sydney, women were required to dress in obscurity and sit in the back of a lecture. The partisan left are largely silent on the issue, as they probably were 60 years ago.
What can be done to address the issue of partisan artists and public servants? One might slowly constrict funding to arts and watch as the infighting begins as the partisan movement eat each other and squeal like stuck pigs. Of course the issue is not merely artists and that may seem unfair. But we must start somewhere. Australia is culturally diverse, and it is unfair and unAustralian to fund such bigotry. It is time to reclaim the bus.
Hockey questions Shorten's rhetoric on the budget reply. Rather than report the substance of Hockey's words, partisan journalists denounce them as plagiarism. Facts are subject to plagiarism rules. Were Hockeys words part of an academic document, no doubt he would have chosen them better. But they weren't and Hockey needed to use words readily understood to convey a message. It was sad when Shorten plagiarised another speech without adding to it or making it relevant. Hockey's speech was salient. That will confuse the partisan media who want to heckle.
Sometimes the partisan lefty refers to the date, and wonders why things aren't better in reflecting that date. This is the year 2015, and so we should not have domestic violence or sexual slavery. We should not have had that in 1955 either. However sixty years ago, Rosa Parks refused to sit in the back of a bus for a white person to be able to sit in the front. The racist custom was obscene and the path to racial equality was begun. But we have gone backwards. In 2015, at the University of Western Sydney, women were required to dress in obscurity and sit in the back of a lecture. The partisan left are largely silent on the issue, as they probably were 60 years ago.
What can be done to address the issue of partisan artists and public servants? One might slowly constrict funding to arts and watch as the infighting begins as the partisan movement eat each other and squeal like stuck pigs. Of course the issue is not merely artists and that may seem unfair. But we must start somewhere. Australia is culturally diverse, and it is unfair and unAustralian to fund such bigotry. It is time to reclaim the bus.
From 2014
Some people don't deserve children. I saw a video of a woman beating a baby today. It was confronting and I wanted to do something about the abuse situation. But I was powerless. And the beating went on and on for minute after minute and I couldn't look away or do anything to help. Except if you ever meet the woman involved it is ok to apprehend her in any way possible so as to make her face justice. Babies can't defend themselves. They don't know how to feed themselves, or drink or clean. That isn't their job. Precious Doe was born on this day in 1997. Her short, brutal life ended on April 28th 2001. Her naked body was found near her head which was wrapped in a garbage bag. Her step father had killed her and decapitated her after. Her mother was an accessory after the fact. It wasn't until 2005 that Erica Michelle Marie Green was identified by authorities. Her step father was spared the death penalty. I hope his fellow inmates are told what he did.
Today is also the birthday of Wizard of Oz writer L Frank Baum, and of Meccano inventor Frank Hornby. Mike Oldfield was born on this day, taking seventeen years to create Tubular Bells. It was the Meccano that nearly claimed my life growing up in the US. I had a set, and wanted to make it really fancy, getting the wheels to turn. But to do that, I needed power. And the power point was the perfect height for me to access it. I knew that metal conducted electricity, so I lay a meccano piece across a power point and for the first time in my life, felt electricity. I didn't hold it for long, muscles contracted at the jolt. The metal piece blackened and sparked. Thank you, Mr Hornby sir. You ensured my education was complete. My mother never knew.
Today is also the birthday of Wizard of Oz writer L Frank Baum, and of Meccano inventor Frank Hornby. Mike Oldfield was born on this day, taking seventeen years to create Tubular Bells. It was the Meccano that nearly claimed my life growing up in the US. I had a set, and wanted to make it really fancy, getting the wheels to turn. But to do that, I needed power. And the power point was the perfect height for me to access it. I knew that metal conducted electricity, so I lay a meccano piece across a power point and for the first time in my life, felt electricity. I didn't hold it for long, muscles contracted at the jolt. The metal piece blackened and sparked. Thank you, Mr Hornby sir. You ensured my education was complete. My mother never knew.
Historical perspective on this day
In 495 BC, a newly constructed temple in honour of the god Mercury was dedicated in ancient Rome on the Circus Maximus, between the Aventineand Palatine hills. To spite the senate and the consuls, the people awarded the dedication to a senior military officer, Marcus Laetorius 392, Emperor Valentinian II was assassinated while advancing into Gaul against the Frankish usurper Arbogast. He was found hanging in his residence at Vienne. 589, King Authari married Theodelinda, daughter of the Bavarian duke Garibald I. A Catholic, she had great influence among the Lombard nobility. 1252, Pope Innocent IV issued the papal bull ad extirpanda, which authorised, but also limited, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition. 1525, Insurgent peasants led by Anabaptist pastor Thomas Müntzer were defeated at the Battle of Frankenhausen, ending the German Peasants' War in the Holy Roman Empire. 1536, Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, stood trial in London on charges of treason, adultery and incest. She was condemned to death by a specially-selected jury. 1567, Mary, Queen of Scots married James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, her third husband.
1602, Bartholomew Gosnold became the first recorded European to see Cape Cod. 1618, Johannes Kepler confirmed his previously rejected discovery of the third law of planetary motion (he first discovered it on March 8 but soon rejected the idea after some initial calculations were made).1648, the Treaty of Westphalia was signed. 1701, the War of the Spanish Succession began. 1718, James Puckle, a London lawyer, patented the world's first machine gun. 1755, Laredo, Texas was established by the Spaniards. 1776, American Revolution: The Virginia Convention instructed its Continental Congress delegation to propose a resolution of independencefrom Great Britain, paving the way for the United States Declaration of Independence. 1791, French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre proposed the Self-denying Ordinance. 1792, War of the First Coalition: France declared war on Kingdom of Sardinia. 1793, Diego Marín Aguilera flew a glider for "about 360 meters", at a height of 5–6 meters, during one of the first attempted manned flights. 1796, First Coalition: Napoleon entered Milan in triumph.
In 1800, King George III of the United Kingdom survived an assassination attempt by James Hadfield, who was later acquitted by reason of insanity. 1811, Paraguay declared independence from Spain. 1817, Opening of the first private mental health hospital in the United States, the Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason (now Friends Hospital) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 1836, Francis Baily observed "Baily's beads" during an annular eclipse. 1849, troops of the Two Sicilies took Palermo and crushed the republican government of Sicily 1850, the Bloody Island Massacre took place in Lake County, California, in which a large number of Pomo Indians in Lake County were slaughtered by a regiment of the United States Cavalry, led by Nathaniel Lyon. 1851, the first Australian gold rush was proclaimed, although the discovery had been made three months earlier. 1858, opening of the present Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London. 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill into law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture. It was later renamed the United States Department of Agriculture. 1864, American Civil War: Battle of Resaca, Georgia ended. Also 1864, American Civil War: Battle of New Market, Virginia: Students from the Virginia Military Institute fought alongside the Confederate Army to force Union General Franz Sigel out of the Shenandoah Valley. 1869, Women's suffrage: In New York, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton formed the National Woman Suffrage Association. 1891, Pope Leo XIII defended workers' rights and property rights in the encyclical Rerum novarum, the beginning of modern Catholic social teaching.
In 1904, Russo-Japanese War: The Russian minelayer Amur laid a minefieldabout 15 miles off Port Arthur and sank Japan's battleships Hatsuse, 15,000 tons, with 496 crew and Yashima. 1905, Las Vegas, was founded when 110 acres (0.45 km2), in what later would become downtown, were auctioned off. 1911, in Standard Oil Company of New Jersey v. United States, the United States Supreme Court declared Standard Oil to be an "unreasonable" monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and ordered the company to be broken up. Also 1911, three hundred three Chinese and five Japanese immigrants were killed in the Torreón massacre when the forces of the Mexican Revolution led by Francisco I. Madero's brother Emilio Madero took the city of Torreón from the Federales. 1919, the Winnipeg General Strikebegan. By 11:00, almost the whole working population of Winnipeg, Manitoba had walked off the job. Also 1919, Greek invasion of Smyrna. During the invasion, the Greek army killed or wounded 350 Turks. Those responsible were punished by the Greek Commander Aristides Stergiades. 1925, Al-Insaniyyah, the first Arabic communist newspaper, was founded. 1928, Walt Disney character Mickey Mouse premiered in his first cartoon, Plane Crazy 1929, a fire at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio killed 123. 1932, in an attempted coup d'état, the Prime Minister of Japan Inukai Tsuyoshi was murdered. 1934, Kārlis Ulmanis established an authoritarian government in Latvia. 1935, the Moscow Metro was opened to the public.
In 1940, USS Sailfish was recommissioned. It was originally the USS Squalus. Also 1940, World War II: After fierce fighting, the poorly trained and equipped Dutch troops surrendered to Germany, marking the beginning of five years of occupation. Also 1940, McDonald's opened its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California. 1941, first flight of the Gloster E.28/39 the first British and Allied jet aircraft. 1942, World War II: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was signed into law. 1943, Joseph Stalin dissolved the Comintern (or Third International). 1945, World War II: The Battle of Poljana, the final skirmish in Europe was fought near Prevalje, Slovenia. 1948, following the demise of Mandatory Palestine, the Kingdom of Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia invade Israel thus starting the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. 1951, the Polish cultural attaché in Paris, Czesław Miłosz, asked the French government for political asylum. 1953, Cubmaster Don Murphy organised the first pinewood derby, in Manhattan Beach, California, by Pack 280c. 1957, at Malden Islandin the Pacific Ocean, Britain tested its first hydrogen bomb in Operation Grapple. 1958, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 3.
In 1960, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 4. 1963, Project Mercury: The launch of the final Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 9 with astronaut L. Gordon Cooper on board. He became the first American to spend more than a day in space. 1966, after a policy dispute, Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳof South Vietnam's ruling junta launched a military attack on the forces of General Tôn Thất Đính, forcing him to abandon his command. 1969, People's Park: California Governor Ronald Reagan had an impromptu student park owned by University of California at Berkeley fenced off from student anti-war protestors, sparking a riot called Bloody Thursday. 1970, President Richard Nixon appointed Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington the first female United States Army Generals. Also 1970, Philip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green were killed at Jackson State University by police during student protests. 1972, Okinawa, under U.S. military governance since its conquest in 1945, reverted to Japanese control. Also 1972, in Laurel, Maryland, Arthur Bremer shot and paralysed Alabama Governor George Wallace while he was campaigning to become President. 1974, Ma'alot massacre: Members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine attacked and took hostages at an Israeli school; a total of 31 people were killed, including 22 schoolchildren.
In 1986, Elio de Angelis, was killed while testing the Brabham BT55 at the Paul Ricard circuit at Le Castellet. 1987, the Soviet Union launched the Polyus prototype orbital weapons platform. It failed to reach orbit. 1988, Soviet war in Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Soviet Army began its withdrawal from Afghanistan. 1991, Édith Cressonbecame France's first female premier. 1997, the United States government acknowledged the existence of the "Secret War" in Laos and dedicated the Laos Memorial in honor of Hmong and other "Secret War" veterans. 2006, Cloud Gate was formally dedicated in Chicago's Millennium Park. 2008, California became the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004to legalise same-sex marriage after the state's own Supreme Court ruled a previous ban unconstitutional. 2010, Jessica Watson became the youngest person to sail, non-stop and unassisted around the world solo. 2013, an upsurge in violence in Iraq left more than 389 people dead over three days.
1602, Bartholomew Gosnold became the first recorded European to see Cape Cod. 1618, Johannes Kepler confirmed his previously rejected discovery of the third law of planetary motion (he first discovered it on March 8 but soon rejected the idea after some initial calculations were made).1648, the Treaty of Westphalia was signed. 1701, the War of the Spanish Succession began. 1718, James Puckle, a London lawyer, patented the world's first machine gun. 1755, Laredo, Texas was established by the Spaniards. 1776, American Revolution: The Virginia Convention instructed its Continental Congress delegation to propose a resolution of independencefrom Great Britain, paving the way for the United States Declaration of Independence. 1791, French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre proposed the Self-denying Ordinance. 1792, War of the First Coalition: France declared war on Kingdom of Sardinia. 1793, Diego Marín Aguilera flew a glider for "about 360 meters", at a height of 5–6 meters, during one of the first attempted manned flights. 1796, First Coalition: Napoleon entered Milan in triumph.
In 1800, King George III of the United Kingdom survived an assassination attempt by James Hadfield, who was later acquitted by reason of insanity. 1811, Paraguay declared independence from Spain. 1817, Opening of the first private mental health hospital in the United States, the Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason (now Friends Hospital) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 1836, Francis Baily observed "Baily's beads" during an annular eclipse. 1849, troops of the Two Sicilies took Palermo and crushed the republican government of Sicily 1850, the Bloody Island Massacre took place in Lake County, California, in which a large number of Pomo Indians in Lake County were slaughtered by a regiment of the United States Cavalry, led by Nathaniel Lyon. 1851, the first Australian gold rush was proclaimed, although the discovery had been made three months earlier. 1858, opening of the present Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London. 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill into law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture. It was later renamed the United States Department of Agriculture. 1864, American Civil War: Battle of Resaca, Georgia ended. Also 1864, American Civil War: Battle of New Market, Virginia: Students from the Virginia Military Institute fought alongside the Confederate Army to force Union General Franz Sigel out of the Shenandoah Valley. 1869, Women's suffrage: In New York, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton formed the National Woman Suffrage Association. 1891, Pope Leo XIII defended workers' rights and property rights in the encyclical Rerum novarum, the beginning of modern Catholic social teaching.
In 1904, Russo-Japanese War: The Russian minelayer Amur laid a minefieldabout 15 miles off Port Arthur and sank Japan's battleships Hatsuse, 15,000 tons, with 496 crew and Yashima. 1905, Las Vegas, was founded when 110 acres (0.45 km2), in what later would become downtown, were auctioned off. 1911, in Standard Oil Company of New Jersey v. United States, the United States Supreme Court declared Standard Oil to be an "unreasonable" monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and ordered the company to be broken up. Also 1911, three hundred three Chinese and five Japanese immigrants were killed in the Torreón massacre when the forces of the Mexican Revolution led by Francisco I. Madero's brother Emilio Madero took the city of Torreón from the Federales. 1919, the Winnipeg General Strikebegan. By 11:00, almost the whole working population of Winnipeg, Manitoba had walked off the job. Also 1919, Greek invasion of Smyrna. During the invasion, the Greek army killed or wounded 350 Turks. Those responsible were punished by the Greek Commander Aristides Stergiades. 1925, Al-Insaniyyah, the first Arabic communist newspaper, was founded. 1928, Walt Disney character Mickey Mouse premiered in his first cartoon, Plane Crazy 1929, a fire at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio killed 123. 1932, in an attempted coup d'état, the Prime Minister of Japan Inukai Tsuyoshi was murdered. 1934, Kārlis Ulmanis established an authoritarian government in Latvia. 1935, the Moscow Metro was opened to the public.
In 1940, USS Sailfish was recommissioned. It was originally the USS Squalus. Also 1940, World War II: After fierce fighting, the poorly trained and equipped Dutch troops surrendered to Germany, marking the beginning of five years of occupation. Also 1940, McDonald's opened its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California. 1941, first flight of the Gloster E.28/39 the first British and Allied jet aircraft. 1942, World War II: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was signed into law. 1943, Joseph Stalin dissolved the Comintern (or Third International). 1945, World War II: The Battle of Poljana, the final skirmish in Europe was fought near Prevalje, Slovenia. 1948, following the demise of Mandatory Palestine, the Kingdom of Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia invade Israel thus starting the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. 1951, the Polish cultural attaché in Paris, Czesław Miłosz, asked the French government for political asylum. 1953, Cubmaster Don Murphy organised the first pinewood derby, in Manhattan Beach, California, by Pack 280c. 1957, at Malden Islandin the Pacific Ocean, Britain tested its first hydrogen bomb in Operation Grapple. 1958, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 3.
In 1960, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 4. 1963, Project Mercury: The launch of the final Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 9 with astronaut L. Gordon Cooper on board. He became the first American to spend more than a day in space. 1966, after a policy dispute, Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳof South Vietnam's ruling junta launched a military attack on the forces of General Tôn Thất Đính, forcing him to abandon his command. 1969, People's Park: California Governor Ronald Reagan had an impromptu student park owned by University of California at Berkeley fenced off from student anti-war protestors, sparking a riot called Bloody Thursday. 1970, President Richard Nixon appointed Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington the first female United States Army Generals. Also 1970, Philip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green were killed at Jackson State University by police during student protests. 1972, Okinawa, under U.S. military governance since its conquest in 1945, reverted to Japanese control. Also 1972, in Laurel, Maryland, Arthur Bremer shot and paralysed Alabama Governor George Wallace while he was campaigning to become President. 1974, Ma'alot massacre: Members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine attacked and took hostages at an Israeli school; a total of 31 people were killed, including 22 schoolchildren.
In 1986, Elio de Angelis, was killed while testing the Brabham BT55 at the Paul Ricard circuit at Le Castellet. 1987, the Soviet Union launched the Polyus prototype orbital weapons platform. It failed to reach orbit. 1988, Soviet war in Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Soviet Army began its withdrawal from Afghanistan. 1991, Édith Cressonbecame France's first female premier. 1997, the United States government acknowledged the existence of the "Secret War" in Laos and dedicated the Laos Memorial in honor of Hmong and other "Secret War" veterans. 2006, Cloud Gate was formally dedicated in Chicago's Millennium Park. 2008, California became the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004to legalise same-sex marriage after the state's own Supreme Court ruled a previous ban unconstitutional. 2010, Jessica Watson became the youngest person to sail, non-stop and unassisted around the world solo. 2013, an upsurge in violence in Iraq left more than 389 people dead over three days.
=== 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 Dante Nguyen, Angelina Liashenko and Johnny Nam Nguyen. Born on the same day, across the years, on which, in 2010, Jessica Watson became the youngest person (3 days before her 17th birthday) to sail unassisted around the world and then dissed Rudd. You don't have to do that. As Pope Leo XIII wrote, also on this day, Rerum Novarum, which means you rock.
- 1397 – Sejong the Great, Korean king (d. 1450)
- 1567 – Claudio Monteverdi, Italian priest and composer (d. 1643)
- 1608 – René Goupil, French-American missionary (d. 1642)
- 1689 – Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, English author (d. 1762)
- 1856 – L. Frank Baum, American author (d. 1919)
- 1859 – Pierre Curie, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1906)
- 1863 – Frank Hornby, English businessman and politician, invented Meccano (d. 1936)
- 1895 – Prescott Bush, American captain, banker, and politician (d. 1972)
- 1905 – Abraham Zapruder, American businessman, filmed the Zapruder film (d. 1970)
- 1935 – Utah Phillips, American singer-songwriter (d. 2008)
- 1941 – Jaxon, American illustrator and publisher, co-founded the Rip Off Press (d. 2006)
- 1946 – Thadeus Nguyễn Văn Lý, Vietnamese priest
- 1947 – Graeham Goble, Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Little River Band, Mississippi, Travis Wellington Hedge, Birtles & Goble, and Birtles Shorrock Goble)
- 1948 – Brian Eno, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (Roxy Music and 801)
- 1953 – Mike Oldfield, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (The Sallyangie)
- 1987 – Andy Murray, Scottish tennis player
- 1997 – Precious Doe, American murder victim (d. 2001)
Deaths
- 392 – Valentinian II, Roman emperor (b. 371)
- 913 – Hatto I, German archbishop (b. 850)
- 1036 – Emperor Go-Ichijō of Japan (b. 1008)
- 1157 – Yuri Dolgorukiy, Russian prince and founded Moscow (b. 1099)
- 1700 – John Hale, American minister (b. 1636)
- 1886 – Emily Dickinson, American poet (b. 1830)
- 2003 – June Carter Cash, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress (Carter Family and The Carter Sisters) (b. 1929)
- 1602 – English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold led the first recorded European expedition to visit Cape Cod in present-day Massachusetts.
- 1793 – Inventor Diego Marín Aguilera, the "father of aviation" in Spain, flew one of the first gliders for about 360 m (1,180 ft).
- 1869 – Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton (both pictured) founded the National Woman Suffrage Association, breaking away from the American Equal Rights Association which they had also previously founded.
- 1997 – During the dedication of the Laos Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery, the United States first publicly acknowledged its role in the Laotian Civil War, which had ended 22 years earlier.
- 2010 – Upon her return to Sydney three days before her 17th birthday, Jessica Watson became the youngest person to sail non-stop and unassisted around the world.
You visited cod. You flew high. Suffrage for all. You are dedicated. You are unassisted. Let's party.
Tim Blair
LESSONS FROM THE GREAT WHITE NORTH
Andrew Bolt
UTTERLY UTTERLY
Tim Blair – Friday, May 15, 2015 (2:42pm)
Roger Franklin investigates the huge number of Australia Council grants handed out in just one Melbourne electorate – which happens to be a safe Labor seat. The quality of the art will astound you. For example, here is Makiko Yamamoto’s masterful sonic exploration, a piece she calls utterly silent, utter silence, utterly something, utter something, thinking thinking, utterly listening, utterly umm.
Readers may be “utterly something” when they learn Yamamoto received $10,000 in taxes. Another discovery from Franklin is gifted Styrofoam soloist Dale Gorfinkel:
Gorfinkel was given $60,000 to “support” the “creation of new works, skills and professional opportunities”. Click and click for previous posts on these creative tax harvesters.
Gorfinkel was given $60,000 to “support” the “creation of new works, skills and professional opportunities”. Click and click for previous posts on these creative tax harvesters.
UPDATE. In Australia, this would be worth at least a $10,000 grant. In the US, you just get yelled at by your wife.
UPDATE II. If he’d thought to obtain funding, a certain Malcom Turnbull staffer would be safely performing on stage instead of appearing in court. Beyond that, it’s just a matter of choosing the right venue
===
SIT AT THE BACK
Tim Blair – Friday, May 15, 2015 (5:41am)
Alabama, 1955:
Rosa Parks, a 42-year-old African American woman who worked as a seamstress, boarded this Montgomery City bus to go home from work. On this bus on that day, Rosa Parks initiated a new era in the American quest for freedom and equality.She sat near the middle of the bus, just behind the 10 seats reserved for whites. Soon all of the seats in the bus were filled. When a white man entered the bus, the driver (following the standard practice of segregation) insisted that all four blacks sitting just behind the white section give up their seats so that the man could sit there.
Australia, 2015:
Women were segregated and asked to sit at the back of a lecture by the radical group Hizb ut-Tahrir at a Muslim students group at the University of Western Sydney last night.At the event in Parramatta, men and women were asked to sit apart. The Daily Telegraph attended the talk – and this reporter sat with the women before being politely told “brothers to the front” and “sisters” to the back.The women were ushered through a door marked “sisters” at the rear of the hall, while the “brothers” entered through another door and were told to take their place in “the front five rows”.
Alabama, 1955:
Mrs. Parks, who was an active member of the local NAACP, quietly refused to give up her seat.It took someone with the courage and character of Rosa Parks to strike with lightning. And it required the commitment of the entire African American community to fan the flames ignited by that lightning into the fires of the civil rights revolution.
Australia, 2015: white leftists and feminists remain completely and shamefully silent about the treatment of Muslim women. Had they been on that Alabama bus 60 years ago, they would have looked away.
===
BILL OF SALE
Tim Blair – Friday, May 15, 2015 (4:51am)
At 2:50 in his budget reply speech, Bill Shorten – referring dismissively to the government’s small business tax deductions – offered a dreadful line:
A giveaway to start a fire sale at a second-hand car yard and Harvey Norman? That’s good – as far as it goes. But it doesn’t go very far.
Private school boy Shorten, a rich politician who has twice married into wealthy families, has little need to budget his purchases. His sneering at second-hand car buyers and mainstream retail outlets appears more than slightly unseemly.
Besides which, the line is just wrong. Fire sales involve massive discounts due to businesses facing closure. By contrast, the government’s tax incentives have precisely the opposite effect.
As well, Shorten’s speechwriters really should avoid repeated use of a certain word ending in “th”. Including it more than once was just cruel. The Labor leader literally cannot handle the “troof”.
UPDATE. Andrew Bolt: “Shorten just destroyed himself.”
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RACISM IS NOTHING TO DO WITH RACE
Tim Blair – Friday, May 15, 2015 (4:02am)
Bahar Mustafa, a student union diversity officer who tried to stop white men attending an event at her British university, explains why she isn’t a racist:
I, an ethnic minority woman, cannot be racist or sexist towards white men, because racism and sexism describes structures of privilege based on race and gender.
They don’t, but please carry on:
And therefore women of colour and minority genders cannot be racist or sexist because we do not stand to benefit from such a system.In order for our actions to be deemed racist or sexist, the current system would have to be one that enables only people of colour and women to benefit economically and socially on such a large scale and to the systematic exclusion of white people and men, who for the past 400 years would have to have been subjected to block colonisation.
Mustafa is describing the idiotic rules of leftist grievance poker, which might make a fun board game.
(Via Elizabeth Foley)
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THEY’RE LIVID, I TELL YOU! LIVID!
Tim Blair – Friday, May 15, 2015 (3:33am)
Luvvie rage reaches squealing point:
The former chair of the Australia Council says changes to arts funding revealed in the federal budget are “disastrous” …Rodney Hall said he was concerned the Australia Council would lose its discretionary powers to make informed decisions in the interests of the public.
Here are just a few of those informed decisions made in the public interest. Rodney continues:
“From the artist’s point of view, and the public point of view, it’s a disaster,” he said.
He’s half right.
“The Australia Council was set up with great care by Nugget Coombs in 1968.“Central to his concern was to bypass the possibility that the public money could get into the hands of a very few people dishing it out to their friends.”
That’s exactly what’s been happening. Hall should pay closer attention.
Please bear in mind that the $105,000,000 they’re so worried about has not been removed from arts funding. It has only been shifted from the Australia Council to a new stream of grants to be decided by the Arts Ministry.
Bear in mind, too, that $105,000,000 represents just 15 per cent of the Australia Council’s annual $700,000,000 tax-funded budget. It’s practically another ABC, but with an even greater disconnect between those who pay for it and those who profit from it.
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MADE FROM REAL GRIFFINS
Tim Blair – Friday, May 15, 2015 (2:17am)
You’ve got your beef jerky, your pork jerky, your deer jerky and your turkey jerky. But here in Australia, we prefer our jerky to be made from the meat of mythological eagle/lion hybrids:
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ALBERTA FELL
Tim Blair – Friday, May 15, 2015 (2:12am)
Along with almost all pundits, the ABC’s Leigh Sales erred in her UK election call:
When you look at the UK, the economy’s been growing, unemployment’s down, the deficit has halved as a percentage of GDP. According to the conventional laws of politics, David Cameron should be absolutely romping it in. Why isn’t he?
Turns out he was. A pre-election piece from the Spectator‘s James Allan suggested the chance of that outcome ("Cameron may yet pull this off …") but also looked at another, less promising, election in Alberta, Canada:
The Tories have been in office there, always with a majority government, since 1971. Yep, you read that correctly. For 44 years the Conservatives have won landslide after landslide, from the early Trudeau years federally through all sorts of ups and downs in the price of oil, through to the implosion and re-birth of the Tories at the federal level in Ottawa. Through four and a half decades it’s always been a Conservative majority government in Alberta.
Alas, no longer. The reasons why are instructive.
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Shorten makes a $2.25 billion promise. Claims it costs $45 million
Andrew Bolt May 15 2015 (3:55pm)
What Bill Shorten promised in his Budget reply speech:
But here’s what Shorten said today this promise would cost:
First try:
I fear Shorten simply lost a zero on his figures, and his promise costs 10 times more than he said - and the full cost is 50 times more.
But Shorten has proved one thing: we sure do need more maths teachers.
...we will write off the HECS debt of 100,000 science technology, engineering and maths studentsWow. Each three-year degree in these fields costs each student $22,500 in HECS fees. So making 100,000 degrees free would cost the Government $2.25 billion.
But here’s what Shorten said today this promise would cost:
We made it very clear with our costings that it was $45 million across forward estimates [four years] for scholarships to kick start kids being encouraged to go into science, maths and engineering..How does Labor explain the difference between $2.25 billion and its claim of $45 million?
First try:
Labor’s accompanying fact sheet said the policy would begin with 20,000 award degrees in 2017 ...Oh, so Labor’s figures are for actually a fifth of its promise? But 20,000 times $22,500 equals $450,000,000, not Shorten’s $45,000,000.
I fear Shorten simply lost a zero on his figures, and his promise costs 10 times more than he said - and the full cost is 50 times more.
But Shorten has proved one thing: we sure do need more maths teachers.
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Bill wants is the same as Bill pays
Andrew Bolt May 15 2015 (9:47am)
Bill Shorten last night proved he is not fit to govern, clearly believing thatmerely to want something very much is a substitute for explaining how to pay for it:
LEIGH SALES: What are you proposing on bracket creep?
BILL SHORTEN: Well what I’m proposing is that we sit down with Tony Abbott and look at all of what we’ve got to do and see what we can do collectively.
LEIGH SALES: What’s your idea that you’re going to bring to the table on bracket creep?
BILL SHORTEN: Well the first thing I said tonight was specifically about small business. I think that Tony Abbott and I need to sit down and work out if it’s possible, in the life of this parliament or the next, to reduce the business - small business tax rate - that’s for incorporated businesses under $2 million - below the 28.5 per cent…
LEIGH SALES: Let me ask you about the National Disability Insurance Scheme… The spending is all heavily backloaded. The cost of it will rise tens of billions of dollars up to the end of the decade. Where’s that money coming from?… The Medicare levy would have to go up to 5.5 per cent to cover the cost of it… Well how are you going to cover it?
BILL SHORTEN: Alright, I’ll just try and answer your question. What I believe is that there’s - we can’t afford not to have a National Disability Insurance Scheme. I believe that we already have a highly inefficient system, states and crisis dictating priorities. Right now, as we talk to each other on television, you’ve got tens of thousands of older Australians having that sort of late-night anxiety about who’s going to care for their adult child…
LEIGH SALES: Well Mr Shorten, I don’t doubt what you’re saying there, but aren’t you short-changing those very people that you’re talking about if you can’t outline how you intend to fund exactly what you say they so desperately need? BILL SHORTEN: Well I believe that we will fund it and I know that we can fund it and we will have properly-costed policies at the election.
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The Bolt Report on Sunday, May 17
Andrew Bolt May 15 2015 (9:18am)
Malcolm Turnbull has agreed for the first time to be my guest on Sunday’s The Bolt Report.
We’ll talk about the Budget and the ABC, of course, and about the arguments that have divided us:
Editorial: The ABC declares war on the Budget.
The panel: Victorian Liberal president Michael Kroger and former Labor Minister Craig Emerson.
NewsWatch: Sharri Markson, media editor of The Australian.
The videos of the shows appear here.
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The SBS board must end the Left’s hijacking
Andrew Bolt May 15 2015 (9:16am)
SBS still has enough money to pay five writers to mock the Abbott Government with the most laughless “satire”.
From today’s menu:
An example of taxpayer-funded SBS “humor”, of the kind that would made only Lenin laugh:
From today’s menu:
The anti-Liberal diet has been the same for many months.
An example of taxpayer-funded SBS “humor”, of the kind that would made only Lenin laugh:
Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Minister for Social Services Scott Morrison have used a joint press conference to announce that the Government has listened to the public and will begin that crackdown on mothers that the nation demands.Can SBS explain why it funds this? Can it explain how this fulfills its charter duties:
Speaking on Mother’s Day in combination with an earlier announcement from Treasurer Joe Hockey, the new policy will see benefits sliced to almost half of all mothers in changes to paid parental leave brought about to finally deal with the scourge of new mothers lazing about with no regard for the state of the economy.
(1) The principal function of SBS is to provide multilingual and multicultural radio, television and digital media services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect Australia’s multicultural society.Can SBS explain how this unending tirade against Liberals fulfills its charter duty to present “many points of view”:
(2) SBS, in performing its principal function, must: ...Why is the board not insisting the management follow its charter?
(h) contribute to extending the range of Australian television and radio services, and reflect the changing nature of Australian society, by presenting many points of view and using innovative forms of expression.
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Victoria promises to make electricity more expensive
Andrew Bolt May 15 2015 (8:55am)
Victoria’s new Socialist Left Government has a cunning plan to make power prices higher in a state where manufacturing business are struggling:
And for what? It is simply staggering that a government would inflict this damage when this green power would in fact make absolutely no measurable difference to global warming, which actually stopped 17 years ago anyway.
This is insane.
(Thanks to reader Anna B.)
VICTORIA wants to go its own way and set a state-based Renewable Energy Target. Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said a state-based RET would lead to greater investment and more jobs in places like Ballarat, Ararat, Warrnambool and Port Fairy.That’s one way of putting it. The other way is to say the Government will force consumers to use more expensive green power, transferring money from consumers to green carpetbaggers, giving them a profit they would never get in the open market. This is propping up uncompetitive businesses at the potential cost of closing others.
And for what? It is simply staggering that a government would inflict this damage when this green power would in fact make absolutely no measurable difference to global warming, which actually stopped 17 years ago anyway.
This is insane.
(Thanks to reader Anna B.)
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Boat people might actually prefer Faine’s “double standard”
Andrew Bolt May 15 2015 (8:47am)
ABC Melbourne host Jon Faine is throwing a major tantrum about Johnny Depp’s dogs, which Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce ordered to be removed or destroyed after Depp flew them in on his private jet.
Faine claims we have “double standards”, with the Abbott Government barring boat people but letting Depp fly in with his dogs.
I am not sure exactly what Faine is demanding to end this alleged double standard. That the Government also order boat people to go back or be destroyed?
Faine claims we have “double standards”, with the Abbott Government barring boat people but letting Depp fly in with his dogs.
I am not sure exactly what Faine is demanding to end this alleged double standard. That the Government also order boat people to go back or be destroyed?
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Who left us in this danger? Who opened the door?
Andrew Bolt May 15 2015 (8:17am)
That tiny, unrepresentative minority is far from tiny enough:
Yet again I ask how politicians let in so many people from a faith and communities that now pose such a threat. And why did so many journalists refuse to notice or express concern? I fear our national interest was betrayed by people more concerned to seem good than maintain public safety.
And now:
UPDATE
A recent hate sermon from the Australian head of Hizb ut Tahrir:
Australia’s top Islamic State recruiter, Neil Prakash, has sought out and connected via social media with a radical Melbourne-based sheikh who has a large following among young Muslim men in the city’s northern suburbs…Note: Omran was one of the clerics who “respected Muslim community leaders” reportedly urged us to consult to steer young Muslims away from radicals.
Prakash, who is fighting in Syria under the name Abu Khaled al-Cambodi, is suspected of helping radicalise the group of teenagers who were allegedly plotting an Anzac Day attack, as well as their friend Numan Haider, who was shot dead last year after attacking two policemen with a knife.
On Tuesday, Prakash used his Twitter account to directly approach Sheikh Khoder Soueid, who is popular among young people and who has delivered lectures at the Hume Islamic Youth Centre in suburban Coolaroo.
“As Salaamu Alaykum akhee [Hello brother] please follow me,” Prakash wrote on Tuesday at 10.13pm.
Mr Soueid, who is also active on Twitter, then followed him. If Prakash follows him back, it will allow the pair to message each other privately.
Mr Soueid’s support for Islamic State, and his disgust with western air strikes in Syria and Iraq, as well as with the Syrian regime, has become more open and aggressive in recent months.
In recent days, the Australian has described one of Islamic State’s most senior leaders, Sheikh Abu Malik al-Nashwan, as a “martyr"…
On April 18, the day that Melbourne teens Sevdet Besim, Harun Causevic and Mehran Azami were arrested by police over the alleged Anzac Day plot, Mr Soueid tweeted: “Brothers were today arrested in #Melbourne over alleged ‘ISIS-inspired’ terrorist plot. Fear mogering [sic] at its best.”
Mr Soueid has been a guest preacher at the Hume Islamic Youth Centre in Cooloroo, which has been attended by a number of young people who have travelled to Syria or Iraq to fight with Islamic State have attended there, including Jake Bilardi and Dawod Elmir.
The centre is run by Sheikh Mohammad Omran, Melbourne’s most senior Salafist cleric. But Mr Omran said last night that Mr Soueid had only spoken at the centre on specific and limited topics… Mr Soueid’s Facebook page is liked by more than 3600 people
Yet again I ask how politicians let in so many people from a faith and communities that now pose such a threat. And why did so many journalists refuse to notice or express concern? I fear our national interest was betrayed by people more concerned to seem good than maintain public safety.
And now:
The US consulate in Melbourne has issued its first security alert this century to American citizens in Victoria and beyond, saying a terrorist attack is likely…Is it not digraceful that this country should have been exposed to these dangers?
The consulate urges US citizens “to review your personal security plan, remain aware of your surroundings, including local events, and monitor local news stations for updates’’…
New Zealanders living and travelling in Australia are also now warned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Wellington ... [that] “Internationally trained terrorists and groups and domestic-based extremists are the predominant threat...”
The Canadian Foreign Ministry also notes the raising of the national terrorism public alert level… The British Foreign Office, too, points to the “high” terrorism alert level for Australia, adding ... “...You should be vigilant at this time.”
UPDATE
A recent hate sermon from the Australian head of Hizb ut Tahrir:
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The closing of the university mind
Andrew Bolt May 15 2015 (8:09am)
Our universities expel a world-renown academic for questioning the global warming faith.
But they welcome medieval segregation of women:
But they welcome medieval segregation of women:
Women were segregated and asked to sit at the back of a lecture by the radical group Hizb ut-Tahrir at a Muslim students group at the University of Western Sydney last night.Tim Blair notes:
At the event in Parramatta, men and women were asked to sit apart. The Daily Telegraph attended the talk – and this reporter sat with the women before being politely told “brothers to the front” and “sisters” to the back. The women were ushered through a door marked “sisters” at the rear of the hall, while the “brothers” entered through another door and were told to take their place in “the front five rows”.
Australia, 2015: white leftists and feminists remain completely and shamefully silent about the treatment of Muslim women. Had they been on that Alabama bus [carrying Rosa Parks] 60 years ago, they would have looked away.Our universities are betraying the Age of Enlightenment and the great Western tradition.
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A softer Sales job for Shorten. UPDATE Kelly’s accepts Shorten’s dodgy data
Andrew Bolt May 15 2015 (7:33am)
Marie Hogg is right:
And here is Sales heckling Hockey:
On ABC 774, Jon Faine claims Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce threatened Johnny Depp’s dogs to distract attention from the Budget.
UPDATE
On Radio National Breakfast, host Fran Kelly lets Shorten get away with claiming his vast new promises with “$14 billion” in new taxes on superannuation and “$7 billion” in new taxes on foreign multinationals. Sounds a lot, right? $21 billion in “savings”?
In fact, Kelly fails in her respectful interview to point out the fraud. That $14 billion super tax is the money raised over a decade. The $7 billion in multinationals taxes is also money that Labor hopes to raise over a decade. Express those new taxes in the more usual annual figure and we get Shorten promising just $2.1 billion a year to pay for extra spending of vastly more, and when the deficit is already at $35 billion this year alone.
(Also fooled by the fiddle are news.com.au’s Malcolm Farr, Leigh Sales and commentator Dee Madigan on Sky last night.)
But Kelly’s scepticism returns in the very next item - a report suggesting the Abbott Government’s tax break for small business may not work and will be rorted.
UPDATE
Then there’s the bizarre attack from Lateline’s Tony Jones that Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg had to patiently parry.
To repeat: the ABC, obliged by law to be impartial, has declared war on the Abbott Government.
Before he delivered his official budget reply, opposition leader Bill Shorten sat down with ABC journalist Leigh Sales tonight for an interview that was decidedly soft in comparison with the acrimonious grilling Treasurer Joe Hockey received at the same hands on Tuesday.Compare. Here is Sales interviewing Shorten.
Viewers took to social media almost immediately, commenting that Ms Sales’ “heart wasn’t in it” and attacking her for a repeated approach of soft pedalling with Labor MPs.
Many cited her interview with Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen on budget night as an example of her apparent partisanship. Early on in the interview, it became clear that while Ms Sales did cut Mr Shorten short a number of times, it was done without the apparent vitriolic directed at Mr Hockey two nights ago.
And here is Sales heckling Hockey:
UPDATE
On ABC 774, Jon Faine claims Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce threatened Johnny Depp’s dogs to distract attention from the Budget.
UPDATE
On Radio National Breakfast, host Fran Kelly lets Shorten get away with claiming his vast new promises with “$14 billion” in new taxes on superannuation and “$7 billion” in new taxes on foreign multinationals. Sounds a lot, right? $21 billion in “savings”?
In fact, Kelly fails in her respectful interview to point out the fraud. That $14 billion super tax is the money raised over a decade. The $7 billion in multinationals taxes is also money that Labor hopes to raise over a decade. Express those new taxes in the more usual annual figure and we get Shorten promising just $2.1 billion a year to pay for extra spending of vastly more, and when the deficit is already at $35 billion this year alone.
(Also fooled by the fiddle are news.com.au’s Malcolm Farr, Leigh Sales and commentator Dee Madigan on Sky last night.)
But Kelly’s scepticism returns in the very next item - a report suggesting the Abbott Government’s tax break for small business may not work and will be rorted.
UPDATE
Then there’s the bizarre attack from Lateline’s Tony Jones that Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg had to patiently parry.
To repeat: the ABC, obliged by law to be impartial, has declared war on the Abbott Government.
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Bill Shorten’s farewell speech
Andrew Bolt May 15 2015 (7:04am)
Just not credible:
Bill Shorten has offered a 5 per cent tax cut to millions of small companies in a dramatic shift to the political middle ground that seeks to trump Tony Abbott’s pitch to employers, but makes no commitment on how to fund the ambition.But I guess this at least is a tacit admission that the Gillard Government, of which Shorten was a key member, made vast promises on health and education that were simply unfunded:
The Opposition Leader offered a series of expensive pledges on education, tax and innovation last night in a formal reply to this week’s budget ... [but] did not nominate any new savings to fund a bipartisan reform plan… Last night’s speech restated Labor’s rejection of Coalition policies on university reform, cuts to family payments and tighter rules for young jobseekers.
There was criticism of the government’s plan to cut $30bn in school funding and $50bn in hospital funding for the states over the coming decade, but no Labor commitment to restore that funding.Graham Richardson:
We all know that Labor would, rightly in my view, restrict the use of superannuation to wash away taxes, but when will they tell us where they would cut? Watching them and other frontbenchers duck and weave when asked if they will agree to any cuts at all, and to specify them, is embarrassing. Labor’s credibility is on the line, as is the government’s.
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Be honest…is this fair?
Posted by Australian Taxation Office on Thursday, 14 May 2015
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Fareed Zakaria
We forget now, but only three decades ago, Mexico was one of the world’s most anti-American countries. Its politics were a heady mix of resentment, envy and anger directed against its rich neighbor. Its governing party had a left-wing revolutionary attitude, unalterably opposed to Washington and its foreign policy.
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Easy tricks like working with a time limit can help you write your best: http://bit.ly/1JgReVE
Posted by Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing on Thursday, 14 May 2015
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Embrace the English weirdness.http://memri.se/K5Vk1
Posted by Memrise on Tuesday, 12 May 2015
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Posted by Holly Sarah Nguyen on Thursday, 14 May 2015
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MIAMI EAT
Tim Blair – Thursday, May 15, 2014 (12:08pm)
Florida Democrat Joe Garcia is the new Kevin Rudd. He’s also a wax denialist.
(Via tree-hugging sister)
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RECEIVE LESS
Tim Blair – Thursday, May 15, 2014 (11:38am)
Academic John Quiggin considers Australia’s economic situation:
… our structural problems can only be addressed if the 1% contribute more and receive less from the government …
Great idea, perfesser! Let’s start by cutting off the millions in taxpayer grants given to one-percenter John Quiggin:
Quiggin has received many research grants from the Australian Research Council (roughly the Australian equivalent to the National Science Foundation) and was recently honored with a Federation Fellowship …
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A DENT IN THE COSMOS
Tim Blair – Thursday, May 15, 2014 (12:58am)
H. L. Mencken, possibly history’s finest columnist, interviewed just a few months prior to the 1948 stroke that ended his career:
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Christopher!
Andrew Bolt May 15 2014 (5:32pm)
I thought we Adelaide boys were raised to speak nicely. And given one of us is the Education Minister…
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Now Premiers reach for your wallet to replace Abbott’s fake “cuts”
Andrew Bolt May 15 2014 (9:36am)
WE were promised lower taxes. But the Abbott Government’s Budget risks leaving us not just with its own two tax hikes but a higher GST, too.
Hear that squealing from the states? Watch out for those guys.
The states are now complaining the Abbott Government’s alleged $80 billion in cuts to hospitals and schools over the next decade will just force them to spend more themselves — and raise more taxes, too.
That most likely means the GST going up — the 10 per cent tax that the states share and set, with federal agreement.
(Read full article here.)
Hear that squealing from the states? Watch out for those guys.
The states are now complaining the Abbott Government’s alleged $80 billion in cuts to hospitals and schools over the next decade will just force them to spend more themselves — and raise more taxes, too.
That most likely means the GST going up — the 10 per cent tax that the states share and set, with federal agreement.
(Read full article here.)
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More taxes as far as the eye can see
Andrew Bolt May 15 2014 (9:32am)
So much for lower taxes. Terry McCrann:
Higher and higher tax is the only real certainty in Joe Hockey’s first Budget, ostensibly built on slashing spending. Over the four years to 2017-18, tax revenues are projected to leap by just shy of a very neat $100 billion.
By 2017-18 total budget receipts (mostly, tax) will equal 24.9 per cent of GDP — what is essentially, total national income — up from 23 per cent in the current 2013-14 year.
The difference equates to an extra $36 billion of money flowing to Canberra in relative terms. In very clear-cut terms, Hockey gets two-thirds of his deficit elimination from (mostly, secret) higher taxes, just one-third from reduced spending.
Even more strikingly, most of the revenue growth, over and above the normal growth in the economy, will come from rising personal income tax; and a huge part of that will be from the silent but all-too real tax increase of bracket creep. Over the four years net personal income tax revenues are going to leap by an astonishing $61 billion. All the other taxes, including company tax and the GST — and which right now rake in more than personal tax — will only increase by $38 billion.
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Greens help Putin bully Europe
Andrew Bolt May 15 2014 (9:29am)
THE Green movement has betrayed the West. It’s made Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin stronger and democracies like ours more helpless. Wondered why Europe is doing so little to stop Russia stealing Ukrainian territory?
It’s not just because Europe has let its military forces run down, but because it’s given Russia the power to cut off its heating next winter with a flick of a switch. Ukraine gets half its gas from Russia, which this week warned it could again cut supplies, as it did in 2009. But Russia also supplies all Europe with a third of its gas, giving it enormous leverage.
Germany, Europe’s strongest nation, is particularly vulnerable. It relies on Russia for a quarter of all its energy through imports of gas, oil and coal. Switching suppliers is too hard. Germany lacks the terminals to handle gas shipped from the US and North Sea fields are running low. Gas is also harder to buy since the Fukushima nuclear reactor scare of 2011 — the great beat-up that forced Japan to switch off nuclear reactors and use gas-fired generators instead.
(Read full article here.)
It’s not just because Europe has let its military forces run down, but because it’s given Russia the power to cut off its heating next winter with a flick of a switch. Ukraine gets half its gas from Russia, which this week warned it could again cut supplies, as it did in 2009. But Russia also supplies all Europe with a third of its gas, giving it enormous leverage.
Germany, Europe’s strongest nation, is particularly vulnerable. It relies on Russia for a quarter of all its energy through imports of gas, oil and coal. Switching suppliers is too hard. Germany lacks the terminals to handle gas shipped from the US and North Sea fields are running low. Gas is also harder to buy since the Fukushima nuclear reactor scare of 2011 — the great beat-up that forced Japan to switch off nuclear reactors and use gas-fired generators instead.
(Read full article here.)
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Who is minding the gate?
Andrew Bolt May 15 2014 (9:07am)
Who is minding the gate? Is this an example of our refugee intake? If so, is the program operating in the national interest?
From the County Court of Victoria:
From the County Court of Victoria:
Garang Garang you ... have pleaded guilty to two indictments. The first charging you with four offences of obtaining property by deception, one offence of armed robbery and one of attempted armed robbery and the second charging you with causing serious injury intentionally. You have also admitted a number of prior convictions and court appearances.
...the first indictment involves you using a credit card that was stolen a few hours previously in the course of another robbery and your participation in an armed robbery and attempted armed robbery on soft targets, with others.... The second indictment concerns an offence of intentionally causing serious injury upon a Corrections officer who was overseeing you whilst you were in custody…
It will have been extremely difficulty for you to have made the journey that you did from Sudan to Australia via Egypt and to have sought to fit in to the Australian community not just with your background, but with the deficits, the impairments, mental impairments that arose from a series of events which seemed to have caused or contributed to your acquired brain injury and other mental impairments. No doubt they have interfered with your ability to complete your education satisfactorily and also made you more vulnerable to the influences of others who drew you in to use of illicit drugs in particular ice and in to criminal conduct.
It is noteworthy that you have acquired for a young man a bad criminal record with some serious criminal offences including intentionally causing injury and recklessly causing injury, recklessly causing serious injury and armed robbery. The report of Lindsay Vowles suggests ... a very low intelligence quotient ... as low as a full scale IQ of 57 which is extremely low…
Unless you get a good deal of support when you are released from prison I think your prospects of staying out of trouble in the future are poor. You are very fortunate to have people around you who have been prepared to really put themselves out… I notice looking at the transcript on the proceedings before Her Honour Judge Gaynor in November of 2012 you were arguing with her as to her characterisation of you when she was describing you as dangerous. Within two weeks you poured boiling water over the head of a Corrections officer ...
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Police uphold laws, and ethnic groups cannot negotiate a pass
Andrew Bolt May 15 2014 (8:52am)
It is unhealthy to have ethnic groups privately negotiating with police not to have laws enforced against their members. Another sign that immigration is becoming colonisation:
(Thanks to reader Straight Talk.)
Key Muslim leaders in Sydney have appealed directly to the man most likely to become the next NSW police commissioner, asking him to back away from enforcing “draconian” laws that make it a crime to support the civil war in Syria.There is no evidence Kaldas for a second contemplated not upholding the law as a result of the meeting.
Current Deputy Police Commissioner Nick Kaldas was asked to convey that stark message not only to his colleagues in law enforcement agencies, but to politicians in the federal arena too.
The law in question is the Foreign Incursions Act, which makes it a crime to support the war in Syria by going over to fight, or by providing material and financial support to warring parties…
The highest official of Muslim religious law in Australia, Grand Mufti Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, hosted the closed meeting with Deputy Commissioner Kaldas, but has maintained his usual silence on the matter.
(Thanks to reader Straight Talk.)
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Can we stop appealing to resentment and more to reason?
Andrew Bolt May 15 2014 (8:41am)
The headline suggests another born-to-rule conservative politician kicking poor pensioners:
What Truss actually said:
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Never mind the truth, Los Angeles is doomed
Andrew Bolt May 15 2014 (8:38am)
A wild claim from Californian Governor Jerry Brown, reported without any scepticism by the LA Times:
Brown’s remarks came a day after the release of two studies finding that a slow-motion and irreversible collapse of a massive cluster of glaciers in Antarctica has begun and could cause sea levels to rise worldwide by four feet within 200 years.Really? Anthony Watts checks the evidence - and finds Brown is talking pure moonshine:
“If that happens, the Los Angeles airport’s going to be underwater,” Brown told reporters at a presentation of his revised state budget proposal in Los Angeles. “So is the San Francisco airport.”
Ok let’s do the math, first a look at the sea level rate from the Los Angeles tide gauge operated by NOAA:But who cares? Being an alarmist means you’re never wrong, even when you are.
...LAX airport elevation is 125 feet = 38100mm
At the rate of 0.83mm/yr sea level rise seen at Los Angeles (from NOAA graph above) it would take 45903.6 years to reach 125 feet, we’d be in a new ice age by then and sea levels would be falling…
So, at current rates, Brown’s claim is bogus.
But he’s saying it will be due to Antarctic’s western ice sheet melting… This study is available here…
NASA says of the paper ....
Even as Rignot and colleagues suggest that loss of the Amundsen Sea embayment glaciers appears inevitable, it remains extremely difficult to predict exactly how this ice loss will unfold and how long it will take. A conservative estimate is that it could take several centuries.4 feet, and LAX airport is 125 feet above sea level. SFO airport, also mentioned by Brown is Elevation: 13 ft. according to Airnav
The region contains enough ice to raise global sea levels by 4 feet (1.2 meters).
NASA even calculates for the worst case scenario:
The Amundsen Sea region is only a fraction of the whole West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which if melted completely would raise global sea level by about 16 feet (5 meters).So even 16 feet wouldn’t affect LAX airport, but might affect SFO …far in the future. Governor Brown is in a gross error with his claims.
===
Only reckless spendthrifts may wear a nice dress
Andrew Bolt May 15 2014 (7:36am)
Totally OK from a politician who blew billions of dollars we didn’t actually have:
Ms Gillard attended last night’s event dressed in a black evening gown with lace detailing by Carla Zampatti, accompanied by an evening jacket by Perri Cutten.Totally callous from the banker wife of a politician now restoring the country’s finances:
The cheap pandering to class-war resentments is appalling.
===
Warmists’ threats drive Lennart Bengtsson off sceptic board
Andrew Bolt May 15 2014 (7:24am)
Warmist climatologist Lennart Bengtsson, former director of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, has become a sceptic and decided to join the advisory board of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, representing rational scepticism.
And that’s when the threats and the thugs of warmist group-think got to work on him, proving how dangerous dissent is even for one of the most prominent scientists in the field. Bengtsson has now resigned from the GWPF, saying he even fears for his safety:
(Thanks to reader pbw.)
And that’s when the threats and the thugs of warmist group-think got to work on him, proving how dangerous dissent is even for one of the most prominent scientists in the field. Bengtsson has now resigned from the GWPF, saying he even fears for his safety:
I have been put under such an enormous group pressure in recent days from all over the world that has become virtually unbearable to me. If this is going to continue I will be unable to conduct my normal work and will even start to worry about my health and safety. I see therefore no other way out therefore than resigning from GWPF. I had not expecting such an enormous world-wide pressure put at me from a community that I have been close to all my active life. Colleagues are withdrawing their support, other colleagues are withdrawing from joint authorship etc. I see no limit and end to what will happen. It is a situation that reminds me about the time of McCarthy. I would never have expecting anything similar in such an original peaceful community as meteorology. Apparently it has been transformed in recent years.Global warming is a faith policed by an inquisition. If dissent is so dangerous, how can anyone have faith that warmist scientists decide positions on reason alone?
Under these situation I will be unable to contribute positively to the work of GWPF and consequently therefore I believe it is the best for me to reverse my decision to join its Board at the earliest possible time.
(Thanks to reader pbw.)
===
How the Left got taxpayers to fund another Conversation of the Left
Andrew Bolt May 15 2014 (12:31am)
The Conversation soaks up a lot of money from state institutions:
The Conversation is funded by CSIRO, Melbourne, Monash, RMIT, UTS, UWA, ACU, ANU, ASB, Canberra, CDU, Curtin, Deakin, Flinders, Griffith, JCU, La Trobe, Massey, Murdoch, Newcastle, QUT, SAHMRI, Swinburne, Sydney, UNE, UniSA, USC, USQ, UTAS, UWS, VU and Wollongong.A grateful Gillard Government tipped in even more:
The Conversation, run by former Age editor Andrew Jaspan, ... also received an annual effective grant of $2 million a year in the last federal budget.Its claimed aim:
The Conversation is an independent source of news and views, sourced from the academic and research community and delivered direct to the public.But Ms X has counted who gets a run on The Conversation and discovers the site is just another taxpayer-funded soapbox for the Left:
Our team of professional editors work with university, CSIRO and research institute experts to unlock their knowledge for use by the wider public.
Most-published Labor/Greens authors
Geoff Gallop – 8 articlesThe only regular Right-wing or just not-Left authors they have are Sinclair Davidson and Timothy Lynch. But there’s certainly no litany of ex Coalition premiers, ministers and staffers writing. The bias is clear.
Barry Jones – 7 articles
Gareth Evans – 2 articles
Nick Reece (ex ALP State Sec) – 3 articles
Cheryl Kernot – 3 articles
Carmen Lawrence – 5 articles
Maxine McKew – 5 articles
Published in the Conversation
Left
Bob BrownRight
Melissa Parke
Christine Milne
Maxine McKew
Senator John Madigan - read it, makes very clear he is of the old Left
UK Labour Tom Watson MP – done when in Australia
Steve Bracks
Adam Bandt
Malcolm Fraser – read it, he’s a lefty these days
Mark Scott ABC
Will Steffen
Tony AbbottEx Fairfax/ABC/lefty journos on staff
Josh Frydenberg
Arthur Sinodinos
Cory Bernardi
Andrew Robb
Editor Andrew Jaspan – The AgeThe following two are interesting … unis fund these two, but they basically write exclusively for The Conversation. Interesting. I know Grattan does some Uni Canberra work, but it stinks.
Managing Editor Misha Ketchell – The Age, ABC, Crikey
Deputy Editor Helen Westerman – The Age
Sunanda Creagh – SMH
Catriona Menzies-Pike – New Matilda
Michael Hopkin – Fairfax (unspecified on his bio where)
Pat Hutchens – The Age/Fairfax
John Watson – The Age
Michael Lund – ABC
Liz Minchin – The Age
Tim Colebatch
Michelle Grattan
===
The air-brushed Gillard
Andrew Bolt May 15 2014 (12:16am)
Julia Gillard’s new book invites us to make a judgment we’ve made already:
‘I was Prime Minister for three years and three days.Three years and three days of resilience.Three years and three days of changing the nation.Three years and three days for you to judge.’Some boasts here jar with me - the bits I’ve put in bold:
Ms Gillard developed Australia’s guiding policy paper, Australia in the Asian Century. Ms Gillard delivered nation-changing policies including reforming Australia education at every level from early childhood to university education, creating an emissions trading scheme, improving the provision and sustainability of health care, aged care and dental care, commencing the nation’s first ever national scheme to care for people with disabilities and restructuring the telecommunications sector as well as building a national broadband network.In order, she actually created a carbon tax that even Labor agrees should go, her health promises were unfunded and unsustainable, the disabilities scheme was unfunded, the NBN is a colossal financial disaster, Indonesian ties were damaged badly by Gillard’s stumbles and her speech actually falsely slimed Tony Abbott as a woman-hater.
In foreign policy, Ms Gillard ... deepened ties with Japan, Indonesia and South Korea.... In October 2012, Ms Gillard received worldwide attention for her speech in Parliament on the treatment of women in professional and public life.
===
I get how she is upset. Some of what she suggests is good. But she is going about it wrong. - ed
===
Today (May 15) is the International Day of Families.
"Families hold societies together, and intergenerational relationships extend this legacy over time. This year’s International Day of Families is an occasion to celebrate connections among all members of the constellation that makes up a family. It is also an opportunity to reflect on how they are affected by social and economic trends – and what we can do to strengthen families in response."
Ban Ki-moon
===
Anytimers Try This Healthy Recipe......
Sweet Potato Egg Cups
Makes 12
Ingredients
- 3 cups raw shredded sweet potato
- salt and pepper, optional
- 12 eggs
- coconut oil
Directions
Preheat the oven to 160°C
Grease a 12 cup muffin tin well with coconut oil. Press 1/4 cup of shredded sweet potato firmly into each muffin tin; forming a nest up the sides. Crack 1 egg into each sweet potato nest. Season with salt and pepper, if you like.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the eggs are done to your liking.
20 minutes=softer yolk, 25 minutes=firm yolk
Once you try this tasty treat give us your feedback.
===
Sin promises more than it can deliver. Takes you further than you want to go. Cost you more than you're willing to pay, and keeps you longer than you want to stay.. Holly
===
- 1793 – Inventor Diego Marín Aguilera, the "father of aviation" in Spain, flew one of the first gliders for about 360 m (1,180 ft).
- 1864 – American Civil War: A small Confederate force, which included cadets from the Virginia Military Institute, forced the Union Army out of theShenandoah Valley.
- 1928 – Mickey and Minnie Mouse made their film debut in the animated cartoon Plane Crazy.
- 1974 – A unit of the Golani Brigade assaulted an elementary school in Ma'alot, Israel, where three armed members of theDemocratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine had taken 115 people hostage, resulting in 28 deaths.
- 1990 – Vincent van Gogh's Portrait of Dr. Gachet (pictured) was sold at auction in Christie's New York office for a total of US$82.5 million, at the time the world's most expensive painting.
===
- 495 BC – A newly constructed temple in honour of the god Mercury was dedicated in ancient Rome on the Circus Maximus, between the Aventine and Palatine hills. To spite the senate and the consuls, the people awarded the dedication to a senior military officer, Marcus Laetorius.
- 221 – Liu Bei, Chinese warlord, proclaims himself emperor of Shu Han, the successor of the Han dynasty.
- 392 – Emperor Valentinian II is assassinated while advancing into Gaul against the Frankish usurper Arbogast. He is found hanging in his residence at Vienne.
- 589 – King Authari marries Theodelinda, daughter of the Bavarian duke Garibald I. A Catholic, she has great influence among the Lombard nobility.
- 908 – The three-year-old Constantine VII, the son of Emperor Leo VI the Wise, is crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire by Patriarch Euthymius I at Constantinople.
- 1252 – Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad extirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition.
- 1525 – Insurgent peasants led by Anabaptist pastor Thomas Müntzer were defeated at the Battle of Frankenhausen, ending the German Peasants' War in the Holy Roman Empire.
- 1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, stands trial in London on charges of treason, adultery and incest; she is condemned to death by a specially-selected jury.
- 1567 – Mary, Queen of Scots marries James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, her third husband.
- 1618 – Johannes Kepler confirms his previously rejected discovery of the third law of planetary motion (he first discovered it on March 8 but soon rejected the idea after some initial calculations were made).
- 1648 – The Treaty of Westphalia is signed.
- 1718 – James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents the world's first machine gun.
- 1730 – Robert Walpole effectively became the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- 1776 – American Revolution: The Fifth Virginia Convention instructs its Continental Congress delegation to propose a resolution of independence from Great Britain, paving the way for the United States Declaration of Independence.
- 1791 – French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre proposes the Self-denying Ordinance.
- 1792 – War of the First Coalition: France declares war on Kingdom of Sardinia.
- 1793 – Diego Marín Aguilera flies a glider for "about 360 meters", at a height of 5–6 meters, during one of the first attempted manned flights.
- 1796 – War of the First Coalition: Napoleon enters Milan in triumph.
- 1800 – King George III of the United Kingdom survives an assassination attempt by James Hadfield, who is later acquitted by reason of insanity.
- 1811 – Paraguay declares independence from Spain.
- 1817 – Opening of the first private mental health hospital in the United States, the Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason (now Friends Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).
- 1836 – Francis Baily observes "Baily's beads" during an annular eclipse.
- 1848 – Serfdom is abolished in the Habsburg Galicia, as a result of the 1848 revolutions. The rest of monarchy followed later in the year.
- 1849 – Troops of the Two Sicilies take Palermo and crush the republican government of Sicily.
- 1850 – The Bloody Island massacre takes place in Lake County, California, in which a large number of Pomo Indians are slaughtered by a regiment of the United States Cavalry.
- 1850 – The Arana–Southern Treaty is ratified, ending "the existing differences" between Great Britain and Argentina.
- 1851 – The first Australian gold rush is proclaimed, although the discovery had been made three months earlier.
- 1858 – Opening of the present Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London.
- 1862 – President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill into law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture. It is later renamed the United States Department of Agriculture.
- 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of New Market, Virginia: Students from the Virginia Military Institute fight alongside the Confederate Army to force Union General Franz Sigel out of the Shenandoah Valley.
- 1869 – Women's suffrage: In New York, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman Suffrage Association.
- 1891 – Pope Leo XIII defends workers' rights and property rights in the encyclical Rerum novarum, the beginning of modern Catholic social teaching.
- 1904 – Russo-Japanese War: The Russian minelayer Amur lays a minefield about 15 miles off Port Arthurand sinks Japan's battleships Hatsuse, 15,000 tons, with 496 crew and Yashima.
- 1905 – Las Vegas is founded when 110 acres (0.45 km2), in what later would become downtown, are auctioned off.
- 1911 – In Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States, the United States Supreme Court declares Standard Oil to be an "unreasonable" monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and orders the company to be broken up.
- 1911 – More than 300 Chinese immigrants are killed in the Torreón massacre when the forces of the Mexican Revolution led by Emilio Madero take the city of Torreón from the Federales.
- 1919 – The Winnipeg general strike begins. By 11:00, almost the whole working population of Winnipeghad walked off the job.
- 1919 – Greek occupation of Smyrna. During the occupation, the Greek army kills or wounds 350 Turks; those responsible are punished by Greek commander Aristides Stergiades.
- 1925 – Al-Insaniyyah, the first Arabic communist newspaper, is founded.
- 1928 – Walt Disney character Mickey Mouse premieres in his first cartoon, "Plane Crazy".
- 1929 – A fire at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio kills 123.
- 1932 – In an attempted coup d'état, the Prime Minister of Japan Inukai Tsuyoshi is assassinated.
- 1933 – All military aviation organizations within, or under the control of, the RLM of Germany were officially merged in a covert manner, to form its Wehrmacht military's air arm, the Luftwaffe.
- 1934 – Kārlis Ulmanis establishes an authoritarian government in Latvia.
- 1940 – USS Sailfish is recommissioned. It was originally the USS Squalus.
- 1940 – World War II: After fierce fighting, the poorly trained and equipped Dutch troops surrender to Germany, marking the beginning of five years of occupation.
- 1940 – McDonald's opens its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California.
- 1941 – First flight of the Gloster E.28/39 the first British and Allied jet aircraft.
- 1941 – Joe DiMaggio begins a 56-game hitting streak.
- 1942 – World War II: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.
- 1943 – Joseph Stalin dissolves the Comintern (or Third International).
- 1945 – World War II: The Battle of Poljana, the final skirmish in Europe is fought near Prevalje, Slovenia.
- 1948 – Following the expiration of The British Mandate for Palestine, the Kingdom of Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia invade Israel thus starting the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
- 1957 – At Malden Island in the Pacific Ocean, Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb in Operation Grapple.
- 1958 – The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.
- 1960 – The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 4.
- 1963 – Project Mercury: The launch of the final Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 9 with astronaut Gordon Cooper on board. He becomes the first American to spend more than a day in space, and the last American to go into space alone.
- 1966 – After a policy dispute, Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ of South Vietnam's ruling junta launches a military attack on the forces of General Tôn Thất Đính, forcing him to abandon his command.
- 1969 – People's Park: California Governor Ronald Reagan has an impromptu student park owned by the University of California at Berkeley fenced off from student anti-war protestors, sparking a riot.
- 1970 – President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington the first female United States Army generals.
- 1970 – Philip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green are killed at Jackson State University by police during student protests.
- 1972 – Ryukyu Islands, under U.S. military governance since its conquest in 1945, hand over to Japanese control.
- 1972 – In Laurel, Maryland, Arthur Bremer shoots and paralyzes Alabama Governor George Wallace while he is campaigning to become President.
- 1974 – Ma'alot massacre: Members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine attack and take hostages at an Israeli school; a total of 31 people are killed, including 22 schoolchildren.
- 1987 – The Soviet Union launches the Polyus prototype orbital weapons platform. It fails to reach orbit.
- 1988 – Soviet war in Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Soviet Army begins to withdrawal 115,000 troops from Afghanistan.
- 1991 – Édith Cresson becomes France's first female premier.
- 1997 – The United States government acknowledges the existence of the "Secret War" in Laos and dedicates the Laos Memorial in honor of Hmong and other "Secret War" veterans.
- 2004 – Arsenal F.C. go an entire league campaign unbeaten in the English First Division, joining Preston North End F.C with the right to claim the title The Invincibles
- 2008 – California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage after the state's own Supreme Court rules a previous ban unconstitutional.
- 2010 – Jessica Watson becomes the youngest person to sail, non-stop and unassisted around the world solo.
- 2013 – An upsurge in violence in Iraq leaves more than 389 people dead over three days.
Births[edit]
- 1397 – Sejong the Great, Korean king (d. 1450)
- 1531 – Maria of Austria, Duchess of Jülich-Cleves-Berg (d. 1581)
- 1567 – Claudio Monteverdi, Italian priest and composer (d. 1643)
- 1608 – René Goupil, French-American missionary and saint (d. 1642)
- 1689 – Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, English author and playwright (d. 1762)
- 1720 – Maximilian Hell, Hungarian priest and astronomer (d. 1792)
- 1749 – Levi Lincoln Sr., American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Attorney General (d. 1820)
- 1759 – Maria Theresia von Paradis, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1824)
- 1764 – Johann Nepomuk Kalcher, German organist and composer (d. 1827)
- 1767 – Ezekiel Hart, Canadian businessman and politician (d. 1843)
- 1773 – Klemens von Metternich, German-Austrian politician, 1st State Chancellor of the Austrian Empire(d. 1859)
- 1786 – Dimitris Plapoutas, Greek general and politician (d. 1864)
- 1808 – Michael William Balfe, Irish composer and conductor (d. 1870)
- 1817 – Debendranath Tagore, Indian philosopher and author (d. 1905)
- 1841 – Clarence Dutton, American commander and geologist (d. 1912)
- 1848 – Viktor Vasnetsov, Russian painter and illustrator (d. 1926)
- 1854 – Ioannis Psycharis, Ukrainian-French philologist and author (d. 1929)
- 1856 – L. Frank Baum, American novelist (d. 1919)
- 1856 – Matthias Zurbriggen, Swiss mountaineer (d. 1917)
- 1857 – Williamina Fleming, Scottish-American astronomer and academic (d. 1911)
- 1859 – Pierre Curie, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1906)
- 1862 – Arthur Schnitzler, Austrian author and playwright (d. 1931)
- 1863 – Frank Hornby, English businessman and politician, invented Meccano (d. 1936)
- 1869 – Paul Probst, Swiss target shooter (d. 1945)
- 1869 – John Storey, Australian politician, 20th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1921)
- 1890 – Katherine Anne Porter, American short story writer, novelist, and essayist (d. 1980)
- 1891 – Mikhail Bulgakov, Russian novelist and playwright (d. 1940)
- 1891 – Fritz Feigl, Austrian-Brazilian chemist and academic (d. 1971)
- 1892 – Charles E. Rosendahl, American admiral (d. 1977)
- 1892 – Jimmy Wilde, Welsh boxer (d. 1969)
- 1894 – Feg Murray, American hurdler and cartoonist (d. 1973)
- 1895 – Prescott Bush, American captain, banker, and politician (d. 1972)
- 1895 – William D. Byron, American lieutenant and politician (d. 1941)
- 1898 – Arletty, French model, actress, and singer (d. 1992)
- 1899 – Jean Étienne Valluy, French general (d. 1970)
- 1900 – Ida Rhodes, American mathematician (d. 1986)
- 1901 – Xavier Herbert, Australian author (d. 1984)
- 1901 – Luis Monti, Argentinian-Italian footballer and manager (d. 1983)
- 1902 – Richard J. Daley, American lawyer and politician, 48th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1976)
- 1903 – Maria Reiche, German mathematician and archaeologist (d. 1998)
- 1904 – Clifton Fadiman, American game show host and author (d. 1999)
- 1905 – Joseph Cotten, American actor (d. 1994)
- 1905 – Abraham Zapruder, American businessman and amateur photographer, filmed the Zapruder film (d. 1970)
- 1907 – Sukhdev Thapar, Indian activist (d. 1931)
- 1909 – James Mason, English actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1984)
- 1909 – Clara Solovera, Chilean singer-songwriter (d. 1992)
- 1910 – Constance Cummings, British-based American actress (d. 2005)
- 1911 – Max Frisch, Swiss playwright and novelist (d. 1991)
- 1911 – Herta Oberheuser, German physician (d. 1978)
- 1912 – Arthur Berger, American composer and educator (d. 2003)
- 1914 – Turk Broda, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1972)
- 1914 – Angus MacLean, Canadian farmer and politician, 25th Premier of Prince Edward Island (d. 2000)
- 1914 – Norrie Paramor, English composer, producer, and conductor (d. 1979)
- 1915 – Hilda Bernstein, English-South African author and activist (d. 2006)
- 1915 – Paul Samuelson, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2009)
- 1915 – Henrik Sandberg, Danish production manager and producer (d. 1993)
- 1916 – Vera Gebuhr, Danish actress (d. 2014)
- 1918 – Eddy Arnold, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 2008)
- 1918 – Arthur Jackson, American lieutenant and target shooter (d. 2015)
- 1918 – Joseph Wiseman, Canadian-American actor (d. 2009)
- 1920 – Michel Audiard, French director and screenwriter (d. 1985)
- 1920 – Louis Siminovitch, Canadian biologist and academic
- 1922 – Sigurd Ottovich Schmidt, Russian historian and ethnographer (d. 2013)
- 1922 – Jakucho Setouchi, Japanese nun and author
- 1923 – Richard Avedon, American sailor and photographer (d. 2004)
- 1923 – John Lanchbery, English-Australian composer and conductor (d. 2003)
- 1924 – Maria Koepcke, German-Peruvian ornithologist and zoologist (d. 1971)
- 1925 – Andrei Eshpai, Russian pianist and composer (d. 2015)
- 1925 – Mary F. Lyon, English geneticist and biologist (d. 2014)
- 1925 – Carl Sanders, American soldier, pilot, and politician, 74th Governor of Georgia (d. 2014)
- 1925 – Roy Stewart, Jamaican-English actor and stuntman (d. 2008)
- 1926 – Clermont Pépin, Canadian pianist, composer, and educator (d. 2006)
- 1926 – Anthony Shaffer, English author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 2001)
- 1926 – Peter Shaffer, English playwright and screenwriter (d. 2016)
- 1930 – Jasper Johns, American painter and sculptor
- 1931 – Ken Venturi, Ameerican golfer and sportscaster (d. 2013)
- 1935 – Don Bragg, American pole vaulter
- 1935 – Ted Dexter, Italian-English cricketer
- 1935 – Utah Phillips, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2008)
- 1936 – Anna Maria Alberghetti, Italian-American actress and singer
- 1936 – Mart Laga, Estonian basketball player (d. 1977)
- 1936 – Ralph Steadman, English painter and illustrator
- 1936 – Paul Zindel, American playwright and novelist (d. 2003)
- 1937 – Madeleine Albright, Czech-American politician and diplomat, 64th United States Secretary of State
- 1937 – Karin Krog, Norwegian singer
- 1937 – Trini Lopez, American singer, guitarist, and actor
- 1938 – Mireille Darc, French actress, director, and screenwriter
- 1938 – Nancy Garden, American author (d. 2014)
- 1939 – Dorothy Shirley, English high jumper and educator
- 1940 – Roger Ailes, American businessman
- 1940 – Lainie Kazan, American actress and singer
- 1940 – Don Nelson, American basketball player and coach
- 1941 – Jaxon, American illustrator and publisher, co-founded the Rip Off Press (d. 2006)
- 1942 – Lois Johnson, American singer-songwriter (d. 2014)
- 1942 – Jusuf Kalla, Indonesian businessman and politician, 10th Vice President of Indonesia
- 1942 – Doug Lowe, Australian politician, 35th Premier of Tasmania
- 1942 – K. T. Oslin, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1943 – Paul Bégin, Canadian lawyer and politician
- 1943 – Freddie Perren, American songwriter, producer, and conductor (d. 2004)
- 1944 – Bill Alter, American police officer and politician
- 1944 – Ulrich Beck, German sociologist and academic (d. 2015)
- 1945 – Michael Dexter, English hematologist and academic
- 1945 – Jerry Quarry, American boxer (d. 1999)
- 1946 – Thadeus Nguyễn Văn Lý, Vietnamese priest and activist
- 1947 – Graeham Goble, Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer
- 1948 – Yutaka Enatsu, Japanese baseball player
- 1948 – Brian Eno, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
- 1948 – Kathleen Sebelius, American politician, 44th Governor of Kansas
- 1949 – Frank L. Culbertson Jr., American captain, pilot, and astronaut
- 1949 – Robert S.J. Sparks, English geologist and academic
- 1950 – Jim Bacon, Australian politician, 41st Premier of Tasmania (d. 2004)
- 1950 – Jim Simons, American golfer (d. 2005)
- 1951 – Dennis Frederiksen, American singer-songwriter (d. 2014)
- 1951 – Chris Ham, English political scientist and academic
- 1951 – Frank Wilczek, American mathematician and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1952 – Chazz Palminteri, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1953 – George Brett, American baseball player and coach
- 1953 – Athene Donald, English physicist and academic
- 1953 – Mike Oldfield, English-Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1954 – Diana Liverman, English-American geographer and academic
- 1954 – Caroline Thomson, English journalist and broadcaster
- 1955 – Mohamed Brahmi, Tunisian politician (d. 2013)
- 1955 – Lia Vissi, Cypriot singer-songwriter and politician
- 1956 – Andreas Loverdos, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Labour
- 1956 – Dan Patrick, American television anchor and sportscaster
- 1957 – Meg Gardiner, American-English author and academic
- 1957 – Juan José Ibarretxe, Spanish politician
- 1957 – Kevin Von Erich, American football player and wrestler
- 1958 – Jason Graae, American musical theater actor
- 1958 – Ron Simmons, American football player and wrestler
- 1959 – Khaosai Galaxy, Thai boxer and politician
- 1959 – Luis Pérez-Sala, Spanish race car driver
- 1959 – Beverly Jo Scott, American-Belgian singer-songwriter
- 1960 – Rhonda Burchmore, Australian actress, singer, and dancer
- 1960 – Rob Bowman, American director and producer
- 1960 – R. Kuhaneswaran, Sri Lankan politician
- 1960 – Rimas Kurtinaitis, Lithuanian basketball player and coach
- 1962 – Lisa Curry, Australian swimmer
- 1964 – Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Danish lawyer and politician, 40th Prime Minister of Denmark
- 1965 – André Abujamra, Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1965 – Scott Tronc, Australian rugby league player
- 1967 – Simen Agdestein, Norwegian chess grandmaster and football player
- 1967 – Laura Hillenbrand, American journalist and author
- 1967 – John Smoltz, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1968 – Cecilia Malmström, Swedish academic and politician, 15th European Commissioner for Trade
- 1969 – Hideki Irabu, Japanese-American baseball player (d. 2011)
- 1969 – Emmitt Smith, American football player and sportscaster
- 1970 – Frank de Boer, Dutch footballer and manager
- 1970 – Ronald de Boer, Dutch footballer and manager
- 1970 – Desmond Howard, American football player and sportscaster
- 1970 – Alison Jackson, English photographer, director, and screenwriter
- 1970 – Rod Smith, American football player
- 1970 – Ben Wallace, English captain and politician
- 1971 – Karin Lušnic, Slovenian tennis player
- 1972 – Danny Alexander, Scottish politician, Secretary of State for Scotland
- 1972 – David Charvet, French actor and singer
- 1974 – Vasilis Kikilias, Greek basketball player and politician
- 1974 – Matthew Sadler, English chess player and author
- 1974 – Marko Tredup, German footballer and manager
- 1974 – Ahmet Zappa, American musician and writer
- 1975 – Ray Lewis, American football player and sportscaster
- 1975 – Ales Michalevic, Belarusian lawyer and politician
- 1976 – Torraye Braggs, American basketball player
- 1976 – Mark Kennedy, Irish footballer
- 1976 – Jacek Krzynówek, Polish footballer
- 1976 – Ryan Leaf, American football player and coach
- 1976 – Tyler Walker, American baseball player
- 1978 – Amy Chow, American gymnast and pediatrician
- 1978 – Dwayne De Rosario, Canadian soccer player
- 1978 – Edu Gaspar, Brazilian footballer
- 1978 – David Krumholtz, American actor
- 1979 – Adolfo Bautista, Mexican footballer
- 1979 – Daniel Caines, English sprinter
- 1979 – Chris Masoe, New Zealand rugby player
- 1979 – Ryan Max Riley, American skier
- 1979 – Robert Royal, American football player
- 1980 – Josh Beckett, American baseball player
- 1981 – Patrice Evra, French footballer
- 1981 – Justin Morneau, Canadian baseball player
- 1981 – Zara Phillips, English horse rider
- 1981 – Jamie-Lynn Sigler, American actress and singer
- 1982 – Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jamaican sprinter
- 1982 – Segundo Castillo, Ecuadorian footballer
- 1982 – Rafael Pérez, Dominican baseball player
- 1984 – Jeff Deslauriers, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1984 – Sérgio Jimenez, Brazilian race car driver
- 1984 – Samantha Noble, Australian actress
- 1984 – Beau Scott, Australian rugby league player
- 1985 – Cristiane Rozeira, Brazilian footballer
- 1985 – Tania Cagnotto, Italian diver
- 1985 – Justine Robbeson, South African javelin thrower
- 1985 – Denis Onyango, Ugandan goalkeeper
- 1986 – Thomas Brown, American football player
- 1986 – Matías Fernández, Chilean footballer
- 1986 – Adam Moffat, Scottish footballer
- 1987 – David Adams, American baseball player
- 1987 – Michael Brantley, American baseball player
- 1987 – Kévin Constant, French-Guinean footballer
- 1987 – Brian Dozier, American baseball player
- 1987 – Mark Fayne, American ice hockey player
- 1987 – Ersan İlyasova, Turkish basketball player
- 1987 – Leonardo Mayer, Argentinian tennis player
- 1987 – Andy Murray, Scottish tennis player
- 1988 – Indrek Kajupank, Estonian basketball player
- 1989 – Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, French footballer
- 1990 – Jordan Eberle, Canadian ice hockey player
Deaths[edit]
- 392 – Valentinian II, Roman emperor (b. 371)
- 558 – Hilary of Galeata, Christian monk
- 884 – Pope Marinus I
- 913 – Hatto I, German archbishop (b. 850)
- 1036 – Emperor Go-Ichijō of Japan (b. 1008)
- 1157 – Yuri Dolgorukiy, Russian prince (b. 1099)
- 1175 – King Mleh, Prince of Armenia
- 1174 – Nur ad-Din, atabeg of Aleppo, Syrian ruler (b. 1118)
- 1268 – Peter II, Count of Savoy (b. 1203)
- 1461 – Domenico Veneziano, Italian painter (b. c. 1410)
- 1464 – Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset (b. 1436)
- 1470 – Charles VIII of Sweden (b. 1409)
- 1585 – Niwa Nagahide, Japanese samurai (b. 1535)
- 1609 – Giovanni Croce, Italian composer and educator (b. 1557)
- 1634 – Hendrick Avercamp, Dutch painter (b. 1585)
- 1698 – Marie Champmeslé, French actress (b. 1642)
- 1699 – Sir Edward Petre, 3rd Baronet, English politician (b. 1631)
- 1700 – John Hale, American minister (b. 1636)
- 1740 – Ephraim Chambers, English publisher (b. 1680)
- 1773 – Alban Butler, English priest and hagiographer (b. 1710)
- 1845 – Braulio Carrillo Colina, Costa Rican lawyer and politician, Head of State of Costa Rica (b. 1800)
- 1879 – Gottfried Semper, German architect and educator, designed the Semper Opera House (b. 1803)
- 1886 – Emily Dickinson, American poet and author (b. 1830)
- 1919 – Hasan Tahsin, Turkish journalist (b. 1888)
- 1924 – Paul-Henri-Benjamin d'Estournelles de Constant, French diplomat and politician, Nobel Prizelaureate (b. 1852)
- 1926 – Joseph James Fletcher, Australian biologist (b. 1850)
- 1928 – Umegatani Tōtarō I, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 15th Yokozuna (b. 1845)
- 1935 – Kazimir Malevich, Ukrainian-Russian painter and theoretician (b. 1878)
- 1937 – Philip Snowden, 1st Viscount Snowden, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1864)
- 1945 – Charles Williams, English author, poet, and critic (b. 1886)
- 1948 – Edward J. Flanagan, Irish-American priest, founded Boys Town (b. 1886)
- 1954 – William March, American soldier and author (b. 1893)
- 1956 – Austin Osman Spare, English painter and magician (b. 1886)
- 1957 – Keith Andrews, American racing driver (b. 1920)
- 1957 – Dick Irvin, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1892)
- 1963 – John Aglionby, English-born Bishop of Accra and soldier (b. 1884)
- 1964 – Vladko Maček, Croatian lawyer and politician (b. 1879)
- 1965 – Pio Pion, Italian businessman (b. 1887)
- 1967 – Edward Hopper, American painter (b. 1882)
- 1967 – Italo Mus, Italian painter (b. 1892)
- 1969 – Joe Malone, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1890)
- 1971 – Tyrone Guthrie, English director, producer, and playwright (b. 1900)
- 1978 – Robert Menzies, Australian lawyer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1894)
- 1980 – Gordon Prange, American historian and author (b. 1910)
- 1982 – Gordon Smiley, American race car driver (b. 1946)
- 1984 – Francis Schaeffer, American pastor, theologian, and philosopher (b. 1912)
- 1985 – Jackie Curtis, American actress and writer (b. 1947)
- 1986 – Elio de Angelis, Italian race car driver (b. 1958)
- 1986 – Theodore H. White, American historian, journalist, and author (b. 1915)
- 1989 – Johnny Green, American composer and conductor (b. 1908)
- 1989 – Luc Lacourcière, Canadian ethnographer and author (b. 1910)
- 1991 – Andreas Floer, German mathematician and academic (b. 1956)
- 1991 – Amadou Hampâté Bâ, Malian ethnologist and author (b. 1901)
- 1991 – Fritz Riess, German race car driver (b. 1922)
- 1993 – Salah Ahmed Ibrahim, Sudanese poet and diplomat (b. 1933)
- 1994 – Gilbert Roland, American actor (b. 1905)
- 1995 – Eric Porter, English actor (b. 1928)
- 1996 – Charles B. Fulton, American lawyer and judge (b. 1910)
- 1998 – Earl Manigault, American basketball player (b. 1944)
- 1998 – Naim Talu, Turkish economist, banker, politician, 15th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1919)
- 2003 – June Carter Cash, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress (b. 1929)
- 2006 – Nizar Abdul Zahra, Iraqi footballer (b. 1961)
- 2007 – Jerry Falwell, American pastor, founded Liberty University (b. 1933)
- 2008 – Tommy Burns, Scottish footballer and manager (b. 1956)
- 2008 – Alexander Courage, American composer and conductor (b. 1919)
- 2009 – Bud Tingwell, Australian actor, director, and producer (b. 1923)
- 2009 – Wayman Tisdale, American basketball player and bass player (b. 1964)
- 2010 – Besian Idrizaj, Austrian footballer (b. 1987)
- 2010 – Loris Kessel, Swiss race car driver (b. 1950)
- 2012 – Carlos Fuentes, Mexican novelist and essayist (b. 1928)
- 2012 – Arno Lustiger, German historian and author (b. 1924)
- 2012 – Zakaria Mohieddin, Egyptian soldier and politician, 33rd Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1918)
- 2013 – Henrique Rosa, Bissau-Guinean politician, President of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1946)
- 2014 – Jean-Luc Dehaene, French-Belgian politician, 63rd Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1940)
- 2014 – Noribumi Suzuki, Japanese director and screenwriter (b. 1933)
- 2015 – Elisabeth Bing, German-American physical therapist and author (b. 1914)
- 2015 – Jackie Brookner, American sculptor and educator (b. 1945)
- 2015 – Garo Yepremian, Cypriot-American football player (b. 1944)
- Aoi Matsuri (Kyoto)
- Christian feast day:
- Achillius of Larissa
- Athanasius of Alexandria (Coptic Church)
- Dymphna
- Hallvard Vebjørnsson (Norway)
- Hilary of Galeata
- Isidore the Laborer, celebrated with festivals in various countries, the beginning of bullfighting season in Madrid.
- Jean-Baptiste de La Salle (Roman Catholic Church)
- Peter, Andrew, Paul, and Denise (Roman Catholic Church)
- Reticius (Roman Catholic Church)
- Sophia of Rome (Roman Catholic church)
- May 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Constituent Assembly Day (Lithuania)
- Earliest date on which Armed Forces Day (United States) can fall, while May 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Saturday of May.
- Earliest date on which Bike-to-Work Day can fall, while May 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Friday of May. (United States)
- Independence Day (Paraguay), celebrates the independence of Paraguay from Spain in 1811. Celebrations for the anniversary of the independence begin on Flag Day, May 14.
- International Day of Families (International)
- La Corsa dei Ceri begins on the eve of the feast day of Saint Ubaldo. (Gubbio)
- Mercuralia, in honour of Mercury. (Roman Empire)
- Nakba Day (Palestinian communities)
- Peace Officers Memorial Day (United States)
- Army Day (Slovenia)
- Teachers' Day (Colombia, Mexico and South Korea)
- Argei (Ancient Rome)
- Mother's Day (Paraguay)
- Republic Day (Lithuania)
- Tree Day (India)
- International Conscientious Objectors Day[1]
Holidays and observances[edit]
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“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” -Psalm 139:13-14
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
The boundless realms of his Father's universe are Christ's by prescriptive right. As "heir of all things," he is the sole proprietor of the vast creation of God, and he has admitted us to claim the whole as ours, by virtue of that deed of joint-heirship which the Lord hath ratified with his chosen people. The golden streets of paradise, the pearly gates, the river of life, the transcendent bliss, and the unutterable glory, are, by our blessed Lord, made over to us for our everlasting possession. All that he has he shares with his people. The crown royal he has placed upon the head of his Church, appointing her a kingdom, and calling her sons a royal priesthood, a generation of priests and kings. He uncrowned himself that we might have a coronation of glory; he would not sit upon his own throne until he had procured a place upon it for all who overcome by his blood. Crown the head and the whole body shares the honour. Behold here the reward of every Christian conqueror! Christ's throne, crown, sceptre, palace, treasure, robes, heritage, are yours. Far superior to the jealousy, selfishness, and greed, which admit of no participation of their advantages, Christ deems his happiness completed by his people sharing it. "The glory which thou gavest me have I given them." "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." The smiles of his Father are all the sweeter to him, because his people share them. The honours of his kingdom are more pleasing, because his people appear with him in glory. More valuable to him are his conquests, since they have taught his people to overcome. He delights in his throne, because on it there is a place for them. He rejoices in his royal robes, since over them his skirts are spread. He delights the more in his joy, because he calls them to enter into it.
Evening
Who is he of whom such gracious words are spoken? He is the Good Shepherd. Why doth he carry the lambs in his bosom? Because He hath a tender heart, and any weakness at once melts his heart. The sighs, the ignorance, the feebleness of the little ones of his flock draw forth his compassion. It is his office, as a faithful High Priest, to consider the weak. Besides, he purchased them with blood, they are his property: he must and will care for that which cost him so dear. Then he is responsible for each lamb, bound by covenant engagements not to lose one. Moreover, they are all a part of his glory and reward.
But how may we understand the expression, "He will carry them"? Sometimes he carries them by not permitting them to endure much trial. Providence deals tenderly with them. Often they are "carried" by being filled with an unusual degree of love, so that they bear up and stand fast. Though their knowledge may not be deep, they have great sweetness in what they do know. Frequently he "carries" them by giving them a very simple faith, which takes the promise just as it stands, and believingly runs with every trouble straight to Jesus. The simplicity of their faith gives them an unusual degree of confidence, which carries them above the world.
"He carries the lambs in his bosom." Here is boundless affection. Would he put them in his bosom if he did not love them much? Here is tender nearness: so near are they, that they could not possibly be nearer. Here is hallowed familiarity: there are precious love-passages between Christ and his weak ones. Here is perfect safety: in his bosom who can hurt them? They must hurt the Shepherd first. Here is perfect rest and sweetest comfort. Surely we are not sufficiently sensible of the infinite tenderness of Jesus!
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Today's reading: 2 Kings 19-21, John 4:1-30 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: 2 Kings 19-21
Jerusalem's Deliverance Foretold
1 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the LORD. 2 He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3 They told him, "This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. 4 It may be that the LORD your God will hear all the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the LORD your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives...."
Today's New Testament reading: John 4:1-30
Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman
1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John-- 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon....
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