The potential of Australian Parliamentarians being booted for having dual citizenship is ruinous to good government and really hazardous for Turnbull's administration. Turnbull is one seat away from minority government and it looks like one seat may be facing a bye election. If the Liberals had Tony Abbott in charge, they could win that bye election. Turnbull will try to buy Chisholm. But Turnbull doesn't have another $50 billion sub deal shovel ready. If the Turnbull government falls, Shorten can step into the breach and funnel continuous aid to terrorist organisations like Hamas.
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 Star Wars Lyrically Challenged
Here is a video I made Star Wars Lyrically Challenged
Star wars theme with lyrics written specially for the music.
=== from 2016 ===
The US Presidential election is important. And so it is important to get right. Leftwing journalists live in an echo chamber and so wildly divergent views have been expressed from the Democratic National Conference (DNC). One onlooker had predicted Obama would not talk much about Hillary Clinton, but himself. He was right. Obama made devastating use of the teleprompter. But it was the prepared speech of Obama that was awful. He talked long and lyrically of himself, of gun laws he hasn't improved and on effective policy he didn't make. But when he spoke of Hillary he gave the same curse Bill Clinton gave Al Gore, saying that Hillary was the custodian of his legacy. Alternatively, one journalist reported Obama destroyed Donald Trump with a speech heard around the world. Expect the next opinion polls to differ. Meanwhile in Australia, panic in Turnbull's office has resulted in a royal commission being established into the treatment of children in custody. In charge is a judge who once sentenced an Aboriginal (55 yo) elder for one month for sexually molesting a 14 yo girl promised in marriage to him by Aboriginal custom.
For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
=== from 2015 ===
Children are special and those who don't like them, or can't be trusted with them, deserve contempt. The youngest cannot talk, or communicate clearly their needs. They may be hungry, thirsty or wet. Or maybe needing of stimulation and entertainment. Something older people can take for granted. Crimes exploiting young people can not be punished harshly enough, but then the state has to make choices when it does, and can always be criticised for doing so. So when an Islamic refugee molests a child in a park and the issue is brought before a court, the sentence of the judge will always be suspect. We don't have a death sentence in Australia as such a crime might attract such a penalty in any of many Islamic nations. And we don't want such a sentence in Australia even for offences which merit such a sentence. Because we have checks and balances which keep our nation running, or staggering into the future.
A young mother of two girls, one nine, the other seven, is a former refugee who runs her own business employing others. During the week, her two girls come to the retail business and do their homework while their mum supervises. Recently, a stranger, looking seedy comes to the business and tells the mum he is a regular, tells her about er daughters and their names. He tells he speaks her family's language, but says gobbledegook instead. It could be a joke. Or it could be a threat. Maybe the stranger knows a trusted love one and is playing a practical joke? Or maybe the creepy stranger is a psychopath. And the law, being balanced, cannot handle the situation. The police are powerless so long as the children weren't harmed, and powerless if they were, too.
We rely on the rule of law far more than we rely on the rules of law. People don't do the unthinkable because they don't. They choose not to. It is possible to cross that line, and it isn't really impeded by police, but by individuals themselves, answering to cultural artefacts. Australia will never be like ISIL. Not because our constitution wouldn't allow it, but because our people wouldn't. Such depravity has cultural equivalences, as with WW2 Nazism or Japanese imperialism or the French Revolution or any of many other instances. But, at heart of it, it comes down to how children are treated. In particular, the youngest. And it highlights who it is that must be resisted.
Pedophiles and family planners cannot have their behaviours taken on trust. Not when family planners have been known to have profited from abortion and the sale of body parts. Not while pedophiles have demonstrated no understanding of the damage they do exploiting the young. The issue of Maddie McCann was raised recently when a body was found in a suitcase in South Australia recently. It could be hers, but it is too hard to positively identify at the moment. Pity her poor parents who have done everything to find her. It would not be what they want. But seven or eight years on, what they want becomes too unlikely. And think then of the creep who may be a prankster, rocking up to the business of a young mother and talking about her heritage and daughters. No hell is hot enough for such people.
A young mother of two girls, one nine, the other seven, is a former refugee who runs her own business employing others. During the week, her two girls come to the retail business and do their homework while their mum supervises. Recently, a stranger, looking seedy comes to the business and tells the mum he is a regular, tells her about er daughters and their names. He tells he speaks her family's language, but says gobbledegook instead. It could be a joke. Or it could be a threat. Maybe the stranger knows a trusted love one and is playing a practical joke? Or maybe the creepy stranger is a psychopath. And the law, being balanced, cannot handle the situation. The police are powerless so long as the children weren't harmed, and powerless if they were, too.
We rely on the rule of law far more than we rely on the rules of law. People don't do the unthinkable because they don't. They choose not to. It is possible to cross that line, and it isn't really impeded by police, but by individuals themselves, answering to cultural artefacts. Australia will never be like ISIL. Not because our constitution wouldn't allow it, but because our people wouldn't. Such depravity has cultural equivalences, as with WW2 Nazism or Japanese imperialism or the French Revolution or any of many other instances. But, at heart of it, it comes down to how children are treated. In particular, the youngest. And it highlights who it is that must be resisted.
Pedophiles and family planners cannot have their behaviours taken on trust. Not when family planners have been known to have profited from abortion and the sale of body parts. Not while pedophiles have demonstrated no understanding of the damage they do exploiting the young. The issue of Maddie McCann was raised recently when a body was found in a suitcase in South Australia recently. It could be hers, but it is too hard to positively identify at the moment. Pity her poor parents who have done everything to find her. It would not be what they want. But seven or eight years on, what they want becomes too unlikely. And think then of the creep who may be a prankster, rocking up to the business of a young mother and talking about her heritage and daughters. No hell is hot enough for such people.
From 2014
It is ok to plan, it is necessary to prosper. But plans shouldn't treat peoples lives as pawns without care for their welfare. When it happens, a good person feels guilty. There are numerous stories of survivors from hard fought battles asking "Why them? Why not me?" But, some people don't have a conscience and they should be despised. None now can speak with certainty regarding the execution of Anne Boleyn. However, it is certain that Thomas Cromwell was involved. Anne's life was the price of Thomas's continuing career. Thomas may have found other options, but possibly he had been instructed and had few alternatives. He made a tactical mistake in getting Henry VIII to marry Anne of Cleves. But jealous courtiers manoeuvred against him and he paid the ultimate price, being executed on this day in 1540. Henry VIII probably regretted the execution as he married Catherine Howard the same day, and was to need an exit strategy. Leadership having been made a very high stakes game. Robespierre was another who cared little for the sanctity of life. He ordered over 17000 people executed for his revolutionary fervour. He was executed on this day in 1794. Robespierre was no different to any common terrorist.
How do terrorists view people? How do they view rules? In Syria, in Gaza, in Iraq, in Iran .. atrocities are committed by people who treat people as pawns to be moved, whose very lives are vanquished on a whim. Secular administration was advocated by Christ, and if you believe in him you must pay a tax to the terrorist caliphate or be killed. Secular administration is particularly spurned by the terrorists. Girls have been killed for going to school. Families have been killed for watching soccer. But more, they also kill Islamic peoples. Lots of Islamic peoples. The largest killer of Islamic peoples in the Middle East is a terrorist who probably calls themselves Islamic. Anarchists of the nineteenth century were not as brutal.
The fourteenth Amendment to the US constitution was certified on this day, 1868, guaranteeing due process .. something denied me in my issue with government, but also something which should deny favouritism given race or creed. Democrats opposed it bitterly as they tried to maintain slave states. In 1914, Serbia got precious about the need for Austria to investigate the death of her heir. So war began. In 1932, The Bonus Army was threatened with eviction if they marched in Washington DC. In 1942, Stalin issued order 227, authorising the execution of any Soviet soldier who retreated or left their post without orders. This kept the Soviet army young. In 1996, Kennewick man was uncovered. In 2001, Ian Thorpe became the first swimmer to win six gold medals at a world championship.
How do terrorists view people? How do they view rules? In Syria, in Gaza, in Iraq, in Iran .. atrocities are committed by people who treat people as pawns to be moved, whose very lives are vanquished on a whim. Secular administration was advocated by Christ, and if you believe in him you must pay a tax to the terrorist caliphate or be killed. Secular administration is particularly spurned by the terrorists. Girls have been killed for going to school. Families have been killed for watching soccer. But more, they also kill Islamic peoples. Lots of Islamic peoples. The largest killer of Islamic peoples in the Middle East is a terrorist who probably calls themselves Islamic. Anarchists of the nineteenth century were not as brutal.
The fourteenth Amendment to the US constitution was certified on this day, 1868, guaranteeing due process .. something denied me in my issue with government, but also something which should deny favouritism given race or creed. Democrats opposed it bitterly as they tried to maintain slave states. In 1914, Serbia got precious about the need for Austria to investigate the death of her heir. So war began. In 1932, The Bonus Army was threatened with eviction if they marched in Washington DC. In 1942, Stalin issued order 227, authorising the execution of any Soviet soldier who retreated or left their post without orders. This kept the Soviet army young. In 1996, Kennewick man was uncovered. In 2001, Ian Thorpe became the first swimmer to win six gold medals at a world championship.
Historical perspective on this day
In 1364, Troops of the Republic of Pisa and the Republic of Florence clashed in the Battle of Cascina. 1540, Thomas Cromwell was executed at the order of Henry VIII of England on charges of treason. Henry married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day. 1571, La Laguna encomienda, known today as the Laguna province in the Philippines was founded by the Spaniards as one of the oldest encomiendas (provinces) in the country. 1794, French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just were executed by guillotine in Paris, France.
In 1808, Mahmud II became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam. 1809, Peninsular War: Battle of Talavera: Sir Arthur Wellesley's British, Portuguese and Spanish army defeated a French force led by Joseph Bonaparte. 1821, José de San Martín declared the independence of Peru from Spain. 1854, USS Constellation (1854), the last all-sail warship built by the United States Navy, was commissioned. 1864, American Civil War: Battle of Ezra Church: Confederate troops made a third unsuccessful attempt to drive Union forces from Atlanta, Georgia. 1866, at the age of 18, Vinnie Ream became the first and youngest female artist to receive a commission from the United States government for a statue (of Abraham Lincoln). 1868, the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution was certified, establishing African American citizenship and guaranteeing due process of law. 1896, the city of Miami, Florida was incorporated.
In 1914, World War I: Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia after Serbia rejected the conditions of an ultimatum sent by Austria on July 23 following the assassinationof Archduke Franz Ferdinand. 1932, U.S. President Herbert Hoover ordered the United States Army to forcibly evict the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans gathered in Washington, D.C. 1933, Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Unionand Spain were established. 1935, First flight of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. 1938, Hawaii Clipper disappeared between Guam and Manila as the first loss of an airliner in trans-Pacific China Clipper service.
In 1942, World War II: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin issued Order No. 227 in response to alarming German advances into the Soviet Union. Under the order all those who retreated or otherwise left their positions without orders to do so were to be tried in a military court, with punishments including duty in a penal battalion, imprisonment in a gulag, or execution. 1943, World War II: Operation Gomorrah: The Royal Air Force bombed Hamburg, Germany causing a firestorm that killed 42,000 German civilians. 1945, a U.S. Army B-25 bomber crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building killing 14 and injuring 26. 1948, the Metropolitan Police Flying Squadfoiled a bullion robbery in the "Battle of London Airport". 1955, the Union Mundial pro Interlingua was founded at the first Interlingua congress in Tours, France. 1957, heavy rain and a mudslide in Isahaya, western Kyushu, Japan, killed 992. 1965, Vietnam War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announced his order to increase the number of United States troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000.
In 1973, Summer Jam at Watkins Glen: Nearly 600,000 people attended a rock festival at the Watkins Glen International Raceway. 1974, Spetsgruppa A, Russia's elite special force, was formed. 1976, the Tangshan earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 moment magnitude flattened Tangshan in the People's Republic of China, killing 242,769 and injuring 164,851. 1984, the 1984 Summer Olympicsofficially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad were opened in Los AngelesUSA. 1993, Andorra joined the United Nations. 1996, the remains of a prehistoricman were discovered near Kennewick, Washington. Such remains were to be known as the Kennewick Man. 2001, Australian Ian Thorpe became the first swimmer to win six gold medals at a single World Championships. 2005, the Provisional Irish Republican Army called an end to its thirty-year-long armed campaign in Northern Ireland. 2008, the historic Grand Pier in Weston-super-Mare burned down for the second time in 80 years.
In 1808, Mahmud II became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam. 1809, Peninsular War: Battle of Talavera: Sir Arthur Wellesley's British, Portuguese and Spanish army defeated a French force led by Joseph Bonaparte. 1821, José de San Martín declared the independence of Peru from Spain. 1854, USS Constellation (1854), the last all-sail warship built by the United States Navy, was commissioned. 1864, American Civil War: Battle of Ezra Church: Confederate troops made a third unsuccessful attempt to drive Union forces from Atlanta, Georgia. 1866, at the age of 18, Vinnie Ream became the first and youngest female artist to receive a commission from the United States government for a statue (of Abraham Lincoln). 1868, the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution was certified, establishing African American citizenship and guaranteeing due process of law. 1896, the city of Miami, Florida was incorporated.
In 1914, World War I: Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia after Serbia rejected the conditions of an ultimatum sent by Austria on July 23 following the assassinationof Archduke Franz Ferdinand. 1932, U.S. President Herbert Hoover ordered the United States Army to forcibly evict the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans gathered in Washington, D.C. 1933, Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Unionand Spain were established. 1935, First flight of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. 1938, Hawaii Clipper disappeared between Guam and Manila as the first loss of an airliner in trans-Pacific China Clipper service.
In 1942, World War II: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin issued Order No. 227 in response to alarming German advances into the Soviet Union. Under the order all those who retreated or otherwise left their positions without orders to do so were to be tried in a military court, with punishments including duty in a penal battalion, imprisonment in a gulag, or execution. 1943, World War II: Operation Gomorrah: The Royal Air Force bombed Hamburg, Germany causing a firestorm that killed 42,000 German civilians. 1945, a U.S. Army B-25 bomber crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building killing 14 and injuring 26. 1948, the Metropolitan Police Flying Squadfoiled a bullion robbery in the "Battle of London Airport". 1955, the Union Mundial pro Interlingua was founded at the first Interlingua congress in Tours, France. 1957, heavy rain and a mudslide in Isahaya, western Kyushu, Japan, killed 992. 1965, Vietnam War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announced his order to increase the number of United States troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000.
In 1973, Summer Jam at Watkins Glen: Nearly 600,000 people attended a rock festival at the Watkins Glen International Raceway. 1974, Spetsgruppa A, Russia's elite special force, was formed. 1976, the Tangshan earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 moment magnitude flattened Tangshan in the People's Republic of China, killing 242,769 and injuring 164,851. 1984, the 1984 Summer Olympicsofficially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad were opened in Los AngelesUSA. 1993, Andorra joined the United Nations. 1996, the remains of a prehistoricman were discovered near Kennewick, Washington. Such remains were to be known as the Kennewick Man. 2001, Australian Ian Thorpe became the first swimmer to win six gold medals at a single World Championships. 2005, the Provisional Irish Republican Army called an end to its thirty-year-long armed campaign in Northern Ireland. 2008, the historic Grand Pier in Weston-super-Mare burned down for the second time in 80 years.
=== 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
On this day, World Hepatitis Day; Eid al-Fitr (Islam, 2014); beginning of The Nine Days (Judaism, 2014); Independence Day in Peru (1821)
1540 – King Henry VIII of England had his chief minister Thomas Cromwell executed for treason and heresy.
1794 – French Revolution: Maximilien de Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, architects of the Reign of Terror, were executed after having been arrested the previous day.
1932 – U.S. President Herbert Hoover ordered the eviction of the "Bonus Army"—a group of veterans who were occupying government property to demand immediate payment for money owed.
1995 – Two followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh were convicted for the attempted assassination of the United States Attorney for the District of Oregon.
2005 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army announced an end to its armed campaign to overthrow British rule in Northern Ireland to create a United Ireland. You help your friends, but try not to lose your head doing it. You make decisions, try to make them ones that won't have you before a tribunal deciding on the death penalty. You may be popular, but you still have to pay bills. Don't assassinate government figures .. Orange won't protect you if you wear it. Ask yourself, "Why were the IRA paid for the peace?"
- 1347 – Margaret of Durazzo (d. 1412)
- 1635 – Robert Hooke, English physicist and chemist (d. 1703)
- 1750 – Fabre d'Églantine French actor, playwright, and politician (d. 1794)
- 1796 – Ignaz Bösendorfer, Austrian businessman, founded the Bösendorfer Company (d. 1859)
- 1844 – Gerard Manley Hopkins, English priest and poet (d. 1889)
- 1857 – Ballington Booth, English-American activist, co-founded Volunteers of America (d. 1940)
- 1866 – Beatrix Potter, English author (d. 1943)
- 1896 – Barbara La Marr, American actress and screenwriter (d. 1926)
- 1901 – Rudy Vallée, American singer, actor, and saxophonist (d. 1986)
- 1902 – Karl Popper, Austrian-English philosopher (d. 1994)
- 1907 – Earl Tupper, American inventor and businessman, founded Tupperware Brands (d. 1983)
- 1924 – C. T. Vivian, American minister, author, and activist
- 1929 – Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, American journalist, 37th First Lady of the United States (d. 1994)
- 1936 – Garfield Sobers, Barbadian cricketer
- 1943 – Richard Wright, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player (Pink Floyd) (d. 2008)
- 1945 – Jim Davis, American cartoonist, created Garfield
- 1948 – Gerald Casale, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and director (Devo and Jihad Jerry & the Evildoers)
- 1949 – Peter Doyle, Australian singer and guitarist (The New Seekers) (d. 2001)
- 1949 – Steve Peregrin Took, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Tyrannosaurus Rex, Pink Fairies, Shagrat, Steve Took's Horns) (d. 1980)
- 1952 – Glenn A. Baker, Australian journalist
- 1954 – Hugo Chávez, Venezuelan colonel and politician, President of Venezuela (d. 2013)
- 1965 – Priscilla Chan, Hong Kong singer
- 1966 – Shikao Suga, Japanese singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1972 – Yeom Jeong-ah, South Korean actress
- 1979 – Lee Min-woo, South Korean singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor (Shinhwa)
- 1982 – Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir, Icelandic singer and actress
- 1987 – Sumire, Japanese model (d. 2009)
- 2000 – Emily Hahn, American actress
- 450 – Theodosius II, Roman emperor (b. 401)
- 1540 – Thomas Cromwell, English lawyer and politician (b. 1495)
- 1655 – Cyrano de Bergerac, French poet and playwright (b. 1619)
- 1750 – Johann Sebastian Bach, German organist and composer (b. 1685)
- 1794 – Maximilien de Robespierre, French lawyer and politician (b. 1758)
- 1794 – Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, French military officer and politician (b. 1767)
- 1844 – Joseph Bonaparte, French brother of Napoleon (b. 1768)
- 1821– Peruvian War of Independence: Argentine general José de San Martín declared the independence of Peru from Spain.
- 1866 – At the age of 18, Vinnie Ream (pictured) became the first and youngest female artist to receive a commission from the United States government for a statue—that of Abraham Lincolnin the U.S. Capitol rotunda.
- 1935 – The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber aircraft, which dropped more bombs than any other U.S. aircraft in World War II, made its first flight.
- 1995 – Two followers of Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh) were convicted for the attempted assassination of the United States Attorney for the District of Oregon.
- 2005 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army announced an end to its armed campaign to overthrow British rule in Northern Ireland to create a United Ireland.
===
Tim Blair
WOGS OUT OF WORK
THE MOST EFFECTIVE POLITICAL MESSENGER SINCE WALTER MONDALE
Tim Blair – Thursday, July 28, 2016 (6:38pm)
“Sarah Silverman’s rebuke to the Bernie-or-bust crowd shows she’s a powerful political force,” insists the Washington Post. “Silverman has proved to be an effective political messenger.”
Absolutely, except for the fact that nobody listened to her. In other DNC developments:
Obama Just Annihilated Donald Trump With The Entire World Watching At DNC … President Obama used his bully pulpit and completely destroyed everything about Donald Trump at the Democratic convention.
Bingus Gabberdeen strikes again!
HALVE THE SUFFERING
Tim Blair – Thursday, July 28, 2016 (5:18pm)
If he cut Wran’s sentence in half, she’d be released retrospectively:
The Supreme Court Justice who reduced Harriet Wran’s sentence for accessory to murder because of negative media coverage believes most jail terms are too long, meaning criminals “suffer more than they should”.In a speech to a sentencing conference Justice Ian Harrison said taking “a red pen to all sentences and (cutting) them in half,” probably wouldn’t make any difference.“Psychopathic and dangerous recidivists are in a special category and should remain so,” he said. “Put them aside for the purposes of this example. What is the answer? What terrible things would happen? I think the answer is ‘Probably not many’.”
Let’s take a red pen to Justice Harrison’s Supreme Court term and his salary and cut them in half. What terrible things would happen?
JAILBIRDS OF A FEATHER
Tim Blair – Thursday, July 28, 2016 (3:24pm)
Former prison resident Martha Stewart supports potential future prison resident Hillary Clinton:
Some of Hillary Clinton’s contemporaries who helped shatter glass ceilings in their own professions are exasperated that their female friends aren’t planning to help elect the country’s first woman president.“I am never going to speak to you again unless you vote,” lifestyle entrepreneur Martha Stewart said she told a female friend in her 60s who plans to stay home Election Day.
Wasn’t Trump meant to be the divisive candidate?
Ms. Stewart gave a Nov. 8 threat to her disillusioned friend: “I am coming. And I’m going to tell the polls that you are feeble and I have to help you into the booth.”“We as women should be so proud that there is a strong and viable candidate,” said Ms. Stewart, a Clinton supporter. “Yet there are women who are not even thinking about her as a woman. They are just listening to criticisms of her that she is a liar.”
Those aren’t criticisms. They’re objective observations:
One day Stewart may be able to give Hillary some jail cell decoration advice.
One day Stewart may be able to give Hillary some jail cell decoration advice.
A MEMBER OF THE HEAD OFF DIVISION
Tim Blair – Thursday, July 28, 2016 (2:20pm)
One of the Islamic State “soldiers” who stormed a church in France before slashing the throat of a priest at the altar has been identified.Adel Kermiche, 19, recorded the sickening murder while repeatedly shouting “Allahu Akbar” at the Catholic church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen, at 9am local time on Tuesday.
French prosecutor Francois Molins said Kermiche was known to security services, having twice been arrested on his way to Syria, and was under house arrest and wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet at the time of the attack.Molins said the bracelet was deactivated for a few hours every morning, corresponding with the time of the attack.
(Via Pastor Sauceplease.)
TOP GUNS
Tim Blair – Thursday, July 28, 2016 (1:18pm)
A duel with flare pistols. In a pool. In kayaks. What could possibly go wrong?
(Via Simon G.)
THURSDAY NOTICEBOARD
Tim Blair – Thursday, July 28, 2016 (11:31am)
“In Germany,” claims the Washington Post, “anti-Muslim extremists may pose as big a threat as Islamist militants.”
Malcolm Turnbull’s choice. I think I know which way this is going
Andrew Bolt July 28 2016 (5:55pm)
Malcolm Turnbull makes an appointment:
John Heffernan, former governor Grafton jail, on the “torture” story:
===The role of racism, and the adequacy of the Northern Territory government’s response to reports into its juvenile justice system, will be examined by a royal commission formally established on Thursday.What I remember about Martin:
The inquiry, to be led by former NT Supreme Court chief justice Brian Ross Martin, will principally examine the failings of the Northern Territory’s child protection and youth detention systems since 2006.
TANYA NOLAN: The Court of Appeal in Darwin has overturned a controversial one-month jail term handed down by the Northern Territory’s Chief Justice, saying the sentence was manifestly inadequate.UPDATE
A 55-year-old Aboriginal elder was originally sentenced to one month in prison for sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl, promised to him in marriage under traditional law.
That sentence, which shocked the legal and political communities, strengthened calls to abolish the use of customary law in sentencing…
ANNE BARKER: In August, the Territory’s Chief Justice sparked outrage when he sent a 55-year-old man to jail for just one month, for carnal knowledge and aggravated assault against a 14-year-old girl.
The senior elder from Yarralin had held the girl against her will for four days, beaten her with a boomerang and forced her to undergo anal intercourse.
But in his defence he argued the girl had been promised to him in marriage, and he believed his actions were permitted under traditional law.
The Chief Justice Brian Martin had no choice but to convict the man, but expressed sympathy for him and sentenced him to two years jail suspended after one month.
John Heffernan, former governor Grafton jail, on the “torture” story:
In regard to the recent exposure of the so-called torture of young offenders in the Northern Territory juvenile detention centres, I don’t think I have ever seen such an unprecedented over-reaction during all my years working in the criminal justice system....
As evidence of this “torture” the ABC presented an image of a detainee in a chair with a hood over his head and proclaimed this is the way prisoners of war are treated, not kids.
I’m sorry, but through my experienced eyes I see a juvenile offender, who has obviously been acting out, being provided time out, restrained in an approved chair, with an approved “spit hood” covering his head.
Please don’t misunderstand me, I would never condone the use of excessive force and a couple of incidents shown on video would suggest that staff may have crossed the line and gone too far on those occasions.
But that said, force must be used in certain instances within adult and juvenile correctional centres, that is a fact of life. These juveniles are not locked up for stealing lollies from the local corner store. By the time they are actually incarcerated they have been given every possible chance by the courts…
.
In my opinion what is happening now is completely unfair to those staff tasked with managing young offenders....
On The Bolt Report and radio tonight
Andrew Bolt July 28 2016 (4:25pm)
On The Bolt Report on Sky News Live at 7pm tonight:
===Editorial - The ABC’s vilification of George Pell.On 2GB, 3AW and 4BC with Steve Price from 8pm.
My guests:
Anglican priest and Islam expert Mark Durie on the Christian response in this age of jihadism. And which Pope was right?:Podcasts of the show here. Facebook page here.
Rowan Dean on Culture Wars.
The panel: former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman and former Julia Gillard adviser Nicholas Reece, now public policy fellow at Melbourne University.
Listen live here. Talkback: 131 873. Listen to all past shows here.
Which Pope was right?
Andrew Bolt July 28 2016 (1:21pm)
The Pope has a moment of clarity. The question is whether it came before or after his adviser stepped in:
===Pope Francis says the recent attacks on innocent people in Europe, including the murder of a priest in France, is proof that “the world is at war"…From the Koran:
“The world is in a state of war in bits and pieces,” he said, adding that the attacks could be seen as another world war, specifically mentioning World War I and II.
“Now there is this one (war). It is perhaps not organic, but it is organised and it is war.
“We should not be afraid to speak this truth...”
About 15 minutes later, after an adviser spoke to him, Pope Francis took the microphone again as he was leaving the journalists’ section in the plane and said he wanted “to clarify” that he was not referring to a war of religion.
“Not a war of religion. There is a war of interests. There is a war for money. There is a war for natural resources. There is a war for domination of peoples. This is the war,” he said. “All religions want peace. Others want war. Do you understand?”
9:29 “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the last day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and his apostle nor acknowledge the religion of truth of the people of the Book (the Jews and the Christians) until they pay the Jizya [tax on non-Muslims] with willing submission and feel themselves subdued."…
25:52 So obey not the unbelievers and fight strenuously with them in many a strenuous fight… 47:4 Therefore, when ye meet the Unbelievers (in fight), smite at their necks; At length, when ye have thoroughly subdued them, bind a bond firmly (on them): thereafter (is the time for) either generosity or ransom: Until the war lays down its burdens. Thus (are ye commanded): but if it had been God’s Will, He could certainly have exacted retribution from them (Himself); but (He lets you fight) in order to test you, some with others. But those who are slain in the Way of God, - He will never let their deeds be lost.
John Stone: why Turnbull nearly lost and will never learn
Andrew Bolt July 28 2016 (1:10pm)
John Stone in Spectator Australia’s new Flat White section:
===The key to Turnbull’s whole career, including to his conduct of his hapless election campaign, is that he is a supreme narcissist....Speaking of Niki Savva, she spots a genius in the Lodge - who clearly spent a lot of time briefing her:
Many Liberals have asked what happened to the big blue “L” for Liberal logo during the campaign? Don’t advertising experts tell us that widely recognized national “brands” like that are valuable? Why was it thrown away, and replaced by a strange new “halo” with the words “The Turnbull Liberal team”?
Why, for eight long weeks, were viewers bored senseless by those advertisements showing Turnbull emerging with that beatific expression to tell us about his meaningless “plan for jobs and growth”? Did he really think all he need do was to smile on the electoral doubters and they would melt before his charm? And even if he did think that – which he clearly did – why did the campaign director, Tony Nutt, not tell him to get real and stop thinking the campaign was all about himself? The answers to all these questions are, to repeat, that Turnbull is a supreme narcissist. Such people are incapable of genuinely repenting and changing their behaviour. So although Paul Kelly and other writers for The Australian (Shanahan, Sheridan, Kenny and even Savva) are right in arguing the Prime Minister must change his ways, they are wasting their breath: it won’t happen.
Fears that Malcolm Turnbull might have lost his compass as well as his confidence in the wake of the election were dispelled early on Tuesday morning when the Prime Minister announced a royal commission into the treatment of Aboriginal children in detention in the Northern Territory....
Malcolm was being Malcolm ...his mojo had kicked back ... Turnbull behaved as Australians expect their prime ministers should ... made the right call ... an important moment in his leadership. He did not miss it.
Tell the full story first
Andrew Bolt July 28 2016 (10:52am)
YES, the footage shown by the ABC’s Four Corners of children in detention in the Northern Territory being abused was shocking.
The solitary confinement, the violent manhandling and the tear-gassing was disgraceful.
But let’s add perspective to better see our way forward.
Monday’s Four Corners opened with a particularly shocking scene of Dylan Voller, a teenager in Alice Springs, tied to a chair with a sack on his head.
No reason was given for what was presented as gratuitous torture. Indeed, presenter Sarah Henderson said: “The image you have just seen isn’t from Guantanamo Bay or Abu Ghraib but Australia in 2015 ...
“It is barbaric. This is juvenile justice in the Northern Territory, a system that punishes troubled children instead of rehabilitating them.”
But the ABC omitted the context that explains why he was restrained.
(Read the full story here.)
===The solitary confinement, the violent manhandling and the tear-gassing was disgraceful.
But let’s add perspective to better see our way forward.
Monday’s Four Corners opened with a particularly shocking scene of Dylan Voller, a teenager in Alice Springs, tied to a chair with a sack on his head.
No reason was given for what was presented as gratuitous torture. Indeed, presenter Sarah Henderson said: “The image you have just seen isn’t from Guantanamo Bay or Abu Ghraib but Australia in 2015 ...
“It is barbaric. This is juvenile justice in the Northern Territory, a system that punishes troubled children instead of rehabilitating them.”
But the ABC omitted the context that explains why he was restrained.
(Read the full story here.)
The sliming of Pell reaches new lows
Andrew Bolt July 28 2016 (9:54am)
The allegations are so very thin, so very old, so hotly disputed, so contrary to character and not deemed worthy of action by the Director of Public Prosecution. Indeed, Victorian Police have not even put the allegations to the target of them.
Yet Victoria Police still leaks them, apparently, to someone who then leaks them to the ABC, which devotes an entire program to this character assassination against a Catholic (while, of course, regularly turning a blind eye to Islamic hate preachers).
Something sinister is on foot.
Tessa Akerman:
The ABC claims police were not the source of the story, but it beggars belief that the information could have got out without police releasing it to an intermediary.
Reader Peter of Bellevue Hill:
If the ABC has a conservative Catholic in its sights, nothing will save him.
===Yet Victoria Police still leaks them, apparently, to someone who then leaks them to the ABC, which devotes an entire program to this character assassination against a Catholic (while, of course, regularly turning a blind eye to Islamic hate preachers).
Something sinister is on foot.
Tessa Akerman:
Victorian prosecutors were asked by police to review sex abuse claims against Cardinal George Pell but sent the file back to detectives without recommendations.This strikes me as a grotesque abuse of power by the Victoria Police particularly, exploiting the bloated, biased and over-mighty ABC. This is state power used to crush Catholics.
The police file was sent to the Victorian Office of Public Prosecutions in the past month but was returned by director John Champion, who advised officers any decision on charges was their call, the Herald Sun reported last night. The revelation came after the ABC broadcast statements from two men last night accusing Australia’s most senior Catholic of abusing them as boys.
Cardinal Pell, who wrote to Victoria Police in May asking if they wanted to interview him, hit back immediately. “The accusations are sheer fantasy and completely implausible,’’ he told The Australian from Rome.
It was reported in February that Victoria Police’s Sano Taskforce was investigating Cardinal Pell over allegations spanning from his time as a priest in Ballarat in the 1970s to his time as archbishop of Melbourne in the 1990s, allegations which he has strongly denied.
Cardinal Pell called for an investigation into the leaks at the time and claimed they was designed to cause damage to the Catholic Church and to him just a week before he was to give evidence to the child sex abuse royal commission in February… An associate of Cardinal Pell said the cardinal wrote to Victorian police in May asking if they wanted to interview him.< The associate said police replied last month, saying they did not require an interview.
The ABC claims police were not the source of the story, but it beggars belief that the information could have got out without police releasing it to an intermediary.
Reader Peter of Bellevue Hill:
AB, unbelievable that 7.30 would devote its entire program to this when Victoria Police aren’t even going to interview Pell as part of the investigation.And why add this irrelevance, if not to falsely suggest that Pell is hiding from the police? In fact, the police refuse to put the allegations to Pell.
7.30 also included this fudge ...
NEWSREADER: Royal commission no show. George Pell’s lawyers say he’s too ill to give evidence in Melbourne next week. LOUISE MILLIGAN [REPORTER]: On December 11, George Pell issued a statement saying he could not fly to Australia on doctor’s advice. The royal commission accepted his evidence and the Cardinal did not fly.No mention of Pell giving days’ of evidence from Rome via video link.
If the ABC has a conservative Catholic in its sights, nothing will save him.
Why did Turnbull let this get this far?
Andrew Bolt July 28 2016 (9:50am)
How could Malcolm Turnbull have let this idiotic idea develop into a test of leadership?:
===Kevin Rudd’s two-year bid for the post of UN secretary-general is expected to fail today because of strong cabinet opposition to the Turnbull government nominating the former Labor prime minister for the job.(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is expected to raise Mr Rudd’s request for Australian endorsement for his campaign for the top UN post at the cabinet’s first full business meeting since the election…
(N)o other minister has publicly backed him since he asked for Australia’s support.
One Liberal MP told The Australian: “It will make people very angry if Malcolm Turnbull can’t find a place for former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott on his frontbench but can back a former Labor prime minister for the top job at the UN.” Another said the Prime Minister’s endorsement of Mr Rudd would be similar to his co-operation with him in 2009 on climate change legislation, which defied the Coalition partyroom and led to his removal as opposition leader.
The price of naive immigration policies is very high
Andrew Bolt July 28 2016 (9:48am)
You cannot bring in people from a Third World war zone and expect a painless assimilation:
===African youths causing a crime wave in Victoria are the product of eroded family units, trauma and an Australian society which does not sanction corporal punishment as a means of keeping them in line, claims a community leader.
Gangs of teenagers and young adults have been contributing to a surge in crimes, particularly in Melbourne’s east where carjackings, burglaries and theft are on the rise. But one of the defining characteristics of the young offenders is boldness and apparent indifferent to consequences…
Crime generally in Victoria is up 12.3 per cent in the past year. Violent crime has increased, as has theft. In the Greater Dandenong region, where the Apex gang took its name from a local street, more than 14,000 crimes of property, deception and crimes against people (assault) were committed in the year to March. The previous year fewer than 11,000 such offences were recorded. The rate is higher still in Latrobe.
Turnbull can’t be a real Liberal to think Rudd worth backing
Andrew Bolt July 28 2016 (9:40am)
LIBERALS should be shocked that Malcolm Turnbull wants to back Kevin Rudd’s bid to head the United Nations.
And don’t buy his denials. The Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop are helping the former Labor leader already. Diplomats report they have been asked to help Rudd lobby for votes in the ballot to become UN secretary-general.
But how can Liberals possibly allow Turnbull and Bishop to help an unworthy Labor foe to such a powerful job? It would not just be a betrayal of judgment, given Rudd proved as prime minister he is a poor leader and hopeless administrator. It would also betray the Liberal base and — worse — Liberal values.
It is so typical of Turnbull’s tin ear that he cannot figure all this himself.
It is so typical of Turnbull that he has not already ruled out backing Rudd’s bid, instead saying he will ask his Cabinet to decide.
If Turnbull were — ha! — a Liberal leader with broad appeal in his party, he could perhaps offer a hand to a man of the Left without being attacked as a Leftist himself.
But Turnbull is out of cookies there.
(Read full story here.)
===And don’t buy his denials. The Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop are helping the former Labor leader already. Diplomats report they have been asked to help Rudd lobby for votes in the ballot to become UN secretary-general.
But how can Liberals possibly allow Turnbull and Bishop to help an unworthy Labor foe to such a powerful job? It would not just be a betrayal of judgment, given Rudd proved as prime minister he is a poor leader and hopeless administrator. It would also betray the Liberal base and — worse — Liberal values.
It is so typical of Turnbull’s tin ear that he cannot figure all this himself.
It is so typical of Turnbull that he has not already ruled out backing Rudd’s bid, instead saying he will ask his Cabinet to decide.
If Turnbull were — ha! — a Liberal leader with broad appeal in his party, he could perhaps offer a hand to a man of the Left without being attacked as a Leftist himself.
But Turnbull is out of cookies there.
(Read full story here.)
Europe’s summer of terror
Andrew Bolt July 28 2016 (8:58am)
Douglas Murray in the Spectator wonders why the media is so blind:
===It is now a fortnight since Mohammed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ and ploughed a truck along the Nice seafront, killing 84 people. The following Monday Mohammed Riyad, who said he was from Afghanistan but almost certainly came from Pakistan, screamed ‘Allahu Akbar’ while hacking with an axe at his fellow passengers on a Bavarian train. The next day another Mohammed, this time Mohamed Boufarkouch, shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ and stabbed a Frenchwoman and her three daughters (aged eight, 12 and 14) near Montpelier. Mixing things up a little, that Friday’s shooter in Munich was a child of Iranians called Ali David Sonboly. Skip forward a couple of days and a ‘-Syrian asylum seeker’ with a machete was hacking a pregnant woman to death in Stuttgart. The next day another ‘Syrian asylum seeker’, Mohammad Daleel, carried out a suicide bombing outside a bar in Ansbach, Bavaria. And a little over 24 hours later two men shouting the name of Isis entered a church in Rouen during Mass, took the nuns and congregation hostage and slaughtered the priest with a knife.
Although the public know what is going on, the media seems loath to find any connection between these events. Indeed, the same papers that blame an exaggerated spike in ‘hate crime’ on everyone who voted for Brexit seem unwilling to put the blame for these real and violent attacks on the individuals carrying them out. ‘Syrian man denied asylum killed in German blast’ was the Reuters headline on the Ansbach story, neatly turning the suicide bomber into the victim and the German asylum system into the perpetrator.
Do not let the corrupt UN determine what’s moral
Andrew Bolt July 28 2016 (8:48am)
Today ABC Radio National’s Ellen Fanning rang a UN official to virtually plead with him to define the treatment of boys in detention in the Northern Territory as “torture” and to take action.
First, this appeal to foreigners to police us shows a contempt for Australia’s capacity to manage its own affairs.
Second, this appeal to the UN as a moral arbiter shows a blindness to its moral flaws.
Daniel Mandel writes on the UN’s Human Rights Council:
===First, this appeal to foreigners to police us shows a contempt for Australia’s capacity to manage its own affairs.
Second, this appeal to the UN as a moral arbiter shows a blindness to its moral flaws.
Daniel Mandel writes on the UN’s Human Rights Council:
The Council’s current membership includes Algeria, China, Congo, Cuba, Ethiopia, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, Vietnam –– all human rights abusers.
None of these nations has ever been the subject of a single Council resolution, let alone a special session.
In contrast, the Council adopted 67 resolutions condemning free and democratic Israel –– more than half of the 128 resolutions it passed against the rest of world’s nations combined…
Asian and African autocracies have also acted in tandem to minimize scrutiny of nations like Zimbabwe, a veritable human-rights Enron. Indeed, Freedom House has declared that 62% of the Council’s membership are unfree and non-democratic…
Little else is to be expected. Thanks to the priority it accords to representation based on geographical distribution, ... non-democratic African and Asian regimes exercise an unbreakable controlling majority of 26 of the 47 seats…
The American presence on the Council did not stop it from favoring the membership of Iran, despite its record of public hangings of gays. To get Iran to withdraw its candidacy, the Obama Administration had to acquiesce in Iran being elected unopposed to the UN Commission of the Status of Women, to which it has since been re-elected. And despite objections from U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power, the Council re-elected as Council adviser Jean Ziegler, co-founder and recipient of the Muammar Qaddafi Human Rights Prize, whose recipients have included Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, black supremacist Louis Farrakhan, and Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy.
Book put to work
Andrew Bolt July 28 2016 (8:34am)
My book took off on an international frolic without me, visiting London, Lake Como, Ithaca, Scotland, the Bay of Naples and Fiji, before being caught and sentenced to work in the mines of Kalgoorlie.
But now Raj and Matt have offered it productive work in an exciting new industry - the coal seam gas fields of Condabri, Queensland:
The third edition of the Bolt Bulletin, available to on-line buyers, has now gone out with thanks, a poem and a little introspection. A point is also made about the Trump critics who attacked his speech.
===But now Raj and Matt have offered it productive work in an exciting new industry - the coal seam gas fields of Condabri, Queensland:
To buy a copy for the worker in your life, go here.
The third edition of the Bolt Bulletin, available to on-line buyers, has now gone out with thanks, a poem and a little introspection. A point is also made about the Trump critics who attacked his speech.
THE FAMILY WORKS HARD AND IS KNOWN TO BE GENEROUS
Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 28, 2015 (12:54pm)
In Louisiana, the word of Officer Clay Higgins is law:
Lt. Higgins was recently profiled by the Washington Post.
Lt. Higgins was recently profiled by the Washington Post.
(Via A.R.M. Jones.)
EMOTION FOR THE RIGHT REASONS
Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 28, 2015 (3:24am)
A couple of days before Labor’s National Conference, I briefly considered putting up a poll at my Daily Telegraph blog: which Labor identity is most likely to burst into tears over asylum seekers?
Eventually I ditched the plan because I couldn’t really foresee any likelihood of conference crying. After all, Labor leader Bill Shorten’s new policy of conditional boat turnbacks had already been announced, allowing plenty of opportunity for pre-conference tears.
Plus, the most likely candidates – Anthony Albanese and Stephen Conroy – had already indulged in their own public weeping moments. Conroy literally cried over spilt milk at the 2011 conference as he recalled the disposal of dairy products in England due to possible nuclear contamination.
“My family remembers when they came and took away all the milk for months because you couldn’t drink it,” Conroy said, between sobs. This happened more than half a century earlier, and six years before Conroy was even born.
And Albanese was brought to tears in 2012 over Labor’s Rudd-Gillard infighting, which was distracting him from his central mission of “fighting Tories”. Who, again, are in England. Something about the Old Country really touches these Labor tough guys.
Specification sheets for the manufacture of Tanya Plibersek and Penny Wong deleted the emotions package, so they were never possibilities for a tearful outpouring. Indeed, the pair demonstrated their heartfelt commitment over the asylum seeker issue by declining even to vote against turnbacks, instead handing responsibility for that task to their proxies.
In the end, the only Laborite who came close to sobbing at the national conference was House of Reps Bronwyn Bishop botherer Tony Burke, whose choked-up contribution came as something of a surprise.
Tony Burke, left, votes to support asylum seeker turnbacks.
Even more surprisingly, Burke’s sorrow wasn’t over Labor’s loss of compassion or Labor’s tradition of caring or Labor’s history of helping the downtrodden.
Tony Burke, left, votes to support asylum seeker turnbacks.
Even more surprisingly, Burke’s sorrow wasn’t over Labor’s loss of compassion or Labor’s tradition of caring or Labor’s history of helping the downtrodden.
Rather, Burke’s brief but emotional speech was mostly about the actual victims of Labor’s previous, fatally mistaken asylum seeker policies.
(Continue reading The Right Reasons.)
ALSO, HE STAGES FOR FREE KICKS
Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 28, 2015 (3:18am)
Obviously, people shouldn’t boo Sydney Swans star Adam Goodes because he’s Aboriginal. They should boo him because he’s a wealthy heterosexual male whose physically confrontational vocation celebrates outmoded masculine ideals of brutal competitiveness and defeat-shaming capitalist triumphalism.
UNION THINKS IT’S 1901
Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 28, 2015 (3:07am)
A draft version of the CFMEU’s new anti-Chinese trade ad.
And the final version:
Charming government we have in Victoria
Andrew Bolt July 28 2015 (4:51pm)
All very ugly in Victoria’s Andrews Government:
===Dumped minister Adem Somyurek says Daniel Andrew’s government is unduly influenced by Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Union boss Michael Donovan and he should fire his chief of staff, Johnny McLindon.
In an extraordinary riposte to his forced resignation, Mr Somyurek also nominated Deputy Leader James Merlino as being in the thrall of the shadowy SDA boss, who he blames for the bullying claims lodged against him.
“This man has more influence in the Andrews Government than most members of the government,’’ he said of Mr Donovan, a publicity shy but powerful union leader.
The Premier this morning demanded Mr Somyurek quit after an investigation by Justice Michael Strong found he bullied and intimidated staff. His report said the upper house MP had had “physical contact” with a female member of staff, while another staff member was sacked for standing up for a colleague.
Mr Somyurek described former Judge Strong’s report as a “defamatory dirt sheet” compiled by someone who had a chequered history and was now dependent on government work for his living. The former Trade and Innovation Minister says he was duped by the Premier into believing the report would be a fair investigation when it actually turned out to be stitch up.
On your bike, orders Clinton from her private jet
Andrew Bolt July 28 2015 (9:59am)
Hillary Clinton preaches global warming, surrounded by the bicycles she suggest voters use:
===This is one of the most urgent threats of our time, and we have no choice but to rise and meet it.And then Clinton steps into her private jet:
Just hours after Hillary Clinton unveiled her presidential campaign’s push to solve global warming through an aggressive carbon-cutting plan, she sauntered up the steps of a 19-seat private jet in Des Moines, Iowa. The aircraft, a Dassault model Falcon 900B, burns 347 gallons of fuel per hour.
China shudders
Andrew Bolt July 28 2015 (8:48am)
Remember that if China slumps, Australia’s income will fall even further. And there’s no money in our kitty to stimulate the economy or save us from savage spending cuts:
===Investors were coming round to the view that the [Chinese] government had succeeded in stabilising share prices after the central bank had pumped billions of yuan into the market in recent weeks… But on Monday the Shanghai Composite, the country’s main index, fell 8.5%, its biggest one-day fall since early 2007…But if China does slump, the effect on our economy might not be the top of our worries. What it unleashes within China could be anything from more democracy to violence, massive civil unrest and a cranking up of ultra-nationalism.
[Some analysts] pointed to a drop in industrial profits in newly published data, a reminder of China’s ongoing economic slowdown; to fast-rising pork prices, which threaten to push up Chinese inflation and lead to tighter monetary policy; as well as the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will soon raise interest rates, luring investment capital away from China and into America.
Answer: global warming?
Andrew Bolt July 28 2015 (8:31am)
Warming alarmist Professor Clive Hamilton:
===Here is a definition in search of a term: what do we call a calculated political strategy to confuse the citizenry in order to gain an electoral advantage?Hamilton demonstrated the phenomenon in 2009:
Australian Greens Leader Senator Bob Brown has today announced the Greens candidate in the Higgins by-election, Dr Clive Hamilton AM…Hamilton’s strategy back then:
Dr Hamilton said: “With our country once again a laggard nation in response to global warming, and the government and opposition competing to vilify asylum seekers, never has a national and international standpoint been more sorely needed...”
There is a view we should not scare people because it makes them go down their burrows and close the door but I think the situation is so serious that although people are afraid they are not fearful enough given the science...Personally I cannot see any alternative to ramping up the fear factor.Hey, presto:
(T)he implications of 3C, let alone 4C or 5C, are so horrible that we look to any possible scenario to head it off, including the canvassing of “emergency” responses such as the suspension of democratic processes…
We can only avoid catastrophe—including millions dying in the Third World—if we radically change the way we in the rich countries go about our daily lives. Above all, we must abandon our comfortable belief in progress…
Australia, along with the rest of the world, must cut its emissions by at least 60% if we are to stabilise climate change and prevent dangerous disruption to our way of life…
So I think where we’re going is to begin to see a Gaian earth in its ecological, cybernetic way, infused with some notion of mind or soul or chi, which will transform our attitudes to it away from an instrumentalist one, towards an attitude of greater reverence. I mean, the truth is, unless we do that, I mean we seriously are in trouble, because we know that Gaia is revolting against the impact of human beings on it.
Mark Kenny turns on a dime: praises Shorten for what he damned from Abbott
Andrew Bolt July 28 2015 (8:20am)
Not the principle but the side.
2013: The Sydney Morning Herald’s Mark Kenny damns Tony Abbott for promising to turn back boats:
===2013: The Sydney Morning Herald’s Mark Kenny damns Tony Abbott for promising to turn back boats:
The same was so (evidently) with Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison’s aggressively marketed asylum-seeker tomahawk sold under the label ‘stop the boats’. Some people bought it, many wanted to believe. Canberra would simply turn back the boats to Indonesia with the only caveat being, ‘when it was safe to do so’ ...2015: The Sydney Morning Herald’s Mark Kenny praises Bill Shorten for appearing to promise to turn back boats:
Australian voters will eventually wake up to the fact that they were sold a pup. If it were merely a case of sending boats back, it would have been tried years ago.
Shorten’s argument was as sound as it was courageous. He concluded that stopping deaths at sea by stopping maritime attempts in unseaworthy boats via people smuggling, is the right policy setting. Politically, the policy is correct also…(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill. Via Quadrant.)
Conspiracy, cries conspiracist
Andrew Bolt July 28 2015 (7:45am)
The original story:
(Thanks to reader Dr Brian.)
===No but yes, insists a warming conspiracist:
The writer of this article, Ben Webster, phoned me up cold in my office at Cambridge University on Thursday 23 July, saying that he was writing a piece on the retreat of sea ice in the Arctic, and whether it was increasing or not. We discussed the scientific data, then he asked who else was working in this field in the UK, in order to contact them. I mentioned that there are not many others in this field, since three of the leading figures died within a short space of time in accidents in 2013. He asked for further details.I asked that this be completely off the record because ofYet another conspiracy?
(a) the sensibilities of relatives of the deceased (Prof Laxon’s partner was particularly upset by the subsequent publication),
(b) my own scientific reputation (I did not want to be made out to be a crazy person),
(c) the fact that these deaths were investigated and were very clearly simply an extraordinary coincidence.
He raised the question of whether they were murdered. I agreed that for a short time I thought that they were, since I had had the experience of being run off the road at the same time by a lorry, but that it was very clear afterwards that the three deaths were individually explainable accidents. I did not make any of the statements enclosed in quotation marks by the reporter… The publication, subsequently picked up by the Sunday Telegraph and Mail on Sunday, has substantially damaged my reputation for scientific integrity, and I believe that this was the deliberate intention.
(Thanks to reader Dr Brian.)
Shorten no longer in charge of Labor
Andrew Bolt July 28 2015 (7:39am)
Simon Benson on the Left’s control over Labor - and Bill Shorten:
(Thanks to reader brett t r.)
===Any victories Shorten can claim to have achieved over the weekend — such as narrowly fending off a binding gay marriage bill and securing boat turn backs on asylum seekers — were pyrrhic victories at best.To that list of concessions add the doubling of the refugee intake to an astonishing 27,000 people a year.
His senior left-wing shadow ministers have sent a clear message to him: “We have the numbers, and you know it."…
Not since former NSW premier Morris Iemma was rolled at a state conference on power privatisation, and perhaps Calwell and Whitlam in the 1960s on US foreign policy, has an ALP conference been so hostile to a leader…
Shorten may have secured the numbers to allow him the luxury of adopting turnbacks, but it came with a very expensive price tag. His own faction was rolled on the Israel/Palestine issue, he lost the numbers for a conscience vote on gay marriage, and he has been forced to adopt a renewable energy target that would elevate Australians’ electricity bills to among the highest in the world.
To top it off, the conference voted to censure Martin Ferguson, one of the party’s last remaining voices of sanity.
The optics for Shorten are now clear. The Left is in control of the Labor Party, and if he doesn’t dance to the beat of their drum, he is gone.
It doesn’t get much uglier than this.
(Thanks to reader brett t r.)
The high price of letting IS jihadists come home
Andrew Bolt July 28 2015 (6:46am)
There is a price for letting Islamic State recruits return:
(Thanks to reader PJ.)
===MOUNTING round-the-clock surveillance on all 350 radicalised Britons who have returned from Syria and Iraq would cost £25million a week, it emerged last night…And, of course, even with surveillance, mistakes can be made.
Colonel Richard Kemp, former head of counter terrorism at the Cabinet Office, said: “...To track one person effectively takes at least 10, or more probably 15 people, which would cost at least £10,000 a day, not including other measures such as the monitoring of mobile phones and email traffic.
“Then you have to observe the people they speak to, so the network expands.”
The police and intelligence services are already keeping watch on more than 2,000 terrorist suspects and last year’s record number of 385 terror-related arrests – more than one a day – has already been exceeded this year… Colonel Kemp added: “My view is that they should not be allowed to come back. It’s not good enough for Home Secretary Theresa May to say she is bound by human rights legislation and her hands are tied. What about the rights of innocent people?...”
(Thanks to reader PJ.)
Better shake a leg than a spear
Andrew Bolt July 28 2015 (5:22am)
Once again, the race industry makes things worse by insisting we pick racial sides. But at least shaking a leg will be less inflammatory than miming the throwing of a spear at the white crowd:
UPDATE
At last some former football greats are defying the dangerous sanctimony of the AFL industry by cautiously suggesting it took certain actions to provoke this reaction.
Former West Coast star Karl Langdon:
But ABC commentator Francis Leach, like so many sports commentators, would rather abuse than understand and would rather preen than diagnose. For him, Australian sports fans - the ones who cheer so many athletes of so many colors - are actually just vermin:
To better contrast his own morality with that of crowd, Leach absurdly suggests football fans should somehow boo at social issues instead:
But his implication that Australians don’t care about such issues, or that those issues all fit his theory of endemic racism, is clearly false.
Actually, the country spends billions of the crowd’s taxes trying to tackle that gap in life expectancy, which is actually influenced in large part by the cultural values and practices of Aborigines themselves. The overrepresentation of Aborigines in jail is actually in large part a function of the overrepresentation of Aborigines in crime - which I caution Leach against turning into a booing issue. Aborigines in custody are in fact no more likely to die in prison there than non-Aboriginal prisoners - a fact determined by a royal commission and other inquiries which, again, were lavishly paid for by the taxes of the mob.
No, this really is about Goodes himself, Francis. Check your ego and your sanctimony at the door, and go back to the moment the booing began.
It really is about Goodes demanding we pick racial sides, damning the side of the non-Aborigines in offensive and grossly exaggerated terms, publicly humiliating a 13-year-old white girl by reducing her to the part of a vile racial stereotype in front of millions of viewers, and demanding we treat Goodes himself, a grown man showered with honors, as just a poor racial victim of a country he insists is steeped in racism, oppression and genocide.
This is not about Goodes wanting “to confront racism and its uncomfortable truths”, but about him playing the racism card, inviting us to racial combat and demanding we surrender to his own bitter view of the country - a view at angry odds with the Australia most of us actually know.
This demand that we subscribe to Goodes’ race war is what some many football fans resent, and what some, unfortunately, may even accept.
Please, just stop it.
UPDATE
But screaming “racist” is just so much easier, especially for football commentators and others in the AFL orbit.
Mark Robinson, usually reliable, lets himself down badly:
But he is wrong to suggest that rejecting Goodes’ lurid version of our history is racist.
And he is very wrong indeed to dismiss those - like me - who were appalled by the public trashing of a 13-year-old as the “face of racism” as just people searching for excuses to be racist.
This is how that vile game of pick-your-race reduces people into mere racial stereotypes and limits our capacity to see them just as individual human beings. Sometimes, Mark, people really can feel sorry for a horribly humiliated girl without having a secret hatred for Aborigines.
===Aboriginal footballers across Australia have been urged to “shake a leg’’ for Adam Goodes every time they kick a goal this weekend.A better idea: how about we stop this black vs white nonsense that started it all?
UPDATE
At last some former football greats are defying the dangerous sanctimony of the AFL industry by cautiously suggesting it took certain actions to provoke this reaction.
Former West Coast star Karl Langdon:
I gave the crowd the up yours at Essendon when I played and that was the double finger salute and I got fined $1,500. So as far as I’m concerned, why don’t they get the same sort of thing for inciting the crowd? ‘Cause that’s all it’s done: it’s incited the crowd. Now, it starts to get taken down the race trail because individuals start to bring that sort of attention on themselves.Former Hawthorn great Dermott Brereton:
People will boo, they will cheer, they will hiss, sometimes they will swear — it’s the behaviour of the player that can stimulate those responses… Adam Goodes would do well to look at what he’s done bad or good or indifferent and work out what he can do to change that.UPDATE
But ABC commentator Francis Leach, like so many sports commentators, would rather abuse than understand and would rather preen than diagnose. For him, Australian sports fans - the ones who cheer so many athletes of so many colors - are actually just vermin:
What a redneck wonderland footy has become ... an army of gutless drongos ... choir of clowns ... bigots ... obnoxious ... poor benighted souls ... Racism. Naked, loud, contemptible, pathetic and unashamed ... prejudice ... racism ... how feeble minded and self righteous you are ... your hollow howls...Wow. Leach is certainly congratulating himself for being a cut above the crowd of animals he perceives in the stands.
To better contrast his own morality with that of crowd, Leach absurdly suggests football fans should somehow boo at social issues instead:
Where’s your sense of outrage at the appalling gap in life expectancy for indigenous people? The massive over representation of indigenous people in jail? The continuing scourge of deaths in custody? Your silence is deafening on those issues.How that booing is to be arranged Leach doesn’t say.
But his implication that Australians don’t care about such issues, or that those issues all fit his theory of endemic racism, is clearly false.
Actually, the country spends billions of the crowd’s taxes trying to tackle that gap in life expectancy, which is actually influenced in large part by the cultural values and practices of Aborigines themselves. The overrepresentation of Aborigines in jail is actually in large part a function of the overrepresentation of Aborigines in crime - which I caution Leach against turning into a booing issue. Aborigines in custody are in fact no more likely to die in prison there than non-Aboriginal prisoners - a fact determined by a royal commission and other inquiries which, again, were lavishly paid for by the taxes of the mob.
No, this really is about Goodes himself, Francis. Check your ego and your sanctimony at the door, and go back to the moment the booing began.
It really is about Goodes demanding we pick racial sides, damning the side of the non-Aborigines in offensive and grossly exaggerated terms, publicly humiliating a 13-year-old white girl by reducing her to the part of a vile racial stereotype in front of millions of viewers, and demanding we treat Goodes himself, a grown man showered with honors, as just a poor racial victim of a country he insists is steeped in racism, oppression and genocide.
This is not about Goodes wanting “to confront racism and its uncomfortable truths”, but about him playing the racism card, inviting us to racial combat and demanding we surrender to his own bitter view of the country - a view at angry odds with the Australia most of us actually know.
This demand that we subscribe to Goodes’ race war is what some many football fans resent, and what some, unfortunately, may even accept.
Please, just stop it.
UPDATE
But screaming “racist” is just so much easier, especially for football commentators and others in the AFL orbit.
Mark Robinson, usually reliable, lets himself down badly:
I’ll give some unwanted credit to the racists. At least they tell the truth about why they boo Goodes.Robinson is right to say the booing of Goodes is mean and that some comes from racists.
It’s because of what he did to the 13-year-old girl at the MCG and it’s because he was an undeserving Australian of the Year and proceeded to highlight Australia’s history of “invasion’’ when he received the honour.I don’t agree, but knock yourself out.
But he is wrong to suggest that rejecting Goodes’ lurid version of our history is racist.
And he is very wrong indeed to dismiss those - like me - who were appalled by the public trashing of a 13-year-old as the “face of racism” as just people searching for excuses to be racist.
This is how that vile game of pick-your-race reduces people into mere racial stereotypes and limits our capacity to see them just as individual human beings. Sometimes, Mark, people really can feel sorry for a horribly humiliated girl without having a secret hatred for Aborigines.
A lecture from the CFMEU on abusing women?
Andrew Bolt July 28 2015 (5:15am)
Good on Cut & Paste for outing the sanctimonious hypocrites:
===Do as I say. CFMEU WA state secretary Joe McDonald on violence towards women, ALP national conference, Sunday:
Do something about it!Not as we do. The Daily Telegraph, October 8 last year:
One of the union officials named and shamed in the royal commission for intimidating Fair Work inspectors … Luke Collier … subjected building inspectors at the Barangaroo casino hotel site to repeated intimidation and abuse … A female inspector was called a “f. king slut” as 40 building workers surrounded her and a male colleague.The Sydney Morning Herald, May 25:
On July 24 last year, (Collier) harassed another female Fair Work inspector, and played the song Who Let The Dogs Out on a loud hailer when she entered a worksite.The Sydney Morning Herald, July 22:
Only eight people were in court 5.3 at the Downing Centre at 9.30 on Monday morning but the sense of shock in the room was clear. The magistrate was clearly surprised … The solicitor for the prosecution advised the court that all charges against … Luke Collier had been withdrawn, “without admissions”. She named a detective inspector who had made the decision. The decision had been made that morning, after the victim was a no-show … Earlier this year, Collier pleaded guilty to a charge of assault. His victim was a woman. He was scheduled to appear in court on Monday on multiple charges, including aggravated assault, involving the same woman … An obvious inference can be drawn that the witness felt intimidated. Even if there was not overt coercion or inducement to drop her complaint, she felt sufficiently intimidated, or compromised, or exhausted to proceed … The turn of events … served as another reminder that the criminal law operates very poorly on building sites.More from the same story:
The royal commission into union corruption … has published evidence of Collier’s intimidation of women on work sites on several occasions. He has been accused by a female government official of spitting at her on a work site last year … His conduct is part of a pattern of harassment of women by CFMEU officials.Do something. Collier’s current job? Update to his now-deleted Facebook page, May 5:
Started working at CFMEU, WA.
Posted by Dr. Joseph Atto on Monday, 27 July 2015
Dickens? Austen? Yes! These writing legends made it acceptable to break those grammar rules you've been taught your entire life: http://huff.to/1MuNzG5
Posted by Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing on Monday, 27 July 2015
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MINING BOOM
Tim Blair – Monday, July 28, 2014 (12:37pm)
Quote of the week, buried in an otherwise straighforward Fairfax mining report:
Goulburn Mulwaree Council economic development officer Debbi Rodden said the industry needed to educate young school leavers about solid, ongoing careers, including for professional people such as surveyors, geologists, environmentalists and engineers.‘’Quarrying may not be seen as a desirable industry for some people, but young people need to realise they get to blow stuff up,’’ Ms Rodden said.
MOMENT OF TRIUMPH
Tim Blair – Monday, July 28, 2014 (11:15am)
Wind farms. The carbon tax. Large-scale solar power. “Humanitarian” asylum seeker policies. The Senate. As is well established, leftists love things that don’t work.
Continue reading 'MOMENT OF TRIUMPH'
CARBON FOOTPRINT REDUCED
Tim Blair – Monday, July 28, 2014 (11:08am)
Due to the failure of NSW road laws to accommodate my velocity requirements, I will not be participating in any active vehicle control applications until November.
Continue reading 'CARBON FOOTPRINT REDUCED'
GRIEVOUS BLOW
Tim Blair – Monday, July 28, 2014 (10:56am)
Australians are over the carbon tax repeal, but it’s all they’re talking about in Manhattan. Following Julia Baird’s sobbing in the New York Times, here’s weepy Hendrik Hertzberg in the New Yorker:
Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his Liberal Party (as these Antipodean conservatives style themselves) won final legislative approval for repeal of Australia’s carbon tax on major polluters, which had been enacted under the previous Labor government and had set a price of more than twenty dollars a ton on carbon-dioxide emissions.This a grievous blow.Carbon taxes are the most efficient and effective way to put a dent in uncontrolled spewing of greenhouse gases. Australia’s was exemplary, and it was part of a long-term strategy that would have eventually joined Australia with the European Union in a globe-spanning alliance of emissions trading. By repealing it, the Australian government has deserted the front lines of the climate struggle and skedaddled to the cowardly rear.
So now we’re being lectured on emissions by New Yorkers, of all people. President Ford was right.
TRUE BELIEVER
Tim Blair – Monday, July 28, 2014 (10:37am)
===JUNIOR LABOUR UNITS UNMOURNED
Tim Blair – Monday, July 28, 2014 (10:24am)
Hamas kills children by using them to shield tunnels, and Hamas kills children by making them build tunnels in the first place:
The Institute for Palestine Studies published a detailed report on Gaza’s Tunnel Phenomenon in the summer of 2012. It reported that tunnel construction in Gaza has resulted in a large number of child deaths.“At least 160 children have been killed in the tunnels, according to Hamas officials”The author, Nicolas Pelham, explains that Hamas uses child laborers to build their terror tunnels because, “much as in Victorian coal mines, they are prized for their nimble bodies”.
And not much else. Other atrocities are similarly ignored, writes Mark Steyn:
Given what is happening to Christians across the Muslim world, from Nigeria to Sudan to Iraq to Pakistan, when an obviously outrageous case comes up, it’s incumbent upon free nations to raise hell about it …Just to reiterate what happened here: A barbarian regime seized an American’s family and jailed them – and throughout their imprisonment no one in the United States Government did anything and neither the President nor his Secretary of State said a word.
Read on.
On 2GB tonight - Peter Slipper, Shorten’s sledge and boat people already suing for compo
Andrew Bolt July 28 2014 (6:21pm)
===One day here and boat people already want compo
Andrew Bolt July 28 2014 (6:14pm)
One day on our soil and already into us for the rent?
===ASYLUM-seekers brought to the Australian mainland will seek compensation after being detained at sea for three weeks.And to think these are people “fleeing” from free, safe and democratic India:
IMMIGRATION Minister Scott Morrison has ridiculed as “absurd and offensive” suggestions that 157 asylum-seekers who sailed from India could be genuine refugees, insisting they must be “economic” migrants.What a farce. You’d almost get the impression that a lot of people advising the asylum seekers really want our border controls destroyed.
Slipper found guilty
Andrew Bolt July 28 2014 (6:09pm)
I am not surprised in the slightest. I wonder only how many other politicians have escaped this scrutiny:
===FORMER speaker Peter Slipper has been found guilty of dishonestly using parliamentary taxi vouchers to travel to wineries...
The former federal member for the Queensland seat of Fisher was accused of dishonestly using taxi vouchers to visit wineries near Canberra on three occasions in 2010, and of filling out multiple taxi dockets to hide the fact he had not been on parliamentary business. The trips cost $954 in total.
The ancient Jew-hatred returns
Andrew Bolt July 28 2014 (12:02pm)
The anti-Semitism behind the rallies against Israel is unmistakable.
Here are protesters in Melbourne last weekend:
Why does the Left only protest when Muslims killed by Jews?
After all, Muslims are killing Muslims far more horribly:
Why this so-selective outrage? I can think of only one credible explanation, and it’s deeply sinister.
(Thanks to readers Daniel and J.)
===Here are protesters in Melbourne last weekend:
Note the caricature of Abbott on the right:
This cartoon, used by the Sydney Morning Herald to advertise more poison from Mike Carlton, trades on some dangerously familiar stereotypes, too:
UPDATE
Why does the Left only protest when Muslims killed by Jews?
After all, Muslims are killing Muslims far more horribly:
Newly-released video footage shows the ISIL Takfiri terrorists summarily executing at least 50 Syrian government soldiers in the troubled northern Syria.Muslims are killing Muslims in far greater numbers:
More than 700 people were killed in Syria over the course of Thursday and Friday, in what activists say were the bloodiest 48 hours of fighting in the conflict to date.Muslims are eradicating Christians:
ISIS, which recently changed its name to Islamic State, gave Christians in Iraq’s northern city an ultimatum last week to convert to Islam, pay a religious tax or be killed, forcing hundreds of families to flee and tearing apart a community that has existed since the earliest days of Christianity. The militants spray-painted Christian houses with the Arabic letter “N” for “Nasrani,” or “Christian,” to identify them.Yet the only killing in the wide world that protesters in Australia condemned last weekend was Jews fighting back against the terrorists who have fired more than 2000 rockets at Israeli civilians.
Why this so-selective outrage? I can think of only one credible explanation, and it’s deeply sinister.
(Thanks to readers Daniel and J.)
Israeli army: we didn’t kill the 16 people in the school
Andrew Bolt July 28 2014 (11:55am)
I do not know who is telling the truth, but if I had to choose between Hamas and the IDF…
Israel’s Ambassador to the US tears into CNN - on CNN - for so grossly slanting its coverage:
(Thanks to reader asuebell.)
===An Israeli army inquiry into fighting at a UN facility in Beit Hanoun Thursday found that IDF mortars did not play a role in the killing of 16 people in the school courtyard, dismissing claims that the military was responsible for their deaths.UPDATE
The army admitted that an IDF-fired shell did hit the UN-run school’s yard, but at a time when there were no people in the area.
“A single errant mortar landed in the school courtyard, injuring no one,” Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said Sunday in a conference call.
Lerner described a scene of “intense fighting” in the vicinity of the school last Thursday afternoon, including volleys of anti-tank missiles fired at soldiers, who responded with live fire. The militant fire, Lerner said, came from the areas “adjacent to, and in the vicinity of, the school.”
Palestinian accounts said 16 people were killed in the school as a result of the fighting, with initial reports blaming Israel for the deaths.
Lerner suggested that the 16 dead and dozens of wounded could have been caught in the crossfire and brought into the courtyard, perhaps for treatment, or may have been hit by rockets or mortars fired by the militants themselves. He said he had “no idea” where the dead had come from, and stated that it was “extremely unlikely” that anyone had been killed by the single mortar round that fell in the empty yard.
Israel’s Ambassador to the US tears into CNN - on CNN - for so grossly slanting its coverage:
CNN latest finds it did briefly mention in passing what the Ambassador in hours of listening had not heard. And then attacks Israel again.
(Thanks to reader asuebell.)
All sides of politics Fairfax can see with its left eye
Andrew Bolt July 28 2014 (11:34am)
The Sydney Morning Herald headline:
It is worth pointing out a chronology and causality that much of the media will overlook in the rush to condemn Israel:
Fairfax actually claims the conflict started when Israel fought back:
(Thanks to readers James, Mel and Gab.)
===The story:
The politicians, from federal and NSW Parliaments, representing the Greens and Labor parties, said Australia should support a United Nations inquiry into alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights laws.UPDATE
It is worth pointing out a chronology and causality that much of the media will overlook in the rush to condemn Israel:
THE ISRAELI army is to resume its raids on Gaza after Hamas rejected an extension to the 12 hour truce and continued firing rockets.UPDATE
“Following Hamas’ incessant rocket fire throughout the humanitarian window, which was agreed upon for the welfare of the civilian population in Gaza, the IDF will now resume its aerial, naval and ground activity in the Gaza Strip,” an army statement said.
Fairfax actually claims the conflict started when Israel fought back:
The conflict began when Israel launched an operation to stamp out rocket fire from Gaza.Astonishing.
(Thanks to readers James, Mel and Gab.)
What would Labor do with police files?
Andrew Bolt July 28 2014 (9:13am)
I wouldn’t trust these Labor jokers with any access to any confidential information - like the information they’d access to in government:
You expect honest people to return lost property and not to destroy it - after exploiting it:
Remind me to be very, very careful about talking to any Age reporter on the phone:
===A senior Victorian ALP member has admitted accessing a missing dictaphone recording made by a journalist for The Age.UPDATE
Victorian Labor assistant secretary Kosmos Samaras on Monday morning said he listened to the recording, which contained private conversations between The Sunday Age’s state political editor Farrah Tomazin and several politicians including former premier Ted Baillieu…
As The Age can reveal, the dictaphone was handed in to lost property by security at Labor’s state conference in May, before being taken back to ALP headquarters and listened to by Mr Samaras.
The private conversation between Tomazin and Mr Baillieu was then copied, and listened to by a small group of senior party operatives, including state secretary Noah Carroll and Mr Andrews’ chief of staff, John McLindon.
A decision was made by Mr Samaras not to release it after legal advice was provided by Slater and Gordon lawyer James Higgins. Despite the advice, and against the wishes of Mr Samaras, the recording was forwarded to a third party, before being emailed to hundreds of Liberal Party members.
You expect honest people to return lost property and not to destroy it - after exploiting it:
OPPOSITION Leader Daniel Andrews admits it was the “wrong call” to destroy a dictaphone and tape belonging to a Fairfax reporter, but denies the ALP leaked its contents involving a conversation between former premier Ted Baillieu and the reporter.UPDATE
Mr Andrews spoke publicly about the crisis for the first time today, saying that “it’s a dirty mess” on 3AW radio, as ALP State Secretary Noah Carroll and Assistant State Secretary Kosmos Samaras admitted to listening to the tape’s contents. Mr Andrews said that the dictaphone was destroyed and the tape cut with scissors.
Remind me to be very, very careful about talking to any Age reporter on the phone:
A SENIOR Labor official in Victoria has admitted obtaining a journalist’s lost dictaphone and says it reveals numerous apparently unauthorised recordings with senior politicians on both sides of politics…
Labor Assistant Victorian Labor secretary Kosmos Samaras says ... he was “shocked and angry” to hear a conversation he had with the journalist had been recorded without his knowledge… “...I listened to numerous senior politicians on both sides of politics and others whose private conversations which I presumed had also been recorded without their knowledge...”
Abbott should say it’s mad to spend billions to make no difference to the climate
Andrew Bolt July 28 2014 (8:54am)
Henry Ergas says Tony Abbott needs to be blunt and say policies to cut our emissions will make no difference to the climate and must be scrapped:
===What conceivable purpose is served by policies which have no effect whatsoever on global emissions but damage our prosperity? And were dangerous climate change indeed in prospect, how could making us poorer facilitate the adjustments Australia will have to undertake?
Abbott leads fight against evil … and a superpower
Andrew Bolt July 28 2014 (8:44am)
TONY Abbott is leading the West into a confrontation with nuclear superpower Russia over the downing of MH17.
The stakes are incredibly high, as the Prime Minister organises, effectively, a small army to move into Ukraine.
Abbott’s role in galvanising international action has been almost unprecedented for an Australian prime minister.
The media from Tokyo to Washington have reported it.
Dutch journalists at media conferences last week admiringly contrasted Abbott’s calls for action with their own leader’s calls for calm.
And Russia has noticed, too, first blasting Abbott’s criticisms as “unacceptable” and then — government sources say — subjecting Australian diplomatic communications to intense surveillance.
Abbott, as a Catholic and student of past battles with totalitarianism, understands evil.
(Read full article here.)
===The stakes are incredibly high, as the Prime Minister organises, effectively, a small army to move into Ukraine.
Abbott’s role in galvanising international action has been almost unprecedented for an Australian prime minister.
The media from Tokyo to Washington have reported it.
Dutch journalists at media conferences last week admiringly contrasted Abbott’s calls for action with their own leader’s calls for calm.
And Russia has noticed, too, first blasting Abbott’s criticisms as “unacceptable” and then — government sources say — subjecting Australian diplomatic communications to intense surveillance.
Abbott, as a Catholic and student of past battles with totalitarianism, understands evil.
(Read full article here.)
How did we develop a new export of suicide bombers?
Andrew Bolt July 28 2014 (8:42am)
AUSTRALIA now boasts an amazing new export: suicide bombers and men who hack off the heads of infidels.
Adam Dahman, 18, a graduate of Northcote High, this month reportedly became our second suicide bomber, killing three people in Baghdad. (His family denies it.)
He joins a Brisbane man believed to have blown himself up at a Syrian army checkpoint last September.
Also starting in this new export drive are Khaled Sharrouf and Mohamed Elomar, whose Twitter accounts last week showed them mugging with the severed heads of Iraqis.
Elomar, a Sydney boxer, grins as he holds up two severed heads — which his wife’s lawyer claims were just “Photoshopped’’.
Sharrouf, who served time in an Australian jail over a terrorist plot before moving to Syria, meanwhile brags: “Few more heads how lovely bludy amazing stuff abuhafs u keep on cutting those infidel throats but the last 1 is mine!”
So far this industry has been purely for export.
(Read full article here.)
===Adam Dahman, 18, a graduate of Northcote High, this month reportedly became our second suicide bomber, killing three people in Baghdad. (His family denies it.)
He joins a Brisbane man believed to have blown himself up at a Syrian army checkpoint last September.
Also starting in this new export drive are Khaled Sharrouf and Mohamed Elomar, whose Twitter accounts last week showed them mugging with the severed heads of Iraqis.
Elomar, a Sydney boxer, grins as he holds up two severed heads — which his wife’s lawyer claims were just “Photoshopped’’.
Sharrouf, who served time in an Australian jail over a terrorist plot before moving to Syria, meanwhile brags: “Few more heads how lovely bludy amazing stuff abuhafs u keep on cutting those infidel throats but the last 1 is mine!”
So far this industry has been purely for export.
(Read full article here.)
Hanson-Young likens India to ISIS head-hacking terrorists
Andrew Bolt July 28 2014 (8:39am)
How insanely lacking in proportion are the Greens, to liken democratic India to a terrorist group that cuts off heads and orders women to be genitally mutilated?
===GREENS Senator Sarah Hanson- Young [claimed] India had no legal right to assess asylum seekers in Australia for possible return to India, despite many precedents. “What’s next? Will we allow the Sri Lankan government to come in and interview the Tamils? Would we go so far as to allow ISIS to interrogate those who have fled Iraq?” Ms Hanson-Young said yesterday.How did this moral hysteric become a Senator? Why do the Greens let themselves be represented by children?
Right of entry = right to spy for a competitor
Andrew Bolt July 28 2014 (8:21am)
Grace Collier alleges:
===Toll Holdings and the Transport Workers Union have a contract until 2017 that requires the union to spy on, harass and extort money from five of Toll’s competitors a year, for a union-owned entity to earn $50,000 a year. The royal commission into union malfeasance has the contract and the confession that it was entered into for anti-competitive reasons…(Thanks to reader WaG311.)
The ACCC will not confirm or deny anything and everyone I talk to in industry and government says the ACCC people will do nothing, are useless and should all be sacked.
Labor lead shrinks, but public still can’t see Abbott the MH17 leader handling local stuff, too
Andrew Bolt July 28 2014 (7:24am)
Tony Abbott is getting marks for leadership on the MH17 disaster, but not enough yet for popularity:
===The Galaxy poll revealed that 48 per cent of people believed Mr Abbott had shown the most leadership, compared with 17 per cent citing Mr Obama and only 7 per cent recognising the efforts of the British leader…Still, I believe the public has now been given an ineradicable impression of Abbott as a cool, firm and capable crisis manager. Now the challenge for the Liberals is to show some of those qualities to domestic political leadership - without the crisis. Abbott will also need soon to show he is not just preoccupied with the MH17 issue but is indeed dealing with something local.
On a two-party-preferred basis, Labor leads the Coalition 52 to 48 — only a one point improvement for the government since the last Galaxy poll after the May Budget...
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Fatah & Hamas are given billions of dollars in aid to take care of the Arab Palestinians, yet they do nothing and sit silent as the people they are charged to take care of are slaughtered===
Stephen E Hughes
In this book, Tadros ties the story of the Copts to that of their motherland, Egypt. In providing a clear understanding of who the Copts are, including their long history, he sheds light on how the Coptic community’s struggle to modernize is inevitably intertwined with Egypt’s quest for modernity. In Egypt’s ongoing struggle to reconcile the Islamic faith with modern ideas and practices, Tadros explains that the Copts have been secluded from the public sphere even under Egypt’s most liberal order. The hopes unleashed by the fall of the Mubarak regime have come to naught as the Muslim Brotherhood’s rise to power posed a colossal challenge to Copts. Now with the fall of President Morsi, Egypt’s Copts continue to face enormous challenges because they are being held responsible by the Islamists for their fall from power.
===Holly Sarah Nguyen
When the mountain seems to tough to take, I just smile and remember that God made the mountain and can move it or give me the strength to climb it.
===A symbol of hope in Africa
Niankoro Yeah Samake (
Pronunciation (help·info)) (born February 27, 1969) is a social entrepreneur and politician from Ouelessebougou, Mali. Samake is the executive director of the Empower Mali Foundation, the current mayor of Ouelessebougou, Vice President of Mali's League of Mayors, and is a candidate in the coup-interrupted 2012 Malian presidential election.
===
This woman is incredibly brave, and the sad and pathetic discrimination she faced 40 years ago disgusts me. It did make my heart go pitter-pat when at 1:30 Mr. Jerk Face gets the most epic STFU from a NOOB ever.
It reminds me that it would improve the sport to allow women to compete in Rugby League - ed
===
Bess Nungarrayi Price MLA :: Member for Stuart'
Here's the speech I delivered to LNP Lady’s Convention, Brisbane 18th July 2013
I was born under a tree near Yuendumu about 300 kilometres north west of Alice Springs. I was my mother’s ninth child. My parents were around ten or eleven years old when they first saw a white man. In the ten years before I was born my mother lost four sons in infancy. The nineteen fifties were a hard time for mothers in the desert.
A baby daughter had also been taken from her. Mum was told that her daughter had died. We think she was taken because she was one of twins. Twins were not welcome in the old days in the desert. Sometimes my people left one of them to die because two babies could not be cared for by one mother at the same time. My mother would not have done that but she wasn’t asked. The baby was taken to the Santa Teresa Mission and given to an Arrernte family to raise. I didn’t meet her until I was seventeen. The Arrernte told us that she was still alive and she came to us to meet her family when she was about thirty years old.
Mum told me that she left me on the ground for a snake to take because she didn’t want me. My aunt was there as the midwife. She took me and cared for me. Then my older sister looked after me until my mother was ready to take me and care for me. They all lived in the same camp. Now I understand what had happened to Mum. She would have had what is now called post natal depression. She had a lot of reasons to feel depressed. In later years my Mum apologised to me. I never stopped loving her and she never really stopped loving me.
I survived meningitis when I was six years old. I lived my childhood in a traditional humpy – we call them yujuku – that my parents built for us. Yuendumu was a happy place when I was a kid. Everybody was clean, everybody worked, life was organised and predictable. I got my first job when I was fifteen and I have worked ever since.
The missionary was a tough old Baptist. He was a survivor of Changi prison of war camp. He didn’t try to destroy our old ways but tried to build on them. If a fight started in the camp he would march into the middle of it ignoring the spears and boomerangs and axes and tell every body to go home. And they would put down their weapons and go home. He was loved and respected by everyone.
I was supposed to go to my promised husband when I was thirteen. He was already married to my older sister. I refused and my father and promised husband let me get away with that so I could finish my education. This was very rare in my community. It was normal for young girls to be badly beaten if they didn’t want to go to their promised.
I married another and was a mother by the time I was fourteen. My first marriage was very violent. My husband would beat me badly when he was drunk in front of my in laws who did nothing to help me. I left him to marry my present husband when I was eighteen. Then I lost my son to leukaemia when he was only ten. Mum died five years ago now. When she died she had outlived eight of her eleven children and another has died since, the one who was taken away from us. We Aboriginal women know what hard times are.
We got our freedom in the sixties and seventies. We got the right to vote, the freedom to drink alcohol. We got bilingual and bicultural education. We got self-determination. That was like giving us a car without teaching us how to drive. We were not ready for it. We also got unemployment, boredom, unearned sit down money and the grog – then after that ganja.
We got feuding and domestic violence and we started getting very sick. My kidneys collapsed completely in 1986. My brother saved me by donating one of his kidneys to me. He is now on dialysis himself. My people’s health has just got worse and worse since then. Too many of my close relatives now have diabetes, heart disease, or kidney failure. Far too many of my loved ones have died from avoidable diseases. I have lost three brothers to alcohol. I have lost a 21 year old niece to alcohol.
Too many of my loved ones have been murdered. Three of my sisters died from heart disease or cancer within three weeks this year. Two of my nieces – both young mothers – were killed by their husbands this year alone. One of my nephews, an orphan whose father died from renal failure and mother was stabbed to death – was arrested and locked up last week.
Another of my nephews was hospitalised with renal failure last week as well. I could tell you about problems like this for the rest of the day but I hope you get the point already. It is very painful for me to talk about all this.
Many of these health problems can be solved if my people made the right choices but there are many that are a mystery to me. When my kidneys collapsed I was a teetotaller, I didn’t smoke, I ate a healthy diet and was very fit. I have played sport all of my life. It is all very complicated and hard to work out.
One thing that would be easier to stop now is violence and sexual abuse. I decided to get into politics to do something to help protect our women and kids and to help improve their lives. Not all Aboriginal men are violent. I am not a feminist. I am not interested in what whitefellas call gender wars.
My father, my old promised husband and my brothers were not violent towards their wives. They loved their kids and tried their best for them. I have been happily married for over thirty years. But violence against women and abuse of kids is so common that it is a crisis. I have been a victim of it and too many of my young female relatives have gone to an early grave because of it.
Ending the violence against women is the best thing we can do for our men as well. A man who beats his wife is no man at all. I want to get our young men out of jail as well. Too many of them are in there because of the way they treat their women.
The one thing that makes it so hard to do something about all of this is what you call political correctness – the unwillingness to admit the truth and the attempt to close down those, like me, who want to tell the truth.
You will hear people who call themselves human rights activists trying very hard to avoid the truth. Tom Calma who was Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner said that a promised wife had the right to refuse to go to a promised husband. I was a promised wife and can tell you that this is nonsense. I got away with it because my father spoiled me and my promised husband was a good man who wasn’t interested in violence. He gave me permission to marry my present husband and told me that he would be happy to marry me if I wanted to come back to him. He was a gentleman and a philosopher. But most of the young women I knew did not have the easy way out that I had. Many were seriously beaten and I was told as a girl that some were killed.
Mick Gooda, the present Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, has told the world that violence against women was never part of ‘our culture’. I have the scars to prove him wrong. He is not talking about my culture. Violence against women has been part of all traditional cultures. It was part of whitefella culture until very recently. But whitefellas have admitted they had a problem and tried to do something about it. I am asking that we need to do the same. That’s all I’m asking.
Some of our men have admitted that. At a conference on Aboriginal Men’s Health in Alice Springs in 2008 from all over northern Australia issued a media release apologizing for violence against women and abuse of children. They told us that they needed our love and support. They asked for support from the rest of Australia and from governments to turn that apology into action.
It seems to me that these brave and caring Aboriginal men were ignored by the Aboriginal organisations, by governments, by human rights organisations and by the media. They were not being politically correct. They were supposed to act like victims and find a way to blame whitefellas and governments for all the problems not apologise for the wrong done in their names and ask for support to fix the problems.
I supported the NT intervention because I was sick of burying my loved ones. I saw the results of the sexual abuse of kids in my own extended family. I was so sickened by all of this that I was thrilled when Mal Brough and John Howard said that they would do something about it. Since then a lot has been watered down. The Intervention has not solved our problems although it has done some good.
If my people had supported it and then advised the government how to go about it properly much more would have been achieved. Instead we have had all of this opposition to it from people who know absolutely nothing about the problems we face and what is going on in the Northern Territory. The protestors have made it much harder to achieve its objectives.
I was nicknamed ‘the Intervention Woman’ in my own country. During the election campaign for the NT Legislative Assembly my nephew, the then Labor member for Stuart, told the electors that the Intervention was still going because of me. He used the slogan ‘No more Intervention’. He didn’t mention that it was a Labor government that had passed the Stronger Futures Legislation extending a watered down version of the Intervention for several more years.
Even with this campaign I beat my nephew with an 18 and a half per cent swing in an electorate that has a 73 per cent Aboriginal population. In three electorates, including my own, only Aboriginal candidates representing three different parties stood for election. I beat two Aboriginal men to win my seat. Those who vilify me ignore all this. And they have not been elected by my people to represent them.
The CLP won the election because of the votes of the bush Aboriginal people. Around 30 per cent of the Territory’s population is Aboriginal. We brought the CLP to power with five Aboriginal members of our Government. Three of us are women. Four of us speak an Aboriginal language as a first language. Our Chief Minister is a Koori from New South Wales, the first Aboriginal leader of any government in our history.
But we are not there to divide the Northern Territory. We are one community. I am a proud Territorian and an Australian as well as a proud Warlpiri. We are there to make sure that our people benefit from the balanced and sustainable development of our country. We want the benefits that all other Australians enjoy because they are Australians. We want our kids to prosper and have choices.
Even though we Aboriginal Territorians are so powerful politically, even though our people voted for us, our views are ignored by those who think they know better than the Aboriginal voters of our electorates. Because I want to be part of one community with all other Territorians, because I want to tell the truth about my people’s problems, because I want to tell the truth about violence against women and sexual abuse of kids, because I want it all to stop I have been vilified by white radicals who want to control us and Aboriginal activists on the east coast who want my people to blame whitefellas for all their problems.
One of them is your very own Tiga Bayles who is an Aboriginal broadcaster based here in Brisbane. He calls me ‘Best Price’ because he wants everybody to believe that I am in politics only to make money. He calls me a ‘head nodding Jacky Jacky who says only what the government wants me to say’. He has influence. The Indigenous Support Unit at Griffith University refused to allow me to visit there with Malcolm Cole the LNP candidate for Moreton while I was in Brisbane. A taxpayer funded institution of higher learning is apparently so afraid of me, a Warlpiri grandmother, that it won’t allow me to come and talk to the students and staff.
Is that what Aboriginal freedom fighters fought for all these years? Well I have news for Mr Bayles, as long as our women are being murdered, as long as our kids are being abused, as long as our young men are filling the jails, as long as all of our people are dying of avoidable disease I will speak out. And I will not be asking for his permission to do it. I don’t nod my head to everything the government says. I joined the government along with four Aboriginal colleagues and our people voted for us. I am part of the government. The likes of Mr Bayles can’t accept that.
I want to keep the best of our culture but not at the price of political separation from the rest of Australia. I want to keep our language but not at the price of ineffective and sub standard education for our kids. I want our kids to have the same choices as other Australian kids. I want our people to live good, healthy and happy lives.
I want the killing of our women and the abuse of our kids to stop and I want to do that with the support of the rest of Australia. I don’t hate whitefellas and blame them for all of our problems. After all I’m married to one and I know that they aren’t supermen – they have problems too. I don’t hate men, I am not a feminist. My father was the best father a young girl could have. My brothers were good non-violent loving men. My promised husband was a good, wise, non-violent, loving man.
But if you want to know about the problems that women have then talk to women, give us a voice. Don’t ask men even if they are Social Justice Commissioners. Don’t trust men who try to speak for us or who try to shut us down. And never accept excuses for violence and abuse.
Racism, colonialism, frontier violence, unemployment, low education levels, poor health - none of these are excuses for the victimisation of the most vulnerable in our communities. Ending the violence is the best thing that we can do for all of us, women, kids and men.
===
Hollyscoop: Beyoncé made headlines after PepsiCo Inc. hired the diva to endorse the soda company in a multi-year deal for an estimated $50 million.
===
<Can't even get the bribes right. The lowlight was a ham-fisted attempt by Kevin Rudd to splash $100 million around the state as pre-election sweeteners which was actually previously budgeted forestry compensation funding.
Glaringly, this "jobs and growth package" was so quickly cobbled together that nobody at the launch knew how many jobs it was likely to create.>
===
Pastor Rick Warren
Humility isn't denying your strengths; it's being honest about your weaknesses.
===
July 28: World Hepatitis Day; Eid al-Fitr (Islam, 2014); beginning ofThe Nine Days (Judaism, 2014); Independence Day in Peru (1821)
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- 1821 – Peruvian War of Independence: Argentine general José de San Martín declared the independence of Peru from Spain.
- 1866 – At the age of 18, Vinnie Ream (pictured)became the first and youngest female artist to receive a commission from the United States government for a statue—that of Abraham Lincoln in the U.S. Capitol rotunda.
- 1914 – Austria-Hungary declared war after rejecting Serbia's conditional acceptance of only part of the July Ultimatum following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, starting World War I.
- 1976 – An earthquake measuring at least 8.2 on the Richter scale, one of the deadliest in history, flattened Tangshan, China, killing at least 240,000 people.
- 1996 – The remains of the prehistoric Kennewick Man were discovered on a bank of the Columbia River near Kennewick, Washington, US.
- 1364 – Troops of the Republic of Pisa and the Republic of Florence clash in the Battle of Cascina.
- 1540 – Thomas Cromwell is executed at the order of Henry VIII of England on charges of treason. Henry marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day.
- 1571 – La Laguna encomienda, known today as the Laguna province in the Philippines is founded by the Spaniards as one of the oldest encomiendas (provinces) in the country.
- 1635 – In the Eighty Years' War the Spanish capture the strategic Dutch fortress of Schenkenschans
- 1656 – Battle of Warsaw begins.
- 1778 – Constitution of the province of Cantabria ratified at the Assembly Hall in Bárcena la Puente, Reocín, Spain.
- 1794 – French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Justare executed by guillotine in Paris, France.
- 1808 – Mahmud II became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.
- 1809 – Peninsular War: Battle of Talavera: Sir Arthur Wellesley's British, Portuguese and Spanish army defeats a French force led by Joseph Bonaparte.
- 1821 – José de San Martín declares the independence of Peru from Spain.
- 1854 – USS Constellation (1854), the last all-sail warship built by the United States Navy, is commissioned.
- 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Ezra Church: Confederate troops make a third unsuccessful attempt to drive Union forces from Atlanta, Georgia.
- 1866 – At the age of 18, Vinnie Ream becomes the first and youngest female artist to receive a commission from the United States government for a statue (of Abraham Lincoln).
- 1868 – The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is certified, establishing African American citizenship and guaranteeing due process of law.
- 1896 – The city of Miami, Florida is incorporated.
- 1914 – In the culmination of the July Crisis, Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, igniting World War I.
- 1915 – The United States begins a 20-year occupation of Haiti.
- 1932 – U.S. President Herbert Hoover orders the United States Army to forcibly evict the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans gathered in Washington, D.C.
- 1935 – First flight of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.
- 1938 – Hawaii Clipper disappears between Guam and Manila as the first loss of an airliner in trans-Pacific China Clipper service.
- 1939 – The Sutton Hoo helmet is discovered.
- 1942 – World War II: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin issues Order No. 227. In response to alarming German advances, all those who retreat or otherwise leave their positions without orders to do so are to be tried in a military court, with punishment ranging from duty in a shtrafbat battalion, imprisonment in a Gulag, or execution.
- 1943 – World War II: Operation Gomorrah: The Royal Air Force bombs Hamburg, Germany causing a firestorm that kills 42,000 German civilians.
- 1945 – A U.S. Army B-25 bomber crashes into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building killing 14 and injuring 26.
- 1957 – Heavy rain and a mudslide in Isahaya, western Kyushu, Japan, kills 992.
- 1965 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces his order to increase the number of United States troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000.
- 1973 – Summer Jam at Watkins Glen: Nearly 600,000 people attend a rock festivalat the Watkins Glen International Raceway.
- 1974 – Spetsgruppa A, Russia's elite special force, was formed.
- 1976 – The Tangshan earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 moment magnitude flattens Tangshan in the People's Republic of China, killing 242,769 and injuring 164,851.
- 1984 – The 1984 Summer Olympics officially known as the games of the XXIII were opened in Los Angeles.
- 1996 – The remains of a prehistoric man are discovered near Kennewick, Washington. Such remains will be known as the Kennewick Man.
- 2001 – Australian Ian Thorpe becomes the first swimmer to win six gold medals at a single World Championship.
- 2002 – Nine coal miners trapped in the flooded Quecreek Mine in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, are rescued after 77 hours underground.
- 2005 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army calls an end to its thirty-year-long armed campaign in Northern Ireland.
- 2010 – Airblue Flight 202 crashes into the Margalla Hills north of Islamabad, Pakistan, killing all 152 people aboard. It is the deadliest aviation accident in Pakistan history and the first involving an Airbus A321.
- 1347 – Margaret of Durazzo (d. 1412)
- 1516 – William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, German nobleman (d. 1592)
- 1609 – Judith Leyster, Dutch painter (d. 1660)
- 1635 – Robert Hooke, English physicist and chemist (d. 1703)
- 1659 – Charles Ancillon, French jurist and diplomat (d. 1715)
- 1746 – Thomas Heyward, Jr., American judge and politician (d. 1809)
- 1750 – Fabre d'Églantine French actor, playwright, and politician (d. 1794)
- 1796 – Ignaz Bösendorfer, Austrian businessman, founded the Bösendorfer Company (d. 1859)
- 1804 – Ludwig Feuerbach, German anthropologist and philosopher (d. 1872)
- 1815 – Stefan Dunjov, Bulgarian colonel (d. 1889)
- 1844 – Gerard Manley Hopkins, English poet (d. 1889)
- 1857 – Ballington Booth, English-American activist, co-founded Volunteers of America (d. 1940)
- 1860 – Elias M. Ammons, American businessman and politician, 19th Governor of Colorado (d. 1925)
- 1860 – Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia (d. 1922)
- 1863 – Huseyn Khan Nakhchivanski, Russian general (d. 1919)
- 1866 – Beatrix Potter, English children's book writer and illustrator (d. 1943)
- 1866 – Albertson Van Zo Post, American fencer (d. 1938)
- 1867 – Charles Dillon Perrine, American-Argentinian astronomer (d. 1951)
- 1872 – Albert Sarraut, French journalist and politician, 106th Prime Minister of France (d. 1962)
- 1874 – Ernst Cassirer, Polish-American philosopher and academic (d. 1945)
- 1879 – Lucy Burns, American activist, co-founded the National Woman's Party (d. 1966)
- 1879 – Stefan Filipkiewicz, Polish painter (d. 1944)
- 1887 – Marcel Duchamp, French-American painter and sculptor (d. 1968)
- 1887 – Willard Price, Canadian-American journalist and author (d. 1983)
- 1893 – Rued Langgaard, Danish organist and composer (d. 1952)
- 1896 – Barbara La Marr, American actress and screenwriter (d. 1926)
- 1898 – Lawrence Gray, American actor (d. 1970)
- 1901 – Freddie Fitzsimmons, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1979)
- 1901 – Rudy Vallée, American actor, singer, and saxophonist (d. 1986)
- 1902 – Albert Namatjira, Australian painter (d. 1959)
- 1902 – Sir Karl Popper, Austrian-English philosopher and academic (d. 1994)
- 1907 – Earl Tupper, American inventor and businessman, founded Tupperware Brands (d. 1983)
- 1909 – Aenne Burda German publisher (d. 2005)
- 1909 – Malcolm Lowry, English novelist and poet (d. 1957)
- 1914 – Carmen Dragon, American conductor and composer (d. 1984)
- 1915 – Charles Hard Townes, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prizelaureate (d. 2015)
- 1915 – Dick Sprang, American illustrator (d. 2000)
- 1916 – David Brown, American journalist and producer (d. 2010)
- 1920 – Andrew V. McLaglen, English-American director and producer (d. 2014)
- 1922 – Jacques Piccard, Belgian-Swiss oceanographer and engineer (d. 2008)
- 1923 – Ray Ellis, American conductor and producer (d. 2008)
- 1924 – Luigi Musso, Italian race car driver (d. 1958)
- 1924 – C. T. Vivian, American minister, author, and activist
- 1925 – Baruch Samuel Blumberg, American physician and academic, Nobel Prizelaureate (d. 2011)
- 1926 – Charlie Biddle, American-Canadian bassist (d. 2003)
- 1927 – John Ashbery, American poet
- 1929 – Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, American journalist and socialite, 37th First Lady of the United States (d. 1994)
- 1929 – Shirley Ann Grau, American novelist and short story writer
- 1930 – Firoza Begum, Bangladeshi singer (d. 2014)
- 1930 – Junior Kimbrough, American singer and guitarist (d. 1998)
- 1930 – Jean Roba, Belgian author and illustrator (d. 2006)
- 1930 – Ramsey Muir Withers, Canadian general (d. 2014)
- 1931 – Alan Brownjohn, English poet and author
- 1931 – Johnny Martin, Australian cricketer (d. 1992)
- 1932 – Natalie Babbitt, American author and illustrator (d. 2016)
- 1933 – Charlie Hodge, Canadian ice hockey player and scout
- 1934 – Jacques d'Amboise, American dancer and choreographer
- 1935 – Neil McKendrick, English historian and academic
- 1936 – Russ Jackson, Canadian football player and coach
- 1936 – Garfield Sobers, Barbadian cricketer
- 1937 – Francis Veber, French director and screenwriter
- 1938 – Luis Aragonés, Spanish footballer, coach, and manager (d. 2014)
- 1938 – Arsen Dedić, Croatian singer-songwriter and poet (d. 2015)
- 1938 – Alberto Fujimori, Peruvian engineer, academic, and politician, 90th President of Peru
- 1938 – Chuan Leekpai, Thai lawyer and politician, 20th Prime Minister of Thailand
- 1939 – Richard Johns, English air marshal
- 1940 – Philip Proctor, American voice actor and screenwriter
- 1941 – Riccardo Muti, Italian conductor and educator
- 1941 – Susan Roces, Filipino actress and producer
- 1942 – Marty Brennaman, American sportscaster
- 1942 – Tonia Marketaki, Greek director and screenwriter (d. 1994)
- 1943 – Mike Bloomfield, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 1981)
- 1943 – Bill Bradley, American basketball player and politician
- 1943 – Richard Wright, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player (d. 2008)
- 1945 – Jim Davis, American cartoonist, created Garfield
- 1946 – Jonathan Edwards, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1946 – Linda Kelsey, American actress
- 1946 – Fahmida Riaz, Pakistani poet and activist
- 1947 – Peter Cosgrove, Australian general and politician, 26th Governor General of Australia
- 1947 – Sally Struthers, American actress
- 1948 – Gerald Casale, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and director
- 1948 – Georgia Engel, American actress
- 1948 – Eiichi Ohtaki, Japanese singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2013)
- 1949 – Vida Blue, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1949 – Peter Doyle, Australian singer and guitarist (d. 2001)
- 1949 – Simon Kirke, English drummer
- 1949 – Steve Peregrin Took, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1980)
- 1949 – Randall Wallace, American screenwriter and producer
- 1950 – Shahyar Ghanbari, Iranian singer-songwriter
- 1950 – Tapley Seaton, Kittitian politician, 4th Governor-General of Saint Kitts and Nevis
- 1951 – Santiago Calatrava, Spanish architect and engineer, designed the Athens Olympic Sports Complex
- 1951 – Doug Collins, American basketball player and coach
- 1951 – Ray Kennedy, English footballer
- 1952 – Vajiralongkorn, King of Thailand
- 1954 – Hugo Chávez, Venezuelan colonel and politician, President of Venezuela (d. 2013)
- 1954 – Gerd Faltings, German mathematician and academic
- 1954 – Steve Morse, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1954 – Mikey Sheehy, Irish footballer
- 1955 – Nikolay Zimyatov, Russian skier
- 1956 – John Feinstein, American journalist and author
- 1956 – Robert Swan, English explorer
- 1958 – Terry Fox, Canadian runner and activist (d. 1981)
- 1958 – Michael Hitchcock, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1959 – William T. Vollmann, American novelist, short story writer and journalist
- 1960 – Luiz Fernando Carvalho, Brazilian director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1960 – Jon J. Muth, American author and illustrator
- 1960 – Yōichi Takahashi, Japanese illustrator
- 1961 – Yannick Dalmas, French race car driver
- 1964 – Lori Loughlin, American actress
- 1965 – Priscilla Chan, Hong Kong singer
- 1966 – Jimmy Pardo, American stand-up comedian, actor, and host
- 1966 – Shikao Suga, Japanese singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1967 – Taka Hirose, Japanese bass player
- 1969 – Garth Snow, American ice hockey player and manager
- 1969 – Alexis Arquette, American actress (d. 2016)
- 1970 – Michael Amott, Swedish guitarist and songwriter
- 1970 – Isabelle Brasseur, Canadian figure skater
- 1970 – Paul Strang, Zimbabwean cricketer and coach
- 1971 – Stephen Lynch, American singer-songwriter and actor
- 1971 – Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Iraqi leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
- 1971 – Annie Perreault, Canadian speed skater
- 1972 – Robert Chapman, English cricketer
- 1973 – Marc Dupré, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1973 – Steve Staios, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1974 – Alexis Tsipras, Greek engineer and politician, 186th Prime Minister of Greece
- 1975 – Leonor Watling, Spanish actress
- 1976 – Jacoby Shaddix, American singer-songwriter
- 1977 – Aki Berg, Finnish-Canadian ice hockey player
- 1977 – Manu Ginóbili, Argentinian basketball player
- 1977 – Miyabiyama Tetsushi, Japanese sumo wrestler
- 1978 – Kārlis Vērdiņš, Latvian poet
- 1978 – Hitomi Yaida, Japanese singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1979 – Henrik Hansen, Danish footballer
- 1979 – Birgitta Haukdal, Icelandic singer-songwriter and producer
- 1979 – Lee Min-woo, South Korean singer-songwriter and dancer
- 1979 – Alena Popchanka, Belarusian-French swimmer and coach
- 1980 – Stephen Christian, American singer-songwriter
- 1980 – Anthony Weaver, American football player
- 1981 – Michael Carrick, English footballer
- 1983 – Sam Dastyari, Iranian-Australian politician
- 1983 – Cody Hay, Canadian figure skater
- 1984 – Zach Parise, American ice hockey player
- 1985 – Mathieu Debuchy, French footballer
- 1985 – Dustin Milligan, Canadian actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1985 – Darren Murphy, Irish footballer
- 1986 – Alexandra Chando, American actress
- 1986 – Lauri Korpikoski, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1987 – Yasser Corona, Mexican footballer
- 1987 – Yevhen Khacheridi, Ukrainian-Greek footballer
- 1987 – Pedro, Spanish footballer
- 1988 – Greg Hardy, American football player
- 1989 – Felipe Kitadai, Brazilian martial artist
- 1990 – Soulja Boy, American rapper, producer, and actor
- 1990 – Simone Pizzuti, Italian footballer
- 1993 – Harry Kane, English footballer
- 1993 – Moses Odubajo, English footballer
- 1993 – Cher Lloyd, English singer-songwriter
- 1995 – Josh Addo-Carr, Australian rugby league player
Births[edit]
- 450 – Theodosius II, Roman emperor (b. 401)
- 938 – Thankmar, half-brother of Otto I (during Siege of Eresburg) (b. c. 908)
- 942 – Shi Jingtang, emperor of Later Jin (b. 892)
- 1057 – Victor II, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1018)
- 1128 – William Clito, English son of Sybilla of Conversano (b. 1102)
- 1230 – Leopold VI, Duke of Austria (b. 1176)
- 1271 – Walter de Burgh, 1st Earl of Ulster (b. 1220)
- 1285 – Keran, Queen of Armenia
- 1333 – Guy VIII of Viennois, Dauphin of Vienne (b. 1309)
- 1345 – Sancia of Majorca, queen regent of Naples (b. c. 1285)
- 1458 – John II, king of Cyprus and Armenia
- 1488 – Edward Woodville, Lord Scales (at the Battle of St. Aubin-du-Cormier)
- 1508 – Robert Blackadder, bishop of Glasgow
- 1527 – Rodrigo de Bastidas, Spanish explorer, founded the city of Santa Marta (b. 1460)
- 1540 – Thomas Cromwell, English lawyer and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1495)
- 1585 – Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford (b. 1527)
- 1631 – Guillén de Castro y Bellvis, Spanish playwright (b. 1569)
- 1655 – Cyrano de Bergerac, French poet and playwright (b. 1619)
- 1667 – Abraham Cowley, English poet and author (b. 1618)
- 1675 – Bulstrode Whitelocke, English lawyer and politician (b. 1605)
- 1685 – Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington, English politician and diplomat, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (b. 1618)
- 1718 – Étienne Baluze, French scholar and academic (b. 1630)
- 1741 – Antonio Vivaldi, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1678)
- 1750 – Johann Sebastian Bach, German organist and composer (b. 1685)
- 1762 – George Dodington, 1st Baron Melcombe, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Somerset (b. 1691)
- 1794 – Maximilien Robespierre, French lawyer and politician, 2nd President of the Committee of Public Safety (b. 1758)
- 1794 – Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, French soldier and politician (b. 1767)
- 1808 – Selim III, Ottoman sultan (b. 1761)
- 1809 – Richard Beckett, English cricketer and captain (b.1772)
- 1818 – Gaspard Monge, French mathematician and engineer (b. 1746)
- 1835 – Édouard Mortier, duc de Trévise, French general and politician, 15th Prime Minister of France (b. 1768)
- 1836 – Nathan Mayer Rothschild, German-English banker and financier (b. 1777)
- 1842 – Clemens Brentano, German author and poet (b. 1778)
- 1844 – Joseph Bonaparte, French brother of Napoleon (b. 1768)
- 1849 – Charles Albert of Sardinia (b. 1798)
- 1869 – Jan Evangelista Purkyně, Czech anatomist and physiologist (b. 1787)
- 1878 – George Law Curry, American publisher and politician (b. 1820)
- 1895 – Edward Beecher, American minister and theologian (b. 1803)
- 1930 – John DeWitt, American hammer thrower (b. 1881)
- 1930 – Allvar Gullstrand, Swedish ophthalmologist and optician, Nobel Prizelaureate (b. 1862)
- 1933 – Nishinoumi Kajirō III, Japanese sumo wrestler, 30th yokozuna (b. 1890)
- 1934 – Marie Dressler, Canadian-American actress and singer (b. 1868)
- 1934 – Louis Tancred, South African cricketer and pilot (b. 1876)
- 1935 – Meletius IV of Constantinople (b. 1871)
- 1942 – Flinders Petrie, English archaeologist and academic (b. 1853)
- 1946 – Saint Alphonsa, first woman of Indian origin to be Canonization as a saint by the Catholic Church (b. 1910)
- 1957 – Edith Abbott, American economist, social worker, and educator (b. 1876)
- 1957 – Isaac Heinemann, German-Israeli scholar and academic (b. 1876)
- 1965 – Edogawa Ranpo, Japanese author and critic (b. 1894)
- 1965 – Attallah Suheimat, Jordanian politician (b. 1875)
- 1967 – Karl W. Richter, American lieutenant and pilot (b. 1942)
- 1968 – Otto Hahn, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
- 1969 – Ramón Grau, Cuban physician and politician, 6th President of Cuba (b. 1882)
- 1969 – Frank Loesser, American composer (b. 1910)
- 1971 – Lawrence Moore Cosgrave, Canadian colonel and diplomat (b. 1890)
- 1971 – Myril Hoag, American baseball player (b. 1908)
- 1971 – Charles E. Pont, French-American minister and painter (b. 1898)
- 1972 – Helen Traubel, American soprano and actress (b. 1903)
- 1979 – Don Miller, American football player and coach (b. 1902)
- 1979 – Charles Shadwell, English conductor and bandleader (b. 1898)
- 1980 – Rose Rand, Austrian-born American logician and philosopher (b. 1903)
- 1981 – Stanley Rother, American priest and missionary (b. 1935)
- 1982 – Keith Green, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1953)
- 1987 – Jack Renshaw, Australian politician, 31st Premier of New South Wales (b. 1909)
- 1990 – Jill Esmond, English actress (b. 1908)
- 1992 – Sulev Nõmmik, Estonian actor and director (b. 1931)
- 1993 – Stanley Woods, Irish motorcycle racer (b. 1903)
- 1996 – Roger Tory Peterson, American ornithologist and academic (b. 1908)
- 1997 – Rosalie Crutchley, English actress (b. 1920)
- 1997 – Seni Pramoj, Thai lawyer and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1905)
- 1998 – Zbigniew Herbert, Polish poet and author (b. 1924)
- 1998 – Lenny McLean, English boxer, actor, and author (b. 1949)
- 1998 – Consalvo Sanesi, Italian race car driver (b. 1911)
- 1999 – Trygve Haavelmo, Norwegian economist and mathematician, Nobel Prizelaureate (b. 1911)
- 2000 – Abraham Pais, Dutch-American physicist and historian (b. 1918)
- 2001 – Ahmed Sofa, Bangladeshi poet, author, and critic (b. 1943)
- 2002 – Archer John Porter Martin, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prizelaureate (b. 1910)
- 2003 – Valerie Goulding, Irish activist and politician (b. 1918)
- 2004 – Francis Crick, English biologist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
- 2004 – Tiziano Terzani, Italian journalist and author (b. 1938)
- 2006 – David Gemmell, English author (b. 1948)
- 2007 – Karl Gotch, Belgian-American wrestler and trainer (b. 1924)
- 2007 – Jim LeRoy, American soldier and pilot (b. 1961)
- 2009 – Jim Johnson, American football player and coach (b. 1941)
- 2011 – Abdul Fatah Younis, Libyan general (b. 1944)
- 2012 – Colin Horsley, New Zealand-English pianist and educator (b. 1920)
- 2012 – Sepp Mayerl, Austrian mountaineer (b. 1937)
- 2012 – William F. Milliken Jr., American race car driver and engineer (b. 1911)
- 2013 – Mustafa Adrisi, Ugandan general and politician, 3rd Vice President of Uganda (b. 1922)
- 2013 – Eileen Brennan, American actress and singer (b. 1932)
- 2013 – William Scranton, American captain and politician, 13th United States Ambassador to the United Nations (b. 1917)
- 2013 – Ersilio Tonini, Italian cardinal (b. 1914)
- 2014 – Margot Adler, American journalist and author (b. 1946)
- 2014 – Alex Forbes, Scottish footballer and manager (b. 1925)
- 2014 – Alakbar Mammadov, Azerbaijani footballer and manager (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Theodore Van Kirk, American soldier, pilot, and navigator (b. 1921)
- 2015 – Jan Kulczyk, Polish businessman (b. 1950)
- 2015 – Edward Natapei, Vanuatuan politician, 6th Prime Minister of Vanuatu (b. 1954)
- 2015 – Clive Rice, South African cricketer and coach (b. 1949)
- 2016 – Émile Derlin Zinsou, Beninese politician (b. 1918)
Deaths[edit]
- Christian feast day:
- Alphonsa Muttathupadathu (Syro-Malabar Catholic Church)
- Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frederick Handel, Henry Purcell (Episcopal Church commemoration)
- Johann Sebastian Bach, Heinrich Schütz, George Frederick Handel (Lutherancommemoration)
- Nazarius and Celsus
- Pedro Poveda Castroverde
- July 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Day of Commemoration of the Great Upheaval (Canada)
- Earliest day on which Emancipation Day can fall, while August 3 is the latest; celebrated on Thursday before the first Monday in August (Bermuda)
- Fiestas Patrias, celebrates the independence of Peru from Spain by General José de San Martín in 1821.
- Liberation Day (San Marino)
- Ólavsøka Eve (Faroe Islands)
- World Hepatitis Day
Holidays and observances[edit]
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,”Hebrews 12:1 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
If you would know experimentally the preciousness of the promises, and enjoy them in your own heart, meditate much upon them. There are promises which are like grapes in the wine-press; if you will tread them the juice will flow. Thinking over the hallowed words will often be the prelude to their fulfilment. While you are musing upon them, the boon which you are seeking will insensibly come to you. Many a Christian who has thirsted for the promise has found the favour which it ensured gently distilling into his soul even while he has been considering the divine record; and he has rejoiced that ever he was led to lay the promise near his heart.
But besides meditating upon the promises, seek in thy soul to receive them as being the very words of God. Speak to thy soul thus, "If I were dealing with a man's promise, I should carefully consider the ability and the character of the man who had covenanted with me. So with the promise of God; my eye must not be so much fixed upon the greatness of the mercy--that may stagger me; as upon the greatness of the promiser--that will cheer me. My soul, it is God, even thy God, God that cannot lie, who speaks to thee. This word of his which thou art now considering is as true as his own existence. He is a God unchangeable. He has not altered the thing which has gone out of his mouth, nor called back one single consolatory sentence. Nor doth he lack any power; it is the God that made the heavens and the earth who has spoken thus. Nor can he fail in wisdom as to the time when he will bestow the favours, for he knoweth when it is best to give and when better to withhold. Therefore, seeing that it is the word of a God so true, so immutable, so powerful, so wise, I will and must believe the promise." If we thus meditate upon the promises, and consider the Promiser, we shall experience their sweetness, and obtain their fulfilment.
Evening
Most blessed challenge! How unanswerable it is! Every sin of the elect was laid upon the great Champion of our salvation, and by the atonement carried away. There is no sin in God's book against his people: he seeth no sin in Jacob, neither iniquity in Israel; they are justified in Christ forever. When the guilt of sin was taken away, the punishment of sin was removed. For the Christian there is no stroke from God's angry hand--nay, not so much as a single frown of punitive justice. The believer may be chastised by his Father, but God the Judge has nothing to say to the Christian, except "I have absolved thee: thou art acquitted." For the Christian there is no penal death in this world, much less any second death. He is completely freed from all the punishment as well as the guilt of sin, and the power of sin is removed too. It may stand in our way, and agitate us with perpetual warfare; but sin is a conquered foe to every soul in union with Jesus. There is no sin which a Christian cannot overcome if he will only rely upon his God to do it. They who wear the white robe in heaven overcame through the blood of the Lamb, and we may do the same. No lust is too mighty, no besetting sin too strongly entrenched; we can overcome through the power of Christ. Do believe it, Christian, that thy sin is a condemned thing. It may kick and struggle, but it is doomed to die. God has written condemnation across its brow. Christ has crucified it, "nailing it to his cross." Go now and mortify it, and the Lord help you to live to his praise, for sin with all its guilt, shame, and fear, is gone.
"Here's pardon for transgressions past,
It matters not how black their cast;
And, O my soul, with wonder view,
For sins to come here's pardon too."
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Today's reading: Psalm 43-45, Acts 27:27-44 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Psalm 43-45
and plead my cause
against an unfaithful nation.
Rescue me from those who are
deceitful and wicked.
2 You are God my stronghold.
Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?
3 Send me your light and your faithful care,
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you dwell.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God.
Today's New Testament reading: Acts 27:27-44
The Shipwreck
27 On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land. 28 They took soundings and found that the water was a hundred and twenty feet deep. A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feetdeep. 29 Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight. 30 In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. 31 Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, "Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved." 32 So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it drift away....
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John
[JÅhn] - jehovah hath been gracious.
[JÅhn] - jehovah hath been gracious.
- A kinsman of Annas the High Priest (Acts 4:6).
- A son of Mary, sister of Barnabas, and surnamed Mark (Acts 12:12, 25; 13:5, 13; 15:37). See MARK.
- The son of Zacharias and Elisabeth, who appeared as the forerunner of Christ, and who was beheaded by Herod ( Matt. 3:1, 4, 13).
The Man Who Was Plain But Powerful
With the appearance of John the Baptist we have the burial of the Old Dispensation and the emergence of the New. We seem to see his rugged figure standing with arms outstretched, as with one hand he takes the Old Testament, and with the other holds the New, and who, through his ministry, makes the transition from Law to Grace. He was the foreclosure of the old and the forerunner of the new. Perhaps we can helpfully gather the witness of John around these salient features:
I. His parentage. John came as the child of promise and was born in a city of Judah when his parents were old, and his mother long past conception (Luke 1:7, 13, 39). His parents were of priestly descent, his mother being a kinswoman of Mary the mother of our Lord (Luke 1:36).
II. His ascetic affinities. John, as a man of the desert, knew what it was to practice self-denial (Matt. 3:4 ). A Nazarite from his birth, he developed self-reliance and spiritual strength as he communed with God in the desert solitudes he loved (Luke 1:15). He was a plain man in every way, akin to Elijah whom many took him for.
He was plain of dress. He dressed simply, his raiment consisting of camel's hair, that is, either a robe of camel's skin or cloth woven from camel's hair. What a humble habit compared with the luxurious robes of soft wool worn by the fashionable and great of his time!
He was plain of food . No sumptuous dishes for this Elijah-like prophet. It was on rough food he thrived. Vegetable honey exuding from fig-trees and palms, and edible locusts, classed among the flying, creeping things the Israelites were allowed to eat (Lev. 11:22), formed his diet (Matt. 3:4). John the Baptist could subscribe to the words of a devout Englishman of a past century:
I shall be spare of sleep, sparer of diet, and sparest of time that, when the days for eating, drinking, clothing, and sleeping shall be no more, I may eat of my Saviour's hidden manna, drink of the new wine in my Father's kingdom, and inherit that rest which remaineth for the people of my God for ever and ever.
He was plain of speech. Living near to nature, he heard God's voice in solitude as well as in Scripture. Familiar with the Old Testament, he made frequent use of its picturesque language (Luke 3:17; Isa. 66:24; with Amos 9:6 ). After his sojourn in the desert, brooding over the need and peril of his time, he came forth to speak of barren trees fit only for burning - vipers fleeing before the flaming scrub. John saw in his desert surroundings much that symbolized his nation's calamity and which lent color to his solemn warnings of impending doom.
There is a great deal we would like to say about this man sent from God who had the privilege of acting as the forerunner and then as the baptizer of Jesus, who said of him that he was greater than a prophet. Space, however, forbids a full exposition of this mighty character in the Bible's portrait gallery. The preacher might be able to expand the following features: his self-denial (Matt. 3:4); courage (Matt. 3:7; 14:4); powerful preaching (Mark 1:5); humility ( Mark 1:7); holiness (Mark 6:20); burning zeal (John 5:35); honor (Matt. 11:11); ministry of witness (John 10:41); preparatory work (Matt. 11:10); testimony ( John 1:29-36); results (Matt. 9:14); death ( Matt. 14:10), of which Spurgeon said, "John was the first Baptist Minister to lose his head through dancing."
4. John, the son of Zebedee and Salome, the fisherman who became the beloved disciple, The Apostle of Love.
The Man Whom Jesus Loved
This younger brother of James has the rare distinction of being known as "the disciple whom Jesus loved." The original of his name means, "whom Jehovah loves" and John's experience corresponded to his name. From the many references to this honored disciple we can gather these facts:
He was a native of Bethsaida in Galilee.
His godly parents were probably cousins of Christ, and John was their youngest son.
His mother followed Christ, ministered unto Him, was at the Cross and among those who went to anoint the body of Christ with sweet spices.
His father was a fisherman owning his own vessel and prosperous enough to hire servants.
John himself was also a successful fisherman.
He was called to discipleship while plying his nets.
He was the youngest of the disciples, the Benjamin among the Twelve.
He was one of the select triumvirate, Christ's inner cabinet of three, Peter and James being the other two.
He was surnamed by Christ as a son of "Boanerges" because of his prophetic zeal and resolution to witness for Christ.
He was treated by Christ with greater familiarity than the others enjoyed.
He sat next to Christ at the Last Supper.
He was intrusted with the care of the mother of Jesus.
He died when he was almost one hundred years of age.
He wrote the gospel and three epistles bearing his name, and also the Book of Revelation. How true are Wesley's words of John the Beloved:
A Caesar's title less my envy moves
Than to be styled the man whom Jesus loves;
What charms, what beauties in his face did shine
Reflected ever from the face divine.
From manifold references in the four gospels, the Acts and Revelation, the preacher can develop these traits in John's character: his natural energy (Mark 3:17); his intolerance (Mark 9:38); his vindictiveness (Luke 9:54); his ambition (Mark 10:35-37); his eagerness to learn ( John 13:23; I John 2:9); his sympathy (John 19:26); his love (1 John 4:7-21).
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