Saturday, November 18, 2017

Sat Nov 18th Todays News

Don't give up on hope. There are no competent ALP members, although there are liked ones. It is easy to demonstrate there are no competent ALP members because they vote as a block on issues that hurt their constituents. A highly lauded ALP member died from cancer recently, leaving a by election in Melbourne's Northcote. The member had trashed her seat and brand before dying, and now the seat has left the ALP for the first time in a hundred years, going to Greens. Greens don't have credible policies. But then neither do ALP. Greens candidate ran on an AGW platform, as does ALP. They promised to do something about public transport. Who will hold them to their promise? Only Matthew Guy of the Liberal Party. 

I am a decent man and don't care for 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 "(They Long to Be) Close to You"

"(They Long to Be) Close to You" is a popular song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. It was first recorded by Richard Chamberlain and released as a single in 1963 as "They Long to Be Close to You," without parentheses. However, it was the single's flip side, "Blue Guitar," that became a hit. Although Richard Chamberlain recorded the first version, the tune was also recorded as a demo by Dionne Warwick in 1963 and re-recorded with a Burt Bacharach arrangement for her 1964 album Make Way for Dionne Warwick, and was released as the B-side of her 1965 single "Here I Am." Bacharach released his own version in 1968. But the version recorded by The Carpenters is the most well known, which became a big hit in 1970.



=== from 2016 ===
I'm angry. Someone I love could have innocently gone to that Springvale Melbourne bank and possibly been killed. All because someone inexplicably doused themselves with petrol and lit it in the bank. We don’t know why. Maybe the person was mentally ill. Maybe it was a terrorist act gone awry? Maybe someone was upset with the bank and wanted to settle a score? Each possible scenario has a risk factor. And what has the government done to make us safer or prevent such a thing? Dan Andrews opposes effective policing, promotes youth unemployment and youth crime. Dan Andrews promotes poverty by making small business struggle against green red tape. It is lucky for Dan this did not happen in a country area where volunteers would have been needed because Dan Andrews has undermined the volunteer CFA. A hero was there, a tradie who used a fire extinguisher from an adjacent shop, running into the burning building. Even the perpetrator looks to have survived, although apparently they and five others are in critical condition, while some thirty have required treatment.

IPA Review (Nov 2016) features a Matthew Lesh article on “Australian Tax Mutineers” and it includes the 1850 South Australia Anti Dray and Land Tax rebellion. South Australia was settled without convicts. But the legislature decided to unfairly tax poor farmers and small business who used cargo ‘drays’ (ancient trucks). The voting gentry and upper class did not have to pay the bulk of the imposition. It was designed to pay for roads in a state that is now bigger than Tanzania and almost the size of Egypt. The tax was overturned and universal suffrage was introduced for males over the age of 21 in 1857. South Australia still does not have roads, a big population or industry that can profitably build them. Bad government prevents growth.
=== from 2015 ===
News media has to sell its product. And so the terrible atrocity of Paris on the sabbath of 13th November is echoed with headlines saying there are more shootings in Paris with at least two dead. Only the current round of activity follows the finding of the leader of the Massacres last Friday and security forces closing in inexorably. Two have been arrested. Some have been killed. One woman employed a suicide vest. A police woman is reported as having been killed. Some security forces have been wounded. I mourn the loss of the police. ISIL terrorists will not prosper. Meanwhile there is a powerful backlash against emergency measures to help refugees. The same refugees as were celebrating the slaughter in Paris a few days ago. 

For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
From 2014  
Israel on front line against jihadism
A new book, Nazi Palestine: The Plans for the Extermination of the Jews in Palestine (Klaus-Michael Mallmann (Author), Martin Cüppers (Author), Krista Smith (Translator)) provides excellent new research on the activity of Nazis in WW2 in Palestine. I am proud that their plans were foiled partly by my grandfather, who was a bombardier in Roden Cutler's mob who made it as far as Jacob's Well, Be'er Ya'akov. After success, they were sent home by an ALP administration which scattered many across the pacific, some in Singapore, some, like my grandad, made it back to Sydney. Cutler went on to fight in PNG. 

The work of the Nazis did not end in WW2. Many antagonists of the Jews survived in post war governments and went on with their plans. Palestinian leaders of today have their heritage with those Nazi plans. Overnight, it is reported 
"Four Israelis were killed and several others wounded in a terror attack on Tuesday morning in a synagogue in the western Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof.
Two assailants were killed at the scene by police, with a third possibly on the loose in the area.

Eight people were wounded in the assault, including four seriously, two moderately and two lightly…
Israel Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said two assailants entered the synagogue on Tuesday with knives, axes and guns and attacked worshipers… Samri said the attackers were Palestinians from East Jerusalem. "
The day before, 
"A Jewish resident of Jerusalem was stabbed in the back on Sunday evening, apparently with a screwdriver.

Police are treating the incident as a possible terrorist attack. The man, aged about 35, was stabbed near the Damascus Gate entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City."
The attacks are not against soldiers. They are against western type families. Israel does a magnificent job defending herself, but there are things she cannot do, and still be a Western Democracy. To be fair, so called Palestine would be bundled into Jordan and the lad given to Israel to use as she wishes. But too many Nazi sympathisers in world governments oppose such a fair outcome. 

Warmism - It is good people who make good places
An unbiased report on Obama's climate deal which would probably not be posted in most mainstream newspapers 
"AT a historic joint press conference with Barack Obama in Beijing last week Chinese President Xi Jinping signalled that China would continue to increase CO2 emissions until 2030."

Unlike Australia's target which through Abbott's Direct Action policy is bound, Obama's plan is not bound to any figure. It promises that Obama will fail to get past GOP, and that China can do as she pleases domestically. In climate terms, if one believed the lies about plant food, Australia's Liberal party is promising more and better than Obama. But the truth is nothing promised so far will change the climate. 


We have been warned lightning will get stronger with climate change. Prepare for better pictures. Australian journalists are five times more likely to ask warmist questions than international journalists. Applaus in Texas for warmists influencing publishers to drop skepticism of AGW alarmism from school text books. 
Freedom lies in being bold
Abbott government must be committed to change, or die. The polls are too strongly against the government. It doesn't matter if they are competent and effective if they can't sell their success. It doesn't matter if effective ministers are not rewarded. The media have been responsible for the disparity between the polls and the effectiveness of the government. As appallingly bad as Mr Obama's activity was at the G20, as graceful as Putin's, as effective as Mr Abbott was, none would know from the reporting.SMH advises Mr Abbott to be part of their fantasy. Peter Hartcher, SMH editor, has focused on the words of an old colleague in LA and used those words to advise Mr Abbott that he should strike a global warming deal with China. In the spirit of Obama's success, Mr Abbott could agree for Australia to do nothing until 2030. Hartcher clearly does not see it that way, but his fantasy is a report on reality. 

Abbott deserves kudos for success. Looking back in time, many journalists have placed very high standards on his administration he has met and excelled. And that is just on a free trade pact with China. The government is doing very well, but for the obstructive senate, but the media have not reported it. 

Meanwhile MSNBC suggests that killing migrants through depraved neglect is similar to GOP Presidents who compassionately welcomed migrants in the past. GOP have let in Chinese students after China murdered some, or Hispanics fleeing government sponsored hit squads at home. But Obama is keen to create a pull factor which encourages people smugglers to use piracy to fleece desperate people and possibly kill them in the process. This would, according to Obama, be compassionate and extend their rights. 

'unbiased' ABC declares war on conservatives, verbals a Liberal to embarrass a Liberal. Greg Hunt was talking o the direct action climate policy on ABC radio and Fran Kelly, interviewer, falsely claimed WA Premier Barnett opposed it. Hunt did not fall for it, but Kelly will not be corrected. 
I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends

China's President is a better friend than the US one. China's President came bearing gifts and speaking as a good friend. Obama tried to twist the agenda of the G20 to suit his positioning in front of a US audience. Obama savaged Russia and made unbelievable promises regarding global warming. India is a great friend too, and their free trade agreement will be welcome. 
The only true wisdom is knowing you know nothing
Gillard challenges a judge to trust her reputation. 
"JULIA Gillard has formally asked the union corruption inquiry to “give significant weight to (her) good character and reputation” and urged it to reject evidence she received wads of cash from a corrupt union boss boyfriend."
Greens support Clive Palmer in Victoria, supporting the miner in politics where they oppose him in policy.
When FGM is morally grey, but a male choosing a shirt is indicative of moral turpitude. Feminists are trying to preserve a sense of mystique by being absurd. 

Judging a teacher who follows mainstream media. She likes listening to Rush Limbaugh at home, so outraged vigilantes want her sacked. 
From 2013
Notice, tomorrow I will be unable to produce a column. I'll still produce a birthday listing.

I'm not ashamed of having failed. Only if I hadn't tried. I must vacate my premises soon so the decontaminators can load it with poison gas .. they call it a bio sweep .. Visitors will be welcome when I get back .. but I won't have the books, DVDs, videos, CDs and such. Then in coming weeks I'll get new carpet, new paint and maybe a new owner? Be blessed, my friends. Know that God loves you even when you don't feel it. I surrender my past, but will fight for my future. If asked, my public agenda is to establish a high tech production studio in Cabramatta Fairfield. It is to allow locals to film in HD broadcast ready material, be it cultural performances, martial arts or international needs. I hope to allow it to be accessible for local schools to send kids to learn production broadcast techniques and to maintain a digital cultural museum. Making money by showing/licensing use of clips. I know lots of people involved in MMA who might benefit from having steady work. There is a market for clips. And clips can be converted to features .. I have never yet lost a fight to the death. I may one day, but being a quick learner, it won't happen twice. 

Syrian justice is not ahead of the rest of the world. Julia Gillard was indeed treated to a double standard, and still is, by the fawning media. Global Warming activists gather in Sydney, sending temperatures tumbling and bringing flooding rains. Did Flannery make a prediction recently? Is Gore in town? Who was the worse PM, Rudd or Gillard. We might never know for certain, each having impeccable credentials, but whomever it is, is probably the worst thus far. Apologies to Whitlam who probably felt his position was unassailable.
Historical perspective on this day
In 326, the old St. Peter's Basilica was consecrated. In 401, the Visigoths, led by king Alaric I, crossed the Alps and invaded northern Italy. In 1105, Maginulfo was elected the Antipopeas Sylvester IV. In 1180, Phillip II became king of France. In 1210, Pope Innocent IIIexcommunicated Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV. In 1302, Pope Boniface VIII issued the Papal bull Unam sanctam (One Faith). In 1307, William Tell shot an apple off his son's head. In 1421, a seawall at the Zuiderzee dike in the Netherlands broke, flooding 72 villages and killing about 10,000 people. This event will be known as Sint-Elisabethsvloed. In 1493, Christopher Columbus first sighted the island now known as Puerto Rico. In 1494, French King Charles VIII occupied Florence, Italy. In 1601, Tiryaki Hasan Pasha, provincial governor of Ottoman Empire, utterly defeated Habsburg forces, commanded by Ferdinand the Archduke of Austria during the Siege of Nagykanizsa. In 1626, St. Peter's Basilica was consecrated. In 1730, the future Frederick II (known as Frederick the Great), King of Prussia, was granted a royal pardon and released from confinement. 

In 1803, the Battle of Vertières, the last major battle of the Haitian Revolution, was fought, leading to the establishment of the Republic of Haiti, the first black republic in the Western Hemisphere. In 1809, in a naval action during the Napoleonic Wars, French frigates defeated British East Indiamen in the Bay of Bengal. In 1812, Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Krasnoiended in French defeat, but Marshal of France Michel Ney's leadership leads to him becoming known as "the bravest of the brave". In 1863, King Christian IX of Denmark signed the November constitution that declared Schleswig to be part of Denmark. This was seen by the German Confederation as a violation of the London Protocol and led to the German–Danish war of 1864. In 1865, Mark Twain's short story The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County was published in the New York Saturday Press. In 1883, American and Canadian railroads instituted five standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times. 

In 1903, the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty was signed by the United States and Panama, giving the United States exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone. In 1904, General Esteban Huertas stepped down after the government of Panama feared he wanted to stage a coup. 1905, Prince Carl of Denmark became King Haakon VII of Norway. In 1909, two United States warships were sent to Nicaragua after 500 revolutionaries (including two Americans) were executed by order of José Santos Zelaya. In 1916, World War I: First Battle of the Somme – in France, British Expeditionary Force commander Douglas Haig called off the battle which started on July 1, 1916. In 1918, Latvia declared its independence from Russia. In 1926, George Bernard Shaw refused to accept the money for his Nobel Prize, saying, "I can forgive Alfred Nobel for inventing dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize." In 1928, release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon, directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, featuring the third appearances of cartoon characters Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. This is considered by the Disney corporation to be Mickey's birthday. In 1929, 1929 Grand Banks earthquake: off the south coast of Newfoundland in the Atlantic Ocean, a Richter magnitude 7.2 submarine earthquake, centered on Grand Banks, broke 12 submarine transatlantic telegraph cablesand triggered a tsunami that destroyed many south coast communities in the Burin Peninsula. 

In 1930, Soka Kyoiku Gakkai, a Buddhist association later renamed Soka Gakkai, was founded by Japanese educators Tsunesaburo Makiguchiand Josei Toda. In 1938, Trade union members elected John L. Lewis as the first president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations. In 1940, World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss Benito Mussolini's disastrous invasion of Greece. In 1943, World War II: Battle of Berlin – 440 Royal Air Force planes bomb Berlin causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF lost nine aircraft and 53 air crew. In 1944, the Popular Socialist Youth was founded in Cuba. In 1947, the Ballantyne's Department Store fire in Christchurch, New Zealand, killed 41; it is the worst fire disaster in the history of New Zealand. In 1949, the Iva Valley Shooting occurs after the coal miners of Enugu in Nigeria go on strike over withheld wages; 21 miners were shot dead and 51 were wounded by police under the supervision of the British colonial administration of Nigeria.

In 1961, United States President John F. Kennedy sent 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam. In 1963, the first push-button telephone went into service. In 1970, U.S. President Richard Nixon asked the U.S. Congress for $155 million in supplemental aid for the Cambodian government. In 1978, in Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones led his Peoples Templeto a mass murder-suicide that claimed 918 lives in all, 909 of them in Jonestown itself, including over 270 children. Congressman Leo J. Ryan was murdered by members of the Peoples Temple hours earlier. In 1987, King's Cross fire: In London, 31 people died in a fire at the city's busiest underground station, King's Cross St Pancras. In 1988, War on Drugs: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signed a bill into law allowing the death penalty for drug traffickers.

In 1991, Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon releasde Anglican Church envoys Terry Waiteand Thomas Sutherland. Also, after an 87-day siege, the Croatian city of Vukovar capitulated to the besieging Yugoslav People's Army and allied Serb paramilitary forces. In 1993, in the United States, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was approved by the House of Representatives. Also, in South Africa, 21 political parties approved a new constitution, expanding voting rights and ending white minority rule. In 1996, a fire occured on a train travelling through the Channel Tunnel from France to England causing several injuries and damaging approximately 500 metres (1,600 ft) of tunnel. In 2002, Iraq disarmament crisis: United Nations weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix arrived in Iraq. In 2003, in the United Kingdom, the Local Government Act 2003, repealing controversial anti-gay amendment Section 28, became effective. Also, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules 4 to 3 in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that the state's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional and gave the state legislature 180 days to change the law making Massachusetts the first state in the United States to grant marriage rights to same-sex couples. In 2013, NASA launched the MAVEN probe to Mars.
=== Publishing News ===
This column welcomes feedback and criticism. The column is not made up but based on the days events and articles which are then placed in the feed. So they may not have an apparent cohesion they would have had were they made up.
===
I am publishing a book called Bread of Life: January. 

Bread of Life is a daily bible quote with a layman's understanding of the meaning. I give one quote for each day, and also a series of personal stories illustrating key concepts eg Who is God? What is a miracle? Why is there tragedy?

January is the first of the anticipated year-long work of thirteen books. One for each month and the whole year. It costs to publish. It (Kindle version) should retail at about $2US online, but the paperback version would cost more, according to production cost.If you have a heart for giving, I fundraise at gofund.me/27tkwuc
===
Editorials will appear in the "History in a Year by the Conservative Voice" series, starting with August, September, October, or at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/1482020262/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_dVHPub0MQKDZ4  The kindle version is cheaper, but the soft back version allows a free kindle version.

List of available items at Create Space
Happy birthday and many happy returns Peter Dutton and Lucy O'Callaghan. Born on the same day, across the years, along with
Susan B. Anthony
'Be brave' they say, I say "nay." Susan is .. arresting. Poor Mickey, Minnie is a love rat. To live, stay above ground. The siege is over. Let us party. 
Deaths
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Tim Blair 2017

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Andrew Bolt 2017

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Tim Blair

SPRINGVALE BLAST

Details are still emerging following an explosion and fire in suburban Melbourne.
18 Nov  

CLINTON INSPIRES HISTORIC LEVELS OF ADORATION

Hillary Clinton was reanimated this week for her first speech since the great destruction. “All I've wanted to do was just to curl up ... and never leave the house ever again," the career failure said.
18 Nov  

OVERDOSA

The Chennai suburb of Ramapuram, in southern India, now features an outstanding culinary tribute to president-elect Donald Trump.
18 Nov  

OIL GLORIOUS OIL

Timing is everything. If you’re in the oil trade, you really want a massive oil discovery in the US immediately following the election of a president who’s way in favour of reliable energy sources.
18 Nov  

THEY ALL NEED EXAMINATION

Donald Trump’s election win is driving leftists nuts, and in some cases it’s an extremely short drive.
18 Nov
===

The Turnbull plan: cutting a deal with the Islamic State’s supporters

Andrew Bolt November 18 2015 (5:51pm)

Malcolm Turnbull wants to strike a political deal that could potentially cede the Islamic State its own territory:
Malcolm Turnbull has called for a new “pragmatism and compromise” in Syria, which acknowledges the nature of Sunni grievances fuelling terrorism and recognises that such an approach will inevitably involve power-sharing with hardliners whose supporters are currently engaging in terrorist acts… 
Turnbull has counselled in the strongest possible terms against the simplistic resort to foreign invasion, instead pushing to have the larger powers such as the US, Russia, and Sunni Arab states drive a power-sharing bargain based on the Lebanon model…
Mr Turnbull’s position is in lock-step with the Barack Obama White House, which is widely criticised within America but is a comprehensive rejection of that of Mr Turnbull’s predecessor, Tony Abbott. Mr Abbott has advocated direct intervention, putting Australian combat lives at risk abroad to prevent more lives being lost to terrorist attacks on Australian soil…
“The enmities run very deep, but plainly when you look as Daesh or ISIL, its base is a Sunni population that has felt disenfranchised, oppressed in Syria, and with very good reason, and also has felt left out of the new government in Iraq,” [Mr Turnbull] said.
“Plainly a political settlement that is inclusive of the various groups in Syria, were that strategy to be successful, that process of inclusion, it would of course deprive Daesh of its support base within that country.” 
What an astonishing surrender. Turnbull is clearly talking of reaching a settlement first that he thinks then robs the Islamic State of support, rather than of defeating it first.

But exactly how do you reach a “political settlement” with people like this? Why would you?
Islamic State group militants have killed 200 Syrian children because they apparently refused to join their ranks, according to various news outlets. 
A group opposed to the Islamic State group released a video that allegedly shows group members killing the youths, according to British news outlet Mirror.
The footage shows alleged Islamic State group fighters ordering the minors to lie face down on the ground, after which shots can be heard.  
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Siege in Paris: explosions, deaths

Andrew Bolt November 18 2015 (5:45pm)

 At least seven explosions have been heard:
Armed police are raiding a flat in the northern Paris suburb of Saint Denis in an operation believed linked to last Friday’s attacks. 
Paris police said gunfire had been exchanged and some officers had been wounded.
Unconfirmed reports said Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the alleged mastermind of the attacks, is the focus of the operation.
The so-called Islamic State (IS) group has said it carried out the attacks in which 129 people died. Roads have been blocked off around Rue de la Republique in Saint Denis, in the same district as the Stade de France, where suicide attackers detonated bombs on Friday.
Reports that two terrorists have been killed, including a woman with a suicide vest. A passer-by is also reported killed.
UPDATE
Thanks to mass immigration from the Middle East, Paris is now just one more war zone:
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Turkish fans chant “Allahu Akbar” in minute’s silence for Paris

Andrew Bolt November 18 2015 (5:39pm)

Do not assume there is one notion of civilisation to which all creeds subscribe. Many on the Left believe it, but that is precisely why Europe is disintegrating:
 A moment of silence for the victims of the Paris attacks was booed by Turkish fans Tuesday during a friendly game against Greece, Reuters reported. Reuters reporter Ece Toksabay tweeted that the fans booed the minute of silence before breaking out into a chant of “Allah Akbar.”
In Germany, the politicians are now confronted with the madness of their mass-immigration policies:
Around 43,000 people are part of Islamist circles in Germany and around 420 are considered potentially dangerous, the president of the German Federal Criminal Police Office (or BKA) has said… 
As he noted, the coordinated work of the security forces has prevented 11 attacks in the country, but Paris has shown that the risk of international terrorism is “high” and that Germany may also be affected…
According to data from the BKA, more than 750 Islamists have left Germany bound for Iraq and Syria and there is information about 70 people who have returned after receiving military training or combat experience.
===

Trump triumphs

Andrew Bolt November 18 2015 (10:00am)

The latest Reuters poll suggests the Republicans should prepare themselves for something I didn’t believe possible or desirable, either:
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Police raids. Search warrants spell trouble for Turnbull minister Mal Brough

Andrew Bolt November 18 2015 (9:54am)

One of Malcolm Turnbull’s plotters and ministers could be in a lot of strife:
Mal Brough is facing career-­ending police allegations over his involvement in the sexual harassment case brought against former Speaker Peter Slipper, which is threatening to ensnare other senior members of the Turnbull government. 
Police have alleged Mr Brough, who has just returned to the frontbench as Special Minister of State, illegally procured copies of the official diaries of Mr Slipper before the 2012 harassment case brought by James Ashby, one of the then Speaker’s staff.
The allegations against Mr Brough were contained in search warrants presented in raids yesterday of Mr Ashby’s office — on his parent’s Sunshine Coast property — which also named Innovation Minister Christopher Pyne and Assistant Minister Wyatt Roy.
No allegations were levelled by police against Mr Pyne or Mr Roy. But the warrants also cover police to search for any material relating to the pair…
Mr Brough is alleged to have “counselled and procured’’ Mr Ashby to access restricted data — contrary to Section 478.1 of the Criminal Code — and to disclose extracts from Mr Slipper’s “official diary’’ without authority — contrary to Section 70 (1) of the Criminal Code — on the same dates. Both offences carry a maximum sentence of two years in jail.
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Fran Kelly’s see-no-evil claim: no refugees here have turned to terrorism

Andrew Bolt November 18 2015 (9:50am)

The denialism in the media, especially the ABC, is astonishing. Today ABC Radio National host Fran Kelly defended the taking in of 12,000 refugees from Syria and Iraq:
I don’t know of links of people who have come in as refugees and then committed terrorist offences.
In fact:
Farhad Jabour, an Iranian “refugee”, killed police accountant Curtis Cheng while shouting “Allah is the greatest”.
Man Monis, an Iranian “refugee” and Islamist, staged the deadly Lindt cafe siege while professing support for the Islamic State..
Numan Haider, an Afghan “refugee” and IS recruit, stabbed two police in Melbourne.
Mohammad Ali Baryalei, an Afghan “refugee”, became a recruiter and fighter for IS.
Saney Edow Aweys, a Somalian “refugee”, plotted to attack the Holsworthy Army base.
So all three of the terrorist attacks on Australian soil in the past 14 months have been conducted by refugees. One of the most serious terror plots yet intercepted involved a refugee. And one of the key Islamic State recruiters here was a refugee.
Moreover, the ABC last month interviewed this young Afghan refugee in Sydney:
The 19-year-old, who knew Parramatta police HQ killer Farhad Jabar, has been a member of a small group of young Islamic State supporters in western Sydney under the scopes of anti-terrorist officers. 
“Everyone wants to die for Allah, we all want to live the best life in the hereafter and want to make it to the top of the seven levels of jannah (paradise),” Hamza told the ABC last night…
Then there is this threat:
AUSTRALIAN dual national recruits are among the most ready to join the al-Shabaab terrorist group in Somalia which carried out last month’s deadly attack in Kenya, the militant network has claimed…

“Some of the members in our battalion migrated from as far as Australia...,” al-Shabaab commander Abu Yaser al-Maqdishy wrote in an online propaganda call to arms, titled “The Path of Departures - reminiscing the martyrs of Somalia”.... 
ASIO routinely assesses Somali refugees or those returning from Somalia for any links to Shabaab as concerns take hold the group now present an international threat. 
Kelly later notes that a listener reminded her of Man Monis. She still has not noted the rest.
How could she be in such ignorance of the truth? By wishing hard it was otherwise?
UPDATE
Victoria Police are investigating reports that black-clad people hung an Islamic State-style flag from a bridge off the Geelong Road. An Islamic Council of Victoria spokesman on the ABC dismisses the alleged flag as merely “poor taste” and defends free speech.
Michael Doran, whose daughter was in the Bataclan hall when so many people were massacred, rings up the ABC in tears to protest:
How can he say that when if I drew a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad I’d probably be shot dead.
UPDATE
Police say the flag was not linked to the Islamic State, but are investigating the English writing on it. They are not giving details yet of what was said.
UPDATE
One of the Paris terrorists apparently came to Europe last month using the passport of a Syrian “refugee”. Greens Senator Senator Hanson Young has usually plenty to say - usually on Twitter - about refugees.
Number of tweets from Sarah Hanson-Young on refugees in the five days before the Paris massacre: 14.
Number of tweets from Sarah Hanson-Young on refugees - or any subject - in the five days since the Paris attacks: zero. 
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Hashtags and cries of “peace” won’t cut it. What next to save ourselves?

Andrew Bolt November 18 2015 (9:30am)

Janet Albrechtsen:
Michael Doran wants to be heard. His daughter, Sophie, was at the Bataclan concert hall with her friend last Friday night… Sophie is still trying to process the horror. 
Her father, who lives in Melbourne, rang me on Monday… Doran wants to talk about what comes next…
Malcolm Turnbull told us that “freedom stands up for itself”.
No, it doesn’t. Freedom is not one of those air-filled clown bop-dolls that you can hit and it pops right up again. So how do we better defend our freedoms from Islamic State ambitions for a caliphate and the Islamist radicalisation of young Muslims?… What can a bloke like Doran do?
We can demand to be part of an open and honest debate. Doran isn’t the only person concerned that we cannot talk about Islam and terrorism. He’s not the only one pointing out that many religions have undergone reformation. “Why hasn’t it happened in Islam?” he asks quietly…
After Paris, the statement from the Grand Mufti in Australia sank to deplorable depths of blame-shifting.
It’s not good enough that the Grand Mufti, Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, said racism and Islamophobia must be addressed… Whose side is the Grand Mufti on? ... Islamophobia is not the core problem when 129 people have been slaughtered in the name of Islam in Paris. It’s a side issue at most and, at worst, the word is often used deliberately as a weapon to shut down debate. And racism? As Doran told The Australian: “The ultimate form of racism is when you want to exterminate another group of people. We know that from World War II. That’s what’s going on here, just on a different scale.”
But where are the voices of Australian Muslims who regard the Grand Mufti’s comments as a cop-out?… Muslim leaders such as the Grand Mufti get away with the blather and blame-shifting because our political leaders are too often too weak on this front. Senator Nick Xenophon described the Grand Mufti’s comments on the ABC’s Q&A program as “very encouraging”. Huh? It’s a symbiotic cycle of feebleness.
UPDATE
Senator Nick Xenophon foolishly backs the claims of Islamist apologists that the West brought this savagery on itself. He does it by grotesquely misrepresenting history:
Nick Xenophon appeared to back the sentiments of Australia’s Grand Mufti, Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, who has been widely condemned for insinuating the Paris terror attacks were provoked by discontent at foreign policy decisions. 
The independent South Australian senator, who said he knew Dr Mohammed well, said the Paris attacks needed to be “put in perspective”.
“ISIS did not exist before March 2003, before the American invasion of Iraq,” he told a Q&A audience in Adelaide on Monday night. “As bad as Saddam Hussein was — and he was a brutal dictator — the US, in a botched strategy, a muddle-headed strategy, made a mess of things and it spawned sectarian violence. We have to avoid the mistakes of the past. We must deal with the existential threat that ISIS is to the West — but we must acknowledge that we cannot bomb our way out of this.
Memo to Xenophon: the Islamic State is headquartered in Syria, where it first grew strong. The West did not intervene there until far too late. We did not “spawn” the sectarian violence. Indeed, Saddam Hussein was the embodiment of it, leading a Sunni dictatorship which slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Shi-ite and Kurdish Iraqis.
Shame on Xenophon. He is peddling poison.
UPDATE
Cut&Paste collates some of the blameshifting over Paris and the preaching of Islamic victimhood. Named: Waleed Aly, John Pilger, Jeff Sparrow, Bernard Keane and Guy Rundle.
UPDATE
Miranda Devine:
[The Mufti] is a product of a wilfully ignorant, sanctimonious Left which keeps providing cover for Islamo-fascism, without realising it is a suicide mission.
Devine sums up the threat:
In the past 12 months Australia had: 
- THREE Terrorist attacks involving fatalities
- SIX thwarted terrorist attacks.
“To put that in some sort of historic perspective,” said [ASIO Director General Duncan Lewis], “that represents just over two-thirds of the attacks or planned attacks that we’ve had in this country over the last 15 years...”
ASIO is currently managing 400 “high priority cases”.
In addition, 110 Australians currently are fighting in Syria and Iraq, curiously making Australia one of the biggest per capita source nations of foreign fighters, more than France, Canada, the UK and the United States.
Forty Australian jihadists have been killed in the conflict and the government has cancelled the passports of 140 wannabe jihadists…
And yet we aren’t engaging in the war of ideas to combat the religious ideology that underpins Islamic State and justifies its violence.
Our politicians remain in denial. Malcolm Turnbull’s immediate response to the Paris attacks, while expressing solidarity with France, was to say: “Freedom defends itself.”
No, freedom is hard-won and easily lost. We have freedom because our forbears spilt their blood for us.
UPDATE
Ayaan Hirsi Ali says the first step for Europe is to stop the invasion:
There are distinct weaknesses in Europe’s current immigration policy: it is too easy to gain citizenship without necessarily being loyal to national constitutions; it is too easy for outsiders to get into EU countries with or without credible claims for asylum; and, thanks to the open-borders policy known as Schengen, it is too easy for foreigners, once they are in the EU, to travel freely from country to country. 
This state of affairs has been revealed as unsustainable by this year’s migrant flood into Europe. Does this amount to “Fortress Europe”, with a new Iron Curtain to the east and a naval cordon sanitaire in the Mediterranean and the Adriatic? Yes. For no other strategy makes sense, given a threat such as the one posed to Eur­ope by Islamic extremism.
Tony Abbott’s message, too.
UPDATE
But don’t look to Barack Obama and his new ally to save you: 
The United States and Australia have rejected calls for sending in large numbers of ground troops to defeat Islamic State as the global military and political response to the Paris terror attacks dominated discussions between Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and United States President Barack Obama.
Both Mr Obama and the Australian government, which is the second largest western contributor of personnel to the conflict, dismissed sending in ground troops ahead of their meeting in Manila on Tuesday evening… Before Mr Turnbull met Mr Obama, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott pressured him in a newspaper column by arguing Australia should be prepared to do more in a stepped up military campaign in Iraq and Syria...Foreign Minister Julie Bishop ... slapped down Mr Abbott.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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The state’s hands around your throat: defend free speech while you can still speak

Andrew Bolt November 18 2015 (9:22am)

NSW Finance Minister Dominic Perrottet defends free speech from the authoritarian Left - which this time is trying to silence Catholic bishops who opposed gay marriage:
Our right to free speech comes with the responsibility to not incite violence or hatred. Arguing your view on the definition of marriage clearly passes this test. Yet we are now in a situation where the government is seeking to prevent a Church from teaching its own beliefs in its own schools. 
The booklet itself lists several cases where bureaucrats have weaponised state power to prosecute and pressure religious institutions where the legal definition of marriage has changed.
In Australia, this change has not yet even occurred – but this campaign of coercion has already commenced.
Make no mistake – we are rapidly progressing from mere political-correctness to now mobilising the machinery of big government to silence those with different views. Ironically, the people who preach most about tolerance are turning out to be the most intolerant of all.
And sadly it’s our journalists, artists and academics – supposedly the stewards of intellectual liberty – who have become the most active in trying to silence views they do not agree with.
This issue is not about religious freedom. It’s about freedom itself.
All parties in a debate – whether politicians, think tanks, religious institutions, lobby groups or anyone else – should be able to express their views freely without censure. The state licensing freedom to a particular group is no freedom at all.  Whatever your views on the definition of marriage, we should all be uncomfortable the government now has the power to intimidate, investigate and prosecute you if it finds your views somehow inappropriate.
Free speech now has enemies to the Left and to the Right, in the form of Muslim “leaders” and too many Liberal politicians. That doesn’t leave many of us to defend the one freedom we need defend the rest.
(Thanks to reader Nigel.) 
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With France

Andrew Bolt November 18 2015 (9:03am)

Symbolism won’t stop the Islamic State. But it can give heart to those still with a mind to resist:
 ENGLISH football fans saluted France by roaring out the ‘Marseillaise’ national anthem at a friendly match overnight which became a show of solidarity supported by royalty just days after Islamic State militants struck Paris. 
David Cameron, Prince William and London Mayor Boris Johnson were in the stands as tens of thousands of England supporters joined French fans in singing their anthem at Wembley Stadium which was guarded by armed police. An estimated 80,000 fans then applauded wildly as the two teams stood together in one long line ahead of a perfectly observed minute’s silence in a solemn mark of respect for the at least 129 people who were killed in the Paris attacks.
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Mufti issues second statement and proves again: he must be sacked

Andrew Bolt November 18 2015 (7:55am)

I said the Mufti of Australia should be sacked for issuing this statement on the Paris jihadist attacks, suggesting the West brought this on itself by oppressing Muslims, fighting the Islamic State and supporting Israel:
These recent incidents highlight the fact that current strategies to deal with the threat of terrorism are not working. It is therefore imperative that all causative factors, such as racism, Islamophobia, curtailing freedoms through securitisation, duplicitous foreign policies and military intervention must be comprehensively addressed.
Today, after widespread criticism, the Mufti and the National Imams Council try again., issuing a second statement to clarify the first.
But this just confirms the worst. They simply make clear that they meant precisely what they said the first time - that the “causative factors” behind terrorist attacks of the kind we saw in Paris are the West’s bad treatment of Muslims and support of Israel. Not a word about Islam, the Islamic State, the hatepreachers or the need to reform their faith:
All that this “clarification” does is emphasise that the Mufti doesn’t think the terrorists were justified in killing “innocent” people. But there is absolutely no retreat from what actually gave offense in the first statement - the Mufti’s endorsement of the monstrous sense of grievance of so many jihadist terrorists - that deadly victimology that preaches that the West hates and oppresses Muslims, and is their enemy.
The Mufti must go.
And can the Mufti please clarify what he means by “innocent” lives?  
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Preached in a French mosque on the day of the slaughter: ‘We want our children to rule France’

Andrew Bolt November 18 2015 (6:45am)

On the day of the Paris massacre, just hours before the terrorists struck, Imam Mohamed Khattabin delivered this sermon in Montpellier, in France’s south:
Imam Mohammad Khattabi: A Muslim lives in his society, but is expected not to care about what happens in the Islamic world, not to care about the sufferings of his Muslim brethren.... How can I call myself a Muslim, if I do nothing when I see my Muslim brother suffering injustice? What kind of Islam is this?! ... Animals have rights, but Muslims do not?!…
Have I no rights?! Or perhaps, oh advanced Westerners with your control and your hegemony, you believe that a Muslim is not a human being? This is one of many questions. It is peculiar indeed to see the world up in arms when one person in the West is killed, while the blood of Muslims is shed [non-stop]: the Rohingya people, Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Yemen, Egypt, Libya… Muslim blood… Civil wars… Sectarian wars… Russia flexes its muscles in Syria, and uses the most powerful weapons against the Syrian people. The Syrian land has become a testing ground. Anyone who has a new weapon or a new ideology that he wants to test takes them to Syria or Iraq. They test not only weapons on us Muslims, but also their theories and their ideologies....
I swear by Allah that they want a flag to fly over this mosque. They want it to belong to some country or another. This is what they want. They want national affairs to interfere with our religion. Why? That is the question. What do they want this for? The better to rip us apart. I am not saying that [they want] to keep us in check. Allah be praised, a Muslim does not need anyone to teach him to abide by the law. We heed the law, Allah be praised. Our religion teaches us the law, and we respect the law. But they want to control us so that we won’t awaken from our slumber, because the Muslim is a sleeping giant, and if he awakens, woe betide anyone around, because he will restore glory to humanity. They don’t want the Muslim giant to awaken, and in order to prevent that, they cut off his limbs one by one – a hand here, a leg over there, and the head somewhere else. They do this by means of flags, nationalities, borders, and tribes....
Anyone who hates a Muslim anywhere can affront him, sanction his killing, murder him, curse him, and so on. They even legislate laws as they see fit, and no one prevents this. As long as this has to do with the Muslims, you can legislate whatever law you want....
According to scientific statistics, all the institutions in charge of human rights groups are Zionist.... These groups strive to corrupt society, rather than empowering it and protecting its unity. They strive to fragment society....
We want our children to penetrate the political realm in the West. We want this. We dream of seeing our children become ministers and dignitaries, and even presidents. Why not? We want them to rule France one day, to rule Belgium, Germany, and Britain. Why not? This is possible. But don’t confuse matters. You will never get [your children] there through the means of Islam. No. you must get them there through their [Western] rules, not yours. If you play by your own rules, you will never get there....
Oh Allah, support Islam and the Muslims, humiliate polytheism and the polytheists, and allow the banner of Truth and Islam to fly high. Support your servants, the mujahideen everywhere, oh Lord of Mankind. Oh Allah, grant success to whoever wishes well to Islam and the Muslims, and if anyone wishes evil upon Islam – make it turn against him. 
Again that lethal victimology, that paranoia, that Jew-hatred.  Now preached in the heart of the societies that Muslims are told wish to destroy them. 
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Soccer stadium in Germany evacuated: truck bomb reported. UPDATE: false alarm

Andrew Bolt November 18 2015 (6:17am)

Reports of a truck bomb disguised as an ambulance in Germany:
A FRIENDLY soccer match in Germany, hailed as a “symbol of freedom” after the Paris attacks, has been cancelled just 90 minutes before kick-off due to a serious “bomb threat.” 
Police chief Volker Kluwe told public broadcaster NDR there had been “a concrete threat scenario for all of Hannover,” adding there had been “serious plans to cause an explosion.”
German news site Kreiszeitung reported the game was abandoned when police found a truck bomb disguised as an ambulance outside Hannover’s 49,000-capacity HDI Arena. Thousands of fans were evacuated from the stadium, where the German national side had been due to play the Netherlands. German government officials, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, were expected to attend.
The report of the ambulance bomb has not been confirmed.
UPDATE
But no explosives have been found, and Hannover police won’t answer questions:
Contrary to earlier reports, no explosives have been found. A rather strange press conference and no questions allowed concluded with conflicting messages at around 21.50 German time in Hannover. 
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Julie Bishop should apologise to Tony Abbott for misrepresenting him

Andrew Bolt November 17 2015 (10:40pm)

What Tony Abbott actually said today:
Preferably with Sunni states such as Turkey, Egypt and Jordan, as well as with the US, Britain and France, Australia should be prepared to contribute more to a military campaign to destroy this terrorist caliphate on the ground in Syria and Iraq. This could involve less restrictive targeting rules for airstrikes and the deployment of special forces on the ground in support of local forces, similar to the 2001 campaign where the Northern Alliance defeated the Taliban in Afghanistan.
What Foreign Minister Julie Bishop falsely implied Abbott said:
As Tony Abbott well knows, Australia does not act unilaterally. We need legal basis under international law to send our forces into other countries. 
Nowhere did Abbott say “unilateral” - meaning “involving only one part or side”. Reread his quote above.
Bishop is misrepresenting Abbott, suggesting he’s an idiot who’d just have Australia invade Iraq all by itself. In doing so, she is deliberately casting back to an earlier and equally false report - completely debunked here - that Abbott had privately suggested a “unilateral invasion” of Iraq.
Nasty stuff.  And, by the way, Bishop is avoiding the important point Abbott makes: that to defeat the Islamic State, ground troops are probably essential.
(Thanks to reader John.) 
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Putin admits terrorists brought down Russian jet

Andrew Bolt November 17 2015 (10:31pm)

Putin admits terrorists blew up the Russian jet which crashed in Egypt last month, killing 224 people. He won’t back off in Syria:
It is bitterly ironic that he pledges to hunt down those responsbile, yet hides the people who brought down MH17. 
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50 SHADES OF HYSTERIA

Tim Blair – Tuesday, November 18, 2014 (1:51pm)

Can’t wear illustrated shirts. Can’t wear plain shirts, either: 
Last week, in his first-ever public Q & A, Mark Zuckerberg was asked why he wears plain gray t-shirts apparently every waking moment of his life. “I’d feel I’m not doing my job if I spent any of my energy on things that are silly or frivolous about my life,” the Facebook CEO replied.
Sounds innocuous enough, right? Not to some feminist critics.
“Is it just me or does the mindset of the Silicon Valley Power-Schlub imply that caring about clothing or how you look invalidates your ability to work?” wrote New York magazine’s Allison Davis in an essay titled, “Zuckerberg Explains His Gray T-Shirts, Sounds Pretty Sexist” …
Ellie Krupnick, meanwhile, claimed Zuckerberg’s comment “reinforces a sexist double standard.” His use of the word “frivolous” suggested “that women’s focus on ‘unserious’ things such as fashion preclude them from focusing on more important things.” 
Via Instapundit. Meanwhile, Australian feminists maintain their timid silence over the promotion of female genital mutilation: 
Prohibitions That Are Taken Too Lightly was one of several books bought from Sydney bookshops by The Daily Telegraph that advocate FGM, sometimes known as female circumcision …
Another book bought by The Daily Telegraph is called Important Lessons For Muslim Women, which says FGM is “obligatory” if an unmarried woman’s desire is “so great”.
In May the NSW government tripled the sentence for performing FGM to 21 years’ jail and introduced a new offence of removing a woman or girl from NSW to have it performed.
But books promoting the barbaric practice remain on sale in the Bukhari House Islamic Bookstore in Auburn, and The Islamic Bookstore in Lakemba …
Instructions Of Shari’ah For Women wants to ban Western education for women. Others say women should not drive, should not work with men and must have sex if their husbands demand it. 
Got anything to say, ladies? Anything at all? Or are you distracted by some guy’s shirt?
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TEACHER HAS MAINSTREAM VIEWS

Tim Blair – Tuesday, November 18, 2014 (1:17pm)

A Slate reader seeks urgent advice: 
My wife and I found the Facebook profile of our daughter’s second grade teacher. What we saw gave us a jolt. Her “likes” are a cornucopia of Tea Party politics – Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, a Michael Savage book, etc. Her politics seem extreme enough to be incompatible with her job as a public school teacher. 
The response from Slate is surprisingly sensible.
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THANKS FOR THE SKY SHOWS

Tim Blair – Tuesday, November 18, 2014 (1:12pm)

Is there nothing climate change can’t do? 
Add this to rising seas, more intense hurricanes, and more frequent thunderstorms: Climate change will also spark more lightning. 
Put it on the list.
(Via RR)
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REAR OF THE YEAR

Tim Blair – Tuesday, November 18, 2014 (12:40pm)

Forget Kim Kardashian. A BMW Clown Shoe wins this contest:
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Another terrorist attack in Jerusalem

Andrew Bolt November 18 2014 (6:04pm)

Israel is, as ever, on the frontline of the war against jihadism:
Four Israelis were killed and several others wounded in a terror attack on Tuesday morning in a synagogue in the western Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof. 
Two assailants were killed at the scene by police, with a third possibly on the loose in the area.
Eight people were wounded in the assault, including four seriously, two moderately and two lightly… Israel Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said two assailants entered the synagogue on Tuesday with knives, axes and guns and attacked worshipers… Samri said the attackers were Palestinians from East Jerusalem. 
On Sunday:
A Jewish resident of Jerusalem was stabbed in the back on Sunday evening, apparently with a screwdriver. 
Police are treating the incident as a possible terrorist attack.  The man, aged about 35, was stabbed near the Damascus Gate entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City.  
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Abbott gets advice from Hartcher that would kill him and hurt Australia

Andrew Bolt November 18 2014 (2:34pm)

Peter Hartcher, the Sydney Morning Herald political editor, is losing touch with reality.
Yesterday he claimed a former Fairfax colleague from Melbourne who’d vilified Australia in the Leftist Los Angeles Times was proof of a ”towering international indignation” over Tony Abbott.
Today he claims Abbott could and should strike a global warming deal with China:
...it’s not only possible for Abbott and Xi to put together a deal on climate change, it’s also desirable in the national interest and in the Abbott government’s political interest… 
But didn’t China already announce its plan last week in Xi’s joint announcement with Barack Obama? Not at all. China merely said its emissions would peak by 2030, earlier if possible. Another way of saying it is this: We reserve the right to keep increasing emissions for another 15 years.
This is just China’s holding position. It is still considering its final commitments for the post-2020 phase. This means that it’s possible for Australia to be a part of a much bolder Chinese plan for post-2020 than anything announced to date. Abbott could trump Obama on this…
Politically, a China-Australia climate deal works for Abbott because he could outmanoeuvre Labor. Instead of playing permanent defence, he could go on the offence… The hardest part for Abbott? He would need to abandon his two-track presentation on climate change… He needs to drop any impression of sympathising with climate change deniers. His far-right base will never abandon him to vote Labor or Greens. Now he must appeal to the centre of the electorate where elections are won and lost.  
Peter, please. At least you now concede Barack Obama’s deal with China is a fraud that commits China to nothing for 16 (not 15) years.
But consider:
- there is zero reason to believe Australia could persuade China, the world’s biggest emitter, to make the cuts it wouldn’t make for the US, the second-biggest emitter.
- there is zero reason to believe China will do anything to hamper the growth which it has promised its people; which President Xi yesterday nominated as his first priority; and which the Communist Party must deliver to survive.
- there is zero reason to believe that conservatives would not punish Abbott for betraying his principles and their support. Remember what happened to Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership when he wanted to back emissions trading?
- there is zero reason to believe that Abbott isn’t genuine in doubting man’s emissions will cause catastrophic global warming.
- there is zero reason for believing that an about-face on this issue will see Abbott finally embraced by all who now hate him, rather than denounced as a hypocrite and opportunist without core convictions. Would Hatcher himself suddenly vote Liberal?
- there is much reason to believe that a Hartcher-style deal with China would be hated by voters, since it will inevitably involve the kind of trade-off Obama made - with Australia making all the sacrifices and China none. 
UPDATE
Meanwhile, in the real world:
The German coalition government is planning to withdraw from its 2020 climate change goals. Notwithstanding public protest, Federal Economics Minister Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) has abandoned the requirement of cutting 40 percent of CO2 emissions compared to 1990 levels by 2020. 
“It’s clear that the [2020 CO2] target is no longer viable,” said the vice-chancellor according to information obtained by SPIEGEL, adding: “We cannot exit from coal power overnight.” Experts have doubted for some time that German climate targets are being met – especially since Gabriel is defending vehemently coal-fired power generation.
UPDATE
Tom Switzer says we’ll thank Tony Abbott for resisting Barack Obama’s pressure to donate to the climate fund and sign up to a deal next year:
As for China, their leaders’ priority is to grow their economy at 7-8% annually and to reduce poverty; and the cheapest way of doing so is via carbon energy (president Xi did not even mention climate change in his address to parliament yesterday.) True, Beijing is investing in renewable energy projects and piloting cap and trade schemes in some provinces. But China is also building a coal-fired power plant every 8-10 days and its net emissions continue to escalate steadily (on 1990 levels, Australia is set to cut its greenhouse gas emission by 4% by 2020.) 
Any “deal” at Paris will merely give China and India a free rein until the 2030s without any binding obligation to be monitored and scrutinised by the west on their actual behaviour. That is why Abbott is wise to make any Australian climate policies conditional on a legally binding, verifiable, enforceable and genuinely global agreement to replace the Kyoto protocol. Even the Germans have essentially done that.
What is shaping up now, as Benny Peiser of the London-based Global Warming Policy Forum predicts, is a huge blame game over the likely failure to agree to a post-Kyoto treaty. China and India will blame the west for its failure to deliver $100 bn per annum – yes, $100bn – that was promised at Copenhagen. Obama and the left will blame the Republicans. The EU will blame the Americans. Climate enthusiasts and developing nations will blame all and sundry.
And Abbott will look like a genius for keeping Australia on the margins of yet another climate summit fiasco.
(Thanks to reader Mervyn and others.) 
===

Warmist groupthink: Australian journalists five times more likely to ask about global warming

Andrew Bolt November 18 2014 (10:58am)

Global warming - propaganda, Media

US President Barack Obama’s press conference on Sunday:
Questions from US journalists about global warming: 1 out of 10 (on whether Obama was exceeding his powers)
British Prime Minister David Cameron’s press conference on Sunday:
Questions from non-Australian journalists about global warming: 1 out of 9

Questions from Australian journalists about global warming: 1 out of 1
Tony Abbott’s press conference on Sunday:
Questions from non-Australian journalists about global warming:  0 out of 4
Questions from Australian journalists about global warming: 4 out of 10 
To sum up the three press conferences:
Questions from non-Australian journalists about global warming:  2 out of 23.
Questions from Australian journalists about global warming:  5 out of 11.
Conclusion: Australian journalists are five times more likely to ask a political leader about global warming.
(UPDATE: Oops. Thanks to those who corrected my maths,.) 
===

The Abbott Government must now change or die

Andrew Bolt November 18 2014 (8:59am)

The Abbott Government falls further behind in Newspoll:
In two-party-preferred terms, based on preference flows from last year’s election, Labor leads by 55 per cent to 45 per cent. The ALP’s third consecutive rise in two-party terms means the opposition has been in front of the ­Coalition on this measure for 14 successive Newspolls.
I still believe this overstates the margin, and the reality is somewhere between Newspoll and Essential Media’s 48 to 52 per cent. But there is no disputing the Government has a serious problem.
So to repeat:
- the Government’s foreign policy successes don’t much impress voters.  They are important, some critical, but they will increasingly look to voters like evasive action. A smokescreen from what they’d consider their most immediate concerns.
- the domestic issues, especially Budget cuts and broken promises, continue to kill the Government.
- weak economic growth and Budget blowouts undermine the Government’s entire argument for being.
- a ferocious onslaught by the media Left, especially the ABC behemoth, against the Government generally and Abbott personally, means the Government struggles to sell even its strengths.
- the Government’s media strategy is poor, too often defensive and reactive. Abbott still lacks a senior media strategist in his office - a critical and telling absence.
- the Government has bought the myth that deeds speak for themselves and playing nice wins respect. A cameo: Tony Abbott in welcoming President Xi Jinping to Parliament yesterday praised Labor leaders Gough Whitlam and Neville Wran for fostering China ties; Bill Shorten in his welcome praised Whitlam, noted Labor leaders had worked on the free trade deal before Abbott and praised China for its global warming “deal” and the sending of doctors to treat ebola patients - all digs at bipartisan Abbott and his policies. The Government is getting killed in bare-knuckle politics.
- Treasurer Joe Hockey isn’t getting cut-through in the most important portfolio. A Treasurer who can’t dominate the agenda leaves a Government fatally weakened.
- the Government doesn’t have an effective headkicker. It lacks mongrel. Another cameo:  Barack Obama won huge and positive coverage in the media for belting Abbott over global warming. The Government looked properly reprimanded, a punching bag, when it should have blasted back and won points for at least seeming tough.
- internal jealousies mean the Government’s most successful minister, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, has been given not a single new problem to solve since stopping the boats, while strugglers are pushed in front of the TV cameras week after week.
- the Government’s second most successor minister, Julie Bishop, is in a portfolio which lets her shine but does not win the government any votes.
- the minister most admired by the Left-wing media, Malcolm Turnbull, is in a portfolio in which there is little call for him to use his undoubted influence and charm to sell the Government to its media critics. Instead, as Communications Minister he is more likely to protect the media critics from the Government.
- the Government has not developed a moral message - an inspiring cause - other than the constitutional recognition of Aborigines, which will actually prove marginal and divisive, not least with its own base. That agenda will also be thankless: witness Mick Dodson’s mean-spirited attack on Abbott last week. Where is the evangelism?
- the Government has been poor in developing the “Greek chorus” effect that collectivists like Labor do so well. Too often it seems friendless. Business is slow to support it, and too rarely are the Prime Minister and his ministers seen surrounded by happy supporters.  Obvious example?: the Government couldn’t or wouldn’t find hundreds of scientists and medicos to even back its huge medical research fund.
- the Government can’t or won’t even energise its base with some signature campaigns and successes. It gave up the free speech fight, gave up on workplace reform and dares not challenge the global warming hysteria (indeed, its lacks the people, conviction and strategy to even attempt it).  Where are the inspiring reforms - ones that its supporters will gladly man the election booths to defend?
- the Government too often radiates a lack of conviction. It often dares not dare name the cause in which it fights: it cuts (barely) the ABC without explaining that it’s too big and biased; it slashes at global warming programs without explaining why they are a useless fix to a non-problem, it resists Obama’s global warming evangelism without explaining he’s a fraud.
- the Government has picked too many fights it cannot win, not just with the Senate but more especially with the public. It must ditch the undoable, argue only for what it can win and avoid the Senate bloc wherever possible. Bye-bye Medicare co-payment and parental leave scheme.
- the Government seems out of synch with the times. Younger and fresher faces - women particularly - are needed in the lineup. Some of the Coalition’s most appealing talent is not in the Ministry.
- the Liberals have never prospered without senior ministers in Victoria arguing the case, leading the charge, imposing themselves on the debate. Where are they?
- a small point now, but why do Ministers go onto big set-piece interviews, especially with the ABC, without something new to reveal or announce? Why sit there passively while the interviewer asks the gotcha questions they’ve been working on for hours, hoping to have found the weakness?
Enough.
True, I have listed here the Government’s shortcomings but not its strengths and virtues. And if I were to list Labor’s failings, the list would be much longer.
But the Government cannot just motor on as Julia Gillard fatally tried, arguing that voters will eventually come around and see the gain for the pain, or see through the Opposition’s alleged failings. The polls today have a reality. Something is not working and must be fixed.
That fixing must start over the Christmas break. The planned minor reshuffle must be expanded. A new start must be signalled with new faces and an act of repentance. An aggressive, positive and confident media strategy must be adopted.
Get sharp. Get tough. Get assertive. Get confident. Offer inspiration. And fight.  
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Gillard tries the “do you know who I am” line

Andrew Bolt November 18 2014 (8:12am)

Don’t look at the facts, admire the halo:
JULIA Gillard has formally asked the union corruption inquiry to “give significant weight to (her) good character and reputation” and urged it to reject evidence she received wads of cash from a corrupt union boss boyfriend. 
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Greens agree to support coal baron Clive Palmer

Andrew Bolt November 18 2014 (8:03am)

Rank opportunists both:
CLIVE Palmer and the Greens have struck a radical Victorian election preference deal that will unite mining interests with hard-Left environmental politics in a bid to snatch control of the upper house. 
UPDATE

Palmer might be better off trying to save what he’s already got:
Palmer United Party senator Jacqui Lambie has called on all non-government senators to join her to block all government legislation until it offers a better pay deal to Defence personnel. 
Senator Lambie also hijacked debates on bills relating to social services and sports anti-doping to read emails she had received from Defence personnel…
Speaking in Federal Parliament on Monday, ... Senator Lambie ... read a number of emails from supporters, including one that called Palmer United founder and leader Clive Palmer a “whack job”.
“I think you will face a backlash from your party but let’s face it, it won’t be a party for long and Clive is a whack job. So go for it alone, go independent – you will achieve so much more,” one of the messages said… Earlier, Senator Lambie voted with the Greens to oppose the social services bill despite her fellow PUP senators abstaining, while the anti-doping bill passed without a division.
Rosie Lewis:
AN emotional Jacqui Lambie launched a fresh attack on the rest of the Palmer United Party yesterday, distancing herself further from her colleagues… 
While Senator Lambie and Mr Palmer were in the same room yesterday for the first time since party infighting erupted publicly last week, they did not speak.
During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s parliamentary address, Mr Palmer and PUP senators Zhenya Wang and Glenn Lazarus sat together while a frosty Senator Lambie sat two benches away and did not look across… While she spoke to Senator Wang behind closed doors yesterday, she is yet to talk to Senator Lazarus.
(Thanks to readers Peter of Bellevue Hill and Aussieute.) 
===

Unbiased ABC declares war on conservatives

Andrew Bolt November 18 2014 (7:50am)

ABC balance on Q&A, under Leftist host Tony Jones:
Let’s be generous and count Vanstone, from the Liberal Left, as a conservative. Even then it will be one against five, including Jones.
Not even a pretence any more.
UPDATE

Last night’s unbiased Q&A was just as bad.
Malcolm Turnbull - from the Liberal Left

Tanya Plibersek - Labor

Ben Elton - far Left “comedian” and warmist

Jonathan Holmes - Leftist and warmist
Sarrah Le Marquand - Daily Telegraph columnist, who last night praised Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech 
Conservatives this time were represented by Malcolm Turnbull, who actually praised the phony global warming deal Barack Obama made last week with China and urged the rest of the world to get on board. The very first panel discussion had Turnbull endorsing the global warming scare, with Jonathan Holmes, Tanya Plibersek and Ben Elton all belting the Government for not being more warmist. Host Tony Jones also attacked the Government’s direct action policies and claimed that to emit carbon dioxide was to “pollute”.
The best that Turnbull could say in the Government’s defence was that emissions trading, which he’d supported, had worked better in theory than in practice.
Not one person on the panel was sceptical about Obama’s “deal” or catastrophic man-made warming.  The most sceptical thing said by anyone about this fraudulent fix to what increasingly seems a non-problem came from Sarrah Le Marquand of the Daily Telegraph, who said “unfortunately” Obama might not be able to deliver on his deal.
No one even contradicted loudmouth Ben Elton when he claimed global warming meant “low-lying land is going to be engulfed by a series of tsunamis”, as if our gases now caused earthquakes, too.
UPDATE
At the Cat:
How many times did Turnbull start with ‘I must defend Tony Abbott here ….’ or ‘To defend Tony Abbott …’ 
It sounded so weak, diffident and unconvincing. They tore Abbott to shreds tonight and in contrast Malcolm was flattered by all just to show nobody is biased. What will it take to open Abbott’s eyes ? He still thinks he can get them to love him. 
Once again, Q&A claimed 42 per cent of the studio audience were Coalition voters. Yet 100 per cent of the horselaughs, 95 per cent of the applause and 90 per cent of the criticism was directed at the Abbott Government. Abbott’s strongest defender on the show was his great rival, Turnbull.
The ABC is perpetrating a fraud. The shame is that even when Communications Minister Turnbull is in the middle of it he refuses - when specifically asked - to confirm that, yes, the ABC is biased.
UPDATE
Oh, dear, what a shambles last night’s program was, confirming the very malice and bias that all on the panel sought to deny or failed to admit:
[Turnbull] also repeated his criticism of a satirical report on the Abbott-Putin shirtfront controversy that aired on 7.30 last week. He said satire on a serious news program needed to be clearly labelled and the audience attuned to expect it. 
Host Tony Jones then said to another panellist, senior News Corporation editor Sarrah Le Marquand: “You’ve got Andrew Bolt, you don’t label him as ‘satire’.” Jones apologised for the remark shortly afterwards. At one point, under questioning from comedian Ben Elton, Mr Turnbull said the program was becoming a “Tony Abbott hate-fest”. 
Bizarre, a show to dismiss claims that the ABC is biased stacks the panel, savages Abbott and attacks a conservative.
The ABC is out of control. When will managing director Mark Scott be sacked?
UPDATE
Memo to Ben Elton, who last night claimed warming meant “low-lying land is going to be engulfed by a series of tsunamis”.
Check not what people say but what they do. The low-lying Maldives seems not to believe its future is threatened:
The Maldives is to open a $100 million integrated resort project by 2016, including the creation of 23 hotels and an estimated 2,100 new beds… It’s also believed plans are underway to develop another runway at the main international airport in Male. 
(Thanks to reader Mark M.) 
===

Unbiased ABC verbals a Liberal to embarrass a Liberal

Andrew Bolt November 18 2014 (7:50am)

Of course the ABC isn’t biased. It’s pure coincidence that things like this keep happening to Liberals, thanks to ABC warmists:
ABC RN Breakfast yesterday: 
GREG Hunt: We have just passed a $2.5 billion climate fund ... one of the most significant pieces of climate legislation in Australian history ... Fran Kelly: With respect though Minister, you kept using terms to describe the Direct Action policy as significant, one of the most ambitious packages and yet here’s the WA Premier, who’s a Liberal Premier to boot ... He’s not convinced that Direct Action is as ambitious as you suggest. 
Hunt: Well there’s a very strange situation here and I don’t in any way accept the way that you have characterised Premier Barnett’s comments ... 
Kelly: They were direct quotes. ... 
Hunt: But you just said that he reflected on the Direct Action program. Did he? 
Kelly: Well he’s suggesting that we need to do more. ... 
Hunt: Did he reflect on the Direct Action program? 
Kelly: I have no idea, but he said we need to lift our game ... 
Hunt: ... But Fran, you just said he attacked our Direct Action program ... 
Kelly: Sorry Minister ... the point that I was making was that he ... said we need to lift our game. 
Hunt: So you attributed something to him which he didn’t say. You now have to concede that. Yes? 
Kelly: Alright Minister I’m happy to concede that. ... but ... in the real world, the US and China have now announced lifting future action (cutting emissions) on their part.
China is doing more? US-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change, November 12: 
CHINA intends to achieve the peaking of CO2 emissions around 2030.
Jonathan Kaiman The Guardian, Tuesday, November 27, 2012:
ANALYSTS say that ... China’s emissions will rise until around 2030 ...
UPDATE
More from the unbiased ABC. Presenter Quentin Dempster defends 7.30’s tasteless mockery of Tony Abbott by endorsing the attack and blaming the West for jihadism:
It was an attempt at satire over our prime minister’s tabloidism. First there was ‘Team Australia’ — an attempt at cut-through Abbott messaging designed to get everyone thinking counter terrorism by an appeal to would-be jihadists to stay here with the team. This is ripe for ridicule as anyone watching Anton Enus’s excellent Insight (SBS) ‘Stopping IS’ program last week would know. He examined Australia’s profound ignorance of youthful jihadi motivations by hearing from those whose lives have been all but destroyed by collateral damage caused by Western folly. 
More from the unbiased ABC. The ABC’s Fact Check head, Russell Skelton, recommends a vicious anti-Abbott rant which he sells as an view of the Los Angeles Times, although the author is an ex-Fairfax reporter from Melbourne:
===

Abbott’s success should be admired as much as it was once doubted

Andrew Bolt November 18 2014 (7:15am)

Will the praise from Fairfax and the ABC now match the degree of difficulty the two outlets once assigned?:
Hard! Jennifer Hewitt, Australian Financial Review, July 2, 2013:  
ANY hopes Australia can finally follow New Zealand’s record ... and complete a free-trade agreement with China won’t produce results in time for an election ... Yet a Coalition government influenced by the Nationals would find it even harder ...
Geoff Kitney, AFR, August 3, 2013: 
IF Tony Abbott wins the election, (Chinese investment is) going to be one of the most problematic issues on his agenda, with the potential to split the Coalition.
Tactically flawed strategy! Mark Kenny, The Age, October 8, 2013: 
PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has set down an ambitious deadline of just 12 months to conclude ... free trade talks with China, signalling Australia would sign up for “whatever we can get”. But some trade officials regard the strategy ... as tactically flawed. “We have just sent the message to the Chinese that if they hold out, we’ll pretty much cave in 12 months ...
Phil Coorey, AFR, October 14, 2013:
HIS ambition to finalise the FTA with China in 12 months carries the risk of surrendering Australia’s negotiating position given it is Abbott, not China, which now stands to lose domestically if the deadline is not reached.
People will say, well, you said. ABC RN Breakfast, November 17, 2013:
FRAN Kelly: Andrew Robb ... says he wants a free-trade agreement finalised in a hurry. Julie Bishop has a timeline of a year — pretty ambitious.
Michelle Grattan: Well! (laughs) … yes, and always of course quite risky because in a year’s time if it’s not done people say, well, you said …
===

A straight report on Obama’s climate “deal”

Andrew Bolt November 18 2014 (6:56am)

Keith DeLacy, former Queensland Labor treasurer:
AT a historic joint press conference with Barack Obama in Beijing last week Chinese President Xi Jinping signalled that China would continue to increase CO2 emissions until 2030.

China is currently increasing emissions every year by the equivalent of Australia’s total emissions, and Xi’s statement means this will continue to be the case. The announcement was warmly welcomed by the world media. 
Xi said that by 2030 fossil fuels would still represent 80 per cent of China’s energy usage. Renewables such as wind and power would produce just 3 per cent of output. Xi implied that it was important that Europe continue to take the lead in renewables as they seemed to be able to tolerate low levels of growth and high levels of unemployment.
Lame duck US President Obama signalled the US would not take any leadership role on climate change action. While he suggested the US would reduce total emissions by 26 to 28 per cent on 2005 levels by 2025, everyone knew he could not deliver any legislative backing for measures to do this… The above is an example of an alternative media report that might have come from a non-progressive correspondent attending last week’s historic climate change media conference by US and China presidents.
===

The Chinese president is a better friend than this US one

Andrew Bolt November 18 2014 (6:41am)

Greg Sheridan nails the poseur from Washington:
A US president comes to Australia with the specific intention of damaging the Australian government politically on climate change, while a Chinese president comes here with nothing but gifts. 
Xi Jinping’s accomplished, well-considered speech to parliament yesterday contained no references to climate change and no implicit criticism of Australia. After all, there are other forums for that issue, China is not committed to any carbon emissions targets and why would you go out of your way to embarrass your host? The contrast with Barack Obama was staggering. More than that, Xi was charming, respectful and helpful to all Australians he mentioned. He completed the free-trade agreement, which is a big win for both countries. But more generally his speech was one of reassurance and reasonable ambition.
It takes some doing for an American president to seem a worse and more graceless guest than a Chinese president. A small sign of the decline of the US under Obama.
UPDATE
Dennis Shanahan: 
TWO speeches from the two presidents of the most powerful countries on earth delivered within two days of each other on Australian soil could not have been more ­different. 
The first, delivered on Saturday at the G20 summit, from one of our strongest allies and closest friends, was an act of political ­bastardry which distracted attention from the summit’s success and dropped Tony Abbott into a nightmare of domestic politics.
The real import of Barack Obama’s speech and long-term strategic message was sacrificed for rhetorical showmanship and US domestic considerations.
The second, delivered yesterday in Parliament House, was a historic advance in Australia’s trade and international relations, worth billions of dollars, and an underwriting of a new level of our strategic place in Asia. It was an act of pragmatic optimism with an eye to the future… While some have suggested Obama’s speech from an old friend will ring through the generations, it’s more likely Xi’s speech from a respected old foe will be remembered in substance for much longer.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
===
Obama Refuses to Speak to Netanyahu
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/174090
In latest twist in public US-Israel relations fallout, Obama has been forwarding all of Netanyahu's calls to John Kerry.
===
Mick, from Dublin , appeared on 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' and towards the end of the program had already won 500,000 euros. 

"You've done very well so far," said the show's presenter, "but for a million euros you've only got one life-line left, phone a friend. Everything is riding on this question. Will you go for it?"

"Sure," said Mick. "I'll have a go!" 

"Which of the following birds does NOT build its own nest?
a) Sparrow
b) Thrush,
c) Magpie,
d) Cuckoo?"

"I haven't got a clue." said Mick,

''So I'll use my last lifeline and phone my friend Paddy back home in Dublin...."

Mick called up his mate, and told him the circumstances and repeated the question to him.

"Feckin' hell, Mick!" cried Paddy. "Dat's simple it's a cuckoo."

"Are ye sure?"

"I'm feckin' sure."

Mick hung up the phone and told Chris, "I'll go with cuckoo as my answer."

"Is that your final answer?" asked Chris.

"Dat it is."

There was a long, long pause and then the presenter screamed, "Cuckoo is the correct answer! Mick, you've won 1 million euros!"

The next night, Mick invited Paddy to their local pub to buy him a drink.

"Tell me, Paddy? How in Heaven’s name did you know it was da Cuckoo that doesn't build its own nest?"

"Because he lives in a feckin' clock!"
===

This Could Be One of the Best Cases Ever Made Against Common Core – No One Expected It to Come...
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/11/15/this-could-be-one-of-the-best-cases-ever-made-against-common-core-no-one-expected-it-to-come-from-a-high-school-student/
Speaking at a local school board meeting earlier this month, a Tennessee high school senior issued a brief and incredibly insightful address on the problems with Common Core standards. Ethan Young, a student at Farragut High School in Knox County, Tenn., made his case as to why he...

I agree that the core has issues, and this student is fingering them, but I don't feel he has nailed it. I have no problem with standards. There are regional preferences for things and this is something which exists with or without standards. There is greater diversity within a region than between regions. For me, the issue of a common core is the politicisation of educational material. Teaching AGW as fact is as disturbing to me as Intelligent Design. I prefer critical though to rigid structure. Core could be very useful, but it doesn't look it the way it is being implemented. Core could support individual teachers .. but at the moment it is a tool of a central government keen on building up. - ed
===
===
“נ Nun Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” Psalm 119:105 NIV
===
Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning


"To whom be glory forever. Amen"
Romans 11:36
"To whom be glory forever." This should be the single desire of the Christian. All other wishes must be subservient and tributary to this one. The Christian may wish for prosperity in his business, but only so far as it may help him to promote this--"To him be glory forever." He may desire to attain more gifts and more graces, but it should only be that "To him may be glory forever." You are not acting as you ought to do when you are moved by any other motive than a single eye to your Lord's glory. As a Christian, you are "of God, and through God," then live "to God." Let nothing ever set your heart beating so mightily as love to him. Let this ambition fire your soul; be this the foundation of every enterprise upon which you enter, and this your sustaining motive whenever your zeal would grow chill; make God your only object. Depend upon it, where self begins sorrow begins; but if God be my supreme delight and only object,
"To me 'tis equal whether love ordain
My life or death--appoint me ease or pain."
Let your desire for God's glory be a growing desire. You blessed him in your youth, do not be content with such praises as you gave him then. Has God prospered you in business? Give him more as he has given you more. Has God given you experience? Praise him by stronger faith than you exercised at first. Does your knowledge grow? Then sing more sweetly. Do you enjoy happier times than you once had? Have you been restored from sickness, and has your sorrow been turned into peace and joy? Then give him more music; put more coals and more sweet frankincense into the censer of your praise. Practically in your life give him honour, putting the "Amen" to this doxology to your great and gracious Lord, by your own individual service and increasing holiness.

Evening


"He that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby."
Ecclesiastes 10:9
Oppressors may get their will of poor and needy men as easily as they can split logs of wood, but they had better mind, for it is a dangerous business, and a splinter from a tree has often killed the woodman. Jesus is persecuted in every injured saint, and he is mighty to avenge his beloved ones. Success in treading down the poor and needy is a thing to be trembled at: if there be no danger to persecutors here there will be great danger hereafter.
To cleave wood is a common every-day business, and yet it has its dangers; so then, reader, there are dangers connected with your calling and daily life which it will be well for you to be aware of. We refer not to hazards by flood and field, or by disease and sudden death, but to perils of a spiritual sort. Your occupation may be as humble as log splitting, and yet the devil can tempt you in it. You may be a domestic servant, a farm labourer, or a mechanic, and you may be greatly screened from temptations to the grosser vices, and yet some secret sin may do you damage. Those who dwell at home, and mingle not with the rough world, may yet be endangered by their very seclusion. Nowhere is he safe who thinks himself so. Pride may enter a poor man's heart; avarice may reign in a cottager's bosom; uncleanness may venture into the quietest home; and anger, and envy, and malice may insinuate themselves into the most rural abode. Even in speaking a few words to a servant we may sin; a little purchase at a shop may be the first link in a chain of temptations; the mere looking out of a window may be the beginning of evil. O Lord, how exposed we are! How shall we be secured! To keep ourselves is work too hard for us: only thou thyself art able to preserve us in such a world of evils. Spread thy wings over us, and we, like little chickens, will cower down beneath thee, and feel ourselves safe!
===

Today's reading: Ezekiel 5-7, Hebrews 12 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Ezekiel 5-7

God’s Razor of Judgment

1 “Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor to shave your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. 2 When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword. 3 But take a few hairs and tuck them away in the folds of your garment. 4 Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to all Israel.
5 “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. 6 Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees more than the nations and countries around her. She has rejected my laws and has not followed my decrees.

Today's New Testament reading: Hebrews 12

1 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, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
God Disciplines His Children
4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son....”
===

Peter

[Pē'tûr] - a rock or stone. The Greek form of the Aramaic surname, Cephas. Peter was the brother of Andrew and the son of Jona, or Johanan (Matt. 4:18; John 1:40; 1 Cor. 1:12).

The Man Who Fell but Rose Again

Peter is another of those outstanding characters in the Bible gallery of men, requiring a book all his own to fully expound his life and labors. From the many references to this reed transformed into a rock , we gather these facts and features of "The Big Fisherman."
He was a fisherman of Bethsaida, a name meaning "the house of fish." Afterwards he resided in Capernaum, where Jesus frequently lodged during His Galilean ministry.
His father was Jona, or Jonah, and Andrew was his brother. Both sons were fishermen on the Lake of Galilee and were evidently in partnership with Zebedee and his sons.
He first met Christ at Bethany beyond Jordan, where John the Baptist exercised his ministry. Both Peter and Andrew were disciples of the Baptist. It was Andrew who introduced Peter to Christ.
He received a triple call as friend, disciple and apostle. Through daily contact with Jesus, seeing and hearing His words and works, Peter's character was deepened and strengthened.

He was a man with many facets of character. His life can be approached from many angles. He was naturally impulsive (Matt. 14:28; 17:4; John 21:7); tenderhearted and affectionate (Matt. 26:75; John 13:9; 21:15-17); gifted with spiritual insight (John 6:68), yet sometimes slow to apprehend deeper truths (Matt. 15:15, 16); courageous in his confession of faith in Christ, yet guilty of a most cowardly denial (Matt. 16:16; John 6:69; Mark 14:67-71); self-sacrificing yet inclined towards self-seeking (Matt. 19:27), and presumption (Matt. 16:22; John 13:8; 18:10); immovable in his convictions (Acts 4:19, 20; 5:28, 29, 40, 42).
He became the leader and spokesman of the Apostolic Twelve and of the three privileged to witness the raising of Jairus'daughter, the Transfiguration, our Lord's agony in the Garden. He himself became a miracle worker, especially during the time portrayed in Acts.
He made a confession of Christ's deity which became the foundation of the Church, and was appointed steward with authority of the keys, meaning that his was to be the privilege of opening the door of salvation to the Jews.
He miserably failed his Lord in an hour of crisis, being the only disciple to deny Christ, yet he was restored and recommissioned by Jesus after His resurrection. He became the dauntless leader of the infant Church and was foremost to protest his loyalty to Christ. After Pentecost, Peter's ministry appears in four stages:
I. Jerusalem activities, 29-35 a.d., when James eventually succeeded to leadership of the Church.
II. Palestinean mission, 35-44 a.d. , during which he remained for a while at Lydda and Joppa. He received a call to Caesarea, and in the house of Cornelius opened the door of privilege to the Gentiles.
III. Syrian mission with Antioch as a center, 44-61 a.d., during which he was accompanied by his wife, who became the pioneer Zenana missionary.
IV. Rome, 61 a.d. It would seem as if Peter reached here before Paul's release from his first imprisonment, and a few years later suffered martyrdom by crucifixion, as Christ prophesied he would. Legend has it that Peter deemed himself unworthy to die in exactly the same way as his Lord had, and so begged his crucifiers to crucify him upside down.
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