Reading Delderfield is a joy for me. I am rereading To Serve Them All My Days, which is a tale set from WW1 to the beginning of WW2 in a small English school in the countryside. I don't subscribe to Delderfield's characters, none of whom know God, and all of whom are way too close to a centre left position on politics I'll never subscribe. But the brilliant writing illustrates in sketches public discovery of historical events. Spanish civil war, Japanese invasion of China, Hitler taking government, and Czechoslovakia, and Dunkirk are all viewed through the prism of an English boarding college. And today we have forgotten, or censored, the gains we made by fighting oppression. There was a time when the centre left had muscle and did not fall for lies told of a stolen generation, myths of an invasion, guilt for people trying to help others in the past. It is ok to fight for what you believe in. It is ok to debate with those who disagree, and continue to disagree, but on civil terms. I am reminded of this as Tony Abbott is attacked for speaking a simple truth by Liberal Government Ministers who will not debate the issue raised, or explain their viewpoint.
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.
Neil Armstrong's famous "One Small step for (a) man .." was preceded by ..
sarah jones2 years ago
At its most basic level, this tale is a humorous anecdote that plays on the stereotypical portrayal of Jewish wives as reluctant to engage in recreational (and especially oral) sex. Well done you can read.
French .. http://www.amazon.fr/-/e/B01683ZOWG
Japan .. http://www.amazon.co.jp/-/e/B01683ZOWG
German .. http://www.amazon.de/-/e/B01683ZOWG
Here is a video I made Good Luck Mr Gorsky
Neil Armstrong's famous "One Small step for (a) man .." was preceded by ..
sarah jones2 years ago
At its most basic level, this tale is a humorous anecdote that plays on the stereotypical portrayal of Jewish wives as reluctant to engage in recreational (and especially oral) sex. Well done you can read.
Digital West2 years ago
I remember when Armstrong says it in watchmen. He was with dr manhattan on the moon.
I remember when Armstrong says it in watchmen. He was with dr manhattan on the moon.
MsPandaRosa2 years ago
This is the kind of thing that SHOULD be true! Neil Armstrong was a pretty down-to-earth (no pun intended) kind of guy, probably couldn't resist a quiet smile over this.
This is the kind of thing that SHOULD be true! Neil Armstrong was a pretty down-to-earth (no pun intended) kind of guy, probably couldn't resist a quiet smile over this.
locaman6924 years ago
1:01 "Oral sex? Oral Sex you want?" Why the fuck is Mr. Gorsky trying to get a BJ from Yoda?
1:01 "Oral sex? Oral Sex you want?" Why the fuck is Mr. Gorsky trying to get a BJ from Yoda?
Neftali Watkinson4 years ago
This incidt never happenned it is a joke made up by some comedian back in 1995
This incidt never happenned it is a joke made up by some comedian back in 1995
David Ball4 years ago
You mean comedy, like Pachydermic Personnel Predictor, or Fat Old Hugh Grant or School Musical Parent or if I could Talk to the dinosaurs or The end of despair or You must remember this or .. songs for the lyrically challenged series etc etc ?
You mean comedy, like Pachydermic Personnel Predictor, or Fat Old Hugh Grant or School Musical Parent or if I could Talk to the dinosaurs or The end of despair or You must remember this or .. songs for the lyrically challenged series etc etc ?
mannymanano4 years ago
You're welcome. If you have any other video postings, I would like to view them.
You're welcome. If you have any other video postings, I would like to view them.
David Ball4 years ago
Aye, this is a joke. And Neil was a remarkable, humble, man. Thank you for providing detail I like the detail. To put his achievement, built on the shoulders of others, into perspective .. there are more presidents of the US than there are people who have walked on the moon.
Aye, this is a joke. And Neil was a remarkable, humble, man. Thank you for providing detail I like the detail. To put his achievement, built on the shoulders of others, into perspective .. there are more presidents of the US than there are people who have walked on the moon.
mannymanano4 years ago
Hi ddball1. I'm sure you had a lot of people believing this was true when they saw your video post. Of course as you say, it is not true as November 1995, this story was widely circulated on the Internet that he made that statement during Apollo 11. On November 28, 1995, Neil wrote for the ALSJ, "I understand that the joke is a year old. I first heard it in California delivered by (comedian) Buddy Hackett
Hi ddball1. I'm sure you had a lot of people believing this was true when they saw your video post. Of course as you say, it is not true as November 1995, this story was widely circulated on the Internet that he made that statement during Apollo 11. On November 28, 1995, Neil wrote for the ALSJ, "I understand that the joke is a year old. I first heard it in California delivered by (comedian) Buddy Hackett
David Ball4 years ago
True, which is why I posted this video under comedy .. I made it as a joke having read the joke I wanted to make the video .. He was a great and humble man.
True, which is why I posted this video under comedy .. I made it as a joke having read the joke I wanted to make the video .. He was a great and humble man.
David Ball4 years ago
Thank you Neil. A great and humble man. I'll wink on those nights that I see the moon, and remember your gift.
Thank you Neil. A great and humble man. I'll wink on those nights that I see the moon, and remember your gift.
Silver Pill4 years ago
Very well told. However, in our enthusiasm for a really funny joke let's not forget Armstrong never said this lol However, if I am ever put on TV or radio I'll include "And good luck, Mr. Gorsky"
Very well told. However, in our enthusiasm for a really funny joke let's not forget Armstrong never said this lol However, if I am ever put on TV or radio I'll include "And good luck, Mr. Gorsky"
svenlittlecross5 years ago
i guess this clip would be interesting when you walk.. get tha fuck out of here
i guess this clip would be interesting when you walk.. get tha fuck out of here
CarKiller476 years ago
@ddball1 I can understand this more than the american english, it's more better.
@ddball1 I can understand this more than the american english, it's more better.
David Ball7 years ago
Lol. I was born in NYC to Australian parents. I've lived in Sydney for over thirty years. It's all just confusing.
Lol. I was born in NYC to Australian parents. I've lived in Sydney for over thirty years. It's all just confusing.
David Ball7 years ago
It is a joke. I posted it under comedy. When I first heard it, I liked that it almost sounded true ..
It is a joke. I posted it under comedy. When I first heard it, I liked that it almost sounded true ..
David Ball8 years ago
Even so, it is a joke and I posted it under comedy. I think it a benign joke .. funny too.
Even so, it is a joke and I posted it under comedy. I think it a benign joke .. funny too.
Ward Frazier8 years ago
I have talked to older people who watched it live back in 1969 who said that yes he did say it, but the 1 second or so statment was edited out, which is why it can't be found now to prove it, n the master tapes have disappeared.
I have talked to older people who watched it live back in 1969 who said that yes he did say it, but the 1 second or so statment was edited out, which is why it can't be found now to prove it, n the master tapes have disappeared.
David Ball8 years ago
I posted the joke on the internet in the late 90's. I don't know where it came from .. it might have come from SNL, Comedy central or some such.
I posted the joke on the internet in the late 90's. I don't know where it came from .. it might have come from SNL, Comedy central or some such.
David Ball8 years ago
Nope I found it about a decade ago searching the net for jokes. Don't know where. Sorry for taking so long to reply.
Nope I found it about a decade ago searching the net for jokes. Don't know where. Sorry for taking so long to reply.
David Ball10 years ago
I agree. I would have loved it to be a true story. However, it didn't have to be to be funny ;)
I agree. I would have loved it to be a true story. However, it didn't have to be to be funny ;)
=== from 2017 ===
Today in Melbourne it was warm. The sustained cold had produced snow in Mt Hotham in the middle of summer. Both ALP and Liberal parties are arguing for insane policies regarding energy production which will make power more expensive and unreliable. Liberals are arguing carbon capture for coal power stations. Yet they can't explain why plant food needs to be restricted. Meanwhile, the wife of dictator Mugabe has said that girls are more likely to get pregnant than boys. If there is a boy anywhere in the world who doesn't wish to get pregnant I can make for them a food additive for $40 a day. It is guaranteed to work, or their money back. Malcolm Turnbull has said that he supports a two state solution for Israel. He says it takes two to tango. I am reminded of Solomon's determination in a matter. Cut Turnbull in half and let him tango. I will never endorse the creation of a terrorist state.
I am reading a research article by Matthew C. MacWilliams , University of Massachusetts Amherst, a PhD student. The article was popular among #FakeNewsMedia. Matthew writes
I am reading a research article by Matthew C. MacWilliams , University of Massachusetts Amherst, a PhD student. The article was popular among #FakeNewsMedia. Matthew writes
Fascinating that Matthew admits the Democrats used to be more Authoritarian. When was that? When they campaigned to kill children before they were born? When they decided that it was a good idea to define people by race? When they argued that it was more compassionate to kill people than let them live humbly? When they declared that soldiers should not go to war, but instead the US needed to bomb people? If the Democrats are losing their authoritarians, why are many still rioting and law breaking rather than peacefully protesting? Why do Democrats stand for entrenched corruption and not social justice as with the death of school boy Hamidur Rahman? Maybe the coalition reconfiguration is still in the works?"Finally, authoritarianism was recently identified as an important determinant of partisan polarization. Hetherington and Weiler argue that “consistent with the issues evolution framework (Carmines and Stimson 1986; 1990), a coalitional reconfiguration of the parties is in the works, with authoritarians increasingly gravitating toward the Republican Party and nonauthoritarians increasingly gravitating toward the Democratic” (Hetherington and Weiler 2009, 158). Their theory is based on cross-sectional data from four ANES surveys spanning 14 years."
=== from 2016 ===
Not written as I was working to secure accommodation.
=== from 2015 ===
Galileo was a genius and an experimental scientist and a fool. His discovery that weight was independent of acceleration was counter intuitive and brilliantly illustrated. Also, his criticism of those who believed the universe revolved around the Earth was brilliant. Part of Galileo's problem was what also made up his genius. He was abrasive and rude and refused to accept simple graces which allow friendship to grow. One of his patrons who gave him much he indulged in, to pursue his study, he humiliated in print. As a result he lost a patron and one who might have defended him against the heresy charge he faced. On this day in 1632, Galileo published his dialog on two chief world systems.
Galileo knew what he was doing. Bill Shorten does not. And it is obvious. Shorten does not have a policy on any issue. If Shorten had a policy then he would pass items through the senate in line with that policy. Instead, Shorten, the ALP Leader, opposes everything. When Mr Abbott was in opposition, he passed the majority of bills which allowed the government of the day to function, opposing only bills that were not worthy. However Shorten is harming Australia by opposing needed legislation. And Shorten has lied when asked to say what his position is on things. He lies about what the government is attempting, and Shorten is given too much credit by journalists who refuse to challenge his lies. Shorten is not Galileo, but he is rude and abrasive. The result has been the mediocre politician that is former treasurer, Bowen, does not even look competent in interview. Bowen could not name the bottom tax threshold for individuals and missed other detail that is simply expected of a competent politician with that portfolio. But as bad as Bowen is, there is an obvious explanation for his inability, and it isn't his follow up lie the next day saying that he really knew but hadn't said. The problem for Bowen is that he can't discuss policy because at the moment there is none for the ALP. Bowen wants to look stupid rather than break ranks with the ALP.
The ALP have another problem that is policy related. Too many ALP members are anti semitic bigots. They hate Israel and have no problem with Jew killing. So that Jews do not feel safe in states run by the ALP. The reason for the problem is that the ALP are courting jihadists. Not Islamic peoples, but jihadists bent on killing others. Offending ALP members speak in a code of 'anti zionism' or 'peace in the middle East,' but the result of their statements is death to Jewish peoples and promotion of jihadism. It is that disease which saw former NSW ALP Leader Robertson fall after surviving corruption allegations and even a failure to report an attempted bribery by an assassinated businessman, when Robertson discovered he had given a jihadist killer a reference. Bob Carr apparently split with Gillard over Israel and, so called, Palestine.
It is a problem for the ALP (and Greens) but it isn't limited to them. There is a culture of anti Semitism pre dating WW2, but flowering under Nazis. The political left are using words and just as with Galileo, these words hurt and scar. There are jihadists in the world who are recruiting the same way Communists did in the past. By poisoning the minds of the young. It is not normal to be a bigot. Being a bigot who hates Jews is not a small character flaw. Impotent Islamic leaders are defending jihadis just as left wing political ones are. Sometimes excusing the activity and sometimes supporting it. And so Danish Muslims mourn a jihadist terrorist and not the victims.
Global Warming or ABC propaganda? On the mostly cool evenings, it feels like propaganda. Yet it is propaganda which celebrities like Caton support. Caton opposes gas drilling, and he raises the issue of it by having a large gas BBQ.
Liberal party leakers are hurting the party, not helping Turnbull. The leaks are intolerable. Bishop and Turnbull must step aside.
Galileo knew what he was doing. Bill Shorten does not. And it is obvious. Shorten does not have a policy on any issue. If Shorten had a policy then he would pass items through the senate in line with that policy. Instead, Shorten, the ALP Leader, opposes everything. When Mr Abbott was in opposition, he passed the majority of bills which allowed the government of the day to function, opposing only bills that were not worthy. However Shorten is harming Australia by opposing needed legislation. And Shorten has lied when asked to say what his position is on things. He lies about what the government is attempting, and Shorten is given too much credit by journalists who refuse to challenge his lies. Shorten is not Galileo, but he is rude and abrasive. The result has been the mediocre politician that is former treasurer, Bowen, does not even look competent in interview. Bowen could not name the bottom tax threshold for individuals and missed other detail that is simply expected of a competent politician with that portfolio. But as bad as Bowen is, there is an obvious explanation for his inability, and it isn't his follow up lie the next day saying that he really knew but hadn't said. The problem for Bowen is that he can't discuss policy because at the moment there is none for the ALP. Bowen wants to look stupid rather than break ranks with the ALP.
The ALP have another problem that is policy related. Too many ALP members are anti semitic bigots. They hate Israel and have no problem with Jew killing. So that Jews do not feel safe in states run by the ALP. The reason for the problem is that the ALP are courting jihadists. Not Islamic peoples, but jihadists bent on killing others. Offending ALP members speak in a code of 'anti zionism' or 'peace in the middle East,' but the result of their statements is death to Jewish peoples and promotion of jihadism. It is that disease which saw former NSW ALP Leader Robertson fall after surviving corruption allegations and even a failure to report an attempted bribery by an assassinated businessman, when Robertson discovered he had given a jihadist killer a reference. Bob Carr apparently split with Gillard over Israel and, so called, Palestine.
It is a problem for the ALP (and Greens) but it isn't limited to them. There is a culture of anti Semitism pre dating WW2, but flowering under Nazis. The political left are using words and just as with Galileo, these words hurt and scar. There are jihadists in the world who are recruiting the same way Communists did in the past. By poisoning the minds of the young. It is not normal to be a bigot. Being a bigot who hates Jews is not a small character flaw. Impotent Islamic leaders are defending jihadis just as left wing political ones are. Sometimes excusing the activity and sometimes supporting it. And so Danish Muslims mourn a jihadist terrorist and not the victims.
Global Warming or ABC propaganda? On the mostly cool evenings, it feels like propaganda. Yet it is propaganda which celebrities like Caton support. Caton opposes gas drilling, and he raises the issue of it by having a large gas BBQ.
Liberal party leakers are hurting the party, not helping Turnbull. The leaks are intolerable. Bishop and Turnbull must step aside.
From 2014
The upcoming movie Noah is attracting criticism. It stars Russell Crowe and some critics are saying that his performance is too dark for a depiction of the end of the world. The producers are still road testing the endings before test audiences. Different Christian authorities are disputing aspects of the film. The text that the story is based on is bare, and leaves much to be imagined. For mine, the most objectionable aspect is the emphasis on climate change and overpopulation. Neither of which were biblical issues in the event. The wrong religion has been sourced. But Hollywood won't admit that, instead they have to claim that there wasn't enough singing and dancing. And another biblical text is seen being repeated, with Sodom and Gomorrah.
Today is an anniversary of a powerful act of God, in a legal sense. The NZ city of Christchurch, home to friends of mine, was humbled by an earthquake on this day in 2011. Three years on and she is rebuilding, but there is still pain. One friend of mine recounted how their parents had a collection of crystal glass figurines. An earlier earthquake had damaged much, but the figurines were ok. But on this day, in 2011, the figurines were no more. Landmarks over a hundred years old were taken. It is a reminder that nothing is owned by anyone forever. Do not build your homes on sand.
Some will argue about the existence of religious stories, including biblical accounts. Personally, I can think of few things more stupid than hoping to find Noah's Ark. I am a fundamentalist Christian, I believe in the word of God. But I respectfully point out the Bible is not a science textbook, but a text from many authors, inspired by God, writing of man's relationship with God. The Mosaic stories are not first hand accounts of events, but based on older stories illustrating how God revealed himself to his chosen people. The precise meaning of Noah's flood is not the archaeological event of a flood, but the salient point that God tired of people rejecting Him and took his anger out on creation .. and promised his faithful not to do so again. The correlation with Christchurch 2011 called an act of God is a legal definition for insurers, not a religious statement for her people. Which isn't to say God wasn't present. I believe he was. And although my friends lost their crystal glass, and have much to rebuild, they kept everything they will value for eternity.
Today is an anniversary of a powerful act of God, in a legal sense. The NZ city of Christchurch, home to friends of mine, was humbled by an earthquake on this day in 2011. Three years on and she is rebuilding, but there is still pain. One friend of mine recounted how their parents had a collection of crystal glass figurines. An earlier earthquake had damaged much, but the figurines were ok. But on this day, in 2011, the figurines were no more. Landmarks over a hundred years old were taken. It is a reminder that nothing is owned by anyone forever. Do not build your homes on sand.
Some will argue about the existence of religious stories, including biblical accounts. Personally, I can think of few things more stupid than hoping to find Noah's Ark. I am a fundamentalist Christian, I believe in the word of God. But I respectfully point out the Bible is not a science textbook, but a text from many authors, inspired by God, writing of man's relationship with God. The Mosaic stories are not first hand accounts of events, but based on older stories illustrating how God revealed himself to his chosen people. The precise meaning of Noah's flood is not the archaeological event of a flood, but the salient point that God tired of people rejecting Him and took his anger out on creation .. and promised his faithful not to do so again. The correlation with Christchurch 2011 called an act of God is a legal definition for insurers, not a religious statement for her people. Which isn't to say God wasn't present. I believe he was. And although my friends lost their crystal glass, and have much to rebuild, they kept everything they will value for eternity.
Historical perspective on this day
In 705, Empress Wu Zetian abdicated the throne, restoring the Tang Dynasty. 1316, Battle of Picotin between Ferdinand of Majorca and the forces of Matilda of Hainaut 1371, Robert IIbecomes King of Scotland, beginning the Stuart dynasty. 1495, King Charles VIII of Franceentered Naples to claim the city's throne. 1632, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems was published. 1651, St. Peter's Flood: A storm surge flooded the Frisian coast, drowning 15,000 people. 1744, War of the Austrian Succession: The Battle of Toulonbegan. 1797, the Last Invasion of Britain began near Fishguard, Wales.
In 1819, by the Adams–Onís Treaty, Spain sold Florida to the United States for five million U.S. dollars. 1821, Greek War of Independence: Alexander Ypsilantis crossed the Prut river at Sculeni into the Danubian Principalities. 1847, Mexican–American War: The Battle of Buena Vista – 5,000 American troops defeated 15,000 Mexicans. 1848, the French Revolution of 1848, which would lead to the establishment of the French Second Republic, began. 1853, Washington University in St. Louis was founded as Eliot Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. 1855, the Pennsylvania State University was founded in State College, Pennsylvania (as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania) 1856, the Republican Party opened its first national meeting in Pittsburgh.
In 1862, Jefferson Davis was officially inaugurated for a six-year term as the President of the Confederate States of America in Richmond, Virginia. He was previously inaugurated as a provisional president on February 18, 1861. 1872 the Prohibition Party held its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio, nominating James Black as its presidential nominee. 1879, in Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opened the first of many of 5 and dime Woolworth stores. 1889, United States President Grover Cleveland signed a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states. 1899, Filipino forces led by General Antonio Luna launched counterattacks for the first time against the American forces during the Philippine–American War. The Filipinos failed to regain Manila from the Americans.
In 1904, the United Kingdom sold a meteorological station on the South Orkney Islands to Argentina, the islands are subsequently claimed by the United Kingdom in 1908. 1909, the sixteen battleships of the Great White Fleet, led by USS Connecticut, returned to the United States after a voyage around the world. 1915, World War I: Germany instituted unrestricted submarine warfare. 1921, after Russian forces under Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternbergdrove the Chinese out, the Bogd Khan was reinstalled as the emperor of Mongolia. 1924, U.S. President Calvin Coolidge became the first President to deliver a radio broadcast from the White House.
In 1942, World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as the Japanese victory became inevitable. 1943, World War II: Members of the White Rose resistance, Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl, and Christoph Probst were executed in Nazi Germany. 1944, World War II: American aircraft mistakenly bombed the Dutch towns of Nijmegen, Arnhem, Enschede and Deventer, resulting in 800 dead in Nijmegen alone. Also 1944, World War II: The Soviet Red Army recaptured Krivoi Rog. 1948, Communist revolution in Czechoslovakia. 1957, Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam survived a communist shooting assassination attempt in Ban Me Thuot. 1958, Egypt and Syria joined to form the United Arab Republic. 1959, Lee Petty won the first Daytona 500.
In 1972, the Official Irish Republican Army detonated a car bomb at Aldershot barracks, killing seven and injuring nineteen others. 1973, Cold War: Following President Richard Nixon's visitto the People's Republic of China, the two countries agreed to establish liaison offices. 1974, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference summit began in Lahore, Pakistan. Thirty-seven countries attend and twenty-two heads of state and government participate. It also recognised Bangladesh. 1974, Samuel Byck tried and failed to assassinate U.S. President Richard Nixon. 1979, independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom. 1980, Miracle on Ice: In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey team defeated the Soviet Unionhockey team 4–3. 1983, the notorious Broadway flop Moose Murders opened and closed on the same night at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre. 1986, start of the People Power Revolution in the Philippines.
In 1994, Aldrich Ames and his wife were charged by the United States Department of Justicewith spying for the Soviet Union. 1995, the Corona reconnaissance satellite program, in existence from 1959 to 1972, was declassified. 1997, in Roslin, Scotland, scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly had been successfully cloned. 2002, Angolan political and rebel leader Jonas Savimbi was killed in a military ambush. 2006, at least six men staged Britain's biggest robbery, stealing £53m (about $92.5 million or €78 million) from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent. 2011, New Zealand's second deadliest earthquakestruck Christchurch, killing 185 people. Also 2011, Bahraini uprising: Tens of thousands of people marched in protest against the deaths of seven victims killed by police and army forces during previous protests. 2012, a train crash in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killed 51 people and injured 700 others. 2014, President Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine was impeached by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine by a vote of 328-0, fulfilling a major goal of the Euromaidan rebellion.
In 1819, by the Adams–Onís Treaty, Spain sold Florida to the United States for five million U.S. dollars. 1821, Greek War of Independence: Alexander Ypsilantis crossed the Prut river at Sculeni into the Danubian Principalities. 1847, Mexican–American War: The Battle of Buena Vista – 5,000 American troops defeated 15,000 Mexicans. 1848, the French Revolution of 1848, which would lead to the establishment of the French Second Republic, began. 1853, Washington University in St. Louis was founded as Eliot Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. 1855, the Pennsylvania State University was founded in State College, Pennsylvania (as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania) 1856, the Republican Party opened its first national meeting in Pittsburgh.
In 1862, Jefferson Davis was officially inaugurated for a six-year term as the President of the Confederate States of America in Richmond, Virginia. He was previously inaugurated as a provisional president on February 18, 1861. 1872 the Prohibition Party held its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio, nominating James Black as its presidential nominee. 1879, in Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opened the first of many of 5 and dime Woolworth stores. 1889, United States President Grover Cleveland signed a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states. 1899, Filipino forces led by General Antonio Luna launched counterattacks for the first time against the American forces during the Philippine–American War. The Filipinos failed to regain Manila from the Americans.
In 1904, the United Kingdom sold a meteorological station on the South Orkney Islands to Argentina, the islands are subsequently claimed by the United Kingdom in 1908. 1909, the sixteen battleships of the Great White Fleet, led by USS Connecticut, returned to the United States after a voyage around the world. 1915, World War I: Germany instituted unrestricted submarine warfare. 1921, after Russian forces under Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternbergdrove the Chinese out, the Bogd Khan was reinstalled as the emperor of Mongolia. 1924, U.S. President Calvin Coolidge became the first President to deliver a radio broadcast from the White House.
In 1942, World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as the Japanese victory became inevitable. 1943, World War II: Members of the White Rose resistance, Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl, and Christoph Probst were executed in Nazi Germany. 1944, World War II: American aircraft mistakenly bombed the Dutch towns of Nijmegen, Arnhem, Enschede and Deventer, resulting in 800 dead in Nijmegen alone. Also 1944, World War II: The Soviet Red Army recaptured Krivoi Rog. 1948, Communist revolution in Czechoslovakia. 1957, Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam survived a communist shooting assassination attempt in Ban Me Thuot. 1958, Egypt and Syria joined to form the United Arab Republic. 1959, Lee Petty won the first Daytona 500.
In 1972, the Official Irish Republican Army detonated a car bomb at Aldershot barracks, killing seven and injuring nineteen others. 1973, Cold War: Following President Richard Nixon's visitto the People's Republic of China, the two countries agreed to establish liaison offices. 1974, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference summit began in Lahore, Pakistan. Thirty-seven countries attend and twenty-two heads of state and government participate. It also recognised Bangladesh. 1974, Samuel Byck tried and failed to assassinate U.S. President Richard Nixon. 1979, independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom. 1980, Miracle on Ice: In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey team defeated the Soviet Unionhockey team 4–3. 1983, the notorious Broadway flop Moose Murders opened and closed on the same night at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre. 1986, start of the People Power Revolution in the Philippines.
In 1994, Aldrich Ames and his wife were charged by the United States Department of Justicewith spying for the Soviet Union. 1995, the Corona reconnaissance satellite program, in existence from 1959 to 1972, was declassified. 1997, in Roslin, Scotland, scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly had been successfully cloned. 2002, Angolan political and rebel leader Jonas Savimbi was killed in a military ambush. 2006, at least six men staged Britain's biggest robbery, stealing £53m (about $92.5 million or €78 million) from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent. 2011, New Zealand's second deadliest earthquakestruck Christchurch, killing 185 people. Also 2011, Bahraini uprising: Tens of thousands of people marched in protest against the deaths of seven victims killed by police and army forces during previous protests. 2012, a train crash in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killed 51 people and injured 700 others. 2014, President Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine was impeached by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine by a vote of 328-0, fulfilling a major goal of the Euromaidan rebellion.
=== Publishing News ===
This column welcomes feedback and criticism. The column is not made up but based on the days events and articles which are then placed in the feed. So they may not have an apparent cohesion they would have had were they made up.
===
I am publishing a book called Bread of Life: January.
Bread of Life is a daily bible quote with a layman's understanding of the meaning. I give one quote for each day, and also a series of personal stories illustrating key concepts eg Who is God? What is a miracle? Why is there tragedy?
January is the first of the anticipated year-long work of thirteen books. One for each month and the whole year. It costs to publish. It (Kindle version) should retail at about $2US online, but the paperback version would cost more, according to production cost.If you have a heart for giving, I fundraise at gofund.me/27tkwuc
Bread of Life is a daily bible quote with a layman's understanding of the meaning. I give one quote for each day, and also a series of personal stories illustrating key concepts eg Who is God? What is a miracle? Why is there tragedy?
January is the first of the anticipated year-long work of thirteen books. One for each month and the whole year. It costs to publish. It (Kindle version) should retail at about $2US online, but the paperback version would cost more, according to production cost.If you have a heart for giving, I fundraise at gofund.me/27tkwuc
===
Editorials will appear in the "History in a Year by the Conservative Voice" series, starting with August, September, October, or at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/1482020262/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_dVHPub0MQKDZ4 The kindle version is cheaper, but the soft back version allows a free kindle version.
List of available items at Create Space
The Amazon Author Page for David Ball
UK .. http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B01683ZOWGFrench .. http://www.amazon.fr/-/e/B01683ZOWG
Japan .. http://www.amazon.co.jp/-/e/B01683ZOWG
German .. http://www.amazon.de/-/e/B01683ZOWG
Happy birthday and many happy returns Irene Marija Podrebersek and Murielle Sassine. Born on the same day, across the years, along with
- 1300 BC – Ramesses II, Egyptian pharaoh (d. 1213 BC)
- 1040 – Rashi, French rabbi (d. 1105)
- 1645 – Johann Ambrosius Bach, German composer (d. 1695)
- 1645 – Johann Christoph Bach, German pianist (d. 1693)
- 1732 – George Washington, American general and politician, 1st President of the United States (d. 1799)
- 1788 – Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (d. 1860)
- 1810 – Frédéric Chopin, Polish pianist and composer (d. 1849)
- 1857 – Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, English general (d. 1941)
- 1857 – Heinrich Hertz, German physicist (d. 1894)
- 1886 – Hugo Ball, German author and poet (d. 1927)
- 1889 – Olave Baden-Powell, English founder of the Girl Guides (d. 1977)
- 1908 – John Mills, English actor (d. 2005)
- 1922 – Jesús Iglesias, Argentinian race car driver (d. 2005)
- 1949 – Niki Lauda, Austrian race car driver
- 1962 – Steve Irwin, Australian zoologist and television host (d. 2006)
- 1992 – Alexander Merkel, German footballer
February 22: Feast of Cathedra Petri (Catholicism)
- 1316 – The forces of the infante Ferdinand of Majorca fought against those loyal to Princess Matilda of Hainaut in the Battle of Picotin on the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece.
- 1876 – Swedish woman Karolina Olsson went to sleep and purportedly fell into a state of hibernation for the next 32 years.
- 1909 – The sixteen United States Navy battleships of the Great White Fleet, led by Connecticut (pictured), completed a circumnavigation of the globe.
- 1995 – The photos taken by the Corona spy satellite program were declassified under an executive order signed by U.S. President Bill Clinton.
- 2012 – A train failed to apply its brakes and crashed through a buffer stop at Once Station in Buenos Aires, resulting in 51 deaths and more than 700 injuries.
Tim Blair 2018
IT’S NOT WHAT IS SAID, IT’S WHO SAID IT
At this link you will find a straightforward definition of the lazy and inept argument form known as the “appeal to authority”.
BARNABY’S BATTLEGROUND
Writing a column about current political shenanigans in Canberra is a little like reporting from the Somme in 1916. The likelihood is that anything written will be completely overtaken by events, possibly within moments.
YEVGENIYS, MIKHAILS, SERGEYS, IRINAS AND VLADIMIRS
UPDATED The full, terrifying extent of Russian interference in the 2016 US election is now revealed. It emerges that Russians – wait for it – organised demonstrations.
Andrew Bolt 2018
YES BUT NO, BARNABY MUST GO. OR NOT
What changed? Nationals MP Andrew Broad in his local paper today on Barnaby Joyce: "You know what the feedback is? Just get on with the job. Just get on with the job... I think that's what people want us to do.”
MINISTERS PILE INTO ABBOTT FOR BLOWING WHISTLE ON IMMIGRATION
Four ministers piled into Tony Abbott for saying immigration must be cut. Checking their claims and you know this is about smashing Abbott, not fixing what's broken. My editorial from The Bolt Report.
THE ABC'S DEADLY CRUSADE AGAINST SAVING ABORIGINAL CHILDREN
As I wrote in my column today and said in my editorial last night, the ABC crusades against removing Aboriginal children - and without explaining the children are actually removed from danger. Result: Aboriginal children are left in dangers from which we'd rescue them if they were white. Here is just one more ABC report of the kind I think lethal.
TODDLER RAPE: IT'S NOT JUST GOVERNMENT THAT'S FAILED
There's a lot of this, following the alleged rape of a two-year-old: "A traditional owner of Tennant Creek said local police and government agencies had failed the community for years." We need more of this: "One local ... tore into the crowd as they waited for the police and politicians to arrive. 'Have a good hard look at yourselves.'"
A MINER IN QUEENSLAND, A MOANER IN BATMAN
Bill Shorten speaking in Rockhampton, yesterday: "I’ve spent my life representing miners. I understand the importance of mining." Ged Kearney, Bill Shorten’s candidate in green-obsessed Batman, yesterday: "I understand we need to transition away from coal as a source of electricity."
IMMIGRATION: MINISTERS SMASH ABBOTT, BETRAY PUBLIC
COLUMN You'd think the Turnbull Government would love a chance to talk about something other than Barnaby Joyce and leadership division. But, no. See, it’s Tony Abbott who said immigration must be halved. So government ministers blast and mock him. But why can't the public get a debate? UPDATE: Latest stats: we're growing faster than any like nation. Why?
NO ANSWERS FROM BARNABY
The Acting Prime Minister can't get the Deputy Prime Minister to come to the phone: "Barnaby Joyce has not returned a phone call to Cabinet colleague Mathias Cormann, but he did dial a journalist to let it be known he will not resign." UPDATE: Joyce on whether Turnbull knew of his affair: "He never asked any direct questions." Any indirect ones?
STOP THIS LIE THAT WE'RE TAKING TOO MANY ABORIGINAL CHILDREN
COLUMN An Aboriginal girl — this time only two years old — has been rushed to hospital after allegedly being raped. The ABC and activists must now end this evil crusade against removing Aboriginal children from dangerous homes. Here is the "stolen generations" myth at work, and it's killing black children.
WEATHERILL GETS MORE WINDY
Jay Weatherill, premier of the Blackout State, now says South Australia will get a 75 per cent renewable energy target. Rowan Dean can't believe it. From The Bolt Report.
Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen suffers huge deficit in credibility
Piers Akerman – Sunday, February 22, 2015 (12:47am)
Australians have tragically short memories.
Whenever a senior Opposition spokesman appears, they should remember that they are watching a member of a failed and disgraced government lacking all credibility.
Opposition Treasury spokesman Chris Bowen’s embarrassing performance last week delivered a sharp reminder of how dismal Labor was in office, particularly in regard to economic affairs.
A former treasurer, a former assistant treasurer, he could not tell veteran 2GB broadcaster Alan Jones the level of the tax-free threshold during an interview with former Labor kneecapper Graham Richardson on Sky TV.
What was worse though, and largely ignored by the Labor-friendly media, was the fact that just last weekend he described the nation’s debt and deficit problems as “just rhetoric”.
There is simply not a worthwhile economist who would agree with him.
Australia is on a trajectory to a crippling debt burden that will crush the dreams of future generations and it is largely due to unfunded promises locked in by the catastrophically dysfunctional Labor governments of which Bowen was a member.
Instead of admitting he didn’t know the answer to Jones’ question Bowen waffled through a series of agonising segues into nonsensical cul-de-sacs of illogic.
He had been asked the simplest of questions by Jones: “Firstly, if you’re then going to change the tax structures, you might prove that you’re a treasurer of real merit and detail, can you outline to everyone out there what are the various tax levels at what point we pay so much in tax if you’re an income earner. So, for example, at what point do we pay nothing for tax? No tax at all?”
Bowen made at least eight attempts to duck the question and sounded like an idiot.
As Richardson, who tried to run interference for his hapless ALP colleague even as Bowen floundered through the interview, wrote on Friday in The Australian his father’s advice was always “when you stuff up, get out and get out quick”.
Someone should have given Bowen the same tip.
Little wonder that the other former failed Labor treasurer still in parliament, Wayne Swan, has largely learnt to keep his flapping gums still when economic matters are discussed.
Swan promised to deliver a surplus no less than 500 times during his time in the Treasury portfolio and actually delivered five straight deficits.
In his first Budget speech in 2008, he claimed Labor was on target to deliver the “largest budget surplus as a share of GDP in nearly a decade”.
Unfortunately, instead of the promised $21.7b surplus, he delivered a deficit of $27b.
The following year, he again promised to bring the budget back into surplus and pay down debt in the middle term. He actually managed to more than double his earlier deficit and run it up to $55b.
Like Bowen now, Swan didn’t know when to stop. He promised surpluses and delivered deficits.
Swan’s credibility rating is zero. But Bowen, his replacement in 2013, has proved to be just as hopeless and has not learnt anything in Opposition.
In one of his first letters to Treasurer Joe Hockey in November 2013, he confused the net debt with the gross debt, demonstrating that he has as much knowledge of finance as he has of tax rates.
Then he tried to verbal Hockey by alleging that Hockey had “falsely” claimed former PMs chaired the Expenditure Review Committee even though he (Bowen) had actually attended ERC meetings in 2008 when he was assistant treasurer and one of his own prime ministers, Kevin Rudd, chaired the committee.
Bowen then claimed Hockey had used leaked Cabinet documents to make his argument, but that too was utter humbug as information freely available on the public record shows that former Labor PM Bob Hawke also chaired the ERC (for all but one year of his time as PM) as did John Howard in 1996.
Of course, both those prime ministers had a greater understanding of economics and the budget than Bowen or the two Labor prime ministers he served, Rudd and Julia Gillard.
Yet Bowen, who also famously and falsely claimed that Australia was in surplus during 2010, the year when the biggest deficit in modern Australian history was recorded, is warmly welcomed unquestioningly onto the ABC’s flagship programs and treated as if he actually has some credibility.
Whenever he appears in public or in the media, his presence should be accompanied by a large notice reminding the young and those with indifferent memories that as the minister for Fuelwatch he presided over a $20 million program that did nothing to reduce the effect of rising fuel prices on consumers. It should also mention that he blew millions on GroceryChoice, only to dump it before it was fully set up.
And that as immigration minister, he was responsible for $5.2bn — or around 45 per cent — of Labor’s total $11.6bn Border Protection blowout as 24,886 people on 395 boats arrived on his watch.
To paraphrase George Santayana, voters who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.
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Is the world really warming, or did you just trust the ABC?
Andrew Bolt February 22 2015 (3:36pm)
SCARE ONE:
Cameron Goodison compares a typical ABC global warming scare with the easy-to-check truth:
SCARE TWO:
Let’s try the same exercise with this scare, again breathlessly reported:
(Via Watts Up With That.)
Cameron Goodison compares a typical ABC global warming scare with the easy-to-check truth:
Recently the Australian Goyder Institute released a report detailing the effects of climate change on rainfall in South Australia. The result:So Goodison checks the most obvious and easiest check of all - the actual rainfall records so far:‘Climate change will halve inflow to SA’s biggest reservoir.’To make such a alarming statement one would think the ABC has done its research. They must have first done a quick Google search of the average annual rainfall for the region to see if there is any sort of noticeable downward trend that would give such a statement some degree of credibility.- The ABC
And then Goodison has some fun, explaining just how the ABC would have satisfied itself that this scare, too, was fit to report.
SCARE TWO:
Let’s try the same exercise with this scare, again breathlessly reported:
Climate change is impacting our environment in unprecedented ways. Now, though, scientists have found that in the coming decades, at least one-quarter of the world’s wheat production will be lost to extreme weather from climate change if no adaptive measures are taken.Actually, this scare - that global warming to cut food crops - has been peddled for at least 15 years already, But the simplest of checks suggest that this, scare, too seems in defiance of the real world data so far, as Jo Nova demonstrates:
(Via Watts Up With That.)
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The Bolt Report today, February 22
Andrew Bolt February 22 2015 (1:00pm)
On the The Bolt Report on Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm.
Guests: Jeremy Jones, Bruce Hawker, Michael Kroger and Miranda Devine.
Is Bill Shorten ready? Could you vote for the kind of Liberals now peddling despicable smears against Tony Abbott? A lesson on dealing with ABC journalists who are in your face. And Jews now fleeing Europe.
The videos of the shows appear here.
UPDATE
Oops. Sorry. Forgot to put this up.
Guests: Jeremy Jones, Bruce Hawker, Michael Kroger and Miranda Devine.
Is Bill Shorten ready? Could you vote for the kind of Liberals now peddling despicable smears against Tony Abbott? A lesson on dealing with ABC journalists who are in your face. And Jews now fleeing Europe.
The videos of the shows appear here.
UPDATE
Oops. Sorry. Forgot to put this up.
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Hundreds of Danish Muslims mourn Islamist killer
Andrew Bolt February 22 2015 (5:54am)
An Islamist in Copenhagen kills one man at a free-speech rally and then murders a Jew at a synagogue.
Police shoot him dead, and his funeral is attended by 500 mourners:
(Thanks to reader Harald.)
Police shoot him dead, and his funeral is attended by 500 mourners:
This cannot end well for Europe.
(Thanks to reader Harald.)
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Caton’s barbecue
Andrew Bolt February 22 2015 (5:49am)
Michael Caton fronts a campaign against coal and gas mining, along with the “Knitting Nanas against Gas” group (true!).
He then promises to hold a barbie for supporters. Guess what fuels the flames:
He then promises to hold a barbie for supporters. Guess what fuels the flames:
(Thanks to Eagle Dan)
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Any Liberal party led by such leakers is not worth supporting
Andrew Bolt February 22 2015 (5:39am)
So the Prime Minister tried to keep an election promise. This is now leaked against him with an extra twist by enemies with no shame or honor:
This is far beyond legitimate criticism or an expectation that Abbott will fail. This is vicious sabotage.
I wouldn’t think a Liberal party run by their kind is worth supporting.
A SECRET plan to kick millionaires off the aged pension was shelved by the Abbott Government’s budget razor gang in favour of slashing the indexation of payments for every pensioner in Australia.The leakers clearly want another candidate - almost certainly Malcolm Turnbull - to replace Abbott. These are people prepared to betray, smear, deceive and exaggerate to get their way, if the recent leaks about Abbott allegedly costing the lives of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran and wanting to invade Iraq are any guide.
The Sunday Telegraph can reveal that cabinet’s budget razor gang was asked to consider reforms to slash pension payments to wealthy seniors last year by changing the taper rate.
In another stunning leak from the nation’s most powerful cabinet committee, senior ministers have confirmed they agonised that the Prime Minister would be accused of kicking seniors off the pension and breaking a clear election promise not to cut pensions.
Instead, Treasury proposed a change to the indexation arrangements for all pensioners _ meaning the rate of increase would effectively be slowed _ from 2017.
“They got political, and said we won’t break the promise if we don’t do this until 2017,’’ a Liberal source said.
This is far beyond legitimate criticism or an expectation that Abbott will fail. This is vicious sabotage.
I wouldn’t think a Liberal party run by their kind is worth supporting.
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Islamism is the new communism
Andrew Bolt February 22 2015 (5:29am)
Totalitarianism appeals particularly to the young. Islamism in that sense is much like Nazism and communism, attracting the well-educated as well as the welfare-takers.
In Britain:
In Britain:
Police are appealing for help to find three schoolgirls who have gone missing and are thought to have travelled to Turkey with the intention of crossing the border into Syria…In Australia:
Police fear the girls, all pupils at the Bethnal Green Academy, in east London, might be heading to join terror group Isil - Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as Islamic State…
Commander Richard Walton, of Scotland Yard’s counter terrorism unit, described the girls as “straight A students” and “normal girls”.
A Perth university student has left Australia to join the Islamic State terrorist group, becoming the first known recruit for the militants from Western Australia.Then there’s the usual cannon fodder and misfits:
Muhammed Sheglabo migrated from Libya in 2010 and had been studying economics at Murdoch University.
A federal investigation into the welfare status of Australian foreign fighters, prompted last year by revelations in The Telegraph, shows 96 per cent had been on welfare benefits when they fled to the Middle East.
Most had continued to collect payments from Australian taxpayers while training with Islamic State to become terrorists intent on wanting to kill Australians.
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Just another $999,999,990 to go
Andrew Bolt February 22 2015 (5:18am)
I’ll believe these activists mean it when they’ve returned not this handful of coins but the full $1 billion:
Abbott’s comments, that Australia gave $1 billion in aid to Indonesia following the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami have angered many in [Aceh] province who say that humanitarian aid and law are different things.It’s also helpful to know that Aceh doesn’t actually need Australian aid any more. Could save us plenty.
Anger is growing amid the suggestions that the aid money can now be used as a bargaining chip in trying to save the lives of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. Acehnese have begun posting photographs of coins, with the words coins for Australia next to them and one tweet shows a group of Acehnese all putting money into a cardboard box, saying “Aceh people happily try to return your money @TonyAbbottMHR”.
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Time the Left realised their words are now bullets
Andrew Bolt February 21 2015 (6:10pm)
A particularly fine Media Watch Dog blog from Gerard Henderson this week. In it, he gives two examples of the dangerous irresponsibility of the Left in this post-Hebdo world.
The first involves ABC presenter Fran Kelly’s decision to give a platform to Uthman Badar, representative of the pro-jihadist extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, which preaches hatred of Jews, democracy and Australia and refuses to condemn the Islamic State. Here is a sample of Hizb ut Tahrir’s preaching in Sydney:
Whatever, this pandering and permitting of an extremist to proselytise on the national broadcaster is not just stupid but potentially lethal.
Likewise with tweets like this - dangerous in ways Burnside should know, if he set aside for a moment his ideological blinkers:
More good reading from Henderson here, and I recommend you bookmark his site.
The first involves ABC presenter Fran Kelly’s decision to give a platform to Uthman Badar, representative of the pro-jihadist extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, which preaches hatred of Jews, democracy and Australia and refuses to condemn the Islamic State. Here is a sample of Hizb ut Tahrir’s preaching in Sydney:
To supposedly balance Badar, Kelly invited Greg Barton from Monash University. What followed was another PR triumph - for Hizb ut-Tahrir:
Discussion focused on the Prime Minister’s statement on national security scheduled for next Monday – and, in particular, on what approach Tony Abbott might take to the radical Sunni Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir.I wonder whether Kelly suffers from the “nice” racism - that fear of saying a deservedly cross word to even the most unpleasant Muslim, in this case, for fear of seeming racist. Or maybe, like too many of the Left, she shares too many of an Islamists critiques of Western democracy to pick enough bones in Hizb ut-Tahrir’s carcase.
Uthman Badar dominated the discussion by weight of political force. Professor Barton appeared to go under-the-bed and had little of substance to say. Fran Kelly made a few tentative points critical of Hizb ut-Tahrir – with the emphasis on tentative.
Neither Kelly nor Barton objected when Hizb ut-Tahrir’s man in Australia equated Muslim Australians fighting with the so-called Islamic State (with which Australia is at war) with a Jewish Australian serving time in the Israeli Defence Force in defence of a democratic state (which has good relations with Australia).
Neither Kelly nor Barton mentioned Uthman Badar’s past rationalisation of so-called honour killings where Muslim women are killed by other Muslims. Moreover, when Badar complained about Muslims being killed in the Middle East and North Africa, neither Kelly nor Barton mentioned that the overwhelming majority of Muslim dead are victims of the Shia-Sunni religious war within Islam.
Fran Kelly did mention ISIS’s campaign against the Assad regime in Syria. But she did not mention that Assad was aligned with the Shia. During all this, the learned professor was “out-to-lunch”. Despite the fact that it was only breakfast time. If RN Breakfast is going to invite Uthman Badar into its studio, it should insist that he should do battle with someone who has the ability and courage to contest his radical views. Michael Danby, the Labor MP for Melbourne Ports, could have engaged Badar in a debate this morning. Barton was too timid and Kelly seems to reserve her on-air aggression for Coalition cabinet ministers like Scott Morrison (last Tuesday’s Kelly/Morrison interview refers).
Whatever, this pandering and permitting of an extremist to proselytise on the national broadcaster is not just stupid but potentially lethal.
Likewise with tweets like this - dangerous in ways Burnside should know, if he set aside for a moment his ideological blinkers:
Sorry to see Andrew Bolt stirring up Islamophobia today on his blog. People like Bolt and Abbott are the real threat to our way of life.Henderson is equally astonished:
How about that? According to J.B. A.O. QC, the likes of Andrew Bolt and Tony Abbott “are the real threat to our way of life”. Not the Aussie Sunni lads who have headed from Down Under to places in Syria and Iraq to behead Shia Muslims. Not the Shia then Sunni Man Haron Monis who engaged in kidnap and murder on Phillip Street in Sydney. Not the likes of Melbourne based one-time welfare recipient Abdul Nacer Benbrika who conspired to launch terrorist attacks on public targets. And not Numan Haider who attempted to murder two police officers in suburban Melbourne.I recommend readers note well what Isi Leibler told me this week about the dangerous cover that the Left now gives the Islamists.
Not any one of them. According to Julian Burnside AO QC, “the real threat” to Australia’s way of life comes from the Prime Minister and a News Corp columnist.
More good reading from Henderson here, and I recommend you bookmark his site.
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Post by Timothy Ly.
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Post by Larry Pickering.
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I hope Jane Hutcheon isn’t made to pay for not flying at my throat
Andrew Bolt February 22 2014 (12:24pm)
I am astonished and grateful that the ABC just let me speak yesterday without ringing a leper’s bell over my head, peppering me with attempted gotchas, running abusive Twitter graffiti over the screen or inserting repeated reminders to viewers of my manifest evil and unfitness for polite company - the kind of thing I got earlier in the week from ABC 774..
I now worry for Jane Hutcheon, host of One Plus One, who is coming under some criticism for letting me on her show. I suspect she will get even more for not trying to nail me to the floor and flay me, preferring instead to let me try to explain what I believe and why, for better or worse.
UPDATE
Thanks for all who wrote in today (even the couple with criticisms). Bowled over by your kindness.
I now worry for Jane Hutcheon, host of One Plus One, who is coming under some criticism for letting me on her show. I suspect she will get even more for not trying to nail me to the floor and flay me, preferring instead to let me try to explain what I believe and why, for better or worse.
The full interview can be seen here. I’d thank Jane personally for treating me like a normal guest, but I worry she’d then fret over whether she’d been too soft.
UPDATE
Thanks for all who wrote in today (even the couple with criticisms). Bowled over by your kindness.
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Why did a Labor Government protect Craig Thomson? A question for the royal commission
Andrew Bolt February 22 2014 (12:15pm)
Jacqueline Maley is perfectly correct on an issue I believe the royal commission must investigate:
Labor had literally years to deal with the problem [of Craig Thomson]. Allegations had been swirling [about his corruption] for a long time even before Fairfax’s reporting. Fair Work Australia started its own investigation in 2010.Reader Peter of Bellevue Hill:
Any party official who had done due diligence would have detected the stench that surrounded Thomson, and yet he was preselected twice - once in 2007 and again in 2010. The only conclusion voters, and Labor Party members (who ultimately ended up paying [nearly $350,000 in legal expenses] for Thomson’s expensive legal frolic) can reach is that Labor knew, but it didn’t care.
AB, in light of the phone call industrial registrar Doug Williams says he received from Gillard’s chief of staff in 2009, it would be fair to say Labor knew and certainly did ‘care’ - just in a different sense to the way most fair-minded people would care.
And while Maley is correct in saying FWA didn’t start its investigation until 2010, it would be fairer to say it should have finished it in 2010, after Doug Williams’ work on the matter a year earlier.
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Steyn bites Mann
Andrew Bolt February 22 2014 (12:04pm)
Wonderful. Mark Steyn is countersuing Michael “Hockey Stick” Mann for suing him over some of the mockery Mann so richly deserves:
(Thanks to reader ev425128.)
As a result of Plaintiff’s campaign to silence those who disagree with him on a highly controversial issue of great public importance, wrongful action and violation of the Anti-SLAPP Act, Steyn has been damaged and is entitled to damages, including but not limited to his costs and the attorneys’ fees he has incurred and will incur in the future in defending this action, all in an amount to be determined at trial, but in any event, not less than $5 million, plus punitive damages in the amount of $5 million.Steyn’s new book - Lights Out: Islam, Free Speech And The Twilight Of The West - is available here.
(Thanks to reader ev425128.)
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The Left’s all-in brawl for personal advantage … and a nice mirror
Andrew Bolt February 22 2014 (11:51am)
Socialist Julie Burchill has had enough of the new tribalism of the Left - the “intersectionality” of different interest groups struggling for advantage:
It’s easy for me to sentimentalise those days when the trade unions held sway, chiming as they did with the calf country of my communism, but whatever their beery and sandwichy limits, they were far better than what replaced them; the politics of diversity. While working-class left-wing political activism was always about fighting the powerful, treating people how you would wish to be treated and believing that we’re all basically the same, modern, non-working-class left-wing politics is about… other stuff. Class guilt, sexual kinks, personal prejudice and repressed lust for power…(Thanks to reader the Old and Unimproved Dave.)
[Mine] was an instinctive desire to defend the socialism of my dead father. Because intersectionality is actually the opposite of socialism! Intersectionality believes that there is ‘no such thing as society’ — just various special interests. In my opinion, we only become truly brave, truly above self-interest, when fighting for people different from ourselves. My hero as a kid was Jack Ashley — a deaf MP who became the champion of rape victims. These days, the likes of those who went after Suzanne would probably dismiss him as a self-loathing cis-ableist. Intersectionality, like identity politics before it, is pure narcissism.
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Does the Abbott Government really want its own cabinet documents exploited by a Shorten Government?
Andrew Bolt February 22 2014 (11:42am)
Wrong way, go back:
It could also have a dangerously chilling effect on cabinet deliberations in future.
The Abbott government will make cabinet documents from the former government available to the royal commission into the abandoned home insulation scheme in an unprecedented move that could provoke a legal challenge.This royal commission already looks far too much like victors’ justice. Breaching a tradition of cabinet confidentiality will further that impression, and make the reality of it more likely in future.
Attorney-General George Brandis outlined the plan to make cabinet documents available in a letter to his predecessor, Mark Dreyfus, who says it turns 113 years of established practice on its head.. Lawyers representing former prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard and several former cabinet ministers who have been summoned to appear before the commission are believed to be considering legal action, which would see the courts decide if cabinet confidentiality should be waived in the public interest.
It could also have a dangerously chilling effect on cabinet deliberations in future.
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Labor lies to claim credit for stopping the boats
Andrew Bolt February 22 2014 (11:26am)
Labor immigration spokesman Richard Marles says Labor deserves the credit for the boats stopping:
(Thanks to reader Peter.)
RICHARD MARLES: ... The policy difference which has had the effect is the PNG arrangement which Labor put in place and the best thing that this Government is doing is continuing on prosecuting the PNG arrangement.Richard Marles last year said Labor wouldn’t turn back the boats as the Abbott Government promised:
Indonesia has been consistent all along in saying they didn’t want to see boats turned back, which was why we always felt that Tony Abbott going to the election this year with a policy of turning the boats back was simply pie in the sky. It was never going to happen as an ongoing policy because Indonesia didn’t want it… It is impossible for Australia to dictate terms to Indonesia on this. They are our neighbours.Inescapable conclusion? That Labor would never have been able to stop the boats as the Abbott Government has:
NAVAL and Customs patrol vessels have turned or towed at least three asylum-seeker vessels back towards Indonesia in the past fortnight....Labor needs to be called out on its farcical suggestion it would have succeeded as the Abbott Government now has.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said yesterday no asylum-seeker boats had made it to Australia for 64 days.... Mr Morrison said in the corresponding 64-day period in 2012-13, 1847 people arrived on 32 boats.
(Thanks to reader Peter.)
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Our health crisis is as simple as 3, 10, 15
Andrew Bolt February 22 2014 (11:23am)
Reader Andrew of Randwick on the only figures we need to know in this debate on our massive health spending:
The question is not about the $6 contribution.The question should be about the numbers: 3, 10 and 15.
The question is not about the $6 contribution.The question should be about the numbers: 3, 10 and 15.
- GDP and thus taxes are growing at 3%Those three numbers are the question. Unless we change, the whole government budget will be taken over by health spending.
- Overall health costs are growing at 10%
- Sub-set diagnostics costs are growing at 15% (because they are now there and legal warfare)
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A decade on, and McGuinness was right to warn of Mark Scott
Andrew Bolt February 22 2014 (11:14am)
Media Watch Dog pays tribute to the acuteness of the late P.P. McGuinness, who in 2006 wrote this warning that the appointment of Mark Scott as managing director of the ABC promised no change to the over-mighty state broadcaster’s Leftist bias:
Scott is ... a guarantee of one thing. While he is at the helm, the ABC will not change its editorial culture…(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
Scott will not be idle. He is an able exponent of management change and of organisational change. The already quite extensive activity of the ABC in the rapid technical development of broadcasting and of related areas will continue. No doubt he will, as a believer in organisational growth, support the imperialistic drive that has taken the ABC into areas far beyond its original brief and often beyond the limits of its legislative charter…
So the ABC remains in safe hands. There is no revolutionary, no ideologue, no hot-eyed burning reformer to disturb its ageing and placid dissemination of the small-l liberal platitudes of the past 30 years.
The feminists, the gay-rights advocates, the ecumenical searches for the meaning of life, the anti-Catholics, the advocates of Papuan independence, the supporters of Fidel Castro and similar Third World dictators and murderers, the America haters can rest secure. So can the Howard haters, long protected by McDonald at the ABC. After all, Scott has protected for years that rabid, elderly hater of Howard, Alan Ramsey at the SMH, as he declines in perpetual hymns of Keatingesque hate (only the other day he called Howard a toad). He has allowed The Age to dispose of any semblance of balance, not even pretending to occasional balance on the opinion page (but, like the SMH, never in the news or letters pages).
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If global warming were really serious there’d be no need for these lies
Andrew Bolt February 22 2014 (9:13am)
Professor Bjorn Lomborg agrees man is heating the planet - but he’s still astonished that so many UN and OECD officials tell untruths about global warming:
Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan takes the prize for the most extreme rhetoric, claiming not curbing global warming is “a terrible gamble with the future of the planet and with life itself"…
Both Annan and [Angel Gurria, secretary-general of the OECD last month] cited Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines last November as evidence of increased climate-change-related damage.
Never mind that the latest report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found “current datasets indicate no significant observed trends in global tropical cyclone frequency over the past century” and reported “low confidence” that any changes in hurricanes in recent (or future) decades had anything to do with global warming…
Similarly, Gurria tells us that Hurricane Sandy, which slammed into New York City in 2012, is an example of inaction on climate change, costing the US “the equivalent of 0.5 per cent of its GDP” each year.
In fact, the US currently is experiencing the longest absence of intense landfall hurricanes since records began in 1900, while the adjusted damage cost for the US during this period, including Hurricane Sandy, has fallen slightly.
[United Nations climate chief, Christiana] Figueres claims “that current annual losses worldwide due to extreme weather and disasters could be a staggering 12 per cent of annual global GDP”.
But the study she cites shows only a possible loss of 1 per cent to 12 per cent of gross domestic product in the future, and this is estimated not globally but within just eight carefully selected, climate-vulnerable regions or cities…
Figueres sees “momentum growing towards” climate policies as countries such as China “reduce coal use”. In the real world, China accounts for almost 60 per cent of the global increase in coal consumption from 2012 to 2014, according to the International Energy Agency… Figueres’s weak grasp on the facts has led her not only to conclude China is “doing it right” on climate change, but also to speculate that China has succeeded because its “political system avoids some of the legislative hurdles seen in countries including the US”. In other words, the UN’s top climate official seems to be suggesting an authoritarian political system is better for the planet.
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ABC lacks the balance of Fox News
Andrew Bolt February 22 2014 (9:06am)
Gerard Henderson, who will be my first guest on the new NewsWatch segment of the Bolt Report from Sunday week, makes a comparison:
THE ABC declines to acknowledge the point. But a greater plurality of views can be heard on Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News channel in the US than on the taxpayer-funded broadcaster in Australia. The ABC does not have one conservative presenter or producer or editor for any of its prominent television or radio or online outlets…Memo to self: invite ABC boss on as a guest for NewsWatch.
The difference between the ABC and Fox News is perhaps most marked in their coverage of the media.
Since the ABC1 Media Watch program began in 1989, it has had a succession of leftist or left-of-centre presenters who use the public broadcaster as a pulpit from which they lay down the law on journalistic standards: namely, Stuart Littlemore, Richard Ackland, Paul Barry, David Marr, Liz Jackson, Monica Attard, Jonathan Holmes and Barry (again).
Littlemore ... boasted in his book The Media and Me (ABC, 1996) how, as a journalist on This Day Tonight (the predecessor of 7.30), he had used the public broadcaster to campaign against “conservative values” in general and the Coalition in particular. Marr, when presenter of Media Watch, declared that “the natural culture of journalism” is “soft leftie” and anyone who did not fit into this category should “find another job” ...
Fox News’s coverage of journalism involves a debate with experienced commentators expressing varying positions. Last weekend MediaBuzz focused on the media’s coverage of Hillary Clinton. Presenter Howard Kurtz presided over a debate between the left-of-centre Michelle Cottle and the right-of-centre Amy Holmes, with panellist Lauren Ashburn taking a neutral position. Kurtz facilitated the discussion, while refraining from preaching.
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Can one in 18 Australians really be too sick to ever work?
Andrew Bolt February 22 2014 (8:50am)
Australia has just over 15 million people of working age. I find it impossible to believe that832,000 of them - or one in every 18 - are too sick to ever do a stroke of work when this is a rich country with an excellent health system:
NEW surge in the number of disability pensioners to record levels will spark an Abbott government push for a radical welfare restructure that diverts people with mental illnesses from becoming permanent DSP recipients.
The latest figures show there were 832,024 DSP recipients in December, a rise of more than 10,000 since June last year and eclipsing the previous record of 831,908 in December 2011.
The number of DSP recipients with a mental illness has increased by about 90,000 over the past 10 years, to 256,380…
Confronted with widespread calls for the government to lift the general unemployment payment by $50 a week, Mr Andrews said he conceded there were vast differences between the payment rates of Newstart Allowance and the DSP but said the government was not in a position to raise the dole payment because of the fiscal position. “It is a perverse incentive for people to get on the DSP because the payment is higher,” Mr Andrews said.
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Shorten’s problem: he’s insincere and can’t fake sincerity
Andrew Bolt February 22 2014 (7:46am)
Bill Shorten’s problem has long been that he can’t fake sincerity. That problem becomes crippling when his policies aren’t sincere, either.
Dennis Shanahan:
Shorten record is shocking, exposing him as a mere opportunist. What makes that charge so deadly is that opportunistic and insincere is exactly the reputation he must shrug, having first knifed Kevin Rudd to install Julia Gillard, and then, after swearing loyalty to Gillard, knifing Gillard to install Rudd.
Dennis Shanahan:
Labor’s response under Bill Shorten as Opposition Leader has been to oppose a royal commission into union corruption, adopt the ACTU’s feeble line of suggesting it’s just a “few bad apples”, accuse the Abbott government of wanting to “cut to the bone” and to blame the Coalition for the failure of Holden, Toyota and Alcoa, accusing the Prime Minister of not caring for workers or fighting for jobs.It’s actually even worse. Shorten is defending the unpopular carbon tax his party before the election actually promised to scrap. He’s opposing $5 billion in spending cuts his party before the election actually promised to pass. He’s attacking the Government for a 6 per cent unemployment rate that Labor in government itself predicted. He’s denouncing union corruption while fighting a royal commission to root it out. He’s blaming the government for car makers closing when the first two big ones to fall fell under Labor. He’s giving Labor policies the credit for the Government stopping the boats these past nine weeks when Labor never managed to achieve that feat itself in its last five years in government. He attacked the Government for not giving SPC Ardmona a $25 million subsidy when the company has since admitted it could survive without it.
It is also Labor’s strategy to continue to support the carbon tax and, with the Greens, prevent its repeal, along with the mining tax, in the Senate despite a resounding loss at the election last year…
Shorten’s political line on jobs is that “one job has been lost every three minutes under the Abbott government”, that Joe Hockey “goaded” Holden into leaving Australia and that there should have been federal government assistance for Holden and the SPC Ardmona cannery in Victoria. This line is failing the “pub test”. It goes against common sense and voters demonstrably don’t believe it or support the intentions.
Shorten record is shocking, exposing him as a mere opportunist. What makes that charge so deadly is that opportunistic and insincere is exactly the reputation he must shrug, having first knifed Kevin Rudd to install Julia Gillard, and then, after swearing loyalty to Gillard, knifing Gillard to install Rudd.
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Will warmists keep quoting Rupert Murdoch, their guru?
Andrew Bolt February 22 2014 (12:10am)
Somehow I doubt warmists will keep quoting Rupert Murdoch at me, and will try to forget they ever did. But let’s remind them…
In 2006 the Sydney Morning Herald gleefully announced a convert to its cause:
In 2006 the Sydney Morning Herald gleefully announced a convert to its cause:
Rupert Murdoch, powerfully converted to the climate change cause, says that business and government need to confront it and that the Kyoto Protocol should be rewritten…The Left ever since have demanded Murdoch journalists and other sceptics fall into line with the warmists’ new hero:
The conversion of Mr Murdoch, whose media empire includes The Times, The Australian, The New York Post and Fox News, and who is a not infrequent guest of prime ministers and presidents, is a radical shift from his previous scepticism.Even though he was still not entirely certain about it, “the planet deserves the benefit of the doubt”, he said.
Entrepreneur Dick Smith, at the launch of his book on population policy, declared this week that Murdoch’s Australian newspapers were defying their boss’s global warming stand ("give the planet the benefit of the doubt") and needed bringing to heel. Murdoch, in short, had to tell us what to write.ABC hosts cited Murdoch as their new authority to cow even politicians into silence:
“Rupert, I ask you to come back to Australia,” Smith cried. “Come back and take the reins, your editors are losing the plot and need to be reminded that you accept we must transform the way we use energy and that we need to act now.”
The ABC’s Jon Faine this morning gave [sceptic] Senator Steve Fielding a taste of the treatment he must expect from the ABC’s global warming faithful.... He asked whether Fielding’s “religious approach” was interfering with his thinking.Even professional alarmist Tim Flannery cited Murdoch as his muse:
He demanded to know why Fielding did not agree with Rupert Murdoch and give the planet “the benefit of the doubt”. (Mudoch, incidentally, is the one authority Faine cited.)
To quote Rupert Murdoch, ‘You’ve got to give the planet the benefit of the doubt’...I’m afraid even John Howard was quoting Rupert Murdoch to justify his desperate conversion before his 2007 defeat:
We should, in the words of Rupert Murdoch, give the planet the benefit of the doubt, given the dangers of climate change.In 2009 then Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull quoted him, too, to demand his party back Labor’s emissions trading scheme:
If we were to, if this legislation is knocked back Kevin Rudd will have no choice but to go to a double dissolution election… The party would be, look we would be wiped out....Senator Nick Xenophon was still quoting Murdoch as recently as last week:
You know, as Rupert Murdoch famously said, and Rupert Murdoch is a hard-headed, naturally sceptical person I think as we all know, he said you’ve got to give the planet the benefit of the doubt, and that is the only responsible course of action.
My view is this: I do believe that climate change is real and that we need to – as Rupert Murdoch once famously said – give the planet the benefit of the doubt.And ABC and Fairfax journalists looked forward to me dropping my own scepticsm and mockery of Earth Hour in deference to my boss:
Last November, while in Japan, [Murdoch] announced his change of heart [on global warming]. “… I believe it is now our responsibility to take the lead on this issue,” he said then…As I said in 2006:
So News Corp cutting back to zero emissions would be the equivalent, Murdoch said, of turning off London for five days. It was an interesting analogy, given some of his columnists in Australia had criticised Earth Hour ... The Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt, a climate change sceptic, seemed exasperated that anyone would think the announcement would change his mind.
Now, critics who once scoffed that I merely wrote on Murdoch’s alleged orders are demanding to know why this time I have not.So how many Leftists will today urge sceptics and Murdoch employees to heed the latest and best thoughts of the man they once quoted so freely?
The ABC’s Media Watch complains I’m “resisting”. ABC host Jon Faine protests that I’m an “idiot” for holding out. Age gossip writers insist I’m “nutty”.
Murdoch’s comments apply specifically to the claimed links between global warming and the snow and rain we’re now seeing. But I suspect he has noted the failure of the planet to warm as predicted, and rightly concluded it’s the warmists we should doubt instead.
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It is tragic. Mental illness/depression is no joke. She was beautiful. And strong. And she told her story before she left. But I would have preferred she grew old, and experienced the joy of life. - ed
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- 705 – Empress Wu Zetian abdicates the throne, restoring the Tang dynasty.
- 1316 – Battle of Picotin between Ferdinand of Majorca and the forces of Matilda of Hainaut
- 1371 – Robert II becomes King of Scotland, beginning the Stuart dynasty.
- 1495 – King Charles VIII of France enters Naplesto claim the city's throne.
- 1632 – Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems is published.
- 1651 – St. Peter's Flood: A storm surge floods the Frisian coast, drowning 15,000 people.
- 1744 – War of the Austrian Succession: The Battle of Toulon causes several Royal Navy captains to be court-martialed, and the Articles of War to be amended.
- 1797 – The last Invasion of Britain begins near Fishguard, Wales.
- 1819 – By the Adams–Onís Treaty, Spain sells Florida to the United States for five million U.S. dollars.
- 1821 – Greek War of Independence: Alexander Ypsilantis crosses the Prut river at Sculeni into the Danubian Principalities.
- 1847 – Mexican–American War: The Battle of Buena Vista: Five thousand American troops defeat 15,000 Mexicans troops.
- 1848 – The French Revolution of 1848, which would lead to the establishment of the French Second Republic, begins.
- 1853 – Washington University in St. Louis is founded as Eliot Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.
- 1855 – The Pennsylvania State University is founded in State College, Pennsylvania (as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania).
- 1856 – The United States Republican Party opens its first national convention in Pittsburgh.
- 1862 – Jefferson Davis is officially inaugurated for a six-year term as the President of the Confederate States of America in Richmond, Virginia. He was previously inaugurated as a provisional president on February 18, 1861.
- 1872 – The Prohibition Party holds its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio, nominating James Black as its presidential nominee.
- 1879 – In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of five-and-dime Woolworth stores.
- 1889 – President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states.
- 1899 – Filipino forces led by General Antonio Luna launch counterattacks for the first time against the American forces during the Philippine–American War. The Filipinos fail to regain Manila from the Americans.
- 1904 – The United Kingdom sells a meteorological station on the South Orkney Islands to Argentina; the islands are subsequently claimed by the United Kingdom in 1908.
- 1907 – Robert Baden-Powell made the first scouting camp in Brownsea, England.
- 1909 – The sixteen battleships of the Great White Fleet, led by USS Connecticut, return to the United States after a voyage around the world.
- 1915 – World War I: The Imperial German Navy institutes unrestricted submarine warfare.
- 1921 – After Russian forces under Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg drive the Chinese out, the Bogd Khan is reinstalled as the emperor of Mongolia.
- 1924 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President to deliver a radio address from the White House.
- 1942 – World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as the Japanese victory becomes inevitable.
- 1943 – World War II: Members of the White Rose resistance, Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl, and Christoph Probst are executed in Nazi Germany.
- 1944 – World War II: American aircraft mistakenly bomb the Dutch towns of Nijmegen, Arnhem, Enschede and Deventer, resulting in 800 dead in Nijmegen alone.
- 1944 – World War II: The Soviet Red Army recaptures Krivoi Rog.
- 1957 – Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam survives a communist shooting assassination attempt in Buôn Ma Thuột.
- 1958 – Egypt and Syria join to form the United Arab Republic.
- 1959 – Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.
- 1972 – The Official Irish Republican Army detonates a car bomb at Aldershotbarracks, killing seven and injuring nineteen others.
- 1973 – Cold War: Following President Richard Nixon's visit to the People's Republic of China, the two countries agree to establish liaison offices.
- 1974 – The Organisation of the Islamic Conference summit begins in Lahore, Pakistan. Thirty-seven countries attend and twenty-two heads of state and government participate. It also recognizes Bangladesh.
- 1974 – Samuel Byck attempts to hijack an aircraft at Baltimore/Washington International Airport with the intention of crashing it into the White House to assassinate Richard Nixon, but is killed by police.[1]
- 1980 – Miracle on Ice: In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey team defeats the Soviet Union hockey team 4–3.
- 1983 – The notorious Broadway flop Moose Murders opens and closes on the same night at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.
- 1986 – Start of the People Power Revolution in the Philippines.
- 1994 – Aldrich Ames and his wife are charged by the United States Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union.
- 1995 – The Corona reconnaissance satellite program, in existence from 1959 to 1972, is declassified.
- 1997 – In Roslin, Midlothian, British scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly has been successfully cloned.
- 2002 – Angolan political and rebel leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in a military ambush.
- 2005 – The 6.4 Mw Zarand earthquake shakes the Kerman Province of Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving 612 people dead and 1,411 injured.
- 2006 – At least six men stage Britain's biggest robbery, stealing £53m (about $92.5 million or €78 million) from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.
- 2011 – New Zealand's second deadliest earthquake strikes Christchurch, killing 185 people.
- 2011 – Bahraini uprising: Tens of thousands of people march in protest against the deaths of seven victims killed by police and army forces during previous protests.
- 2012 – A train crash in Buenos Aires, Argentina, kills 51 people and injures 700 others.
- 2014 – President Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine is impeached by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine by a vote of 328–0, fulfilling a major goal of the Euromaidanrebellion.
- 2015 – A ferry carrying 100 passengers capsizes in the Padma River, killing 70 people.
- 1028 – Al-Juwayni, Persian jurist and theologian (died 1085)
- 1040 – Rashi, French rabbi and author (d. 1105)
- 1302 – Gegeen Khan, Emperor Yingzong of Yuan (d. 1323)
- 1403 – Charles VII of France (d. 1461)
- 1440 – Ladislaus the Posthumous, Hungarian king (d. 1457)
- 1500 – Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, Italian cardinal (d. 1564)
- 1514 – Tahmasp I, Iranian shah (d. 1576)
- 1520 – Moses Isserles, Polish rabbi (d. 1572)
- 1550 – Charles de Ligne, 2nd Prince of Arenberg (d. 1616)
- 1592 – Nicholas Ferrar, English scholar (d. 1637)
- 1631 – Peder Syv, Danish historian (d. 1702)
- 1649 – Bon Boullogne, French painter (d. 1717)
- 1715 – Charles-Nicolas Cochin, French artist (d. 1790)
- 1732 – George Washington, American general and politician, 1st President of the United States (d. 1799)
- 1749 – Johann Nikolaus Forkel, German musicologist and theorist (d. 1818)
- 1778 – Rembrandt Peale, American painter and curator (d. 1860)
- 1788 – Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher and author (d. 1860)
- 1796 – Alexis Bachelot, French priest and missionary (d. 1837)
- 1796 – Adolphe Quetelet, Belgian mathematician, astronomer, and sociologist (d. 1874)
- 1806 – Józef Kremer, Polish historian and philosopher (d. 1875)
- 1817 – Carl Wilhelm Borchardt, German mathematician and academic (d. 1880)
- 1819 – James Russell Lowell, American poet and critic (d. 1891)
- 1824 – Pierre Janssen, French astronomer and mathematician (d. 1907)
- 1825 – Jean-Baptiste Salpointe, French-American archbishop (d. 1898)
- 1836 – Mahesh Chandra Nyayratna Bhattacharyya, Indian scholar and academic (d. 1906)
- 1840 – August Bebel, German theorist and politician (d. 1913)
- 1849 – Nikolay Yakovlevich Sonin, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1915)
- 1857 – Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, English general, co-founded The Scout Association (d. 1941)
- 1857 – Heinrich Hertz, German physicist, philosopher, and academic (d. 1894)
- 1863 – Charles McLean Andrews, American historian, author, and academic (d. 1943)
- 1864 – Jules Renard, French author and playwright (d. 1910)
- 1876 – Zitkala-Sa, American author and activist (d. 1938)
- 1874 – Bill Klem, American baseball player and umpire (d. 1951)
- 1879 – Johannes Nicolaus Brønsted, Danish chemist and academic (d. 1947)
- 1881 – Joseph B. Ely, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1956)
- 1881 – Albin Prepeluh, Slovenian journalist and politician (d. 1937)
- 1882 – Eric Gill, English sculptor and illustrator (d. 1940)
- 1883 – Marguerite Clark, American actress (d. 1940)
- 1886 – Hugo Ball, German author and poet (d. 1927)
- 1887 – Savielly Tartakower, Polish journalist, author, and chess player (d. 1956)
- 1887 – Pat Sullivan, Australian-American animator and producer (d. 1933)[2]
- 1888 – Owen Brewster, American captain and politician, 54th Governor of Maine(d. 1961)
- 1889 – Olave Baden-Powell, English scout leader, founded the Girl Guides (d. 1977)
- 1889 – R. G. Collingwood, English historian and philosopher (d. 1943)
- 1891 – Vlas Chubar, Russian economist and politician (d. 1939)
- 1892 – Edna St. Vincent Millay, American poet and playwright (d. 1950)
- 1895 – Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, Peruvian politician (d. 1979)
- 1897 – Karol Świerczewski, Polish general (d. 1947)
- 1899 – George O'Hara, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1966)
- 1900 – Luis Buñuel, Spanish-Mexican director and producer (d. 1983)
- 1903 – Morley Callaghan, Canadian author and playwright (d. 1990)
- 1903 – Frank P. Ramsey, English economist, mathematician, and philosopher (d. 1930)
- 1906 – Constance Stokes, Australian painter (d. 1991)
- 1907 – Sheldon Leonard, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1997)
- 1907 – Robert Young, American actor (d. 1998)
- 1908 – Rómulo Betancourt, Venezuelan politician, 56th President of Venezuela (d. 1981)
- 1908 – John Mills, English soldier and actor (d. 2005)
- 1914 – Renato Dulbecco, Italian-American virologist and academic, Nobel Prizelaureate (d. 2012)
- 1915 – Gus Lesnevich, American boxer (d. 1964)
- 1917 – Reed Crandall, American illustrator (d. 1982)
- 1918 – Sid Abel, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager (d. 2000)
- 1918 – Don Pardo, American radio and television announcer (d. 2014)
- 1921 – Jean-Bédel Bokassa, Central African general and politician, 2nd President of the Central African Republic (d. 1996)
- 1921 – Giulietta Masina, Italian actress (d. 1994)
- 1922 – Marshall Teague, American race car driver (d. 1959)
- 1922 – Joe Wilder, American trumpet player, composer, and bandleader (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Bleddyn Williams, Welsh rugby player and sportscaster (d. 2009)
- 1925 – Edward Gorey, American illustrator and poet (d. 2000)
- 1925 – Gerald Stern, American poet and academic
- 1926 – Kenneth Williams, English actor and screenwriter (d. 1988)
- 1927 – Florencio Campomanes, Filipino political scientist and chess player (d. 2010)
- 1927 – Guy Mitchell, American singer (d. 1999)
- 1928 – Clarence 13X, American religious leader, founded the Nation of Gods and Earths (d. 1969)
- 1928 – Texas Johnny Brown, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Paul Dooley, American actor
- 1928 – Bruce Forsyth, English singer and television host (d. 2017)
- 1929 – James Hong, American actor and director
- 1929 – Rebecca Schull, American stage, film, and television actress
- 1930 – Marni Nixon, American soprano and actress (d. 2016)
- 1932 – Ted Kennedy, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (d. 2009)
- 1933 – Katharine, Duchess of Kent
- 1933 – Sheila Hancock, English actress and author
- 1933 – Ernie K-Doe, American R&B singer (d. 2001)
- 1934 – Sparky Anderson, American baseball player and manager (d. 2010)
- 1936 – J. Michael Bishop, American microbiologist and immunologist, Nobel Prizelaureate
- 1937 – Tommy Aaron, American golfer
- 1937 – Joanna Russ, American author and activist (d. 2011)
- 1938 – Steve Barber, American baseball player (d. 2007)
- 1938 – Ishmael Reed, American poet, novelist, essayist
- 1940 – Judy Cornwell, English actress
- 1940 – Chet Walker, American basketball player
- 1941 – Hipólito Mejía, Dominican politician, 52nd President of the Dominican Republic
- 1942 – Christine Keeler, English model and dancer
- 1943 – Terry Eagleton, English philosopher and critic
- 1943 – Horst Köhler, Polish-German economist and politician, 9th President of Germany
- 1943 – Otoya Yamaguchi, Japanese assassin of Inejiro Asanuma (d. 1960)
- 1944 – Jonathan Demme, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2017)
- 1944 – Mick Green, English rock & roll guitarist (d. 2010)
- 1944 – Robert Kardashian, American lawyer and businessman (d. 2003)
- 1944 – Christopher Meyer, English diplomat, British Ambassador to the United States
- 1944 – Tom Okker, Dutch tennis player and painter
- 1945 – Oliver, American pop singer (d. 2000)
- 1946 – Kresten Bjerre, Danish footballer and manager (d. 2014)
- 1947 – Pirjo Honkasalo, Finnish director, cinematographer, and screenwriter
- 1947 – Harvey Mason, American drummer
- 1947 – John Radford, English footballer and manager
- 1947 – Frank Van Dun, Belgian philosopher and theorist
- 1949 – Niki Lauda, Austrian race car driver
- 1949 – Olga Morozova, Russian tennis player and coach
- 1950 – Julius Erving, American basketball player and sportscaster
- 1950 – Lenny Kuhr, Dutch singer-songwriter
- 1950 – Genesis P-Orridge, English singer-songwriter
- 1950 – Julie Walters, English actress and author
- 1951 – Ellen Greene, American singer and actress
- 1952 – Robert Bauer, American attorney
- 1952 – Albert Bryant, Jr., American general
- 1952 – Cyrinda Foxe, American model and actress (d. 2002)
- 1952 – Bill Frist, American physician and politician
- 1952 – Wayne Levi, American golfer
- 1952 – Bernard Silverman, English minister, statistician, and academic
- 1953 – Graham Lewis, English bass player
- 1953 – Nigel Planer, English actor and screenwriter
- 1955 – David Axelrod, American journalist and political adviser
- 1955 – Tim Young, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1956 – Hugh Hewitt, American lawyer, academic, and radio host
- 1957 – Willie Smits, Dutch microbiologist and engineer
- 1958 – Dave Spitz, American bass player and songwriter
- 1959 – Jiří Čunek, Czech politician
- 1959 – Kyle MacLachlan, American actor
- 1959 – Bronwyn Oliver, Australian sculptor (d. 2006)
- 1960 – Thomas Galbraith, 2nd Baron Strathclyde, Scottish politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
- 1961 – Akira Takasaki, Japanese guitarist, songwriter, and producer
- 1962 – Steve Irwin, Australian zoologist and television host (d. 2006)
- 1963 – Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Transport
- 1963 – Devon Malcolm, Jamaican-English cricketer
- 1963 – Vijay Singh, Fijian-American golfer
- 1964 – Ed Boon, American video game designer, co-created Mortal Kombat
- 1964 – Diane Charlemagne, English singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
- 1965 – Chris Dudley, American basketball player and politician
- 1965 – Kieren Fallon, Irish jockey
- 1965 – Pat LaFontaine, American ice hockey player
- 1966 – Rachel Dratch, American actress and comedian
- 1966 – Jason Feddy, English singer-songwriter
- 1966 – Thorsten Kaye, German-English actor
- 1967 – Psicosis II, Mexican wrestler
- 1968 – Shawn Graham, Canadian politician, 31st Premier of New Brunswick
- 1968 – Bradley Nowell, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 1996)
- 1968 – Jeri Ryan, American model and actress
- 1968 – Jayson Williams, American basketball player and sportscaster
- 1969 – Thomas Jane, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1969 – Clinton Kelly, American fashion consultant and television host
- 1969 – Brian Laudrup, Danish footballer and sportscaster
- 1969 – Marc Wilmots, Belgian footballer and manager
- 1971 – Super Caló, Mexican wrestler
- 1971 – Lea Salonga, Filipino actress and singer
- 1972 – Michael Chang, American tennis player and coach
- 1972 – Claudia Pechstein, German speed skater
- 1973 – Philippe Gaumont, French cyclist (d. 2013)
- 1973 – Juninho Paulista, Brazilian footballer
- 1973 – Scott Phillips, American drummer and producer
- 1974 – James Blunt, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1974 – Chris Moyles, English radio and television host
- 1975 – Drew Barrymore, American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1977 – Timo Rose, German actor, director, and producer
- 1977 – Hakan Yakin, Swiss footballer
- 1978 – Jenny Frost, English singer and dancer
- 1979 – Brett Emerton, Australian footballer
- 1979 – Lee Na-young, South Korean actress
- 1980 – Shamari Fears, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1980 – Kang Sung-hoon, South Korean singer
- 1980 – Jeanette Biedermann, German singer-songwriter and actress
- 1983 – Shaun Tait, Australian cricketer
- 1984 – Tommy Bowe, Irish rugby player
- 1984 – Branislav Ivanović, Serbian footballer
- 1985 – Hameur Bouazza, Algerian footballer
- 1985 – Georgios Printezis, Greek basketball player
- 1986 – Rajon Rondo, American basketball player
- 1987 – Han Hyo-joo, South Korean actress and model
- 1987 – Sergio Romero, Argentinian footballer
- 1988 – Jonathan Borlée, Belgian sprinter
- 1988 – Efraín Juárez, Mexican footballer
- 1988 – Sebastian Tyrała, Polish-German footballer
- 1989 – Franco Vázquez, Argentinian footballer
- 1990 – Luca Profeta, Italian footballer
- 1992 – Alexander Merkel, Kazakhstani-German footballer
Births[edit]
- 556 – Maximianus, bishop of Ravenna (b. 499)
- 606 – Sabinian, pope of the Catholic Church
- 793 – Sicga, Anglo-Saxon nobleman and regicide
- 845 – Wang, Chinese empress dowager
- 954 – Guo Wei, Chinese emperor (b. 904)
- 965 – Otto, duke of Burgundy (b. 944)
- 970 – García I, king of Pamplona
- 978 – Lambert, count of Chalon (b. 930)
- 1071 – Arnulf III, count of Flanders
- 1072 – Peter Damian, Italian cardinal
- 1079 – John of Fécamp, Italian Benedictine abbot
- 1111 – Roger Borsa, king of Sicily (b. 1078)
- 1297 – Margaret of Cortona, Italian penitent (b. 1247)
- 1371 – David II, king of Scotland (b. 1324)
- 1452 – William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas (b. 1425)
- 1500 – Gerhard VI, German nobleman (b. 1430)
- 1511 – Henry, duke of Cornwall (b. 1511)
- 1512 – Amerigo Vespucci, Italian cartographer and explorer (b. 1454)
- 1627 – Olivier van Noort, Dutch explorer (b. 1558)
- 1674 – Jean Chapelain, French poet and critic (b. 1595)
- 1680 – La Voisin, French occultist (b. 1640)
- 1690 – Charles Le Brun, French painter and theorist (b. 1619)
- 1731 – Frederik Ruysch, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1638)
- 1732 – Francis Atterbury, English bishop (b. 1663)
- 1799 – Heshen, Chinese politician (b. 1750)
- 1816 – Adam Ferguson, Scottish historian and philosopher (b. 1723)
- 1875 – Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, French painter and illustrator (b. 1796)
- 1875 – Charles Lyell, Scottish-English geologist and lawyer (b. 1797)
- 1888 – Anna Kingsford, English physician and activist (b. 1846)
- 1890 – John Jacob Astor III, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1822)
- 1890 – Carl Bloch, Danish painter and academic (b. 1834)
- 1897 – Charles Blondin, French tightrope walker and acrobat (b. 1824)
- 1898 – Heungseon Daewongun, Korean king (b. 1820)
- 1903 – Hugo Wolf, Austrian composer (b. 1860)
- 1904 – Leslie Stephen, English historian, author, and critic (b. 1832)
- 1913 – Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist and author (b. 1857)
- 1913 – Francisco I. Madero, Mexican president and author (b. 1873)
- 1923 – Théophile Delcassé, French politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs(b. 1852)
- 1939 – Antonio Machado, Spanish-French poet and author (b. 1875)
- 1942 – Stefan Zweig, Austrian journalist, author, and playwright (b. 1881)
- 1943 – Christoph Probst, German activist (b. 1919)
- 1943 – Hans Scholl, German activist (b. 1918)
- 1943 – Sophie Scholl, German activist (b. 1921)
- 1944 – Kasturba Gandhi, Indian activist (b. 1869)
- 1945 – Osip Brik, Russian avant garde writer and literary critic (b. 1888)
- 1958 – Abul Kalam Azad, Indian scholar and politician, Indian Minister of Education (b. 1888)
- 1960 – Paul-Émile Borduas, Canadian-French painter and critic (b. 1905)
- 1961 – Nick LaRocca, American trumpet player and composer (b. 1889)
- 1965 – Felix Frankfurter, Austrian-American lawyer and jurist (b. 1882)
- 1971 – Frédéric Mariotti, French actor (b. 1883)
- 1973 – Jean-Jacques Bertrand, Canadian lawyer and politician, 21st Premier of Quebec (b. 1916)
- 1973 – Elizabeth Bowen, Anglo-Irish author (b. 1899)
- 1973 – Katina Paxinou, Greek actress (b. 1900)
- 1973 – Winthrop Rockefeller, American colonel and politician, 37th Governor of Arkansas (b. 1912)
- 1976 – Angela Baddeley, English actress (b. 1904)
- 1976 – Florence Ballard, American singer (b. 1943)
- 1980 – Oskar Kokoschka, Austrian painter, poet and playwright (b. 1886)
- 1982 – Josh Malihabadi, Indian-Pakistani poet and author (b. 1898)
- 1983 – Adrian Boult, English conductor (b. 1889)
- 1983 – Romain Maes, Belgian cyclist (b. 1913)
- 1985 – Salvador Espriu, Spanish author, poet, and playwright (b. 1913)
- 1985 – Efrem Zimbalist, Russian violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1889)
- 1986 – John Donnelly, Australian rugby league player (b. 1955)
- 1987 – David Susskind, American talk show host and producer (b. 1920)
- 1987 – Andy Warhol, American painter and photographer (b. 1928)
- 1992 – Markos Vafiadis, Greek general and politician (b. 1906)
- 1994 – Papa John Creach, American violinist (b. 1917)
- 1995 – Ed Flanders, American actor (b. 1934)
- 1997 – Joseph Aiuppa, American gangster (b. 1907)
- 1998 – Abraham A. Ribicoff, American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (b. 1910)
- 1999 – William Bronk, American poet and academic (b. 1918)
- 1999 – Menno Oosting, Dutch tennis player (b. 1964)
- 2002 – Roden Cutler, Australian lieutenant and politician, 32nd Governor of New South Wales (b. 1916)
- 2002 – Chuck Jones, American animator, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1912)
- 2002 – Jonas Savimbi, Angolan general, founded UNITA (b. 1934)
- 2004 – Andy Seminick, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1920)
- 2005 – Lee Eun-ju, South Korean actress and singer (b. 1980)
- 2005 – Simone Simon, French actress (b. 1910)
- 2007 – George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe, English politician, Leader of the House of Lords (b. 1918)
- 2007 – Dennis Johnson, American basketball player and coach (b. 1954)
- 2012 – Sukhbir, Indian author and poet (b. 1925)
- 2012 – Frank Carson, Irish-English comedian and actor (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Marie Colvin, American journalist (b. 1956)
- 2012 – Rémi Ochlik, French photographer and journalist (b. 1983)
- 2013 – Atje Keulen-Deelstra, Dutch speed skater (b. 1938)
- 2013 – Jean-Louis Michon, French-Swiss scholar and translator (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Wolfgang Sawallisch, German pianist and conductor (b. 1923)
- 2014 – Charlotte Dawson, New Zealand–Australian television host (b. 1966)
- 2014 – Trebor Jay Tichenor, American pianist and composer (b. 1940)
- 2014 – Leo Vroman, Dutch-American hematologist, poet, and illustrator (b. 1915)
- 2015 – Chris Rainbow, Scottish singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1946)
- 2016 – Yolande Fox, American model and singer, Miss America 1951 (b. 1928)
- 2016 – Sonny James, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1928)
Deaths[edit]
- Birthday of Scouting and Guiding founder Robert Baden-Powell and Olave Baden-Powell, and its related observance:
- Celebrity Day (Church of Scientology)
- Christian feast day:
- Independence Day (Saint Lucia), celebrates the independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom in 1979.
“The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” -Romans 13:9-10
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
February 21: Morning
"He hath said." - Hebrews 13:5
If we can only grasp these words by faith, we have an all-conquering weapon in our hand. What doubt will not be slain by this two-edged sword? What fear is there which shall not fall smitten with a deadly wound before this arrow from the bow of God's covenant? Will not the distresses of life and the pangs of death; will not the corruptions within, and the snares without; will not the trials from above, and the temptations from beneath, all seem but light afflictions, when we can hide ourselves beneath the bulwark of "He hath said"? Yes; whether for delight in our quietude, or for strength in our conflict, "He hath said" must be our daily resort. And this may teach us the extreme value of searching the Scriptures. There may be a promise in the Word which would exactly fit your case, but you may not know of it, and therefore you miss its comfort. You are like prisoners in a dungeon, and there may be one key in the bunch which would unlock the door, and you might be free; but if you will not look for it, you may remain a prisoner still, though liberty is so near at hand. There may be a potent medicine in the great pharmacopoeia of Scripture, and you may yet continue sick unless you will examine and search the Scriptures to discover what "He hath said." Should you not, besides reading the Bible, store your memories richly with the promises of God? You can recollect the sayings of great men; you treasure up the verses of renowned poets; ought you not to be profound in your knowledge of the words of God, so that you may be able to quote them readily when you would solve a difficulty, or overthrow a doubt? Since "He hath said" is the source of all wisdom, and the fountain of all comfort, let it dwell in you richly, as "A well of water, springing up unto everlasting life." So shall you grow healthy, strong, and happy in the divine life.
Evening
"Understandest thou what thou readest?" - Acts 8:30
We should be abler teachers of others, and less liable to be carried about by every wind of doctrine, if we sought to have a more intelligent understanding of the Word of God. As the Holy Ghost, the Author of the Scriptures is he who alone can enlighten us rightly to understand them, we should constantly ask his teaching, and his guidance into all truth. When the prophet Daniel would interpret Nebuchadnezzar's dream, what did he do? He set himself to earnest prayer that God would open up the vision. The apostle John, in his vision at Patmos, saw a book sealed with seven seals which none was found worthy to open, or so much as to look upon. The book was afterwards opened by the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who had prevailed to open it; but it is written first--"I wept much." The tears of John, which were his liquid prayers, were, so far as he was concerned, the sacred keys by which the folded book was opened. Therefore, if, for your own and others' profiting, you desire to be "filled with the knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding," remember that prayer is your best means of study: like Daniel, you shall understand the dream, and the interpretation thereof, when you have sought unto God; and like John you shall see the seven seals of precious truth unloosed, after you have wept much. Stones are not broken, except by an earnest use of the hammer; and the stone-breaker must go down on his knees. Use the hammer of diligence, and let the knee of prayer be exercised, and there is not a stony doctrine in revelation which is useful for you to understand, which will not fly into shivers under the exercise of prayer and faith. You may force your way through anything with the leverage of prayer. Thoughts and reasonings are like the steel wedges which give a hold upon truth; but prayer is the lever, the prise which forces open the iron chest of sacred mystery, that we may get the treasure hidden within.
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Tryphena and Tryphosa
Scripture Reference: Romans 16:12
Name Meaning: Delicate or dainty one
As Paul links these two Christian ladies together, we shall think of them as one-which they were in many ways. Probably they were twin sisters in the flesh, as well as in Christ, or very near relatives, and belonged to the same noble Roman family. They must have been conspicuous in the service of the church at Rome-perhaps deaconnesses-otherwise Paul would not have singled them out for his expression of gratitude for their devoted labor in the Lord.
Their names, characteristically pagan, are in contrast to their significance. Having a similar resemblance in appearance and constitution, if twins, they were given names having a like meaning. Being of noble birth they "lived delicately," that is, in plenty and pleasure and luxury. Lightfoot says that, "It was usual to designate members of the same family by derivatives of the same root." "Delicate" may, of course, refer to physical weakness, and as tender and delicate women, Tryphena and Tryphosa stand out as early examples of incessant and arduous labors in the service of the church.
Whether of gentle and refined manners, or delicate in health, or both, these active workers carved a niche for themselves in Paul's portrait gallery of saints. Early Christian inscriptions in cemeteries used chiefly for the servants of the emperor contain both of these female names, and so can be identified as being among "the saints of Caesar's household" (Philippians 4:22). How we bless God for the record of those early "honourable women which were Greeks" (Acts 17:12) who became humble followers of the Lamb!
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Felix
[Fē'lĭx] - happy, prosperous.
A cruel Roman governor of Judea, appointed by the Emperor Claudius, whose freedman he was (Acts 23:24-26; Acts 24:2-27; Acts 25:14). Felix is described by Tacitus as a bad and cruel governor, even though the title of "most excellent" was given to him.
The Man Who Procrastinated
As a true preacher, Paul pressed home the truth until it pricked the conscience of Felix so much so that he "trembled." He did not resent Paul's plain speaking but postponed the interview "till a more convenient season." Such a "convenient season," however, did not come, and Felix became a type of many whose consciences are stirred by the preached Word, but whose hopes of eternal security are ruined by a like procrastination. The two sworn enemies of the soul are "Yesterday" and "Tomorrow."
Yesterday slays its thousands. Past sins plunge many into darkness and despair. Priceless opportunities were trampled upon, and the harvest is past. But God says there is mercy still and free forgiveness through repentance.
Tomorrow slays its tens of thousands. Vows, promises, resolutions are never fulfilled. "Some other time," many say, when urged to repent and believe. They fail to realize that now is the acceptable time. How pitiful it is that the convenient season never dawns for them! The pathway to their hell is strewn with good resolutions, and as they cross "The Great Divide," the mocking voice cries out: "Too late! Too late!"
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Today's reading: Numbers 1-2, Mark 3:1-19 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Numbers 1-2
The Census
1 The LORD spoke to Moses in the tent of meeting in the Desert of Sinai on the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites came out of Egypt. He said: 2"Take a census of the whole Israelite community by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one. 3 You and Aaron are to count according to their divisions all the men in Israel who are twenty years old or more and able to serve in the army...."Today's New Testament reading: Mark 3:1-19
Jesus Heals on the Sabbath
1 Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone."
4 Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent....
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