It has been announced that Syria's defences which failed utterly to defend her against Israel's targeted strikes recently were the first time the F35 strike fighter has been used in battle. And the fighters get top marks for potency and effectiveness. The advantage may not be long lived, as Turkey is getting US equipment and sharing it with Russia. A report has come out that Russia is responsible for shooting down MH17, but the report says nothing about Ukraine using civilians as bait. Obama's cold war was responsible, ultimately, for the loss of life, but Obama will never face justice for his activity.
Another who will never face justice for their depraved indifference to their choices in public office is Lee Rhiannon. Lee is a garden variety Marxist who supports people known for terrorism. She is retiring from public office, but retains a substantial pension.
There are few things more distressing than local government over reach. There is no defence against it or remedy. a Green ALP nexus in Greater Dandenong council engage in terrible abuse of power. They are needed organise rubbish removal and facilitate town planning. Instead they engage in other things. They call it recycling and claim the municipality profits from it, but the municipality does not recycle and instead makes a loss from more expensive collection. Planning is appalling, where prior to the last election nearly a hundred houses with developers seeking planning approval were refused permission although they met all criteria for development. The council "Had a feeling" and the papers did not report it until after the election press blackout. That meant the council could approve the developments as a new council and give themselves a glowing bottom line, after charging developers tens of thousands of dollars in lost opportunity and fees. One councillor was really proud of something the council had done. Ingress and Egress of crowds from events is a science, and council has built into the neighbourhood over the years the principles needed at crowded venues for quick dispersals. But what it means is pathways diverge and the given route from a to b is rarely a straight line. The councillor thought it wonderful that older folk had to walk more around the neighbourhood. I hope, when the councillor is older, they experience the obstacles and inconveniences council has planned for the elderly on foot.
Another brilliant planned assault on the elderly is at Dunn Crescent where olive trees have been planted. An elderly resident did not want olive trees, but had no say. Council thought it brilliant, because when the olives ripened they could be picked by poor people for free. Instead the trees are diseased and birds come from afar for the fruit in large numbers, so the elderly resident not only has close proximity to fruit she is allergic to, but cannot enjoy the outdoors for the birds. The resident is in favour of trees. The resident likes birds. But the council over rode their objections and papers won't report it. Last year I spoke with an elderly lady in another ALP dominated council area. Her husband had died the previous year, and she was finding it hard to maintain the home she'd had all her life. A tree was growing in her bedroom and she couldn't deal with it because it is a tree. Council would not help her, but obstructed her. She could not sell the house because of the tree, either. Luckily, the Libs are responsible and a local Liberal state senator (Craig Ondarchie) was able to speak to the councillors and get things expedited. Imagine if there were no responsible politicians who would address the petty abuse of local government power?
Here is a video I made I pity the poor immigrant
John Wesley Harding is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's eighth studio album, released by Columbia Records in December 1967.
Produced by Bob Johnston, the album marked Dylan's return to acoustic music and traditional roots, after three albums of electric rock music. John Wesley Harding was recorded around the same time as (and shares many stylistic threads with) a prolific series of home recording sessions with The Band, finally released in 1975 as The Basement Tapes.
=== from 2017 ===
Some things should not happen, but they do. Pauline Hanson in a senate committee asking questions regarding a halal slaughtering practice. Australian standards have it that the animal is stunned before being slaughtered. Animal activists are teaming up with anti Muslim activists to take out animal trade. Otherwise a bad practice abattoir would be reported and the well run industry would operate at peak efficiency. But politicians panic. Or get drunk. Hank Johnson used a congressional hearing to ask a US serviceman if Guam would capsize from the number of serving US troops there. He later claimed he was joking, but the serviceman answered questions appropriately and the press have aided Johnson, who now has an enviable efficiency rating as a congressman. Hanson asked if the animals were alive before being killed. She had meant stunned. The press are not going to come to the aid of Pauline. And the experts replying were not as respectful of Pauline as the US soldier was of Johnson.
On this day in 567 BC, Servius Tullius, the king of Rome, celebrated a triumph for his victory over the Etruscans. Militarily, the victory was complete. Culturally, the Romans would use the Etruscan public service and art faculties forever after. 240 BC, first recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet. Recorded in China in the Chronicle Records of the Grand Historian. 1085, Alfonso VI of Castile took Toledo, Spain, back from the Moors. 1521, the Diet of Worms ended when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw. 1644, Ming general Wu Sangui formed an alliance with the invading Manchus and opened the gates of the Great Wall of China at Shanhaiguan pass, letting the Manchus through towards the capital Beijing. 1659, Richard Cromwell resigned as Lord Protector of England following the restoration of the Long Parliament, beginning a second brief period of the republican government called the Commonwealth of England. 1738, a treaty between Pennsylvania and Maryland ended the Conojocular War with settlement of a boundary dispute and exchange of prisoners. A result was the formation of the Mason Dixon line.
1878, Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore opened at the Opera Comique in London. 1895, the playwright, poet, and novelist Oscar Wilde was convicted of "committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons" and sentenced to serve two years in prison. 1925, Scopes Trial: John T. Scopes was indicted for teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in Tennessee. There was more to the trial than evolution. There was also Eugenics and Racial Purity. The subsequent success for either 'side' was limited. It was Christian Fundamentalists vs Christian progressives on a non issue that had been legislated for in ignorance by people who thought evolution opposed the bible.
1935, Jesse Owens of Ohio State University broke three world records and tied a fourth at the Big Ten Conference Track and Field Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Jesse Owens was a great man who deserved better support from his President, FDR. 1961, Apollo program: The U.S. President John F. Kennedy announced before a special joint session of the Congress his goal to initiate a project to put a "man on the Moon" before the end of the decade. 1979, Etan Patz, who was six years old, disappeared from the street just two blocks away from his home in New York City, prompting an international search for the child, and causing the U.S. President Ronald Reagan to designate May 25 as National Missing Children's Day (in 1983). In 2015, a mistrial was declared on a possible prosecution. In 2017, the killer was sentenced to life, with the possibility of parole in 25 years.
On this day in 567 BC, Servius Tullius, the king of Rome, celebrated a triumph for his victory over the Etruscans. Militarily, the victory was complete. Culturally, the Romans would use the Etruscan public service and art faculties forever after. 240 BC, first recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet. Recorded in China in the Chronicle Records of the Grand Historian. 1085, Alfonso VI of Castile took Toledo, Spain, back from the Moors. 1521, the Diet of Worms ended when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw. 1644, Ming general Wu Sangui formed an alliance with the invading Manchus and opened the gates of the Great Wall of China at Shanhaiguan pass, letting the Manchus through towards the capital Beijing. 1659, Richard Cromwell resigned as Lord Protector of England following the restoration of the Long Parliament, beginning a second brief period of the republican government called the Commonwealth of England. 1738, a treaty between Pennsylvania and Maryland ended the Conojocular War with settlement of a boundary dispute and exchange of prisoners. A result was the formation of the Mason Dixon line.
1878, Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore opened at the Opera Comique in London. 1895, the playwright, poet, and novelist Oscar Wilde was convicted of "committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons" and sentenced to serve two years in prison. 1925, Scopes Trial: John T. Scopes was indicted for teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in Tennessee. There was more to the trial than evolution. There was also Eugenics and Racial Purity. The subsequent success for either 'side' was limited. It was Christian Fundamentalists vs Christian progressives on a non issue that had been legislated for in ignorance by people who thought evolution opposed the bible.
1935, Jesse Owens of Ohio State University broke three world records and tied a fourth at the Big Ten Conference Track and Field Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Jesse Owens was a great man who deserved better support from his President, FDR. 1961, Apollo program: The U.S. President John F. Kennedy announced before a special joint session of the Congress his goal to initiate a project to put a "man on the Moon" before the end of the decade. 1979, Etan Patz, who was six years old, disappeared from the street just two blocks away from his home in New York City, prompting an international search for the child, and causing the U.S. President Ronald Reagan to designate May 25 as National Missing Children's Day (in 1983). In 2015, a mistrial was declared on a possible prosecution. In 2017, the killer was sentenced to life, with the possibility of parole in 25 years.
=== from 2016 ===
I have moved to a good home. I leave behind the ice house. Dan Andrews would rather I lived with an ice addict, and that you should too.
For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
=== from 2015 ===
Nash died tragically, but old and blessed. John Nash and his wife died in an accident in a taxi they were travelling in, in New Jersey. He was 86 when he died. Neither had been wearing seat belts. Nash's fame and career was based around his tremendous advances to Mathematics in game theory. He stopped after about ten years of research due to a mental disease covered in the movie A Beautiful Mind. He recovered from the disease and personally triumphed. The ending is sad, but the life was inspirational.
Who will lead the west? Great leaders have come forward in times of adversity. Churchill. Thatcher. Reagan. Not all need to have used military with home support, there was also Martin King, John Paul II or Billy Graham. In Australia we have two examples that define things, John Howard who forged international respect without backing down from core conservative values, or Bob Hawke who is more highly lauded than responsible for worthwhile achievements. The West needs someone who unites, not divides. Someone who respects cultural assets and believes in the manifest destiny of world peace.
Sydney struggling under inept Mayor. Clover Moore has spent $16 million on a coffee stand for bike riders. One day she will remember that there are homeless living in the city. People who have less because Clover spent more.
Who will lead the west? Great leaders have come forward in times of adversity. Churchill. Thatcher. Reagan. Not all need to have used military with home support, there was also Martin King, John Paul II or Billy Graham. In Australia we have two examples that define things, John Howard who forged international respect without backing down from core conservative values, or Bob Hawke who is more highly lauded than responsible for worthwhile achievements. The West needs someone who unites, not divides. Someone who respects cultural assets and believes in the manifest destiny of world peace.
Sydney struggling under inept Mayor. Clover Moore has spent $16 million on a coffee stand for bike riders. One day she will remember that there are homeless living in the city. People who have less because Clover spent more.
From 2014
None in 2014 because of Government and public service corruption related to the petitions
Historical perspective on this day
In 567 BC, Servius Tullius, the king of Rome, celebrated a triumph for his victory over the Etruscans. 240 BC, first recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet. 1085, Alfonso VI of Castile took Toledo, Spain, back from the Moors. 1420, Henry the Navigator was appointed governor of the Order of Christ. 1521, the Diet of Worms ended when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw. 1644, Ming general Wu Sangui formed an alliance with the invading Manchus and opened the gates of the Great Wall of China at Shanhaiguanpass, letting the Manchus through towards the capital Beijing. 1659, Richard Cromwell resigned as Lord Protector of England following the restoration of the Long Parliament, beginning a second brief period of the republicangovernment called the Commonwealth of England. 1738, a treaty between Pennsylvania and Maryland ended the Conojocular War with settlement of a boundary dispute and exchange of prisoners. 1798, United Irishmen Rebellion: Battle of Carlow began; executions of suspected rebels at Carnewand at Dunlavin Green took place.
In 1809, Chuquisaca Revolution: Patriot revolt in Chuquisaca (modern day Sucre) against the Spanish Empire, sparking the South American Wars of Independence. 1810, May Revolution: citizens of Buenos Aires expel ViceroyBaltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros during the May week, starting the Argentine War of Independence. 1819, the Argentine Constitution of 1819 was promulgated. 1833, the Chilean Constitution of 1833 was promulgated. 1837, the Rebels of Lower Canada (Quebec) rebelled against the British for freedom. 1865, in Mobile, Alabama, 300 were killed when an ordnance depot exploded. 1878, Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore opened at the Opera Comique in London. 1895, the playwright, poet, and novelist Oscar Wilde was convicted of "committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons" and sentenced to serve two years in prison. Also 1895, the Republic of Formosa was formed, with Tang Ching-sung as its president.
In 1914, the United Kingdom's House of Commons passed the Home Rule Act for devolution in Ireland. 1925, Scopes Trial: John T. Scopes was indicted for teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in Tennessee. 1926, Sholom Schwartzbard assassinated Symon Petliura, the head of the government of the Ukrainian People's Republic, which was in government-in-exile in Paris. 1935, Jesse Owens of Ohio State University broke three world records and tied a fourth at the Big Ten Conference Track and FieldChampionships in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 1936, the Remington Rand strike, led by the American Federation of Labor, began. 1938, Spanish Civil War: The bombing of Alicante took place, with 313 deaths. 1940, World War II: The German 2nd Panzer Division captured the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer; the surrender of the last French and British troops marked the end of the Battle of Boulogne. 1946, the parliament of Transjordan made Abdullah I of Jordantheir Emir.
In 1950, Public Transport: Green Hornet disaster. A Chicago Surface Linesstreetcar crashed into a fuel truck, killing 33. 1953, Nuclear testing: At the Nevada Test Site, the United States conducted their first and only nuclear artillery test. Also 1953, the first public television station in the United States officially began broadcasting as KUHT from the campus of the University of Houston. 1955, in the United States, a night-time F5 tornado struck the small city of Udall, Kansas, killing 80 and injuring 273. It was the deadliest tornado to ever occur in the state and the 23rd deadliest in the U.S. Also 1955, first ascent of Kangchenjunga (8,586 m.), the third-highest mountain in the world, by a British expedition led by Charles Evans. Joe Brown and George Band reached the summit on May 25, followed by Norman Hardie and Tony Streather the next day. 1961, Apollo program: The U.S. PresidentJohn F. Kennedy announced before a special joint session of the Congresshis goal to initiate a project to put a "man on the Moon" before the end of the decade. 1961, the Bukit Ho Swee Fire, the biggest fire in Singaporehistory. 1962, the Old Bay Line, the last overnight steamboat service in the United States, went out of business. 1963, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Organisation of African Unity was established. 1966, Explorer program: Explorer 32 launched. Also 1966, the first prominent dàzìbào during the Cultural Revolution in China was posted at Peking University. 1967, Celtic F.C. from Glasgow, Scotland, became the first ever Northern European team to win the European Cup; with previous winners being from Spain, Italy and Portugal. 1968, Gateway Arch Saint Louis Gateway Arch was dedicated.
In 1973, HNS Velos (D-16), while participating in a NATO exercise and in order to protest against the dictatorship in Greece, anchored at Fiumicino, Italy, and refused to return to Greece. 1977, Star Wars was released in theatres, inspiring the Jediism religion and Geek Pride Day holiday. Also 1977, Chinese government removed a decade old ban on William Shakespeare's work, effectively ending the Cultural Revolution started in 1966. 1979, American Airlines Flight 191: In Chicago, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 crashed during takeoff at O'Hare International Airport killing all 271 on board and two people on the ground. Also 1979, Etan Patz, who was six years old, disappeared from the street just two blocks away from his home in New York City, prompting an international search for the child, and causing the U.S. President Ronald Reagan to designate May 25 as National Missing Children's Day (in 1983). 1981, in Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council was created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. 1982, HMS Coventry was sunk during the Falklands War. 1985, Bangladesh was hit by a tropical cyclone and storm surge, which killed approximately 10,000 people. 1986, Hands Across America took place. 1997, a military coup in Sierra Leone replaced President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major Johnny Paul Koromah. 1999, the United States House of Representatives released the Cox Report which detailed the People's Republic of China's nuclear espionage against the U.S. over the prior two decades.
In 2000, Liberation Day of Lebanon. Israel withdrew its army from most of the Lebanese territory after 22 years of its first invasion in 1978. 2001, Erik Weihenmayer, 32 years old, of Boulder, Colorado, became the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest. 2002, China Airlines Flight 611disintegrated in mid-air and crashed into the Taiwan Strait. All 225 people on board were killed. 2008, NASA's Phoenix lander landed in Green Valleyregion of Mars to search for environments suitable for water and microbial life. 2009, North Korea allegedly tested its second nuclear device. Following the nuclear test, Pyongyang also conducted several missile tests building tensions in the international community. 2011, Oprah Winfrey aired her last show, ending her twenty-five-year run of The Oprah Winfrey Show. 2012, the Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial spacecraft to successfully rendezvous with the International Space Station. 2013, suspected Maoist rebels killed at least 28 people and injured 32 others in an attack on a convoy of Indian National Congress politicians in Chhattisgarh, India.
=== 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 Amanda Quach, PhiKong Le and Ivy Kuswendi. Born on the same day across the years. The same day in 1961 JFK promised the US would send a man to the moon and return him alive before 1970. Suggesting through posthumous success, that you can do anything. Anything.
- 1048 – Emperor Shenzong of Song (d. 1085)
- 1334 – Emperor Sukō of Japan (d. 1398)
- 1458 – Mahmud Begada Indian sultan (d. 1511)
- 1572 – Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1632)
- 1606 – Charles Garnier, French missionary and saint (d. 1649)
- 1661 – Claude Buffier, Polish-French historian and philosopher (d. 1737)
- 1803 – Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet and philosopher (d. 1882)
- 1865 – John Mott, American evangelist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955)
- 1877 – Billy Murray, American singer and actor (d. 1954)
- 1889 – Igor Sikorsky, Russian-American aircraft designer, founded Sikorsky Aircraft (d. 1972)
- 1897 – Gene Tunney, American boxer (d. 1978)
- 1907 – U Nu, Burmese politician, 1st Prime Minister of Burma (d. 1995)
- 1921 – Hal David, American songwriter and composer (d. 2012)
- 1927 – Robert Ludlum, American author (d. 2001)
- 1927 – Norman Petty, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (d. 1984)
- 1931 – Irwin Winkler, American director and producer
- 1939 – Dixie Carter, American actress (d. 2010)
- 1939 – Ian McKellen, English actor
- 1944 – Robert MacPherson, American mathematician and academic
- 1957 – Alastair Campbell, English journalist and author
- 1958 – Paul Weller, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Jam and The Style Council)
- 1959 – Julian Clary, English comedian, actor, and author
- 1963 – Mike Myers, Canadian-American actor, singer, screenwriter, and producer
- 1969 – Anne Heche, American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1970 – Satsuki Yukino, Japanese voice actress
- 1984 – Luke Ball, Australian footballer
- 1984 – Marion Raven, Norwegian singer-songwriter and actress (M2M)
- 1984 – Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir, Icelandic model and actress, Miss World 2005
- 1995 – Gabby Soleil, American actress
Deaths
- 615 – Pope Boniface IV (b. 550)
- 675 – Li Hong, Chinese prince (b. 652)
- 709 – Aldhelm, English-Latin bishop, poet, and scholar (b. 639)
- 992 – Mieszko I of Poland (b. 935)
- 1555 – Gemma Frisius, Dutch physician, mathematician, and cartographer (b. 1508)
- 1555 – Henry II of Navarre (b. 1503)
- 1595 – Valens Acidalius, German poet and critic (b. 1567)
- 1595 – Philip Neri, Italian priest and saint (b. 1515)
- 1632 – Adam Tanner, Austrian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1572)
- 1681 – Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spanish poet and playwright (b. 1600)
- 1693 – Madame de La Fayette, French author (b. 1634)
- 1741 – Daniel Ernst Jablonski, German theologian (b. 1660)
- 1805 – William Paley, English priest and philosopher (b. 1743)
- 1848 – Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, German author and composer (b. 1797)
- 1919 – Madam C. J. Walker, American businesswoman and philanthropist, founded the Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company (b. 1867)
- 1965 – Sonny Boy Williamson II, American singer-songwriter and harmonica player (b. 1908)
- 2005 – Graham Kennedy, Australian actor and game show host (b. 1934)
- 2011 – Terry Jenner, Australian cricketer and coach (b. 1944)
- 2014 – Bunny Yeager, American model and photographer (b. 1929)
May 25: First Patriotic Government in Argentina (1810); Independence Day in Jordan (1946); Memorial Day in the United States (2015); Towel Day
- 1644 – Ming general Wu Sangui let the invading Manchus pass through the Great Wall of China(pictured), allowing them to capture Beijing, leading to the foundation of the Qing dynasty.
- 1810 – The Primera Junta, the first independent government in Argentina, was established in an open cabildo in Buenos Aires, marking the end of the May Revolution.
- 1878 – Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore opened at the Opera Comique in London.
- 1979 – Six-year-old Etan Patz disappeared on his way to school in New York City, and later became the first missing child to have his picture featured on milk cartons.
- 2013 – Naxalite insurgents of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) attacked a convoy of Indian National Congress leaders in the state of Chhattisgarh, causing at least 27 deaths.
Wu fought for himself. You are prime in importance. I am an irate king! Please, give us back Etan. Dispose of the communists. Let's party.
Tim Blair 2018
FAILEY FOLEY FIRES UP THEN FOLDS
On Wednesday, NSW Labor leader Luke Foley discussed in admirably direct terms the pressures facing certain Western Sydney.
ISLAM IS EVERYTHING
According to various people, Islam is not just a religion. It’s also a race.
YOU JUST CAN’T GET GOOD HELP THESE DAYS
Labor MP Linda Burney’s office this week issued a transcript of a Sky News interview in which not only Burney’s answers were altered but so too were questions from David Speers.
SUMMIT CANCELLED! NORTH KOREA SCHOOLED BY ARTFUL DEALER
UPDATED Trump and Kim won't be meeting after all: “In a stunning move, Donald Trump has cancelled his summit with Kim Jong-un blaming ‘tremendous anger and open hostility’ towards the US.”
WHITE FLIGHT FOLEY FIGHT
UPDATED NSW Labor leader Luke Foley yesterday spoke to the Daily Telegraph about the pressures associated with placing thousands of Syrian and Iraqi refugees in Western Sydney, and the resultant “white flight” among long-term residents.
SYDNEY’S SECRET SHAME
Tim Blair – Monday, May 25, 2015 (4:25pm)
Recent visitors to central Sydney will have noticed an alarming increase in the population of despairing souls wandering aimlessly through the streets or slumped in doorways.
Their eyes are blank and their hearts broken. Some fashion simple signs pleading for donations from the many strangers who pass them by. Others, utterly defeated, simply try to sleep through their misery.
Continue reading 'SYDNEY’S SECRET SHAME'
===
ALIEN CULTURE STARTLES SENATOR
Tim Blair – Monday, May 25, 2015 (4:00pm)
Our favourite Green has her say on today’s big political news:
If you work at the Immigration Department, your time has run out.The department has a new dress code and comfort dressing is out.“There are certain things that wouldn’t constitute professional business dress and that would be things like jeans, thongs, ugg boots and so on,” the department’s Jan Dorrington told a Senate committee.“I couldn’t imagine that many people would be rocking up to work in ugg boots,” asked Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.“Ah, you’d be surprised, Senator,” Ms Dorrington replied.
She usually is.
(Via J.F. Beck)
===
DWARF RIGHTS NOW
Tim Blair – Monday, May 25, 2015 (2:52pm)
No injustice escapes the mournful scrutiny of Britain’s Guardian newspaper. Lately the crusading journal has turned its attention to the topic of human rights abuses in fairy tales.
It turns out there are quite a few of them, from forced marriage in Rumpelstiltskin to the inadequate legal system depicted in Snow White. Plus there is institutional discrimination across the board.
Children’s author Abie Longstaff describes her examination of these abuses as “lighthearted”, but it doesn’t come across that way. “Children often end up asking me questions about ethics and rights,” she wrote. “They want to know why the witch is in jail in one book, and out again in the next.”
Continue reading 'DWARF RIGHTS NOW'
===
LOSE THAT LEECHING FEELING
Tim Blair – Monday, May 25, 2015 (2:04pm)
Excellent advice from arts practitioner Ted Nugent:
Nobody owes you jacksquat. You will either earn your own way, or feel like a helpless leech. There is no middle ground.
Incidentally, it has now been seven days since Ben Eltham vowed to expose all the factual inaccuracies in last week’s column.
===
DREAM COME TRUE
Tim Blair – Monday, May 25, 2015 (1:59am)
Some Malaysians have fled their homeland following the country’s lurch towards hardline Islam. Others have left because Malaysia isn’t Islamic enough:
Police have observed a recent trend among Malaysians joining the terror group the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq: they are young families willing to give up everything here for a life under a caliphate because they think Malaysia is not Islamic enough, a senior counter-terrorism official said.“To these families, it was a ‘dream come true’ to have migrated from Malaysia, which they label as ‘taghut’, to a pure Islamic government under a caliph’s rule,” Police Counter-Terrorism Division principal assistant director Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said.“Taghut" is an Arabic term referring to idolatry or the act of worshipping other things instead of Allah.
Interestingly, those joining Islamic State are not poor, alienated or marginalised:
One of the three families police have information on include a woman called Aminah, who had been living in Penang with her husband and their six-year-old daughter …Ayob said information on Aminah’s background showed that she and her family, including her parents and siblings, were “normal Muslims” and had no tendency to sympathise with extremist ideology.She had a comfortable life, running one of her father’s six mini-markets together with her husband.
(Via Ganesh)
===
ANZAC 500
Tim Blair – Monday, May 25, 2015 (1:01am)
A four-member Anzac contingent bookends this morning’s Indianapolis 500 – former winner and pole sitter Scott Dixon together with Will Power on the front row, while Ryan Briscoe and James Davison begin the race from the final row.
Briscoe was the last to join this squad, called up after James Hinchcliffe nearly bled to death following a practice crash. The highest-qualifying American is Marco Andretti in eighth, behind an Australian-born Kiwi, an Australian, two Frenchmen, two Brazilians and a Brit. Two female drivers are running in 2015: rapid Englishwoman Pippa Mann and even more rapid Swiss Simona de Silvestro.
===
Journalists living where their political heart is
Andrew Bolt May 25 2015 (2:00pm)
If postcodes are a sign of politics - and in the inner suburbs they often are - then this list of where Victorian journalists live says plenty:
UPDATE
More links and my discussion with Nick about this here.
From Nick Cater, who has found the same pattern in Sydney of journalists congregating in heartland suburbs for the Greens and Labor.
UPDATE
More links and my discussion with Nick about this here.
===
Troubled water
Andrew Bolt May 25 2015 (11:28am)
Fascinating interview with Art Garfunkle. Success isn’t often the compensation most people think
===
Would Errol back me if I accuse the ABC of “progressivist” bias instead?
Andrew Bolt May 25 2015 (9:44am)
I guess it’s progress that Leftists now feel insulted when called Leftists, but just calling themselves “progressives” instead changes nothing. It merely betrays a conceit.
Errol Simper is a gentleman, but I fear he today lets himself down by this very transparent no-but-yes defence of ABC bias:
Please.
UPDATE
The ABC gets huffy at what’s clearly a joke.
UPDATE
How funny. The ABC presents a two-part series on people falsely predicting catastrophes:
But, no. Our “progressive” ABC included just this single mention of global warming, only to confirm that this was one catastrophism we should take seriously:
UPDATE
Chris Kenny:
Errol Simper is a gentleman, but I fear he today lets himself down by this very transparent no-but-yes defence of ABC bias:
But was Bolt justified in branding virtually the entire ABC as pro-Left? .... The Scribe and (probably) millions of others would say it isn’t biased. The ABC is (too) politically correct, both in its story selection and language, can sometimes be adolescent, is self-consciously “progressive” and besotted with social media. But instances of raw, naked, obvious, indefensible political bias are difficult to identify or sustain.So it’s too “politically correct” and “self-consciously ‘progressive’”, yet somehow not of the Left?
Please.
UPDATE
The ABC gets huffy at what’s clearly a joke.
UPDATE
How funny. The ABC presents a two-part series on people falsely predicting catastrophes:
A series like that must surely discuss global warming alarmism, right? Remember how we were warned the future of humanity was “in the balance”, the planet’s very life was at a “tipping point” and humans could even be reduced to just ”a few breeding pairs ... in the Arctic” by the end of the century?
But, no. Our “progressive” ABC included just this single mention of global warming, only to confirm that this was one catastrophism we should take seriously:
Against that there’s things like climate change, which we definitely should be worrying about.How now, Errol?
UPDATE
Chris Kenny:
With Armageddon upon us, you can’t help but wonder why their ABC types are so sheepish about their political leanings. When Andrew Bolt rattled off a quick list of leftist presenters last week (we could call them progressives if they preferred) it triggered much indignation. Bolt could have kept going, but it seems his point was made. My colleague Errol Simper ... is just one of the mob who denied a leftist bent three times before the cock crowed. Apparently, for all we know, Jon Faine, Tony Jones, Virginia Trioli, Barrie Cassidy and Emma Alberici could be National Party voters or anonymous donors to the IPA. Or, all things being equal, they could be political eunuchs, as the ABC’s editorial policies ridiculously demand.(Thanks to readers Tim and John.)
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Don’t pretend to be compassionate at our borders
Andrew Bolt May 25 2015 (8:12am)
CAN this brainless moralising over our borders stop before even more people — us included — get hurt?
Twice last week, politicians and activists told us to show “compassion”, of the reckless kind.
First example: three Australians who went to Syria to help jihadist groups like Islamic State now want a deal to come home.
They don’t want to be jailed for aiding groups that have beheaded civilians, crucified enemies and captured women for rape.
They want to be welcomed instead as reformed returnees who can help stop other Muslims from copying them.
I thought they’d do that best by being locked up. There’s your deterrent, right?
But, no, they want a softer gig, and — amazingly — plenty of people have backed them.
(Read full article here.)
Twice last week, politicians and activists told us to show “compassion”, of the reckless kind.
First example: three Australians who went to Syria to help jihadist groups like Islamic State now want a deal to come home.
They don’t want to be jailed for aiding groups that have beheaded civilians, crucified enemies and captured women for rape.
They want to be welcomed instead as reformed returnees who can help stop other Muslims from copying them.
I thought they’d do that best by being locked up. There’s your deterrent, right?
But, no, they want a softer gig, and — amazingly — plenty of people have backed them.
(Read full article here.)
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Ireland’s new hell-fire preachers
Andrew Bolt May 25 2015 (8:11am)
Brendan O’Neill says the Irish haven’t voted for tolerance in backing same-sex marriage:
On the contrary, the most striking thing about the Yes camp has been its intolerance: its hostility to dissent; its demonisation of its opponents; the casualness with which it wrote off swathes of Ireland as bigots, cretins, unfit for modern public life. This is the disturbing irony of the Yes camp: it presents itself as the historic antidote to the backwardness of old Catholic Ireland, yet it rehabilitates, in updated lingo, the intolerance of Old Ireland.(Thanks to reader berfel and Correllio.)
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But what was there for George Pell to hush up?
Andrew Bolt May 25 2015 (7:54am)
Many journalists last week leaped to the assumption that Cardinal George Pell probably offered a bribe to shut up a victim of abuse by another priest.
The evidence suggests they are wrong, given police were already onto that priest:
The evidence suggests they are wrong, given police were already onto that priest:
In last night’s Channel 9’s 60 Minutes program, David Ridsdale, nephew of convicted pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale, said Dr Pell asked him what it would take to keep him quiet during a phone conversation in January 1993. He said this was to stop him taking his complaints of abuse by his uncle to police.In fact, a Sunday Age report in 1994 suggests Gerald Ridsdale had been charged months before that January 1993 call:
Dr Pell has claimed these allegations are not only untrue but implausible, as by January 1993 he ``had no reason to believe that Ridsdale was innocent of the allegations”. Indeed, Gerald Ridsdale had already been under investigation by police as early as August the previous year, as part of the Victorian police’s Operation Paradox campaign, and Dr Pell was aware of this.
...the past finally did catch up with him when one of the Edenhope victims telephoned Operation Paradox - a Victoria Police child sex abuse phone-in - in August 1992. Three months later, while on appointment at St John of God Hospital in Richmond, Sydney, he was charged.(Thanks to reader Howard Juno.)
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$14 billion for richer Australians to pretend they’re saving the planet
Andrew Bolt May 25 2015 (7:48am)
Poorer Australians are giving richer Australians $14 billion to subsidise a warm inner glow - and feed a fantasy that they are saving the planet:
The costs of programs to encourage the installation of rooftop solar systems have outweighed the benefits by $9 billion and will result in a $14bn subsidy being paid by consumers who do not have panels to those who do…(Thanks to reader WaG311.)
The report by Grattan energy program director Tony Wood and energy fellow David Blowers says while solar rooftop programs have cut emissions it has been expensive — the equivalent of a carbon price of $170 a tonne…
By comparison, the Gillard government’s carbon price was $24.15 a tonne when it was repealed and the Abbott government paid an average price of $13.95 a tonne for carbon abatement at its first emissions reduction auction last month.
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Welfare for cruises
Andrew Bolt May 25 2015 (7:41am)
Our welfare payments are providing some people with more than a safety net:
Australia’s booming cruise industry seems to have happened too fast for Federal Government agencies, unable to keep up with passenger arrivals.But still not generous enough for some, who want the government to divert money from investment in our future into welfare for today. Take Jacqui Lambie:
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection has revealed it’s undertaking analysis to find the cause of incorrect data, which is leaving hundreds of passengers listed as overseas, weeks after their return from a cruise.
NSW woman Lyn Anderson last week shone a light on the problem that resulted in her carer’s allowance being suspended by Centrelink after a cruise to Bali on the Diamond Princess… A Melbourne man who did not want to be named, returned from a cruise on the Queen Mary 2 in late March, and a month later found his pension card had been cancelled.
Jacqui Lambie has urged Tony Abbott to start “throwing” money out there to build infrastructure, but wants a signature $5 billion state infrastructure scheme cancelled to fund welfare spending.(Thanks to readers AHP and WaG311.)
Interviewed on Sky News’s Australian Agenda, the independent Tasmanian senator proposed a six-month, $25,000 paid parental leave scheme and called for iron ore royalties to be poured into a sovereign wealth fund to top-up pensions…
“We have the sale of the assets to states which is bribed to the states. There’s $5 billion there,” she said.
The $5bn Asset Recycling Fund provides a 15 per cent benefit to state governments that privatise old assets to fund new infrastructure. It is part of a $50 billion infrastructure plan.
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Shorten’s laziness exposed by Rohingya crisis
Andrew Bolt May 25 2015 (7:26am)
LABOR leader Bill Shorten has been caught out badly by the Rohingya boat crisis.
It’s exposed his worst failure — not fixing the two policies that most crippled Labor at the last election.
One is the hated carbon tax, which Shorten last week again promised to bring back in some form. Suicidal, but Shorten arguably had little option given many in Labor fervently believe in the global warming scare.
But Shorten could have fixed Labor’s other policy disaster — its opposition to turning boats of illegal immigrants back to Indonesia.
(Read full article here.)
It’s exposed his worst failure — not fixing the two policies that most crippled Labor at the last election.
One is the hated carbon tax, which Shorten last week again promised to bring back in some form. Suicidal, but Shorten arguably had little option given many in Labor fervently believe in the global warming scare.
But Shorten could have fixed Labor’s other policy disaster — its opposition to turning boats of illegal immigrants back to Indonesia.
(Read full article here.)
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The US is losing this war
Andrew Bolt May 25 2015 (6:59am)
Disaster in Syria:
Witnesses said the streets of Palmyra are strewn with the mutilated bodies of state employees, including the head of the nursing department and her family, along with “government loyalists”.Surrender in Iraq:
“The terrorists have killed more than 400 people ... and mutilated their bodies, under the pretext that they cooperated with the government and did not follow orders,” Syria’s state news agency said...
Pentagon chief Ashton Carter has accused Iraqi forces of having “failed to fight” in Ramadi, which has fallen to IS militants.
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Work for the state, quit early and cheat. Greece explained
Andrew Bolt May 25 2015 (6:20am)
Greece’s financial crisis explained in 20 graphs.
(Thanks to reader ConC.)
(Thanks to reader ConC.)
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It's not just about selling books. Here's why authors should embrace Twitter: http://bit.ly/1SomKVI
Posted by Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing on Sunday, 24 May 2015
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Check this out..
Posted by David Wolfe on Thursday, 19 March 2015
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I won the View Bug Earth Day photo contest! This image is from Death Valley early this year. Check out the other...
Posted by Chris Van Loan on Tuesday, 30 September 2014
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TWEET BEAT
Tim Blair – Saturday, May 25, 2013 (3:01pm)
Happy news for a libelled Lord:
Sally Bercow, the wife of the Commons Speaker, libelled Lord McAlpine by suggesting that he was an alleged paedophile on Twitter, the High Court has ruled.Mrs Bercow, a Labour party activist, tweeted: “Why is Lord McAlpine trending? *innocent face*.”She later apologised publicly to the peer in four tweets and in private letters. But she maintained that her tweet was foolish rather than libelous …It is understood she will pay significant damages and costs. Lord McAlpine had sued her for up to £50,000.
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LEAF SENTENCE - DAY FOUR
Tim Blair – Saturday, May 25, 2013 (1:17pm)
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STILL WORTHLESS AFTER ALL THESE YEARS
Tim Blair – Saturday, May 25, 2013 (4:53am)
Laurie Oakes outlines the case against ABC privatisation:
Apart from anything else, who would buy something that makes no money?
Well, us. We pay more than $1,000,000,000 every year for something Laurie rates as a financial zero, despite more than eight decades of ABC prominence.
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The Bolt Report tomorrow
Andrew Bolt May 25 2013 (2:17pm)
On The Bolt Report on Network Ten at 10am tomorrow: Opposition industry spokesman Sophie Mirabella, Peter Reith and Cassandra Wilkinson.
The Ford collapse, the Liberals acting Labor-lite, the trouble with Islam and the latest flapping of global warming vultures.
I’d like to talk about the Adam Goodes incident, too, but suspect it doesn’t really fit the format, And with just 22 minutes of time ... Feel free to advise.
The twitter feed.
The place the videos appear.
The Ford collapse, the Liberals acting Labor-lite, the trouble with Islam and the latest flapping of global warming vultures.
I’d like to talk about the Adam Goodes incident, too, but suspect it doesn’t really fit the format, And with just 22 minutes of time ... Feel free to advise.
The twitter feed.
The place the videos appear.
===
AWU scandal: police check Gillard’s claim
Andrew Bolt May 25 2013 (11:35am)
The police investigation continues:
(Thanks to readers Spin Baby, Spin and Internet Nutjob.)
PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has been drawn further into the union fraud investigation involving her former boyfriend, as Victorian police examine her radio account of a 1993 property transaction.The second link explains the interest.
News Limited can reveal Australian Workers Union offices in Perth and Melbourne have also been searched as fraud squad detectives step up their probe into the slush fund scandal.
Ms Gillard has vigorously denied any wrongdoing in relation to the scandal.
The Victorian detective leading the investigation - which is expected to involve up to 100 witnesses - has obtained an official copy of an interview during which Ms Gillard is quizzed about her involvement in a Melbourne property sale. Police also sought a supporting statement from the Sydney radio broadcaster Ben Fordham.
Ms Gillard - a former partner at Slater & Gordon - was legal adviser to Mr Wilson and his then deputy Ralph Blewitt when they purchased a Fitzroy, Melbourne, property for $230,000 in 1993, with $67,722.30 coming from the AWU Workplace Reform Association.
Ms Gillard witnessed a power of attorney document which allowed Mr Wilson to purchase the property on behalf of Mr Blewitt. During a feisty interview with Fordham on March 7, the PM insisted she “absolutely” witnessed the legal document, dated February 4 1993, in the same office as Mr Blewitt. It is understood that Mr Fordham spent around 20 minutes with Victorian police on Wednesday during which he handed over a recording of his March 7 interview.
(Thanks to readers Spin Baby, Spin and Internet Nutjob.)
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Goodes should not let one Collingwood teenager have this power
Andrew Bolt May 25 2013 (11:27am)
I abhor racism and despise racists. In fact, I consider people who shout racist abuse not just vicious but so stupid that I’d be mad to let them determine anything in my life.
In this case, I am uncomfortable that one teenage girl with a potty mouth is given the power to overshadow a game and a celebration witnessed by hundreds of thousands of people at the ground or on TV:
We are now jumping at shadows. To believe we can abolish racism so completely that not even a single teenager, carried away in the heat of a moment, will ever say anything racist is foolish. It is the plan, maybe, of a totalitarian or social engineer, but to react like this is not the act of wise people who understand the crooked timber of humanity.
She’s just a dumb teenager, for heaven’s sake.
Yes, to single her out for group hate may be excused as a valuable teaching moment, although I do wonder what effect this will have on the girl and her family.
To have ignored it and hailed the night as a triumph of reconciliation might have achieved far more that’s good.
UPDATE
Reader Dr Geoff:
I have no problem with Goodes wanting her shut up or evicted. I just think turning this into such a massive symbol or cause celebre lacks a sense of proportion. I repeat: she is just one teenage girl, and we don’t even know yet what she said.
Reader The Evil Right:
Barry Cable, an AFL great with an Aboriginal mother, is as worried as I am that the AFL’s “reconciliation” push is actually deeply divisive. I’d even call it racist:
I know the insult is gross, but I still think the reaction is out of proportion, given the perpetrator is one 13-year-old girl:
How can this be allowed to make the game meaningingless?
And what on earth are police thinking?
I do not defend for an instant the insult. But I suspect the person who will be most scarred by the incident is a 13-year-old girl so publicly identfied and vilified.
(Thanks to reader Kiwi.)
In this case, I am uncomfortable that one teenage girl with a potty mouth is given the power to overshadow a game and a celebration witnessed by hundreds of thousands of people at the ground or on TV:
A RACIAL slur directed at Brownlow medallist Adam Goodes by a Collingwood supporter soured Sydney’s 47-point win at the MCG.I am not asking Goodes to accept racist abuse from anyone. But how can one stupid teenager outweigh all the praise heaped on Goodes personally and as a man of Aboriginal ancestry in a game that’s part of an Indigenous round and attended by tens of thousands?
Angered Pies president Eddie McGuire sought out Goodes in the Swans rooms immediately after the game to apologise “on behalf of Collingwood and on behalf of football”.
The AFL this week is celebrating Indigenous Round. Goodes will hold a press conference today at 11am to discuss the issue and AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou will also take questions. Goodes pointed out the fan - allegedly a teenage girl - to security staff in the dying minutes of the game. The fan was escorted from the ground by police.
We are now jumping at shadows. To believe we can abolish racism so completely that not even a single teenager, carried away in the heat of a moment, will ever say anything racist is foolish. It is the plan, maybe, of a totalitarian or social engineer, but to react like this is not the act of wise people who understand the crooked timber of humanity.
She’s just a dumb teenager, for heaven’s sake.
Yes, to single her out for group hate may be excused as a valuable teaching moment, although I do wonder what effect this will have on the girl and her family.
To have ignored it and hailed the night as a triumph of reconciliation might have achieved far more that’s good.
UPDATE
Reader Dr Geoff:
I think you sum it up when you say Goodes should not have to accept racial abuse. You often bemoan the lack of consequences for people’s behaviour, well here you have a guy who decided he didn’t need to be abused in his workplace, especially with racist taunts and he did something about it. Good on him.I actually agree with everything you say, Geoff. It is not a free speech issue (provided she is not prosecuted) and she should be reprimanded and (almost certainly) evicted - although it’s yet to be established what she actually said.
Let’s be clear- this girl was not arrested and she won’t go to court (hopefully!) so this is not a free speech issue. She was simply removed from a private venue and about time. I have essentially stopped going to live football (in my case rugby league) because of the foul language and abuse hurled in the presence of families and young children. I just wished more people were removed because of their behaviour. It is a bit sad the girl was so young, but perhaps its a good thing to show the younger generation they don’t have the right to just sit and abuse people no matter how accepted it once was.
I have no problem with Goodes wanting her shut up or evicted. I just think turning this into such a massive symbol or cause celebre lacks a sense of proportion. I repeat: she is just one teenage girl, and we don’t even know yet what she said.
Reader The Evil Right:
I am not defending the girls as I think there is a probability that the player would in no way make it up. I personally think she should be made to actually apologise to the player etc…UPDATE
What surprised me was that the girl (at 14yrs) clearly starting to cry, had her face spread over the TV, which I am sure makes for great ratings but should it not have been blurred? Considering we go to such lengths to protect the identity of young people accused of bashings, stabbings etc. I do not know the girl but I think she might have been shown her error quite easily without such celebration from the media and is likely going to be the target of bullying.
Barry Cable, an AFL great with an Aboriginal mother, is as worried as I am that the AFL’s “reconciliation” push is actually deeply divisive. I’d even call it racist:
WA football great Barry Cable has warned the AFL to act with caution when considering whether to field an all-indigenous side for the International Rules series against Ireland later this year…UPDATE
The AFL confirmed that chief executive Andrew Demetriou, who arrived in Perth yesterday in the lead-up to this weekend’s indigenous round celebrations, had asked the GAA [Gaelic Athletic Association] to consider the initiative…
“If we’re going to keep going down the track we’re going down, which is getting as many indigenous boys as we can to play the game, it is also very important that they must mix and be in the mainstream ... that’s the key,” Cable said.
“You’re keeping a wedge between the two, so it’s about what you’re trying to achieve by doing it.
“All the players in the AFL are the best and we don’t need to put a wedge between them by doing something like that. “All players, indigenous or non-indigenous, accept the fact that they all work together and play together and that’s fantastic… Reconciliation means that we all join together and we all help and support each other.”
I know the insult is gross, but I still think the reaction is out of proportion, given the perpetrator is one 13-year-old girl:
Veteran Swans forward Adam Goodes says his side’s famous win over Collingwood at the MCG on Friday night “means nothing” after he was racially abused by a Magpies supporter…To repeat: the girl is just 13. She has rung Goodes to apologise. Collingwood president Eddie McGuire has apologised. Thousands of people have expressed their support for Goodes over this. Goodes himself conceded the girl probably didn’t know what she was saying. Did she even mean “ape” in a racially derogatory way?
“I’m pretty gutted to be honest,” Goodes told reporters in Melbourne on Saturday morning....
.
“To come to the boundary line and hear a 13 year old girl call me an ‘ape’, and it’s not the first time on a footy field that I’ve been referred to as a ‘monkey’ or an ‘ape’, it was shattering.” “It’s not her fault. She’s 13, she’s still so innocent. I don’t put any blame on her...”
How can this be allowed to make the game meaningingless?
And what on earth are police thinking?
Goodes said that Victoria Police asked if he would like to press charges ...Police were seriously considering charges against a 13-year-old for calling a man an “ape”? Are we insane?
I do not defend for an instant the insult. But I suspect the person who will be most scarred by the incident is a 13-year-old girl so publicly identfied and vilified.
(Thanks to reader Kiwi.)
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Gillard fought what she cried over
Andrew Bolt May 25 2013 (11:19am)
Hypocrite:
In Gillard’s position, I would have cried, too.
WHEN Julia Gillard was moved to tears last week as she introduced the increase in the Medicare levy to raise funds for the DisabilityCare scheme, some of her colleagues warmly embraced her and kissed her cheek.Labor must consider. Had it declared that the disabled, not climate change, was the “great moral challenge”, where would it be now? The billions it wasted on useless global programs could already be pouring into a disability scheme today - not merely promised for one that won’t be fully running for another six years. Labor wouldn’t have trashed its credibility on a broken promise but would have delivered something real and honorable.
Other Labor MPs were cynical, because the Prime Minister had fought the idea of a levy to pay for disability insurance “every inch of the way” for political reasons over the previous 18 months.
They were despairing because they knew the scheme was late in coming; because Ms Gillard had knocked back repeated appeals from her colleagues in cabinet, in the 2011-12 budget process and in face-to-face meetings for a levy to fund the disability insurance scheme. Cabinet ministers urging a levy were rebuffed because of the political danger of introducing another “great big new tax”, after Ms Gillard broke an election pledge on the carbon tax.
In Gillard’s position, I would have cried, too.
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Too white to watch
Andrew Bolt May 25 2013 (11:04am)
Sydney Morning Herald writer Clementine Ford singles out ”five of the most awful shows ever made that were once ... thought hip”.
A strange - dare I say racist - objection keeps cropping up:
(Thanks to reader James.)
A strange - dare I say racist - objection keeps cropping up:
1. FriendsI sense a certain once-fashionable self-loathing. Or is it self-preening? They are almost indistinguishable now in certain circles.
Long before Girls was accused of whitewashing New York, six friends lived within a stone’s throw from each other in one of the most expensive cities on earth…
This laissez faire approach to money probably also explains why none of them ever locked their doors. But in a city entirely stocked with white people, why would you need to worry about crime?
While it was screening, Friends seemed relatively inoffensive. But rewatching it shows just how conservative it really was....
3. Dawson’s Creek
The theme of white privilege continues with a show which is probably singlehandedly responsible for the fact that any of us have to know who Katie Holmes is right now. The eponymous Dawson had the kind of floppy blonde hair that I guess middle-aged male TV executives think girls like…
4. Beverly Hills 90210 This will be an unpopular inclusion… But it was still dominated by rich white folks battling rich white folk problems...
(Thanks to reader James.)
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Tim Mathieson spending more time alone in a caravan
Andrew Bolt May 25 2013 (10:53am)
The First Bloke is spending a bit of time on his own now:
Four months ago, Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s partner, Tim Mathieson, quietly bought a bush block on the bank of the Goulburn River near Jamieson, in north-east Victoria.
Mr Mathieson has since placed a caravan on the secluded and partly forested block, which backs on to the river as it enters Lake Eildon.
Between periods in residence at The Lodge in Canberra, Mr Mathieson - known as ‘’the First Bloke’’ - has been spending time alone and with his mates on the 1150-square-metre block…
According to a listing on a real estate website, the property at Jamieson ... was sold on January 14 this year… It was listed in the bargain price range of $105,000-$125,000… The ‘’First Bloke’’ ... has spent the past week touring with a friend in the United States, where he visited one of his daughters.
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Why Laurie Oakes is wrong, and Tony Abbott is right to spurn my “advice”
Andrew Bolt May 25 2013 (10:52am)
Laurie Oakes makes two fundamental errors - but an unfortunately common ones among Australian journalists:
Let me explain the difference. As a political adviser I would tell Abbott to indeed promise nearly no change in IR. But as a commentator I know, as do most Liberals, that change is necessary.
As a political adviser I would tell Abbott to announces as few cuts as he could possibly get away with. As a commentator I know Australia faces a potentially grave fall in national income, and the cuts Abbott has made so far are peanuts to the ones he may eventually be driven to.
Here is an even clearer example. Almost every Liberal knows Abbott’s parental leave plan is too generous, too expensive, too hard on bosses and too unfair to stay-at-home mothers. But many also know it has been invaluable politically in helping Abbott counter the “misogyny” allegation and showing himself as a “moderate”. As a political adviser I would back Abbott plan; as a commentator I must call it bad public policy.
In my column I did not say Abbott would win or win better if he did what I thought necessary for our economy and our society. I said only what that “necessary” was.
But Oakes also makes a second, related, error. He suggests that my views should be ignored as being “out on the edge”. In particular, I “will have to get used to the idea that Abbott feels strongly and has a passionate interest in the situation of our indigenous population”, and therefore accept his backing for race-based changes to the Constitution.
What Oakes is suggesting is that politicians should accept the mainstream views (as defined, in the main, by journalists such as, well, Oakes) and that “ideologues” (like me) should simply “get used” to whatever our assumed champions believe or espouse at a particular time. Leave the debate to the inner circle.
This is not how reform comes, or how reforming politicians interact with “ideologues” in the media. Nor, I believe, is that how politicians survive in the long term.
As I explained in introducing Abbott at the IPA anniversary dinner, Abbott must operate within the cultural space allowed him. My role is to help expand the cultural space so that what was once thought too hard, too risky, becomes the easy and sane. It is also to point to what needs doing, before most people are ready for the bother.
Let me illustrate what I mean with an example of a position I have long advocated - and which Oakes once similarly painted as out on the edge. Impossible. Political suicide.
In 2009, Oakes insisted the Liberals were finished if they defied Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull and voted against Kevin Rudd’s plans for an emissions trading scheme, as was urged by sceptic and powerbroker Nick Minchin:
Yet we “ideologues” out “on the edge” warned Rudd’s policy was ludicrous and would collapse under its own contradictions, particularly when the costs became apparent and gains proved a mirage. We said Gillard’s tax was a betrayal, a con and a drag on the economy which would ultimately be unsustainable.
Since then, of course, what was “out on the edge” has become mainstream. Rudd and Turnbull have lost their jobs, and Gillard soon will - in large part from listening to the likes of Oakes. Abbott is about to become Prime Minister after heeding the climate sceptic “ideologues”.
Oakes is now making a similar mistake over the constitutional recognition of Aborigines - and so, alas, is Abbott. What seems a mainstream and passionately held view today will seem foolish tomorrow, and all the fine intentions will lead only to division and disaster. I could not live with myself if I did not point this out and try to avert the danger.
I am quite aware that to an Oakes and his “very senior Liberal”, what I say seems “out on the edge”. But Abbott would be very mistaken to ignore what I say, even if he were politically smart - for now - to do the opposite, and appeal to the likes of Oakes as a “moderate”.
The difference is this: Abbott wants Abbott to win the election. I want my ideas to win, and not just at this election.
And guess what, Laurie: in the end there may not be as much contradiction between Abbott and me as you suggest. It may just be a question of time.
Time - the element conservatives understand so much better than the Left.
IT was quite a unity ticket. Mark Latham and Andrew Bolt getting stuck into Tony Abbott on the same day - and for the same reasons.Mistake one is Oakes confusing my arguments and observations for advice. Similarly, his “senior Liberal” source is an idiot - and offensive - for assuming my role is that of a “political adviser”.
There was Bolt expressing disappointment at Abbott’s failure to embrace a radically conservative agenda and accusing the Liberal leader of “campaigning as Labor-lite”.
Over in The Financial Review, Latham was sneering at Abbott for not setting out “an alternative vision for smaller government"…
Clearly Bolt was attempting a bit of spine stiffening on behalf of hard-edged conservatives who feel Abbott is starting to let them down.
But elections are won in the middle, not out on the edge - right or left. Abbott knows it…
Bolt faults Abbott for promising no big changes to industrial relations policy, supporting a referendum to recognise Aborigines in the constitution, and refusing to even consider privatising the ABC. As a senior Liberal said yesterday: “Andrew Bolt is a terrific polemicist but not a great political adviser"…
As for constitutional recognition of the first Australians, Bolt will have to get used to the idea that Abbott feels strongly and has a passionate interest in the situation of our indigenous population… So Abbott, if he is smart, will ignore the ideologues.
Let me explain the difference. As a political adviser I would tell Abbott to indeed promise nearly no change in IR. But as a commentator I know, as do most Liberals, that change is necessary.
As a political adviser I would tell Abbott to announces as few cuts as he could possibly get away with. As a commentator I know Australia faces a potentially grave fall in national income, and the cuts Abbott has made so far are peanuts to the ones he may eventually be driven to.
Here is an even clearer example. Almost every Liberal knows Abbott’s parental leave plan is too generous, too expensive, too hard on bosses and too unfair to stay-at-home mothers. But many also know it has been invaluable politically in helping Abbott counter the “misogyny” allegation and showing himself as a “moderate”. As a political adviser I would back Abbott plan; as a commentator I must call it bad public policy.
In my column I did not say Abbott would win or win better if he did what I thought necessary for our economy and our society. I said only what that “necessary” was.
But Oakes also makes a second, related, error. He suggests that my views should be ignored as being “out on the edge”. In particular, I “will have to get used to the idea that Abbott feels strongly and has a passionate interest in the situation of our indigenous population”, and therefore accept his backing for race-based changes to the Constitution.
What Oakes is suggesting is that politicians should accept the mainstream views (as defined, in the main, by journalists such as, well, Oakes) and that “ideologues” (like me) should simply “get used” to whatever our assumed champions believe or espouse at a particular time. Leave the debate to the inner circle.
This is not how reform comes, or how reforming politicians interact with “ideologues” in the media. Nor, I believe, is that how politicians survive in the long term.
As I explained in introducing Abbott at the IPA anniversary dinner, Abbott must operate within the cultural space allowed him. My role is to help expand the cultural space so that what was once thought too hard, too risky, becomes the easy and sane. It is also to point to what needs doing, before most people are ready for the bother.
Let me illustrate what I mean with an example of a position I have long advocated - and which Oakes once similarly painted as out on the edge. Impossible. Political suicide.
In 2009, Oakes insisted the Liberals were finished if they defied Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull and voted against Kevin Rudd’s plans for an emissions trading scheme, as was urged by sceptic and powerbroker Nick Minchin:
Laurie Oakes argued on 21 November that ‘if Senator Minchin wins, the Liberal party loses’ and accused Minchin of doing ‘massive damage to the party’. His prediction that ‘Mr Abbott would be electoral poison if he came to the leadership as the creature of Senator Minchin’ has been somewhat undermined by a string of results from all major published opinion polls since Abbott was made leader. Oakes went even further in a later column, calling Minchin an alien ‘from another planet’ because of his climate change scepticism.Oakes was sure, along with most the political-media class, that the hard-edged ideologues were wrong about global warming, and the survival of the Liberals depended on listening to mainstream moderates:
Laurie Oakes in November 2009 thought Kevin Rudd’s talk of carbon dioxide cuts could be a winner:Oakes was not alone:
Kevin Rudd and Company can hardly believe their luck… Unless (Opposition Leader Malcolm) Turnbull can bring the climate change dissidents to heel, the Liberals will face humiliation at the polls…Laurie Oakes in July [2011] thought Gillard’s talk of a carbon dioxide tax could at last be a winner:
IT should be possible to sell Julia Gillard’s climate change package to voters. Despite Tony Abbott’s alarmist claims, it can be portrayed as a good news story… I can reveal that work done by Treasury in final preparations for Sunday’s big announcement shows that over a million more households will benefit from over-compensation via tax cuts and extra payments than was first thought.
Paul Kelly in 2008:Every Canberra correspondent, like Oakes, publicly backed Rudd’s emissions trading scheme, just as they almost to a man backed Julia Gillard’s carbon tax - her most fatal mistake. Polls showed overwhelming public support that “something” be done about global warming.
Any prudent Australian government should move to put an emissions trading scheme in place. Both Rudd and (Opposition Leader Brendan) Nelson remain committed to this concept… Emissions trading looms as Nelson’s ultimate test: it is either the path to a stronger Coalition performance or the issue on which it blows out its political brains.Paul Kelly in 2009:
By that I mean that I believe that the (Liberal) party room will endorse a series of amendments (to the Government’s emissions trading scheme) which will be the basis for negotiation with the Rudd Government. I mean frankly if they oppose that, that would be signing their own political death warrant… This raises the prospect that the legislation won’t pass and that the election next year will see climate change as a frontline issue. Now this will be a mortal political threat to the Opposition.
Yet we “ideologues” out “on the edge” warned Rudd’s policy was ludicrous and would collapse under its own contradictions, particularly when the costs became apparent and gains proved a mirage. We said Gillard’s tax was a betrayal, a con and a drag on the economy which would ultimately be unsustainable.
Since then, of course, what was “out on the edge” has become mainstream. Rudd and Turnbull have lost their jobs, and Gillard soon will - in large part from listening to the likes of Oakes. Abbott is about to become Prime Minister after heeding the climate sceptic “ideologues”.
Oakes is now making a similar mistake over the constitutional recognition of Aborigines - and so, alas, is Abbott. What seems a mainstream and passionately held view today will seem foolish tomorrow, and all the fine intentions will lead only to division and disaster. I could not live with myself if I did not point this out and try to avert the danger.
I am quite aware that to an Oakes and his “very senior Liberal”, what I say seems “out on the edge”. But Abbott would be very mistaken to ignore what I say, even if he were politically smart - for now - to do the opposite, and appeal to the likes of Oakes as a “moderate”.
The difference is this: Abbott wants Abbott to win the election. I want my ideas to win, and not just at this election.
And guess what, Laurie: in the end there may not be as much contradiction between Abbott and me as you suggest. It may just be a question of time.
Time - the element conservatives understand so much better than the Left.
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Combet splashed millions on a company he knew was dying
Andrew Bolt May 25 2013 (10:13am)
Labor wasted millions on what it knew was a hopeless cause:
Industry Minister Greg Combet knew Ford was likely to close its Australian operations in 2016 when he approved $34 million in grants to the United States auto giant in 2011.(Thanks to readers Peter and Hmmm.)
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A warning to Internet assassins
Andrew Bolt May 25 2013 (10:01am)
A couple of warnings to internet trolls:
A tweet published by Sally Bercow about Tory peer Lord McAlpine was libellous, [Britain’s] High Court has ruled.And:
The wife of Commons Speaker John Bercow tweeted two days after BBC Newsnight wrongly linked a “leading Conservative politician” to sex abuse claims. Amid widespread speculation about his identity, she wrote: “Why is Lord McAlpine trending. *innocent face*.”
ONE of Australia’s leading plastic surgeons, Chris Moss, ... has brought a legal action in the Victorian Supreme Court against Craig Rodda, the managing director of a marketing agency, which he claims has driven business away from his practice…(Thanks to reader The Great Waisuli.)
The posts which began late last year on Australia’s largest on-line plastic surgery forum alleged that authentic positive reviews of Dr Moss’ work were fake and had been written by his own staff…
“I was shocked and appalled by the threads containing (false) suggestions that I was dishonest, unprofessional, overcharged clients and that my surgical work was not a high standard ...,” Dr Moss said in an affidavit.
Dr Moss alleges that an individual operating from an IP address at Mr Rodda’s home had created seven different pseudonyms to criticise his work on the forum and encourage others to follow suit.
Dr Moss alleges the posts were made on the instructions of competitors as there were recommendations to other plastic surgeons… Mr Rodda told The Weekend Australian that the posts were made from his IP address but claimed he was not the author. He said that his defacto wife had admitted making the posts but had done so “innocently for the purposes of research”.
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Treasury believes Labor’s green bull
Andrew Bolt May 25 2013 (8:48am)
Treasury is peddling a green lie that pads out Labor’s budget:
Here’s just one sign that the political will for expensive green schemes is in fact collapsing. Green freeloaders are finally to be made to pay for their own warm fuzzies:
Leading economist Henry Ergas has described the budget projections as “garbage” and opposition climate action spokesman Greg Hunt has warned the government is exposed to a $6 billion black hole.There is almost zero likelihood of the world imposing a carbon price of $38 just six years from now. Europe’s price is closer to $4 today and its economy is unlikely to be strong enough for much more for many years to come. You are being deceived by green fantasists who believe their own bull.
The attack is based on an explanation in the budget papers from Treasury that “carbon prices in the budget projection years are not forecasts of carbon prices”.
Instead they represent a straight line drawn between market prices in 2014-15 (about $5.60) to the $38 projection [in 2019-20] contained in Treasury modelling for the government’s initial carbon scheme…
Treasury explained the $38 figure is not a forecast of the market price in 2019-20 but “the price levels required to meet long-term global environmental goals as well as the international commitment pledges for 2020”.
The government was forced to write down $5.3bn in revenue in the budget in 2015-16 ... after cutting the projected carbon price to $12.10 from the $29 projected a year earlier…
The carbon price is fixed until 2015 when it reverts to a floating price and the scheme is linked to the EU scheme. The writedown was sparked by a collapse in the EU carbon scheme. The Treasury modelling assumes a $5.60 carbon price for 2014-15 rising by $6.50 to $12.10 in 2015-16. It is then forecast to rise by $6.50 every year until 2019-20.
Here’s just one sign that the political will for expensive green schemes is in fact collapsing. Green freeloaders are finally to be made to pay for their own warm fuzzies:
AUSTRALIA’S one million rooftop solar households could be forced to pay new fixed charges to help recover billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies and make electricity prices fairer for all consumers.
A series of electricity industry reports has highlighted the inequity in existing power pricing where customers without solar panels are unfairly subsidising those with them. Queensland Energy Minister Mark McArdle has warned that existing rooftop solar contracts will cost the state more than $2.8 billion over the next 15 years and is preparing a major submission to cabinet within a month recommending more user-pays charges.
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Chaudhry: “What he said … not many Muslims can disagree”
Andrew Bolt May 25 2013 (7:28am)
Every society has its cruel and its killers. The measure of that society’s health is how other react to them.
So take the reaction of a prominent British imam to the beheading of a soldier in a London street by two Muslims saying they’d done it in reprisal for what had been done in “our land”:
Yes, many other Muslim leaders condemn the murder. But…
MEANWHILE…
In Stockholm, immigrants from mainly Muslim lands continue to riot:
Is mass migration worth the fear?:
When immigration is actually colonisation:
So take the reaction of a prominent British imam to the beheading of a soldier in a London street by two Muslims saying they’d done it in reprisal for what had been done in “our land”:
ANJUM Chaudhry has claimed most Muslims would agree with what the man believed to be the Woolwich attacker was filmed saying moments after the death of Lee Rigby.The video of Chaudhry is here, and is even more confronting - not least because he feels comfortable enough to say it non national television, and has stature enough to have that platform.
Muslim panelists on Newsnight strongly rejected the claims from Anjum Chaudhry
On Newsnight tonight, Chaudhry said while the brutal attack on a serving soldier was shocking what the man covered in blood said about foreign policy explained what he did.
Chaudhry, who set up Islam4UK which was condemned in the Terrorism Act 2000, refused to say he abhorred and was horrified by the attack… “What he said in the clip which is being televised, not many muslims can disagree with it.”
Yes, many other Muslim leaders condemn the murder. But…
MEANWHILE…
In Stockholm, immigrants from mainly Muslim lands continue to riot:
At least two schools, a police station, and 15 cars were set ablaze in Stockholm on Thursday night as riots in the suburbs of the Swedish capital continued for the fifth straight night.UPDATE
Is mass migration worth the fear?:
Britain scrambled fighter jets Friday to intercept a commercial airliner carrying more than 300 people from Pakistan, diverting it to an isolated runway at an airport on the outskirts of London and arresting two British passengers who allegedly threatened to destroy the plane.More:
A British security official said the situation involving the Pakistan International Airlines flight did not appear terror-related, though police were still investigating… A Pakistani official briefed by British police and PIA security on the investigation said the two suspects, speaking Urdu, allegedly threatened to “destroy the plane” after an argument with crew.
“There was a family of eight to 10 people on the plane and they were quarrelling among each other,” the PIA source said. “When PIA staff approached them and asked them to calm down, they told them to go away otherwise they would blow up the plane.”UPDATE
When immigration is actually colonisation:
There have been calls for an urgent debate in the Dutch parliament about the integration of Muslim immigrants amid claims that one area of The Hague, known locally as “the Sharia triangle”, is being run by a form of unofficial Sharia police.(Thanks to reader Baldrick.)
The claims relate to the district of Schilderswijk, about two kilometres from the city centre, where an almost entirely Muslim population of some 5,000 people surrounds the El Islam mosque, fuelling criticism that the government has failed to ensure a proper ethnic mix in schools and local housing. One recent investigation, in which local people were extensively interviewed, concluded that Schilderswijk had become “orthodox Muslim territory” which was now largely ignored by the city authorities, by politicians and even by the police, on the grounds that it had become self-regulating.
The investigation found that orthodox Muslims had become so dominant that they were dictating what people in the neighbourhood wore and how they behaved… In the case of women, dress was a particular issue. One woman told how her daughter had been approached and told her short skirt was inappropriate… Another man said he felt he was gradually being driven out of his home because he had a dog, and many traditional Muslims tended not to keep or favour dogs.
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Newman finds medicine makes Queensland feel better
Andrew Bolt May 25 2013 (6:32am)
Doing the tough stuff fast sets up Premier Campbell Newman and his Queensland LNP well for the next election:
According to Galaxy, primary support for the LNP increased to 44 per cent, compared with 43 per cent in February. Labor’s support base fell by two per cent to 32 per cent over the same period.(Thanks to reader doc molloy.)
On a two-party preferred basis, the LNP leads Labor 57 per cent to 43 per cent, well short of the 2012 election result but the first improvement since the Government’s controversial cuts to programs and the public service.
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Big Government hunts down Mrs Catherine Engelbrecht
Andrew Bolt May 25 2013 (12:51am)
Peggy Noonan on perhaps the worst case yet uncovered in the IRS scandal of Big Government punishing conservatives:
The most important IRS story came not from the hearings but from Mike Huckabee’s program on Fox News Channel. He interviewed and told the story of Catherine Engelbrecht—a nice woman, a citizen, an American. She and her husband live in Richmond, Texas. They have a small manufacturing business. In the past few years she became interested in public policy and founded two groups, King Street Patriots, and True the Vote.(Via Catallaxy Files.)
In July 2010 she sent applications to the IRS for tax-exempt status. What followed was not the harassment, intrusiveness and delay we’re now used to hearing of. The US government came down on her with full force.
In December 2010 the FBI came to ask about a person who’d attended a King Street Patriots function. In January 2011 the FBI had more questions. The same month the IRS audited her business tax returns. In May 2011 the FBI called again for a general inquiry about King Street Patriots. In June 2011 Engelbrecht’s personal tax returns were audited and the FBI called again. In October 2011 a round of questions on True the Vote. In November 2011 another call from the FBI. The next month, more questions from the FBI. In February 2012 a third round of IRS questions on True the Vote. In February 2012 a first round of questions on King Street Patriots. The same month the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms did an unscheduled audit of her business. (It had a license to make firearms but didn’t make them.) In July 2012 the Occupational Safety and Health Administration did an unscheduled audit. In November 2012 more IRS questions on True the Vote. In March 2013, more questions. In April 2013 a second ATF audit.
All this because she requested tax-exempt status for a local conservative group and for one that registers voters and tries to get dead people off the rolls. Her attorney, Cleta Mitchell, who provided the timeline above, told me: ‘These people, they are just regular Americans. They try to get dead people off the voter rolls, you would think that they are serial killers.’
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Because the world is broken, you cannot keep your children from suffering. But you can go through it with them.
Pastor Rick Warren
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GOD has a way of turning scars into stars. Holly
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It is not only that we are all capable of becoming loving and spiritual people, charitable and kind, filled with serenity and joy. We already are. Remember your true nature.
Dr. Brian Weiss
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===
- 1895 – The Republic of Formosa was inaugurated in Taiwan, proclaiming independence from Qing China.
- 1914 – The British parliament passed theThird Home Rule Act, establishing adevolved government in Ireland.
- 1936 – Employees of the Remington Rand company began an11-month strike action, during which time the company executives developed the notorious "Mohawk Valley formula" to intimidate the strikers.
- 1955 – Englishmen Joe Brown and George Band became the first to climb Kangchenjunga, the third-highest mountain in the world, but stopped short of the summit as per a promise given to the Maharaja of Sikkim that the top would remain inviolate.
- 1961 – During a speech to a joint session of the United States Congress, U.S. President John F. Kennedy announced his support for the Apollo space program (insignia pictured), with "the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth".
- 567 BC – Servius Tullius, the king of Rome, celebrates a triumph for his victory over the Etruscans.
- 240 BC – First recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
- 1085 – Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo, Spain, back from the Moors.
- 1420 – Henry the Navigator is appointed governor of the Order of Christ.
- 1521 – The Diet of Worms ends when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw.
- 1644 – Ming general Wu Sangui forms an alliance with the invading Manchus and opens the gates of the Great Wall of China at Shanhaiguan pass, letting the Manchus through towards the capital Beijing.
- 1659 – Richard Cromwell resigns as Lord Protector of England following the restoration of the Long Parliament, beginning a second brief period of the republican government called the Commonwealth of England.
- 1660 – Charles II lands at Dover at the invitation of the Convention Parliament (England), which marks the end of the Cromwell-proclaimed Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland and begins the Restoration (1660) of the British monarchy.
- 1738 – A treaty between Pennsylvania and Maryland ends the Conojocular War with settlement of a boundary dispute and exchange of prisoners.
- 1787 – The United States Constitutional Convention formally convenes in Philadelphia, when a quorum of seven states is secured.
- 1798 – United Irishmen Rebellion: Battle of Carlow begins; executions of suspected rebels at Carnew and at Dunlavin Green take place.
- 1809 – Chuquisaca Revolution: Patriot revolt in Chuquisaca (modern day Sucre) against the Spanish Empire, sparking the Latin American wars of independence.
- 1810 – May Revolution: Citizens of Buenos Aires expel Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros during the May week, starting the Argentine War of Independence.
- 1819 – The Argentine Constitution of 1819 is promulgated.
- 1833 – The Chilean Constitution of 1833 is promulgated.
- 1837 – The Rebels of Lower Canada (Quebec) rebel against the British for governmental reforms.
- 1865 – In Mobile, Alabama, around 300 people are killed when an ordnance depot explodes.
- 1878 – Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore opens at the Opera Comique in London.
- 1895 – Playwright, poet, novelist and aesthete Oscar Wilde is convicted of "committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons" and sentenced to serve two years in prison.
- 1895 – The Republic of Formosa is formed, with Tang Jingsong as its president.
- 1914 – The House of Commons of the United Kingdom passes the Home Rule Bill for devolution in Ireland.
- 1925 – Scopes Trial: John T. Scopes is indicted for teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in Tennessee.
- 1926 – Sholom Schwartzbard assassinates Symon Petliura, the head of the government of the Ukrainian People's Republic, which is in government-in-exile in Paris.
- 1935 – Jesse Owens of Ohio State University breaks three world records and ties a fourth at the Big Ten ConferenceTrack and Field Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
- 1938 – Spanish Civil War: The bombing of Alicante kills 313 people.
- 1940 – World War II: The German 2nd Panzer Division captures the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer; the surrender of the last French and British troops marks the end of the Battle of Boulogne.
- 1946 – The parliament of Transjordan makes Abdullah I of Jordan their Emir.
- 1953 – Nuclear weapons testing: At the Nevada Test Site, the United States conducts its first and only nuclear artillerytest.
- 1953 – The first public television station in the United States officially begins broadcasting as KUHT from the campus of the University of Houston.
- 1955 – In the United States, a night-time F5 tornado strikes the small city of Udall, Kansas, killing 80 and injuring 273. It is the deadliest tornado to ever occur in the state and the 23rd deadliest in the U.S.
- 1955 – First ascent of Kangchenjunga (8,586 m.), the third-highest mountain in the world, by a British expedition led by Charles Evans. Joe Brown and George Band reached the summit on May 25, followed by Norman Hardie and Tony Streather the next day.
- 1961 – Apollo program: U.S. President John F. Kennedy announces before a special joint session of the Congress his goal to initiate a project to put a "man on the Moon" before the end of the decade.
- 1963 – In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Organisation of African Unity is established.
- 1966 – Explorer program: Explorer 32 launches.
- 1968 – The Gateway Arch in Saint Louis is dedicated.
- 1973 – Velos, while participating in a NATO exercise and in order to protest against the dictatorship in Greece, anchored at Fiumicino, Italy, refusing to return to Greece.
- 1977 – Star Wars is released in theaters.
- 1977 – Chinese government removes a decade old ban on William Shakespeare's work, effectively ending the Cultural Revolution started in 1966.
- 1978 – The first bomb of a series of bombings orchestrated by the Unabomber detonates at Northwestern Universityresulting in minor injuries.
- 1979 – American Airlines Flight 191: In Chicago, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 crashes during takeoff at O'Hare International Airport killing all 271 on board and two people on the ground.
- 1981 – In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
- 1982 – Falklands War: HMS Coventry is sunk by Argentine Air Force A-4 Skyhawks.
- 1985 – Bangladesh is hit by a tropical cyclone and storm surge, which kills approximately 10,000 people.
- 1986 – Hands Across America takes place.
- 1997 – A military coup in Sierra Leone replaces President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major Johnny Paul Koroma.
- 1999 – The United States House of Representatives releases the Cox Report which details the People's Republic of China's nuclear espionage against the U.S. over the prior two decades.
- 2000 – Liberation Day of Lebanon. Israel withdraws its army from Lebanese territory (except for the disputed Shebaa farms zone) 22 years after its invasion in 1978.
- 2002 – China Airlines Flight 611 disintegrates in mid-air and crashes into the Taiwan Strait. All 225 people on board are killed.
- 2008 – NASA's Phoenix lander lands in Green Valley region of Mars to search for environments suitable for water and microbial life.
- 2009 – North Korea allegedly tests its second nuclear device. Following the nuclear test, Pyongyang also conducted several missile tests building tensions in the international community.
- 2011 – Oprah Winfrey airs her last show, ending her twenty-five-year run of The Oprah Winfrey Show.
- 2012 – The SpaceX Dragon became the first commercial spacecraft to successfully rendezvous with the International Space Station.
- 2013 – Suspected Maoist rebels kill at least 28 people and injure 32 others in an attack on a convoy of Indian National Congress politicians in Chhattisgarh, India.
- 2013 – A gas cylinder explodes on a school bus in the Pakistani city of Gujrat, killing at least 18 people.
- 1048 – Emperor Shenzong of Song (d. 1085)
- 1320 – Toghon Temür, Mongolian emperor (d. 1370)
- 1334 – Emperor Sukō of Japan (d. 1398)
- 1416 – Jakobus ("James"), Count of Lichtenburg (d. 1480)
- 1417 – Catherine of Cleves, Duchess consort regent of Guelders (d. 1479)
- 1550 – Camillus de Lellis, Italian saint and nurse (d. 1614)
- 1606 – Charles Garnier, French missionary and saint (d. 1649)
- 1661 – Claude Buffier, Polish-French historian and philosopher (d. 1737)
- 1713 – John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, Scottish politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1792)
- 1725 – Samuel Ward, American politician, 31st Governor of the Colony of Rhode Island (d. 1776)
- 1783 – Philip Pendleton Barbour, American farmer and politician, 12th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1841)
- 1791 – Minh Mạng, Vietnamese emperor (d. 1841)
- 1803 – Edward Bulwer-Lytton, English author, playwright, and politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (d. 1873)
- 1803 – Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet and philosopher (d. 1882)
- 1818 – Jacob Burckhardt, Swiss historian and academic (d. 1897)
- 1818 – Louise de Broglie, Countess d'Haussonville, French essayist and biographer (d. 1882)
- 1830 – Trebor Mai (né Robert Williams), Welsh poet (d. 1877)
- 1846 – Naim Frashëri, Albanian-Turkish poet and translator (d. 1900)
- 1848 – Johann Baptist Singenberger, Swiss composer, educator, and publisher (d. 1924)
- 1852 – William Muldoon, American wrestler and trainer (d. 1933)
- 1856 – Louis Franchet d'Espèrey, Algerian-French general (d. 1942)
- 1860 – James McKeen Cattell, American psychologist and academic (d. 1944)
- 1865 – John Mott, American evangelist and saint, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955)
- 1865 – Pieter Zeeman, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1943)
- 1867 – Anders Peter Nielsen, Danish target shooter (d. 1950)
- 1869 – Robbie Ross, Canadian journalist and art critic (d. 1918)
- 1869 – Mathilde Verne, English pianist and educator (d. 1936)
- 1878 – Bill Robinson, American actor and dancer (d. 1949)
- 1879 – Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, Canadian-English businessman and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (d. 1964)
- 1879 – William Stickney, American golfer (d. 1944)
- 1880 – Jean Alexandre Barré, French neurologist and academic (d. 1967)
- 1882 – Marie Doro, American actress (d. 1956)
- 1883 – Carl Johan Lind, Swedish hammer thrower (d. 1965)
- 1886 – Rash Behari Bose, Indian soldier and activist (d. 1945)
- 1886 – Philip Murray, Scottish-American miner and labor leader (d. 1952)
- 1887 – Pio of Pietrelcina, Italian priest and saint (d. 1968)
- 1888 – Miles Malleson, English actor and screenwriter (d. 1969)
- 1889 – Günther Lütjens, German admiral (d. 1941)
- 1889 – Igor Sikorsky, Russian-American aircraft designer, founded Sikorsky Aircraft (d. 1972)
- 1893 – Ernest "Pop" Stoneman, American country musician (d. 1968)
- 1897 – Alan Kippax, Australian cricketer (d. 1972)
- 1897 – Gene Tunney, American boxer and soldier (d. 1978)
- 1898 – Bennett Cerf, American publisher and television game show panelist; co-founded Random House (d. 1971)
- 1899 – Kazi Nazrul Islam, Bengali poet, author, and flute player (d. 1976)
- 1900 – Alain Grandbois, Canadian poet and author (d. 1975)
- 1907 – U Nu, Burmese politician, 1st Prime Minister of Burma (d. 1995)
- 1908 – Theodore Roethke, American poet (d. 1963)
- 1909 – Alfred Kubel, German politician, 5th Prime Minister of Lower Saxony (d. 1999)
- 1912 – Dean Rockwell, American commander, wrestler, and coach (d. 2005)
- 1913 – Heinrich Bär, German colonel and pilot (d. 1957)
- 1913 – Richard Dimbleby, English journalist and producer (d. 1965)
- 1916 – Brian Dickson, Canadian captain, lawyer, and politician, 15th Chief Justice of Canada (d. 1998)
- 1916 – Giuseppe Tosi, Italian discus thrower (d. 1981)
- 1917 – Steve Cochran, American film, television and stage actor (d. 1965)
- 1917 – Theodore Hesburgh, American priest, theologian, and academic (d. 2015)
- 1920 – Arthur Wint, Jamaican runner and diplomat (d. 1992)
- 1921 – Hal David, American songwriter and composer (d. 2012)
- 1921 – Kitty Kallen, American singer (d. 2016)
- 1921 – Jack Steinberger, German-Swiss physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1922 – Enrico Berlinguer, Italian politician (d. 1984)
- 1924 – István Nyers, French-Hungarian footballer (d. 2005)
- 1925 – Rosario Castellanos, Mexican poet and author (d. 1974)
- 1925 – Jeanne Crain, American actress (d. 2003)
- 1925 – Eldon Griffiths, English journalist and politician (d. 2014)
- 1925 – Don Liddle, American baseball player (d. 2000)
- 1925 – Claude Pinoteau, French film director and screenwriter (d. 2012)
- 1926 – Claude Akins, American actor (d. 1994)
- 1926 – William Bowyer, English painter and academic (d. 2015)
- 1926 – Phyllis Gotlieb, Canadian author and poet (d. 2009)
- 1926 – Bill Sharman, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013)
- 1926 – David Wynne, English sculptor and painter (d. 2014)
- 1927 – Robert Ludlum, American soldier and author (d. 2001)
- 1927 – Norman Petty, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (d. 1984)
- 1929 – Beverly Sills, American soprano and actress (d. 2007)
- 1931 – Herb Gray, Canadian lawyer and politician, 7th Deputy Prime Minister of Canada (d. 2014)
- 1931 – Georgy Grechko, Russian engineer and astronaut (d. 2017)
- 1931 – Irwin Winkler, American director and producer
- 1932 – John Gregory Dunne, American novelist, screenwriter, and critic (d. 2003)
- 1932 – K. C. Jones, American basketball player and coach
- 1933 – Sarah Marshall, English-American actress (d. 2014)
- 1933 – Basdeo Panday, Trinidadian lawyer and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago
- 1933 – Ray Spencer, English footballer (d. 2016)
- 1933 – Jógvan Sundstein, Faroese accountant and politician, 7th Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands
- 1935 – John Ffowcs Williams, Welsh engineer and academic
- 1935 – Cookie Gilchrist, American football player (d. 2011)
- 1935 – W. P. Kinsella, Canadian novelist and short story writer (d. 2016)
- 1935 – Victoria Shaw, Australian-born American actress (d. 1988)
- 1936 – Tom T. Hall, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1936 – Rusi Surti, Indian cricketer (d. 2013)
- 1937 – Tom Phillips, English painter and academic
- 1938 – Raymond Carver, American short story writer and poet(d. 1988)
- 1938 – Margaret Forster, English historian, author, and critic (d. 2016)
- 1938 – Geoffrey Robinson, English businessman and politician
- 1939 – Dixie Carter, American actress and singer (d. 2010)
- 1939 – Ian McKellen, English actor
- 1940 – Nobuyoshi Araki, Japanese photographer
- 1941 – Uta Frith, German developmental psychologist[1]
- 1941 – Vladimir Voronin, Moldovan economist and politician, 3rd President of Moldova
- 1943 – Jessi Colter, American singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1943 – John Palmer, English keyboard player
- 1943 – Leslie Uggams, American actress and singer
- 1944 – Digby Anderson, English journalist and philosopher
- 1944 – Pierre Bachelet, French singer-songwriter (d. 2005)
- 1944 – Charlie Harper, English singer-songwriter and producer
- 1944 – Robert MacPherson, American mathematician and academic
- 1944 – Frank Oz, English-born American puppeteer, filmmaker, and actor
- 1944 – Chris Ralston, English rugby player
- 1946 – Bill Adam, Scottish-Canadian race car driver
- 1946 – David A. Hargrave, American game designer, created Arduin (d. 1988)
- 1947 – Karen Valentine, American actress
- 1947 – Catherine G. Wolf, American psychologist and computer scientist
- 1948 – Bülent Arınç, Turkish lawyer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey
- 1948 – Marianne Elliott, Northern Irish historian, author, and academic
- 1948 – Klaus Meine, German rock singer-songwriter
- 1949 – Jamaica Kincaid, Antiguan-American novelist, short story writer, and essayist
- 1949 – Barry Windsor-Smith, English painter and illustrator
- 1950 – Robby Steinhardt, American rock violinist and singer
- 1951 – Bob Gale, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1952 – Jeffrey Bewkes, American businessman
- 1952 – Nick Fotiu, American ice hockey player and coach
- 1952 – David Jenkins, Trinidadian-Scottish runner
- 1952 – Al Sarrantonio, American author and publisher
- 1952 – Gordon H. Smith, American businessman and politician
- 1953 – Eve Ensler, American playwright and producer
- 1953 – Daniel Passarella, Argentinian footballer, coach, and manager
- 1953 – Stan Sakai, Japanese-American author and illustrator
- 1953 – Gaetano Scirea, Italian footballer (d. 1989)
- 1954 – Murali, Indian actor, producer, and politician (d. 2009)
- 1955 – Alistair Burt, English lawyer and politician
- 1956 – Stavros Arnaoutakis, Greek politician
- 1956 – Larry Hogan, American politician, 62nd Governor of Maryland
- 1956 – David P. Sartor, American composer and conductor
- 1957 – Alastair Campbell, English journalist and author
- 1957 – Edward Lee, American author
- 1957 – Robert Picard, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1958 – Dorothy Straight, American children's author
- 1958 – Paul Weller, English singer, songwriter and musician
- 1959 – Julian Clary, English comedian, actor, and author
- 1959 – Manolis Kefalogiannis, Greek politician
- 1959 – Rick Wamsley, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1960 – Amy Klobuchar, American lawyer and politician
- 1960 – Anthea Turner, English journalist and television host
- 1962 – Ric Nattress, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager
- 1963 – George Hickenlooper, American director and producer (d. 2010)
- 1963 – Mike Myers, Canadian-American actor, singer, producer, and screenwriter
- 1964 – David Shaw, Canadian-American ice hockey player
- 1965 – Yahya Jammeh, Gambian colonel and politician, President of the Gambia
- 1967 – Luc Nilis, Belgian footballer and manager
- 1967 – Mark Rosewater, Head designer of Magic: the Gathering
- 1968 – Kendall Gill, American basketball player, boxer, and sportscaster
- 1969 – Glen Drover, Canadian guitarist and songwriter
- 1969 – Anne Heche, American actress
- 1969 – Stacy London, American journalist and author
- 1970 – Robert Croft, Welsh-English cricketer and sportscaster
- 1970 – Jamie Kennedy, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1971 – Stefano Baldini, Italian runner
- 1971 – Marco Cappato, Italian politician
- 1972 – Karan Johar, Indian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1972 – Octavia Spencer, American actress and author[2]
- 1973 – Daz Dillinger, American rapper and producer
- 1973 – Molly Sims, American model and actress[3]
- 1974 – Dougie Freedman, Scottish footballer and manager
- 1974 – Frank Klepacki, American drummer and composer
- 1974 – Miguel Tejada, Dominican-American baseball player
- 1975 – Blaise Nkufo, Congolese-Swiss footballer
- 1976 – Stefan Holm, Swedish high jumper
- 1976 – Cillian Murphy, Irish actor
- 1976 – Erki Pütsep, Estonian cyclist
- 1976 – Ethan Suplee, American actor
- 1976 – Miguel Zepeda, Mexican footballer
- 1977 – Andre Anis, Estonian footballer
- 1977 – Alberto Del Rio, Mexican-American mixed martial artist and wrestler
- 1978 – Adam Gontier, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1978 – Brian Urlacher, American football player
- 1979 – Carlos Bocanegra, American soccer player
- 1979 – Sayed Moawad, Egyptian footballer
- 1979 – Caroline Ouellette, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1979 – Sam Sodje, English-Nigerian footballer
- 1979 – Jonny Wilkinson, English rugby player
- 1979 – Chris Young, American baseball pitcher
- 1980 – David Navarro, Spanish footballer
- 1981 – Michalis Pelekanos, Greek basketball player
- 1981 – Matt Utai, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1982 – Adam Boyd, English footballer
- 1982 – Daniel Braaten, Norwegian footballer
- 1982 – Ryan Gallant, American skateboarder
- 1982 – Roger Guerreiro, Polish footballer
- 1982 – Justin Hodges, Australian rugby league player
- 1982 – Ezekiel Kemboi, Kenyan runner
- 1982 – Jason Kubel, American baseball player
- 1982 – Stacey Pensgen, American figure skater and meteorologist
- 1982 – Luke Webster, Australian footballer
- 1984 – Luke Ball, Australian footballer
- 1984 – Kyle Brodziak, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1984 – A. J. Foyt IV, American race car driver
- 1984 – Shawne Merriman, American football player
- 1985 – Luciana Abreu, Portuguese singer and actress
- 1985 – Demba Ba, French footballer
- 1985 – Gert Kams, Estonian footballer
- 1985 – Roman Reigns, American football player and wrestler
- 1986 – Edewin Fanini, Brazilian footballer
- 1986 – Yoan Gouffran, French footballer
- 1986 – Takahiro Hōjō, Japanese actor and musician
- 1986 – Geraint Thomas, Welsh cyclist
- 1987 – Timothy Derijck, Belgian footballer
- 1987 – Yves De Winter, Belgian footballer
- 1987 – Moritz Stehling, German footballer
- 1987 – Kamil Stoch, Polish ski jumper
- 1988 – Dávid Škutka, Slovak footballer
- 1990 – Bo Dallas, American wrestler
- 1990 – Nikita Filatov, Russian ice hockey player
- 1993 – James Porter, English cricketer
- 1994 – Matt Murray, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1994 – Aly Raisman, American gymnast
- 1996 – David Pastrňák, Czech ice hockey player
- 615 – Pope Boniface IV (b. 550)
- 675 – Li Hong, Chinese prince (b. 652)
- 709 – Aldhelm, English-Latin bishop, poet, and scholar (b. 639)
- 803 – Higbald of Lindisfarne, English bishop
- 912 – Xue Yiju, chancellor of Later Liang
- 916 – Flann Sinna, king of Meath
- 939 – Yao Yanzhang, general of Chu
- 986 – Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi, Muslim astronomer (b. 903)
- 992 – Mieszko I of Poland (b. 935)
- 1085 – Pope Gregory VII (b. 1020)
- 1261 – Pope Alexander IV (b. 1185)
- 1452 – John Stafford, English archbishop and politician
- 1555 – Gemma Frisius, Dutch physician, mathematician, and cartographer (b. 1508)
- 1555 – Henry II of Navarre (b. 1503)
- 1595 – Valens Acidalius, German poet and critic (b. 1567)
- 1595 – Philip Neri, Italian priest and saint (b. 1515)
- 1607 – Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi, Italian Carmelite nun and mystic (b. 1566)
- 1632 – Adam Tanner, Austrian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1572)
- 1667 – Gustaf Bonde, Finnish-Swedish politician, 5th Lord High Treasurer of Sweden (b. 1620)
- 1681 – Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spanish poet and playwright (b. 1600)
- 1741 – Daniel Ernst Jablonski, German bishop and theologian (b. 1660)
- 1786 – Peter III of Portugal (b. 1717)
- 1789 – Anders Dahl, Swedish botanist and physician (b. 1751)
- 1797 – John Griffin, 4th Baron Howard de Walden, English field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Essex (b. 1719)
- 1805 – William Paley, English priest and philosopher (b. 1743)
- 1849 – Benjamin D'Urban, English general and politician, Governor of British Guiana (b. 1777)
- 1895 – Ahmed Cevdet Pasha, Ottoman sociologist, historian, and jurist (b. 1822)
- 1899 – Rosa Bonheur, French painter and sculptor (b. 1822)
- 1912 – Austin Lane Crothers, American educator and politician, 46th Governor of Maryland (b. 1860)
- 1917 – Maksim Bahdanovič, Belarusian poet and critic (b. 1891)
- 1919 – Eliza Pollock, American archer (b. 1840)
- 1919 – Madam C. J. Walker, American businesswoman and philanthropist, founded the Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company (b. 1867)
- 1924 – Lyubov Popova, Russian painter and illustrator (b. 1889)
- 1926 – Symon Petliura, Ukrainian journalist and politician (b. 1879)
- 1927 – Payne Whitney, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1876)
- 1930 – Randall Davidson, Scottish-English archbishop (b. 1848)
- 1934 – Gustav Holst, English trombonist, composer, and educator (b. 1874)
- 1937 – Henry Ossawa Tanner, American-French painter and illustrator (b. 1859)
- 1939 – Frank Watson Dyson, English astronomer and academic (b. 1868)
- 1942 – Emanuel Feuermann, Ukrainian-American cellist and educator (b. 1902)
- 1943 – Nils von Dardel, Swedish painter (b. 1888)
- 1948 – Witold Pilecki, Polish officer and Resistance leader (b. 1901)
- 1951 – Paula von Preradović, Croatian poet and author (b. 1887)
- 1954 – Robert Capa, Hungarian photographer and journalist (b. 1913)
- 1957 – Leo Goodwin, American swimmer, diver, and water polo player (b. 1883)
- 1968 – Georg von Küchler, German field marshal (b. 1881)
- 1970 – Tom Patey, Scottish mountaineer and author (b. 1932)
- 1977 – Yevgenia Ginzburg, Russian author (b. 1904)
- 1979 – Itzhak Bentov, Czech-Israeli engineer, mystic, and author (b. 1923)
- 1979 – Amédée Gordini, Italian-born French racing driver and sports car manufacturer (b. 1899)
- 1981 – Ruby Payne-Scott, Australian physicist and astronomer (b. 1912)
- 1981 – Fredric Warburg, English author and publisher (b. 1898)
- 1983 – Necip Fazıl Kısakürek, Turkish author, poet, and playwright (b. 1904)
- 1983 – Idris of Libya (b. 1889)
- 1983 – Jack Stewart, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1917)
- 1986 – Chester Bowles, American journalist and politician, 22nd Under Secretary of State (b. 1901)
- 1990 – Vic Tayback, American actor (b. 1930)
- 1995 – Élie Bayol, French race car driver (b. 1914)
- 1995 – Krešimir Ćosić, Croatian basketball player and coach, Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer 1996 (b. 1948)
- 1995 – Dany Robin, French actress (b. 1927)
- 1996 – Renzo De Felice, Italian historian and author (b. 1929)
- 2003 – Sloan Wilson, American author and poet (b. 1920)
- 2004 – Roger Williams Straus, Jr., American publisher, co-founded Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publishing Company (b. 1917)
- 2005 – Sunil Dutt, Indian actor, director, producer, and politician (b. 1929)
- 2005 – Robert Jankel, English businessman, founded Panther Westwinds (b. 1938)
- 2005 – Graham Kennedy, Australian television host and actor (b. 1934)
- 2005 – Ismail Merchant, Indian-born film producer and director (b. 1936)
- 2005 – Zoran Mušič, Slovene painter and illustrator (b. 1909)
- 2007 – Charles Nelson Reilly, American actor, comedian, and director (b. 1931)
- 2008 – J. R. Simplot, American businessman, founded Simplot (b. 1909)
- 2009 – Haakon Lie, Norwegian politician (b. 1905)
- 2010 – Alexander Belostenny, Ukrainian basketball player (b. 1959)
- 2010 – Michael H. Jordan, American businessman (b. 1936)
- 2010 – Alan Hickinbotham, Australian footballer and coach (b. 1925)
- 2010 – Gabriel Vargas, Mexican painter and illustrator (b. 1915)
- 2010 – Jarvis Williams, American football player and coach (b. 1965)
- 2011 – Terry Jenner, Australian cricketer and coach (b. 1944)
- 2012 – William Hanley, American author and screenwriter (b. 1931)
- 2012 – Peter D. Sieruta, American author and critic (b. 1958)
- 2012 – Lou Watson, American basketball player and coach (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Mahendra Karma, Indian politician (b. 1950)
- 2013 – Nand Kumar Patel, Indian politician (b. 1953)
- 2014 – David Allen, English cricketer (b. 1935)
- 2014 – Marcel Côté, Canadian economist and politician (b. 1942)
- 2014 – Wojciech Jaruzelski, Polish general and politician, 1st President of Poland (b. 1923)
- 2014 – Herb Jeffries, American singer and actor (b. 1913)
- 2014 – Toaripi Lauti, Tuvaluan educator and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Tuvalu (b. 1928)
- 2014 – Matthew Saad Muhammad, American boxer and trainer (b. 1954)
- 2015 – George Braden, Canadian lawyer and politician, 2nd Premier of the Northwest Territories (b. 1949)
- 2015 – Robert Lebel, Canadian bishop (b. 1924)
- Africa Day (African Union)
- African Liberation Day (African Union, Rastafari)
- Christian feast day:
- Day of Youth, celebrated on Josip Broz Tito's birthday (the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)
- Earliest day on which Arbor Day can fall, while May 31 is the latest; celebrated on the last Sunday in May. (Venezuela)
- Earliest day on which Children's Day can fall, while May 31 is the latest; celebrated on the last Sunday in May. (Hungary)
- Earliest day on which Holiday of Saint Etchmiadzin can fall, while July 27 is the latest; celebrated on the 64th day after Easter. (Armenia)
- Earliest day on which Memorial Day can fall, while May 31 is the latest; celebrated on the last Monday in May. (United States)
- Earliest day on which Mother's Day can fall, while May 31 is the latest; celebrated on the last Sunday in May. (Algeria, Dominican Republic, France (First Sunday of June, if Pentecost occurs on this day), Haiti, Mauritius, Morocco, Sweden, Tunisia)
- Earliest day on which Turkmen Carpet Day can fall, while May 31 is the latest; celebrated on the last Sunday in May. (Turkmenistan)
- First National Government / National Day (Argentina)
- Geek Pride Day (geek culture)
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Jordan from the United Kingdom in 1946.
- Last bell (Russia, post-Soviet countries)
- Liberation Day (Lebanon)
- National Missing Children's Day (United States), and its related observances:
- National Tap Dance Day (United States)
- Towel Day in honour of the work of the writer Douglas Adams
“Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” - Romans 12:10
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
In looking back upon the character of our prayers, if we do it honestly, we shall be filled with wonder that God has ever answered them. There may be some who think their prayers worthy of acceptance--as the Pharisee did; but the true Christian, in a more enlightened retrospect, weeps over his prayers, and if he could retrace his steps he would desire to pray more earnestly. Remember, Christian, how cold thy prayers have been. When in thy closet thou shouldst have wrestled as Jacob did; but instead thereof, thy petitions have been faint and few--far removed from that humble, believing, persevering faith, which cries, "I will not let thee go except thou bless me." Yet, wonderful to say, God has heard these cold prayers of thine, and not only heard, but answered them. Reflect also, how infrequent have been thy prayers, unless thou hast been in trouble, and then thou hast gone often to the mercy-seat: but when deliverance has come, where has been thy constant supplication? Yet, notwithstanding thou hast ceased to pray as once thou didst, God has not ceased to bless. When thou hast neglected the mercy-seat, God has not deserted it, but the bright light of the Shekinah has always been visible between the wings of the cherubim. Oh! it is marvellous that the Lord should regard those intermittent spasms of importunity which come and go with our necessities. What a God is he thus to hear the prayers of those who come to him when they have pressing wants, but neglect him when they have received a mercy; who approach him when they are forced to come, but who almost forget to address him when mercies are plentiful and sorrows are few. Let his gracious kindness in hearing such prayers touch our hearts, so that we may henceforth be found "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit."
Evening
The word "conversation" does not merely mean our talk and converse with one another, but the whole course of our life and behaviour in the world. The Greek word signifies the actions and the privileges of citizenship: and thus we are commanded to let our actions, as citizens of the New Jerusalem, be such as becometh the gospel of Christ. What sort of conversation is this? In the first place, the gospel is very simple. So Christians should be simple and plain in their habits. There should be about our manner, our speech, our dress, our whole behaviour, that simplicity which is the very soul of beauty. The gospel is pre-eminently true, it is gold without dross; and the Christian's life will be lustreless and valueless without the jewel of truth. The gospel is a very fearless gospel, it boldly proclaims the truth, whether men like it or not: we must be equally faithful and unflinching. But the gospel is also very gentle. Mark this spirit in its Founder: "a bruised reed he will not break." Some professors are sharper than a thorn-hedge; such men are not like Jesus. Let us seek to win others by the gentleness of our words and acts. The gospel is very loving. It is the message of the God of love to a lost and fallen race. Christ's last command to his disciples was, "Love one another." O for more real, hearty union and love to all the saints; for more tender compassion towards the souls of the worst and vilest of men! We must not forget that the gospel of Christ is holy. It never excuses sin: it pardons it, but only through an atonement. If our life is to resemble the gospel, we must shun, not merely the grosser vices, but everything that would hinder our perfect conformity to Christ. For his sake, for our own sakes, and for the sakes of others, we must strive day by day to let our conversation be more in accordance with his gospel.
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Tarshish, Tharshish
[Tär'shish,Thär'shish] - hard orcontemplation. This name is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, principally in connection with a place hard to identify. The navy and ships of Tarshish prove it to have been of maritime importance. Josephus, the Jewish historian, wrongly identified it with Tarsus (1 Kings 10:22; 2 Chron. 9:21; Jonah 1:3; 4:2).
[Tär'shish,Thär'shish] - hard orcontemplation. This name is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, principally in connection with a place hard to identify. The navy and ships of Tarshish prove it to have been of maritime importance. Josephus, the Jewish historian, wrongly identified it with Tarsus (1 Kings 10:22; 2 Chron. 9:21; Jonah 1:3; 4:2).
- A grandson of Javan, grandson of Noah ( Gen. 10:4; 1 Chron. 1:7).
- A Benjamite, son of Bilhan, the grandson of Benjamin (1 Chron. 7:10).
- One of the seven highest princes of Persia who were privileged to enter the king's presence when they desired (Esther 1:14).
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Today's reading: 1 Chronicles 22-24, John 8:28-59 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: 1 Chronicles 22-24
1 Then David said, "The house of the LORD God is to be here, and also the altar of burnt offering for Israel."
Preparations for the Temple
2 So David gave orders to assemble the foreigners residing in Israel, and from among them he appointed stonecutters to prepare dressed stone for building the house of God. 3 He provided a large amount of iron to make nails for the doors of the gateways and for the fittings, and more bronze than could be weighed. 4 He also provided more cedar logs than could be counted, for the Sidonians and Tyrians had brought large numbers of them to David....
Today's New Testament reading: John 8:28-59
28 So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him." 30 Even as he spoke, many believed in him....
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