The US DOJ Inspector General report into FBI found no bias. It found Comey had a private server for emails, ala Hilary. It found investigating agents bragged they could prevent Trump from being elected. It found former President Clinton met with Attorney General Lynch inappropriately. It found the investigation into Hilary's servers tanked. It found press giving presents to FBI agents for leaks. But, as the head of the ABC (Australian variety) once remarked, they did not know how individuals voted and so could not see bias. Bill Clinton is offended by criticism of his meeting with Lynch in the dark ala Mark Felt and WaPo. Poll shows most Americans support Trump on NK, but Trump derangement syndrome festers, and the swamp has made a report.
Mayor threatens press on freedoms. Pittsburgh Post Gazette fired a cartoonist who had been on staff for some twenty five years. They are allowed to choose their staff. The cartoonist had been denigrating of Trump and praising Obama. The cartoonist can still do that, on their own dime. The cartoonist has no right to wreck a newspaper and dismiss readers unless they own the paper. Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto gets it wrong in releasing a statement claiming the dismissal of the cartoonist is a threat to press freedoms. In fact, the Mayor is threatening press freedoms.
Oxford child sex gang of eight males is jailed for 90 years. The sentences range from seven to fifteen years. They targeted young girls who were vulnerable, some as young as thirteen. They plied the girls with alcohol and had sex with them in a shag wagon. The sentences are short considering the nature of the crime, but ethnicity was clearly a factor, the reporting paper describing the gang as 'Asian.' But the Asian descriptor is too broad, not including people from the South or East of Asia.
Here is a video I made The Kid
The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke is a verse novel by Australian novelist and poet C. J. Dennis. The book sold over 60,000 copies in nine editions within the first year, and is probably one of the highest selling verse novels ever published in Australia.
Contents
A Spring Song
The Intro
The Stoush O' Day
Doreen
The Play
The Stror 'at Coot
The Siren
Mar
Pilot Cove
Hitched
Beef Tea
Uncle Jim
The Kid
The Mooch o' Life
=== from 2017 ===
Some things should not happen, but they do. The fire engulfing a block of units was apparently spread by exterior cladding. No one seems to have considered that that could turn the block into a Roman Candle. The emergency fire instruction to members of the block was that they should remain in their units. But they could have escaped if they had used the fire escape early. It appears a dozen people died from policy.
In the United States, unhinged rhetoric from the swamp through media and Democrat party resulted in an evil loser shooting GOP lawmakers. The evil loser asked who was playing baseball, Dem or GOP and when he was told GOP were on the field he opened fire from a distance. He was killed after security shot back. Otherwise it could have been much worse. The swamp is fighting back because Trump is successfully draining it. Today, the swamp produced fake news of an unnamed source claiming an investigation into allegations of Russian collusion would expand to include Trump. But the facts are the entire Russia fantasy has been enlarged from known fake leaks from Comey, a former FBI chief who was friendly with Hillary Clinton.
There are lots of reasons why those following the discourse of the Swamp would be very angry. They are helpless. They feel Black Lives Matter and they feel the only way to make that known is to attack people not responsible for those problems, but who help. They hear about Occupy and 1% leaders and they take advice of those in the 1% about whom to blame. Only 1%ers like Hillary and Sanders have lied. They hear that Russia stole the election for Trump when Hillary was disappointed that she hadn't got more support from Russia. They hear that gun laws are responsible for gun deaths, and one Democrat believes that the entire US will be wiped out by gun shootings in a week. But the truth is that the tightest gun laws have resulted in the worst atrocities. They are told police target blacks and shoot them for no reason when statistics do not show that.
Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull does not like Trump and made Trump the butt of jokes at a press dinner 'off the record.' Turnbull has claimed subsequently Turnbull was the butt of the jokes. But that is not true. Turnbull would have known it would be leaked. So Turnbull must have joined the swamp. And the reason why an evil loser armed themselves and shot at GOP lawmakers was because of the political discourse of swamp people like Turnbull. Turnbull can not achieve anything worthwhile as PM, except further personal humiliation of himself.
In 763 BC, Assyrians recorded a solar eclipse that was later used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history. 923, Battle of Soissons: King Robert I of France was killed and King Charles the Simple was arrested by the supporters of Duke Rudolph of Burgundy. Not much is known of the actual battle, except the victorious king was killed and the despised father in law to (Rollo) the future kings and queens of England was captured. 1184, King Magnus V of Norway was killed at the Battle of Fimreite. Magnus had tied together his fleet of craft, while the usurper Sverre Sigurdsson used his greater mobility to concentrate his attacks on one end of the fleet. The result was tethered ships were captured one by one. And then overfilled ships began to sink. The king was on one of the last craft to sink. His sons avenged him. 1215, King John of England put his seal to the Magna Carta. The snivelling and pathetic King John could have fought a civil war and died, and the kingdom would be reunited a different way. But, as history showed, the sealing of the Magna Carta was glorious. 1219, Northern Crusades: Danish victory at the Battle of Lyndanisse (modern-day Tallinn) established the Danish Duchy of Estonia. According to legend, this battle also marks the first use of the Dannebrog, the world's first national flag still in use, as the national flag of Denmark.
In 1502, Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Martinique on his fourth voyage. 1520, Pope Leo X threatened to excommunicate Martin Luther in papal bull Exsurge Domine. 1580, Philip II of Spain declared William the Silent to be an outlaw. William was also known as William of Orange. But he isn't the same as William III King of England. 1648, Margaret Jones was hanged in Boston for witchcraft in the first such execution for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. 1667, the first human blood transfusion was administered by Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys. His first two patients survived using animal blood, but two others died. It wasn't until 1902, when the four blood groups were identified that blood transfusions became relatively safe. 1752, Benjamin Franklin proved that lightning was electricity (traditional date, the exact date is unknown). 1775, American Revolutionary War: George Washington was appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. 1776, Delaware Separation Day: Delaware voted to suspend government under the British Crown and separate officially from Pennsylvania. 1785, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, co-pilot of the first-ever manned flight (1783), and his companion, Pierre Romain, became the first-ever casualties (fatalities) of an air crash when their hot air balloon exploded during their attempt to cross the English Channel.
In the United States, unhinged rhetoric from the swamp through media and Democrat party resulted in an evil loser shooting GOP lawmakers. The evil loser asked who was playing baseball, Dem or GOP and when he was told GOP were on the field he opened fire from a distance. He was killed after security shot back. Otherwise it could have been much worse. The swamp is fighting back because Trump is successfully draining it. Today, the swamp produced fake news of an unnamed source claiming an investigation into allegations of Russian collusion would expand to include Trump. But the facts are the entire Russia fantasy has been enlarged from known fake leaks from Comey, a former FBI chief who was friendly with Hillary Clinton.
There are lots of reasons why those following the discourse of the Swamp would be very angry. They are helpless. They feel Black Lives Matter and they feel the only way to make that known is to attack people not responsible for those problems, but who help. They hear about Occupy and 1% leaders and they take advice of those in the 1% about whom to blame. Only 1%ers like Hillary and Sanders have lied. They hear that Russia stole the election for Trump when Hillary was disappointed that she hadn't got more support from Russia. They hear that gun laws are responsible for gun deaths, and one Democrat believes that the entire US will be wiped out by gun shootings in a week. But the truth is that the tightest gun laws have resulted in the worst atrocities. They are told police target blacks and shoot them for no reason when statistics do not show that.
Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull does not like Trump and made Trump the butt of jokes at a press dinner 'off the record.' Turnbull has claimed subsequently Turnbull was the butt of the jokes. But that is not true. Turnbull would have known it would be leaked. So Turnbull must have joined the swamp. And the reason why an evil loser armed themselves and shot at GOP lawmakers was because of the political discourse of swamp people like Turnbull. Turnbull can not achieve anything worthwhile as PM, except further personal humiliation of himself.
In 763 BC, Assyrians recorded a solar eclipse that was later used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history. 923, Battle of Soissons: King Robert I of France was killed and King Charles the Simple was arrested by the supporters of Duke Rudolph of Burgundy. Not much is known of the actual battle, except the victorious king was killed and the despised father in law to (Rollo) the future kings and queens of England was captured. 1184, King Magnus V of Norway was killed at the Battle of Fimreite. Magnus had tied together his fleet of craft, while the usurper Sverre Sigurdsson used his greater mobility to concentrate his attacks on one end of the fleet. The result was tethered ships were captured one by one. And then overfilled ships began to sink. The king was on one of the last craft to sink. His sons avenged him. 1215, King John of England put his seal to the Magna Carta. The snivelling and pathetic King John could have fought a civil war and died, and the kingdom would be reunited a different way. But, as history showed, the sealing of the Magna Carta was glorious. 1219, Northern Crusades: Danish victory at the Battle of Lyndanisse (modern-day Tallinn) established the Danish Duchy of Estonia. According to legend, this battle also marks the first use of the Dannebrog, the world's first national flag still in use, as the national flag of Denmark.
In 1502, Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Martinique on his fourth voyage. 1520, Pope Leo X threatened to excommunicate Martin Luther in papal bull Exsurge Domine. 1580, Philip II of Spain declared William the Silent to be an outlaw. William was also known as William of Orange. But he isn't the same as William III King of England. 1648, Margaret Jones was hanged in Boston for witchcraft in the first such execution for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. 1667, the first human blood transfusion was administered by Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys. His first two patients survived using animal blood, but two others died. It wasn't until 1902, when the four blood groups were identified that blood transfusions became relatively safe. 1752, Benjamin Franklin proved that lightning was electricity (traditional date, the exact date is unknown). 1775, American Revolutionary War: George Washington was appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. 1776, Delaware Separation Day: Delaware voted to suspend government under the British Crown and separate officially from Pennsylvania. 1785, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, co-pilot of the first-ever manned flight (1783), and his companion, Pierre Romain, became the first-ever casualties (fatalities) of an air crash when their hot air balloon exploded during their attempt to cross the English Channel.
=== from 2016 ===
In the wake of the Army picking on Liberal Parliamentarian Hastie over posting some tasteful pictures of himself in uniform, the Army has been very quiet over an ALP (Hugh McDermott, Member for Prospect in NSW) member who has worn incorrect service medals. He is allegedly allowed to use the letters Dr before his name, but the source of his credentials have not been verified by The Conservative Voice. Hugh McDermott claims the army has mistakenly not recorded his service details. He claimed in his maiden speech to parliament that he was a Corporal. Only he refuses to table his service record showing he had achieved that rank. Also, on ANZAC Day he wore WW2 medals. But he hasn't said whose medals they were or why he could wear them. One expects pride in service. But one also expects the ALP to be manipulative and loose with the truth. We know Hastie was captain in the Australian SAS. But it is doubtful McDermott was respected by his fellow squad members. McDermott joined the AWU and was given time to study law while sponging off his union mates. He is highly lauded by his union mates. He claims he admired the Jesuits who helped the vulnerable fight oppression, just as the unions didn't in WW2.
For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
=== from 2015 ===
Cold war rhetoric is broadening from Russia over Ukraine to China over man made islands in the South Sea and testing of a mach 10 rocket. It highlights Obama policy failure and strengths. Obama has failed to use US military supremacy and has never pointed to moral decency. Now, lowest common denominator type actions by small nations have spiralled to threaten world peace. So that North Korea is China's problem even as China is loathe to reign it in. Syria and Ukraine are Russian problems even as Russia is loathe to address it. Post superpower politics was well negotiated by President GHW Bush even as he was heavily criticised, but the nascent democracy in the Middle East has crumbled under Obama's hesitant Presidency. The ISIL leader was released from prison by Obama to pursue his agenda. So now Obama is returning to policy he openly despised in his youth, Power politics in a cold war. Obama will only talk about Ukraine as it is in Russia's sphere of influence. Reports of imminent war between the US and China are similar to the cold war rhetoric of the sixties under Kennedy and LBJ. Only back then, China was different, and the Soviet Union was different. A better President would promote good friends like India and Israel and show the advantages of freedom.
Counter accusations created point to the unicorn of people smugglers allegedly paid to keep people off boats. We don't know exactly what happened in this case. But the ALP are keen to beat up the issue to obscure the fact Shorten is avoiding explaining his apparently corrupt activity as Union leader. One wouldn't be happy with queue jumpers being paid, but one does not know the circumstances either. If the criminal organisation that sent the boat people footed the bill, and now has to see the well remunerated victims returned, wishing another go, then that is funny. If these queue jumpers had paid $15k to $20k each and they came back short handed, that works too. One does not agree with what Mr Abbott has not done. Now, what about Mr Shorten?
Philae has awoken from her comet slumber. She is approaching the sun and open for research. Her mission was a partial success when she landed on a comet and reported on conditions there. But she was placed too far in shadow to retain power from her solar panels. But after months of being asleep, she has awakened to report she is now capable of finding out more about the comet she is on.
Two young women, Chinese, jumped from a window sill on the fifth floor of a burning building in Bankstown, Sydney, in 2012. They had had no choice, as the building failed to meet building code regulations. The aluminium window sill had melted under the flames onto the hand of Yinvo Giang and she jumped. Connie Zhang jumped too, but we don't know why exactly, as she died when she hit the ground. Yinvo has suffered severe injury, so that she is currently in a wheel chair. She loves Australia and trusts Australia's justice system. However the building is still not meeting the regulation for fire safety.
Counter accusations created point to the unicorn of people smugglers allegedly paid to keep people off boats. We don't know exactly what happened in this case. But the ALP are keen to beat up the issue to obscure the fact Shorten is avoiding explaining his apparently corrupt activity as Union leader. One wouldn't be happy with queue jumpers being paid, but one does not know the circumstances either. If the criminal organisation that sent the boat people footed the bill, and now has to see the well remunerated victims returned, wishing another go, then that is funny. If these queue jumpers had paid $15k to $20k each and they came back short handed, that works too. One does not agree with what Mr Abbott has not done. Now, what about Mr Shorten?
Philae has awoken from her comet slumber. She is approaching the sun and open for research. Her mission was a partial success when she landed on a comet and reported on conditions there. But she was placed too far in shadow to retain power from her solar panels. But after months of being asleep, she has awakened to report she is now capable of finding out more about the comet she is on.
Two young women, Chinese, jumped from a window sill on the fifth floor of a burning building in Bankstown, Sydney, in 2012. They had had no choice, as the building failed to meet building code regulations. The aluminium window sill had melted under the flames onto the hand of Yinvo Giang and she jumped. Connie Zhang jumped too, but we don't know why exactly, as she died when she hit the ground. Yinvo has suffered severe injury, so that she is currently in a wheel chair. She loves Australia and trusts Australia's justice system. However the building is still not meeting the regulation for fire safety.
News.com.au reports after giving her evidence, a tearful Ms Jiang, who was learning to be an English as second language teacher, asked to make a statement to the inquest.
“I came to this country because I love Australia and I wanted to learn how to educate children.
“I think that’s the reason my friend (Ms Zhang) here as well.
“I trust your legal system. Please find out what happened to my friend.”
From 2014
I must choose my words carefully as the boy has died. I respect him, and wish it that others know of him. People talk about intelligence and bravery and resolution, throwing those words around as if they have little currency, and applying them to people in bizarre situations who merely want to live. Jacky's life was tragically short, but he had foreknowledge of it and he faced it. It is a tough thing for the young knowing they are going to die. Jacky did not face an evil scientist who did terrible things for knowledge or pride. What claimed Jacky was historical and even today, not perfectly understood. It was made famous in a movie, Lorenzo's Oil. Jacky had Adrenoleukodystrophy.
ADL is from a chromosome, involving DNA. What it does is what the body naturally does. There is no known treatment that cures it, yet. It kills people by attacking the brain and central nervous system, reducing them to a vegetative state. Victims rarely live to their teens. Diet can help manage it for a time, as can stem cell therapy. Typically, sufferers have ADD type behaviours. Jacky was superior than a garden variety .. he was smart and capable of resisting temptation which others would succumb. I became aware of him when he was in year 8 and in a high level Mathematic class. He played chess at lunchtime in a room I had set aside for that purpose. He was a little shorter than average stature, but perfectly formed, and I recall him talking about getting a sick note to avoid a test and I suggested that that was not good behaviour. He told me he was sick, and suffered from ADL but hadn't shown symptoms yet .. but that he would die soon after he did show symptoms. He said that doctors had told him that he did not look sick, but that symmetric features sometimes showed good health, but sometimes, as with elfinism, meant someone was very sick. I clocked it mentally, as his year advisor told me it was true and the school knew about it, I didn't need to do anything administrative.
After I left teaching I reengaged with Jacky on Facebook. He had become a university student studying computer science. He had led a normal life, but began to feel the onset of symptoms his specialists had warned him about towards the end of his first year. He had become a keen Magic the Gathering card player. He got special stem cell treatment, but the disease progressed quickly. Soon he struggled to even work on a computer. He wrote about what was happening to him. And then, surrounded by family and loved ones, he passed away. And while Jacky's early death is a tragedy, his life isn't. He is an inspiration. I am thankful I got to know Jacky when I was a teacher. Todays is his birthday.
ADL is from a chromosome, involving DNA. What it does is what the body naturally does. There is no known treatment that cures it, yet. It kills people by attacking the brain and central nervous system, reducing them to a vegetative state. Victims rarely live to their teens. Diet can help manage it for a time, as can stem cell therapy. Typically, sufferers have ADD type behaviours. Jacky was superior than a garden variety .. he was smart and capable of resisting temptation which others would succumb. I became aware of him when he was in year 8 and in a high level Mathematic class. He played chess at lunchtime in a room I had set aside for that purpose. He was a little shorter than average stature, but perfectly formed, and I recall him talking about getting a sick note to avoid a test and I suggested that that was not good behaviour. He told me he was sick, and suffered from ADL but hadn't shown symptoms yet .. but that he would die soon after he did show symptoms. He said that doctors had told him that he did not look sick, but that symmetric features sometimes showed good health, but sometimes, as with elfinism, meant someone was very sick. I clocked it mentally, as his year advisor told me it was true and the school knew about it, I didn't need to do anything administrative.
After I left teaching I reengaged with Jacky on Facebook. He had become a university student studying computer science. He had led a normal life, but began to feel the onset of symptoms his specialists had warned him about towards the end of his first year. He had become a keen Magic the Gathering card player. He got special stem cell treatment, but the disease progressed quickly. Soon he struggled to even work on a computer. He wrote about what was happening to him. And then, surrounded by family and loved ones, he passed away. And while Jacky's early death is a tragedy, his life isn't. He is an inspiration. I am thankful I got to know Jacky when I was a teacher. Todays is his birthday.
Historical perspective on this day
In 763 BC, Assyrians recorded a solar eclipse that was later used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history. 923, Battle of Soissons: King Robert I of France was killed and King Charles the Simple was arrested by the supporters of Duke Rudolph of Burgundy. 1184, King Magnus V of Norway was killed at the Battle of Fimreite. 1215, King John of Englandput his seal to the Magna Carta. 1219, Northern Crusades: Danish victory at the Battle of Lyndanisse (modern-day Tallinn) established the Danish Duchy of Estonia. According to legend, this battle also marks the first use of the Dannebrog, the world's first national flag still in use, as the national flag of Denmark. 1246, with the death of Duke Frederick II, the Babenberg dynasty ended in Austria. 1300, the city of Bilbao was founded. 1312, at the Battle of Rozgony, King Charles I of Hungary won a decisive victory over the family of Palatine Amade Aba. 1389, Battle of Kosovo: The Ottoman Empire defeated Serbs and Bosnians. 1410, in a decisive battle at Onon River, the Mongol forces of Oljei Temur were decimated by the Chinese armies of the Yongle Emperor.
In 1502, Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Martinique on his fourth voyage. 1520, Pope Leo X threatened to excommunicate Martin Luther in papal bull Exsurge Domine. 1580, Philip II of Spain declared William the Silent to be an outlaw. 1648, Margaret Jones was hanged in Boston for witchcraft in the first such execution for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. 1667, the first human blood transfusion was administered by Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys. 1752, Benjamin Franklin proved that lightning was electricity (traditional date, the exact date is unknown). 1775, American Revolutionary War: George Washington was appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. 1776, Delaware Separation Day: Delaware voted to suspend government under the British Crown and separate officially from Pennsylvania. 1785, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, co-pilot of the first-ever manned flight (1783), and his companion, Pierre Romain, became the first-ever casualties (fatalities) of an air crash when their hot air balloon exploded during their attempt to cross the English Channel.
In 1804, New Hampshire approved the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratifying the document. 1808, Joseph Bonaparte became King of Spain. 1815, the Duchess of Richmond's ball was held in Brussels, "the most famous ball in history". 1836, Arkansas was admitted as the 25th U.S. state. 1844, Charles Goodyear receives a patent for vulcanization, a process to strengthen rubber. 1846, the Oregon Treaty established the 49th parallel as the border between the United States and Canada, from the Rocky Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. 1859, Pig War: Ambiguity in the Oregon Treaty led to the "Northwestern Boundary Dispute" between United States and British/Canadiansettlers. 1864, American Civil War: The Second Battle of Petersburg began. Also 1864, Arlington National Cemetery was established when 200 acres (0.81 km2) around Arlington Mansion (formerly owned by Confederate General Robert E. Lee) were officially set aside as a military cemetery by U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. 1867, Atlantic Cable Quartz Lode gold mine located in Montana. 1877, Henry Ossian Flipper became the first African American cadet to graduate from the United States Military Academy. 1878, Eadweard Muybridge took a series of photographs to prove that all four feet of a horse left the ground when it runs; the study became the basis of motion picture. 1888, Crown Prince Wilhelm became Kaiser Wilhelm II; he would be the last Emperor of the German Empire. Due to the death of his predecessors Wilhelm I and Frederick III, 1888 is the Year of the Three Emperors. 1896, the deadliest tsunami in Japan's history killed more than 22,000 people.
In 1904, a fire aboard the steamboat SS General Slocum in New York City's East River killed 1,000. 1905, Princess Margaret of Connaught married Gustaf, Crown Prince of Sweden. 1909, representatives from England, Australia and South Africa met at Lord's and formed the Imperial Cricket Conference. 1913, the Battle of Bud Bagsak in the Philippines ended. 1916, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America, making them the only American youth organisation with a federal charter. 1919, John Alcockand Arthur Brown completed the first nonstop transatlantic flight when they reach Clifden, County Galway, Ireland. 1920, Duluth lynchings in Minnesota. Also 1920, a new border treaty between Germany and Denmark gave northern Schleswig to Denmark. 1934, the U.S. Great Smoky Mountains National Park was founded. 1936, first flight of the Vickers Wellingtonbomber. 1937, a German expedition led by Karl Wien lost sixteen members in an avalancheon Nanga Parbat. It was the worst single disaster to occur on an 8000m peak.
In 1940, World War II: Operation Ariel began – Allied troops started to evacuate France, following Germany's takeover of Paris and most of the nation. 1944, World War II: Battle of Saipan: The United States invaded Japanese-occupied Saipan. Also 1944, in the Saskatchewan general election, the CCF, led by Tommy Douglas, was elected and formed the first socialist government in North America. 1945, the General Dutch Youth League(ANJV) was founded in Amsterdam, Netherlands. 1954, UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) was formed in Basel, Switzerland. 1970, Charles Manson went on trial for the Sharon Tate murders. 1972, Red Army Faction co-founder Ulrike Meinhof was captured by police in Langenhagen. 1978, King Hussein of Jordan married American Lisa Halaby, who took the name Queen Noor. 1985, Rembrandt's painting Danaë was attacked by a man (later judged insane) who threw sulfuric acid on the canvas and cuts it twice with a knife.
In 1991, in the Philippines, Mount Pinatubo erupted in the second largest volcanic eruption of the 20th Century. In the end, over 800 people died. 1992, the United States Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Álvarez-Machaín that it was permissible for the United States to forcibly extradite suspects in foreign countries and bring them to the USA for trial, without approval from those other countries. 1994, Israel and Vatican City establish full diplomatic relations. 1996, the Provisional Irish Republican Army exploded a large bomb in the middle of Manchester, England, United Kingdom. 2001, leaders of the People's Republic of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan formed the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. 2012, Nik Wallenda became the first person to successfully tightrope walk over Niagara Falls.
=== 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 Bacon Luu, Jacky Dang and Davey Nguyen. Born on the same day, across the years. On this day in 1215, King John of England put his seal to Magna Carta. In 1878, Eadweard Muybridge took a series of photographs to prove that all four feet of a horse leave the ground when it runs; the study became the basis of motion pictures. In 1919, After nearly 16 hours, the Vickers Vimy flown by John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown crash-landed in County Galway, Ireland, to complete the first non-stop transatlantic flight. Suggesting that there is adventure sealed with a big check. Jacky, thank you for sharing yourself in part of my life as a teacher.
- 1330 – Edward, the Black Prince, English son of Edward III of England (d. 1376)
- 1519 – Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset, English son of Henry VIII of England (d. 1536)
- 1640 – Bernard Lamy, French mathematician and theologian (d. 1715)
- 1755 – Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy, French chemist (d. 1809)
- 1763 – Kobayashi Issa, Japanese poet (d. 1827)
- 1835 – Adah Isaacs Menken, American actress, painter and poet (d. 1868)
- 1843 – Edvard Grieg, Norwegian pianist and composer (d. 1907)
- 1894 – Nikolai Chebotaryov, Ukrainian-Russian mathematician (d. 1947)
- 1900 – Gotthard Günther, German philosopher (d. 1984)
- 1911 – Wilbert Awdry, English author, co-created Thomas the Tank Engine (d. 1997)
- 1923 – Ninian Stephen, Australian judge
- 1924 – Ezer Weizman, Israeli commander and politician, 7th President of Israel (d. 2005)
- 1937 – Waylon Jennings, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Highwaymen) (d. 2002)
- 1941 – Harry Nilsson, American singer-songwriter (d. 1994)
- 1943 – Muff Winwood, English bass player, songwriter, and producer (Spencer Davis Group)
- 1946 – Demis Roussos, Egyptian-Greek singer (Aphrodite's Child)
- 1949 – Russell Hitchcock, Australian singer-songwriter (Air Supply)
- 1954 – Jim Belushi, American actor and singer
- 1962 – Chris Morris; English satirist, writer, director, actor, voice actor, and producer
- 1969 – Ice Cube, American rapper, producer, and actor (C.I.A., N.W.A, and Westside Connection)
- 1972 – Andy Pettitte, American baseball player
- 1973 – Pia Miranda, Australian actress
- 1981 – Billy Martin, American guitarist, songwriter, author, and illustrator (Good Charlotte)
- 1990 – Miwa, Japanese singer-songwriter and musician
- 1993 – Kanna Arihara, Japanese singer and model (Cute)
- 923 – Robert I of France (b. 866)
- 1073 – Emperor Go-Sanjō of Japan (b. 1034)
- 1381 – John Cavendish, English judge (b. 1346)
- 1381 – Wat Tyler, English leader of the Peasants' Revolt (b. 1341)
- 1560 – William Sommers, English jester (b.1525)
- 1996 – Ella Fitzgerald, American singer and actress (b. 1917)
- 2002 – Choi Hong Hi, South Korean general and martial artist, founder of Taekwondo (b. 1918)
- 763 BC – The Eclipse of Bur-Sagale was observed in Assyria, the earliest solar eclipsementioned in historical sources that has been successfully identified.
- 1815 – The Duchess of Richmond held a ball in Brussels, Belgium, that was described as "the most famous ball in history".
- 1859 – The shooting of a pig in the San Juan Islands led to the so-called Pig War over the border between the United States and British North America.
- 1978 – King Hussein of Jordan married American Lisa Halaby, who became known as Queen Noor of Jordan (pictured).
- 1991 – The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines deposited large amounts of particulate into the atmosphere, enough to lower global temperatures by about 0.5 °C (0.9 °F).
Nothing from regular columnists
===
Here’s a hate crime for you: Terrorism
Miranda Devine – Wednesday, June 15, 2016 (2:16am)
THE politically correct Left seems disappointed Orlando killer Omar Mateen turned out to be a Muslim and are ready to believe his father’s claim that the attack had nothing to do with religion.
Continue reading 'Here’s a hate crime for you: Terrorism'MILITANT PRESBYTERIANISM?
Tim Blair – Wednesday, June 15, 2016 (4:10pm)
Apparently “radical Islam” isn’t precise enough:
Readers are invited to suggest more accurate terminology.
Readers are invited to suggest more accurate terminology.
EMMA REMEMBERS
Tim Blair – Wednesday, June 15, 2016 (4:00pm)
It doesn’t take much to turn the ABC’s Emma Alberici against female politicians. Seven entire years after then-Italian MP Giorgia Meloni sliced and diced Alberici in an interview before walking away, Alberici still holds a grudge:
Giorgia Meloni shouldn’t run for Rome mayor & has nothing to do with motherhood
If you say so, Emma. The ABC host has lately offered her views on events in the US.
PRIORITIES ESTABLISHED
Tim Blair – Wednesday, June 15, 2016 (3:50pm)
Attractive advertising once provided London Tube passengers with a better option than looking at depressed British people. Not any more:
Sadiq Khan, London’s first Muslim mayor, announced Monday that “body shaming” advertisements will no longer be allowed in London’s public transport.“As the father of two teenage girls, I am extremely concerned about this kind of advertising which can demean people, particularly women, and make them ashamed of their bodies. It is high time it came to an end,” Khan said.The mayor added, “Nobody should feel pressurised, while they travel on the Tube or bus, into unrealistic expectations surrounding their bodies and I want to send a clear message to the advertising industry about this.”
Sadiq is applying a virtual burqa to trains and buses.
MIGHTY BLOGS BANISH COMMIE TO CENTRELINK
Tim Blair – Wednesday, June 15, 2016 (3:27pm)
Sorrowful supporters of semi-literate sweary socialist sackademic Martin Hirst insist that News Corp somehow engineered his dismissal:
Within a week of La Trobe University reversing its decision to suspend Safe Schools Coordinator Roz Ward, Deakin University sacked another left wing academic. Journalism lecturer Martin Hirst was notified of his termination on 9 June.Hirst is both a Marxist and a critic of the Murdoch media empire. His sacking is the result of a five year red-baiting campaign by Newscorp columnists with the express aim of driving him out of academia. After addressing the 2011 Finklestein enquiry into media regulation, Hirst was called by a Daily Telegraph reporter who asked “if [he is] or ever had been a communist”. He has since been the subject of attack articles by Tim Blair and Andrew Bolt and trolling from their supporters on his personal Twitter account.
Please. Minor player Hirst was barely on my, or anybody’s, radar. Before his Deakin ousting, I’d mentioned him only a handful of times – once when he was sucked in by a sham academic publisher, again when he went all sad in Highgate Cemetary, and once more when the Guardian declared that Hirst’s job was safe. As much as I’d like to claim even a partial credit for his removal, this is all down to Martin himself.
GET UP AND GO
Tim Blair – Wednesday, June 15, 2016 (2:19pm)
We are about to make the biggest political decision of our lives. The Sun urges everyone to vote LEAVE.We must set ourselves free from dictatorial Brussels.Throughout our 43-year membership of the European Union it has proved increasingly greedy, wasteful, bullying and breathtakingly incompetent in a crisis.Next Thursday, at the ballot box, we can correct this huge and historic mistake.
The latest polls are encouraging.
SOMETHING IS HAPPENING HERE BUT HE DOESN’T KNOW WHAT IT IS
Tim Blair – Wednesday, June 15, 2016 (4:50am)
Leftists are not coping well with their belated realisation that Islamic extremists hate homosexuals every bit as much – if not considerably more – as they hate everything else to do with the liberated West. Guardian journalist Owen Jones fled a television interview the other day because he believed the host was denying that the Orlando slaughter was primarily due to homophobia:
“At the end of the day this was a homophobic hate crime, as well as terrorism and it has to be called out, as I have to say, on Sky News and lots of news channels, there’s not been many LGBT voices that I’ve heard myself,” he said.Host Mark Longhurst interjected and said the crime had been carried out against “human beings” who were “trying to enjoy themselves, whatever their sexuality.”
Mr Longhurst also said Mr Jones could not suggest the Orlando attack was “worse” than the murder of more than 100 people in Paris last November.Mr Jones fired back that Mr Longhurst “could not understand” as he was not gay. He also said the presenters were trying to “deflect” the homophobic element of the attack.When co-panelist and journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer suggested that the killer might have taken equal umbrage against her, “a gobby woman”, Mr Jones became increasingly exasperated.
Something is happening here but you don’t know what it is, do you, Mr Jones. A quick reminder: gays were killed by Islamic terrorists on September 11, in Bali, in Madrid, In London’s 2005 suicide bombings, in Sydney in 2014, and of course throughout Syria and Iraq every recent horrific day. Extremist Islam hates us, in our totality. Gay, straight, men, women, left, right, black, white, whatever.
As Sky News host Mark Longhurst said, Orlando’s savagery was carried out against human beings. Once leftists work this out, they may understand the gravity of their situation. It’s a situation shared by everybody not aligned with Islamic terrorism. Now choose your side.
CHARITABLE ACTS OF MURDER
Tim Blair – Wednesday, June 15, 2016 (3:09am)
Ramadan – an annual event representing “a time to fast and devote a particular focus to prayer, purification and charitable acts” – continues to delight in 2016:
A suspected Islamist who stabbed to death a police commander and his wife in France claimed he was following Isil’s call for lone wolf attacks during Ramadan, in a video posted online after the killing.Larossi Abballa, a 25-year-old known to French security services, pledged allegiance to the leader of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) in a 13-minute live broadcast on his Facebook account before warning that Euro 2016 would become a “graveyard” …The attacker, who went to jail in 2013 for helping Islamist militants go to Pakistan and had been monitored by security services,repeatedly knifed the 42-year-old commander, named locally as Jean-Baptiste Salvaing, in the stomach late on Monday.He then barricaded himself inside the house in Magnanville, a suburb some 40 miles west of Paris, taking the policeman’s partner and three-year-old son hostage. His partner, 36, an administrative police official, was found dead in the house with knife wounds to her neck.
Their child survived. Abballa was heard on Facebook saying he didn’t know “what to do with it”. As in certain Australian states, French police officers will now be permitted to take home their service weapons.
People who live near the murdered couple in leafy, suburban Magnanville are shocked and afraid.“My son is also a policeman and he was a friend if the couple, said Huguette, 75. “They were together last Saturday at a party. My son has to live with fear now. It’s horrible. There are Islamists, too many Islamists in France and Europe. What will happen to the little boy? He may be psychologically affected as well as losing his parents. This area’s changing. As the older residents die, immigrants are moving in.”Jacqueline, 82, said: “We don’t feel this is our home any more, it’s their home. At night we see Arabs in big cars parked in the streets, smoking hashish. And there are prostitutes too.”
Abballa reportedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he murdered his first victim. Facebook will no doubt apologise for this terrible stereotype.
A man with known psychiatric problems stabbed a 19-year-old girl three times in western France on Tuesday, telling police he had heard voices ordering him to make a “sacrifice” for Ramadan, the Rennes prosecutor said.The attack came a day after a jihadist killed a French police couple in a small town near Paris, in a stabbing inspired by the Islamic State group.
AUTO INACTION
Tim Blair – Wednesday, June 15, 2016 (1:19am)
Sadly, the weekly Australian motorsport newspaper Auto Action has closed after 45 years. As with everything else, the title’s prime occurred in the 1970s.
It’s at least the seventh publication I’ve appeared in – along with Truth, Sports Illustrated Australia, the local edition of Time, the UK Independent, Wisden Australia and the Bulletin – that has either shut down entirely or ceased to run in print. Remarkably, Reader’s Digest Australia survives.
Yet another from this tiny, unrepresentative minority? Or something else?
Andrew Bolt –, Wednesday, June, 15, 2016, (11:51am)
Another arrest:
UPDATE
A curious reticence:
Not the usual terrorist suspect at all:
Who let him into the country?
A SYDNEY teenager has been charged with planning a terror attack after police were alerted to a number of his social media posts.The ABC is reporting that the boy wasn’t influenced by Islamist ideology, so let’s see what did motivate him.
The 17-year-old was arrested by members of the Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT) at his home at The Oaks, near Camden in Sydney’s south, last night and charged with one count of preparing for or planning a terrorist act.
UPDATE
A curious reticence:
It is understood the plot involved carrying out attacks on a number of public places throughout the city targeting a certain group of people.UPDATE
Not the usual terrorist suspect at all:
However, his baffled and distraught family said the boy was not at all religious and was of Greek origin… A police statement mentions that the boy has a serious mental illness.UPDATE
Who let him into the country?
A suspected Islamist who stabbed to death a police commander and his wife in France claimed he was following Isil’s call for lone wolf attacks during Ramadan, in a video posted online after the killing.
Larossi Abballa, a 25-year-old known to French security services, pledged allegiance to the leader of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) in a 13-minute live broadcast on his Facebook account before warning that Euro 2016 would become a “graveyard”
So not quite a lone wolf
Andrew Bolt –, Wednesday, June, 15, 2016, (11:50am)
At least one enabler, then:
===OMAR Mateen’s wife reportedly tried to talk him out of the Orlando attack, but admits she drove him to Pulse nightclub and Disney World as he scouted out potential targets.
NBC reports that authorities are now weighing criminal charges against Noor Salman after she told the FBI she drove Mateen to Pulse and other sites, including Disney World, “to scope them out”.
She also admitted she was with Mateen when he bought his ammunition and holster, but she never contacted authorities.
Labor stronger in WA than when Abbott was PM. UPDATE: Labor leads in latest poll
Andrew Bolt –, Wednesday, June, 15, 2016, (9:29am)
I still can’t see Labor picking up more than 10 seats, although the electorate seems so resentful that any last-minute issue could set it off.
But Labor friends in the campaign still hope for better, and today I read this:
A breeze of hope for Labor:
===But Labor friends in the campaign still hope for better, and today I read this:
Labor is on track to secure the largest number of seats it has held in Western Australia since 2001… Recent analysis of state-based opinion polls and individual seat polls by The Australian Financial Review shows the biggest swing against the Turnbull government is occurring in Western Australia, where the analysis shows a swing of as much as 10.6 per cent to Labor…Reader Peter of Bellevue Hill:
Using a conservative estimate that accounts for a margin of error of about 4.5 per cent, Labor would pick up the newly created seat of Burt, Hasluck and Cowan, where Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull campaigned on Tuesday. Labor is also hopeful it can secure Swan, where it needs a swing of 7.3 per cent… If achieved, a swing of 10.6 per cent to Labor could deliver the party up to six seats, including [Christian] Porter’s seat of Pearce… Labor currently holds three WA seats
AB, another timely reminder that the Turnbull wreckers used a (hopelessly inaccurate) poll prediction of a 10 per cent 2pp swing in the Canning by-election as a justification to move against Abbott. How does the Liberal party room feel about a 10 per cent WA-wide swing under Turnbull? All good in the hood?UPDATE
A breeze of hope for Labor:
Labor has edged ahead of the Coalition in a new poll with almost one in three voters rating the government “out of touch”. The latest Essential poll gives Labor a 51-49 two-party preferred lead. Labor’s primary vote of 37 per cent is 3.6 points above its 2013 result, while the Liberal-Nationals primary vote of 41 per cent is 4.6 per cent below the previous election. However, Labor would benefit from Greens preferences, with the minor party on 10 per cent of the primary vote.
Daniel Andrews’ most shabby and costly union deal
Andrew Bolt –, Wednesday, June, 15, 2016, (8:51am)
Former Premier Jeff Kennett on the most terrible of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews three big mistakes - handing power over the Country Fire Authority volunteers to his militant union mates:
===Daniel Andrews is engaged in a blatant payback to United Firefighters Union leader Peter Marshall. The UFU openly supported the ALP at the last election.
Victoria without volunteers is a state without a heart. Whether those volunteers are tourism guides, delivering meals on wheels, court workers, firefighters, volunteers in charitable organisations, members of the CWA, so the list goes on, the truth is without volunteers our state would be considerably poorer.
We do not have the financial capacity to replace volunteers with paid workers and you can’t replicate the warmth and generosity volunteers bring to their tasks.
The CFA is an extraordinary organisation. It has some paid officers among its ranks, but in the main it is a volunteer workforce of up to 60,000 Victorians that we depend upon to fight fires, big and small, in the outer suburbs and into our rural communities.
These are men and women, young and old, many representing generations of family volunteering.
That the Premier wants to put that workforce of volunteers offside and cede control of CFA operations to Peter Marshall is an affront to all volunteers — worse, it’s another sign of Andrews’s contempt and disregard for the position he holds.
Lucy Hone’s wonderful book
Andrew Bolt –, Tuesday, June, 14, 2016, (9:07pm)
Lucy tells her story here.
===Turnbull: whites “invaded” this land. This “always will be Aboriginal land”
Andrew Bolt –, Tuesday, June, 14, 2016, (7:30pm)
I have warned conservatives about what Malcolm Turnbull would be like once elected.
You don’t actually need to wait that long after today’s presser:
===You don’t actually need to wait that long after today’s presser:
JOURNALIST:And never may people with no Aboriginal ancestors feel an equal right to call this home:
Do you agree that the colonisation of Australia can fairly be described as an invasion?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I think it can be fairly described as that and I’ve got no doubt – and obviously our first Australians, Aboriginal Australians describe it as an invasion.
So this was and is and always will be Aboriginal land.And so the racial division of this country proceeds, encouraged by the party many would have expected to resist.
WHITE IS THE NEW BLACK
Tim Blair – Monday, June 15, 2015 (12:59pm)
Damn Americans. Just when it seemed Australian Belle Gibson was a certainty to win this year’s coveted Best Fakery award (western division, female category), along comes a Yank who has simply blown our Belle out of the water.
Gibson, you will recall, was the young woman who made headlines and a great deal of money by claiming to have treated her advanced brain cancer with food and alternative lifestyle therapies. It was a fantastically brazen, medically impossible story. Finally, Gibson confessed in April that her entire tale was a lie.
Rachel Dolezal, in the style of a true fakery champion, is offering no such admission.
(Continue reading White is the New Black.)
UPDATE. Dolezal has cancelled her appearance. For the second time, you might say.
NEXT THEY’LL HIDE HIS CAR KEYS
Tim Blair – Monday, June 15, 2015 (12:47pm)
British Muslim activist Asghar Bukhari exposes the Jews who stole his shoe:
In his original Facebook post, which has since been removed, Mr Bukhari wrote: “Are Zionists trying to intimidate me: Someone came into my home yesterday while I was asleep.“I don’t know how they got in, but they didn’t break in – the only thing they took was one shoe.”He continued: “Now think about that, the only thing they took was a single shoe – they left one shoe behind to let me know someone had been there.“Of course I can’t prove anything and that’s part of the intimidation. The game is simple – to make me feel vulnerable in my own home. It’s psychological. Neither can I do much about it.”
According to Bukhari, this blatant Zionist shoe theft is not an isolated incident:
(Via Dan Lewis)
(Via Dan Lewis)
LOCAL RACHEL
Tim Blair – Monday, June 15, 2015 (12:10pm)
In light of #RachelDolezal It should be acknowledged that Ethnjc Fraud a major issue in Aus Aboriginal community - w/ many holding meetings
Whose world?
Andrew Bolt June 15 2015 (3:22pm)
Given recent events, would New Matilda like to rephrase?
UPDATE
Dolezal managed to get a scholarship from a historically black university by making them think she was black. Perhaps she got her inspiration from this 1986 movie, made when she was 8:
===UPDATERachel Dolezal is not alone in the US. When race is a weapon of war, it’s no wonder some Americans switch sides.
UPDATE
Dolezal managed to get a scholarship from a historically black university by making them think she was black. Perhaps she got her inspiration from this 1986 movie, made when she was 8:
Soul Man (1986) ...(Thanks to readers Jeremy and Jason.)
To achieve his dream of attending Harvard, a pampered teen poses as a young black man to receive a full scholarship.
How is Labor allowed to get away with pretending to be tougher on boat people?
Andrew Bolt June 15 2015 (3:15pm)
Am I missing something here?
All Question Time, and during a censure motion as well, one political party was raging against giving incentives to people smugglers and putting them in business.
That party was Labor, which itself offered so many incentives to people smugglers when it was in government that 50,000 people came over, paying some $500 million for the trip and costing us $11 billion..
The party they were attacking, on the other hand, is the Liberal Party, which in government has had just one boat arrive in a year and a half, and is now accused - without any proof - of paying people smugglers to turn one boat back to Indonesia.
And reporters are buying this astonishing hypocrisy? Are worrying about “incentives” and “pull factors” when no boats are actually coming, after denying Labor had offered incentives and “pull factors” when boats were arriving every few days?
Oh, yes, those “pull factors”. Remember how Labor once swore blind pull factors didn’t explain why boat people were coming.
I just don’t get it. The media should be laughing these people into silence.
===All Question Time, and during a censure motion as well, one political party was raging against giving incentives to people smugglers and putting them in business.
That party was Labor, which itself offered so many incentives to people smugglers when it was in government that 50,000 people came over, paying some $500 million for the trip and costing us $11 billion..
The party they were attacking, on the other hand, is the Liberal Party, which in government has had just one boat arrive in a year and a half, and is now accused - without any proof - of paying people smugglers to turn one boat back to Indonesia.
And reporters are buying this astonishing hypocrisy? Are worrying about “incentives” and “pull factors” when no boats are actually coming, after denying Labor had offered incentives and “pull factors” when boats were arriving every few days?
Oh, yes, those “pull factors”. Remember how Labor once swore blind pull factors didn’t explain why boat people were coming.
I just don’t get it. The media should be laughing these people into silence.
When black is white in race politics
Andrew Bolt June 15 2015 (8:52am)
(Note: because of Australia’s absurd laws against free speech - particularly the Racial Discrimination Act - I am unable on legal advice to make several important points, mention an academic survey and correct a popular falsehood.)
RACHEL Dolezal is the face of modern race politics: a white academic who thrived by calling herself black.
This American race campaigner is what we get when we’re mad enough to think “race” is important and we must treat people differently depending on which they belong to.
Photos show Dolezal was once a freckled white girl with blue eyes and blonde straight hair before she transformed into an olive skinned woman with a mop of frizzled black hair.
According to her (white) father, Dolezal’s racial rebirth started when Washington’s Howard University — the “black Harvard” — “took her for a black woman” and gave her a scholarship.
Now 37, she is professor of Africana Studies at Eastern Washington University, teaching African-American culture and listing among her interests “African dance”.
What victim box doesn’t she tick?
(Read the abbreviated column here.
===
RACHEL Dolezal is the face of modern race politics: a white academic who thrived by calling herself black.
This American race campaigner is what we get when we’re mad enough to think “race” is important and we must treat people differently depending on which they belong to.
Photos show Dolezal was once a freckled white girl with blue eyes and blonde straight hair before she transformed into an olive skinned woman with a mop of frizzled black hair.
According to her (white) father, Dolezal’s racial rebirth started when Washington’s Howard University — the “black Harvard” — “took her for a black woman” and gave her a scholarship.
Now 37, she is professor of Africana Studies at Eastern Washington University, teaching African-American culture and listing among her interests “African dance”.
What victim box doesn’t she tick?
(Read the abbreviated column here.
===
When will Four Corners give up this green porn?
Andrew Bolt June 15 2015 (8:29am)
Of course the ABC isn’t biased.
It’s just that the ABC just hates the stuff that keeps their top activists on the air - and in it, as Joe Aston points out
===It’s just that the ABC just hates the stuff that keeps their top activists on the air - and in it, as Joe Aston points out
Usually, we’re the first to ignore vague pejoratives about the ABC’s independence (or alleged lack of it), but the vendetta the public broadcaster’s current affairs program Four Corners seems to have against the mining industry deserves attention…Marian Wilkinson? When will she post a correction to this alarmist tosh on Four Corners in 2008?:
Kerry O’Brien will commute from Byron Bay to Sydney in Business class on Monday to read from an autocue for approximately 40 seconds before retiring to Royal Sydney Golf Club and then flying home the following day. This weekly service costs the taxpayer around $200,000 each year.
This week he will introduce a segment called The End of Coal, whose promos ask “will Australia be left on the wrong side of history?"…
(C)orrespondent Marian Wilkinson has already brought two segments to air suggesting the coal industry is threatening the Great Barrier Reef: one in September last year called Battle for the Reef ... and one in November 2011 called Great Barrier Grief.
In July 2014, Power to the People bemoaned Australia’s failure to embrace renewable energy despite a “revolution in power generation taking place across the globe”.
In May 2012, Casualties of the Boom documented how “massive mining developments are killing communities in regional Australia”.
In February 2011, The Gash Rush investigated “the cost to farmers and the environment” of the coal seam gas industry. April 2013’s Gas Leak! was no different.
But our personal favourite is April 2010’s A Dirty Business about “how the people of a once picturesque valley found themselves surrounded by coalmines, dust and toxic chemicals, while the state government ignores their pleas for help”. Anyone seeing a pattern here?
MARIAN WILKINSON: It could be the greatest change to the planet’s environment many of us will ever see… The Arctic sea ice is retreating as climate change advances....In fact, Arctic ice refuses to melt away:
DR TED SCAMBOS, NATIONAL SNOW AND ICE DATA CENTER USA: .... There’s a group that makes a very strong case that in 2012 or 13 we’ll have an ice-free Arctic, as soon as that…
MARIAN WILKINSON: If you want to see climate change happening before your eyes, scientists will tell you, go to the ends of the earth, and that is why we are here in the Arctic Circle…
DR ROBIE MACDONALD, DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES AND OCEANS, CANADA: ... the modellers say that this ocean will be seasonally ice free for, initially they said by the end of this century, 2100.... And there was a very recent one when I was up on the Amundsen a couple of months ago. Do you know what it said? Maybe by 2013....
MARIAN WILKINSON: ... The more we burn oil, gas and coal, the more we clear land, the more greenhouse gases are being released adding to the Arctic warming… As the Louis ploughed through the thick sea ice we met one Arctic dweller already struggling with climate change - the polar bear… The US Government now estimates two thirds of its polar bear population could disappear within decades.
Antarctic sea ice is way above the average extent:
And polar bears show no sign of dying away any time soon.(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
Don’t rely on police to tackle union intimidators
Andrew Bolt June 15 2015 (8:26am)
Paul Sheehan:
===One of the disturbing things to come out of the royal commission into union corruption is the frequent uselessness of police. This is why a special agency was set up to police the building industry – and was removed by Labor and the Greens after they got into power.(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
One shocking example of police inertia contained in the interim report of the commission: two union officials, John Setka and Shaun Reardon, left intimidating and insulting phone messages for a female government inspector.
The men’s phone numbers were identified. Their voices were recorded. They even left their names. The messages came late at night. They were clearly intimidating. A formal complaint was made to the Victoria Police. Taking action on this case would be like tracking a bleeding elephant in the snow. But Victoria Police took none.
What’s new? Labor complained about paying people smugglers in 2002, too. But the boats stopped
Andrew Bolt June 15 2015 (7:50am)
Does the navy really sail around with $40,000 in the safe?
Here is then Labor Senator John Faulkner in 2002:
===AUSTRALIAN spies may have been involved in paying people smugglers to turn their boats around as part of a classified operation to disrupt their movements, a senior intelligence source revealed…Indeed, Labor was complaining about this kind of thing when the Howard Government ‘s successful border also stopping the boats - and before Labor let in more than 50,000 boat people.
However, a senior intelligence source has told The Daily Telegraph that Australia’s foreign intelligence service ASIS had been engaged in covert disruption and intelligence operations which may have involved such payments....
“Put it this way, the navy doesn’t have authorisation to do such things nor do they sail around with safes full of US dollars in them,” the source said.
The opposition has demanded answers from the government over reports that a boat crew had been paid $[US]30,000 to turn around…
But Prime Minister Tony Abbott has refused to confirm or deny the reports, sticking to a longstanding practice of not commenting on operational matters…
Mr Abbott last Friday hinted at the possible involvement of national security agencies, rather than the navy or Immigration and Border Protection. ASIS operations are classified. “There are all sorts of things that our security agencies do ... that they need to do to protect our country and many of those things just should never be discussed in public,” he said.
Here is then Labor Senator John Faulkner in 2002:
The AFP agreed that there were a whole series of methods that could be used to prevent the departure of the vessel and that it was the “discretion of the liaison officer in Jakarta as to the best method to apply”. There may be disruption of the transport of the passengers to the embarkation point, for instance, or the movement of the boat to that embarkation point…
The Government has refused to confirm if the disruption programme in Indonesia ever extended to the physical interference of vessels…
The most concerning of these allegations is that AFP informant Kevin Enniss admitted, indeed boasted, to reporter Ross Coulthart and two colleagues that he had paid Indonesian locals on four or five occasions to scuttle people smuggling boats with passengers aboard. Mr Enniss claimed the boats were sunk close to land so everyone got off safely.
The AFP recently issued a press statement indicating that “Kevin Enniss has been formally interviewed since the Nine Network’s Sunday Program alleged his involvement in the sabotaging of vessels. He emphatically denies any such involvement”. However the AFP did not indicate if Mr Enniss had told the Sunday crew that he had paid local Indonesians to scuttle four or five boats. The AFP recently confirmed, as a result of the Sunday Program revelations in February, that Mr Enniss was paid at least $25,000 by the AFP to be an informant. The AFP also admitted that they were aware that Mr Enniss purported to be a people smuggler and on at least one occasion took money from asylum seekers who thought they were buying a passage to Australia. Commissioner Keelty told Senate Estimates: “…we knew he was involved in people smuggling activities because he was telling us what was going on”.
Go march on Bill Shorten instead
Andrew Bolt June 15 2015 (7:39am)
SO how will Australia’s cleaners celebrate this huge day — the International Justice for Cleaners Day?
If they listened to their union bosses — and what a catastrophe that’s been — they’ll march on the Australian Chamber of Commerce’s Melbourne headquarters.
Why? Because Victoria’s Trades Hall Council says these wicked bosses “want penalty rates abolished”.
But wait. If that’s the crime, why don’t the cleaners march instead on the office of Labor leader Bill Shorten, who on Friday was invited by the royal commission into union corruption to come explain himself?
(Read full article here.)
===If they listened to their union bosses — and what a catastrophe that’s been — they’ll march on the Australian Chamber of Commerce’s Melbourne headquarters.
Why? Because Victoria’s Trades Hall Council says these wicked bosses “want penalty rates abolished”.
But wait. If that’s the crime, why don’t the cleaners march instead on the office of Labor leader Bill Shorten, who on Friday was invited by the royal commission into union corruption to come explain himself?
(Read full article here.)
A Fox News host would never have said it
Andrew Bolt June 15 2015 (7:02am)
She says she “misspoke”. But somehow a CNN host called a Dallas gunman who shot at a police station “courageous” and “brave”.
(Thanks to reader Steve.)
===(Thanks to reader Steve.)
What this poll really proves is Fairfax’s poll reporting can’t be trusted
Andrew Bolt June 15 2015 (6:02am)
This is ludicrous. A month ago the Fairfax Ipsos poll claimed the Abbott Government was 50-50 with Labor, which was plainly unbelievable. As I said then:
===I do suspect the electorate is a little more unforgiving than the IPSOS poll suggests">I do suspect the electorate is a little more unforgiving than the IPSOS poll suggestsNow the IPSO poll corrects - perhaps even overcorrects - but rather than simply say so (and thus admit its polls are unreliable) the Sydney Morning Herald pretends this actually marks a real shift in voter sentiment:
Voters are again drifting away from Tony Abbott after a brief post-budget pause amid a worsening housing affordability crisis and the government’s refusal to bend on popular social reforms such as same-sex marriage equality.That said, I do think the media pile-on on Joe Hockey has hurt, not least because he did not counter it decisively.
The ... poll slump ... if continued would feed tensions within the Liberal Party over policy and presentation, and could even see the leadership question revisited… Labor’s share of the two-party-preferred vote after preferences now stands at 53 per cent to 47 per cent for the Coalition ... An immediate post-budget survey in May had the two sides level-pegging on 50/50.
Fran Kelly: royal commission will let Bill Shorten shine again
Andrew Bolt June 15 2015 (12:42am)
No, of course the ABC isn’t biased.
It’s just that ABC host Fran Kelly seriously thinks Bill Shorten being summoned to the royal commission into union corruption is his chance to shine and show what a wonderful union he once lead, From Insiders yesterday:
And a few other things don’t fit her incredibly generous view of the matter. As in: why get employers to pay for union memberships? Why disguise some of those payments as fees for health and safety courses? Why is the AWU asking Fair Work Australia for one of Shorten’s deals to be scrapped in the interests of the workers? And did workers miss out on payments they could have got through more effective representation, including, dare I say, by the CFMEU?
How can the ABC be allowed to continue like this?
===It’s just that ABC host Fran Kelly seriously thinks Bill Shorten being summoned to the royal commission into union corruption is his chance to shine and show what a wonderful union he once lead, From Insiders yesterday:
MICHAEL STUTCHBURY:Of course there is a third option that Kelly has failed to consider in choosing between the CFMEU and AWU: “neither of the above”.
The irony here is, previously, it’s been the CFMEU in the dock and they’ve been in the dock for basically being outrageous and conducting illegal and often criminal activity and inflating wages, if you like. The AWU is now in the dock, ironically, for not looking after workers enough and I think the fact is that the system accommodates a rogue union – the CFMEU – which routinely breaks the law and its business model is based on breaking the law, it pays the Labor Party money – in Victoria it’s the largest donor – it’s really a disgrace. On the other hand, the bosses go to the AWU, which is a moderate union and in a lot of ways a perfectly good union, to get protection so they can do a deal with the boss and say, ‘Well, we’ll keep the CFMEU in’.
BARRIE CASSIDY:
That’s why they pay these union fees, to keep the CFMEU out of it.
MICHAEL STUTCHBURY:
Exactly. So you get complete outrage on one hand and then you get to get protection against that if you’re an employer and you get some dodge deals on the other hand.
FRAN KELLY: Doesn’t that work for Bill Shorten’s favour, that he comes in as the leader of the AWU at the time and says, ‘Ok, we’re a decent union, we’ve got decent workers, we want to do well, you pay us well and, you know, you can keep the CFMEU out’? I presume that’s the kind of discussion they had and can’t he make a meal of that at the Royal Commission? I’m just wondering. Beaconsfield Bill gets to shine through again.
And a few other things don’t fit her incredibly generous view of the matter. As in: why get employers to pay for union memberships? Why disguise some of those payments as fees for health and safety courses? Why is the AWU asking Fair Work Australia for one of Shorten’s deals to be scrapped in the interests of the workers? And did workers miss out on payments they could have got through more effective representation, including, dare I say, by the CFMEU?
How can the ABC be allowed to continue like this?
Boris Johnson
Look, I am no seismologist. But I cannot agree with the people of the Malaysian province who claim that a recent fatal tremor was nothing short of divine retribution.
===
The Thing in the Night As I started my way back home today I went and did a final chase which went less than good. It...
Posted by Matt Granz on Sunday, 14 June 2015
So Wrong....
Posted by KS1075 on Thursday, 11 June 2015
===
Increasing youth unemployment a threat to the ongoing stability of the nation
Piers Akerman – Saturday, June 14, 2014 (11:10pm)
FORGET Generation X, Y and Z; the real threat to the ongoing stability of the nation is Generation M — M for Missing.
While the official employment figures for May look reasonable they mask an underlying and growing crisis.
The number of young people in employment is continuing to shrink at a steady rate.
Youth employment peaked in mid-2008.
Since then it has shrunk by more than more 7 per cent. That is, 140,000 young people have dropped out of the official record.
In some areas, youth unemployment is now more than twice the national average.
Under-employment of young Australians also exceeds that of the broader labour market, with around 30 per cent of young workers without work or sufficient hours of work.
The chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), Kate Carnell, says a lost generation is being created.
“The youth participation rate measures the number of young people in the work force in any form,” she said.
“If they’re getting the dole, they’re in the participation rate. But these young people have just disappeared. They’re not there. They’re not working or looking for work, they’re not earning or learning.”
Carnell thinks some may be working in the cash economy, others may be simply sitting on the family couch.
“There’s a clear disengagement and if they’re disengaged at 25, they’ll be disengaged at 45 and they’ll become long-term unemployed,’ she said.
The prospect of hundreds of thousands, if not future millions, floating in society constitutes a very real problem.
ACCI’s director employment, education and training, Jenny Lambert, said policy decisions by the previous federal government to reduce apprenticeship incentives and of state governments which have seen support funding for training in key entry level occupations fall dramatically have also failed young Australians.
And unions continue to hinder the chances of young people competing in the job market by seeking wage rises for apprentices and juniors.
Lefties living in a parallel world
Miranda Devine – Sunday, June 15, 2014 (6:35pm)
IN an episode of the classic science fiction TV series, The Twilight Zone, astronaut Major Robert Gaines returns to Earth and discovers he has slipped into a surreal parallel universe in which everything looks the same but nothing makes sense.
Continue reading 'Lefties living in a parallel world'
THEY ARE CHANGING
Tim Blair – Sunday, June 15, 2014 (6:19am)
“Where will I live?” wonders a mutant dog/koala hybrid at yet another coal protest:
A better question: how will you live? An abomination like that surely isn’t viable, neither in kennel nor tree. Where did it come from? What does it eat? Why is it alive?
A better question: how will you live? An abomination like that surely isn’t viable, neither in kennel nor tree. Where did it come from? What does it eat? Why is it alive?
This could indicate a previously unnoticed species-morphing ability. It is possible that protesters are now beginning to … transform. Examine further evidence in the upper left corner of the same photograph:
This seems to be a bearded blonde woman wearing a miniskirt. She/he carries an appropriately astonished bear image, probably as a guide to his/her eventual appearance, once the shape-shifting is complete. Remain vigilant.
This seems to be a bearded blonde woman wearing a miniskirt. She/he carries an appropriately astonished bear image, probably as a guide to his/her eventual appearance, once the shape-shifting is complete. Remain vigilant.
BUDDY BEATS BANDANA
Tim Blair – Sunday, June 15, 2014 (6:01am)
Al Qaeda sorry man Peter FitzSimons can’t pick winners in radio or the AFL. Back in March, FitzSimons declared Lance Franklin a Buddy disaster for the Sydney Swans:
The deal between the Swans and Franklin last year – whereby a club famous for its team-first, team-always culture put $10 million over nine years towards a 27-year-old party fiend with chronic knee problems who didn’t finish in the top 10 of the best and fairest in his last season with Hawthorn – might have been a tad close to the worst decision made by a sporting organisation since Balmain decided to get Alan Jones to coach them in 1989.
Great call, raghead:
Lance Franklin deserves another truckload of cash after single-handedly dragging the Swans over the line against top team Port Adelaide at the SCG.In a spectacular performance before a near capacity crowd of 41,317, Franklin kicked the Swans’ last five goals as they fought gallantly to win a finals-like clash by just four points.
You were saying, Peter?
DAM DROUGHT OVER
Tim Blair – Sunday, June 15, 2014 (5:42am)
We were promised dams, and dams we shall receive:
NSW is close to getting its first new dam in almost 30 years, with $300 million set aside in next week’s budget for a dam in the Central West of the state …It will be the first built in the state since Split Rock at Tamworth in 1987, and is funded from the long-term lease of Port Waratah and Port Botany.
Our tax-funded protest community will find some reason to oppose this.
JULIA AHEAD 4-2
Tim Blair – Sunday, June 15, 2014 (5:26am)
Abbott: Mike, Canadia.
Gillard: dungeon, hyperbole, Taliband and tenant.
WHO SAVES ME FROM DYING? MY PA!
Tim Blair – Sunday, June 15, 2014 (5:01am)
Useful parenting instructions for Fairfax’s Sam De Brito, whose child is needlessly terrified of global warming:
TOTALLY RACIST
Tim Blair – Sunday, June 15, 2014 (4:49am)
Crikey‘s Bernard Keane identifies global warming’s racial component:
There’s a certain inevitability about Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper standing shoulder-to-shoulder in an effort to stymie international action on climate change. That’s not just because they’re middle-aged white conservatives, which is defining demography of climate denialism?--?if CO2 caused baldness and erectile dysfunction climate change would have been addressed decades ago ...
Mark Steyn responds:
It’s good to know opposing climate change is, like everything else, totally racist. Like most people who drone on about middle-aged white men, Bernard Keane is a middle-aged white man. He doesn’t appear to be bald, but the erectile dysfunction of hockey-stick climate alarmism seems to be getting to him.
Unlike YouTube viewers, who resolutely stay away from Keane and his fellow bores. Further from Steyn: Is Michael Mann a blood-drinking shape-shifting space lizard?
RIDE BICYCLES, COMRADES
Tim Blair – Sunday, June 15, 2014 (3:32am)
The 425-horsepower CFMEU ute was prominent at recent anti-Abbott demonstrations in Melbourne. Apparently our unionist bruvvers have abandoned their previous save the planet campaign.
CRAZY ATTRACTS CRAZY
Tim Blair – Sunday, June 15, 2014 (2:43am)
One of Bob Ellis’s valued readers exposes the great O. J. Simpson/World Cup conspiracy:
OJ Simpsons wife and lover were killed the saturday immediately proceeding the opening of the (soccer) World Cup in the USA because gridion players and baseball players had been on strike for a year and there was a real chance these homegrown games would suffer permanent value impairment if soccer had been given clean airtime so despite the fact the victims had 50 plus defensive wound apiece in what was given the injuries sustained obviously a desperate struggle and Simpson had a simple working man nick on one finger the black guy was chased on TV and dramatically charged and the entire process managed to maximise the blackout of what was supposed to be soccers coming of age in the US of A
So now you know.
MISS METH
Tim Blair – Sunday, June 15, 2014 (2:40am)
There are Adelaide names and then there are Florida names.
The Bolt Report today, June 15
Andrew Bolt June 15 2014 (6:00am)
My guest: Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Iraq. The panel: former Treasurer Peter Costello and former NSW Treasurer Michael Costa on the AWU scandal and more.
NewsWatch: Rowan Dean. Fact-checking the media narrative of a stumble-bum PM.
On Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm.
The videos of the shows appear here.
===NewsWatch: Rowan Dean. Fact-checking the media narrative of a stumble-bum PM.
On Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm.
The videos of the shows appear here.
Truss: voting for Palmer betrays democracy
Andrew Bolt June 15 2014 (5:55am)
I very much hope Truss is right:
===NATIONALS leader Warren Truss reckons Clive Palmer could go the way of other political “saviours” such as Pauline Hanson…
“Those who throw away their vote in some kind of protest are in fact ignoring their obligations to their democracy but also putting their country at risk.”
Kind media outlet helps struggling Clinton daughter. Mum should be grateful
Andrew Bolt June 15 2014 (5:38am)
Chelsea Clinton’s mum, tipped to be the Democratic nominee for President, should be grateful for this astonishing largesse:
===On Friday morning, Politico published on the previously unknown and “closely held” details of former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton’s contract with NBC News. According to the story, Clinton was given an annual salary of $US600,000 when she joined NBC News as a “special correspondent” in November 2011. Based on these figures, Clinton has earned about $US26,724 for each minute she subsequently appeared on air.
ISIS leader was a US detainee
Andrew Bolt June 15 2014 (5:28am)
Just a little something to think about for all the libertarians who demanded detainees go free:
Obama pulled US forces out of Iraq in 2011.
David French was a soldier in Iraq at the height of trouble:
Our immigration program remains of great concern:
===When Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi walked away from a U.S. detention camp [in Iraq] in 2009, the future leader of ISIS issued some chilling final words to reservists from Long Island.UPDATE
“He said, ‘I’ll see you guys in New York,’” recalls Army Col. Kenneth King, then the commanding officer of Camp Bucca…
King had not imagined that in less that five years he would be seeing news reports that al-Baghdadi was the leader of ISIS, the ultra-extremist army that was sweeping through Iraq toward Baghdad.
Obama pulled US forces out of Iraq in 2011.
David French was a soldier in Iraq at the height of trouble:
I remember what Iraq was like in late 2008, when I left. My unit. . .had largely cleared out one of the last areas of al-Qaeda dominion in Iraq. At high cost we had taken thousands of square kilometers back from enemy control, broken the back of enemy resistance, and given the local population the chance to live something approaching a normal life. Want a measure of our success?UPDATE
When we arrived in November 2007, in Diyala Province (labeled the Islamic Caliphate of Iraq by the al-Qaeda forces in control) every time any convoy rolled out of the gate, it had a greater than 25 percent chance of enemy contact — IEDs, ambushes, or sniper fire. When we left in late September 2008, that chance was down to approximately 1 percent.
Good men died making that progress. Friends and brothers, all of them.
But that’s not to say that al-Qaeda was completely defeated. Even as we prepared to hand over the battle space to an incoming unit, al Qaeda struck one last blow – killing a very dear friend of mine when our troopers cornered a senior leader.
The bottom line was that Iraq was under control, but still in a state of low-intensity war. Iraqi forces, with the help of small groups of American advisers and — in extreme circumstances — American air power, were more than capable of handling large-scale threats from jihadists but weren’t yet capable of stopping all violence (and, indeed, may never have been). The situation was stable, and — here’s the key — sustainable. Yes, to sustain it would have required the continued presence of American troops, and those troops may have sustained occasional additional casualties, but that’s the price we pay to secure hard-won victories.
Our immigration program remains of great concern:
The head of the al-Risalah Islamic Centre in Sydney, where both Sulayman and Cerantonio have lectured, Wissam Haddad, said Muslims were rejoicing at ISIS’s stunning gains. “There’s a feeling of joy,’’ Mr Haddad told The Weekend Australian.(Thanks to reader David.)
Solar promise fried
Andrew Bolt June 15 2014 (5:02am)
I don’t wish embarrassment on the Environment Minister, the very nice Greg Hunt, but I am very grateful that the tap is finally being turned off the great global warming waste
Plain sense said plainly:
===Mr Hunt took his colleagues by surprise when he announced to an industry gathering last November that the Coalition was committed to its $500 million ‘’1 Million Solar Roofs’’ program....UPDATE
But Mr Hunt’s ‘’shining beacon’’, a leftover from the 2010 election campaign, had not been approved by Prime Minister Tony Abbott or his top economic ministers ...
In his presentation to the Clean Energy Council on November 29 last year, the Environment Minister declared: ‘’The government will provide $500 million for the 1 Million Solar Roofs program. And a further $50 million each,’’ he added, would be given to ‘’the Solar Towns and Solar Schools programs’’…
Mr Hunt was ultimately forced to abandon all but $2 million of his $600 million in promised policies. The 2014-15 budget allocated no money for solar roofs and nothing for solar schools. Just $2.1 million was given to the solar towns policy despite Mr Hunt promising $50 million in November.
Plain sense said plainly:
TONY Abbott has visited the energy capital of the USA to insist he does not want the battle against climate change to limit the use of any type of fuel.
Promoting his plan to scrap the carbon tax in front of an audience of energy executives in Houston, Texas, Mr Abbott said he wanted Australia to become a centre of cheap energy…
“Affordable, reliable energy fuels enterprise and drives employment,” Mr Abbott said… “For many decades at least coal will continue to fuel human progress as an affordable, dependable energy source for wealthy and developing countries alike.”
===
===
===
===
===
===
===
===
===
===
===
===
===
===
===
" One of the IEI's minor investors is Australian news mogul Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch is interested in IEI because there are also massive deposits of oil shale in Australia. If IEI's pilot is successful, Australia will doubtlessly follow Israel's lead in developing its own energy independence through oil shale development."Rupert at his age is way ahead of the rest of us as always.
===
Allyson Christy
And too, a means at diversion under the shadows of scandals....
"United States military support for Syrian rebels will include small arms, ammunition and possibly anti-tank weapons, according to two officials familiar with the matter. The weapons will be provided by the CIA, the officials said.
On Thursday, the White House said Syria had crossed a "red line" with the use of chemical weapons against rebels and added -- without specifics -- that the United States would increase the "scale and scope" of support for the opposition.
"What we need, really, is weapons and ammunition, and especially anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles," Salim Idriss, the head of the rebel Free Syrian Army, told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Friday." -CNN Breaking News
===
Allyson Christy
Once again, a reminder that the World Council of Churches, sanctimoniously mounted atop a familiar high horse, spews a vitriolic agenda; one aimed at utilising and stirring tired pots of scapegoating, habitual lies drenched in centuries of foul hatred and a sustained lifeline connected to ignorance and stupidity.
To wit, herein.....
"Any honest and unbiased reader of the Bible knows otherwise, and should reject this anti-Jewish theology. Anybody, the WCC included, who singles Israel out as the sole villain that threatens world peace, who points fingers at Israel, the least troublesome element in the Middle East, is, by definition, anti-Semitic. Masquerading such sentiment as Christian love only adds insult to injury." - Tsvi Sadan, Israel Today
===
- 1667 – French physician Jean-Baptiste Denys (pictured)administered the first fully documented human blood transfusion, giving the blood of a sheep to a 15-year-old boy.
- 1896 – A 7.2 Ms earthquake and a subsequent tsunamistruck Japan, destroying about 9,000 homes and causing at least 22,000 deaths.
- 1944 – In the Saskatchewan general election, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation led by Tommy Douglas won enough seats in the Legislative Assembly to form the first socialist government in North America.
- 1954 – The Union of European Football Associations, the administrative and controlling body for European football, was founded inBasel, Switzerland.
- 1996 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated a bomb in the commercial centre of Manchester, England, injuring over 200 people and causing widespread damage to buildings.
- 763 BC – Assyrians record a solar eclipse that is later used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history.
- 844 – Louis II is crowned as king of Italy at Rome by pope Sergius II.
- 923 – Battle of Soissons: King Robert I of France is killed and King Charles the Simple is arrested by the supporters of Duke Rudolph of Burgundy.
- 1184 – King Magnus V of Norway is killed at the Battle of Fimreite.
- 1215 – King John of England puts his seal to Magna Carta.
- 1219 – Northern Crusades: Danish victory at the Battle of Lyndanisse (modern-day Tallinn) establishes the Danish Duchy of Estonia.
- 1246 – With the death of Frederick II, Duke of Austria, the Babenberg dynasty ends in Austria.
- 1300 – The city of Bilbao is founded.
- 1312 – At the Battle of Rozgony, King Charles I of Hungary wins a decisive victory over the family of Palatine Amade Aba.
- 1389 – Battle of Kosovo: The Ottoman Empire defeats Serbs and Bosnians.
- 1410 – In a decisive battle at Onon River, the Mongol forces of Oljei Temur were decimated by the Chinese armies of the Yongle Emperor.
- 1502 – Christopher Columbus lands on the island of Martinique on his fourth voyage.
- 1520 – Pope Leo X threatens to excommunicate Martin Luther in Exsurge Domine.
- 1648 – Margaret Jones is hanged in Boston for witchcraft in the first such execution for the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
- 1667 – The first human blood transfusion is administered by Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys.
- 1670 – The first stone of Fort Ricasoli is laid down in Malta.
- 1752 – Benjamin Franklin proves that lightning is electricity (traditional date, the exact date is unknown).
- 1776 – Delaware Separation Day: Delaware votes to suspend government under the British Crown and separate officially from Pennsylvania.
- 1804 – New Hampshire approves the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratifying the document.
- 1808 – Joseph Bonaparte becomes King of Spain.
- 1836 – Arkansas is admitted as the 25th U.S. state.
- 1844 – Charles Goodyear receives a patent for vulcanization, a process to strengthen rubber.
- 1846 – The Oregon Treaty establishes the 49th parallel as the border between the United States and Canada, from the Rocky Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
- 1859 – Pig War: Ambiguity in the Oregon Treaty leads to the "Northwestern Boundary Dispute" between United States and British/Canadian settlers.
- 1864 – American Civil War: The Second Battle of Petersburg begins.
- 1864 – Arlington National Cemetery is established when 200 acres (0.81 km2) around Arlington Mansion (formerly owned by Confederate General Robert E. Lee) are officially set aside as a military cemetery by U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.
- 1877 – Henry Ossian Flipper becomes the first African American cadet to graduate from the United States Military Academy.
- 1878 – Eadweard Muybridge takes a series of photographs to prove that all four feet of a horse leave the ground when it runs; the study becomes the basis of motion pictures.
- 1888 – Crown Prince Wilhelm becomes Kaiser Wilhelm II; he will be the last Emperor of the German Empire. Due to the death of his predecessors Wilhelm I and Frederick III, 1888 is the Year of the Three Emperors.
- 1896 – The deadliest tsunami in Japan's history kills more than 22,000 people.
- 1904 – A fire aboard the steamboat SS General Slocum in New York City's East River kills 1,000.
- 1916 – United States President Woodrow Wilson signs a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America, making them the only American youth organization with a federal charter.
- 1919 – John Alcock and Arthur Brown complete the first nonstop transatlantic flight when they reach Clifden, County Galway, Ireland.
- 1920 – A new border treaty between Germany and Denmark gives northern Schleswig to Denmark.
- 1921 – Bessie Coleman earns her pilot's license, becoming the first female pilot of African-American descent.
- 1934 – The United States Great Smoky Mountains National Park is founded.
- 1936 – First flight of the Vickers Wellington bomber.
- 1937 – A German expedition led by Karl Wien loses sixteen members in an avalanche on Nanga Parbat. It is the worst single disaster to occur on an 8000m peak.
- 1940 – World War II: Operation Ariel begins: Allied troops start to evacuate France, following Germany's takeover of Paris and most of the nation.
- 1944 – World War II: Battle of Saipan: The United States invade Japanese-occupied Saipan.
- 1944 – In the Saskatchewan general election, the CCF, led by Tommy Douglas, is elected and forms the first socialistgovernment in North America.
- 1970 – Charles Manson goes on trial for the Sharon Tate murders.
- 1972 – Red Army Faction co-founder Ulrike Meinhof is captured by police in Langenhagen.
- 1977 – After the death of dictator (in 1975) Francisco Franco, the first democratic elections took place in Spain on this day.
- 1978 – King Hussein of Jordan marries American Lisa Halaby, who takes the name Queen Noor.
- 1985 – Rembrandt's painting Danaë is attacked by a man (later judged insane) who throws sulfuric acid on the canvas and cuts it twice with a knife.
- 1991 – In the Philippines, Mount Pinatubo erupts in the second largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century, killing over 800 people.
- 1992 – The United States Supreme Court rules in United States v. Álvarez-Machaín that it is permissible for the United States to forcibly extradite suspects in foreign countries and bring them to the United States for trial, without approval from those other countries.
- 1994 – Israel and Vatican City establish full diplomatic relations.
- 1996 – The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonates a powerful truck bomb in the middle of Manchester, England, devastating the city centre and injuring 200 people.
- 2001 – Leaders of the People's Republic of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan formed the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
- 2012 – Nik Wallenda becomes the first person to successfully tightrope walk directly over Niagara Falls.
- 2013 – A bomb explodes on a bus in the Pakistani city of Quetta, killing at least 25 people and wounding 22 others.
- 1330 – Edward, the Black Prince of England (d. 1376)
- 1423 – Gabriele Sforza, Archbishop of Milan (d. 1457)
- 1479 – Lisa del Giocondo, Italian model, subject of the Mona Lisa (d. 1542)
- 1519 – Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1536)
- 1542 – Richard Grenville, English captain and explorer (d. 1591)
- 1549 – Elizabeth Knollys, English noblewoman (d. 1605)
- 1553 – Archduke Ernest of Austria (d. 1595)
- 1605 – Thomas Randolph, English poet and playwright (d. 1635)
- 1618 – François Blondel, French architect (d. 1686)
- 1623 – Cornelis de Witt, Dutch politician (d. 1672)
- 1624 – Hiob Ludolf, German orientalist and philologist (d. 1704)
- 1640 – Bernard Lamy, French mathematician and theologian (d. 1715)
- 1645 – Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin, English politician (d. 1712)
- 1749 – Georg Joseph Vogler, German organist, composer, and theorist (d. 1814)
- 1754 – Juan José Elhuyar, Spanish chemist and mineralogist (d. 1796)
- 1755 – Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy, French chemist and entomologist (d. 1809)
- 1763 – Franz Danzi, German cellist, composer, and conductor (d. 1826)
- 1763 – Kobayashi Issa, Japanese priest and poet (d. 1827)
- 1765 – Martin Baum, American businessman and politician, Mayor of Cincinnati (d. 1831)
- 1765 – Johann Gottlieb Friedrich von Bohnenberger, German astronomer and mathematician (d. 1831)
- 1767 – Rachel Jackson, American wife of Andrew Jackson (d. 1828)
- 1777 – David Daniel Davis, Welsh physician and academic (d. 1841)
- 1789 – Josiah Henson, American minister, author, and activist (d. 1883)
- 1792 – Thomas Mitchell, Scottish-Australian colonel and explorer (d. 1855)
- 1801 – Benjamin Wright Raymond, American merchant and politician, 3rd Mayor of Chicago (d. 1883)
- 1805 – William B. Ogden, American businessman and politician, 1st Mayor of Chicago (d. 1877)
- 1809 – François-Xavier Garneau, Canadian poet and historian (d. 1866)
- 1835 – Adah Isaacs Menken, American actress, painter, and poet (d. 1868)
- 1843 – Edvard Grieg, Norwegian pianist and composer (d. 1907)
- 1848 – Gheevarghese Mar Gregorios of Parumala, Indian bishop and saint (d. 1902)
- 1872 – Thomas William Burgess, English swimmer and water polo player (d. 1950)
- 1875 – Herman Smith-Johannsen, Norwegian-Canadian skier (d. 1987)
- 1878 – Margaret Abbott, Indian-American golfer (d. 1955)
- 1881 – Kesago Nakajima, Japanese lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army (d. 1945)
- 1882 – Ion Antonescu, Romanian field marshal and politician, 43rd Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1946)
- 1884 – Harry Langdon, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1944)
- 1886 – Frank Clement, British racing driver (d. 1970)
- 1888 – Ramón López Velarde, Mexican poet and author (d. 1921)
- 1890 – Georg Wüst, German oceanographer and academic (d. 1977)
- 1894 – Robert Russell Bennett, American composer and conductor (d. 1981)
- 1894 – Nikolai Chebotaryov, Ukrainian-Russian mathematician and theorist (d. 1947)
- 1898 – Hubertus Strughold, German-American physiologist and academic (d. 1986)
- 1900 – Gotthard Günther, German philosopher and academic (d. 1984)
- 1900 – Otto Luening, German-American composer and conductor (d. 1996)
- 1901 – Elmar Lohk, Russian-Estonian architect (d. 1963)
- 1902 – Erik Erikson, German-American psychologist and psychoanalyst (d. 1994)
- 1906 – Gordon Welchman, English-American mathematician and author (d. 1985)
- 1906 – Léon Degrelle, Belgian SS officer (d. 1994)
- 1907 – James Robertson Justice, English actor and educator (d. 1975)
- 1909 – Elena Nikolaidi, Greek-American soprano and educator (d. 2002)
- 1910 – David Rose, English-American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1990)
- 1911 – Wilbert Awdry, English author, co-created Thomas the Tank Engine (d. 1997)
- 1913 – Tom Adair, American songwriter, composer, and screenwriter (d. 1988)
- 1914 – Yuri Andropov, Russian politician (d. 1984)
- 1914 – Saul Steinberg, Romanian-American cartoonist (d. 1999)
- 1914 – Hilda Terry, American cartoonist (d. 2006)
- 1915 – Nini Theilade, Danish ballet dancer, choreographer, and educator (d. 2018)
- 1915 – Thomas Huckle Weller, American biologist and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2008)
- 1916 – Olga Erteszek, Polish-American fashion designer (d. 1989)
- 1916 – Horacio Salgán, Argentinian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2016)
- 1916 – Herbert A. Simon, American political scientist and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2001)
- 1917 – John Fenn, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2010)
- 1917 – Michalis Genitsaris, Greek singer-songwriter (d. 2005)
- 1917 – Lash LaRue, American actor and producer (d. 1996)
- 1920 – Keith Andrews, American racing driver (d. 1957)
- 1920 – Alla Kazanskaya, Russian actress (d. 2008)
- 1920 – Sam Sniderman, Canadian businessman, founded Sam the Record Man (d. 2012)
- 1920 – Alberto Sordi, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2003)
- 1921 – Erroll Garner, American pianist and composer (d. 1977)
- 1922 – Jaki Byard, American pianist and composer (d. 1999)
- 1922 – Ronald King Murray, Lord Murray, Scottish judge and politician (d. 2016)
- 1922 – John Veale, English composer and educator (d. 2006)
- 1923 – Erland Josephson, Swedish actor and director (d. 2012)
- 1923 – Ninian Stephen, English-Australian lieutenant, judge, and politician, 20th Governor-General of Australia (d. 2017)
- 1924 – Hédi Fried, Swedish author and psychologist
- 1924 – Ezer Weizman, Israeli general and politician, 7th President of Israel (d. 2005)
- 1925 – Richard Baker, English journalist and author
- 1925 – Attilâ İlhan, Turkish poet, author, and critic (d. 2005)
- 1926 – Alfred Duraiappah, Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer and politician (d. 1975)
- 1927 – Ross Andru, American illustrator (d. 1993)
- 1927 – Ibn-e-Insha, Indian-Pakistani poet and author (d. 1978)
- 1927 – Hugo Pratt, Italian author and illustrator (d. 1995)
- 1930 – John Fretwell, English soldier and diplomat, British Ambassador to France (d. 2017)
- 1930 – Miguel Méndez, American author and academic (d. 2013)
- 1930 – Marcel Pronovost, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2015)
- 1931 – Joseph Gilbert, English air marshal
- 1931 – Brian Sewell, English art dealer and critic (d. 2015)
- 1932 – David Alliance, Baron Alliance, Iranian-English businessman and politician
- 1932 – Mario Cuomo, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Governor of New York (d. 2015)
- 1932 – Zia Fariduddin Dagar, Indian singer (d. 2013)
- 1932 – Bernie Faloney, American-Canadian football player and sportscaster (d. 1999)
- 1933 – Mohammad-Ali Rajai, Iranian politician, 2nd President of Iran (d. 1981)
- 1934 – Ruby Nash Garnett, American R&B singer (Ruby & the Romantics)
- 1936 – William Levada, American cardinal
- 1937 – Pierre Billon, Swiss-Canadian author and screenwriter
- 1937 – Waylon Jennings, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2002)
- 1938 – Billy Williams, American baseball player and coach
- 1939 – Ward Connerly, American activist and businessman, founded the American Civil Rights Institute
- 1941 – Neal Adams, American illustrator
- 1941 – Harry Nilsson, American singer-songwriter (d. 1994)
- 1942 – Ian Greenberg, Canadian broadcaster, founded Astral Media
- 1942 – John E. McLaughlin, American diplomat
- 1942 – Peter Norman, Australian sprinter (d. 2006)
- 1943 – Johnny Hallyday, French singer and actor (d. 2017)
- 1943 – Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Danish politician, 38th Prime Minister of Denmark
- 1943 – Muff Winwood, English record producer, songwriter, and bass player
- 1944 – Robert D. Keppel, American police officer and academic
- 1945 – Miriam Defensor Santiago, Filipino judge and politician (d. 2016)
- 1945 – Robert Sarah, Guinean cardinal
- 1945 – Lawrence Wilkerson, American colonel
- 1946 – Noddy Holder, English rock singer-songwriter, musician, and actor
- 1946 – John Horner, American paleontologist and academic
- 1946 – Demis Roussos, Egyptian-Greek singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2015)
- 1947 – John Hoagland, American photographer and journalist (d. 1984)
- 1948 – Mike Holmgren, American football player and coach
- 1948 – Alan Huckle, English politician and diplomat, Governor of Anguilla
- 1948 – Henry McLeish, Scottish footballer, academic, and politician, 2nd First Minister of Scotland
- 1949 – Dusty Baker, American baseball player and manager
- 1949 – Simon Callow, English actor and director
- 1949 – Russell Hitchcock, Australian singer-songwriter
- 1949 – Jim Varney, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter (d. 2000)
- 1950 – Uğur Erdener, Turkish ophthalmologist and professor
- 1950 – Juliana Azumah-Mensah, Ghanaian nurse and politician
- 1950 – Lakshmi Mittal, Indian-English businessman
- 1951 – Vance A. Larson, American painter (d. 2000)
- 1951 – John Redwood, English politician, Secretary of State for Wales
- 1951 – Steve Walsh, American rock singer-songwriter and musician (Kansas)
- 1952 – Satya Pal Jain, Indian lawyer and politician, Additional Solicitor General of India
- 1953 – Vilma Bardauskienė, Lithuanian long jumper
- 1953 – Eje Elgh, Swedish race car driver and sportscaster
- 1953 – Xi Jinping, Chinese engineer and politician, General Secretary of the Communist Party and President of China
- 1953 – Raphael Wallfisch, English cellist and educator
- 1954 – Jim Belushi, American actor
- 1954 – Terri Gibbs, American country music singer and keyboard player
- 1954 – Paul Rusesabagina, Rwandan humanitarian
- 1954 – Zdeňka Šilhavá, Czech discus thrower and shot putter
- 1954 – Beverley Whitfield, Australian swimmer (d. 1996)
- 1955 – Polly Draper, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
- 1955 – Julie Hagerty, American model and actress
- 1956 – Yevgeny Kiselyov, Russian-Ukrainian journalist
- 1956 – Lance Parrish, American baseball player, coach, and manager
- 1957 – Brad Gillis, American guitarist
- 1957 – Stephen Lloyd, Kenyan-English businessman and politician
- 1958 – Wade Boggs, American baseball player
- 1958 – Scott Norton, American wrestler
- 1958 – Riccardo Paletti, Italian race car driver (d. 1982)
- 1959 – Alan Brazil, Scottish footballer and sportscaster
- 1959 – Eileen Davidson, American model and actress
- 1960 – Michèle Laroque, French actress, producer, and screenwriter
- 1960 – Marieke van Doorn, Dutch field hockey player and coach
- 1961 – Dave McAuley, Irish boxer and sportscaster
- 1962 – Brad Armstrong, American wrestler (d. 2012)
- 1962 – Chris Morris, English actor, satirist, director, and producer
- 1962 – Andrea Rost, Hungarian soprano
- 1963 – Marina Azyabina, Russian hurdler
- 1963 – Mario Gosselin, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
- 1963 – Helen Hunt, American actress, director, and producer
- 1964 – Courteney Cox, American actress and producer
- 1964 – Gavin Greenaway, English composer and conductor
- 1964 – Michael Laudrup, Danish footballer and manager
- 1965 – Annelies Bredael, Belgian rower
- 1965 – Karim Massimov, Kazakhstani politician, 7th Prime Minister of Kazakhstan
- 1965 – Adam Smith, American lawyer and politician
- 1966 – Raimonds Vējonis, Latvian politician, 9th President of Latvia
- 1968 – Károly Güttler, Hungarian swimmer
- 1969 – Jesse Bélanger, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1969 – Ice Cube, American rapper, producer, and actor
- 1969 – Idalis DeLeón, American singer and actress
- 1969 – Nasos Galakteros, Greek basketball player
- 1969 – Oliver Kahn, German footballer and sportscaster
- 1969 – Maurice Odumbe, Kenyan cricketer
- 1969 – Cédric Pioline, French tennis player
- 1970 – Christian Bauman, American soldier and author
- 1970 – Gaëlle Méchaly, French soprano
- 1970 – Leah Remini, American actress and producer
- 1970 – Žan Tabak, Croatian basketball player and coach
- 1971 – Christos Myriounis, Greek basketball player
- 1972 – Justin Leonard, American golfer
- 1972 – Andy Pettitte, American baseball player
- 1973 – Tore Andre Flo, Norwegian footballer and coach
- 1973 – Neil Patrick Harris, American actor and singer
- 1976 – Jiří Ryba, Czech decathlete
- 1977 – Michael Doleac, American basketball player and manager
- 1978 – Wilfred Bouma, Dutch footballer
- 1978 – Zach Day, American baseball player
- 1979 – Yulia Nestsiarenka, Belarusian sprinter
- 1979 – Christian Rahn, German footballer
- 1979 – Charles Zwolsman, Jr., Dutch race car driver
- 1980 – Craig Dietrich, Digital artist, scholar, and educator
- 1980 – David Lyons, Australian rugby player
- 1981 – Billy Martin, American guitarist, songwriter, and illustrator
- 1981 – John Paintsil, Ghanaian footballer
- 1981 – Jeremy Reed, American baseball player
- 1982 – Katie Chapman, English footballer
- 1982 – Mike Delany, New Zealand rugby player
- 1982 – Abdur Razzak, Bangladeshi cricketer
- 1983 – Derek Anderson, American football player
- 1983 – Julia Fischer, German violinist and pianist
- 1983 – Laura Imbruglia, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1983 – Josh McGuire, Canadian fencer
- 1984 – Luke Hodge, Australian footballer
- 1984 – Eva Hrdinová, Czech tennis player
- 1984 – Tim Lincecum, American baseball player
- 1984 – Mauro Rizzo, Italian footballer
- 1984 – Edison Toloza, Colombian footballer
- 1985 – Nadine Coyle, Irish singer
- 1986 – James Maloney, Australian rugby league player
- 1986 – Trevor Plouffe, American baseball player
- 1987 – Ani Mijačika, Croatian tennis player
- 1989 – Víctor Cabedo, Spanish cyclist (d. 2012)
- 1989 – Bryan Clauson, American racing driver (d. 2016)
- 1991 – Emily Harman, American tennis player
- 1992 – Michał Kopczyński, Polish footballer
- 1992 – Mohamed Salah, Egyptian footballer
- 1992 – Dafne Schippers, Dutch heptathlete and sprinter
- 1993 – Kanna Arihara, Japanese singer
- 1993 – Irfan Hadžić, Bosnian footballer
- 1994 – Vincent Janssen, Dutch footballer
- 1994 – Inaki Williams, Basque footballer
- 1996 – Aurora Aksnes, Norwegian singer-songwriter
- 1997 – Madison Kocian, American gymnast
- 923 – Robert I of France (b. 866)
- 948 – Romanos I Lekapenos, Byzantine Emperor (b. c. 870)
- 952 – Murong Yanchao, Chinese general
- 960 – Eadburh of Winchester, English princess and saint
- 970 – Adalbert, bishop of Passau
- 991 – Theophanu, Byzantine wife of Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 960)
- 1073 – Emperor Go-Sanjō of Japan (b. 1034)
- 1184 – Magnus Erlingsson, King of Norway (b. 1156)
- 1189 – Minamoto no Yoshitsune, Japanese general (b. 1159)
- 1246 – Frederick II, Duke of Austria (b. 1219)
- 1337 – Angelo da Clareno, Italian Franciscan and leader of a group of Fraticelli (b. 1247)
- 1341 – Andronikos III Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1297)
- 1381 – John Cavendish, English lawyer and judge (b. 1346)
- 1381 – Wat Tyler, English rebel leader (b. 1341)
- 1383 – John VI Kantakouzenos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1292)
- 1389 – Lazar of Serbia (b. 1329)
- 1389 – Murad I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1319)[1]
- 1389 – Miloš Obilić, Serbian knight.[2]
- 1416 – John, Duke of Berry (b. 1340)
- 1467 – Philip III, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1396)
- 1521 – Tamás Bakócz, Hungarian cardinal (b. 1442)
- 1614 – Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton, English courtier and politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1540)
- 1724 – Henry Sacheverell, English minister and politician (b. 1674)
- 1768 – James Short, Scottish mathematician and optician (b. 1710)
- 1772 – Louis-Claude Daquin, French organist and composer (b. 1694)
- 1844 – Thomas Campbell, Scottish poet and academic (b. 1777)
- 1849 – James K. Polk, American lawyer and politician, 11th President of the United States (b. 1795)
- 1858 – Ary Scheffer, Dutch-French painter and academic (b. 1795)
- 1888 – Frederick III, German Emperor (b. 1831)
- 1889 – Mihai Eminescu, Romanian journalist, author, and poet (b. 1850)
- 1890 – Unryū Kyūkichi, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 10th Yokozuna (b. 1822)
- 1917 – Kristian Birkeland, Norwegian physicist and academic (b. 1867)
- 1934 – Alfred Bruneau, French cellist and composer (b. 1857)
- 1938 – Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, German painter and illustrator (b. 1880)
- 1941 – Otfrid Foerster, German neurologist and physician (b. 1873)
- 1941 – Evelyn Underhill, English mystic and author (b. 1875)
- 1945 – Count Albert von Mensdorff-Pouilly-Dietrichstein, Austrian diplomat
- 1961 – Giulio Cabianca, Italian race car driver (b. 1923)
- 1961 – Peyami Safa, Turkish journalist and author (b. 1899)
- 1962 – Alfred Cortot, Swiss pianist and conductor (b. 1877)
- 1967 – Tatu Kolehmainen, Finnish runner (b. 1885)
- 1968 – Sam Crawford, American baseball player, coach, and umpire (b. 1880)
- 1968 – Wes Montgomery, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1925)
- 1971 – Wendell Meredith Stanley, American biochemist and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
- 1976 – Jimmy Dykes, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1896)
- 1984 – Meredith Willson, American playwright, composer, and conductor (b. 1902)
- 1985 – Andy Stanfield, American sprinter (b. 1927)
- 1989 – Maurice Bellemare, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1912)
- 1989 – Ray McAnally, Irish actor (b. 1926)
- 1991 – Happy Chandler, American businessman and politician, 49th Governor of Kentucky (b. 1898)
- 1991 – Arthur Lewis, Saint Lucian economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)
- 1992 – Chuck Menville, American animator, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1940)
- 1992 – Brett Whiteley, Australian painter (b. 1939)
- 1993 – John Connally, American commander, lawyer, and politician, 61st United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1917)
- 1993 – James Hunt, English race car driver and sportscaster (b. 1947)
- 1994 – Manos Hatzidakis, Greek composer and theorist (b. 1925)
- 1995 – John Vincent Atanasoff, American physicist and inventor, invented the Atanasoff–Berry computer (b. 1903)
- 1996 – Ella Fitzgerald, American singer and actress (b. 1917)
- 1996 – Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 1st Baronet, Scottish general and politician (b. 1911)
- 1996 – Dick Murdoch, American wrestler (b. 1946)
- 1999 – Omer Côté, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1906)
- 2000 – James Montgomery Boice, American pastor and theologian (b.1938)
- 2000 – Jules Roy, French author, poet, and playwright (b. 1907)
- 2001 – Henri Alekan, French cinematographer (b. 1909)
- 2002 – Choi Hong Hi, South Korean general and martial artist, founded Taekwondo (b. 1918)
- 2003 – Hume Cronyn, Canadian-American actor (b. 1911)
- 2004 – Ahmet Piriştina, Turkish politician and mayor of İzmir (b. 1952)
- 2005 – Suzanne Flon, French actress (b. 1918)
- 2006 – Raymond Devos, Belgian-French comedian and clown (b. 1922)
- 2006 – Herb Pearson, New Zealand cricketer (b. 1910)
- 2008 – Ray Getliffe, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1914)
- 2011 – Bill Haast, American herpetologist and academic (b. 1910)
- 2012 – Phillip D. Cagan, American economist and author (b. 1927)
- 2012 – Capitola Dickerson, American pianist and educator (b. 1913)
- 2012 – Barry MacKay, American tennis player and sportscaster (b. 1935)
- 2012 – Israel Nogueda Otero, Mexican economist and politician, 10th Governor of Guerrero (b. 1935)
- 2012 – Jerry Tubbs, American football player and coach (b. 1935)
- 2013 – Heinz Flohe, German footballer and manager (b. 1948)
- 2013 – José Froilán González, Argentinian race car driver (b. 1922)
- 2013 – Stan Lopata, American baseball player (b. 1925)
- 2013 – Dennis O'Rourke, Australian director and producer (b. 1945)
- 2013 – Kenneth G. Wilson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1936)
- 2014 – Jacques Bergerac, French actor and businessman (b. 1927)
- 2014 – Casey Kasem, American radio host, producer, and voice actor, co-created American Top 40 (b. 1932)
- 2014 – Daniel Keyes, American short story writer and novelist (b. 1927)
- 2014 – Moise Safra, Brazilian businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Banco Safra (b. 1934)
- 2015 – Jean Doré, Canadian politician, 39th Mayor of Montreal (b. 1944)
- 2015 – Kirk Kerkorian, American businessman, founded the Tracinda Corporation (b. 1917)
- 2016 – Lois Duncan, American author (b. 1934)
- Arbor Day (Costa Rica)
- Christian feast day:
- Abraham of Clermont (or of St Cyriacus)
- Alice (or Adelaide) of Schaerbeek
- Augustine of Hippo (Eastern Orthodox Church)
- Blessed Albertina Berkenbrock
- Blessed Clement Vismara
- Edburga of Winchester
- Evelyn Underhill (Church of England and The Episcopal Church)
- Germaine Cousin
- Landelin (of Crespin or of Lobbes)
- Trillo
- Vitus (Guy), Modestus and Crescentia
- June 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Day of Valdemar and Reunion Day (Flag Day) (Denmark)
- Earliest day on which Father's Day can fall, while June 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Sunday in June. (United States, and most other countries.)
- Engineer's Day (Italy)
- Global Wind Day (international)
- National Beer Day (United Kingdom)
- National Salvation Day (Azerbaijan)
“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,”Philippians 3:20 NIV
===
Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
The teaching of these words must seem very surprising to those who are strangers to vital godliness, but to the sincere believer it is only the inculcation of a recognized truth. The life of the believer is here described as a delight in God, and we are thus certified of the great fact that true religion overflows with happiness and joy. Ungodly persons and mere professors never look upon religion as a joyful thing; to them it is service, duty, or necessity, but never pleasure or delight. If they attend to religion at all, it is either that they may gain thereby, or else because they dare not do otherwise. The thought of delight in religion is so strange to most men, that no two words in their language stand further apart than "holiness" and "delight." But believers who know Christ, understand that delight and faith are so blessedly united, that the gates of hell cannot prevail to separate them. They who love God with all their hearts, find that his ways are ways of pleasantness, and all his paths are peace. Such joys, such brimful delights, such overflowing blessednesses, do the saints discover in their Lord, that so far from serving him from custom, they would follow him though all the world cast out his name as evil. We fear not God because of any compulsion; our faith is no fetter, our profession is no bondage, we are not dragged to holiness, nor driven to duty. No, our piety is our pleasure, our hope is our happiness, our duty is our delight.
Delight and true religion are as allied as root and flower; as indivisible as truth and certainty; they are, in fact, two precious jewels glittering side by side in a setting of gold.
"'Tis when we taste thy love,
Our joys divinely grow,
Unspeakable like those above,
And heaven begins below."
Evening
A deep sense and clear sight of sin, its heinousness, and the punishment which it deserves, should make us lie low before the throne. We have sinned as Christians. Alas! that it should be so. Favoured as we have been, we have yet been ungrateful: privileged beyond most, we have not brought forth fruit in proportion. Who is there, although he may long have been engaged in the Christian warfare, that will not blush when he looks back upon the past? As for our days before we were regenerated, may they be forgiven and forgotten; but since then, though we have not sinned as before, yet we have sinned against light and against love--light which has really penetrated our minds, and love in which we have rejoiced. Oh, the atrocity of the sin of a pardoned soul! An unpardoned sinner sins cheaply compared with the sin of one of God's own elect ones, who has had communion with Christ and leaned his head upon Jesus' bosom. Look at David! Many will talk of his sin, but I pray you look at his repentance, and hear his broken bones, as each one of them moans out its dolorous confession! Mark his tears, as they fall upon the ground, and the deep sighs with which he accompanies the softened music of his harp! We have erred: let us, therefore, seek the spirit of penitence. Look, again, at Peter! We speak much of Peter's denying his Master. Remember, it is written, "He wept bitterly." Have we no denials of our Lord to be lamented with tears? Alas! these sins of ours, before and after conversion, would consign us to the place of inextinguishable fire if it were not for the sovereign mercy which has made us to differ, snatching us like brands from the burning. My soul, bow down under a sense of thy natural sinfulness, and worship thy God. Admire the grace which saves thee--the mercy which spares thee--the love which pardons thee!
===
Timotheus, Timothy
[Tīmō'theŭs, Tĭm'o thy̆] - honored of god, worshiping god or valued of god.A young man of Lystra, son of Eunice, a Jewess, by a Greek father who was probably dead when Paul first visited the home (Acts 16:1).
[Tīmō'theŭs, Tĭm'o thy̆] - honored of god, worshiping god or valued of god.A young man of Lystra, son of Eunice, a Jewess, by a Greek father who was probably dead when Paul first visited the home (Acts 16:1).
The Man Who Confessed a Good Confession
As Paul contributes a full portrait of his spiritual son, many years his junior, let us string together the salient features of Timothy.
I. He was the child of godly heritage ( 2 Tim. 1:5). His mother was a Christian Jewess and the daughter of another devout Jewess, Lois. His Greek father's name is unknown. It may be that Eunice became a Christian when Paul visited Lystra, a town not far from Paul's birthplace, Tarsus.
II. He was a youthful reader of Scripture (2 Tim. 3:15). From a "babe" he had had knowledge of the Truth. How blessed children are if cradled in the things of God!
III. He was Paul's child in the faith (1 Cor. 4:17; 1 Tim. 1:2; 2 Tim. 1:2 ). Probably Paul, a visitor of Timothy's house, led the young lad to Christ during his ministry in Iconium and Lystra since he refers to his persecutions there, which Timothy himself knew about (2 Tim. 3:10, 11). One writer suggests that when Paul recovered from his stoning at Lystra it was in Timothy's home he found shelter and succor.
IV. He was ordained as a minister of the Gospel (1 Tim. 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6, 7). Conscious of Timothy's unique gifts, especially of evangelism (Rom. 16:21; 2 Tim. 4:5 ), it was fitting that Paul should choose him as a companion and fellow-worker. Faithfully he served Paul "as a son with his father," in the furtherance of the Gospel (Phil. 2:22). How indispensable he became to the apostle (Acts 17:14, 15; 18:5; 20:4)! Paul had no other companion so "like-minded" as Timothy, who enjoyed Paul's constant instruction (2 Tim. 2:3; 3:14).
V. He was an ambassador charged with difficult tasks. The responsible and delicate mission of restoring a backsliding church required both gift and grace (1 Cor. 14:17), as did the comfort of believers in the midst of tribulation (1 Thess. 3:2).
VI. He was co-sufferer with Paul in the afflictions of the Gospel (2 Tim. 1:8 ). Tradition says that Timothy died as a martyr for his faithfulness as a bishop in the reign of Domitian or Nerva. While attempting to stop an indecent heathen procession during the Festival of Diana, this God-honoring minister sealed his testimony with his blood. The two epistles Paul addressed to Timothy are rich in their pastoral counsel.
===
Today's reading: Ezra 9-10, Acts 1 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Ezra 9-10
Ezra's Prayer About Intermarriage
1 After these things had been done, the leaders came to me and said, "The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices, like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites. 2 They have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, and have mingled the holy race with the peoples around them. And the leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithfulness...."
Today's New Testament reading: Acts 1
Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven
1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."
===
No comments:
Post a Comment