Peter Strzok faces a congressional hearing. He has appeared smirking and dishonest. He refused to answer questions and sometimes answered questions he was not asked. Some say he is clearly biased. However, he appears partisan, not biased. A reasonable person would want him jailed for contempt of the public. Trump criticises May. He pointed out her Brexit plan was awful and might kill any trade pact UK has with USA. Trump has a successful economic program. May seems to be neutering Brexit. She would allow a free trade zone and keep the ridiculous legislation Europe has imposed.
A published complete history of Palestine, pre 1967. The book is empty, but for blank pages of text. It is perfectly well researched and accurate in detail. Death threats to refugee rescuers from alleged refugees in the Mediterranean. Europe are daily facing Tampa type questions without having a leadership of Howard or Abbott to address the hard questions.
How animal activists view animal husbandry, with a picture of a cow or bull having their hindquarters available for health inspection without hurting a vet. The enclosure looks uncomfortable but would not hurt the animal. The caption suggests the device would 'crush' the animal to kill it. For food. It is possible the post is satire. The activists are insane. Possibly, Shorten would ban the enclosure. Shorten has not read a report he disagrees with. It is on energy and Australia's need for coal power or gas to provide cheap base load supply. One might ask Shorten why he opposes it, but one would only get an uninformed political answer.
Nurse kills patients and says they inconvenienced her. However, she may be lying and might have killed patients because she wanted to, or because she could. She is a Japanese nurse working with elderly. Local government fail as public servant, in Spain, did not work for ten years, but had a salary. Local government takes him to court for their money back, but fail because of lack of oversight. Over ten years the public servant would have been paid some $Aud800k. During that time he has allegedly run a gay brothel and created a comic featuring a super hero who throws Valencia oranges.
A daily column on what the ALP have as a policy, supported by a local member, and how it has 'helped' the local community. I'll stop if I cannot identify a policy. Feel free to make suggestions. Contact me on FB, not twitter. I have twitter, but never look at it.
Gabrielle Williams was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Carers and Volunteers, working with the Minister for Housing, Disability and Ageing and the Minister for Families and Children. The incompetence of the ALP Victorian government is dangerous to her people. Crime is rampant under ALP when it is falling in NSW under Liberals. But those defending the ALP incompetence are actually saying that it is racist to call for police enforcement against gangs. Get Up! have made that declaration, and challenged Matthew Guy to see other ways of addressing the crime wave under the ALP. Only, Guy has not referred to African gangs, just gangs. A way to address ethnic gangs is not to promote ethnic gangs as viable. Oppose them within the community, don't promote them as the community. ALP claim to speak for minority communities and then claim such gangs are part of the communities they prey on. A Stun Gun was used in attack in Melbourne. The recently proposed legislation allowing women to defend themselves was always dangerous because of the unintended consequence of arming abusers. The answer to lawless activity is not increased regulation but enforcement. Guy has a plan which addresses the issues. ALP say it is not possible to address the issues directly.
As part of the November 24th Vic election campaign I have a petition I want to bring before the Opposition Leader Matthew Guy. I believe Matthew will be the next premier of Victoria and so I am petitioning him as I raise the issues of Employment, Crime and Education in Dandenong. I am also seeking money for my campaign. I don't have party resources, and so my campaign is on foot, and on the internet. Any money I receive that is not spent on the campaign will go to Grow 4 Life. I am asking questions like "What do you love about Dandenong?" and "If you could change something in Dandenong to make it better, what would it be?" I'm not limiting the questions to state issues. I'm happy to discuss anything, and get things done.
To be fair, Strzok is not biased. He is partisan.
I am a decent man and don't care for the abuse given me. I created a video raising awareness of anti police feeling among western communities. I chose the senseless killing of Nicola Cotton, a Louisiana policewoman who joined post Katrina, to highlight the issue. I did this in order to get an income after having been illegally blacklisted from work in NSW for being a whistleblower. I have not done anything wrong. Local council appointees refused to endorse my work, so I did it for free. Youtube's Adsence refused to allow me to profit from their marketing it. Meanwhile, I am hostage to abysmal political leadership and hopeless journalists. My shopfront has opened on Facebook.
Here is a video I made Big Heart
Big Heart is two stories, originally titled 'Beating Heart' and 'Broken Heart.'
Sam is 14 years old, and dreams of making it big in the world. Only thing is, he gets no respect at school or at home. He has friends that deal in drugs, and he thinks he might make a success of it, but then people begin to die and Sam needs to work fast to escape the hole he has dug himself.
David Daniel Ball, wrote and narrated this story. It was originally published in the 'Werewolves of Wynyard' collection.
text version at
David Daniel Ball
=== from 2017 ===
Some things should not happen, but they do. Yasmin Abdel-Magied was a young Australian schoolgirl identified as a cultural spokesperson by racists. She was promoted on racist grounds by authorities who have no business promoting racism. When her statements got reflected, she took umbrage and now is living in UK wanting Australia to not be racist. Media celebrities want a lot. As an Islamic female, Yasmin has some opinions which might be valuable in bridging a cultural divide. But asking her about feminism and Islam becomes unproductive as she clearly does not understand the issues. She experiences the issues, but has not yet offered much worthwhile.
Press do not show much understanding of issues they report on. In Australia, from the G20, Cormann has scored a win for Australia securing trade exemptions over steel. But what the details are is fuzzy because PM Malcolm Turnbull made a speech to take up oxygen. Meanwhile US media are getting dizzy about Donald Trump Jr having a meeting with a Dem activist in Russia. Some are saying Trump should be executed for treason. But they are also the same bringing forth fake news.
1191, Third Crusade: Saladin's garrison surrendered to Philip Augustus, ending the two-year siege of Acre. 1470, the Ottomans captured Euboea. In 1527, Lê Cung Hoàng ceded the throne to Mạc Đăng Dung, ending the Lê Dynasty and starting the Mạc Dynasty. 1561, Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow was consecrated. 1562, Fray Diego de Landa, acting Bishop of Yucatán, burned the sacred books of the Maya. To be fair on Landa, he had tortured Maya and imposed his beliefs and judged them by those imposed beliefs. He would write about them and then wash his hands of guilt. 1580, the Ostrog Bible, one of the early printed Bibles in a Slavic language, was published. 1690, Battle of the Boyne (Gregorian calendar): The armies of William III defeated those of the former James II.
In 1913, Second Balkan War: Serbian forces began their siege of the Bulgarian city of Vidin; the siege was later called off when the war ended. 1917, the Bisbee Deportation occurred as vigilantes kidnapped and deported nearly 1,300 striking miners and others from Bisbee, Arizona. President Wilson sat on his hands. 1918, the Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Kawachi blew up at Shunan, western Honshu, Japan, killing at least 621. 1932, Hedley Verity took a cricket world record ten wickets for ten runs in a county match for Yorkshire. It was Verity's first full season of first class cricket. He was an accurate left arm orthodox tweaker. He fought in WW2, and was wounded during the invasion of Sicily in 1943, captured by Germans and dying in their custody. 1963, Pauline Reade, who was 16-years-old, disappeared on her way to a dance at the British Railways Club in Gorton, England, the first victim in the Moors murders. Her killers confessed to her abduction, rape and murder in 1985 while serving life sentences. 1967, the Newark riots began in Newark, New Jersey.
There are many counter examples to my assertion that terror does not win conflict. Vietnam war, Afghan -Soviet war, Chile pre Pinochet (it is Pablo Neruda's birthday), China's communists etc. The truth is, there have been defeats, but they cannot be allowed to remain victories. Civilisation and culture has to win. Like in Vietnam, where a corrupt communist regime is being transformed into a global citizen, slowly, painfully. But, in the Middle East, that is not happening with Islamo Fascists in their more than sixty year campaign against Israel. The existence of Israel is precarious. She (Israel) has been valiant in standing for what any modern state aspires, cultural diversity, rule of law, progressive policy. Anyone of any faith or culture can live in Israel. That is different to any of her neighbours where people are killed on a whim and a fancy.
Australia has a terrorist leader, born in Australia who has spoken for radical Islam and called for terrorism. He is called Musa Cerantonio and he has recently been captured in the Phillippines, although his boasts and rhetoric placed him in the Middle East. As is typical of such terrorists, he is on the disability support pension in Australia. Who identifies with that?
Today is the anniversary of what led to a unification of Great Britain in 927 when King of England Athelstan secured a pledge from the King of Scotland Constantine II that Vikings won't be used as soldiers against each other. 1493, the Nuremberg Chronicle is published, a very early printing press book. 1543, Henry VIII finds satisfaction with his sixth wife. 1776, Captain Cook began his third voyage. 1789, French revolutionary journalist Camille Desmoulins got a crowd to attack the Bastille because he wasn't satisfied with the government economic minister. 1932, Hedley Verity took ten wickets for ten runs in a county match. 1943, largest tank battle ever. 1962, Rolling stones first perform in concert. Today is the birthday of Julius Ceaser (100BC), Josiah Wedgewood (1743), George Eastman (1854)and Bébé (1990).
Press do not show much understanding of issues they report on. In Australia, from the G20, Cormann has scored a win for Australia securing trade exemptions over steel. But what the details are is fuzzy because PM Malcolm Turnbull made a speech to take up oxygen. Meanwhile US media are getting dizzy about Donald Trump Jr having a meeting with a Dem activist in Russia. Some are saying Trump should be executed for treason. But they are also the same bringing forth fake news.
1191, Third Crusade: Saladin's garrison surrendered to Philip Augustus, ending the two-year siege of Acre. 1470, the Ottomans captured Euboea. In 1527, Lê Cung Hoàng ceded the throne to Mạc Đăng Dung, ending the Lê Dynasty and starting the Mạc Dynasty. 1561, Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow was consecrated. 1562, Fray Diego de Landa, acting Bishop of Yucatán, burned the sacred books of the Maya. To be fair on Landa, he had tortured Maya and imposed his beliefs and judged them by those imposed beliefs. He would write about them and then wash his hands of guilt. 1580, the Ostrog Bible, one of the early printed Bibles in a Slavic language, was published. 1690, Battle of the Boyne (Gregorian calendar): The armies of William III defeated those of the former James II.
In 1913, Second Balkan War: Serbian forces began their siege of the Bulgarian city of Vidin; the siege was later called off when the war ended. 1917, the Bisbee Deportation occurred as vigilantes kidnapped and deported nearly 1,300 striking miners and others from Bisbee, Arizona. President Wilson sat on his hands. 1918, the Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Kawachi blew up at Shunan, western Honshu, Japan, killing at least 621. 1932, Hedley Verity took a cricket world record ten wickets for ten runs in a county match for Yorkshire. It was Verity's first full season of first class cricket. He was an accurate left arm orthodox tweaker. He fought in WW2, and was wounded during the invasion of Sicily in 1943, captured by Germans and dying in their custody. 1963, Pauline Reade, who was 16-years-old, disappeared on her way to a dance at the British Railways Club in Gorton, England, the first victim in the Moors murders. Her killers confessed to her abduction, rape and murder in 1985 while serving life sentences. 1967, the Newark riots began in Newark, New Jersey.
=== from 2016 ===
Appalling behaviour by journalist Van Badham on Q and A and through tweets may be defended on the grounds she is inarticulate. But the abuse she engages in is inexcusable for a journalist or their employer. More egregious is the activity of Dutch flower child Iris. Iris is 24, and travels the world, visiting the poorest people in the world and living off their charity. She is willing to work, or couch surf, but ultimately she is a mouth that they must feed. The story could be positive for Iris. It is reminiscent of Rabbit Proof Fence where three young Aboriginal girls walked home, thousands of miles. Those three girls survived on the kindness of strangers.Only Rabbit Proof Fences is instead known as a story of exploitation. Iris is not a nun working with the poor. She is a tourist. Better spoken than Van Badham.
For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
=== from 2015 ===
Warming threatens to become a mini ice age. The natural relative cooling recently experienced worldwide and little reported on by so called climate scientists is threatening to become a maunder minimum or little ice age. The industrial revolution had industry providing a counter balance, but hysterical AGW believers have worked to limit carbon dioxide, a natural trace gas which traps sunlight. As it gets warmer, fewer die from cold. Scientists who believe in Gaia and AGW theory have been working to have more people killed by cold. They don't want people living in tropical paradise. They have lost count of how many people won't die before the turn of the century. Anecdotally about ten billion will die from old age before then.
Iran celebrates terrorism day, they call Al-Quds. Terrorist cleric Khomeini instituted the day in 1980 to celebrate terrorist attacks against Israel. Iran has not done it alone, as the UN, and various other terrorist groups have helped to promote the day. This year, it was celebrated by blowing up a car outside an Italian consulate which was closed. Killing at least one person.
Greece discovers her government lied about austerity. The government has again shown an inadequate package to Europe. It is consistent with what the Greek government rejected earlier.
The move to enshrine deaths related to Aboriginal culture in the Australian constitution. Australian Aboriginal culture is still reporting deaths related to dysfunction by it. Women bashed to death by drunk and drugged male loved ones. drunk and drugged males fighting each other to the death. The proposed new constitution amendments will provide for recognition of Aboriginal race, and may even allow separate laws. That kind of apartheid must never be accepted.
Clive Palmer promises much to charity but doesn't deliver. He has been highly lauded for multi million dollar donations he has not delivered after many years. Seven years ago Palmer promised $100 million to remote indigenous Aboriginal communities. The account has a mere $104 in it. In 2010, Palmer also promised Duke of Edinburgh awards worth $6 million over ten years. To date the donations have been $700k.
Shorten fighting and losing on three fronts (according to Akerman) Against the Royal Commission into Trade Unions, Shorten has been seen to be untrustworthy. His union, under his leadership, has acted as a bastard boss, short changing her paid members. So that they pay dues, and their union approves trade offs that don't benefit them. Secondly, the court of public opinion, who don't approve of his trading benefits for direct cash from businesses. Thirdly from within the ALP itself, with members of long standing and seniority calling him to resign.
An investment in windmills should show a return. At the moment, Australian windmills are a threat to the environment, killing rare and endangered birds, as well as being too expensive relative to other forms of energy supply. Each watt of windmill energy require another watt of energy elsewhere to guarantee base load. Press are confused at the moment, reporting Mr Abbott hated windmills. However it is clear Mr Abbott deplores their cost and environmental impact.
Iran celebrates terrorism day, they call Al-Quds. Terrorist cleric Khomeini instituted the day in 1980 to celebrate terrorist attacks against Israel. Iran has not done it alone, as the UN, and various other terrorist groups have helped to promote the day. This year, it was celebrated by blowing up a car outside an Italian consulate which was closed. Killing at least one person.
Greece discovers her government lied about austerity. The government has again shown an inadequate package to Europe. It is consistent with what the Greek government rejected earlier.
The move to enshrine deaths related to Aboriginal culture in the Australian constitution. Australian Aboriginal culture is still reporting deaths related to dysfunction by it. Women bashed to death by drunk and drugged male loved ones. drunk and drugged males fighting each other to the death. The proposed new constitution amendments will provide for recognition of Aboriginal race, and may even allow separate laws. That kind of apartheid must never be accepted.
Clive Palmer promises much to charity but doesn't deliver. He has been highly lauded for multi million dollar donations he has not delivered after many years. Seven years ago Palmer promised $100 million to remote indigenous Aboriginal communities. The account has a mere $104 in it. In 2010, Palmer also promised Duke of Edinburgh awards worth $6 million over ten years. To date the donations have been $700k.
Shorten fighting and losing on three fronts (according to Akerman) Against the Royal Commission into Trade Unions, Shorten has been seen to be untrustworthy. His union, under his leadership, has acted as a bastard boss, short changing her paid members. So that they pay dues, and their union approves trade offs that don't benefit them. Secondly, the court of public opinion, who don't approve of his trading benefits for direct cash from businesses. Thirdly from within the ALP itself, with members of long standing and seniority calling him to resign.
An investment in windmills should show a return. At the moment, Australian windmills are a threat to the environment, killing rare and endangered birds, as well as being too expensive relative to other forms of energy supply. Each watt of windmill energy require another watt of energy elsewhere to guarantee base load. Press are confused at the moment, reporting Mr Abbott hated windmills. However it is clear Mr Abbott deplores their cost and environmental impact.
From 2014
Who identifies with terrorism? Who wants to kill, hurt and maim strangers? Who feels that their way of life is dependent on eliminating others who exist peaceably? Two groups stand out .. red necks of the type that bombed a government building in the US twenty years ago in order to make a statement about government intrusion on individual rights, and .. Islamo fascists who some claim are not *really* Islamic but whom seem to be endorsed by most Islamic bodies. No one that is sensible identifies with terrorism. Bobby Sands, who starved himself to death in support of the IRA was not a sensible person worthy of respect. The rule of law is foundational to progress, without it things sour. Some say things fall apart without law, that is the great hope of terrorists, but in all of human history, it has never worked that way. Terror initiates great pain and suffering, but does not win conflict.
There are many counter examples to my assertion that terror does not win conflict. Vietnam war, Afghan -Soviet war, Chile pre Pinochet (it is Pablo Neruda's birthday), China's communists etc. The truth is, there have been defeats, but they cannot be allowed to remain victories. Civilisation and culture has to win. Like in Vietnam, where a corrupt communist regime is being transformed into a global citizen, slowly, painfully. But, in the Middle East, that is not happening with Islamo Fascists in their more than sixty year campaign against Israel. The existence of Israel is precarious. She (Israel) has been valiant in standing for what any modern state aspires, cultural diversity, rule of law, progressive policy. Anyone of any faith or culture can live in Israel. That is different to any of her neighbours where people are killed on a whim and a fancy.
Australia has a terrorist leader, born in Australia who has spoken for radical Islam and called for terrorism. He is called Musa Cerantonio and he has recently been captured in the Phillippines, although his boasts and rhetoric placed him in the Middle East. As is typical of such terrorists, he is on the disability support pension in Australia. Who identifies with that?
Today is the anniversary of what led to a unification of Great Britain in 927 when King of England Athelstan secured a pledge from the King of Scotland Constantine II that Vikings won't be used as soldiers against each other. 1493, the Nuremberg Chronicle is published, a very early printing press book. 1543, Henry VIII finds satisfaction with his sixth wife. 1776, Captain Cook began his third voyage. 1789, French revolutionary journalist Camille Desmoulins got a crowd to attack the Bastille because he wasn't satisfied with the government economic minister. 1932, Hedley Verity took ten wickets for ten runs in a county match. 1943, largest tank battle ever. 1962, Rolling stones first perform in concert. Today is the birthday of Julius Ceaser (100BC), Josiah Wedgewood (1743), George Eastman (1854)and Bébé (1990).
Historical perspective on this day
In 927, Æthelstan, King of England, secured a pledge from Constantine II of Scotland that the latter would not ally with Viking kings, beginning the process of unifying Great Britain. 1191, Third Crusade: Saladin's garrison surrendered to Philip Augustus, ending the two-year siege of Acre. 1470, the Ottomans captured Euboea. 1493, Hartmann Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle, one of the best-documented early printed books, was published.
In 1527, Lê Cung Hoàng ceded the throne to Mạc Đăng Dung, ending the Lê Dynasty and starting the Mạc Dynasty. 1543, King Henry VIII of England married his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr, at Hampton Court Palace. 1561, Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow was consecrated. 1562, Fray Diego de Landa, acting Bishop of Yucatán, burned the sacred books of the Maya. 1580, the Ostrog Bible, one of the early printed Bibles in a Slavic language, was published. 1690, Battle of the Boyne (Gregorian calendar): The armies of William III defeated those of the former James II. 1691, Battle of Aughrim (Julian calendar): The decisive victory of William III of England's forces in Ireland. 1776, Captain James Cook began his third voyage. 1789, French revolutionary and radical journalist Camille Desmoulins gave a speech in response to the dismissal of Jacques Necker France's finance minister the day before. The speech called the citizens to arms and led to the Storming of the Bastille two days later. 1790, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy was passed in France by the National Constituent Assembly. 1799, Ranjit Singh conquered Lahore and became Maharaja of the Punjab (Sikh Empire).
In 1801, French Revolutionary Wars: British Royal Navy ships inflicted heavy damage against Spanish and French ships in the Second Battle of Algeciras. 1804, former United States Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton died a day after being shot in a duel. 1806, sixteen German imperial states left the Holy Roman Empire and formed the Confederation of the Rhine. Also 1806, Liechtenstein was given full sovereignty after its accession to the Confederation of the Rhine. 1812, War of 1812: The United States invaded Canada at Windsor, Ontario. 1862, the Medal of Honour was authorised by the United States Congress. 1879, the National Guards Unit of Bulgaria was founded.
In 1913, Second Balkan War: Serbian forces began their siege of the Bulgarian city of Vidin; the siege was later called off when the war ended. 1917, the Bisbee Deportation occurred as vigilantes kidnapped and deported nearly 1,300 striking miners and others from Bisbee, Arizona. 1918, the Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Kawachi blew up at Shunan, western Honshu, Japan, killing at least 621. 1920, the Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty was signed. Soviet Russia recognised independent Lithuania. 1932, Hedley Verity took a cricket world record ten wickets for ten runs in a county match for Yorkshire.
In 1943, World War II: Battle of Prokhorovka: German and Soviet forces engaged in one of the largest tank engagements of all time. 1948, Arab–Israeli War: Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion ordered the expulsion of Palestinians from the towns of Lod and Ramla. 1960, Orlyonok, the main Young Pioneer camp of the Russian SFSR, was founded. 1961, Pune floods due to failure of the Khadakwasla and Panshet dams. Half of Pune was submerged, more than 100,000 families needed to be relocated and the death toll exceeded 2,000. 1962, The Rolling Stones performed their first concert, at the Marquee Club in London, England, United Kingdom. 1963, Pauline Reade, who was 16-years-old, disappeared on her way to a dance at the British Railways Club in Gorton, England, the first victim in the Moors murders. 1967, the Newark riots began in Newark, New Jersey.
In 1970, a fire consumed the wooden home of Norwegian composer Geirr Tveitt and irretrievably destroyed about 90 percent of his output. 1971, the Australian Aboriginal Flag was flown for the first time. 1973, a fire destroyed the entire sixth floor of the National Personnel Records Center of the United States. 1975, São Tomé and Príncipe declared independence from Portugal. 1979, the island nation of Kiribati became independent from United Kingdom. 1989, Lotte World Adventure opened in Seoul, South Korea. 2006, Hezbollahinitiated Operation True Promise. 2007, U.S. Army Apache helicopters performed airstrikes in Baghdad, Iraq; footage from the cockpit was later leaked to the Internet. 2012, the Turaymisah massacre killed 250 people during a Syrian military operation in a village within the Hama Governorate.
In 1527, Lê Cung Hoàng ceded the throne to Mạc Đăng Dung, ending the Lê Dynasty and starting the Mạc Dynasty. 1543, King Henry VIII of England married his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr, at Hampton Court Palace. 1561, Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow was consecrated. 1562, Fray Diego de Landa, acting Bishop of Yucatán, burned the sacred books of the Maya. 1580, the Ostrog Bible, one of the early printed Bibles in a Slavic language, was published. 1690, Battle of the Boyne (Gregorian calendar): The armies of William III defeated those of the former James II. 1691, Battle of Aughrim (Julian calendar): The decisive victory of William III of England's forces in Ireland. 1776, Captain James Cook began his third voyage. 1789, French revolutionary and radical journalist Camille Desmoulins gave a speech in response to the dismissal of Jacques Necker France's finance minister the day before. The speech called the citizens to arms and led to the Storming of the Bastille two days later. 1790, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy was passed in France by the National Constituent Assembly. 1799, Ranjit Singh conquered Lahore and became Maharaja of the Punjab (Sikh Empire).
In 1801, French Revolutionary Wars: British Royal Navy ships inflicted heavy damage against Spanish and French ships in the Second Battle of Algeciras. 1804, former United States Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton died a day after being shot in a duel. 1806, sixteen German imperial states left the Holy Roman Empire and formed the Confederation of the Rhine. Also 1806, Liechtenstein was given full sovereignty after its accession to the Confederation of the Rhine. 1812, War of 1812: The United States invaded Canada at Windsor, Ontario. 1862, the Medal of Honour was authorised by the United States Congress. 1879, the National Guards Unit of Bulgaria was founded.
In 1913, Second Balkan War: Serbian forces began their siege of the Bulgarian city of Vidin; the siege was later called off when the war ended. 1917, the Bisbee Deportation occurred as vigilantes kidnapped and deported nearly 1,300 striking miners and others from Bisbee, Arizona. 1918, the Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Kawachi blew up at Shunan, western Honshu, Japan, killing at least 621. 1920, the Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty was signed. Soviet Russia recognised independent Lithuania. 1932, Hedley Verity took a cricket world record ten wickets for ten runs in a county match for Yorkshire.
In 1943, World War II: Battle of Prokhorovka: German and Soviet forces engaged in one of the largest tank engagements of all time. 1948, Arab–Israeli War: Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion ordered the expulsion of Palestinians from the towns of Lod and Ramla. 1960, Orlyonok, the main Young Pioneer camp of the Russian SFSR, was founded. 1961, Pune floods due to failure of the Khadakwasla and Panshet dams. Half of Pune was submerged, more than 100,000 families needed to be relocated and the death toll exceeded 2,000. 1962, The Rolling Stones performed their first concert, at the Marquee Club in London, England, United Kingdom. 1963, Pauline Reade, who was 16-years-old, disappeared on her way to a dance at the British Railways Club in Gorton, England, the first victim in the Moors murders. 1967, the Newark riots began in Newark, New Jersey.
In 1970, a fire consumed the wooden home of Norwegian composer Geirr Tveitt and irretrievably destroyed about 90 percent of his output. 1971, the Australian Aboriginal Flag was flown for the first time. 1973, a fire destroyed the entire sixth floor of the National Personnel Records Center of the United States. 1975, São Tomé and Príncipe declared independence from Portugal. 1979, the island nation of Kiribati became independent from United Kingdom. 1989, Lotte World Adventure opened in Seoul, South Korea. 2006, Hezbollahinitiated Operation True Promise. 2007, U.S. Army Apache helicopters performed airstrikes in Baghdad, Iraq; footage from the cockpit was later leaked to the Internet. 2012, the Turaymisah massacre killed 250 people during a Syrian military operation in a village within the Hama Governorate.
=== 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 Josiah Wedgwood (1730), George Eastman (1854), Buckminster Fuller & Oscar Hammerstein II (1895) and the leggy and uber talented baby kiwi of the day, Lyn Nguyen. Born on the same day, across the years. 1493, The Nuremberg Chronicle, one of the best-documented early printed books, was first published. 1543, King Henry VIII of England married Catherine Parr, his sixth and last wife, at Hampton Court Palace. 1943, World War II: German and Soviet forces engaged each other at the Battle of Prokhorovka, one of the largest tank battles in military history. What a day you give us, steeped in learning with ever lasting hope and a willingness to engage fiercely for what is right. Cheers.
- 100 BC – Julius Caesar, Roman General (d. 44 BC)
- 1394 – Ashikaga Yoshinori, Japanese shogun (d. 1441)
- 1468 – Juan del Encina, Spanish poet, playwright, and composer (d. 1530)
- 1675 – Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1742)
- 1730 – Josiah Wedgwood, English potter, founded the Wedgwood Company (d. 1795)
- 1803 – Peter Chanel, French priest and saint (d. 1841)
- 1817 – Henry David Thoreau, American philosopher and author (d. 1862)
- 1854 – George Eastman, American innovator and entrepreneur (d. 1933)
- 1861 – Anton Arensky, Russian pianist, composer, and educator (d. 1906)
- 1884 – Louis B. Mayer, Belarusian-American film producer (d. 1957)
- 1895 – Buckminster Fuller, American architect, engineer, and author, designed the Montreal Biosphère (d. 1983)
- 1895 – Oscar Hammerstein II, American songwriter, director, and producer (d. 1960)
- 1904 – Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)
- 1908 – Milton Berle, American comedian, actor, and singer (d. 2002)
- 1927 – Frank Windsor, English actor
- 1928 – Pixie Williams, New Zealand singer (d. 2013)
- 1933 – Victor Poor, American engineer, developed the Datapoint 2200 (d. 2012)
- 1937 – Bill Cosby, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1943 – Christine McVie, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player (Fleetwood Mac and Chicken Shack)
- 1947 – Richard C. McCarty, American psychologist and academic
- 1948 – Richard Simmons, American fitness trainer and actor
- 1951 – Cheryl Ladd, American actress and singer
- 1952 – Liz Mitchell, Jamaican singer (Boney M.)
- 1957 – Rick Husband, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2003)
- 1966 – Taiji, Japanese bass player and songwriter (Loudness and X Japan) (d. 2011)
- 1969 – Anne-Sophie Pic, French chef
- 1976 – Anna Friel, English actress
- 1983 – Megumi Kawamura, Japanese volleyball player
- 1988 – Inbee Park, South Korean golfer
- 1990 – Bébé, Portuguese footballer
- 1997 – Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani activist
Deaths
- 783 – Bertrada of Laon (b. 720)
- 1804 – Alexander Hamilton, American general, economist, and politician, 1st United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1755)
- 1973 – Lon Chaney, Jr., American actor (b. 1906)
July 12: Independence Day in Kiribati (1979) and São Tomé and Príncipe (1975); The Twelfth in Northern Ireland
- 927 – Æthelstan, King of England, secured a pledge from Constantine II of Scotland that the latter would not ally with Viking kings.
- 1801 – French Revolutionary Wars: A squadron of British Royal Navy ships of the line defeated a larger squadron of ships from the Spanish Navy and French Navy in the Gut of Gibraltar.
- 1917 – Vigilantes forcibly deported about 1,300 striking mine workers, their supporters, and innocent bystanders from Bisbee, Arizona, US, to New Mexico.
- 1971 – The Australian Aboriginal Flag (pictured), one of the official flags of Australia, was flown for the first time.
- 2005 – Prince Albert II was enthroned as the current reigning monarch of Monaco.
Athelstan enjoyed his bath. We won the battle. Why don't vigilantes cooperate more? Apartheid is wrong. Enjoy the throne, Al. Let's party.
Tim Blair 2018
THEY ARE ABC: THE SEQUEL
UPDATED The first instalment was such a triumph that ABC staffers and associates have now launched part two of their quest to keep receiving $1 billion of your money every year in exchange for dull leftist hectoring.
PERSONALLY, I’D START WITH A ZVIJEZDA JOINT THEN MOVE ON TO GAVRILOVIC
English soccer goons stormed a London Ikea store following their team’s World Cup win over Sweden. But what brands should they set upon if England somehow defeats Croatia?
Andrew Bolt 2018
REASON DOESN'T WORK. SIGH
What's the toughest thing I've found in 20 years as a commentator and columnist? Dealing with the reality that facts and logic don't count with so many people. Reason won't work. Take Bill Shorten today. My editorial from The Bolt Report.
CONFRONTING WARMIST MARK LYNAS
Don't miss my interview of top warmist Mark Lynas on The Bolt Report at 7pm. He's already said he was wrong to fight GM crops and nuclear power. I confront him with another fake scare: his claim that global warming caused Australia "to lose so much water" than we'd had a 1-in-1000-year drought. Plus: the MP smeared as a sleaze over Bikini Day.
THREE MORE BRUTAL CRIMES BY AFRICAN GANGS
UPDATE: YET MORE ABC staff savaged Channel 7 for reporting this week on African crime in Melbourne. Since then: "A man was bashed with a fire extinguisher, stove top and metal pole ... by three men who forced their way into his house." And: "A gang of young thugs fired a Taser at a teenage boy in a terrifying robbery." UPDATE: And another.
ABBOTT HATERS WRONG AGAIN ON ELECTRICITY
Australia’s competition watchdog has given Malcolm Turnbull and the media a slap: stop your anti-Abbott hysteria. Abbott was right and you were wrong: green schemes and global warming deals like the Paris agreement "hurt consumers", and the government should subsidise a new, cheap and reliable electricity generator - almost certainly coal.
THE MIRACLE OF THE RESCUE
COLUMN Why did so many of us — from Australia to Kenya, America to China — worry for days whether these total strangers could be saved from their flooded cave in some part of Thailand we’ve never seen and never will?
FAMILY: THE MIRACLE OF THE RESCUED BOYS
Why did millions - even billions - of people care about the total strangers lost in a cave? And when prayers were sent to the gods to save them, check who came. My editorial from The Bolt Report.
DISABLED RESIDENT KEEPS HIMSELF BUSY
Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 12, 2016 (6:50pm)
Despite a medical condition so severe that it prevents him from any form of work, local man Hamdi Alqudsi still plays an active role in the community:
A disability support pensioner who has two wives has been found guilty of recruiting and assisting six wannabe jihadists to go to Syria to fight.
Hamdi Alqudsi, 41, of Palestinian origin, stood expressionless while a jury foreperson announced “guilty” to six counts of recruiting people to fight in Syria.
THE FALLEN
Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 12, 2016 (11:28am)
A tree was cut down. It’s big news in the Sydney Morning Herald.
TUESDAY NOTICEBOARD
Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 12, 2016 (11:20am)
Synchronised hand-clasping across the Q & A panel:
Last night’s most impressive line came from the Guardian‘s Vanessa Badham:
Last night’s most impressive line came from the Guardian‘s Vanessa Badham:
How do you eat an elephant? A piece at a time.
UPDATE. This coverage of an exchange between Badham and fellow guest Steve Price is hilarious:
Price told her: “I just don’t want you to twist stories where you shouldn’t. Just because you’re a woman, you’re not the only one who can get upset. Men can be just as upset.”Badham then said: “Thank you. You’re proving my point very excellently about the attitudes...We have to stop creating these ‘binary men are this, women are this, masculinity is this, femininity is this, men have high status, women have low status’. We can make jokes and it’s all jokes and, yeah, they apologised and that’s fine but on the receiving end is the ludicrous proportion of women who do endure violence.”Price then told her: “I think you’re just being hysterical.”His reply left the audience in shock as they gasped.
The Q & A safe space has never been so violated.
JESS TAKES MANHATTAN
Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 12, 2016 (10:24am)
Congratulations to Jess Pryles, Australia’s queen of Texan BBQ, who recently stormed NBC in the heart of New York City:
LET’S RACE JUNKIES
Tim Blair – Monday, July 11, 2016 (9:09pm)
From next July, there will be no imaginable circumstance in Sydney that could be described in the following way:
The word “guys” is already under attack following a ruling from Australian of the Year David Morrison, who believes it indicates sexism. Late-night drinks? Forget that, thanks to the NSW government’s lockout laws and the enforced closure of bottle shops at 10pm. And now greyhound racing is to be banned as part of the government’s continuing war on the working class.
For now, at least, evenings remain legal. But here’s a circumstance that presently applies in NSW, and will for the foreseeable future:
“Three members of the LGBTI community went to the heroin injection room in Kings Cross.”
That’s Sydney for you, where shooting up in our heroin injection room is perfectly acceptable but racing some dishlickers is soon to be against the law. No to dog tracks, yes to track marks.
The sheer perversion of this is made even clearer by the fact that Sydney’s inner-city junkie facility actually bans smoking. Bad for your health, apparently. Here, have a fresh needle so you can inject whatever combination of opiates and battery acid you just bought.
Given the government’s priorities, there is one obvious way to utilise the more than 30 greyhound tracks around NSW. Let’s race junkies! They’re not very fast, but this would be guaranteed to cut down on live baiting.
The real racists
Andrew Bolt July 12 2016 (2:24pm)
Va’Shona Dixon gets it said on racism, Black Lives Matter and Donald Trump:
===Good reading
Andrew Bolt July 12 2016 (11:54am)
For your favorites toolbar - the young XYZ site, a perfect polar opposite of the ABC.
Sample posts:
And a reminder to those interested: join Senator Cory Bernardi’s new Australian Conservatives here.
His own call to arms here.
===Sample posts:
Food for thought: race war courtesy of the LeftIts credo:
Australians: you have been told a “Flannery”
The New Normal: Left-wing political violence
This gets to the heart of why The XYZ was founded. In Australia, we fund the ABC to the tune of $1,000,000,000 a year. The XYZ has modelled itself as a classical liberal/cultural libertarian foil to the Cultural Marxist ABC, choosing letters at the opposite end of the alphabet and even aping its logo. When The XYZ demands half of the ABC’s budget, a full $500,000,000, we are only half-kidding. The reality is, it is not fair to fund a propaganda arm for one side of politics to this exorbitant extent, a propaganda arm which, regardless of how many “progressive"-led “enquiries” maintaining the contrary, is most certainly in breach of its charter. We really have two options: privatise the ABC so it can be free to pursue its left-wing agenda without extorting the Australian taxpayer; or fund to an equal extent its equivalent, which will present an opposite point of view to the ABC. Thus, The XYZ exists to oppose a publicly funded institution setting the national political agenda. As a movement, classical liberals, cultural libertarians, anarcho-libertarians, anybody who is committed to free speech and free markets, must attack these institutions, to either get an equal footing inside them, reform them, or bring them down completely. In this respect, The XYZ was inspired by organisations such as Breitbart News, PJTV, Truth Revolt, Info Wars and Free Domain radio, which have been working tirelessly, some for the good part of a decade, to challenge the politically correct narrative of the mainstream media.UPDATE
And a reminder to those interested: join Senator Cory Bernardi’s new Australian Conservatives here.
His own call to arms here.
Bullies rule: how the Left threatens your freedom
Andrew Bolt July 12 2016 (11:12am)
Peter Kurti is right to detect a revolt against the bullies of the Left:
===The rise of Pauline Hanson has been attributed to a growing backlash against a “democratic deficit” in all western societies as human rights are being distorted to favour minorities and silence the mainstream.
The assessment comes from the author of a new report that says the growing influence of identity politics, and the distorted application of human rights, is placing whole areas of public debate off-limits through the use of stigma and public shaming.
In Australia, those most responsible for distorting human rights have been the Australian Human Rights Commission and publicly funded human rights legal centres, according to the report’s author, Peter Kurti, an Anglican minister and lawyer…
Mr Kurti, a research fellow with the Centre for Independent Studies, said ... Australia is being confronted by “minority fundamentalism” that has all the features of religious fundamentalism: ideological fanaticism, intolerance of dissent and total certainty about truth and falsehood…
This tendency had been responsible for the rise of the Safe Schools program that requires children to engage in sexual role playing, the prosecution of journalist Andrew Bolt under section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act over articles that offended light-skinned Aborigines, and the attempt by a gay marriage activist to prevent Hobart’s Catholic Archbishop Julian Porteous from explaining Catholic doctrine on marriage…
The report comes at a time the Human Rights Commission has been accused of breaching the human rights of Queensland University of Technology students who had been ejected from a computer lab because they were not Aboriginal and confronted with a damages claim for $250,000 because they allegedly ridiculed the incident on social media. “The weakening effect of identity politics is that it prioritises equality over freedom and, in doing so, locks people into specific categories at the expense of individual liberty,” the report says.
Shorten muscles up
Andrew Bolt July 12 2016 (11:08am)
Bill Shorten plans to strengthen his team:
I wonder if Malcolm Turnbull will likewise muscle up, or leave duds in place and continue to take his advice from C-graders and yes-men. There is now some doubt over the much-mooted suggestion that he will offer a small olive branch to conservatives by promoting Zed Seselja and Michael Sukkar, even though they have played the team game since an election humiliation they have every right to criticise.
===Mr Shorten has only guaranteed that shadow treasurer Chris Bowen will not be moved from his current portfolio.There is talk that Catherine King will be demoted from her position as health spokesman.
Mr Shorten’s close ally David Feeney is expected to be dumped from the shadow ministry after his gaffe prone election campaign.
It is likely Jim Chalmers, former chief-of-staff to Wayne Swan, will be promoted from the outer ministry into shadow cabinet. Brisbane MP Terri Butler is also expected to be promoted into the ministry from a shadow parliamentary secretary position.
I wonder if Malcolm Turnbull will likewise muscle up, or leave duds in place and continue to take his advice from C-graders and yes-men. There is now some doubt over the much-mooted suggestion that he will offer a small olive branch to conservatives by promoting Zed Seselja and Michael Sukkar, even though they have played the team game since an election humiliation they have every right to criticise.
Milo triumphs. UPDATE: If you missed the interview…
Andrew Bolt July 12 2016 (10:55am)
It was a big night on The Bolt Report:
I think I may just have managed to arrange Milo’s tour here. By “arrange” I of course mean asking others to pay for and organise it. But you won’t believe who I’ve got to introduce him.
UPDATE
If you missed the interview, you can now watch it here.
===Lots of love for Milo Yiannopoulos after his appearance on the show. (And Peta was, as always, a class act.)
I think I may just have managed to arrange Milo’s tour here. By “arrange” I of course mean asking others to pay for and organise it. But you won’t believe who I’ve got to introduce him.
UPDATE
If you missed the interview, you can now watch it here.
1200 German women sexually assaulted in one night. Half the suspects are newly arrived foreigners
Andrew Bolt July 12 2016 (10:53am)
This is what a real clash of cultures looks like, and why Germany has made a catastrophic error in admitting 1 million people - mainly from the Muslim Third World - in a single year:
===At first, there was complete silence from officials. As rumors spread on social media, police had nothing to say about allegations of mass sexual assaults and other crimes carried out on New Year’s Eve in the German city of Cologne....(Thanks to reader John Galt.)
But numbers that are now emerging are likely to shock a country still coming to terms with what happened in Cologne more than half a year ago. According to a leaked police document, ... on New Year’s Eve, more than 1,200 women were sexually assaulted in various German cities, including more than 600 in Cologne and about 400 in Hamburg.
More than 2,000 men were allegedly involved, and 120 suspects — about half of them foreign nationals who had only recently arrived in Germany — have been identified… “There is a connection between the emergence of this phenomenon and the rapid migration in 2015,” Holger Münch, president of the German Federal Crime Police Office, told Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Many suspects had originally come to Germany from North African countries rather than Syria, officials said.
Warmists should be hungry for facts
Andrew Bolt July 12 2016 (8:20am)
A survey of poorly informed but successfully scared Guardian readers:
===Diminishing food and water security and ruinous sea level rise are the leading climate change concerns of a section of the American electorate that is aghast at the lack of discussion of global warming during the presidential debate.Food shortages?
World grain glut set to enter fourth year.Water shortages?:
Manmade global warming greatly increased the risk of extreme rain affecting the French capital, analysis shows.(Thanks to reader Mark M.)
Leaks and the Loyal Deputy: the plotters fall out
Andrew Bolt July 12 2016 (8:14am)
The interesting thing about this (legitimate) shifting of blame is that the Loyal Deputy seems to have resumed her leaking ways. Watch out, Malcolm! Check your back, Scott!
As several readers point out, it is strange that Bishop claims to have warned about the super policy on the day after the Budget, yet a month later could not even explain it on on radio:
===Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop warned fellow members of the federal government’s senior leadership, including Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison, about an angry voter backlash against their superannuation tax changes but was overruled as the Coalition stuck with the controversial reforms.UPDATE
The Australian understands Ms Bishop was joined by other senior ministers, including Christopher Pyne, Peter Dutton and Barnaby Joyce, in expressing concern about the fierce response to the Treasurer’s policy during the election campaign…
Mr Morrison’s response to the ministers was described as bullish… When Liberal Party members passed on voter concerns to the leadership group, they were rebuffed and told it was not an issue that resonated with voters. The Treasurer was not prepared to make changes…
The Australian understands Ms Bishop first raised her concerns about the reaction to the super policy the morning after the federal budget… The Foreign Minister subsequently raised the issue when the Curtin division of the Liberal Party passed a motion at a policy “ideas night” in June condemning the changes to superannuation.
As several readers point out, it is strange that Bishop claims to have warned about the super policy on the day after the Budget, yet a month later could not even explain it on on radio:
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill,)
Labor leader Bill Shorten is losing his fight for survival
Piers Akerman – Saturday, July 11, 2015 (10:42pm)
OPPOSITION leader Bill Shorten is fighting for survival on three fronts and losing at each.
Continue reading 'Labor leader Bill Shorten is losing his fight for survival'
On The Bolt Report today, July 12
Andrew Bolt July 12 2015 (11:59am)
On Channel 10 today:
Editorial: The case against Bill Shorten after his royal commission disaster
My guests: Employment Minister Eric Abetz, former Labor Minister Gary Johns, political scientist Jennifer Oriel and Sharri Markson, media editor of The Australian.
The videos of the shows appear here.
NOTE: The V8s on Sunday have forced changes to the schedule:
The 10am show will be on as usual everywhere except in Perth, where it will be shown on ONE.
The 3pm repeat will be shown everywhere on ONE, except in Perth, where it will be on Channel 10 at 4pm..
===Editorial: The case against Bill Shorten after his royal commission disaster
My guests: Employment Minister Eric Abetz, former Labor Minister Gary Johns, political scientist Jennifer Oriel and Sharri Markson, media editor of The Australian.
The videos of the shows appear here.
NOTE: The V8s on Sunday have forced changes to the schedule:
The 10am show will be on as usual everywhere except in Perth, where it will be shown on ONE.
The 3pm repeat will be shown everywhere on ONE, except in Perth, where it will be on Channel 10 at 4pm..
What’s a Clive Palmer promise worth?
Andrew Bolt July 12 2015 (6:38am)
Clive Palmer has a mouth bigger than his wallet:
===A $100 million charity foundation promised by tycoon-turned-politician Clive Palmer has just $104 in it.
When Mr Palmer announced seven years ago he would set up the fund to benefit remote indigenous communities and fund medical research, it was hailed as Australia’s greatest act of philanthropy…
A report submitted by the Palmer Care Foundation to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission at the end of April for the 2013-14 year reveals the trust held a grand total of just $104, having grown by a mere $4 in a year…
Mr Palmer did not return calls last week, but previously said the foundation had been tied to iron ore royalties from Chinese-owned CITIC Pacific which are at the centre of a long legal battle. Mr Palmer has also paid only $700,000 on a 2010 a pledge to donate $6 million over 10 years to the Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards Australia.
Cooling on the warming: now warnings of a mini ice age
Andrew Bolt July 12 2015 (6:00am)
Global warming hysteria is so yesterday:
(Thanks to reader Shane and dozens of others.)
===The earth is 15 years from a “mini ice-age” that will cause bitterly cold winters during which rivers such as the Thames freeze over, scientists have predicted.Don’t question this science! Or was it the last science we weren’t supposed to question? It’s so confusing.
Solar researchers at the University of Northumbria have created a new model of the sun’s activity which they claim produces ”unprecedentedly accurate predictions”. They said fluid movements within the sun, which are thought to create 11-year cycles in the weather, will converge in such a way that temperatures will fall dramatically in the 2030s.
(Thanks to reader Shane and dozens of others.)
Iran reminds Obama how “successful” a power it can be
Andrew Bolt July 12 2015 (5:49am)
Barack Obama demonstrates one of the dangerous conceits of the Left - a belief that most people operate on a similar moral and rational basis and can be reasoned with.
Obama in December:
===Obama in December:
Iran could become a “very successful regional power” if Tehran agrees to a long-term deal to curb its nuclear program, President Barack Obama said in an interview with NPR News.Iran on Friday:
“They’ve got a chance to get right with the world...”
Millions of Iranians took part in anti-Israel and anti-US rallies across Iran on Friday, chanting “Down with America” and “Death to Israel” on Al-Quds Day, internationally observed annually on the last Friday of the month of Ramadan.The mob even remembered to send Obama a cherio via this effigy of him:
(Thanks to reader Gab.)
Greeks go from “no” to “oh no”
Andrew Bolt July 12 2015 (5:42am)
Greece is led by (socialist) donkeys:
(Thanks to reader aussieute.)
===The euphoria felt by many Greeks at telling Europe their country was rejecting austerity for good lasted less than five days.Except, of course, the referendum has actually given Europe the whip hand:
On Friday, the population woke up to discover Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had promised creditors a new bailout package with austerity measures almost identical to those a majority of Greeks had voted against in Sunday’s referendum.
But because Mr Tsipras is seeking a new rescue rather than attempting to finish a now-expired programme, officials from a German-led group of hardline eurozone countries gave warning that the plans may not be sufficient to win over capitals angered by Athens’ denunciation of their previous efforts…Machismo is a very foolish government policy, and the mob is not the repository of wisdom.
Agreeing to a new bailout deal is not on the agenda at the eurozone finance ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Saturday. Instead, they will decide whether to open talks with Athens formally on a third rescue programme that officials said was likely to cost much more than the Greek government’s request.
(Thanks to reader aussieute.)
The invasion of Europe
Andrew Bolt July 12 2015 (5:30am)
Parts of Europe are now drowning under refugees:
===… the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) announced on Friday that more than 150,000 migrants and refugees had made or attempted to make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean to Europe this year. The 100,000 mark had only been passed a month ago, the IOM said.
More than 77,100 people have reached Greece by sea since the start of the year, 60 per cent of them from Syria, and another 1000 are arriving daily, the UN said. The influx is creating “an unprecedented refugee emergency” at a time when Greece is financially unable to cope, William Spindler, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said in Geneva.
Don’t let these deaths distract from the real cause: changing the constitution
Andrew Bolt July 12 2015 (5:20am)
This is ghastly, and just shows why Aboriginal leaders must work non-stop to, er, change the Constitution to recognise Aboriginal occupancy and culture:
===Aboriginal women are 34 times more likely to suffer domestic violence than non-indigenous women, and almost 11 times more likely to die at the hands of their partners.Bizarrely, the Aboriginal group reporting this consequence of Aboriginal culture has this tribute to Aboriginal culture when noting that Aboriginal women are also less likely to report domestic violence:
“In part this reflects cultural values and obligations regarding caring for others and concern for not getting them in trouble or hurting other community members.”What levels of violence will it take before activists drop this myth that Aboriginal culture is all about caring and sharing?
A real “investment” shouldn’t cost the rest of us
Andrew Bolt July 12 2015 (5:12am)
The Sydney Morning Herald seems not to understand that this “investment” is actually a search for “subsidies”, and the more of this “investment” we get the poorer we’ll be::
===Tony Abbott has been warned he is putting international investment at risk after ordering the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation not to finance new wind power projects.There is actually nothing to stop these “investments” going ahead in the normal commercial manner. But it’s telling that the industry demands not only laws that force us to use their expensive product but cheap state-supplied financing as well.
Fairfax Media can reveal the government has ordered the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation not to make any new investments in wind power projects.
Treasurer Joe Hockey and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann? have issued the so-called green bank with a directive to change its investment mandate, prohibiting new wind funding. It’s understood the directive was issued without the approval or knowledge of Environment Minister Greg Hunt, angering the minister… Analysts say $8.7 billion is expected to be invested in wind power in the next five years, while the corporation has invested about $300 million in wind projects to date.
Posted by Word Porn on Friday, 10 July 2015
===
MUSA THE LOSER
Tim Blair – Saturday, July 12, 2014 (4:47pm)
Tough talk from Australian jihadi boy Musa Cerantonio:
“So apparently the Australian Federal Police are looking for me – Let’s see how well they can hunt. Have fun finding me. I’ll be waiting for you or whichever dogs you send.”
Well, OK then:
Radical Australian hate preacher Musa Cerantonio has been arrested in the Philippines, exposing as lies his boasts of having joined a new Islamic caliphate in the Middle East.Melbourne-born Cerantonio, regarded as one of the top propagandists for jihadists and the violent Islamic State, is now likely to be deported back to Australia.
Poor stupid Zaky Mallah doesn’t quite know what to make of this, as usual. Here’s an update on our tax-fundedbludjahideen:
One of Australia’s most-wanted terrorists and a suspected war criminal, Khaled Sharrouf continued to receive a taxpayer-funded disability pension months after arriving on the battlefields of Syria.The Weekend Australian understands Sharrouf, who fled Australia for Syria using his brother’s passport,continued to receive his disability support pension at least until February, about two months after he left Australia bound for Syria.
I wonder how many other Impaired and Subsidised Islamic Soldiers are signed up for government benefits.
SHOOT A CRITTER, LOSE A CONTRACT
Tim Blair – Saturday, July 12, 2014 (3:46pm)
This is pathetic:
The Belgian beauty who scored a L’Oreal modeling deal after her World Cup photos went viral earlier this week has been released from her contract.
The decision comes after 17-year-old Axelle Despiegelaere sparked outrage on Facebook with a picture showing her posing with a dead oryx gazelle she had hunted in Africa, The Independent reports.
It’s not as though the things are endangered. They’re basically just big rabbits.
The Bolt Report tomorrow, July 13
Andrew Bolt July 12 2014 (4:41pm)
Tomorrow on Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm…
Editorial: Lying about boats
My guest: Labor’s Anthony Albanese.
The panel: IPA boss John Roskam and former NSW Labor treasurer Michael Costa
NewsWatch: The Australian’s media editor Sharri Markson. The secrets to Clive Palmer’s media success.
Plus spin of the week.
Warning: not safe for climate alarmists, refugee activists and anyone else for whom the truth dosn’t matter if the cause is just.
The videos of the shows appear here.
===Editorial: Lying about boats
My guest: Labor’s Anthony Albanese.
The panel: IPA boss John Roskam and former NSW Labor treasurer Michael Costa
NewsWatch: The Australian’s media editor Sharri Markson. The secrets to Clive Palmer’s media success.
Plus spin of the week.
Warning: not safe for climate alarmists, refugee activists and anyone else for whom the truth dosn’t matter if the cause is just.
The videos of the shows appear here.
Adelie penguins give warming scaremongers the bird
Andrew Bolt July 12 2014 (4:07pm)
2007:
===“Bill’s Adelies, struggling, failing, persisting, succumbing, were a small poignant example of a potentially vast reality. In one sense, they had become surrogate humans. Through them, the impact of a changing climate on established communities was palpably visible, a kind of parable in real time. This is how it is, if you have been residing in attractive island real estate, and climate change comes knocking on your door.”2008:
p. 268, The Ferocious Summer, Profile Books Ltd, 2007
The literary awards of Labor Premier John Brumby are ... worth a total of $210,000…2013:
And the non-fiction prize ... [went to] The Ferocious Summer: Palmer’s penguins and the warming of Antarctica by Meredith Hooper
Again, to explain:
Meredith Hooper has captured how one scientific team uncovered the story of the devastating impact of rapid global warming on the Adelie penguins of the Antarctic Peninsula.
New, very short film from the E. O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation highlights threats to Adelie penguins from climate change, already. Actor and conservation activist Harrison Ford narrated “Ghost Rookeries, Climate Change and the Adelie Penguin.”January, SBS reports:
Penguins are in peril because of extreme environmental conditions linked to climate change, research has shown.... Adelie penguins on Ross Island, Antarctica, are finding it harder to feed as melting sea ice fragments to form giant icebergs.Now:
For the first time, researchers have counted all the world’s Adélie penguins—a sprightly seabird considered a bellwether of climate change—and discovered that millions of them are thriving in and around Antarctica…
“What we found surprised everyone,” said ecologist Heather Lynch at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, N.Y., who led the penguin census. “We found a 53% increase in abundance globally.”
Counting the birds by satellite, Dr. Lynch and imaging specialist Michelle LaRue at the University of Minnesota found that the Adélie penguin population now numbers 3.79 million breeding pairs—about 1.1 million more pairs than 20 years ago. In all, they identified 251 penguin colonies and surveyed 41 of them for the first time, including 17 apparently new colonies.
Don’t bother Killeen and O’Keefe with the facts. Abbott’s a bastard
Andrew Bolt July 12 2014 (3:52pm)
It is hard to believe that sane people ever thought this story was genuine:
But even after even refugee advocates admitted the claims were false you get the Abbott haters and bumper-slogan Leftists still assuming they could be, might be, true and Abbott’s a bastard. Watch and marvel at Gretel Killeen and Andrew O’Keefe. Note how the facts, outlined by Nick Cater, barely seem to matter:
A wave of attempted suicides has swept Christmas Island as 12 mothers tried to kill themselves in the belief their then-orphaned children would have to be settled in Australia.Of course these always preposterous claims were false.
But even after even refugee advocates admitted the claims were false you get the Abbott haters and bumper-slogan Leftists still assuming they could be, might be, true and Abbott’s a bastard. Watch and marvel at Gretel Killeen and Andrew O’Keefe. Note how the facts, outlined by Nick Cater, barely seem to matter:
Global warming could be “natural”, admits climate change MP
Andrew Bolt July 12 2014 (11:13am)
Doubt creeps in:
===The chairman of [Britain’s] Commons Energy and Climate Change committee said he accepts the earth’s temperature is increasing but said “natural phases” may be to blame…
Mr Yeo, an environment minister under John Major, ... was one of the first senior figures to urge the party to take the issue of environmental change seriously…
Asked on Tuesday night whether it was better to take action to mitigate the effects of climate change than to prevent it in the first place, he said: “The first thing to say is it does not represent any threat to the survival of the planet. None at all. The planet has survived much bigger changes than any climate change that is happening now. He went on: “Although I think the evidence that the climate is changing is now overwhelming, the causes are not absolutely clear. There could be natural causes, natural phases that are taking place.”
ABC prefers its PMs to be Labor, thanks
Andrew Bolt July 12 2014 (11:08am)
The ABC was only too eager to screen a four-part interview of Paul Keating by admirer and former Labor press secretary Kerry O’Brien.
But interviews with a far more successful Liberal prime minister? Forget it:
===But interviews with a far more successful Liberal prime minister? Forget it:
THE ABC has rejected a major television interview series with former prime minister John Howard, just six months after airing a four-part program with Paul Keating.Exactly how much more evidence does the ABC board need before deciding its management is not fulfilling its charter responsibility to provide balance?
The series, working title John Howard Defined, will be conducted by The Australian columnist and former ABC board member Janet Albrechtsen and has been snapped up by the Seven Network.
“Why the ABC turned down Howard after the success of the Keating interviews is somewhat of a mystery,” said the executive producer of Seven’s Sunday Night, Mark Llewellyn, who will oversee the project. “Bewildering is not the word but it comes close.”
Albrechtsen, who was recently appointed to a government panel putting forward names for ABC and SBS board positions, gave the public broadcaster first option for the series…
With ABC managing director Mark Scott on leave, spokesman Michael Millett said the ABC had been “interested in the concept” of a Howard series but would find it “difficult to slot” into its schedule.
The price of Palmer
Andrew Bolt July 12 2014 (10:25am)
Clive Palmer is now costing each family another $10 a week:
===HOUSEHOLDS face a bill of billions of dollars and many could miss out on backdated energy costs if budget wrecking ball Clive Palmer continues to block the carbon tax repeal next week.(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
Mr Palmer jetted off for a weekend in New Zealand yesterday after breaking his election promise to support scrapping the tax....
But every further day of delay is costing families millions of dollars. Based on the current price of $25.40 per tonne, the tax is costing each of the nation’s 7.76 million households an average $10.10 per week ... The increased cost of carbon in electricity bills should be refunded and backdated to July 1 by most energy companies if the carbon tax is axed before July 18. But, past that date, households may miss out on refunds because of the way electricity companies buy and sell energy.
On how it pays to be Green
Andrew Bolt July 12 2014 (10:09am)
Senator John Madigan on the connections between the Greens and green business:
===(Thanks to reader John.)
Palmer abuses journalists asking about that missing $12m
Andrew Bolt July 12 2014 (9:57am)
Clive Palmer is under pressure over the missing $12 million, and turning on the journalists he used to charm:
===EVIDENCE of Clive Palmer’s company having nothing to do with a port for which he billed the Chinese more than $12 million in eight weeks for “port services” has been independently verified by the federal government…The Department of Infrastructure finding seems at odds with what Palmer claimed at the National Press Club this week:
(E)vidence of a lack of “port services” has been supported by a senior federal government public servant, Pauline Sullivan, who told Mr Palmer’s company it had attempted to mislead her department over the port.
Federal Court affidavit documents filed two months ago show Ms Sullivan, a delegate to the secretary for the Department of Infrastructure, determined that his company was responsible for a “failure to accurately reflect the factual circumstances”, causing a loss of confidence in competence to have a security-related role.
Ms Sullivan determined that “as a matter of fact (Citic Pacific) operates this port facility”.
“The site visit report noted no Mineralogy health, safety, environmental, security or other operational personnel were observed at the port,” she said.
She added: “Despite these factual circumstances of the port, throughout the Maritime Security Plan submitted by Mineralogy it is suggested, contrary to the fact, that Mineralogy operates much of this infrastructure.”
The missing $12m case is likely to be referred to police, despite Mr Palmer, who has begun replying tersely to questions from journalists and storming out of an ABC 7.30 interview, insisting he had done nothing wrong.
In an ugly incident in Queenstown in New Zealand yesterday, he told a Channel 7 cameraman he would have him thrown out of a hotel, adding the Canberra-based reporter, Amelia Brace, could ‘f. k off’. Channel Nine also had a scheduled interview with Mr Palmer in New Zealand. Text messages seen by The Weekend Australian show Mr Palmer had agreed to the interview at the Sofitel, but angrily canned it when the cameraman turned up.
If you want a true answer about it, it was that we had an obligation to provide port services. Our company, Queensland Nickel, provided those services and was paid for them. They were no longer Chinese funds. That’s all I can tell you. I can’t get into a discussion with you about a matter that’s biased with The Australian.(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
A Senate that’s killing our future
Andrew Bolt July 12 2014 (9:43am)
Labor, the Greens and Clive Palmer - driven by populism and hatred of Tony Abbott - are blocking the savings cuts we need to save us from potential disaster. Henry Ergas:
The Reserve Bank governor is getting nervous:
===Now, despite an unprecedented period of low unemployment and continuous expansion, by 2017-18 we will have run deficits for 10 years in a row.UPDATE
And if the government’s proposed savings measures are not implemented, the cumulative deficit to 2017-18 will climb to 20.5 per cent of GDP, exceeding that incurred in every previous downturn, including the great depression…
As well as shifting on to tomorrow’s taxpayers the burden of paying for today’s benefits, greater debt will limit the borrowing capacity of future governments, reducing their scope to use fiscal policy to cushion the impact of adverse shocks.
Moreover, with the Reserve Bank’s cash rate already close to zero, the ability of monetary policy to pick up the slack will itself be constrained. As a result, when an adverse shock comes, the cuts will have to be deeper and the hardship more widespread and prolonged. And such shocks are not merely possible; they are probable.
The Reserve Bank governor is getting nervous:
RBA governor Glenn Stevens has warned that a dangerous complacency about Australia’s economic growth is letting political leaders defer tough decisions on the budget and risking a much more serious downturn when the next one occurs…
“I would fully expect within over the (next) 10-year period, there will be a downturn for some reason of some depth.
“The question is: can we be in a position to do the things that would make it a shallow and short one?’’ he said.
“Having a strong fiscal position ahead of any such downturn, which stood us in very good stead in 2008, would be one such thing… “We didn’t actually vote for the revenue to fund [key welfare schemes] just yet ... If we can’t find some way of putting together a set of fiscal accounts that at least begin the process of addressing these medium-term issues ... I’m not sure that this would fill one with great confidence in our capacity to deal with the genuinely serious problem when one day that emerges.”
The truth behind Tingle’s gloating
Andrew Bolt July 12 2014 (9:41am)
Once again, Laura Tingle seems blinded by her hatred of the AbbottAbbottAbbott:
===No deals! Laura Tingle, Australian Financial Review, yesterday:Gerard Henderson:
IT is not so much Palmer as karma. … In opposition, the Prime Minister repeatedly said “there would not be deals done with independent and minor parties under any political movement I lead”.What the PM actually said. August 14, 2013:
I’VE made it crystal clear ... that I will not be forming a minority government.
There’s no karma here. Just La Tingle verballing. Before the election, Tony Abbott said that he would not deal with minor parties or Independents to form a government. Nor did he. The Coalition governs in its own right.
La Tingle should know that every prime minister, since the upper house voting system was changed in 1949, at some stage has had to deal with minor parties or Independents in the Senate. This was the case with Robert Menzies, Harold Holt, John Gorton, William McMahon, Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and now - Tony Abbott. There is no evidence that the Coalition expected to have a majority in the Senate as of 1 July 2014. La Tingle’s piece today is, well, tosh.
Too sick to work but not to go on jihad
Andrew Bolt July 12 2014 (9:39am)
We really are an easy touch:
===ONE of Australia’s most-wanted terrorists and a suspected war criminal, Khaled Sharrouf continued to receive a taxpayer-funded disability pension months after arriving on the battlefields of Syria.
The Weekend Australian understands Sharrouf, who fled Australia for Syria using his brother’s passport, continued to receive his disability support pension at least until February, about two months after he left Australia bound for Syria… Sharrouf served three years and nine months for his role in the Pendennis plot, a terrorist conspiracy in which 18 men were convicted over plans to attack targets in NSW and Victoria.
Bar-city jihadist
Andrew Bolt July 12 2014 (7:50am)
Musa Cerantonio, the radical Islamic hothead, demands Muslims not just stay at home when jihadists are fighting in Syria:
In fact, he’s been found in far safer and comfier surrounds:
But John Lyons says other Australians keep joining the terrorists:
Reader bobx, who lives 2km from where the hothead was found, protests:
===Cerantonio announces that he, for one, is going to Syria to fight for the new Caliphate, now declared by the ISIS terrorist group:
In fact, he’s been found in far safer and comfier surrounds:
RADICAL Australian hate preacher Musa Cerantonio has been arrested in the Philippines after his boasts on social media about travelling to join the Islamic “caliphate’’ in the Middle East were exposed as a lie.One of the very few tourism attractions in Lapu-Lapu city:
Melbourne-born Cerantonio, who is regarded as one of the top propagandists for jihadists and the violent Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is now likely to be deported home to Australia where he remains the subject of an ongoing investigation by the AFP.
For those who are wondering about Mactan’s naughty nightlife scene, there are many girlie bars located on Quezon National Highway in Lapu Lapu City. Some of them have been there for ages.UPDATE
But John Lyons says other Australians keep joining the terrorists:
THERE was something about the six Australians that made them stand out.UPDATE
Thousands of foreigners have ventured into Syria and Iraq during the past year for their journey to jihad; but, for locals who live along the border between Turkey and Syria, this group was different. As they sat drinking coffee before making their final walk into a foreign war, these Australians stood out: they were supremely confident, well-dressed and well-resourced.
Reader bobx, who lives 2km from where the hothead was found, protests:
The link you provided is hopelessly out of date. The three ‘girlie bars’ mentioned in the link one of the few tourist attractions in Lapu-Lapu City no longer exist....
The reason is the cost of doing business in the ‘girlie bar’ business is very expensive. You have to pay everyone and in filipino culture if you paid x last month you can afford to pay x+ this month and every copper, official wants in on the action.
A filipino couple (friends) ran a very small local bar with a few girls. They got arrested recently because they were behind in payments and spent 8 weeks in custody because they refused to post bail because they knew if they paid the bail it would not be there when they were released so cheaper to stay inside. As a result there are very few ‘girlie bars’ in Lapu Lapu but lots of tourist attractions.. for example Cebu City (main island) do not have any beaches and all the resorts close to the city (many 5 star) are in lapux2 some with good beaches. Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort & Spa, Moevenpick Hotel (ex Hilton), Plantation Bay Resort and Spa, JPark Island Resort & Waterpark, Crimson Resort and Spa Mactan etc.
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===
... " The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. " - Sir Winston Churchill
===
"While some might see the internal melt down in Arab society as a positive sign for Israel, significantly reducing the military threat from regional state actors, there are profoundly menacing aspects to the phenomenon that are likely to sharply increase the threat entailed in any future sovereign Palestinian entity.
For as the centralized control of states over their territory decreases, and radicalization of the political climate within their frontiers increases, both their ability and their resolve to rein in renegade extremists will wane.
If a Palestinian state is set up in any configuration remotely coinciding with the pre-1967 lines, it is likely to be almost seamlessly welded not only to the present relatively benign monarchy in Jordan, not only to any more radical successor, but to all that lies – largely borderless – beyond that.
The only physical obstacle today separating Israel’s heavily urbanized Coastal Plain from the realities of the Arab world, of which the Palestinians see themselves an integral part, is the limestone mountain range in Judea-Samaria, on which the Palestinian state is supposed to be constituted.
The establishment of such a state would adjoin almost immediately and directly link the eastern fringes of Tel Aviv with the greater Arab world, with all the attendant societal and security ramifications such a measure would entail." - Martin Sherman - (article excerpt)
===
The Article is here: http://972mag.com/
The video is here: http://www.youtube.com/
A line in the article Furthermore, according to B’Tselem spokesperson Sarit Michaeli, the IDF’s unequal and discriminatory conduct towards settler children who throw stones and Palestinian children who throw stones is clear from such an incident:
“We have extensive documentation of lawbreaking by young Israeli children in Hebron. Settler children under the age of criminal responsibility have often thrown stones at Palestinians with impunity. We are certainly not advocating that Israeli minors under the age of criminal responsibility are arrested – quite the contrary – but the discriminatory treatment is glaring.” .. correct me if I'm wrong please but .. bullshit .. I'd be surprised if lone Israeli children could even survive, were their presence known among Palestinians in occupied areas .. - ed
===
RUDD’S EGO EMBARRASSES THE NATION
The spectacle of all the international ambassadors to Australia lined up like school boys to pay homage to Rudd is an international embarrassment which has turned Australian into a laughing stock.
And why did Rudd orchestrate this embarrassing spectacle ?
It wasn’t for any greater good, it wasn’t undertaken in the best interests of our nation - it was simply done for Rudd’s own personal and political agenda.
Yet again Rudd is putting his own personal interests ahead of those of Australia.
And this is just another example of why Labor’s member for Bendigo was right when he called Rudd 'a psychopath with a giant ego' - and why Rudd is unfit to lead Australia.
The nation can’t afford another 3 years of this farce.
===
Holly Sarah Nguyen
"Ok so they are cursing you, pointing the finger at you, spitting bad mouth at you, they are jealous of you, they are crucifying you!!!... Is it true what they say? If not let it not consume your righteous heart... You must continue to hold God's hand and He will guide your heart to inner peace and freedom you thought impossible!!! Walk forward...Through Him all things are possible!!
===Again, Gaza farmers cooperate with Israel, while BDSers pretend otherwise
From COGAT:
As I summed up earlier this year:
===Last Wednesday and Thursday two groups of Palestinian farmers (60 persons in total) had left the Gaza Strip in order to attend an agricultural seminar in northern Israel, designed to further facilitate the Gaza agricultural sector. Farmers, heads of agricultural associations and merchants had arrived at the conference sponsored by Origins Seeds Company, a company which exports cucurbitacae (pumpkins, squashes, etc.) and field cultivation seeds to 17 world countries, including the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.Meanwhile, the BDS movement puts together lists of "agricultural organizations" that probably have no members as "proof" that Arab farmers in the territories want to shun any cooperation with Israel.
Last years, the farmers had purchased seeds from the company and were pleased with their quality, and so it was important for them to attend the seminar and learn more about the product they're using. During the seminar, the farmers completed several workshops on cultivation methods, planting schedules, soil preparation, proper use of irrigation and fertilizer and disinfestations methods.
In addition, the farmers focused primarily on watermelons, and had stated that this year, owing to the training programs conducted frequently in Israel; growers had achieved unprecedented crop yields – 11 tons of produce for each decare of cultivated fields – A twofold increase compared with the preceding year.
As I summed up earlier this year:
- The BDSers want Palestinian Arab farmers to lose millions of dollars that they are making today by cooperating with Israeli exporters.
- The BDSers want Palestinian Arabs to stop working for Israelis that pay them double the rates they would get from Arab employers.
- The actual farmers in the territories are happy to work with Israel to make money.
- The actual workers in the settlements are happy to get more money for their families by legally working for Israelis.
As I write this article I am preparing to give what will most likely be my last Mid Year Conference Talk. It is a sad moment for me.
This has been a week of retirements. On Thursday my brother Peter officially retired as the Archbishop of Sydney. With him the Chancellor of the Diocese Acting Judge Peter Johns has also retired. There comes in life a time for the changing of the guard, of letting go of our responsibilities that others may take up their opportunities to serve, bringing fresh energy and fresh ideas to the tasks.
This is more than people retiring because they are getting too old to do the job. This is the intentional outcome of the training up of the next generation to take over. Christianity will be here till the Lord Jesus returns and so every generation must raise up the next generation to take responsibility and leadership. The church without a youth group will have no family ministry in the next generation and no old people in the one after that. It is critically important to always invest in the next generation (Psalm 78:5-7).
Mid Year Conference (MYC) has been such a large part of my life that it is a little hard to grasp that it has come to an end for me. However, the purpose of student work is to prepare the next generation to take over and for their sake I must leave the crease gracefully.
MYC started in my second year as chaplain at UNSW in 1976. Just over 20 students spent the week in the Speakers Lodge at Katoomba. It was a great week of Bible study and prayer, which bore astonishing results not just in the ministry on the university campus that year but also in the lifetime of those who were present. All but two have continued faithfully serving Christ in business. family and church. Many entered full time ministry, some went onto the mission field in Africa and South America, others are in pastoral ministry around Sydney and student work in Australia, and one even became a bishop.
Following the success of that first year we continued to hold an annual Mid Year Conference. The numbers steadily grew and other campuses started to follow the same model. We moved from campsite to campsite till we came to the largest one available and then filled it to overflowing. The logistics became ever more complicated, but the staff teams running them became ever more adroit at meeting the challenges. The emphasis never varied – it has always been a serious time of being confronted with the claims of Christ in our lives by prayerfully studying the Bible. Many have been converted at MYC and many more have come to understand and accept the claims of Christ’s Lordship over their lives.
The programme has remained remarkably stable over the years. It involves taking a topic and spending the time studying the scriptures in small groups and seminar gatherings as well as private times of reflection. The afternoon provided lots of time for sport and recreation as well as pondering what was discovered in the scriptures that morning. Then in the evening I was given the privilege of speaking and answering questions for some hours. The daytime study prepared people for the intensity of the evening sessions. I have never seen a better platform from which to preach Christ. An attentive inquiring audience keen to hear from God’s word, to engage with its message, and to change not only their thinking but their whole way of life.
Starting from that small first conference, thousands of students have now been to MYC. In 1993 some smaller campus groups around Sydney joined together to create a combined MYC for those campuses not large enough to hold their own. This was held the week before UNSW MYC and I spoke at both of them – spending a fortnight at the campsite. On leaving UNSW and becoming Dean, I retired from the UNSW MYC but continued speaking at the combined university MYC. And it is from there that I am writing this article.
However, this is the last combined MYC. Each of the ministries has grown enough to hold their own MYC. It is a sad moment for me - and yet a great moment - for the children have grown into the adulthood that I always wanted. They are taking responsibility to make their own conferences work. I am thrilled that we have reached such a stage of development.
Still, I have spoken at over 50 MYC’s over the last 37 years, spending more than a year of my life eating conference food and sleeping fitfully on campsite beds. I cannot calculate the hours of talks or questions and answers I have been privileged to be part of. I am now meeting the children of those who used to come and can recall how I knew their parents before their parents knew each other. Even more wonderful, sometimes I knew their parents before their parents knew the Lord.
I thank God for the great innings he has given me and the strength to enjoy it. Yet it is important to know when to call it a day. Not so much because I am getting too old, but because the next generation has arrived and need to take the responsibility to train up their next generation after them.
It happened at UNSW more than a decade ago. Their MYC next week is larger than any one I ever spoke at. They have great Bible teachers led by Carl Matthei, Paul Grimmond and Joshua Ng. I understand that the Annual Conference of Sydney University is similarly attracting huge numbers and is ably taught by Rowan Kemp. There are similar MYC’s run by other campus ministries around NSW and other states. It is a great time to be a Christian university student. Now even the smaller campus groups are ready to strike out on their own and I’m sure they will do brilliantly under the wonderful leadership of their staff workers.
As for me, I am a little sad but for the gospel of the Lord Jesus it's a great day. For out of those attending will come a generation of Bible believers and Bible teachers who in turn will teach the generation after them.
July 12: Independence Day in Kiribati (1979) and São Tomé and Príncipe (1975); The Twelfth in Northern Ireland
- 1561 – Saint Basil's Cathedral (pictured), located at the geographic center of Moscow, was consecrated.
- 1789 – French Revolution: Journalist Camille Desmoulins gave an impassioned speech protesting the dismissal of finance minister Jacques Necker the day before, inspiring listeners to storm the Bastille two days later.
- 1918 – An explosion in the ammunition magazine of the Japanese battleship Kawachi resulted in the loss of over 600 officers and crewmen.
- 1962 – British rock band The Rolling Stones played their first concert at the Marquee Club in London.
- 1986 – The Homosexual Law Reform Act became law in New Zealand, decriminalising consensual homosexual sex.
- AD 70 – The armies of Titus attack the walls of Jerusalem after six months of battle. Three days later they breach the walls, which enables the army to destroy the Second Temple.
- 927 – King Constantine II of Scotland, King Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, Ealdred of Bamburghand King Owain of the Cumbrians accepted the overlordship of King Æthelstan of England, leading to seven years of peace in the north.
- 1191 – Third Crusade: Saladin's garrison surrenders to Philip Augustus, ending the two-year siege of Acre.
- 1470 – The Ottomans capture Euboea.
- 1493 – Hartmann Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle, one of the best-documented early printed books, is published.
- 1527 – Lê Cung Hoàng ceded the throne to Mạc Đăng Dung, ending the Lê dynasty and starting the Mạc dynasty.
- 1543 – King Henry VIII of England marries his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr, at Hampton Court Palace.
- 1561 – Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow is consecrated.
- 1562 – Fray Diego de Landa, acting Bishop of Yucatán, burns the sacred books of the Maya.
- 1580 – The Ostrog Bible, one of the early printed Bibles in a Slavic language, is published.
- 1691 – Battle of Aughrim (Julian calendar): The decisive victory of William III of England's forces in Ireland.
- 1776 – Captain James Cook begins his third voyage.
- 1789 – In response to the dismissal of the French finance minister Jacques Necker, the radical journalist Camille Desmoulins gives a speech which results in the storming of the Bastille two days later.
- 1790 – The Civil Constitution of the Clergy is passed in France by the National Constituent Assembly.
- 1799 – Ranjit Singh conquers Lahore and becomes Maharaja of the Punjab (Sikh Empire).
- 1801 – British ships inflict heavy damage on Spanish and French ships in the Second Battle of Algeciras.
- 1804 – Former United States Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton dies a day after being shot in a duel.
- 1806 – Sixteen German imperial states leave the Holy Roman Empire and form the Confederation of the Rhine.
- 1812 – The American Army of the Northwest briefly occupies the Upper Canadian settlement at what is now at Windsor, Ontario.
- 1862 – The Medal of Honor is authorized by the United States Congress.
- 1913 – Serbian forces begin their siege of the Bulgarian city of Vidin; the siege is later called off when the war ends.
- 1917 – The Bisbee Deportation occurs as vigilantes kidnap and deport nearly 1,300 striking miners and others from Bisbee, Arizona.
- 1918 – The Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Kawachi blows up at Shunan, western Honshu, Japan, killing at least 621.
- 1920 – The Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty is signed, by which Soviet Russia recognizes the independence of Lithuania.
- 1943 – German and Soviet forces engage in one of the largest armored engagements of all time.
- 1948 – Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion orders the expulsion of Palestinians from the towns of Lod and Ramla.
- 1960 – Orlyonok, the main Young Pioneer camp of the Russian SFSR, is founded.
- 1961 – Pune floods due to failure of the Khadakwasla and Panshet dams, killing at least two thousand people.
- 1962 – The Rolling Stones perform their first concert, at London's Marquee Club.
- 1963 – Pauline Reade, 16, disappears in Gorton, England, the first victim in the Moors murders.
- 1967 – Riots begin in Newark, New Jersey.
- 1971 – The Australian Aboriginal Flag is flown for the first time.
- 1973 – A fire destroys the entire sixth floor of the National Personnel Records Center of the United States.
- 1975 – São Tomé and Príncipe declare independence from Portugal.
- 1979 – The island nation of Kiribati becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
- 1998 – The Ulster Volunteer Force attacked a house in Ballymoney, County Antrim, Northern Ireland with a petrol bomb, killing the Quinn brothers.
- 2006 – The 2006 Lebanon War begins.
- 2007 – U.S. Army Apache helicopters perform airstrikes in Baghdad, Iraq; footage from the cockpit is later leaked to the Internet.
- 2012 – Syrian Civil War: Government forces target the homes of rebels and activists in Tremseh and kill anywhere between 68 and 150 people.[1]
- 2012 – A tank truck explosion kills more than 100 people in Okobie, Nigeria.
- 2013 – Six people are killed and 200 injured in a French passenger train derailment in Brétigny-sur-Orge.[2]
- 100 BC – Julius Caesar, Roman politician and general (d. 44 BC)[3]
- 1394 – Ashikaga Yoshinori, Japanese shogun (d. 1441)
- 1468 – Juan del Encina, Spanish poet, playwright, and composer (d. 1530)
- 1477 – Jacopo Sadoleto, Italian cardinal (d. 1547)
- 1549 – Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland (d. 1587)
- 1596 – Michael I of Russia (d. 1645)
- 1628 – Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk (d. 1684)
- 1651 – Margaret Theresa of Spain (d. 1673)
- 1675 – Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1742)
- 1712 – Sir Francis Bernard, 1st Baronet, Colonial governor of New Jersey and Massachusetts Bay (d. 1779)
- 1730 – Josiah Wedgwood, English potter, founded the Wedgwood Company (d. 1795)
- 1803 – Peter Chanel, French priest and saint (d. 1841)
- 1807 – Thomas Hawksley, English engineer and academic (d. 1893)
- 1813 – Claude Bernard, French physiologist and academic (d. 1878)
- 1817 – Henry David Thoreau, American essayist, poet, and philosopher (d. 1862)
- 1821 – D. H. Hill, American general and academic (d. 1889)
- 1824 – Eugène Boudin, French painter (d. 1898)
- 1828 – Nikolay Chernyshevsky, Russian philosopher and critic (d. 1889)
- 1849 – William Osler, Canadian physician and author (d. 1919)
- 1850 – Otto Schoetensack, German anthropologist and academic (d. 1912)
- 1852 – Hipólito Yrigoyen, Argentinian lawyer and politician, 19th President of Argentina (d. 1933)
- 1854 – George Eastman, American businessman, founded Eastman Kodak (d. 1933)
- 1855 – Ned Hanlan, Canadian rower, academic, and businessman (d. 1908)
- 1857 – George E. Ohr, American potter (d. 1918)
- 1861 – Anton Arensky, Russian pianist, composer, and educator (d. 1906)
- 1863 – Albert Calmette, French physician, bacteriologist, and immunologist (d. 1933)
- 1863 – Paul Drude, German physicist and academic (d. 1906)
- 1868 – Stefan George, German poet and translator (d. 1933)
- 1870 – Louis II, Prince of Monaco (d. 1949)
- 1872 – Emil Hácha, Czech lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Czechoslovakia (d. 1945)
- 1876 – Max Jacob, French poet, painter, and critic (d. 1944)
- 1876 – Alphaeus Philemon Cole, American artist, engraver and etcher (d. 1988)
- 1878 – Peeter Põld, Estonian scientist and politician, 1st Estonian Minister of Education (d. 1930)
- 1879 – Margherita Piazzola Beloch, Italian mathematician (d. 1976)
- 1879 – Han Yong-un, Korean poet (d. 1944)
- 1880 – Tod Browning, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1962)
- 1884 – Louis B. Mayer, Russian-born American film producer, co-founded Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (d. 1957)
- 1884 – Amedeo Modigliani, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1920)
- 1886 – Jean Hersholt, Danish-American actor and director (d. 1956)
- 1892 – Bruno Schulz, Ukrainian-Polish author and painter (d. 1942)
- 1895 – Kirsten Flagstad, Norwegian soprano (d. 1962)
- 1895 – Buckminster Fuller, American architect and engineer, designed the Montreal Biosphère (d. 1983)
- 1895 – Oscar Hammerstein II, American director, producer, and songwriter (d. 1960)
- 1902 – Günther Anders, German philosopher and journalist (d. 1992)
- 1902 – Tony Lovink, Dutch politician; Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1995)
- 1902 – Vic Armbruster, Australian rugby league player (d. 1984)
- 1904 – Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)
- 1907 – Weary Dunlop, Australian colonel and surgeon (d. 1993)
- 1908 – Milton Berle, American comedian and actor (d. 2002)
- 1908 – Alain Cuny, French actor (d. 1994)
- 1908 – Paul Runyan, American golfer and sportscaster (d. 2002)
- 1909 – Joe DeRita, American actor (d. 1993)
- 1909 – Motoichi Kumagai, Japanese photographer and illustrator (d. 2010)
- 1909 – Fritz Leonhardt, German engineer, designed Fernsehturm Stuttgart (d. 1999)
- 1909 – Herbert Zim, American naturalist, author, and educator (d. 1994)
- 1911 – Evald Mikson, Estonian footballer (d. 1993)
- 1913 – Willis Lamb, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2008)
- 1914 – Mohammad Moin, Iranian linguist and lexicographer (d. 1971)
- 1915 – Emanuel Papper, American anesthesiologist, professor, and author (d. 2002)
- 1915 – Princess Catherine Ivanovna of Russia, (d. 2007)
- 1916 – Lyudmila Pavlichenko, Ukrainian-Russian soldier and sniper (d. 1974)
- 1917 – Luigi Gorrini, Italian soldier and pilot (d. 2014)
- 1917 – Satyendra Narayan Sinha, Indian statesman (d. 2006)
- 1917 – Andrew Wyeth, American artist (d. 2009)
- 1918 – Mary Glen-Haig, English fencer (d. 2014)
- 1918 – Vivian Mason, American actress (d. 2009)
- 1918 – Doris Grumbach, American novelist, memoirist, biographer, literary critic, and essayist
- 1918 – Rusty Dedrick, American swing and bebop jazz trumpeter (d. 2009)
- 1920 – Pierre Berton, Canadian journalist and author (d. 2004)
- 1920 – Bob Fillion, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (d. 2015)
- 1920 – Paul Gonsalves, American saxophonist (d. 1974)
- 1920 – Randolph Quirk, Manx linguist and academic (d. 2017)
- 1920 – Beah Richards, American actress (d. 2000)
- 1922 – Mark Hatfield, American soldier and politician, 29th Governor of Oregon (d. 2011)
- 1923 – René Favaloro, Argentine surgeon and cardiologist (d. 2000)
- 1923 – James E. Gunn, American science fiction author
- 1924 – Faidon Matthaiou, Greek basketball player and coach (d. 2011)
- 1925 – Albert Lance, Australian-French tenor (d. 2013)
- 1925 – Roger Smith, American businessman (d. 2007)
- 1926 – Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, wife of the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad
- 1927 – Françoys Bernier, Canadian pianist, conductor, and educator (d. 1993)
- 1927 – Conte Candoli, American trumpet player (d. 2001)
- 1927 – Jack Harshman, American baseball player (d. 2013)
- 1927 – Harley Hotchkiss, Canadian businessman (d. 2011)
- 1928 – Alastair Burnet, English journalist (d. 2012)
- 1928 – Elias James Corey, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1928 – Imero Fiorentino, American lighting designer (d. 2013)
- 1930 – Gordon Pinsent, Canadian actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1931 – Eric Ives, English historian and academic (d. 2012)
- 1931 – Geeto Mongol, Canadian-American wrestler and trainer (d. 2013)
- 1932 – Rene Goulet, Canadian retired professional wrestler
- 1932 – Monte Hellman, American director and producer
- 1932 – Otis Davis, American sprinter
- 1933 – Victor Poor, American engineer, developed the Datapoint 2200 (d. 2012)
- 1933 – Donald E. Westlake, American author and screenwriter (d. 2008)
- 1934 – Thomas Charlton, American competition rower and Olympic champion
- 1934 – Van Cliburn, American pianist and composer (d. 2013)
- 1935 – Satoshi Ōmura, Japanese biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1936 – Jan Němec, Czech director and screenwriter (d. 2016)
- 1937 – Bill Cosby, American actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter
- 1937 – Mickey Edwards, American lawyer and politician
- 1937 – Lionel Jospin, French civil servant and politician, 165th Prime Minister of France
- 1937 – Robert McFarlane, American colonel and diplomat, 13th United States National Security Advisor
- 1937 – Guy Woolfenden, English composer and conductor (d. 2016)
- 1938 – Ron Fairly, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1938 – Wieger Mensonides, Dutch swimmer
- 1938 – Eiko Ishioka, Japanese art director and graphic designer (d. 2012)
- 1939 – Phillip Adams, Australian journalist and producer
- 1939 – Arlen Ness, American motorcycle designer and entrepreneur
- 1941 – Benny Parsons, American race car driver and sportscaster (d. 2007)
- 1942 – Swamp Dogg, American R&B singer-songwriter and musician
- 1942 – Roy Palmer, English cricketer and umpire
- 1942 – Billy Smith, Australian rugby league player and coach
- 1942 – Steve Young, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2016)
- 1943 – Christine McVie, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player
- 1943 – Paul Silas, American basketball player and coach
- 1944 – Simon Blackburn, English philosopher and academic
- 1944 – Delia Ephron, American author, playwright, and screenwriter
- 1944 – Pat Woodell, American actress and singer (d. 2015)
- 1945 – Butch Hancock, American country-folk singer-songwriter and musician (The Flatlanders)
- 1947 – Loren Coleman, American cryptozoologist, author, and academic
- 1947 – Gareth Edwards, Welsh rugby player and sportscaster
- 1947 – Wilko Johnson, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1947 – Richard C. McCarty, American psychologist and academic
- 1948 – Ben Burtt, American director, screenwriter, and sound designer
- 1948 – Walter Egan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1948 – Richard Simmons, American fitness trainer and actor
- 1949 – Simon Fox, English drummer
- 1949 – Rick Hendrick, American businessman, founded Hendrick Motorsports
- 1950 – Eric Carr, American drummer and songwriter (d. 1991)
- 1950 – Gilles Meloche, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1951 – Joan Bauer, American author
- 1951 – Brian Grazer, American screenwriter and producer, founded Imagine Entertainment
- 1951 – Cheryl Ladd, American actress
- 1951 – Piotr Pustelnik, Polish mountaineer
- 1951 – Jamey Sheridan, American actor
- 1952 – Voja Antonić, Serbian computer scientist and journalist, designed the Galaksija computer
- 1952 – Irina Bokova, Bulgarian politician, Bulgarian Minister of Foreign Affairs
- 1952 – Philip Taylor Kramer, American bass player (d. 1995)
- 1954 – Eric Adams, American singer-songwriter
- 1954 – Robert Carl, American pianist and composer
- 1954 – Wolfgang Dremmler, German footballer and coach
- 1955 – Timothy Garton Ash, English historian and author
- 1955 – Jimmy LaFave, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
- 1956 – Mel Harris, American actress
- 1956 – Sandi Patty, American singer and pianist
- 1956 – Mario Soto, Dominican baseball player
- 1957 – Rick Husband, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2003)
- 1957 – Dave Semenko, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster (d. 2017)
- 1958 – J. D. Hayworth, American politician and radio host
- 1958 – Tonya Lee Williams, English-Canadian actress and producer
- 1959 – David Brown, Australian meteorologist
- 1959 – Tupou VI, King of Tonga
- 1959 – Karl J. Friston, English psychiatrist and neuroscientist
- 1959 – Charlie Murphy, American actor and comedian (d. 2017)
- 1961 – Heikko Glöde, German footballer and manager
- 1961 – Shiva Rajkumar, Indian actor, singer, and producer
- 1962 – Julio César Chávez, Mexican boxer
- 1962 – Luc De Vos, Belgian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2014)
- 1962 – Joanna Shields, American-English businesswoman
- 1962 – Dean Wilkins, English footballer and manager
- 1964 – Gaby Roslin, English television host and actress
- 1965 – Sanjay Manjrekar, Indian cricketer and sportscaster
- 1965 – Robin Wilson, American singer and guitarist
- 1966 – Jeff Bucknum, American race car driver
- 1966 – Annabel Croft, English tennis player and sportscaster
- 1966 – Taiji, Japanese bass player and songwriter (d. 2011)
- 1967 – Richard Herring, English comedian and screenwriter
- 1967 – Mac McCaughan, American singer and guitarist
- 1967 – John Petrucci, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1967 – Bruny Surin, Canadian sprinter
- 1968 – Catherine Plewinski, French swimmer
- 1969 – Lisa Nicole Carson, American actress
- 1969 – Chantal Jouanno, French politician, French Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports
- 1969 – Alan Mullally, English cricketer and sportscaster
- 1969 – Anne-Sophie Pic, French chef
- 1969 – Jesse Pintado, Mexican-American guitarist (d. 2006)
- 1970 – Aure Atika, Portuguese-French actress, director, and screenwriter
- 1970 – Lee Byung-hun, South Korean actor, singer, and dancer
- 1971 – Joel Casamayor, Cuban American former professional boxer
- 1971 – Andriy Kovalenco, Ukrainian-Spanish rugby player
- 1971 – Loni Love, American comedian, actress, and talk show host
- 1971 – Kristi Yamaguchi, American figure skater
- 1972 – Travis Best, American basketball player
- 1973 – Christian Vieri, Italian footballer
- 1974 – Sharon den Adel, Dutch singer-songwriter
- 1974 – Stelios Giannakopoulos, Greek footballer and manager
- 1974 – Gregory Shane Helms, American professional wrestler
- 1975 – Phil Lord, American filmmaker
- 1976 – Dan Boyle, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1976 – Anna Friel, English actress
- 1976 – Tracie Spencer, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1977 – Neil Harris, English footballer and manager
- 1977 – Steve Howey, American actor
- 1977 – Brock Lesnar, American mixed martial artist and wrestler
- 1977 – Francesca Lubiani, Italian tennis player
- 1978 – Topher Grace, American actor
- 1978 – Michelle Rodriguez, American actress
- 1979 – Brooke Baldwin, American journalist and television news anchor
- 1979 – Nikos Barlos, Greek basketball player
- 1979 – Maya Kobayashi, Japanese journalist
- 1980 – Kristen Connolly, American actress
- 1980 – Katherine Legge, English racing driver
- 1981 – Adrienne Camp, South African singer-songwriter
- 1981 – Pradeepan Raveendran, Sri Lankan director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1982 – Antonio Cassano, Italian footballer
- 1984 – Gareth Gates, English singer-songwriter
- 1984 – Jonathan Lewis, American football player
- 1984 – Natalie Martinez, American actress
- 1984 – Michael McGovern, Irish footballer
- 1984 – Sami Zayn, Canadian professional wrestler
- 1985 – Paulo Vitor Barreto, Brazilian footballer
- 1985 – Gianluca Curci, Italian footballer
- 1985 – Keven Lacombe, Canadian cyclist
- 1985 – Ismael Londt, Surinamese-Dutch kickboxer
- 1986 – 360, Australian rapper
- 1986 – Didier Digard, French footballer
- 1986 – Hannaliis Jaadla, Estonian footballer
- 1986 – JP Pietersen, South African rugby player
- 1986 – Simone Laudehr, German footballer
- 1988 – Natalie La Rose, Dutch singer and dancer
- 1988 – LeSean McCoy, American football player
- 1988 – Inbee Park, South Korean golfer
- 1989 – Nick Palmieri, American ice hockey player
- 1990 – Bebé, Portuguese footballer
- 1990 – Chasen Shreve, American baseball player
- 1991 – Salih Dursun, Turkish footballer
- 1991 – James Rodríguez, Colombian footballer
- 1992 – Bartosz Bereszyński, Polish footballer
- 1993 – Kurt Capewell, Australian rugby league player
- 1994 – Kanako Momota, Japanese singer-songwriter
- 1995 – Luke Shaw, English footballer
- 1995 – Jordyn Wieber, American gymnast
- 1996 – Moussa Dembélé, French footballer
- 1996 – Jordan Romero, American mountaineer
- 1997 – Daniel Lawrence, English cricketer
- 1997 – Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani-English activist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 524 – Viventiolus, archbishop of Lyon (b. 460)
- 783 – Bertrada of Laon, Frankish queen (b. 720)
- 965 – Meng Chang, emperor of Later Shu (b. 919)
- 1067 – John Komnenos, Byzantine general
- 1441 – Ashikaga Yoshinori, Japanese shogun (b. 1394)
- 1441 – Kyōgoku Takakazu, Japanese nobleman
- 1489 – Bahlul Lodi, sultan of Delhi
- 1536 – Desiderius Erasmus, Dutch priest and philosopher (b. 1466)
- 1584 – Steven Borough, English navigator and explorer (b. 1525)
- 1623 – William Bourchier, 3rd Earl of Bath (b. 1557)
- 1645 – Michael I, Russian tsar (b. 1596)
- 1664 – Stefano della Bella, Italian illustrator and engraver (b. 1610)
- 1682 – Jean Picard, French priest and astronomer (b. 1620)
- 1691 – Marquis de St Ruth, French general
- 1693 – John Ashby, English admiral (b. 1640)
- 1712 – Richard Cromwell, English academic and politician (b. 1626)
- 1742 – Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1675)
- 1749 – Charles de la Boische, Marquis de Beauharnois, French navy officer and politician, Governor General of New France (b. 1671)
- 1773 – Johann Joachim Quantz, German flute player and composer (b. 1697)
- 1804 – Alexander Hamilton, American general, economist, and politician, 1st United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1755)
- 1845 – Henrik Wergeland, Norwegian linguist, poet, and playwright (b. 1808)
- 1850 – Robert Stevenson, Scottish engineer (b. 1772)
- 1855 – Pavel Nakhimov, Russian admiral (b. 1802)
- 1870 – John A. Dahlgren, American admiral (b. 1809)
- 1892 – Alexander Cartwright, American firefighter, invented baseball (b. 1820)
- 1910 – Charles Rolls, English engineer and businessman, co-founded Rolls-Royce Limited (b. 1887)
- 1926 – Gertrude Bell, English archaeologist and spy (b. 1868)
- 1926 – Charles Wood Irish composer (b. 1866)
- 1929 – Robert Henri, American painter and educator (b. 1865)
- 1931 – Nathan Söderblom, Swedish archbishop, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1866)
- 1934 – Ole Evinrude, Norwegian-American inventor and businessman, invented the outboard motor (b. 1877)
- 1935 – Alfred Dreyfus, French colonel (b. 1859)
- 1944 – Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., American general and politician, Governor of Puerto Rico (b. 1887)
- 1945 – Boris Galerkin, Russian mathematician and engineer (b. 1871)
- 1945 – Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen, German field marshal (b. 1895)
- 1946 – Ray Stannard Baker, American journalist and author (b. 1870)
- 1947 – Jimmie Lunceford, American saxophonist and bandleader (b. 1902)
- 1949 – Douglas Hyde, Irish scholar and politician, 1st President of Ireland (b. 1860)
- 1950 – Elsie de Wolfe, American actress, author, and interior decorator (b. 1865)
- 1956 – John Hayes, Australian politician, 25th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1868)
- 1961 – Mazo de la Roche, Canadian author and playwright (b. 1879)
- 1962 – Roger Wolfe Kahn, American composer and bandleader (b. 1907)
- 1965 – Christfried Burmeister, Estonian speed skater (b. 1898)
- 1966 – D. T. Suzuki, Japanese philosopher and author (b. 1870)
- 1969 – Henry George Lamond, Australian farmer and author (b. 1885)
- 1971 – Yvon Robert, Canadian wrestler (b. 1914)
- 1973 – Lon Chaney, Jr., American actor (b. 1906)
- 1975 – James Ormsbee Chapin, American painter and illustrator (b. 1887)
- 1979 – Minnie Riperton, American singer-songwriter (b. 1947)
- 1982 – Kenneth More, English actor (b. 1914)
- 1983 – Chris Wood, English saxophonist (b. 1944)
- 1990 – João Saldanha, Brazilian footballer, manager, and journalist (b. 1917)
- 1992 – Caroline Pafford Miller, American journalist and author (b. 1903)
- 1993 – Dan Eldon, English photographer and journalist (b. 1970)
- 1996 – John Chancellor, American journalist (b. 1927)
- 1997 – François Furet, French historian and author (b. 1927)
- 1998 – Jimmy Driftwood, American singer-songwriter and banjo player (b. 1907)
- 1998 – Arkady Ostashev, Soviet/Russian scientist and engineer (b. 1925)
- 1998 – Serge Lemoyne, Canadian painter (b. 1941)
- 1999 – Rajendra Kumar, Bollywood actor, (b. 1921)
- 2000 – Charles Merritt, Canadian colonel and politician, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1908)
- 2001 – Fred Marcellino, American author and illustrator (b. 1939)
- 2003 – Benny Carter, American trumpet player, saxophonist, and composer (b. 1907)
- 2003 – Mark Lovell, English race car driver (b. 1960)
- 2004 – Betty Oliphant, English-Canadian ballerina, co-founded the National Ballet School of Canada (b. 1918)
- 2005 – John King, Baron King of Wartnaby, English businessman (b. 1917)
- 2007 – Robert Burås, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1975)
- 2007 – Stan Zemanek, Australian radio and television host (b. 1947)
- 2008 – Bobby Murcer, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1946)
- 2008 – Tony Snow, American journalist, 26th White House Press Secretary (b. 1955)
- 2010 – Olga Guillot, Cuban-American singer (b. 1922)
- 2010 – James P. Hogan, English-American author (b. 1941)
- 2010 – Paulo Moura, Brazilian clarinetist and saxophonist (b. 1932)
- 2010 – Pius Njawé, Cameroonian journalist (b. 1957)
- 2010 – Harvey Pekar, American author and critic (b. 1939)
- 2011 – Sherwood Schwartz, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1916)
- 2012 – Alimuddin, Pakistani cricketer (b. 1930)
- 2012 – Dara Singh, Indian wrestler, actor, and politician (b. 1928)[4]
- 2012 – Eddy Brown, English footballer and manager (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Else Holmelund Minarik, Danish-American author and illustrator (b. 1920)
- 2012 – Roger Payne, English mountaineer (b. 1956)
- 2012 – Hamid Samandarian, Iranian director and playwright (b. 1931)
- 2012 – George C. Stoney, American director and producer (b. 1916)
- 2013 – Amar Bose, American businessman, founded the Bose Corporation (b. 1929)
- 2013 – Takako Takahashi, Japanese author (b. 1932)
- 2013 – Alan Whicker, Egyptian-English journalist (b. 1925)
- 2014 – Jamil Ahmad, Pakistani author (b. 1931)
- 2014 – Nestor Basterretxea, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1924)
- 2014 – Emil Bobu, Romanian politician (b. 1927)
- 2014 – Alfred de Grazia, American political scientist and author (b. 1919)
- 2014 – Kenneth J. Gray, American soldier and politician (b. 1924)
- 2014 – Valeriya Novodvorskaya, Russian journalist and politician (b. 1950)
- 2015 – D'Army Bailey, American lawyer, judge, and actor (b. 1941)
- 2015 – Chenjerai Hove, Zimbabwean journalist, author, and poet (b. 1956)
- 2015 – Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, Tibetan monk and activist (b. 1950)
- 2015 – Cheng Siwei, Chinese engineer, economist, and politician (b. 1935)
- 2016 – Goran Hadžić, Serbian politician (b. 1958)
- Birthday of the Heir to the Crown of Tonga (Tonga)
- Christian feast day:
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Kiribati from the United Kingdom in 1979.
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of São Tomé and Príncipe from Portugal in 1975.
- The second day of Naadam (Mongolia)
- The Twelfth, also known as Orangemen's Day (Northern Ireland, Scotland, Newfoundland and Labrador)
““Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.” Jeremiah 32:17 NIV
===
Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
"After that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you."
1 Peter 5:10
1 Peter 5:10
You have seen the arch of heaven as it spans the plain: glorious are its colours, and rare its hues. It is beautiful, but, alas, it passes away, and lo, it is not. The fair colours give way to the fleecy clouds, and the sky is no longer brilliant with the tints of heaven. It is not established. How can it be? A glorious show made up of transitory sun-beams and passing rain-drops, how can it abide? The graces of the Christian character must not resemble the rainbow in its transitory beauty, but, on the contrary, must be stablished, settled, abiding. Seek, O believer, that every good thing you have may be an abiding thing. May your character not be a writing upon the sand, but an inscription upon the rock! May your faith be no "baseless fabric of a vision," but may it be builded of material able to endure that awful fire which shall consume the wood, hay, and stubble of the hypocrite. May you be rooted and grounded in love. May your convictions be deep, your love real, your desires earnest. May your whole life be so settled and established, that all the blasts of hell, and all the storms of earth shall never be able to remove you. But notice how this blessing of being "stablished in the faith" is gained. The apostle's words point us to suffering as the means employed--"After that ye have suffered awhile." It is of no use to hope that we shall be well rooted if no rough winds pass over us. Those old gnarlings on the root of the oak tree, and those strange twistings of the branches, all tell of the many storms that have swept over it, and they are also indicators of the depth into which the roots have forced their way. So the Christian is made strong, and firmly rooted by all the trials and storms of life. Shrink not then from the tempestuous winds of trial, but take comfort, believing that by their rough discipline God is fulfilling this benediction to you.
Evening
"Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation."
Joel 1:3
Joel 1:3
In this simple way, by God's grace, a living testimony for truth is always to be kept alive in the land--the beloved of the Lord are to hand down their witness for the gospel, and the covenant to their heirs, and these again to their next descendants. This is our first duty, we are to begin at the family hearth: he is a bad preacher who does not commence his ministry at home. The heathen are to be sought by all means, and the highways and hedges are to be searched, but home has a prior claim, and woe unto those who reverse the order of the Lord's arrangements. To teach our children is a personal duty; we cannot delegate it to Sunday school teachers, or other friendly aids; these can assist us, but cannot deliver us from the sacred obligation; proxies and sponsors are wicked devices in this case: mothers and fathers must, like Abraham, command their households in the fear of God, and talk with their offspring concerning the wondrous works of the Most High. Parental teaching is a natural duty--who so fit to look to the child's well-being as those who are the authors of his actual being? To neglect the instruction of our offspring is worse than brutish. Family religion is necessary for the nation, for the family itself, and for the church of God. By a thousand plots Popery is covertly advancing in our land, and one of the most effectual means for resisting its inroads is left almost neglected, namely, the instruction of children in the faith. Would that parents would awaken to a sense of the importance of this matter. It is a pleasant duty to talk of Jesus to our sons and daughters, and the more so because it has often proved to be an accepted work, for God has saved the children through the parents' prayers and admonitions. May every house into which this volume shall come honour the Lord and receive his smile.
===
Esther
The Woman Who Saved Her Nation From Genocide
Scripture Reference - The Book of Esther
Name Meaning - Esther was the Persian name of this descendant of Benjamin and is from "aster" meaning "a star" and implies, like Venus, that of "good fortune." We refer to "the star of hope" - "the star of joy" - "the star of superiority," and Esther was all these to her people for in "the splendid galaxy of Hebrew women of the olden time, no name stands more prominent or shines with a richer lustre." Rabbi Jehudah affirms that Esther is "sether," meaning "to hide," because she was hidden in her guardian's home and because her nationality was concealed (Esther 2:7 ). Mordecai had made the girl promise that she would not reveal her nationality to the king - which she did not until the opportune moment came. Hadassah, signifying "myrtle" was Esther's original name. The change of name from Hadassah to Esther may indicate the style of beauty for which this once captive, now a Persian queen, was famous for. She is revealed as "a woman of clear judgment, of magnificent self-control and capable of the noblest self-sacrifice." The lines of Byron can be fittingly applied to Esther -
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes.
Family Connections - This last woman of the Old Testament of whom we intimately know nothing, was related to a family carried away captive with Jeremiah, about 600 b.c. and was born of this family preferring to remain in the land of captivity rather than return to Jerusalem. Esther was the daughter of Abihail who lived at Shushan, the Persian royal city. When her parents died she came under the guardian care of Mordecai, a palace official, to whom she was related by marriage. Mordecai had a deep affection for her and reared her as his own daughter. Esther was always obedient to her uncle and even when she became queen, sought his practical advice. She trusted this gentle Jew as her father. As Alexander Whyte expresses it, "Mordecai brought Esther up, and his one love in his whole life, after his love for Israel and for the God of Israel, was his love for his little adopted daughter.... He stood by and watched his sister's child lifted up in a moment from her exile and poverty, and actually made the queen of the greatest empire then standing on the face of the earth."
The story of Esther as we have it in the book bearing her name is a romance of captivity in Persia, for a king set at nought Persian law and prejudice to make her his queen. The marriage of Ahasuerus to Esther, a Jewess, was against Persian law which held that one of the royal line must marry a wife belonging to the seven great Persian families. What Esther did and how she did it is described in ten intensely vivid chapters, and her story is one of great dramatic power in which "incident after incident is related until the climax of difficulty is reached and the knot is so tied that it seems impossible to escape. Then it is untied with wonderful dexterity."
A peculiar feature of the Book of Esther is that, with the Song of Solomon, it shares the distinction of not mentioning God or any divine name once throughout its pages. Yet the fast-moving action in this drama is eloquent with the overruling providence of God in bringing Esther to the throne for such a time. At times, God may appear as if He is hiding Himself, but seen or unseen He ever accomplishes that which is according to His will. Because of her beauty Esther became an inmate of the palace, and when courageous Queen Vashti was deposed, Esther was chosen to succeed her. The combined wisdom of Mordecai and Esther's courage became the means of lightening the load of the Jews under Persian rule. With Mordecai, Esther shared faith in the high destiny of Israel as a nation.
Haman, the chief court favorite, was the Jews' enemy - the Old Testament Adolph Hitler - and conceived a plan to massacre the Jews en bloc . Exhorted by Mordecai, Esther revealed her Jewish nationality to the king, and this courageous action brought about a complete reversal of the decree. Haman was executed, Mordecai was honored by the king, and Esther's position as Queen was considerably strengthened. It is because she saved the Jews from destruction that the Book of Esther is read every year by Jews at the Feast of Purim, held on the 14th day of Adar. We cannot but agree with the summary of Esther, as one of the most attractive women in the Old Testament that -
As an historical character, Esther is the supreme heroine who delivers her nation from disaster: as a woman, she is that rare individual, a mixture of charm, strength and guile: a human being whose character is secure from the rot of wealth, prosperity and power.
That Esther had great personal beauty goes without saying. Her dark, exotic features marked her out, and she was thus chosen as a candidate for the king's favor who, when he saw her for the first time must have been captivated by her physical charms. But through her beauty there shone a radiance of personality and character which enhanced her beauty and gave it distinction in the eyes of Ahasuerus who chose her as his queen. Kuyper, who does not have anything good to say about Esther's character when he deals with her in hisWomen of the Old Testament , confesses that Ahasuerus reckoned her to be the most beautiful of the maidens presented to him when seeking a successor to Vashti. The one thing about Esther we cannot understand was the way she exhibited the vindictiveness of the age and the country in her request that Haman's ten sons should be hanged, and a day set apart when the Jews could take vengeance on the enemies who had sought to kill them. She had not learned to love her enemies. She lived on the other side of the cross and therefore was ignorant of its cry for the forgiveness of enemies.
What are some of the lessons to be gleaned from the fascinating story of Esther? First of all, her record abides because she was one who kept her pledge. May such allegiance be ours! She dutifully obeyed her foster father. Having no natural father or mother to honor, she loved and was loyal to her guardian parent. How commendable it is when young people revere their parents and obey them in the Lord! Further, Esther loved and clung to (although she concealed) her despised but honorable descent. She was a true patriot and in the hour of crisis was not ashamed to own her race. The lesson to learn from the dramatic moment when she revealed her identity as a Jewess has been applied by H. V. Morton in this way -
When a person has gone up in the world and has achieved a position of power and eminence, it requires strength and beauty of character for that person still to love and remember the simple people from whom he, or she, sprang. Humble girls have often married rich men and have forgotten their origin. They have, in fact, been ashamed of anything that might remind them of it.
Witnessing to the rock from which she had been hewn, Esther dared to risk death for her people and so escaped dying with them. By her patriotism she won for her nation a great deliverance and God used her as an instrument of His providence for the working out of a glorious purpose. There had been preparations of humiliation and prayer and when the king held out his scepter and she approached to make her plea the cry was in her heart, "How can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?" How national life sorely needs godly patriots after this order? You may be tempted to sigh and say, "If only I were like Esther with great opportunities what would I not do to glorify God." Realize that all around you, no matter how mean your environment may be, there are magnificent and unparalleled opportunities of serving God and a needy world that angels envy. Serve the Master to the limit of your ability where in His Providence He has placed you, and thus prepare yourself for a larger circle of service if such be His will.
Leaders of women's groups could elaborate on the following points while dealing with the story of Esther, the strong-minded woman of ancient history -
From her character we learn -
1. To seek divine guidance in times of difficulty (Esther 4:15-17).
2. To obtain a knowledge of human nature, so that we may know how to take advantage of any circumstances which may favor our cause if it be a proper one.
3. When there is a necessity, to be ready to renounce self and exert ourselves for the good of others.
4. To value and seek the cooperation of fellow-believers.
1. To seek divine guidance in times of difficulty (Esther 4:15-17).
2. To obtain a knowledge of human nature, so that we may know how to take advantage of any circumstances which may favor our cause if it be a proper one.
3. When there is a necessity, to be ready to renounce self and exert ourselves for the good of others.
4. To value and seek the cooperation of fellow-believers.
Dealing with the ultimate safety of the Jews which Esther secured, we learn -
1. To have unbounded confidence in God's Providence - not to undervalue small things.
2. To acknowledge God as the Author of all mercies.
1. To have unbounded confidence in God's Providence - not to undervalue small things.
2. To acknowledge God as the Author of all mercies.
Thinking of the reversal of fortune of Haman, which Esther brought about, we further learn -
1. There is such a thing as righteous retribution. Haman himself received what he had proposed for others. He was paid back in his own coin.
2. The transitory nature of earthly grandeur and the end of all ill-gotten earthly power and possessions.
1. There is such a thing as righteous retribution. Haman himself received what he had proposed for others. He was paid back in his own coin.
2. The transitory nature of earthly grandeur and the end of all ill-gotten earthly power and possessions.
===
Elihu
[Ĕlī'hū] - he is god himself.
[Ĕlī'hū] - he is god himself.
- The father of Jeroham and great-grandfather of Samuel the prophet, who also has the name of Eliel (1 Sam. 1:1; 1 Chron. 6:34).
- A man of Manasseh who joined David at Ziklag (1 Chron. 12:20).
- A Kohathite of the family of Korah, and a Tabernacle porter in David's time (1 Chron. 26:7).
- A brother of David , who became ruler over Judah (1 Chron. 27:18). Also known as Eliab.
- The youngest of Job's friends, the son of Barachel, a Buzite (Job 32:2-6; 34:1; 35:1; 36:1).
The Man Who Was a Self-Assertive Dogmatist
The lineage of Elihu, the fourth speaker in Job's dialogue, is given in fuller detail. He was the son of Barachel the Buzite, the kindred of Ram (Job 32:2). Buz was the brother of Uz and son of Nahor ( Gen. 22:21). Buz is also mentioned along with Tema and the Arab tribes (Jer. 25:23).
Elihu's name, "God is Lord," suggests his desire to exalt the Almighty. One writer has described him as "the forerunner of Jehovah." This youthful, somewhat self-assertive speaker reaches a high level and has "a far juster and more spiritual conception" in dealing with the problem that has confronted Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. But he gives only half the truth, and his appeal, although so lofty and eloquent, is marred by a self-assertiveness evident from his sayings, "Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment" (Job 32:9) and, "My words shall be the uprightness of my heart" ( Job 33:3).
It is interesting to observe that Job did not reply to Elihu as he did to the other three, "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?" This was Jehovah's word to Elihu, in which He lays the very charge at his feet which he had sought to bring against His servant Job (Job 34:35; 35:16).
Elihu's vindication appears to be along three lines:
I. He first of all condemns Job for his self-justification (Job 32:2; 33:8, 9).
II. He sets out to modify the doctrine of the three friends by affirming that affliction is as much a judgment upon sin as a warning of judgment to come (Job 34:10, 11).
III. He then unveils in a way completely overmastering the mind, the majesty and glory of God, the climax of which is inJob 37:5.
Elihu claimed inspiration for his presence and message (Job 32:8). Eagerness was his to speak before he did, but youth and modesty kept him back ( Job 32:4-8, 18, 19). What Elihu seemed to forget was, trial can overtake the saintliest of men (1 Pet. 1:7).
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Today's reading: Psalm 1-3, Acts 17:1-15 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Psalm 1-3
BOOK I
Psalms 1-41
1 Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the LORD,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither--
whatever they do prospers....
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the LORD,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither--
whatever they do prospers....
Today's New Testament reading: Acts 17:1-15
In Thessalonica
1 When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah," he said.4Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women....
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