Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Tue 13th April 2021 Current Affairs

Editorial Tuesday 13th April Media confused by math? 


The activity that stumped the professor was a concrete block exercise. The task was to divide a reservoir of blocks depicting hundreds, tens and units into quantities matching a minimum 

“Karla says: “I have three hundreds counters, 17 tens counters and 16 ones counters.

“a) Can she make two equal three-digit numbers? If so, draw the counters to show them.

“b) Can she make two equal three-digit numbers if she had to use all her counters? If so, draw the counters to show them.”

Because the counters are physical, they are different to abstract numbers. The number 486 can be divided equally, but the physical blocks cannot. Two physical expressions of 188 is possible. But what of 243? The constitution of 243 would be different (2x100, 4X10, 3X1 vs 1x100, 13X10, 13X1) but the number achievable. More impressive is the children (parents?) having to draw the blocks. 

Editorial Monday 12th April Bad dad myth takes lives

There are terrible, murderous fathers who seemingly act with impunity. There are also upstanding, decent fathers whose acts of love are denigrated and despised by popular press and activists. The result is preventable tragedy. 

John Edwards had been a bad dad. He killed two of his children before killing himself in 2018, but he was a bad dad before that. He had had a 24 year history of domestic violence over seven partners and ten children. He only had had one apprehended violence order against his name, but a number of times came close to more. On one occasion, in 2016, the mother of two children who would be killed by Edwards went to police after a violent episode. It had followed Edwards receiving weekend custody and the inexperienced officer taking the complaint wrote that the complaint might have been an ambit claim against the custody. A lot of focus is on how Edwards obtained a gun legally. Not much has been focused on how Edwards tracked his estranged children illegally before killing them. It is apparent he tracked his daughter from her school. 

But what about good men who raise their children right? What about men impugned for being .. male? Men denied sexual gratification because of political correctness, so that a sexual consent app is discussed in NSW parliament, and yet even such as that is declared not fool proof. Not all males tell off colour jokes, but is telling off colour jokes related to rape? Can a child be disciplined by a male parent? What if the parent is Boris Johnstone or Donald Trump? Can a single, conservative male have paid sex? Would it be different if they owned a social media company? 

Was it the case Edwards got a free pass because, at other times, good men have been harangued? 

The issue is particularly sensitive to me because I was badly raised by my father, who beat me until I begged my mother to remove his custody from me, and then he beat me some more. I told a teacher about him while I was in kindergarten and so he moved me to another school. On occasions when we were alone together I feared for my life. His second family had him named Father of the Year in NSW. In one of our last conversations, he asked "David, you do know how difficult it was to raise you?" 

My father was not Edwards. I do not know Edwards, or what drove him. But I do understand parts of my father's problems with raising me. My mother was awful, and had wilfully removed cultural assets which promote family. None of her four children had children. Simply too damaged. 

Cultural assets are under siege wherever totalitarian leftists rule, but they are also under siege where totalitarian leftist supporting media and complicit useful idiots work to overthrow good government. 

How good was the parenting of Joe Biden? Hunter Biden? 
===

We all know the radical Democrats are looking to destroy America. But what if we had their battleplan for doing it? Would we be able to better respond? In this episode, I discuss an incredibly informative article that lays out the liberal plan to ruin the country.

News Picks:

=== Bongino Headlines ===
Mexico and Guatemala Move Troops to Southern Borders to Make Journey to U.S. More Difficult

Police Chief Says Officer Meant to Fire Taser, Not Handgun in Fatal Minneapolis Shooting

House Committee to Vote on Slavery Reparations Commission

Biden to Nominate Trump Critic, BLM Supporter, to Lead CBP

60 Minutes Acknowledges Criticism of Bogus DeSantis Hit Piece – Refuses to Retract Story

Fed’s Powell Says It’s “Highly Unlikely” Interest Rates Will Be Raised This Year

Capitol Hill
Pelosi Adopts Child-Like Voice While Ridiculing AOC and the “Squad”
Cindy McCain to Be Biden Ambassador to UN Program
Dems Claim Infrastructure Bill an Investment in “Human Infrastructure”
Lobbyist for Dictator Accused of Cannibalism in Line for Biden State Department Position
Biden Prepares Executive Order to Require Companies to Disclose Risks From Climate Change
Massive Migrant Holding Center Nearly Empty as Biden Spends Millions on Hotels
Kamala Ignores Invitations From Border States
Security Clearance of UN Ambassador’s Acting Chief of Staff Revoked
Inside Biden’s Multi-Billion Dollar Migrant Resettlement Plan
CNN Knowingly Runs Fake Story on Matt Gaetz
Buttigieg Admits to Massively Exaggerating Job Gains From Infrastructure Bill

Culture War
NBC: Absolute Lack of White Supremacists at “White Lives Matter” Rally Proves White Supremacy, or Something
CNN Complains That Fox News Anchors Haven’t Posted Vaccine Selfies
Texas Gov.: Biden Gun Control Executive Orders a “Show” That Won’t Prevent Crime
Michigan Gov. Blames Misogyny for Criticism of Her Godawful Policies
ADL CEO Goes on CNN to Whine About Tucker Carlson, Demand His Firing
Christian Wedding Photographer Sues New York Over Nondiscrimination Law
Rasmussen: Only 33% of Voters Trust Political News
Cities With Black Lives Matter Protests and Riots had 6,000 More Homicides Than Expected From 2014-2019
100 Top Corporate Leaders Meet to Discuss How to Respond to Election Integrity Laws
There Are Now 470 Million Guns in America
Virginia Officer Who Pepper Sprayed Army Officer in Viral Video Fired

Economy
Crypto Exchange CEO Warns Crackdown on Cryptocurrencies May Be Coming
United Airlines’ Q1 Revenue Expected to Fall 66% vs. 2019
Average U.S. Price of Gas Nears $3
Uber Posts Record Bookings in March
Biden’s Push for Electric Vehicles Will Be a Boon for China
Elon Musk’s $55 Million Las Vegas Transit Loop Turns Out to Just Be a Tunnel
Fed’s Powell Says U.S. Economy “at an Inflection Point”
Canada’s Telesat Takes on Musk and Bezos in Race to Provide High-Speed Global Broadband From Space
China Ramps Up Antitrust Enforcement
Why Alabama Amazon Workers Voted Against Unionizing
Bitcoin Tops $60k Again

Swamp Watch
Blinken Says Talk of Boycotting the 2022 Beijing Olympics “Premature”
John Ratcliffe: Law Enforcement Knows Hunter Biden’s Laptop Isn’t Russian Disinformation
Buttigieg Isn’t Ruling Out Including Path For Citizenship As Part of Biden’s Infrastructure Package
Antifa Riots in Portland, Sets Fire to ICE Building With Federal Agents Inside
Hunter Biden Trades off The Presidency, Starts His Book Tour
CBP Source: Migrant Getaways Exceeded 155k This Year
Harry Reid Warns That Democrats Should Be Careful in Pursuing Supreme Court Packing
Cambodia Condemns VICE News for Photoshopping Smiles on Photos of Faces of Khmer Rouge Victims
Antifa “Security” Assaults Journalist During Detroit “Anti-Eviction March”
=== Newsmax Headlines ===
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/virus-outbreak-florida-youtube/2021/04/12/id/1017305/?oRef=mixi

Biden Presidency
Biden: Willing to Negotiate Scope, Financing of Infrastructure Plan
Rep. Cuellar Pushes Back on Biden Border Claim: Increase in Crossings 'Not Seasonal'
Biden Tells Execs US Needs to Invest, Lead in Computer Chips
Sen. Kennedy: Americans Not 'Morons,' Can See Through Infrastructure Plan
Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala Agree to Tighten Border Security
Ken Starr: Court Packing ‘a Bad Idea,' Biden 'No FDR'
White House Targets GOP Leaders' Home States in Infrastructure Push
Rep. Cheney Warns Middle Class Will Ultimately Pay For Biden Infrastructure Plan

Newsfront
Police: Minnesota Officer Meant to Draw Taser, Not Handgun
The police officer who fatally shot a Black man during a traffic stop [Full Story]
Related
National Guard Called In as Violence, Looting Erupt After Fatal Police Shooting

Minnesota Twins Postpone Game, Citing Police Shooting of Black Man in Brooklyn Center
===

===

===

===

===

===

===

===

===

===
Erdogan's Frightening Retreat from Convention Protecting Women

by Abigail R. Esman
Special to IPT News
April 12, 2021

https://www.investigativeproject.org/8803/erdogan-frightening-retreat-from-convention

Her eyes were nearly as dark as her abaya, large and filled with tears. She was young, not much more than 30, with dark hair, uncovered, that tumbled loosely down her back. A man's hand wrapped around her throat, pinning her against a car parked at the curb; and I watched, on a busy street in Istanbul, as other men surrounded them, ordering him to stop, to let her go.

Instead, he raised his free hand and slapped her in the face.

Beside me, a younger man stood with a cell phone in one hand. "Polis?" I said, "police?" and gestured for him to call. But he only looked at me and smiled sadly, with a shrug that told me all I had to know: the police wouldn't be of any help. They never were with things like this. A young man pushed his way between the woman and her assailant, guarding her from his blows, and she dropped down to her knees to kiss his feet.

Yet in only seconds, her attacker – was he her husband? Her father? – pulled her up again, again pressing one hand around her neck.

"Syrians," a woman nearby explained to me in English. "Religious people." I stared, speechless, as the man forced this woman, this young woman with the pleading eyes, into the car. He stepped into the driver's seat, and the two of them sped away.

That woman's face still haunts me now, years later – beautiful, desperate, doomed. She was but one of several million women who experience domestic abuse in Turkey, a country where experts say three women are murdered every day.

Now their president has turned his back on all of them.

Last month, in a decree issued at 2:00 on a Saturday morning, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan withdrew Turkey from the Istanbul Convention, known officially as the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combatting Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence. The treaty requires signatories to criminalize "all acts of gender-based violence that result in, or are likely to result in, physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life."

Ironically, it was Turkey which first ratified the treaty in 2012, which the Council of Europe calls "the gold standard in international efforts to protect women and girls from the violence they face every day in our societies," and which has been adopted by 34 countries.

The Council of Europe swiftly condemned Erdogan's move, which President Biden denounced as a "step backward for the international movement to end violence against women globally."

But Erdogan's minions argue otherwise, claiming that there are plenty of other laws in place to protect women – but that the treaty itself had been "hijacked" by people attempting to normalize homosexuality," which is "incompatible with Turkey's social and family values."

But homosexuality has nothing to do with it. Nor, really, does an effort to appeal to Erdogan's base, as many of his critics argue. While it is true that Turkey's president is slipping in the polls, the next election isn't until 2023 and it is not his way to appeal to voters so far in advance. Rather, like other misogynistic rulers across the region, Erdogan's retreat from the Istanbul Convention is more a move toward further Islamizing the secular republic, turning it away from the Western, Enlightenment vision of its founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and closer to the Islamist, sharia-based theocracies of the Middle East.

What's more, studies have shown a reciprocal relationship between radical conservatism and the oppression of women – albeit cloaked in the disarming concept of "traditional family values." Countries where women are more oppressed tend to be more violent, less stable, and so, more easily led by autocrats; countries that are unstable and autocratic tend to be more likely to oppress women.

And radical conservatism is exactly where Erdogan is steering the Turkish republic. Since taking power in 2003, he has built more than 17,000 new mosques, with several thousand more abroad; restricted the sales of alcohol; Islamized the public school curriculum; and heralded a "new pious generation." Throughout, he has pandered to conservative, Islamist views of the role of women, rejecting the idea that men and women should be considered equal, and calling on Turkish women to bear "at least" three children.

"Our religion has defined a position for women: motherhood," he said at a 2014 summit on justice for women. "You cannot put men and women on equal footing. It is against nature."

Meantime, in the years Erdogan has been in power, the number of women murdered has risen sharply, women's rights groups say. The perpetrators of domestic violence are rarely prosecuted, or receive light sentences which are often reduced for "good behavior," according to the New York Times.

How far this is from Ataturk's idea that "human kind is made up of two sexes, women and men .... Is it possible that if half of a mass is tied to earth with chains, the other half can soar into the skies?"

Notably, while researchers and organizations like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) have correctly linked such misogyny to right wing extremism, little notice has been made of its inherent connection with Islamist extremism. Indeed, if misogyny is the "gateway drug" into white supremacy, as some argue, it also is a "gateway" into radical Islam. It opens into a seductive fantasy world that frequently keeps them captivated by a radicalized world they become unwilling to leave.

This, arguably, is behind Erdogan's real strategy in leaving the Istanbul Convention. If it proves effective, it could cement much more than just his power over Turkey. It could change the very nature of the Turkish Republic to an Islamist state beyond anything its founder could recognize, let alone would have ever wanted.

It has been nearly a decade since I saw that woman on the street in Istanbul; but I often think of her. I hope she is protected and safe.

I hope the future of Ataturk's secular republic will be, as well.

Abigail R. Esman is a freelance writer based in New York and the Netherlands. She is the author of Radical State: How Jihad Is Winning Over Democracy in the West( Praeger, 2010). Her new book, Rage: Narcissism, Patriarchy, and the Culture of Terrorism, was published by Potomac Books in October 2020. Follow her at @radicalstates.
===
Here is a video I made Evolution by Langdon Smith

Evolution by Langdon Smith is a poem that intertwined the love the author had for his wife. Epic in scale. This is my Valentines Day offering, to anonymous.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langdon_smith
Becwil is the talented muso who made this piece possible.
http://conservativeweasel.blogspot.com/2008/02/evolution-by-langdon-smith.html
https://rumble.com/vfl86f-evolution-by-langdon-smith-by-oddball.html

=== From 2018 ===
Don't give up on hope. Yassmin Abdel-Magied has been deported from the US. The activist who is a qualified mechanical engineer had wanted to work in the US while entering on a visitor's VISA. It was a dumb stunt and she is getting what she wanted, notoriety. She is complaining that her detention was harsh. When one considers US security has to deal with ISIS and AL Qaeda, whom Yassmin has given tacit support, the fact she did not pay the ultimate price should be a blessing to her. Hamas treat people who enter illegally much worse. There is a terrible disease suffered by left wingers related to entitlement. In a tragic case, an incest father daughter couple had a child and couple issues which ended with the father killing the daughter/wife, child/grandchild and daughter's step father and then himself. Had nobody ever told him 'no' before? 

A police officer is floored for getting ID from a driver on a Learner's permit who was speeding and not accompanied as their license mandates. The 16 yo also did not have ID. So the diligent officer photographed three tattoos on the sixteen year old. Now the spoiled brat is claiming her privacy was invaded by the identification. But if she'd been raped and murdered then police would have been more intrusive. It sounds like the cop behaved professionally. 

A rumour is doing the rounds that FB is going to be paid only. That is not true. Zuckerberg told Congress he would always maintain a free FB option, but that option was sustained by adverts. He intended a premium option to not include adverts. I fault Zuckerberg on many things, but not on that. BTW, where do I sign to allow FB to share my data with conservatives? 
=== from 2017 ===
Some things should not happen, but they do. It is good to see the US getting along with China. It is good to see trade is valued. It is good to see a fake news site, the Daily Mail, sued for over 3 million dollars following their malicious attack on Melania Trump. What form of misogyny was needed to call a successful model a prostitute? What had Melania done to warrant the attack? It isn't true, but even had it been true, why raise it? In Australia, left wing politicians have been protected by the press from the public finding out they frequent gay nightclubs. When the discovery was made, papers have said there was no compelling reason to share the news. This is not one instance or one individual. So what articles did Daily Mail present to balance their misogyny? Or is it the case that the fake news site was in fact also unbalanced? Why should they be licensed to print or produce news? 
=== from 2016 ===
Miranda Devine claiming she is missing out on invites because she can't write a balanced report on Mr Abbott is sad. Devine is not a trash journalist like Nikki Savva. But Devine's judgment is seriously skew on this one issue. And Devine is not suffering for her myopia. There are many friends in this world for people who diss  conservative leaders in favor of left wing hacks. Malcolm Turnbull is not a conservative leader. For example, Turnbull did not endorse the call to repeal the road safety tribunal that threatened the livelihoods of independent truckers. The senate got it through after independents pushed it through with conservative support, and ALP opposition. Turnbull finds siding with ALP natural. Something Devine seems to like. And Miranda, you did not return my emails or calls as I lost my home, my livelihood, and my life savings, forcing me to move inter state to find work. Could your cry be any more self serving? 

For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility. 
=== from 2015 ===
HR Clinton has announced she will run for the Presidency of the US. She is the doormat who hoodwinked the US to accept her husband after Gary Hart foundered. Now she announces this prospect on the anniversary of Democrats slaughtering Black people at the 1873 Colfax Massacre, and on the anniversary of the massacre of the Hadassah Medical convoy in 1948. A great way of remembering how Democrats take their constituents for granted. The Doormat is inoculating hostility by producing a logo which is awful. But don't criticise the logo and ignore the Doormat. The Doormat was fundamental to the failed Obama policy which has resurrected Islamic terror worldwide. She had despised the young democracies, and now has hostile civil wars for US peoples to face. She was the experience to Obama's youthful hope and change. She offers to the US the same deal ALP offers in Australia to the federal government. No policy. No vision. Insider trading and deals at the expense of constituents. While Obama was dancing with Beyonce during Benghazi, the Doormat was blaming a Coptic Christian for a video. 

One reason why the world contains suffering is the repeated lie of the past. Democrat is the party that exploits black people and minorities. But the repeated lie is that Democrat party is the one of choice for progressives. Yet if someone were to vote for a party representing prosperity they would vote GOP. Another repeated lie was present in a tv program from BBC four, entitled "Jerusalem, making of a holy city" by Simon Sebag Montefiore. It purports to tell a balanced story by leaving out salient points, it is propaganda that endorses terrorism. It makes as equal the democratic, international society of Israel which accepts Islamic peoples, and the xenophobic fascist dictatorship which murders people without trial. But it is from the BBC. 
From 2014
A young woman, when I was a young man, asked if I would sing a bit of Handel's Messiah to her. She thought that she would recognise it. I had to explain I did not know all the various parts. However, on this day in Dublin in 1742, the piece debuted in all its' glory. Today is also the birthday of noted Atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair. I don't think it means anything special about the day, but it is ironic. The day has a dark history. Democrats slaughtered blacks after they had surrendered to them in Louisiana in 1873. It was a GOP and Dem battle, and the Dem won and took for granted those they do today. It is telling that Bob Carr made a comment in his recent book which has been seized on by the KKK leadership. Sadly the connection is not tenuous between bigots or left wing parties. 

Also on this day, a discovery made in Poland caused a rift between the Polish government in exile and the USSR when mass graves of Polish POWs were found. The USSR was not an effectively run government or benevolent. It was a murderous dictatorship which, even so, was adored by starry eyed Hollywood types and impressionable fools. There is such thing as evil. The evil woman who was wife of Mao in 1975 commissioned the Chinese government to catalog all Christian activity in China. She confidently and proudly proclaimed that there was none, outside of graveyard or museums. No Christian was alive in China. Today, there are well over a hundred million with millions more every year. The Chinese government have nominated Christians as the only religion they will allow into their public service. And the only reference to Mrs Mao is at her grave, or in museums.
Historical perspective on this day
In 1111, Henry V was crowned Holy Roman Emperor. 1204, Constantinople fell to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, temporarily ending the Byzantine Empire. 1598, Henry IV of France issued the Edict of Nantes, allowing freedom of religion to the Huguenots. 1612, Miyamoto Musashi defeated Sasaki Kojirō at Funajima island. 1613, Samuel Argallcaptured Native American princess Pocahontas in Passapatanzy, Virginia to ransom her for some English prisoners held by her father. She was brought to Henricus as hostage. 1699, Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the Tenth Sikh Guru, Created Khalsa on this day at Anandpur Sahib, Punjab.

In 1742, George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah made its world-premiere in Dublin, Ireland. 1777, American Revolutionary War: American forces were ambushed and defeated in the Battle of Bound Brook, New Jersey. 1796, the first elephant ever seen in the United States arrived from India. 1829, the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 gives Roman Catholicsin the United Kingdom the right to vote and to sit in Parliament. 1849, Hungary became a republic. 1861, American Civil War: Fort Sumter surrendered to Confederate forces. 1868, the Abyssinian War ended as British and Indian troops captured Maqdala. 1870, the New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded. 1873, the Colfax massacre, in which more than 60 African Americans were murdered, took place.

In 1902, James C. Penney opened his first store in Kemmerer, Wyoming. 1909, the Turkishmilitary reversed the Ottoman countercoup of 1909 to force the overthrow of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. 1919, the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. Also 1919, Jallianwala Bagh massacre: British troops gunned down at least 379 unarmed demonstrators in Amritsar, India; at least 1200 were wounded. Also 1919, Eugene V. Debs was imprisoned at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia, for speaking out against the draft during World War I.

In 1941, a Pact of neutrality between the USSR and Japan was signed. 1943, World War II: The discovery of mass graves of Polish prisoners of war killed by Soviet forces in the Katyń Forest Massacre was announced, causing a diplomatic rift between the Polish government in exile in London from the Soviet Union, which denied responsibility. Also 1943, the Jefferson Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C., on the 200th anniversary of President Thomas Jefferson's birth. 1944, Diplomatic relations between New Zealand and the Soviet Union were established. 1945, World War II: German troops killed more than 1,000 political and military prisoners in Gardelegen, Germany. Also 1945, World War II: Soviet and Bulgarian forces captured Vienna, Austria. 1948, the Hadassah medical convoy massacre: In an ambush, 79 Jewish doctors, nurses and medical students from Hadassah Hospital and a British soldier were massacred by Arabs in Sheikh Jarra near Jerusalem. 1953, CIA director Allen Dulleslaunched the mind-control program Project MKULTRA. 1958, Cold War: American Van Cliburn won the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. 1960, the United States launched Transit 1-B, the world's first satellite navigation system. 1964, at the Academy Awards, Sidney Poitier became the first African-American male to win the Best Actor award for the 1963 film Lilies of the Field.

In 1970, an oxygen tank aboard Apollo 13 exploded, putting the crew in great danger and causing major damage to the spacecraft while en route to the Moon. 1972, the Universal Postal Union decided to recognise the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate Chinese representative, effectively expelling the Republic of China administering Taiwan. Also 1972, Vietnam War: The Battle of An Lộc began. 1974, Western Union (in cooperation with NASA and Hughes Aircraft) launched the United States' first commercial geosynchronouscommunications satellite, Westar 1. 1975, Bus massacre in Lebanon: An attack by the Phalangist resistance killed 26 militia members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, marking the start of the 15-year Lebanese Civil War. 1976, the United States Treasury Department reintroduced the two-dollar bill as a Federal Reserve Note on Thomas Jefferson's 233rd birthday as part of the United States Bicentennial celebration. 1984, India moved into Siachen Glacier thus annexing more territory from the Line of Control. 1987, Portugal and the People's Republic of China signed an agreement in which Macau would be returned to China in 1999. 1992, the Great Chicago flood devastated much of central Chicago. 1997, Tiger Woods became the youngest golfer to win the Masters Tournament. 2014, a bus traveling from Villahermosa to Mexico City crashed into a tractor-trailer and caught fire, killing at least 36 people.

=== Bible Reading ===

=

Today's reading: 1 Samuel 19-21, Luke 11:29-54 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: 1 Samuel 19-21

Saul Tries to Kill David
1 Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David. But Jonathan had taken a great liking to David 2 and warned him, "My father Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; go into hiding and stay there. 3 I will go out and stand with my father in the field where you are. I'll speak to him about you and will tell you what I find out."
4 Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, "Let not the king do wrong to his servant David; he has not wronged you, and what he has done has benefited you greatly.5 He took his life in his hands when he killed the Philistine. The LORD won a great victory for all Israel, and you saw it and were glad. Why then would you do wrong to an innocent man like David by killing him for no reason?"

Today's New Testament reading: Luke 11:29-54

The Sign of Jonah
29 As the crowds increased, Jesus said, "This is a wicked generation. It asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. 30For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom; and now something greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and now something greater than Jonah is here....

=== Morning and Evening ===


=

Morning

"My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels."
Psalm 22:14
Our blessed Lord experienced a terrible sinking and melting of soul. "The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear?" Deep depression of spirit is the most grievous of all trials; all besides is as nothing. Well might the suffering Saviour cry to his God, "Be not far from me," for above all other seasons a man needs his God when his heart is melted within him because of heaviness. Believer, come near the cross this morning, and humbly adore the King of glory as having once been brought far lower, in mental distress and inward anguish, than any one among us; and mark his fitness to become a faithful High Priest, who can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities. Especially let those of us whose sadness springs directly from the withdrawal of a present sense of our Father's love, enter into near and intimate communion with Jesus. Let us not give way to despair, since through this dark room the Master has passed before us. Our souls may sometimes long and faint, and thirst even to anguish, to behold the light of the Lord's countenance: at such times let us stay ourselves with the sweet fact of the sympathy of our great High Priest. Our drops of sorrow may well be forgotten in the ocean of his griefs; but how high ought our love to rise! Come in, O strong and deep love of Jesus, like the sea at the flood in spring tides, cover all my powers, drown all my sins, wash out all my cares, lift up my earth-bound soul, and float it right up to my Lord's feet, and there let me lie, a poor broken shell, washed up by his love, having no virtue or value; and only venturing to whisper to him that if he will put his ear to me, he will hear within my heart faint echoes of the vast waves of his own love which have brought me where it is my delight to lie, even at his feet forever.

Evening

"The king's garden."
Nehemiah 3:15
Mention of the king's garden by Nehemiah brings to mind the paradise which the King of kings prepared for Adam. Sin has utterly ruined that fair abode of all delights, and driven forth the children of men to till the ground, which yields thorns and briers unto them. My soul, remember the fall, for it was thy fall. Weep much because the Lord of love was so shamefully ill-treated by the head of the human race, of which thou art a member, as undeserving as any. Behold how dragons and demons dwell on this fair earth, which once was a garden of delights.
See yonder another King's garden, which the King waters with his bloody sweat--Gethsemane, whose bitter herbs are sweeter far to renewed souls than even Eden's luscious fruits. There the mischief of the serpent in the first garden was undone: there the curse was lifted from earth, and borne by the woman's promised seed. My soul, bethink thee much of the agony and the passion; resort to the garden of the olive-press, and view thy great Redeemer rescuing thee from thy lost estate. This is the garden of gardens indeed, wherein the soul may see the guilt of sin and the power of love, two sights which surpass all others.
Is there no other King's garden? Yes, my heart, thou art, or shouldst be such. How do the flowers flourish? Do any choice fruits appear? Does the King walk within, and rest in the bowers of my spirit? Let me see that the plants are trimmed and watered, and the mischievous foxes hunted out. Come, Lord, and let the heavenly wind blow at thy coming, that the spices of thy garden may flow abroad. Nor must I forget the King's garden of the church. O Lord, send prosperity unto it. Rebuild her walls, nourish her plants, ripen her fruits, and from the huge wilderness, reclaim the barren waste, and make thereof "a King's garden."

=== Bible Quote ===

BQuote

“Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.” - Luke 9:23-24
===
Via wikipedia
Luke is the longest of the four gospels and the longest book in the New Testament; together with Acts of the Apostles it makes up a two-volume work from the same author, called Luke–Acts. The cornerstone of Luke–Acts' theology is "salvation history", the author's understanding that God's purpose is seen in the way he has acted, and will continue to act, in history. It divides the history of first century Christianity into three stages, with the gospel making up the first two of these – the arrival among men of Jesus the Messiah, from his birth to the beginning of his earthly mission in the meeting with John the Baptist followed by his earthly ministry, Passion, death and resurrection (concluding the gospel story per se).

Here, Jesus is predicting his death, and explaining to them His gift to them.

=== Message ===

===

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.

===

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 (Gofundme finished the fund raiser, 2017)

===

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.


The Amazon Author Page for David Ball

UK .. http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B01683ZOWG

French .. http://www.amazon.fr/-/e/B01683ZOWG

Japan .. http://www.amazon.co.jp/-/e/B01683ZOWG

German .. http://www.amazon.de/-/e/B01683ZOWG

===

Other Stuff

===

I'm now on MAGAbook to sidestep FB censorship

https://www.magabook.com/register?invite=11673951025fadd3f055eca4.00045664

===

I'm looking for former students to endorse me

https://www.superprof.com.au/write-recommendation-13371374-1cc2cf0f56166c9b04ad4097fc7d0b67.html

=== 

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)