Bairnsdale Conservative: Tue 27th April 2021 Current Affairs

From 2015

Free Speech is a serious issue according to every serious commentator. However, there was silence when Andrew Bolt was silenced for responsibly exploring issues that were topical of the day. They are still relevant now. But there is censorship of free speech preventing those issues being explored in public by the people participating in media feed back. People that might have had an interest in the issues raised by Andrew Bolt have not filled the void, but clouded the issue. So Pauline Hanson level intelligence peoples have stood up and declared some outrageous and bigoted things involving race. Because the laws regarding racial vilification do not protect individuals from hatred or bigotry, but do silence debate on current affairs.

But then there are issues where free speech works well. SBS sports journalist tweeted on Anzac Day:

SBS is able to accept those ridiculous statements. They chose instead to drop the journalist who had made them while being associated with SBS. The statements are ridiculous. It is true that the dropping of an atom bomb twice on a civilian population was wrong. As was the fire bombing of Tokyo, Dresden and Berlin. But they weren't terrorist acts, but acts of war, and possible war crimes. OTOH, had Gallipoli been successful then lives would have been saved and the Armenia Genocide ended before completion. As it was the genocide inspired Hitler. ANZAC Day is a celebration of Australia's loss which forged a national identity. Australians behaved honourably. Maybe Scott would like to substantiate his allegations, because they aren't evident on the public record. That could challenge free speech. Scott has defenders. Notably many who neither understand free speech, nor who were stirred to defend Andrew Bolt.
Execution Of Sukumaran and Chan is proceeding for tomorrow night. Indonesia is keen for the sentence to be carried out. Those defending the drug smugglers have been stymied by the problem they are guilty as charged. It is true that the judges may have asked for a bribe. But as the sentence matches the charge it is difficult to defend them. Others have had their sentences reduced. Grace has been shown. Mercy has been shown. When they were arrested, Sukumaran and Chan ordered others not to talk to help investigators. They had reasoned their loved ones could be harmed. Now the information is valueless as the backers have moved on. They have nothing to offer in mitigation. Yet the Liberal Party has tried hard to negotiate with Indonesia in the defence of Chan and Sukamaran. Sadly the ALP had not, and the ABC has made Indonesian negotiations more difficult by trumping up allegations of ALP espionage failures and pointing at the Liberals. When the two are executed, send flowers to the ABC.

Nepal earthquake update has over three thousand victims dead and many working without food, shelter or fresh water. Please give generously to them, and pray for them. One never knows prayer works if one doesn't pray.

In 395, Emperor Arcadius of Rome married Aelia Eudoxia, possibly because he loved her and didn't want her to be a doxy. It was against the machinations of a powerful civil servant, Rufinus. Both bride and groom were eighteen years old. She had five children and was dead by age twenty eight, but in the mean time, Aelia managed to have coins made in her image and be titled Augusta, allowing her to wear purple robes. She took her politics seriously and seemed to have been involved in all sorts of issues. In 711, Islam invaded Spain. In 1521, explorer Magellan Ferdinand was killed at the battle of Mactan, led by Philippine Chief Lapu-Lapu. It was a magnificent example of colonialism gone awry. In 1578, at a party in the court of Henry III of France, although he probably did not watch, some friends decided to re enact the Horatii as a duel of Les Mignons. Horatii had had two sets of triplets fighting to death to settle a war. Three Horatii brothers and three Curiatii brothers. In the battle, three Curiatii were wounded, but two Horatii were killed. The third Horatii moved to retreat, and managed to string the Curiatii so that he killed them one by one. When his sister began to mourn a Curiatii, he killed her too for betrayal. At the murder trial, his father asked for leniency as he'd lost three of four children. However, the Duel of Les Mignons was not as valiant. Wikipedia writes

"Jacques de Caylus, Louis de Maugiron and Jean d'Arcès (representing the party of the King) engaged in a mock battle with Charles de Balzac, Ribérac, and Georges de Schomberg (representing the party of the Guises). Maugiron and Schomberg were killed in the fighting, Ribérac died of wounds the following noon, d'Arcès was wounded in the head and convalesced in a hospital for six weeks, while Caylus sustained as many as 19 wounds and died after 33 days of agony. Only Balzac got off with a mere scratch on his arm.
This meaningless loss of life impressed itself on the public imagination. Jean Passerat wrote an elegy, Plaintes de Cléophon, on the occasion. In the political treatise Le Theatre de France (1580) the duel was invoked as "the day of the pigs" who "killed each other in the precinct of Saint Paul, serving him in the Muscovite manner".^[6] Michel Montaigne decried the event as "an image de cowardice", and Pierre Brantôme connected it with the deplorable spread of the Italian and Gascon manners at Henry's court. The incident accelerated the estrangement between the two Henrys."

In 1667, a blind and impoverished John Milton sold his manuscript of "Paradise Lost" for 10 pounds. In 1749, the first performance of George Frideric Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks in Green Park, London. In 1805, at the first Barbary War, parts of the marine's hymn was born when US marines attacked Berbers at the Tripolitan city of Derna. In 1810, Beethoven composed Fur Elise. In 1865, the steam boat Sultana, carrying 2400 Union POWs home, blew up, killing 1800. In 1945, Italian partisans arrested Mussolini fleeing in a German uniform. In 1981, Xerox Parc introduced the computer mouse. In 1994, South Africa had the first general election in which blacks could vote. It was on the 1950 anniversary of the introduction of Apartheid. Sadly ANC won.

School children being the pawns of activists is not new. The sixties peace marches featured children vs tear gas as Soviet Russia exploited the peace movement for political gain. Marxists are still doing that. BLM leaders can afford mansions as they advocate activists facing dire consequences for actions. The truth is not on the side of those seeking to defund police. But as the trial of Derek Chauvin shows, the law is on the side of drug dealers and users against the thin blue line.

As a policeman, Chauvin sought to protect and serve. As a congress woman, Waters seeks to exploit and divide. And in Lindfield, Sydney, NSW, Australia, we have a modern school where children post poster lies about police. Activists claim police hunt black people. The truth is black people are safer from rare events of police killing citizens than white people. However, mainstream news promotes lies told by radical left politicians.

https://rumble.com/vfxh23-editorial-schools-endorsing-racism-as-activism.html

===

I have a special announcement on the show today. I also discuss the things liberals are doing that are actively destroying America, and I ask the question, “are they trying to burn the country down?”

News Picks:

An excellent piece that describes the dangers of “critical race theory.”
Bill Maher absolutely shreds the dopey ideas of the modern liberal.
Are NYPD officers rushing to retire amid the anti-cop climate?
Twitter and the “fact-checkers” are super busy cleaning up the Stacey Abrams’ mess in Georgia.
The Wall Street Journal article regarding the proposed capital gains tax disaster, which I discussed in the show today.
Crime is exploding in NY City and liberal leaders are ignoring it.
Florida and Texas continue to outperform the lockdown states on COVID.

=== Bongino Headlines ===

Poll Finds Biden Failing Horribly at Uniting Country

AG Garland Announces Investigation Into Louisville Police

House Republicans Call for ATF to Investigate Hunter Biden for Allegedly Falsifying Info During Background Check to Obtain Gun

Psaki Clueless When Asked About Detained Migrant Kids Being Given Kamala’s Book to Read

Ratings Fall 50% as Woke Oscars Put Everyone to Sleep

States That Voted for Biden to Lose 3 Net House Seats Due to 2020 Census

Capitol Hill
Doug Collins Rules Out Running for Public Office in 2022
Kamala to Skip Southern Border on Immigration Trip to Central America
Bodycam Footage Released of Michigan Dem State Rep. Threatening to Call Governor During DUI Arrest
Texas Dem Blasts Biden’s “Honor System” Migrant Policy
Kamala to Speak to Mexico’s President – About Tree Planting Program for Central American Countries
Biden Will Deliver His First Speech to Congress in a Near-Empty House Chamber
Not All Senate Dems are Backing Student Loan Debt “Cancellation”
Maxine Waters Complains About Chauvin Trial Judge Criticizing Her
Growing Number of Black Leaders Embrace Voter ID as Left Claims It’s “Racist”
Ilhan Omar Wants to Create New Federal Board to Investigate Alleged Police Misconduct

Culture War
Hundreds of Simon & Shuster Employees Demand Publisher Stops Working With Trump Administration Authors
“Fake B.S” – UFC’s Dana White Shreds Media
Americans Will Need a Vaccine Passport to Travel to Europe This Year
CNN’s Anderson Cooper Ducks Questions About Project Veritas Videos
DeSantis Derangement Syndrome Continues to Rise
Former U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team Member Claims Not Letting Men Compete in Women’s Sports “Upholds White Supremacy”
Polish Pastor Who Kicked Out “COVID Police” in Viral Video Visited Again – Kicks Them Out Again
Third-Largest Christian Denomination in U.S. Faces Possible Schism Over Issue of Homosexuality
The “Woke on Steroids” Oscars Were One Big Yawn
Is Aaron Rupar the World’s Most Dishonest “Journalist”?

Economy
Germany’s Latest Lockdown Rules Could Last Until June
Metals Prices Are on the Rise
CEO Pay “Stratospheric” Despite Pandemic
77% of Global Cryptocurrency Trading Volume Handled by Three Exchanges
Sen. Hawley Proposes $12k Tax Credit for Married Parents With Kids Younger Than 13
Illinois: 122,258 Public Employees Earn $100,000+ Costing Taxpayers $15.8 Billion
Restaurants Struggle to Find Workers as Unemployment Benefits Outlast Lockdowns
Disneyland to Reopen This Week at 25% Capacity
Joe Manchin Praises GOP Infrastructure Proposal
UK Cyber Spy Chief Warns China Could Rule World’s Technology

Swamp Watch
Will Facebook’s War Against Conservatives Crush The Babylon Bee?
The Deep State Targets Matt Gaetz
Walls Were Erected Outside the Academy Awards to Protect the Hollywood Elite
Leaked Audio Reveals John Kerry Told Iran’s Foreign Minister About Covert Israeli Operations
How Did Kamala’s Book End Up in the Hands of Unaccompanied Minors in California?
Progressives Blame Tucker Carlson and Trump for Declining Popularity of Sports
The Pentagon Is Sitting on 4% of All Internet Domains
USAID Spends Millions on Remedial Education Abroad as U.S. Students Fall Behind

=== Newsmax Headlines ===

S&P 500, Nasdaq Close at Record Highs Ahead of Tech Earnings Wave

Biden Presidency
Rep. Ronny Jackson: VP Harris' Immigration 'Rebuild' Claims 'Pathetic'
Ken Paxton to Newsmax TV: Border Crisis ‘Created the Very First Day’ of Biden’s Term
GOP: If We Win Back House, We'll Restart Border Wall Construction
Biden To Feed 34M Schoolchildren Through Food Program
Rep. Brady: Biden's Capital Tax Gains Tax Hike a Major 'Blunder'
New TIPP Tracking Poll Finds US Deeply Divided
House Dems Urge Biden to Expand Medicare in Economic Plan

Newsfront
Wokeism Killing America's Interest
Sunday's Oscars bombed big time. In delayed fast national results released by Nielsen, the 93rd Academy Awards were watched by 9.85 million...... [Full Story]

Related Stories
China Censors History-Making Chloe Zhao's Oscars Success
'Nomadland' Director Chloé Zhao Makes History With Best Director Win
===
Craig Kelly to introduce anti-Facebook legislation after profile permanently deleted

MP Craig Kelly has revealed his next steps after being permanently banned from Facebook.

Craig Kelly has accused Facebook of “slander and smear” and has vowed to introduce anti-Facebook legislation in parliament after the social media giant removed his profile.

The member for Hughes, who joined the crossbench in February, was permanently removed from the platform on Monday for “repeated” spreading of misinformation about COVID-19.

He had previously been temporarily suspended and had multiple posts removed.

Facebook said in a statement on Monday that they didn’t allow anyone, “including elected officials, to share misinformation about COVID-19 that could lead to imminent physical harm or (misinformation about) COVID-19 vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts”.

“We have clear policies against this type of content and have removed Mr Kelly’s Facebook page for repeated violations of this policy,” a Facebook spokesperson said.

Speaking to 2GB’s Ben Fordham on Tuesday morning, the Hughes MP – who said he received a text from someone high up in the company to let him know he was being deplatformed – said it was the “electronic version of book burning”.

“They simply don’t like what I say,” Mr Kelly said.

“My page unashamedly promotes very conservative values, and Facebook obviously don’t like that … They refuse to even say the exact reason or to point out what I allegedly said.”

Mr Kelly said he averaged one million interactions each month, in what he believes is “probably the highest among federal politicians”.

“Facebook are a foreign entity … but they act as though they’re above the law. That’s completely unacceptable,” Mr Kelly said.

“Here you’ve got a group that wants to silence an elected Australian official. It’s completely unacceptable that we have such censorship in our society.”

Mr Kelly said he would move to introduce legislation similar to that of US states Florida and Texas, which seeks to “put a reign on Facebook”.

“You cannot have a group with market dominance censoring political opinions in the country,” he said.

“Someone has got to stand up to these bullies and thugs.

“Everyone should be outraged that a foreign entity can do this.”

===

Here is a video I made I Am

John Clare (13 July 1793 -- 20 May 1864) was an English poet, born the son of a farm labourer who came to be known for his celebratory representations of the English countryside and his lamentation of its disruption. His poetry underwent a major re-evaluation in the late 20th century and he is often now considered to be among the most important 19th-century poets . His biographer Jonathan Bate states that Clare was "the greatest labouring-class poet that England has ever produced. No one has ever written more powerfully of nature, of a rural childhood, and of the alienated and unstable self"

I am—yet what I am none cares or knows;

My friends forsake me like a memory lost:

I am the self-consumer of my woes—

They rise and vanish in oblivious host,

Like shadows in love’s frenzied stifled throes

And yet I am, and live—like vapours tossed

Into the nothingness of scorn and noise,

Into the living sea of waking dreams,

Where there is neither sense of life or joys,

But the vast shipwreck of my life’s esteems;

Even the dearest that I loved the best

Are strange—nay, rather, stranger than the rest.

I long for scenes where man hath never trod

A place where woman never smiled or wept

There to abide with my Creator, God,

And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept,

Untroubling and untroubled where I lie

The grass below—above the vaulted sky.

https://rumble.com/vbkahh-i-am-john-clare-poem-read-by-oddball.html

=== From 2018 ===

Don't give up on hope. A year ago today, Senator Jane Hume wrote to the managing director of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation following a reprehensible comment made by Yassmin Abdel-Magied. Yassmin unreservedly apologised. This year, she escalated her comment. Yassmin's apology was a lie. And the ABC's excuse for repeating and escalating the issue? The ABC act without license, without measure and without reason.

ZT notes the Greens want to see a business case before moving the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta. The Greens also want to debt borrow for a universal basic income. Where is their business model for that? Roseanne has joined with Kanye and Donald with Dragon stuff. Where are my dragons?

Promising the world, several articles suggest solutions to water pollution with plastic bags. Water ways need to be maintained. The issue of landfill is raised, and it is separate. There is sufficient room on earth for landfill. If the ideas addressing plastic are profitable they should be done. Worldwide, 19 rivers are responsible for 95% of plastic contamination of the ocean. None are in Australia. Proper maintenance of those rivers would solve the problem far better than the solutions offered.

=== from 2017 ===

IPA Review April 2017 has an article on Growing Freedom by Matthew Lesh, a research fellow at IPA. Young people want hope and opportunity and are willing to work to earn it. Many young people are engaged in growing a business. IPA have surveyed young people and found 60% are interested in starting their own business. 58% are positive about Australia's future and 39% think capitalism is better than socialism. The survey results must be depressing for socialist teachers who have put a lot of effort into promoting fads that promote social progressive ideals. Selfish baby boomers messed up a lot, but not this generation of 'y's. It is a little disturbing to think that 61% do not think capitalism is better than socialism. Maybe they think "It is all the same"? Being poor is not fun.

Some things should not happen, but they do. Yassmin Abdel-Magied tweeted on Anzac day the words "Lest we forget" and appended to them illegal migrants and UN endorsed terrorists. Many are upset. Yasmin has been lauded since she was 16 for similar reasons as Chelsea Clinton. She seems to want to drown economic migrants, and promote the myth of Palestine. She clearly does not understand the issues, but she is member to several government advisory bodies on important issues. She should not be there. Some say she should not be on the ABC. I don't watch the ABC because they don't have conservative views, and don't canvass them. I hope Yasmin has a long and prosperous life. I don't intend that I pay for it.

=== from 2016 ===

Dai Le, journalist, politician, founder of DAWN, and Yung Ngo, fellow refugee, have written a good article on the issue of identity for Asian peoples in Australia. Many of us have the ancestry, but parliament does not have similar representation. On a shallow level, that may be a good thing. Penny Wong was the worst fiscal administrator this nation has known. But one doubts she was incompetent for her race or for being a woman, or for being gay. She was incompetent because she needed to be, to hide ALP corruption. ALP are the party the press turns to, to represent minorities. They do a very bad job, but are very good at taking minorities for granted. After all, who else is there? In the US the Democrats are the go to body to exploit black peoples. And they are rewarded with 90% of the black vote. Australia doesn't need parties to exploit minorities. But she does need all of her communities to put their best people forward to serve. Good people like Dai and Yung.

For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.

=== from 2015 ===

"Jacques de Caylus, Louis de Maugiron and Jean d'Arcès (representing the party of the King) engaged in a mock battle with Charles de Balzac, Ribérac, and Georges de Schomberg (representing the party of the Guises). Maugiron and Schomberg were killed in the fighting, Ribérac died of wounds the following noon, d'Arcès was wounded in the head and convalesced in a hospital for six weeks, while Caylus sustained as many as 19 wounds and died after 33 days of agony. Only Balzac got off with a mere scratch on his arm.
This meaningless loss of life impressed itself on the public imagination. Jean Passerat wrote an elegy, Plaintes de Cléophon, on the occasion. In the political treatise Le Theatre de France (1580) the duel was invoked as "the day of the pigs" who "killed each other in the precinct of Saint Paul, serving him in the Muscovite manner".^[6] Michel Montaigne decried the event as "an image de cowardice", and Pierre Brantôme connected it with the deplorable spread of the Italian and Gascon manners at Henry's court. The incident accelerated the estrangement between the two Henrys."

From 2014

I am bent. I have a purpose in my life and my path has not been straight or level. Even so, I serve as well as I can, and I have faith that by relying on the strong, true, indomitable truth, I will be straightened in my purpose and achievement. But no individual is perfect, and today we are reminded that we are not disposable, even though we are bent. But the memory of Holocaust is more than the bent being disposed of. The innocent were chosen too. Chosen because of their race, and religion. The holocaust was a political decision, bullying those who could not defend themselves. The tragedy for the Jews was that many had contributed to those states that persecuted them. They are a proud people, proud of their achievements, their history. In their pride, they became a target for those who sought to control a majority through division, aligning the purpose of the average person with survival by stepping on those who were despised.

It is wrong to bully the weak. Good leadership that builds involves building the whole community, creating a cohesiveness. There is an order. Young people respect older ones. Police, teachers, doctors are respected for their service, not their pay. Critical thinking is important, but so is recognition of cultural assets. The death of an elder statesman is not as sad as the death of a child, but their legacy is broader, and it becomes an opportunity to celebrate their life. Alternatively, we embrace bullying. We divide into the weak and strong, and dispose of those that are not straight. And we chop .. but there is no end to division .. and we continue to chop. And each time we lop off the weak, we also become .. weaker. While some point to Germany and ask what they might have achieved had they not persecuted the Jews, the truth is the path of division follows that direction. And note, both the US and Britain were divided too, the US imprisoning Japanese Americans and Britain locking down whole communities. Churchill famously remarked that if we weren't fighting for art funding, what were we fighting for?

Remember the holocaust. When division rules, we are diminished.

Historical perspective on this day

In 33 BC, Lucius Marcius Philippus, step-brother to the future emperor Augustus, celebrated a triumph for his victories while serving as governor in one of the provinces of Hispania. 395, Emperor Arcadius married Aelia Eudoxia, daughter of the Frankish general Flavius Bauto. She became one of the more powerful Roman empresses of Late Antiquity. 629, Shahrbaraz was crowned as king of the Sasanian Empire. 711, Islamic conquest of Hispania: Moorish troops led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad landed at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus).

In 1296, First War of Scottish Independence: John Balliol's Scottish army was defeated by an English army commanded by John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey at the Battle of Dunbar. 1509, Pope Julius II placed the Italian state of Venice under interdict. 1521, Battle of Mactan: Explorer Ferdinand Magellan was killed by natives in the Philippines led by chief Lapu-Lapu. 1522, combined forces of Spain and the Papal States defeated a French and Venetian army at the Battle of Bicocca. 1539, re-founding of the city of Bogotá, New Granada (now Colombia), by Nikolaus Federmann and Sebastián de Belalcázar. 1565, Cebu was established becoming the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines. 1578, Duel of the Mignons claimed the lives of two favourites of Henry III of France and two favourites of Henry I, Duke of Guise. 1595, the relics of Saint Sava were incinerated in Belgrade by the Ottomans, where today the largest Orthodox church building in the world stands 1650, the Battle of Carbisdale: A Royalist army from Orkney invaded mainland Scotland but was defeated by a Covenanter army. 1667, the blind and impoverished John Milton sold the copyright of Paradise Lost for £10.

In 1749, first performance of George Frideric Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks in Green Park, London. 1777, American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Ridgefield: A British invasion force engaged and defeated Continental Army regulars and militia irregulars at Ridgefield, Connecticut. 1805, First Barbary War: United States Marines and Berbers attacked the Tripolitan city of Derna (The "shores of Tripoli" part of the Marines' hymn). 1810, Beethovencomposed Für Elise. 1813, War of 1812: American troops captured the capital of Upper Canada in the Battle of York (present day Toronto, Canada). 1840, foundation stone for new Palace of Westminster, London, was laid by wife of Sir Charles Barry. 1861, American President Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus. 1865, the New York State Senate created Cornell University as the state's land grant institution. Also 1865, the steamboat Sultana, carrying 2,400 passengers, exploded and sank in the Mississippi River, killing 1,800, most of whom were Union survivors of the Andersonville and Cahaba Prisons.

In 1904, the Australian Labor Party became the first such party to gain national government, under Chris Watson. 1909, Sultan of Ottoman Empire Abdul Hamid II was overthrown, and was succeeded by his brother, Mehmed V. 1911, following the resignation and death of William P. Frye, a compromise was reached to rotate the office of President pro tempore of the United States Senate. 1914, Honduras became a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty. 1927, Carabineros de Chile (Chilean national police force and gendarmery) were created. 1936, the United Auto Workers (UAW) gained autonomy from the American Federation of Labor.

In 1941, World War II: German troops entered Athens. Also 1941, World War II: The Communist Party of Slovenia, the Slovene Christian Socialists, the left-wing Slovene Sokols (also known as "National Democrats") and a group of progressive intellectuals established the Liberation Front of the Slovenian People. 1945, World War II: German troops were finally expelled from Finnish Lapland. Also 1945, World War II: Benito Mussolini was arrested by Italian partisans in Dongo, while attempting escape disguised as a German soldier.

In 1950, Apartheid: In South Africa, the Group Areas Act was passed formally segregating races. 1953, Operation Moolah offers $50,000 to any pilot who defected with a fully mission-capable Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 to South Korea. The first pilot was to receive $100,000. 1960, Togo gained independence from French-administered UN trusteeship. 1961, Sierra Leone was granted its independence from the United Kingdom, with Milton Margai as the first Prime Minister. 1967, Expo 67 officially opened in Montreal, Canada with a large opening ceremony broadcast around the world. It opened to the public the next day. 1974, ten thousand march in Washington, D.C., called for the impeachment of U.S. President Richard Nixon 1977, twenty-eight people were killed in the Guatemala City air disaster. 1978, former United States President Nixon aide John D. Ehrlichman was released from an Arizona prison after serving 18 months for Watergate-related crimes.

In 1981, Xerox PARC introduced the computer mouse. 1986, the City of Prypiat as well as the surrounding areas were evacuated due to Chernobyl Disaster 1987, the U.S. Department of Justice barred Austrian President Kurt Waldheim from entering the United States, saying he had aided in the deportation and execution of thousands of Jews and others as a German Army officer during World War II. 1989, the April 27 Demonstration, a student-led protest responding to the April 26 Editorial, during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. 1992, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, comprising Serbia and Montenegro, was proclaimed. Also 1992, Betty Boothroyd became the first woman to be elected Speaker of the British House of Commons in its 700-year history. Also 1992, the Russian Federation and 12 other former Soviet republics became members of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. 1993, all members of the Zambia national football team lost their lives in a plane crash off Libreville, Gabon en route to Dakar, Senegal to play a 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifying matchagainst Senegal. 1994, South African general election, 1994: The first democratic general election in South Africa, in which black citizens could vote. The Interim Constitution came into force. 1996, the 1996 Lebanon war ended.

In 2002, the last successful telemetry from the NASA space probe Pioneer 10. 2005, the superjumbo jet aircraft Airbus A380 made its first flight from Toulouse, France. 2006, Construction began on the Freedom Tower for the new World Trade Center in New York City. 2007, Estonian authorities removed the Bronze Soldier, a Soviet Red Army war memorial in Tallinn, amid political controversy with Russia. 2011, the April 25–28, 2011 tornado outbreakdevastated parts of the Southeastern United States, especially the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Tennessee. 205 tornadoes touched down on April 27 alone, killing more than 300 and injuring hundreds more. 2012, at least four explosions hit the Ukrainiancity of Dnipropetrovsk with at least 27 people injured. 2014, popes John XXIII and John Paul II are declared saints in the first papal canonization since 1954. Also 2014, a tornado outbreak over much of the eastern United States killed more than 45 people.

=== Bible Reading ===

Today's reading: 2 Samuel 23-24, Luke 19:1-27 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: 2 Samuel 23-24

David's Last Words

¹ These are the last words of David:

"The inspired utterance of David son of Jesse,
the utterance of the man exalted by the Most High,
the man anointed by the God of Jacob,
the hero of Israel's songs:

² "The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me;
his word was on my tongue.
³ The God of Israel spoke,
the Rock of Israel said to me:
'When one rules over people in righteousness,
when he rules in the fear of God,
⁴ he is like the light of morning at sunrise
on a cloudless morning,
like the brightness after rain
that brings grass from the earth.'

...read the rest on Bible Gateway

Today's New Testament reading: Luke 19:1-27

Zacchaeus the Tax Collector

¹ Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. ² A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. ³ He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. ⁴So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

⁵ When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." ⁶ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

⁷ All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a sinner."

⁸ But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."

⁹ Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost...."

...read the rest on Bible Gateway

=== Morning and Evening ===

Morning

"This do in remembrance of me."
1 Corinthians 11:24

It seems then, that Christians may forget Christ! There could be no need for this loving exhortation, if there were not a fearful supposition that our memories might prove treacherous. Nor is this a bare supposition: it is, alas! too well confirmed in our experience, not as a possibility, but as a lamentable fact. It appears almost impossible that those who have been redeemed by the blood of the dying Lamb, and loved with an everlasting love by the eternal Son of God, should forget that gracious Saviour; but, if startling to the ear, it is, alas! too apparent to the eye to allow us to deny the crime. Forget him who never forgot us! Forget him who poured his blood forth for our sins! Forget him who loved us even to the death! Can it be possible? Yes, it is not only possible, but conscience confesses that it is too sadly a fault with all of us, that we suffer him to be as a wayfaring man tarrying but for a night. He whom we should make the abiding tenant of our memories is but a visitor therein. The cross where one would think that memory would linger, and unmindfulness would be an unknown intruder, is desecrated by the feet of forgetfulness. Does not your conscience say that this is true? Do you not find yourselves forgetful of Jesus? Some creature steals away your heart, and you are unmindful of him upon whom your affection ought to be set. Some earthly business engrosses your attention when you should fix your eye steadily upon the cross. It is the incessant turmoil of the world, the constant attraction of earthly things which takes away the soul from Christ. While memory too well preserves a poisonous weed, it suffereth the rose of Sharon to wither. Let us charge ourselves to bind a heavenly forget-me-not about our hearts for Jesus our Beloved, and, whatever else we let slip, let us hold fast to him.

Evening

"Blessed is he that watcheth."
Revelation 16:15

"We die daily," said the apostle. This was the life of the early Christians; they went everywhere with their lives in their hands. We are not in this day called to pass through the same fearful persecutions: if we were, the Lord would give us grace to bear the test; but the tests of Christian life, at the present moment, though outwardly not so terrible, are yet more likely to overcome us than even those of the fiery age. We have to bear the sneer of the world--that is little; its blandishments, its soft words, its oily speeches, its fawning, its hypocrisy, are far worse. Our danger is lest we grow rich and become proud, lest we give ourselves up to the fashions of this present evil world, and lose our faith. Or if wealth be not the trial, worldly care is quite as mischievous. If we cannot be torn in pieces by the roaring lion, if we may be hugged to death by the bear, the devil little cares which it is, so long as he destroys our love to Christ, and our confidence in him. I fear me that the Christian church is far more likely to lose her integrity in these soft and silken days than in those rougher times. We must be awake now, for we traverse the enchanted ground, and are most likely to fall asleep to our own undoing, unless our faith in Jesus be a reality, and our love to Jesus a vehement flame. Many in these days of easy profession are likely to prove tares, and not wheat; hypocrites with fair masks on their faces, but not the true-born children of the living God. Christian, do not think that these are times in which you can dispense with watchfulness or with holy ardour; you need these things more than ever, and may God the eternal Spirit display his omnipotence in you, that you may be able to say, in all these softer things, as well as in the rougher, "We are more than conquerors through him that loved us."

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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.

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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)

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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

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Other Stuff

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I'm now on MAGAbook to sidestep FB censorship

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

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I'm looking for former students to endorse me