Tuesday, April 06, 2021

Tue 6th April 2021 Current Affairs

Editorial for Easter Sunday

Miracles happen, unexpected, during times of great evil. And some miracles are underpinned by ordinary things. Jesus' resurrection was no ordinary thing. His killing was unwarranted, but carried out by the complicit world. Yet that very terrible, evil act, was the basis of God's victory over the Devil. 

In a more modern context, great evil has been perpetrated on the US peoples with the 2020 election fraud. A complicit technocracy has facilitated worse to come. NYY's manager, Boon, has praised MLB for moving their all star game from Georgia as Georgia moved to protect voting rights for their constituents, so voter fraud like 2020 does not happen again. Thank you Mr Boon, we know where you stand on freedom and racism. Former President, Trump, has called for there to be a ban on MLB from MAGA supporters. I will watch and follow, but contribute nothing to MLB. Just as I despised the NYY team I follow last year when their star player, Judge, proudly announced he would take the knee in support of racism. NYY finished the year on their knees. 

In Hollywood attacks on conservatives predate the invention of motion pictures. STAN, the streaming business in Australia, has two series worth comparing, Blue Bloods and City on a Hill. Blue Bloods harks back to the Giuliani years where a police force was effective and committed. The Reagan family and their nightly dinners show decent people fighting the good fight. City on a Hill is a name with religious overtones, suggestive of the light USA shines around the world to maintain freedom. It is narrated around the so called Boston Miracle where authorities limited young kids from killing each other with guns. 0.03% of people usually account for over half of all crime. The New York experience suggests only GOP will reduce crime. City on a Hill begins with race baiting and lying about what police are like, and how responsible adults behave. In their world, it is a free thinker that despises God, and has a hard bitten attitude to sex, drugs and crime. STAN, in Australia has shadow banned the clean cut Blue Bloods and promoted City on a Hill. 

But, now for the ordinary miracle. Some will get upset and Ban MLB, or STAN. The majority of States will implement improvements to voting regulation. Disenchantment with Dem politics and antics will see GOP crush them in '22 and reverse the damage done. Hidden by the fraud, is the observation that those who supported Trump in '20, but not '16, some twelve million voters, were traditional Democrat supporters who liked Trump policy. Democrat support base is imploding, held up only by fraud where, were every voter who supported them to hold up two hands, they would not reach 82 million. 
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Every American needs to hear this message from a prominent sports star about the race baiting going on in the country. In this episode, I discuss the explosive video and I shred liberal misinformation about the Georgia voting law. I also address the latest media attack on a prominent GOP Governor.

News Picks:

=== Bongino Headlines ===
Clarence Thomas Makes Case for Regulating Facebook, Twitter, and Google as Utilities

Border Towns Struggle to Afford Biden Border Crisis

U.S. Daily Coronavirus Deaths Drop to Lowest Point in a Year

Teens Accused of Killing DC Uber Eats Driver Get Plea Deal

Matt Gaetz Says the Swamp Is Trying to “Drown Him” in False Charges

Russia’s Growing Nuclear Arsenal Threatens America Under Biden

Capitol Hill
Sen. Manchin Voices Opposition to Biden Infrastructure Bill
New York Likely to Hike Taxes on Top Earners to Highest in Nation
Capitol Police Officer Wounded by “Nation of Islam” Attacker Released From Hospital
Buttigieg Says Biden Wants to Act on Infrastructure Plan Before Memorial Day
Chris Christie: Biden “Lying to the American People” About Georgia Voting Law
Energy Secretary Doesn’t Deny Biden’s Tax Hikes Will “Hit the Middle Class Hard”
Sen. Barrasso Says He Was Forced to Delete Photos of Biden’s Kids in Cages
Trump Endorses Lin Wood’s Opponent for South Carolina GOP Chairman
GOP Looks to Expose Biden’s Tax Shelter Hypocrisy
Sen. Blunt Bluntly Calls for Biden to Slash Infrastructure Plan Spending to $615 Billion
John Kerry Says Biden’s Climate Plan “Not a Counter to China”

Culture War
Texas Gov. Abbott Refuses to Throw First Pitch Over MLB’s Opposition to GA Voting Law
Portland High School Worried Evergreen Tree Mascot Could Symbolize Lynching
Glenn Greenwald the Victim of Violent Robbery in Brazil
Liberal Writer Attempts to Argue That Biden Is Being Too Tough on Illegal Immigration
Lunatic PBS Reporter Yamiche Alcindor: Georgia Law and Chauvin Trial “Definitely Connected”
After a Full Year of Calling Trump Racist for Saying “China Virus,” MSNBC Refers to “Indian Coronavirus Variant”
Charles Barkley Says Politicians Stoke Racial Division to “Keep Grasp of Money and Power”
YouTube Is Playing Defense for Joe Biden
Apology Mania Sweeps the Nation
Sen. Warnock Criticized Over Bizarre Heretical Easter Tweet He Eventually Deleted

Economy
“Because It’s the Right Thing to Do”: Biden’s Economic Adviser Supports Corporate Tax Increases
“Meme Stock” Mania Fizzles
Archegos Created Wealth at Record Pace Before Epic Collapse
Georgia County Stands to Lose Big League After MLB Relocates All-Star Game
Leisure and Hospitality Sector Led March Job Growth
Tax Credits in the American Rescue Plan: What to Know
Saudi Arabia Hikes Oil Prices for Key Asia Market
Biden Will Push Through Infrastructure Plan Without GOP Support
The Economic Week Ahead
Why Some May Never Get Their $1,400 Stimulus Check

Swamp Watch
Georgia GOP Tells Coke to Get Their Products Out of Their Statehouse
Megyn Kelly Rips Hunter Biden Over CBS Interview: Showed “Every Single Classic Indicator of Deception”
Media Declares the Capitol Hill Attacker, Nation of Islam Follower “Delusional”
Ray Kelly, Former NYPD Commissioner, Says Mayor de Blasio Has “Destroyed” NYC
Biden Adviser Cecila Rouse Says MLBs Georgia Boycott “Undoubtedly Going to Be a Cost” to Stadium Workers
60 Minutes Runs Bogus Hit Piece on Florida Gov. DeSantis
Hunter Tries to Cast Doubt on Claim he Dropped Off Laptop at Delaware Repair Shop – After Saying It “Could Be” His Last Week
Hunter Biden Says He Smoked Parmesan Cheese Thinking It Was Crack
Rod Rosenstein Defends Mueller Special Counsel but Reserves Judgement on Origins of Crossfire Hurricane
HHS Review Board Never Scrutinized U.S. Grant to Wuhan Lab
=== Newsmax Headlines ===

Georgia County to Lose $100M in Tourism After Losing All-Star Game
Jobs Creators Network CEO Alfredo Ortiz criticized the move by Major League Baseball officials on Monday's "Fox & Friends," saying the economic benefit of the game was an "opportunity" for small businesses in the area, especially those owned by minorities, to generate much-needed revenue for an already strained city economy. [Full Story]
Related Stories

Texas Gov. Abbott Won't Hurl Rangers' First Pitch. Here's Why.
MLB Moving All-Star Game, Draft Out of Ga. Amid Outcry Over Voting Law
Rep. Gohmert, Fallon to Newsmax TV: MLB, Corporations Intervention in Georgia Voting Law 'Woke Fascism'
Sen. Rubio Rips MLB Commissioner in Letter Urging Action on China

Biden Presidency
US Asks Russia to Explain 'Provocations' on Ukraine Border
Biden Says Higher Corporate Taxes Won't Harm US Economy
Gun Control Advocates Push Biden for More Action
DHS Watchdog Finds Mistreatment at Border
Sen. Kennedy: 'Would Do Old Man Backflips' For Infrastructure Cooperation
GOP, Democrats Battle Over Infrastructure Plan
Soros Group Pledges $20M to Boost Biden Plan
Yellen Says Global Minimum Tax Needed

Newsfront
Sen. Warnock Deletes Easter Tweet Amid Cries of 'Heresy'
Sen. Raphael Warnock, an ordained minister, deleted an Easter Sunday tweet that drew accusations of heresy. Warnock, D-Ga., used his Twitter account to claim Easter transcended the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and that...... [Full Story]
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Here is a video I made Dusk

Dusk was Dennis's last poem, and the only one not written in Australian vernacular.

Now is the healing, quiet hour that fills
   This gay, green world with peace and grateful rest.
Where lately over opalescent hills
   The blood of slain Day reddened all the west,
   Now comes at Night's behest,
A glow that over all the forest spills,
As with the gold of promised daffodils.
   Of all hours this is best.

It is time for thoughts of holy things,
   Of half-forgotten friends and one's own folk.
O'er all, the garden-scented sweetness clings
   To mingle with the wood fire's drifting smoke.
   A bull-frog's startled croak
Sounds from the gully where the last bird sings
His laggard vesper hymn, with folded wings;
   And night spreads forth her cloak.

Keeping their vigil where the great range yearns,
   Like rigid sentries stand the wise old gums.
On blundering wings a night-moth wheels and turns
   And lumbers on, mingling its drowsy hums
   With that far roll of drums,
Where the swift creek goes tumbling amidst the ferns...
Now, as the first star in the zenith burns,
   The dear, soft darkness comes.
"Den"
The Herald 11 December 1931, p6
Note:
This poem was originally published in the Herald under the title "In a Forest Garden". There are a couple of changes from the original which read:
Verse 1 line 8 - "As with the gold of vanished daffodils."
Verse 3 line 2 - "Like rigid sentries stand the giant gums."
Verse 3 line 8 - "The kind, soft darkness comes."
https://rumble.com/vbgx0z-dusk-read-by-oddball.html

=== From 2018 ===
Don't give up on hope. Awful argument and outrage accompany good decision making and sometimes it confuses decision makers into making mistakes. Has Tony Abbott miss stated figures about South African farmers murdered for being white? Is it the case that none were? If only one was, can we agree that that is too many? Or with the wall separating Mexico and the US, how many illegal crossings are acceptable? Outrageous memes quoting 'historic low number of crossings' are absurd when more can be done to make it safer for all. Today I posted a meme from Occupy Democrats Logic which had three frames from the infamous Dr Peterson interview, only the superimposed conversation follows the interview format but is related to a more recent event "The shooting was committed by a Vegan woman in a gun free building in the state with the nations strictest gun laws" "So you are saying the NRA did this?" And that glare. KM correctly called me out. "This is just click-bait, and beneath your dignity mate. Absolutely nothing to do with this 'interview'" But, the meme is from Occupy Democrats Logic and it follows observed argument currently taking place. It is that outrageous. 

A hundred Trillion dollars is planned to be removed from the world's poorest to pay for AGW extravagance over the next 80 years. After taking money away from the poorest and middle income earners, those  activists will claim an extravagant welfare bill is needed to help those in poverty. The dignity argument is a knife cutting both ways. It is not dignified to stand down when I see wrong being committed. A monstrous wrong is being committed and that meme captures it. Just not in the way KM sees. 
=== from 2017 ===
Some things should not happen, but they do. Tony Nutt walking from the campaign director's position for the Liberal Party opens the doors for others. I'll assume that Turnbull and Bishop are no longer a threat to the party and a sensible leader is in charge, like Tony Abbott. One possible director is Mark Neeham, who led the NSW Liberals to a strong victory in 2011 after 16 years in opposition. The NSW ALP have still not reformed or recovered. The Liberals will need expertise from overseas too, ala Brexit and Trump. Cameron's campaign against Brexit was awful, but Nigel Farage might have some useful tips. Alas, it is a dream for me. The shrinking pool of bed wetters keep Turnbull in place, and mutter darkly about what will happen should reason see Turnbull dumped. ALP's Bill Shorten has been dog whistling his followers with insane rhetoric which hurts Australia. That will change coming into election and Shorten will claim to be a new man, and appeal to the centre. And the ALP will probably claim they can do what they have blocked to date, so as to responsibly cut spending. That is what Rudd did to get rid of Howard and Costello while Turnbull undermined them. It is what Hawk did to roll Fraser, who was a lot like Turnbull. Libs don't just need a good campaign director, they need effective policies they stand behind and candidates who the public believes will stand for what they say. 
=== from 2016 ===
Miranda Devine championed Turnbull's undermining of Mr Abbott and now dismisses Mr Abbott's support for the Liberals. Is it personal between her and Abbott? Devine's credentials as a conservative commentator are established. Greater than those reputed to the Telegraph's former editor David Penberthy who championed the Liberals until just before the 2007 NSW state election, then changed his mind, campaigned for the ALP in the federal election too and married an ALP Minister who just happened to be female (can never be certain with ALP). Penberthy's marriage has been approved by the state, and is acceptable to religious institutions, even extremist Islamic ones, but his ALP bias had been under wraps during election when people trusting his word had a right to know. Devine has given no explanation for her apparent venom, drawing a false dichotomy for those disturbed by Turnbull's incompetence and Shorten's apparent corruption. 

For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility. 
=== from 2015 ===
ABC investigates a brutal rape and murder on a bus in India. The killers, including a complicit bus driver, are sentenced to hang. It is appalling, but sheds no new light on the issue of domestic violence in Australia. The rape is an example of a misogyny. Even now, the bus driver uses words which exonerates him from everything but the crime. He says she should not have been on his bus at night without her family. When an ALP member was flagged for historical domestic abuse recently he did not justify it, but denied it. His problem is that he hadn't declared his past to the ALP and had gone to election without his party knowing of it. He should not be in parliament because he has not taken due diligence. And the ALP needs to demonstrate why it shouldn't be fined by the electoral commission for the failure to properly vet a candidate. How many ALP candidates or members have similar issues? The people of Queensland have been lied to. Meanwhile, the ABC will have a laser like focus on India. Imagine if that focus moved north to Pakistan or West to the Middle East? 

Augusto Pinochet of Chile was a right wing leader who overthrew a corrupt socialist government led by Allende. His government killed and tortured enemies, many of whom had come to Chile to fight or propagandise domestic issues. What he did is no less reprehensible than what Allende had done, or any of many left wing administrations in South America. So it is upsetting when BBC in a sub plot have a slimy Chilean diplomat claim he had been a simple trade unionist who was targeted by Pinochet. The program has come to its' last season. Hopefully that won't be the standard. Maybe they can guest star Jeremy Clarkson? The abysmal and partisan BBC are little different to the ABC. The example set for other networks is low. But one interesting point not challenged. Where in the world is there an example of a trades unionist who was ever anything other than a parasite? They shouldn't be allowed on a bus without their family. 
From 2014
Almost anything can be used as a reason for an action, almost anything can be used as a reason for a response. But not every reason is a good one. It is all very well to admire reason. It certainly beats the alternative. But not everything that is logical follows. On this day in 1327, a poet saw a beautiful woman. She was married. He was a Catholic Priest. But he loved her virtuously. He loved her virtue for twenty one years. Then she died (of natural causes, not pestered to death) and the poet loved her memory. Laura was probably the ancestor of the Marquis De Sade, but I doubt he was the result of this love. The poet Francesco Petrarca, is now known as the first humanist. He initiated the renaissance with his art and inquiry, and named the times of lost learning the Dark Ages. And so the spark of inquiry which brought forward Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Shakespeare, Moliere, Michaelangelo, Leonardo, Louis XIV and Anne Boleyn began with a priest falling in love with an unattainable, beautiful woman. 

But a day with such a spark has other enduring flames. The artist Rafael was born on this day in 1483, and died on this day in 1520. English King Richard I forgave the boy who shot him on this day (1199), shortly before dying from resultant blood poisoning. He gave his killer some coins and sent him on his way. Christian charity. What followed diminished the generous act of that king. Jealous courtiers tracked down the boy, and took the coins. And flayed him alive, until he died. And everyone had their reason. For mine, a terrible shot against reason happened on this day in 1994. An aircraft was shot down in Rwanda, killing a Rwandan President and a Burundian President. The black box recorder could have exonerated Tootsis from blame, but Kofi Annan misplaced it in his office for a decade, and the result was genocide, and promotion for Kofi to UN Secretary General.
Historical perspective on this day
In 46 BC, Julius Caesar defeated Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) in the battle of Thapsus. 402, Stilicho stymied the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia. 1199, King Richard I of England died from an infection following the removal of an arrow from his shoulder. 1250, Seventh Crusade: Ayyubids of Egypt captured King Louis IX of France in the Battle of Fariskur. 1320, the Scots reaffirmed their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath. 1327, the poet Petrarch first saw his idealised love, Laura, in the church of Saint Clare in Avignon. 1385, John, Master of the Order of Aviz, was made king John I of Portugal. 1453, Mehmed II began his siege of Constantinople (Istanbul), which fell on May 29.

In 1580, one of the largest earthquakes recorded in the history of England, Flanders, or Northern France, took place. 1652, at the Cape of Good Hope, Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeckestablished a resupply camp that eventually became Cape Town. 1667, an earthquakedevastated Dubrovnik, then an independent city-state. 1712, the New York Slave Revolt of 1712 began near Broadway. 1776, American Revolutionary War: Ships of the Continental Navy failed in their attempt to capture a Royal Navy dispatch boat. 1782, King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (Rama I) of Siam (modern day Thailand) founded the Chakri dynasty. 1793, during the French Revolution, the Committee of Public Safety became the executive organ of the republic.

In 1808, John Jacob Astor incorporated the American Fur Company, that would eventually make him America's first millionaire. 1812, British forces under the command of the Duke of Wellington assaulted the fortress of Badajoz. This would be the turning point in the Peninsular War against Napoleon-led France. 1814, nominal beginning of the Bourbon Restoration; anniversary date that Napoleon abdicated and was exiled to Elba. 1830, Church of Christ, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement, was organised by Joseph Smith and others at Fayette or Manchester, New York. 1841, U.S. President John Tyler was sworn in, two days after having become President upon William Henry Harrison's death.

In 1860, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, later renamed Community of Christ, was organised by Joseph Smith III and others at Amboy, Illinois. 1861, first performance of Arthur Sullivan's debut success, his suite of incidental music for The Tempest, leading to a career that included the famous Gilbert and Sullivan operas. 1862, American Civil War: The Battle of Shiloh began: In Tennessee, forces under UnionGeneral Ulysses S. Grant met Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston. 1865, American Civil War: The Battle of Sailor's Creek: Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia fought and lost its last major battle while in retreat from Richmond, Virginia during the Appomattox Campaign. 1866, the Grand Army of the Republic, an American patriotic organisation composed of Union veterans of the American Civil War, was founded. It lasts until 1956. 1869, Celluloid was patented. 1888, Thomas Green Clemsondied, bequeathing his estate to the State of South Carolina to establish Clemson Agricultural College. 1893, Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was dedicated by Wilford Woodruff. 1895, Oscar Wilde was arrested in the Cadogan Hotel, London after losing a libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry. 1896, in Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games was celebrated, 1,500 years after the original games were banned by Roman emperor Theodosius I.

In 1909, Robert Peary and Matthew Henson reached the North Pole. 1911, during the Battle of Deçiq, Dedë Gjon Luli Dedvukaj, leader of the Malësori Albanians, raised the Albanian flag in the town of Tuzi, Montenegro, for the first time after George Kastrioti (Skanderbeg). 1917, World War I: The United States declared war on Germany (see President Woodrow Wilson's address to Congress). 1919, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi ordered a general strike. 1923, the first Prefects Board in Southeast Asia was formed in Victoria Institution, Malaysia. 1924, First round-the-world flight commenced. 1926, Varney Airlines made its first commercial flight (Varney is the root company of United Airlines). 1929, Huey P. Long, Governor of Louisiana, was impeached by the Louisiana House of Representatives. 1930, Gandhi raised a lump of mud and salt and declared, "With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire," beginning the Salt Satyagraha. 1936, Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak: Another tornado from the same storm system as the Tupelo tornado hit Gainesville, Georgia, killing 203.

In 1941, World War II: Nazi Germany launched Operation 25 (the invasion of Kingdom of Yugoslavia) and Operation Marita (the invasion of Greece). 1945, World War II: Sarajevo was liberated from German and Croatian forces by the Yugoslav Partisans. Also 1945, World War II: The Battle of Slater's Knoll on Bougainville came to an end. 1947, the first Tony Awards were presented for theatrical achievement. 1957, Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis bought the Hellenic National Airlines (TAE) and founded Olympic Airlines. 1962, Leonard Bernstein caused controversy with his remarks from the podium during a New York Philharmonic concert featuring Glenn Gould performing Brahms' First Piano Concerto. 1965, launch of Early Bird, the first communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit. Also 1965, the British Government announced the cancellation of the TSR-2 aircraft project. 1968, in Richmond, Indiana's downtown district, a double explosion killed 41 and injured 150. Also 1968, Pierre Elliot Trudeau won the Liberal Leadership Election, and became Prime Minister of Canada soon after.

In 1970, Newhall massacre: Four California Highway Patrol officers were killed in a shootout. 1972, Vietnam War: Easter Offensive: American forces began sustained air strikes and naval bombardments. 1973, launch of Pioneer 11 spacecraft. Also 1973, the American League of Major League Baseball began using the designated hitter. 1974, the Swedish pop band ABBAwon the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Waterloo", launching their international career. 1979, Student protests broke out in Nepal. 1982, Estonian Communist Party bureau declared "fight against bourgeois TV"—meaning Finnish TV—a top priority of the propagandists of Estonian SSR 1984, members of Cameroon's Republican Guard unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow the government headed by Paul Biya. 1994, the Rwandan Genocide began when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down. 1998, Pakistantested medium-range missiles capable of reaching India. Also 1998, Travelers Groupannounced an agreement to undertake the $76 billion merger between Travelers and Citicorp, and the merger was completed on October 8, of that year, forming Citibank.

In 2004, Rolandas Paksas became the first president of Lithuania to be peacefully removed from office by impeachment. 2005, Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani becomes Iraqi president; Shiite Arab Ibrahim al-Jaafari was named premier the next day. 2008, the 2008 Egyptian general strike started led by Egyptian workers later to be adopted by April 6 Youth Movementand Egyptian activists. 2009, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck near L'Aquila, Italy, killing 307. 2010, Maoist rebels killed 76 CRPF officers in Dantewada district, India. 2011, in San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico, over 193 bodies were exhumed from several mass gravesmade by Los Zetas. 2012, Azawad declared itself independent from the Republic of Mali.

=== Bible Reading ===

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Today's reading: 1 Samuel 1-3, Luke 8:26-56 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: 1 Samuel 1-3

The Birth of Samuel
1 There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.
3 Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the LORD Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the LORD. 4Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb.6Because the LORD had closed Hannah's womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 7 This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. 8 Her husband Elkanah would say to her, "Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don't you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?"

Today's New Testament reading: Luke 8:26-56

Jesus Restores a Demon-Possessed Man
26 They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. 27 When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don't torture me!" 29 For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.
30 Jesus asked him, "What is your name?"
"Legion," he replied, because many demons had gone into him. 31 And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss....

=== Morning and Evening ===


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Morning

"On him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus."
Luke 23:26
We see in Simon's carrying the cross a picture of the work of the Church throughout all generations; she is the cross-bearer after Jesus. Mark then, Christian, Jesus does not suffer so as to exclude your suffering. He bears a cross, not that you may escape it, but that you may endure it. Christ exempts you from sin, but not from sorrow. Remember that, and expect to suffer.
But let us comfort ourselves with this thought, that in our case, as in Simon's, it is not our cross, but Christ's cross which we carry. When you are molested for your piety; when your religion brings the trial of cruel mockings upon you, then remember it is not your cross, it is Christ's cross; and how delightful is it to carry the cross of our Lord Jesus!
You carry the cross after him. You have blessed company; your path is marked with the footprints of your Lord. The mark of his blood-red shoulder is upon that heavy burden. 'Tis his cross, and he goes before you as a shepherd goes before his sheep. Take up your cross daily, and follow him.
Do not forget, also, that you bear this cross in partnership. It is the opinion of some that Simon only carried one end of the cross, and not the whole of it. That is very possible; Christ may have carried the heavier part, against the transverse beam, and Simon may have borne the lighter end. Certainly it is so with you; you do but carry the light end of the cross, Christ bore the heavier end.
And remember, though Simon had to bear the cross for a very little while, it gave him lasting honour. Even so the cross we carry is only for a little while at most, and then we shall receive the crown, the glory. Surely we should love the cross, and, instead of shrinking from it, count it very dear, when it works out for us "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

Evening

"Before honour is humility."
Proverbs 15:33
Humiliation of soul always brings a positive blessing with it. If we empty our hearts of self, God will fill them with his love. He who desires close communion with Christ should remember the word of the Lord, "To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word." Stoop if you would climb to heaven. Do we not say of Jesus, "He descended that he might ascend?" So must you. You must grow downwards, that you may grow upwards; for the sweetest fellowship with heaven is to be had by humble souls, and by them alone. God will deny no blessing to a thoroughly humbled spirit. "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," with all its riches and treasures. The whole exchequer of God shall be made over by deed of gift to the soul which is humble enough to be able to receive it without growing proud because of it. God blesses us all up to the full measure and extremity of what it is safe for him to do. If you do not get a blessing, it is because it is not safe for you to have one. If our heavenly Father were to let your unhumbled spirit win a victory in his holy war, you would pilfer the crown for yourself, and meeting with a fresh enemy you would fall a victim; so that you are kept low for your own safety. When a man is sincerely humble, and never ventures to touch so much as a grain of the praise, there is scarcely any limit to what God will do for him. Humility makes us ready to be blessed by the God of all grace, and fits us to deal efficiently with our fellow men. True humility is a flower which will adorn any garden. This is a sauce with which you may season every dish of life, and you will find an improvement in every case. Whether it be prayer or praise, whether it be work or suffering, the genuine salt of humility cannot be used in excess.

=== Bible Quote ===

BQuote

“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” - 2 Corinthians 5:14-15
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A problem with academia is the promise of the sure result, is not matched with the truth, that every result must be continuously defended. And ancient Greece was the home of academia. Paul went to Corinth and shared his life as a Christian. And Paul returned. Frustrated. Hurt. Explaining again and again what he had meant as Corinthians split hairs.
But the result is a pure distillation of Paul’s message.
This chapter begins with Paul admitting we will die, our body will fail us. But in his ministry of reconciliation, we have Christ who died for us, and paid our ransom so that Death no longer has us prisoner.

=== 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)

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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

===

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

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

=== 

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