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Free Speech is a serious issue according to ever 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:
Not forgetting that the largest single-day terrorist attacks in history were committed by this nation & their allies in Hiroshima & Nagasaki
— Scott McIntyre (@mcintinhos) April 25, 2015
Innocent children, on the way to school, murdered. Their shadows seared into the concrete of Hiroshima. pic.twitter.com/DQOGXiKxEb
— Scott McIntyre (@mcintinhos) April 25, 2015
Remembering the summary execution, widespread rape and theft committed by these ‘brave’ Anzacs in Egypt, Palestine and Japan.
— Scott McIntyre (@mcintinhos) April 25, 2015
The cultification of an imperialist invasion of a foreign nation that Australia had no quarrel with is against all ideals of modern society.
— Scott McIntyre (@mcintinhos) April 25, 2015
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.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.
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."
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.
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 perspectives on this day
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, Beethoven composed 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 match against 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 outbreak devastated 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 Ukrainian city 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.
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This column welcomes feedback and criticism. The column is not made up but based on the days events and articles which are then placed in the feed. So they may not have an apparent cohesion they would have had were they made up.
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Editorials will appear in the "History in a Year by the Conservative Voice" series, starting with August https://www.createspace.com/4124406, September https://www.createspace.com/5106914, October https://www.createspace.com/5106951, 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 the purchase of a kindle version for just $3.99 more.
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For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to remedy my distress. I leave it up to him if he chooses to address the issue. Regardless of your opinion of conservative government, the issue is pressing. Please sign my petition at https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/tony-abbott-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball
Or the US President at
https://www.change.org/p/barack-obama-change-this-injustice#
or
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/change-injustice-faced-david-daniel-ball-after-he-reported-bungled-pedophile-investigation-and/b8mxPWtJ or http://wh.gov/ilXYR
Mr Ball, I will not sign your petition as it will do no good, but I will share your message and ask as many of friends who read it, to share it also. Let us see if we cannot use the power of the internet to spread the word of these infamous killings. As a father and a former soldier, I cannot, could not, justify ignoring this appalling action by the perpetrators, whoever they may; I thank you Douglas. You are wrong about the petition. Signing it is as worthless and meaningless an act as voting. A stand up guy would know that. - ed
Lorraine Allen Hider I signed the petition ages ago David, with pleasure, nobody knows what it's like until they've been there. Keep heart David take care.
I have begun a bulletin board (http://theconservativevoice.freeforums.net) which will allow greater latitude for members to post and interact. It is not subject to FB policy and so greater range is allowed in posts. Also there are private members rooms in which nothing is censored, except abuse. All welcome, registration is free.
For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to remedy my distress. I leave it up to him if he chooses to address the issue. Regardless of your opinion of conservative government, the issue is pressing. Please sign my petition at https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/tony-abbott-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball
Or the US President at
https://www.change.org/p/barack-obama-change-this-injustice#
or
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/change-injustice-faced-david-daniel-ball-after-he-reported-bungled-pedophile-investigation-and/b8mxPWtJ or http://wh.gov/ilXYR
Mr Ball, I will not sign your petition as it will do no good, but I will share your message and ask as many of friends who read it, to share it also. Let us see if we cannot use the power of the internet to spread the word of these infamous killings. As a father and a former soldier, I cannot, could not, justify ignoring this appalling action by the perpetrators, whoever they may; I thank you Douglas. You are wrong about the petition. Signing it is as worthless and meaningless an act as voting. A stand up guy would know that. - ed
Lorraine Allen Hider I signed the petition ages ago David, with pleasure, nobody knows what it's like until they've been there. Keep heart David take care.
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Happy birthday and many happy returns Janet Diane, Sang Ngo and Guy Buchanan. Born on the same day, across the years. The same date when in 1810 Beethoven composed "Für Elise" aka "Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor." A day of beauty. Thank you.
- 1650 – Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1714)
- 1737 – Edward Gibbon, English historian and politician (d. 1794)
- 1755 – Marc-Antoine Parseval, French mathematician (d. 1836)
- 1759 – Mary Wollstonecraft, English author and philosopher (d. 1797)
- 1791 – Samuel Morse, American painter and inventor, co-invented the Morse code (d. 1872)
- 1822 – Ulysses S. Grant, American general and politician, 18th President of the United States (d. 1885)
- 1904 – Cecil Day-Lewis, Irish-English poet and author (d. 1972)
- 1913 – Irving Adler, American mathematician, scientist, and author (d. 2012)
- 1922 – Martin Gray, Polish-French holocaust survivor and author
- 1922 – Jack Klugman, American actor (d. 2012)
- 1932 – Casey Kasem, American radio host and voice actor, co-created American Top 40
- 1942 – Ruth Glick, American author
- 1942 – Jim Keltner, American drummer (Traveling Wilburys, Plastic Ono Band, and Delaney & Bonnie and Friends)
- 1944 – Cuba Gooding, Sr., American singer and actor (The Main Ingredient)
- 1947 – Ann Peebles, American singer-songwriter
- 1959 – Sheena Easton, Scottish singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
- 1963 – Russell T Davies, Welsh screenwriter and producer
- 1986 – Jenna-Louise Coleman, English actress
- 1994 – Elmo Magalona, Filipino actor and singer
Deaths
- 630 – Ardashir III of Persia (b. 621)
- 1272 – Zita, Italian saint (b. 1212)
- 1404 – Philip the Bold, French son of John II of France (b. 1342)
- 1521 – Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese explorer (b. 1480)
- 1882 – Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet (b. 1803)
- 1896 – Henry Parkes, English-Australian politician, 7th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1815)
- 1965 – Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (b. 1908)
April 27: King's Day in the Netherlands
- 395 – Aelia Eudoxia married Byzantine emperor Arcadius without the knowledge or consent of Rufinus, the Praetorian prefect who had intended for his own daughter to wed the emperor.
- 1810 – Ludwig van Beethoven composed his "Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor", better known as "Für Elise" (audio featured), one of his most popular compositions.
- 1865 – An explosion destroyed the steamboat Sultana on the Mississippi River, killing an estimated 1,800 of the 2,400 passengers.
- 1911 – Following the resignation of William P. Frye, a compromise was reached in the United States Senateto rotate the office of the President pro tempore of the United States Senate.
- 2005 – The Airbus A380, the largest passenger airliner in the world, made its maiden flight from Toulouse, France.
You got them! Enjoy the Pho. Never trust a Sultana. Frye resigned. Get on the Airbus. Let's party.
Matches
- 33 BC – Lucius Marcius Philippus, step-brother to the future emperor Augustus, celebrates a triumph for his victories while serving as governor in one of the provinces of Hispania.
- 395 – Emperor Arcadius marries Aelia Eudoxia, daughter of the Frankish general Flavius Bauto. She becomes one of the more powerful Roman empresses of Late Antiquity.
- 629 – Shahrbaraz is crowned as king of the Sasanian Empire.
- 711 – Islamic conquest of Hispania: Moorish troops led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad land at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus).
- 1296 – First War of Scottish Independence: John Balliol's Scottish army is defeated by an English army commanded by John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey at the Battle of Dunbar.
- 1509 – Pope Julius II places the Italian state of Venice under interdict.
- 1521 – Battle of Mactan: Explorer Ferdinand Magellan is killed by natives in the Philippines led by chief Lapu-Lapu.
- 1522 – Combined forces of Spain and the Papal States defeat 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 is established becoming the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines.
- 1578 – Duel of the Mignons claims the lives of two favourites of Henry III of France and two favorites of Henry I, Duke of Guise.
- 1595 – The relics of Saint Sava are 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 invades mainland Scotland but is defeated by a Covenanter army.
- 1667 – The blind and impoverished John Milton sells the copyright of Paradise Lost for £10.
- 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 engages and defeats Continental Armyregulars and militia irregulars at Ridgefield, Connecticut.
- 1805 – First Barbary War: United States Marines and Berbers attack the Tripolitan city of Derna (The "shores of Tripoli" part of the Marines' hymn).
- 1810 – Beethoven composes Für Elise.
- 1813 – War of 1812: American troops capture the capital of Upper Canada in the Battle of York (present day Toronto, Canada).
- 1840 – Foundation stone for new Palace of Westminster, London, is laid by wife of Sir Charles Barry.
- 1861 – American President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus.
- 1865 – The New York State Senate creates Cornell University as the state's land grant institution.
- 1865 – The steamboat Sultana, carrying 2,400 passengers, explodes and sinks in the Mississippi River, killing 1,800, most of whom are Union survivors of the Andersonville and Cahaba Prisons.
- 1904 – The Australian Labor Party becomes the first such party to gain national government, under Chris Watson.
- 1909 – Sultan of Ottoman Empire Abdul Hamid II is overthrown, and is succeeded by his brother, Mehmed V.
- 1911 – Following the resignation and death of William P. Frye, a compromise is reached to rotate the office of President pro tempore of the United States Senate.
- 1914 – Honduras becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
- 1927 – Carabineros de Chile (Chilean national police force and gendarmery) are created.
- 1936 – The United Auto Workers (UAW) gains autonomy from the American Federation of Labor.
- 1941 – World War II: German troops enter Athens.
- 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 establish the Liberation Front of the Slovenian People.
- 1945 – World War II: German troops are finally expelled from Finnish Lapland.
- 1945 – World War II: Benito Mussolini is arrested by Italian partisans in Dongo, while attempting escape disguised as a German soldier.
- 1950 – Apartheid: In South Africa, the Group Areas Act is 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 gains independence from French-administered UN trusteeship.
- 1961 – Sierra Leone is granted its independence from the United Kingdom, with Milton Margai as the first Prime Minister.
- 1967 – Expo 67 officially opens in Montreal, Canada with a large opening ceremony broadcast around the world. It opens to the public the next day.
- 1974 – Ten thousand march in Washington, D.C., calling for the impeachment of U.S. President Richard Nixon
- 1977 – Twenty-eight people are killed in the Guatemala City air disaster.
- 1978 – Former United States President Nixon aide John D. Ehrlichman is released from an Arizona prison after serving 18 months for Watergate-related crimes.
- 1981 – Xerox PARC introduces the computer mouse.
- 1986 – The City of Prypiat as well as the surrounding areas are evacuated due to Chernobyl Disaster
- 1987 – The U.S. Department of Justice bars 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, is proclaimed.
- 1992 – Betty Boothroyd becomes the first woman to be elected Speaker of the British House of Commons in its 700-year history.
- 1992 – The Russian Federation and 12 other former Soviet republics become members of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
- 1993 – All members of the Zambia national football team lose their lives in a plane crash off Libreville, Gabon en route to Dakar, Senegal to play a 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Senegal.
- 1994 – South African general election, 1994: The first democratic general election in South Africa, in which black citizens could vote. The Interim Constitution comes into force.
- 1996 – The 1996 Lebanon war ends.
- 2002 – The last successful telemetry from the NASA space probe Pioneer 10.
- 2005 – The superjumbo jet aircraft Airbus A380 makes its first flight from Toulouse, France.
- 2006 – Construction begins on the Freedom Tower for the new World Trade Center in New York City.
- 2007 – Estonian authorities remove the Bronze Soldier, a Soviet Red Army war memorial in Tallinn, amid political controversy with Russia.
- 2011 – The April 25–28, 2011 tornado outbreak devastates 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 Ukrainian city 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.
- 2014 – A tornado outbreak over much of the eastern United States kills more than 45 people.
Hatches
- 1650 – Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1714)
- 1701 – Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (d. 1773)
- 1718 – Thomas Lewis, Irish-American surveyor and lawyer (d. 1790)
- 1737 – Edward Gibbon, English historian and politician (d. 1794)
- 1748 – Adamantios Korais, Greek scholar (d. 1833)
- 1755 – Marc-Antoine Parseval, French mathematician (d. 1836)
- 1759 – Mary Wollstonecraft, English author and philosopher (d. 1797)
- 1791 – Samuel Morse, American painter and inventor, co-invented the Morse code (d. 1872)
- 1806 – Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies (d. 1878)
- 1812 – William W. Snow, American politician (d. 1886)
- 1812 – Friedrich von Flotow, German composer (d. 1883)
- 1820 – Herbert Spencer, English biologist, anthropologist, sociologist, and philosopher (d. 1903)
- 1822 – Ulysses S. Grant, American general and politician, 18th President of the United States (d. 1885)
- 1840 – Edward Whymper, English mountaineer (d. 1911)
- 1848 – Otto of Bavaria (d. 1916)
- 1850 – Hans Hartwig von Beseler, German general (d. 1921)
- 1853 – Jules Lemaître, French playwright and critic (d. 1914)
- 1857 – Theodor Kittelsen, Norwegian painter (d. 1914)
- 1862 – Rudolph Schildkraut, Turkish-American actor (d. 1930)
- 1866 – Maurice Raoul-Duval, French polo player (d. 1916)
- 1876 – Con Leahy, Irish jumper (d. 1921)
- 1878 – Frank Gotch, American wrestler (d. 1917)
- 1878 – John Rimmer, English runner (d. 1962)
- 1880 – Mihkel Lüdig, Estonian organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1958)
- 1882 – Jessie Redmon Fauset, American author and poet (d. 1961)
- 1887 – Warren Wood, American golfer (d. 1926)
- 1888 – Florence La Badie, Canadian actress (d. 1917)
- 1893 – Draža Mihailović, Serbian general (d. 1946)
- 1893 – Allen Sothoron, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1939)
- 1894 – George Petty, American painter (d. 1975)
- 1894 – Nicolas Slonimsky, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1995)
- 1896 – Rogers Hornsby, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1963)
- 1896 – William Hudson, New Zealand-Australian engineer (d. 1978)
- 1898 – Ludwig Bemelmans, Italian-American author and illustrator (d. 1962)
- 1899 – Walter Lantz, American animator, producer, screenwriter, and actor (d. 1994)
- 1900 – August Koern, Estonian politician and diplomat, Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs in exile (d. 1989)
- 1902 – Tiemoko Garan Kouyaté, Malian educator and activist (d. 1942)
- 1903 – Horace Stoneham, American businessman (d. 1990)
- 1904 – Cecil Day-Lewis, Anglo-Irish poet and author (d. 1972)
- 1904 – Nikos Zachariadis, Greek politician (d. 1973)
- 1905 – John Kuck, American javelin thrower and shot putter (d. 1986)
- 1906 – Yórgos Theotokás, Greek author (d. 1966)
- 1910 – Chiang Ching-kuo, Chinese politician, 3rd President of the Republic of China (d. 1988)
- 1911 – Bruno Beger, German anthropologist (d. 2009)
- 1911 – Chris Berger, Dutch sprinter (d. 1965)
- 1912 – Jacques de Bourbon-Busset, French author and politician (d. 2001)
- 1912 – Zohra Sehgal, Indian actress, dancer, and choreographer (d. 2014)
- 1913 – Philip Abelson, American physicist (d. 2004)
- 1913 – Irving Adler, American mathematician and author (d. 2012)
- 1913 – Luz Long, German long jumper (d. 1943)
- 1916 – Robert Hugh McWilliams, Jr., American judge (d. 2013)
- 1916 – Enos Slaughter, American baseball player (d. 2002)
- 1917 – Roman Matsov, Estonian conductor (d. 2001)
- 1918 – Sten Rudholm, Swedish lawyer and jurist (d. 2008)
- 1920 – Guido Cantelli, Italian conductor (d. 1956)
- 1920 – Mark Krasnosel'skii, Ukrainian-Russian mathematician (d. 1997)
- 1920 – James Robert Mann, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (d. 2010)
- 1920 – Edwin Morgan, Scottish poet (d. 2010)
- 1921 – Robert Dhéry, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2004)
- 1921 – John Stott, English clergyman and theologian (d. 2011)
- 1922 – Martin Gray, Polish-French Holocaust survivor and author
- 1922 – Jack Klugman, American actor (d. 2012)
- 1922 – Sheila Scott, English aviatrix (d. 1988)
- 1924 – Vernon B. Romney, American lawyer and politician, 14th Attorney General of Utah (d. 2013)
- 1925 – Derek Chinnery, English broadcaster (d. 2015)
- 1926 – Tim LaHaye, American minister and author
- 1926 – Basil Paterson, American lawyer and politician (d. 2014)
- 1926 – Alan Reynolds, English painter
- 1927 – Tato Bores, Argentinian actor (d. 1996)
- 1927 – Charlie Fonville, American shot putter (d. 1994)
- 1927 – Connie Kay, American drummer (Modern Jazz Quartet) (d. 1994)
- 1927 – Coretta Scott King, American activist and author (d. 2006)
- 1927 – Joe Moakley, American politician (d. 2001)
- 1927 – Sheila Scott, English pilot (d. 1988)
- 1929 – Nina Ponomaryova, Russian discus thrower
- 1931 – Igor Oistrakh, Ukrainian violinist
- 1932 – Anouk Aimée, French actress
- 1932 – Pik Botha, South African politician
- 1932 – Maxine Brown, American singer (The Browns)
- 1932 – Casey Kasem, American radio host, producer, and actor, co-created American Top 40 (d. 2014)
- 1932 – Derek Minter, English motorcycle racer (d. 2015)
- 1932 – Gian-Carlo Rota, Italian-American mathematician and philosopher (d. 1999)
- 1933 – Peter Imbert, Baron Imbert, English police officer and politician, Lord Lieutenant for Greater London
- 1934 – Brennan Manning, American priest and author (d. 2013)
- 1934 – Jean Valentine, American poet
- 1935 – Theodoros Angelopoulos, Greek director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
- 1935 – Ron Morris, American pole vaulter
- 1936 – Geoffrey Shovelton, English singer and illustrator
- 1937 – Sandy Dennis, American actress (d. 1992)
- 1937 – Robin Eames, Irish archbishop
- 1937 – Richard Perham, English biologist and academic
- 1938 – Earl Anthony, American bowler (d. 2001)
- 1938 – Alain Caron, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1986)
- 1939 – Judy Carne, English actress
- 1939 – Stanisław Dziwisz, Polish cardinal
- 1939 – Jerry Mercer, Canadian drummer (Mashmakhan and April Wine)
- 1941 – Jennings Michael Burch, American author (d. 2013)
- 1941 – Pat Choate, American economist
- 1941 – Lee Roy Jordan, American football player
- 1941 – Fethullah Gülen, Turkish preacher and former imam, writer
- 1942 – Ruth Glick, American author
- 1942 – Jim Keltner, American drummer (Traveling Wilburys, Plastic Ono Band, and Delaney & Bonnie and Friends)
- 1943 – Helmut Marko, Austrian race car driver
- 1944 – Stoker Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire, English academic and politician
- 1944 – Michael Fish, English meteorologist
- 1944 – Cuba Gooding, Sr., American singer and actor (The Main Ingredient)
- 1944 – Herb Pedersen, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Desert Rose Band)
- 1945 – Martin Chivers, English footballer
- 1945 – Jack Deverell, English general
- 1945 – Helen Hodgman, Australian author
- 1945 – August Wilson, American author and playwright (d. 2005)
- 1946 – Franz Roth, German footballer
- 1946 – Nicholas Serota, English curator
- 1947 – G. K. Butterfield, American soldier, lawyer, and politician
- 1947 – Pete Ham, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist (Badfinger) (d. 1975)
- 1947 – Keith Magnuson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2003)
- 1947 – Ann Peebles, American singer-songwriter
- 1948 – Frank Abagnale, American businessman
- 1948 – Amrit Kumar Bohara, Nepalese politician
- 1948 – Josef Hickersberger, Austrian footballer, coach, and manager
- 1948 – Kate Pierson, American singer-songwriter and bass player (The B-52's and NiNa)
- 1948 – Si Robertson, American soldier and hunter
- 1949 – Grant Chapman, Australian politician
- 1950 – Paul Lockyer, Australian journalist (d. 2011)
- 1951 – Ace Frehley, American guitarist and songwriter (Kiss, Wicked Lester, and Frehley's Comet)
- 1952 – Larry Elder, American talk show host
- 1952 – George Gervin, American basketball player
- 1952 – Ari Vatanen, Finnish race car driver and politician
- 1953 – Arielle Dombasle, French-American singer, actress, and director
- 1954 – Frank Bainimarama, Fijian politician, 8th Prime Minister of Fiji
- 1954 – Herman Edwards, American football player, coach, and sportscaster
- 1955 – Gudrun Berend, German hurdler (d. 2011)
- 1955 – Eric Schmidt, American engineer and businessman
- 1956 – Bryan Harvey, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (House of Freaks) (d. 2006)
- 1956 – Bridget Kendall, English journalist
- 1956 – Kevin McNally, English actor
- 1956 – Douglas P., English-Australian singer, producer, and actor (Death in June and Crisis)
- 1956 – Jeff Probyn, English rugby player
- 1957 – Willie Upshaw, American baseball player
- 1959 – Sheena Easton, Scottish-American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
- 1959 – Louis Lortie, Canadian-German pianist
- 1959 – Marco Pirroni, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Adam and the Ants, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Wolfmen, Rema Rema and Spear of Destiny)
- 1959 – Neil Pearson, English actor
- 1960 – Mike Krushelnyski, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1961 – Moana Pozzi, Italian pornographic actress, actress, television personality, model, politician and writer (d. 1994)
- 1961 – Andrew Schlafly, American lawyer and activist, founded Conservapedia
- 1962 – Ángel Comizzo, Argentinian footballer and manager
- 1962 – James LeGros, American actor
- 1962 – Choi Min-sik, South Korean actor
- 1962 – Seppo Räty, Finnish javelin thrower
- 1962 – Im Sang-soo, South Korean director and screenwriter
- 1962 – Andrew Selous, English soldier and politician
- 1963 – Russell T Davies, Welsh screenwriter and producer
- 1963 – Cali Timmins, Canadian actress
- 1964 – Michael Mahonen, Canadian actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1964 – Lisa Wilcox, American actress
- 1965 – Anna Chancellor, English actress
- 1966 – Vyacheslav Oliynyk, Ukrainian wrestler
- 1966 – Matt Reeves, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1966 – Yoshihiro Togashi, Japanese illustrator
- 1967 – Aki Avni, Israeli actor
- 1967 – Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands
- 1967 – Tommy Smith, Scottish saxophonist, composer, and educator
- 1967 – Erik Thomson, Scottish-New Zealand actor
- 1967 – Jason Whitlock, American journalist
- 1968 – Dana Milbank, American journalist
- 1969 – Cory Booker, American lawyer and politician
- 1969 – Darcey Bussell, English ballerina
- 1969 – Grahame Cheney, Australian boxer
- 1969 – Tess Daly, English model and television host
- 1969 – Vladimir Kozlov, Ukrainian-American wrestler and actor
- 1969 – Mica Paris, English singer and actress
- 1970 – Kylie Travis, English-Australian actress
- 1971 – Olari Elts, Estonian conductor
- 1971 – Shaan Shahid, Pakistani actor
- 1972 – Nigel Barker, English photographer and author
- 1972 – Almedin Civa, Bosnian footballer and coach
- 1972 – Mehmet Kurtuluş, Turkish-German actor
- 1972 – David Lascher, American actor
- 1972 – Maura West, American actress
- 1973 – Duško Adamović, Serbian footballer
- 1973 – Sharlee D'Angelo, Swedish bass player (Arch Enemy, Spiritual Beggars, King Diamond, Witchery, Sinergy, and Mercyful Fate)
- 1973 – Andre Gower, American actor
- 1973 – Sébastien Lareau, Canadian tennis player
- 1974 – Frank Catalanotto, American baseball player
- 1974 – Johnny Devine, Canadian wrestler
- 1974 – Richard Johnson, Australian footballer
- 1975 – Rabih Abdullah, American football player
- 1975 – Chris Carpenter, American baseball player
- 1975 – Pedro Feliz, Dominican baseball player
- 1976 – Isobel Campbell, Scottish singer-songwriter and cellist (Belle & Sebastian)
- 1976 – Sally Hawkins, English actress
- 1976 – Walter Pandiani, Uruguayan footballer
- 1976 – Faisal Saif, Indian director, screenwriter, and critic
- 1976 – Olaf Tufte, Norwegian rower
- 1977 – Khalid Zoubaa, French runner
- 1979 – Will Boyd, American bass player (Evanescence, American Princes, and The Visitors)
- 1979 – Natasha Chokljat, Australian netball player
- 1980 – Sybille Bammer, Austrian tennis player
- 1980 – Talitha Cummins, Australian journalist
- 1980 – Christian Lara, Ecuadorian footballer
- 1980 – Ananda Mikola, Indonesian race car driver
- 1980 – Jason Gainza, Filipino actor
- 1981 – Fabrizio Faniello, Maltese singer-songwriter
- 1981 – Joey Gathright, American baseball player
- 1981 – Patrik Gerrbrand, Swedish footballer
- 1982 – Katrina Johnson, American actress
- 1982 – François Parisien, Canadian cyclist
- 1982 – Alexander Widiker, German rugby player
- 1983 – Ari Graynor, American actress
- 1983 – Martin Viiask, Estonian basketball player
- 1984 – Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1984 – Daniel Holdsworth, Australian rugby player
- 1984 – Patrick Stump, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Fall Out Boy and Arma Angelus)
- 1985 – José António de Miranda da Silva Júnior, Brazilian footballer
- 1985 – Meselech Melkamu, Ethiopian runner
- 1986 – Jenna Coleman, English actress
- 1986 – Elena Risteska, Macedonian singer-songwriter
- 1986 – Dinara Safina, Russian tennis player
- 1987 – Taylor Chorney, American ice hockey player
- 1987 – William Moseley, English actor
- 1987 – Elliott Shriane, Australian speed skater
- 1987 – Emma Taylor-Isherwood, Canadian actress
- 1988 – Kris Thackray, English footballer
- 1988 – Semyon Varlamov, Russian ice hockey player
- 1989 – Lars Bender, German footballer
- 1989 – Sven Bender, German footballer
- 1989 – Maksym Bilyi, Ukrainian footballer (d. 2013)
- 1989 – Dmytro Kozban, Ukrainian footballer
- 1989 – Emily Rios, American actress
- 1989 – Milagros Schmoll, Argentinian model
- 1990 – Austin Dillon, American race car driver
- 1990 – Erik Keedus, Estonian basketball player
- 1990 – Martin Kelly, English footballer
- 1991 – Isaac Cuenca, Spanish footballer
- 1992 – Allison Iraheta, American singer-songwriter (Halo Circus)
- 1994 – Elmo Magalona, Filipino actor and singer
Despatches
- 630 – Ardashir III of Persia (b. 621)
- 1272 – Zita, Italian saint (b. 1212)
- 1404 – Philip the Bold, French son of John II of France (b. 1342)
- 1463 – Isidore of Kiev (b. 1385)
- 1521 – Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese explorer (b. 1480)
- 1599 – Maeda Toshiie, Japanese general (b. 1538)
- 1605 – Pope Leo XI (b. 1535)
- 1613 – Robert Abercromby, Scottish priest and missionary (b. 1532)
- 1625 – Mōri Terumoto, Japanese warrior (b. 1553)
- 1656 – Jan van Goyen, Dutch painter (b. 1596)
- 1694 – John George IV, Elector of Saxony (b. 1668)
- 1695 – John Trenchard, English politician, Chief Justice of Chester (b. 1640)
- 1702 – Jean Bart, French admiral (b. 1651)
- 1782 – William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot, English politician (b. 1710)
- 1813 – Zebulon Pike, American general and explorer (b. 1779)
- 1873 – William Macready, English actor (b. 1793)
- 1882 – Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet (b. 1803)
- 1896 – Henry Parkes, English-Australian politician, 7th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1815)
- 1915 – John Labatt, Canadian businessman (b. 1838)
- 1915 – Alexander Scriabin, Russian pianist and composer (b. 1872)
- 1919 – Anton Irv, Estonian military commander (b. 1886)
- 1932 – Hart Crane, American poet (b. 1899)
- 1936 – Karl Pearson, English mathematician and academic (b. 1857)
- 1937 – Antonio Gramsci, Italian sociologist, linguist, and politician (b. 1891)
- 1938 – Edmund Husserl, Czech mathematician and philosopher (b. 1859)
- 1952 – Guido Castelnuovo, Italian mathematician (b. 1865)
- 1961 – Roy Del Ruth, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1893)
- 1962 – A. K. Fazlul Huq, Bangladeshi-Pakistani politician, Interior Minister of Pakistan (b. 1873)
- 1965 – Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (b. 1908)
- 1967 – William Douglas Cook, New Zealand farmer, founded the Eastwoodhill Arboretum (b. 1884)
- 1969 – René Barrientos, Bolivian politician, 55th President of Bolivia (b. 1919)
- 1970 – Arthur Shields, Irish-American actor (b. 1896)
- 1972 – Kwame Nkrumah, Ghanaian politician, 1st President of Ghana (b. 1909)
- 1973 – Carlos Menditeguy, Argentinian race car driver (b. 1914)
- 1977 – Stanley Adams, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1915)
- 1977 – Scott Bradley, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1891)
- 1979 – Celal Atik, Turkish sports wrestler and trainer (b. 1918)
- 1981 – Münir Nurettin Selçuk, Turkish tenor and actor (b. 1900)
- 1988 – Fred Bear, American hunter (b. 1902)
- 1988 – David Scarboro, English actor (b. 1968)
- 1989 – Konosuke Matsushita, Japanese businessman, founded Panasonic (b. 1894)
- 1992 – Olivier Messiaen, French organist and composer (b. 1908)
- 1992 – Gerard K. O'Neill, American physicist (b. 1927)
- 1995 – Willem Frederik Hermans, Dutch author (b. 1921)
- 1996 – William Colby, American diplomat, 10th Director of Central Intelligence (b. 1920)
- 1996 – Gilles Grangier, French director and screenwriter (b. 1911)
- 1998 – John Bassett, Canadian journalist (b. 1915)
- 1998 – Carlos Castaneda, Peruvian-American author (b. 1925)
- 1998 – Anne Desclos, French journalist and author (b. 1907)
- 1998 – Browning Ross, American runner (b. 1924)
- 1999 – Al Hirt, American trumpet player and bandleader (b. 1922)
- 1999 – Dale C. Thomson, Canadian historian and educator (b. 1923)
- 2000 – Vicki Sue Robinson, American actress and singer (b. 1954)
- 2002 – George Alec Effinger, American author (b. 1947)
- 2002 – Ruth Handler, American inventor and businesswoman, created the Barbie doll (b. 1916)
- 2002 – Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, Dutch-Swiss businessman (b. 1921)
- 2005 – Red Horner, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1909)
- 2006 – Julia Thorne, American author (b. 1944)
- 2007 – Al Hunter Ashton, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1957)
- 2007 – Mstislav Rostropovich, Russian cellist and conductor (b. 1927)
- 2008 – Marios Tokas, Cypriot singer-songwriter (b. 1954)
- 2009 – Frankie Manning, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1914)
- 2009 – Feroz Khan, Indian actor, director, and producer (b. 1939)
- 2009 – Woo Seung-yeon, South Korean model and actress (b. 1983)
- 2011 – Marian Mercer, American actress and singer (b. 1935)
- 2012 – Daniel E. Boatwright, American politician (b. 1930)
- 2012 – Anatoly Lebed, Estonian-Russian colonel (b. 1963)
- 2012 – Harold Pupkewitz, Lithuanian-Namibian businessman (b. 1915)
- 2012 – Bill Skowron, American baseball player (b. 1930)
- 2013 – Aída Bortnik, Argentinian screenwriter (b. 1938)
- 2013 – Tony Byrne, Irish boxer (b. 1930)
- 2013 – Antonio Díaz Jurado, Spanish footballer (b. 1969)
- 2013 – Jérôme Louis Heldring, Dutch journalist (b. 1917)
- 2013 – Aloysius Jin Luxian, Chinese bishop (b. 1916)
- 2013 – Mutula Kilonzo, Kenyan lawyer and politician (b. 1948)
- 2014 – Yigal Arnon, Israeli lawyer, founded Yigal Arnon & Co. (b. 1929)
- 2014 – Vujadin Boškov, Serbian footballer, coach, and manager (b. 1931)
- 2014 – Daniel Colchico, American football player and coach (b. 1935)
- 2014 – Harry Firth, Australian race car driver and manager (b. 1918)
- 2014 – Andréa Parisy, French actress (b. 1935)
- 2014 – Turhan Tezol, Turkish basketball player (b. 1932)
2015
- Christian Feast Day:
- Day of the Uprising Against the Occupying Forces (Slovenia)
- Freedom Day, (South Africa)
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Sierra Leone from United Kingdom in 1961.
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Togo from France in 1960.
- King's Day (Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten) (celebrated on April 26 if April 27 falls on a Sunday)
- National War Veterans' Day (Finland)
WELL GIBSON
Tim Blair – Monday, April 27, 2015 (6:02am)
Imagine rocking up to a magazine office or television studio in your buggered old 1980s Commodore and proclaiming to all: “Behold the engineering marvel of our age! I’ve invented a car that runs entirely on water!”
Imagine then that your audience of journalists and presenters simply take your word for it rather than requesting any evidence at all. Indeed, instead of asking for a demonstration of your Commodore’s water-fuelled running ability, everybody gives you money and prizes.
This is essentially what happened to Belle Gibson, the “wellness guru” who built a substantial business on the back of claims that she had defeated or controlled her brain cancer by eating natural foods and undertaking alternative therapies.
Continue reading 'WELL GIBSON'PROTECT OUR BRAVE AUSSIE JIHADIS
Tim Blair – Monday, April 27, 2015 (5:03am)
On the ABC’s Insiders, Guardian political correspondent Katharine Murphy brings attention to a terrible errorcommitted by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop:
The Foreign Minister … seems not to have sought any special protection for any Australian citizens who are in the field fighting for ISIS.
Oh no! How simply awful! Just as well Australian Abu Yusuf is putting a taxpayer-subsidised medical degree to good use over there as part of his Medecins Sans Infideles humanitarian mission.
NO WORD FITZ
Tim Blair – Monday, April 27, 2015 (4:54am)
Failing to remember an appropriate word or phrase is a condition known as lethologica. But, appropriately, there is no word that describes the failure to invent an appropriate word or phrase.
For several days now I’ve been trying to devise a term describing the morbid dread felt by Australian males when they realise the weight and dimensions of their wrapped Christmas or Father’s Day gift exactly match those of a Peter FitzSimons book.
Continue reading 'NO WORD FITZ'FAIRFAX/ABC ORTHODOXY
Tim Blair – Monday, April 27, 2015 (4:47am)
The Sydney Morning Herald‘s Michael Koziol – who has one impressive tilt on him, plus what appears to be lipstick – offers his view on Sunday’s SBS sacking:
It doesn’t pay to question the orthodoxy in this country, as Scott McIntyre, formerly of SBS, found out the hard way this weekend.
See how long you last at the SMH if you start questioning climate change orthodoxy, sunshine. And from the ABC’s Jonathan Green:
Now we know what it is to be on the losing side of the history wars.
Does Jonathan know what it is to be on the winning side of any wars? Not likely, considering that he enters them armed only with “cultured reason”.
A CARBON TAX MAY HAVE SAVED THEM
Tim Blair – Monday, April 27, 2015 (2:18am)
The death toll in the Nepalese earthquake is now beyond 2000 – and still climbing. Others have been killed in India and Tibet. Images from the tragedy are devastating.
As happened following a previous earthquake, some are blaming climate change:
Is this from climate change or fracking or is it just a nature thing?
Not a lot of fracking going on in Kathmandu, so far as I’m aware. That fellow isn’t alone, by the way. And check the hashtags at the end of this report from a serious Indian news source:
#Climate change, #Nepal Earthquake
Bush blasts Obama for weakening the US
Andrew Bolt April 27 2015 (7:28pm)
Not surprisingly,
George W Bush agrees that Barack Obama is making a series of disastrous
mistakes that will expose the US to greater danger:
===In a closed-door meeting with Jewish Donors Saturday night, former President George W. Bush delivered his harshest public criticisms to date against his successor on foreign policy, saying that President Barack Obama is being naïve about Iran and the pending nuclear deal and losing the war against the Islamic State…
The former president, who rarely ever criticizes Obama in public, at first remarked that the idea of re-entering the political arena was something he didn’t want to do. He then proceeded to explain why Obama, in his view, was placing the U.S. in “retreat” around the world. He also said Obama was misreading Iran’s intentions while relaxing sanctions on Tehran too easily…
Bush said that Obama’s plan to lift sanctions on Iran with a promise that they could snap back in place at any time was not plausible. He also said the deal would be bad for American national security in the long term: “You think the Middle East is chaotic now? Imagine what it looks like for our grandchildren. That’s how Americans should view the deal."…
On Obama’s decision to withdraw all U.S. troops in Iraq at the end of 2011, he quoted Senator Lindsey Graham calling it a “strategic blunder.” Bush signed an agreement with the Iraqi government to withdraw those troops, but the idea had been to negotiate a new status of forces agreement to keep U.S. forces there past 2011. The Obama administration tried and failed to negotiate such an agreement…
He defended his own administration’s handling of terrorism, noting that the terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who confessed to killing Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, was captured on his watch: “Just remember the guy who slit Danny Pearl’s throat is in Gitmo, and now they’re doing it on TV.”
Obama promised to degrade and destroy Islamic State’s forces but then didn’t develop a strategy to complete the mission, Bush said. He said that if you have a military goal and you mean it, “you call in your military and say ‘What’s your plan?’ “ He indirectly touted his own decision to surge troops to Iraq in 2007, by saying, “When the plan wasn’t working in Iraq, we changed.”
“In order to be an effective president ... when you say something you have to mean it,” he said. “You gotta kill em.”
Houli allegedly vilified
Andrew Bolt April 27 2015 (7:00pm)
Appalling, if true:
When a 14-year-old girl called Adam Goodes an “ape” she was publicly identified and vilified, with her face shown around the nation. When a “prominent media identity” allegedly calls Bachar Houli a “terrorist” he is not identified.
The difference?
UPDATE
Steve Price was sitting next to the accused personality, 3AW’s John Burns, and says he heard no such comment. Burns says he does not recall making any such comment.
===RICHMOND is investigating an allegation defender Bachar Houli was racially vilified by a prominent media figure at the MCG on Friday night.UPDATE
A comment during the match, won by Melbourne, was heard by a senior Richmond staff member. The allegation is that Houli, a Muslim, was called a “terrorist”.
When a 14-year-old girl called Adam Goodes an “ape” she was publicly identified and vilified, with her face shown around the nation. When a “prominent media identity” allegedly calls Bachar Houli a “terrorist” he is not identified.
The difference?
UPDATE
Steve Price was sitting next to the accused personality, 3AW’s John Burns, and says he heard no such comment. Burns says he does not recall making any such comment.
SBS has right to distance itself from this contempt. UPDATE: more Leftists protest
Andrew Bolt April 27 2015 (5:14pm)
IF SBS sports presenter Scott McIntyre had vilified Muslims as he vilified Anzacs he’d be sacked to the Left’s cheers.
So he shouldn’t become the Left’s martyr now that SBS has sacked him for his Anzac Day tweets.
(Read full article here.)
UPDATE
Can I just explain something to members of the Left who yet again show a complete misunderstanding of the issue of free speech, particularly in relation to the Scott McIntyre issue,
We should be perfectly free under the law to speak our mind, and even to be rude, up to the point where we endanger the physical safety of our fellow citizens or destroy their livelihoods with outrageous lies.
So there should be no law against McIntyre vilifying Anzacs as rapists, murderers and war criminals. Nor is there.
But just as the law should permit Australians to say such vile things, the law should also allow other Australians to express their own opinion of those who say them. McIntyre should be legally free to speak his mind on Anzacs, and SBS should be legally free to say it finds his comments so gross that they damage the trust that audiences and taxpayers have in the SBS, making his further employment there undesirable. A media figure who vilifies Houli as a terrorist may well find their own career taking an unforeseen turn for the worse.
This is how how free speech should work, without the need for judges to determine what comments are acceptable and which must be banned or otherwise punished. Let the public decide instead. Let freedom rule.
The freedom may yet benefit McIntyre. He has supporters in the Left who find his comments not loathesome but the urgent truth. He may be quickly taken up as a hero and offered a job by, say, The Guardian. The Age or the Green Left Weekly. Free speech, free market, with many more safety nets than you’ll find when our right to speak is instead sternly policed by government.
And a quick reminder of hypocrisy. Those insisting McIntyre should not be sacked are likely the same kind of people who demand Bjorn Lomborg not be hired by the University of Western Australia, who support the ABC’s ban on conservatives hosting any of its main current affairs shows, and who supported the eviction of a 14-year-old girl who shouted “ape” at Adam Goodes at the SCG. They do in fact support the right of people and institutions to decide who to exclude or employ on the basis of their views. It’s just that in this case they don’t find McIntyre’s views that bad.
UPDATE
The media Left rallies around McIntyre, demonstrating again the vast gulf between the bulk of the media class and their public:
Michael Koziol, Sydney Morning Herald journalist:
It doesn’t pay to question the orthodoxy in this country, as Scott McIntyre, formerly of SBS, found out the hard way this weekend.Jonathan Green, ABC presenter:
Now we know what it is to be on the losing side of the history wars.Geoff Winestock, the Financial Review’s state political reporter:
I also think Anzacs were racist yobs and Anzac Day is a death cult. Sack me Fairfax.Monica Tan, The Guardian reporter:
Whoever said Australians aren’t religious? Anzackery is sacred ground and @mcintinhos has just been fired for taking a dump in the church.Monica Tan again:
The public lynching @mcintinhos is having to endure says volumes of how Anzackery has been elevated to a national religion, above reproach.Hugh Riminton, Network 10 journalist and presenter:
#ScottMcIntyre’s tweets were untimely, immature and in one case offensively wrong. But lest we forget, Our Diggers also died for free speechGreg Barns, columnist with the Hobart Mercury:
#auspol @SBS shows it is a government propaganda tool by sacking #ScottMcIntyreGreg Barns again:
#auspol we need an antidote to the appalling jingoism of Gallipoli. #ScottMcIntyre should be applauded. Being a contrarian is important.John Birmingham, Fairfax columnist:
Lucky for SBS Australia has never gone to war to defend anything like freedom of thought or speech. #scottmcintyreCatherine Deveny, former Age columnist and former ABC fill-in host:
Journalists are trained and educated to tell the truth. Regardless of any personal biases. So #ScottMcIntyre was just doing his job.Steve Dow, The Monthly writer:
Punitive intolerance of dissenting views a worrying shift. Sacking undermines national narrative of democratic freedom. #ScottMcIntyre @SBSMichael West, Fairfax journalist:
@timwilsoncomau @BarnsGreg you need to stop this lynch mobJeff Sparrow, Overland editor:
Any other military campaigns that SBS particularly backs? Does it have a line on the Somme?Nick Feik, The Monthly journalist:
What’s the SBS policy on free speech?Bernard Keane, Crikey journalist:
Love how reactionary pissants demand you leave if you think Australia’s less than perfect, then resume whining about how it’s going to hell.Martin Hirst, journalism lecturer at Deakin University:
Did you cringe at the jingoism, the unthinking patriotism and crass commercialism that now defines ANZAC day? Or did you, like the free speech fundamentalists and Abbott apologists, take time from your orgy of bloody celebration of war, to call for a young journalist to be sacked for daring to question the ANZAC myth?… The myth is that both world wars were fought to protect “our” freedoms and that without them “we” would not enjoy the lifestyle we have today. That is utter tosh and ahistorical nonsense and it also conveniently lets the warmongers off the hook. War is never about principles and morals, it is about money… War benefits the capitalists who stay behind.. There are profits to be made in the killing and in the rebuilding, which brings us to imperialism… It is a sad day for freedom of speech when telling the unpalatable truth to a nation that collectively sticks its fingers in its ears and sings the anthem to drown out critical voices causes someone to lose their job.John Pilger, far Left propagandist and conspiracy theorist:
Scott @mcintinhos, you speak for many. All power and courage to you…Ian Kirkwood, Newcastle Herald political reporter:
Sacking A DISGRACE. SBS journalist sacked for telling the truthMarcus Strom, Sydney Morning Herald deputy news director:
I think what we’ve learnt in the past 24 hours is that the property rights of an employer trump your rights to democratic expression.Marcus Strom again:
Seems some people don’t like being reminded of the brutal, genocidal, bloody legacy of racist imperialism todayFrancis Leach, ABC presenter:
So it’s confirmed. We have a singular, idealised, official narrative of Australia at war. Dangerous.Richard Aedy, ABC’s Media Report host:
I don’t believe he should have lost his job for expressing an opinion that other people find upsetting.Margaret Simons, journalist and media academic:
There is no good reason for him to lose his job over this.
Karl Quinn, Fairfax film writer:
...anyone who gives a damn about the values that our soldiers allegedly died, and continue to die, for should be outraged that he was sacked for daring to express them. This is very simply a travesty of the principle of free speech...Needless to say, I can recall a certain battle over free speech in which all those above were entirely absent - or all for suppression.
It’s not the principle that counts for them but the side.
UPDATE
In both my columns today I warn that McIntyre’s kind of hate-preaching against Anzacs and Australia’s past - a hate-preaching cheered by so many of the Left - is now not just foolish but actually dangerous. There is now an audience only too willing to hear such justifications for their own hatred of this country or their own inflamed sense of victimhood.
Hanan Dover has been a representative of many Muslim organisations and now tweets:
Dover is no jihadist - let me make that perfectly clear. But I have no doubt that those who do have jihadist sympathies will not dispute her analysis.
UPDATE
To those saying McIntyre should be free to say what he likes about Anzac Day, this response: he is free. He can say it again today and no court will fine, jail or censor him.
To those saying McIntyre should just have been counseled by SBS, this news:
“Crikey has been told that McIntyre had the opportunity to apologise and retract his tweets on Sunday morning, which he choose not to do.”(Thanks to reader M.)
Plibersek allows only a certain kind of conscience to speak
Andrew Bolt April 27 2015 (1:00pm)
It’s only a conscience vote when it suits the Left:
===ACTING opposition leader Tanya Plibersek wants Labor to force her colleagues to vote in support of legalising same-sex marriage.But Plibersek in 2013:
MS Plibersek will push the ALP’s national conference in July to impose a binding vote on its federal MPs.
She says the existing conscience vote policy should be set aside, arguing it is not an issue of life and death.
Tanya Plibersek: I’m going to reintroduce into Parliament next year, a private member’s Bill that will make it possible for same sex couples who love each other to marry. What I’d like to see is conscience vote for Liberal and National Members of Parliament. Until Liberal and National Members of Parliament are allowed a conscience vote, it’s not possible for such legislation to pass.
Hypocrite alert. Where were Scott McIntyre’s defenders when others were sacked?
Andrew Bolt April 27 2015 (11:41am)
I’ve put together a long list of journalists now attacking SBS
for having sacked presenter Scott McIntyre for a breach of contract -
for using Twitter to vilify Anzacs as rapists, murderers, war
criminals and agents of the worst terrorism.
Funny, but I don’t recall those same furious journalists protesting at the following sackings or punishments:
Hypocrites.
The defence of McIntyre, then, seems to be driven not by principle but tribalism. This is not about the principle but the side. Simply put, McIntyre’s views on our Anzacs just seem to many of his media supporters the right ones, the Left ones or ones not so bad as to merit dismissal. That’s why they fight - to defend the Left, not defend free speech.
My own opinion? As I argued in a post below, McIntyre should be legally free to say what the hell he likes about the Anzacs. SBS should be legally free to decide that his views poison its brand and his actions breach his contract.
UPDATE
For those demanding McIntyre be allowed his free speech there’s good news. He has free speech. He can repeat his tweets again and again and no one will sue him, fine him, jail him or ban his writing. Indeed, the tweets are still on his blog. So what more do his defenders want? That taxpayers be made to keep handing him cash as well?
===Funny, but I don’t recall those same furious journalists protesting at the following sackings or punishments:
- The sacking of Glenn Milne as a panelist on the ABC’s Insiders for his column on Julia Gillard’s involvement in the AWU slush fund scandal.Nor do I recall many - if any - of those journalists protesting against 18C, Labor’s proposed media council, the Labor-Greens inquiry into the “hate media”, our restrictive defamation laws, Victoria’s religious vilification laws, the prosecution of two Christian pastors for quoting and criticising Koranic verses on jihad or any of the other many other dangerous limitations on our free speech.
- The sacking of Piers Akerman as a panelist on the ABC’s Insiders for noting (correctly) that some Canberra journalists had debated the sexuality of Julia Gillard’s boyfriend (despite Akerman making clear that scuttlebutt was false and offensive).
- The sacking of Howard Sattler as 6PR host for asking Julia Gillard if her boyfriend was gay (a sacking I supported, by the way).
- The dumping of Michael Smith as 2UE host for asking Julia Gillard “unauthorised questions” about her involvement in the AWU slush fund scandal.
- The forcing out of Barry Spurr as professor of poetry at Sydney University for using terms such as “Mussies”, “Abos” and “Chinky poos” in private emails he said were jokes.
- The banning by the Federal Court of two of my columns arguing that we should identify more as individuals rather than as members of a “race”, especially when we have ancestors of multiple “races”.
Hypocrites.
The defence of McIntyre, then, seems to be driven not by principle but tribalism. This is not about the principle but the side. Simply put, McIntyre’s views on our Anzacs just seem to many of his media supporters the right ones, the Left ones or ones not so bad as to merit dismissal. That’s why they fight - to defend the Left, not defend free speech.
My own opinion? As I argued in a post below, McIntyre should be legally free to say what the hell he likes about the Anzacs. SBS should be legally free to decide that his views poison its brand and his actions breach his contract.
UPDATE
For those demanding McIntyre be allowed his free speech there’s good news. He has free speech. He can repeat his tweets again and again and no one will sue him, fine him, jail him or ban his writing. Indeed, the tweets are still on his blog. So what more do his defenders want? That taxpayers be made to keep handing him cash as well?
The public saves Anzac Day again from academics and the Left
Andrew Bolt April 27 2015 (9:51am)
ACADEMICS and historians sneered but they couldn’t stop Australians turning out on Anzac Day in massive numbers.
It wasn’t just the big Dawn Service commemorations in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane that drew record crowds.
Even in the tiniest towns, the turnouts were unprecedented. At American River on Kangaroo Island more than half the 220 inhabitants came to honour the fallen.
This Anzac Day really mattered to us.
What’s more, it showed the vastness of the gulf between the public and a cultural elite at war with our most sacred traditions.
Before Saturday we were told by many journalists, especially of the Left, that Australians were suffering “Anzac fatigue”.
The proof: we weren’t watching Anzac-themed dramas on TV.
It was assumed that because we were impatient with make-believe Anzac and alternative Anzac, we’d had it with the real Anzac, too — a mad theory that was welcomed by many academics.
“There are already signs of commemoration fatigue,” declared Professor Peter Stanley, former principal historian at the Australian War Memorial.
I suspect Stanley wasn’t upset. Last year, he flayed Anzac Day as an “essentially minority interest” that excluded “non Anglo-Saxon Australians”.
(Read full column here.)
Why are we spending $68,000 a year on every inhabitant of Roebourne?
Andrew Bolt April 27 2015 (9:35am)
That is $68,000 for
every person in just one year - and with no sign that it helps lift
anyone out of poverty or welfare dependence. And all of that money taken
from taxpayers who might have better things to do with it:
===More than $53.6 million was spent last financial year on services for about 800 Aboriginal residents of Roebourne in the Pilbara, according to a State Government report.This vast expenditure for little result cannot go on.
There were 206 services and projects delivered by more than 60 providers, some running short-term, uncoordinated programs.
The expenditure review by the Department of Premier and Cabinet, which included the provision of most general services such as police, health care, education and welfare, details a failure to improve outcomes for a community with entrenched social and health issues.
Clive Hamilton, Green zealot, lacks a mirror
Andrew Bolt April 27 2015 (9:05am)
Why are critics so unkind to Clive Hamilton, wonders Clive Hamilton:
Clive Hamilton complaining about “pompous” critics? Clive Hamilton?:
===Late last year I submitted a book proposal to a prestigious academic publisher. Last week I was sent a reader’s report on the proposal that is so vicious in tone and crushing in intent that, after recovering from the shock, I began to wonder why this kind of thing is so rife in the academic world.Clive Hamilton complaining of “gratuitous slights and insults”? Clive Hamilton, who in one sentence can manage to use four pejoratives, every one false?
I know I am not the first to experience the sting of a spiteful, pompous or dismissive review of a journal submission or book proposal; in fact quite a few young academics are so traumatised by those assaults that they soon leave universities for work cultures less malicious.
So what did he (to me the voice of the report sounds male) write? The commentary is peppered with gratuitous slights and insults – “whatever that means”, “as if these were profound insights”, “derivative of the work of others”, “hardly a claim to fame”, “he is blissfully unaware”, “posing as the ultimate insider” – before closing off with an assessment of the author notable for its sheer nastiness:
“The author seems to perform well in public talks where, in the role of pundit, he raises important questions, but tends to do so repetitively. It soon becomes apparent that he has no expertise or depth of expertise of his own. He has been a visiting scholar or consultant for most of his career, a runner up to most major prizes.”
Right-wing demagogues like Andrew Bolt and Alan Jones have taken up the denialist cause as a means of prosecuting their war against progressive trends in Australian society.Clive Hamilton complaining of criticism “so vicious in tone and crushing in intent”? Clive Hamilton, who likens global warming sceptics to genocidal Nazis?:
Instead of dishonouring the deaths of six million in the past, climate deniers risk the lives of hundreds of millions in the future. Holocaust deniers are not responsible for the Holocaust, but climate deniers, if they were to succeed, would share responsibility for the enormous suffering caused by global warming… So the answer to the question of whether climate denialism is morally worse than Holocaust denialism is no, at least, not yet.Clive Hamilton complaining about “dismissive” reviews of his writings? Clive Hamilton, who not only is dismissive but repressive of opinions contradicting his warmist own, demanding an authoritarian response?:
Very few people, even among environmentalists, have truly faced up to what the science is telling us. This is because the implications of 3C, let alone 4C or 5C, are so horrible that we look to any possible scenario to head it off, including the canvassing of “emergency” responses such as the suspension of democratic processes.Clive Hamilton complaining at being accused of having “no expertise or depth of expertise of his own” when sounding off on certain subjects? Clive Hamilton, the Greens candidate who Labor made a member of the Climate Change Authority despite being a Professor of Public Ethics with no expertise at all in global warming science or economics?
Clive Hamilton complaining about “pompous” critics? Clive Hamilton?:
How I laughed.
Labor’s super tax will actually hit the middle class, and drive some onto the pension
Andrew Bolt April 27 2015 (8:47am)
Henry Ergas on Labor
lying once again about the money it plans to raise with its new taxes -
this time a new tax on superannuation earnings:
===In this case, it’s the claim the tax, which Bowen expects to raise $9 billion in a decade, will only hit the 60,000 or so retirees with super balances greater than $1.5 million.
In reality, 70 per cent of the tax’s take is likely to come from older Australians whose super balances are below $1.5m. Indeed, accounts with balances of less than $1m would pay nearly a third of the tax, while accounts holding $2m or more would not even contribute 10 per cent of the total.
The difference between these estimates and Bowen’s is readily explained. Super accounts, like most other investments, earn incomes that vary greatly: one group of investors with small balances could have a standout year, lifting their income above the threshold, while others with much higher balances suffer large losses…
Bowen assumes that balances secure a fixed 5 per cent return each and every year, so that only accounts with $1.5m or more exceed the threshold. But that assumption is absurd.
Luckily, a model developed by Bob Scealy from Cadence Economics can be used to correct Bowen’s mistake… The results suggest that far from generating the bulk of Bowen’s $9bn, very large accounts will contribute barely a third. Moreover, as inflation both erodes the threshold in real terms and increases the nominal value of accounts, the likelihood of earnings on even quite small balances exceeding the $75,000 threshold will rise sharply…
Bowen’s proposal is therefore not a tax on the rich; rather, it is a tax on the middle class, which is already harshly treated by our retirement income system…
And other factors could make that over-estimate all the greater. In particular, taxing relatively small balances, even if it is only once or twice in a decade, causes savings to be exhausted more rapidly.
Their owners therefore qualify for the age pension sooner and for more years…
While quantifying the resulting impacts is complex, a rough estimate is that pension eligibility for initial balances in the $350,000 to $500,000 range could be 5 to 10 per cent greater under the Bowen tax than without it, with broadly similar effects for means-tested age care payments. As those increases in eligibility translate into greater public expenditure, the promised gains in net revenues will melt away. And there will be broader efficiency costs to boot.
Labor’s super tax will actually hit the middle class, and drive some onto the pension
Andrew Bolt April 27 2015 (8:47am)
Henry Ergas on Labor
lying once again about the money it plans to raise with its new taxes -
this time a new tax on superannuation earnings:
===In this case, it’s the claim the tax, which Bowen expects to raise $9 billion in a decade, will only hit the 60,000 or so retirees with super balances greater than $1.5 million.
In reality, 70 per cent of the tax’s take is likely to come from older Australians whose super balances are below $1.5m. Indeed, accounts with balances of less than $1m would pay nearly a third of the tax, while accounts holding $2m or more would not even contribute 10 per cent of the total.
The difference between these estimates and Bowen’s is readily explained. Super accounts, like most other investments, earn incomes that vary greatly: one group of investors with small balances could have a standout year, lifting their income above the threshold, while others with much higher balances suffer large losses…
Bowen assumes that balances secure a fixed 5 per cent return each and every year, so that only accounts with $1.5m or more exceed the threshold. But that assumption is absurd.
Luckily, a model developed by Bob Scealy from Cadence Economics can be used to correct Bowen’s mistake… The results suggest that far from generating the bulk of Bowen’s $9bn, very large accounts will contribute barely a third. Moreover, as inflation both erodes the threshold in real terms and increases the nominal value of accounts, the likelihood of earnings on even quite small balances exceeding the $75,000 threshold will rise sharply…
Bowen’s proposal is therefore not a tax on the rich; rather, it is a tax on the middle class, which is already harshly treated by our retirement income system…
And other factors could make that over-estimate all the greater. In particular, taxing relatively small balances, even if it is only once or twice in a decade, causes savings to be exhausted more rapidly.
Their owners therefore qualify for the age pension sooner and for more years…
While quantifying the resulting impacts is complex, a rough estimate is that pension eligibility for initial balances in the $350,000 to $500,000 range could be 5 to 10 per cent greater under the Bowen tax than without it, with broadly similar effects for means-tested age care payments. As those increases in eligibility translate into greater public expenditure, the promised gains in net revenues will melt away. And there will be broader efficiency costs to boot.
Nepal devastated
Andrew Bolt April 27 2015 (8:41am)
These climbers survived. Others at the camp didn’t, including at least one Australian, it’s reported.
The toll is terrible:
===The toll is terrible:
In the aftermath of the disaster, which has killed more than 2,400 people, injured 5,900 and left many more homeless, development workers said that continued aftershocks, a crippled transport network and the loss of power in parts of the country had made it tough to search for survivors and distribute much-needed supplies.To donate to the Red Cross appeal for Nepal, go here.
Dan Andrews: Kirner revisited
Andrew Bolt April 27 2015 (8:25am)
On April 5, I asked:
The Financial Review suggests one worrying reason for making the link:
===Is Dan Andrews the new Joan Kirner?Mark Knight, the Herald Sun’s resident genius, wonders, too:
UPDATE
The Financial Review suggests one worrying reason for making the link:
In Victoria, premier Daniel Andrews is effectively a representative of the CFMEU [Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union ], with the national and Union state branch contributing $405,350 to Mr Andrews’ campaign in 2013-14, the biggest donation to Labor in Victoria.(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
However, the activities of the CFMEU and others, combined with a lack of accountability, has prompted the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption into considering a recommendation that penalties for erring union officials be increased, to bring them into line with that of company directors, among other changes..
These changes would be welcome but Labor Party tolerance of union behaviour runs deep. Even a highly regarded Labor figure such as former Victorian premier Steve Bracks has shown little apparent concern that the industry super fund he chairs, Cbus, is partly run by an organisation with uncomfortably close links to organised crime, according to evidence presented to the royal commission...
Guardian writer demands: why won’t Julie Bishop protect our jihadis?
Andrew Bolt April 27 2015 (7:41am)
We shouldn’t be
surprised that Australians volunteering to fight for a homicidal,
racist, sexist, bigoted and simply bat-crazy terrorist group are
actually not nice people:
===Australian doctor turned Islamic State recruit Tareq Kamleh was not a “ladies’ man”, but a ”two-faced sexual predator who was completely confused about his identity”, according to those who worked with him while he was an intern at several South Australian hospitals in 2010…Charming jihadist:
Kamleh reportedly claimed to have had sex with a patient at the Mannum District Hospital and to have checked the medical records of a Royal Adelaide Hospital patient who was a former sex worker and intravenous drug user before meeting her for unprotected sex.
The Australian has been told concerns were raised with the hospital administration at Mannum, 85km east of Adelaide, but no action resulted.
On Friday, Kamleh, who grew up in Perth as part of a devout Muslim family, became the latest Australian to appear in an Islamic State propaganda video, calling himself Abu Yusuf al-Australi, cradling a newborn baby and urging Muslim medical professionals to join him in the Islamic State-run hospital in Raqqa in Syria.
Kamleh graduated from the University of Adelaide as a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery in 2010. A former colleague ... described him yesterday as a sexually manipulative “fraud”, a “sleazeball” and a “creep” who regularly drank to excess, had a strong interest in shooting, and had numerous sexual relationships...
What [Kamleh] does not list on his social media sites among photos of him surfing and hunting is a crude party trick — sneaking up behind seated women and placing his exposed penis on their shoulder.But some on the Left seem to operate on the principle that the enemy of my enemy is my friend - or at least deserving of the protection of the AbbottAbbottAbbott regime:
Known as a drinking, promiscuous party boy during his time studying medicine and practising in Adelaide he is said to have showed no remorse for such actions, including one time which left a secretary in shock during an official function to farewell overseas doctors…
“That was typical of him — impulsive, reckless, immature, absorbed with himself and with a total lack of concern about social consequences for his actions.”
Please, won’t somebody think of the jihadis? The Guardian Australia’s Katherine Murphy on what Julie Bishop failed to do in Iran, Insiders, ABC television, yesterday:
The Foreign Minister … seems not to have sought any special protection for any Australian citizens who are in the field fighting for ISIS.
Even the best writers didn't become legends overnight. Here's some advice on how to achieve greatness without getting discouraged: http://bit.ly/1Kk10Vy
Posted by Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing on Monday, 27 April 2015
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We're being a bit too literal here, but this technically doesn't add up.
Posted by Grammarly on Sunday, 26 April 2015
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The OLD PARTIES will never take global warming seriously, only the Australian Greens believe in DIRECT ACTION.
Posted by Greens taking credit for things on Sunday, 26 April 2015
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Posted by BookBrowse Books on Monday, 23 February 2015
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Posted by 101.3 The Brew on Wednesday, 8 October 2014
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"Be an example... Show kindness to unkind people. Forgive people who don't deserve it. Love unconditionally. Your...
Posted by SimpleReminders.com on Friday, 24 April 2015
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California sunset
Posted by Matt Granz on Sunday, 26 April 2015
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Heron at feeding time
Posted by Matt Granz on Sunday, 26 April 2015
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The California Coastline
Posted by Matt Granz on Sunday, 26 April 2015
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Human Rights commissioner schools a human rights lawyer on freedom of speech. Excellent. Of course the usual suspects...
Posted by Miss Judgement - Rita Panahi on Sunday, 26 April 2015
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"..we may reasonably hope that the mosquito-theory of malaria may some day prove to be as useful to..." http://t.co/MttO5zCneH
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 27, 2015
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Photoset: ri-science: staceythinx: NASA designed these travel posters for newly discovered planets and has... http://t.co/LkwJl9MCdZ
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 27, 2015
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This is how Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan have asked to spend their last days before execution http://t.co/TsTGKbmTuh
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 27, 2015
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Dogs (and Cats) Can Love http://t.co/bab4kYlvBr
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 27, 2015
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Happy Achievement Day .. Walker celebrates Earth Day by firing 57 environmental agency employees http://t.co/L3LXacrOZr via @motherjones
— David Daniel Ball (@DaOddBall67) April 27, 2015
===
I love all the selective free speech advocates who choose the ex-sbs idiot to make a stand.
Bet they were silent when BOLT went to court.
— Paul Murray (@PMOnAir) April 27, 2015
=== Posts from last year ===
Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) begins in the evening of Sunday, 27 April 2014, and ends in the evening of Monday, 28 April 2014How tragically pathetic were those who weren't Jew who participated in the bullying? Not solely Nazis, or Germans, or Italians or Japanese. How pathetic was the British King, Roosevelt and the British government for not intervening sooner, more decisively. They all had been approached. They all knew what was happening. And it is contemptible when they fail to acknowledge it. - ed
===
It’s time to get tough if Australia is to survive and prosper in the future
Piers Akerman – Saturday, April 26, 2014 (11:31pm)
TREASURER Joe Hockey has embarked on the annual pre-Budget scare campaign, warning of dire consequences if steps aren’t taken to rein in government spending.
Continue reading 'It’s time to get tough if Australia is to survive and prosper in the future'Kate has put class back into sexy
Miranda Devine – Saturday, April 26, 2014 (11:30pm)
IN this era of butt selfies and slut walks, Kate Middleton, aka the Duchess of Cambridge, is a revolutionary.
Continue reading 'Kate has put class back into sexy'DON’T STOP THINKING ABOUT YOUR PENSION
Tim Blair – Sunday, April 27, 2014 (2:35am)
Democrats made a big deal about Republican candidate John McCain’s age during the 2008 presidential campaign:
McCain’s age is no joke. He will turn 72 on Friday and would be halfway to 73 if elected and sworn in on January 20. That would make him the oldest first-term President ever, two years older than Ronald Reagan …The United States cannot afford the risk that McCain would die suddenly in the middle of an international crisis.
Just a theory, but age might be an issue avoided by Democrats during the 2016 campaign:
Clinton will be 69 years old on inauguration day 2017, nearly the oldest president ever. She has had a few health scares. By all accounts, she left her previous four-year stint in government service exhausted. She might not run, and the Democrat in second place in the polls, Vice President Joe Biden — 74 on inauguration day — is too old to be president. Beyond them, Democrats have nobody — except Elizabeth Warren … She will be 67 on Inauguration Day 2017. (Has any party ever fielded a group as old as Clinton, Biden and Warren?)
Look for “experience” to be a theme. By the way, McCain is now 77 and still functioning as a senator.
IS DON, IS DOOMED
Tim Blair – Sunday, April 27, 2014 (2:21am)
It’s rare that a team kicks the first six goals of a match but still manages to lose. Then again, Essendon is no ordinary team. They’re an extremely ordinary team:
ABC DONKEY SQUAD
Tim Blair – Saturday, April 26, 2014 (4:07pm)
Tens of thousands of Australians marked yesterday’s Anzac Day commemoration with solemn attendance at dawn services and street marches.
The ABC’s taxpayer-funded fact-checking unit, however, marked the day by attempting to debunk what it described as “five common Anzac Day myths”.
Continue reading 'ABC DONKEY SQUAD'The Bolt Report today
Andrew Bolt April 27 2014 (6:09am)
On Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm today.
Bill Shorten’s real problem.
Labor immigration spokesman Richard Marles on budgets, boats and more.
Our hot-shot panel - Peter Costello and Michael Costa on the Budget crisis and Tasmanian Governor Peter Underwood’s attack on the Anzac legend.
And on NewsWatch: BBC presenter and Spectator chairman Andrew Neil. How did the royals charm the media? Why is there no ABC Andrew Neil?
Your Say and more.
The videos appear here.
UPDATE
From my interview with Labor immigration spokesman Richard Marles:
Continue reading 'The Bolt Report today'
===Bill Shorten’s real problem.
Labor immigration spokesman Richard Marles on budgets, boats and more.
Our hot-shot panel - Peter Costello and Michael Costa on the Budget crisis and Tasmanian Governor Peter Underwood’s attack on the Anzac legend.
And on NewsWatch: BBC presenter and Spectator chairman Andrew Neil. How did the royals charm the media? Why is there no ABC Andrew Neil?
Your Say and more.
The videos appear here.
UPDATE
From my interview with Labor immigration spokesman Richard Marles:
ANDREW BOLT, PRESENTER: Bill Shorten says Labor must give members more say and unions less when choosing who represents it in Parliament. Joining me is Labor’s Immigration Spokesman, Richard Marles, who used to be a Transport Workers Union official and former assistant secretary of the ACTU. Thanks for joining me…The full interview:
ANDREW BOLT: You went straight from the ACTU into Parliament. What’s Bill Shorten got against the system that got you where you are?
RICHARD MARLES: Well, it’s not about having anything against that system. It’s about modernising our party and it’s about opening it up. And in doing that, acknowledging the incredible role that the union movement has played in Australian society, and does today, and the wonderful role it’s played in our history, but saying that we need to be more than that…
ANDREW BOLT: But it is against the system. It was specifically about getting union officials straight from unions into Parliament, like Joe Bullock in Western Australia, and that’s exactly the system that brought you there. What’s the problem with that?
RICHARD MARLES: Well, I’m not sure that’s how the system was necessarily designed but we do need to have a broader gene pool within the Parliament.
ANDREW BOLT: So not people like you?
RICHARD MARLES: Well, people like me, but more than just people like me....
ANDREW BOLT: Well, let me put a question to you. What cost you most votes at the last election? Was it – was it your party rules or the carbon tax?
RICHARD MARLES: Well, I - the point you make is that we need to be very focussed on the matters - on the issues that matter to people. And that ultimately is not the rules of the Labor Party…
ANDREW BOLT: Well, tell me about the carbon tax, then. Tell me about the carbon tax.
RICHARD MARLES: We’re talking a lot about jobs and the fact during the global economic crisis we added almost a million jobs to our economy…
ANDREW BOLT: There’s a story in the paper today ... suggesting the Government might have a Budget deficit levy to try and fix this problem. Would you be against that?
RICHARD MARLES: Oh, well, this is - Yes. And this is a – this is a Government which said before it was elected to office that they would be a government of no excuses and no surprises. And yet now we’re talking about a Budget deficit levy in the same context as paying millionaires $75,000 in order to have a baby. A Government of no excuses and no surprises and we hear a surprise every day. ...
ANDREW BOLT: Can I just turn quickly, lastly, to boats? In four months, not one has arrived, right? And a key to that success has been turning boats around, which you opposed. Last November you said that policy was, quote: “inevitably going to fail”. Why did you get that so wrong?
RICHARD MARLES: Well, firstly, we don’t know what is going on on the high seas.
ANDREW BOLT: We know the boats are not arriving. Why did you think they – this policy would fail?
RICHARD MARLES: The single biggest issue in the reduction in the flow of boats – and I know this, but Scott Morrison knows this as well - is the arrangement that the Rudd Government entered into with Papua New Guinea. It has done more than anything.
ANDREW BOLT: And turning back the – turning back the boats has helped, hasn’t it? Hasn’t it?
RICHARD MARLES: Well, by the Government’s own measure - well, we don’t know what is going on out there. ANDREW BOLT: They’re turning back boats.
Continue reading 'The Bolt Report today'No boats for more than four months
Andrew Bolt April 27 2014 (5:42am)
Again, why couldn’t Labor fix the mess it created?:
===NO people-smuggling venture had succeeded in landing asylum seekers on Australia for more than four months…(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said on Saturday that vigorous border protection activities was deterring illegal boat arrivals, even into the post-monsoon period when weather conditions usually improve…
Mr Morrison said no one had reached Australia since December 19 and that continued this month. But 3351 on 47 boats arrived in April 2013 under the former Labor government.... Since Operation Sovereign Borders started on September 18, 220 asylum seekers have voluntarily returned to their home countries.
Would Gambaro really have sued her fellow students? If not, her argument falls
Andrew Bolt April 27 2014 (5:25am)
I don’t for an instant that racial abuse hurts, as do most kinds of abuse. But does Queensland MP Teresa Gambaro, one of the Liberals criticising the Abbott Government’s free speech reforms, really think we need laws that would have let her sue the children who teased her at school?
And if playground insults are evidence for needing such laws, why not extend these protections to cover insults lite “fatty”, “shorty”, “loser” and other kinds of abuse so damaging to children?
===“Until you’ve experienced racism, you can’t imagine what it’s like,” said Ms Gambaro when asked about her opposition to the government’s changes.If Gambaro seriously saying she would have used those protections? In her case, wasn’t success really the best revenge?
“Growing up, I received racist taunts . . . when you’re Italian, they call you a wog. I remember when I was made school prefect, people were saying it’s not fair a wog being made prefect.
“We’ve come a long way since then but we need to have protections against race hate speech...”
And if playground insults are evidence for needing such laws, why not extend these protections to cover insults lite “fatty”, “shorty”, “loser” and other kinds of abuse so damaging to children?
A deficit levy proves the Government is too soft on spending
Andrew Bolt April 27 2014 (5:16am)
The Abbott Government’s fix to the problems caused by unrestrained spending includes lifting taxes?
That just proves they haven’t cut hard enough.
===WORKERS will be forced to dig into their own pockets to pay off the country’s debt ... as the Abbott government struggles to reduce the nation’s deficit…A tax rise?
Any decision to impose a new deficit levy in the Abbott government’s first term is politically risky and will be seized upon by Labor leader Bill Shorten as a breach of faith after the Prime Minister’s pledge to be a government of “no surprises, no excuses’’. But it would likely be dumped before the next election…
A final decision on tax thresholds for the proposed new deficit levy will become clearer when final revenue figures are in with the budget deficit likely to be finalised only in the week before the May 13 budget. Any temporary levy will be targeted at high-income earners. For example, wealthy workers earning $200,000 a year contributed nearly half the $1.8 billion raised by Julia Gillard’s flood levy; those earning less than $50,000 paid nothing under Labor’s levy.
That just proves they haven’t cut hard enough.
Ricky Muir will look after the country this carefully, too
Andrew Bolt April 27 2014 (5:05am)
No one hurt and he says it was a controlled environment. Even so, I wish I had more confidence Ricky Muir had what it takes to help run our country:
===His political party wants to have a “national conversation” about safer driving. But federal senator-elect Ricky Muir, who represents the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party, might be starting this conversation sooner than he wanted.The problem is that the crossbenchers have such power that Parliament won’t be able to fix the voting system that had them win the Senate lucky-dip.
Mr Muir, in the news last year when an online video showed him participating in a backyard kangaroo-poo fight, posted another video showing his eight-year-old daughter driving a car and doing “burnouts”. It was subsequently taken down.
The video was titled “8 year old girl smoking tyres”.
“Ever since my princess was a baby she has had a huge interest in watching myself compete in drag racing, burnouts competitions, rally, riding dirtbikes etc,” Mr Muir wrote.
“She is always keen to get in the car to learn how to drive, wanting to race in the future etc. So I thought ill [sic] get her behind the wheel bright and early to have a little fun in a controlled environment.
“Needless to say she was VERY proud of her first smokey [sic] burnout.” Mr Muir, who won his Victorian Senate seat in the 2013 election on a record low primary vote of 0.51 per cent, will help Clive Palmer control the balance of power in the new federal Senate.
Would Simpson have bothered saving an ABC donkey?
Andrew Bolt April 27 2014 (4:56am)
How the ABC’s Fact Check squad marked Anzac Day - by checking whether Simpson was actually useless and his donkey a loafer.
===In praise of Mark Steyn
Andrew Bolt April 26 2014 (2:15pm)
Conrad Black in praise of Mark Steyn, sued for mocking the very mockable Michael “Hockey Stick” Mann:
===Mann became one of the stars of the global warming movement by advocating this so-called “hockey stick” graph, which claims that the world’s average temperature remained more or less flat over the past thousand years until it suddenly shot upward around 1900—like a hockey stick laid on the ground, the blade shooting up from the shaft. It was a simple image that caught on, but the reliability of the data on which it is based has been called into question by many in the scientific community, including proponents of anthropogenic climate change such as Hans von Storch of the University of Hamburg, who has called the stick model quatsch, or “nonsense.”Go here to support Steyn.
In the fifteen years since Mann stepped onto the rink with his stick in hand, data suggests that there has been no change in world temperature. Over the last seventy years, temperatures have risen by about one degree centigrade. But the alarmists, who have embarrassed themselves with their “end is nigh” scenarios, are unrepentant. Unsurprisingly a great deal of scorn has been heaped upon the whole global warming fraternity… But these jabs are generally endured as fair comment, especially in the United States. Mann’s lawsuit, then, is (to continue the sports analogy) something of a last stand by a group of struggling players at the crease in front of their goalie…
But anyone who thinks that facts and the First Amendment trump all here is unfamiliar with the American legal system… Mark Steyn has displayed in the Mann case similar courage and principle, fighting a battle for freedom of expression in keeping with the greatest traditions of the West and of all democratic countries. He must succeed as he soldiers on against the evils of oppression slouching in the dark corners of the tenebrous American legal system. Many of his seeming friends have slunk out the back door into the tall grass, as they always do, especially when the law gets involved. (I have some experience of this.) He is paying counsel himself, even doing his own legal work where he can. Yet he remains jaunty. If not a Happy Warrior, he is at least a stoically determined one.
Turney and his other voyage - for a £3.5 million grant
Andrew Bolt April 26 2014 (2:00pm)
The astonishing rise of Professor Chris Turney - until, of course, his Ship of Fools got trapped in the ice Turney’s team swore was vanishing.
Just follow the money:
===Just follow the money:
The Turney consortium seems more or less certain that they can get £3.5 million from the NERC; their main stumbling block was that their apparent difficulty in figuring out a coherent rationale for the funding.(Thanks to reader Chris.)
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I vote for character
Andrew Bolt April 27 2013 (7:18am)
Joseph Curl went to a gathering of the five living US presidents and saw one outclass the others:
Shortly after Barack Obama was elected in 2008, a fellow reporter who’d covered President George W. Bush all eight years told me she’d had enough of the travel and stress and strain of the White House beat, that she was moving on…UPDATE
I asked her if she’d miss covering President Obama.
“Not at all. He’s an inch deep. Bush is a bottomless chasm, a deep, mysterious, emotional, profound man. Obama is all surface — shallow, obvious, robotic, and, frankly, not nearly as smart as he thinks. Bush was the one.”
...By the way, she’s a hardcore Democrat.
But she was right. And that contrast was apparent to all who watched Thursday’s ceremonial event to open W’s new presidential library in Dallas....
Jimmy Carter ... was first to speak. But he was, as always, befuddled.
...he opened with, “In 2000, as some of you may remember, there was a disputed election for several weeks.” Nice way to start. He then took credit for giving W the idea to intercede in Sudan… He never mentioned 9-11 and the war on terror, or the commander in chief’s leadership during America’s most trying hour. Which is why his comments lasted just 3¼ minutes.
Bill Clinton followed. He, of course, spoke twice as long, filling his speech with jokes and faux humility. He was his usual affable self… But… Mr. Clinton, for all his prodigious gifts, will always be the class clown…
George H.W. Bush, turning 90 in June, was a welcome respite. Somewhat frail now, he spoke only briefly from his wheelchair, but garnered two standing ovations — and the biggest laugh of the day from his oldest son. After his remarks, just 24 seconds, he shook his boy’s hand and said, deadpan, “Too long?”
President Obama took the podium next. Every bit as cunning as Slick Willy, his speech too was filled with fake self-effacing insights, including one on “the world’s most exclusive club,” which he said “is more like a support group."… Then, on a day that was intended to be without politics, he hawked his push for amnesty…
Mr. Obama skipped the praise he had laid on W the night before. “Whatever our political differences, President Bush loves this country and loves its people and shares that same concern and was concerned about all people in America, not just those who voted Republican. I think that’s true about him, and I think that’s true about most of us.”
Except it’s not. Especially not this president. He has made his presidency about dividing America — along lines of class, sex, race, sexuality, you name it…
Then, finally, W took the podium.... He gave a profound lesson to his successor and his predecessor: “In democracy, the purpose of public office is not to fulfill personal ambition. Elected officials must serve a cause greater than themselves…
“As president, I tried to act on these principles every day. It wasn’t always easy and it certainly wasn’t always popular … And when our freedom came under attack, we made the tough decisions required to keep the American people safe,” he said to loud applause.
But it was the end that gave us the truest glimpse of the man… With tears in his eyes, his voice breaking, he said: “It’s the honor of a lifetime to lead a country as brave and as noble as the United States....” By the end he was in tears, barely able to creak out: “God bless.”.. But there was one last classy move not many saw. The program nearly over, Sgt. 1st Class Alvy R. Powell Jr. came to the side of the stage to perform the “Star Spangled Banner.” A big, powerful black man, Mr. Powell belted out the anthem. With the crowd applauding, the sergeant moved along the line of people, shaking hands with all. After greeting W, he turned to go. But the 43rd president put his hand on the sergeant’s arm and said, “Stay,” just as a chaplain stepped forward to give a benediction.
Peggy Noonan saw the same ceremony and is more gracious to Carter ("gracious and humorous") and Clinton ("generous to others” and “funny"). But on Obama she is agreed:
This week something changed. George W. Bush is back, for the unveiling of his presidential library. His numbers are dramatically up. You know why? Because he’s the farthest thing from Barack Obama.
Obama fatigue has opened the way to Bush affection.
In all his recent interviews Mr. Bush has been modest, humorous, proud but unassuming, and essentially philosophical: History will decide. No finger-pointing or scoring points. If he feels rancor or resentment he didn’t show it. He didn’t attempt to manipulate. His sheer normality seemed like a relief, an echo of an older age.
And all this felt like an antidote to Obama—to the imperious I, to the inability to execute, to the endless interviews and the imperturbable drone, to the sense that he is trying to teach us, like an Ivy League instructor taken aback by the backwardness of his students. And there’s the unconscious superiority…
Here’s a hunch: The day of the opening of the Bush library was the day Obama fatigue became apparent as a fact of America’s political life.
When Bush left office, his approval rating was down in the 20s to low 30s. Now it’s at 47%, which is what Obama’s is. That is amazing, and not sufficiently appreciated… The headline of the Bush Library remarks is that everyone was older and nicer… (But) President Obama was more formal than the other speakers and less confident than usual, as if he knew he was surrounded by people who have something he doesn’t… He veered into current policy disputes, using Mr. Bush’s failed comprehensive immigration reform to buttress his own effort. That was manipulative, graceless and typical.
April 27: Divine Mercy Sunday (Roman Catholicism, 2014); Yom HaShoah begins at sunset in Israel (2014)
- 629 – Shahrbaraz usurped the throne of the Sasanian Empire from Ardashir III, but was himself deposed only forty days later.
- 1521 – Filipino natives led by chieftain Lapu-Lapu(statue pictured) killed Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and more than forty Spanish soldiers at theBattle of Mactan.
- 1865 – An explosion destroyed the steamboat SS Sultana on theMississippi River, killing an estimated 1,800 of the 2,400 passengers.
- 1961 – Milton Margai took office as the first Prime Minister of Sierra Leone upon the nation's independence from the United Kingdom.
- 2005 – The Airbus A380, the largest passenger airliner in the world, made its maiden flight from Toulouse, France.
“Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” - Hebrews 7:25
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
"This do in remembrance of me."
1 Corinthians 11:24
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
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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Ahijah
[Ăhī'jah] - a brother in jehovah.
- A prophet belonging to Shiloh, who foretold to Jeroboam the revolt of the ten tribes. This Ahijah was the champion of the rights of the people in the face of the oppression of Solomon and Rehoboam and led the revolt that rent the kingdom of David asunder (1 Kings 11:26-12:20).
- Father of Baasha, king of Israel who conspired against Nadab son of Jeroboam and reigned in his stead (1 Kings 15:27,33;&21:22;&2 Kings 9:9).
- Son of Jerahmeel, a Judahite (1 Chron. 2:25).
- A Pelonite, and one of David's thirty heroes (1 Chron. 11:36).
- A Levite who had charge of the Tabernacle treasures (1 Chron. 26:20).
- A Levite who, with Nehemiah, sealed the covenant (Neh. 10:26).
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Today's reading: 2 Samuel 23-24, Luke 19:1-27 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday'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:
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.'
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.'
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...."
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