Sunday, June 14, 2015

Sun Jun 14th Todays News

Bolt report Instructions follow the publishing news. 
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A powerful case is being mounted suggesting Australia needs to increase her refugee intake from Syria and Iraq where Christians face an existential threat. At the moment, a strong Israel is all that saves them from death by atrocity. But the UN hates Israel and is too focused on the myth of AGW (human caused global warming) to act. Obama is using the tragedy to highlight how his regional policy 'works.' 

 Another unicorn has been sighted for Bill Shorten to avoid speaking to the royal commission on Union corruption and explain what he has done. It looks like Shorten got the union to charge a company bribe money to keep poor working conditions. The union has not benefited the members. Some members may not even be aware they were members. But the press have discovered Treasurer Joe Hockey has legitimately made expense claims. Mr Hockey is a good money manager and has become relatively wealthy in a non Turnbull/Rudd kind of way. The press don't like conservatives who can make money. Which may be why the press laud Wayne Swan who lost hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars. 

 In 1158, Munich was founded by Henry the Lion on the banks of the river Isar. 1216, First Barons' War: Prince Louis of France captured the city of Winchester and soon conquered over half of the Kingdom of England. 1276, while taking exile in Fuzhou in southern China, away from the advancing Mongol invaders, the remnants of the Song dynasty court held the coronation ceremony for the young prince Zhao Shi, making him Emperor Duanzong of Song. 1285, Second Mongol invasion of Vietnam: Forces led by Prince Trần Quang Khải of the Trần Dynasty destroyed most of the invading Mongol naval fleet in a battle at Chuong Duong. 1287, Kublai Khan defeated the force of Nayan and other traditionalist Borjigin princes in East Mongolia and Manchuria. 1381, Richard II of England met leaders of Peasants' Revolt on Blackheath. The Tower of London was stormed by rebels who entered without resistance. 1404, Welsh rebel leader Owain Glyndŵr, having declared himself Prince of Wales, allied himself with the French against King Henry IV of England.

 In 1618, Joris Veseler printed the first Dutch newspaper Courante uyt Italien, Duytslandt, & in c. in Amsterdam (approximate date). 1645, English Civil War: Battle of Naseby – 12,000 Royalist forces were beaten by 15,000 Parliamentarian soldiers. 1667, the Raid on the Medway by the Dutch fleet in the Second Anglo-Dutch War ended. It had lasted for five days and resulted in the worst ever defeat of the Royal Navy. 1690, King William III of England (William of Orange) landed in Ireland to confront the former King James II. 1775, American Revolutionary War: the Continental Army was established by the Continental Congress, marking the birth of the United States Army. 1777, the Stars and Stripes was adopted by Congress as the Flag of the United States. 1789, Mutiny on the Bounty: HMS Bounty mutiny survivors including Captain William Bligh and 18 others reached Timor after a nearly 7,400 km (4,600 mi) journey in an open boat. Also 1789, Whiskey distilled from maize was first produced by American clergyman the Rev Elijah Craig. It was named Bourbon because Rev Craig lived in Bourbon County, Kentucky.

 In 1800, the French Army of First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Marengo in Northern Italy and re-conquered Italy. 1807, Emperor Napoleon's French Grande Armée defeated the Russian Army at the Battle of Friedland in Poland (modern Russian Kaliningrad Oblast) ending the War of the Fourth Coalition. 1821, Badi VII, king of Sennar, surrendered his throne and realm to Isma'il Pasha, general of the Ottoman Empire, ending the existence of that Sudanese kingdom. 1822, Charles Babbage proposed a difference engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society entitled "Note on the application of machinery to the computation of astronomical and mathematical tables". 1830, beginning of the French colonization of Algeria: 34,000 French soldiers began their invasion of Algiers, landing 27 kilometres west at Sidi Fredj. 1839, Henley Royal Regatta: the village of Henley-on-Thames, on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, staged its first regatta. 1846, Bear Flag Revolt began – Anglo settlers in Sonoma, California, started a rebellion against Mexico and proclaimed the California Republic. 1863, American Civil War: Second Battle of Winchester – a Union garrison was defeated by the Army of Northern Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley town of Winchester, Virginia. 1863, Second Assault on the Confederate works at the Siege of Port Hudson during the American Civil War. 1872, Trade unions were legalised in Canada.

 In 1900, Hawaii became a United States territory. Also 1900, the Reichstag approved a second law that allowed the expansion of the German navy. 1907, Norway granted women the right to vote. 1919, John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown departed from St. John's, Newfoundland on the first nonstop transatlantic flight. 1926, Brazil left the League of Nations 1937, Pennsylvania became the first (and only) state of the United States to celebrate Flag Day officially as a state holiday. Also 1937, U.S. House of Representatives passed the Marihuana Tax Act.

 1940, World War II: Paris fell under German occupation, and Allied forces retreated. Also 1940, the Soviet Union presented an ultimatum to Lithuania resulting in Lithuanian loss of independence. Also 1940, a group of 728 Polish political prisoners from Tarnów became the first residents of the Auschwitz concentration camp. 1941, June deportation: the first major wave of Soviet mass deportations and murder of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians, began. 1944, World War II: After several failed attempts, the British Army abandoned Operation Perch, its plan to capture the German-occupied town of Caen. 1945, World War II: Filipino troops of the 15th, 66th and 121st Infantry Regiment, Philippine Commonwealth Army, USAFIP-NL liberated the captured in Ilocos Sur and start the Battle of Bessang Pass in Northern Luzon. 1949, Albert II, a rhesus monkey, rode a V2 rocket to an altitude of 134 km (83 mi), thereby becoming the first monkey in space. 1951, UNIVAC I was dedicated by the U.S. Census Bureau. 1952, the keel was laid for the nuclear submarine USS Nautilus. 1954, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill into law that placed the words "under God" into the United States Pledge of Allegiance. 1955, Chile became a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty. 1959, Disneyland Monorail System, the first daily operating monorail system in the Western Hemisphere, opened to the public in Anaheim, California. 1959, a group of Dominican exiles departed from Cuba and landed in the Dominican Republic with the intent of overthrowing the totalitarian government of Rafael Trujillo. All but four were killed or executed.

 In 1962, the European Space Research Organisation was established in Paris – later becoming the European Space Agency. 1966, the Vatican announced the abolition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum ("index of prohibited books"), which was originally instituted in 1557. 1967, Mariner program: Mariner 5 was launched towards Venus. 1967, the People's Republic of China tested its first hydrogen bomb. 1982, Falklands War: Argentine forces in the capital Stanley conditionally surrendered to British forces. 1985, TWA Flight 847 was hijacked by Lebanese Islamist organisation Hezbollah shortly after take-off from Athens, Greece. 1994, the 1994 Stanley Cup riot occurred after the New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup from Vancouver, causing an estimated CA$1.1 million, leading to 200 arrests and injuries. 2002, Near-Earth asteroid 2002 MN missed the Earth by 75,000 miles (121,000 km), about one-third of the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
2014
It is the birthday of Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811), author of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Also Alois Alzeheimer (1864) who forgot more than many will ever know. In 1856, mathematician Andrey Markov whose work in probability and recursion is subtle and profound. But it is the tragedy of the birthday of Che Guevara (1928) which stands out for me. 

Che grew up in a well off Argentinian family that was well read and left wing. His parents gave him a wide education that extended from the centre left to far left, celebrating poetry of Walt Whitman, Robert Frost and Pablo Neruda. It was pitiless and unhinged. He went to medical school, toured South America making contact with other extreme leftists and came into contact with the Castro brothers. The outrage Guevara felt at the conditions of some workers in South America is understandable .. Banana republics were appalling. Miners often did not prosper. poverty was rife. Che heard the grumblings of the poor and disenfranchised and applied his full intelligence to come up with a solution he applied in Cuba and later .. killing innocent people to scare others. Applying injustice as a weapon against those who disagreed with him. Che decided to win, he must taunt the corpse of an opponent. 

He was particularly uncompromising and blood thirty and was placed in charge of a political prison by Fidel Castro. As second in charge in Cuba, Che shot defectors and labelled deserters as traitors, whom he would then track down and despatch. When he found a poor uneducated person, Che would deluge them with leftist literature. Those surrounding Che felt he was smart. And uncompromising. Castro booted him from Cuba and gave him assignments in foreign lands stirring up trouble. He got to address the UN where he was received like a rock star. He aligned himself with the Soviet Union, but felt they were too soft. From Algeria, the Congo and Bolivia, Che pursued armed rebellion, and to this day, where he went, there is little prosperity, but substantial poverty. 

It was in Bolivia that Che was finally cornered, with Bolivia having aid of the CIA. Che was captured and killed. Unlike his birth day, that was a liberating day. On this day in 1940, Germany occupied Paris. Not even the birth of Alan Carr in 1976 makes the day cheerful. Worth remembering is that Benedict Arnold died on this day in 1801. Arnold had intended to betray the united states by surrendering West Point. He then fought as a general for the British. It is telling that his last days were as a free merchant. Unlike leftism, the free peoples of the United States offered prosperity, not perpetual enmity. 
Historical perspectives on this day
In 1158, Munich was founded by Henry the Lion on the banks of the river Isar. 1216, First Barons' War: Prince Louis of France captured the city of Winchester and soon conquered over half of the Kingdom of England. 1276, while taking exile in Fuzhou in southern China, away from the advancing Mongol invaders, the remnants of the Song dynasty court held the coronation ceremony for the young prince Zhao Shi, making him Emperor Duanzong of Song. 1285, Second Mongol invasion of Vietnam: Forces led by Prince Trần Quang Khải of the Trần Dynasty destroyed most of the invading Mongol naval fleet in a battle at Chuong Duong. 1287, Kublai Khan defeated the force of Nayan and other traditionalist Borjigin princes in East Mongolia and Manchuria. 1381, Richard II of England met leaders of Peasants' Revolt on Blackheath. The Tower of London was stormed by rebels who entered without resistance. 1404, Welsh rebel leader Owain Glyndŵr, having declared himself Prince of Wales, allied himself with the French against King Henry IV of England.

 In 1618, Joris Veseler printed the first Dutch newspaper Courante uyt Italien, Duytslandt, & in c. in Amsterdam (approximate date). 1645, English Civil War: Battle of Naseby – 12,000 Royalist forces were beaten by 15,000 Parliamentarian soldiers. 1667, the Raid on the Medway by the Dutch fleet in the Second Anglo-Dutch War ended. It had lasted for five days and resulted in the worst ever defeat of the Royal Navy. 1690, King William III of England (William of Orange) landed in Ireland to confront the former King James II. 1775, American Revolutionary War: the Continental Army was established by the Continental Congress, marking the birth of the United States Army. 1777, the Stars and Stripes was adopted by Congress as the Flag of the United States. 1789, Mutiny on the Bounty: HMS Bounty mutiny survivors including Captain William Bligh and 18 others reached Timor after a nearly 7,400 km (4,600 mi) journey in an open boat. Also 1789, Whiskey distilled from maize was first produced by American clergyman the Rev Elijah Craig. It was named Bourbon because Rev Craig lived in Bourbon County, Kentucky.

 In 1800, the French Army of First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Marengo in Northern Italy and re-conquered Italy. 1807, Emperor Napoleon's French Grande Armée defeated the Russian Army at the Battle of Friedland in Poland (modern Russian Kaliningrad Oblast) ending the War of the Fourth Coalition. 1821, Badi VII, king of Sennar, surrendered his throne and realm to Isma'il Pasha, general of the Ottoman Empire, ending the existence of that Sudanese kingdom. 1822, Charles Babbage proposed a difference engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society entitled "Note on the application of machinery to the computation of astronomical and mathematical tables". 1830, beginning of the French colonization of Algeria: 34,000 French soldiers began their invasion of Algiers, landing 27 kilometres west at Sidi Fredj. 1839, Henley Royal Regatta: the village of Henley-on-Thames, on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, staged its first regatta. 1846, Bear Flag Revolt began – Anglo settlers in Sonoma, California, started a rebellion against Mexico and proclaimed the California Republic. 1863, American Civil War: Second Battle of Winchester – a Union garrison was defeated by the Army of Northern Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley town of Winchester, Virginia. 1863, Second Assault on the Confederate works at the Siege of Port Hudson during the American Civil War. 1872, Trade unions were legalised in Canada.

 In 1900, Hawaii became a United States territory. Also 1900, the Reichstag approved a second law that allowed the expansion of the German navy. 1907, Norway granted women the right to vote. 1919, John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown departed from St. John's, Newfoundland on the first nonstop transatlantic flight. 1926, Brazil left the League of Nations 1937, Pennsylvania became the first (and only) state of the United States to celebrate Flag Day officially as a state holiday. Also 1937, U.S. House of Representatives passed the Marihuana Tax Act.

 1940, World War II: Paris fell under German occupation, and Allied forces retreated. Also 1940, the Soviet Union presented an ultimatum to Lithuania resulting in Lithuanian loss of independence. Also 1940, a group of 728 Polish political prisoners from Tarnów became the first residents of the Auschwitz concentration camp. 1941, June deportation: the first major wave of Soviet mass deportations and murder of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians, began. 1944, World War II: After several failed attempts, the British Army abandoned Operation Perch, its plan to capture the German-occupied town of Caen. 1945, World War II: Filipino troops of the 15th, 66th and 121st Infantry Regiment, Philippine Commonwealth Army, USAFIP-NL liberated the captured in Ilocos Sur and start the Battle of Bessang Pass in Northern Luzon. 1949, Albert II, a rhesus monkey, rode a V2 rocket to an altitude of 134 km (83 mi), thereby becoming the first monkey in space. 1951, UNIVAC I was dedicated by the U.S. Census Bureau. 1952, the keel was laid for the nuclear submarine USS Nautilus. 1954, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill into law that placed the words "under God" into the United States Pledge of Allegiance. 1955, Chile became a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty. 1959, Disneyland Monorail System, the first daily operating monorail system in the Western Hemisphere, opened to the public in Anaheim, California. 1959, a group of Dominican exiles departed from Cuba and landed in the Dominican Republic with the intent of overthrowing the totalitarian government of Rafael Trujillo. All but four were killed or executed.

 In 1962, the European Space Research Organisation was established in Paris – later becoming the European Space Agency. 1966, the Vatican announced the abolition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum ("index of prohibited books"), which was originally instituted in 1557. 1967, Mariner program: Mariner 5 was launched towards Venus. 1967, the People's Republic of China tested its first hydrogen bomb. 1982, Falklands War: Argentine forces in the capital Stanley conditionally surrendered to British forces. 1985, TWA Flight 847 was hijacked by Lebanese Islamist organisation Hezbollah shortly after take-off from Athens, Greece. 1994, the 1994 Stanley Cup riot occurred after the New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup from Vancouver, causing an estimated CA$1.1 million, leading to 200 arrests and injuries. 2002, Near-Earth asteroid 2002 MN missed the Earth by 75,000 miles (121,000 km), about one-third of the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
=== Publishing News ===
This column welcomes feedback and criticism. The column is not made up but based on the days events and articles which are then placed in the feed. So they may not have an apparent cohesion they would have had were they made up.
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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
Douglas Sutherland-Bruce via David Daniel Ball
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.
=== Bolt Report Items ===
On Bolt Report an ongoing policy is that any Islam post can only be on the pinned leader. Normal rules apply in that if it is merely foul and abusive it will be deleted. Otherwise comments are welcome.  
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Dear Members (YOU MUST READ THIS THREAD)
As of today, the rules of this forum are going to be enforced more rigorously. This includes the instant removal of members who personally abuse other members of this forum.
Whilst the use of bad language is often invoked as colourful descriptors of politicians, we ask that people refrain from the C word as there are many people on this forum who do not want to see that as part of every day language here.
Blatant racism, homophobia and religious slurs will be removed from the forum, along with the person who posted them.
Crass, vile & vitriolic hate posts will also be removed along with the person who posts those comments or threads.
Generally we will give people a 24 hour time out to cool off after they have been removed and those people will be welcome back to the forum once they have applied via an admin..... we will however, permanently remove repeat offenders with a rule of "3 strikes and you're out".
We are trying to encourage legitimate debate, conversation and discussion on this forum where people are able to have free thought and their own opinions without "mob" rule attacking them for thinking differently, however, in saying this, members who are here to deliberately cause trouble or "troll" will be removed without warning.
The standard of this forum needs to be better and people are responsible for their own behaviour.... bullying of others or bullying of admins will also result in that person being removed.
Legitimate criticism is appreciated, along with logical and rational commentary.
Admins decisions are final.... so make of this forum what you want of it and do not complain if you are removed for behaviour that is contrary to the posting protocols.
If you feel intimated or threatened by another person, contact an admin immediately so the situation can be monitored and mediated.
Regards
Admins
===
Happy birthday and many happy returns Phil Fishman and to those born on this day, across the years
Deaths
June 14: Father's Day in various countries (2015); Liberation Day in the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (1982); Flag Day in the United States
First difference engine
Chucky is looking for you. We found the army. We have a machine which looks at differences. We have an ultimatum. We have an agreement. Let's party. 
Matches
Hatches
Despatches

Isabelle Bogelot

Noemí Gerstein
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2015
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For whom did Bill Shorten toil?

Piers Akerman – Sunday, June 14, 2015 (1:23am)

OPPOSITION leader Bill Shorten maintains that his ­career with the AWU was ­devoted to providing fair wages and conditions for its members but it seems that is not necessarily so.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'For whom did Bill Shorten toil?'
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Let’s give safe haven to Syrian and Iraqi refugees

Miranda Devine – Sunday, June 14, 2015 (1:21am)

WHILE the Greens and Labor play gotcha games about whether the Abbott government paid asylum boats to ­return to Indonesia, the unprecedented refugee tragedy on the other side of the world is being ignored.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'Let’s give safe haven to Syrian and Iraqi refugees'
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What is it with the Left and violence?

Andrew Bolt June 14 2015 (5:39pm)

Why is the Left the natural home of the violent?
A 33-year-old man has been charged after allegedly throwing a pair of shoes at Immigration Minister Peter Dutton.
Police arrested the man, from Ocean View west of Caboolture, shortly after two shoes were thrown at the minister as he spoke at a refugee welcome ceremony at the Annerley Football Club about 10.10am Sunday.
But all praise to the cool former copper:
He dodged the first one and caught the second.
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What else are you not allowed to hear?

Andrew Bolt June 14 2015 (3:48pm)

Australia today. Lawyers have told me it is too dangerous for me to correct an incontrovertible error of fact in the ABC’s description of a long-dead activist.
The ABC is free to tell a falsehood. I am not free to tell a truth.
Nor am I able to report another incontrovertible fact: the findings of a fascinating survey by academics at Charles Darwin University.
Hence I am unable tomorrow to make relevant observations on an issue of great and topical public importance, thanks to a truly insane law prohibiting free speech. 
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The Bolt Report today, June 14

Andrew Bolt June 14 2015 (11:22am)

On Channel 10 at 10am and 3pm.
My guests: Christopher Pyne, Education Minister and acting Employment Minister; former Treasurer Peter Costello; former NSW Labor Treasurer Michael Costa; and Daily Telegraph columnist Piers Akerman.
The Shorten scandal, the boat people scandal, the Hockey scandal and scandals that actually aren’t. Plus excerpts from one of the best speeches - off the cuff - you will hear this year.

The videos of the shows appear here.
UPDATE
Don’t miss the 3pm replay, with Costello’s review of the ABC’s The Killing Season and Costa’s comments on Shorten and on wind farms.
From the interview with Christopher Pyne, Pyne on the Shorten’s AWU deal with builder Winslow Constructions:
Well, Andrew, the important claim that needs to be refuted by Bill Shorten is what Winslow Constructions got in relation to their payment to the AWU. Now, businesses don’t give money to unions because they like the cut of the jib of the union secretary, or the smile on their face. They pay money to unions to get consideration in return. And what Bill Shorten hasn’t explained is what was that consideration, because if it was workers getting lower rates of pay, or having their penalty rates traded away, as in the case of Cleanevent, then that’s a very serious matter....
If this was so above-board, and there was no reason for anybody to try and hide it, why did Winslow Constructions describe their payments to the AWU as for safety training, when they were actually being used for AWU memberships? And was this during the battle within the Victorian ALP for the heart and soul of a number of pre-selections, one of which Bill Shorten won in Maribyrnong, Richard Marles won in Corio, Stephen Conroy was a warlord at the time in the Victorian ALP right. I mean, these memberships played into power within the Victorian ALP, to defeat other ALP figures. Who benefitted from that? These are the questions that Bill Shorten needs to answer...
Pyne on the damage done by recent leaks from Cabinet discussions:
… it makes, you know, being in Cabinet something that, while I enjoy it immensely, one does need to be careful what they’re going to say, if it’s going to end up in the newspapers. Now, that’s not the way government should operate… I might curb that colourful turn of phrase, because sadly, it seems very quotable in the media when people want to leak it.

Pyne on his reported objection, leaked to papers, to government plans to let the Minister strip suspected terrorists of citizenship, rather than a court:
...there’s always risk involved in every decision like this, every piece of legislation, particularly around national security, and the interpretation that the courts will put on our legislation, and the power that the Government is giving itself, or giving the Parliament. So government’s a lot about mitigating that risk. We believe that the legislation that we’ve – that we will be introducing in the next fortnight, to strip dual citizens who are foreign fighters of their Australian citizenship, mitigates that risk as far as humanly possible. In the end, that’ll be a matter for the High Court to decide, should it be litigated in the High Court....
ANDREW BOLT: Yeah, but you were obviously against that.... It’s whether a minister makes the call, rather than a court.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, I think the Institute of Public Affairs, Tim Wilson, yourself, many others, have expressed reservations about that matter on its own, and that’s why the discussion is happening at a national level about where that matter ends up, and I don’t think that is yet resolved.

ANDREW BOLT: And you say Tim Wilson, me – and Christopher Pyne as well?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, I mean, this is a matter for national discussion. As a member of the Cabinet, it would be unwise of me to pre-empt the final decision of the Cabinet. So I will continue to keep my counsel within the Cabinet, and hope that it doesn’t leak into the newspapers, Andrew.

Full transcript, including Pyne’s comments on his friend Amanda Vanstone’s attack on Tony Abbott:


Icon Arrow Continue reading 'The Bolt Report today, June 14'
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Questions for Shorten

Andrew Bolt June 14 2015 (5:52am)

Piers Akerman, who will be on The Bolt Report at 10am and 3pm:

When [Labor leader Bill] Shorten appears ­before the Royal Commission into Trade Union Corruption in late August or early September, he will face a raft of questions which should examine the loss of benefits to workers under contracts he signed ­including the 2001 Melbourne & Olympic Parks Trust ­agreement, the 2001 Cirque du Soleil agreement, the 2003 Cut and Fill agreement and the 2004 Chiquita Mushrooms agreement.
These agreements signed by Shorten laid the groundwork for a culture only now being repudiated by current AWU office holders…
Shorten is adamant that he can “guarantee about any of the matters that we always ­improved workers’ conditions, full stop”.
“That is my answer on these matters, my record … I spent every day of my adult life representing workers. My record is there for all to see.”
But that record shows as head of the Victorian branch of the AWU (1998–2006) and National Secretary (2001– 2007), he negotiated or signed multiple enterprise agreements some of which stripped workers of penalty rates or overtime pay or imposed ­unfavourable conditions.
UPDATE
Rowan Dean is inspired by selfless union officials:
In order to buy a home in Sydney or Melbourne, the Treasurer has advised that you need a “good job” with “good money”. But what is a good job and what sort of home can you buy?..
Cleaning industry union official: One of the quickest and easiest ways to get good money is to take it off somebody else. In this exciting and fulfilling role you get to go out to lunch with the boss and strike a deal on behalf of the workers that gives them far less pay than they would otherwise have got under the normal awards if you hadn’t interfered! The boss makes squillions and then rewards you by signing up loads of union members without telling them so not only do you get the membership fees but you also get to boost your power base and leap into politics!…
Building industry union official. If it’s a new home in some trendy inner-city Melbourne suburb that you’re after, this is a very good job that’ll get you there quicker than almost any other. But first, grab yourself a girlfriend who’s a lawyer, get her to set up a company using the name of your union, go to a large construction company and get them to give you loads of cash, go with your girlfriend to an auction and buy the house of your dreams, with a nice back yard handy for burying any leftover cash. And if the house needs any renos, why not give Bill the Greek a buzz?…
Health services union official (1) : people are always getting sick so there’s never a shortage of people going to hospital needing their bedpans cleaned, bottoms wiped, urine-soaked sheets changed and so on. But don’t worry – they’re the bad jobs. The good job is the one that means you don’t ever have to get your hands dirty. And it comes with very, very good money. Simply take all the union membership fees, pop them onto a black credit card, and start getting used to the high life! Best of all, you’ll now be able to afford a roof over your head and a comfy bed for the night in the swankiest inner-city Sydney suburb, complete with your very own choice of our most luscious ... escort girls ready and eager to service your mortgage in any way you choose.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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Another policy Labor would not use to stop the boats

Andrew Bolt June 14 2015 (5:29am)

Not sure I care, as long as it stops the boats, but I do wonder if our navy really does cruise the seas with $US30,000 in the safe in case they find a boat of people smugglers they need to pay to turn around:
Indonesia’s foreign minister has asked the Australian government to explain claims that its authorities paid people smugglers to return 65 asylum seekers to Indonesian waters, as a local police chief insists the payment occurred....
Fairfax Media is aware of the contents of a detailed official report submitted to the Indonesian National Police in Jakarta, which is now also investigating the incident, and has seen photographs of stacks of $US100 bills allegedly paid to the boat crew.
The report outlines claims by the boat’s captain, Yohanis Humiang, that an Australian official gave each of the six crew members $US5000 on the condition they never engage in people smuggling again.
Hidayat is adamant the captain is speaking the truth. He said the money had been given to the crew by an Australian official and was not evidence of a crime.
But I guess from Labor’s talk that this is just one more policy, like turnbacks, that they would not use to stop the boats.
UPDATE
Daily Express readers wish their own politicians were as innovative in stopping boat people.
UPDATE
People smuggling?

Professor of international law at the Australian National University, Don Rothwell, says if proven the activity could be tantamount to people smuggling under current regional protocols.
No, the real government-backed people smuggling was under the Gillard Government:

Eighty-one asylum seekers were transferred to HMAS Childers south-west of Java late yesterday and were on their way to Christmas Island…
UPDATE
Link fixed.
UPDATE
The Daily Express manages to make three mistakes in this short except, one of them truly frightening:
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, leader of the Australia’s opposition party, slammed Abbott for declining to address the “appalling” accusations, which she called.
He said: “Either the Australian government has paid for the trafficking of people on the high seas or it didn’t....”
(Thanks to readers pJ, Dan and many eagle-eyed people who alerted me to our new alternative prime minister.) 
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From car thief to car chief

Andrew Bolt June 14 2015 (5:23am)

The question now is whether Campbell then reformed and made good or reverted to type:
Clyde Campbell, the former Fiat Chrysler Australia boss at the centre of a $30 million scandal rocking the auto-maker, has previously faced criminal charges for stealing cars and was once involved with an interstate car theft racket that operated in Victoria, NSW and South Australia.
Last month Fairfax Media revealed that Mr Campbell was being sued by Fiat Chrysler, which has accused him of misappropriating and misusing more than $30 million of company money to fund an extravagant lifestyle for his family and business associates.
Now it can be revealed that Mr Campbell was charged with a number of car theft offences between 1990 and 1992, in the wake of an 18-month investigation by South Australia’s Organised Crime Task Force and Victoria Police. 
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So is Hockey the only politician we shouldn’t pay a travel allowance?

Andrew Bolt June 14 2015 (5:00am)

So?

TREASURER Joe Hockey charges taxpayers $1000 a month, the equivalent of the Newstart unemployment benefit, to sleep in his wife’s $2 million Canberra home.
This is just envy politics. Every politician gets the same daily travel allowance for accommodation. It doesn’t cost taxpayers a cent extra if some choose to buy a home in Canberra and stay there rather than rent from a stranger or stay in a hotel.
Hockey’s arrangements are perfectly reasonable and beyond criticism, and if you want to sool the outrage police onto how politicians have used their per diem, try this deal instead:

The brisk air at Cooma jail has done little to improve the memory of former union boss [and former Labor president] Michael Williamson, who is doing a five-year stretch for diverting millions of dollars from the Health Services Union to fund his lifestyle…
His former union wants to know where the $5 million he has admitted to misappropriating has gone and if there is any chance of clawing it back…
The former union boss was also vague about union funds being used to pay the rent and furnish a luxury Canberra apartment occupied by his daughter Alexandra when she worked for then prime minister Julia Gillard…
Fairfax Media has previously revealed that during 2007 to 2009, then Labor senator Mark Arbib stayed in Ms Williamson’s two-bedroom apartment in Forrest… Mr Arbib maintained he paid his share of the rent directly to Ms Williamson. 
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What was the big treat at the canteen when you were at school?
Posted by 702 ABC Sydney on Thursday, 11 June 2015

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Via Science, Critical Thinking and Skepticism
Posted by The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe on Tuesday, 14 October 2014

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We have just received a report that last week in West Papua, a Papuan man was allegedly shot in the back by a "drunk...
Posted by Free West Papua Campaign on Saturday, 13 June 2015

The drunken Indonesian soldier reminds me of the NK account of what happened to some Japanese they kidnapped to learn the language and customs. Some had survived for more than twenty years and were indoctrinated or wanted to go back. Many had attempted to escape and had died after being hit by cars. Only, there aren't any cars there capable of creating traffic ..
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A Tribute to The Benny Hill Show #EBBA #FUNNY
Posted by eBBa on Saturday, 6 June 2015

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=== Posts from last year ===

ABBOTT IN AMERICA

Tim Blair – Saturday, June 14, 2014 (3:57pm)

Leftoids desperately wished for an Obama smackdown on Tony Abbott. Instead, this happened:

image

Continuing what has been a remarkably successful US tour, the PM next visited the Lone Star state: 
Mr Abbott declared he wanted Australia to be “an affordable energy superpower” like Texas, the “world energy capital”.

image

He was greeted with applause when he announced a fully fledged consulate-general would be placed in Houston to promote trade and investment. 
Excellent.
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FLYING PIE

Tim Blair – Saturday, June 14, 2014 (2:57pm)

Vanessa Badham’s recipe for bacon and egg pie: 
Preheat oven to 200. Line flan plan with a sheet of puff pastry. Lay in 200g of bacon you have fried in a pan. Season. Sprinkle with a handful of chopped fresh parsley and chives. Now, carefully add five eggs, yolks intact. Season. Add five more eggs, yolks intact. Sprinkle another handful of chives and parsley across what’s in the pan. Seal lid with sheet of puff pastry. Brush lid with one beaten raw egg. Punctuate lid with pretty patterns made by fork. Reduce oven heat to 180. Put pie in. Cool for 20 mins or until fabulous golden brown. 
And the crucial final step: throw it at a wall.
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The Bolt Report tomorrow

Andrew Bolt June 14 2014 (12:04pm)

image
A great line-up for the show tomorrow.
Editorial:  About Tanya Plibersek and “Nigel No-friends"…
My guest: Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Iraq. Is Obama losing it?
The panel: former Treasurer Peter Costello and former NSW Treasurer Michael Costa on the AWU scandal and more.
NewsWatch: Rowan Dean. Examining the media narrative of a stumble-bum PM.
On Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm.
The videos of the shows appear here.
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Ignore the ABC conspiracy theory on the AWU scandal

Andrew Bolt June 14 2014 (11:20am)

The AWU scandal

Hedley Thomas on ABC attempts to discredit the royal commission now investigating the AWU slush fund - and the activities of Julia Gillard:
THERE are two theatres now ­busily engaged in starkly different productions about the Australian Workers Union slush fund scandal… 
The big theatre is the national royal commission into union ­corruption. It has hard evidence, foren­sic examinations, legal rules, witnesses and documents in its lead-up to eventual findings on a fraud that has followed Julia Gillard for 22 years.
The noisier, smaller theatre revolves around former union boss Bruce Wilson. It is rich with vaudeville and make-believe, heavily reliant on helpful reviews from friendly ­sections of the media, junk on Twitter, Mark Latham and other politic­ally partisan silliness. It is setting up a conspiracy theory devoid of substance and evidence…
The even more important outcome from this purpose of the little theatre is the hosing-down of troubling allegations at the royal commission from credible witnesses — such as retired builder Athol James and former AWU archivist Wayne Hem — about wads of cash handed over by Wilson for his then girlfriend, Gillard…
The sideshow relies on one slice of Wilson’s witness statement — his evidence-free claims that a retired lawyer, Harry Nowicki, had offere­d him large sums of money to confess all about the AWU slush fund, and even to make up evidence detrimental to Gillard. The problem with Wilson’s claims, even if true (Nowicki, a former Builders Labourers Federation lawyer who has been researching the AWU slush fund for two years, says they are the “lies of a con man’’ facing criminal charges), is they have zero connection to the actual slush fund fraud. Wilson’s contact with Nowicki over the past two years is not remotely connected by time, events or circumstances to what happened in the slush fund from 1992-95, when it was siphoning hundreds of thousands of dollars from building company, Thiess....
This sideshow is designed to undermine former High Court judge Dyson Heydon’s royal commission so that any findings that may be adverse to Wilson — or to Gillard, due to her role as the solicitor who helped set up his slush fund — are less damaging in the court of public opinion…
When the Nowicki portion of Wilson’s witness statement was leaked to Melbourne-based ABC radio broadcaster Jon Faine, a former lawyer, and read aloud on Tuesday morning as the royal commission was set to restart its public hearings, ... Faine said: “It’s an explosive counter-narrative. The claim is made by Wilson that he was told that anonymous benefactors were financially backing and bankrolling the campaign in pursuit of Gillard.’’
Faine stressed: “This claim goes to the motivation and the credibility of many of the witnesses lined up for this week at the royal commission hearings in Sydney.
“If true, then Wilson’s claims destroy the credibility of many of the witnesses that this royal commission seeks to rely upon.”
How? People such as the 84-year-old James and Hem — two witnesses who gave evidence on Wednesday about wads of cash handed to Gillard and deposited into her bank account on Wilson’s instruction — have never met Nowicki; they had “no contact with him whatsoever’’… Heydon ruled late on Thursday: “As the evidence stands then, there is no witness who has accepted that anything he or she was going to say was the result of any overture from Mr Nowicki...”
Gillard says she did not receive that cash and did nothing wrong. 
===

How DiCaprio fights global warming

Andrew Bolt June 14 2014 (10:23am)

The talk:
image
The walk:
image 
HOLLYWOOD star Leo DiCaprio has hired billionaire Man City owner Sheikh Mansour’s mega yacht so he and 21 pals can enjoy the World Cup in style. The actor and his friends jetted into Rio de Janeiro yesterday/on Wednesday, a day after the sheikh’s POUNDS 400 million super yacht Topaz docked in the city.
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Which of the two visits was the embarrassing one?

Andrew Bolt June 14 2014 (10:04am)

Labor foreign affairs spokesman Tanya Plibersek last week:
Australians have to worry that he’ll be embarrassing us on the world stage.
Hmm. Spot the embarrassment.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard visits the White House:

image
The pair met at the White House for 40 minutes before a visit to nearby Wakefield High School.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott visits the White House:
image
Not only did the US President extend the planned one hour meeting with the PM, he had brought in six of his most senior Cabinet members and several advisors [including] his vice president Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry. 
(Thanks to reader Peter H.) 
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How does Fox Sports justify this anti-Abbott propaganda?

Andrew Bolt June 14 2014 (8:45am)

AAP in March sends a picture with this caption:
SOCCEROOS FRIENDLY PRESSER LONDON
New Socceroos captain Mike Jedinak (left) and coach Ange Postecoglou speak during a press conference at The Den in London, Tuesday, March 4, 2014. The Socceroos verse Ecuador in a World Cup friendly in London on Wednesday. (AAP Image/Julian Drape) NO ARCHIVING
Byline JULIAN DRAPE
Credit AAPIMAGE
Source AAP 
The ABC in May sends this report:
In this Update: Australians dominate stage 11 of the Giro D’Italia; midfielder Mike Jedinak will captain the Socceroos at the World Cup in Brazil.

It’s not really wrong, of course, given his full name:
Mile Jedinak has been Australia’s standout performer in the past year… Michael John Jedinak is excellent captaincy material and just could be the Socceroos skipper for many years to come.
But now Fox Sports jeers - and even invents “upset Canadians” and earlier “gaffes”: 
PRIME Minister Tony Abbott, draped in a Socceroos scarf, has called the team’s captain Mile Jedinak “Mike” in a message of support posted on his YouTube channel… 
It has been a tough couple of weeks for Mr Abbott, who upset Canadians with a minor slip of the tongue when he referred to the country as Canadia. He has often been prone to gaffes, including a recent one where he caught winking mid interview to an ABC radio host when a sex worker called in to talk to him.
Could Fox Sports name a single Canadian “upset” by Abbott’s “minor slip of the tongue”? Could it explain why Abbott’s highly successful overseas trip actually amounts to a “tough couple of weeks”? Could it justify its claim that Abbott has “often been prone to gaffes”?
If it can’t justify these claims, could it explain why this kind of reporting is tolerated?
(Thanks to reader the Village Idiot.) 
===

Obama rules out troops for Iraq hours after hinting he wouldn’t. Abbott left hanging

Andrew Bolt June 14 2014 (8:11am)

Two days ago, in a press conference with Tony Abbott,  President Barack Obama hinted he could - reluctantly - even send troops back into Iraq:
So my team is working around the clock to identify how we can provide the most effective assistance to them.  I don’t rule out anything, because we do have a stake in making sure that these jihadists are not getting a permanent foothold in either Iraq or Syria, for that matter. 
But the basic principle obviously is that we, like all nations, are prepared to take military action whenever our national security is threatened.  Where the issues have to do with the broader international order—humanitarian concerns, concerns around rights to navigation, concerns around our ability to deal with instability or fragile states or failed states, and the consequences for populations there and refugee flows—those sorts of international issues, wherever we can, our preference should be to partner with other countries.... And that’s why—well, that’s part of where Australia is so important to us.  There are a handful of countries in the world that we always know we can count on, not just because they share our values, but we know we can count on them because they’ve got real capacity.  Australia is one of those countries… And Aussies know how to fight, and I like having them in a foxhole if we’re in trouble.  So I can’t think of a better partner.  
I have no doubt that this is why Abbott, too, then refused to rule out sending troops:
Asked if he would rule out military intervention, Mr Abbott replied: “Look, I don’t. I hope it doesn’t come to that of course, but this is a serious situation and it does need to be dealt with. 
“America and its allies, including Australia, liberated Iraq from Saddam Hussein some years ago and I don’t think any of us liberated Iraq from Saddam to see Iraq fall into people who are like the Taliban or worse, to fall into their hands...’’ 
But Obama backtracks hours later - showing all the dithering leadership that has cost the US so badly:
No troops to Iraq, but other options are being considered. 
That was President Barack Obama’s message Friday… In a statement delivered from the White House South Lawn, Obama said the United States “will not be sending U.S. troops back into combat in Iraq,” but that he would be reviewing a range of other options in coming days.
George W Bush refuses to criticise:
Former President George W. Bush has been reluctant to weigh in on the latest developments in the region where he spent years deploying military assets that Obama would later pull back. 
A request for comment from the former president was met with a non-response from his communications director Freddy Ford, who told MailOnline: ‘I don’t have a comment for you. When he left office President Bush decided not to criticize his successor.’ 
===

The madness of the Abbott haters

Andrew Bolt June 14 2014 (7:24am)

Labor and its media allies have embarrassed themselves over Tony Abbott’s trip overseas.
Simon Benson:
THE political pre-occupation with Tony Abbott’s anticipated failure at everything is getting ridiculous… 
Even before the Prime Minister had left the shores of Normandy last week, where he marked the commemoration of the D-Day landings, Labor had already labelled his onward trip to the US as a failure and an embarrassment… The chief protagonist has been Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek. But even Labor leader Bill Shorten, who should know better, has been at it.
Describing the PM’s meeting with President Obama (a Labor-aligned Democrat) as part of an overseas “sabbatical” and an embarrassing failure, before it had even happened, did not go unnoticed by US officials who get briefed by the embassy in Canberra. The greater embarrassment, of course, was the premise on which Labor’s attacks this week were based…

Plibersek labelled Abbott an embarrassment because he had apparently ditched a meeting with IMF boss Christine Lagarde and World Bank president Jim Yong Kim.
“Australians have to worry that he’ll be embarrassing us on the world stage,” Plibersek said this week.
Well, she was wrong. In fact, Abbott did meet with Lagarde — last night at an official reception at the Australian Ambassador’s residence in Washington DC. Abbott was also toweled up for apparently cancelled meetings with the chair of the US Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. Wrong again. He will see them today. The only thing Plibersek got right was her praise of Abbott’s decision to again extend Kim Beazley’s term as Australian Ambassador to the United States.
It wasn’t just Labor, though, who made these absurd claims. Here is Laurie Oakes last week:
THERE was some consternation among bureaucrats in Canberra this week when word spread that Tony Abbott had decided against meeting three of the most important economic policy figures in Washington during his forthcoming visit. 
Arrangements had been made for the Prime Minister to meet Jack Lew, the US Treasury Secretary. He was also scheduled to hold talks with Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, and World Bank president Jim Yong Kim. The meetings were locked into the diaries of those key officials. Then the arrangements were cast into doubt by Abbott’s office.
Another dud anti-Abbott prediction from Oakes two weeks ago: 

President Obama described climate change as “a creeping national security crisis”.
Politics watchers in Washington were already predicting climate change would be “the elephant in the room” when the two leaders meet in the Oval Office…
But with Abbott there is little common ground and considerable potential for embarrassment. Even if Abbott and Obama tiptoe around the issue, journalists might not co-operate at the customary joint media conference.
UPDATE
Gerard Henderson:
AS the saying goes, we’ve seen the movie before. It’s called"Coalition PM Travels Overseas and Embarrasses Australians”. The original starred John Howard. Remake, Tony Abbott.
It all started on Monday when online news reported that, during an official visit to Ottawa, the Prime Minister said “Canadia, Canada, probably has more ­involvement in the affairs of ­Europe than Australia often has"…
It came as no surprise when Labor frontbencher David Feeney threw the switch to ridicule with a tweet laughing at Abbott…
Last Monday, the Nine Network’s evening news bulletin gave prominence to Abbott’s slip of the tongue. Journalist Lane Calcutt reported that “he has trouble saying” Canada.
Some serious commentators also joined in. Erik Jensen commented: “What can you expect from the Australian Prime Minister?” Jensen is editor of the super-boring The Saturday Paper.
...on ABC radio, Sydney morning presenter Linda Mottram began an interview on Tuesday with journalist Mark Riley as follows: “You can feel the pain, can’t you? ‘Canadia’ — I mean, it’s just a stumble, isn’t it? One of those things when you’re jet-lagged?”
Well, yes. Yet Mottram consciously decided to start an inter­view with this instantly corrected error. The true story of the Prime Minister’s Canada visit is that it appears to have been a success… The Prime Minister had not even commenced his official visit to the US before it was dismissed by Fairfax Media (apart from The Australian Financial Review). Last Saturday, the key story on page one of The Age was titled “US ties at risk over climate"… To depict the relationship as hinging on future approaches to climate change is tosh. 
===

ABC latest: Abbott driving women to prostitution

Andrew Bolt June 13 2014 (9:08pm)

Gerard Henderson notes the ABC’s curious willingness to believe Tony Abbott is driving women to prostitution:
Let’s go to the transcript: 

Linda Mottram [ABC radio 702]: Let’s chat to Jo who’s on the line. You own a lingerie store, Jo. Good morning.
Jo : Hi Linda. Look I was waiting on this because I really felt compelled to tell you of my experience that I’ve had through the week and it’s becoming more common now what’s happening. I own a lingerie store and I had a young girl come in through the week, sheepishly walking around the store. She would be no more than twenty, twenty one. Anyway we got to the end of the conversation and I had to serve her and I served her some nice lingerie but it couldn’t be black because she’s not allowed to wear black. And I said, “Oh, he doesn’t like black?” and she said “No, I’m an escort”.
And she was explaining to me how hard it is to get a job number one, how difficult it is to go to uni and find that she needs money…
But my concern is – I’m a mum and I was talking to my other co-workers as well. Our daughters, are they being pushed into, not my daughter, well hopefully
not my daughter. And are they being pushed into with what the new government’s actually forcing these young kids to do. Into prostitution.
Linda Mottram : Interesting, interesting point. And you say this isn’t the only case you’ve seen?
Jo : Not at all and its growing. Her friends are all doing it.
Linda Mottram : Goodness
Jo: She has to survive.
Linda Mottram : Yeah, yeah, yeah, you need money…
Jo : Yeah but my concern is, you know, what the Abbott government is doing. And, you know, we do have a lot of kids come in say, “Do you have any jobs? And I’m finding more kids coming in asking if we have any employment in the store. And that’s on the increase as well. Linda Mottram : Yeah well, thanks for the insight Jo – much appreciated.
Goodness, gracious – as the saying goes. The fact is that, in its nine months in office, the Abbott government has not increased university fees or reduced benefits payable to tertiary students. Moreover, there had been no increase in unemployment.
Linda Mottram, should know this. Yet, in her role as presenter, she went along with Jo’s suggestion that the Abbott government is “forcing young kids into prostitution” and that this is “what the Abbott government is doing”.
And the same Nice Mr Scott wonders why the ABC is criticised for the hostility to the Coalition evident in such programs as Mornings with Linda Mottram.  
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Former ACTU president attacks ABC whitewash of AWU slush fund boss

Andrew Bolt June 13 2014 (9:03pm)

Jennie George, former ACTU president and Labor MP, is not impressed by one ABC presenter’s attempt to whitewash Bruce Wilson:
JON Faine, well known ABC broadcaster, gives a free plug to Bruce Wilson reading from his unsworn statement. At the same time, the counsel assisting the royal commission puts the case as to why Wilson should face criminal charges. Supporters of the ABC expect the public broadcaster to act impartially and in accordance with its charter. Faine has failed the test.
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Hoax alert: The NSW Police Force has received numerous enquiries on social media about this letter.

While police promote safety awareness messages on a regular basis, this letter is a hoax that is designed to create unnecessary fear in our community. 

The incidents outlined are, to the best knowledge of NSW Police, entirely fictitious. There is no known gang in NSW called the 'Bloods' that usesthis method of initiation. This particular hoax has been circulating the internet for 20 years and adapted to different locations in the world.

The NSW Police Force actively uses social media, however, any serious crime is the subject of mainstream media release as well as social media posting. We urge social media users not to share the hoax letter.

For more information about this hoax, please see:http://www.snopes.com/crime/gangs/lightsout.asp
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Allyson Christy
Timing is always so guided under a precision-based, politicised agenda. Timing, within any political sphere, is everything, after all, and of the essence to any agenda; needed or otherwise. 

Amid rising scandals, it seems fitting that the White House now formally acknowledges a 'red line' was crossed specific to Syria.

"Congress has been notified that the United States will acknowledge that Syria has used chemical weapons on a small scale multiple times and a "red line" has been crossed, according to congressional sources.

The intelligence community has concluded that sarin gas was used and 100-150 people have died, a senior intelligence official said Thursday.

The Syrian government and rebels have accused each other of using chemical weapons on the battlefield, prompting the United Nations to call for the deployment of an international team of investigators. Both sides have denied using chemical weapons.

The Syrian government has been battling a rebellion for more than two years." - CNN Breaking News
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The NSA Director walks into a bar.
Bartender: I've got a new joke for you.
NSA Director: Heard it.
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Holly Sarah Nguyen'
The promise of Gods words are YES and AMEN...
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Allyson Christy via Martin Sherman
"No matter how often the doctrine of political appeasement and territorial concession failed to win approval at the ballot box, it nevertheless continued to dominate the policy-making decisions of governments – even of those elected in express opposition to it.

Astonishingly, time and time again, the prescriptions of the vanquished became the policy of the victors.

It is thus an accumulated consequence of individual decisions and actions driven by the short-term pursuit of prestige and profit of a group of empowered individuals, and which trump considerations of the long-term interest of the wider collective.

It will not be remedied by electing different politicians...but by promoting, emplacing and empowering new competing civil society elites who can challenge the incumbents and displace them from their positions of unelected influence....

The first step in advancing this crucial revolution is to engender a total revaluation of the strategy of giving by right-wing benefactors.

For one cannot win a war without a war chest..." - Martin Sherman
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" The world knew about the Holocaust and did nothing, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said from the Auschwitz death camp Thursday, vowing that Israel would take matters into its own hands to prevent a second Holocaust.

“The Allied leaders knew about the Holocaust as it was happening. They understood perfectly what was taking place in the death camps. They were asked to act, they could have acted, and they did not,” said Netanyahu. “For us Jews, the lesson is clear. We must not stand idle before the threats of annihilation. We must not bury our heads in the sand, or let others do our work. From here, the place that provides testimony for the will to eradicate us, I, the prime minister of Israel, the Jewish state, tell all the nations of the world: The State of Israel will do whatever is necessary to prevent a second Holocaust.” "
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June 14: Liberation Day in the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (1982); Trooping the Colour and the Queen's Official Birthday in the United Kingdom and several other Commonwealth countries (2014); Flag Day in the United States
Digital reproduction of the homemade Bear Flag of the California Republic
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“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”” Luke 11:13 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
Revelation 22:17
Jesus says, "take freely." He wants no payment or preparation. He seeks no recommendation from our virtuous emotions. If you have no good feelings, if you be but willing, you are invited; therefore come! You have no belief and no repentance,--come to him, and he will give them to you. Come just as you are, and take "Freely," without money and without price. He gives himself to needy ones. The drinking fountains at the corners of our streets are valuable institutions; and we can hardly imagine any one so foolish as to feel for his purse, when he stands before one of them, and to cry, "I cannot drink because I have not five pounds in my pocket." However poor the man is, there is the fountain, and just as he is he may drink of it. Thirsty passengers, as they go by, whether they are dressed in fustian or in broadcloth, do not look for any warrant for drinking; its being there is their warrant for taking its water freely. The liberality of some good friends has put the refreshing crystal there and we take it, and ask no questions. Perhaps the only persons who need go thirsty through the street where there is a drinking fountain, are the fine ladies and gentlemen who are in their carriages. They are very thirsty, but cannot think of being so vulgar as to get out to drink. It would demean them, they think, to drink at a common drinking fountain: so they ride by with parched lips. Oh, how many there are who are rich in their own good works and cannot therefore come to Christ! "I will not be saved," they say, "in the same way as the harlot or the swearer." What! go to heaven in the same way as a chimney sweep. Is there no pathway to glory but the path which led the thief there? I will not be saved that way. Such proud boasters must remain without the living water; but, "Whosoever will, let him TAKE THE WATER OF LIFE FREELY."

Evening

"Remove far from me vanity and lies."
Proverbs 30:8
"O my God, be not far from me."
--Psalm 38:21
Here we have two great lessons--what to deprecate and what to supplicate. The happiest state of a Christian is the holiest state. As there is the most heat nearest to the sun, so there is the most happiness nearest to Christ. No Christian enjoys comfort when his eyes are fixed on vanity--he finds no satisfaction unless his soul is quickened in the ways of God. The world may win happiness elsewhere, but he cannot. I do not blame ungodly men for rushing to their pleasures. Why should I? Let them have their fill. That is all they have to enjoy. A converted wife who despaired of her husband was always very kind to him, for she said, "I fear that this is the only world in which he will be happy, and therefore I have made up my mind to make him as happy as I can in it." Christians must seek their delights in a higher sphere than the insipid frivolities or sinful enjoyments of the world. Vain pursuits are dangerous to renewed souls. We have heard of a philosopher who, while he looked up to the stars, fell into a pit; but how deeply do they fall who look down. Their fall is fatal. No Christian is safe when his soul is slothful, and his God is far from him. Every Christian is always safe as to the great matter of his standing in Christ, but he is not safe as regards his experience in holiness, and communion with Jesus in this life. Satan does not often attack a Christian who is living near to God. It is when the Christian departs from his God, becomes spiritually starved, and endeavours to feed on vanities, that the devil discovers his vantage hour. He may sometimes stand foot to foot with the child of God who is active in his Master's service, but the battle is generally short: he who slips as he goes down into the Valley of Humiliation, every time he takes a false step invites Apollyon to assail him. O for grace to walk humbly with our God!
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Rahab

The Woman God Took From the Dunghill
Scripture References - Joshua 2:1,3; 6:17-25; Matthew 1:5; Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25
Name Meaning - The first part of Rahab - "Ra," was the name of an Egyptian god. As an Amorite, Rahab belonged to an idolatrous people, and had a name meaning "insolence," "fierceness," or "broad," "spaciousness."
Family Connections - While Rahab's parents, brothers and sisters were alive at the time of her association with the spies Joshua sent out, we are not given any of their names (Joshua 2:13). Some of the ancient Jewish fathers who held her in high reputation reckoned that she was the wife of Joshua himself, but in the royal genealogy of Jesus, Rahab is referred to as being the wife of Salmon, one of the two spies she sheltered. In turn, she became the mother of Boaz, who married Ruth from whose son, Obed, Jesse the father of David came, through whose line Jesus was born (Matthew 1:5, where the asv reads, "Salmon begat Boaz of Rahab" - not Rachab). Salmon was a prince of the house of Judah, and thus, Rahab, the one time heathen harlot, married into one of the leading families of Israel and became an ancestress of our Lord, the other foreign ancestresses being Tamar, Ruth and Bathsheba. The gratitude Salmon felt for Rahab ripened into love, and when grace erased her former life of shame he made her his wife. Jerome's comment of the inclusion of the four foreign women in Matthew's genealogy is suggestive -
In it none of the holy women are included, only those whom the Scriptures blame, in order that He who came in behalf of sinners, Himself being born of sinners, might destroy the sins of all.
Both Jewish and Christian writers have tried to prove that Rahab was a different woman from the one whom the Bible always speaks of as a "harlot." To them it was abhorrent that such a disreputable person should be included in our Lord's genealogy and by Paul, as a woman of faith, and so her story has been distorted in order to further a scheme of salvation based upon human goodness. Although man's sense of refinement may be shocked, the fact remains that Rahab, Tamar and Bathsheba were sinful women who were purged by God, and had their share in the royal line from which Jesus sprang.
It has been suggested that the word "harlot" can be translated "innkeeper," thus making Rahab the landlady of a wayside tavern. Guesses have been made that she had been a concubine, such as Hagar and Zilpah had been, but that in Jericho she was a reputable woman identified with a respectable business. The Bible, however, makes no attempt to smooth over the unpleasant fact that Rahab had been a harlot. Endeavoring to understand her character, we have -
Her Sin
Three times over Rahab is referred to as "the harlot," and the Hebrew term zoonah and the Greek word porne have at no time meant anything else but "harlot" - a woman who yields herself indiscriminately to every man approaching her. Rahab indulged in venal wantonness as traveling merchants came her way and were housed in her illfamed abode. Evidently Rahab had her own house and lived apart from her parents and family. Although she never lost her concern for her dear ones, perhaps she was treated as a moral leper. We are told that prostitution was not regarded with the same horror then, as now, but the Bible with one voice speaks of harlotry with moral revulsion and social ostracism.
Rahab's house was built against the town wall with the roof almost level with the ramparts, and with a stairway leading up to a flat roof that appears to be a continuation of the wall. Thus, the people of Jericho knew all about the men who entered and left such a disreputable house. While her name came to be sanctified and ennobled, both Paul and James affix the label to her name, Rahab the harlot . She still carried the evil, distinguishing name, thus declaring the peculiar grace of the transforming power of God. How Rahab came to forsake her evil career we are not told! Like many a young girl today perhaps she found the restrictions of her respectable home too irk-some. She wanted a freer life, a life of thrill and excitement, away from the drab monotony of the home giving her birth and protection. So, high-spirited and independent she left her parents, set up her own apartment with dire consequences. Frequently women like Rahab are more often sinned against than sinners. Man's lust for the unlawful is responsible for harlotry.
Her Scheme
It was from some of the travelers Rahab entertained and sinned with, that she came to learn the facts of the Exodus of Israel, the miracle of the Red Sea, and the overthrow of Sihon and Og. So, when the two spies from Joshua sought cover in her house, she knew that sooner or later the king of Jericho would get to know of the accommodation she gave them. Here were two men, different from other men who came seeking her favors. These were men of God, not idolaters, bent on one mission, namely, the overthrow of the enemies of His people, and brilliantly she planned their protection and escape. The flax that she spread on her roof and the scarlet cord she used as a sign indicated that Rahab manufactured linen and also dyed it. If only, like Lydia, she had kept to such an honorable occupation, what a different story would have been hers.
Rahab's skillful scheme succeeded. The two Jewish spies were in desperate straits, seeing the Amorite pursuers were hot on their trail, but Rahab, although her safety and patriotism as an Amorite would be assured if she informed against the spies, decided to hide and preserve them. Seeing their hunted and dreaded look, Rahab assuredly said, "Fear not, I will not betray you nor your leader. Follow me," and taking them up to the flat roof of her house, bade the men cover themselves completely with a pile of flax lying there to dry. Shortly after, when the pursuers had tracked the two spies to Rahab's house, she met them with a plausible excuse that they were there but had left by way of the Eastern Gate. If they doubted her word, they could come in and search her house. But off the pursuers went to catch up with their prey, not knowing that the spies were being befriended by Rahab. As soon as the way was clear, under cover of night, she let the spies down from the window in the wall and, knowing the country, guided the spies in the best way to escape capture.
There are one or two features associated with this clever plan of Rahab which are worthy of notice. First of all, idolater though she had been, with a phase of immorality associated with her idolatrous life, she witnessed to a remarkable understanding of the sovereignty of the true God for she said to the spies -
I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us.... The Lord, your God he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath ( Joshua 2:9-11).
Harlot though Rahab had been, intuition from above had been given her that the spies were men of God, the forerunners of His people who were to execute His will, and that to take sides with them was to take sides with God Himself.
Further, there was in Rahab's mind, no matter how faintly understood, a distinct call from God, that she was being singled out from her own idolatrous people to aid the God she had a growing conception of. Her faith of this God who worked great wonders was altogether marvelous and singular. It was such a call that made her willing to sacrifice her own nation - an act which would have been otherwise treasonable. Does not her confession of God's power and purpose, and her service for the spies indicate that she knew the race of which she was part was accursed of God for its crimes and idolatry, and that she wished to be separated from such a doomed people, and identified with the people of God? The declaration of faith given by this Canaanite woman places her in a unique position among the women of the Bible.
Her Sacrifice
When Rahab hid the spies, put those who sought them on a false trail and helped the spies to escape and melt away into the shadows of night, and lay concealed until they could reach Joshua with their report, she took her life in her own hands. We cannot but admire her courage and willingness to risk her own neck. Had those spies been discovered hiding in her house, she would have died at the hands of the king of Jericho. Yet with a calm demeanor, and without the slightest trace of inner agitation, she met the searchers and succeeded in setting them out on a false trail. By her act Rahab was actually betraying her own country, and for such treason certain death would have been hers had she been found out. To hide spies was a crime punishable with death. Seeing the faces of the spies filled with fear, Rahab assured their hearts that she was on their side, and in spite of the sacrifice involved said, "I will not betray you. Follow me!" By military law the spies were likewise liable to instant death because of the threat of war, and Rahab, willing to do all in her power to protect her nation's enemies, faced a like terrible end. How gloriously daring was her faith, and how richly rewarded she was for her willingness to sacrifice her life in a cause she knew to be of God!
Her Sign
As Rahab offered to shelter the spies and aid them in their escape, she received from them the promise that when they returned to her country, along with Joshua and his army, that she and her family would be spared alive. While her sin had possibly estranged her from her loved ones, she was concerned about their safety as well as her own. Rahab wanted the kindness she was showing the spies to be reciprocated, and they assured her that she would be dealt with "kindly and truly." The spies said, "Our life for yours if ye utter not this our business." Then the sign of the scarlet rope - their means of escape - was arranged. "According unto thy words, so be it," said Rahab as she let the spies down, and making fast the scarlet rope, she awaited her own deliverance. That red token at the window was likewise a signal to the outside world that Rahab believed in the ultimate triumph of Jehovah.
Much has been said of Rahab's deceit when confronted by the king of Jericho. She told a lie and Scripture forbids a lie or any "evil doing, that good may come of it" (Romans 3:7, 8 ). But under the rules of war, Rahab is not to be blamed for her protection of those righteous forces set against the forces of evil. What the Bible commends is not her deception, but the faith which was the mainspring of her conduct. The characteristic feature of the scarlet rope was that it had to be placed outside the window for Joshua and his men to see. Those inside did not see the token of security. As that scarlet line, because of its color and sign of safety, speaks of the sacrificial work of Christ (Hebrews 9:19, 22), the ground of our assurance of salvation is not experience or feelings within, but the token without. Like the Israelites, Rahab and her relatives might not have felt safe within the house, but the same promise prevailed, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you" (Exodus 12:13).
Her Salvation
Jericho was the worst of the cities of the Amorites, thus God commanded Joshua to destroy both the city and the inhabitants. By divine decree, it was to be given over to a perpetual desolation. When Joshua entered the city he set about the execution of the divine command, but respected the promise made to Rahab by the spies. Under the protection of the scarlet line, Rahab and all her kindred were brought out of the house. The spies came to her house, not to indulge in sin with Rahab, but to prepare the way for Joshua to take Jericho. She saved the spies not out of human pity, or because of expediency, but because she knew that they were servants of the Lord. In turn, she was saved. The spies she had hid brought her, and her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had out of her doomed house, and made them secure without the camp of Israel (Joshua 6:17-25). Brought out of an accursed city, and from her own sins which were as scarlet, Rahab is a fitting illustration of another miracle of divine grace, namely, the calling forth of His church out of a godless, Gentile world.
Her Status
The threefold reference to Rahab in the New Testament reveals how she became a faithful follower of the Lord. She had been taken from the dunghill and placed among the saints in the genealogy of the Saviour (Matthew 1:5 where Rachab [kjv] and Rahab [asv ], are to be identified as the same person). Her remarkable faith was a sanctifying faith leading her to a pure life and honorable career. As the result of her marriage to Salmon, one of the two spies whom she had saved, who "paid back the life he owed her by a love that was honourable and true," Rahab became an ancestress in the royal line from which Jesus came as the Saviour of lost souls. "Poor Rahab, the muddy, the defiled, became the fountainhead of the River of the Water of Life which floweth out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." Her name became sanctified and ennobled, and is worthy of inclusion among many saints.
Paul highly commends Rahab for her energetic faith and gives her a place on the illustrious roll of the Old Testament of those who triumphed by faith. "By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she received the spies with peace" (Hebrews 11:31). What a suggestive touch that is, "with peace." There was not only faith in her heart that God would be victorious, but also an assured peace when she hid the spies that her deliverance from destruction would be taken care of. She knew the rest of faith. In fact, Rahab is the only woman besides Sarah who is designated as an example of faith in the great cloud of witnesses. What a manifestation of divine grace it is to find the one-time harlot ranked along with saints like Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses and David!
The Apostle James adds to Paul's record about Rahab being justified by faith by saying that she was likewise justified by works (James 2:25 ), and there is no contradiction between these two aspects for Rahab's courageous deed was but faith in practice. Faith had wrought in her a change of heart and life, and it likewise enabled her to shield the spies as she did in the confidence God would triumph over His enemies. She exemplified her faith by her brave act, and so James quotes Rahab as exemplifying justification by works evidentially. As Fausset puts it -
Paul's justification by faith alone means a faith, not dead but working by love (Galatians 5:6 ). Again, Rahab's act cannot prove justification by works as such, for she was a woman ofbad character. But as an example of grace, justifying through an operative as opposed to mere verbal faith, none could be more suitable than the saved "harlot." She believed, so as to act on her belief, what her countrymen disbelieved; and this in the face of every improbability that an unwarlike force would conquer a well armed one, far more numerous. She believed with the heart (Romans 10:9, 10), confessed with the mouth, and acted on her profession at the risk of her life.
In conclusion, what are the lessons to be gathered from the harlot whom God used to fulfill His purpose? First of all, we are reminded by Rahab's change of heart and life, that "His blood can make the vilest clean," and that "His blood avails for me." Was it not a wonderful condescension on the part of the Redeemer when He became manifest in the flesh to take hold of a root so humble in type as poor, despised Rahab to magnify His abounding grace for all sinners? Rahab was well worth saving from her evil life both for her own sake and for the place she had in God's plan. Other women in Jericho saw no beauty in Rahab that they should desire her company, but through faith she became one of God's heroines, and is included among the harlots entering the kingdom of God before the self-righteous. Rahab's sins had been scarlet, but the scarlet line freeing the spies, and remaining as a token of her safety, typified the red blood of Jesus whereby the worst of sinners can be saved from sin and hell (Matthew 21:31, 32). While the door of mercy stands ajar, the vilest sinner can return and know what it is to be saved and safe.
A further lesson to be gleaned from Rahab the harlot is that of deep concern for the salvation of others. With the shadow of death and destruction over Jericho, Rahab extracted a promise from Joshua's spies not only to spare her, but also all those bound to her by human ties. While her life of sin and shame had estranged her from her family, self was not her sole consideration in her request for safety. She desired all her loved ones to share in the preservation. What a vein of gold that was in such a despised character! When the mighty change took place in Rahab's life, and she was transformed from a whore into a worshiper of Jehovah, we are not told. As she received and hid the spies, her tribute to God's omnipotence and sure triumph over His foes reveals a spiritual insight God grants to all who believe. And restored to honor and holiness, the redeemed harlot pleads for her parents, and brothers, and sisters. Do we make Rahab's prayer for the salvation of her family, the cry for our own homes? Is ours the same passionate supplication for all of our dear ones that when death strikes they may be found sheltered by the atoning blood of the Redeemer? When at evening the sun goeth down, will our loved ones be as stars in our crown?
Rahab is likewise a poetic and symbolic name for Egypt (Psalms 87:4; 89:10; Isaiah 51:9.
The practical lessons to be learned from the history of Hagar have been fittingly summarized by Dr. James Crichton in his article on Hagar in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia -
The life and experience of Hagar teach, among other truths, the temptations incident to a new position; the foolishness of hasty action in times of trial and difficulty; the care exercised over the lonely by the all-seeing God; the Divine purpose in the life of everyone, however obscure and friendless; how God works out His gracious purposes by seemingly harsh methods; and the strength, comfort and encouragement that ever accompany the hardest experiences of His children.
It only remains to be said that Paul uses the story of Hagar as an allegory to distinguish law from grace (Galatians 4:21-31 ). Hagar the bondwoman is contrasted with Sarah the freewoman, and Ishmael "born after the flesh" with Isaac "born through promise"; thence freedom and grace appear as the characteristic qualities of Christianity. Hagar represents the Old Covenant and Sarah the New Covenant which is superior to the Old with its ordinances. Under grace all within the household of faith live by faith, and Sarah represents "the Jerusalem that is above" - "our mother" (rv), which is the free spiritual city to which all children of the promise even now belong ( Philippians 3:21).
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Joseph

[Jō'zeph] - may god add or increaser.
The husband of Mary, and foster-father of our Lord (Matt. 1:16-24; 2:13; Luke 1:27; 2:4-43; 3:23; 4:22; John 1:45; 6:42).

The Man of Wood and Nails

It is somewhat unique that two Josephs were associated with Christ, one at His birth and the other at His death. Both of these godly men gave Jesus of their best. In this section we think of Joseph the carpenter, who was present at the manger when Jesus was born, even though he was not His father. While Christ came as the Son of Man, He was never a son of a man.
Joseph's presence at Christ's birth witnesses to a severe test that had emerged triumphant. Mary was the pure young woman he had fallen in love with, and was about to make his wife. Yet the Child she was about to bear would not be his. Seeing her "great with child," without fanfare Joseph was minded to put her away. He never acted rashly with his espoused, although he was baffled by her condition. This serves for all time as an example of godly wisdom and tender consideration for others.
Bitterly disappointed that Mary had apparently betrayed him, yet believing, he made no haste. As a praying man he waited upon God, and his love for and patience with Mary were rewarded. God understood his mental difficulties and rewarded Joseph's conscientious attitude toward Mary by revealing His redemptive plan. God never fails those who carry their anxieties to Him. Joseph received a direct and distinct revelation from God, and at once his fears were banished, and his line of duty made clear.
Tenderly he cared for his dear one as if the Child she was bearing were his own. Overawed by the mystery of it all, that his beloved Mary had been chosen as the mother of the Lord he as a devout Jew had eagerly anticipated, we can imagine how he would superintend every detail of the Nativity.
What holy thoughts must have filled the mind of Mary's guardian. Where suspicion regarding Mary's purity once lurked, strong faith now reigned as he looked into the lovely face of Mary's Child. At last God's promises had been fulfilled and before him was the Babe through whom God's covenants would be established.
When it became necessary because of Herod's hatred to flee into Egypt, Joseph cared for Mary and her first-born Son with reverent devotion until tidings came that Herod was dead, and that they could safely return to their own land. While a shroud of secrecy covers the thirty years Christ spent at home, we can be sure of this, that between Jesus and Joseph there was an affection strong and deep.
Briefly stated, we have these glimpses of Joseph:
I. He was "a son of David" and could claim royal or priestly descent (Matt. 1:20).
II. His family belonged to Bethlehem, David's city.
III. He followed the trade of carpenter, and doubtless taught Christ how to use wood and nails (Matt. 13:55).
IV. He was a pious Israelite, faithful in all the ordinances of the Temple (Luke 2:22-24, 41, 42).
V. He was a kindly, charitable man, treating Mary gently in her time of need (Matt. 1:19; Luke 2:1-7).
VI. He was faithful in his care of Christ, and deserved to be called His "father" (Luke 2:33. John 1:45; 6:42).
VII. He never appears in the Gospels after Christ was twelve years of age and became "a son of the Law" (Luke 2:41-51), which may suggest that he died during the interval. This would explain why Jesus at His death asked John to care for His mother.
VIII. He died, tradition says, at the age of 111 years, when Jesus was but eighteen years of age.
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Today's reading: Ezra 6-8, John 21 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Ezra 6-8

The Decree of Darius
1 King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the archives stored in the treasury at Babylon. 2 A scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana in the province of Media, and this was written on it:
Memorandum:
3 In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem:
Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices, and let its foundations be laid. It is to be sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide, 4 with three courses of large stones and one of timbers. The costs are to be paid by the royal treasury. 5 Also, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, are to be returned to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; they are to be deposited in the house of God....

Today's New Testament reading: John 21

Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish
1 Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3 "I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing....




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