Friday, December 25, 2015

Fri Dec 25th Todays News

It is good to look a the Christmas postings. Some celebrating the birth of jesus, while some are celebrating family and love. I wasn't raised to know God, and I get how most anyone feels in their posts. Except the hate posts. The dark hopes that people will suffer. There is plenty to go around without wanting more. But note, if I thank service men and women who are working on Christmas to keep people safe, they aren't the haters. And I thank them because their service suggests devotion and love. I read an article blaming Israel, and so called Palestinians, for violence in Bethlehem. Apparently the 'reprehensible' Israelis are being stabbed and run over by cars and trying to live. The press want those Israelis to give peace a chance. Another article declares refugees are being burned out of their premises by the hundreds in Germany. Or near mosques in the US. The suggestion being that Islamic peoples aren't safe in the west. But such memes are dangerous. The truth is terrorists rule in so called Palestine. They call themselves Islamic and the reform Islam movement suggests they aren't. Calling all Muslims terrorists is stupid, and feeds the conflagration of memes that terrorists use to justify their insane acts. And the people who post the utter rubbish get to see the fruit of their work as those that serve work extra hard to protect them. Support those who are victims. Love those who are family and friends. And resist those who promote terror. And send so called Palestinians back to Jordan. 

 Merry Christmas. 
=== from 2014 ===
The passing of Jeremy Lloyd a groundbreaking comedian. Born in 1930, he was the son of a show dancer and a petroleum engineer. He had begun manual labour, his parents viewing him as a failure, and at age 28 became a writer after making a concept script and forcing a Rank studio executive to hear about it. He became a regular writer when a previous one had moved on and he was asked to replace them. He called them to ask how they had done it, and offered them half the pay. Jeremy was old school. He wrote what became groundbreaking series like "Are You Being Served" and "Allo, Allo" but they have since been surpassed with modern writing teams applying dramatic theory. It is no longer actors delivering lines from a single author. And yet Jeremy delivered that when it was fresh and charming. Situation comedy reached a peak with him, and he had not been raised to it, but applied himself to it because of the turgid nature of post WW2 movie comedy. He died 22nd December at age 84 of pneumonia. One can still learn much watching the master's work. 

An eight hour siege in Gold coast finished with the gunman walked out of a unit in handcuffs. It isn't analogous to Sydney, where there were hostages. The gunman threatened to harm the property he was holed up in. He had fired two 'warning shots' and police got a siege squad with negotiators involved. The man is said to be suffering from diverse personal issues, but did not appear to be drunk or drug affected. 

US police shooting. Man pulled gun on police and was killed as they fired in self defence. It is important that police always do that, and not hesitate. To hesitate is to risk the police being the victim. Pulling a gun on police is supposed to be dangerous. Meanwhile the mother has tried to create a riot suggesting her son had been chased and shot by police. Video evidence shows that is not true. It is apparent her son had been with a friend involved with theft at a petrol station. The friend is not yet apprehended. 

Nanobots .. the next best thing since GM food. Expect scare stories meant to prevent research into something useful. 

Students need to participate in activities. All of them. The idea that protesting an activity is enlightened, is harmful for kids, as was the idea of exploiting kids for the Chinese cultural revolution or for the Nazi fascist ideal. There is consistent anecdotal evidence that despite the protest movement instilling the unproductive practice of students protesting worthwhile activity such as math drill work or non routine exercises such as BMI discovery, still the AGW hysteric movement has successfully exploited children to support their movement. Critical thinking is important, but obstruction is disempowering. 
From 2013
 As it is Christmas Day, regular columnists haven't posted. Yesterday's editorial focused on criticism of the church. Todays is about Jesus of Nazareth. This blog is secular and welcomes people of all religious persuasions, or none. This writer is a Christian and believes that Jesus was Christ, the son of God. I have embraced two decisions before coming to that conclusion. The first was to accept that God was possible, which at age eighteen, being raised by devout atheists, was a big leap. I had known the straw dogs which are often drawn to demolish the plausibility of a concept such as God. God, as I'd thought before I accepted the possibility, was not only not possible, but absurd. If God could do anything, could he build a bridge so vast he couldn't leap across it? If he couldn't leap across it, he wasn't God, if he couldn't build it he wasn't God, ergo, God could not exist as it is not possible to satisfy both conjectures. Clearly, if God were to exist, he would not be capable of all things. But the mistake of my thinking, I later came to believe, was that my construction of God was what was not possible. If God exists, he is clearly not what I was portraying Him as being. What is the world like without God? Is it any different? Why would God make the world the way he did if he had existed? I accepted that God was possible only after I admitted he was different to what I had constructed him as being.

The second decision took twenty five years for me. It was to accept that the resurrection was real. I had thought it inspired by an army of devout believers and hucksters. But, for some reason, it is natural for a person to be religious, and those that don't tend to suffer. The accounts of the gospels and contemporaneous sources are compelling for me that the resurrection happened .. a group of late teen, early twenties men and women who were not well educated did not deceive the best learners of the age. The authorities could have challenged assertions but chose not to. If one accepts the resurrection happened, and that God is possible .. there is debate in Christian circles as to how to worship God, but there is unanimity of thought too .. Jesus was God, and he died for a purpose, and he resurrected. What that means for you, is only something you and the Lord know. Maybe he wasn't born on this precise Day. Maybe he wasn't thirty three years old when he was crucified. But, what does it mean? Merry Christmas. 

Special thanks to birthday girl Chih Yun, who founded, with her husband, David, the Jesus Family Centre in Cabramatta over twenty years ago. Thanks to her choice to open a church for Chinese peoples living in Sydney, the church has grown to embrace peoples of all nationalities and ethnicities. They accepted me on Christmas Day in 2007. I had become a recluse, besieged by some very bad people. But her family gave me a home. 
Historical perspective on this day
In 333, Roman Emperor Constantine the Great elevated his youngest son Constans to the rank of Caesar. 336, First documentary sign of Christmas celebration in ancient Rome 350, Vetranio met Constantius II at Naissus (Serbia) and was forced to abdicate his title (Caesar). Constantius allowed him to live as a private citizen on a state pension. 496, Clovis I, king of the Franks, was baptized into the Catholic faith at Reims, by Saint Remigius. 597,  Augustine of Canterbury and his fellow-labourers baptised in Kent more than 10,000 Anglo-Saxons. 800, Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome. 1000, the foundation of the Kingdom of Hungary: Hungary was established as a Christian kingdom by Stephen I of Hungary. 1025, Coronation of Mieszko II Lambert as King of Poland 1066, William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy was crowned king of England, at Westminster Abbey, London. 1076 coronation of Bolesław II the Generous as king of Poland.

In 1100, Baldwin of Boulogne was crowned the first King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity. 1130, Count Roger II of Sicily was crowned the first King of Sicily. 1261, John IV Laskaris of the restored Eastern Roman Empire was deposed and blinded by orders of his co-ruler Michael VIII Palaiologos. 1492,  Carrack Santa María captained by Christopher Columbus ran onto reefs off Haiti due to a proper watch not being kept. Local natives helped to save food, armory and ammunition but not the ship. 1553,  Battle of Tucapel: Mapucherebels under Lautaro defeated the Spanish conquistadors and executed the governor of Chile, Pedro de Valdivia. 1643, Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean found and named by Captain William Mynors of the English East India Company vessel, the Royal Mary. 1776, George Washington and the Continental Army crossed the Delaware River at night to attack Hessian forces serving Great Britain at Trenton, New Jersey, the next day. 1809, Dr. Ephraim McDowell performed the first ovariotomy, removing a 22 pound tumor. 1814, Rev. Samuel Marsden held the first Christian service on land in New Zealand at Rangihoua Bay. 1815, the Handel and Haydn Society, oldest continuously performing arts organisation in the United States, gave its first performance. 1826, the Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy concluded after beginning the previous evening. 1837, Second Seminole War: American general Zachary Taylor led 1100 troops against the Seminoles at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee. 1868, United States President Andrew Johnson granted unconditional pardon to all Civil War Confederate soldiers.

In 1914, a series of unofficial truces occurred across the Western Front to celebrate Christmas. 1926, Emperor Taishō of Japan died. His son, Prince Hirohito, succeeded him as Emperor Shōwa. 1927, the Vietnamese Nationalist Party was founded. 1932, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Gansu, China killed 275 people. 1941, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz arrived at Pearl Harbor to assume command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet Also 1941, World War II: Battle of Hong Kong ended, beginning the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. Also 1941, Admiral Émile Muselier seized the archipelago of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which became the first part of France to be liberated by the Free French Forces. 1946, the first in Europe artificial, self-sustained nuclear chain reaction was initiated within Soviet F-1 nuclear reactor. 1947, the Constitution of the Republic of China went into effect. 1950, the Stone of Scone, traditional coronation stone of British monarchs, was taken from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalist students. It later turned up in Scotland on April 11, 1951. 1963, Turkish Cypriot Bayrak Radio began transmitting in Cyprus after Turkish Cypriots were forcibly excluded from Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation. 1965, the Yemeni Nasserist Unionist People's Organisation is founded in Ta'izz 1968, Apollo program: Apollo 8 performed the very first successful Trans-Earth injection (TEI) manoeuvre, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit. Also 1968, Kilvenmani massacre, 44 Dalits(untouchables) burnt to death in Kizhavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, a retaliation for a campaign for higher wages by Dalit labourers.

In 1974, Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin, Northern Territory Australia. Also 1974, Marshall Fields drove a vehicle through the gates of the White House, resulting in a four-hour standoff. 1977, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin met in Egypt with its president Anwar Sadat. 1989, deposed President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, First-Deputy Prime-Minister Elena Ceaușescu were condemned to death and executed after a summary trial. 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as General Secretary of the Soviet Union (the union itself was dissolved the next day). Ukraine's referendum was finalized and Ukraine officially left the Soviet Union. 2000, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill into law that officially established a new National Anthem of Russia, with music adopted from the anthem of the Soviet Union that was composed by Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov. 2003, the ill-fated Beagle 2 probe, released from the Mars Express spacecraft on December 19, disappeared shortly before its scheduled landing. 2004, Cassini orbiter released Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005. 2009, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab unsuccessfully attempted a terrorist attack against the US while on board a flight to Detroit Metro Airport Northwest Airlines Flight 253 2012, an Antonov An-72 plane crashed close to the city of Shymkent, killing 27 people.
=== 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.
===
Editorials will appear in the "History in a Year by the Conservative Voice" series, starting with August, September, October, or at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/1482020262/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_dVHPub0MQKDZ4  The kindle version is cheaper, but the soft back version allows the purchase of a kindle version for just $3.99 more. 

List of available items at Create Space
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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.

Happy birthday and many happy returns Smail Cehic, Tina, Chih Yun and Jesus of Nazareth. Born on this day, across the years, along with
December 25: Christmas Day (Gregorian calendar); Quaid-e-Azam Day (Pakistan)
Nicolae Ceaușescu
You have conquered, but not secured the throne. You are launching a surprise attack. You have succeeded. You justly condemned the wicked. You escaped your enclosure. Let's party. 
Deaths
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MERRY CARBONMAS

Tim Blair – Friday, December 25, 2015 (12:30am)

Best wishes to all readers, commenters and emailers from everyone here at the Blair compound’s Christmas Carbon Creation Centre, and let’s keep burning it up in 2016:

image
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HAVE AN ELVIS CHRISTMAS

Tim Blair – Thursday, December 25, 2014 (2:41pm)

Readers are invited to celebrate Christmas with Andy Kaufman’s uncanny Elvis Presley impersonation:



UPDATE. Click and scroll for an epic Christmas tune showdown between Iowahawk and veteran music critic Kurt Loder, whose own bizarre Elvis connection is revealed here.
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BLACK IS WHITE

Tim Blair – Wednesday, December 24, 2014 (7:03pm)

Earlier this month, Lady Pages writer Ruby Hamad found herself troubled by diversity:

image 
On Saturday, the day of Victoria’s election, the Rise Up Australia Party posted the above photo to their Facebook page.
Yes, it appears that Australia’s far right, ultra-nationalist, evangelical Christian, anti-abortion, and anti-immigration party has an extraordinary amount of gender and racial diversity. More so, as I noted someone comment dryly under the photo, than The Greens.
How is this possible? 
It is easily possible once you realise that superwhite middle- and upper-class Greens make Casper look like Blind Joe Reynolds. To get around this conundrum, Hamad literally argues that black is white: 
Whiteness is essentially those cultural beliefs, practices, norms and values that are sanctioned by white, western society. The term “Judeo-Christian” values is simply a handy shorthand for all of the above. Rise Up Australia is an example of how you can share in the bounty of white privilege even if you are not white, as long as you are willing to play by the rules. And one of these rules is to talk about race in a way that legitimises the dominance of white culture. 
Hamad concludes that people who don’t conform to her narrow notions of race and culture have “betray[ed] their respective communities. And themselves.” Yep. She’s straight-up calling them a bunch of Uncle Toms. Interestingly, Hamad previously complained about a too-white panel discussing multiculturalism. Yet, for all she knows, some may hold culural beliefs allowing them to share in the bounty of black history even if they are not black.
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Holly Sarah Nguyen
Misinformation and lies can strain families and relationships all the way to the grave. It takes real courage to give the truth and live the truth. That means going out of your way to see that it is correct and doing repair work when wrong. I know we each do not see things the same. We can make amends and someone can still be unsatisfied. Only do what you can from the well of a good heart, let the rest play out.
John Tran It is so true, and especially around this time of the year where family gets together.. it hurts more because it's family who can perpetuate misinformation and ill feelings. But I always turn to my wife and say "remember how when we met, we wanted a loving family ever since we grew up surrounded by the ones that let us down, this just reminds us to raise our kids by good example" 
=
Sometimes we feel unappreciated and alone as if we do not matter. It is key to try to remember feelings are not always accurate and they can be challenged. We are not prisoners of our thoughts. We can change them to be more realistic and less emotional... ((((Hugs)))) My Christmas wish to you is that we may know peace, serenity, and calmness from the start of the day til the end and may it begin again the following day.. Merry Christmas!!!  
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13 reasons Santa Claus is definitely a conservative
www.foxnews.com
I’ve been making a list and checking it twice, and although I can’t tell you who’s been naughty or nice, I can say that Santa Claus has all the hallmarks of being a conservative.

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Walt Whitman
"This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body."
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Zaya Toma
How Do You Explain Jesus Christ?

“A young man whose father is a carpenter grows up working in his father’s shop. He has no formal education. He owns no property of any kind. One day he puts down his tools and walks out of his father’s shop. He starts preaching on street corners and in the nearby countryside. Walking from place to place preaching all the while even though he is in no way an ordained minister he never gets farther than an area perhaps 100 miles wide at the most.

He does this for three years. Then he is arrested, tried and convicted. There is no court of appeal so he is executed at age 33 along with two common thieves. Those in charge of his execution roll dice to see who gets his clothing—the only possessions he has. His family cannot afford a burial place so he is interred in a borrowed tomb.

End of story? No, this uneducated, propertyless young man who preached on street corners for only three years who left no written word has for 2000 years had a greater effect on the entire world than all the rulers, kings and emperors, all the conquerors, the generals and admirals, all the scholars, scientists and philosophers who ever lived—all put together. How do we explain that?

Unless He really was what He said he was.”—Ronald Reagan
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Dozens of U.S. universities reject academic boycott of Israel
www.washingtonpost.com
There is growing backlash to boycott announced by the American Studies Association.
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Kiana O'Neil, 14, mistaken for burglar, shot by stepdad in Colorado Springs
www.news.com.au
A 14-YEAR-OLD girl was shot dead by her stepfather after he reportedly mistook her for a burglar.

This is why we can't have nice things? - ed
John Tran ...Yep, the trouble with guns is that it takes little skill to kill. So therefore there is little thought involved in training how to use a gun. He could've easily yell out "identify yourself or I will shoot". But a nervous person with a deadly weapon can't think straight.
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<Yet despite all the evidence morons still keep electing these left wing Socialist alliance cretins.>
Menzies Research Centre - Public policy ideas with impact for a free society - The Performance...
mrcltd.org.au
The Menzies Research Centre works to promote the principles of individual liberty, free speech, competitive enterprise, limited government and democracy.
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The View from Israel.: A FOURTH KIND OF ANTI-SEMITISM.
israeltheviewfromhere.blogspot.com

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The View from Israel.: CHRISTMAS HAS BEEN HIJACKED!
israeltheviewfromhere.blogspot.se

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Baby Food Jihad | FrontPage Magazine
www.frontpagemag.com
Meet the halal certification group whose board member calls Jews corrupt apes and swine.
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More U.S. universities withdraw from ASA over academic boycott of Israel
www.jta.org
Two more American institutions of higher learning officially withdrew their memberships from the American Studies Association after its membership voted in favor of an academic boycott of Israel.
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From Hebron to Holon, a Palestinian child makes a short, vital journey
www.timesofisrael.com
Four-year-old Muath was born with congenital heart disease. Now he’s about to undergo critical surgery at Wolfson Medical Center thanks to the Save A Child’s Heart philanthropy
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Via Jack DeLowe
Why Israel Opposes International Forces in the Jordan Valley
jcpa.org
A critical issue in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations is the future of the Jordan Valley. Watch this video to learn why Israel cannot withdraw from the area and rely on international forces.
http://jcpa.org/why-israel-opposes-international-forces-in-the-jordan-valley/
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Turkey and Israel have new round of compensation talks for Mavi Marmara victims
en.trend.az
An Israeli delegation met with a senior Turkish diplomat in Istanbul last week as part of compensation talks for the Mavi Marmara raid victims, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official has told the Hurriyet Daily News.
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Shiloh Musings: Since America is Going Down The Drain, Israel Should Let Go and Thrive
shilohmusings.blogspot.com
My musings, reflections on life here in Shiloh, Israel. Original, personal, spiritual and political. Peace, security and Israeli sovereignty. While not a "group blog," Shiloh Musings includes the voices of other Jews in The Land of Israel. **Copyright(C)BatyaMedad ** For permission to use these in p...
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Repeating folly based on dangerous illusions
calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.se
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The US has been committed to forcing Israel to accept the Saudi Plan since the seventies
www.israpundit.com
This post and preface was published in July 4, 2010. It clearly foretold that Israel would be forced to accept the Saudi Plan which is what Kerry/Obama are presently doing. See Secret Peace Talk Contents Revealed By PA Sources.. See also : Henry Kissin
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Gilad Shalit Joins Calls to Release Jonathan Pollard
www.israelnationalnews.com
Shalit, who was kidnapped by Hamas and kept prisoner for 5 years, joins mounting calls for US to release Jonathan Pollard.
Pollard is not a bargaining chip, but evil people use him as one. I want him released now. An impost may be placed on that, so be it. But, I wouldn't honour any bargain .. there is no honour here. He needs to be free now. If terrorists are released, release them. Then kill them. - ed
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Media’s Lexicon Poisons Public Perceptions of Israel | Jewish & Israel News Algemeiner.com
www.algemeiner.com
Vice President Biden voiced an under-appreciated truth this month in telling a Jewish group that the Jewish people face the most concentrated international effort he has seen in his 40 years of public life to delegitimize Israel. The Western media participates in this delegitimization campaign by la...
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No Merry Christmas For Jonathan – Israellycool
http://www.israellycool.com/2013/12/24/no-merry-christmas-for-jonathan/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Israellycool+%28Israellycool%29
Thanks to the President's holiday largesse, 21 criminals, including crack cocaine dealers, will be home with their families on Christmas Eve. But Jonathan Pollard is left behind in jail, ailing, and paying too high a price, by presidential fiat.

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A Soldier's Mother: Jesus was WHAT???
israelisoldiersmother.blogspot.com

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LYONS: A new doctrine of disengagement « Daily News
unitycoalitionforisrael.org
Since July 1991, the Unity Coalition for Israel has convened an alliance of Christian and Jewish organizations actively working together to generate support for the State of Israel. With more than 200 autonomous partners, representing more than 40 million Americans, we are the largest network of Pro...
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What is behind the latest rise in Palestinian terror attacks?
http://anneinpt.wordpress.com/2013/12/25/what-is-behind-the-latest-rise-in-palestinian-terror-attacks/
A couple of weeks ago I posted about the huge rise in terrorist incidents in recent weeks, involving mainly rock-throwing and launching Molotov cocktails. These were followed by the murder of an I...

.. there is a specific reason for what is happening .. and it isn't because of Israel. What has happened is the US has voted in a weak President .. he might agree with what is happening, but it is still an erosion of his power. - ed===
Media’s Lexicon Poisons Public Perceptions of Israel | Jewish & Israel News Algemeiner.com
www.algemeiner.com
Vice President Biden voiced an under-appreciated truth this month in telling a Jewish group that the Jewish people face the most concentrated international effort he has seen in his 40 years of public life to delegitimize Israel. The Western media participates in this delegitimization campaign by la...
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Naftali Bennett: ‘We Are Pursuing the Peace Process as if There is no Terror’ | Jewish & Israel...
www.algemeiner.com
JNS.org – Israeli Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett questioned the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations in light of Monday’s stabbing of an Israeli policeman. “We are pursuing the peace process as if there is no terror,” Bennett said. “The assertion that the Palestinian Authori...
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US officials, Ivy League universities slam academic group’s Israel ‘boycott’
www.foxnews.com
An American academic group's controversial boycott of Israeli institutions drew a scathing rebuke this week from a top congressional lawmaker who accused the organization of getting on the bandwagon of anti-Israel rhetoric -- while ignoring major human-rights abusers.

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Dozens of U.S. universities reject academic boycott of Israel
www.washingtonpost.com
There is growing backlash to boycott announced by the American Studies Association.
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IMRA - Tuesday, December 24, 2013 Open letter by Gilead Shalit for Pollard: Save him!
www.imra.org.il
'Save him!’ – An open letter by Gilead Shalit Originally printed in Yediot Achronot – December 24, 2013 – Page 4 Translated to English by Justice4JP - May be reprinted
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Gazan Sniper Kills Israeli Civilian. IDF Targeted Terror Sites in the Gaza Strip - TLVFaces
www.tlvfaces.com
A short while ago, a sniper in Gaza shot and killed an Israeli civilian who was doing maintenance on the Israel-Gaza security in the northern Gaza Strip. The worker was evacuated to a nearby hospital by an IAF aircraft but died of his injuries. In response, IAF aircrafts and IDF tanks and infantry r...

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Report: Netanyahu to Begin Building Freeze in Judea and Samaria
www.israelnationalnews.com
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu allegedly slated to cave in to international pressure, freeze marketing and construction plans.

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Turkey 'has Replaced Iran as Hamas's Sponsor'
www.israelnationalnews.com
'The money is channeled through private sources, with full coordination with Erdogan and his aides,' reports World Tribune.

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PA rejects EU demand not to fund terrorists with EU money - PMW Bulletins
palwatch.org
PA Minister of Prisoners' Affairs mocks EU for criticizing PA use of funding for terrorists' salaries., Palestinian Media Watch is an Israeli research institute that studies Palestinian society from a broad range of perspectives by monitoring and analyzing the Palestinian Authority through its media...
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“So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” Luke 2:16-20 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"For your sakes he became poor."
2 Corinthians 8:9
The Lord Jesus Christ was eternally rich, glorious, and exalted; but "though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor." As the rich saint cannot be true in his communion with his poor brethren unless of his substance he ministers to their necessities, so (the same rule holding with the head as between the members), it is impossible that our Divine Lord could have had fellowship with us unless he had imparted to us of his own abounding wealth, and had become poor to make us rich. Had he remained upon his throne of glory, and had we continued in the ruins of the fall without receiving his salvation, communion would have been impossible on both sides. Our position by the fall, apart from the covenant of grace, made it as impossible for fallen man to communicate with God as it is for Belial to be in concord with Christ. In order, therefore, that communion might be compassed, it was necessary that the rich kinsman should bestow his estate upon his poor relatives, that the righteous Saviour should give to his sinning brethren of his own perfection, and that we, the poor and guilty, should receive of his fulness grace for grace; that thus in giving and receiving, the One might descend from the heights, and the other ascend from the depths, and so be able to embrace each other in true and hearty fellowship. Poverty must be enriched by him in whom are infinite treasures before it can venture to commune; and guilt must lose itself in imputed and imparted righteousness ere the soul can walk in fellowship with purity. Jesus must clothe his people in his own garments, or he cannot admit them into his palace of glory; and he must wash them in his own blood, or else they will be too defiled for the embrace of his fellowship.
O believer, herein is love! For your sake the Lord Jesus "became poor" that he might lift you up into communion with himself.

Evening

"The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together."
Isaiah 40:5
We anticipate the happy day when the whole world shall be converted to Christ; when the gods of the heathen shall be cast to the moles and the bats; when Romanism shall be exploded, and the crescent of Mohammed shall wane, never again to cast its baleful rays upon the nations; when kings shall bow down before the Prince of Peace, and all nations shall call their Redeemer blessed. Some despair of this. They look upon the world as a vessel breaking up and going to pieces, never to float again. We know that the world and all that is therein is one day to be burnt up, and afterwards we look for new heavens and for a new earth; but we cannot read our Bibles without the conviction that--
"Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Does his successive journeys run."
We are not discouraged by the length of his delays; we are not disheartened by the long period which he allots to the church in which to struggle with little success and much defeat. We believe that God will never suffer this world, which has once seen Christ's blood shed upon it, to be always the devil's stronghold. Christ came hither to deliver this world from the detested sway of the powers of darkness. What a shout shall that be when men and angels shall unite to cry "Hallelujah, hallelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!" What a satisfaction will it be in that day to have had a share in the fight, to have helped to break the arrows of the bow, and to have aided in winning the victory for our Lord! Happy are they who trust themselves with this conquering Lord, and who fight side by side with him, doing their little in his name and by his strength! How unhappy are those on the side of evil! It is a losing side, and it is a matter wherein to lose is to lose and to be lost forever. On whose side are you?
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Today's reading: Habakkuk 1-3, Revelation 15 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Habakkuk 1-3

1 The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.
Habakkuk’s Complaint
2 How long, LORD, must I call for help,
but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you do not save?
3 Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed,
and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
so that justice is perverted....

Today's New Testament reading: Revelation 15

Seven Angels With Seven Plagues
1 I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. 2 And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God 3and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb:
“Great and marvelous are your deeds,
Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
King of the nations.
4 Who will not fear you, Lord,
and bring glory to your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed....”
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