Thursday, December 24, 2015

Thu Dec 24th Todays News

Christmas Eve is about love. Not the sexual kind, but family. Hope. Fulfilment of God's command to go forth and multiply in the sense of life, rather than procreation. The Christ child was the fulfilment of prophecy, but was thirty years away from enacting that. Just a baby. One that needed to be protected from one of the creepiest rulers ever. We don't know too much about this child that is contemporary. We know most that was collected after Jesus' resurrection. And that seems overstated. But what promise or hope isn't? People don't work hard so that tomorrow sucks less. Except left wing governments in Democracy, and they seem to not achieve that. One hopes for the best. And that child fulfilled that. So that while all struggle none need be condemned for eternity. Such magic is that hope, that everything that the faithful aspire will remain. That love is never lost, even though the loved one passes. 

 Merry Christmas. 
=== from 2014 ===
The racist and divisive President of the United States, Barack Obama, has used the exalted position of President to divide the nation on race issues. Because of his leadership and position, other Democrats have taken his lead. In New York City, having campaigned on the issue of distrusting police, the first Democrat Mayor of NYC since it was cleaned up after '93, Bill de Blasio, has undermined the police after officers were exonerated over the death of a man who resisted arrest. The arrest had been warranted and clearly the police struggled and as a result, the man died. The police would have arrested a living man had he not resisted. Even so, they had not tried to harm him, but subdue him. But that is not what de Blasio said following the policemen being exonerated. And the result is a vigilante has been egged on that killed two police officers who were good people. It was not their fault Obama and de Blasio were elected. But they (police officers) paid for their service with their lives. Following their murder, racist bigots ambushed mourning police officers and screamed in their faces anti cop rhetoric. 

The issue of race is serious in the US. Bigotry in present and unwarranted. But those opposed to such bigotry do their cause no good when they lay the finger of blame on issues that clearly do not match the criterion. And shame on de Blasio and BO for inciting the crowds. 

A former SBS guest is behind bars. He allegedly planned guerrilla warfare in Sydney's Blue Mountains. That is the kind of behaviour that makes someone a celebrity on SBS. They view him as someone with an opinion that needs to be heard. Opinions do need to be heard, but threatening terrorism is not the same as arguing an opinion. The news follows the resignation of the NSW ALP leader who helped a jihadist in their campaign to take the children from a woman they eventually murdered. The left are insane. 
From 2013
The HRC, which I feel is a biased and fatally compromised institution, is saying it cannot afford to be balanced. It seems as if laws are weighed against fair pay for a fair days work. Instead, judges will close industry rather than let the parasitical unions work with business for profit. It is Christmas, a time to celebrate. Many have profited from the religion who don't believe. Also, many have profited who are oppositional. ABC claim skepticism is a disorder. Legal recognition is granted for a historical act of helping children in need.

One thing about Christianity, as opposed to atheism, is the great diversity of thought. Christians are not all the same. Some are smart, many aren't. Some are clearly blessed. Many aren't. They aren't perfect, but they are forgiven. There is debate in evangelical circles on the theological issue of miracles. It is said that the miracles of healing and the exercising of gifts of Christ's disciples in Acts died off with the disciples .. a difficult assertion to debate, because the idea that the times mould the man means that assertion is certainly true as far as it goes. Making Charismatics look more foolish than usual. However, my take on the issue involves three thoughts. One, miracles happen today, and are no less profound for being explained. And those miracles are not isolated to Christians. I cite one example of a Jewish woman who wanted children in the 1940's, couldn't conceive, adopted two and found they were her own flesh and blood .. truly miraculous. Secondly, God is so great that he works with broken vessels. He doesn't really have an alternative. And he is very good at it. If you feel that plastic, smiley preacher on tv is too good to be true, they certainly are. And yet God works through them as effectively as he did with Saul two thousand years ago. Thirdly, that failed preacher has probably strayed from God. God humbles those who get close to him. So those who claim the Charismatic movement as being led by failed preachers, point to those who aren't, please. 
Historical perspective on this day
In 640, Pope John IV was elected. 759, Tang dynasty poet Du Fu departs for Chengdu, where he was hosted by fellow poet Pei Di. 1144, the capital of the crusader County of Edessa fellto Imad ad-Din Zengi, the atabeg of Mosul and Aleppo. 1294, Pope Boniface VIII was elected, replacing St. Celestine V, who had resigned. 1500, a joint Venetian–Spanish fleet captured the Castle of St. George on the island of Cephalonia. 1777, Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, was discovered by James Cook. 1814, the Treaty of Ghent was signed ending the War of 1812. 1818, the first performance of "Silent Night" takes place in the church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorf, Austria. 1826, the Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy began that night, wrapping up the following morning. 1851, Library of Congress burned. 1865, the Ku Klux Klan was formed. 1871, Aida opened in Cairo, Egypt.

In 1906, Radio: Reginald Fessenden transmitted the first radio broadcast; consisting of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech. 1911, Lackawanna Cut-Off railway line opened in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 1913, the Italian Hall disaster ("1913 Massacre") in Calumet, Michigan, resulted in the death of 73 Christmas party goers held by striking mine workers, including 59 children. 1914, World War I: The "Christmas truce" began. 1924, Albaniabecame a republic. 1929, Assassination attempt on Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen. 1939, World War II: Pope Pius XII made a Christmas Eve appeal for peace. 1941, World War II: Kuching was conquered by Japanese forces. 1942,  World War II: French monarchist, Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, assassinated Vichy French Admiral François Darlan in Algiers, Algeria. 1943, World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was named Supreme Allied Commander for the Invasion of Normandy.

In 1951, Libya became independent from Italy. Idris I was proclaimed King of Libya. 1953, Tangiwai disaster: In New Zealand's North Island, at Tangiwai, a railway bridge was damaged by a lahar and collapsed beneath a passenger train, killing 151 people. 1955, NORAD Tracked Santa for the first time in what will become an annual Christmas Evetradition. 1964, Vietnam War: Viet Cong operatives bombed the Brinks Hotel in Saigon, South Vietnam to demonstrate they can strike an American installation in the heavily guarded capital. 1966, a Canadair CL-44 chartered by the United States military crashed into a small village in South Vietnam, killing 129. 1968, Apollo program: The crew of Apollo 8 entered into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed 10 lunar orbits and broadcast live TV pictures that became the famous Christmas Eve Broadcast, one of the most watched programs in history. 1969, Charles Manson was allowed to defend himself at the Tate–LaBianca murder trial. 1973, District of Columbia Home Rule Act was passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government. 1974, Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin, Australia. 1979, the first European Ariane rocket was launched.

In 1980, witnesses report the first of several sightings of unexplained lights near RAF Woodbridge, in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom, an incident called "Britain's Roswell". 1994, Air France Flight 8969 was hijacked on the ground at Houari Boumediene Airport, Algiers, Algeria. Over the course of 3 days 3 passengers were killed, as are all 4 terrorists. 1997, the Sid El-Antri massacre (or Sidi Lamri) in Algeria killed 50-100 people. 1999, Indian Airlines Flight 814 hijacked in Indian airspace between Kathmandu, Nepal, and Delhi, India; aircraft eventually landed at Kandahar, Afghanistan. Ordeal ended on December 31 with the release of 190 survivors (1 passenger killed). 2000, the Texas Sevenheld up a sports store in Irving, Texas. Police officer Aubrey Hawkins was murdered during the robbery. 2003, the Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m. inside Madrid's busy Chamartín Station. 2005, Chad–Sudan relations: Chad declared a state of war against Sudan following a December 18 attack on Adré, which left about 100 people dead. 2008, Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, began a series of attacks on Democratic Republic of the Congo, massacring more than 400.
=== 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, 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 to Trilo Bitetwo and those born on this day, across the years
December 24: Christmas Eve (Gregorian calendar)
Christmas Island (Kiritmati)
We found your Island. We made treaty. We have whisky and eggnog. Avoid Brinks Hotel. And Tracy .. she is not in a good mood. Let's party. 
Deaths
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BILL’S BLUE TIE BRIGADE

Tim Blair – Thursday, December 24, 2015 (12:19pm)

More than a few senior Labor identities have already given up on the idea of winning the 2016 election. Convinced by polls that Bill Shorten doesn’t stand a chance against Malcolm Turnbull, they’re already looking towards 2017 and whoever will lead Labor once Shorten is gone.
This may be a tactical error. Labor’s gap to the Coalition is by no means unbridgeable. The current margin is only four points or so. Throw a decent scare campaign or two into the mix – an increased GST, debt and deficit blowouts, orphan children forced to work in coal mines on weekends – and Labor could be back in the game.
Some Coalition cabinet members, noting the government’s underwhelming poll bounce since Turnbull knifed former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, are aware of this. That’s why the government is delaying any difficult decisions until after the election. Tertiary education reform is off the table. So is legislation to correct ridiculous weekend penalty rates. Spending cuts? Forget ‘em. Turnbull’s team knows that any significant policy moves may detract from the Prime Minister’s central message, which is basically “Yay for Malcolm!”
Another factor may play to Labor’s advantage. Some formerly dedicated Liberal supporters are now vowing to back Bill Shorten – not because Labor is necessarily the better option, but because Turnbull is no option at all. Law professor James Allan recently outlined the aims of Bill’s blue tie brigade:
“I’m moving from my initial position of spoiling my ballot and voting informally at the next election to voting for Labor ...  A tough call, I know. But what we small-government, pro-free speech, tough on national security Hobbesian types have to calculate is long-term versus short-term damage to this country.

image

“Both choices are bad. But give Turnbull a mandate of his own and God knows what he might do. You’d be voting for the most left wing leader of the Coalition possibly ever.”
Allan’s piece ran in Quadrant, which is not usually a venue for pro-Labor views. Neither is The Spectator Australia, which recently ran the following by conservative former National Party senator John Stone:
“Those who, like myself, remain appalled by that have since been enjoined – including by commentators formerly seen as Abbott supporters – to ‘get over it’ and ‘accept the pollsters’ verdicts’. Well, I’m sorry, but as Margaret Thatcher famously told her Conservative Party colleagues: ‘You turn if you want to. The lady’s not for turning’. Nor am I.
“Why not? Because if treachery and betrayal on this scale are not punished, they will beget more such treachery and betrayal, as Labor Party experience amply demonstrates.”
I’m inclined to agree, which is why – despite Shorten’s hand in the removal of two Labor Prime Ministers – I’ll be voting Labor in 2016. As Allan argues: “Three years of Shorten would get rid of Turnbull, and it couldn’t be any worse than three years of Rudd.” A one-term Shorten government may compel the Liberal party to reform itself as a genuine conservative force, once free of poll-fixated Turnbull cultists.
(Continue reading Bill’s Blue Tie Brigade.)
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BOOK ‘EM

Tim Blair – Thursday, December 24, 2015 (12:13pm)

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PASS THE SALT, JASON

Tim Blair – Thursday, December 24, 2015 (12:01pm)

We celebrate Christmas differently in inner Sydney. Instead of carols, the evening air is torn by the delightful screams and howls of our local methamphetamine enthusiasts.
They’re a rowdy bunch. The other night a couple of ice addicts went crazy in the alley next to my house, throwing garbage bins around and raging against the chemical demons in their blood.
It was quite a performance. A few neighbours wandered from their homes to check on the cause of the commotion, then wisely retreated once they saw that the pair had doubled back and were making a repeat bin attack.
Your ice users really have a problem with bins, which is odd considering that most will end up in them. A little respect for their future residences wouldn’t go astray.
For that matter, they could take better care of their present abodes as well. Michelle Kentwell, Assistant Superintendent at the Surry Hills Court Cells, this week told of one ice addict’s antics:
“I had this fellow, he was running at the door, head butting the Perspex. He was trying to run up the wall and drinking from the toilet.
“We told him what he did when he came down four days later and he could not believe it.”
That just might be a more powerful anti-drug message than the NSW government’s current advertising campaign, which seems to warn that marijuana can turn you into a sloth. The best ad features Jason, a sloth who cannot pick up a salt shaker.



(Continue reading Pass the Salt.)
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FROM INSIGHT TO IN JAIL

Tim Blair – Wednesday, December 24, 2014 (12:49pm)

A former SBS guest is now behind bars following anti-terrorism raids: 
A man who made national headlines when he stormed off an Australian current affairs program after being questioned about the cancellation of his passport has been charged with terror-related offences.
Sulayman Khalid was one of two men arrested yesterday as part of an ongoing counterterrorism investigation into the alleged planning of a terrorist attack on Australian soil. 
image
Girl-features Khalid during a previous court appearance. 
Khalid, also known as Abu Bakr, appeared earlier this year on SBS’s Insight wearing a jacket emblazoned with the Islamic State flag and abruptly stormed off the set when questioned about his support for IS fighters and the revelation his passport had been revoked due to fears he would head overseas to fight.
The 20-year-old from Regents Park was charged with possession of documents designed to facilitate a terrorist attack.
He appeared via videolink at Parramatta Local Court this morning dressed in a T-shirt.
He was nonchalant and played with his shoulder length hair … 
I say let him go to Syria. He’ll be very popular there.
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Triggs says she can’t find $320,000 for Tim Wilson - after paying $5.4 million more for staff

Andrew Bolt December 24 2013 (10:25am)

Attorney-General George Brandis calls out the hypocrites now running the Human Rights Commission - hypocrites who should resign in shame after smearing new freedom commissioner Tim Wilson as a threat to bullied children:
Commission president Gillian Triggs warned on Monday that Mr Wilson’s appointment as a commissioner to the AHRC - with a salary of about $320,000 a year - may have to come at the expense of programs on school bullying and education for older Australians. 
That is because Mr Wilson’s appointment will not coincide with a boost in the commission’s annual budget of about $25 million…
But Mr Brandis says the commission should have no trouble coming up with the money. He has pointed to the commission’s annual reports, which show staffing costs have risen by $5.4 million over the past three years, representing an increase of nearly 50 per cent.
Triggs should publicly apologise to Wilson for antics which seem to me very close to workplace harassment and bullying. And if she’s so concerned that his wage will force her to scrap anti-bullying programs I’d suggest this wealthy woman either donate her own salary to make good the difference or, even better, resign.
UPDATE
Professor Sinclair Davidson examines the annual report of a gravy train staffed largely by well-paid women:
On page 150 we get to see the staffing profile – 143 employees (of whom only 38 are male) – and the salary rank those individuals earn. More than half of the Commission are on salaries above $72,900.
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We must destroy the business to save the union

Andrew Bolt December 24 2013 (10:11am)

Judith Sloan on a recent decision of Justice Mordy Bromberg who, incidentally, did much legal work for unions, was vice president of the International Centre for Trade Union Rights and stood for Labor pre-selection before going to the bench:
JUDGE Mordy Bromberg of the Federal Court is following a long tradition in Australian industrial relations - he has delivered an outcome more likely to see the workplace to close than allow common sense to prevail. The preservation of union-imposed wages and conditions is sacrosanct, even if it leads Toyota Australia to shut down its local operations. 
In 1909, in the famous BHP Broken Hill mine case, the president of the commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Court, HB Higgins, made this famous remark: “I face the possibility of the mine remaining closed with all its grave consequences, but the fate of Australia is not dependent on the fate of any one mine, or on any one company, and if it is a calamity that this historical mine should close down it will be a still greater calamity that men should be underfed or degraded.” The mine was suspended for two years. More than a century later and the mindset of industrial relations regulators has not changed a jot: better for workers to be unemployed than allow a company to introduce cost-saving changes to work practices.
Bromberg has been criticised in a previous important case for allowing his values to wrongly influence his judgement:
In an important recent case, the judges of the Full Bench had this to say about another decision by Bromberg, which had restricted the Victorian government’s ability to impose a mandatory construction code of conduct: ”Conclusions of this kind appear to us, with respect, to reflect value judgments rather than legal conclusions. In the circumstances of the present case, we do not agree that the state interfered with ‘free bargaining’.
I can’t say I’m surprised. 
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Profitting from the birthday of the man they mock

Andrew Bolt December 24 2013 (10:07am)

Greg Craven, vice-chancellor of the Australian Catholic University, notes a certain double standard from some atheists at Christmas:
Take hobby atheist Peter FitzSimons, best known for wearing a red pinafore on his head as a sign of rampant masculinity. The Fitz’s standard reaction to God rivals that of the demon in The Exorcist, but he ritually releases his pay-by-the-weight volumes in time to be advertised as the perfect Christmas gift. 
Which they are, for a dad who doesn’t like to read but wants guiltlessly to discard an impressively large volume.
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Minister and ABC producer declares scepticsm a “disorder”

Andrew Bolt December 24 2013 (9:43am)

Chris Mulherin has exactly the beliefs on global warming you’d expect from his profile, so closely does he (and the ABC) hew to the stereotype:
Freelance writing & radio production, ABC Radio National 2010–present

Associate Minister, St Jude’s Anglican Church, Carlton 2007–present 
Adjunct lecturer and tutor, University of Melbourne, Ridley Melbourne, Melbourne School of Theology, MCD University of Divinity 2007–present
In fact, so convinced is he of the global warming faith - and so few sceptics has he apparently met as a minister, lecturer and ABC producer - that he considers scepticism not the product of reason but of sickness. Writing in The Melbourne Anglican:
image
What treatment would Mulherin suggest for my disorder - an exorcism, shock therapy or some needles? Is there a clinic that specialises in the treatment? Should some of the world’s great climate scientists - Professor Richard Lindzen, for instance - be forced to take treatment, too, and is Mulherin just the man to give it to them, his eyes bright with faith? 
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The myth exposed: another “stolen generations” case fails in court

Andrew Bolt December 24 2013 (8:16am)

The "stolen generations"

Yet another “stolen generations” case is lost in court, this one brought in Western Australia by two parents and seven of their children claiming the state failed in its fiduciary care.
The case has familiar elements, including claimants who’d constructed a memory of being the largely blameless victims of nasty officials, when in fact contemporaneous documents reveal the children were removed not because they were simply Aboriginal but because they were in great need. Those officials first stepped in when one child was taken to hospital as a six month old weighing half a kilogram less than she had at birth. Those officials acted under the Child Welfare Act which applied to all children, and they had monitored this family repeatedly after finding it lived in a dirty humpy with beds for just three.
Said the judge:
The documents to which I have referred support three findings. First, Don and Sylvia’s living conditions, and their home environment relevant to the care of their children, were being monitored by officers of the Child Welfare Department in the years after the Siblings were removed from their care. Secondly, the observations made by those officers, or information provided to those officers, was to the effect that until approximately mid-1970, Don and Sylvia continued to live in the humpy in circumstances which were largely unchanged (as compared with when the Siblings became wards) that they engaged in heavy drinking and that their relationship was marred by domestic violence. Thirdly, that information was relied upon by officers of the Child Welfare Department in considering whether the Children should be permitted to return to live with Don and Sylvia. 
The parents are listed in documents as having admitted most of their children into care themselves after being threatened with being taken to court for neglect. The father agreed to pay maintenance.
No “stolen generations” case has ever succeeded in court. The one case that is sometimes claimed as an exception - that of Bruce Trevorrow - in fact establishes that in South Australia there was no law permitting the taking away of children just because they were Aboriginal. In that case, a female welfare worker secretly broke the law by giving away to a foster family a baby she thought had been half-starved and badly neglected by a father she’d falsely assumed was a “habitual drunkard” and a mother she’d heard had “gone walkabout” from her family and had not visited her baby in hospital.
As the judge in that case ruled:
Mrs Angas may have been well-intentioned ... but was well aware, or ought to have been aware, that the removal of the plaintiff from his family, and his placement with the Davies family, was undertaken in circumstances that were understood to be without legal authority, beyond power and contrary to authoritative legal advice. 
But had Trevorrow been left where he was...
The “stolen generations” are a dangerous myth. No one has yet identified even 10 children stolen just because they were Aborigines, but so powerful is this myth now that I can identify children who because of it have been left in terrible danger - only to be killed, raped and die of neglect.
(Thanks to reader Alan.) 
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Krampus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org
Krampus is a beast-like creature from the folklore of Alpine countries thought to punish children during the Christmas season who had misbehaved, in contrast with Saint Nicholas, who rewards well-behaved ones with gifts. Krampus is said to capture particularly naughty children in his sack and carry…

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http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/366989/free-speech-sarah-palin-and-mark-steyn-are-right-david-french

David French - On Free Speech, Sarah Palin and Mark Steyn are Right
www.nationalreview.com
Is someone really violating your right of “free speech” if they’re not using the power of the state to censor you? What if they’re “only” trying to get you fired, shamed out of public life, universally reviled, and left as a laughingstock — all without taking even a moment to address the conservativ...

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<+1 for big government?>

French pub fined €9,000 after customers returned empties to bar - because it's 'undeclared labour'
www.independent.co.uk
French officials have fined a pub in Brittany €9,000 for “undeclared labour” after a customer returned some empty glasses to the bar.

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Web developer John Fink proposes to Angel White via a video game
www.news.com.au
A WEB developer decided to propose to his girlfriend by creating a video game that she had to win and click yes to accept.

Ah my love, have you found the game I sent you? No, not the turtle doves. No, not the Lords a-leaping or the maids a milking .. yes the game .. no .. not the partridge .. you ate the what? Pears are fruit, but the tree? .. The calling birds suggested it, I see .. ed
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Grieving dog Rusty says bye to dying owner Mike Petrosino in photo shared on Reddit
www.news.com.au
A PHOTO posted to Reddit shows the moment a 21-year-old man dying of cancer said goodbye to his beloved dog, which is already grieving for its owner.

We can go without much .. but not love. Merry Christmas. - ed
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Mossad agents trained Nelson Mandela in Ethiopia, Israeli archive says
www.news.com.au
ISRAELI Mossad agents operating in Ethiopia in 1962 unwittingly trained Nelson Mandela in hand-to-hand combat, weaponry and sabotage, according to a document released by Israel's state archives.

He knew what he was doing when he embraced Arafat. - ed
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“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”” Luke 2:11-14 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning


"Friend, go up higher."
Luke 14:10
When first the life of grace begins in the soul, we do indeed draw near to God, but it is with great fear and trembling. The soul conscious of guilt, and humbled thereby, is overawed with the solemnity of its position; it is cast to the earth by a sense of the grandeur of Jehovah, in whose presence it stands. With unfeigned bashfulness it takes the lowest room.
But, in after life, as the Christian grows in grace, although he will never forget the solemnity of his position, and will never lose that holy awe which must encompass a gracious man when he is in the presence of the God who can create or can destroy; yet his fear has all its terror taken out of it; it becomes a holy reverence, and no more an overshadowing dread. He is called up higher, to greater access to God in Christ Jesus. Then the man of God, walking amid the splendours of Deity, and veiling his face like the glorious cherubim, with those twin wings, the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, will, reverent and bowed in spirit, approach the throne; and seeing there a God of love, of goodness, and of mercy, he will realize rather the covenant character of God than his absolute Deity. He will see in God rather his goodness than his greatness, and more of his love than of his majesty. Then will the soul, bowing still as humbly as aforetime, enjoy a more sacred liberty of intercession; for while prostrate before the glory of the Infinite God, it will be sustained by the refreshing consciousness of being in the presence of boundless mercy and infinite love, and by the realization of acceptance "in the Beloved." Thus the believer is bidden to come up higher, and is enabled to exercise the privilege of rejoicing in God, and drawing near to him in holy confidence, saying, "Abba, Father."
"So may we go from strength to strength,
And daily grow in grace,
Till in thine image raised at length,
We see thee face to face."

Evening

"The night also is thine."
Psalm 74:16
Yes, Lord, thou dost not abdicate thy throne when the sun goeth down, nor dost thou leave the world all through these long wintry nights to be the prey of evil; thine eyes watch us as the stars, and thine arms surround us as the zodiac belts the sky. The dews of kindly sleep and all the influences of the moon are in thy hand, and the alarms and solemnities of night are equally with thee. This is very sweet to me when watching through the midnight hours, or tossing to and fro in anguish. There are precious fruits put forth by the moon as well as by the sun: may my Lord make me to be a favoured partaker in them.
The night of affliction is as much under the arrangement and control of the Lord of Love as the bright summer days when all is bliss. Jesus is in the tempest. His love wraps the night about itself as a mantle, but to the eye of faith the sable robe is scarce a disguise. From the first watch of the night even unto the break of day the eternal Watcher observes his saints, and overrules the shades and dews of midnight for his people's highest good. We believe in no rival deities of good and evil contending for the mastery, but we hear the voice of Jehovah saying, "I create light and I create darkness; I, the Lord, do all these things."
Gloomy seasons of religious indifference and social sin are not exempted from the divine purpose. When the altars of truth are defiled, and the ways of God forsaken, the Lord's servants weep with bitter sorrow, but they may not despair, for the darkest eras are governed by the Lord, and shall come to their end at his bidding. What may seem defeat to us may be victory to him.
"Though enwrapt in gloomy night,
We perceive no ray of light;
Since the Lord himself is here,
'Tis not meet that we should fear."
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Today's reading: Nahum 1-3, Revelation 14 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Nahum 1-3

1 A prophecy concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
The LORD’s Anger Against Nineveh
2 The LORD is a jealous and avenging God;
the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath.
The LORD takes vengeance on his foes
and vents his wrath against his enemies.
3 The LORD is slow to anger but great in power;
the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished.
His way is in the whirlwind and the storm,
and clouds are the dust of his feet.
4 He rebukes the sea and dries it up;
he makes all the rivers run dry.
Bashan and Carmel wither
and the blossoms of Lebanon fade.
5 The mountains quake before him
and the hills melt away.
The earth trembles at his presence,
the world and all who live in it.
6 Who can withstand his indignation?
Who can endure his fierce anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire;
the rocks are shattered before him....

Today's New Testament reading: Revelation 14

The Lamb and the 144,000
1 Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. 3 And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. 4 These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. 5 No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless....
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Ahio [Ăhī'ō]—fraternal or his brother.

  1. A son of Abinadab and brother of Uzzah. It was in Abinadab’s house that the Ark of God rested for twenty years after its return by the Philistines (2 Sam. 6:3, 4; 1 Chron. 13:7).
  2. A son of Elpaal, a Benjamite (1 Chron. 8:14).
  3. A son of Jehiel by his wife Maachah and an ancestor of Saul (1 Chron. 8:31; 9:37).
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