For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
=== from 2015 ===
The Baird conservative government in NSW won the election and seem to be able to pass legislation through the upper house with Christian Democrat support. Christian Democrats have some bizarre ideas regarding legislation, but compared to the federal independents they are reliable, respecting a government's policy position for the economy. The Insiders (ABC) failed to account for their narrative portrayal that the election was a referendum on the Abbott administration. They decided that the handsome win was a negative for Mr Abbott, but a loss would have been a drawn curtain ending Mr Abbott's career. They also believed the win means no Coal Seam Gas should be mined in NSW. Foley's scare campaigns worked, and now four electorates are Green, but Foley failed to ride a wave off a small base to a larger natural one. The natural base for ALP is government in NSW. Foley's scare campaign grossly under performed for the ALP and this must reflect badly on Shorten whose positions and scares are identical to Foley. But Insiders weren't aware of that in their hysterical anti Abbott narrative. Disappointingly but predictably, Andrew Rohan lost his Smithfield seat to the ALP. It is disappointing because he worked hard for his electorate, while the ALP take it for granted.
Press are reporting on the murderous suicide pilot who killed 149 in the Pyrenees, along with himself. Dumped by his girlfriend the day before. Told his eyesight was failing and he'd never be a flight captain. The coward killed many good people. One of whom was the flight captain, a father of two. He pounded on the door and attempted to enter the cabin, but security measures brought in after 9/11 and other terrorist events, prevented him from saving himself and those people. The poor man. Killed by betrayal. He did nothing wrong.
In 1683, a 15 year old girl was burnt at the stake in Japan. She had met a boy she liked during a fire, and the next year, had attempted to set a fire to see him again. She was caught and brought before a magistrate. The penalty for setting fires was death, but because she was fifteen, she wasn't subject to the law. The magistrate gave her a way out by acknowledging her age, but she claimed to be 16 and adult. So the sentence was carried out. She was a fire horse, according to the zodiac, and forever after, the population of Asia would shrink every sixty years as parents strove to avoid fire horse children. Her name was Yaoya Oshichi, literally "greengrocer Oshichi". In 1792, Gustav III of Sweden died from wounds after being assassinated (shot in the back) 13 days earlier at a royal masquerade ball. He was an enlightened despot and so his killer was not tortured to death until after he was found guilty. He had supported the French Kings deposed by the revolution. In 1809, King Gustav IV of Sweden abdicated to his uncle after an insurrection of the army forced him, on the anniversary of his father's death. In 1886, Dr John Pemberton brewed the first Coca-Cola. In 1951, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were rightfully convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage.
French .. http://www.amazon.fr/-/e/B01683ZOWG
Japan .. http://www.amazon.co.jp/-/e/B01683ZOWG
German .. http://www.amazon.de/-/e/B01683ZOWG
===Press are reporting on the murderous suicide pilot who killed 149 in the Pyrenees, along with himself. Dumped by his girlfriend the day before. Told his eyesight was failing and he'd never be a flight captain. The coward killed many good people. One of whom was the flight captain, a father of two. He pounded on the door and attempted to enter the cabin, but security measures brought in after 9/11 and other terrorist events, prevented him from saving himself and those people. The poor man. Killed by betrayal. He did nothing wrong.
In 1683, a 15 year old girl was burnt at the stake in Japan. She had met a boy she liked during a fire, and the next year, had attempted to set a fire to see him again. She was caught and brought before a magistrate. The penalty for setting fires was death, but because she was fifteen, she wasn't subject to the law. The magistrate gave her a way out by acknowledging her age, but she claimed to be 16 and adult. So the sentence was carried out. She was a fire horse, according to the zodiac, and forever after, the population of Asia would shrink every sixty years as parents strove to avoid fire horse children. Her name was Yaoya Oshichi, literally "greengrocer Oshichi". In 1792, Gustav III of Sweden died from wounds after being assassinated (shot in the back) 13 days earlier at a royal masquerade ball. He was an enlightened despot and so his killer was not tortured to death until after he was found guilty. He had supported the French Kings deposed by the revolution. In 1809, King Gustav IV of Sweden abdicated to his uncle after an insurrection of the army forced him, on the anniversary of his father's death. In 1886, Dr John Pemberton brewed the first Coca-Cola. In 1951, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were rightfully convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage.
From 2014
On this day in 1974, a group of Chinese farmers came across what would be found to be a rich archaeological dig, terracotta warriors guarding the tomb of the first Chinese emperor. They had been placed around 210 BC. In an early illustration of pessimism, work had begun on the necropolis when the emperor was 13 years old. The necropolis would become a microcosm of the palace, with stables, rooms, flowing rivers of mercury, the location site being close to a rich gold vein and jade. Incredible riches buried for two thousand years. The emperor had searched for an elyxer of immortality. Probably because life is sweet. Over the years, the life and works of the emperor became legend.
Australia has not been operating as a nation for two thousand years, or even two hundred years. But in 114 years since federation, the history of union corruption is legendary. The unearthing of the AWU scandal, HSU scandal or any of many others illustrates that the known corruption of union activity in WW2 or thirties has never been addressed. The terracotta army had been buried over time. But the Union corruption has been buried by words from the ABC and ALP love media. It is understandable that a union devotee would cover their ears rather than acknowledge the problem, it is not acceptable that a journalist does the same, regardless of loyalty.
Australia has not been operating as a nation for two thousand years, or even two hundred years. But in 114 years since federation, the history of union corruption is legendary. The unearthing of the AWU scandal, HSU scandal or any of many others illustrates that the known corruption of union activity in WW2 or thirties has never been addressed. The terracotta army had been buried over time. But the Union corruption has been buried by words from the ABC and ALP love media. It is understandable that a union devotee would cover their ears rather than acknowledge the problem, it is not acceptable that a journalist does the same, regardless of loyalty.
Historical perspective on this day
In 502, King Gundobad issued a new legal code (Lex Burgundionum) at Lyon that made Gallo-Romans and Burgundians subject to the same laws. 1430, the Ottoman Empireunder Murad II captured the Byzantine city of Thessalonica. 1461, Wars of the Roses: Battle of Towton – Edward of York defeated Queen Margaret to become King Edward IV of England. 1500, Cesare Borgia was given the title of Captain General and Gonfalonier by his father Rodrigo Borgia after returning from his conquests in the Romagna. 1549, the city of Salvador da Bahia, the first capital of Brazil, was founded. 1632, Treaty of Saint-Germain was signed returning Quebec to French control after the English had seized it in 1629. 1638, Swedish colonists established the first European settlement in Delaware, naming it New Sweden. 1683, Yaoya Oshichi, 15-year-old Japanese girl, burnt at the stake for an act of arson committed due to unrequited love. 1792, King Gustav III of Sweden died after being shot in the back at a midnight masquerade ball at Stockholm's Royal Opera 13 days earlier. He was succeeded by Gustav IV Adolf.
In 1806, construction is authorised of the Great National Pike, better known as the Cumberland Road, becoming the first United States federal highway. 1809, King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden abdicated after a coup d'état. At the Diet of Porvoo, Finland's four Estatespledge allegiance to Alexander I of Russia, commencing the secession of the Grand Duchy of Finland from Sweden. 1831, Great Bosnian uprising: Bosniaks rebelled against Turkey. 1847, Mexican–American War: United States forces led by General Winfield Scotttook Veracruz after a siege. 1849, the United Kingdom annexed the Punjab. 1857, SepoyMangal Pandey of the 34th Regiment, Bengal Native Infantry mutinied against the East India Company's rule in India and inspired the protracted Indian Rebellion of 1857, also known as the Sepoy Mutiny. 1865, American Civil War: Federal forces under Major General Philip Sheridan moved to flank Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee as the Appomattox Campaign began. 1867, Queen Victoria gave Royal Assent to the British North America Actwhich established the Dominion of Canada on July 1. 1871, the Royal Albert Hall was opened by Queen Victoria. 1879, Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Kambula: British forces defeated 20,000 Zulus. 1882, the Knights of Columbus were established. 1886, Dr. John Pemberton brewed the first batch of Coca-Cola in a backyard in Atlanta, Georgia.
In 1911, the M1911 .45 ACP pistol became the official U.S. Army side arm. 1930, Heinrich Brüning was appointed German Reichskanzler. 1936, in Germany, Adolf Hitler received 99% of the votes in a referendum to ratify Germany's illegal reoccupation of the Rhineland, received 44.5 million votes out of 45.5 million registered voters. 1941, the North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement went into effect at 03:00 local time. Also 1941, World War II: British Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy forces defeat those of the Italian Regia Marinaoff the Peloponnesian coast of Greece in the Battle of Cape Matapan. 1942, the Bombing of Lübeck in World War II was the first major success for the RAF Bomber Command against Germany and a German city. 1945, World War II: Last day of V-1 flying bomb attacks on England. Also 1945, World War II: The German 4th Army was almost destroyed by the Soviet Red Army. 1946, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, one of Mexico's leading universities, was founded. 1947, Malagasy Uprising against French colonial rule in Madagascar.
In 1951, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. 1957, the New York, Ontario and Western Railway made its final run, the first major U.S. railroad to be abandoned in its entirety. 1961, the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, allowing residents of Washington, D.C., to vote in presidential elections. 1962, Arturo Frondizi, the president of Argentina, was overthrown in a military coup by Argentina's armed forces, ending an 11½ day constitutional crisis.
In 1971, My Lai massacre: Lieutenant William Calley was convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison. Also 1971, a Los Angeles, California jury recommended the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers. 1973, Vietnam War: The last United States combat soldiers left South Vietnam. Also 1973, Operation Barrel Roll, a covert US bombing campaign in Laos to stop communist infiltration of South Vietnam, ended. 1974, NASA's Mariner 10 became the first spaceprobe to fly by Mercury. Also 1974, local farmers in Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi province, China, discovered the Terracotta Armythat was buried with Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, in the third century BC. 1982, the Canada Act 1982 (U.K.) received the Royal Assent from Queen Elizabeth II, setting the stage for the Queen of Canada to proclaim the Constitution Act, 1982. 1984, the Baltimore Colts loaded its possessions onto fifteen Mayflower moving trucks in the early morning hours and transferred its operations to Indianapolis. 1990, the Czechoslovak parliament was unable to reach an agreement on what to call the country after the fall of Communism, sparking the so-called Hyphen War. 1993, Catherine Callbeck became premier of Prince Edward Islandand the first woman to be elected in a general election as premier of a Canadian province. 1999, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above the 10,000 mark (10,006.78) for the first time, during the height of the internet boom. Also 1999, a magnitude 6.8 earthquakestruck the Chamoli district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, killing 103.
In 2002, in reaction to the Passover massacre two days prior, Israel launched Operation Defensive Shield against Palestinian militants, its largest military operation in the West Banksince the 1967 Six-Day War. 2004, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia joined NATO as full members. Also 2004, the Republic of Ireland became the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants. 2010, two female suicide bombers hit the Moscow Metro system at the peak of the morning rush hour, killing 40. 2013, at least 36 people were killed when a 16-floor building collapsed in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Also 2013, a landslide kills 66 people in China's Tibetan Autonomous Region near Lhasa. 2014, the first same-sex marriages in England and Wales were performed.
In 1806, construction is authorised of the Great National Pike, better known as the Cumberland Road, becoming the first United States federal highway. 1809, King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden abdicated after a coup d'état. At the Diet of Porvoo, Finland's four Estatespledge allegiance to Alexander I of Russia, commencing the secession of the Grand Duchy of Finland from Sweden. 1831, Great Bosnian uprising: Bosniaks rebelled against Turkey. 1847, Mexican–American War: United States forces led by General Winfield Scotttook Veracruz after a siege. 1849, the United Kingdom annexed the Punjab. 1857, SepoyMangal Pandey of the 34th Regiment, Bengal Native Infantry mutinied against the East India Company's rule in India and inspired the protracted Indian Rebellion of 1857, also known as the Sepoy Mutiny. 1865, American Civil War: Federal forces under Major General Philip Sheridan moved to flank Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee as the Appomattox Campaign began. 1867, Queen Victoria gave Royal Assent to the British North America Actwhich established the Dominion of Canada on July 1. 1871, the Royal Albert Hall was opened by Queen Victoria. 1879, Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Kambula: British forces defeated 20,000 Zulus. 1882, the Knights of Columbus were established. 1886, Dr. John Pemberton brewed the first batch of Coca-Cola in a backyard in Atlanta, Georgia.
In 1911, the M1911 .45 ACP pistol became the official U.S. Army side arm. 1930, Heinrich Brüning was appointed German Reichskanzler. 1936, in Germany, Adolf Hitler received 99% of the votes in a referendum to ratify Germany's illegal reoccupation of the Rhineland, received 44.5 million votes out of 45.5 million registered voters. 1941, the North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement went into effect at 03:00 local time. Also 1941, World War II: British Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy forces defeat those of the Italian Regia Marinaoff the Peloponnesian coast of Greece in the Battle of Cape Matapan. 1942, the Bombing of Lübeck in World War II was the first major success for the RAF Bomber Command against Germany and a German city. 1945, World War II: Last day of V-1 flying bomb attacks on England. Also 1945, World War II: The German 4th Army was almost destroyed by the Soviet Red Army. 1946, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, one of Mexico's leading universities, was founded. 1947, Malagasy Uprising against French colonial rule in Madagascar.
In 1951, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. 1957, the New York, Ontario and Western Railway made its final run, the first major U.S. railroad to be abandoned in its entirety. 1961, the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, allowing residents of Washington, D.C., to vote in presidential elections. 1962, Arturo Frondizi, the president of Argentina, was overthrown in a military coup by Argentina's armed forces, ending an 11½ day constitutional crisis.
In 1971, My Lai massacre: Lieutenant William Calley was convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison. Also 1971, a Los Angeles, California jury recommended the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers. 1973, Vietnam War: The last United States combat soldiers left South Vietnam. Also 1973, Operation Barrel Roll, a covert US bombing campaign in Laos to stop communist infiltration of South Vietnam, ended. 1974, NASA's Mariner 10 became the first spaceprobe to fly by Mercury. Also 1974, local farmers in Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi province, China, discovered the Terracotta Armythat was buried with Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, in the third century BC. 1982, the Canada Act 1982 (U.K.) received the Royal Assent from Queen Elizabeth II, setting the stage for the Queen of Canada to proclaim the Constitution Act, 1982. 1984, the Baltimore Colts loaded its possessions onto fifteen Mayflower moving trucks in the early morning hours and transferred its operations to Indianapolis. 1990, the Czechoslovak parliament was unable to reach an agreement on what to call the country after the fall of Communism, sparking the so-called Hyphen War. 1993, Catherine Callbeck became premier of Prince Edward Islandand the first woman to be elected in a general election as premier of a Canadian province. 1999, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above the 10,000 mark (10,006.78) for the first time, during the height of the internet boom. Also 1999, a magnitude 6.8 earthquakestruck the Chamoli district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, killing 103.
In 2002, in reaction to the Passover massacre two days prior, Israel launched Operation Defensive Shield against Palestinian militants, its largest military operation in the West Banksince the 1967 Six-Day War. 2004, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia joined NATO as full members. Also 2004, the Republic of Ireland became the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants. 2010, two female suicide bombers hit the Moscow Metro system at the peak of the morning rush hour, killing 40. 2013, at least 36 people were killed when a 16-floor building collapsed in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Also 2013, a landslide kills 66 people in China's Tibetan Autonomous Region near Lhasa. 2014, the first same-sex marriages in England and Wales were performed.
=== 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.
===
Thanks to Warren for this advice on watching Bolt
Warren Catton Get this for your PC or MAC https://www.foxtel.com.au/foxtelplay/how-it-works/pc-mac.html Once tou have installed it start it up and press Live TV you don't need a login to watch Sky News!
===
I have moved from Sydney to Melbourne and am desperate for funding. If you have a heart for giving, I fundraise at gofundme.com/abeueaec
===
Editorials will appear in the "History in a Year by the Conservative Voice" series, starting with August, September, October, or at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/1482020262/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_dVHPub0MQKDZ4 The kindle version is cheaper, but the soft back version allows a free kindle version.
List of available items at Create Space
The Amazon Author Page for David Ball
UK .. http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B01683ZOWGFrench .. http://www.amazon.fr/-/e/B01683ZOWG
Japan .. http://www.amazon.co.jp/-/e/B01683ZOWG
German .. http://www.amazon.de/-/e/B01683ZOWG
===
For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to remedy my distress. I leave it up to him if he chooses to address the issue. Regardless of your opinion of conservative government, the issue is pressing. Please sign my petition at https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/tony-abbott-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball
Or the US President at
https://www.change.org/p/barack-obama-change-this-injustice#
or
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/change-injustice-faced-david-daniel-ball-after-he-reported-bungled-pedophile-investigation-and/b8mxPWtJ or http://wh.gov/ilXYR
Mr Ball, I will not sign your petition as it will do no good, but I will share your message and ask as many of friends who read it, to share it also. Let us see if we cannot use the power of the internet to spread the word of these infamous killings. As a father and a former soldier, I cannot, could not, justify ignoring this appalling action by the perpetrators, whoever they may; I thank you Douglas. You are wrong about the petition. Signing it is as worthless and meaningless an act as voting. A stand up guy would know that. - ed
Lorraine Allen Hider I signed the petition ages ago David, with pleasure, nobody knows what it's like until they've been there. Keep heart David take care.
I have begun a bulletin board (http://theconservativevoice.freeforums.net) which will allow greater latitude for members to post and interact. It is not subject to FB policy and so greater range is allowed in posts. Also there are private members rooms in which nothing is censored, except abuse. All welcome, registration is free.
For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to remedy my distress. I leave it up to him if he chooses to address the issue. Regardless of your opinion of conservative government, the issue is pressing. Please sign my petition at https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/tony-abbott-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball
Or the US President at
https://www.change.org/p/barack-obama-change-this-injustice#
or
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/change-injustice-faced-david-daniel-ball-after-he-reported-bungled-pedophile-investigation-and/b8mxPWtJ or http://wh.gov/ilXYR
Mr Ball, I will not sign your petition as it will do no good, but I will share your message and ask as many of friends who read it, to share it also. Let us see if we cannot use the power of the internet to spread the word of these infamous killings. As a father and a former soldier, I cannot, could not, justify ignoring this appalling action by the perpetrators, whoever they may; I thank you Douglas. You are wrong about the petition. Signing it is as worthless and meaningless an act as voting. A stand up guy would know that. - ed
Lorraine Allen Hider I signed the petition ages ago David, with pleasure, nobody knows what it's like until they've been there. Keep heart David take care.
Happy birthday and many happy returns Canh Minh Vo, Jimmy Kien, Pat Quick and John Ibrahim. Born on the same day, across the years. Remember, birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live. I am sure that isn't a perceptual illusion.
- 1553 – Vitsentzos Kornaros, Greek poet (d. 1614)
- 1602 – John Lightfoot, English academic and scholar (d. 1675)
- 1747 – Johann Wilhelm Hässler, German pianist and composer (d. 1822)
- 1751 – Supply Belcher, American singer-songwriter (d. 1836)
- 1816 – 10th Dalai Lama (d. 1837)
- 1824 – Ludwig Büchner, German physiologist, physician, and philosopher (d. 1899)
- 1867 – Cy Young, American baseball player and manager (d. 1955)
- 1888 – Enea Bossi, Sr., Italian-American engineer, designed the Budd BB-1 Pioneer and Bossi-Bonomi Pedaliante (d. 1963)
- 1917 – Man o' War, American race horse (d. 1947)
- 1918 – Sam Walton, American businessman, founded Walmart and Sam's Club (d. 1992)
- 1943 – Vangelis, Greek keyboard player and songwriter (Aphrodite's Child and Jon and Vangelis)
- 1943 – Eric Idle, English actor and singer
- 1944 – Terry Jacks, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (The Poppy Family)
- 1949 – Dave Greenfield, English Keyboard player (The Stranglers)
- 1968 – Lucy Lawless, New Zealand actress and singer
- 1976 – Jennifer Capriati, American tennis player
- 1997 – Ragnar Sigurdsson, Icelandic professional Gamer
Deaths
- 87 BC– Emperor Wu of Han of China (b. 156 BC)
- 1751 – Thomas Coram, English captain and philanthropist, founded Foundling Hospital (b. 1668)
- 1912 – Henry Robertson Bowers, Scottish Lieutenant and explorer (b. 1883)
- 1912 – Robert Falcon Scott, English navy officer and explorer (b. 1868)
- 1912 – Edward Adrian Wilson, English physician and explorer (b. 1872)
- 1972 – J. Arthur Rank, 1st Baron Rank, English businessman, founded Rank Organisation (b. 1888)
- 1807 – German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers discovered 4 Vesta (pictured), the brightest asteroid and the second-most massive body in the asteroid belt.
- 1865 – American Civil War: The Appomattox Campaign opened with the Battle of Lewis's Farm, in which the Confederate States Army was forced into a series of retreats that would culminate in their surrender.
- 1871 – The Royal Albert Hall in Albertopolis, London, was officially opened by Queen Victoria.
- 1945 – World War II: The German 4th Army was almost completely destroyed by the Soviet Red Army at the Heiligenbeil Pocket in East Prussia.
- 1982 – Queen Elizabeth II gave Royal Assent to the Canada Act 1982, which ended all remaining dependence of Canada on the United Kingdom by a process known as "patriation".
You saw it first. They surrendered. She opened it. They lost well. She gave it away to the father. Let's party.
THEY SAW HOPE
Tim Blair – Tuesday, March 29, 2016 (12:01pm)
Human rights activist Julian Burnside:
Bigotry creates terrorists, by radicalising people who were willing to see hope in everything
Poor Khaled Sharrouf. He was willing to see hope in everything, until the bigotry happened. There are so many others whose hope was cruelly crushed. Bigotry made these people throw gay men off a building.
ABBOTT’S ROLE QUESTIONED
Tim Blair – Tuesday, March 29, 2016 (11:02am)
According to Peter Van Onselen, if Malcolm Turnbull loses this year’s election, it will still be Tony Abbott’s fault:
Liberals simply have to find a way to shut down Abbott’s sniping. In a close election, such undermining could bring Turnbull down.
Add it to the list. Tanya Plibersek was on to this from the start.
INNOVATIVE POST-WAR PROGRAMMING
Tim Blair – Tuesday, March 29, 2016 (2:04am)
Last night’s Q & A explored the topic of innovation.
Q & A follows the same format as the BBC’s Any Questions?, which first aired in 1948.
LONG DECADE
Tim Blair – Tuesday, March 29, 2016 (1:54am)
ABC managing director Mark Scott on Media Watch:
A decade ago no one had seen a mobile phone.
An ABC report from August, 2011:
The first mobile phone call in Australia was made 30 years ago this month, and as David Coady discovers, the device has come a long way.
In fact, a decade ago there were already nearly 20 million mobile phones in Australia. Odd that Scott somehow missed all of them. Also from the ABC MD:
It’s not our role to be a cheerleader for the country, and that’s what public broadcasting is about and that’s why a public broadcaster is different to a state broadcaster.
The ABC is a state broadcaster. It’s just that the state it cheers for isn’t Australia. In other state-funded media developments:
Al Jazeera has said it will cut 500 jobs, or about 10% of its workforce, weeks after it announced it would close its American cable channel.
Al Jazeera is one of the ABC’s trusted news sources.
THANKS FOR NOT KILLING EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US
Tim Blair – Tuesday, March 29, 2016 (1:38am)
This might not be quite as reassuring as the author intended:
TILTY McJESUS EGGS HER ON
Tim Blair – Tuesday, March 29, 2016 (1:21am)
Elizabeth Farrelly’s Easter column has a fan.
BUSY NRL SUMMER
Tim Blair – Tuesday, March 29, 2016 (1:07am)
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, this is the current NRL ladder:
Via Singing Dave, who emails: “I certainly don’t remember the Roosters winning 18 games already this year. I’m sure they will update it soon. Maybe by Origin.”
Via Singing Dave, who emails: “I certainly don’t remember the Roosters winning 18 games already this year. I’m sure they will update it soon. Maybe by Origin.”
WEAPONS OF LOVE
Tim Blair – Tuesday, March 29, 2016 (12:50am)
The crappiest pope since Alexander VI offers his solution to Islamic extremism:
Pope Francis urged the world in his Easter message on Sunday to use the “weapons of love” to combat the evil of “blind and brutal violence”, following the attacks in Brussels.
Islamic extremism’s response:
A suicide bomber set off a powerful blast close to a children’s swing set in a public park on Sunday evening in the eastern city of Lahore, killing at least 69 people and wounding around 300, rescue workers and officials said.The blast occurred in a parking lot at Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, one of the largest parks in Lahore, said Haider Ashraf, a senior police official in the city. The bomb was detonated within several feet of the swings in a park crowded with families on Easter.Jamaat-e-Ahrar, a splinter faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the blast. Its spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, said in a statement that Christians were the target.
HOW TO WRITE … THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AGAIN
Tim Blair – Tuesday, March 29, 2016 (12:32am)
===ONE “AMAZING TREE” MORE IMPORTANT THAN 117 DISADVANTAGED AUSTRALIANS
Tim Blair – Monday, March 28, 2016 (3:07am)
In Melbourne, a Brotherhood of St Laurence aged care centre for the disadvantaged and homeless wanted to expand from 43 beds to 117:
Half of its residents were homeless before finding a place, and many have histories of mental illness and alcohol abuse.The centre’s rooms are small and do not have their own bathrooms, and the Brotherhood wants to more than double the size of the 35-year-old centre opposite the Darling Gardens.Among Sambell Lodge residents is Graeme Doyle, 69, who came four years ago for respite care and never left.“All of us here have experienced difficulties,” said Mr Doyle, who suffers from “schizophrenia and manic depression, diabetes, problems with my kidneys and liver. And the list goes on”.
Yet the proposed expansion was rejected following complaints from residents and councillors:
Three Greens councillors and socialist Stephen Jolly opposed the proposal, which the Brotherhood will now take to the state planning tribunal in a bid to overturn Yarra’s decision.
And look who was also against the expanded aged care centre:
Comedian Rod Quantock has lived nearby for 35 years and also objected. He does not want a 100-year-old box elder tree on the site cut down for the development. “It’s an amazing tree – to kill a tree like that is unconscionable,” he said. “It’s not a NIMBY thing.”
Oh, of course it isn’t. As you’d expect, all of these people reject Australia’s border protection policies, which might be because they know they’ll never have to deal with reffos in their own streets. These types can’t cope with a few dozen crazy homeless drunks. Imagine how they’d react to a 1000-bed refugee relocation facility.
(Via Gavin Atkins.)
Another “refugee” enjoys his human rights to the very full
Andrew Bolt March 29 2016 (5:35pm)
Julian Burnside fought to get this guy released in the country:
(Thanks to reader Keith.)
===Aladdin Sisalem, a 25-year-old Palestinian born in Kuwait, has spent the last four years in search of a country that could offer him freedom from persecution. On May 31, he finally found it, as he flew into Melbourne with a visa in his bag.... For 10 months, Aladdin was the only prisoner on Manus Island while the Australian government denied responsibility for him....Thanks, Julian:
Sisalem is presently staying with someone from the Spare Rooms for Refugees network (set up by “human rights” activist Julian Burnside)… He was offered two jobs within days of his arrival, one in his trade as a motor mechanic. He also plans to study to improve his English…
Sisalem’s health suffered badly during his detention. Despite repeated requests to see a doctor, Sisalem was denied access to medical care for eight months. He has stomach troubles, as well as problems with his teeth due to the appalling food he was given. He told GLW: “People couldn’t believe that I had access to the internet 24 hours a day, but at the same time they were giving me food which had passed its use-by date."…
Last November, legal action was mounted on behalf of Sisalem by a team of Melbourne lawyers working pro bono. Barrister Tom Cordiner collected detailed information from Sisalem for the court case, while barristers Julian Burnside QC and Sam Hay worked with solicitor Eric Vadarlis to mount a case for Sisalem’s release in the Federal Court.
A REFUGEE and poster-boy for asylum-seeker activists who became a jetsetting invalid pensioner has had his payments slashed after being found ineligible.And note: this “refugee” is actually a Palestinian from Kuwait.
Palestinian-Kuwaiti Aladdin Sisalem told the Administrative Appeals Tribunal last month that he funded 16 overseas trips in the past six years with his disability support pension.
However at the same time Sisalem, 37, told his doctors that he found it “difficult to sit, stand, use my hands or arms for more than a few minutes” and he “has difficulty coping with ... travel by public transport”....
Sisalem’s 16 overseas trips since 2010 included two months indulging in massages, herbal treatments, physical exercises, acupressure and meditation at a “clinic” in Thailand last year as well as jaunts to China, Indonesia, Russia and a second trip to Thailand, the tribunal heard.
Dr Cremean stated in his decision that it “did not seem to be credible” that Sisalem paid for the trips “by saving up his ... DSP (pension)”....
Sisalem told Dr Cremean during the hearing that he suffered from a serious neck and back injury called “cervical canal stenosis” and PTSD.
But Dr Cremean found this didn’t appear to hinder him lifting luggage.
(Thanks to reader Keith.)
Airliner “hijacked”
Andrew Bolt March 29 2016 (5:23pm)
Ominous. I doubt Presbyterians are responsible:
===Egyptair airliner is hijacked after leaving Alexandria and lands at Larnaca airport in Cyprus, reports sayUPDATE
A regional Egypt air flight with 81 people on board has been hijacked by a man claiming to have an explosive suicide vest forcing the Airbus 320 to land in Cyprus....
Cyprus official says 56 people on board the hijacked EgyptAir plane have been released and have left the aircraft… The hijacker has released everyone on board except four foreign passengers and the crew, the airline said on Twitter ...
Frydenberg: yes, it’s Islamic extremism
Andrew Bolt March 29 2016 (11:31am)
Good sense from Resources Minister Josh Frydenberg, not afraid to call evil by its name:
Disgraceful and cowardly. No mention at all by the ABC that Islamic terrorists were to blame. No mention of the motivation behind this attack on Christians:
===PATRICIA KARVELAS: First on this terror attack in Pakistan, we spoke to someone in Pakistan, a journalist in Pakistan, who says about 73 people are now confirmed dead…And a corrective to the likes of Peter Reith, with whom I deal at length in a post below:
FRYDENBERG: This is a horrific attack and it’s taken the lives of innocents, particularly women and children. Obviously, there was specific targeting of Christians who were celebrating Easter…
KARVELAS: Last week I had Barnaby Joyce, the Deputy Prime Minister, on the program and I asked him really specifically in the wake of the Brussels attacks whether he thought it was useful to use this language that a lot of people say we should be using, to call it out as Islamist or Islamic terror. He said no, he thought it was the wrong language. Do you agree with him? What should it be called?
FRYDENBERG: I’m happy to call it Islamic extremism because that’s what we’ve actually seen in all those attacks that I mentioned and you’ve seen the Prime Minister make a major address to the Lowy Institute just a few days ago where he quoted a man called Bernard Squarcini who is the former head of the French Intelligence Service, and he pointed to the fact that there had been failed integration policies, that he’d seen a large number of foreign fighters returned from Syria and Iraq into Europe and these porous borders, and he called it an ecosystem of terror effectively. He didn’t mince his words. He talked about Islamic terrorism and so has Barack Obama, so has Tony Blair in that important piece he has just written and I don’t think we should be afraid to call it out as it is here in Australia.
KARVELAS: Tony Abbott has been told to stick his head down or risk tarnishing his own legacy by Peter Reith on Sky News today. There are reports Mr Abbott will embark on his own marginal seat tour after being effectively snubbed over a proper campaign role. Should he be given a proper campaign role to avoid this kind of embarrassing counter-campaign that he might be running in marginal seats while the Prime Minister is running another one?UPDATE
FRYDENBERG: Tony Abbott is entitled, as a former prime minister and indeed as a member of the parliamentary team, to campaign for the election of the Turnbull Government in every possible way… He’s got a role as a Local Member and as somebody who is willing to help out other colleagues as they see fit…
KARVELAS: Do you think he’ll help people in marginal seats, because I know some people, Nick Xenophon for instance and some Labor MPs as well, say ‘Bring it on, come on Tony Abbott’ because they see him as unpopular and think that he’ll actually hurt the Government’s chances?
FRYDENBERG: I don’t think a Local Member would invite anybody in if they thought that was going to hurt their chances, so clearly they don’t feel that if that’s actually what transpires.
Disgraceful and cowardly. No mention at all by the ABC that Islamic terrorists were to blame. No mention of the motivation behind this attack on Christians:
(Thanks to reader Brian.)
Trump rebuked: “We’re not on a playground”
Andrew Bolt March 29 2016 (10:40am)
Taking it to Trump, who by trashing the race probably helps make any Republican less electable:
===Charlie Sykes, a popular radio host in Milwaukee, welcomed Donald J. Trump to his state in a phone interview on his program on Monday, explaining that “here in Wisconsin we value things like civility, decency and actual conservative principles.”Absolutely right.
And then, for Mr. Trump, the 17-minute interview went downhill from there.
Mr. Sykes, an outspoken conservative and opponent of Mr. Trump, began by pressing the Manhattan businessman to apologize to Heidi Cruz, the wife of Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, for resending a Twitter post juxtaposing an unflattering picture of Mrs. Cruz with a shot of his wife, Melania Trump, a former model.
The spat began after an anti-Trump “super PAC” produced an ad geared at Utah voters featuring an image of Mrs. Trump, then Melania Knauss, posing nude from a January 2000 GQ magazine pictorial.
On Mr. Sykes’s program, Mr. Trump defended the photo of his wife — calling it “an artsy picture” — but blamed Mr. Cruz for starting the feud, even though the super PAC that produced the Texas ad is not connected to the Texas senator.
“I expect that from a 12-year-old bully on the playground, not somebody who wants the office held by Abraham Lincoln,” Mr. Sykes said.
Later, when Mr. Trump again complained, incorrectly, that Mr. Cruz “started it,” the radio host interjected: “Remember, we’re not on a playground. We’re running for president of the United States.”
Not all cultures are alike. It’s not racist to say so
Andrew Bolt March 29 2016 (10:29am)
Denis Dragovic, academic and former aid worker, is right:
===There is a presumption that all cultures resemble our culture, with the same hopes, aspirations, norms and rules. The arrogance of this view emerges through the idea that our values are universal. This argument, commonly held by the left, sees Western European history and its roots in Christianity as inconsequential. Instead, the human rights movement that went global in the 20th century is somehow regarded as common to all peoples and nations.Culture matters. This wilful blindness about cultural difference must end, and with it the shut-up screams of “racist!”.
Any view of human rights that doesn’t fit the Western narrative, from the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam that was supported by Muslim states, to the Bangkok Declaration representing Asian values, is simply ignored. Instead, Western values are thought to be universal values and any effort to identify distinction is side-stepped or critiqued as racist.
This approach is dangerous because presuming that all societies operate within the same moral code and aspire to the same goals leaves Australia unprepared for the challenges that Germany faces today – maintaining social cohesion, countering economic disenfranchisement and responding to radicalisation.
That is why we have to accept that recognising and discussing differences between cultures is not racism, and that we need to have these discussions before circumstances dictate the outcome.
More reason to like Boris
Andrew Bolt March 29 2016 (10:01am)
A fascinating insight into Boris Johnson, possibly the next British Conservative Prime Minister, but from a woman who sounds like their affair did not end well:
Bringing us closer to the Brexit supporter, Petronella Wyatt, the British journalist who had an affair with Bojo, has revealed a number of intimate details about the politico in her serialised Mail on Sunday column…Hmm. Another shy guy?
His long-time friend also spoke of Johnson’s lone wolf tendencies. In her own words, “He is famous for being friendly, yet he has few real friends. This sets him apart from [Prime Minister David] Cameron, who has a large circle of ‘mates’. I remarked on this once, after Boris kept introducing me to the same two people whom, it transpired, comprised his entire social circle. He replied that he was ‘a bit of a loner’. He is not ‘clubbable’ and does not enjoy the company of other high-achieving men”. According to Wyatt, he is also not a fan of parties, especially the non-political variety.
Wyatt, who is the former deputy editor of The Spectator, also said that Johnson was greatly governed by his desire to be loved by others. “Like many loners, he has a compensating need to be liked. I sometimes think his ambition is a consequence of this. There is an element of Boris that wants to be Prime Minister because the love of his family and Tory voters is not enough. He wants to be loved by the entire world,” she writes.
Later she explains that this element of his persona is at odds with David Cameron and George Osborne’s temperament. “I discovered that an effective way of teasing Boris was to tell him that ‘so and so dislikes you,’ whereas if you were to say the same thing to Cameron or Osborne they would remain utterly unmoved, like a deaf person at a concerto”.
But that, added to this, makes a comparison to Benjamin Disraeli irresistible:
“He is inordinately proud of his Turkish ancestry...,” she writesDisraeli was not Turkish, of course, but born Jewish, and rather proud of that and his Orientalism:
A squabble between his father and the family’s synagogue over the latter’s mindless fundamentalism resulted in Disraeli’s baptism in an Anglican church, at the age of 12, in 1817. He was, however, an ardent philosemite who supported the right of Jews to sit as MPs not on grounds of tolerance or equity, but on those of racial superiority based on Jewish pre-eminence in the Old and New Testaments. “Where is your Christianity if you do not believe in their Judaism?” he demanded in a Commons speech of 1847.Disraeli also felt himself to be rather an outsider:
Benjamin Disraeli ... was the outsider without wealth or connections who became the leading representative of the aristocratic landed interest; the rake born into the Jewish faith who transformed into the classic English squire; the school dropout turned literary giant.
Like Johnson, Disraeli was a writer - a novelist, actually - and a wonderful wit. He was also fearless, a great patriot, a showman and a Conservative. Johnson loves him, and kept that admiration even when reviewing a book that deconstructed the Disraeli myth:
Most of us would instinctively name Benjamin Disraeli as one of the greatest Prime Ministers this country has ever had, and so it is pretty eye-popping to see how the goateed maestro suffers at the hands of Douglas Hurd and Edward Young…
At the end you may wonder whether the authors have been entirely fair. It is hardly a new criticism, after all, to say that Disraeli was an opportunist or obsessed with fame – he said much the same himself.
Even in his lifetime, the historian J?A Froude said, witheringly: ‘Perhaps no public man in England ever rose so high and acquired power so great, so little of whose work has survived him.’ ...
This attack on Disraeli is really the renewal of points regularly made in his lifetime, and, for my money, it fails to make any kind of dent in his greatness.
His achievements were not slight, as the authors claim; they were phenomenal.
He was the son of an antiquarian bookseller who went to none of the fancy schools attended by his rivals, nor did he go to university, and yet who overcame entrenched anti-Semitism not by concealing his origins – but by foppishly and flamboyantly playing them up.
Jews were not allowed to become lawyers, let alone MPs, but he became Prime Minister of what was then the greatest power on Earth.
He acquired the Suez Canal for a song; he endowed the great buildings of Albertopolis in South Kensington; his government did indeed expand the franchise and pass ground-breaking laws on health and welfare; and he gave the Tories the nearest thing they have ever had to a philosophy (that thing about change: you know – not a bad idea provided you don’t wreck your national institutions in the process).
If he had a flaw it was that he was too amused, and refused ever to stoop to the literal-mindedness of Peel or the priggishness of Gladstone.
To the very end, he made jokes…
And his novels are still in print – not something you can say about any other British Prime Minister.
I don’t know if it was the exact intention of the authors, but I ended the book reverencing Disraeli even more than when I began it.
Note that Johnson seems to admire most the fact that Disraeli was an outsider and a joker yet rose to the top.
UPDATE
Reader BrokenHillBoy protests:
Not true that Boris is a loner, not clubbable and dislikes parties. Still recovering from a 1985 hangover (and resulting drinks bill) with him.
Labor built a desal plant we did not need. Now it buys water we don’t need, either
Andrew Bolt March 29 2016 (9:39am)
Labor cannot be trusted with your drinking water.
Years ago I warned that the then Victorian Labor Government was making a terrible mistake, building a desalination plant that would produce only a third of the water of a new dam for at least four times the price.
I was almost alone, unfortunately, and lost that battle. The Liberals were too weak to fight it.
But what astonishes me most about Kenneth Davidson’s latest article in The Age is that the new Labor Government is finally buying hideously expensive water from its mothballed desal plant it does not need:
===Years ago I warned that the then Victorian Labor Government was making a terrible mistake, building a desalination plant that would produce only a third of the water of a new dam for at least four times the price.
I was almost alone, unfortunately, and lost that battle. The Liberals were too weak to fight it.
But what astonishes me most about Kenneth Davidson’s latest article in The Age is that the new Labor Government is finally buying hideously expensive water from its mothballed desal plant it does not need:
Why is the Andrews government ordering water from AquaSure’s desalination plant at Wonthaggi when there is no water shortage likely and, even if there were, cheaper alternatives are available?(Thanks to reader Frank and others.)
Under the terms of the contract, the government is paying AquaSure $640 million a year, or $1.8 million a day, to keep the plant operational if needed…
The order of 50 billion litres for 2016-17 seems without rhyme or reason. It will increase the cost to Melbourne Water users by $200,000 a day to about $670 million a year....
[Melbourne Water’s] storage records show a long-term annual average inflow of 615 billion litres between 1913 to 2013 and 520 billion litres between 2010 to 2015?
Melbourne Water picked out the worst run of figures, between 1997 and 2009, with an average annual inflow of 376 billion litres [to justify the purchase from the desal plant]. But it didn’t point out that, together with the existing reservoir storage levels of 1137 billion litres, this drought-affected average provides enough water to last more than 20 years before the dams become unusable – four times the time needed to build a dam!…
The order for water can only logically be seen as contrivance for the government, through water users, to pay for repairs to the desalination plant – rather than AquaSure. What is going on?
I should get a cut of the ticket sales
Andrew Bolt March 29 2016 (9:27am)
There’s a political monoculture among today’s comedians which mocks their pretentions of being boldly one-out against the mob:
UPDATE
A review from reader Michael:
===Baa baa, they cried.
UPDATE
A review from reader Michael:
Well, I went to Wil Anderson’s show on Friday night expecting comedy. My fault I should have know better than to go see an ABC employee masquerading as a comedian. Oh god it was awful. Apart from a couple of one-liners is was a total rant of every leftish issue on the planet. It wasn’t a comedy routine is was a sermon. My personal favourite had to be the 15-20 odd minutes spent on why everyone that booed at Adam Goodes was racist.
Turnbull lurches left, and proves why Abbott must stay
Andrew Bolt March 29 2016 (8:53am)
Under pressure to distinguish himself from Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull reverts to Gillard-style unfunded spending:
I am thinking particularly of former Liberal Minister Peter Reith, who is becoming increasingly abusive and strident - clear signs that he cannot rely on reason alone.
Reith today - preaching to an appreciative Age audience - attacks Abbott for doing little more than defend his excellent record on borders and national security:
So why is Reith damning Abbott when he was so silent on much worse from Turnbull?
And what’s this “good policy” that Reith claims Abbott is endangering? Is it this lurch back to Labor-style big spending that blows out a Budget that’s already out of control? Is that what Reith reckons Liberals should be helping Turnbull to achieve? Is that why conservatives should help Turnbull to win the next election?
No wonder Reith abandons reason and reaches for abuse:
More insults and a conspiracy theory:
As for just “three or four” of these “delusional conservatives”, count how many are here:
Reith should reconsider whether abusing and insulting so many Liberals like this is good for his own image and credibility.
Denying reality surely is not:
This is no longer analysis. It sounds rather too much like revenge.
UPDATE
To check who voted for Turnbull in the leadership ballot go here.
===Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison are preparing to ditch Tony Abbott’s massive cuts to state hospital funding at a crucial meeting on Friday…This may be overstating the extent of the Turnbull compromise. But the leak is disturbing and makes clear that Abbott’s conservative critics are missing the plot when they tell him to shut up and get out.
Although federal sources insist the deal has not been finalised, states are confident they will be offered a four-year hospital funding agreement to 2020 based on the original formula agreed under the Gillard Labor government. This would create a $5 billion hit to Mr Morrison’s first budget…
Mr Turnbull and Mr Morrison have mapped out a health funding compromise to present to state premiers and treasurers at Friday’s Council of Australian Governments to neutralise hospital funding as an election issue.
I am thinking particularly of former Liberal Minister Peter Reith, who is becoming increasingly abusive and strident - clear signs that he cannot rely on reason alone.
Reith today - preaching to an appreciative Age audience - attacks Abbott for doing little more than defend his excellent record on borders and national security:
If he keeps undermining Turnbull, especially in an election when MPs are working hard to keep their seats, then the former prime minister will soon find that his legacy is seen as a present to Labor and a disaster for good policy.How is Abbott undermining Turnbull? It’s not like he’s doing what Turnbull did to Abbott, leaking, plotting, privately meeting Abbott’s enemies, inserting himself in negotiations with Indonesia and making speeches accusing Abbott of exaggerating the terrorism threat, of being too hard on Gillian Triggs and of making “captain’s calls”. Abbott is basically defending policies that Turnbull himself has adopted and thus should defend, too, if he were not so paranoid.
So why is Reith damning Abbott when he was so silent on much worse from Turnbull?
And what’s this “good policy” that Reith claims Abbott is endangering? Is it this lurch back to Labor-style big spending that blows out a Budget that’s already out of control? Is that what Reith reckons Liberals should be helping Turnbull to achieve? Is that why conservatives should help Turnbull to win the next election?
No wonder Reith abandons reason and reaches for abuse:
Only the “del-cons”, otherwise known as the delusional conservatives, would think throwing Abbott into the election is a good idea.Delusional? Then why are backbenchers wanting Abbott to campaign for them? Why does the Turnbull-controlled machine want Abbott’s electorate team to help Turnbull allies with their cash and time?
More insults and a conspiracy theory:
It’s much more likely that Abbott thinks he is preparing his return, with his former chief of staff, Peta Credlin, helping him by apparently joining Sky News. If that is his real ambition, he will be remembered as the leader of the del-cons, all three or four of them.Credlin is considering the Sky News job because it’s a job, not because it’s part of a plot. Reith himself has a Sky News job. Is that part of a plot by Reith to take revenge on Abbott for voting to deny him the Liberal presidency?
As for just “three or four” of these “delusional conservatives”, count how many are here:
Or check out the cheers for Abbott - and the very restrained applause for Turnbull - at the dinner for the 20th anniversary of the Howard Government.
Reith should reconsider whether abusing and insulting so many Liberals like this is good for his own image and credibility.
Denying reality surely is not:
I suspect that the story of when Treasurer Scott Morrison first heard about the change of the date for the budget also came from the del-cons. The story was laughable. The July 2 election was so obvious that it was publicly announced by Graham Richardson on Sky News at least three weeks before the formal statement. It was hardly a surprise and the change of the budget to May 3 was inevitable, given the time constraints set out in the Constitution.This story did not come at all from the “del cons”. It came from journalists simply asking Morrison whether he was told, and asking Turnbull if he told his Treasurer. It is bizarre for Reith to deny the facts and claim it’s part of a “del con” plot.
This is no longer analysis. It sounds rather too much like revenge.
UPDATE
To check who voted for Turnbull in the leadership ballot go here.
Left silent as Bill Shorten and Labor Party leaders’ ‘inadequacies’ overlooked
Piers Akerman – Saturday, March 28, 2015 (10:54pm)
THE left-wing media, exemplified by the Fairfax press and its allies at the vastly over-staffed, taxpayer-funded ABC, have been so obsessed with Tony Abbott’s prime ministership that it has totally overlooked the demonstrable inadequacies of Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and state Labor leaders Daniel Andrews, Anastacia Palaszczuk and Luke Foley.
Continue reading 'Left silent as Bill Shorten and Labor Party leaders’ ‘inadequacies’ overlooked'The premier reason for Mike Baird’s success
Miranda Devine – Saturday, March 28, 2015 (10:53pm)
As expected, Premier Mike Baird won the election. And it really was a personal victory for the clean-cut father of three.
Continue reading 'The premier reason for Mike Baird’s success'
===
As expected, Premier Mike Baird won the election. And it really was a personal victory for the clean-cut father of three.
Continue reading 'The premier reason for Mike Baird’s success'THE CHIN-HAMMOND-MAY SHOW
Tim Blair – Sunday, March 29, 2015 (10:30am)
Attention, BBC bosses! Got your Jeremy Clarkson replacement right here:
Does her own stunts, too.
Does her own stunts, too.
SURROUNDED
Tim Blair – Sunday, March 29, 2015 (12:08am)
I now live in a Greens seat. This will be interesting.
Queensland Government totters. Labor MP sacked
Andrew Bolt March 29 2015 (6:35pm)
The Queensland Labor Government, in power by grace of a single seat majority, is already in danger of falling:
===THE Queensland state government could come crashing down after troubled rookie MP Billy Gordon was sacked.
Mr Gordon has admitted a string of undeclared criminal offences, including a violence order, The Courier Mail reported. At this stage, Independent MP and Speaker Peter Wellington said he would continue to support the government, but it places the Palaszczuk administration in troubled waters.
Which would you no longer trust on this topic?
Andrew Bolt March 29 2015 (6:22pm)
One of these sources cannot be trusted.
AAP:
===AAP:
Holding banners high and chanting loudly, more than 5000 protesters came together at the State Library of Victoria to rally against Australia’s immigration detention centres.The Age:
An estimated 15,000 people marched through the city streets on Sunday demanding the Abbott government close the trouble-plagued immigration centres on Nauru and Manus Island.(Thanks to reader CK.)
On the The Bolt Report today, March 29
Andrew Bolt March 29 2015 (6:52am)
On the The Bolt Report on Channel 10 at 10am and 3pm.
Editorial: Lessons of the NSW election. Cheats don’t prosper and neither will Bill Shorten.
Guest: Treasurer Joe Hockey
The panel: former NSW Labor Treasurer Michael Costa and IPA boss John Roskam
Newswatch: Daily Telegraph columnist and blogger Tim Blair.
We’ll also have something to say about Senator Sam Dastyari’s astonishing outburst against Martin Ferguson, a Labor hero I respect.
The videos of the shows appear here.
UPDATE
Continue reading 'On the The Bolt Report today, March 29'
===Editorial: Lessons of the NSW election. Cheats don’t prosper and neither will Bill Shorten.
Guest: Treasurer Joe Hockey
The panel: former NSW Labor Treasurer Michael Costa and IPA boss John Roskam
Newswatch: Daily Telegraph columnist and blogger Tim Blair.
We’ll also have something to say about Senator Sam Dastyari’s astonishing outburst against Martin Ferguson, a Labor hero I respect.
The videos of the shows appear here.
UPDATE
THE BOLT REPORT
29 MARCH 2015
INTERVIEW WITH TREASURER JOE HOCKEY
ANDREW BOLT, PRESENTER: Just seven weeks from now Treasurer Joe Hockey must hand down his second Budget. It’s make-or-break, not just for the Government but for the Treasurer. He was blamed, fairly or not, for last year delivering a Budget that was unfair and hard to sell, and that’s not the end of it. Hockey knows spending must be cut, but the Prime Minister seems suddenly gun-shy.
TONY ABBOTT, PRIME MINISTER: It will be a much less exhilarating Budget for those who are Budget devotees and structural reform enthusiasts.
ANDREW BOLT: And when Hockey in Parliament mentioned the Government’s razor gang that tries to find spending cuts, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop reacted badly, and even worse when she read unsourced claims in the Australian that her budget will be cut yet again.
FRAN KELLY, ABC RADIO NATIONAL HOST: Would you be aware if your budget was going to be cut again?
JULIE BISHOP, FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER: Well, you’d hope I would be, wouldn’t you? So I’ll certainly be taking that up with the Treasurer, to find out the source of that story.
ANDREW BOLT: Well, the source wasn’t Hockey, and her budget now won’t be cut, but that just shows how hard cutting spending will be for the Treasurer, who joins me now. Thanks for your time, Treasurer.
JOE HOCKEY, TREASURER: Great to be with you, Andrew.
ANDREW BOLT: Now, you copped a lot of blame for the last Budget not selling, and it seemed to get you down a bit. Do you feel personally responsible for the Government trailing in the polls?
JOE HOCKEY: Oh, look, I’ll leave that to you, Andrew, and others. I accept responsibility for the first Budget, as we all have. And this Budget will be responsible, it’ll be measured, it’ll be fair, and it will consolidate the work undertaken by the first Budget, which was trying to address 40 years of Budget challenges left behind by Labor.
ANDREW BOLT: When you came into office in 2013, you inherited a net debt of $153- billion. What’s it blown out to today?
JOE HOCKEY: Well, it’s well over $200-billion, and it’s increasing. It’s increasing substantially. And why? Because we were left with in-built – in-built Government expenditure that was going to continue to grow and grow over time. And, as the Intergenerational Report indicates, it was heading towards 37% of GDP. Yet tax has always, even at its highest, been around a quarter of GDP. So you had expenditure rising to a massive
Continue reading 'On the The Bolt Report today, March 29'Tax take can’t keep rising like this
Andrew Bolt March 29 2015 (5:44am)
Tomorrow’s tax discussion paper from the Abbott Government makes clear that something must give. There must be tax cuts:
===According to the tax discussion paper, 43 per cent of all workers will be paying the two top brackets by 2025. That compares with just one in three workers who pay the two top tax rates of today.
Over the same period, an extra 750,000 workers will also be paying the top 45 cent tax rate that kicks in on earnings over $180,000.
Average workers earning $78,000-a-year will be forced into the second highest tax bracket next year alone as a result of bracket creep.
Time for scrutiny on Labor
Andrew Bolt March 29 2015 (5:40am)
Piers Akerman:
===THE left-wing media, exemplified by the Fairfax press and its allies at the vastly over-staffed, taxpayer-funded ABC, have been so obsessed with Tony Abbott’s prime ministership that it has totally overlooked the demonstrable inadequacies of Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and state Labor leaders Daniel Andrews, Anastacia Palaszczuk and Luke Foley.
While Mr Abbott’s every utterance is dissected with vinegary vigour and his every act, be it chomping down on a fresh and tasty onion ... or standing before the national flag, is viewed with sneering derision. The luvvy media has been silent for months over the unswerving support Mr Shorten and his cronies have offered the thuggish CFMEU (which goes a long way toward bankrolling Labor) and has ignored the racist and xenophobic dog whistling Shorten has engaged in, closely followed by NSW leader Foley.
Contrite Abbott gets another break
Andrew Bolt March 29 2015 (5:34am)
The NSW election was meant to finish Tony Abbott. Instead, it’s put heat on Bill Shorten and given Abbott’s recovery another boost.
===[Premier Mike] Baird personally thanked the Prime Minister in his victory speech.Abbott struck a good tone - humble yet not daunted - at the Liberal state conference in Victoria yesterday:
“I also want to acknowledge the Prime Minister and his support,’’ Mr Baird said. “He understood the need to put more funds into NSW. He has done that as a Prime Minister.’’
“It’s humbling, I have to say to you, very humbling to face the kind of Party Room challenge that I faced earlier this year. It’s humbling but it’s also instructive.That last bit worries me a bit. Is this the time for yet more handouts?
“It was a reminder that even a Prime Minister has to be a servant as well as a leader. And you might have noticed a relentless focus since February of this year on the things that really matter to the people of Australia.”
Mr Abbott also directly addressed concerns that his first budget had been too tough.
“This year’s Budget will be responsible, it will be measured, but it will above all be fair and, yes, there will be tough decisions in this year’s Budget as there must be,’’ he said.
“But there will also be good news in this year’s Budget, good news for families.’’
Jeremy Clarkson races the paparazzi
Andrew Bolt March 29 2015 (5:29am)
Jeremy Clarkson:
===When the BBC announced I was to be suspended from my job on Top Gear, I thought it would be a good idea to maintain a low profile. Which in one big respect was a bit tricky because the car I had on test that week was the Megane Renault Sport 275 Trophy-R. And it’s about as under-the-radar as a Day-Glo B-52....A chase follows. Someone wins.
And yet ... as it turned out, it was exactly what I wanted because, ooh, some of those paparazzi are persistent. They work in teams, using scooters and cars so that you can run but you can’t hide. Especially if you’re in a white car with red wheels and lots of writing on the sides. As they seem to have no qualms about telling you all what I do and where I go, I hope they won’t mind if I explain what they do. Jump red lights. Carve up buses. Do more than 160km/h on the Westway. (Yes, you did.) The paparazzi are like Terminators. They absolutely will not stop.
Labor crushed. Mike Baird’s virtue rewarded
Andrew Bolt March 29 2015 (5:18am)
Bottom line: NSW Labor got its second-worst result on record - just 34.2 per cent of the vote on counting so far. It is expected to win just 34 of the 93 seats.
Even better:
===Even better:
It also appears likely that the Coalition will win nine seats in the upper house, which along with the Christian Democrats, should ensure the passage of the electricity legislation.Premier Mike Baird has had virtue rewarded. From his victory speech last night:
I love this state. The reason I love this state is because of its people and friends, tonight they have chosen hope over fear. We decided to be open with the people of NSW and … we exposed ourselves to a big scare campaign - I believe it was the biggest scare campaign in state history.
Luke Foley is still in the Fairfax race
Andrew Bolt March 29 2015 (5:15am)
If the Sydney Sun-Herald on Sunday morning still can’t tell who won an election settled by dinner the night before, it deserves to be eaten alive by the Internet. As is indeed occuring:
Had Mike Baird lost last night, Fairfax would attack Tony Abbott.
But Mike Baird won last night. So Fairfax attacks Tony Abbott:
UPDATE
This election puts pressure on one federal leader - Labor’s Bill Shorten.
But so fixated is Mark Kenny with his increasingly shrill anti-Abbott beatups that his analysis piece doesn’t mention Shorten at all, and beats up once more his old favorite - that Abbott could be toppled:
Apply to each story as required.
(Thanks to reader Gab.)
===UPDATE
Had Mike Baird lost last night, Fairfax would attack Tony Abbott.
But Mike Baird won last night. So Fairfax attacks Tony Abbott:
Another reason not to buy the paper. Whatever happens, you know it will blame Abbott. It’s Groundhog Day every day.
UPDATE
This election puts pressure on one federal leader - Labor’s Bill Shorten.
But so fixated is Mark Kenny with his increasingly shrill anti-Abbott beatups that his analysis piece doesn’t mention Shorten at all, and beats up once more his old favorite - that Abbott could be toppled:
Had Baird hit the fence, Abbott would have faced irresistible pressure to step down. But the solid win has underscored to Liberals that governments can survive tough times by staying close to the centre-ground and by having a popular leader to whom voters are prepared to listen.For Kenny it’s heads Abbott loses, tails Turnbull wins.
For Abbott that lesson could be just as dangerous.
Apply to each story as required.
(Thanks to reader Gab.)
NSW election - disaster for Labor turns Shorten into the hunted
Andrew Bolt March 28 2015 (8:25pm)
The NSW election is going badly for Labor. It is in danger of posting its second-worst election result ever - under 35 per cent of the primary vote, and with perhaps as few as 30 seats, but no more than around 35. It could have lost a couple of seats to the Greens. It is a disaster.
Overnight, the heat goes onto federal Labor leader Bill Shorten.
He is running the kind of campaign that has just backfired on NSW Labor leader Luke Foley - anti-reform, pro-union, small-target, populist, deceitful and banking on an anti-Abbott swing. He just didn’t seem serious.
Tony Abbott is safe as Liberal leader for a long time yet. But can Bill Shorten last as Labor’s leader?
Much more on this on The Bolt Report tomorrow on Channel 10 at 10am and 3pm, with Treasurer Joe Hockey, former NSW Labor Treasurer Michael Costa and IPA boss John Roskam, plus Tim Blair.
UPDATE
Labor Senator Sam Dastyari tonight:
UPDATE
Sam Dastyari on Sky News demands that former Labor Minister and ACTU president Martin Ferguson be expelled from the Labor Party for having appeared in Liberals ads blasting the Labor lies about privatisation.
He calls Ferguson a “rat” who committed a “bastard act” and “treason” of the kind that once got people “hung, drawn and quartered”.
What Dastyari can’t get is that a Labor party which disgusts a stalwart and Labor great as Ferguson has lost its way and isn’t worth voting for. Labor would in fact be healthier if the likes of Dastyari were expelled instead.
UPDATE
Labor looks like winning a net 11 seats when it hoped for at least 15 and probably 20.
UPDATE
Reader Mike of Darwin:
Overnight, the heat goes onto federal Labor leader Bill Shorten.
He is running the kind of campaign that has just backfired on NSW Labor leader Luke Foley - anti-reform, pro-union, small-target, populist, deceitful and banking on an anti-Abbott swing. He just didn’t seem serious.
Tony Abbott is safe as Liberal leader for a long time yet. But can Bill Shorten last as Labor’s leader?
Much more on this on The Bolt Report tomorrow on Channel 10 at 10am and 3pm, with Treasurer Joe Hockey, former NSW Labor Treasurer Michael Costa and IPA boss John Roskam, plus Tim Blair.
UPDATE
Labor Senator Sam Dastyari tonight:
It was never about Abbott.NSW Labor leader Luke Foley on March 25:
Remove Mike Baird and you remove Tony Abbott.Love the spin.
UPDATE
Sam Dastyari on Sky News demands that former Labor Minister and ACTU president Martin Ferguson be expelled from the Labor Party for having appeared in Liberals ads blasting the Labor lies about privatisation.
He calls Ferguson a “rat” who committed a “bastard act” and “treason” of the kind that once got people “hung, drawn and quartered”.
What Dastyari can’t get is that a Labor party which disgusts a stalwart and Labor great as Ferguson has lost its way and isn’t worth voting for. Labor would in fact be healthier if the likes of Dastyari were expelled instead.
UPDATE
Labor looks like winning a net 11 seats when it hoped for at least 15 and probably 20.
UPDATE
Reader Mike of Darwin:
ABC NSW votes. Watched from about 7:30pm for the next hour (NT time). Apart from 1 Liberal lady in blue in the studio set, not one Liberal or National given air time until Mike Baird’s acceptance / declaration of victory.Related, from reader observer:
Labor new members, Senators and Greens candidates all interviewed at their electorates. Not one Liberal or National could be found by any ABC camera person, sound guy or reporter.
Why?
And ABC 24 choreographed the result tonight reluctantly as “The Coalition won DESPITE the swing to Labor.”(Thanks to reader red breast.)
===
NO HOUR, NO POWER
Tim Blair – Saturday, March 29, 2014 (12:11am)
Like a crippled boy with asthma, tonight’s Earth Hour crept up on us slowly. Fairfax has barely bothered to promote its annual darkness festival, and the usual Earth Hour boosterism from the ABC and others is utterly absent. It’s almost as though people aren’t excited any more about turning their lights off for 60 minutes.
We usually celebrate an Hour of Power to counter this pathetic caper, but at this point, with Earth Hour shunned even by its friends, such a celebration seems almost cruel. Earth Hour is now the Johnny No Mates of global climate activism, and we should pity it.
Therefore this site will not hold an Hour of Power. Besides, during the time in question, I’ll be at the football. Under lights.
GREENS EATEN
Tim Blair – Friday, March 28, 2014 (4:29pm)
Tasmania leads the way:
The Greens have only themselves to blame for any loss of resources and speaking time in Parliament, Premier-elect Will Hodgman has said.The former minority government partners no longer qualify for party status in the Tasmanian Parliament after an 8 per cent swing against them cost them two seats at the election.
If they want laws against abuse, could they at least stop this vilification?
Andrew Bolt March 29 2014 (11:24am)
This really is becoming obscene.
First, Ron Merkel QC, acting for fair-skinned Aborigines who successfully had two of my articles banned, told the Jewish judge my thinking was of the kind that the Nazis had in drawing up the Nuremberg race laws - a truly disgusting and false smear which Jewish leaders have, belatedly, condemned. My articles were in fact a protest against racism and its new forms.
Next, The Age published a prominent article by academic Marica Langton accusing me of believing in the “master race” and “racial hygiene”, concepts promoted by the Nazis and used to justify the Holocaust. Langton has, after more than two years, finally apologised for that outrageous lie, but The Age has not.
This month the ABC falsely smeared me as a racist and broadcast utterly false claims that I’d subjected an academic to “foul abuse ... racist abuse”, accused her of not really being Aboriginal and driven her from “public life”. Every single claim was untrue, and the ABC grudgingly apologised.
Yesterday another disgusting character assassination, this time from SBS, which broadcast yet more distressing falsehoods to paint me as exactly the opposite of what I am.
I’ve mentioned this in a post below, but I am alarmed by the damage this campaign of vilification could do and want to highlight the falseness of this latest smear, which even The Australian republished this morning:
I have asked SBS to retract the claim, made during an interview with McMillan which you can watch here.
These people want laws to stop the giving of offence? And then they do this?
===First, Ron Merkel QC, acting for fair-skinned Aborigines who successfully had two of my articles banned, told the Jewish judge my thinking was of the kind that the Nazis had in drawing up the Nuremberg race laws - a truly disgusting and false smear which Jewish leaders have, belatedly, condemned. My articles were in fact a protest against racism and its new forms.
Next, The Age published a prominent article by academic Marica Langton accusing me of believing in the “master race” and “racial hygiene”, concepts promoted by the Nazis and used to justify the Holocaust. Langton has, after more than two years, finally apologised for that outrageous lie, but The Age has not.
This month the ABC falsely smeared me as a racist and broadcast utterly false claims that I’d subjected an academic to “foul abuse ... racist abuse”, accused her of not really being Aboriginal and driven her from “public life”. Every single claim was untrue, and the ABC grudgingly apologised.
Yesterday another disgusting character assassination, this time from SBS, which broadcast yet more distressing falsehoods to paint me as exactly the opposite of what I am.
I’ve mentioned this in a post below, but I am alarmed by the damage this campaign of vilification could do and want to highlight the falseness of this latest smear, which even The Australian republished this morning:
Professor of Law at Melbourne University, Mark McMillan is one of the nine Aboriginal people who sued columnist Andrew Bolt in 2009…I have never made, hinted at or in any way condoned any such despicable accusation, or made any suggestion which would possibly lead any sane person to make it themselves. I’d condemn such stuff, just as I’ve condemned those of the Left and the Right who’ve encouraged (accidentally or probably not) exactly this kind of vile abuse of others, which I have often said I find utterly repellent. McMillan is wrong, very wrong, to imply I’d made this claim or in any way encouraged others to do so. As a professor of law, he should be more much careful about defaming people like this.
”I was accused of being a paedophile, and these were not just responses of Andrew Bolt,” Mr McMillan said.
I have asked SBS to retract the claim, made during an interview with McMillan which you can watch here.
These people want laws to stop the giving of offence? And then they do this?
Didn’t Labor promise no one would lose their job because of the carbon tax?
Andrew Bolt March 29 2014 (8:16am)
Reader Ken:
===Now that the SA and Tasmanian elections are over, there are now 138 less Labor members of Federal, State and Territory parliaments than in 2010.
Sheehan tells the ABC just how big the AWU scandal is. You know, the one it wouldn’t report
Andrew Bolt March 29 2014 (7:59am)
Paul Sheehan makes a prediction on the ABC about Julia Gillard, referring to the AWU scandal - a scandal the ABC for years tried to dismiss or ignore:
The video is Michael Smith, who is all over this scandal and lost his job at Fairfax radio for trying to report it.
But remember how the ABC’s Media Watch in 2011 sunk the boot into Smith for daring to raise matters which Media Watch dismissed as just old news - matters which have since become the subject of an intensive police investigation and will be probed by a royal commission?:
One day the media’s shameful role in helping Gillard to bury this scandal will be fully exposed. I suspect a book may be coming…
===(Note: Julia Gillard denies any wrongdoing and says she did not know how her then boyfriend, AWU official Bruce Wilson, used the slush fund she helped to set up through giving legal advice.)
The video is Michael Smith, who is all over this scandal and lost his job at Fairfax radio for trying to report it.
But remember how the ABC’s Media Watch in 2011 sunk the boot into Smith for daring to raise matters which Media Watch dismissed as just old news - matters which have since become the subject of an intensive police investigation and will be probed by a royal commission?:
Michael Smith is the afternoon host of Sydney radio station 2UE, owned by Fairfax Media. And the Friday before last, he launched into readings from Bob Kernohan’s year-old stat dec ... Smith either didn’t know, or didn’t care, that every allegation in it has been aired, and dealt with publicly by Julia Gillard, multiple times ... Gillard has already explained herself in Glenn Milne’s 2007 article. She’s denied any wrongdoing many times, going back to when the allegations were first raised in the Victorian Parliament in 1995 ... Michael Smith didn’t accept the earlier denials. On the contrary, for hour after hour, day after day, Smith demanded that the Prime Minister come on his program and submit to a public interrogation ...And remember this?
Andrew Bolt will be deeply disappointed with this program. He wrote to us that ...
“Lately, the issue has become the Prime Minister’s attempt to close down some reporting. It is the responsibility of every journalist involved in political commentary to note this. — Andrew Bolt, 3rd September, 2011”But Nine News’s Laurie Oakes, who knows a thing or two about political commentary, disagrees:
“Laurie Oakes: The question is why it’s been dredged up again and the answer to that, I think, is people just are trying to, people who don’t like Julia Gillard and want to bring her down are beating it up....What happened sixteen years ago has indeed become peripheral.
— 3AW, Mornings with Neil Mitchell, 31st August, 2011”
Jon Faine, of 774 ABC Melbourne, said: “The conspiracy theorists are having a ball, the blogosphere’s running amok, it’s all completely out of control ... why is it on the front page of the paper?”And this?:
In January [last year], Thomas reported that Victoria police had travelled to Queensland and taken a lengthy statement from a former para-legal executive at Slater & Gordon, Olivia Palmer (nee Brosnahan). That interview marked a turning point in the police investigation, with a significant increase in the number of detectives assigned to the matter as a result of her evidence.And this?:
The ABC reported nothing.
Despite extensive coverage on commercial radio and television, and after several days of coverage across the News Limited and Fairfax press, the ABC chose to ignore yesterday’s fresh allegations reported by The Australian concerning Julia Gillard and claims she received $5000 cash from then boyfriend and union official Bruce Wilson.And this ABC letter to a viewer, explaining its refusal to report that Gillard was a subject of a police investigation?:
With the exception of one question from Radio National Breakfast host Fran Kelly to The Age’s political editor Michelle Grattan about whether the revelations were “a problem” for Ms Gillard, the story was one the ABC did not think its listeners were entitled to hear until late in the day when the Prime Minister, who denies wrongdoing, dismissed it as “a smear”....
Reporting that the prime minister of the nation is under police investigation is an enormously significant call to make. It cannot be made on supposition, on rumour, or on hearsay…And this letter?
According to The Australian they’ve been collecting files but you would expect any police investigation to gather up this sort of primary documentation. That does not mean Ms Gillard is under investigation. For all we know, the investigation could be into Ralph Blewitt, or Bruce Wilson or Slater & Gordon or any number of other individuals and entities.
The ABC is aware of these statements but we do not at this stage believe it warrants the attention of our news coverage.And this, referring to a column in 2007 by Glenn Milne, also dumped for later raising the issue again?:
To the extent that it may touch tangentially on a former role of the Prime Minister, we know The Australian newspaper maintains an abiding interest in events 17 years ago at the law firm Slater & Gordon, but the ABC is unaware of any allegation in the public domain which goes to the Prime Minister’s integrity.
Gillard later told biographer Jacqueline Kent: “Over the next two or three days I received phone calls from many of the biggest names in the Canberra press gallery expressing absolute disbelief that such things were said (by Milne).(Again, Gillard insists she did not wrong and did not know how her then boyfriend was using the slush fund she helped him to create with her legal advice as his solicitor.)
“Nobody followed up the story. It just died.”
One day the media’s shameful role in helping Gillard to bury this scandal will be fully exposed. I suspect a book may be coming…
Don’t agree? Then why not simply argue back?
Andrew Bolt March 29 2014 (7:47am)
I should note that the judge ruled I’d made an error of fact to suggest certain people had a choice to identify with one, all or none of the “racial” identities of their various ancestors, and he banned two of my columns.
Chris Kenny:
This is a disgraceful smear:
I have asked SBS to retract the claim, made during an interview with McMillan which you can watch here.
UPDATE
Reader Peter objects that I am too white, and should take steps not to be:
Not sure I’m helped by the Nazi analogy, but Brendan O’Neill (who doesn’t quite mean it that way) has a point:
===Chris Kenny:
As it happens, Bolt’s columns were appeals against race-based preferment and the temptation to parade one aspect of our ethnic make-up over any other.UPDATE
The columns highlighted an extremely significant issue about whether grants and positions for indigenous Australians are going to those suffering discrimination or disadvantage or whether, at least sometimes, they go to those simply able to demonstrate a connection.
Kerryn Pholi, who worked in but then rejected positions reserved for Aborigines, has written at length on this from a personal perspective in Quadrant.
“I felt hurt (by the Bolt columns) because the truth hurts,” she says, “and my comforting rationalisations about myself and my place in the world were already painfully dissolving.”
Bolt stridently questioned the legitimacy of urbanised, mixed-race people identifying as predominantly Aboriginal and claiming awards and grants allocated for indigenous people.
“The resulting court case and decision seemed to rest on how the injured parties felt,” observes Pholi, “whether they felt themselves to be Aboriginal and had always felt that way, and whether they felt upset and offended by Bolt’s writing, and whether other fair-skinned Aboriginal people and other such ‘vulnerable’ Aboriginal people would be likely to feel the same way.”
This gets to the nub of the issue and the rationale behind the government’s proposed changes.
Bromberg based his findings not only on what Bolt wrote but on what he didn’t write. He defended Bolt’s right to make his point but condemned the manner and tone in which he made it.
And he ruled on the likely extent of insult, offence and humiliation among a specific group of people. This ill-defined and subjective power in the hands of the judiciary is far too broad and can only have a chilling effect on free speech.
This is a disgraceful smear:
Professor of Law at Melbourne University, Mark McMillan is one of the nine Aboriginal people who sued columnist Andrew Bolt in 2009…I have never said, hinted at or in any way condoned any such despicable claim, or made any suggestion which would possibly lead any sane person to make it themselves. I’d condemn such stuff, just as I’ve condemned those of the Left and the Right who’ve encouraged(accidentally or probably not) exactly this kind of vile abuse of others, which I have often said I find utterly repellent. McMillan is wrong, very wrong, to imply I’d made this claim or in any way encouraged others to do so. As a professor of law, he should be more much careful about defaming people like this.
”I was accused of being a paedophile, and these were not just responses of Andrew Bolt,” Mr McMillan said.
I have asked SBS to retract the claim, made during an interview with McMillan which you can watch here.
UPDATE
Reader Peter objects that I am too white, and should take steps not to be:
As always, Andrew, I’ll be prepared to take you seriously when you give up your white male privilege.UPDATE
Not sure I’m helped by the Nazi analogy, but Brendan O’Neill (who doesn’t quite mean it that way) has a point:
We’re witnessing the victory of the Soviet view of speech as bad and censorship as good, with various members of the modern West’s chattering classes unwittingly aping yesteryear’s communist tyrants as they call for the banning of “advocacy of hatred”, and a corresponding demise of the older enlightened belief that ideas and words should never be curtailed....O’Neill will be a guest on The Bolt Report in the near future. Details to follow. In the meantime, you can join Brendan at a public talk in Sydney next Thursday or in Brisbane the week after. Go here for details.
But here’s the thing: history shows that, actually, hate speech laws don’t even help to combat hate.
The Weimar Republic of the 30s had laws against “insulting religious communities”. They were used to prosecute hundreds of Nazi agitators, including Joseph Goebbels. Did it stop them? No. It helped them.
The Nazis turned their prosecutions for hate speech to their advantage, presenting themselves as political victims and whipping up public support among aggrieved sections of German society, their future social base. Far from halting Nazism, hate speech legislation assisted it. It is surely time every hate speech law was repealed. They are a menace to free thought and speech, and the worst tool imaginable for fighting real hatred.
Seriously: $22 billion a year for the NDIS? Plus blowouts?
Andrew Bolt March 29 2014 (7:27am)
Completely predictable, but Labor still insisted on seeming good by promising a welfare scheme that would actually cost many more billions than we could afford, and the Liberals did not dare to completely oppose it:
===COSTS on the pilots for the new national disability care program blew out by as much as 30 per cent in the first six months, hitting $46,000 a person, punching a hole in the May budget and threatening billion-dollar hits in the years ahead.(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
The blowout in the national disability insurance scheme is part of the “shocking” turnaround from the surplus Labor predicted for 2017-18 to a $32 billion deficit that Joe Hockey revealed to state treasurers yesterday…
For the following three months, from October to December last year, the average cost per person in the pilot programs had dropped to $40,466 but was still 15 per cent above the average budgeted cost… The NDIS is due to be fully operational in 2019-20 at a current estimated annual cost of $22bn, including state government contributions.
Don’t mention the war. I did once and the Guardian calls me “insensitive”
Andrew Bolt March 29 2014 (6:52am)
Truth hurts, and the Left are screaming at the success of the Abbott Government’s new boat people policies.
Consider: There have been no boat arrivals for 100 days today. Nor have there been any known drownings. In contrast, more than 1100 boat people were lured to their deaths after Labor softened our border laws to seem more “compassionate”.
Ergo: the Abbott Government has saved lives, which even the Australian Human Rights Commission president grudgingly admits:
Sorry, Oliver. Next time I’ll hide the Left’s corpses under my carpet. I won’t say a word about the drownings, just as you didn’t when there was still time to prevent hundreds more.
UPDATE
Another benefit of the new policy: fewer people in detention. Or is that too “insensitive” to mention, too?:
===Consider: There have been no boat arrivals for 100 days today. Nor have there been any known drownings. In contrast, more than 1100 boat people were lured to their deaths after Labor softened our border laws to seem more “compassionate”.
Ergo: the Abbott Government has saved lives, which even the Australian Human Rights Commission president grudgingly admits:
Professor Triggs said she “sensed” the Australian public was “very happy with the stop-the-boats policies” and the fact fewer people were drowning at sea.But the Guardian’s Oliver Laughland is shocked, truly shocked, to have such facts baldly stated:
Yet, in some quarters at least, the government’s argument is lapped up. Turning back boats saves lives. Closing borders results in more compassion. Deterrence is fairness.I confess. I am indeed partial - to saving lives. I am indeed insensitive - to the feelings of the Left’s open-borders brigade when I attack its lethally stupid posturing.
“Tony Abbott and his policies on border protection have saved men, women and children from drowning an awful death at sea,” crooned former Victorian Liberal president Michael Kroger on the Bolt Report earlier in the month. “You just imagine these parents and their kids in the sea, life draining from their bodies, watching their children and wives and husbands die in the sea. That is what happened to 1,200 people under the Rudd/Gillard policies”.
Bolt interjected: “And as they drowned they thought ‘at least the Greens policies are more compassionate’. Ridiculous.” The insensitivity of the exchange was jaw-dropping – and striking in its naked partiality.
Sorry, Oliver. Next time I’ll hide the Left’s corpses under my carpet. I won’t say a word about the drownings, just as you didn’t when there was still time to prevent hundreds more.
UPDATE
Another benefit of the new policy: fewer people in detention. Or is that too “insensitive” to mention, too?:
MORE than 600 asylum seekers have returned home voluntarily or through forced repatriation since the Coalition declared Australia’s borders closed...(Thanks to readers Peter and Lin.)
The figures, that until now had been kept secret, confirm that for the first time since 2008 the tide of boat arrivals has begun to turn, and the number of people returning home is now exceeding arrival numbers.
....240 from mainland detention or community detention left voluntarily, having given up hope of being granted asylum, and 168 were flown home by the government. A total of 198 asylum seekers from Manus Island and Nauru had also asked authorities to be returned home after realising they would not be settled in Australia… A survey of people being held in detention revealed most arrivals had sought to come to Australia because they believed the previous Labor government would let them stay.
Jailing Michael Williamson puts Labor’s former president behind bars
Andrew Bolt March 29 2014 (6:41am)
Michael Williamson, yesterday jailed for seven years for corruption, was not just the former boss of the Health Services Union. What some reports fail to mention is that he was also national president of Labor. And that made him very influential, as Lateline acknowledged on the night of the 23 June 2010 coup:
UPDATE
I find it hard to believe no one in Labor or the union, other than a couple of brave whistleblowers, knew what was going on:
===PAUL HOWES: I spoke to Julia [Gillard] very briefly to tell her that the ... [AWU’s] position is that we’re supporting her leadership ... Which is not unlike the position of the Health Services Union. I’ve seen that Michael Williamson, who’s also the national president of the Party has also endorsed Julia Gillard’s leadership.(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
UPDATE
I find it hard to believe no one in Labor or the union, other than a couple of brave whistleblowers, knew what was going on:
(W)hat Williamson has been jailed for was only the tip of the iceberg.... One time, Williamson claimed thieves had broken into the safe in his office and stolen thousands of dollars. At the same time someone using Williamson’s card accessed the building. He declined to report the matter to police.
He was reimbursed three times by the union after claiming he had been mugged at an ATM.
Among those at court was Paul Ford who, with Mark and Janice Hardacre and others, ran against Williamson for control of the union in 1999.
They discovered he had an HSU-issued American Express card that he used for Chanel perfume, jewellery, restaurant bills, a $1045 David Jones bill, Clinique skin care products worth $105, valet parking, a gas bill, and designer handbags. He responded by filing a $750,000 defamation suit against them.
Outside court Mr Ford said: ‘’Those who supported and enabled him should also be held accountable. We want our $25,000 returned, especially to the family of the late Bill O’Connor.’’
He said Mr O’Connor was a 76-year-old pensioner at the time he had to pay $25,000 for pointing out Mr Williamson was corrupt.
Mr Ford was also angry with the NSW Labor Party ‘’who knew about this but still promoted Williamson’’.
On The Bolt Report tomorrow
Andrew Bolt March 29 2014 (6:37am)
On the show on Sunday: Who are these people telling you what you can’t say and can’t hear?
Guests Anthony Dillon, who identifies as “part Aboriginal”, Judith Sloan and former NSW Treasurer Michael Costa.
In NewsWatch, the great Gerard Henderson on how newspapers are refusing to help police catch certain suspects. And a problem with Noah.
Plus Your Say, and a tale of two party-parties.
On Network 10 at 10am and 4pm.
The videos of the shows appear here.
===Guests Anthony Dillon, who identifies as “part Aboriginal”, Judith Sloan and former NSW Treasurer Michael Costa.
In NewsWatch, the great Gerard Henderson on how newspapers are refusing to help police catch certain suspects. And a problem with Noah.
Plus Your Say, and a tale of two party-parties.
On Network 10 at 10am and 4pm.
The videos of the shows appear here.
Benson: unions keep Labor radicals tamed
Andrew Bolt March 29 2014 (6:29am)
Simon Benson warns Labor that demanding loosening union control of the party could have it turn Left:
That said, by the end of that campaign it was hard to tell who was in fact the man of the Left. And in the Rudd-Gillard battle, the union machine tended to side with the Left’s Gillard, suggesting the union influence is used more to advance what suits unions rather than to resist the Left.
===Those who demand an instant end to the union gerrymander of the ALP don’t know what they wish for.And, indeed: the ballot for Labor leader had 60 of the members voting for the Left’s Anthony Albanese and just over 60 per cent of Labor MPs, more dependent on union influence, voting for the Right’s Bill Shorten.
The union movement, particularly conservative forces in the SDA and AWU, is the only thing keeping Labor from lurching to the left. It is an irony peculiar to the ALP that the unions remain the greatest right-wing force in a party whose rank and file membership is dominated by the left. It’s little wonder many union leaders are backing a break with the ALP — to protect their own credibility.
That said, by the end of that campaign it was hard to tell who was in fact the man of the Left. And in the Rudd-Gillard battle, the union machine tended to side with the Left’s Gillard, suggesting the union influence is used more to advance what suits unions rather than to resist the Left.
It’s wrong, and never mind why
Andrew Bolt March 29 2014 (5:13am)
They know blasphemy when they hear it, and the details aren’t important:
===ABC1’s Lateline, Thursday:
TONY Jones: Tony Abbott, is reversing ... the carbon tax. … do you regard it as a retrograde step, possibly even a damaging one ...?
Lord Nicholas Stern: I think it’s damaging for the world and I think over the medium term it’s damaging for Australia …
Jones: Can direct action policies be used … over the long-term to make big emissions reductions?
Stern: I don’t know the details of Australia’s alternatives in that way …
Earth Hour, when a billion people prove something pointless
Andrew Bolt March 29 2014 (4:59am)
A billion people, it’s claimed, will take part in Earth Hour tonight.
Bjorn Lomborg laughs:
Tim Blair notices a cooling among Earth Hour warmists:
===Bjorn Lomborg laughs:
Earth Hour is about switching off the lights, not your computer, your internet, your heater or cooler or dishwasher or anything else that would be inconvenient… It would likely be the equivalent of China halting its CO2 emissions for less than four minutes.Lomborg is no climate sceptic, but says the global warming hysteria has us blowing billions:
But even this is unrealistic because in the real world power plants keep running to accommodate usage from all other uses and the potential surge after the hour ends. The power sector thinks the net reduction is close to zero. And even this forgets that almost all participants light candles instead. But candles are almost 100 times less efficient than incandescent light bulbs, and more than 300 times less efficient than fluorescent lights. Light one candle and it will emit as much CO2 as you were saving. Light a bunch of candles and you’ll have emitted much more CO2. So Earth Hour may actually increase CO2 emissions.
In 2012, solar and wind power was subsidised by $60 billion. For all this extra money we spent on energy, we generated just 0.3 per cent of global energy from wind and 0.04 per cent from solar. The emission savings from that translate into climate benefits of just over $1bn. Ninety-seven cents of every dollar invested was wasted.UPDATE
Tim Blair notices a cooling among Earth Hour warmists:
Like a crippled boy with asthma, tonight’s Earth Hour crept up on us slowly. Fairfax has barely bothered to promote its annual darkness festival, and the usual Earth Hour boosterism from the ABC and others is utterly absent. It’s almost as though people aren’t excited any more about turning their lights off for 60 minutes.
ABC balance
Andrew Bolt March 28 2014 (6:15pm)
Does the ABC even try to be balanced? Gerard Henderson continues his Maurice Newman scorecard:
===How frightfully Aunty on the “Journo’s Forum” on ABC Metropolitan Radio 702 late yesterday evening. Wendy Harmer was in the presenter’s chair (standing in for Richard Glover) and her guests were Emma Alberici (ABC TV), John Mangos and Malarndirri McInerney (SBS/NITV News).The Age, as a newspaper owned by shareholders, is at least entitled to be biased, and, boy, it sure is. Take yesterday:
Soon discussion got around to the Racial Discrimination Act – Section 18 (c) and Section 18 (d) – and all that. Plus George Brandis and Andrew Bolt and all that. Soon Wendy Harmer agreed with Emma Alberici who agreed with John Mangos who agreed with Malarndirri McInerney who agreed with Wendy Harmer who agreed with herself that the Attorney-General’s proposed amendment to the Racial Discrimination Act was a BAD THING. No other view was heard as everyone agreed with everyone else in the usual ABC way.
In short, one editorial critical of the Coalition along with 100 per cent of the letters published plus 100 per cent of opinion pieces. Neither Green Left Weekly nor The Saturday Paper could do better than this.Henderson will join me for the NewsWatch segment on Sunday’s The Bolt Report.
Today’s Age carries 12 letters on national politics – all of which are critical of the Coalition – plus a column by left-wing academic Waleed Aly which is also critical of the Coalition. Another 100 per cent score-line. The fact is that there is more political diversity in The Australian than there is in The Age which increasingly resembles the content of a university student newspaper like, say, Farrago
Before you believe Manne, read the following
Andrew Bolt March 28 2014 (4:52pm)
Professor Robert Manne, I’m told, is touting one of his essays on the social media. It is one he’s written some time ago, claiming he really has met my challenge to name just 10 names of children truly stolen under “stolen generations” policies to end Aboriginal culture.
I have written several articles disproving his claims, including this one. More can be found here.
Needless to say, Manne is very rich in abuse but still short of 10 names. It seems it is easier to scream “racist” than to provide evidence. In fact, in 20 court cases so far, only one has found a child who was stolen - and even then the boy was stolen by an official defying government policy, and to save him from suspected neglect.
Meanwhile, his “stolen generations” myth destroys the lives of some Aboriginal children.
===I have written several articles disproving his claims, including this one. More can be found here.
Needless to say, Manne is very rich in abuse but still short of 10 names. It seems it is easier to scream “racist” than to provide evidence. In fact, in 20 court cases so far, only one has found a child who was stolen - and even then the boy was stolen by an official defying government policy, and to save him from suspected neglect.
Meanwhile, his “stolen generations” myth destroys the lives of some Aboriginal children.
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"If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day." - E.B. White
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With Britain facing its coldest Easter on record, and with fears that at least 10,000 sheep may have perished from the record freezing temperatures – farmers are resorting to dressing sheep in woolly jumpers to prevent them from freezing to death.It is unknown if the UK’s Department of Global Warming is issuing grants to farmers to buy the woolly jumpers to prevent sheep from freezing to death from the record cold.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/
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March 29: Earth Hour (20:30 local time in various areas, 2014); Boganda Day in the Central African Republic; Martyrs' Day in Madagascar (1947)
- 1461 – Yorkist troops defeated Lancastrian forces at theBattle of Towton in Yorkshire, England, the largest battle in the Wars of the Roses up until that time with approximately 20,000 casualties.
- 1882 – The Knights of Columbus, the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization, was founded by Michael J. McGivneyin New Haven, Connecticut, US.
- 1969 – The New People's Army (flag pictured), the armed wing of theCommunist Party of the Philippines, was formed.
- 1974 – A group of farmers in Shaanxi province, China, discovered a vast collection of terracotta statues depicting the armies of the first Emperor of China Qin Shi Huang, now known as the Terracotta Army.
- 1981 – Dick Beardsley and Inge Simonsen jointly won the first running of theLondon Marathon.
- 502 – King Gundobad issues a new legal code (Lex Burgundionum) at Lyon that makes Gallo-Romansand Burgundians subject to the same laws.
- 845 – Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collects a huge ransom in exchange for leaving.
- 1430 – The Ottoman Empire under Murad II captures the Byzantine city of Thessalonica.
- 1461 – Wars of the Roses: Battle of Towton – Edward of York defeats Queen Margaret to become King Edward IV of England.
- 1500 – Cesare Borgia is given the title of Captain General and Gonfalonier by his father Rodrigo Borgiaafter returning from his conquests in the Romagna.
- 1549 – The city of Salvador da Bahia, the first capital of Brazil, is founded.
- 1632 – Treaty of Saint-Germain is signed returning Quebec to French control after the English had seized it in 1629.
- 1638 – Swedish colonists establish the first European settlement in Delaware, naming it New Sweden.
- 1683 – Yaoya Oshichi, 15-year-old Japanese girl, burnt at the stake for an act of arson committed due to unrequited love.
- 1792 – King Gustav III of Sweden dies after being shot in the back at a midnight masquerade ball at Stockholm's Royal Opera 13 days earlier. He is succeeded by Gustav IV Adolf.
- 1806 – Construction is authorized of the Great National Pike, better known as the Cumberland Road, becoming the first United States federal highway.
- 1809 – King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden abdicates after a coup d'état. At the Diet of Porvoo, Finland's four Estates pledge allegiance to Alexander I of Russia, commencing the secession of the Grand Duchy of Finland from Sweden.
- 1831 – Great Bosnian uprising: Bosniaks rebel against Turkey.
- 1847 – Mexican–American War: United States forces led by General Winfield Scott take Veracruz after a siege.
- 1849 – The United Kingdom annexes the Punjab.
- 1857 – Sepoy Mangal Pandey of the 34th Regiment, Bengal Native Infantry mutinies against the East India Company's rule in Indiaand inspires the protracted Indian Rebellion of 1857, also known as the Sepoy Mutiny.
- 1865 – American Civil War: Federal forces under Major General Philip Sheridan move to flank Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee as the Appomattox Campaign begins.
- 1867 – Queen Victoria gives Royal Assent to the British North America Act which establishes the Dominion of Canada on July 1.
- 1871 – The Royal Albert Hall is opened by Queen Victoria.
- 1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Kambula: British forces defeat 20,000 Zulus.
- 1882 – The Knights of Columbus are established.
- 1886 – Dr. John Pemberton brews the first batch of Coca-Cola in a backyard in Atlanta.
- 1911 – The M1911 .45 ACP pistol becomes the official U.S. Army side arm.
- 1930 – Heinrich Brüning is appointed German Reichskanzler.
- 1936 – In Germany, Adolf Hitler receives 99% of the votes in a referendum to ratify Germany's illegal reoccupation of the Rhineland, receiving 44.5 million votes out of 45.5 million registered voters.
- 1941 – The North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement goes into effect at 03:00 local time.
- 1941 – World War II: British Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy forces defeat those of the Italian Regia Marina off the Peloponnesian coast of Greece in the Battle of Cape Matapan.
- 1942 – The Bombing of Lübeck in World War II is the first major success for the RAF Bomber Command against Germany and a German city.
- 1945 – World War II: Last day of V-1 flying bomb attacks on England.
- 1945 – World War II: The German 4th Army is almost destroyed by the Soviet Red Army.
- 1946 – Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, one of Mexico's leading universities, is founded.
- 1947 – Malagasy Uprising against French colonial rule in Madagascar.
- 1951 – Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage.
- 1957 – The New York, Ontario and Western Railway makes its final run, the first major U.S. railroad to be abandoned in its entirety.
- 1961 – The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, allowing residents of Washington, D.C., to vote in presidential elections.
- 1962 – Arturo Frondizi, the president of Argentina, is overthrown in a military coup by Argentina's armed forces, ending an 11½ day constitutional crisis.
- 1971 – My Lai Massacre: Lieutenant William Calley is convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison.
- 1971 – A Los Angeles jury recommends the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers.
- 1973 – Vietnam War: The last United States combat soldiers leave South Vietnam.
- 1973 – Operation Barrel Roll, a covert US bombing campaign in Laos to stop communist infiltration of South Vietnam, ends.
- 1974 – NASA's Mariner 10 becomes the first space probe to fly by Mercury.
- 1974 – Local farmers in Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi province, China, discover the Terracotta Army that was buried with Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, in the third century BCE.
- 1982 – The Canada Act 1982 receives the Royal Assent from Queen Elizabeth II, setting the stage for the Queen of Canada to proclaim the Constitution Act, 1982.
- 1984 – The Baltimore Colts load its possessions onto fifteen Mayflower moving trucks in the early morning hours and transfer its operations to Indianapolis.
- 1990 – The Czechoslovak parliament is unable to reach an agreement on what to call the country after the fall of Communism, sparking the so-called Hyphen War.
- 1993 – Catherine Callbeck becomes premier of Prince Edward Island and the first woman to be elected in a general election as premier of a Canadian province.
- 1999 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 10,000 mark (10,006.78) for the first time, during the height of the dot-com bubble.
- 1999 – A magnitude 6.8 earthquake strikes the Chamoli district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, killing 103.
- 2002 – In reaction to the Passover massacre two days prior, Israel launches Operation Defensive Shield against Palestinian militants, its largest military operation in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War.
- 2004 – Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia join NATO as full members.
- 2004 – The Republic of Ireland becomes the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants.
- 2010 – Two female suicide bombers hit the Moscow Metro system at the peak of the morning rush hour, killing 40.
- 2013 – At least 36 people are killed when a 16-floor building collapses in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
- 2013 – A landslide kills 66 people in China's Tibet Autonomous Region near Lhasa.
- 2014 – The first same-sex marriages in England and Wales are performed.
- 1187 – Arthur I, Duke of Brittany (d. 1203)
- 1553 – Vitsentzos Kornaros, Greek poet and playwright (d. 1614)
- 1584 – Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, English general and politician (d. 1648)
- 1602 – John Lightfoot, English priest, scholar, and academic (d. 1675)
- 1713 – John Ponsonby, Irish politician (d. 1789)
- 1735 – Johann Karl August Musäus, German author (d. 1787)
- 1747 – Johann Wilhelm Hässler, German pianist and composer (d. 1822)
- 1751 – Supply Belcher, American singer-songwriter (d. 1836)
- 1769 – Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult, French general and politician, 12th Prime Minister of France (d. 1851)
- 1780 – Jørgen Jørgensen, Danish adventurer (d. 1841)
- 1790 – John Tyler, American lawyer and politician, 10th President of the United States (d. 1862)
- 1799 – Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1869)
- 1802 – Johann Moritz Rugendas, German landscape painter of Spanish America (d. 1858)
- 1815 – Costache Caragiale, Romanian actor and manager (d. 1877)
- 1816 – 10th Dalai Lama (d. 1837)
- 1819 – Edwin Drake, American businessman (d. 1880)
- 1824 – Ludwig Büchner, German physiologist, physician, and philosopher (d. 1899)
- 1826 – Wilhelm Liebknecht, German journalist and politician (d. 1900)
- 1862 – Adolfo Müller-Ury, Swiss-American painter (d. 1947)
- 1867 – Cy Young, American baseball player and manager (d. 1955)
- 1869 – Aleš Hrdlička, Czech-American anthropologist and scholar (d. 1943)
- 1870 – Pavlos Melas, French-Greek captain (d. 1904)
- 1871 – Tom Hayward, English cricketer (d. 1939)
- 1873 – Tullio Levi-Civita, Italian mathematician and academic (d. 1941)
- 1874 – Lou Henry Hoover, American wife of Herbert Hoover, 33rd First Lady of the United States (d. 1944)
- 1876 – Friedrich Traun, German sprinter and tennis player (d. 1908)
- 1878 – Albert Von Tilzer, American songwriter (d. 1956)
- 1884 – Ed Archibald, Canadian pole vaulter (d. 1965)
- 1885 – Dezső Kosztolányi, Hungarian author and poet (d. 1936)
- 1888 – Enea Bossi, Sr., Italian-American engineer, designed the Budd BB-1 Pioneer and Bossi-Bonomi Pedaliante (d. 1963)
- 1889 – Warner Baxter, American actor (d. 1951)
- 1889 – Howard Lindsay, American producer, playwright, librettist, director and actor (d. 1968)
- 1891 – Yvan Goll, French-German poet and playwright (d. 1950)
- 1891 – Alfred Neubauer, Czech race car driver and manager (d. 1980)
- 1892 – József Mindszenty, Hungarian cardinal (d. 1975)
- 1893 – Astrid Holm, Danish actress (d. 1961)
- 1895 – Ernst Jünger, German philosopher and author (d. 1998)
- 1899 – Lavrentiy Beria, Georgian-Russian general and politician (d. 1953)
- 1900 – Bill Aston, English race car driver (d. 1974)
- 1900 – John McEwen, Australian farmer and politician, 18th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1980)
- 1901 – Andrija Maurović, Croatian author and illustrator (d. 1981)
- 1902 – Marcel Aymé, French author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1967)
- 1902 – Don Miller, American football player and coach (d. 1979)
- 1902 – William Walton, English composer (d. 1983)
- 1903 – Douglas Harkness, Canadian colonel and politician, 14th Canadian Minister of National Defence (d. 1999)
- 1903 – Arthur Negus, English television host (d. 1985)
- 1905 – Philip Ahn, American actor (d. 1978)
- 1906 – James Bausch, American decathlete and football player (d. 1974)
- 1906 – E. Power Biggs, English-American organist and composer (d. 1977)
- 1907 – Braguinha, Brazilian singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2006)
- 1908 – Arthur O'Connell, American actor (d. 1981)
- 1908 – Dennis O'Keefe, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1968)
- 1911 – Tito Arévalo, Filipino actor and composer (d. 2000)
- 1911 – Brigitte Horney, German actress and singer (d. 1988)
- 1912 – Hanna Reitsch, Polish-German soldier and pilot (d. 1979)
- 1913 – R. S. Thomas, Welsh priest and poet (d. 2000)
- 1914 – Phil Foster, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1985)
- 1914 – Chapman Pincher, Indian-English historian, journalist, and author (d. 2014)
- 1916 – Peter Geach, English philosopher and academic (d. 2013)
- 1916 – Eugene McCarthy, American poet and politician (d. 2005)
- 1917 – Man o' War, American race horse (d. 1947)
- 1918 – Pearl Bailey, American actress and singer (d. 1990)
- 1918 – Lê Văn Thiêm, Vietnamese mathematician and academic (d. 1991)
- 1918 – Sam Walton, American businessman, founded Walmart and Sam's Club (d. 1992)
- 1919 – Eileen Heckart, American actress (d. 2001)
- 1920 – John M. Belk, American businessman and politician (d. 2007)
- 1920 – Clarke Fraser, American-Canadian geneticist and academic (d. 2014)
- 1920 – Pierre Moinot, French author (d. 2007)
- 1920 – Theodore Trautwein, American lawyer and judge (d. 2000)
- 1921 – Sam Loxton, Australian cricketer, footballer, and politician (d. 2011)
- 1923 – Geoff Duke, English-Manx motorcycle racer (d. 2015)
- 1923 – Betty Binns Fletcher, American lawyer and judge (d. 2012)
- 1923 – Bob Haymes, American singer-songwriter, and actor (d. 1989)
- 1926 – Moshe Sanbar, Hungarian-Israeli banker and economist (d. 2012)
- 1927 – John McLaughlin, American journalist and producer
- 1927 – John Vane, English pharmacologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
- 1928 – Romesh Bhandari, Pakistani-Indian politician, 13th Foreign Secretary of India (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Keith Botsford, Belgian-American journalist, author, and academic
- 1928 – Vincent Gigante, American boxer and mobster (d. 2005)
- 1929 – Utpal Dutt, Indian actor, director, and playwright (d. 1993)
- 1929 – Sheila Kitzinger, English activist, author, and academic (d. 2015)
- 1929 – Richard Lewontin, American biologist, geneticist, and academic
- 1929 – Lennart Meri, Estonian director and politician, 2nd President of Estonia (d. 2006)
- 1930 – Anerood Jugnauth, Mauritian lawyer and politician, 4th President of Mauritius
- 1931 – Ștefan Andrei, Romanian politician, 87th Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2014)
- 1931 – Sopubek Begaliev, Kyrgyzstani economist and politician (d. 2002)
- 1931 – Aleksei Gubarev, Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2015)
- 1931 – Norman Tebbit, English journalist and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
- 1933 – Jacques Brault, Canadian poet and academic
- 1934 – Shahryar Khan, Indian-Pakistani politician and diplomat, 20th Foreign Secretary of Pakistan
- 1934 – Nimal Mendis, Sri Lankan singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
- 1935 – Ruby Murray, English singer and actress (d. 1996)
- 1936 – Richard Rodney Bennett, English-American composer and educator (d. 2012)
- 1936 – Mogens Camre, Danish politician
- 1936 – John A. Durkin, American lawyer and politician (d. 2012)
- 1936 – Judith Guest, American author and screenwriter
- 1936 – Joseph P. Teasdale, American lawyer and politician, 48th Governor of Missouri (d. 2014)
- 1937 – Billy Carter, American businessman and politician (d. 1988)
- 1937 – Roberto Chabet, Filipino painter and sculptor (d. 2013)
- 1937 – Smarck Michel, Haitian businessman and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Haiti (d. 2012)
- 1938 – Barry Jackson, English actor and stuntman (d. 2013)
- 1939 – Roland Arnall, French-American businessman and diplomat, 63rd United States Ambassador to the Netherlands (d. 2008)
- 1939 – Terence Hill, Italian actor, director, and producer
- 1940 – Ray Davis, American singer (The Parliaments, Parliament, and Funkadelic) (d. 2005)
- 1940 – Astrud Gilberto, Brazilian singer-songwriter
- 1940 – John Suchet, English journalist and game show host
- 1941 – Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr., American astrophysicist and astronomer, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1942 – Julie Goodyear, English actress
- 1942 – Bob Lurtsema, American football player
- 1942 – Scott Wilson, American actor
- 1943 – Vangelis, Greek keyboard player and songwriter (Aphrodite's Child and Jon and Vangelis)
- 1943 – Chad Allan, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Guess Who and Brave Belt)
- 1943 – Eric Idle, English actor and singer
- 1943 – John Major, English banker and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- 1944 – Terry Jacks, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (The Poppy Family)
- 1944 – Denny McLain, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1945 – Walt Frazier, American basketball player and sportscaster
- 1945 – Speedy Keen, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (Thunderclap Newman) (d. 2002)
- 1945 – Willem Ruis, Dutch game show host (d. 1986)
- 1946 – James Boyle, Scottish broadcaster
- 1946 – Paul Herman, American actor
- 1946 – Richard Holmes, English soldier and historian (d. 2011)
- 1946 – Billy Thorpe, English-Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs) (d. 2007)
- 1946 – Rigo Tovar, Mexican singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2005)
- 1946 – Bruce Weber, American fashion photographer
- 1946 – Dennis Wolfberg, American comedian (d. 1994)
- 1947 – Inge Bödding, German sprinter
- 1947 – Robert Gordon, American singer and actor (Tuff Darts)
- 1947 – Bobby Kimball, American singer-songwriter (Toto and Yoso)
- 1948 – Bud Cort, American actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1949 – Kayahan, Turkish singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2015)
- 1949 – Michael Brecker, American saxophonist and composer (Steps Ahead and Parliament-Funkadelic) (d. 2007)
- 1949 – Dave Greenfield, English Keyboard player (The Stranglers)
- 1949 – Pauline Marois, Canadian social worker and politician, 30th Premier of Quebec
- 1949 – Keith Simpson, English historian and politician
- 1951 – William Clarke, American harmonica player (d. 1996)
- 1952 – Russell Fairfax, Australian rugby player and coach
- 1952 – John Hendricks, American businessman, founded Discovery Communications
- 1952 – Teófilo Stevenson, Cuban boxer and engineer (d. 2012)
- 1953 – Tõnis Palts, Estonian politician, 39th Mayor of Tallinn
- 1955 – Earl Campbell, American football player
- 1955 – Brendan Gleeson, Irish actor and director
- 1955 – Christopher Lawford, American actor and author
- 1955 – Marina Sirtis, English-American actress and producer
- 1956 – Patty Donahue, American singer (The Waitresses) (d. 1996)
- 1956 – Kurt Thomas, American gymnast and actor
- 1957 – Elizabeth Hand, American author
- 1957 – Christopher Lambert, American-French actor
- 1957 – Simon Lee, English scholar and academic
- 1958 – Pedro Bial, Brazilian journalist and producer
- 1958 – Travis Childers, American businessman and politician
- 1958 – Fiona Reynolds, English academic
- 1958 – Nouriel Roubini, Turkish-American economist and academic
- 1958 – Victor Salva, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1958 – Marc Silvestri, American publisher, founded Top Cow Productions
- 1959 – Henry Bellingham, English lawyer and politician
- 1959 – Barry Blanchard, Canadian mountaineer
- 1959 – Perry Farrell, American singer-songwriter (Jane's Addiction, Porno for Pyros, Psi com, and Satellite Party)
- 1959 – Michael Hayes, American wrestler and singer
- 1959 – Brad McCrimmon, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2011)
- 1960 – Jo Nesbø, Norwegian singer-songwriter and skier (Di Derre)
- 1960 – Wayne Pearce, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster
- 1961 – Gary Brabham, English-Australian race car driver
- 1961 – Mike Kingery, American baseball player
- 1961 – Amy Sedaris, American actress
- 1961 – Michael Winterbottom, English director and producer
- 1962 – Billy Beane, American baseball player and manager
- 1962 – Dan Bittman, Romanian singer-songwriter (Iris)
- 1962 – Ted Failon, Filipino journalist and politician
- 1962 – Kongar-ol Ondar, Russian singer (d. 2013)
- 1964 – Michael A. Jackson, American police officer and politician
- 1964 – Elle Macpherson, Australian model and actress
- 1964 – Ming Tsai, American chef and television host
- 1965 – Jill Goodacre, American model and actress
- 1965 – Emilios T. Harlaftis, Greek astrophysicist, astronomer, and academic (d. 2005)
- 1965 – Dominic Littlewood, English journalist
- 1965 – William Oefelein, American commander, pilot, and astronaut
- 1965 – Voula Patoulidou, Greek hurdler, long jumper, and politician
- 1966 – Eric Gunderson, American baseball player
- 1966 – Sigrid Kirchmann, Austrian high jumper
- 1967 – Michel Hazanavicius, French director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1967 – Brian Jordan, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1967 – John Popper, American singer-songwriter and harmonica player (Blues Traveler and The John Popper Project)
- 1968 – Sue Foley, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1968 – Lucy Lawless, New Zealand actress
- 1969 – Kim Batten, American hurdler
- 1969 – Shinichi Mochizuki, Japanese mathematician
- 1969 – Ayano Murasaki, Japanese porn actress and model
- 1969 – Jimmy Spencer, American football player and coach
- 1970 – Ruth England, English actress and producer
- 1971 – Robert Gibbs, American political adviser, 28th White House Press Secretary
- 1971 – Lara Logan, South African-American journalist
- 1971 – Hidetoshi Nishijima, Japanese actor
- 1972 – Michel Ancel, French game designer
- 1972 – Rui Costa, Portuguese footballer
- 1972 – Alex Ochoa, Cuban-American baseball player and coach
- 1972 – Priti Patel, English politician
- 1972 – Junichi Suwabe, Japanese voice actor and singer
- 1973 – Marc Overmars, Dutch footballer and coach
- 1973 – Sebastiano Siviglia, Italian footballer
- 1973 – Steve Smith, English high jumper
- 1974 – Miguel Gómez, Colombian-American photographer and educator
- 1975 – Jim Mahfood, American author and illustrator
- 1976 – Igor Astarloa, Spanish cyclist
- 1976 – Jennifer Capriati, American tennis player
- 1977 – Djabir Saïd-Guerni, Algerian runner
- 1978 – Pierre Faber, French-German rugby player
- 1978 – Aaron Persico, New Zealand-Italian rugby player
- 1979 – Estela Giménez, Spanish gymnast
- 1979 – Lauri Lahesalu, Estonian ice hockey player
- 1979 – Tomoe Shinohara, Japanese singer, actress, fashion designer, and producer
- 1979 – De'Angelo Wilson, American actor and rapper (d. 2008)
- 1980 – Prince Hamzah bin Al-Hussein of Jordan
- 1980 – Chris D'Elia, American comedian, actor, writer and rapper
- 1980 – Bill Demong, American skier
- 1980 – Josh Logan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1980 – Bruno Silva, Uruguayan footballer
- 1980 – Kim Tae-hee, South Korean actress
- 1981 – Megan Hilty, American actress and singer
- 1981 – Jlloyd Samuel, Trinidadian footballer
- 1982 – Anna Nagata, Japanese actress
- 1982 – Hideaki Takizawa, Japanese actor and singer (Tackey & Tsubasa)
- 1983 – Donald Cerrone, American mixed martial artist and kick-boxer
- 1983 – Darius Draudvila, Lithuanian decathlete
- 1983 – Yusuf Saad Kamel, Kenyan-Bahraini runner
- 1983 – Luiza Sá, Brazilian guitarist (Cansei de Ser Sexy)
- 1983 – Ryohei Suzuki, Japanese actor
- 1983 – Jamie Woon, English singer-songwriter and producer
- 1984 – Nate Adams, American motocross racer
- 1984 – Philippa Hanna, English singer-songwriter
- 1984 – Juan Mónaco, Argentinian tennis player
- 1984 – Mai Satoda, Japanese singer (Country Musume, Ongaku Gatas, and Elegies)
- 1985 – Fernando Amorebieta, Venezuelan footballer
- 1985 – Maxim Lapierre, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1985 – Mickey Pimentel, American football player
- 1986 – Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, English footballer
- 1986 – Lucas Elliot Eberl, American actor and director
- 1986 – Yoo So-young, South Korean actress and singer (After School)
- 1986 – Ivan Ukhov, Russian high jumper
- 1987 – Danielle Byrnes, Australian model and actress
- 1987 – Gianluca Freddi, Italian footballer
- 1987 – Andi Manzano, Filipino radio and television host
- 1988 – Esther Cremer, German runner
- 1988 – Jesús Molina, Mexican footballer
- 1988 – Jürgen Zopp, Estonian tennis player
- 1989 – Arnold Peralta, Honduran footballer (d. 2015)
- 1989 – James Tomkins, English footballer
- 1990 – Carlos Alberto Peña, Mexican footballer
- 1990 – Mark Rajevski, Estonian ice hockey player
- 1990 – Lyle Taylor, English footballer
- 1991 – Fabio Borini, Italian footballer
- 1994 – Sulli, South Korean actress, singer, and dancer
Births[edit]
- 87 BC– Emperor Wu of Han of China (b. 156 BC)
- 1058 – Pope Stephen IX (b. 1020)
- 1368 – Emperor Go-Murakami of Japan (b. 1328)
- 1461 – Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland, English politician (b. 1421)
- 1578 – Louis I, Cardinal of Guise (b. 1527)
- 1578 – Arthur Champernowne, English admiral and politician (b. 1524)
- 1628 – Tobias Matthew, English archbishop and academic (b. 1546)
- 1629 – Jacob de Gheyn II, Dutch painter and engraver (b. 1565)
- 1683 – Yaoya Oshichi, Japanese arsonist (b. 1667)
- 1692 – Nicolaus Bruhns, Danish-German organist, violinist, and composer (b. 1665)
- 1703 – George Frederick II, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, (b. 1678)
- 1751 – Thomas Coram, English captain and philanthropist, founded Foundling Hospital (b. 1668)
- 1772 – Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish astronomer, philosopher, and theologian (b. 1688)
- 1788 – Charles Wesley, English missionary and poet (b. 1707)
- 1792 – Gustav III of Sweden (b. 1746)
- 1800 – Marc René, marquis de Montalembert, French general and engineer (b. 1714)
- 1803 – Gottfried van Swieten, Dutch-Austrian librarian and diplomat (b. 1733)
- 1826 – Johann Heinrich Voss, German poet, translator, and academic (b. 1751)
- 1829 – Cornelio Saavedra, Argentinian general and politician (b. 1759)
- 1848 – John Jacob Astor, German-American businessman (b. 1763)
- 1855 – Henri Druey, Swiss politician, 2nd President of the Swiss Confederation (b. 1799)
- 1873 – Francesco Zantedeschi, Italian priest and physicist (b. 1797)
- 1877 – Inazuma Raigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 7th Yokozuna (b. 1802)
- 1888 – Charles-Valentin Alkan, French pianist and composer (b. 1813)
- 1891 – Georges Seurat, French painter (b. 1859)
- 1900 – Cyrus K. Holliday, American businessman (b. 1826)
- 1906 – Slava Raškaj, Croatian painter (b. 1878)
- 1911 – Alexandre Guilmant, French organist and composer (b. 1837)
- 1912 – Henry Robertson Bowers, Scottish lieutenant and explorer (b. 1883)
- 1912 – Robert Falcon Scott, English lieutenant and explorer (b. 1868)
- 1912 – Edward Adrian Wilson, English physician and explorer (b. 1872)
- 1924 – Charles Villiers Stanford, Irish composer and conductor (b. 1852)
- 1934 – Otto Hermann Kahn, German-American banker and philanthropist (b. 1867)
- 1940 – Alexander Obolensky, Russian-English rugby player and soldier (b. 1916)
- 1948 – Harry Price, English parapsychologist and author (b. 1881)
- 1948 – Olev Siinmaa, Estonian-Swedish architect (b. 1881)
- 1956 – Infante Alfonso of Spain (b. 1941)
- 1957 – Joyce Cary, Irish novelist (b. 1888)
- 1959 – Barthélemy Boganda, Central African priest and politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Central Africa (b. 1910)
- 1963 – Gaspard Fauteux, Canadian dentist and politician, 19th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (b. 1898)
- 1963 – August Rei, Estonian soldier, journalist, and politician, 12th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1886)
- 1965 – Zlatko Baloković, Croatian-Italian violinist (b. 1895)
- 1970 – Anna Louise Strong, American journalist and author (b. 1885)
- 1971 – Dhirendranath Datta, Pakistani lawyer and politician (b. 1886)
- 1972 – J. Arthur Rank, 1st Baron Rank, English businessman, founded Rank Organisation (b. 1888)
- 1974 – Joe Stecher, American wrestler (b. 1893)
- 1979 – Yahya Petra of Kelantan (b. 1917)
- 1980 – Mantovani, Italian-English conductor and composer (b. 1905)
- 1981 – Eric Williams, Trinidadian historian and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago (b. 1911)
- 1982 – Walter Hallstein, German academic and politician, 1st President of the European Commission (b. 1901)
- 1982 – Carl Orff, German composer and educator (b. 1895)
- 1982 – Nathan Farragut Twining, American general (b. 1897)
- 1985 – The Singing Nun, Belgian singer-songwriter and nun (b. 1933)
- 1985 – Luther Terry, American physician and academic, 9th Surgeon General of the United States (b. 1911)
- 1986 – Harold Ritz, American actor and singer (b. 1907)
- 1988 – Maurice Blackburn, Canadian composer and conductor (b. 1914)
- 1988 – Ted Kluszewski, American baseball player and coach (b. 1924)
- 1989 – Bernard Blier, Argentinian-French actor (b. 1916)
- 1991 – Lee Atwater, American politician (b. 1951)
- 1991 – Guy Bourdin, French photographer (b. 1928)
- 1992 – Paul Henreid, Italian-American actor and director (b. 1908)
- 1994 – Bill Travers, English actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1922)
- 1995 – Jimmy McShane, Irish singer (Baltimora) (b. 1957)
- 1995 – Mort Meskin, American illustrator (b. 1916)
- 1995 – Terry Moore, American baseball player and coach (b. 1912)
- 1996 – Frank Daniel, Czech-American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1926)
- 1996 – Bill Goldsworthy, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1944)
- 1997 – Hans-Walter Eigenbrodt, German footballer and coach (b. 1935)
- 1999 – Joe Williams, American singer (b. 1918)
- 1999 – Gyula Zsengellér, Hungarian footballer (b. 1915)
- 2001 – Helge Ingstad, Norwegian lawyer, academic, and explorer (b. 1899)
- 2001 – John Lewis, American pianist and composer (Modern Jazz Quartet) (b. 1920)
- 2002 – Ayat al-Akhras, Palestinian suicide bomber (b. 1984)
- 2003 – Carlo Urbani, Italian physician and microbiologist (b. 1956)
- 2004 – Joel Feinberg, American philosopher and academic (b. 1926)
- 2004 – Simone Renant, French actress (b. 1911)
- 2005 – Johnnie Cochran, American lawyer (b. 1937)
- 2005 – Miltos Sachtouris, Greek poet and author (b. 1919)
- 2006 – Salvador Elizondo, Mexican author and poet (b. 1932)
- 2007 – Larry L'Estrange, English rugby player and soldier (b. 1934)
- 2007 – Calvin Lockhart, Bahamian-American actor (b. 1934)
- 2009 – Vladimir Fedotov, Russian footballer and manager (b. 1943)
- 2009 – Monte Hale, American actor and musician (b. 1919)
- 2009 – Andy Hallett, American actor and singer (b. 1975)
- 2011 – Ângelo de Sousa, Portuguese painter and sculptor (b. 1938)
- 2011 – Iakovos Kambanelis, Greek author, poet, playwright, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
- 2012 – Borgia, German race horse (b. 1994)
- 2012 – Montjeu, Irish race horse (b. 1996)
- 2012 – Luke Askew, American actor (b. 1932)
- 2012 – Pap Cheyassin Secka, Gambian lawyer and politician (b. 1942)
- 2012 – Bill Jenkins, American race car driver and engineer (b. 1930)
- 2012 – Oksana Makar, Ukrainian murder victim (b. 1994)
- 2012 – John Mallison, Australian pastor and author (b. 1929)
- 2012 – Michael Peterson, Australian surfer (b. 1952)
- 2013 – Lawrence Auster, American blogger and author (b. 1949)
- 2013 – Reginald Gray, Irish-French painter (b. 1930)
- 2013 – Brian Huggins, English-Canadian journalist and actor (b. 1931)
- 2013 – Enzo Jannacci, Italian singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1935)
- 2013 – Liu Kang, Chinese footballer and manager (b. 1961)
- 2013 – Ralph Klein, Canadian journalist and politician, 12th Premier of Alberta (b. 1942)
- 2013 – Art Phillips, Canadian businessman and politician, 32nd Mayor of Vancouver (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Hobart Alter, American businessman (b. 1933)
- 2014 – Karl Spillman Forester, American lawyer and judge (b. 1940)
- 2014 – Marc Platt, American actor and dancer (b. 1913)
- 2014 – Birgitta Valberg, Swedish actress (b. 1916)
- 2015 – William Delafield Cook, Australian-English painter (b. 1926)
- 2015 – Gerry Hardstaff, English cricketer (b. 1940)
Deaths[edit]
- Christian feast day:
- Earliest day on which the Octave Day of Easter can fall, while May 2 is the latest; observed on the Sunday after Easter. (Christianity)
- Boganda Day (Central African Republic)
- Commemoration of the 1947 Rebellion (Madagascar)
- Day of the Young Combatant (Chile)
Holidays and observances[edit]
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.” - 1 Timothy 2:5-6
===
Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
The love of Christ in its sweetness, its fulness, its greatness, its faithfulness, passeth all human comprehension. Where shall language be found which shall describe his matchless, his unparalleled love towards the children of men? It is so vast and boundless that, as the swallow but skimmeth the water, and diveth not into its depths, so all descriptive words but touch the surface, while depths immeasurable lie beneath. Well might the poet say,
"O love, thou fathomless abyss!"
for this love of Christ is indeed measureless and fathomless; none can attain unto it. Before we can have any right idea of the love of Jesus, we must understand his previous glory in its height of majesty, and his incarnation upon the earth in all its depths of shame. But who can tell us the majesty of Christ? When he was enthroned in the highest heavens he was very God of very God; by him were the heavens made, and all the hosts thereof. His own almighty arm upheld the spheres; the praises of cherubim and seraphim perpetually surrounded him; the full chorus of the hallelujahs of the universe unceasingly flowed to the foot of his throne: he reigned supreme above all his creatures, God over all, blessed forever. Who can tell his height of glory then? And who, on the other hand, can tell how low he descended? To be a man was something, to be a man of sorrows was far more; to bleed, and die, and suffer, these were much for him who was the Son of God; but to suffer such unparalleled agony--to endure a death of shame and desertion by his Father, this is a depth of condescending love which the most inspired mind must utterly fail to fathom. Herein is love! and truly it is love that "passeth knowledge." O let this love fill our hearts with adoring gratitude, and lead us to practical manifestations of its power.
Evening
"I will accept you with your sweet savour."
Ezekiel 20:41
Ezekiel 20:41
The merits of our great Redeemer are as sweet savour to the Most High. Whether we speak of the active or passive righteousness of Christ, there is an equal fragrance. There was a sweet savour in his active life by which he honoured the law of God, and made every precept to glitter like a precious jewel in the pure setting of his own person. Such, too, was his passive obedience, when he endured with unmurmuring submission, hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness, and at length sweat great drops of blood in Gethsemane, gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked out the hair, and was fastened to the cruel wood, that he might suffer the wrath of God in our behalf. These two things are sweet before the Most High; and for the sake of his doing and his dying, his substitutionary sufferings and his vicarious obedience, the Lord our God accepts us. What a preciousness must there be in him to overcome our want of preciousness! What a sweet savour to put away our ill savour! What a cleansing power in his blood to take away sin such as ours! and what glory in his righteousness to make such unacceptable creatures to be accepted in the Beloved! Mark, believer, how sure and unchanging must be our acceptance, since it is in him! Take care that you never doubt your acceptance in Jesus. You cannot be accepted without Christ; but, when you have received his merit, you cannot be unaccepted. Notwithstanding all your doubts, and fears, and sins, Jehovah's gracious eye never looks upon you in anger; though he sees sin in you, in yourself, yet when he looks at you through Christ, he sees no sin. You are always accepted in Christ, are always blessed and dear to the Father's heart. Therefore lift up a song, and as you see the smoking incense of the merit of the Saviour coming up, this evening, before the sapphire throne, let the incense of your praise go up also.
===
Bernice
The Woman Guilty of Incestuous Conduct
Scripture Reference: Acts 25:13, 23; 26:30
Name Meaning: Bernice (Greek-Bernicke), or Berenice, is a Macedonian corruption of Pherenice, and means, "victorious," or "carrying off victory." Wilkinson informs us that the name occurs in previous history, being given "to the wife of Ptolemy, one of Alexander's generals, who became King of Egypt, and founder of an illustrious dynasty." Another compound with nike, implying "victory," is found in Eunice (Greek-Eunicke) the name of Timothy's mother. "... The word is expressive of a good or happy victory, and in its origin doubtless commemorated some such event. It is noticeable that nike was a favorite termination of females in the Macedonian age, as for example, Thessalonice, the daughter of Philip, King of Macedon, and Stratonice, the name of the wife of Antigonus, one of Alexander's generals and successors."
Family Connections: Bernice was the eldest daughter of Herod Agrippa I who ruled, a.d. 38-45, and is described as the one "who vexed the church" (Acts 12:1). Josephus says that she was first married to Marcus. After a while she married her Uncle Herod, king of Chalcis. When he died, she was suspected of evil relations with her own brother Agrippa, with whom she always appeared as his consort. In company with Agrippa, Bernice visited Festus when he became procurator of Judea. Leaving Agrippa, she married Polemon, or Ptolemy, king of Cilicia who for her sake embraced Judaism by the rite of circumcision. She soon left Ptolemy, however, for a future period of intimacy with her brother. Subsequently she became the mistress of Vespasian, then of Titus, son of Vespasian, but when Titus became emperor, he cast her aside.
"If heredity stands for anything, its lessons are forcibly taught in the history of the Herodian family." For instance, Bernice and her sister Drusilla (Acts 24:24 ), were two of the most corrupt and shameless women of their time in Roman history. As Bernice, a wicked woman who lived an incestuous life, listened to Paul's impassioned appeal as he repeated what God had done for his soul, one wonders what impression it made upon her evil heart. As her brother listened, he said to Paul, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." What a different record would have been written if Agrippa and Bernice had repented of their sordid sin, and yielded their lives to Him whose blood can make the foulest clean!
===
Asahel
[Ä€'sahĕl] - god hath made or god is doer.
1. A Levite sent by Jehoshaphat to teach the law to the people in Judah (2 Chron. 17:8).
2. A Levite Hezekiah employed as an officer of the offerings, tithes and dedicated things (2 Chron. 31:13).
3. Father of a certain Jonathan, appointed by Ezra to take a census of those Jews who had married foreign wives while in exile (Ezra 10:15).
4. The youngest son of Zeruiah, David's sister, and the brother of Joab and Abishai. He was slain by Abner unwillingly (2 Sam. 2:18-32; 3:27, 30; 23:24; 1 Chron. 2:16; 11:26; 27:7).
The Man Who Died in His Boots
Conspicuous among those of David's brethren and those of his father's house who came to him while hiding in the cave of Adullam were the three sons of Zeruiah his sister, Joab, Abishai and Asahel. Asahel was the favorite among the three. Little is recorded of him beyond his activity and the manner of his death.
I. He was famous for his swiftness of foot. Speed was a much valued gift in ancient times.
II. He was near the top of David's thirty heroes. Courage made him a conspicuous fighter.
III. He was a commander of a division in David's army. He had proved himself worthy of position.
IV. He believed in persistence. He persisted in following Abner, the captain of Saul's host in the battle that began by the pool of Gibeon. Abner was unwilling to slay him, knowing how he was beloved. He seems to have struck Asahel at last only in self-defense.
V. He dies for his ambition. Asahel would aim at nothing less than the glory of slaying Saul's general, and he was slain himself instead. Thus he died in harness or as we have put it, in his boots.
===Today's reading: Judges 4-6, Luke 4:31-44 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Judges 4-6
Deborah
1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, now that Ehud was dead. 2 So the LORD sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim. 3Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the LORD for help.
4 Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. 5 She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided....Today's New Testament reading: Luke 4:31-44
Jesus Drives Out an Impure Spirit
31 Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people. 32 They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority.
33 In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, 34"Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are--the Holy One of God!"
35 "Be quiet!" Jesus said sternly. "Come out of him!" Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him.
36 All the people were amazed and said to each other, "What words these are! With authority and power he gives orders to impure spirits and they come out!" 37 And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area....
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Today's Lent reading: Mark 13-14 (NIV)
View today's Lent reading on Bible GatewayThe Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times
1 As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!"
2 "Do you see all these great buildings?" replied Jesus. "Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, 4"Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?"
5 Jesus said to them: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 6Many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and will deceive many. 7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains....
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