For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
=== from 2015 ===
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation came into being on this day in 1932. It is a bureaucratic mess. But it isn't the worst mess on this day. In 1766, a young French nobleman, Jean-François de la Barre who was tortured and beheaded before his body was burned on a pyre. Also burned, pinned to his body, was a work of Voltaire. The crime the twenty year old man committed was said to be failing to bow to a religious procession, but the unpleasant truth is that he was a protestant in a catholic land. The ABC was created in the hope that the left leaning press in Australia would be balanced by state body which reported facts, not bias. The reality is that the ABC has never been balanced. Greece has defaulted on her IMF loan. Soon she will vote to approve or deny the imposition of austerity. But she has already done so, and her government ran on the lie that Greece didn't need austerity. Now the EU has a choice, but it isn't really a choice. Greece needs to be booted from the EU as a lesson in humility. It should never be the case that a nation employs people without paying them. The civilised world abhors slavery.
In 69, Tiberius Julius Alexander ordered his Roman legions in Alexandria to swear allegiance to Vespasian as Emperor. 552, Battle of Taginae: Byzantine forces under Narses defeated the Ostrogoths in Italy. During the fightings king Totila was mortally wounded. 1097, Battle of Dorylaeum: Crusaders led by prince Bohemond of Taranto defeated a Seljuk army led by sultan Kilij Arslan I. 1431, the Battle of La Higueruela took place in Granada, leading to a modest advance of the Kingdom of Castile during the Reconquista.
In 1523, Johann Esch and Heinrich Voes became the first Lutheran martyrs, burned at the stake by Roman Catholic authorities in Brussels. They were Augustinian monks. Others from their monastery had recanted. These refused. 1569, Union of Lublin: The Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania confirmed a real union; the united country is called the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth or the Republic of Both Nations. 1643, first meeting of the Westminster Assembly, a council of theologians ("divines") and members of the Parliament of England appointed to restructure the Church of England, at Westminster Abbey in London. 1690, Glorious Revolution: Battle of the Boyne in Ireland (as reckoned under the Julian calendar). 1766, Jean-François de la Barre, a young French nobleman, was tortured and beheaded before his body was burnt on a pyre along with a copy of Voltaire's Dictionnaire philosophique nailed to his torso for the crime of not saluting a Roman Catholic religious procession in Abbeville, France. It sounds excessive, but he was a protestant. 1770, Lexell's Comet passed closer to the Earth than any other comet in recorded history, approaching to a distance of 0.0146 a.u. 1782, Raid on Lunenburg: American privateers attacked the British settlement of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.
In 1837, a system of civil registration of births, marriages and deaths was established in England and Wales. 1855, signing of the Quinault Treaty: The Quinault and the Quileute ceded their land to the United States. 1858, joint reading of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace's papers on evolution to the Linnean Society in London. 1862, The Russian State Library was founded as The Library of the Moscow Public Museum. Also 1862, Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, second daughter of Queen Victoria, married Prince Louis of Hesse, the future Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse. Also 1862, American Civil War: The Battle of Malvern Hill took place. It is the final battle in the Seven Days Campaign, part of George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign. 1863, Keti Koti (Emancipation Day) in Suriname, marked the abolition of slavery by the Netherlands. Also, American Civil War: The Battle of Gettysburg began. 1867, the British North America Act of 1867 took effect as the Constitution of Canada, creating the Canadian Confederation and the federal dominion of Canada; Sir John A. Macdonald was sworn in as the first Prime Minister of Canada. This date was commemorated annually in Canada as Canada Day, a national holiday.
In 1870, the United States Department of Justice formally came into existence. 1873, Prince Edward Island joined the Canadian Confederation. 1874, the Sholes and Glidden typewriter, the first commercially successful typewriter, went on sale. 1878, Canada joined the Universal Postal Union. 1879, Charles Taze Russell published the first edition of the religious magazine The Watchtower. 1881, the world's first international telephone call was made between St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada, and Calais, Maine, United States. Also 1881, General Order 70, the culmination of the Cardwell and Childers reforms of the British Army, came into effect. 1885, the United States terminated reciprocity and fishery agreement with Canada. 1890, Canada and Bermuda were linked by telegraph cable. 1898, Spanish–American War: The Battle of San Juan Hill was fought in Santiago de Cuba.
In 1903, start of first Tour de France bicycle race. 1908, SOS was adopted as the international distress signal. 1911, Germany despatched the gunship Panther to Morocco, sparking the Agadir Crisis. 1915, Leutnant Kurt Wintgens of the then-named German Fliegertruppe air service achieved the first known aerial victory with a synchronized machine-gun armed fighter plane, the Fokker M.5K/MG Eindecker. 1916, World War I: First day on the Somme: On the first day of the Battle of the Somme 19,000 soldiers of the British Army were killed and 40,000 wounded. 1921, the Communist Party of China was founded. 1922, the Great Railroad Strike of 1922 began in the United States. 1923, the Canadian Parliament suspended all Chinese immigration. 1931, United Airlines began service (as Boeing Air Transport). 1932, Australia's national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, was formed. 1935, Regina, Saskatchewan police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police ambushed strikers participating in the On-to-Ottawa Trek.
In 1942, World War II: First Battle of El Alamein. Also 1942, the Australian Federal Government became the sole collector of income tax in Australia as State Income Tax was abolished. 1943, Tokyo City merged with Tokyo Prefecture and was dissolved. Since this date, no city in Japan has the name "Tokyo" (present-day Tokyo is not officially a city). 1947, the Philippine Air Force was established. 1948, Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Quaid-i-Azam) inaugurated Pakistan's central bank, the State Bank of Pakistan. 1949, the merger of two princely states of India, Cochin and Travancore, into the state of Thiru-Kochi (later re-organized as Kerala) in the Indian Union ended more than 1,000 years of princely rule by the Cochin Royal Family. 1957, the International Geophysical Year began. 1958, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation linked television broadcasting across Canada via microwave. Also 1958, flooding of Canada's St. Lawrence Seaway began. 1959, the Party of the African Federation held its constitutive conference. Also 1959, specific values for the international yard, avoirdupois pound and derived units (e.g. inch, mile and ounce) were adopted after agreement between the U.S.A., the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries.
In 1960, independence of Somalia. Also 1960, Ghana became a Republic and Kwame Nkrumah became its first President as Queen Elizabeth II ceased to be its Head of state. 1962, independence of Rwanda. Also 1962, independence of Burundi. 1963, ZIP codes were introduced for United States mail. Also 1963, the British Government admitted that former diplomat Kim Philby had worked as a Soviet agent. 1966, the first color television transmission in Canada took place from Toronto. 1967, the European Community was formally created out of a merger with the Common Market, the European Coal and Steel Community, and the European Atomic Energy Commission. Also 1967, Canada celebrated the 100th anniversary of the British North America Act, 1867, which officially made Canada its own federal dominion. 1968, the United States Central Intelligence Agency's Phoenix Program was officially established. Also 1968, the Nuclear non-proliferation treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., London and Moscow by sixty-two countries. Also 1968, formal separation of the United Auto Workers from the AFL–CIO in the United States. 1970, President General Yahya Khan abolished One-Unit of West Pakistan restoring the provinces. 1972, the first Gay Pride march in England took place. 1976, Portugal granted autonomy to Madeira. 1978, the Northern Territory in Australia was granted Self-Government. 1979, Sony introduced the Walkman.
In 1980, "O Canada" officially became the national anthem of Canada. 1981, the Wonderland murders occurred in the early morning hours in Los Angeles, allegedly masterminded by businessman and drug dealer Eddie Nash. 1983, a North Korean Ilyushin Il-62M jet en route to Conakry Airport in Guinea crashed into the Fouta Djallon mountains in Guinea-Bissau, killing all 23 people on board. 1984, the PG-13 rating was introduced by the MPAA. 1987, the American radio station WFAN in New York, New York was launched as the world's first all-sports radio station. 1990, German reunification: East Germany accepted the Deutsche Mark as its currency, thus uniting the economies of East and West Germany. 1991, the Warsaw Pact was officially dissolved at a meeting in Prague. 1997, China resumed sovereignty over the city-state of Hong Kong, ending 156 years of British colonial rule. 1999, the Scottish Parliament was officially opened by Elizabeth II on the day that legislative powers were officially transferred from the old Scottish Office in London to the new devolved Scottish Executive in Edinburgh.
In 2002, the International Criminal Court was established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Also 2002, Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 and a DHL (German cargo) Boeing 757 collided in mid-air over Überlingen, southern Germany, killing all 71 on board. 2003, over 500,000 people protested against efforts to pass anti-sedition legislation in Hong Kong. 2004, Saturn orbit insertion of Cassini–Huygens began at 01:12 UTC and ends at 02:48 UTC. 2006, the first operation of Qinghai–Tibet Railway in China. 2007, the Concert for Diana was held at the new Wembley Stadium in London and broadcast in 140 countries. Also 2007, smoking in England was banned in all public indoor spaces. 2008, Rioting erupted in Mongolia in response to allegations of fraud surrounding the 2008 legislative elections. 2013, Croatia became the 28th member of the European Union. Also 2013, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) began its operative peacekeeping mandate in Mali. Also 2013, Neptune's moon S/2004 N 1 was discovered.
From 2014
Today is an extraordinary day. The birthday of Semmelweis (1818) whose work as a physician gave rise to the legal term "Clean Hands". Or Dorothea Mackellar (1885) who beautifully described Australia in poetry. But for all the amazing wonderful things about today that I could point to, my mind is drawn to the infamous act of cowardice and butchery in which the three bodies of children of Israel were unearthed following their abduction. There is a cowardly dismissal of Middle East events involving Israel by those who do not know or care, that there is blood on both sides. But that is not the case. There is no analog for what Israel does that excuses this murder. It is inexcusable, and those who are responsible need to be brought to justice, and those who excuse should be discredited.
Three boys went to a religious function and were on their way home when they were abducted. They were not warriors. Targeting them was an act of terror. One boy had been able to use his phone to let people know he had been abducted. That call was the last anyone heard him alive. It is not too hard to follow the mindset of the terrorists, but remarkably, one mother of one suspect has claimed she is proud of her son for doing it. I want religious authorities of the perpetrators to denounce the activity. If that mum has excused the activity, I want her discredited. Saddam Hussein had paid money to family of suicide bombers. If her people are serious about wanting peace, perhaps they will meet similar justice as was applied to Saddam.
One imagines the terrorists alerted to the phone call told the boys that they would have to die and not merely be hostages because of it. They probably did their best to torture the boys, and blame them, before killing them. But the boys had done nothing wrong. Earlier this year, Obama had forced Israel to release terrorists who had killed, from jail for peace. No peace has been forthcoming from those terrorist supporters. One of the boys was a US citizen .. someone Obama has sworn an oath to protect and serve. But instead, the US President has paid US money to support a terrorist administration. Maybe Hamas will deny the activity, they have not yet, instead accusing Israel of overstating the crime. The UN cannot endorse this crime, and if they fail to act on it, they need to be dismantled.
Three boys kidnapped, tortured and murdered by terrorists. Who dares support that?
The incident is not isolated in Middle East terrorist history. The second intifada, which began after Bill Clinton embarrassed Arafat over a Monica Special cigar transformed a lynching of two Israeli security detail who had been illegally lured and detained by so called Palestinian authorities. This incident is on a par. A crime against humanity linked by successive Democrat party US Presidents.
Three boys went to a religious function and were on their way home when they were abducted. They were not warriors. Targeting them was an act of terror. One boy had been able to use his phone to let people know he had been abducted. That call was the last anyone heard him alive. It is not too hard to follow the mindset of the terrorists, but remarkably, one mother of one suspect has claimed she is proud of her son for doing it. I want religious authorities of the perpetrators to denounce the activity. If that mum has excused the activity, I want her discredited. Saddam Hussein had paid money to family of suicide bombers. If her people are serious about wanting peace, perhaps they will meet similar justice as was applied to Saddam.
One imagines the terrorists alerted to the phone call told the boys that they would have to die and not merely be hostages because of it. They probably did their best to torture the boys, and blame them, before killing them. But the boys had done nothing wrong. Earlier this year, Obama had forced Israel to release terrorists who had killed, from jail for peace. No peace has been forthcoming from those terrorist supporters. One of the boys was a US citizen .. someone Obama has sworn an oath to protect and serve. But instead, the US President has paid US money to support a terrorist administration. Maybe Hamas will deny the activity, they have not yet, instead accusing Israel of overstating the crime. The UN cannot endorse this crime, and if they fail to act on it, they need to be dismantled.
Three boys kidnapped, tortured and murdered by terrorists. Who dares support that?
The incident is not isolated in Middle East terrorist history. The second intifada, which began after Bill Clinton embarrassed Arafat over a Monica Special cigar transformed a lynching of two Israeli security detail who had been illegally lured and detained by so called Palestinian authorities. This incident is on a par. A crime against humanity linked by successive Democrat party US Presidents.
Historical perspective on this day
In 69, Tiberius Julius Alexander ordered his Roman legions in Alexandria to swear allegianceto Vespasian as Emperor. 552, Battle of Taginae: Byzantine forces under Narses defeated the Ostrogoths in Italy. During the fightings king Totila was mortally wounded. 1097, Battle of Dorylaeum: Crusaders led by prince Bohemond of Taranto defeated a Seljuk army led by sultan Kilij Arslan I. 1431, the Battle of La Higueruela took place in Granada, leading to a modest advance of the Kingdom of Castile during the Reconquista.
In 1523, Johann Esch and Heinrich Voes became the first Lutheran martyrs, burned at the stake by Roman Catholic authorities in Brussels. 1569, Union of Lublin: The Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania confirmed a real union; the united country is called the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth or the Republic of Both Nations. 1643, first meeting of the Westminster Assembly, a council of theologians ("divines") and members of the Parliament of England appointed to restructure the Church of England, at Westminster Abbeyin London. 1690, Glorious Revolution: Battle of the Boyne in Ireland (as reckoned under the Julian calendar). 1766, Jean-François de la Barre, a young French nobleman, was torturedand beheaded before his body was burnt on a pyre along with a copy of Voltaire's Dictionnaire philosophique nailed to his torso for the crime of not saluting a Roman Catholic religious procession in Abbeville, France. 1770, Lexell's Comet passed closer to the Earth than any other comet in recorded history, approaching to a distance of 0.0146 a.u. 1782, Raid on Lunenburg: American privateers attacked the British settlement of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.
In 1837, a system of civil registration of births, marriages and deaths was established in England and Wales. 1855, signing of the Quinault Treaty: The Quinault and the Quileute ceded their land to the United States. 1858, joint reading of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace's papers on evolution to the Linnean Society in London. 1862, The Russian State Library was founded as The Library of the Moscow Public Museum. Also 1862, Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, second daughter of Queen Victoria, married Prince Louis of Hesse, the future Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse. Also 1862, American Civil War: The Battle of Malvern Hill took place. It is the final battle in the Seven Days Campaign, part of George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign. 1863, Keti Koti (Emancipation Day) in Suriname, marked the abolition of slavery by the Netherlands. Also, American Civil War: The Battle of Gettysburgbegan. 1867, the British North America Act of 1867 took effect as the Constitution of Canada, creating the Canadian Confederation and the federal dominion of Canada; Sir John A. Macdonald was sworn in as the first Prime Minister of Canada. This date was commemorated annually in Canada as Canada Day, a national holiday.
In 1870, the United States Department of Justice formally came into existence. 1873, Prince Edward Island joined the Canadian Confederation. 1874, the Sholes and Glidden typewriter, the first commercially successful typewriter, went on sale. 1878, Canada joined the Universal Postal Union. 1879, Charles Taze Russell published the first edition of the religious magazine The Watchtower. 1881, the world's first international telephone call was made between St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada, and Calais, Maine, United States. Also 1881, General Order 70, the culmination of the Cardwell and Childers reforms of the British Army, came into effect. 1885, the United States terminated reciprocity and fishery agreement with Canada. 1890, Canada and Bermuda were linked by telegraph cable. 1898, Spanish–American War: The Battle of San Juan Hill was fought in Santiago de Cuba.
In 1903, start of first Tour de France bicycle race. 1908, SOS was adopted as the international distress signal. 1911, Germany despatched the gunship Panther to Morocco, sparking the Agadir Crisis. 1915, Leutnant Kurt Wintgens of the then-named German Fliegertruppe air service achieved the first known aerial victory with a synchronized machine-gun armed fighter plane, the Fokker M.5K/MG Eindecker. 1916, World War I: First day on the Somme: On the first day of the Battle of the Somme 19,000 soldiers of the British Army were killed and 40,000 wounded. 1921, the Communist Party of China was founded. 1922, the Great Railroad Strike of 1922 began in the United States. 1923, the Canadian Parliament suspended all Chinese immigration. 1931, United Airlines began service (as Boeing Air Transport). 1932, Australia's national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, was formed. 1935, Regina, Saskatchewan police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police ambushed strikers participating in the On-to-Ottawa Trek.
In 1942, World War II: First Battle of El Alamein. Also 1942, the Australian Federal Governmentbecame the sole collector of income tax in Australia as State Income Tax was abolished. 1943, Tokyo City merged with Tokyo Prefecture and was dissolved. Since this date, no city in Japan has the name "Tokyo" (present-day Tokyo is not officially a city). 1947, the Philippine Air Force was established. 1948, Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Quaid-i-Azam) inaugurated Pakistan's central bank, the State Bank of Pakistan. 1949, the merger of two princely states of India, Cochin and Travancore, into the state of Thiru-Kochi (later re-organized as Kerala) in the Indian Union ended more than 1,000 years of princely rule by the Cochin Royal Family. 1957, the International Geophysical Year began. 1958, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporationlinked television broadcasting across Canada via microwave. Also 1958, flooding of Canada's St. Lawrence Seaway began. 1959, the Party of the African Federation held its constitutive conference. Also 1959, specific values for the international yard, avoirdupois pound and derived units (e.g. inch, mile and ounce) were adopted after agreement between the U.S.A., the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries.
In 1960, independence of Somalia. Also 1960, Ghana became a Republic and Kwame Nkrumah became its first President as Queen Elizabeth II ceased to be its Head of state. 1962, independence of Rwanda. Also 1962, independence of Burundi. 1963, ZIP codes were introduced for United States mail. Also 1963, the British Government admitted that former diplomat Kim Philby had worked as a Soviet agent. 1966, the first color televisiontransmission in Canada took place from Toronto. 1967, the European Community was formally created out of a merger with the Common Market, the European Coal and Steel Community, and the European Atomic Energy Commission. Also 1967, Canada celebrated the 100th anniversary of the British North America Act, 1867, which officially made Canada its own federal dominion. 1968, the United States Central Intelligence Agency's Phoenix Program was officially established. Also 1968, the Nuclear non-proliferation treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., London and Moscow by sixty-two countries. Also 1968, formal separation of the United Auto Workers from the AFL–CIO in the United States. 1970, President General Yahya Khan abolished One-Unit of West Pakistan restoring the provinces. 1972, the first Gay Pride march in England took place. 1976, Portugal granted autonomy to Madeira. 1978, the Northern Territory in Australia was granted Self-Government. 1979, Sony introduced the Walkman.
In 1980, "O Canada" officially became the national anthem of Canada. 1981, the Wonderland murders occurred in the early morning hours in Los Angeles, allegedly masterminded by businessman and drug dealer Eddie Nash. 1983, a North Korean Ilyushin Il-62M jet en route to Conakry Airport in Guinea crashed into the Fouta Djallon mountains in Guinea-Bissau, killing all 23 people on board. 1984, the PG-13 rating was introduced by the MPAA. 1987, the American radio station WFAN in New York, New York was launched as the world's first all-sports radio station. 1990, German reunification: East Germany accepted the Deutsche Markas its currency, thus uniting the economies of East and West Germany. 1991, the Warsaw Pact was officially dissolved at a meeting in Prague. 1997, China resumed sovereignty over the city-state of Hong Kong, ending 156 years of British colonial rule. 1999, the Scottish Parliament was officially opened by Elizabeth II on the day that legislative powers were officially transferred from the old Scottish Office in London to the new devolved Scottish Executive in Edinburgh.
In 2002, the International Criminal Court was established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Also 2002, Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 and a DHL (German cargo) Boeing 757 collided in mid-air over Überlingen, southern Germany, killing all 71 on board. 2003, over 500,000 people protested against efforts to pass anti-sedition legislation in Hong Kong. 2004, Saturn orbit insertion of Cassini–Huygens began at 01:12 UTC and ends at 02:48 UTC. 2006, the first operation of Qinghai–Tibet Railway in China. 2007, the Concert for Diana was held at the new Wembley Stadium in London and broadcast in 140 countries. Also 2007, smoking in England was banned in all public indoor spaces. 2008, Rioting erupted in Mongolia in response to allegations of fraud surrounding the 2008 legislative elections. 2013, Croatia became the 28th member of the European Union. Also 2013, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) began its operative peacekeeping mandate in Mali. Also 2013, Neptune's moon S/2004 N 1 was discovered.
In 1523, Johann Esch and Heinrich Voes became the first Lutheran martyrs, burned at the stake by Roman Catholic authorities in Brussels. 1569, Union of Lublin: The Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania confirmed a real union; the united country is called the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth or the Republic of Both Nations. 1643, first meeting of the Westminster Assembly, a council of theologians ("divines") and members of the Parliament of England appointed to restructure the Church of England, at Westminster Abbeyin London. 1690, Glorious Revolution: Battle of the Boyne in Ireland (as reckoned under the Julian calendar). 1766, Jean-François de la Barre, a young French nobleman, was torturedand beheaded before his body was burnt on a pyre along with a copy of Voltaire's Dictionnaire philosophique nailed to his torso for the crime of not saluting a Roman Catholic religious procession in Abbeville, France. 1770, Lexell's Comet passed closer to the Earth than any other comet in recorded history, approaching to a distance of 0.0146 a.u. 1782, Raid on Lunenburg: American privateers attacked the British settlement of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.
In 1837, a system of civil registration of births, marriages and deaths was established in England and Wales. 1855, signing of the Quinault Treaty: The Quinault and the Quileute ceded their land to the United States. 1858, joint reading of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace's papers on evolution to the Linnean Society in London. 1862, The Russian State Library was founded as The Library of the Moscow Public Museum. Also 1862, Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, second daughter of Queen Victoria, married Prince Louis of Hesse, the future Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse. Also 1862, American Civil War: The Battle of Malvern Hill took place. It is the final battle in the Seven Days Campaign, part of George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign. 1863, Keti Koti (Emancipation Day) in Suriname, marked the abolition of slavery by the Netherlands. Also, American Civil War: The Battle of Gettysburgbegan. 1867, the British North America Act of 1867 took effect as the Constitution of Canada, creating the Canadian Confederation and the federal dominion of Canada; Sir John A. Macdonald was sworn in as the first Prime Minister of Canada. This date was commemorated annually in Canada as Canada Day, a national holiday.
In 1870, the United States Department of Justice formally came into existence. 1873, Prince Edward Island joined the Canadian Confederation. 1874, the Sholes and Glidden typewriter, the first commercially successful typewriter, went on sale. 1878, Canada joined the Universal Postal Union. 1879, Charles Taze Russell published the first edition of the religious magazine The Watchtower. 1881, the world's first international telephone call was made between St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada, and Calais, Maine, United States. Also 1881, General Order 70, the culmination of the Cardwell and Childers reforms of the British Army, came into effect. 1885, the United States terminated reciprocity and fishery agreement with Canada. 1890, Canada and Bermuda were linked by telegraph cable. 1898, Spanish–American War: The Battle of San Juan Hill was fought in Santiago de Cuba.
In 1903, start of first Tour de France bicycle race. 1908, SOS was adopted as the international distress signal. 1911, Germany despatched the gunship Panther to Morocco, sparking the Agadir Crisis. 1915, Leutnant Kurt Wintgens of the then-named German Fliegertruppe air service achieved the first known aerial victory with a synchronized machine-gun armed fighter plane, the Fokker M.5K/MG Eindecker. 1916, World War I: First day on the Somme: On the first day of the Battle of the Somme 19,000 soldiers of the British Army were killed and 40,000 wounded. 1921, the Communist Party of China was founded. 1922, the Great Railroad Strike of 1922 began in the United States. 1923, the Canadian Parliament suspended all Chinese immigration. 1931, United Airlines began service (as Boeing Air Transport). 1932, Australia's national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, was formed. 1935, Regina, Saskatchewan police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police ambushed strikers participating in the On-to-Ottawa Trek.
In 1942, World War II: First Battle of El Alamein. Also 1942, the Australian Federal Governmentbecame the sole collector of income tax in Australia as State Income Tax was abolished. 1943, Tokyo City merged with Tokyo Prefecture and was dissolved. Since this date, no city in Japan has the name "Tokyo" (present-day Tokyo is not officially a city). 1947, the Philippine Air Force was established. 1948, Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Quaid-i-Azam) inaugurated Pakistan's central bank, the State Bank of Pakistan. 1949, the merger of two princely states of India, Cochin and Travancore, into the state of Thiru-Kochi (later re-organized as Kerala) in the Indian Union ended more than 1,000 years of princely rule by the Cochin Royal Family. 1957, the International Geophysical Year began. 1958, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporationlinked television broadcasting across Canada via microwave. Also 1958, flooding of Canada's St. Lawrence Seaway began. 1959, the Party of the African Federation held its constitutive conference. Also 1959, specific values for the international yard, avoirdupois pound and derived units (e.g. inch, mile and ounce) were adopted after agreement between the U.S.A., the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries.
In 1960, independence of Somalia. Also 1960, Ghana became a Republic and Kwame Nkrumah became its first President as Queen Elizabeth II ceased to be its Head of state. 1962, independence of Rwanda. Also 1962, independence of Burundi. 1963, ZIP codes were introduced for United States mail. Also 1963, the British Government admitted that former diplomat Kim Philby had worked as a Soviet agent. 1966, the first color televisiontransmission in Canada took place from Toronto. 1967, the European Community was formally created out of a merger with the Common Market, the European Coal and Steel Community, and the European Atomic Energy Commission. Also 1967, Canada celebrated the 100th anniversary of the British North America Act, 1867, which officially made Canada its own federal dominion. 1968, the United States Central Intelligence Agency's Phoenix Program was officially established. Also 1968, the Nuclear non-proliferation treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., London and Moscow by sixty-two countries. Also 1968, formal separation of the United Auto Workers from the AFL–CIO in the United States. 1970, President General Yahya Khan abolished One-Unit of West Pakistan restoring the provinces. 1972, the first Gay Pride march in England took place. 1976, Portugal granted autonomy to Madeira. 1978, the Northern Territory in Australia was granted Self-Government. 1979, Sony introduced the Walkman.
In 1980, "O Canada" officially became the national anthem of Canada. 1981, the Wonderland murders occurred in the early morning hours in Los Angeles, allegedly masterminded by businessman and drug dealer Eddie Nash. 1983, a North Korean Ilyushin Il-62M jet en route to Conakry Airport in Guinea crashed into the Fouta Djallon mountains in Guinea-Bissau, killing all 23 people on board. 1984, the PG-13 rating was introduced by the MPAA. 1987, the American radio station WFAN in New York, New York was launched as the world's first all-sports radio station. 1990, German reunification: East Germany accepted the Deutsche Markas its currency, thus uniting the economies of East and West Germany. 1991, the Warsaw Pact was officially dissolved at a meeting in Prague. 1997, China resumed sovereignty over the city-state of Hong Kong, ending 156 years of British colonial rule. 1999, the Scottish Parliament was officially opened by Elizabeth II on the day that legislative powers were officially transferred from the old Scottish Office in London to the new devolved Scottish Executive in Edinburgh.
In 2002, the International Criminal Court was established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Also 2002, Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 and a DHL (German cargo) Boeing 757 collided in mid-air over Überlingen, southern Germany, killing all 71 on board. 2003, over 500,000 people protested against efforts to pass anti-sedition legislation in Hong Kong. 2004, Saturn orbit insertion of Cassini–Huygens began at 01:12 UTC and ends at 02:48 UTC. 2006, the first operation of Qinghai–Tibet Railway in China. 2007, the Concert for Diana was held at the new Wembley Stadium in London and broadcast in 140 countries. Also 2007, smoking in England was banned in all public indoor spaces. 2008, Rioting erupted in Mongolia in response to allegations of fraud surrounding the 2008 legislative elections. 2013, Croatia became the 28th member of the European Union. Also 2013, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) began its operative peacekeeping mandate in Mali. Also 2013, Neptune's moon S/2004 N 1 was discovered.
=== 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 you have installed it start it up and press Live TV you don't need a login to watch Sky News!
===
I am publishing a book called Bread of Life: January.
Bread of Life is a daily bible quote with a layman's understanding of the meaning. I give one quote for each day, and also a series of personal stories illustrating key concepts eg Who is God? What is a miracle? Why is there tragedy?
January is the first of the anticipated year-long work of thirteen books. One for each month and the whole year. It costs to publish. It (Kindle version) should retail at about $2US online, but the paperback version would cost more, according to production cost.If you have a heart for giving, I fundraise at gofund.me/27tkwuc
Bread of Life is a daily bible quote with a layman's understanding of the meaning. I give one quote for each day, and also a series of personal stories illustrating key concepts eg Who is God? What is a miracle? Why is there tragedy?
January is the first of the anticipated year-long work of thirteen books. One for each month and the whole year. It costs to publish. It (Kindle version) should retail at about $2US online, but the paperback version would cost more, according to production cost.If you have a heart for giving, I fundraise at gofund.me/27tkwuc
===
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
Happy birthday and many happy returns Faris Baghdad. Today is Canada Day! Enjoy something with maple syrup. On this day in 1879, American evangelist Charles Taze Russell published the first issue of The Watchtower, the most widely circulated magazine in the world. In 1911, The German gunboat Panther arrived in the Moroccan port of Agadir, sparking the Agadir Crisis between Germany, Great Britain, and France. In 1963, The British government revealed that former MI6 agent Kim Philby had engaged in espionage for the Soviet Union. Sometimes those little things you do cause a big ruckus. Generally you sell your message well, but not everything should be free. Keep your heart with the Lord and avoid its betrayal .. and on this day .. well .. be nice. Enjoy your day!
Deaths
It should have been Polania. Remington writes like a treble blade razor. Synchronised machine guns will never be a sport. Don't take great music for granted. Our parliamentary rump is bare. Let's party.
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NEW IMPROVED TERRORISM – NOW WITH LESS HATE
Tim Blair – Friday, July 01, 2016 (6:31pm)
If the targets are white, then murder’s all right:
Lone wolf jihadists should target white Americans so no one mistakes their terror attacks for hate crimes unrelated to the cause of radical Islam, Al Qaeda writes in the latest edition of its online magazine …Jihadists should target “areas where the Anglo-Saxon community is generally concentrated,” it states. “This class of the American community is the majority and it is the one that is in the American leadership.”
(Via Simon G.)
REMAIN 1.0
Tim Blair – Friday, July 01, 2016 (3:03pm)
Vichy propaganda from 1942:
Via James Morrow, who emails: “Note neutral Sweden and Switzerland standing around in confusion while the British chick is suckered into the American-Jewish trap.”
Via James Morrow, who emails: “Note neutral Sweden and Switzerland standing around in confusion while the British chick is suckered into the American-Jewish trap.”
AUTOCIDE
Tim Blair – Friday, July 01, 2016 (2:12pm)
The first known death in a self-driving car:
The 7 May accident occurred in Williston, Florida, after the driver, Joshua Brown, 40, of Ohio put his Model S into Tesla’s autopilot mode, which is able to control the car during highway driving.Against a bright spring sky, the car’s sensors system failed to distinguish a large white 18-wheel truck and trailer crossing the highway, Tesla said.
Quite a glitch, that.
UPDATE. Further details emerge:
Frank Baressi, 62, the driver of the truck, said the Tesla driver was “playing Harry Potter on the TV screen” at the time of the crash and driving so quickly that “he went so fast through my trailer I didn’t see him.”“It was still playing when he died and snapped a telephone pole a quarter mile down the road,” Mr Baressi told The Associated Press.
SMILE, BRITANNIA!
Tim Blair – Friday, July 01, 2016 (3:40am)
Via Guido, here’s a lovely post-Brexit shot of the Queen:
Meanwhile, British Labour MPs have called police following death threats from furious Jeremy Corbyn supporters:
Meanwhile, British Labour MPs have called police following death threats from furious Jeremy Corbyn supporters:
Vicky Foxcroft, a Labour whip, received a call to her constituency office which said: “If she doesn’t support Corbyn I will come down to the office and kick the f*** out of you.”Police officers had to rush her office, close the shutters and attempt to trace the call after the man said he was on his way and hung up.Another MP who resigned over Mr Corbyn’s leadership has received an email naming their child and threatening to kill them. Police have been passed the message and are now investigating.Lucy Powell, the former shadow education secretary, received a message telling her to kill herself after announcing she would leave the frontbench over frustrations with the leadership …A Labour source said: “Women MPs have been subjected to the most vile stuff – we’re going to rape you, kill you. There have been people in tears today.”
As a general rule, people who are actually going to kill you don’t phone in advance. But Corbyn supporters might really be that stupid.
FRIDAY SONGBOARD
Tim Blair – Friday, July 01, 2016 (3:09am)
WELL, IS THERE?
Tim Blair – Friday, July 01, 2016 (3:03am)
Alleged media operation MSNBC asks:
This has been another announcement from the federal department of Three Guesses, Genius.
This has been another announcement from the federal department of Three Guesses, Genius.
(Via Iowahawk.)
IT’S NOT A BIG COLLEGE TOWN
Tim Blair – Friday, July 01, 2016 (2:59am)
The Boston Herald‘s Howie Carr joins Donald Trump’s entourage at his city’s excellent Langham Hotel:
As usual, a few hundred anti-Trump protesters had somehow managed to get the day off from their jobs – that’s a joke, get it? – in order to speak truth to power.One of their more temperate signs said:“RACIST SEXIST BIGOT FASCIST XENOPHOBE ISLAMOPHOBE TRUMP.”
This may be the modern equivalent of ROTTEN BLOODY POOFTER COMMO MONGREL BASTARD.
UPDATE. Times Square screamer:
A naked man screaming “Donald Trump where are you!” turned Times Square into an open-air peep show Thursday morning, ambling to the top of the red staircase in Duffy Square where he put on a bizarre one-hour spectacle, and then jumped off.Police identified him as a 21-year-old Manhattan resident, who was listed in stable condition with minor injuries.
BREXIT WAS A BLOCKSIT
Tim Blair – Friday, July 01, 2016 (2:37am)
An interesting take on the Brexit vote:
Appeals by 23 British Nobel Prize winners and 300 academics fell on deaf ears as the UK’s previously side-lined working class voted to raise the “Gates of Vienna” and stop their country from being swamped by refugees, camped on the other side of the English Channel in France …The veteran leftist, author and filmmaker Tariq Ali labelled the EU as “Cuckoo Land”, saying Britain was better off without it. The Latin American TV network TeleSur quoted Ali branding the recent EU refugee deal with Turkey as “squalid”.
And then there is this element:
In the once-thriving mining town of Barnsley, where 70% of the population voted to leave the European Union, one middle-aged man summed it up as he spoke to Britain’s ITV network: “It’s to stop the Muslims from coming into this country. Simple as that.”Few others dared to be so explicit. But neither before nor after the Brexit vote has the political and media elite dared to discuss the elephant in the room – radical Islam …Trust ordinary Britons to be appalled at how their country was being reshaped to accommodate medieval values, not imported by Muslim immigrants, but entrenched in the values their British-born children were being taught at school.The UK is not alone. From India to Myanmar; France to the Central African Republic, ordinary people are angry at Islamism.As as a result, innocent Muslims suffer while their radical leaders gloat at this “proof” of their predictions that the ‘"kuffar", non-Muslims, are enemies of Islam.If Muslim leaders do not acknowledge the flaunting of radical Islam on the streets and in the workplaces of Europe’s cities, then Brexit is just the beginning.
Before everyone sends in their Press Council complaints, please note that the Islamic author of this piece is Tarek Fatah, founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress.
HOT COW ACTION
Tim Blair – Friday, July 01, 2016 (2:02am)
You do want to see these cows.
TRUMP IN FRONT, LIB-LAB LINKED
Tim Blair – Friday, July 01, 2016 (12:37am)
US polls are in flippy mode:
The tables have turned in this week’s White House Watch. After trailing Hillary Clinton by five points for the prior two weeks, Donald Trump has now taken a four-point lead.
They’ll likely keep bouncing around, depending on which candidate appears the greatest liability in any given week. Clinton’s plunge may have something to do with this:
Democrats have succeeded in persuading the Washington press corps that what happened when four Americans died at Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012 isn’t a story. But the House report released Monday about that night and its aftermath contains details that ought to concern Americans who care about political accountability.The report’s most disturbing facts concern the way the Obama Administration and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spun an alternative narrative that is contradicted by their private statements and the intelligence from the scene.We learn from the report that the day after Mr. Stevens became the first American ambassador killed in the line of duty since 1979, President Obama decided to skip his daily intelligence briefing …On Monday this week on the campaign trail, Mrs. Clinton admitted that lots of Americans don’t trust her. “I personally know I have work to do on this front,” she told her audience. This report shows she has earned that mistrust.
In the latest local poll, the Coalition and Labor are clinging to each other like plastic monkeys. Might be a long Saturday night.
NOBOJO
Tim Blair – Thursday, June 30, 2016 (11:43pm)
This wasn’t expected:
Ex-London mayor Boris Johnson has ruled himself out of the race to be the next Conservative leader and prime minister.In a speech in London – billed as his campaign launch – Mr Johnson said he did not believe he could provide the leadership or unity needed.It comes after Justice Secretary and fellow Brexit campaigner Michael Gove’s surprise announcement on Thursday morning that he would run for leader.
Some campaign launch. Boris claims this year’s Mal Meninga prize:
UPDATE. A British Labour MP solves everything:
UPDATE. A British Labour MP solves everything:
I have written a letter, signed by many W Yorks cross party MP’s condemning all incidents of racism & xenophobia in our communities.
If she wore a safety pin at the same time, the magic works twice as hard.
(Via Jill.)
Essential poll: big last-week swing to Coalition
Andrew Bolt July 01 2016 (5:05pm)
Essential Media’s poll detects a big swing back to the Coalition in this last week, a 1.5 per cent lift that puts it back ahead of Labor, 50.5 per cent to 49.5.
(Thanks to reader John.)
===(Thanks to reader John.)
Speccie feast
Andrew Bolt July 01 2016 (11:22am)
The latest Spectator Australia, stuffed with good reading, is out now.
In this edition, Terry Barnes on the astonishing dominance of the same-sex marriage agenda:
===In this edition, Terry Barnes on the astonishing dominance of the same-sex marriage agenda:
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the 2011 census found about 33,700 same-sex couples in Australia. About 17,600 couples were male and 16,100 female. These represent about one per cent of all couples in Australia.Which leads Barnes to propose this question for the promised referendum:
Last year, Roy Morgan Research asked how many Australians are homosexual. They found that in 2006-08 about 2.4 per cent of people identified themselves as homosexual. In 2012-14, this increased to 3.4 per cent…
And when it comes to same-sex marriage, not all in the gay community are of the vociferous, We Want Marriage Equality And We Want It Now! mob. So let’s say only half of those self-identifiers are big on gay marriage. Half of 3.4 is 1.7 per cent.
Yet that measly 1.7 per cent of the Australian population has tied the national political agenda in knots for years now.
So allow me to suggest:Also in the Spectator Australia, Neil Brown announces his campaign awards.
Do you favour rewarding the incessant, self-absorbed bleatings of an intolerant vocal minority within a minority who demonise anyone who disagrees with them, if it means they shut up and go away?I’d vote a resounding ‘Yes’, even though I’m personally happy with leaving the definition of marriage as it is.
I reckon most Australians would too.
Does Turnbull realise that his class does not reflect the people?
Andrew Bolt July 01 2016 (11:13am)
John Roskam on the meaning of Brexit:
===Brexit proved ideas and values still matter in politics… “Accountability”, “community”, and “democracy” are inchoate but vital concepts that are not in the vocabulary of the experts who preached Britain’s economic collapse if it had the temerity to leave the European Union…(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
As politicians are drawn from an ever-shrinking gene pool, often they’re more likely to reflect the views of an elite political class, rather than the views of the people who voted for them. Nowhere is this more apparent than in how the British public voted compared to parliamentarians. Of the public who voted in the referendum, 52 per cent voted “Leave”. However at best, no more than around 180 out of 650 members of the House of Commons, would have voted that way, i.e. less than 30 per cent of MPs supported “Leave”.
In a country where voting is optional, both the turnout and the total number of people voting was higher than at the British general election last year – 72 per cent of the eligible electorate voted in the referendum, compared to 66 per cent at the election.
Britain’s Brexit experience has been replicated in Australia, most notably with the republic referendum in 1999. Despite a “Yes” vote being overwhelmingly supported by the sort of people who backed a “Remain” vote in the UK, Australians said no to a republic by a 55 per cent to 45 per cent margin.
Malcolm Turnbull was on the wrong side of the republic referendum. Assuming he’s still prime minister after Saturday he will need to be careful not to be on the wrong side of public opinion too often…
One issue that Turnbull has committed to making the case for change on is Indigenous recognition in the constitution… Whether Turnbull will be able to convince the public that the idea that all Australians should be treated equally under the law should be overturned remains to be seen.
Brisbane launch to come
Andrew Bolt July 01 2016 (11:09am)
Readers have asked me for a launch for my new book - with book signings - in Brisbane, too.
That is now being organised for early August. Details to come next week.
Also coming next week, a second Bolt Bulletin - a post-election edition - will be sent to readers who buy my book online. The book will be mailed free.
The IPA tells me the other launches it is organising will sell out. Book while there are still seats:
Readers below ask about a possible Perth launch. If I can organise enough time to do it without making life frantic I will, especially if I can tack on other things I have promised people there, but, gee, you are a long way away.
===That is now being organised for early August. Details to come next week.
Also coming next week, a second Bolt Bulletin - a post-election edition - will be sent to readers who buy my book online. The book will be mailed free.
The IPA tells me the other launches it is organising will sell out. Book while there are still seats:
Book here for the Sydney launch of my new book on July 15, with friends Rowan Dean, editor of the Spectator Australia, and IPA boss John Roskam chatting with me on stage.UPDATE
Book here for the Melbourne launch on July 22, again with Rowan, John and me.
Book here for the Adelaide launch at Senator Cory Bernardi’s Conservative Leadership Foundation on July 29.
Readers below ask about a possible Perth launch. If I can organise enough time to do it without making life frantic I will, especially if I can tack on other things I have promised people there, but, gee, you are a long way away.
Can’t vote for Labor, can’t warm to Turnbull
Andrew Bolt July 01 2016 (11:01am)
Voters are right to think Labor is a terrible risk, but they still baulk at Malcolm Turnbull. He will claim a win tomorrow as vindication, when in fact he’s the Stephen Bradbury in this race;
Phil Coorey on the latest Ipsos poll:
Laura Tingle:
A symbol of one more reason it’s hard to vote for Labor:
===Phil Coorey on the latest Ipsos poll:
50 per cent on election day would not give Labor the 19 seats it needs notionally to win power, even if the swing were uniform across the country, which swings never are.More authority? I suspect Tony Abbott would have done at least as well, if the vote fragments as polls suggest.
It could, however, produce a hung Parliament if other seats were to fall to independents…
One of Mr Turnbull’s most senior backers, Cabinet secretary Arthur Sinodinos, put potential Coalition troublemakers on notice on Thursday by arguing that regardless of the margin on Saturday, Mr Turnbull’s authority would be absolute.
“If Malcolm Turnbull wins this election, he will have greatly enhanced authority within the Liberal Party,” Senator Sinodinos said, amid concerns conservatives allied to Tony Abbott will seek to exert more influence in terms of policy and positions if the win is not emphatic.
Laura Tingle:
(T)he real story of the campaign revealed by the Ipsos poll lies in the Coalition’s primary vote. It has fallen from 44 per cent to 40 per cent since the campaign began, and it is down a full 6 percentage points on the level recorded at the 2013 election.UPDATE
This would be a monstrous problem for the Coalition if it were not for the fact that Labor’s primary vote remains stuck at 33 per cent at the end of the campaign – where it was at the beginning of the campaign and where it was at the 2013 election.
The declining primary vote for the Coalition has instead gone to the myriad other parties now contesting seats in the lower house. A record 27 per cent of voters will give their primary vote to the Greens or parties other than Labor and the Coalition. The equivalent figure in 2013 was 21 per cent.
But perhaps the most crucial figure between now and Saturday is not even included in the official tables. A record 8 per cent of voters are telling pollsters they “don’t know” how they are going to vote. That compares with 4 per cent in 2013 and 6 per cent in 2010.
A symbol of one more reason it’s hard to vote for Labor:
For the second time in two days, a supporter of Macarthur’s Liberal candidate Russell Matheson has been assaulted outside a pre-polling centre in Ingleburn.(Thanks to readers Peter of Bellevue Hill and Geoff.)
The Advertiser has been told the man, aged in his late teens to early 20s, was elbowed in the chest and “thrown around” by a union supporter aged in his 40s or 50s…
Yesterday Errol Gavin, an elderly man aged in his 70s, allegedly hit his head on the ground after being pushed by a unionist.
Where did that warming go?
Andrew Bolt July 01 2016 (10:57am)
Global warming is so yesterday:
(Thanks to reader fulchrum.)
===The daily Berliner Kurier ... writes today that solar physicists at the ultra-warmist Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) are warning that Europe may be facing “a mini ice age” due to a possible protracted solar minimum.Just 0.3 degrees by the end of the century? Remember when we were warned it could be 6 degrees - and at least 3 degrees?
The Berliner Kurier writes:
That’s the conclusion that solar physicists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research reached when looking at solar activity. For an institute that over the past 20 years has steadfastly insisted that man has been almost the sole factor in climate change over the past century and that the sun no longer plays a role, this is quite remarkable.
The Berliner Kurier reports that the PIK scientists foresee a weakening of the sun’s activity over the coming years. That means that conversely it is going to get colder. The scientists are speaking of a little ice age.
According to the PIK scientists, the reduced solar activity will, however, not be able to stop the global warming and only brake the warming up to 2100 by 0.3°C.
(Thanks to reader fulchrum.)
Time makes Abbott seem more genuine than Turnbull
Andrew Bolt July 01 2016 (10:55am)
Reader Sarah:
===Andrew I don’t know if you saw the Sky News program with David Speers with 12 undecided voters at Rooty Hill NSW.
They were asked what they thought of Malcolm Turnbull, all except one said he was arrogant. Asked about Tony Abbott they all agreed that he was genuine and more like them. Bill Shorten did not fare much better than Turnbull. The most interesting part was when a picture of the Greens Leader Richard Di Natale was put up… Not one of them knew who he was.
The Mufti on Sheik Shady: confirming he is the dangerous voice of Islam
Andrew Bolt July 01 2016 (9:50am)
I have said it was significant that no senior Muslim leader or commentator - whether the Grand Mufti or Waleed Aly - had condemned the teachings of Sheik Shady Alsuleiman:
Note that the Mufti confirms that far from being just “one person, ... one cleric” unrepresentative of Muslims, as the Prime Minister suggested, Shady is “one of the most active imams”, a “successful mentor to the youth”, a “moderate ... widely accepted amongst people of his generation” and part of the Muslim whole, such that criticisms of him are “attempts that seek to divide our society and discriminate against certain individual people ... because of their religious beliefs”.
Note also that the Mufti confirms that Shady’s teachings are authentic expressions of Islam. He defends him as having merely explained a “religious ruling” of Islam, although it’s unclear if the Mufti is referring here to Shady’s reference to stoning adulterers or gays being wicked people who spread deadly diseases.
Note that the Mufti falsely claims Islam’s teaching is no different to that of other faiths, whose preachers are not “intellectually terrorised” the way good Muslims are: “That which Sheik Shady has said regarding homosexuality is simply a conveyance of a religious fact which is known to every practising person in the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths.” To make this false claim, the Mufti falsely suggests Shady merely said “the homosexual act was a sin”, ignoring what he added about spreading deadly diseases. The Mufti makes no explicit mention of Shady’s views on stoning adulterers, the evil of the Jews or satanic Christmas parties.
Note that the Mufti then issues a very troubling warning that to me risks legitimising the Islamist terrorism he otherwise condemns:
Finally, note that this is the Mufti Turnbull invited to his Iftar dinner. His statement is as clear a warning about Islam as you could get from our top Muslim cleric.
Turnbull and other community leaders must address this with frankness. The time for evasion is over.
Instead:
Greg Sheridan says the Grand Mufti is very wrong to say Chrisitan teachings on gays resemble those of Muslim preachers, or that Muslims alone are criticised.
===Sheik Shady Al-Suleiman ... has vilified Jews, called on God to help “destroy the enemies of Islam”, declared the punishment for adulterers “is stoning to death”, damned Christmas parties as “worship of Satan” and accused gays of “spreading all these diseases” through “evil actions that bring evil outcomes to our society"…The Grand Mufti - our most senior representative of Islam in this country - now breaks his silence. In doing so, he effectively confirms everything I have said. Not a word of criticism of Shady, but plenty of evasions, false equivalents and that deadly persecution complex on which extremists feed:
And the Prime Minister then tried to con you again about Islam.
He pretended the Sheikh was just some crazy out on his own: “It is also wrong to seek to define the views of all 500,000 Muslims because of the opinions expressed by one person, by one cleric.”
But note carefully: Shady isn’t some two-bit ranter from some street corner. He is actually the elected president of the Australian National Imams Council, representing the imams who actually preach the Islamic faith. He is more representative of Islam than Aly, Carland or Abdel-Magied [Malcolm Turnbull’s top-table guests at his Iftar dinner] will ever be.
Moreover, few of the other Muslim guests interviewed at Turnbull’s Iftar party would condemn Shady or his brand of anti-gay opinions, sourced as they are in Islamic teaching.
For instance, Hafez Kassem, the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president, suggested people should abstain from homosexual acts or else treated with “medication”.
Kamal Mousselmani, head of the Supreme Islamic Shia Council of Australia, agreed that homosexuality was a sin, adding: “If my son for example would become gay I would not talk to him.”
Grand Mufti Ibrahim Abu Mohammad, who arrived and left with Sheikh Shady, refused to comment. But this is the Mufti who not only blamed the West for last year’s Islamist terror attack on Paris, but previously wrote that homosexuality and lesbianism were “sexual perversions”.
These men - not Turnbull’s top-table pets - are the authentic representatives of Islam in this country.
Note the inflammatory cries that Muslims are being persecuted when Shady is criticised:
... media outlets in Australia have been engaged in a type of terrorism of ideas against those who disagree with them. This has particularly been the case if the person holding a different view is a Muslim..”Pardon? To merely criticise Shady is “a type of terrorism”, such as shooting or bombing, perhaps? And Shady’s rhetoric of hatred is merely “a different view”?
Note that the Mufti confirms that far from being just “one person, ... one cleric” unrepresentative of Muslims, as the Prime Minister suggested, Shady is “one of the most active imams”, a “successful mentor to the youth”, a “moderate ... widely accepted amongst people of his generation” and part of the Muslim whole, such that criticisms of him are “attempts that seek to divide our society and discriminate against certain individual people ... because of their religious beliefs”.
Note also that the Mufti confirms that Shady’s teachings are authentic expressions of Islam. He defends him as having merely explained a “religious ruling” of Islam, although it’s unclear if the Mufti is referring here to Shady’s reference to stoning adulterers or gays being wicked people who spread deadly diseases.
Note that the Mufti falsely claims Islam’s teaching is no different to that of other faiths, whose preachers are not “intellectually terrorised” the way good Muslims are: “That which Sheik Shady has said regarding homosexuality is simply a conveyance of a religious fact which is known to every practising person in the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths.” To make this false claim, the Mufti falsely suggests Shady merely said “the homosexual act was a sin”, ignoring what he added about spreading deadly diseases. The Mufti makes no explicit mention of Shady’s views on stoning adulterers, the evil of the Jews or satanic Christmas parties.
Note that the Mufti then issues a very troubling warning that to me risks legitimising the Islamist terrorism he otherwise condemns:
I also think it has strengthened terrorist groups… The youth might see media statements attacking Muslim leaders and interpret this as an attack on their religion, brethren and wider Muslim community. This would lead such a young person to conclude that he is living in danger in this country. And this is exactly what ISIL and its counterparts seek to convince the youth of the world.But hasn’t the Mufti himself just insisted that criticism of one Muslim cleric’s preaching is an attack on the Muslim religion and community - a “type of terrorism”? Hasn’t he just done half the intellectual work of those ISIS apologists? And hasn’t he already issued a statement effectively blaming the West for the Islamist slaughter in Paris last year?
Finally, note that this is the Mufti Turnbull invited to his Iftar dinner. His statement is as clear a warning about Islam as you could get from our top Muslim cleric.
Turnbull and other community leaders must address this with frankness. The time for evasion is over.
Instead:
Mr Turnbull refused to respond to questions about whether the federal government would or could continue to have a relationship with the national imams council, which advises government on many issues, including national security.UPDATE
Greg Sheridan says the Grand Mufti is very wrong to say Chrisitan teachings on gays resemble those of Muslim preachers, or that Muslims alone are criticised.
No Boris
Andrew Bolt July 01 2016 (8:55am)
A lot of people will feel robbed:
The political class is not easily dislodged.
===Former London mayor Boris Johnson, runaway bookmakers’ favourite to become Britain’s prime minister, has abruptly pulled out of the race.Someone who misread the public’s will could be the next Prime Minister? Then why not stick with Cameron?
The shock announcement comes less than a week after leading the campaign to pull the country out of the EU.
Johnson’s announcement, to audible gasps from a roomful of journalists and supporters, ... makes Theresa May, the interior minister who backed remaining in the EU, the new favourite to succeed [Prime Minister David] Cameron.
She announced her own candidacy earlier on Thursday, promising to deliver the EU withdrawal voters had demanded, despite having campaigned for the other side.
“Brexit means Brexit,” she told a news conference.
“The campaign was fought, the vote was held, turnout was high and the public gave their verdict. There must be no attempts to remain inside the EU, no attempts to rejoin it through the back door and no second referendum.”
Johnson, whose support of the Leave cause was widely seen as delivering its victory, saw his bid suddenly crumble after his Brexit campaign ally, Justice Secretary Michael Gove, withdrew his backing and announced his own leadership bid…
Gove, a close friend of Cameron’s despite differences with the prime minister over Europe, had previously said he would back Johnson.
But in an article in the Spectator magazine on Thursday, Gove wrote that he had come “reluctantly, to the conclusion that Boris cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead”.
The political class is not easily dislodged.
Ipsos poll shock: Labor and Liberals tied
Andrew Bolt June 30 2016 (9:33pm)
Erk. After my editorial today saying Labor would lose, and by more than expected, this warning:
===The final Fairfax-Ipsos poll of the 2016 election shows that with most Australians preparing to cast their votes Labor and the Coalition are locked in a 50-50 embrace based on second and subsequent preference flows recorded in the 2013 poll when Labor’s electoral support had tumbled.
Trump takes lead
Andrew Bolt June 30 2016 (9:17pm)
The latest Rasmussen poll shows a startling reversal:
===The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey of Likely U.S. Voters finds Trump with 43% of the vote, while Clinton earns 39%. Twelve percent (12%) still like another candidate, and five percent (5%) are undecided.... Last week at this time, it was Clinton 44%, Trump 39%.
The war on drugs is real. And this is not the time to surrender
Miranda Devine – Wednesday, July 01, 2015 (11:46am)
Matt Noffs means well. But he has fallen for a crackpot idea in his quest to help the addicts at the Ted Noffs Foundation crisis centre founded by his grandfather.
Continue reading 'The war on drugs is real. And this is not the time to surrender'TAKE THIS AS A COMMENT
Tim Blair – Wednesday, July 01, 2015 (5:07pm)
A statement from the ABC Board:
The ABC Board has reviewed the chronology of events relating to the Q & A program broadcast on Monday 22 June. The Board agrees with ABC management’s statement last week that the decision to allow Zaky Mallah to appear live on the program was wrong. The nature of the Q & A broadcast made this program different to Mallah’s other media appearances. Given his criminal background and past public statements, the live broadcast meant that the ABC was not in a position to manage unpredictable or inappropriate actions or responses …The Executive Producer of Q & A acknowledges the failure of editorial process and judgment around this episode. He has received a formal warning under the misconduct provisions of the ABC’s industrial agreement.
So nothing will happen to Peter McEvoy. Now to the ABC’s promised independent review:
In looking at the show’s performance over 22 episodes, the review will take into account the key editorial decisions that impact on the delivery of the program including:• audience selection;
• panel selection and make-up
• subject selection
• social media strategy, including on-air tweetsThe review will be undertaken by the former Managing Director of SBS, Mr Shaun Brown and the television journalist, Mr Ray Martin.
Two luvvies. The ABC is having a laugh.
TOTALLY DIFFERENT
Tim Blair – Wednesday, July 01, 2015 (3:29pm)
New York Times associate managing editor for standards Phil Corbett – the Jill Singer of US media – explains why his paper published an image of the Pope made from condoms but didn’t publish any Charlie Hebdo cartoons:
I don’t think these situations – the Milwaukee artwork and the various Muhammad caricatures – are really equivalent. For one thing, many people might disagree, but museum officials clearly consider this Johnson piece to be a significant artwork.Also, there’s no indication that the primary intent of the portrait is to offend or blaspheme ...And finally, the very different reactions bears this out. Hundreds of thousands of people protested worldwide, for instance, after the Danish cartoons were published some years ago. While some people might genuinely dislike this Milwaukee work, there doesn’t seem to be any comparable level of outrage.
Translation: Catholics won’t try to kill us, so we’re not scared of them.
(Via A.R.M. Jones)
A BETTER QUESTION: WHY DOES ANYONE BELIEVE IN THE ABC?
Tim Blair – Wednesday, July 01, 2015 (2:51pm)
The ABC’s Leigh Sales asks:
Given how much scientific knowledge has advanced over, say, you know – well obviously all centuries, but particularly the past century or so, why has science not yet done away with belief in God?
(Via Ganesh)
SOMETHING FOR NOTHING
Tim Blair – Wednesday, July 01, 2015 (2:42pm)
Given Chelsea Clinton’s lifetime of remarkable accomplishments, it’s little wonder the University of Missouri paid her gigantic speaking fee:
The university paid the former first daughter $85,000 for the short appearance, which only amounted to about an hour on campus …“She negotiated to speak for 10 minutes, participate in a 20-minute moderated question-and-answer session and spend a half-hour posing for photos with VIPs,” said John Martellaro, a spokesman for the university.
Clinton’s mother was last year paid $225,000 for a university speech that included the line: “Higher education shouldn’t be a privilege for those able to afford it.”
BY GEORGE THEY’VE GOT IT
Tim Blair – Wednesday, July 01, 2015 (6:32am)
Today’s Daily Telegraph editorial:
Attorney-General George Brandis was widely ridiculed after he made these comments in the Senate in May, 2014: “People do have a right to be bigots, you know. People have the right to say things that other people would find insulting, offensive or bigoted.”Many of Brandis’s critics were from the ABC, where the Attorney-General is something of a hate figure.So it was a surprise on Monday night to hear so many people on the ABC’s Q & A program using Brandis’s exact argument to defend the show’s decision to grant several minutes of airtime last week to Islamic extremist Zaky Mallah.
Read on.
The ABC is kidding us with this inquiry
Andrew Bolt July 01 2015 (9:51pm)
The ABC board is kidding us, right? They pick these guys to check the ABC’s Q&A for bias?
(Thanks to reader Peter H.)
===The Board said the review will take into account the key editorial decisions that impact on the delivery of the program including audience selection, panel selection and make-up, subject selection and social media strategy, including on-air tweets.This is the Ray Martin who will check Q&A for bias?
The review will be undertaken by the former Managing Director of SBS, Mr Shaun Brown and the television journalist, Mr Ray Martin.
Conservative talkback hosts have the loudest voice on politics, Martin says.And this is the Shaun Brown who will help check for bias, too, after Q&A asked on a sympathiser of terrorists linked to al Qaeda? From 2006:
“While ever commercial television isn’t offering any balance to (politics), I think they’re dangerous. Those who are most successful tend to be conservative - and those who have a small-L liberal bent, they usually lose the ratings.
“Phillip Adams couldn’t be anywhere else than Radio National. Why don’t we have any moderates?”
Martin says compassion is diminished by the conservative opinions popular on talkback and commercial current affairs programs, on issues including boat people.
But in recent weeks, SBS’ ability to provide an impartial view of world events has been vigorously questioned. As the subject of a Senate Estimates Hearing Committee in Canberra last Monday, the broadcasting service was charged with gross imbalance of reporting and of systemic bias in favour of terrorist organisations.I suspect the ABC board has deliberately commissioned a whitewash. In no way can the Government accept this inquiry as serious.
Liberal Senator Michael Ronaldson said George Negus had expressed “pro-Arab” sentiments on international current affairs program Dateline and Liberal Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells said SBS had “sided” with Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks and exhibited “a rather equivocal view of terrorism”.
Ronaldson told Green Guide: “I want a robust, informative, even a controversial national broadcaster but there’s got to be complete balance and there’s got to be lack of bias and the SBS cannot continue to hide under the mantra of neutrality . . . Even when it was put to (Shaun Brown, managing director of SBS television), the question of Osama Bin Laden, (he said) that SBS would refuse to refer to (al-Qaeda) as a terrorist organisation, which is patently stupid… Speaking after the Senate hearing, Shaun Brown said he expected SBS to come under fire in the wake of government focus on the ABC’s editorial policies on balance and bias.
(Thanks to reader Peter H.)
Bill Shorten caught without his briefs
Andrew Bolt July 01 2015 (9:47pm)
Another PR blunder for Bill Shorten:
===Bill Shorten says he has “not seen” proposals to merge Customs with the Immigration Department, despite the Labor Party voting the legislation through parliament less than two months ago…A free kick for Tony Abbott:
The Opposition Leader, when asked whether he believed Customs and Immigration should be merged, said today: “We haven’t seen the propositions around that. I will wait to see details before I start commenting...” The ABF was conceived under Labor justice minister Jason Clare. Legislation to establish the agency cleared the House of Representatives with Labor support on March 25, and passed the Senate on May 14.
“As for Border Force, the Labor Party voted for the legislation and I expect them to be familiar with it,” Mr Abbott said.
What ABC bias?
Andrew Bolt July 01 2015 (9:21pm)
The ABC’s Lateline promotes the God of the Left, riding from heaven on a rainbow:
===ABC insists - er - even bigots have a right to speak, you know
Andrew Bolt July 01 2015 (8:43am)
Brilliant observation from the Daily Telegraph, noting the hypocrisy of so many of the Left:
===Attorney-General George Brandis was widely ridiculed after he made these comments in the Senate in May, 2014: “People do have a right to be bigots, you know. People have the right to say things that other people would find insulting, offensive or bigoted.”
Many of Brandis’s critics were from the ABC, where the Attorney-General is something of a hate figure. So it was a surprise on Monday night to hear so many people on the ABC’s Q & A program using Brandis’s exact argument to defend the show’s decision to grant several minutes of airtime last week to Islamic extremist Zaky Mallah.
The Greeks run out of other people’s money
Andrew Bolt July 01 2015 (8:17am)
Sound familiar?
But public servants have so many loopholes, as the Labor Minister said in December:
Greece defaults:
===The problem with Greece is that it wanted to develop a modern country with benefits for all, especially those that vote. Tertiary students were given free education, lodging and books. Greece was generous to those with large families. There were inbuilt systems of local protectionism to guard against competition. They were open-handed with superannuation and pensions.Steven Hayward:
As the Greek economy continues its predictable slow motion collapse, one of the early WSJ account of the inevitable bank closures and capital controls imposed yesterday has one of the funniest sentences I’ve read in a long time, but which is also fully revealing of the decadence of the liberal mind:George Will:
“How can something like this happen without prior warning?” asked Angeliki Psarianou, a 67-year-old retired public servant, who stood in the drizzle after arriving too late at one empty ATM in the Greek capital.No warning? Check. Retired public servant? Check. But, but . . . how can we run out of other people’s money? We still have pension checks left.
Since joining the Eurozone in 2001, Greece has borrowed a sum 1.7 times its 2013 GDP. Its 25 percent unemployment (50 percent among young workers) results from a 25 percent shrinkage of GDP. It is a mendicant reduced to hoping to “extend and pretend” forever…A society in sharp decline, with even its population falling:
The EU has a flag no one salutes, an anthem no one sings, a president no one can name, a parliament whose powers subtract from those of national legislatures, a bureaucracy no one admires or controls, and rules of fiscal rectitude that no member is penalized for ignoring. It does, however, have in Greece a member whose difficulties are wonderfully didactic. It cannot be said too often: There cannot be too many socialist smashups. The best of these punish reckless creditors whose lending enables socialists to live, for a while, off other people’s money.
The crisis has forced Greece to lift the retirement age from the absurd 57 years in 2009 to 67 today, meaning Greeks must now work a decade longer.
But public servants have so many loopholes, as the Labor Minister said in December:
On Wednesday, Greek Labor Minister Yiannis Vroutsis presented data to the parliament, explaining that almost 75% of Greek pensioners are trying to secure their early retirement through legal provisions that allow them to stop working before the age of 61.UPDATE
“In the public sector, 7.91% of pensioners retire between the ages of 26 and 50, 23.64% between 51 and 55, and 43.53% between 56 and 61. In IKA, 4.44% of pensioners retire between the ages of 26 and 50, 12.83% retire between 51 and 55, and 58.61% retire between 56 and 61. Meanwhile, in the so-called healthy funds, 91.6% of people retire before the national retirement age limit,” Vroutsis said.
Greece defaults:
The IMF has put out a statement on Greece’s €1.6bn debt default.
“I confirm that the ... repayment due by Greece to the IMF today has not been received,” said fund spokesman Gerry Rice. “We have informed our executive board that Greece is now in arrears and can only receive IMF financing once the arrears are cleared.”
The rage of journalists called out at last for their bias
Andrew Bolt July 01 2015 (8:11am)
What’s relatively new is journalists being called out publicly for their bias. For many years, when dissent was punished or simply not published, journalists congratulated each other on being balanced - or at least seeming so.
I’m talking of the time when even George Negus - Negus! - was assumed to be impartial. When Phillip Adams was seen as at the centre of respectable opinion. When the ABC defined the middle ground.
I think one of the sources of the rage so many journalists have for the likes of me is that we are now calling out this fraud, using endless evidence. I have no hesitation in leveling with the audience and announcing my own biases - humanist, conservative, liberal, rationalist and individualist - but I have no hesitation in pointing out the biases of others in the media, too, particularly on the ABC. For a start, I want to end this deceit that the ABC is balanced and not at all leaning to the Left.
ABC presenters have been outraged to have their cover blown. Some - Jonathan Green, Virginia Trioli and Patricia Karvelas - profess astonishment at being identified as Left leaning, either because they are simply not self aware or because they don’t want you to know where they lie:
Green on being called Leftist by Greg Sheridan:
Of course, the collective react badly to this rougher than usual handling. Guides to their bias do tend to get a media monstering. But the public good is worth this small pain.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
===I’m talking of the time when even George Negus - Negus! - was assumed to be impartial. When Phillip Adams was seen as at the centre of respectable opinion. When the ABC defined the middle ground.
I think one of the sources of the rage so many journalists have for the likes of me is that we are now calling out this fraud, using endless evidence. I have no hesitation in leveling with the audience and announcing my own biases - humanist, conservative, liberal, rationalist and individualist - but I have no hesitation in pointing out the biases of others in the media, too, particularly on the ABC. For a start, I want to end this deceit that the ABC is balanced and not at all leaning to the Left.
ABC presenters have been outraged to have their cover blown. Some - Jonathan Green, Virginia Trioli and Patricia Karvelas - profess astonishment at being identified as Left leaning, either because they are simply not self aware or because they don’t want you to know where they lie:
Green on being called Leftist by Greg Sheridan:
How does Greg Sheridan have any clue what my politics are? We’ve never met. Never had a conversation. Beyond parody.Karvelas:
Bolt says I’m Left wing. Deeply inaccurate.Trioli:
Enough of Bolt bullshit about bias: “Of the Left”? How? Never been a member of any party, don’t vote for any party. Bolt has agenda not me.Which has me now ask: For how long did Paul Bongiorno convince Channel 10 viewers that he was fair and impartial?:
Paul Bongiorno during Monday’s episode of Q&A;:But hubris alert: this outing of the media Left is also due in part to social media - as in their own use of it. How quickly many betray themselves on Twitter. How easily a picture from their parties bobs up on the Internet, such as this one, showing the John Howard pinata that Jonathan Green asked his guests to whack with a stick.
At least Paul Kelly has the guts to turn up on #QandA unlike the government. He’s doing their job for them. Must be a Murdoch journo.Bonge responding to Chris Kenny’s suggestion he’d “ignored the substance and slurred a journalist he could not dream to emulate”:
Slurred? Telling it as it is. BTW Paul Kelly’s reputation will survive tonight.Bonge had one for Tim Wilson, too:
Uh oh “Freedom Boy” has deserted his principles. Give him a pay rise.Nationals MP Darren Chester weighing in on Twitter:
It must be truly liberating @PaulBongiorno to feel no obligation to ever be an objective political reporter/commentator again.
Of course, the collective react badly to this rougher than usual handling. Guides to their bias do tend to get a media monstering. But the public good is worth this small pain.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
Riot police to enforce a smoking ban?
Andrew Bolt July 01 2015 (4:07am)
Tuesday morning:
===Victoria’s prison system is “very ready” for a smoking ban which comes into effect on Wednesday, Corrections Commissioner Jan Shuard says.Tuesday night:
A SMOKING ban in jails sparked a riot that raged through the night at the state’s biggest remand centre.... Up to 60 inmates began the riot, which swelled into hundreds of prisoners breaching a “secure inner perimeter’’ at the Metropolitan Remand Centre in Ravenhall. Staff, guards and visitors were evacuated as chaos broke out about 12.20pm on Tuesday.I’m seeing riot police sent in to uphold the smoking ban. Is this a bit over-the-top for a health measure?
Tweeter beware of the Hockey verdict
Andrew Bolt July 01 2015 (1:55am)
A warning to all tweeters and bloggers from the Joe Hockey defamation victory. Linking to a balanced article won’t save you if you’ve written a one-sided and defamatory tweet or post to sell it.
Ask The Age, which tweeted that Joe Hockey was “for sale” and linked to the article which explained he wasn’t actually corrupt:
===Ask The Age, which tweeted that Joe Hockey was “for sale” and linked to the article which explained he wasn’t actually corrupt:
Of The Age’s 280,000 Twitter followers, just 789 followed the links to stories that eased the sting in those defamatory tweets.Oh, and another warning, this time to Age’s social media marketing team. That’s a shocking hit rate for your biggest story of the day. Tweeters seem too lazy even to hit a link.
Posted by Alexander Meluskey on Tuesday, 30 June 2015
Roaming the Prairie Lands
Posted by Matt Granz on Wednesday, 1 July 2015
Public breakups are the living worst! #3 just proves it.
Posted by YourTango on Saturday, 24 January 2015
Thought this was pretty clever...
Posted by Sick Drummer Magazine on Saturday, 27 June 2015
Planetary Bodies in ConjunctionVenus and Jupiter aligned with our moon a couple of weeks back. I shot this near the ocean.
Posted by Matt Granz on Tuesday, 30 June 2015
Posted by David Wolfe on Thursday, 25 June 2015
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SEXISM ENABLED
Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 01, 2014 (1:30pm)
Vanessa Badham’s frightbat slogans are proudly printed on American Apparel 100% cotton t-shirts. Let’s find out a little more about the American Apparel company:
While there are many controversial aspects to the company, one of the biggest topics is thesexualization and exploitation of women, as well as the pressure the brand places on individuals to conform to normative standards of beauty …
With all these strikes against them, American Apparel should most likely be considered one of the most sexist, misogynist clothing companies out there.
In Sweden, American Apparel is condemned as the sexist of the year. But in Australia, feminists give them money. Perhaps our frightbats missed this piece in Fairfax’s ladypages.
(Via Mike M.)
LISTEN UP, LADIES
Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 01, 2014 (10:31am)
This might be a nice slogan for your next range of best-selling feminist frightbat garments:
Continue reading 'LISTEN UP, LADIES'TITLE TROUBLE
Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 01, 2014 (10:29am)
Simon Longstaff reflects on his decision to schedule a speech from Islamic extremist Uthman Badar titled “Honour killings are morally justified”:
Of course, we do look to bring out the danger in the idea being presented. There is not much danger in the title, Honour Killings Are Morally Reprehensible. Such a title merely states the obvious and would hardly be deserving of inclusion in a Festival of Dangerous Ideas.
So the festival’s name was the problem all along! Easily fixed. Just change it to Festival of Ideas That Aren’t Completely Retarded.
Herald rule: If it’s Abbott it’s awful
Andrew Bolt July 01 2014 (10:37am)
The Sydney Morning Herald last week saw Al Gore at Clive Palmer’s press conference and, dazzled, falsely reported Palmer had blown up Tony Abbott’s plans to scrap the carbon tax.
This week, the Sydney Morning Herald runs a column by former Liberal Minister Peter Reithand falsely reports he’s blown up Abbott as well:
===This week, the Sydney Morning Herald runs a column by former Liberal Minister Peter Reithand falsely reports he’s blown up Abbott as well:
In fact, here are the only things Reith actually said in the column about Abbott:
Despite the media’s obsession with Clive Palmer last week, Tony Abbott had a very good week of his own. He will soon achieve the four big promises made in the 2013 election. The boats have been largely stopped, the carbon tax will soon be repealed, the mining tax will go and Abbott will be the infrastructure Prime Minister....How on earth do Reith’s words justify the cartoon? Why did The Age put the most negative angle into the headline, which falsely implies Abbott isn’t tackling big issues?
History is more likely to remember the Abbott changes whereas Palmer will be lucky if anyone even remembers the stunts…
The problem of the 2013 election manifesto was that it did not offer enough. The four big promises may now be fulfilled but, although useful, they don’t give the economy the shot in the arm it needs in the way that labour market reform or tax reform or welfare reform would have done. So now the government is promising the bigger reforms, all of which will be put to the electorate at the 2016 election… With difficult reforms like welfare and tax changes, Tony Abbott could do with some good policies that are also popular with the Liberal base.
Kidnapped Israelis found dead
Andrew Bolt July 01 2014 (9:55am)
Hamas does not accept Israel’s right to exist. It runs Gaza. It controls terrorist units. And now this:
===Israel weighed its options Monday following the discovery of the bodies of three teens kidnapped June 12 in the West Bank, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing, “Hamas will pay.”Israel is the Left’s favourite villain, condemned for measures it takes to defend its civilians and its democracy. Perhaps more Leftists may now contemplate the nature of its enemy and the folly of imagining peace is possible if Israel just trades off some of its security.
The bodies of the youths—including one with U.S. citizenship—were found just north of Hebron.
“They were kidnapped and murdered in cold blood by animals,” Haaretz quoted Netanyahu as saying at a hastily arranged security cabinet meeting. “In the name of the whole of Israel, I ask to tell the dear families - to the mothers, the fathers, the grandmothers and the grandfathers, the brothers and sisters - our hearts are bleeding, the whole nation is crying with them.” The leader’s angry words came hours after the search for Eyal Yifrach, 19; Gilad Shaar, 16; and Naftali Frenkel, also 16, who were snatched while hitchhiking, ended in the West Bank, where Hamas operates.
Denmark orders church to hold same-sex marriages
Andrew Bolt July 01 2014 (9:17am)
The intolerance of the tolerance movement:
(Thanks to reader George of AdelaIde.)
===Denmark’s Parliament last week voted by a large margin to force churches belonging to the state Lutheran Church to conduct same-sex marriage ceremonies inside their sanctuaries. The law goes into effect June 15.Worse:
Under the legislation, individual priests can refuse to carry out the ceremony, but they cannot forbid the ceremony from taking place in their church building.
The new law stipulates that individual priests have the right to refuse to conduct the ceremony but, should that happen, local bishops are charged with finding a replacement.How did conscience and faith become a matter for the state to determine?
(Thanks to reader George of AdelaIde.)
Big Government will clean up afterwards
Andrew Bolt July 01 2014 (9:11am)
Reader Chris F.:
===I was in the audience for Q&A;tonight. I arrived early and got a coffee. When the bell went to go in everyone in the cafe rose to their feet and headed out. As I looked at the sea of paper coffee cups and screwed up napkins which no one made any effort to drop in the supplied bin I thought “what a bunch of dirty pigs”. Of course this also confirmed that the audience was stacked with lefties. Even their rubbish is someone else’s responsibility.
Bodies-in-a-septic-tank myth that Catholic-haters loved
Andrew Bolt July 01 2014 (9:03am)
The ABC reported:
Not discovered.
Not a septic tank.
Not dumped.
===MARK COLVIN: In County Galway, the remains of 800 babies and young children have been discovered dumped inside a disused septic tank.Media Watch now corrects:
That of course was bullshit.Not 800.
Not discovered.
Not a septic tank.
Not dumped.
China’s missing millions went to media agency which worked for Clive Palmer
Andrew Bolt July 01 2014 (8:36am)
Clive Palmer has extremely serious questions to answer about missing money:
A further question - should the claims prove right: is Palmer really so short of money that he needed to do any of this?
UPDATE
Hedley Thomas:
Palmer has been told to release his records or face arrest:
===A BRISBANE media agency involved in Clive Palmer’s federal election campaign received $2.167 million in Chinese government cash allegedly siphoned from an account controlled by the businessman at the time of his record-spending bid to enter parliament.Palmer denies all allegations.
The Australian can reveal that new documents show the agency, Media Circus Network, received the payment with cheque No 2073 drawn on a National Australia Bank account called “Port Palmer Operations’’, just five days before the September 7 election.
Documents obtained from the Supreme Court of Queensland yesterday show that one month earlier, a sum of $10m went to one of Mr Palmer’s companies, Cosmo Developments, after being removed from the same bank account with cheque No 2046. Company searches show Cosmo Developments, which is owned by Mr Palmer’s flagship company Mineralogy, has one director, Mr Palmer’s nephew Clive Mensink.
Both men were yesterday named in subpoenas requiring them to hand over numerous documents as part of Chinese state-owned company Citic Pacific’s quest to determine how and why the $12.167m was withdrawn from an account set up to run an iron ore port in Western Australia.... Under formal contracts and deeds, the NAB account’s funds were only meant to be spent by Mr Palmer’s company on expenses for running the port of Cape Preston, a hub for the export of iron ore from Mineralogy’s West Australian tenements being mined by the Chinese subsidiaries of Citic Pacific. New evidence suggesting that at least $2.167m of the Chinese money was instead directed with out their permission or knowledge is likely to be referred to police fraud squad detectives in Queensland and Western Australia by Citic Pacific.
A further question - should the claims prove right: is Palmer really so short of money that he needed to do any of this?
UPDATE
Hedley Thomas:
DID the People’s Republic of China unknowingly bankroll the Palmer United Party’s balance-of-power-achieving success in the federal election last September?…UPDATE
Given the Chinese antipathy towards Palmer, the dawning knowledge in Beijing that their money appears to have been wrongfully used to pump up the tycoon’s political tyres is going down like a cup of cold congee. But it is a bigger problem for Palmer, who denies any wrongdoing, because the Chinese are likely to ask the police to take it to the next level.
Palmer has been told to release his records or face arrest:
CLIVE Palmer could face arrest unless he fronts a secret arbitration hearing with chequebook stubs that show how he spent $12m that a Chinese company has accused him of taking during last year’s election campaign.
Sino Iron yesterday swamped the Queensland Supreme Court with 15 applications, including a personal subpoena for the federal politician, demanding he produce butts for two cheques numbered 2046 and 2073… The chequebook belongs to Mr Palmer’s parent company, Mineralogy Pty Ltd… Mr Palmer’s subpoena, and others, stated: “Failure to comply with this subpoena without lawful excuse is contempt of Court and may result in your arrest.” It was not clear from Mr Palmer’s redacted subpoena when he was required to appear but the NAB and others were told to front the tribunal on or before July 11.
Newspoll: Labor 10 points ahead
Andrew Bolt July 01 2014 (8:25am)
I had the feeling the Abbott Government was slowly digging itself out of a hole, as the Essential Media poll suggested, too. Newspoll today says I’m wrong:
UPDATE
Phillip Hudson notes one unambiguously good part of the poll figures:
Shorten wins, but Australia loses:
===Labor has a 10-point lead in two-party terms to be ahead 55 to 45 per cent, the same result as in the first poll after the May budget. It marks a 7.5 percentage point swing since the election and the Coalition’s equal worst result in four years.It is time for the Government to reconsider “steady as she goes” as the appropriate strategy. Change is needed, particularly in messaging, and change and penitence will also need to be signalled between now and the end of the year. Young, aggressive talent needs to be introduced into the ministry. Can-do ministers need to be given more to do, and say-little ones need retirement.
Voter dissatisfaction with Tony Abbott has reached the highest level since he became Prime Minister, 62 per cent, and is his worst personal result since November 2012.
UPDATE
Phillip Hudson notes one unambiguously good part of the poll figures:
Palmer’s stunt with Al Gore in Parliament’s Great Hall and boasting about holding the balance of power in the new Senate has done nothing to win votes for his Palmer United Party, despite voters clearly being put off by the major parties. PUP continues to flatline with 2 to 3 per cent national support, although it is higher in Queensland and Western Australia.But Shorten wins when politics is a clown show:
But what the Palmer drama does is make politics look like clowns climbing in and out of increasingly small cars as a distraction from important debates about how we fund the future…UPDATE
Yet Shorten does nothing more than pop up to agree with voters that the budget is rotten without offering any solutions to the mess left by Labor. So far he’s getting away with it, just like Abbott used to when he was leader of the Opposition.
Shorten wins, but Australia loses:
TREASURY chief Martin Parkinson has warned that opposition to the savings measures in the budget risks inflicting long-term damage to Australia’s economic future.(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
Dr Parkinson also declares that Australia’s budget position is not sustainable without major reform and the government’s budget strategy achieves this…
“It is one thing to argue that reform proposals should be designed with fairness in mind,” he said. “But it is quite another to invoke vague notions of fairness to oppose all reform. Using such an argument to defend an unsustainable status quo means consigning Australia to a deteriorating future.” ... Continued increases in income taxes would hit lower and middle-income earners hardest, and have adverse impacts on labour force participation while “sharpening incentives for tax minimisation by the highest income earners.”
Exploding the fake excuses for the “honor killing” speech
Andrew Bolt July 01 2014 (7:50am)
This was the topic:
And, yes, the organisers were indeed prepared to host a discussion arguing for the killing (by the state) of wives and daughters who’d “shamed” their family’s “honor”.
Despicable.
(Thanks to reader David.)
===Then denials were made, excuses given and the audience blamed for having “the wrong impression”:
Event organisers cancelled the planned talk hours after the program was released, by issuing a statement… “It is clear from the public reaction that the title has given the wrong impression of what Mr Badar intended to discuss. Neither Mr Badar, the St James Ethics Centre, nor Sydney Opera House in any way advocates honour killings or condones any form of violence against women."…But these are the facts - Badar did indeed support some “honour killings”, which he linked to Islam. Organiser Simon Longstaff now writes:
Dr Longstaff appeared to back Mr Badar by claiming the gig was cancelled because the speaker was Muslim. “Have not the ‘Islamophobes’ already won the day when a person dare not speak on controversial matters because he is Muslim,” he wrote to one user.
I approached Uthman Badar (of whom I will say more later) and began a discussion about how such a session might be run and eventually how it might be described. My opening email to Uthman Badar set out the issue (as above) and then established the context for the session, where I wrote:So, no, the public did not misunderstand the topic. Yes, Badar indeed planned to argue for “honour killings”.
“...Ideally, we are looking for a speaker who will lay done [sic] the arguments that they believe would justify killing for honour (including killing one’s own children) in the extraordinary circumstances where this might be necessary. It may be that the argument needs to be couched in terms of culture and custom - and that there is not an argument for allowing the practice to be followed in Australia...”Uthman and I then exchanged a number of emails in which he outlined his views. In summary, he does not support vigilante behaviour by families (or anyone). Rather, he believes that the administration of justice should be according to Islamic Law - ideally, within the politico-religious context of an Islamic Caliphate. In such a state (the Caliphate), crimes - and their associated penalties - would be defined and dealt with, not as a matter of “honour,” but as a matter of Law. For example, the crime of adultery would be punished by death - and so on.
Uthman was then proposing to consider how families might respond in conditions where they are denied the “benefit” of living in a Caliphate. Would they be justified in taking Islamic Law into their own hands when no legitimate magistrate can be found to administer this distinct form of “justice”? ... [Badar wrote:]
“End of the day the honour killings discussion is, at its essence, a discussion about different ideological/cultural values and practices - in our case western liberal values and Islamic values.”...I then wrote to Uthman the following email, the intent of which is self-evident:
“I see, Uthman. You would argue that killing for the honour of the family is wrong (as is killing for the honour of country, religion, flag, etc.). However, I take it that if the Law of God prescribes that the penalty of death for an adulterer - then to impose such a penalty is right. Is this a correct understanding of your position? And if so, is such a penalty prescribed under Islamic Law?Uthman responded as follows:
“I ask this, because I do not wish to have you argue a position that is not in accordance with what you believe. Rather, we might be able to open up the discussion about liberalism, etc. by beginning with an alternative dangerous idea - that adulterers should be condemned to death (or some such wording). Would this be a better option - from your point of view?"…
“I’d rather not go with the adultery topic. It’s too narrow. If it’s between this and the original, I’d prefer the honour killings topic. What’s the intended wording here?
”If we go with something like ‘Honour killings are morally justified’ or similar, I’d be okay with that. I could define honour killings in a way where I genuinely argue for the case and at the same time touch on the broader issues.”
And, yes, the organisers were indeed prepared to host a discussion arguing for the killing (by the state) of wives and daughters who’d “shamed” their family’s “honor”.
Despicable.
(Thanks to reader David.)
Preachers of hate
Andrew Bolt July 01 2014 (12:14am)
I suspect you’re now wondering what kind of people run the Socialist Alternative - a movement whose followers physically attacked Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and whose official magazine just put this on its cover:
===This is Mick Armstrong, a Socialist Alternative leader who speaks on behalf of its national executive and addressed the Marxism 2014 conference at Melbourne University:
And this is the magazine’s editor:
Corey Oakely revels in hatred and dreams of violence:
Andrew Bolt described the March in March as “a carnival of brutal, savage, expletive-riddled political hate”.I’ve often said the Left is now the natural home of the totalitarian and the thug. Not to mention the barbarian.
For once in my life I agree with him. And I couldn’t be happier.
I was fortunate enough to be taking photographs for Red Flag along the route of the Melbourne demonstration, and can confirm that many placards and banners ridiculing our dear leader were indeed as flamboyant and acid tongued as various hyperventilating Murdoch writers made out…
There is, of course, more to political struggle than the expression of anger. But a good place to start is identifying with the people who think the best thing that could happen to Tony Abbott is a solid punch in the face.
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- The Original Hero -
His name is Jesus, His name is Lord
He died to save us, He saved the world
He walked on water, He walked on clouds
He healed the sick, He fed the crowds
He raised the dead, and rose to life
He healed the lepers, removed their strife
He drove out demons, He drove out hate
He gave us love and He gave us faith
He is the Saviour, He is the Christ
the One Messiah, His name's no heist
He wore our shoes, and walked on our way
He showed us wonders, and saved the day
He taught us lessons, to understand
that it's by grace and not just by hand
that life and spirit, soul and mind
with truth and love, in God we'd find
He wore a thorn of crowns and wood
but never cursed even though He could
He had nails in His hands, and tears in His eyes
but His tears were for us, whom He'd never despise
He was whipped and spat on, by the people He saved
the same people, for Him, had cheered and waved
He's my own superhero, and even yours too
he Greatest, the First, the Only one true
His name is Jesus. His name is Lord.
He died to save us. He saved the world.
- Jamike Ekennia
===
Pastor Rick Warren
Courage is continuing in spite of the pain.
===To anyone that's ever broken a bone, the negatives of traditional plaster casts are familiar: they're cumbersome, heavy, and can get rather smelly. Victoria University of Wellington graduate Jake Evill is looking to change all that with his Cortex cast. A mere concept for now, Evill says the cast — which is specifically fitted to each wearer based on X-rays of the fractured bone and a 3D scan of its surrounding limb — introduces many benefits. First and foremost, you'd be able to wear a longsleeve shirt over the lightweight, ventilated nylon cast.
The Cortex would be 3D printed on site, according to Evill, and each cast would be most dense near the location of a wearer's fracture. "After many centuries of splints and cumbersome plaster casts that have been the itchy and smelly bane of millions of children, adults and the aged alike, the world over, we at last bring fracture support into the twenty-first century," says Evill. His Cortex cast may still be awkward from a fashion perspective, but it's a marked improvement over where things stand today.
http://www.theverge.com/
===
Not too many of us are aware nowadays, but there was a school of erudite thought in the 1930s that perceived Adolf Hitler as the Third Reich’s man caught in the middle. That broadminded view held that the fuehrer wasn’t the most extreme in the cast of Nazi characters, that it was possible to tame him – that he was pulled in contradictory directions by opposing forces.
The villains, according to this scenario, were Heinrich Himmler and Josef Goebbels who influenced Hitler to adopt ever more rigid positions, while his deputy Hermann Goering encouraged him to opt for a less belligerent stance.
Again, for those unaware, Goering was the egotistical, gluttonous and greedy hedonist who sadistically robbed helpless Jews and thereby amassed a vast personal fortune. Its crowning glory was an extraordinary art collection comprised initially foremost of works plundered from Jews. Goering ordered the registration of all Jewish property and personal belongings to make the pickings easier. Outrageously, the Nazis’ most prolific looter levied incredible fines on Germany’s Jews for damages inflicted upon them during the anti-Jewish rampages of Kristallnacht.
===
... " Rudd is the uncooked sausage at every barbie." - Dallas Beaufort
Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.
Here we see Rudd trying to impress businessmen in Western Sydney.
Lack of eye contact is typical of those who have no empathy towards others typical of those who suffer from Aspbergers syndrome and schizophrenia.
Is Rudd mentally stable to be leading government ? The animosity towards him can be seen by the number of resignations.
This is a serious political crisis.Our nation is being squeezed to the last drop so Rudd can play his little mind games while the rich remain rich but the poor become poorer.
Rudd, a multi millionaire himself whose wife benefitted from Liberal employment policies,is no friend of working Australians.
Nouveau riche pratts never are.
===
I am angry if what has been reported is the final outcome of the inquiry. I understand that the report says that child reporting should not be mandatory. Presumably, this would excuse parliamentarians from shredding legal documents in the case of a child gang rape in a state run detention centre. Rudd should face justice over the issue .. he is Prime Minister, not Prime Monster. - ed
===
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- 1653 – The Westminster Assembly of Divines, assembled to restructure the Church of England, held its first meeting inWestminster Abbey, London.
- 1782 – American Revolutionary War: Five Americanprivateer vessels attacked the British settlement atLunenburg, Nova Scotia.
- 1916 – First World War: The first day of the Battle of Albert, the opening phase of the Battle of the Somme, became the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army, with 57,470 casualties of which 19,240 were killed or died of wounds.
- 1960 – Ghana became a republic with Kwame Nkrumah (pictured) as its first president.
- 2002 – Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 and DHL Flight 611 collided in mid-air over the towns of Owingen and Überlingen in Germany, killing all 71 people aboard both aircraft.
- 69 – Tiberius Julius Alexander orders his Roman legions in Alexandria to swear allegiance to Vespasian as Emperor.
- 552 – Battle of Taginae: Byzantine forces under Narses defeat the Ostrogoths in Italy. During the fighting king Totila is mortally wounded.
- 1097 – Battle of Dorylaeum: Crusaders led by prince Bohemond of Taranto defeat a Seljuk army led by sultan Kilij Arslan I.
- 1431 – The Battle of La Higueruela takes place in Granada, leading to a modest advance of the Kingdom of Castile during the Reconquista.
- 1523 – Johann Esch and Heinrich Voes become the first Lutheran martyrs, burned at the stake by Roman Catholic authorities in Brussels.
- 1569 – Union of Lublin: The Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania confirm a real union; the united country is called the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth or the Republic of Both Nations.
- 1643 – First meeting of the Westminster Assembly, a council of theologians ("divines") and members of the Parliament of Englandappointed to restructure the Church of England, at Westminster Abbey in London.
- 1690 – Glorious Revolution: Battle of the Boyne in Ireland (as reckoned under the Julian calendar).
- 1766 – François-Jean de la Barre, a young French nobleman, is tortured and beheaded before his body is burnt on a pyre along with a copy of Voltaire's Dictionnaire philosophique nailed to his torso for the crime of not saluting a Roman Catholic religious procession in Abbeville, France.
- 1770 – Lexell's Comet passes closer to the Earth than any other comet in recorded history, approaching to a distance of 0.0146 a.u.
- 1782 – Raid on Lunenburg: American privateers attack the British settlement of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.
- 1819 – Johann Georg Tralles discovers the Great Comet of 1819, (C/1819 N1). It was the first comet analyzed using polarimetry, by François Arago.
- 1837 – A system of civil registration of births, marriages and deaths is established in England and Wales.
- 1855 – Signing of the Quinault Treaty: The Quinault and the Quileute cede their land to the United States.
- 1858 – Joint reading of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace's papers on evolution to the Linnean Society of London.
- 1862 – The Russian State Library is founded as the Library of the Moscow Public Museum.
- 1862 – Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, second daughter of Queen Victoria, marries Prince Louis of Hesse, the future Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse.
- 1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Malvern Hill takes place. It is the last of the Seven Days Battles, part of George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign.
- 1863 – Keti Koti (Emancipation Day) in Suriname, marking the abolition of slavery by the Netherlands.
- 1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Gettysburg begins.
- 1867 – The British North America Act of 1867 takes effect as the Constitution of Canada, creating the Canadian Confederation and the federal dominion of Canada; Sir John A. Macdonald is sworn in as the first Prime Minister of Canada. This date is commemorated annually in Canada as Canada Day, a national holiday.
- 1870 – The United States Department of Justice formally comes into existence.
- 1873 – Prince Edward Island joins the Canadian Confederation.
- 1874 – The Sholes and Glidden typewriter, the first commercially successful typewriter, goes on sale.
- 1878 – Canada joins the Universal Postal Union.
- 1879 – Charles Taze Russell publishes the first edition of the religious magazine The Watchtower.
- 1881 – The world's first international telephone call is made between St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada, and Calais, Maine, United States.[1]
- 1881 – General Order 70, the culmination of the Cardwell and Childers reforms of the British Army, comes into effect.
- 1885 – The United States terminates reciprocity and fishery agreement with Canada.
- 1890 – Canada and Bermuda are linked by telegraph cable.
- 1898 – Spanish–American War: The Battle of San Juan Hill is fought in Santiago de Cuba.
- 1903 – Start of first Tour de France bicycle race.
- 1908 – SOS is adopted as the international distress signal.
- 1911 – Germany despatches the gunship SMS Panther to Morocco, sparking the Agadir Crisis.
- 1915 – Leutnant Kurt Wintgens of the then-named German Fliegertruppe air service achieves the first known aerial victory with a synchronized machine-gun armed fighter plane, the Fokker M.5K/MG Eindecker.
- 1916 – World War I: First day on the Somme: On the first day of the Battle of the Somme 19,000 soldiers of the British Army are killed and 40,000 wounded.
- 1916 – The first attack of the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916 occurs.
- 1921 – The Communist Party of China (CPC) is founded.
- 1922 – The Great Railroad Strike of 1922 begins in the United States.
- 1923 – The Canadian Parliament suspends all Chinese immigration.
- 1931 – United Airlines begins service (as Boeing Air Transport).
- 1932 – Australia's national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, was formed.
- 1933 – Wiley Post becomes the first person to fly solo around the world traveling 15,596 miles (25,099 km) in seven days, 18 hours and 45 minutes.
- 1935 – Regina, Saskatchewan police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police ambush strikers participating in the On-to-Ottawa Trek.
- 1942 – World War II: First Battle of El Alamein.
- 1942 – The Australian Federal Government becomes the sole collector of income tax in Australia as State Income Tax is abolished.
- 1943 – Tokyo City merges with Tokyo Prefecture and is dissolved. Since this date, no city in Japan has the name "Tokyo" (present-day Tokyo is not officially a city).
- 1947 – The Philippine Air Force is established.
- 1948 – Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Quaid-i-Azam) inaugurates Pakistan's central bank, the State Bank of Pakistan.
- 1949 – The merger of two princely states of India, Cochin and Travancore, into the state of Thiru-Kochi (later re-organized as Kerala) in the Indian Union ends more than 1,000 years of princely rule by the Cochin royal family.
- 1957 – The International Geophysical Year begins.
- 1958 – The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation links television broadcasting across Canada via microwave.
- 1958 – Flooding of Canada's Saint Lawrence Seaway begins.
- 1959 – The Party of the African Federation holds its constitutive conference.
- 1959 – Specific values for the international yard, avoirdupois pound and derived units (e.g. inch, mile and ounce) are adopted after agreement between the U.S.A., the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries.
- 1960 – Independence of Somalia.
- 1960 – Ghana becomes a republic and Kwame Nkrumah becomes its first President as Queen Elizabeth II ceases to be its head of state.
- 1962 – Independence of Rwanda and Burundi.
- 1963 – ZIP codes are introduced for United States mail.
- 1963 – The British Government admits that former diplomat Kim Philby had worked as a Soviet agent.
- 1966 – The first color television transmission in Canada takes place from Toronto.
- 1967 – The European Community is formally created out of a merger with the Common Market, the European Coal and Steel Community, and the European Atomic Energy Commission.
- 1968 – The United States Central Intelligence Agency's Phoenix Program is officially established.
- 1968 – The Nuclear non-proliferation treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., London and Moscow by sixty-two countries.
- 1968 – Formal separation of the United Auto Workers from the AFL–CIO in the United States.
- 1970 – President General Yahya Khan abolishes One-Unit of West Pakistan restoring the provinces.
- 1972 – The first Gay pride march in England takes place.
- 1976 – Portugal grants autonomy to Madeira.
- 1978 – The Northern Territory in Australia is granted self-government.
- 1979 – Sony introduces the Walkman.
- 1980 – "O Canada" officially becomes the national anthem of Canada.
- 1981 – The Wonderland murders occur in the early morning hours in Los Angeles, allegedly masterminded by businessman and drug dealer Eddie Nash.
- 1983 – A North Korean Ilyushin Il-62M jet en route to Conakry Airport in Guinea crashes into the Fouta Djallon mountains in Guinea-Bissau, killing all 23 people on board.
- 1984 – The PG-13 rating is introduced by the MPAA.
- 1987 – The American radio station WFAN in New York City is launched as the world's first all-sports radio station.
- 1990 – German reunification: East Germany accepts the Deutsche Mark as its currency, thus uniting the economies of East and West Germany.
- 1991 – The Warsaw Pact is officially dissolved at a meeting in Prague.
- 1997 – China resumes sovereignty over the city-state of Hong Kong, ending 156 years of British colonial rule.
- 1999 – The Scottish Parliament is officially opened by Elizabeth II on the day that legislative powers are officially transferred from the old Scottish Office in London to the new devolved Scottish Executive in Edinburgh.
- 2002 – The International Criminal Court is established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
- 2002 – Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 and a DHL (German cargo) Boeing 757 collide in mid-air over Überlingen, southern Germany, killing all 71 on board.
- 2003 – Over 500,000 people protest against efforts to pass anti-sedition legislation in Hong Kong.
- 2004 – Saturn orbit insertion of Cassini–Huygens begins at 01:12 UTC and ends at 02:48 UTC.
- 2006 – The first operation of Qinghai–Tibet Railway in China.
- 2007 – The Concert for Diana is held at the new Wembley Stadium in London and broadcast in 140 countries.
- 2007 – Smoking in England is banned in all public indoor spaces.
- 2008 – Rioting erupts in Mongolia in response to allegations of fraud surrounding the 2008 legislative elections.
- 2013 – Croatia becomes the 28th member of the European Union.
- 2013 – The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) begins its operative peacekeeping mandate in Mali.
- 2013 – Neptune's moon S/2004 N 1 is discovered.
- 2015 – Militants launch attacks on Egyptian Armed Forces checkpoints in North Sinai, leaving dozens of security personnel and insurgents killed.
- 1481 – Christian II of Denmark (d. 1559)
- 1506 – Louis II of Hungary (d. 1526)
- 1534 – Frederick II of Denmark (d. 1588)
- 1574 – Joseph Hall, English bishop and mystic (d. 1656)
- 1586 – Claudio Saracini, Italian lute player and composer (d. 1630)
- 1633 – Johann Heinrich Heidegger, Swiss theologian and author (d. 1698)
- 1646 – Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, German mathematician and philosopher (d. 1716)
- 1663 – Franz Xaver Murschhauser, German composer and theorist (d. 1738)
- 1723 – Pedro Rodríguez, Count of Campomanes, Spanish politician, adviser to the king (d. 1802)
- 1725 – Rhoda Delaval, English painter (d. 1757)
- 1725 – Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, French general (d. 1807)
- 1731 – Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan Scottish-English admiral (d. 1804)
- 1742 – Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, German physicist and academic (d. 1799)
- 1771 – Ferdinando Paer, Italian composer and conductor (d. 1839)
- 1788 – Jean-Victor Poncelet, French mathematician and engineer (d. 1867)
- 1804 – Charles Gordon Greene, American journalist and politician (d. 1886)
- 1804 – George Sand, French author and playwright (d. 1876)
- 1807 – Thomas Green Clemson, American politician and educator, founded Clemson University (d. 1888)
- 1818 – Ignaz Semmelweis, Hungarian-Austrian physician and obstetrician (d. 1865)
- 1818 – Karl von Vierordt, German physician, psychologist, and academic (d. 1884)
- 1822 – Nguyễn Đình Chiểu, Vietnamese poet and activist (d. 1888)
- 1834 – Jadwiga Łuszczewska, Polish poet and author (d. 1908)
- 1838 – William Paine Lord, American lawyer and politician, 9th Governor of Oregon (d. 1911)
- 1858 – Willard Metcalf, American painter (d. 1925)
- 1863 – William Grant Stairs, Canadian-English captain and explorer (d. 1892)
- 1869 – William Strunk Jr., American author and educator (d. 1946)
- 1872 – Louis Blériot, French pilot and engineer (d. 1936)
- 1872 – William Duddell, English physicist and engineer (d. 1917)
- 1873 – Alice Guy-Blaché, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1968)
- 1873 – Andrass Samuelsen, Faroese politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (d. 1954)
- 1878 – Jacques Rosenbaum, Estonian-German architect (d. 1944)
- 1879 – Léon Jouhaux, French union leader, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1954)
- 1881 – Edward Battersby Bailey, English geologist (d. 1965)
- 1882 – Bidhan Chandra Roy, Indian physician and politician, 2nd Chief Minister of West Bengal (d. 1962)
- 1883 – Arthur Borton, English colonel, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1933)
- 1885 – Dorothea Mackellar, Australian author and poet (d. 1968)
- 1886 – Gabrielle Robinne, French actress (d. 1980)
- 1887 – Amber Reeves, New Zealand-English author and scholar (d. 1981)
- 1892 – James M. Cain, American author and journalist (d. 1977)
- 1892 – László Lajtha, Hungarian composer and conductor (d. 1963)
- 1899 – Thomas A. Dorsey, American pianist and composer (d. 1993)
- 1899 – Charles Laughton, English-American actor and director (d. 1962)
- 1899 – Konstantinos Tsatsos, Greek scholar and politician, President of Greece (d. 1987)
- 1901 – Irna Phillips, American actress and screenwriter (d. 1973)
- 1902 – William Wyler, French-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1981)
- 1903 – Amy Johnson, English pilot (d. 1941)
- 1903 – Beatrix Lehmann, English actress, director, and author (d. 1979)
- 1906 – Jean Dieudonné, French mathematician and academic (d. 1992)
- 1906 – Estée Lauder, American businesswoman, co-founded the Estée Lauder Companies (d. 2004)
- 1907 – Norman Pirie, Scottish-English biochemist and virologist (d. 1997)
- 1907 – Bill Stern, American actor and sportscaster (d. 1971)
- 1908 – Peter Anders, German tenor and actor (d. 1954)
- 1909 – Emmett Toppino, American sprinter (d. 1971)
- 1910 – Glenn Hardin, American hurdler (d. 1975)
- 1911 – Arnold Alas, Estonian landscape architect and artist (d. 1990)
- 1911 – Sergey Sokolov, Russian marshal and politician, Soviet Minister of Defence (d. 2012)
- 1912 – David Brower, American environmentalist, founded Sierra Club Foundation (d. 2000)
- 1912 – Sally Kirkland, American journalist (d. 1989)
- 1913 – Frank Barrett, American baseball player (d. 1998)
- 1913 – Vasantrao Naik, Indian politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Maharashtra (d. 1979)
- 1914 – P. Kandiah, Ceylonese academic and politician (d. 1960)
- 1915 – Willie Dixon, American singer-songwriter, bass player, guitarist, and producer (d. 1992)
- 1915 – Joseph Ransohoff, American soldier and neurosurgeon (d. 2001)
- 1915 – Jean Stafford, American author and academic (d. 1979)
- 1915 – Nguyễn Văn Linh, Vietnamese politician (d. 1998)
- 1916 – Olivia de Havilland, British-American actress
- 1916 – Iosif Shklovsky, Ukrainian astronomer and astrophysicist (d. 1985)
- 1916 – George C. Stoney, American director and producer (d. 2012)
- 1917 – Humphry Osmond, English-American lieutenant and psychiatrist (d. 2004)
- 1919 – Arnold Meri, Estonian colonel (d. 2009)
- 1920 – Henri Amouroux, French historian and journalist (d. 2007)
- 1920 – Harold Sakata, Japanese-American wrestler and actor (d. 1982)
- 1921 – Seretse Khama, Batswana lawyer and politician, 1st President of Botswana (d. 1980)
- 1921 – Michalina Wisłocka, Polish gynecologist and sexologist (d. 2005)
- 1922 – Toshi Seeger, German-American activist, co-founded the Clearwater Festival (d. 2013)
- 1924 – Antoni Ramallets, Spanish footballer and manager (d. 2013)
- 1924 – Florence Stanley, American actress and director (d. 2003)
- 1925 – Farley Granger, American actor (d. 2011)
- 1926 – Robert Fogel, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
- 1926 – Carl Hahn, German businessman
- 1926 – Hans Werner Henze, German composer and educator (d. 2012)
- 1927 – Alan J. Charig, English paleontologist and author (d. 1997)
- 1928 – Bobby Day, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (The Hollywood Flames and Bob & Earl) (d. 1990)
- 1929 – Gerald Edelman, American biologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2014)
- 1930 – Moustapha Akkad, Syrian-American director and producer (d. 2005)
- 1930 – Carol Chomsky, American linguist and academic (d. 2008)
- 1931 – Leslie Caron, French-American actress and dancer
- 1932 – Ze'ev Schiff, French-Israeli journalist and author (d. 2007)
- 1933 – C. Scott Littleton, American anthropologist and academic (d. 2010)
- 1934 – Claude Berri, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2009)
- 1934 – Jamie Farr, American actor and screenwriter
- 1934 – Jean Marsh, English actress and screenwriter
- 1934 – Sydney Pollack, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2008)
- 1935 – James Cotton, American singer-songwriter and harmonica player
- 1935 – David Prowse, English bodybuilder and actor
- 1936 – Syl Johnson, American singer, guitarist, and producer
- 1938 – Craig Anderson, American baseball player and coach
- 1938 – Hariprasad Chaurasia, Indian flute player and composer
- 1939 – Karen Black, American actress, singer, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
- 1939 – Delaney Bramlett, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Delaney & Bonnie) (d. 2008)
- 1940 – Craig Brown, Scottish footballer and manager
- 1940 – Ela Gandhi, South African activist and politician
- 1940 – Cahit Zarifoğlu, Turkish poet and author (d. 1987)
- 1941 – Rod Gilbert, Canadian-American ice hockey player
- 1941 – Alfred G. Gilman, American pharmacologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2015)
- 1941 – Myron Scholes, Canadian-American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1941 – Twyla Tharp, American dancer and choreographer
- 1942 – Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, Iraqi field marshal and politician (d. 2015)
- 1942 – Geneviève Bujold, Canadian actress
- 1942 – Andraé Crouch, American singer-songwriter, producer, and pastor (d. 2015)
- 1942 – Julia Higgins, English chemist and academic
- 1943 – Philip Brunelle, American conductor and organist
- 1943 – Peeter Lepp, Estonian politician, 37th Mayor of Tallinn
- 1943 – Jeff Wayne, American pianist and composer
- 1944 – Lew Rockwell, American author and activist
- 1945 – Mike Burstyn, American actor and singer
- 1945 – Debbie Harry, American singer-songwriter and actress (Blondie and The Wind in the Willows)
- 1946 – Mick Aston, English archaeologist and academic (d. 2013)
- 1946 – Erkki Tuomioja, Finnish sergeant and politician, Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs
- 1947 – Kazuyoshi Hoshino, Japanese race car driver
- 1947 – Malcolm Wicks, English academic and politician (d. 2012)
- 1948 – John Ford, English-American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Strawbs, The Monks, and Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera)
- 1949 – Néjia Ben Mabrouk, Tunisian-Belgian director and screenwriter
- 1949 – John Farnham, English-Australian singer-songwriter (Little River Band)
- 1949 – David Hogan, American composer and educator (d. 1996)
- 1949 – Venkaiah Naidu, Indian lawyer and politician
- 1950 – David Duke, American activist, author, and politician
- 1951 – Trevor Eve, English actor and producer
- 1951 – Anne Feeney, American singer-songwriter and activist
- 1951 – Julia Goodfellow, English physicist and academic
- 1951 – Klaus-Peter Justus, German runner
- 1951 – Tom Kozelko, American basketball player
- 1951 – Terrence Mann, American actor, singer, and dancer
- 1951 – Fred Schneider, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player (The B-52's and The Superions)
- 1951 – Victor Willis, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actor (Village People)
- 1952 – Dan Aykroyd, Canadian actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1952 – David Lane, English oncologist and academic
- 1952 – Steve Shutt, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
- 1952 – Timothy J. Tobias, American pianist and composer (d. 2006)
- 1953 – Lawrence Gonzi, Maltese lawyer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Malta
- 1953 – Jadranka Kosor, Croatian journalist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Croatia
- 1954 – Keith Whitley, American singer and guitarist (d. 1989)
- 1955 – Nikolai Demidenko, Russian pianist and educator
- 1955 – Li Keqiang, Chinese economist and politician, 7th Premier of the People's Republic of China
- 1955 – Lisa Scottoline, American lawyer and author
- 1957 – Lisa Blount, American actress and producer (d. 2010)
- 1957 – Hannu Kamppuri, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1957 – Sean O'Driscoll, English footballer and manager
- 1958 – Jack Dyer Crouch, II, American diplomat, United States Deputy National Security Advisor
- 1960 – Michael Beattie, Australian rugby player and coach
- 1960 – Lynn Jennings, American runner
- 1960 – Kevin Swords, American rugby player
- 1961 – Malcolm Elliott, English cyclist
- 1961 – Carl Lewis, American long jumper and runner
- 1961 – Diana, Princess of Wales (d. 1997)
- 1961 – Michelle Wright, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1962 – Andre Braugher, American actor and producer
- 1963 – Roddy Bottum, American singer and keyboard player (Faith No More and Imperial Teen)
- 1963 – Nick Giannopoulos, Australian actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1963 – David Wood, American lawyer and environmentalist (d. 2006)
- 1964 – Bernard Laporte, French rugby player and coach
- 1965 – Carl Fogarty, English motorcycle racer
- 1965 – Garry Schofield, English rugby player and coach
- 1965 – Harald Zwart, Norwegian director and producer
- 1966 – Enrico Annoni, Italian footballer and coach
- 1966 – Shawn Burr, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 2013)
- 1967 – Pamela Anderson, Canadian-American model and actress
- 1967 – Sansan Chien, Taiwanese composer and academic (d. 2011)
- 1967 – Marisa Monte, Brazilian singer-songwriter (Tribalistas)
- 1968 – Jordi Mollà, Spanish actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1969 – Séamus Egan, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist (Solas)
- 1971 – Missy Elliott, American rapper, producer, dancer, and actress
- 1971 – Julianne Nicholson, American actress
- 1971 – Jamie Walker, American baseball player
- 1972 – Sunshine Becker, American singer (Furthur)
- 1972 – Claire Forlani, English actress
- 1972 – Alex Machacek, Austrian guitarist (BPM and CAB)
- 1972 – Steffi Nerius, German javelin thrower
- 1974 – Jefferson Pérez, Ecuadorian race walker
- 1975 – Sean Colson, American basketball player and coach
- 1975 – Sufjan Stevens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Danielson and Marzuki)
- 1976 – Plies, American rapper
- 1976 – Patrick Kluivert, Dutch footballer and coach
- 1976 – Justin Lo, American-Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actor
- 1976 – Thomas Sadoski, American actor
- 1976 – Hannu Tihinen, Finnish footballer
- 1976 – Ruud van Nistelrooy, Dutch footballer and manager
- 1976 – Szymon Ziółkowski, Polish hammer thrower
- 1977 – Tom Frager, Senegalese-French singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1977 – Keigo Hayashi, Japanese musician
- 1977 – Jarome Iginla, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1977 – Greg Pattillo, American flute player (Project Trio)
- 1977 – Liv Tyler, American model and actress
- 1979 – Forrest Griffin, American mixed martial artist and actor
- 1980 – Patrick Aufiero, American ice hockey player
- 1980 – Nelson Cruz, Dominican baseball player
- 1981 – Carlo Del Fava, South African-Italian rugby player
- 1981 – Tadhg Kennelly, Irish-Australian footballer
- 1982 – Hilarie Burton, American actress
- 1982 – Carmella DeCesare, American model and wrestler
- 1982 – Justin Huber, Australian baseball player
- 1982 – Joachim Johansson, Swedish tennis player
- 1982 – Adrian Ward, American football player
- 1983 – Marit Larsen, Norwegian singer-songwriter and keyboard player (M2M)
- 1983 – Leeteuk, South Korean singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor (Super Junior, Super Junior-T, and Super Junior-H)
- 1984 – Morgane Dubled, French model
- 1984 – Donald Thomas, Bahamian high jumper
- 1985 – Chris Perez, American baseball player
- 1986 – Andrew Lee, Australian footballer
- 1986 – Julian Prochnow, German footballer
- 1987 – Emily Glenister, English actress
- 1987 – Michael Schrader, German decathlete
- 1988 – Dedé, Brazilian footballer
- 1989 – Kent Bazemore, American basketball player
- 1989 – Mitch Hewer, English actor, singer, and dancer
- 1989 – Leah McFall, Northern Irish singer-songwriter
- 1989 – Daniel Ricciardo, Australian race car driver
- 1990 – Young B., American rapper
- 1990 – Ben Coker, English footballer
- 1990 – Natsuki Sato, Japanese singer and actress (AKB48)
- 1991 – Serenay Sarıkaya, Turkish model and actress, Miss Turkey 2010
- 1991 – Michael Wacha, American baseball player
- 1992 – Aaron Sanchez, American baseball player
- 1995 – Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo, Belgium footballer
- 1996 – Adelina Sotnikova, Russian figure skater
- 1998 – Aleksandra Golovkina, Lithuanian figure skater
Births[edit]
- 552 – Totila, Ostrogoth king
- 1109 – Alfonso VI of León and Castile (b. 1040)
- 1242 – Chagatai Khan, Mongol ruler (b. 1183)
- 1277 – Baibars, Egyptian sultan (b. 1223)
- 1555 – John Bradford, English Reformer, prebendary of St. Paul's, and martyr (b. 1510)
- 1589 – Lady Saigō, Japanese wife of Tokugawa Ieyasu (b. 1552)
- 1592 – Marc'Antonio Ingegneri, Italian composer and educator (b. 1535)
- 1614 – Isaac Casaubon, French philologist and scholar (b. 1559)
- 1622 – William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, English politician (b. 1575)
- 1681 – Oliver Plunkett, Irish archbishop and saint (b. 1629)
- 1736 – Ahmed III, Ottoman sultan (b. 1673)
- 1774 – Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (b. 1705)
- 1782 – Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, English admiral and politician, Prime Minister of Great Britain (b. 1730)
- 1784 – Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, German organist and composer (b. 1710)
- 1787 – Charles, Prince of Soubise (b. 1715)
- 1819 – Jemima Wilkinson, American evangelist (b. 1752)
- 1839 – Mahmud II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1785)
- 1860 – Charles Goodyear, American chemist and engineer (b. 1800)
- 1863 – John F. Reynolds, American general (b. 1820)
- 1884 – Allan Pinkerton, Scottish-American detective and spy (b. 1819)
- 1896 – Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author and activist (b. 1811)
- 1905 – John Hay, American journalist and politician, 37th United States Secretary of State (b. 1838)
- 1912 – Harriet Quimby, American pilot and screenwriter (b. 1875)
- 1925 – Erik Satie, French pianist and composer (b. 1866)
- 1943 – Willem Arondeus, Dutch artist, author, and anti-Nazi resistance fighter (b. 1894)
- 1943 – Peadar Toner Mac Fhionnlaoich,
- 1944 – Carl Mayer, Austrian-English screenwriter (b. 1894)
- 1944 – Tanya Savicheva, Russian author (b. 1930)
- 1948 – Achille Varzi, Italian race car driver (b. 1904)
- 1950 – Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, Swiss composer and educator (b. 1865)
- 1950 – Eliel Saarinen, Finnish-American architect, co-designed the National Museum of Finland (b. 1873)
- 1951 – Tadeusz Borowski, Polish poet, novelist and journalist (b. 1922)
- 1961 – Louis-Ferdinand Céline, French physician and author (b. 1894)
- 1962 – Purushottam Das Tandon, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1882)
- 1962 – Bidhan Chandra Roy, Indian physician and politician, 2nd Chief Minister of West Bengal (b. 1882)
- 1964 – Pierre Monteux, French-American viola player and conductor (b. 1875)
- 1965 – Wally Hammond, English cricketer (b. 1903)
- 1965 – Robert Ruark, American journalist and author (b. 1915)
- 1966 – Frank Verner, American runner (b. 1883)
- 1967 – Gerhard Ritter, German historian and academic (b. 1888)
- 1968 – Fritz Bauer, German judge and politician (b. 1903)
- 1971 – William Lawrence Bragg, Australian-English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1890)
- 1971 – Learie Constantine, Trinidadian-English cricketer, lawyer, and politician (b. 1901)
- 1974 – Juan Perón, Argentinian general and politician, President of Argentina (b. 1895)
- 1976 – Anneliese Michel, German woman believed to be possessed by demons (b. 1952)
- 1978 – Kurt Student, German general and pilot (b. 1890)
- 1981 – Carlos de Oliveira, Portuguese author and poet (b. 1921)
- 1981 – Rushton Moreve, American bass player and songwriter (Steppenwolf) (b. 1948)
- 1983 – Buckminster Fuller, American architect, designed the Montreal Biosphère (b. 1895)
- 1984 – Moshé Feldenkrais, Ukrainian-Israeli physicist and academic (b. 1904)
- 1987 – Snakefinger, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Residents and Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers) (b. 1949)
- 1991 – Michael Landon, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1936)
- 1992 – Franco Cristaldi, Italian screenwriter and producer (b. 1924)
- 1994 – Merriam Modell, American author (b. 1908)
- 1995 – Wolfman Jack, American radio host (b. 1938)
- 1995 – Ian Parkin, English guitarist (Be-Bop Deluxe) (b. 1950)
- 1996 – William T. Cahill, American lawyer and politician, 46th Governor of New Jersey (b. 1904)
- 1996 – Margaux Hemingway, American model and actress (b. 1954)
- 1996 – Steve Tesich, Serbian-American author and screenwriter (b. 1942)
- 1997 – Robert Mitchum, American actor (b. 1917)
- 1997 – Charles Werner, American cartoonist (b. 1909)
- 1999 – Edward Dmytryk, Canadian-American director and producer (b. 1908)
- 1999 – Forrest Mars Sr., American businessman, created M&M's and the Mars bar (b. 1904)
- 1999 – Guy Mitchell, American singer and actor (b. 1927)
- 1999 – Sylvia Sidney, American actress (b. 1910)
- 2000 – Walter Matthau, American actor and singer (b. 1920)
- 2001 – Nikolay Basov, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1922)
- 2001 – Jean-Louis Rosier, French race car driver (b. 1925)
- 2003 – Herbie Mann, American flute player and saxophonist (b. 1930)
- 2003 – Wesley Mouzon, American boxer (b. 1927)
- 2003 – Nǃxau ǂToma, Namibian farmer and actor (b. 1944)
- 2004 – Peter Barnes, English playwright and screenwriter (b. 1931)
- 2004 – Marlon Brando, American actor and director (b. 1924)
- 2004 – Todor Skalovski, Macedonian composer and conductor (b. 1909)
- 2005 – Renaldo Benson, American singer-songwriter (Four Tops) (b. 1936)
- 2005 – Gus Bodnar, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1923)
- 2005 – Luther Vandross, American singer-songwriter and producer (Change) (b. 1951)
- 2006 – Ryutaro Hashimoto, Japanese politician, 53rd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1937)
- 2006 – Robert Lepikson, Estonian race car driver and politician, Estonian Minister of the Interior (b. 1952)
- 2006 – Fred Trueman, English cricketer and sportscaster (b. 1931)
- 2008 – Mel Galley, English guitarist (Whitesnake, Trapeze, Finders Keepers, and Phenomena) (b. 1948)
- 2009 – Alexis Argüello, Nicaraguan boxer and politician (b. 1952)
- 2009 – Karl Malden, American actor (b. 1912)
- 2009 – Onni Palaste, Finnish soldier and author (b. 1917)
- 2009 – Mollie Sugden, English actress (b. 1922)
- 2010 – Don Coryell, American football player and coach (b. 1924)
- 2010 – Arnold Friberg, American painter and illustrator (b. 1913)
- 2010 – Geoffrey Hutchings, English actor (b. 1939)
- 2010 – Ilene Woods, American actress and singer (b. 1929)
- 2011 – Leslie Brooks, American actress and singer (b. 1922)
- 2012 – Peter E. Gillquist, American priest and author (b. 1938)
- 2012 – Ossie Hibbert, Jamaican-American keyboard player and producer (The Aggrovators and The Revolutionaries) (b. 1950)
- 2012 – Evelyn Lear, American operatic soprano (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Alan G. Poindexter, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1961)
- 2012 – Jack Richardson, American author and playwright (b. 1934)
- 2013 – Sidney Bryan Berry, American general (b. 1926)
- 2013 – Charles Foley, American game designer, co-created Twister (b. 1930)
- 2013 – William H. Gray, American minister and politician (b. 1941)
- 2013 – Paul Jenkins, American actor (b. 1938)
- 2013 – Gary Shearston, Australian singer-songwriter (b. 1939)
- 2013 – Maureen Waaka, New Zealand model and politician, Miss New Zealand 1962 (b. 1943)
- 2014 – Jean Garon, Canadian economist, lawyer, and politician (b. 1938)
- 2014 – Stephen Gaskin, American activist, co-founded The Farm (b. 1935)
- 2014 – Bob Jones, English lawyer and politician (b. 1955)
- 2014 – Anatoly Kornukov, Ukrainian-Russian general (b. 1942)
- 2014 – Walter Dean Myers, American author and poet (b. 1937)
- 2015 – Val Doonican, Irish singer and television host (b. 1927)
- 2015 – Czesław Olech, Polish mathematician and academic (b. 1931)
- 2015 – Nicholas Winton, English lieutenant and humanitarian (b. 1909)
Holidays and observances[edit]
- Christian feast day:
- Aaron (Syriac Christianity)
- Blessed Antonio Rosmini-Serbati
- St. Junípero Serra
- Julius and Aaron
- Leontius of Autun
- Servanus
- July 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Feast of the Most Precious Blood (removed from official Roman Catholic calendar since 1969)
- Earliest day on which CARICOM Day can fall, while July 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in July. (Guyana)
- Earliest day on which Constitution Day can fall, while July 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in July. (Cayman Islands)
- Earliest day on which Heroes' Day can fall, while July 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in July. (Zambia)
- Earliest day on which St Pauls Carnival can fall, while July 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Saturday in July. (Bristol)
- Earliest day on which Youth Day can fall, while July 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday in July. (Singapore)
- Armed Forces Day (Singapore)
- Canada Day, formerly Dominion Day (Canada)
- Children's Day (Pakistan)
- Communist Party of China Founding Day (China)
- Day of Officials and Civil Servants (Hungary)
- Doctors' Day (India)
- Emancipation Day (Netherlands Antilles)
- Engineer's Day (Bahrain, Mexico)
- Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day (Hong Kong)
- Independence Day (Burundi), celebrates the independence of Burundi from Belgium in 1962.
- Independence Day (Rwanda)
- Independence Day (Somalia)
- International Tartan Day
- July Morning tradition (Bulgaria)
- Keti Koti (Emancipation Day) (Suriname)
- Madeira Day (Madeira)
- Moving Day (Quebec)
- Newfoundland and Labrador Memorial Day
- Republic Day (Ghana)
- Sir Seretse Khama Day (Botswana)
- Territory Day (British Virgin Islands)
- The first day of Van Mahotsav, celebrated until July 7. (India)
“The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name.” Zechariah 14:9 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
Behold the superlative liberality of the Lord Jesus, for he hath given us his all. Although a tithe of his possessions would have made a universe of angels rich beyond all thought, yet was he not content until he had given us all that he had. It would have been surprising grace if he had allowed us to eat the crumbs of his bounty beneath the table of his mercy; but he will do nothing by halves, he makes us sit with him and share the feast. Had he given us some small pension from his royal coffers, we should have had cause to love him eternally; but no, he will have his bride as rich as himself, and he will not have a glory or a grace in which she shall not share. He has not been content with less than making us joint-heirs with himself, so that we might have equal possessions. He has emptied all his estate into the coffers of the Church, and hath all things common with his redeemed. There is not one room in his house the key of which he will withhold from his people. He gives them full liberty to take all that he hath to be their own; he loves them to make free with his treasure, and appropriate as much as they can possibly carry. The boundless fulness of his all-sufficiency is as free to the believer as the air he breathes. Christ hath put the flagon of his love and grace to the believer's lip, and bidden him drink on forever; for could he drain it, he is welcome to do so, and as he cannot exhaust it, he is bidden to drink abundantly, for it is all his own. What truer proof of fellowship can heaven or earth afford?
"When I stand before the throne
Dressed in beauty not my own;
When I see thee as thou art,
Love thee with unsinning heart;
Then, Lord, shall I fully know--
Not till then--how much I owe."
Evening
"Ah Lord God, behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee."
Jeremiah 32:17
Jeremiah 32:17
At the very time when the Chaldeans surrounded Jerusalem, and when the sword, famine and pestilence had desolated the land, Jeremiah was commanded by God to purchase a field, and have the deed of transfer legally sealed and witnessed. This was a strange purchase for a rational man to make. Prudence could not justify it, for it was buying with scarcely a probability that the person purchasing could ever enjoy the possession. But it was enough for Jeremiah that his God had bidden him, for well he knew that God will be justified of all his children. He reasoned thus: "Ah, Lord God! thou canst make this plot of ground of use to me; thou canst rid this land of these oppressors; thou canst make me yet sit under my vine and my fig-tree in the heritage which I have bought; for thou didst make the heavens and the earth, and there is nothing too hard for thee." This gave a majesty to the early saints, that they dared to do at God's command things which carnal reason would condemn. Whether it be a Noah who is to build a ship on dry land, an Abraham who is to offer up his only son, or a Moses who is to despise the treasures of Egypt, or a Joshua who is to besiege Jericho seven days, using no weapons but the blasts of rams' horns, they all act upon God's command, contrary to the dictates of carnal reason; and the Lord gives them a rich reward as the result of their obedient faith. Would to God we had in the religion of these modern times a more potent infusion of this heroic faith in God. If we would venture more upon the naked promise of God, we should enter a world of wonders to which as yet we are strangers. Let Jeremiah's place of confidence be ours--nothing is too hard for the God that created the heavens and the earth.
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Tobiah, Tobijah
[Tōbī'ah,Tōbī'jah] - jehovah is good.
[Tōbī'ah,Tōbī'jah] - jehovah is good.
- A Levite sent by Jehoshaphat to instruct the people of Judah (2 Chron. 17:8).
- A founder of a tribal family the descendants of which returned from exile but were unable to trace their genealogy (Ezra 2:60; Neh. 7:62).
- An Ammonite who with Sanballat and others ridiculed the efforts of the Jews to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem (Neh. 2:10; 4:3, 7). This enemy of Nehemiah and of the Jews was silenced by the diligence of the people.
- A chief man whose posterity returned from exile (Zech. 6:10, 14). He it was who obtained the gold and silver for Joshua's crown.
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Today's reading: Job 17-19, Acts 10:1-23 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Job 17-19
1 My spirit is broken,
my days are cut short,
the grave awaits me.
2 Surely mockers surround me;
my eyes must dwell on their hostility.
my days are cut short,
the grave awaits me.
2 Surely mockers surround me;
my eyes must dwell on their hostility.
3 "Give me, O God, the pledge you demand.
Who else will put up security for me?
4 You have closed their minds to understanding;
therefore you will not let them triumph.
5 If anyone denounces their friends for reward,
the eyes of their children will fail.
Who else will put up security for me?
4 You have closed their minds to understanding;
therefore you will not let them triumph.
5 If anyone denounces their friends for reward,
the eyes of their children will fail.
Today's New Testament reading: Acts 10:1-23
Cornelius Calls for Peter
1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2 He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. 3 One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, "Cornelius!"
4 Cornelius stared at him in fear. "What is it, Lord?" he asked.
The angel answered, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea."
7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. 8 He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa....
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