His names are known throughout history. Ozymandias, or Ramesses II was the greatest Pharaoh, ruling an estimated 66 years. He came to power in 1279 BC, on this day. His kingdom had been beset from North and South, but by the end, he had a hundred thousand warriors to do his bidding, and feared no one. Also on this day in 455, an over indulged Roman Emperor was stoned to death by his people while fleeing Rome. Petronius Maximus had been given great honours at a young age. In a drunken gamble with the previous Emperor, Valentinian III, Maximus had lost and given the Emperor a ring as surety. Valentinian used the ring to seduce Maximus' wife and so Maximus did the manly thing and joined with a eunuch to poison the Emperor's mind against a stalwart of the Emperor. Then he convinced friends of the dead stalwart that the emperor was responsible for the death of their friend. He then married the late emperor's widow. It all had gone so well, until he upset the Vandal king who decided to lay waste to Rome. News of the impending invasion panicked the population and two weeks before Rome fell, Maximus was stoned to death.
In 1669, claiming he was getting bad eyesight, Samuel Pepys recorded the last event in his diary. He lived well for another thirty three years, but was very busy with affairs of state. His diary is a million word account over a decade of events in London. It was published some a hundred and fifty years later. In 1813, Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth crossed the blue mountains from Sydney. Trains are much better now.
One of the largest naval battles of all time happened on this day in 1916. The German Navy squared off against the UK at the Battle of Jutland. It was indecisive. Some 44 Battleships (28 UK), out of 250 ships in total, 151 for the UK. UK lost more, including 3 battle cruisers of 14 ships, to Germany's 1 Battle cruiser of 11 ships. UK lost over six thousand sailors lives. But UK still ruled the waves, and Germany failed to break the blockade. In 2010, Turkey encouraged a terrorist organisation, IHH, to attempt to break an Israeli blockade of Gaza. Israel's sole interest was to prevent weapons being sent to terrorists in Gaza. IHH seemed to want to send weapons there. IHH claimed the ship carried only medical supplies, but Israel had not blockaded, but facilitated the delivery of humanitarian goods. Israel sent a commando unit to prevent gun running. Some of the humanitarian IHH armed themselves and fought against the commandos. The blockade held. Later, Egypt would also blockade Palestinian terrorists and the protests ceased.
I am very good and don't deserve the abuse given me. I created a video raising awareness of anti police feeling among western communities. I chose the senseless killing of Nicola Cotton, a Louisiana policewoman who joined post Katrina, to highlight the issue. I did this in order to get an income after having been illegally blacklisted from work in NSW for being a whistleblower. I have not done anything wrong. Local council appointees refused to endorse my work, so I did it for free. Youtube's Adsence refused to allow me to profit from their marketing it. Meanwhile, I am hostage to abysmal political leadership and hopeless journalists. My shopfront has opened on Facebook.
Here is a video I made Snail of the Moon
Edward James Hughes OM (17 August 1930 -- 28 October 1998) was an English poet and children's writer, known as Ted Hughes. Critics routinely rank him as one of the best poets of his generation. Hughes was British Poet Laureate from 1984 until his death.
=== from 2016 ===
Obama recently went to Japan and failed to address the issue of a Democrat President dropping an atom bomb on a civilian population twice. But then the Nobel Peace Prize winner has form for targeted bombing of civilians. He then went to Vietnam and praised those who used terror tactics to defeat the US. In the meantime, there is an election that is being prepared for in the US. The contest is between a liar or a socialist with principles, and the GOP nominee of Trump. I might not agree with all that Trump says, but I'll support him over Hilary or Sanders any time. I know that Hilary stands for corrupt women everywhere, but let's not make gender the issue. I will not support the corrupt regardless of gender. Meanwhile in Australia, an incompetent deputy leader of the Libs, who happens to be female, was unable to enunciate party policy. But she still supports her leader, who is rumored to be a man. The Liberal Party leader says Australia is a little bit racist. Malcolm Turnbull is a little bit competent, but not the rest. Still, Turnbull is better than Shorten. Don't forget the last experiment with ALP killed 1200 who wanted to be Australians. Almost as if they were gorilla with children in a zoo.
For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
=== from 2015 ===
Talk of war between the US and China is just that, and part of the new Obama method of settling foreign issues. The observation is that small nations did not get uppity during the cold war because they needed super power support of the US, China or the Soviets. So, the new policy is to recreate the cold war, giving Ukraine to Russia to act as a punching bag. Also, North Korea is forced to get close to China. Iran has not been claimed yet. A war between Russia and China is more likely over Iran. The gift of Obama foreign policy, when he is done, is peace through hysteria and weakness.
Press are hyperventilating over Gay Marriage. It takes a conservative to properly implement such legislation, otherwise religious organisations can be sued for refusing some couples. Thing is, it is outrageous that states decided who can or cannot marry. But the larger truth is a law is not a requirement. If gays marry, it doesn't mean all married people are gay. In the late '80s, an ALP Government in NSW decided that it urgently needed to regulate sex among minors. So a law was passed that allowed a two year age difference. So one fourteen year old girl prayed at a church she didn't want to have sex with other kids. And luckily, she didn't have to. There are lots of legal things that aren't done by many people.
Press are hyperventilating over Gay Marriage. It takes a conservative to properly implement such legislation, otherwise religious organisations can be sued for refusing some couples. Thing is, it is outrageous that states decided who can or cannot marry. But the larger truth is a law is not a requirement. If gays marry, it doesn't mean all married people are gay. In the late '80s, an ALP Government in NSW decided that it urgently needed to regulate sex among minors. So a law was passed that allowed a two year age difference. So one fourteen year old girl prayed at a church she didn't want to have sex with other kids. And luckily, she didn't have to. There are lots of legal things that aren't done by many people.
From 2014
None in 2014 because of Government and public service corruption related to the petitions
Historical perspective on this day
In 1279 BC, Ramesses II (The Great) (19th dynasty) became pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. 455, Emperor Petronius Maximus was stoned to death by an angry mob while fleeing Rome. 526, a devastating earthquake struck Antioch killing 250,000. 1223, Mongol invasion of the Cumans: Battle of the Kalka River: Mongol armies of Genghis Khan led by Subutaidefeated Kievan Rus' and Cumans. 1578, Martin Frobisher sailed from Harwich in England to Frobisher Bay in Canada, eventually to mine fool's gold, used to pave streets in London. 1578, King Henry III laid the first stone of the Pont Neuf (New Bridge), the oldest bridge of Paris, France. 1669, citing poor eyesight, Samuel Pepys recorded the last event in his diary. 1775, American Revolution: The Mecklenburg Resolves were allegedly adopted in the Province of North Carolina. 1790, Manuel Quimper explored the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Also 1790, the United States enacted its first copyright statute, the Copyright Act of 1790. 1795, French Revolution: The Revolutionary Tribunal was suppressed.
In 1805, French and Spanish forces began the assault against British forces occupying Diamond Rock. 1813, in Australia, William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworthreached Mount Blaxland, effectively marking the end of a route across the Blue Mountains. 1854, the civil death procedure was abolished in France. 1859, the clock tower at the Houses of Parliament, which houses Big Ben, started keeping time. 1862, American Civil War Peninsula Campaign: Battle of Seven Pines or (Battle of Fair Oaks): Confederate forces under Joseph E. Johnston & G.W. Smith engaged Union forces under George B. McClellanoutside Richmond, Virginia. 1864, American Civil War Overland Campaign: Battle of Cold Harbor: The Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee engaged the Army of the Potomac under Ulysses S. Grant and George Meade. 1866, in the Fenian Invasion of Canada, John O'Neill led 850 Fenian raiders across the Niagara River at Buffalo, New York/Fort Erie, Ontario, as part of an effort to free Ireland from the United Kingdom. Canadianmilitia and British regulars repulsed the invaders in over the next three days, at a cost of nine dead and 38 wounded to the Fenian's 19 dead and about 17 wounded. 1879, Gilmores Garden in New York, New York, was renamed Madison Square Garden by William Henry Vanderbilt and was opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue. 1884, the arrival at Plymouth of Tāwhiao, King of Maoris, to claim the protection of Queen Victoria 1889, Johnstown Flood: Over 2,200 people died after a dam failed and sent a 60-foot (18-meter) wall of water over the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
In 1902, Second Boer War: The Treaty of Vereeniging ended the war and ensured Britishcontrol of South Africa. 1909, the National Negro Committee, forerunner to the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, convened for the first time. 1910, the creation of the Union of South Africa. 1911, the hull of the ocean liner RMS Titanic was launched. Also 1911, the President of Mexico Porfirio Díaz fled the country during the Mexican Revolution. 1916, World War I: Battle of Jutland: The British Grand Fleet under the command of John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe and David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty engaged the Imperial German Navy under the command of Reinhard Scheer and Franz von Hipper in the largest naval battle of the war, which proved indecisive.
In 1921, Tulsa race riot: civil unrest in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The official death toll is 39, but recent investigations suggested the actual toll may be much higher. 1924, the Soviet Union signed an agreement with the Beijing government, referring to Outer Mongolia as an "integral part of the Republic of China", whose "sovereignty" therein the Soviet Union promised to respect. 1927, the last Ford Model T rolled off the assembly line after a production run of 15,007,003 vehicles. 1929, the first talking Mickey Mouse cartoon, "The Karnival Kid", was released. 1935, a 7.7 Mw earthquake destroyed Quetta in modern-day Pakistan killing 40,000. 1941, a Luftwaffe air raid on Dublin, Ireland, claimed 38 lives. Also 1941, Anglo-Iraqi War: The United Kingdom completed the re-occupation of Iraq and returned 'Abd al-Ilah to power as regent for Faisal II. 1942, World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy midget submarines began a series of attacks on Sydney, Australia.
In 1961, the Union of South Africa became the Republic of South Africa. Also 1961, in Moscow City Court, the Rokotov–Faibishenko show trial began, despite the Khrushchev Thaw to reverse Stalinist elements in Soviet society. 1962, the West Indies Federationdissolved. Also 1962, Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel. 1970, the Ancash earthquakecaused a landslide that buried the town of Yungay, Peru; more than 47,000 people were killed. 1971, in accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day occurred on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the traditional Memorial Day of May 30. 1973, the United States Senate voted to cut off funding for the bombing of Khmer Rouge targets within Cambodia, hastening the end of the Cambodian Civil War. 1977, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Systemcompleted.
In 1981, the burning of Jaffna library in Sri Lanka. It was one of the violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the twentieth century. 1985, United States–Canadian tornado outbreak: Forty-one tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, leaving 76 dead. 1989, a group of six members of the guerrilla group Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) of Peru, shot dead eight transsexuals, in the city of Tarapoto. 1991, Bicesse Accords in Angola lay out a transition to multi-party democracy under the supervision of the United Nations' UNAVEM II mission. 2005, Vanity Fair revealed that Mark Felt was Deep Throat. 2010, in international waters, armed Shayetet 13 commandos, intending to force the flotilla to anchor at the Ashdod port, boarded ships trying to break the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip, resulting in nine terrorist supporter deaths. 2013, the asteroid 1998 QE2 and its moon made their closest approach to Earth for the next two centuries.
In 1805, French and Spanish forces began the assault against British forces occupying Diamond Rock. 1813, in Australia, William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworthreached Mount Blaxland, effectively marking the end of a route across the Blue Mountains. 1854, the civil death procedure was abolished in France. 1859, the clock tower at the Houses of Parliament, which houses Big Ben, started keeping time. 1862, American Civil War Peninsula Campaign: Battle of Seven Pines or (Battle of Fair Oaks): Confederate forces under Joseph E. Johnston & G.W. Smith engaged Union forces under George B. McClellanoutside Richmond, Virginia. 1864, American Civil War Overland Campaign: Battle of Cold Harbor: The Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee engaged the Army of the Potomac under Ulysses S. Grant and George Meade. 1866, in the Fenian Invasion of Canada, John O'Neill led 850 Fenian raiders across the Niagara River at Buffalo, New York/Fort Erie, Ontario, as part of an effort to free Ireland from the United Kingdom. Canadianmilitia and British regulars repulsed the invaders in over the next three days, at a cost of nine dead and 38 wounded to the Fenian's 19 dead and about 17 wounded. 1879, Gilmores Garden in New York, New York, was renamed Madison Square Garden by William Henry Vanderbilt and was opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue. 1884, the arrival at Plymouth of Tāwhiao, King of Maoris, to claim the protection of Queen Victoria 1889, Johnstown Flood: Over 2,200 people died after a dam failed and sent a 60-foot (18-meter) wall of water over the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
In 1902, Second Boer War: The Treaty of Vereeniging ended the war and ensured Britishcontrol of South Africa. 1909, the National Negro Committee, forerunner to the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, convened for the first time. 1910, the creation of the Union of South Africa. 1911, the hull of the ocean liner RMS Titanic was launched. Also 1911, the President of Mexico Porfirio Díaz fled the country during the Mexican Revolution. 1916, World War I: Battle of Jutland: The British Grand Fleet under the command of John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe and David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty engaged the Imperial German Navy under the command of Reinhard Scheer and Franz von Hipper in the largest naval battle of the war, which proved indecisive.
In 1921, Tulsa race riot: civil unrest in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The official death toll is 39, but recent investigations suggested the actual toll may be much higher. 1924, the Soviet Union signed an agreement with the Beijing government, referring to Outer Mongolia as an "integral part of the Republic of China", whose "sovereignty" therein the Soviet Union promised to respect. 1927, the last Ford Model T rolled off the assembly line after a production run of 15,007,003 vehicles. 1929, the first talking Mickey Mouse cartoon, "The Karnival Kid", was released. 1935, a 7.7 Mw earthquake destroyed Quetta in modern-day Pakistan killing 40,000. 1941, a Luftwaffe air raid on Dublin, Ireland, claimed 38 lives. Also 1941, Anglo-Iraqi War: The United Kingdom completed the re-occupation of Iraq and returned 'Abd al-Ilah to power as regent for Faisal II. 1942, World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy midget submarines began a series of attacks on Sydney, Australia.
In 1961, the Union of South Africa became the Republic of South Africa. Also 1961, in Moscow City Court, the Rokotov–Faibishenko show trial began, despite the Khrushchev Thaw to reverse Stalinist elements in Soviet society. 1962, the West Indies Federationdissolved. Also 1962, Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel. 1970, the Ancash earthquakecaused a landslide that buried the town of Yungay, Peru; more than 47,000 people were killed. 1971, in accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day occurred on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the traditional Memorial Day of May 30. 1973, the United States Senate voted to cut off funding for the bombing of Khmer Rouge targets within Cambodia, hastening the end of the Cambodian Civil War. 1977, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Systemcompleted.
In 1981, the burning of Jaffna library in Sri Lanka. It was one of the violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the twentieth century. 1985, United States–Canadian tornado outbreak: Forty-one tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, leaving 76 dead. 1989, a group of six members of the guerrilla group Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) of Peru, shot dead eight transsexuals, in the city of Tarapoto. 1991, Bicesse Accords in Angola lay out a transition to multi-party democracy under the supervision of the United Nations' UNAVEM II mission. 2005, Vanity Fair revealed that Mark Felt was Deep Throat. 2010, in international waters, armed Shayetet 13 commandos, intending to force the flotilla to anchor at the Ashdod port, boarded ships trying to break the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip, resulting in nine terrorist supporter deaths. 2013, the asteroid 1998 QE2 and its moon made their closest approach to Earth for the next two centuries.
=== 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.
===
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 Willy Loh and Jessica Thai. In 1223, Mongols spanked some Ukrainians. In 1669 Samuel Pepys's eyesight gave out, and he recorded his last diary entry in a very important english restoration period primary source. But in 1981, some people, possibly Presbyterian, destroyed over 97000 items in the library of Jaffna, Sri Lanka. I am confident the books hadn't threatened them. Your day is filled with promise. Try not to burn it.
===- 1443 – Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby (d. 1509)
- 1469 – Manuel I of Portugal (d. 1521)
- 1527 – Agnes of Hesse (d. 1555)
- 1535 – Alessandro Allori, Italian painter (d. 1607)
- 1656 – Marin Marais, French viol player and composer (d. 1728)
- 1683 – Jean-Pierre Christin, French physicist, mathematician, and astronomer, invented the Celsius thermometer (d. 1755)
- 1819 – Walt Whitman, American poet and author (d. 1892)
- 1879 – Frances Alda, New Zealand-Australian soprano (d. 1952)
- 1894 – Fred Allen, American comedian, actor, and radio host (d. 1956)
- 1908 – Don Ameche, American actor and singer (d. 1993)
- 1912 – Alfred Deller, English singer (d. 1979)
- 1922 – Denholm Elliott, English actor (d. 1992)
- 1930 – Clint Eastwood, American actor, director, producer, and political officeholder
- 1938 – Peter Yarrow, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Peter, Paul and Mary)
- 1939 – Terry Waite, English humanitarian and author
- 1948 – John Bonham, English drummer and songwriter (Led Zeppelin and Band of Joy) (d. 1980)
- 1949 – Tom Berenger, American actor and producer
- 1955 – Tommy Emmanuel, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (Dragon)
- 1965 – Brooke Shields, American model, actress, and producer
- 1972 – Sarah Murdoch, English-Australian model and actress
- 1980 – Andy Hurley, American drummer (Fall Out Boy, The Damned Things, Project Rocket, and Racetraitor)
- 1987 – Shaun Fleming, American actor and singer (Foxygen and Diane Coffee)
- 1997 – Milka-Emilia Pasanen, Finnish tennis player
Deaths
- 455 – Petronius Maximus, Roman emperor (b. 396)
- 1076 – Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria, English politician (b. 1050)
- 1162 – Géza II of Hungary (b. 1130)
- 1349 – Thomas Wake, 2nd Baron Wake of Liddell, English politician (b. 1297)
- 1408 – Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Japanese shogun (b. 1358)
- 1495 – Cecily Neville, Duchess of York (b. 1415)
- 1809 – Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer (b. 1732)
- 1831 – Samuel Bentham, English engineer and architect (b. 1757)
- 1832 – Évariste Galois, French mathematician and theorist (b. 1811)
- 1962 – Adolf Eichmann, German colonel (b. 1906)
- 1983 – Jack Dempsey, American boxer (b. 1895)
- 1996 – Timothy Leary, American psychologist and author (b. 1920)
- 2014 – Lewis Katz, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1942)
May 31: World No Tobacco Day; Pentecost (Eastern Christianity, 2015); Feast of the Visitation (Roman Catholicism and Anglicanism); Mother's Day in Algeria, France, Morocco and Sweden (2015)
- 1223 – Mongol invasions: Mongol forces defeated a combined army of Kiev, Galich, and the Cumans at the Kalchik River in present-day Ukraine.
- 1669 – Citing poor eyesight, English naval administrator and Member of Parliament Samuel Pepys recorded his last entry in his diary, one of the most important primary sourcesfor the English Restoration period.
- 1935 – A 7.7 Mw earthquake struck Balochistan in the British Raj, now part of Pakistan, killing anywhere between 30,000 and 60,000 people.
- 1981 – An organized mob of police and government-sponsored paramilitias began burning the public library in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, destroying over 97,000 items in one of the most violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the 20th century.
- 2005 – An article in the magazine Vanity Fair revealed that the secret informant known as "Deep Throat", who provided information about the Watergate scandal, was former FBI Associate Director Mark Felt (pictured).
Shut the pool gates. Samuel has finished. The earth moved. Run from ethnic biblioclasm. Felt should have gone to jail. Let's party.
Tim Blair
GET YOUR OWN MATERIAL, KATHY
Andrew Bolt
THE LGBTI 600
Tim Blair – Tuesday, May 31, 2016 (7:11pm)
Caring and inclusive North Carolina NASCAR fans made sure all genders had a safe space during Sunday’s big race:
The signs were later removed. In other gender-jumpin’ news, Oregon woman Malka Davis writes about an incident at the women’s homeless shelter where she sought refuge in 2014:
The signs were later removed. In other gender-jumpin’ news, Oregon woman Malka Davis writes about an incident at the women’s homeless shelter where she sought refuge in 2014:
A few weeks into my stay, I returned to find a number of women in distress. Reportedly, one woman had even fled the shelter in terror.What was wrong? What was the uproar about? An answer soon followed: The shelter had admitted a man who “self-identified” as a woman. No doubt this was not a first for the shelter; it was, however, a first for those of us who were relative newcomers.
Under Oregon’s anti-discrimination laws, women’s shelters are required to take in men who claim to be women. Malka continues:
The realization that a man was going to be sharing sleeping and bathroom space with us (in this particular area, there are no private or even semi-private rooms) was understandably met with tremendous anxiety, and, yes, even outrage. After all, not a few of these women were escaping domestic and sexual abuse committed by men, a trauma that doesn’t magically disappear once you’re away from your abuser. They thought they had found a haven exclusively for women ...He often sought me out to talk about his experiences both inside and outside the shelter. In return, I listened and sometimes offered words of consolation. But at no point did I come to regard Clarence as a woman, nor did I refer to him as one. I saw him as an intelligent, sensitive, but very fragile and confused man. That is to say, I afforded him the dignity he deserved as a human being without denying the truth of his gender.Nonetheless, I believe the shelter was wrong for admitting him. It jeopardized the security of a dozen or so women for the benefit of one man’s sense of belonging.
Well said. Further on the push for reality denial from Mark Latham:
The more I research the BRR and Safe Schools programs, the more bewildered I am as to how Labor leaders like Bill Shorten and Daniel Andrews endorsed this rubbish. Gough Whitlam must be turning in his grave.The Great Man dedicated his life to the principles of the Age of Enlightenment: that rational, evidence-based argument could create a better and fairer society. Not only is the post-structuralist agenda anti-reason, anti-science and anti-family, it is also anti-education.It wants to abandon the conventional process of learning through known facts and universally established truths, creating a borderless world of genderless individuals.
At least nobody is calling them luvvies.
===
VIEW FROM AFAR
Tim Blair – Tuesday, May 31, 2016 (4:01pm)
In the New York Times, Roger Cohen takes aim at Australia:
Australia cruised through the 2008 global financial crisis on the back of a massive minerals boom.
That’ll be news to George Megalogenis.
But some of the angst endemic to the developed world, with its lost manufacturing jobs and squeezed opportunities, has seeped of late into the irreverent Australian psyche ... Unemployment is not high, but underemployment is. Australia is America’s ally in an increasingly Chinese neighborhood; that could be problematic. The next big thing is unclear.Could Australia’s luck have run out? Is it ripe for the politics of anger that play well these days from the United States to Austria?
As opposed to the politics of happy, which existed … when, exactly, Roger?
“There has never been a more exciting time to be an Australian,” insists the conservative Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Who isn’t conservative.
The Labor party has committed to legalizing same-sex marriage and fighting climate change, issues Turnbull has shied away from. Climate change is nonsense for the flat-earth rightist wing of his Liberal party, whose figurehead is the former Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
Does Cohen know just how little Australia contributes to so-called climate change gases?
The only issue the parties seem to agree on is getting tough with refugees trying to reach Australia by boat — so tough that the refugees end up in limbo on sweltering Pacific islands where desperation, self-harm and death stalk them. This untenable policy, too, reflects anxiety.
No, it reflects a need to stop thousands of people drowning.
Australia shows signs of the fundamental divide in developed societies today — between an international urban elite of progressive social values and angry nativists suspicious of the outsider, blindsided by globalization, wary of change, and unsure of their children’s future.
Cohen needs to meet Peter FitzSimons, who is simultaneously part of that urban elite of progressive social values and suspicious of outsiders, blindsided by globalization and wary of change .
Abbott, a loudmouth with a loony streak, was in some ways a precursor of Donald Trump. His slogans had three words — “Stop the boats” (immigrants), “Ax the tax” (climate change). He also made a speech in front of a sign, referring to then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard, that said “Ditch the witch” (misogyny). He crashed and burned in a gale of gaffes — bringing back knighthoods and bestowing one on Prince Philip of Britain was an example — but only after he had ranted his way to the top job. This precedent is troubling.
“Crashed and burned” = being at the same point in opinion polls as Malcolm Turnbull is right now.
Trump has gotten three-word slogans down to two-word epithets — “Little Marco,” “Lyin’ Ted,” “Crooked Hillary” and so on — and he has raised Abbott several notches on the mob-mobilizing meanness front.
Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders supporters throw chairs, shout people down and issue death threats. You were saying, mate?
Humanity is showing its other face. The sway of neoliberal economics favoring the wealthy in Western societies, the departure offshore of manufacturing jobs, stagnant wages, large refugee flows from war zones, media outlets with tribal followings and the flourishing of violent anti-Western jihadi ideology in an Arab world of blocked political systems have created a near-perfect storm for rightist populists of the Abbott and Trump ilk.
Explain, then, why Abbott is no longer Prime Minister.
Australia in its vastness, at once protected and troubled by the tyranny of distance, watches the American and European political dramas from afar. But it is not immune to the new anger — as Turnbull’s deference to Abbott shows. That is a sign of the extreme vigilance needed in a world of violent volatility.
Vigilance. That’s the ticket. Extreme vigilance will return us to a time of peaceful volatility.
===
ADD ANOTHER CHAPTER
Tim Blair – Tuesday, May 31, 2016 (2:08pm)
A review of Ben Pobjie‘s Error Australis, a leftist’s book about stupid Australia’s dumb mistakes, misspells the author’s name four times.
===
GREAT WALL OF WHINER
Tim Blair – Tuesday, May 31, 2016 (3:20am)
“We will decide whose books come to this country and the circumstances in which they come!” Notorious Write Australia policy advocate Peter FitzSimons interrupts his cultural purity campaign to reminisce over the first time he was published by the Sydney Morning Herald:
It was a piece on Italian Rugby.
Italian rugby, you say? Sounds like exactly the sort of true-blue yarn some dinkum cobbers might enjoy around the old Australian campfire, “where Australian stories are told to Australians”.
Or, more likely, it might just be something Peter mentions to his agent over a few courses at Machiavelli, the famous Australian campfire down on Clarence Street.
("Write Australia policy” via witty reader Baa Humbug.)
===
PEOPLE ARE RUDE TO THE PLANET
Tim Blair – Tuesday, May 31, 2016 (2:36am)
A time-saving tip for Elizabeth Farrelly. Just transcribe this video, throw in a few local references to Anzac trees or Mike Baird, and Thursday’s column is already done:
(Via Waxing Gibberish, who notes: “This is what happens when we let Greens voters raise children.")
(Via Waxing Gibberish, who notes: “This is what happens when we let Greens voters raise children.")
===
PUNCHLINE
Tim Blair – Tuesday, May 31, 2016 (2:13am)
Asylum seeker antics in Berlin:
An asylum seeker who jokingly wore a T-shirt saying ‘I’m Muslim, don’t panic’ was so savagely beaten by his fellow refugees that he had to be rushed to hospital.The 23-year-old Iraqi had thought that his fellow Islamic asylum seekers would see the funny side, but instead they accused him of offending their religion and decided to teach him a painful lesson.
There are no jokes in Islam.
===
MEGA LOW
Tim Blair – Tuesday, May 31, 2016 (2:03am)
Remember the Rudd government’s greatest success? No? George Megalogenis does:
For a third election in a row, we are confronted with the same nagging question: will we ever get a decent government again? The past three are among the least effective in our history …Only the Rudd government has a legacy to speak of … he helped keep Australia out of recession when it mattered most …With hindsight, it is clear that the Gillard minority government was the most ambitious. It successfully legislated for a price on carbon pollution, which reduced emissions, and introduced the National Disability Insurance Scheme …The Abbott–Turnbull government has been the worst of the trio.
Read the whole thing, and see if you can identify a certain subject Megalogenis declines to mention. Hint: it involved the deaths of at least 1200 people.
(Via John P.)
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ANXIETY IS SPREADING
Tim Blair – Tuesday, May 31, 2016 (1:58am)
The New York Times – and their governmental wing, the Democrats – are becoming jittery:
Democrats could hardly believe their good fortune last month when it became clear that Hillary Clinton was headed to a general election showdown with Donald J. Trump. Mr. Trump carried so much baggage and had insulted so many voting blocs that some Clinton supporters began to imagine a landslide.But early optimism that this would be an easy race is evaporating. In the corridors of Congress, on airplane shuttles between New York and Washington, at donor gatherings and on conference calls, anxiety is spreading through the Democratic Party that Mrs. Clinton is struggling to find her footing.While she enjoys many demographic advantages heading into the fall, key Democrats say they are growing worried that her campaign has not determined how to combat her unpredictable, often wily Republican rival, to whom criticism seldom sticks and rules of decorum seem not to apply.
Please. “Rules of decorum” weren’t much of an issue when the NYT twice endorsed Bill Clinton.
UPDATE. An excellent point from the WSJ’s Bret Stephens:
Clinton lies and crookedness are supposed to be a big part of what animates Mr. Trump’s most fervent supporters. So why their apparently limitless tolerance for Trump lies and crookedness?
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THE L-WORD
Tim Blair – Monday, May 30, 2016 (7:05pm)
Luvvies are offended by being called luvvies:
Calling actors ‘luvvies’ is as offensive as using racial slurs, Tom Conti said yesterday.Shirley Valentine star Conti, who lives in a £17.5million mansion in Hampstead, told the Daily Mail that to use the word ‘luvvies’ was ‘as abusive as “Yid” or “n*****” and it’s a horrible expression.‘It’s pejorative, denigrative and demeaning. I know a number of actors and certainly the actors with whom I have mixed over my entire life have been very bright people.’
Conti’s fellow luvvie, Downton Abbey star Peter Egan, agrees:
‘If actors are voicing an opinion, in many cases a true opinion, the way to dismiss that is to downgrade them with a diminishing term for a name.‘It was exactly the same in Vietnam. The American troops used to call the Viet Cong “Charlie”. It’s how you degrade your enemy.’
Do not hit this link. It may be triggering.
(Via the Guardian‘s Marina Hyde.)
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Trump hysteria fries Fairfax brains
Andrew Bolt May 31 2016 (9:51am)
The Sydney Morning Herald‘s ludicrous take on Donald Trump:
Steve Kates responds:
The Age recycles even more ludicrous anti-Trump porn:
The headline is the SMH rewrite of a less accusatory but still brainlessly offensive effort by the New York Times.
Steve Kates responds:
The ... text is from The New York Times in an article titled, Rise of Donald Trump Tracks Growing Debate Over Global Fascism. Here’s the definition they use:But elect Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders and you might tick off a couple of items on that list.
Fascism, generally defined as a governmental system that asserts complete power and emphasizes aggressive nationalism and often racism.Let’s see which of the following would characterise the US if Donald Trump were elected:
the imposition of an ideology to which every member of the community must subscribeNot one of these is even remotely possible if Donald Trump were elected president… Calling Trump a fascist is ignorance attempting to deceive the willingly ignorant.
a police state in which opponents of the regime are in peril of their lives and are often imprisoned
a centrally planned economy
suppression of dissent
a state run media
Mandatory belief in the ideologies of same-sex marriage, gender fluidity and global warming? Tick.UPDATE
A more centrally planned economy? Tick, for the socialist Sanders.
Suppression of dissent? Tick. Note whose stormtroopers are trying to shut down everything from Christian bakeries to Trump rallies.
A state run media? Give them time.
The Age recycles even more ludicrous anti-Trump porn:
Even the rise of Donald Trump provides evidence of pornography’s social harm. How to understand the success of Trump’s makeup-caked, misogynistic candidacy, except as an eruption onto the political stage of the pornographic subterrain?
If you cringe at Trump’s sneering misogyny, then join me in calling for a ban on the thing that made his crude appeal possible.
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Died in a good cause
Andrew Bolt May 31 2016 (9:40am)
Question: what are the deaths of 1200 men, women and children to George Megalogenis?
Answer: not worth mentioning if they embarrass Labor.
Answer: not worth mentioning if they embarrass Labor.
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Greens make child cry
Andrew Bolt May 31 2016 (8:47am)
How green parents and teachers traumatise their children. And note that they’re so eager to make green propaganda from their distressed child that they don’t console a crying baby, either.
He’s quite the green tyrant at home, too. Wonder who taught him that?
More than 16 million views so far, too. They couldn’t get more unless they filmed Waleed Aly doing the tantrum.
UPDATE
Oops. They did:
He’s quite the green tyrant at home, too. Wonder who taught him that?
More than 16 million views so far, too. They couldn’t get more unless they filmed Waleed Aly doing the tantrum.
UPDATE
Oops. They did:
(Thanks to reader Waxing Gibberish.)
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Professor in praise of cutting off hands
Andrew Bolt May 31 2016 (8:35am)
First the Left marches through the institutions. Now it’s the turn of the medieval faith the Left foolishly made their allies:
On Tuesday on the campus of Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, FL, the university’s Muslim Student Association’s hosted a so-called Islamophobia panel discussion…(Thanks to reader fulchrum.)
FAU Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Associate Professor Bassem Al Halabi was included on the panel of these distinguished experts and he made the incredible statement about the case to be made for Sharia Law and it’s provisions of capital punishment, including the cutting off of hands.
‘"Where there is no Sharia, Islamic Sharia, they die in dozens and hundreds every day because of organized crime. People kill people, other people or steal pizza for $10 and so – so when Islamic Shariah is saying about capital punishment – so even though it sounds like it is severe but if that is the solution to prevent any crimes, then it still has a lot of rules and regulations. I will just mention one and stop here, which is let’s say cutting off the hands of a person if they steal. It sounds very severe. It sounds very barbaric, I know. But if takes one or two people to have their hands cut off, and then there’s no more stealing and there’s no more stealing in the whole nation – that’s a much better resolution than having hundreds of people die every day.”
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Butler serves up Greens on a platter
Andrew Bolt May 31 2016 (8:24am)
Labor’s Terri Butler does what too few Labor MPs have done for too long - treated the Greens with the disrespect they deserve. Here she is on Q&Awith Greens leader Richard di Natale.
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Unions get the Labor they pay for
Andrew Bolt May 31 2016 (8:12am)
Nick Cater says unions have bought the Labor party - but taxpayers will foot the bill:
The CFMEU has donated almost $1.5 million to the ALP’s Victorian branch since 2007-08. No wonder a grateful Labor Premier is mute on the outrageous pay deal that will cost taxpayers dearly. Signing up to the CFMEU’s EBA adds about 30 per cent to the cost of public infrastructure. To put it another way, with the CFMEU’s pampered members on the job, you miss out on 300km of road for every 1000km that get built…Cater will be on the panel of The Bolt Report tonight on Sky News Live at 7pm.
A cursory scan of [federal] Labor’s 100 Positive Policies shows how unions bearing gifts have virtually bought the party. Labor is opposing modest changes to weekend penalty rates in accordance with the wishes of the SDA, the comrades who slipped the party $2.3m to fight the last election.
Labor’s plans to impose protection on the steel industry will delight the AWU while its promise to strengthen rights at work and clamp down on foreign seasonal employment will be popular across the whole union movement. Labor has pledged to restore the Commonwealth Cleaning Services Guidelines scrapped by the Coalition, which mandated above award wages to cleaners in commonwealth government buildings and obliged contractors to promote union membership to new employees, arrange meetings between employees and union officials and invite union delegates to attend induction training. Which union would that be? United Voice, which has given more than $3.7m to the Labor Party since the guidelines were introduced in 2012.
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The bee may go but the sting remains
Andrew Bolt May 31 2016 (7:52am)
Surely what counts most is not the Marxist herself but the indoctrination program she’s embedded in our schools - with the support of clueless politicians:
One of the most influential backers of the Safe Schools program has threatened to withdraw future financial support, unless the founder of the program, hard-line Marxist Roz Ward, steps down over her comments denigrating the Australian flag.Removing Ward does not remove her legacy.
Beyondblue chairman Jeff Kennett yesterday called for Ms Ward to resign from the role, saying her “extreme political views” rendered her “ineligible to be involved in any program …. in schools”. Mr Kennett, whose charity has provided almost $600,000 over the past two years to La Trobe University’s Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, which administers the Safe Schools program in Victoria, added: “You don’t want extremists in there...”
While Ms Ward’s Marxist leanings have been a matter of public record for some time, last week’s post to Facebook, in which she called for the “racist Australian flag” to be replaced with the red ensign favoured by socialists, appears to have been a step too far for her supporters within Victoria’s Labor government.
Ms Ward was forced to resign from a state government education advisory role as a result, while La Trobe University announced an investigation into her role as manager of Safe Schools Coalition Victoria, which is funded by the state government.
Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham yesterday called for Ms Ward to step down from the national steering committee for Safe Schools Coalition Australia…
“Her extreme views have done a grave disservice to this program and are anathema to the vast majority of Australians."…
The British-born academic has become the face of Safe Schools, an anti-bullying program geared at gay and transgender youth, which has been criticised for promoting the idea that gender and sexuality is a “social construct” rather than biological. Ms Ward ... has previously admitted that the program was about gender and sexual diversity, rather than preventing bullying, and has spoken at public events about Safe Schools being part of a strategy to change society.
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Joe Hockey’s own goal on ABC’s luvvie-fest
Piers Akerman – Sunday, May 31, 2015 (12:07am)
ABC managing director Mark Scott is to order a review of issues covered on the broadcaster’s flagship program Q&A, after facing accusations the program has a left-leaning bias.
Continue reading 'Joe Hockey’s own goal on ABC’s luvvie-fest'
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Prime Minister Tony Abbott can’t have his cake and eat it too
Miranda Devine – Sunday, May 31, 2015 (12:10am)
“HE’S sold us out,” says one disgusted Liberal MP of Tony Abbott’s capitulation on same-sex marriage.
Continue reading 'Prime Minister Tony Abbott can’t have his cake and eat it too'
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THEY BOO BECAUSE ABBOTT FORCED THEM TO
Tim Blair – Sunday, May 31, 2015 (2:06am)
Did you know that the Australian Prime Minister controls crowd behaviour at football matches? It’s true, according to George Megalogenis:
(Via Rita Panahi)
(Via Rita Panahi)
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GREAT CATS OF OUR TIME
Tim Blair – Sunday, May 31, 2015 (1:39am)
Presenting Tiddles, a London heavyweight who lived for 13 years in the ladies’ room at Paddington Station.
UPDATE. Further London railway station thoughts, plus more, from Mark Steyn. And an excellent question:
Is there a whiter cultural artifact than The New Yorker?
Possibly only Australia’s Greens.
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AND THEY CAN ALL SPELL BETTER THAN ANYONE AT THE GUARDIAN
Tim Blair – Sunday, May 31, 2015 (1:08am)
These kids are great.
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The crowd boos Adam Goodes because the AbbottAbbottAbbott told them
Andrew Bolt May 31 2015 (4:48pm)
Incredible. First George Megalogenis assumes the crowds boo Goodes, alone of the Aboriginal players, because they are racist. Then he blames Tony Abbott for it. Even stranger, he blames a proposed change in the law that Abbott actually decided not to make:
What do they call a blind hatred that cannot be contradicted even by the facts? Yes, I know racism is one form of it, but what is George’s?
(Via Rita Panahi.)
Er, George, here’s a critical difference. Long in 1995 protested at being racially abused. Goodes in 2015 pretended to attack Carlton supporters with a spear. Defensive vs aggressive. Get it?
What do they call a blind hatred that cannot be contradicted even by the facts? Yes, I know racism is one form of it, but what is George’s?
(Via Rita Panahi.)
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A “rant”? Is it really so hard to give Alan Jones some credit?
Andrew Bolt May 31 2015 (11:09am)
It drives me nuts that so many partisans consult their prejudices and not their ears - and that is often the case when they come to attack Alan Jones.
How on earth could the sub-editor have put a headline on this story that contradicted not just the first paragraph of the copy but the audio linked to in the story of what I thought was a brave, passionate and affecting declaration from Jones, who must have known that many of his listeners would not be pleased:
How on earth could the sub-editor have put a headline on this story that contradicted not just the first paragraph of the copy but the audio linked to in the story of what I thought was a brave, passionate and affecting declaration from Jones, who must have known that many of his listeners would not be pleased:
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Greens marooned on the Reef
Andrew Bolt May 31 2015 (6:47am)
The Sunday Mail nails it:
With UNESCO giving the Reef a clean bill of health in a long-awaited report, the likes of Greenpeace, WWF, GetUp and the Australian Marine Conservation Society have been discredited and should not be permitted to peddle their lies in Queensland. In fact, the green movement’s role in this sorry debacle exposes them as frauds(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
The UNESCO report accepted that enough has been done by Australia to stop the destruction of the Reef. The trigger for the UNESCO probe was the Port of Gladstone expansion to cater for the boom in coal and coal seam gas exports, featuring the biggest dredging project in Australia’s history. Despite heavy conditions and environmental regulations, the greenies jumped on the issue which allowed them to link coal exports to climate change and the Reef.
For the Queensland tourism industry, the possibility of a UNESCO listing of the Great Barrier Reef as endangered would have had catastrophic implications for the state. It would have sent a message to tourists that the Reef had lost its lustre. But of course, the conservationists don’t have time for the trivialities of an industry worth billions every year to the economy…
The Greens are a major threat to the Queensland economy, fuelled by the Labor Left’s love affair with the movement and its capacity to stop progress… The Great Barrier Reef tick of approval from UNESCO has exposed the state’s eco-warriors as the kings of deceit and lies. They should not be given a platform for their views because they have proven they are not capable of being honest and candid.
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People power
Andrew Bolt May 31 2015 (5:59am)
Trust the public to confront true bigotry:
A PORT Adelaide supporter banned from Adelaide Oval for offensive behaviour, allegedly called Richmond player Bachar Houli a terrorist before she was evicted from the stadium, according to spectators who confronted the woman.
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The Bolt Report today, May 31
Andrew Bolt May 31 2015 (5:58am)
On Channel 10 at 10am and 3pm.
My guests: Major General (ret.) Jim Molan; Victorian Liberal president Michael Kroger; Sean Kelly, former senior press secretary of Julia Gillard; and Miranda Devine, Daily Telegraph columnist and 2GB colleague.
Topics: same-sex marriage, Adam Goodes’ war dance, the tampon tossers, the lost war on terrorism and more.
The videos of the shows appear here.
My guests: Major General (ret.) Jim Molan; Victorian Liberal president Michael Kroger; Sean Kelly, former senior press secretary of Julia Gillard; and Miranda Devine, Daily Telegraph columnist and 2GB colleague.
Topics: same-sex marriage, Adam Goodes’ war dance, the tampon tossers, the lost war on terrorism and more.
The videos of the shows appear here.
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All the leaker proved is that Abbott is safe
Andrew Bolt May 31 2015 (5:49am)
Samantha Maiden suggests Tony Abbott is safe, and some of his rivals have misread the party room:
That said, Turnbull had a point, and it would be wise of Abbott not to push too hard. Not this side of the election, at least.
[Scott] Morrison and [Malcolm] Turnbull continue to be “mates”. But now, they find themselves on different sides of a bitter Cabinet split over stripping Australian-born terrorists of their citizenship. Explosive and detailed Cabinet leaks this week have shocked MPs.Yes, the backbench is backing Abbott’s view over Turnbull’s and Bishop’s. But note: it is also backing Morrison’s over theirs.
While at first glance it might look like evidence that Abbott’s leadership is under pressure again, many MPs believe it a sign of something very different…
They believe backbench support for the PM shows that Turnbull’s ambitions to take that job are over and that Bishop is “out of touch’’. On Friday, 40 backbenchers including Luke Simpkins, who co-sponsored the original spill motion, wrote to Mr Abbott urging him to go even further on citizenship reforms.
The debate in the Cabinet this past Monday night was not over revoking the citizenship of dual nationals, which has broad support. The argument was about the prospect of revoking Australian-born citizens of their rights if they had foreign parents and the possibility of citizenship elsewhere.
By all accounts, Turnbull was in a “vile’’ mood after Monday night. He later told colleagues he was “quite cross’’. That, to those who know him, is code for having gone troppo…
Turnbull was furious over the lack of detail surrounding the idea of giving ministers powers to strip Australian citizens of their rights without trial.
“Depriving them of their only citizenship with no evidence that can go to court?’’ he told colleagues. “What happened to the rule of law?
....as Bishop pointed out to the meeting, there were all sorts of problems in cancelling the citizenship of a terrorist with foreign-born parents in the hope that another country would grant them citizenship…
Critics of Turnbull and Bishop rubbish their “confected outrage’’ over suggestions the PM ambushed the meeting. Several newspapers had published front-page articles in the week leading up to the Cabinet meeting quoting new Immigration Minister Peter Dutton as wanting to examine the issue. How could the idea being in the discussion paper have surprised anyone?
And, as the PM told Liberal MPs on the day of the meeting, the legislation would not be designed to strip Australian-born terrorists of their rights. It would be limited to dual nationals.
“Malcolm contrives this confected argument about process in the National Security Committee and it’s all about reopening the events of February and the leadership,’’ a Liberal minister says.
“People will write about Bishop one day. She’s got a complete glass jaw and she sits taking notes in Cabinet. What does she do with those notes?” One Liberal MP insists: “The Cabinet ministers opposed to this have completely misread the mood of the party room. Julie has been left high and dry.’’
That said, Turnbull had a point, and it would be wise of Abbott not to push too hard. Not this side of the election, at least.
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This one is for the public to say “I do”
Andrew Bolt May 31 2015 (5:31am)
Miranda Devine:
If advocates of same-sex marriage are sure of their cause, and if they want this right granted as a public affirmation of gay relationships, then why not a plebiscite? Good for them and good for the country.
Changing the definition of marriage is so contentious it can’t be left to politicians who are vulnerable to threats and intimidation.There are many opponents who are convinced that if Parliament votes for same-sex marriage it will be a stitch-up by the political and media class, against the wishes of the public and before a genuine debate that involves voters and not just professional chatterers.
It’s a decision that must be made by the Australian people at a referendum. If the polls constantly cited by “marriage equality” advocates are correct, they have nothing to fear. Same-sex marriage will be legitimised by a vote of the people as it never will if it is just railroaded through parliament.
If advocates of same-sex marriage are sure of their cause, and if they want this right granted as a public affirmation of gay relationships, then why not a plebiscite? Good for them and good for the country.
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Eddie right the first time on Goodes
Andrew Bolt May 31 2015 (5:02am)
Eddie was right the first time, before politics took over:
EDDIE McGuire says he is “on Adam Goodes’ side” despite labelling the Sydney Swan’s indigenous war dance on Friday night as “aggressive”.Strange. Social media suggests much of the public is against Goodes’ symbolic act of violence. But almost no commentator or AFL official will criticise it.
The Collingwood president reacted strongly at half time to Goodes’ emotional display.
“We’ve never seen that before and I don’t think we ever want to see it again to be perfectly honest, no matter what it is,” McGuire declared on Fox Footy. “It’s quite aggressive, let’s be honest.”
But yesterday McGuire said while he stood by the live coverage, he was “deeply offended” by anyone inferring he had been critical of Goodes…“I’m in full support of Adam Goodes, I never said it was violent or aggressive,” he said.
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Posted by Matt Granz on Saturday, 30 May 2015
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New Mexico had some sky drama yesterday as well...
Posted by Matt Granz on Saturday, 30 May 2015
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WAHHHHLEED: IT’S NOT FAIR!
Tim Blair – Friday, May 31, 2013 (2:42pm)
According to Waleed Aly, terrorism is an “irritant” that “kills relatively few people”. We should be “mature” in dealing with it. But Aly is angry about drones:
The central problem is drones permit a kind of no-risk, low-cost warfare.
As opposed to high-risk, massive-cost warfare. Bring back the glory days of World War I.
War is a kind of contract. Each side confronts the other, with the risk of death and defeat.
Andrew Bolt replies: “There is no contract of the kind you imagine. The contract a society has is actually with its citizens, not its enemies. That contract is to fight for the society’s self-protection using whatever means it has to minimise its own losses and maximise those of its foes.” Quite so. Aly continues:
In short, war should come at a cost.
Yes. To the other guy.
That contract is shredded when you’re attacked by something that cannot itself be killed.
You can’t kill a suicide bomber once he or she has already detonated, pal. Besides being “irritants”, they’re also in breach of Aly’s contractual code.
It’s not remotely a fair fight. It’s scarcely a fight at all.
Good.
For all the horror, pain, and gore of the battlefield, there’s something to be said for it. It’s one of the very best reasons every nation has not to go to war … The prospect of waging a war without sacrifice is a frightening prospect.
Depends whose side you’re on.
The historical record suggests our every military development seems to have made war less and less costly for those waging it, with horrific results.
The historical record “suggests” this? Can’t get anything past our alert academic. As for the “horrific results”, I’d suggest Aly check the casualty figures from earlier global conflicts.
And in the meantime the ratio of civilian casualties to those of combatants has ballooned.
Which brings us back to those terrorist “irritants”, who specifically target civilians.
The very idea of low-cost war is an illusion. Someone will always pay the price. If not soldiers and politicians, that leaves the people who shouldn’t be made to pay.
Go tell it to Islamic terror groups, Waleed, whose drones differ only from the airborne variety in that they have pulses. For a time.
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SCREAMING STEPHEN
Tim Blair – Friday, May 31, 2013 (11:28am)
Just look at Stephen Conroy carrying on in defence of the ABC. This excuse-making, bias-forgiving milksob is the same clown who attempted to impose laws on our non-government media.
Note that Conroy’s interjections are almost entirely ignored. He’s the parliamentary equivalent of an internet troll.
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MONEY SELECTIVELY FOLLOWED
Tim Blair – Friday, May 31, 2013 (3:54am)
When an Australian scientist’s report is commissioned by a think-tank linked to a subsidiary organisation that once received $100,000 from a climate change sceptic group in the US, it’s evidence of a conspiracy.
When a crazy-eyed American enviropath picks up a lazy $100,000 from Norwegian greenoids, it’s cause for celebration. Speaking of global warming:
The UK is on track for its coldest spring for more than 50 years following another fortnight of below average temperatures, according to provisional figures from the Met Office.
Where has all the warming gone? Apparently it’s hiding in the oceans like a common disoriented Skywhale.
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CRIME ALLEGEDLY DETECTED, SOMEHOW
Tim Blair – Friday, May 31, 2013 (3:47am)
An alleged jihadi boy is allegedly incredibly stupid:
The family of a Sydney man under investigation for alleged terrorism offences says his arrest for allegedly threatening to “slit the throat” of a Commonwealth official is an attempt by authorities to justify him being under intense surveillance for three years …Writing in his defence, relative Tamana Daqiq said that despite Al-Ahmadazi being branded a “firebrand jihadist” – and a warning issued by the Australian Defence Force for its personnel to stay clear of him – the 23-year-old was a “caring”, “loving” and “considerate” young man who posed no threat to national security.She said he had been subjected to 24-hour surveillance since he was 19 …
So what does one allegedly do when under constant police watch? Well …
Al-Ahmadzai was refused bail when he appeared in court on Tuesday. He is due to appear before Parramatta Local Court on Friday to be sentenced over an unrelated matter involving the ram-raid theft of an ATM on Sydney’s upper north shore in July 2011.
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IOWAHAWK BEATS US ALL
Tim Blair – Friday, May 31, 2013 (3:42am)
“I take my hat off,” Mark Steyn once declared following a particularly brilliant Iowahawk gag. “This belongs to a very select group of Jokes I Wish I Had Written First.”
And now he’s done it again.
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NO NEGADIVIDY
Tim Blair – Friday, May 31, 2013 (2:18am)
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FLAT WHITES
Tim Blair – Friday, May 31, 2013 (12:47am)
So now, if you want a steaming hot cup of java to go with their steaming pile of journalism, you no longer have to frequent that evil, tax-dodging behemoth known as Starbucks.
Reaction from Twitter folk:
• The only surprise with #guardiancoffee is that it’s taken Guardian so long to realise there’s more money in coffee than journalism.• Finding it hard to imagine anything more twatty than the Guardian’s pop-up coffee shop in Shoreditch. Really, The Guardian? Really?• Guardian coffee shop’s top sellers: 1) “Anti-imperialism” latte macchiato 2) “Moral relativism” cappuccino 3) “Israel is evil” chococino.• Popping down to #guardiancoffee later on to order a ‘Toynbee’: short, rich and intensely bitter• Guardian have opened up their own coffee shop. Only a matter of time before the Daily Mail reveal their new munitions range.• What next? The Daily Express abattoir? The Sun strip pub? The Daily Telegraph Tweed & Cane Emporium?
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A quiet chat between Labor comrades
Andrew Bolt May 31 2013 (2:06pm)
So Kevin Rudd is having dinner with colleagues when in walks the shamefully abusive Labor MP Steve Gibbons:
But really, Gillard supporters should realise Rudd isn’t their problem. Simon Benson:
...when asked how his motion [to strip the Prime Minister of her powers to choose her own cabinet] was coming along, Gibbons replied with a finger pointed at Rudd: “It’s f ... ed. Thanks to him.”Such is the paranoia.
“What do you mean Steve?"a confused Rudd asked.
“Well because you’ve supported it, its now f ... ed.”
“But Steve, its been my publicly stated position for 14 months, what did I do?”
“Well its now just completely f ... ed,” Gibbons continued.
“You have such a pleasant way of expressing support for your motion, Steve.”
“You have completely f ... ed it,” Gibbons repeated, to the growing amusement of the six other MPs at the table.
Rudd concluded the exchange with his own sweet profanity. “Steve, go f ... yourself!”
But really, Gillard supporters should realise Rudd isn’t their problem. Simon Benson:
It was the worst week, of the worst year, of the worst parliament in the history of Australian parliaments…(Thanks to reader Steve.)
The bungled attempt by the government to pass new electoral funding laws that proposed to take $60 million from taxpayers and put it in to political parties campaign coffers is emblematic of just how out of touch the political class in Canberra is with the rest of the country… Gillard’s own failure to walk away, even after it was dead, instead continuing to back it, is symbolic of how out of touch her leadership team is ...
The well known Rudd supporter Anthony Byrne, the chair of the intelligence committee, fired the second missile on Monday when he attacked the government in parliament over funding cuts to the spy agencies. That too, was labelled a “disgrace”.
Then there was the Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus’ spectacularly inept response to suggestions that Chinese hackers had stolen the blueprints to its new $650 million office block… The PM couldn’t buy a trick when it was revealed the NBN was exposing people to asbestos. And then news that a suspected terrorist wanted by Interpol had been living in low security detention centre in South Australia for a year as an asylum seeker.
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The Goodes case: hurt feelings are not proof of a crime
Andrew Bolt May 31 2013 (1:32pm)
Among the many stupid things written about the Adam Goodes affair, this - from commentator Patrick Smith - is among the most witless:
This kind of thinking, with traces already now embedded in legislation, leaves us increasingly defenceless against the justice of the pointed finger. Someone need merely to claim they were hurt, no matter how trivial or imagined the offence, and racism is proved.
The victim is king, and reason in chains.
UPDATE
.
Health academic Anthony Dillon says playing this victim game actually entrenches the racial stereotypes that hold back Aborigines:
Racial vilification is not in the words of the accused but in the heart of the victim.If true, there are no racists. Just people feeling there must be.
This kind of thinking, with traces already now embedded in legislation, leaves us increasingly defenceless against the justice of the pointed finger. Someone need merely to claim they were hurt, no matter how trivial or imagined the offence, and racism is proved.
The victim is king, and reason in chains.
UPDATE
.
Health academic Anthony Dillon says playing this victim game actually entrenches the racial stereotypes that hold back Aborigines:
Being the victim, paradoxically, can place one in a position of power. Few are game to disagree with victims (or their supporters), or question motives, or challenge them in any way for fear of being seen as an uncaring bully. When Aboriginal identity and mandated ‘respect’ are factored in, questioning victim status will likely be seen as tantamount to racism. Therefore, adopting the victim role (feeling upset, offended, outraged, racially vilified, or whatever) can be a very effective and convenient way of silencing dissent, and inducing feelings of guilt in others. Silencing others provides the ‘offended’ victim with a sense of power over others - and that feels good. Victims remain unchallenged with their victim status intact and unassailable. Any open debate on the problems facing Aboriginal people is stifled…From In Black and White: Australians All at the Crossroads, edited by Rhonda Craven, Anthony Dillon, and Nigel Parbury. Out now. Order here. In case anyone is thinking of suing Dillon under the Racial Discrimination Act, note that he identifies as part-Aboriginal Australian.
The interest of the political parties in maintaining an Aboriginal problem is compounded by the existence of a small group of Aboriginal activists whose vocation is confrontation, who generally derive their own income from governmental sources, either directly or indirectly and who must have poor Aborigines to point to in order to have a raison d’etre themselves…
There are therefore, people with a vested interest in having Aboriginal people maintain a view of themselves as victims. This has led to the term ‘Aboriginal industry’ - describing the many positions as ‘cultural experts’, consultants, advisers, etc., devoted to addressing Aboriginal issues. People in these roles are reluctant to give them up…
I am not denying that racism exists in Australia; it does – as it does in any country… However, one of the barriers to weeding out racism is the focus on confected racism. It has become far too easy to make claims of racism when a non-Aboriginal person disagrees with an Aboriginal person. Or a racist motive is assumed (never substantiated, just assumed) when a person of mixed heritage is questioned about why they choose to identify solely as Aboriginal…
Rather than just complaining [of racism], I suggest it’s better to adopt the approach of Aboriginal singer-songwriter Jimmy Little, who said; “Racism has never been a problem for me. I know who I am. If others don’t, then that’s their problem.”
Why wasn’t racism a problem for Jimmy? He likely valued his opinion of himself more than he valued some other people’s opinions of him… I am suggesting that changing one’s response to the slur will be far more empowering than trying to change the person speaking the slur. Rather than taking offence when such slurs are spoken (which is extremely disempowering), perhaps a better response is to laugh. Laughing is not endorsing such racial slurs, but simply communicates, ‘I’m a bigger person than you’.
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This girl cannot have her future stolen by a myth
Andrew Bolt May 31 2013 (1:30pm)
Destroy the “stolen generations” myth now, before more children have their future destroyed:
LEIGH Swift and Yvonne Mudford fear the time is coming when the Aboriginal girl they have raised will be taken from them.Thanks to Paul Toohey for writing this important article.
The idea plagues them. Mr Swift, 56, the Tennant Creek fire chief, and Ms Mudford, 46, who works for the Health Department, have fallen in love with Mikala, aged four…
When she was six months old, Mikala’s parents, who live across the road, asked the white couple to babysit the child when they went drinking, which was four nights a week…
When they arrived to collect her from an Alice Springs address, they found the front yard covered with crime scene tape from a homicide the night before…
Mikala’s mother asked Mr Swift and Ms Mudford to “grow her up”.
Late last year, the birth mother wanted to reclaim Mikala…
NT Child Commissioner, Howard Bath, has said the law should be changed so the child’s well-being is considered ahead of cultural issues.
“I don’t think she’s got a culture to lose,” says Ms Mudford. “How do a family that are continually drunk pass on an oral culture in a true and faithful manner?
“I think she needs to know her family, but at this point in time they’re not able to look after her because of the drinking and the violence in the home.”
Mr Swift’s 50-plus age prevents him from adopting. He has extended his posting in Tennant Creek just to be with Mikala.
“I want her to grow up in society where she won’t have the outcomes of her family, which is alcoholism, abuse, jails. It’s the grog,” says Mr Swift. He says he’d be happy for Mikala to go back home, if home was safe. “I honestly don’t think it’s going to happen,” he says. “That’s what we’ve asked for - commit to the child for three months, off the grog. They can’t do that.”
(Thanks to reader A.)
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Bolt Report on Sunday
Andrew Bolt May 31 2013 (1:13pm)
On Network 10 at 10am:
- When grown men vilify a 13-year-old girl as the “face of racism”, who are the real bullies? Defying the New Racism.
- Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison on the boat people fiasco
- former Labor president Warren Mundine and former Victorian Liberal president Michael Kroger
- a fact check on the abusive Mr Windsor.
The twitter feed.
The place the videos appear.
- When grown men vilify a 13-year-old girl as the “face of racism”, who are the real bullies? Defying the New Racism.
- Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison on the boat people fiasco
- former Labor president Warren Mundine and former Victorian Liberal president Michael Kroger
- a fact check on the abusive Mr Windsor.
The twitter feed.
The place the videos appear.
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Save our scouts
Andrew Bolt May 31 2013 (10:03am)
Cultural vandalism:
Tucked away in a hidden reserve, the home of the 2nd Malvern Scouts is about to be no more.What are the councillors teaching these young scouts, who worked so hard to help restore the building now being so casually destroyed? A very, very poor example is being set.
Last month Stonnington Council decided not to renew their lease in favour of knocking down the hall to clear a path through Milton Gray Reserve…
An email sent by a member of the public to one of the councillors asked the council to demolish its “unused and unsightly” building.
But according to the chief commissioner of Scouts Australia’s Victorian branch, Bob Taylor, the so-called “unsightly” building was built by parents of scouts last century and was used for more than 80 years. Mr Taylor said the group closed in 2000, but since March about 20 cubs and joeys had returned to the hall after the scouts spent $60,000 revamping the building.
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No, Waleed. A war against totalitarians is never fair
Andrew Bolt May 31 2013 (8:24am)
Muslim Waleed Aly, academic and ABC host, is angry that US soldiers are fighting in ways which makes it impossible for the Taliban to kill them:
But what we are seeing in the battlefield is not just a clash of technology - drones against AK 47s and roadside bombs. It is a clash of cultures, and the weaponry is a product and a measure of each.
The reason the US has drones is it has cultural qualities that Islamic societies - especially those producing Talibani - have so long lacked. It has honored learning, put reason above dogma, encouraged free thought, defended free speech, governed by the rule of law and tolerated heresy. It has opened itself to the world and given its citizens a voice and power through democracy, perhaps the greatest source of its power.
Such a society will inevitably have a scientific edge over its enemies. That edge helps it to survive against even against terrorists who do not share, for instance, its respect for the lives of not just its own soldiers but of the innocent in the lands of its enemies. The culture behind the weaponry is what makes this fight not fair, and no person of reason should wish it otherwise.
For Aly to oppose the use of drones is not just to argue for more US soldiers to be killed. It is to demand the US give up the fruits of democracy and free inquiry, leaving those values more defenceless against cultures pledged to destroy them.
You can side with the drones or with the suicide vests. But in doing so you make a choice not just between technologies, but between freedom and oppression.
UPDATE
The latest drone news:
UPDATE
I mentioned above the real war contract a society has - not with its enemy but with its people and its soldiers. Few described it better than did General George Patton - the real one and that played by George C. Scott, both of whom speak here:
(Thanks to reader zulumuster.)
[Drones] so radically and fundamentally alter the nature of war that they risk making war seem far less grave, and far easier to wage. War is a kind of contract. Each side confronts the other, with the risk of death and defeat. In short, war should come at a cost. That contract is shredded when you’re attacked by something that cannot itself be killed. It’s not remotely a fair fight.A word to Aly. There is no contract of the kind you imagine. The contract a society has is actually with its citizens, not its enemies. That contract is to fight for the society’s self-protection using whatever means it has to minimise its own losses and maximise those of its foes. For the US to do anything other is not remotely fair to its citizens and to those it asks to fight for them. It has next to no obligation to be fair to terrorists.
But what we are seeing in the battlefield is not just a clash of technology - drones against AK 47s and roadside bombs. It is a clash of cultures, and the weaponry is a product and a measure of each.
The reason the US has drones is it has cultural qualities that Islamic societies - especially those producing Talibani - have so long lacked. It has honored learning, put reason above dogma, encouraged free thought, defended free speech, governed by the rule of law and tolerated heresy. It has opened itself to the world and given its citizens a voice and power through democracy, perhaps the greatest source of its power.
Such a society will inevitably have a scientific edge over its enemies. That edge helps it to survive against even against terrorists who do not share, for instance, its respect for the lives of not just its own soldiers but of the innocent in the lands of its enemies. The culture behind the weaponry is what makes this fight not fair, and no person of reason should wish it otherwise.
For Aly to oppose the use of drones is not just to argue for more US soldiers to be killed. It is to demand the US give up the fruits of democracy and free inquiry, leaving those values more defenceless against cultures pledged to destroy them.
You can side with the drones or with the suicide vests. But in doing so you make a choice not just between technologies, but between freedom and oppression.
UPDATE
The latest drone news:
THE US drone strike that killed the Pakistani Taliban’s No 2 has delivered a powerful message to the new government that the controversial drone program can work in its interests.The Pakistan Taliban has demonstrated exactly what it thinks of free inquiry, free speech and the education of girls:
The death of Waliur Rehman comes just days after US President Barack Obama outlined stricter protocol for drones, promising lethal force would be used only if a target posed a “continuous, imminent threat to the American people"…
Rehman, 40, and second only to Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan commander Hakimullah Mehsud, is understood to have co-ordinated dozens of suicide attacks on Pakistani civilians, waged guerilla war against Pakistani troops and conducted cross-border attacks against NATO troops fighting the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan… His death on Wednesday morning, along with at least five others, in a missile strike on a Taliban safe house near the North Waziristan capital, Miran Shah, removes a powerful anti-state actor ahead of mooted peace talks between the new government and the home-grown terror outfit.
The Pakistan Taliban, who are close to al Qaeda, remain resilient despite a series of military offensives. They took part in ... the attempted assassination of Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousufzai in October, who had campaigned for girls’ education.A society with those values is never going to be a pioneer in high-tech weapons.
UPDATE
I mentioned above the real war contract a society has - not with its enemy but with its people and its soldiers. Few described it better than did General George Patton - the real one and that played by George C. Scott, both of whom speak here:
No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. You won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.(And for a treat, read again Patton’s speech to his Third Army just before D-Day. I suspect Aly would be horrified by one of the greatest generals in US history.)
(Thanks to reader zulumuster.)
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The Australian Lemming Party
Andrew Bolt May 31 2013 (8:20am)
Graham Richardson in despair:
I never thought I would see the day when the Labor Party accepted defeat so meekly.
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Global warming: trust Gillard or trust a scientist
Andrew Bolt May 31 2013 (8:09am)
Our politicians declare it impossible for anyone of reason to question their faith that carbon dioxide is heating the world dangerously:
Mr OAKESHOTT: Will the Prime Minister and the leader of the other major party, if allowed, confirm for the House today, in a bipartisan way, their personal acknowledgement, acceptance and confidence in the facts and evidence of man-made climate change?…Two days later, a scientist offers another view:
Ms GILLARD (Lalor—Prime Minister) (14:23): To the member’s question, I absolutely confirm to him that I accept the science of climate change. I absolutely confirm to him that I accept that science, as I accept other scientific conclusions. Consequently that means that I understand that carbon pollution, in particular, is making a difference to our climate and so if we are to tackle climate change then we need to tackle carbon pollution in our atmosphere.... I absolutely accept the science and do not believe that it is possible for a person of reason to have any other view.
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are to blame for global warming since the 1970s and not carbon dioxide, according to new research from the University of Waterloo published in the International Journal of Modern Physics B this week.
CFCs are already known to deplete ozone, but in-depth statistical analysis now shows that CFCs are also the key driver in global climate change, rather than carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. “Conventional thinking says that the emission of human-made non-CFC gases such as carbon dioxide has mainly contributed to global warming. But we have observed data going back to the Industrial Revolution that convincingly shows that conventional understanding is wrong,” said Qing-Bin Lu, a professor of physics and astronomy, biology and chemistry in Waterloo’s Faculty of Science. “In fact, the data shows that CFCs conspiring with cosmic rays caused both the polar ozone hole and global warming.”
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Is the NBN another home insulation scandal?
Andrew Bolt May 31 2013 (7:20am)
Whoever is to blame, the exposure of the workers to such danger is disgraceful:
THE federal government agency building the National Broadband Network is being blamed for exposing workers to asbestos risks amid revelations it was warned two years ago to act on the danger.This has shades of Labor’s home insulation disaster.
Union officials accused NBN Co of failing to honour an agreement in 2011 to prepare workers for the asbestos hazards as emails confirmed that company executives were told of the challenge to the $37.4 billion project. As Julia Gillard sought to hold Telstra responsible for the workplace failures, The Australian was told last night that at least two recent asbestos incidents related to contractors working for NBN Co, not Telstra.
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Al-Ahmadzai should not be tried in the media - but that means not whitewashed, either
Andrew Bolt May 31 2013 (7:20am)
I worry about the us-against-them culture of a certain minority.
Today lawyer Tamana Daqiq wites in the Sydney Morning Herald about her poor, picked-on relative:
Yes, Al-Ahmadzai must be presumed innocent, and should not be tried in the media now that he is charged. But that should also mean he isn’t given a highly partial character reference like this one that could feed a dangerous paranoia and victimology among young Muslim men.
Today lawyer Tamana Daqiq wites in the Sydney Morning Herald about her poor, picked-on relative:
I have been closely involved in the ordeal over the past three years of my relative Milad Al-Ahmadzai, the 23-year-old who appeared in Burwood Court this week charged with threatening serious harm to a Commonwealth official. I write to give voice to the anguish and drowned cries of his heartbroken mother and pregnant wife, and also as a duty to the Australian public, who have a right to know the truth.Missing from this conspiracy theory are any references to charges over a ram-raid, links to a particularly disturbing preacher and material seized in an earlier raid.
On the day that the government was questioned about the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation’s budget hike, Commonwealth officials conveniently leaked information to the media of the arrest of someone they had described as a “firebrand jihadist” with “demonstrated links” to terrorists…
Despite the allegations made against him, ... no such evidence has been presented by the Commonwealth… Instead, Al-Ahmadzai has been the subject of ongoing harassment and interrogation by Commonwealth officials who have had him under 24-hour surveillance since he was 19-years-old for posting an “anti-government” comment online.
And to what end? To arrest him four weeks after a threatening telephone call to a Commonwealth official made in a moment of sheer frustration.... Al-Ahmadzai is recorded as saying, “Come near my family again, I’m gonna slit your throat”. While his choice of words is obviously inappropriate, I believe it falls short of warranting him the title of “firebrand jihadist”. Rather, it seems this telephone call is a desperate plea to be left alone… The reality is that Al-Ahmadzai poses no real threat. The only apparent evidence of his alleged “terrorism” so far is that he fits the stereotype: he is Muslim; has a long, black beard; doesn’t agree with Australian foreign policy and is not afraid to say so. He is passionate and perhaps a bit of a loud mouth. He is the perfect scapegoat for the government’s failures.
Yes, Al-Ahmadzai must be presumed innocent, and should not be tried in the media now that he is charged. But that should also mean he isn’t given a highly partial character reference like this one that could feed a dangerous paranoia and victimology among young Muslim men.
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Watching a documentary about the Berlin wall, and seeing 70,000 East Germans tear down the wall that separated them from their families on the other side one brick at a time in 1989, overwhelming the politburo and the guards who stood down... Makes me love Freedom. Zaya Toma
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From the Norwegian people who brought the world Anders Behring Breivik who killed 77 people in bomb and shooting attacks last year they now show the world they are not any different to Breivik themselves. Daniel K
Circumcision has been hotly debated in Scandinavian countries in recent times, but this week, Norway’s third largest newspaper, Dagbladet, took the issue well beyond the boundaries of civil debate and straight into the realm of blatant anti-Semitism.
The cartoon Dagbladet published on Tuesday ostensibly depicts the circumcision of an infant, but the sinister-looking people carrying out the ritual are actually cutting off the baby’s toes and stabbing his head with a demonic-looking fork. On the right side of the cartoon, you see police arriving on the scene, but after being assured that the practice is simply an expression of religious belief, they leave.
“Mistreating? No this is tradition, an important part of our belief!” the woman is shown telling the policemen.“Belief? Oh yes, then it is all right,” the officer responds while the second policeman apologizes for the interference.
The men in the cartoon bear a striking resemblance to the hideous caricatures of Jews in classic anti-Semitic cartoons, right down to their black garb and beards. And they are holding books – ostensibly volumes of Torah – that are soaked in the blood of the screaming child.
Circumcision is depicted as a form of mutilation and torture, and the idea that there is a religious basis for the practice serves as the cartoon’s punch-line, as if there are “beliefs” that call for cutting a baby’s toes off with a bolt cutter.
“This is a despicable attack on Jews and a fundamental tradition of Jewish life,” said HonestReporting CEO Joe Hyams, who was attending the Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism when the cartoon was published.
“That this cartoon has been published as delegates meet from around the world in Jerusalem to coordinate the fight against anti-Semitism graphically illustrates the need to combat this pernicious Jew hatred.“
After complaints about the cartoon from the Jewish community in Norway, the cartoon’s artist, Tomas Drefvelin, wrote an email to MIFF, a Norwegian pro-Israel organization, denying the cartoon was anti-Semitic. It was meant, he wrote, “not as criticism of either a specific religion or a nation [but] as a general criticism of religions.”
“I gave the people in the picture hats, and the man a beard, because this gives them a more religious character,” he said. “Jew-hatred is reprehensible. I would never draw to create hatred of a people, or against individuals.”
While Drefvelin may not have intended to employ classic anti-Semitic tropes and caricatures, his cartoon now takes its place as the latest in a long line of fiendish depictions of Jews in black coats and hats carrying out outrageous and morally offensive acts designed to inspire reactions of disgust from the public.
Dr. Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, compared the cartoon to Nazi propaganda, which often exaggerated Jewish rituals to give them a demonic appearance. “This is a violent cartoon which is meant to inspire hate and contempt against one particular people,” he said.
You can register your outrage by writing directly to Dagbladet’s editor-in-chief John Arne Markussen at john.arne.markussen@dagbladet.no. While this cartoon has understandably generated a great deal of anger and hurt, we call upon our subscribers to make your complaints in a civil fashion and to make it clear exactly why the global Jewish community would find the cartoon so utterly offensive. Remember – a civil discourse is more likely to successfully make our point.
The Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism
The 4th International Conference of the Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism is currently taking place in Jerusalem. Click here for more on the Conference.
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Renew Your Heart.Salvation Prayer!
Since we did not stop committing sin after we gave our lives to Christ,there is need for us to renew our heat on daily basis. The prayer.
Dear God in heaven, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I acknowledge to You that I am a sinner, and I am sorry for my sins and the life that I have lived; I need your forgiveness.I believe that your only begotten Son Jesus Christ shed His precious blood on the cross at Calvary and died for my sins, and I am now willing to turn from my sin.
You said in Your Word, Romans 10:9 that if we confess the Lord our God and believe in our hearts that You raised Jesus from the dead, we shall be saved.
Right now I confess Jesus as the Lord of my soul. With my heart, I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. This very moment I accept Jesus Christ as my own personal Savior and according to His Word, right now I am saved.Amen.
You said in Your Word, Romans 10:9 that if we confess the Lord our God and believe in our hearts that You raised Jesus from the dead, we shall be saved.
Right now I confess Jesus as the Lord of my soul. With my heart, I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. This very moment I accept Jesus Christ as my own personal Savior and according to His Word, right now I am saved.Amen.
Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin
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- 1223 – Mongol invasions: Mongol forces defeated a combined army of Kiev, Galich, and the Cumans at the Kalchik River in present-day Ukraine.
- 1669 – Citing poor eyesight, English naval administratorand Member of Parliament Samuel Pepys (pictured)recorded his last entry in his diary, one of the most important primary sources for the English Restoration period.
- 1935 – A 7.7 Mw earthquake struck Balochistan in the British Raj, now part of Pakistan, killing anywhere between 30,000 and 60,000 people.
- 1981 – An organized mob of police and government-sponsored paramilitias began burning the public library in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, destroying over 97,000 items in one of the most violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the 20th century.
- 2009 – American physician George Tiller who was nationally known for being one of the few doctors in the United States to perform late-term abortions, was shot and killed by Scott Roeder, an anti-abortionactivist.
- 455 – Emperor Petronius Maximus is stoned to death by an angry mob while fleeing Rome.
- 1223 – Mongol invasion of the Cumans: Battle of the Kalka River: Mongolarmies of Genghis Khan led by Subutai defeat Kievan Rus' and Cumans.
- 1578 – King Henry III lays the first stone of the Pont Neuf (New Bridge), the oldest bridge of Paris, France.
- 1669 – Citing poor eyesight, Samuel Pepys records the last event in his diary.
- 1775 – American Revolution: The Mecklenburg Resolves are adopted in the Province of North Carolina.
- 1790 – Manuel Quimper explores the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
- 1790 – The United States enacts its first copyright statute, the Copyright Act of 1790.
- 1795 – French Revolution: The Revolutionary Tribunal is suppressed.
- 1805 – French and Spanish forces begin the assault against British forces occupying Diamond Rock.
- 1813 – In Australia, William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth reach Mount Blaxland, effectively marking the end of a route across the Blue Mountains.
- 1859 – The clock tower at the Houses of Parliament, which houses Big Ben, starts keeping time.
- 1862 – American Civil War: Peninsula Campaign: Battle of Seven Pines or (Battle of Fair Oaks): Confederate forces under Joseph E. Johnston and G.W. Smith engage Union forces under George B. McClellan outside Richmond, Virginia.
- 1864 – American Civil War: Overland Campaign: Battle of Cold Harbor: The Army of Northern Virginiaunder Robert E. Lee engages the Army of the Potomac under Ulysses S. Grant and George Meade.
- 1866 – In the Fenian Invasion of Canada, John O'Neill leads 850 Fenian raiders across the Niagara Riverat Buffalo, New York/Fort Erie, Ontario, as part of an effort to free Ireland from the United Kingdom. Canadian militia and British regulars repulse the invaders over the next three days, at a cost of nine dead and 38 wounded to the Fenians' 19 dead and about 17 wounded.
- 1879 – Gilmore's Garden in New York City is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Henry Vanderbilt and is opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue.
- 1884 – The arrival at Plymouth of Tāwhiao, King of Maoris, to claim the protection of Queen Victoria
- 1889 – Johnstown Flood: Over 2,200 people die after a dam fails and sends a 60-foot (18-meter) wall of water over the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
- 1902 – Second Boer War: The Treaty of Vereeniging ends the war and ensures British control of South Africa.
- 1909 – The National Negro Committee, forerunner to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), convenes for the first time.
- 1910 – The creation of the Union of South Africa.
- 1911 – The President of Mexico Porfirio Díaz flees the country during the Mexican Revolution.
- 1916 – World War I: Battle of Jutland: The British Grand Fleet under the command of John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe and David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty engage the Imperial German Navy under the command of Reinhard Scheer and Franz von Hipper in the largest naval battle of the war, which proves indecisive.
- 1921 – Tulsa race riot: civil unrest in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The official death toll was given as 39, but other estimates of black fatalities vary from 55 to about 300.
- 1924 – The Soviet Union signs an agreement with the Beijing government, referring to Outer Mongolia as an "integral part of the Republic of China", whose "sovereignty" therein the Soviet Union promises to respect.
- 1927 – The last Ford Model T rolls off the assembly line after a production run of 15,007,003 vehicles.
- 1935 – A 7.7 Mw earthquake destroys Quetta in modern-day Pakistan killing 40,000.
- 1941 – Anglo-Iraqi War: The United Kingdom completes the re-occupation of Iraq and returns 'Abd al-Ilahto power as regent for Faisal II.
- 1942 – World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy midget submarines begin a series of attacks on Sydney, Australia.
- 1958 – Feijenoord Rotterdam wins the first edition of the Benelux Cup
- 1961 – The Union of South Africa becomes the Republic of South Africa.
- 1961 – In Moscow City Court, the Rokotov–Faibishenko show trial begins, despite the Khrushchev Thawto reverse Stalinist elements in Soviet society.
- 1962 – The West Indies Federation dissolves.
- 1970 – The 7.9 Mw Ancash earthquake shakes Peru with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe) and a landslide buries the town of Yungay, Peru. Between 66,794–70,000 were killed and 50,000 were injured.
- 1971 – In accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the traditional Memorial Day of May 30.
- 1973 – The United States Senate votes to cut off funding for the bombing of Khmer Rouge targets within Cambodia, hastening the end of the Cambodian Civil War.
- 1977 – The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System is completed.
- 1981 – The burning of Jaffna library in Sri Lanka, a violent example of ethnic biblioclasm, takes place.
- 1985 – United States–Canada tornado outbreak: Forty-one tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, leaving 76 dead.
- 1989 – A group of six members of the Peruvian guerrilla group Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movementshoot dead eight transsexuals in Tarapoto.
- 1991 – Bicesse Accords in Angola lay out a transition to multi-party democracy under the supervision of the United Nations' UNAVEM II mission.
- 2001 The International Law Commission adopts its Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts on second reading.
- 2005 – Vanity Fair reveals that Mark Felt was "Deep Throat".
- 2010 – Israeli Shayetet 13 commandos boarded the Gaza Freedom Flotilla while still in international waters trying to break the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip; nine Turkish civilians on the flotilla were killed in the ensuing violent affray.
- 2013 – The asteroid 1998 QE2 and its moon make their closest approach to Earth for the next two centuries.
- 1443 – Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby (d. 1509)
- 1462 – Philipp II, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (d. 1504)
- 1469 – Manuel I of Portugal (d. 1521)
- 1535 – Alessandro Allori, Italian painter (d. 1607)
- 1556 – Jerzy Radziwiłł, Catholic cardinal (d. 1600)
- 1557 – Feodor I of Russia (d. 1598)
- 1613 – John George II, Elector of Saxony (d. 1680)
- 1641 – Patriarch Dositheos II of Jerusalem (d. 1707)
- 1683 – Jean-Pierre Christin, French physicist, mathematician, and astronomer, invented the Celsius thermometer (d. 1755)
- 1732 – Count Hieronymus von Colloredo, Austrian archbishop (d. 1812)
- 1753 – Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud, French lawyer and politician (d. 1793)
- 1754 – Andrea Appiani, Italian painter and educator (d. 1817)
- 1773 – Ludwig Tieck, German poet, author, and critic (d. 1853)
- 1801 – Johann Georg Baiter, Swiss philologist and scholar (d. 1887)
- 1815 – Adye Douglas, English-Australian cricketer and politician, 15th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1906)
- 1818 – John Albion Andrew, American lawyer and politician, 25th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1867)
- 1819 – Walt Whitman, American poet, essayist, and journalist (d. 1892)
- 1835 – Hijikata Toshizō, Japanese commander (d. 1869)
- 1838 – Henry Sidgwick, English economist and philosopher (d. 1900)
- 1842 – John Cox Bray, Australian politician, 15th Premier of South Australia (d. 1894)
- 1847 – William Pirrie, 1st Viscount Pirrie, Canadian-Irish businessman and politician, Lord Mayor of Belfast (d. 1924)
- 1852 – Francisco Moreno, Argentinian explorer and academic (d. 1919)
- 1852 – Julius Richard Petri, German microbiologist, invented the Petri dish (d. 1921)
- 1857 – Pope Pius XI (d. 1939)
- 1858 – Graham Wallas, English socialist, social psychologist, and educationalist (d. 1932)
- 1860 – Walter Sickert, English painter (d. 1942)
- 1863 – Francis Younghusband, Indian-English captain and explorer (d. 1942)
- 1866 – John Ringling, one of the founders of the Ringling Brothers Circus (d. 1936)
- 1879 – Frances Alda, New Zealand-Australian soprano (d. 1952)
- 1882 – Sándor Festetics, Hungarian politician, Hungarian Minister of War (d. 1956)
- 1883 – Lauri Kristian Relander, Finnish politician, 2nd President of Finland (d. 1942)
- 1885 – Alois Hudal, Austrian bishop (d. 1963)
- 1885 – Robert Richards, Australian politician, 32nd Premier of South Australia (d. 1967)
- 1887 – Saint-John Perse, French poet and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
- 1892 – Michel Kikoine, Belarusian-French painter (d. 1968)
- 1892 – Erich Neumann, German lieutenant and politician (d. 1951)
- 1892 – Konstantin Paustovsky, Russian poet and author (d. 1968)
- 1892 – Gregor Strasser, German lieutenant and politician (d. 1934)
- 1894 – Fred Allen, American comedian, radio host, game show panelist, and author (d. 1956)
- 1898 – Norman Vincent Peale, American minister and author (d. 1993)
- 1901 – Alfredo Antonini, Italian-American conductor and composer (d. 1983)
- 1908 – Don Ameche, American actor (d. 1993)
- 1908 – Nils Poppe, Swedish actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2000)
- 1909 – Art Coulter, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 2000)
- 1909 – Aurore Gagnon, French Canadian girl, victim of child abuse (d. 1920)
- 1911 – Maurice Allais, French economist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2010)
- 1912 – Chien-Shiung Wu, Chinese-American experimental physicist (d. 1997)
- 1914 – Akira Ifukube, Japanese composer and educator (d. 2006)
- 1916 – Bert Haanstra, Dutch director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1997)
- 1916 – Bernard Lewis, English-American historian and author
- 1919 – Robie Macauley, American editor, novelist and critic (d. 1995)
- 1921 – Edna Doré, English actress (d. 2014)
- 1921 – Howard Reig, American radio and television announcer (d. 2008)
- 1921 – Alida Valli, Austrian-Italian actress and singer (d. 2006)
- 1922 – Denholm Elliott, English-Spanish actor (d. 1992)
- 1923 – Ellsworth Kelly, American painter and sculptor (d. 2015)
- 1923 – Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (d. 2005)
- 1924 – Russell Endean, South African cricketer (d. 2003)
- 1925 – Julian Beck, American actor and director (d. 1986)
- 1927 – James Eberle, English admiral
- 1927 – Michael Sandberg, Baron Sandberg, English lieutenant and banker
- 1928 – Pankaj Roy, Indian cricketer (d. 2001)
- 1929 – Menahem Golan, Israeli director and producer (d. 2014)
- 1930 – Clint Eastwood, American actor, director, musician, and producer
- 1931 – John Robert Schrieffer, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1931 – Shirley Verrett, American soprano and actress (d. 2010)
- 1932 – Ed Lincoln, Brazilian pianist, bassist, and composer (d. 2012)
- 1932 – Jay Miner, American computer scientist and engineer (d. 1994)
- 1933 – Henry B. Eyring, American religious leader, educator, and author
- 1934 – Jim Hutton, American actor (d. 1979)
- 1935 – Jim Bolger, New Zealand businessman and politician, 35th Prime Minister of New Zealand
- 1938 – Johnny Paycheck, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003)
- 1938 – John Prescott, British sailor and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- 1938 – Peter Yarrow, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1939 – Terry Waite, English humanitarian and author
- 1940 – Anatoliy Bondarchuk, Ukrainian hammer thrower and coach
- 1940 – Augie Meyers, American musician and singer-songwriter
- 1940 – Gilbert Shelton, American illustrator
- 1941 – June Clark, Welsh nurse and educator
- 1941 – Louis Ignarro, American pharmacologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1943 – Sharon Gless, American actress
- 1943 – Joe Namath, American football player, sportscaster, and actor
- 1944 – Samantha Juste, English singer and television host (d. 2014)
- 1945 – Rainer Werner Fassbinder, German actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1982)
- 1945 – Laurent Gbagbo, Ivorian academic and politician, 4th President of Côte d'Ivoire
- 1945 – Bernard Goldberg, American journalist and author
- 1946 – Ted Baehr, American publisher and critic
- 1946 – Steve Bucknor, Jamaican cricketer and umpire
- 1946 – Krista Kilvet, Estonian journalist, politician, and diplomat (d. 2009)
- 1946 – Debbie Moore, English model and businesswoman
- 1947 – Junior Campbell, Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1947 – Gabriele Hinzmann, German discus thrower
- 1948 – Svetlana Alexievich, Belarusian journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1948 – John Bonham, English musician, songwriter and drummer (d. 1980)
- 1948 – Martin Hannett, English bass player, guitarist, and record producer (d. 1991)
- 1948 – Duncan Hunter, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician
- 1949 – Tom Berenger, American actor
- 1950 – Jean Chalopin, French director, producer, and screenwriter, founded DIC Entertainment
- 1950 – Gregory Harrison, American actor
- 1950 – Edgar Savisaar, Estonian politician, Estonian Minister of the Interior
- 1951 – Karl-Hans Riehm, German hammer thrower
- 1952 – Karl Bartos, German singer-songwriter and keyboard player
- 1953 – Pirkka-Pekka Petelius, Finnish actor and screenwriter
- 1953 – Linda Riordan, English politician
- 1953 – Lynne Truss, English journalist and author
- 1954 – Thomas Mavros, Greek footballer
- 1954 – Vicki Sue Robinson, American actress and singer (d. 2000)
- 1955 – Bruce Adolphe, American pianist, composer, and scholar
- 1955 – Ben de Lisi, American fashion designer
- 1955 – Tommy Emmanuel, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1955 – Susie Essman, American actress, comedian, and screenwriter
- 1956 – Fritz Hilpert, German drummer and composer
- 1956 – John Young, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player
- 1957 – Jim Craig, American ice hockey player
- 1959 – Andrea de Cesaris, Italian race car driver (d. 2014)
- 1959 – Phil Wilson, English politician
- 1960 – Greg Adams, Canadian ice hockey player and businessman
- 1960 – Chris Elliott, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter
- 1960 – Peter Winterbottom, English rugby player
- 1961 – Ray Cote, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1961 – Justin Madden, Australian footballer and politician
- 1961 – Lea Thompson, American actress, director, and producer
- 1962 – Corey Hart, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer
- 1963 – David Leigh, holder of the Sir Samuel Hall Chair of Chemistry at the University of Manchester
- 1963 – Viktor Orbán, Hungarian politician, 38th Prime Minister of Hungary
- 1963 – Wesley Willis, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player (d. 2003)
- 1964 – Leonard Asper, Canadian lawyer and businessman
- 1964 – Stéphane Caristan, French hurdler and coach
- 1964 – Yukio Edano, Japanese politician, Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs
- 1964 – Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels, American rapper and producer
- 1965 – Todd McKenney, Australian entertainer
- 1965 – Brooke Shields, American model, actress, and producer
- 1966 – Roshan Mahanama, Sri Lankan cricketer and referee
- 1967 – Sandrine Bonnaire, French actress
- 1967 – Phil Keoghan, New Zealand television host and producer
- 1967 – Kenny Lofton, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster
- 1968 – John Connolly, Irish journalist and author
- 1968 – Stéphane E. Roy, Canadian actor and comedian
- 1970 – Paolo Sorrentino, Italian director and screenwriter
- 1971 – Diana Damrau, German operatic soprano
- 1972 – Frode Estil, Norwegian skier
- 1972 – Antti Niemi, Finnish footballer and coach
- 1972 – Archie Panjabi, English actress
- 1972 – Dave Roberts, American baseball player and coach
- 1974 – Hiroiki Ariyoshi, Japanese comedian and singer
- 1974 – Chad Campbell, American golfer
- 1974 – Tristram Hunt, English historian and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Education
- 1975 – Mac Suzuki, Japanese baseball player
- 1976 – Colin Farrell, Irish actor
- 1976 – Matt Harpring, American basketball player and sportscaster
- 1976 – Mashona Washington, American tennis player
- 1977 – Theodoros Baev, Bulgarian-Greek volleyball player
- 1977 – Phil Devey, Canadian baseball player
- 1977 – Domenico Fioravanti, Italian swimmer
- 1977 – Scott Klopfenstein, American singer-songwriter and trumpet player
- 1977 – Greg Leeb, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1977 – Eric Christian Olsen, American actor
- 1977 – Joachim Olsen, Danish shot putter and politician
- 1977 – Moses Sichone, Zambian footballer
- 1977 – Petr Tenkrát, Czech ice hockey player
- 1979 – Jean-François Gillet, Belgian footballer
- 1980 – Craig Bolton, Australian footballer and sportscaster
- 1981 – Mikael Antonsson, Swedish footballer
- 1981 – Daniele Bonera, Italian footballer
- 1981 – Andy Hurley, American musician
- 1981 – Jake Peavy, American baseball player
- 1981 – Kōsaku Satoyama, Japanese sumo wrestler
- 1982 – Brett Firman, Australian rugby league player
- 1983 – David Hernandez, American singer and reality television star
- 1983 – Dustin Wells, New Zealand footballer
- 1984 – Andrew Bailey, American baseball player
- 1984 – Milorad Čavić, Serbian swimmer
- 1984 – Nate Robinson, American basketball player
- 1985 – Navene Koperweis, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
- 1985 – Ian Vougioukas, Greek basketball player
- 1986 – Robert Gesink, Dutch cyclist
- 1989 – Lauren Barnes, American soccer player
- 1989 – Bas Dost, Dutch footballer
- 1989 – Noah Gundersen, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1989 – Marco Reus, German footballer
- 1989 – Chase Stanley, Australian-New Zealand rugby league player
- 1990 – Erik Karlsson, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1991 – Azealia Banks, American rapper
- 1992 – Michaël Bournival, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1992 – Laura Ikauniece, Latvian heptathlete
- 1993 – Jason Taumalolo, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1996 – Connor Watson, Australian rugby league player
- 1997 – Inês Murta, Portuguese tennis player
Births[edit]
- 455 – Petronius Maximus, Roman emperor (b. 396)
- 1076 – Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria, English politician (b. 1050)
- 1089 – Sigwin von Are, Archbishop of Cologne
- 1162 – Géza II of Hungary (b. 1130)
- 1321 – Birger, King of Sweden (b. 1280)
- 1326 – Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley, English rebel baron (b. 1271)
- 1329 – Albertino Mussato, Italian statesman and writer (b. 1261)
- 1349 – Thomas Wake, 2nd Baron Wake of Liddell, English politician (b. 1297)
- 1370 – St Vitalis of Assisi (b. 1295)
- 1408 – Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Japanese shogun (b. 1358)
- 1410 – Martin of Aragon (b. 1356)
- 1504 – Engelbert II of Nassau (b. 1451)
- 1558 – Philip Hoby, English general and diplomat (b. 1505)
- 1567 – Guido de Bres, Belgian pastor and theologian (b. 1522)
- 1594 – Tintoretto, Italian painter and educator (b. 1518)
- 1680 – Joachim Neander, German theologian and educator (b. 1650)
- 1740 – Frederick William I of Prussia (b. 1688)
- 1747 – Andrey Osterman, German-Russian politician, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1686)
- 1809 – Joseph Haydn, Austrian pianist and composer (b. 1732)
- 1809 – Jean Lannes, French general (b. 1769)
- 1831 – Samuel Bentham, English architect and engineer (b. 1757)
- 1832 – Évariste Galois, French mathematician and theorist (b. 1811)
- 1837 – Joseph Grimaldi, English actor, comedian and dancer, (b. 1779)
- 1846 – Philip Marheineke, German pastor and philosopher (b. 1780)
- 1847 – Thomas Chalmers, Scottish minister and economist (b. 1780)
- 1848 – Eugénie de Guérin, French author (b. 1805)
- 1908 – Louis-Honoré Fréchette, Canadian author, poet, and politician (b. 1839)
- 1909 – Thomas Price, Welsh-Australian politician, 24th Premier of South Australia (b. 1852)
- 1910 – Elizabeth Blackwell, English-American physician and educator (b. 1821)
- 1931 – Felix-Raymond-Marie Rouleau, Canadian cardinal (b. 1866)
- 1931 – Willy Stöwer, German author and illustrator (b. 1864)
- 1945 – Odilo Globocnik, Italian-Austrian SS officer (b. 1904)
- 1954 – Antonis Benakis, Greek art collector and philanthropist, founded the Benaki Museum (b. 1873)
- 1957 – Stefanos Sarafis, Greek general and politician (b. 1890)
- 1957 – Leopold Staff, Polish poet and academic (b. 1878)
- 1960 – Willem Elsschot, Flemish author and poet (b. 1882)
- 1960 – Walther Funk, German economist, journalist, and politician, German Minister of Economics (b. 1890)
- 1962 – Henry F. Ashurst, American lawyer and politician (b. 1874)
- 1963 – Edith Hamilton, German-American author and educator (b. 1867)
- 1967 – Billy Strayhorn, American pianist and composer (b. 1915)
- 1970 – Terry Sawchuk, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1929)
- 1976 – Jacques Monod, French biologist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
- 1977 – William Castle, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1914)
- 1978 – József Bozsik, Hungarian footballer and manager (b. 1925)
- 1981 – Barbara Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, English economist and journalist (b. 1914)
- 1982 – Carlo Mauri, Italian mountaineer and explorer (b. 1930)
- 1983 – Jack Dempsey, American boxer and lieutenant (b. 1895)
- 1985 – Gaston Rébuffat, French mountaineer and author (b. 1921)
- 1986 – Jane Frank, American painter and sculptor (b. 1918)
- 1986 – James Rainwater, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
- 1987 – John Abraham, Indian director and screenwriter (b. 1937)
- 1989 – Owen Lattimore, American author and academic (b. 1900)
- 1994 – Uzay Heparı, Turkish actor, producer, and composer (b. 1969)
- 1994 – Herva Nelli, Italian-American soprano (b. 1909)
- 1995 – Stanley Elkin, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (b. 1930)
- 1996 – Timothy Leary, American psychologist and author (b. 1920)
- 1998 – Charles Van Acker, Belgian-American race car driver (b. 1912)
- 2000 – Petar Mladenov, Bulgarian diplomat, 1st President of Bulgaria (b. 1936)
- 2000 – Tito Puente, American jazz musician (b. 1923)
- 2000 – A. Jeyaratnam Wilson, Sri Lankan historian, author, and academic (b. 1928)
- 2001 – Arlene Francis, American actress, talk show host, game show panelist, and television personality (b. 1907)
- 2002 – Subhash Gupte, Indian cricketer (b. 1929)
- 2004 – Aiyathurai Nadesan, Sri Lankan journalist (b. 1954)
- 2004 – Robert Quine, American guitarist (b. 1941)
- 2004 – Étienne Roda-Gil, French screenwriter and composer (b. 1941)
- 2006 – Ryan Bennett, American sportscaster (b. 1970)
- 2006 – Miguel Ortiz Berrocal, Spanish sculptor (b. 1933)
- 2006 – Raymond Davis, Jr., American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1914)
- 2006 – Lula Mae Hardaway, American songwriter (b. 1930)
- 2009 – Danny La Rue, Irish-born British drag queen performer and singer (b. 1927)
- 2009 – George Tiller, American physician (b. 1941)
- 2010 – Louise Bourgeois, French-American sculptor and painter (b. 1911)
- 2010 – Brian Duffy, English photographer and producer (b. 1933)
- 2010 – William A. Fraker, American director, producer, and cinematographer (b. 1923)
- 2010 – Rubén Juárez, Argentinian singer-songwriter and bandoneón player (b. 1947)
- 2010 – Merata Mita, New Zealand director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1942)
- 2011 – Pauline Betz, American tennis player (b. 1919)
- 2011 – Jonas Bevacqua, American fashion designer, co-founded the Lifted Research Group (b. 1977)
- 2011 – Derek Hodge, Virgin Islander lawyer and politician, Lieutenant Governor of the United States Virgin Islands (b. 1941)
- 2011 – Hans Keilson, German-Dutch psychoanalyst and author (b. 1909)
- 2011 – John Martin, English admiral and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey (b. 1918)
- 2011 – Andy Robustelli, American football player and manager (b. 1925)
- 2012 – Christopher Challis, English cinematographer (b. 1919)
- 2012 – Randall B. Kester, American lawyer and judge (b. 1916)
- 2012 – Mark Midler, Russian fencer (b. 1931)
- 2012 – Paul Pietsch, German race car driver and publisher (b. 1911)
- 2012 – Orlando Woolridge, American basketball player and coach (b. 1959)
- 2013 – Gerald E. Brown, American physicist and academic (b. 1926)
- 2013 – Frederic Lindsay, Scottish author and educator (b. 1933)
- 2013 – Miguel Méndez, American author and poet (b. 1930)
- 2013 – Tim Samaras, American engineer and storm chaser (b. 1957)
- 2013 – Jairo Mora Sandoval, Costa Rican environmentalist (b. 1987)
- 2013 – Jean Stapleton, American actress (b. 1923)
- 2014 – Marilyn Beck, American journalist (b. 1928)
- 2014 – Marinho Chagas, Brazilian footballer and coach (b. 1952)
- 2014 – Hoss Ellington, American race car driver (b. 1935)
- 2014 – Martha Hyer, American actress (b. 1924)
- 2014 – Lewis Katz, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1942)
- 2014 – Brajanath Ratha, Indian poet and author (b. 1936)
- 2014 – Mary Soames, Baroness Soames, English author (b. 1922)
- 2015 – Gladys Taylor, Canadian author and publisher (b. 1917)
- 2016 – Mohamed Abdelaziz, President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (1976–2016) (b. 1947)
- 2016 – Jan Crouch, American televangelist, co-founder of the Trinity Broadcasting Network (b. 1938)
- 2016 – Carla Lane, English television writer (b. 1928)
- 2016 – Rupert Neudeck, German journalist and humanitarian (b. 1939)
Deaths[edit]
- Anniversary of Royal Brunei Malay Regiment (Brunei)
- Christian feast day:
- The beginning of Gawai Dayak (Dayaks in Sarawak, Malaysia and West Kalimantan, Indonesia)
- World No Tobacco Day (International)
Holidays and observances[edit]
“In God, whose word I praise— in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” - Psalm 56:4
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
A little thorn may cause much suffering. A little cloud may hide the sun. Little foxes spoil the vines; and little sins do mischief to the tender heart. These little sins burrow in the soul, and make it so full of that which is hateful to Christ, that he will hold no comfortable fellowship and communion with us. A great sin cannot destroy a Christian, but a little sin can make him miserable. Jesus will not walk with his people unless they drive out every known sin. He says, "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love." Some Christians very seldom enjoy their Saviour's presence. How is this? Surely it must be an affliction for a tender child to be separated from his father. Art thou a child of God, and yet satisfied to go on without seeing thy Father's face? What! thou the spouse of Christ, and yet content without his company! Surely, thou hast fallen into a sad state, for the chaste spouse of Christ mourns like a dove without her mate, when he has left her. Ask, then, the question, what has driven Christ from thee? He hides his face behind the wall of thy sins. That wall may be built up of little pebbles, as easily as of great stones. The sea is made of drops; the rocks are made of grains: and the sea which divides thee from Christ may be filled with the drops of thy little sins; and the rock which has well nigh wrecked thy barque, may have been made by the daily working of the coral insects of thy little sins. If thou wouldst live with Christ, and walk with Christ, and see Christ, and have fellowship with Christ, take heed of "the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes." Jesus invites you to go with him and take them. He will surely, like Samson, take the foxes at once and easily. Go with him to the hunting.
Evening
Christian, what hast thou to do with sin? Hath it not cost thee enough already? Burnt child, wilt thou play with the fire? What! when thou hast already been between the jaws of the lion, wilt thou step a second time into his den? Hast thou not had enough of the old serpent? Did he not poison all thy veins once, and wilt thou play upon the hole of the asp, and put thy hand upon the cockatrice's den a second time? Oh, be not so mad! so foolish! Did sin ever yield thee real pleasure? Didst thou find solid satisfaction in it? If so, go back to thine old drudgery, and wear the chain again, if it delight thee. But inasmuch as sin did never give thee what it promised to bestow, but deluded thee with lies, be not a second time snared by the old fowler--be free, and let the remembrance of thy ancient bondage forbid thee to enter the net again! It is contrary to the designs of eternal love, which all have an eye to thy purity and holiness; therefore run not counter to the purposes of thy Lord. Another thought should restrain thee from sin. Christians can never sin cheaply; they pay a heavy price for iniquity. Transgression destroys peace of mind, obscures fellowship with Jesus, hinders prayer, brings darkness over the soul; therefore be not the serf and bondman of sin. There is yet a higher argument: each time you "serve sin" you have "Crucified the Lord afresh, and put him to an open shame." Can you bear that thought? Oh! if you have fallen into any special sin during this day, it may be my Master has sent this admonition this evening, to bring you back before you have backslidden very far. Turn thee to Jesus anew; he has not forgotten his love to thee; his grace is still the same. With weeping and repentance, come thou to his footstool, and thou shalt be once more received into his heart; thou shalt be set upon a rock again, and thy goings shall be established.
===
Caesar
[Cae'zar] - one cut out. The surname always used in the New Testament for all Roman emperors. To Caesar the Jews paid tribute and it was also to him that those Jews who were Roman citizens (for example, Paul,Acts 25:10-21), had the right of appeal.
[Cae'zar] - one cut out. The surname always used in the New Testament for all Roman emperors. To Caesar the Jews paid tribute and it was also to him that those Jews who were Roman citizens (for example, Paul,Acts 25:10-21), had the right of appeal.
===
Deborah
The Woman Who Spent Her Life as a Nursemaid
Scripture References-Genesis 24:59; 35:8
Name Meaning -Deborah means a "bee," and is emblematic of industry, patience, sagacity and usefulness-a beautifully appropriate name for a maidservant or nursemaid. Deborah's conduct throughout her long life fulfilled the expectation, or hope, expressed by her name. As a bee symbolizes constant activity, industrious diligence and care, the God of grace enabled Deborah to live her life as a devoted, quiet and faithful nurse.
Family Connections-We know nothing of Deborah's background. She was probably born in servitude, yet her parentage was commendable enough to warrant the domestic office of great trust in the patriarchal household of Nahor.
As Rebekah's nurse she accompanied her mistress to her new home after her marriage to Isaac. When Jacob and Esau were born into the home we can imagine how lovingly Deborah would care for them. Then when Jacob married, and his family increased rapidly, it is probable that Rebekah and Isaac gave Deborah to nurse them. When Rebekah had no further use for her nurse, she did not dismiss her. Deborah remained in the family and was held in great reverence. She became an indispensable treasure in that ancient patriarchal circle. When she died at an advanced age-almost 100 years according to some writers-she was lamented for as one of the family, and great honor was paid to her at her death. Her name and the place of her burial are immortalized in the words, "Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak tree whose name Jacob called Allon-bachuth (which means, Oak of Weeping )." The entire family was touched by her passing, and all who had been the recipients of Deborah's faithful devotion wept for her as for one of their own. Through her faith to God, she had transformed the bonds of servitude into those of love, and earned the devotion and gratitude of those whom she had so long and loyally served. Deborah brought the glory of God into the most commonplace duties of Jacob's home. No wonder all eyes were wet with tears as they buried her aged, bent body under that oak tree. Famous men, like Earl Shaftesbury and Robert L. Stevenson, have testified to the debt they owe to devoted nurses who were so kind and devoted to them in their earlier years, and who greatly influenced their lives, even more so than their own parents.
===
Today's reading: 2 Chronicles 10-12, John 11:30-57 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: 2 Chronicles 10-12
Israel Rebels Against Rehoboam
1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king. 2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. 3 So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and all Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: 4 "Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you...."
Today's New Testament reading: John 11:30-57
30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died...."
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