From my article on Quora
What sort of PM will Morrison be?
Scott Morrison is not the same as Malcolm Turnbull. Turnbull had used different levers of power to achieve the position than Morrison, although they have stood on the same ticket. The trick to getting Morrison is to understand how he is different to Turnbull.
Scott Morrison is a NSW Liberal Party insider closely aligned with Photios, a numbers man. Photios has pushed a ‘wet’ line within the Liberals since Nick Greiner was Premier. But since Morrison came into the Australian Parliament in ‘07, he has faithfully represented his constituent interests, not a wet/dry demarcation. His effort as minister in implementing Abbott’s plan to stop illegal boat entry to Australia was magnificent. He has been an effective treasurer despite Malcolm Turnbull’s micromanaging and leaking.
Turnbull failed to acquire and hold the Liberal leader’s position since he went into parliament at Howard’s invite in 2004. Turnbull had leaked to upend the Liberals in ‘07, highlighting the Howard Costello leadership deal. Turnbull had leaked to upend Dr Nelson in ’08 so he could become leader. Turnbull was ineffective as leader in ’09 and spilled to Hockey, who tanked and allowed a cleanskin in Tony Abbott to become leader. Abbott lead effectively and achieved government, despite the animosity of Turnbull who accused Abbott of gruelling Turnbull’s leadership. In order to obtain leadership again, Turnbull used the Clinton Foundation and, separately, former treasurer Peter Costello. Costello believed in promotion by merit and fostered a succession for Turnbull too, which was Morrison or Julie Bishop.
Over time, Turnbull was inept as PM and Bishop failed through connecting herself to the Clinton Foundation through the foreign ministry. Turnbull leaked against Morrison to keep the succession plan from getting Turnbull replaced, but when Turnbull knew he had no choice, he delayed proceedings to allow Morrison time to make a case. Since becoming PM Morrison has praised Turnbull and Bishop, allowing them to leave parliament without having to ‘worry’ about protecting their legacy.
Moving forward, the Liberal party needs to be healed, and bring back the million voters Turnbull turned away. Turnbull had pursued a policy of ALP-lite, claiming that Liberal voters had no alternative but vote for Liberals. In fact, voters want a difference with which to choose between ALP and Lib. ALP are not a credible alternative government with no substantive policy on issues beyond corrupt interests (AGW hysteria, gender dysphoria, and Union self interests). A clear break with Liberal Turnbull policy needs to be made to attract support for Libs.
Free speech.
Cheap and effective coal power
Work place flexibility
Removing red tape from trade within Australia as well as externally
Cheaper, better schooling
Add to which Tony Abbott is needed in Cabinet ministry, he should be given Environment, Energy or Communications. Dutton should remain in the ministry too. There are failures in ministry from Turnbull in Education, Justice, Health, Foreign Ministry, Industry and armed forces.
= =
A daily column on what the ALP have as a policy, supported by a local member, and how it has 'helped' the local community. I'll stop if I cannot identify a policy. Feel free to make suggestions. Contact me on FB, not twitter. I have twitter, but never look at it.
Gabrielle Williams was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Carers and Volunteers, working with the Minister for Housing, Disability and Ageing and the Minister for Families and Children. Williams was given those titles when elected in 2014. It is difficult to find what value she has been to Dandenong, but clearly the ALP see her as the future. A school debate at Melbourne High School featured a diverse panel. John Roskam relates "You might remember that a few weeks ago I told you how Matthew Lesh and I addressed the 'Political Interest Group' at the school and we had a great discussion with the students. Well, the Political Interest Group held another function today - there were about 100 students who came to an event in the ABC Q&A format with the IPA's Simon Breheny, the left-wing lawyer Julian Burnside, Senator Janet Rice - the Greens senator for Victoria - and Stephen Campbell - the federal secretary of the Democratic Labour Party. That's quite a line-up, and good on the students for bringing together such a diverse range of political perspectives.
In the midst of a discussion about climate change and an interchange between Julian Burnside and Simon, Burnside blurted out to Simon – “Shove your freedom of speech up your a---, and f--- off” quote, unquote. Yes - that's what Burnside said in front of all the students.
The student organisers were of course tremendously embarrassed and couldn't have been more gracious in their apologies to Simon afterward, but as Simon said to them they had nothing to apologise for. What every student witnessed at lunchtime today was the reality of the nasty and spiteful left. It makes a mockery of any claim Burnside can make that he cares about 'civil liberties' and 'social justice'. In 2014 during the debate about the repeal of section 18C, Burnside said “I don't think we should tolerate and encourage bigotry in the community.” That statement sits at odds with what he said a few hours ago."
Where does Williams stand on free speech? Does she approve of advocate Julian Burnside's behaviour? Does she agree with his stance on issues?
As part of the November 24th Vic election campaign I have a petition I want to bring before the Opposition Leader Matthew Guy. I believe Matthew will be the next premier of Victoria and so I am petitioning him as I raise the issues of Employment, Crime and Education in Dandenong. I am also seeking money for my campaign. I don't have party resources, and so my campaign is on foot, and on the internet. Any money I receive that is not spent on the campaign will go to Grow 4 Life. I am asking questions like "What do you love about Dandenong?" and "If you could change something in Dandenong to make it better, what would it be?" I'm not limiting the questions to state issues. I'm happy to discuss anything, and get things done.
I am a decent man and don't care for 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 Ole Man River
"Ol' Man River" (music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II) is a song in the 1927 musical Show Boatthat expresses the African American hardship and struggles of the time with the endless, uncaring flow of the Mississippi River; it is sung from the point-of-view of a black dock worker on a showboat, and is the most famous song from the show. Meant to be performed in a slow tempo, it is sung completely once by the dock worker "Joe" who travels with the boat, and, in the stage version, is heard four more times in brief reprises. Joe serves as a sort of musical one-man Greek chorus, and the song, when reprised, comments on the action, as if saying, "This has happened, but the river keeps rolling on anyway."
===
This video is for faith
I was raised as an Atheist. I learned, after reading the Bible, that God loves me, and you. This is his song for you too. He loves you, and wants to be with you.
All the elements are me and mine. ARIA ISRC number AUAWN1211122
===
=== from 2017 ===
Some things should not happen, but they do. Dan Andrews is an awful Premier of Victoria, but fair minded people don't want to speak 'ill of the dead.' Not that Andrews is dead, but that his standard is so low. Take, for example, Andrews' work on railway level crossings. The Liberals had responsibly been removing them so as to make it safer for all Victorians. But under Andrews, a large bureaucracy has been created whose sole job seems to be to inconvenience commuters in the name of safety. So a narrow two lane road crossing from a railway station has a road island placed in the middle, making the road narrower, when all that was needed was a coat of paint on the road surface and a few warning signs.
At Dandenong station they are planning sky-rail which is supposed to carry freight, but won't. The station has two lifts which are not working for two months, and no ramp access for the city destination platforms. Disabled commuters are expected to alight at Noble Park and catch a taxi service. Trains that normally would stop on platform 3 which has access to busses without steps are often directed to platform 2 which has three flights of steps to get anywhere out of the station. And this is all because of Dan Andrews awful bureaucracy which does a hard job badly.
In 2014, ABC attacked the budget, saying that cuts were not needed for spending. The ABC was needed to provide opposition in the implosion of the ALP, with Shorten failing to lead. Shorten had a plan, and that was to get his members booted from parliament in the lower house, and claim there was bias. ABC helped. But two years later, and Morrison makes a speech that talks the truth of the need to cut spending, and the ABC claims that the government has not made the case. Meanwhile, failing Greens have placed a BDS supporter in charge of industry. Greens will never have government on their own. but if the ALP are elected, Greens will have government on their terms. If the ABC did not have low standards, they would have no standards at all.
For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
1537 – The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior, is formed.
1543 – António Mota and a few companions become the first Europeans to visit Japan.
1580 – Battle of Alcântara. Spain defeats Portugal.
1609 – Galileo Galilei demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers.
1630 – Portuguese forces are defeated by the Kingdom of Kandy at the Battle of Randeniwela in Sri Lanka.
1758 – Seven Years' War: Frederick II of Prussia defeats the Russian army at the Battle of Zorndorf.
1814 – War of 1812: On the second day of the Burning of Washington, British troops torch the Library of Congress, United States Treasury, Department of War, and other public buildings.
1825 – Uruguay declares its independence from Brazil.
1830 – The Belgian Revolution begins.
1835 – The first Great Moon Hoax article is published in The New York Sun, announcing the discovery of life and civilization on the Moon.
1875 – Captain Matthew Webb became the first person to swim across the English Channel, traveling from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in 22 hours.
1883 – France and Viet Nam sign the Treaty of Huế, recognizing a French protectorate over Annam and Tonkin.
1894 – Kitasato Shibasaburō discovers the infectious agent of the bubonic plague and publishes his findings in The Lancet.
1898 – Seven hundred Greek civilians, 17 British guards and the British Consul of Creteare killed by a Turkish mob in Heraklion, Greece.
1914 – World War I: The library of the Catholic University of Leuven is deliberately destroyed by the German Army. Hundreds of thousands of irreplaceable volumes and Gothic and Renaissance manuscripts are lost.
1916 – The United States National Park Service is created.
1920 – Polish–Soviet War: Battle of Warsaw, which began on August 13, ends with the Red Army's defeat.
1933 – The Diexi earthquake strikes Mao County, Sichuan, China and kills 9,000 people.
1939 – The United Kingdom and Poland form a military alliance in which the UK promises to defend Poland in case of invasion by a foreign power.
1940 – World War II: The first Bombing of Berlin by the British Royal Air Force.
1942 – World War II: Second day of the Battle of the Eastern Solomons; a Japanesenaval transport convoy headed towards Guadalcanal is turned back by an Allied air attack.
1944 – World War II: Paris is liberated by the Allies.
1945 – Ten days after World War II ends with Japan announcing its surrender, armed supporters of the Chinese Communist Party kill U.S. intelligence officer John Birch, regarded by some of the American right as the first victim of the Cold War.
1948 – The House Un-American Activities Committee holds first-ever televised congressional hearing: "Confrontation Day" between Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss.
1950 – President Harry Truman orders the U.S. Army to seize control of the nation's railroads to avert a strike.
1961 – President Jânio Quadros of Brazil resigns after just seven months in power, initiating a political crisis that culminates in a military coup in 1964.
1967 – George Lincoln Rockwell is assassinated.
1980 – Zimbabwe joins the United Nations.
1981 – Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Saturn.
1989 – Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Neptune, the second to last planet in the Solar System at the time.
1991 – Belarus gains its independence from the Soviet Union.
1991 – The Battle of Vukovar begins. An 87-day siege of Vukovar by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), supported by various Serb paramilitary forces, between August and November 1991 (during the Croatian War of Independence).
1991 – Linus Torvalds announces the first version of what will become Linux.
1997 – Egon Krenz, the former East German leader, is convicted of a shoot-to-kill policy at the Berlin Wall.
2001 – American singer Aaliyah and several members of her record company are killed as their overloaded aircraft crashes shortly after takeoff from Marsh Harbour Airport, Bahamas.
2006 – Former Prime Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Lazarenko is sentenced to nine years imprisonment for money laundering, wire fraud, and extortion.
2012 – Voyager 1 spacecraft enters interstellar space becoming the first man-made object to do so.
At Dandenong station they are planning sky-rail which is supposed to carry freight, but won't. The station has two lifts which are not working for two months, and no ramp access for the city destination platforms. Disabled commuters are expected to alight at Noble Park and catch a taxi service. Trains that normally would stop on platform 3 which has access to busses without steps are often directed to platform 2 which has three flights of steps to get anywhere out of the station. And this is all because of Dan Andrews awful bureaucracy which does a hard job badly.
=== from 2016 ===
Tragedy in Italy as an Earthquake near the central part that struck at 3:30 am. The death toll is now 247 and fast rising. Some older style stone houses account for the most fatalities. Prayers for the survivors. The left wing PM of Italy left a convention of senior socialist leaders of Europe. Emergency care is the next great need for Italy.
In 2014, ABC attacked the budget, saying that cuts were not needed for spending. The ABC was needed to provide opposition in the implosion of the ALP, with Shorten failing to lead. Shorten had a plan, and that was to get his members booted from parliament in the lower house, and claim there was bias. ABC helped. But two years later, and Morrison makes a speech that talks the truth of the need to cut spending, and the ABC claims that the government has not made the case. Meanwhile, failing Greens have placed a BDS supporter in charge of industry. Greens will never have government on their own. but if the ALP are elected, Greens will have government on their terms. If the ABC did not have low standards, they would have no standards at all.
For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
=== from 2015 ===
Polls are poles apart. Essential Poll suggests that Coalition is far closer than Newspoll. Bastard boss Shorten is popular to a large minority who like union corruption. Why is Shorten running a protection racket for corrupt unions? More saliently, why is it popular that corrupt unions not be made to be effective and transparent?
The world economy is jittery as China's growth appears exaggerated. If only Australia had not thrown away $600 billion when ALP were in government, the Abbott government could responsibly manoeuvre against a bubble burst. The loss to the world economy of some $50 billion in a day is not as bad as the $2 trillion thrown away to appease global warming hysterics. Typically, it will be the poor who suffer most.
ABC QandA publishes a foul #AbbottPhobia tweet. Then apologises for her failure to maintain a standard. If the ABC hadn't a low standard they'd have no standards at all.
The world economy is jittery as China's growth appears exaggerated. If only Australia had not thrown away $600 billion when ALP were in government, the Abbott government could responsibly manoeuvre against a bubble burst. The loss to the world economy of some $50 billion in a day is not as bad as the $2 trillion thrown away to appease global warming hysterics. Typically, it will be the poor who suffer most.
ABC QandA publishes a foul #AbbottPhobia tweet. Then apologises for her failure to maintain a standard. If the ABC hadn't a low standard they'd have no standards at all.
From 2014
A great actor from the golden age has passed. He was old and blessed. Richard Attenborough began acting age 18 in an uncredited role for the movie "In which we serve" (1942) and he was typecast, for a time, as a coward. But he also acted on stage and he broke the mould with Brighton Rock (1947) as he had previously played the role on stage. By 1963 he was part of the large ensemble cast of the Great Escape. In 1971 he played a serial killer in 10 Rillington Place. Young fans will remember him from Jurassic Park (1993). He was also director and producer of the C S Lewis biopic Shadowlands. He is lauded for his work in Ghandi, but a better film was Cry Freedom, about Steve Biko. One substantial tragedy in his life was the death of his oldest daughter and a grandchild on the boxing day tsunami of 2004. In 2008 he was struck down with stroke, retaining his sense, but confined to a wheelchair. Then his wife got dementia. A hard ending for one who rose so very high.
ABC are still attacking the budget, saying that savings are not necessary, but despising the government;s efforts to procure cuts, devoting serious air time on the 7:30 report with Sabra Lane. It is a lie to say that there is no argument for cuts in the budget, but a reasonable viewer on the ABC would not be aware of it. They fail in their charter. A reasonable person watching the ABC would not be aware that Israel is the rightful landholder of Jerusalem and her surrounds. But, closer to home, few know the extent of the depravity of successive ALP administrations. They have defended the corruption by denouncing people like Hollingsworth, Pell, Howard, or Abbott. And so a bureaucrat who orders the destruction of evidence regarding the gang rape of an aboriginal child in detention is excused because he is ALP. An alleged pedophile who was facing serious allegations is tipped off and suicides before he embarrasses the ABC for covering for him. The corruption of Brian Burke for the ALP in WA is segued into multiple allegations against the Libs for knowing Burke by the ABC. When they are successful in a smear campaign, they transfer it, and so the party trick they did with Burke works with Tripodi.
ABC are still attacking the budget, saying that savings are not necessary, but despising the government;s efforts to procure cuts, devoting serious air time on the 7:30 report with Sabra Lane. It is a lie to say that there is no argument for cuts in the budget, but a reasonable viewer on the ABC would not be aware of it. They fail in their charter. A reasonable person watching the ABC would not be aware that Israel is the rightful landholder of Jerusalem and her surrounds. But, closer to home, few know the extent of the depravity of successive ALP administrations. They have defended the corruption by denouncing people like Hollingsworth, Pell, Howard, or Abbott. And so a bureaucrat who orders the destruction of evidence regarding the gang rape of an aboriginal child in detention is excused because he is ALP. An alleged pedophile who was facing serious allegations is tipped off and suicides before he embarrasses the ABC for covering for him. The corruption of Brian Burke for the ALP in WA is segued into multiple allegations against the Libs for knowing Burke by the ABC. When they are successful in a smear campaign, they transfer it, and so the party trick they did with Burke works with Tripodi.
Historical perspective on this day
357 – Battle of Strasbourg: Julian, Caesar (deputy emperor) and supreme commander of the Roman army in Gaul, wins an important victory against the Alemanni at Strasbourg (Argentoratum).
766 – Emperor Constantine V humiliates nineteen high-ranking officials, after discovering a plot against him. He executes the leaders, Constantine Podopagourosand his brother Strategios.
1248 – The Dutch city of Ommen receives city rights and fortification rights from Otto III, the Archbishop of Utrecht.
1258 – Regent George Mouzalon and his brothers are killed during a coup headed by the aristocratic faction under, paving the way for its leader, Michael VIII Palaiologos, to ultimately usurp the throne of the Empire of Nicaea.
1270 – King Louis IX of France dies in Tunis while on the Eighth Crusade.
766 – Emperor Constantine V humiliates nineteen high-ranking officials, after discovering a plot against him. He executes the leaders, Constantine Podopagourosand his brother Strategios.
1248 – The Dutch city of Ommen receives city rights and fortification rights from Otto III, the Archbishop of Utrecht.
1258 – Regent George Mouzalon and his brothers are killed during a coup headed by the aristocratic faction under, paving the way for its leader, Michael VIII Palaiologos, to ultimately usurp the throne of the Empire of Nicaea.
1270 – King Louis IX of France dies in Tunis while on the Eighth Crusade.
1537 – The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior, is formed.
1543 – António Mota and a few companions become the first Europeans to visit Japan.
1580 – Battle of Alcântara. Spain defeats Portugal.
1609 – Galileo Galilei demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers.
1630 – Portuguese forces are defeated by the Kingdom of Kandy at the Battle of Randeniwela in Sri Lanka.
1758 – Seven Years' War: Frederick II of Prussia defeats the Russian army at the Battle of Zorndorf.
1814 – War of 1812: On the second day of the Burning of Washington, British troops torch the Library of Congress, United States Treasury, Department of War, and other public buildings.
1825 – Uruguay declares its independence from Brazil.
1830 – The Belgian Revolution begins.
1835 – The first Great Moon Hoax article is published in The New York Sun, announcing the discovery of life and civilization on the Moon.
1875 – Captain Matthew Webb became the first person to swim across the English Channel, traveling from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in 22 hours.
1883 – France and Viet Nam sign the Treaty of Huế, recognizing a French protectorate over Annam and Tonkin.
1894 – Kitasato Shibasaburō discovers the infectious agent of the bubonic plague and publishes his findings in The Lancet.
1898 – Seven hundred Greek civilians, 17 British guards and the British Consul of Creteare killed by a Turkish mob in Heraklion, Greece.
1914 – World War I: The library of the Catholic University of Leuven is deliberately destroyed by the German Army. Hundreds of thousands of irreplaceable volumes and Gothic and Renaissance manuscripts are lost.
1916 – The United States National Park Service is created.
1920 – Polish–Soviet War: Battle of Warsaw, which began on August 13, ends with the Red Army's defeat.
1933 – The Diexi earthquake strikes Mao County, Sichuan, China and kills 9,000 people.
1939 – The United Kingdom and Poland form a military alliance in which the UK promises to defend Poland in case of invasion by a foreign power.
1940 – World War II: The first Bombing of Berlin by the British Royal Air Force.
1942 – World War II: Second day of the Battle of the Eastern Solomons; a Japanesenaval transport convoy headed towards Guadalcanal is turned back by an Allied air attack.
1944 – World War II: Paris is liberated by the Allies.
1945 – Ten days after World War II ends with Japan announcing its surrender, armed supporters of the Chinese Communist Party kill U.S. intelligence officer John Birch, regarded by some of the American right as the first victim of the Cold War.
1948 – The House Un-American Activities Committee holds first-ever televised congressional hearing: "Confrontation Day" between Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss.
1950 – President Harry Truman orders the U.S. Army to seize control of the nation's railroads to avert a strike.
1961 – President Jânio Quadros of Brazil resigns after just seven months in power, initiating a political crisis that culminates in a military coup in 1964.
1967 – George Lincoln Rockwell is assassinated.
1980 – Zimbabwe joins the United Nations.
1981 – Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Saturn.
1989 – Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Neptune, the second to last planet in the Solar System at the time.
1991 – Belarus gains its independence from the Soviet Union.
1991 – The Battle of Vukovar begins. An 87-day siege of Vukovar by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), supported by various Serb paramilitary forces, between August and November 1991 (during the Croatian War of Independence).
1991 – Linus Torvalds announces the first version of what will become Linux.
1997 – Egon Krenz, the former East German leader, is convicted of a shoot-to-kill policy at the Berlin Wall.
2001 – American singer Aaliyah and several members of her record company are killed as their overloaded aircraft crashes shortly after takeoff from Marsh Harbour Airport, Bahamas.
2006 – Former Prime Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Lazarenko is sentenced to nine years imprisonment for money laundering, wire fraud, and extortion.
2012 – Voyager 1 spacecraft enters interstellar space becoming the first man-made object to do so.
=== 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 cousin Helen Elley. Philippe van Lansberge (1561), Marie-Eugénie de Jésus (1817), Sean Connery (1930), Elvis Costello (1954), Tim Burton (1958) and Billy Ray Cyrus (1961). Born on the same day, across the years. On your day, Independence Day in Uruguay (1825)
1537 – The Honourable Artillery Company, currently the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, was formed by Royal Charter from King Henry VIII.
1609 – Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei demonstrated his first telescope, a device that became known as a terrestrial or spyglass refracting telescope, to Venetian lawmakers.
1950 – Althea Gibson entered into the U.S. Tennis Championships, becoming the first African-American woman to be a competitor on the world tennis tour.
1989 – The Voyager 2 spacecraft made its closest approach to Neptune and provided definitive proof of the existence of the planet's rings.
2001 – American singer Aaliyah and various members of her record company were killed when their overloaded airplane crashed shortly after takeoff from Marsh Harbour Airport in Marsh Harbour, The Bahamas. Keep the powder dry. Look before you leap. Be competitive. Remember, to discover, you should first observe. If you have everything, try not to put it all on a light aircraft.
1609 – Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei demonstrated his first telescope, a device that became known as a terrestrial or spyglass refracting telescope, to Venetian lawmakers.
1950 – Althea Gibson entered into the U.S. Tennis Championships, becoming the first African-American woman to be a competitor on the world tennis tour.
1989 – The Voyager 2 spacecraft made its closest approach to Neptune and provided definitive proof of the existence of the planet's rings.
2001 – American singer Aaliyah and various members of her record company were killed when their overloaded airplane crashed shortly after takeoff from Marsh Harbour Airport in Marsh Harbour, The Bahamas. Keep the powder dry. Look before you leap. Be competitive. Remember, to discover, you should first observe. If you have everything, try not to put it all on a light aircraft.
- 1530 – Ivan the Terrible, Russian ruler (d. 1584)
- 1817 – Marie-Eugénie de Jésus, French nun and saint, founded the Religious of the Assumption (d. 1898)
- 1829 – Carlo Acton, Italian pianist and composer (d. 1909)
- 1903 – Arpad Elo, Hungarian-American chess player, created the Elo rating system (d. 1992)
- 1905 – Mary Faustina Kowalska, Polish nun, mystic, and saint (d. 1938)
- 1917 – Mel Ferrer, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2008)
- 1927 – Althea Gibson, American tennis player and golfer (d. 2003)
- 1930 – Sean Connery, Scottish actor and producer
- 1936 – Giridharilal Kedia, Indian businessman, founded the Image Institute of Technology & Management (d. 2009)
- 1937 – Virginia Euwer Wolff, American author
- 1938 – Frederick Forsyth, English author
- 1949 – Gene Simmons, Israeli-American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor, (Kiss and Wicked Lester)
- 1952 – Geoff Downes, English keyboard player, songwriter, and producer (The Buggles, Yes, and Asia)
- 1954 – Elvis Costello, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1958 – Tim Burton, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1961 – Billy Ray Cyrus, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1962 – Vivian Campbell, Irish guitarist and songwriter (Def Leppard, Whitesnake, Dio, Thin Lizzy, and Sweet Savage)
- 1965 – Mia Zapata, American singer-songwriter (The Gits) (d. 1993)
- 1968 – Yuri Mitsui, Japanese actress, model and race car driver
- 1968 – Rachael Ray, American chef, author, and television host
- 1970 – Claudia Schiffer, German model and fashion designer
- 1977 – Masumi Asano, Japanese voice actress
- 1981 – Clare Oliver, Australian activist (d. 2007)
- 1987 – Blake Lively, American actress
- 1987 – Luka Šulić, Slovenian-Croatian cellist (2Cellos)
- 1987 – Liu Yifei, Chinese-American actress and singer
- 1988 – Angela Park, Brazilian-American golfer
- 1992 – Miyabi Natsuyaki, Japanese singer and actress (Berryz Kobo, Aa!, and Buono!)
- 1992 – Alex Roots, English singer
- 1998 – China Anne McClain, American actress and singer
Deaths
- 79 – Pliny the Elder, Roman commander and philosopher (b. 23)
- 383 – Gratian, Roman emperor (b. 359)
- 1554 – Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, English politician (b. 1473)
- 1776 – David Hume, Scottish historian and philosopher (b. 1711)
- 1819 – James Watt, Scottish engineer (b. 1736)
- 1867 – Michael Faraday, English physicist and chemist (b. 1791)
- 1900 – Friedrich Nietzsche, German philologist, philosopher, and critic (b. 1844)
- 1908 – Henri Becquerel, French physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
- 1956 – Alfred Kinsey, American biologist (b. 1894)
- 1965 – Moonlight Graham, American baseball player (b. 1879)
- 1968 – Stan McCabe, Australian cricketer (b. 1910)
- 1984 – Truman Capote, American author (b. 1924)
- 2000 – Allen Woody, American bass player and songwriter (The Allman Brothers Band and Gov't Mule) (b. 1955)
- 2001 – Aaliyah, American singer, dancer, and actress (b. 1979)
- 2009 – Ted Kennedy, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (b. 1932)
- 2012 – Neil Armstrong, American pilot, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1930)
Tim Blair
PARANOIA ERASES FACTS, RE-WRITES HISTORY
Former Age and Herald Sun editor Bruce Guthrie, now running the superannuation-funded New Daily, doesn’t seem an especially attentive type.
ALL QUIET ON THE SOUTHERN FRONT
UPDATED Words are scary, words are bad, get rid of all the words we had!
Andrew Bolt
TURNBULL'S VENGEANCE
An incredible insight into the vindictive rage of Malcolm Turnbull: "Within hours of their resignations, the 13 ministers who had dared to challenge the Prime Minister were sent official notices... The department had been directed by the Prime Minister’s office to cut off access to all communications, including emails and phones, immediately."
LAMMING HEADED FOR CLIFF
The healing of the Liberals under Scott Morrison is in trouble on day one. "Tony Abbott is being urged to retire at the next election for his role in sparking the Liberals’ leadership spill... 'I think he’ll retire at the next election,' Queensland Liberal MP Andrew Laming told ABC Radio on Saturday. 'I’d encourage him to.'"
FRASER, HEWSON AND NOW TURNBULL. LIBS GET ANOTHER HATER
The Liberals couldn't predict when choosing Malcolm Fraser as leader that they'd also create one of their biggest haters after losing. They perhaps should have predicted that in choosing John Hewson, they were creating another. But they must have known when choosing Malcolm Turnbull they'd create their worst future hater of all. Just watch now.
O NO, AND SHE'S THE GREENS' EDUCATION SPOKESMAN
It's no typo when she makes the same mistake twice. And Sarah Hanson-Young is actually the Greens's education spokesman, too:
JULIAN BURNSIDE, POTTY-MOUTHED AND ABUSIVE
"Human rights" lawyer Julian Burnside to the IPA's Simon Breheny in a debate for Year 11 students: "Shove your freedom of speech up your arse, and f..k off'. This hate-speech and foul language is not unusual from Burnside. I suggest schools think twice before inviting this pin-striped barbarian.
ANOTHER KEVNI MIRACLE
Tim Blair – Thursday, August 25, 2016 (7:24pm)
Windorah’s solar farm was opened in 2009 by a Queensland prime minister, a Queensland premier and a Queensland energy minister as a flagship project leading Queensland to a solar dawn.There was even a new ‘airport’ opened at Windorah for Kevin Rudd, Anna Bligh and Stephen Robertson for the opening in October 2009.But, seven years on, it is broken down.Only one of the five 14.5-metre high solar collection dishes at Windorah’s solar farm has been working and now it has broken down again.
Nothing green ever works, and green academics are always mistaken:
Peter Wadhams has been criticised by scientists who fear that he could undermine the credibility of climate science by making doom-laden forecasts.He repeatedly predicted that the Arctic would be “ice-free” by last summer, by which he meant it would have less than one million sq km of ice. His forecasts, reported around the world, turned out to be wrong.
Thus continues a 136-year tradition.
GREAT PRESIDENTIAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Tim Blair – Thursday, August 25, 2016 (4:42pm)
From Steven Crowder:
In other election news, Politico reports: “As a growing tide of Republicans distance themselves from their party’s presidential nominee, at least one Democratic candidate is doing the same thing to Hillary Clinton.” According to recent polls, Clinton currently holds a 5.4 percentage point break over Donald Trump.
In other election news, Politico reports: “As a growing tide of Republicans distance themselves from their party’s presidential nominee, at least one Democratic candidate is doing the same thing to Hillary Clinton.” According to recent polls, Clinton currently holds a 5.4 percentage point break over Donald Trump.
POPULATION EXPLOSION
Tim Blair – Thursday, August 25, 2016 (3:21pm)
A child-inclusive splodey policy:
Islamic State has unleashed a wave of child suicide bombers – “cubs of the caliphate” – on civilian targets in Iraq and Turkey.Within 24 hours two children are believed to have detonated their devices and a third has been foiled …At least 89 children died fighting for Isis last year and three times as many children fought for the group in 2015 than in the previous year.
Something similar happened during the final stages of WWII. Meanwhile, in Kabul:
Afghan media is reporting the assault on the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul is over, with all attackers dead.Explosions and gunfire rang out as militants stormed the elite university late yesterday afternoon, prompting desperate calls for help from students trapped inside classrooms, in the latest attack in the Afghan capital …Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary has tweeted from Kabul that at least six bodies have so far been found on the campus, but that 20 mostly female students were rescued when special forces stormed the buildings.
They don’t like education.
(Via J.F. Beck.)
ANGRY NIKI
Tim Blair – Thursday, August 25, 2016 (2:27pm)
Niki Savva completely loses it:
… the extreme Right and the delcons ... adept at dropping bile, then squealing like little piggies if anybody dares bite back ... bully, intimidate, offend, smear ... groupthink always precedes, then dictates, a group rant ... viciousness ... invective ... no fact left untwisted, no insult withheld ... the loonies of the Right ... like throwing bananas at indigenous football players ... wind people up over religion or politics ... inaccurate, unfair or foments hatred ... bigots ... homophobic rants ... hyperbole ... one more excuse to beat up on Turnbull… high dudgeon?
Just a guess, but maybe she’s still a little disappointed about the election.
NOTHING TO DO WITH RELIGION, AS USUAL
Tim Blair – Thursday, August 25, 2016 (1:15pm)
Further details emerge over the alleged murder of Mia Ayliffe-Chung in Townsville:
Smail Ayad, 29, had fawned over Mia Ayliffe-Chung, 21, for several days, telling other backpackers at the Home Hill hostel the pair were deeply in love and married …Furious at the unrequited love, he allegedly stabbed Ms Ayliffe-Chung multiple times while screaming “Allahu Akbar”, leaving her to die on the floor of her Shelley’s Backpackers room.It is understood another British backpacker and friend Thomas Jackson, 30, came to Ms Ayliffe-Chung’s aid and was stabbed multiple times in the face, chest and stomach, suffering horrific injuries …
Up to 30 backpackers witnessed the frenzied attack and tried desperately to intervene, although the Bulletin understands Ayad, a kickboxing champion who has trained in Thailand, allegedly made threats against them and stabbed a hostel employee in the leg.Yesterday afternoon as police transferred Ayad from hospital to the watchhouse, he allegedly bashed two police officers, after they had to pull over on Woolcock St as he was lashing out in the back of the police paddy wagon. Both officers were hospitalised.
Police were forced to use capsicum spray on Ayad to subdue him and the Bulletin understands it took seven officers to get Ayad into a padded cell, as he continued to scream “Allahu Akbar”.
The official line:
Queensland Police Minister Bill Byrne described the stabbing attack as “tragic and disturbing” but sought to distance the incident from extremism. Despite police being unable to rule out radical links to the murder, Mr Byrne said the attacks were not “about race or religion”.
Perhaps there are no radical links. Perhaps this is a more standard form of Islam, of the kind that sees hundreds of women murdered every single year.
UPDATE. Bill Leak:
UPDATE II. In another non-terrorist incident, “she did not obey the rule of marriage.”
UPDATE II. In another non-terrorist incident, “she did not obey the rule of marriage.”
(Via Sarah Harris.)
buk buk buk buk-ARK
Tim Blair – Thursday, August 25, 2016 (11:59am)
One of my friend Mondo’s chickens now holds the Werribee egg record:
On The Bolt Report and radio tonight - They’re all big spenders, now. A party for Mao. What Islam?
Andrew Bolt August 25 2016 (3:04pm)
On The Bolt Report on Sky News Live at 7pm tonight:
On 2GB, 3AW and 4BC with Steve Price from 8pm.
===Editorial: How did the Turnbull Government go in 11 months from saying government spends too much to saying governments don’t tax enough?Podcasts of the show here but also now on our Facebook page here.
Guests:
Why are the town halls of Sydney and Melbourne been hired out for a party for a mass-murdering dictator?
Chongyi Feng, an associate professor in China Studies at the University of Technology Sydney, on the pro-Beijing groups pushing the China line here.
Rowan Dean on Culture Wars.
On the panel, Labor frontbencher Stephen Conroy and Victorian Liberal president Michael Kroger. The police raids on Conroy’s office, Turnbull’s clash with Alan Jones on free speech, dealing with the deficit.
On 2GB, 3AW and 4BC with Steve Price from 8pm.
Listen live here. Talkback: 131 873. Listen to all past shows here.
Betts the healer
Andrew Bolt August 25 2016 (10:09am)
How classy is Eddie Betts?
===ADELAIDE Crows footballer Eddie Betts says he has forgiven the woman who threw a banana at him during the Showdown against Port Adelaide — and does not want her to be banned for life.A gentleman.
Betts told FIVEaa he wanted Alexandra Pelosi, 27, to be welcomed back to football rather than face punitive action for her actions, condemned across Australia as racist.
“I don’t think she should get a life ban. I think she should come back and enjoy the footy,’’ he said.
“It’s great, she came out and she apologised, I don’t hold grudges - I forgive her for what she’s done. “I know she’s got a lot of abusing messages on social media. I’ve forgiven her and so should all of you.”
Book blooms
Andrew Bolt August 25 2016 (9:48am)
My book is on an odyssey, visiting Alaska, Bath, the skulls of Montpellier, York Minster, Shanghai, Croatia, Ho Chi Minh City, Santorini, London, Scotland, Ithaca, the Bay of Naples, Lake Como, Dubrovnik, Fiji, Aileron, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, the Andes, the Northern Territory, the Whitsundays, Kalgoorlie and Condabri, Queensland, before invading Australia’s most Left-wing Parliament - an experience which convinced one reader at the Katharine River Mango Farm to try teaching even a donkey to understand what’s in it. Meanwhile, it attended a christening in Newcastle, checked in at a Penrith hospital and recuperated at the Moreton Bay Boat Club before sailing down the Murrayand visiting the Mt Annan Australian Botanical Garden.
Now reader Andy helps the book explore its roots - well, cultural roots, if not geographic, being in the Darling Range outside Perth:
===Now reader Andy helps the book explore its roots - well, cultural roots, if not geographic, being in the Darling Range outside Perth:
Bought your book today before heading to Araluen Botanic Park where the annual Tulip Festival has commenced. About 125,000 tulip bulbs are planted out and the park is stunning in spring. The valley, south of Perth, is a former Young Australia League hills resort developed after WW1. The moving Grove of the Unforgotten was built in memory of the 88 YAL members killed in WW1.To reward the traveler in your life, order the book here. On-line buyers also get the semi-regular Bolt Bulletin, as will people pre-ordering the reprint of my Still Not Sorryon line.
Last week I was with a group of veteran rock-kickers touring the northern Flinders Ranges (also stunning). Leigh Creek is very sad. All that infrastructure going to waste now that the coal field has shut and the related power station at Port Augusta put into mothballs. The hinterland of SA is emptying fast!
Why are gay-marriage supporters so scared of Australians?
Andrew Bolt August 25 2016 (9:01am)
WHY are same-sex marriage activists so scared of Australians and so against giving them a say? Why are they rewriting history to pretend an Irish-style public vote on same-sex marriage will unleash terrible gay-hatred?
Activists, politicians and journalists are now demanding the Turnbull Government call off its planned plebiscite next year. Labor leader Bill Shorten claims it will just be “a taxpayer-funded platform for homophobia”. Former High Court justice Michael Kirby this week insisted it would be “running out the old issues of hatreds and animosities, abominations and all the old arguments against gay people”.
Irish crowds celebrate in Dublin after the referendum on same-sex marriage in 2015. Picture: Brian Lawless
This fear campaign is now so hysterical that campaigners even suggest that letting Australians vote — rather than have politicians decide for them — will literally kill gays.
And now activists actually claim Ireland is a warning to us. That is bizarre
(Read full column here.)
===Activists, politicians and journalists are now demanding the Turnbull Government call off its planned plebiscite next year. Labor leader Bill Shorten claims it will just be “a taxpayer-funded platform for homophobia”. Former High Court justice Michael Kirby this week insisted it would be “running out the old issues of hatreds and animosities, abominations and all the old arguments against gay people”.
Irish crowds celebrate in Dublin after the referendum on same-sex marriage in 2015. Picture: Brian Lawless
This fear campaign is now so hysterical that campaigners even suggest that letting Australians vote — rather than have politicians decide for them — will literally kill gays.
Take former Australian Marriage Equality convener Rodney Croome: “If there is a plebiscite, and when the first gay kid dies at his own hand because of the hate and fearmongering, I have to be able to look at myself in the mirror and know I did everything I could to stop it … everything.”
And now activists actually claim Ireland is a warning to us. That is bizarre
(Read full column here.)
Savva explodes
Andrew Bolt August 25 2016 (8:50am)
Niki Savva, Malcolm Turnbull’s fiercest media supporter, has been goaded beyond endurance:
Oh, and the difference between Abbott and Savva’s choice is that Abbott at least was expert in tearing down Labor Prime Ministers. Turnbull, however…
===… the extreme Right and the delcons ... adept at dropping bile, then squealing like little piggies if anybody dares bite back ... bully, intimidate, offend, smear ... groupthink always precedes, then dictates, a group rant ... viciousness ... invective ... no fact left untwisted, no insult withheld ... the loonies of the Right ... like throwing bananas at indigenous football players ... wind people up over religion or politics ... inaccurate, unfair or foments hatred ... bigots ... homophobic rants ... hyperbole ... one more excuse to beat up on Turnbull… high dudgeon?Goodness. And what prompted this projectile vomit? Clue in the final paragraph:
Finally, just to set the record straight on the latest of a string of misrepresentations, the No 1 ticket holder for the delcons has claimed I had suggested Abbott was not finished. In fact what I wrote last week was that Abbott was expert at tearing down prime ministers — which he is — and that is something quite different.Actually, that was not all she wrote. Nor is that all I did to spark that astonishing explosion. I may also have asked again why Savva repeatedly refuses to declare a potential conflict of interest: her husband works for Turnbull.
Oh, and the difference between Abbott and Savva’s choice is that Abbott at least was expert in tearing down Labor Prime Ministers. Turnbull, however…
Nothing to see here, says the government as its subs spring a leak
Andrew Bolt August 25 2016 (8:39am)
I thought a massive leak from the builder of Australia’s submarines - a leak detailing how (different) subs for the Indian navy worked - might actually concern the Turnbull Government.
But, no.
Cameron Stewart:
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
===But, no.
Cameron Stewart:
The government yesterday missed its chance to reassure Australians that it takes the security of Australia’s future submarine program seriously.Greg Sheridan:
Reacting to the massive leak of secret documents from the French shipbuilder DCNS on India’s new Scorpene submarine fleet, the Industry Minister Christopher Pyne pretended that the issue had no relevance to Australia.
Why? Because the Defence Department told him so. What’s more he had been told that the Australian future submarine program operated “under stringent security requirements” so all was OK…
Turnbull was even more disingenuous, saying the leak wasn’t relevant to Australia because it involved a different type of submarine to the one which DCNS will build for France. As both Pyne and the Prime Minister know, the issue here is not the fact that we now know secret details about the Indian submarine fleet. The issue is that the leak came from the same French shipbuilder, DCNS, that will also design the 12 new Australian submarines. If the secrets of the DCNS project in India can be leaked, then what assurance do we have that the secrets of Australia’s new fleet will not one day be leaked in the same manner?
The massive leak of highly sensitive information concerning the French DCNS-designed Scorpene submarine being built for India demonstrates one of the reasons the Americans so strongly favoured Canberra choosing the Japanese option for our submarine to replace the Collins-class boats.And there are other reasons for not regarding the French as a reliable ally. France has a worrying record of not delivering weaponry its customers have ordered if it doesn’t like the war they’re fighting.
The Americans were officially neutral but privately made no secret of their preference for the Japanese option on strategic grounds. They were also worried about whether the Germans or the French could protect the security of their confidential information. As it turns out, they were right to be worried. Very worried. This leak will produce a dangerous crisis in confidence about our new submarine before a contract has even been signed.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
Turnbull’s terrible choice: a Labor super tax or nothing
Andrew Bolt August 25 2016 (8:09am)
The Turnbull Government faces a nightmare choice with its plans for a new superannuation tax - and the easiest option may be to give up.
The choice is this:
David Crowe:
===The choice is this:
- make a deal with Labor to get the package through the Senate, which means essentially passing a Labor tax that hits the Liberal base even harder.Labor sniffs the weakness, and offers help to get a Labor super tax through.
- make a deal instead with the Greens, who’d want an even bigger tax.
- make a deal with Pauline Hanson, Nick Xenophon and three other crossbench Senators, if that’s at all possible - and see what’s left of the package.
- give up, and lose the cash and the credibility, but keep sweet with an angry base.
David Crowe:
Doubling the super contributions tax to 30 per cent on workers earning more than $200,000 a year is one of the explosive new demands [from Labor] in the political brawl over the super package, forcing the Prime Minister to negotiate as he runs out of options to get the reforms through the Senate.Note that this is a Senate that is keener to raise taxes than cut spending.
Labor is ruling out supporting the 2007 start date for the government’s most divisive new measure, a $500,000 lifetime cap on post-tax contributions, in a move that builds on internal Coalition dissent on the same question…
The Treasurer and Financial Services Minister Kelly O’Dwyer lashed out at the Labor proposals last night, warning they would be “bad” for women, carers, small business owners and people who needed help to build up their super after taking time out of the workforce…
Labor’s alternative policy would add $4.5 billion to the budget bottom line compared with the government’s $3bn net gain, mostly by supporting the original tax increases while opposing some of the concessions in the package to allow people to “catch up” on their super contributions…
Mr Morrison and Ms O’Dwyer have held talks with MPs over the past week to try to ease concerns but the compromise plan to lift the $500,000 cap to $750,000 does not address anger over the 2007 start date, the central issue in the fight over “retrospective” tax law.
With the government falling short of the nine crossbench senators it needs to back its plan in the upper house, Mr Turnbull and Mr Morrison would have to strike a deal with the Greens or Labor. Greens Treasury spokesman Adam Bandt warned against an increase in the lifetime cap on the grounds it would cost tax revenue, pushing instead for higher taxes on wealthier workers.
Morrison warns: change or risk recession
Andrew Bolt August 25 2016 (8:05am)
Treasurer Scott Morrison issues the warning we need:
===“A generation has grown up not ever having known a recession, of seeing unemployment rates at more than 10 per cent, with one million Australians out of work or mortgage rates at 18 per cent or where inflation is actually a problem, rather than an aspiration.”This is morally unhealthy and a danger for us all, given that people become dependent on Big Government and defensive of it:
In addition, Mr Morrison will say that on the current settings, a generation of Australians are likely to never pay tax, setting up a new divide - the “taxed and taxed-nots”, prompting the Treasurer to ask: “ Are we still up to the challenge of doing what we need to do to ensure another 25 years of consecutive economic growth?…
“Do we really appreciate how quickly our economic success can turn, and are we as prepared as we can be to deal with it . . . my greatest concern is that we end up answering these questions the hard way.”
The share of households considered net taxpayers — those whose income tax payments outweigh what they receive in social security — is tipped to fall below 50 per cent in the near future.
According to the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling, this share has already fallen from 56 per cent to 51 per cent over the past decade, which means almost half of all households receive more from the government in welfare payments than they give up in income tax. This does not include the GST, a bigger share of average household budgets compared with wealthier families.
Mike Baird’s dare: if you don’t like me banning stuff, vote me out
Andrew Bolt August 25 2016 (8:00am)
I don’t think it is wise for a politician to issue this invitation, especially in the context of seeming headstrong:
===The Premier said “of course there will be (a backlash)” from the greyhound ban, but voters “will have their right, come election-day in 2019 to pass judgment on decisions we’ve made”.
Turnbull turns up
Andrew Bolt August 25 2016 (7:55am)
The chairman of the Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council does not let his position stop him from calling things out:
===Abbott can win
Andrew Bolt August 25 2015 (5:30pm)
Newspoll this week had the Abbott Government very far behind Labor - 46 per cent to 54.
A very different picture from the Essential poll:
I still believe Tony Abbott can win the next election for the following reasons:
===A very different picture from the Essential poll:
I think Essential exaggerates the Coalition vote, but I don’t quite believe the Coalition is as far down as Newspoll has it, either.
I still believe Tony Abbott can win the next election for the following reasons:
- He has offered credible positions on two issues on which Labor hoped to hurt him and split the Liberals - global warming and same-sex marriage. Indeed. his plan for a people’s vote is very popular, and turns a weakness into a weapon.But:
- Labor has tacked too close to the union movement, especially in sliming royal commissioner Dyson Heydon. It is starting to look like a protection racket for corrupt unions, and truly scary.
- Labor remains vulnerable on it planned carbon tax, doubling of the refugee intake and weakness on boats.
- Labor still has its record of mad spending to live down, and is promising even more spending. I don’t think the times suit spendthrifts.
- The talk is coming back to Liberal strengths - notably the economy and national security.
- The Left have overreached with more smears, this time against Captain Andrew Hastie. If that helps Hastie to hold Canning with relative comfort in next month’s by-election, that should give Abbott a real lift.
- Abbott is a very able campaigner, battle-hardened and very disciplined.
- Bill Shorten.
- Unemployment at 6.3 per cent needs to come down fast. I suspect it will. Last month’s figure seemed a bit of an anomaly. Jobs, jobs, jobs.
- The Government needs to work out a credible way to pay for its mooted tax cuts without adding even more to the deficit.
- Joe Hockey needs to dominate the debate, and not go AWOL at times.
- There must be a reshuffle near the end of the year, and smoothly done. It shouldn’t involved the expected two, but at least three. The Government needs a younger and more female and fresher face. It also needs some fighters. It needs to be three to include the almost mandatory two women, one left and one right, plus the most deserving and hard-edged man. And I would not want to see Andrew Robb sail into a cushy posting elsewhere, since he has been such a huge success in a critical area that will need promoting.
- There needs to be more mongrel in the Government, and more mongrels on the front bench. Why wasn’t Bill Shorten torn to pieces? Why were the attacks on Tony Burke called off?
- The members need to be excited. More should have been done to help them show support for Hastie.
- Dyson Heydon must resist the calls for him to step down as royal commissioner. I understand he will feel terribly bruised, but the politics of personal destruction must not be allowed to succeed. This protection racket for the crooked and the shady must be defied.
Labor left us dangerously exposed. Now the day of reckoning comes
Andrew Bolt August 25 2015 (7:12am)
More losses to come on Australia’s stock market today after another bad day on Wall Street overnight:
This is what Hockey should be stressing.
Simon Benson:
===Investors rattled about China sent U.S. stock indices almost 4-percent lower on Monday in an unusually volatile session that confirmed the S&P 500 was formally in a correction… Monday’s drop followed an 8.5 percent slump in Chinese markets, which sparked a selloff in global stocks along with oil and other commodities.Terry McCrann says Joe Hockey is promising tax cuts with money he sure doesn’t have now:
Share markets all around the world are going over a cliff — more than $100 billion of shareholder savings are shredded in Australia alone in just three days…One further point should be noted. We’re in even greater danger for two reasons: Labor plunged us deep into debt by splashing cash on trash, and has spent the past two years sabotaging the Abbott Government’s attempts to cut spending.
But ... on a day when the prospects of his Budget ever getting within a distant cooee of a surplus evaporated into the global gloom, Treasurer Joe Hockey thought it was a good idea to get up to promise future tax cuts.
Yeah, not so much “say it ain’t so, Joe”; but more a case of “yeah, right Joe”; or “in your dreams Joe” ...
Knock, knock, apart from anything else, is anyone home, Joe? Last time I looked, the sign on your door said “treasurer of Australia”. It’s not only your call, but your job to deliver. Stop commenting — again and again, incidentally; do…
But, the meltdown is ... driven by fears that the Chinese economic miracle is over. That far from China growing at a more subdued, say 6 per cent, it might end up barely growing at all, by 2-3 per cent. Or worse, actually shrinking.
This collides head-on with the reality of grossly inflated global share values — with stock markets at the levels they are only because of the massive monetary stimulus and interest rates at zero.
This leads on to the further fundamental worry — precisely because of that all the major central banks have no bullets left to fire if the world economy slows or worse, slides back into recession.
And governments around the world have built up huge debts and have budgets still in deficit because of all the money borrowed and then thrown at the GFC.
Imagine for example if our Joe unveiled at the midyear Budget update a string of endless, say $60-80 billion deficits — and announced he was having tax cuts to boost the economy.
In what is still this universe, just, that is unimaginable.
This is what Hockey should be stressing.
Simon Benson:
JOE Hockey has flagged cutting personal income tax rates no less than three times. Good on him. But he has yet to say by how much, by when and how he is going to pay for it. Considering the price tag is estimated at around $2 billion a year, many of his colleagues are wondering if this is yet another thought bubble from a Treasurer who doesn’t have billions to throw around.
But make no mistake it is not only a good idea, it is imperative.
Cursed as he may be with a felonious debt and deficit legacy bequeathed by Labor, Hockey must commit to liberating hard working Australians from the yoke of an ever increasing tax burden. His tax burden…
Australians are now lashed with the most punitive income tax rates the country has seen for more than 30 years — and one of the highest marginal tax rates in the known world.
And this has all happened under Hockey’s watch. Since he has been in the job he has pushed the effective marginal tax rate for high income earners to 49 per cent. This rose even further when a 0.5 per cent increase in the Medicare Levy kicked in last financial year to help pay for the NDIS…
And he could make a good start by immediately jettisoning his 2 per cent debt and deficit repair levy on people who earn more than $180,000. By his own admission yesterday, this is a disincentive to work harder to earn a better salary. Yet he imposed it.
Green with envy
Andrew Bolt August 25 2015 (6:57am)
Something gives me the impression that the Greens won’t be happy until the wealth of the rich is confiscated. Sure, destroying the rich just leaves everyone worse off - ask Stalin - but it sure appeals to the chronically envious and stupid:
===Politics of envy, anyone? Adam Bandt media release, also yesterday:
The Treasurer proposes that wealthy people pay less tax.Shame about the facts. Sinclair Davidson, Catallaxy blog, May 1:
Earlier this week the ATO released the latest version of their taxation statistics. As I have done for the last 10 years or so, I have calculated the distribution of the tax burden. The bottom 50 per cent of individual taxpayers paid 12.4 per cent of net income tax (that’s after deductions etc, but before welfare and the like) … the top 1 per cent paid 16.01 per cent.
O’Neill: Gay marriage isn’t about freedom but state control
Andrew Bolt August 25 2015 (6:50am)
Brendan O’Neill:
===So that’s my beef with gay marriage: it allows the state to increase its already considerable clout over both our personal/family lives and our consciences. The ugly tactics of the loudest gay-marriage proponents are no accident: they speak to this illiberal heart of gay marriage. There’s one question I’ve asked every liberal I’ve encountered in Australia, all of whom harangue me for my views on gay marriage: why are Western governments that are so allergic to freedom and autonomy passionately embracing gay marriage? They’ve all struggled to answer. I think it’s because gay marriage chimes brilliantly with these governments’ insatiable desire to diminish the sovereignty of the family and intervene more in our personal lives, and to police what we think.
Time to fight
Andrew Bolt August 25 2015 (6:30am)
I fear Tony Abbott has as little as three months left - five at most - to turn these polls around again:
===Based on preference flows from the last election, Labor’s two-party preferred lead was unchanged at 54 per cent to the Coalition’s 46 per cent - a 7.5 per cent swing since the September 2013 election. This is the 29th consecutive Newspoll survey in which Labor has been ahead in two-party terms.
- promising tax cuts again without a plan to achieve them does not persuade.Fight.
- spending a week out with Aboriginal communities out in the Torres Strait takes Abbott almost literally out of circulation, fighting an issue of zero relevance to most voters.
- where is the onslaught against Shorten for running a protection racket for crooked unions and trying to shoot the sheriff?
- where is the Liberals’ YouTube clip of Andrew Hastie giving it to the media snipers (UPDATE: the clip is up on Hastie’s Facebook site https://m.facebook.com/hastieandrew?refsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fhastieandrew&_rdr), or a Deploy Hastie to Parliament donations site? Where is the onslaught against Labor’s politics of smear?
Why is Shorten’s Labor running a protection racket for this union?
Andrew Bolt August 25 2015 (6:22am)
No wonder Labor and the CFMEU are trying to destroy Dyson Heydon and close down his royal commission:
===Police in three states are investigating the most senior leaders of the CFMEU for allegations ranging from receiving secret commissions to blackmail as a result of evidence gathered by investigators working alongside the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption.Labor, in smearing Dyson Heydon and blocking the reinstatement of the watchdog Australian Building and Construction Commission, is effectively running a protection racket for the CFMEU. And if the polls are right, this protection racket will next year be your government.
A Fairfax Media investigation can reveal the CFMEU’s national president and Labor factional boss Dave Hanna has quit the union as a major criminal investigation examines allegations that he took secret commissions.
Hanna, who until his resignation this month was also the CFMEU’s Queensland president and was previously a state ALP vice-president, is the subject of a joint state and federal police inquiry into allegations concerning kickbacks and the operations of a union fund…
A Victoria Police taskforce, Heracles?, has recently taken witness statements from multiple construction industry figures as detectives attempt to charge Victorian CFMEU secretary John Setka and his deputy, Shaun Reardon, with blackmail in connection to the union’s campaign against concrete firm Boral.
Police witnesses have been advised by detectives that a criminal brief against Mr Setka and Mr Reardon has been completed and that police are waiting to receive legal advice before laying charges.
The CFMEU’s NSW secretary Brian Parker is also being investigated by police after phone taps were recently aired at the union royal commission, which revealed his close relationship with organised crime figure, and allegedly crooked labour hire firm boss, George Alex.
The police investigations are now effectively targeting the CFMEU’s most powerful figures across three states and, if they result in charges and convictions, could be fatal to the union’s hope of avoiding being deregistered or placed into administration… In a statement to Fairfax Media, Mr Hanna said he had taken “no benefits” and was involved in “no mismanagement” of any union fund. He claims to have stepped down from the union due to health reasons arising from a motorcycle accident.
ABC republishes another foul anti-Abbott tweet
Andrew Bolt August 25 2015 (5:47am)
The ABC’s Q&A keeps fishing in the Twitter sewer:
UPDATE
The tweet was published during a discussion between five panellists of the Left and just one conservative. The Abbott Government is paying the ABC $1 billion a year to promote the Left and vilify conservatives.
===It’s no longer just a question of bias but of barbarity. The ABC is out of control.
UPDATE
The tweet was published during a discussion between five panellists of the Left and just one conservative. The Abbott Government is paying the ABC $1 billion a year to promote the Left and vilify conservatives.
SINCERE APOLOGIES TO MY MUSLIM FRIENDS
Tim Blair – Monday, August 25, 2014 (7:13am)
Before we get to my big apology, let’s review recent events.
Continue reading 'SINCERE APOLOGIES TO MY MUSLIM FRIENDS'SAD PEOPLE ARE SAD
Tim Blair – Monday, August 25, 2014 (6:35am)
In the most compelling argument ever made for urgent action against climate change, a bunch of scientists haveposed for sad photographs:
Will Steffen, Lesley Hughes and Tim Flannery being sad recently. In super-sad monochrome.
Here’s the background to this devastating initiative:
Photographer Nick Bowers, Art Director Celine Faledam and Copy Writer Rachel Guest have teamed up to bring attention to the issue of climate change in a completely novel and frankly terrifying way with their portrait/interview project Scared Scientists.The title, in a way, says it all.
Yes. Yes, it does. Readers are invited to send their own earnest concern faces to blairt@dailytelegraph.com.au – you may prefer to shoot black and white images, indicating the full extent of your desperate grief.
QUITE SO ESCAPED
Tim Blair – Monday, August 25, 2014 (6:25am)
In Australia, the final words of this European GT series crash commentary would result in a Press Council investigation.
ANXIETY ANNOUNCED
Tim Blair – Monday, August 25, 2014 (6:08am)
Scientists and academics are typically seen as measured, sober types, diligently pursuing their interests in thoughtful, deliberate ways. This is one reason why climate change became such a big issue – because the subject was pushed by science-minded scholars.
It now emerges that these people are every bit as hysterical as your common global warming basket case at a coal seam gas protest. Canberra student and “science communicator” Joe Duggan recently published a range of pieces from various sciency/academic identities describing their “feelings”.
They are hilarious.
Continue reading 'ANXIETY ANNOUNCED'SUPERDAN
Tim Blair – Monday, August 25, 2014 (5:59am)
Three wins to Australian F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo in 2014:
Our guy is absolutely nailing it. This is similar to Alan Jones’s late-1979 winning streak, except that Ricciardo is achieving victories using inferior machinery.
Our guy is absolutely nailing it. This is similar to Alan Jones’s late-1979 winning streak, except that Ricciardo is achieving victories using inferior machinery.
EXPENSIVE MEAL
Tim Blair – Monday, August 25, 2014 (5:44am)
Andrew Brown examines the Richard Dawkins atheist cult:
The Richard Dawkins website offers followers the chance to join the ‘Reason Circle’, which, like Dante’s Hell, is arranged in concentric circles. For $85 a month, you get discounts on his merchandise, and the chance to meet ‘Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science personalities’. Obviously that’s not enough to meet the man himself. For that you pay $210 a month — or $5,000 a year — for the chance to attend an event where he will speak …The neophyte passes through the successively more expensive ‘Darwin Circle’ and then the ‘Evolution Circle’, he attains the innermost circle, where for $100,000 a year or more he gets to have a private breakfast or lunch with Richard Dawkins …The website suggests that donations of up to $500,000 a year will be accepted for the privilege of eating with him once a year: at this level of contribution you become a member of something called ‘The Magic of Reality Circle’.
Seems kinda … religious.
FROM D-DAY TO TODAY
Tim Blair – Monday, August 25, 2014 (4:14am)
D-Day zones then and now, via Andrew S. I’ve visited many of those areas. At a Normandy hotel, within sight of the beach, I was eating oysters and trying as best I could to speak with the hotel owners – hugely patriotic Nazi-hating Francophiles. Their beautiful daughter then joined us.
Her name is Victory.
JERSEY JUICE
Tim Blair – Monday, August 25, 2014 (3:30am)
“I’ve found the wine for your next visit,” emails New Jersey’s Mr. Bingley. Er … perhaps not.
COMEDY IS EASY
Tim Blair – Monday, August 25, 2014 (1:13am)
Bryan Cranston is terrific:
His bad back. Our soft heads
Andrew Bolt August 25 2014 (7:55pm)
We really do keep pensioners in style:
===A DANDENONG disability pensioner admits he was stunned to become Melbourne’s newest millionaire after sensationally snaring almost $3 million playing Keno at his local pub.Overseas trip? A $50 bet? Pokies? The pub?
Friends say Kenedi, who quit work after injuring his back 13 years ago and does not want his surname revealed, is a true “Aussie battler” who has been living off a meagre pension since 2001… The part-time punter had been back from a trip to Macedonia for only a day when he dropped into the Jim Dandy Hotel and outlaid $50 on fifty $1 10-number Keno games and then went to play a poker machine.
But the ABC won’t allow the most important diversity - of opinion
Andrew Bolt August 25 2014 (11:57am)
How about addressing the most glaring lack of cultural diversity - of conservative opinion?
===THE ABC will next month introduce an in-house “cultural diversity tool” across its news and current affairs operations in a bid to ensure its reporting more fully reflects Australia’s ethnic and cultural diversity.There are other important points to make about this story but free speech is not possible under our current laws.
Don’t mention the books!
Andrew Bolt August 25 2014 (9:47am)
Tim Blair reviews criticism of an article in which he discussed the startling contents of a bookshop in Lakemba:
===Imagine the reaction if Sydney stores sold books containing these lines:The most important thing Blair’s critics overlook, though, is not that an Islamic bookshop sells books so full of hatred. It’s that these books, written by Muslims and sold by an Islamic bookshop, says this hatred is the true message of Islam.
- “Is it allowed to support and love Muslims? No, it is not allowed.”Just a hunch, but that sort of thing might lead to a protest or two. When an Islamic store presents identical slurs against women and Jews, however, the PC crowd is absolutely silent… The ABC’s Jonathan Green performed an impressive leftist two-step, first describing my Islamic Bookstore criticism as a case of “book burning” then urging censorship of images showing the imminent Islamic State beheading of US journalist James Foley. Consistency isn’t exactly his strong suit – unless you’re talking about consistent cowardice in the face of Islam.
- “Men’s perfection is because of various reasons: intelligence, religion, etc. At most, four Muslims have this perfection.”
- “No one can deny the fact that the Muslims are the worst kind of barbarian killers the world has ever known!!! The decent great Adolf Hitler of Germany never killed in the manner of the Muslims!!! Surely only mad people or those who love killing infants, pregnant women and the infirm will think differently.”
Triggs must resign from this witch-hunt
Andrew Bolt August 25 2014 (7:17am)
THE Human Rights Commission president must resign after turning her inquiry on children in detention into a political witch-hunt last week.
Gillian Triggs’ behaviour was unforgivable for someone with semi-judicial powers, able to force witnesses to appear under threat of jail.
We cannot have the head of an inquiry showing such bias, heckling witnesses and making false and emotive claims from the bench to make the Christmas Island detention centre seem a hellhole.
Nor can we have an inquiry head giving media interviews attacking witnesses and summing up the issues before hearing all the evidence.
We also cannot have an inquiry head refusing to correct explosive claims about suicide attempts in detention when they’ve been debunked.
It is now impossible to have confidence in Triggs’ impartiality.
(Read full article here.)
===Gillian Triggs’ behaviour was unforgivable for someone with semi-judicial powers, able to force witnesses to appear under threat of jail.
We cannot have the head of an inquiry showing such bias, heckling witnesses and making false and emotive claims from the bench to make the Christmas Island detention centre seem a hellhole.
Nor can we have an inquiry head giving media interviews attacking witnesses and summing up the issues before hearing all the evidence.
We also cannot have an inquiry head refusing to correct explosive claims about suicide attempts in detention when they’ve been debunked.
It is now impossible to have confidence in Triggs’ impartiality.
(Read full article here.)
Dawkins: “immoral” not to kill Down’s syndrome baby
Andrew Bolt August 25 2014 (6:38am)
This is becoming very dangerous. We’ve gone from believing it’s immoral to kill the unborn to some insisting it’s immoral not to if they aren’t, you know, perfect:
(Thanks to reader Seth.)
===Richard Dawkins has apologised for the “feeding frenzy” triggered by his tweet claiming it would be immoral to carry on with a pregnancy if the mother knew the foetus had Down’s syndrome.Dawkins is upset:
The geneticist’s latest Twitter row broke out after he responded to another user who said she would be faced with “a real ethical dilemma” if she became pregnant with a baby with Down’s syndrome. Dawkins tweeted: ”Abort it and try again. It would be immoral to bring it into the world if you have the choice.”
Dawkins said accusations of “Nazism, vile, monstrous fascistic callousness” and “fireballs of hatred” had been hurled his way.Normally Godwin’s law applies - the first in an argument to invoke the Nazis loses. But analogy sometimes really is analogy and not mere abuse:
The Nazis destroyed “life unworthy of life” (lebensunwertes Leben) as they termed it, not as an act of mercy, but as part of a strategy to murder that part of the population least able to defend itself… The fundamental tenet of the eugenics movement was that restricting the ability of “inferior” people to procreate whilst maximizing that of “superior” individuals, would benefit society. Attention was focused on the feebleminded (an inaccurate term covering everything from mental retardation to alcoholism), labelled as idiots, imbeciles, or morons.Once you concede some humans are too imperfect to deserve life you’re down to arguing who we should kill. “We”, of course, may not include you.
(Thanks to reader Seth.)
Stop treating us like idiots with your “asylum seekers”
Andrew Bolt August 25 2014 (6:26am)
Fairfax takes up the case of single male “asylum seekers” in Nauru, despite most being university-educated family men from Pakistan, a democracy, where their families still live:
===Fifty-one men – 44 Pakistanis, six Afghans and one Iranian – are living at the isolated “Fly Camp” on Nauru. The men are Shi’ite Muslims, most of whom fled Taliban violence or religious persecution in their homelands. Most speak Pashto as a first language, but the majority are university educated and also speak English.Feel we’re being gamed, and not just by the “asylum seekers”?
While they are classified as “single men” for their refugee status, almost all have wives and children in their homelands.
Brother-in-law has invention
Andrew Bolt August 25 2014 (6:25am)
My brother-in-law swears that he and a bunch of academics have figured a great way to work out the true value of the home you’re thinking of buying, relying on the wisdom of crowds.
===Muslim leaders betray us by siding with extremists
Andrew Bolt August 25 2014 (6:20am)
AS news broke of the beheading of US journalist James Foley, 80 of Australia’s Muslim representatives issued a statement denouncing the extremism of ... Tony Abbott.
Last week’s statement is the most frightening yet from our Muslim “leaders”.
It attacks the Prime Minister for proposing anti-terrorism laws it falsely claims “specifically target Muslims”.
It ludicrously claims the threat from Muslim jihadists returning from Iraq or Syria is “trumped up” and then savages the true villains — the West and the Jews.
(Read full article here.)
===Last week’s statement is the most frightening yet from our Muslim “leaders”.
It attacks the Prime Minister for proposing anti-terrorism laws it falsely claims “specifically target Muslims”.
It ludicrously claims the threat from Muslim jihadists returning from Iraq or Syria is “trumped up” and then savages the true villains — the West and the Jews.
(Read full article here.)
Victorian Liberals face wipeout in three months
Andrew Bolt August 25 2014 (6:02am)
Bring back Jeff:
===For the first time, Dr Napthine’s net satisfaction rating has dropped into negative territory, a troubling result for the government as Labor leads 55 per cent to 45 per cent on a two-party-preferred basis.
Bryce resented pushy Rudd, too
Andrew Bolt August 25 2014 (5:41am)
I did indeed think Quentin Bryce was politicising the role of Governor General. I did not know that she was also becoming concerned by what a megalomaniac was forcing her to do:
One thing, though: not all the fault lay with Rudd.
===FORMER governor-general Quentin Bryce made a series of complaints to Kevin Rudd as prime minister about his treatment of the office, his controlling attitude towards her and his lack of support when she was attacked for decisions imposed upon her by Rudd.I am just surprised so few other commentators then did not protest against the abuse of Bryce’s office.
Relations between Bryce and Rudd were frequently unhappy, with Bryce at one point deciding she could not proceed on a proposed African trip required by Rudd that had ignited public attacks on the goverrnor-general.
My book Triumph and Demise reveals that when Rudd rang Bryce at 5.40pm on March 13, 2009, she said she was “willing to postpone or cancel the trip” because it had become an issue of political dispute.
The journalistic critics mentioned in their discussion were Andrew Bolt, Piers Akerman, Glenn Milne and Greg Sheridan.
Rudd told Bryce these journalists were “right-wing, rat-pack misogynists”.
That was scant compensation for Bryce, who told Rudd she was deeply concerned.
One thing, though: not all the fault lay with Rudd.
A very healthy union for Jackson
Andrew Bolt August 25 2014 (5:32am)
I had no idea being a union official did not stop you from becoming wealthy:
===THE divorce settlement of corruption whistleblower Kathy Jackson is likely to be drawn into a royal commission investigation because she paid her ex-husband large sums of cash from the union she controlled after their separation.
Ms Jackson’s ex-husband, Jeff Jackson, will be called as a surprise witness at the royal commission into union corruption in Sydney later this week.
Questions to Mr Jackson are expected to focus on why union members’ money was transferred to him by his former wife from her Health Services Union No 3 branch in Victoria — including payments of $50,000 in March 2009 and $58,000 in April 2010…
Ms Jackson ... is believed to have reached a divorce settlement with Mr Jackson in the first few months of 2010 — after the couple separated in March 2008 — that involved making payments to him over time.
Under the divorce deal, Ms Jackson kept the couple’s home in the Melbourne suburb of Balwyn, which she sold in July last year for $1.8 million. Mr Jackson is understood to have kept the couple’s investment property in Box Hill, Victoria, which he sold in 2010 for $855,000. He also received a cash component believed to be about $300,000 and kept his Mercedes-Benz car.
Beheader “identified”. Save the usual excuses
Andrew Bolt August 25 2014 (12:14am)
Can we drop the usual excuse about being ”marginalised” by Western society?
===THE British security services MI5 and MI6 have reportedly identified a British hip-hop artist as the key suspect in the hunt for the killer who beheaded American journalist James Foley…
Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary ... is the son of an Egyptian-born militant who is awaiting trial on terror charges in New York tied to the deadly 1998 bombings of embassies in Kenya and Tanzania…
Bary — who recently tweeted a photo of himself holding up a severed head — ... was an aspiring rapper known as “L Jinny,” whose music was played on BBC Radio 1.
Bary also appeared in music videos posted on YouTube for songs titled Overdose, Flying High and Dreamer. But he ... walked out of his family’s plush West London home last year, saying he was “leaving everything for the sake of Allah.”
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Pastor Rick Warren
#Workouts can help you "work out" grief or depression. Intense activity raises serotonin and nor-epinephrine in your brain.
===SCENES FROM A CRIME SPREE: On May 23rd, 1934, Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker were spotted by a group of armed officers driving 80 mph in a stolen Ford vehicle. A police chase ensued, resulting in a fatal shoot out and demise of the outlawed couple. To uncover more unique facts about #BonnieAndClyde, watch the epic movie premiering this fall on HISTORY, Lifetime and A&E Television Network!
===
I saw the one I love. She looked lovely in red. But tell her? Whoa. That is very hard. I realised some years ago how I felt and I thought of what I wanted .. and realised I had to embrace God if I was to have the relationship I wanted with her. So I got myself baptised (invited her, she didn't go). I heard a sermon how a Minister got his children to embrace the faith by sharing each morning a devotional by Charles Spurgeon (Morning and evening) so I read that and posted it online. And I read the bible and posted that on line too .. I am so eager to share these devotionals with her .. but years pass .. and it gets hard to break the ice .. to share when you aren't used to sharing .. and it is a dream, a powerful dream .. but maybe not her dream .. It isn't complicated .. but it isn't easy either. Because I have to accept the rejection, and if I don't bring it to her, then she doesn't reject it, and I can keep the dream. - ed
===
Tony Abbott's official campaign launch speech delivered today. Strong. Decisive. Inspirational. Will annoy leftists.
<On day one of an incoming Coalition government, I will instruct the public service to prepare the carbon tax repeal legislation.
I will give the directions needed to commence Operation Sovereign Borders.
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation will cease making non-commercial loans with taxpayers’ money.
And the motor industry will be saved from Mr Rudd’s $1.8 billion tax on company cars.
From day one, it will be obvious that Australia is under new management and once more open for business.>
===
The liberals in Hollywood are at it again. They cast of all people "Hanoi" Jane Fonda in the movie "Butler" to play one of the greatest first ladies ever in Republican Nancy Reagan in that movie.
The Tea Party
Click LIKE if you think Jane Fonda is a traitor to the USA for siding with the Communist North Vietnamese during the war.
===
So, friends...inside scoop into the “Palin World.” This is Todd’s airplane hanger (under ANOTHER autumn double rainbow tonight!) where he parks his bush plane to transport us to our commercial and sport fishing grounds. And as importantly, it houses extra space for our “big kids” and their needy buddies to set up temporary “home” and also houses our FOX camera and equipment that allows convenient FOX hits way up here in the Far North! (Thank you, Roger Ailes and Bill Shine, for making it happen.) Tonight, please catch the re-run of Judge Jeanine's show on FOX. I just listened to her profound commentary and watched her superb guests (you can't argue with Ann Coulter!) educate and inspire us to defend our republic. She re-runs in a few hours, then again tomorrow. Please tune in to “Justice with Judge Jeanine.” Thank you!
- Sarah Palin
===
Though black unemployment, at the end of the Bush administration, had broken a long-held pattern of being twice that of white unemployment, it has returned to its former trend under President Barack Obama.
According to a Pew Research report, the unemployment rate among African-Americans is now at 13.4 percent.
The report is released as the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech is about to be celebrated.
According to Pew:
Much has changed for African-Americans since the 1963 March on Washington (which, recall, was a march for ‘Jobs and Freedom’), but one thing hasn’t: The unemployment rate among blacks is about double that among whites, as it has been for most of the past six decades.
As Paul Bedard of the Washington Examiner reports:
The trend broke at the end of former President George W. Bush’s administration as the recession hit whites more, temporarily boosting their unemployment rate.But as the recession has eased, whites have picked up more jobs. Currently, Pew said white unemployment is 6.7 percent, exactly half the black rate.
As Breitbart News reported Wednesday, Gallup showed a jump from a 7.7 percent overall unemployment rate on July 21st to 8.9 percent on August 21st. This increase represents an 18-month high.
In addition, Gallup showed a sharp increase in the number of underemployed. During the same period, the number of those with some work who are seeking more has jumped from 17.1 percent to 17.9 percent.
===
Political Values
David Daniel Ball
Radicalism 33.5Socialism 0
Tenderness 78.125
These scores indicate that you are a tender-minded moderate conservative; this is the political profile one might associate with a sincere clergyman. It appears that you are trusting of religion, and have a compassionately humanistic attitude towards humanity in general.
Your attitudes towards economics appear laissez-faire capitalist, and combined with your social attitudes this creates the picture of someone who would generally be described as right-wing.
To round out the picture you appear to be, political preference aside, an idealist with few strong opinions.
This concludes our analysis; we hope you found your results accurate, useful, and interesting.
Unlike many other political tests found on the Internet which base themselves on untested (and usually ideologically motivated) ideas, this inventory is adapted from Hans Eysenck's own political inventory which was developed after extensive empirical investigations in the 20th Century.
===
Larry Pickering
ABBOTT’S PPL SHOULD GO... at least for now
Company tax reduction from 30% to 28.5% does not represent a 1.5% saving, particularly for multi-nationals, simply because companies have never paid 30%.
BHP Billiton in a good year pays around 17% and has paid as little as 8%. Other major companies pay as little as 3% and a growing sector pays no tax at all.
Telstra has 20 registered “subsidiaries” in tax havens... in the British Virgin Islands, Jersey, Bermuda, Mauritius and the Cayman Islands. Meanwhile it passes on to customers its $25 million carbon tax bill.
For the argument’s sake let’s say the average company tax paid is one third of the set rate (it is actually much lower than that).
Digital creative accounting with a raft of deductions, research and investment breaks, offshore phantom subsidiaries and transfer pricing mean if a government wants another 1% of company profits it needs to lift the rate by 3%.
Works the same in reverse... therefore Abbott’s 1.5% reduction in company tax to compensate for his PPL has a mere 0.5% nett benefit, yet the nett cost of his PPL remains the same.
Thus his belated admission that this overly generous scheme is only partly funded.
Labor’s claimed loss to shareholders of franked credits is a furphy because any increase in company profits due to a decrease in company tax, no matter how small, is directly reflected in increased shareholders’ franked dividends.
Apologies if that appears complicated but the fact is that all taxes are eventually paid by the people.
The burden can be shifted and the goal posts shifted but eventually, no matter how a government dresses it up, we must pay for what we get... and we must pay for the disadvantaged plus the bludgers.
Abbott’s costings will add up. He won’t release them if they don’t but it will all come down to savings and there are tens of billions available just within the Public Service.
One example is the proliferation of over 5,000 QUANGOs that suck the life out of the Federal budget. They can be halved.
Among the many duplicitous and incompetent Government departments due for pruning is Treasury that spends most of its budget on private sector advice.
The CSIRO has become a Green infested ghetto and five separate security agencies, none of which knows what the other is up to, can also be combined and halved.
There are hundreds of must-cuts but one that should be cut, or at least deferred for years, is the Paid Parental Leave scheme. There are a few seats in that decision.
As for buying Indonesian boats, that’s a thought bubble best permanently forgotten.
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Craig Kelly.
<YOUR PAYING FOR IT …………….
Despite continuing to run up deficit after deficit, over the last 3 years, the Labor government has given $416.4 million to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
And last week it was announced that the same Socialist Republic of Vietnam purchased 12 Sukhoi Su-30MK2 fighter aircraft from Russia for $450 million.
Perhaps we should just cut out the middleman, and use money from Australian taxpayers to buy advanced fighter jets from Russia, and give them directly to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam - and Vietnam could fund their own roads & bridges.
And remember, we are giving away this money, at a time when Labor has cut Australia’s defence spending to the lowest levels of GDP since 1938.
And lets not forget that these 12 advanced Sukhoi fighter aircraft will add to the 20 Socialist Republic of Vietnam have purchased since 2009. And that in recent years Vietnam has also ordered from Russia 6 new Russian Kilo Class submarines costing approx US $3 billion and 4 new Russian built Gepard Class Stealth Frigates costing $350 million each.
If foreign countries can afford to buy expensive military weaponry, at a time when Labor needs to borrow billions from overseas, and Labor have slashed our military spending to the lowest levels of GDP since 1938 - does the Socialist Republic of Vietnam really need Australian taxpayers to pay for their roads and bridges etc?>
===
Long-time liberal commentator Margaret Carlson said Friday, “We’ve gone from Martin Luther King to the Reverend Al Sharpton, and as a leader, as he is trying to be this weekend, it’s very dispiriting.”
Bloomberg News’ Carlson was appearing on PBS’s Inside Washington to discuss the 50th anniversary of MLK’s epic “I have a dream speech.”
Sharpton, on the other hand, was busy insisting that the murder off 22-year-old Christopher Lane by two black teens [one of which tweeted hours before the killing how he hated "nasty white people."] was not “racial.” A third teen, who was white, was charged as an accessory to murder – after the fact.
Yeah, I’m sure Martin Luther King would be proud.
===
NEW Zealand Prime Minister John Key says he is "very proud" of his daughter Stephanie's nude photos.
Ms Key, who is studying at the Paris College of Art, will next month debut a series of provocative self-portraits at Paris Design Week.
The images include one of the 20-year-old covering her breasts with hamburgers and another with her body covered in pieces of sushi and octopus. In one more, Stephanie poses topless with a cherry in her mouth, brandishing a fake handgun.
We presume there is some sort of deep meaning behind the pictures. To us, they just seem a bit strange.
"The photographs were part of her curriculum work, and we are very proud of the work she is doing," Mr Key said.
Britain's Sunday Times said Ms Key was "not exactly a chip off the old block".
In 2011, Mr Key's son Max, then 15, brought attention to the family when a photo emerged of Max lying plank-like across the sofa in the prime ministerial residence.
===<Although I undermined and backstabbed her at every turn, leaked on my party and was an all round prick the past 3 years, I hold no hard feelings against Julia and respect her decision. Gotta zip folks! >
===
August 25: National Heroes' Day in the Philippines (2014)
- 1580 – War of the Portuguese Succession: The army of the pretender to the Portuguese throne, António, Prior of Crato, was routed in the Battle of Alcântara, ending his short-lived reign.
- 1825 – The Thirty-Three Orientals, a revolutionary group led byJuan Antonio Lavalleja, declared Uruguayan independence from the Empire of Brazil.
- 1920 – Polish forces under Józef Piłsudski successfully forced the Russians to withdraw from Warsaw at the Battle of Warsaw, the decisive battle of the Polish–Soviet War.
- 1942 – Second World War: Japanese forces attacked the Australian base at Milne Bay on the eastern tip of New Guinea.
- 1989 – The Voyager 2 spacecraft made its closest approach toNeptune and provided definitive proof of the existence of theplanet's rings (pictured).
- 766 – Emperor Constantine V humiliates nineteen high-ranking officials, after discovering a plot against him. He executes the leaders, Constantine Podopagouros and his brother Strategios.
- 1248 – The Dutch city of Ommen receives city rights and fortification rights from Otto III, the Archbishop of Utrecht.
- 1258 – Regent George Mouzalon and his brothers are killed during a coup headed by the aristocratic faction under, paving the way for its leader, Michael VIII Palaiologos, to ultimately usurp the throne of the Empire of Nicaea.
- 1270 – King Louis IX of France dies in Tunis while on the Eighth Crusade.
- 1537 – The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior, is formed.
- 1543 – António Mota and a few companions become the first Europeans to visit Japan.
- 1580 – War of the Portuguese Succession: Spanish victory at the Battle of Alcântara brings about the Iberian Union.
- 1609 – Galileo Galilei demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers.
- 1630 – Portuguese forces are defeated by the Kingdom of Kandy at the Battle of Randeniwela in Sri Lanka.
- 1758 – Seven Years' War: Frederick II of Prussia defeats the Russian army at the Battle of Zorndorf.
- 1814 – War of 1812: On the second day of the Burning of Washington, British troops torch the Library of Congress, United States Treasury, Department of War, and other public buildings.
- 1823 – American fur trapper Hugh Glass is mauled by a grizzly bear while on an expedition in South Dakota.
- 1825 – Uruguay declares its independence from Brazil.
- 1830 – The Belgian Revolution begins.
- 1835 – The first Great Moon Hoax article is published in The New York Sun, announcing the discovery of life and civilization on the Moon.
- 1875 – Captain Matthew Webb becomes the first person to swim across the English Channel, traveling from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in 21 hours and 45 minutes.[1]
- 1883 – France and Viet Nam sign the Treaty of Huế, recognizing a French protectorate over Annam and Tonkin.
- 1894 – Kitasato Shibasaburō discovers the infectious agent of the bubonic plague and publishes his findings in The Lancet.
- 1898 – Seven hundred Greek civilians, 17 British guards and the British Consul of Crete are killed by a Turkish mob in Heraklion, Greece.
- 1914 – World War I: Japan declares war on Austria-Hungary.
- 1914 – World War I: The library of the Catholic University of Leuven is deliberately destroyed by the German Army. Hundreds of thousands of irreplaceable volumes and Gothic and Renaissance manuscripts are lost.
- 1916 – The United States National Park Service is created.
- 1920 – Polish–Soviet War: Battle of Warsaw, which began on August 13, ends with the Red Army's defeat.
- 1933 – The Diexi earthquake strikes Mao County, Sichuan, China and kills 9,000 people.
- 1939 – The United Kingdom and Poland form a military alliance in which the UK promises to defend Poland in case of invasion by a foreign power.
- 1940 – World War II: The first Bombing of Berlin by the British Royal Air Force.
- 1942 – World War II: Second day of the Battle of the Eastern Solomons; a Japanese naval transport convoy headed towards Guadalcanal is turned back by an Allied air attack.
- 1944 – World War II: Paris is liberated by the Allies.
- 1945 – Ten days after World War II ends with Japan announcing its surrender, armed supporters of the Chinese Communist Party kill U.S. intelligence officer John Birch, regarded by some of the American right as the first victim of the Cold War.
- 1948 – The House Un-American Activities Committee holds first-ever televised congressional hearing: "Confrontation Day" between Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss.
- 1950 – President Harry Truman orders the U.S. Army to seize control of the nation's railroads to avert a strike.
- 1961 – President Jânio Quadros of Brazil resigns after just seven months in power, initiating a political crisis that culminates in a military coup in 1964.
- 1967 – George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of the American Nazi Party, is assassinated by a former member of his group.
- 1980 – Zimbabwe joins the United Nations.
- 1981 – Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Saturn.
- 1989 – Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Neptune, the second to last planet in the Solar System at the time.
- 1991 – Belarus gains its independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1991 – The Battle of Vukovar begins. An 87-day siege of Vukovar by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), supported by various Serb paramilitary forces, between August and November 1991 (during the Croatian War of Independence).
- 1991 – Linus Torvalds announces the first version of what will become Linux.
- 1997 – Egon Krenz, the former East German leader, is convicted of a shoot-to-kill policy at the Berlin Wall.
- 2001 – American singer Aaliyah and several members of her record company are killed as their overloaded aircraft crashes shortly after takeoff from Marsh Harbour Airport, Bahamas.
- 2006 – Former Prime Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Lazarenko is sentenced to nine years imprisonment for money laundering, wire fraud, and extortion.
- 2012 – Voyager 1 spacecraft enters interstellar space becoming the first man-made object to do so.
- 2017 – Hurricane Harvey makes landfall in Texas as a powerful Category 4 hurricane, the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the United States since 2004. Over the next few days, the storm causes catastrophic flooding throughout much of eastern Texas, killing 106 people and causing $125 billion in damage.
- 1467 – Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 2nd Duke of Alburquerque, Spanish duke (d. 1526)
- 1491 – Innocenzo Cybo, Catholic cardinal (d. 1550)
- 1509 – Ippolito II d'Este, Italian cardinal and statesman (d. 1572)
- 1530 – Ivan the Terrible, Russian ruler (d. 1584)
- 1540 – Lady Catherine Grey, English noblewoman (d. 1568)
- 1561 – Philippe van Lansberge, Dutch astronomer and mathematician (d. 1632)
- 1605 – Philipp Moritz, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg, German noble (d. 1638)
- 1624 – François de la Chaise, French priest (d. 1709)
- 1662 – John Leverett the Younger, American lawyer, academic, and politician (d. 1724)
- 1707 – Louis I of Spain (d. 1724)
- 1724 – George Stubbs, English painter and academic (d. 1806)
- 1741 – Karl Friedrich Bahrdt, German theologian and author (d. 1792)
- 1744 – Johann Gottfried Herder, German poet, philosopher, and critic (d. 1803)
- 1758 – Franz Teyber, Austrian organist and composer (d. 1810)
- 1767 – Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, French soldier and politician (d. 1794)
- 1776 – Thomas Bladen Capel, English admiral (d. 1853)
- 1786 – Ludwig I of Bavaria (d. 1868)
- 1796 – James Lick, American carpenter and piano builder (d. 1876)
- 1802 – Nikolaus Lenau, Romanian-Austrian poet and author (d. 1850)
- 1803 – Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, Duke of Caxias (d. 1880)
- 1812 – Nikolay Zinin, Russian organic chemist (d. 1880)
- 1817 – Marie-Eugénie de Jésus, French nun and saint, founded the Religious of the Assumption (d. 1898)
- 1819 – Allan Pinkerton, Scottish-American detective and spy (d. 1884)
- 1829 – Carlo Acton, Italian pianist and composer (d. 1909)
- 1836 – Bret Harte, American short story writer and poet (d. 1902)
- 1840 – George C. Magoun, American businessman (d. 1893)
- 1841 – Emil Theodor Kocher, Swiss physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1917)
- 1845 – Ludwig II of Bavaria (d. 1886)
- 1850 – Charles Richet, French physiologist and occultist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1935)
- 1867 – James W. Gerard, American lawyer and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Germany (d. 1951)
- 1869 – Tom Kiely, British-Irish decathlete (d. 1951)
- 1877 – Joshua Lionel Cowen, American businessman, co-founded the Lionel Corporation (d. 1965)
- 1878 – Ted Birnie, English footballer and manager (d. 1935)
- 1882 – Seán T. O'Kelly, Irish journalist and politician, 2nd President of Ireland (d. 1966)
- 1889 – Alexander Mair, Australian politician, 26th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1969)
- 1891 – David Shimoni, Belarusian-Israeli poet and translator (d. 1956)
- 1893 – Henry Trendley Dean, American dentist (d. 1962)
- 1898 – Helmut Hasse, German mathematician and academic (d. 1975)
- 1898 – Arthur Wood, English cricketer (d. 1973)
- 1899 – Paul Herman Buck, American historian and author (d. 1978)
- 1900 – Isobel Hogg Kerr Beattie, Scottish architect (d. 1970) [2]
- 1900 – Hans Adolf Krebs, German physician and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981)
- 1902 – Stefan Wolpe, German-American composer and educator (d. 1972)
- 1903 – Arpad Elo, Hungarian-American chess player, created the Elo rating system (d. 1992)
- 1905 – Faustina Kowalska, Polish nun and saint (d. 1938)
- 1906 – Jim Smith, English cricketer (d. 1979)
- 1909 – Ruby Keeler, Canadian-American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 1993)
- 1909 – Michael Rennie, English actor and producer (d. 1971)
- 1910 – George Cisar, American baseball player (d. 2010)
- 1910 – Dorothea Tanning, American painter, sculptor, and poet (d. 2012)
- 1911 – Võ Nguyên Giáp, Vietnamese general and politician, 3rd Minister of Defence for Vietnam (d. 2013)
- 1912 – Erich Honecker, German soldier and politician (d. 1994)
- 1913 – Don DeFore, American actor (d. 1993)
- 1913 – Walt Kelly, American illustrator and animator (d. 1973)
- 1916 – Van Johnson, American actor (d. 2008)
- 1916 – Frederick Chapman Robbins, American pediatrician and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2003)
- 1916 – Saburō Sakai, Japanese lieutenant and pilot (d. 2000)
- 1917 – Mel Ferrer, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2008)
- 1918 – Leonard Bernstein, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1990)
- 1918 – Richard Greene, English actor (d. 1985)
- 1919 – William P. Foster, American bandleader and educator (d. 2010)
- 1919 – George Wallace, American sergeant, lawyer, and politician, 45th Governor of Alabama (d. 1998)
- 1919 – Jaap Rijks, Dutch Olympic medalist (d. 2017)
- 1921 – Monty Hall, Canadian-American television personality and game show host (d. 2017)
- 1921 – Bryce Mackasey, Canadian businessman and politician, 20th Canadian Minister of Labour (d. 1999)
- 1921 – Brian Moore, Northern Irish-Canadian author and screenwriter (d. 1999)
- 1923 – Álvaro Mutis, Colombian-Mexican author and poet (d. 2013)
- 1923 – Allyre Sirois, Canadian lawyer and judge (d. 2012)
- 1924 – Zsuzsa Körmöczy, Hungarian tennis player and coach (d. 2006)
- 1925 – Thea Astley, Australian journalist and author (d. 2004)
- 1925 – Hilmar Hoffmann, German film and culture academic (d. 2018)
- 1925 – Stepas Butautas, Lithuanian basketball player and coach (d. 2001)
- 1927 – Althea Gibson, American tennis player and golfer (d. 2003)
- 1927 – Des Renford, Australian swimmer (d. 1999)
- 1928 – John "Kayo" Dottley, American football player
- 1928 – Darrell Johnson, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2004)
- 1928 – Karl Korte, American composer and academic
- 1928 – Herbert Kroemer, German-American physicist, engineer, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1930 – Sean Connery, Scottish actor and producer
- 1930 – György Enyedi, Hungarian economist and geographer (d. 2012)
- 1930 – Graham Jarvis, Canadian actor (d. 2003)
- 1930 – Crispin Tickell, English academic and diplomat, British Permanent Representative to the United Nations
- 1931 – Regis Philbin, American actor and television host
- 1933 – Patrick F. McManus, American journalist and author (d. 2018)
- 1933 – Wayne Shorter, American saxophonist and composer
- 1933 – Tom Skerritt, American actor
- 1934 – Lise Bacon, Canadian judge and politician, Deputy Premier of Quebec
- 1934 – Eddie Ilarde, Filipino journalist and politician
- 1935 – Charles Wright, American poet
- 1936 – Giridharilal Kedia, Indian businessman, founded the Image Institute of Technology & Management (d. 2009)
- 1937 – Jimmy Hannan, Australian television host and singer
- 1937 – Virginia Euwer Wolff, American author
- 1938 – David Canary, American actor (d. 2015)
- 1938 – Frederick Forsyth, English journalist and author
- 1939 – John Badham, English-American actor, director, and producer
- 1940 – Wilhelm von Homburg, German boxer and actor (d. 2004)
- 1941 – Marshall Brickman, Brazilian-American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1941 – Mario Corso, Italian footballer and coach
- 1941 – Ludwig Müller, German footballer
- 1942 – Nathan Deal, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 82nd Governor of Georgia
- 1944 – Conrad Black, Canadian historian and author
- 1944 – Jacques Demers, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and politician
- 1944 – Anthony Heald, American actor
- 1944 – Andrew Longmore, British lawyer and judge
- 1945 – Daniel Hulet, Belgian cartoonist (d. 2011)
- 1945 – Hannah Louise Shearer, American screenwriter and producer
- 1946 – Rollie Fingers, American baseball player
- 1946 – Charles Ghigna, American poet and author
- 1946 – Charlie Sanders, American football player and sportscaster (d. 2015)
- 1947 – Michael Kaluta, American author and illustrator
- 1947 – Mink Stole, American actress
- 1947 – Keith Tippett, British jazz pianist and composer
- 1948 – Ledward Kaapana, American singer and guitarist
- 1948 – Nicholas A. Peppas, Greek chemist and biologist
- 1949 – Martin Amis, British novelist
- 1949 – Rijkman Groenink, Dutch banker and academic
- 1949 – John Savage, American actor and producer
- 1949 – Gene Simmons, Israeli-American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
- 1950 – Willy DeVille, American singer and songwriter (d. 2009)
- 1950 – Charles Fambrough, American bassist, composer, and producer (d. 2011)
- 1951 – Rob Halford, English heavy metal singer-songwriter (Judas Priest)
- 1951 – Bill Handel, Brazilian-American lawyer and radio host
- 1952 – Kurban Berdyev, Turkmen footballer and manager
- 1952 – Geoff Downes, English keyboard player, songwriter, and producer
- 1952 – Duleep Mendis, Sri Lankan cricketer and coach
- 1954 – Elvis Costello, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1954 – Jim Wallace, Baron Wallace of Tankerness, Scottish lawyer and politician, First Minister of Scotland
- 1955 – John McGeoch, Scottish guitarist (d. 2004)
- 1955 – Gerd Müller, German businessman and politician
- 1956 – Matt Aitken, English songwriter and record producer (Stock Aitken Waterman)
- 1956 – Takeshi Okada, Japanese footballer, coach, and manager
- 1956 – Henri Toivonen, Finnish race car driver (d. 1986)
- 1957 – Sikander Bakht, Pakistani cricketer and sportscaster
- 1957 – Simon McBurney, English actor and director
- 1957 – Frank Serratore, American ice hockey player and coach
- 1958 – Tim Burton, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1959 – Ian Falconer, American author and illustrator
- 1959 – Steve Levy, American lawyer and politician
- 1959 – Bernardo Rezende, Brazilian volleyball coach and former player
- 1959 – Lane Smith, American author and illustrator
- 1959 – Ruth Ann Swenson, American soprano and actress
- 1960 – Georg Zellhofer, Austrian footballer and manager
- 1961 – Billy Ray Cyrus, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1962 – Taslima Nasrin, Bangladeshi author
- 1962 – Theresa Andrews, American former competition swimmer and Olympic champion
- 1962 – Vivian Campbell, Northern Irish rock guitarist and songwriter
- 1962 – Michael Zorc, German footballer
- 1963 – Miro Cerar, Slovenian lawyer and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Slovenia
- 1963 – Shock G, American rapper and producer
- 1963 – Tiina Intelmann, Estonian lawyer and diplomat
- 1964 – Azmin Ali, Malaysian mathematician and politician
- 1964 – Maxim Kontsevich, Russian-American mathematician and academic
- 1964 – Blair Underwood, American actor
- 1964 – Joanne Whalley, English actress
- 1965 – Cornelius Bennett, American football player
- 1965 – Sanjeev Sharma, Indian cricketer and coach
- 1966 – Albert Belle, American baseball player
- 1966 – Derek Sherinian, American keyboard player, songwriter, and producer
- 1966 – Terminator X, American hip-hop DJ (Public Enemy)
- 1967 – Jeff Tweedy, American singer-songwriter, musician, and producer
- 1968 – Yuri Mitsui, Japanese actress, model, and race car driver
- 1968 – Stuart Murdoch, Scottish singer-songwriter
- 1968 – Spider One, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1968 – Rachael Ray, American chef, author, and television host
- 1968 – Takeshi Ueda, Japanese singer-songwriter and bass player
- 1969 – Olga Konkova, Norwegian-Russian pianist and composer
- 1969 – Cameron Mathison, Canadian actor and television personality
- 1969 – Catriona Matthew, Scottish golfer
- 1969 – Vivek Razdan, Indian cricketer, coach, and sportscaster
- 1970 – Doug Glanville, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1970 – Debbie Graham, American tennis player
- 1970 – Robert Horry, American basketball player and sportscaster
- 1970 – Adrian Lam, Papua New Guinean-Australian rugby league player and coach
- 1970 – Jo Dee Messina, American singer-songwriter
- 1970 – Claudia Schiffer, German model and fashion designer
- 1973 – Fatih Akın, German director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1974 – Pablo Ozuna, Dominican baseball player
- 1975 – Brad Drew, Australian rugby league player
- 1975 – Petria Thomas, Australian swimmer and coach
- 1976 – Damon Jones, American basketball player and coach
- 1976 – Javed Qadeer, Pakistani cricketer and coach
- 1976 – Alexander Skarsgård, Swedish actor
- 1977 – Masumi Asano, Japanese voice actress and producer
- 1977 – Andy McDonald, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1978 – Kel Mitchell, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1978 – Robert Mohr, German rugby player
- 1979 – Marlon Harewood, English footballer
- 1979 – Philipp Mißfelder, German historian and politician (d. 2015)
- 1979 – Deanna Nolan, American basketball player
- 1981 – Rachel Bilson, American actress
- 1981 – Jan-Berrie Burger, Namibian cricketer
- 1981 – Camille Pin, French tennis player
- 1982 – Jung Jung-suk, South Korean footballer (d. 2011)
- 1983 – James Rossiter, English race car driver
- 1984 – Florian Mohr, German footballer
- 1986 – Rodney Ferguson, American footballer
- 1987 – Stacey Farber, Canadian actress
- 1987 – Velimir Jovanović, Serbian footballer
- 1987 – Blake Lively, American model and actress
- 1987 – Amy Macdonald, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1987 – Justin Upton, American baseball player
- 1987 – Adam Warren, American baseball player
- 1987 – James Wesolowski, Australian footballer
- 1988 – Angela Park, Brazilian-American golfer
- 1989 – Hiram Mier, Mexican footballer
- 1992 – Miyabi Natsuyaki, Japanese singer and actress
- 1992 – Ricardo Rodriguez, Swiss footballer
- 1994 – Edmunds Augstkalns, Latvian ice hockey player
- 1994 – Kajol Aikat, Indian writer & novelist
- 1998 – China Anne McClain, American actress and singer
- AD 79 – Pliny the Elder, Roman commander and philosopher (b. 23)
- 274 – Yang Yan, Jin Dynasty empress (b. 238)
- 306 – Saint Maginus, Christian hermit and martyr from Tarragona
- 383 – Gratian, Roman emperor (b. 359)
- 471 – Gennadius I, patriarch of Constantinople
- 766 – Constantine Podopagouros, Byzantine official
- 766 – Strategios Podopagouros, Byzantine general
- 1091 – Sisnando Davides, military leader
- 1192 – Hugh III, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1142)
- 1258 – George Mouzalon, regent of the Empire of Nicaea
- 1270 – Louis IX of France (b. 1214)
- 1270 – Alphonso of Brienne (b. c. 1225)
- 1271 – Joan, Countess of Toulouse (b. 1220)
- 1282 – Thomas de Cantilupe, English bishop and saint (b. 1218)
- 1327 – Demasq Kaja, Chobanid
- 1322 – Beatrice of Silesia, queen consort of Germany (b. c. 1292)
- 1330 – Sir James Douglas, Scottish guerilla leader (b. 1286)
- 1339 – Henry de Cobham, 1st Baron Cobham (b. 1260)
- 1368 – Andrea Orcagna, Italian painter, sculptor, and architect
- 1482 – Margaret of Anjou (b. 1429)
- 1485 – William Catesby, supporter of Richard III (b. 1450)
- 1554 – Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, English soldier and politician, Lord High Treasurer (b. 1473)
- 1592 – William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (b. 1532)
- 1603 – Ahmad al-Mansur, Sultan of the Saadi dynasty (b. 1549)
- 1631 – Nicholas Hyde, Lord Chief Justice of England (b.c. 1572)
- 1632 – Thomas Dekker, English author and playwright (b. 1572)
- 1688 – Henry Morgan, Welsh admiral and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica (b. 1635)
- 1699 – Christian V of Denmark (b. 1646)
- 1711 – Edward Villiers, 1st Earl of Jersey, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (b. 1656)
- 1742 – Carlos Seixas, Portuguese organist and composer (b. 1704)
- 1774 – Niccolò Jommelli, Italian composer and educator (b. 1714)
- 1776 – David Hume, Scottish economist, historian, and philosopher (b. 1711)
- 1794 – Florimond Claude, Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, Belgian-Austrian diplomat (b. 1727)
- 1797 – Thomas Chittenden, Governor of the Vermont Republic (later 1st Governor of the State of Vermont) (b. 1730)
- 1819 – James Watt, Scottish-English engineer and instrument maker (b. 1736)
- 1822 – William Herschel, German-English astronomer and composer (b. 1738)
- 1867 – Michael Faraday, English physicist and chemist (b. 1791)
- 1882 – Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, Estonian physician and author (b. 1803)
- 1886 – Zinovios Valvis, Greek lawyer and politician, 35th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1791)
- 1892 – William Champ, English-Australian politician, 1st Premier of Tasmania (b. 1808)
- 1900 – Friedrich Nietzsche, German philologist, philosopher, and critic (b. 1844)
- 1904 – Henri Fantin-Latour, French painter and lithographer (b. 1836)
- 1908 – Henri Becquerel, French physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
- 1916 – Mary Tappan Wright, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1851)
- 1921 – Nikolay Gumilyov, Russian poet and critic (b. 1886)
- 1924 – Mariano Álvarez, Filipino general and politician (b. 1818)
- 1924 – Velma Caldwell Melville, American editor, and writer of prose and poetry (b. 1858)
- 1925 – Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, Austrian field marshal (b. 1852)
- 1930 – Frankie Campbell, American boxer (b. 1904)
- 1931 – Dorothea Fairbridge, South African author and co-founder of Guild of Loyal Women (b. 1862)
- 1938 – Aleksandr Kuprin, Russian pilot, explorer, and author (b. 1870)
- 1939 – Babe Siebert, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1904)
- 1940 – Prince Jean, Duke of Guise (b. 1874)
- 1942 – Prince George, Duke of Kent (b. 1902)
- 1945 – John Birch, American soldier and missionary (b. 1918)
- 1956 – Alfred Kinsey, American biologist and academic (b. 1894)
- 1965 – Moonlight Graham, American baseball player and physician (b. 1879)
- 1967 – Stanley Bruce, Australian lawyer and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1883)
- 1967 – Oscar Cabalén, Argentine racing driver (b. 1928)
- 1967 – Paul Muni, Ukrainian-born American actor (b. 1895)
- 1967 – George Lincoln Rockwell, American commander, politician, and activist, founded the American Nazi Party (b. 1918)
- 1968 – Stan McCabe, Australian cricketer and coach (b. 1910)
- 1969 – Robert Cosgrove, Australian politician, 30th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1884)
- 1970 – Tachū Naitō, Japanese architect and engineer, designed the Tokyo Tower (b. 1886)
- 1971 – Ted Lewis, American singer and clarinet player (b. 1890)
- 1973 – Dezső Pattantyús-Ábrahám, Hungarian lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1875)
- 1976 – Eyvind Johnson, Swedish novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
- 1977 – Károly Kós, Hungarian architect, ethnologist, and politician (b. 1883)
- 1979 – Stan Kenton, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1911)
- 1980 – Gower Champion, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1919)
- 1981 – Nassos Kedrakas, Greek actor and cinematographer (b. 1915)
- 1982 – Anna German, Polish singer (b. 1936)
- 1984 – Truman Capote, American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter (b. 1924)
- 1984 – Viktor Chukarin, Ukrainian gymnast and coach (b. 1921)
- 1984 – Waite Hoyt, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1899)
- 1988 – Art Rooney, American businessman, founded the Pittsburgh Steelers (b. 1901)
- 1990 – Morley Callaghan, Canadian author and playwright (b. 1903)
- 1995 – Doug Stegmeyer, American bass player and producer (b. 1951)
- 1998 – Lewis F. Powell, Jr., American lawyer and Supreme Court justice (b. 1907)
- 1999 – Rob Fisher, English keyboard player and songwriter (b. 1956)
- 2000 – Carl Barks, American author and illustrator (b. 1901)
- 2000 – Frederick C. Bock, American soldier and pilot (b. 1918)
- 2000 – Jack Nitzsche, American pianist, composer, and producer (b. 1937)
- 2000 – Allen Woody, American bass player and songwriter (b. 1955)
- 2001 – Aaliyah, American singer and actress (b. 1979)
- 2001 – Carl Brewer, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1938)
- 2001 – Üzeyir Garih, Turkish engineer and businessman, co-founded Alarko Holding (b. 1929)
- 2001 – Ken Tyrrell, English race car driver and businessman, founded Tyrrell Racing (b. 1924)
- 2002 – Dorothy Hewett, Australian author and poet (b. 1923)
- 2003 – Tom Feelings, American author and illustrator (b. 1933)
- 2005 – Peter Glotz, Czech-German academic and politician (b. 1939)
- 2006 – Noor Hassanali, Trinidadian-Tobagonian lawyer and politician, 2nd President of Trinidad and Tobago (b. 1918)
- 2007 – Benjamin Aaron, American lawyer and scholar (b. 1915)
- 2007 – Ray Jones, English footballer (b. 1988)
- 2008 – Ahmad Faraz, Pakistani poet (b. 1931)
- 2008 – Kevin Duckworth, American basketball player (b. 1964)
- 2009 – Ted Kennedy, American politician (b. 1932)
- 2009 – Mandé Sidibé, Malian economist and politician, Prime Minister of Mali (b. 1940)
- 2011 – Lazar Mojsov, Macedonian politician (b. 1920)
- 2012 – Florencio Amarilla, Paraguayan footballer, coach, and actor (b. 1935)
- 2012 – Neil Armstrong, American pilot, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1930)
- 2012 – Roberto González Barrera, Mexican banker and businessman (b. 1930)
- 2012 – Donald Gorrie, Scottish educator and politician (b. 1933)
- 2013 – Ciril Bergles, Slovene poet and translator (b. 1934)
- 2013 – António Borges, Portuguese economist and banker (b. 1949)
- 2013 – William Froug, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1922)
- 2013 – Liu Fuzhi, Chinese academic and politician, 3rd Minister of Justice for China (b. 1917)
- 2013 – Raghunath Panigrahi, Indian singer-songwriter (b. 1932)
- 2013 – Gylmar dos Santos Neves, Brazilian footballer (b. 1930)
- 2014 – William Greaves, American director and producer (b. 1926)
- 2014 – Marcel Masse, Canadian educator and politician, 29th Canadian Minister of National Defence (b. 1936)
- 2014 – Nico M. M. Nibbering, Dutch chemist and academic (b. 1938)
- 2014 – Uziah Thompson, Jamaican-American drummer and producer (b. 1936)
- 2014 – Enrique Zileri, Peruvian journalist and publisher (b. 1931)
- 2015 – José María Benegas, Spanish lawyer and politician (b. 1948)
- 2015 – Francis Sejersted, Norwegian historian and academic (b. 1936)
- 2016 – Marvin Kaplan, American actor (b. 1927)
- 2017 – Rich Piana, American bodybuilder (b. 1971)
- Christian feast day:
- Æbbe of Coldingham
- Aredius
- Genesius of Arles
- Genesius of Rome
- Ginés de la Jara (or Genesius of Cartagena)
- Gregory of Utrecht
- Joseph Calasanz
- Louis IX of France
- Blessed Ludovicus Baba
- Blessed Ludovicus Sasada
- Blessed Luis Sotelo
- Menas of Constantinople
- Blessed Miguel de Carvalho
- Patricia of Naples
- Blessed Pedro Vásquez
- Thomas de Cantilupe (or of Hereford)
- Day of Songun (North Korea)
- Earliest day on which Father's Day can fall, while August 31 is the latest; celebrated on the last Monday in August. (South Sudan)
- Earliest day on which La Tomatina can fall, while August 31 is the latest; celebrated on the last Wednesday in August. (Buñol)
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Uruguay from Brazil in 1825.
- Liberation Day (France)
- Soldier's Day (Brazil)
“I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.” Psalm 116:1-2 NIV
===
Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
Inasmuch as Jesus has gone before us, things remain not as they would have been had he never passed that way. He has conquered every foe that obstructed the way. Cheer up now thou faint-hearted warrior. Not only has Christ travelled the road, but he has slain thine enemies. Dost thou dread sin? He has nailed it to his cross. Dost thou fear death? He has been the death of Death. Art thou afraid of hell? He has barred it against the advent of any of his children; they shall never see the gulf of perdition. Whatever foes may be before the Christian, they are all overcome. There are lions, but their teeth are broken; there are serpents, but their fangs are extracted; there are rivers, but they are bridged or fordable; there are flames, but we wear that matchless garment which renders us invulnerable to fire. The sword that has been forged against us is already blunted; the instruments of war which the enemy is preparing have already lost their point. God has taken away in the person of Christ all the power that anything can have to hurt us. Well then, the army may safely march on, and you may go joyously along your journey, for all your enemies are conquered beforehand. What shall you do but march on to take the prey? They are beaten, they are vanquished; all you have to do is to divide the spoil. You shall, it is true, often engage in combat; but your fight shall be with a vanquished foe. His head is broken; he may attempt to injure you, but his strength shall not be sufficient for his malicious design. Your victory shall be easy, and your treasure shall be beyond all count.
"Proclaim aloud the Saviour's fame,
Who bears the Breaker's wond'rous name;
Sweet name; and it becomes him well,
Who breaks down earth, sin, death, and hell."
Evening
"If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field, be consumed therewith; he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution."
Exodus 22:6
Exodus 22:6
But what restitution can he make who casts abroad the fire-brands of error, or the coals of lasciviousness, and sets men's souls on a blaze with the fire of hell? The guilt is beyond estimate, and the result is irretrievable. If such an offender be forgiven, what grief it will cause him in the retrospect, since he cannot undo the mischief which he has done! An ill example may kindle a flame which years of amended character cannot quench. To burn the food of man is bad enough, but how much worse to destroy the soul! It may be useful to us to reflect how far we may have been guilty in the past, and to enquire whether, even in the present, there may not be evil in us which has a tendency to bring damage to the souls of our relatives, friends, or neighbours.
The fire of strife is a terrible evil when it breaks out in a Christian church. Where converts were multiplied, and God was glorified, jealousy and envy do the devil's work most effectually. Where the golden grain was being housed, to reward the toil of the great Boaz, the fire of enmity comes in and leaves little else but smoke and a heap of blackness. Woe unto those by whom offences come. May they never come through us, for although we cannot make restitution, we shall certainly be the chief sufferers if we are the chief offenders. Those who feed the fire deserve just censure, but he who first kindles it is most to blame. Discord usually takes first hold upon the thorns; it is nurtured among the hypocrites and base professors in the church, and away it goes among the righteous, blown by the winds of hell, and no one knows where it may end. O thou Lord and giver of peace, make us peacemakers, and never let us aid and abet the men of strife, or even unintentionally cause the least division among thy people.
===
Today's reading: Psalm 116-118, 1 Corinthians 7:1-19 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Psalm 116-118
he heard my cry for mercy.
2 Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.
3 The cords of death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave came over me;
I was overcome by distress and sorrow.
4 Then I called on the name of the LORD:
"LORD, save me!"
the anguish of the grave came over me;
I was overcome by distress and sorrow.
4 Then I called on the name of the LORD:
"LORD, save me!"
5 The LORD is gracious and righteous;
our God is full of compassion.
6 The LORD protects the unwary;
when I was brought low, he saved me....
our God is full of compassion.
6 The LORD protects the unwary;
when I was brought low, he saved me....
Today's New Testament reading: 1 Corinthians 7:1-19
Concerning Married Life
1 Now for the matters you wrote about: "It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman." 2 But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. 3The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. 5 Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7 I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that....
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Aaron
[Aâr'on] - a mountain of strength orenlightened. The son of Amran and of Jochebed his wife, and of the family of Kohath, who was the second son of Levi, who was the third son of Jacob. Miriam was Aaron's elder sister and Moses was his junior brother by some three years. Aaron married Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab and sister of Naashon, and by her had four sons - Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar (Exod. 6:16-23).
[Aâr'on] - a mountain of strength orenlightened. The son of Amran and of Jochebed his wife, and of the family of Kohath, who was the second son of Levi, who was the third son of Jacob. Miriam was Aaron's elder sister and Moses was his junior brother by some three years. Aaron married Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab and sister of Naashon, and by her had four sons - Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar (Exod. 6:16-23).
The Man Who Was an Excellent Speaker
It is somewhat fitting that Aaron should not only begin the list of men under the letter A - one of the longest lists of all - but also of all the men listed alphabetically in the Bible.
The first glimpse we have of this great Bible saint is that of an eloquent speaker, and because of this fact he was chosen by God to be the prophet and spokesman of his brother Moses in his encounters with Pharaoh. The fame of his oratory was known in heaven, and recognized by God. A great orator has been defined as a good man well-skilled in speaking, and of such capacities was Aaron. When Moses protested against appearing before Pharaoh, pleading that he was not eloquent, but slow of speech and of a slow tongue (Exod. 3:10; 4:11, 12) did he refer to a defect of speech he suffered from? "Not eloquent" means, not a man of words and "slow of speech, and of a slow tongue" means heavy of speech and heavy of tongue.
There are those authorities who suggest that Moses had a stammer or lisp, a physical impediment of speech necessitating a spokesman of Aaron's ability. It would seem as if God's promise that He would be with his mouth and was able to help him overcome any disability as a speaker, bears out the thought of an actual defect of speech. This we do know, Aaron must have spoken with great power when he addressed Pharaoh on the signs and plagues of Exodus four through eleven.
Aaron plays an important part in the inauguration and development of priestly functions, all of which are prescribed in Leviticus. Among the mature males of Israel there were three classes:
From the tribes of Israel came the warriors.
From the tribe of Levi came the workers.
From the family of Aaron came the worshipers.
Aaron became the first high priest of Israel, and in Aaron and his sons we have a fitting type of Christ and His Church. The ministry of Aaron in connection with the Tabernacle with all of its services is referred to by the writer of the Hebrews as a figure of the true ministry of the High Priest who is Jesus.
Yet in spite of his high and holy calling. Aaron suffered from the murmurings of the people (Exod. 16:2; Num. 14:2). He was persuaded by the people to make a golden calf and was reproved by Moses for his action (Exod. 32 ). Aaron's penitence, however, was complete, and his service faithful. Perhaps Aaron could be placed at the head of all Old Testament penitents, for his own sins as well as for the sins of others. While Aaron was Jesus Christ in type and by imputation, he yet remains Aaron all the time, Aaron of the molten image and of many untold transgressions besides. With Moses, Aaron was excluded from the Promised Land (Num. 20:12). He died at the age of 123 years on Mount Hor, in the land of Edom, and was buried there (Num. 20).
A profitable meditation on "The Priestly Calling" could be developed along the line of the following suggestions.
I. Aaron was a type of Christ, the Great High Priest.
A. Both were chosen of God. Christ is the only mediator between God and man.
B. Both had to be clean, seeing they bore the vessels of the Lord. Aaron was a sinner and needed cleansing - Christ was sinless.
C. Both are clothed - Aaron with his coat, robe and ephod; Christ robed in garments of glory and beauty.
D. Both are crowned - Aaron with his mitre, or holy crown, Christ with His many diadems.
E. Both are consecrated or set apart - Aaron was blood sprinkled and had his hands filled for the Lord (Lev. 8:24-27); Christ is sanctified forever (John 17:16, 17).
F. Both feed on the bread of consecration (cf. Lev. 22:21, 22with John 4:32).
G. Both are blameless. No man with a blemish could come nigh to offer a sacrifice unto the Lord. Christ was holy, harmless, undefiled.
A. Both were chosen of God. Christ is the only mediator between God and man.
B. Both had to be clean, seeing they bore the vessels of the Lord. Aaron was a sinner and needed cleansing - Christ was sinless.
C. Both are clothed - Aaron with his coat, robe and ephod; Christ robed in garments of glory and beauty.
D. Both are crowned - Aaron with his mitre, or holy crown, Christ with His many diadems.
E. Both are consecrated or set apart - Aaron was blood sprinkled and had his hands filled for the Lord (Lev. 8:24-27); Christ is sanctified forever (John 17:16, 17).
F. Both feed on the bread of consecration (cf. Lev. 22:21, 22with John 4:32).
G. Both are blameless. No man with a blemish could come nigh to offer a sacrifice unto the Lord. Christ was holy, harmless, undefiled.
II. Aaron's sons were types of the Christian. What a precious truth the priesthood of all true believers is.
A. They had names closely associated. "Aaron and his sons" appears ten times. Aaron's sons were called in him. We were chosenin Christ from the eternal past. Priests because sons, is true in both cases.
B. They had the same calling. Aaron and his sons were priests. Christ and ourselves are priests unto God.
C. They had the same anointing. Aaron and his sons were accepted by the same blood and anointed with the same oil. Christ entered the veil by His own blood, and we enter by the same blood. Head and members alike are anointed with the same blessed Spirit.
D. They had their hands filled with the same offering, ate the same food, were under the same authority. How these aspects are likewise applicable to Christ and His own!
A. They had names closely associated. "Aaron and his sons" appears ten times. Aaron's sons were called in him. We were chosenin Christ from the eternal past. Priests because sons, is true in both cases.
B. They had the same calling. Aaron and his sons were priests. Christ and ourselves are priests unto God.
C. They had the same anointing. Aaron and his sons were accepted by the same blood and anointed with the same oil. Christ entered the veil by His own blood, and we enter by the same blood. Head and members alike are anointed with the same blessed Spirit.
D. They had their hands filled with the same offering, ate the same food, were under the same authority. How these aspects are likewise applicable to Christ and His own!
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