Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Wise Advice.


Mermaid Did Not Deserve This!

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I visited the Little Mermaid not so very long ago and loved the statue. I want to see an end to the slaughter of whales too - but who can really think that this silliest of all protests can do any good whatsoever?

That MEGA Tory Blunder.

Tories need to come clean on social care cap before election.

Posted on May 29
Patrick.jpg
UKIP Economic Spokesman Patrick O’Flynn has demanded Theresa May and her ministers declare before polling day what cap they intend to impose on social care bills.
He has also suggested voters use Twitter to contact their local Tory candidate using the hashtag #whatisthecap to increase pressure for a further climbdown.
Mr O’Flynn last week led calls for a cap to be imposed after the Tory manifesto proposed taking bills out of the estates of deceased persons who had needed social care on a completely uncapped basis.
Following an outcry, Theresa May performed a partial U-turn by announcing there would after all be a cap. But she has so far refused to say what it will be or even give an approximate figure.
On Sunday, Home Secretary Amber Rudd failed to deny suggestions by Andrew Marr that the cap could be as high as £300,000.

Repeat For Emphasis: Fight The Ideology.

Terrorism is a tactic, not an ideology. To say we are fighting terrorism is a bit like saying we are fighting bombs. Tim Dieppe.

Farage To Blame For Ukip Woes?


I would find it difficult to argue with this!

Hope.

May's Anti-Hate Squad.

To The Point!

Lung Cancer Treatment Improves Dramatically!

A revolutionary lung cancer drug - shown to be twice as effective as chemotherapy - is to be made available for NHS patients as soon as they are diagnosed. Mail.

Pakistan Horror: So This Is Islamic Justice?

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The 19-year-old told tribal elders in Rajanpur, Pakistan, that her cousin crept into her family home while she was asleep and raped her, but they ruled she had seduced him and sentenced her to death. 
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4555734/Woman-19-sentenced-die-raped-Pakistan.html

Birdies.

Jonathan Arnott MEP IN Sparkling Form.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

England Roundly Thrashed In Final ODI.

Put in to bat as S. Africa again won the toss in the third and final match of this mini series, England slumped to a simply incredible 20 for 6! I have never seen such AN UNMITIGATED DISASTER in the entire history of 50 over internationals.
This blogger had warned in the two ODIs won by England that the victories were papering over cracks and that there were significant 'deficiencies'. 
Well, at Lords yesterday morning - the chickens came home to roost. Of the six batsmen out for next to nothing, only Root and Morgan got out to good bowling - the other four simply surrendered.

Had it not been for a brilliant knock from out of favour Jonny Bairstow - the English score would have been nothing short of degradation! As it was, the ultimate defeat by SEVEN wickets made the performance appear to be a fraction less appalling than it actually was. 
Congratulations are due to all rounder, Toby Roland-Jones, who, on debut, looked so much more professional than his considerably more experienced colleagues.
Jason Roy is desperately out of touch and MUST be replaced by Bairstow for the ICC Champions Trophy which, for England, begins on Thursday against Bangladesh.
Clearly, the preferred ODI openers play a form of cricket which must exclude them from the test team when real cricket resumes in July.
It must be hoped that we can put out a better attack on Thursday as injuries to bowlers improve - but this match included the cream of English batting - and apart from dropping the hapless Roy, where else can England go?
Happily, we had scraped a win in the S. Africa ODIs overall - so perhaps England will pick up some confidence defeating a lesser side on Thursday - OR WILL THEY?

Phew!

Nice Piece, Gordon.

Gordon Lawrence, Sheffield. 
JEREMY Corbyn’s manifesto is the last utterance of a man who knows he is about to be engulfed by a tsunami. He has just unleashed his life’s work in grand style. For years he sat on the backbenches in relative obscurity plugging away at his socialist philosophy, resenting the centrists of his own party. And by sheer luck and opportunism he was able to fulfil the dream, not for his own leadership ambition, but to present to the country a project that oozed out of his every ideological pore. Fortunately, for this country, he has as little hope of implementing his Utopian fantasy as a Reliant Robin would have of winning at Monza. Francoise Hollande tried to transform France in a socialist revolution. He failed like most left-wing ideologues. But Corbyn’s reforms make the ex-French President’s look like extracts from Thatcherism. Even in the 70s when two Labour governments ruled over a degenerating economy and reduced the country to a sick man of Europe status, the socialist programme was nowhere near as drastic as Corbyn’s 2017 projection. These include killer taxation on higher income groups that will destroy growth as well as reduce aggregate tax revenues; businesses throttled by burdensome rises in corporation tax; nationalisation to guarantee the blight of public inefficiency and red tape; borrowing on a massive and onerous scale; the unleashing of militant unionism. Jeremy is making history, and will go down in history, but it is clear by the contents of this manifesto, and the reception it has been given by his passionate followers, that they’ve never learned from history.
Read more at: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/opinion/yp-letters-corbyn-and-his-followers-have-not-learned-from-history-1-8565168

Profound Love For Our Fellow Man Is A Must.

Corbyn Ultra Soft On Terror.


Theresa May v Jeremy Corbyn TV debate.  

Labour leader refused to back drone strikes on terrorists plotting to bomb the UK.

Political Correctness - What Exactly Is It For? - Here Is The Answer!


Wisdom Recycled.

‘It is the small things in life which count; it is the inconsequential leak which empties the biggest reservoir’. Charles Comiskey.

Manchester: A Piece By Tim Dieppe.

Printer-friendly versionMonday 22nd May saw the worst terror attack in the UK for twelve years, with 22 killed and 64 injured. Perhaps not coincidentally, it took place on the fourth anniversary of the brutal butchering of soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich. The Manchester attack was more sophisticated than most recent attacks, carried out by a suicide bomber who deliberately targeted teenage girls at a crowded concert.
Our hearts go out to all those who have lost loved ones, or who have been injured or affected in other ways by this attack. It is sickening to see the pictures and to read of what happened. Everywhere people are asking, how many more attacks will there be, and what can be done to stop them?

Links to Isis

The attacker Salman Abedi, only 22 years old, must have believed that he was doing a service to God in killing and maiming so many people. How deceived. We are told that he was known to the security services, but not viewed as high risk. He is likely to have been acting with others. Bomb makers are regarded as too valuable to blow themselves up.  He was born in Manchester, and recently returned from a trip to Libya. French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb has said that he probably travelled to Syria and had proven links with Isis. Isis has claimed responsibility for the attack.
I wrote last week about Tom Holland's Channel 4 documentary about Isis. Holland was brave enough to ask what motivates Isis, and honest enough to conclude that they self-consciously draw on Islamic scriptures, texts and episodes from Muhammad's life to justify what they are doing. The attack at a concert in Manchester is reminiscent of the attack in the Bataclan theatre in Paris in 2015. Strict Muslims believe that music is haram, or forbidden in Islam, citing multiple texts to prove the point. Therefore, an attack at a music concert does not risk killing any devout Muslims and provides a useful target to kill or maim lots of people. The same sort of logic would apply to the Orlando shooting at a gay nightclub last year.

Who is the enemy?

Today thousands of armed soldiers are deployed on our streets, but no one wants to admit that we are at war. No one that is, except for Isis and those with their ideology. Politicians refer to 'terrorism' as if that is the enemy. As I have said before, terrorism is a tactic, not an ideology. To say we are fighting terrorism is a bit like saying we are fighting bombs. The other enemy that politicians will name is 'extremism'. This is also vacuous and meaningless. Are we fighting 'extreme' tolerance? Well perhaps that is the problem.
We are facing an ideology that seeks nothing less than to turn Britain into an Islamic state ruled by sharia law. This ideology is Islam. Not all Muslims will seek to achieve this by violent means, in fact the vast majority will not. But those that do have plenty of texts and the example of Muhammad to justify their actions. They may also be supported by larger numbers who sympathise with the goal, if not the means.
 

Defeating the ideology

Theresa May was quite right to say that we need "to take on and defeat the ideology that often fuels this violence." It is telling, though, that she made no mention of Islam in her speech. This is much better than claiming that such acts have 'nothing to do with Islam,' as we have heard so many times before. Still, we have no hope of defeating an ideology that we are afraid to even name, let alone understand or criticise.
I searched for mention of Islam in the manifestos of the major parties. The Conservative manifesto is to be commended for its mention of "Islamist extremism", though this is the only mention of Islam in the document, and it is neither defined nor explained. 'Extremism' is mentioned 9 times altogether, and is also not defined. Both the Labour and Liberal Democrat manifestos only mention 'Islam' in the context of 'Islamophobia'. They seem more concerned to protect this ideology than to tackle it.
Last year, police staged a mock terrorist attack in the Arndale centre in Manchester. I am sure that the responsiveness of the emergency services was greatly helped by training like this. During the mock attack, the actor playing the part of the terrorist shouted 'Allahu Akbar' ('God is great'). Multiple complaints were made about Islamophobia which resulted in the police apologising for linking the exercise with Islam in this way.
Those who denounce 'Islamophobia' show that they care more about protecting Islam from criticism and mockery than about protecting their own daughters from rape and violence. Security services must be able to evaluate and understand the threat from radical Islam without being accused of Islamophobia for even thinking about it. We can never defeat the ideology without criticising it, and indeed mocking it. Without free speech, including the right to offend someone's deeply held beliefs, Islam will only continue to grow.
 

The fruit of abandoning Christianity

Salman Abedi attended Didsbury Mosque in Manchester. This Mosque is actually a converted church which was sadly sold to Muslims in 1967. To me this is an image of where this country is. A century ago, Christians sacrificially gave to buy land and build a place to worship Jesus. They built something that would last for generations and provide a legacy for the gospel. Fifty years ago, that building was sold to those who preach a false gospel. The fruit of this false gospel is the attack we saw this week.
In parallel with this, our whole society has abandoned Christianity and opened up our nation to the ever-increasing influence of Islam in politics, finance, fashion, animal slaughter, and even sharia courts. Any criticism of this is denounced as Islamophobic. Yet, the fruit is not only terror attacks, not only rape gangs, not only 'honour' killings, not only thousands of girls suffering FGM, not only segregated communities where sharia rules, but even our whole society feeling cowed into never criticising Islam. How has it managed to achieve such a silencing of criticism in spite of all the obvious bad fruit that it has brought?
 

Radical Christians required

The ideology of Islam will never be defeated by multiculturalism, or relativism, these perspectives have no grounds on which to criticise another worldview. Secularism is also unlikely to succeed as most people recognise the existence of God and will freely criticise the intolerance of secular ideas. It is Christianity that will defeat Islam. Christians need to have the courage and boldness to criticise Islam and proclaim the truthfulness of Christianity and its benefits for society.
I can only repeat here what I wrote after the Westminster attack two months ago:
"The only effective response to radical Islam is radical Christianity. Reformation starts with individuals. Passionate prayer fuels public proclamation. We all need to be prayerful in private and courageously unashamed in public. Every one of us has a part to play in this battle. Will you play yours?"Related Links:France's Macron seeks extended emergency powers after Manchester attack (Reuters)

Yet , In Our Society, It Is Seldom Called Murder!

Labour Plans 'A Garden Tax'.

The proposal hidden in the small print of Labour’s far Left manifesto could force people to sell their gardens and yards to avoid spiralling bills and could put many people into negative equity with their mortgages.
It comes despite claims by shadow Chancellor John McDonnell that a Labour government would not add to the taxes of people earning below £80,000.
But behind the income tax pledge is a proposal to gradually introduce a tax raid on their properties which is set to hit pensioners hardest.
The concerns have been raised after analysis of the Labour plans to introduce a Land Value Tax (LVT) - dubbed the garden tax - which eventually will be based on three per cent of the value of land for each property. Express.

Panic: Probably Best Avoided!

If panic attacks are  problem - take them to your Church and ask for anointing and prayer.

Petrol & Diesel - The End Of The Line?

No more petrol or diesel cars, buses, or trucks will be sold anywhere in the world within eight years. The entire market for land transport will switch to electrification, leading to a collapse of oil prices and the demise of the petroleum industry as we have known it for a century.
This is the futuristic forecast by Stanford University economist Tony Seba. His report, with the deceptively bland titleRethinking Transportation 2020-2030, has gone viral in green circles and is causing spasms of anxiety in the established industries.

Birdie.

Diane Abbott - SOFT On Terror - Or The Terrorists' Friend?


NOTE how being 'a violent dissident' is apparently different to being a terrorist!
The trouble is - this woman is extremely dangerous, not to mention deluded - and the thought of her ever having any power is a prospect which is anything but funny.

Monday, May 29, 2017

Church Of Scotland To Permit Homosexual Marriage?

If so - it should close the doors NOW; put up the For Sale signs; turn all churches into carpet warehouses.
Don't we have enough heresy already?

The Preacher In The Church I Visited Yesterday Stated ...

... that the Kingdom of Satan has nothing to fear from Islam.
Hmm. Might go there again.

Faith Today.

While an increasing number of Americans are reportedly abandoning the institutional church and its defined boundary markers of religious identity, many Americans still believe in God and practice faith outside its walls, a new Barna study has found.
Barna has released a report on the first of a two-part exploration of faith and spirituality outside the church, looking at the "fascinating segment of the American population who, as the saying goes, 'love Jesus but not the church.'
More than 60 percent of the people in this group are women, and 80 percent are not millennials, between the ages of 33 and 70.
Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/americans-love-jesus-dont-go-to-church-barna-179227/#ocYEfThJBVfFrlTE.99

Bogus Claims Against Salt, Fat, Alcohol, Coffee etc.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-4551028/Blood-pressure-warnings-pinch-salt.html

EU Powers And Super State.

That Decides It For Me - I'm Not Going To Take Drugs Into Indonesia!

Who Knows You Better? - Yourself Or God?

Corbyn: The Odious Leader Of An Egregious Party.

The Labour leader last week denied ever meeting or supporting the terror group, which killed around 1,800 people during its decades-long bombing and shooting campaign. Mail.

Tories Have Become Labour.


It’s official… Theresa’s Tories have become THE Labour Party.

Paul.jpg
Responding to today’s Conservative manifesto launch, UKIP leader Paul Nuttall said:
“It is official. The Tory Party has become almost identical to the Labour Party. They offer no end to mass immigration, no firm Brexit, no end to spending billions of our hard-earned money on so-called foreign ‘aid’, and they offer no curb on our National Health Service being used as an international drop-in centre.”
UKIP has now published its fully-costed manifesto in a document that reveals significant reductions to the £14bn so-called annual foreign aid budget, as well as a cast-iron guarantee around slashing net immigration by introducing a points-based mechanism.

I'll Stop Being Paranoid When ...

Diane Abbott - What A Sweetheart!

Diane Abbott compares her support for the IRA to a haircut
The shadow home secretary also refused four times to say she 'regrets' supporting the group, which killed around 1,800 people in its bombing and shooting campaign. The comments are likely to enrage victims of those killed by the IRA and spark accusations she is trivialising her old position. The Labour frontbencher was also grilled over why she once voted against banning Al Qaeda and previously called for MI5 to be scrapped. Mail.

Birdie.

Russia And Religious Liberties.

BreakPoint: Russia’s Crackdown on Religious Minorities

Religious Liberty for All God’s Children.

After eight years of seeming neglect, it appears that protecting religious liberty is back on the nation’s agenda. Now folks can debate the strengths and weaknesses of President Trump’s new executive order, but at long last America’s first freedom is getting some long overdue recognition from the White House.
During a May 5th ceremony in the Rose Garden, where I was actually privileged to be to witness it, Mr. Trump signed an executive order “promoting free speech and religious liberty” that instructs the Internal Revenue Service to “not take any adverse action against any individual, house of worship, or other religious organization” that endorses candidates. “We are giving churches their voices back,” Trump said. “This financial threat against the faith community is over.” It also instructs various departments to consider amending regulations in the Affordable Care Act requiring religious employers such as Wheaton College and the Little Sisters of the Poor to cover contraception in employee insurance plans.
While we’ll have to see the effects of the President’s executive order, it is a beginning, and I appreciate his good words. The Founding Fathers knew how important religious freedom was to the success of the new Republic, and it is no less vital today. As John Witherspoon said, “There is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire. If therefore we yield up our temporal property, we at the same time deliver the conscience into bondage.” We cannot expect our society to continue to prosper if religious liberty is undermined.
But if this is true about religious freedom at home, it’s true elsewhere, too. America has an interest in religious freedom around the globe, and we need to make it a bigger part of our foreign policy, for all God’s children. And we might as well start with Russia.
Why Russia? According to the latest annual report of the State Department’s U. S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Russia’s ongoing persecution of religious minorities—including evangelicals—and of missionaries and evangelists over the last year has earned it a place for the first time among the world’s worst countries for religious liberty. That puts it alongside regimes like China, Iran, and North Korea.
According to Christianity Today, Vladimir Putin’s government is persecuting religious minorities in the occupied areas of Crimea and Donbas and cracking down on “non-Orthodox Christians in its heartland,” too. As well, Russia’s Supreme Court has banned Jehovah’s Witnesses nationwide. CT also says, “Russian evangelicals, who make up less than 1 percent of the population, continue to push back against the restrictions, which have resulted in arrests, fines, and confiscated materials for Protestants found guilty. They have risked punishment to continue to spread the gospel.”
That’s for sure! Sergey Rakhuba, president of Mission Eurasia and a former Moscow church planter, has told the magazine, “They say, ‘If it will come to it, it’s not going to stop us from worshiping and sharing our faith.’ “The Great Commission isn’t just for a time of freedom.” Amen!
May we here in the West have the same kind of determination, whatever the government does. And let’s stand up for our brothers and sisters undergoing persecution in Russia and around the world. Let’s encourage the Trump administration to follow through on religious liberty not only here, but there, knowing that protecting freedom of conscience is not only good for the soul; it’s good national and foreign policy as well!
Please come to BreakPoint.org and we’ll link you to organizations that support persecuted Christians and that promote religious liberty. Breakpoint.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Bono Is Not Wrong.

Bono, one of the world's most famous rock stars, laments that the Psalms are notably missing from Christian music and wants to inspire artists to reflect on the book as they create their work.Christian Post.

Pray For The Copts!

Coptic Christian Death Toll Rises to 29 as Egypt Fights Back by Striking ISIS 'Terror Camps' in Libya

As the death toll in the attack by gunmen on a group of Coptic Christians who were on their way to a monastery south of Cairo rose to 29 Saturday, Egypt responded by launching airstrikes on "terror camps" in Libya. U.S. President Donald Trump also vowed to crush "evil organizations of terror." Christian Post.

God Loves You!


Last Gasp Win For England In ODI Takes The Series!

After 600 balls bowled over some seven hours, this match went to the very last ball! S. Africa needed a boundary to win and failed to provide one.
England's bowling was distinctly second rate defending a mighty total of 330 but Wood looked back to his very best form.
South Africa were poor in the field and missed opportunities to take the wicket of Ben Stokes before he had scored - not a good idea! - He punished them with an exciting century!
The series has been won after just two matches but these matches showed up a number of England's deficiencies.

Pervert Heath?

Wiltshire Police has spent nearly two years looking into allegations the late former Prime Minister Ted Heath (above) was a paedophile, including claims he was part of a Satanic ritual abuse ring. Mail.
Just what is the point of investigating a dead traitor?

Quite!

At All Costs - We Must NOT Offend Violent Moslems.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4543310/Cameron-s-major-anti-terror-laws-not-used-ONCE.html
Temporary Exclusion Orders were introduced in 2015 making it illegal for a jihadi to return to the UK without informing authorities and agreeing to be monitored, but have never been used. Mail.

Problem For The Left.

I Can't Recall The Last Time I Disagreed With Peter Hitchens.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-4548964/PETER-HITCHENS-away-pointless-troops-PM.html

Birdie.

Our Justice Sometimes Works.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4542034/Smoker-caused-plane-bin-catch-fire-sentence-doubled.html
Jon Cox, 46, of Kidderminster, received a four and a half year prison sentence for reckless arson in March but a top judge said that punishment was 'too lenient' and has now more than doubled it. Mail.

Saturday, May 27, 2017

One Voice.

http://tearfund.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=cd19eb0b2a74af14054950f15&id=47e6fd408e&e=4988fbb4e3

A MOTHER'S
GREATEST CHALLENGE

It was Elizabeth’s first time at the Tearfund feeding centre in Maar, South Sudan, when I met her. A 30-year-old mother with five children, she came because she had heard of other mothers in her village bringing their children here. On this particular day, Elizabeth was deeply concerned for her youngest child’s health – but she was also hopeful.
She told me that trying to look after her children is difficult, particularly finding food for her 10-month-old daughter. ‘Sometimes if my child is sick, and we can’t find any food, that defeats me. The children drink the milk from cows, but there is not enough. This is the challenge.’
A poor substitute
In South Sudan it is common for mothers to feed their infants with cow's milk, as many fear they don’t have enough breast milk. However, babies can’t digest cow’s milk as easily as their mothers’ milk, and the cow's milk is often mixed with contaminated water, causing babies to get sick and malnourished. 
France Bégin, UNICEF’s Senior Nutrition Adviser, states that ‘If all babies are fed nothing but breast milk from the moment they are born until they are six months old, over 800,000 lives would be saved every year.’ According to data from UNICEF, babies who receive no breast milk at all in these kinds of contexts are seven times more likely to die from infections than those who receive at least some in their first six months of life.
A crucial intervention
At the feeding centre in Maar, Tearfund staff share knowledge and information like this with mothers, as well as assisting with their basic needs and those of their children. Severely malnourished people are treated each week, and fortnightly clinics are arranged for those who are moderately malnourished, as well as pregnant and lactating women and children under five. The treatment programme usually lasts for about 60 days. 
The children are given packets of peanut paste called plumpy’nut, and pregnant and lactating mothers are given a blend of maize and soya fortified with other nutrients to make a porridge. The children’s height and weight are used to assess their nutritional status, determine the correct portion of plumpy’nut and ascertain when the child is ready to be discharged from treatment.
David Garang, a Tearfund Nutrition Extension Worker in Maar, tells us the overall feeling at the centre is a positive one: ‘The people here are not sad, because the programme that Tearfund has brought in has changed lives. Especially with malnutrition, people are responding well to the treatment.’

A return to health
‘Today, we have discharged so many children who have recovered from malnutrition. I’m happy that we can show that the children in the programme are responding to their treatment.

‘I'm feeling happy because we are doing some good here,’ says David.
A great impact
Approximately 80-90% of the malnourished children are discharged as cured at the end of the 60-day programme. David is understandably encouraged by this. ‘The mothers feel very happy when their children have been discharged, because the programme is understood and the community is involved in this programme,’ he says.
‘We are addressing malnutrition and saving lives, but we’re also equipping mothers and communities to prevent it from happening in the first place,’ says Josie Smith, Tearfund’s Programme Coordinator for the East Africa Crisis. ‘We do this through teaching infant feeding practices, providing advice on good hygiene and sanitation, and ensuring communities have clean water sources that are sustainably managed. With ongoing funding, Tearfund will be able to continue working among vulnerable communities in South Sudan.
Given all this, I can understand how Elizabeth and others like her can find hope despite the many challenges. Let’s praise God and pray for this vital work. 

PLEASE PRAY

  • Please continue to pray for families, like Elizabeth’s, who are suffering as a result of the current drought and struggling for food just to survive.
  • Pray for all the staff and volunteers working at the feeding centres, that they would be able to provide food for those who are in desperate need.
  • Thank God for the generosity of our supporters and for the commitment of Tearfund staff and partners as they work hard to help those most in need.

A note from...

'It is amazing that a simple peanut paste can turn around a child's health. We're so thankful that mothers like Elizabeth are receiving this life-saving care for their little ones. Please pray with us that our partners can reach many more.'
Rhiannon Horton
Programme Support and Communications Officer, East and Southern Africa Team.

The Political Left Understands Little.

The ongoing fight against the Jewishness of Jesus. By  Michael Brown , CP Op-Ed Contributor Thursday, December 28, 2023 iStock/Wirestock You...