No reason to suspect any motivation of any kind whatsoever related to politics, religion or ideology

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A van is driven into the Australian Christian Lobby building with a number of gas canisters set alight that burns down half the building. I completely agree with the police, there is absolutely no reason to suspect any motivation of any kind whatsoever related to politics, religion or ideology. From the latest report in The Oz.

The head of the Australian Christian Lobby has accused ACT police of “prejudicing” the investigation into a van explosion outside the group’s headquarters, saying an announcement it was not politically, religiously or ideologically motivated “just doesn’t add up”.

ACL managing director Lyle Shelton also said he still had unanswered questions following phone calls with the police and was unconvinced by their “quick” conclusions.

ACT Policing has determined after a “very short” conversation with the 35-year-old driver of the van — who was undergoing medical treatment at the time — that the incident was not motivated by political, religious or ideological reasons. Inquiries continue “to fully understand the circumstances” surrounding the explosion, which occurred at around 9.35pm last night.

The man is in a critical condition in Canberra Hospital.

“While obviously I have deep respect for the police and the job they do, I’m not convinced you can come to that conclusion so quickly. There are just too many coincidences,” Mr Shelton told The Australian.

“When I questioned them (the police) on the phone they said ‘of course you can’t unequivocally rule out that this was a targeted attack’ but they have come to this conclusion nonetheless.

“We don’t even know this guy’s name. Apparently he gave some statement when he was grievously injured last night and now he’s in a coma. I can’t see how you can say ‘case closed’ after a guy who is obviously suffering terribly has made certain statements where there hasn’t been an opportunity for a full interrogation of him.

“To me it just doesn’t add up.”

ACT Policing said the man, a local resident and Australian national who was not previously known to them, “appears to have ignited gas cylinders within the vehicle, causing an explosion which damaged the vehicle and building”.

He then walked himself about 4km to Canberra hospital where he presented with serious burn injuries.

“Local resiodent”. “Australian national”. But does he have a name and what does it say on his facebook page? And are there any clues picked up that might prevent future events of this kind or is it entirely a random event, like being hit by a meteorite? Very mysterious, I have to say. Whoever is being protected, it’s not the public.

Speaking of festive greetings, what happened almost 2017 years ago that began the count?

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multicultural-christmas-and-new-year-card

I picked up from Andrew Bolt how our Multicultural Commission sends out Christmas cards that deliberately don’t mention Christmas. But even so, I do notice that they are wishing others “a wonderful new year”. I can only presume they are referring to the New Year that begins the week after Christmas, on the first day of January, and not any of the calendar years that have existed and continue to exist.

Once upon a time, we would say that the year is AD 2017 [AD being Anno Domini, the Year of our Lord]. We would compare that with, say, the year of the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. [B.C. being “Before Christ”]. But however you like to designate the year, the count starts with the birth of Jesus Christ even if apparently it’s out by a year or two. There are other calendars around, and there are different years we are up to in all of those calendars. But this one is ours, and it has more or less become the calendar across the world and accepted by all cultures, in no small part because it is the only solar calendar around – which, as it happens, Julius Caesar picked up from Cleopatra while sailing down the Nile in around 47 BC. That is why it was the Julian calendar, which was replaced in the sixteenth century by the Gregorian Calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII.

Australian Conservatives

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One more Malcolm triumph: Cory Bernardi on brink of Liberal Party split.

Fears are mounting within the ­Liberal Party that maverick South Australian senator Cory Bernardi is set to split from the Coalition to spearhead the new Australian Conservatives party, with an ­announcement expected in the new year.

The conservative firebrand and his “very close friend” Gina ­Rinehart met key members of US president-elect Donald Trump’s campaign team, including former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, in Washington last month, fuelling fears the senator might have the support of Australia’s richest woman to bankroll the party and dilute the Liberals’ support base.

Senator Bernardi is refusing to comment on his plans, but allies and colleagues of the outspoken conservative say a breakaway Trump-inspired movement is ­imminent and attempts are being made to convince him to stay within the Liberal Party.

Australia already has a socialist party so doesn’t need a second. We already have a party that actually believes global warming is a legitimate concern, so we don’t need two. We already have a party that thinks public sector spending will drive economic growth, so we don’t need two. An Australian Conservative Party will at least have some sway via its Senate numbers, whereas at present it has hardly any at all.

There is a realignment across the international political frontier led by DJT and it will come to Australia one way or another. The Libs either toss Malcolm or a conservative third force will emerge.

ISIS Claims Responsibility for Berlin Attack

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The heading comes from this story: Berlin truck attack, ambassador assassination point to Trump challenges. It’s from The Wall Street Journal reprinted in The Australian. They haven’t caught whoever has done the actual deed, but if ISIS is claiming responsibility, at the very least they are claiming that they would have been quite happy to have done it even if in this case they did not, although they probably did. But look at this story, as Trump is contrasted with Obama. The question left unanswered in the story – which is written as if the problems had just descended from outer space – is who is responsible for the mess Trump will inherit?

The assassination of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey and the apparent terror attack on a Berlin Christmas market underscore the global tinderbox President-elect Donald Trump is set to inherit in coming weeks, and his initial response suggests his White House will take a sharply different approach to such unexpected crises.

Mr Trump’s written statements just hours after the incidents were a notable contrast from those coming out of the Obama White House.

He labelled the assassin in Ankara a “radical Islamic terrorist,” even though Turkish authorities hadn’t yet drawn conclusions about the gunman’s possible affiliations or motivations, whereas the White House simply stressed President Barack Obama’s “determination to confront terrorism.” Mr Trump called the Berlin ambush a “horrifying terror attack,” while the White House called it a “horrific incident” that “appears to have been a terrorist attack.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she is “shocked, shaken and deeply saddened” by the attack on a Berlin Christmas market that killed at least 12 people yesterday. ​ ​Ms Merkel ​said that it would be “particularly sickening” if it turns out the attacker was an asylum-seeker who sought refuge in Germany.

“It’s a completely different style for better or for worse,” said Lorenzo Vidino, director of the program on extremism at George Washington University, adding there are upsides and downsides to both approaches.

James Jeffrey, who served as Mr Obama’s ambassador in Iraq and is now a scholar at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, pointed to Mr Trump’s immediate use of the term “Islamic” terrorism, contrasted with Mr Obama’s steadfast refusal to link Islam with extremism — something Mr Trump frequently criticised during his campaign.

You obviously cannot get a more neutral authority than Obama’s ambassador to Iraq. Obama has not just let this problem fester for eight years, but in almost everything he did do has made things worse. He has not fought Islamic terrorism and extremism, but preferred to look at its manifestations as a problem that has been exaggerated because of the sensationalism that surrounds all such events. The journalist in this story seems to have taken the same approach: asleep at the wheel of history. But for a sample of the vast ignorance and incompetence of such journalists to even conceive beyond a first year university level of superficiality the goings-on in the world, this is truly bizarre:

Mr Trump receives intelligence briefings several times a week, though not daily as Mr Obama has.

Trump won’t even be president for a month. He was only formally elected yesterday. Obama notoriously and regularly skipped out on his intelligence briefings. Obama is responsible, to the extent anyone can be held responsible, for the problems we have. I’d be interested if someone could point to a single act Obama took to diminish the threat from Islamic terrorism. Journalists who cover for Obama are just as evil and morally culpable as the president himself.

“We are responsible for our own destruction”

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Let us begin with this passage from an op ed in The Australian today by Tim Wilson on 18C requires non-racial remit without curbs on free speech. There we find:

No other area of federal law seeks to make public acts unlawful simply for offending, insulting or humiliating someone.

In its present form 18C has more in common with anti-blasphemy laws in theocracies than it does with other federal laws.

To put into context just how bad 18C is, under federal law you can urge violence against groups of people with a disability, gays or women but you can’t offend people on the basis of their race.

In its present form 18C is not a protection of people’s human rights on the basis of race; it grants a special privilege that isn’t afforded to others in society.

Absolutely. You cannot rule out public debate because someone might find themselves insulted by what someone else is saying. Take for instance this from the letters page in The Oz today, just opposite Tim’s column. Can it make any sense to prosecute any of the letter writers below?

Islam is winning the world war and will be victorious, culminating in the destruction of Western civilisation and democracy.

The writing is on the wall, on the footpath and on the road, written in blood because Western leaders and politicians, mainstream media and academics appeases the enemy by refusing to name Islam for what it is.

Islam is a religion invented to give divine sanction to Arabic military expansion through a supremacist, totalitarian ideology dominated by intimidation, fear, ignorance and irrationality. It has violence at its core.

It has no place in an ordered, rational society. But it’s too late now. We are responsible for our own destruction.

PT, Cornelian Bay, Tas

The only good that can come from the shocking carnage in Berlin is a New Year’s resolution from the Germans to oust Angela Merkel from office. As Tony Abbott said in his recent Prague address, effective border protection is not for the squeamish, but it is absolutely necessary to save lives and to preserve nations.

MM, Singleton, NSW

Germany has wonderful Christmas markets and such a fantastic atmosphere but now this latest atrocity from what we are always told are peace-loving Muslims. Germany welcomed them in with open arms. What a way to repay the kindness.

The Russian ambassador murdered, again by a peace-loving Muslim in Turkey.

No wonder Pauline Hanson is doing well as she does at least speak the truth. We deplorables are not that stupid.

MS, Halls Head, WA

A Russian diplomat is assassinated by a man “using Arabic phrases”.

Yet Angela Merkel, Barack Obama and Malcolm Turnbull still sit inert and in bemusement at why the likes of Donald Trump and Pauline Hanson are being elected. Society clearly wants someone with the courage and mettle to call out and challenge intolerant religious ideology.

AM, Port Melbourne, Vic

It is getting harder to say certain things, but unless the aim is to hasten the destruction of our way of life, all of this has to be open for debate, irrespective of the personal feelings of those who might merely pretend to be offended to prevent others from saying what they think.

Politics and friendship

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There is nothing at all surprising about this: Poll: Dems more likely to unfriend people due to political posts. The only thing that’s possibly surprising is how low the ratio is, but there is an obvious reason for that. But first the stats:

Democratic voters are almost three times as likely to have “blocked, unfriended, or stopped following someone on social media” after Donald Trump’s victory, according to a study released Monday.

The nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI ) found 24 percent of Democrats distanced themselves from people on social media because of a political postings. Nine percent of both Republicans and independents reported doing the same to those in social media circles.

Additionally, 28 percent of liberals surveyed said they removed someone from their social media circle because of the content that person posted, compared with 8 percent of conservatives.

And the reason it’s only 3:1 is that Democrats already live in a self-imposed bubble so that by the time Trump won the election, most Democrats would already have blocked people of the right out of their lives. And I have to say that most people on the left are defenceless against anyone on the right who has even a modest understanding of the political news. What can anyone on the left really say that is equivalent to our saying – come on, I mean really, you don’t know that Castro was a mass murderer who held the Cuban people in an island prison for almost sixty years? So you either don’t say it to preserve your friendships, or you do say it and have them write you out of their lives.

Trump will be president

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trumpland

The last hurdle has been cleared with Donald Trump having received the 270 electoral votes that will make him the 45th president. It ought to have been a mere formality, but not only were there many in the Democrat rabble who thought that the Electoral College might be turned, no one at the top of the Democrat establishment would say that the vote had been determined, and that Trump was legitimately the president-elect. This will be part of the Democrat drumbeat for the next four (or even eight) years, as they will insist that the Russians did it and Hillary received more votes. The very clever map above shows just what it means that Hillary received more votes. California, a bit of the north-east and a few scattered islands elsewhere. The rest of the country voted Trump. It is exactly this kind of distorted voting pattern that the electoral college was designed to overcome. Here is Bill Clinton discussing the election, just yesterday, after all the voting was done:

On the question of Russian cyberattacks damaging the candidacy of his wife, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, the former president said “you would need to have a single-digit IQ not to recognize what was going on.”

I think it requires a single-digit IQ to have voted for Hillary, but honest people might differ on this one. But then he goes on with what I think is true:

He blamed FBI Director James Comey for her loss, telling those gathered around him that he had “cost her the election” by announcing with less than two weeks to go before the election that the bureau was examining fresh evidence related to her use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state.

This is the 650,000 emails in Anthony Weiner’s laptop that were suddenly discovered which no one has a plausible reason to explain how they got there. I agree with Bill that that is what turned the tide. I therefore also need a plausible reason to explain why Comey opened this issue up just when he did since he had already closed the email question down a couple of weeks before. I think still that it was because Obama was trying to engineer a Hillary win, an early need to resign and a Tim Kaine presidency, but we will never know. It does explain things to me in a way that nothing else does.

Instead it is President Donald Trump. Now it will be four years of relentless media slanging, where there is continuous and ongoing effort to find anti-Trump narratives at every turn. The media are almost entirely of the left, and we have seen how it works. What remains remarkable is that even though everyone says the media are on the far left, they nevertheless can create issues and then run with them. The fake news and Russian cyberattack stories are just inventions for which evidence is entirely lacking.

But Trump will be president. He will change the direction of American economic and foreign policy, and he will get to choose at least one justice for the Supreme Court and possibly as many as three. He will also build the wall. Is it too late? We shall see.

Why are these people not being prosecuted?

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Threatening to kill someone is illegal. So how are these people issuing death threats allowed to walk the street. Here is the story, Electoral College Members Receive Death Threats for Promising to Back Trump as President. Here is one of the electors being quoted:

“I’ve had death wishes, people just saying ‘I hope you die. Do society a favor, throw yourself in front of a bus.’ And just recently, I was reading a blog about me, and unfortunately these people not only called for the burning of myself, but my family, which is completely out of line.”

Is that it – “completely out of line”? Do Americans just take it as it is that there are mentally ill people out there who would see their own Constitution subverted just so they can hang on to power which has been legitimately lost. They are criminals if not actually traitors.

Then there’s this: Black Father-Daughter Trump Electors Receive Death Threats, Called Bigots for Supporting Trump. These people are mentally ill. Eight years of Obama with hardly a word said in anger, and certainly many fewer than he deserved. Trump will have his work cut out for him in dealing with Hillary’s deranged supporters, who ruin lives and do no one any good. Free stuff is a social disease.

Meanwhile, you can see how the “truth” is being manufactured right before our eyes: Commentary: Here’s how Obama can hit back at Putin over hacking. It’s from Reuters and is not a news story, just the views of one of their lamebrain journalists:

The verdict is unanimous: President Barack Obama and every U.S. intelligence service agree that Russian President Vladimir Putin has run a sophisticated intelligence operation designed to disrupt American democracy and elect Donald J. Trump. The lone dissenter? Trump himself.

It’s not just that they are fools but that they are criminally stupid. Unanimous, is it? Such lying scum.