Back in 1904, HG Wells wrote a short story about a man who stumbled into a forgotten kingdom where everyone was blind. He thought that would give him incredible power because he possessed something that they did not. The ability to see.
He soon learned that his gift of sight was seen by the villagers as an affliction of the brain that must be caused by two things on his head that he called eyes. They pitied him and, instead of being a gift, the eyes were perceived as a curse, an illness and a disturbance of his brain.
It did not take long before the man realised that, when surrounded by the blindness of ignorance, knowledge itself was an enemy to be ousted and eradicated.
Read more: In the Land of the Blind the One Eyed Man is King - or is he?
From the beginning of the Covid panic, it felt that something was very wrong. Never had a pandemic, much less a seasonal pathogenic wave, been treated as a quasi-military emergency requiring the upending of all freedoms and rights.
What made it more bizarre was how alone those of us who objected felt until very recently when Elon Musk finally bought the platform Twitter, fired all the embedded federal agents, and has started to release the files.
World poverty is a burden to be shared, but there is another principle now widely recognized. Poor countries will emerge from poverty only when they take full charge of their own destiny.”
The 2017 comedy Daddy’s Home 2 has become one of my family’s favorite Christmas movies.
One of the reasons the movie is such a hit is that it has not one but two hilarious scenes featuring one of the greatest Christmas Songs ever written:
“Do They Know It’s Christmas.”
Read more: The Wonderful (and Tragic) Story Behind ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’
Read more: A Fairytale of 2022 - a ghost of Christmases past and future....
Samuel Pepys is probably the most famous diarist in history and his words are treasured throughout the English speaking world. A politician from the 1600's, he captured the spirit and soul of Britain in those days of an era we no longer recognise. Though, in some cases, perhaps we do, all rather too well.
As I sit here today, pondering my continuing annoying partially crippled state ( due to a rather unpleasant insect bite on my toe ) and inability to wander happily down to my car or take a stroll somewhere further than the rubbish bin, I read Mr Pepys most excellent diary entries for Christmas Day and Boxing Day 1663.
Read more: The Power of Words - the Great Gift of the Diarists
Only minutes before midnight on Christmas Eve, 1953, the engine driver of the Wellington to Auckland express train will notch back to walking pace in a remote area of New Zealand's North Island's 'volcanic plateau. Most passengers will be sleeping.
Read more: The Bridge on the river... Cry. The Tangiwai Railway Disaster. Christmas Eve 1953
Read more: When the Politician Grinches Stole Christmas.... Now We Need a Santa to take it Back
In deference to our New Zealand brothers I thought it would be fair to do an item about them rather than make this series of contributions an exclusively Australian affair and recognise the NZ part of the ANZAC legend.
The River Plate (Rio de la Plata) separates Argentina and Uruguay.
In 1939 it was the scene of one of the most dramatic naval battles of the war and has been the subject of a movie of the same name.
" A relative who lives in Brisbane was telling me about her visit doing Christmas shopping. She wanted to buy for her young children a Nativity Scene so she could put it on the table and explain the meaning of Christmas. Do you know that none of the shop assistants had a clue what she was talking about or even the real meaning of Christmas. This shows how much Australia has lost over the past generation.
So much for politicians enriching our society by bringing in aliens. To me it shows how bad Australia has got"
And that got me thinking about a Christmas a long time ago.
Read more: Does anyone know what a Nativity Scene is these days? We do, but the Young Ones don't....
“The powerful are panicking, and so they should. Their secrets are leaking.” —Miranda Devine, The New York Post
As the Yule log burns down, and the trivialities of the season melt into air, the nation might ask itself how the authorities who run things went to war against the citizens of this land. I will tell you and it will probably make you angry:
It started when the women of the professional and managerial class watched their avatar, Hillary Clinton, lose the 2016 election against a man who seemed the quintessence of everything they hated about Daddydom.
Read more: “The powerful are panicking, and so they should. Their secrets are leaking.”
The EPA has approved Robbins Island Mega Wind Factory in a remote island off Tasmania that will have to stop working for five months of the year so it doesn’t hurt the Orange-bellied Parrot. It will however be able to kill eagles and other birds for the other seven months of the year.
Green electrons are revered, Orange-bellied parrots are sacred but our way of life is up for grabs. It’s a cult.
Read more: Tasmanian mega wind farm approved that can’t operate half the year
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