Monthly Archives: February 2019

February 10, 2019 · 3:57 pm

COLLEGE BASKETBALL RESULTS FROM FEBRUARY 9th

NAIA DIVISION ONE

LCSC Logo - Primary FullDOWN GOES NUMBER TWO – The 18th ranked LEWIS-CLARK STATE WARRIORS welcomed the number 2 team in the nation – the CARROLL (MT) COLLEGE FIGHTING SAINTS. The Warriors had the Fighting Saints worried at Halftime with their 35-26 lead, then continued suffocating them with solid defense in the 2nd Half for a 70-55 victory. Dana Abe tossed in 16 points to lead Lewis-Clark State.

Westmont College WarriorsAND NUMBER FOUR CAME TUMBLING AFTER – Meanwhile the WESTMONT COLLEGE WARRIORS (Should be the Guardians) took the court against their guests, the country’s number 4 VANGUARD UNIVERSITY LIONS. A 34-34 tie at the break served to put the Lions on Upset Alert, followed by the Warriors consummating the deal with a 75-70 triumph. Olisa Nwachie led Westmont College with 19 points.

MidAmerica Christian U EvangelsOTHER UPSETS IN THE TOP TWENTY-FIVE – The MID-AMERICA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY EVANGELS toppled the visiting (12) LANGSTON UNIVERSITY LIONS by a score of 86-77    ###    The FAULKNER EAGLES defeated the (13) WILLIAM CAREY CRUSADERS 91-82    ###   Meanwhile the OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE STATE AGGIES knocked off the (21) JOHN BROWN UNIVERSITY GOLDEN EAGLES 85-70 in their own house   ###   And the MONTANA-WESTERN BULLDOGS won a tight 80-79 clash with the (22) ROCKY MOUNTAIN COLLEGE BATTLIN’ BEARS. Continue reading →

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February 10, 2019 · 12:42 am

GEORGE WASHINGTON: WAS HE REALLY THE INDISPENSABLE MAN?

George WashingtonPresident’s Day is coming up in 8 days so here’s yet another seasonal post. It’s one of my random takes on one of our Presidents. Or in this case just one aspect of one of our Presidents.  

GEORGE WASHINGTON – My other posts about Washington have bashed him over the slavery issue, but this particular blog post is on a whole different topic. (Point being don’t leave a juvenile, snarky remark about him being a slave-owner. Everybody knows that. You won’t be retroactively freeing a single slave by indulging your ego that way.)

THE INDISPENSABLE MAN – George Washington is often called the Indispensable Man to the success of the American Revolution. I’m generally not a Washington fan but I’ve yielded on this point over the years. Here are three reasons why:

A. Odd as it may sound, reading several books about the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Turks (1821-1830) helped convince me of Washington’s value. His name is never mentioned in any of my books about that war but there are parallels to our Revolution. Continue reading →

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February 9, 2019 · 6:06 pm

POLITICAL CARTOONS: FEBRUARY 9th

A roundup of some recent political cartoons. Maybe Jussie Smollett should have been added to this first one: 

Elizabeth Warren and Nathan Phillips

Trump State of the Union Continue reading →

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February 9, 2019 · 12:52 am

TEXAS 27 FILM VAULT ANNIVERSARY AND A CALL TO FANS

1a randy and richard

Randy (right) and Richard way down on Level 31 hosting The Texas 27 Film Vault

Today is the 34th Anniversary of the very first episode of The Texas 27 Film Vault from Saturday, February 9th of 1985. My psychotically obsessive research on the show has yielded a lot of info over the years but I have now worn out every source I could find.

Even the show’s co-host and co-creator Randy Clower has been bled dry of information on the show by me. Over the years other fans of the show – and a special shout-out goes to “the Cap’n” – have provided info here and there that often led me to concrete source material.

Anyway, here are some movies that we have general, varied reason to believe were shown on The Texas 27 Film Vault but I need original broadcast dates, info on comedy sketches or movie ticket give-aways, etc. Episodes aired for 2 and a half hours Saturday nights from 10:30pm to 1:00am in Texas and Oklahoma.

Fiend without a faceFIEND WITHOUT A FACE (1958)

The Film: “Thought Monsters” leech into atomic energy, then extract human brains and spinal columns to use as their corporeal forms. This is a Bad Movie Classic remembered largely because of the scenes where the flying brains, sporting antennae, attack their prey, with their spinal cord “tails” streaming along behind them.     

Serial Episode: No idea, for now.

Reason for believing it was shown: Some of the Flying Brain Creatures are on the 1987 Texas 27 Film Vault poster.

Earth vs the Flying saucersEARTH VS THE FLYING SAUCERS (1956)

The Film: The title says it all for this fun but weird black & white time-waster.

Serial Episode: Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe.

Reason for believing it was shown: Tex (Ken Miller) announced it was to be the movie “Next time on The Texas 27 Film Vault” on one of the surviving episodes that I have.  Continue reading →

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February 8, 2019 · 4:11 pm

HORROR HOST HALL OF FAME: BALLOT FOR THE 2019 INDUCTEES

Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog are familiar with my fondness for the old, old Movie Host shows. Here is the ballot for 2019 which lets you select your five nominees for the Horror Host Hall of Fame. VOTING ENDS FEBRUARY 15th SO JUST ONE WEEK LEFT!

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February 7, 2019 · 5:44 pm

DEMOCRAT ATROCITY ROUNDUP: NYDIA VELAZQUEZ EDITION

Nydia M Velazquez

DEMOCRAT AND FASCIST DEMAGOGUE NYDIA M VELAZQUEZ

Democrats continue to drive away so many of us who used to belong to that party. The latest vileness came in the form of THREATENING REMARKS MADE TO A YOUNGSTER BY DEMOCRAT CONGRESSWOMAN NYDIA VELAZQUEZ.

That young man of color – C.J. Pearson – tweeted out a remark about AOC during the SOTU address and referred to “the woman sitting next to AOC.” (NOTE: During the SOTU Congressional reps bring guests to sit with them. It’s not like during a regular session when it could be assumed that anyone sitting near AOC would be a fellow member of the House.)

Since Democrats in office increasingly think that they are our rulers rather than our elected representatives, Nydia Velazquez got indignant that CJ Pearson can’t instantly identify all 435 members of the House. She pompously tweeted back:

“I’m not ‘the woman sitting next to her. @AOC and I — and millions like us — are the future of this country. And you’re right to be afraid of us. But you should learn my name.”

Riiight. If a member of the opposition party had tweeted something like that to a young man of color or anyone else it would have been the lead story on every Democrat news outlet and would spark one of those “national conversations” that Democrats simperingly insist we should have all the time. And by the way Pearson made no reference to “being afraid” of anybody. Velazquez may be projecting.

C J Pearson

COURAGEOUS YOUNG MAN OF COLOR CJ PEARSON, WHO OFTEN DEFIES DEMOCRATS

This is an ELECTED DEMOCRAT MEMBER OF CONGRESS, and she’s TELLING A YOUNG MAN OF COLOR THAT HE IS “RIGHT TO BE AFRAID OF US.” What a pompous fascist! Does Velazquez think we live in a Banana Republic? Does she plan on having Democrat goons “disappear” citizens who earn her disfavor?

And who does she think he should be afraid of when she says “us?” All Democrats? All Hispanic-Americans? Once again we see that the Democrats are about non-stop hatred and division. Continue reading →

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February 7, 2019 · 7:00 am

GOLDRAIDERS (1982): BAD MOVIE REVIEW

Balladeer’s Blog reviews another psychotronic film starring the one, the only Robert Ginty! FOR MORE ROBERT GINTY REVIEWS CLICK HERE

goldraidersGOLDRAIDERS (1982) – A plane carrying two hundred million dollars in gold (in 1980s money) gets shot down over Thailand and lands in the jungle. A blandly-dubbed Robert Ginty plays Mark Banner, part of a hastily-assembled team sent in to recover the gold. Sarah Langenfeld is our hero’s leading lady this time around. 

Naturally other parties are after the bullion bonanza, too, like drug dealers, a man who needs gold to make a gold dress to win his intended bride (?) and a corrupt communist General. The commie with decidedly capitalist leanings is one of the most memorable villains in B-Movie history! Continue reading →

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February 7, 2019 · 2:43 am

JUSTICE SOCIETY 17: THE COMPOSER

batman golden ageSuperhero fans want more JSA, so here we go with this latest look at the world’s OLDEST superhero team: DC’s Justice Society of America. FOR PART ONE CLICK HERE 

I will review the original issue and then detail how I would “script-doctor” the story for modern audiences.

All Star 19ALL STAR COMICS #19 (November 1943)

Title: CRIMES SET TO MUSIC

Heroes: WONDER WOMAN (Original), STARMAN, THE ATOM (Original), DOCTOR FATE, SANDMAN, THE SPECTRE, HAWKMAN (Original), DOCTOR MIDNITE AND JOHNNY THUNDER

Villain: THE COMPOSER

Doctor FateSynopsis: The Composer (Hector Bauer) kidnaps Hawkman and commits a series of music-related crimes. The Justice Society members try to thwart his crime spree and free their captured teammate.

Our heroes prevent the Composer from destroying a priceless Stradivarius violin, restore the voice of an opera singer after the Composer mutes him and stop the villain from cutting off the fingers of a pianist. They also save another composer from the supervillain’s attempt to inflict brain damage on him to rob him of his talent.   Continue reading →

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February 6, 2019 · 11:54 pm

“EMPIRE” HATE CRIME

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PHOTO OF THE ALLEGED ATTACKERS IN THE “EMPIRE” HATE CRIME.

Dateline, Chicago – A Lithuanian-American (name withheld to protect him from reprisals) was walking down the street in Chicago recently when a gang of thugs wearing hats and t-shirts advertising Empire, a television show starring Jussie Smollett (NOT a gag name) attacked him. 

The unidentified thugs, apparently trying to beat the Lithuanian-American pride out of him, supposedly shouted pro-Empire slogans like “Seriously, homey, you should binge-watch Empire” and called it “Can’t-miss television” while pummeling their unfortunate victim.

Startlingly enough, it has come to light that, though the whiney, possibly lying Lithuanian-American claimed the attack and the slogans were overheard by his manager via his cell-phone, the Lithuanian-American refuses to provide his cell phone to prove his very shaky claims.

Reasonable people are doubting the event ever happened since no corroboration – NOT EVEN FROM SECURITY CAMERA FOOTAGE FROM THE TIME OF THE ATTACK – can support the outrageous claims made by the so-called “victim.” 

Authorities seem to be suspecting that the entire complaint is false and various reasonable people might be thinking the whole thing was a hoax to score cheap political points and generate publicity for the Lithuanian-American. Continue reading →

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February 6, 2019 · 1:39 am

SIXTEEN OVERLOOKED SECRETARIES OF STATE

masc chair and bottleWith President’s Day coming here’s a look at some of the men and women who proved pivotal to the administrations of the Presidents of the United States. Many of those Secretaries may not be household names here in the 21st Century but they would definitely stand out on any staff. Here is an examination of sixteen such figures in chronological order. Figures like James G Blaine, William Seward, and Henry Kissinger are so well-known that they are not included on this list.

Timothy Pickering1. TIMOTHY PICKERING (1795-1800)

Served under: Presidents George Washington and John Adams

Noted for: Conspiring with Alexander Hamilton to undermine some of the policies of the Washington and Adams administrations. When Adams discovered this he ordered Pickering to resign, but Pickering refused, forcing Adams to fire him. Pickering remains the only Secretary of State to officially be fired by the President.

Henry Clay2. HENRY CLAY (1825-1829)

Served under: President John Quincy Adams

Noted for: Fighting a duel with Senator John Randolph, one of Clay’s critics who felt he had struck a “corrupt bargain” with Adams to get this prized cabinet position. Also for completing the first commerce treaties between the young United States and the various nations in Scandinavia and Latin America.

John Forsyth3. JOHN FORSYTH (1834-1841)

Served under: Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren

Noted for: Obtaining long-disputed reparations from France for U.S. commercial losses suffered during the Napoleonic Wars. Also for threatening to resign early in Van Buren’s administration before his relationship with the new president improved. Continue reading →

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