Monthly Archives: December 2020

UPDATE: SEVENTEEN STATES HAVE JOINED TEXAS’ LAWSUIT: SUPREME COURT HAS PUT THE CASE ON THE DOCKET

legal votes cartoonFirst off, Democrats continue to be incapable of understanding Supreme Court actions – the SCOTUS denied the INJUNCTION in the Pennsylvania case BUT THE CASE ITSELF IS PROCEEDING, SO IGNORE DEMOCRAT CLAIMS THAT IT’S OVER.

And in another case – the Texas lawsuit regarding the unconstitutional way Democrat vote fraud affected election outcomes – that case has been put on the Supreme Court docket AND as of this writing EIGHT STATES HAVE JOINED TEXAS IN THE SUIT (links below) – Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina and South Dakota. (UPDATE: THANK YOU TO MARK1 – IT IS NOW EIGHT STATES PLUS TEXAS – I left out Louisiana.) Hopefully even more will show some courage and join the suit so we can RESIST the Democrat vote fraud.

UPDATE: NOW UP TO SEVENTEEN STATES HAVE JOINED WITH AMICUS BRIEFS: The states joining the amicus brief include Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich also announced that his state was asking the Supreme Court to allow Arizona to file a brief, calling the issue of election integrity important and asking the court to decide the case quickly. (see links below) Continue reading

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Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion

2020 ELECTION UPDATES

The drama over the forever-tainted election of 2020 continues:

Stop the Steal signREPORTS THAT ARIZONA LEGISLATORS HAVE OFFICIALLY INVOKED ARTICLE 2 SECTION 1 OVER THE FRAUDULENT ELECTION RESULTS.

TEXAS SUES GEORGIA, MICHIGAN, PENNSYLVANIA AND WISCONSIN AT THE SUPREME COURT FOR VIOLATING THE CONSTITUTION WITH THEIR ELECTION RULES.

ILLEGALLY CAST BIDEN VOTES.

POLLSTER PATRICK BASHAM ON BIDEN’S RESULTS.

THE WORLD IS IN SHOCK ABOUT HOW EASY VOTE FRAUD IS IN AMERICA. Continue reading

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Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion

BEST OF 2020: FEBRUARY

Balladeer’s Blog’s end of year retrospective continues with this look at February’s best:

Up in the air ...UP IN THE AIR AND DOWN IN THE SEA (1863): ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION – Scientific experimenter Victor Volans devises a passenger balloon which lets him explore two Lost Worlds on islands in the Pacific Ocean. Next he devises underwater exploration techniques which let him recover sunken treasures off Australia and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) while fighting off deep sea monsters. Click HERE.

DEMOCTRAT PRIMARY SEASON PREVIEWED THE RIGGED 2020 ELECTION – With hindsight, the many, many irregularities and “technical glitches” in the Democrats’ primaries and caucuses – which conveniently robbed Bernie Sanders again – proved to be a dry run for the vote fraud in the actual November election. Democrats apparently used the chaos of those primaries to work out the bugs in their “Computer-programmable election results” method. Click HERE.

TWENTY BEST SILVER JOHN PULP STORIES – Manly Wade Wellman’s hero Silver John’s 20 best adventures against supernatural menaces in the Appalachians. Click HERE.

JACK BREWER CALLS TRUMP “THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT” – All that and more about Trump’s accomplishments for communities of color. Click HERE.

CasablancaCASABLANCA: A Valentine’s Day review of the classic movie from Balladeer’s Blog. Click HERE.

ROLLING STONE’S MATT TAIBBI ON THE DEMOCRAT RIGGING OF THEIR PRIMARY PROCESS – His article argued that “Democrats are doomed elites and dumb crooks.” Click HERE.

TWENTY MORE COOL-NAMED NJCAA COLLEGE TEAMS – Click HERE.

DEMOCRAT ANDREW YANG ON HOW DEMOCRATS HAVE BETRAYED THE WORKING CLASS – The title says it all. Click HERE

THE FINALE TO DON MCGREGOR’S KILLRAVEN SAGA – For the full review of Let It Die Like It’s The Fourth Of July, the final chapter, click HERE. Continue reading

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Filed under Neglected History, opinion

SCROOGE’S ROCK AND ROLL CHRISTMAS (1983)

scrooges rock and rollChristmas Carol-A-Thon 2020, my ELEVENTH ANNUAL Carol-A-Thon,  continues with another post in Balladeer’s Blog’s annual orgy of entries on various versions of THE Christmas tale. 

Scrooge’s Rock & Roll Christmas grows on me more and more each time I watch it. It’s value as a version of A Christmas Carol is virtually nil, but it features some wonderful renditions of a variety of Yuletide songs along with some striking wintry scenery.

Most sources list this made-for- tv special as a 1984 production, but the actual copyright date on the VHS copy I tracked down says 1983, so that’s what I’m going by. If it first aired in late December 1983 it’s almost a 1984 product anyway so I can see where the confusion might come in.

A better title for this 45 minute novelty item would be Have Yourself A Has- Been Little Christmas since it features appearances by several rock singers who were already two decades past their days as chart- toppers. The premise of this telefilm is that a young lady looking for a record store (and how old does THAT sound these days) instead finds the establishment to be occupied by Ebenezer Scrooge, played by Jack Elam … yes, Jack Elam. Continue reading

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Filed under A CHRISTMAS CAROL

CHIEF PURSER HORROCKS: RIVALS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1973)

For Balladeer’s Blog’s review of the first episode of this 1971-1973 series about London by Gaslight detectives from both the Victorian and Edwardian Ages you can simply click HERE 

Chief Purser HorrocksEpisode: THE LOOTING OF THE SPECIE ROOM (April 16th, 1973)

Detective: Chief Purser Eli Horrocks, created by C.J. Cutcliffe Hyne. The first Mr Horrocks story was published in the year 1900.

Comment: He’s a Chief Purser who solves mysteries! Instead of doing the thousandth screen adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express or Death on the Nile, how about someone bringing to life Hyne’s seafaring sleuth Mr Horrocks? The Looting of the Specie Room has a lot of the “snooty British upper class prigs caught up in a crime” appeal that Christie’s later mysteries had.

Rounding up an all-star cast and filming this first-rate mystery as it unfolds amid cushy 1900 trans-Atlantic ship travel might make for a surprise hit. Compared to other Chief Purser Horrocks mysteries like The Derelict THIS little honey would probably work best as a movie. The detective work would just be part of the charm, with the period detail providing the rest.  

Horrocks, the Inspector and the CaptainSynopsis: The RMS Oceanic is hoping to pull off a double-coup – hauling a record-setting TWO HUNDRED FIFTY-THOUSAND dollars in gold bullion (or $9,137,670 today) from New York City to Southampton AND setting a new speed record for a trans-Atlantic voyage. Lord Altington, the owner of the shipping line, is aboard to oversee this venture and keep the pressure on the crewmembers.

Also aboard for this bit of hoped-for history are assorted sleazy reporters and a mix of Upper Class Twits whose pomposity and snobbery rival Lord Altington’s. When half the gold disappears on the way to Great Britain, the spectacular theft could mean the end for Chief Purser Horrocks (Ronald Fraser), whose position makes him ultimately responsible for all valuables on board.

With Lord Altington looking for a scapegoat, with the crew pointing fingers at each other, with Inspector Trent bungling the investigation and with an entire shipload of suspects ready to scatter to the winds upon arrival in Southampton, Horrocks takes it upon himself to play detective in order to save his own skin. Continue reading

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Filed under Forgotten Television

TEXAS 27 FILM VAULT 3D POSTER (1987)

FILMVreducedRegular readers of Balladeer’s Blog are familiar with my fondness for Movie Host shows of the past and my EXCLUSIVE interview with Randy Clower of the mid-1980s program The Texas 27 Film Vault has proven to be a very popular item on this blog.

Randy and his cohost Richard Malmos, playing machine gun- packing Film Vault Technicians First Class, would show and mock bad and campy films from decades ago and were a huge hit when they were on the air. I feel they get neglected in this age of renewed interest in older Movie Host programs. 

The poster also sports features from some of the most popular bad movies Randy and Richard dissected on the program – features like flying brains from the movie Fiend Without A Face, a prop from the Bela Lugosi bomb Devil Bat, Hitler’s disembodied head from the enjoyably awful movie They Saved Hitler’s Brain, an invader from Earth vs the Flying Saucers and much more! Put on your 3D glasses and you can spot all of the hidden items including elements from Gorilla at Large, Just Imagine,  Frontier Marshal, the 1961 film The Mask and other T27FV fan favorites. Continue reading

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Filed under Bad and weird movies, Forgotten Television, Movie Hosts

PRESIDENT TRUMP ON THE MOUNDS OF EVIDENCE REGARDING VOTE FRAUD

STOP THE STEAL SITE.      PROTECT THE  VOTE SITE.   JOE CHEATED SITE

Trump is like jfk

One by assassination, the other by vote fraud?

De facto Third Party President Donald Trump addressed the nation about the massive evidence of vote fraud here in 2020. He also outlined the only fair way of proceeding in a case like this, but like John F Kennedy before him, Trump is battling the notoriously corrupt political “gangsters” in both of America’s major political parties. Will he prevail or will his enemies make him a JFK-sized martyr?

The speech is in the video below, but for some updates on the assorted ongoing legal battles click HERE

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Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion

BEST OF 2020: JANUARY

As always, December is the ideal time for retrospectives of the past 12 months:

2020 texas gladiators poster2020 TEXAS GLADIATORS – January 1st of this year saw the publication of the movie review I’d been planning since I started Balladeer’s Blog back in 2010! My favorite bad/ weird post-apocalypse movie reviewed on New Year’s Day of the year in which it was set. How close to reality were its predictions for the future? Nowhere NEAR close but that’s part of the fun of course.

This Italian ripoff of Mad Max delivers futuristic Texas Rangers, mutants, evil villains, deadly mercenaries and Italian extras as fake Native Americans who live in absurd post-nuke teepees. It’s ideal if you love legendarily bad movies. HERE.

TWENTY GREAT ITEMS FOR THE POOR AND WORKING CLASS – A score of terrific news items for the poor and the working class to kick off 2020. HERE.

Sabre 1978KILLRAVEN, SABRE AND THE SLOW FADE OF AN ENDANGERED SPECIES – My review of the post-apocalyptic adventures of Killraven and Sabre in the year 2020 as told from the 1970s.

I also examined the way writer Don McGregor incorporated unused elements of his canceled Killraven series into his independent Sabre graphic novel. Killraven fought for freedom from Earth’s alien conquerors. Sabre fought for freedom from a human dictatorship which arose in the aftermath of disasters involving poverty, disease, terrorist attacks and nuclear catastrophes. Read it HERE.  

TWENTY MORE FAILED PREDICTIONS FROM PSYCHICS – Remember when the Battle of Armageddon was fought in the year 2000? Or the way a woman was elected U.S. President in 1990? Or the way we eliminated air pollution? You don’t? Well that’s because none of those things happened. To laugh at similar predictions click HERE.

log of the flying fishTHE LOG OF THE FLYING FISH (1887): ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION – My review of the 1887 novel about The Flying Fish, a craft capable of flying and serving as a submarine.

The vessel’s inventor and crew have adventures around the world including discovering a prehistoric oasis at the North Pole, hunting unicorns and a variety of other escapades. Click HERE Continue reading

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I AM SCROOGE – A ZOMBIE STORY FOR CHRISTMAS (2009)

Balladeer’s Blog’s Eleventh Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues! Early in December is the ideal time to look at this dark-humored version of A Christmas Carol that was done in the style of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

I Am ScroogeI AM SCROOGE – A ZOMBIE STORY FOR CHRISTMAS (2009) – Written by Adam Roberts. This book was a gift from a friend a few years ago and it’s pretty entertaining. Think of The Dead Next Door set at Christmas.

Roberts plays with various aspects of the narrative, even joking about superogatory “o’s” in Marley’s moan of “Scrooooge.” He peppers in a lot of similar jokes all the way through the book. The schtick is exactly what you would expect – the title is a joking reference to I Am Legend followed by Dickens’ qualification of A Christmas Carol as “A Ghost Story For Christmas.” Continue reading

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Filed under A CHRISTMAS CAROL, Halloween Season

DAGOBERT TROSTLER: RIVALS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1973)

rivals of sherlockFor Balladeer’s Blog’s review of the first episode of this 1971-1973 series about London by Gaslight detectives from both the Victorian and Edwardian Ages you can simply click HERE   

Anonymous LettersEpisode: ANONYMOUS LETTERS (March 19th, 1973)

Detective: Dagobert Trostler, created by Austrian writer Balduin Groller (pen name for Adalbert Goldscheider). The first Dagobert Trostler mystery was published in 1895.

Synopsis: Ronald Lewis portrays amateur detective Dagobert Trostler, an Austrian bon vivant and man about town during the twilight time of the Habsburgs. Given the various scandals and potential public humiliations that can befall pretentious aristocrats of any time period, Dagobert offers his detective skills to the well-connected and the wealthy.

Dagobert and NadjaTrostler doesn’t expect any pay and usually goes without any public credit, because if he has resolved the case properly no one will ever know he or his clients played any role in certain events.

Dagobert isn’t above fisticuffs or gunplay or even breaking & entering as he indulges in his favorite sport of solving mysteries. His manservant Berthold (Denis Thorne) is skilled at disguise and at casing a joint for his boss when needed. Continue reading

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Filed under Forgotten Television