Monthly Archives: June 2021

A FORCE OF ONE (1979)

a force of oneA FORCE OF ONE (1979) – Fresh off the success of Good Guys Wear Black, Chuck Norris starred in this action film directed by Paul Aaron in only his second directing effort. The prolific Ernest Tidyman wrote the screenplay.

The Story: In a fictional mid-sized California city, a drug operation is thriving, helped along by bad cops who funnel confiscated drugs right back to the head of the narcotics pushers after pretending to have destroyed the seized goodies per department policy. The drug ring uses a sporting goods store as their front and use an aspiring karate champ as their chief enforcer.

             That enforcer is a deadly human weapon and when cops keep turning up dead at his hands the department hires a local karate dojo master to teach the police better techniques of self-defense. That dojo master falls in love with a lady cop and winds up helping the police to battle the drug ring.   

The Characters:

CHUCK NORRIS is in the role of Matt Logan, a former special forces man from the United States Army. He’s the defending Middleweight Karate Champion and also runs a karate dojo on the side. One of his students is his black adopted son Charlie (Eric Laneuville), whose late mother he had platonically befriended when … oh, don’t worry about it. They might as well have saved time by just having him be one of Matt’s students, PERIOD, since his only purpose is to get killed by the drug dealers, thus giving Logan a personal stake in the crusade to bring them down. Continue reading

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MORE NEGLECTED AMERICAN VICTORIES IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

american rebelsWith the 4th of July holiday fast approaching, here’s another seasonal post from Balladeer’s Blog. Since too many documentaries and books on the Revolutionary War focus on what seems like the same handful of battles I like focusing on a lot of the overlooked military clashes. This is another go-round.

NOVEMBER 19th, 1775 – Days earlier, British Loyalists in South Carolina seized large stores of gunpowder from the American Rebel forces. Starting a campaign to recover the gunpowder, roughly 560 men under Andrew Williamson established a fort at Savage’s Old Fields, near Ninety-Six, SC. The fort was surrounded by 1,900 British Loyalists under Patrick Cuningham and Joseph Robinson. A siege began.

NOVEMBER 21st, 1775 – After two days of fighting, the Loyalists agreed to withdraw from the area. The action of the 19th to 21st is known as the Siege of Savage’s Old Field or the First Siege of Ninety-Six.   

DECEMBER 22nd, 1775 – A combined force of 1,300 South Carolina and North Carolina troops attacked over 500 British Loyalists at the Reedy River in the Battle of Great Cane Brake. The American Rebels won and, among other spoils, recovered the stolen gunpowder before the Loyalists could pass it along to Great Britain’s Cherokee allies.   Continue reading

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BALLADEER’S BLOG LIKES CALICO JACK RUM FOR THE FOURTH OF JULY

calico jack rumIn the past Balladeer’s Blog has given shout-outs to various alcohol products that I feel go great with the now-global Frontierado Holiday on the first Friday of every August. Since this is, after all, a lifestyle blog (I’M KIDDING!), here is a shoutout for a brand of rum for the 4th of July celebrations.

Calico Jack Rum is named, of course, for the real-life pirate Calico Jack Rackham. It’s a terrific spiced rum that I find much better than Captain Morgan and other brands. I go for Calico Jack #94, named for its 94 proof strength. Continue reading

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THE PEOPLE VS JOE BIDEN

biden is a failure

biden n wordWE NEED THIRD PARTIES. It’s no secret that Joe Biden (who comes from a slave-owning family) is a fascist, a longtime racist, a plagiarist, an accused rapist and the head of the Biden Crime Family. He recently made an unhinged threat to nuke American citizens who dare to dissent from his increasingly ugly and totalitarian policies. Biden allows unvaccinated illegal immigrants to flood into the U.S. while tightly restricting the activities of citizens, whether they’ve been vaccinated or not. 

He’s also clearly senile, maybe even demented. Political power in the hands of a man like this has already wrought the kind of disasters that rational people would expect. Periodically, when Joe’s already proven corruption is finally sated with enough graft money and abuse of power, the white-collar criminals he surrounds himself with voraciously grab their share and abuse their power to whatever degree Biden lets them. 

Joe Biden and his creepy accomplices defund the police, encourage violence against police, continue to wage war on the poor and the working class,Senile Joe Biden and continue a political purge of non-Democrats from the military. Claiming apolitical status won’t save you. Under Biden and his thugs members of the armed services must either pretend to enthusiastically embrace every divisive Democrat talking point or get targeted for reeducation/ “awareness and sensitivity training” until they ARE willing to so pretend.

Biden and company continue to dehumanize everyone who disagrees with them, especially targeting people of color, Latinos and gay people who dare to defy the Party. ONLY people of color, Latinos and gay people who unquestioningly support the Party are welcomed in public life and are permitted to hold public positions without getting persecuted and hounded from office and/ or public life.

*** EVEN OBAMA’S ETHICS CHIEF BLASTS JOE BIDEN AND THE BIDEN CRIME FAMILY’S BLATANT CORRUPTION.

*** BIDEN SLURS HISPANIC AMERICANS AGAIN WHILE ALSO ENABLING THE ABSURD “LATINX” LABEL WHICH LATINOS REJECT BUT WHICH DEMOCRATS TRY TO FORCE ON THEM.

Biden is creepy*** BIDEN SHOWS EVEN MORE INSTABILITY WITH CREEPY AND DERANGED WHISPERING AT PODIUM. Creepy Joe whispers like a child molester saying to his victim “Remember – not a word to your parents about what I did to you.” 

*** BIGOTED JOE BIDEN CLAIMS HISPANIC AMERICANS ARE MOSTLY ILLEGALS AND FEAR DEPORTATION IF THEY SHOW UP FOR VACCINATIONS.

*** HUNTER BIDEN SLURRED AND REJECTED ASIAN WOMEN AS POTENTIAL PARTNERS.

*** AUSTRALIAN NEWS MOCKS THE DEMOCRAT MEDIA’S PROPAGANDISTIC COVERAGE OF THE DISASTROUS BIDEN.

*** DR NAOMI WOLF BLASTS THE “UNHOLY MARRIAGE” OF THE BIDEN REGIME, BIG TECH AND THE DEMOCRATS. Continue reading

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PRIME CUT (1972): MINI-REVIEW

prime cutPRIME CUT (1972) – Directed by Michael Ritchie. Prime Cut was released less than 4 months after The Godfather but it’s difficult to think of two more different gangster films. And I say that as a good thing. Prime Cut is not trying for the epic, operatic scope of The Godfather, it’s just a fairly solid street-level gangster flick with a few admittedly silly action sequences.

The story:

The Chicago Syndicate bosses are being disrespected by a subordinate Kansas boss who is itching to break out from under their thumb and take complete control of his own little empire. Part of that figurative declaration of independence took the form of not sending the Chicago boys their required tribute, or “cut.” 

hackman marvinThe Windy City mob sent a tough-guy “negotiator” to try leaning on the Kansas rebel only to have that Jayhawk State gangster take things to the next level by having the tough-guy killed, then literally ground into hot dog meat. Adding insult to injury the Kansas boss sent the hot dogs/ bodily remains of the negotiator back to Chicago in the package they were supposed to use to send their tribute money.

Chicago’s response is to send four button men under the command of one of their coldest, most hard-assed enforcers, to Kansas to bring the upstart back into line by whatever means prove necessary. Much bloodshed ensues, with butchery and slaughterhouses of all kinds reflecting the title theme.

The characters: Continue reading

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NEGLECTED DC SUPERHEROES OF THE GOLDEN AGE

With the bulk of Balladeer’s Blog’s light-hearted superhero blog posts featuring Marvel Comics characters, DC fans have been demanding some love. I previously looked at the Justice Society, so this time here’s my take on their overlooked Golden Age heroes.

air waveAIR WAVE

Secret Identity: Larry Jordan

First Appearance: Detective Comics #60 (February 1942)

Origin: District Attorney Larry Jordan became disgusted with the way so many criminals escaped conviction in the courts. He adopted the costumed identity of Air Wave and set out to fight crime on his own terms.

Powers: Air Wave was in peak physical condition and was more agile than an acrobat. He excelled at unarmed combat and wore special boots which let him glide or skate along power lines and phone lines. He also had radios in his costume’s earpieces. In addition, his trained parrot Static served as his mascot.

Comment: This hero appeared in nearly 80 adventures from 1942 to 1948. Continue reading

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22 MORE WORKS OF ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION (1839-1911)

Balladeer’s Blog’s looks at “ancient” science fiction are always popular. Here are nearly two dozen MORE of those neglected wonders. 

fantastical excursionA FANTASTICAL EXCURSION INTO THE PLANETS (1839) – By an unknown author. An advanced alien life form makes contact with the novel’s anonymous narrator and takes him on a guided tour of other planets in our solar system. Among other things he encounters angelic creatures on Mercury, warlike males and females on Mars, enormous humanoids on Jupiter and a pack of Lovecraftian horrors on Saturn. For my full review click HERE.

THE SPIDER OF GUYANA (1860) – By Emile Erckmann and Alexandre Chatrian. It’s ancient Creature Feature time in this tale set at a health resort in central Europe. Curious patients of the resort discover that the healing waters of the place flow from a cave. Exploring the cave they encounter a gigantic spider, with a war breaking out between the creature and the patients at the resort. For my full review click HERE Continue reading

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CLARIFYING THE ONGOING 2020 ELECTION AUDITS AND INVESTIGATIONS FOR OVERSEAS READERS

.Biden crushing dissent

repub dem otherNot to get maudlin but I am once again humbled by the way that so many overseas readers trust my opinions regarding America’s political scene which clarify the situations obscured by the shrill partisan media outlets of both our major parties. Regular readers know I would love to see both the Republicans and the Democrats splinter into multiple smaller political parties because they stopped representing the needs of their constituents long ago and now exist just to perpetuate their own privileges and greed.

This time around the questions from overseas centered around the ongoing audits and investigations into the 2020 presidential election results. I will post the links to relevant articles at the bottom of this blog post. NOTE: Members of both major parties will be offended by different aspects of my opinion below. 

ITEM ONE: I’ve been asked about the sheer possibility of a stolen election, especially at the presidential level. MY ANSWER: It’s more than a possibility. It’s already happened at least twice in our nation’s history. Ever since Balladeer’s Blog launched in 2010 I’ve made frequent references to the stolen 1876 and year 2000 elections, so I am not just dragging these examples out now to justify skepticism about the 2020 results.

              The 1876 election was likely won by Samuel Tilden, but because of contradictory vote totals submitted by a few states the awarding of electoral votes was up in the air. A special commission was appointed with the end result that Rutherford B Hayes, the likely loser, was declared the winner. As time went on and tempers cooled it became generally (but I grant you not unanimously) accepted that Tilden was robbed of his rightful victory. A street in Washington DC was named after him in recognition of this. (Sheesh. Even the set of steak knives from Glengarry Glen Ross looks almost generous compared to that.)

              If anyone wants more details on the 1876 situation let me know in the comments. I’m trying to save space here in the main article. At any rate, 1876 was so long ago that virtually nobody gets filled with anger anymore at the mention of Hayes not really winning that election. At the time, however, a second Civil War was feared for awhile. People eventually accepted the tainted results and moved on.  

The year 2000 election featured two figures I despise – George W Bush on the Republican side and Al Gore on the Democrat side. That election was recent enough that I don’t need to recap the chaos, suffice it to say I am definitely among those who state that the evidence indicates Bush was not the real winner. Emotions still run high on that election because of its nearness and because of the way Bush went on to lie the country into still-ongoing wars in the middle east. 

This brings us to the 2020 election. Democrats, with typical partisan hypocrisy, praise me for openly stating that George W Bush was in all likelihood NOT the real winner in 2000 but feign outrage when I openly state that much of the evidence indicates that in all likelihood Joe Biden was NOT the real winner in 2020. THAT is why the investigations and audits need to continue, just as research went on regarding the 1876 and 2000 elections. 

              Again, with appalling hypocrisy, the Democrats, who spent Donald Trump’s entire presidency trying to claim that he was not a legitimate president because of non-existent Russian Collusion, are now pretending that it should be against the law to point out how tainted the 2020 results are. They were free to speak out, but they and their corporate accomplices try to prevent public airing of the issues surrounding 2020.

Also, don’t forget there was the obscenely brazen Time magazine article PRAISING the “cabal” (Time‘s word, not mine) which removed Trump.

third party mattersITEM TWO: CAN THESE INVESTIGATIONS AND AUDITS RESULT IN BIDEN BEING REMOVED AND REPLACED BY TRUMP?

MY ANSWER: No. I know there is a LOT of speculation and discussion in the media about such a potential result, but in my view that will not happen. The time for any possibility of Trump remaining in office passed because:  States were not able to quickly complete the audits and investigations that are going on NOW. (Again, my view is that the process must continue to try to prevent the apparent mail-in vote fraud and other issues from affecting future elections, but not because it would supposedly return Trump to office.)

              The Supreme Court, which has a long history of ugly, shameful decisions, ranging from Dred Scott, to segregation, to upholding the atrocity of child labor over and over again, to upholding the Japanese internment and many other examples, darkened their own history once AGAIN with their evasive treatment of the 2020 election cases.

              The most blatant example was the court’s failure to hear cases challenging the changes to mail-in voting procedures BEFORE the election on the grounds that the election had not been affected yet. Then AFTER the election they refused to hear various election cases by declaring them moot since the election had already taken place. Pretty disgusting.

              At any rate, in the months since last November, many court decisions around the country – as covered here at Balladeer’s Blog – have since declared that the arbitrary changes some states made to counting mail-in ballots were against the law because they should have gone through the state legislatures and not been unilaterally imposed by Democrat officials who overstepped their authority. Continue reading

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WHAT’S NEW PUSSYCAT? (1965)

what's new pussycatWHAT’S NEW PUSSYCAT? (1965) – TWO PETERS, ONE WOODY should probably have been the title of this blog post. Peter O’Toole, Peter Sellers and Woody Allen starred in this brazen (for its day) sex comedy set in Paris during the Swinging Sixties.

Woody penned his first original screenplay for this movie and by many accounts was not happy with the way writers were so often the doormats of the film industry. The big name stars and starlets had the power to demand script changes which favored the characters they portrayed and which often diluted the thrust (as it were) of Allen’s satire about the breaking of sexual taboos.

what's new 2The end result is still hailed for its pioneering depiction of promiscuity in a major studio release. The relaxing of cinematic standards permitted What’s New Pussycat? to be bolder and kinkier than any pre-1965 production could have been. Compared to films of the past 55 years, however, it often seems as mild and self-consciously “zany” as an episode of Three’s Company, which was daring for television of the 1970s but certainly not today.

Peter Sellers is top-billed and looks like he’s cosplaying as Mayim Bialik from The Big Bang Theory in his portrayal of German psychiatrist Fritz Fassbender. Sellers is more annoying than anything else in this role with the vaudeville level German accent he puts on as Fassbender. The psychiatrist frequently cheats on his rotund wife with his patients. Continue reading

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TEN TELEVISION FLOPS

This time around in Balladeer’s Blog’s recurring feature Forgotten Television we’ll take a brief look at some dumb attempts at launching sitcoms.

mcgurkMCGURK (1979)

Stars: Barney Martin, Hamilton Camp, Sherry Lynn

Premise: Five actors dressed up as dogs hung out and joked about their human owners. The dogs’ owners, that is. Believe it or not the talented Peter Bonerz directed this unsold sitcom pilot and Brandon Tartikoff was executive producer. How either of them had the nerve to show their faces in public again is beyond me. (ORIGINALLY TITLED A DOG’S LIFE)

WHERE’S MOMMA? (1974)

Stars: Richard Mulligan, Michele Carey

Premise: Mulligan starred as a widowed real estate agent who was so ill-prepared to raise his twin children that his wife, played by Michele Carey, returned from the afterlife to help him out. Only Mulligan’s character could see the wife’s ghost, leading to the usual “comedy” set pieces.  Continue reading

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