Monthly Archives: May 2023

A VERY MISSING PERSON (1972)

a very missing personA VERY MISSING PERSON (1972) – This made for tv movie was the pilot for an unsold series that was meant as another rotating slot in the ______Night Mystery Movie offerings from the networks back then.

Eve Arden starred as Hildegarde Withers, the now-retired schoolteacher turned amateur sleuth in a series of novels and short stories by American author Stuart Palmer. Hildegarde first appeared in Palmer’s 1931 novel The Penguin Pool Murder and was obviously inspired by Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple.

eve arden as withersThe last Withers mystery completed by Stuart Palmer during his lifetime was published in 1954, but he left behind an unfinished novel titled Hildegarde Withers Makes the Scene. Fletcher Flora used Palmer’s notes to finish the novel, which finally saw print in 1969.

Six movies had been made in the 1930s featuring the supposedly aged Miss Withers. (To show how standards change, in the 1931 novel a third party describes Hildegarde as a “spinster …  age thirty-nine years old.”) The many, many other Hildegarde novels and short stories were ignored for this telefilm, which jumped straight to the 1969 work. Continue reading

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MAY 23rd ROUNDUP OF NEWS, MEMES AND POLITICAL CARTOONS

war on whistleblowersIndependent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at some of the latest here in Joe Biden’s corporate fascist kleptocracy.

biden the fascistBIDEN REGIME’S FBI (FUGGEDA BOUT INTEGRITY) STILL REFUSING TO PROVIDE CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATORS THE SUBPOENAED FILE REGARDING THE BIDEN CRIME FAMILY INVESTIGATIONS. Banana Republic America is not just an expression.

ANOTHER WHISTLEBLOWER AT THE IRS COMES FORWARD REGARDING THE BIDEN REGIME’S DOJ INTERFERING IN INVESTIGATIONS REGARDING UNDERBOSS HUNTER BIDEN. More HERE. The whistleblower says Biden and his thugs have been interfering in the Hunter Biden investigation for years now.

OVERSIGHT CHAIR CALLS IT “UNACCEPTABLE” THAT BIDEN AND HIS ILK ARE STONEWALLING THE BRIBERY INVESTIGATION. I guess a strongly-worded letter will follow. Remember over the years how I’ve pointed out that when Congressional Republicans are investigating you it means you and your attorneys can exchange high-fives and sleep the sleep of the saved, knowing that you’ll never pay any consequences?

unfit and pathetic bidenCLEARLY UNFIT JOE BIDEN AGAIN LIES BY REPEATING HIS ABSURD CLAIM THAT HIS SON BEAU DIED IN IRAQ WAR. This pathetic little man is a large clump of bacteria sculpted into human form. And remember his daughter’s diary’s accounts of Joe “inappropriately” showering with her when she was a child? If you did forget about that, more HERE

“FORCE THE DEBATES” HASHTAG TRENDS, TO TRY STOPPING THE DNC FROM PROTECTING THE UNFIT JOE BIDEN FROM DEBATING HIS PRIMARY OPPONENTS. Let’s face it, it would be HILARIOUS to see the doddering, incoherent career criminal trying to debate RFK Jr. and the others.

BIDEN CAUGHT LYING YET AGAIN, THIS TIME CLAIMING CREDIT FOR THE QUAD ALLIANCE, WHICH WAS ACTUALLY RESTORED BY TRUMP IN 2017. Continue reading

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AN INTER-PLANETARY RUPTURE (1906) ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION

Frank L PackardAN INTER-PLANETARY RUPTURE (1906) – Written by Frank L Packard. This work of Science Fiction is set in the far-off year 3102 A.D. Since the year 2532 all of the Earth has been united under one single government, which is headquartered in America’s Washington, D.C. (Yet this was written by a Canadian.)

The global parliamentary body was called the Assembly of the World and met in an enormous billion-dollar building called the Edifice of Deliberations. Former sovereign nations of the Earth are represented there like States or Provinces were in countries during the past. 

The executive body of the world government is called the Supreme Council of Earth and meets in the same building as the Assembly but in the opposite wing. This Supreme Council consists of 12 members who are appointed based on their brilliance and accomplishments in global law and governance.

mascot sword and gun pic

BALLADEER’S BLOG

In an interesting touch the flag of the United Earth is red and white: a blood-red field with a white dove in the center.

To the people of the 32nd Century space travel is as easy as train or ship travel to the people of 1906. Multiple inhabited planets interact with each other and periodic wars are as common between these planets as wars between nations were in the past.

An asteroid called Mizar has been under Earth’s political jurisdiction since the Treaty of 2970. The people living on Mizar declare their independence from the Earth and strongly request that the people of the planet Mercury annex the asteroid. Mercury’s government hungers for Mizar because of its strategic orbital path.     Continue reading

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SEPTEMBER 2017

FOR PART ONE OF THIS RETROSPECTIVE (2016) FROM INDEPENDENT VOTER SITE BALLADEER’S BLOG CLICK HERE.

democrat republican or awakeWHY THIS WORD CHANGE? 

TRUMP: STILL UPSETTING THE WHITE-COLLAR CRIMINALS CALLED DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS.

DEMOCRATS VERSUS ART AND LITERATURE. We had not seen ANYTHING yet in 2017. Democrats were just warming up on the number of things they wanted wiped from history. And this 2017 piece reflects how “woke” was already being used as a term. It’s NOT a new element.

TRANSGRESS WITH ME. If you have enough backbone. This one has become even more relevant here in 2023.

BERNIE SANDERS SAYS THE CURRENT MODEL OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY IS NOT WORKING. Of course, this was before Bernie became a blatant sell-out.

DEMOCRATS LOVE CORPORATE FASCISM. Continue reading

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THUNDRA: HER 1970s STORIES

This weekend’s light-hearted and escapist superhero blog post looks at the early stories featuring the Femizon called Thundra, who started as a villainess before reforming.

ff 129FANTASTIC FOUR Vol 1 #129 (December 1972)

Title: The Frightful Four – Plus One

Villains: The Frightful Four (The Wizard, Sandman, the Trapster and Thundra)

NOTE: This was Thundra’s first appearance.

Synopsis: The Wizard, Sandman and the Trapster are still at large after their recent clash with Spider-Man and the Human Torch in Marvel Team-Up #2. Meanwhile, at the Baxter Building headquarters of the Fantastic Four, the Human Torch drops a bombshell on his teammates – he is quitting the team to go live with his true love Crystal of the Inhuman Royal Family.

thundra walkingCrystal, Johnny Storm’s longtime girlfriend and former member of the Fantastic Four, was forced to move back to the Inhumans’ hidden city of Attilan due to her body’s negative reaction to air pollution in the human world.

After a fierce argument in which Invisible Woman (Johnny’s sister) sides with the Torch, Johnny flies off in the Fantastic Four’s plane to reach Attilan. The arguing is reignited by Agatha Harkness (still in the years BEFORE she tutored the Scarlet Witch) who tells the Fantastic Four that she has urgent business and they must come pick up Reed and Sue’s son Franklin Richards at her Whisper Hill home. Continue reading

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NEWS, MEMES AND POLITICAL CARTOON ROUNDUP: MAY NINETEENTH

fbi biden kgbA roundup of news, memes and political cartoons from Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog.

john brennan the man from S.C.U.M.“IN A HEALTHY DEMOCRACY JOHN BRENNAN WOULD ALREADY BE IN PRISON.” Great piece on former CIA head John Brennan.

Another piece, this one titled “JOHN BRENNAN, ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE“.

BIDEN REGIME KILLS THE WRONG PERSON YET AGAIN WHILE TARGETING A TERRORIST. More blood on Joe Biden’s hands. 

daniel cameron picTRUMP-ENDORSED DANIEL CAMERON (at left) EASILY WINS PARTY PRIMARY ELECTION IN KENTUCKY.

COURAGEOUS CONGRESSWOMAN HARRIET HAGEMAN CALLS OUT CHRISTOPHER WRAY AND MERRICK GARLAND OVER THE CORRUPTION EXPOSED AT THE FBI AND DOJ. “As the DOJ and FBI have become more political, they have amassed more power,” Hageman continued. “And as they have amassed more power they have become more political.” That “vicious cycle,” she argued, “must be stopped.”

biden crime family shirtREPORT: BIDEN REGIME REMOVES THE ENTIRE INVESTIGATIVE TEAM AT THE IRS THAT HAS BEEN INVESTIGATING HUNTER BIDEN SCANDALS. Impeachments have been launched over far less. 

FBI EXPOSED FOR DROPPING FOUR OPEN CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS AGAINST HILLARY CLINTON’S ORGANIZATION MONTHS BEFORE THE 2016 ELECTION. More HERE. Under a Democrat president they were shielding The Party’s nominee while conjuring up fake Russian Collusion against her opponent. Continue reading

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THE SCARLATTI INHERITANCE (1971) BOOK REVIEW

scarlatti inheritance bookTHE SCARLATTI INHERITANCE (1971)

TIME PERIOD: Pre-World War One Era on up through the start of the Great Depression with an epilogue set during World War Two.

This was Robert Ludlum’s very first novel and it’s a shame that the planned movie starring Ingrid Bergman never panned out. In my opinion there has never been a very good screen adaptation of a Ludlum novel. Or at least not when it comes to adaptations that are actually like their source material.

The successful Jason Bourne movies bear virtually no resemblance to the trilogy of novels that inspired them. Other films or mini-series’ adapted from Ludlum’s writings have tended to be so far off the mark that some of them qualify as classically bad, for instance The Osterman Weekend.  

HEROINE: (This novel has a female and a male protagonist) Elizabeth Wyckham Scarlatti, an 1890s adventuress from American Old Money who – in her youth – spurned plenty of bloated rich pigs for not being as high-spirited and daring as she was.

Scarlatti InheritanceHer heart and loins are finally stolen away by Italian-American Giovanni Scarlatti, a laborer in her father’s factory. Though he speaks broken English, Scarlatti’s mechanical genius is first-rate. The rebellious Elizabeth combines her own business acumen with Giovanni’s aptitude for inventions and before long the two lovers are married and have taken over the companies run by her father and plenty of his friends. 

The Scarlattis continue to thrive financially through the expected hardball methods and after having three children they change the family name to Scarlett. Eventually Giovanni dies of natural causes and eldest son Roland is killed during World War One.

Making her own version of Sophie’s Choice, Elizabeth allows her brawling, bullying wastrel of a son Ulster to enlist in the Army to romantically take Roland’s place in the World War while keeping third son Chancellor in America with her to prep him to take over Scarlett Industries when she dies.

HERO: Matthew Canfield, an accountant and investigative agent for the American government – specifically Group Twenty, Ludlum’s fictional agency. Group Twenty was operative during the 1920s, when the bulk of this story takes place. Their agents specialized in uncovering financial hanky-panky in that gray area where dishonest business practices and outright criminality mingle.     Continue reading

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THE DURHAM REPORT

Here at Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog I’m taking a look at the latest on the Durham Report.

john durhamDURHAM REPORT EXPOSES MORE CORRUPTION AT THE FBI AND ELSEWHERE, BUT DURHAM BASICALLY SAYS “WHAT’S THE USE?” AND RECOMMENDS NO FURTHER ACTION. 

MORE ABOUT THE REPORT’S FINDINGS HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. And HERE. And HERE. Not to mention HERE.

JOE BIDEN WAS IN THE LOOP ABOUT THE HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN’S ROLE IN THE RUSSIAN COLLUSION FRAUD.

JAMES WOODS WEIGHS IN ON THE DECEPTIVE HEADLINES REGARDING THE REPORT. 

THE MEDIA’S ROLE HERE. And HERE. And HERE.

MY TAKE ON THE REPORT, AS SOMEONE WHO WANTS ALTERNATE PARTIES 

In the U.S. we have two major political parties – the Democrats, who have proven they will try getting worthless prosecutions of their political opponents even when those opponents did nothing wrong … and the clueless, outdated and utterly worthless Republicans, who, even when their investigations find wrongdoing, will simply shrug their shoulders and recommend no further action be taken or charges be made. More HERE.

The latest meek, impotent little man that the Republicans have been let down by is John Durham, whose Durham Report has been long awaited. In a move that you’d think voters would come to expect by this point, Durham’s report found several incidents of meritless, politicized investigations of Donald Trump regarding the nonexistent “Russian Collusion”, investigations of which began during the 2016 presidential campaign – and yet, despite ample corruption and more uncovered at the FBI and elsewhere – Durham recommended no further charges. 

After all, Trump is not a “made man” in the criminal fraternity that passes for a political system here in the U.S. so the illegal and unconstitutional warfare waged against him is “meh” to our political class.

Contrast that with the Democrats, who knew in advance of BOTH their groundless impeachments against Trump that they did not have the votes to carry through, but chose to further divide the nation both times with no hope of a guilty verdict from the Senate. In New York, Democrats even rammed through a change to statute of limitations laws and flirted with tossing out the ex post facto concept just to get a political verdict against Trump. A verdict which will likely be overturned on appeal given the clearly shaky nature of the entire proceeding. Continue reading

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BOOK OF THE DUN COW REVIEW LINKS

As is customary after a series of blog posts about one topic I’m posting a guide and links to each part.

lebor na huidrePART ONE – This opening segment examined the Six Ages of the World section, a mythological look at the history of the world from Creation to the coming of Jesus Christ. The Book of the Dun Cow contains a mix of pagan and Christian materials, and in Part One I also reviewed its presentation of myths regarding Great Britain, legends of Saint Columba and its version of the story of Tuan mac Cairill, the only non-Ark survivor of the Great Flood and who chronicled the ancient races of Ireland like the Tuatha de Danaan, Fir Bolg and Milesians. Click HERE.

dartaidPART TWO – The four sections covered in Part Two: Two Sorrows of the Kingdom of Heaven, featuring Elijah and Enoch in Heaven and their observations regarding the Antichrist, the end of the world and the Final Judgment; The Intoxication of the Ulstermen, about the Samhain partying of the Ulstermen and the peril it led to; The Raid on Dartaid’s Cattle, about a raid to rustle the cattle of the she-warrior Dartaid; and The Raid on Fliodhaise’s Cattle, featuring Queen Maeve, King Ailill, Fergus mac Roich and Queen Fliodhaise, her lusty ways and her cattle. Click HERE.

PART THREE – The Voyage of Mael Duin. Due to the epic length of this tale, it is the one and only section covered in Part Three. This imram deserves to be alongside the Illiad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid and others. Click HERE. Continue reading

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THE LIFE AND ASTONISHING ADVENTURES OF JOHN DANIEL (1751) ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION

John DanielFull Title: A NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE AND ASTONISHING ADVENTURES OF JOHN DANIEL, A SMITH AT ROYSTON IN HERTFORDSHIRE, FOR A COURSE OF SEVENTY YEARS. (1751) – Written by Ralph Morris, supposedly a pseudonym used by an unknown man.

Around the year 1650 John Daniel, a smith in Royston, is subjected to the relentless advances of his sultry stepmother. To avoid a situation which would hurt his father, John goes off to sea on a ship bound for the Moluccas. Enroute the ship goes under, with the only survivors being John Daniel and a young man who turns out to really be a woman in disguise.

John and this woman – named Ruth – are castaways on an uncharted and uninhabited island somewhere near Java. Food, shelter, fresh water and game animals are in huge supply, so John and Ruth name the place the Isle of Providence. The couple perform a do-it-yourself wedding ceremony and begin having children.

As the years go by our main characters have six sons and five daughters. Any other ships that draw near the island always wreck, leaving no survivors so the family abandons hope of rescue. Five of the sons and five of the daughters are married to each other when they reach their teen years. (All together now: “Eeewww!”)

John Daniel 2The unmarried son, Daniel (yes his name is Daniel Daniel) has a knack for inventing things and builds a flying machine. Its general shape is like one of our modern-day airplanes but the wings are leather over metal rod frames and in order to fly the wings must “flap,” which they do, powered by a pump.

John insists on accompanying his son Daniel (I’ll call him “Dan-Dan” from this point on) on the “mechanical eagle’s” test-flight. The flying machine performs even better than Dan-Dan hoped, but is so strong and fast that it winds up taking the inventor and his father to the moon. Continue reading

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