Monthly Archives: January 2026

January 10, 2026 · 9:26 pm

BALLADEER’S BLOG’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL RESULTS: JAN 10th

The USCAA no longer has football, so I had no coverage of them from Aug-Dec.

USCAA (United States Collegiate Athletic Association) DIVISION ONE

CLOSE CALL FOR NUMBER ONE – The nation’s number one team – the NORTH AMERICAN UNIVERSITY STALLIONS – clashed with the visiting TEXAS A&M AT TEXARKANA EAGLES (should be Texarks). The 1st Half ended with the Stallions on top 37-29 but Texarkana was ready for a comeback. Their rally fell short as NAU held on to win 74-71. Jayden Jackson led the Stallions with 23 points, while teammate Joseph Cormier got a Double Double of 11 points and 12 rebounds.

CENTURY CLUB – Teams scoring 100 or more points in Regulation: The (6) NEWPORT NEWS APPRENTICE SCHOOL BUILDERS (Shipbuilders) obliterated the CENTRAL INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE CARDINALS 121-65   ###   The BLOOMFIELD COLLEGE BEARS won 110-108 at the BRYANT & STRATTON COLLEGE (Albany) BOBCATS   ###   And the (10) PAUL QUINN COLLEGE TIGERS mauled the WILEY UNIVERSITY WILDCATS 107-53. Continue reading →

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January 10, 2026 · 12:01 am

MARVEL ISSUES: JULY 1967

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at Marvel’s publications from July 1967.

SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #50 (Jul 1967)

Title: Spider-Man No More

Villain: Kingpin (FIRST APPEARANCE)

Synopsis: Spider-Man stops the robbery of an armored car and bystanders’ wary reaction to him makes him angry about how thoroughly J. Jonah Jameson’s media lies about him have tainted his image in some people’s minds.

That, combined with Aunt May’s latest turn for the worse health-wise (yawn), makes Peter Parker feel even worse, especially since he hasn’t spent as much time checking on his aunt ever since he moved into Harry Osborn’s plush apartment with him.

The next day at Empire State University Peter fails a biochemistry test, prompting Professor Miles Warren (yes) to express disappointment since Peter is such a brilliant student. Privately, Peter blames every bad thing in his life on being Spider-Man and he decides to never again don the costume.

Over the next few weeks, the crime rate in New York City skyrockets with no Spider-Man getting in the way of villainy and only Daredevil fighting street-level wrongdoing. Our hero’s absence is noted in criminal circles, inspiring the Kingpin to at last operate openly.

He clashes with Spider-Man’s old foe the Big Man in a war over control of New York’s rackets. This makes Peter Parker realize that it’s more important to be doing the right thing even if the media attacks you for it, so he swings back into the fray as Spider-Man. Continue reading →

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January 9, 2026 · 5:08 am

NEWS ROUNDUP FOR JANUARY NINTH

Here’s an end of the week current events roundup from Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog. The Democrats have elevated their war on the rest of us. Every killing involving ICE has been provoked by Democrats and their media outlets lying and encouraging violence. Especially when Democrats need a distraction from the fraud and other scandals engulfing them.

Democrats have made it very clear that not only will they side with the killers of our loved ones if the killers are illegal immigrants, but they will call for violence against those people enforcing immigration laws. Democrats own all of this violence. 

AND REMEMBER – DEMOCRATS NEVER PROTEST LIKE THIS FOLLOWING ANY OF THE MANY CITIZEN DEATHS CAUSED BY ILLEGALS. NOT ONE TIME.

ACCUSED MINNEAPOLIS DOMESTIC TERRORIST SHOT BY ICE. Excerpts – “Good’s death is a tragedy of the left’s making. Their anti-ICE rhetoric convinced people like her that interfering with law enforcement was righteous. It wasn’t.” and “The Democrats own this mess. They’ve spent years demonizing ICE agents as fascists. Governor Tim Walz called ICE “Trump’s modern-day Gestapo” last year.” 

NBC’S VIDEO ANALYSIS SUPPORTS ICE AGENT’S READING OF EVENTS.   Plus – LIFE PARTNER OF THE LATE MN WOMAN BLAMES HERSELF: “IT’S MY FAULT.” 

ITEM: DEMOCRATS GOT MORE BLOOD. IT WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH FOR THEM.

DEMOCRATS WALZ AND FREY CHOOSE MORE VIOLENCE.     “GOVERNOR WALZ DECLARED “WE ARE AT WAR WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.”  MAYOR JACOB FREY: DIRTY HANDS?.

COURAGEOUS JOURNALIST NICK SHIRLEY – UNLIKE THE ONE PERCENTER POSEURS OF THE CORPORATE MEDIA – EXPOSES EVEN MORE FRAUD VIA SHELL COMPANIES. I will point out again that “reporters” at the major media outlets of both political parties make so much money that they are part of the corruption and are basically paid spokespeople for the political forces harming the country.

BLACKFACE PERFORMER AND DEMOCRAT PROPAGANDIST JIMMY KIMMEL IS SELLING MERCHANDISE EXPLOITING THE MINNESOTA SHOOTING. Do Democrats remember a time when they were capable of basic human decency? Well, okay, privileged white one percenter Kimmel was never capable of it. He’s a vulture, and a scavenger of human misery.

VENEZUELANS WHO SUFFERED UNDER MADURO’S DICTATORSHIP TROLL HIM IN PRISON AND IT’S HILARIOUS! 

TREN DE ARAGUA GANG MEMBER INVOLVED IN SHOOTOUT WITH IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT IN PORTLAND. More HERE. Another Democrat-held stronghold wars on the rest of us.  OREGON DEMOCRATS SIDE WITH THE TREN DE ARAGUA GANG MEMBER. 

THE TRUMP BOOM CONTINUES: U.S. PRODUCTIVITY SURGES. Highest level in nearly six years.    UNEMPLOYMENT FALLS YET AGAIN.

IRANIAN PROTESTERS ASK PRESIDENT TRUMP FOR PROTECTION FROM THEIR COUNTRY’S TYRANNICAL REGIME.

MARRIOTT FIRES EMPLOYEE FOR DANGEROUSLY DOXXING ICE AGENTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA. Continue reading →

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January 8, 2026 · 5:39 pm

ELVIS AND ANDREW JACKSON: TWO PEAS IN A HISTORICAL POD ON THIS DATE

Elvis’ January 8th birthday being the same date as the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 have tied the two figures together in a very offbeat way. Here are some samplings of the offspring from these two strange bedfellows.

I WANT EL SANTO AND I WANT HIM NOW!

ORION: THE ELVIS PRESLEY HOAX/ PUT-ON/ TEASE – My examination of life imitating art imitating life down the bizarre rabbit hole of the 1978-1980 singer Orion and the resulting milking of the whole “Is he really Elvis Presley still alive, after all?” nonsense. Click HERE.

ROCK ‘N’ ROLL VS THE REDCOATS (2015) – The fake musical starring an Elvis impersonator as General Andrew Jackson and a female impersonator as Ann-Margret playing pirate Jean Lafitte. General Elvis defends New Orleans from a British Invasion spearheaded by an army of pastiches of English rock stars of the 1960s. Click HERE. Continue reading →

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January 8, 2026 · 3:29 am

THE GHOST GOES GEAR (1966) BAD MOVIE REVIEW

THE GHOST GOES GEAR (1966) – Okay, how could anyone resist a film that features a song titled Show Me Your English Teeth? This movie was the Spencer Davis Group’s addition to all the imitation Help! flicks from the 1960s as so many British bands tried to replicate the Beatles’ big screen success but fell below even some of the worst Monkees episodes in quality. 

And speaking of the Monkees, the show starring that pre-packaged “rock band” came out in September of 1966, the same month as The Ghost Goes Gear. Must have been something in the drinking water on both sides of the Atlantic that month. 

For those readers not familiar with them, the Spencer Davis Group was made up of THE Steve Winwood, his brother Muff Winwood (but not his sister Dick Winwood), Pete York and of course Spencer Davis.

Let’s face it, NO multi-band movie could possibly be as bad as Musical Mutiny, the Iron Butterfly (and others) Golden Turkey that I fell in love with back in 2021 and wrote a scene-by-scene review of. Musical Mutiny featured the ghost of a pirate plus a teenage mad scientist, but The Ghost Goes Gear had just a ghost. And just barely at that. Continue reading →

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January 7, 2026 · 6:50 pm

APOCRYPHAL GOSPEL OF THE SAVIOR

A look at one of the many Apocryphal Gospels. 

THE GOSPEL OF THE SAVIOR – The narrative of this gospel centers around dialogues between Jesus and his apostles in the last few days before his arrest and crucifixion.

Some of the material is similar to the Gospels of John and Matthew, but some is Gnostic, with references to discarding the useless garment of the body so the soul can return to the empyrean realm (or Pleroma, if you insist). 

The most striking departure in this gospel comes in the Garden of Gethsemane segment, when Jesus, as God the Son, traditionally prays to God the Father to spare him the ordeals that lay ahead. In The Gospel of the Savior Jesus transports himself and his apostles to the throne-room of God the Father where he makes his appeal in person. Continue reading →

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January 7, 2026 · 8:37 am

JANUARY SEVENTH NEWS ROUNDUP

Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog is here with a mid-week current events roundup. And, as I said repeatedly last year, I have no idea why Trump keeps making deranged remarks about Greenland.

ALTICA POLL FINDS ENORMOUS LATIN AMERICAN SUPPORT FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP’S ACTION AGAINST DICTATOR MADURO.

MINNESOTA AUDITOR AND THE INNOCENT VICTIMS OF DEMOCRAT GOVERNOR TIM WALZ’S NEGLIGENCE – OR WORSE – ON THE MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR WELFARE FRAUD RING. More HERE.

MORE MEDICAID FRAUD SCANDALS IN MAINE.

LATEST ORGANIZATION UNDER SCRUTINY IN MINNESOTA’S FRAUD RING. And more HERE.

MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR FOOD STAMP FRAUD SCHEME IN DEMOCRAT-RUN BOSTON. 

DEMOCRATS STILL THREATENING ANOTHER GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN.

LEGAL EXPERT AGAIN SMACKS DOWN ABSURD CLAIMS THAT PRESIDENT TRUMP’S VENEZUELAN ACTION WAS NOT LEGAL.

DEMOCRAT SENATOR FETTERMAN COURAGEOUSLY CHEERS TRUMP’S MADURO ACTION AND BLASTS THE DEMOCRATS INSANELY OPPOSING IT.

ERIC ADAMS CALLS OUT MAMDANI’S RACIST STAFFER CEA WEAVER FOR HER DERANGED STATEMENT THAT HOME OWNERSHIP IS A WEAPON OF “WHITE SUPREMACY.” He also called out her privileged background which keeps her out of touch with real life.

TERRIFIC THREAD OF VENEZUELANS BLASTING TRUMP-HATING LOONS WHO SIDE WITH MADURO.  

VENEZUELAN WOMAN HAS AN UNPLEASANT MESSAGE FOR PROTESTERS.   Continue reading →

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January 6, 2026 · 10:48 pm

CHARLEMAGNE: ASTOLPHO RESTORES ROLAND’S SANITY

These are the legends about Charlemagne and his Paladins, not the actual history, so there will be dragons, monsters and magic. FOR MY FIRST CHAPTER ON CHARLEMAGNE’S PALADINS CLICK HERE.

ASTOLPHO RESTORES ROLAND’S SANITY – Picking up where we left off, the Paladin Astolpho and St. John returned from the moon in the latter’s flying chariot and entered the saint’s palace on a mountaintop. (Yes, I just typed those words.)

Astolpho carried with him the bottle filled with Roland’s sanity from the moon’s Valley of Lost Things. St. John, who was ready to return to Heaven now, parted company with Astolpho by giving him a salve which would heal the blindness of the Abyssinian (Ethiopian) King Senapus.

Mounting his winged hippogriff (part horse, part eagle), our hero flew down from the mountaintop and returned to the court of King Senapus. When he used the salve to cure the king’s blindness, Senapus felt doubly indebted to the Paladin.

Not only had Astolpho driven off or killed all of the Furies preying on Abyssinia, but now that he had restored King Senapus’ vision, he granted the Frankish warrior a boon. Continue reading →

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January 6, 2026 · 10:23 am

JANUARY SIXTH-A-PALOOZA – 2026

Here’s what will apparently be an annual post for as long as demagogues insist on pretending there was an “insurrection” (LMAO) on January 6th, 2021. Uh. Yeah. No troops, no police officers killed (despite Joe Biden’s absurd claims otherwise) and the Capitol building’s doors were OPENED for the trespassers by the authorities, as shown on film.

And remember, NOTHING THAT HAPPENED ON JANUARY SIXTH COULD HAVE PUT TRUMP BACK IN THE WHITE HOUSE! Learn something about how your own government works, anti-Trump fascists! At any rate, here we go again:  

biden riots in dc

BIDEN CALLED THESE RIOTS MOSTLY PEACEFUL PROTESTS

The overwrought propaganda of Democrats on this date has me laughing VERY hard. They theatrically pretend that the mass trespassing incident of January 6th, 2021 was “worse than the Civil War and the 9-11 attacks.” What disingenuous garbage.

Their monumental and hilarious political hypocrisy is on full display in Washington DC as Democrats engage in political theater while pretending to revere the Capitol Building and its “symbolism.” (LMAO) Before I became an Independent Voter I spent most of my life as a Democrat and believe me, they feel contempt for the Capitol and its “symbolism”, even calling it one of the “institutions of imperialist rule” and “the seat of White Supremacy and systemic racism in America.”

Democrats also despise people who DO revere the Capitol and its symbolism, dismissing them as simple-minded patriotic rednecks.

Nancy Pelosi demagogueOn January 6th, 2021, a “mostly peaceful protest” (as Democrats described the MONTHS-LONG Antifa riots which terrorized the country) at the Capitol turned into a chaotic mass-trespassing incident with the Democrats of the Capitol Police even killing an unarmed woman. Suddenly, Democrat pretensions that they revered the Capitol poured from the mouths of the demagogues of the Democrat Party.

Hey, let’s rename it “the Demagogue Party”. After all, the Democrat Party is the country’s oldest existing institution which launched a Civil War and fought for slavery, so a name change for that political party is LONG overdue. Okay, so they won’t rename themselves the Demagogue Party, but they should rename it something to distance themselves from the Democrat Party’s horrifically racist past.

capitol bombing 1983Anyway, Democrats felt that their OWN storming of the Capitol was fine back on October 4th, 2018, even though THEY WERE INTERFERING WITH ONE OF THOSE GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONS WHICH THEY NOW PRETEND SHOULD BE SACROSANCT. Democrats/ the left cheered on that activity. And let’s not forget the way the left literally set off a BOMB in the Capitol on November 7th, 1983. Also HERE. A million dollars (by 1983 standards, so much more today) in damage was done.

Most adults are above the fake tears and the fear-mongering which truly pathetic Democrat members of Congress are indulging in regarding January 6th. The Democrats will probably never lose their competitive edge in phoniness and manufactured emotion, so non-Democrats – as in Independents, Third Party Voters, Republicans and People Who Claim No Political Affiliation, in other words THE REST OF US – will always need to remain highly skeptical of any and all political theater from them. 

Kenosha democrat riotIn May 2020 when the White House was violently attacked for about 24 hours and many secret service agents were seriously injured, Biden and other Democrats said Trump “used tear gas against peaceful protestors” even though it’s been proven that he DIDN’T use tear gas on those “peaceful protestors.” Listen to those Democrat hypocrites today and the draconian measures they now recommend against civil disobedience!
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The night of May 31st, 2020 rioters set fires all over the capital of the United States. A mob of them gathered outside the White House and threatened to storm it. The president was said to have been moved to a bunker. Many Democrats laughed at him and supported the mob. Never mind that the safety of the president, as a symbol of America and self-governance, goes beyond individual or party and should never be a laughing matter, like Democrats are now sniveling about the Capitol.
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Continue reading →

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January 6, 2026 · 4:21 am

PETROCELLI (1974-1976) FORGOTTEN TELEVISION

PETROCELLI (1974-1976) – Joel Hodgson once observed “You’ve got to light a fire PRET-ee early in the morning to burn Barry Newman.” However, that observation and the 1979 disaster movie that inspired it – City on Fire – have nothing to do with Petrocelli. It’s just the first thing that comes to mind every time Barry Newman’s name comes up. (Well, that and “Chickee chickee boom boom” from that same flick.) 

Setting aside my inherent weirdness, Newman starred as the title defense attorney in the clever series Petrocelli as well as the show’s pilot movie Night Games (1974) AND the 1970 theatrical release film The Lawyer, which started it all.

The cleverness I’m referring to was the hook that this program boasted. As surely as Columbo was known for the viewers seeing who the murderer was from the beginning of each episode, and Ellery Queen would feature Jim Hutton breaking the Fourth Wall to ask the audience if they, too, knew who the guilty party was, Petrocelli had its own gimmick.

Viewers would get a Rashomon style account of the episode’s crime from the perspective of both the Defense and the Prosecution. Then, Petrocelli’s investigation would enable him to reconcile the conflicting accounts.

At any rate, after the 1970 theatrical film and the 1974 pilot telefilm, the Petrocelli series was picked up and ran for 2 seasons and 44 episodes.

THE MOVIE: Continue reading →

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