It’s Anniversary Month here at Balladeer’s Blog! Here’s my second review of an Ancient Greek Comedy from back in the year 2011. FOR BACKGROUND INFORMATION IF YOU MISSED MY FIRST POST ON ANCIENT GREEK COMEDIES CLICK HERE: https://glitternight.com/2011/09/22/at-long-last-my-ancient-greek-comedy-posts-begin/
The Clouds was written by Aristophanes around 423 BCE and next to Lysistrata, which I examined last week, is the Big A’s most- discussed satire, mostly because of its lampooning of the philosopher Socrates, a contemporary of Aristophanes. Many modern readers, who have been programmed to sneeringly “deconstruct” old works of art rather than understand them, love to regard this comedy with hostility. They accuse Aristophanes of being “anti – intellectual” for subjecting Socrates in particular and the Sophist philosophers in general to the same satirical criticism that every other aspect of Athenian society was subjected to in comic plays.
There are many arguments I can use to refute this claim, and I’ll present them below following my synopsis of the play itself. To provide just a brief argument right now since you may be curious, let me remind everyone that Shakespeare is famous for the line about killing all the lawyers, but I’ve never met one rational person who thinks that line means Shakespeare was seriously proposing the execution of all lawyers or the elimination of the law and/or the judiciary system. By the same token I hardly think Aristophanes was railing against every form of education or intellectual inquiry. More on this controversy, including the trial of Socrates, below.
THE PREMISE
In the ancient Greek democracy Athenian citizens were expected to represent themselves in court in both criminal and civil proceedings.
Since juries are the same no matter what the time period a guilty person who was a good speaker could get acquitted while an innocent person who was an inept speaker could get found guilty.
Conversely, since there were no public prosecutors, citizens could charge their fellow Athenians with crimes and if they were skilled enough at speaking they could railroad an innocent person. Many Athenian citizens who faced a court date would pay some of the “streetcorner” Sophist philosophers to teach them rhetorical skills to make them better prepared for their appearance in court. Continue reading
First up is this entertaining cartoon about the bizarrely inaccurate, biased and uninformed buffoons who pretend to be “fact checkers” for the Big Tech fascists of social media.
FASCIST JOE BIDEN’S FOLLIES – Joe Biden’s regime continues to spread hostility, division and race-hatred (
TEXAS THRILLER – The KILGORE COLLEGE RANGERS traveled to face the TRINITY VALLEY COLLEGE CARDINALS. A 9-7 Rangers edge in the 1st Quarter was reduced to an even tighter 15-14 score by Halftime. Kilgore College got a little separation from the Cardinals in the 3rd Quarter, going up 33-26, then held on against a Trinity Valley College rally in the 4th for a 40-36 triumph. 
NEO ON THE ROAD – The NORTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA A&M GOLDEN NORSEMEN were likewise on the road, in their case at the BLINN COLLEGE BUCCANEERS. At the Half the Golden Norsemen led the Buccaneers by a score of 14-7 and never looked back from there. After the break Northeastern Oklahoma A&M led 34-14 to end the 3rd Quarter and won the game 41-21 in the 4th. 
SUNSET (1988) – James Garner portrays old west lawman Wyatt Earp while Bruce Willis plays silent film star Tom Mix as the pair try to solve a murder in 1929 Hollywood. Don’t expect realism but DO expect a very entertaining movie.
As one of my overseas readers put it recently “A lot of Americans need to grow up and stop thinking that their elections, alone of all nations in the world, are paragons of honesty.” Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog doesn’t need convinced of that. For 11 years, since 2010 I’ve run several blog posts regarding news stories about vote fraud, including arrests and convictions or confessions. (And remember, I don’t go along with conspiracy theories. YEARS ago I dismissed the Q-Anon items as nonsense, so none of my opinions were ever based on that.)
For even more suspicious hijinks the Supreme Court, which abetted the execrable George W Bush sneaking into the White House in the year 2000, played a new game with the 2020 election. First the court refused to hear cases because the election hadn’t been held yet, then when cases reached them AFTER the election they ruled that the cases were moot because the election was over. And yes, one of the many things wrong with America’s Supreme Court is the way it is allowed to decline cases on a whim, when cases brought by states (among other exceptions) should be required to be heard. 
HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY! As usual, Balladeer’s Blog marks the occasion with a look at a neglected aspect of American military history. Spare some thoughts today for the men who perished in this action. 
With the World War still raging, the other Allied Nations prevailed on President Woodrow Wilson to divert some American forces intended for the Western Front to Archangel and beyond, joining a combined army of Brits, Poles and White Russians. The fighting in North Russia dragged on past the end of the global conflict in November of 1918 into June of 1919. The fighting in Eastern Russia dragged on until January of 1920. In other words, if the Americans sent to Russia had instead gone to their original destination of France, their combat operations would have ended on November 11th, rather than continuing for more than a year of further bloodshed and loss of limbs from frostbite. All the more reason to remember the often-neglected troops who served there. 
ONE-POINT WONDER – The COFFEYVILLE COLLEGE RED RAVENS played host to the BUTLER (KS) GRIZZLIES in a true thriller. A 14-7 1st Quarter lead for the Grizzlies turned into a 16-14 edge for the Red Ravens by Halftime. The 3rd Quarter ended with Butler College back on top by a score of 21-16 and in the 4th Coffeyville outscored their opponents 13-7 for a 29-28 victory.
SHUTOUTS – The ASA COLLEGE (FL) SILVER STORM paid a visit to the FIELD OF DREAMS SPORTS ACADEMY STALLIONS and struck them down by a commanding score of 28-0 ### And the HOCKING COLLEGE HAWKS were less than gracious hosts to the SUSSEX COUNTY COLLEGE SKYLANDERS, drubbing them by a final tally of 25-0. 
WIN IT IN THE FOURTH – In this game the CISCO COLLEGE WRANGLERS took it on the road against the NORTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA A&M GOLDEN NORSEMEN. The Golden Norsemen were out in front 6-0 in the 1st Quarter and 13-0 by the Half. In the 3rd Quarter the Wranglers pulled to within 13-7 before coming from behind in the 4th to win it 17-16. 
BLACK CONDOR 
CRACK COMICS #1 (May 1940) 
CRACK COMICS #2 (June 1940) 
BIONIC NINJA (1985) – Hey! The people who dubbed this flick into English overused “Hey!” to such a degree that if you play the Hey! Drinking Game you’ll die of alcohol poisoning a third of the way through the movie. Leo Fong supposedly choreographed the fights and did some stunt work in and out of ninja garb in this film, another splice job of unrelated movies. 
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