Andrew Yang, former candidate for president, has joined the chorus of voices pointing out how the Democrats have abandoned and driven away the working class and the poor of all colors.
Yang pointed out that the Democrats’ snobbery and contempt for working class voters was why he entered the presidential race in the first place, to try to bring the party back to its long-abandoned base.
“This is why I ran. When I went around to Democrats – actually, no, not Democrats – working-class Americans across the country, if you have a ‘D’ next your name, it’s like a Scarlet Letter. Like they do not [let] Democrats speak to them,” Yang explained. “I was talking to truck drivers and waitresses and I was like, theoretically, aren’t you who the Democratic Party should be speaking to and standing up for? But they thought the Democratic Party wanted nothing to do with them. And that, to me, is a real problem with the Democratic Party.” Continue reading
ROUND ONE, GAME ONE – The 4th seeded AVE MARIA UNIVERSITY GYRENES hosted the 5 seeds – the WARNER UNIVERSITY ROYALS. By Halftime the Gyrenes were in complete control with a 50-25 lead over the Royals. After the break Ave Maria University kept up the pressure, ultimately winning by a final tally of 89-67. Leo Behrend led the Gyrenes with a Double-Double of 26 points and 12 rebounds. 
We’re in the midst of another surge in end of the world nonsense with assorted unstable people claiming the world will end in 12 years or less. Balladeer’s Blog has often examined some of the countless end of the world scares of the past. 
Superheroes continue to dominate pop culture. And not just on the printed page, but on the big and small screens as well. Readers of Balladeer’s Blog are always quick to ask for more superhero entries whenever I go too long without one. 
Just as Van Sciver, Meyer and Malin (NOT a law firm) blaze new creative trails today, Eclipse Comics did decades ago, supporting both established names AND new talent, all producing work that the Big Two publishers would have been too corporate-minded to publish. 
The NFL draft is just a few months away and the internet is in overdrive with speculation on how the draft could play out. Rather than bore readers with another of the countless mock drafts out there here is a more light-hearted item – a look at some of the worst draft picks ever made. 
Balladeer’s Blog’s coverage of corporate fascism continues with this look at Michael Lind’s brilliant book The New Class War: Saving Democracy from the Managerial Elite. Lind often writes for Salon and Politico and in this book deals with the way in which the global trend toward populism started in response to oppression from what he calls “The New Class.” 
Lind’s work criticizes the new corporate fascist elite, like last year’s Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giridharadas (previously reviewed here at Balladeer’s Blog). Lind, a professor at the University of Texas, argues that the plutocrats of today don’t just guard their money and privilege, they disguise their self-interested pursuits under the pretense of “social activism” and other deceptive buzzwords while lecturing the working class and the poor.
Lind writes, “The new class war is very real—and the managerial class is winning.” Lind’s “managerial class” quite rightly includes not just the wealthy elite themselves but also the facilitators of these privileged fascists – the bought and paid-for politicians, the unelected bureaucrats, biased journalists, media propagandists and the politically prejudiced lawyers and “educators” who promote the interests of the wealthy while pretending to be championing the underclasses. 
KNOCKING OFF NUMBER ONE – The CAMPBELLSVILLE UNIVERSITY TIGERS took it on the road to face the number 1 team in the nation – the GEORGETOWN (KY) COLLEGE TIGERS. (Have I mentioned there are way too many college sports teams called Tigers?) Campbellsville U put Georgetown on Upset Alert with a 49-44 Halftime edge then held on for a tight 94-92 victory. Taiveyhon Mason led CU with THIRTY-FIVE points. 
OTHER UPSETS IN THE RANKINGS – The (16) MASTER’S UNIVERSITY MUSTANGS toppled the visiting (4) WESTMONT COLLEGE WARRIORS 80-75 ### Meanwhile the CENTRAL CHRISTIAN COLLEGE OF KANSAS TIGERS (ahem) upset the (13) SOUTHWESTERN ASSEMBLIES OF GOD UNIVERSITY LIONS 99-94 in Overtime ### And the MIDAMERICA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY PIONEERS used DOUBLE Overtime to defeat the (23) CLARKE UNIVERSITY PRIDE 104-102. 
CENTURY CLUB – Teams scoring 100 points or more in Regulation: The (6) LSU-SHREVEPORT PILOTS (Riverboat Pilots) trounced the (8) LSU-ALEXANDRIA GENERALS 110-80 ### The (11) PROVIDENCE (MT) ARGONAUTS hammered the ROCKY MOUNTAIN COLLEGE BATTLIN’ BEARS 117-86 ### The (17) ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY FIRESTORM won 106-80 at the LIFE PACIFIC COLLEGE WARRIORS ### And the EVANGEL UNIVERSITY CRUSADERS won 108-106 at the GRAND VIEW UNIVERSITY VIKINGS. 
THE SINISTER SPHERE 
ANGUTA – This father of the sea goddess Sedna was originally the god who ruled over Pugtulik Island. He was responsible for inflicting punishments on deserving souls when they reached Sedna’s subaquatic realm of the dead. 
Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog are familiar with the way I refer to “the Chicago cesspool” of political corruption. Well, in the recent study by UIC the Windy Cesspool remains the most corrupt city in America! From 1976 to 2018 there were 1,750 political corruption CONVICTIONS in Chicago. So that’s not even counting the many times the city’s corrupt machine thwarted justice.
I emphasize this for overseas readers who seem to think that only America’s Republicans are criminals, when in fact BOTH Democrat AND Republican career politicians are white-collar criminals. 
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