Author Archives: balladeer

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About balladeer

I am passionately interested in college sports, ancient Greek comedies, bad/weird movies, mythology, the American Revolution, Puck Magazine, World War I, U.S. Presidential history, silent movies, the English Civil War, epic, lyric and comic poetry, U.S. Supreme Court history, the Revolutions of 1848, the Philippine War and old pulp heroes like The Moon Man, Pilot G8, Silver John and The Rio Kid.

ROB SCHNEIDER TO DEMOCRATS: IT’S NOT RUSSIA, IT’S YOU

Rob SchneiderThe Democrats (DemoKKKrats) are still living in a fantasy land in which Russia caused career criminal Hillary Clinton’s humiliating – and hilarious – loss to Donald Trump, who became President of the United States while Hillary/ Bugsy had to settle for being the President of California.

Rob Schneider was one of the latest people to take a public poke at DemCorp to remind them how they’ve been driving all of us away since long before last year’s Presidential race.

In a message posted to his Twitter page Wednesday, Schneider illustrated how U.S. voters had been rejecting Democrats and voting them out of power long before the 2016 election.

“2010 Dems lost the House, 2012 Dems lost the Senate, 2016 Dems lost the White House, 2017 Dems lost ability to reason, It’s not Russia, it’s YOU,” Schneider tweeted Wednesday.”

 

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ALEISTER CROWLEY’S CLOUDS WITHOUT WATER (1909)

Clouds Without WaterWhat better way to mark April Fool’s Day than by commemorating one of the wittiest and most daring of practical jokes, one perpetrated by Aleister Crowley in those brilliant years before drugs and/or self-delusion fogged his mind. Decades before the pathetic “Peekaboo Crowley” of much renown Aleister was still churning out some very enjoyable poetry – some of it brilliant. The Sword of Song and Konx Om Pax are my favorite volumes of verse by “the Laird of Boleskine” … AFTER Clouds Without Water, that is.  

Clouds Without Water was not Crowley’s only literary practical joke, of course, but the humor of it resonates to this very day, thanks mainly to the never-changing air of pious self-righteousness that afflicts most of the world’s clergy-members. And not just pious self-righteousness but a habit of condemning in the strongest language works of art which their self-limited minds clearly don’t understand.

aleister crowley

****************  Crowley’s autobiography explained this photo in the poignant chapter titled “I Go Completely Nuts and Start Believing Anything and Everything”

THE JOKE: Clouds Without Water was published under one of Crowley’s pseudonyms – Reverend Charles Verey. It was circulated to various ministries and teaching colleges allegedly as a condemnation of “the type of atheism and socialism” that the young and the bohemian were embracing. Crowley – writing as Reverend Verey – wrote a foreward and a closing prayer for the volume of poetry as well as (when you know the full story) HILARIOUS footnotes expressing the kind of simplistic moral outrage that only the most narrow-minded of holy-rollers can spout. 

Under another assumed identity Crowley ALSO wrote the sonnets being condemned by his Reverend Verey alter ego. On the surface the poems were written by a college professor scandalously celebrating an extramarital affair with one of his female students, a young woman named Lola. The sonnets reflect the supposed couple’s flouting of social and sexual conventions until the affair ends in tragedy for all concerned. Crowley’s fictional persona Reverend Verey was denouncing the poems and the lifestyle reflected in those poems in the strongest possible terms. Continue reading

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MINDS.COM AND STEEMIT.COM – TWO MORE FREE SPEECH COMPETITORS TO FACEBOOK AND TWITTER

SteemitPreviously Balladeer’s Blog has featured Gab.ai and Infogalactic.com. Gab.ai is an excellent competitor to Facebook and Twitter since Gab.ai supports free speech (at least so far). If you’re tired of the “boring middle-class suburb” feel of Facebook and Twitter then Gab.ai is great.

In addition, if you’re tired of the censorship at those first two, you’ll love Gab.ai. No more of those arguments in which the person you’re besting in a debate simply reports you as “abusive” to get you suspended or to get your counter-arguments censored or removed.

So far Minds.com and Steemit.com also treat people like adults and don’t let suspensions occur just because easily offended dweebs file one of their never-ending complaints. Continue reading

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Filed under Education or Indoctrination, LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES

COLLEGE BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS FOR 2017

Balladeer’s Blog offers one last round of congratulations to the 2017 college basketball champions in the FOURTEEN divisions covered here.

Texas Wesleyan Rams

NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) DIVISION ONE

National Champions – TEXAS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY RAMS

Runners-Up – Life University Running Eagles

2016 Champions – Mid-America Christian University Evangels

Union tn Bulldogs logoNAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) DIVISION TWO

National Champions – UNION COLLEGE BULLDOGS

Runners-Up – Cornerstone University Golden Eagles

2016 Champions – Indiana Wesleyan University Wildcats   Continue reading

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A WAR BETWEEN GODS: VIETNAMESE EPIC MYTH

A WAR BETWEEN GODS 

Vietnam mapCANTO ONE – The jungle and mountain god Tan Vien was accompanying the semi-divine Emperor Hung Vuong XVIII on a Royal Hunt. A turn of fate puts them in a position to save the imperiled son of Long Vuong, the chief sea god. CLICK HERE

CANTO TWO – Tan Vien and Thuy Tinh, the god of the monsoon rains, both fall in love with Mi Nuong, the daughter of Emperor Hung Vuong XVIII. Against the backdrop of their growing rivalry, Thuy Tinh’s father Long Vuong honors Tan Vien for saving his son. CLICK HERE 

CANTO THREE – Tan Vien, Thuy Tinh and the patriarch of the Thuc family are among the suitors competing in various contests for the hand of Mi Nuong. CLICK HERE  Continue reading

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SILVER JOHN: THREE STORIES

Silver John: Can These Bones Live?

Silver John: Can These Bones Live?

I’m still a fan of Manly Wade Wellman’s pulp hero Silver John, the roaming singer and guitarist who fights supernatural forces in the Appalachian Mountains of long ago, sort of like a countrified  Orpheus  meets Kolchak. He’s called Silver John because of the silver strings on his guitar and the silver coins he carries in his pockets.

For more details click here: https://glitternight.com/pulp-heroes/

NOBODY EVER GOES THERE – Just a reminder that all the Silver John stories published after his marriage to his beloved Evadare (click here if you missed the tales chronicling that landmark event – https://glitternight.com/2011/06/03/pulp-heroes-silver-john-four-for-friday/  ) jump around in time.

This short story is set when John is much older. Plus the tale breaks from the tradition of having the stories narrated by Silver John in the first person. We get a third person narrative in which the older (probably 40s) balladeer comes to the aid of two young lovers in the town of Trimble.

Mark Banion and Ruth Covel, two teachers at Trimble High, cross to the forbidden side of Catch River, where ancient, shadowy life forms caused the disappearance of an entire textile factory crew plus their families. All of that happened over 75 years ago, but strange sounds still emanate from the creepy-looking abandoned factory and the company houses nearby. Continue reading

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NON-MUSLIMS WHO WANT TO RETAIN THEIR OWN CIVIL LIBERTIES ARE NOT “ISLAMOPHOBIC”

Viktor OrbanAs the entire world has learned to its sorrow it is ALWAYS Muslim immigrants who refuse to assimilate and who try to force their new host countries to avoid offending their countless religious superstitions. (I’m an atheist so don’t bother trying to accuse me of being Christian or Jewish, etc)

EVERY country experiences the most trouble from its Muslim immigrants, largely because the political left’s parties in the Western World pander to only the worst and most violent Muslims. Muslims who WANT to assimilate are sneered at by American Liberals and dismissed as “Western Triumphalists” who have “internalized Western oppression.”

Poster Muslim womanTHIS IS ALWAYS THE ASPECT OF MUSLIM IMMIGRATION THAT GETS IGNORED. IT IS NOT REACTIONARY MUSLIMS ALONE WHO CAUSE THE PROBLEMS BUT THE POLITICAL PARTIES WHO ENCOURAGE ALL OF THE WORST ELEMENTS OF ISLAM. This toxic blend of Muslim fanatics and people who pretend to be Liberals always winds up resulting in the silencing of peaceful, civil Muslims and the elevation of violent Muslim fascists.

At any rate here are some excerpts from Hungary’s Viktor Orban regarding the way the political powers that be keep ramming large-scale Muslim immigration down the throats of the public. All while never expecting other, oil-rich Muslim nations to take in any of these “refugees” who are actually fit young men for the most part.

Muslim oppression 2“The main danger to Europe’s future does not come from those who want to come here, but from Brussels’ fanatical internationalism. We should not allow Brussels to place itself above the law. We shall not allow it to force upon us the bitter fruit of its cosmopolitan immigration policy.

“We shall not import to Hungary crime, terrorism, homophobia and synagogue-burning anti-Semitism. There shall be no urban districts beyond the reach of the law, there shall be no mass disorder, no immigrant riots here, and there shall be no gangs hunting down our women and daughters. We shall not allow others to tell us whom we can let into our home and country, whom we will live alongside, and with whom we will share our country.” Continue reading

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Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion

BAAL: DEATH AND RESURRECTION

BaalSpring is the time of year that always puts me in mind of the many dead and resurrected deities who were featured in various seasonal myths around the world. This is a look at Baal, but if you want more dead and resurrected gods and goddesses click HERE  

BAAL

Pantheon: Canaanite

The Tale: Baal, the storm god of the Canaanites, had emerged triumphant in his war with the sea god Yam and became very hubristic. He insisted he had authority even over Mot, the god of death and warned Mot that the only places on Earth that he could visit were the deserts.

Infuriated, Mot invited/ dared Baal to visit him in his subterranean realm, the land of the dead. Baal accepted the dare/ invitation lest he lose face and once there Mot fed him the food of the dead – mud – thereby trapping Baal in the Netherworld.

With Baal thus imprisoned no rains fell on the Earth and drought consumed the world, killing vegetation and the animals who fed on that vegetation, then the animals who fed on THOSE animals, etc.

In an interesting variation on these other seasonal myths in the story of Baal the “dead season” is not winter but summer, which, given the intense heat in that part of the world, was potentially more destructive to nature than winter. Continue reading

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SO NOW WE LEARN OBAMA REALLY WAS BUGGING TRUMP AFTER ALL

President trump saving childrenSo now we learn that yet again America’s unhinged corporate media and corrupt political establishment played a cutesy word game to pretend that United States President Donald Trump was wrong about something he was actually correct about. Remember when the media tried acting like President Trump was wrong about the Muslim situation in Sweden? And the Boeing situation?

Also, remember last year when a Muslim fascist used a makeshift explosive in New York City and Trump called it “a bomb” but our insane corporate media acted like Trump was “wrong” and “irresponsible” because they felt such a cobbled-together explosive device should not have been referred to as “a bomb.” I could go on and on with other examples but we’ve all lived through them once already.

Well it turns out that President Trump was right about Obama and his fellow criminals bugging him but, Comey and others tried discrediting President Trump by playing the kind of word game that Mafiosi play on the witness stand.

donald-trump-and-flagTrump’s foes in America’s 3rd World Level swamp of corruption pretended that since the word “wiretap” no longer technically describes the type of electronic surveillance that Obama and our “intelligence community” thugs were subjecting President Trump to, that they were being “truthful” when they claimed there was no evidence of wiretapping. IN OTHER WORDS TRUMP WAS RIGHT AGAIN BUT HIS FOES IN BOTH POLITICAL PARTIES WERE ONCE AGAIN GIVING DECEPTIVE ANSWERS.

FOR OVERSEAS READERS I WILL POINT OUT AGAIN THAT IT ISN’T THAT ANY OF US THINK TRUMP IS A SAINT, IT’S JUST THAT OUR MEDIA AND THE POLITICAL ESTABLISHMENT ARE SO LOATHSOME IT’S IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO ROOT FOR HIM AGAINST THEM.   Continue reading

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FINAL TWO COLLEGE BASKETBALL CHAMPS CROWNED

*** NCAA DIVISION TWO ***

nwmo1CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – The 2nd seeded NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE BEARCATS took on D2’s last surviving 1 seed  – the FAIRMONT STATE FALCONS – for the championship.

The Bearcats contained the Falcons in the 1st Half and had acquired a 32-21 lead by the break. From there it was a much tighter game but Fairmont State could not dig themselves out of the hole they had found themselves in and Northwest Missouri State won by a final score of 71-61. Justin Pitts led the Bearcats in scoring with 23 points while his teammate Chris-Ebou Ndow notched a Double Double of 17 points and 18 rebounds.  * THE BEARCATS ARE CHAMPIONS OF NCAA DIVISION TWO *   Continue reading

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