Category Archives: Neglected History

FACULTY LOUNGE FASCIST ROUNDUP: JANUARY 31st

VoltaireThe latest laughs coming from the Democrats who pretend to be academics center around their claim that “using quality as a criterion for grades is racist … and so is architecture” 

It’s no secret that make-believe “educators” (LMAO) have – through their political intolerance – reduced colleges and universities to faith-based institutions that are as irrational as any religious “schools.”

The Democrats at these institutions abuse their positions to browbeat their students with their unhinged political views.

ACADEMIC GRIEVANCE STUDIES AND THE CORRUPTION OF SCHOLARSHIP – This is a terrific item at Areo Magazine. It’s a look at the blatantly partisan political screeds that masquerade as scholarship. 

The trio of authors have also demonstrated the absurdity of grievance “theories” by getting collections of gibberish published IN PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS under the noses of alleged academics who could not even tell that the papers presented were PARODIES of the silliness of politically distorted “scholarship.”  

The link is below, but first an excerpt: 

“Something has gone wrong in the university—especially in certain fields within the humanities. Scholarship based less upon finding truth and more upon attending to social grievances has become firmly established, if not fully dominant, within these fields, and their scholars increasingly bully students, administrators, and other departments into adhering to their worldview.

“This worldview is not scientific, and it is not rigorous. For many, this problem has been growing increasingly obvious, but strong evidence has been lacking. For this reason, the three of us just spent a year working inside the scholarship we see as an intrinsic part of this problem.” Continue reading

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Filed under Education or Indoctrination, LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion

FLASHMAN NOVELS: EIGHTH PLACE

flashman 1st novel 2For Balladeer’s Blog’s Number One Harry Flashman Novel click HERE . For background info on George MacDonald Fraser’s infamous anti-hero Harry Paget Flashman you can also click that link.

Reaction to my list of The Top Five Harry Flashman Novels continues to come in, with readers wanting more Flashman reviews.

Here’s my take on the novel which would have been in eighth place if I had done a list of my Top Eight Harry Flashman Novels.

flashman 1st novel8. FLASHMAN (1969)

Time Period: 1839-1842

Favorite Book Blurb: “In the Nineteenth Century the British Empire needed a hero. Instead, it got Harry Flashman.” 

Synopsis: This very first installment of The Flashman Papers kicks off with our antihero’s notorious expulsion for drunken misconduct from Rugby School in 1839. (The sport was named for the school, not vice versa.)

After a thorough chewing-out by the real-life Doctor Thomas Arnold, the 17 year-old Harry Flashman is sent home to endure another dressing-down from his angry father. After young Harry seduces his father’s live-in tart Judy, the elder Flashman decides to get his trouble-prone son out of his hair through that old British custom of buying him an officer-ship in the army.

Flashman 1st novel 5That’s what our protagonist wanted in the first place, and the Guv-nor buys Harry a post as a Cornet (Second Lieutenant for us Yanks) in a Cavalry Regiment. The unit selected by the ever-calculating Harry has just returned to England after years overseas, so Flashman assumes he won’t be sent to war while enjoying the benefits of a gentlemanly life of riding, sporting and letting his dashing uniform help him attract ladies.       

Things don’t turn out the way Harry planned, thanks to his fondness for boozing, whoring and gambling. And thus begins a career of swashbuckling historical adventures which slip this black-hearted rogue into pivotal moments of the Nineteenth Century.

Like James Garner’s Bret Maverick character from 1950s television, Flashman brags about being a coward who’d rather avoid violence but the demands of adventure fiction always put Harry, like Bret, in situations that require conduct above and beyond the call.

flashman 1st novel 3Sword in hand, pistol at his side and a long line of beautiful ladies on his arm, Harry spends the next three years getting swept up in the feuding in Lord Cardigan’s Cavalry unit, the Rebecca Riots in Wales, Scotland’s labor revolt and ultimately the long string of British military disasters in the First Afghan War.  Continue reading

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SHARYL ATTKISSON: A LIST OF FAKE NEWS ITEMS DURING THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY

Sharyl AttkissonIt’s no secret that Sharyl Attkisson – the Ida Tarbell of the 21st Century – is one of the few actual journalists left in America. She broke with her unethical colleagues over their refusal to cover the Obama Administration’s many scandals and found herself targeted by Obama’s FBI and NSA thugs.

make media fact check againThe incredibly courageous Attkisson still goes after tough stories on both political parties, and she doesn’t care if the facts reflect poorly on Trump, Obama or George W Bush before them.

Sharyl has compiled a list (see below) of the many instances of Fake News that the corporate media has perpetrated during the Trump presidency. Continue reading

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DEMOCRATS STILL ORDERING AFRICAN-AMERICANS NOT TO WEAR MAGA HATS

black in magaBalladeer’s Blog presents another reason why #WALKAWAY, #BLEXIT and #BLACKLIVESMAGA continue to roll along despite Democrat despots trying to dictate every — single — aspect — of our daily lives. If Democrats don’t like a movie, they want it banned. If Democrats don’t like a song or joke or photograph or book or article of clothing then those fascists want the item banned and the people behind it destroyed. 

DON’T EVER LET DEMOCRATS ROB YOU OF YOUR CIVIL RIGHTS. THOSE FASCISTS NEED TO BE OPPOSED, LOUDLY AND DAILY.

Below is a link to multiple stories of African-Americans encountering Democrats who harass and/or threaten them for wearing MAGA hats. First some excerpts before the link:

“Nearly a week before the entire liberal media complex, along with Hollywood “celebrities” and liberals all across social media, made total fools of themselves by getting triggered by MAGA hat wearing teens, by “reporting” they “surrounded” and “mocked” an elderly Native America “Vietnam veteran,” which all turned out to be fake news that resulted in death threats against the teens, another incident occurred at a Hooters restaurant …”

#WalkAway“Considering how often we see the liberal media complex manufacture outrage, many times from completely fake news, and the increasing frequency of death threats coming from whack-jobs liberals on social media, the fact that MAGA hats fly off the shelves, especially to teenagers visiting DC, and more and more black Americans, young and old are starting to use those hats as a symbol showing they are walking away from the Democrat party, means that anger is going to continue to fester and build.”

Trump never called racist til running against Democrats“It is not the MAGA hat wearers that should change their apparrel, it is liberals that need to stop allowing a hat, or a shirt, or the politician a person supports politically, to send them off the deep end.” Continue reading

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ASK BALLADEER: THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

masc chair and bottleQUESTION: How come you no longer make as many mentions or blog posts about the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) as you used to?

ANSWER: First let me provide clarification for newer readers why I used to invoke the Spanish Civil War so frequently. I used to use that conflict’s imagery and terms as a departure from over-used World War Two and Cold War clichés when describing the current forces tearing the U.S. apart.

Ultimately nobody (except maybe the Anarchists) were worth rooting for in the Spanish Civil War once you had Stalin aiding the leftists and Hitler & Mussolini aiding the right-wingers. No matter which side won it was clear that Spain would no longer be a free country like it had been under the short-lived Republic.

American FlagLong ago I used to condemn the Anarchists for finding both the left and the right too totalitarian to be worth siding with and fighting both sides. In recent years I’ve certainly come to sympathize with their position as we here in America have seen that the political left is every bit as bad as the worst right-wingers ever were. 

I stopped using Spanish Civil War imagery and terms as frequently as I used to because more and more people on the internet have taken to using them, too. I’m not implying those others imitated me, I’m just saying that it’s no longer as unique as it used to be.

And I could swear that a certain wide-eyed, fanatical chipmunk in Congress fancies herself to be America’s version of La Pasionaria from the Spanish Civil War era. 

At any rate I still find that conflict – and the countless movies about it – fascinating. Orwell, Hemingway and Andre Malraux aside you’ve also got the American volunteers who fought in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain. Plus there’s the pop culture appeal, like with the way Rick Blaine in Casablanca served in the anti-Franco forces in the Spanish Civil War.

And on a more comical note, it was always fun to trip up America’s increasingly deranged left-wingers with Spanish Civil War references. Just because the American Volunteers were called the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, American leftists would often sneeringly accuse you of not knowing that “Abraham Lincoln was a President during OUR Civil War, fucktard, he wasn’t in Spain.”

It was fun to then cut the smirking fools off at the knees by pointing out how THEY are actually the ones who are uninformed, by revealing what the Abraham Lincoln Brigade really was. Continue reading

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TRUMP CONTINUES TO KEEP BIG PHARMA ON THE DEFENSIVE

Donald Trump rock starDe facto Third Party President Donald Trump continues to provide TANGIBLE, financial help to the working class and the poor. In this case it’s through the way his Theodore Roosevelt-style squeeze on Big Pharma has helped keep U.S. drug prices from spiraling out of control. The link to the article is below, but first some thoughts and excerpts. 

Those of us in the real world all know many families whose financial survival has been possible because of this and other ways that President Trump has kept his promises to them. And he’s done it while having to fight BOTH the Democrats and the Republicans as well as the deep-pocketed pharmaceutical companies who own those Democrats and Republicans.

fake newsNo matter how much the Fake News outlets distort every single thing Trump says and does, no matter how many brain-dead professional athletes trash him and no matter how many shallow, uninformed and emotionally unstable entertainers lie about him, those of us in the real world – not the callous, comfortable and uncaring world of One Percenters – continue to support him.

These are not “theoreticals” or “opinions” these are CONCRETE ways that this President has helped the forgotten working class and poor people clearly hated or ignored by Trump’s critics. Anyway, on this particular issue, here are the excerpts and the link for the article:

Trump and black people in maga hats“It’s (Trump’s role in this) also one of the reasons, beyond the insanity that is the current Democratic Party (see: Sanders, Bernie; Warren, Elizabeth; Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria; Pelosi, Nancy; Tlaib, Rashida; and on and on), why people who supported Trump in 2016 remain loyal to him. He has, in fact, delivered on things like this that his voters care about.”

“Big Pharma doesn’t like that under Trump, drug prices are being held down and products like biosimilars and generics are grabbing more market share (if you want to know how much a bunch of them hate biosimilars, go read this). But according to the Journal of the American Medical Association, the health care industry— including Big Pharma in good measure— spends $30 billion a year on marketing — i.e., those annoying pharmaceutical ads on TV — and pressuring doctors to prescribe their drug, not the cheaper one that works just as well.”

“Maybe if Big Pharma is so terribly upset about its theoretical profit margin being cut by things like the president using the bully pulpit to hold drug prices down, more generic drugs hitting the market, and drug discount programs, they could spend less on marketing and pocket the change.” Continue reading

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MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY – MULTIPLE CHOICE QUIZ

martin-luther-king WHY WAS MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY ESTABLISHED?

A. So that it could be politically exploited by out of touch White Democrats of Privilege who think that making a hobby out of the real-life suffering that African-Americans went through means they are qualified to speak on their behalf

B. To commemorate the life of a man who expressed a message of unity and non-violence

C. So that the racist hatemongers of BLM could pretend to be honoring the man’s memory by preaching non-stop race hatred and cop killing

WHEN DEMOCRATS SAY THEY WANT A DAY OF “RACIAL HEALING” WHAT DO THEY MEAN BY THAT?

A. A day where everyone mindlessly agrees with the divisive, hatemongering rhetoric spouted by Democrats

B. A day where everyone refrains from mentioning that the Democrats were the party of the KKK, Jim Crow and slavery yet they think they’re fit to lecture the rest of us about racial matters.

C. Both A and B

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT DEMOCRATS AND THEIR AL SHARPTON-STYLE KAPOS IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY WOULD CALL A CIVIL RIGHTS HERO?

A. An African-American teen who studies hard and works toward a better future but who gets gunned down by black street criminals

B. A black street criminal who guns down the aforementioned African-American teen as long as that criminal charges at cops and gets killed by them

C. People of color who point out that they are free to decide for themselves which political party they will vote for 

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING IS A RACIST EXPRESSION?

A. Colored people

B. People of color

C. Neither, and only a paranoid race-baiter would say otherwise

WHICH OF AMERICA’S TWO LARGEST POLITICAL PARTIES BEST REPRESENTS THE INTERESTS OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS?

A. Democrats

B. Republicans

C. Neither of those parties represents the interests of anyone except white collar criminals who hold office and the bloated rich pigs who own those office-holders

AN OVERWHELMING NUMBER OF PEOPLE SURVEYED AGREED THAT:

A. The Democrats are vermin for treating Martin Luther King Day like it’s a day they own even though King was a Republican

B. The Democrats are vermin for treating Martin Luther King Day like it’s part of one of their political campaigns

C. The Democrats are vermin Continue reading

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NPR/ PBS POLL SHOWS PRESIDENT TRUMP’S APPROVAL RATING AMONG HISPANICS HAS GONE UP BY 19%

Trump peeing on CNNAnti-Trump loons have had a VERY bad last couple of days. The Fake News outlets of the Democrats ran with ANOTHER false story – this one about Trump supposedly ordering Cohen to lie ONLY TO HAVE ROBERT MUELLER HIMSELF PUBLICLY POINT OUT HOW WRONG IT WAS.

Also this week a poll done by the Democrat outlets NPR and PBS showed that President Trump’s approval rating among Hispanic voters has gone up by 19%. As always I’m very skeptical about polls, especially after the beautiful way Hillary lost in 2016, but it’s always funny to watch anti-Trump loons froth at the mouth when the polls they live by poke them in the eye.   

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PUCK: ROBBER BARONS THEN AND SILICON VALLEY ROBBER BARONS NOW

puck cartoon robber barons tying up uncle samPuck magazine (1871-1918), the well-known political humor magazine, was at its height under original founder and creative director cartoonist Joseph Keppler. Here is a February 23rd, 1881 Keppler political cartoon depicting Jay Gould, the telegraph monopolist, and Cornelius Vanderbilt the railroad baron.

The point of the cartoon is the way those two Robber Barons – allied with like-minded newspaper tycoons – abused their wealth and political influence to bind the United States (represented here by Uncle Sam) to their will.

Joseph Keppler was outraged at the power so unethically wielded by such figures to cloak themselves in righteous, philanthropic public images while in reality they – in Keppler’s words – clutched “the United States and all its institutions by the throat.”

Creepy LineThis is similar to the way the Silicon Valley and Social Media Robber Barons of today cloak themselves in “socially conscious” public images while in reality clutching the United States and all its institutions by the throat.

The Robber Barons criticized by Puck magazine exerted their ugly influence on behalf of right-wing politicians. The Robber Barons of the 21st Century tend to exert their ugly influence on behalf of left-wing politicians. The end results are equally totalitarian. Continue reading

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Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion, Puck Magazine

FLASHMAN ON THE GOLD COAST: LOST FLASHMAN PAPERS

For Flashman Down Under, Flashman in the Opium War & Flashman and the Kings click HERE   For Flashman of Arabia click HERE Balladeer’s Blog now moves on to another Harry Flashman adventure referred to but never completed before George MacDonald Fraser’s death.

elmina castleProjected Title: FLASHMAN ON THE GOLD COAST

Time Period: Third Ashanti War (1873-1874)

The Setup: Queen Victoria’s Empire – specifically the British Gold Coast – bought the Dutch Gold Coast from Holland in 1871. The nearby Ashanti People of Africa had been at peace with the Dutch for over 200 years but were wary of their “new neighbors” and were protective of their enormous wealth in gold. They invaded the British Gold Coast in May, 1873.  

flashman shieldIn June the advance of the Ashanti was halted at Elmina and back in England Her Majesty’s Government made plans to send additional troops to the Gold Coast to deal with the situation. By August 13th General Garnet Wolseley was chosen to lead the army.

The Story: Wolseley, personally familiar with Flashman from the Crimean War and the Great Mutiny, would draft the reluctant Colonel-on-Half-Pay into his campaign. Sir Harry’s knack for picking up languages and his years of experience as a colonial officer would convince Wolseley of our hero’s fitness for this type of warfare, no matter what excuses Flashman would try to use.  Continue reading

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