George MacDonald Fraser’s series of novels about his infamous anti-hero Harry Paget Flashman are thought-provoking, educational, thrilling and most especially – gloriously dark-humored.
Collectively referred to as The Flashman Papers, the books are DEFINITELY for adults only and not just because of the raucous sexual escapades of the main character. The historical and philosophical themes explored are not for the squeamish nor the simple-mindedly outraged.
Fraser’s first Harry Flashman novel appeared in 1969, the same year as the American novel Little Big Man. The two books are similar in approach since they both depict a main character who gets caught up in a series of historical adventures involving Great Events and Great Figures with the events being looked at in a critical light and the figures largely lampooned.
In the case of Harry Flashman, however, the adventures are much more detailed because Fraser used an entire series of novels. (The 4th book in the series, not the 1st, is my Number One listing) Flashman himself is amoral, ruthless and driven largely by his lust for loot and sex.
And therein lies the genius of Fraser’s writing: the reader is permitted to feel THEIR OWN outrage over the atrocities depicted in the novels. There are no shrill lectures in the narrative, just an often bleak backdrop in which the misdeeds of history’s Great Names often make Harry Flashman’s mere monetary and carnal pursuits look almost noble by comparison.
Flashman himself often brings to mind James Garner’s slick-talking gambler/ gunslinger Bret Maverick from 1950s television. Like Maverick, Harry Flashman proudly calls himself a coward who tries to avoid violence and thrives on trying to con or outsmart his adversaries rather than fight them. (But he often winds up having to fight them anyway.)
And like Maverick, the needs of adventure fiction eventually make the claims of cowardice wear thin because – no matter how reluctantly – both Harry and Bret always wind up in situations requiring conduct above and beyond the call. But when it comes to underhandedness “Ol’ Flash Harry” beats Maverick hands-down. Continue reading
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS UBER ALLES – The Democrats very recently brought about a government shutdown on behalf of their beloved illegal immigrants from Mexico. Tone-deaf as ever, the members of DemCorp were stunned by how unpopular that move was and quickly surrendered. 
F.B.I. – FELONIOUS BARACK’S INQUISITORS – Every day more and more information emerges about the illegal way Obama’s politicized FBI functioned as a pro-Hillary sabotage operation during and after the 2016 presidential election. 
Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog know that I’m an atheist but there is no denying that Islam – the religion founded by the blood-soaked child rapist named Muhammad – is the most homophobic, misogynistic and otherwise intolerant religion in the world right now.
The more that the forces of conformity try to browbeat all of us into pretending President Trump is not doing a wonderful job for the working class and the poor the more fun it is to see more and more people stop humoring them and begin pushing back. 
TRUMP CARD ONE: De facto Third Party President Donald Trump’s FAKE NEWS AWARDS were terrific! He is one man alone against America’s cesspool of corruption which INCLUDES the corporate media. 
TRUMP CARD FOUR: Republican trash like Paul Ryan, Jeb Bush and all the stuffy white males at National Review continue proving President Trump’s status as a de facto Third Party President. The Paul Ryans and Lindsey Grahams of the world apparently don’t like the way Trump attracts so many voters of color. I guess they want the Republicans to go back to being the party of Boring White Clowns In Suits. 
WHY WAS MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY ESTABLISHED?
Happy Martin Luther King Day! Some of the most courageous champions of Doctor King’s dream of a society in which people are judged by their character rather than their skin color are PEOPLE OF COLOR WHO DARE TO DEFY THE DEMOCRATS.
“We’ve financed and built one global project after another, but ignored the fates of our children in the inner cities of Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit—and so many other places throughout our land.” As an American who happens to be black, it baffled me for years why black democrats seemed content with cities they control like Chicago, Baltimore and Detroit becoming hellholes of 
LAURA WILKERSON TO DEMOCRAT NANCY PELOSI: WHICH OF YOUR CHILDREN IS EXPENDABLE TO AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT? – Laura Wilkerson spoke truth to power at a CNN Townhall by mentioning the death of her son at the hands of an illegal immigrant and asked Pelosi the question that should be asked of ALL virtue-signaling Democrats. 
FRANCE’S BRIGADE OF MOTHERS CONTINUES EXPOSING NO-GO AREAS IN THE FRENCH SUBURBS – The Brigade of Mothers continue doing the work that most Western “feminists” are afraid of doing: exposing the way that Muslim males impose 7th Century restrictions on women in the No-Go Areas that Western “journalists” like to pretend don’t exist. 
A CONSEQUENTIAL PRESIDENT IN A TIME OF PYGMIES was a terrific piece which examined hundreds of ways that our de facto Third Party President Donald Trump has undone some of the damage done to the working class and the poor by the weak, inept and crooked little man named Barack Obama. 
MEANWHILE, DAN FROM SQUIRREL HILL maintained his list of roughly 1,400 instances of Obama’s lies and outright scandals. 
DEMOCRATS LOVE VOTE FRAUD – As always, my emphasis on Democrat wrongdoing is NOT an endorsement of the Republican Party, it’s just that there’s no lack of negative coverage of the Republicans. The Democrat media tries to sweep their party’s misdeeds under the rug. 
Democrat Andrew J Spiele in Virginia pleaded GUILTY to the still-frequent Democrat crime of submitting the names of dead people as Democrat voters to the Registrar’s Office. Spiele is just a small player, however. Bigger criminals like Hillary Clinton still walk the streets.
Since 2018 has been declared Muslim Violence Awareness Year here’s another look at JUST A FEW recent attacks by the kind of Muslim fascists empowered by Democrats in the U.S. and by Labour in the U.K. and by “educators” (LMAO) everywhere. More daily battles in the war that Muslim fascists wage against non-Muslims everywhere: 
*** Bia, Cameroon – A female Muslim Fascist suicide bomber detonated in a café, killing 1 innocent person and injuring over THIRTY more. 
Martin Luther King Day is approaching. Some of the most courageous champions of Doctor King’s dream of a society in which people are judged by their character rather than their skin color are PEOPLE OF COLOR WHO DARE TO DEFY THE DEMOCRATS. Here is a look at one of those heroic women: 
ITEM: Claims are made that enigmatic power players managed to get the novel removed from bookstores. The claims are sometimes accompanied by insinuations that this was done because the book might have struck too close to reality with its “fake death” ending. 
