CAMERONE DAY – A month ago Balladeer’s Blog examined the 1895 collection of short stories Garrison Tales From Tonquin (Tonkin), written by American James O’Neill. The tales were fictionalized accounts of his experiences in the French Foreign Legion in the 1880s and 1890s in Algeria and Vietnam. O’Neill’s insights into the French occupation of Vietnam during and after the Sino-French War were astonishingly ahead of their time.
Today’s blog post is nowhere near as profound or steeped in existentialism as Garrison Tales From Tonquin, but I couldn’t help but reflect on it since the yearly anniversary of the Battle of Camerone in Mexico has been THE major event on the French Foreign Legion’s calendar since 1863. It is often viewed as the battle that helped cement the Legion in the imaginations of people around the world in the 19th Century, and no doubt its legend was well known to James O’Neill by the time he enlisted in the fighting outfit in the 1880s.
THE BATTLE OF CAMERONE (Camaron in Spanish) – Getting back to the topic of this blog post, it’s sort of the French Foreign Legion’s central Alamo event. And I say central because many of the most famous battles of the Legion are like a long series of Alamos. Camerone set the standard, though. As usual, the Legion’s cause was not a virtuous one by our standards. The execrable Napoleon the Third was using the FFL and other French forces to try to prop up his Austrian ally Maximilian, the so-called “Emperor of Mexico.”
The Mexicans wanted the foreign-imposed emperor out and ultimately prevailed in 1867, but on April 30th, 1863 a mere 65 members of the French Foreign Legion held off what ultimately grew to a force of THREE THOUSAND, THREE HUNDRED (3,300) Mexican soldiers. Continue reading
Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog noted that, with more and more states introducing legislation to prevent the “vote fraud by mail” scams that Democrats used in 2020 from being used in future elections, and with ongoing investigations into that vote fraud finding more and more evidence, Joe Biden and his fellow fascists decided to lie some more to distract from all that. 
Anyone who thinks that the January 6th protest against an election (that was as tainted as the 1876 and 2000 elections) was “an insurrection” or was “worse than 9-11” needs to seek professional help. 3,000 people died on 9-11. Only people who are insane or are unthinking political robots would compare the two. 
Non-partisan journalist Sharyl Attkisson, the Ida Tarbell of the 21st Century, has catalogued 
Now come revelations about the utter falsehood of last year’s media hit pieces claiming that Putin was offering bounties to Taliban troops in Afghanistan, and that Trump was aware of it and did nothing. Now the media – and America’s forever-vile “intelligence community” – have walked back those ridiculous claims. THE BOUNTY OFFERS NEVER HAPPENED, so there was nothing for Trump to know, but hey, they got to damage Trump close to the election by implying he answered to Putin and was letting him offer bounties on U.S. troops. 
Back to the Russian Bounty lies – here’s an excerpt from a terrific article (link below) about that miscarriage of intelligence work and “journalism.” FAKE NEWS is an accurate description of what America’s corporate media inflicts on the public. 
“At the time the Russia Bounty story was an obvious and blatant lie, an unconfirmed report, a manufactured narrative to undermine one of Trump’s many presidential strengths — in this case, his affection for the U.S. military and his string of foreign policy success at making the world a safer and more peaceful place.
PART FIFTY-FIVE – Here is a look at some of the Fool Killer’s targets in the April of 1912 edition of James Larkin Pearson’s version of the character: 
*** Judges and other high officials who betrayed their public trusts. He favored the recall process for judges as well as others. 
PART FIFTY-FOUR – There was no February issue of James Larkin Pearson’s version of The Fool-Killer in 1912, so we resume with the March issue, put together with Pearson’s new printing machinery. The Fool Killer’s targets this time around included: 
THE LAST DAYS OF PATTON (1986) – George C Scott SINGS! Yes, an ENTIRE SONG while camping it up like he’s in a vaudeville revue! 
Roughly half of the movie is spent with the great George C Scott in a hospital bed, like we’re watching Whose Life Is It Anyway, Ya Pusillanimous Sons of Bitches? Scott is always watchable, and really shines here, but the other actors have no room. With such a gigantic figure – real-life Elmer Fudd voice aside – it may have been like that in reality, too. Sharing any stage with the likes of George S Patton must have been suffocating for one’s own ego. 
Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog takes another look at Joe Biden’s corruption, incompetence, senility and hatred of the working class & the poor. Will he be even worse than America’s last “selected and not elected” president, the execrable George W Bush? Who knows? 
Balladeer's Blog 