The divisions of college football covered here at Balladeer’s Blog always kick off their regular season earlier than the bigger divisions do.
AUGUST 22nd
Division: NJCAA
The teams: The COLLEGE OF DUPAGE CHAPARRALS will host the ELLSWORTH COLLEGE PANTHERS in this Thursday night game at 8:00PM Eastern Time.
…
AUGUST 24th
Division: NAIA
The teams: The COLLEGE OF IDAHO COYOTES will host the LINCOLN UNIVERSITY (CA) OAKLANDERS in this Saturday night game at 7:00PM Eastern Time. Continue reading
Filed under college football
Time for another current events roundup from Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog, here in an America where no matter how insane 2024 has been, NOBODY had “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. confesses to dumping a dead bear in Central Park” on their Bingo cards.
CONGRESS’ INVESTIGATION ONGOING IN THE EXPOSED LINK BETWEEN KAMALA HARRIS AND “JUDGE” MERCHAN, THE PARTISAN ANTI-TRUMP PERSECUTOR. Hey, just a candidate from the current administration being involved in kangaroo court proceedings against the other political party’s candidate.
ASSORTED REPUBLICANS FRETTING THAT TRUMP AND VANCE SHOULD BACK AWAY FROM SIMPLY POINTING OUT THE RACEBAITING GAMES PLAYED BY KAMALA HARRIS. Can you imagine the Democrats being told they should “back away” from pushing “Trans” issues to small children, or supporting Hamas, or “sanctuary cities,” or benefitting illegal immigrants with taxpayer money, or eliminating student debt for selected borrowers even though the Supreme Court has struck it down, or any of their other issues? Those issues are just as “divisive” and “off-putting” as anything the opposition party has had to say.
For the umpteenth time I will point out that the Republicans still have no idea how to use their media outlets or increase them. The U.S. needs an opposition party to the insanity pushed by Democrats and too few elected Republicans seem interested in that role. They’d rather let the other side dictate what topics are acceptable during political campaigns.
Democrat Party
DEMOCRATS IN MASSASCHUSETTS PASS BILL TO REMOVE THE “GENDERED” WORDS MOTHER AND FATHER FROM BIRTH CERTIFICATES. Divisive enough to maybe conjure up a fraction of the outrage directed at the populist Donald Trump and his supposedly “weird” running mate?
This type of thing should be brought up EVERY TIME Democrats huff and puff over Kamala’s race games, or Trump correctly pointing out that illegal immigrants take jobs from black people. (Which was what the “black jobs” comment was referring to, as in illegal immigration took “black jobs.”)
VICTIMS OF KAMALA AND HER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS – ELEVEN-YEAR-OLD GIRL RAPED AND MURDERED … SEXUAL ASSAULT ON FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD GIRL
NEW YORK CITY PROSECUTOR WILLIAM KEMP-NEAL RESIGNS AFTER BEING CAUGHT WITH THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD BOY. Democrats, can you please leave children alone? Continue reading
Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion
ANNA AND THE KING (1972) – It’s a shame that so few people remember this 13-episode attempt to make a television series of Margaret Landon’s classic novel Anna and the King of Siam. The producers even scored the coup of signing screen legend Yul Brynner himself to reprise his role as the King of Siam from the novel’s revered musical adaptation The King and I.
Samantha Eggar was cast as Anna Leonowens, the British governess brought to Siam in 1862 by King Mongkut to provide a more cosmopolitan element to the education of his children, including 12-year-old son and heir Prince Chulalongkorn, played by Brian Tochi.
The clash of cultures that the novel and musical depicted would be played out via shorter, much more succinct installments in this 30-minute … sitcom? Continue reading
Filed under Forgotten Television
FOR PART ONE (2016) OF THIS RETROSPECTIVE FROM INDEPENDENT VOTER SITE BALLADEER’S BLOG CLICK HERE.
HOW DEMOCRATS LOST THE WORKING CLASS. I quote former fellow Democrats and even Britain’s Guardian. Some excerpts: “The Democratic party once represented the working class. But over the last three decades the party has been taken over by Washington-based fundraisers, bundlers, analysts, and pollsters who have focused instead on raising campaign money from corporate and Wall Street executives and getting votes from upper middle-class households in “swing” suburbs.”
“I think there needs to be a profound change in the way the Democratic Party does business. It is not good enough to have a liberal elite. I come from the white working class, and I am deeply humiliated that the Democratic Party cannot talk to the people where I came from.” (Links HERE and HERE)
“Donald Trump won because the corporate media and the political establishment don’t understand there are tens of millions of people who are not racists, who are not sexists, they’re hurting.”
“ … there is an interlocking elite that has melded business, media and politics in a way we could never before imagine. And many of these people also hold a false belief that they understand a society with which they have very little contact.”
POLITICAL CARTOON ROUNDUP: JUNE 27th. Including a good one about how obviously unfit Joe Biden was mentally.
DONALD TRUMP SCARES AMERICA’S CORRUPT POLITICAL ESTABLISHMENT LIKE EUGENE DEBS ONCE DID.
Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion
The WNBA season resumes on August 15th, so to avoid losing the enthusiasm of those readers who were supporting these posts here’s a look at every WNBA Champion and Runner-Up since their very first season.
1997 CHAMPIONS – HOUSTON COMETS
Runners-Up – New York Liberty
Comment: The Comets downed the Charlotte Sting in the Semifinals before facing New York in the Championship Game.
NOTE: With only 8 teams in the league for this debut season, doing playoffs by an Eastern Conference and Western Conference was not the format used. No “best of” series until the 1998 season, either, just a 1-game clash each step of the way to the title tilt. Continue reading
Filed under WNBA
This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog follows up on the Captain Britain post from a few weeks ago. That post is HERE.
CAPTAIN BRITAIN Vol 1 #16 (January 26th, 1977)
NOTE: Originally Captain Britain was only published in the United Kingdom via Marvel UK. The series was published weekly instead of monthly.
Title: A Hero Unmasked
Villain: The Red Skull
Synopsis: Picking up from the previous issue, Chief Inspector Dai Thomas (from Chris Claremont’s Blade stories) still mistakenly thinks Captain Britain is a villain. He has several other policemen hold Cap while he starts to peel off the hero’s mask, which would expose him as Thames University physics student Brian Braddock (brother of Betsy Braddock aka Psylocke from the X-Men).
Reluctantly, Captain Britain uses some of his super-strength and agility to break free of the cops before they can unmask him. The other police on hand start shooting at C.B. when – out of nowhere – Captain America intervenes. He’s used to authorities in the U.S. often being wrong about superheroes so he offers to fight off the cops while Captain Britain escapes.
Brian knows his force-field leaves him in no danger from the police bullets anyway and feels it will hurt his public image more if he runs off while a Yank roughs up London bobbies. The two Captains fight it out for a time before reconciling. C.A. explains to C.B. and the cops that he’s there with the okay of HMG and could use Captain Britain’s help against a world-threatening menace.
Watching all this on a viewscreen is the menace that C.A. is referring to – the Red Skull. Continue reading
Filed under Superheroes
The first Friday of every August marks Frontierado, the holiday devoted to the myth of the old west rather than the grinding reality. For some of us the celebration kicked off Thursday night, for others they wait until the actual day of Frontierado to hold their festivities. Enjoy yourselves today and tonight, and enjoy the leftovers on Saturday and Sunday.
BUFFALO SOLDIERS – Obviously the historical significance of these African American soldiers begins during the U.S. Civil War and goes far into the 20th Century, but for the purposes of this blog post I’ll be looking only at their involvement in conflicts from 1866-1896.
For newcomers to this topic, the label Buffalo Soldiers was bestowed on these African American troops by Native Americans in the Great Plains. Buffalo Soldier units included the 10th Cavalry, 9th Cavalry, the 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments plus more.
BATTLE OF THE SALINE RIVER (August 1867) – In Kansas, Cheyenne warriors led by Tall Wolf attacked and killed a party of railroad workers laying the transcontinental railway. Buffalo Soldiers from Fort Hays were sent out after the Cheyenne, and this resulted in the 8-hour long Battle of the Saline River. Under 100 soldiers from the 10th Cavalry clashed with over 400 Native Americans, inflicting greater casualties on them and making it back to Fort Hays alive.
TEXAS-INDIAN CAMPAIGNS (1867) – Various units of Buffalo Soldiers served throughout Texas in garrison duty, random clashes and military campaigns against the Comanches, Apaches and the Kiowas. They also protected mail service in Texas from attacks and carried out raids to rescue civilian captives taken by those Indian tribes. On December 26th, 1867 units of Buffalo Soldiers fought over 900 mixed Native American warriors and white outlaws near Fort Lancaster, TX. Continue reading
Filed under FRONTIERADO
Tomorrow is Frontierado, the holiday celebrated the first Friday of August each year. My main post will go up tomorrow, but for now here’s another seasonal item.
Sidney today
SIDNEY, NE – When it comes to Wild West towns places like Tombstone, Dodge City and Deadwood get the lion’s share of the attention. In keeping with Balladeer’s Blog’s overall theme here’s a look at some of the action in the neglected town of Sidney, NE. Figures like Wild Bill Hickok, Luke Short, Susan B. Anthony, Whispering Smith and Dom Pedro II of Brazil passed through Sidney in its heyday. Here’s a timeline of just some of the events in the town infamous as “The Wicked Burg”:
April 29th, 1868 – Daniel Richardson, Thomas Cahoon and William Edmondson became the first recorded dead men buried in Sidney’s Boot Hill Cemetery. All three men were killed in a clash with Native Americans.
May ?, 1875 – Susan B. Anthony delivered a lecture in Sidney advocating for women’s suffrage.
October 24th, 1875 – At the Capitol Saloon the livery stable owner Robert W Porter and Charles Patterson got into an argument (the subject is not known) that resulted in Patterson shooting Porter to death with 3 shots. Patterson was placed under arrest. Continue reading
Filed under FRONTIERADO
Here’s the latest current events roundup from Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog, here in an America where the Republican Party mistakenly believes it has the presidential contest won already and the Democrat Party keeps hiding Biden while refusing to say WHO IS REALLY RUNNING THE COUNTRY RIGHT NOW.
JUDGE JOE BROWN BLASTS KAMALA HARRIS FOR HER POLICIES, HER BUMBLING AND HER CYNICAL DECISION TO NOW CALL HERSELF BLACK AFTER DECADES OF SAYING SHE’S INDIAN-AMERICAN. (Even the Democrats at the A.P. call her “Indian-American” HERE) More HERE. And remember, Kamala comes from a slave-owning family just like Joe Biden does.
And let’s face it, it is absurd for Democrats – who advocate letting small children “decide” what gender they want to be, who can’t define what a woman is, and who insist that some males menstruate and that males can naturally become pregnant, AND that mutilating the genitals of children is trans “health care” – to EVER act outraged about the opposition leader calling them out on their divisive racebaiting games.
And today at the Olympics a man pretending to be a woman nearly killed a female boxer during the ongoing “trans” farce that Democrats support. How about apologies from the Democrats for the real-life damage inflicted by their political “articles of faith”.
BIG TECH FASCISTS REFUSING TO REINSTATE TRUMP’S ACCOUNT. Election interference is too mild a term for this.
KAMALA HARRIS OWNS THE DISASTER AT THE BORDER AND DOES NOT PLAN TO SECURE IT.
MEANWHILE, ANOTHER OF KAMALA HARRIS’ ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS JUST KILLED A VIRGINIA GRANDMOTHER BY RUNNING OVER HER WITH HER OWN VEHICLE WHILE STEALING IT. If only America had a competent opposition party that understood the significance of news like this.
TRUMP HEROICALLY CALLS TO STOP TAXING THE SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS OF SENIOR CITIZENS. And another paradigm has been adjusted thanks to de facto Third Party President Donald Trump.
AND ANOTHER LONGTIME DEMOCRAT – DAVID MARCUS – SWITCHES TO SUPPORTING TRUMP. Joins so many of us in recognizing the ugly reality of what the Democrats have become.
Some excerpts – “This version of the Democratic Party is sidelining moderates and centrists and has adopted an increasingly leftist ideology. This drift to the left has dictated policies from which I’ve found myself estranged.“.
He also cited the Democrat strategy of “spinning and manufacturing a parallel reality to serve the Dem agenda, solidified by complicit mainstream media …” Continue reading
Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion
Only a few more days until the Frontierado Holiday on Friday August 2nd. Here’s another seasonal post from Balladeer’s Blog.
DEADWOOD DICK – In general, the Dime Novel period of westerns, detective, science fiction and horror tales lasted from 1860 to around 1919 or the early 1920s. Pulp magazines took over from there. Many Dime Novels were very loosely based on real-life figures like Buffalo Bill, Calamity Jane and others. Many more were purely fictional, like Deadwood Dick.
This character, whose name is practically synonymous with Dime Novels, was created in 1877 by prolific writer Edward L. Wheeler, who also created various FEMALE Dime Novel figures that I’ve reviewed in the past, like Hurricane Nell, the Denver Doll, Baltimore Bess and Cinnamon Chip.
As his name implies, Deadwood Dick operated in and around Deadwood and the Black Hills region. He was a notorious outlaw/ road agent who led a band of masked followers in assorted robberies. The character proved to be extremely popular and in the dozens of Dime Novels ahead he morphed from his roguish “pirate of the prairie” depiction in his first story into a champion of the oppressed. Continue reading
Filed under FRONTIERADO
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