May 14, 2023 · 12:50 am

AUGUST 2017

FOR PART ONE OF THIS RETROSPECTIVE (2016) FROM INDEPENDENT VOTER SITE BALLADEER’S BLOG CLICK HERE.

mascot miniA GOVERNOR LEAVES THE DEMOCRAT PARTY TO ALLY WITH DE FACTO THIRD-PARTY PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP.

A REMINDER ABOUT PRETENTIOUS ASSES WHO CLAIM THEY ARE ON “THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY.“

COMEDY BIT ABOUT FRANTIC ANTI-TRUMP HEADLINES. And here in 2023 he STILL scares the cesspool of corruption that masquerades as America’s government.

EVEN MORE MOCK HEADLINES. Plus, a look at Antifa.

AN OLD, BUT POPULAR LOOK AT THE SMIRKING JACKASSES OF LIFE. Continue reading →

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May 13, 2023 · 12:01 am

GRIPS: GRINDHOUSE SUPERHERO

This weekend’s escapist superhero blog post will examine the infamous independent creation Grips. His gritty, ultraviolent escapades ranged from fighting street crime to stopping Saddam Hussein from using nukes on America.

grips pictureGRIPS

First Appearance: Grips #1 (September 1986). His final appearance came in March 1992. 

Secret Identity: Martin Kane, artist for Fat Ninja Comics

NOTE: Created and written by Kris Silver and with his earliest adventures illustrated by Tim Vigil of Faust fame, Grips was a cross between Wolverine and the Punisher. However, as a character from an independent company whose internal pages were in black & white his violence and other mature themes went WAY beyond anything featuring either of those two Marvel Comics creations.

Think of the over the top, seldom realistic violence of films like Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky, or maybe Sonny Chiba’s 1970s Street Fighter flicks.

grips on rooftopAs I indicated in the title of this blog post, I consider the Grips tales to be what low-budget, disreputable Grindhouse movies of the past were to glossy, professional films from major studios. The writing and artwork in Grips seldom approached the standards of the Big Two publishers, but the visceral violence, profanity and often taboo subject matter more than made up for the overall shoddiness of the finished product.

One thing is certain – you’ll consider Wolverine and the Punisher to be as bland and corporate as Richie Rich comics after you’ve walked the Sacramento streets of Kris Silver’s deranged vigilante called Grips. 

Powers and Weapons:  Continue reading →

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May 12, 2023 · 11:08 am

COOL-NAMED SPORTS TEAM: JACKSON STATE COLLEGE

Balladeer’s Blog gives a shoutout to yet another cool-named sports team: Continue reading →

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May 11, 2023 · 11:32 am

BIDEN’S CESSPOOL OF CORRUPTION AND MORE

biden criminal enterpriseIndependent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at some of the latest revelations regarding Joe Biden’s corporate fascist kleptocracy and more. The cesspool of corruption that masquerades as America’s government often puts me in mind of the old non-fiction book Excellent Cadavers, about the Sicilian prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.

excellent cadaversThat heroic duo fought the outrightly criminal Sicilian government to root out corruption despite being undermined and attacked every step of the way by bought and paid-for officials. Falcone and Borsellino were ultimately assassinated in 1992 because they refused to back down.

The United States at present has very few people who show that same courage and stamina, and de facto Third Party President Donald Trump is definitely one of them. The white-collar criminals of the American political establishment, who have been abusing the rest of us and looting the treasury for decades, continue to make a martyr out of Trump to send a message to other potential candidates who aren’t part of the criminal cabal run by people like the Bidens, Bushes, Pelosis, Cheneys and others.

With that as prelude, let’s dive in to the latest:

biden crime family shirtA FRESH MOUNTAIN OF EVIDENCE REGARDING THE ACTIVITIES OF THE BIDEN CRIME FAMILY. Romania joins China on the list of nations where millions of dollars in Biden corruption was practiced. More HERE. More HERE. And HERE. And HERE. And HERE. And HERE. And HERE. And HERE. And HERE. And HERE. And HERE.

BIDEN REGIME’S CORRUPT FBI SIMPLY REFUSES TO TURN OVER TO CONGRESS THEIR SUBPOENAED FILE OF EVIDENCE AGAINST THE BIDENS. Pretty much a blatant admission of what a Banana Republic America is now. Joe Biden has no legitimacy. Will the gutless opposition party curtail Biden corruption?

COURAGEOUS CONGRESSMAN BYRON DONALDS POINTS OUT THAT THE BIDENS HAVE NO BUSINESS STRUCTURE TO ACCOUNT FOR THEIR OBSCENE WEALTH … EXCEPT INFLUENCE PEDDLING.

BRENNAN GRILLED BY CONGRESS OVER CIA INTERFERENCE IN THE 2020 ELECTION. More HERE.

biden tax returnsANOTHER DEVASTATING CALL-OUT OF THE BIDEN DOJ’s BLATANT ACCOMPLICE ROLE IN THE REGIME’S CRIMINALITY. More HERE. 

BIDEN REGIME SAYS IT CAN EXPEL WHITE HOUSE REPORTERS THAT THEY FEEL AREN’T BEING “PROFESSIONAL.” More HERE. When Trump tried to do that, it resulted in weeks of apocalyptic headlines claiming freedom of the press was at stake, but the sheeplike Democrat media outlets meekly accept it from Biden. Continue reading →

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May 10, 2023 · 7:27 pm

A DARWINIAN SCHOONER (1893) ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION

baboonsA DARWINIAN SCHOONER (1893) – Written by William Alden. With so many fans of the various Planet of the Apes movies still around, I figured it was a good time to post a review of this story that’s in a similar spirit.

The tale starts on board a 22-man ship called the Jane G Mather. This vessel is 500 miles or so east of Cape Saint Roque in Brazil when the 2nd Mate – Mr Samuels – catches sight of a schooner barely a mile off.

The schooner has full sails on but keeps listing to and fro almost as if its crew were novices or drunk. After two hours the Captain – Bill Simmons – takes an interest in the careering ship in the distance since it is clearly a potential threat to sea traffic.

Captain Simmons has Mr Samuels round up an away team consisting of Samuels himself and four other men. They are to board the errant vessel and advise the captain to get his crew and his ship under better control. Soon, Samuels and his four men pull alongside the schooner and are shocked to see nothing but large monkeys – baboons, Samuels guesses – aboard the ship.

The 2nd Mate of the Mather is unnerved at the sight and by how calmly the baboons watch him and the rest of the away team board the ship. The primates make no sound and do not jump around or otherwise behave like real monkeys, if you know what I mean and I think you do. Continue reading →

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May 10, 2023 · 12:01 am

PRAY FOR THE WILDCATS (1974)

pray for wildcatsPRAY FOR THE WILDCATS (1974) – That’s Wildcats as in the Baja Wildcats, the name given by the villainous Andy Griffith to himself and his fellow over the hill dirt bikers – William Shatner, Marjoe Gortner and Robert Reed!

Griffith is pure sleaze as Sam Farragut, a wheelin’ and dealin’ tycoon who enjoys throwing his weight around. He’s the biggest client at an ad agency where Shatner, Gortner and Reed are employed, and he threatens to take his business elsewhere unless they join him on his latest whim – a motorcycle ride along the Baja Peninsula.

This bizarre premise sounds like an episode of Bewitched, as in “Stevens, our biggest client insists we ride motorcycles with him to Baja California.” Instead, this is an overwrought made for tv movie from 1974 in which our kitsch cast gets into deadly trouble south of the border.

Our characters:
Continue reading →

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May 9, 2023 · 12:20 pm

MAY NINTH ROUNDUP OF NEWS, MEMES AND POLITICAL CARTOONS

jfk quoteThe latest from Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog.

BIDEN’S INFLATION CONTINUES, AS NEW CAR PRICES GO UP NINETEEN PERCENT. Washington Post notes “car gap” as Joe Biden’s policies increase the gap between the “Haves and Have-Nots.”

CUBANS PROTEST CASTRO REGIME POLICIES FOR STARVING THEM TO DEATH.

ABC CAUGHT CENSORING COURAGEOUS DEMOCRAT ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. The Democrat establishment is going to do to RFK Jr what they did to Tulsi Gabbard in 2020 and Bernie Sanders in 2016.

quid pro joeBIDEN WHITE HOUSE CAUGHT – JOB LOSSES WERE 150,000 MORE THAN THEY TRIED TO CLAIM. Joe Biden’s war on the working class continues.

JOE BIDEN’S ALLEGED RAPE VICTIM READIES FOR TESTIMONY. 

SENILE BIDEN SNAPS AT REPORTER FOR NOT ACCEPTING HIS LIE. Continue reading →

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May 8, 2023 · 8:19 am

THE ABYSMAL INVADERS (1929)

Edmond HamiltonTHE ABYSMAL INVADERS (1929) – Written by Edmond Hamilton. This is a nice mish-mash of elements that are part Creature Feature, part Doctor Who and part Jurassic Park. Hamilton gets bashed as a hack but his stories are harmless fun.

The hero of this tale is Professor Morton, an eminent biologist. He is doing field work in a Southern Illinois swamp when, from caverns beneath the swamp an army of dinosaurs comes pouring out. AND ALL OF THEM ARE BEING RIDDEN BY HUMANOID LIZARDS WHO WIELD RAY-GUNS!

Pterodactyls provide these invaders with their own Air Force and humans are driven before them. The city of Brinton is reduced to a virtual ruin before the onslaught of these Lizard-men. Continue reading →

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May 7, 2023 · 11:12 am

JULY 2017

FOR PART ONE OF THIS RETROSPECTIVE (2016) FROM INDEPENDENT VOTER SITE BALLADEER’S BLOG CLICK HERE.

shiva aINDIAN-AMERICAN SHIVA AYYADURAI ON WHY HE VOTED FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP. Incredible insights, including “I saw Trump as a necessary force to disrupt a broken system that was no longer serving the American people”.

And “The truth is what intellectual and Hollywood Elites are upset at … [It] is not Trump, but that they lost control over everyday people, who they discounted as inferior — a lower caste.”

EVEN SNOPES WAS FORCED TO CORRECT THE AVALANCHE OF LIES ABOUT PRESIDENT TRUMP. Snopes defended the President in an article titled, “The Lies of Donald Trump’s Critics“. In case you forgot the Apocalypse of the Week lies that the corporate media told about Trump. And here in 2023 the lies continue.

democrats oppressing people whileMORE DEMOCRAT SLOGANS. And even more HERE.

PRESIDENT TRUMP IS SERPICO. America’s corrupt political establishment is still trying to make Trump an example for any outsider trying to reform the system. 

CAMILLE PAGLIA BLAMES THE DEMOCRATS FOR DESTROYING JOURNALISM WITH THEIR ANTI-TRUMP HYSTERIA. And in 2017 we hadn’t seen ANYTHING yet when it came to bizarre lies about Trump. Continue reading →

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May 6, 2023 · 12:02 am

JUSTICE LEAGUE AND JUSTICE SOCIETY VS DARKSEID, PLUS MORE (1980-1984)

For this weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post here at Balladeer’s Blog, I will review the final few crossover stories involving DC’s Justice League and Justice Society. For my review of their 1963-1969 crossovers click HERE.

jla 183JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA Vol 1 #183 (October 1980)

Title: Crisis on New Genesis

Justice Society Roster: Dr. Fate, Power Girl, the original Huntress and the original Wonder Woman (Diana Prince-TREVOR)

Justice League Roster: Firestorm, 2nd Superman, 2nd Green Lantern and 2nd Batman

New Gods Roster: Orion, Mr. Miracle, Big Barda, Metron, Lightray, Highfather and Oberon  

Villains: Darkseid, the Fiddler, Icicle and the Shade

NOTE: This crossover has the JLA and JSA teaming up with the New Gods, Jack Kirby’s creations which were kind of the third version of the X-Men and the Inhumans. His fourth version, the Eternals, had been introduced back at Marvel during his 1970s return there.

Synopsis: The planet called New Genesis is the home of the superpowered figures called the New Gods. Their arch-foe is Darkseid, ruler of the planet Apokolips. As the story begins, Darkseid is still presumed dead following his previous clash with the New Gods.

new godsThe remaining evil forces on Apokolips – led by Granny Goodness (a Kirby creation, needless to say) – have raided New Genesis and abducted most of the inhabitants, then taken them as slaves back to their own planet. They did it with the help of three Earth-Two villains – Icicle, Shade and the Fiddler – so the New Gods use the annual get-together of the Justice Society and Justice League to recruit the two teams to help them recover their kidnapped population. Continue reading →

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