MOTHER JONES: PRESIDENT TRUMP IS MANY HEROES IN ONE

mother-jonesAs another Presidents Day wraps up here’s a take from a true working class heroine. Mary Harris Jones, the legendary labor organizer from the 1890s onward, also known as “the Miner’s Angel” and “Mother Jones,” spoke to Balladeer’s Blog yet again, despite being dead since 1930. 

BALLADEER’S BLOG: Well, hello again! I always enjoy our talks.  

MOTHER JONES: I’m glad to hear it, sonny! I continue to be very impressed with the way President Trump – the new FDR and the new Harry Truman – continues to scrap with the same kind of plutocratic oppressors I always fought.

Trump is SerpicoBB: I admit the stench from Washington, DC is amazing. “Draining the Swamp” as Trump calls it, is demonstrating the depth of corruption and outright criminal activity the Democrats and Republicans are responsible for. It took a de facto Third Party President like Trump to take the first necessary steps.

MJ: You know it, young man! No Democrat or Republican would have rocked the boat like this! I think President Trump is like many heroes in one.

BB: Well, I think “hero” might be too strong a word for Trump, but –

MJ: Yes, yes, I know I’m more enthusiastic about him than you are, but I want you to just listen for awhile.

BB: Okay.

Franklin RooseveltMJ: First off, President Trump is like Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR was looking out for the working class and the poor, so rich fat cat scum tried to destroy him like they’re doing with Donald Trump. They even tried the VERIFIED Businessman’s Coup plot against FDR.

Right now the way that rich pigs like Tom Steyer are trying to overturn an election they lost is disgusting and is a threat to all elections of the future. If fat cats like Steyer or the Koch Brothers don’t like the way the votes went, they’ll pull a “soft coup” as it’s called.

SECOND, President Trump is like Harry S Truman. Harry gave ’em Hell every chance he could and weak-kneed sissy boys like today’s Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell clutched their pearls and reached for the smelling salts. Trump shocks more Republican and Democrat trash in one week than good old Harry did in his entire presidency!  

BrubakerTHIRD, President Trump is like that Robert Redford fella when he played Brubaker! Like Trump, Brubaker was trying to clean out a virtual sewer of corrupt officialdom. Even if the scumbags fighting Trump oust him, it will be like the ending of Brubaker, when the prisoners – or American citizens in Trump’s case – gathered around to pay him respect.

The prisoners giving the departing Brubaker a slow clap of good bye was an acknowledgement that the man had tried to help them and to fight the crooked politicians and rich pigs abusing them. President Trump’s end might be like that if the Establishment criminals succeed in driving him from office.

BB: That’s a very profound comparison. Even if – like Brubaker – President Trump’s bottom line accomplishment is to raise awareness in all of us about the NEED to fight the white collar criminals who have hijacked our political system, there is a certain dignity in that. A dignity that people like Hillary Clinton and Paul Ryan could never understand.  

MJ: Good lad, Balladeer, but I have plenty more heroes to compare with President Trump, so pipe down. 

BB: By all means, carry on.

SerpicoMJ: FOURTH, President Trump is like Serpico. The real-life Serpico, not the weak sauce movie version of the man. Like Frank Serpico, President Trump is the only one refusing to play business as usual and just get bought off.

And like Serpico, even Trump’s presumed allies – in his case the Republican crooks like Mitch McConnell and others – are setting up Donald to be taken down by even bigger crooks who will be glad to do the dirty work.

BB: Now that’s a bit strong, don’t you thi – Continue reading

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FIVE MOST UNQUALIFIED U.S. PRESIDENTS

mascot new look donkey and elephant headsHAPPY PRESIDENTS DAY! What better way to poke through the undeserved air of reverence that often clouds this holiday than by taking a look at the Five Most UN-qualified people who rose to the presidency. And remember, this list is not a reflection of their subsequent performance as president, just on their qualifications prior to taking the office. 

Ulysses S GrantNUMBER 5: ULYSSES S GRANT

Gang Affiliation: Republican

Became President Despite Their Poor Qualifications Because: He was treated too gently by the media as the victorious General from the Civil War and had tried not to take sides in the bitter fighting between Congress and President Andrew Johnson leading up to the election of 1868. 

Comment: Grant started out promisingly enough, graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. After 15 years in the Army (and service in the Mexican War) Grant went on to a series of failures in civilian life. When the Civil War broke out he returned to military service and rose to lead the Union Army to victory.

I’m not looking down on military service but when it’s your core experience and only area of success punctuated by repeated failures in other endeavors you might think Secretary of War would be Grant’s eventual position in the cabinet of a more qualified president. Continue reading

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1912: BATTLE OF THE THREE PRESIDENTS

masc chair and bottleHappy Presidents Day Weekend! Balladeer’s Blog’s seasonal posts continue with this look at the presidential election of 1912.

I won’t bury this item in unnecessary detail to the point where it becomes boring. My emphasis will be on its three-way battle’s relevance to us today. 

Woodrow WilsonDEMOCRAT: Woodrow Wilson, the victor. To this very day many Republicans blame Wilson for starting the country on its path toward all the things they don’t like.

They ignore the fact that their own party’s movers and shakers of the time spitefully ensured Wilson’s victory by refusing to accept the popular Theodore Roosevelt as the Republican candidate.

That drove him to the Third Party called the Progressive Party, thus splitting the anti-Wilson vote in such a way that enabled the Democrat to win.

Theodore RooseveltPROGRESSIVE: Former Republican President Theodore Roosevelt had come out of retirement to run again because he was thoroughly disenchanted with his hand-picked successor, incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft.

The reason? Theodore felt that Taft was undoing the few inroads that he (Theodore) had made against the moneyed rich pig class. Republican tycoons of the time often expressed their feeling that Teddy was a traitor to his class – an accusation that they would REALLY overuse against Theodore’s Democrat cousin Franklin Roosevelt decades later.  

This is similar to the way current President Donald Trump is often attacked by today’s bloated rich pigs, both Republican AND Democrat, because of the few inroads that HE has made against his fellows in the moneyed class. Some of the rich pigs of Teddy’s era openly referred to the way they generally carry America’s elected officials around in their pockets by saying “We bought the son of a bitch but he wouldn’t stay bought.”        Continue reading

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COLLEGE BASKETBALL RESULTS FROM FEBRUARY 16th

NAIA DIVISION TWO

jamestown college jimmiesKNOCKING OFF NUMBER TWO – Yesterday the 15th ranked UNIVERSITY OF JAMESTOWN JIMMIES played host to the number 2 team in the nation – the MORNINGSIDE COLLEGE MUSTANGS. The Jimmies put the Mustangs on Upset Alert with a 45-37 Halftime lead and then carried through with an 88-75 triumph. Kevin Oberweiser’s 25 points led the way for the University of Jamestown. 

hustlin-owls1NUMBER THREE TAKES A TUMBLE AS WELL – In this game the number 10 OREGON TECH HUSTLIN’ OWLS took the court against the visiting 3rd ranked COLLEGE OF IDAHO COYOTES. At the break the Hustlin’ Owls were chasing the Coyotes 35-30 but in the 2nd Half Oregon Tech turned it on for a 75-72 comeback win. Mitchell Fink tossed in 23 points to lead the victors.

Marian University KnightsOTHER UPSETS IN THE TOP TWENTY-FIVE – The (11) MARIAN UNIVERSITY KNIGHTS toppled the (5) INDIANA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY WILDCATS 94-84    ###    Meanwhile the SAINT FRANCIS (IN) COUGARS downed the (6) MOUNT VERNON NAZARENE UNIVERSITY COUGARS in an 86-74 catfight    ###    And the JOHNSON & WALES (FL) TIGERS won a 74-70 Instant Classic over the (16) WARNER UNIVERSITY ROYALS.  Continue reading

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JUSTICE SOCIETY 19: MORE TIME TRAVEL

StarmanThis examination of the Justice Society’s World War Two-era stories continues. FOR PART ONE CLICK HERE 

I will review the original issue and then detail how I would “script-doctor” the story for modern audiences.

All Star 21ALL STAR COMICS #21 (Summer 1944)

Title: THE MAN WHO RELIVED HIS LIFE

Heroes: HAWKMAN (Original), DOCTOR FATE, SANDMAN, WONDER WOMAN (Original), STARMAN, DOCTOR MIDNITE, JOHNNY THUNDER

Villains: SAPPHIRE SLIM, BIG MIKE MCCULLUM & PANCHO VILLA

Hourman 4Synopsis: Lab assistant Joe Fitch has volunteered to be a guinea pig for experimental medicine but winds up dying. To reward the man for his selfless contribution to science the Justice Society of America is called in (talk about overkill) to act on Joe’s request to make amends for his secret criminal past.

Dr Everson (From 500 Years into the Future) uses his time-travel technology to send the heroes back in time to straighten out Fitch’s past life, apparently not caring one bit about the danger of altering history by doing this. Continue reading

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JIMMY BUFFETT: FINS

We’re going way back for this latest edition of Give Them A Shoutout Before They’re Dead. It’s Jimmy Buffett with Fins

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CALM DOWN, PEOPLE, 31 OTHER PRESIDENTIALLY DECLARED EMERGENCIES ARE STILL IN EFFECT

panic-signHello everyone! As always I find it humbling when so many overseas readers ask me for my honest, non-partisan take on our political scene here in America. I will be 100% sincere with this blog post about the ridiculous overreaction to de facto Third Party President Trump declaring a national emergency regarding the flood of illegal immigrants and illegal drugs pouring across our border with Mexico, a virtual narco-state at this point given how the Cartels run wild.

PRESIDENTIALLY DECLARED NATIONAL EMERGENCIES – As always, America’s corporate media and our white-collar criminals called career politicians are needlessly whipping up a frenzy just because it’s Trump – an outsider rocking the boat – who is in office right now. Presidentially declared national emergencies are much less than advertised.

NEARLY SIXTY SUCH NATIONAL EMERGENCIES HAVE BEEN DECLARED SINCE 1976.

THIRTY-ONE OF THOSE DECLARED NATIONAL EMERGENCIES ARE STILL IN EFFECT.

THIRTEEN OF THOSE NATIONAL EMERGENCIES WERE DECLARED BY BARACK OBAMA.

OBVIOUSLY, SINCE VIRTUALLY NOBODY EVEN KNEW ABOUT THOSE NATIONAL EMERGENCY ORDERS STILL BEING IN EFFECT THOSE EMERGENCIES DO NOT MEAN WE ARE INCHES AWAY FROM A DICTATORSHIP.

mascot new look donkey and elephant headsTHE MAIN PEOPLE SPREADING PANIC ABOUT THIS SITUATION ARE THE TWO LEAST TRUSTWORTHY ELEMENTS OF AMERICA – THE MEDIA AND CAREER POLITICIANS. (I don’t care about shallow, uninformed and emotionally unstable entertainers.)

Below is just one link where you can check this out for yourself. There are plenty more, like at the Federal Registry. Continue reading

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FLASHMAN NOVELS: NINTH PLACE

For 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.

Flash for Freedom9. FLASH FOR FREEDOM (1971)

Time Period: 1848-1849

Favorite Book Blurb: “Only Harry Flashman could start out running for a seat in Parliament but wind up fleeing England over a gambling scandal, shanghaied onto a criminal slave ship, clashing with one of the African kings selling his own people to slavers, conning the American government, reluctantly working for the Underground Railroad and ultimately facing down a pack of southern slave-hunters side by side with a young Congressman named Abraham Lincoln.”  

Synopsis: Wealthy John Morrison, Flashman’s hated father-in-law, still has Harry under his thumb money-wise. Morrison decides he wants a Member of Parliament in his control and figures Harry’s status as a hero of two wars and an amphibious campaign against Borneo pirates will make him a can’t-miss candidate.

Flash for Freedom 2For his part our scurvy protagonist gleefully anticipates all manner of graft money and getting to vote to send other people off to war for a change rather than being sent himself. With Morrison’s financial backing, Flashman finds himself in the political arena – an arena where other people are more skilled at cheating than he is.

Harry being Harry he also finds himself snogging in the grass with the real-life Fanny Locke (later famous as Fanny Duberly) and trading parlor-room insults with the likes of Benjamin Disraeli and Lord George Bentinck. At length a card-game scandal coupled with a charge of violent assault wind up forcing Flashman to flee the country for a few years.

Flash for FreedomWith very few transportation options open to the on-the-lam scoundrel, Harry ends up on an outbound ship owned by his father-in-law but finds that he has once again gone from the frying pan into the fire. To Flashman’s great shock he learns that the ship he’s stuck on is a slaver – and that the illegal trade is a large part of John Morrison’s shady fortune.

Amid all this bad luck fate at last smiles on our protagonist when a crew-member that he befriends turns out to be an undercover Royal Navy Officer assigned to infiltrate and bring down Morrison’s sizable slaving operation. That officer – Lieutenant Beauchamp Comber – has clandestinely assembled a mound of incriminating evidence against Morrison and his agents.        Continue reading

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PRESIDENTIAL LOSERS: PROS AND CONS

mascot new look donkey and elephant headsIn the spirit of Balladeer’s Blog’s irreverent, tongue-in-cheek looks at the pros and cons of U.S. Presidents and Vice Presidents here’s another post for the upcoming Presidents Day three-day weekend. 

It’s my tongue-in-cheek look at the pros and cons of the LOSERS who were left in a defeated heap enroute to the Oval Office. In reverse order back to just before Tilden:

hillary-clinton-haitiHILLARY CLINTON (Lost to President Donald Trump)

Motto: “When the money keeps rolling in (to your fake charity), what’s a girl to do? Skim a little (well, quite a lot, actually) off the top for expenses wouldn’t you?”

Nickname: The Rapist’s Wife/ Crooked Hillary 

Hillary clinton dough nationPro: Her childish refusal to address her own supporters the night Donald Trump utterly humiliated her provided a look at how truly petty, shallow and classless she is. 

Con: She and her fascist followers tried to threaten the members of the Electoral College into casting their votes for her instead of Trump, thereby reaching the absolute lowest and most disgusting level that any American politician has ever sunk to. 

MITT ROMNEY (Lost to Obama)

Motto: “Pushing women back to the Fifties … the EIGHTEEN fifties!”

Nickname: The Mormon Mondale/ Ol’ Sploog Face (tie)

Pro: His even more pathetic running mate Paul Ryan actually made him look good by comparison.  Continue reading

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A TERRIFIC BOOK ABOUT HOW THE ELITE BLAME THE REST OF US FOR THE PROBLEMS THEY CREATE

Anand GiridharadasRegular readers of Balladeer’s Blog know that I often write about the way that the callous, comfortable elites love to blame the rest of us for the problems they have created in the world.

The way the corporate media and Democrat “educators” (LMAO) distort history one might think that there was once an age when the poor and the working class ruled the world and caused colonialism, wars and all the other plagues that were really caused by the Powers That Be among the rich and politically connected. The people who STILL run things, in other words.

The elites and techno-fascists of Silicon Valley love to lecture and talk down to the poor and the working class as if those elites had to “overthrow” the rule of the underclasses so they could try to “save” the world from destructive policies implemented by … the classes that have never held any political or economic power. (?) How would that have worked, exactly? Seizing the world they always controlled from the people who never exercised any control over it?   

Anand Giridharadas 2

ANAND “DICE” GIRIDHARADAS

At any rate Anand Giridharadas has released Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing The World. It’s his new book dealing with the way in which wealthy leftists pretend to be saviors while obscuring their role in causing all the problems they loudly rail against. Giridharadas reflects the genuine revolution in thinking that is marking the 21st Century because – like me – he approaches the issues from a left-wing background but grows increasingly critical of the political left’s hypocrisy and abuses.

To quote from some reviews: 

“Former New York Times columnist Anand Giridharadas takes us into the inner sanctums of a new gilded age, where the rich and powerful fight for equality and justice any way they can — except ways that threaten the social order and their position atop it. “

“We see how they rebrand themselves as saviors of the poor; how they lavishly reward “thought leaders” who redefine “change” in winner-friendly ways …”

“We hear the limousine confessions of a celebrated foundation boss; witness a former American president hem and haw about his plutocratic benefactors; and attend a cruise-ship conference where entrepreneurs celebrate their own self-interested magnanimity.”

As always, guilt-stricken rich white people who want to think of themselves as “progressives” are shown to be fools.”

“(T)he problem is that affluence begets arrogance, including a we-know-what’s-best attitude where these overprivileged people act as if they’re missionaries and the rest of us are ignorant savages in need of their “enlightened” supervision.”

“This kind of preachy liberalism — folks who imagine themselves to be neo-Platonic archons because their Daddy could afford to send them to Harvard — offends me as an expression of snobbery.” Continue reading

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