August 20, 2018 · 8:19 pm

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: D2 RANKINGS

This Thursday the 2018 college football season kicks off in the NAIA and NJCAA. D2 kicks off the following week, so here’s Balladeer’s Blog’s preseason rankings in NCAA D2.

Texas A&M Commerce LionsRANKINGS: 1. TEXAS A&M AT COMMERCE LIONS (Defending National Champions)    ###     2. UNIVERSITY OF WEST FLORIDA ARGONAUTS    ###     3. INDIANA UNIVERSITY – PENNSYLVANIA CRIMSON HAWKS    ###     4. MINNESOTA STATE MAVERICKS    ###     5. FORT HAYS STATE TIGERS    ###    

Northwest Missouri Bearcats6. NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE BEARCATS    ###     7. FERRIS STATE BULLDOGS    ###     8. UNIVERSITY OF INDIANAPOLIS GREYHOUNDS    ###     9. GRAND VALLEY STATE LAKERS    ###     10. HARDING UNIVERSITY BISON    ###     Continue reading →

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August 19, 2018 · 8:18 pm

THE BATTLE CRY OF FLASHMAN: LOST FLASHMAN PAPERS

For Flashman Down Under, Flashman in the Opium War & Flashman and the Kings click HERE  Balladeer’s Blog moves on to another Harry Flashman adventure referred to but never completed before George MacDonald Fraser’s death.

Kevin Kline Flashman-type pic bigProjected Title: THE BATTLE CRY OF FLASHMAN

Time Period: Part of the United States Civil War

NOTE: The title is a play on the famous Civil War ballad The Battle Cry of Freedom. That title was also used for one of Bruce Catton’s examinations of the conflict.

The Story: Personally I think a collection of short stories would be the only way of reconciling all the scattered and varied references made to Flashman’s Civil War adventures in other novels. From those other Fraser writings we know that Harry somehow wound up serving on both sides of the war but ultimately won a Medal of Honor for his service in the Union Army.

Further complicating things is the fact that the author mentioned how Flashman left and re-entered the U.S. multiple times during the war after his initial involvement starting at some point in 1862.  Continue reading →

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August 18, 2018 · 5:15 pm

DYSTOPIA NATION: THE NEW COLONIALISM

FOR A LOOK AT MY PREVIOUS DYSTOPIA NATION POSTS CLICK HERE

Mascot sword and pistolTHE NEW COLONIALISM – Here’s another situation to embellish and extrapolate from in standard Dystopian Literature format. It’s the way that isolated, heavily-populated regions of pompous snobs, cowardly hypocrites and hilariously pretentious asses consider themselves the rulers of the entire rest of the nation.

Part of the inspiration for this installment came from the way Ben Franklin observed that – leading up to the Revolutionary War – even everyday citizens in Great Britain would snobbishly refer to Americans as “OUR subjects in the Colonies.”

That possibly apocryphal account easily puts one in mind of the snobbish way that Democrats pompously think they know how everyone else should live their lives. And if the people they consider to be THEIR “subjects” don’t agree, well, in the words of the fictional Darth Vader “Then they should be MADE to agree!” That’s the Democrats’ mantra. (I’m an Independent voter.)

mapAnyway, in our fictional future for this time around, the isolated areas of Democrat Supremacists or “Blue Meanies” began to panic as they felt their tyrannical grip on their “Colonies” slipping.

As far back as the early 21st Century the Democrat Supremacists had formed masked hate groups like Antifa – really KLAN-tifa – to inflict violence on dissenters.

The Dem-Sup control of the media, internet and film-making ensured that the only opinions that got wide-spread exposure were the opinions shared by millionaires. Dem-Sup contempt for the working class and the poor grew in direct proportion to the way in which the working class and the poor rejected the “One True Worldview” being forced upon them by Dem-Sup plutocrats.     Continue reading →

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August 17, 2018 · 11:17 pm

THE GOLDEN BAT (1966): FILM REVIEW

Golden Bat

The Golden Bat: the ugliest superhero in the world.

THE GOLDEN BAT (1966) – Ogon Batto is the name of this film in its native Japan. The movie was based on the title character, Japan’s very first comic book superhero who debuted in 1930. That 1930 date puts him years before Superman and Batman in the west!  

At any rate for the 1966 movie Japan’s perennial action star Sonny Chiba played the leader of a group of science-oriented commandos in what looked like aluminum foil suits. Chiba and his gang have fancy aircraft like England’s Thunderbirds and their debut mission finds them trying to save the Earth from collision with a rogue planet called Icarus.

Chiba’s outfit has constructed a giant laser cannon to destroy Icarus before it can reach our planet. Trouble is it needs a final component to be found only on a lost island. When Sonny Chiba’s Mighty Aluminum Foil Power Rangers explore the ancient city on that island they uncover the tomb of … the Golden Bat! Continue reading →

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August 17, 2018 · 8:53 am

KALTHAR: NEGLECTED SUPERHERO

Superhero movies continue to dominate at the box office, so Balladeer’s Blog figured it was time to look at another neglected comic book star: in this case Kalthar, from MLJ Publishing. FOR MY BIG LIST OF NEGLECTED MLJ SUPERHEROES CLICK HERE

KaltharKALTHAR THE GIANT MAN

Secret Identity: None. Kalthar is his real name. 

Origin: The father of the infant who would become known as Kalthar the Giant Man gave his life saving the Urgana African tribe from Muslim slave traders. To thank the dead hero for his role in keeping them free the Urgana people raised his infant son as one of their own and named the child Kalthar.

As he reached adulthood Kalthar formed a Tarzan-like bond with all the jungle animals around the Urganas’ Congo River locale. Kalthar so impressed Ta-Lo, the High Priest of the tribe, that the medicine man chose the adopted young man to receive the gift of the secret grains which Urgana medicine men discovered in the jungle. Those grains enabled Kalthar to grow to giant size and helped him battle evil-doers throughout Africa.     

First Appearance: Zip Comics number 1 (February 1940). His final Golden Age appearance came in 1941.

Powers: Continue reading →

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August 16, 2018 · 8:35 pm

JUST ONE WEEK TILL 2018 COLLEGE FOOTBALL BEGINS!

One week from today the 2018 college football season kicks off in the divisions covered here at Balladeer’s Blog. Some of the games scheduled for next Thursday night:

NAIA

Rocky Mountain CollegeThe 20th ranked ROCKY MOUNTAIN COLLEGE BATTLIN’ BEARS will be hosting the CARROLL (MT) COLLEGE FIGHTING SAINTS. It’s a risky opening week clash between two Frontier Conference teams.

southwestern assemblies of god helmetThe number 22 team in the nation, the SOUTHWESTERN ASSEMBLIES OF GOD UNIVERSITY LIONS, will take it on the road against the (RV) EVANGEL UNIVERSITY CRUSADERS. Crucial early season positioning is on the line in this battle.

Dakota State Trojans helmet NEWAt number 25 are the DAKOTA STATE TROJANS, who travel to face the DAKOTA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY TIGERS (should be the Blue Tigers). This matchup will be the Midco Sports Network’s Game of the Week. Continue reading →

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August 15, 2018 · 8:12 pm

AUGUST 15th: THE MOON GODDESS AND YI THE DIVINE ARCHER

 I.WHAT’S UP WITH YI?  – Yi the Divine Archer from Chinese mythology deserves to be remembered in one breath with some of the other great heroes and monster slayers from belief systems around the world. Most people are only familiar with his feat of shooting down multiple suns that appeared in the sky one day, but this article will provide a light- hearted look at all of his fantastic adventures. 

Yi is pronounced “Yee” according to some sources, but according to others it’s pronounced “EEE”, so you can insert your own Ned Beatty joke here. (Mine would go like this:  REDNECK: C’mon, ya fat little hog, what’s the name of the Divine Archer in Chinese mythology?    NED BEATTY: EEEEEE! )

Yi was of semi- divine birth, but since “Yi the Semi- Divine Archer” doesn’t have the same ring to it, we’ll stick to his better- known nickname. Yi performed most of his heroic feats for the Chinese ruler Yao, the godling son of the supreme deity Huang Di. Yao would be remembered as the first of the Three Sage Kings in Chinese legends.   

2. OFF- BROADWAY – Two of Yi’s earliest adventures after reaching manhood presented him with the weapons he would be most associated with forever after. Yi saved the people of Yao’s kingdom from a monstrous tiger, from whose bones he carved his indestructible bow. Conveniently his next adventure involved slaying a rogue dragon, from whose tendons he crafted thousands of unbreakable shafts, then affixed arrowheads and feathers to the two ends.  Continue reading →

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August 15, 2018 · 12:02 am

ANOTHER AFRICAN-AMERICAN LEADER PREDICTS TRUMP WILL BE “THE MOST PRO-BLACK PRESIDENT OF OUR LIFETIME” … PLUS MORE

Hillary Clinton Russian Probe backfireROGER SIMON SUMMARIZES HOW THE “RUSSIAN COLLUSION” NONSENSE KEEPS INCRIMINATING HILLARY AND OBAMA, NOT TRUMP – Roger, like me, used to be a Democrat, but that party’s descent into fascism and worse drove him away, too. Here is his excellent look at how Obama thoroughly politicized America’s already disgusting Intelligence Agencies and how it’s all coming out now. CLICK HERE

DON’T FORGET MEWE.COM, GAB.AI and INFOGALACTIC.COM ARE EXCELLENT ALTERNATIVES TO THE INCREASINGLY UGLY YOUTUBE, FACEBOOK AND WIKIPEDIA.

Darrell ScottANOTHER AFRICAN-AMERICAN LEADER PREDICTS DONALD TRUMP WILL BE “THE MOST PRO-BLACK PRESIDENT OF OUR LIFETIME” – It’s Darrell Scott, yet another figure of color praising President Trump. I seriously cannot keep up with all the African-Americans courageously pointing out how Trump has done more for them than the Democrats have in decades. (Hence the Democrats’ increasingly frantic attempts to smear the Donald as a racist).

UPDATE: AND THE LATEST RASMUSSEN POLL HAS TRUMP AT 36% APPROVAL AMONG AFRICAN-AMERICAN VOTERS (Up from the previous 29%), AN ASTRONOMICAL FIGURE FOR SOMEONE WITH AN (R) AFTER THEIR NAME. This must be why the ugly Bush Family and Paul Ryan and his ilk hate Trump – he’s attracting a wealth of Voters of Color to the GOP, formerly known as the party of stuffy white guys in suits.

AND SPEAKING OF CORPORATE MEDIA LIES ABOUT PRESIDENT TRUMP – The Chronicle of Higher Education’s own statistics verify that in the 2016 election Trump outdid career criminal Hillary Clinton by getting votes from 49% of college educated whites to Hillary’s 45% of them. I love it!  I EXPECTED TO HATE TRUMP, BUT HE HAS CONFOUNDED AMERICA’S CORRUPT POLITICAL ESTABLISHMENT IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS.

And he has saved the economy while doing more for the working class and the poor than any other president in my lifetime. I will not ignore that just because the corporate media hates him and distorts everything he says and does. 

WE NEED THIRD PARTIES! TRUMP IS, AFTER ALL, A DE FACTO THIRD PARTY PRESIDENT. 

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August 14, 2018 · 8:56 pm

THE POLICE: DE DO DO DO, DE DA DA DA

Balladeer’s Blog’s bit Give Them A Shoutout Before They’re Dead returns with this shoutout to the Police and their song De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da – The lyrics are more relevant than ever.  

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August 13, 2018 · 9:13 pm

SHARK GOD OF FIJI: NDAKUWANG-GA

For more than 20 other gods from Fiji see my blog post HERE 

Ndakuwang gaNDAKUWANG-GA – The chief shark god of Fiji. Ndakuwang-Ga established his preeminence by defeating in battle all the other shark deities which guarded particular islands. The only figure to ever beat Ndakuwang-Ga in combat was the octopus god of Kandavu Island. For centuries fishermen from there were considered immune to any and all shark attacks.

Though Ndakuwang-Ga mostly travels in the form of a shark his true form is that of a handsome, muscular Fijian man. His tattoos reveal his godly nature. 

Just as a rainbow on land is attributed to the supreme deity Ndengei a rainbow at sea is credited to Ndakuwang-Ga. Supposedly this shark god and all his subordinate shark deities take the thighs of all their human victims to the reef near Yandua for the shark-priests to retrieve and eat. 

The cycle of myths involving Ndakuwang-Ga features countless instances of him saving his worshippers from sinking ships at sea by letting them ride his back to shore. A reverse of that situation involved a canoe-full of Fijians from Yasawa who paddled to an island rich with coconuts, this deity’s favorite offering. The travelers failed to give any to the shark-god so in revenge he overturned their canoe and devoured all but their leader. That man was condemned to labor for eternity at Nathawa, Yandua,  making and serving coconut offerings to Ndakuwang-Ga. Continue reading →

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