Tag Archives: blogging

July 1, 2020 · 2:27 pm

SACRED HONOR: QUICK FACTS ABOUT THE SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

The big names among the signers of the Declaration of Independence get all the attention they need, so Balladeer’s Blog will be spreading the love to ALL the signers in this article.

NOTE FOR CERTAIN IMBECILES: THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION MENTIONED BELOW HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MUCH LATER CONFEDERACY! THEY WERE SIGNED IN THE 1780s … IDIOTS.

CONNECTICUT –

1. Samuel Huntington – Served as president of the Continental Congress from 1779 to 1781. After the war served as Connecticut’s Chief Justice and then Governor.

###2. Roger Sherman – In addition to signing the Declaration he also signed the Articles of Association, the Articles of Confederation AND the U.S. Constitution.   ###  

3. William Williams – Used his own money to finance various Connecticut Militia units and allowed American and later French troops to quarter in his home.  

###   4. Oliver Wolcott – Went on to serve as a Major General and led his forces against British Loyalists who were launching raids along the Connecticut Coastline. He also served in the Long Island and Saratoga campaigns.

DELAWARE –

1. Thomas McKean – Despite being from Delaware he led the military unit called the Pennsylvania Associators (talk about a name guaranteed to strike fear into the hearts of the enemy) during Washington’s ultimately futile defense of New York City. When the British were moving through Delaware McKean had to move his family five times to keep them out of the Red Coats’ clutches. Continue reading →

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June 30, 2020 · 7:00 pm

DEMOCRAT VOTE FRAUD SCANDALS IN NEW JERSEY AND WISCONSIN

democrat-vote-fraudWE NEED THIRD PARTIES! The Democrats have AGAIN been caught in one of those many vote fraud scandals – including MAIL-IN VOTE FRAUD – that they forever pretend don’t exist. (Links below) Mail-in voting on a large scale would mean this November’s results would not be trustworthy given the potential for even more fraud. 

ONE IN FIVE BALLOTS WERE INVOLVED!

Meanwhile in Wisconsin, the Democrats lost in court again so literally THOUSANDS of dead or otherwise ineligible figures were FINALLY removed from the voter rolls. (Link below) For people who insist there’s no vote fraud, Democrats spend a lot of time fighting to keep it from being corrected. Continue reading →

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June 30, 2020 · 12:11 am

THE FIRST TWENTY AVENGERS STORIES FROM THE 1960s

As always, Balladeer’s Blog listens to you readers! You wanted a look at the first twenty Avengers stories similar to my recent look at the first twenty Captain America stories from the 1940s, so here we go:

Avengers 1THE AVENGERS Vol 1 #1 (September 1963)

Title: The Coming of the Avengers

Villain: Loki

Synopsis: Loki sits imprisoned on the Isle of Silence in Asgard. He cannot leave but is determined to get revenge on his archenemy Thor. Sending his astral body to Earth/ Midgard he uses an illusion spell to trick the Hulk into seeming to destroy a railroad line.  

           Rick Jones, just an ordinary teenager back then, is still the Hulk’s friend and wants to round up superheroes to corral the Hulk before the army moves in and possibly kills the green-skinned brute. He and his fellow Ham Radio Operators (LMAO), called the Teen Brigade, send out a radio summons.

           Loki arranges for Thor’s secret identity of Dr Donald Blake to hear the message, but the radio waves are also picked up by Tony Stark/ Iron Man (in his original clunky armor) as well as Ant-Man (Hank Pym, PhD) and his crime-fighting partner the Wasp (Janet Van Dyne).

           While Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp battle the Hulk, Thor suspects Loki’s involvement when an illusory image of the Hulk is used to lure him to the site of the ongoing fight. Thor flies to Asgard and tries to reach the Isle of Silence but must overcome Rock Trolls, Frost Giants and Silent Ones set upon him by Loki. Continue reading →

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June 29, 2020 · 1:50 pm

THE TYRANNICIDE: COMMERCE RAIDER OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

TyrannicideThe Fourth of July is fast approaching! Balladeer’s Blog presents another seasonal post in honor of that upcoming holiday.

THE TYRANNICIDE – I can’t think of a better name for a ship serving as either a commerce raider or a privateer in the Revolutionary War. What makes the Tyrannicide one of my favorite plunder vessels of our rebellion against Great Britain is the name, its exploits and the fact that it was launched from Salisbury, MA on July 8th, making it about as close as you could get to America’s national birthday.  

This ship, crewed by 75 men, was a 14-cannon sloop which preyed on British targets from July of 1776 until August 14th, 1779. After its launch from the Salisbury Naval Shipyard the Tyrannicide made Salem, MA its homeport.  

The Tyrannicide wasted no time, battling the HMS Dispatch on July 12th. The Dispatch boasted 20 cannons but after an hour & a half battle fell to Tyrannicide under its first Captain, John Fisk. The raider towed this prize into Salem by July 17th and soon set out for more.  

August of 1776 saw the ship working the waters off Cape Sable and Nantucket. During that time three more prizes fell to Tyrannicide – the Glasgow, the Saint John and the Three Brothers. Continue reading →

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June 28, 2020 · 11:06 pm

JOE BIDEN: STILL LYING AND STEALING AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

Joe Biden is creepyLaughing at Joe Biden is ALWAYS the best medicine! Here’s a little levity to end the weekend. Now, I know compared to Joe Biden’s sleazy trail of modern-day lies and corruption plus running a crime family guilty of influence peddling, his plagiarism scandals and ridiculous lies about his academic qualifications may seem trivial. But they’re STILL funny! See below.

And please note how much more professional and honest the news people were back then, not giving Biden a pass just because he’s a Democrat. People back then at least tried to be actual journalists. 

https://twitter.com/i/status/1222684242364289030

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June 27, 2020 · 9:34 pm

REVOLUTIONARY WAR BATTLES BEFORE THE FOURTH OF JULY

 Balladeer’s Blog as usual will be marking the USA’s upcoming birthday with a series of holiday-themed posts. Since we get overexposed to the Battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775 and the actual signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 I will instead stay true to my blog’s theme and focus on the action in between April 19th, 1775 and early July 1776.

May 10th, 1775 – The British Fort Ticonderoga in New York is seized in what would today be called a Special Forces raid by Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, who beat other American forces to the valuable military prize. Allen and his men had the advantage of being an organized body under arms for quite a long time because they were originally formed to fight for the independence of what is now the state of Vermont (“Green Mountain”).

           They had been an active guerilla force fighting for Vermont’s right to be an independent entity rather than part of the Hampshire Grants being fought over by New York and New Hampshire. Their secret headquarters was the Catamount Tavern which is why the University of Vermont’s sports teams are called the Catamounts. 

May 12th, 1775 – Crown Point, NY is taken by American forces in another early but forgotten action. 

May 16th – Benedict Arnold’s ultimately ill-fated invasion of Canada sees its first action as his forces besiege  St John. Among Arnold’s troops are Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys and Daniel Morgan’s Kentucky Rifles, a unit that will see impressive action throughout the entire war, from Canada to the Deep South.  Continue reading →

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June 27, 2020 · 5:00 am

PULP HERO G-8 AND HIS BATTLE ACES: STORIES ONE TO THREE

Bat Staffel bigBalladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the neglected Pulp Hero G-8. This marks the beginning of a story-by- story look at the adventures of this World War One American fighter pilot who – along with his two wingmen the Battle Aces – took on various supernatural and super- scientific menaces thrown at the Allied Powers by the Central Powers of Germany, Austria- Hungary and the Ottoman Muslim Turks.

G-8 was created by Robert J Hogan in 1933 when World War One was still being called simply the World War or the Great War. Over the next eleven years Hogan wrote 110 stories featuring the adventures of G-8, the street-smart pug Nippy Weston and the brawny giant Bull Martin. Our hero – whose real name was never revealed – served as an aerial commando and spy as well as a sort of Indiana Jones/ Brisco County Junior figure against his archenemy Doktor Krueger and a host of other mad scientists, aliens and monsters that the Central Powers had up their sleeve.

The regular cast was rounded out by Battle, G-8’s British manservant and by our hero’s girlfriend R-1: an American nurse/ spy whose real name, like G-8’s was never revealed. 

Bat Staffel1. THE BAT STAFFEL (Oct 1933) – This debut adventure of G-8 and his Battle Aces (Bull Martin and Nippy Weston) featured their very first clash with Germany’s brilliant mad scientist Doktor Krueger (Freddy’s ancestor no doubt). During one of their aerial commando raids on a Top Secret German installation our heroes discover that Doktor Krueger has harnessed the power of an entire flock of gigantic plane-sized bats who breathe a deadly gas that kills human beings upon exposure, shriveling them up until they are nothing but powder.

G-8 and the Battle Aces escape to warn the Allies what they will soon be up against and are sent back on a daring, desperate mission to nip this bizarre menace in the bud before the giant bats and their “halitosis of death” can turn the tide of the war. Ultimately G-8 and his wingmen wind up inside an enormous cavern which houses the flock of gigantic bats. In a showdown with Doktor Krueger they learn that the bats are really just gigantic android creations of the good doctor, who also developed the deadly gas that the constructs “breathe”. Continue reading →

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June 26, 2020 · 3:06 pm

JOE BIDEN: ANOTHER HILARIOUS DISASTER

Biden art of the feelTHANK YOU TO THE BERNIE BROS WHO POINTED OUT THIS VIDEO TO ME. In reality, people who hated Trump 6 months ago still hate him and people who liked him 6 months ago still like him. The Democrats and their media outlets love to subject us to the same Trump-haters over and over again, pretending it means something. Their “polling” from Harvard/ Harris claimed a 12 point lead for Hidin’ Biden over de facto Third Party President Donald Trump.

When you dig for the hard data – which pollsters fight giving up because it reveals their prejudices – we see that the poll sampled 1,868 voters, 34% Democrats, 33% Independents and 22% Republicans. SO: They sampled 12% FEWER Republicans than Democrats and, coincidentally enough, their poll showed Biden UP by roughly 12%. Gee, how authentic.

Biden papersMeanwhile, Senile Joe Biden emerged from his bunker once again for a tightly-controlled event AND STILL BLEW IT, YET AGAIN! Watch as the demented fool claims that 120 MILLION Americans have died from the Coronavirus, then, wonderfully, the screen glitches on the “D’OH!” look Joe got on his face when he realized his stupidity. Biden and his people cannot run small campaign events, let alone the country. Watch the whole video.  

Joe Biden’s disastrous series of appearances under the most gentle circumstances are a reminder of how he and his staff lack fundamental competence and BERNIE SANDERS may well have won the nomination if the Democrat power brokers hadn’t stolen it from him to hand it to Biden.

Joe Biden senileRegarding the actual 2020 campaign, it is still anybody’s race, but the Democrats are trying to intimidate the nation with their rioting and their disastrous “autonomous zones.” And their push for mail-in voting everywhere is obviously so that they can insist that “all the votes haven’t been counted yet.” This lets them see how many votes they need to win certain states and, as we’ve seen in the past, Democrat-run areas will MIRACULOUSLY find enough “uncounted” votes to reach those levels.

But until then, remember the Democrats want to defund the police and their hot new childish chant is “Every city, every town, burn the precinct to the ground.”

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June 25, 2020 · 8:24 pm

THE FIRST TWENTY CAPTAIN AMERICA STORIES IN THE 1940s

Balladeer’s Blog’s readers always remind me that they can’t get enough superhero articles, so here we go again. With the Fourth of July Holiday coming up, I figured I’d look at the earliest stories of the Timely Comics (later called Marvel Comics) red, white & blue hero Captain America.

Captain America 1CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS Vol 1 #1 (March 1941)

Story 1: Meet Captain America

Villains: Assorted Nazi saboteurs

Synopsis: Voluntary guinea pig Steve Rogers is subjected to the Top Secret Super-Soldier Treatment and becomes Captain America. With his trusty shield, Cap defeats Nazi saboteurs up and down the East Coast, becoming a media sensation. At Camp Lehigh, army mascot James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes walks in on Private Steve Rogers switching from his uniform to his Captain America costume.

Cap agrees to risk the teen’s life by making him his costumed sidekick.

Captain America OneStory 2: Case Number 2

Villains: Sando and Omar

Synopsis: Steve Rogers and J.B. Barnes are stationed now at Fort Bix. With the help of FBI Agent Betsy Ross (yes, Betsy Ross) they become involved in the case of stage psychics Sando and Omar. Sando uses psychic powers to cause the mentally challenged Omar to “see” (really produce) visions in a crystal ball depicting disasters occurring, the first night at Fort Bix, the next night at a nearby bridge.

           The disasters really occur, and Captain America, Bucky and Betsy eventually expose Sando as Nazi Agent Sando Von Krantz, a probable mutant who used his psychic powers to fill his stooge Omar’s mind with the disasters shown in the crystal ball. Somehow Omar’s powers caused those disasters to come true. (Hey, it’s a comic book.) Sando and Omar are captured, and Betsy pleads for mercy for the simple-minded Omar.

Story 3: The Soldiers’ Soup Continue reading →

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June 24, 2020 · 10:00 pm

INSPECTOR LIPINZKI (1973): RIVALS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

Rivals of Sherlock Holmes otherFor Balladeer’s Blog’s review of the first episode of this 1971-1973 series about London by Gaslight detectives from both the Victorian and Edwardian Ages you can simply click HERE   

Five Hundred CaratsEpisode: FIVE HUNDRED CARATS (February 5th, 1973)

Detective: Inspector Leo Lipinzki of Kimberley, South Africa, a figure created by American author George Griffith. The first Inspector Lipinzki story was published in 1893.

Synopsis: We are now in the second and final season of The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes. In addition to his many “ancient” science fiction stories – reviewed previously here at Balladeer’s Blog – George Griffith also wrote the eight Inspector Lipinzki stories, which were later collected in the book Knaves of Diamonds in 1899.

Inspector Lipinzki leftFor the first time in this series we have a story set outside Great Britain, which I found to be a welcome change of pace. Leo Lipinzki (Barry Keegan) works as a Detective Inspector for the Cape Police, but technically the already wealthy and powerful De Beers Diamond Corporation is who he really answers to.

Virtually all the murders, thefts and other crimes that Lipinzki investigates stem from IDB – Illicit Diamond Buying – amid the busy diamond mines and other establishments of South Africa. (And if you read the Inspector Lipinzki stories you’ll see that the acronym “IDB” is used ad nauseum.)

The episode Five Hundred Carats opens up with a murder that we eventually learn ties into the brilliant, seemingly impossible theft of the Great De Beers Diamond. Though in the original story George Griffith presented it as if the Inspector himself was relating the case to him, The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes substitutes the fictional “Mr Cornelius” (Alan Tilvern), an American diamond buyer, for Griffith. Continue reading →

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