Tag Archives: blogging

September 14, 2020 · 12:23 pm

MALDOROR 2:4 – THE MIDNIGHT OMNIBUS

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror.

THE MIDNIGHT OMNIBUS

Midnight strikes in Paris. An eerie double-decker horse-drawn omnibus bursts forth from the ground and begins making its way through the nearly empty, night-darkened streets.

A few late night wayfarers regard the unusual omnibus with a shudder as it goes by. The vehicle carries the full passenger load of twenty-four but all of the travelers on the upper deck appear to be lifeless corpses leaned against each other.

The top-hatted driver looks like another corpse, and the whip he uses to urge on his horses seems more alive than he is. That whip appears to be what animates the arm of the otherwise lifeless driver, not the other way around. Even the passengers on the inner deck remain mute and still and are likewise as pale as ghosts.   Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under Halloween Season, Maldoror

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

September 13, 2020 · 3:21 pm

COLLEGE FOOTBALL RESULTS FROM SEPTEMBER 12th

NAIA

Warner Memorial U Royals helmetCOMEBACK KIDS – The WARNER UNIVERSITY ROYALS hosted the WEBBER INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY WARRIORS yesterday. The Royals were chasing the Warriors 3-0 to end the 1st Quarter and 10-3 come Halftime. Late in the 3rd Quarter Warner University tied things up at 10-10 before finishing off Webber International in the 4th by a final score of 24-17.

Dordt College DefendersDYNAMIC DEFENDERS – The DORDT COLLEGE DEFENDERS took it on the road against the MIDLAND UNIVERSITY WARRIORS (should be the Lutherans). Neither team scored in the first 12 and a half minutes of the opening Quarter but the Defenders were on top 14-0 before the 2nd Quarter got underway. At the Half Dordt College was up 14-7 and 16-7 to end the 3rd. From there the Defenders won out 22-14. 

Dickinson State Blue Hawks helmet NEWAG BOWL – The 5th Annual Ag Bowl pitted the DICKINSON STATE BLUE HAWKS against the DAKOTA STATE TROJANS. A 14-7 1st Quarter lead for the Blue Hawks became a 14-14 tie by the midpoint of the game. After the break Dickinson State led the Trojans 20-14 in the 3rd Quarter, then carried through with a 26-14 triumph. Continue reading →

9 Comments

Filed under college football

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

September 12, 2020 · 11:16 pm

DEMOCRATS AND CORPORATE FASCISM

Democrat rat

    DEMOCRAT PARTY

Since my contempt for both of America’s major political parties is well known, some overseas readers have asked me to explain the Democrats’ mastery of Corporate Fascism.

Let’s start with the basics – long ago corporate fascists and other bloated rich pigs tended to gravitate toward the Republicans. However, the clueless Republican leadership understands nothing but money, while the Democrats understand power and its use.

Money follows power, so corporate fascists therefore naturally gravitated more and more to the Democrats, who not only get the corporate fascists what they want but manage to make them look civic-minded in the process. Conversely, if rich pigs don’t play ball with the Democrat fascists the Democrats use their media outlets to smear those rich pigs to the point of ruin.

Take the NFL, MLB and NBA for starters. Years ago the national conversation about brain-dead professional athletes was dominated by scandals about the use of performance-enhancing drugs, cheating, law-breaking, fixing and ESPECIALLY violence against women. Mostly domestic abuse and rape. The NFL was also facing endless problems due to the concussion issue and its possible negligence. 

Years down the road, we see that as long as the NFL, MLB, NBA and others are willing to become louder and louder shills for the Democrats’ pet issues of the moment those negatives like domestic abuse don’t get discussed much – if at all – anymore. It’s another way the buffoonish Republican leadership’s failure to keep up with the Democrats in the Media Arms Race leads to defeats in other arenas.

At present the NBA in particular is down there with scum like I.G. Farben since the NBA is in bed with the Chinese Concentration Camps and the slave labor used to make NBA merchandise. But the Democrats’ media outlets provide cover for the NBA since that league is basically a Democrat Campaign Organization now.

Nike and Disney have their own horrific ties to Chinese Concentration Camps and slave labor but the Democrats’ media outlets provide cover for Nike and Disney since they own many Democrats in office. 

Democrat fascismBack to athletics, Corporate Sports don’t just publicize the issues the Democrats want publicized they even advocate for or condemn particular political candidates now. Democrats who get elected with the aid of such support are not likely to pass legislation hurting their corporate fascist allies in the major sports franchises.

Another way that Corporate Sports help the Democrats is by circumventing political contribution laws. Say the Democrats’ media outlets pump up interest in a particular issue. The corporate fascists of the corporate sports world can “donate” countless MILLIONS of dollars to organizations which the Democrat media outlets promote as “socially concerned” organizations fighting for “positive change.”

Those allegedly socially concerned organizations can funnel many of those funds to Democrat politicians by way of third and fourth party organizations pretending to be “non-partisan” and socially conscious. Continue reading →

27 Comments

Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

September 11, 2020 · 11:43 pm

LONDON: NEGLECTED SUPERHERO FROM WORLD WAR TWO

This blog post was requested by several readers of Balladeer’s Blog. They loved the concept of Jerry Robinson’s Golden Age character from Lev Gleason’s publications and wanted to know more about him, so here is a look at ALL the stories in his sadly brief run. 

London picLONDON

Origin: While covering the Blitz during World War Two, suave newscaster Marc Holmes decided that his fellow Brits needed extra inspiration to maintain their spirit of defiance against the Nazis. He adopted the costumed identity of London and battled Axis Agents.

Powers: London was in the peak of human condition and excelled at unarmed combat. He also possessed the agility of an Olympic gymnast. In addition, this hero was a crack shot with the handgun he carried.

Daredevil 2STORY ONE – Daredevil Comics #2 (August 1941)

Title: London

Synopsis: Despite this being the very first published adventure of the superhero called London, the story establishes that he is already well-known from his escapades during the actual Blitz, September 1940 to May 1941. In his secret identity of Marc Holmes, our main character plugs his alter ego’s heroics during his nightly radio broadcasts.

mascot sword and gun picMeanwhile, Dian, a fictional niece of Winston Churchill escapes a Concentration Camp in Nazi-occupied Holland with a dissident educator named Franz. When the pair arrive in the city of London their escape is covered by Marc Holmes, an old friend of the niece and of Churchill.

Under cover of a blackout during a Luftwaffe bombing raid, Churchill himself is kidnapped by the treacherous Franz and some fellow spies. Our hero London battles and captures a few of the spies but three of them get away with the Prime Minister still their captive. Continue reading →

20 Comments

Filed under Superheroes

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

September 11, 2020 · 2:07 am

ANNUAL SEPTEMBER 11th POST

Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog, the Open City of America, takes a look at a parallel Earth today. As usual this is the only site on the ‘net that is truly non-partisan in its criticism of Democrats and Republicans. WE NEED THIRD PARTIES.

Several years ago a big deal was made over whether or not the 9-11 attacks could have been prevented by greater coordination between elements of the forever corrupt intelligence community. Amid the predictable partisan bickering and childish finger- pointing that characterized the 9-11 Commission and its findings an important consideration was overlooked.

That consideration was how events would have unfolded if the attacks had actually been thwarted. Let’s take a quick look at both the Democrat idiocy and the Republican idiocy that would have followed. 

THE DEMOCRAT IDIOCY – 

*** Democrats always feel that the only officially “intellectual” thing to do is to take sides against one’s own country no matter what the situation is. I agree there are plenty of times when reasonable people WILL take sides against their own country, but with American Democrats the rest of us have learned to just yawn and listen with amusement while they twist logic as severely as they have to in order to stick to their apparent loyalty to “everyone who hates America, right or wrong.”

*** The sheer unlikelihood of the 9-11 attacks would have served as the springboard for the Democrats’ attack on the opposition party’s intelligence services foiling those attacks. (And remember, I despise George W Bush, so this is NOT a defense of him.)

Mascot donkey and elephant heads pic

*** Democrats would have scoffed at the notion that the attacks could have ever succeeded. They would have ridiculed that possibility and made remarks like: “So the Bush administration would have us believe that this perfectly charming Mr Mohamed Atta and his friends would have succeeded in multiple plane hijackings and then, with the minimal pilot training they had, manage to fly those planes with pinpoint accuracy into the World Trade Center towers! Where- EVER does that cowboy in the White House get such notions?” 

*** The default argument of all Democrats is that the only people in the world that are irredeemably evil are Americans and they feel it is bigotry to ever suspect anyone else of any ugly intentions. They would have insisted the intelligence services nabbed Atta and his accomplices based solely on “xenophobic” or “racist” or “Islamophobic” assumptions. They’d have insisted it was “A Sacco and Vanzetti story for the 21st Century.” 

( By the way, if you’re not sure if you’re an American Democrat or not here’s a quick guide: If you’re condescendingly assuming that other people won’t understand the Sacco and Vanzetti reference then you just might be an American Democrat!)

Continue reading →

10 Comments

Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, opinion

Tagged as , , , , , , , , ,

September 8, 2020 · 1:38 pm

MALDOROR THIRTEEN: THE GREAT TOAD ANGEL

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror.

THE GREAT TOAD-ANGEL 

Maldoror 13This stanza opens up with the supernatural being Maldoror contemplating the worms he pulls from the swollen belly of a dead dog. Slicing the worms into small bits he philosophizes on how human beings should learn a lesson about their own mortality from the state of such dead, worm-riddled bodies. 

Night is falling. In the distance he spies a horse-sized toad with white wings flying down from the sky and landing on the road he is traveling. As the two draw nearer to each other Maldoror senses something familiar about the creature and reflects that its face is “as beautiful as suicide”. He resents the being over how beautiful it looks even in its massive ugliness and the halo over the toad’s head tells him it has come from Heaven and his archrival God.  Continue reading →

10 Comments

Filed under Halloween Season, Maldoror

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

September 7, 2020 · 5:52 pm

CIVIL RIGHTS ICON CLARENCE HENDERSON SAYS TRUMP HAS DONE MORE FOR BLACK AMERICANS IN FOUR YEARS THAN BIDEN HAS IN FIFTY

Clarence HendersonCivil Rights Icon Clarence Henderson added his voice to those of other Martin Luther King People of Courage in praising de facto Third Party President Donald Trump’s accomplishments for black Americans.

Trump never called racist til running against DemocratsHe also contrasted Trump’s successful record with Joe Biden’s abysmal record on the same issues.

Henderson reminded voters that Trump gave a record amount of funding to HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), created a record amount of jobs for the black community, and passed criminal justice reform through the First Step Act where 91 percent of the inmates released were black. 

trump rosa parks and muhammad ali“These achievements demonstrate that Donald Trump truly cares about black lives. His policies show his heart.”

His praise of President Trump and his policies continued – 

“He has done more for black Americans in four years than Joe Biden has done in 50!” Henderson said. Continue reading →

4 Comments

Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

September 7, 2020 · 3:35 am

THREE LABOR DAY MOVIES

The Labor Day Holiday is taking on greater significance the more that the white collar criminals called Democrats and Republicans sell out the working class. Bought and paid for office-holders are content to screw over the working class.

MatewanMATEWAN (1987) – This John Sayles film examines the 1920 Matewan Massacre in the West Virginia coal fields. The workers were attempting to form a union and the owners – the kind of people that the one percenters’ beloved New York Times has proclaimed to be “the conscience of the country” used hired thugs to harass – and even kill – the laborers.

On top of that the owners planned to bring in replacement workers who would work for less money and would not expect “luxuries” like worker safety measures and the like. Continue reading →

22 Comments

Filed under Neglected History, opinion

Tagged as , , , , , , , , ,

September 6, 2020 · 12:39 am

THE FIRST TWENTY HULK STORIES FROM THE 1960s

I could never do enough superhero posts to keep up with the demand! Here is another one combining my Top Twenty for 2020 theme – the first 20 Incredible Hulk stories from the 1960s.

Hulk 1THE INCREDIBLE HULK Vol 1 #1 (May 1962)

Title: The Hulk

Villain: The Gargoyle (Yuri Topolov)

Synopsis: In the desert far outside Desert Base in the American Southwest, Dr Bruce Banner’s creation – the first Gamma Radiation Bomb – is being tested. General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross keeps leaning on Bruce to hurry with his preparations while his daughter, Bruce’s girlfriend Betty Ross, tries to calm him down. 

mascot sword and gun picShortly before the bomb can be set off, Banner sees through his binoculars that a teenager (Rick Jones) has driven into the dangerous area on a dare. He tells his assistant Igor Drenkov to halt the countdown but Drenkov, a Soviet Agent, spitefully decides not to. Bruce gets Rick Jones to a bunker just in time but is caught in the Gamma Bomb’s explosion himself.

Rick gets Banner back to Desert Base where they pretend Bruce also got to the bunker in time since Bruce doesn’t trust others to study the Gamma Radiation’s effect on him. That night Dr Banner transforms into a huge, hate-filled gray (yes, gray) monster. Continue reading →

28 Comments

Filed under Superheroes

Tagged as , , , , , , , , ,

September 5, 2020 · 12:06 am

JOE MAGARAC: NEGLECTED AMERICAN FOLK HERO

Joe MagaracLabor Day weekend is the appropriate time to post this look at neglected working class folk hero Joe Magarac. This figure was the Steel Mill equivalent of Paul Bunyan and John Henry.

Though mostly associated with Polish-American steel workers in Pittsburgh, PA the general figure of a literal “man of steel” helping and protecting his coworkers can be found from the East Coast through the American Midwest. Sometimes the figure is Croatian or some other ethnicity instead of Polish. 

Written versions of Joe Magarac and/or similar steel worker tall tales seem to have started around 1930 or 1931. Oral legends about such figures – but not specifically Joe Magarac – have been dated as early as the 1890s.

Vintage advertisements from tattered old newspapers indicate that such Man of Steel imagery may have been used for the steel industry prior to World War One. This “Which came first, the chicken or the egg” dilemma for Joe Magarac and other Steel Men puts one in mind of the quandary surrounding Billiken lore.        

Joe Magarac statueAs a lame play on words since this is Labor Day season I’ll present Joe Magarac’s origin and then depict his tales as “Labors” like in The Labors of Hercules.

BIRTH – Joe Magarac supposedly sprang into existence from a mound of iron ore and – depending on the version – that mound was either in Pittsburgh or the Old Country. Magarac emerged from the melting mound fully grown and spoke broken English like so many of the other Polish steel workers. He was called into being by the urgent need to catch up on production since the current shift had fallen dangerously behind.

Joe was 7 or 8 feet tall, his flesh was like solid steel, his torso was as wide as a smoke-stack and his arms were as thick as railroad ties. His surname Magarac meant “mule” in the workhorse sense, referring to his stamina. Joe’s appetite was such that he carried his lunch in a washtub instead of a standard lunch box.

Magarac’s favorite leisure time activity was polka-dancing and halushkis were his favorite food.

THE LABORS OF JOE MAGARAC:   Continue reading →

13 Comments

Filed under Mythology, Neglected History

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,