DEMOCRAT PARTY
WE NEED THIRD PARTIES! And we need for even more of us former Democrats to #WALKAWAY from that divisive and destructive organization. Congressional Democrats decided to ignore what HAD been a bipartisan relief package regarding the Chinese Coronavirus and instead play their usual political games.
Even the Democrats at the New York Times pointed out in their headlines how the Democrats had scuttled this package.
I didn’t think I could still be surprised by the depths the Democrats will sink to but they proved me wrong. This revives the often-asked question about Congressional Democrats: Are they vermin or are they just large clumps of bacteria sculpted into human form? Continue reading
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – This title tilt pitted the top seeds – the SANDHILLS COLLEGE FLYERS – against the 2nd seeded MOHAWK VALLEY COLLEGE HAWKS (should be the Mohawks). The Flyers were chasing the Hawks 50-47 at Halftime but came from behind in the 2nd Half to win the game 93-89. Sayaun Dent led Sandhills College with 27 points. * THE FLYERS ARE CHAMPIONS OF THE NJCAA DIVISION THREE TOURNAMENT * 
ROUND ONE: CNU VS CC – The CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT UNIVERSITY CAPTAINS did battle with the COLBY COLLEGE WHITE MULES. The Captains embarrassed the White Mules in the 1st Half, leading them 32-17 by the break. From there Christopher Newport University stayed out in front all the way for a 74-64 triumph. Adrian Beasley and Luther Gibbs led the Captains with 13 points each. 
ROUND ONE: WPI VS YU – In this game the YESHIVA UNIVERSITY MACCABEES played the WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE ENGINEERS. The Maccabees put up 51 points in each Half, leading the Engineers 51-30 at the midpoint, then winning by a Century Club-level score of 102-78. Ryan Turell notched FORTY-ONE points to lead Yeshiva University. 
Reader Daniel Kibblesmith requested this item about how I’d treat an expanded universe from Robert Ludlum’s espionage novels. Here at Balladeer’s Blog I’m about responding to you readers. I had sprinkled my reviews of Robert Ludlum’s Top Seven Novels with observations of what I would have liked to see in terms of offshoots or spin-off stories. So, since Expanded Universes are becoming all the rage in recent decades here’s an outline of my fan fiction-style view of an Expanded Robert Ludlum Universe.
I. BEOWULF AGATE – Series of short stories or a made for cable series. The tales would be set from the 1950s to late 1970s, ending just before the events in The Matarese Circle. Ludlum’s fictional intelligence organization Consular Operations would take center stage.
II. OPERATION: MEDUSA – Another series of short stories or a made for cable series. Ludlum’s Operation: Medusa was his fictional version of the Vietnam War’s real-life Phoenix Project. Operation: Medusa was the top-secret, paramilitary Black Operations outfit in which David Webb aka Jason Bourne got his first covert experience. 
ECLIPSE MONTHLY Vol 1 #4 (January 1984) 
Synopsis: Writer and artist B.C. Boyer was wearing his Will Eisner hat more flamboyantly than ever this time around in a tale that piles on the comic relief with a shovel. 
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – A tournament that was basically all chalk came to a close in the expected way – with the top seeded TRINITY BAPTIST COLLEGE EAGLES facing the 2 seeds – the BLUE LIGHTS COLLEGE OF APEX THOROUGHBREDS. The game was a real thriller, but in the end the Eagles outdid the Thoroughbreds for an 84-76 victory. * THE EAGLES ARE BIBLE COLLEGE NIT CHAMPIONS * 
WE NEED THIRD PARTIES. Independent voter site Balladeer’s Blog remains the only place on the web that criticizes both of America’s major political parties equally. Some Democrat politicians – even Ilhan Omar – are bravely crossing party lines to praise the Trump administration’s coronavirus efforts. 
Even now the worthless corporate media fixates on calling people racist for correctly saying “Chinese Coronavirus” and ignoring the way there is no condemnatory intent behind such labels. SPANISH Flu, GERMAN measles, etc. Even the Democrats at CNN have called it the “Chinese Coronavirus” on several occasions beginning on January 22nd of this year.
ONE LITTLE INDIAN (1973) – Light-hearted family western. James Garner portrays Corporal Clint Keyes, who, after clashing with his Indian-hating superior, escapes a potential hanging for it and rides off into the desert with a pair of camels left over from the ill-advised American Camel Corps attempt in the 1800s. 
FIRST SEMIFINAL – The 2 seeds – the BLUE LIGHTS COLLEGE OF APEX THOROUGHBREDS – took the court against the 3rd seeded APPALACHIAN BIBLE COLLEGE WARRIORS. The Thoroughbreds proceeded to fold, spindle and mutilate the Warriors. Appalachian Bible College never knew what hit them as Blue Lights College obliterated them by a Century Club-level score of ONE HUNDRED TWENTY to SIXTY-THREE! 
QUARTERFINAL ONE – The 3 seeds – the EASTFIELD COLLEGE HARVESTERS – played the 11th seeded SAINT CLOUD TECHNICAL COLLEGE CYCLONES. The Harvesters were in charge all the way, parlaying a 47-35 Halftime lead over the Cyclones into a 96-63 triumph when all was said and done. Dajuan Ridgeway led Eastfield College with 22 points. 
Balladeer’s Blog’s theme of Top 20 lists for the year 2020 continues with this look at a score of James Garner films. NOTE: The Great Escape is not included, only because Garner was part of an ensemble cast in that movie. 
MAVERICK (1994) – Though James Garner was technically playing a supporting role to Mel Gibson in this film, Gibson was portraying Bret Maverick, the character Garner had turned into a sensation in the 1950s. Since this movie would not exist without the cultural cache built up by James’ portrayal of both Bret AND “Pappy” Beauregard Maverick (in old age makeup) this definitely counts as a Garner film. 
BARBARIANS AT THE GATE (1993) – In this telefilm based on the best-selling non-fiction book, Jim plays F. Ross Johnson, the real-life president of RJR-Nabisco who unleashed one of the most chaotic and frenzied leveraged buyouts in Wall Street history during the “greed is good” 1980s. 
PART THIRTY-FIVE: Taking a look at James Larkin Pearson’s version of the Fool Killer and the mythic figure’s targets in the May of 1910 Fool-Killer four-pager. (There was no April issue that year.) 
*** Pope Pius X. Pearson and his Fool Killer – like the folks at the iconic humor magazine Puck – adored ex-President Theodore Roosevelt and sided with him in the public feud between TR and Pope Pius X over the lack of respect the Pope felt Roosevelt had paid him. Luckily for Pius X the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea kept him safe from the Fool Killer’s wrath. 
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