Tag Archives: politics

VICE PRESIDENTS – JOKES ABOUT THESE ULTIMATE SECOND BANANAS

John AdamsWith President’s Day approaching here’s the first of many seasonal posts.

John Adams called the Vice Presidency “the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived.” A very old joke went “Once there were two brothers. One ran away to sea and the other became Vice President. Neither was ever heard from again.”

In George S Kaufman’s and Morrie Ryskind’s classic stage work Of Thee I Sing one of the characters turns down an offer to be Vice President because he’s ashamed to have his mother know. He’s persuaded to accept the office when it’s pointed out that if he doesn’t tell her about it she’ll never find out.

The office has featured eminently forgettable figures as well as comic relief buffoons like Dan “The Global Village Idiot” Quayle and Joe “Koo Koo For Cocoa Puffs” Biden. In the light-hearted style of Balladeer’s Blog’s look at U.S. Presidents here’s a look at the men who got to hang around and see if the country’s Chief Executive wound up six feet under. I’m omitting VP’s who went on to actually become President, so no John Adams or Thomas Jefferson, etc. 

aaron-burrAARON BURR

Served Under: Jefferson 

Noted for: Shooting dead more Treasury Secretaries and hatching more plots to start his own country than any other Vice President. (So far, anyway.)

Best Burr Quote: “I’m still searching for the real killers of Alexander Hamilton.” 

GEORGE CLINTON

Served Under: Jefferson and Madison

Noted for: P-Funk and Funkadelic Leading American Rebel forces against the British troops of his loyalist cousin Sir Henry Clinton during the Revolutionary War.

Best Clinton Quote: “Do fries go with that shake?”

Elbridge GerryELBRIDGE GERRY

Served Under: Madison

Noted for: Pioneering the method of “Gerrymandering” political districts in a way that the modern day Democrats and Republicans have raised to a mainstay in the world of white collar crime which they inhabit.

Best Gerry Quote: “I’ll be immortalized as the man who invented Elbridge-mandering!”

DANIEL D TOMPKINS

Served Under: Monroe

Noted for: Being ruined by a scandal in which he was mistakenly accused of pocketing some of the funds he raised to conduct the War of 1812. Years later it was all revealed to be an accounting error. Continue reading

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Filed under humor, LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History

FACULTY LOUNGE FASCIST ROUNDUP: JANUARY 31st

VoltaireThe latest laughs coming from the Democrats who pretend to be academics center around their claim that “using quality as a criterion for grades is racist … and so is architecture” 

It’s no secret that make-believe “educators” (LMAO) have – through their political intolerance – reduced colleges and universities to faith-based institutions that are as irrational as any religious “schools.”

The Democrats at these institutions abuse their positions to browbeat their students with their unhinged political views.

ACADEMIC GRIEVANCE STUDIES AND THE CORRUPTION OF SCHOLARSHIP – This is a terrific item at Areo Magazine. It’s a look at the blatantly partisan political screeds that masquerade as scholarship. 

The trio of authors have also demonstrated the absurdity of grievance “theories” by getting collections of gibberish published IN PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS under the noses of alleged academics who could not even tell that the papers presented were PARODIES of the silliness of politically distorted “scholarship.”  

The link is below, but first an excerpt: 

“Something has gone wrong in the university—especially in certain fields within the humanities. Scholarship based less upon finding truth and more upon attending to social grievances has become firmly established, if not fully dominant, within these fields, and their scholars increasingly bully students, administrators, and other departments into adhering to their worldview.

“This worldview is not scientific, and it is not rigorous. For many, this problem has been growing increasingly obvious, but strong evidence has been lacking. For this reason, the three of us just spent a year working inside the scholarship we see as an intrinsic part of this problem.” Continue reading

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Filed under Education or Indoctrination, LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion

SHARYL ATTKISSON: A LIST OF FAKE NEWS ITEMS DURING THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY

Sharyl AttkissonIt’s no secret that Sharyl Attkisson – the Ida Tarbell of the 21st Century – is one of the few actual journalists left in America. She broke with her unethical colleagues over their refusal to cover the Obama Administration’s many scandals and found herself targeted by Obama’s FBI and NSA thugs.

make media fact check againThe incredibly courageous Attkisson still goes after tough stories on both political parties, and she doesn’t care if the facts reflect poorly on Trump, Obama or George W Bush before them.

Sharyl has compiled a list (see below) of the many instances of Fake News that the corporate media has perpetrated during the Trump presidency. Continue reading

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Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion

DEMOCRATS STILL ORDERING AFRICAN-AMERICANS NOT TO WEAR MAGA HATS

black in magaBalladeer’s Blog presents another reason why #WALKAWAY, #BLEXIT and #BLACKLIVESMAGA continue to roll along despite Democrat despots trying to dictate every — single — aspect — of our daily lives. If Democrats don’t like a movie, they want it banned. If Democrats don’t like a song or joke or photograph or book or article of clothing then those fascists want the item banned and the people behind it destroyed. 

DON’T EVER LET DEMOCRATS ROB YOU OF YOUR CIVIL RIGHTS. THOSE FASCISTS NEED TO BE OPPOSED, LOUDLY AND DAILY.

Below is a link to multiple stories of African-Americans encountering Democrats who harass and/or threaten them for wearing MAGA hats. First some excerpts before the link:

“Nearly a week before the entire liberal media complex, along with Hollywood “celebrities” and liberals all across social media, made total fools of themselves by getting triggered by MAGA hat wearing teens, by “reporting” they “surrounded” and “mocked” an elderly Native America “Vietnam veteran,” which all turned out to be fake news that resulted in death threats against the teens, another incident occurred at a Hooters restaurant …”

#WalkAway“Considering how often we see the liberal media complex manufacture outrage, many times from completely fake news, and the increasing frequency of death threats coming from whack-jobs liberals on social media, the fact that MAGA hats fly off the shelves, especially to teenagers visiting DC, and more and more black Americans, young and old are starting to use those hats as a symbol showing they are walking away from the Democrat party, means that anger is going to continue to fester and build.”

Trump never called racist til running against Democrats“It is not the MAGA hat wearers that should change their apparrel, it is liberals that need to stop allowing a hat, or a shirt, or the politician a person supports politically, to send them off the deep end.” Continue reading

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ASK BALLADEER: THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

masc chair and bottleQUESTION: How come you no longer make as many mentions or blog posts about the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) as you used to?

ANSWER: First let me provide clarification for newer readers why I used to invoke the Spanish Civil War so frequently. I used to use that conflict’s imagery and terms as a departure from over-used World War Two and Cold War clichés when describing the current forces tearing the U.S. apart.

Ultimately nobody (except maybe the Anarchists) were worth rooting for in the Spanish Civil War once you had Stalin aiding the leftists and Hitler & Mussolini aiding the right-wingers. No matter which side won it was clear that Spain would no longer be a free country like it had been under the short-lived Republic.

American FlagLong ago I used to condemn the Anarchists for finding both the left and the right too totalitarian to be worth siding with and fighting both sides. In recent years I’ve certainly come to sympathize with their position as we here in America have seen that the political left is every bit as bad as the worst right-wingers ever were. 

I stopped using Spanish Civil War imagery and terms as frequently as I used to because more and more people on the internet have taken to using them, too. I’m not implying those others imitated me, I’m just saying that it’s no longer as unique as it used to be.

And I could swear that a certain wide-eyed, fanatical chipmunk in Congress fancies herself to be America’s version of La Pasionaria from the Spanish Civil War era. 

At any rate I still find that conflict – and the countless movies about it – fascinating. Orwell, Hemingway and Andre Malraux aside you’ve also got the American volunteers who fought in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain. Plus there’s the pop culture appeal, like with the way Rick Blaine in Casablanca served in the anti-Franco forces in the Spanish Civil War.

And on a more comical note, it was always fun to trip up America’s increasingly deranged left-wingers with Spanish Civil War references. Just because the American Volunteers were called the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, American leftists would often sneeringly accuse you of not knowing that “Abraham Lincoln was a President during OUR Civil War, fucktard, he wasn’t in Spain.”

It was fun to then cut the smirking fools off at the knees by pointing out how THEY are actually the ones who are uninformed, by revealing what the Abraham Lincoln Brigade really was. Continue reading

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Filed under Neglected History, opinion

TRUMP CONTINUES TO KEEP BIG PHARMA ON THE DEFENSIVE

Donald Trump rock starDe facto Third Party President Donald Trump continues to provide TANGIBLE, financial help to the working class and the poor. In this case it’s through the way his Theodore Roosevelt-style squeeze on Big Pharma has helped keep U.S. drug prices from spiraling out of control. The link to the article is below, but first some thoughts and excerpts. 

Those of us in the real world all know many families whose financial survival has been possible because of this and other ways that President Trump has kept his promises to them. And he’s done it while having to fight BOTH the Democrats and the Republicans as well as the deep-pocketed pharmaceutical companies who own those Democrats and Republicans.

fake newsNo matter how much the Fake News outlets distort every single thing Trump says and does, no matter how many brain-dead professional athletes trash him and no matter how many shallow, uninformed and emotionally unstable entertainers lie about him, those of us in the real world – not the callous, comfortable and uncaring world of One Percenters – continue to support him.

These are not “theoreticals” or “opinions” these are CONCRETE ways that this President has helped the forgotten working class and poor people clearly hated or ignored by Trump’s critics. Anyway, on this particular issue, here are the excerpts and the link for the article:

Trump and black people in maga hats“It’s (Trump’s role in this) also one of the reasons, beyond the insanity that is the current Democratic Party (see: Sanders, Bernie; Warren, Elizabeth; Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria; Pelosi, Nancy; Tlaib, Rashida; and on and on), why people who supported Trump in 2016 remain loyal to him. He has, in fact, delivered on things like this that his voters care about.”

“Big Pharma doesn’t like that under Trump, drug prices are being held down and products like biosimilars and generics are grabbing more market share (if you want to know how much a bunch of them hate biosimilars, go read this). But according to the Journal of the American Medical Association, the health care industry— including Big Pharma in good measure— spends $30 billion a year on marketing — i.e., those annoying pharmaceutical ads on TV — and pressuring doctors to prescribe their drug, not the cheaper one that works just as well.”

“Maybe if Big Pharma is so terribly upset about its theoretical profit margin being cut by things like the president using the bully pulpit to hold drug prices down, more generic drugs hitting the market, and drug discount programs, they could spend less on marketing and pocket the change.” Continue reading

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Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion

PUCK: BOSS PLATT, FATHER KNICKERBOCKER AND EUGEN SANDOW

puck father knickerbockerBalladeer’s Blog takes another look at a political cartoon from Puck magazine (1871-1918), the famous humor magazine. For more Puck click HERE 

This time around it’s the cover illustration from June 9th, 1897. The cartoon depicts a furious Father Knickerbocker breaking chains labeled “Raines Law” and “Hayseed Legislation” while the caption reads “Let Boss Platt beware: Father Knickerbocker is in training for this Sandow Act.”

Father Knickerbocker, then as now, was the symbol of New York. The figure was based on Washington Irving’s Diedrich Knickerbocker, the pseudonym under which he wrote his History of New York in 1809. That history was told from the alleged perspective of the old-line Dutch families who had settled New York before it was taken by the British.

There had actually been a Knickerbocker family in New York since the 1600s and the name appealed to Irving as being quintessentially Dutch-American. 

Boss Platt was Thomas C Platt, successor to the corrupt Roscoe Conkling as the head of New York’s Republican Party Machine. (Tammany Hall, synonymous with political corruption, was still the name used for the state’s Democrat Party Machine)

Joseph Keppler at Puck magazine disdained Platt and the New York machine as much as he disdained Tammany Hall. The Raines Law chain being broken by Father Knickerbocker symbolized the Blue Law banning the sale of alcohol in New York on Sundays. Keppler held Boss Platt responsible for Raines Law and other parochial legislation known as Hayseed Legislation, the other chain being broken by Father Knickerbocker. Continue reading

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Filed under Puck Magazine

ROBERT O’ROURKE: CALL HIM BETO, BOB OR MR PRESIDENT?

mascot new look donkey and elephant headsAs always Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog is the only site on the web that criticizes both major parties equally. Thoughts are turning toward the 2020 Presidential race here in the U.S. At this point the Republican candidate will likely be President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, everybody but the corpse of Lyndon Johnson seems to be announcing their candidacy on the Democrat side of the aisle.

One of the candidates for the Democrats is Robert O’Rourke, who likes to go by the nickname Beto. We’ll take a look at why everyone may be underestimating him. Why start with O’Rourke? Well …

Joe Biden is too old and white and gaffe-prone and gropey for a party which has been putting a premium on youth, #MeToo, etc.  

Kamala Harris is far too open about her contempt for Catholics and Jews and, being a Senator from California, she seems to mistakenly assume that won’t matter to nationwide voters.

Bernie Sanders was robbed of the nomination in 2016 by Hillary Clinton and the DNC machine. Though he once seemed to have the same populist appeal as Trump he has earned a reputation as a sellout in the past few years.

robert o'rourkeGetting back to O’Rourke, here’s a quick non-partisan take on what he has going for him.

A. O’Rourke’s unsuccessful Senate run in 2018 was partly marked by the way he imitated Donald Trump’s 2016 tactic of setting records on INDIVIDUAL donations. As it did with Trump this gave O’Rourke a positive image compared to candidates who prefer nothing but Big Money Donors.

B. “Not experienced” has come to mean “not yet fully bought and paid for” in the public mind, and in this era of Trump and AOC O’Rourke’s inexperience could actually help him or at least be a wash. This element was looked at in even greater depth HERE    Continue reading

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Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, opinion

MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY – MULTIPLE CHOICE QUIZ

martin-luther-king WHY WAS MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY ESTABLISHED?

A. So that it could be politically exploited by out of touch White Democrats of Privilege who think that making a hobby out of the real-life suffering that African-Americans went through means they are qualified to speak on their behalf

B. To commemorate the life of a man who expressed a message of unity and non-violence

C. So that the racist hatemongers of BLM could pretend to be honoring the man’s memory by preaching non-stop race hatred and cop killing

WHEN DEMOCRATS SAY THEY WANT A DAY OF “RACIAL HEALING” WHAT DO THEY MEAN BY THAT?

A. A day where everyone mindlessly agrees with the divisive, hatemongering rhetoric spouted by Democrats

B. A day where everyone refrains from mentioning that the Democrats were the party of the KKK, Jim Crow and slavery yet they think they’re fit to lecture the rest of us about racial matters.

C. Both A and B

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT DEMOCRATS AND THEIR AL SHARPTON-STYLE KAPOS IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY WOULD CALL A CIVIL RIGHTS HERO?

A. An African-American teen who studies hard and works toward a better future but who gets gunned down by black street criminals

B. A black street criminal who guns down the aforementioned African-American teen as long as that criminal charges at cops and gets killed by them

C. People of color who point out that they are free to decide for themselves which political party they will vote for 

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING IS A RACIST EXPRESSION?

A. Colored people

B. People of color

C. Neither, and only a paranoid race-baiter would say otherwise

WHICH OF AMERICA’S TWO LARGEST POLITICAL PARTIES BEST REPRESENTS THE INTERESTS OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS?

A. Democrats

B. Republicans

C. Neither of those parties represents the interests of anyone except white collar criminals who hold office and the bloated rich pigs who own those office-holders

AN OVERWHELMING NUMBER OF PEOPLE SURVEYED AGREED THAT:

A. The Democrats are vermin for treating Martin Luther King Day like it’s a day they own even though King was a Republican

B. The Democrats are vermin for treating Martin Luther King Day like it’s part of one of their political campaigns

C. The Democrats are vermin Continue reading

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Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion

NPR/ PBS POLL SHOWS PRESIDENT TRUMP’S APPROVAL RATING AMONG HISPANICS HAS GONE UP BY 19%

Trump peeing on CNNAnti-Trump loons have had a VERY bad last couple of days. The Fake News outlets of the Democrats ran with ANOTHER false story – this one about Trump supposedly ordering Cohen to lie ONLY TO HAVE ROBERT MUELLER HIMSELF PUBLICLY POINT OUT HOW WRONG IT WAS.

Also this week a poll done by the Democrat outlets NPR and PBS showed that President Trump’s approval rating among Hispanic voters has gone up by 19%. As always I’m very skeptical about polls, especially after the beautiful way Hillary lost in 2016, but it’s always funny to watch anti-Trump loons froth at the mouth when the polls they live by poke them in the eye.   

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Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion