American Icon and Playboy Founder, Hugh M. Hefner passed away today. He was 91. #RIPHef

Via Billy

Conservative victory in Alabama deepens split among Republicans, as insurgents challenge incumbent senators

Via Billy

 

LA Times ad at the top of the link: 10 cents a week for the rest of 2017. In trouble much...?) :)

 Roy Moore’s upset victory in the Alabama Senate primary sent shock waves through the Republican establishment Wednesday, portending a GOP civil war as outsider candidates in other states threaten to challenge incumbents.

The potential showdowns are reminiscent of the tea party uprising that just a few years ago cost Republicans the majority in the Senate. Now President Trump’s populist rise to power — honed by his former advisor Stephen K. Bannon — has generated a new wave of long-shot candidates capable of upending the 2018 midterms.

In Mississippi, state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who met with Bannon to consider challenging two-term incumbent Sen. Roger Wicker, called the results in Alabama “a great awakening.”

“The GOP establishment's stranglehold on American politics is finally coming to an end. It should encourage conservative challengers all across the republic,” he said. “The environment couldn't be any better.”

Arizona’s Kelli Ward, who is challenging Sen. Jeff Flake, said after Alabama she felt “inspired and motivated.”

“Voters elected President Trump to shake up the status quo and get big things accomplished,” she said.

More @ LA Times

Turns out, Steelers coach who was upset Army vet stood for anthem hosted a posh Hillary fundraiser

Via Billy

Mike Tomlin, the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, is a staunch Democrat who hosted a lavish fundraiser at his mansion for failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Tomlin raised eyebrows after getting upset that offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva — a decorated Army veteran — stood for the national anthem while the rest of his team hid like hood rats in the locker room.

More @ Biz Pac Review

Historic US clothing company yanks ads from NFL; CEO makes no bones about where he stands!

Via Billy

Can’t say no one saw this coming.

Hardwick Clothing, America’s oldest suit maker, is through dealing with the National Football League.

The company’s CEO, Cleveland businessman Allan Jones, blasted the League’s “unpatriotic behavior” and directed his advertising firm to pull ads for his companies during NFL games, The Chattanoogan reported.

“Effective immediately, please remove all commercials for Check into Cash, Buy Here Pay Here USA, or U.S. Money Shops from airing during NFL games this entire season,”  Jones, who is also the CEO of the payday lending chain Check Into Cash, said Tuesday in a statement. “Our companies will not condone in any form the unpatriotic behavior demonstrated by the NFL.”

More @ Biz Pac Review

Hollywood Before the “Hate Confederate” Movement

 

From the beginnings to rather recent times, sympathetic portrayals of Confederates have been a mainstay of America cinema.  An astounding number of major stars without any Southern background have had no objection to favourably portraying Confederates (and other Southerners).  It might be noted that two of the major figures of early American film, D.W. Griffith and Will Rogers, were the SONS of Confederate soldiers.

Many of these films showed Confederate flags in favourable contexts and sometimes even in glorification.

This list is certainly not exhaustive.  The items are mentioned just as they randomly occurred to the writer and in no particular order.  Their dates range from the early 20^th century to the early 21^st century.

Stars with some Southern background are marked with *.   All the other stars are Northern or British.
Good Confederates in Hollywood:

More @ The Abbeville Institute

Right Angle - Alejandro Villanueva: Hero To Heartbreak

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich: White People Need to Be Made ‘Uncomfortable’

Maybe I should print off range targets for the PATCON raffle. 

Breitbart

 

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich had plenty to say in response to President Donald Trump denouncing national anthem protests while speaking Monday at his team’s media day.

Popovich called the United States of America “an embarrassment” and followed that up by saying white people “especially” need to be made “uncomfortable” for any change to be made.

“There has to be an uncomfortable element in the discourse for anything to change,” Popovich explained. “Whether it’s the LGBT movement, women’s suffrage, race, it doesn’t matter. People have to be made to feel uncomfortable, and especially white people because we’re comfortable. We still have no clue of what being born white means.”

“If you read some of the recent literature, you’ll realize there really is no such thing as whiteness, but we kind of made that up. That’s not my original thought, but it’s true,” he continued.

Popovich added, “Because you were born white, you have advantages that are systemically, culturally, psychologically there. And they have been built up and cemented for hundreds of years, but many people can’t look at it. It’s too difficult.”

The Ghost of Masonboro Sound

 

The people of the Masonboro Sound community southeast of Wilmington, North Carolina, could hear in the distance the thundering cannon of an enemy fleet in January 1865 as it laid siege to Fort Fisher. After overwhelming the fort with millions of tons of shot and shell, “federal troops began to move inland, looting farms and houses as they went” as they re-asserted in North Carolina the political supremacy of the government in Washington.
Bernhard Thuersam, www.Circa1865.com   The Great American Political Divide

The Ghost of Masonboro Sound

“With the fall of [Fort Fisher], the Confederacy’s days were numbered. By late spring the four years of struggle were over. Gradually Masonboro men found their way home. Some were badly wounded, but all came back to do what John Hewlett had said he wished them to do – assist in building up the Kingdom of God at Masonboro.

It was late for plowing and planting, but there was no choice but to begin. Pine seedlings, briars, and honeysuckles had taken over the fields. Fish nets had rotted or disappeared altogether, and new ones had to be fashioned. Food everywhere was scarce, but persons on the sound fared better than most, they could find oysters, fish and shrimp at their doorstep. Some ex-slaves stayed to help them.

Many ex-slaves who had left plantations all over the Southland followed Yankee soldiers because they didn’t know what else to do. They became a burden to Northern armies, which could not care for them and feed them. Jim Irving, a South Carolina slave, followed Yankee soldiers to Wilmington, but soon found himself stranded in the city with nothing to eat and no way to earn anything. He met up with Elijah Hewlett, who told him to go with him down to the sound and he would give him work.

In a place such as Masonboro there would have to be a familiar ghost. And it would have to be in perhaps the oldest house on the sound. It was.

Sometime after the war, a soldier friend came to visit Dr. Anderson. He had been wounded in the war, had lost a leg, and had been fitted with a wooden leg. He was disturbed emotionally by his war experiences, and he would lapse into long silences. He would walk out on the pier and stand for hours, not moving, just gazing at the water.

The old pier was rotten and listing at a dangerous angle, but it was the habitual roosting place of a sad old egret, which, dull and gray like the weather at times, sat hunched over even in a blowing misty rain.

The old soldier often stood there looking just as forlorn and dejected as the sad old bird, and almost in the same spot. One morning the old soldier rose early and went out before the family was up. Hours later, they found him, lying face down in the water.

After that, members of the household thought they could sometimes hear the old soldier with his wooden leg thumping across the floor upstairs.”

(Between the Creeks, Crockette W. Hewlett and Mona Smalley, New Hanover Printing Company, 1971, excerpts, pp. 41-42)

Trump: We have the votes on healthcare, but 'not for Friday'

Via Billy

President Trump said Wednesday that Senate Republicans will have the votes to pass conservative healthcare reform, just not this week.

"With one Yes vote in hospital & very positive signs from Alaska and two others (McCain is out), we have the HCare Vote, but not for Friday!" Trump tweeted Wednesday morning.

More @ Washington Examiner

Militant left-wing leader arrested for allegedly inciting violence at 2016 Sacramento melee

Via Billy

The prominent leader of a militant left-wing group was arrested earlier this week on charges stemming from a violent brawl last year between white nationalist groups and counter-protesters.

Yvette Felarca, 47, was taken into custody in Los Angeles on Tuesday on charges of inciting and participating in a riot, and assault likely to cause great bodily injury, the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office said Wednesday. The charges come after an eight-month investigation.

Felarca, whose name in public records appears as Yvonne Capistrano Felarca, has been identified as the leader and spokesperson for the anti-fascist group By Any Means Necessary.

More @ Fox