Ponchatoula, Louisiana: A quiet alternative way of life!

Ponchatoula, LA; An American town

"Ponchatoula is located along Interstate 55 and Highway 22, a position that puts it an equal distance between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.In the early 1900s, Ponchatoula was one of only two ways to get to New Orleans by land, giving it the title of "Gateway to New Orleans.' "

"Ponchatoula is home to many artists covering many disciplines, musicians, authors, artists, photographers, poets, singers. Whether here by birth or choice Ponchatoula provides a creative environment."

The Easter Bonnet Stroll

Ten best restaurants in town. Naturally you can get a po-boy.

Then there are their Antique Trade Days

The History of Ponchatoula  "Ponchatoula was established in 1820 and Incorporated February 12, 1861 in the Parish of Livingston during the period that Louisiana was an independent nation. Ponchatoula, originally a logging camp, had no name and only one road connected it with Wadesboro, the river shipping point. Virgin pine, cypress, and oak trees were cut and hauled by ox teams to Wadesboro, there hand-hewn into pickets, shingles, barrel staves, sills, and mast poles for sailing vessels. The hand finished product was sold in New Orleans on the lake docks. The road that connected the logging camp with Wadesboro was part of the Old Spanish Trail from Florida. The trail followed the high ground around lake Pontchartrain through the logging camp to Springfield - one branch going to Baton Rouge, the other to Natchez, Mississippi. The Natchez branch was known as King's Highway."
. . .

"Several men were killed in the fray between the Union Army and Southern defenders and were buried where the Vinyard(sp?) Mill now stands, but later moved to Chalmette Cemetery in New Orleans, . . .

". . .  Union Soldiers went to slave quarters and told [the slaves] to go to New Orleans and they would be sent North to freedom . . ."

Battle of Ponchatoula
"The account below is of Colonel Edward Bacon of the 6th Michigan Infantry at the Battle of Ponchatoula (March 24-26, 1863). 

Louisiana Regiments in the Confederate Army.

The River for which the USS Ponchatoula AO-146 is named after
"Ponchatoula, a Native-American word for "falling hair", used to describe the "Spanish Moss" hanging from oak trees. Ponchatoula is best known for it's Strawberry Festival held yearly in April. Fresh sweet Louisiana Strawberrys picked fresh from the vines and sold at roadside stands.

Collateral Damage: Forgotten Casualties of the Left's War on Coal

Collateral Damage Featurette

Collateral Damage: Forgotten Casualties of the Left's War on Coal

"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is one of the most oppressive and unchecked agencies in Washington, D.C. With a clear directive from the White House to advance Obama’s “green” agenda, the EPA has used every bit of its muscle to harass and bully individuals, towns, and entire industries.

"And no one in the national media thinks this is a story worth telling." . . .

. . . 

"Through the crowdfunding site Kickstarter, we are hoping to raise $15,000 in the next 28 days to make sure this story is told. All donations will go toward completing the production and marketing of this short documentary. If we raise enough money, we will take "Collateral Damage" on the road and screen it in towns across coal country.

"As they always do, the media are trying and bury this story, because it doesn't align with their political agenda. Your donations will ensure the people whose lives have been destroyed by reckless policy decisions have a chance to tell their story. You can give them a voice."

Hat tip to Ron Gonshorowski

Column: It’s not the ‘locker room’ talk. It’s the ‘Lock her up’ talk.

Charles Krauthammer  

Wasn’t presidential overreach one of the major charges against Obama by the anti-establishment GOP candidates? Wasn’t the animating spirit of the entire tea party movement the restoration of constitutional limits and restraints?

. . . "That Trump crashed because of a sex-talk tape is odd. It should have been a surprise to no one. His views on women have been on open display for years. And he’d offered a dazzling array of other reasons for disqualification: habitual mendacity, pathological narcissism, profound ignorance and an astonishing dearth of basic human empathy.

"To which list Trump added in the second debate, and it had nothing to do with sex. It was his threat, if elected, to put Hillary Clinton in jail.

"After appointing a special prosecutor, of course. The niceties must be observed. First, a fair trial, then a proper hanging. The day after the debate at a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump responded to chants of “lock her up,” with “Lock her up is right.” Two days later, he told a rally in Lakeland, Florida, “She has to go to jail.' ” . . .

On the Hillarymedia

legalinsurrection

Daily Caller: Giuliani Uses MSNBC Host As A Punching Bag — ‘If You Think That’s Ethical, You Should Find A New Job  . . . “ 'Your station is completely left wing and totally anti-Trump and totally anti-Republican with one or two exceptions,” Giuliani stated. “I’m one of the few Republicans that will come on here because we don’t think we get anywhere near fair treatment on this station." . . .

The Megyn Kelly eight-minute interview with Newt Gingrich was riveting. For me, it also was the last straw.  . . . "The drive-by media were thrilled with the Roger Ailes story.  In their best hopes, the Murdoch Kids would turn Papa Rupert's Fox News into another CNN.  At the least, the drive-bys were hoping that "Superstars" Megyn Kelly and Greta – and Hannity and O'Reilly – would quit, killing Fox's dominance and relegating it to MSNBC irrelevance. " . . .

Hillary Clinton Claims Mexican Food Is Her Favorite On Univision Show  . . . "Hillary Clinton’s final push as Election Day nears features an aggressive attempt to lock down the crucial vote Latino, including by claiming that her favorite food is Mexican and that her granddaughter is already learning Spanish.

“ 'I think it would be Mexican food,” Clinton told the Univision Show “El Gordo y La Flaca” (translation: “The Fat Man & The Thin Lady”).

"In an article this year for “Thrillist,” detailing her favorite restaurants in the state of the New York, Clinton listed Rao’s (Italian), Northern Lights Creamery (gelato ice cream), Lange’s Little Store (sandwiches), Charlie The Butcher’s (meat) and others.

"But she didn’t list a single Mexican establishment."

HOW THE CLINTON CAMPAIGN PLAYS THE PRESS   . . . "It’s an interesting strategy: enlisting journalists to “shame” other journalists into not reporting the news."
UK Reporter Calls CNN “Clinton News Network – Your Coverage Is Totally Biased”  "CNN host: That’s CNN, you’re calling us the Clinton News Network.

Katie Hopkins: That’s exactly correct.CNN host: Why?…Katie Hopkins: I will say having sat in the Republican convention and having watched your coverage, it is completely biased. And I think Trump is doing a great job. And I think what we saw from him today over… You’ll also find polls that find 70% of individuals find Clinton to be utterly distasteful. I find her abhorrent to look at. Her little smile there does nothing for me.

Lessons from the Highway of Death

"The 99 is emblematic of a state in psychological and material decline."

Victor Davis Hanson  "California State Route 99 is the north-south highway that cuts through the great Central Valley. And it has changed little since the mid-1960s. 

"A half-century ago, when the state population was about 18 million — not nearly 40 million as it is today — the 99 used to be a high-speed, four-lane marvel. It was a crown jewel in California’s cutting-edge freeway system. 

"Not now. 

"The 99 was recently ranked by ValuePenguin (a private consumer research organization) as the deadliest major highway in the nation. Locals who live along its 400-plus miles often go to bed after seeing lurid TV news reports of nocturnal multi-car accidents. Then they wake up to Central Valley radio accounts of morning carnage on the 99." . . .

. . . "The 99 also reminds the nation of California’s unique lessons about how to ruin a paradise: The more taxes are raised, the worse public service often becomes." . . .  Read more

Photos added by TD

WikiLeaks: What Hillary's Closest Aides And Allies Really Think Of Her

IBD

John Podesta, center, and Neera Tanden, right, walk with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on Capitol Hill on July 15, 2013

"Clinton Email Scandal: As the emails continue to tumble out, one thing has become awfully clear: It's a near full-time job cleaning up Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's messes, as even her closest aides angrily admit. And remember, these are her most loyal friends, aides and allies.

"When it comes to covering up the truth, Richard M. Nixon has nothing on Hillary R. Clinton. Clinton's aides and allies seemingly do little else than cover up for Hillary's misconduct, malfeasance and incompetence — in a way that has glaringly come to light as a result of the WikiLeaks trove.

"Here are just a few recent examples:" . . . Hat tip to Lucianne

Berkeley student protesters blockade whites, yet Obama admin silent

Legal Insurrection

"Obama’s Double Standard About Racial Harassment on Campus"

. . . "As Fox News noted, the protesters were “harassing white students trying to study, barring their path across a key bridge while allowing students of color safe passage. The protest, which began last Friday, blocked Berkeley’s Sather Gate, disrupted studying students in the Student Union.”

"The Obama administration has said nothing about this, even though it has often taken note of far more trivial racial matters that concern minorities, such as Halloween costumes that allegedly “appropriate” non-white cultures. After Yale protesters sought the removal of a lecturer who defended harmless Halloween costumes such as a “blonde ­haired child’s wanting to be Mulan for a day,” and “spat on” people attending a free-speech conference, “White House press secretary Josh Earnest . . . praised the protesters.”

"When white fraternity members at the University of Oklahoma were caught on video engaged in a vile racist chant, and were expelled by University President David Boren, “The White House responded” within less than a day, “praising David Boren’s actions.' ” . . .

The Theology of Climate Change

Theodore Dalrymple  . . . "Personally, I have no axe to grind on climate change because I am too ignorant to have a firm opinion on the question. Is the climate changing more than it always has? Is the change caused by human activity? Is the change entirely harmful? If harmful, is it reversible by the means proposed? I have heard intelligent, honest and informed people on both sides of these questions, and I was (immediately afterwards) convinced by what they said.

"This paper seemed to me to have all the stigmata, if I may so put it, of a bandwagon being jumped on. The authors’ trips to Nepal probably did far more harm to their precious environment than their investigations did it good. But at least they would have enjoyed themselves, which is a consolation."  TakiMag.com via Gregorio Enrique Sandoval 

Here's why Bruce Springsteen's blue-collar heroes have made Donald Trump their rock star

LA Times  via Drudge:

Voices have been fundamentally ignored and not heard. These are folks who feel Donald Trump has been listening to them and speaks for them on some level.

— Bruce Springsteen

. .  . "A little farther down the Mahoning River, where scrap metal shone dull in the thicket and broken pallets were scattered like bones, Bill Skinner climbed down from polishing the top of his truck and told the rag man he’d pay him something next week. He pulled off his gloves, lighted a cigarette and railed that Muslims want to impose Islamic law, political correctness imperils masculinity and jobs keep dying or getting sent to Mexico or China.

“'Steel is wiped out and Obama is wiping out the coal and mining industries. Hillary wants to finish what he started. Our country is $20 trillion in debt. America has gone from the toilet to the sewer, ” he said. “Hillary and anyone connected to her should be in jail. If anyone’s going to stop this nonsense, it’s a guy from the outside.' ”

Hillary’s climate of hate

Michelle Malkin  "Who are the haters? Who are the autocrats? Who are the serial abusers of power?

"Only one presidential candidate has wielded the sledgehammer of government against personal enemies.

"Only one presidential candidate has exploited a spouse’s public office to exact revenge on political dissenters.

"Only one presidential candidate has a quarter-century track record of taxpayer-subsidized demagoguery and class warfare.

"And as the most recent undercover investigation by James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas revealed this past week, only one presidential candidate has been directly linked to a scheme to foment chaos and violence at her opponent’s rallies.

"Ignore the kindly grandma with the “Stronger Together” backdrop warbling about her happy family and singing the praises of diversity and inclusion. Look beyond the carefully manufactured semblance of bipartisanship and moderation.

"Remember history — or rather, “herstory.”

"Hillary Clinton isn’t just a nasty woman. She’s a ruthless hatemonger devoted wholly to two corrupt pursuits while on the federal teat: tearing down and cashing in.

"To clueless millennials, “bimbo eruptions” might sound like a Trumpism. But it was vintage Team Hillary’s misogynistic moniker for horndog Slick Willie’s accuser outbreaks in the 1990s." . . .

Podesta Email: Dear John, Hillary And Bill Are Not Honest, Use People And Are Most Likely Criminal

comicallyincorrect

Weasel Zippers

Related?  WikiLeaks: New Evidence Podesta Schemed to Hide Russian-Tied Assets  . . .  " 'Not exactly presidential material. Your defense of them [loses] all [credibility] to those that admire you." Turns out Podesta may be just as unethical as the family he serves so loyally." . . .

The Left Turns on Bob Dylan for His Pro-Israel Views, Refusal to Acknowledge Nobel Prize

PJ Media

. . . "It's a tremendous honor for the legendary singer-songwriter, that's for sure. But it's also stirred up its share of controversy. I won't debate Dylan's award—I'll leave that to my esteemed colleagues Andrew Klavan and Ron Radosh—except to say two quick things. First, when the Nobel Peace Prize has gone to people like Yasser Arafat and Barack Obama, did it dim the luster of the prizes in other categories? And second, I like the idea of songs like "Gotta Serve Somebody" and

"Saved" (and, apologies to Andrew, even "It Ain't Me, Babe") joining the pantheon of Nobel Prize-winning literature.

"But now that the reliably left-leaning Nobel Prize Committee has given Dylan an award, a funny thing has happened. The left has begun to turn on Dylan for being less than the predictable leftist they have expected him to be." . . .

"The first example comes to us from that cherished source of unbiased news, Al Jazeera. In a recent editorial, French sociologist and "media critic" Ali Saad takes the media to task for reporting the news of Bob Dylan's award without mentioning that he—gasp—supports Israel. Saad gripes that:

...media outlets, both Arab and international, framed the story without taking issue with Dylan's pro-Israel stance and instead portrayed him exclusively through the prism of his constructed image as defender of the oppressed.

"Saad goes on to cite "Neighborhood Bully," an early '80s tune from Dylan that expresses support for the nation of Israel." . . .