Are You Ready For After Thanksgiving Sales?!

Bonus Happy Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving To All Believers.

Abraham Lincoln's 
1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation  
It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.

We know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world.  May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.

But we have forgotten God.  We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.  Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people.  I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father Who dwelleth in the heavens.

A. Lincoln
October 3, 1863

Happy Thanksgiving From CONgress ... And POTUS!

Newspaper: Kentucky Senate Candidate, Troy Brooks, Has History Of Theft Charges, He Demurs.

Ky. Senate candidate has history of charges

Brooks disbarred in Tenn., disputes plea of guilt to theft

Troy Brooks

A Bowling Green man set to run for state Senate was once indicted on numerous theft charges and was disbarred in Tennessee – terminating his status as a lawyer – for complaints related to those charges.
 
Troy Brooks announced this week his intention to file and run to represent the 32nd Senate District. Incumbent Sen. Mike Wilson, R- Bowling Green, filed to run for re-election to that seat.

A filing in the Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee states that Brooks was indicted by a grand jury in Wilson County on five counts of theft over $10,000, four counts of theft over $1,000, six counts of fraudulent use of a credit card in the amount of $1,000 to $10,000 and one count of fraudulent use of a credit card in the amount of over $500. The case arose from the misappropriation of about $185,000 from nine clients, according to the filing.

According to a 2008 judgment from the Board of Professional Responsibility of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, Brooks pleaded guilty to four charges of theft over $10,000.

Four charges of theft over $1,000 were dismissed, according to the judgment.

The judgment states that 37 complaints against Brooks are incorporated into various supplemental petitions.

“The pattern seems to be accepting retainers from clients and not performing the work promised, accepting funds to pay experts or as settlement to be disbursed to clients and not disbursing the funds but rather converting them for his own use,” it states.

The judgment states that, in total, Brooks “obtained $250,794.30 of his (clients’) or third parties’ money and converted it to his own use.”

It states that the judgment against Brooks is a default judgment in which all the petitions against him are deemed to be true because he failed to respond to discovery requests.

On Tuesday, Brooks said he did not plead guilty to the charges.

Brooks said his record has been expunged and that he is eligible to apply for reinstatement through the Board of Professional Responsibility of the Supreme Court of Tennessee. However, he said he has no plans to do so.

Sandy Garrett, chief disciplinary council for the board, said Brooks is eligible for reinstatement because enough time has passed – five years – since his disbarment, but reinstatement would have to be approved by a hearing panel of judges.

Brooks said incidents that led to the charges were not cases of theft, but merely disputes over fees and misunderstandings and that the charges have now been dismissed.

“It took me a long time to clear my name, and I didn’t stop until my name was cleared,” he said.

He produced orders of expungement citing either “successful completion of all probation provisions and proceedings against defendant have been discharged by the court,” or “nolle prosequi entered in the case” as reasons he was entitled to have records related to the charges expunged. “Nolle prosequi” is a declaration by a prosecutor or plaintiff that he or she will not proceed further with a case.

The Board of Professional Responsibility judgment cites court documents wherein Brooks attributed misconduct to a “get-rich-quick” scheme through email that promised investment opportunities in Nigerian oil and gas.

According to the judgment, after researching the offer, Brooks began using clients’ money for investment “with the full assurances that (he) would have the return of the money in time to take care of all disbursements.”

After realizing the opportunity was a scam, he started gambling “under the false hope that (he) could recoup the funds until (he) was reported (to the Board of Professional Responsibility),” according to the judgment.

On Tuesday, Brooks described the narrative within the Board of Professional Responsibility judgment – including the accusation that he used client money for investment in Nigerian oil and gas – as “totally false” and said that the charges arose from fee disputes with clients.

“I totally dispute that and don’t think that’s accurate,” he said.

Brooks said he refunded the money in dispute to clients.

“It’s unfortunate that it rose to that level, but it did,” he said.

Brooks said he doesn’t have a gambling problem.

“I’ve never had a gambling addiction, nor do I gamble,” he said.

Brooks declined to further discuss details of the circumstances that preceded the charges.

Editor's note: Update 12/02: Troy withdraws from Senate race. Read more here.

POTUS Barack Obama And The "Economy --- Of Words", That Is!

Scott Jennings | Obama's habit of saying anything is destroying trust

When I was a radio news reporter, a mentor taught me a phrase that I still use today. He used to critique my scripts by reminding me of “the economy of words,” which meant using fewer words to tell a more concise story.

I’ve probably said or thought about “the economy of words” thousands of times since I first heard it. It worked in radio, and it is a superb rule to remember in political and business writing.

Until recently, the phrase meant one thing to me — a reminder to eliminate unnecessary prepositional phrases and to be more active and descriptive in my communications. Less is more.

But I’ve been thinking about it in a different way lately. In an economy, there is a currency that theoretically has value. In the economy of words, the words are the currency.

Our political system is an economy of words. What our leaders say, therefore, should have value.

But some politicians entrusted with printing the political economy’s currency are turning the system on its head. Chief among them is President Barack Obama, who is making a nasty and trust-destroying habit out of saying absolutely anything to fit the moment’s politics.

Last week, President Obama added another log to the flip-flop fire with a statement supporting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s “nuclear option,” which changed the long-standing rules of the Senate and dramatically weakened the rights of the political minority.

In 2013, President Obama says the filibuster is a “reckless and relentless tool” used by Republicans to block his nominees.

He was singing a different tune in 2005, though, when he said that “the American people want less partisanship in this town, but everyone in this chamber knows that if the majority chooses to end the filibuster, if they choose to change the rules and put an end to democratic debate, then the fighting, the bitterness, and the gridlock will only get worse.”

President Obama just devalued Sen. Obama’s words.

President Obama’s quest to completely mangle any trust the American people might have had in his words continued over the weekend, as his administration entered into a nuclear deal with Iran.

Earlier this year, making his first visit to Israel as president, Obama said, “The United States stands with Israel because it is in our fundamental security interests to stand with Israel. Our alliance is eternal. It is forever.”

That was in March. In November, Secretary of State John Kerry, last seen getting the equivalent of a diplomatic wedgie from the Russians over Syria, cut a deal with Iran that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says is a “historic mistake” that has made the world “much more dangerous, because the most dangerous regime in the world took a meaningful step toward acquiring the most dangerous weapon in the world.”

The value of Obama’s words is not just dropping with the American people, but with America’s allies abroad.

The granddaddy of Obama’s trust-busters is the now infamous claim that, under his health care law, all Americans can keep their insurance plan if they like it. This was an outrageous lie told to sell a bad bill and bolster a re-election campaign. Dozens of congressional Democrats repeated this lie, dutifully following President Obama’s lead.

We now know, thanks to NBC News, that President Obama wasn’t telling the truth and that his “administration knew that more than 40 to 67 percent of those in the individual market would not be able to keep their plans, even if they liked them.”

Not only was President Obama wrong, but it seems clear that he purposefully misled people. Now, a year after defeating Mitt Romney, a national survey of 2012 Obama supporters found that nearly one-quarter of them would not have voted for his re-election if they had known the truth about that claim.

President Obama’s job approval ratings are now the lowest of his presidency. In fact, the RealClearPolitics.com average of the eight most recent national job approval surveys shows that just over 40 percent of people approve of Obama versus 55 percent who disapprove. Some surveys have him in the 30s.

But it is more than just his policy decisions or his use of website technology straight out of 1993 that is driving down the president’s numbers. It’s that his words no longer have value and that people just don’t trust him anymore. As the Righteous Brothers would say, the voters have lost that loving feeling.

President Obama was swept into office on soaring rhetoric, the delivery of which was so acclaimed that it gave the words and the man himself more credibility than a relatively untested politician deserves. How ironic that the same president finds his oratorical ability insufficient to assuage the hurt feelings and broken trust millions now feel toward his time in office.

It goes beyond his policy decisions. Words matter. They have value, unless you repeatedly use them duplicitously. Eventually, that practice catches up with you. It caught up with President Obama a full three years before he leaves office, which is going to make for a politically long and lonely second term in the White House.

Scott Jennings is a partner in RunSwitch Public Relations, and former deputy White House political director under President George W. Bush. He was a staff member on Mitch McConnell’s ‘02 and ‘08 re-election campaigns. His column appears every third Wednesday. He can be reached at scott@runswitchpr.com.

Editor's comment: I found out RATHER QUICKLY during his first term that POTUS in not trustworthy and i abandoned hope for change. He promised better, and we got screwed.

But then again who is the one politician who can be trusted -- really?!

George Zimmerman's Family Prepares To Eat Thanksgiving Feast.

One Man Crying In The Wilderness In A Banana Republic!

Fighter of Corruption in Nigeria Considers Next Steps

ABUJA, Nigeria — THE cash was handed over in large sacks containing $15 million in $100 bills, bags so heavy that the stoop-shouldered civil servant needed help carrying them.

Enlarge This Image

Afolabi Sotunde for The New York Times

Nuhu Ribadu, Nigeria’s anticorruption commissioner, on Friday. 

James Ibori, the governor of an oil-rich state in southern Nigeria, was so desperate to escape prosecution on corruption charges that he tried to pay off the civil servant, Nuhu Ribadu, Nigeria’s anticorruption commissioner. Mr. Ribadu accepted the money, but it was all a ruse.

A bespectacled former police officer with the no-nonsense style of a G-man, Mr. Ribadu did not keep the money, a remarkable act in a nation where corruption is endemic. Instead he deposited it in a government bank vault, evidence of Mr. Ibori’s many misdeeds, and in 2007 Mr. Ibori was arrested. Ultimately the charges did not stick — the governor was acquitted by a Nigerian court. He was eventually convicted of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud in Britain, where he had stashed a hefty chunk of the hundreds of millions of dollars of oil money he was believed to have embezzled.

The outcome of the case is in many ways an emblem of Mr. Ribadu’s career as a corruption fighter in Nigeria, a country Colin L. Powell once called a nation of “marvelous scammers”: a string of partial victories against a seemingly unbeatable foe.

These days Mr. Ribadu sits at home in a government-issue villa in this prefab 1980s-era capital, ruminating on his next move.

At 53, he has been celebrated inside Nigeria and beyond for his five-year tenure as chief of the anticorruption unit, beginning in 2003.

In that time he built the unit, called the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, into Nigeria’s largest anticorruption agency, with over 1,200 employees in six offices across Nigeria. He successfully prosecuted in 2005 Tafa Balogun, an inspector general of police who had resigned. Mr. Balogun pleaded guilty to failing to declare his assets. Mr. Ribadu arrested Mr. Ibori, the former governor of Delta State, in December 2007. He prosecuted 10 prominent national public figures, including nine governors.

His reputation gained luster only after he was forced from office in 2008 and into exile after what he said were assassination attempts, after he tried to prosecute corrupt politicians. He was appointed a visiting fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington and was also a senior fellow at St. Anthony’s College, Oxford.

He returned to Nigeria to run for president in 2011, but came nowhere near victory, and since then has struggled to find a place in Nigerian public life. He continues to investigate graft, but with a less prominent platform. His report pointing out large-scale corruption and waste in the country’s oil industry, which was published last year, was ignored by the government that commissioned it.

“One of my very big disappointments,” Mr. Ribadu said intently in an interview here.

Still, he remains a unique figure, prominent in the political opposition and often named as a possible future candidate for office.

“For the generality of the people, he is a dogged anticorruption crusader,” said Femi Falana, a prominent Nigeria human rights lawyer. “For the corrupt elements that constitute the political class, they fear him.”

Since Mr. Ribadu’s abrupt ouster as head of the anticorruption agency, “there is a feeling that the war on corruption is a lost battle,” Mr. Falana said.

THE anticorruption fight appears to be on sabbatical in the garden of Mr. Ribadu’s home here.

“Most people you will have encountered will want to ‘settle’ you,” the soft-spoken Mr. Ribadu said in an interview in the garden, using a Nigerian term for a bribe. “Up to my last day at work, people were trying to bribe me. That is the shocking thing.”

Mr. Ribadu began his career as a street police officer in some of Lagos’s rougher neighborhoods, eventually rising to become the chief prosecutor for the Nigerian police. He speaks with a piercing intensity, sometimes clenching a fist to punctuate a point. He grew up deep in Nigeria’s northern hinterland in the town of Yola. It was a devout Muslim household and a “refuge against pain and injustice” that succored persecuted lepers, he wrote in his autobiography.

His father was a member of Parliament in the days before independence and later a minister in Nigeria’s first government. He did not die wealthy, a fact noted by Mr. Ribadu as proof of his integrity and a sharp contrast to the “obscene value of aggrandizement that has suffocated our national life,” as he put it in his book.

But his reputation is not entirely unblemished. Some critics have accused his office of selectively prosecuting enemies of the man who appointed him, Olusegun Obasanjo, the president at the time. Indeed, before the national elections in 2007, Mr. Ribadu’s office published a list of 135 “corrupt” candidates it said should not be allowed to run for office. None of Mr. Obasanjo’s close allies were on it, noted Human Rights Watch, an advocacy group. Other critics said that the agency used the country’s gruesome prisons to obtain guilty pleas from defendants seeking to avoid long trials and long stays in fetid, overcrowded cells.

Human Rights Watch said in August 2011 that Mr. Ribadu’s “legacy was tarnished” by such evidence.

Detractors also point to his modest tally, when it was all over, as chairman of the corruption commission: only two convictions.

Yet even the critics call these a watershed, demonstrating to Nigerians that the powerful could be brought down merely because they had stolen large sums of money.

It “was a profoundly important moment” when Nigeria’s top police official, Mr. Balogun, was taken to court in handcuffs in 2005 to answer for his $150 million in ill-gotten assets, Human Rights Watch said in a 2011 report that was otherwise critical of Mr. Ribadu’s record.

That feat, and the subsequent conviction of another oil-state governor for stealing $55 million — since pardoned by the current president, Goodluck Jonathan — contributed to Mr. Ribadu’s reputation for incorruptibility.

He remains a rare figure in Nigerian political life: a public man whose reputation for personal probity remains relatively intact. No one has credibly accused him of stealing or taking bribes. Chickens roam his lawn, his six children romp on the grounds and watch cartoons inside, and there is no elaborate security detail guarding him — a sharp contrast to the normal accouterments of Nigerian senior officials.

IT remains to be seen if Mr. Ribadu’s incorruptible image can vault him into politics. After announcing a bid for the presidency to much fanfare last time around, Mr. Ribadu finished a very distant third. The jockeying is now underway in Nigeria for the 2015 presidential election, a high-stakes game on which billions ride in this oil-producing nation, and Mr. Ribadu is not ruling out a new candidacy.

The odds are against him: The governing People’s Democratic Party, or P.D.P., with oceans of cash and a network of influential state governors, is arrayed against Mr. Ribadu, who has not much besides the news media and a handful of good-government boosters on his side.

But Mr. Ribadu is convinced his moment will arrive. Seven governors from the governing party have recently quit to form a splinter group. Mr. Jonathan’s party faces many problems, like an Islamist rebellion in the north and potentially plummeting revenues from oil after the United States, Nigeria’s biggest customer, cut imports from the country in half from 2011 to the first half of 2012.

The defections have noticeably rattled Mr. Jonathan’s government.

“It’s an implosion of the ruling party that has been in charge for 15 years, promoting corruption, selfishness, incompetence,” Mr. Ribadu said, leaning forward in his garden. “It’s gotten to the point where it’s just like a group of gangsters.”

The Practical Implications Of #USSenate #Democrat's #Nuclear Strike.

Since #ussenatedemocrats will not forever control that institution but will sooner rather than later lose it to #republicans, should democrats not be wise and start to worry about republicans shitting on them with a new#nuclear option that wipes out any voice they'll have as a minority?!

I fully expect so!!

Let the games commence in earnest!!!

Wink.

Words To Live By, Words Of Wisdom, And Words To Ponder.

But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. http://bible.com/547/luk.6.27.kjva

Luke 6:27 King James Version, American Edition | The New Bible.com

bible.com

Bible.com is all new! Enjoy a free online Bible from YouVersion. Now, the simple, ad-free Bible experience loved by millions is available at Bible.com.

Ok, I Admit This Cartoon Is Funny, But I Applies To Republicans As Well As Democrats!

How Nick Anderson Witnessed The #USSenateDemocrat's #Nuclear Option!

LOL.

#USSenateDemocrats Go Nuclear!

i used to wonder why my #gop party sometimes acted like the #taliban until #democrats dropped the #nuclearbomb on the #ussenate floo, so now i should wonder no more!

GOP Appeals To Latino Community Over Immigration. LOL.

More On Dick "#$%^" Cheney's Home!

Turkey Talk At Dick "#%%" Cheney's Home!

#GeorgeZimmerman Arrested For Pointing Gun In Girlfriend Samantha Shiebe's Face, Ordered By Judge To Turn Over Guns And Stay Away From Victim. Karma Is Working, But This Is #Floriduh! Watch Video.

Read My Hero Abraham Lincoln's #GettysburgAddress.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Abraham Lincoln

November 19, 1863

#Floriduh

New York City's Newly Elected Mayor Bill De Blasio Has A Black Wife. He's Already My Kind Of White Guy! Watch Video.

Words To Live By, Words Of Wisdom, And Words To Ponder.

1) Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 

-- James 4:7, KJV

2)  However, as it is written: "What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived"— the things God has prepared for those who love him

-- 1 Corinthians 2:9, KJV

#ObamaRomneycare Pre-existing Conditions!

Liberators!

#ObamaRomneycare Rollut As Thanksgiving Turkey!

After #ObamaRomneycare: You Can Keep our Psychiatrist!

Louisville Courier-Journal Pens More Editorial About Kentucky's "Gestapo".

The reckless conduct of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services continues to astonish in cases where its employees appear to be running roughshod over some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged citizens of this state.

Twice in recent months, judges have rightly rejected the efforts by cabinet lawyers to wriggle out of findings that the agency is in contempt of court for violating the law or ignoring court orders.

Just last week, a state Court of Appeals panel refused to lift a contempt of court finding from Fayette Family Court against cabinet officials for not following the law in a case where they were seeking to terminate parents’ rights and permanently remove two children from their custody.

That follows the refusal in September of a federal judge in Lexington to lift a year-old contempt order against the cabinet for its handling of litigation over Medicaid coverage in which the judge repeated his frustration over the cabinet’s failure to help some of the state’s poorest and sickest Medicaid patients secure adequate health coverage.

But the details of one family’s case from Northern Kentucky, as alleged in a federal lawsuit pending against two cabinet social service officials, are even more stunning, indicating a willingness by cabinet employees to violate rights of families, ignore the law and rely on outlandish allegations of child abuse so fantastic they were promptly rejected by a judge.

Yet, that particular family’s nightmare dragged on for more than a year as a Boone County man fought to clear his name, as outlined recently by reporter Jim Hannah in the Cincinnati Enquirer, an affiliate of The Courier-Journal.

The story details the plight of Kenneth Lalley, awarded sole custody of his four children after a divorce, who was stunned when a social worker showed up at his door late at night on April 10, 2012, seeking to take all four of his children from him based on allegations of abuse.

The evidence? Claims from his teenage son who was then hospitalized for severe mental illness that he had been sexually abused multiple times not only by his father but by Boone Family Court Judge Linda Bramlage who had presided over the father’s contentious divorce from the teen’s mother.

The claims included bizarre allegations that the father and the judge assaulted the boy together on multiple occasions and frequently wandered around the house in front of him nude.

The youth later would admit he made the claims up hoping he could return to live with his mother.

Yet, with only cursory investigation of these claims, the worker removed the children from Mr. Lalley that night, without the required order signed by a judge, the father’s lawsuit claims.

Two days later, a cabinet social worker took the unsupported abuse allegations to Judge Bramlage, the same family court judge who presided over the divorce, but who had no idea she had been falsely accused of abuse. The worker asked her to sign an order authorizing the state to remove the children from their father—concealing from Judge Bramlage that she was one of those accused of the abuse, according to the father’s lawsuit.

A different judge took over the case, decided that no abuse had occurred and ordered three of the children returned to the father. The teenage son remains hospitalized.

Yet the cabinet for months afterwards refused to remove Mr. Lalley from an internal register it keeps of child abusers—only recently notifying his lawyer, Shane Sidebottom of Covington, it had done so after it apparently was shamed by Mr. Hannah’s news story Nov. 3.

The actions of the cabinet employees in this case appear as inexplicable as the determination of top officials to defend them.

“We are very supportive of these staff and are confident that court proceedings will demonstrate that their focus, as always, has been to protect the children,” a cabinet spokeswoman said.

We’ll see.

The cabinet isn’t faring too too well in court these days. Cabinet Secretary Audrey Tayse Haynes and Gov. Steve Beshear need to find out why its cases keep going so wrong and why citizens suffer.

Wanna read more? Go here.

It Is Way Past Time!

US Names 2 Nigerian-Based Groups Terrorist Organizations

FILE - A poster announcing a reward for the capture of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau is seen on a wall in Baga village on the outskirts of Maiduguri in the north-eastern Nigerian state of Borno.

RELATED ARTICLES

• UN: Boko Haram May Be Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity
• Army: 74 Militants Killed in Nigerian Attack
• New Violence Prompts Nigeria to Intensify Boko Haram Fight

— The United States has named Nigerian-based militant groups Boko Haram and Ansaru as foreign terrorist organizations.

In a statement Wednesday, U.S. counterterrorism official Lisa Monaco said the two groups have been responsible for thousands of deaths in northeast and central Nigeria in recent years.

She said the groups have carried out dozens of attacks on churches and mosques, as well as targeted killings of civilians.  U.S. officials blame Boko Haram for a 2011 attack on a U.N. building in Abuja that killed 21 people.

The designation cuts off Boko Haram and Ansaru from U.S. financial institutions and allows banks to freeze their assets held in the United States.

The announcement came as a U.S. Congressional subcommittee holds a hearing on the threat posed by Boko Haram, Nigeria's most prominent militant organization.

Earlier this year, Ansaru declared itself a splinter group independent of Boko Haram.  U.S. officials said Ansaru's attacks have focused mostly on Nigerian military and Western targets.

Before Wednesday's hearing, committee chairman Christopher Smith said Boko Haram fit the definition of a terrorist group and should be designated as such.

Boko Haram's name in the Hausa language means "Western education is a sin."  The group has battled the Nigerian government since 2009, with frequent attacks on police stations, jails, and government officials, as well as civilian targets like churches and mosques.

The group is believed to be fighting for an Islamic state in northern Nigeria, although much about its membership, leadership and structure remains unclear.

Last year, the U.S. State Department designated Boko Haram's most visible leader, Abubakar Shekau, a terrorist, along with two other men ( Abubakar Adam Kambar and Khalid al-Barnawi) who allegedly have ties to Boko Haram and al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.

Nigeria's government declared a state of emergency in three northeastern states in May and has sent thousands of troops to battle the group.  But attacks continue, amid accusations the military has killed hundreds of civilians through indiscriminate and heavy-handed violence.

The State Department said Wednesday that the designations were "only one tool" in what must be a comprehensive approach by Nigeria's government to counter the groups through law enforcement, political and development efforts, as well as military engagement.

Our Heritage.

Happy 11 12 13! Enjoy!!

yes, enjoy. the phenom. will not happen again, period!

Hal Heiner Looks To Be Republican Gubernatorial Nominee, But Has To Fight James Comer First!

Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James Comer sees Hal Heiner over his shoulder

It seems like it was only yesterday that U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie announced he wouldn’t run for governor in 2015, seemingly leaving the GOP nomination for Agriculture Commissioner James Comer to claim.

But there’s a reason there are big payoffs for those who bet on the Kentucky Derby in October rather than on the day of the race. The further out you are, the more difficult it is to predict the outcome.

Though Comer is probably still the favorite, there are indicators that are now pointing at former Louisville Metro Council member Hal Heiner as the Republican to keep your eye on.

For months now, Comer has been traveling the state, getting to know new people and re-establishing relationships with people who helped him when he won his current office in 2011. Comer has been doing it in a fairly high-profile fashion as part of his official duties.

He’s not making the rounds as a gubernatorial candidate because he’s not running for governor — says he hasn’t decided yet — wink, wink.

Heiner, on the other hand, has been traveling the state as well. He’s still deciding, too.

But he’s talking with individuals as he edges toward a gubernatorial announcement that could come as soon as he finds a running mate — potentially early next year.

And that’s where Comer’s biggest problem lies. It’s unclear if he — or any candidate — can raise the money from contributors to fund what would essentially be a year-and-a-half primary election campaign.

Heiner, a wealthy Louisville real-estate developer, doesn’t have that problem.

He hasn’t said whether he will self-fund his campaign, but it’s assumed that he will to some significant degree. Heiner contributed more than $1.9 million to his failed Louisville mayoral campaign in 2010. In all, his campaign spent $2.8 million.

And supporters say Heiner is prepared to raise and spend $5 million in the GOP primary. That would be, by far, the most a Republican has ever raised in a Kentucky gubernatorial primary, outpacing Ernie Fletcher, who raised $3.5 million in the primary when he sought re-election in 2007.

When he ran for agriculture commissioner in 2011, Comer raised $695,796 from contributors and loaned his campaign $100,000.

With Kentucky’s campaign finance laws as they are, limiting individual contributors to $1,000 contributions in each of the primary and general elections, you can see how it would be difficult for Comer to catch up to Heiner if he wanted to throw in his own resources.

Meanwhile, Comer appears to be trying to pivot to become the “outsider” candidate if Heiner gets into the race.

Comer had appeared to be lining up as the establishment candidate, and there had been signs that he would have the support of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell. But that’s not so clear now.

McConnell’s former state director, Larry Cox, had come out of retirement to go to work for Comer in his state office but left abruptly this summer.

And last week in Somerset, Comer appeared to poke McConnell in the eye.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reported Wednesday that at an event in Pulaski County, Comer proclaimed his independence from McConnell and from U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, who is revered in Somerset, the Pulaski County seat.

“I cannot be controlled,” he told the crowd.

“The days of party bosses hand-picking elected officials in smoke-filled rooms must end,” Comer was quoted as saying.

“No more scenarios where party bosses send some guy from, say, Louisville, who has never been to Somerset before and order you to support him because (they) can control him.”

That guy from “say, Louisville,” is Heiner.

Comer knows it and he knows Heiner is the Republican he needs to keep his eye on.

My Friend, Rand Paul, Challenges His Critics To A Duel, And Now Allison Lundergan Grimes Challenges My Buddy Mitch McConnell To A Shooting Contest After He Receives NRA Award! Let The Shooting Commence!!

Senate candidates tout gun-rights support

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell bagged an award Friday from the powerful National Rifle Association, while his chief Democratic rival in next year's Senate race defended her support of gun rights and threw down a marksmanship challenge to the Republican senator.

"Whenever he's not busy pandering to Washington lobbyists, I welcome Sen. McConnell to come shoot with me at the range any day," said Democratic candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes, an NRA member and skeet shooter.

Grimes' campaign released a photo Friday showing her shooting at her family's farm in northern Kentucky.

McConnell didn't respond to a reporter's question Friday asking if he'd be willing to test his shooting skills against Grimes' at a gun range.

The Grimes campaign pounced, saying McConnell "loves to talk a big game," but "when asked to back it up, he fails badly and walks away."

The senator was at a Bullitt County gun club to pick up the NRA's "Defender of Freedom" award and to recognize a sportsmen's coalition backing him.

McConnell was flanked by shotguns lined up next to flags, and boxes of clay targets were stacked by the podium. Empty shotgun shells littered the ground nearby.

Gun-rights issues are hot-button topics in Kentucky, where about 300,000 hunters are set to trudge through the woods in coming days in pursuit of deer.

Louisville businessman Matt Bevin, who is challenging McConnell in the GOP primary next spring, touted his own credentials. Bevin noted he and his wife have licenses to carry concealed weapons, and said he'd be a strong defender of constitutional rights. Bevin has been endorsed by the group Gun Owners of America.

McConnell, who is seeking his sixth term next year, aimed his criticism at President Barack Obama, who is unpopular in Kentucky, and gun control advocates.

McConnell said efforts to pass stricter gun laws in the wake of mass shootings were an example of the "nanny state" advocated by Democrats.

"After every dreadful, awful occurrence of some person with deep mental disability, their reaction to that is try to restrict your rights given to you under the Second Amendment to the Constitution," he told a group of supporters. "And there's very little talk about how to deal with the problem of mentally incapacitated people."

McConnell, the Senate's top Republican, said he's the prime target for national Democrats in next year's elections. He noted the blistering attacks already unleashed against him, then added: "I assure you, I'm not going to turn the other cheek." McConnell is known for his own bare-knuckled campaign style.

Mark Nethery, president of the League of Kentucky Sportsmen, said McConnell has an "impeccable record" of protecting Second Amendment rights.

The NRA said McConnell "stood with gun owners and hunters through the toughest of times."

McConnell was recognized by the NRA for a series of Senate votes, including his fight against bans on semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. He also won NRA praise for helping block legislation that would have expanded background checks to include sales at commercial venues like gun shows and on the Internet.

Grimes, the state's secretary of state, said in a statement that her support for gun rights is "unquestioned."

"In the Senate, I will protect my fellow Kentuckians' right to keep and bear arms," she said.

Do You Want To Know Why I Am A Strong Supporter Of The National Rifle Association (NRA)? Ask Junior Marvin About "Police And Thieves"! #Reggae.

Happy Veterans' Day. We Honor Those Who Gave The Last Measure Of Devotion To Their Country, And Those Who Are Still Giving!

Words To Live By, Words Of Wisdom, And Words To Ponder.

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.http://bible.com/547/col.3.2.kjva

Colossians 3:2 King James Version, American Edition | The New Bible.com

bible.com

Republicans Reveal Their Strategy For Winning Elections In The South ONLY!

CBS' 60 Minutes And Lara Logan Leads With A "Correction" About Dylan Davis' Scam Account Of His Heroics In Benghazi We Reported Here. CBS Was Hoodwinked! Watch "Apology"!!

Update, 11/26: sory is false; CBS suspends Lara Logan and her producer for false reporting! Read More here.

NFL Reacts To Reports Of Bullying By Its Players!

Bulling In The NFL Football!

Reoccurrence Of Cancer Forces Judge Margaret Huddleston To Pass On Seeking Third Term. We Wish Her Speedy Recovery.

Read more here.

Breaking News: Chris Christie Wins Re-election In New Jersey!

Liberals Continue To Have Fun At Rand Paul's Expense!

Five In Clay County, Kentucky, Previously Ordered Released By Appeals Court And Retried After Sentences In Voter Fraud Cases, Including Circuit Court Judge R. Cletus Maricle, Enter Guilty Pleas To Avoid Retrials And Possible Long Sentences.

For more, go here.

GREEDY AT&T On CIA Payroll For Spying!

CIA paying AT&T to provide call records - NY Times

The CIA is paying AT&T more than $10 million a year to provide phone records for overseas counter-terrorism investigations, the New York Times reported, quoting government officials.

The No. 2 U.S. mobile service provider is cooperating under a voluntary contract, not under subpoenas or court orders compelling the company to participate, the paper said. (r.reuters.com/juk54v)

AT&T did not confirm or deny the report but said payments from governments were routine for lawful data.

The report comes amid widespread political uproar after former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden leaked documents describing how the U.S. government collects far more internet and telephone data than previously known.

Under the AT&T arrangement, the CIA supplies phone numbers of overseas terrorism suspects and AT&T searches its database to provide call records that may help identify foreign associates, the paper said.

Most of the call logs provided by AT&T involve foreign-to-foreign calls, the paper said.

AT&T does not disclose the identity of the Americans calling from the United States, and masks their phone numbers when it produces the records, the paper said, quoting the officials.

AT&T said all government data requests were handled in a lawful and proper manner.

"We ensure that we maintain customer information in compliance with the laws of the United States and other countries where information may be maintained," AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said in an emailed statement.

"Like all telecom providers, we routinely charge governments for producing the information provided."

(To read more, check out Reuters)

Ok, This Mike Luckovic Cartoon Is Very, Very Funny! LMAO!

Kentucky Republicans Seem Eager For Another Butt Kicking!

SOMERSET — In the days leading up to his remarks Tuesday
at the Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce, Agriculture
Commissioner James Comer began referring to them as
"the Fort Sumter speech."

To most of the 100 or so farmers and merchants gathered,
Comer's words appeared far removed from the first battle
in the Civil War, but there was a great deal more going on
for some, especially in one departure that seemed at odds
with the rest of Comer's routine luncheon speech.

"The days of party bosses hand-picking elected officials in
smoke-filled rooms must end," said Comer, who is mentioned
often as a likely Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2015.
"No more scenarios where party bosses send some guy from,
say, Louisville, who has never been to Somerset before and
order you to support him because (they) can control him."

Most of the crowd, subdued by Butterball turkey breast, didn't know what to make of it when Comer veered and declared, "I cannot be controlled."

But to a handful, the message was clear: Comer was warning what he views as establishment Republicans — be it U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell or state Sen. Chris Girdler — not to meddle in the 2015 governor's race.

Standing in the Center for Rural Development, for which Rogers secured federal funding to build, Comer was all smiles. But for weeks, he has stewed, thinking that, as he put it, "there's an effort from somewhere to jump-start the governor's race from a handful of people in Louisville."

"I think there is a part of the old guard that wants to continue to run candidates who campaign on social issues exclusively who are very cautious and oppose agendas to move Kentucky forward," Comer said during an interview last week. "There are people that think the governor's race should start now. I strongly disagree."

His comments come after McConnell biographer John David Dyche wrote in an Oct. 22 column for WDRB-TV that former Louisville mayoral candidate Hal Heiner was preparing to run for governor.

"Multiple GOP sources now say Heiner is indeed going to make a gubernatorial bid," Dyche wrote. "They also say that he will have help, perhaps behind the scenes, from (U.S. Rep.) Hal Rogers of Somerset."

Comer, who has endorsed McConnell's re-election bid, and others think some in the GOP want a Republican to enter the governor's race so a Democrat will have to file, taking money and attention away from Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes while whipping up enthusiasm among Republicans eager to take the governor's mansion.

While Comer said he didn't "necessarily think" McConnell was one of the people pushing for Heiner to enter the race, McConnell and Rogers were absent from the list of politicians whom Comer told the crowd Tuesday that he admires.

He mentioned House Republican floor leader Jeff Hoover; state Rep. Tommy Turner, who made it to the speech limping after breaking his leg bear hunting about eight weeks ago; and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul.

"These leaders represent the people, not the special interests," Comer said.

Hoover introduced Comer as "the next governor in the state of Kentucky."

"I think Commissioner Comer is speaking for a lot of folks (who) express frustration from time to time at those on top choosing who the candidates are and dictating what other people should or should not do," Hoover said after the speech. "And that's a growing concern that I hear among rank-and-file voters of both parties."

After his remarks, Comer acknowledged that he had been asked to start a campaign for governor this year. He declined to say who had done so, adding: "I'm not going to name names — today."

Comer, who has made legalizing hemp his signature issue, is winning widespread praise for his handling of the Department of Agriculture after former commissioner Richer Farmer's steep fall from grace. But Comer is adamant that he will not announce his gubernatorial intentions until after next year's elections.

Heiner could not be reached for comment Tuesday, as he was scouting locations for deer hunting this weekend. In August, Heiner told The Courier-Journal he hadn't "closed the door on a campaign for the future."

"But as of today I really have no plans," Heiner said. "I'd say it's at the level of consideration, but not beyond that."

Paul, no stranger to being the odd man out when the establishment picks a candidate, appears to have Comer's back, remembering that Comer was one of, if not the only, state representative to endorse Paul's Senate bid during the 2010 GOP primary.

"Senator Paul has a very good working relationship with James Comer, and I know Senator Paul greatly appreciates his independence and leadership," said Dan Bayens, Paul's Kentucky spokesman.

To that end, Jesse Benton, who ran Paul's 2010 general election campaign and now sits at the helm of McConnell's 2014 re-election effort, said McConnell "just thinks the world of Jamie Comer and is just so impressed by what he's done picking up the pieces of a broken agency and completely turning it around."

"All Senator McConnell has said to anybody that's asked him is that they don't need to worry about him or his feelings when it comes to starting the governor's race for 2015," Benton said. "And he's fine with them starting whenever is best for them."

Rogers, who has strongly opposed efforts to legalize hemp because of its close relationship to marijuana, reiterated to the Herald-Leader last month that he was not getting involved with the GOP primary for governor, rebutting Dyche's assessment that Rogers was supporting Heiner.

"I've not said anything like that privately or publicly," Rogers said. "I'm not taking part in the governor's race, so no."

The more immediate recipient of Comer's remarks Tuesday was Girdler, seated to the left of the podium as Comer spoke.

Girdler, a Somerset Republican and former district director for Rogers, is considered by Comer allies to be the sherpa leading an effort by Heiner to get in the race early and with enough of his own money to make a run for the governor's mansion prohibitively expensive.

Girdler, after the speech, was nonplussed, calmly chewing gum as he had during Comer's remarks.

"I don't know what to read into it," Girdler said. "I'm not sure who he was talking about. I'm just here to have a good time."

When pressed about his relationship with Heiner, Gird ler twice responded, "To my knowledge, nobody's running for governor yet."

To many in the crowd, Comer should be running.

Mike Chandler of Somerset, general manager of a dairy farm that Comer helped connect with Wal-Mart, said Comer was "truly for the people."

"The guy's integrity is unbelievable," Chandler said. "I thought that might change, and it hasn't. This is a guy who should be, and I hope will be, the next governor."

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/11/05/2914172/james-comer-to-kentucky-gop-leaders.html#storylink=cpy