North Carolina – Approximately 1,000 paratroopers from the Army’s famed 82nd Airborne Division will deploy to Iraq early next year to help the Iraqi security forces take on the Islamic State, the Pentagon announced Friday.

The soldiers from the 82nd’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team, based at Fort Bragg, N.C., will begin to deploy in late January to train, advise and assist the ISF, Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby told reporters.
Their mission is part of the coalition effort to build up the Iraqi army and Kurdish peshmerga so that they can recapture territory from Islamic State militants.
The paratroopers are preparing for a nine-month deployment, according to a spokeswoman for the 82nd Airborne. (more…)

Perhaps it’s just an increase in awareness, but since the night when Mike Brown’s step-dad Louis Head kicked off the local Saint Louis riots -with his requests to “burn these bitches”- there appears to be a marked increase in the numbers and scope of murder by fire throughout the Mid-Eastern part of the U.S.

♦  The first victim noticed was DeAndre Joshua who was burned in his vehicle in the Canfield Greens apartment complex not far from where Mike Brown was shot and killed. His late November autopsy results showed he was shot first and then lit on fire, in an apparent gang related attack on the same night of the grand jury verdict.
♦  On December 6th in Courtland, Mississippi, 19-year-old victim Jessica Lane Chambers was burned alive in her vehicle.
♦  A week later another burned body was found just outside Memphis on another roadway, with a pick-up truck set ablaze.  Unknown victim.
♦  Last night, in the Saint Louis area two more people were attacked with fire.  Just north of Saint Louis, a man was set ablaze in a portable toilet:
(more…)

The idea spawned late Thursday afternoon. We lost half the day Friday fighting the Sheriffs office. However, Ashley began working on the Lowes plants and flower delivery today. The Fresh arrangements and wreaths yet to follow…
FYI

Memorial site underway… more to come. @TheLastRefuge2 @RitaSDJobs . Not sure who all ordered, sorry. pic.twitter.com/ePWQhBu4Sh

— aShLeY~rYnA (@ashleyryna9) December 20, 2014

With solar lights.. @RitaSDJobs @TheLastRefuge2 pic.twitter.com/SYzAAMstwQ

— aShLeY~rYnA (@ashleyryna9) December 20, 2014

Finished product. All flowers that was ordered from Lowes!!! pic.twitter.com/z8VajrUpdK

— aShLeY~rYnA (@ashleyryna9) December 20, 2014

Very proud of my daughter today she is a very loving and caring person @TheLastRefuge2 @lenny_laws @ashleyryna9 pic.twitter.com/jGxOPuoA4R

— Tela Gray (@gray_tela) December 21, 2014

…. and THIS is only the beginning. GREAT JOB ASHLEY !!

PANOLA COUNTY, Miss.
(<—video at Link) – Someone fatally lit Jessica Chambers on fire along a country road two weeks ago this weekend.
Still, there have been no arrests so far.
District Attorney John Champion confirmed Friday that there are no official updates in the investigation.
Champion shared that private donors contributed an additional $800 to the reward fund for information, bringing the total to $16,800.
The “Justice for Jessica” Facebook page launched a fundraising effort this week to contribute money to the reward fund as well.
Champion said officials are asking that people do not leave flower memorials at the murder site for road safety reasons.  Instead, Champion said people could donate to the reward fund if they so choose. (more…)

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

(more…)

It’s time to seriously get in the mood for the holidays. This is the place for your videos, music, and pictures. Let’s have some fun and play some tunes. Maybe we can talk our own bartender WeeWeed into opening the Christmas booze stash for us. Enjoy!

Update #2:  Facing backlash and mounting phone calls Panola County Reverses position – Flowers and memorial approved:

Good news!!! Just got call. We are more than welcome to put flowers up. @TheLastRefuge2

— aShLeY~rYnA (@ashleyryna9) December 19, 2014

Update #1: How about “Leah’s House” as alternative location for tribute?  This is where Jessica went for support, restoration, healing and comfort.   Please let me know your thoughts in comments – my heart is heavy, and we’re searching for a way to turn adversity into a positive outcome. 

As UNBELIEVABLE as it sounds, the Panola County Sheriffs office is refusing to allow any flowers to be left as the roadside where 19-year-old Jessica Lane Chambers was brutally murdered on December 6th.

In an incredibly insensitive position, according to Mrs. “Robbie” (Robbie W. Haley is Administrative Assistant to the Sheriff 662-563-6230) within the Panola Sheriff’s Office, nothing will be allowed, and anything left to memorialize Jessica Lane Chambers will be removed immediately by the Sheriff’s department personnel.
The Sheriff’s assistant tells Ashley (our contact in Courtland) *she should give the collected money to the family -and- any flowers must be placed graveside. Nothing additional to draw memory to Jessica Chambers will be permitted by the Sheriffs office. (more…)

Says the President who calls U.S. media and tells then what they can and cannot say about his policies; while his Attorney General, Eric Holder, labels U.S. journalists as terrorist co-conspirators (James Rosen).
Via BUZZFEED – President Obama criticized Sony for pulling “The Interview” at his end-of-year news conference Friday.
“I think they made a mistake,” Obama said.
“We cannot have a society in which some dictator some place can start imposing censorship here in the United States,” he added.
Sony pulled “The Interview” after threats of terrorist attacks at screenings of the film. Obama contrasted the move with the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing, when the city decided to continue the annual event despite the terror threat.
“We can’t start changing our patterns of behavior any more than we stop going to football games because there might be the possibility of a terrorist attack,” he said. (read more)