Last October, the Willamette Weekly newspaper published an exposé showing how the governor’s fiancé, Cynthia Hayes, was taking money as a private consultant to environment groups and then pushing their policies in her public role as “First Lady” of the state. Most infamously, she ordered state employees to follow a policy she was being paid $25,000 by an advocacy group to promote. Apparently, some of the money also wasn’t reported on tax returns. (link)

OREGON – Long-time Democratic Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber on Friday announced his resignation amid allegations his fiancee used her relationship with him to enrich herself.
In a lengthy statement released Friday, Kitzhaber said he broke no laws and said his resignation would be effective on Wednesday.  “Nonetheless, I understand that I have become a liability to the very institutions and policies to which I have dedicated my career and, indeed, my entire adult life,” he said.
The decision capped a wild week in which Kitzhaber seemed poised to step down, then changed his mind, but ultimately bowed to calls from legislative leaders that he quit the state’s top job. (more…)

… When he finally did act, a month later, they were gone.
WASHINGTON DC – The U.S. government obtained intelligence on the possible location of American captives held by ISIS in Syria last year, but Obama administration officials waited nearly a month to launch a rescue mission because of concerns that the intelligence wasn’t conclusive and some of it had come from a foreign service, U.S. and British officials told The Daily Beast.
British officials, as well as private security contractors, said they were frustrated by Washington’s hesitance to give the go-ahead for a rescue attempt, which eventually was carried out on July 4, 2014, by which time the hostages had been moved. The following month, ISIS began beheading its American and British prisoners in a series of grisly Internet videos. (more…)

The White House has a strategy of defeating Benjamin Netanyahu by instilling fear in the Israeli electorate of losing the U.S. as a protective ally.   According to the apparent logic – if Obama casts deep enough aspersions toward Israel’s  leadership, the Israeli people will fear re-electing Netanyahu.
However, the plan appears to be failing as polling indicates the people within the jewish state have caught on to the manipulation and don’t trust Obama.

Three in four Israelis say that they do not trust President Barack Obama to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, according to a recent poll conducted by the Times of Israel. (more…)

(Via Clarion Ledger) On Wednesday, Jessica Chambers’ mother appealed to people who might know about her daughter’s death, reminding them that arresting the person responsible is not just about closure for Jessica’s family.
“If there’s somebody that knows what happened, they need to talk, they need to tell it,” Lisa Daugherty said. “If you know that happened, who’s to say that you or your child aren’t next. If you know that person did that, what if you make them mad? You already know what they’re capable of.”
Chambers, 19, was found on Herron Road in Courtland on December 6 with burns over 98 percent of her body. She died of her injuries in the early morning hours of the next day. (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 †

WASHINGTON DC – IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told Congress on Wednesday that even illegal immigrants who didn’t pay taxes will be able to claim back-refunds once they get Social Security numbers under President Obama’s temporary deportation amnesty.

The revelation — which contradicts what he told Congress last week — comes as lawmakers also raised concerns Mr. Obama’s amnesty could open a window to illegal immigrants finding ways to vote, despite it being against the law. (more…)

FERGUSON, MO – Federal prosecutors are bringing charges in one of the fires in riots that destroyed businesses after the Michael Brown grand jury decision.
A federal grand jury indicted Antonio Whiteside, 26, charging him with the arson of the Ferguson Market, the spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in St. Louis said.
The market was the scene of a reported strong-armed robbery by Michael Brown shortly before his fatal confrontation with police officer Darren Wilson. (more…)

(Via Yahoo Sports) Rev. Jesse Jackson, the polarizing civil rights activist, is calling for Little League International to return the U.S. championship to the 12-year-olds from Jackie Robinson West, mere hours after Little League stripped the team of its title.

And if that doesn’t happen, Jackson said Wednesday afternoon, he may take legal action.

Jackie Robinson West — consumed in a vortex of allegations involving ineligible players and illegally redrawing its league boundaries — became a feel-good story in Chicago and across the country on its run to the Little League World Series. An all-black team that was supported by MLB players, Jackie Robinson West became U.S. champions before losing to South Korea in the international title game. Afterward, the kids from Chicago were celebrated from the World Series to the White House. (more…)

The Washington Post is essentially hiding their own embarrassment by deflecting their presentation to a question of which one of these image videos’ would be more apt to be used by opponents to Obama saying ‘he’s diminishing the office’.
We have no idea what the heck is actually supposed to be accomplished by this entire fiasco. Perhaps someone can explain it to me.

Warning – what follows below is, well, perhaps the weirdest and least explainable presentations of President Obama ever. (more…)