VoteKansas.org

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Who would have guessed that Barack Obama was the original birther, peddling the story that he was born in Kenya long before Donald Trump, Sheriff Joe and assorted nut jobs took it up as a crusade in fantasy and futility.

Mr. Obama's literary agent put together a little booklet ...

The campaign to convict George Zimmerman of racist murder in the public mind, before he ever got to trial, proceeds on.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A first-of-its-kind commercial supply ship rocketed toward the International Space Station following a successful liftoff early Tuesday, opening a new era of dollar-driven spaceflight.

The SpaceX company made history as its Falcon 9 rocket rose from its seaside launch pad and pierced the pre-dawn sky, ...

The fact that so many successful politicians are such shameless liars is not only a reflection on them, it is also a reflection on us.

NYTimes Editorial: The Right to Record:

The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department took an important stand last week, declaring that citizens have a First Amendment right to videotape the actions of police officers in public places and that seizure or destruction of such recordings violates constitutional rights.

The Justice Department made the statement in a federal lawsuit brought against the Baltimore Police Department by Christopher Sharp, who used his cellphone to take video of the police arresting and beating a friend at Pimlico on the day of the 2010 Preakness. The officers took Mr. Sharp’s cellphone while he was recording and wiped the phone clean of all videos before returning it to him.

The Courts of Appeals for the First and Seventh Circuits have wisely found that the Constitution protects the right to videotape police officers while they perform official duties. The video taken by another witness of the beating at Pimlico shows that the right to record is crucial to holding police accountable for their actions.

Business Insider: I Spy An Occupy: Obama’s DHS Surveils Legit Protesters:

Remember the Occupy Movement? Since last November, when the NYPD closed the Zuccotti Park encampment in downtown Manhattan-–the Movement’s birthplace and symbolic nexus—-Occupy’s relevance has seriously dwindled, at least as measured by coverage in the mainstream media. We’re told that this erosion is due to Occupy’s own shortcomings—-an inevitable outcome of its disjointed message and decentralized leadership.

While that may be the media’s take, the U.S. Government seems to have a different view.

If recent documents obtained by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) are any indication, the Occupy Movement continues to be monitored and curtailed in a nationwide, federally-orchestrated campaign, spearheaded by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

. . .

The right to public assembly is a central component of the First Amendment. The Fourth Amendment is supposed to protect Americans from warrantless searches—with the definition of “search” expanded in 1967 to include electronic surveillance, following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Katz v. United States. Assuming the Occupy protesters refrain from violence—and the vast majority do, in accord with a stated tenet of the Occupy movement—the movement’s existence is constitutionally protected, or should be.

The DHS’s monitoring, documenting, and undermining of protesters may in fact violate the First Amendment. In a recent piece for Dissent Magazine, sociologist James B. Rule explains the fundamental importance of a movement like Occupy in the American political landscape.

Fierce GovernmentIT: Surveillance through GPS is not the same as using cellular tower data, say law enforcement officials by Molly Bernhart Walker:

The boundaries of surveillance are being called into question as the law enforcement community seeks continued warrantless access to electronically-generated location data while privacy advocates say a January 2012 Supreme Court case means all geolocation data is protected by the Fourth Amendment.

In the wake of the case (.pdf), United States v. Antoine Jones, two congressmen--Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.)--have proposed a bill (H.R. 2168 [.pdf]) that would require law enforcement obtain a warrant before accessing any geolocation data. The Jones case ruled that the FBI could not attach a Global Positioning System device to a car without a warrant.

BUFFALO — A man plunged at least 180 feet Monday over Niagara Falls and survived - only the third person known to have gone over without a safety device and live.

Police say witnesses reported seeing the man climb over a railing at 10:20 a.m. Monday and "deliberately jump" into ...

Infowars.com | Anarchism seems to be a key word in the elite’s latest, violent promotional effort.

Hispanic Business | Officials from each side of the border meet to figure out where new border crossings will be placed.

Infowars | Penn says if Obama had been caught with the marijuana and "blow" he said he used in college, he'd be doing time right now.

Healthy men shouldn't get routine prostate cancer screenings, says updated advice from a government panel that found the PSA blood tests do more harm than good.

Despite strenuous protests from urologists, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is sticking by a contentious proposal it made last fall.

A final guideline ...

NEW YORK — If you're flying this summer, be prepared to kiss your family members goodbye at the gate — even if they're on the same plane.

Airlines are reserving a growing number of window and aisle seats for passengers willing to pay extra. That's helping to boost revenue but ...

Infowars.com | The proverbial "one percent" is divided into two categories.

CNET | And you thought the TSA was bad.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Golden Gate Bridge was heralded as an engineering marvel when it opened in 1937. It was the world's longest suspension span and had been built across a strait that critics said was too treacherous to be bridged.

But as the iconic span approaches its 75th anniversary ...

Rob Natelson | The original legal force of the Constitution is based on the original understanding.

Kurt Nimmo | Most terrorism is inflicted on people by government and its preferred business associates.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — A man plunged at least 180 feet over Niagara Falls and survived — only the third person known to have gone over without a safety device and live.

Niagara Parks Police say witnesses reported seeing the man climb over a railing at 10:20 a.m. Monday and "deliberately ...

Canadian Awareness Mag | 'Mounties have spent $3 million on cross-border policing pilot projects; day-to-day threat is organized crime, not terrorism. '