I explored all 50 states and these are the cool things I saw while I was in Kansas!

A recent attack ad against Adam Hamilton questions whether he believes in a literal Adam and Eve. If this is really the basis upon which the good people of Kansas choose their next senator, then I suppose we'll get what we deserve.

Is there truth to this claim about Marshall's ad featuring CSAM? How could this possibly pass by any newspaper editor? I hate Marshall as much as the next freedom-loving Kansas but this seems so (hopefully!) improbable. Please tell me this is a stretch of the truth.

Is that Riley? Why?

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach brought his daughter to Washington D.C. to sit behind him as he advised lawmakers on how best to pursue policies denying citizenship to certain children born on American soil.

Kobach, a Republican who forged his political identity as an anti-immigration hardliner, was called to testify on birthright citizenship before a House Judiciary subcommittee on Wednesday.

He outlined a path forward for Republicans frustrated by the conservative U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 June ruling striking down President Donald Trump’s sweeping executive order that sought to end automatic birthright citizenship — a legal principle enshrined in the Fourteenth Amendment.

In the Trump v. Barbara majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that both the plain language of the Fourteenth Amendment and principles of English common law that undergird the American legal system support the longstanding interpretation that the children of undocumented immigrants and visitors to the country are U.S. citizens.

Kobach said he doesn’t believe that ruling will stand the test of time “because it is so weakly reasoned.”

“The majority opinion rests on this futile notion that you are attached to the lord of the soil and ignores the normal hallmarks of determining original intent of a constitutional provision,” Kobach said. “It is truly bizarre that they do so.”

Undeterred by the ruling, Trump signed two more executive orders this month aimed at narrowing the definition of citizenship. One directed federal agencies not to issue citizenship documents in several categories of cases, including when neither parent is a citizen and either parent is a foreign government employee or engaged in fraud to obtain citizenship.

The other executive order directed the State Department and Department of Homeland Security to take action to prevent people from traveling to the U.S. for the express purpose of giving birth, a rare practice known as birth tourism that has inflamed conservatives in the aftermath of the high court’s birthright citizenship ruling. Both new orders are facing legal challenges.

Kobach encouraged lawmakers to pursue legislation building off of the new executive orders, saying he believes Supreme Court justices would be open to changes that stop short of eliminating birthright citizenship altogether.

“I think a statute along the lines of President Trump’s executive order dealing with birth tourism is one that would almost certainly get the vote of Justice (Brett) Kavanaugh, and I think it would also gain the vote of either the chief justice or Justice (Amy) Coney Barrett,” Kobach said.

Debating birthright citizenship

The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868 in the aftermath of the Civil War. It guaranteed birthright citizenship for formerly enslaved Black people and their children, as well as anyone else born in the U.S.

Congress didn’t pass the first federal legislation distinguishing between legal and illegal immigration until 1882.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, used his remarks during the subcommittee hearing to call out critics of birthright citizenship for their “outburst of constitutional amnesia.”

Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, a Pennsylvania Democrat, condemned the renewed push to erode the longstanding legal principle as a nefarious plot to turn “our melting pot democracy into a white nationalist ethnostate.”

Kobach maintained that the modern-day interpretation of birthright citizenship is much broader than the authors of the Fourteenth Amendment intended it to be. He said America’s approach to birthright citizenship makes the country “an outlier in the world.”

“The vast majority of the world looks at the citizenship of the parentage and then has various rules for determining whether you are a citizen,” Kobach said.

In his own testimony, Jonathan Weinberg, a law professor at Wayne State University, said there’s no constitutional ambiguity in the guarantee of citizenship for children born in the U.S. — regardless of who their parents are. Weinberg pushed back against the notion that countries are better served by more restrictive citizenship standards.

“If you want to know how not to do it, look at European countries like France,” he said. “Over there, we see large populations who, in part because they never got birthright citizenship, never came to identify with the country where they were born and are living in.

“The rest of the country sees them as strangers,” Weinberg said. “That’s a recipe for trouble. But we don’t do it that way here. If you were born here, you are ours. You see yourself as an American. Others see you as an American. We don’t have a hereditary class of noncitizens and we shouldn’t want one.”

‘Back to his roots’

Michael Smith, a political science professor at Emporia State University, said Kobach’s hostility toward immigrants has been a defining feature of his career in Kansas politics.

“Kobach came onto the scene in the early 2000s speaking about undocumented immigrants and arguing that their presence in the country was a problem, alleging without evidence that they vote in U.S. elections,” Smith said.

Kobach was “on this immigration issue long before anyone thought of Donald Trump as a potential president,” Smith said.

“He’s moved onto other issues like gun rights of course, trans kids playing sports and driver’s license gender markers,” Smith said. “But really, him testifying at this hearing is him getting back to his roots.”

As Secretary of State, Kobach championed and defended a law requiring Kansans to prove their U.S. citizenship before voting. A federal judge struck down the law and ordered Kobach to complete a remedial legal education course.

Trump tapped Kobach during his first term to lead a commission charged with investigating voter fraud, but it was disbanded in 2018 without producing any evidence of widespread fraud.

When the Department of Justice sued Kansas this summer over a 2004 law that allows some immigrants without legal status in the U.S. to receive in-state tuition at Kansas colleges and universities, Kobach opted not to defend the law. Instead, he filed a joint motion siding with the DOJ in its interpretation that the statute is invalid.

Kobach’s appearance before the congressional subcommittee comes two months before his rematch with Lawrence attorney Chris Mann, the Democratic nominee for attorney general who he narrowly defeated in 2022.

Kansas House Race District 14

If you’d like to help Sherry Giebler flip this seat and give to the fight to break the GOP supermajority in the Kansas House you can donate on this form. This form lets you contribute to the 6 most competitive seats & flip HD-14. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/5flipstowin

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Kelly did decently given the national environment in 2022 and Kansas is shifting Blue to a measurable degree . It's probably not possible to keep it blue but definitely possible to break 46/47%

Needing a doc who specializes in endometriosis. Willing to look anywhere from Manhattan to KC. Does anyone know of any? TIA!!

Recently a longtime Kansas pastor was arrested on multiple felony sec abuse charges.

This past legislative session, lawmakers failed to advance HB 2352 which would have made clergy mandated reporters. (Source) (View Bill Here)

It’s baffling how the Kansas GOP wants to take cheap shots at the LGBTQ+ community but puts zero effort into holding religious organizations accountable for these actions.

Why is the GOP silent when actual abuse takes place? Why won’t Kansas make clergy mandated reporters?

My girlfriend (from Independence and now wife) was friends with Rachel and hung out with her a few times before her disappearance. She even still has a couple photos of her and Rachel. I even recall taking my girlfriend to talk to some investigators that asked her some questions about an outing they went on right before she went missing. At one point, Rachel got her nails done at a place called Happy Nails in Coffeyville. After the interview, my GF told me they had asked her "was she happy with her nails?" lol

I've looked all over but cannot seem to find a mugshot of the Christopher Lowrance that was convicted of her murder. If anyone on here knew the guy or knew of him or where I could find a photo of him, I'd appreciate it.

If you’d like to help Bryan Mouber flip this seat and give to the fight to break the GOP supermajority in the Kansas House you can donate on this form. This form lets you contribute to the 6 most competitive seats & flip HD-67. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/5flipstowin

If you’d like to donate only to Bryan Mouber you can at this link: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/bryan-mouber-1

You can also reach out to volunteer for his campaign at this link:
https://www.mouberforkansas.com/contact

Got this little short video from an obvious conservative group. I responded.

Gah!!! There is something so very wrong with those going after drag queens when they themselves are the real predators. And I’m sure some of them feel emboldened by the current political climate where this type of behavior clearly isn’t being prosecuted.

Never forget that Roger Marshall’s very first vote as a Senator, his very first vote, was in support of the insurrection.