THE VETTING - EXCLUSIVE - OBAMA'S LITERARY AGENT IN 1991 BOOKLET: ‘BORN IN KENYA AND RAISED IN INDONESIA AND HAWAII’  —  Note from Senior Management:  —  Andrew Breitbart was never a “Birther,” and Breitbart News is a site that has never advocated the narrative of “Birtherism.”

Encounter between George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin ‘avoidable,’ cops said in report  —  JACKSONVILLE - Newly released evidence in the case against George Zimmerman shows that Sanford Police believed the encounter between Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin was “ultimately avoidable,” if Zimmerman had …

Joe Ricketts Rejects Plan to Finance Anti-Obama Ads  —  Joe Ricketts, an up-by-the-bootstraps billionaire whose varied holdings include a name-brand brokerage firm in Omaha, a baseball team in Chicago, herds of bison in Wyoming and a start-up news Web site in New York, wanted to be a player in the 2012 election.

GOP struggles to banish ghost of Jeremiah Wright  —  In a statement, Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades repudiates the plan being hatched by GOP operatives for an ad campaign tying Obama to Reverend Wright: … And that's good.  The problem, though, is that it turns out that Romney himself attacked Obama …

Boehner: Keeping any parts of Obama health law ‘unacceptable’  —  House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) reiterated Thursday that he wants to repeal all of President Obama's healthcare law if the Supreme Court doesn't toss out the entire statute.  —  “We voted to fully repeal the president's healthcare law …

Florida Tries to Clear Illegal Voters From Rolls  —  MIAMI — In an attempt to clear the voter rolls of noncitizens, a move that had set off criticism and a threatened lawsuit, Florida election officials decided on Thursday to use information from a federal database to check a list of 182,000 voters …

Donna Summer Dead — Disco Legend Dies After Battle with Lung Cancer  —  DEAD AT 63  —  EXCLUSIVE  —  9:27 AM PST- TMZ has learned ... Donna died from lung cancer.  Several sources are telling us Donna believed she contracted it by inhaling toxic particles after the 9/11 attack in New York City.

TED and inequality: The real story  —  Today TED was subject to a story so misleading it would be funny... except it successfully launched an aggressive online campaign against us.  —  The National Journal alleged we had censored a talk because we considered the issue of inequality “too hot to handle.”

Inside J.P. Morgan's Blunder  —  CEO Dimon Blessed the Concept Behind Disastrous Trades; ‘Blood in the Water’  —  J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer James Dimon had just committed the most expensive blunder of his 30-year career, failing to detect the risk of trades …

Apocalypse Fairly Soon  —  Suddenly, it has become easy to see how the euro — that grand, flawed experiment in monetary union without political union — could come apart at the seams.  We're not talking about a distant prospect, either.  Things could fall apart with stunning speed, in a matter of months, not years.

Facebook Raises $16 Billion in I.P.O.  —  Facebook pulled it off.  —  As investors raced to get shares, the sprawling social network raised $16 billion on Thursday, in an initial public offering that valued Facebook at $104 billion.  —  The I.P.O. signals a rapid evolution for the company.

Ben Stein: Obama's not very smart  —  Is President Obama smart?  Ben Stein wouldn't put his money on it.  —  During an appearance on Fox News, the economist and actor said he doesn't consider the president to be very intelligent.  —  “Barack Obama is a smart man, you would say that, right?” host Bill O'Reilly asked.

A Statement from Americans Elect  —  There is a desire among Delegates and millions of Americans who have supported Americans Elect to see a credible candidate emerge from this process.  —  However, the rules, as developed in consultation with the Americans Elect Delegates, are clear.