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It’s been a dramatic week in the race to fill the 94th District seat in Virginia’s House of Delegates. After the initial tabulation from the Nov. 7 election, incumbent David Yancy (R) led challenger Shelly Simonds (D) by just 10 votes (a margin of 0.0419 percent). During an unofficial recount on Dec. 19, Simonds gained 17 votes while Yancy gained 6, potentially reversing the outcome and leaving Simonds with a mere one-vote lead. The following day, a three judge panel in Newport News ruled that

Supporters of a 2018 ballot initiative to legalize psychedelic mushrooms in California were given the green light by the state attorney general's office earlier this month to circulate petitions and gather signatures. They now have until April 30 to gather and submit 365,880 valid signatures from registered voters in the first state to ever legalize medical marijuana under Proposition 215 in 1996. That ballot proposition, as well as Prop. 64 -- the 2016 voter initiative titled "The Adult Use o

During a time of deep political dysfunction in the United States, it is easy to assume that American democracy has gone off the rails, perhaps for good. But if Americans can look past the slow-motion travesty unfolding in Washington, DC, they will find that it is still within their power to effect meaningful change. BERKELEY – It has been one year since Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, and America’s democratic institutions are clearly under strain. A mere 20% of American

It was such welcome news this week when a vote taken by a small portion of the student body took aim at the San Diego State University mascot. The goal of the vote is to "finally" retire the university's Aztec Warrior Mascot. The images of the "Aztec Warrior" memorializing traditional Indian culture at sporting events and school functions, has been just too much to take these many years. The move jostled my mind to think about all the other collegiate schools who have yet to understand the ra

In September, President Trump issued a presidential proclamation adding a number of countries to his travel ban that made headlines earlier this year. The original list of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen now includes Chad, Venezuela, and North Korea. Taking effect on October 18, this travel ban has restrictions that are indefinite and subject to change, ABC News reports. While there has been much speculation about how this travel ban might affect citizens from these countries, many hope

Rasmussen published the results of a new survey Tuesday that showed a sizable percentage (around a third in each state) of likely voters saw the elections in New Jersey and Virginia as a referendum on Trump. The larger take way, however, is that voters are just sick and tired of the parties and their candidates on both sides of the aisle. Given the low turnout in both states, it appears most voters were sending a much bigger message than how they felt about the president: * Most voters are t

In a story that continues to get more bizarre as new details emerge, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), is recovering from 5 broken ribs after a neighbor assaulted him Friday afternoon while the Tea Party Republican leader was mowing his lawn in his gated community in Bowling Green, Kentucky. What was initially reported as "minor injuries" turned out to be far more severe. It emerged over the weekend that Paul had suffered five rib fractures in the assault, including three displaced fractures (where t

2017 is an off-year for US elections. November 7 will see gubernatorial elections held in Virginia and New Jersey, as well as house state legislative elections in the same states. There will also be various other local elections, mayoral races, and other citizen initiatives taking place. There is a lack of media coverage for these smaller elections, and they will certainly fly under the radar. Many won’t know where to vote, who to vote for, or what issues should help them decide. A small minor

Where do we even begin after Las Vegas? The shooting was so calculatingly evil, so tragic for the victims, and so sad for our nation. And yet we have been here before: after Sandy Hook, after the Orlando night club shooting, after Louisiana GOP Rep. Steve Scalise was shot in the capital this summer. Our reaction is always shock and sorrow – followed almost immediately by the same predictable partisan debate on guns. I fervently believe that electing more centrist independents can help break thr

The statement "all politicians are corrupt" has as much truth to it as "all Muslims are terrorists" and "all Christians are ignorant bigots." But here’s the trap in American politics: there’s one political party that makes nearly no attempt to disguise its duplicity. Many of them lie so badly and so often most of us are numb to it. The other political party does only a slightly better job representing the people. The trouble is, the average voter can no longer tell which is which. As a result