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The standoff in Oregon that began on January 2 appears to have reached its conclusion. On Tuesday, January 26, several occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge were arrested, and one occupier, Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, was killed in a confrontation with law enforcement. The leader of the occupiers, Ammon Bundy, has since called on the occupiers to return home. Only four occupiers remain, and a federal judge has denied the release of several apprehended individuals until the occupation ha

Reality Check: Powerball and The Government Monopoly on GamblingBen Swann With the Powerball jackpot now nearly $1.5 billion for Wednesday’s drawing, just about everybody is playing. Here’s a question though, how is the Powerball legal in so many states when other forms of gambling, including online gambling, are illegal? Why is the government allowed a monopoly on gambling? This is a Reality Check you won’t see anywhere else. It would be an understatement to use some cliché like, “Powerball

In recent news, Ohio state officials told Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley that he could not be on the Democratic primary ballot. The petition to be on the ballot required 1,000 valid signatures from a single county. O’Malley submitted 1,175, but only 772 were considered valid. Both of his fellow Democratic presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, are on the ballot. Presidential primaries are often reserved only for partisan candidates, but that does not nec

The spirit of America is strong; the state of our union is fragile. That is my conclusion after 100 days driving 14,128 miles through 34 states as an independent candidate for President of the United States. I met with over 1,000 people individually and in small groups. I mostly stayed away from big cities and college campuses. I had learned on two short campaign trips before this long one that very few Americans understand there are independent candidates running for office so I got in the ha

Historically, presidential races have come down to only a handful of toss-up states being the difference between victory and defeat -- the red/blue map has become fairly well-defined. Enter John Bel Edwards (D) who won the governorship of Louisiana on November 21 by a fairly resounding margin, capturing 54 percent of the vote. State governorships can give a glimpse into the 'at-large' intentions of a state, but this is hardly a sure thing in politics. Louisiana has a long history, since WWII,

The Independent Voter Project (IVP) hosted its 2015 Business and Leadership Policy Conference at the Fairmont Hotel in Maui. The conference brought together California lawmakers from both political parties, industry professionals, and policy experts to discuss issues that greatly affect lawmakers, businesses, and state residents. IVP has taken heat from the press for holding this annual conference in Hawaii, which they argue is away from the public's eye and media scrutiny. The LA Times, for ex

On Veterans Day 2015, many of the nation's veterans are looking to the large presidential field to lay out their plans for veterans programs in the U.S., something that did not happen during Tuesday's GOP debate. Continuing to ignore the nation's 21 million veterans is not going to win any candidate votes and may lose them the White House. Veteran voters tend to support more Republican candidates than Democrats, because historically Republicans have always favored a larger, stronger military, w

Why I Gave Up Meat I remember the day I decided that I would become a vegetarian. It came while watching the documentary Life in a Day – in particular, the scene in which a cow receives two shots to its skull from a bolt gun (the first one didn’t kill the cow and only made it panic and flail in its narrow metal pen). The scene lasted only a minute, but it haunted me long after the lights in the theater had come back on. I wasn’t naïve: I knew animals had to be killed to be made into meat, and

Dr. Lynn Kahn describes herself as a sort of government mechanic. Her experience stems from her undergraduate work in psychology and her doctoral work in group dynamics of peacemaking. “Early on, I focused on group dynamics. The psychology work in group dynamics and organizational change just kind of built on each other," Dr. Kahn said in an interview for IVN. Immediately after her doctoral work, she started her career in government as an organizational consultant with a specialty in group dyn

There was general consensus among the public that Carly Fiorina won the first GOP "happy hour" debate and the poll numbers showed it. Now, even with high poll numbers, Fiorina is at risk of being relegated to CNN's undercard debate in September. "Despite being solidly in the top 10 by every measure, the political establishment is still rigging the game to keep Carly off the main debate stage next month," Fiorina's deputy campaign manager, Sarah Isgur Flores writes. According to Fiorina campaig