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U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) promised Tuesday to filibuster a budget compromise bill that enjoys the support of the White House and Republican congressional leadership. The bill would raise the nation’s $18.1 trillion debt limit, increase domestic spending by $80 billion over 2 years, and add $32 billion to an emergency war fund, according to The New York Times. The Washington Post notes that Senator Paul, who called the bill a “steaming pile of legislation,” said at a Tuesday appearance at the

Republican presidential candidates are gathering in Boulder, Colorado for the next GOP debate titled, "Your Money, Your Vote." The debate will air Wednesday, October 28, on CNBC at 8 pm ET. Similar to the first two debates, there will be a lower-tier debate at 6 pm ET. The same candidates who participated in CNN's top tier debate will participate in the CNBC debate (minus Scott Walker), including: Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, Carly Fiorina

We've all heard metaphors about sending people to jail. “Don't drop the soap." “Big Bubba will like your purty mouth.” Many people find these metaphors humorous. This is odd, for it seems like those people do not find sexual assault to be cruel or unusual punishment. Cruel and unusual punishment is prohibited by the Constitution. In Furman v. Georgia, Justice Brennan wrote that there were 4 criteria that need to be used in order to determine if a punishment is cruel and unusual: 1. A punishmen

Rand Paul, once considered the GOP’s savior after two grueling presidential election losses, has fallen on some hard times. Paul was labelled by the media as a front-runner or top-tier candidate months before he officially entered the presidential race on April 7. Now nearly at the 6-month mark, the early stages of the Republican presidential primary changed the game and showed some chinks in Paul’s armor. Paul had two remarkable filibusters to blast drone use and NSA spying, stances that buck

In August, Jason Olson, director of Independentvoice.org, and Dr. Omar Ali, a history professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and expert scholar on populist political movements, published a study called, A Quiet Revolution: The Early Success of California's Top Two Nonpartisan Primary. In their findings, Olson and Dr. Ali highlight a handful of positive trends that have already emerged since the nonpartisan, top-two primary was first implemented in 2012. Among these trends i

When it comes to predicting elections, Moody's Analytics comes about as close to the seers of the crystal ball as we can get. Accurately predicting every election since 1980, with a perfect scorecard in 2012 (including all electoral votes), the Moody's model is pretty hard to beat. The Moody's model relies heavily on economic data, including real income, real housing, and gasoline prices, as well as political data on a state-by-state basis. As of August 27, Moody's has the Democrats winning 32

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

On July 20, IVN reported on Dr. Beth Clarkson's work, alleging voting machine tampering in three states. Interest in this case has definitely grown, with more news sites and groups taking up the story and calling for the Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to audit the election results. I had the opportunity to talk to Dr. Clarkson by telephone this past week, to discuss her thoughts and ultimate goals of this case, and I was truly amazed by both the complexity and the amount of evidence tha

This week, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told residents in states where recreational marijuana use is legal to smoke their weed now because when he is president he will enforce federal laws. In a town hall meeting in Newport, New Hampshire, Christie told users of legal marijuana, "If you're getting high in Colorado today, enjoy it." He continued, "As of January 2017, I will enforce the federal laws." Christie believes marijuana use alters the brain and is a gateway drug to harsher substances

The Senate Appropriations Committee took a 16-14 vote Thursday to approve a measure that would make it easier for marijuana businesses to obtain basic banking services with financial institutions. The amendment, proposed for the Marijuana Businesses Access to Banking Act of 2015, was authored by U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.). The amendment would prevent federal funds from being used to prohibit or penalize financial institutions that provide services to marijuan