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House Speaker Paul Ryan and lawmakers have been working on a pair of bills that if passed, would solve the long-sought comprehensive immigration reform the country clearly needs. Next week, Speaker Ryan is expected to present two immigration bills on the floor of the house for consideration. The timing of this effort comes as news reports emphasize the separation of undocumented immigrant families at U.S. borders and wants to change the practice in legislation. According to GOP lawmakers, the b

The Fox News North Korea hypocrisy video is making its rounds on the Internet this week after Now This dug up footage of Fox News anchors and analysts slamming Barack Obama for expressing his willingness to meet with North Korean leaders, and contrasting it with clips of the heavily partisan cable news network heaping effusive praise on President Trump for doing just that. The video begins with a clip of one of the Fox & Friends morning show hosts, Steve Doocy, criticizing as "extraordinary" th

National Election Reform Groups, the Independent Voter Project and FairVote, are advocating for a primary that advances the “top-four” candidates instead of just two. The groups believe doubling the choices by advancing four candidates out of the primary, allowing write-in candidates, and enacting ranked choice voting to give voters more power, avoids vote-splitting, and ensures majority rule, is the best-case scenario for voters and voters rights. In addition to this effort, the National Asso

A wise man once said, “Those who make the rules, rule.” Today, we wonder whether the current rules of voting and governing can deliver any kind of progress. An important rules question was on the ballot in Maine yesterday and the voters delivered a clear message. After a hard-fought campaign against a brutal opposition, the voters passed Question 1 by a margin of 55% to 45%. This was a mass veto of the state legislature’s attempt to turn back the will of the voters. In 2016, Maine voters enact

Partisan gerrymandering. Money in politics. The Electoral College. Undue restrictions on who votes and how we vote. Every contentious election issue discussed today was either inherited from 18th-century England or came out of a compromise in our democracy’s incubation when there were few voters and

The biggest primary day of 2018 has come and gone. The November ballot is now set in California and 7 other states. As I looked at the coverage from the week, I noticed an article from Slate writer Jamelle Bouie that makes the case that because the nonpartisan, top-two primary in California doesn't serve the interests of parties, it is undemocratic. Seriously? Partisan Nonsense of the Week: Slate’s Jamelle Bouie Says Parties are Building Blocks of Democracy Here's Slate's headline: Just co

Independent (NPP) candidate for Insurance Commissioner, Steve Poizner is looking to become the first independent to win statewide office. Poizner was the top vote getter in the June 5th primary election, besting Democrat Senator Ricardo Lara. The two have advanced to the November General election. Poizner Wins Primary, Ready For November Steve Poizner finished with 41% of the vote, Lara had 40%. Poizner is the only candidate in the race who opposes the single-payer healthcare system. The m

Huawei is a Chinese mobile phone manufacturer that is flagged by US intelligence agencies as a national security threat. And Facebook gave it what is called “deep access” to user data: friends, relationship status, work history, likes, and more. But now the social media giant says it is cutting that agreement. The world at large found out about this agreement after the New York Times broke the story days ago. Facebook also shared data with Lenovo, Oppo and TCL, all Chinese, as well as Amazon,

This month, I invited Frank Fear to review the book, Independents Rising: Outside Movements, Third Parties, and the Struggle for a Post-Partisan America. Jacqueline Salit, the president of Independent Voting and author of the popular IVN column "The Neo-Independent" wrote the book in 2012. After the Politics for the People Book Club read Greg Orman’s book, A Declaration of Independents: How We Can Break the Two-Party Stranglehold and Restore the American Dream, I was struck by how the two books

Human Rights Watch has condemned the U.S. policy of separating immigrant children from their parents, following a denouncement of the policy by the U.N. human rights office Tuesday. In a press briefing note from the Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations offered this strongly worded rebuke: "The practice of separating families amounts to arbitrary and unlawful interference in family life, and is a serious violation of the rights of the child. While the r