The United States is exceptional, but not for the reasons you may think.

Lincoln Chafee, the only independent Governor and former Republican Senator, will be attending the Democratic National Convention next month. As reported by WPRI, Chafee will be in Charlotte to nominate President Obama for a second term.

Today’s world news round-up. An independent breakdown of notable global developments in a news update.

Somalia swears in new parliament- Al Jazeera

The roundly decried "legitimate rape comment" by Missouri US Senate hopeful Todd Akin, may have given incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill an early Christmas present. The national newswire is humming over Akin’s gaffe about how female victims of "legitimate rape" are evidently the benefactors of some mysterious physiological process that “shuts” down pregnancy.

This is a massive game changer for the election. What Akin's "Legitimate Rape" remarks have done is "organically" reintroduce the abortion issue into the Presidential dialogue, at the worst possible time for Republicans.

When the topic of drug policy is debated and discussed, the conversation is typically centered on the criminal justice aspect of drug prohibition-- and for good reason.

The greatest benefit of an online election is convenience. The mechanism would make it easier to participate in elections and ensure that those in power represented a larger portion of the public. We will discuss how online elections would spark participation later in the series. Today we are focused on voter participation during presidential elections.

When Jerry Brown became governor of California in 2011 he disappeared from public view for six months, spending much time talking to Republicans, crossing party lines in an attempt to work out a grand deal on the California budget. It didn’t work.