Surely you have heard of the "Varsity Blues" scandal, in which the rich and famous purchased "side door" entries to elite colleges for their children with mediocre academic and athletic skills.

There were at least two ways they cheated: at two compromised testing centers in Los Angeles and Houston students were given preferential test administrations—alone with a proctor and extra time; and athletic coaches at elite schools were bribed to steer reserved admission slots for their sport to paying non-athletes.

In this special episode of "Toppling the Duopoly," we air the one-on-one interview I had with former Starbucks CEO and potential independent presidential candidate Howard Schultz.

It's an interview you won't get anywhere else as I ask Howard about many of the obstacles in place that rig elections in favor of the Republican and Democratic Parties -- from the presidential debates to the spoiler argument to partisan primaries.

At Splinter News David Boddiger writes:

"Howard Schultz finally has his big campaign rallying cry."

He's referring to a chant raised by a few loud attendees at the Unrig Summit in Nashville, Tennessee, Sunday when the Starbucks Founder and CEO took the stage to address election reform and stump for his 2020 candidacy.

The 2016 presidential primaries in California didn’t go smoothly. The election was marred by widespread confusion and frustration as millions of voters had to navigate a complex and restrictive semi-closed primary process. As a result, they were completely disenfranchised by the process.

The “wave” election swept in a few Democrats, but — like most U.S. elections — rolled over democracy’s basic premise that elections should offer meaningful competition and choices for voters.

San Diego, Calif.- A state appeals court has ordered the city of San Diego to compensate city workers who lost their pensions following a voter-approved pension reform initiative that was illegally placed on the 2012 ballot.

The three-justice panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal ruled that workers whose pensions were replaced by a 401(k)-style plan, per 2012’s Proposition B, should be paid the difference between what they would have received via the original pension system and the current system, plus 7 percent annual interest.

I’ve got some good news and some bad news. And once we put it all together, it’ll be news you can use — an easy way to join the Second American Revolution, now in progress.

First, the bad news: You are being violated by your own government. Hustled and conned. We all are. Our voices and our votes. Our tax dollars, too.

In 2017, a groundbreaking Harvard Business School analysis of the U.S. political system exposed the lie that we live in a “two-party system.” Written by business leader Katherine Gehl and the “father of modern business strategy” Michael Porter, the report found that we live under a two-party “duopoly” that rigs the game to protect its own power.

“The political system is a private industry that sets its own rules.”

Furthermore, Gehl and Porter outline that:

Study the picture above closely. The person pictured on the left and the person pictured on the right are actually the same person. Okay, not really. But Tulsi Gabbard 2020 will in many ways be a repeat of Ron Paul 2008 and 2012, from similarities in the the candidates themselves to the establishment's response.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D) of Hawaii is a progressive socialist.

Update: Kevin Beiser has sent the following statement to IVN:

“We were first made aware of these allegations less than 24 hours ago. There is no truth to these allegations. We believe they are politically motivated and we intend to vigorously defend ourselves.” -Kevin Beiser