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.

In a political world dominated by voices from the Republican and Democratic parties, the Robert J. Dole Institute at the University of Kansas stepped outside of the partisan narrative with its Spring Semester discussion group focusing on the “Rise of the Independents.”

There was no contest for the top spot in the US Senate race in California. Incumbent Senator Dianne Feinstein took 43.8% of the vote in the nonpartisan, top-two open primary. That was in a field of 32 candidates.

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.

Votes are still being counted and analysts are still trying to spot the trends from the June 5th primary.

What we do know happened is more a story about what didn't happen: The crush of progressive activists expected to turn out to vote against Trump and swamping conservative candidates.

They never did.

Iowa went Trump in 2016, which saw the Democrats blown out of the water that year. Iowa Democrats are seeking to un-fracture their party which saw supporters defect from establishment candidate Hillary to outsider Progressive Senator Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primary caucuses. In fact, in 2016, Republicans stole the state Senate, making the state a trifecta of GOP control beginning in the 2017 legislative session.

In his weekly public address Wednesday, Maine Governor Paul LePage took time to talk about the upcoming June 12 primary elections, specifically about his objection to Clean Elections funding and -- interestingly enough -- his support for minority rule.

This month, I invited Frank Fear to review the book, Independents Rising: Outside Movements, Third Parties, and the Struggle for a Post-Partisan America.

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:

Maine independent US Senator Angus King recently broke his silence on Question 1, the ballot measure that protects ranked choice voting in Maine. He says he is voting for it, adding that state politicians should respect the will of the people