On Friday Senator Rand Paul told viewers on Fox Business that yesterday's vote on his balanced budget bill shows which Senate Republicans are really serious about budget responsibility, and which ones are only fiscal conservatives in the abstract, not in practice:

"Republicans are, in the abstract, for balanced budgets. But as you saw yesterday, the majority of the Republican senators are really not for the balanced budget. They’re only for it in the abstract."

There has long been speculation that US businessman Mark Cuban might run for president as an independent or third party candidate in 2020.

While there is a giant question mark over a potential presidential run, it's certainly clear that Cuban believes something needs to be done to break up the two-party duopoly:

https://twitter.com/mcuban/status/996943847673548800

And Cuban went on for several tweets about the need to unite as Americans and reject tribalistic politics and the two-party status quo:

The Rose Garden press conference at the White House was canceled Thursday. I know I know, we wanted to get in and ask voter-centric questions of President Trump and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg. Rain is a terrible thing.

But we did get a Sarah Huckabee Sanders appearance for a few minutes - the most notable remark was her doubling down on the president's use of the word "animals" to describe members of the notorious MS-13 gang.

Not sure if the gang members care, but the media present clutched its pearls -- lots of unhushed whispers.

The State of California's Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), has filed a complaint on behalf of the California Teamsters Local 911 who represents the San Diego Lifeguard Union.

The union claims the San Diego Fire-Rescue department in coordination with the City of San Diego, engaged in unfair labor practices relating to 911 response times and the reluctance to send the San Diego Lifeguard Swift Water Rescue team to Houston to assist with Hurricane Harvey emergency services.

Paul Kerr is one of four Democrats running to make it through the Top-Two Primary and compete in the November general election. One candidate will fill the void left by Republican Darrell Issa in the 49th Congressional District.

Issa's surprise retirement has brought a flurry of activity and candidates for the district that covers the northern coastal areas of San Diego County as well as a small portion of southern Orange County, and the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.

A report released last month by the Pentagon found that reports of sexual harassment in the military increased from fiscal year 2016, but this is not necessarily a bad thing.

The report also found that reports of retaliation against those making reports increased as well, proving that there is still much work to be done to combat the epidemic of sexual violence in the nation’s military.

Don't let anyone tell you that third party candidates do not stand a chance in nonpartisan open primaries.

Incumbent Nebraska State Sen. Laura Ebke was among the top two vote-getters in the primary election in District 32. Ebke beat out the governor's pick, Al Riskowski, in a three-candidate race.

The incumbent senator will move on to the general election with Tom Brandt, who took the most votes in the primary.

On Tuesday, the Democratic and Republican Parties of Pennsylvania nominated candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, and the commonwealth's congressional delegation to Washington.

Yet 1.1 million independent voters were disenfranchised by closed primaries, which are only open to partisan voters.

Nearly half of U.S. states have an open primary in which any registered voter is allowed to participate, and several have closed primaries like Pennsylvania.

Ever heard of a primary election? That's where voters nominate candidates for the general election, right?

Well in San Diego County, that's just not so.

A group of independent candidates are running to be the first unaffiliated lawmakers elected to the legislature in Colorado history. The slate of independents was brought together by Unite Colorado, which is trying to build the structural and financial support these candidates need to beat the two-party establishment.