A common reaction from someone in jeopardy, whether legal or professional, is to loudly exclaim, ‘I have rights!’

As an American citizen, to a certain extent, that statement is correct. Should a person be interrogated by the police, the US Constitution allows them to stay silent. If the government threatens to take someone’s property, they are entitled to notice and an opportunity to contest the confiscation.

Independent candidates have not traditionally fared well in American politics. Ralph Nader and Ross Perot come to mind when we talk about those who managed to make a dent, and it’s stories like theirs that motivate others to attempt what has thus far been impossible — gaining a foothold in the American political system.

Read about what really matters from the news last week. We provide you the least-biased news about current events so you can go about your day informed, not brainwashed.

Deep Blue California sent a strong signal to longtime Senator Dianne Feinstein that she just isn't Blue enough.

In a vote at the San Diego Convention Center on Saturday, the California Democratic Party voted not to endorse the 84-year-old Feinstein, instead giving many of their votes to State Senator Kevin De Leon, considered a more progressive Democrat.

De Leon got 54 percent of the vote, compared to 37 percent for Feinstein. Neither Democrat will receive the state party endorsement because they failed to reach the 60 percent threshold.

Eric Bolling climbed onto the main stage at CPAC and delivered what no one ever wants to have to say.

"I am an accidental opioid expert."

What followed was part eulogy and part straight-up retelling of a massive loss.

Keep in mind that the rest of the speeches I heard at CPAC were mainly partisan jabs at the left, or even the center. But clearly Bolling’s was going to be different.

There are two big lies going around in the wake of the Parkland school shooting last week. They are the same two big lies that go around every time one of these tragic events occurs. The first is that we can keep this from happening again just by passing a few laws about guns. We can't. The idea that people who want to break laws will find ways to get guns to break laws is not entirely wrong. Legislation is a blunt instrument not a magic wand.

Beginning today, in four states across the country, lawsuits will be filed to challenge the way presidential electors are selected in America. The plaintiffs in these suits charge that the “winner-take-all” system—the system by which the candidate who wins the popular vote in a state gets all of the electoral college votes in that state—violates both the 14th Amendment’s principle of “one person, one vote,” and the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.

IVN is going to the Democrat and Republican conventions this weekend to ask the leaders of the two parties some tough questions.

In San Diego, the California Democrats State Convention is being held. IVN's Jeff Powers will be in attendance where we will carry keynote speeches from gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newson as well as Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris. IVN will then ask the politicians tough questions on gerrymandering, two-party duopoly and how can they improve the fractured nature of Washington.

For me, history, the study of it and the making of it, has been an essential part of life.

Growing up in the underground of the poor black community, reading became my salvation, and reading about great historical developments, as well as hearing the soul stirring voice of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the radio, was my inspiration.

(1) If hundreds of children every year were killed by falling out of windows, could we all agree that wanting to make windows safer had nothing to do with being anti-window or wanting to take people’s windows away?

(2) If the greatest threat to children’s safety in school were the possibility of  angry rhinoceroses stampeding through the hallways, would we think to solve the problem by stationing an angry rhinoceros in every classroom?