Following up on the 4-0 vote by the Orange County Board of Supervisors to join a lawsuit from the Trump administration fighting the state's "sanctuary city" laws, the Counties of San Diego and Escondido are now wading into the Sanctuary State Debate.

The County of San Diego has docketed a closed session hearing on the same issue for April 17.

Is the Trump administration a decisive break from the Clinton-Bush-Obama status quo—or an extension of it?

This fundamental question has hovered over Washington since the shock result of the 2016 election.

On Friday, March 23, 2018, the president provided an unmistakable answer. President Trump set aside the sword of reform. He took the pen to sign a $1.3 trillion budget. The national debt, which doubled under the respective administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, remains on a steep, unsustainable trajectory.

Maine’s first independent filed signatures with the Secretary of State’s Office on  Monday to qualify for the November election as the only independent, Clean Elections candidate for Governor in 2018. Terry Hayes submitted signatures from all 16 counties two months ahead of the June 1stdeadline.

The $1.3 trillion beast of an omnibus spending bill was way too thick for anyone’s staff on Capitol Hill to properly read before voting on it. Nevertheless, Congress passed it, less than 24 hours after setting eyes on the 2,232-page stack of papers, thus keeping the government's lights on through September. And now we’ve got a big box of surprises to go through, don’t we?

The President went on to ink the deal before he could read it, but the military must be paid and domestic expenses must be met so...

This week on Deconstructed, T.J.’s guest is Greg Orman, an independent candidate for governor in Kansas.

Orman discusses how his business background makes him well-suited for governing and problem solving, his refusal to take PAC or special interest money, the breakdown Orman’s 5 key priorities, and the challenges of running as an independent candidate.

How committed are liberals really to ending gun violence?

And do they really have the will for an exhausting spiritual and political fight to accomplish that?

If the answers are "Very!" and "Yes!" then...

I.

How much should we cut the Dept of Defense's budget?

😋

I'm a libertarian I like budget cuts.

50 percent?

I think 50 percent is what we should cut.

They're the most gun violence people in the world!

Using Trump's method of asking for too much so you can negotiate down to a better deal...

I am a businessman who never did anything in politics until about 7 years ago. However, I believe with the uncharted waters of the political environment now roiling daily, business people like myself must step up to the plate to revitalize our democracy.

We must require a higher standard from our elected officials. A new paradigm of politics -- one based on civil political discourse, critical thinking, and personal accountability -- can and should be demanded by the electorate of its leadership, and the time to do so is now.

With No Party Preference voters poised to surpass GOP registration in California, some Republicans are beginning to distance themselves from the toxic partisanship in their party.

A group titled "New Way California" held a news conference in Los Angeles this week.

The goal is for their party to adopt talking points and policies that could appeal to the surging bloc of NPP voters.

For the politically informed, the punditry on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC has gone on ad-nauseam. Partisan dialog so wholly permeates our news media these days that it can be challenging to find good information about topics outside of the constant GOP vs. Democrat slugfest.

An inquisitive person might think to escape the noise by avoiding the world of Washington and searching for something tangible in city politics. Unfortunately, even small-town mayoral elections can’t necessarily escape the polarization rampant in American government.

How could a handful of common-sense, independent Senators defuse the partisanship around trade? By changing the way we talk about the whole issue.

Most American say they believe in markets. Why? Because markets reward hard work and innovation. They deliver us better products at lower prices. They allow us to specialize in what we do best and use that income to buy the other things we need or want.