Health care has been a dilemma in the U.S. for decades now. There’s been a lot of discussion about what the best way to fix our “broken” system is, but time and again, the government fails to take action. Could it be that the answer is staring us straight in the face?

Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act to use its formal name, was at first proposed with many of the features that you find in health care systems from nations like Canada and Germany. These are socialized systems that manage to provide competent care for all of the nation’s people.

District 5 City Councilman Mark Kersey joined IVN San Diego for our latest podcast to discuss the recent changes made by Council President Myrtle Cole to city council committees, the very public failure to pass a framework for Short Term Rentals, and a look ahead to 2018.

Kersey was critical of the moves to replace Republicans from several committee chair positions.

He also had pointed remarks of Councilman David Alvarez and the failure of the city council to reach a consensus on regulating Airbnb.

Listen to the podcast below:

It’s been a dramatic week in the race to fill the 94th District seat in Virginia’s House of Delegates. After the initial tabulation from the Nov. 7 election, incumbent David Yancy (R) led challenger Shelly Simonds (D) by just 10 votes (a margin of 0.0419 percent).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4pfwTHb7lY

Rand Paul may be back on the filibuster. This time, over reauthorization of FISA. He said Thursday that he will "absolutely filibuster" a long-term extension of the surveillance law.

Congress passed landmark tax reform legislation Wednesday that lowers the corporate tax rate to 21% and individual tax rates across most tax brackets.

After the final vote, AT&T sent out a memo to its employees as well as a press release saying it will invest $1 Billion in the US in 2018, and will give a $1,000 bonus to more than 200,000 of its employees.

In 2012, I worked as communications director for the Free And Equal Elections Foundation (F&E). We produced a series of two presidential debates that year, both attended by Jill Stein. The CIA now lists those debates as evidence of Russian interference in our elections.

Keeping staffers under criminal investigation employed and rigging a primary election process to the favor of the party-anointed candidate is certainly enough to make the list of "worst ethics violators."

Donald Trump has accomplished “a number of fairly serious achievements,” in his first year as president — in the eyes of real-life super villain Vladimir Putin, at least. Unless you consider “most cabinet re-orgs in 12 months” an achievement along with it, he’s only really accomplished one — the tax plan.

T.J. O’Hara is joined by Brian Baird, former Democratic U.S. representative and co-founder of Washington Independents. The two discuss the partisanship and dysfunction in state legislatures and Congress, the Centrist Project and its approach, as well as the principles and goals of the organization he co-founded with former GOP Chair Chris Vance to elect independents.

Unbeknownst to most, Nebraska records some of the coldest temperatures in the United States. The reason it beats out most northern states is because it’s so flat the cold winds blow uninterrupted.