The amounts are huge. A search in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation website for grant awards with the keyword “Common Core” returns 257 results accumulating more than $300 million.

Substituting the Common Core euphemism “college and career readiness” uncovers another $130 million for another 52 grantees.

If you were born after 1968, you’ve never seen a third-party presidential candidate receive a single electoral vote.

Even in 2016’s “lesser-of-two-evils” contest, third-party candidates combined to earn roughly five percent of the vote, the same number Ross Perot achieved on his own in 1992.

Our system is becoming increasingly stratified. Presidential election numbers make good illustrations, but they don’t define our political system.

Congress, you’re up.

As expected, President Trump has ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program put in place by Barack Obama through executive action. No surprise there; Trump promised to end DACA during the campaign, even though he had teased the so-called Dreamers with assurances that they need not worry. His exact words: “I love these kids.”

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

As voters, we’ll be asked to ignore the dereliction of duty demonstrated by our elected leaders; threatened with horrible outcomes if a federal budget isn’t passed and the debt ceiling isn’t increased; then, suffer through the traditional blame game, where the two major parties take turns distorting the truth and casting aspersions at each other in an attempt to gain a political advantage in next year’s midterm elections.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxHHENYh8bw

Video Credit: CNN

The response to President Donald Trump's decision to end DACA in six months unless Congress acts has been felt across the Internet.

https://twitter.com/NYGovCuomo/status/904734772546740229

There is a simple concept in American contract law known as "detrimental reliance" which DACA participants should take comfort in.

Why? Because, this principle is so embedded in American jurisprudence that it is difficult to imagine any court -- conservative or liberal -- allowing for the deportation of any lawful DACA participant.

In a wide ranging interview with IVC President Chad Peace and IVN editor Jeff Powers, US Representative Scott Peters (D-Calif.) spoke on a number of subjects as he ended his August recess.

Below are the quotes from the congressman on selected topics impacting voters.

Listen to the full podcast above.

The White House's DACA Decision

"I think it's really unfortunate. It's cruel, it's counterproductive economically, and sends the wrong message about who we are as a country."

The Department of Labor’s May 2016 Final Rule, which would have more than doubled the minimum salary necessary to satisfy the “executive, administrative or professional” (the “EAP” or “white collar”) overtime exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act, is invalid, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has held. State of Nevada v. U.S. Dep’t of Labor, No. 4:16-CV-731, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 140522 (E.D. Tex. Aug.

Congress returns Tuesday from their August recess to a packed legislative session. Number one on the agenda for the White House and Republicans on Capitol Hill is the ambitious goal of putting together a comprehensive tax reform bill and sending it to President Trump by October.

The "dreamers" program instituted in 2012 by Barack Obama's administration could be on its way out.

Officially named the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, the act allows certain undocumented immigrants who entered the country as children, to hold work permits, and defer their deportation.

Reports from the White House press corps suggest the program could end as soon as September 1, although the White House has disputed the accuracy of those reports.