At the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Wednesday, FBI Director James Comey said a number of curious things, but one comment in particular stood out. When asked about Russian influence in the U.S. election and the ability to combat a foreign actor’s misinformation campaign, the Director said, “We need to arm ourselves with good troll armies pushing back.”

Say what?

Evangelizers often run into resistance, and so I’ve noticed not everyone I talk to about the Centrist Project gets excited. “Sorry, but it’s a waste of time. Third parties can’t succeed in America. We’ve got a two-party system and these are the two parties we’ve got.” Or to put it differently, we’re stuck with the way things are.

But the lessons of American history aren’t quite as clear cut as the naysayers would have it.

After busting some myths about US education performance and its causes, we interview renowned SF Teacher of the Year Lana Corda to understand some of the challenges facing one of the toughest school districts in the country. We learn a lot about the on-the-ground details on some of the barriers to improving student performance.

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

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), and Edward Snowden all have reason to cheer the recent win for privacy.

Update: A federal judge dismissed the DNC lawsuit on August 28. The court recognized that the DNC treated voters unfairly, but ruled that the DNC is a private corporation; therefore, voters cannot protect their rights by turning to the courts:

In April, Maine Treasurer Terry Hayes announced her 2018 campaign for governor. She says she is running on a campaign that puts Maine and its people before partisan politics.

“I care about what is in the best interest of our state and its people,” Hayes states in the press release announcing her candidacy. “This is just the start of an eighteen month job interview with Maine voters. Together, we can move Maine beyond the divisive partisan politics that are holding us back.”

https://youtu.be/WDH9oLh6WXg

The divide between the left and the right continues to grow with no end in sight.

When he was candidate Donald Trump, the GOP hopeful ran a campaign promising protections for American workers from system abuses.

Last week, we released our Dubious Democracy 2016 dataset on U.S. House elections.  The story that the 2016 election data tells is damning. Like past elections, the 2016 U.S. House elections proved to be incredibly uncompetitive.

There is no doubt that one of the most broken of all government agencies is the VHA (Veterans Health Administration). Many veterans -- including myself -- feel Congress is just dragging its feet with the Veterans Healthcare System in general. But like the old adage goes, "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." Then there's, "A complaint without a solution is just whining."