This week host T.J. O’Hara is joined by the Centrist Project’s executive director, Nick Troiano. The two discussed Nick’s 2014 run for Congress, the bipartisan policy campaign The Can Kicks Back, and the Centrist Project’s latest venture: #HackTheSenate.

The campaign focuses on the fulcrum strategy to “hack” the senate, and works to create a network of supporters and potential candidates ready to run as independents.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRCZR_BbjTo&t=1s

Imagine if there was a computer algorithm that could redraw legislative districts in a purely nonpartisan manner. Imagine this algorithm could give courts a measurable way to determine what constitutes "too partisan" in the drawing of electoral lines. Imagine it could end partisan gerrymandering for good.

Well, that may now be closer to a reality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t67ezWp7Zao&feature=youtu.be

President Trump has actively utilized executive orders to bypass the unpredictability of Congress. Now, Represent.us has authored an executive order that has Trump’s “drain the swamp” mantra embedded into its very core.

Represent.Us explains:

From May 9th to 13th, the Arlington County Democratic Committee (ACDC) will be using ranked choice voting to select their nominee for a seat on the Arlington County Board. With incumbent Jay Fisette not seeking a sixth term, a crowded field of four candidates are seeking the party’s nomination for the open seat.

Individuals from several parties are joining together to challenge corruption in Pennsylvania's poorest District -- Philadelphia's district #197.

“It angers and saddens me that President Trump has taken the advice of war hawks and escalated our illegal regime change war to overthrow the Syrian government...This Administration has acted recklessly without care or consideration of the dire consequences of the United States attack on Syria without waiting for the collection of evidence from the scene of the chemical poisoning. If President Assad is indeed guilty of this horrible chemical attack on innocent civilians, I will be the first to call for his prosecution and execution by the International Criminal Court.

State Representative Gabrielle LeDoux (R-Anchorage) is the latest legislator to introduce legislation that would open state elections to all voters. Rep. LeDoux’s HB200 would establish a top-two style nonpartisan open primary election system, similar to Washington and California’s models.

Bernie Sanders took time out of his busy schedule of trying to bring a single-payer healthcare bill to the Senate to endorse a candidate for governor of Virginia. Earlier this week, Sanders endorsed former congressman Tom Perriello in the governor’s race.

The U.S. military launched an airstrike assault on Syria Thursday in response to Tuesday's chemical gas attack in Idlib, which U.S. officials say Syria President Bashar al-Assad was behind. President Donald Trump ordered the strike of nearly 60 Tomahawk missiles against the government airbase where the chemical attack was reportedly launched.

Trump has long made a point of condemning wars of regime change. But the neocons act quickly.

Following the deadly chemical attack in the Syrian city of Idlib early Tuesday, Trump quickly came out to express his sorrow: