Sacramento, CALIF.- California’s new Democrat supermajority used Monday’s usually congenial legislative swearing-in ceremonies to ram through Assembly and Senate resolutions insisting President-elect Donald Trump abandon his immigration deportation policies – at least in California.

2016 is proving to be a year of change. After the shock of Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, Italy showed its discontent with the status quo and took a step toward what could possibly be the first step of an Italian Brexit-style referendum to leave the European Union (#Italeave?).

“Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest.” - MLK

It seems like every time we hear a protest going on, the internet is abuzz with trolls shouting “Quit wasting your time… Just stop it. Get a job… This will accomplish nothing.” The theme is that protests don’t really accomplish anything, are really fronted by billionaires, and are populated by hippies who contribute nothing to society and can’t deal with the truth.

The 2010 implementation of the Affordable Care Act ensured that mental and behavioral health treatment would be an essential benefit covered by all health insurance policies sold on the federal health exchange.

For those who have paid close attention to President Barack Obama’s national energy policy, Sunday’s decision to deny the already approved permits to finish construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline came as little surprise.

Here at IVN.us, the integrity of the voting process is very important, so any hint of foul play or voter fraud is something we take an earnest interest in understanding and reporting accurately and comprehensively.

As a forum for independent and third-party voters, the writers and editors here have also been very gracious toward and inclusive of the presidential candidacy and issues raised by Green Party presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein.

Hillary Clinton carried California by 4 million votes. Trump carried the rest of the country by 2 million votes.

What does this mean to a Democratic Party that has promoted the "we won the popular vote" narrative since Trump's upset in the Electoral College? How would Americans react if they learned that eliminating the Electoral Collage would give Californians control of presidential elections?

Consider the following facts about the 2016 popular vote:

A bipartisan team of U.S. senators last week introduced legislation designed to identify and investigate anti-Semitic language and incidents on college campuses. Amid little debate, the Senate passed the measure by unanimous consent. If passed into law, the bill may drastically influence how American college campuses treat speech.

President-designate Donald Trump named his Secretary of Health and Human Services this week, picking Rep. Tom Price, a conservative Republican congressman from Georgia and a former practicing orthopedic surgeon of twenty years.

According to sources connected to the deal, the Independent Voter Network has confirmed Timken’s plans to build a $16 million factory in San Jose Iturbide, Guanajuato, Mexico ended Wednesday.

The factory was a planned 200,000 square-foot facility. Sources say the decision to cancel the factory is directly related to the president-elect’s talk of border tariffs that brought into question the business sense of building such a plant.