How Independent Voters in Florida Are Reshaping Political Landscape

Source: Steve Bousquet, Miami Herald

My Take: A well-written look at today’s Florida voters, why they are registering independent--particularly first-time voters, and how issues vs. politics affects this pattern.

This week I had the opportunity to present a journal article at a symposium on social responsibility.

While topics wildly varied, my own focused on the historical perspectives of capitalism -- and how many of the uglier aspects of capitalism have been with us since the very beginning.

Dissident Politics advocates a set of three political principles or morals that foster objectivity in politics. The proposal comes despite the innate intuitive-subjective nature of human cognition and American politics.

Two core premises underpin the argument. The first is that modern politics is subjective and ineffective because the two-party system understands the intuitive aspect of human behavior and relentlessly exploits that biology to its own advantage, usually at the expense of the public interest.

The Washington Post reported yesterday that there have been 355 mass shootings so far in 2015.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1gXZZ_qxjE

You might have seen the headlines this week—the NSA is no longer collecting your data.

But is that true?

What is it that the NSA can no longer do, and who is doing it for them?

This is a Reality Check you won’t see anywhere else.

The German-language news source Spiegel ran coverage of the latest German foreign intelligence (BND) report stating that the House of Saud, the ruling family of Saudi Arabia is becoming increasingly radicalized and seeking a more dominant economic and military role in the region.

According to new analysis conducted by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, re-election pressures influence judges into doling out harsher penalties in criminal cases.

The study examines what role judicial candidates' records in criminal cases play in campaigns and what impact these campaigns have on a judge's decision-making.

Department of Defense officials admitted on Monday that a man who has been held in the United States prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for the last 13 years as a suspected al-Qaeda trainer, was held due to a case of mistaken identity.

Mustafa al-Aziz al-Shamiri, 37, has been held as an indefinite detainee at Gitmo since 2002, despite the fact that he was never charged and prosecutors lacked adequate evidence for a trial.

The United States consumes more petroleum products than any other country in the world. Hand in hand with this high-octane intake are the heavy subsidies the United States government provides to petroleum companies -- allowing tax exemptions at almost every stage of the oil refinement process.

Federal rules and regulations are a source of discussion and debate whenever they come up. Some rules and regulations are straightforward and generally accepted. One example of this would be the interim federal safety regulations on the use of infant life jackets while boating. The regulation follows common sense, and stands aside in the presence of state law.