A recent Gallup poll took a closer look at the political differences that define the Urban/Rural divide -- this time by how both sides tend to perceive the economy.

Jimmy LaSalvia has always identified himself as a conservative, but in 2014, the influential consultant and party activist officially left the Republican Party.

On July 24, 2015, Greg Dorsey filed a lawsuit against the Maryland State Board of Elections, arguing that the state's requirements for independent ballot access for a Senate seat are unconstitutional. Dorsey claims that those who run as unaffiliated candidates are faced with unfair requirements that violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S Constitution.

Independent candidates for president aren't the only ones who have to deal with rigged debates and a flawed system that uses polls to determine access to the stage.

... neither shall they learn war any more. -- Isaiah

Outside of the U.N. Building in New York City, there is a powerful depiction of Isaiah's vision of humanity beating their swords into plowshares under a coming (at least from Isaiah's perspective) godly rule.

Ironically, this statue was given to the U.N. by the Soviet Union, a Cold War jab at the fact that the world's "Christian" nation was leading the nuclear arms race.

US. Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), elected in 2010 after five terms in the House of Representatives, may be facing a challenge from within his own party.

James Marter, a 52-year-old computer analyst with no political experience, is formally challenging the incumbent. In a campaign leaflet, Marter says he is running because:

LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIF. -- In this age of smartphones, touch-screens and the Internet, Los Angeles County’s 50-year-old voting system of punch cards and user guides ranks closer to the era of chalk marks and blackboards. Now, the most populous county in the U.S. is less than one year away from completing the design stage of an overhaul that could mark the beginning of a new way of voting in California and beyond.

We've avoided a government shutdown... for now. With the passing of an eleventh-hour continuing resolution, Congress managed to kick the can down the road until December 11.

This cycle of political brinksmanship – exacerbated by an uncompromising group of congressional bullies who dig their heels in for the sake of spectacle – seems to becoming a regular commodity in American politics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZXMXqYI0j4

It is a story that is literally jaw dropping. Soldiers who served in Afghanistan stripped of their command for standing up against Afghan men who were sexually abusing young boys.

Why? Because the abusers, our government said, were the good guys.

If those are the good guys who are the bad ones?

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

I try not to be a single-issue voter. I methodically compare and contrast the voting records of those seeking my vote. However, I have carried one policy stance with me from the time I was a young high school idealist to my current state of cynical curmudgeonism: I am staunchly opposed to war.