It seemed like history was repeating itself on April 2 at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas when once again a soldier-turned-gunman opened fire on his fellow soldiers, killing 3 and injuring 16 more before turning the gun on himself. The incident opened up mental and emotional wounds left by the first shooting incident in 2009, leaving survivors re-traumatized and the rest of America shocked, saddened, and full of questions.

A notoriously chaotic party turned into something much more dangerous last week when riots broke out on the streets of Isla Vista, home to students from Santa Barbara City College and the University of California, Santa Barbara. With an estimated 25,000 people in attendance, the annual party, known as “Deltopia,” devolved into violent unrest, leaving six police officers injured, 130 students from across the country arrested, and hundreds more victims of police-inflicted tear gas and rubber bullets.

Yes for Independent Maps is an ongoing effort in Illinois to add an amendment to the state constitution that would put the process of decennial redistricting into the hands of an independent board.

For those who have seen the new Captain America movie and follow current events closely, especially the growing concerns over civil liberties in the U.S., it is obvious that there are more than a few political overtones in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. According to investigative journalist Ben Swann, it is not simply a handful of libertarians trying to politicize the move, either, but intentional parallels to real life events used to structure the story of the film.

A recent article in the press noted that over half of all jobs pay under $20/hr. But what does that really mean in terms of the long-term wage stagnation and increasing poverty in the United States?

When President Barack Obama was re-elected in 2012, immigration reform was spotlighted as one of the main issues to undertake during his second term in office.

Will a major midterm election year sway President Barack Obama on the Keystone XL pipeline? If 11 Senate Democrats have their way, the president will approve the project in the next couple of months. There is no need to go back and re-read that. The latest pressure to move forward with Keystone is not coming from Republicans, but Democrats -- 6 of whom are facing re-election in 2014.

Over the past decade, the Asia-Pacific region has maintained a steady economic growth rate superior to that of North American and European growth rates. This stable growth has resulted in the ascent of a newly affluent middle class across Asia.

Rarely is there an issue as contentious as taxation. Thick walls of partisan gridlock form around taxes like very few other issues. Reform is supposed to be a kind word and describe a way to make taxes simpler for people to understand, but the tax code actually sees changes on a regular annual basis or so. The problem is these changes haven't made things simpler for taxpayers.

True reform -- like a comprehensive restructuring of the tax code from the bottom up -- is the ideal goal, but realistically there are strong forces to maintain the status quo.

President Obama signed an executive order on Tuesday designed to address the male/female pay gap among federal contractors. On a related note, Senate Democrats pushed to open a debate on the Paycheck Fairness Act, but were blocked by the GOP.