On February 14, 2013, the 89-year-old senator from New Jersey, Frank Lautenberg, announced he would not run for reelection in 2014. Although the move had been long suspected from the man who was already the oldest serving senator, the announcement set into a motion a long race to replace him among Republicans, independents, and Democrats.

However, when Lautenberg died earlier this week from complications with viral pneumonia, what had seemed like a marathon quickly became a sprint.

Immigration has always played an important role in the development of California over the last two centuries. Today, immigrants represent a major portion of the California's electorate and more importantly have become the backbone of the economy.

According to the Immigration Policy Center's 2013 report,  foreign-born Californians now represent 27 percent of the state population and nearly half of them have been naturalized, meaning they can vote in the elections.

I had to wait a day longer than most people to start being outraged about America's new wiretapping scandal. I learned about the government’s nefarious deeds yesterday during a five hour layover at the Dallas-Forth Worth Airport. As soon as I was done having my underwear X-rayed and my private parts patted down by TSA agents, I caught the whole sorry thing on an airport TV screen.

According to a Pentagon report released in May, 1.2 percent of active duty male service members have been victims of military sexual trauma (MST). That breaks down to approximately 38 men per day in comparison to 33 women per day, according to the same report.

Despite this, men seldom ever report the assault, and even if they do, they are often met with insensitivity, disbelief and sometimes, open hostility. Because of this, men have become the silent victims of the military sexual assault crisis.

According to the latest survey by Pew Research, independent voters who support expanding marriage rights to gay couples is steadily rising. Jumping from 52 percent in 2012 to 57 percent in 2013, independent support for gay marriage is on track to pass 60 percent by 2014.

Unconstitutional Acts of the NSA

I got in trouble and was threatened with expulsion from high school  for doing something right, not something wrong; what I wrote was good, proper journalism (see preceding post). There were no legitimate grounds for a lawsuit; that was an attempt at intimidation, which is why it backfired on the franchise owner and the corporation, not just because I was a sympathetic figure.

This spring, a wide range of issues dominated American political discussion, from gun law reform to North Korea, from immigration to gay rights. Yet, a very important subject has escaped notice: nuclear arms reductions. In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama said that "we will engage Russia to seek further reductions in our nuclear arsenals." Since then, there has been very little public dialogue about the matter, despite its immense importance.