Outside the Beltway

Some are criticizing the President for not going to Paris for yesterday’s rally.

President Obama’s decision on Keystone XL is apparently to delay things long enough so he doesn’t have to decide at all.

West Virginia’s Joe Manchin is reportedly mulling leaving the Senate to run once again for a job where he’d have the ability to actually accomplish something.

He’s tan. He’s rested. And, apparently, he’s ready. Mitt Romney seems very interested in 2016 all of a sudden.

The terror attack in Paris seems likely to undercut GOP efforts to use the DHS budget to attack the President’s immigration policies.

Just one day into the new Congress, the first confrontation is already set.

You come at the king, you best not miss.

In the end, the Tea Party challenge to John Boehner was a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Over the weekend, Mike Huckabee took another step that suggests that he is indeed planning on running for President in 2016.

Several Tea Party backed Members of Congress claim to be challenging John Boehner in tomorrow’s vote for Speaker. They are, of course, delusional.

The first popularly elected African-American Senator, and the first African-American Senator to serve since the end of Reconstruction ended, has passed away.

A man best known, perhaps, for what he didn’t do, has passed away

A Federal Judge has dismissed the first lawsuit filed against President Obama’s immigration “executive action.”

The news cycle in 2014 seemed to be dominated by a series of real and phony “crises” that grabbed our attention for short periods of time.

Shortly after the new year, we could know whether or not the Supreme Court will issue a definitive ruling on same-sex marriage by the end of June.

The Army’s investigation of the disappearance five years ago of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has been referred to a top General, who will decide if a court martial should be convened.

Two potential candidates for the Republican nomination in 2016 traded barbs this week over the President’s new policy toward Cuba.

More interesting developments from the Supreme Court on what has been one of the biggest legal stories of 2014.

Not surprisingly, the F.C.C. has rejected a petition to ban the word “Redskins” from the airwaves.

President Obama criticized Sony for backing down, and said that the U.S. would respond to North Korea’s cyber attack “at a place and time we choose,”

In the wake of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on C.I.A. torture, some have suggested that eight years of Jack Bauer helped make torture more acceptable to the American public.

A little round of Qs and As on US-Cuban policy.

Nebraska and Oklahoma are suing Colorado over the Centennial State’s decision to legalize marijuana, but they don’t seem to have much of a case.

Rand Paul is one of the few Republicans who seems to be evaluating the new policy toward Cuba through something other than an outdated Cold War perspective.

A Federal Judge has issued a ruling that sort of says that President Obama’s Immigration action is unconstitutional. Except it’s poorly reasoned, and apparently not legally binding on anyone.

The costs of more than a decade of war are far higher than many ever thought, and we’re still paying the price for the fiscal irresponsibility of the Bush Administration while they were being fought.

The fate of Cuba policy in Congress is far from certain, but what is certain is that following through on President Obama’s historic and necessary changes will face resistance.

The resumption of diplomatic relations between U.S. and Cuba, and expansion of some commercial trade ties, is historic but it’s only the first step toward the goal of ending an outdated embargo.

The families of many of the Sandy Hook victims are seeking to have the manufacturer of the AR-15 held legally responsible for what happened. While understandable, their lawsuit is misplaced and largely without legal merit.

An American freed from captivity, and potentially huge changes in America’s diplomatic and trade relationship with Cuba.

Also: charting the rightward shift in the GOP.