Outside the Beltway

Defense of the filibuster tend to be a combo of mistakes and mythology.

The quasi-monopoly power of the world’s largest bookstore is problematic. Maybe.

A way-too-early assessment of how it’s going.

Reacting to the asymmetrical polarization of the electorate.

Is the stimulus bill it for this administration?

Is humility the wrong play here?

The fixes worsen the stated problem (more on Iowa and other states’ attempts to restrict voting).

Making it harder to vote in Iowa.

Yet another SCOTUS rejection.

HR1 is a national approach to expanding voter access. State legislatures are trying to both expand and restrict the vote as well.

And what GOP opposition says about the party.

The job losses and hit to the service sector is well documented. But trade has radically shifted, too.

How the West Virginia Democrat came to vote for the stimulus bill.

The politics of bait-and-switch.

The ongoing codependency that is the Trump-GOP relationship.

Reflections on the events of 6 January two months later.

It’s easy if you try.

Underplaying the value of vaccination is counterproductive.

“Base”

A story that is both unserious and yet emblematic of our age in a serious way.

The Lone Star State is celebrating its independence in a big way.

The fecklessness of U.S. human rights policy in full display.

This feels like resignation territory.

The annual gathering showed us what the Republican Party would become years ago.

A CPAC speaker and the return of the problem of the Heritage electoral fraud database.

The fear of missing out is strong.

A third of Americans are unsure they want the life-saving COVID shots.

Yet another reminder about pathologies of US democracy.

The Senate parliamentarian has ruled against ramming it through in the COVID relief bill.

“A Walk at Sunset”

What was mere signaling under a Republican Senate and President could now become law.

What’s taking him so long?

Democrats are already jockeying to influence President Biden’s pick should a vacancy arise.