Outside the Beltway

The Supreme Court is set to decide if the state can deny a license plate with the Confederate flag design because it is “offensive.”

For the fourth time in three years, a Federal Court has ruled that Florida’s law requiring drug tests for welfare recipients is unconstitutional.

How will Republicans react if, as many expect, the Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage across the nation?

Michele Bachmann leaves office at the end of the current Congress, but we may not have heard the last from her.

Thinking about that the state, law, violence, and the Garner incident (and contributing to the tl;dr phenomenon).

You’ve got your playoff College Football fans, as imperfect as it was inevitably going to be.

Yet another example of the need for context when discussing stats.

Not surprisingly a new poll finds that African-Americans perceive the American justice system far differently than whites.

A crushing but expected defeat for a veteran Democrat.

But, hey, don’t worry, there’s nothing racial going on here. Nothing at all.

Clearly, the Romney campaign didn’t get the point of social media.

An utter journalistic failure from Rolling Stone.

The House approved a bill to protest the President’s executive action on immigration that will go nowhere. The question is whether it will placate the right.

A wholly successfully first test for NASA’s next generation manned space vehicle.

While conservatives have been generally as appalled as others with the news out of Staten Island, some of them are looking in the wrong place for blame.

Strong jobs growth in November means that 2014 is already the best year for jobs growth since 1999.

The Navy has stripped Navy veteran Bill Cosby of an honorary promotion in the wake of unproven sexual misconduct accusations.

Texas has joined with 16 other states in a lawsuit against the Obama Administration over the President’s executive action on immigration. At first glance, it doesn’t appear to have much legal merit.

Ben Carson is not a serious candidate for President, but he’s likely to get a lot of support from the GOP’s Tea Party wing.

A former RNC chair says a black man’s life isn’t worth a ham sandwich.

A New York City Grand Jury refuses to indict a cop who appears from all available evidence to choked a guy to death for no good reason.

Michael Brown’s stepfather made incendiary comments in the wake of the Grand Jury announcement, but they do not amount to a crime.

The Obama Administration took some fire yesterday for recent Ambassadorial Appointments, but the President’s record has been consistent with those of his recent predecessors.

It’s an old story. Republican leadership wants to avoid a government shutdown, but the hard core conservatives want a fight, this time over the President’s immigration action. We have a week to see how it unfolds.

The Justices of the Supreme Court seemed to struggle yesterday to find an easy way to draw a line between protected speech and the kind of threats that are not protected by the First Amendment.

Russia’s own government is projecting that its economy will slip into recession next year. How that will impact Putin’s current belligerence remains to be seen.

The next President will have a profound ability to shape the future of the Supreme Court, but that is unlikely to be the most important issue on voters minds in 2016.

Some on the right are suggesting that Congress retaliate against the President’s executive action on immigration by refusing to invite him to give the State Of The Union Address.

The Food & Drug Administration’s new regulations requiring calorie and other information on menus in restaurants and elsewhere won’t work, could limit consumer choice, and may not be Constitutional.

Public Relations 101: When you have a job in public relations, don’t say stupid things.

A new poll finds that a majority of Germans support sanctions against Russia, even if those sanctions end up hurting the German economy.

The U.S. Government is looking for lawyers willing to work for free.

After a disastrous campaign in 2012, Texas Governor Rick Perry appears to be gearing up for a new run for the White House in 2016, but questions remain.

The man who shot and killed Michael Brown has resigned, but that’s unlikely to satisfy protesters who still seem to be demanding criminal charges that are never going to come.

The numbers on the Ebola outbreak are bad, but they aren’t as bad as had been feared.

Well, so much for that “people’s revolt” that brought down a military dictator.