Outside the Beltway

The people who continue to claim that the Confederate Flag is about anything other than hatred, racism, and a nation that celebrated slavery are lying to you and to themselves.

An important tenet of the internet is “don’t read the comments.” Well, I have violated that rule of late–which means more musings on the symbols of the CSA.

As Governor Haley pushes the South Carolina legislature to take the Confederate Flag down, the movement moves beyond the Palmetto State.

A word that has come in recent years to be used to refer chiefly to Muslim fanatics obviously applies to a man who murdered nine people because they’re black.

Nine people died overnight in a shooting at an historic African-American Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Two Republican candidates for President say that Republican elected officials should simply ignore the Supreme Court if it strikes down bans on same-sex marriage.

Tomorrow promises to be an historic day at the Supreme Court, but it’s been a long legal, political, and social battle.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is now appealing to the worst aspects of economic populism on the right.

A new poll suggests that the American public does not support laws that give religious exemptions to businesses that want to discriminate based on sexual orientation.

Alec MacGillis argues for Slate that “Veterans Should Pay Taxes Like Everyone Else.” I agree!

Sadly whenever Alabama is first at something (save perhaps in football) it is never for something good.

Another tone deaf action from leading Republicans.

Teach For America novices compare favorably to veteran teachers.

Roy Moore and six of his fellow Judges on the Alabama Supreme Court have a rather bizarre view of Constitutional Law.

A new poll of 2016 primary voters shows that even Republicans are coming to accept that gays and lesbians should have the right to get married.

Justice Ginsburg acknowledges the fact that, over the past nineteen years, same-sex marriage has gone from something that most Americans oppose to something that most Americans are willing to accept.

By refusing to stay the legalization of same-sex marriage in Alabama, the Supreme Court has sent the strongest signal yet that it is ready to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide.

In the end, there is no difference between Roy Moore resisting a Federal Court Order related to same-sex marriage and George Wallace’s efforts to block desegregation.

The same-sex marriage battle is on in Alabama

Roy Moore is at it again.

The House voted to repeal the PPACA for the 56th time, but it’s clear that this vote will end up being a pointless as all the others.

The debate over whether kids need to be vaccinated against communicable diseases baffles me.

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

Some preliminary thoughts on the inaugural college playoff system.

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

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

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.

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.

Columbus, Philadelphia, or New York City (well, Brooklyn really)?

For better or worse, Marion Barry was a fixture in D.C. politics for much of the 40 year period of home rule that began in 1975.

After the 2010 elections, several newly Republican state legislatures flirted with the idea of changing the way their state allocates Electoral Votes. The outcome of last weeks elections raises the possibility that this could happen again.

The GOP is dominant in the Southern United States, but it’s unlikely to last as long as Democratic dominance of the region did.

Republicans performed better among Latino voters this year than they did in 2012, but that doesn’t mean they’ve solved their problems.

Voter Turnout was lower this year than in any midterm since the one held eleven months after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Looking into uncontested and partially contest House districts from the 2014 cycle.

This year was an especially acute case of no competition in Alabama.

Time to look into the crystal ball.

Would increasing the size of the House of Representatives be the cure for what ails Congress?

The B.C.S. was far from perfect, and the College Football Playoff system will be, at best, only slightly better.

Despite conventional wisdom, there remains little incentive for the GOP to change its position on immigration reform.

A national sandwich chain makes its employees sign a very restrictive covenant not to compete. It’s probably not enforceable.

A Federal Court has given legislators in Richmond a complicated job.

Republicans still have an advantage, but Democrats seem to be holding their own in the battle for Senate control.

Alabamians like to exclaim, “Thank God for Mississippi.” Perhaps it’s time for that slogan to cross the Pond.