Outside the Beltway

Congressman Darrell Issa says that America’s poor are generally better off than the poor in the rest of the world. While he’s correct, he’s also incredibly tone deaf.

House Republicans are set to vote on a bill banning abortion in almost all cases after twenty weeks. What they can’t do is explain where the Constitution gives Congress the power to do this.

Once again, only six or seven states are likely to matter.

So far at least, there’s little evidence in the polls that Hillary Clinton has been hurt by the news reports about the financial dealings of the Clinton Foundation.

There must be something odd in the water in the Lone Star State, because a bizarre conspiracy theory seems to have taken root there.

A sharply divided Court heard argument today on an issue that has sharply divided the nation.

Chinese analysts are telling their American counterparts that North Korea’s nuclear arsenal is far more sophisticated than previously believed.

Former Hewlett Packard CEO, and failed Senate candidate, Carly Fiorina will be running for President for some reason.

Yet another study has found no link between autism and childhood vaccines. However, that’s unlikely to mean the end of the anti-vaccination movement.

Pundits and political scientists agree that, if the 2016 presidential election were today, we’d have a much better idea who would win.

The Disneyland measles outbreak wasn’t enough to overcome anti-vaccine forces.

Australia has an interesting new idea about how to encourage parents to vaccinate their children.

A federal judge has ordered the people of California to foot the $100,000 bill for sexual reassignment surgery for someone serving a life sentence for murder.

The Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of three students disciplined for wearing American flag shirts on Cinco de Mayo

Carly Fiorina seems to be inching close to a Presidential run for some reason.

Modern Singapore’s founder passed away at age 91 earlier this week.

The Atlantic’s Alan Taylor has 50 photos from 50 years ago.

The most ‘America’ story ever.

The most widely honored General from the Iraq and Afghanistan War has plead guilty to sharing classified information with his mistress.

One of the pioneers of the Internet warns that we’re in danger of losing entire generations’ worth of history because of digitization.

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.

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

The Republican National Committee is trying to bring some sanity to the Presidential debate process, but there’s no guarantee it can succeed.

The two decade long argument over same-sex marriage appears headed for its final legal showdown.

Some preliminary thoughts on the inaugural college playoff system.

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

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.

As the second anniversary of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School approaches, a new poll finds that more Americans support gun rights than gun control.

Rick Perry is sounding for all the world like a candidate for President, and says he’s a different candidate this time, but initial perceptions are hard to overcome.

Some on the left are suggesting Democrats should write off the South for the foreseeable future, but that would be as foolish as Republicans assuming that their dominance in the region will last as long as Democratic dominance did in the century after the Civil War.

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

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

The numbers don’t lie, Mitt Romney remains popular among Republican voters.

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

The idea that the U.S. does not negotiate with terrorists is simply not historically accurate, so should we be reconsidering the policy of not negotiating with ISIS for the release of Western hostages?

Some of his party’s leaders want the president to save them.

The Keystone XL pipeline bill is dead until the next Senate. Mary Landrieu’s political career, on the other hand, is basically dead for the foreseeable future.

Outdated rules? It sure seems like it.

Much like the disease itself, Ebola panic seems to have disappeared as the midterm elections become ever more distant in the rear view mirror.

Same-sex marriage advanced in Kansas and South Carolina yesterday, and will soon be law in Montana, but the Supreme Court is what matters now,

Mike Huckabee seems to be making the moves necessary to run for President again, For reasons only he can understand.

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.