Outside the Beltway

Former President Jimmy Carter is warning his party against drifting too far left as we head into the midterms and, beyond that, the 2020 campaign cycle.

As Hurricane Florence bears down on the East Coast, most people are listening to orders to evacuate, but some people aren’t.

The tough guy actor best known for the “Smokey And The Bandit” movies has passed away at the age of 82.

Another “progressive” victory over a longtime Democratic incumbent, but this one is a bit different.

Florida voters in the Republican and Democratic parties have set up a Gubernatorial race that provides a stark choice on the table for Sunshine State voters in a race that will likely have national implications moving forward.

A Georgia County is abandoning a dubious plan that would have closed 2/3 of the county’s polling stations.

Care to guess the demographic makeup of the county?

Donald Trump’s vanity-seeking military parade has been postponed amid reports that the estimated cost has increased dramatically.

A new study claims voter ID laws may disenfranchise the demographic, potentially swinging several Congressional races.

In an obvious effort to pander to the city’s taxi industry, New York City is placing new limits on ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft.

Republican Troy Balderson holds a narrow lead in a Special Election in Ohio. Even if he wins, though, the way this election played out does not bode well for the GOP in November.

Paul Laxalt, the former Nevada Senator who was one of President Reagan’s closest confidantes outside the White House, has died at 96.

Senator Corker provided a pretty damning run-down last week.

Recent polling finds that Americans aren’t feeling quite so patriotic right now. It’s understandable, but we shouldn’t give up hope.

What was once a rare symbol of national mourning has become so commonplace as to be meaningless.

A controversial name is disappearing from one small stretch of road.

A federal trial court has ruled the practice an unconstitutional infringement on suffrage.

Has the party paid too big a price to attract suburban voters?

The Trump Administration’s School Safety Commission isn’t getting off to a very good start.

The arguments in favor of a permanent U.S./NATO base in Poland are not very convincing.

Earlier this week, the Illinois legislature ratified the Equal Rights Amendment. What’s unclear is if this act has any meaning at all.

Donald Trump may or may not be racist himself, but he has most certainly exploited and helped widen racial divisions ever since bursting on the political scene in 2015.

Poland makes the U.S. and NATO an offer they might want to consider refusing.

In the wake of yesterday’s killing of eight in a Texas high school, WaPo’s Philip Bump provides a chilling statistic.

The White House is pushing back on the allegations of misconduct that were made against Ronny Jackson this week, and trying to use them in a high-profile Senate race in Montana.

As expected, a Republican won the Special Election in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, but it’s not a win Republicans should really be celebrating.

For better or worse, Mike Pompeo will be confirmed as the 70th Secretary of State by the end of this week.

If we’re going to have a death penalty, he was its poster boy.

Johnetta Benton was caught on tape in a 15-minute rant against President Trump’s campaign slogan. She ain’t wrong.

Kids are more likely to be killed driving to school than shot while there. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try and prevent them.

What the heck is going on in Kentucky and Tennessee?

I don’t see how the state legislature making tax decisions on the basis of the public position an company takes is legal under the 14th Amendment. 

The President would like to copy Singapore’s zero-tolerance policy. The US Constitution stands in his way.

The U.S. Army is once again embroiled in an internecine fight over hats.

The students who survived last week’s mass shooting in Parkland, Florida are speaking out, and some on the right are responding by engaging in personal attacks and spreading conspiracy theories.

One of the main objections that many on the right seem to have to proposals to legalize DACA beneficiaries and other illegal immigrants is the idea that they could eventually become citizens. There’s no good reason they shouldn’t be able to do so.

The White House’s immigration plan is facing opposition in both chambers of Congress from moderate and conservative Republicans alike.

The GOP’s potential troubles in 2018 don’t just exist at the Congressional level.

The Supreme Court declined to hear a major case regarding discrimination based on sexual orientation, but the issue is likely to come up again in the very near future.

Donald Trump is without question the pettiest, most vindictive person to ever occupy the Oval Office.

With less than forty-eight hours to go, the race for Virginia’s Governor is tighter than ever.

The Las Vegas shooting provides a good opportunity to enact a common sense gun control law that even Second Amendment advocates agree is called for.

Trump loses his HHS Secretary amid a growing scandal involving the use of private and government jets by Cabinet officials.

Early on the morning of Sept. 26, 1983, Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov helped to prevent the outbreak of nuclear war.

The battle over Confederate statues that was resurrected by the violence in Charlottesville is off the front pages, but that doesn’t mean it’s over quite yet.

Texas suffers another legal setback in its effort to pass a Voter ID law.

The First Amendment protects the rights even of the people who gathered in Charlottesville to promote hatred and violence, However, it does not shield them from the consequences of that speech.

The fundamental premise at the heart of the immigration bill that President Trump backed earlier this month has no merit whatsoever.