Outside the Beltway

The first of a series of polls in anticipation of next week’s debate shows Donald Trump still at the top, with a surprise coming out of Ohio.

Hillary Clinton has suffered drops in her favorability numbers lately, but that may not mean much for 2016.

Not surprisingly, Tom Brady’s appeal of his Deflategate suspension was not successful.

A long standing policy against gay Scout Leaders has been repealed.

Did Hillary Clinton mishandle classified information while Secretary of State? Two Inspectors General want to find out.

Removing the responsibility to investigate police misconduct from the prosecutors who have to work with those police on a daily basis is a good idea.

Dylann Roof has been indicted in Federal Court for completely unnecessary reasons.

Despite his remarks about John McCain, Donald Trump is likely to be around for some time to come.

Donald Trump stuck his foot in his mouth again.

In the end, the odds that Congress can actually stop the new deal regarding Iran’s nuclear program are pretty low.

It’s all about the Benjamins.

A 1980 debate between Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush shows a different GOP.

The NYT has left Ted Cruz’ new book off its bestseller list, despite it selling more copies than 18 of 20 titles on said list.

Republicans are finally starting to react to what Donald Trump has been saying.

Taxes on wine, beer, and spirits vary wildly from state-to-state and even within each state.

He definitely wouldn’t appreciate it, but in some sense you can thank Robert Bork for the Supreme Court’s opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker will be entering the race for President later this month, but it’s unclear if his recent turn to the hard right will help him or hurt him.

The June Jobs Report was okay, but it certainly doesn’t inspire much confidence.

Donald Trump has gotten almost nothing but negative press since entering the race for President, but it doesn’t seem to be hurting him very much just yet.

Chris Christie is in the race for the Republican nomination, but it’s tough to see how he has a plausible path to relevance.

The Attorney General of Texas is responding to the Supreme Court’s marriage ruling by telling Clerk’s who issue marriage license that they are free to ignore the law.

The Greek Government is basically shutting the banking system down tomorrow as negotiations over its debt problems continue.

If you’re under 21 in Hawaii, you’re still technically an adult but you can’t buy tobacco.

A proposed California law would require all students who attend public school to be vaccinated, with limited exemptions for medical reasons.

Things that make you go hmmmm…..

Pete Rose’s efforts at rehabilitation may have just been fatally injured.

PolitiFact rates President Obama’s claim that other countries don’t have mass shootings at rates comparable to America”Mostly False.”

Taylor Swift is taking a stand against Apple’s new streaming music service, and she’s largely right.

It’s easier for an American citizen to go to Iran or North Korea than it is for them to go to Cuba, That’s insane.

The nine-year-old ‘Army Strong’ ad campaign is ended.

Pope Francis’s new encyclical isn’t exactly being received positively by American conservatives, because they seem to be missing the point.

Surely it’s time to put a woman on American currency again, but why go after Alexander Hamilton?

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

Whether Republicans are ready or not, Donald Trump is coming.

We live in a random and chaotic universe.

A new Michigan law allows religious-affiliated adoption agencies to turn away parents for religious reasons, and it seems fairly obvious what the target is in this case.

In what seems to be a clear signal to Russia, the U.S. is considering pre-positioning military equipment in nation’s very close to Russian borders.

Hillary Clinton opened a new phase in her campaign for President yesterday with a speech in New York City.

A Federal Appeals Court In Washington has ruled that the military tribunal convictions of one group of Guantanamo Bay detainees was unconstitutional.

A new North Carolina law allows government employees to decline to perform their jobs by claiming it violates their “religious liberty.”