Outside the Beltway

The coming political battle over President Obama’s effort to fill the vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia will likely be unlike anything we’ve seen before.

When all is said and done, Super Tuesday Part Two is likely to put Hillary Clinton significantly closer to being the inevitable Democratic nominee.

The eighth Democratic debate raises the question of whether we really need this many debates.

Hilary Clinton crushed Bernie Sanders in Mississippi, but was surprised by Bernie Sanders in Michigan. Nonetheless she still remains in control of the race.

The effort to stop Donald Trump seems likely to set off a civil war inside the Republican Party.

A Federal Judge in New York has denied an F.B.I. request to force Apple to extract data from iPhones involved in a Federal drug case.

All of which leads to a discussion of electoral rules.

The President has another plan to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. It’s as likely to be well-received on Capitol Hill as all of his other previous plans on this issue.

The futility of US policy towards Cuba is obvious to anyone who gives it even a passingly objective assessment.

The politicization of Supreme Court appointments didn’t start with Republicans last night.

In the short term, Justice Scalia’s death will have a significant impact on cases the Supreme Court has already heard, and cases it is scheduled to hear in the next two months.

Another step forward with regard to the American-Cuban relationship.

As if to further demonstrate just how fair off the rails the GOP has gotten, Donald Trump’s unconstitutional, wrong-headed, racist notions are supported by wide majorities in the party that still claims to the by the “Party of Lincoln.”

Get ready for an expansion of the war against ISIS into Libya, because it’s probably not far away.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal in what is guaranteed to be a high profile case heading into the 2016 elections.

Another hopeful step forward, thanks to diplomacy.

The North Koreans claim to have made a major advance in their nuclear weapons program, but there are many reasons to be skeptical.

The gun control regulations to be announced later today by President Obama later today amount to far less than the hype would lead you to believe.

Donald Trump has won Politifact’s ‘Lie Of The Year’ because, well, he’s told so many things that are utterly and provably false.

The final report to third quarter Gross Domestic Product shows that growth over the summer was, at best, tepid.

The final spending bill for the 2016 Fiscal Year sailed through Congress today, marking the end of a very successful first two months in office for Speaker Paul Ryan

Russian President Vladimir Putin had some praise for Donald Trump of all people.

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl will face a Court Martial for the circumstances that led to his being capture and held captive by the Taliban for five years.

Sarah Palin has joined such luminaries as Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, and former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke in endorsing Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim immigration plan.

The Justice Department has launched a widespread investigation into the operation of the Chicago Police Department in the wake of the murder of LaQuan McDonald.

The attack in San Bernardino has seemingly left the Administration’s anti-terror strategy in disarray, so the President is addressing the nation tonight to say, well, something I guess.

Donald Trump’s speech yesterday at a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition was as bizarre as anything else we’ve seen from him.

A new report finds that the problems at the Secret Service are far deeper than previously known.

After requesting a 30 day extension to reply to the Federal Government’s request for appeal in the case challenging President Obama’s immigration executive action, the states get only eight days.

Happy Thanksgiving! Don’t forget to start a political fight with your family!

Hillary Clinton’s recently announced policies toward the ISIS fight are as incoherent and misguided as President Obama’s and those of her Republican opponents.

A new poll taken in the wake of the Paris attacks finds Americans increasingly fearful of ISIS attacks in the U.S., opposed to the admission of Syrian refugees, and not very confident in President Obama’s ability to deal with the ISIS threat.

The Obama Administration is asking the Supreme Court to review a ruling that kept a hold on last year’s immigration execution action in place.

Disturbing reports over the weekend that American leaders may not be getting the kind of unbiased intelligence analysis about ISIS that they need to make decisions.

After thirty years in Federal Prison, Jonathan Pollard is a free man. Make no mistake, though. Pollard is not, and never has been, a hero and he deserves to be remembered as nothing but the criminal that he is.

John Kasich wants the United States Government to create an agency to spread ‘so-called ‘Judeo-Christian values.’

A collection of material that tries to separate the facts of the U.S. Syrian refugee screen process from the fear, myth, paranoia, and xenophobia.

Not surprisingly, a new poll shows that most Americans are at the very least skeptical about the Administration’s plans regarding Syrian refugees.

Syrian refugees have quickly become political footballs in the United States in the wake of the Paris attacks, and it’s become an exceedingly shameful display of pandering and fearmongering by a group of largely Republican politicians.

Much more so than in the past, the race for the Republican Presidential race has become a battle to define what it means to be a ‘conservative.’ Especially on issues like immigration and national security, one side seems to be winning the battle.

The initial responses of the Republican candidates for President to the attacks in Paris are about what you’d expect, but it’s far too early to tell what impact the events of the weekend will have on the race for President here in the United States.

The news that at least some of the men who were involved in the terrorist attacks in Paris were among the refugees who have arrived in Europe since the summer is likely to complicate an already complicated situation.

A Saturday night debate wasn’t likely to get much attention to begin with. A Saturday night debate in the wake of a major terrorist attack, and a major football game for Iowa’s premier college football team, likely got even less attention. That’s probably good news for Hillary Clinton, and bad news for her two remaining rivals.

In the wake of President Obama’s to send Special Forces to Syria, a new poll finds the public doesn’t like the idea very much.

A new Gallup poll shows public approval of Congress once again approaching historic lows, but it means far less than anyone thinks.