Outside the Beltway

American Astronaut Scott Kelly is back home after a year in orbit.

Ever since last week’s debate, the race for the Republican nomination has come to resemble a schoolyard fight among a bunch of nine year-olds.

Hillary Clinton crushed Bernie Sander last night in South Carolina, pushing the race further down the path that leads to an inevitable outcome.

Donald Trump is trolling the depths of the Internet’s conspiracy dungeons once again. This time to raise the largely absurd argument that Marco Rubio may not be eligible to serve as President.

Two new polls show that Americans are basically split equally on the question of who should appoint the Justice that will replace Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court.

With Bernie Sanders likely to win New Hampshire tonight, Hillary Clinton is reportedly looking to reorganize her campaign.

Observations, questions, and some toastosity.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign and its supporters seem to be getting frustrated by the fact that younger women are seemingly more interested in her opponent than in her.

Donald Trump continues to lead, while Marco Rubio surges, in the first polls out of New Hampshire since the Iowa Caucuses.

Without Trump, the seventh Republican debate largely focused on Ted Cruz, who doesn’t seem to have done himself any favors. Donald Trump, meanwhile, will likely not pay any price at all for skipping the last pre-Iowa debate.

Last night’s Republican debate had a different feel with the absence of a certain bloviating narcissist.

Donald Trump takes his war with Fox News Channel up a notch, saying he won’t participate in Thursday’s Republican Presidential Debate.

You can either be a partisan or a moderator.

The flagship of the American right is leading the charge against Donald Trump, but it’s not likely to work.

Sarah Palin is back, and she’s endorsing Donald Trump for the Republican nomination for President.

David Bowie has passed away at the age of 69 after a long battle with cancer.

In response to questions from reporters, Donald Trump suggested that Ted Cruz’s Canadian birth could pose problems for the GOP if Cruz won the party’s nomination.

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.

Jim Webb’s recent criticism of Hillary Clinton is renewing speculation about an independent bid for the White House, but he hardly seems like a viable candidate for such a run.

Former President Clinton is set to hit the campaign trail for his wife in the New Year, and that could make things quite entertaining.

As we head into Christmas, there doesn’t seem to be much peace on Earth or good will toward men among Ben Carson’s advisers.

A political cartoonist for The Washington Post crossed a line and, rightfully, got condemned for it.

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

Last night, SpaceX successfully launched a rocket to the edge of space, deployed cargo, and returned to Earth. A huge and potentially revolutionary accomplishment.

We won’t have Lindsey Graham to kick around anymore.

You’ll be happy, Star Wars fans. And, don’t worry, no spoilers here.

People don’t much care whether information supporting their prejudices is true.

Every public school in Los Angeles, which covers over 600,000 students, plus teachers and staff, has been closed for the day in the wake of unspecified threats.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul got a break today when CNN included him in the prime time debate on Tuesday even though he fell short of meeting the criteria.

As longtime OTB readers may have noticed, I’m not writing much these days.

Ted Cruz surges to a lead in the latest Iowa poll, setting up a seemingly inevitable showdown between the Texas Senator and Donald Trump.

A new poll appears to show that a majority of Republicans support Donald Trump’s plan to bar Muslims from immigrating to the United States.

Donald Trump’s plan to exclude Muslims from the United States is provoking condemnation, and confusion, around the world.

Donald Trump’s plan to bar all Muslim immigration to the United States is being widely condemned by his fellow Republicans and others, but the proposal probably won’t hurt him politically in a Republican Party that is deeply bigoted against Muslims in general.

Donald J. Trump continues to turn the dial higher and higher on his fascist demagoguery.

Yesterday, cable news networks, and most especially MSNBC, showed their profession at its most pathetic.

A leaked memo from a top Republican adviser tries to tell vulnerable Senate candidates how to deal with the possibility that they’ll be stuck with Trump on the top of the ticket.

A Dallas man was kicked off a flight home from New York City because he had unknowingly cut off a flight crew member while going through a revolving door. This seems like a case of discretion gone way too far.

Polls are quite useful in the right circumstances, but knowledge, complexity, and timing all have to be taken into account in determining what they are telling us.

A gunman is holed up in a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs after shooting multiple people, but it’s unclear what if any motive may be involved in the shooting.

Welcome To The Donald Trump Campaign. Where the facts are made up, and the truth doesn’t matter.

Tensions between Russia and Turkey remain high in the wake of yesterday’s incident, but there are some signs that things are starting to cool down.

A Chicago Police Officer has been charged with murder in the death of a 17 year old African-American male that, from the evidence that has been released, seems completely unjustifiable.

Democrat John Bel Edwards scored an easy victory over Senator David Vitter last night in Louisiana, and Vitter announced that he’d be leaving the Senate after his term is up.

The United States and Europe are giving everything the perpetrators of the Paris attacks hoped for.