Outside the Beltway

Virginia has finally repealed a dumb and unconstitutional restriction on how bars could advertise Happy Hours.

Another poll is out showing that Americans overwhelmingly oppose the President’s decision to ban transgender troops from serving in the military.

Various federal and state agencies are enforcing existing laws while Congress scrambles to update them.

The Supreme Court has struck down a provision of the Lanham Act barring approval of “immoral” or “scandalous” trademarks as unconstitutional.

The Alaska Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s sex offender registry violates due process protections in the state and Federal Constitutions.

Congress is considering a bill that would establish a commission to examine the issue of reparations for slavery.;

The Supreme Court rejected an effort by the Virginia House of Delegates to overturn a Federal Court ruling that the state’s district lines constituted gerrymandering by race. But they didn’t rule on the merits of the appeal.

A new poll finds increasing support for transgender rights, even among Republicans.

Four years ago, Donald Trump began his campaign for President. What has followed has been as bad as could have been predicted that day.

The participants for the two-night opening debate of the 2020 campaign season have been announced, and the candidates who were excluded aren’t happy.

Texas has become the latest state to eliminate red-light cameras amid increasing evidence that they are largely counterproductive.

Beginning tomorrow in a British courtroom, the United States will begin the process of having Julian Assange extradited to the United States to face espionage and other charges.

At least some conservatives appear to finally be recognizing that their movement has been taken over by grifters and frauds. The only question is, what took them so long?

John Kasich hasn’t shut the door completely, but recent comments seem to make it clear he’s not likely to take on the President for the Republican nomination.

A new poll shows that a majority of Americans support equal rights for transgender Americans, with only Republicans disagreeing with that position.

Starting tomorrow, we should be getting some headline-grabbing opinions from the Supreme Court.

A dozen people died late yesterday in a workplace shooting at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center.

The Supreme Court let a ruling against students opposed to a school district policy allowing transgender students to use the bathroom corresponding to their gender identity stand.

A Virginia woman left unusual instructions for the Executor of her will, and it’s become something of a controversy.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been indicted on seventeen counts under the Espionage Act arising out of his role in the Chelsea Manning affair.

John Walker Lindh, the so-called “American Taliban,” has been released from prison but the war in which he was captured goes merrily along.

An independent review of the racist photo on Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s 1984 medical school yearbook was unsurprisingly inconclusive.

As the Administration continues to stonewall legitimate requests from Congress for documents and witnesses, pressure is growing on Speaker Pelosi to authorize the opening of an impeachment inquiry.

I’m not sure his solution is correct or even legal. But the problem is very real.

Not surprisingly, Chelsea Manning is headed back to jail for her refusal to answer questions before a Federal Grand Jury investigating Julian Assange and Wikileaks.

Northern Virginia is slowly undoing an anachronism.

Chelsea Manning, who was being held in jail for refusing to comply with a Grand Jury subpoena, was released yesterday but it’s likely to only be a temporary freedom.

As expected, the House Judiciary Committee voted yesterday on party lines to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt for refusing to turn over a full copy of the Mueller Report

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared “case closed” on the Mueller Report and the Russia investigation. This is far from the truth.

A panel of three Federal Judges has found Ohio’s Congressional District map to be unconstitutional, but a case currently pending before the Supreme Court could mute the impact of this decision.

The IRS is outgunned.

A Virginia Judge has ruled that automated license plate collection systems violate state law.

Ballot measures across the country would deny access to those who refuse to release tax returns.

After just a year in office, Oliver North is out as President of the National Rifle Association as the group faces an ongoing series of scandals centered around Wayne LaPierre and others.

A Federal Court in Michigan has found several of that state’s Congressional and state legislative districts to have been subject to extreme partisan gerrymandering.

Taking Joe Biden’s bait, President Trump once again defended his response to the racist rally in Charlottesville two years ago..

The United States agreed to pay North Korea $2 million for “medical treatment” for Otto Warmbier. Did the Trump Administration actually pay the bill? They aren’t saying.

Reports yesterday had former Vice-President Biden entering the Presidential field as early as tomorrow. Those plans appear to be delayed. but an an announcement still appears to be coming.

Donald Trump speaks largely just to his base, ignoring the nation as a whole. Whether this will be enough to win re-election in 2020 is an open question.

Virginia Democrats had a good fundraising quarter despite the scandals enveloping their top three officeholders.

President Trump has not surprisingly vetoed a Congressional resolution to limit American support for the Saudi war on Yemen. His defense for doing so is utterly absurd.

As Democrats at the state level seek to limit the ability of parents to decline to vaccinate their children. they are facing resistance from Republican colleagues.

The President’s re-election fund-raising is off to a fast start.

The 2020 debate on Twitter does not represent ordinary Americans. Does that matter?

A shout-out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Virginia.

The other shoe has dropped.

Per-student investment in public colleges has not recovered from the Great Recession.

Are people fleeing blue states to avoid repressive taxes? It depends who you’re asking.

The law is not on the President’s side.

Very little of our vast landmass is densely populated with humans.