Outside the Beltway

Since the Supreme Court handed down its decision in District of Columbia v. Heller four separate Federal appellate courts have ruled that state and local laws banning “assault weapons” do not violate the Second Amendment.

President Trump is pressing the idea of arming teachers to stop shootings in schools.

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.

Blake Hounshell has doubts about whether Trump colluded with Moscow.

The tragedy in Florida last week revealed once again how hyperpartisanship is destroying our politics and harming the country.

There are no adequate words.

The new Black Panther movie raises a variant of the central question of the superhero genre. [No significant spoilers]

Phil Carter makes an interesting argument but he’s ultimately mistaken.

The long-overdue redesign of OTB is now live.

A significant and important development in the Russia investigation that shows that President Trump’s claim that the stories of Russian interference in the 2016 election were “Fake News” is completely untrue.

Another school shooting, this time in Florida.

Donald Trump’s lawyer admits to making a six-figure payment on the eve of the 2016 election to a porn star that Trump was alleged to have had an affair with. That just raises a host of other questions.

Donald Trump spent much of the past year touting the rising stock market, now he’s getting a lesson in reality.

President Trump has harsh words for Democrats who didn’t applaud his SOTU.

Dodge is facing controversy this morning for using the words of Martin Luther King Jr. in a Super Bowl commercial, but they’re not the only party who may have some questions to answer.

Two Amtrak crashes in less than a week is newsworthy. It is not, however, a trend.

A newly released poll has encouraging signs for Democrats in 2018, but there are several caveats.

Have we reached the point where the processing speed, connectivity, and cameras on our smart phones are simply good enough?

Imagine a world where Hillary Clinton was President and stood accused of the same things Donald Trump and his campaign are currently under investigation for.

Yesterday marked fifteen years since I launched Outside the Beltway on the old Blogspot service. 

John Kelly continues to throw away the good name he earned in decades of service as a Marine to serve the agenda of President Trump.

The President talked about national unity last night, but given his own rhetoric as a candidate and as a President, it’s a call that seems to be hypocritical.

Do yourself a favor and skip the State Of The Union Address tonight. You won’t be missing anything important.

Democratic norms are eroding.

And a little Electoral College for good measure.

Donald Trump is wildly unpopular in the United Kingdom, and that’s apparently causing him to eschew visiting the United States’s most important ally.

And the evidence for obstruction of justice continues to mount.

With the Administration set to commit the United States to a forever war in Syria, it’s time for Congress to act.

Former White House and Trump campaign adviser Steve Bannon has been subpoenaed in connection with special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

Some thoughts about why the president’s remarks on immigration are so problematic.

Support for Trump’s comments are very telling.

Once again, President Trump opens his mouth and proceeds to insult a good part of the world while embarrassing the country.

Let’s not forget how unique the Moore-Jones contest was.

We’re looking for reader input on site functionality and features.

As he nears the one-year anniversary of his Inauguration, President Trump is getting increasingly bad reviews from the public.

The difference is, dare I say, huge.

There are no good outcomes for the GOP in Alabama.

Donald Trump spends an inordinate amount of time watching television and regurgitating what he sees on Twitter. That’s not healthy.

No, the deal this week is not Trump becoming an independent.

The pardoning of Joe Arpaio was distasteful and an affront to the Rule of Law, but it was completely within the powers of the President and should not be a ground for impeachment.

The dangers of the tyranny of the majority have only magnified.

Authorities are being second-guessed over their handling of Saturday’s protests. Virginia gun laws are the more obvious problem.

Donald Trump has had harsher things to say about Rosie O’Donnell than he did about the people responsible for yesterday’s violence. That says something about him.

Donald Trump kowtows to Vladimir Putin yet again.

After 200 days, President Trump’s job approval numbers are hitting new lows.

Ignorance of history and process is a hallmark 17th Amendment repeal arguments.

Even members of his own party don’t trust Donald Trump enough to make it possible for him to make recess appointments.

A Federal Judge has ruled against an elected official who blocked a constituent from accessing her Facebook page.

When a prominent political scientist committed suicide yesterday, I was deeply struck by how much he was like not only me but most of the people in my professional circle.

It’s not at all clear that there is a useful strategy at work here.