Outside the Beltway

There are plenty of other factors that help our two major parties retain power.

The Dis Ain’t Pismo Beach Edition OTB Caption Contest^TM is now over.

A major voting rights ruling out of North Carolina.

Despite a high profile effort to oust him, the most prominent libertarian Republican in Congress survived his primary challenge yesterday.

Viet Xuan Luong pins on a brigadier general’s star today, becoming the first Vietnamese-American officer to achieve that rank.

Once again, Republicans demonstrate why they have problems with Latino voters.

The C.I.A. has admitted spying on Senate investigators.

Once again, the Tea Party has gotten the best of House GOP Leadership.

Notwithstanding the hype, there’s one very big reason why the idea of Elizabeth Warren as a viable candidate for President doesn’t make much sense.

According to some reports, President Obama may be about to make an end run around Congressional inaction on immigration reform.

The American people don’t want to turn those migrant children from Central America away after all.

Fairly or not, the President has created the impression that he is not a good leader, and there’s not much he can do about it at this point.

The South and Southwest have a much higher military enlistment rate than the Northeast.

Does it still make sense to give kids a 10-12 week break every year?

Another step closer to the Supreme Court.

The most novel argument yet against capital punishment.

A Silicon Valley businessman says he has enough signatures to get it on the ballot, but the plan to break California up into six states is most assuredly going nowhere.

It seems improbable, but the national landscape on same-sex marriage is changing so quickly that even the Republican Party may find itself changing faster than some might think.

Just some things to consider about Common Core standards.

Jose Antonio Vargas was brought to the U.S. at the age of 12 and never left. Now, some are suggesting he should be deported as soon as possible.

Trying to make sense of a very complicated issue.

Some people on the left are still trying to convince Ruth Bader Ginsburg that she needs to just step out on the ice floe already.

Hobby Lobby Is an important decision, but it’s one that the Supreme Court handed down a week earlier that will have the widest impact.

Some surveys suggest that younger Americans are less patriotic than older generations.

The Supreme Court’s next term doesn’t start for three months, but it’s becoming clear that the Justices will have to deal with marriage equality when it does.

The votes have been counted, the result is clear, but the battle between Senator Thad Cochran and Chris McDaniel continues to get stranger by the day.

The sad truth is that the bipartisanship that led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 no longer exists today.

The Supreme Court has limited the ability of public employee unions to force people to join their ranks.

We’ve seen a notable number of 9-0 Supreme Court decisions this term, but that doesn’t mean that the side that lost was making an extreme or meritless argument.

A new poll suggests that Republicans could be losing a constituency that is very key for them in the nation’s third most populous state.

A unanimous Supreme Court rules that the Fourth Amendment bars police from searching your electronic device without a warrant.

Retired General Keith Alexander is hawking his services to banks at princely sums.

The House leadership elections turned out about as expected, but we may be doing this all over again in five months.

GOP Whip Kevin McCarthy of California won the vote to replace Eric Cantor as the new GOP House Majority Leader. The question is who replaces McCarthy.

There aren’t nearly as many “meta” lessons in Eric Cantor’s loss as pundits have been claiming.

Get ready for a big GOP Leadership fight in the House.

An unknown Tea Party candidate unexpectedly beat the House Leader in today’s GOP primary.

A landmark ruling out of California that could help propel a real debate on education reform.

Some old fashioned political arm twisting has up-ended the apple cart in Richmond.

The Texas GOP wants to “pray away the gay.”

Leaving aside his emotionalism and frustration, his core argument has merit.

Another victory for the GOP establishment in its battle against the Tea Party.