Outside the Beltway

There were fireworks on the floor of the Senate last night, but it was really just politics as usual.

It seems as though 2016 has taken many more celebrities lives than past years.

The Federal Reserve Board raised interest rates for only the second time in a decade, but it still seems like it’s chasing an inflation monster that doesn’t exist.

Three of the top four national security positions in Donald Trump’s Cabinet will be filled by retired Generals. This isn’t necessarily a good thing.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is speaking out against several of President-Elect Trump’s proposed Cabinet nominees.

Alabama’s Jeff Sessions will become the nation’s top law enforcement officer. That’s not a good thing.

In which I use a lot of words to say hello.

Americans are rioting in the streets because they don’t like the outcome of a democratic election.

A drought that began when Theodore Roosevelt was President has finally come to an end.

An unsurprising decision from the Federal Reserve.

A Federal Judge in North Dakota has struck down that state’s Voter ID Law, the fourth such decision in less than a month.

Big losses for proponents of Voter ID laws in two swing states.

Eight years after beating her for the Democratic Nomination, Barack Obama passed the torch to Hillary Clinton with a speech that sounded more like Ronald Reagan than anything we’ve heard from the Republican nominee.

As expected, Hillary Clinton went with the ‘safe’ choice, and has selected Virginia Senator Tim Kaine as her running mate.

Another targeted killing aimed at police.

Once again, the Federal Reserve chooses to pass on the opportunity to raise interest rates.

In an unprecedented move that reeks of desperation, Ted Cruz is naming Carly Fiorina as his running mate before the primary process has even ended.

Another round of victories puts Donald Trump another step closer to the Republican nomination.

The Stan Nousman Edition OTB Caption Contest^TM is now over.

How much command of detail should we demand of presidential candidates?

Two Republicans who broke with their party to support hearings for Judge Merrick Garland have changed their minds and gotten back in line with the Senate GOP Caucus.

Another Republican Senator has broken ranks and called for hearings on the nomination of Merrick Garland, as another poll shows most Americans support hearings as well.

Bernie Sanders won two of the three Democratic contests last night, but he fell further behind in the delegate count any way and isn’t very far from being mathematically eliminated.

Donald Trump and Ted Cruz split the wins on ‘Super Saturday,’ while Marco Rubio and John Kasich continue to struggle for relevance in the 2016 race.

They haven’t gotten much attention, but there are five contests today as the 2016 nomination process continues to move forward.

Donald Trump canceled his speech at CPAC, but it’s unlikely to harm his campaign at all.

It seems increasingly apparent that the only way to stop Donald Trump now is by trying to force a contested convention. It also seems clear that such a plan probably wouldn’t succeed.

As expected, Hillary Clinton won big last night while Bernie Sanders largely floundered, thus going further toward making Clinton’s victory inevitable.

If reports today are accurate, one of the great N.F.L. careers will come to an end this week.

There’s little doubt that Hillary Clinton will win today’s South Carolina Primary, the only question is how big a win she’s likely to score.

With the Democratic race headed into territory where Hillary Clinton is heavily favored, Bernie Sanders may finally be coming to realize that he can’t possibly win the Democratic nomination.

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 reclusive author of one of the greatest American novels ever written has died at the age of 89.

St. Louis will lose its second NFL team in 28 years as the Rams go home to LA.

The economy is booming. Except where it’s not.

Marco Rubio has been getting a lot of love lately from both conservatives and so-called ‘establishment’ Republicans, but his seemingly meager ground game in early states is raising doubts about his campaign.

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.

Chris Christie has gotten the endorsement of the biggest newspaper in New Hampshire, but it’s not clear that this will have any impact on the race.

Paradoxically, the children of affluent parents are less happy than those of the poor.

It’s Election Day in Louisiana again, and voters have the same crappy choices they usually end up with.

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.

While it did draw 14 million viewers, last night’s CNBC debate had the smallest audience of any Presidential debate so far. That was probably a good thing for CNBC considering how bad the debate was.

A new poll shows that the Tea Party movement is more unpopular than it has ever been before, even among Republicans and conservatives.

Two new Iowa polls show Ben Carson passing Donald Trump in the Hawkeye State, but that’s not necessarily good news for Republicans.