Outside the Beltway

By the end of the night, we’re likely to be in an entirely new phase of the race for both the Republican and Democratic nominations.

The violence that Donald Trump encourages among supporters is manifesting itself in real life.

Hilary Clinton crushed Bernie Sanders in Mississippi, but was surprised by Bernie Sanders in Michigan. Nonetheless she still remains in control of the race.

Another big night for Donald Trump puts him another step closer to being the presumptive GOP nominee.

Bernie Sanders was more aggressive in last night’s debate than he has been in the past, but it’s likely too little, too late.

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.

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

The Supreme Court seems as closely divided as ever on an issue that has divided the nation for forty years, but the implications of Justice Scalia’s death were quite apparent during oral argument in the Texas Abortion Law case.

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

Hillary Clinton still has a massive lead in South Carolina, and in the Super Tuesday states that follow.

Another late football great has been diagnosed with a brain disease directly connected to the game they played.

With less than a week to go before voting starts, Donald Trump continues to dominate the GOP race, with Ted Cruz the only candidate even close to looking like a viable challenger.

Five months after Charleston, Mississippi is still struggling to rid itself of symbols of the Confederacy.

The GOP “establishment” isn’t planning to take on Donald Trump directly and instead relying on Republican primary voters to come to their senses. They may be waiting for something that will never happen.

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.

The Supreme Court has accepted a case involving a new Texas abortion law for review, the first abortion rights case it will hear in eight years.

My favorite sports team employs a thug.

Republican Matt Bevin picked up what comes as a surprise win to many observers, and that sets up a big fight over what had been a PPACA program that the White House has touted.

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

Rowan County, Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis says she won’t interfere in the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The 2016 election will be fought on a very small battlefield, and right now the makeup of that battlefield heavily favors the Democrats.

Rowan County, Kentucky Clerk Kimberly Davis was found in contempt of court and jailed for her refusal to issue same-sex marriage licenses.

The Supreme Court has denied a Kentucky Clerk’s request to stay a ruling requiring her to comply with the law and issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

A Clerk in Kentucky appears to be headed for a showdown with a Federal District Court Judge that she is destined to lose.

With just over a week to go, Republican candidates for President are fighting for the movement in the polls that could get them in to the August 6th debate.

While “fundamentals” will have more impact on choosing our next president than what happens on the campaign trail, the race itself is important.

Finally.

The Confederate Flag needs to be removed from official places of honor, but do we really need to worry about reruns of The Dukes of Hazzard?

The Supreme Court’s decision on marriage equality seems to have revived an idea that has been mentioned before, but as it has always been, the idea of “getting government out of marriage” is little more than a simplistic slogan.

The Attorney General of Texas is responding to the Supreme Court’s marriage ruling by telling Clerk’s who issue marriage license that they are free to ignore the law.

The people who continue to claim that the Confederate Flag is about anything other than hatred, racism, and a nation that celebrated slavery are lying to you and to themselves.

A proposed California law would require all students who attend public school to be vaccinated, with limited exemptions for medical reasons.

An important tenet of the internet is “don’t read the comments.” Well, I have violated that rule of late–which means more musings on the symbols of the CSA.

As Governor Haley pushes the South Carolina legislature to take the Confederate Flag down, the movement moves beyond the Palmetto State.

The murders in Charleston have revived a debate that should have been over a long time ago.

The President’s plan to give deportation relief to millions of illegal immigrants has hit another legal snag.

Two Republican candidates for President say that Republican elected officials should simply ignore the Supreme Court if it strikes down bans on same-sex marriage.

A new poll suggests that the American public does not support laws that give religious exemptions to businesses that want to discriminate based on sexual orientation.

The debate over whether kids need to be vaccinated against communicable diseases baffles me.

After weeks of giving every indication that he’s running for president yet again, Mitt Romney has announced that he’s not a candidate for 2016.

The first popularly elected African-American Senator, and the first African-American Senator to serve since the end of Reconstruction ended, has passed away.

Some preliminary thoughts on the inaugural college playoff system.