Outside the Beltway

Wherein I examine UATX specifically.

What should be the bar? Can it ever be reached?

A complicated case out of NYU.

President Biden had a meeting with some historians. The horrors.

It’s been more of a reading than writing morning.

Half a century have passed since a botched burglary changed history.

There’s much more to the story than meets the eye.

Quite often, political fights are about attitudes rather than issues and polices.

Our system lacks accountability.

Outrage over the outrage is outrageous.

The pandemic seems to have broken the social contract.

A provision of the 14th Amendment to keep Civil War generals out of office is back in play.

An interesting argument, albeit about a tiny and vastly over-discussed segment.

Representatives Choosing Their Voters Rather than Vice Versa, Chapter 412.

Reading disparate polling numbers critically.

Some Democratic election observers think so.

It’s undemocratic and we should get rid of it. But doing so isn’t a panacea.

The longtime public servant has died, aged 100.

Was Trump’s attempt to overturn the outcome a one-off or a sign of things to come?

More on why it isn’t going to happen.

An accomplished racist will no longer be honored by the university.

If the goal is to change politics, not just vent frustration, messaging is important.

Young people acting selfishly is a fact of life.

To defang impeachment is an invitation for presidents to ignore the rule of law.

Paul Volcker, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board who put an end to the rampant inflation that threatened to choke the American economy, has died at 92.

A Justice Department official who had the courage to stand up to the President has died at the age of 87.

A former Federal Reserve officials argues that the Fed should not lower interest rates to compensate for the impact of the President’s trade war, potentially leading to his defeat in the election. This is an incredibly bad idea.

A great public intellectual, pioneering blogger, and all-around good man is gone.

One of America’s fist celebrity CEO’s has passed away at the age of 94.

One of the most well-known architects of the modern era has passed away.

The Trump Administration is proposing another round of tariffs on even more Chinese goods.

Donald Trump’s tariffs are hurting the American economy, American consumers, and American businesses.

The legendary figure was in charge of strategic forecasting at the Pentagon for decades.

What would it mean for the companies’ workers, the stock market and the cost of care?

How finite is prestige?

A reading recommendation.

After a barrage of criticism, New Jersey Democrats are abandoning a controversial redistricting proposal.

Gerrymandering. It’s not just for Republicans.

Even as its leader continues to deny the reality of Global Climate Change, the Trump Administration has released an utterly devastating report on the impact of such change over the course of the coming decades.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor sat down to talk about the Supreme Court, her career, and the newest member of the nation’s highest court.

My latest for War on the Rocks.

The emergence of a silly talking point.

One of the longest-lasting characters on The Simpsons may not be long for this world, but before we write him off perhaps we ought to stop and think.

After a long and contentious battle, Brett Kavanaugh has been confirmed to become the 114th Supreme Court Justice.

The Kavanaugh fight is just another indicator of our national divide.

Another Federal Judge has dealt a legal blow to President Trump’s effort to shut down the DACA program.

New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez is running for a third term under a dark ethical cloud. That probably won’t matter.

The President is generating so much outrage on a daily basis that we’re missing important stories.

Frank Carlucci, who served as President Reagan’s last Secretary of Defense, has died at 87.

Rudy Giuliani is basically now suggesting that his client would be willing to set off a Constitutional crisis that would make Watergate seem like a picnic.