Outside the Beltway

Massive boycotts and protests likely spell the end of Tim Wolfe’s tenure as president.

Donald Trump was on Saturday Night Live last night. It wasn’t even remotely funny.

Yesterday, Paul Ryan spoke out against the procedure under which the new budget deal was negotiated. Today, he announced that he’ll vote for it anyway.

After an eleven hour day on Capitol Hill, it was Hillary Clinton 1 House Benghazi Committee 0.

What will likely be the apex of the House Select Committee’s investigation of the Benghazi attack begins and ends today with the testimony of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

With Russia now launching its own airstrikes in Syria, it’s become obvious that U.S. policy in the Syrian Civil War is irrational and contradictory. And Russia’s policy isn’t any better.

John Boehner let loose on the “false prophets” on the right yesterday, and he’s absolutely right.

The seeds of the current peace deal date back to 2007-2008 (plus some longer-term background notes).

The pressure on Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to expand the 2016 debate schedule is increasing.

Rowan County, Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis is being released from jail, but it may end up being a very short reprieve.

A Federal Appeals Court has upheld a 1949 law that bars protesters from the property around the Supreme Court building. This seems inconsistent with the Court’s recent First Amendment jurisprudence.

Public opinion on the Supreme Court has declined significantly, largely because Republicans don’t like the Supreme Court very much right now.

Removing the responsibility to investigate police misconduct from the prosecutors who have to work with those police on a daily basis is a good idea.

Finally.

A Federal Judge has uphold a Patent Office ruling revoking the Redskins Trademarks on the ground that they are “disparaging” toward Native Americans.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker will be entering the race for President later this month, but it’s unclear if his recent turn to the hard right will help him or hurt him.

President Obama gave an interesting and somewhat unusual interview to a podcaster late last week, but the media is obsessed over a single word.

A Judge in Cleveland has found that there is probable cause to charge a Cleveland Police Officer with murder in the death of Tamir Rice, but that is hardly the end of the matter.

Turkey’s governing party suffered big setbacks at the ballot box yesterday.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker isn’t officially a candidate for President yet, but he’s doing quite well in Iowa anyway.

If a Russian solider dies, it’s now a secret thanks to a new decree signed by the Russian President.

The Cleveland Police Department has agreed to submit to significant monitoring in the wake of a damning Justice Department investigation.

A Cleveland police officer has been acquitted of manslaughter and other charges in a case that resulted in the death of two African-American individuals.

The first batch of email from Hillary Clinton regarding the 2012 attack in Benghazi have been released, and they don’t reveal anything we didn’t already know.

Disturbing developments on the part of the Ukrainian government.

The six Baltimore cops charged in the April death of Freddie Gray have been indicted by a Grand Jury.

Maryland’s former Governor will announce his candidacy for President next week. Don’t expect him to go very far.

President Obama is taking steps to reduce police militarization, but there’s much more that needs to be done.

Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s first truly-elected president, has been sentenced to death by the government which ousted him in a coup.

A plan to distribute migrants from the conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa across the entire European Union seems destined to cause political conflict.

The Baltimore Police Department will finally be under the Federal microscope. But it took the death of Freddie Gray for it happen.

Some people in the media can’t seem to get it through their heads that speech they consider hateful is entitled to as much protection as speech that they support.

Big news out of Baltimore and, perhaps, the beginning of justice for Freddie Gray.

In a marked departure from recent cases, the Supreme Court rules that states can impose significant restriction on solicitation of campaign contributions in judicial elections.

There is no excuse for last night’s rioting in Baltimore, but that should not deflect attention from the problems with that city’s police.

Ta-Nehisi Coates is insightful and eloquent. He’s wrong in this instance.

Just over a week after a death at the hands of police that remains incredibly suspicious, Baltimore is the sight of violent riots.

Legislators in Tennessee have taken the “gun rights” argument further than it was ever intended to go.

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.

Thanks to one civilian with a camera, a police officer is facing charges in what appears to clearly be an improper shooting.

Modern Singapore’s founder passed away at age 91 earlier this week.

A new Justice Department report has found widespread racial bias in the Ferguson Police Department, but it’s a problem that goes far beyond one Missouri suburb.

Unsurprisingly, Darren Wilson will not face federal charges in connection with the shooting of Michael Brown.

Nearly three years to the day after it started, the George Zimmerman case is essentially over.

Justice Ginsburg acknowledges the fact that, over the past nineteen years, same-sex marriage has gone from something that most Americans oppose to something that most Americans are willing to accept.

A big change in an important nation in the most volatile part of the world.

Not surprisingly, the Federal investigation of the Michael Brown shooting is ending much like the state investigation did.

He’s tan. He’s rested. And, apparently, he’s ready. Mitt Romney seems very interested in 2016 all of a sudden.

New details in the shooting of 12 year old Tamir Rice raise more questions.