Outside the Beltway

Mike Pence’s obsequiousness to his master knows no limits.

Hoping that Donald Trump might not run for reelection? Don’t get your hopes up.

Johnetta Benton was caught on tape in a 15-minute rant against President Trump’s campaign slogan. She ain’t wrong.

If you recall your grade school civics, you already knew this.

A woman who was at the center of one of the most important Supreme Court cases in American history has died at the age of 75.

Under Nelson Mandela’s leadership, the country made a smooth transition from apartheid. Now it’s going the way of Zimbabwe.

Two classic pieces of American Literature have been banned from the curriculum in Duluth, Minnesota. This is a mistake.

And a little Electoral College for good measure.

Some thoughts about why the president’s remarks on immigration are so problematic.

Polling remains uncertain in the Alabama Senate race, but the odds favor Roy Moore.

Roy Moore wishes he was back in the days of cotton when families were close and African-Americans were enslaved.

The Supreme Court held oral argument in a case that pits First Amendment rights against the rights of LGBT Americans.

As a candidate, Donald Trump liked to claim that he only hired the “top people.” and said he would do the same thing as President. So far, it isn’t working out that way.

The ‘No Labels’ movement is back, and it’s as irrelevant to contemporary politics as ever.

The battle over Confederate statues that was resurrected by the violence in Charlottesville is off the front pages, but that doesn’t mean it’s over quite yet.

We mourn Charlottesville because Donald J. Trump, the President of the United States, made clear in no uncertain terms that in his mind there was little distinction between those in Charlottesville who pursued the un-American “values” of soil, blood, and racial dominance and those who pursued the ideals of the American Constitution.

Facts are stubborn things.

It’s time to stop honoring the symbols of a nation of racist traitors.

Hatred and violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

A Duke history professor uncovers “stealth plan” by “fifth columnists” who are seeking to overthrow democracy in the U.S. for their plutocrat masters.

Symbols shape our views of the past.

Puerto Rican voters voted overwhelmingly for statehood yesterday in a referendum whose legitimacy is being questioned due to boycotts by opposition parties.

President Trump’s comments about Andrew Jackson and the Civil War reveal something about how he thinks, and it’s not good.

Ben Carson is back and he’s saying some pretty dumb things again.

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

On Tuesday night the Establishment won and won yuge. (From new OTB contributor, Michael Bailey)

The Senate has passed an amendment to a military spending bill that would require women to register for the draft.

The rise of Trump and Sanders has resurrected a debate as old as Western civilization.

The success of the Broadway musical ‘Hamilton’ appears to be helping to save Alexander Hamilton’s place on the $10 bill. Andrew Jackson, meanwhile, looks likely to be booted from the $20 bill.

The eighth Democratic debate raises the question of whether we really need this many debates.

The effort to stop Donald Trump seems likely to set off a civil war inside the Republican Party.

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

Republicans insist that uttering the words “Radical Islamic Terrorism” is somehow important in the fight against ISIS and other terror networks, but it is entirely unclear what doing so would accomplish.

The news that at least some of the men who were involved in the terrorist attacks in Paris were among the refugees who have arrived in Europe since the summer is likely to complicate an already complicated situation.

Ben Carson has no government experience, he has a history of saying things that don’t seem grounded in reality, and he lacks the resources for a credible campaign. And yet, he’s closing in on Donald Trump in the polls.

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 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.

Good for her.

If Jim Webb runs for President, he will be the only candidate in either party who is on record defending the Confederate Battle Flag. And he’s thinking of running as a Democrat.

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.

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

With notable exceptions, most of the Republican candidates for President are refusing to take a stand on the propriety of South Carolina flying the Confederate Flag. That’s called cowardice.

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

A word that has come in recent years to be used to refer chiefly to Muslim fanatics obviously applies to a man who murdered nine people because they’re black.