Outside the Beltway

ZZ Top’s longtime bass player is gone.

Texas and Oklahoma have reopened Pandora’s Box.

Oh, FFS.

Tab clearing time.

Another R/D cleavage?

It’s not getting any better, folks.

This time: the Alaska GOP.

An arrest underscores what the problem isn’t.

Not surprisingly, it has been a bit contentious.

Some Democratic election observers think so.

He will challenge Greg Abbott for the GOP nomination.

The southern one.

New York Times columnists are not a representative sample.

Stupid is as stupid does.

Stories, links, and brief observations from the week that never grew into posts.

Critical race theory rears its ugly head yet again.

Quick takes from the week.

It passed the Senate unanimously.

The question is: for how long and ultimately how much?

Retired generals are no longer in the military.

Brought to you by the son of Moon.

Cries that American democracy is in jeopardy are not hyperbole.

A special session looms. (And how this is not like the filibuster in the US Senate).

Federal police officers continue to be immune from lawsuits.

A third of the party’s Members of Congress voted against a popular bill.

And general considerations on mid-term elections.

Huge swaths of the country are underserved.

The latest bogey man is likely not well understood.

The least controversial subject in school is suddenly controversial.

Assessing Republican strategic positioning (and the incentives in our system).

The trends over the last half century are really something.

The long shift of population from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt continues—with the unusual exception of California.

Let’s call it what it is.

The latest variant of the “No Justice, No Peace” threat is unhelpful.

A new poll from Texas give us a chance to think about parties and nominations in the US.

Science, politics, and social norms intersect in some really strange ways.

A credulous report on the tech giant’s altruism.

The politics and the science are in conflict.

It doesn’t work like the movies, Senator.

How well do single-seat districts lead to representation? (And of what?)

Many states are moving to a first come, first served basis for COVID shots.

The author of “Lonesome Dove,” “Terms of Endearment,” and so many more great novels is gone at 84.

Immigration policy is harder than it looks.

HR1 is a national approach to expanding voter access. State legislatures are trying to both expand and restrict the vote as well.

A story that is both unserious and yet emblematic of our age in a serious way.

The Lone Star State is celebrating its independence in a big way.

And a discussion of markets (and a warning about partisanship).

The Senate’s last conservative Democrat is taking President Biden’s call for unity seriously.

It is really so hard to understand that you don’t go on vacation during a massive disaster?