Outside the Beltway

Chelsea Manning, who was being held in jail for refusing to comply with a Grand Jury subpoena, was released yesterday but it’s likely to only be a temporary freedom.

Valerie Plame, the former CIA agent whose identity was outed during the Bush Administration, is running for Congress in New Mexico.

While he campaigned on a message of restraint, Donald Trump has largely adopted the interventionist foreign policies of his predecessors.

The Trump Administration is taking an unnecessarily militaristic approach toward Iran, and that poses real dangers for the country and for the Middle East.

Republicans have aborted President Trump’s lofty plan for a $2 trillion infrastructure deal just days after it was conceived.

All three children of the next head of the Army are following in his footsteps.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other firebrands aren’t steering the ship. Yet.

Newly discovered evidence shows that foreign governments have expanded their leasing of space from at least one Trump-owned office building in New York City.

The Trump Administration’s policies toward Iran aren’t going to work, but that’s because they aren’t supposed to work.

Sunday’s attacks in Sri Lanka make it clear that the claim that ISIS has been defeated are nowhere close to being true.

In military justice Bizarroland, Rep Duncan Hunter intentionally commits “reverse UCI.”

ISIS is claiming responsibility for Sunday’s attacks in Sri Lanka, a strong sign that the claims by the Trump Administration that it had largely defeated the group were not true.

Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts is the latest Democrat to enter an already crowded field.

The Wall Street Journal tries, and fails, to defend President Trump’s indefensible veto of the Congressional resolution regarding the war on Yemen.

Maybe there was a better way to get his point across?

President Trump has not surprisingly vetoed a Congressional resolution to limit American support for the Saudi war on Yemen. His defense for doing so is utterly absurd.

The Wikileaks founder has been detained by London authorities after 7 years hiding in Ecuador’s embassy.

Strategic move or pointless provocation?

After a flood of stories saying the former Vice President is unsuitable for the modern era, the inevitable pushback is happening.

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

A WaPo writer takes a round-about path to demonstrate the obvious.

Massachusetts Democrat Seth Moulton makes an argument familiar to OTB readers.

Reason’s Nick Gillespie makes an interesting case but I don’t buy it.

In the end, the reason the Hanoi Summit failed is because the Trump Administration is pursuing an unattainable goal.

American military intervention in Venezuela would make the situation in that country worse, not better.

US policy is creating nonconstructive confrontation.

Rather than pulling completely out of Syria the United States will be leaving behind a token force of about 200 troops. This is a mistake.

The Trump Administration continues to drive a wedge between the United States and Europe, can it ever be repaired?

Walter Jones, a former supporter of the Iraq War who became one of the most prominent anti-war voices in Congress, has passed away at the age of 76. He will be missed.

Lyndon LaRouche, an eight-time Presidential candidate who ran a cult-like organization that spread bizarre conspiracy theories, has died at 96.

The arguments against withdrawing American forces from Afghanistan are becoming weaker and weaker.

Having two presidents sounds like a terrible sitcom idea. In reality, the situation is just plain terrible.

Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is the latest Democrat to throw their hat into the Presidential ring.

Two years of Republican control of the Legislative and Executive Branches has put us back on a path toward $1 trillion budget deficits.

In a move that is likely to have political and international consequences, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has officially severed ties with Moscow.

Herb Kelleher, who helped found an airline that revolutionized the industry thanks to his unconventional choices, has died at the age of 87.

Former Senator and Denocratic Presidential candidate Jim Webb is reportedly being considered for Defense Secretary.

Is it possible that the solution to the government shutdown is letting the President pretend he got funding for his border wall even though he didn’t?

The numbers should guide policy, not silly symbols.

President Trump has lost another one of his top advisers on the fight against ISIS.

The Pentagon is being ordered to draw up plans to withdraw roughly one-half of the American forces remaining in Afghanistan. It’s about time.

Tennessee will have an open Senate seat in 2020 thanks to Lamar Alexander’s decision to retire at the end of his current term.

The Trump Administration is reportedly preparing to withdraw the small contingent of American troops from Syria. If it actually happens, this would be a good move.

Thanks apparently to the fact that it remained unwilling to get in line behind the Trumpidians, the conservative owner of The Weekly Standard has shut the magazine down.

Trump has reportedly told aides that he doesn’t really care about reports of an approaching crisis of the budget deficit and national debt because he’ll be out of office before it becomes a problem.

Honoring the 41st President cast a poor light on the 45th.

Washington said farewell to George H.W. Bush today in a service that both remembered his spirit and his heroism, and stands as a sharp rebuke to what politics has been reduced to in America today.

American troops have been in Afghanistan for seventeen years now, it’s time to bring them all home.

George H.W. Bush,, who served his nation as a warrior, Congressman, Ambassador, Vice-President, and President, has died at the age of 94.

President Trump’s job approval numbers continue to be worse than those of any President since the end of World War Two.