Outside the Beltway

An attempt at defining the conversation.

Top positions in the State Department are vacant, and there’s only one person to blame for that.

President Trump is on the attack against James Comey as the former F.B.I. Director begins his book tour.

President Trump’s job approval numbers remain historically low.

In the wake of the latest attack on Syria, some of the President’s strongest supporters seem shocked to discover that the unprincipled egomaniac they supported is, in fact, an unprincipled egomaniac.

White House service is usually a ticket to high-paying jobs in Washington. Not so for the current administration.

A Federal Judge in Texas has ruled that discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is barred by Federal Law. Legally speaking, this is a tenuous argument at best.

The Director of ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’ and ‘Amadeus,’ both of which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, has died at the age of 86.

Donald Trump could have more to worry about regarding the investigation of Michael Cohen than he does regarding the Mueller investigation.

There is no obvious strategy and even the expressed rationale makes no sense.

The United States can’t do any good in Syria, but we can do a lot of bad.

Given a choice between Robert Mueller and Donald Trump, most Americans are siding with Mueller. Unless they’re Republicans that is.

Hang on, the ride on the Trump Train is about to get a lot bumpier.

Even the United Nations has given up trying to maintain an accurate estimate.

Out of the blue, President Trump plans to pardon Dick Cheney’s former Chief of Staff, but the move seems to have more to do with James Comey than it does Scooter Libby.

A decryption device called GrayKey is being used by all manner of government agencies.

The spring flower theme continues.

Trump suggests US might seek to rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Without Congressional authorization, any attack on Syria would be illegal, but don’t expect Congress to do anything about it.

A plurality of Americans aged 18 to 34 have no idea how many people were killed, what Auschwitz was, or how Hitler came to power.

The idea that individuals have different “learning styles” is apparently not borne out by the evidence, according to recent research.

Once again, President Trump’s foreign policy tweeting is causing problems.

Some Republicans are suggesting that Paul Ryan should be pushed out as Speaker before the November elections.

Mark Zuckerberg’s second day before Congress was somewhat more contentious than the first, but at the end of the day it’s still unclear that more regulation is the answer to the issues raised by recent Facebook “scandals.”

Dueling data on civil service compensation belie the adage that you can’t choose your own facts.

President Trump took to Twitter this morning and decided poke a stick in the eye of the Russian bear.

In addition to opening up the Speakership, there’s a legitimate possibility that Wisconsin-11 flips to the other party.

John Boehner is now pro-weed. The world just keeps getting weirder, man.

Stormy Daniels is talking to the Feds

Paul Ryan won’t be running for re-election this year, opening up both a Congressional seat and a leadership spot.

Not surprisingly, a joint Senate Committee failed to really lay a glove on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at yesterday’s hearing.

Controversies involving Jimmy Kimmel and “The Simpsons” highlight a perennial question.

The United States has several options in Syria. None of them are good and one of them would be disastrous.

Late last week, Hawaii became the seventh state and eighth major American jurisdiction to legalize assisted suicide.

President Trump isn’t reacting well to the raid on his attorney’s office.

The Marvel superhero film passed ‘Titanic’ in US ticket sales. Unless we adjust for inflation. Which we absolutely should.

In a move apparently connected to the Stormy Daniels affair, Federal authorities have raided the office of longtime Trump attorney Michael Cohen.

Republicans are raising the fear of impeachment to motivate a base that could become disaffected heading into November.

Governor Rick Scott has entered the race to challenge Bill Nelson in Florida, creating what is likely to be one of the most closely watched races of the year.

For every Trump tweet, there is literally something that says exactly the opposite.

You many have noticed the array of images and links under the footer of post pages. Here’s what it is.

We’re set to return to the era of trillion dollar budget deficits, and Republicans won’t do a thing about it.

Bill Cosby heads back to court for a retrial on the sexual assault allegations against him but it’s not going to be the same as the first.

A response to one of the most deadly chemical attacks in the Syrian civil war has come, probably from Israel. What’s next?

The answer is, of course, no. Really, this is a post about the wall as policy.

Trump’s tariff plan isn’t going over well in farm country, and that could cause problems for the GOP in November.

Dan Drezner notes some challenges on this topic, and I add some of my own thoughts.

Just about a year after President Trump attacked Syria over the use of chemical weapons, the Assad regime has again used chemical weapons. There’s not much we can do about, nor should we.