Outside the Beltway

The latest entry in the unity third party presidential candidate genre is just as bad as they always are.

The mystery surrounding a secret proceeding in Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation has at least partly been solved.

As expected, Bill Cosby’s lawyers have filed an appeal of his conviction earlier this year on sexual assault charges.

With three days to go before a government shutdown, there are at least some signs that the President may be backing away from his threats to shut down the government over funding for his border wall.

Under fire from the New York Attorney General, Donald Trump’s questionable charitable foundation is shutting down.

As expected, the Justice Department has issued a new rule banning bump stocks. However, it is likely to face legal challenges.

Martha McSally and Kyrsten Sinema will end up representing Arizona in the Senate together.

With the Friday night deadline fast approaching, nobody in Washington seems to know what’s going on.

Republicans scored a win in Court last week, but it seems likely to lead to a political loss in the long-term.

After a barrage of criticism, New Jersey Democrats are abandoning a controversial redistricting proposal.

Mystery continues to surround a proceeding that has been making its way through the Federal Courts in Washington, D.C.

As Washington heads into the final days of a budget shutdown, Republicans find themselves on the losing end of a public relations battle.

Former Vice-President Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders are, not surprisingly, leading the early polls for the 2020 Democratic nomination.

An argument against “bothersiderism” in this case and, yet again, noting the problem with single seat districts.

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.

The scandal-plagued Secretary of the Interior is leaving office at the end of the year.

On the way out the door, Scott Walker signed a bill to take powers away from his successor (and demonstrated a lack of understanding of Venn diagrams).

Eight years after it was signed into law, a Federal Judge has ruled the Affordable Care Act to be unconstitutional.

Trump has selected current Budget Director Mick Mulvaney to replace John Kelly as Chief of Staff, but that’s unlikely to change how the West Wing operates.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor contends that a recent change in tax law unravels the basis for the Supreme Court’s upholding of Obamacare.

Another piece of humanity has left the Solar System.

In a small, but meaningful, step, the Senate has rebuked the Administration’s policies toward the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Jon Kyl was named to replace John McCain back in September, but as expected he’s already announcing that he’ll be leaving at the end of the year.

More evidence that President Trump was an active participant in the scheme to silence Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels in advance of the 2016 election.

House Republicans reportedly don’t have the votes to fund the President’s border wall.

Happy Friday!

Federal prosecutors are investigating the Trump Inaugural Committee, adding to the long list of the President’s legal troubles.

The Trump Administration appears to think that the Budget Deficit and National Debt aren’t a big deal because we can just grow our way out of the problem. This is highly unlikely to happen.

Gerrymandering. It’s not just for Republicans.

A particularly appalling case of press censorship from Australia.

The publisher of the National Enquirer admits that it made payments to a Playboy model for the purpose of protecting Donald Trump’s campaign for President.

Jacob T. Levy has a column worth a read.

British Prime Minister Theresa May survived an intra-party leadership challenge, but her political position is still far from secure.

The President’s former lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen has been sentenced to three years in prison for his role in assisting the President in various scandals and cover-ups.

Nancy Pelosi is apparently close to a deal with dissident Democrats that will keep her in power until at least 2022.

French President Emmanuel Macron made several concessions to the Yellow Vest protesters but it remains to be seen if this will be enough to quell the protests.

While most Hollywood blockbusters have male leads, films starring women actually do better on the aggregate.

Theresa May is facing an unexpected challenge to her leadership even as she deals with trying to save a Brexit deal that nobody seems to like.

Once again, President Trump is threatening a shutdown over the border wall that Mexico was supposed to pay for.

Theresa May is trying to save a Brexit deal that appears to be becoming more doomed by the day.

The Supreme Court declined to hear a case involving state laws banning Medicaid reimbursement for non-abortion services provided by Planned Parenthood.

Senator Mitch McConnell and others are blocking a criminal justice reform bill currently pending in the Senate.

The verdict of last month’s elections was clear, but Republicans still don’t seem to get it.

Europe’s highest Court appeared to hand the United Kingdom a way of escaping Brexit altogether if it chose to go that route. This will greatly complicate the domestic political situation for Theresa May.

This month’s budget fight is likely the last chance the President will have to get any funding for his border wall.

President Trump’s first choice to replace John Kelly as Chief of Staff turned the job down, leading one to wonder why anyone would want the job.

While often portrayed as left-leaning, the public broadcaster is ruthlessly capitalistic in its labor practices.

French authorities are investigating reports that Russian interference may be helping to exploit and expand the five-week-old “yellow vest” protests.