Outside the Beltway

Another Federal Court loss for gun rights activists challenging state laws banning “assault weapons.”

The Atlantic fired one of their few conservative voices for saying women who have abortions should be hanged. Was this beyond the pale?

A woman who was fired after a photograph of her giving the middle finger to President Trump’s motorcade went viral is suing her former employer. She doesn’t have much of a case.

A blog post and resulting Twitter exchange point to a larger problem in our political dialog.

News anchors at dozens of local stations owned by conservative-leaning Sinclair Broadcast Group were recently required to read a script mandated by corporate headquarters, and it’s leading to some bad media coverage for Sinclair.

Under the proposal certain visa-seekers (such as China and India) would have to have their social media presence scrutinized.

As a general rule, Presidents are entitled to have a Cabinet and advisers he is comfortable with, but a Cabinet full of “yes men” is not ideal with any President, and certainly not with this one.

California has pushed back quickly against the Trump Administration’s decision to include a question regarding citizenship in the 2020 Census.

Critics warn this move would lead to a drastic undercount of Hispanic voters, impacting Congressional districting, federal programs, and more.

Republicans on Capitol Hill worried about all the leaking coming from the Trump White House would be wise to actually do the oversight the Constitution compels them to do.

Challengers to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s ruling on Congressional redistricting suffered two big setbacks in court yesterday that suggest that they’ve reached the end of the road legally.

Joseph E. diGenova has touted the theory that rogue FBI elements have tried to frame Trump in the Russia probe.

Will Bunch wildly exaggerates the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

A contest with no serious challenger will make him the longest-serving Russian leader since Stalin.

The FBI’s former deputy director was shamefully fired late Friday night, after which President Trump gloated on Twitter.

Nine years later, at least one member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee is admitting what seemed at the time a rather obvious fact.

Ending an investigation that was flawed and tainted with partisanship from the start, the House Intelligence Committee has abruptly concluded its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

While Team Trump has gone out of its way to waylay the Russia investigation, this may not be is part of that effort.

With the Winter Olympics over, the next step on the Korean Peninsula is utterly unclear.

Daniel Triesman offers an explanation as to “Why the poor don’t vote to soak the rich.”

China’s Xi Jinping solidified his hold on power well into the next decade over the weekend.

An emerging technology will take “fake news” to a whole new level.

Donald Trump’s dereliction of duty in response to clear evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 election is a staggering and flagrant dereliction of the duties he agreed to take on when he took the Oath Of Office more than a year ago.

A series of scandals at Oxfam and other charitable organizations raise troubling questions.

A few key observations on the bigger picture.

The Russian government likely is quite pleased.

The tragedy in Florida last week revealed once again how hyperpartisanship is destroying our politics and harming the country.

President Trump’s military parade would come with a not insignificant cost.

Despite what his own intelligence chiefs are saying, President Trump still does not believe that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

Intelligence officials are warning that the Russians are set to seek to influence the 2018 elections just as they did in 2016. Despite this, the Trump Administration refuses to acknowledge this publicly while the President seeks to undermine the investigation into past Russian interference.

My latest for RealClearDefense.

Administration officials are admitting that it’s likely that Russia will try to interfere in the midterm elections just as it did in 2016, but they don’t seem inclined to do anything about it.

In a healthy democracy we need not agree, nor must we finally even respect one another’s objects of devotion.  But we should exercise a salutary measure of mutual forbearance and be willing to acknowledge that no side has a monopoly on either truth or justice.

Poland’s President has signed a controversial bill that purports to criminalize any effort to tie Poland to the Holocaust.

The 2008 Republican nominee for president condemned his party and its president for the release of a controversial memo attacking the FBI.

The current budget deal expires in six days and Congress doesn’t seem to know what it’s going to do about it.

The Trump Administration has acted in a manner to create the impression that there is “no daylight” between the United States and Israel. This is a myth, and pursuing such a goal poses real dangers for America’s national interests.

The recent cooling of relations between North and South Korea has led to some talk of eventual reunification, but for many South Koreans that idea is a non-starter.

Democratic norms are eroding.

And a little Electoral College for good measure.

While everyone is paying attention to the government shutdown, the Trump Administration is preparing for a never-ending, unwise, and unauthorized military commitment in Syria.

Two Republicans spoke out today against the President’s war on the news media, but don’t expect their colleagues to follow suit.

A Federal Court in North Carolina has issued a stinging ruling against the partisan gerrymandering undertaken by the Republican legislature in that state.

Donald Trump’s latest Twitter rant is one of his most bizarre.

Whatever goodwill may have existed between the Trump Administration and Steve Bannon appears to have evaporated.

After nearly twenty years, the Republican domination of the Virginia House of Delegates came to an end thanks to a single vote.

The difference is, dare I say, huge.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a second case dealing with political Gerrymandering.

After a long wait, gays and lesbians in Australia have achieved marriage equality.

Negotiations over government formation is not a crisis.