Outside the Beltway

Beijing is warning protesters in Hong Kong that it’s restraint in the face of protests is not without limit. However, it has few realistic options when it comes to how far it can go.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg isn’t very impressed by the proposals made by several liberal politicians lately to increase the size of the Supreme Court to counterbalance the conservative tilt created by the Gorsuch and Kavanaugh confirmations.

The latest Federal Reserve report on the economy shows Trump’s trade policies are having an increasingly negative impact.

President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping have agreed to resume trade talks, but Trump’s ill-advised trade war will continue.

Not content with taking a wrecking ball to America’s trans-Atlantic alliances, the President is attacking our trans-Pacific allies as well.

Donald Trump has betrayed the legacy and the sacrifices of the soldiers who fought their way onto the beaches of Normandy.

Seventy-five years ago today, American soldiers and our allies undertook an invasion that helped change the world.

Yet another violation of norms by the 45th President.

Surprising pollsters and political analysts down under, Australia’s ruling center-right coalition pulled off a big win in Saturday’s election.

Taiwan has become the first nation in Asia to legally recognize same-sex marriage.

The Trump Administration is proposing another round of tariffs on even more Chinese goods.

China has retaliated for the tariffs that the President imposed late last week, and things look like they’re only going to get worse.

As he had threatened, President Trump has imposed new tariffs on Chinese goods, making a bad situation even worse.

Institutions matter. (No, seriously, they really, really matter).

Deny them the pleasure of an angry reaction, and they’ll probably leave you alone.

Some context for ongoing discussions.

Another white supremacist attack raises disturbing questions about our information environment.

Cardinal George Pell, the top Catholic Cleric in Australia, has been convicted of sexually abusing boys in the 1990s.

As threatened late last year, the Trump Administration has withdrawn from the Intermediate=Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. This is a mistake.

Donald Trump continues to appear to advocate ideas that harm American national interests and benefit Vladimir Putin. Draw your own conclusions as to why.

I am a sucker for a good People’s Front of Judea riff.

The TPP is about to go into effect without the US.

Fifty years ago tonight, one of the most iconic photos in history was taken.

A particularly appalling case of press censorship from Australia.

Now that’s a lot of beef.

President Trump is preparing to scrap a thirty-year-old treaty that marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War. It would be a foolish mistake.

President Trump got his revised version of NAFTA, but Canadians are less positive about the United States than they have been in at least twenty years.

Thanks in large part to an aggressive public health education program and vaccination, Australia is on course to effectively eradicate cervical cancer.

President Trump is once again threatening to lower the tariff hammer on one of America’s most reliable allies and biggest trading partners.

Several states are opening new investigations of the Catholic Church abuse scandal. It’s about time.

A significant advance for LGBT rights in the world’s most populous democracy.

A top Vatican official is alleging that Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI were both aware of previously unknown allegations of sexual abuse and chose to allow them to be covered up rather than bringing them to light.

Pope Francis took the rare step of sending a letter addressed to all of the world’s Catholics on the sexual abuse scandal. Words are fine, but they need action to back them up.

A Pennsylvania Grand Jury report reveals decades of abuse by some 300 Catholic Priests impacting more than 1,000 children and 26 of the state’s Roman Catholic Diocese.

New York Congressman Chris Collins, who was the first Congressman to endorse President Trump, has been indicted for what amounts to one of the dumber and most obvious cases of securities fraud ever seen.

I have heard Trump supporters offer the following rationale for Trump’s tarris, “It is a bargaining strategy.” Then they sit back and smirk, and tell me, “Trump really wants zero tariffs, but to get these other countries to come to the table he has to get their attention. And once he has softened them up, they’ll be willing to reduce their tariffs.”

A surprise announcement about the First Lady.

The President’s new attempt to ban transgender Americans from serving in the military is as legally defective as the original ban was.

The President issued an incredibly confusing order that contradicts the advice of his generals and is probably illegal.

Jonathan Bernstein thinks so and Chuck Todd and company outline a pretty strong case.

A mass wave of mainland Chinese immigration to Australia has led to discrimination against Taiwanese expats there.

The Defense Department will reportedly recommend to President Trump that transgender members of the service currently serving in the military be allowed to continue serving.

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.

In the United States, in contrast, the judgment citizens hold of the media, along increasingly with everything else, turns on one’s identification with a political tribe. 

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.

President Trump has alienated America’s allies and friends, and they are acting accordingly.

Transgender Americans will be able to enlist in the military beginning January 1st thanks to a ruling from a Federal District Court Judge.

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

A huge loss for the world of Rock & Roll.

A Fox News host has debunked the Uranium One conspiracy theory being pushed by his own network.