Outside the Beltway

In a rare display of assertiveness in the foreign policy arena, the House voted yesterday to bar U.S. assistance in Saudi Arabia’s genocidal war on Yemen.

The longest-serving member of Congress in American history has passed away at the age of 92.

The date and location of the next summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un have been set, but it’s hard to see what can really be accomplished.

The President’s second State of the Union began and ended with calls for unity. In between, it was filled with the divisive partisanship that has marked his Presidency.

President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet again in February, but it’s hard to see why.

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

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

My mother has passed, aged 75 years.

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

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.

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

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

An effort by the Federal Government to prosecute Wikileaks founder Julian Assange raises serious First Amendment issues.

It would be a rather quixotic effort, but Jeff Flake isn’t ruling out challenging the President for the Republican nomination in 2020.

Rest in Peace and Excelsior, Stan Lee!

Claiming it was because of the weather President Trump chose to skip a visit to a cemetery at the site of one of the bloodiest battles involving Americans in World War One.

Donald Trump’s lies became even more frequent during the recently-concluded campaign season.

The GOP is likely to lose control of the House of Representatives tomorrow, but could this actually help Trump?

After nearly a year, Trump’s trade policies are having their inevitable negative impact inside the United States.

For the second time this year, a Federal Court has struck down a state law designed to punish businesses that engage in a boycott aimed at Israel.

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.

The State of Texas is arguing in Court that a school district can force a student to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. This is a blatant violation of the First Amendment.

Washington said farewell to John McCain 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.

In his final words to his fellow Senators, and to his fellow Americans, Senator John McCain left a legacy, and a challenge.

Throughout the War On Terror, John McCain stood out as a strong moral voice against the use of torture against prisoners. For that he deserves the thanks of a grateful nation.

President Trump reportedly vetoed a plan to issue a statement lauding Senator John McCain after he died on Saturday.

Democrats have pulled the trigger and essentially eliminated the power of superdelegates except in the unlikely event that a nominating convention goes to a second ballot.

One moment at a campaign rally in October 2008 defines better than anything else what American politics lost when John McCain passed away.

Senator John McCain has died at the age of 81,

Sad news about a Senate stalwart who has been fighting an aggressive form of cancer for more than a year.

A Federal Judge in Washington State has, at least temporarily, blocked the release of files that would allow anyone to make a 3-D printed gun. The First Amendment seems to clearly indicate that this ruling is wrong.

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.”

Even if all he gets out of the Helsinki Summit is a handshake and a photograph, Vladimir Putin has already won.

The situation isn’t as awful as portrayed by the AP—but it’s still pretty bad.

What was once a rare symbol of national mourning has become so commonplace as to be meaningless.

Once touted as an example of his deal-making prowess, Harley-Davidson sent a rebuke to President Trump by announcing it was moving some manufacturing to Europe to counteract the impact of his ongoing trade war.

Not surprisingly, Canadians aren’t too thrilled with Donald Trump these days.

The Vietnam memorial helped heal a gaping wound. What purpose will this one serve?

One outcome of the SIngapore Summit includes a purported agreement to work on repatriating American remains from the Korean War. This is a good thing, but the President couldn’t resist adding obvious embellishment.

Thanks to Donald Trump, the happiest man in the world right now is Vladimir Putin.

Donald Trump hinted that he’s considering a pardon for Muhammad Ali, but Ali doesn’t need a pardon.

Anthony Bourdain was a renowned chef, writer, television host, and storyteller. He also suffered from demons that ultimately caught up with him.

Echoing the Obama Administration, the Trump Administration is arguing that it did not need Congressional authorization to attack Syria earlier this year.

Clashes between the US and Chinese navies in the South China Sea have intensified.

As expected, Gina Haspel was confirmed as C.I.A. Director yesterday despite her controversial record when it comes to torture.

61 percent of Americans have a favorable impression of a man who left office a failed president.

The White House isn’t apologizing for an aide who made a joke about John McCain’s most likely terminal illness. That shouldn’t be surprising.

When it comes to the Trump White House, the fish rots from the head down.

Another data point demonstrating that a distinguished military career doesn’t preclude being an awful human being or a crackpot.