Outside the Beltway

Washington, D.C.’s Metro system has scrapped any plan to give participants in next week’s white supremacist rally private train cars.

Total compensation has been going up and the non-wage portion of said compensation is basically “eating up all” of the past increases since approximately 1974 resulting in a stagnant hourly wage.

Next week, some of the same groups that rallied in Charlottesville last year will be gathering in Washington, D.C. and the D.C. Metro is considering a transportation plan that is causing controversy.

The Trump Administration continues to insist that North Korea is violating promises that it clearly never made.

The Texas Senate race between Ted Cruz and Beto O’Rourke is looking close, but Democrats should not hold out much hope of flipping this seat.

Jobs growth fell short of expectations in July but was still relatively decent. Wage growth, however, remains stubbornly stagnant.

You might say he body slammed the opposition.

A Federal Appeals Court has found that a Trump Administration policy purporting to punish so-called sanctuary cities is unconstitutional.

In what amounts to a significant, albeit not surprising, change in Catholic doctrine, Pope Francis has declared that the death penalty is unacceptable in all circumstances.

President Trump says he wants to talk to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, but his own lawyers clearly don’t trust him enough to allow that to go forward.

Another morning, and another unhinged Twitter attack on the Mueller investigation by a President who claims the entire investigation is a “hoax” and “Fake News.”

The Trump Administration is falsely claiming that the North Koreans made commitments at the Singapore Summit that they clearly didn’t agree to.

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.

After one year at a job that has to be among the most frustrating in Washington, John Kelly has agreed to stay on through the 2020 election.

A Federal Judge in Oregon has rejected an efforts by a parent’s group to block a school district policy that allows transgender students to use the restroom facilities that conform to their gender identity.

Yet another sign that the Singapore Summit didn’t really accomplish much of anything.

A powerful political network is distancing itself from the Trump-dominated Republican Party.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says she’d like to stay on the Court at least until she turns 90, but it’s unlikely she’ll go anywhere voluntarily as long as Donald Trump is President.

President Trump is suggesting he may force a government shutdown over his immigration policies just a month before the midterm elections.

Senate Democrats appear to be recognizing that there’s basically nothing they can do to stop the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

A Federal Judge in Maryland ruled last week that a lawsuit against the President based on a rather obscure provision of the Constitution could go forward.

The natural intuition of the aluminum tariff is that it would help Alcoa, the largest manufacturer of aluminum in the U.S. But apparently these things are a bit more complicated that one’s intuition would indicate.

The Secretary of State of West Virginia has barred Don Blankenship, who came in third place in the GOP Primary, from mounting a third-party bid on the November ballot.

Senator Corker provided a pretty damning run-down last week.

Mid-terms are coming.

Trade deals take more than an afternoon chat.

A new poll suggests that Governor Scott Walker could be in trouble as he seeks a third term as Governor of Wisconsin, but he’s been counted out before only bounce back and confound the doubters.

One of the biggest names in Hollywood stands accused of sexual misconduct by a number of women in yet another ground-breaking report by Ronan Farrow.

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.”

Trump’s trade war will claw back 25% of the growth in GDP, slightly more than 20% of the wage growth and more than wipe out all the jobs his tax cuts would provide.

Going my way?

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly looking at the President’s Twitter feed as part of his ongoing investigation.

The economy grew at an exceptionally strong pace according to the first estimate of GDP growth, but several caveats remain.

Former Trump lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen is reportedly ready to tell investigators that the President is lying about his knowledge regarding the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between Trump campaign officials and a Russian lawyer.

President Trump and the President of the European Commission announced an agreement late yesterday on trade issues, but it’s long on promises and short on results.

New polling shows that the ground looks fertile for Democrats in the fall.

A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down part of a Hawaii law barring open carry of weapons, but this win for gun rights advocates may turn out to be short-lived.

Deficits continue to rise.

Contrary to last week’s reports, we won’t be seeing a second summit with Vladimir Putin in the near future.

A new recording of a conversation between Donald Trump and his one-time attorney/”fixer” Michael Cohen appears to put the President in a more difficult position than he has already been in.

Notwithstanding his dismissive public rhetoric about the former Vice-President, Donald Trump apparently sees Joe Biden as his biggest potential threat in 2020.

Don Blankenship, who came in third in the Republican Primary in West Virginia earlier this year, is moving forward with plans to run as a third-party candidate in the General Election.

A fourth poll in less than a month shows that most Americans support keeping the rights protected in Roe v. Wade alive.

The Trump’s Administration’s rhetoric and actions have given the Iranians no reason to trust the United States going forward.

If President Trump’s trade war continues, it could have a serious impact on the political fortunes of President Trump and his party.

Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan, who challenged Nancy Pelosi for a leadership spot in 2016, is telling supporters he’s running for President in 2020.

Based on what can only be described as pure vindictiveness, the President is apparently planning on revoking security clearances of former officials who have been outspoken against the Administration and its policies.

The President is apparently getting ready to take yet another ill-advised step in his ill-advised, economically illiterate trade war.

Most Americans disapprove of the President’s handling of our relationship with Russia, and foreign policy more generally, in the wake of the Helsinki Summit. That’s not having much of an impact on his overall job approval, though.