Outside the Beltway

In one area (with an important caveat) this has been a pretty normal administration.

A Federal Judge has rejected a Trump Administration effort to change a 20-year-old legal settlement that bars long-term detention of immigrant families.

There are good arguments as to why progressive Senators should vote against his confirmation. Let’s stick to those.

A selection that is likely to keep the Senate GOP united and red-state Democrats up for re-election under pressure to vote to confirm.

The Thai SEALs have completed an amazing rescue effort with success.

On the eve of the NATO Summit, President Trump continues to engage in tactics that seem to serve no purpose other than to undermine America’s most important and successful alliance.

With Brexit negotiations proceeding slowly, Theresa May loses her Brexit Minister and, more significantly, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who is likely to become one of her leading critics inside the Conservative Party going forward.

A new poll finds that most Americans oppose key elements of the immigration policies that the President and Republicans in Congress support.

Some additional comparative info (internationally and state-to-state).

Some considerations on the politics of Roe v. Wade.

A police officer in Lancaster, Pennsylvania who tased an apparently compliant African-American man will not be disciplined by his department, and probably won’t face charges either.

A man who had been identified as an assailant at last year’s Charlottesville rally and apparent member of a white supremacist organization has been dismissed by defense contractor Northrop Grumman.

A Federal Judge in California has largely rejected a Trump Administration challenge to a series of new laws in California designed to protect so-called “sanctuary cities.”

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

Democrats are rallying around the “Abolish ICE” slogan in response to the Trump Administration’s immigration policies, but it could end up backfiring on them.

The 34-year-old Facebook tycoon is now worth more than 87-year-old Warren Buffet.

Federal law protects internet companies from liability for statements written by others.

The President is generating so much outrage on a daily basis that we’re missing important stories.

The ill-advised move is sure to raise costs for businesses and consumers and roil global stock markets.

He had to go (and should have been gone some time ago).

Happy Friday.

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 213,000 in June and the unemployment rate rose to 4.0 percent.

America promised immigrants who volunteered to serve in our military a fast track to citizenship. Now, we’re throwing them out.

There is a general anti-immigrant current in this administration.

MS13 is one thorough gang.

After months of allegations regarding improper use of taxpayer dollars and the use of agency resources and personnel for personal needs, he is finally out.

Democrats are making largely meaningless appeals to the so-called ‘Merrick Garland Precedent” to argue for a delay in confirming the President’s next Supreme Court nominee. The American people feel differently.

Donald Trump had to be talked down from considering military intervention in Venezuela.

With the President set to announce his Supreme Court pick Monday evening, another name has entered the game.

The National Debt has passed $21,000,000,000,000 for the first time in history just as the nation begins its return to the era of trillion dollar budget deficits.

It’s more complicated than one might think.

An idiot climbed the monument, wasting police resources and ruining the day for hundreds of visitors.

Yes, it’s still okay to celebrate America.

Today is a great day to reflect on the Enlightenment ideals that fueled a Declaration.

Recent polling finds that Americans aren’t feeling quite so patriotic right now. It’s understandable, but we shouldn’t give up hope.

Happy Birthday, America.

Jim Jordan, who heads the powerful House Freedom Caucus, is being accused of ignoring reports of sexual abuse by a team doctor while he was a coach at The Ohio State University.

The right-wing government in Warsaw has purged more than one-third of the members of the Polish Supreme Court in a crackdown on political opponents.

With Justice Kennedy retiring, the new center of the Roberts Court is likely to be the Chief Justice himself.

Donald Trump continues to do something that Russian and Soviet leaders likely only thought possible in their wildest dreams, drive a wedge between the United States and its NATO allies.

In November, Michigan voters will be able to make their state the tenth state to legalize marijuana. This is just the latest step in what seems to be an irreversible trend.

Donald Trump’s trade war continues to have negative consequences for American consumers and businesses.

A thoughtful liberal argues the Justice has “altered and destroyed his legacy” by allowing Donald Trump to appoint his successor.

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

California’s legislature has moved to block localities from imposing taxes on soda and other sugary drinks.

More evidence that North Korea isn’t living up to the promises it made in Singapore.

Next term, the Justices will revisit the issue of whether someone can be tried in state and Federal Court for the same crime for the first time in nearly sixty years.

In a new interview, former Trump attorney and ‘fixer’ Michael Cohen gives the strongest signal yet that he’s ready to cooperate with investigators.

The calls to “Abolish ICE” are spreading to potential candidates for the 2020 Democratic Presidential nomination.

A milestone for the nation’s oldest service academy, founded in 1802.