Outside the Beltway

The debate is ultimately academic.

With notable exceptions, most of the Republican candidates for President are refusing to take a stand on the propriety of South Carolina flying the Confederate Flag. That’s called cowardice.

Well, that didn’t take long.

Taylor Swift is taking a stand against Apple’s new streaming music service, and she’s largely right.

It’s easier for an American citizen to go to Iran or North Korea than it is for them to go to Cuba, That’s insane.

As early as tomorrow, the Supreme Court could issue its ruling in the latest Obamacare case. Depending on the ruling, Republicans could find themselves in a political firestorm.

It’s been obvious from the moment the news broke that the murders in Charleston were rooted in racism, but some Republicans have had trouble acknowledging that.

A 19 year old from Indiana faces a quarter century as a registered sex offender because he met a girl who lied about her age.

The nine-year-old ‘Army Strong’ ad campaign is ended.

The murders in Charleston have revived a debate that should have been over a long time ago.

Pope Francis’s new encyclical isn’t exactly being received positively by American conservatives, because they seem to be missing the point.

A word that has come in recent years to be used to refer chiefly to Muslim fanatics obviously applies to a man who murdered nine people because they’re black.

Was this simply ordinary intelligence collection? Or something more insidious?

More Democrats are calling themselves “liberal” than they have in years. Republicans, too.

Marine special operations forces have called themselves “Raiders” for years. Now it’s official.

The Supreme Court ruled that states don’t have to grant license plates that display the Confederate flag. Their decision has the potential to seriously harm the First Amendment.

A well-founded fear of ISIS seems to be drawing many of the former Soviet Republics in Central Asia closer to Moscow.

Brian Williams will apparently stay at NBC News notwithstanding last year’s scandal, but he won’t be anchoring the network’s marquee newscast.

Surely it’s time to put a woman on American currency again, but why go after Alexander Hamilton?

I was on yesterday afternoon’s edition of Federal News Radio’s “In Depth” with Francis Rose discussing my recent piece in The National Interest on military retirement reform.

Nine people died overnight in a shooting at an historic African-American Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Thanks largely to a series of court decisions, same-sex marriage is effectively legal in all of Mexico.

Whether Republicans are ready or not, Donald Trump is coming.

Cardinals executives were doing a little more than just stealing signs, apparently.

Two new polls show Bernie Sanders rising in the polls in New Hampshire, but they likely don’t mean anything in the long term.

It could cost you $250 to say “F- Arlington” if you happen to be in Arlington when you say it.

We live in a random and chaotic universe.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court let stand a ruling striking down North Carolina’s mandatory ultrasound law.

My latest for The National Interest, “America’s Military Needs a New Retirement Plan,” has posted.

To nobody’s surprise, Jeb Bush has entered the race for President.

The president is getting flack for holding a private party at his house.

Marijuana is legal in Colorado, but it’s illegal under Federal Law. Because of that, the Colorado Supreme Court dismissed a claim by resident who was fired when he tested positive for pot.

This should be the end of this story, but it probably won’t be.

A new Michigan law allows religious-affiliated adoption agencies to turn away parents for religious reasons, and it seems fairly obvious what the target is in this case.

The head of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has resigned in the wake of criminal charges for covering up sexual abuse of children.

In what seems to be a clear signal to Russia, the U.S. is considering pre-positioning military equipment in nation’s very close to Russian borders.

Hillary Clinton opened a new phase in her campaign for President yesterday with a speech in New York City.

A black leader is running a billboard campaign to improve his community. Racism ensues.

Mitt Romney decided not to run in 2016 but he’s very much in the race.