Outside the Beltway

The State Department has barred American Embassies from flying the Pride Flag during Pride Month as has been the custom for several years.

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

Thirty years ago, when the veterans of D-Day were still relatively young and still largely with us, President Reagan delivered one of the finest speeches of his Presidency.

This time: India.

The transatlantic rejection of elite consensus that began with Brexit continues.

In the latest development in the child sex abuse investigations in the Catholic Church in the United States, five former Priests in Michigan have been arrested on sex abuse charges.

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.

Colorado Senator Michael Bennet is the latest entrant into the race for the Democratic nomination for President, and the field isn’t done growing.

The Trump Administration’s policies toward Iran aren’t going to work, but that’s because they aren’t supposed to work.

Further evidence that Sri Lankan authorities failed to act on warnings of rising Jihadism in their country.

Evidence is emerging that the Sri Lankan government had advance warning regarding potential terror attacks but failed to act on the information.

A very strange campaign trail gambit from India’s prime minister.

Some basics on the US party system.

A further attempt at explanation.

And a link to a worthwhile read.

While the rest of the world looks at other events, tensions are flaring in a long-standing global hot spot.

Kevin Drum uses some clever sleight-of-hand to demonstrate a hard truth about the human condition.

More than any recent President, Donald Trump displays a tremendous amount ignorance about the world. Even worse is the fact that he seems proud of it.

As the shutdown drags on, the President is digging in his heels even further.

It is sincerely disturbing that the POTUS has this level of understanding of history and foreign policy.

In his annual message, Kim Jong Un sent a message to President Trump on denuclearization and the future of the Korean Peninsula.

One of the longest-lasting characters on The Simpsons may not be long for this world, but before we write him off perhaps we ought to stop and think.

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.

Donald Trump’s trade war is helping China expand its diplomatic influence.

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

The target is not just on illegal immigrants.

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

To the surprise of nobody other than, apparently, the President of the United States, the North Koreans are dragging their feet after getting what they wanted out of the Photo Op Summit in Singapore.

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.

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

The supposed promises made at the Singapore Summit don’t appear to be working out in the real world.

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

South Korea’s President is saying that Kim Jong Un has renewed his supposed commitment to ‘denuclearization,’ but it isn’t at all clear what that means.

Hillary Clinton isn’t running for anything in 2018, but that isn’t stopping Republicans from running against her.

Under the proposal certain visa-seekers (such as China and India) would have to have their social media presence scrutinized.

The woman who lost the 2016 election is apparently not going to go away.

By threatening to withdraw from the nuclear deal with Iran, Donald Trump is making it far less likely that any upcoming talks with North Korea will succeed.

John Bolton is leading a cry for preemptive war against North Korea.

President Trump has announced that he’ll be imposing significant tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. This is an unwise decision.

Why does the U.S. continue to pursue the seemingly impossible goal of denuclearization with regard to North Korea? In part, it’s because we’re still locked into thirty-year-old rhetoric.

Expecting North Korea to agree to diplomatic talks that are aimed at getting rid of their nuclear weapons is asking for the impossible, and ensuring there will be no progress on the diplomatic front for the foreseeable future.

Once again, President Trump is going soft on Russia. Why? I’ll leave that up to the reader to decide.

POTUS decided to start the New Year by insulting Pakistan over Twitter.

Jim Nabors, who became famous as Gomer Pyle on The Andy Griffith Show and Gomer Pyle USMC, has died at the age of  87.

Donald Trump continues to be as astoundingly ignorant about the most powerful weapons the U.S. military possesses as he was as a candidate.

More thoughts related to Gill v. Whitford and the problem of extreme gerrymandering.

More provocative action from North Korea, and another reminder that there are no easy answers to the problems represented by the Kim regime.

President Trump’s Afghanistan policy sounds awfully familiar, and it’s likely to lead to the same results.

President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accords was neither the big win his supporters claim nor the disaster his critics fear.