Outside the Beltway

The octogenarian Speaker Emerita will not seek re-election.

What could possibly go wrong?

The move to build Trump’s Big Beautiful Ballroom is moving at record speed.

The downside of our increasing connectivity.

Trump goes full on climate denier on a big stage.

Yes it was said. No the context doesn’t make it better.

More signs of flaws in the Trump economy.

Trump’s lack of focus may spare us the worst outcomes in this one instance.

A meme that is as muddled and authoritarian as the President who posted it

The incentives for creating quality content are diminishing by the day.

The preliminary DIA assessment has been leaked.

Maximalist claims are almost surely overstated.

The war is on.

Is dropping it on Israel the most likely reason?

Whatever that means.

Resisting gaslighting must be social. It’s crucial for those who oppose Trump’s falsehoods to remind each other, again and again, that 2 + 2 = 4.

Is the worst of the idiocy over?

The GOP budget bill.

A case from rural Alabama.

Machines have been eliminating blue collar jobs for decades. Now they’re coming for white collar jobs.

To the Trump administation this a feature, not a bug.

The illogical of MAGA.

Yet another test of Executive power for the courts to resolve.

A shocking but completely unsurprising development.

It certainly isn’t how the US Constitution functions.

The details matter.

An evil genius controls the key levers of government.

Piling absurdity atop cruelty.

Another huge blow against Iranian’s regional strategy.

Peace, for a time.

We have crossed Putin’s red line.

One thread that runs through most explanations for Tuesday’s result.

The 45th President looks to be the 47th.

Elon is on record warning Trump supporters to be prepared for “temporary hardship”

After years of proxy battles, Israel and Iran are on the brink of a direct fight.

US and regional leaders are hoping for a limited operation.

A massive follow-up to the exploding communications devices.

A regional pilot program could be expanding.

Another step closer to a regional war.

A bold strike that threatens to escalate a regional war.

Spoiler: the same people often work at both

They’re apparently ongoing. Who knew?

An odd juxtaposition in the major press.

Cruelty with compound interest.

Weak and presidentialized.

The world’s largest democracy just became more democratic.

There is a strong push inside the administration to allow use of US weapons to strike Russia.

A small, conscript-driven military has very different training and doctrine than ours.