Outside the Beltway

It looks like we’ve reached the end of the debate schedule for Republicans in 2016 .

Given the stakes headed into the latest version of ‘Super Tuesday,’ last night’s Republican debate was surprisingly subdued.

Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz landed some punches on Donald Trump last night, but it’s doubtful that they changed the nature of the race.

Tonight’s results in South Carolina could have a significant impact on the race going forward. (Plus, a projection)

The godfather of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine has passed.

Ten American sailors detained by Iranian forces late Tuesday were released early today, something that seems to clearly demonstrate the value of diplomacy.

The final spending bill for the 2016 Fiscal Year sailed through Congress today, marking the end of a very successful first two months in office for Speaker Paul Ryan

Some analysts are already suggesting that Russia’s two month old intervention in Syria is becoming a quagmire. That seems to be a premature judgment, but it’s not accomplishing much more than anything the West is doing.

Sarah Palin has joined such luminaries as Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, and former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke in endorsing Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim immigration plan.

Donald Trump’s speech yesterday at a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition was as bizarre as anything else we’ve seen from him.

After thirty years in Federal Prison, Jonathan Pollard is a free man. Make no mistake, though. Pollard is not, and never has been, a hero and he deserves to be remembered as nothing but the criminal that he is.

President Obama has apparently come to the same realization as many of his predecessors, that trying to craft a legacy by single-handedly bring about “Middle East Peace” is largely a waste of time.

Marco Rubio has won the support of a top Republican donor and bundler, giving a much needed boost to his campaign.

A political earthquake north of the border.

If pre-election polling is to be believed, Stephan Harper and Canada’s Conservative Party seem likely to lose power after Monday’s elections, but there are several reasons why this may not end up being the case.

With the exception of Rand Paul, the foreign policy discussion at last night’s debate was about as bad as you’d expect.

In a speech in Florida, Joe Biden spoke about his possible run for the White House, and gave a very big hint that he’s leaning toward staying out of the race.

President Obama now has enough votes in the Senate, and probably the House, to ensure that Congress cannot block the nuclear deal with Iran.

Senate Democrats are now just one vote away from being able to block a veto override, meaning that the effort to block the Iran Nuclear Deal will most certainly fail.

Congress is set to debate the Iran nuclear deal next month, but as far as Europe is concerned the debate is already over.

The Iran nuclear deal will probably survive it’s test in Congress in the end, but Chuck Schumer just made the Administration’s job a little more difficult.

The low-polling candidates met in an early debate. It was about what you’d expect.

President Obama’s confrontational approach to opponents of the Iran Nuclear Deal ignores legitimate questions.

Recent polling has shown the American public to be highly skeptical, at beast, of the Iran Nuclear Deal. That may not be enough to kill it in Congress, though.

After 30 years in prison, Jonathan Pollard will be released later this year.

In bringing Holocaust imagery into the debate over the Iran nuclear deal, Mike Huckabee has displayed the intellectual bankruptcy of his position.

Reports are circulating that the Obama Administration is considering releasing Jonathan Pollard, and many are seeing it as an effort to placate Israel in the wake of the Iran deal.

The U.N. Security Council has approved the Iranian nuclear deal, and now the ball is in Congress’s court.

In the end, the odds that Congress can actually stop the new deal regarding Iran’s nuclear program are pretty low.

Depending on who you listen to, it’s either peace in our time or an epic catastrophe.

Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice, shame on us.

In a case that took seven months to decide, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Presidency’s broad authority in foreign affairs, and inserted itself just a little bit in the thorny politics of the Middle East.

The agency that runs Washington D.C.’s mass transit has banned all political ads after Pamela Gellar attempted to run an advertisement featuring a drawing of Mohammed.

Starting tomorrow, we can expect to see the Supreme Court hand down decisions in some of its most high profile cases. Here’s a preview.

Robert Gates, the former Defense Secretary who now serves as head of the Boy Scouts Of America, has called for an end to that organizations ban on gay Scout Leaders.

Republicans could learn a few things from the Tory victory in the recent British elections, but they are in danger of drawing the wrong conclusions.

The Vatican has announced that it will recognize Palestinian statehood, but this is not going to resolve the underlying issues that prevent a Palestinian state from actually coming into existence.

Like most Republicans, Jeb Bush either fails or refuses to recognize what an utter, unjustifiable disaster his brother’s decision to invade Iraq actually was.

The just-concluded British General Election was also a clash between two former top advisers to President Obama.

Jeb Bush told a group of supporters that his brother is his top Middle East policy adviser. This strikes me as being a bad idea.

Rand Paul bucks Republican orthodoxy on Iraq, Libya, and negotiations with Iran.

Congress can’t really do anything to stop a nuclear deal with Iran, and John Boehner knows it.

For months, Ted Cruz said the nomination of Loretta Lynch must be blocked. Then, he failed to show up when the Senate voted on her nomination.

Like nearly all of his fellow Republicans, Jeb Bush has adopted the disastrous foreign policy views that typified his brother’s Presidency.

Conditioning an Iranian nuclear deal on recognition of Israel is foolish, unrealistic, and very bad diplomacy.