Outside the Beltway

The President and the Secretary of State had some oddly contradictory statements this week.

More signs of tension between President Trump and his Chief of Staff.

President Trump may be looking to push Chief of Staff John Kelly aside by giving him a next to impossible job.

Without Congressional authorization, any attack on Syria would be illegal, but don’t expect Congress to do anything about it.

He cooperated with the FBI. He was arrested by ICE.

The President’s new attempt to ban transgender Americans from serving in the military is as legally defective as the original ban was.

Continuing a long-standard tradition, the Trump Administration claims it doesn’t need to get legal authorization to keep American troops in Syria.

With the Administration set to commit the United States to a forever war in Syria, it’s time for Congress to act.

Nearly 200 Members of Congress and the Senate have filed suit against President Trump alleging that he is violating the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.

President Trump’s decision to share highly classified information with the Russians is yet another demonstration of his dangerous hubris and incompetence.

A new Pentagon proposal would place more discretion in the hands of field commanders, removing the need for Presidential approval.

President Obama will leave office as the first two term President who presided over eight years of war. It didn’t start with him and it won’t end with him.

A third major terrorist attack inside of a week.

Tensions between Russia and Turkey remain high in the wake of yesterday’s incident, but there are some signs that things are starting to cool down.

Disturbing reports over the weekend that American leaders may not be getting the kind of unbiased intelligence analysis about ISIS that they need to make decisions.

The investigation continues, but the consensus seems to be growing that Metrojet 9268 was taken out by a bomb.

President Obama came to office inheriting the legacy of one unnecessary war, and another that had faded from memory. He will leave office with Iraq and Syria in crisis, Europe uneasy, Yemen and Libya unstable breeding grounds for terrorism, and China doing whatever it is they’re doing.

President Obama is reportedly considering a plan that would put American forces much closer to the ground war in the war against ISIS.

There must be something odd in the water in the Lone Star State, because a bizarre conspiracy theory seems to have taken root there.

U.S forces in Afghanistan have been involved in missions that go far beyond the counterterror mission the Obama Administration said they would be limited to.

Seventy years ago, Harry Truman became President in the final months of a war. He wasn’t prepared for it, but most Vice-President’s after him have been.

Daniel Larison is far less ambivalent about our war on ISIL than me.

Explaining my ambivalence around the latest escalation in our intervention.

President Obama will ask Congress to authorize a war he started six months ago.

Some are criticizing the President for not going to Paris for yesterday’s rally.

As expected, the Senate passed the so-called “Cromnibus,” but not before a self-aggrandizing maneuver by Ted Cruz ended up being exploited by Democrats to pass outstanding nominations.

It looks like Congress has averted a budget fight for the second straight year.

A critic of the imperial presidency becomes an imperial president.

You thought the American combat role in Afghanistan would end on December 31st? Think again.

As things stand right now, there is no legitimate legal authorization for the President’s war against ISIS, and that’s largely because Congress has failed to act.

Mission creep.

We’ve handed off operations in Helmand Province to the Afghanistan army.

Corporal Jordan Spears died in a V-22 accident in operations against the Islamic State.

President Obama is still insisting that his war against ISIS will not require American ground troops. He’s not being honest with the American people.

As talk begins of expanding the war against ISIS into Syria, it is becoming long past time for Congress to exercise its Constitutional function.

American journalist James Foley has been beheaded by the terrorist network calling itself the Islamic State.

The rebels in eastern Ukraine continue to suffer setbacks, and Russia is massing troops on the border again.

Another incident involving a Malaysia Airlines 777, but this one could be far more serious.

An effort yesterday to bring about a cease fire in Gaza came to naught when Hamas rejected the proposal.

The Iraqi government seems to be panicking.

Diplomatic word games.

China sends a message to Kim Jong Un.