Outside the Beltway

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

Donald Trump loves the fact that he’s being praised by an autocratic dictator.

Donald Trump’s plan to bar all Muslim immigration to the United States is being widely condemned by his fellow Republicans and others, but the proposal probably won’t hurt him politically in a Republican Party that is deeply bigoted against Muslims in general.

Yesterday, cable news networks, and most especially MSNBC, showed their profession at its most pathetic.

Blaming political opponents for criminal acts they clearly didn’t commit or advocate isn’t a political argument, it’s demagoguery.

A gunman is holed up in a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs after shooting multiple people, but it’s unclear what if any motive may be involved in the shooting.

Donald Trump’s demagoguery and disdain for individual liberty enters a new phase.

Remarks by a Democratic politician in Virginia regarding the Administration’s Syrian refugee program have brought up disturbing reminders of a shameful time in American history.

Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee recently kept company with a very disturbing religious leader.

Hillary’s leading potential Republican candidates, but so is Bernie! Rand Paul does better against Hillary than other Republicans! Those are the headlines you get from head-to-head match-up polls, but it’s all largely meaningless.

Ben Carson and his supporters would have you believe that he is being subjected to unprecedented and unfair scrutiny. That assertion is completely false.

While it did draw 14 million viewers, last night’s CNBC debate had the smallest audience of any Presidential debate so far. That was probably a good thing for CNBC considering how bad the debate was.

Up to 13 people are dead and as many 20 injured after another mass shooting on a college campus.

Even taking the fact that he is the Republican frontrunner into account, Donald Trump is getting a disproportionate amount of attention from the political media.

Contrary to his claims, Donald Trump would not win the Latino vote if he were the nominee. In fact, it looks like he’d end up doing much, much worse.

Scott Walker is flip-flopping on immigration again, while his poll numbers sink like a stone.

The fallout from Donald Trump’s debate performance, and his comments afterward, continues, and it’s leading some to wonder if we may finally be at the end of this ridiculous charade.

In 1992, an eccentric billionaire ran an independent campaign against a Bush and a Clinton. It could happen again.

With just over a week to go, Republican candidates for President are fighting for the movement in the polls that could get them in to the August 6th debate.

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

A County Clerk in Kentucky is being sued because she thinks she can refuse to do her job and still keep that job.

President Obama gave an interesting and somewhat unusual interview to a podcaster late last week, but the media is obsessed over a single word.

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.

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

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

George Stephanopoulos’ s ties to the Clinton’s have always raised questions about his objectivity. Now, there’s further reason to doubt that he can play fair when the Clinton’s are part of the story he’s covering.

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

There is no excuse for last night’s rioting in Baltimore, but that should not deflect attention from the problems with that city’s police.

It’s time for another White House Correspondent’s Dinner, and it’s going to be just as atrocious as the last one. But, the dinner isn’t the real problem.

Some observations about Stewart’s interview (and some digression from me–okay, a lot of digression by me).

The devil is in the details of what the legislature passes, but Indiana’s Governor has essentially conceded defeat in the battle over his state’s controversial new “religious freedom” law.

There’s really no point in watching tonight’s speech.

Michele Bachmann leaves office at the end of the current Congress, but we may not have heard the last from her.

While conservatives have been generally as appalled as others with the news out of Staten Island, some of them are looking in the wrong place for blame.

A former RNC chair says a black man’s life isn’t worth a ham sandwich.

Today is a day for turkey and football, not a day for politics.

Americans have wildly distorted understandings of the society around them.

CNN’s effort to bring back a show that had outlived its prime years ago has, predictably, failed.

MSNBC’s attempt to be the liberal Fox News isn’t working.

Sometimes, being evasive in answering a question just makes a politician look silly. This is one of those times.

The Supreme Court has given the GOP a way out of a battle that they are going to lose anyway.

Closing down international air travel won’t stop Ebola from becoming a bigger public health threat.

The next Attorney General will likely see their nomination taken up by Senators who will not be in office past December. That’s somewhat disturbing, but it’s become all too common in Washington.

A Federal investigation of lane closures on the George Washington Bridge appears to vindicate Governor Chris Christie.

There is a good possibility that Darren Wilson could be acquitted in the shooting of Michael Brown.. Are the protesters ready to accept that reality?