Outside the Beltway

Republicans haven’t really moved beyond the legacy of George W. Bush’s failed Administration as much as they’d like to think, but it doesn’t seem to be hurting them very much.

President Obama’s executive action on immigration suffered another setback in court late yesterday.

America’s much touted international coalition against ISIS is, essentially a Coalition In Name Only.

The Supreme Court is diving back into the debate over the PPACA’s birth control coverage mandate.

To no real surprise, the Obama Administration has rejected the application to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline. It is likely to remain an issue in the upcoming Presidential campaign, though.

A much stronger than expected October Jobs Report suggests that the Federal Reserve is likely to move on interest rates, and raises questions about how economic issues will play out politically in 2016.

Senator Bernie Sanders wants to let states decide how to regulate marijuana, or to not regulate it at all if they choose. Intellectually honest conservatives should support his effort.

Houston voters rejected a broad anti-discrimination law largely due to a campaign that focused almost exclusively on concerns about transgender rights.

Republican Matt Bevin picked up what comes as a surprise win to many observers, and that sets up a big fight over what had been a PPACA program that the White House has touted.

Another piece of news that all but guarantees the fate of the Keystone XL project will not be resolved before President Obama leaves office.

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.

Paul Ryan’s admission that immigration reform will not happen as long as Barack Obama is President simply reflects the reality of immigration politics in Congress.

Another day, another military escalation in the Middle East.

As expected, the Senate easily passed the two-year budget deal early this morning.

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

Congress and the White House have reached a tentative deal on the budget and debt ceiling that promises to make Paul Ryan’s initial months as Speaker a lot easier.

Republicans seem to be thinking that Hillary Clinton will be an easier General Election candidate than the evidence suggests she is likely to be.

A new poll shows that the Tea Party movement is more unpopular than it has ever been before, even among Republicans and conservatives.

The Department of Justice has informed Congress that its investigation has found no basis for criminal charges arising out of the targeting of conservative organizations by IRS officials evaluating applications for tax-exempt status.

With the voting now seemingly a mere formality, the question becomes what kind of Speaker of the House Paul Ryan will become.

After an eleven hour day on Capitol Hill, it was Hillary Clinton 1 House Benghazi Committee 0.

A political earthquake north of the border.

Another Republican Congressman has said that the Select Committee investigating the Benghazi attack is primarily concerned with scoring political points against Hillary Clinton.

The plan to withdraw nearly all American forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2016 is being put on hold.

Paul Ryan has yet to say if he will run for Speaker of the House, but that hasn’t stopped the opposition on the hard right from forming already.

In the wake of failure that could have been easily foreseen, the Obama Administration is ending a program to train so-called “moderate” Syrian rebels.

Hillary Clinton has started to distance herself from President Obama on some issues. It’s an understandable strategy, but it carries many risks.

Obama’s first Secretary of State has come out against Obama’s Trans Pacific Partnership.

With Russia now launching its own airstrikes in Syria, it’s become obvious that U.S. policy in the Syrian Civil War is irrational and contradictory. And Russia’s policy isn’t any better.

The U.S. is set to ramp up its contribution to dealing with the Syrian refugee crisis, but there’s a lot more we can do.

Time is running out for Joe Biden to make a decision about running for President, and it’s still not clear what he’ll do.

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

To listen to many of the Republican candidates for President, it would appear that the lights have been turned out on Ronald Reagan’s shining city on a hill.

A Federal Judge has ruled that part of a lawsuit filed by the House of Representatives can go forward, but the legal battle is far from over.

At least on paper, Senate Democrats now have enough votes to block the Senate from voting on a resolution disapproving of the Iran Nuclear Deal.

Bernie Sanders continues to cause Hillary Clinton problems, and Joe Biden could cause more if he enters the race.

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.

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.

If the Administration gets its way, efforts to block the Iran nuclear deal may come to a quick end in the Senate.

Thanks in part to a slow summer news cycle, the speculation about Vice-President Biden entering the race for President seems to be reaching a fever pitch.

The reports about Vice-President Biden possibly entering the Presidential race continue to persist.

To lose something one has to have it in the first place. (It is pretty basic logic).

Like many Republicans, Jeb Bush continues to be willfully blind to the truth about the Iraq War.

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.

Donald’s Trump’s campaign is the logical conclusion of more than a decade of emotion-drive, substance-free politics.

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.

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

Get ready for another pointless political circus.

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.