Outside the Beltway

“If you don’t fund the State Department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition…” — James Mattis

Trump declares he will end aid to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.

And a link to a worthwhile read.

The second summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un ended early without any kind of agreement, signalling that no real progress has been made in talks between the two countries.

A bipartisan group of foreign policy luminaries says there is no factual basis for President Trump’s claim.

President Trump has selected Kelly Knight Craft, the current Ambassador to Canada, to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will not be running for Senate despite urging from Republicans in Washington and back in Kansas,

Two months after being named, Heather Nauert withdrew her name as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations due to a ‘Nannygate’ problem.

As threatened late last year, the Trump Administration has withdrawn from the Intermediate=Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. This is a mistake.

President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet again in February, but it’s hard to see why.

Washington State has a problem with people stealing “Mile 420” signs, so they’ve come up with a solution.

Trump doesn’t want anyone to know what he and Putin discussed.

President Trump’s speech on the border wall and the shutdown was fact-free, misleading, and overall a bomb.

With Pat Roberts retiring, Kansas Republicans are reportedly looking at Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to succeed him.

President Trump has lost another one of his top advisers on the fight against ISIS.

In what clearly appears to be a rebuke of the President, Defense Secretary James Mattis is retiring as Secretary of Defense.

New York State seems likely to join the list of states where marijuana has been legalized sometime next year.

The Trump Administration is reportedly preparing to withdraw the small contingent of American troops from Syria. If it actually happens, this would be a good move.

President Trump is expected to name a former Fox News host as Ambassador to the United Nations.

He says he won’t announce anything until after the start of 2019, but Joe Biden is sure sounding like a guy who’s running for President.

In news replete with irony, it’s being reported that Ivanka Trump used a private email account to communicate about government business.

A filing in an unrelated case has apparently revealed the existence of a sealed indictment against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Florida has begun the recount process in both the Senate and Governor’s races. Where it goes from here is anyone’s guess.

Hillary Clinton is hinting about maybe running in 2020 again. Is she serious, or is this just a publicity stunt?

Another landmark decision from the Washington State Supreme Court.

President Trump is preparing to scrap a thirty-year-old treaty that marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War. It would be a foolish mistake.

Alaska’s Independent Governor Bill Walker has suspended his campaign and endorsed his Democratic rival in the hope of blocking a Republican victory.

The evidence linking the Saudi Crown Prince to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi seems irrefutable.

President Trump is serving as a knowing apologist for a despotic regime.

The evidence against Saudi Arabia in the disappearance and apparent death of Jamal Khashoggi appears to be overwhelming.

Not surprisingly, it appears that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salam, who effectively runs Saudi Arabia under his father’s rule, is behind the apparent plot against Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi.

As part of her position as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has use of a rather lavish private residence. This is not a real controversy.

Just how far should White House staffers and civil servants go in protecting the public from an erratic president?

Passports being denied to citizens whose birth records are being questioned.

Through our so-called allies in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the United States is helping to destroy Yemen. It’s time for our support for that war to come to an end.

The Trump Administration is falsely claiming that the North Koreans made commitments at the Singapore Summit that they clearly didn’t agree to.

A Federal Judge in Washington State has, at least temporarily, blocked the release of files that would allow anyone to make a 3-D printed gun. The First Amendment seems to clearly indicate that this ruling is wrong.

To the surprise of nobody other than, apparently, the President of the United States, the North Koreans are dragging their feet after getting what they wanted out of the Photo Op Summit in Singapore.

The President was up late last night sending an incredibly over-the-top tweet directed at Iran.

Jon Huntsman, the U.S. Ambassador to Russia, is rejecting calls that he should resign in the wake of what everyone seems to agree was a disastrous summit meeting with Vladimir Putin.

We still don’t know what President Trump and Vladimir Putin talked about or agreed to during their two-hour meeting on Monday.

Some Democrats want to compel President Trump’s translator to testify about his private meeting with Vladimir Putin. That’s a bad idea.

The Presidents of the United States and Russia will meet next month and there’s reason to worry about what Trump might give away.

The Administration is going to unveil a plan for a major reorganization of government agencies today.

Donald Trump’s former Campaign Manager was sent to jail, a move that likely increases the pressure on him to cooperate with Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

“Winging it” isn’t how foreign policy should be made.

The new American Ambassador to Germany is making what clearly seem to be inappropriate statements about domestic politics in Europe.

Frank Carlucci, who served as President Reagan’s last Secretary of Defense, has died at 87.

Three Executive Orders signed ahead of the Memorial Day holiday has government employees scrambling.

Seemingly out of the blue, the June 12th summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been canceled by the United States.