Outside the Beltway

The gun control regulations to be announced later today by President Obama later today amount to far less than the hype would lead you to believe.

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.

Europe’s anti-immigrant, xenophobic far right scored major victories in France yesterday.

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.

What was promoted as major foreign policy speech by Donald Trump turned out to be more substance-free stream-of-consciousness rambling from an egomaniac.

Pope Francis’s new encyclical isn’t exactly being received positively by American conservatives, because they seem to be missing the point.

Turkey’s governing party suffered big setbacks at the ballot box yesterday.

It’s complicated. And probably not a scandal.

Chinese analysts are telling their American counterparts that North Korea’s nuclear arsenal is far more sophisticated than previously believed.

Modern Singapore’s founder passed away at age 91 earlier this week.

Ted Cruz kicks off with the first of what is likely to be a string of candidates getting into the 2016 race in the coming month.

The budget bill Congress set to pass Congress would effectively reverse the will of the voters of Washington, D.C., who just voted to legalize marijuana.

Always as many military personnel identify as Independents as with the GOP.

After a disappointing August, the jobs report for September showed the same good numbers we’ve seen for much of 2014.

The Israeli public if overwhelmingly behind the war in Gaza, and that means it will probably continue for awhile.

While the world watches Ukraine, Central Asia could also be an area where Russia may seek to expand its territory.

Preserving the filibuster.

It appears what we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.

“It’s complicated” has long been an option to describe one’s romantic status on Facebook. Now, it applies to one’s sex as well.

The Air Force can’t find enough people to volunteer to fly remote controlled planes.

The US Navy is moving transport ships near Egypt. Just in case.

If one is going to be in government, one ought to take governing seriously.

Christine Fox, the real-life inspiration for Charlie of “Top Gun,” and the casual sexism of 1985.

AP has won round 1 in a case against Meltwater that would severely limit the Fair Use concept in commercial cases.

Matt Yglesias has a smart push-back against the lamentations of the decline of journalism.

Separate, it turns out, is not equal.

Tim Kane continues his campaign against the US military’s antiquated personnel system.

40 years after Roe v. Wade, support for the decision is still strong, but the effort to restrict it continues apace.

Remember when the Bush administration was spying on calls Americans made overseas without a warrant? Those were the good old days.

Judging by the record of the past decade and a half, movement conservatism has accomplished very little.

As is often the case with sex scandals, pretty much everything ever written about General David Petraeus takes on an ironic double meaning in hindsight.

John Nagl, who became famous as a leading counterinsurgency theorist and practitioner, is taking on a new challenge: grooming young boys for life.

One year ago, the U.S. lost it’s AAA credit rating with S&P. There doesn’t appear to have been any real impact from that decision.

Michele Bachmann and several other Members of Congress are engaging in the despicable tactics of Joe McCarthy.

Antonin Scalia says Supreme Court justices have a collegial relationship and make decisions based on legal philosophy, not politics.

Men who graduate elite universities earn an additional $107,000 lifetime. It costs $234,440 to get a Yale degree.

Well, maybe a tiny one.

Newt Gingrich is morally and intellectually bankrupt, so perhaps it’s no surprise that his health care think tank is now fiscally bankrupt.

Is the now-familiar refrain that the individual mandate was originally a conservative idea really true?

Hugo Chavez has built a state on cronyism.