Outside the Beltway

If the President is going to increase American involvement in the Middle East, he needs to address some fundamental questions first.

Congress seems ready to avoid having to vote on expanded attacks against the Islamic State

Some have argued that there is an historical bias against political parties holding on to the White House for more than two terms. As with most commonly held ideas, that simply isn’t true.

We should not tolerate them acting otherwise.

A man who brought joy and laughter to millions has ended his own life because he was too depressed to go on.

Even with the passage of time, Watergate remains a singularly important event in American history

Once something that generally benefited Republicans, social issues are now becoming a wedge issue for Democrats.

Viet Xuan Luong pins on a brigadier general’s star today, becoming the first Vietnamese-American officer to achieve that rank.

Some surveys suggest that younger Americans are less patriotic than older generations.

Native American names are everywhere.

The evidence is clear. When it comes to the ability to handle foreign crises, the President has lost the public’s confidence.

My latest for The Hill, “Why all VA executives are above average,” has posted.

Stephanie Kwolek was looking for a way to improve tires. She invented a life-saving material.

Some questions for the Republicans who would be President about the actions of the last Republican President.

Recent events in Iraq have opened up old domestic political arguments in the United States.

Iraq is falling apart for reasons that have nothing to do with President Obama or his policies.

Twenty-five years after his seminal “End of History” article, Francis Fukuyama reflects on its legacy.

For the fourth time in 30 years, an American President spoke at Normandy to honor a day of sacrifice and triumph.

Not every soldier is a hero. Not even every POW.

It’s good that Bowe Bergdahl is free, but questions remain about how he went missing that need to be answered.

The Obama White House rejected Republican criticism of the deal that led to the release of the only American Prisoner Of War from the Afghanistan War.

Yet another autiobiography invites public discussion about her accomplishments.

Eric Shinseki resigned as Secretary of Veterans Affairs this morning, to the surprise of absolutely nobody.

The very idea of a “war on religion” in the United States is absurd.

Today’s foreign-policy disputes rarely consider the way America’s response to one crisis might affect another.

There’s plenty of blame to go around.

A pretty clear violation of the First Amendment.

A new poll indicates that most Americans don’t want to see the United States intervening overseas.

So, this happened.

Perhaps some justice for the casualties in the War On Drugs

Thanks to Edward Snowden, the Washington Post and the Guardian are Pulitzer Prize winners.

In retrospect, and in comparison with other recent Presidents, George Herbert Walker Bush’s four years in office were pretty darn good.

Jeremiah Denton, a Vietnam War hero and one-term US Senator from Alabama, has died. He was 89.

Americans are skeptical about getting involved in the Ukraine crisis. This isn’t a surprise.

A Jewish-American OSS hero has been denied the nation’s highest military honor.

The Supreme Court turns down a case dealing with student’s First Amendment rights.

My latest for The National Interest, “Hagel’s Defense Cuts: The Least Bad Choice,” is out.

Veteran newsman Garrick Utley has died from prostate cancer at the age of 74.

A rather impressive recovery from a career that was mostly dead in 2007.

John Boehner explains quite succinctly why nothing big is getting done in Congress.

Watch your language in Wilson County, North Carolina.

The “good war” no more.