Beltway Confidential

The Cedar Viaduct, designed to take high-speed trains over Cedar and North avenues and State Route 99, is shown in an aerial view, Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in Fresno, California.

California high-speed rail CEO’s resignation won’t save the project

Zachary Faria · October 30, 2026 1:44 pm

Collage of President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama.

If you like your Cheesecake Factory, you can keep your Cheesecake Factory

Pennsylvania state Sen. Tracy Pennycuick.

Meet Tracy Pennycuick, the trailblazing Pennsylvania state senator pioneering bipartisan AI safeguards

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

Becerra will be Newsom, but worse for California

Former President Barack Obama speaks in support of Democratic candidates Sen. Jon Ossoff and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms during a rally on Oct. 28 in Morrow, Georgia. (Brynn Anderson/AP)

Obama is ‘tired of being divided’: Pot, meet kettle

A magnifying glass on top of money.

The nonprofit organizations funding academic decline

Pedro Rodriguez October 8, 2025 4:51 pm

United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks following an emergency cabinet meeting on Gaza in London, July 29, 2025. Starmer announced that the U.K. would recognize Palestine as a state on Sept. 21, 2025. (Toby Melville/AFP/Getty)

UK saves China spies by refusing to admit China’s threat

Tom Rogan October 8, 2025 4:13 pm

Former Democratic California Rep. Katie Porter smiles.

Katie Porter shows the contempt California Democrats have for voters

Zachary Faria October 8, 2025 2:20 pm

Newly appointed German chancellor Angela Merkel takes the oath of office in Berlin on Nov. 22, 2005. (Jockel Finck/AP)

Blame Angela Merkel for Ukraine, not the Baltics

Ani Chkhikvadze October 8, 2025 1:27 pm

A collage of Secretary of the Navy John Phelan and Undersecretary of the Navy Hung Cao

Navy moves full speed ahead with rebuilding ‘warrior ethos’ under Phelan’s leadership

Christopher Tremoglie October 8, 2025 12:14 pm

More than a dozen New York Times employees, including an editor, vented their frustrations with the "microaggressions" of Bari Weiss, an opinion editor, in a Slack conversation, a transcript of which was leaked to Huffington Post. (Scott Eells/Bloomberg)

The Bari Weiss comments that caused distress at the New York Times

Timothy P. Carney October 8, 2025 11:17 am

President Donald Trump, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping participate in a bilateral meeting at Mar-a-Lago, Friday, April 7, 2017, in Palm Beach, Fla. Trump was meeting again with his Chinese counterpart Friday, with U.S. missile strikes on Syria adding weight to his threat to act unilaterally against the nuclear weapons program of China's ally, North Korea. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Does the Nuclear Energy Institute include a Chinese-controlled nuclear firm?

Pedro Rodriguez October 8, 2025 10:01 am

British police remove a pro-Palestinian protester from Trafalgar Square in London.

Europe’s anti-Israel protests expose its antisemitism and racism

Michael Rubin October 8, 2025 6:00 am

Zach Bryan performs at the Railbird Music Festival on Sunday, Aug. 29, 2021, in Lexington, Ky. The chorus against Ticketmaster’s contentious concert pricing practices is growing, numbering among them Zach Bryan and friends.The country music artist dropped a live album, “All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster,” on Sunday, Dec. 25, 2022. With it came a statement posted to social media in which he decried “a massive issue with fair ticket prices to live shows lately.” (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP, File)

Will Zach Bryan write a song about murdered women Laken Riley and Rachel Morin?

Christopher Tremoglie October 7, 2025 2:41 pm

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson responds to a question during a news conference on Oct. 7, 2024.

Brandon Johnson’s Civil War rhetoric is deranged

Zachary Faria October 7, 2025 2:04 pm

Tourists are seen visiting the Lincoln Memorial, Friday, July 11, 2025, in Washington.

Why the tourism industry lost its government subsidy

Timothy P. Carney October 7, 2025 9:16 am

Israeli captive Arbel Yehoud, 29, who has been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, is escorted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters as she is handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Cotton urges White House to investigate Palestinian Youth Movement

Pedro Rodriguez October 7, 2025 9:08 am