By Steve Clemons

Darwin the Alligator lives in the lagoon under my friend Kate Brown’s deck in Hilton Head. Lovely.

It has slightly bothered me that the Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project grabbed some Hamilton branding for ideas that were anything but.

Kirby Dick, the Academy Award nominated film director for This Film Is Not Yet Rated, will soon be releasing a new film on the hypocrisy of in-the-closet gay politicians and the lengths Washington will go to help protect them even as they vote and legislate against equal rights and protections for gay and lesbian Americans….

Many thanks to friends and fellow bloggers at TWN for covering for me this last week as I was away traveling and offline. I am back in Miami today — heading back to Washington, DC this morning. More soon.

I haven’t had time yet to digest the Obama administration’s “relaxation” of restrictions in US-Cuba relations. I’m on a boat — and sailing in the vicinity of Cuba tomorrow, though in Curacao today.

Thanks to my fellow TWN posters for covering the blog while I am on a vacation out of the United States. I have stopped in Haiti, sailed by Cuba — where I really wanted to stop — and am in the Dominican Republic today.

I am in Miami for a couple of days and this beautiful pic was taken from my balcony yesterday evening. I have been discussing US-Cuba relations with quite a number of Cuban-Americans who live here.

This is a guest post for The Washington Note by CSIS Freeman Chair in China Studies Charles Freeman. The entry first appeared on Freeman’s facebook page. Freeman previously served as assistant U.S. trade representative (USTR) for China affairs.

Today at 12:45 pm, I will be hosting an event in the US House of Representatives on the subject of “Congressioal Views on US Approaches to Gaza.