Outside the Beltway

Why do dictators feel the need to pretend that they have the consent of the people over whom they rule?

The Budapest Memorandums pertain solely to nuclear attacks.

Russian invasion or legitimate secessionist movement? And does it matter?

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

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

Ellen Page is gay. So is Michael Sam. Shouldn’t we be aiming for the day when the response to news like this is “So what?”

They really love their Starbucks at NBC–and not just on “Morning Joe.”

The string of victories for same-sex marriage continues as a Federal Judge rules that the Commonwealth of Kentucky must recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages.

Snow days are no longer automatic vacation days for federal workers.

President Obama is rewarding unqualified hacks who raised huge sums for his campaign with ambassadorships.

The Cold War may be over, but the negative opinions in the U.S. regarding Russia and its leadership seem to have continued.

The beginning of the end of an era.

Michael Sam is gay.It didn’t matter to his University of Missouri teammates. Will it matter to the NFL?

Can you still buy batteries there, though?

CVS makes a business decision that is earning it kudos for the most part.

Yes. Amanda Knox could be extradited.

Hundreds of soldiers allegedly scammed a system that awarded bonuses for referring recruits.

Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman is reportedly dead of a drug overdose at the age of 46.

Does it matter if companies make a profit?

Ta-Nehisi Coates explores his complicated reaction to the first African-American president.

Some good news, but also plenty of reason to worry about the future.

Gizmodo’s Brian Barrett explains “Why the South Fell Apart in the Snow.”

Ezra Klein has put out a teaser of the project that he left WaPo to pursue.

A man who viewed two photographs of a child abuse victim has been ordered to pay $3.4 million in damages.

One of the perils of the Internet age is that companies constantly go belly up, leaving their customers in a lurch

Less than a month out of office, the Old Dominion’s former chief executive is facing 14 counts.

Former Utah governor and ambassador to China Jon Huntsman succeeds Chuck Hagel.

A surprisingly disappointing jobs report for December.

Chief Justice Roberts is sounding the alarm over deep cuts to the public defender program.

Nobody gets the airplane they wanted but at least they’re paying more for the one they’re getting.

Nearly six months later, it’s hard to find any good in the July military coup in Egypt.

Thanks to a Federal District Court Judge, most of Sherlock Holmes is now in the public domain.

The era of the electric car isn’t likely to arrive for a long time, if ever.

The Sunbelt continues to dominate.

Consumers share some of the blame for the late delivery problems that last minute shoppers experienced this Christmas season.

Kim Jong Un seems to share his father’s taste for alcohol.