Outside the Beltway

What is the proper conservative response to Santa Claus?

A Merry Christmas to all.

Is calling Côte d’Ivoire “Ivory Coast” linguistic colonialism? Where do we draw the line when English names for countries go out of vogue?

President Obama is supporting the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Is this the end of America?

Sarah Palin’s reality show as as popular as the critically acclaimed drama everyone’s talking about. And that’s just half the story.

Red States should gain 10 seats while Blue States should lose eight.

The institutions charged with solving our Information Age social problems are stuck in the Industrial Age.

You can log in any time you like. But can you ever leave?

Is “ObamaCare” a slur or a breezy and descriptive nickname?

Sarah Deming has a longish column “Against Mixology,” decrying both the use of that title by barkeeps and, more importantly, the snootiness which often attends those who do.

Tonight’s topics: the Republican effort to run out the clock on the 111th Congress, various reform proposals that are floating around, and goodness knows what else.

WikiLeaker Bradley Manning has been held “under conditions that constitute cruel and inhumane treatment and, by the standards of many nations, even torture” for seven months and counting.

Did you know that the iPhone is made in China for a mere $6.50? It’s false but true!

The most walkable cities in America are also the most successful.

While the amount of wealth controlled by the top 1% is at record highs, real inequality is smaller than ever.

Silver tequila is being marketed as an upscale super premium when, in fact, it’s the lowest form of tequila.

Complaints from Rush Limbaugh tthat the ACLU is ignoring the intrusions into America’s civil liberties by the TSA are completely unfounded.

There are milestones in life that show how old you are.

A new study seems to show that student evaluations of teachers are something other than a popularity contest.

Have credit cards and ATMs eliminated the value of large currency zones?

Peter Orszag, President Obama’s first budget director, is headed to Citigroup and a multimillion dollar salary.

Why not just give poor people money rather than start up big charities?

“If you can’t afford to hire a bartender, you shouldn’t be having a party.” That’s the mantra of New York hipsters.

Gustavus Adolphus College librarian Barbara Fister explains why she loves getting rid of books.

Did Obama’s tax cut deal demolish the Republican charge that he’s a radical? Not hardly.

Tonight’s topics: The tax cut deal, Obama’s primary challengers, and whether politicians should care about the unemployed.

Has WikiLeaks changed journalism forever?

President Obama’s press conference yesterday, bitterly railing against Democrats in the Congress for being “purist” and “sanctimonious,” is brilliant triangulation.

The namesake of “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” is no hunter, no matter what she might pretend.

The unemployed are predominately poorly educated non-voters. Some argue that they are therefore getting far too little attention from the political class.

The latest Wikileaks leak is a list of foreign infrastructure sites deemed vital to U. S. security.

Are American diplomats lying to reporters because they figure our citizens can’t handle the truth?

Iowa Republicans are targeting professor sabbaticals, thus demonstrating that they understand neither higher ed nor economics.

Despite recurring predictions that the Internet and mass communications would allow people to work from anywhere, talent continues to cluster in big cities.

Why would anyone buy Johnnie Walker Blue, when amazing single malts can be had for less?

Tonight’s topics: The fallout from the latest WikiLeaks dump and the Pentagon’s report on gays in the military.

The major outlets that received document drops from Wikileaks are covering the story in different and interesting ways.

After days of hype, National Opt-Out Day fizzled. It’s a classic collective action problem.

The diplomatic ramifications of the latest Wikileaks leaks are just starting to emerge and may place some countries in very embarrassing positions.

Tonight’s topics: Escalation on the Korean peninsula, the continued woes of the eurozone, and goodness knows what else.

The People In Charge telling us that something is Necessary For Our Own Good makes a large number of people accepting of the inconvenience, no matter how asinine or unsupported by evidence.

What sort of response is required to Pyongyang’s ratcheting up of tensions on the Korean Peninsula?

As bicycle advocates have been getting new lanes and other concessions in major cities across the country, a minor backlash has formed in reaction.

Richard Quinn, a business professor at the University of Central Florida, got suspicious after a historically high grade distribution on the midterm for his capstone course and decided to scare his students.

NATO-Russia cooperation on missile defense is a welcome step forward.

The finger-pointing about the global economy continues.

It’s quite possible that the delays spawned by airline security measures are killing more people than they’re saving.

TSA boss John Pistole has offered to give Senators a pat-down search so that they understand the controversial new procedures.