Outside the Beltway

The return of a really bad idea.

A thirteen hour filibuster by Wendy Davis ran out the clock on a special session of the Texas legislature, apparently defeating an abortion bill that passed 19-10 after time expired.

A major Constitutional ruling from the Supreme Court.

A new blog, Rejection Letters of the Philosophers, “imagin[es] what the greats of history might have been faced with, had they been forced to publish or perish.”

As of today, John Dingell has been a Member of Congress for 20,997 days, a new record. That’s not something to celebrate.

Turkey has had along and ongoing struggle with democratic consolidation.

Has the Arab Spring come to Turkey?

A starting point for two important stories.

Partisan targeting by the IRS should not be permitted to stand.

It would be nice if columnists for major newspapers would consult political science, rather than Hollywood, for their understanding of our system.

Revisiting an old posting of mine on the subject.

Because sometimes poorly contructed observations can set a fellow to writing.

One Virginia Republican Member of Congress recently got a lesson in what going against the GOP’s hyperpartisan atmosphere feels like.

Election rules should be oriented towards increasing participation, not based on partisan calculations.

Second thoughts about the Iraq War

Providing a little context for Pope Francis’ background+Erick Erickson needs to learn a little history.

Reminding government employees that they are employees of the government is suddenly controversial.

Walter Russell Mead presents his sitrep of the War on Terror.

The anti-communist icon is once again in hot water for making idiotic comments.

Institutional dynamics in the US constitutional system are the key to undertstanding our current predicament.

The regime we fought for in Iraq is now aiding the regime we’re fighting against (at least by proxy) in Syria.

The government of Malaysia paid a lot of money to get some blogs placed at various outlets.

An excellent essay by Adam Sternbergh “On the Enduring Appeal of ‘Die Hard.'”

Silly things members of Congress say (plus musings on authoritarianism).

If one is going to worship at the alter of original intent, it might be useful to know a bit of history.

The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether limits on contributions to political candidates is Constitutional.

The main who coined the word “meritocracy” meant it as a pejorative term.

The smear campaign against defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel has taken a bizarre turn.

MSNBC’s Krystal Ball isn’t being hypocritical in trusting Obama to decide which Americans to kill even though she wouldn’t have trusted Bush. But she’s being short-sighted.

Andrew Bacevich bemoans the social impact of the all-volunteer force.

A potentially significant ruling on Separation Of Powers.

Some proposed reforms just need to be ignored.

Despite some tough questions, Congressional Republicans didn’t land a glove on Secretary of State Clinton.

Congress is historically polarized.

The notion that guns prevent tyranny is based on fantasy and movies, not reality.