Outside the Beltway

Did President Obama pull off a diplomatic masterstroke? Or is he muddling through?

The NPR vote was nothing more than political theatrics–and it violated a GOP campaign promise to boot.

America is about to enter a third war in the Muslim world with no clear idea of the end game.

With minor exceptions, all of the potential candidates for the GOP nomination in 2012 seem to have accepted the idea that defense spending, and the Bush-era interventionist foreign policy, are off the table when it comes time to talk spending cuts.

The Obama Administration is asking the U.N. Security Council to authorize direct military intervention in Libya. The question is, why now?

Ru Paul for President 2012 bumper sticker

While complaints that there’s too much information for intellectuals to sort through, much less read, are constant, they’re not new. Harvard historian Ann Blair argues in her new book Too Much to Know: Managing Scholarly Information Before the Modern Age that this stress goes back at least to Seneca’s time.

In less than two weeks, much of the content of The New York Times will go behind a paywall.

Regardless of one’s preferences in terms of endgame in Wisconsin, democracy will win out.

Will one of the worst natural disasters to hit Japan in centuries change the relationship between the Japanese government and the people?

They’re letting anyone into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame these days.

There’s still time for Sarah Palin to burnish her political reputation. But she probably won’t.

New York Times journalists Anthony Shadid, Stephen Farrell, Tyler Hicks, and Lynsey Addario have not been heard from in more than 24 hours.

Republicans are starting to sour on Sarah Palin, meaning that they’re finally starting to catch up to the rest of the country.

Alain Juppé’s concession that “the moment has passed” for NATO to successfully intervene in Libya is correct.

The Federal Government has filed its response to Virginia’s request for an expedited review of Virginia v. Sebelius, and they’ve got an compelling argument against rushing things.

Players from the Los Angeles Clippers chipped in to pay for the surgery of assistant coach Kim Hughes back in 2004. It’s been a secret until now.

Comedian Gilbert Gottfried is the latest idiot celebrity to damage their career on Twitter.

Public support for the war in Afghanistan continues to plummet, but will that hurt the President when 2012 rolls around?

Add this to the list of things for parents to worry about: Car safety seats for children over 65 pounds are not adequately tested.

Bastiat vs. the Second Law of Thermodynamics

President Obama is once again catching flak for his leisure activities.

Automated programs are getting very good at poker and are winning large sums on online gambling sites.

Archaeologists may have found the lost city of Atlantis. And, no, not the one in the Bahamas.