Outside the Beltway

At least 128 are dead, with the toll expected to rise, in the flurry of tornadoes that hit Alabama yesterday.

While elite schools confer many advantages on their graduates, they also wall them off from normal people and create an entitled, out-of-touch elite.

America’s war colleges have some problems but we can’t close them.

More on that freeloader problem (today with less snark).

Republican budget cuts to this point have been less than serious.

An Alabama legislator wants to ban the use of Islamic law in the state’s courts — just in case Muslims take over.

The ongoing saga of piracy off the coast of Somali is about to get Americans’ attention again, as a yacht containing four U.S. citizens has been hijacked.

The Toomer’s Corner trees were poisoned by a rabid Alabama fan.

Later this week, Clarence Thomas will have gone five years without asking a question during oral argument at the Supreme Court. Is that really a big deal?

Sports Illustrated is trying to force subscribers to pay for a bundle of web and print services. Bad idea.

Oddly, the Democratic Party seems to be responding to the 2010 midterms by moving further left.

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley managed to alienate non-Christians within moments of taking office.

As noted recently, whites are leaving the Democratic Party in droves. Some black Democrats think it’s time to take affirmative action.

Martin Luther King’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech was, like a political stump speech, crafted and polished over months and years of delivery.

Despite anecdotal evidence debunking global warming, 2010 was another record year for warm temperatures.

We’re producing more PhDs and JDs than there are full time openings for professors and lawyers.

President Obama’s comments about the “relatively modest pay” earned by Robert Gibbs and other high level government workers may be a bit tone deaf. But they’re right.

Just over 100 years after his death, Mark Twain’s two greatest novels are once again the subject of controversy.

The author of AZ’s SB1070 has a new idea.

What the Haley Barbour situation illustrates is that we, as a country, have not fully accepted or dealt with our own past.

The repeal of DADT may open the doors for ROTC to return to many elite institutions, if cost doesn’t get in the way.

Do graduates of elite colleges earn more because of where they went to school? Or because of the traits that got them selected?

How would appointed Senators affect the partisan mix of the Senate?

While the University of Oregon’s athletic programs are flourishing in a seas of green, its academic programs are woefully underfunded.

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

Are the interests of a given state different than the interests of the people living in that state?

Roughly 150 years ago, the CSA was born. Is this something worthy of celebration?

The white, Southern Democrat is a dying breed.

Republicans are making some big promises to try to lure West Virginia Senator-elect Joe Manchin to cross the aisle.

As impressive as Republican gains in this week’s elections were at the national level, they were even more so in state legislative races. Which means Republicans are in position to consolidate and expand upon their recent gains.

Three of the Justices who ruled in favor of same-sex marriage in Iowa have been removed by the voters. That strikes me as the beginning of a dangerous trend.

Democrats won the governorship, all 10 House seats, and all statewide races in Massachusetts.

In my former home state of Alabama, Republicans won every major contest, save the one House seat specifically drawn to ensure a Democratic victory.

There’s a trend toward using metrics to identify ways to stem the skyrocketing cost of higher education. The likeliest result is to devalue the “education” component.

Politico says 99 Democratic House seats are “in play.” They’re not. But dozens are.

Reason’s Meredith Bragg and Nick Gillespie have a pretty amusing rejoinder to the Obama administration’s attempts to smear the anonymous funding of television ads opposed to their agenda in a video titled “Who is Publius? or, Who’s Afraid of Anonymous Political Speech?”

Justice Alito said recently he won’t be attending the next State of the Union address. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Some Democratic candidates for Congress are working hard to distance themselves from Nancy Pelosi.

As widely rumored, Fredi Gonzalez has been hired to manage the Atlanta Braves, following the retirement of the beloved Bobby Cox.

New Jersey’s governor has killed a vital infrastructure project because of huge cost overruns. It’s penny wise and pound foolish.

Boston University and Northeastern have found that there is life after football. Shouldn’t most schools follow their lead?