Outside the Beltway

The experiences of two well-known academics denied tenure at Chicago provide some clues.

Natural disasters in Japan have lessened the supply of pigments necessary to make black paint.

Overnight, we celebrate the biannual ritual of resetting all our clocks so as to save daylight. Oddly, the amount of daylight continues to heed its own rhythms.

Cap’n Crunch is going the way of Joe Camel.

We’ve been hearing about peak oil for years. But now some experts are warning of an even more serious crisis: Peak coffee.

Northwestern’s Human Sexuality course includes a naked woman being brought to orgasm with a dildo.

Several “correct” answers on the American citizenship test are technically incorrect.

Players have taken control of the NBA from the owners. That’s bad for fans. But probably a good thing.

IBM’s Watson computer crushed human competitors on Jeopardy. What does it mean?

A 2005 concurring opinion from Antonin Scalia may be the piece of legal reasoning that ultimately saves the Affordable Care Act in the Courts.

Volokh Conspirator Stewart Baker wonders whether Jesse Ventura’s complaints about TSA groping making him a “wussy.”

The Illinois Supreme Court has issued a partial stay, keeping Rahm Emanuel on the ballot for Chicago mayor.

The Illinois Appellate Court has tossed mayoral frontrunner Rahm Emanuel off the ballot, saying he didn’t meet residency requirements.

Time for midterms.

A new study suggests college students aren’t learning the critical thinking skills they’re supposed to learn, but that isn’t necessary the fault of the university they’re attending.

Faced with mounting debt, the lame duck Illinois legislature rushed through a massive tax hike in the wee hours this morning.

President Obama’s selection of Bill Daley as Chief of Staff is being seen as a sign that the White House is moving to the center and gearing up for 2012.

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.

Why is the press gushing over routine movement in White House team?

Chicago’s next mayor will be either Rahm Emanuel or Carol Moseley Braun.

Constitutional ambiguity is as old as, well, it’s as old as the Constitution itself

Cory Booker, Michael Bloomberg, and Chris Christie have been in the news this week due to the political fallout over their handling of the East Coast blizzard.

The National Football League’s decision to postpone last night’s Eagles-Vikings game due to weather is receiving a lot of criticism, but they made the right choice.

The new year will bring major changes to the White House Staff.

The Presidency has lost the aura of mystique that used to surround it, and that’s a good thing.

Geno Auriemma and his UConn Huskies should rightly be enormously proud of their accomplishments. But comparing them to John Wooden’s is embarrassing.

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

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

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

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