Outside the Beltway

With choices like these it’s easy to understand why people take plea deals

I am having a hard time seeing a system of districts based on eligible voters and not simply population.

Massive boycotts and protests likely spell the end of Tim Wolfe’s tenure as president.

A few days late, but a story worth noting if it has escaped notice.

Five years after it became law, the Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act appears to be over.

Wisconsin has become the 25th “right to work” state.

An entirely unsurprising decision from Federal Prosecutors in Washington, D.C.

Could John Hinckley, Jr. face murder charges 30 years after his attempted assassination of President Reagan?

Republicans are dismissing talk of impeachment as a Democratic fundraising ploy, but it may be they are protesting just a bit too much.

LTG Michael Flynn says the United States is no safer after 13 years of war

David C. Jones, who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Presidents Carter and Reagan, has died.

Anthony Weiner’s campaign for Mayor Of New York isn’t exactly getting off on the right foot.

The US Senate wants to know why Apple and other big technology companies are paying so little into the US Treasury.

The man who changed the way Americans viewed newspapers, just before newspapers themselves began getting pushed aside by technology, has died at the age of 89.

A sensational story, little solid information, and instant analysis are a bad combination

Reports of the Twinkie’s death have been exaggerated.

Kevin Clash was falsely accused of having sex with an underage boy. He merely had sex with a boy who was too young.

A new round of polling has Obama in the lead and shows reasons why Romney’s supporters should be concerned, but it’s unclear how long any of this will last.

The Defense of Marriage Act is under challenge through a unique angle: estate taxes.

After two-and-a-half years and who knows how many taxpayer dollars spent trying to prove criminal wrongdoing, the SEC fell short.

Fast and furious, or a lot of sound and fury signifying not too much?

Saudi Arabia’s monarchy has suffered the loss of Crown Prince Nayef, the successor 88-year-old King Abdullah.

My first piece for the Christian Science Monitor, co-authored with my Atlantic Council collegue Barry Pavel, has been posted.

Welcome to today’s Outrage Of The Day

Seven of the top ten and fifteen of the top twenty universities on the planet are American.

A Mississippi judge has stayed a slew of pardons issued by Haley Barbour on his way out the door.

The firing of legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno led to a full-blown riot by outraged students.

Commonwealth leaders agreed to drop rules that give sons precedence as heir to the throne and bar anyone in line for the crown from marrying a Roman Catholic.

Far from being an existential crisis, the recent rise in public distrust in government is easily explained.

The US ambassador to Afghanistan said so in a recent interview, and it’s a stunning statistic if true. But it’s probably not.

Former Oregon governor and long-time US Senator Mark Hatfield has died.

And when did it know it?

Like in Bahrain, the Libyan authorities are not tolerating protests.

Within the first few months of 2011, Congress will be required to take another unpalatable vote to raise the debt ceiling. Already, some incoming Republicans are talking about waging an effort to block the vote. That would be politically, and financially, stupid.