Outside the Beltway

The Telegraph’s chief political commentator sees moral decay at the top as well as the bottom.

Borders Books is closing, because the free market works.

Yet another study shows that people who drink diet soda actually gain weight. But it probably doesn’t matter, since that’s not why people drink them.

Mitt Romney told a group of unemployed Florida voters that he was unemployed, too! It’s being touted as a gaffe on Twitter but appears to be a joke.

Holland is going to make it harder for tourists to smoke marijuana.

Business Week has a fascinating profile of Dietrich Mateschitz, whom they dub “Red Bull’s Billionaire Maniac.”

Drinking large amounts of coffee may ward off prostate cancer.

For the most part, April’s jobs report was good news.

A handful of young male bloggers have launched themselves to the head of the line, leapfrogging those who’ve spent years playing the game by the old rules.juice

Warren Christopher, Bill Clinton’s first Secretary of State, has died at 85.

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.

I drink more coffee a month than the average person does a year. Indeed, I easily go through more than the 12 kilograms that represents the top end of the scale.

Shirley Sherrod’s lawsuit against Andrew Brietbart promises to be an interesting test of the boundaries of defamation law in the political blogosphere.

Fitness guru Jack LaLanne has succumbed to the inevitable at the ripe old age of 96.

Christopher Hitchens explains how to make tea.

For the first time in 35 years, the Senate may finally be on the verge of reforming the filibuster.

So, if Hispanics formed a political party, what do you think it should be called?

Mike Bloomberg says we’re electing people to Congress who “can’t read” and “don’t have passports.”

The younger voters that flocked to Barack Obama two years ago feel let down. They need to grow up.

The Onion spoofs life at a think tank with Boy, I Really Thought Like Shit Today.”

Jonah Goldberg has written a bad column. In this case, an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune headlined “Why is Assange still alive?”

Lots of jobs that existed in recent memory — secretaries, travel agents, gas station attendants, cashiers — have been replaced by technology. The middle class may be disappearing with them.

Even on a ridiculously easy multiple choice quiz, Americans don’t know the name of the Chief Justice or the Senate Majority Leader. So what?

Lisa Murkowski’s one chance at political survival if she loses the ongoing vote count in the Alaska GOP Senate Primary has gone out the window.

The Miller-Murkowski showdown is starting to get silly.

Wired proclaims, “The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet.” It’s great linkbait but completely wrongheaded.

Much to the disappointment of Ezra Klein and others, it’s unlikely that Democrats will have the votes necessary to change the filibuster when the 112th Congress convenes.