Outside the Beltway

Lindsey Graham recently retired as a colonel in the Air Force Reserves after 33 years of service. He missed most of the last twenty.

Jason Kottke points me to Stan Carey’s summary of Jack Grieve’s study of regional variations in swearing patterns across the United States.

Former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell is likely going to Federal Prison very soon.

A County Clerk in Kentucky is being sued because she thinks she can refuse to do her job and still keep that job.

In week a that has seen discussion of lost causes, the Chief Justice of the Alabama Surpreme Court appears poised to fight one last battle.

A new North Carolina law allows government employees to decline to perform their jobs by claiming it violates their “religious liberty.”

Beau Biden, the former attorney general of Delaware and son of Vice President Joe Biden, has died of brain cancer at the age of 46.

A Cleveland police officer has been acquitted of manslaughter and other charges in a case that resulted in the death of two African-American individuals.

Seymour Hersh is out with a conspiracy theory about the death of Osama bin Laden that just doesn’t make sense.

House Republicans are set to vote on a bill banning abortion in almost all cases after twenty weeks. What they can’t do is explain where the Constitution gives Congress the power to do this.

The Justice Department will not pursue contempt charges against Lois Lerner because it has determined that she did not waive her rights under the Fifth Amendment.

Arkansas, North Carolina, and Virginia may soon see the same battle over RFRA laws that is playing itself out in Indiana

The first popularly elected African-American Senator, and the first African-American Senator to serve since the end of Reconstruction ended, has passed away.

For better or worse, Marion Barry was a fixture in D.C. politics for much of the 40 year period of home rule that began in 1975.

A 69-year-old former polygraph examiner for the Oklahoma City police department has been indicted for coaching people to thwart the machines.

States may not add to Federal requirements for voter registration, the Court rules. Which makes perfect sense.

An idea whose time has come? Not really.

The Khorasan Group is, functionally, al Qaeda. Or is it?

It would appear that someone needs to introduce the Air Force to Article VI of the Constitution.

Chris McDaniel’s meritless, quixotic challenge to the Mississippi GOP Senate Primary is reaching it’s expected conclusion.

A big setback for Mississippi’s erstwhile Tea Party candidate for Senate.

Tea Party backed candidates may have lost most of the GOP primary battles, but they’ve won the war for control of the Republican agenda.

Six weeks have passed since the primary, and Chris McDaniel has revealed he really doesn’t have much to complain about other than the fact that he lost.

Your tax dollars, not at work.

Led by Speaker John Boehner, Republican leaders are trying to placate calls for impeachment.

A case out of Louisiana raises serious First Amendment issues.

The South Dakota Republican Party has officially endorsed the impeachment of President Obama.

Once again, Republicans are attacking someone for doing a job the Bill of Rights itself makes necessary and important.

The Army is sending a strong message on sexual assault. It picked the wrong poster boy.

The First Amendment protects government employees who testify truthfully.

Good intentions and good results aside, the President’s disrespect for the Rule Of Law should concern everyone.

A bizarre case in Alabama highlights a more bizarre judicial precedent.

An excellent argument for immigration reform can be found in the case of one Californian named Sergio Garcia.

In a new interview, Edward Snowden explains his motives for absconding from the country with NSA secrets.

Johnny can’t write, either.

CNN reports that CIA is going to great lengths to keep operatives from talking about what happened at Benghazi.

Egyptians celebrated last night, but the future is far from clear.

Outrage over leaks like those that Edward Snowden makes doesn’t exist when its politicians doing the leaking.