Outside the Beltway

The saga of accused Wikileaks conspirator Bradley Manning continues to get uglier, with the military acknowledging that he was forced to spend the day naked for, well, no apparent reason.

Pfc. Bradley Manning faces twenty-two new charges, including one that could put him before a firing squad, but investigators still can’t prove any direct links between him and Wikileaks.

The most likely cuts in federal spending are likely to actually increase the deficit over time.

The last American veteran of a conflict which ended nearly a century ago has died.

Did a unit in Afghanistan engage in an IO operation against U. S. senators?

Democratic Congresswoman Betty McCollum has received death threats after questioning the wisdom of the U.S. Army sponsoring a NASCAR Sprint Cup team to the tune of $7 million a year.

Thanks to the help of a group of Tea Party Freshman in the House. Congress has finally cut off funding for a second engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that the Pentagon never wanted.

How do the DC suburbs of Maryland and Virginia compare?

The post-Sputnik innovation wave was sparked by government investment, not the entrepreneurial spirit.

The GOP is facing a battle between its fiscal conservatism and i’s military adventurism.

State and AID budgets are a rounding error in the Defense budget.

Thirty years after the hostages were freed from captivity in Iran, the United States still hasn’t figured out how to deal with the Islamic Republic.

We won’t be able to solve our fiscal problems until the American people grow up. So far, there are no signs of that happening.

Yet more ridiculous political commentary arising out of the tragic shootings in Arizona.

The American military personnel system works against keeping the best and brightest officers in the service.

The lawyer who argued The Pentagon Papers case points out how Julian Assange is not Daniel Ellsberg, and how prosecuting him could have disastrous results for press freedom in the United States.

Marine Commandant James Amos is going all-out to keep gay Marines in the closet, saying allowing them to serve openly could get men killed.

One of the most active American diplomats of the past twenty-five years has passed away.

The commander-in-chief, secretary of defense, and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff all support removing the ban on gays in the military without further delay. A long-awaited Pentagon study showed no reason not to do so. But three of four Service chiefs disagree.

Despite the Defense Department releasing its study showing that the effects of allowing gays to serve openly would be minimal, Senator John McCain isn’t convinced.

The Pentagon could have taken down WikiLeaks but decided not to. Out of kindness, I suppose.

Tonight’s topics: The fallout from the latest WikiLeaks dump and the Pentagon’s report on gays in the military.

Is there really anyone who can credibly argue at this point that the policy regarding homosexuals openly serving in the armed services is anything other than basic discrimination?

The Pentagon has spoken. Repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell would not cause any real harm to the military, they have said. Now, the ball is in the court of the United States Senate.

Sarah Palin has taken to her Facebook page to raise “Serious Questions about the Obama Administration’s Incompetence in the WikiLeaks Fiasco.” They’re more interesting than I’d expected.

Democrats are now confident that they have the votes in the Senate to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, but do they have enough time?

New details are out about the upcoming Defense Department report on repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

According to reports, the Obama Administration is set to abandon the July 2011 withdrawal deadline that was set earlier this year.

The odds that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell will be repealed anytime in the near future are fairly close to zero thanks to the results of last Tuesday’s elections.

Will the incoming “Tea Party” caucus in the House and Senate force the GOP to reconsider its views on foreign policy? Don’t count on it.

One of the last arguments against allowing gay men and women to serve openly in the military — that active duty military would be unable to serve alongside them — appears to have no empirical support.