Outside the Beltway

All of us being watched, all the time, and that data being stored forever.

The Fourth Amendment got even weaker yesterday.

In news you’ve known for years, Jodie Foster has announced that she’s a lesbian.

Robert Bork, the controversial jurist whose failed Supreme Court bid ushered in a new climate in American politics, has died at 85.

Obsessive media coverage makes us believe mass shootings are far more common than they actually are.

Remember when the Bush administration was spying on calls Americans made overseas without a warrant? Those were the good old days.

Not as much learning going on as one might like, to be honest.

If nothing else, the Petraeus affair is teaching us a valuable lesson in just how extensive the Surveillance State has become.

The David Petraeus/Paula Broadwell story gets curiouser.

Sometimes, real life catches up with those who think their online life is secret.

The response rates for opinion polling of all types has become incredibly low.

Secret surveillance of American citizens has dramatically increased under the Obama Administration.

The 9/11 attacks and our response to them changed America, and not for the better.

Based on its recently passed platform, the Democratic Party has given up any pretense of putting civil liberties ahead of “national security.”

A true pioneer passed away today.

As far as the law is concerned, your social media accounts aren’t private at all.

Virginia has been offering ID cards to military veterans to make it easier to prove that they’re military veterans for months now.

One would think that people who have decided that commenting on a political blog under their own name isn’t worth the risk of blowback would feel a certain sympathy for a scientist-astronaut who values her privacy deciding not to tell the world she was gay.

Andrew Sullivan believes Sally Ride “had a chance to expand people’s horizons and young lesbians’ hope and self-esteem, and she chose not to.”

The Koch brothers will spend more money in this election cycle than the entire McCain campaign did in 2008.

Opponents of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United continue to miss the point of what the case was really about.

We’ve reached the point where public figures coming out of the closet is barely news anymore, and that’s a good thing.

From one Nobel Peace Prize winner to another.

Should it be anyone’s business if you vote?

The United States may have slowed down Iran’s nuclear program without firing a shot–not counting the one at our own foot.

Cave quid dicis, quando, et cui.

A surprisingly short sentence in a case that caused a nationwide sensation.

The private office is quickly becoming a relic, despite the loss of morale and productivity that comes from open floorplans.

Marriage has always been an evolving institution.

The Founders would never have thought to do more than count people in the Census!

Some blogger wants to pay someone to get Barack Obama’s college transcripts. It’s time for this silliness to end.

Another potential scandal in New Orleans.

It would be nice if policies were assessed in terms of costs and benefits.

Legendary musician Levon Helm is dying.

There are advantages to cash that electronic transactions cannot replicate.

The US Supreme Court ruled today that police can strip search anyone they decide to arrest for anything for any reason.

Like it or not, what you do online will be of interest to someone looking to hire you.

Good Journalism?