Outside the Beltway

More than ever before, even mild criticism of Israel seems to be verboten among Republicans.

Just in case there’s any question, yes, Ted Cruz is Constitutionally eligible to serve as President.

Cornell math prof Steven Strogatz is very excited about Pi day.

Leonard Nimoy, the actor who became a household name as Mr. Spock with the “Star Trek” television series and movies, has died at 83.

The Atlantic has a fascinating cover story by Graeme Wood titled “What ISIS Really Wants.”

One of the pioneers of the Internet warns that we’re in danger of losing entire generations’ worth of history because of digitization.

Can a country entry reap the benefits of the connected age while successfully tying down the Internet?

Reversing a previous decision, Sony will allow The Interview to be screened in a small number of theaters.

Talk about your second- and third-order effects.

Two potential candidates for the Republican nomination in 2016 traded barbs this week over the President’s new policy toward Cuba.

The fate of Cuba policy in Congress is far from certain, but what is certain is that following through on President Obama’s historic and necessary changes will face resistance.

Clearly, the Romney campaign didn’t get the point of social media.

While conservatives have been generally as appalled as others with the news out of Staten Island, some of them are looking in the wrong place for blame.

Public Relations 101: When you have a job in public relations, don’t say stupid things.

Black Friday chaos has crossed the pond.

Not surprisingly, last night’s announcement that there would be no state court indictment in the Michael Brown shooting led to violence and confrontations with police. That’s not going to solve any of the real problems that face Ferguson, or any other community in the United States.

The House Intelligence Committee has concluded that the conspiracy theories regarding the 9/11/2012 attack in Benghazi are not supported by the evidence. That’s unlikely to change anyone’s mind, though.

Mary Landrieu’s Keystone XL Hail Mary isn’t going to save her.

Some people didn’t like the song selection at last night’s Washington, D.C. concert for Veterans Day.

Obama proposes four ‘net neutrality’ rules.

Two Duke University academics make an incredibly weak, ultimately unpersuasive, argument in favor of eliminating midterm elections by changing the length of Congressional terms.

There’s nothing wrong with choosing not to vote.

Another setback for commercial space ventures, the second this week and this time with tragic consequences.

We’ve handed off operations in Helmand Province to the Afghanistan army.

Another school shooting.

Polls continue to show that most Americans are largely tuning the midterms out.

As usual, politicians and pundits are helping to create a climate of fear and concern about Ebola that is not justified by the facts.

The president is frustrated.

A desperation move by NBC News?

We’ve got one foot in two very different technological worlds.

Last week’s security breach just became a lot more serious.

Trending on Twitter this morning is a collection of infographics compiled by Ezra Klein under the heading “22 maps and charts that will surprise you.”

After several months of good news, the August Jobs Report was quite a disappointment.

The Kansas Senate race is becoming unexpectedly interesting.

The announcement of a potential merger between Burger King and Tim Horton’s has led to much moral preening from the usual suspects.