Outside the Beltway

Turkey’s military has attacked Syria several times since Syrian forces shelled a Turkish village.

Mitt Romney won the debate last night, but it’s not at all clear that this will matter at all.

22 years ago today, I was battalion duty officer for the 1/27 Field Artillery in Babenhausen in what, a few hours earlier, was West Germany.

A new study looks at the reasons why people are so belligerent in their online communications.

Sacrificing our principles in the face of mob violence is never a good idea.

Last night’s game between Green Bay and Seattle was the latest example of the sub-par officiating of the NFL’s replacement referees.

A Pirate Party leader has been policing illegal downloads of her copyrighted book.

So, Mitt Romney opened his mouth again.

One Professor suggests we sacrifice yet more of our freedom in the wake of the embassy protests in the Middle East.

The career of Larry Schwartz, who is the Counselor for Public Affairs at the US Embassy in Cairo, is over.

A PAO named Larry Schwartz issued yesterday’s infamous statement against the explicit orders of his superiors.

Mitt Romney’s initial response to the attacks in Egypt and Libya displayed a tendency to jump the gun rather than wait for the facts.

A day of protests over a film nobody has ever heard of has lead to the death of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya.

6% of Ohio voters think Mitt Romney deserves more credit than the commander-in-chief for killing Osama bin Laden.

Jimmy Carter’s ex-presidency has lasted the equivalent of 26 Iranian hostage crises.

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are refusing to provide significant details about their tax plan. That’s a mistake.

John Nagl, who became famous as a leading counterinsurgency theorist and practitioner, is taking on a new challenge: grooming young boys for life.

Harvard has announced the discovery of what one official calls an “unprecedented” cheating scandal.

After three days of buildup to a “mystery speaker,” the closing night of the Republican convention featured a rambling performance by Clint Eastwood and an empty chair.

Paul Ryan pointed to a shuttered GM plant in his hometown as proof of Obama’s failed policies. The truth will make your head hurt.

An Atlantic story on veterans returning to college is both poignant and miscast.

A graph on public debt making the rounds is being used to misdirect rather than clarify.

It’s official.

Security at the Republican Convention in Tampa looks more like a war zone than a political convention in a democratic republic.

Mitt Romney’s forces won a rules change that will allow future nominees to have more say over their conventions. While this strikes me as a no-brainer, some conservative activists are up in arms.

The fallout from Todd Akin’s rape comments on Sunday has exposed a rift in the Republican Party.

American politics has been reduced to a charade where all people do is yell at each other.

A culture of fact-checking, of honesty, is as important as the actual fact-checking.

When and how often must they disclose their relationship? And can we take them seriously at all?

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

At some point, however, using the bad actions of the past to justify worse actions in the present has to stop.

Yesterday it became clear that the Presidential campaign is headed into the mud.

There’s a wee bit more to the “Progressive defended my sister’s killer” story that went viral yesterday.

Another day, another mass shooting in America. Details are sketchy.

Storing all your data in the cloud isn’t necessarily a good idea.

Three new polls show President Obama leading in three key battleground states.

NBC’s Olympic coverage doesn’t necessarily recognize the realities of social networking and the 24 hour news cycle.