Outside the Beltway

An object lesson in the problems with our intellectual property laws

Will Twitter impact the 2012 elections? The evidence seems thin that it will.

There may be reason to doubt reports alleging that Mitt Romney engaged in vicious bullying of a gay classmate as an 18-year-old prepster.

The Germans are taking this austerity thing a little far: their police fired only 85 shots at humans last year.

A blog post lampooning black studies dissertations got a writer fired, setting off a controversy over the limits of free speech.

Did Joe Biden misspeak, or drop a hint that he shouldn’t have?

If you agree to work for nothing, don’t complain you’re being “exploited.”

The outpouring from my Twitter stream yesterday on the news of the death of Adam Yauch, MCA of the Beastie Boys, surprised me.

Based on the postmortems, it certainly seems like the Romney campaign threw Richard Grenell under the bus.

Richard Grenell’s time as Mitt Romney’s foreign policy spokesman lasted less than a month. The fact that he’s gay appears to be the reason it ended.

Last week, an absurd campaign became even more absurd.

Why have so few Republicans stood up to condemn Allen West?

Thanks to a media that focuses obsessively on irrelevancies, we now have a permanent political silly season.

Picking the wrong target.

The Washington Post prematurely posted that Rick Santorum was dropping out of the race on its news wire and Bloomberg made the story viral while the Post was verifying its accuracy.

A bill that may become law in Arizona could make your Internet comments a crime.

An lesson from the United Kingdom in the importance of protecting freedom of speech.

What walking around knowledge about our political system is necessary to be an informed citizen?

It’s time to let the legal system do its job.

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

The Etch A Sketch meme isn’t nearly as powerful as those pushing it believe it to be.

Yesterday, the campaign silly season got particularly silly.

George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin met on the night of February 27th. Martin died, and a firestorm has erupted.

Good Journalism?

Dharun Ravi was convicted of bias intimidation toward Tyler Clementi. It’s not at all clear that he should have been.

Today, the #stopkony hashtag is trending on Twitter. Here’s why.

Newspapers are still finding it hard to live in the Internet Age.

Janelle Nanos investigates her relationship with her iPhone.

Over the last decade-plus of war, the US Army has relaxed its promotion and retention standards for commissioned and non-commissioned officers. As we transition into peacetime, the pendulum is swinging the other direction.

There’s an entire industry that profits from exploiting political controversy and division. Why do we let them get away with it?

Mitt Romney’s campaign gives us a lesson in how not to stage a “major” economic speech.

Prices are rising at the pump, and the candidates for President are starting to notice.

An object lesson in celebrity worship from the State of New Jersey.

Foster Friess, Rick Santorum’s money guy, probably shouldn’t be his media guy.