Outside the Beltway

Some thoughts on a decade old video in which Samantha Power speculates on actions to take against an unfolding genocide.

If Stevie Wonder were still touring, he wouldn’t be making stops in states with “Stand Your Ground” laws.

The Senate may be headed for an historic confrontation today if an 11th hour deal isn’t reached.

The drip, drip, drip in Richmond is turning into a flood.

The US military’s lavish new headquarters in Afghanistan has been completed just in time for our exit.

Egyptians celebrated last night, but the future is far from clear.

The return of a really bad idea.

Thanks to archaic state laws, you can look at cars in a Tesla showroom, but in my states you can’t but anything there.

Does David Gregory consider Glenn Greenwald to be a reporter deserving of protection, or “just a blogger” who may be a potential criminal?

Not surprisingly, Edward Snowden has been formally charged in connection with the leak of classified NSA documents.

Today is the deadline for Darryl Issa to respond to a request from Elijah Cummings to defend a decision not to release IRS interview transcripts. What happens if Issa doesn’t respond?

Outrage over leaks like those that Edward Snowden makes doesn’t exist when its politicians doing the leaking.

My latest for The Atlantic, “Why Should Congress and the Courts Care About Snooping If Citizens Don’t?” has posted.

One Congressman thinks it would be a good idea to treat journalists as criminals.

Revelations about the NSA’s data mining programs don’t seem to be having a significant impact on public opinion.

Not only do we not know the whole story of the NSA data mining operation, key details of what thought we knew are wrong.

Big Brother is doing more than just checking your phone records.

Turkey has had along and ongoing struggle with democratic consolidation.

Federal workers are facing being laid off several days without pay; they’re being advised not to seek private sector employment to make up the difference.

Virginia’s voters really don’t seem to like their choices for Governor.

The Obama Administration’s aggressive pursuit of leaks is threatening freedom of the press.

So far, three weeks of bad news hasn’t really had much of an impact on the public’s view of how President Obama is handling his job.

After many attempts to manufacture grand scandals out of very little, Republicans may finally have a legitimate outrage on their hands.

Just how serious was the leak that the Associated Press reported on last May?

Partisan targeting by the IRS should not be permitted to stand.

Keynes and uncertainty about the the future: about childlessness or philosophical assumptions?

The talking points prepared in the immediate aftermath of the Benghazi attack were heavily edited at the request of the State Department.

POLITICO is joining the stampede toward metered paywalls. In a twist, it will remain free in regions where it’s most popular.

The American people aren’t panicking.

Arming the Syrian rebels may do nothing more than prolong a seemingly endless war, and pull the United States into a conflict it shouldn’t be involved in.

The FDA has modified it’s rules on the availability of a politically controversial form of birth control.

The FBI is looking into Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell’s relationship with a major donor.