Outside the Beltway

A bipartisan commission of elder statesmen confirms what we’ve known for years.

A new report confirms that the United States did engage in torture in the wake of the September 11th attacks.

Because sometimes poorly contructed observations can set a fellow to writing.

The odds for a party switch in the House of Representatives remain quite low.

A Federal Judge has stepped into a Culture War minefield, but that doesn’t mean he’s wrong.

Examining SECDEF’s call for radical overhaul of our defense structure against the fate of similar calls past.

Rand Paul’s filibuster has made him a darling among conservatives but it may not last.

A somewhat good jobs report for February, but still no sign that the jobs recession is ending any time soon.

An excellent essay by Adam Sternbergh “On the Enduring Appeal of ‘Die Hard.'”

John Karlin, an industrial psychologist for Bell Labs that you’ve probably never heard of, has died aged 94.

Andrew Bacevich bemoans the social impact of the all-volunteer force.

Is America’s focus on defense weakening the country?

The first seven men to be awarded the Medal of Honor for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan received it posthumously. Clinton Romesha will be the fourth in a row that’s lived to meet the president.

Bob Dole isn’t in the best of health but he nonetheless treked to the Capitol to pay his final respects to an old friend.

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates is bemused that the generals who worked for him lived more lavish lifestyles than he did.

The conflict between Israel and Hamas appears to be heading in one unfortunate direction.

Once again, a natural disaster has caused a common economic fallacy re resurface.

President Obama seems to have given away the store when it comes to the defense sequestration cuts.

Like the men who came before him, Barack Obama has vastly increased the powers of his office. Someone should have asked him about that last night.

Once again, it seems necessary to debunk some commonly believed myths about polling.

America’s Protestants are dying off and being replaced by non-believers.

Mitt Romney is once again making completely false claims about the status of the United States Navy.

Afghanistan was a much different place half a century ago.

The President’s poll lead has shrunk, but there are still signs of trouble for Mitt Romney.

Ben Bernanke thinks doing more of the same is just what the economy needs.

Senator Rand Paul suggests the GOP may want to reconsider its foreign policy aggressiveness.

Hey GOP, Lt. Sulu has some questions for you.

The Obama campaign clearly does not want Americans to consider whether they are better off now than they were four years ago.

The GOP claims to be a party that favors limited government, but its foreign policy positions reveal this to be little more than a lie.

Economic growth is the key to fixing many of our problems. Unfortunately, we’re not likely to see the kind of growth we need any time soon.

For the first time in 80 years, there are no veterans on the major party Presidential tickets.

Doug Saunders makes the counterintuitive claim that things are better for Britons than ever.

July’s Jobs Report was better than what we’ve seen the last few months, but it’s still not very good.

Romney’s foreign tour didn’t go quite as well as planned, but it’s unclear how much the minor gaffes will actually matter.

Once again, a pundit has come up with the boneheaded idea of reinstating the draft.

David Chan has eaten at more than 6000 Chinese restaurants. He says the best are all in California and most opened in the last decade.

Two centuries ago, a war that makes less and less sense with the passage of time began.