Outside the Beltway

The novelist, playwright, and social critic Gore Vidal has died, aged 86.

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

A recent decision out of Massachusetts threatens to make business quite difficult for online service providers.

Chuck Shumer wants to force airlines to let families sit together for free.

A story headlined “American Airlines Rejects Female Passenger Because Political Pro-Choice T-Shirt is ‘Inappropriate'” is going viral.

The Gods Must Be Crazy, Again Edition OTB Caption Contest^TM is now over.

You’ve likely heard that Alabama’s 2011 football championship trophy was accidentally smashed last weekend by the father of one of the players. Now, as Paul Harvey would have said, for the rest of the story.

The gang at 22words feature an “Amusingly pissed-off letter to Continental Airlines about a seat by the lavatory” written back in 2005.

Peter Singer argues that heavy people ought to pay more to fly.

Wait until you hear about Newt Gingrich’s new out of this world idea.

The combined value of Apple’s stock is more than the GDP of some countries.

Andy Rooney, best known to recent generations as the cranky old man at the end of “60 Minutes,” has died at 92.

Paul Krugman chose to mark the the 10th anniversary of September 11th with an odd blog post.

The short-lived national unity spawned by the attacks of a decade ago was re-kindled for a few hours as former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush joined with Vice President Joe Biden to honor Flight 93.

Are colleges teaching the right lessons about the 9/11 attacks?

Congress is failing to complete even simple tasks thanks to a bitter partisan divide.

Rock Diaz likes to wear Army cammies and “Marine Corp” dog tags when he flies. The portly Long Island man has never served in the military.

Charging soldiers $200 for an extra bag on their way home for war? Really Delta?

A passenger started a fight over a reclined airplane seat, causing fighter planes to scramble.

One U.S. Senator wants to bring elements of the TSA’s security theater to America’s rail system.

I don’t feel the jubilation that came with Saddam Hussein’s capture in December 2003. Sadly, I know better this time.

Another case of TSA groping has hit the media.

Cruise lines are the latest to create separate enclaves for customers willing to pay more to escape the riffraff.

TSA screeners will now have the right to join a union. Or at least a union that can’t actually negotiate much of anything.

After years of flying people for less than it cost and trying to make it up with volume, the airlines have changed course.

PolitiFact’s Lie of the Year 2010.

The Bags Fly Free Edition OTB Caption Contest^TM is now over.

Airline food sucks. Mostly, it’s the food. But it’s also the altitute.

The People In Charge telling us that something is Necessary For Our Own Good makes a large number of people accepting of the inconvenience, no matter how asinine or unsupported by evidence.

Ron Paul has introduced a law (the “American Traveler Dignity Act”) that would punish TSA agents for groping and x-raying Americans.

Are the American people finally waking up to the absurdity of TSA security theater? One can only hope they are.

The gang at The Week ask, “Are child-free flights the next travel trend?”

It appears that full body scanners, operated by leering yahoos under the cover of government authority, may finally be rousing the sheep who have meekly submitted to the absurd delays and indignities that have been piled on since 9/11 and sundry botched attempts.

Lots of jobs that existed in recent memory — secretaries, travel agents, gas station attendants, cashiers — have been replaced by technology. The middle class may be disappearing with them.

How long will we stop annual commemorations on the anniversary of that horrible day?

Terrorism dry-run or just weirdly packaged items and a few coincidences?

The airline industry turned a record profit for the 2nd quarter. Don’t expect it to last.

Manned flight is more than a century old. Why are the airlines still so clueless?

Christopher Hitchens takes us through this initial weeks with cancer with brutal introspection and wry humor.