Outside the Beltway

Facebook’s 26-year-old founder, Mark Zuckerberg, is one of the wealthiest men in America. Most of his work force is unpaid.

America’s elite universities have proportionately fewer slots than their English and French counterparts. Does it matter?

Is President Obama poised to make a recess appointment for Elizabth Warren?

David Brooks blames our economic woes on a change from a culture that valued productive work to one of gentility. And Bill Cosby.

Will appointing Elizabeth Warren to head a consumer protection agenda unleash an eruption of Democratic votes in November?

If there’s an area where our attitudes and behaviors have changed more radically in my lifetime than gender equality, I can’t think of it.

The only reasons Michael Kinsley can conjure for opposing the Park51 project are bigotry and political opportunism. Unless you’re a really smart columnist.

Washington Monthly ranks colleges “based on what they are doing for the country — on whether they’re improving social mobility, producing research, and promoting public service” rather than “wealth, exclusivity, and prestige.” Too bad they don’t hire that way.

Ann Coulter has been dis-invited from a World Net Daily conference for her decision to speak at a convention sponsored by a gay conservative group.

Harvard has overtaken Princeton to retake the top spot in the US News college rankings.

An essay claiming that the TED talks are “the new Harvard” is gaining some traction from a lot of people who ought know better.

For-profit universities are defrauding their students. Indeed, it’s their business model.

Should we abandon the notion of civil marriage? Would doing so end the clash over homosexual unions?

Are we nearing the point where presidents won’t be able to fill Supreme Court vacancies?

The concentration of policy wonks in the Washington-New York-Boston corridor produces skewed analysis.

Some lawyers make a fabulous salary right out of law school. Most don’t.

Jim Webb argues that we should stop measuring diversity by race alone.

Rural whites are outperformed by Jews and Asians and passed over by blacks and Hispanics in the name of “diversity” by elite universities.

Elena Kagan may be smiling because her confirmation is assured, but she doesn’t have as much public support as previous nominees.

A bizarre rant in American Spectator contains some interesting thoughts about the nature of America’s political elite.

A Russian spy may be stripped of a degree he earned at the Kennedy school under a stolen identity.

One can be an elite and not be elitist and vice versa.

Not surprisingly, Elena Kagan finished her testimony without giving any real ammunition to the Republicans.

Did the American media cover up torture by the Bush Administration?

The testiest exchange during today’s hearings in the Senate came when Jeff Sessions tried to confront Elena Kagan over military recruiting at Harvard Law School, and failed miserably.

Miss yesterday’s opening round of the Kagan hearings ? You didn’t miss much.

As Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearings begin, Senate Republican’s seem to have very little to hold against her.

Contrary to popular belief, Adolf Hitler didn’t come to power by democratic means or because of his ability to whip the public into a frenzy.

Law schools are artificially raising student grades, sometimes retroactively, to make them more competitive on the job market.