Outside the Beltway

Michael Lewis has a long feature in Vanity Fair titled “Obama’s Way,” based on six months with the president.

Obama heads into his convention in a good position, but with several potential pitfalls in his path.

Some of the Harvard students accused of cheating are speaking out, and making allegations of their own.

In a radio interview last week, Paul Ryan claimed to have run a sub-3 hour marathon. He did no such thing.

Harvard has announced the discovery of what one official calls an “unprecedented” cheating scandal.

The real story of Bain Capital is impressive. Mitt Romney chose instead to present an origin story that’s utter horseshit.

Will an MRI of your brain someday be able to tell if you’re lying? And, if it can, should it be admissible in Court?

A black ‘Democrat’ who seconded Obama’s nomination in 2008 is endorsing Romney in 2012. It’s not a big deal.

People from blood groups A, B, and AB are at greater risk of heart disease than those with type O, a new study finds. Or does it?

CNN’s Fareed Zakaria looks to be caught in a bit of a plagiarism scandal.

Once again, people are demanding to see Barack Obama’s college transcripts for no good reason.

While you might think of Yale as an elite school, it’s business school is ranked 21st–below Michigan State’s.

Publishing unsubstantiated rumor is not journalism.

Andrew Hacker argues that, while quantitative skills are “critical for informed citizenship and personal finance,” making kids master algebra to graduate high school has disastrous consequences.

Nicholas Kristoff figures that, if we can’t ban guns, we can at least make them safer.

Kids, the President of the United States has a message for you: stop hanging out and get to work.

Two liberal columnists say a recent Mitt Romney ad proves he’s out of touch—and implies that he’s running a racist stealth campaign.

David Brooks is wistful for the noblesse oblige of the elites of yore.

While it upheld the Affordable Care Act today, the Supreme Court also placed some clear limits on Congressional power. That’s a good thing.

Regardless of how the Court rules on the Affordable Care Act, the upcoming election has the potential to reshape the Court for decades to come.

Men who graduate elite universities earn an additional $107,000 lifetime. It costs $234,440 to get a Yale degree.

Congressmen are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in stock in companies over which they have oversight. And it’s perfectly legal.

Bill Clinton walks back his comments about extending the Bush Tax Cuts in the most unbelievable manner possible.

A new book about the President details his marijuana use in High School and at Occidental College.

Another reason to give everyone adiditional pause (as there already ought to be some) for anyone looking to Breitbart’s empire for good information.

Alan Dershowitz thinls the charges against George Zimmerman should be dropped. With due apologies to the good Professor, he’s wrong.

Private college degree mills have come under intense scrutiny. But many public institutions have similar statistics.

Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin denies that his motivation for renouncing his US citizenship was tax avoidance.

Common Cause has filed a specious lawsuit alleging that the filibuster is unconstitutional.

There’s much to question about The Washington Post’s decision to run a 47 year old story about Mitt Romney.

Some blogger wants to pay someone to get Barack Obama’s college transcripts. It’s time for this silliness to end.

The day after President Obama expressed his personal support for gay marriage, a report has surfaced of his presumptive general election opponent engaging in a mean, anti-gay “prank” back in 1965.

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

If we taught the Federalist Papers more rigorously would that lead to a shared view of the constitution?

Elizabeth Warren’s Senate campaign stumbled badly this week.

When Dan Drezner tweeted “I’m not going to read anything dumber than this today,” my inclination was to scoff. He actually undersold it.

Alan Dershowitz says the prosecutor who charged George Zimmerman with second degree murder of Trayvon Martin was “irresponsible and unethical” and politically motivated.

We need a lot less fake empathy in politics.

Mitt Romney, who has law and business degrees from Harvard, is criticizing President Obama for having a law degree from Harvard.

Solutions come from understanding, not denial or political posturing

Jim Yong Kim is an impressive man. But he’s got no background in banking, finance, or economics.

Seven of the top ten and fifteen of the top twenty universities on the planet are American.

It is a curious thing, sometimes, to look at how different people interpret events.