Outside the Beltway

The Toddler-in-Chief strikes again.

The one-time wunderkind, blogging pioneer, and same-sex marriage champion is now on the outs.

The venerable magazine is following industry trends. Is the billionaire owner a monster?

Anyone who doubts that Republicans would fill a Supreme Court vacancy in 2020 is being incredibly naive.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley says he would not consider a Supreme Court nominee in 2020. But does he really mean it?

Argumentation without the intent to persuade is masturbation, not journalism.

The Atlantic fired one of their few conservative voices for saying women who have abortions should be hanged. Was this beyond the pale?

Does Hillary Clinton remember that she was Secretary of State for four years?

Signs of some progress in the talks over Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

Was Arafat poisoned? A new report raises some questions, but answers none of them conclusively.

How would the addition of Susan Rice and Samantha Power to the President’s foreign policy team affect policy toward Syria’s civil war?

President Obama may regret drawing a line in the sand over Syrian chemical weapons.

Alex Pareene’s annual hack list omits an obvious candidate: Alex Pareene.

Conor Friedersdorf contends “The U.S. Already Had a Conversation About Guns—and the Pro Side Won.”

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

Pundits on the left and the right are having a hard time understanding what Chris Christie’s praise of the President is all about.

Mitt Romney’s initial response to the attacks in Egypt and Libya displayed a tendency to jump the gun rather than wait for the facts.

General Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sent a message to Israel last week.

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

Several key members of the Syrian government were killed in a suicide bomb attack today in Damascus.

Jeffrey Goldberg asks, “What if Mitt Romney were Jewish?”

This is one of the most draw-droppingly stupid 29 seconds I have experienced in some time.

R.I.P.

President Obama doubled down in his speech before this year’s AIPAC conference. Why he did so only he understands.

Prominent commentators on the Left and Right are amused by an outrageous assault on CBS reporter Lara Logan.

Andrew Sullivan makes a rather bizarre charge offhandedly: “Who among the neocons would have thought that one of George W. Bush’s final legacies would be bringing pogroms, bombings and genocide to Christians in his new zone of freedom?”

If the Soviets had put Jews into gas chambers, it would have been a pity.

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.

Bill Jacobson and Glenn Reynolds seem to be overly amused that Conor Friedersdorf has the title of “senior editor” over at Andrew Sullivan’s blog.

Mary Anastasia O’Grady takes Jeffery Golodberg to task over his interview with Fidel Castro. Much hilarity (or, at least, poor analysis) ensues.

Fidel Castro is back in the public eye, but he’s singing a slightly different tune now.

Will Israel attack Iran ? You’d better hope not.

Park51 opponents are trying to depict Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf as an anti-American radical. Read his speech at Daniel Pearl’s memorial service and judge for yourself.

The New York Times is reporting that the Obama Administration has convinced Israel that Iran is much further away from developing nuclear weapons than Tel Aviv fears, but there seems to be something else going on here.

Every new report out of Iran seems to bring us closer to the moment when Israel has decided it’s heard enough. What happens if that day actually happens ?

A roundup of some of the more intelligent commentary on the Big Picture issues in the brouhaha of the day.