Outside the Beltway

The front page of Sunday’s NYT profiled Valerie Jarrett, the power behind the throne at the Obama White House.

President Obama issued a warning to Syria today over its chemical weapons stockpiles.

Albert Mannes shaved his head when he started to go bald. Now, he has done research showing it was a wise decision.

Terror erupted in a Colorado movie theater early this morning.

A nine month Al Jazeera investigations indicates that poison may have played a role in Yasser Arafat’s 2004 death.

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

Will winning a championship finally overshadown “The Decision” and erase the NBA’s best player’s reputation as a choke artist?

GQ has a great look back at the 1992 USA Olympic basketball team titled “The Dream Will Never Die: An Oral History of the Dream Team.”

Green Lantern is gay. The original Green Lantern. No, the other original Green Lantern.

Larry Bird has been named NBA Executive of the Year. Is there any basketball-related honor he hasn’t won?

Mitt Romney’s view of the ideal relationship between the United States and Israel is, at the very least. quite odd, and, potentially, dangerous.

There’s no perfect system for choosing a champion but we can do better than this.

Rick Santorum has some bizarre views when it comes to the dispute between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

New video plus a basic primer on Ron Paul’s newsletter situation.

So what was it: taken out of context or written by someone else?

Should Ron Paul find his currently upward trajectory to continue he will find himself facing greater media (and opposition) scrutiny.

Newt Gingrich’s comments about Palestinian nationhood came up during last night’s debate.

Once again, Newt Gingrich speaks without thinking.

We’re running out of excuses.

Details are still sketchy but two men are dead in separate shootings at Occupy Oakland (California) and Occupy Burlington (Vermont).

Ron Paul is again making the argument that American foreign policy has contributed to terrorism. He’s more right than wrong.

British courts are handing out swift and harsh sentences for people involved in last week’s riots, including four-year prison sentences for two 20-somethings for Facebook postings in support of the mayhem.

The Air Force has suspended a course that teaches nuclear officers that Christian ethics permit them to do their job.

Condi Rice’s speechwriter thinks Huntsman can appeal to the Tea Party.

By insisting on perfection in the debt ceiling debate, the Tea Party has made itself irrelevant to the process.

The passage of a new same-sex marriage law has Democrats talking about Andrew Cuomo.

NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal has announced his retirement after 19 years as a pro. On Twitter.

A summary of the status of the “Arab Spring” uprisings with links to news coverage and commentary.

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

Republicans seem to have realized that the Ryan Plan’s Medicare reforms aren’t going anywhere.

The next week promises to be a battle between John Boehner and the Tea Party over whether or not compromise is a good idea.

Senator Joe Lieberman said today that we should intervene in Syria using the same rationale we did for Libya. Because, you know, what’s the big deal about a fourth war?

Obama is visiting Brazil and Chile while American fighting men join the coalition against Libya.

Warren Christopher, Bill Clinton’s first Secretary of State, has died at 85.

Muammar Gadaffi’s family hired big name entertainers for parties. What with the ongoing mayhem in Libya, that’s coming under scrutiny.

Ron Paul has won the CPAC straw poll for a second straight year. But YAF has voted him off its board over his opposition to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s speech to the nation tonight seems destined to make the situation worse.