Outside the Beltway

Not every soldier is a hero. Not even every POW.

It’s good that Bowe Bergdahl is free, but questions remain about how he went missing that need to be answered.

The very idea of a “war on religion” in the United States is absurd.

There’s plenty of blame to go around.

A pretty clear violation of the First Amendment.

A new poll indicates that most Americans don’t want to see the United States intervening overseas.

So, this happened.

Thanks to Edward Snowden, the Washington Post and the Guardian are Pulitzer Prize winners.

In retrospect, and in comparison with other recent Presidents, George Herbert Walker Bush’s four years in office were pretty darn good.

Jeremiah Denton, a Vietnam War hero and one-term US Senator from Alabama, has died. He was 89.

Americans are skeptical about getting involved in the Ukraine crisis. This isn’t a surprise.

The Supreme Court turns down a case dealing with student’s First Amendment rights.

Veteran newsman Garrick Utley has died from prostate cancer at the age of 74.

John Boehner explains quite succinctly why nothing big is getting done in Congress.

Watch your language in Wilson County, North Carolina.

The “good war” no more.

Does a determination that NSA data collection practices are likely unconstitutional mean that Edward Snowden’s actions were, in some sense, justified?

WSJ’s Marc Myers has a fascinating chat with Keith Richards on the making of one of the Stones’ iconic tracks.

Some 2000 veterans of World War II were lobotomized by the VA. That’s awful but not outrageous.

A third term for any of these guys? Don’t count on it.

The opponents of the temporary deal reached in Geneva have been making some ridiculous historical analogies.

Conservatives have their own Kennedy myth to compete with the myth of Camelot.

It’s no wonder there’s no compromise in Congress.

NSA Director General Keith Alexander really doesn’t like the idea of a free press.

Presidents have gotten away with ignoring Congress when it comes to foreign military adventures for a very long time.

West Point graduates account for nearly one in fifty deaths in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Some really bad advice for the GOP.

An absolutely ridiculous criminal case out of West Virginia.

The infamous VA backlog is finally dwindling. Much of it was a function of good intentions.

Some interesting choices ahead for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie

The Iraq War did significant damage to the legacy of the Republican Party.

The final release of President Lyndon Johnson’s tape recordings reveals a bizarre plot.

President Lyndon Johnson considered flying to the 1968 convention and offering himself up for re-nomination.

Andrew Bacevich bemoans the social impact of the all-volunteer force.

In “Veterans and Senate Buddies, Until Another War Split Them,” Elisabeth Bumiller profiles the relationship between Chuck Hagel and John McCain:

Are two-term Presidencies the new normal?

The Afghan Surge announced by President Obama in December 2009 is over. By any objective measurement, it was a failure.

President Obama didn’t blow the doors off the Time Warner Cable Arena last night, but he didn’t need to.