In honor of the upcoming election: “James K. Polk” by They Might Be Giants.

• Hot off the presses: Megan H. MacKenzie’s Foreign Affairs article that advocates putting women in combat roles.
• Jason Fritz unloads in “the rank hypocrisy of veterans on OPSEC.”
• This looks like an interesting short course for the international-relations theory set. 
• Steve Saideman on the “irony” of Fox News as a “true American” foreign import.
• Brigit Meyer discusses one of my favorite subjects: “secularization and disenchantment” (via 3QD)
• Henry Farrell has a great post on the (low) value of “insider knowledge.” There’s an interesting synergy with relationalist criticisms of standard stories. Insider knowledge tends to not merely privilege, but obsesses over, standard-story accounts of politics. 
• “Crowdsourcing the Evaluation of Post-Sandy Building Damage Using Aerial Imagery” by Patrick Meier.

And also:

• The slow-motion death of pubic education (via LGM).
• Rob Farley (at LGM) discusses the right-wing blogsphere’s “War on Math.”
• Tim Burke reflects on ten years of blogging.
• Five Duck Kudos® to the first person to identify the source of my “cow-with-halberd” costume. Note: Duck Kudos® are non-transferrable, non-redeemable, and have no monetary value.