UPDATE: CNN reports seeing machetes, razors, Molotov cocktails, tear gas, and clubs while hearing some gunshots. Mubarak supporters are storming Tahrir Square from all sides, rumored to be accompanied by plainclothes policemen. An Army vehicle has been overturned. Tear gas may have been fired by police. CNN: EARLIER: Was just watching CNN. Pro-Mubarak demonstrators, … [Read more...] about UPDATE: All Hell Breaks Loose in Cairo
Taking Exception (Guest Voice)
Taking Exception by Peter Funt Even in the midst of serious shortfalls involving the economy, education, health care, and military entanglements overseas, America remains truly exceptional in many ways. However, clinging to the phrase “American exceptionalism,” and elevating it as yet another password for patriotism, only misappropriates the concept. “They've refused … [Read more...] about Taking Exception (Guest Voice)
Mubarak Stays
This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved. … [Read more...] about Mubarak Stays
Friedman: A Perilous Time for Israel
But also, he believes, one presenting a window of opportunity to make a deal with the Palestinians and ensure peace: To put it bluntly, if Israelis tell themselves that Egypt’s unrest proves why Israel cannot make peace with the Palestinian Authority, then they will be talking themselves into becoming an apartheid state — they will be talking themselves into permanently … [Read more...] about Friedman: A Perilous Time for Israel
Military Interchange Programs as Agents of Liberal Reform
One of the key inflection points in any revolution is the ultimate decision by the armed forces as to whether they will fire on the protesters. Generally, any decently-entrenched regime with a powerful military can survive street protests if the military continues to back it. If the military decides to stand down, however, things get a lot more interesting. This is one of the … [Read more...] about Military Interchange Programs as Agents of Liberal Reform
Mubarak May Leave But Authoritarian Rule Has Deeper Roots
Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak may be on an outbound flight soon but that will not be the end of this saga of the people’s rebellion. He may give up, but the authoritarian system he established and which nourished him will stay. Changing that will be much harder than ousting the President. Mubarak is looking for a dignified way out. He has been an emperor. He wants to leave without … [Read more...] about Mubarak May Leave But Authoritarian Rule Has Deeper Roots
From the River to the Sea
I oppose all radical clerics who advocate a "one-state" solution in Israel. Mike Huckabee is no exception. As Jon Chait observes, Huckabee's objection in principle to the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank is a position not even taken by the Likud Party (indeed, it's not even taken by Avigdor Lieberman's extreme-right Yisrael Beiteinu party). Virtually the only … [Read more...] about From the River to the Sea
Mubarak Announces He Won’t Run Again
Bowing to pressure from the street and an increasing international sentiment that Egypt might be in better shape if he cut his losses, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has announced he will not run for re-election, CNBC reports But will this be enough to satisfy the protesters? He is not saying he will step down before his time in office runs out: Egyptian President Hosni … [Read more...] about Mubarak Announces He Won’t Run Again
Upper Darby, Pennyslvania Bullying “Wolf Pack” Arrested for Brutally Bullying 13 year old
Look at the face above. It's of 13 year old Nadin Khoury who you'd think -- or hope -- would be a young teen who despite the economy or any other issues swirling around would be happy about the possibilities for the future. In fact, according to the Philadelphia Daily News, he has thought about the future: he wants to be a Marine. Instead, he'd go to school worried about the … [Read more...] about Upper Darby, Pennyslvania Bullying “Wolf Pack” Arrested for Brutally Bullying 13 year old
Mubarak To Speak Tonight; Pledge To Not Seek Re-Election?
NPR: Update at 1:40 p.m. ET. Mubarak To Speak Tonight; Pledge To Not Seek Re-Election? Reuters writes that "Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak will give a speech on Tuesday after at least 1 million people rallied across the country clamouring for him to step down, Al Arabiya television said. There was no official confirmation." Reuters also quotes Al Arabiya as saying … [Read more...] about Mubarak To Speak Tonight; Pledge To Not Seek Re-Election?
How The Grunts Fight Judicial Activism With Strange Legal Logic
You gotta love conservatives who for years railed against judicial activism as a form of legal tyranny by fiat. But on the very day a lower court federal judge ruled Obamacare unconstitutional, the skies are blue and no longer falling. Never mind a pet conservative political cause trumping a legal premise supported by a concept of the 10th Amendment and related articles of … [Read more...] about How The Grunts Fight Judicial Activism With Strange Legal Logic
Barbara Bush Comes Out For Gay Marriage
Barbara Bush (Dubya's daughter, not his mother) has just appeared in an HRC video spot promoting marriage equality in New York. In terms of Bush's actually influence, this isn't all that important -- Bush is only a political figure because of who she's related to; she's expressed little interest in entering the public sphere on her own terms (even less than, say, Meghan McCain … [Read more...] about Barbara Bush Comes Out For Gay Marriage
Will Obama Be Known as Having ‘Lost’ Egypt?
When thousands of Egyptians poured out onto Cairo’s streets in protest on the January 25 “Day of Rage,” the political explosion rocked the region and shook President Hosni Mubarak’s government to its foundations. It set off a chain-reaction of follow-up street confrontations — and underscored three realities. REALITY ONE: The international order can quickly change. Nimble … [Read more...] about Will Obama Be Known as Having ‘Lost’ Egypt?
Will Middle East Change Clamor Spread to Jordan?
Will the street protests that led to upheavals in Tunisia and Egypt spread to Jordan? It sounds as if Jordan's King is taking some pre-emptive steps with this news, via CNN: The king of Jordan dismissed his government Tuesday and appointed a new prime minister with orders to implement political reform. The dismissal follows several protests calling for change in … [Read more...] about Will Middle East Change Clamor Spread to Jordan?
Yellow Pages May Be Banned in San Francisco
Will the Yellow Pages -- the once indispensable to have and indispensable to advertise in powerhouse -- soon be outlawed in San Francisco, a victim of the same technology revolution that short-circuited another onetime mainstay of American life, the pay telephone? It sounds that way: San Francisco would become the first city in the nation to ban the unsolicited … [Read more...] about Yellow Pages May Be Banned in San Francisco
Brown’s Victory over Whitman: A Reminder That Big Bucks Don’t Always Decide Elections
Here's a reminder that big bucks don't always necessarily decide elections: the latest on how now California Gov. Jerry Brown's political war chest was tiny compared to his opponent, GOPer Meg Whitman: Democrat Jerry Brown won the California governor's race despite being outspent nearly 5 to 1 by opponent Meg Whitman, according to campaign finance reports filed yesterday. … [Read more...] about Brown’s Victory over Whitman: A Reminder That Big Bucks Don’t Always Decide Elections
The Election Trap
Republican Food Fight, 2012
The GOP ideological kitchen is being overrun by too many cooks, including a pizza magnate presidential candidate and a chain that sells God-fearing breaded chicken to say nothing of Sarah Palin's WTF moose chili and Michele Bachmann's side dish of apple sauce. All this complicates 2012 for the white-bread front runner Mitt Romney, whose ever-changing menu will have to take … [Read more...] about Republican Food Fight, 2012
Egypt, Tunisia Raise Doubts About Western Democracy: Global Times, People’s Republic of China
Have we in the West made a mistake, assuming that democracy is the best form of government for all nations? Perhaps fearing similar events on its own streets, from decidedly undemocratic China, this editorial from the state-run Global Times suggests that the recent wave of 'color revolutions' demonstrates that Western efforts to democratize the world in its own image are naive … [Read more...] about Egypt, Tunisia Raise Doubts About Western Democracy: Global Times, People’s Republic of China
Bush’s Daughter to Endorse Gay Marriage
Just as George W. Bush differed with his father on many issues, now Barbara Bush is at odds with her father, George W. Bush, on a major social issue. The New York Times announces that "Barbara Bush, one of the twin daughters of George W. Bush, will endorse same-sex marriage on Tuesday, publicly breaking ranks with a father who, as president, pushed for a constitutional … [Read more...] about Bush’s Daughter to Endorse Gay Marriage