There is a growing sense in Cairo that the city -- and the country -- may be waking up every day now to a new normal. The demonstrations yesterday were the biggest to date and are continuing, reenergized, this morning as protestors march again on Parliament. But as demands for the immediate removal of the Mubarak regime go ignored, some experts are questioning whether the country will be prepared in September -- forget about now -- to hold anything resembling free and fair elections. In the meantime, Egypt's crucial tourism industry has ground to a halt and is looking like the biggest casualty yet as the instability drags on.
Top stories:
- Free, Fair Elections Still Distant Prospect for Egypt (Washington Post)
- Al Jazeera: Protests Remain Strong (Al Jazeera)
- Detained Google Exec Boosts Protest (BBC)
- Republican-Led House Fails to Pass Patriot Act Extension (Los Angeles Times)
- Administration Pitches Big Rail Projects (New York Times)
- Momentum Builds for Debt Deal (The Hill)
- First lady Michelle Obama on TODAY: No smoking, Facebook in the White House (TODAYShow video)
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Re: The utter, absolute, total, complete, categorical absence of any commenting activity on your blog as of yet (except for that one moron who was talking smack about Chuck Todd's hat yesterday. No wait, that was me):
Some ruffian called Lawrence O'Donnell a "loser" a few weeks ago 'cause he only had seven comments on a particular post on his blog. But you guys have like, how should I put it, gentle-like? None, nothing, zero, zilch, zip, bupkis, diddly, duck egg, nada, nought, scratch—not on any post, not ever (except of course for that one moron who…oh yeah, I've already touched on that).
Your blog is sort of like the proverbial sad-sack kid in 3rd grade who no-one wants to play with. Y'know, the kid who sits in the corner, picks his nose, drools on himself, leaves his fly open, and talks smack about Chuck Todd's hat. No wait, that was me).
You really need to do something to step up the participation level here, in any case…
Perhaps you can take a page out of the President's book and give a speech at the Chamber of Commerce.
Or perhaps there's another Daley brother out there somewhere who you can bring aboard as your new chief of staff.
Or maybe you can get your hands on some of that stimulus money purportedly still floating around D.C., and use it to send out TDR coffee cups and T-shirts to anyone willing to post a comment.
Since I've always been possessed by a certain magnanimity of character (read: I really have nothing better to do), I'll try to get things rolling for you here. I'm expecting that coffee cup to arrive by the end of the week. And maybe you can throw in a bag of Gold Coast Blend®: Morning Joe Edition coffee while you're at it. God knows no-one is actually buying that stuff.