From the AP:
An official statement encouraging Egyptian civilians to arrest lawbreakers and hand them over to police has set off a new political storm in a country already mired in crisis.
A senior leader of a hard-line Islamist faction loyal to President Mohammed Morsi said his group was preparing lists of volunteers ready to take over police duties if needed. [emphasis added]
Read the rest here.
TPM Reader PJ chimes in on drones as the new black helicopters …
I think your observation regarding the “hidden audience” of Rand Paul’s filibuster is fairly spot on. I think it makes sense to read it through the shifting tides of politics and foreign policy. For example, the “United Nations-is-coming-oh-my-god-they-will-force-plastic-money-on-us” conspiracy theory was really a way for some to make sense of the world following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the loss of one of the only existential threats to the idea of America itself.
Now Florida Senate panel opposes Medicaid expansion.
In a major blow for soda and sugar freedom, a judge has struck down the New York City soda ban.
Are the Dems prepping to bail out on Ashley Judd’s would-be candidacy for Senate in Kentucky?
The judge presiding over the FEC’s lawsuit against former Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) for using campaign contributions to pay for his legal defense in that 2007 gay sex sting in the Minneapolis airport doesn’t sound like she’s buying the argument that this was related to Craig’s official duties: Read More
Everybody got a kick out of Rand Paul’s filibuster last week. I noted that he actually made the case for what filibusters should be — and thus why filibuster reform is so important. Others focused on the his conspicuous defense of civil liberties. But something has been rattling around my head since that all went down. Was this too-seldom defense of civil liberties or a dog whistle appeal to the black helicopter crowd? Read More
Mr. Harry W. Stamps of Long Beach, Miss., died Saturday at age 80. I didn’t know the man. You probably didn’t either. But you’ll appreciate his obituary: Read More