memeorandum: Curt Olds, the Lord High Executioner (James Taranto/Wall Street Journal)

5:00 PM ET, January 29, 2011

Top Items:

Obama's handling Egypt pretty well — After President Obama spoke last night about the situation in Egypt, my Twitter feed and inbox filled up with angry denunciations, with lots of people complaining bitterly that he had endorsed Mubarak's grim struggle to hold on to power …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, AmSpecBlog, New York Times, The Moderate Voice, The Daily Dish, Outside the Beltway and White House.gov Blog

David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:

Egyptians Defiant as Military Does Little to Quash Protests — CAIRO — President Hosni Mubarak struggled to maintain a tenuous hold on power on Saturday as the military did not act against tens of thousands of demonstrators who defied a new curfew to call for an end to his nearly 30 years of authoritarian rule.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, CNN, The Daily Dish, Examiner, Weasel Zippers, Taylor Marsh, Fausta's Blog, The Moderate Voice, The Page, Associated Press, Guardian, Online NewsHour, Washington Post and Prairie Weather

Al Jazeera Blogs:

Live blog 29/1 - Egypt protests — on January 29th, 2011. — Visit our special Anger in Egypt coverage page. — Watch Al Jazeera English broadcasting live from Cairo, Suez and Alexandria. — Read up on a timeline of the past four days of unprecedented protests.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Daily Dish, DCist, LewRockwell.com Blog, Open Left, Hullabaloo, Global Voices in English, CNET News, GigaOM and AmSpecBlog

CNN:

Egypt protests draw mixed reaction in region — Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (CNN) — Saudi Arabia slammed protesters in Egypt on Saturday as “infiltrators” who seek to destabilize their country, while a a top Palestinian official affirmed “solidarity” with Egypt.

Discussion: Aljazeera, BBC, Weasel Zippers and Weekly Standard

Latme / Babylon & Beyond:

EGYPT: Opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei accuses U.S. of dropping the ball — Egyptian dissident Mohamed ElBaradei called the U.S. position on the Egyptian crisis a disappointment and condemned Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's early Satruday morning speech as “almost an insult to the intelligence of the Egyptian people.”

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, The Gateway Pundit, Open Left, Los Angeles Times and Pajamas Media

Griff Witte / Washington Post:

Egyptian troops let protests proceed as Mubarak names vice president — CAIRO - Tens of thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators swarmed central Cairo on Saturday in the largest demonstration yet against the rule of the country's longtime autocratic leader, President Hosni Mubarak.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Aljazeera, The Politico, CNN, msnbc.com, Prairie Weather, Hot Air and Mish's Global Economic …

Washington Post:

The U.S. needs to break with Mubarak now — ON FRIDAY, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians did something that the Obama administration, and many others in Washington, believed they would never do: They rose up against their government, demanding an end to President Hosni Mubarak's autocracy.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Moderate Voice, Guardian, Booman Tribune, New York Times, Blue Virginia, Hot Air, Ben Smith's Blog and The Plum Line

hrw.org:

Live Updates From Egypt — I went to the Morgue at the Alexandria General Hospital, where I saw 13 bodies of dead people - all men, young and old, but mostly young. Also visited the hospital's emergency room and saw many people who had been shot and were still waiting to get treatment.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Guardian, New York Times and Prairie Weather

The Huffington Post:
Obama Administration Cut Funding To Promote Democracy In Egypt …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and FrumForum

Robert F. Worth / New York Times:
Al Jazeera Covers Protests Despite Hurdles

Discussion: Sky Dancing, Crooks and Liars, Suburban Guerrilla and The Daily Beast, more at Mediagazer »

Rep. Thaddeus G. McCotter / Human Events:
America Must Stand With Her Ally Egypt

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Outside the Beltway, The Other McCain, American Power, Hot Air, Fox News, The New Republic, The Gateway Pundit and Political Punch

CNN:
JOHN KING, USA

Discussion: POMED

France24:
Top dissident ElBaradei says President Mubarak must go

Discussion: Babylon & Beyond

Associated Press:
Egypt's Mubarak names vice president for 1st time

Discussion: Reuters, The Daily Dish, Mediaite, Washington Post and Sky Dancing

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Kerry: Premature to threaten cutting Egypt's $1.3B aid

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and The Hill

Neil MacFarquhar / New York Times:
Egypt's Military Is Seen as Pivotal in Next Step

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, This Just In, Informed Comment, Wall Street Journal, Outside the Beltway, rubber hose, The Gateway Pundit, Pajamas Media, CNN, The Nation, The Reality-Based Community and Online NewsHour

President Barack Obama / Time:
Transcript: President Obama's Remarks on Egypt

Discussion: LewRockwell.com Blog, Babylon & Beyond, Political Language, Reuters, The Moderate Voice and Wall Street Journal

Mark Landler / New York Times:
Obama Cautions Embattled Ally Against Violence

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, News Desk, Washington Post, Guardian and Big Peace

Robert Mackey / The Lede:
Latest Updates on Protests in Egypt

Discussion: The Daily Dish, JustOneMinute and Jihad Watch

The Politico:

Right takes refuge in Constitution — The federal lawsuits against last year's health care overhaul were greeted with eye-rolling and snickers from many conventional legal scholars. — Nobody's laughing now. — A federal judge in Virginia ruled late last year that a key underpinning …

Discussion: Right Wing News, UrbanGrounds and Althouse

Amb / Fox News:

AMB. JOHN BOLTON: Is Democracy Coming to Egypt at Last? — As seen on Fox News Channel's “Happening Now with Jon Scott and Jenna Lee” on January 28. — FORMER U.N. AMBASSADOR JOHN BOLTON: I think what's clearly happened today [in Egypt] is that the Muslim Brotherhood …

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, Power Line, Cubachi, FrumForum, AmSpecBlog, The Washington Note, The Daily Caller, Atlas Shrugs and Big Peace

Caroline B. Glick / Jerusalem Post:
Column One: The pragmatic fantasy

Discussion: AmSpecBlog, Atlas Shrugs and New York Times

Robert Stacy McCain / The Other McCain:
‘Whose Bright Idea Was It to Send Joe Biden Out to Talk About Egypt?’

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Neptunus Lex, Hot Air and Don Surber

Myglesias / Yglesias:

Karl Marx, Real Business Cycle Theorist — Kudos to Benjamin Kunkel for trying to present an accessible Marxist account of the current financial crisis. I was struck reading the piece, though, by how similar the Kunkel/Harvery/Marx account of the crisis is to linguistically and ideologically quite different accounts from the right.

Discussion: Grasping Reality …

Benjamin Kunkel / London Review of Books: Benjamin Kunkel: Marx's Return

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Obama ‘willing’ to golf with Boehner — President Obama is willing to play golf with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to help improve their relationship, a top White House adviser said Saturday. — Outgoing White House senior adviser David Axelrod said that the chances are “good” …

Discussion: Hot Air

Bloomberg:
Axelrod Says U.S. Will Push Egypt for Reforms (Transcript)

Discussion: The Hill, Weasel Zippers, CNN and Sky Dancing

Joe Nocera / New York Times:

Inquiry Is Missing Bottom Line — There was something almost comical about the way the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission released its report on Thursday morning. — About a week ago, reporters were told they would get a sneak preview of the report the morning of its release. The location was undisclosed.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Big Picture, naked capitalism and Prairie Weather

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

Virginia House Revives Doctrine of ‘Interposition’ Last Used To Defend Jim Crow — Segregationist Virginia Senator Harry Byrd Sr. — In response to the landmark Affordable Care Act, numerous right-wing state lawmakers have introduced unconstitutional bills attempting to nullify this federal law.

Discussion: The Political Carnival, Joshua Holland's Blog and Colorlines

Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:

Who Wants To Be Paul Ryan's Press Secretary? — News stories about Paul Ryan have increasingly come to resemble an open competition for the job of Paul Ryan's press secretary. The latest audition, from ABC News, actually compares him to Kevin Kline's character in “Dave,” …

Discussion: Washington Monthly