Morsi Toppled, Mail Tracking

World:  A roar of approval rose up out of Cairo’s Tahrir Square yesterday when Egypt’s top general went on television to announce the toppling of President Mohamed Morsi and the suspension of the country’s year old constitution. Morsi was detained after failing to respond to the army’s 48-hour deadline for political compromise. Thirty-eight members of Morsi’s political party, The Muslim Brotherhood, also were arrested. Armored vehicles now guard potential flashpoints of violence. Morsi’s popularity quickly died during his year in office as he refused to share power with the opposition and failed to improve the country’s floundering economy. Egypt’s top judge, Adli Mansour, has been appointed interim president until a new election. The country’s Islamic-leaning constitution will be reviewed and possibly re-written.

National: The NY Times reports that the US Postal Service takes a picture of the exterior of every piece of paper mail it processes, about 160 billion a year. That’s comparable to the NSA’s collection of phone logs and Internet activity. The Postal Service keeps the images and gives them to law enforcement agencies that need them. The Mail Isolation Control and Tracking Program was used recently to find a Texas woman who sent ricin-laced letters to President Obama and NY Mayor Bloomberg.

Found: The body of Randy Udall, 61, brother of Colorado Sen. Mark Udall was found on a remote trail in the Wyoming Rockies. Udall never returned from a weeklong backpacking trip. He appears to have died of natural causes. The Udall family is a western political dynasty that has included Secretary of Interior Stewart Udall and Arizona Congressman Mo Udall.

The Obit Page: Douglas Englebart, the electronics pioneer who invented the computer mouse, died at home in California at age 88. In the 1950s Englebart had the revolutionary idea that computers, crude as they were,  could augment human intelligence. At a time when computers were fed information with stacks of punch cards, Englebart invented computer interaction with a keyboard and mouse.

Get in Line: The Statue of Liberty reopens today after having been closed since Hurricane Sandy last October. Liberty Island’s walkways took a pounding in the storm and its docks were ripped away by wind and high water. Fifteen thousand visitors are expected today. Ellis Island, the processing center for millions of immigrants for 160 years, remains closed.

Movie Review: NY Times reviewer A.O. Scott called “The Lone Ranger” remake opening this weekend “two and a half hours of air conditioning.”

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It's Been Said

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