The protests and casualties in Cairo continue into a fourth day, raising concerns – and hopes – about what sort of Egypt will emerge from the tumult.

Three American college students studying in Cairo managed to make the story about them; they were arrested and accused of throwing flaming canisters and Molotov cocktails at Egyptian security forces.

If the trio need help with bail, they might call on Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former Washington archbishop and veteran globetrotter, who helped secure the release of two American hikers held in Iran.

McCarrick provided some fascinating details on that mission at a speech Monday night, but also suggested that U.S. diplomats need to do more to develop “religious channels” to other nations.

The more we learn about Jose Pimentel, the pot-smoking convert to Islam who was arrested on terrorism charges in New York, the more he makes the Big Lebowski look like an efficiency expert: turns out he couldn’t even drill a hole without help from his FBI informant pal:

“He’s like a zombie; he’s in limbo all the time,” said a neighbor of Pimentel’s, deploying an interesting amalgam of religious states.

Does God need a lobbyist? Apparently. Religious lobbying in Washington has increased five-fold in the last few decades, according to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

In other political news, Michele Bachmann went on Jimmy Fallon’s show last night to play “word association” – and teach him how to talk like a Minnesotan. Oh, and sell books, which may be her main job these days, given her poll numbers, or number.

She was a good sport. “Romney?” Fallon asked. “Vice-President,” Bachmann answered. Zing.

Mitt, an abstemious Mormon, is also drawing attention for what Politico calls a “bombshell revelation” in a People magazine profile: “I tasted a beer and tried a cigarette once, as a wayward teenager, and never did it again.”

He probably never tried Polygamy Porter, which is tasty.

Herman Cain was SO relieved when his nurse told him that one of his doctors, who had an Arabic-sounding name, was not a Muslim:

She could see the look on my face and she said, ‘Don’t worry, Mr. Cain, he’s a Christian from Lebanon.'”

“Hallelujah!” Cain says. “Thank God!”

Moroccan officials are canceling the swimsuit portion of the country’s 2012 beauty pageant and say contestants can wear veils instead.

The Georgia Supreme Court sided by a 6-1 vote with the national Episcopal Church in a property dispute with a historic Savannah church that tried to break away – and take $3 million worth of buildings with it – after the election as bishop of Gene Robinson, an openly gay man.

John. F. Kennedy, RIP: This day cannot pass, of course, without a moment of remembrance for the president slain this date in Dallas in 1963.

At Real Clear Politics, editor Carl Cannon marks the tragedy by reminding us about the other man killed that day by Lee Harvey Oswald, police officer J.D. Tippit, and the bond of grief formed between the Kennedy’s and Tippit’s widow:

That night, Robert Kennedy phoned the family, and in a poignant touch, Marie Tippit ended up consoling the attorney general: “They got killed doing their jobs,” said Marie. “He was being the president, and J.D. was being the policeman he was supposed to be.”

A couple of days later, a letter arrived from Jackie Kennedy, who expressed remorse and solicitude and offered her help. In reply, Marie told Jackie that she and her husband had always loved the president, and that the only thing she would like was a portrait of the Kennedy family.

Days later, a framed photo of the president, the first lady, and their two children taken at Hyannis Port arrived in the mail with an inscription reading:

“For Mrs. J.D. Tippit – with my deepest sympathy – and the knowledge that you and I now share another bond – reminding our children all their lives what brave men their fathers were – With all my wishes for your happiness, Jacqueline Kennedy.”

— David Gibson