House GOP Debates Fundraising Off Benghazi

House Republicans now battling over whether or not it's okay to fundraise off Benghazi. Benghazi committee chair Gowdy asks Republicans not to fundraise off Benghazi. House GOP campaign committee already has. Boehner won't ask them to stop.

With Moral Certainty

I'm embarrassed to say I get more numb to these shooting tragedies and I think it is because at this point we know with a moral certainty that absolutely nothing will be done to keep guns out of the hands of the rageful, narcissistic, delusional or psychopathic individuals who commit these atrocities.

As a society, we've made our choice.

I send my prayers and best wishes to the victims and their loved ones.

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One Trick Pony

I started listening to the Netanyahu speech a few minutes into it. It was painful to listen to - but painful in a different way than it was last year or the year before that. His voice simply sounds irrelevant. Who is he talking to? He sounds out of time and irrelevant.

LOL

Perhaps Kevin McCarthy is clumsy enough to be a Speaker Democrats can really get behind.

After McCarthy's candid admission that the House Benghazi committee only exists to beat up Hillary Clinton, House Oversight Committee chair Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) is rebuking McCarthy for saying something so totally outrageous as what everybody knows to be obviously true. But let's go a little further in stating the painfully obvious. The "Benghazi" story, issue, whatever you want to call it, has always been about and solely about exploiting the death of four Americans for partisan political gain.

Always.

From day one.

Full stop.

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More on the Disintegration of Syria

From longtime TPM Reader JG ....

With regard to Russia's military intervention in Syria and what it means for U.S. policy there, a few points that have been on the outskirts of the discussion deserve more attention.

First, the actual deployment is very small. In terms of the airwing, it is roughly the equivalent of what the non-U.S. coalition members have flying over Iraq and Syria, keeping in mind that the U.S. is still flying the majority of sorties now. The Russians are armed with non-precision munitions, meaning the likelihood of civilian casualties is high. The small size and lack of precision mean that it will have limited strategic impact in terms of bombing runs (although it will be able to provide the Assad regime with air support for ground operations).

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Remaining Sane in Difficult Times

I just watched CNN go full Breaking News, all-hands-on-deck about the Russian airstrikes in Syria today and the very real concern about having NATO and Russia both running non-coordinated air operations over a single country, albeit at least for now different parts of the same country. There was lots of heavy breathing and dramatic music. But the whole thing brought home to me not simply the incoherence of our own Syria policy but the incoherence of the entire world's Syria policy.

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The Same Story Again and Again

How many times have we heard this?

1. Don't make a sex tape if you're a top elected official

2. Don't store your sex tape on your cell phone

3. Don't forget your cell phone in Canada

4. Don't put yourself in a vulnerable position where Canada can hurt you

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Okay. Yes.

So we're planning on starting a podcast that will just be me talking to interesting people.

Sigh. No. Love

Fiorina campaign spokesperson Anna Epstein on today's Fiorina Defends Five Biggest Fibs list. "Considering how far you've had to bend over backwards to try to construe these statements in a way that fits your left-wing narrative, I'd say that sort of contortionism speaks for itself."

Iran Deal Hysteria Was Manufactured BS

Now that the Iran Deal is a done deal and with the stunning news of John Boehner's retirement, you may have missed this. It's not so much surprising, if you've been paying attention. But it confirms a basic reality, which is that the hysteria from Benjamin Netanyahu, much of the Israeli political establishment, purportedly 'pro-Israel' conservatives in the US, and others, was never shared by the Israeli defense establishment and, in a real sense, was manufactured BS meant to leverage the U.S. political climate.

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Hmmm

New Speaker of the House candidate is tight with disgraced Duggar Family cult leader.

Um What?

Anti-gay marriage clerk Kim Davis claims she held secret meeting with Pope Francis in Washington.