Last Call For The Neverending Boring

Hillary Clinton spent nearly nine hours having her time wasted by the clowns on the Benghazi Committee Committee to Derail Hillary Clinton's Presidential Bid and the GOP never looked worse.

The hearing became a tussle between Republicans who believe there are still serious questions to answer about what happened in Benghazi -- as well as those who appear to want to dent her presidential ambitions -- and Clinton as she tries to build on a resurgence in her campaign after a tough summer. 

Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio submitted the former secretary of state to a dramatic period of questioning when he alleged that she and other Obama administration staff tried to blame the attack on the consulate on an anti-Muslim YouTube video to avoid undercutting President Barack Obama's claims that he had crushed Al-Qaeda. 

"You could live with a protest about a video, that won't hurt you, but a terror attack would," Jordan said, saying that Americans could accept, reluctantly, compatriots being killed abroad but "what they can't live with is when their government is not square with them." 

Clinton rejected the claim, saying in the desperate hours after the attack on September 11, 2012, that information on the true nature of the assault on the compound by a mob was unclear. 

"I am sorry that it doesn't fit your narrative congressman, I can only tell you what the facts are." 

Another Republican, Rep Mike Pompeo of Kansas, tried to rile Clinton by asking why her old friend and political operative Sidney Blumenthal had been able to send her personal emails, requests for more security from U.S. staff in Libya did not reach her desk. 

There were several occasions when Democrats teed up questions for Clinton that allowed her to speak at length and in personal terms about the events in Benghazi. 

At the prompting of Cummings, she spoke movingly about the deaths of Stevens and State Department Information management officer Sean Smith from smoke inhalation.
With an eye on the audience outside the Capitol Hill hearing room, Clinton said that she wanted members and "viewers in the public to understand this was the fog of war" in the confused hours after the attack. 

And she related how a security agent with Smith and Stevens had "turned back into that diesel smoke desperately trying to find Chris and Sean. He did find Sean and Sean had succumbed to smoke inhalation ... He could not find Chris Stevens."

 If this all sounds familier, that's because it's been three years of the same idiocy over and over again, and as long as the GOP holds the House, these ending will never, ever end.  They've already made that clear.

The witch hunt will continue for another, what, 9 years?  Count on it.

The Gun Control Debate Is Over

And gun control has lost.

A majority of Americans, 56%, believe that if more Americans carried concealed weapons after passing a criminal background check and training course, the country would be safer.



These results are from Gallup's annual Crime poll conducted Oct. 7-11. In the wake of mass shootings at schools and other public places, some have argued that the shootings could have been stopped if any of the victims had carried weapons. Others argue that having more citizens carrying weapons can lead to more violence and accidental shooting.

To recap, concealed carry is now the majority position of Americans.  Even women want concealed carry, 50-45%, and people who live in big cities approve, 50-47%.  Americans under 30 overwhelmingly believe concealed carry will make America safer by a 2-to-1 margin.  All other age groups agree with that by majority numbers.  Even half of people who don't own guns believe more concealed carry will make us safer.

The only groups that don't think this is a good idea?  Democrats and postgraduates. And even a third of those groups think more concealed carry will make us safer.

Americans also want background checks for all gun purchases, 86-12%...but that of course only serves to make sure that concealed carry licenses are given to those who qualify.

And that's where we're heading, a society where gun ownership is greatly increased.  The assumption is that guns will be even more prevalent, and that people need to be licensed and educated to own one in order to be considered a responsible citizen, the way we see ownership of a car today.

I often see the "If Guns were treated like Cars!" argument on the net.  It's a good one.

It also means that guns are going to become a lot more acceptable in society very quickly, the way same-sex marriage has come to be acceptable in the last ten years.  I foresee that kind of move happening, especially among younger Americans.

For better or worse.  I think it will be worse.

The Burning Question In Ferguson

So, I'm eager to hear from the "Christianity is under assault in America!" crowd about who is setting black churches on fire near Ferguson, Missouri.

In Missouri, a $2,000 reward is being offered for any information leading to the arrest of a suspected arsonist targeting churches in predominately black neighborhoods. Since October 8, six church fires have been set in the St. Louis area, near Ferguson, all within a three-mile radius. 

New Life Missionary Baptist Church was one of the hardest hit, with flames tearing through the entire entrance, reports CBS News' Adriana Diaz. The pastor said he believes the arsonist squirted some sort of chemical through the mail slot to help the fire spread even faster. 

"We are called today to address what is possibly the most dangerous onslaught that we've experienced in many, many years, which is an attack on God's house," said James Clark of Better Family Life. 

With a suspected arsonist still at large, church leaders in and around St. Louis urged community members to remain vigilant Tuesday. 

The New Life Missionary Baptist Church was so badly damaged, it held services outside Sunday. 

Authorities don't yet know who sparked the flames or why, but they believe the crimes are connected. In each case, an accelerant was used to light the front doors of the churches on fire. The buildings were all unoccupied at the times of the attacks. 

"There's a very alarming pattern to these fires so we don't want to get out of hand," St. Louis Fire Department Chief Dennis Jenkerson said.

And I'm betting the answers you will get from the "Christianity is under assault!" crowd is that the arsonists may be:

• A secret army of Syrian refugee Muslims in Ferguson
• Black Lives Matter activists
• Obama
• Saul Alinsky
• A secret army of Syrian refugee Muslims who are Black Lives Matter activists
• Obama's brownshirts in a false flag operation designed to take our flamethrowers
• Lightning strikes, probably
• Heatwave, who didn't have Captain Cold to keep him in line
• Obama, pretty sure it was Obama
• Aliens, man
• The sun
• COBRA, just being jerks again
• The Illuminati
• Evil fire elementals and/or efreeti, or other denizens of the Elemental Plane of Fire
• Maybe Obama
• Pyron from Darkstalkers (who is an evil alien fire elemental from the sun, see)
• Valerie Jarrett
• Big Boy Caprice
• Shaggy (wasn't him, he says)
• Can you prove Obama didn't set those fires?

What they will not answer:

• Right-wing racist domestic terrorists 

So yeah, who knows.  I'm sure the cops are real eager to solve this one.

StupidiNews!

• Vice President Joe Biden confirms he will not run for President in 2016, citing that the "window has closed" for running, but that he will not "remain silent" about the election.
• GOP Rep, Paul Ryan has won tentative support from right-wing members of the Republican House for Speaker, but not enough support to guarantee he can win next week's vote.  
• Hillary Clinton faces another grueling round of testimony before the House Benghazi committee, where Republicans are expected to publicly grill her for several hours.
• Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif will meet today with President Obama to discuss security options in bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table.
• Mythbusters hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman confirm that January's 14th season will be the show's last.