Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Benghazi fallout: “Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Diplomatic Security Eric Boswell is resigning. His deputy, Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Programs, Bureau of Diplomatic Security Charlene Lamb, as well as another unnamed official from State’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs are resigning as well.”
* Relief: “The final member of the NBC News team working with Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel crossed safely from Syria into Turkey early Wednesday, NBC News said in a statement.”
* I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: President Obama really is great with kids.
* The State Department wants conspiracy theorists to know Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is not faking her ailments.
* House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi isn’t “thrilled” with Obama’s debt-reduction offer, but she doesn’t consider chained CPI to be a cut to Social Security benefits.
* What are “refundables”? As Jonathan Cohn explained, they’re the series of initiatives that do a lot to help low- and middle-income Americans, which the White House hopes to possibly use to offset proposed chained CPI changes.
* Grover Norquist, apparently eager to be a team player, says the higher taxes in John Boehner’s “Plan B” don’t count as higher taxes.
* In a bit of a surprise, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) will stay at the Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) will chair the Senate Intelligence Committee, leaving Appropriations for either Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) or Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.). * Clarity in Ireland: “The Irish government announced Tuesday that it would draft new laws and regulations to spell out when doctors can terminate a pregnancy, weeks after an ailing woman was refused an abortion and perished.” * A rare, well-deserved honor: “Sen. Daniel Inouye’s (D-Hawaii) body will lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda on Thursday…. He is the first senator since Claude Pepper, who died in 1989, to lie in state.” * The eagle-snatching-baby video isn’t real. Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
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