House Benghazi panel may cost $3 million this year  —  WASHINGTON — House Republicans are planning to spend as much as $3.3 million for this year's operations of the special committee they created in May to investigate the September 2012 Benghazi attacks, a bigger budget than the House Veterans Affairs …

John Walsh Takes on NRA, Vows to Continue Piers Morgan's Gun-Control Campaign on CNN  —  “The Hunt” host says Vice President Joe Biden agreed with him that politicians are “scared s—less” of the NRA  —  Piers Morgan is gone from CNN, but new host John Walsh plans to continue his campaign for gun control.

AP Sources: Border Policy Requests to Come Later  —  President Barack Obama is holding off for now on seeking new legal authority to send unaccompanied migrant kids back home faster from the Southern border, following criticism that the administration's planned changes were too harsh.

Behind Harry Reid's war against the Koch brothers  —  At first, it seemed like just another example of Harry Reid being Harry Reid.  —  The Senate majority leader, whose unscripted attacks can veer into bellicosity and take liberties with facts, spoke on the Senate floor last October …

IDF strikes 50 targets across Gaza as operation gets underway  —  “We are entering into a long operation.  This is only the start,” senior security source says of IDF's Operation Protective Edge.  “We are preparing to increase ground forces on Gaza border.”

Every Day is an All-Out Assault  —  RUSH: Where you been, Snerdley?  Snerdley walks in here, brings me his Stack of show prep that he wanted me to see today, and he's outraged.  Have you not been listening to this program?  “More than half of privately insured women are getting free birth …

Mistrust in North Carolina Over Plan to Reduce Precincts  —  SHELBY, N.C. — When Alan Langley, a Republican member of the local elections board here, explains a new proposal to consolidate five voting precincts into two, it sounds procedural and well-meaning: He speaks of convenient parking …

Sen. Robert Menendez seeks probe of alleged Cuban plot to smear him  —  Sen. Robert Menendez is asking the Justice Department to pursue evidence obtained by U.S. investigators that the Cuban government concocted an elaborate plot to smear him with allegations that he cavorted with underage prostitutes …

THE STATE REPUBLICAN PARTY IN TEXAS IS NOW THE CRAZIEST IN AMERICA  —  It seems almost pointless to mention this but there is simply no state Democratic party in any of the 50 states that is so clearly, obviously demented. … Getty Images  —  If you want to see the clearest symptoms …

Holly Fisher: Public Enemy Number 310,345,204  —  This image — which features an American woman named Holly Fisher and an international terrorist named Sherafiyah Lewthwaite — has been doing the rounds on Lefty Twitter:  —  “Explain the difference”?  With pleasure.

Forget Red State, Blue State: Is Your State “Tight” or “Loose”?  —  A new theory about the cultures of different regions could go a long way toward explaining why the United States is so polarized.  —  It is obvious to anyone who has traveled around the United States that cultural assumptions, behaviors, and norms vary widely.

The Letters That Warren G. Harding's Family Didn't Want You to See  —  Warren G. Harding, right, perhaps the worst chief executive in U.S. history, and Carrie Fulton Phillips, his longtime mistress and sexy pen pal.  —  Left: the Calvin H. Topliff family.  Right: the Ohio History Connection.

Sarah Palin On Hillary Clinton, Advice for ‘The View’ and Her Latest TV Show (Exclusive)  —  As Sportsman Channel orders a second season of her “Amazing America,” the GOP star offers her thoughts on the firings at daytime talker, Clinton's new book and our “incorrigibly disastrous” political system.

Fourth of July weekend toll: 82 shot, 14 of them fatally, in Chicago  —  For 10 minutes, it seemed like the shooting was everywhere in the South Chicago neighborhood.  —  It started when someone shot and wounded a couple, then two people fired at the shooter, then there was a chase …

No one is reading ‘Hard Choices,’ either.  —  By now, the poor sales of Hillary Clinton's new book “Hard Choices” are well-documented.  (Relatively poor, we will add, given the complex topography of bookselling.)  —  But another metric came to our attention this weekend which allows us …

ISIS Is About to Destroy Biblical History in Iraq  —  Iraqi antiquities officials are calling on the Obama administration to save Nineveh and other sites around jihadist-occupied Mosul.  But are drone strikes really the answer?  —  PARIS — More than two and a half millennia ago …

Fox News Advises Women To Ditch Feminism, Offers Tips To ‘Keep Your Husband Happy’  —  “When did it happen when men and husbands became doormats?”  Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy asked a guest on Monday morning in a segment Fox News called, “Husband Appreciation: Sage Advice For Wives.”

Eric Cantor seeks financial help  —  Eric Cantor's stunning primary defeat is leaving his campaign in a financial bind.  —  The Virginia Republican's political operation has asked his House GOP colleagues to cut checks so he can wind down his once-powerful campaign committee …

Exclusive: California truck drivers go on strike  —  California truck drivers at three major transportation companies went on strike Monday morning, demanding an end to purported labor law violations such as misclassification and intimidation.  This is the fourth strike initiated by the drivers …

McDaniel's Lawyer: We've Found ‘Thousands’ Of Ineligible Voters  —  State Sen. Chris McDaniel's (R) lawyer said McDaniel's campaign and supporters have found “thousands” of examples of ineligible voters who cast their vote for Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) in the runoff election for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.

Federal Judge Blasts Hobby Lobby Decision: Supreme Court Should ‘STFU’  —  Judge Richard George Kopf, a George H.W. Bush appointee to the federal bench who maintains his own personal blog, has some harsh words for the Supreme Court in the wake of their birth control decision …