"Two senior officials from the Department of Veterans Affairs have pleaded the Fifth Amendment in front of a House Veterans' Affairs Committee hearing on relocation bonus corruption.

"Philadelphia and Wilmington VA regional offices director Diana Rubens and St. Paul VA regional office director Kimberly Graves pleaded the Fifth and refused to answer any of the numerous questions put forward by HVAC chairman GOP Rep. Jeff Miller. ...

"An inspector general report from Sept. 28 found that two VA officials abused the relocation program to the tune of hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars. To successfully take advantage of the program and receive extra money during a time of salary caps in the department, the two officials pushed subordinates out from their positions and subsequently applied for those newly open positions, so that they could then receive generous expense accounts during the move, in addition to bonus incentive funds."

"In or out of office, Fred Thompson stayed true to the conservative principles he believed had made America great. He always thought a major reason Republicans lost the presidency in 2008 was that they had aided and abetted runaway government spending. Republicans had to commit themselves to smaller government, he contended, because Democrats are incapable of following through on ever being fiscally prudent. 'Their political coalition needs more revenue like a car requires gasoline,' he told me as he ran for president. 'Reagan showed what can be done if you have the will to push for tough choices and the ability to ask the people to accept them.'

"Fred Thompson never made it to the White House, but he nonetheless showed a strength of character and a grounded belief in common sense that left his country a better place."

"For the first three Republican debates, the moderators have spent most of each debate asking candidates to respond to what other candidates have said to them. These kinds of petty questions have led to debates being more about personal attacks than substantive policy. ...

"The candidates can, if they focus on this, set themselves apart by their policies, not their witty comments about each other. The American people need to see the policy differences between Republicans and Democrats. Because right now they're seeing what the Democrats have to offer but only what Republicans will say about each other."

"Boulder, CO -- After a performance by CNBC moderators that Republicans characterized as both biased and inept, a manager for a top GOP campaign says he will try to organize other campaigns to force the Republican National Committee to make 'wholesale change' in the debate process.

"In an interview shortly after the debate, Barry Bennett, manager of the Ben Carson campaign, called the session here in Colorado 'unfair to everyone' and said the current debate structure should not remain in place. 'I think the families need to get together here, because these debates as structured by the RNC are not helping the party,' Bennett said. 'There's not enough time to talk about your plans, there's no presentation. It's just a slugfest. All we do is change moderators. And the trendline is horrific. So I think there needs to be wholesale change here.'"

"House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz began the impeachment process against IRS Commissioner John Koskinen on Tuesday, accusing him of misleading the public and destroying documents that were sought under a congressional subpoena. ...

"Among the specific charges leveled by Mr. Chaffetz and 18 of his fellow Republicans on the committee were that Mr. Koskinen, appointed by President Obama in December 2013 after the targeting scandal broke, misled Congress when he said he had turned over all of former IRS senior executive Lois G. Lerner's emails and that he oversaw destruction of evidence when his agency got rid of backup tapes that contained the emails."

"For all the promises and warnings about the Iran deal, it is nothing more than surrender dressed up as diplomacy. The correlation of forces in the Middle East has shifted in the past year, and Mr. Obama will not lift a finger to restore the balance. Mr. Khamenei knows this, and he is not about to give the U.S. a dignified surrender. Then maybe Mr. Obama knows it, too. He doesn'€™t seem to mind the ignominy."

"Fifty-one percent of working Americans make less than $30,000 a year, new data from the Social Security Administration (SSA) shows.

"That's $2,500 a month before taxes and just over the federal poverty level for a family of five. The new numbers come from the National Wage Index, which SSA updates each year based on reported wages subject to the federal income tax.

"In 2014, half of working Americans reported an income at or below $28,851 (the median wage), and 51 percent reported an income of less than $30,000. Forty percent are making less than $20,000. The federal government considers a family of four living on an income of less than $24,250 to be impoverished."

"At this point, there is really only one angle on Benghazi: Americans were in danger in a very dangerous country, security was deteriorating, and the State Department and Secretary of State did little, and in some cases nothing, to protect them."

"On Sept. 11, 2012, terrorists killed four of our fellow citizens in Benghazi, Libya: U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty, and Tyrone Woods. Their lives are worthy of unyielding respect as they epitomized the service and sacrifice so often found in the women and men who serve our country. Their deaths demand a thorough, fact-centric investigation because a country worth serving and sacrificing for is also strong enough to warrant self-scrutiny -- even at the highest levels. ...

"A lot of media and public attention has been paid to Secretary Clinton's testimony before the committee. She was secretary of state at all relevant times, so of course we need to speak with her. But she is only one witness out of more than 50 so far. The hearing is not the culmination of our investigation. The investigation will continue gathering facts and interviewing witnesses after Thursday.

"This committee and our work will ultimately be judged by our final report. We will write the final, definitive accounting about what happened in Benghazi, because the families of the fallen - and all Americans - deserve the truth. And there is no statute of limitations on the truth."

"In the sadistic era of fraudulent Hope and Change, inspectors general inside the federal government have been kicked, neutered, and starved of the authority and information they need to do their jobs.

"It's transparently clear: President Obama loathes and fears independent watchdogs.

"Accountability is an empty talking point without whistleblower protection and investigative autonomy. That is why Capitol Hill must do everything in its power to stop the White House war on the public's ombudsmen. Federal inspectors general across dozens of agencies are begging lawmakers to grant them access to public records, as guaranteed by the 1978 Inspector General Act.

"The call for help comes as Obama-administration obstructionists and cover-up operatives impede and downplay several key investigations into government corruption and malfeasance."