By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
Independent voices from the TWT Communities

The chief of the U.S. Border Patrol said Tuesday that his agents have a tough time ousting armed drug cartel spotters from the tops of U.S. mountains because the rules of engagement constrain them.

Raising the stakes in the high-profile clash with congressional Republicans over last year's terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, a person familiar with the State Department-chartered inquiry said investigators talked last year with CIA personnel who were on the ground during the attack and were briefed about the CIA's activities at their secret base in the Libyan city.

President Obama's $3.77 trillion budget plan is hardly serious, or feasible, said Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson.

Talk about a pay cut. J. C. Penney's chief executive officer, Ron Johnson, saw his 2012 salary cut by nearly 97 percent, to $1.9 million.

Fresh off his filibuster that captured the hearts of libertarian conservatives, Sen. Rand Paul told attendees Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference that the Republican Party has become "stale" and must return to basic constitutional principles if it wants to ignite a political revolution.

Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren testified on Monday that he hung up on home diva Martha Stewart after she called to inform him on Dec. 6, 2011, that the company that bears her name had inked a deal with J.C. Penney to open shops within most of the chain's stores.

Why, he's only the most true-blue conservative in the U.S. Senate, according to the National Journal's "Congressional Vote Ratings" released Thursday. The judgment was made by roll-call voting records alone. Sen. James E. Risch, Idaho Republican, has the most conservative voting record for 2012.
Ruby-throated hummingbirds are migrating to North America weeks earlier than in decades past, and research indicates that higher temperatures in their winter habitat may be the reason.

The Obama administration's handling of the deadly September attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, faces another congressional grilling when outgoing Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta testifies Thursday on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has been on the losing side of every vote the Senate has taken in his young career — the only senator who can claim that distinction, boosting his anti-establishment credentials and earning him rave reviews from grass-roots conservatives.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's performance last week before the Senate and House committees on foreign relations provided, regrettably, no additional useful information on the Benghazi debacle.

Lying is no big deal. It's just something that we Americans have to live with.

J.C. Penney is bringing back sales.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is a national embarrassment. In congressional testimony this week, Mrs. Clinton -- under oath -- repeatedly deceived the public about her role in the Benghazi terrorist attacks.

If you thought the long-anticipated Hillary hearings were going to be a feet-to-the fire payback for Benghazigate, then maybe you should think again.
"Why don't we take those people out?" said Sen. Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Republican.
"I strongly urge the Senate to hold new hearings on Benghazi" to get testimony from "people who were on the ground in Libya during the attacks," said Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican who clashed memorably in January with Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time.
Benghazi investigations included CIA activities; personnel had secret base in Libyan city →