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Author: Mary Chastain

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Mary Chastain

Mary is the resident libertarian. She covers stories in every vertical, but her favorite thing to do is take on the media. She saw its bias against the right when she was a socialist.

Mary loves the Chicago Cubs, Chicago Blackhawks, tennis, cats, Oxford comma, Diet Coke, and needlework.

President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that Press Secretary Sarah Sanders will leave at the end of the month. From Fox News:
Trump's announcement came moments before he made remarks at a White House event on its "Second Chance" program boosting hiring of criminals who have served their sentences. "We've been through a lot together and she's tough, but she's good," Trump said at the event Thursday.

President Donald Trump asserted executive privilege over 2020 census documents sought by the House Oversight Committee for its investigation into an added citizenship question. The move came right before the Democrat-led committee prepared to vote Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt for not providing subpoenaed materials.

MSNBC host and conspiracy theorist Rachel Maddow will moderate the first Democratic primary debate along with NBC anchors Jose Diaz-Balart, Savannah Guthrie, Lester Holt, and Chuck Todd. Maddow is the only one out of those who host an opinion-based TV show, which caused some people to raise eyebrows. It does not help that Maddow has dived into numerous conspiracy theories since President Donald Trump took office.

The House Committee on Armed Services revealed an outline of its defense budget proposal on Monday. The contents of the plan set up a possible stalemate with the Senate and President Donald Trump. The proposal trims $17 billion from the $750 billion Trump requested for defense. The Senate defense bill sits right at $750 billion. I have a feeling the portion that does not allow any Pentagon funding towards a border wall will cause the most problems with Trump.

On Saturday we celebrated National Best Friends Day because everything has a day. I guess former Vice President Joe Biden thought he could seize the day to remind people that he served next to President Barack Obama for eight years by posting their friendship bracelet. Cringeworthy doesn't quite cut it. Even some of Obama's closest aides rolled their eyes. Do you know what I find hilarious? The media, the left, and the right loved the Obama-Biden bromance... until now.

Vice President Joe Biden had a tough week, especially on the abortion topic. He also proved, at least to me, that he will say and do anything to get elected. On Wednesday, Biden supported the Hyde Amendment, which bans federal funding for abortions, then opposed it before his campaign said later in the day Biden supported it. After a lashing from opponents and activists, Biden announced on Thursday he does not support the Hyde Amendment.

We have witnessed the mainstream media collapse due to Trump Derangement Syndrome, but I have also seen people on Facebook share supposedly conservative news that is also not true. Fake news has made it hard to trust the news. Who do we believe? What do we believe? If we do not have faith in the press to tell us the truth, where will we go? It has become an actual problem. The Pew Research Center discovered that Americans believe fake news is more of a problem than terrorism, climate change, and illegal immigration.

Former Vice President and current 2020 Democrat presidential hopeful Joe Biden's stance on abortion has always confused people. As a Catholic, he holds the pro-life view, but let's be honest. You cannot go far in the modern Democratic Party with a pro-life perspective. The confusion came to the forefront today since it seems like Biden flip-flopped on the Hyde Amendment that bans federal funding for abortions. His opponents jumped on the remarks, which makes me think his pro-life voting records on abortion as a senator could come back to haunt him.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) announced Tuesday afternoon that officials arrested former Broward Sheriff's Deputy Scot Peterson and charged him with "seven counts of neglect of a child, three counts of culpable negligence, and one count of perjury." Peterson has faced criticism for not entering Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February 2018 during a shooting that killed 17 and injured 17 others.