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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 has announced that they have come to a deal to reopen the government for three weeks. He thanked the federal workers who went without work and promised they'll receive their backpay soon. The short term funding does not include wall funding.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has indicted Roger Stone, a former advisor to President Donald Trump, on seven charges, which include witness tampering, making false statements, and obstruction of justice. It's important to note that he "is not accused of taking part in collusion with the Russian government or of taking part in the theft of emails stolen from Democrats." The FBI raided Stone's home in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, early Friday morning and arrested him. It looks like someone tipped off CNN because the network had cameras at the scene.

Venezuela's downward spiral gained some speed on Wednesday after National Assembly President Juan Guaido declared himself as the interim president. He claimed it's the only way "to rescue Venezuela from 'dictatorship.'" Guaido did this, even though Nicolas Maduro was sworn in a few weeks ago for another term, "after the Venezuelan National Assembly on Tuesday announced its takeover of the executive power."

A day after she interviewed Nick Sandmann, NBC's Savannah Guthrie interviewed Nathan Phillips. Many considered the interview "too soft" compared to the one with Sandmann. They may have a point as Guthrie allowed Phillips to continue to play victim despite evidence coming out that he confronted the Covington Catholic students at the Lincoln Memorial.

Last week, reports came out that Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) faces a lawsuit from a former staffer who claimed the congresswoman fired her after she said a former employee of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) raped her in 2015. Jackson Lee has now resigned as CBC Foundation chairwoman and stepped down temporarily from a House Judiciary subcommittee chairmanship.

Catholic News Agency (CNA) reported on Tuesday that Phillips led a rally in an attempt to disrupt Mass at DC's Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception last Saturday. It happened a day after Phillips confronted students from Covington Catholic High School that launched a viral video, which led to a bunch of problems.

President Donald Trump has informed Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in a letter that he will honor her previous invitation to deliver the State of the Union in Congress on January 29. He told Pelosi, "It would be so very sad for our Country if the State of the Union were not delivered on time, on schedule, and very importantly, on location!" Pelosi shot back that she won't allow Trump to deliver the address in the House.

According to Politico, the GOP finally has an answer to the Democrat Party's ActBlue, which brought in over $700 million small-dollar donations in 2018:
Following weeks of closed-door discussions, Republicans have agreed to create a new platform dubbed Patriot Pass, which will be used to cultivate and process online donations. The GOP — whose jungle-like ecosystem of vendors has long fought bitterly over contracts and dollars — has struggled in the past to create such a unified system.