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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.

Joel Kaplan, Facebook's vice president of public policy, sent the social media giant into a tizzy after he supported his friend Brett Kavanaugh at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings. He apologized for the stir, but did not apologize for supporting his friend. In fact, Kaplan threw a party to celebrate the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Former Army captain Jair Bolsonaro of the Social Liberal Party came out on top in the first round of presidential elections in Brazil over the weekend. However, he did not reach the needed 50% to avoid a runoff. Bolsanaro received 46% compared to former Sao Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad's 29%. Yes, despite the large gap between the two men, they will have a runoff on October 28.

Just before President Donald Trump boarded Air Force One, he told the press he has no plans to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein is traveling with Trump to Orlando, FL. Speculation has grown around a possible firing of Rosenstein after The New York Times reported last month that he offered to tape Trump and discuss invoking the 25th amendment with Cabinet Members.

Superstar Taylor Swift has always remained silent on politics...until now. On her Instagram account, Swift took the opportunity to slam Tennessee Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who is running for the senate, and endorse Tennessee Democrats. She wrote that "several events" in her life "and in the world in the past two years" changed her mind and explains why she can't support Blackburn:
Running for Senate in the state of Tennessee is a woman named Marsha Blackburn. As much as I have in the past and would like to continue voting for women in office, I cannot support Marsha Blackburn. Her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me.

(Updated by WAJ) Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) voted to invoke cloture on the debate on Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh this morning. In one of the most extraordinarily intelligent and thoughtful speeches I've ever heard from the Senate floor or elsewhere, Collins announced that she would vote in favor of Kavanaugh.