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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.

Whoops! Judicial Watch's investigation into the Hillary Clinton email scandal continues as a federal judge told the State Department to expedite the release of 15,000 emails the FBI discovered that her attorneys did not turn over. The watchdog group has kept a close eye on the scandal, at first questioning Clinton aide Huma Abedin's jobs before she went to the State Department. It unraveled to show that Hillary used an unsecure server and that many of her foundation's donors asked her for special favors when she served as Secretary of State.

The rise of Donald Trump has divided the GOP more than ever, leading many to worry if the party could maintain their majority in Congress whether he wins or loses the presidency. The Democrats have noticed and now Politico reports that Hillary Clinton plans to raise $1 billion to defeat the vulnerable GOP members of Congress:
The new concern inside the highest levels of Republican politics is that Hillary Clinton will raise $1 billion for Democrats and the party will train some of their efforts -- and that money -- on defeating House and Senate Republicans. Party leaders privately concede that the Senate could be lost either way. But senior House Republicans say they’re in good shape across the country, and see no evidence that the control of the chamber is in play.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a suicide bomber aged between 12-14 murdered 51 people at a wedding late Saturday night in Gazientep, which is located only 60 miles north of Aleppo, Syria. He also said the authorities believe the Islamic State was behind the terrorist attack:
"The initial findings of the governor and our police forces indicate the attack has been perpetrated by Daesh," said Erdogan, using another term for the terror group.
Mahmut Tagrul, lawmaker with the Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party, said the majority "of the victims that died were children."

Judicial Watch has tried for years to get records of Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin's employment outside of the State Department, which has led to questions about Clinton's private email server. The watchdog group has continuously received her emails from her time as Secretary of State, but overall the group does not believe Hillary has ever provided a justified answer as to why she used this server. Now, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of Federal District Court in Washington put Judicial Watch a step closer by telling Hillary she must provide written testimony under oath, also known as interrogatories, about her private email server in connection to Judicial Watch's lawsuit.

Last fall, Louisiana State University (LSU) reached out to University of South Carolina (USC) when their state had epic floods, offering them space and transferring their home stadium into USC's home stadium. Now USC has decided to return the favor as Louisiana faces historical flooding that has killed 13 people:
"LSU was so gracious to assist us in our time of need," South Carolina president Harris Pastides said in a statement. "Now it is our turn to help our SEC friends. I encourage all Gamecocks to drop off items needed for the Baton Rouge flood relief."

Former President Bill Clinton told staffers at the Clinton Foundation if Hillary wins the presidency they will stop accepting foreign and corporate donations. From Fox News:
While Hillary Clinton stepped down from its board after launching her 2016 campaign, her husband and daughter have remained in leadership roles, leading to questions about the ability of the organization to continue its work should Clinton win the White House.

The 2016 primaries and election so far has rattled the GOP, leaving many to wonder if the political party can hold their majority in the House and Senate. GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump's numbers aren't helping:
But, as Trump's numbers — nationally and in key swing states — continue to tank, a creeping fear has taken root within the Republican establishment that maybe, just maybe, a landslide loss at the top of the ticket could cost the party not only the upper chamber of Congress but the lower one, too.

Univision has decided to end production at Gawker after they bought the company for $135 million at an auction. Reporter J.K. Trotter wrote:
After nearly fourteen years of operation, Gawker.com will be shutting down next week. The decision to close Gawker comes days after Univision successfully bid $135 million for Gawker Media’s six other websites, and four months after the Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel revealed his clandestine legal campaign against the company.

The State Department has confirmed the U.S. used the $400 million payment to Iran as leverage for the prisoners they released in January. From The New York Post:
State Department spokesman John Kirby was asked at Thursday’s press briefing: “In basic English, you’re saying you wouldn’t give them $400 million in cash until the prisoners were released, correct?” “That’s correct,” Kirby replied.

The city of Seattle, WA, has offered a class on "white fragility" to white people in order to explain white guilt and why white people cannot "handle matters involving race." From Fox News:
Lecturer Robin DiAngelo, who coined the term, is teaching the taxpayer-funded class for the city Officeof Arts and Culture. She defines white fragility as "a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves."

The Brazilian police have said that U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte and three of his teammates were not victims of a robbery and security guards only a pointed a gun at them because they were vandalizing a gas station. Last week, Lochte said a gunman robbed him and three of his teammates after he left a party in Rio. But now different stories have caused authorities to raise eyebrows over the incident.

Not only has Venezuelan President Nicolas Madura's socialist policies starved people to death, but he has also brought back malaria. The New York Times has reported that desperate times have forced people to seek out gold in watery mines infested with mosquitos, which has led to the malaria resurgence because socialism ruined the economy and the country lacks medicine.

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson and running mate William Weld has pulled in more than $2.9 million since the beginning of August. From The Wall Street Journal:
The campaign ran an online “money bomb” asking supporters to donate $15 by Aug. 15 with a goal of raising $1.5 million. It reported that more than 90,000 people contributed an average of $32 in support of the Libertarian candidate—nearly double its goal.

Liz Cheney has emerged victorious in a primary election for Wyoming's only House of Representatives seat. Her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, once held the exact same seat. She said:
“No state has been hurt more by Barack Obama’s agenda over the past seven-and-a-half years than Wyoming,” said Cheney.

The FBI has sent over some of the classified documents and notes from their untaped interview for their Hillary Clinton investigation to the House Oversight Committee in order to understand why Director James Comey did not recommend charges against her. However, Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz said the FBI heavily redacted the majority of the documents:
“As the chairman of the chief investigative body in the House, it is significant I can’t even read these documents in their entirety,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah told Fox News. “This shows how dangerous it was to have this intelligence, highly classified to this day, on the former secretary’s unsecured personal server where it was vulnerable.”

President Barack Obama transferred 15 Guantanamo Bay prisoners to the United Arab Emirates, making it the largest transfer in his time in office. He sent 12 Yemenis and three Afghans to the Middle East country, leaving only 61 prisoners in the Cuba base. Gitmo had 242 prisoners when Obama took office in 2009.

Nigerian radical Islamic group Boko Haram has released a video of the Chibok girls they kidnapped in 2014. The video shows one girl begging the government to a "prisoner swap to secure release." One of the jihadists tells the audience that airstrikes killed "some of the 276 girls taken in April 2014" while they married off 40 more "by the decision of Allah."

Police have charged Oscar Morel, 35, with the murder of Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and his associate Thara Uddin, 64. Fox News reports:
Oscar Morel, 35, was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, police said. It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney who could comment on the charges.