Mary Chastain | Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion - Part 407
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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 took to Twitter to unleash his anger on Morning Joe and its hosts Mika Brzezinki and Joe Scarborough. He wrote that he heard the show "speaks badly" of him, but wants to know why "I.Q. Crazy Mika" and "Psycho Joe" went to Mar-a-Lago for three nights around News Year Eve and asked to meet with him. Then Trump claimed Mika "was bleeding badly from a facelift" so he said no. Of course Mika didn't let this stand and responded on Twitter.

James O'Keefe's Project Veritas dropped the second video of a series to expose the media's bias against President Donald Trump. This video catches CNN's Van Jones, one of the more prominent leftist contributors, admitting the Trump-Russia narrative is mostly a "nothing burger." Yesterday's video showed a CNN producer calling the narrative "mostly bullsh*t."

Social media took off late Tuesday night after video caught a helicopter circling Venezuelan government buildings, including the Supreme Court. Reports indicate that the helicopter "fired 15 shots at the Interior Ministry, where scores of people were at a social event, and dropped four grenades on the court, where judges were meeting." President Nicolas Maduro immediately slammed the attack, which he called a coup attempt. But other theories have come to light with the opposition saying Maduro staged the coup attempt as a way to crackdown on his opponents and grab more power.

The Petya ransomeware took off yesterday across the globe, affecting state-owned and private businesses in Russia, Europe, and the U.S. The BBC has now reported that it "may have started via corrupted updates on a piece of accountancy software." The ransomeware hit Ukraine hardest since it attacked the country's "power grid, banks and government offices" and disrupted some flights at Kyiv's Boryspil Airport. Other companies hit included pharmaceutical giant Merck and Russia's state owned energy company Rosneft.

Tennis legend John McEnroe caused quite a stir during his NPR interview when he said Serena Williams would only be ranked 700 if she played on the men's circuit. Williams hit back, but McEnroe refuses to apologize for his statement. From The Los Angeles Times:
McEnroe said he had been asked why he called Williams the best women’s tennis player of all time rather than simply the best tennis player of all time. “And so then I felt the need, however unfortunately probably, to defend myself,” McEnroe said Tuesday. “I don't know, just say what I really felt, which is about what I think she would be."

James O'Keefe's Project Veritas released the first video in a series they claim will expose the bias of mainstream media outlets. The video released Tuesday shows an investigator questioning CNN producer John Bonifield about the President Donald Trump-Russia narrative that has dominated the news cycle. Bonifield admitted to the investigator that Trump "is probably right to say, like you are witch hunting me" and that the narrative is "mostly bullsh*t right now" and the network doesn't "have any giant proof."

CNN has changed rules on how the company handles stories about Russia after the network had to retract and delete a story on Friday. BuzzFeed reported that CNNMoney executive editor Rich Barbieri sent out an email on Saturday that told employees they should not "publish any content involving Russia without coming to me and [CNN Vice President] Jason [Farkas]."

British Prime Minister Theresa May has struck a deal with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to give the conservatives the slim majority it needs for May to stay in her role. The New York Times reported:
With the deal, which is reported to provide Northern Ireland with additional funding of up to $2 billion over five years, Mrs. May will be able to win a clear majority vote in Parliament on Wednesday on the legislative program her government set out last week. Without the support of the D.U.P., Mrs. May risked losing that vote of confidence, which would have opened the way for the opposition Labour Party to try to form a minority government of its own.

The Supreme Court has decided to hear a challenge from a Colorado baker, after the state charged him with violating the state's anti-discrimination law when he declined to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. From the LA Times:
Jack Phillips, the owner of the Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colo., was charged with violating the state’s anti-discrimination law, which says businesses open to the public may not deny service to customers based on their race, religion, sex or sexual orientation. The state commission held that his refusal to make the wedding cake amounted to discriminatory conduct, and the state courts upheld that decision.

The top Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have launched an investigation into former Attorney General Loretta Lynch to find out if she interfered with the FBI's probe into Hillary's email server. Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) sent Lynch a letter asking for answers after news outlets reported that she told people within the campaign that the FBI's investigation would not dig too deep.

Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb has ousted Phil Montag, a volunteer for the party's technology committee, after a recording surfaced of him saying he was glad House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was shot and wished he died. Scalise and four others were shot last week while practicing for the congressional baseball game. From The Omaha World-Herald:
On Thursday, Kleeb acted immediately upon hearing the recording. “This is the first I am hearing this,” Kleeb said by email Thursday morning. “As soon as I heard it, I sent it to the (party) officers and then sent an email to Phil Montag informing him I am removing him from his appointed position as Co-Chair of the Technology Committee. ... Wishing a Member of Congress or any individual dead is disgusting and has no place in our party.”

In February, California decided to ban state-funded travel to Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Tennessee after officials deemed laws in these states discriminate against the LGBT community. California has now added Texas, Alabama, South Dakota, and Kentucky to that list for the same reasons.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has filed a lawsuit against people who have protested outside of Choices Women's Medical Clinic in Queens for the past five years. Schneiderman has accused the defendants of "targeting patients and employees every Saturday morning, telling them 'You don’t know when you might get shot' and even calling them murderers."