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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.

Authorities have arrested Jacob Schwartz, a New York City employee and president of the Manhattan Young Democrats, for allegedly possessing child pornography. The NYPD Computer Crimes division began an investigation in March and Schwartz surrendered his computer. The detectives "found more than 3,000 images and 89 videos depicting girls as young as 6 months old performing sex acts on adult men."

So this fiasco started last summer when OKC Thunder star Enes Kanter voiced his support for Fetullah Gulen, the preacher that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blames for everything. Kanter's family, who resides in Turkey, publicly disowned him. Then last weekend Romania didn't allow Kanter to enter the country because Turkey canceled his passport. Luckily, the country didn't deport Kanter and he made it safely back to the states. But Turkey will not stop. Now officials have issued an arrest warrant for Kanter for allegedly belonging to the "terrorist group" Gulenist Terror Group (FETO).

Remember last week when Turkish bodyguards beat the crap out of protesters in front of the Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C.? Since then Turkey has feigned anger and insisted they did not do anything wrong and the men simply tried to protect themselves. Well, the New York Times dissected the videos released of the fiasco to identify the men and prove they started the fight.

While in Saudi Arabia, President Donald Trump signed a $110 billion arms deal with the kingdom. The White House has claimed the deal "includes defense equipment and other support to help the Arab nation and the rest of the Gulf region fight again terrorism and the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran." But Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has a problem with the munitions part of the deal due to Saudi Arabia's continued coalition in Yemen against the ousted government.

At least 10 gunmen opened fire on a bus transporting Coptic Christians in Cairo, Egypt, and killed 28 people. The Christians were headed to the St. Samuel the Confessor monastery. Men, women, and children are among the dead. Fox News reported that Copt United news portal confirmed only three children survived the massacre. The gunmen also injured 22 others.

Investigators in Florida have torn apart a sex trafficking ring in Florida that took place across two counties, which forced women to have sex with at least 100 men a week. Authorities arrested three men who face accusations "of forcing women to have sex with dozens of men a day." CBS12 discovered "at least six women from different counties were sex trafficked out of several brothels" that existed in Martin and Palm Beach Counties and Lake Worth.

On Monday, former national security adviser Michael Flynn refused to honor a subpoena from the Senate Intelligence Committee for documents connected to the investigation into its Russian probe. He invoked his Fifth Amendment right. The committee has tried another way to receive the documents by issuing two subpoenas for two of Flynn's former businesses. From Reuters:
"While we disagree with General Flynn's lawyers' interpretation of taking the Fifth ... it's even more clear that a business does not have a right to take the Fifth," the panel's vice chairman, Democratic Senator Mark Warner, told reporters, referring to Flynn's decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) will not let go of a border adjustment tax (BAT) when it comes to tax reform, which will set up a major showdown with the White House and possibly the Senate. Ryan admitted today that the House could pass a tax bill without the BAT, but he's still trying to sell the idea to his fellow lawmakers and the White House.

Four IT staff for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and other lawmakers lost their jobs in February after suspicions arose that they breached security on the House IT network. The U.S. Capitol Police named Hina Alvi, her husband Imran Awan, and his brothers Abid and Jamal "as subjects of a criminal probe." Now relatives have said that Alvi has fled the United States with her daughters and sought protection from the Pakistani government.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, UK, on Monday night. The attack killed 22 people and left 59 injured. British authorities refuse to name the attacker, but CBS News reported he was 23-year-old Salman Abedi. Yes, the authorities knew about him before the attack.

President Donald Trump finished his trip to Israel by meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem and the Israel Museum. During his first day, Trump "pledged to work toward Israeli-Palestinain peace," but admitted it's the "toughest deal of all." However, he assured Netanyahu "that the U.S. wants Israel to have peace."

*We will update this post through the night* (UPDATES BELOW) An explosion occurred at an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. Police confirmed 19 dead and 50 injured, but have not confirmed exactly what caused the explosion or who caused it. Police have told Sky News that they decided to treat the incident as a "possible terrorist incident" until the officials know otherwise.