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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.

Stay classy, leftists! Philippe Reines, a former top aide to failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, tweeted out the contact information of the Black Swan bookstore in Richmond, VA. The owner, Nick Cooke, had the audacity to call the police when a woman harassed President Donald Trump's former advisor Steve Bannon and called him a "piece of trash."

All in all, it's not a bad jobs report to kick off the summer. The Labor Department's report shows the economy added 213,000 new jobs in June even though experts predicted only 190,000. This means job growth has happened 93 months in a row, which is a record. Unemployment went up to 4% from 3.8%, but that probably went up because of the rise in labor participation.

Scott Pruitt has resigned from his post as administrator of the EPA. President Donald Trump took to Twitter, saying he accepted Pruitt's resignation and that Pruitt's deputy Andrew Wheeler will take over.

Two Britains fell ill four days ago after an exposure to the nerve agent Novichok, the same agent that almost killed Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. The British government blamed Russia for the attack on the Skripals, but authorities don't have any evidence as of now to show them why anyone would target Charlie Rowley, 45, and Dawn Sturgess, 44.

It's kind of weird this story is coming out now when Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan's name has become prominent in talks of who should be the next Speaker of the House. Jordan worked as an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University from 1987 to 1995. Now former wrestlers during that time claim Jordan ignored sexual abuse allegations against the team's physician Dr. Richard Strauss.

The Daily Caller's Luke Rosiak continues to do a great job with the story about Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz's former IT aide Irwan Awan and his family. The publication received a memo dated February 3, 2017, from Congress's top cop Sergeant-at-Arms Paul Irving to the Committee on House Administration (CHA). Irving and Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Phil Kiko wrote that the House Democratic Caucus's server disappeared after it became evidence in the cybersecurity probe against Awan. The two men "concluded that the employees [Democratic systems administrator Imran Awan and his family] are an ongoing and serious risk to the House of Representatives, possibly threatening the integrity of our information systems and thereby members’ capacity to serve constituents.”

Research from Avalere Health, a healthcare consulting firm, shows that more insurance companies are adding Obamacare as an option, but in many cases, that's going to mean higher premiums for some. From the report:
These findings are based on an Avalere analysis of the complete 2019 individual market proposed rate filings released publicly by 10 states and DC. “Insurers are starting to gain a better understanding of who is likely to buy their health insurance through the exchanges, but questions about the stability of the market remain,” said Matt Brow, president of Avalere. “This uncertainty is likely to contribute to substantial increases in exchange premiums across many states in 2019.”

Third time is a charm for former Mexico City mayor Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The two-time presidential runner up came out on top of Mexico's presidential election on Sunday in a landslide victory. He's the first leftist to win the election in decades in Mexico. Some of his supporters have referred him as the "messiah" as they look to him to uphold promises the other parties have failed to uphold.

The Democrats are desperate to crash the House and Senate in November, taunting the right that a blue wave is coming their way. Do they even know what is considered a wave in elections? I guess not because analysis from Ballotpedia shows the Democrats that it's not just taking over the House and Senate. In order for an actual wave to happen, the Democrats have to win a lot more seats than they need to control Congress.

Law enforcement identified the man who shot and killed five people at Capital Gazette in Annapolis, MD, as Jarrod Ramos. Ramos sued the publication in 2012 for defamation, but the judge tossed the case in 2015. Instead of waiting for facts, many people and the media immediately jumped to conclusions and blamed President Donald Trump's rhetoric.

This is a subject that has strayed into the background and I'm thankful the Washington Free Beacon reported on it last night. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo testified in front of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) asked him about the attacks:
"That's a very good question," Pompeo told Sen. Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.) during testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee. "I don't know if they were the same events. It is the case that the medical condition, the single medical condition to date in China is, as the medical folks would say, consistent with what happened in Cuba."

It's happening! I cannot wait to see how the left and #NeverTrump will behave when President Donald Trump holds a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two leaders will meet in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16.