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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 identified the suspect in the New York City explosion on Monday morning as Akayed Ullah, 27. They have also called the explosion an "attempted terrorist attack." The New York Post reported that sources said the suspect told investigators he wanted revenge:
Akayed Ullah, 27, who is believed to be from Bangladesh and was living in Brooklyn, told authorities in sum and substance from his hospital bed: “They’ve been bombing in my country and I wanted to do damage here,” sources said.

Roll Call has unveiled another instance of taxpayers paying for a lawmaker to hide his disgusting behavior. This time, us taxpayers forked over $220,000 so Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) could settle a sexual harassment lawsuit:
Winsome Packer, a former staff member of a congressional commission that promotes international human rights, said in documents that the congressman touched her, made unwanted sexual advances, and threatened her job. At the time, Hastings was the chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, where Packer worked.

Iraq Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has declared that the country has fully liberated itself from the Islamic State (ISIS). The defeat of ISIS comes after three years of battles since the terrorist group leaked into Iraq and captured Mosul, the country's second largest city, and other key cities along the border of Syria.

More details have come out after reports revealed that Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) asked former female aides to carry his baby. In his resignation statement, Franks insisted he never "physically intimidated, coerced, or had, or attempted to have, any sexual contact" with members of his staff. However, aides believe Franks wanted to impregnate them via sex. One of the aides said he offered her $5 million to have his baby and he retaliated against her after she said no.

The attacks on American officials at the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, keeps getting stranger and stranger. The latest information revealed that doctors have found brain abnormalities in the victims. From The Associated Press:
It's the most specific finding to date about physical damage, showing that whatever it was that harmed the Americans, it led to perceptible changes in their brains. The finding is also one of several factors fueling growing skepticism that some kind of sonic weapon was involved.

*UPDATE 3:25PM* AP just tweeted that Franks is retiring immediately after wife is admitted to the hospital. Frank Thorp tweeted Franks' statement, which said she is in the hospital for an ongoing ailment and after discussions with family, he decided to retire today. Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) has decided to resign amid reports that he asked female staff members to bear his child. The House Ethics Committee had said it would investigate the lawmaker. Franks said in a statement that he brought up surrogacy with two former female staffers because he and his wife have struggled with infertility. The topic made the females feel uncomfortable.

Do you remember back in 2014 a story that popped up about power director Bryan Singer, the man behind X-Men and The Usual Suspects? A male actor claimed that Singer hosted orgies where men and the director repeatedly raped him as a minor. Sources told TMZ that these types of orgies are common. Author Bret Easton Ellis said he knew all about Singer’s parties with boys and powerful men for years because he dated a man who participated and other gay men told him all about the parties at a dinner party in 2007. Ever since the fall of Harvey Weinstein and others, I've been wondering and hoping Bryan Singer's name would pop up again. It finally has. A man has sued Singer for allegedly raping him in 2003 when he was only 17-years-old.

Demands for answers have been shouted out almost every day since The Washington Post reported how the Office of Compliance for Congress has shelled out over $17 million for 264 settlements and award over various violations. This includes sexual harassment. The Ethics Committee promised to get to the bottom of it as shouts of 'unseal the deals' rung out. They're having trouble, though, because the Office of Compliance isn't cooperating and withholding important details.

There are days in the year we should commemorate yearly: 9/11, D-Day, V-Day, July 4. December 7, the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, is one of those days. We lost 2,400 in the attack, the majority on the USS Arizona. Today at Pearl Harbor, a sailor who saved six men finally received his recognition. Also, President Donald Trump signed a presidential proclamation to recognize December 7 as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. Seven survivors joined him for the event.

*UPDATE* Senate has also passed the stopgap spending bill, sending it to President Donald Trump's desk. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a two-week spending bill that will beat the deadline of a government shutdown.

The DOJ has demoted Bruce G. Ohr amid a probe into his contacts with the Fusion GPS firm, the company that produced the infamous dossier on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. From Fox News:
Initially senior department officials could not provide the reason for Ohr’s demotion, but Fox News has learned that evidence collected by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), chaired by Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., indicates that Ohr met during the 2016 campaign with Christopher Steele, the former British spy who authored the “dossier.”

On Tuesday, disgraced Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) retired after numerous women accused him of sexual misconduct. He faced an investigation by the ethics committee and calls from colleagues to resign. New accusations may have been the tipping point. Today, The Washington Post reported a former intern claimed Conyers "brought up the then-developing investigation into the disappearance of former federal intern Chandra Levy" when she turned down his sexual advances.