Mary Chastain | Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion - Part 440
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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.

UK House of Commons Speaker John Bercow has announced he does not want President Donald Trump to speak at Parliament during a state visit. Bercow does not want any Members of Parliament (MP) to face backlash over the president's speech. So if Trump does make a speech, he may have to give it at the Royal Gallery instead of Westminster Hall, which was built in the 11th century. The Royal Gallery came into completion "800 years later and currently covered in scaffolding." British Prime Minister Theresa May invited Trump when she met with him last week at the White House.

Back in 2011, flight attendant Sheila Frederick saved a teen girl from human trafficking on her Alaska Airlines flight after she noticed something just was not right. Frederick said the teenager "looked like she had been through pure hell" and had greasy blonde hair. She also noticed the teen had "a well-dressed older man" as a travel companion. When she tried to converse with the two, the man became defensive. Frederick knew she had to do something. Human trafficking took over the news cycle over the weekend due to the Super Bowl. Studies have shown that human trafficking tends to rise on busy travel days. For years, though, flight attendants have gone through training to spot human trafficking much like Frederick's case.

Self avowed socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) inspired many people during his presidential campaign against Hillary Clinton. Somehow, though, I don't think he expected himself to inspire styles during Paris's fashion week.

So the left lost its mind because President Donald Trump said America isn't so innocent after Fox News's Bill O'Reilly stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a killer. I don't blame them. Putin is a killer. He's a schemer that will do anything to grab what he wants. But where was this outrage in 2008 when then-presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama wanted to start over with Russia? Where was this outrage when then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton handed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov a reset button?

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and State Department have announced officials will suspend "any and all actions" over the executive order President Donald Trump signed to halt immigration from seven countries. Trump signed the order so the government could put together a better vetting process to weed out terrorists. From The Hill:
“At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this order and defend the President’s Executive Order, which is lawful and appropriate,” spokesperson Gillian Christensen said in a statement, as first reported by BuzzFeed News.

Who knows? It seems to change every single week. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) have now said that they would settle to repair Obamacare instead of a full repeal:
And Hatch, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee — another panel with a crucial role in the effort to repeal the ACA — said Thursday that he “could stand either” repealing or repairing the law. “I’m saying I’m open to anything. Anything that will improve the system, I’m for,” he said.

The Senate woke up bright and early Friday morning to vote on President Donald Trump's education secretary Betsy DeVos to advance her to a final vote on Monday. She advanced with a 52-48 vote, but her confirmation vote will not come easy.

The Treasury Department has announced new sanctions against Iran after the regime performed a ballistic missile test earlier this week. From CNN:
The Treasury Department said it was sanctioning individuals and companies connected to Iran's ballistic missile program and those providing support to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Qods Force.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings (MD) erupted into a fight at a hearing on Thursday over possible Russian interference in our election. The fight started when the two sides discussed a possible Oversight investigation into the phishing schemes against the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Democrats argued it must happen:
“It’s clear that politics have prevented this committee from being willing or able to do the necessary objective and nonpartisan oversight on the Russian attack,” said Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.).

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has developed a plan top open up the commission and make it more transparent to the public. From The Hill:
“Today, we begin the process of making the FCC more open and transparent,” Pai told reporters. “I’m pleased to announce this morning a pilot project that, if successful, will become a commission practice — one that will give the public much more insight into the commission’s activities.”

Earlier this week, Iran performed a ballistic missile test in defiance of a UN resolution. President Donald Trump's White House officially put Iran on notice for more consequences if the regime has more tests. The regime has laughed at the threats:
"This is not the first time that an inexperienced person has threatened Iran," [President Adviser Ali Akbar] Velayati said. "Iran is the strongest power in the region and has a lot of political, economic and military power ... America should be careful about making empty threats to Iran."

Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump's pick for Education Secretary, may have escaped her Senate committee hearing, but she just lost two Republicans on the Senate floor. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine told the Senate that neither one can vote to confirm DeVos:
"I come to the floor to announce a very difficult decision that I have made, and that is to vote against the confirmation of Betsy DeVos to be our nation's next secretary of Education," Collins said from the Senate floor. Collins specifically pointed to DeVos's "lack of familiarly" with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, saying she was "troubled and surprised."

Senate Republicans found a way to end the Democrat boycott of approval votes for President Donald Trump's Cabinet. The Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee changed the rule stating at least one member from each party must attend a meeting for the committee to do its work. The Democrats boycotted the hearing yesterday to approve Human and Health Services Secretary nominee Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) and Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin. They boycotted Wednesday's meeting, which forced Republicans to take action:
“It’s just another way of roughing up the president’s nominees,” said committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). “They have been treated fairly. We have not been treated fairly.”