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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-elect Donald Trump has chosen former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao for Transportation Secretary. Chao served as Labor Secretary under George W. Bush and deputy secretary of transportation under George H. W. Bush. She is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Chao met with Trump last week at Trump Tower where they discussed "labor and transportation issues with a particular focus on America’s long-term infrastructure needs, and reducing or eliminating burdensome regulations."

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest has announced that President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will not attend the funeral for Cuba's oppressive murderous dictator Fidel Castro, who died this weekend:
In an effort to halt a series of questions about the potential attendance of various individual government officials, Earnest would confirm only that the president and vice president would not travel to Cuba for the funeral service. He pointedly refused to rule out that Secretary of State John Kerry would attend, but would not confirm his attendance, either.

Oh how the tables have turned! Only a few weeks ago we talked about vulnerable Republicans, but the election put the GOP in charge of Washington, D.C., leaving the Democrats scrambling for ways to remain relevant. According to The Hill, some of those Democrat politicians who face reelection in 2018 have expressed a willingness "to work with President-elect Donald Trump and Republican colleagues."

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel found Dylan Roof competent to stand trial for the murder of nine black people at a church in Charleston, S.C., last summer. Today, the judge has decided that Roof can represent himself in his trial:
Roof made the last-minute request as jury selection was set to begin this morning. U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel cautioned Roof against serving as his own attorney, noting his defense team's considerable legal expertise, but ultimately granted the request. He noted that Roof has a constitutional right to represent himself.

Media outlets & Ohio State reported an active shooter on campus, but it turns out the suspect mainly used a knife and a car. NBC has released the name of the attacker: Those transported to the hospital had stab wounds:
Ohio State Police Chief Craig Stone said the attacker purposely drove over a curb and into pedestrians. "This was done on purpose," he said. Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs said police were looking into whether it was a terrorist attack.
One official said the man "was a 'legal permanent resident.'"

President-elect Donald Trump has appointed Donald McGahn as White House counsel and Kathleen Troia McFarland as deputy national security advisor. McFarland currently works for Fox News as a national security analyst after working "under three Republican administrations." From The Hill:
“I am proud that KT has once again decided to serve our country and join my national security team,” Trump said in a statement. “She has tremendous experience and innate talent that will complement the fantastic team we are assembling, which is crucial because nothing is more important than keeping our people safe.”

The internet went crazy this morning after a report surfaced that Boston's CNN channel aired 30 minutes of hardcore porn. Media took off with it, but I have to admit that the details appeared sketchy because how does a major cable provider like RCN unknowingly air 30 seconds let alone 30 MINUTES of hardcore porn? Looks like they didn't:
"We are in the process of researching this incident but see no evidence our CNN network feed was compromised last evening in Boston," Jeff Carlson, svp and general manager, RCN Boston, said in a statement to THR.
The account @solikearose has protected her tweets, but she shared pictures of her TV to BuzzFeed News to prove that she did not fake this story. Turns out a glitch may have caused it.

The United Kingdom has become Big Brother. The government passed the Investigatory Powers Bill, which means internet providers must provide the asking government agency with a citizen's internet browsing history. The bill provides that power with these agencies, a few may raise eyebrows:
Metropolitan Police Service City of London Police Police forces maintained under section 2 of the Police Act 1996 Police Service of Scotland Police Service of Northern Ireland British Transport Police Ministry of Defence Police

Politico's national editor Michael Hirsh has resigned after he pushed for attacks on white supremacist leader Richard Spencer and published Spencer's address. Spencer's group National Policy Institute recently held a gathering in DC with people posting pictures of themselves doing the Nazi salute. Spencer and his small minded group hold despicable viewpoints, but let's use our brain here. No one, especially a member of the media, should ever publish a person's private address. We should never advocate for violence against anyone no matter how disgusting we find them.

Last summer, Dylann Roof opened fire at the historic Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, murdering nine black people during a meeting. The court started jury selection this month, but U.S. Distric Judge Richard Mark Gergel stopped the process when Roof and his defense team filed a motion "concerning the young man's competency to stand trial." A psychiatrist examined Roof and presented the findings to Judge Gergel, who released his decision today:
After carefully considering the record before the Court, the relevant legal standards, and the arguments of counsel, the Court now finds and concludes that the Defendant is competent to stand trial.