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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.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 12, 2018 5 Comments
Vice President Mike Pence told The Washington Post on his way home from the Olympics that the U.S. is ready to open talks with North Korea after a discussion with South Korean President Moon Jae-in:
The frame for the still-nascent diplomatic path forward is this: The United States and its allies will not stop imposing steep and escalating costs on the Kim Jong Un regime until it takes clear steps toward denuclearization. But the Trump administration is now willing to sit down and talk with the regime while that pressure campaign is ongoing.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 12, 2018 20 Comments
Donald Trump, Jr.'s wife Vanessa is at a New York City hospital after she opened an envelope with white powder. From ABC7NY:
The letter was addressed to Donald Trump Jr. and sent to the couple's apartment on East 54th Street in Manhattan. His wife, Vanessa, opened the letter just after 10 a.m. She and two other people were decontaminated by firefighters at the scene and taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 12, 2018 17 Comments
President Donald Trump has rolled out the budget for 2019, written by budget director Mick Mulvaney. While it demands cuts to federal spending, it avoids balancing the budget within 10 years. Infrastructure received the main point of the budget for $1.5 trillion and cutting red tape. Trump tweeted out that after the country spent $7 trillion in the Middle East, it's time to start investing in America.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 09, 2018 27 Comments
On Thursday, Ed Henry at Fox News dropped a story about how Sen. Mark Warner (D-NV), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, exchanged texts with a Russian oligarch regarding a meeting with dossier author Christopher Steele. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) dismissed the report because he claimed that Warner made the texts known to the committee. So is this a big deal? Maybe, maybe not. It does raise a few questions like, as Kimberley Strassel points out, why did he want to avoid a paper trail? Why did Steele need to use this oligarch to reach Congress?

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 09, 2018 4 Comments
Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN) has announced he will retire at the end of the year, which means the GOP has an opportunity to take a House seat away from the Democrats. This puts a dent in the Democrats plan to retake the House as they have pounced on districts of GOP representatives who have decided to retire.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 09, 2018 31 Comments
Here's a hint: If you're going to help lead a movement against sexual harassment, don't sexually harass anyone. California Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia gained fame after she led the #MeToo movement at the California Capitol. Time magazine even featured her in its the "Silence Breakers" issue at the end of 2017. Now a former staffer has accused her of sexual misconduct when he participated at a legislative softball game with her.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 07, 2018 29 Comments
On Monday, I blogged about how Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) asked the FBI to declassify the criminal referral he and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) sent to the DOJ over dossier author Christopher Steele. The FBI approved a less-redacted version and Grassley released it on Tuesday, including some parts of the documents that detail why the two senators believe Steele misled the FBI. However, the portion about Steele's second dossier that had information from an associate of the Clintons and member of the State Department remains the same. In other parts, it supports claims that the FBI used Steele's dossier to receive a surveillance warrant on carter Page.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 06, 2018 20 Comments
Oh, boy. How far left will the left go? I ask this because former President Barack Obama's HUD Secretary Julian Castro will visit New Hampshire to speak to the state's Young Democrats Granite Slate Awards dinner this month. Failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton even considered him as her running mate. But is it wise for the left to prop up Castro? I'd say he's too far left for the Democrats, but Donald Trump is president so anything can happen.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 05, 2018 36 Comments
Immigration has come to the forefront again as the government faces another possible shutdown this week. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) has already stated she will vote no against a funding bill if it does not include language for DACA members, also known as Dreamers. Another option, though, is temporary protection after President Donald Trump's March 5 deadline passes.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 05, 2018 27 Comments
Can you imagine what would happen to us if we couldn't account for any money, especially an amount close to a billion dollars? Well, a Politico investigation has found that an internal audit in the Pentagon's Defense Logistics Agency found that they lost track of hundreds of millions of dollars. The Defense Department has a total of $2.2 trillion in assets.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 04, 2018 24 Comments
Oh how the tides have turned. Democrats have thought latching onto celebrities would keep their brand afloat, but that has slowly died down with Trump's victory being the climax. Well, so we thought. Democrats and celebrities have a tough time accepting reality...you know, like how us regular Americans don't give a damn about what they think. Trump delivered them ANOTHER blow with his State of the Union last month while ANOTHER awards show dipped in ratings because we are sick and tired of being lectured by over paid snobs.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 04, 2018 7 Comments
President Donald Trump and his administration continues to crack down on Iran, but this time it took aim at terrorist group Hezbollah, which relies on Iran. The sanctions will also try to dim Iran's influence across the Middle East. From the Treasury Department:
“Hizballah is a terrorist organization responsible for the death of hundreds of Americans. It is also Iran’s primary proxy used to undermine legitimate Arab governments across the Middle East. The Administration is determined to expose and disrupt Hizballah’s networks, including those across the Middle East and West Africa, used to fund their illicit operations,” said Secretary of the Treasury Steven T. Mnuchin. “The Treasury Department will continue to sever Hizballah from the international financial system, and we will be relentless in identifying, exposing, and dismantling Hizballah’s financial support networks globally.”
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