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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 July 14, 2017 5 Comments
The House Ways and Means Committee has passed a bill that limits when the IRS can take action on taxpayer assets. From The Hill:
The bill concerns cases where taxpayers are suspected of “structuring” transactions under $10,000 to avoid bank-reporting requirements. Under the legislation, the IRS would only be able to seize funds in suspected structuring cases when the funds came from illegal sources or the transactions were structured in order to conceal other criminal activity. Additionally, the legislation would establish a process to review seizures.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 14, 2017 38 Comments
Women's March group is at it again. This time they've decided to protest against the NRA, partially over an ad that features radio host Dana Loesch. Organizers of the group, which include Sharia-loving Linda Sarsour, claim the ad called "for armed conflict against our communities" and insulted people of color. Of course it didn't. The ad actually highlighted the rising violence the left has used lately. But that didn't stop the left from engaging in a smear campaign against Loesch, which Professor Jacobson described in this post.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 13, 2017 11 Comments
Last week, the left in Illinois celebrated when the Senate and House overturned Republican Governor Bruce Rauner's veto of the massive income tax hike and budget bill that concentrated on education. This is the first time in three years the cash-strapped state has a budget. Now Rauner and the Democrats will head back to the table to discuss education funding. The bill that passed the House and Senate already has faced criticism that it favors Chicago schools (shocking, right?) over others.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 12, 2017 19 Comments
Democrat Oregon Governor Kate Brown is expected to sign House Bill 3391-B which will make abortion free for all, residents and non-residents of the state. From LifeSite News:
The law would force health insurers to cover abortions without any co-pay and give more than $10 million for abortions and other “reproductive services” to Medicaid. Pro-lifers predict that most of the $10 million will go to Planned Parenthood.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 12, 2017 27 Comments
Civil forfeiture remains a controversial issue in America since it's "a process by which the government can take and sell your property without ever convicting, or even charging, you with a crime." The procedures are civil, which means defendants do not receive the same protections given to criminal defendants. Connecticut has put an end to this procedure when the legislature passed a law that bans civil forfeiture without a criminal conviction.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 12, 2017 30 Comments
Officials in Cook County, the home of Chicago, have threatened to pass out 1,100 layoff notices since a judge delayed implementation of a soda tax. Circuit Judge Daniel Kubasiak placed a temporary hold on the tax until at least July 21. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said this move has forced her hand to fire people.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 11, 2017 38 Comments
The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) authority has decided not to release surveillance videos of robberies occurring at BART stations for fear they videos might incite racism. People have begun to fear for their safety due to the numerous crimes, but fears of stereotyping have taken priority with BART officials.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 11, 2017 28 Comments
In May, Kemberlee blogged that the FBI reportedly started investigating failed presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders' wife Jane over a land deal. She allegedly falsified loan documents when she served as president of the now defunct Burlington College. Federal prosecutors have now amped up the investigation after they hauled "off more than a dozen records" from the college and asked "a state official to provide evidence for a grand jury."

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 10, 2017 6 Comments
After three long years, forces have liberated Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, from the grips of ISIS. From CNN:
"From here, from the heart of the liberated and free Mosul, by the sacrifices of the Iraqis from all the provinces, we declare the great victory for all of Iraq and Iraqis," [Iraqi PM Haider] al-Abadi said. "This is a great celebration that crowned the victories of the fighters and the Iraqis over the last three years."

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 10, 2017 9 Comments
We've been chronicling the retail crisis gripping the country as e-commerce continues its rise in popularity. Stores have been closing. Malls are having trouble attracting stores to fill the growing number of empty spaces. Now department stores are taking and unprecedented move to bring in more shoppers: Discount high-end cosmetics.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 10, 2017 13 Comments
Failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's defeat last November finally brought attention to what has happened slowly since 2010: Democrats are not only slipping at the national level but also the state level. At first, people focused anger on President Donald Trump and Republicans, but that has changed in Democrat-friendly California. The tipping point this month happened when the state assembly decided to shelve a universal health care bill. Activists stormed the capitol and even sent death threats to legislators.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 09, 2017 28 Comments
The retail crisis continues as Sears and Kmart will close 43 additional stores. Numerous factors have contributed to stores closing, especially online shopping. But believe it or not, one market correspondent has used the situation to criticize President Donald Trump. However, CNNMoney even reported that Sears Holdings "has struggled to stay afloat as customers turn away from traditional brick-and-mortar stores to shop online."

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 08, 2017 15 Comments
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned everyone that the sexually-transmitted disease gonorrhea has emerged as a super bug since the bacteria has started to resist antibiotics. From CBS News:
"The bacteria that cause gonorrhea are particularly smart. Every time we use a new class of antibiotics to treat the infection, the bacteria evolve to resist them," Dr. Teodora Wi, a WHO medical officer specializing in reproductive health, said in a statement.

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 07, 2017 19 Comments
The local Philadelphia theater company Lightning Rod Special has announced a new play it will debut in August...a musical comedy about abortion. From Philadelphia Magazine:
The abortion musical has its roots at the Pig Iron School for Advanced Performance Training, where [co-creator Alice] Yorke and the co-creators studied. Yorke says it was there that she developed a character of an “irate gun-toting fetus running around and shouting about how it would kill anyone who tried to hurt it.”

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 07, 2017 8 Comments
*This post will be updated as more information comes out.* President Donald Trump met privately with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany. At first, media thought Trump would not bring up accusations that Russia interfered with our presidential election in 2016. But after the two hour meeting ended, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that is the first topic Trump brought up.
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