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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 Donald Trump has signed an executive order to start loosening some rules associated with Obamacare after the Republican controlled Congress failed many times to repeal the healthcare law. From Fox News:
According to officials, Trump will direct the secretary of labor to consider expanding access to Association Health Plans, which could allow employers to form groups across state lines offering coverage. According to the White House, these plans could offer lower rates.

Pakistan officials announced that the Taliban has freed an American woman, her Canadian husband, and their children after five years of imprisonment. From ABC News:
Caitlan Coleman, 31, and her husband Joshua Boyle, 34, who were abducted while hiking in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province in 2012, were secured in an exchange between Pakistani military and U.S. commandos late Wednesday in a secret operation to bring them home after one of the longest -- and strangest -- American hostage ordeals in recent history, counterterrorism officials revealed.

The Democrats have been in a free fall since Hillary Clinton lost and the GOP picked up seats at local levels in November. Those energized by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) presidential run have started revolting against the veterans in the party. First, people have demanded that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) step down. Now they're pointing their rage at Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who announced she will run for a another term.

Stanley Cup champions Pittsburgh Penguins visited the White House Tuesday despite pressure from the Golden State Warriors refusal drop by the White House to celebrate their NBA championship win. The left went CRAZY on social media and one outlet even downplayed the tradition of visiting the White House.

James O'Keefe's Project Veritas has released its latest video in an effort to showcase the bias in the mainstream media. This video includes Nicholas Dudich, the Audience Strategy Editor at The New York Times. In the video, Dudich claims that former FBI Director James Comey is his godfather, he was a member of Antifa, and that he chose to work at The New York Times because he doesn't have to be objective.

*UPDATE* Hillary released a statement today that condemned Weinstein, but did not mention anything about returning Weinstein's contributions. Failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has lashed out at almost everyone for losing the election to President Donald Trump. She has also claimed to be a feminist, even though she has stuck with her husband through sexual assault and rape accusations. Her friends and allies have stuck with her on that one, but now they're starting to turn against her since she has not spoken out against movie mogul and mega-Democrat donor Harvey Weinstein.

There is good in this world and it's worth fighting for. People like Earl Melchert gives us hope for humanity. Not only did he save a kidnapped girl, but he gave her the $7,000 reward he received for finding her. Melchert went home on the afternoon of September 5 to retrieve a diesel can to fill so he could mow his yard. But when he got home he noticed something out in his field in Elbow Lake, MN. From The New York Times:
“I thought at first it was a deer,” Mr. Melchert, 65, said in an interview on Saturday. What he saw, it turned out, was 15-year-old Jasmine Block, who had disappeared on Aug. 8 from her home in Alexandria, Minn., about 30 miles from Mr. Melchert’s home.

The House passed a 2018 budget resolution last week along with the Senate Budget Committee, two crucial steps to start tax reform. It's an opportunity for President Donald Trump and the Republican lawmakers to hold a promise after they couldn't repeal Obamacare. The GOP has the majority, but just like with Obamacare, there are divisions within the party that could prevent tax reform from happening.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones announced on Sunday that if a player disrespects the flag then he cannot play in the game after a reporter informed him that two players raised their fist after the anthem. From NBC Dallas-Fort Worth:
Jones said "If there’s anything that is disrespectful to the flag then we will not play. Okay? Do you understand? If we are disrespecting the flag then we won’t play, period. But we are going to respect the flag and I’m going to create the perception of it, and we have. I’m not aware and I wouldn’t know what you are talking about, I’m not aware of that but if you say you saw it, then you saw it, but we as a team are very much on the page together, we’ve made our expression that we are together , I’m very supportive of the team, but under no circumstances will the Dallas Cowboys, I don’t care what happens, under no circumstances will we as an organization, or as coaches or players not support and stand and recognize and honor the flag. Period."

President Donald Trump's administration has decided to roll back a portion of Obamacare that mandates a private company must include birth control coverage in health insurance plans. From The Washington Examiner:
The new rules allow any employer to be exempt from the mandate "based on its sincerely held religious beliefs" or on "moral convictions." Employers who decide not to provide coverage do not need to inform the federal government but would need to tell their employees about their decision.

Sources have told The Associated Press that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the man rescued from former President Barack Obama in exchange for Taliban members at Gitmo, is expected to plead guilty to charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy to avoid a trial. Obama showed off Bergdahl and made a big deal of his exchange deal with the Taliban, but it didn't take long for news to surface that Bergdahl actually deserted his post in Afghanistan and put other soldiers in danger.

The anger and annoyance towards House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and other Democrat leaders continues to boil as the fifth-ranking Democrat in the House, Rep. Linda Sánchez (CA), has asked for a change. From The Washington Post:
“I do think it’s time to pass a torch to a new generation of leaders, and I want to be a part of that transition,” Sánchez said on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” in an interview conducted by reporters with The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. “I want to see that happen. I think we have too many great members here that don’t always get the opportunities that they should. I would like to see that change.”

I blogged this morning that Rep. Tim Murphy decided to retire at the end of his term after details about his affair came to light, including texts from his mistress in which she accused him of trying to convince her to have an abortion. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) announced that he received a resignation letter from Murphy. From Politico:
“This afternoon I received a letter of resignation from Congressman Tim Murphy, effective October 21," Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement. "It was Dr. Murphy's decision to move on to the next chapter of his life, and I support it."

Russian hackers for the Kremlin have allegedly stolen the U.S.'s cyber defense details after an NSA contractor took home classified documents and uploaded them on his home computer. These documents provide details on how our government agencies get into "foreign computer networks" and how we defend ourselves "against cyberattacks." Experts believe this breach is "one of the most significant security breaches in recent years."

A few GOP lawmakers in the House and Senate have announced they are open to legislation that will ban bump stocks, a device allegedly used by Stephen Paddock in the Las Vegas massacre. This device "is a sliding stock that when pressed against a shooter’s shoulder allows a semi-automatic gun to shift backward and forward with the recoil of each shot fired." Authorities found bump stocks in Paddock's room, but we do not know for sure if he used them during the massacre.