Image 01 Image 03

Author: Mary Chastain

Profile photo

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.

The U.S. Senate has voted to table Sen. Rand Paul's (R-KY) amendment to repeal the 2001 and 2002 war authorizations that have allowed the U.S. military "to fight terrorism across the globe" in everlasting wars. Paul wanted Congress to "reassert its authority to declare war from the Executive Branch." Paul and others, including Democrats, have said that "the Senate is ceding its constitutional war powers" with these amendments.

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed amendments to stop the Department of Justice's civil asset forfeiture program, which Attorney General Jeff Sessions introduced in July. The amendments received support from those within the House Freedom Caucus and some of the biggest liberals in Congress.

Last season, quarterback Colin Kaepernick decided to kneel for the national anthem before football games, which led to players to do the same and activists lavished him with praise. He is not playing this year, but some players have decided to continue his actions. While Kaepernick's choice gave him a lot of media attention, Cincinnati Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert decided to explain why he still stands for the national anthem.

Music to our ears! Failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told CBS Sunday Morning that she is through with being a candidate:
Clinton says her career as an active politician is over but says she will stay involved politically. "I am done with being a candidate. But I am not done with politics because I literally believe that our country's future is at stake," she said.

In February, The New York Times reported that agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) established a secret bank fund filled with millions from "a web of shadowy cigarette sales" before it closed in 2013. No one knows for sure how much entered the account because no one tracked it. New unsealed records revealed to the NYT that the scheme was more than just a few agents. Instead, it grew to "a highly unorthodox merger of an undercover law enforcement operation and a legitimate operation."

On Thursday, major national credit-reporting company Equifax revealed that a cyberattack from July exposed personal information of about 143 million U.S. consumers. The company wrote in a statement:
The information accessed primarily includes names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some instances, driver's license numbers. In addition, credit card numbers for approximately 209,000 U.S. consumers, and certain dispute documents with personal identifying information for approximately 182,000 U.S. consumers, were accessed. As part of its investigation of this application vulnerability, Equifax also identified unauthorized access to limited personal information for certain UK and Canadian residents. Equifax will work with UK and Canadian regulators to determine appropriate next steps. The company has found no evidence that personal information of consumers in any other country has been impacted.

Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett accused Las Vegas officers of racial profiling and excessive force after the Mayweather-Mcgregor fight in August. Bennett claimed that the police singled him out and one even threatened to "blow his head off." The NFL backed Bennett's story, but the Las Vegas Metr0 Police Department (LVMPD) has strongly come out and denied all of Bennett's claim. The two arresting officers are Hispanic males. Detective Steve Grammas, the president of the Las Vegas Metro Police Protective Association, has even asked NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to investigate Bennett's actions.

The longer Hillary insists on staying in the public eye, the more she rattles the already beleaguered Democrat Party. Democrats are not happy with Hillary's upcoming book tour for her memoir What Happened. As the party tries to regroup and reconnect, many think Hillary's blame game will only cause more problems.

The Washington Examiner reported that Hina Alvi, the former Democrat IT aide that fled to Pakistan after coming under a federal investigation, has struck a deal with authorities and will return to the states. Alvi is married to Imran Awan. Both of them worked as IT aides to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL). Authorities arrested Awan on bank fraud charges at Dulles airport in July.

Yesterday I blogged about the excerpts people have leaked from failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's memoir What Happened that blasted her opponent Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Sanders told The Hill that it's time to move forward.

Congress has returned to work and have started to ponder two important tasks at hand: Hurricane Harvey relief bill and the debt ceiling. One option leaders have leaned towards is attaching the two into one bill, thus killing two birds with one stone. The House could pass the Harvey relief bill on Wednesday and send it to the Senate, who could attach the debt ceiling bill to it. Then the Senate would send it back to the House for another vote.

People have leaked excerpts from failed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's memoir What Happened, which will be released on September 12. In these excerpts, Hillary lashes out at her primary opponent Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for his actions, which she claims caused "lasting damage" to the party due to his numerous attacks on her.

US United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley told the Security Council that North Korea dictator Kim Jong-un "is begging for war" after the latest nuclear test in the hermit kingdom. "Despite our efforts, the North Korea nuclear program is more advanced and more dangerous than ever," she explained. "War is never something the United States wants. We don't want it now. But our country's patience is not unlimited."

We've all heard the same advice: get good grades in high school and get a bachelor's degree. A bachelor's degree has become so common that a lot of people have entered graduate school to get a master's or a PhD. That push has led to a shortage of tradespeople, especially as those in jobs usually described as "blue collar work" grow older. So what do we do now? Some states have started to push more money to promote vocational education.