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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 June 21, 2017 5 Comments
THEY DO EXIST! Yes, Congress still has Blue Dog Democrats within its walls. The group consists of only 18 members, but it could be enough to push tax reform through this year. These Democrats view themselves as ones who can help "broker a bipartisan deal." The Hill reported:
“If it’s constructive, if they’re genuinely interested in ideas and making it a bipartisan effort, then the Blue Dogs are certainly willing to participate,” said Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), a member of the group.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 21, 2017 28 Comments
The Illinois lottery may become a victim of the bankrupt state if lawmakers cannot agree and pass a budget. In a last ditch effort, the lawmakers have started a special session on Wednesday that can last for 10 days. From Fox News:
The state lotto requires a payment from the legislature each year. The current appropriation expires June 30, meaning no authority to pay prizes. In anticipation of a budget deadlock, the state already is planning to halt Powerball and Mega Millions sales.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 20, 2017 6 Comments
We at Legal Insurrection have documented the damage Obamacare has done to the insurance market, with costs skyrocketing to the point that companies have pulled out. If they cannot make a profit they cannot provide coverage. For the last few weeks, Iowa's individual health insurance market showed signs of collapse as companies pulled out one after another. The state started to panic, even asking "the federal government to let it alter parts of the Affordable Care Act in an effort to entice insurers into selling plans in the state." The small insurance company Medica has come to save Iowa after the company's officials decided to remain in the state, making it the only company in the market. But officials said it has to charge higher premiums in order to stay afloat.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 20, 2017 27 Comments
Music star Moby has decided to showcase his hatred of President Donald Trump, becoming the latest celebrity to jump on the anti-Trump bandwagon. Moby chose to depict Trump as a Nazi leader in the video for "In This Cold Place," who eventually meets his death as a Swastika/dollar sign in an explosion.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 19, 2017 21 Comments
College student Otto Warmbier, who spent 17 months imprisoned in North Korea, has died. From Fox News:
“It is our sad duty to report that our son, Otto Warmbier, has completed his journey home,” Fred and Cindy Warmbier wrote in a statement. “Surrounded by his loving family, Otto died today at 2:20 pm.” “It would be easy at a moment like this to focus on all that we lost - future time that won't be spent with a warm, engaging, brilliant young man whose curiosity and enthusiasm for life knew no bounds. But we choose to focus on the time we were given to be with this remarkable person. You can tell from the outpouring of emotion from the communities that he touched - Wyoming, Ohio and the University of Virginia to name just two - that the love for Otto went well beyond his immediate family.”

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 19, 2017 23 Comments
The Supreme Court has ruled 8-0 that it is unconstitutional for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to not register offensive names under the federal trademark law's disparagement clause. The Asian-American band The Slants did not receive a trademark due to this clause, which the justices found violated free speech. From CNN:
"Holding that the registration of a trademark converts the mark into government speech would constitute a huge and dangerous extension of the government-speech doctrine, for other systems of government registration (such as copyright) could easily be characterized in the same way," Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 19, 2017 2 Comments
We at Legal Insurrection have covered the atrocities in Turkey, which include crackdowns by those whom President Recep Tayyip Erdogan deem a threat to his authority. Last July, Erdogan blamed a failed "coup" on his nemesis Fethullah Gülen. He went on a rampage and arrested anyone he considered an ally of Gülen, including numerous journalists. A year later, 17 of these journalists will stand trial on Monday.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 16, 2017 16 Comments
For the past two decades, school districts around the nation became obsessed with testing due to horrendous federal government standards. As a result, recess was abandoned by many school districts with disastrous results. But now schools have realized the importance of recess and physical activity for kids, especially younger ones. Schools who have reintroduced recess have found a huge improvement in children's behavior and overall well-being.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 16, 2017 4 Comments
President Donald Trump announced a few changes to former President Barack Obama's Cuba policy. These changes include different travel requirements and the enforcement of an embargo against the brutal Communist regime:
“You look at what happened and what communism has done,” he listed. “Believers persecuted for preaching the word of God, you watch the Women in White – bruised, bloodied, and captured on their way from Mass, you have heard the chilling cries of loved ones or the cracks of firing squads piercing through the ocean breeze — not a good sound.” “This is the simple truth of the Castro regime: my administration will not hide from it, excuse it, or glamorize it, and we will never, ever be blind to it. We know what is going on and we remember what happened,” Trump promised.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 16, 2017 23 Comments
Amazon has purchased Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, which will allow the online giant to step into the grocery store sector. Amazon officials have stated in the past they want to expand into groceries. From Bloomberg:
Amazon agreed to pay $42 a share in cash for the organic-food chain, including debt, a roughly 27 percent premium to the stock price at Thursday’s close. John Mackey, Whole Foods’ outspoken co-founder, will continue to run the business -- a victory after a fight with activist investor Jana Partners that threatened to drive him from power.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 16, 2017 28 Comments
President Donald Trump's Department of Homeland Security did not touch former President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which allows undocumented immigrants, who came to the U.S. as small children, to remain in America. From The New York Times:
The Department of Homeland Security announced late Thursday night that it would continue the Obama-era program intended to protect those immigrants from deportation and provide them work permits so they can find legal employment.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 15, 2017 8 Comments
The Washington, D.C., police have charged sixteen people over the fight that broke out on the Turkish Embassy lawn in May. The sixteen include twelve agents from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan security detail. From Fox News:
The agents, part of Erdogan's security detail, are in Turkey at this time. It's unclear how the arrests for the officers and agents will be carried out, but D.C. police said they will be taking "necessary steps" to apprehend the individuals. [District Police Chief Peter] Newsham added that the personnel will be arrested if they attempt to enter the U.S.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 15, 2017 38 Comments
Fred Warmbier, the father of Otto Warmbier, who North Korea freed the other day, and Kelly Martin, an official from the University of Cincinnati Medical Center spoke to the press today about Otto's condition. North Korea freed Otto Warmbier on Tuesday after spending 16 months in prison in the communist country. A court sentenced Otto Warmbier to 15 years of hard labor after he allegedly stole a propaganda sign. However, Otto Warmbier has returned to the states in a coma. Martin stated that he suffered from a "severe neurological injury" and remains in stable condition. Warmbier claimed the "pariah regime in North Korea" "terrorized sand brutalized" his son for 18 months.
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