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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 07, 2017 11 Comments
President Donald Trump announced on Twitter this morning that he will nominate former assistant attorney general Christopher Wray for FBI director. The announcement comes one day before former FBI director James Comey testifies in front of a Senate committee.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 07, 2017 12 Comments
Gunmen launched two attacks in Iran, one at the parliament building and at the tomb of the country's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollak Khomeini. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack. From Reuters:
The raids took place at a particularly charged time, after Iran's main regional rival Saudi Arabia and other Sunni powers cut ties with Qatar on Monday, accusing it of backing Tehran and militant groups. Attackers dressed as women burst through parliament's main entrance in central Tehran, deputy interior minister Mohammad Hossein Zolfaghari said, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 06, 2017 12 Comments
Anthem Inc, a prominent national health insurance company, has decided to leave Ohio's health insurance exchange citing a volatile market. It's another example of Obamacare's collapse, especially since Anthem became "a major player in the individual insurance market created by the federal health care law." From The New York Times:
Ohio state insurance officials said they were reviewing their options but put the blame squarely on the federal health care law. “For the past few years we have seen a weakening in the federal insurance marketplace as a number of companies have withdrawn from the exchange,” the state agency said in a statement. “We have always argued the private insurance market is the most severely impacted by the federal law and that is where Congressional action is needed to restore stability.”

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 06, 2017 7 Comments
On this day, 73 years ago, the Allies stormed into Normandy, France, and led an invasion to liberate Western Europe from the Germans. These men risked everything to bring an end to one of the most evil regimes in history. American, British, and Canadian soldiers took part in Operation Overloard, also known as D-Day, along the 50 miles of five beaches. D-Day is "one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history."

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 06, 2017 63 Comments
NSA contractor Reality Leigh Winner faces charges for mailing classified information to a media outlet. Winner gave a report to The Intercept that shows "Russian military intelligence executed a cyberattack on at least one U.S. voting software supplier and sent spear-phishing emails to more than 100 local election officials just days before last November’s presidential election." The FBI arrested Winner on June 3 at her home in Georgia. She went to court on Monday afternoon.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 05, 2017 8 Comments
President Donald Trump and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao have a plan to make air travel better: privative air traffic control. From CNN Money:
"We live in a modern age, but our air traffic control system is stuck, painfully, in the past," he said at a White House event attended by current and former transportation department officials. "Americans can look forward to cheaper, faster and safer travel."

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 05, 2017 10 Comments
Reuters has reported that President Donald Trump's administration has started to think about possible sanctions against Venezuela's lucrative oil sector. The sanctions would include PDVSA, the country's state oil company. Venezuela continues to see protests against socialist President Nicolás Maduro, but he keeps cracking down on the opposition to keep his power. His policies have decimated the oil rich country, which have left the people starving and without proper medical care. A strike to Venezuela's top economic source would surely decimate his administration. The country "relies on oil for some 95 percent of export revenues." This means the administration must proceed with caution.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 05, 2017 7 Comments
The House of Representatives will vote on the Financial CHOICE Act this week, which will repeal a lot of the Dodd-Frank Reform Act. The Hill reported:
The CHOICE Act is an effort to undo much of Dodd-Frank, a law long panned by Republicans as a burden on the U.S. economy and businesses. The bill, sponsored by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), passed that panel earlier this month with unanimous Republican support and unified Democratic opposition.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 05, 2017 16 Comments
Officials in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have all announced the countries have severed diplomatic ties with Qatar due to terrorism and extremism. From The Guardian:
The official state news agency, citing an official source, said Saudi Arabia had decided to sever diplomatic and consular relations with Qatar “proceeding from the exercise of its sovereign right guaranteed by international law and the protection of national security from the dangers of terrorism and extremism”.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 04, 2017 13 Comments
Terrorists killed seven people and injured 48 more on London Bridge and Borough Market in London on Saturday night. 35 of the injured remain in hospitals around the area. Police have also made 12 quick arrests in east London in connection with the terrorist attack. This is what we know so far about the attack.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 02, 2017 1 Comment
It appears Turkey will do anything to get its hands on Oklahoma City Thunder's Enes Kanter, an outspoken critic of Dictator President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In May, Turkey canceled Kanter's passport when he landed in Romania, but luckily he made it back to the states. Then the country issued an arrest warrant for Kanter, which stated he belongs to a "terror group" that supports preacher Fetullah Gulen. You know, the preacher that Erdogan blames for everything. Now Turkey has now taken aim at Kanter's family even though the family publicly disowned Kanter last summer.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 02, 2017 5 Comments
A new poll has shown that British Prime Minister Theresa May and her fellow conservatives face a massive loss in seats in the snap election scheduled for June 8. YouGov released a poll that shows Conservatives at 310 seats, down from the 330 they hold now in the House of Commons. They need 326 seats in order to form the government. The poll showed Labour could have 257 seats, up from the 229 seats they hold now. Yet, other polls have shown Conservatives with a comfortable lead while one Professor Jacobson saw have the Conservatives blowing everyone else out of the water. Can we trust polls? First off, in 2015, pollsters received a shock when the Conservatives came out on top in the general election, which caused the British Polling Council to perform an inquiry into polls and the result. Then 2016 brought doubt to polls after the Brexit vote and President Donald Trump demolished failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Also, YouGov used a different methodology to find the stats.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 02, 2017 5 Comments
Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) has reported that the village council of Burqa will not budge on their decision to name a women's center after terrorist Dalal Mughrabi. The UN lashed out at the center for glorifying a terrorist and Norway demanded a refund of its donations to the center, as we previously reported. According to PMW, village council head Sami Daghlas hails Mughrabi a hero. After all, she took part in a massacre that killed 37 people, including 12 children:
"The center has no intention of caving in to the pressure and change its name, the head of village's council, Sami Daghlas, said... He said the name Dalal Mughrabi was chosen by the villagers to commemorate a Palestinian hero (emphasis added, Ed.) who sacrificed herself for her country and therefore they have no intention to change its name regardless of the price."

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 01, 2017 11 Comments
What a shock. The Illinois legislature has once again missed its spring deadline to pass a budget even though the state owes $14 billion to unpaid bills. From ABC 7:
Knowing the Governor Rauner would veto a budget that included tax increases, House Democrats left town without voting on a Senate-passed budget. The governor said all along he would only sign a budget with tax increases if it included reforms like workman's comp or a property tax freeze, two things Democrats have passed but the governor said the bills don't go far enough. "The majority of the House has shown no interest in any real changes to the system but I hope we can work something out with senators and then all of us together, Democrats and Republicans, put pressure on the House majority so they aren't just loyal to their political positions, they actually want to do things that are good for the people of Illinois," Governor Rauner said. "I believe we can get there, we just got to stay persistent."
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