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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.

Alabama lawmakers have started impeachment hearings on Governor Robert Bentley (R) after a year of allegations concerning a sex scandal with Rebekah Caldwell Mason, his senior political advisor. Bentley decided to resign on Monday. Fox News reported:
Bentley stepped down as part of a plea deal that saw him admit to two misdemeanor campaign and ethics charges. The 74-year-old grandfather of six was given a 30-day suspended jail sentence and a year of probation. The agreement includes provisions that Bentley not seek elected office again, that he repay campaign funds totaling $36,912 within a week and perform 100 hours of community service as a physician.

White House aides have told the Associated Press that President Donald Trump has decided to scrap the tax reform plan he campaigned on and start from scratch as a way to bring in more Republicans. Trump and House Republicans already endured one defeat when many Congressional Republicans would not vote for their healthcare plan. The White House wants to take a more active role with tax reform so failure does not happen again.

The Honorable Neil Gorsuch took his Constitutional oath in a private ceremony and the Judicial Oath in the Rose Garden today to become the 113th justice of the Supreme Court. From Fox News:
Gorsuch took the Constitutional Oath in a private ceremony, administered by Chief Justice John Roberts in the Supreme Court’s Justice’s Conference Room. He was accompanied by his wife Louise, who held the Bible, and his two daughters. That oath will be followed by a public ceremony at the White House where Justice Anthony Kennedy – Gorsuch’s former boss – will administer the Judicial Oath.

Last week, Pepsi received massive backlash from people on the left and right with an ad that starred Kendall Jenner. Those on the left claimed the ad made light of the Black Lives Matter movement while the right stated it put cops in a bad light. Pepsi pulled the ad in less than 24 hours. Now one of the extras in the ad spoke with People magazine and said the majority of the actors were foreign and that he, being from Thailand, did not understand the significance of the ad.

Former Blaze employee Tomi Lahren has filed a lawsuit against Glenn Beck and The Blaze for wrongful termination and access to her Facebook page after he fired her over pro-choice views she expressed on The View:
"I can't sit here and be a hypocrite and say I'm for limited government but I think the government should decide what women do with their bodies."
The Blaze suspended Lehran a few days later before terminating her employment. The document says that Lehran "did not want to file this lawsuit, but the conduct of Defendants and their refusal to resolve this matter without court intervention" forced her hand.

On Tuesday, almost 60 people died in Syria when warplanes dropped bombs filled with chemicals. Many suspected President Bashar al-Assad's regime for the attack. Many survivors went to Turkey and the Turkish Health Ministry announced that preliminary tests showed the poison in the bombs was sarin. Well, former President Barack Obama's national security advisor Susan Rice said in January that the administration forced Assad's regime to purge its chemical weapons.

On Thursday night, President Donald Trump ordered an airstrike against Syria near an airfield where President Bashar al-Assad's regime allegedly launched a chemical attack that killed over 60 people. The U.S. military attacked the Shayrat air base near Homs with 59 Tomahawk missiles from the Mediterranean Sea, which caused immense damage "to airfields, planes and fueling facilities allegedly used by the Assad regime."

A man plowed a truck into a shopping center in Stockholm, Sweden, killing at least five people and injuring many more. Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven has called it a terror attack:
"Sweden has been attacked. Everything indicates an act of terror," PM Stefan Löfven said at a press conference on Friday afternoon. "The government is informed and doing everything to help authorities with it."

Unable to accept electoral defeat, Hillary Clinton found a new reason she lost the presidential election: misogyny:
"Certainly, misogyny played a role," Clinton said at the Women of the World Summit in New York. "I mean, that just has to be admitted. And why and what the underlying reasons were is what I'm trying to parse out myself."

On April 6, 1917, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to enter World War I, 373-50, almost three years after the war began. President Woodrow Wilson vowed American neutrality, but that all changed due to Germany's submarine warfare. Wilson admitted America's tactic did not work:
"With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of the step I am taking and of the grave responsibilities which it involves, but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my constitutional duty," he said.

Controversial advertising is one of the best ways to earn media. Which seems to be what Pepsi was thinking when it released an ad with model Kendall Jenner, featuring police and protesters, intentionally reminiscent of Black Life Matters protests. Wednesday, Pepsi pulled the ad after immense backlash from all ends of the political spectrum. The left complained the ad made light of the Black Lives Matters protests while conservatives whined it placed cops in a bad light.

On Tuesday, almost 60 people died in Syria after warplanes dropped bombs filled with chemicals. The number includes women and children. Many suspect President Bashar al-Assad's regime for the attack. President Donald Trump condemned the attack, but also ripped into former President Barack Obama for not sticking to his "red line" on Syria:
“Today’s chemical attack in Syria against innocent people including women and children is reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilized world,” Mr. Trump said in a statement.

Vice President Mike Pence has been conducting meetings with lawmakers over a new Obamacare repeal plan Tuesday as the House scrambles to clean up the last healthcare failure. Unfortunately, it does not look like that the tide will turn anytime soon. While talks include seeking out provisions to appease hard-line conservatives, moderates may now push back.

Journalists have faced escalating danger in recent months due to the cartels. Numerous murders have forced one news outlet to shut down production entirely. El Norte De Cd. Juarez's director, Oscar Cantu Murgia, announced the shut down on Sunday after the murder of Miroslava Breach, a collaborator for the paper, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua:
“On this day, esteemed reader, I address you to report that I have made the decision to close this newspaper due to the fact that, among other things, there are neither the guarantees nor the security to exercise critical, counterbalance journalism,” wrote Norte’s owner, Oscar A. Cantú Murguía.