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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.

Fast food giant McDonald's has lost a few customers and wants to win them back. Executives plan to expand the company's "delivery, mobile and kiosk-ordering options as it looks to cut costs." From CNBC:
"Through enhanced technology to elevate and modernize the customer experience, a focus on the quality and value of our food and redefined convenience through delivery, we have a bold vision for the future and the urgency to act on it," said Easterbrook. "We are moving with velocity to drive profitable growth and becoming an even better McDonald's serving more customers delicious food each day around the world."

New Jersey Governor gave his 2018 Budget Address on Monday and asked the state's largest health insurance company, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, to set up a charitable fund to help provide funds to treat those with opiate addiction:
“I am confident Horizon will embrace this opportunity and partner with us to establish this permanent, sustainable fund,” Christie said, prompting laughter from the crowd packed into the State House Assembly chamber. “They will not turn their back on the people of New Jersey who pay their salaries and, as the people’s representatives, we will partner with them to make sure it happens by June 30,” he added.

Some in France would love if former President Barack Obama ran for president. Again. But this time in France. Obama is ineligible since he's a US citizens, but that's not stopping these people. 42,000 French citizens have signed a petition to persuade him to run for president.

President Donald Trump presented his agenda in front of Congress on Tuesday night. For the first time since he announced his candidacy, Trump sounded presidential and smooth. Kemberlee reported he will speak about these topics:
  • Tax and regulatory reform
  • Making the workplace better for working parents
  • Obamacare reform
  • Education
  • Rebuilding the military
  • Taking care of veterans

Famous liberal actress Jennifer Garner has told The Washington Post that she will work with President Donald Trump to help him uphold a few of his campaign promises:
Very much in the former camp, Garner acknowledged that some of her friends “want to turn their back to this administration . . . [and] just wouldn’t even want to engage.” Not her. “If he’s willing to help the poor kids who got him elected, then let’s do it. They certainly think he’s going to,” she said.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai took his war on net neutrality to Europe for the Mobil World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. He told his counterparts that the rules implemented under former President Barack Obama closed off progress as the world becomes more dependent on technology:
"We are confident in the decades-long, cross-party consensus on light-touch Internet regulation — one that helped America’s digital economy thrive," Pai said. "Our approach will be not zero regulation, but light-touch regulation — rules backed by long-standing principles of competition law."

Former President Barack Obama made no effort to stop states that voted to legalize recreational marijuana, but never took to steps legalize the drug at the federal level. Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions suggested he will undo everything Obama did:
“We have a responsibility to use our best judgment … and my view is we don’t need to be legalizing marijuana,” he said at the winter meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General. “I’m dubious about marijuana. I’m not sure we’re going to be a better, healthier nation if we have marijuana sold at every corner grocery store.”

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson may finally have his #2 man at the department. The Wall Street Journal has reported former Utah Governor and presidential candidate Jon Huntsman has become one of the top contenders. Originally, Tillerson wanted Elliott Abrams, an official in the state department under President Ronald Reagan, but after learnings Abrams criticized Trump during the campaign, Trump said no.

House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes announced there is no evidence of communication between President Donald Trump's team and Russian officials:
“There is no evidence that I’ve been presented [by the intelligence community] of regular contact with anybody in the Trump campaign,” Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) told reporters. “The way it sounds like to me is, it’s been looked into and there’s no evidence of anything there.”

President Donald Trump came out to the CPAC stage to loud cheers and USA chants. He spoke for almost 45 minutes at CPAC to a full house where he again attacked the press, but also reiterated his campaign promises. "The media didn't think we'd win," he reminded the crowd. "The pundits didn't think we'd win. They all underestimated the power of the people."

CPAC 2017 has shown its support for Israel in numerous ways, but the panel on the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) provided excellent points to defeat the movement. "BDS isn't about taking Israel out of business," said Lisa Daftari from Foreign Desk News. "It's about taking Israel off the map."

Democrats and supporters of Obamacare have tried using scare tactics to keep the law in place, claiming without the socialized health care plan people will die. However, a study by the Manhattan Institute has shown that Obamacare has saved zero people since it went into effect:
Certainly, there are individuals who have benefited from various of its provisions. But attempts to claim broader effects on public health or thousands of lives saved rely upon extrapolation from past studies that focus on the value of private health insurance.

An Iranian commander with the Revolutionary Guard has threatened America with a "slap in the face" should she underestimate's the regime's military. From Reuters:
"The enemy should not be mistaken in its assessments, and it will receive a strong slap in the face if it does make such a mistake," said General Mohammad Pakpour, head of the Guards’ ground forces, quoted by the Guards' website Sepahnews.

With higher construction costs and low revenue from low pump sales, a few states have considered raising the gasoline tax in an effort to raise funds for infrastructure. President Donald Trump has promised to put forth $1 trillion to fix infrastructure across the country, but state officials have realized they need to do something for themselves. Tennesse Governor Bill Haslam (R) believes a higher tax would raise $278 million for his state.