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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.

Green Party candidate Jill Stein attempted to hold a rally on the Hofstra University campus on Monday, but the police removed her after she completed an interview with MSNBC. Stein had not obtained proper credentials. A 15% polling threshold must be met to qualify for the presidential debate stage. Stein planned to virtually attend the debates just outside of Hofstra and livestream her responses on Facebook and through Twitter.

It's that time of year when Congress will fight over a short-term funding bill to avoid a government shutdown. We all know what will happen. They'll talk tough and then pass something at the last minute and go their merry ways. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has faced criticism from Democrats and members of his own party for the Senate's version of the bill. Some of his fellow GOP members believe the version "doesn't include conservative policy proposals." House conservatives want to do what they can to extend this stopgap bill into January so Congress isn't rushed to pass a full spending bill before Christmas.

What a shock. The FBI dumped about 200 pages of its interview notes from the Hillary Clinton email investigation on Friday evening. The interviews include top aide Huma Abedin, Cheryl Mills, and even the Romanian hacker Guccifer. Somehow NO ONE, not a single soul, knew that Hillary used a private email server. A few other bombshells include President Barack Obama using a pseudonym in his emails to Hillary, the fact that Hillary did not know how to use a computer, a low key interview with Mills that does not explain why the FBI gave her immunity, and the fact that NO ONE received any training at the State Department on how to handle classified information or email guidelines. I read the 189 pages and below are the parts that stuck out to me.

The military has requested approval to send 500 more troops to Iraq to assist in missions to retake Mosul from the Islamic State. The White House needs to approve the request, but officials promise the troops would not see combat. Instead they would help the Iraqi military coordinate and prepare a mission. ISIS took over Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, in the summer of 2014. Militaries have pushed ISIS out of many areas, but they continue to hold onto Mosul.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) announced on Facebook that he will indeed vote for GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump in November. https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/779403960692072448

Judge James Boasberg announced on Friday that the State Department doesn't have to release all emails contained in the latest batch of Hillary Clinton's emails until after Election Day. He originally gave them a September 23 deadline, but acknowledged today that the department "was struggling to manage the burden of dozens of lawsuits and thousands of requests for records from Mrs. Clinton’s time in office." This batch includes the 15,000 emails the State Department miraculously found after the FBI finished its investigation into Hillary's private email server. Officials originally said the disc contained 30 emails on Benghazi, but let everyone down when they only found one.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) revealed that the FBI gave Hillary Clinton aide Cheryl Mills immunity as they investigated her private email server.  This kind of news explains why the FBI recommended the DOJ not prosecute Hillary despite overwhelming evidence:
"No wonder they couldn't prosecute a case," Chaffetz said. "They were handing out immunity deals like candy."

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has issued a subpoena to receive disgraced politician Anthony Weiner's cell phone records after a report surfaced that he sexted with a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina. The FBI, NYPD, and U.S. Attorney Jill Westmoreland in North Carolina have also started an investigation into the allegations. The 15-year-old girl sent The Daily Mail screenshots of their interactions, including rape fantasies and dressing her in school girl outfits. He knew her age, too.

The House Oversight Committee has demanded that Reddit preserve deleted posts that an IT technician may have written about Hillary Clinton emails. Earlier this week, Reddit users found an archived post that shows someone asking how to "strip out a VIP's" email address from the to/from fields. No one has confirmed the username "stonetear" belongs to Platte Rivers Network employee Paul Combetta, but people have found connections between his name and the username.

The House Oversight Committee has voted to hold former State Department IT aide Bryan Pogliano after he didn't show up for a hearing last week despite being subpoenaed. Pagliano set up Hillary Clinton's private email server when she served as Secretary of State:
“Subpoenas are not optional,” Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said Thursday. “Mr. Pagliano is a crucial fact witness in this committee’s investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server to conduct government business.”

Avengers writer Joss Whedon gathered a few of his celebrity friends to launch "Save the Day" as a way to encourage people to show up at the polls come Election Day. None of the actors specifically mention Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, but it's hard not to see how the video is meant to encourage voting for anyone other than Hillary. https://twitter.com/joss/status/778570386833219585

Kneeling during the national anthem has taken the sports by storm since San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick began it during preseason to protest police treatment of black people. Other NFL players have done it along with high school football players. But Virginia Tech basketball coach Buzz Williams will not have that behavior in his house. Instead, he chose to show his players why we stand for the national anthem. We do it to honor the men and women who sacrificed so much so we can enjoy our freedom at home.