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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 August 12, 2016 24 Comments
Israel has faced discrimination at the 2016 Rio Olympics, but Egyptian judoka Islam El Shehaby refused to boycott his match against Israeli judoja Or Sasson. One of the fears of anti-Israel social media, which demanded a boycott, was that El Shehaby would lose, and thereby not only normalize Israel's participation but humiliate the Muslim world. El Shehaby lost. Egypt Israel Judoka Perhaps fearing the internet reaction, Shehaby refused to shake Sasson's hand afterwards.

Posted by Mary Chastain on August 12, 2016 3 Comments
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) stopped a massive suicide attack on Thursday with help from the FBI. ISIS supporter Aaron Driver, 24, died during a confrontation with the police in a small Ontario town:
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commander Jennifer Strachan said Driver was intercepted by police as he entered a taxi with a backpack and said Driver detonated an explosive device, injuring himself and the taxi driver, before police shot at him. It was unclear whether Driver died as a result of the shrapnel or a police bullet.

Posted by Mary Chastain on August 11, 2016 20 Comments
Newspapers continue to drop paywalls as more people aren't willing to pay for a digital subscription, especially since so many others other free content. The AFP reports:
Newspapers in the English-speaking world ended paywalls some 69 times through May 2015, including 41 temporary and 28 permanent drops, according to a study by University of Southern California researchers.

Posted by Mary Chastain on August 11, 2016 15 Comments
Italian Member of Parliament Elvira Savino wants the government to jail parents who feed their children a vegan diet. She claims she has nothing against the vegan diet, which requires absolutely NO animal products:
"I just find it absurd that some parents are allowed to impose their will on children in an almost fanatical, religious way, often without proper scientific knowledge or medical consultation," she said.

Posted by Mary Chastain on August 10, 2016 42 Comments
A federal judge has weakened the Texas voter ID law while the U.S. Court of Appeals suspended a ruling that eliminated parts of Wisconsin's law. Activists have gone after voter laws recently as the presidential election nears. They insist the poor and minority voters somehow cannot obtain an ID.

Posted by Mary Chastain on August 10, 2016 36 Comments
The American Bar Association (ABA) has amended their ethics code that bans lawyers from using sexist remarks towards women after female lawyers have complained of others calling them "honey" or "darling." The new rule says:
"It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know is harassment or discrimination" on the basis of race, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and other factors, the new guidance reads. "Harassment includes sexual harassment and derogatory or demeaning verbal or physical conduct."

Posted by Mary Chastain on August 10, 2016 6 Comments
German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere has proposed a ban on burqas due to the numerous terrorist attacks along with pushing officials "to speed up deportations of rejected asylum applicants and loosen privacy protections." The proposal also states that doctors "would have to inform the authorities if they become suspicious that a patient was planning to harm other people."

Posted by Mary Chastain on August 10, 2016 12 Comments
The latest batch of Hillary Clinton emails show that right after she became Secretary of State, top donors asked the State Department for favors for unidentified associates. In April 2009, Clinton Foundation official Doug Band sent an email to Clinton's top aides Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin about a favor. He reminded them it is important to take care of [Redacted]." Officials blacked out the name, but Abedin said "Personel has been sending him options." This is not the only one, though.

Posted by Mary Chastain on August 09, 2016 5 Comments
German authorities have detained an alleged high-ranking member of the Islamic State in Mutterstadt in Rhineland Palatinate state, located near the French border. https://twitter.com/SarahHarman53/status/763035694025609216

Posted by Mary Chastain on August 08, 2016 6 Comments
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced at a rally that he would approve the death penalty if parliament votes to bring it back:
“If the parliament accepts the reintroduction of death penalty, I will accept it,” he told the crowd, adding that the death penalty exists in the U.S., Japan and “many other countries.” “If the people want death penalty, I think the political parties will also accept it,” he also said, as he noted that the death penalty existed until 1984 in Turkey.

Posted by Mary Chastain on August 08, 2016 3 Comments
The Belgium government has opened a terrorism investigation into the machete attack on Saturday that injured two female cops in Charleroi. A third cop shot and killed the attacker. The attacker, a 33-year-old Algerian, yelled "Allahu Akbar!" when he attacked the females. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the man.

Posted by Mary Chastain on August 05, 2016 18 Comments
The Washington Post once again called out Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's claims that the FBI confirmed the FBI confirmed all of her public comments have "been consistent and truthful with what I've told them." Hillary responded today by saying she "short-circuited" over response:
"That's really the bottom line here. And I have said during the interview and many other occasions over the past months, that what I told the FBI, which he said was truthful, is consistent with what I have said publicly," Clinton explained Friday. "So I may have short-circuited it and for that, I, you know, will try to clarify because I think, you know, Chris Wallace and I were probably talking past each other because of course, he could only talk to what I had told the FBI and I appreciated that."

Posted by Mary Chastain on August 05, 2016 3 Comments
A Turkish court has officially issued an arrest warrant for Fehtullah Gülen, an Islamic scholar who resides in Pennsylvania, over the failed coup a few weeks ago. The government insists he and his followers coordinated it even though they have not given out concrete evidence. Officials have sent extradition documents to the U.S. over Gülen at least twice.

Posted by Mary Chastain on August 04, 2016 16 Comments
The Department of Justice did not want the Obama administration to send $400 million as Iran released four Americans due to the image it may portray. The administration struck down the request:
The timing and manner of the payment raised alarms at the Justice Department, according to those familiar with the discussions. “People knew what it was going to look like, and there was concern the Iranians probably did consider it a ransom payment,’’ said one of the people.
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