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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 May 25, 2016 2 Comments
The Kremlin has officially pardoned Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko after two years of imprisonment and a farce trial in exchange for two Russia Special Forces servicemen. The Ukrainian and Russian governments did not offer any details about the exchange. But journalists in Ukraine "noted that a Ukrainian presidential aircraft had flown to the airport of Rostov-on-Don, a southern Russian city close to the Ukrainian border." It came back at 3PM local time with Savchenko on board.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 25, 2016 4 Comments
The official Palestinian Authority television celebrated the death of U.S. tourist Taylor Force, calling his murderer a martyr 11 times in the broadcast. From the report:
Official PA TV newsreader: "In Qalqilya, hundreds of citizens accompanied the body of Martyr Bashar Masalha [to his burial]..." Official PA TV reporter: "After delays by Israel in the transfer of his body, Martyr Bashar Masalha’s family, from the village of Hajja, east of Qalqilya, received their son in the evening... The Martyr Bashar returned from Qalqilya to his village Hajja in a procession... His family, friends, and people of the region took it upon themselves to ensure that this [burial] would be a large national wedding (i.e., to the 72 Virgins in Paradise) befitting of Martyrs... The Martyr was accompanied to his last resting place in the cemetery for Martyrs in Hajja..."

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 25, 2016 25 Comments
The inspector general at the State Department says Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton broke federal email rules when she used a private server while she served as secretary of state. NBC News reports::
"At a minimum, Secretary Clinton should have surrendered all emails dealing with Department issues before leaving government service," says an audit by the State Department Inspector General, obtained by NBC News. "Because she did not do so, she did not comply with the [State] Department's policies that were implemented in accordance with the Federal Records Act."

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 24, 2016 10 Comments
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told French Prime Minister Manuel Valls he wants to hold a one-on-one meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas instead of a multinational conference in Paris. Netanyahu thinks Abbas will use the conference as a way to ignore direct negotiations with Israel. France has scheduled the peace talks for the beginning of June without Israel or Palestinian Authority representatives. From The Times of Israel:
“The Palestinian Authority does not see the French initiative as an inducer for negotiations, but as a way to avoid them,” he said. Instead, Netanayhu said, he would be willing to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas “in Paris or wherever,” and hold face-to-face negotiations without international mediation. “Every difficult issue will be on the table,” he said.
France plans to host another conference with Israel and Palestine in the autumn.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 24, 2016 5 Comments
Terrorist group Hamas plans to conduct public executions in Gaza in an attempt to bring down crime. Ismail Jaber, the group's attorney general, said he wants them to "take place before a large crowd." Hamas has thirteen men waiting for their execution after the courts convicted them "of murder connected to robberies." Officials can seek the death penalty for "collaborators, murderers and drug traffickers." If Hamas conducts the executions, the numbers could push them past Saudi Arabia. The kingdom houses 31.5 million people and executed 153 in 2015. Hamas will commit more death penalties since they have a population on 1.8 million.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 23, 2016 13 Comments
Vietnam veteran Roberto Gonzales does not have much time left, but he wanted to spend a few moments with his horses Ringo and Sugar. His wife Rosario described the reunion:
“When the horses came up to him, he actually opened his eyes,” Rosario Gonzales said. “They came up to him and I think they were actually kissing him.”
The final meeting took place on May 21, exactly 46 years after he was injured in Vietnam.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 23, 2016 14 Comments
President Barack Obama has lifted a five decade old arms ban against Vietnam as China Sea tensions continue to rise. At a press conference with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang, Obama said that he did not consider China's aggression in the region as a motivating factor. He chose to remove the ban as "part of a deeper defense cooperation with the country" and "normalizing relations" between the one time enemies:
“Over time what we’ve seen is a progressive deepening and broadening of the [bilateral] relationship,” Obama said. “And what became apparent to me and my administration at this point was … that it was appropriate for us not to have a blanket, across-the-board ban.”
The U.S. implemented the ban during the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975 after the army withdrew forces from Saigon. North Vietnam ambushed the city, reunited the two Vietnams, and renamed the capital Ho Chi Minh City after the revolutionary leader.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 23, 2016 5 Comments
Independent candidate Alexander Van der Bellen, backed by the Green Party, has become Austria's new head of state. He barely beat Freedom Party candidate Norbert Hofer. The Interior Ministry counted over 700,000 ballots, almost 12% of the country's registered voters, to determine the winner. Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka announced the results:
Van der Bellen reached 50.3 percent, 49.7 Hofer . In absolute terms, the scarcity of the result is visible: 2,254.484 votes could gather Van der Bellen, Hofer 2,223.458. The difference amounts to just 31,026 votes. The turnout was 72.7 percent, significantly higher than the first ballot reached 68.5 percent.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 22, 2016 3 Comments
The Afghanistan government confirmed a U.S. drone killed Taliban leader Mullah Mansoor in Pakistan. The U.S. Department of Defense said the government targeted the leader "while travelling in convoy near the town of Ahmad Wal." From The Guardian:
The US secretary of state, John Kerry, speaking in Myanmar on Sunday, said Mansoor “posed a continuing imminent threat to US personnel in Afghanistan, Afghan civilians, Afghan security forces” and members of the US and Nato coalition. He said the air strike on Mansoor sent “a clear message to the world that we will continue to stand with our Afghan partners”. “Peace is what we want. Mansoor was a threat to that effort,” Kerry said. “He also was directly opposed to peace negotiations and to the reconciliation process. It is time for Afghans to stop fighting and to start building a real future together.”

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 21, 2016 10 Comments
Coca-Cola has become the latest victim of socialism as the company announced it will no longer develop its product in Venezuela. Without sugar, they can only produce sugar free Coca-Cola. From CBS News:
The Atlanta-based company said in an emailed statement Friday said that its production of sugar-sweetened beverages will be suspended in the coming days after local suppliers reported they had run out of the raw material. Sugar-free beverages are not affected and the company said its offices and distribution centers remain open in Venezuela.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 20, 2016 15 Comments
Leon's Frozen Custard in Milwaukee, WI, has come under fire for its English-only policy, inspiring one group to demand a federal investigation. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) flipped out over the private business policy. The group's state director Dr. Arturo Martinez released this statement:
"In the last 24 hours, LULAC of Wisconsin has received numerous requests to investigate the issue of workplace policy as it pertains to language at Leon's Frozen Custard located at 3131 S. 27th Street in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While many of us consider this as a community institution, it was surprising when we learned of their language policy, which is in clear violation of federal labor law. Upon reviewing the statements made by management in a video interview detailing Leon’s policy, we are requesting an investigation of this policy by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The law is clear on this issue and offers few exceptions. In the meantime, we encourage management to review their current employment policies with counsel to bring them into compliance. We are confident that in doing so, it will lead to a stronger business and a stronger community.”

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 19, 2016 8 Comments
Veterans at the Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital have demanded action to clean the black mold in their housing complex, which has built up for the past 10 months. From Fox News:
Veterans Affairs documents indicate officials at Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital knew about the black mold infestation in August 2015 but conducted no testing until mid-April 2016 and have yet to clean up the problem – though they are promising to act soon. The mold is contained in two rooms of the Residential Care Facility (RCF), a separate building housing 30 residents for indefinite stays. “I was going by the hallway and the door was open. The back wall was all moldy black,” 81-year-old resident Raymond Shibek told FoxNews.com. “I went and told the director of nursing. She said, ‘How did you see that?’ I said, ‘The door was open.’ She said, ‘You weren’t supposed to see that.’” Shibek said the mold covered an entire wall measuring roughly 10 feet-by-10 feet.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 19, 2016 5 Comments
EgyptAir Flight 804 disappeared over the Mediterranean Sea on its way to Cairo from Paris with 66 people onboard. Not much is known at this time, but Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Sharif Fathi has mentioned terrorism without any proof:
"We do not deny there is a possibility of terrorism or deny the possibility of technical fault," Fathi said at a Cairo news conference. "I will continue to use the term missing plane until we find any debris." Later at the same news conference, he indicated that while there were "no known security issues" with passengers aboard the plane, the probability of terrorism downing it is higher than the likelihood of a mechanical cause. "I don't want to go to speculation. I don't want to go to assumptions like others. But if you analyze this situation properly, the possibility of having a different action aboard, of having a terror attack, is higher than having a technical problem," Fathi said.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 18, 2016 18 Comments
The courts in Johnson County in Iowa have decided not to charge a University of Iowa student for lying about a hate crime committed against him. Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness said:
"If we were going to charge him, we could charge a variety of other people with disorderly conduct or different things (concerning this incident). And it seemed more important to the community to get the information out on what had happened."

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 18, 2016 3 Comments
Israel has debuted a sea version of their successful Iron Dome to provide more protection from Hamas and Hezbollah. https://twitter.com/LTCPeterLerner/status/732941770280013825 The sea Iron Dome will also protect the natural gas fields off the coast of Israel. The discoveries led to a $15 billion deal to supply Jordan with natural gas.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 18, 2016 1 Comment
A civilian fighter in Nigeria has rescued one of the 276 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014. The fighter with the Civilian Joint Task Force (JTF) recognized Amina Ali Nkek in the Sambisa Forest, located near the Cameroon and Nigeria border. Officials believe the radical Islamic group has held the girls in the forest since the kidnapping. The kidnapping launched the #BringBackOurGirls campaign across the world and social media, including First Lady Michelle Obama.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 18, 2016 29 Comments
A male used the female dressing room at a Ross department store in Mesquite, TX, leaving one woman shocked, especially when the manager pushed aside her feelings and concerns. Customer Lisa Stickles spoke with CBS DFW [emphasis mine]:
“I was in the dressing room, when we heard a man’s voice,” said Lisa Stickles, who says she quickly told a manager. “She went inside the dressing room, came right back out and called me to the side and told me… he was representing himself as a woman today,” Stickles said. A customer service representative with Ross would not comment on the alleged incident but said they do not discriminate against the transgender community; adding, customers may use changing rooms that apply to their gender identity. “What about me? Or my feelings?” said Sickles. “(The manager) told me that if I felt uncomfortable in the dressing room with him there… I’d have to wait until he’s finished.”
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