‘Unusually High’ Inflation: Consumer Costs Rose Again in February

aceless person with cash and calculator app on smartphone

Consumer prices jumped again in February, in part driven by a significant rise in gasoline prices, according to newly released federal inflation data.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Consumer Price Index Tuesday, a leading marker of inflation, which showed prices rose 0.4 percent in February and 3.2 percent over the past year.

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GOP Lawmakers Eye Tax on ‘Woke’ Private Universities’ Massive Endowments

High-profile Republicans are pushing a new strategy to tax universities’ endowments, arguing the institutions don’t deserve their tax-exempt statuses because they use their vast amounts of money to push “woke” biases.

While initial efforts in Congress appear to have stalled for now, watchdogs warn higher education leaders that this strategy has only just begun.

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Scandal-Plagued Civil Rights Group Launches Attack on Parental Rights Groups

The Alabama-based civil rights organization that made its name suing the Ku Klux Klan has put parental rights groups in its sights and for the first time has started tracking the “antigovernment movement” ideology in its annual “Year in Hate & Extremism” reports.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) added “reactionary anti-student inclusion groups” to a list of 702 “antigovernment extremism” groups it tracked in 2022, separate from 523 “hate” groups. The organization focused almost exclusively on just one in its annual report published this week: Florida-based Moms for Liberty, far and away the leader in chapters nationwide.

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White House Defends TikTok Outreach Amid Bipartisan Security Concerns

On August 9, 2021, Benito Skinner, the Millennial Generation comedian known online as “Benny Drama,” posted a video on TikTok of his day-in-the-life experience as a White House intern, photocopying, making unrequested nail appointments for then-Press Secretary Jen Psaki, and generally making a mess.

All of it was for laughs, but there was a reason the Biden administration invited him into the West Wing. They wanted Millennials and members of Gen Z to hear a public health message from the TikTok influencer: “We need to get shots in the arms of every single American.”

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Conservative Tech Groups Slam Ex-Intelligence Officials for Defending Monopolies, Urge Passage of Antitrust Bills

Two conservative tech advocacy groups sent a letter to House lawmakers criticizing former national security officials for attempting to prevent the passage of antitrust bills targeting Big Tech.

The letter, sent by the Internet Accountability Project (IAP) and the American Principles Project (APP) to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy along with lawmakers responsible for overseeing antitrust legislation, urged Congress to pass six bills targeting major tech companies advanced beyond the House Judiciary Committee in June. The letter also criticized twelve former intelligence officials who sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy arguing against the passage of antitrust bills in mid-September.

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Senate Passes Amendment to Ban Federal Dollars from Funding Critical Race Theory in Schools

The Senate has approved an amendment to the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill that will ban the use of federal funds from being used to teach Critical Race Theory in schools.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., introduced the “Stop CRT Act” in an effort to prevent tax dollars from being used to teach the controversial set of ideas in public school classrooms.

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Senators Ask DOJ to Investigate Segregation at Colleges

Senators Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and Kelly Loeffler (R-Georgia) sent a letter to US Attorney General William Barr, asking him to investigate instances of racial segregation on college campuses.

Citing numerous examples of an “alarming trend of apparent racial segregation” at American universities, the Senators asked Barr to “investigate these and similar cases.”

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Trump Says He Will Stop Funding Schools That Teach New York Times’ 1619 Project

President Donald Trump said in a tweet Sunday that the Department of Education would stop funding California public schools if they teach the New York Times’ 1619 Project.

“Department of Education is looking at this. If so, they will not be funded!” Trump said in a tweet as a response to a post that claimed “california has implemented the 1619 project into the public schools. soon you wont recognize america[sic].”

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NY Times Editorial Page Editor James Bennet Resigns Amid Backlash Over Running Conservative Senator’s Op-ed

The New York Times’ editorial page editor resigned Sunday after the newspaper disowned an opinion piece by U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton that advocated using federal troops against protesters, and it was later revealed he hadn’t read the piece prior to publication.

James Bennet resigned and his deputy, James Dao, is being reassigned at the newspaper, the Times said Sunday.

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Sen. Tom Cotton Calls Democrats’ Fight To Hold Coronavirus Bill Hostage Over Climate Change, Other Liberal Dreams a ‘Disgrace’

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton said Monday that his Democratic colleagues are holding up the Senate’s coronavirus bill so they can push green energy policies, among a slew of other “radical” measures.

The Arkansas senator railed against his colleagues, telling his Twitter followers that they were putting Americans’ lives at risk over global warming. His criticism came after Senate Democrats failed to pass a procedural cloture vote on a phase-three coronavirus stimulus bill.

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Cotton: Feinstein Will Be Investigated For Leak Of Ford Letter

by Jason Hopkins   Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton said Dianne Feinstein’s office will be investigated for the leak of Christine Blasey Ford’s letter, a message she explicitly requested be kept confidential. Speaking Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Cotton told host John Dickerson that, not only will Feinstein and…

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