Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed Chairman of the Education Administration Committee in the Tennessee House of Representatives (R-TN-83) Mark White to the newsmaker line to address the core of the third-grade retention bill and confronting issues in earlier education.
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Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio for another edition of Crom’s Crommentary.
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The U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Board on Geographic Names (BOGN) recently finalized the renaming of five sites across the nation, including one in Tennessee, to remove a ‘harmful slur’ from its titles.
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Prestigious business schools across the country are adding more opportunities to study diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG), a trend that’s expected to continue, professors told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
ESG prompts investors to consider factors such as environmental impact and social awareness when making investments, while DEI is a push to increase diversity and inclusion initiatives in institutions such as schools and the workplace. Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), and Bentley University all offer courses in both subjects as they grow more prominent.
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FBI counterintelligence agents raided the New York office of an alleged overseas Chinese government police station sometime in fall 2022, The New York Times reported Thursday.
During the raid, federal authorities reportedly seized materials from the third-floor office of America Changle Association, a Manhattan Chinatown organization that claims to serve overseas Chinese, according to the report, which cites FBI agents who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The report comes several months after the Daily Caller News Foundation revealed in October that a March 2021 video conference between Changle and Chinese government officials had identified Lu Jianwang, Changle’s former chairman, as a “propagandist” and “special liaison officer” who worked with the United Front Work Department (UFWD).
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For the first time in more than three decades, a higher percentage of Americans are identifying as Republicans or saying that they are GOP-leaning than those who are saying they are Democrats or leaning toward the Democratic Party, according to a new poll.
While 44% of Americans say they are Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents, 45% of Americans said they lean toward the GOP, according to a Gallup poll released Thursday.
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Despite the Department of Defense rescinding the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, unvaccinated military members are still facing repercussions, including denied benefits, ineligibility for promotion, being non-deployable, and potentially diminished employment prospects for those already discharged.
On Dec. 23, President Biden signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the $858 billion defense spending bill that included a measure repealing the mandate. On Dec. 29, the Defense Department followed suit, rescinding the mandate that has frayed military morale and resulted in the discharge of over 8,000 service members who refused the vaccine.
In rescinding the vaccine mandate, the DOD acknowledged the NDAA requires Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to rescind his Aug. 24, 2021 memo issuing the sweeping order.
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The restored Bourbon dynasty is said to have “learnt nothing and forgotten nothing.” But Louis XVIII’s posse had nothing on Republican “moderates” in the recently (barely) restored House majority.
Check out this choice tidbit, in the wake of Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) bruising, begrudging battle for the speakership, from Representative Nancy Mace (R-S.C.)…
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Nashville’s live New Year’s Eve event earlier this month at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park broke records and exceeded expectations in both direct visitor spending and attendance, the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp (NCVC) recently announced.
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Engineering physics graduates at Belmont University are now guaranteed placement and funding for a postgraduate degree in engineering pursued through the University of Arkansas as part of a new partnership between the two universities.
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Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty is facing criticism after she dropped a rape charge involving a 14-year-old victim during her first week in office.
Moriarty was sworn in Jan. 3, replacing longtime county attorney Mike Freeman. She ran on a progressive platform of “restorative justice programs” and “alternatives to incarceration.”
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With Democrats taking over the top leadership positions in Arizona, progressives are boldly moving onto their next steps in the state. Save Democracy Arizona (SDA) is looking into getting a ballot initiative that would open up primary elections to everyone and possibly implement ranked choice voting. The new group is composed of Democrats and moderate Republicans who seek to stop conservative Republicans from getting elected to office.
Arizona has a semi-closed primary system, meaning Republicans and Democrats automatically receive a ballot in the primary, but independents and other political parties must request one of those. With an open primary, any voter can vote with any party ballot. Save Democracy executive board member Sarah Brown Smallhouse explained why the group wants the change. “Because so few people (request a ballot), we almost have closed primaries,” she said. In recent years, independents have outnumbered both Republicans and Democrats in much of the state.
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State Senator Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga) introduced legislation that would prohibit Tennessee public schools and universities from mandating “implicit bias” training. If passed, SB102 would also extend to state agencies, including the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) and The State Board of Education (SBE). Neither of these agencies currently requires employees to participate in training as a condition of employment.
The National Institutes of Health defines implicit bias as a form of bias that occurs automatically and unintentionally, but nevertheless affects judgments, decisions, and behaviors. Research has shown implicit bias can pose a barrier to schools creating a diverse workforce and negatively impact student learning. In an effort to mitigate the negative effects, schools and businesses have implemented mandatory training for employees, Gardenhire’s law would work to end these mandates.
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Senator Mark Obenshain (R-Rockingham) has introduced a constitutional amendment to add approving charter schools to the Virginia Board of Education’s powers.
“We’ve seen a huge number of parents move their children to private or homeschooling environments, and the only people who can’t take advantage of it are the people who can’t afford it. And I just don’t think that we ought to be depriving Virginians of a high-quality education either because they can’t afford it or because of the zip code we’re in,” Obenshain told The Virginia Star.
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U.S. Representative Dave Joyce (R-OH-14) is encouraging fellow congresspersons to get behind a resolution he introduced to shield American industry from new disclosure requirements meant to advance leftist environmental policy.
Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed requirements for publicly traded companies to disclose information about the “climate-related risks that are reasonably likely to have a material impact on their business, results of operations, or financial condition….”
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Certain basic functions of everyday life distinguish us from animals. Our use of fire is among them. We cook with it, heat with it, and light the darkness with it. In many ways, fire on the stove is the center of our family life. In days of our ancestors, we even kept wild animals at bay with torches burning hot with the rendered fat of animals.
Now the United States federal government is coming for our fire. It’s to protect the children, the federal government says, through an unelected bureaucrat who wants to regulate gas cookstoves out of existence.
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A follow-up audit for the city of Palm Bay by the State of Florida Auditor General found the city of Palm Bay has corrected all but eight of the 31 issues found in the 2020 report.
Palm Bay city Manager Suzanna Sherman responded to the Auditor General and detailed the findings that needed to be addressed, but had not yet been fully corrected.
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Pennsylvania state Representative Torren Ecker (R-Abbottstown) is preparing legislation to restore a rule keeping each healthcare lawsuit in the county where the alleged malpractice occurred.
Two decades ago, state lawmakers enacted the Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error (MCARE) Act which forbade patients claiming they suffered from a doctor’s medical mistakes to file their lawsuits in jurisdictions where the alleged harm did not take place. Before that time, much litigation was being filed in Philadelphia and Allegheny counties whose common-pleas courts were known to look especially favorably on healthcare plaintiffs.
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Despite a possible mild recession, Michigan’s fiscal experts project a $9.2 billion taxpayer surplus that could trigger a tax cut.
Nonpartisan fiscal agencies project Michigan will gather $32.4 billion in revenue for the 2022-23 fiscal year.
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The Joint Study Committee on the Electrification of Transportation has endorsed the Georgia Department of Transportation’s pilot program taxing motorists based on vehicle miles traveled.
Charging a mileage tax would recoup what state leaders see as a potential loss in revenue via the gas tax. Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, suspended the gas tax to help Georgians counter rising inflation.
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Leading Republican lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives filed new legislation that would ban federal employees from working with big tech companies to censor Americans.
The bill comes as ongoing reports show that federal law enforcement and the White House have regularly communicated with social media companies like Facebook and Twitter, pressuring the companies to remove posts and accounts for a range of issues, including questioning the COVID-19 vaccine.
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Immigration remains not only one of our nation’s most pressing issues but also one of the most divisive. The common media narrative boils this topic down to say that progressives are kind and welcoming to those experiencing hardship while conservatives are cold-hearted monsters. Sadly, this narrative hides a much more sinister reality: Charitable immigration can severely hurt the global poor and destabilizes the nations that these immigrants come from. Indeed, by accepting mass amounts of immigration, the U.S. is actively working against the very people it is claiming to help.
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Oklahoma State University (OSU) violated students’ First and Fourteenth amendment rights by enforcing policies which police speech concerning political and social issues, according to a lawsuit filed by legal group Speech First on Tuesday.
OSU enforces policies which “deter, suppress, and punish speech about political and social issues of the day,” according to the lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. It specifically challenges three issues Speech First alleges violates student speech rights: the harassment policy, the computer use policy and the Bias Incident Response system.
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The nation’s largest school districts are implementing policies that require educators to keep students’ gender transitions a secret from their parents.
Los Angeles Unified School District, Chicago Public Schools and New York Public Schools are promoting practices and policies that hide a student’s transgender status from their parents. The policies have become a cultural flashpoint amid a battle over the role parents should play in their child’s education, and the extent to which gender ideology has infiltrated K-12 classrooms.
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The University of Southern California (USC) Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work will no longer use the world “field” in its curriculum or its practices as part of its anti-racist framework, according to an email reportedly sent Monday.
The school reportedly stripped the word from use due to alleged ties to “anti-Black” and “anti-immigrant” rhetoric, according to the email sent by the Practicum Education Department to the campus community, faculty, staff and students. The school informed that the word “practicum” would be used instead to “ensure [its] use of inclusive language and practice.”
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A new poll shows that a staggeringly low percentage of adults in the Gen Z generation express pride in being Americans, with only 16 percent saying that they love their country.
As reported by the Daily Caller, the Morning Consult survey focused on adult members of Generation Z, also known as “Zoomers,” between the ages of 18 and 25. With only 16 percent saying that they were proud to be Americans, they are by far the least-patriotic generation. In the same poll, Millennials were revealed to be the second-lowest, with only 36 percent saying they were proud to be Americans.
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by Alexa Schwerha A Pennsylvania State University sociology professor reportedly instructed straight students to watch “gay or lesbian porn” to learn if they are bisexual, Fox News reported. Sam Richards told students in SOC 119 that watching porn could make them realize that they are attracted to members of the same sex, according to Fox News. The Dec. 6 lecture was about “A Conversation on Trans Issues, [Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists], and The Binary.” “If you’re straight, watch gay or lesbian porn and see how quickly you feel aroused,” Richards reportedly said. “And how you can’t control that. You’ll realize that, ‘Oh, d—, I could be sexualized by people who are like me.’” He then reportedly said the everyone is “at some level non-binary” and “easily bisexual.” He also addressed, specifically, the straight and male students about watching porn. “Watch gay porn. See if you feel that feeling. If you feel that feeling, look in a mirror, and say huh, maybe I’m just feeling some things that I’m just afraid to release,” he reportedly said. “And maybe you release that and maybe you’d be surprised that maybe you actually are fine being more bisexual.” The lecture was reportedly uploaded to the class YouTube but now appears to have…
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The Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement opened in 2018 as then-former Vice President Joe Biden’s “think tank.” It was founded, according to the institution, “on the principle that a democratic, open, secure, tolerant, and interconnected world benefits all Americans.” But it looks like Biden, his 2020 presidential campaign, his liberal allies, and perhaps some foreign friends have grabbed the brunt of the center’s benefits.
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Nokian Tyres officials recently announced that the company will invest $174.1 million to expand operations at its Dayton facility to “double its tire production capabilities.”
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Congress’ recent $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill increased the budget for medical research funding at the National Institutes of Health to nearly $50 billion in 2023 alone. A closer look at the agency reveals that NIH is increasingly spending its time, and funds, on equity and LGBT issues as well as “systemic racism and inequities.”
The National Institutes of Health has devoted millions of taxpayer dollars toward these kinds of issues for their research, taxpayer money that did not go to the federal health agency’s primary research goal of finding cures and medical treatments.
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In the 14th installment of the Twitter Files, journalist Matt Taibbi revealed how Democrats chose to falsely accuse their opposition of being “Russian bots” even though Twitter directly disagreed with this assessment.
As reported by Fox News, shortly after then-Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes released his famous memo detailing the efforts that were undertaken to spy on the Trump campaign by intelligence agencies, high-profile Democrats began spreading the lie that Nunes’ information was being promoted by “Russian bots” on Twitter.
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The Department of Homeland Security announced on Friday that it would streamline a deferred action process for noncitizens who report labor violations so as to help them avoid deportation.
The agency hopes that the policy will help it to identify exploitative work environments by protecting those who come forward from “immigration-related retaliation from the exploitive employers,” according to a press release. DHS contends that workers often avoid reporting labor violations for fear that their employers will retaliate on the basis of their immigration status.
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Friday on WarRoom: Battlefield, host Bannon welcomed National Political Editor at The Star News Network to the show to discuss the anonymous donations received by the Penn Biden Center and other higher learning institutions linked to the Chinese Communist Party.
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LEBANON, Tennessee – Freshman Congressman Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) received a standing ovation for his stance during last week’s race for U.S. House Speaker at the regular monthly meeting of the Wilson County Republican Party held Saturday at the Music City Baptist Church in Lebanon.
U.S. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-20), considered the favorite to be elected as the 55th Speaker with his party now in the majority for the 118th Congress, had to go a historic 15 rounds of voting over five long days to be elected. McCarthy had to win over the votes of 20 Republicans who mainly wanted to change the way the House operates.
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Are you wondering why checking out at the grocery store these days feels like making a mortgage payment? This week’s four-decade-high inflation is a direct result of the Federal Reserve taking its eye off the ball over the last two years. Instead of focusing on its mandate of keeping prices stable, it has been more concerned with financing massive federal deficits and kowtowing to liberal ideology.
But now the Fed chair is claiming just the opposite.
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by Robert Romano In 2016, the Democratic Party’s nominee for president, Hillary Clinton, had an FBI investigation because she was storing classified information on her private server for the convenience of reading her classified emails on a smartphone. Details of the investigation came out throughout the campaign, resulting in former FBI Director James Comey’s July 2016 determination not to pursue charges and then an Oct. 2016 surprise that he was reopening the matter. Determined to ensure that her opponent, then candidate Donald Trump, would not be without an investigation of his own, the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee sought to frame him as a Russian agent who had helped Moscow hack the DNC and put the emails onto Wikileaks. It resulted in a top secret FBI investigation and FISA warrants that all carried over after the 2016 election when Trump won and into his administration, ultimately resulting in Special Counsel Robert Mueller being appointed to investigate—severely hampering the Trump presidency. Mueller found there was no Trump campaign conspiracy with Russia to hack the DNC and give the emails to Wikileaks. According to Mueller’s final report to the Attorney General, “the evidence was not sufficient to charge that any member of the Trump Campaign…
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Two of the state’s wealthiest families are seeking nearly $800 million from taxpayers for a brownfield program, tax abatement, and affordable housing for 10 Detroit developments.
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Governor Brian Kemp announced his budget proposal on Friday, highlighting $250 income tax rebates, one-time discounts on homeowner property tax, and spending on education, economic development, improving healthcare access, and a $2,000 cost-of-living increase for state employees.
“Despite national economic headwinds caused by 40-year high inflation, Georgia’s economy remains a leader nationwide. As we look ahead to the upcoming fiscal year, we expect the state’s economy to be well positioned to withstand any further national economic slowing,” he said in a letter to lawmakers.
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by Benjamin Yount Wisconsin’s Senate majority leader says there is plenty of money available to reconfigure the state’s personal income tax rates. State Sen. Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, on Friday said Wisconsin’s record $6.6 billion surplus will help get the state over the hump. “So, for sure in the first two years of the budget we’ll have plenty of revenue,” LeMahieu said. His proposal would move Wisconsin from a top personal income tax rate of 7.65% to a flat rate of 3.25% for everyone by 2026. LeMahieu estimates that his plan will save taxpayers $5 billion. “It maybe looks a little daunting in years three and four,” Lemahieu said of the impact on state coffers. “When other states have done this, sales tax revenue goes up, and other revenue goes up because there’s more money in the system. It changes people’s spending habits.” LeMahieu said Wisconsin’s economy has grown over the past several years, and he expects that to continue. He also said lowering the tax rate to 3.25% would make Wisconsin the lowest among its neighbors. Minnesota’s income tax rates start at 5.35%, while Illinois, Iowa and Michigan all have flat taxes that are or would be higher than…
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If a new bill presented by an eastern Ohio Senator were to become law, Ohioans could lawfully produce as much as 200 gallons of homemade liquor a year without a government permit as long as they don’t sell it.
The first set of measures from the current legislative session, which started earlier this month, was introduced by the Ohio Senate on Thursday. Senate Bill (SB) 13 sponsored by state Senator Frank Hoagland (R-Mingo Junction) allowing for the distilling, serving, and shipping of homemade liquor without a permit was one of them.
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The state of Florida is cracking down on companies that aren’t complying with E-verify laws in an attempt to ensure they aren’t hiring people who are in the country illegally, including the American National Red Cross.
The state Department of Economic Opportunity sent letters to six companies putting them on notice that if they don’t reply by Monday, January 16, their business licenses will be suspended and they won’t be able to operate in Florida.
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Pennsylvania’s gas tax is a major funding source for the upkeep and repair of roads and bridges across the state.
It’s also one of the highest gas taxes across the nation.
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Virginia Democrats are pushing for stricter gun safety measures during the 2023 legislative session in response to what they say is an “epidemic” of gun violence.
Democratic lawmakers in the state Senate have introduced a range of gun control proposals, including bills that will prohibit individuals from carrying assault weapons in certain public areas and prohibit the sale of unserialized weapon parts, more commonly known as “ghost guns.”
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The author of a bill that would create a “fundamental right” to abortion through all nine months of pregnancy refused to state when she thinks an unborn baby becomes a human person.
Minnesota Democrats are expediting their Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act through the Minnesota Legislature, emboldened by an election victory that saw them recapture the Senate and take full control of state government.
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If the reaction from Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs’ first budget proposal is any indication, she and lawmakers are likely in for a long spring.
Hobbs announced her $17.1 billion spending proposal Friday afternoon, saying it lowers costs, invests in public education, secures the state’s water future and addresses the affordable housing crisis.
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The jury trial of Richard Barnett, the man famously photographed with his feet on a desk in Nancy Pelosi’s office on January 6, 2021, is underway in Washington, D.C. Nearly two years to the date of his arrest, Barnett finally had a chance to defend himself in court on multiple charges, including obstruction of an official proceeding.
But it was not the fiery, outspoken Barnett who provided the most jaw-dropping testimony in the trial so far. To the contrary, one of the government’s own witnesses confirmed under defense cross-examination that “agents provocateur” were heavily involved in instigating the events of January 6.
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Georgia taxpayers are on the hook to cover the bulk of the state’s cost to defend a lawsuit that alleged voter suppression in the 2018 election, state officials confirmed this week.
Fair Fight Action, founded by failed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, and other groups filed a lawsuit in November 2018, alleging Georgia’s election processes denied thousands of residents the ability to vote. The allegations centered on Georgia’s absentee ballot procedures, voter registration and voter list management practices.
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Mel Gibson is reportedly planning to start filming a sequel to his 2004 film “The Passion of the Christ.”
“The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection” will focus on the crucifixion and the events that Christians believe happened from Christ’s death until his resurrection, according to the entertainment outlet World of Reel.
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Federal debt soared by $1.4 trillion in 2022 as President Joe Biden and Congress approved multiple new spending packages.
The Congressional Budget Office released the final details of federal spending in 2022 showing the federal government had a $1.4 trillion deficit last year, borrowing roughly $82 billion in December alone.
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At Intellectual Takeout, we strive to offer not only commentary on current events but also tangible advice for engaging with our increasingly chaotic world. That’s why we’re proud to present this ongoing series of literature recommendations. This week’s entries include works examining our culture’s Judeo-Christian religious heritage.
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