• Inflation report comes in lower than expected: Amid the tariff wars and the economic uncertainty they invariably create came some good news this morning: Inflation came in a bit lower than expected for February, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The consumer price index nudged upward a seasonally adjusted 0.2% for the month, putting annual inflation at 2.8%, a vast improvement over the monthly rates typically seen during the money-printing madness of the Biden years. On a related note, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says egg prices have fallen by nearly $2 per dozen in recent weeks, although you might not yet be feeling it in your neck of the woods.

• House passes spending bill, averts government shutdown: “Now the ball is sent over to the Senate,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson yesterday, “and Chuck Schumer has a big decision to make. Is he going to cast a vote to keep the government open, or is he going to be blamed for shutting it down?” Johnson’s comments came after the House narrowly passed a six-month funding bill, which also happens to cut spending by a measly $7 billion. In the Senate, Republicans will need some Democrat help to get past the 60-vote filibuster threshold. But passage would seem to be a no-brainer, given the Democrats’ past cries about how these shutdowns hurt the little guy. Then again, these Democrats have been behaving like no-brainers of late.

• Trump vs. Massie: With the Republicans holding a razor-thin House majority, they can afford few representatives bucking the party vote. Yesterday, the House GOP passed a Continuing Resolution spending bill that Trump wants to further his agenda. One Republican voted against it — the principled constitutionalist Thomas Massie (KY). Following the vote, Trump praised the Freedom Caucus for getting in line but then blasted Massie, calling for him to be primaried and equating him to disgraced Liz Cheney. Massie, to his credit, remained consistent, responding, “Someone thinks they can control my voting card by threatening my re-election. Guess what? Doesn’t work on me. Three times I’ve had a challenger who tried to be more MAGA than me. None busted 25% because my constituents prefer transparency and principles over blind allegiance.”

• House hearing unravels over “misgendering”: Yesterday, during a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe meeting, Republican Representative Keith Self (TX), who chairs the subcommittee, received an objection from Democrat Bill Keating (MA) after he introduced transgender-identifying male Sarah McBride (D-DE) as “Mister McBride.” McBride had snarkily responded, saying, “Thank you, Madam Chair.” Keating then interjected, asking Self to repeat his introduction. Self noted that “we have set the standard on the” House floor, a reference to the Republican-controlled House only recognizing two genders. Keating clearly sought to make an issue of the Republicans’ refusal to acquiesce to the lie of McBride being a “woman” simply because he identifies as such. He accused Self of having no decency. At that point, Self adjourned the hearing.

• Biden’s final tally: 8.3 million migrants, most of them illegal: To no one’s surprise, except those dozens of CNN and MSNBC viewers, more new immigrants came into the U.S. during the Biden years than during the previous 12 years combined. The total, according to a new report by Steven Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies, is 8.3 million, though it’s impossible to know what the real number is, given how many illegals poured across our porous border without being apprehended. Some two-thirds of that 8.3 million are here illegally, and our nation’s foreign-born population is now more than 53 million, or some 16% of our total population. “The scale is unprecedented,” said Camarota, “with enormous implications for everything from schools and health care to the labor market to our ability to assimilate so many people.”

• Education Dept. cuts nearly 50% of its workforce: If Education Secretary Linda McMahon wants to work her way out of a job, she’s off to a great start. The Education Department announced yesterday that it’s reducing its staff by nearly half and will soon be down to fewer than 2,200 employees. Of those being trimmed, nearly 600 took buyouts, and 1,400 others will be notified of their administrative leave. As McMahon put it, “Today’s reduction in force reflects the Department of Education’s commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers.” The DOE, of course, has been an unequivocal failure, and the end of this expression of government waste and federal overreach can’t come soon enough for the nation’s long-underperforming students.

• EU slaps tariffs on U.S. goods, targets red states: In retaliation for Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, the European Union announced today that it is raising duties against U.S. goods. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen explained, “As the U.S. are applying tariffs worth 28 billion dollars, we are responding with countermeasures worth 26 billion euros.” The EU is targeting U.S. industrial and farm products that particularly hit Republican-led states the hardest. Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs hit Europe hard, as the U.S. is the EU’s biggest steel export market. The United Kingdom, which is no longer part of the EU, has not yet joined in the retaliatory tariff action.

• OK Supreme Court blocks Bibles in classrooms: On Monday, Oklahoma’s Supreme Court issued a temporary stay on State Superintendent Ryan Walters’s order using taxpayer dollars to purchase Bibles and related materials for public school classrooms. The plan was to buy more than 50,000 Bibles for 5th- through 12th-grade classrooms, and he had teamed up with country singer Lee Greenwood for a donation drive to fund it. Walters has pressed for Bibles in classrooms, arguing, “The Bible has been a cornerstone of our nation’s history and education for generations.” However, a number of groups, including the ACLU and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, raised a challenge against the plan on separation of church and state grounds. Republican Governor Kevin Stitt has refused to endorse the plan. It’s funny — when it comes to blocking Bibles in schools, where are the leftists decrying “book banning”?

• Trump DOJ fights LGBT indoctrination for elementary kids: The Montgomery County Board of Education in Maryland is refusing to give parents a chance to opt their children out of reading books like Pride Puppy, a rhyming alphabet book set at a pride parade, with all the accompanying debauchery. Initially, the board gave parents notice before these books were read, as well as the chance to opt out, but no more — perhaps parents’ rights were interfering with their indoctrination. In the legal battle that followed, the Fourth Circuit Court sided with the contention that this does not violate the freedom of religion of irate parents. The DOJ, however, is now siding with the parents, and this case will appear before the Supreme Court in April. A ruling is expected by June.

• Another Chinese intelligence operation uncovered: State Department official Michael Charles Schena was arrested on March 5 for gathering and transmitting national defense information to unauthorized users. Those unauthorized users appear to be in the Chinese Communist Party. This story began in 2022, 17 years after Schena’s time as an English teacher in Shaoxing, China. He was contacted by “Jason” and was offered cash from an international company for consulting services. Over the next 10 months, Schena photographed and shared classified documents he accessed on a State Department computer. He was paid at least $10,000 via an iPhone 14 believed to have been intended as a covert means of communication. China is our main geopolitical foe, and stories like this serve as a reminder of that fact.

Headlines

• Senator Jeanne Shaheen won’t run for reelection in 2026, creating GOP opening in New Hampshire (Washington Examiner)

• Columbia anti-Israel agitator Mahmoud Khalil being deported over “pro-Hamas propaganda flyers,” White House says (NY Post)

• Trump nixes heightened tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum; Ontario pauses power surcharge (UPI)

• Douglas Murray wins libel claim against The Guardian (Daily Wire)

• Syria’s president signs agreement with Kurdish leader following slaughter of minorities (Daily Wire)

• Greenland’s center-right party pulls off upset victory as Trump seeks control (Fox News)

• Iran confirms nuclear talks with China and Russia after rebuking Trump (Newsweek)

• Humor: Trump demands investigation into whoever nominated Amy Coney Barrett (Babylon Bee)

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