The Senate Acts: By a single tiebreaking vote cast by Vice President Kamala Harris, the Senate yesterday passed an historical bill that would make the most significant federal investment so far to fight climate change, lower the cost of prescription drugs, extend subsidies for health care, and establish a 15 percent corporate minimum tax.

   The bill is designed to pay its own cost by targeting tax cheats and some billion-dollar companies that now pay no taxes.

  Originally bearing President Biden’s label “Build Back Better,” the bill was renamed the Inflation Reduction Act because it is also projected to lower the federal deficit by as much as $300 billion over 10 years. 

  All 50 Republican Senators voted against it. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a statement called the bill  an “economic assault on the American middle class.” The House is likely to pass it by a narrow majority.

  The bill would inject nearly $400 billion into climate change and energy efficiency programs. It is intended to spur the use of electric vehicles and help the country cut greenhouse gas emissions about 40 percent below 2005 levels by the end of this decade.

  The Democrats had to compromise with some of their own members to get it done. To please West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, they had to give up free prekindergarten for all as well as paid family and medical leave for workers nationwide. He also negotiated a sweetener for a gas pipeline company that’s been one of his big donors. To satisfy Arizona’s Kirsten Sinema, Democrat leaders pulled back on some of their tax proposals.

Muslim Targets: Police in Albuquerque suspect that the apparently random killings of four Muslim men may be connected. 

  The latest victim is a Muslim man in his mid-20s from South Asia whose name has not been released by the police. He was killed Friday just before midnight. 

  Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27, was killed a week ago today. Aftab Hussein, 41, was shot dead on July 26th. Authorities say the killings of all three might be connected to the November 2021 murder of Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, outside his family business.

  The police, FBI and New Mexico State Police have described a vehicle of interest, a dark-colored, four-door Volkswagen sedan. Local Muslims, of course, have been described as “terrified.”

Collective Memory Loss: The House January 6^th committee is looking into the suspicious “wiping” of government cellphones after the Capitol insurrection.  

  Cellphone information has been erased, wiped, deleted, or otherwise obscured by members of former President Donald Trump’s administration, Secret Service agents, and senior Pentagon  officials. Among the Top aides who had their phones wiped former are acting secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, and former acting deputy secretary Ken Cuccinelli. 

The Fire This Time: California’s McKinney Fire has destroyed nearly 90 houses and is only 40% contained after burning for a week in the Klamath National Forest near the California-Oregon border. 

  The fire that  started on July 29^th has been fueled by hot weather and drought then pushed by high winds

  As of this morning, the fire has burned over 60,000 acres and the perimeter was 40 percent contained. More than 2,400 firefighters are on the fire. 

The Obit Page: Robert Simanek, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for saving his fellow Marines by falling on a live grenade in the Korean War, has died at age 92. 

  Private Simanek was patrolling with his company in August 1952 when they were ambushed and two grenades landed in the trench where several Marines had taken cover. He kicked one away and fell on the other. Amazingly, he was not killed, but sustained severe damage to his right hip and lower leg.  The other Marines were not hurt.

  After the war he studied business administration and later worked for an auto parts company and for the Small Business Administration.

  Despite many invitations to speak about his bravery, Simanek declined public adulation and said he had merely acted on his training.

The Spin Rack: A cease-fire has gone into effect between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza. At least 31 Palestinians were killed over several days of trading fire, including six children. — Actress Anne Heche, 53, is in critical but stable  condition after a car wreck last week in which her Mini Cooper slammed into a Los Angeles home and burst into flames, destroying the house. She was severely burned. — Some of Indiana’s biggest employers totaling tens of thousands of workers are objecting to the state’s new abortion ban. — Human remains have been found for the fourth time as the shrinking Lake Mead in Nevada reveals what was once the lake’s bottom. One body was found in a barrel with a bullet hole in the head.

Cult News: The annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Committee Saturday night featured a mock jail cell occupied by an accused January 6^th rioter in an orange jumpsuit and red MAGA cap. Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene got down on her knees and prayed with him while some onlookers looked to the sky and praised God.

  On stage at the conference in Texas Saturday night, Donald Trump fed the crowd with lines like the following: “Despite great outside dangers, our biggest threat remains the sick, sinister, evil people from within our own country.” And: “We are a nation that no longer has a free press, no longer has a fair press. Fake news is all we get.” And: “We are a nation where free speech is no longer allowed.” 

  Evidently he was free to say it.

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