It's Monday morning, what do we know?
A major legislative victory for Democrats & more ships leave Ukrainian ports
What do we know?
The United States Senate passed sweeping, landmark legislation on Sunday afternoon. The “Inflation Reduction Act” includes the largest ever investment to fight climate change, lowers prescription drugs costs by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, caps out of pocket costs at $2000 per year and increases the corporate tax rate to 15%. The bill passed after a marathon “vote-a-rama” that began on Saturday afternoon, continuing overnight and concluding with a final vote along party lines, 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie. The bill now heads to the House, which will interrupt its summer break to vote on Friday. The bill is a major victory for Democrats ahead of the midterms and caps a series of legislative successes Congressional Democrats will be able to run on in the fall
Scumbag Alex Jones was ordered to pay the parents of a 6 year old boy killed in the Sandy Hook massacre $45.2 million in punitive damages, on top of $4.1 million in compensatory damages. Jones’ company declared bankruptcy last week ahead of the verdict. The bankruptcy declaration paused similar suits in Connecticut and another in Texas. Jones’ show, InfoWars, will continue to air while his lawyers appeal the verdict. The road ahead for Jones includes more lawsuits, a bankruptcy proceeding, possibly perjury charges and a host of other problems
Republican Governor Eric Holcomb of Indiana signed a draconian anti-abortion bill on Friday that would effectively ban all abortions, except in cases of fetal abnormalities considered lethal, or to prevent serious health risks to the mother. The bill also includes exceptions for minor’s who are victims of rape or incest, but only up to10 weeks. The bill comes in the aftermath of a Kansas ballot measure last week that would have ultimately led to a ban on abortion that was overwhelmingly rejected by voters. The results of the Kansas vote have had a chilling effect on the Republican-controlled legislatures nationally who have been debating abortion bans
U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Michael E. Langley made history last week, becoming the first black four-star Marine general in the Corps’ 246 years of existence. Langley will become commander of U.S Africa Command in Stuttgart, Germany, and will command all U.S. military forces in Africa
What do we know in Ukraine?
Six more ships carrying agricultural products received permission to leave Ukrainian ports on Sunday. The vessels will depart the ports of Chornomorsk and Odessa carrying a total of 219,000 tons of corn, 6,600 tons of sunflower oil and the sixth 11,000 tons of soya. The three cargo ships that left Friday passed inspection over the weekend and are on their way to their destinations. Ukraine hopes to export a total of about 20 million tons of grain and other products as a result of the deal reached with Russia, Turkey and the U.N.
Ukraine said on Sunday that Russian forces had once again shelled the Zaporizhzhia power plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. The shelling is said to have damaged three radiation sensors and hurt a worker at the plant. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the attack on the plant “Russian nuclear terror"
Britain’s Defense Ministry said the war is about to enter a new phase where the fighting would shift to a line from the city of Zaporizhzhia to Russian-occupied Kherson. Russian forces are continuing to accumulate large quantities of military equipment in the area to counter Ukraine’s offensive to retake the Kherson region, which Russia seized during the earliest phase of the war