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Seven in 10 Americans in a new poll say they’ve heard little or nothing about the Inflation Reduction Act nearly a year after President Biden signed Democrats’ massive climate and tax bill into law. Only 27 percent of Americans said they know a great deal or a good amount about the legislation touted by the administration as a major accomplishment, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll released on Monday.

With COVID-19 cases falling in many parts of the world and vaccination programs ramping up at warp speed, international travel no longer seems like a distant dream.The Henley Passport Index, which has been regularly monitoring the world’s most travel-friendly passports since 2006, has released its latest rankings and analysis.Visual Capitalist's Anshool Deshmukh details below that the most recent data provides insight into what travel freedom will look like in a post-pandemic world as countries selectively begin to open their borders to international visitors.Prominent Countries Still Holding StrongThe rankings are based on the visa-free score of a particular country. A visa-free...

How to think about entropy and time by Sean Carroll, CalTech prof of physics.

In a stunning historical error, Los Angeles Times reporters Kathleen Hennessey, Richard Simon, Alexei Koseff reported that "Democrats led the passage of civil rights legislation that marchers pushed for in 1963." In fact, Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV), a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, filibustered the bill in an attempt to kill the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Republican Minority Leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL) saved the landmark civil rights law from defeat by galvanizing Senate Republicans for a cloture vote to stop the Democrat-led filibuster On June 9, 1964, the night before the historic cloture vote, the 68-year-old...

A double shooting that killed one man Saturday night took place along a CPS Safe Passage route on the South Side. Ralph McNeal, 54, and a 26-year-old man were shot in the 2900 block of South State Street around 6:15 p.m. They were taken to the hospital and McNeal was pronounced dead around 7 p.m. Parents of children who will attend Chicago’s Drake Elementary School are on edge because of its location on a designated CPS Safe Passage route. The routes were set up to make the transition to new schools go more smoothly for the students affected by school...

Chicago Public Schools officials today released maps of routes where security will be provided for the thousands of children going to news schools this year. The so-called "safe passage" routes are designed to smoothly shift students from 47 schools being closed this year to nearby schools. (Click HERE to see maps.) Parents have voiced concern about children crossing rival gang territories and passing empty buildings and vacant lots. Some of them have complained that CPS has been late releasing the maps. Training for safe passage workers, originally targeted by CPS for this week, is now set to begin next Thursday....

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said that the Senate could pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation if Republicans would cooperate. Gibbs made his comments after President Barack Obama delivered a speech on the need for immigration reform in Washington, D.C., earlier in the day. Gibbs responded to a question about the timeline for a bill to be considered. "I think where there is a will, there is a way," he said at his daily press briefing. "If there is a will among Democrats and Republicans, specifically Republicans, then there is a way."

Battling anger and indifference on the part of California voters, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger implored them Sunday not to make the state "the poster child for dysfunction" by defeating a host of measures on Tuesday's ballot that seek to restructure the state's bleak finances. The governor's visits to three African American churches in Los Angeles came as proponents and opponents of the ballot measures marshaled the last of the millions of dollars they have collected for the special election. Schwarzenegger said Sunday he had been told that about 25% of voters are expected to show up, ... Schwarzenegger, accompanied by Assembly...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Democratic-controlled U.S. Congress on Thursday moved toward passing a federal budget that embraces President Barack Obama's initiatives on healthcare, energy and education but leaves the government deeply in debt for the foreseeable future. The House of Representatives and Senate were poised to approve slightly different, less expensive versions of Obama's $3.55 trillion budget plan for fiscal 2010, which begins on October 1. Democrats, who control both chambers, were expecting little to no support from Republicans, who offered alternative plans that would fuel the debate but appeared to be going nowhere. A compromise version of the Democrats'...

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Oct. 6, 2008 – “Stay alert and stay vigilant,” shouted a chiseled-face soldier during an Oct. 4 pre-convoy briefing at Camp Eggers, Afghanistan. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Matt Hildebrand, Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan force protection, drives an armored bus from Camp Eggers to Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, as soldiers in a silver truck provide security for an Oct. 4, 2008, convoy. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Kevin Wallace, Combined Joint Task Force 101  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Army Staff Sgt. Carlos Padilla was one of five servicemembers charged with securing...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Following the passage of the economic bailout bill Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said congressional hearings are planned to find the causes of the crisis and to determine "where we go from here." "We were dealt a bad hand; we made the most of it," Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said Friday. She said Congress will shine a new "light of scrutiny and accountability" on the nation's financial system to try to prevent a replay of the problems that plunged the nation into an financial crisis. Reps. Barney Frank, D-Massachusetts, and Henry Waxman, D-California, plan to...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Members of the Senate sought on Thursday to pass bipartisan legislation to more than triple funds to fight AIDS in Africa and other countries, but some Republican foes vowed to block it because of its cost. President George W. Bush had called for a doubling of U.S. funding to help fight a global battle against AIDS. There are indications his administration would go along with more aggressive spending, according to congressional aides. But he has had difficulty convincing some fellow Republicans in Congress to go along. Supporters of the proposed $50 billion in U.S. funds over five...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6, 2008 – The Defense Department will continue to need the support of Congress and the American public to sustain the success it has achieved in the war on terror so far -- success that, though impressive, is still tenuous, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today. Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee, defending the $515.4 billion fiscal 2009 defense budget request President Bush submitted to Congress on Feb. 4. The budget includes a 3.4 percent military pay raise, a 2.9 percent civilian raise, money to continue to grow...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 30, 2007 – The September edition of the Pentagon Channel’s monthly documentary “Recon” will focus on the Coast Guard’s efforts in the Caribbean Sea’s most perilous waterway. Small-boat crews from the Coast Guard cutter Escanaba transfer Haitian migrants from an overloaded sail freighter to the Escanaba. The 101 Haitian migrants eventually were repatriated to Cap Haitien, Haiti. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Joseph Newland  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The show, titled “Perilous Passage,” will provide an inside look at the men and women of the Coast Guard who patrol Mona Passage,...

ANBAKIA — Two key towns were held captive by a terrorist threat in the Diyala province, effectively blocking a supply route for many citizens in the Diyala River Valley. As the anti-Iraqi forces continued to terrorize the towns, many of the citizens were displaced and became refugees in the nearby town of Anbakia, overpopulating the town and creating an even further shortage of food and services. That all changed on July 22 with the start of Operation Olympus. Early in the morning, Iraqi army soldiers on foot, and teams of paratroopers from the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, attached to...

WASHINGTON, April 9, 2007 – In a “16-star letter” to Congress, the services’ uniformed leaders are urging a quick passage of the fiscal 2007 emergency supplemental request. The four service chiefs, all four-star generals, signed the letter. The request will fund operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa through the end of the fiscal year. The letter, signed by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael G. Mullen, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley and Marine Commandant Gen. James T. Conway, asks Congress to “expeditiously complete its...