Blog Betty (Thomas Friedman is a Great Man was an online novel): BD+05 4868 Ab

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

BD+05 4868 Ab

Please read Ava and C.I.'s "Media: Death of the sitcom and/or death of the Democratic Party?" because it's very important and, yet again, they're the only ones addressing these kind of serious issues.

Now lets do a science post focusing on newly discovered planet that is going going not yet gone. Victoria Wasylak (MASSLIVE) reports:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology astronomers have discovered a planet roughly 140 light-years from Earth — but it’s quickly disintegrating.

The planet, which scientists have tagged as BD+05 4868 Ab, is located so close to the sun that it completes a full orbit every 30.5 hours, according to MIT News. As a result, it’s likely covered in magma, causing the planet to evaporate and shed the equivalent of one Mount Everest’s worth of surface materials during every orbit.

The astronomers estimate the planet may disintegrate fully within the next 1 to 2 million years.

BD+05 4868 Ab -- without the "Ab," BD+05 4868 is a star long known of. From WIKIPEDIA:

BD+05 4868 is a binary star consisting of a K-dwarf and an M-dwarf. It is notable for a planetary companion around the primary star. This planet, named BD+05 4868Ab, orbits the star so close that it has begun to disintegrate, creating a large comet-like tail which can be seen in transits.^[1]

BD+05 4868 was first cataloged in the Bonner Durchmusterung^[4] and in 1961 the star was identified as a proper motion star by Giclas et al.^[5] In 1984 its spectrum was observed for the first time, identifying it as a K5: type star.^[6] The star was first identified as a binary from Gaia data. The common proper motion and parallax indicate that the pair is physically bound. The binary was also detected with the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope (LCOGT) 2 m Faulkes Telescope North and with Keck NIRC2.^[1]

Victoria Coreless (SPACE) reports:

Scientists have discovered a planet that is literally falling apart as it orbits its star. Located about 140 light-years from Earth in the Pegasus constellation , this doomed world named BD+05 4868 Ab whips around its star once every 30.5 hours — so close that its surface is being scorched into magma and vaporizing into space.

With each orbit, BD+05 4868 Ab leaves a blazing trail of molten rock behind it like a comet made of lava, offering a rare glimpse of an exoplanet in the final stages of its destruction. What's even more astonishing: with every blistering 30-hour orbit — which heats the planet to close to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,600 degrees Celsius) — the planet sheds as much mass of molten rock as an entire Mount Everest.

"The extent of the tail is gargantuan, stretching up to 9 million kilometers long, or roughly half of the planet's entire orbit," said Marc Hon, a postdoc in MIT's Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research in a statement.

This planet is dying, breaking down and this is going to take millions of years. Michael Irving adds:

The unfortunate planet lies about 140 light-years away, orbiting its host star every 30.5 hours. That brings it about 20 times closer to the star than Mercury orbits the Sun – and cuddling up that close could prove to be a lethal mistake.

BD+05 4868 Ab may have started out with more than double its current mass, which seems to be less than half that of Mercury, and it's getting smaller all the time. The researchers estimate that it ejects a Mount Everest's-worth of material into space with every orbit, and at that rate it will completely dissolve within 1 or 2 million years.

"This is a very tiny object, with very weak gravity, so it easily loses a lot of mass, which then further weakens its gravity, so it loses even more mass," says Avi Shporer, astronomer on the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission.

"It's a runaway process, and it's only getting worse and worse for the planet."

140 light years away. That's some big news.

"The Snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Tuesday, April 22, 2025. Pope Francis, the People's Pope, has passed away and we recall his trip to Iraq, Hegseth hit the fan and splattered all around as the world watches to see if Chump will clean up the mess; however, he seems to busy working to destroy the economy -- both the American economy and the world's economy.

As Trina noted yesterday, "Pope Francis has passed." He was the people's Pope. He used his time to shine the spotlight on those in need -- those often overlooked or forgotten.

That's him in March 2021, in Najaf, meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani..

"Historic." Francis was the first pope to visit Iraq. The closest a pope has previously come? In 1999, Pope John Paul II had planned to visit Iraq but had to postpone it. Pope Francis arrived yesterday and Australia's ABC noted he declared, "May the clash of arms be silenced . . . may there be an end to acts of violence and extremism." Robin Gomes (VATICAN NEWS) noted a victim of violence, Yazidi Nadia Murad, the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner, signed "an open letter by several international NGOs and Iraq’s civil society groups, welcoming the current visit of Pope Francis to her native Iraq. The letter, signed by 34 organizations, calls for adequate protection for the minority communities of Iraq, which are being threatened by terrorist groups and also by unjust laws."

It was historic in so many ways. The last leader outside the Middle East to travel to Iraq? Donald Trump. As president in 2018, the day after Christmas, he snuck in on a surprise visit where he visited safe bases -- safe US bases -- and then quickly fled the country.

Pope Francis did a three day visit. Pope Francis did an announced visit. From the December 7, 2020 snapshot:

The big Iraq news today? It's the Pope. CNN notes, "Pope Francis will travel to Iraq in March 2021, the Vatican press office announced on Monday." THE GUARDIAN adds, "The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said the pontiff, who turns 84 next week, would visit the capital, Baghdad, and Ur, a city linked to the Old Testament figure of Abraham, as well as Erbil, Mosul and Qaraqosh in the Nineveh plains, from 5-8 March. It will be his first trip in more than a year after all his overseas visits were cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic." Francis became the Pope (and became Francis) March 13, 2013. He was born, in Argentina, Jorge Mario Bergoglio and took the name Francis in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi. Prior to the pandemic outbreak, the Pope had visited many countries including Cuba, Israel, the United States, Bosnia, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates. The visit to Iraq would be the Pope's first international visit in 15 months. Devin Watkins (VATICAN NEWS) explains:

The Pope’s visit will come as the realization of a dream of his predecessor, Pope St. John Paul II. The Polish Pope had planned to travel to Iraq at the end of 1999. That trip never came to be because after lengthly negotiations, Saddam Hussein postponed it.

According to Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, the Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, Pope Francis will receive an enthusiastic welcome to Iraq.

He told SIR news agency a year ago that “everyone in Iraq, Christians and Muslims, esteem him[Pope Francis] for his simplicity and nearness. His words touch everyone’s hearts because they are those of a shepherd. He is a man who brings peace.”

ALJAZEERA offers:

President Barham Saleh had officially invited Pope Francis to visit Iraq in July 2019, hoping it would help the country “heal” after years of strife.

About 100,000 Christians are left in Iraq following sectarian warfare after the 2003 invasion led by the United States and ISIL’s (ISIS) sweep through one-third of the country in 2014.

Maybe the American press was worried about security? While the rest of the world's press covered it as the historic visit that it was, the American press hemmed and hawwed when not outright ignoring the visit. We covered every day of the visit. Friday, March 5, 2021; Saturday, March 6, 2021; and Sunday March 7, 2021. On the last day of the visit we included this press critique:

The western press clearly was not up to the job -- a reality made clear by one western outlet after another -- especially in the US -- carping and and fretting while ignoring the true intent of the visit. Once Pope Francis landed in Iraq, western outlets didn't get much better as Martin Chulov (GUARDIAN) made clear, "The pope concluded his two-day trip to Iraq with two highly symbolic stops in areas [. . .]" Huh? Do they no longer teach basic math in the United Kingdom? Pope Francis landed in Iraq on Friday (one day), he continued his visit Saturday (two days) and he concluded his trip on Sunday (three days). Martin Chulov reduces a three day visit to Iraq to a "two-day trip." And it's not just his stupidity but the editors at THE GUARDIAN as well. By contrast, VATICAN NEWS gets it right even in a headline "Highlights of Pope Francis' third day in Iraq." The lack of care with basic facts taken by THE GUARDIAN is as telling as any lengthy report that they could have filed (but didn't). THE GUARDIAN can get that it was a three day trip in a photo caption, at least.

Despite an underlaying xenophoia to the western coverage ahead of the visit, Pope Francis made it through Iraq without any attempt being made on his life. The Iraqi people more than lived up to the spirit of the pontiff's visit. And the United Nation's News Center explains, "Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and Noura Al Kaabi, Minister of Culture and Youth of the United Arab Emirates, welcomed the historic papal visit to Al Tahera Church, one of the sites of the UNESCO-led Revive the Spirit of Mosul initiative."

The Popes visit, as Philip Pullella and Michael Gregory (REUTERS) note, was about healing and peace. He had already defined himself ahead of the trip as "a pilgrim of peace."Alex Arger (THE DENVER CHANNEL) reports that Pope Francis spoke of the importance of hope and of it being "more powerful than hatred and peace more powerful than war." Francesco Bongarra (ARAB NEWS) quotes Pope Francis declaring in his remarks at the Syriac Catholic al-Tahira Church in Qaraqosh today, "Even amid the ravages of terrorism and war, we can see, with the eyes of faith, the triumph of life over death." SCRIPPS MEDIA notes "he called for unity and forgiveness for Muslim extremists, as he visited several churches destroyed by ISIS." Nicole Winfield and Samya Kullab (AP) observe, "Bells rang out in the town of Qaraqosh as the pope arrived. Speaking to a packed Church of the Immaculate Conception, Francis said “forgiveness” is a key word for Christians."

If you need another example of the bias and disinterest in the Pope from the American media, please note that Francis became Pope on March 13, 2013. For twelve years he was the Pope. So US broadcast outlets must have been all over him, right?

Wrong.

Norah O'Donnell interviewed the Pope in April of last year.

Norah was the first, the last and the only American broadcast journalist to interview Pope Francis.

His visit to Iraq came at a turbulent time for that country -- COVID, violence, protests, a rising rate of suicide. And to the Pope that was all the more reason to visit. But the Pope visited and was warmly received. At the end of the visit, Iraq's President Barham Salih Tweeted:

Bidding farewell to His Holiness

@Pontifex

, our honoured guest who visited Baghdad, Najaf, Ur, Erbil, Nineva. His message of peace, human solidarity with #Iraq inspires us to persevere toward a better future for the people of Iraq and the wider region.

1:15 AM · Mar 8, 2021

As that trip more than demonstrated he was the People's Pope and the Iraqi people greeted him warmly.

Pope Francis has passed but he will be remembered for putting people first, for being a defender of those in need.

He might hold the title of Secretary of Defense but no one could accuse him of attempting to defend anything these days other than his tattered reputation.

Pete Hegseth was never qualified to serve as Secretary of Defense. The rumors of assault, the rumors of too many drunk nights and days -- and drunk on the clock at FOX "NEWS." It was so bad that to be confirmed he had to promise he wouldn't drink booze at all. But his actions of late just lead everyone to wonder, "Is he drunk?" Confronted with rumors of assault at his confirmation hearing, Hegseth whined "I'm not perfect." And he's certainly made that clear as he's half-assed the job DoD Secretary for months now. SignalGate may be the death of him politically. Matt Richards (OK) notes, "Sources noted to CNN Hegseth 'has grown increasingly concerned' about the inspector general looking into his usage of Signal and that Caldwell, Selnick and Carroll expect they will be interviewed as the controversial situation is looked into." That's Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of Defense Colin Carroll, Deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick and Hegseth advisor Dan Caldwell -- all three were fired this month.

Aaron Parnas (MTN) reports, "In a dramatic development on Capitol Hill, Rep. Don Bacon, a prominent Republican and former Air Force general, has become the first GOP lawmaker to publicly call for the removal of Pete Hegseth, President Donald Trump's nominee for Defense Secretary. According to Politico, Bacon voiced his concerns about Hegseth’s qualifications and management of the Pentagon on Monday, marking a notable shift in GOP sentiment toward one of the most contentious figures in the Trump administration." Bacon reached the rank of Brigadier General while serving in the Air Force (1985 through 2014) and he is an Iraq War veteran. He's quoted stating, "I had concerns from the get-go because Pete Hegseth didn’t have a lot of experience."

Ryan Bort (ROLLING STONE) observes:

Pete Hegseth barely received enough votes to win confirmation as Donald Trump's defense secretary. Three Republicans even bucked their own party's president to oppose him. One of them, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), cited "accusations of financial mismanagement and problems with the workplace culture he fostered." Another, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), said Hegseth had "failed to demonstrate" that he could manage "nearly 3 million military and civilian personnel, an annual budget of nearly $1 trillion."

It hasn't taken long for Hegseth to prove them - along with every Senate Democrat and the countless others who warned about him taking over the Pentagon - right.

The New York Times reported on Sunday that Hegseth shared attack plans in a second unsecured Signal group chat, following the revelation last month that he shared the plans to attack Houthi militants in Yemen in a Signal chat group that included a journalist. The second chat included Hegseth's wife, brother, and personal lawyer, underscoring the former Fox News host's recklessness with highly sensitive information.

The news came after a tumultuous week in the Pentagon that saw Hegseth fire three senior officials - ostensibly because of an internal investigation into leaking, although the officials seemed confused about what happened. "We still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of ‘leaks' to begin with," they wrote in a joint statement Friday night, adding that, although the experience was "unconscionable," they will continue to support Trump's plans for the Pentagon.

John Ullyot, who resigned as a spokesperson for the Pentagon last week, put a button on the turmoil in an op-ed for Politico on Sunday. "It's been a month of total chaos at the Pentagon," the piece began. "From leaks of sensitive operational plans to mass firings, the dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president - who deserves better from his senior leadership."

Josh Fiallo (DAILY BEAST) notes, "Hegseth, 44, was one of President Donald Trump’s most controversial cabinet appointments due to his lack of Pentagon experience, strong remarks against women in the military, and an alleged history of alcoholism."

At what point does Chump say enough is enough and fire Hegseth?

Turning to the economy, Robert Hormats (FORTUNE) reports:

In a recent interview on Meet the Press, financier Ray Dalio, warned of "something worse than a recession" if current financial, economic, and trade issues are not "handled well." Later in the interview, he warned that if current problems worsen, we could experience a "world order in which there is great conflict." I agree on both counts—with the caveat that this might be an understatement. Others have issued similar warnings.

For me, Dalio's comments triggered troubling thoughts on how the world would handle a future financial crisis. During my long career on the international stage—as economic advisor to Henry Kissinger in the National Security Council in the 1970s, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs (international) in the 1980s and 1990s, and then Undersecretary of State in charge of U.S. geo-economic relations in the early part of this century—I was at the epicenter of a number of such crises and of negotiations to help resolve them. The key to success in such efforts was not just the financial skills of the major players but also their willingness to engage in trustful collaboration.

That ingredient does not exist today. Never have I seen the world so deeply riddled with mistrust on so many economic and political issues. And that mistrust can be the Achilles’ heel of any future negotiation in the event of a new financial crisis—unless we recognize it and figure out how to overcome it before a crisis hits.

Those in high-level positions and around the world must consider how they would manage a new crisis—which is a growing risk with so many countries facing slowing growth, growing debt, inflationary pressures, tariff wars, and currency volatility—and operating under fraught and confrontational political circumstances.

This will be an enormous challenge, and failure will affect all Americans and nearly every person on this planet.

During the last crisis, there was impressive, trustful cooperation between the U.S. and China. But with the intensifying trade war and various other confrontations between the two, attaining that again is likely to be far more problematic—if not impossible.

And tariff-related frictions between the U.S. and its key allies—among the world's largest market economies—have undermined and in some cases virtually destroyed the mutual trust that has been so critical in resolving issues in the past. Intense trade disputes will make cooperation among them to deal with a new financial crisis far more difficult.

Chump is wrecking the economy both here and abroad. He is putting the people of the planet at risk with his idiotic and uniformed actions. Yesterday, Stan Choe (AP) reported, "U.S. stocks are tumbling Monday as worries about President Donald Trump’s trade war and his criticism of the Federal Reserve cause investors to pull further from the United States. The S&P 500 was 2.8% lower in another wipeout, and the index at the center of many 401(k) accounts is more than 16% below its record set two months ago." Prabhjote Gill noted, "The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) tumbled more than 650 points in Monday morning trade after President Donald Trump ramped up pressure on Fed Chair Jerome Powell, warning the economy could stall without immediate rate cuts." Yes, Chump continues to go after Powell despite the fact that most economic experts say that getting rid of Powell would be illegal and would also be the thing that really destroyed faith in the US economy among investors. Matthew Chapman (RAW STORY) reminds, "Powell, who was ironically first appointed to the post by Trump himself, has repeatedly warned that Trump's tariffs are set to increase prices, and has resisted pressure from Trump to try to offset the market contraction induced by his own trade policies with interest rate cuts — which has only enraged Trump further."

His attacks on Powell? Some argue he's trying to set up a fall guy. Nicole Goodkind (BARRON'S) explains:

Speculation about the legality of firing Powell has focused, in part, on concerns about a pending Supreme Court case that challenges a precedent prohibiting presidents from firing certain federal officials for political motives. Still, some former Fed and government officials see a different calculation at work.

“Trump does always want someone else to be the scapegoat,” said Former Federal Reserve vice chair Alan Blinder.

Jared Bernstein, chief White House economist under President Joe Biden, wrote in an essay Friday that “it’s entirely possible Trump’s setting up Powell not to be replaced but to stick around as the fall guy should…rising recession probabilities—purely a function of Trump’s actions—prove correct.”

Should Chump try to scapegoat Powell for his own failures, I think the economic press will come out with knives to carve Chump up like he's never been sliced before. The economy is his. As Stephanie Ruhle pointed out last night on THE 11TH HOUR WITH STEPHANIE RUHLE (MSNBC), there are people who don't even know the name of the person who represents them in the House of Representatives. Those people especially are not going to know who "J Powell" is. But they know who the president is. They know his name. The economy is his.

Chump owns this economic nightmare because he's set tariffs when he lacks the Constitutional power to do so. Ankush Khardori (POLITICO) explains:

The question is whether the courts -- including perhaps the Supreme Court itself -- will agree, or whether they will blink in the face of the economic and diplomatic turmoil that Trump has unleashed. In fact, Trump may have unintentionally created his best legal argument by upending the global economy: that the courts should be wary of interfering in the president’s handling of international affairs given the complexity and high stakes of the trade war now playing out.

Lawyers challenging the administration’s use of the IEEPA to impose tariffs say they are optimistic about their chances.

“This is an enormous usurpation of legislative power by the executive and an abuse of emergency powers,” Ilya Somin, a libertarian law professor at George Mason University and one of the attorneys working on the Liberty Justice Center’s case, told me.

At THE HILL, Douglas E. Schoen adds:

Consider tariffs. Constitutionally, Congress — not the president — has the power to regulate trade, but Trump seized this power by declaring trade deficits to be a “national emergency,” thus enacting tariffs via executive order, sidestepping Congress.

All of the self-generated disorder has caused Trump’s approval rating to decline significantly since the inauguration, a gift for Democrats.

Despite still struggling to overcome their own poor ratings, they are being assisted by the chaos Trump is causing.

Having begun his second term with 51 percent approval versus 44 percent disapproval, those numbers have now reversed.

One-half (50 percent) of Americans now disapprove of his job performance, compared to 47 percent who approve — a net 10-point decline in less than 100 days, per RealClearPolitics polling aggregator.

He may try to blame the economic collapse on Powell but the reality is that he has acted erratically at best and crazed at worst and the American people -- the entire planet -- has seen this unfold in real time. These are his actions and these are his choices. And as they took place, there was enormous pushback and he chose to ignore it. He not only owns this mess, he created it.

Small businesses are at risk thanks to Chump:

Craig Fuller, the CEO of FreightWaves, a freight-focused organization that analyzes the freight and logistics market, has regretted "enthusiastically" supporting President Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 election, warning that the administration's policies are likely to "wipe out supply chains and small businesses within 100 days."

"I did not vote for a neutron bomb to wipe out supply chains and small businesses 100 days in," he wrote on the social platform X on Sunday.

"I thought I was voting for pro-business policies and small, targeted, and incremental tariffs that would encourage the production of strategic industries to return to the Americas," Fuller said, adding that this is what happened under Trump's previous term.

Last month, investment adviser Steve Rattner, who served as a counselor in the Treasury Department under former President Barack Obama, said many businessmen who supported Trump may come to have buyer's remorse in the months ahead.

We'll wind down with this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:

Over 45 lawmakers sound alarms about possible illicit payments, influence-peddling, insider trading

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, along with Representatives Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, and Judy Chu (D-Calif.), led a group of 44 Congressional Democrats in writing to Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer with concerns over the potential for corruption in the implementation of the administration’s tariff policy.

The Trump administration’s tariffs rollout is rife with opportunities to unduly influence President Trump and other administration officials. The chaotic nature of the tariffs, including announcing them and pausing them shortly after they went into effect, provides ample opportunity for private sector corporations or sovereign nationals to corruptly seek exemptions.

“Corporations and sovereign nations facing existentially high stakes, and knowing tariffs are controlled by a small circle in the White House, can petition officials not to apply tariffs to them after the 90-day pause, to grant them exemptions, to decrease tariffs, or to impose tariffs on competitors — and can quietly offer something in return,” wrote the lawmakers.

President Trump’s record on tariffs in his first term illustrates his willingness to give preference to donors and allies while punishing enemies. Politically loyal companies that donated to Republican candidates, as well as companies with financial or political ties to President Trump, were more likely to be granted tariff exemptions after President Trump imposed them in his first administration. After auditing the Trump Administration’s tariff exclusion practices in 2018 and 2019, the Commerce Department’s Office of Inspector General found evidence of “off-record communications” and an “appearance of improper influence in decisionmaking for tariff exclusion requests.”

“We fear the Administration is once again turning its tariffs policy into an underground market of exemptions in exchange for financial and political favors,” said the lawmakers.

President Trump has said he will consider exemptions and make decisions “instinctively,” while bragging about global leaders calling him in search of exemptions.

Trump’s ad-hoc process has started to bear fruit for special interests. Last week, the White House exempted smartphones and certain other high-end electronics from tariffs targeting China. Within hours, Big Tech stock prices soared — particularly the value of Apple, which makes the vast majority of its iPhones in China. Apple CEO Tim Cook donated to President Trump’s inauguration and cultivated a strong relationship with him in recent months, as he did during Trump’s first term to win tariff exemptions.

The on-and-off nature of President Trump’s tariffs also opens the door to rampant insider trading. Administration officials — and their families and friends — with early knowledge of changes in tariff policy can buy positions they expect will rise and sell those that will fall. On April 9, 2025, minutes before the administration announced a pause on most tariffs, the trading market began to skyrocket — suggesting that insiders acted on non-public information about the coming pause. President Trump then posted on social media “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!,” still before any official announcement, causing stocks to further spike.

Members of Congress, including Senator Warren, have asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and ethics officials to investigate whether any securities laws were violated with this announcement.

At the same time, the top ethics watchdog who can hold the administration accountable appears poorly positioned to tackle tariff-related corruption. In late March 2025, USTR Ambassador Greer was named Acting Director of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) and now serves in both roles simultaneously. Therefore, a top tariff policy official is responsible for ensuring that tariff policy decisions are made free of financial conflicts.

“This dual appointment raises blatant conflicts that risk undermining OGE’s ability to independently monitor trade officials’ conduct and recommend investigations into misconduct when necessary,” concluded the lawmakers.

The lawmakers asked the officials to provide clarity on the Trump administration’s exemption policy, if any official exemption request processes exist, where exemptions will be reported, whether an appeals process exists, the administration’s plans to ensure tariff exemptions are not corrupted, and more, by April 29, 2025.

Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) joined in signing the letter.

The following Representatives joined in signing the letter: Gabe Amo (D-R.I.), Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.), Greg Casar (D-T.X.), Danny Davis (D-Ill.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), Dwight Evans (D-Pa.), Cleo Fields (D-La.), Bill Foster (D-Ill.), Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), Al Green (D-Texas), Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.), Timothy Kennedy (D-N.Y.), John Larson (D-Conn.), Summer Lee, (D-Pa.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.), Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.), Dina Titus (D-Nev.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.).

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The following sites updated: