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NASA’s Newest Space Telescope Blasts off to Map Entire Sky (Maria)
The author writes, “NASA’s newest space telescope rocketed into orbit Tuesday to map the entire sky like never before — a sweeping look at hundreds of millions of galaxies and their shared cosmic glow since the beginning of time. SpaceX launched the Spherex observatory from California, putting it on course to fly over Earth’s poles. … SPHEREx popped off the rocket’s upper stage first, drifting into the blackness of space with a blue Earth in the background. The $488 million SPHEREx mission aims to explain how galaxies formed and evolved over billions of years.”
US Added to International Watchlist for Rapid Decline in Civic Freedoms (DonkeyHotey)
The author writes, “The United States has been added to the Civicus Monitor Watchlist, which identifies countries that the global civil rights watchdog believes are currently experiencing a rapid decline in civic freedoms. Civicus, an international non-profit organization dedicated to ‘strengthening citizen action and civil society around the world,’ announced the inclusion of the US on the non-profit’s first watchlist of 2025 on Monday, alongside the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Italy, Pakistan, and Serbia.”
Wall Street Journal: ‘Someone Should Sue’ Trump Over Tariffs (Sean)
From The Hill: “The Wall Street Journal editorial board took a swipe at President Trump’s recent tariff threats, alleging the administration is using a 48-year-old law to start a trade war. In a recent op-ed, the board warned of a possible jolt in consumer prices once the tariffs go into full effect and urged someone to file a lawsuit in response. ‘The President invokes a law that doesn’t give him power to impose sweeping tariffs,’ they wrote in the article’s subhead. ‘Someone should sue.’”
‘Opportunism and Fear’: Crypto Industry Sets Its Sights on Governors’ Mansions (Laura)
From The Intercept: “ Mayor Steve Fulop of Jersey City, New Jersey, was running for governor when he announced that he would invest part of his city’s pension fund in bitcoin. Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-NY, was toying with a challenge to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul when he co-sponsored a resolution calling blockchain technology ‘the future of innovation.’ Between them, the two represented an emerging trend among ambitious Democrats: Candidates angling for state office are touting support for the cryptocurrency industry. For crypto, the trend could yield rewards. Industry players would like to see friendly state-level financial regulation, loose rules for energy-intensive cryptocurrency mining, and potentially even state pension fund investments in their products.”
Tim Walz Has Some Sharp Critiques of the Dem 2024 Campaign (Dana)
From Politico: “Tim Walz thinks he and Kamala Harris played it too safe last year. He thinks they should have held more town halls. He thinks they didn’t have time to get their feet under them. And he thinks Democrats should have taken more risks and gone to more places. ‘We shouldn’t have been playing this thing so safe,’ the Minnesota governor said in an interview with POLITICO before speaking to nearly 1,000 Democrats here at the Helena fairgrounds last weekend.”
Tesla Owners Get Creative to Distance Themselves From Elon With New Car Logos & Projectors (Reader Jim)
The author writes, “Tesla owners are finding creative ways to distance themselves from Elon Musk. They are now removing Tesla logos from their vehicles, replacing them with badging from other automakers, and even using projections on a Cybertruck.”
