Morning Wire XX
[0] The state of Florida is suing the Biden administration for quietly releasing illegal immigrants into the U .S. They're now issuing quotas to the border agents to speed up and push more into the interior and not detain.
[1] What action is Congress taking as more and more people cross into the country?
[2] I'm Daily Wire, editor -in -chief John Bickley, with Georgia Howe.
[3] It's Friday, September 15th, and this is Morning Wire.
[4] The Titans of Tech testified before Congress this week on both the dangers and benefits of artificial intelligence.
[5] It's important for us to have a referee that I think the consequences of AI going wrong are severe.
[6] We have the details on what came out of the closed -door meeting.
[7] And a woman in Finland is on trial for the second time for what's being called hate speech.
[8] This comes as several European nations embrace censorship.
[9] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[10] Stay tuned.
[11] We have the news you need to know.
[12] The state of Florida has sued the Biden administration over a memo that appears to show border officials releasing immigrants into the U .S. on a quota basis.
[13] This latest legal action comes as Republicans in Washington have renewed pressure on the president over the crisis at the border.
[14] Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
[15] Hi, Tim.
[16] Hey, Georgia.
[17] So first off, tell us about this lawsuit from the Florida Attorney General.
[18] What is it alleging and what do they want?
[19] So Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody obtained an email shared with Border Patrol officials that seems to reference a quota system from migrants released into the United States.
[20] The actual totals were redacted, so we don't know what quota they were trying to reach, but according to the email, border authorities are releasing people daily in mass to prevent overcrowding in detention facilities.
[21] Morning Wire spoke with Moody about her legal case.
[22] Here's what she had to say.
[23] I use the term secret plans.
[24] That's the only way I can describe it to, engineer at historical rates, an influx of migrants into our country.
[25] And the numbers at this point are so overwhelming.
[26] If you extrapolate what they expect just to be encountered at this stage in this month, if you extrapolate that out through the rest of this administration, that would be a population, like more people encountered at the border under this administration than the population of all but six of our states.
[27] That really puts it in perspective then.
[28] So Congress was back in session this week.
[29] Does it look like there's going to be any action on this in Washington?
[30] Well, House Republicans are in the middle of an investigation into the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
[31] Lawmakers want to know what is driving the border crisis and what role Mayorkas may have played in it.
[32] The House Homeland Security Committee held a hearing to show the devastating human costs of the border crisis and interviewed people such as anti -child trafficking advocate Tim Ballard on the problem such as child trafficking, drug trafficking, and the toll the situation is taken on our own border enforcement.
[33] Here's an exchange between committee chairman Mark Green and Ballard.
[34] Do you believe Secretary Majorcas knows there are human trafficking cases happening because of his policies?
[35] I do believe he knows that.
[36] So you believe he knows that what Attorney General Garland admitted to the Senate.
[37] He knows that's happening.
[38] I don't know how he couldn't know.
[39] Now, Green announced months ago that his committee would conduct an intensive investigation into the Majorcas and Biden border policies.
[40] What has that investigation found so far?
[41] The chairman said this week it's in phase two of a five -phase investigation, and his team is focused on the cartel and drug trafficking aspect of what's happening at the border.
[42] Morningwire caught up with Green after the hearing and asked him what he's concerned about most from a security standpoint.
[43] He pointed to massive amounts of Chinese immigrants we're now seeing.
[44] We do know that there are at least, you know, 17, 18 ,000 Chinese nationals that have come across.
[45] And that's one that's very concerning to us.
[46] I mean, there are lots of them who had affiliations with PLA, you know, the Chinese People's Liberation Army and the CCP, the Chinese Communist Party.
[47] And those individuals just been released into the country.
[48] Now, Mayorkas and the rest of the Biden administration have stood behind their board.
[49] border policies.
[50] They've blamed unrest in countries south of the border for driving immigration and Congress for refusing to fix a broken system.
[51] Some Republicans are making noise about impeaching Mayorkas for failing in his duty to protect the country's borders, but the secretary seems comfortable with his odds in that fight.
[52] After all, the Senate is still under Democratic control.
[53] Well, it's hard to even wrap your mind around the number of migrants coming over.
[54] Tim, thanks for reporting.
[55] Any time.
[56] This week, the world's wealthiest and most influential tech tycoons, gathered in Washington for an unprecedented meeting with Congress to discuss the future of AI regulation.
[57] Here with more on what came of the meeting and what it means for the future of AI as DailyWire Senior Editor Cabot Phillips.
[58] So you rarely see this many Silicon Valley Giants all in one room.
[59] Set this scene for us.
[60] Yeah.
[61] So on Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer convened a closed -door meeting with over 60 senators to discuss the risks and potential benefits of AI.
[62] And also, more importantly, the role.
[63] government should play in regulating the industry.
[64] The meeting comes at a time when members of both parties have called for federal regulation of AI.
[65] The big question now is just what exactly that looks like.
[66] As part of the process, the world's leading tech CEOs descended on Washington.
[67] Those present included Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sam Altman, bringing the combined net worth of those in attendance north of half a trillion dollars.
[68] That's a lot.
[69] So effectively, this is a who's who of the tech world.
[70] Yeah, everyone was there.
[71] According to those in the room, the meeting was part of of a fact -finding effort on behalf of Congress.
[72] Washington intends to regulate the industry, which is hard to do without a deep understanding of the technology.
[73] So this was sort of a learning session.
[74] Members did not ask questions directly, but instead allowed tech leaders to explain what they were developing and how they think the industry should be regulated.
[75] Also, there were a number of business leaders representing industries likely to be impacted by AI.
[76] As you can imagine, they had a less rosy outlook than the tech leaders themselves.
[77] Throughout the day, though, in the last year, for that matter, lawmakers made clear that tech companies cannot be trusted to regulate themselves.
[78] And for the most part, tech leaders actually seem to agree on that.
[79] Right, this kind of strange development where they're calling for regulation on themselves.
[80] Yeah.
[81] Tell us what they had to say.
[82] So Elon Musk, for example, spoke repeatedly of the need for a, quote, referee in the space.
[83] Remember, in the past, he's actually warned the technology poses a risk of extinction, as he calls it, and went so far as co -signing a letter urging tech companies to pump the brakes on AI until guardrails could be put in place.
[84] While that has not happened, it does give you an idea of how strongly he feels about the potential risks of the technology.
[85] Here he is speaking to reporters after the meeting.
[86] I think something good will come of this.
[87] I think this meeting may got on in history as being very important for the future of civilization.
[88] Leader Schumer did ask everyone to raise their hands in the room to see if they were in favor of AI regulation.
[89] And I believe almost everyone did.
[90] Musk went on to say that he believes Congress is moving towards creating a separate regulatory agency for AI, similar to the FAA or FCC.
[91] So a department of AI could be coming.
[92] Sounds a little creepy.
[93] What did we hear from the other tech leaders?
[94] Yeah, there was certainly a more optimistic outlook from others, including Bill Gates, who, while supporting regulation, touted AI's potential for combating world hunger.
[95] For his part, Mark Zuckerberg said that while regulation is necessary, it's vital that government action does not slow AI development, resulting in us falling behind the rest of the world.
[96] That's been another really important debate on this topic.
[97] There are plenty in the tech world who've said that AI does pose a threat to humanity and urge leaders to impose restrictions on new tech until we've got more guardrails.
[98] But those on the other side, including Gates and Zuckerberg, essentially say the cats are already out of the back.
[99] And if we don't push forward with AI development, our adversaries, especially China, will be happy to fill the void.
[100] Certainly a concern worth noting.
[101] What do we expect to see from Congress moving forward?
[102] Well, it's interesting.
[103] Senator Schumer and others want to play the long game, warning that rushing out regulations could back the industry into a corner and slow innovation.
[104] Those in the fast camp say rather than one giant piece of legislation that could take years to pass, we should take a piecemeal approach and begin passing bills incrementally.
[105] Two of the leading voices on that side are Missouri Republican Josh Hawley and Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal, who last week unveiled legislation that would, among other things, established new federal licensing requirements for AI developers, as well as liability guidelines for AI that's used in, quote, high -risk situations.
[106] So while this meeting was kind of a watershed moment, this is just the beginning of the AI battle in Washington.
[107] Yeah, I'm sure AI is going to dominate conversations for years going forward.
[108] Cabot, thanks for reporting.
[109] Any time.
[110] A Finnish member of Parliament is facing her second free speech trial for quoting a Bible verse in a tweet.
[111] Her prosecution comes as free speech advocates warned that many European nations are embracing a global censorship trend.
[112] Daily Wire culture reporter, Megan Basham, is here now.
[113] with more.
[114] So, Megan, I remember when this Finnish case was first in the news last March.
[115] At that time, the parliamentarian was completely cleared, but now she's on trial again.
[116] Is there new evidence?
[117] No, there isn't.
[118] Actually, the facts here are entirely the same as in the first trial.
[119] The issue is that Finland doesn't have the protections against double jeopardy that we have here in the U .S., so the prosecution was able to appeal that unanimous, not guilty decision.
[120] So what happened was former government minister, Paivi Rassanen, is a pastor's wife.
[121] And in 2019, her denomination, the evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, was sponsoring a pride parade.
[122] Well, she tweeted this.
[123] How can the church's doctrinal foundation, the Bible, be compatible with the lifting up of shame and sin as a subject of pride?
[124] And then along with that, she also posted an image of Romans 1, 24 through 27.
[125] So I'll just give you a short excerpt of what that passage says, quoting here.
[126] Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their heart to impurity, for their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men.
[127] So, again, a Bible verse.
[128] This triggered an investigation by Finnish authorities that looked back through 20 years of Rossinen's comments on the issue.
[129] And they found a 2004 pamphlet and a 2019 radio interview that basically expressed similar views about homosexuality for the same reason.
[130] And the prosecution is saying that voicing this view constitutes a crime.
[131] Well, yes, essentially.
[132] The prosecutors say that her interpretation of the verses in taking them at face value and speaking about those views publicly breaks finish hate speech laws.
[133] So they're arguing that, and I'm going to quote here, condemning homosexual acts condemns homosexuals as human beings.
[134] Now, I should note that Rosanin's interpretation really has been the standard interpretation of nearly all Christian denominations until the last couple of decades.
[135] And it's still the position of the largest denominations in the U .S., the Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention.
[136] So you have Catholic and Protestant there.
[137] Rosanin says, quoting the Bible, should not be a crime in a democracy.
[138] An alliance defending freedom international is representing her.
[139] I spoke to ADF attorney Kristen Wagoner about this case, and she says that authorities in Finland are trying to make an example of Rassanen.
[140] The prosecutor in Finland is so doggedly trying to send a message to target her and send a message to others who would disagree with the government's position on sexual ethics that they're willing to pull out all the stops to prosecute someone that's a high profile individual who has the public support.
[141] The trial concluded on September 1st, so right now we're awaiting the second court's verdict, which should come in the next couple of months.
[142] Now, as John noted at the top, this is something of a developing international issue.
[143] Hate speech is especially clashing with religious beliefs.
[144] Is ADF projecting we're going to see more cases like this going forward?
[145] Yeah, they certainly are just a few quick examples in Ireland.
[146] A new hate speech law that many opponents are calling Draconian has already passed one chamber of parliament.
[147] a person can be imprisoned if they, quote, prepare or possess material likely to incite hatred against someone for their gender or sexuality.
[148] And then last year, a man was arrested in the UK for a social media post that mocked the transgender flag.
[149] And then also last year, we saw a German minister charged with a crime for calling homosexuality degenerative and then saying that transgenderism is demonic during a marriage seminar.
[150] So Wagoner says the problem is that citizens are not requiring their leaders to uphold free speech rights, and that's becoming an issue in the U .S. as well.
[151] I think for those in the United States, what we often don't realize is that there's no magic words in the First Amendment.
[152] Many countries have provisions that promise and guarantee free speech, but they're not worth the paper they're written on if the citizens are apathetic about enforcing those rights, and they don't insist that there's an authority provide free speech to their citizens because it's not something that the government gives us.
[153] It's something that God gives us.
[154] It's a basic human right.
[155] Well, this clash of ideologies is not going away anytime soon.
[156] It looks like.
[157] Megan, thanks for reporting.
[158] Anytime.
[159] Thanks for waking up with us.
[160] We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know.