TikTok’s Ban, The Power Of Wine, & A Rocket Explosion
March 14, 2024
Hello, readers – happy Thursday! Today, we’re talking about TikTok’s ban, the threat of AI, an unwanted donation, the power of wine, Trump’s charges, Don Lemon’s beef with Elon Musk, and a rocket explosion.
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“People find meaning and redemption in the most unusual human connections.” – Khaled Hosseini
In This House, We Use Instagram Reels
After years of buzz and multiple Congressional hearings, the U.S. government is moving to ban TikTok. On Wednesday, the House passed a bill that would force the app to split from ByteDance, its Chinese parent company. The bill passed 352 to 65, with just 50 Democrats and 15 Republicans voting against it.
Supporters of the ban say that TikTok poses a national security threat because ByteDance is based in China, where the government might use its significant power to leverage the app’s user data. The bill, if passed by the Senate and signed by President Biden, would give the app about five months to sever ties with ByteDance – if it’s not independent of the company by then, app stores will be blocked from letting users download it.
TikTok says “The government is attempting to strip 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression. This will damage millions of businesses, deny artists an audience, and destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has remained neutral on the bill, only stating that “The Senate will review the legislation when it comes over from the House.”
The U.S. Reads Reports & The E.U. Passes A Law
According to a new report by Gladstone AI, advanced AI systems might “pose an extinction-level threat to the human species.” The report was commissioned by the U.S. State Department, which has emphasized that the findings don’t necessarily reflect the position of the U.S. government.
The report took over a year and involved interviews with over 200 government employees and AI experts. “The rise of AI and AGI [artificial general intelligence] has the potential to destabilize global security in ways reminiscent of the introduction of nuclear weapons,” reads the report. It also claims that experts at AI labs have privately mentioned concerns about the potential to “lose control” of the systems. The authors conclude that “there is a clear and urgent need for the U.S. government to intervene” in the AI space.
Meanwhile, the E.U. passed a landmark AI law on Wednesday. The E.U. law bans certain “unacceptable” uses of AI and places strict regulations on “high-risk” AI fields. For example, the law bans AI-powered social scoring systems and automated profiling systems. It also requires all deepfakes made with AI to be marked as such, and forces companies working on cutting-edge AI models to comply with new disclosure and transparency standards.
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Frank Gets A Little Too Frank
- The U.K.’s Conservative Party is being heavily pressured to give up over £10 million donated to the party by a health tech entrepreneur named Frank Hester. According to an investigation by The Guardian, Hester said some fairly awful things about Diane Abbott, the U.K.’s first Black member of parliament.
- Hester has since apologized for his conduct but has denied his words being based on Abbott’s race. In a statement, he said that he “accepts that he was rude about Diane Abbot in a private meeting several years ago but his criticism had nothing to do with her gender nor color of skin.”
- Here’s what The Guardian claims Hester said so you can judge for yourself. “It’s like trying not to be racist but you see Diane Abbott on the TV and you’re just like, I hate, you just want to hate all Black women because she’s there,” he allegedly said, “and I don’t hate all Black women at all, but I think she should be shot.” Ms. Abbott called the statement “frightening,” especially given the fact that two members of Parliament have been murdered in recent years.
Bottled Poetry Does Some Diplomacy
- It looks like things are warming up between Australia and China again after a spell of icy diplomatic relations. What did it take for the two countries to get back together? Just a whole lot of wine, of course. Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi is set to visit Australia for the first time in seven years, reviving talks between the two countries last held in Beijing in December 2022.
- The move comes after China lifted tariffs of up to 200% on Australian wine earlier this week – the tariffs were put in place in 2020 when the two countries were involved in a diplomatic dispute. Beijing removing the massive tariffs comes at a critical time for Australian wine exports, with the industry facing an oversupply of about 2.8 million bottles of wine last year.
- “Australia’s approach is consistent; we seek to cooperate with China where we can, disagree where we must and engage in our national interest,” said Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong. China’s foreign minister was rumored to be scheduled for a visit to Australia prior to the tariffs being lifted, but the event was only publicly announced once Beijing agreed to stop taxing wine imports so heavily.
More Mixed Nuts
- After Orban says Trump won’t fund Ukraine, Trump campaign says Europe should pay more of war costs (ABC)
- Ukraine hits oil refineries deep inside Russian territory, as Kyiv steps up drone attacks before Putin’s likely re-election (CNN)
- New team of Marines sent in to shore up security at the U.S. Embassy in Haiti (NBC)
- Deadly China restaurant blast rocks Sanhe city near Beijing (CNN)
- England’s NHS halts puberty blockers for transgender youth amid research efforts (ABC)
Middle East Mixed Nuts
- Israel Gaza war: EU says starvation being used as a weapon (BBC)
- In Gaza, Palestinians say they were forced to fast by Israel’s siege long before Ramadan arrived (CNN)
- Ship carrying aid to Gaza set to reach shore on Thursday morning (Guardian)
- South Africa’s foreign minister says citizens fighting with Israeli forces in Gaza will be arrested (AP)
6 Charges Down, 88 More To Go
- Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee, the Georgia judge who is presiding over former President Trump’s case for trying to steal the 2020 election, dismissed six charges against the GOP presidential candidate and some of his co-defendants, including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Rudy Giuliani. McAfee said that some of the charges weren’t specific enough.
- Trump and 14 co-defendants face RICO charges after they tried to steal the 2020 election. McAfee left in Trump’s call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger where he asked Raffensperger to “find” the votes he needed for a victory. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis could seek an updated indictment that is more detailed.
Musk Goes Sour On Lemon
- Former CNN anchor Don Lemon said on Wednesday that Twitter/X CEO Elon Musk canceled Lemon’s new talk show on the social media platform before it even began. Don shared (on X, funnily enough) that he interviewed Musk on Friday, but Musk didn’t like the way it went down.
- Lemon said the interview will still be available to watch on YouTube and X on Monday, so we’ll get to decide for ourselves if it was as “testy” as the former anchor says. Musk, for his part, said, “Instead of it being the real Don Lemon, it was really just Jeff Zucker talking through Don, so lacked authenticity.”
More Nuts In America
- Unions and Democrats blasted Biden’s proposed 2 percent pay raise for federal workers (WaPo, $)
- Federal courts make it harder to ‘judge-shop’ as was done in abortion pill case (NBC)
- How Buck’s early retirement is a problem for Boebert (The Hill)
- Landslide destroys Los Angeles home and threatens at least two others (ABC)
- Biden officials press health care giant to get emergency funding flowing to providers following cyberattack (CNN)
- ‘Democrats for Border Security’ task force seeks to redefine the party on immigration (NBC)
The Right Moment … To Learn What Went Wrong
- Yesterday, the launch of Japan’s first-ever privately developed rocket ended in a fireball just seconds after takeoff. The Kairos rocket, developed by Tokyo-based Space One, was attempting to launch from Japan’s Wakayama region carrying a small government test satellite. “The launch of the first Kairos rocket was executed, but we took a measure to abort the flight,” said the company in a statement, adding that “details are being investigated.”
- Kairos, which means “the right moment” in ancient Greek, was Space One’s first attempt at establishing a “space courier services” business, which would ferry various satellites into orbit. While the explosive end to the company’s first launch marks a setback for Japan’s private space industry, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is riding a string of successes. Just last month, the agency successfully launched its new flagship rocket, the H3, for the first time ever, and it was also able to successfully land an unmanned probe on the moon earlier this year.
More Loose Nuts
- Alaska Airlines plane whose door panel blew off midair was scheduled for maintenance (NBC)
- Virginia wildlife center staff pretend to be giant foxes when feeding cub (Guardian)
- IRS has launched its free tax filing service, Direct File, in 12 states (Ars Technica)
- California lawmaker to introduce bill to remove artificial dyes from foods served in school (NBC)
- Fukuyama residents warned not to touch cat after chemical tank fall (BBC)
- Why do women go through menopause? Scientists find fascinating clues in a study of whales. (USA Today)