Prisoner Swap, Crime-Fighting AI, Musk Sued, & Fighting Over Boxing
August 2, 2024
Hello, readers – happy Friday! Today, we’ll be talking about the prisoner swap, Sudan’s crisis, the “middle-income trap”, crime-fighting AI, a gag order, a lawsuit against Elon Musk, & Olympic boxing culture wars.
Here’s some good news to get you through the weekend: Nearly a year after the Sycamore Gap tree was discovered to have been chopped down in Northumberland, England, the tree appears to be regenerating itself. Also, Eli Lilly’s drug tirzepatide improved symptoms in heart failure patients with obesity, adding to the growing list of benefits of GLP-1 drugs. Finally, the Biden administration has proposed a plan to do away with added fees that are sometimes required for families with young children to sit together.
“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?” – John Wooden
An Off-Season, Multi-Team…Prisoner Swap?

Even with a war going on in Ukraine, diplomacy still works. Yesterday, Russia and the U.S. (with the help of a few allies) were able to secure a multi-national prisoner swap. The deal will bring Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, and U.S. resident Vladimir Kara-Muza home to the U.S. in exchange for multiple Russian prisoners being held in the U.S. and allies Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, and Turkey.
Gershkovich was arrested by Russia last March on charges of espionage, though the U.S. has maintained that he was just performing his usual journalistic duties while on Russian soil. He was sentenced to 16 years in a high-security penal colony following a rushed, closed-door trial. Russia also sent home a dozen German nationals it was holding as political prisoners. A total of four Russians held in the U.S. were returned in the exchange, as well as four other prisoners held by Washington’s allies.
A Struggle For Power While People Struggle To Eat
While the world has been watching Ukraine and Israel, a civil war in Sudan has been going on. The consequences of the power struggle between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group and the Sudanese military have been felt across the country, displacing millions of Sudanese people and spreading food insecurity.
Hunger has become an especially big problem in displacement camps in the state of North Darfur. On Thursday, the U.N.’s famine early warning systems network (Fews Net) announced that it had discovered evidence of people starving to death in the Zamzam camp, located outside North Darfur’s capital city of Al-Fashir. The network also said that famine could be present in the nearby Abu Shouk and Al Salam camps.
“Without an end to this conflict, and in the absence of large-scale humanitarian food assistance, extreme human suffering will persist,” said one Fews Net official. According to the agency, the widespread conflict combined with an RSF siege of Al-Fashir has heavily restricted food transport in the area. “This situation was entirely preventable, and the international community must not waste another moment. With the lean season under way, without urgent action, the number of children and families facing starvation will only grow,” said the Sudan director of Plan International, a global children’s charity group.
The Looming Threat Of Economic Mediocrity

- According to the World Bank, 108 countries across the globe are at risk of getting stuck in the “middle-income trap.” Those nations, which include China, India, and South Africa, are supposedly relying on outdated economic strategies as they seek to become advanced economies, and will soon find themselves stuck with per capita incomes hovering around 10% of U.S. levels, or $8,000. Since 1990, the bank says, just 34 middle-income economies have been able to grow into high-income economies.
- “The battle for global economic prosperity will largely be won or lost in middle-income countries,” said the World Bank’s chief economist. “But too many of these countries rely on outmoded strategies to become advanced economies…A fresh approach is needed: first focus on investment; then add an emphasis on infusion of new technologies from abroad; and, finally, adopt a three-pronged strategy that balances investment, infusion, and innovation. With growing demographic, ecological and geopolitical pressures, there is no room for error.”
Free Reign For Robo-Vision
- Under the leadership of far-right president Javier Milei, Argentina has announced plans to use AI to “predict future crimes.” This week, Milei established the Artificial Intelligence Applied to Security Unit, which will use “machine-learning algorithms to analyse historical crime data to predict future crimes,” utilize facial recognition software to track “wanted persons,” and even use AI to analyze real-time security footage in order to catch crimes as they occur.
- If you know anything about the current state of AI, or have read any articles on the shortcomings of facial recognition software, you’re probably wondering how this initiative could ever end well. Well, so are many human rights groups. Even if the AI detection programs prove less than effective, said a representative for Amnesty International, the use of widespread surveillance programs will force people to “self-censor or refrain from sharing their ideas or criticisms if they suspect that everything they comment on, post, or publish is being monitored by security forces.”
- Milei has already shown Argentinians that he’s willing to crack down violently on protests, authorizing police to shoot anti-government demonstrators with rubber bullets at close range and warning that parents who bring their children to political rallies will be officially sanctioned by the state.
More Mixed Nuts
- British prime minister announces policing plan to deal with violent clashes after fatal stabbings (AP)
- Japan Osprey crash caused by cracks in a gear and pilot’s decision to keep flying, Air Force says (AP)
- Venezuela’s Maduro asks top court to audit the presidential election, but observers cry foul (AP)
- Japan rivals Nissan and Honda will share EV components and AI research as they play catch up (AP)
- Anger mounts over environmental cost of Google datacentre in Uruguay (Guardian)
- Bank of England cuts interest rate for first time in four years, but it was the closest call (CNN)
Orange Guy Stays Gagged
- A New York appeals court has rejected Donald Trump’s attempt to lift a gag order. The order is tied to the hush money case, which saw the former president convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records. The order prevents Trump from publicly discussing the prosecutors, court staff, and their families.
- Judge Juan Merchan had already lifted parts of the gag order, allowing Trump to discuss trial witnesses and the jury. Trump’s sentencing was originally scheduled for July but was delayed to mid-September while Merchan considers the motion to toss the conviction in the wake of the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision.
Lemon Got A Lemon Contract
- Former CNN anchor Don Lemon has sued Elon Musk and X (Twitter) over a canceled deal for Lemon to host a show on the social media platform. Musk terminated a partnership with the anchor just a few hours after Lemon interviewed him – and he did it in a very professional manner, of course, shooting off a text to Lemon that said “contract terminated.” We like it. Simple, to the point, no chance of confusion.
- Among the offenses listed in the lawsuit are fraud, negligent misrepresentation, misappropriation of Lemon’s name and likeness, and breach of express contract. The deal with Lemon was first announced in January when X was claiming it would be a “video-first” platform. Musk, for his part, said he canceled Lemon’s show because it was too similar to CNN’s content.
More Nuts In America
- Denver-area wildfire turns deadly as California’s Park Fire torches an area larger than Los Angeles (CNN)
- Democrats Have Finally Learned the Value of Shitposting (Wired, $)
- Sonya Massey’s mother called 911 and asked police not to hurt daughter before shooting death (Guardian)
- 14 arrested at Comic-Con in anti-human trafficking sting in San Diego (NBC)
- AIPAC super PAC accused of altering Bush’s appearance in ads (The Hill)
- Black and other minority farmers are getting $2 billion from USDA after years of discrimination (AP)
Twitter Fingers And Fist Fighters
- It’s a sci-fi and fantasy collab: Elon Musk and J.K. Rowling are teaming up to fight some culture war battles. The Tesla CEO and Harry Potter author are all riled up over a controversial women’s boxing match that took place yesterday at the Paris Olympics. The 46-second bout, between Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Italy’s Angela Carini, drew ire from the odd couple because Khelif had been disqualified from a prior boxing tournament due to elevated levels of testosterone.
- This Olympic match caused particular controversy because Carini abandoned her bout just seconds into the fight after taking a flurry of hits. While Musk and Rowling said that the match was unfair from the start due to Khelif’s testosterone levels, Carini said her resignation was not a statement about Khelif’s eligibility. “I felt a severe pain in my nose, and with the maturity of a boxer, I said ‘enough,’ because I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to, I couldn’t finish the match,” Carini said, emphasizing that she wasn’t refusing to fight her opponent for any political reason – just that she physically couldn’t continue the match.
- Khelif was banned from the International Boxing Association’s championship last year due to her testosterone levels but was allowed to participate in both the Tokyo and Paris games. The International Olympic Committee said she should be allowed to compete in this year’s games after undergoing all medical clearance tests given to every other athlete. While Musk and Rowling believe that Khelif’s biology gives her a physical leg up in the ring, her career shows that the issue is not so cut-and-dry: she came in fifth place at the Tokyo Olympics and has an overall 9-5 career professional record.
More Loose Nuts
- MrBeast, YouTube’s biggest star, acknowledges past ‘inappropriate language’ as controversies swirl (AP)
- Like Cyclists in a Peloton, Schooling Fish Save Energy, Study Finds (NYT, $)
- Britney Spears Biopic Film Set at Universal With ‘Wicked’ Director Jon M. Chu (Variety)
- WATCH: Why Trump wants the US government to have a “national stockpile” of bitcoin (CNN)
- Sports streaming venture Venu priced at $42.99 a month (NBC)
- World’s oldest wine discovered in southern Spain (NBC)
Team Thoughts
Kayli – I am almost positive that Argentina story is the same plot as a Captain America movie.
Marcus – Who would have even watched a Don Lemon show on Twitter?