“7 tales to know” is a brand new Monday sequence showcasing tales which will have been ignored within the crush of reports over the previous few weeks, and tales which have continued to evolve over the weekend. Count on to learn protection about well being, science, and local weather that continuously take second chair to what’s occurring on the prime of the web page, plus data from native sources that the nationwide media could have neglected.
1. Trump’s immunity argument goes to the Supreme Court docket
In February, it regarded as if Donald Trump’s first prison trial can be for election interference in U.S. District Decide Tanya Chutkan’s Washington, D.C., courtroom. Nevertheless, regardless of a unanimous and scathing resolution by the appeals court docket, the Supreme Court docket stunned many observers on Feb. 28 when it agreed to take up Trump’s enchantment for full immunity from prosecution for acts that he took whereas in workplace.
Chutkan denied Trump’s request to dismiss the costs, however figuring out that Trump would enchantment, particular counsel Jack Smith requested in December that the Supreme Court docket take up the problem, however the justices refused. As anticipated, Trump appealed.
It was within the arguments earlier than the appeals court docket that Trump’s authorized group made among the most wonderful claims in authorized historical past. When Decide Florence Pan requested if a president may order “SEAL Group 6 to assassinate a political rival,” Trump’s lawyer responded {that a} president couldn’t be charged until first impeached and eliminated by Congress. In workplace, he may actually get away with something.
It took six weeks for the appeals court docket to rule. Then the Supreme Court docket contemplated the matter for 2 further weeks earlier than issuing an unsigned order agreeing to listen to the case.
Now oral arguments over Trump’s claims are being heard on the final day of the session. A ruling isn’t anticipated till June. Which means that it doesn’t matter what the court docket decides, it has completed its half to present Trump months of delays.
How may the Supreme Court docket rule? As SCOTUSBlog notes, the justices may deny Trump’s request, as Chutkan and the appeals court docket did, or it’d grant Trump some lesser degree of immunity. Elie Honig, a former prosecutor, argues in New York Journal that the thought of presidential immunity isn’t as foolish as it might appear. In spite of everything, the court docket has beforehand dominated that presidents get pleasure from a large immunity towards civil complaints.
However we don’t know the solutions to 2 key questions: (1) Is there a prison counterpart to civil immunity, and (2) If that’s the case, what are the exact parameters? These points have come up occasionally over the previous few a long time, however the Court docket has dutifully punted. Now the justices have taken up Trump’s argument in Jack Smith’s 2020 election subversion case, which will probably be argued subsequent week, they usually’ve obtained to handle prison immunity head-on.
What the Supreme Court docket decides will have an effect on not simply the D.C. case, which entails Trump’s efforts to reverse the outcomes of the 2020 election, but additionally the Florida case about mishandling categorized paperwork, and the Georgia state case about election interference. It’s unlikely to have an effect on the case already underway in Manhattan, which entails falsely reporting funds of hush cash to cowl up a intercourse scandal that might have affected the end result of the 2016 election. The funds in that case have been made earlier than Trump took workplace.
The court docket will hear oral arguments on Thursday. An audio livestream will probably be accessible.
2. Louisiana joins the warfare to carry again youngster labor
On Thursday, the Louisiana Home took a step towards passing a legislation that may remove the requirement that minors be given at the least one 20-minute break for a meal or recreation for each 5 hours labored. Twenty minutes out of each 5 hours could not sound like a lot time to permit kids to eat or at the least step away from their job, however apparently it was an excessive amount of for the invoice’s sponsor, state Rep. Roger Wilder.
“The wording is ‘We’re right here to hurt kids,’” Wilder stated. “Give me a break,” he stated. “These are younger adults.” The committee voted to approve the invoice, which now goes to the total Home for a vote.
Wilder’s assertion sounds remarkably like that of Florida legislators who handed a legislation earlier within the 12 months permitting college students to work full-time throughout the faculty 12 months.
“This invoice isn’t about kids, this invoice is about youngsters,” stated Florida state Rep. Linda Chaney. “They’re 16 and 17 years outdated. They’re driving vehicles. They aren’t kids. This isn’t youngster labor.”
Florida and Louisiana are simply two of 16 states wherein Republicans are pushing to take away rules on youngster labor. Whereas that is half of a bigger warfare on labor rights being waged in pink states, the push for youngster labor appears particularly odious. Restrictions they’re preventing to repeal come from the time of robber barons, when kids have been compelled to sort out lengthy, troublesome, harmful work with little regard for his or her well being or training.
And it appears Republicans are proud to have these days again once more.
3. An AI girlfriend who isn’t
There’s one space of the economic system that’s nearly sure to be on the forefront of any new technical growth: porn. Whether or not it’s 3D graphics, VR, bitcoin, or only a digital camera, there are few issues digital that haven’t been turned towards the hunt to transform lust into {dollars}.
The identical story has performed out with AI. Even earlier than the newest spherical of generative AI purchased imagery and prolonged conversations, a number of corporations had produced “companion” software program that provided a simulated relationship. A number of of those embrace choices to pay further for specific content material. Others have been described as cyberbullying trainers. Many simply supply simplistic toys with restricted responses. Even so, folks have developed actual emotions towards their synthetic companions, a lot in order that there have been a number of human-chatbot “marriages.”
However from the title alone, it’s clear that AngryGF is one thing completely different. The app advertises itself as “your final AI simulator for perfecting comforting abilities along with your offended girlfriend.” As Wired describes it, “You get among the downsides of a real-life girlfriend—she’s livid!!—however not one of the upsides. Who would voluntarily use this?”
The reply appears to be that it’s supposed to coach males who’re fully oblivious to the emotions of a real-life companion the right way to be extra … livious.
From the Wired article, it’s onerous to inform if this can be a critical try at educating bonehead males the right way to talk extra adequately, or if it’s nearer to the form of recommendation males get from watching YouTube movies from “seduction artists.” However the article is hilarious sufficient that it makes me need to spar with this factor.
4. Tesla makes use of new Texas legislation to dodge environmental rules
When Tesla constructed its new manufacturing unit exterior Austin, Texas, the huge growth got here with equally “huge guarantees.”
When Elon Musk introduced the power in japanese Travis County throughout a July 2020 earnings name, he emphasised the location’s proximity to the Colorado. “It’s going to mainly be an ecological paradise, birds within the bushes, butterflies, fish within the stream,” Musk gushed. He additionally stated the event would come with a publicly accessible boardwalk and hike-and-bike path.
These statements have been already beginning to appear about as reasonable as Musk’s guarantees about self-driving vehicles two years in the past. Now, because the Houston Chronicle stories, Tesla is taking some motion on the ecology of the world. Solely it’s going the improper approach.
Tesla is leaving the town of Austin’s “extraterritorial jurisdiction,” a transfer that’s anticipated to strip the town’s environmental oversight of a lot of its huge manufacturing facility. The electrical automaker, headquartered east of Austin alongside the Colorado River, used a brand new state legislation to petition for the removing.
That useful new legislation permits Tesla to dodge the strict water high quality legal guidelines enforced by the town and as an alternative be topic solely to essentially the most lax necessities of Travis County.
As The Verge reported in February, Tesla’s environmental file isn’t precisely paradisiacal. No fewer than 25 counties have sued the corporate for illegally disposing of hazardous waste.
5. Kristi Noem is banned from visiting components of her personal state
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has been on a number of quick lists as a possible vice presidential nominee for Donald Trump. Noem appears to pay attention to this, as she’s taken many steps to prep for the nationwide limelight, together with selecting up a new set of enamel whereas skipping all of the dentists in her state and doing an infomercial for a beauty dentistry observe in Texas.
However earlier than she heads out to tour America, America may need to bear in mind that Noem is legally barred from coming into giant parts of her personal state. As The Day by day Beast stories, that’s as a result of Noem has made an unsightly behavior of claiming horrible issues about Native Individuals.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council voted on Tuesday to formally banish Noem from its reservation over current public statements she made suggesting, amongst different issues, that Native American tribal leaders are in league with Mexican drug cartels. Noem additionally not too long ago accused Native American mother and father of not being concerned sufficient of their kids’s lives, blaming them for poor tutorial efficiency in tribal areas.
Two different Lakota tribes have issued comparable statements, which implies that, as The Day by day Beast factors out, Noem can’t step foot in about 10% of the area inside South Dakota’s border.
6. U.S. economic system is “the envy of the world”
For the primary two years after Joe Biden moved into the White Home, economists gave the impression to be predicting a recession at any second. However that recession by no means got here. As an alternative, the economic system moved from power to power, regardless of a spate of damaging stories from the media.
Lastly, each the economists and the media appear to be catching up with actuality. As The Wall Road Journal stories, the U.S. economic system is the “envy of the world.”
The U.S. economic system has far outperformed expectations over the previous 12 months and a half. As an alternative of stumbling underneath the load of the Federal Reserve’s most aggressive interest-rate-raising marketing campaign in 4 a long time, it has continued increasing at a strong clip. …
Nonetheless, economists have needed to rethink forecasts for a serious slowdown as extra time has handed and one nonetheless doesn’t appear imminent. Economists on common suppose the economic system grew at a 2.2% price within the first three months of the 12 months, up from a 0.9% forecast in January.
“The U.S. economic system is performing very properly,” EconForecaster economist James Smith stated within the survey. “We’re actually the envy of the world.”
Few economists appear to suppose the economic system can match the three.1% progress price seen in 2023, however then additionally they didn’t predict that degree of progress in 2023.
7. Everyone appears to be constructing a humanoid robotic
Rumors that there’s an Apple robotic on the way in which appear to be nonetheless solidly in that rumor class. But when Apple hasn’t obtained the itch to maneuver us nearer to the land of “I, Robotic” or “The Terminator,” they may be one of many few who can resist the urge. As a result of new humanoid robots appear to be all over the place.
Final week, Boston Dynamics gave a fond farewell to the well-known Atlas robotic, star of many YouTube movies through the years. That was adopted by introducing a complete new mannequin that, like all its predecessors, is about 50% marvel, 50% nightmare gas.
However whereas Boston Dynamics could have dominated this area a number of years in the past, there was an explosion of rivals, a few of whom appear near bringing a product to market.
The scariest factor about these robots isn’t the prospect that they’re going to chase us down whereas sporting sun shades and leather-based jackets. It’s that they’ve getting very near deployment in manufacturing websites, each alongside and fully changing folks. And we’re in no sense ready for the financial impact.
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