--:-- [Theme music fades out]
--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to Morning Wire, I'm John Bickley.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And I'm Georgia Howe. It's Friday, September 15th.
--:-- John Bickley: 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: What action is Congress taking as more and more people cross into the country?
--:-- John Bickley: I'm Daily Wire, Editor-in-Chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. We have the details on what came out of the closed-door meeting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And a woman in Finland is on trial for the second time for what's being called hate speech. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned.
--:-- John Bickley: 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This latest legal action comes as Republicans in Washington have renewed pressure on the president over the crisis at the border.
--:-- John Bickley: Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Hi, Georgia.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So first off, tell us about this lawsuit from the Florida Attorney General. What is it alleging and what do they want?
--:-- Tim Pierce: So Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody obtained an email shared with Border Patrol officials that seems to reference a quota system for migrants released into the United States.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The actual totals were redacted, so we don't know what quota they were trying to reach.
--:-- Tim Pierce: But according to the email, border authorities are releasing people daily en masse to prevent overcrowding in detention facilities.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Morning Wire spoke with Moody about her legal case.
--:-- [Audio clip of Ashley Moody]
--:-- Ashley Moody: I use the term secret plans. That's the only way I can describe it to engineer at historical rates an influx of migrants into our country.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And the numbers at this point are so overwhelming. 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.
--:-- Tim Pierce: That really puts it in perspective then.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So Congress was back in session this week. Does it look like there's going to be any action on this in Washington?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Well, House Republicans are in the middle of an investigation into the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Lawmakers want to know what is driving the border crisis and what role Mayorkas may have played in it.
--:-- Tim Pierce: 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 problems such as child trafficking, drug trafficking, and the toll the situation has taken on our own border enforcement.
--:-- [Audio clip of Mark Green and Tim Ballard]
--:-- Mark Green: Do you believe Secretary Mayorkas knows there are human trafficking cases happening because of his policies?
--:-- Tim Ballard: I do believe he knows that.
--:-- Mark Green: So you believe he knows that what Attorney General Garland admitted to the Senate he knows that happening I don't know how he couldn know
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now Green announced months ago that his committee would conduct an intensive investigation into the Mayorkas and Biden border policies.
--:-- Georgia Howe: What has that investigation found so far?
--:-- Tim Pierce: 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Morning Wire caught up with Green after the hearing and asked him what he's concerned about most from a security standpoint.
--:-- Mark Green: We do know that there are at least, you know, 17,000, 18,000 Chinese nationals that have come across. And that's one that's very concerning to us.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And that's one that's very concerning to us. 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And those individuals have just been released into the country.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, Mayorkas and the rest of the Biden administration have stood behind their border policies.
--:-- Georgia Howe: They've blamed unrest in countries south of the border for driving immigration and Congress for refusing to fix a broken system.
--:-- John Bickley: Some Republicans are making noise about impeaching Mayorkas for failing in his duty to protect the country's borders.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But the secretary seems comfortable with his odds in that fight.
--:-- John Bickley: After all, the Senate is still under Democratic control.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, it's hard to even wrap your mind around the number of migrants coming over.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Tim, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Anytime.
--:-- John Bickley: 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here with more on what came of the meeting and what it means for the future of AI is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Hey Cabot.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So you rarely see this many Silicon Valley giants all in one room. Set this scene for us.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah. 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, and also, more importantly, the role government should play in regulating the industry.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The meeting comes at a time when members of both parties have called for federal regulation of AI.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The big question now is just what exactly that looks like.
--:-- Georgia Howe: As part of the process, the world's leading tech CEOs descended on Washington.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's a lot.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So effectively, this is a who's who of the tech world.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, everyone was there.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: According to those in the room, the meeting was part of a fact-finding effort on behalf of Congress.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Washington intends to regulate the industry, which is hard to do without a deep understanding of the technology.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So this was sort of a learning session.
--:-- Georgia Howe: 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.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Also, there were a number of business leaders representing industries likely to be impacted by AI.
--:-- Georgia Howe: As you can imagine, they had a less rosy outlook than the tech leaders themselves.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Throughout the day, though, and the last year for that matter, lawmakers made clear that tech companies cannot be trusted to regulate themselves.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And for the most part, tech leaders actually seem to agree on that.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right, this kind of strange development where they're calling for regulation on themselves.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Tell us what they had to say.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So Elon Musk, for example, spoke repeatedly of the need for a, quote, referee in the space.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: 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 a letter urging tech companies to pump the brakes on AI until guardrails can be put in place.
--:-- Georgia Howe: While that has not happened it does give you an idea of how strongly he feels about the potential risks of the technology.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Here he is speaking to reporters after the meeting.
--:-- [Audio clip of Elon Musk]
--:-- Elon Musk: I think something good will come of this. I think this meeting may go down in history as being very important for the future of civilization.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Leader Schumer did ask everyone to raise their hands in the room to see if they were in favor of AI regulation, and I believe almost everyone did.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Musk went on to say that he believes Congress is moving towards creating a separate regulatory agency for AI.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Similar to the FAA or FCC.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So a department of AI could be coming.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Sounds a little creepy.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: What did we hear from the other tech leaders?
--:-- Georgia Howe: 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.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's been another really important debate on this topic.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But those on the other side, including Gates and Zuckerberg, essentially say the cat's already out of the back.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And if we don't push forward with AI development, our adversaries, especially China, will be happy to fill the void.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Certainly a concern worth noting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: What do we expect to see from Congress moving forward?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, it's interesting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: 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.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: 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, establish new federal licensing requirements for AI developers, as well as liability guidelines for AI that's used in, quote, high-risk situations.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So while this meeting was kind of a watershed moment, this is just the beginning of the AI battle in Washington.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, I'm sure AI is going to dominate conversations for years going forward.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Kevin, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
--:-- John Bickley: A Finnish member of parliament is facing her second free speech trial for quoting a Bible verse in a tweet.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Her prosecution comes as free speech advocates warn that many European nations are embracing a global censorship trend.
--:-- John Bickley: Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham is here now with more.
--:-- Megan Basham: So Megan, I remember when this Finnish case was first in the news last March.
--:-- Georgia Howe: At that time, the parliamentarian was completely cleared, but now she's on trial again. Is there new evidence?
--:-- Megan Basham: No, there isn't. Actually, the facts here are entirely the same as in the first trial.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The issue is that Finland doesn't have the protections against double jeopardy that we have here in the U.S.
--:-- Megan Basham: So the prosecution was able to appeal that unanimous, not guilty decision.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So what happened was former government minister Paivi Rasanen is a pastor's wife.
--:-- Megan Basham: And in 2019, her denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, was sponsoring a pride parade.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, she tweeted this, And then along with that, she also posted an image of Romans 1, 24 through 27.
--:-- Megan Basham: So I'll just give you a short excerpt of what that passage says. Quoting here, 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
--:-- Georgia Howe: So again a Bible verse This triggered an investigation by Finnish authorities that looked back through 20 years of Rossinen's comments on the issue.
--:-- Megan Basham: And they found a 2004 pamphlet and a 2019 radio interview that basically expressed similar views about homosexuality for the same reason.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And the prosecution is saying that voicing this view constitutes a crime.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, yes, essentially. The prosecutors say that her interpretation of the verses and taking them at face value and speaking about those views publicly breaks Finnish hate speech laws.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So they're arguing that, and I'm going to quote here, condemning homosexual acts condemns homosexuals as human beings.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, I should note that Rossinen's interpretation really has been the standard interpretation of nearly all Christian denominations until the last couple of decades.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And it's still the position of the largest denominations in the U.S., the Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention.
--:-- Megan Basham: So you have Catholic and Protestant there.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Rossinen says, quoting the Bible, should not be a crime in a democracy.
--:-- Megan Basham: An alliance defending freedom international is representing her.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I spoke to ADF attorney Kristen Wagoner about this case, and she says that authorities in Finland are trying to make an example of Rasenyn.
--:-- Megan Basham: 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The trial concluded on September 1st.
--:-- Megan Basham: So right now we're awaiting the second court's verdict, which should come in the next couple of months.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, as John noted at the top, this is something of a developing international issue.
--:-- Megan Basham: Hate speech is especially clashing with religious beliefs.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Is ADF projecting we're going to see more cases like this going forward?
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah, they certainly are.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Just a few quick examples.
--:-- Megan Basham: In Ireland, a new hate speech law that many opponents are calling draconian has already passed one chamber of parliament.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A person can be imprisoned if they, quote, prepare or possess material likely to incite hatred against someone for their gender or sexuality.
--:-- Megan Basham: And then last year, a man was arrested in the UK for a social media post that mocked the transgender flag.
--:-- Georgia Howe: 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.
--:-- Megan Basham: So, Waggoner 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: 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.
--:-- Megan Basham: 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It's something that God gives us. It's a basic human right.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, this clash of ideologies is not going away anytime soon, it looks like.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Megan, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Megan Basham: Anytime.
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--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know.
