--:-- Georgia Howe: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. Between two-factor authentication, strong passwords, and a VPN, you try to be in control of how your info is protected. But many other places also have it, and they might not be as careful. That's why LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it. Guaranteed or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit LifeLock.com slash podcast for 40% off. Terms apply.
--:-- Georgia Howe: After decades of research and billions in funding, scientists in California announce they have finally achieved nuclear fusion in a lab. In an age where we do not have nuclear testing, ignition allows us to replicate certain conditions that are found only in the stars and the sun. What is nuclear fusion and why are many saying this could be the tech breakthrough of the century?
--:-- John Bickley: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's December 17th, and this is your Saturday edition of Morning Wire. TSA announces it will soon begin using facial recognition software at airports across the country. How does the technology work, and why is the plan receiving bipartisan pushback? And France will face off against Argentina tomorrow in the World Cup championship game. We take a look at both teams and their key players as they head into the final match.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. The American Heart Association recommends four to five servings each of fruits and vegetables every single day. Now, that's no small task, especially given your busy schedule. That's why I love Balance of Nature. Balance of Nature uses a cold vacuum process that preserves the natural phytonutrients in whole fruits and vegetables.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Go to balanceofnature.com and use promo code WIRE for 35% off your first order as a preferred customer. That's balanceofnature.com, promo code WIRE for 35% off your first preferred order.
--:-- Georgia Howe: After decades of research and anticipation, scientists have made what is being hailed as a major breakthrough in nuclear fusion technology. Simply put, this is one of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century. For the first time ever, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, were able to create a fusion reaction that generated more power than it consumed.
--:-- Michael Whitaker: Here to break down the importance of this discovery is Daily Wire's Michael Whitaker. Michael, welcome.
--:-- Michael Whitaker: Hey, Georgia. So how significant is this development?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, nuclear fusion is often called the holy grail of energy, just because of how cheap and abundant it could be if we ever figured out how to do it. As of now, it kind of looks like we did. So how does this technology work?
--:-- Michael Whitaker: Well, in crude terms, it's almost like making a miniature star. Every star in the sky is essentially a giant fusion reactor. They're massive balls of gas, predominantly light elements like hydrogen and helium, pulled together by the force of gravity.
--:-- Michael Whitaker: But at the star's core, the heat and pressure become so intense that they cause hydrogen atoms to fuse, releasing an immense amount of heat and light. In our sun, this reaction is so powerful that we can see and feel the energy from 92 million miles away.
--:-- Michael Whitaker: Now, we've been able to fuse atoms for decades. We've actually incorporated fusion reactions into more powerful nukes, for example. But getting it to work at a small enough scale that we can actually harness the energy without burning more power than the process generates in order to keep it going has been very difficult.
--:-- Michael Whitaker: For decades, there's been a running joke that fusion energy is always a few more decades away. But the researchers at Livermore were able to use a very large and powerful laser to excite the hydrogen atoms enough that they fused.
--:-- Michael Whitaker: Now their process reportedly generated 2 megajoules of energy while the system only used 2 megajoules. Now the average American home uses about 108 megajoules of power per day so this would have to be scaled up by many orders of magnitude to be a viable energy source.
--:-- Michael Whitaker: But as a proof of concept, it's still incredible.
--:-- Michael Whitaker: Okay, so people hear the word nuclear, and they assume that this is similar to nuclear technology that we currently have and have had for decades. So how is this different?
--:-- Michael Whitaker: Well, for one thing, it's a lot cleaner. Our current nuclear plants run on nuclear fission, where isotopes of larger, more complex atoms like uranium and plutonium are split and release energy.
--:-- Michael Whitaker: Now, these elements in nature are weakly radioactive, but we refine them and refine them until they become extremely radioactive. The energy they emit is used to boil water and create steam, which is used by a turbine generator to generate electricity.
--:-- Michael Whitaker: The water also contains the radiation, so that isn't dangerous to workers. However, after a point, the refined fuel decays, and it isn't radioactive enough to be useful. But it is still radioactive enough to give people cancer, and could be dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years.
--:-- Michael Whitaker: The fuel is also rare, and it needs to be mined and processed, and that same process can also be used to make weapons-grade material for nukes, which is why Iran's nuclear program is so controversial.
--:-- Michael Whitaker: By contrast, nuclear fusion relies on hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, and it doesn't produce any nuclear waste. If you turn the fusion reactor off, the radiation stops.
--:-- Michael Whitaker: It's also much harder to weaponize, even though some nuclear bombs incorporate fusion reactions. They need a fission reaction to jumpstart it. If there's no fissile material, there's no bomb. A pure fusion bomb is still hypothetical.
--:-- Michael Whitaker: So if a rogue state were to build a fusion reactor, I wouldn't lose much sleep over it.
--:-- Michael Whitaker: In summary, fusion energy is not only cheap, abundant, clean, and safe, it's now proven to be possible. It's only a matter of time before engineers are able to work out the kinks.
--:-- Michael Whitaker: So it will be really exciting to see where this goes in the next 10 years.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. We're looking forward to it. Michael, thanks so much for reporting.
--:-- Michael Whitaker: Thanks for having me on.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Daily Wire's Michael Whitaker. Coming up, the TSA is launching a new facial recognition system. Imagine the joy of pre-scheduled coffee delivery. Your favorite roasts at your door, when you need them. It's really the gift that keeps on giving. Right now, you can go to blackriflecoffee.com and use promo code WIRE for 10% off coffee, merchandise, apparel, or when you sign up for a Coffee Club subscription.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Stuff your family's Christmas stockings with all the highest grade coffee roasted right here in America by veteran-led teams of coffee experts. Go to BlackRifleCoffee.com with promo code WIRE for 10% off.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This winter, the TSA announced its plan to expand a controversial new security measure that uses facial recognition software to capture the biometric data of travelers before they're allowed to fly.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Here with more on their plan to go nationwide and the backlash it's received is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips. Cabot, what can you tell us about this facial recognition plan from the TSA?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So over the past year, the TSA began quietly testing new technology that scans a traveler's face before allowing entry to security lines. Right now, the technology is being used at checkpoints in 16 major domestic airports, including D.C., Dallas DFW, Atlanta and Miami.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But starting next year, the TSA is looking to expand that practice and implement it nationwide. And eventually, get this, they reportedly want to eliminate the need for an ID while traveling and create a system where the technology allows your face to be your ID.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: As part of the process, they'll be taking the findings of their test run at those 16 airports and presenting them to the Department of Homeland Security. Essentially, they'll have to prove the technology works before it expands.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, it sounds creepy. How does this work exactly?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well in a nutshell the plan is that travelers will insert their government ID into a kiosk and stand in front of a camera that will scan their face for about five seconds. At that point a computer program will compare the biometric data gathered with images the government already has on file like those from your passport or driver license to make sure you are who you say you are.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: If it's a match, you're allowed through to the security line. If not, a human TSA agent will conduct their own review before letting you pass. Now, they are still tinkering with what that final process will look like, but for now, that's the plan.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So why are they rolling this out now? So TSA officials say that it's about efficiency and making the travel experience easier for people at the airport.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: As TSA spokesman Daniel Velez puts it, quote, biometric technology has the potential to enhance security effectiveness, improve operational efficiency, and yield a more streamlined passenger experience at the TSA checkpoint.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So they say this will make things smoother, but there is also the fact that the TSA has been under fire recently for a number of reasons, including a bloated budget, inconsistent performance, and most notably concerns over the agency's effectiveness altogether.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: For example, one recent internal investigation by the DHS had undercover agents try to sneak weapons, including fake bombs, knives, guns, things like that, through airport checkpoints. 95% of the time, they got through undetected.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: That led to a serious public backlash and actually saw the head of the TSA being forced to step down. So rolling out new technology like this could be an effort to assure the general public that they're modernizing and keeping up with the times and keeping people safe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But there have also obviously been those who are not too pleased with this move.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah. So while some people say it'll make the travel process easier, there are plenty who worry about the constitutional and privacy element of this.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Critics say it's a dangerous road to allow the government to start using your face as a form of ID, especially given that the DHS has admitted recently that photos of travelers have been taken as part of data breaches as recently as 2019.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Others feel that facial recognition software like this will eventually be used by the government to track people accused of other crimes and result in a form of dragnet policing, which is obviously unconstitutional.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: They also see things going on in China with the facial recognition and social credit score. They worry about how it could be implemented there.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, the TSA says the images will not be used for law enforcement purposes. For example, they would not compare your image with a database of outstanding warrants and arrest you at a security checkpoint.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But there are still concerns about how the technology could infringe on people's rights.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, I'm sure there's a lot of concern, including from civil rights groups, correct?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, we've seen critics on the right, their main point has been a concern over privacy. But many on the left say that it could result in discrimination.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: They say this technology can disproportionately misidentify minorities. They cite a 2019 study from the National Institute of Science and Technology, which found facial recognition algorithms were up to 100 times more likely to misidentify Black and Asian men compared to white men.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So there are also civil rights groups that are jumping into the fray here as well.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, I think a lot of people are going to be very interested in how all these tests go. Meanwhile, they're watching.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Daily Wire senior editor, Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The final game of the World Cup will be played on Sunday morning in Qatar. And it features two of the most highly regarded teams on the planet. France is set to take on Argentina in the championship match, a game that will feature two of the world's greatest stars who just happen to be club teammates facing off against each other.
--:-- David Marcus: Here to preview the big game is columnist David Marcus. So Dave, is it a surprise that either of these teams have made it this far?
--:-- David Marcus: Good morning. It's really not. And right off the bat, I'm going to be honest and admit that I am a huge Argentina soccer fan and have been for 30 years. So don't expect objectivity here. I'll try.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Look, France is a great side. They're the reigning World Cup champs. They play a very aggressive and positive style and have looked strong really all tournament.
--:-- David Marcus: But you know they facing an Argentine team that after a shocking loss to Saudi Arabia in the first match has really found their form playing a very intricate passing game while wearing of course their beautiful sky blue and white striped jerseys.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Look, this is likely the last World Cup for Argentina's superstar Lionel Messi. How consequential to his legacy is the outcome of this particular game?
--:-- David Marcus: It may be cruel, but honestly, it would mean everything. Messi has played his entire career under the shadow of the great Diego Maradona, who wore the same number 10 and played a very similar style.
--:-- David Marcus: But Diego won the cup for Argentina in 1986. Messi has won everything possible as a professional, first at Barcelona and now in Paris. But the knock on him has always been his poor performances for his national team.
--:-- David Marcus: Last year, Argentina beat Brazil in Brazil to win the South American Championship. It's their first trophy since the early 90s. But if Messi wins this, not only could he overtake Maradona, there are many who would argue it would make him the greatest player to ever play.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right, so a lot on the line for him. On the other side for Le Bleu, as France is known, is Messi's teammate at Paris Saint-Germain, Kylian Mbappe.
--:-- David Marcus: There are some who say he's the best player in the world right now. Is there an argument for that?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Oh, absolutely. I mean, count me among those people. This guy is the undisputed star of PSG. And that team not only has Messi, but also Brazilian striker Neymar.
--:-- David Marcus: I mean, it's astounding. And if France wins, he will have his second World Cup. To put that in perspective, only 20 players have ever won the World Cup twice in its history. Mbappe would have two at age 23.
--:-- David Marcus: The only player with three is Brazilian legend Pele. He's big. He's fast. He's strong. He scores. He just plays with incredible power.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This game could wind up being the capstone of Messi's career, but it could also be an announcement that Mbappe is not just the best player today, but poised to really be an all-time great.
--:-- David Marcus: What should fans of the sport be looking out for in terms of strategy between these two sides?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Both sides like to possess the ball and are very capable of doing so, but they've also both shown at times a willingness to play more defensively and look for counterattacking chances.
--:-- David Marcus: So keep an eye on which team is keeping the ball with short midfield passing. Both are very high-scoring teams, but both also let in a fair amount of goals. So I think we can expect some fireworks offensively, not just from Mbappe and Messi, but from France's Antoine Griezmann, Argentina's Javier Alvarez, who's at an absolute coming-out party and was a guy who wasn't even supposed to start.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Okay, David, so I'm going to put you on the spot here. What's your prediction? Will France or Argentina be celebrating when the referee blows the final whistle?
--:-- David Marcus: Come on, I'm not doing that. You're inviting me to jinx my team. I won't. I'll predict this. Let's say both teams will score more than one goal. They're both beautiful and expressive offenses that I suspect are going to want to show off a little.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right, well, Dave, thanks for joining us.
--:-- David Marcus: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Daily Wire contributor David Marcus.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Another story we're tracking this week, the Kentucky Supreme Court struck down a law that allowed people to receive tax credits for donations to support private school tuition. The decision has been welcomed by teachers unions who say the law undermined public education.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more ballots to the national conversation. If you love our show and you stand with our mission, consider subscribing, leaving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
