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--:-- Georgia Howe: The NFL is back, and FanDuel's got everything you need to play your game. From same-game parlays to live betting. Right now, new customers bet $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if you win. 21-plus in president select states. 18-plus in Kentucky and Wyoming. Must be first online real money waging. $5 deposit required. Bonus issued is non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See full terms at FanDuel.com slash sportsbook. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: There's been no movement in negotiations between the Writers Guild and Hollywood Studios, and now some are saying that the streaming services want it that way. The companies came back refusing to engage with us on our core existential issues. Did streamers like Netflix and Amazon plan the strike? And will other guilds follow suit? I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's May 20th, and this is your Saturday edition of Morning Wire.
--:-- John Bickley: The Hollywood writers' strike entered its third week on Tuesday with no end in sight. And now the directors and actors' guilds are beginning their own contract negotiations with the studios. Here now to give us the latest details on the strike and whether the other Hollywood unions could join the writers on the picket line is Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- Megan Basham: So, the biggest question everyone is asking, have the two sides made any progress? No, they haven't. Not at all. And they don't actually seem to be trying very hard. We are starting to see the impact on other sectors of the industry. For instance, NBC just put the non-writing staff of Jimmy Fallon's late show on unpaid leave. Now, the writers have been receiving a lot of support. Union leaders told the writers earlier this week that they're winning the, quote, PR war, as it seems like the whole world is behind them. And in fact, President Biden threw them some support last week.
--:-- John Bickley: But none of that is moving the needle. And there's one possible reason for that that I really haven't seen talked about anywhere. And that's how this strike actually benefits the streaming platforms when it comes to the bottom line. So the Guild has been stressing how much this strike is costing the industry. But I've now heard from a couple of sources on background that the streamers in particular may have actually wanted the strike. Essentially, if a deal is delayed long enough, it would void expensive contracts with some big creators. Shonda Rhimes and Adam Sandler were two of the names that I heard mentioned.
--:-- Megan Basham: And this is something that Judd Apatow alluded to. Now, if that name doesn't ring a bell, he's the writer-director behind Knocked Up and the 40-Year-Old Virgin. He thinks refusing to cede to the writer's demands is a calculated move that the studios have, quote, probably been planning for years. And he said he doesn't again quoting think that the business interests are interested in getting to it quickly. He even went so far as to say that the studios already know what date they're going to make an agreement to end this strike.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, that said, Apatow's comments don't take into consideration that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, that's the studio side, they have competing interests in their coalition as well. So the streamers are in a much better position to wait this out than the traditional TV networks. Netflix, Amazon, the rest of them, well, they can rely on back catalogs and foreign content. Think of things like that hit South Korean show from a couple of years ago, Squid Game. The TV networks don't have that advantage. So it's possible we could see some divisions break open on that side as these things drag on.
--:-- Megan Basham: So how about the other Hollywood unions? Where do things stand with the Directors Guild? Well, it looks like there's progress being made on that contract. Both of these sides have agreed to a media blackout. So we're not seeing them leverage the press to boost their arguments in the same way that we've seen with the writers. And generally, the Directors Guild does have a better working relationship with studios. A lot of people say that they view them more as partners than the Writers Guild does. But whatever terms are negotiated for the Directors Guild, it's likely going to set the terms for the upcoming Actors Guild negotiations as well. Now, their members have already authorized a strike if the two sides can't come to terms by the time that contract expires on June 30th.
--:-- John Bickley: So really, there's just a lot of negotiating and a lot of potential striking going on here. But so far, it doesn't look like we're going to see those picket lines form from those other two guilds. All right. Well, Megan, thanks for keeping tabs on this for us.
--:-- Megan Basham: Anytime.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Marijuana laced with fentanyl has been found in four states and has been linked to dozens of accidental overdoses. What do we know so far about this emerging public health threat? And as the summer travel season kicks off, the TSA is launching a new facial recognition pilot program to help speed up the lines. But why are critics sounding the alarm? Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: The Hollywood writers' strike entered its third week on Tuesday with no end in sight. And now the directors and actors' guilds are beginning their own contract negotiations with the studios. Here now to give us the latest details on the strike and whether the other Hollywood unions could join the writers on the picket line is Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Marijuana laced with fentanyl has been reported in at least four states causing overdose symptoms in teens and young people. Daily Wire investigative reporter Mairead Elordi is here with the details for us. So Mairead, how new is this phenomenon?
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Hi Georgia, yes, fentanyl laced marijuana is something we haven't really seen until recently. But police have reported finding it in Alabama, Illinois, Louisiana, and New York. One Missouri doctor said he's seeing more kids coming in with fentanyl in their systems after smoking what they thought was just marijuana. They also have symptoms consistent with fentanyl, says Dr. Michael Weinzinger, a psychiatrist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, is the amount of opioids they've found in marijuana strong enough to actually cause an overdose? Yes. In Georgia, one 13-year-old boy, Zach Corona, was on life support and in a coma for two weeks after he smoked a marijuana vape that contained fentanyl. His mom said he now has brain damage. In Alabama, a 31-year-old man died from fentanyl-aced marijuana, and the man who sold it to him was charged with murder in November. Fentanyl is 100 times stronger than morphine and 50 times stronger than heroin. Just two milligrams can kill a person. Even just incidental exposure can cause an overdose.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: In 2021, 40 infants died of fentanyl, presumably through incidental exposure. An additional 93 children under five also died from fentanyl. You mentioned that the marijuana being sold today is not the same as even just several years ago. What's changed?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, today's marijuana is much more potent than the marijuana of the 1990s. THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, was more than 200 percent more potent in 2015 than it was in 1995. Today the average THC level found in marijuana is seven to eight times higher compared to decades ago and a lot of products are much higher than that. That largely due to synthetic production and hyper-distilled THC products, and that alone has some serious health implications.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: One study published this month in Lancet Psychiatry found that schizophrenia in men in their 20s may have been preventable by up to 30% if they hadn't regularly smoked marijuana. So one in three men in their 20s who suffer from psychosis, many of whom end up homeless, could have avoided it. And these psychotic symptoms can persist for many years. There's concern that these new synthetic plants make it much more likely that people will build up toxic levels of THC. The most common symptom for THC toxicity is intractable nausea and vomiting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, one of the arguments for legalizing marijuana is that it can be regulated and presumably sold in a more safe way. Sure. That said, broad legalization of marijuana has also coincided with increased potency and increased usage. As of this year, it's legal in 21 states for recreational use and 40 states for medical use. It's also legal in Missouri, which is where Dr. Weinsinger said he sees kids coming in with fentanyl in their systems.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Well, there's definitely a strong push to make marijuana mainstream. Thanks, Georgia.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Daily Wire investigative reporter Mairead Elordi.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: As airports across the nation brace for the busy summer travel months, the TSA is launching a new facial recognition pilot program to help speed up the lines. But the move has many people nervous about how the system could be misused. Here with more on the implications of using facial recognition is Daily Wire senior editor Joel Needler.
--:-- Joel Needler: Well, it sounds like the TSA would rather take your picture than look at your boarding pass. The TSA has installed over 200 facial recognition kiosks in 16 major airports across the country as a preliminary screening program that it's calling a touchless identity solution. They're saying it's an optional process for passengers.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, since 2 million people pass through the TSA every day, it's unlikely that the average person will encounter the kiosk. Proponents of the technology say it will increase overall airport security, speed up TSA lines, and passengers will only need to present one form of ID.
--:-- Joel Needler: Here's TSA administrator David Pakoski. The response has been universally very positive. More effective, speedier, more convenient for passengers are the things that I hear. The algorithm actually is so far proven in our assessment to get it right more than the human gets it right. So this is an option for a quicker screening process.
--:-- Georgia Howe: How does the technology work? So travelers passing through airports like Atlanta-Hartsfield, LAX, or Boston Logan, who end up in a TSA pre-check line, may be given the option to submit their driver's license or passport in a screening kiosk. A camera connected to the machine will then take their photo and compare the two biometric images to make sure they match.
--:-- Joel Needler: The TSA says once the passenger is cleared, the images will be deleted from their system. Critics of the new technology, however, are not convinced that this will always be the case. Here's Electronic Privacy Information Center Counsel Jeremy Scott.
--:-- Jeremy Scott: Additionally, there should be some rules in place in terms of the deletion of that data immediately after the identification, verification has been made, and to ensure that the technology isn't used for other things other than identity verification at a TSA checkpoint.
--:-- Joel Needler: Now, we've reported before about facial recognition being used for security and entertainment venues. How widespread is this? So, facial recognition is already being used in several retail stores like Macy's and Apple stores. And like you mentioned two very popular venues in New York City sparked controversy last year for using facial recognition to remove paying guests. The incidents took place at Radio City Music Hall and Madison Square Garden.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In both cases, facial recognition was used against two attorneys who worked for firms engaged in litigation against parent company Madison Square Garden Entertainment. In separate incidents, attorneys Kelly Conlon and Alexis Mahano were identified and removed by security. Neither of the attorneys were directly involved in the litigation. They simply worked for the law firms.
--:-- Joel Needler: Critics of the TSA's facial recognition program fear the same methods could soon apply to airline passengers. Right, and I imagine there's been some pushback to this. What are some of the main concerns? There's widespread concern over the government's collection of biometric data and whether participation will remain optional.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So much so that back in February, five senators, including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, wrote a letter to the TSA expressing their concern about the rise of facial recognition technology. The senator stated, increasing biometric surveillance of Americans by the government represents a risk to civil liberties and privacy rights.
--:-- Joel Needler: So privacy is a big issue, of course. Have they discovered any problems or glitches in the technology? Well, it sounds like there are lingering questions about the technology's effectiveness when it comes to identifying minorities. As the senators pointed out in their letter, a 2019 study by the National Institute of Standards and Technology tested 18 million photos of over 8 million people and found that Asians and African Americans were up to 100 times more likely to be misidentified than white men by facial recognition technology.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here's Scott again. There needs to be kind of an outside audit of its use to ensure its accuracy, to make sure it's not disproportionately impacting certain groups of people. Another concern is that this is a step in the direction of the social credit system currently in place in China. In China, citizens are tracked and graded based on their behaviors and interactions as a form of government social control.
--:-- Joel Needler: Right, sounds a bit dystopian. What does it mean for summer travelers? Well, for better or for worse, most Americans should expect the same experience they've had in the past with the TSA. For now, the TSA's program remains optional for passengers and is active in only 16 airports. For the TSA, faster lines mean happy customers. But critics believe this is just another example of Americans losing their autonomy in the name of security.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, technology like this creates a lot of anxiety for a lot of people. Joel, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Joel Needler: Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Daily Wire senior editor Joel Needler.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Another story we're tracking this week. New information has come to light proving claims about homeless New York veterans being removed from upstate hotels to make room for migrants false. Sharon Tony Finch, an advocate for veterans, claimed that 20 ex-military members were told that they couldn't stay in their hotel rooms due to migrants coming from New York City. But according to State Assemblyman Brian Marr, Tony Finch admitted to him that she'd lied when he'd pressed her to provide bank records for the hotel rooms. Marr is now calling for an investigation.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation. If you love our show and you stay on with our mission, consider subscribing, giving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend. And if you love Morning Wire, we have some really exciting news. We just massively expanded our Morning Wire merch as well as restocked some of our most popular items. Now we have tons more, including apparel. Plus, purchasing an item is a great way to support our show and rep the news that you need to know. Find all of our merch at dailywire.com slash shop.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with an extra edition of Morning Wire.
