Photo: Science Photo Library RF
1 Still No Deal On The Debt After Third White House Meeting
Another day, another White House meeting between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy…and another day closer to the U.S. defaulting on its debts with no deal. Both men called yesterday’s meeting “productive,” but they’re believed to still be far away from a deal that would raise the debt ceiling before June 1st and avoid a default. Speaking with the press after the meeting, McCarthy repeated that he won’t agree to a “clean” debt ceiling bill without reductions in spending, something Biden has said is a problem. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen repeated her warning to Congress yesterday that the country is facing the first default in its history if the debt ceiling isn’t raised by early June. While most are using June 1st as a target date for a deal to be struck in time, not all experts will nail down the official default date any further than early June. Republicans don’t seem to be worried that a default will happen but some are starting to change their stance. Talking with ABC News yesterday, Republican Rep. Austin Scott said he didn’t think the U.S. will see a long-term default, but implied that he thinks we may “breach June 1st.” House Democratic leaders have started talking with some of their Republican colleagues about signing a discharge petition to force a vote to raise the debt ceiling. Democrats would need at least five Republicans to join them to make any headway with the discharge petition.
2 Fake AI Photo Of Explosion Outside Pentagon Causes Panic
An image showing an apparent explosion near the Pentagon hit Twitter yesterday, posted by multiple verified accounts as a breaking story. Before the image was found to be fake, and most likely generated by artificial intelligence, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped around 80 points in four minutes but recovered the lost ground just three minutes later as the word spread that the image wasn’t real. Experts say there were many signs that the image was AI-generated, including the fact that the building in the image doesn’t really look like the Pentagon. The University of California, Berkeley professor and digital forensic expert Hany Farid said it features “structural mistakes on the building and fence that you would not see if, for example, someone added smoke to an existing photo.”
3 TIK TOK Sues Montana Over New Ban
Just a few days after Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed the state’s ban on TikTok into law, the company is fighting back. TikTok filed a lawsuit yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana asking to have the law reversed, saying the ban is unconstitutional. In a statement, the company said they were filing the suit “to protect our business and the hundreds of thousands of TikTok users in Montana.” The new law would fine TikTok up to $10,000 per day per violation if it continues to operate in Montana past January 1st when the law goes into effect. The law would also let the state impose penalties on Apple and Google if they allow users in Montana to download the app from their app stores. It’s the second lawsuit filed against the new law, with the first suit filed by a group of creators who use the app.