'24 Election - Immigration center stage, GOP sees opportunity with black voters, and can AI be regulated?
Haley, No Labels, Miyares on immigration, and Fairfax losing population - fast.
2024 Election
The Dispatch: It’s 2024 or Bust for Nikki Haley Why the second-place finisher in New Hampshire isn’t quitting.
CNN In Biden's pledge to ‘shut down' border, a stunning political shift
The deeper policy context of the comments, delivered at a campaign event in South Carolina Saturday and in a statement from the White House on Friday, is that Biden wants to resuscitate a bipartisan deal to pair new border powers with additional military aid for Ukraine and Israel.
The Associated Press Republicans see an opportunity with Black voters, prompting mobilization in Biden campaign
'Have you seen our poll numbers with African Americans and with Hispanic Americans? But I'm not that surprised because I see it, I feel it,' Trump declared during a rally in Atkinson, New Hampshire, days before the state's primary.
There's little evidence that Trump is making significant inroads with Black voters, who polls show remain overwhelmingly supportive of President Joe Biden.
The New York Times Opinion | To Beat Trump, Joe Biden Needs a New Narrative
A recovery narrative The top issue for many voters is the economy, and to overcome Americans' gloomy outlook on this front, Mr. Biden needs a new narrative.
The president should state the obvious - that prices for many things are higher than they used to be - and then he should explain why that's the case, admitting that his stimulus under the American Rescue Plan, though necessary at the time to rescue the economy, might have been a factor.
Semafor: A broad anti-Trump coalition plots a campaign to stop a No Labels third-party bid
Former AG William Barr: A Conspiracy Against No Labels Left-wing organizations may be violating the law in their effort to keep a third party off the ballot.
AEI’s Ruy Teixeira - The Coming Working Class Election
Virginia General Assembly
Richmond Times Dispatch: FILMS FINANCING IN FOCUS Va. lawmakers considering $46.5 million in tax breaks for filmmakers Legislation seeks to boost Virginia film industry
Pay attention to this debate.
Economic development proponents facing questions on Return on Investment (ROI). There is a way to accommodate both sides of this one. If you want more incentives, expect commensurate oversight. Seems fair, right? #WinWin. Good early test for what appears to be a fairly pragmatic and orderly session.
WFXR Attorney General Miyares releases statement in support of Texas Border Defense
'The time for action is now. The Biden Administration must either fulfill its duty to enforce the laws that secure our southern border, or states like Texas will use their constitutional authority to address this invasion themselves and protect their citizens,' Attorney General Jason Miyares. The states in the coalition are strongly encouraging the Biden Administration to take immediate action by securing the southern border or to allow states like Texas to do so themselves.
Would a casino hurt or help Fairfax?
Patch: Tysons Casino Bill Advances To VA Senate Finance Committee Despite opposition from many constituents, the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology approved the Tysons casino referendum bill. Yes, Virginia. There is opposition to casinos. #NIMBY
Broader View
Geopolitical Futures: Daunting Trends in North America’s Electricity Market
Demand is rapidly outgrowing supply.
Here’s an attention getting graphic from Bloomberg:
Bloomberg: Saudi Arabia Prepares to Open Liquor Store, But Only For Diplomats Riyadh store will only serve non-Muslim, foreign diplomats Alcohol, forbidden in Islam, was sold on black market (reminds me of when Michele and I were in London after Thanksgiving. Many Saudis were getting their pictures taken in front of Christmas trees. #Winning)
Geopolitical Futures: Global Forecast for the Next Year
Fox Business: JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon warns US driving toward a cliff as debt snowballs
AEI’s Robert Doar: Please Congress: Make Fiscal Sanity a Priority By Robert Doar
John Mauldin: Going Bang!
Ernest Hemingway spent part of the 1920s as an American journalist in Europe. His novel The Sun Also Rises is based partly on that experience. The book has a line that’s now a familiar quote: “How did you go bankrupt? Two ways: Gradually and then suddenly.”
That quote’s context is even more illuminating. It involves two friends talking about their financial problems.
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt: How We Can Control AI The technology’s rapid advance threatens to overwhelm all efforts at regulation. We need our best tech experts competing to rein in AI as fast as companies are competing to build it.
Using Claude AI, I asked for a summary of the Schmidt article:
- AI models are becoming increasingly sophisticated, with some exhibiting "polymathic behavior" and able to link concepts across domains
- Current methods of enforcing safety and alignment with human values may not be sufficient as models continue to advance rapidly
- Concepts like "recursive self-improvement" and "multi-agent systems" pose new safety challenges that will be difficult to monitor
- Regulatory approaches like the EU's AI Act and Biden's executive order provide guidance but may not be able to adapt quickly enough
- The article proposes creating a robust private market for AI safety testing companies that can keep pace with innovations in models
- These testing companies would be certified by regulators but compete and innovate rapidly like AI creators do
- Model builders would pay these companies to certify their systems meet safety requirements across factors like self-proliferation risk
- This approach aims to bring competitive incentives for safety innovation on par with incentives driving AI capability advances
- Without such testing innovation, government and nonprofits may lag too far behind to properly evaluate advanced AI
- The goal is to benefit from AI's promise while instituting meaningful safeguards against harms