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Sens. Carper, Smith, Democratic congressman test positive for COVID-19

Three Democratic lawmakers tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday and Thursday as President Biden announced his own positive test results.

Sens. Tina Smith (Minn.) and Tom Carper (Del.) and Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) announced their diagnoses over Twitter.

“Tonight I tested positive for COVID and am experiencing mild symptoms,” Smith tweeted on Wednesday evening. “I am following [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidelines, and I am incredibly grateful to be vaccinated and boosted.”

Carper and Connolly shared their diagnoses on Thursday, expressing similar gratitude that they had been vaccinated.

“I received a positive COVID-19 test result today as part of regular weekly COVID-19 testing. Per CDC guidelines, I plan to isolate for five days and will closely monitor my symptoms until then,” Carper wrote.

“​​I am grateful to be fully vaccinated and double boosted and I am thankfully feeling fine,” he continued. “I continue to urge all Delawareans to get vaccinated and boosted to protect yourselves and your families from the worst of this pandemic.”

“This afternoon, I tested positive for covid. I am experiencing very mild symptoms and will be self-isolating,” said Connolly. “Thankful to be vaxxed and boosted.”

This comes as Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday for the first time.

“This morning, President Biden tested positive for COVID-19,” wrote White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in a press release. “He is fully vaccinated and twice boosted and experiencing very mild symptoms.”

Jean-Pierre added that Biden is taking the antiviral Paxlovid and that he will self-isolate at the White House consistent with CDC guidelines.

Source: TEST FEED1

NotedDC — Where the Jan. 6 committee goes next

The Jan. 6 select committee holds its eighth and final scheduled hearing Thursday night, but the panel isn’t ready to rest its case against former President Trump.

Members of the panel have suggested their work isn’t over amid a burgeoning focus on deleted texts from Secret Service members before and on the day of the riot.

“This investigation is not winding down,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said Sunday on CBS News’ ‘Face the Nation.” “We may have more hearings in the future.”

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chair of the panel, told reporters earlier this week the committee plans to release a preliminary report on its year-long investigation this fall, with a final report later in the year.

However, the panel doesn’t appear to be in a rush, as it waits for the Secret Service to recover the text messages under a subpoena.

The panel’s vice chair, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), also faces a difficult reelection bid in mid-August, injecting another layer of political pressure for a key face of the committee.

Thursday’s prime-time hearing is expected to lay out what Trump did — and, consequently, did not do — after rioters marched to the Capitol on the day of the riot in early 2021.

Members of the panel are looking for a public bookend to material they presented in their first hearing, when they showed what happened inside the building after Trump spoke at a nearby rally and told supporters to “fight like hell.”

An expected three hours of footage and witness testimony is what the panel hopes to use to go out with a bang for its series of hearings, as The Hill’s Niall Stanage writes.

For their part, senators are pursuing bipartisan legislation to prevent another Jan. 6 from happening, our colleague Alex Bolton reports, with proposed reforms to the Electoral Count Act making it explicitly clear that a vice president has no authority to overturn elections.

Welcome to NotedDC: Your guide to politics, policy & people of consequence in D.C.

In today’s issue: Two former White House aides give their view of the Jan. 6 riot. Plus: An A-list celebrity comes to D.C. and a federal marijuana bill makes moves.

🕵🏼‍♀️ Pressure on DOJ expected to build 

Democrats will likely put more pressure on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to charge Trump with a crime after the committee wraps up its public hearings.

Some advocacy groups are already questioning Attorney General Merrick Garland’s position as the hearings near a close, The Hill’s Harper Neidig reports:

• “If our fears are groundless, and the Justice Department believes that former presidents are subject to the same criminal laws as every other citizen, it is entirely appropriate to reassure the public of that fact,” a group of advocacy and watchdog organizations wrote in a letter to Garland.
• The committee can issue a recommendation of charges to the DOJ, but some are concerned that Garland won’t act upon it out of fear the evidence doesn’t reach a sufficient level.

From our colleague Rebecca Beitsch: “Legal experts say those fresh lines of inquiry should now be a top priority for law enforcement’s own investigation, as federal prosecutors are best equipped to fill in the gaps of what Congress has uncovered.” 

THURSDAY NIGHT’S WITNESSES

Former Trump White House aides Sarah Matthews and Matthew Pottinger are expected to shed light on what Trump did at the White House during the Capitol riot, following explosive testimony from former aide Cassidy Hutchinson late last month.

Here’s some more on the two witnesses: 

Sarah Matthews 

• Matthews, Trump’s deputy press secretary, resigned hours after the riot at the Capitol and later called it “one of the darkest days in American history.” 
• The 27-year-old’s testimony is likely to be another indication of how young aides see and know it all in Washington, after Hutchinson revealed how Mark Meadows, Trump’s chief of staff, confided in her about the dangers of the riot.
• “Anyone downplaying Cassidy Hutchinson’s role or her access in the West Wing either doesn’t understand how the Trump [White House] worked or is attempting to discredit her because they’re scared of how damning this testimony is,” Matthews tweeted last month.
• This isn’t her first time before the committee: she testified behind closed doors in February.  

Read more about Matthews from our colleague Sarakshi Rai.

Matthew Pottinger 

• Pottinger, Trump’s deputy national security adviser, also resigned immediately after the riot.
• His testimony will likely reveal how Trump’s belated public response to the riot led him and others to resign, telling the panel behind closed doors that he made the decision after he saw Trump’s tweet berating Vice President Mike Pence for certifying the election. 
• He may also shed light on how Meadows responded, meeting with him at the White House during the riot, as reported by The New York Times. 

Read more about Pottinger.

For a full preview of Thursday’s hearing, click here.

💨 Congress moves on marijuana bill

Senate Democrats will try to legalize marijuana before the end of the year, introducing a long-awaited bill on the floor Thursday.

• Dubbed the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, the bill would legalize marijuana on the federal level and empower states to create their own laws.  
• However, the legislation is expected to face opposition from members of both parties.

Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) and Jon Tester (Mont.) previously suggested to Politico that they wouldn’t support the legislation. 

And while legalizing marijuana is a popular issue — a Gallup poll from November found 70 percent of Americans support it — many Republicans aren’t likely to back it.

How it stands in the District: In March, Congress upheld a GOP-supported ban of the sale of marijuana in Washington. Until marijuana is federally legalized, or the ban is lifted, District residents won’t be able to buy or sell it.

Read more from our colleague Aris Folley.

✨ New Kennedy Center honorees

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has named its honorees for later this year.

• Actor and filmmaker George Clooney, singer-songwriter Amy Grant, R&B legend Gladys Knight, Cuban-born American musician Tania León and iconic Irish rock band U2 will be honored this year.
• The show, which is expected to feature several high-profile tributes to the honorees, will air on CBS in December.  

Each year, the Kennedy Center hosts its honorees, the president and special guests for a star-studded performance.

Former President Trump didn’t attend or celebrate the show while he was in office, but President Biden resumed attendance in the president’s box last year and also greeted last year’s honorees at the White House in December.  

Hot ticket: Good luck getting an in-person viewing. The Kennedy Center says donors who contribute $10,000 or more annually are eligible to request tickets now. Donors who contribute $700 to $9,999 annually will be invited at a later date if tickets remain.

At a date to be determined, the public is invited to purchase any remaining tickets or be placed on the waitlist. 

A MESSAGE FROM THE HILL

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⚾️ Batter up

Head to Nationals Park on July 28 for the annual Congressional Baseball Game to see your favorite members of Congress slugging it out (in the heat!).

• The non-partisan charity game has run for decades, though was marked by a near-fatal shooting at the GOP’s practice the day before the game in 2017.
• Republicans won the light-hearted game last year (their third win in 13 years), which President Biden attended.
• Democrats this year have also lost a star player, Cedric Richmond, who resigned from Congress to join the White House earlier in the year.

Tickets are still on sale and you can check out this year’s team rosters here.

📺 Hayes to appear on Colbert

If you’re looking for some late night television to watch after the Jan. 6 hearing on Thursday, The Hill’s Judy Kurtz scooped that MSNBC host Chris Hayes will appear on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” 

More from Kurtz: “It’s hardly the first time that Colbert — a frequent critic of Trump — has opted to go live for his CBS show, rather than air a pre-taped broadcast.” 

Have some news, juicy gossip, insight or other insider info? Send us tips: Elizabeth Crisp and Kelsey Carolan. And encourage friends to sign up here: thehill.com/noted.

We’ll see you next week!

VIEW FULL VERSION HERE

Source: TEST FEED1

White House plays down worries about Biden health

The White House on Thursday played down concerns about President Biden’s health hours after announcing that he had tested positive for COVID-19, saying he was capable of handling his job even as he isolates for several days. 

“He said he was feeling fine,” COVID-19 coordinator Ashish Jha told reporters, reiterating what other White House officials, including the first lady, said about Biden’s condition in the hours after he tested positive. 

Jha and press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre were peppered with questions during the briefing about whether any protocols at the White House would change given the 79-year-old’s positive test. They would not answer questions about who was considered a close contact of the president or if any other West Wing staff had tested positive over the last few days. 

Biden’s test comes as questions have increased about whether he will run for president again in 2024. Biden has insisted that is his intention, but his age and anemic approval ratings have led to doubts he will be the party’s nominee.  

The context raises the pressure on the White House to be transparent about his condition in battling COVID-19, even after his vaccination and booster shots.  

“Look, the narrative is out there that he’s old, Republicans have been making this a thing for months, so they have to get out in front of this and almost show that he’s handling this well,” said one Democratic strategist.  

“Anything short of that will be used against them and will be added to the fodder that’s already out there on him,” the strategist added.  

The strategist also noted that the White House has likely been preparing for Biden to test positive, and early indications on Thursday showed the administration had a gameplan ready. 

Just before the press briefing, the White House released a video of Biden saying that he was “doing well” and “getting a lot of work done.” 

“Keep the faith. It’s going to be OK,” he said.   

They also shared a photograph of the president a couple hours after announcing he had COVID-19, with the message: “Folks, I’m doing great.” 

Jean-Pierre told reporters that the photograph and video was released out of transparency, which she emphasized was a departure from the previous administration when former President Trump tested positive for COVID-19 — before the development of a vaccine. 

But she also faced several questions about whether the press would be able to ask questions of the president’s physician, Kevin O’Connor, which Jean-Pierre did not confirm but she said would provide daily statements to the public. 

Despite traveling with him on Air Force One the day before, Jean-Pierre said she was not considered a close contact because she had not been near the president for more than 15 minutes at a time, per CDC guidance. 

Adams Abrams, former communications strategist and spokesperson to former President Obama, said it was important to show that Biden is doing well, and to show that he is  having similar experiences with COVID that many other vaccinated Americans have had. 

“I think that they should and probably will put out photos, videos, written updates, as much as they can. But I don’t think they need to go beyond what they’ve started to do already. They’re on the right track,” Abrams said. 

“A lot of the concern about his age comes from the Republican campaign arm, they’re pushing it but… he exercises five times a week, he’s twice boosted, in good health, and he’s taking the appropriate course of treatment with Paxlovid,” he added. 

David Litt, who served as a speechwriter to Obama during his presidency, added that the White House “in addition to doing the right thing…shouldn’t be afraid to claim credit for doing the right thing.”  

“When President Trump tried to cover up the timeline of his COVID infection, and the severity of his symptoms, it was a betrayal of public trust – the kind of thing we expect from dictators in other countries, not by elected leaders in the United States,” Litt added.  

Trump, whose administration had steadfastly not been taking pandemic precautions like mask wearing and was not forthcoming with health information, spent three days being treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.  

“In being up front with the American people, President Biden is delivering on his promise to restore dignity and accountability to the office of the president,” Litt said.  

The White House just last month refused to reveal the last time Biden was tested for COVID-19, with Jean-Pierre only sharing that the president tests weekly for the virus.  

That marked an apparent reversal of previous protocol from when press secretary Jen Psaki would give the press regular updates with the date and result of the president’s last COVID-19 test, especially when a high-profile official or member of his Cabinet tested positive. 

Previous diagnoses among those close to Biden would raise questions about the president’s level of risk and if he had been tested.  Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, tested positive last month. In April, both Vice President Harris and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) tested positive for COVID-19 after attending events with Biden. But the White House downplayed both those exposures, insisting they did not qualify as “close contacts.” 

The president returned from a trip to the Middle East on Saturday night, where the White House claimed he attempted to avoid any close contacts. Virus cases were spiking in Israel before they began to rise in the U.S., and White House officials told reporters before Biden landed in Tel Aviv that the president would be avoiding hand-shakes to try and limit his exposure.  

But that proved futile, as Biden spent the next three days shaking hands, doling out hugs and speaking in close proximity with Israeli officials without wearing a mask.  

Psaki, in her first appearance on MSNBC since leaving the administration, acknowledged that the White House has “been preparing for this for several months now given the percentage of people in the country who have tested positive.” 

“They were probably bracing for impact I bet before they made the statement this morning because they knew there would be a lot of reactions, obviously from media, but certainly maybe from the markets, from other leaders,” she said. 

Over the coming days, she added, the White House needs to “show him working and show him still active and serving as president and I’m certain they’ll likely do that.”  

Rita Kirk, an expert in political messaging at Southern Methodist University, argued the White House has to give regular, transparent updates on the president’s health condition. 

“It may be that the symptoms change so you don’t want to say, ‘oh this is nothing’ and he ends up being in Walter Reed. Just being open and effective and people will be watching. You do what you preach, the optics need to show that he’s doing what he tells everybody else to do,” Kirk said. 

Anand Parekh, chief medical advisor at the Bipartisan Policy Center, called transparent communication by the White House “critical.”  

“Daily updates on the health of the president would be helpful as well. The president doesn’t have to say something every single day but some footage of him… that would also I think go a long way and is important from a transparency perspective as well,” he said.  

The president’s COVID-19 case also hampers his plans for domestic travel. The White House announced all travel has been canceled for at least the next five days.  

Biden was slated on Thursday to go to Wilkes-Barre, Pa., for a speech on crime, policing and gun violence and then participate in a fundraising reception for the Democratic National Committee in Philadelphia. He was expected to visit the battleground state of Florida on Monday for a Black law enforcement event. 

While he’s stuck in Washington working in isolation, some Democrats say the public ultimately won’t be paying attention to the details of Biden’s illness.  

“I think it’s something that everyone in D.C. is going to get torqued up about that will be over in a week and no normal people will care about,” said Democratic strategist Eddie Vale. “Especially since they’re already being 100 percent more transparent than when Trump had to be hauled to the hospital.”  

Doug Jones, a former senator and Biden ally, voiced confidence the White House would be transparent about Biden’s health, pointing to forthcoming disclosures about cases among members of the Cabinet and high-level staff.  

“They have been forthcoming in that and I think they will continue that with the president,” Jones said. “This was likely inevitable for him as well as everybody.”  

Morgan Chalfant and Brett Samuels contributed to this report.

Source: TEST FEED1

Depression is likely not caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, study says

A large new review study is pushing back against long-held views in medicine that depression is caused by a serotonin imbalance in the brain.

Researchers from University College London conducted an umbrella review of past meta-studies and systematic analyses of depression’s relationship to serotonin activity that included tens of thousands of participants. The study published this week in the journal Molecular Psychiatry concluded that there’s “no clear evidence” that serotonin levels or serotonin activity is responsible for depression. 

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that plays a key role in governing mood, sleep, digestion and other body functions. For years, a chemical imbalance of serotonin has been widely viewed as the culprit for depression, resulting in the widespread use of antidepressants like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which boosts serotonin in the brain. 

Researchers say the review calls into question the basis for the use of antidepressants. 

“It is always difficult to prove a negative, but I think we can safely say that after a vast amount of research conducted over several decades, there is no convincing evidence that depression is caused by serotonin abnormalities, particularly by lower levels or reduced activity of serotonin,” professor Joanna Moncrieff, the study’s lead author, said in a statement. 

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“Many people take antidepressants because they have been led to believe their depression has a biochemical cause, but this new research suggests this belief is not grounded in evidence.” 

Studies analyzed in the review include research comparing levels of serotonin and its breakdown products in the blood or brain fluids, which did not find any significant difference between those diagnosed with depression and healthy participants. 

Researchers also looked at studies where serotonin levels were artificially lowered in hundreds of participants by omitting the amino acid required to make serotonin from their diets. The review found lowering serotonin artificially did not produce depression in the study volunteers. Separate research involved examining gene variation, including gene variation of the serotonin transporter, which is a protein targeted by antidepressants, and found no difference in the genes between people with depression and healthy controls. Other studies examined in the review found the more stressful life events a person experienced the more likely they were to be depressed.

Mitch Prinstein, chief science officer for the American Psychological Association, said in a statement to Changing America the review’s findings emphasize why it’s critical to advance research to develop and test a variety of personalized psychological treatments. 

“This research offers analyses to summarize some well-known facts about depression. First, depression is a very heterogeneous disorder; there are many different expressions of depression that come from a wide array of causal factors and present themselves differently from person to person,” Prinstein said. 

“Second, there is no single treatment approach that works for everyone with depression.” 

Major depression is one of the most common mental disorders in the U.S., impacting more than 8 percent of Americans.

Source: TEST FEED1

Youtube says it will start removing misinformation about abortion

Youtube on Thursday said it will begin removing content that spreads misinformation about abortion safety or gives instructions for unsafe abortion procedures.

The social media and video sharing platform will also launch an information panel it will attach to videos to provide context about abortions from local and global health authorities on videos discussing abortion.

In a Twitter thread, Youtube’s press account said the company relies “on published guidance from health authorities” as users upload videos and discuss abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling last month that overturned the nearly 50-year constitutional right to abortion.

“We prioritize connecting people to content from authoritative sources on health topics, and we continuously review our policies & products as real world events unfold,” the company wrote.

Youtube already has misinformation policies in place for COVID-19, elections and vaccines as it seeks to curb the spread of harmful content and disinformation.

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe, around half of all states have sought to ban or severely restrict access to abortion.

The restrictions have led to fears that women may turn to more dangerous ways to terminate pregnancies.

Posts on TikTok and other social media platforms have spread information about toxic herbs posters say could end pregnancies, with medical professionals saying they have seen an increase in such posts since Roe was overturned, according to Bloomberg.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention runs a webpage with information about reproductive health.

Source: TEST FEED1

Melania Trump says she ‘was unaware of’ Jan. 6 violence as it happened

Former first lady Melania Trump told Fox News on Thursday that she “was unaware of” the violence occurring at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, which is why she did not immediately condemn the insurrection. 

Trump’s assertion that she was “fulfilling one of [her] duties as First Lady” and as a result unaware of the riot comes after Stephanie Grisham, who served as chief of staff for the former first lady, posted a screenshot of a text conversation she appears to have had discussing the riot with Trump on Jan. 6. 

Grisham, who has written a tell-all book lambasting Trump, posted a screenshot last month of a text conversation she said she had with Trump on Jan. 6. In the text change, Grisham said she asked the former first lady if she wanted to tweet that “peaceful protests are the right of every American, but there is no place for lawlessness & violence.”

The person responding to Grisham in the texts, labeled MT, wrote “No.” 

Trump told Fox that it was her obligation as it was for previous first ladies to record the contents of the White House’s historic rooms, taking archival photos of renovations. She said she organized a team of photographers, archivists and designers several months in advance and had scheduled Jan. 6 to complete the work. 

She said she has always been “very supportive” of Grisham and backed her after her “failed stint” as White House press secretary. 

Grisham served as press secretary for Trump for about two years before becoming White House press secretary in 2019 after the departure of Sarah Huckabee Sanders. She returned to work for Trump in 2020 as chief of staff. 

Trump said that Grisham was not in the White House on Jan. 6 of that year, and her behavior as chief of staff “amounts to a dereliction of duty.” She said the first lady’s chief of staff traditionally provides “detailed briefings” on the country’s most important issues. 

“In fact, Ms. Grisham failed to provide insight and information into the events surrounding January 6 as she had abandoned her post in Washington, D.C.,” she said. “Shamefully, this behavior has only partially become public knowledge; yet was consistent for Ms. Grisham.” 

Grisham told CNN’s “New Day” that she was compelled to share the screenshot because she was “disappointed and discouraged and sickened” that Trump would not say “’There should be no violence.’” 

“Knowing her as well as I did at that point, it was so unlike her to not have condemned it, that that was the moment it all kind of broke me,” she said. 

Trump told Fox, “I always condemn violence.” 

“Had I been fully informed of all the details, naturally, I would have immediately denounced the violence that occurred at the Capitol Building,” she said. “And while Ms. Grisham’s behavior is disappointing, it is not surprising or an isolated incident.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Why is the US following the EU’s lead on artificial intelligence regulation?

In the intensifying race for global competitiveness in artificial intelligence (AI), the United States, China and the European Union are vying to be the home of what could be the most important technological revolution of our lifetimes. AI governance proposals are also developing rapidly, with the EU proposing an aggressive regulatory approach to add to its already-onerous regulatory regime.

It would be imprudent for the U.S. to adopt Europe’s more top-down regulatory model, however, which already decimated digital technology innovation in the past and now will do the same for AI. The key to competitive advantage in AI will be openness to entrepreneurialism, investment and talent, plus a flexible governance framework to address risks.

The International Economyjournal recently asked 11 experts from Europe and the U.S. where the EU currently stood in global tech competition. Responses were nearly unanimous and bluntly summarized by the symposium’s title: “The Biggest Loser.” Respondents said Europe is “lagging behind in the global tech race,” and “unlikely to become a global hub of innovation.” “The future will not be invented in Europe,” another analyst concluded.

This bleak assessment is due to the EU’s risk-averse culture and preference for paperwork compliance over entrepreneurial freedom. After the continent piled on layers of data restrictions beginning in the mid-1990s, innovation and investment suffered. Regulation grew more complex with the 2018 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which further limits data collection and use.

As a result of all the red tape, the EU came away from the digital revolution with “the complete absence of superstar companies.” There are no serious European versions of Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Apple or Amazon. Europe’s leading providers of digital technology services today are American-based companies.

Europe’s regulatory burdens hit small and mid-sized firms hardest. Two recent studies have documented how GDPR has “come at substantial costs in foregone innovation” and resulted in “more concentrated market structures and entrenching the market power of those who are already strong.”

The same situation is already unfolding in AI markets. Center for Data Innovation analyst Benjamin Mueller notes that just five of the 100 most promising AI startups are based in Europe, while private funding of AI startups in Europe for 2020 ($4 billion) was dwarfed by U.S. ($36 billion) and China ($25 billion).

Yet, European officials are doubling-down on their onerous data control regime with a variety of new laws, including the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act, which are mostly meant to hobble large U.S. tech companies.

Next up is a new Artificial Intelligence Act, which proposes banning some AI technologies while classifying many others under a heavily controlled “high-risk” category. A new European Artificial Intelligence Board will enforce a bureaucratic system of “conformity assessments” and impose steep fines for violations. An appendix to the AI Act contains a lengthy list of covered sectors and technologies, which the law envisions expanding in coming years. Analysts have labelled the measure “the mother of all AI laws” and noted how compliance with the law will impose formidable barriers to AI innovation in many sectors, scaring away investors and talent in the process.

The EU’s approach will make it particularly difficult for startups to develop groundbreaking AI services. The largest network of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the European information sector, the European DIGITAL SME Alliance, says the AI Act’s mandates will “put a burden on AI innovation” and “will likely push SMEs out of the market.”

The EU itself says that just the requirement to set up the quality management systems mandated by the law will cost roughly $193,000-$330,000 upfront plus $71,400 in yearly maintenance costs. Smaller operators will struggle to absorb these burdens and other compliance requirements. “This is exactly the opposite of the intention to support a thriving and innovative AI ecosystem in Europe,” concludes the European Digital SME Alliance.

While it is true that the EU “has emerged as the world’s most powerful, and most aggressive, tech regulator,” and now seeks to become, in the words of a headline in The Economist, “the world’s super-regulator in AI,” it’s the same strategy they’ve promoted for two decades without much to show for it. If the EU succeeds in its quest to eliminate all theoretical AI risks, it will only be because they will have eliminated most of its AI innovators through complex and costly compliance mandates. And if Europe’s leading export is regulation instead of useful AI products, it is hard to see how that benefits the continent’s citizens in the long run.

Regardless, it shouldn’t be the model the U.S. follows if it hopes to maintain its early lead in AI and robotics. America should instead welcome European companies, workers and investors looking for a more hospitable place to launch bold new AI innovations.

Adam Thierer is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

Source: TEST FEED1

Senators introduce bill to improve defenses against quantum computing data breaches

Senators on Thursday introduced a cybersecurity bill aimed at improving the federal government’s defenses against data breaches enabled by quantum computing.

The Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act, co-sponsored by Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), would require federal agencies to have the most up-to-date cybersecurity protections as quantum computers become highly advanced and widely available. 

“The development of quantum computers is one of the next frontiers in technology, and with this emerging technology comes new risks as well,” Hassan said in a statement. 

The bipartisan bill would require the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to create guidance for federal agencies to assess critical systems a year after the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issues its planned post-quantum cryptography standards.

The legislation would also direct the OMB to send an annual report to Congress that includes a strategy on how to tackle post-quantum cryptography risk, funding and an analysis on how federal agencies are coordinating and migrating to post-quantum cryptography standards.

The bill follows two directives aimed at advancing quantum technologies that President Biden unveiled in May. Some of the initiatives include positioning the U.S. as a global leader in technology development, encouraging collaboration between the federal government and the private sector, and protecting U.S. technology from theft and abuse.

“Our national security information must remain secure as this technology quickly develops, and it is essential that the federal government is prepared to address cybersecurity concerns,” Hassan added.

Source: TEST FEED1

New mural in D.C. features faces of Brittney Griner, other Americans detained abroad

A new mural unveiled Wednesday in Washington, D.C., features the faces of WNBA star Brittney Griner and 17 other Americans detained abroad.

The Bring Our Families Home Campaign held a ceremony on Wednesday to present the white-and-gray mural on the brick wall of an alley in the Georgetown neighborhood of the nation’s capitol.

The faces of 18 Americans currently held hostage or detained abroad are featured side by side, although there are 64 known cases of Americans being wrongfully held across the world, according to the Bring Our Families Home Campaign.

Those featured on the mural include Americans held in Venezuela, China, Iran, Russia, Syria and Rwanda.

Several family members of those detained abroad spoke at the event, sharing stories about their relatives’ lives in captivity and pushing for the U.S. to do everything in its power to secure their release.

Diane Foley, the mother of journalist James Foley, who was executed by members of ISIS in 2014, said Wednesday the mural was an “urgent message” from the family members of detained Americans.

“That’s why they’ve come together, they’re desperate, they’re so afraid of what is going to happen to their loved ones,” she said.

Calls for the release of Griner, a basketball star who was arrested in Russia for carrying cartridges of hash oil, have grown across the sports world since she was jailed earlier this year.

The Biden administration, which was able to secure the release of former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed from Russia in April, has promised to bring more Americans home, including Paul Whelan, another former Marine held in Russia.

On Tuesday, the White House released executive action that seeks to bolster information sharing to families seeking to bring their relatives home.

The Biden administration’s Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens spoke Wednesday at the unveiling ceremony, where he promised a “relentless” effort to bring the Americans home.

Carstens also praised the mural for offering an “emotional connection” to the Americans detained abroad.

“There’s no way you can walk down this alley and not be moved by what you’re seeing, not connect with who you are looking at,” Carstens said. “My intent is to come back here some night, after everyone’s gone, and walk this alley.”

Isaac Campbell, who designed the mural, said on Wednesday the artwork was “more than just a mural.”

“It’s about the act of creating something together collaboratively,” he said, “to bring these families together.”

Source: TEST FEED1