7 stories to know: Trump's immunity, AI girlfriends, and the GOP loves child labor

“7 stories to know” is a new Monday series showcasing stories that may have been ignored in the crush of news over the past few weeks, and stories that have continued to evolve over the weekend. Expect to read coverage about health, science, and climate that frequently take second chair to what’s happening at the top of the page, plus information from local sources that the national media may have overlooked.

1. Trump’s immunity argument goes to the Supreme Court

In February, it looked as if Donald Trump’s first criminal trial would be for election interference in U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan’s Washington, D.C., courtroom. However, despite a unanimous and scathing decision by the appeals court, the Supreme Court surprised many observers on Feb. 28 when it agreed to take up Trump’s appeal for complete immunity from prosecution for acts that he took while in office.

Chutkan denied Trump’s request to dismiss the charges, but knowing that Trump would appeal, special counsel Jack Smith requested in December that the Supreme Court take up the issue, but the justices refused. As expected, Trump appealed. 

It was in the arguments before the appeals court that Trump’s legal team made some of the most amazing claims in legal history. When Judge Florence Pan asked if a president could order “SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political rival,” Trump’s attorney responded that a president could not be charged unless first impeached and removed by Congress. In office, he could literally get away with anything.

It took six weeks for the appeals court to rule. Then the Supreme Court pondered the matter for two additional weeks before issuing an unsigned order agreeing to hear the case. 

Now oral arguments over Trump’s claims are being heard on the last day of the session. A ruling is not anticipated until June. Meaning that no matter what the court decides, it has done its part to give Trump months of delays.

How might the Supreme Court rule? As SCOTUSBlog notes, the justices could deny Trump’s request, as Chutkan and the appeals court did, or it might grant Trump some lesser level of immunity. Elie Honig, a former prosecutor, argues in New York Magazine that the idea of presidential immunity isn’t as silly as it may seem. After all, the court has previously ruled that presidents enjoy a wide immunity against civil complaints.

But we don’t know the answers to two key questions: (1) Is there a criminal counterpart to civil immunity, and (2) If so, what are the precise parameters? These issues have come up from time to time over the past few decades, but the Court has dutifully punted. Now the justices have taken up Trump’s argument in Jack Smith’s 2020 election subversion case, which will be argued next week, and they’ve got to address criminal immunity head-on.

What the Supreme Court decides will affect not just the D.C. case, which involves Trump’s efforts to reverse the results of the 2020 election, but also the Florida case about mishandling classified documents, and the Georgia state case about election interference. It is unlikely to affect the case already underway in Manhattan, which involves falsely reporting payments of hush money to cover up a sex scandal that could have affected the outcome of the 2016 election. The payments in that case were made before Trump took office.

The court will hear oral arguments on Thursday. An audio livestream will be available.

2. Louisiana joins the war to bring back child labor

On Thursday, the Louisiana House took a step toward passing a law that would eliminate the requirement that minors be given at least one 20-minute break for a meal or recreation for every five hours worked. Twenty minutes out of every five hours may not sound like much time to allow children to eat or at least step away from their job, but apparently it was too much for the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Roger Wilder.

“The wording is ‘We’re here to harm children,’” Wilder said. “Give me a break," he said. "These are young adults.” The committee voted to approve the bill, which now goes to the full House for a vote.

Wilder’s statement sounds remarkably like that of Florida legislators who passed a law earlier in the year allowing students to work full-time during the school year.

“This bill is not about children, this bill is about teenagers,” said Florida state Rep. Linda Chaney. “They’re 16 and 17 years old. They’re driving cars. They are not children. This is not child labor.”

Florida and Louisiana are just two of 16 states in which Republicans are pushing to remove regulations on child labor. While this is part of a larger war on labor rights being waged in red states, the push for child labor seems especially odious. Restrictions they’re fighting to repeal come from the time of robber barons, when children were forced to tackle long, difficult, dangerous work with little regard for their health or education.

And it seems Republicans are proud to have those days back again.

3. An AI girlfriend who isn’t 

There is one area of the economy that’s almost certain to be at the forefront of any new technical development: porn. Whether it’s 3D graphics, VR, bitcoin, or just a camera, there are few things digital that haven’t been turned toward the quest to convert lust into dollars.

The same story has played out with AI. Even before the latest round of generative AI bought imagery and extended conversations, several companies had produced “companion” software that offered a simulated relationship. Several of these include options to pay extra for explicit content. Others have been described as cyberbullying trainers. Many just offer simplistic toys with limited responses. Even so, people have developed real feelings toward their artificial companions, so much so that there have been several human-chatbot “marriages.”

But from the name alone, it’s clear that AngryGF is something different. The app advertises itself as “your ultimate AI simulator for perfecting comforting skills with your angry girlfriend.” As Wired describes it, “You get some of the downsides of a real-life girlfriend—she’s furious!!—but none of the upsides. Who would voluntarily use this?”

The answer seems to be that it’s intended to train men who are completely oblivious to the feelings of a real-life companion how to be more … livious.

From the Wired article, it’s hard to tell if this is a serious attempt at teaching bonehead men how to communicate more adequately, or if it’s closer to the kind of advice men get from watching YouTube videos from “seduction artists.” But the article is hilarious enough that it makes me want to spar with this thing.

4. Tesla uses new Texas law to dodge environmental regulations 

When Tesla built its new factory outside Austin, Texas, the massive development came with equally “massive promises.”

When Elon Musk announced the facility in eastern Travis County during a July 2020 earnings call, he emphasized the site’s proximity to the Colorado. “It’s going to basically be an ecological paradise, birds in the trees, butterflies, fish in the stream,” Musk gushed. He also said the development would include a publicly accessible boardwalk and hike-and-bike trail.

Those statements were already starting to seem about as realistic as Musk’s promises about self-driving cars two years ago. Now, as the Houston Chronicle reports, Tesla is taking some action on the ecology of the area. Only it’s going the wrong way.

Tesla is leaving the city of Austin's “extraterritorial jurisdiction,” a move that is expected to strip the city's environmental oversight of much of its massive manufacturing facility. The electric automaker, headquartered east of Austin along the Colorado River, used a new state law to petition for the removal.

That handy new law allows Tesla to dodge the strict water quality laws enforced by the city and instead be subject only to the most lax requirements of Travis County. 

As The Verge reported in February, Tesla’s environmental record is not exactly paradisiacal. No fewer than 25 counties have sued the company for illegally disposing of hazardous waste. 

5. Kristi Noem is banned from visiting parts of her own state

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has been on several short lists as a potential vice presidential nominee for Donald Trump. Noem seems to be aware of this, as she’s taken many steps to prep for the national limelight, including picking up a new set of teeth while skipping all the dentists in her state and doing an infomercial for a cosmetic dentistry practice in Texas.

But before she heads out to tour America, America might want to be aware that Noem is legally barred from entering large portions of her own state. As The Daily Beast reports, that’s because Noem has made an ugly habit of saying terrible things about Native Americans.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council voted on Tuesday to formally banish Noem from its reservation over recent public statements she made suggesting, among other things, that Native American tribal leaders are in league with Mexican drug cartels. Noem also recently accused Native American parents of not being involved enough in their children’s lives, blaming them for poor academic performance in tribal areas.

Two other Lakota tribes have issued similar statements, which means that, as The Daily Beast points out, Noem can’t step foot in about 10% of the space within South Dakota’s border.

6. U.S. economy is “the envy of the world”

For the first two years after Joe Biden moved into the White House, economists seemed to be predicting a recession at any moment. But that recession never came. Instead, the economy moved from strength to strength, despite a spate of negative reports from the media. 

Finally, both the economists and the media seem to be catching up with reality. As The Wall Street Journal reports, the U.S. economy is the “envy of the world.” 

The U.S. economy has far outperformed expectations over the past year and a half. Instead of stumbling under the weight of the Federal Reserve’s most aggressive interest-rate-raising campaign in four decades, it has continued expanding at a robust clip. …

Still, economists have had to rethink forecasts for a major slowdown as more time has passed and one still doesn’t seem imminent. Economists on average think the economy grew at a 2.2% rate in the first three months of the year, up from a 0.9% forecast in January.

“The U.S. economy is performing very well,” EconForecaster economist James Smith said in the survey. “We’re truly the envy of the world.”

Few economists seem to think the economy can match the 3.1% growth rate seen in 2023, but then they also didn’t predict that level of growth in 2023.

7. Everybody seems to be building a humanoid robot

Rumors that there’s an Apple robot on the way seem to be still solidly in that rumor category. But if Apple hasn’t got the itch to move us closer to the land of “I, Robot” or “The Terminator,” they might be one of the few who can resist the urge. Because new humanoid robots seem to be everywhere. 

Last week, Boston Dynamics gave a fond farewell to the well-known Atlas robot, star of many YouTube videos over the years. That was followed by introducing a whole new model that, like all its predecessors, is about 50% wonder, 50% nightmare fuel.

But while Boston Dynamics may have dominated this space a few years ago, there has been an explosion of competitors, some of whom seem close to bringing a product to market.

The scariest thing about these robots isn’t the prospect that they’re going to chase us down while wearing sunglasses and leather jackets. It’s that they’ve getting very close to deployment in manufacturing sites, both alongside and completely replacing people. And we are in no sense prepared for the economic effect.

Campaign Action