☕ Crimes of dishonesty

Google brings search into the AI future... [Advertisement] May 11, 2023 [View Online]( | [Sign Up]( | [Shop]( [Morning Brew]( TOGETHER WITH [LiquidPiston]( Good morning. We’re pumped for our friends at Marketing Brew, who are holding their big summit, The Brief, in NYC today. Hands will be shaken. Finger foods will be eaten. Exiting conversations will be awkward. For everyone not enjoying the IRL festivities, you can still tune in to hear leaders discuss the hottest marketing topics of the day (Tucker Carlson’s move to Twitter, the Bud Light fiasco, etc.). In partnership with Mailchimp, we’re offering a free livestream of today’s event. [Register here](. —Cassandra Cassidy, Molly Liebergall, Matty Merritt, Neal Freyman, Abby Rubenstein MARKETS Nasdaq 12,306.44 +1.04% S&P 4,137.64 +0.45% Dow 33,531.33 -0.09% 10-Year 3.445% -7.6 bps Bitcoin $27,536.43 -0.36% Alphabet $111.75 +4.10% *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 3:00am ET. [Here's what these numbers mean.]( - Markets: Stocks were a [mixed bag]( yesterday after the consumer price index showed prices rose 4.9% last month, marking the 10th month in a row of cooling inflation and the first time inflation has dipped below 5% in two years. That’s still higher than the Fed’s 2% target, but it leaves space for Jerome Powell to chill out a bit. Tech stocks got a boost from that news, especially Google’s parent, Alphabet, which also benefited from rolling out its new AI.  IMMIGRATION [US braces for border chaos as Title 42 expires]( [People standing at the US-Mexico border]( Patrick T. Fallon/Getty Images Today marks the end of the US Public Health Emergency for Covid-19. And when it expires tonight, so does the controversial immigration policy Title 42. What is Title 42? A public health policy that went into effect in March 2020 that allowed US Border Patrol to turn away migrants seeking asylum to prevent the further spread of Covid. Title 42 received criticism from the ACLU and other advocacy organizations for using public health as a pretext for keeping immigrants out of the country. Border regulations will now revert to pre-pandemic rules permitting asylum-seekers to stay in the US while their cases are processed. Why is it expiring? Title 42 was only legal because of the national public health emergency. Now that the Biden administration is ending the emergency, Title 42 has no legal basis. Authorities anticipate an immigration surge Officials expect those who attempted to make it into the US during Title 42 could try again, knowing that they can’t be turned away so easily. The following places have already declared a state of emergency: - Brownsville, El Paso, and Laredo, Texas. In El Paso, an estimated 2,300 people are living on the streets because shelters are at maximum capacity. - Chicago. The self-proclaimed “sanctuary city” saw more than 8,000 migrants arrive in the past year. - Two New York counties. The counties each declared a separate state of emergency after NYC Mayor Eric Adams said he wanted to send migrants to hotels in the suburbs. Looking ahead…1,500 additional troops sent by the Biden administration have started to arrive at the border. The president is also expanding legal avenues into the US for migrants. But whether or not the federal government has an adequate plan to handle the increase in migrants at the border remains to be seen.—CC   TOGETHER WITH LIQUIDPISTON [Not your grandfather’s engine]( [LiquidPiston]( Computers have come a long way from being building-sized behemoths that struggle with math equations. Engines, on the other hand, have gone…nowhere fast. Meet [LiquidPiston’s revolutionary XTS-210 engine]( which has up to 5x the power-to-weight ratio in just one-fifth the size of comparable engines. It’s not just super powerful, it’s also lighter and cheaper to produce. They did it through relentless R&D, $30m in funding from the US Department of Defense (plus a fresh $9m contract with the Army), 82 patents, and the support of everyday investors just like you. LiquidPiston isn’t stopping at disrupting a $40b market, either. They’re aiding our armed forces with everything from helping drones fly farther to making generators smaller—but they need your support to do it. [Invest in LiquidPiston today](. WORLD Tour de headlines [Birth control pills]Lou Benoist/Getty Images FDA panel backs OTC birth control approval. A panel of outside experts [voted unanimously]( yesterday that the agency should allow over-the-counter sales of Opill, a hormonal birth control pill that has been available with a prescription for half a century, despite concerns raised by FDA staff about whether people would properly follow the drug’s instructions. If drugmaker Perrigo scores this approval for Opill, it would be the first nonprescription oral contraceptive sold in the US. The FDA is expected to make a final decision this summer. Disney trims its streaming losses. The company reported that price increases helped significantly [reduce the losses]( incurred by its streaming services last quarter, even though Disney+ lost 4 million subscribers. Additional price hikes are coming, but more people may soon be able to watch Disney+ content anyway since some of it will come to Hulu, CEO Bob Iger said. Traditional TV is still lagging, but Disney saw a boost in revenue from its theme parks. Donald Trump says GOP should let the US default. Speaking at a town hall event with mostly Republican voters on CNN, the former president and 2024 hopeful said Republicans should allow the country to [default]( on its debt unless Biden agrees to “massive cuts.” He also doubled down on his claims that the 2020 election was [“rigged]( and wouldn’t say whether he would sign a federal abortion ban or whether he wanted Russia or Ukraine to win the war. GOVERNMENT [George Santos charged with crimes of dishonesty]( [George Santos appeared in federal court on Wednesday.]( Tom Williams / Getty Images After being dragged in the court of public opinion for deceiving voters about his qualifications and personal connection to 9/11, Rep. George Santos’s alleged aversion to the truth got him indicted on 13 financial crimes yesterday. The congressman pleaded not guilty. If convicted, the New York lawmaker could get more than 20 years in [prison]( for wire fraud alone, in addition to the sentences potentially carried by money laundering, theft of public funds, and—perhaps least surprisingly—lying to the House of Representatives. According to federal prosecutors, Santos allegedly: - Solicited campaign donations that ended up in his pocket, including tens of thousands of dollars used to pay off debts, give money to associates, and foot the bill for designer clothes (très chic). - Falsely claimed unemployment in the summer of 2020 to get $24,000 in pandemic-era benefits. He was reportedly employed at the time at Florida-based investment firm Harbor City Capital…which the SEC shut down in 2021 for being a “classic Ponzi scheme.” - Failed to mention those unemployment benefits or earnings from Harbor City on congressional financial disclosure forms. Where does this leave Congress? Santos says he won’t resign and has even pledged to run for reelection. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he would not support the reelection bid, but he’s not calling for Santos to resign—yet. He said he would do so if the House Ethics Committee finds Santos broke the law.—ML   TOGETHER WITH SURVEYMONKEY [SurveyMonkey]( Don’t lose zzz’s over the big Q’s. Stressin’ about your [marketing strategy]( Whether you wanna understand your customers, find answers as a team, or just make sense of the noise, SurveyMonkey’s expert-written surveys and AI-powered platform help cut through the chaos and highlight what matters to the people who matter. [Try it](. BIG TECH [Google introduces AI search and a foldable phone]( [Google tablet and foldable phones with google logo.]( Morning Brew/Images: Google The world got a peek at what exactly the Googleplex team (or what’s left of it after the 12,000-person layoff in January) has been working on at Google’s yearly developer conference, Google I/O, yesterday. The biggest news came from the AI department: Google announced its new AI model, PaLM 2, which will power its leveled-up Bard chatbot. PaLM 2 was trained on academic papers and 100+ languages. And it may be the [future]( of search: Instead of gathering up a bunch of links (sponsored and just plain popular), answers to queries will be written by Google’s AI and will appear at the top of the page for some searches, the company said. The update will roll out to just a few users at first but could signal a [radical change]( for publishers. Here are some other highlights: Google’s first foldable phone. The highly anticipated Google Pixel Fold will hit shelves in late June with a whopping $1,799 price tag. Google also launched its first Pixel Tablet and new Pixel 7a smartphone (neither folds, though). Get lost in 3D. Google Maps will add an “Immersive View” for routes in select cities where users can see a 3D view of their route with features like a traffic simulation, bike lane demarcations, and parking info. And finally…a Google exec roasted Apple for still not making iMessage available to Android users.—MM   GRAB BAG Key performance indicators [Fruit Roll-Ups in suitcases]Alyssa Nassner Stat: Israel keeps catching Americans trying to smuggle in the hot new contraband: Fruit Roll-Ups. Officials say they [intercepted]( 661 pounds of them in a single week after travelers tried to sneak in commercial-sized quantities. What’s got people treating the lunchbox staple like exotic animal pelts? A TikTok trend that suggests wrapping the snacks around ice cream (one of the [original vids]( has over 14 million views). Fruit Roll-Ups have become so popular in Israel that people are willing to pay $6 each. Quote: “Hindenburg Research, founded by Nathan Anderson, would be more aptly named Blitzkrieg Research given its tactics of wantonly destroying property and harming innocent civilians.” In a comeback worthy of George Costanza, activist investor Carl Icahn [hit back]( at the short seller that attacked his company. His scathing statement came after Icahn Enterprises revealed that Hindenburg Research’s report had prompted an investigation by federal prosecutors. The revelation of the probe sent the company’s stock plunging 15% yesterday, but Icahn made it clear he’s ready to air his grievances, saying that unlike many of Hindenburg’s “victims,” his company would not “stand by idly.” Read: Into thin AirPods. ([Defector]( NEWS What else is brewing - [The cost to insure US debt]( against default now exceeds that of insuring bonds from Greece, Mexico, and Brazil, courtesy of the debt ceiling standoff. - [Microsoft]( will not increase salaries for full-time employees this year as it looks to cut costs. Meanwhile, [the company]( agreed to buy electricity in 2028 from a nuclear fusion startup backed by Sam Altman. The technology to produce the power doesn’t exist yet, but Microsoft’s other big bet on the OpenAI founder is working out nicely. - [Mommy blogger Heather Brooke Armstrong]( better known as Dooce, has died by suicide at age 47. - [Scientists]( published an updated, more inclusive map of the human genome yesterday, drawing on DNA from 47 people from every continent besides Antarctica. - [A New Jersey home]( got hit by what could be a 4-billion-year-old meteorite. RECS From traffic jams to the divorce rate: A list of things people [blamed on short skirts](. Take the L: This baker misunderstood the assignment for [an Elmo cake](. What is Comic Sans? See [how many fonts]( you can name from these recent Jeopardy! clues. Before and after: Here’s [Taylor Swift]( at her most memeable. Shopper journeys: Retail Brew sat down with Chewy’s CMO to chat about how the booming brand has reimagined online interactions with shoppers. [Catch the convo on demand](. Sweet dreams: Catching better zzz’s never tasted so good. Enter [Beam’s clinically tested, sleep-promoting hot cocoa]( now in a creamy chocolate peanut butter flavor. Get early access to their Memorial Day sale + use code BREW for up to 40% off.* *This is sponsored advertising content. GAMES The puzzle section Brew Mini: Nursery rhymes take center stage in today’s puzzle. [Play it here](. Three headlines and a lie Three of these headlines are real and one is faker than a well-written AI movie script. Can you spot the odd one out? - You can [buy]( a lifetime pass for this Iowa movie theater’s continuous showing of ‘Lofi Girl’ - Influencer [reveals]( she cooked and ate part of her knee in a spaghetti bolognese - A fake Elon Musk [disappointed]( dozens of Chinese fans who showed up at a New York event - Burger King [unveils]( ‘Spider-Verse’ burger with red bun AROUND THE BREW [Travel more (without spending more)]( [Travel more (without spending more)]( Summer travel shouldn’t have to break the bank. Check out Money With Katie’s [free guide]( to scoring great trips for a fraction of the price. For even more guidance, join Money with Katie for a virtual event on May 18, where she’ll talk finance careers with the experts. Don’t miss it. [Register now](. Trying to raise money in choppy waters? We’ve got you covered on all things startups. [Watch the experts](. SHARE THE BREW [Share Morning Brew]( with your friends, acquire free Brew swag, and then acquire more friends as a result of your fresh Brew swag. We’re saying we’ll give you free stuff and more friends if you share a link. One link. Your referral count: 0 [Click to Share]( Or copy & paste your referral link to others: [morningbrew.com/daily/r/?kid=4904f90a]( ANSWER We made up the one about the Iowa movie theater. Written by [Neal Freyman]( [Cassandra Cassidy]( [Abigail Rubenstein]( [Molly Liebergall]( and [Matty Merritt]( Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. 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