JR Morning ~ August 12, 2026 ~ Full Show

Well, good morning. Happy Wednesday. Good to see you. Hump Day. Lloyd. Good to be seen. It is a hump day. And we have a lot of ground to cover today. Yes, we do. I, you know, it feels nice to be passed our primary here in the state. And now things are set in stone. And now we trudge forward to November. Yeah. But many states yesterday held important primary elections. Like in Wisconsin, it was one of the biggest storylines, I think, yesterday was what was going to happen. In the Democratic gubernatorial primary, David Crowley, he's the Milwaukee County Executive. He's the more moderate. Yes. Kind of standard, run-of-the-mill Democrat. Democrat. And he was going against Francesca Hong. And Francesca Hong has some wild things to say. Well, she was a DSA. DSA. She's the one who said that we should cancel Thanksgiving. You know, just wild stuff. Not, I can't make that up. And then she came back and she was like, just kidding. I love Thanksgiving. Okay. Well, she lost. And David Crowley ended up winning that thing. Interesting, based on some of the other races around the country, where there have been incredibly progressive candidates, DSA members that have won these elections. Obviously, not a DSA member, but certainly flirting with it. Abdul El-Sayed here in the state of Michigan. Absolutely. Wins that primary. And there has been a lot of steam behind that movement. But David Crowley was able to beat Francesca Hong in the Minnesota Senate. Peggy Flanagan wins. That's a well-known statewide establishment candidate there. And in South Carolina, the special election in the Senate, that goes to a runoff. So Ralph Northam and Darlene Graham will go towards a runoff. That's a runoff because nobody got 50%. Correct. Yeah, that's correct. Several Metro Detroit communities are scrambling after voters rejected police and fire millages in last week's primary election here. Yesterday, actually, it was the state deadline for local governments to modify or resubmit those proposals for the November ballot. Waterford Township has already reduced the amount it is requesting, but officials warn another defeat could leave the township facing a public safety funding shortfall of more than $7 million in possible layoffs. Orient Township. could lose funding for a sheriff's substation staff by more than 30 deputies, while Highland Township's fire department is also at risk. Officials say risking living costs, a rising rather, live...

rising living costs may have contributed to the widespread opposition. State law allows communities to quickly revise rejected millages and ask voters to reconsider them in November. Well, yeah, I mean, those millage is really important for a lot of these communities. They got turned down and so now they've got to figure it out. But, you know, people are paying more for things and they're just paying more attention on what they're paying out. And, you know, so that's an issue. A Down River candidate for the state legislature is hoping to make history in november democrat joanna waley could become the first openly transgender woman elected to the michigan house the political newcomer parent hospital chaplain faces republican ronald kokinda in district two covering allen park lincoln park melvindale and southgate wayley says Voters are focused less on her identity and more on everyday concerns, including rising utility bills and health care costs and affordability. After knocking on 17,000 doors, Whaley says many families are struggling to decide which bills they can't afford to pay. She says her campaign will remain focused on holding utility companies accountable, lowering health care costs, and protecting individual freedoms. Always a first here. It's always something going on in Michigan. The American Red Cross has declared a national blood supply crisis for the second time as summer travel and vacations contribute to a critical decline in donations. The organization says its supply of old positive blood fell to less than a one-day supply, making it difficult for hospitals and emergency rooms to meet patient needs. Blood drives are being held across Metro Detroit through a partnership between Red Cross and Gardner White. The response has been strong with appointments at donation sites in Taylor and Ann Arbor already booked. Red Cross officials are urging eligible donors to schedule appointments, stressing that a single donation can help save multiple lives and replenish the dangerously low national supply. Well, yeah, this has been a problem for weeks now. It has been, so I got to go back. You got to go back. Get some more blood. I am O positive, so more blood for me. You should be going... Every other day? I mean, how often? Maybe so. They got to hit Lloyd up. Meanwhile, the Tigers win yesterday, 6 to 4. Kevin McGonagall drove in three runs. Drew Anderson tossed four innings of one run baseball in his fourth start of the year. And the Tigers improved to 59 and 60 on the year. They are just... One game behind. 500. Yeah, they're a half game out of the wild card spot. And... Boy, it's amazing. And I almost wonder if we're starting to see a semblance of what we saw two years ago, this pitching chaos. Yes. Problem is is pitching chaos works when your bullpen is really good. And the bullpen has not, I would not describe the bullpen as having been very good this year. No, not at all. But if you're able to, if Anderson's able to go out there, get you, get your five innings, four innings, whatever, eat up a chunk of that game and not allow major damage done. Well, that's what you can expect at this point, I think. Again, you're not going to have Terrick Scoob will go eight innings. Nope.

Nope. So if you are getting quality starts of a shorter length, the shorter distance, it's probably something AJ Hinch is going to have to accept at this point. Well, listen. And if it's going to work, you win, you win games. It's working. You know, those guys are playing some pretty good baseball right now. And this is the time they really need to because we have these division rivals coming up, you know, that we're playing and then more coming up. About half of the remaining games are against our division rivals, man. Yeah. We got to play. Yeah, these are big time games coming up here in the next couple weeks, especially. Meanwhile, Riley Green last night took a 92 mile an hour sinker off the knee from Tanner Bybee just in the second inning. Green was taken off. He went down initially, waved off the Tigers training staff, but he didn't end up jogging off. He did score on that, and then he was done, we thought, in between innings. But Ben Mulgary came on and replaced him in left field. So I think he's okay. Yeah, they said he had a hamstring injury, which may not have been caused by the pitch. Correct. Either way, we don't exactly know what's going on. No. So he did have that hamstring tightness. But again, he got that as he was rounding the bases. So was he compensating after getting hit, right? Oh, that could be. These are the things. So they're going to, they're still trying to figure it out exactly. They don't know what their level of concern needs to be just yet. But having Riley Green miss any sort of time right now would not be ideal. It would not be ideal. All right. We'll take a break coming up on the other side for those of us that have dealt with cyclosporiasis. Anybody I know around? I don't think so. PTSD. You know, it's awful and you deal with it. You go to the doctor and you get your research. And some people are having, you know, a worse time of it than others. For sure. Yeah, certainly. But now these cyclist price lawsuits are popping up a lot. Yeah. How does that work? How are these companies held liable if it's a vendor they're getting their produce from? We'll talk about that coming up on the other side. It's share morning. Westbound 94 after Oakwood Boulevard that crashed that was blocking the right lane has cleared. However, traffic's still very slow in that area. It is very foggy out there. So use caution as you head out this morning. Westbound 10 mile at Woodward. Two left lanes are closed for construction until later on this afternoon. Gross back in both directions near Tofer. Right lane closed there till 3 o'clock. on Friday. Northbound Coolidge at 10-mile. Right lane is closed there until next week. Now, W.JR Weather First from the Weather Channel, sponsored by the Armade Affair. Get Ready, Michigan. The Armate Affairs rolling in August 17 through the 23rd. From Cameron Marlowe, live in concert to Monster Trucks, the Rodeo, and a jaw-dropping demolition derby. It's non-stop action and excitement. Snag your tickets early at armateafer.org. Don't miss the fun. See you at the Armaid Affair. Here's your forecast.

So, you know, more than 12,000 people here in Michigan alone have contracted the cyclospiriasus bug, although that seems to be dying down at this point, which is good. But we've also seen lawsuits that have popped up, and many, many are popping in to the tune of anywhere from 50 to 100 lawsuits nationwide have been filed in connection. to a contraction of the parasite and focused on whether it's Taco Bell or Taylor Farms. Yeah. And is this becoming a much more common thing? We've seen more lawsuits seemingly over more innocuous things than we used to. But how do these kind of cases fair when it feels like it's very hard to prove? Yeah, let's talk about it. William Marler is the managing partner in Marler-Clark and joins us this morning. William, it's great to have you. Thanks. Thanks a lot. So when you're talking about these kind of lawsuits, does it rise to a class action lawsuit at this point or is everybody going on their own? And as an attorney, how do you handle these cases? Yeah, I mean, first of all, I'll be in context. I've been doing these kinds of cases since the jack-in-the-boxy coli outbreak back in the 1990s. So I've seen every foodborne illness outbreak in the U.S. and around the world. This is one of the largest foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States ever. And so, you know, this is a, this is a significant public health threat. You know, from the lawsuit perspective, it's, you know, frankly, very straightforward. You know, people have developed, you know, they ate lettuce that came from Taylor Farms in Mexico. You know, there are 28,000 Americans who are thickened and, you know, probably a significant number more. So moving the lawsuit is, you know, did you eat at Taco Bell or did you eat at one of the other restaurants or grocery stores that served Taylor Farm, shredded lettuce from Mexico? The answer is yes, and you developed cyclo. For us, you know, the answer is pretty clear that it's a very straightforward lawsuit, not a class action. Class actions and personal injury cases are not favored by the court because everyone is different. You've got... Unfortunately, you've got death, you've got people who are hospitalized, and you have people who, you know, suffered supposedly diarrhea for 30 days. So they're all very different, and they'll be handled individually. William, Taco Bell served the food while Taylor Farms supplied the lettuce. How will the courts determine where the responsibility lies along that supply chain?

A great question. And, you know, under the law in the United States, in every state, the manufacturer of the food is strictly liable under the law for serving a contaminated product, a defective product. The Taco Bell as the manufacturer of the taco, really frankly, you know, for you folks in Michigan, understandably, no different than, you know, an automobile manufacturer manufacturing an automobile. Taco and the automobile are essential to the same thing. And there can be a defective ingredient or defective part. The manufacturer of that auto, the manufacturer of the taco is strictly liable. Now, does Taco Bell have a claim against Taylor Farm for providing it a defective part? Oh, heck yes. And, you know, not only is it going to be that, but it's going to be the loss of business, stock prices, all of that. I mean, Taylor Farms is in the cross there, not only of 28,000 Americans, but restaurants all over the country. What would be the prerequisite for somebody who contracted cyclosporiasis that would have grounds to sue? Do they need proof from a doctor that they went in and were diagnosed that they got the medication for it? What would be kind of the nuts and bolts of that? Yeah. People obviously got quite ill. And, you know, many of them, you know, went to the doctor and were tested. I mean, there are a lot of people who are untested. I mean, this might sound a little nuts. But even from the CDC, they say for every one person counted with cyclophora, there's 83 other people who got sick that are uncounted to people who didn't get sick enough to go to the doctor. We're sick enough, but don't have medical insurance so they, you know, didn't get tested. But, you know, the perfect case for, you know, prosecuting it is, you know, do you have a receipt? Did you test positive or psychocopora? And were you injured? You know, if those sort of three things happen, you know, and you're able to clearly prove the case against Taco Bell and it was wrong. Also, the lettuce reportedly sourced from central Mexico. I'm wondering if it's kind of challenging to investigate and enforce accountability across an international food supply chain. Yeah, I can't go to Mexico and make those farmers accountable. And, you know, that's just international law.

But the, you know, the importer of the product, which in this instance is Taylor Farm, also the processor of the lettuce, is on the hook. And we have jurisdiction over them. And so, you know, Taylor Farm may have a claim in Mexico against. the farmers they bought the lettuce from. But, you know, that's ultimately, you know, is their issue, you know, not the issue of the victims in the United States. Really interesting. And we've seen more of the case. So do you expect more to come forward as well? Yeah. I mean, I think, I think ultimately, you know, Taylor Farms especially is. you know, facing, you know, thousands and thousands of claims. Whether or not, whether or not they all turn into lawsuits or not, we'll sort of have to see, you know, what Taylor Farm, you know, approaches. Right. Well, something that we're going to continue to watch, certainly. William, Marler, we appreciate your time this morning. Thank you. No problem. Happy to help. Yeah, you got it. Coming up on the other side, John James joins the show at Chair Morning. Westbound 10-mile at Woodward Construction is taking up the two left lanes until this afternoon. Right lane is closed on Grossbeck in both directions near Tofer till 3 o'clock on Friday. Right lane also closed on southbound Grashit at Shane till Friday as well. Now, WDJR weather first from the Weather Channel, sponsored by the Armada Fair. Get Ready, Michigan. The Armate Affairs rolling in August 17 through the 23rd. From Cameron Marlow live in concert to... monster trucks, the rodeo, and a jaw-dropping demolition derby. It's non-stop action and excitement. Snagger tickets early at our maid affair. Don't miss the fun. See you at the Unraid Affair. We're under a dense fog advisory till 8 a.m. this morning, partly cloudy today, a high of 85. Right now, it's 70. Few clouds tonight with the low as 66. Overcast with the slight chance of a shower tomorrow and a high of 84. I'm Renee Vitale. WJ.R. Traffic and weather first. All right, so. We know who's running for office here in the state. And, you know, we, we, we've heard from a number of different community leaders, business leaders, people who are, who have a unique perspective on their field, whether that's Bob Reiny, for example, yesterday at Henry Ford, who we talked to, about health being a main focus. for these, all these lawmakers that are running for office here in the state of Michigan, but namely those at the top. Glenn Stevens at Mishado and his roadmap for the automotive industry and the information that is necessary to have when you are leading a state. And I think all of that is well and good. And so now we know who at least are going ahead to head and who's going to be on the ballot come November. And you will continue to listen to WJR and will continue to give you good information. And we'll continue to talk about these candidates so that when you go to those polls in November, you're going to be ready to rock and roll and choose the candidate who you think is going to best represent you. But I guess I'm wondering, as we've talked about a number of different issues.

Is there one that sticks out to you in particular that you go, all right, that's the number one with a bullet that has to be the top priority for the next governor of the state of Michigan to fix? Because Governor Gretcher-Witmer's whole thing was fix the roads. Fix the roads. Fix the roads. Fix the damn roads. Yes. And look, in Michigan, that resonates. Why? Because our roads stink. That's why. They've stunk for a long time. They've stunk for a long time. And we've underfunded our road for a long time. And that's not on one party. That's everybody for the last 40 years. Exactly. That's why it's construction everywhere you turn. Correct. Okay. So if that was a winning message back in 2018 and even into 2022, what is the message now? What is the thing that the next governor, if you had to pick one issue needs to focus on more than any? Economy. I think the economy and affordability. And people are hurting, you know, and they're paying these high prices for food, for medication, for gas. There was, you know, some kind of way they could work on that. Also, just making Michigan business friendly to bring more businesses here to the state, more jobs. But the economy, I think, is. up there number one for me yeah i mean for me it's education um i think education completely opens up the doors for everything i mean and you get to flip the narrative this mississippi miracle that we've heard all about all of a sudden i don't want to hear about that anymore no offense to our friends down there yeah but you know michigan is the 10th most populated state in the country yet we are at the bottom of our education system right around the country That is unacceptable. And so what happens when your education system starts floating to the top? Well, all of a sudden, people start looking at Michigan as a destination to come and work and raise their kids and work in the auto industry and work for these suppliers or work for Rocket or UWM or whatever. All of a sudden, we've got big companies here. We want more. Yes. But we got them. So. Why aren't people coming? Or how do we get more people to come? Because you know, when people come and check out a state or city or whatever, you know, because they're possibly going to move there and maybe see an area where they want to live? Most of the time, especially if you have kids, first thing you want to know is how are the schools? Correct. Schools, what's the crime in the area? Is there going to be a pottery barn and a... And a cheesecake factory nearby, whatever it is. Exactly. You want to know everything about a community that you're moving into. You do. And certainly if you have kids where they're going to school, what type of education system is there, is going to be absolutely important. It's why you see some of the communities in Michigan where there are good school systems. Well, they're full. I mean, the people, the people, if there's a place to move, that's where they move. That's where they go. Because that's where the school systems are. Yes. So to me, education system begets everything else. It, it, it's a snowball effect. If you've got good education systems, Michigan is a destination, not just for travel, but to live, to work. And then all of a sudden, once those kids grow up and they go to our schools, all of a sudden, they decide to stay here and raise a family. Instead of moving to.

Tennessee or Florida or California, or things are just too darn expensive anyway. Absolutely. Because your kids grow up and then they have kids and they want their kids to go to good schools as well. And so if they have, if they've gone through good schools and they know where those schools are, they're going to. Nine times out of ten, stay here, send their kids to those schools and work at the places that we have here. 800-8-5-9-57, 800-8-5-90 WJR. I love to get your text on who you, what you think is the most important aspect of what the next governor of the state of Michigan, whether that's Jocelyn Benson or John James, what needs to be the thing that they focus on? And for Lloyd, it's the economy. For me, it's education. And, you know, even Rodden Plymouth texts it in transparency. Transparency needs to be the focus. I got, I mean, that's a hard thing to argue with. It is. Why? Because if you are doing things under the table or behind closed doors, all of a sudden, we don't know what's going on. No. And as a taxpayer that pays the bills of this state, I think he'd want to know what's happening. I've told you, I think lawmakers at every level. You should never carry your papers around in a briefcase. It should be in a see-through plastic folder. Yeah. And those backpacks that we carry into the forward field. Exactly. Exactly. Because you can't bring a full bag in. That's right. Absolutely. And so I think you open up those books. You show everybody what's going on. And you know what that does too, ultimately, is it will end up getting, it will yield you better politicians. It will yield you people that are doing it for the love of the game as opposed to doing it for the enrichment of themselves or playing the stock market. All that stuff. I get it. Yeah. So, yeah, I have a hard time arguing that. But I think the unfortunate part is as we sit here today, and look, every state will have this conversation. There's going to be a news station in every market that it's going to have the conversation of, well, what does the next person need to do better? Yeah. In reality.

Again, we're not New Mexico. We're not Idaho. No. We're not Illinois. We're not Ohio. But like we are in the, we are the top of the country. We have a lot of people that live here. We shouldn't necessarily be having the conversation of how do we make our schools better? That's wild to me. How we've allowed that to slip through the cracks is something I can't fathom. And with AI and with technology the way it is, we have to improve with our education. I've talked to some seniors at some schools here in Metro Detroit who said, yeah, I have friends who are in the senior class and they read at the third grade level. How does that happen? No, it's true. How does that happen? Yeah. No, it's fair. Mark in Rochester, Texan, it's not all good schools or bad schools. Time to blame the students for being chronically absent and education is not a priority for those families. Ford has 5,000 mechanic jobs they can't fill at $120,000 per year. Look, there's no doubt that that's a factor. That is a factor. It always is a factor. But why doesn't that then bear in the numbers in places like Mississippi? How have they been able to climb out of a hole, out of the abyss, to be this shining beacon on the hill of what an example of a good education system is? I'm sure they've had some absentee and some those kind of issues as well, but they're still doing well. No, no. And look, I think for sure, for certain, a lot needs to be done at home. Yeah. Right. There's no doubt. Yeah. Like this week, we really had to rip the Band-Aid off the kids. You know, they've been, it's been YOL for them this summer. They've just been doing whatever they want. Oh, yeah. You know. And they had a grandma house too, so, you know. Correct. Correct. So, so I'm like, all right, guys, we're turning everything off. This was what? Yesterday? Two days ago, I don't know. I said, turn everything off. I don't want to hear anything else. I want you, Jake, I want you to read me a book. And then we're going to talk about it afterwards. And he's like, ah, no. And I'm like, no, let's read. This is a cool story about whatever. And let's read it. Let's learn a new story together. Yeah. And we did. And it's funny because you can see them in the moment when they're like, I'd rather just be watching or playing or doing something else. But you can, if you are engaged, if you are an engaged parent, you see the moment where like they're reading something. It's all clicking. And then they're like, can you believe that happened? And it's like, no, man, let's keep learning and figure out what happens next. Yes, that's what happens. So, yeah, certainly what happens at home has to be taken into account here. It's a big deal, man, because it worked for me, man. My father was very in tune, and education was a big deal for him. I mean, and he would tell me, listen, I want you to learn your time tables. And when I come home from work, you better know him. Right. And so he would walk in the house and go in the kitchen and start going into the cabinets and start yelling out timetables, six time five, four times six. Nine time two. And you better answer him, baby. But that's how I learned, man, because he was involved. I'm glad your dad wasn't my dad. That's tough sledding at the Jackson residence. My goodness. Coming up on the other side, can you limit what a leader of a community can say?

resulting in 57 felony 19 misdemeanor charges. Detectives say the suspects come from all walks of life, including business executives, engineers, dealership owners, and many are married. Investigators warn that customers often communicate directly with traffickers online without realizing the women are being forced into commercial sex. Authorities are also using technology to track trafficking networks nationwide, identify victims, and connect them. with help and you know when you get these big events that come uh to town you know the uh authorities these task force get together because that's when you have a lot of this trafficking you know dream crews uh you know the racing downtown we have the um uh grand prix all those these big events that come here that's when the trafficking gets going and these task force they come together and try to stop it Yeah, certainly, and that's important. Also, the American Red Cross has declared a national blood supply crisis for the second time. As summer travel and vacations contribute to a critical decline in donations, the organization says its supply of Lloyd positive blood, O positive blood. I was like, what? Never heard of that kind of blood. Far less than just the day, making it difficult for hospitals and emergency rooms to meet patient needs. Blood drives are being held across. Metro Detroit in partnership with the Red Cross and Gardner White, and the response has been strong. You've got appointments at donation sites in Taylor and Ann Arbor. They're already booked. Red Cross officials are urging eligible donors to schedule appointments, stressing that a single donation can help save several lives and replenish the dangerously low national supply. So I'll be making an appointment. You got to go. You know, I got to call my brother. My older brother is O positive. I got to let him know. Listen, man, we got to meet up and go get this done. I have no idea what I am. You don't know your blood type? No. Should I? Yeah. Why? Because. What good is that information going to do me? I have no idea. Somebody may need it. To live. Well, then I guess we'd have to run the test. I have no idea. It might be gone by then. You've got to run tests. This person is over here needing a blood transfusion. Just run this test. Just know. So you can just tell them. Listen, I am A.B. or I'm O positive. And we can get it done. I have not a clue. Maybe I should find out. I'll find out. And I'll report back tomorrow. Thank you. Tigers win yesterday, 6 to 4. They are 59 and 60. They beat the card. The Guardians at home. They are half a game out of the wild card. They are two and a half back of the Central. I mean, look, they're one game below 500. They have climbed out of this hole and they have put themselves in a position to strike. There are still flaws. Yeah. But they are playing good baseball, good complimentary baseball. And the guardians, you know, are nemesis, man. They usually get us. You know, they've been getting this fellow. So to get the Guardians, man, start off with getting that win, that's a great thing. Yeah, and it is. And so you've got two more with Cleveland, 640 first pitch tonight down at Comerica Park. Then you got a three-game set against Chicago. And then you go at Pittsburgh, at Kansas City. So you've got three divisional opponents in the next four series. So you want to make some headway? Now is the time.

This is the annual. Now you can make those moves. Now you got those division, you know, games. But then at the end of the month, you know, could be going against Scoobo. Correct. So they play the Dodgers, right? They got the Dodgers at home, August 28th, 29th, and 30th. Wouldn't that be something? And then again, right back out of that, you're back to divisional play. Three games set with Minnesota, four games set with Cleveland, three games set with Minnesota. So you've got an opportunity here. And again, you're going to really do. You got, you got Chicago still looming towards the end of the season. So they can make some serious moves. Yes. Yes. This is the time to do it. And again, if you look at where the wild card stands today, okay, there's a bunch of teams up top there that are fighting for those spots. Yes. win the division. That's it. Then there's no guesswork. We're good. We're good. Meanwhile, Riley Green left the game. He got hit with a slider, 92 mile an hour slider by Tanner Bybee yesterday in the knee. He stays in the game. Then he was as he was rounding the bases. He had some hamstring tightness. He exits the game. We're still trying to figure out his status. So we'll keep an eye on that. You know about hitting people with balls, don't you? I look. When you're afraid of the ball and you're seven, the best way to learn not to be afraid of the ball is to get hit. Is to get hit? Okay. Okay. Okay. Is that crazy? I'm just saying it. A little old school maybe. Uh-huh. I hit him again yesterday and I didn't mean to. And he's like, you did it again. And I'm like, I didn't do it. It was an accident. CPS. Stop it. Just hope he did not afraid of cars. Right, exactly. 712, time for W.JR's Business Beat, brought you by shelving.com. We rack your world. Here's Jeff Sloan, the founder and CEO of Startup Nation, to spotlight the entrepreneurial tech and startup community on WJR. All right, so a federal appeals court has handed a major defeats in some of the world's biggest tech companies ruling that more than 3,000 lawsuits. against companies like meta and TikTok and Alphabet and Snapchat and other social media platforms can continue. The lawsuits allege that the companies deliberately design their products to be addictive, particularly for children and for teenagers. This has been a... That's an ongoing thing, right? Yeah, this has been, we've been talking about this for... quite a long time. And Diana Novak Jay Jones is the reporter for Reuters who's been following this and joins us this morning. Diana, it's good to have you. So what exactly did the court say as the reason why they were able to move forward with these lawsuits? Hi, everyone. Thanks so much for having me. The court did not actually make a ruling on the merits of the case. They kind of ruled in a procedural way, saying that the appeal was too early for META to be able to halt these cases. Typically, appeals are brought at the end of a case after a trial, not while it is ongoing. So that was really the problem there.

And, you know, Meta and TikTok, they argue that Section 230 protects them from these claims. Traditionally, what does Section 230 cover? And why might these lawsuits fall outside of that protection? So, obviously, some of it is still up for debate, as these companies have said repeatedly. But Section 230 is really designed to provide protection for publishers of third-party content. So, you know, posts... that users make on Facebook or Instagram. The idea is that the publishers, so Instagram, Facebook, should not be liable for what their users post. And what's different about these cases is they're bringing allegations that these sites... designed their, you know, are these apps, I should say, designed their platforms to be addictive, to be harmful in some way. So it's about the design of the platform and not about the content. Ultimately, what would the plaintiffs need to prove here? Because it's one thing to argue that it's addictive, but it's another thing to prove that. What type of evidence would they need to have? So. There's obviously many different kinds of lawsuits under this umbrella. There's ones brought by individuals who say that their depression or their mental health struggles were caused by an addiction to social media. There's lawsuits brought by school districts who say that they've had to foot the bill basically for students, you know, mental health issues as a result of social media. And then there are states. Like a major case is starting today with jury selection in Oakland, California. 29 states are bringing claims against META along these lines. So obviously what they need to prove is different for each type of plaintiff. But, you know, typically we're seeing evidence. presented that, you know, rates of suicide or depression are increasing as, you know, along a timeline that connects with social media's growth with the individual cases. They're presenting evidence of, you know, mental health care that they've received, their use of the platforms. You know, it... They need to prove a connection between the platforms and their mental health struggles. And so far, juries have responded in favor of what they've shown. Dinah, could social media companies successfully argue that parents also bear responsibility for monitoring their kids' online activity?

They definitely could. They have argued that, particularly in the one individual case that has gone to trial in Los Angeles earlier this year, that is coming up in all of these cases. And META has said in particular that, you know, that they are just one part of the community that keeps... kids safe online. And I'm wondering if these kind of cases will pressure Congress to maybe update Section 30 or maybe establish some type of clear national rules to protect children online. Yeah, Section 230 and social media's role in kids' lives definitely under scrutiny in Congress right now. So what's at risk for these companies? What could they risk losing here if this case is for the... For those bringing these challenges, what could they risk losing? So these cases are seeking, you know, kind of a two-pronged result. The first part that we all know about is damages, financial damages, civil penalties, particularly with the trial that's starting today in California. The states could be seeking billions, potentially, as Meta says. more than a trillion dollars in damages just based on how many people are using these platforms and therefore how far the damage has spread. They're also seeking orders from the court forcing the companies to make changes to their platforms. So we just saw an order in New Mexico from last week where the judge laid out several changes that he said were necessary to make. specifically META's platforms safer in the state. Yeah, because I believe META had to pay like $567 million into a New Mexico team mental health fund. And I'm asking, you know, does that type of ruling suggest that courts are just becoming more receptive to holding these social media companies responsible for harming children? I mean, that's the first ruling we've had. We've never had a court before order changes like that, order damages like that. But we are seeing state courts and federal court, you know, across the country allow these claims to at least move forward. So they're not stopping them before they can reach trial. Interesting. Diana Novak Jay Jones, thank you so much for your time this morning. We appreciate it. And we'll continue to watch these cases. Thank you. Yeah, you got it. Interesting. They could have to pay out, you know. Big money. Big money. Yeah, big money. Meanwhile, coming up on the other side, some interesting statements by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez when it comes to things that progressives or Democratic Socialists of America aligned politicians have said in the past and why we shouldn't hold them to it today. It's next to Jair morning. So an interesting conversation with Jonathan Carl on ABC this week.

And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is, it's the equivalent of pulling your backup safety shoot when you're skydiving. Uh-huh. Because I think one of the things that we're seeing now, as a result of more of these socialist candidates running and incredibly progressive candidates running for office, we're seeing more of an examination on things that they've said in the past. Sure. Not unusual, especially when you're seeking public office. Absolutely. But one of the things Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said was that things that was said in 2020, the ideas that were being bandied about then, you shouldn't hold them accountable for things that they're saying today. I think that. During this time and during, especially during COVID, there was a huge opening of the Overton window. Of course, rhetoric in that time is not rhetoric that we would use today. I have a local city councilman that has this saying woke one was crazy. Woke one was crazy. And. Things that we said then were not saying now. Yeah, like woke one included like defunding the police and those kind of things. Yeah. Okay. That is not the same as because I love when politicians do this. I love when politicians go, my bad. Yeah. Just come out. Just take the L. You know what? I thought something. 10 years ago, five years ago, I've changed my perspective. That's all you got to say. It's not something I believe today. No, I do not believe we should defund the police. Yeah. I think we need a robust police force to make sure that they are enforcing our laws that are put into place. Very easy to say and do. But that's not what she said. She said something completely different. She said, don't hold us accountable for things that we said at one point. That's not. That's not what I'm saying today. So why are you digging up the past? And I think that is not only one of the dumber things I've ever heard a politician say as a way to cover their tracks for the dumb things that they've said. But I think it's crazy to assume. that you driving in your car on your way to work, paying your bills and making dinner for your family is just supposed to whistle past the graveyard of things that you've said without any addendum or without any public acknowledgement that those things aren't the way how you feel anymore. Like that is incredibly dismissive of people that have.

followed you or that keep a close eye on on how you vote in Congress or whatever. And to me, you're questioning my intelligence. That's how it feels to me. I mean, basically, that's what you're doing. So I'm, I'm the dummy for going, well, wait a second, you feel this way, but you're now? What, what happened? What changed? Yeah. Fill me in, fill the gaps in for me. So I'm the dummy. Well, and then to me, it's a, it's a double standard too, because if that's the case. Oh, sure. You know? Then I don't want to hear another word about what Donald Trump said and what he didn't do and what he's doing now. And because that was Donald Trump in 2024. Yeah. I wouldn't say those things now. That was conservative 2016. That was conservative 3.0. We're on to four. It's like a new model of Chad GPT. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's the old outdated model. We're not on that. Oh, you got a PlayStation 4? You should check out the 5. What are we talking about? Yeah, that's, yeah. You know, and it's the same type of, very similar to what we're seeing with like Abdul El-Sayed, for example, to go, well, no, I don't agree with everything Hasan Piker says, but, you know, following. Got a big following. Get a lot clicks. Hold on a second. Because I always grew up. Like, don't hang around with knuckleheads or else you're going to be perceived as a knucklehead even if you're not. Perception is reality. If you are aligning yourselves with people or ideas, then it's safe to assume that you're at least willing to entertain those ideas. Yeah. So, you know, don't sell me this idea that you're not associated with or don't sell me this idea that you at one point didn't think this because you did. And instead of owning it, it's almost like a completely cowardice way out. Didn't Bernie say that, yeah, what Hasan Piker said was stupid, but we welcome him into the tent. Right, right. That doesn't jive with me. Yeah. It doesn't make sense to me. But the guy who helps get, you know, Bill Clinton elected, somebody who had a big part in Barack Obama getting elected. James Carvels. See you. Jettison him to the moon. Yes. For Hasan Piker. Yes. Look, I understand James Carvel's on the back end. Yeah, he's, yeah. I understood. We know. Hasan Piker is not. But I don't think you have to give up one for the other. I think instead what you're doing is you're touting to the masses. You are capitulating to an audience as opposed to giving that audience which you actually believe or a set of moral standards that you would govern by. And that to me, you are eroding. the faith of the electorate in what you're doing. We just change every year. So another, you know, after the presidential election in four years and then four more years, we'll say, well, that was 28. Right. That was 20. We don't think like that. Look, we get enough of that as it is. Of course. We get enough of that as it is. But how long has that been happening forever? Forever. That's the game. Yes. That's modern politics. Yes. But to actually call it out.

And to just like be very flippant about it is wild. Because in the same conversation, Jonathan Carl says, you run it for president? And she's like, you know, I'm not taking anything off the table. I'm focused on the midterms though. But you know, who knows? Well, at what point do we take what you're saying at face value? And this isn't just for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. No, this is for anybody. Anybody. That's right. At what point do you expect us to take at face value what you're saying? how you think things should be run. I don't have a problem with, like, for example, I actually at least admire Bernie Sanders. I think he's a kook. But he's kept the same narrative. He is consistent. He has a political moral compass that he follows. He has been beating the same drum for 30 plus years. I can at least respect that. I don't agree. But at least you're not just at least maybe up until lately. You're not rolling with the new crowd. You at least are digging in your heels on a particular issue, even though you don't have the support. It's not a popular issue. And yet you keep banging that drum. I can at least respect that. But this is something I don't respect. I do respect when you own it and go, oopsie, my bad. It's so much easier just to do that. I change my mind. I'm not thinking like that anymore. And here's why. To me, it's not difficult. It's not difficult. And by the way, this is not just a one-sided thing. Like, this falls for everybody. It's the left who's saying it. It's the progressives that are saying it. But I think we should have that same standard for everybody. Absolutely. Like nobody should be above that. Whether you are a congressperson or whether you are the president of the United States, if there are things that you talk about and all of a sudden are backtracking on, well, that's completely different. Presidents, you know, they get input. They're getting advice. They have advisors that are cluing them in or giving them different scenarios on a number of things. They may not choose the right one. Right. They may not choose the right route, but they're listening. That's a different position than that's a different iteration of our movement, and we've moved past that. There's no contrition there. There's no mea culpa to, I've changed my ways. It's just, ah, that's silly. I don't even know why you're bringing that up. And I think a lot of these politicians are trying to get in front of something that's going to happen, you know, trying to get in front of it before it happens because we're in the time right now, but we're between. not the primary and the general election in November. And a lot of these commercials are going to be coming up saying what somebody said. Of course. You know, you said this back here, you know, and so they're trying to get in front of it and say, well, you know, that was 1.0. That wasn't, you know. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Coming up on the other side, a plan to repeal Michigan's marijuana taxes in the works. We'll talk about it coming up. But, you know, one of the easier ways that you can transform your home is with a fresh coat of paint. Yes, you could go out and buy new furniture and new appliances, but that costs you a lot of money. And if you want quality paint and something that will last, that's why you've got to turn to Benjamin Netanyahu Moore, my friends at Repco Light paints. Why? Because paint is never just paint.

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I think if you look at the revenue that the tax is creating, and this is not from legislators, this is from the Department of Treasury, it's not even going to produce 25% of the projected revenue. So the industry definitely moved towards the underground market, back towards medical marijuana, and we could say that it could be a 30 to 40% hit, possibly a 50% hit to the industry, that the voters approved in 2018. How short are we in terms of how much this was supposed to generate? And what would be the alternative to then providing that money for the road funding? So 34 million, if you look at the 34 million across the four months and you extrapolate it out, it's going to not even produce a quarter of the 420 million projected. So maybe a little over $110 million, $105 million. As far as revenue, finding revenue. To replace the lost projected tax revenue, I believe that in an $87 billion state budget, I've identified $6 billion in waste in our budget. We can easily find $300, $400 million for our local roads elsewhere in our state budget. So, like, before repealing it completely, could you not just reduce the rate and restructure the tax or give it another year to see whether collections improved? Well, we've already got, like I said, we've already got 10% retail and 6% sales tax. And to be fair, I have also proposed co-sponsored a bill repealing all excise taxes on beer, wine, and distilled spirits. So it's not just marijuana that we're talking about. These taxes are regressive. They hit working people a lot harder. They are... The working guy gets hit by these taxes and largely are the people paying these taxes. What's the appetite for this? Have you seen signs that there's support for this in Lansing? To be honest, no, government that doesn't generally like to cut taxes. And even taxes that are not producing the revenue, nearly the revenue they projected. They don't like to give up tax revenue. We've proven that in Michigan. We raised taxes in Michigan. This was a budget where we raised marijuana taxes. We raised gas taxes and we decoupled the... the tax cuts that were in the federal bill that brought down taxes on tips, wages, and overtime. There were also capital gains taxes that we delayed. So these were big tax increases. And now we're dealing with the fallout. And one industry is dealing with the fallout. And 40% tax on a product, you're going to make a dent in that industry. And this definitely has.

Have you spoken to any of the cannabis growers or the retailers and consumers? And have they told you like, this is just too much for us? We spoke with them extensively the night we were passing the bill and they said, this is really going to kill us. And it's proven, all their predictions have proven true, honestly. They said this wholesale tax on top of the 16% already on cannabis is going to drive the underground market. And so you see how economics works. People are going to seek out lower priced products. It's already in Michigan, you can have 10 ounces of marijuana. on your person in your home that's almost a pound of marijuana you can have two and a half ounces of marijuana on your person away from your home that's a lot of marijuana that we don't have penalties now for people possessing marijuana so the market can move to wherever the lowest price is and where the least amount of government interference is and so this is what we're finding out again it's just basic economics we when you tax something to this degree you're going to move the market away from the legalized market. Representative Jim Ron DeSantis, we appreciate it this morning. Thank you. We'll talk again very soon. Keep us up to date on this. Thank you. Yeah, you got it. We'll take a break, 8 o'clock hour coming up, get you caught up on the headlines. We're talking AI and the big three. It's all coming up in the 8 o'clock hour here on J.R. Morning. All right, welcome back 8 o'clock hour. I, you know, it's funny because. You see all these states that are, that have the primaries. Uh-huh. For example, last night. And like... Everybody's got a race that everybody's talking about. Oh, yeah. You know what I mean? Yes, just like we did. Here in Michigan. And some for different reasons. Yeah. Right? I mean, you know, Lindsey Graham dies unexpectedly and suddenly. And all of a sudden his sister steps in to run in South Carolina. And she, Darlene Graham and Ralph Norman are going to a runoff in that South Carolina Senate Republican primary. That was one of the big storylines yesterday. Then Wisconsin, too, had one. Wisconsin, the Milwaukee County executive, David Crowley, won the Democratic gubernatorial primary over Francesca Hong, the progressive challenger, the former DSA member. Get rid of Thanksgiving Challenger? Yes. Okay. Yes. It was funny. I was listening to an interview with her, and they're like, you said you want to do away with Thanksgiving. Like, is that true? And she's like, well, you know, I started my. I used to love to cook, and one of my favorite things to cook was Thanksgiving, but it's oppressive. And it's like, well, okay. Okay, so does she ever talk about getting rid of Christmas, too? I have not heard her stance on Christmas. Okay. I mean. So she didn't want to get rid of Thanksgiving because she didn't want to cook anymore. I mean, Santa's using elf labor. I don't know if that jives. I don't. I don't.

She just didn't want to cook anymore. Maybe that's not cool. I don't know. And so she's like, just get rid of Thanksgiving. I don't want to cook. But that's a blow because that's a heavy progressive. It is. And you know, it was funny. I was thinking, you know, she kind of backtracked on a lot of things that she had said. She was a big defund the police and all those things, right? And she had backtracked on a lot of those things. And I'm thinking, well, hold on a second. Again, it's like the old Alexander Hamilton. If you don't stand for anything, you stand for nothing. Nothing. Right? It's like, ride the horse that got you there. This is your message. This is what got you to this point. This is what got you to fundraise millions of dollars. This is what got you the support system, the campaign that you have, the coalitions that you built. Why would you be backtracking on it at the 11th hour? Maybe the horse flipped her. Well, probably. Probably. And probably a little bit of panic because of the narrative that's going on around the country. But it's not a, it wasn't a wave when it come to DSA candidates because we had some winners and some losers. And some losers. Right. I think that that is important to note. Yeah. Also, Peggy Flanagan, the Minnesota lieutenant governor, she wins. And so she will be running for U.S. Senate. For the Democrats in Minnesota, she's a progressive as well. So again, a. Good night, bad night for progressives around the country in the primaries yesterday. A Down River candidate for state legislature hoping to make history in November, Democrat Joanna Whaley could become the first openly transgender woman elected to the Michigan House. The political newcomer, parent, hospital, chaplain faces Republican Ronald Kokenda in District 2 covering Allen Park, Lincoln Park, Melvindale, and Southgate. Whaley says, Voters are focused less on her identity, more on the everyday concerns, including rising utility bills and health care costs and affordability. After knocking on 17,000 doors, Whaley says many families are struggling to decide which bills they can afford to pay. She says her campaign will remain focused on holding utility companies accountable, lowering health care costs and protecting individual freedoms. So she says she's just going to keep it straight and nobody's really paying attention to the fact that she's transgender. Meanwhile, how are some of these communities dealing with the the turndown of these millages? Listen, they're scrambling, you know, after these voters rejected, police and fire millages in the primary last week. And yesterday was the state deadline for local governments to modify or resubmit proposals for the November ballot. Waterford Township already reduced the amount it's requesting, but officials warn another defeat. could leave the township facing a public safety funding shortfall of more than $7 million and some possible layoffs. Orion Township could lose funding for a sheriff's substation staffed by more than 30 deputies while Highland Township's fire department is also at risk. Officials say rising living costs may have contributed to the widespread opposition. State law allows communities to quickly revise rejected millages and ask voters to reconsider them in November.

Interesting. Remember when we told you that the president was secretly transported to another plane after the NATO summit in Turkey? He mentioned, he talked about it yesterday. He said that he slipped away from Air Force one last month because Secret Service and the military wanted him, quote, on a different plane due to a threat that he says that he was downplaying. He wasn't too worried about it. Okay. But the Secret Service was and the military was. And he said they wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane. I guess there was a threat out there. I didn't really ask much about it. I get a lot of threats, he said. He said, I don't worry about anything, to be honest, whatever it is, you know my attitude, whatever. And I, okay, it's a fine stance to take, but at the end of the day, that's not Secret Service's job. Secret Service's job to keep you safe. To just go, that's okay. We'll figure it out in the air. No, that doesn't work. But the fact that he. Talked about it, I think is interesting. Usually that doesn't get a lot of play when things like this get brought up because those are security matters that generally don't get talked about. But it obviously was a credible enough threat that those protecting the president of the United States felt like it was the right move to put him on a different plane. Absolutely. Got to do what you got to mean. That's their job. Keep the president safe. Yeah. And, you know, I'd rather take that precaution. then not and then something bad happens. Correct. I think that's exactly right. But once you get out of harm's way, then you can do what they ended up doing. But yeah, I think that's exactly right. Now, if Jamie was here, Chris, this would be a Jamie's lamey story, you know. But luckily, no one was hurt or killed in this situation. Okay. A 44-year-old Flint man was arrested after state police say they found him sleeping behind the wheel in the middle of I-75. They responded to the freeway near Clintonville Road in Oakland County just before 9 Sunday night. Following reports, they kept getting calls. They say, listen, the car blocking the freeway is just in the middle of the freeway. Police say the driver appeared intoxicated and had open containers of alcohol on the passenger seat. Preliminary testing allegedly showed his blood alcohol was twice the legal limit. They also recovered two knives, one measuring nine inches, one measuring 12 inches. I think that's a machete. And the man who has a previous drunk driving conviction, he was out on bond for a drunk driving, faces several charges, including operating while intoxicated, carrying concealed weapons, possession of dangerous weapons as a felon, and driving without insurance. So sleeping in his car. Yeah, in the middle of a 75. Not ideal. No. Not an ideal place to catch a couple of Zs. Well, it's not ideal either when you're out on bond for drunk driving. And you're drunk driving. No, no. Okay, I'm just saying. No, if it were me, I would advise against that. Okay, well, that's just me. I think that would be safe. Yeah. Tigers win yesterday. They beat the Guardian 6 to 4 down at Comerica Park. They are one game under 500. They are a half a game out of the wild card spot.

And look, big win. Another nice win. I guess the Guardians, man, because they usually have our number. Well, yeah, they have our number. But they were able to get out of this thing. And, you know. Again, I think that Kevin McGonigal comes through again. He drives in three runs. I mean, you look at even the pitching in this case. Yes, it was relatively a quick outing for Anderson, four innings pitched, gave up four hits, one run, one earned run, walked a couple but struck out four, gave up that home run. But Jerry Anderson, again, did the job. Yeah. Like nobody's expecting you to go out there and pitch five scoreless. No. But. That's a pretty good stat line for him. And then the bullpen were able to get it done and the offense got it done. Pits in chaos again? Yeah, I guess. I mean, what is it going to be at this point? They don't have a horse that's going to get you into the eighth. It's just not the reality anymore. Yeah. So. With that in mind, you're going to have to completely change the way you think about pitching in these games. And I think A.J. Hinch and Chris Fetter are. And I think at least it's paying off right now. But if you've got the offense to back it up, that can work. Yeah. If the bats are going, it can work. They got another game today. And that one scheduled for 640 tonight down at Comerica Park. Riley Green did go out of that game in the second inning yesterday. Got hit with a pitch. And as he was rounding, the bases had some tightness in his hamstring. Don't know the exact extent. Not necessarily a cause of the hamstring being hit. There's not necessarily a cause. We don't know, right? Well, he stayed in the game, and the only thing you worry about is if he was running differently because he was favoring the knee that he got hit in. That's true. Just something to watch, but we don't know much yet about Riley Green at this point. Meanwhile, our rogue AI agents exposing the dark side of the technology, is that something that's causing fear in the public? We'll talk about it next on the air morning. So an interesting story in Axios, this concern in the AI industry that AI agents are becoming. more autonomous and more capable of carrying out these complex tasks on their own. And one of the things that developers and researchers are finding is that they are going to pursue these goals and try to carry out these tasks, sometimes in unexpected ways. They could use deception or they could break laws or rules or they could hack different systems or they could find loopholes to help achieve whatever their outcome is. And... It's turned into a case where are these AI platforms or bots or agents, are they acting out of control? Are they becoming rogue when that's not exactly what programmers had designed them to do? Talk about it. Brent Yax is the CEO of Acom and joins us once again. Brent, good morning. It's good to have you back.

Thanks for having me. So is Rogue a fair way to describe this, or are these systems just doing what they're supposed to do? Get from point A to point B and do it as quickly and expeditiously as possible. Yeah, I'm not sure of Rogue is the right word, right? So we're asking these systems to focus on the end result. And when you ask to focus on the end result, they're using all of these different methods to get there, right? They don't have these societal norms. They don't have these like what I should do. They don't have this sense of morality. So they're really just trying to accomplish the tasks that they've been given in any way they can. So when we tell an agent to, like, you know, just get it done, how specific do we have to be about what it is and is not allowed to do? Well, I think, you know, that's an interesting question, right? Because I don't think we should have to understand exactly the constraints that we need to put these agents in. I think that the systems that are building them, the open AIs, the clods, I think they need to do a better job of defining what guard rails really should be in place so that we as normal people that are just going out and trying to, you know, get an email written, don't have to consider all of the different rules that they have to follow. Right, because when I take my kids bowling, they need bumpers or else they'll never hit a pin. Like if they want to score high in bowling, that's how they have to do it at this point. Are those bumpers in place? Do they have those in place or should they be put into place? Yeah, I think that's the answer really what you need to find is who has to put those bumpers in place? Because right now, apparently... these systems are able to, you know, get out of sort of the normal rules that we all follow when we're doing things and accomplish things in ways that really, I mean, it gets it done, but is it the right way to do it? And I'm wondering if an employee uses an AI agent that, let's say, hacks into another system while completing an assigned task, who would be held responsible? Is it the employee? Is it the employer? Is the AI developer? There's no real answer to that right now. What we do know from like say a hiring standpoint or from an employer standpoint, if AI is used to make a decision on somebody that they're hiring and there's some bias in the AI decisions, we know the employer is responsible for that. So we've seen that already. So but in a case where AI is hacking, we don't really know who's responsible yet because there's no clear guidelines on that and it's all kind of the Wild West right now. I'm curious to know. How close are we at this point to these AI agents making important decisions without our oversight? So like whether that's.

You know, aside from like writing emails or handling a calendar, things like that, whether if it's managing money or negotiating contracts or things that are directly impacting our lives, how close are we to that without actually having to prompt them for those things? You know, personally, I believe there's this thing called human in the loop. And anytime you ask AI to do anything or go down a path or make a decision, you know, I generally always believe you should have some human there saying, this is right, this is wrong, this is what we should. do. But what we're seeing now is that people are believing AI. And AI is coming out and being super confident. If you ever asked AI to do anything, it'll be, hey, that's a great question. I'm glad you asked me that. So people are building this confidence in AI and letting it make final decisions. I'm just not a believer in that. I think that you really need to have a human in the loop somewhere to finalize that decision and not allow AI to make it. And you know, we're already, you know, we already worry about human hackers. So, you know, What changes when criminals can deploy teams of AI agents and they work continuously and they share information and adapt the tactics? Well, the reality is already doing that, and that's unfortunate, right? But they are. basically taking this, you know, attack where maybe they would call somebody or send one email and now AI is doing it 10,000 times. Really, they've increased the magnitude of it. So we're already seeing that in sort of the cybersecurity world is that AI is being used for those purposes. On the good side, though, AI is also being used to sort of help prevent that and recognize when those things are happening to hopefully interject and stop that. I think the interesting thing here, though, is everybody is dancing around the issue of, Well, whose responsibility is this? Who's responsibility is this to make sure that things don't get out of control, that these AI agents are working within the primers? Should the onus be on the developers? Should the onus be on the government to force the developers to put those safety guards in place? Like, to me, like there's seems like there's no definitive answer on that yet, which is odd. And you're 100% right. Not only there's no definitive answer, but now it's becoming where the states are putting out their own regulations. Federally, we're not seeing regulations yet. So everybody's sort of conflicting in the way in which they want to manage this. So it's getting very murky. So, you know, as a individual, I just want the regulations in place I want, you know, to feel safe. And as a developer, you're like, I have to follow New York. I have to follow California. I have to follow the federal government. And it's really confusing right now, which makes us very murky. And so for the average consumer, should we just be cautious about allowing AI assistance to make purchases and schedule our appointments and negotiate with companies on our behalf? I mean, at any time where you're giving it control to, like, make a decision, I would be, you know, very leery of that. I think you should always look at what it's doing and verify and actually confirm what you want. But, I mean, some of these cases that we're talking about with the systems hacking and going in a direction here or a direction there, I mean, they're very unique use cases. We've only seen a couple of them total. So, no, I don't think it's, I don't think we should be too worried about it, you know, purchasing tickets for, you know, the lions or something. Right.

But we do got to be mindful of what it's doing. Interesting stuff, as always. Brent Yax, we appreciate your time. Thank you. We'll talk again soon. Thanks, sir. Yeah, you got it. Meanwhile, you know, as the tariff decisions that were coming down from the federal government were swirling, one of the things that we had always been asking is, what exactly were the big three doing behind the scenes to try to mitigate some? of that and also kind of insulate themselves from those decisions that were being made. We might have some answers. We'll talk about it next. Michigan summers mean outdoor adventure and fun, but high temperatures should not break your budget. Count on consumers energy to help make the most of this season and your budget. With tips and ways to save, making small changes like shifting some energy use to the morning or evening, raising your thermostat a couple of degrees, doing laundry at night on the weekends can help lower your bill while keeping your home comfortable. Discover more ways to beat the heat at Consumersenergy.com slash summer.

Thursday on J.R. morning, I'll be joined by special guest co-host, Caitlin Bus, from the Detroit News. We'll talk about the Trump administration's attempt to block mail and voting. We'll learn while limiting your kid screen time might be a good thing. And we'll jump on the couch for Therapy Thursday with Dr. Steve Craig. Right here from 6 until 9 a.m. on WJR, WJR.com and the always free WJR app.