Morning Report

TODAY’S LEGAL story

Judge halts Trump’s DC Guard deployment

What happened
A federal judge yesterday ordered President Donald Trump to pause his “unlawful” National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C., ruling that he and his administration had “exceeded the bounds of their statutory authority” and “infringed upon the District’s right to govern itself.” U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb said Trump must pull all D.C. National Guard troops and those called in from other states, but she delayed implementation of her ruling for three weeks to allow time for a government appeal.

Who said what
The ruling is “not a final decision,” but it’s a “significant legal win for D.C. in a case that could end up setting guardrails” on Trump’s use of the Guard to “impose his will on the city,” The Washington Post said. Trump deployed the Guard in August to aid law enforcement with crime and immigration arrests, and the more than 2,000 troops who remain are “often seen milling at Metro stations, picking up trash at national parks or strolling along busy nightlife corridors.”

“The U.S. military should not be policing American citizens on American soil,” D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, who filed the suit, said in a statement. “It is long past time to let the National Guard go home — to their everyday lives, their regular jobs, their families.” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said Trump was acting “within his lawful authority.”

What next?
“Trial courts have ruled against the troop deployments in every city where local leaders protested their presence,” Reuters said, but an appellate court allowed the troops to stay in Los Angeles and the administration has appealed injunctions in Portland and Chicago.

TODAY’S MEDIA Story

Paramount, Comcast, Netflix bid for WBD

What happened
Paramount Skydance, Comcast and Netflix yesterday submitted rival bids for Warner Bros. Discovery, seeking all or part of the media giant’s studio, streaming and cable network assets, several news organizations reported. Paramount, which was rebuffed in three previous unsolicited bids, was the only contender “pursuing all of Warner Discovery,” including CNN and its other cable channels, The Wall Street Journal said, while Netflix and Comcast were “bidding only for the studios, HBO and streaming service HBO Max.”

Who said what
The outcome of the bidding war “could alter the trajectory of the entertainment business,” The New York Times said. Warner CEO David Zaslav “was said to be enthusiastic about a potential bid from Netflix,” which notably pledged to “continue theatrical releases for movies from Warner Bros. Discovery,” but Paramount’s new chief David Ellison has “cultivated a relationship” with President Donald Trump, and “any bidder would need approval from federal regulators.”

Any successful offer would represent “a significant consolidation in the media industry,” Reuters said. Paramount’s ownership would give it a “32% share of the North American theatrical market, according to Comscore,” while a combination of Warner Bros. and Comcast’s NBCUniversal would have a market share that “exceed 43%.”

What next?
The bids “are nonbinding, and additional rounds are expected,” The Wall Street Journal said, but “Warner Discovery has indicated it would like to have the process concluded by the end of the year.” The “Hollywood colossus” might also “ultimately decide not to sell itself to any bidders,” the Times said, and instead pursue its plan to split into two companies.

It’s not all bad

A new antibiotic called sorfequiline could drastically shorten tuberculosis treatment, according to a TB Alliance study. In a trial of 309 people with drug-sensitive tuberculosis, adding sorfequiline to a cocktail of other medicines cut treatment down to two months. The current “gold standard” treatment takes six months, and researchers are hopeful that adding sorfequiline to the mix could “improve things further,” said The Guardian. In 2024, an estimated 10.7 million people were diagnosed with tuberculosis worldwide, and 1.23 million died of the disease.

Under the radar

The most downloaded country song is by AI

The song “Walk My Walk” by country group Breaking Rust recently reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales chart. However, the raspy cowboy singing the song is nothing but a series of code. Breaking Rust is a product of artificial intelligence, and “Walk My Walk” is now the first AI-generated song to top this particular chart in American music history. The song’s success raises questions about the effect of AI slop on art and how its use will affect creatives everywhere.

AI music is “no longer a fantasy or niche curiosity,” said Billboard. It’s “already beginning to have an impact” on music charts. Breaking Rust has amassed more than 2 million listeners on Spotify, with multiple songs streamed over 1 million times.

On the same chart, another AI-generated “musician,” Cain Walker, holds the No. 3, 9 and 11 spots. Over the summer, a number of songs by the “indie band” Velvet Sundown, another AI-generated group, surpassed 1 million streams on Spotify.

As technology is advancing, much of the AI slop is “nearly indistinguishable from the real thing,” said Whiskey Riff. This “poses a risk to actual artists, songwriters and fans who value real art.” And the problem is likely to get worse. The streaming platform Deezer receives more than 50,000 fully AI-generated tracks every day, according to a report by the company.

Currently, “at least six AI or AI-assisted ‘artists’ have debuted on various Billboard rankings,” said Billboard. That figure could also be higher, as it has become “increasingly difficult to tell who or what is powered by AI and to what extent.”

On this day

November 21, 2017

Robert Mugabe, one of the longest-serving leaders in history, stepped down as ruler of Zimbabwe after 37 years. During his time running the African nation, Mugabe was consistently accused of being a dictator, due largely to Zimbabwe’s poor human rights record and, after 2000, political violence and electoral fraud.

TODAY’S newspaperS

‘Middle class is buckling’

“Polarizing” former Vice President Dick Cheney “mourned at Washington funeral,” the Detroit Free Press says on Friday’s front page. Is Cheney’s “politically telling” funeral also “a farewell to the old Grand Old Party?” USA Today says. “White House defends Trump calling female reporter ‘piggy,’” The Washington Post says. “U.S. Coast Guard under fire for policy change” that “classifies Nazi swastikas, nooses as only ‘politically divisive,’” says The Minnesota Star Tribune. “CDC now reflects RFK Jr. on autism” and “no longer says vaccines aren’t to blame,” The Boston Globe says. “Delayed jobs report is strong,” but “middle class is buckling under financial strain from inflation,” The Wall Street Journal says. “Fast food struggles with a loss of low-income patrons,” says the Los Angeles Times.

► See the newspaper front pages

Tall tale

Kissing cousins

A new study tracing the evolution of kissing, combined with earlier data on oral microbes, points to Neanderthals and modern humans “swapping saliva,” said Oxford University researcher Matilda Brindle at The Conversation. Because kissing “doesn’t preserve in the fossil record,” there’s no absolute proof that any human-Neanderthal smooching was going on — they could have been sharing food together “over a friendly campfire” — but the evidence “certainly points in that direction.” The world's first kiss, her study found, was at least 16.9 million years ago.

Morning Report was written and edited by Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Rafi Schwartz, Peter Weber and Kari Wilkin, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.