Plus: Lawmakers Push Pentagon To Publish Drug Boat Strike Orders, Video

Good evening,

McDonald’s used artificial intelligence to generate a 45-second Christmas advertisement this year — and the internet isn’t exactly lovin’ it. 🍟🍔

The most “terrible time” 👎 — The ad, posted by McDonald’s Netherlands on YouTube over the weekend, is a parody of the song “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year,” with the lyrics changed to be about how the holidays are actually awful. Backlash was so fierce that McDonald’s disabled comments, before eventually taking the entire clip down.
AI ads on the rise 📈 — Coca-Cola used artificial intelligence to create a holiday commercial for the second year in a row this year, and it received similar backlash online. The betting platform Kalshi made a nonsensical AI-generated ad that aired during the NBA finals this year, which reportedly only took two days to make. Creatives have been speaking out about how AI takes away jobs from real people.
Hollywood cutting AI out of their diets 🥦 — Other artists have been advocating against using AI in films and movies. Vince Gilligan, the creator of ‘Breaking Bad’ and the thinly-veiled AI allegory, ‘Pluribus,’ called AI “the world’s most expensive and energy-intensive plagiarism machine.” Meanwhile, Guillermo Del Toro, the director behind this year’s ‘Frankenstein,’ said he’d “rather die” than use AI in his films.

Sam,
Associate Producer

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🚨 ONE IMPORTANT THING

Top Intel Democrat Calls For Boat-Strike Video To Be Released As Lawmakers Threaten Hegseth’s Budget

Congress is using its annual defense policy bill to pressure the Pentagon into releasing unedited video and orders from the Caribbean boat strikes that have killed at least 87 people since September.

At stake? Lawmakers added a provision that would withhold 25% of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget until he turns over the documents to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees.
- The legislation is expected to clear the House later this week, followed by the Senate.
Will he or won’t he? Over the weekend, Hegseth would not commit to releasing the video, citing potential safety concerns for troops. President Trump has said he would have “no problem” doing so, but said the decision is up to Hegseth.

In a Mo News Interview, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), called for the public release of video of the Sept. 2 U.S. military strikes on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean. Speaking to Mo News’ Mosheh Oinounou on Tuesday, Himes called the footage nauseating to watch and possible murder.

INSIDE THE STRIKE
Himes said the video, which he viewed during a classified briefing last week with other Intelligence Committee members, showed two survivors clinging to a small piece of wreckage after their drug-smuggling boat had already been destroyed and set on fire.

The men, he said, had no weapons, radios, or way to signal when multiple munitions were launched.
- His take is in stark contrast to how Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, framed the strikes — calling them lawful and saying the survivors were “trying to flip a boat loaded with drugs bound for the United States back over so they could stay in the fight.”

Himes argued that killing incapacitated people endangers U.S. troops on future missions, since it erodes norms and the laws of war around surrender and humane treatment.

BIGGER PICTURE
So is it a war crime? “It’s not a legitimate war, it’s sort of hard to talk about war crimes,” Himes said, noting that Congress has not authorized these war-like strikes. “This points you back to a word that’s even more uncomfortable: the illegal and premeditated killing of a human being, known as a murder.”

He rejected Trump administration comparisons between Caribbean boat strikes and U.S. counterterrorism operations against ISIS and other groups.
- On Saturday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, “These narco-terrorists are the al-Qaida of our hemisphere, and we are hunting them with the same sophistication and precision that we hunted al-Qaida.” He and President Trump have called the people on the boats “narco-terrorists“ and moved to label cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.

Himes says there are major legal issues with that framing. First, Congress authorized the war on terror, but has not authorized these strikes. He also argues that terrorists and cartels pose fundamentally different threats: terrorists aim to destroy the U.S., while cartels aim to make money by selling drugs. Though, those drugs also ultimately harm Americans.

Nearly 3,000 people died in the 9/11 attacks that sparked the War on Terror, while more than 100,000 people die annually from drug overdoses.

Himes said the appropriate response to cartels is law enforcement— arresting, prosecuting, and interrogating traffickers to dismantle their networks— not military force.

🚨 ONE THING WE’RE WATCHING

Australian Kids & Teens Lose Social Media As World-First Ban Takes Effect

Over a million Australian kids and teenagers under age 16 can no longer access 10 popular social media platforms: Instagram, Facebook, Threads, X, Snapchat, Kick, Twitch, TikTok, Reddit, and YouTube.

Not banned: Roblox, YouTube Kids, Google Classroom, and Pinterest.
- Some parents online have criticized not banning Roblox, which Australian police have warned hosts extremists, and some users say they’ve experienced sexual harassment on the platform. But it was excluded because its primary purpose is gaming.

The ban makes Australia the first country to institute a youth ban and provides a potential model for other nations.

WHAT THE BAN LOOKS LIKE
The goal is to protect children from addictive social media algorithms that have been linked to increased mental health struggles.

The responsibility to block accounts falls on the social media companies — not parents or teens. Companies that fail to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent kids under 16 from accessing their platforms could face fines of up to $33 million.
- All major platforms except Elon Musk’s X have said they will comply, with many sending messages to users.

IG, Facebook, TikTok messages to users. Via: Reuters

How it could look: Companies are expected to verify users’ ages by estimating age from online activity or using selfies, and in some cases by checking uploaded ID documents or linked bank account details.

The government’s only guidelines are that requesting an ID cannot be the only form of age check.

In a video message that will be played to kids in schools this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese explained the ban and called on students to, “Make the most of the school holidays coming up. Rather than spending it scrolling on your phone, start a new sport, learn a new instrument, or read that book that has been sitting there for some time on your shelf.”

MORE TO COME?
Australian officials said the banned platform list would change as new products are rolled out. Other countries are looking toward Australia’s ban as a potential model: Brazil, the UK, Spain, Malaysia, and Indonesia have announced plans to impose age restrictions on social media.

Some U.S. states are not far behind. Here’s a look at state legislation in various stages of enforcement, with many measures either tied up in court or still being implemented:

Nebraska: Platforms must verify users’ ages, obtain parental consent for minor accounts.
Utah, Texas, Louisiana: App stores must verify users’ ages, get parental consent for minors’ downloads.
New York is moving to ban “addictive” feeds for minors.
California: Devices must enable parents to opt-in to sharing their child’s age with app developers.
Florida recently won a ruling that will let the state proceed with a ban on teens under 14 from social media, while 15-year-olds may join with parental consent.

⏳ THE SPEED READ

🚨NATION

Judge unseals Ghislaine Maxwell grand jury materials, citing Epstein files act (NBC)
Illinois law protects immigrants from arrest near courthouses, hospitals or colleges (CNN)
DeSantis designates Muslim civil rights group CAIR a terrorist organization (THE HILL)
FBI hunts Michigan woman accused of stealing nearly $30M while posing as aircraft heiress (FOX)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

7 civilians killed, thousands displaced amid Thailand-Cambodia border clashes (ABC)
Japan assesses damage from 7.5 magnitude quake that injured 34 (AP)
Zelensky seeks backing from Pope Leo XIV and Meloni as he refuses ceding Ukrainian land to Russia (EURO NEWS)

📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

Trump pushes direct healthcare payments to Americans as premiums for millions set to expire (MO NEWS)
U.S. job openings barely budged in October, coming in just below 7.7 million (AP)
Instacart’s AI pricing tools drive up the cost of some groceries, study finds (CNBC)
Pebble’s founder introduces a $75 AI smart ring for recording brief notes with a press of a button (TECH CRUNCH)

🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Netflix faces consumer class-action lawsuit over $72 billion Warner Bros deal (GUARDIAN)
Raul Malo, lead singer of The Mavericks, has died at 60 (NPR)
Quarterback Philip Rivers unretiring to sign with Colts (ESPN)
ABC signs Jimmy Kimmel to a one-year contract extension, months after temporary suspension (AP)

ICYMI FROM THE 📲

In case you missed it… A grocery chain in the northeast is selling butter-dipped ice cream cones in stores after going viral for posting the recipe on Instagram in late November.

Stew Leonard’s CEO, Stew Leonard Jr., recently tried the dessert: soft serve vanilla ice cream dipped in warm, melted butter, and is then sprinkled with kosher salt.

“Not approved by my doctor,” he said, but he gave it a “mmm” rating. 🧈🍦🧂