While bipartisan negotiations over a border bill continue, many Republicans say it's dead on arrival. Instead of deterring immigration, they're literally incentivizing illegal immigration. They're handing people a parole and a work permit day one. That has to stop.

When will the Senate share the full text of the bill? And can President Biden take unilateral executive action?

I'm Daily Wire, Editor-in-Chief John Bickley with Georgia How. It's Wednesday, January 31st, and this is Morning Wire. This is not allowed, guys. Asking you to leave property or I'm going to call the police.

Have it your way.

Six pro-life protesters face 11 years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines after being convicted of face act violations. Is this a case of political targeting?

Elon Musk announces his biotech company has implanted their first brain chip.

The first two applications we're going to aim for in humans are restoring vision.

How does Neuralink work and Is this the new frontier for humans?

Thanks for waking up with Morning Wires. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.

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The Senate is moving ahead with bipartisan border legislation, despite House Speaker Mike Johnson calling the bill Dead on arrival in his chamber, and a certain presumptive GOP presidential nominee speaking out against it.

Republican Senator James Lankford has been the GOP face of the legislation and is facing backlash for it, including a censure resolution from the Republican Party in his home state of Oklahoma. Here to discuss the bill, its prospects, and the fallout, is Daily Wire contributor David Marcus. Hey, Dave. So first off, what is in the bill and why are so many Republicans, and in particular, Trump supporters opposed to it?

Morning. So we don't know exactly. The bill negotiated by Lank for Democrat Chris Murphy and independent Kirsten Sinema hadn't been released by Tuesday afternoon. But the top-line item making news is that it would give President Biden the authority to shut down certain amnesty requests if the number of border encounters reached 5,000 to 8,000 on a given day or week, respectively. Republicans argue that this number is way too high, and also that Biden already has the tools he needs to slow down illegal immigration, as his predecessor, Donald Trump did. Frankly, they want to see those policies reenacted by the White House and the Department of Homeland Security before they're willing to entertain any comprehensive border reform.

Right. Remain in Mexico in other measures. Now, Trump has come out strongly against this bill on social media. Don Jr has also railed against it, and Republicans like Lankford for supporting it. What is the political calculus there?

A cynic might suggest that no challenger to an incumbent President, which Trump almost is at this point, wants to see big achievements for their opponent in a campaign here. But really, the fear here, and it's been explained by people other than Trump, including Senator Ted Cruz, is that the bill could wind up letting more people in, and that even if it does has curbed the numbers as Biden seeks re-election. Should he win, the Democrats would go right back to letting record numbers of migrants into the country. Here's some of what Cruz had to say.

When Joe Biden came in, we had the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years. He inherited success, and he deliberately broke it. Democrats want these open borders.

So politics is a part of this, but it's not the whole story. Most members of the GOP House do not share Lankford Trust that Democrats really do want to reduce illegal immigration. And that's why you see this angry backlash at him, as well as other Republicans backing the bill.

House Republicans say the legislation has no chance of passing. Could that change? Could there be sweeteners for them, or is this thing dead in the water?

According to Speaker Mike Johnson, this bill has zero shot at becoming law. Our listeners will recall that at the end of last year, there was a lot of high-minded talk about a border bill being being tied to Ukraine and Israel aid, some grand bipartisan package, but that just didn't pan out at all. And not only is the GOP majority in the house very narrow right now, it's also fragile and fractious, as we saw from the ousting of Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year. Here's Representative Marjorie Taylor-Greens saying what it seems like most of her colleagues are thinking.

There's no one in our conference that supports a border surrender, supports a deal that lawmakers would actually vote for that it would allow people to break our laws. 5,000 people a day, 1.8 million a year before the federal government secures the border. That's not a border deal. That's a slap in the American people's face. I'm really happy Johnson said no.

But listen, at a time when the border is the top issue for many American voters and Biden is underwater on it, Republicans will keep it as fresh a news topic as they possibly can.

Yeah, I'm sure they will. And this standoff happening in Texas is making sure of that right now. Yeah. Dave, thanks for joining us.

Thanks for having me.

The Biden DOJ has successfully convicted six more pro-life protesters for violating the FACE Act. The demonstrators now face 11 years behind bars and $350,000 in fines for protesting at abortion clinics.

Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter, Amanda Presta-Jacquomo. Hey, Amanda. So catch us up on this case. What exactly were the protesters convicted of?

Hey there, John. So these six protesters were charged with a conspiracy against rights secured by the FACE Act and committing FACE Act violations. Yesterday, all six were convicted on both counts. The FACE Act criminalizes the use of force or threats of force that prevent someone from accessing an abortion clinic. These six pro-life activists on trial in Nashville were not accused of any violence, but they were charged after demonstrating in a hallway on the second floor of an office building outside of an abortion provider in March of 2021. A livestream of that demonstration shows the group praying, singing hymns, and trying to convince women to not enter the clinic and not abort their babies. Some of the protesters are sitting in front of what looks like doors to the clinic and do refuse to move when asked to do so. Paul Vaughn, one of the men on trial, spoke to an ABC affiliate on the day of that protest.

Today, what you saw was an act of biblical obedience. Christians came together, several different denominations, coming here to Mount Juliet to lay down their lives, to rescue children that were scheduled to die at this abortion clinic today.

There were a total of 22 demonstrators that day, and the Biden DOJ charged 11 of them with face act violations. The six convicted Tuesday were hit with that additional conspiracy against rights charge. None of the demonstrators at the protest were charged with assault or assault-related crimes.

Okay, so this trial wrapped up with closing arguments on Monday, and then after one day of jury deliberations, came back with a guilty verdict. What do we know about how the trial went?

Defense attorneys argued that their clients were peacefully protesting, as is their right. As for the government, they argued the pro-lifers weren't actually protesters because they violated federal law and intended to do so. Their key witness in this case was one of the protesters who was initially arrested with the group, a 25-year-old named Caroline Davis, who took a plea deal. She testified that she changed her mind over time about the protests and admitted that being indicted by the federal government, quote, terrified her. Sentencing is expected in July.

Now, we've covered Face Act charges brought by the Biden administration before. They've really ramped up during his tenure, and these have come with a lot of political controversy. Tell us about that.

Yeah, absolutely. Prolifers and Republican politicians have claimed that Biden is weaponizing the Face Act against peaceful protesters because of their politics, their pro-life views. In another instance, anger erupted when the DOJ successfully convicted five progressive pro-life activists on Face Act related charges over the summer. They were even thrown in jail to wait their sentencing. Like the Tennessee sixth, those activists faced 11 years behind bars as well as those hefty fines.

What's the political reaction been to all of this?

On the Republican side, lawmakers are working to repeal the FACE Act. Texas Representative Chip Roy, who introduced such legislation in September, However, he said that free Americans should never live in fear of their government targeting them because of their beliefs. Roy actually pressed Attorney General Merrick Garland a few months ago about how the law is being applied and to whom, which is one of the main issues here. For context, the FACE Act is supposed to extend to the protection of pro-life pregnancy centers as well.

Are you concerned that enforcement of the FACE Act has been biased towards pro-lifers over anti-life processors 126 to 4? A 126 times against pro-lifers versus four times for people who dare to question the issue of life.

Biden, on the other hand, seems to be leaning into this pro-abortion positioning. We know his 2024 campaign team wants to continue to focus on abortion and the Trump era overturning of Roe v Wade.

Clearly, abortion has become a key campaign rallying cry for Democrats.

Yeah, certainly has.

Amanda, thanks for reporting.

You're welcome.

Elon Musk announced Monday that his company, Neuralink, has implanted a chip into a human brain for the first time. The Tesla billionaire says the patient is recovering well and initial results are promising.

Here with more is Daily Wire Culture reporter, Megan Basham. Also, Megan, obviously a ground-breaking announcement, not to mention pretty controversial. What do we know about Neuralink's capabilities and this first test case?

Well, this is a quarter-size chip, and it's probably not as small as a lot of people might imagine. It that's designed to be implanted in the part of the brain that controls movement. The idea is that it will interpret your neural activity so that you can operate a computer or a smartphone, really, just by thinking about it. A surgical robot implants the chip in the brain and it then records and sends brain signals to an app. The goal for the initial round of testing is for patients to be able to control a computer cursor or a keyboard with just their thoughts. Sounds pretty advanced. Well, Musk didn't say how many neurons his device bias is currently detecting, but he did say that initial results show promising neuron spike detection.

What does it actually do for patients?

Well, the initial application of the chip is intended to be in the medical field. If the technology proved successful, it could help patients who've suffered from traumatic brain injuries or spinal cord injuries that have left them paralyzed or paraplegic. Here's how Musk described it last summer during an interview on X.

It'll be about restoring functionality to people who've lost their connection between their brain and their body. You can imagine if, say, Stephen Hawking could talk or communicate as fast as somebody with a fully functioning body. That would be amazing. Then the second application would be restoration of eyesight. If somebody has gone completely blind, you can actually directly simulate the neurons in the visual part of the cortex.

But there's also less dramatic, but maybe more controversial possibilities like helping with mental focus.

Well, helping paraplegics move and communicate, that's one thing. But boosting or just interfering with actual cognition seems like it would be rife with ethical issues.

Yeah, absolutely. And depending on who you ask, myriad issues relating to that could become relevant in our lifetime. So independent journalist Lee Fang has broken a number of big tech stories. He has a story out this week about a new study sponsored by the Department of Defense. The authors write that this technology could usher in, quoting here, a complex high threat landscape emerging where future wars are fought with humans controlling hyper sophisticated machines with their thoughts.

Now, Musk is making headlines for this technology right now, but Neuralink is not actually the only company pursuing this, correct?

That is correct. They're definitely not. I think you can view this as somewhat akin to the space race of the last century. Those DOD researchers warned that China is also working on brain computer interface technology. Technology, and several CCP organizations are reportedly developing brain control weaponry for use by the Chinese military. Then you have corporate rivals, too, which is a little more pedestrian. Elon is not the only game in town here. There's a company called Synecron that is hoping to bring a smaller chip that sits on top of the brain inside the jugular vein to market. Then you also have BlackRock Neurotech, and it says it's already had some success with a similar device that's still in the testing phase, but they do say that their trial patients have been able to eat, send emails, and even control robotic arms with their thoughts. It's probably just a matter of time for something marketable with one of these companies.

Well, a very hopeful development for people with paralysis, but also a Pandora's box, it sounds like. Yeah. Megan, thanks for reporting.

Anytime.

Thank you for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more news you need to know.

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