More from the article...

... The employees also warned that many of those enlisted by Musk to help him slash the size of the federal government under President Donald Trump's administration were political ideologues who did not have the necessary skills or experience for the task ahead of them. ...

... he was forced to correct President Trumpf on Ukraine....

Pres Macron was not forced to do anything.

Instead, France's Pres Macron simply refused to sit by and allow lies to be told.

Diplomatically, this was something huge that had occurred.

It occurred in real time, on air, via the news networks that were covering this event.

Pres Trump was held accountable for his incessant lying, on air and in real time.

When does the bombing of Paris begin? /s

@#6 ... Nah it's like the NFL ...

So... acknowledging that the US is now a controlled marketplace, like the NFL, and not a free-market as Capitalism says?

@#2 ... Has he forgotten the beating he got from Jon Stewart? ...

This?

Yeah, but my criterion for a robot is...

I toss a scrunched up tee-shirt at the robot.

How long does it take for that robot to undo the mess of the tee-shirt and wear it?

I face that problem every morning when I delve into the dresser drawer and take out an undershirt to wear for the day.

How would a robot handle that daily task?

Or do we just see the tasks that robots are good at doing, an not those that they fail miserably at?

More from the article ...

... "Pick up the cassette tape from the pile of stuff over there." What if Helix had never actually seen a cassette tape with its own eyes before (granted, they are pretty rare these days)? Combining the general knowledge that large language models (LLM) like ChatGPT have with Figure's own VLM, Figure can identify and pick out the cassette. It's unknown whether it'll appreciate Michael Jackson's Thriller as much as we did though. ...

More from the OpEd ...

... President Donald Trump is no stranger to conspiracy: He rose to political prominence by touting the racist lie that Barack Obama was born in Kenya. His team isn't either: Take Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s longtime baseless conviction that childhood vaccines cause autism or the billionaire Elon Musk's promotion of the 2016 "Pizzagate" conspiracy theory.

The embrace of conspiracy theories isn't new, but now that Trump is back in power, there is a direct pipeline between online conspiracy theories and government policy -- and in some cases, it's happening at breathtaking speed.

At times, the administration takes a kernel of truth and then distorts it wildly. At others, it's entirely unclear where the theories are coming from.

Here are four examples of this government by conspiracy theory: ...

My comment is only the opinion that the wimp Mr Carlson has not a clue what he seems to be asking for.

@#1 ... In an interview, Fishback said the dividend only going to households above a certain income threshold ...

So... the wealthy?

More from the article ...

... Fishback, CEO of the investment firm Azoria who briefly worked with former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy as DOGE was just getting off the ground, told NBC News in an interview that he awoke from that dream and, working with the lead researcher at his firm, composed a brief proposal to send millions of American households checks.

"We fleshed this thing out in about two and a half hours," Fishback said Wednesday. "We sent it to [White House chief of staff] Susie [Wiles], sent it to some folks in the admin, sent it to some folks at Treasury, and here we are a day or so later, with it being shared with President Trump from Elon. And so it's exciting." ...

In an interview, Fishback said the dividend only going to households above a certain income threshold should ease concerns about any inflationary pressure the rebates would cause, adding that the pandemic-era checks were sent "indiscriminately." ...

More ...

@#3

@#15 ... President Volodomir Zelensky is a true leader ...

Yup.

It is not about him, it is about the Country he leads.

Well, yeah.

Just look at this photo from the Helsinki Conference of Pres Trump's first term ...

@#8 .. Because they're broke --- ------- who cant even afford themselves? ...

Yet, the Ukrainian army fights on against an overwhelming foe.

Wouldn't that be a trait you might want in a defensive army?

Putting this into perspective ...

The appointees of Pres Trump are having an issue with what the co-Pres Musk is doing.

OK, my first question might be ...

Can I be a fly on the wall when this issue is discussed between Mr Musk and Pres Trump? Please, Please.

That aside, and more to the point ...

Does Pres Trump even know what Mr Musk is doing?

Or does Pres Trump react only when Mr Musk's wanderings make it into the headlines?

Stated differently ...

Does Pres Trump have a clue about what he has unleashed upon the American people with Mr Musk's DOGE?

... A hack at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) ...

As a result of a backdoor of DOGE's efforts?

I wish I knew.

@#46

Ooops.

should be...

In my area, the ISP has been replacing the coax on the poles with fiber optics.

Apologies.

@#4 ... That's not letting the market decide, that's picking winners and losers! ...

Yup.

But what is the selection criterion for that picking?

... The unidentified men displayed no badges or credentials and worked for a private security firm. ...

This ain't good.

More from the cited article...

... A legislative town hall meeting hosted by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee (KCRCC) descended into violence on Saturday when three unmarked men forcibly removed a woman from the auditorium. Leading to her receiving a citation which has since been rescinded.

The Coeur d'Alene Police confirmed Lear Asset Management was the company that employed those three men.

Teresa Borrenpohl was at Coeur d'Alene High School, where Republican legislators had gathered to provide updates on the current legislative session. The KCRCC and the Coeur d'Alene Police confirmed that the KCRCC hired the private security company.

According to the police, Lear Asset Management has since had its business license revoked for violating Coeur d'Alene City ordinances regarding security markings and identification.

The incident occurred during a discussion about reproductive rights legislation when Borrenpohl called out, "Is this a lecture or a town hall?"

Witnesses said that three unidentified men from Lear, who were not wearing badges or official identification, approached Borrenpohl and physically removed her from her seat. ...

@#45 ... Streams that are coming over the same wires, in the same trenches, that were dug for cable in the 1980s... ...

Yes and no.

In my area, the ISP has been the coax on the poles with fiber optics. The result is that the coax is only local on my street. The distribution to the street is fiber.

Now, if you are talking about the backbone transit routes, say, from Boston to NYC, yeah, that' a different story.

Back in the 90's when I rode my bicycle around the area, I once came upon a construction crew. I stopped ansd asked them what they were doing.

While they did not say what company they were working for, they did tell me that they were putting into place a Boston-to-NYC fiber line.

(Aside: I have noticed that construction workers seem to be quite open when you talk with them while riding a bicycle...)

So yeah, back then there was a lot of fiber put down into the ground. I remember google being quite aggressive in that area.

@#30 ... There's this thing called wireless internet... I don't need cable, nor have I had cable in the last 8 -9 years. ...

Now there is that alternative.

But back when cable was called CATV (Community Antenna Television). CATV started when a rural techie put up an antenna on a tower and then provided TV reception to the few people around him.

But now we have streaming.

Things change.

@#2

Yeah, that seems to be a known regarding Pres Trump.

But the lawyers representing him in Court are subject to a higher standard. From what I've read, they are Officers of the Court. And prevaricating is not something that Judges seems to enjoy from Officers of the Court.

@#22 ... On another front, why don't you look into how much Cheney was worth before she came into office and then after ...

Yeah, let's do that.

My first two people I'd like to see subject to that exploration are Pres Trump and co-president Musk.

Are you game?

Taking a step back and looking at the larger picture...

Let's say all the ~welfare~ given to farmers is terminated.

Who will be affected?