Abortion rights protest sparked by Supreme Courtroom ruling in Dobbs

A pro-abortion rights protester takes part in nationwide demonstrations after the leaked Supreme Court Opinion raised the possibility of an abortion rights decision being overturned in Roe v. Wade in Houston, Texas on May 14, 2022.

Callaghan O’hare | Reuters

People across the United States skipped work on Friday to protest the Supreme Court’s recent decision overturning the federal constitutional right to abortion.

National teach-ins are organized by a group of Black women leaders and will be held online starting at 11:30 a.m. ET, hosted by actress and singer Naturi Naughton, with face-to-face meetings in cities including Atlanta, Washington, DC, New York City, Chicago and Oakland, California.

The event coincides with the 46th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment blocking federal Medicaid funding for abortion services.

And it also comes days before the Supreme Court’s next term, which begins on Monday.

Two of the organizers, Leslie Mac and Tiffany Flowers, said the idea for the event came from their dismay at the June verdict in the case known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

That decision overturned the state right to abortion that had been enshrined since 1973 by the Roe v. calf was protected.

“I was on a text thread with other black powerhouse women who were genuinely disappointed in our leaders — devastated, hurt, confused and unsure of what came next,” said Flowers, campaign director for The Frontline, a progressive group .

“What could we do to live up to the moment? Our motto is, we don’t torture ourselves, we organize,” she said.

Flowers and Mac brought together partner groups including the Movement for Black Lives, Move On, the Women’s March, MomsRising Together, March for Our Lives and the Working Families Party.

Tracey Corder, who organized the partners for the event, said: “The day without us is for everyone – regardless of your identity – because we are all inherently worthy of physical autonomy.”

“Any assault on our economic, political and human rights is an assault on our collective freedom, and Roe’s overthrow is part of a larger project of oppression,” Corder said.

More than 60% of Americans disagree with the Dobbs ruling, according to an NBC News poll released earlier this month.

While reproductive rights are at the heart of the event, organizers say it is also being held in support of progressive causes such as climate change, access to housing and labor rights.

The event is for “everyone who is fed up with being sick and tired!” reads the website.

“It’s an invitation,” Flowers said. “Both online and in local pop-ups, this day-long event will serve as a space for people to connect with each other and connect the dots about our struggles together. The doors of the movement are wide open and reproductive justice is the way forward.”

Bella Hadid will get a costume spray-painted on her bare physique at Paris Vogue Week

Bella Hadid not only kills the catwalk, she sprays.

During Paris Fashion Week, the supermodel caused a stir at the Coperni runway show on September 30 when she strutted topless down the runway, covering her breasts with her hands while wearing nude underwear and heels.

Reaching center stage, Bella stood erect and still while a team of three technicians painted a layer of white latex onto her naked body.

As they sprayed the paint, the 25-year-old raised her arms one at a time as her work slowly transformed into a mid-length dress with a high slit. When the artwork was complete, Bella rushed wildly down the runway showing off her new, made-to-measure ensemble.

The dress was made from Fabrican, a sprayable fabric invented in 2003 that cures into clothing. According to the company’s website, Founder Manuel Torres “envisioned a material that magically conforms to the body like a second skin, yet looks like clothing. With years of research and experimentation culminating in the realization of a sprayable substance from an aerosol can, Fabrican was born.”

Oath Keepers charged with seditious conspiracy to make use of harmful defenses

The most significant individual case so far from January 6 is now being heard before a jury in Washington DC. The case centers on the leaders of the Oath Keepers, who are accused of seditious conspiracy to attempt to overthrow the government as part of a coordinated plan. Now the AP is reporting that the defendants’ plan is to put Trump at the center of a bizarre and highly dangerous (to Trump and Oath Keepers) defense.

From the AP:

The defense team in the Capitol riot trial of the Oath Keepers leader is adopting an unusual strategy centered around Donald Trump. Lawyers for Stewart Rhodes, the extremist group’s founder, are ready to argue that the jury cannot find him guilty of seditious conspiracy because all actions he took before the January 6, 2021 siege are preparations for orders were he expected then—President—orders that never came.

Right. Except that’s not a defense. Because if the “orders never came,” then what did they try to overthrow the government?

Rhodes intends to take a stand to argue that he believed Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act to summon a militia to assist him, his attorneys said. Trump didn’t do that, but Rhodes’ team says what prosecutors are calling an illegal conspiracy was “actually lobbying and preparing for the president to implement” the law. It’s a new legal argument in what is one of the most serious cases since the Capitol attack.

Right. Only that’s still not a defense, “Roman” whatever it is. “Actually lobbying and preparing for the president to apply the law” doesn’t allow you a freebie in trying to overthrow the government.

One wonders. Rhodes will take a stand. Rhodes will talk about “anticipated orders”. Will Rhodes turn the process and the country on its head by pointing the finger directly at Trump and saying, “He informed us…” because it sure sounds like that’s the defense they really want to use and just dance around it? They would never, ever telegraph this defense in advance, Trump would rage and rage, and the Oath Keepers themselves could be targeted. But with ten to twenty years waiting to see how the trial plays out, Rhodes might be ready to blow the lid on anything. Probably not. But, wow, the stars are sure that he does.

And it’s still not a defense, even if Trump ordered them to. But it could easily be a factor in sentencing.

@JasonMiciak believes a day without learning is a day not lived. He is a political writer, columnist, author and lawyer. He is a Canadian-born dual citizen who spent his teens and college days in the Pacific Northwest and has since lived in seven states. Today he enjoys life as a single father to a young girl and writes on the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He loves making his flower pots, cooking and is currently studying philosophy of science, religion and non-mathematical principles behind quantum mechanics and cosmology. Please do not hesitate to contact us for lectures or other concerns.

Monkeypox unlikely to be eradicated in US, CDC says

The monkeypox virus is unlikely to be eliminated from the United States anytime soon, according to a report released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC said in a technical letter that the outbreak is slowing as vaccine availability has increased, people have become more aware of how to avoid infection, and immunity among gay and bisexual men, the most vulnerable to the virus affected group, has probably increased.

But low-level transmission of the virus among men who have sex with other men could continue indefinitely, according to the report. The CDC said it has no guidance on how many people in total could become infected with the virus.

The Biden administration declared a public health emergency in August to ramp up vaccines, testing, treatments and outreach to eradicate the virus in the United States

The US is trying to contain the world’s largest monkeypox outbreak, with nearly 26,000 cases reported in all 50 states, Washington DC and Puerto Rico, according to CDC data. According to the data, at least two people have died from the disease in the United States.

The worldwide outbreak of monkeypox, the largest in history, is highly unusual given the widespread spread of the virus in countries where it is not normally found. Historically, monkeypox has been common in remote parts of West and Central Africa. In this context, humans usually caught the virus from animals. There was little spread between people.

Monkeypox is now widely spread among humans, mainly through close contact during sex between gay and bisexual men. The disease is rarely fatal, but patients develop blister-like lesions in sensitive areas that are extremely painful. In some cases, the pain is so severe that people have to be hospitalized, and on rare occasions, people with weakened immune systems have died.

The CDC said in its report that the virus still spreads primarily among men who have sex with men. But anyone can contract the virus through close contact with an infected person or with contaminated material. Health authorities have so far confirmed 29 cases of children who have contracted the virus, and 78 cases in children are under investigation at the end of September.

Although 96% of patients are men, 408 women in the US have contracted the virus so far. Four pregnant women and one breastfeeding woman contracted monkeypox.

The CDC said the percentage of patients who identify as gay or bisexual men has declined over time, with 75% of those who gave their sexual history reporting male-to-male contact.

However, sex history data is lacking in a large number of cases, and more than 90% of infections occur in men, according to the CDC. The drop in the percentage of cases reporting male-to-male sexual contact is likely due to a lack of data rather than a change in the spread of the virus, according to the health agency.

The CDC said the outbreak is likely to focus long-term on men who have sex with men, with infections continuing to decline in the coming weeks and expected to decline significantly over the next few months.

More than 684,000 people have received the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine so far. Earlier this week, the CDC reported preliminary data suggesting the vaccine offers at least some protection against infection. The vaccination campaign is primarily aimed at gay and bisexual men.

The outbreak could accelerate again if the virus spreads widely among the US population through heterosexual networks or contacts that do not involve sex, according to the CDC. However, according to the CDC, there is no country in the current global outbreak that has found clear evidence of continued spread of the virus outside of gay and bisexual men’s sexual networks.

The health agency also warned that if the virus establishes itself in an animal population in the United States, it could spread more quickly among humans again. The CDC said it is not known which animals in North America are most susceptible to infection.

In Africa, the virus mostly spread from animals to humans. If monkeypox becomes established in animals in the United States, it would be very difficult to eradicate.

The recession could possibly be a serious handicap for Starbucks and Amazon unions

The union movement, launched across the country more than a year ago, has continued its momentum in 2022, with workers in warehouses, cafes, grocery stores and airlines pushing for representation.

Working conditions during the pandemic prompted many of these frontline workers to organize, but fears about the economy and a possible recession could slow the union boom if the labor market shifts.

Unions can help workers secure better wages, hours and job security through contractual agreements, but some organizers claim their employers are taking revenge and threatening their livelihoods.

Workers like Robert “Rab” Bradlea, 32, are willing to take the risk despite recession talk. Bradlea reduced his hours at Trader Joe’s Wine Store in New York City and took a second job when he and some of his colleagues were trying to unionize.

Bradlea said the move to organize under the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union had the support of most of his staff. Some refused to join a union, either because of past experience or fear of losing their jobs. But Bradley thought only he and his fellow organizers were putting themselves at risk.

“I thought they were going to look for ‘bad apples’ and target organizers rather than torching an entire store,” Bradlea said.

Instead, Trader Joe’s abruptly closed the location on August 11, before the beloved wine shop could even petition for union elections, and notified employees the same day. Trader Joe’s spokeswoman, Nakia Rohde, said in a statement to CNBC that the grocer decided to close the “underperforming” store to support its Union Square grocery store by using the wine store’s premises ahead of the holiday season .

The union boom of 2022

So far this year has proved a success for the labor movement. According to the National Labor Relations Board, union petitions from October 1 to June 30 rose 58% year-on-year to 1,892.

By May of this year, petitions for the year had exceeded the total number of submissions for all of last year. The NLRB has yet to release full-year data, but a CNBC analysis of filings shows that fiscal 2022 received nearly 900 more petitions from last year’s numbers.

This comes at a time when public support for unions continues to rise. Recent Gallup data shows that 71% of Americans now support unions, up from 68% last year and 64% before the pandemic. The measure is at its highest level since 1965.

The job market, particularly for retail, accommodation, hospitality, and transport and warehouse workers, still favors workers, with a combined 1 million more job vacancies in these three sectors today than before the pandemic.

“Right now in retail we have so many more jobs than workers and that gives us disproportionate power right now because the company needs them almost as much as we need them,” said Hannah Smith, an employee at the recently unionized REI- Store in Berkeley, California.

REI did not respond to a request for comment from CNBC.

The shift in power has prompted some employers to raise wages and improve other benefits. For example, Amazon said on Wednesday it was raising the average hourly wage from $18 to more than $19 for warehouse and delivery workers. The announcement comes ahead of the annual Prime Day promotion and a busy holiday season and union election in Albany next month.

As the Federal Reserve continues to aggressively raise interest rates to fight inflation and cool the economy, market watchers, economists and executives are warning of a possible recession in 2023. If the economy cools, the union movement could follow suit, according to Catherine Creighton, director of the department of industrial and labor relations at Cornell University in Buffalo. But in the short term it seems unlikely.

“I think it will certainly be more difficult when we have a recession where it is more difficult for employees to find other employment, they [may] less likely to take the risk of unionizing,” Creighton said. “I don’t see that we’re in that position at this point because employers are still having a very hard time filling vacancies baby boomers are retiring and all the evidence is pointing to the labor market in the near future will be favorable for workers.”

For now, proponents believe the momentum will be difficult to stem. From petitions to other gains, like a California law creating a council to regulate working conditions in the fast-food industry, 2022 was a stellar year for organizing.

“I think it’s the collective action you’re seeing that can’t be stopped by the recessionary forces as working people have walked through fire during this pandemic, turned up for work every day and in many cases are risking their lives.” , said Mary Kay Henry, President of the Service Employees International Union, “And they are willing to expect more in their working lives and to demand dignity and respect at work.”

Starbucks petitions are slowing down

Some employees say interest in organizing has waned somewhat as their employers appear to be fighting back, using tactics such as closing stores, firing organizers and offering enticing benefits only to non-unionized workplaces.

At Starbucks, for example, the number of union petitions fell every month from March through August. According to the NLRB, there was a slight increase in September with 10 petitions filed so far.

Since interim CEO Howard Schultz returned to the company in April, Starbucks has adopted a more aggressive strategy to resist the union push and invest in its workers.

In May, the company announced improved wage increases for non-union shops and additional training for baristas, which went into effect in August after holding feedback meetings with its employees. The union has said the coffee giant is illegally withholding inducements from cafes, but Starbucks claims it cannot offer new inducements to union stores without negotiations. Legal experts assume that the performance dispute will end before the NLRB.

“Our focus is on working directly with our partners to reshape the future of Starbucks. We respect our partners’ organizational rights, but believe that working directly – without third parties – is the best way to improve the partner experience at Starbucks,” Starbucks spokesman Reggie Borges told CNBC.

Tyler Keeling works as a barista trainer at a unionized Starbucks in Lakewood, California, and also organizes other deals with Starbucks Workers United. He said the additional benefits not offered to unionized shops have both intimidated and motivated people and that better pay is important in this economic climate.

“People see that Starbucks is willing to play around with their livelihood to prevent this union, and that scares people,” Keeling said.

He added that he believed that once the union made further progress on reinstating laid-off workers and it was successful in extending the benefits to union stores, there would be more progress on petitions.

And despite the looming recession, business is still pushing for more. Billie Adeosun, Starbucks barista and organizer in Olympia, Washington, said unionization is a “big risk” and claiming losing the job is a “real possibility” but the prospect of successful contract negotiations with better pay and benefits be a motivator.

“Most of us make $15 to $18 an hour and none of us work 40 hours a week and that’s just not a living wage,” Adeosun said. “A lot of us have to take on a second job or rely on government assistance to pay our bills, so yeah, we’re afraid to do that work despite the economy and the fact that it’s collapsing right in front of us.”

About 240 locations of the company’s 9,000 cafes voted to unionize on Sept. 22, according to the National Labor Relations Board. But contract negotiations could help or hinder an attempt to unionize the country’s largest coffee chain.

Hannah Whitbeck (C) of Ann Arbor, Michigan, speaks while Alydia Claypool (L) of Overland Park, Kansas, and Michael Vestigo (R) of Kansas City, Kansas, all say they were fired from Starbucks during the Fight Starbucks’ Union Busting rally and march in Seattle, Washington on April 23, 2022.

Jason Redmond | AFP | Getty Images

BTIG analyst Peter Saleh said signs of progress on a deal between the union and Starbucks could be a catalyst to speed up organizing again. On the other hand, if workers fail to reach an agreement, they can vote to de-certify the union after one year.

So far, Starbucks has only begun dealing with three stores, two in New York and one in Arizona. But the company said Monday it had sent letters to 238 cafes where it was offering a three-week window in October for negotiations to begin.

And despite the slowdown in the petition at Starbucks, the organizers’ success has inspired workers elsewhere, like Bradlea, Trader Joe’s employee.

“Your shops have about the same number of people as Trader Joe’s wine shop. It’s doable and they’re succeeding at it,” he said.

power in balance

Even amid talk of a possible recession, some workers say the competitive job market is undeterred. Brandi McNease, organizer at a now-closed location of the Chipotle Mexican Grill in Augusta, Maine, said the decision to petition was driven by worker power and the current economic climate.

“We looked at the endless job vacancy signs posted on every fast food drive-thru menu and decided we could just quit and take another job or fight and if we lose we always take another job,” McNease told CNBC in an email.

The store was the first to petition the burrito chain for a union election, and the company said the location closed permanently because of staffing issues, not because of the union’s petition. The workers have described the move as retaliation and have filed multiple complaints with the NLRB alleging unfair labor practices against the company, McNease said.

Chipotle declined to comment.

Some workers say the last recession highlighted the need for better worker protection today and now is the time to work towards it.

“I had co-workers who were going through the 2008 recession and they were having a really hard time finding a job,” said Smith, the REI California staffer. “Forming a union now felt like a way to protect against it in the future.”

Dwyane Wade disables feedback on Zaya Wade’s IG account

Dwyane Wade no longer represents the hate on his daughter’s social media account! The former NBA superstar announced that he is limiting comments Zaya Wadeis Instagram.

Wade made the announcement in a tweet Thursday after fans asked why the comments section on Zaya’s page was disabled.

Julian King, a Philadelphia musician, mentioned Wade and his wife Gabrielle Union on Twitter, saying, “I hate that I can’t comment hearts and sweet comments on Zaya Wade’s IG post. As a member of their community, the LGBTQ community, I want to give them a shout out too! @itsgabrielleu @DwyaneWade – fix it please.”

The former NBA superstar explained that commenting has been disabled due to Zaya’s mental health.

For Zaya’s mental health and privacy concerns, we’ve decided not to let the hate into her comments. Thank you for wanting to spread and show her love.”

Zaya recently popped up on Instagram sporting a whole new look – inches tall with a slightly battered face. Zaya’s new photos sparked a lot of conversation online as the teen, who came out as transgender in 2020, started to present himself in a more feminine way.

Despite the open love and support Zaya has received since coming out as transgender, the teenager has spoken out about the public scrutiny and criticism she has faced over the past two years. Zaya spoke about the topic during an interview with stepmom Gabrielle Union for the Dove Self-Esteem Project.

When I came out as trans, there was a lot of hateful comments about growing my hair long or fitting into a certain version of femininity, when that’s not true at all. That kind of advice is just trying to break you, but don’t let it.”

Zaya also revealed the most important lesson she learned from the ‘Bring It On’ star.

She tells me that not everyone in the world and in the media will be honest about how you look. I don’t have to believe everything they say. I just have to believe what I feel and what beauty means to me. I think focusing on inner beauty is the most important thing.”

Nonetheless oversold, choosing chip shares, membership names within the information

The US pronounces new Russia sanctions in response to Ukraine’s annexation

President Joe Biden speaks during the First State Democratic Dinner in Dover, Delaware.

Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Friday announced fresh economic sanctions against hundreds of Russian officials and entities in response to the Kremlin’s illegal annexation of four regions of Ukraine.

“Make no mistake: these actions have no legitimacy,” President Joe Biden said in a statement criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s goal of restoring a Soviet-style Russian empire.

“I call on all members of the international community to oppose Russia’s illegal annexation attempts and stand by the Ukrainian people for as long as is needed,” he said, promising that America and its allies would hold the Kremlin to account.

The new sanctions target several front companies outside Russia that were set up this year to help major Russian military suppliers evade the sanctions they were already facing.

The new designations also extend sanctions against senior Kremlin officials to include their wives and adult children. After seven months of war and economic sanctions, these revisions offer a glimpse of what US officials believe is working.

The Ministry of Finance named 14 international suppliers that support Russia’s military supply chains. In addition, 109 members of the State Duma of Russia and 169 members of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation were appointed.

Also new on Friday is Elvira Sakhipzadovna Nabiullina, Russia’s central bank governor and former Putin adviser. Since 2013, she has overseen efforts to protect the Kremlin from Western sanctions after Russia illegally seized Crimea in 2014, according to the Treasury Department.

The newly sanctioned family members are the relatives of members of Russia’s National Security Council. These include the wife and two adult children of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, and the wife and adult children of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will impose visa restrictions on Ochur-Suge Mongush over a gross human rights abuse committed against a Ukrainian prisoner of war and 910 people. The department will also impose visa restrictions on members of the Russian military, Belarusian military officials and deputies working on behalf of the Kremlin.

In addition, the Department of Commerce adds 57 companies to its export control list. It is again noted that penalties will be imposed on countries trying to provide material support to the defense sector of Russia and Belarus.

Announcing the annexations in Moscow on Friday, Putin declared that “there are four new regions of Russia,” referring to Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions.

Citing mock referendums held in Russian-occupied territories, Putin said voters agreed to become parts of Russia. These voices are widely considered manipulated and illegitimate by Western officials.

“The results are known, well known,” Putin said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a ceremony to formally annex four Russian-held regions of Ukraine at the Kremlin in Moscow September 30, 2022.

Gavriil Grigorov | AFP | Getty Images

Earlier this week, the White House said the US would never recognize the results of the “sham referendum” and would continue to provide military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

On Wednesday, the Biden administration announced $1.1 billion in additional security aid to Ukraine. The forthcoming aid package, the 22nd tranche of its kind, totals more than $16.2 billion since the Russian invasion in late February.

After Putin’s speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would make an “accelerated” application for his country to join the NATO military alliance.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits Kharkiv region of Ukraine for the first time since Russia’s attacks on his country on February 24, 2022, May 29, 2022.

Ukrainian Presidency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

“We’ve already made our way to NATO, we’ve already demonstrated compatibility with alliance standards,” Zelenskyy said on messaging app Telegram, referring to the technical elements of integrating Ukraine’s military into the 30-member defense alliance. “We are taking our decisive step by signing Ukraine’s application for accelerated accession to NATO,” he added.

In dramatic remarks to the 77th UN General Assembly last week, Zelenskyy called for more guns as his nation wages an epoch-making struggle for democratic principles and global order. Specifically, he called for long-range weapons, heavy artillery, and air defense systems.

Zelenskyy, who hasn’t left his war-weary nation since Russia’s invasion in February, received nearly a minute of applause and a standing ovation. His speech came just after Putin announced plans to recruit hundreds of thousands of Russian men for the war.

Putin’s order for some 300,000 Russians to join the fight marks the first time Moscow has conscripted civilians into the military for a war since World War II.

The Kremlin’s decision to push through a partial draft was prompted in part by a series of startling Ukrainian advances in recent weeks.

Armed with an arsenal of Western weaponry, Ukrainian forces have recaptured large areas occupied by Russian forces since the early days of the war. Their successes on the battlefield have tarnished the reputation of the Kremlin’s mighty war machine.

But as Ukraine struggles to retake the land village by village, the cost to civilians is huge.

According to United Nations estimates, the Russian invasion has so far claimed the lives of nearly 6,000 civilians and injured more than 8,600. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights adds that the death toll in Ukraine is likely higher.

Putin advances annexation while wielding a nuclear threat

Elon Musk exhibits the prototype of a humanoid robotic on the Tesla AI Day

Tesla is demonstrating an early prototype of the Optimus humanoid robot at its AI Day 2022 on September 30

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other leaders of the automaker’s AI and hardware teams spoke Friday night at the company’s 2022 AI Day, an engineer recruitment event in Palo Alto, California.

During the final AI Day in August 2021, Musk said Tesla is building a humanoid robot known as the Tesla Bot or Optimus. The company didn’t even have a prototype to show at the time, instead featuring a dancer dressed in a Tesla Bot spandex catsuit on stage.

That year, staffers from Musk and Tesla, who joined him on stage, showed off a bipedal humanoid robot they said was just a “crude development robot” that walked and waved its hands in the air. They said it was the first time the robot had walked around the stage in Palo Alto without mechanical assistance.

To warm up the audience, which included Tesla-focused social media influencers, Musk said: “We’ll talk about the advances in AI for full self-driving and how they apply more generally to real-world AI problems like a humanoid robot and even go beyond. I think there’s some potential that what we’re doing here at Tesla could make a meaningful contribution to AGI [artificial general intelligence].”

He continued, “And I think Tesla is a good company from a governance standpoint because we’re a publicly traded company with a single class of shares. That means the public controls Tesla, and I actually think that’s a good thing. So if I go insane, you can fire me – that’s important. Maybe I’m not crazy.”

Elon Musk previously co-founded (and later quit) an artificial intelligence company called OpenAI. In 2015, OpenAI boasted that it trained neural networks to enable a robotic hand that resembles a human hand to solve a Rubik’s Cube puzzle.

Back when Musk originally unveiled the Tesla bot concept at AI Day 2021, he said, “It should be able to, ‘Please go to the store and get me the following groceries,’ something like that.” Later Musk said Tesla robots could one day be worth more than his cars, and that thousands of them would work in Tesla factories, where people build cars and batteries.

During Friday’s presentation, Tesla employees showed how the humanoid robot they are developing could function in the future, including features such as Tesla-designed actuators that are like the robot’s muscles and adaptive robotic hands that will enable the robot to grow grab and manipulate a wide range of objects.

Milan Kovac, Tesla’s director of engineering for Autopilot, according to his LinkedIn profile, said the company’s experience in developing driver-assistance systems for Tesla vehicles, particularly computer vision systems, is helping the company figure out how how to make a humanoid robot work in the real world.

While robotics experts said Tesla doesn’t need a two-legged robot to make better automation work in its factories, Tesla employees spoke at length about their devotion to the human form on Friday. The staff also said they are working on a special battery and actuators for their robots to keep power consumption to a minimum so their robot can work for a full day on a single charge.

Tesla Autopilot employees also spoke at length about their quest to make Tesla cars autonomous without adding new hardware to them.

In the past, the company’s Autopilot team relied on manual data annotation to identify and describe objects in short video clips captured by cameras and sensors on Tesla vehicles. Data labelers would identify things like road boundaries, lane markings, or overlapping objects like a pedestrian blocking full view of a stop sign.

The labeled clips are used to train Tesla’s neural networks and improve driver assistance systems that allow their cars to navigate around and avoid obstacles automatically under the driver’s supervision.

Now Tesla says they’ve developed auto-labeling technology that allows the company to chew through half a million clips every day. At the end, a human comes in to “finish” the labels, but they get a boost from the automatic labeling system.

The speakers also discussed at length how many improvements they are making to the chips and data infrastructure developed by Tesla. They haven’t said when a self-driving car, safe to use in normal traffic without a human driver behind the wheel, will be available to paying customers.

Tesla is showing a prototype of its humanoid robot at AI Day 2022 on September 30th.

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Musk explained that Tesla held this AI Day event and showcased its robot prototype “to convince some of the most talented people in the world like you to join Tesla and help make it a reality.”

The CEO believes the humanoid robot “can help millions of people,” he said, because if it works, the world will have what he calls “a future of abundance,” a future where there is no poverty, where people can have whatever they want in terms of products and services.”

In his characteristically grandiose way, Musk said, “It’s really a fundamental transformation of civilization as we know it.”

After the CEO left the stage, but still during the AI ​​Day presentation, Musk wrote to his 107.4 million followers on Twitter: “Of course there will be a catgirl version of our Optimus robot.”

During a question-and-answer session, Musk admitted that developing a humanoid robot isn’t exactly in line with Tesla’s mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. He said Optimus is expanding Tesla’s mission to “make the future great.”

He said he thinks that in 3 to 5 years, customers will be able to buy an Optimus.

One participant asked Musk if he envisaged Tesla selling his supercomputer Dojo, which he uses for machine learning with AI, to other companies. Musk said he thinks it makes more sense to offer a dojo service, something like AWS, which he described as “a service that you can use that’s available online where you can train your models a lot faster and for less money.” .

Big promises

When Musk makes big promises, skeptics and his loyal fans scoff impotently.

The prominent CEO has been promising self-driving electric vehicles since 2016 and has raised billions in capital for Tesla by promising shareholders that Tesla’s autonomous vehicle technology would allow customers to turn their cars into working robotic taxis with just a software update.

While Musk said there would be a coast-to-coast driverless demo by the end of 2017, to date Tesla has only released driver-assistance systems that require constant monitoring by a human driver.

Marketed in the US as Autopilot, Enhanced Autopilot, FSD (short for Full Self-Driving Capability), and FSD Beta, Tesla’s driver-assistance systems have sparked federal and state safety investigations and allegations of false advertising, including California’s DMV and a number of its own customers.

Tesla also has a rocky record with automation in its factories. In 2018, after attempting to automate various aspects of vehicle production and quality assurance, Musk admitted that “over-automating at Tesla was a mistake” and “people are underestimated.”

Tesla is expected to release its third-quarter production and delivery report within days of the recruitment event. Deliveries are the closest approximation to Tesla’s published sales, and quarterly delivery reports are closely watched by shareholders.

Billie Eilish reveals the must-haves in her Backstage Rider

if Billie Eilish has these snacks backstage, she’ll be happier than ever.

So what does Billie’s official tab say on her contract? The “Ocean Eyes” singer shared what she’s dying to have before she hits the stage for her performances and performances, including a very specific type of bread.

“It’s called schar, this is this gluten-free brand from Germany,” the musician said in an Apple Music TikTok of her favorite choice of backstage carbs. “I have this and I always have peanut butter and jelly.”

What else does the pop star want? She added in the September 30 video, “I always like crackers and chips and salsa and guacamole. I always have pineapple and watermelon and tajin.”

For drinks, Billie sticks to soda, chocolate milk, and Poppi, a low-sugar, probiotic fizzy drink that she loves.

Another item on the 20-year-old’s list is “lots of ice cream, lots of water” and peanut butter pretzels (of course).