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Every now and then there is an event that really kind of sums it all up.

Such is the case regarding the Adventure of Joe Biden and the Chinese Spy Balloon. The incident featured all of the hapless buffoonery of an administration that hardly seems capable of lifting a foot without landing on a misstep. The balloon saga, once again, occasioned the White Houses usual unfortunate mix of incompetence, lying, hiding, and being overruled. In other words, just another day in the Biden presidency.

Lets begin with the incompetence. When news broke that a Chinese surveillance balloon had been spotted over Montana last week, Joe Biden and his gaggle of nitwits appeared not only surprised but utterly without a plan. This, despite the fact that they had known for days that the balloon had entered US airspace, and by some reporting, known for weeks it was coming.

So what happened once the public became aware of it? Biden let the spy device traverse the entirety of the country before eventually shooting it down. Literally the plan was, were just gonna let it float around for a few days.

That brings us to the lying. When the news of the spy balloon dropped, The State Department told us Secretary Anthony Blinken was cancelling his planned trip to China because of Chinas irresponsible act. But again, shortly thereafter we learned that the White House had known about the balloon for days. So this wasnt some slap in the face of China for daring to violate U.S. airspace, as it was presented. Anthony Blinken knew perfectly well that this irresponsible act had taken place and was packing his pajamas for Beijing anyway. Until the public found out about the balloon.

This is approximately the point at which, as usual, Joe Biden went into virtual hiding. As the media swarmed like vultures around the story and calls to shoot the balloon down intensified the president had little to say and wasnt taking many questions. It was Biden in the basement all over again at a time when he should have been assuring the nation that somebody, anybody, actually knew what the hell was going on and what to do about it.

Finally, we get to Joe Biden being overruled, as we learned the president originally wanted to shoot it down on Wednesday, but his military advisers told him not to. Just like when he announced that the United States would go to war to defend Taiwan and his advisors overruled him, saying the policy hadnt changed, just like every time he tells us his handlers will get mad at me if he asks the wrong questions. Does Joe Biden ever make a decision on his own?

These four elements incompetence, lying, hiding, and being overruled are the four corners of the Biden administration. They use this playbook over and over.

Look at the classified documents scandal.

The incompetence was tracking top secrets all over the place like they were a bits of toilet paper stuck to his shoe. The lying was Joe telling us it was just a few items in the DC office when he already knew about the documents in Delaware. The hiding is the absurd claim that the White House cant talk about this because of the investigation, a claim denied by the Department of Justice. Finally, the president saying he doesnt know whats in the documents because, his lawyers had advised him not to even ask what was in the files, is a classic case of Joe Biden being overruled.

These four elements can be applied to pretty much every Biden debacle. And there is a good reason they do it over and over and over again because they know that even when theyre caught in a lie, the media will make excuses for them. Until that changes, nothing is going to change. The administration will continue gaslighting the American people as they seek to push Grandpa Joe either over the 2024 finish line or under the bus.

Whatever foul leviathan is actually running American policy out of the White House, because by his own admission its not Joe Biden, is absolutely ruthless. They will lie forever, safe in the knowledge that our news giants will protect them, usually by finding some way to make the story Trumps fault.

The bad news is we have two more years of this. The good news is nothing this administration has done in the first two suggests they can correct their course and restore Americas faith in Biden. There are those who say Bidens is the worst presidency, but maybe its not a presidency at all, maybe instead, it is a playbook of lies meant to capture as much power as possible while the old man dithers.

David Marcus is a West Virginia based columnist and author of Charade: The Covid Lies That Crushed A Nation. Follow him on Twitter @Blueboxdave

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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Musk says Tesla is expanding Austin robotaxi service, adding Grok to cars

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Musk says Tesla is expanding Austin robotaxi service, adding Grok to cars

Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends an opening ceremony for Tesla China-made Model Y program in Shanghai, China, on Jan. 7, 2020.

Aly Song | Reuters

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company is expanding its robotaxi service area and bringing xAI’s Grok to vehicles as it rolled out a new iteration of the artificial intelligence chatbot.

Shares gained about 3%.

Musk said on X that Grok, his AI chatbot that praised Adolf Hitler and posted a barrage of antisemitic comments recently, will be available in Tesla vehicles “next week at the latest.”

xAI officially launched the Grok 4 update overnight as the company continued to face backlash for the vitriol written by the chatbot.

In response to a user post on his social media platform X, Musk said the company is expanding its Austin, Texas robotaxi service area this weekend. He also said Tesla is awaiting regulatory approval for a launch in the Bay Area “probably in a month or two.”

Read more CNBC tech news

The expansion of robotaxi and Grok integration comes at a fraught time for Musk and his empire.

Tesla set its annual shareholder meeting for Nov. 6, a Thursday filing showed. A group of investors recently called on the electric vehicle company to schedule the meeting.

Its last shareholder meeting was in June 2024, as Musk established himself as a major backer of President Donald Trump‘s reelection campaign. Musk later led the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE.

After stepping down from DOGE at the end of May, Musk has openly feuded with Trump on social media over the major tax bill, with the president suggesting the government look at cutting contracts for Musk’s companies.

Shares have tanked from their post-election high over investor concerns that the public fight could hamper Tesla. Slowing sales and rising competition also stifled some investor appetite.

Tesla shares fell Monday, with the company losing $68 billion in value after Musk continued to blast Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” and said he was establishing his own political party, the “America Party.”

The world’s richest man suffered another blow Wednesday when Linda Yaccarino stepped down as CEO of his social media platform X, leaving the role after a turbulent two years for the company.

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The Hyundai IONIQ 6 N is here and it’s even better than expected

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The Hyundai IONIQ 6 N is here and it's even better than expected

The Hyundai IONIQ 6 N is finally here, and it delivers. Hyundai’s electric sports car is loaded with fun new features, a sleek design (including a massive rear wing), 641 horsepower, and much more.

Meet the Hyundai IONIQ 6 N

After teasing the new model for the first time last month, Hyundai created quite a buzz. Now, we are finally getting our first look at the upgraded high-performance EV.

Hyundai unveiled the new IONIQ 6 N at the famed Goodwood Festival of Speed on Thursday in West Sussex, England. The upgraded model follows Hyundai’s first high-performance EV, the IONIQ 5 N.

At the event, the company boasted that its new electric sports car marks “a pivotal milestone in Hyundai N’s electrification journey,” adding “Hyundai N is once again redefining the boundaries of high-performance electrification with the debut of the IONIQ 6 N.”

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The IONIQ 6 N delivers an impressive 641 horsepower (478 kW) and 77 Nm of torque, enabling a 0 to 100 km/h (0 to 62 mph) sprint in just 3.2 seconds. Its top speed is about 160 mph (257 km/h).

Hyundai-IONIQ-6-N-EV
Hyundai IONIQ 6 N (Source: Hyundai)

That’s when using Hyundai’s Launch Control, one of the many performance features the new EV offers. Like its other N models, the IONIQ 6 is based on three pillars: Corner Rascal, Racetrack Capability, and, of course, an Everyday Sportscar.

Powered by two electric motors, a 223 hp (166 kW) at the front and another 378 hp (282 kW) motor at the rear, for a combined 600 hp (448 kW).

Hyundai-IONIQ-6-N-EV
Hyundai IONIQ 6 N (Source: Hyundai)

Redefining the EV driving experience

The upgraded IONIQ 6 “redefines the EV driving experience,” according to Hyundai, thanks to its advanced in-house vehicle control software.

Central to this is Hyundai’s N Active Sound + system, which mimics the feel and sound of a traditional engine. An added N e-Shift simulates shifting gears.

Hyundai-IONIQ-6-N-EV
Hyundai IONIQ 6 N interior (Source: Hyundai)

And that’s just the start. Other performance features, such as N Drift Optimizer, N Grin Boost, and N Torque Distribution, give you even more control over the vehicle while delivering increased power.

The IONIQ 6 N is powered by an 84 kWh battery, providing a WLTP range of up to 291 miles (469 km). However, EPA figures will be revealed closer to launch. Given the IONIQ 5 N has an EPA-estimated range of up to 221 miles, you can expect it to be slightly higher when it arrives.

With a 350 kW DC fast charger, Hyundai’s new performance EV can recharge from 10% to 80% in about 18 minutes.

With a length of 4,935 mm, a width of 1,940 mm, and a height of 1,495 mm, the IONIQ 6 N is about the size of the Porsche Taycan.

Hyundai will showcase the new high-performance EV during the hillclimb event alongside other models like the IONIQ 5 N, IONIQ 6 N Drift Spec, and IONIQ 6 N with N Performance parts. Hyundai promises each vehicle brings unique capabilities to the event, “guaranteeing a dynamic and thrilling on-track experience for all attendees.” Check back soon for more info.

What do you think of Hyundai’s new electric sports car? Would you buy one over the Porsche Taycan? Let us know in the comments.

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Environment

Elon Musk says Grok is coming to Tesla vehicles just after it went full Hitler

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Elon Musk says Grok is coming to Tesla vehicles just after it went full Hitler

Elon Musk said that Tesla owners will “soon” have access to Grok, a large language developed by Musk’s xAI startup, days after the AI started calling itself ‘MechaHitler’.

Yesterday, xAI launched Grok 4, the latest version of its large language model.

The new model is benchmarking very well, but that’s generally the case with the latest model to come out. It edges the latest models from Google and OpenAI on intelligence by a few points, but it falls behind on speed:

At the launch event, Musk announced that Grok will “soon” be integrated into Tesla vehicles.

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This is something that the CEO has been discussing since founding xAI, which has been controversial because Musk has also positioned Tesla to compete in the AI space. He even stepped down from his role at OpenAI due to a “conflict of interest with Tesla.”

The announcement of the imminent integration of Grok into Tesla vehicles comes just days after the language model went haywire on X and started praising Hitler, referring to itself as ‘MechaHitler’, and made several antisemitic comments.

xAI acknowledge the issue and put Grok on timeout while they fixed it:

We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts. Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X. xAI is training only truth-seeking and thanks to the millions of users on X, we are able to quickly identify and update the model where training could be improved.

The “bug” came just a few weeks after Musk stated that he was displeased with Grok supporting left-wing narratives, even though it didn’t say anything inncurate, and that he would update Grok to “fix” it.

Now, the large language model (LLM) is expected to power the new voice assistant inside Tesla vehicles.

LLMs are becoming quite common in cars, especially premium vehicles. Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, and a few others have all integrated Chat-GPT in some models.

Many Chinese automakers have also developed their own and deployed them in cars, even entry-level ones.

Tesla is playing catch up on that front.

Electrek’s Take

As I have previously stated, I think Musk is setting up Tesla to invest or even merge with xAI at a ridiculous valuation – making Tesla shareholders virtually pay twice for Twitter, which is now part of xAI.

This is how he will be able to gain wider control over the company’s share.

Of course, it will be widely challenged in court. In fact, shareholders have already filed a lawsuit alleging that Musk was in breach of fiduciary duties to Tesla shareholders when he started xAI.

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