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Tesla lays off ‘more than 10%’ of its global workforce

Apr 15 2024 - 2:35 am PT

Tesla has announced layoffs of “more than 10%” of its global workforce in an internal company-wide email. We exclusively reported yesterday that Tesla was prepping a massive layoff.

For the last few months, it has looked like Tesla might be preparing for a round of layoffs. Tesla told managers to identify critical team members, and paused some stock rewards while canceling some employees’ annual reviews. It also reduced production at Gigafactory Shanghai.

Then, over the weekend, we heard rumors that these layoffs were about to happen, which came to us from multiple independent sources, as we reported on yesterday. The rumors indicated that layoffs could be as high as 20%, and in addition we heard that Tesla would shorten Cybertruck production shifts at Gigafactory Texas (despite CEO Elon Musk’s recent insistence that Cybertruck is currently production constrained).

Now those rumors have been confirmed – though with a lower number – in a company-wide email sent by Musk, which leaked soon after it was sent. The full text of the email is below:

Over the years, we have grown rapidly with multiple factories scaling around the globe. With this rapid growth there has been duplication of roles and job functions in certain areas. As we prepare the company for our next phase of growth, it is extremely important to look at every aspect of the company for cost reductions and increasing productivity.

As part of this effort, we have done a thorough review of the organization and made the difficult decision to reduce our headcount by more than 10% globally. There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done. This will enable us to be lean, innovative and hungry for the next growth phase cycle.

I would like to thank everyone who is departing Tesla for their hard work over the years. I’m deeply grateful for your many contributions to our mission and we wish you well in your future opportunities. It is very difficult to say goodbye.

For those remaining, I would like to thank you in advance for the difficult job that remains ahead. We are developing some of the most revolutionary technologies in auto, energy and artificial intelligence. As we prepare the company for the next phase of growth, your resolve will make a huge difference in getting us there. Thanks, Elon

Additionally there are reports that some employees have already been locked out of system access.

While we don’t have an exact percentage, “more than 10%” means at least 14,000 employees will be laid off, as Tesla’s employee headcount is somewhere on the order of 140,000 total employees (Notably, Tesla’s headcount has not experienced as much “rapid growth” in recent years as it has in the past, making that line of the email ring somewhat hollow).

And we don’t know which specific teams will be most or least affected by Tesla’s layoffs, but two well-known Tesla executives are now missing the “Tesla-affiliated” badge on twitter – Drew Baglino and Rohan Patel.

Baglino is still listed as Senior VP of Powertrain and Energy on Tesla’s website, and Patel is Tesla’s Policy chair who has also served as an impromptu Tesla PR arm on twitter, commenting on news in the place of Tesla’s still incomprehensibly-nonexistent PR department.

While this may not mean anything, the badge does still exist and is shown on Franz von Holzhausen and Martin Viecha‘s profiles, so it is conspicuous that it is missing from the aforementioned executives.

The news follows a bad quarterly delivery report in which Tesla significantly missed delivery estimates, and had a rare year-over-year reduction in sales. While Tesla does not break out sales by geographical region, the main dip seems to have come from China, where Chinese EV makers are ramping quickly both in the domestic and export market.

Tesla will deliver its quarterly profits report next Tuesday, April 23. Analysts estimate that Tesla will still turn a profit of around 50 cents a share, down from 85 cents a share in Q1 2023.

In previous quarters, Tesla has guided for a “pause” inbetween growth phases, expecting that sales growth would be more modest until the release of next-gen vehicles like the ~$25,000 Model 2 (though Reuters recently reported that Musk wants to shift Tesla’s focus to a robotaxi model, which Musk denied just hours before announcing the robotaxi unveiling event).

Tesla’s layoffs come at a time when many other companies in the tech industry are laying off staff, in an apparent game of follow-the-leader while industry profits are still high.

https://electrek.co/2024/04/15/tesla-lays-off-more-than-10-of-its-global-workforce/

Feds bust illegal immigrant theft ring that targeted home improvement stores

Monday, April 15, 2024

Federal authorities said they have busted up a massive theft operation run by illegal immigrants from Guatemala that targeted Home Depot stores along the Atlantic coast, stealing and re-selling power tools and other high-dollar items.

At least 15 people were involved and they scammed stores from Virginia to Maine, walking out with tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment, investigators said.

Prosecutors announced charges against four men this weekend. They had repeated entanglements with the law — one had six arrests for stealing from stores — yet all four were still in the country illegally.

Brendan Cullen, a Homeland Security Investigations agent, told the judge in the case that the gang showed “a pattern of brazen criminal activity.”

“Despite arrests in multiple states for retail theft beginning in 2019 and continuing into April of 2024, the Target Subjects repeat the same or similar patterns of conduct with little regard for any consequences,” Mr. Cullen wrote in a search warrant application filed in federal court in Rhode Island.

He documented nearly 40 incidents starting in 2019 and calculated losses to be at least $238,000. He said investigators are working to link other cases to the list.

The case is the latest in a series of high-profile shoplifting and theft cases attributed to illegal immigrants. Those cases are getting intense attention amid the Biden border migrant surge and concerns about crime, but the Guatemalan gang, operating since at least 2019, shows the issue predates President Biden.

The four men charged are Marvin Estuardo Morales De Paz, 33; Abraham Dayger-Enrique, 24; Sebastian Lajuj-Soloman, 30; and Jonathan Josue Amperez-Perez, 31.

Mr. Cullen said all four men are here illegally and Mr. Morales De Paz has been deported twice before. He also said Mr. Morales De Paz has used a lengthy list of fake names when he’s been arrested by both federal and local authorities, indicating the number of times he’s gotten entangled with police.

The Washington Times has sought the men’s immigration history from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Mr. Cullen said the men used distraction and concealment to steal things.

In one theft in Boston on Dec. 8, 2022, several of the gang’s members entered a Home Depot and selected large cabinets still in their boxes. They cut open the boxes and stuffed the cabinets with high-value electrical wire, then resealed everything. They also took a bathtub out of its box, stuffed the box with wire and left the tub on the floor of the store.

They walked out, paying the $1,130 price for the cabinets and tub and getting away with nearly $18,000 in stolen wire.

They would later return the cabinets at other stores for a refund of that money. They also came back to a store, picked up another bathtub just like the one they’d dumped in the aisle at the previous store, and took it to the desk to try to claim a refund, Mr. Cullen said. The refund seems to have been declined but the men walked out with that bathtub.

The gang’s biggest known strike was nearly $29,000 of wire from a Home Depot in Johnston, Rhode Island, in April 2023.

In addition to wire, they also stole power tools and flooring, Mr. Cullen said.

Mr. Cullen said authorities confiscated cell phones from some of the men after attempted thefts and they helped investigators peer more deeply into the thefts.

They found the men took photos of the security cameras at the stores and also kept photos of what seemed to be piles of stolen wire and tools.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/apr/15/feds-bust-illegal-immigrant-theft-ring-that-target/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS

Anna Paulina Luna

@realannapaulina

Today we have an opportunity to #killFISA.

🚨 IT NEEDS TO BE AMENDED TO REQUIRE A WARRANT FOR SURVEILLANCE. 🚨

Voting starts at 6:30pm.

Please phone your rep and ask them to protect your 4th amendment.

Apr 15, 2024, 8:33 AM

https://truthsocial.com/@realannapaulina/posts/112275960939910942

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

@RepMTG

The 7,000% increase of single adult Chinese nationals apprehended at our border should be what Congress is working on stopping this week, not funding foreign wars.

And Schumer MUST hold the impeachment trial in the Senate of Secretary Mayorkas.

Apr 15, 2024, 8:44 AM

https://truthsocial.com/@RepMTG/posts/112276002922692564

Samsung knocks Apple out as world’s biggest phone seller

Monday, April 15, 2024

In a significant shift within the mobile phone industry, Samsung has claimed the title as the world’s largest seller of mobile phones, according to the latest market data.

The change comes after a pronounced dip in sales for tech giant Apple, which briefly held the leading position.

Over a span of 12 years, Samsung had consistently held the top spot until Apple‘s iPhone sales surged ahead at the end of 2023.

However, recent figures from International Data Corp. (IDC), a prominent research firm, indicate that Samsung has once again taken the lead with a 20.8% share of the global market, compared to Apple‘s 17.3%.

“While Apple has been super resilient and seen a lot of growth in shipments and share over the last few years, it will be a challenge for it to maintain the pace of growth and the peak share it saw in 2023,” Nabila Popal, research director at IDC, told the Daily Mail. “As the market recovers further in 2024, IDC expects Android to grow much faster than Apple.”

The total number of smartphones shipped globally saw an 8% increase in the first quarter, totaling 289.4 million units.

Apple‘s challenges in China have been exacerbated by competitive pressures from local manufacturers such as Xiaomi and Huawei. Further complications have arisen from the Chinese government’s decision to restrict the use of foreign-made devices in official capacities.

Apple, nonetheless, maintains a stronghold over the premium segment of the smartphone market globally. Despite recent setbacks, the company’s market valuation remains robust, standing at $2.7 trillion as of last Friday, second only to Microsoft which is capitalizing on the burgeoning interest in artificial intelligence technology.

Enhancing its product lineup with the introduction of the high-end Galaxy S24 series at the beginning of the year, Samsung has witnessed an uptick in sales.

Samsung’s S24 smartphones, unveiled at the Galaxy Unpacked event in San Jose, are equipped with cutting-edge artificial intelligence features, such as real-time translation during phone calls and advanced video editing software.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/apr/15/samsung-knocks-apple-out-as-worlds-biggest-phone-s/

Deep sea expedition uncovers more than 50 never-before-seen species off the coast of Chile - from a 'flying spaghetti monster' to a glow-in-the-dark dragonfish

UPDATED: 10:48 EDT, 15 April 2024

Glow-in-the-dark dragonfish and flying spaghetti monsters may seem better suited to fantasy than science.

But these are just some of the 50 never-before-seen species discovered during an expedition off the coast of Chile.

An international team of scientists mapped 30,115 square miles (78,000 square km) of seafloor along the Salas y Gómez Ridge near Rapa Nui, also called Easter Island.

Along this 1,800-mile (2,900km) ocean mountain range the researchers observed 160 species - almost a third of which were new to science.

Dr Javier Sellanes of the Universidad Católica del Norte, said: 'The astonishing habitats and animal communities that we have unveiled during these two expeditions constitute a dramatic example of how little we know about this remote area.'

Salas y Gómez Ridge stretches from the island of Rapa Nui in the Pacific Ocean to just off the coast of Chile.

This ridge consists of 110 seamounts - underwater mountains that are particularly rich in sea life.

This area supports distinct ecosystems such as glass sponge gardens and deep coral reefs as well as supporting the migrations of animals like whales, sea turtles, and sharks.

The 40-day expedition surveyed 10 seamounts and two islands.

The team's goal was to gather data about Salas y Gómez Ridge as part of an application for high-seas protected area designation under the UN High Seas Treaty.

This follows the researchers' previous expedition to the nearby Nazca and Juan Fernandez Ridge which found more than 100 suspected new species.

Some parts of the ridge that sit within Chile's territory are already protected, but many of the seamounts sit in international waters and are unprotected.

Dr Sellanes said: 'These expeditions will help alert decision-makers about the ecological importance of the areas and contribute to strengthening protection strategies within and beyond jurisdictional waters.'

The species in need of protection include the Bathyphysa siphonophore - a particularly strange creature often called the 'flying spaghetti monster' due to its many tentacles.

Siphonophores, a family of animals including the Portuguese Man O' War, are gelatinous drifters made up of thousands of specialised parts.

While these alien-like creature look like one animal, they are actually colonies of individual organisms that all perform different tasks.

The researchers also found a Galaxy Siphonophore, a relative of the flying spaghetti monster, which uses its web of tentacles to catch fish, plankton, and small crustaceans.

Another incredible animal found by the researchers was the deep-sea dragonfish.

These undersea apex predators are known for their enormous jaws and terrifying teeth which they use to snag prey.

This particular fish also demonstrated a stunning example of bioluminescence.

Down around 5,000 ft (1,500m) where the dragonfish make their home, almost no light from the sun can penetrate.

This means that many creatures in the so-called 'bathypelagic zone' produce their own light through chemical processes.

Some use this light to communicate and find mates, while others like the dragonfish use their lights to lure in unsuspecting prey.

Alongside these incredible species, the researchers also found large octopi, squat lobsters, starfish and even the world's deepest photosynthesis-dependant coral.

cont.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13310079/Deep-sea-expedition-uncovers-Chile.html

Ron Paul: FISA Exchanges Real Liberty for Phantom Security.

April 15th 2024, 10:59 am

House Speaker Mike Johnson betrayed liberty and the Constitution by making a full-court press to get a “clean” reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Act through the House.

Section 702 authorizes warrantless surveillance of foreign citizens. When the FISA Act was passed, surveillance state boosters promised that 702 warrantless surveillances would never be used against American citizens. However, intelligence agencies have used a loophole in 702, allowing them to subject to warrantless surveillance any American who communicated with a non-US citizen who was a 702 target. Intelligence agencies could then also conduct warrantless surveillance on any Americans who communicated with the new American target. This Section 702 loophole has been used so often to subject Americans to warrantless wiretapping that it has been referred to as the surveillance state’s crown jewel.

A bipartisan coalition of Republican and Democratic House members worked to add a warrant requirement to the FISA bill. Speaker Johnson agreed to allow a vote on the House floor on an amendment requiring federal officials to get a warrant before subjecting any American to surveillance. However, he publicly opposed the amendment, as did President Biden. Prominent deep state operatives, such as former Secretary of State and CIA Director Mike Pompeo, also lobbied against the amendment.

The case against adding a warrant requirement to FISA consisted of hysterical claims that forcing the surveillance state to obey the Fourth Amendment would make Americans vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Particularity, the claim was made that forcing national security operatives to get a warrant before spying on US citizens would cripple the ability to respond to a “ticking time bomb” situation.

Those claims were debunked by the heroic Edward Snowden, who made the American people aware of the extent of warrantless surveillance. Snowden, who worked as a government contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA), posted in a message on X (formally known as Twitter) that the warrant amendment would not stop federal agencies from acting without a warrant in a “ticking time bomb” situation.

A vote was held Friday afternoon on the amendment requiring a warrant before Section 702 powers would be used to spy on American citizens. Despite the fearmongering by Mike Pompeo and others, as well as the opposition of both President Biden and Speaker Johnson, the amendment failed to pass by only one vote. The amendment would have passed had Speaker Johnson not cast a rare floor vote (speakers usually do not vote on legislation) against the amendment.

When the PATRIOT Act was rushed to the House floor in the fall of 2001 — weeks after 9-11 — and voted upon before members had a chance to read it, only three Republicans voted against it. One conservative representative told me he voted for it even though he agreed with my opposition to the bill. He told me, “I can’t go back home and tell my constituents I voted agent the PATRIOIT Act!”

While the failure to pass the warrant amendment was dispiriting, the fact that it failed by only one vote shows how much progress we have made. It should thus inspire us to keep encouraging Congress to refuse to take away real liberty in the name of promises of phantom security.

https://truthsocial.com/@ronpaul/posts/112276376088061647

https://www.infowars.com/posts/ron-paul-fisa-exchanges-real-liberty-for-phantom-security/