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'Common sense': Trump's new memo promises 'freedom to fix' your own car

5 days 18 hours ago


President Trump has initiated the end of a high-profile, bureaucratic nightmare related to your own car.

During the Monday signing of a memorandum on "the freedom to fix," President Trump himself expressed his disbelief at the ridiculousness of the problems the government creates.

'If you own it, you should have the freedom to fix it!'

"It came to my attention because I noticed they were arresting people for fixing their car. ... That's not even believable," Trump said before he signed the memorandum.

After signing the memo, Trump added, "We rule by common sense, to a large extent."

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Alex Wong/Getty Images

The memo will begin the process of giving car owners greater flexibility to fix their own car. One of the primary limitations at the moment is the harsh restrictions on tampering with emissions controls: "To further ensure vehicle affordability, it is the policy of my Administration that consumers should be able to fix their vehicles with affordable parts without being deemed to have circumvented emissions controls."

The presidential action will attempt to bring greater peace of mind to consumers and after-market parts manufacturers, which are in regulatory limbo as things stand.

It also takes back federal control from the de facto regulatory control taken by California by loosening restrictions and making the costs of repair more affordable. California's system is apparently bloated and time-consuming for owners to receive the necessary certifications for their vehicles.

If it is any indication of the current regulatory environment around this issue, the California Air Resources Board "has the only certification process for after-market parts currently recognized as sufficient under the [Clean Air Act]," the memorandum states.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, who is tasked with loosening the restrictions, touted this memorandum as a win for consumers.

"If you own it, you should have the freedom to fix it!" Zeldin wrote on X. "President Trump just signed a new Presidential Memo protecting Americans’ freedom to fix their own vehicle if they so desire. The President's action also combats cheap foreign aftermarket vehicle parts while also breaking up the monopoly the California Air Resources Board has had over certifying aftermarket parts."

"This is an idea from the top when President Trump called me one recent Saturday night saying he wants this Memo drafted, signed and implemented at Trump Speed instantly," he added.

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Cooper Williamson

Top automaker brings back 'gray beard' engineers after AI replacement push — and the payoff could be huge

5 days 18 hours ago


Fears over losing jobs to artificial intelligence bots have abounded in the last couple years during the AI boom — and in some cases have even been realized.

However, one top automaker has decided to try something new in the age of AI: reversing course and rehiring the "gray beards" who were originally let go.

'Over prior years, we didn’t pay as much attention as we should have to the experience of our most knowledgeable engineers.'

And this novel experiment of bringing back experienced engineers might pay off.

Ford Motor Co. has decided to change course away from replacing senior engineers with artificial intelligence after an apparent realization that experience is nearly impossible to replace.

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Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Bloomberg reported this week that Ford has hired 350 veteran engineers over the last three years after the company's push toward AI drove costs and, it seems, tanked the quality of the products.

Much of the incurred cost for the company related to repairs and warranty coverages, Ford's CEO suggested to Bloomberg.

“We’re seeing our warranty coverages come down. We’re seeing our recall costs come down,” chief executive officer Jim Farley said after the engineers were rehired. “These are all contributing to literally hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars of a tailwind for Ford on cost.”

The switch, Bloomberg noted, has already yielded some positive results, with Ford ranking first in mass-market brands in the new JD Power Initial Quality Survey.

The experienced engineers were hired to train younger staff and reprogram the artificial intelligence agents, officials indicated.

“Artificial intelligence is a fantastic tool, but it’s only as good as the information you use to train it,” Charles Poon, Ford’s vice president of vehicle hardware engineering, told Bloomberg. “Over prior years, we didn’t pay as much attention as we should have to the experience of our most knowledgeable engineers that have been with us through many product cycles.”

“Mistakenly we thought that by just introducing artificial intelligence and ingesting the design requirements that we had, that that would produce a high-quality product,” Poon continued. But “we recognized that for us to enhance some of our automation and machine learning and artificial intelligence tools, we needed to ensure that they were trained by the most experienced individuals.”

All told, the company hopes to cut $1 billion in costs this year.

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Cooper Williamson

South Korea Soccer Team Suffers 4 AM Angry Mob Airport Ambush After World Cup Loss

5 days 18 hours ago

Eight players on the South Korean national soccer team and their former coach, Hong Myung-bo, attempted to sneak back into the country in the early morning hours of Tuesday after a disappointing loss at the FIFA World Cup last week but were met by dozens of angry fans holding up protest signs and demanding Hong return his salary.

The post South Korea Soccer Team Suffers 4 AM Angry Mob Airport Ambush After World Cup Loss appeared first on Breitbart.

Frances Martel

Clarence Thomas on SCOTUS Ruling: 14th Amendment Has Been 'Repurposed for Political Projects'

5 days 18 hours ago

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the principal dissenting opinion in Trump v. Barbara, where the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled on Tuesday that President Donald Trump's executive order barring birthright American citizenship for the U.S.-born children of illegal aliens and temporary visa holders is a violation of the 14th Amendment.

The post Clarence Thomas on SCOTUS Ruling: 14th Amendment Has Been ‘Repurposed for Political Projects’ appeared first on Breitbart.

John Binder

Justice Clarence Thomas Dissents: Birthright Citizenship Claim Is Based on Feudalism

5 days 18 hours ago

Justice Clarence Thomas says the Supreme Court's 5-4 court decision today establishing birthright citizenship as a constitutional right is a modern political project built on a feudal principle rejected by the American Revolution that devalues U.S. citizenship.

The post Justice Clarence Thomas Dissents: Birthright Citizenship Claim Is Based on Feudalism appeared first on Breitbart.

Neil Munro