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How to get $1 margaritas from Applebee’s

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How to get $1 margaritas from Applebee’s

It’s official—the Dollarita is back.

For a limited-time meal deal, Applebee’s is offering margaritas for just a single dollar.

“After more than three years of listening to guests in-restaurant and on social tell the brand how much they miss the Dollarita® it is finally back!” the company said in a statement.

The new deal was announced during a commercial during the Jets-Chiefs game last night.

“You’re welcome, America,” the narrator announced as the margaritas made their way back onto menus.

Diners can expect the Dollarita to be on menus starting October 1. However, the deal is live only for a limited time so you shouldn’t wait around to catch the deal and drink to your heart’s delight.

Each beverage features tequila and lime, but for the first time in Applebee’s Dollarita history, the drink now contains triple sec.

Dine-In Deals Courtesy of Inflation

The last time Applebee’s sold $1 margaritas was three years ago.

The new deal comes shortly after the restaurant chain reported less-than-stellar quarterly earnings. Applebee’s parent company Dine Brands saw a 1 percent decline in sales in the second quarter of this year compared to the same period last year.

As inflation persists, Americans are looking for more cost-effective ways to dine out. Applebee’s is hoping the $1 cocktail offering is likely to draw in new diners even as overall costs remain high.

The current inflation rate is at 3.67 percent after reaching a high of 9.1 percent in June last year. Americans are feeling the hit to their budgets on everything from food, housing and gas, meaning some families are choosing to dine out less.

Dine Brands chief executive officer John Peyton said during an August earnings call that customers are increasingly becoming more cautious in their spending.

The number of guests selecting limited-time and value offers from Applebee’s menus soared by 19 percent in the second quarter, up from 15 percent in the first.

“Across the industry, we noticed our competition leaning heavily into promotions, which also contributed to the headwinds this quarter,” Peyton said.

When the Dollarita was first introduced in 2017, Applebee’s experienced four consecutive quarters of same-store sales growth. Since then, the item has returned on a limited-time basis and also debuted a strawberry-flavored version in 2018.

Today, inflation has caused restaurant chains across the industry to make adjustments to their menus in hopes of bringing in more customers who are avoiding the hefty price surges in grocery stores.

“We’ve seen companies tweaking their value menus across the board,” Michael Schaefer, the global lead for food and beverage at Euromonitor International, previously told CNBC. “We’re seeing fewer items total, limited price increases, smaller items.”

Altogether, casual dining menu prices climbed 9 percent in 2022 while quick-service meal prices grew by 7.3 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But alongside those price hikes, restaurants have felt consumers pushing back. More than 66 percent of restaurants experienced a decline in sales due to inflation over the past year, a survey from Seated found.

Beyond Applebee’s, other restaurants are offering limited-time deals to boost sales.

At Burger King, guests can now order a $10 Homecoming meal feast that includes two Whopper Jr. sandwiches, two milkshakes, one small order of onion rings, and one small order of French fries.

KFC is also offering its brand new Smash’d Potato Bowl for just $3.49. Each bowl contains mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet corn, popcorn chicken, and a three-cheese blend.

Customers can also purchase the brand’s 8-piece Hot & Spicy Wings for $4.99, which is targeting fast food fans who want something cheaper than Popeye’s recently released 6-piece chicken wings for $5.99.

Hispanics Are Not Leaving the Democratic Party Anytime Soon

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Hispanics Are Not Leaving the Democratic Party Anytime Soon

During this week’s Republican presidential debate, candidate Vivek Ramaswamy vowed to go a “step further” than his Republican rivals in ending birthright citizenship. Ramaswamy already publicly stated he would deport children born to undocumented parents, despite such an act being unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment. With this announcement he joins the four front runners for the Republican nominee for president: Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence, and Nikki Haley in their attacks against immigrants.

The top five countries of origin for undocumented immigrants are Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, India, and Honduras according to a 2021 Department of Homeland Security report. There is no doubt in question that Ramaswamy, and the Republican Party by default, are attacking a specific demographic: Latino immigrants. Ramaswamy’s own words out him when he specifically references Mexico in correlation to his stance.

“Well, if the kid of a Mexican diplomat doesn’t enjoy birthright citizenship, then neither does the kid of an illegal immigrant who broke the law to come here,” said Ramaswamy.

Republicans have shown rigid resolve to roll back human rights for all populations—the dissolution of affirmative action, attacks on minority rights, and abortion access. There is a real threat for immigrant families with children who have birthright citizenship that cannot and should not be ignored.

Meanwhile the Biden administration is asking America’s colleges to take more measures to ensure their student body is racially diverse to counteract such extreme measures taken by Republicans. Just this week President Joe Biden made history by becoming the first sitting president to join the picket line. Unionized Latino workers experienced more stable employment and maintained higher wages than their non-union counterparts according to a UCLA study done during the COVID-19 downturn and recovery. Additional findings showed union workers of other racial and ethnic groups also experienced greater employment stability early in the pandemic, but the effects of unionization were strongest among Latinos.

On one hand the Republican Party is doing everything to prevent Latinos from entering the U.S., gaining equal access to education, and opportunities. At the same time, President Biden appointed the most diverse cabinet in American history, and a significant portion of President Biden’s judicial appointments are Latino. The Biden-Harris administration has also taken significant measures to protect Dreamers—including calling on Congress to give Dreamers a pathway to citizenship and announcing a plan to expand health coverage for DACA recipients.

Latinos share President Biden and Democrats‘ values, and the major party and administration are delivering for them. During the Biden-Harris administration the U.S. has achieved the lowest Latino unemployment rate on record, the fastest creation rate of Hispanic-owned businesses in more than a decade, reduced the Latino child poverty rate by more than 7 percent, expanded access to health care and disability benefits, reduced homelessness, and achieved historic unemployment rates for veterans, including for the nearly 1.6 million Latino veterans. Voting trends in Latino-heavy populations like Nevada and Arizona make it clear Latinos line-up behind Democrats.

We all want the same thing: a safe place to raise our children and to contribute to society. As immigrants arrive in the U.S., a tradition as old as this country, and begin their civic engagement, there is no doubt the Democratic Party is the most in sync with the values of an American Dream. I know because I am an immigrant and the threat of having to live in a country where the principles on which it was founded are being stripped away is daunting. We must continue to fight for our community and our rights, they are on the ballot in the coming election.

Jorge Neri was an appointee in the Barack Obama administration and served on President Joe Biden’s campaign and transition team. He is a political strategist, Mexican immigrant, and advocate for the voting power of Latinos.

The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.

The GOP Is Gaining Ground With Hispanics For One Reason: The American Dream

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The GOP Is Gaining Ground With Hispanics For One Reason: The American Dream

In the heart of the Rio Grande Valley, our family learned early on the importance of grit and determination. My abuelos started out selling melons out of the back of their truck under the scorching South Texas sun. Over time, they saved enough to purchase a modest brick home, a source of immense pride for my grandma Mela. These humble beginnings were the foundation of our family’s American Dream.

My mother instilled strong values in my brother Carlos and me. After 20 years of honorable service, including tours in Iraq, my brother retired from the Air Force. Before entering the world of politics, I spent over two decades leading successful small businesses. Last year, I became the first Hispanic woman elected to Congress from Texas’ 15th district, which includes McAllen, Seguin, and other areas in South Texas. I can’t help but think that as my abuelitos look down from heaven, they are overjoyed by what our family has achieved.

Now, with Hispanic Heritage Month upon us, it pains me to think that so many Latinos fear that future generations won’t have the same opportunities I did. According to a recent study by the Libre Initiative, 79 percent of Hispanics rate the economy negatively, while a staggering eight out of 10 worry that their children won’t enjoy the same chances they had growing up. This is not the future I want for my kids, or anyone else’s, yet it’s the harsh reality many Hispanics face today.

Things weren’t always like this. In the previous decade, Hispanics experienced a remarkable decline in poverty and higher home ownership rates while leading the nation in the creation of new small businesses. Then, the pandemic struck, and its devastating health impacts were exacerbated by lockdown measures that decimated countless small businesses. By a two-to-one ratio, Hispanics now anticipate a further economic downturn, while a staggering 84 percent say they have been impacted by inflation.

We can attribute many of our economic challenges to decades of misguided policies—from both parties—which have only worsened under the current administration. President Biden’s inflationary agenda has harmed all Americans, but it’s been particularly burdensome for Hispanic families.

Census data paints a vivid picture: On average, Latino households are one person larger than those of other demographic groups. The way this plays out in places like McAllen, TX, is that we often see retired grandparents, moms, dads, and kids all living in the same home. This living arrangement is beautiful and enriching, but under “Bidenomics,” it also means more mouths to feed and less money to do it with.

Against this grim economic backdrop, many Hispanics are reevaluating their political allegiances. This shift is palpable in heavily Hispanic, working-class communities like mine. In 2018, the Democrats carried Hidalgo County by a margin of over 40 points. Fast forward to my election four years later, and we have narrowed that gap by nearly 30 percentage points.

Hispanics are also rejecting extreme Left-wing policies in urban areas like New York and Los Angeles. It’s easy for elites to applaud utopian criminal justice experiments from the comfort of gated communities. After all, it’s not their bodegas that are being robbed. Nor do they suffer the consequences of reckless border policies.

While some extremists on the other side of the aisle alienate Latinos, House Republicans are dedicated to improving the lives of Hispanic families and all Americans.

Our Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act aims to reverse the Biden administration’s plan to hire 87,000 IRS agents. I was also pleased to support the Lower Energy Costs Act, a historic energy package to curb skyrocketing costs and address Biden’s unprecedented war on American energy. Additionally, our Secure the Border Act aims to protect our neighborhoods from gangs and cartels that threaten our families.

As polling shows, Hispanics’ policy priorities also encompass issues like healthcare and the environment. Rather than sidestepping these issues, when Republicans have addressed these concerns with sensible policies, we have thrived in places as diverse as Texas, Florida, and Virginia.

For instance, in Congress, I’m leading a bipartisan effort to secure clean water for my community. Earlier this year, I co-sponsored legislation to protect our abuelitos’ Medicare and Social Security benefits, and fought to make it easier for women to receive life-saving breast cancer treatments. As a mother of two, I am especially proud to have recently introduced the Healthy Babies Act, a common-sense proposal to empower parents on nutritional assistance programs with access to better food options for their children.

My emphasis on quality of life issues and no-nonsense approach to leadership stem from a belief commonly shared by millions of Latinos who fled corrupt and inefficient regimes: Government should not resemble a telenovela.

Hispanics are pragmatic, unapologetically patriotic, fiercely entrepreneurial, and deeply invested in America’s future. If we focus on practical solutions to the challenges working families face, I have no doubt we can expand our Big Tent with millions of new Republican Latinos.

Let’s commit ourselves to building a future where every child can look forward to even greater opportunities than those that came before. As my family’s story shows, this is not just a vision; it is a promise we can make a reality for every American.

Monica De La Cruz represents Texas’ 15th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives.

The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.

Mercedes makes driving the most boring part of your week

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Mercedes makes driving the most boring part of your week

The first hands-free, eyes-off driver assistance system allowed for sale in the United States is here. Mercedes-Benz Drive Pilot technology has beaten competition from Tesla, General Motors and Ford to the punch.

Drive Pilot is considered a Level 3 conditionally automated driving system by SAE International, a professional organization that develops standards for the automotive industry. That level indicates that the system can fully operate the drive functions of a vehicle when certain conditions have been met. These include the vehicle’s location, roadway type, full “visibility” from the car’s sensing systems and speed and driver behavior, among other things.

The system requires a driver to be safely operating the vehicle, activate the system, and the technology’s condition checkboxes to have all be met before it initiates.

A Level 3 system is not autonomous. Drivers must be ready to take control of the vehicle when prompted to do so by the system. If they fail to do so, the Mercedes will safely slow to a stop in the lane of travel and emergency services will be called via on-board technology.

Drive Pilot has been available in the Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan and EQS Sedan in Germany for a year. Before it could make it to the U.S., the technology needed refining due to the number of lane marking types, condition of roadways and distinct driving styles of Americans. Guide rails, curbs, lane width curvatures, multi-level freeways, carpool lanes, motorcycle lane splitting and differently shaped vehicles rank among the most common issues according to the automaker.

Before its market launch in the U.S., Mercedes worked with a number of stakeholders to ensure the technology, consumers and government were confident in its abilities.

The technology is new on many fronts, Markus Shäfer, member of the Board of Management of Mercedes‑Benz Group AG and Chief Technology Officer, told Newsweek during a media roundtable ahead of the product’s launch, explaining that laws regarding hands-free, eyes-off technology are being written in parallel with Drive Pilot coming to market.

“The key for for us, is what we call the user interaction and the user journey,” he said. The Drive Pilot user experience is inclusive of four elements: sounds, buttons, displays and lighting. They work together with drive- and powertrain components to create the Drive Pilot system.

Mercedes intends to have the car display teal lighting around the model when it is operating in its full Drive Pilot capabilities as a means of alerting other drivers and emergency services that the driver is not in full control of the vehicle and their behavior inside the car may demonstrate that.

For example, drivers who engage Drive Pilot in states where they’re not allowed to hold their smartphone while behind the wheel, may be able to use the phone while Drive Pilot is doing the heavy lifting. This is contingent on state law. The system allows this level of disengagement from the driver.

“Safety of the customer is in the center of everything,” Shaffer told the gathered journalists. “We did lots of studies, lots of studies with customers and our engineers around the world, in different regions… just to get feedback that the customer always safely knows and securely knows, in which moment [of driving style they are in].”

Drive Pilot can only be used in California and Nevada on major freeways. But, that doesn’t mean that the cars it is installed on are limited in their operation. The technology is geofenced to those areas in those states. Opening the technology up to other areas could be as simple as an over-the-air update, once those states allow it.

“So this is a major, major step we’re taking here. And it’s a step. And it’s the first step,” Shäfer said. Adding that the plan for next year is to increase the allowable speed (currently 40 miles per hour (mph)) at which Drive Pilot can operate, up to 55 mph.

Drive Pilot will be available for activation on appropriately equipped models via the Mercedes Me app for a $2,500 per year subscription fee beginning in late 2023.

The company confirmed to Newsweek that the technology is not expected to come to its EQS SUV anytime soon.

How does Mercedes-Benz Drive Pilot work?

Drive Pilot uses around-the-car technology to stay functional. That includes a camera for optical image capture in a three-dimensional environment, interior microphones to detect emergency vehicle sirens, lidar to sense surroundings, radar to measure distance and speed, a road moisture sensor, driver camera to detect driver attentiveness, ultrasonic sensors to detect sonic impulses and measure surrounding vehicles, an antenna array that provides accurate positions and a rear camera to detect emergency vehicles.

Additionally, the car comes with redundant technology including steering and wheel rotation sensors, and braking system.

These technologies are designed to work in tandem, and go above and beyond the typical driver assistance and safety suite of tech that comes with a Mercedes under the Intelligent Drive package umbrella.

Drive Pilot is designed to operate in what some call “chamber of commerce weather”. It won’t activate if it’s raining or snowing, nor when it’s dusk, dawn, or nighttime. It also won’t work in construction zones.

Newsweek was invited to be among the first to test the new Drive Pilot system on California roads.

Mercedes-Benz Drive Pilot U.S. Review

The journey to hands-free, eyes-off driving in the EQS Sedan started deep in the bowels of a parking garage in Santa Monica, California. There, adjacent to the San Andres Fault, a team of engineers awaited their driver partners, ready to show off the results of their years of hard work.

After climbing behind the wheel, the engineers started the journey with a video presentation on the car’s centrally located infotainment touch screen, mimicking the experience the user will have upon their introduction to the car.

The seven-minute video, which is mandatory to watch before Drive Pilot can be operated, is part of a larger education and safety initiative by Mercedes that includes dealership and customer service personnel training, and a specific Drive Pilot website full of resources for users. The video is easy to understand, with crisp visuals and succinct descriptions of the system operation that are able to be clearly followed.

From there, it was up the ramps and out onto the streets of Santa Monica, then onto U.S. Route 10, a major freeway that links the Pacific coast to downtown Los Angeles. It wasn’t long before we encountered what would constitute heavy rush hour-like traffic in most cities but what L.A. calls “par for the course”.

When conditions have been met for the system to be activated, white lights appear on the designated in-steering wheel buttons that are located at the 10 and 2 o’clock position. It’s not a bright light, but eye-catching enough. Pressing the button activates the system and when it’s fully operable, the white changes to a teal glow.

The screen in front of the driver gives appropriate prompts throughout this process, including a screen pop-up message that reads “Be prepared to take over. Take control of vehicle when prompted. Confirm with OK button.” as the system initiates.

At low speeds it’s instinctive to trust the system to do the work. Frankly, I’ve driven with my knee while licking an ice cream cone that’s about to drip and fiddling with a napkin at higher speed in far less safe conditions, and felt just as fine.

Where it excels is in the gray areas. In stop-and-go traffic, there’s often bits where a driver might get rolling at, say 50 mph, for brief moment, then have to stop. When traffic opens up, the system doesn’t require you to take control. Instead, it allows for a buffer zone, maintaining its maximum allowable speed and slowing appropriately when the slowed or stopped traffic ahead is encountered.

It’s one of those thoughtful allowances that clearly was brought to market through hundreds of hours of real world testing and one of those intangibles that can only come to light outside of a lab.

Like any technology, though, Drive Pilot is not infallible. There were moments when it failed, when it was not immediately apparent as to why. When that happened, the safe hand-off from computer to driver was achieved in an intuitive way through audible and visual alerts.

Unlike with adaptive or traditional cruise control, a driver cannot just accelerate above the 40 mph set limit while the system is engaged and then allow it to re-engage when the speed drops back below 40 mph. This is an behavior change that some drivers may have to take some time to get used to.

The biggest takeaway from the Drive Pilot experience is that it is incredibly boring. Despite scrolling through a series of Tom Cruise YouTube videos on the center screen while sitting in traffic for entertainment, it makes this driving enthusiast thankful that we are still at a point where we can choose when our driving will be automated, and when we can put the pedal down on the EQS, exit I-10 and set out for dynamic carving on Mulholland.

America’s Greatest Workplaces 2024 survey

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America’s Greatest Workplaces 2024 survey

Newsweek partners with Plant-A Insights Group to rank America’s Greatest Workplaces 2024.

For the second year, Newsweek recognizes the greatest workplaces in America overall, and by state. The ranking specifically highlights the greatest workplaces for women, diversity, LGBTQ, veterans, job starters and work-life balance.

America’s Greatest Workplaces 2024 is determined through a large-scale independent survey of employees who work for companies employing at least 500 people in the U.S. Participants provide feedback and weights to individual statements regarding their employment experience across various companies.

The workplace study is comprised of three phases (target setting, main survey and evaluation). An initial survey of hundreds of HR professionals in the U.S. identified the most important drivers of employee satisfaction in the workplace.

Take the Survey

The desk research was kindly supported by Onclusive, the leading media monitoring partner with its world-class sentiment technology and PrivCo, a service that tracks private company financial information in a proprietary database.

House prices on the rise everywhere. Here is where they are falling

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House prices on the rise everywhere. Here is where they are falling

High mortgage rates, low supply and a jump in prices has helped shoot up the value of homes in America. However, a silver lining may be emerging for buyers as there are signs of an uptick in new listings and a decline in prices in September, according to data from real estate platform Zillow.

Home values in August jumped 1.3 percent compared to a year ago, Zillow said. But analysts at the firm say that a weekly share of listings reveal that more than 9 percent of homes slashed prices, the highest drop since November 2022.

“This fall’s high rate of price cuts either means buyers have pulled back, sellers have overreached with too-high list prices, or some combination of both,” Jeff Tucker, a senior economist at Zillow, wrote on Thursday.

Zillow also noticed a possible shift in the availability of new listings, with a slight uptick in fresh homes up for sale compared to a year ago. The deficit in the increase at listings was at minus 10 percent as of September 23, but an improvement from two months before when it was at minus 30 percent.

“Between the relative strength of new listings last month, and weaker purchasing flows at the same time, the total count of active inventory continued to climb, like a reservoir slowly refilling,” Zucker said. “The year-over-year drop in active inventory has turned around and begun to shrink.”

In August, the national overall value of homes showed what Tucker has previously described as a “marked cooldown” to a jump of only about 0.2 percent from July.

Austin, Texas, saw the highest fall in value of homes for sale in the largest 50 metro areas in the country, with a drop of more than 11 percent while Hartford, Connecticut, saw a jump by nearly 10 percent.

Soaring mortgage rates, which have hovered above 7 percent for multiple weeks over the last month, have scared away prospective home buyers.

“The monthly principal and interest to buy a typical home has increased 122% in the past three years. So buyers have ample reason to be balking right now,” Zucker wrote.

The increase in listings may have been due to sellers deciding that they need to jump in after a summer that witnessed decent sales.

“The uptick in new listings last month was more of a pulse than a wave,” Zucker pointed out. “Life happens: marriage, divorce, new babies, new jobs, have all been proceeding, and for many households experiencing those events, they need to move, sooner or later.”

Mid-August prices declined from their peak towards the end of June, Zillow data showed.

Last winter, sellers sat out the market after rates jumped. Zillow suggested that August and September saw sellers get back into the market. For buyers, there are encouraging signs, but its unclear whether the decline in prices is a blip or will turn into a pattern.

“It’s too soon to tell if the yet-higher interest rates this fall will send sellers back into hibernation until springtime,” Zucker wrote.

As fall ushers in the changing of the leaves, it could also mean a change in the dynamics of the housing market as more listings and motivated sellers offer better options for buyers.

For sellers, the cooling of the weather could also mean the loss of heat for the housing market.

“Sellers this fall may rue their timing, as this summer’s surprisingly favorable selling conditions fade into memory along with their summer freckles,” Zucker wrote.

UAW Strike: Report estimates $4 billion in losses as impact spreads

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UAW Strike: Report estimates $4 billion in losses as impact spreads

The United Auto Workers (UAW) strike has triggered nearly $4 billion in losses across the automotive industry in the first two weeks of the union’s stoppage in protest of America’s “Big Three” automakers, according to a report released Monday.

Economic consulting firm Anderson Economic Group (AEG) estimates that the UAW “stand up” strike, which began September 15, has led to roughly $1.2 billion in direct losses for Ford, General Motors (GM) and Stellantis. The work stoppage has also led to $325 million in direct wages lost, $1.29 billion in supplier losses and $1.2 billion in losses for automotive car dealers and customers.

AEG’s evaluation does not account for the new strike sites announced on Friday, when an additional 7,000 UAW workers joined the picket lines at a Ford plant in Chicago, Illinois, and a GM facility in Lansing, Michigan. In total, more than 25,000 union members in 21 states are on strike, which comprises about 17 percent of the UAW’s membership.

“Suppliers were particularly hard-hit by the UAW’s strategy of announcing specific plants to be struck just hours before they were shut down,” AEG CEO Patrick Anderson said in a statement attached to Monday’s report. “The shutdown of 38 parts distribution centers also crimped dealership service operations and, of course, caused more UAW workers to lose wages.”

Looking forward, AEG predicts that the third week of the strike will be “significantly more costly for Ford,” which was spared when the UAW expanded its targets on September 22. The new targets added Friday, however, will likely result in Ford dealerships and customers “losing” some of the company’s most profitable vehicles, including the Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator, read the report.

“When the innocent bystanders begin to feel it, it will affect the generally supportive sentiment Americans have been expressing about the UAW’s demands thus far in the strike,” Anderson added.

According to a poll from the group Navigator Research, most Americans are supportive of the UAW’s strike. In a survey of roughly 1,000 registered voters, on September 21 to September 25, 78 percent of respondents indicated that they viewed the walkouts favorably, compared to 22 percent who said they did not support the strike.

GM and Ford announced on Monday that the companies are laying off additional workers as a result of the strike. According to a report from Reuters, Ford is furloughing a total of 330 workers at its plants in Chicago and Lima, Ohio, while GM let go of 170 employees from its plants in Parma, Ohio, and Marion, Indiana.

GM previously laid off about 2,000 workers at an assembly plant in Fairfax, Kansas, citing a “shortage of critical stampings” due to workers who went on strike at a different facility in Wentzville, Missouri, CNBC reported. That same week, Stellantis let go 370 workers at factories in Ohio and Indiana.

During a press briefing on Friday, Ford warned that hundreds of thousands of jobs could be threatened due to the auto industry’s “fragile supply chain.” A spokesperson for Ford told Newsweek via email Monday that the company’s “focus remains on working diligently with the UAW to reach a deal that rewards our workforce and enables Ford to invest in a vibrant and growing future.”

Stellantis declined to comment on the AEG report, but said that conversations with UAW are ongoing.

In a statement to the Detroit Free Press on Monday, UAW President Shawn Fain said, “The decision to lay off workers is not a ‘ripple effect,’ it’s a decision made by the company to put the squeeze on our members to accept a weak contract,” Fain said. “GM owns it, and GM owns the fact that they took over a month to respond to our proposals, and have taken over another month to make serious progress.”

The union’s demands to auto manufacturers include wage increases, cost-of-living adjustments and a four-day workweek.

Newsweek reached out via email Monday night to the UAW and GM for comment.

Update 10/03/23, 4:20 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional comment from Stellantis.

Matt Gaetz mocked after US government narrowly avoids shutdown: "All talk"

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Matt Gaetz mocked after US government narrowly avoids shutdown: "All talk"

Rep. Matt Gaetz is being mocked on social media after Congress on Saturday approved a temporary funding bill that President Joe Biden signed, narrowly avoiding a federal government shutdown.

After days of turmoil, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy abruptly abandoned demands for steep spending cuts from his party’s hard-right flank and joined with Democrats to pass the bill, which funds government until November 17. The package was approved by the House 335-91, with most Republicans and almost all Democrats supporting. Senate passage came by an 88-9 vote.

Among the Republican holdouts was Gaetz, an ally of former President Donald Trump. The Florida Republican rallied GOP lawmakers to resist McCarthy’s bid to become speaker in January and had threatened to call a vote to oust the speaker if he failed to meet their demands.

McCarthy is “on some tenuous ground,” Gaetz told reporters on Saturday, but he has not announced a motion to oust the speaker.

“If somebody wants to make a motion against me, bring it” McCarthy has said. “There has to be an adult in the room.”

After the shutdown was avoided, Gaetz and his allies were blasted as “clowns” who are “all talk.”

“Like I said, ‘McCarthy and the Republicans failed to cut aid for working families because @HouseDemocrats held the line and put people above politics.’ Matt Gaetz, [Rep. Andy] Biggs and the rest of them are all talk. They’ll never make a motion to remove McCarthy as Speaker,” wrote Rep. Jimmy Gomez, of California, in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

He was responding to a post from Biggs, a Republican from Arizona who also voted against the bill.

“Instead of siding with his own party today, Kevin McCarthy sided with 209 Democrats to push through a continuing resolution that maintains the Biden-Pelosi-Schumer spending levels and policies,” Biggs wrote. “He allowed the DC Uniparty to win again. Should he remain Speaker of the House?”

Rep. Eric Swalwell wrote: “I really admire @SpeakerMcCarthy for putting clowns like Biggs and Gaetz in an absolute box. They’ll never have the courage to try and remove him. McCarthy has really played them.”

Journalist Molly Jong-Fast wrote: “Democrats kept the government open. Matt Gaetz must be so mad.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said: “MAGA extremists have failed. Bipartisanship has prevailed and both parties have come together to avert a shutdown.”

In a statement, Biden said the deal was “good news for the American people.”

But he added: “I want to be clear: we should never have been in this position in the first place. Just a few months ago, Speaker McCarthy and I reached a budget agreement to avoid precisely this type of manufactured crisis. For weeks, extreme House Republicans tried to walk away from that deal by demanding drastic cuts that would have been devastating for millions of Americans. They failed.”

Newsweek has contacted representatives of McCarthy and Gaetz for further comment via email.

Marjorie Taylor Greene accuses UK of trying to start WW III

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Marjorie Taylor Greene accuses UK of trying to start WW III

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed the British government “are going to start” a world war after Britain’s defense minister spoke of plans to deploy military instructors to Ukraine.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Britain and its allies have avoided a formal military presence in the country to limit the risk of a direct conflict with Russia.

But in a newspaper interview, British defense minister Grant Shapps said he had held talks with his country’s military leaders about providing training in Ukraine and re-locating some manufacturing into the country.

“I was talking today about eventually getting the training brought closer and actually into Ukraine,” he was quoted as saying in The Telegraph newspaper.

“Particularly in the west of the country, I think the opportunity now is to bring more things ‘in country,’ and not just training but we’re seeing BAE [a British defense firm] for example, move into manufacturing in country, for example,” he said.

Greene, who is among Republicans who want to halt U.S. aid to Ukraine, took to social media to suggest the move would lead to a global conflict.

“They are going to start WWIII. The U.S. cannot participate,” the Georgia Republican wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “NO AMERICAN TROOPS! We must defend our own border!!!”

Newsweek has contacted Greene’s office for comment via email. The British Ministry of Defense did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Shapps’ comments come after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that he wants to create a “large military hub” by partnering with Western weapons manufacturers to increase arms supplies for Kyiv’s counteroffensive against Russia.

Shapps, who was appointed defense minister on September 1, assured Zelensky that the U.K. will “continue to stand shoulder to shoulder” with Ukraine after traveling to Kyiv to meet him on Wednesday.

“We have trained tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers, delivered hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition, and provided millions of pounds of economic and humanitarian aid to help Ukraine’s citizens reclaim and rebuild what has been taken from them by Putin’s barbaric invasion,” he said in a statement.

President Joe Biden also reiterated his commitment to Ukraine during Zelensky’s visit to Washington in September, but a growing number of Republican lawmakers now oppose providing further aid to Ukraine.

A temporary funding bill approved by Congress and signed by Biden on Saturday excluded his request to provide more security assistance to Ukraine.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy omitted additional Ukraine aid from the measure that will keep the government running until November 7. By doing so, he closed the door on a Senate package that would have provided $6 billion to Ukraine. Members of both parties abandoned increased aid for Ukraine in favor of avoiding a costly federal government shutdown.

In a statement, Biden said the bill prevents an “unnecessary crisis that would have inflicted needless pain on millions of hardworking Americans.”

But the U.S. “cannot under any circumstances allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted,” he said.

“While the Speaker and the overwhelming majority of Congress have been steadfast in their support for Ukraine, there is no new funding in this agreement to continue that support,” Biden said. “I fully expect the Speaker will keep his commitment to the people of Ukraine and secure passage of the support needed to help Ukraine at this critical moment.”

Kevin McCarthy’s problems are far from over

Fox News
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Kevin McCarthy’s problems are far from over

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has received praise after siding with Democrats and his party’s moderates to pass a temporary funding bill that narrowly avoided a costly federal government shutdown.

But the move earned him criticism from some in his party, and puts his speakership at risk.

McCarthy has dared his party’s hard-right flank to try to oust him as speaker.

“If somebody wants to make a motion against me, bring it,” he said after Saturday’s vote. “There has to be an adult in the room.”

McCarthy is almost certain to face a motion to try to remove him from office, but what is less clear is if there would be enough votes to oust him as speaker. Most Republicans voted for the package on Saturday, while 90 opposed it.

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz had rallied GOP lawmakers to resist McCarthy’s bid to become speaker in January and threatened to call a vote to oust McCarthy if he failed to meet their demands.

“I am concerned he hasn’t been true to a deal he made to become Speaker of the House,” Gaetz said on Saturday.

The congressman, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, has not announced a motion to vacate, but told reporters that McCarthy’s speakership is “on tenuous ground.”

Other members of the GOP’s hard-right also criticized McCarthy for siding with Democrats.

“Instead of siding with his own party today, Kevin McCarthy sided with 209 Democrats to push through a continuing resolution that maintains the Biden-Pelosi-Schumer spending levels and policies.” Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “He allowed the DC Uniparty to win again. Should he remain Speaker of the House?”

As a government shutdown loomed, McCarthy abruptly abandoned demands for steep spending cuts and relied on Democrats to pass the bill ahead of the midnight funding deadline.

The result removes the threat of a costly government shutdown for now, but the reprieve may be temporary.

The stopgap bill funds government until November 17, and Congress will again need to fund the government in the coming weeks.

The package omitted aid to Ukraine, but Democrats have said they will hold McCarthy to assurances of providing additional assistance to the war-torn nation—something a growing number of Republicans now oppose.

“We are going to hold Kevin McCarthy to both public and private assurances he has given that he will continue to support that $300 million that the Ukrainian people need in order to continue their offensive in the war and to repel an expected winter offensive by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s army,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat, said on MSNBC.

The U.S. “cannot under any circumstances allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.

“While the Speaker and the overwhelming majority of Congress have been steadfast in their support for Ukraine, there is no new funding in this agreement to continue that support,” Biden said. “I fully expect the Speaker will keep his commitment to the people of Ukraine and secure passage of the support needed to help Ukraine at this critical moment.”

McCarthy declined to say after Saturday’s vote on government funding whether he would bring aid for Ukraine up for a House vote in the coming weeks.

“If there is a moment in time we need to have a discussion about that, we will have a discussion completely about that, but I think the administration has to make the case for what is victory,” McCarthy said, according to The Associated Press.

Newsweek has contacted representatives for McCarthy for comment via email.

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