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The Tesla protests are getting bigger — and rowdier

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The Tesla protests are getting bigger — and rowdier

This weekend, protests escalated at Tesla showrooms across the nation. Hundreds of people gathered to boycott Elon Musk and his involvement in the Trump administration as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is overseeing a massively disruptive effort to fire thousands of federal workers to slash government spending.

Most of these protests are associated with the Tesla Takedown movement that first emerged in February. It encourages supporters to “sell your Teslas, dump your stock, join the picket lines” as part of efforts to “stop Musk.” But momentum has ramped up significantly in the past week, leading to bigger turnouts and some arrests.

Though most of these protests have been peaceful, there have been separate reports of vandalism and arson directed at Tesla. Last week, Tesla charging stations in Boston were set ablaze, while dozens of vehicles were torched at a dealership in France. Gunshots shattered windows and damaged cars at a Tesla showroom in Oregon, and a Boston man was arrested for slapping stickers of Musk making a Nazi-like salute on Tesla vehicles. And Colorado authorities arrested a woman accused of tossing Molotov cocktails at Tesla cars parked at a dealership and allegedly spray-painting an expletive at the entrance.

Here’s a rundown of the biggest protests that happened this weekend.

Five protestors were arrested during a Tesla Takedown protest in Manhattan.
Image: Getty Images
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More than 350 protestors showed up outside the Tesla showroom in Manhattan’s West Village neighborhood on Saturday, chanting things like, “Nobody voted for Elon Musk” and “Oligarchs out, democracy in,” according to reports from Vanity Fair and The New York Times. Another protestor held up a sign saying, “Send Musk to Mars Now!!” This protest coincided with the International Women’s Day march, making it even bigger.

A heavy police presence was in the area, as shown in a TikTok with officers surrounding a Tesla Cybertruck parked on the side of the road. Five protestors were arrested for disorderly conduct, while another was apprehended for resisting arrest, obstruction, and violation of local law, New York Daily News reports.

This follows the arrest of nine people during a Tesla Takedown protest in Manhattan the previous week.

Demonstrators performed in front of the Tesla dealership in Boston.

Demonstrators performed in front of the Tesla dealership in Boston.
Image: Boston Globe via Getty Images

Around 300 demonstrators rallied outside a Tesla showroom on Boston’s Boylston Street, as reported by local news station WCVB. The group also staged a flash mob in front of the dealership, according to The Boston Globe.

“We are not condoning property damage for sure, but Elon should keep in mind that if he wants to attack the basic rights, the basic well-being of regular people, he shouldn’t be surprised when some people decide to be more direct about it,” Shua Sanchez, a rally organizer, told WCVB.

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No arrests were made during the protest.

Hundreds of protestors stood outside the Streeterville Tesla showroom on Saturday, which was joined by marchers from the Women’s Day march, Block Club Chicago and the Chicago Tribune report. Protestors held similar signs, like “Launch Musk to Mars” and “Democracy Dies with DOGE.”

Protestors outside a Tesla dealership in Chicago.

Protestors outside a Tesla dealership in Chicago.
Image: Anadolu via Getty Images

Meanwhile, protestors at the Tesla showroom in Chicago’s Orland Park clashed with supporters of the MAGA movement, according to the Chicago Tribune. There were no reports of arrests at either demonstration.

There were also dozens of Tesla Takedown protestors at Musk’s Delray Beach dealership, with demonstrators holding signs like “Fight fascism,” “Democracy is not a business plan,” and “No one voted for Elon Musk!!” CBS 12 reports.

“We’re here today rallying against Elon and what he’s done,” one protestor, Jeff Finkelstein, told CBS 12. “Ever since Trump’s been in it’s been more about Musk than Trump and we’re just showing our frustration.”

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On the West Coast, hundreds of protestors stood in front of Tesla’s Old Pasadena dealership. Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) made an appearance during the event, where she criticized Musk’s DOGE initiative and President Donald Trump.

Protestors gather outside Tesla’s Pasadena dealership.

Protestors gather outside Tesla’s Pasadena dealership.
Image: AFP via Getty Images

“He [Trump] said that firing American federal workers would be making America better,” Chu said, according to Pasadena Now. “No. Instead, he has fired thousands of workers from the National Weather Service, which we rely on to tell us if there’s a dangerous weather event.”

This is the second weekend in a row that demonstrators gathered outside the Pasadena dealership.

Tesla protests are even popping up outside of the US, with dozens of people in Lisbon, Portugal, holding signs that said “Boycott Tesla” outside a Tesla dealership, Reuters reports. This demonstration occurred on Sunday, just before what could be the country’s third parliamentary election in three years.

Demonstrators hold signs at Tesla’s dealership in Lisbon.

Demonstrators hold signs at Tesla’s dealership in Lisbon.
Image: AFP via Getty Images

As noted by Reuters, the protestors raised concerns about Musk’s promotion of right-wing politics in Europe. One protestor told the outlet that Musk “may not be able to have enough influence in the next election in Portugal but with the amount of money he has, step by step, he can do that.”

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How has this affected Tesla?

Even before the protests started, Tesla’s sales dropped year over year for the first time. Some drivers have also decided to trade in or sell their Teslas to avoid embarrassment, with one owner telling The New York Times she was called a “Nazi.” Tesla’s stock price has also plummeted more than 50 percent from its record high in December, Forbes reports, while Musk’s net worth sunk from $464 billion in December to $330 billion.

In response to the protests, Musk accused billionaires George Soros, Reid Hoffman, and others of funding the protests through the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue. However, as noted by Forbes, ActBlue “does not fund groups, but instead is a platform through which donors can give money to campaigns or organizations.”

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Judge sides with Anthropic to temporarily block the Pentagon’s ban

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Judge sides with Anthropic to temporarily block the Pentagon’s ban

After Anthropic’s weeks-long standoff with the Pentagon, the company won one milestone: A judge granted Anthropic a preliminary injunction in its lawsuit, which sought to reverse its government blacklisting while the judicial process plays out.

“The Department of War’s records show that it designated Anthropic as a supply chain risk because of its ‘hostile manner through the press,’” Judge Rita F. Lin, a district judge in the northern district of California, wrote in the order, which will go into effect in seven days. “Punishing Anthropic for bringing public scrutiny to the government’s contracting position is classic illegal First Amendment retaliation.”

A final verdict could be weeks or months out.

Anthropic spokesperson Danielle Cohen said in a Thursday statement, “We’re grateful to the court for moving swiftly, and pleased they agree Anthropic is likely to succeed on the merits. While this case was necessary to protect Anthropic, our customers, and our partners, our focus remains on working productively with the government to ensure all Americans benefit from safe, reliable AI.”

“I do think this case touches on an important debate,” Judge Lin said during the Tuesday hearing. “On the one hand, Anthropic is saying that its AI product, Claude, is not safe to use for autonomous lethal weapons and domestic mass surveillance. Anthropic’s position is that if the government wants to use its technology, the government has to agree not to use it for those purposes. On the other hand the Department of War is saying that military commanders have to decide what is safe for its AI to do.”

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On Tuesday, Judge Lin went on to say, “It’s not my role to decide who’s right in that debate… The Department of War decides what AI product it wants to use and buy. And everyone, including Anthropic, agrees that the Department of War is free to stop using Claude and look for a more permissive AI vendor.” She added, “I see the question in this case as being … whether the government violated the law when it went beyond that.”

It all started with a memo sent by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Jan. 9, calling for “any lawful use” language to be written into any AI services procurement contract within 180 days, which would include existing contracts with companies like Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI, and Google. Anthropic’s negotiations with the Pentagon stretched on for weeks, hinging on two “red lines” that the company did not want the military to use its AI for: domestic mass surveillance and lethal autonomous weapons (or AI systems with the power to kill targets with no human involvement in the decision-making process). The rollercoaster series of events that followed has included a barrage of social media insults, a formal “supply chain risk” designation with the potential to significantly handicap Anthropic’s business, competing AI companies swooping in to make deals, and an ensuing lawsuit.

With its lawsuit, Anthropic argues that it was punished for speech protected under the First Amendment, and it’s seeking to reverse the supply chain risk designation.

It’s rare, and potentially even unheard of until now, for a US company to be named a supply chain risk, a designation typically reserved for non-US companies potentially linked to foreign adversaries. Anthropic’s designation as such raised eyebrows nationwide and caused bipartisan controversy due to concerns that disagreeing with a presidential administration could potentially lead to outsized retribution for a business in any sector.

Anthropic’s own business has been significantly affected by the designation, according to its court filings, which say that it has “received outreach from numerous outside partners … expressing confusion about what was required of them and concern about their ability to continue to work with Anthropic” and that “dozens of companies have contacted Anthropic” for guidance or information about their rights to terminate usage. Depending on the level to which the government prohibits its contractors’ work with Anthropic, the company alleged that revenue adding up to between hundreds of millions and multiple billions could be at risk.

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During Tuesday’s hearing, both companies had a chance to respond to Judge Lin’s questions, which were released in a document the day prior and hinged on matters like whether Hegseth lacked authority to issue certain directives and why Anthropic was named a supply chain risk. The judge also asked, in her pre-released questions, about the circumstances under which a government contractor could face termination for using Anthropic’s technology in their work — for instance, “if a contractor for the Department uses Claude Code as a tool to write software for the Department’s national security systems, would that contractor face termination as a result?”

On Tuesday, the judge also seemed to admonish the Department of War for Hegseth’s X post that caused a lot of widespread confusion per Anthropic’s earlier court filings, stating that “effective immediately, no contractor, supplier, or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic.”

“You’re standing here saying, ‘We said it but we didn’t really mean it,’” Judge Lin said during the hearing, later pressing on the question of why Hegseth wrote the above barring contractors from working with Anthropic instead of just simply designating Anthropic as a supply chain risk.

In a series of questions on Tuesday, Judge Lin asked whether the Department of War plans to terminate contractors on the basis of their work with Anthropic if it’s separate from their work with the department, and a representative for the Department of War responded, “That is my understanding.”

Judge Lin asked, “Let’s say I’m a military contractor. I don’t provide IT to the military. I provide toilet paper to the military. I’m not going to be terminated for using Anthropic — is that accurate?” The representative for the Department of War responded, “For non-DoW work, that is my understanding.” But when the judge asked whether a military contractor providing IT services to the Department of War, but not for national security systems, could be terminated for using Anthropic, the representative for the Department of War did not give a concrete answer.

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During the hearing, Judge Lin cited one of the amicus briefs, which she said used the term “attempted corporate murder.” She said, “I don’t know if it’s ‘murder,’ but it looks like an attempt to cripple Anthropic.”

“We are continuing to be irreparably injured by this directive,” a lawyer for Anthropic said during the hearing, citing Hegseth’s nine-paragraph X post.

In a recent court filing, the Department of Defense alleged that Anthropic could ostensibly “attempt to disable its technology or preemptively alter the behavior of its model either before or during ongoing warfighting operations” in the event it felt the military was crossing its red lines — a theoretical situation that the Pentagon said it deemed an “unacceptable risk to national security.” The judge’s pre-released questions seem to challenge that statement, or at least request more information on it, stating, “What evidence in the record shows that Anthropic had ongoing access to or control over Claude after delivering it to the government, such that Anthropic could engage in such acts of sabotage or subversion?”

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Drone food delivery launches in New Jersey

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Drone food delivery launches in New Jersey

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

You place a food order, check your phone, and instead of a driver pulling up, a drone lowers your meal to your front yard. That scenario is already playing out in the Garden State. But before you get too excited, this is still a limited test.

Grubhub just launched New Jersey’s first drone-powered food delivery pilot, and it is getting plenty of attention. The three-month program kicked off on March 18 in Green Brook, just a few miles from Middlesex. If you live within about 2.5 miles of the location, you may be able to try it yourself.

Even better, you will not pay anything extra to choose the drone option.

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YOUR DOORDASH ORDER MIGHT ARRIVE FROM THE SKY AS DRONE DELIVERIES TAKE OFF
 

Grubhub launches a three-month drone delivery test in New Jersey, offering faster drop-offs with no added cost. (Grubhub)

How the drone delivery program works

The program is based out of Wonder’s Green Brook location, which operates a multi-restaurant kitchen. That means your order can come from one of 15 different food concepts, all prepared in the same place.

Here is how it works step by step:

  • You order through the Grubhub app
  • You select drone delivery if you are eligible
  • Your food is prepared and secured by trained staff
  • A drone flies it along a pre-approved route
  • The order is lowered safely to the ground using a tether

You can track everything in real time, just like a regular delivery. It feels familiar, but the final step looks very different.

Why this could be faster than your usual delivery

Timing matters when you are hungry. That is where drones may have a real advantage. Unlike drivers, drones do not deal with traffic, stoplights or parking. They fly directly to your location using optimized flight paths.

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Grubhub says deliveries should arrive faster than traditional methods. While that will vary based on conditions, the goal is simple. Less waiting, more eating. This test will help the company see if that promise holds up in real neighborhoods.

AIR TAXIS IN THE US COULD LAUNCH THIS SUMMER
 

New Jersey residents within range can order food by drone, with real-time tracking and tethered drop-offs. (Grubhub)

The tech behind the delivery drones

The program uses the DE-2020 drone from Dexa, a company that specializes in autonomous delivery systems.

This is not a hobby drone. It is a fully automated aircraft built for commercial use.

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Key features include:

  • FAA-certified operations for safety and compliance
  • Secure communication systems during flight
  • Controlled drop-off using a tether system
  • Pre-planned routes to reduce noise and disruption

Before each flight, crews check that food is packaged and secured properly. That step helps prevent spills or issues mid-air. In short, there is a lot more going on behind the scenes than a simple takeoff and landing.

We reached out to Grubhub, and a spokesperson shared the following statement:

“Our partnership with Dexa represents a major step forward in Grubhub’s commitment to delivery innovation,” said Abhishek “PJ” Poykayil, SVP of customer delivery operations at Wonder and Grubhub. “By connecting Grubhub’s marketplace expertise, Wonder’s innovative mealtime platform, and Dexa’s expansive drone technology, we’re proud to introduce a faster and more efficient way for New Jersey diners to experience food delivery without compromising safety or reliability.”

We also reached out to Dexa for more insight into the technology behind the program. CEO and founder Beth Flippo shared the following with CyberGuy:

“At Dexa, we’re proud to be powering the underlying autonomous technology that enables this new generation of on-demand delivery. Our partnership with Grubhub brings together their industry-leading logistics network with our advanced autonomy platform, which is designed to safely navigate complex environments, optimize real-time routing, and operate reliably without the need for continuous human intervention. This is a meaningful step toward a future where autonomous systems are woven seamlessly into everyday life, from delivering food and goods to supporting transportation, infrastructure and critical services. As consumers continue to expect faster, more efficient and more sustainable options, autonomy will play a central role in meeting those expectations at scale.”

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FORGET DRONES, THIS STREET-SMART ROBOT COULD BE FUTURE OF LOCAL DELIVERIES
 

Autonomous drones designed by Dexa deliver meals from a central kitchen, bypassing traffic in a new suburban pilot program. (Grubhub)

Why companies are pushing drone delivery now

This move is not random. It is part of a bigger shift in how companies think about delivery. You and I want speed, convenience and reliability. At the same time, businesses want to reduce costs and scale faster. Drone delivery sits right in the middle of that.

It removes many of the delays tied to traditional delivery. It also opens the door to new models, especially in suburban areas where distances are manageable.

We are already seeing this play out in other parts of the country. Companies like Wing, backed by Google’s parent company Alphabet, have been testing and expanding drone deliveries for food, retail and small packages in select U.S. markets.

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This New Jersey test is another step in that direction, and it shows how quickly the space is evolving.

What this means to you

Even if you are not in Green Brook, New Jersey, this still matters. Here is why:

You may get faster deliveries

If this works, shorter delivery times could become the new normal.

You could see more delivery options

Apps may soon offer choices like driver, robot or drone depending on your location.

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It could change delivery costs

Right now, there is no added fee. In the future, pricing models may shift based on speed and demand.

Your neighborhood may see more drones

That raises questions about noise, safety and privacy that communities will need to address.

This is not only about food. The same technology could expand to groceries, retail and even medical supplies.

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Kurt’s key takeaways

It is easy to see drone delivery as some sort of cool experiment. But something bigger is starting to take shape right above us. For the first time, the sky is becoming part of everyday delivery. Today it is takeout. Tomorrow it could be groceries, last-minute essentials or even urgent supplies. If this technology proves reliable, and we get comfortable with it, the way you get what you need could change faster than you expect. So the next time you hear a faint buzz overhead, you may want to look up. It might not be a plane. It could be your dinner on the way. The real question is not if drones will become part of daily life. It is how soon you will be tracking one to your doorstep.

Would you trust a drone to deliver your next meal? Why or why not? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com

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Netflix is raising prices again

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Netflix is raising prices again

Netflix’s prices just went up, with its cheapest, ad-supported tier now reaching $8.99 / month (up from $7.99 / month), according to an updated support page spotted earlier by Android Authority. The standard and premium plans are also getting a hike, going from $17.99 to $19.99 / month and $24.99 to $26.99 / month, respectively.

Netflix didn’t share its reasoning for the price hike this time around, as it last cited delivering “more value for our customers.” It’s also unclear when the price hike will go into effect for existing subscribers. The Verge reached out to Netflix with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.

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