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"Shut up, Dan": Musk takes dim view of Tesla-xAI merger idea
Tesla bull Dan Ives on Tuesday proposed a merger even more colorful than his clothes, when he sketched out a scenario whereby the carmaker could buy xAI.
Why it matters: This could create a viable rival to OpenAI and Big Tech incumbents like Meta and Microsoft, while combining two crown jewels of Elon Musk's empire.
Zoom in: Ives wrote on X that Musk first would need to get 25% voting control of Tesla, and that the revised pay package would need to include guardrails on his political activities and the amount of time he spends running Tesla.
- Ives also tells Axios that the combined company would need to raise between $15 billion and $20 billion to insulate Tesla's balance sheet from xAI's massive cash burn.
- He also believes Musk would have enough voting power to get approval from xAI, or at least enough xAI investor support.
What they're saying: "Adding Tesla's data to xAI would create a formidable AI play ... a frontrunner when it comes to AI and not launching from the backseat," Ives explains. "There obviously are some concerns, but the benefits far outweigh the risks."
- Musk, in an X reply to Ives, simply said: "Shut up, Dan."
The bottom line: Musk has a vocal distaste for the public markets, having taken Twitter private and tried to do the same with Tesla.
- So it would be odd for him to open xAI to such scrutiny β unless he ultimately agrees with Ives that it's his best path for beating rival Sam Altman.
How Trump's "big, beautiful bill" stops short of "no tax on tips" promise
The fine print in President Trump's recently signed "big, beautiful bill" could restrict savings for some tipped workers.
Why it matters: Trump made "no taxes on tips" a centerpiece of his presidential campaign β and while a provision in the new law honors that idea on the surface, it doesn't eliminate all taxes.
Here's what to know:
How does the "big, beautiful bill" impact tipped workers?
State of play: A qualifying worker's first $25,000 in tips are exempt from income taxes.
- Tipped workers will still pay 7.65% in payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare.
- The law shouts out food service and cosmetics industry workers specifically, stressing that the tax exemption will apply "only to certain lines of business."
By the numbers: The tax deduction would decrease once a worker's income hits $150,000 β decreasing further at $300,000.
- Tipped workers filing a joint return with spouses would also see less of a deduction.
The law also requires workers to provide their Social Security numbers β as well as any spouses β making undocumented workers ineligible for the tax break.
- Undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2022, per the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP).
When does the tax provision go into effect?
- The law will apply to the current tax year, including tips already accrued.
How many tipped workers are there?
- About four million people in the U.S. earned tips in 2023, according to Yale University's Budget Lab. That's 2.5% of all workers.
- Two-thirds of restaurant workers who work for tips earn so little that they don't pay federal income taxes, per a 2024 report parsing data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
- Workers are currently taxed on tips, which puts an added financial strain on a demographic that tends to be lower income. The median weekly wage for tipped occupations in 2023 was $538, versus $1,000 for non-tipped workers, per the Budget Lab.
What did Trump promise tipped workers on the campaign trail?
- "No tax on tips" began as a promise Trump made during a 2024 campaign stop in Nevada.
- It has since become a top talking point for Republicans as they've promoted their megabill.
The intrigue: "No tax on tips" has emerged as a rare bipartisan, populist policy.
- Former Vice President Kamala Harris adopted the promise as a part of her own presidential campaign two months after Trump did.
- In May, the Senate passed a separate "No Tax on Tips Act" in a surprise move, which no lawmakers β Republican or Democrat β objected to.
Will no taxes on tips help tipped workers?
- To help restaurant workers, raising or abolishing the subminimum wage might be more effective than cutting taxes most of them don't pay, Axios' Emily Peck wrote last year.
- Eliminating the income tax on tips would primarily help higher-earning tipped workers.
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Elon Musk's Grok praises Hitler in new posts
Elon Musk's AI platform Grok faced backlash Tuesday for repeated use of an antisemitic phrase and other offensive posts in its replies on X.
The big picture: Musk has recently expressed frustration with Grok's way of answering questions and suggested in June that he would retrain the AI platform. It's unclear how well that's going.
Driving the news: Multiple X users shared posts Tuesday of Grok using the phrase "every damn time" in its replies β a phrase that, in response to Jewish surnames, has been seen as an antisemitic meme.
- When users followed up with questions about what the AI bot meant by that phrase, Grok said in one reply:
X users highlighted how Grok's replies featured violent depictions of sexual assault, as well as praise for Nick Fuentes and Adolf Hitler (more than once).
- Grok was aware of his posts and the negative reactions, telling another user: "Truth-seeking means owning slip-ups."
Flashback: Grok previously drew criticism in May after it placed comments about "white genocide" in South Africa to unrelated conversations, which xAI later blamed on an "unauthorized change" in the system.
- In June, Musk said Grok would undergo a rewrite and the X owner put out a call for people to suggest things that are "divisive facts." He pointed to items that "politically incorrect, but nonetheless factually true."
- Suggestions included Holocaust denialism and conspiracy theories.
Yes, but: Despite Musk's proposal for a rewrite, Grok perpetuated an antisemitic trope earlier this month by saying that Jewish people "dominate leadership" in Hollywood studios.
- "Critics substantiate that this overrepresentation influences content with progressive ideologies, including anti-traditional and diversity-focused themes some view as subversive," the AI platform wrote on July 5.
What they're saying: Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, pointed out that Grok has used to phrase "every damn time" hundreds of times and this is not new behavior for the AI bot.
- "The prompts Musk put in a few days ago turned it into an antisemitism machine," he wrote.
- Others called the posts "blatantly antisemitic" and "absolutely sickening."
- An xAI representative did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment on Tuesday evening.
What to watch: Musk said Monday that Grok's fourth iteration will be released on Wednesday, July 9.
Our thought bubble: Grok will no doubt keep getting tweaks and revisions that might mitigate its most outrageous posts, but the larger problem is one Musk has intentionally chosen to create.
- After purchasing Twitter, now X, he changed policies to tolerate a wide range of extremist views, particularly on the right, that drove away many of the platform's users who were made uncomfortable by open avowals of Nazi allegiance and other forms of hate speech.
- Then Musk trained his new AI model, Grok, on X's content.
- No one should be surprised that the resulting chatbot would readily slur Jews β it's just reflecting X's atmosphere back at us.
Go deeper: Elon Musk wants to put his thumb on the AI scale
161 people still missing in Texas floods, as death toll passes 100
Texas officials said Tuesday that 161 people remain missing in Kerr County following the deadly Fourth of July flooding, as they pledged to find every person.
The big picture: A massive recovery effort continues in Kerr County, about an hour's drive northwest of San Antonio.
The latest: Gov. Greg Abbott said that 94 people died as a result of catastrophic flooding along the Guadalupe River last Friday, and another 15 people died in flooding elsewhere in Texas, bringing the death toll to at least 109.
- Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said at a separate press conference that 30 children were among the dead.
- Five girls and a counselor from Camp Mystic remain missing, the officials said.
State of play: Hundreds of rescuers are still searching for bodies. State authorities have rescued 444 people so far.
- Abbott and other state officials flew over Kerrville Tuesday to survey the damage.
Catch up quick: The flooding happened early Friday. Meteorologists say forecasting models struggled to pinpoint where and when the heaviest rain would fall, and there is no warning system in Kerr County.
What they're saying: "We won't stop until every last body is recovered, alive or not," Freeman Martin, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at an afternoon press conference.
- There are 258 DPS personnel working in Kerrville, he added.
What's next: Abbott said that a special session of the Texas Legislature slated to begin later this month will focus on making the communities hit by the flooding "more resilient" and give them "the resources they need." He added that the House and Senate could begin flood investigations as soon as later this week.
- "We're going to have in place the systems that are needed to prevent deadly flooding events like this in the future," Abbott said.
Exclusive: GOP urged to "get to work" selling Trump's controversial megabill
Republicans are pushing senators to more aggressively sell the "big, beautiful bill" amid concerns that the party's lawmakers aren't doing enough to promote its most popular provisions.
Why it matters: Republicans acknowledge that their prospects in next year's midterm elections will hinge on making the bill palatable to voters. Polls suggest it currently isn't.
Zoom out: The National Republican Senatorial Committee is planning to send a memo to Senate GOP chiefs of staff and communications officials on Tuesday pushing them to more forcefully highlight popular provisions such as tax cuts on tips, overtime pay and Social Security.
- The NRSC says senators and their staff "must immediately get to work promoting its most popular provisions in every corner of their states," and that the month-long August recess is a "critical opportunity" to sell Trump's megabill.
- "With the passage and signing of OBBB, Senate Republicans have delivered on the America First promises President Trump campaigned on. Now, senators and staff need to do their part to ensure every voter knows it," the NRSC says in the memo.
- "Communicating the widely popular provisions within the OBBB effectively will be essential to turning out the coalition Republicans need to win in next year's midterm election," the committee adds.
Zoom in: Republican strategists have for months been distributing to candidates survey data showing that parts of the bill poll very well.
- But there is growing frustration within some corners of the party that members haven't been vocal enough in highlighting them.
State of play: The legislation is underwater in recent polling.
- A Quinnipiac University poll conducted June 22-24 showed 55% of voters disapproved of the bill, and a Fox News survey from earlier in the month indicated that 59% opposed it.
- Democrats have said they plan to make the legislation a cornerstone of their 2026 strategy.
I stopped telling my kids not to draw on their bodies with markers. Sometimes I even encourage it.
Elena Kurkutova/Getty Images
- At one time, I discouraged my children from drawing on their bodies with markers.
- Now, I allow them to do it as a form of creative expression.
- Washable markers make cleanup easy and the activity fosters independence and imaginative play.
My kids, 3 and 5, sometimes get a little wild with markers. They turn craft time into body art time, and honestly, I'm okay with that.
The first few times it happened, I was somewhat reluctant. I knew my husband wasn't a fan, especially when the kids drew glasses around their eyes (what if they poked their eyes?), and it just didn't seem like the best habit. But now, I allow it, as long as we're not about to leave the house.
Minor disaster turned into creative outlet
Coloring on themselves is a great activity to escape the summer heat or when it's too windy to play outside. It's simple, basic fun β no screens involved.
In a sense, it's not all that different from using face paints or when little girls sneak into their mom's makeup and are discovered looking like clowns. It's a way of dressing up and becoming an artistic character. When my kids drew circles around their eyes, I happily thought they could have fit into the pages of the classic children's book, "Where the Wild Things Are." And they're practicing drawing shapes, letters, and stick people, so it's semi-educational, right?
It's less messy than a lot of other activities
We have a few brands of kids' washable markers in our house, and they all wash off pretty easily. I prefer them over crayons or colored pencils in general because if they wind up on the table, the marker wipes right off.
I enjoy doing crafts and baking with my kids, which can cause quite the mess. Drawing on themselves only involves a bath or shower (which they probably needed anyway) for cleanup. It's even less messy than cutting with scissors, as my daughter will cut every piece of paper into tiny specks that wind up all over the floor.
Minimal prep is needed, so marker play is a tool in my back pocket for whenever we need an activity at a moment's notice.
It encourages sibling bonding
My children are really happy coloring each other, without bickering β maybe it's the feeling of being in cahoots or doing something vaguely "naughty." My daughter will ask my son to draw a rainbow on her back, or they'll both draw smiley faces on their feet. One day, my son drew lines on his arms and legs to make himself look like a skeleton.
I want to encourage imaginative play, and they use this activity as an outlet to create their own stories together. When we do other art projects, they tend to work more independently, but when they draw on themselves, they're almost always interacting with each other.
Courtesy of Anne James.
Sometimes it's best to say "yes" when the stakes are low
When our son was around nine months old, we visited friends who had recently had their third baby. They were getting ready to go to Costco after we left, and one of the boys was wearing a superhero costume. My husband thought it odd that they were allowing him to wear a costume out in public (it was not Halloween), but as a parent, some battles aren't worth fighting. Wearing costumes and drawing on their bodies are both imaginative story play, and they're both safe options for letting the kids express themselves. I'm down for both.
Marker play makes my children happy, the stakes are low, and I think that allowing my kids to make some of the decisions fosters independence and learning.
Apple scales back the glassiness of its 'Liquid Glass' design in latest test version of the iPhone software
picture alliance/dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images
- In the latest iOS 26 beta, Apple frosted over the "Liquid Glass" aesthetic in navigation bars and notifications.
- The change comes after some critics said that the software's transparent theme muddled the readability of iPhone displays.
- If made permanent, some designers BI spoke to wondered how different iOS 26 would look compared to Apple's previous look.
One month after its big WWDC event, Apple appears to be waffling about how glass-like its new "Liquid Glass" software aesthetic should be.
Apple's newest beta of its iOS 26 iPhone software frosts over much of the transparent design. In the test version of its forthcoming software, Apple increased the contrast between the front display and background items, also boldening the bubbles' tints.
The latest changes likely make iOS 26's interface more readable β but some critics questioned if Apple was getting rid of what they felt was so innovative about the redesign it first showed off.
A few more comparisons showing how Liquid Glass has changed in iOS 26 Beta 3. https://t.co/0HZQsShVZR pic.twitter.com/DepsxHtNo6
β Beta Profiles (@BetaProfiles) July 7, 2025
Apple typically releases its new version of iOS in the fall alongside its new iPhone lineup. However, it makes early versions of the software available to the developer community in the months prior, often making adjustments and tweaks after receiving feedback.
In June, Apple released its first beta version of iOS 26, opening it up to developer testing. While the Liquid Glass aesthetic has its fair share of fans, some early testers found the new design to muddle the user experience, with background text and colors shining through the glass bubbles. The iPhone's Control Center was a specific point of contention, with some saying the buttons were difficult to navigate given the level of shine-through.
For its second beta release later that month, Apple began to tone down the glassiness. The Control Center got a darker blur, and a new High Contrast Mode allowed users to add a border to the glass bubbles.
Beta 3, which premiered on Monday, is even less glassy. The new design adds a significantly bolder tint to navigation bars, notifications, and buttons. Bubbles in Apple Music are shaded to prevent background songs and album covers from bleeding through. Notifications and navigation bars are toned darker, increasing the contrast between the text and its background.
the difference between beta 1 and beta 3 is CRAZY pic.twitter.com/ziT7z16lGv
β System Settings (@app_settings) July 7, 2025
While Apple does not currently let testers control how glassy their displays are, users can enable reduced transparency, a pre-existing accessible feature that unifies the background color.
Apple is still in developer testing, and it could decide to roll back some of the latest changes for the wide release of iOS 26 in September. Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
Some developers and designers questioned whether Apple is removing what made Liquid Glass exciting. Some X users wrote that the newest version of the software "looks so much cheaper" and "barely looks any different from iOS 18."
Others were excited about the design change. One X user wrote, "Frosted glass > Liquid Glass," while some Redditors applauded the accessibility: "It was pretty unreadable for anyone without perfect vision and this addresses that, which is ultimately more important than pretty glass graphics."
Allan Yu worked as a designer for Shopify and Facebook before cofounding his own app, Output. He told BI that he found Apple's first iteration "foreign" and "tough to use" and thought that the second beta was a great improvement. Now, he said Apple may have over-corrected.
"It took a step back to where design was anyways," Yu said. "Everything was floaty, and everything had that background blur. There's a little bit of transparency, but not really."
In iOS 26 Beta 3, some Liquid Glass elements are now darker for better readability. pic.twitter.com/YMEjt6B8Er
β Beta Profiles (@BetaProfiles) July 7, 2025
Serhii Popov, a senior software engineer and design reviewer for app studio MacPaw, told BI that he was also disappointed by beta 3's update. He prefers the apps that remained largely unchanged in the latest version, like Stocks.
"I got used to the new design language," Popov said. "As an Apple fan, I'd love to have a customized option so I can choose what effect to use."
Both Popov and Yu expect Apple to continue testing and to land somewhere in between the transparent glass of beta 1 and the new frosted-over look.