Raw Story

Businessman and "Shark Tank" star Kevin O'Leary confirmed that President-elect Donald Trump is hosting discussions at Mar-a-Lago about integrating Canada into the United States.

O'Leary told Fox News he participated in the discussions at Mar-a-Lago after Trump suggested on Truth Social that Canada would become the "51st state."

"If Canada merged with the U.S., there would be no Tariffs, taxes would go way down, and they would be TOTALLY SECURE from the threat of the Russian and Chinese Ships that are constantly surrounding them," Trump wrote. "Together, what a great Nation it would be!!!"

During the Fox News interview, host Martha MacCallum noted that O'Leary, a Canadian citizen, had "some very strong feelings about joining our country with Canada."

"I had two topics that I wanted to talk to him about," O'Leary explained. "Number one was integrating Canada towards a North American union for greater strength, just period."

"The world is a difficult place these days, and most Canadians would like to look at that opportunity without giving up their sovereignty," he continued. "So low-hanging fruit would be combined currency, for example, combining the Bank of Canada with the Fed, things like that."

ALSO READ: 'Bring it on': Defiant Raskin responds to GOP threats of retaliation for J6 investigation

O'Leary said he pleaded with Trump to "give the Canadians a chance to re-elect a leader, just like you got re-elected, that has a four-year mandate, just like you have, and let's get down to business."

The businessman also presented Trump with a plan to purchase TikTok from its Chinese parent company.

"Trump will be who we have to work with to close the deal in the months ahead," O'Leary explained. "So I wanted to let him know, as well as others in his cabinet, that we're doing this and we're gonna need their help."

Watch the video below from Fox News or at this link.

Donald Trump’s pick for chief of staff is already making clear that the incoming president’s next administration will be devoid of drama – and that she won’t tolerate grandstanders or attempts to sabotage “the mission.”

Susie Wiles, who Trump tapped two days after Election Day to become his first major staff pick, made the comments Monday in an interview with Axios days before Trump is set to return to the White House.

“I don't welcome people who want to work solo or be a star,” Wiles said in the Axios interview. “My team and I will not tolerate backbiting, second-guessing inappropriately, or drama. These are counterproductive to the mission.”

Wiles, 67, who is referred to by her boss as the “Ice Maiden,” reportedly expressed concerns to Trump over who he would make himself available to in the Oval Office. Notably, in his last administration, Trump’s past chiefs of staff struggled to rein in a revolving door of informal advisers, friends and family members from reaching the president's ear.

ALSO READ: A neuroscientist explains why MAGA supporters refuse to accept Trump's 91 felony charges

Wiles said that the administration’s focus will be on “getting off to a quick start and staying on that pace, together with an expectation of excellence every day.”

Plans include "rolling back redundant and burdensome regulations, keeping taxes low, cutting government waste through DOGE [the new Department of Government Efficiency], and most importantly, sealing the border and deporting criminals who are in this country illegally,” Wiles told Axios.

While the longtime Florida campaign operative called the first 100 days of any new administration "an artificial metric," Wiles is instead looking toward the period between the inauguration and the 2026 midterms as critical to pushing through Trump's political agenda. Republicans will have a rare trifecta of the federal government for the next two years once Trump is sworn into office.

"I have every hope that the 47 administration will not have the same number of attempts to put sand in the gears," she told Axios. "We are off to a fast start with congressional work, hiring the best people, preliminary discussion with heads of state, fine-tuning his policy agenda, and planning for the first 100 days."

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was held in contempt of court on Monday as part of ongoing litigation from two election workers in Georgia he is accused of spreading lies about in the wake of the 2020 election.

Giuliani was ordered to pay Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss $148 million in damages after a jury found in their favor in the defamation case over a year ago.

The internet on Monday mocked the former Donald Trump lawyer, with some eager to see if he would be jailed for contempt because he couldn't afford to pay the $148 million.

ALSO READ: The health insurance industry has attached itself to us like a bloodsucking tick

Former Biden/Harris campaign staffer Stephanie Kennedy pointed out ahead of the court proceedings: "Rudy Giuliani, the disbarred deadbeat, tried to dupe his way through a contempt hearing on Friday. In a federal courtroom in Manhattan, Giuliani spent hours testifying, trying to fight accusations that he is withholding assets from two Georgia election workers he defamed. It is entirely possible that Giuliani, 80, could be jailed if he is held in contempt."

Jazz guitarist Charles Johnson pointed out on Bluesky, "And meanwhile, the criminal Giuliani got in trouble for supporting is preparing to take control of the federal government."

Political analyst and commentator Kyle Griffin pointed out the irony of the date.

"On the anniversary of Jan. 6, Rudy Giuliani is held in contempt for failing to turn over assets to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, who he defamed in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election," he posted on Bluesky.

Legal analyst P. Andrew Torrez described the court failure by saying, "Apparently Judge Liman has imposed the proverbial 'death penalty' sanctions against Giuliani, drawing an adverse inference on the production of discovery in connection with the homestead exemption that is the major issue for trial on Jan 16th that will foreclose Rudy from contesting it."

Meanwhile, Parker Molloy, writer of "The Present Age," pointed out, "New objectively bonkers Rudy Giuliani courtroom sketch just dropped."

"Rudy Giuliani being hit with sanctions today is the best news ever," clapped back Spaces host and artist Candee Corliss, who goes by Art Candee on social media. She included a popcorn emoji.

The high price of eggs has been in the news since bird flu spread across the U.S. However, a new report alleges the potato industry has a stranglehold on the high price of groceries.

Investigative news outlet The Lever discussed a new antitrust battle against the frozen potato market in November.

“The potato cartel moves prices skyward in lockstep — harming all purchasers of potatoes in the process,” attorneys wrote in the court filing.

Also Read: Trump Cabinet pick raises alarm on unchecked domestic terrorism

Restaurants, grocery stores, and food distributors are reportedly involved in more than a dozen coordinated lawsuits nationwide, claiming that price-fixing by four French fry companies has been harming their profits.

"Around 40 percent of all potatoes grown in the United States are sold to frozen potato companies — 17 billion pounds annually," the lawsuit said. Four firms then buy the potatoes, prepare and freeze them before packaging them.

While there were over a dozen companies 20 years ago, that number has slowly shrunk to just four. They're named: Lamb Weston, Canada-based company McCain Foods, the J.R. Simplot Company, and Cavendish Farms. The first two control about 70% of the market, while J.R. Simplot manages about 20%, the report says.

They've all told restaurants and bars that they'll increase prices by $0.12 per pound in April.

“It was just the most obvious example of collusion I’ve seen in a long time,” said Washington, D.C., bar owner Josh Saltzman. “All of them were raising their prices by virtually the exact same amount within a week of each other.”

“I was just like, ‘Oh, I’m going to fire off a tweet about Big Potato,’” he continued. “Then it somehow took on a life of its own.”

He had no idea how right he was to believe that the companies were operating like a “cartel." The report went on to say that the potato industry isn't unique: "Consolidation has crept into every corner of the food industry."

The spokesperson for Lamb Weston Holdings told The Lever, “We believe the claims are without merit and intend to vigorously defend our position.”

There's already an antitrust suit from the Federal Trade Commission on Kroger grocery store, alleging that it raised its egg and milk prices far above inflation rates. Economists weren't shocked as they've been sounding the alarm in recent years.

Read the full report here.

Democratic strategist James Carville acknowledged in a New York Times op-ed that he was wrong to believe that Vice President Kamala Harris would prevail in the 2024 presidential election.

However, Carville also said that he had hope that his party could make a comeback in the near future simply due to what he says will be the unpopularity of the GOP's economic agenda.

"There will be plenty to oppose," argued Carville. "Our central message must revolve around opposing Republicans’ tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. It is deeply unpopular, and we know they want to do it again."

He then outlined some more of the ways that the GOP agenda will harm American workers.

"We know Republicans will most likely skyrocket everyday costs with slapstick tariffs; they will almost certainly attempt to slash the Affordable Care Act, raising premiums on the working class; and they will probably do next to nothing to curb the cost of prescription drugs," he wrote. "In a truly stunning display of inhumanity, the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, has already lacerated health care funding for Sept. 11 emergency workers and survivors. There will be much, much worse to come."

ALSO READ: FBI announces info on link between NOLA terror attack and Las Vegas Cybertruck explosion

Carville also said that Democrats can't just oppose Republicans' economic plans but must pitch some of their own to give voters something to support.

"Let’s start by forcing them to oppose a raise in the minimum wage to $15 an hour," he argued. "Let’s make Roe v. Wade an economic messaging issue and force them to block our attempts to codify it into law. And let’s take back the immigration issue by making it an economic issue and force the G.O.P. to deny bipartisan reform that expedites entry for high-performing talent and for those who will bring business into our nation. This year the Democratic Party leadership must convene and publish a creative, popular and bold economic agenda and proactively take back our economic turf."

Carville concluded by emphasizing the stakes for Democrats in the coming months.

"The path forward could not be more certain: We live or die by winning public perception of the economy," he wrote.

In the grand scheme of things, 45 years is not a long time. Back in 1980, it would take me three weeks to run a computer program, written in the programming language Cobol, that worked using punched cards. Each card represented one line of code and it required multiple re-punches to correct errors. Eventually, I would have a working program that did something useful.

How times have quickly changed in technology – now, my mobile phone has vast processing capability compared to the machine that processed that Cobol program. With the help of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, that same phone is able to instantly translate between languages on a live call, among many other features.

With eye-catching announcements being made all the time, what can we expect in 2025 from the world of technology? Here are seven developments to look out for.

1. AI agents come into their own

Unsurprisingly, we’re likely to see further important developments in AI. One area that’s likely to take off is the use of AI agents. These are intelligent programs that are given objectives by humans and work out the best ways to achieve those objectives. Agents can write computer code, which could have a big impact on the way that tech companies work and could allow people without advanced coding skills to develop programs, apps or games.

You could also see car plants with no people, running with robots operated by AI agents. In theory, mortgage applications could be assessed and approved by agent technology. Individual apps on a smartphone could be replaced by an agent interface that performs multiple tasks for the user.

A combination of agent technology with robotics could be revolutionary. We are reaching a point where robots don’t just emulate the tasks of humans, but are reasoning and answering to us directly.

One candidate for hosting AI agent technology is Optimus, a humanoid robot built by Tesla. Elon Musk has said that the electric car maker will start using Optimus for tasks within the company from 2025. He added that the automaton could be ready for sale to other businesses by 2026.

Agents are tailor-made for industry tasks such as project management. The consulting firm Gartner suggests that by 2030, some 80% of project management tasks will be run by AI.

2. Customization, with help from AI

In education, the focus has traditionally been on linear programs of study, with pre-determined entry and exit points lasting a number of years. Imagine a course of study that is uniquely tailored to individual students based on their experience, skills and abilities. Bespoke degree programmes centered around the student are already being explored in the US with AI.

These are not just bespoke with regard to the content and curriculum, but also in recognizing the special needs of the student or indeed how the learner may feel at any one time. This can include AI that adjusts the learning activity and study based on how much sleep you had last night, which is linked to smartwatch data.

Education isn’t the only area where AI could help with customization. The management consultancy Accenture suggests that private companies will be able to train their own, custom large language models, the technology behind AI chatbots such as ChatGPT. These could be trained with data specific to particular business areas, making them more effective for those firms. But these companies would have to use billions of pieces of data. We’ll see progress towards this objective in 2025.

Small language models (SLMs) are being developed to perform precise tasks more efficiently. They don’t need to be trained on as much data and require less computing power. This means they can be used more easily on so-called “edge devices” – smartphones, tablets and laptops – without relying on computing resources hosted in the cloud.

3. Towards practical quantum computers

Developments in quantum computing could lead to machines that can solve complex tasks that are beyond the capability of most classical computers. Researchers have moved away from trying to break records for the number of basic processing units, called qubits, and towards correcting the errors that quantum computers are currently prone to. This is a step towards practical quantum computers that have some useful advantage over classical machines.

Small language models allow AI to be more easily used on edge devices like smartphones. Raman Shaunia / Shutterstock

4. Blending physical and virtual worlds

Augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality could be used more widely. Virtual reality immerses users in a computer-generated world. Augmented reality superimposes computer-generated elements onto the real world, while the latter remains visible. Mixed reality, refers to a set of immersive technologies including augmented reality, that provide different “blends” of physical and virtual worlds.

There are already a number of head-mounted devices (HMDs) that can support these technologies. These include Apple’s Vision Pro and Meta’s Quest headset. In 2025, we’re likely to see new products and refinements from the likes of Meta, Apple and others.

5. Benefits of blockchain

Blockchain technology, which allows records to be stored across a network of computers, is set to affect supply chains and different sectors from healthcare to finance. Blockchain increases transparency and traceability, allowing for the tracking of products from origin to consumer, it also offers enhanced security and improved efficiency with automated processes.

Patient data in healthcare could be made more secure with blockchain technology. The exchange of data could become seamless and medical supplies could be tracked. Financial transactions could be made more robust, faster and cheaper and there would be a greater degree of financial inclusion. This would provide access to a wider group who may not have had banking or lending services before.

6. The dawn of 6G communications

We will enjoy faster connectivity, with the introduction of 6G wireless communication networks. The process of standardizing 6G technology will begin in 2025. Clear 6G global standards and compatibility between networks is vital for the technology’s success.

7. More advanced self-driving technology

Self-driving vehicles are also set to see a number of advancements going forward. Self-driving cars are classified into six levels, according to their autonomy – from 0 (fully manual) to 5 (fully autonomous). Current self-driving taxis deployed in US cities such as San Francisco are at level 4 (high driving automation).

They can handle most driving tasks without human input but with some restrictions. In 2025, we’re likely to see progress towards level 5. This is classified as full autonomy, and describes vehicles that operate without any human intervention. Mercedes will increase the speed of its Drive Pilot self-driving system in 2025 and Tesla is developing its own Robotaxi, which should be available “before 2027”, according to Elon Musk.

We can expect technology to be able to achieve tasks that used to be the exclusive domain of humans. It will be able to complete work tasks and report back. This will lead to efficiencies and big changes to work. We’ll also see technology that enhances our leisure time and quality of life.

Lewis Endlar, Programme Director MSc Project Management and Lecturer in Business, Keele Business School, Keele University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.