this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2024

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309

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin Meets with Trump, Pretends Not to be Aware (qz.com)

submitted 10 hours ago by VantaBrandon@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

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[–] BertramDitore@lemm.ee 160 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Wow, this is some serious chutzpah:

“Every day, somewhere, some Amazon executive or Blue Origin executive or someone from the other philanthropies and companies I own or invest in is meeting with government officials,” Bezos wrote. “You can see my wealth and business interests as a bulwark against intimidation, or you can see them as a web of conflicting interests. Only my own principles can tip the balance from one to the other.”

Firstly, Trump is not a government official. He’s a private citizen, who is also a convicted felon and adjudicated rapist.

Secondly, don’t tell us that your principles are the only thing standing in the way of your corrupt conflicting business interests, without telling us what your principles are. Oh right, we can plainly see that you have no principles from your actions over decades of running an exploitative monopoly, and from the fact that you hijacked your own newspaper’s editorial page to tell us that ‘no no it’s still a legit newspaper I swear’ as you undermine its credibility with your own words.

What a disgrace.

[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 18 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Shouldn't them dealing with a convicted felon automatically revoke their security clearance? Same for Musk which is much more directly involved...

[–] BertramDitore@lemm.ee 14 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

I’m not sure if communicating with felons would/should revoke whatever clearances they have, but you’ve still hit on a really important point: these men run companies that have billions of dollars worth of federal contracts, and if they were anybody else they never would have passed the required background investigation in the first place. For those who don’t know, federal contractors work on behalf of the US Government, and every single one of them has to pass a thorough background investigation in order to be cleared to work on a federal contract. Yes, even the cafeteria workers who run the food court in a federal building. Musk has smoked weed in public on camera, and while I couldn’t care less about that, anyone completing the federal background investigation form in good faith would have to report that, and it would automatically disqualify them from any kind of security clearance. If they didn’t report it, then that means they lied on an official form, which at the very least would disqualify them, and at worst is another felony.

There are two sets of rules, one for the billionaires and one for the rest of us. They can happily break all the laws that would get the rest of us thrown in prison, and what’s more, they can further enrich themselves through that unlawful behavior.

[–] Pips@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Just to be accurate, smoking weed doesn't disqualify you from a clearance. It can, but it's not automatic, and you might be okay depending on the job, clearance level, and time since you last did any illegal substance.

[–] BertramDitore@lemm.ee 4 points 2 hours ago

In my experience, it’s less about the job and more about the personal preferences of the agent running the background investigation. I’ve seen contractors for low-level non-sensitive positions have entire job offers rescinded because they were honest about past weed use earlier in their life (not current). I’ve seen contractors breeze through the same process while flat out lying about their past weed use, and I’ve been told that lying is typically the best option, because the agents don’t have the time or resources to follow up. But if you’re caught lying on a form you’re fucked, so it’s a mix of damned if you do damned if you don’t, but also you might be totally fine depending on how the agent feels that day. On top of that, many of the agents are contractors themselves, so there’s very little incentive for consistency.

[–] rowrowrowyourboat@sh.itjust.works 55 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

The Post’s withheld endorsement was seen as another example of tech executives and billionaires preparing for a potential second Trump administration. Meta’s (META+0.38%) Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, and Google (GOOGL+0.58%) CEO Sundar Pichai have all reportedly spoken with Trump in recent weeks or months.

Fucking pathetic. Groveling at the feet of Trump.

[–] jaybone@lemmy.world 6 points 5 hours ago

Not Tim Apple!

[–] VantaBrandon@lemmy.world 62 points 10 hours ago

Former WAPO subscriber? Dispute the charges.

WAPO defrauded their customers, they advertised impartial and ethical journalism, and failed to deliver the product as advertised. Its a subjective claim, but you're within your rights to make it, the worst your bank can do is say no. The best they can do is say yes, and if enough of them stack up, it could send the company spiraling.

[–] Atom@lemmy.world 28 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (2 children)

I know Billionaires going to billionaire and all, but with Elon Musk so obviously having a strong position in Trump's cabinet, wouldn't it make sense to advocate against that administration? Elon is going to crush every private space and EV manufacturer in favor of his own companies. Elon is doing his best 'toddler in a bounce house' impression at the rallies. No way Bezos is going to compete or overcome Elon's influence, especially since I doubt Trump will give a single fuck what his cabinet does.

Again, avoiding taxes is all they care about, but damn. Harris might raise his taxes a fraction of a sliver, but at least Blue Origin would get a fair shake at contracts.

[–] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 27 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

Trump has said he's going to put enemies of America in prison and intimated that this includes anyone that worked with, for, or in support of Harris. I suspect Bezos believes him.

That would only make me work harder for Harris, but then I'm not a self-obsessed billionaire.

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 4 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Elon is going to crush every (...) EV manufacturer

Yeah right. Almost every single car manufacturer makes EVs now and starting in less than a decade (2040 at the latest), new fossil cars are going to be banned in several countries.

He might have been able to do it when it was basically just Teslas and Nissans Leaf, but even as a high ranking member of a fascist American government, he's not going to be able to just abolish the auto industry 😄

[–] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 10 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

I eased my belt, farted, nearly shat, before starting to consider your mortals' business.

[–] thefartographer@lemm.ee 1 points 7 hours ago

Nearly shat??? That sounds like entirely too much effort to possibly be true. He definitely had a blowout so explosive that it sent his shoes skidding across the floor.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 13 points 10 hours ago

Jeff Bezos: "I've never even heard of this... Fonald Fump, you said his name was?"

[–] kokesh@lemmy.world 9 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Maybe they can take tRump and explode a rocket with him.

[–] Ioughttamow@fedia.io 5 points 9 hours ago

If that doesn’t work, maybe we can take him on a titanic tour

[–] SelfProgrammed@lemmy.world 3 points 8 hours ago

CEOs playing stupid just doesn't make sense. It sounds like he can't manage if he has no clue a project under his control is meeting with an ex-President and current candidate. Bezos should be fired for gross incompetence if not election interference.