Trump escalates attack on Amazon, demands Washington Post register as 'lobbyist'

[polychronopolous]

President Donald Trump continued to needle Amazon on Saturday, claiming the internet commerce giant maintains an advantageous relationship with the U.S Postal Service amounting to a "scam" worth "billions of dollars."

"While we are on the subject, it is reported that the U.S. Post Office will lose $1.50 on average for each package it delivers for Amazon," the president wrote on Twitter. "That amounts to Billions of Dollars. The Failing N.Y. Times reports that “the size of the company’s lobbying staff has ballooned,” and that..."

Trump added that Amazon's lobbying staff does not "include the Fake Washington Post" and that the newspaper, which is owned by billionaire and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, is a "lobbyist" and should register accordingly.

"If the P.O. 'increased its parcel rates, Amazon’s shipping costs would rise by $2.6 Billion,' the president continued. "This Post Office scam must stop. Amazon must pay real costs (and taxes) now!
The president's Saturday morning tweets came as his motorcade left his Mar-a-Lago estate, about 8:45 a.m, heading to his nearby golf course. The president is staying in Florida for the holiday weekend.

Trump's attacks on the Washington Post come as a story about the damage being done to the president's family real-estate and marketing business by porn star Stormy Daniels and special counsel Robert Mueller's probe was leading the paper's website Saturday morning.

The president has often conflated Bezos' dual roles as Post owner and Amazon CEO. The two entities are separate.

The $1.50 figure comes from a Wall Street Journal op-ed, which cited a Citigroup analysis that the Postal Service loses $1.46 on each package it delivers for Amazon. But a Fortune Magazine report found that such a subsidy is due to congressional action that limits the postal service's ability to compete with companies like FedEx.

The president also attacked Amazon on Thursday, accusing the company of paying less than its fair share in taxes and abusing the postal service.

Trump later Saturday posted an attack on California Jerry Brown, whom he has dubbed in the past as "Moonbeam" Brown, tagging Fox News in the tweet.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/31/trump-amazon-post-office-jeff-bezos-492853

[Agnostic007]

Sad, the POTUS is mad because the Washington Post isn't kind to him so he uses his position to attack Amazon with phony statements... Making American Great Again 

[polychronopolous]

Sad, the POTUS is mad because the Washington Post isn't kind to him so he uses his position to attack Amazon with phony statements... Making American Great Again 

I still do not know where I stand on this whole ordeal but can we not address the 800 pound gorilla in the room?

The fact that the richest man in the world is now running The Washington Post?

Sort of a strange precedent we are setting with that one.

Do you see The Washington Post printing any anti-Amazon articles anytime soon? I don't.

[B_B_C]

I still do not know where I stand on this whole ordeal but can we not address the 800 pound gorilla in the room?

The fact that the richest man in the world is now running The Washington Post?

And being attached by one of the richest men in the US who just happens to be its President 

[Al Doggity]

I still do not know where I stand on this whole ordeal but can we not address the 800 pound gorilla in the room?

The fact that the richest man in the world is now running The Washington Post?

Sort of a strange precedent we are setting with that one.

How is that a strange precedent?

As if extraordinarily wealthy individuals have never owned media organizations before? Or media organizations rarely voice political stances? Or large media companies have never been part of larger businesses before?  Every possible configuration of these things has occurred multiple times during the modern age.

[Straw Man]

Trump in 2015

“I don’t want lobbyists, I don’t want special interests,” he told host John Dickerson on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“I don’t want any strings attached,” Trump said. “I turned down $5 million last week from a very important lobbyist because there are total strings attached to a thing like that.

“He’s going to come to me in a year or two years,” he added. “And he’s going to want something for a country that he represents or a company that he represents. That’s the kind of money I won’t take.”

Trump Administration in 2018 - just posting this in case Trumptards missed the segment where the gang over at Fox and Friends talked about this

Swamp-Draining Trump Administration Has Hired 187 Lobbyists, New Report Finds

It is about the lowest-hanging fruit around to point out that Donald Trump has not “drained the swamp”—i.e. addressed Washington’s corporate lobbying and corruption problems—despite having made such drainage one of his main campaign promises. ProPublica has provided a valuable service, however, by actually doing the legwork on this observation and finding out just how many lobbyists the Trump administration has hired. The answer is “at least 187,” many of whom have been appointed to positions in which they can do favors for the clients they used to represent. (And who they will no doubt represent in the future.) From a New York Times write-up of the data:

The administration has granted at least 31 waivers to some former lobbyists and others who had private-sector jobs that overlap with their new federal assignments, according to the database. Among them is Erik Baptist, a senior deputy general counsel at the Environmental Protection Agency. He previously worked for the American Petroleum Institute as a lobbyist on federal regulations related to renewable fuels.


Here are some other fun ones:

• Environmental Protection Agency official Troy Lyons worked as a lobbyist for British Petroleum.

• EPA deputy administrator nominee Andrew Wheeler lobbied on behalf of Murray Energy, which describes itself as “the largest underground coal mining company in America.”

• EPA official David Ross is a lawyer who represented industry clients in suits against the EPA.

• Health and Human Services official Laura Clay Trueman worked as a lobbyist for Aetna.

• Health and Human Services official Courtney Austin Lawrence worked for a health insurers’ lobbying association.

• Housing and Urban Development official Michael Kelley worked as a lobbyist for several real estate companies.

• FDA counsel Rebecca Kathleen Wood worked for Bayer Pharma and the pharmaceutical-industry lobbying group PhRMA.

Mmm … swamp water. (Disclosure: The author of this piece is registered to perform paid legislative advocacy on behalf of the Swamp Water Vendors’ Trade Association.)



https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/03/trump-administration-has-hired-187-lobbyists-propublic-finds-swamp-much.html

[Coach is Back!]

https://nypost.com/2016/06/09/science-says-liberal-beliefs-are-linked-to-pyschotic-traits/

[Agnostic007]

https://nypost.com/2016/06/09/science-says-liberal-beliefs-are-linked-to-pyschotic-traits/

“Psychoticism,” an idea introduced by the German psychologist Hans Eysenck, sounds a lot more intense than it is. Basically, Eysenck had a model of personality which included three traits: extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism. Psychoticism, the only one relevant for this discussion, is a cluster of concepts related to people’s level of individuality and penchant for falling in line — it’s measured using questions like “Do you prefer to go your own way rather than act by the rules?” Being high in psychoticism means you have less respect for rules and for order in general — it doesn’t mean you are psychotic or otherwise mentally ill.

Thought this little tidbit might be of importance to the discussion

[Agnostic007]

Trump in 2015

Trump Administration in 2018 - just posting this in case Trumptards missed the segment where the gang over at Fox and Friends talked about this

Swamp-Draining Trump Administration Has Hired 187 Lobbyists, New Report Finds

It is about the lowest-hanging fruit around to point out that Donald Trump has not “drained the swamp”—i.e. addressed Washington’s corporate lobbying and corruption problems—despite having made such drainage one of his main campaign promises. ProPublica has provided a valuable service, however, by actually doing the legwork on this observation and finding out just how many lobbyists the Trump administration has hired. The answer is “at least 187,” many of whom have been appointed to positions in which they can do favors for the clients they used to represent. (And who they will no doubt represent in the future.) From a New York Times write-up of the data:

The administration has granted at least 31 waivers to some former lobbyists and others who had private-sector jobs that overlap with their new federal assignments, according to the database. Among them is Erik Baptist, a senior deputy general counsel at the Environmental Protection Agency. He previously worked for the American Petroleum Institute as a lobbyist on federal regulations related to renewable fuels.


Here are some other fun ones:

• Environmental Protection Agency official Troy Lyons worked as a lobbyist for British Petroleum.

• EPA deputy administrator nominee Andrew Wheeler lobbied on behalf of Murray Energy, which describes itself as “the largest underground coal mining company in America.”

• EPA official David Ross is a lawyer who represented industry clients in suits against the EPA.

• Health and Human Services official Laura Clay Trueman worked as a lobbyist for Aetna.

• Health and Human Services official Courtney Austin Lawrence worked for a health insurers’ lobbying association.

• Housing and Urban Development official Michael Kelley worked as a lobbyist for several real estate companies.

• FDA counsel Rebecca Kathleen Wood worked for Bayer Pharma and the pharmaceutical-industry lobbying group PhRMA.

Mmm … swamp water. (Disclosure: The author of this piece is registered to perform paid legislative advocacy on behalf of the Swamp Water Vendors’ Trade Association.)



https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/03/trump-administration-has-hired-187-lobbyists-propublic-finds-swamp-much.html

His EPA selection is doing a bang up job. #drainingtheswamp

[Yamcha]

reminds me of when people were bitching about Wal-Mart stealing jobs away from local economies.

[Dos Equis]

Amazon Bans Ad for Pro-Trump Book

Image: Amazon Bans Ad for Pro-Trump Book
Wednesday, 04 April 2018

Amazon is refusing to accept advertising for a pro-Trump bestselling book because it carries a picture of the President on its cover.

The internet commerce giant founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos also owns The Washington Post. He has been a recent target of President Trump’s tweets for biased press coverage and getting postal benefits for Amazon at the expense of other retailers.

Amazon told publisher Humanix Books by email this week that its ads promoting "Killing the Deep State: The Fight to Save President Trump" were "rejected because of the political content."

The book by New York Times bestselling author Jerome Corsi describes "deep state" efforts at agencies like the FBI, Department of Justice and NSA aimed at destroying Trump's presidency.

Soon after release, "Killing the Deep State" soared on bestseller lists and hit the No. 1 spot on Amazon's own coveted rankings in several categories.

"Technically, our policies say you cannot advertise anything related to a'‘political candidate, political party or issue related ads," an Amazon representative emailed the distributor for Humanix, which is a subsidiary of Newsmax Media.

"With Trump on the cover you may continue to get rejected across Amazon Marketing Services … according to our policies, this book is not allowed to be advertised."

But Amazon did not explain why it is currently running ads from other publishers that promote Trump-related books, including ones critical of the President such as "Russian Roulette" by Michael Isikoff and David Corn, "Fire and Fury" by Michael Wolff and "Trumpocracy" by David Frum.

Amazon's refusal to accept the ads for "Killing the Deep State" comes amid severe criticism of the company by Trump, who is reportedly considering anti-trust action and tighter regulation against the company, claiming "they pay little or no state taxes" and have taken advantage of the U.S. Postal Service.

Amazon's rejection of ads for "Killing the Deep State" comes as The New York Times continues to refuse to list the book on its bestseller list.

"Killing the Deep State" debuted at No. 10 on the non-fiction hardcover list compiled by Nielsen BookScan, the book industry's only nationally recognized sales tracking list.

Though "Killing the Deep State" has sold more copies than half of the books on the New York Times bestseller non-fiction hardcover list for two weeks in a row, the newspaper has banned the title from its rankings.

"Killing the Deep State: The Fight to Save President Trump" focuses on what author Corsi says is "a criminal conspiracy to remove the commander-in-chief  from office."

Newsmax has called "Killing the Deep State" the "political book of the year."

Corsi has authored two New York Times runaway bestsellers, "Unfit for Command" and "Obama Nation."

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/amazon-bans-advertising-trump/2018/04/04/id/852617/

[Agnostic007]

Amazon Bans Ad for Pro-Trump Book

Image: Amazon Bans Ad for Pro-Trump Book
Wednesday, 04 April 2018

Amazon is refusing to accept advertising for a pro-Trump bestselling book because it carries a picture of the President on its cover.

The internet commerce giant founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos also owns The Washington Post. He has been a recent target of President Trump’s tweets for biased press coverage and getting postal benefits for Amazon at the expense of other retailers.

Amazon told publisher Humanix Books by email this week that its ads promoting "Killing the Deep State: The Fight to Save President Trump" were "rejected because of the political content."

The book by New York Times bestselling author Jerome Corsi describes "deep state" efforts at agencies like the FBI, Department of Justice and NSA aimed at destroying Trump's presidency.

Soon after release, "Killing the Deep State" soared on bestseller lists and hit the No. 1 spot on Amazon's own coveted rankings in several categories.

"Technically, our policies say you cannot advertise anything related to a'‘political candidate, political party or issue related ads," an Amazon representative emailed the distributor for Humanix, which is a subsidiary of Newsmax Media.

"With Trump on the cover you may continue to get rejected across Amazon Marketing Services … according to our policies, this book is not allowed to be advertised."

But Amazon did not explain why it is currently running ads from other publishers that promote Trump-related books, including ones critical of the President such as "Russian Roulette" by Michael Isikoff and David Corn, "Fire and Fury" by Michael Wolff and "Trumpocracy" by David Frum.

Amazon's refusal to accept the ads for "Killing the Deep State" comes amid severe criticism of the company by Trump, who is reportedly considering anti-trust action and tighter regulation against the company, claiming "they pay little or no state taxes" and have taken advantage of the U.S. Postal Service.

Amazon's rejection of ads for "Killing the Deep State" comes as The New York Times continues to refuse to list the book on its bestseller list.

"Killing the Deep State" debuted at No. 10 on the non-fiction hardcover list compiled by Nielsen BookScan, the book industry's only nationally recognized sales tracking list.

Though "Killing the Deep State" has sold more copies than half of the books on the New York Times bestseller non-fiction hardcover list for two weeks in a row, the newspaper has banned the title from its rankings.

"Killing the Deep State: The Fight to Save President Trump" focuses on what author Corsi says is "a criminal conspiracy to remove the commander-in-chief  from office."

Newsmax has called "Killing the Deep State" the "political book of the year."

Corsi has authored two New York Times runaway bestsellers, "Unfit for Command" and "Obama Nation."

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/amazon-bans-advertising-trump/2018/04/04/id/852617/

So, who is worse? A president who uses his office of the Presidency to attack a private business for somehow getting a good rate with the USPS or a private citizen who bans advertisement for the President who is misusing his office to attack the private business? hmmmm? I miss the old America

[Dos Equis]

So, who is worse? A president who uses his office of the Presidency to attack a private business for somehow getting a good rate with the USPS or a private citizen who bans advertisement for the President who is misusing his office to attack the private business? hmmmm? I miss the old America

What difference does it make which is worse? 

[Agnostic007]

What difference does it make which is worse? 

I'll just let you think about it... 

[Dos Equis]

I'll just let you think about it...