Executives of Blue Origin briefly met with Trump within hours after paper spiked endorsement of Harris

The multi-billionaire owner of the Washington Post, Jeff Bezos, continued facing criticism throughout the weekend because executives from his aerospace company met with Donald Trump on the same day the newspaper prevented its editorial team from publishing an endorsement of his opponent in the US presidential election.

Senior news and opinion leaders at the Washington Post flew to Miami in late September 2024 to meet with Bezos, who had reservations about the paper issuing an endorsement in the 5 November election, the New York Times reported.

Amazon and the space exploration company Blue Origin are among Bezos-owned business that still compete for lucrative federal government contracts.

And the Post on Friday announced it would not endorse a candidate in the 5 November election after its editorial board had already drafted its endorsement of Kamala Harris.

  • @WrenFeathers
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    5 hours ago

    So… the Streisand effect is in full bloom now. They were going to endorse Harris. But they were told they can’t endorse Harris. Now, because of this- more people are aware that they intended to endorse Harris than anyone would have if they had just been allowed to from the beginning.

    We all know they endorse her. They’re just not being allowed to actually say it.

    Soooooo… TLDR?

    The message remains. Despite Bezos being a coward, WaPo still endorses Harris.

  • @Snapz
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    97 hours ago

    The best thing about nepo-bootstrap baby bezos seems to be his wife, who divorced him.

  • @Mediocre_Bard
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    78 hours ago

    They didn’t “not endorse” someone. Silence is complicity.

  • @LovableSidekick
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    11 hours ago

    In a way he’s doing the country a favor by shining a spotlight on how the power created by wealth can be blatantly abused. This should make us rethink freedom of the press and corporate control of media. News publishing is probably the most important area where antitrust laws should be applied and strengthened. In general, wealthy individuals and corporate boards have gone way past a reasonable point of simply buying controlling interests in something to acquire more power and influence than the public has through government. Democracy means nothing if kings and queens can sprout up inside of it. And that’s not “communism” talking, it’s commonsense-ism.

  • @[email protected]
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    1510 hours ago

    Doubt Bezos has done enough to outbribe SpaceX. He should have gone all in on Harriss even if that is somehow a longshot now.

  • @[email protected]
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    37 hours ago

    Blackberry-Honey Mustard Sauce

    Total Time: 1 hr 20 mins
    Yield: Makes about 1 1/4 cups

    Ingredients:

    • 1/3 cup sugar
    • 1 (6-oz.) container fresh blackberries
    • 1/4 cup honey
    • 1 tablespoon dry mustard
    • 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
    • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
    • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
    • 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

    Directions:
    1. Bring first 2 ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally and mashing berries with the back of a wooden spoon. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring often and mashing berries, 2 to 3 minutes or until slightly thickened. Remove from heat, and pour mixture through a fine wire-mesh strainer into a blender, pressing with spoon to release juices; discard solids.
    2. Add honey and next 4 ingredients to blender; process on low 20 seconds. Increase blender speed to high, and process 30 seconds. With blender running, add oil in a slow, steady stream, processing until smooth. Transfer mixture to a small bowl; cover and chill 1 to 12 hours.

  • @teamevil
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    3313 hours ago

    My subscription was cancelled yesterday

    • @ripcord
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      13 hours ago

      Cancelled mine today.

    • @[email protected]
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      812 hours ago

      Keeping our Amazon prime until it’s 2025 expiration date. Spent today researching alternatives so I can placate my Amazon loving spouse. Fortunately coming armed with info and the promise that they’ll have a several month “get used to it” cooling down period, they took it pretty well. I also reminded them if they MUST get something from Amazon, they still do the free 2 day shipping if u spend over $35. But it’ll probably be easier than they think with all but the oddest of purchases.

      Been wanting to get rid of it anyways and this was the nail in the coffin.

      • @teamevil
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        311 hours ago

        I dumped them last year cuz the products never got delivered on time. I’ll never use the site again

      • @[email protected]
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        111 hours ago

        Grove has become my go-to storefront for general household goods - they have a solid selection of generally reasonably priced jtems, and a strong aversion to plastic. They’re by no means perfect but I feel a lot better with them getting a cut of my money than Bezos.

        They’re not going to have the billions of niche items on Amazon, but they’re pretty great for my needs.

  • @[email protected]
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    6815 hours ago

    “Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.”

    ― Benito Mussolini

    • @diffusive
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      11 hour ago

      This quote is not true (see this article for further details).

      But even if it was it would mean something different. In Italian “corporazioni” are not “corporations” (corporations are “grandi aziende”). Corporazioni are organisations of people doing a specific work. For example masons could have their own Corporazione (they don’t, Mussolini created the “ordini” but mainly for professions so for example even today for being an engineer you must register with the engineers corporazione).

      Assuming that quote was true and assuming the translation was somehow literal (hard to say without an original text) it would mean that state and productive sector should collaborate (for the greatness of the nation likely, given his kind of speeches).

      Also, Fascism was definitely not capitalism. Mussolini imposed in the board of the directors of every large company one member of the Fascist party. This for controlling their behaviour and making sure that they were aligned with the fascist agenda. Not exactly freedom (it was never their point) but not unchecked power of the corporations either.

    • Tiefling IRL
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      1614 hours ago

      I wish it was easier to shop local :/

      I’m not even in the middle of nowhere, I’m in a city. But it’s so hard to get anything that can’t be found at a dollar store.

      • @[email protected]
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        17 hours ago

        I am on the outskirts of nowhere and disabled. All my options are big chains. I wish they weren’t – my small town is now all hair salons, Tai Quan Do studios, pubs, florists, and yard or antique shops. No local shops here carry life supplies (food, toiletries , drinks, medicine) except the gas station (in very small quantities).

      • @[email protected]
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        612 hours ago

        I went without Prime for >1 year. I just online shopped directly from manufacturer if I can and paid shipping if free shipping not available. I minimized use of amazon only if I had $35 in my cart for the free shipping.

        However, I know I am privileged enough to do so.

        I honestly would encourage everyone not to have Prime though. Its like what $150+ now for a year? Save that money and wait until your cart is $35. If you cannot wait, you can pay for shipping (assuming $7) x20+ times before you make up price of that $150 for Prime.

      • @[email protected]
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        513 hours ago

        One of the reasons I love my town is there is a great, thriving small business culture. It’s relatively easy to shop local for a lot of things.

        That said, it can be expensive, and there are certainly things it’s not easy to find locally, so sometimes I do, unfortunately, turn to Amazon. But I try to minimize it.

        • oozynozh
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          111 hours ago

          Any hints at where? Without doxxing yourself, of course…

          • @[email protected]
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            26 hours ago

            I don’t mind saying on this account that I’m from Wichita. Which is a great town, except for the fact that it’s in Kansas.

    • @[email protected]
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      512 hours ago

      A family member recommended target circle as a replacement for Amazon prime and I am researching it. It’s still a big company…but where I live there really isn’t TRULY local options (I.E. small businesses) for household goods and such. I figure target is a pretty good alternative and since we have a store pretty close, I can pickup stuff instead of getting so much extra shipping.

      • WxFisch
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        010 hours ago

        So we did exactly this when we dropped our Prime membership a few years ago as part of working against Amazon building a massive warehouse in our fully residential borough (we won if anyone was wondering, they chose not to continue fighting it in court). We shop mostly in store at Target and other brick and mortar stores. We will also shop online still, but almost always directly from the manufacturer. This usually means paying shipping, but I figure our UPS driver and mail person need a paycheck too so we are fine with that. We will occasionally use Amazon for things that are just hard to find elsewhere but only order once our cart is in the free shipping price range. It turns out, Amazon is not only a shit company the uses dark patterns to push a mostly superfluous subscription, most things we buy are cheaper elsewhere. Combined with not buying nearly as much random crap, we have saved a butt load since quitting Amazon.

    • @cm0002
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      614 hours ago

      shop local

      Be nice if “shopping local” didn’t mean 2-6x higher prices, a lot of us can’t afford that kinda price hike

      • @[email protected]
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        112 hours ago

        Think of it as supporting your neighbors.

        There is value in keeping money within your own community, instead of giving all the profit to Bezos.

        • @cm0002
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          211 hours ago

          c/ThanksImCured

    • @Homescool
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      -312 hours ago

      Not yet. Happy to jump when there is a viable alternative. I’m not willing to give up all the conveniences and efficiency for a cause. Also, these campaigns rarely actually work. I would be more interested if there were an actual well thought out migration pattern in motion for regular consumers who will never care but spend most of the money

      • Granbo's Holy Hotrod
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        612 hours ago

        And this…will be our end. There are so many world problems where this is the answer. I’m not poking at you directly, just that this right here is why we can’t have nice things.

        • @Homescool
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          10 hours ago

          I would respond by saying that focusing on the attitude or values of an individual or individual type is a convenient distraction from the truth that it is extremely impractical to do what you ask, at scale. The change has to be systemic. And the only systemic change that is practically on the table, is letting the system spin faster until it breaks. That is the only practical, proven path.

          Name anything like this in history. Old solutions are well defended against by those in power

  • @Snapz
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    17 hours ago

    Bug-eyed villain

  • @[email protected]
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    1714 hours ago

    Is Bezos more comfortable with the prospect of a fascist regime or an FTC headed by Lina Khan? His recent behavior seems to indicate the former.

  • @AshMan85
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    1815 hours ago

    fascists flock together

  • originalucifer
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    914 hours ago

    oh yes, im sure that criticism is just going to rattle him to the bone while he sits on his billions of dollars.