Bezos says Amazon will work with DoD; says US in 'big trouble' without 'big tech' companies

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, speaking at the Economic Club of Washington's Milestone Celebration in Washington. (AP)

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has distinguished his company from other big tech firms in declaring its willingness to work with the United States Department of Defense.
“If big tech companies are going to turn their back on the US Department of Defense, this country is going to be in trouble,” Bezos cautioned in San Francisco Monday at an event celebrating the 25th anniversary of the tech magazine Wired.
AMAZON FOUNDER JEFF BEZOS GIVES $10 MILLION TO SUPER PAC IN FIRST MAJOR POLITICAL CONTRIBUTION
Amazon is bidding for a 10-year contract with the Defense Department known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure project, JEDI, to offer cloud computing services worth up to $10 billion.
“We are going to continue to support the DoD, and I think we should,” Bezos said.

This is a great country and it does need to be defended.
— Jeff Bezos

Earlier this month, Google said it had removed its bid for JEDI because the contract went against the company's  "A.I. Principles." On Friday, Microsoft employees published an open letter on Medium, urging the company not to take the contract.
"Many Microsoft employees don't believe that what we build should be used for waging war," the letter read.
AMAZON’S JEFF BEZOS TOUTS BLUE ORIGIN ROCKETS, WEB SERVICES AT AIR FORCE EVENT
Bezos acknowledged his unpopular stance.
“One of the jobs of the senior leadership team is to make the right decision, even when it’s unpopular,” Bezos said. "This is a great country and it does need to be defended."
"I know everybody is very conflicted about the current politics and so on,” he said, but, “This country is a gem.”

Sessions vows 'emergency' Supreme Court battles amid 'outrageous' discovery rulings by federal judges

Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday lit into federal judges for what he called a dramatic uptick in "outrageous" decisions threatening to interfere with the separation of powers by exposing internal White House deliberations.
In a fiery speech to the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington, Sessions warned that "once we go down this road in American government, there is no turning back." He vowed to take "these discovery fights to the Supreme Court in emergency postures. ... We intend to fight this, and we intend to win."
Sessions specifically singled out New York district court judge Jesse M. Furman, who ruled that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross could be questioned in an ongoing lawsuit concerning the legality of the Trump administration's decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
Furman's decision, Sessions said, contradicts longstanding statutory provisions that protect certain executive branch discussions from disclosure, in order to encourage free and open deliberations by executive branch officials. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit, including several liberal states, are arguing in part that the White House added the citizenship question for political reasons.
The judge wants "to hold a trial over the inner workings of a Cabinet secretary’s mind," and inappropriately allow inquiry into the motivations for the Trump administration's decisions, Sessions said.
Furman's order, which was upheld by a New York federal appellate court, has been stayed by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The full Supreme Court is expected to decide the issue soon.

"Once we go down this road in American government, there is no turning back."
— Attorney General Jeff Sessions

The pending court challenges against the Trump administration's decision to add a citizenship question, legal experts tell Fox News, face an uphill battle not only because conservatives now command a 5-4 majority on the Supreme Court, but also because traditionally it's been the White House's prerogative to decide whether to inquire about citizenship on the census.
Former President Barack Obama's administration didn't ask the question in the 2010 census amid fears it would cause illegal immigrants to avoid answering their census questions -- and thus not count toward population totals used to determine the number of seats each state receives in the House of Representatives. (The citizenship question was last asked on the census in 1950, but beginning in 1970, a citizenship question was asked in a long-form questionnaire sent to a relatively small number of households, alongside the main census. In 2010, there was no long-form questionnaire.)
Democrats would lose out because the citizenship question would affect predominately liberal districts, but that's not a legally sufficient objection, legal analysts say.
TRUMP CENSUS BUREAU NOMINEE QUIZZED BY SENATORS ON CITIZENSHIP QUESTION
"There is no credible argument to be made that asking about citizenship subverts the Constitution and federal law," Chapman University law professor and constitutional law expert John Eastman told Fox News. "The recent move is simply to restore what had long been the case."
Nevertheless, Sessions said Monday, liberal states and nonprofits have continued to push even longshot legal challenges in order to dig around in executive branch deliberations.
"This is not the first time we’ve had to seek emergency appellate intervention to stop outrageous discovery," Sessions said. Last year, the government filed a successful emergency motion to stop a district court's ruling that permitted plaintiffs to question a Department of Homeland Security counselor about advice relating to the contentious Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
Sessions called that lower court ruling a "blatant violation of deliberative process and attorney-client privileges" and warned that it would have a "chilling effect" on deliberations in the White House.
He added, "Too many judges believe it is their right, their duty, to act upon their sympathies and policy preferences."
The attorney general blamed Obama for encouraging that approach. "One argument for activism was advocated openly by President Obama when he declared his judicial nominees must judge with 'empathy.' It is a seductive argument. But whatever empathy is, it’s more akin to emotion, bias, and politics than law," Sessions said.
"In the recent DACA litigation, for example, a judge last year told one of our DOJ litigators, 'You can’t come into court to espouse a position that is heartless,'" Sessions continued. "Not illegal. Not unlawful. Heartless. And later, after I responded in a speech that it isn’t a judge’s job to decide whether a policy is 'heartless,' the judge again scolded the DOJ lawyer by stating that I 'seem to think the courts cannot have an opinion.'"

Judge Nicholas Garaufis denied the government's motion to dismiss a DACA lawsuit, citing President Trump's "bigoted" comments. (Reuters, FIle)

That judge, U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis, was appointed to the bench by former President Bill Clinton. He ruled in March that a lawsuit seeking to preserve the federal DACA program can continue -- citing candidate Donald Trump's "racial slurs" and "epithets."
“One might reasonably infer,” Garaufis said in his politically charged ruling, “that a candidate who makes overtly bigoted statements on the campaign trail might be more likely to engage in similarly bigoted action in office.”
Separately, Sessions also said the 27 nationwide federal injunctions issued by individual judges during the Trump administration so far -- which brought temporary halts to high-profile policies like his ban on travel from Muslim-majority nations -- constitute an unprecedented "judicial encroachment."
"It is emphatically not the duty of the courts to manage the government or to pass judgment on every policy action the Executive branch takes," Sessions said. "In the first 175 years of this Republic, not a single judge issued one of these orders."
In his confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court in September, then-nominee Brett Kavanaugh was asked by Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy about the constitutionality of individual federal judges issuing nationwide injunctions against presidential action, a recent phenomenon. Kavanaugh demurred, saying he could not discuss potential pending issues before the Supreme Court.
Sessions noted that Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, who concurred in the high court's decision earlier this year to reinstate Trump's travel ban, wrote that such injunctions “take a toll on the federal court system—preventing legal questions from percolating through the federal courts, encouraging forum shopping, and making every case a national emergency for the courts and for the executive branch.”
He added: "Executive branch officers do not work for the judiciary. We work for the president of the United States. Respect runs both ways."

Made in China Cartoons

Chinese official finds Trump 'very confusing,' says US warships at China's doorstep building tension

President Trump's inner circle is "very confusing" for foreign diplomatic officials in Washington to navigate, China's U.S. ambassador Cui Tiankai told "Fox News Sunday" in an exclusive wide-ranging interview.
Cui added that U.S. warships are "on the offensive" near China, days after a U.S. destroyer nearly collided with a Chinese military vessel in the South China Sea. The Pentagon said the Chinese ship came within 45 yards of the U.S. destroyer, in an intentionally "unsafe" maneuver.
Cui's comments come as Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump prepare for a possible meeting at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, next month, amid a rapidly escalating trade conflict between the two nations that some have called a new cold war.
Asked by host Chris Wallace whether Trump listens primarily to hardliners like trade director Peter Navarro -- who has characterized China as the economic "parasite of the world" -- or moderates like chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Cui responded simply, "You tell me."
The envoy added that other ambassadors seemingly have the same issue. President Trump has repeatedly said he tries to avoid "telegraphing" his moves to foreign adversaries.
"Honestly, I’ve been talking to ambassadors of other countries in Washington, D.C., and this is also part of their problem," Cui said. "They don’t know who is the final decision-maker. Of course, presumably, the president will take the final decision, but who is playing what role? Sometimes it could be very confusing."
Trump, citing widespread intellectual property theft in China that cuts into the profits of U.S. companies doing business there, placed tariffs on approximately $200 billion of Chinese imports in September, following his imposition of significant tariffs on nearly $35 billion in Chinese goods in July. China quickly retaliated with $60 billion in tariffs of its own.
The White House has bipartisan support for hitting back at Chinese intellectual property theft. In an interview in June, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., ordinarily a fierce Trump critic, agreed with the administration's China policy and said that the country "takes total advantage" of the U.S.
“Not only do they steal our intellectual property, they keep our good companies out, and say the only way you’re going to be able to sell your American products in China … is if you come to China, make them there, and give us the techniques and intellectual property,” Schumer said.
And the president has insisted his tariffs are already having a major impact.
"Their economy has gone down very substantially, and I have a lot more to do if I want to do it," Trump told "Fox & Friends" last week. "They lived too well for too long and, frankly, I guess they think the Americans are stupid people. Americans are not stupid people. We were led badly when it came to trade."
WATCH: HAS US ENTERED NEW COLD WAR WITH CHINA?
But in his interview with Fox News, Cui denied that China permits or engages in widespread intellectual property theft, and said even the suggestion was an affront to the country's population.
"I think all of these accusations about how China has developed are groundless and not fair to the Chinese people," he told Wallace. "You see, China has 1.4 billion people. It would be hard to imagine that one-fifth of the global population could develop and prosper not by relying mainly on their own efforts, but by stealing or forcing some transfer of technology from others -- that’s impossible."

"It’s important to notice who started this trade war. We never want to have a trade war."
— China's U.S. ambassador Cui Tiankai

He added: "It’s important to notice who started this trade war. We never want to have a trade war, but if somebody started a trade war against us, we have to respond and defend our own interests."
Concerns have been raised that China, the largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasurys, might start dumping its holdings as a way to pressure the United States in the trade dispute. But Mnuchin said this possibility didn't concern him because it would be contrary to Beijing's economic interests to start dumping its Treasury holdings, and would be "very costly" to China.
Top U.S. officials have warned that the ongoing conflict with China extends beyond trade. In Senate testimony on Wednesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray said that "China, in many ways, represents the broadest, most complicated, most long-term counterintelligence threat we face."
He added that "Russia is ... fighting to stay relevant after the fall of the Soviet Union," while "China is fighting tomorrow's fight…and it affects every sector of our economy."
Vice President Pence, meanwhile, has accused China of trying to interfere with U.S. elections, including by targeting tariffs toward industries that support Trump and even spreading propaganda in U.S. media outlets.
In response, Cui effectively called the U.S. the aggressor in several spheres of influence. Chinese state-run media companies have recently bought newspaper inserts in U.S. newspapers to influence local opinion in favor of China.
"You see, Chinese media, they are just learning from America media to use all these means, to buy commercial pages from newspapers, to make their views known or to cover what is happening here," Cui said. "This is normal practice for all the media." (China does not generally permit foreign-owned media companies to buy such political inserts in its own domestic papers.)
WATCH: HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY WARNS CHINA ENGAGING IN 'UNPRECEDENTED' INFLUENCE CAMPAIGN AHEAD OF MIDTERMS
The envoy also said that Chinese warships, which harassed and nearly collided with a U.S. destroyer recently in the disputed South China Sea, had responded appropriately to an intervention on their "doorstep." Beijing has built up military fortifications on two contested Chinese man-made islands there despite pledging not to do so.
"Where the incident took place, you were right to say it was in South China Sea. So it’s at China’s doorstep," Cui told Wallace. "It’s not Chinese warships that are going to the coast of California, or to the Gulf of Mexico. It’s so close to the Chinese islands and it’s so close to the Chinese coast. So who is on the offensive? Who is on the defensive? This is very clear."
Cui said, however, that China would continue to "faithfully" implement sanctions against its longtime ally, North Korea, in order to restore stability to the region. He  said a "coordinated, phased, and step-by-step approach" to North Korean denuclearization is the best approach, mirroring the position of that country's leader, Kim Jong Un.
"How can you convince him to give up all the nuclear weapons without any hope that the U.S. would be following a more friendly policy towards him?" Cui asked.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in Beijing last week, where top Chinese officials vowed to take "all necessary measures" to safeguard their country. They have since said that high-level communications continue between the two countries.
Still, there were signs tensions between China and the U.S. have eased somewhat in recent days. Global stock market indexes bounced back sharply Friday after their recent plunges, on word of the possible presidential meeting.
And reports have emerged that Mnuchin has advised against labeling China a currency manipulator — a status that could trigger penalties. The Chinese currency has been falling in value against the dollar in recent months, raising concerns that Beijing is devaluing its currency to make Chinese goods more competitive against U.S. products.
Mnuchin did not say this weekend what the forthcoming Treasury report, set to come out next week, will conclude about China's currency practices. In the past, Treasury has placed China on a watch-list but found that Beijing did not meet the threshold to be labeled a currency manipulator.
The Treasury secretary met Thursday with Yi Gang, head of China's central bank. "I expressed my concerns about the weakness of the currency." Mnuchin said.
Cui told Wallace that China, despite its ongoing spat with the U.S. on a variety of fronts, remains optimistic about November's planned meeting between Trump and Jinping. Kudlow, the chief White House economic adviser, said on "Fox News Sunday" that the one-on-one between the two leaders will "probably" happen.
"There’s a good mutual understanding and good working relationship between the two," Cui said. "I hope and I’m sure this will continue."
Fox News' Samuel Chamberlain, Chris Wallace and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

White male 'gun nuts' are 'biggest terrorist organization on the planet,' Tennessee Dem ally wrote online: report

Mark Brown

A spokesman for a Democratic group that is supporting former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen in his run for a U.S. Senate seat referred to “white male” gun owners as "Murican gun nuts" in response to a Facebook post asking people to identify “the biggest terrorist organization on the planet,” according to a report.
Mark Brown, communications director for Tennessee Victory 2018, a group backing Bredesen's run against Republican U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn for the Senate seat occupied by retiring Republican Sen. Bob Corker, posted the comment in 2015, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Brown's comment attracted zero likes, according to the report.
It was not the first time Brown made incendiary comments about Republicans.
In a July 31, 2017 post, Brown allegedly wrote, “Exactly, f--- “reaching out” to Trump voters. The idiots aren’t listening.”
In other posts, he has referred to President Trump as “Putin’s b---h,” “racist,” a “f---stik,” an “insane f---,” and a “F---ing moron.”

Mark Brown, a communications official for the Tennessee Democratic Party, has described Trump voters as "idiots."   (Facebook)

Brown’s brazen approach is at odds with Bredesen, who has painted himself as a moderate willing to reach across the aisle.
Bredesen broke with his party during the controversy surrounding Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexual assault during his Senate confirmation hearings. In a TV interview, Bredesen said he would have supported Kavanaugh’s nomination if he were a senator because the allegations lacked sufficient evidence.
Those comments lost him the support of two prominent Democratic groups, MoveOn and Priorities USA. But Bredesen has attracted the support of pop singer Taylor Swift, who sharply criticized the GOP's Blackburn in an online post that preceded a sharp rise in voter registrations in the state. However, a new New York Times poll on Friday showed Blackburn leading Bredesen by 14 points.
In a recent campaign ad, the former governor referred to himself as a “lifelong gun owner” and a supporter of Second Amendment gun rights.
“As governor, I had an A rating from the NRA,” Bredesen said.
But the National Rifle Association called Bredesen’s ad “false” and “misleading.”
“Phil Bredesen is a ‘D’ rated candidate, and he will not protect our constitutional rights in Washington, D.C.,” said Chris W. Cox, chairman of the NRA’s Political Victory Fund, in a statement.
Bredesen has not publicly addressed Brown’s comments. In recent weeks the Senate candidate appeared at fundraiser that headlined ex-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a staunch supporter of gun control.
Earlier in the campaign, Bredesen denounced Vice President Mike Pence’s “name-calling” because he endorsed Blackburn, and called him a “liberal.”
On Wednesday, Bredesen and Blackburn exchanged barbs in their second and final debate ahead of the November midterms. The outcome of the competitive red-state has attracted nationwide attention due to a 51-49 Republican majority at stake.

Alec Baldwin calls for ‘overthrow’ of Trump at Dem fundraiser in New Hampshire

Made in China.

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Less than 24 hours after reprising his Emmy Award-winning parody of President Trump on “Saturday Night Live,” Alec Baldwin took aim at the president again.
“In an orderly and formal way, and lawful way, we need to overthrow the government of the United States under Donald Trump,” Baldwin said Sunday night at a major fundraising dinner for New Hampshire’s Democratic Party.
“I flew here this morning after doing ‘Saturday Night Live’ last night,” the actor, comedian and longtime liberal political activist told a crowd of some 800 party office-holders, candidates, officials and activists, drawing loud applause.
Baldwin said his role as Trump on “SNL” wasn’t supposed to last as long as it has.
“‘Just three shows,’ he said,” Baldwin recalled “SNL” producer Lorne Michaels saying as he tried to convince the actor to portray then-candidate Trump. “‘Till the election,’ he said. ‘Then he’ll be gone,’ he said. ‘Three shows. It will be fun,’ he said.”
But Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election resulted in an extension of Baldwin’s run on the late-night comedy show – including this weekend’s opening sketch about Trump’s recent meeting with rapper Kanye West.
ALEC BALDWIN: 'EVER SINCE I PLAYED TRUMP, BLACK PEOPLE LOVE ME'
Turning serious, Baldwin then rallied the crowd to vote in next month’s midterm elections, saying “this election and the one that follows in 2020 will be the most consequential elections since the election of FDR.”
He added: “It is time to overthrow the government of Donald Trump -- not in a violent way or unlawful way -- but it must be overthrown nonetheless.”
Baldwin ended his nearly 20-minute-long speech by putting his own spin on the president’s famous campaign slogan.
“Let’s make America great again by making Donald Trump a casino operator again,” he said.

“Let’s make America great again by making Donald Trump a casino operator again.”
— Alec Baldwin

Some New Hampshire Republicans criticized the state’s Democrats for choosing Baldwin as their keynote speaker. They pointed to Baldwin’s past problematic behavior, including making abusive comments to and about women, and making homophobic remarks.
Taking questions from reporters after his speech, Baldwin didn’t directly answer.
“Most of the time people are trying to tar me with a brush about defending Woody Allen,” he said, referring to the filmmaker who has long faced allegations of sexual assault, which he has denied.
Baldwin also told reporters that he’s “always dreamed” of running for office himself, but explained it’s not in the cards for him at this time.
“My wife told me she’d divorce me if I ran for office,” he joked.
He also downplayed suggestions that his Democratic activism would limit the success of “The Alec Baldwin Show,” his new venture on ABC.
Baldwin has long been a backer of Democratic candidates and causes. He famously declared that he’d move to Canada if then-Texas Gov. George Bush won the 2000 presidential election. Though Bush did win, Baldwin didn’t move.
More recently, Baldwin campaigned last year for Democrat Ralph Northam in Virginia’s hotly contested gubernatorial election. And last November he headlined the Iowa Democrats’ major fall fundraising gala.
ALEC BALDWIN REVEALS DISLIKE FOR STEPHEN COLBERT OVER MEDDLING QUESTION
New Hampshire is the state that holds the first presidential primary every four years -- and Sunday night’s dinner over the years has been a key stop for potential Democratic White House hopefuls.
Baldwin previously made headlines in June when he told radio host Howard Stern that if he made a 2020 presidential bid, he would beat Trump.
“If I ran, I would win,” Baldwin said. “I would absolutely win.”
Baldwin said Sunday that if he had decided to run, “I thought it would be such a pleasure to go around the country and try to remind people that, Let’s get back to a time of common sense.”
But Baldwin said he’s not very optimistic when he considers the potential field of Democrats vying for the party’s presidential nomination in 2020.
“I’m hoping that someone that isn’t necessarily on the horizon right now would materialize,” Baldwin said, “because I don’t think anybody that’s a frontrunner now of the top six, seven, eight names that I’ve seen, I don’t think any of them is going to have an easy time of it.”
He also took another shot at the president.
“Every day I wake up, I still am horrified,” he said. “I feel like I’m in some dream that Trump is president of the United States. I almost can’t even say it.”

Trumps to tour Michael storm devastation in Florida, Georgia; search continues for missing residents

President Trump and first lady Melania Trump were scheduled to travel to Florida’s Panhandle on Monday to get a firsthand look at the devastation in the region wrought by Hurricane Michael.
The president was also scheduled to visit South Georgia, which also was battered by Michael, Reuters reported. The storm came ashore Wednesday before moving up the East Coast with 155 mph winds.
The president and first lady were scheduled to arrive at Elgin Air Force in Florida before noon ET Monday and return to the White House in the evening.
Late Sunday, Trump declared a state of emergency in Georgia, releasing federal resources to help the state. The White House said it was fully committed to helping state and local agencies with recovery efforts.
HURRICANE MICHAEL STRENGTHENS TO CATEGORY 4 STORM, CONSIDERED ‘EXTREMELY DANGEROUS’
As a Category 4 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, Michael was one of the most powerful storms to make landfall in U.S. history. Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Brock Long has called the destruction some of the worst he’s ever seen. Before being appointed to head FEMA by President Trump, Long held emergency management positions in Georgia and Alabama, and with a private consulting firm.
As of Sunday, the storm had killed nearly 20 people in four states, while dozens more remained missing in Florida Panhandle communities, Reuters reported. FEMA spokesman David Passey told Fox News: “We are confident that the number of people not yet accounted for will decline as family members can reconnect.”
Passey said FEMA and other agencies will remain in the area for several months to aid the recovery. The death toll was expected to rise as rescue officials continue their search for bodies or survivors. But damaged roads and infrastructure brought by the storm has hampered rescue efforts, officials say.
HURRICANE MICHAEL’S DEATH TOLL MAY RISE, AS RESCUERS COMB THROUGH RUBBLE
One of the hardest hit communities was Mexico Beach, Fla., whose mayor said dozens of residents remained unaccounted for.
“If we lose only one life, to me that’s going to be a miracle,” Mayor Al Cathey told reporters. He said of the 1,000 residents of Mexico Beach, 46 remained missing.
Cathey estimated 250 residents stayed behind when the hurricane struck. He said search-and-rescue teams in the beach town had combed areas with the worst damage. He said enough food and water had been brought in for the residents who remain. Even some cellphone service had returned to the devastated community.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott said the storm left Mexico Beach with heavy debris and rubble, with some homes blown across the street. He said more than 1,700 search workers have been deployed to check 25,000 homes.

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