Isn’t it remarkable that no day goes by without another discussion of Trump’s corruption. And while many of the stories are based on suppositions, even his supporters acknowledge that he is totally capable of all of the actions ascribed to him. In fact, many of them are happy about his behavior, real or imagined.
Remember when it wasn’t like this?
45
@Mike Iker
I remember when politicians and the press chose to not publish or to hold back on many similar potential stories (Solyndra, for one, comes to mind) and narratives were spun ....
Yes, I do remember. Do you?
1
Trump is awful, and his bullying is stupid, but I have no doubt Microsoft has the better cloud solution. That's what Microsoft does: software and services. Microsoft is also the leader for IT security for general-purpose computing.
Amazon's sour grapes are probably about their trying to preserve their reputation, as well as the lucrative contract.
14
Forget throwing your money into deep space, Mr. Bezos. Spend it on a good cause: fight Trump.
19
The fiasco that is Windows 10 alone should have been sufficient to disqualify Microsoft from such a critical project as JEDI. My cheap Android smart phone can run with a dozen or more internet sites open plus email and other apps. My brand new Windows 10 laptop freezes with more than one or two internet sites open. There are dozens of websites offering advice on many Windows 10 processes to disable to mitigate this problem, but nothing works well and all changes are wiped up with each update intended to fix the many hacking vulnerabilities in Windows 10. (I have never heard of a major hack attributed to Amazon)
Amazon already has the programmers with government security clearances required for JEDI, while Microsoft needs to hire or clear hundreds of them.
If the goal is to have systems talk to each other, it seems an odd choice to select Microsoft for JEDI when better qualified Amazon already has the CIA cloud system contract.
Ever wonder why US Federal government systems are so vulnerable to foreign hacking? China has obtained a vast amount of Defense and Personnel data by hacking Federal systems.
Watching the current politicized process may offer a clue.
60
The only thing that matters here is time. The judge has ordered a waste of time which can never be recouped. This isn't politics, which thrives and even prospers on wasted time. It is technology and (hopefully not) warfare which punish time wasters and reward time exploiters. If I were a combatant commander eagerly awaiting next generation systems, realizing that this is what protects both liberal democracies and my troops, I would be ... discomforted.
Not to mention: Azure > AWS by so much that it isn't even close.
5
@Charles Becker Where'd you get that idea that Azure > AWS by so much that it isn't even close? By what measure?
5
@Some Fool first, the overall costs are quite lesser to have Azure as a service, and the user friendly products that will come in when you go into a business commitment with Microsoft, the overall preference from devs or consumers in this case tend to lean towards Microsoft's Azure cloud, Googling "stackshare elastic beanstalk vs azure cloud" and visiting the first link starting with stackshare should give you first hand opinions from people who've favored the systems provided by Microsoft Azure in comparison to AWS, overall Azure has provided an easier and user friendly service, making it the better choice.
2
@Some Fool,
Just for starters, Azure has more than 2X as many regions as AWS. On a personal, non-organizational level, Azure Notebooks is free, open, and standards-compliant. AWS has nothing similar.
2
Commander in Chief can choose any contractor he wishes. Unethical - perhaps. Illegal - no way. Amazon has no basis to challenge Trump, regardless of however slighted they feel, and judge should’ve known better.
3
@Elizabeth O The commander in chief in no way gets to choose any contractor they want. Where you got such information is a mystery. All government contracts are awarded based on a host of rules and regulations. Amazon and their legal team as well as the judge allowing them to make their case (or not) are following the law. I’m not sure on what basis you’d make such a claim.
41
@Elizabeth O Garbage. The Commander in Chief does NOT have the power to choose. It MUST be decided according to the contracting law. Anything else is a violation of the law.
It would be nice to see Lil Donnie in prison garb though...
23
@Todd She bases the claim because Trump said so.
16
This is a perfect example of the true problems of a corrupt President. It's quite possible that Amazon simply lost the bid and the defense department awarded the contract appropriately to Microsoft but since Trump is so obviously corrupt and so often inappropriately attempts interfere in the workings of the government to benefit himself personally all actions taken by the administration are tainted with questions of corruption. This is the horror of corruption. Even if someone in the government follows the right process it can no longer be trusted because the President clearly can not be trusted. A single rotten apple ruins the whole bunch.
44
Do you trust Trump or Bezos？It's sad that it has gone this low. What happened to the rule of law？
13
It would be horrible for our military if, because of executive interference, they receive an inferior product.
18
Amazon wants to question Trump about his involvement? Why??? Everyone knows that Trump is a certified habitual lier!
It would be a waste of time. Trump’s lawyers know that Trump cannot help himself with the lying. They therefore do all that they can to keep him from testifying anywhere.
4
Microsoft moved to Ireland to avoid paying American taxes. Amazon stayed here and found a way to pay no Federal taxes. Yet they seek to benefit from governmental contracts and are willing to cost the taxpayers millions of dollars in order to use the American judicial system to litigate their differences.
2
@Ralph
I stand corrected about Microsoft's corporate headquarters. Not Ireland.
1
Amazon, or Microsoft? Either way it's corporate welfare since
the taxpayers are footing the bill.
5
@cbarber
Okay, you can call it corporate warfare, but there are only so many American companies which could pull off a project of this magnitude. If they went with, say, Joe's Computers out of Nowheresville, Georgia, that company would flop and there would be other (justifiable) accusations of impropriety, very much like when the contract for restoring electrical power in Puerto Rico was given to Whitefish Energy.
I suppose you could argue that we don't need to spend this money at all, that there's too much taxpayer money spent on defense, and that's a valid argument. I agree that we should reduce our defense spending. However, given the threats we've been facing with increased cyberwarfare, I think money spent to improve the computing capabilities of the military is probably money wisely spent.
5
Would Trump celebrate the Russian, Putin, who wanted him to win and helped him win in Helsinki? Would Trump throw his long time family friend and attorney under the bus when evidence concluded that Trump ordered him to pay a pornstar to keep quiet? Would Trump dismiss the evidence provided by our law enforcement and foreign services that Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salmon ordered the murder of Khashoggi? Would Trump continue to use an ally to damage his opponent Biden immediately after he was “acquitted” by Republicans for doing that very crime? Would Trump force the DOD to harm his nemesis at Amazon and hand the contract to Microsoft?
14
Owing a major newspaper has consequences and Bezos should have thought of that. You either alienate the president you dislike and lose $10B contract or you become a mouthpiece for the one you like. Do not know what is worse.
2
We have procurement laws in this country that are supposed to - and ordinarily do - create a fair playing field for all bidders. If Trump did, in fact, put his finger on the scale in favor of Microsoft, that would be a significant violation of those laws. We are not (yet) a corrupt, 3rd world country - not for lack of Donald Trump's efforts, of course.
6
How is it that Bill Gates is now involved with "warfighters"? (Or Jeff Bezos, for that matter.) Pathetic and unnecessary! Most of us understand that this kind of behavior only ratchets up the possibility of the end of the planet. More war, more violence, more one-upmanship, and in the meantime the planet is a ticking bomb on the verge of disintegration from climate neglect. At this rate, your grandchildren will be dead by 2050.
3
Trump apparently likes the life of a critic. He needs to be told to stop his whining and start fixing the many things needing attention. Social security, US debt, ACA, infrastructure, unity as a country. Less golf, more work too!
7
This litigation will cost the middle-class tax payers millions of dollars. The U.S. attorneys who will have to defend this lawsuit will be outgunned by Amazon, the most profitable company in the world which pays no taxes to support the U.S. judicial system. Thanks to the criminal Con Man who runs this administration this too will increase our debts.
1
Microsoft will be an intervenor in the case, bringing its considerable wealth (in the form of its attorneys) to bear in the case.
1
Don’t point the finger at Amazon for holding up the development of JEDI. The project has been delayed as is often the case, Trump had to once again weigh in on a process he had no business commenting on.
Bill Barr said yesterday that every time Trump comments on the DOJ matters he put the department in a precarious position. My guess is DOD EPA and OMB would say amen to that as well as well.
If Trump wants to cut waste and inefficiency in government he should start by keeping his mouth shut.
8
This is what we get when we have a president with no regard for truth or fairness and whose greatest emotion is a desire for revenge against those he considers enemies, the list of whom includes Jeff Bezos along with most of is.
5
$10B contract? I suspect a corruption of at least $1B.
1
I had used, or should I say forced, to use Microsoft products since 1980's and I can only say worse thing about their products, almost every product. Every-time user friendly and better competing products with decent features appeared they ran that business to bankruptcy by their monopolistic behavior. Here they are bullying their way through ... the only way they know how to win a business.
You may not believe me but let me ask you a question. When you submitted a complaint when was the last time your complaint got resolved by Microsoft?
Try running their Word application and if you used their help feature when was the last time they helped you resolve your problem? Never for me.
On the other hand try Apple, I have yet to have a problem that they couldn't resolve weather wifi or their word processing to even running third party software program. Same is true for GOOGLE, I use Netflix and if the system locks I open Youtube and navigate myself out.
Just like NRA, Microsoft is a cancer that is perhaps not killing the host but has weakened until something kills it,
I second Judges decision from technology perspective.
5
@Alpha let me start off with a reply to your ending, first off "technology perspective" ? to a keen eye you'd only come off as shortsighted or blissful else utterly ignorant, for starters Microsoft has the"the platform" to go with cloud computing, and monopolistic behavior ? wow that sounds real, if it was 30 years ago when Microsoft Office was in turning heads, do you even read news about what Google does these days ? or even apple for that matter, you should try combining monopoly and each of these cooperates that you just placed on your pedestal your highness; the jokes on you. Microsoft has been hosting a multitude of services and has a user-base of 86% on worldwide PC consumers, rather than limited its users, the services has always provided mutli-platform/cross-platform application compatibility where as competitors have not been so fond of repaying the favor in kind, you speak of monopoly where as Microsoft apps and products are available for all platforms and markets, to me, you seem like someone who doesn't know the very definition of it.
1
I have always loved how the government does things. It is an inspiration to all brain-damaged children the world over that they too can run a government.
Many years ago, a procurement officer was given the task of finding a secure system and purchased a large number of Macintosh computers. He was demoted because he did not open the contracts to bids.
He explained that at the time when Microsoft's operating system was easy to hack and nearly impossible to defend, but Macintosh had never been hacked that Apple computers were the only computers that fit the bill.
That the government handlers said was NOT important. What was important that the lowest bidder gets the contract even if the computers apparently did Need to be secured, AND could at the time only be provided by Apple.
I do hope Russian, Chinese and North Korean military hackers will build the operating system. I mean The Chump has said their leaders are great people, wonderful, marvelous people, people he can work with.
2
Remembering that it always takes two to Tango, the battles for power and influence between titans continue.
Only litigation lawyers win again, everyone else loses. (How much will litigation and delays cost taxpayers?)
This is our culture, this is today.
BTW, is there any real new news today?
3
10 billion dollars for a cloud computing network?
I’ll bet someone like Bill Gates, working out of his garage, could do it for a lot less.
And is a cloud based system the safest from foreign (Russian/Chinese) hacking?
6
@Steven Roth first of all in terms of practical experience in security/safety Windows as a product is widely used (86%+ of a global user base and is the largest whilst continuing to be so) Windows has improved as a service throughout the years experiencing hacks, viruses and various kind of malware and the sorts, the safety features on Windows 10 is the prime example of what this has lead to, as a user/coder I've loved the improvements and faced lesser issues in comparison to previous iterations.
however would Microsoft really care about the money as first priority? i doubt such a tech giant is exactly in just for a massive cash grab, which might be why they were awarded of it, lesser cost with better overall services the plus side is that Microsoft gets to provide their systems to a wider user-base, its only rational that one may realize how Microsoft comes with a package of services rather than just one, what will amazon provide? do they have their own platform? or their own tools beyond just a web service? , Microsoft could provide a multitude of services where as amazon only has a few that often most wouldn't even know of or have heard of. so what would be the practicality in buying into a service and realizing that you have to spend more to get other businesses to fill in the gaps ? that would be a waste of time and money.
I hope the day will come when human rights are treated with near the respect that contracts are. Don't misunderstand, although I don't know the facts there's plenty of smoke suggesting Trump wanted "anyone but Amazon". Yet while he attacks individual freedom and the foundations of the Constitution we the people have no standing for redress. I know, elections, but we are promised non-enumerated rights yet only get protection for those basic human rights, equal protection and privacy when we suffer and some die for years until the Court determines we deserve them. A strict interpretation of the Constitution excludes the idea of a modern corporation, now being deified as immortal, non-imprisonable persons.
12
@marksjc true but does this justify the fact that amazon just put the whole of USA at risk just because things didn't fly their way? statistically speaking I've read into AWS vs Azure, most are tending to favor Azure in terms of setting up as a service and ease of use. its such a shame that amazon believes they could use trump as an excuse in an attempt to disrespect the constitution.
"Disrespecting the Constitution"?!? I beg to differ: Amazon is using our legal system as it was meant to be used, to challenge what they believe was an improper procurement decision. There's nothing disrespectful to the Constitution about it. They may ultimately be wrong about DOD's decision - but it is their right to use the court to challenge it.
3
Uh? Dear Fellow Americans, being that the military owns your minds, let me tell you; the military is not the Jedi knights. I'll give you one more guess who they are.
And consider this; Amazon is somewhat limited to commerce. Microsoft is everything everywhere in the world. So why do you think they chose Microsoft for Cloud computing? Which is another reason I refuse to use their cloud function in my operating system, a point in itself.
At this point with the military getting their foot in the door of cloud systems, I'm rethinking the use of computers entirely.
3
@PATRICK Amazon has about 34% market share of the cloud computing market, with Microsoft at about 11%. Amazon is everywhere when it comes to cloud computing, so your argument about their position doesn’t really hold.
23
@Eirik Agreed and when you look at the details of their 11% , the business was either captured by their monopolistic behavior or by the culture left over from their acquisitions.
Microsoft post sales services is despicable, the American new business development business model is to muscle in by "Too Big To Fail" model. Microsoft general behavior is I am too big to be concerned about customer.
Corporation are stuck with Microsoft purely from financial cost of replacing them, and the money help them swallow other company on which its growth is based. Unlike GOOGLE and Apple whose growth is organic
3
@Alpha i'm quite sure that google got fined for being a monopolistic ego maniac and shoving down a whole market by blocking it while putting theirs ahead? like 2 years ago, and that was just a starter :) ... "monopoly" at its finest m8.. purely hilarious.
1
As we all know, Trump stuck his big stupid mouth into the middle of this. The notion of subtlety has never appealed to him and it's going to cost him dearly some day. That said, Amazon's cloud is no better or worse than Microsoft's. Microsoft is the biggest software company in the world and has been for decades. Amazon's AWS is a great product but you have to give the contract to somebody: two companies can't win. With all of Trump's posturing and threats my guess is the Pentagon basically ignored him - like most people in Washington - and awarded the project based on who they felt was best. They could have flipped a coin.
9
But let’s see if Trump pulled any scams - a high probability event given post acquittal he admitted sending Giuliani to Ukraine to dig up dire on Biden
13
So Bezos owns the WashingtonPost, which is insanely critical of Trump.
Are people really surprised they didn't get the 10 billion dollar contract? Freedom of Speech isn't freedom from consequences. If a paper wrote negatively about me all day, I'd set them back 10 billion dollars, and you would, too.
4
@Scott The only problem is that the Pentagon is spending public funds and not trump’s assets. There are all kind of laws regulating government acquisition.
45
What?? The president is not a king. I'm so shocked anytime I read these comments of acceptance of his vindictive behavior.
31
@Scott
Any Nation that lives by the rule of law is going to have to saw Trump into two pieces and jail both of them. We are fortunate that Bezos is keeping the ball in play. This is the end game for McCaethyism and little Roy Cohen. ism.
22
So Trump inches spite and desire to get back at Jeff Bezos for the coverage of the Washington Post, soils a major defense project bid process. In the end, this will delay the start of this project by months if not years. Trump in his spite is damaging our national security........not that he cares.
14
@Honey Badger
Sorry, my understanding is that all delays will be due to the "choice" to litigate.
Or are the real facts "elsewhere".
Under Federal Acquisition Regulations (known to its friends as FAR) those who make the choice between competing bids have to keep careful note of their deliberations. It's usually not a simple 'choose low bidder' process because there is much room in the specifications for bidders to make technical suggestions for a better / faster /cheaper product. Losing bidders always want a debrief - what did we do wrong? - so they can improve their offer next time. Awards are made on technical and cost grounds but politics is never far away: if you can provide employment in an economically distressed or politically connected area or show better use of small disadvantaged subcontractors you will make some Brownie points. BTDT.
This should be very interesting.
7
I can remember some pretty shady stuff that Microsoft has done over the years, as far as snooping into our private lives. But I am happy that they are a major cloud presence. We don't need any more monopolies.
1
@WeHadAllBetterPayAttentionNow Microsoft has learned their lessons m8, shyt happens , atleast these folks learned and did better, i like my privacy and i wish for it to stay as it is, and so it has, but we have alot of tinfoil hats and Microsoft isn't a corp or business that promotes cultist cultures that silences nay Sayers, they welcome em with open minds, every fine shape is made by friction. ;)
The President can't get it through his head that he is a servant of the people and cannot use his power to destroy our way of life. I hope that we are able to say after the November election "you're fired" to our would be dictator.
12
The Pentagon has spent tens of billions incompetently in this century to modernize its networks. It failed miserably. The technology right sizing and software to ease that are the easy parts.
The hard parts for DOD are the steps of contracting for the expertise and labor. DOD is used moderately rigged contracting, with favored bidders, dishonesty in proposals, sloth of its auditors. All of this is compromised by the brisk job market for jobs the feds seek after government.
DoD will never do this right, and the negligence and malfeasance involved warrants a fleet of FBI criminal investigations. And dont forget to investigate all of the contractors helping the government to do the procurement. As the president might say, all this is a Disgrace
4
Trump has kept all his promises and more. One promise he made to himself was to use the immense power of the presidency to destroy. Since coming to office, Trump has been on a non-stop revenge tour, insulting, lying about, and punishing all enemies, real and perceived. He has a special hatred for those rich men who don’t love him or at least ask him for favors. It doesn’t take a climate scientist or even a judge to know Trump did put his thumb on the scale with the cloud contract. It is also clear anyone who wants to remain working in Washington would do whatever Trump wants and lie about doing it. This is Trump’s world after all.
18
Microsoft is the correct choice for the JEDI contract due to the fact that Amazon has a horrible workplace safety record, has the highest number of Workman’s Comp complaints in the country, and has active OSHA complaints! Jeff Bezos must be stopped from creating the modern day sweatshop!
As long as Amazon has violations, Amazon should NOT be permitted to bid on any government contracts until Amazon is in full compliance with United States OSHA, labor and workplace laws.
8
@No Deal Amazon workers on JEDI would be in an entirely different, safer environment than warehouse workers. Comparisons are just plain stupid
11
@No Deal Apples and oranges. Contracting out for specific technical needs is a long, complex, and very expensive exercise for everyone involved in the process.
The rules have to be followed. No one should get to put their thumb on the scale or disallow a potential contractor's bid due to personal dislike given the involvement of taxpayer money being allocated for taxpayer good.
Trump knows nothing about the process or the technology involved or the program for which it is being acquired. He knows nothing about drawing up the contracts involved or the continual monitoring of the contractor's performance to goal as set out in the contract.
It's way over his head.
If feel sorry for the teams from both potential providers given the time, work and money that goes into making a bid for a contract of this importance. Now they get to start all over again.
5
@No Deal finally someone who knows the facts.
This might simply be the result that Microsoft in my opinon has a history of doing secret work for the US government.
How do I know ?
A decade ago, I got a phone call from my department secretary. A secret service agent wanted to verify that a Cornell student who had applied for a job at Microsoft (not in my department, and not a CS major) had lived from this date to that date in a house I rented out in Ithaca's Collegetown.
I would be happy to talk to him in person , I said. Oh no
Although I live 6.5 miles out of town, the agent insisted to talk to me in person. I big black van, bristling with antennas pulled up my drive way.
All this to verify that student x, lived from y to z, in a house in Ithaca NY
Once I verified it in person, he drove off.
Ever since I wonder : What kind of job at Microsoft would require such a level of security clearance ?
Certainly not to write the next version of Windows
6
@U Prof Yes and bill gates is agent 007 :I . . . whateves man ..what eves....
1
This is a completely corrupt administration. If possible it would be best to hault all projects from this administration which are likely rampant with corruption.
I am amazed any foreign country at this point would think this country negotiates in good faith. This criminal enterprise must be extradited from the government.
9
Barr will breath with a sigh of relief. Trump will have something else to distract him.
2
How much did Bezos pay the Obama judge?
5
@JQGALT clearly a heck load , imagine when it all goes south and bezos makes a joke out of himself... again..
Bezo has everything, why is this happening, he should not be allowed to have his hand in everything? He needs to be stopped.
5
Big government US contacts have a history to be decided on politics rather than merit
"In 2008 Airbus (OTC:EADSY), working with Northrop Grumman, won a $35 billion deal to build tankers based on the company's A330 commercial design, but that deal was eventually overturned after political pressure. In 2011 Boeing won the recompete, a $49 billion contract to supply 179 tankers based on its 767 design"
It is now 2020 , and Boeing's KC-46 is still not ready for service as a tanker
Airbus's 330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) that was forced out by politics entered service on 6 May 2016
Where is the KC-46
The KC-46 is back to carrying cargo and passengers - not fuel
https://www.defensenews.com/air/2019/12/20/the-kc-46-is-back-to-carrying-cargo-and-passengers/
4
Frankly, in the big scheme of the big schemer (Trump), this move was small potatoes. And if he doesn't personally benefit financially from the contract being awarded to Microsoft, and Microsoft's bid was competitive, I don't see this being too out of the ordinary. Company's bid for contracts and sometimes it is something subjective that gets the winner the contract and the loser bupkis. It should be pretty easy to argue that there was nothing overtly wrong, or out of normal practices about this move.
Believe me, I'm not a Trump defender (I think he is utterly indecent and dangerous.). I am, however, someone who thinks that the behemoth Amazon needs to leave some business in the world for someone else to do. Not that Microsoft needs a lot of assistance in dealing with Amazon. I see Amazon as our own domestic "giant sucking sound" that takes over whatever business that can be scaled to it's monster machine.
Not a Trump fan. Not a Bezos fan. Not a Microsoft lover. But Amazon is going to lose this one and it should just get over it. You win some you lose some. What, Bezos, you haven't won enough? One crazy planet Amazon we inhabit. Oh sorry, the name change isn't official yet. I didn't say anything.
4
This project has the earmarks of a giant boondoggle. What’s it going to do that they need to spend $10bn on it? No wonder the federal deficit is over a trillion $$ a year.
4
@Earl M Antiquated computer systems aren't a boondoggle, they are a threat of collapse. They're probably STILL running COBOL based systems.
It's 2020 for God's sake. Your phone has more power then their mainframes.
9
@Bob Woods Couldn't agree more. The federal government of Canada is struggling with the old systems that need replacing as the government which proceeded them replaced one system during their 10 years in power: the payroll system. Perhaps that's a blessing as they chose the same IBM payroll system that had been a disaster when implemented in Australia and caused problems from the day Canada switch to it, about 5 years ago - and it's still not 100%.
Meanwhile, there are hundreds of millions needing to be spent to bring the systems, hardware and software, up to date, and replacement will probably require contracting out due to the volume of work given the fragile nature of some of them.
And, yes, my phone has several times the power of the computers that NASA had during Apollo 13 or the first mainframes the other half and I worked on decades ago, and the kind of networking capability old techies only dreamed of.
2
I’d rather see Congress take down Trump, but if it has to be Amazon that proves he IS the swamp, I’ll take it.
19
Trump is still punishing Bezos and The Washington Post. He hates the 1st Amendment.
16
Where do sore losers turn? To the courts, of course! If you cannot innovate, litigate!
3
@Phillip Franklin
Microsoft is years behind Amazon in the cloud.
7
@Andrew Nelly Only in size, not capability.
1
@Andrew Nelly hilarious , lemme help you on rectifying that, Microsoft Azure is behind Amazon in terms of C O S T S : ) , you should google why Azure is the "current" choice when it comes to business over AWS from amazon, no the number one reason isn't cost, its the ease of overall use before the cost savings, and even the cost savings are far better than amazons.
Can this bidding-war-with-a-side-of-putin-interference please, PLEASE extinguish all three belligerents: Bezos, STILL-monopolist Microsoft, and the loser? The former two are creepytech megacorps that have NO place putting our soldiers' privacy at risk with the Shamelessly Intrusive Tracking Horror (SITH) that the loser and his war department want to foist on them. After the Just-A-Headaches they got when the loser assassinated Suleimani, they ought AWOL en masse over this!
3
Amazon accidentally releases list of "marital aids" ordered by all members of Trump family.
Who knew dolls, both male and female, could be so life like or desirable to some.
5
This behemoth contract, by contrast, is ostensibly a martial aid.
5
"Frank Shaw, Microsoft’s vice president of communications, said in a statement . . .'We believe the facts will show they ran a detailed, thorough and fair process in determining the needs of the warfighter were best met by Microsoft . . .’ ”
“Lt. Col. Robert Carver, a Pentagon spokesman, said it was disappointed by the decision, which has ‘unnecessarily delayed implementing D.O.D.’s modernization strategy and deprived our warfighters of a set of capabilities they urgently need.’ ”
Hey, I missed the new-lingo memo. Microsoft and the Pentagon seem to be on the same jargon page. Where did this squashword “warfighter” come from?
What ever happened to the Armed Services?
Have I also missed the memo on Trump's changing the Department of Defense back to the Department of War like it was until August 10, 1949?
16
Of course this is Trump being corruptly vindictive. But the only shock is this:"Much of the military operates on computer systems from the 1980s and ’90s, and the Defense Department has spent billions of dollars trying to make them talk to one another."
Billions on this?
14
It takes a while for the article to mention it, but this is an injunction, and specifically a preliminary injunction. One requirement to obtain a preliminary injunction is a likelihood of prevailing on the merits, which requires more than just accusations.
What is the evidence that President Trump interfered? Animosity to Bezos is not evidence he interfered with procurement. And please don't say "that's what Trump does; he's corrupt; he is chaotic; etc."--whether those are true or not, they're not evidence he interfered with procurement. To say those are evidence is to truly have lost all grasp of reality.
Maybe there is some evidence, but it is sealed; although I suspect a bit that if there were sealed evidence, something would have leaked.
Another requirement for obtaining a preliminary injunction is that money damages are insufficient. That's pretty unlikely to be true.
But overall, if there really is nothing but accusations here, this looks like a grant of a preliminary injunction with no basis, and in that case hopefully the judgement will be overturned on appeal and the judge will be severely upbraided.
5
A judge of the federal court of claims, acting in a multi-billion dollar, high profile case, is entitled to a presumption of understanding black letter law.
Direct evidence of Trump's specific directions isn't necessary. From my limited knowledge, Amazon is far more capable of delivery of service under the proposal. That, if not sufficiently explained, with evidence of other irregularities could be sufficient, even disregarding the animus of Mr. Trump.
The standard of irreparable injury, in a contract of this magnitude and complexity, is an easy standard.
But I am not willing to speculate too much based on applying 1L civil procedure to a sealed opinion. Confidence in this case is a sign of ignorance and bias, not sober judgement.
3
Who believes Trump would have ever allowed the contract to be awarded to Amazon? Not gonna happen and DOD knew that.
8
So an analyst says, “This is all setting the stage for a major court fight between Amazon and Microsoft, with the D.O.D. caught in between”?
It looks far more like a major court fight between Jeff Bezos and Donald Trump, with the D.O.D. and Microsoft caught in between. And that fight is going to get a whole lost nastier before it’s over with major battles over the depositions of Jim Mattis and of the president himself, and with Bezos—the owner of the Washington Post, the employer of journalist Jamal Khashoggi—in a position to fight to the finish. And in an election year.
This isn’t merely oligarchs duking it out, as some here contend. This is a couple of superpowers, one of whom sees himself on the side of right and justice, seeking implied vindication of the honor of Khashoggi at least as much as his own, and the other of whom is seeking to squelch the dawning of that light and to establish himself as The Winner, regardless the cost.
I’m buying popcorn futures.
21
Well that was a surprise, not.... The judge is simply following the law. From the minute Trump opened his cloaca mouth, Amazon had a guaranteed favorable case.
17
@Ed ~~ Well, I learned a new word: cloaca
4
If Bezos guesses right on the election, the contract will be reconsidered, perhaps with a thumb on his side of the scale.
2
@Lawrence I sincerely hope not. Government contracts of this kind are too important to be awarded as a favor. This is serious business.
Another example of American subsidization of its industries to the tune of billions. And it has the gall to accuse China of running state subsidies and companies. And, of course, these companies are hoping to benefit from the US' preposterous war on Huawei. Just more evidence of how decrepit and corrupt the entire US system is.
3
Even if we concede that Microsoft made it's bid in good faith, and fully intended/hoped to perform as required, and intended to perform to the best of its ability, there seems little doubt that Amazon has the superior experience and probably superior technology.
But: Instead of the proposal being judged on a proper basis the President apparently made a political/personal decision, tainting the whole process, ultimately to the damage of the USA and Department of Defense as a whole. To put it another way, the USA (most likely) gets an inferior product, and the President gets the satisfaction of putting his thumb in Bezos' eye. This personal benefit/loyalty kind of stuff is not the way for people to run a business and not the way to run a country. The analogy here is the fiduciary duty that the management and board of directors of a company has to the shareholders of the company. In this case the voters and public are the shareholders.
Now, I have made the assumption, above, that the Microsoft result would be inferior, which may not be correct. But the problem at this point is that the decision making process itself was corrupted by these ugly and improper motives. I think my assumption regarding an inferior outcome is correct, but again, this procurement process has now been tainted by this gross and improper interference and is now both ugly and difficult to unwind. This is what happens when personal motives are improperly involved in public and business decisions.
15
If Microsoft can’t figure out a way to let you shut down a laptop without 20 minutes of pointless updates, how can it be trusted with so big a contract?
16
Well they're still criminally incompetent of course—even WITH e.g. the de-facto-proprietary "secure" extensions to the C programming language that NO ONE wants—but the real problem is they're STILL a convicted monopolist and STILL acting as such, WITH the help of the antiregulatory vile GOP.
Most of their monopolism now is on the "B2B" and standards side, but that only makes things WORSE: often you CAN'T boycott an entire industry standard that insists on using a monopolist's wares (say, Microsoft's patented exFAT format on SD cards) or insists the monopolist centrally hold and approve relevant encryption keys (say, for their Secure Boot system which is effectively mandatory for motherboards now), and often you CAN'T know whether they've dominated a company's supply chain to make an informed decision about boycotting them (except e.g. in the case of managed shipping, which prevents you from picking a specific shipper to get your purchase from).
3
Thank you, Prime Paper for your Prime Reporting on this Prime Event.
Always in our Prime,
Prime Citizen
3
@Sebastian I just got my bill. It was $119 this year instead of $99. When did they sneak in that change?
Trump is quite the Conservative Republican President. Puttong his fat little fingers on the scales of the free markets to settle his own personal feuds and vendettas with Jeff Bezos at the expense of the USA military and contrary to the interests of the USA.
17
This just in…
With an eye-popping record-breaking DC home buy, Jeff Bezos has just bought the Pentagon for $23.5B…
Story still developing – what we know so far:
> Other two bidders were also Seattle centi-billionaires, until Trump cut things off, tweeting: “Let it go to Jeff. The roof leaks, as does most of the staff. Views are nearly all airshafts, and the only way to heat the place in winter is with coal”, adding “If they don’t like it, they can sue me”
> Renovations are already underway to clear the interior of the 2nd-outermost – yes – pentagon in the Pentagon, for an indoor-helicopter run. Harrison Ford and Will Smith being brought on as resident flight pros
> To supplement existing staff, Bezos has gotten the UK royals to agree to loan out the entire Buckingham Palace guard, to do the same routines, but 5 time zones west. Megs and H to (each) be put on annual $3M retainers. For that, they jet in each Monday, wave at the crowds from a top-floor window for 45 minutes, and then bug out
> AOC on CNN, right now, claiming to debunk this, saying “no Amazon real-estate deal in my nabe is final, until I say it’s final”
> To defray 2020 costs, five 70-foot tall sets of the letters “MIKE” to be erected on each of the five outward-facing rooftops. And each night, just as “Hannity” comes on the air, there’ll an hour of low-altitude drone formation flyovers to the DC mall and back
4
Trump interceded in the awarding of a government contract. That was illegal. Contract costs are supposed to be held secret so bids can be made based on the qualifications of the bidders. You can bet Trump has awarded many contracts to his donors and supporters. Bezos has money to pour into defeating Trump and his Senate cohorts. One has to wonder why he isnt doing it.
15
I hope Bezos spends his vast, vast fortune uncovering via private investigators every bit of criminal activity Trump and his Trustifarian offspring are hiding in their financials - there is a Ton of smoke hiding a massive forest fire of corruption. While he is at it, he should focus on what dirt Putin has on various GOP politicians including McConnell, Graham, Nunes, McCarthy, Jordan, and Gaetz
17
@pb: Because he now has a mistress to support. His first wife was a worker, but this new one is too busy having “work” done.
2
@pb The place to look here Tariff Waivers. Did the grantees pony up for Trump?
As for Bezos, he should sell his Washington Post shares to Graham family, with a long term payback. Then put big money to oppose Trump.
While I suspect the Microsoft product is indeed better, I think some good old-fashioned discovery to uncover any behind-the-scenes pressure would be healthy for the nation.
11
I too would like to see MSFT get the contract solely for good old capitalistic competition, but any interference by Boss Trump should be exposed
3
@By George Amazon's AWS is much superior to Microsoft's Azure. It isn't close.
4
This what happens when the POTUS has the intellectual abilities of a junior schoolboy. Oh and less moral fibre.
16
My son has way more morals than Trump, which is easy because he is too young to pursue women
3
The pigs at the trough.
5
Get out of the way, lawyers, and let them work. Your legal industry had become an extortion racket.
4
Does this mean Mr Gates will put a hold on the new yacht order?
2
Trump also tried to block the AT&T - Time Warner merger to punish CNN. At least he's consistent.
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-tried-to-block-the-att-time-warner-merger-to-spite-cnn-report-2019-3
14
He is probably building a space yacht to sail around Jupiter - he will be just fine
When amazon (not the great river) pays its share of taxes, only then should it be able to bid on US Military contracts. They are already disrupting the ability of many companies to do business. 0 taxes?
15
@Timit Thanks, that's the best suggestion I've heard today. (Although I commend Bezos for trying to poke a stick in Trump's eye about this.)
13
“The question is whether the president of the United States should be allowed to use the budget of the D.O.D. to pursue his own personal and political ends,” an Amazon spokesman said at the time.
Seems like there is a clear pattern of behavior, break any rule and any law and do it all in the light of day.
Some day the Republicans will lose the Whitehouse and when the shoe is on the other foot they will need/want to rein in a sitting President - how do you think that will work out for them? What precedents will the Dems invoke?
12
Amazon will win this war. Amazon invented the cloud and has been the leader in the technology since. They are relentless and will never give up. They will bury Microsoft, poach all their talent with unlimited stock and Bezos will torture Trump forever. He didn’t buy and remodel DC’s biggest mansion a few blocks from the White House just to throw parties.
11
@tiredofwaiting Its more than a few blocks.
I work for Microsoft and Bezos will never succeed in recruiting me. Nor a lot of my colleagues who hate Amazon as much as I do. When people do leave MSFT for Amazon, they’re usually back in Redmond within two years. We’ve seen that boomerang happen again and again and sgain.
3
Microsoft will have this taken care of by March 1st.
Goodnight.
When a very stable genius with a great mind goes up against Jeff Bezos, well there is only one outcome.
Trump and crew defying all subpoenas. Threats of criminal charges against Bezos, perhaps even prosecution.
10
“ whether the president of the United States should be allowed to use the budget of the D.O.D. to pursue his own personal and political ends” — if courts say not, the same answer goes for such use of the Dept of State budget,
8
The question is whether or not Trump will now openly defy judicial subpoenas in the same way he defied Congressional subpoenas.
17
From a technical POV, Amazon's got no case.
Amazon's cloud offering requires the DoD to be locked in to its offering with respect to most of its technologies.
The Microsoft offering, on the other hand, focuses on hybrid cloud, and is much more versatile and flexible. The DoD and pentagon are not going to be pleased with Amazon's tactics here that hurt the DoD priorities.
11
@SincerityNow
Sooooooooooooo. Why was Amazon expected to win? Some people who are smart in this area believed that Amazon would take the prize. I like smart people.
3
The judge in this case, Patricia E. Campbell-Smith, is left-liberal Obama appointee. Did Amazon's lawyer judge stop? The Constitution gives the President authority over the Pentagon. And, yes, it becomes political as it does with every President. So what if Bezos' ownership of the shrill far-left WaPo had something to do with it? That's life in the capital city. Should every federal contract go through a political smell test? Should everyone who loses a federal contract be able to sue claiming political bias?
3
@Scott
YES!
It is Political bias and it is NOT acceptable.
25
@Scott far left wapo? Facts are far left now?
16
@Scott
I wish there were smell test for comments.
5
Trump using the Federal purse strings to damage a political opponent? That sounds familiar.
And all but one Republican Senator thinks this is okay.
54
@Herschel78 Friend this is america. If the government says it is OK then it is OK. Laws are so old!
Folks - don't jump the gun - so to speak - on convicting our POTUS for swinging the deal to Microsoft.
I don't think any of these la la land companies really support POTUS and they are hardly his vote bank.
Folks should also remember that he is threatening sanctions against EU for the special IT tax it is going to levy which will, in essense, affect only American companies like Microsoft and Amazon.
Finally, folks should remember that SCOTUS has already ruled for this POTUS - saying in effect - what he says in public - has no bearing on his government - doing it's work in accordance with laws, regulations etc.
I think the case was over his visa ban - far more consequential than this commercial dispute.
Sure, Amazon will delay but it will eventually lose - if this becomes indeed a political football.
And they are playing it in the world's biggest World Cup of the year - that's our elections.
@Neil
Uh, what in the world are you talking about?
10
Even Barr has finally had enough with his crooked boss tampering with the system.
11
@Allison
Barr is a traitor and a liar
He is nothing but a crooked mouthpiece for lies
America is wise to this corruption and trolling
7
@Allison Don't crow about that until you see what happens next. Barr will be out on his bum if he pushes this too far, and Trump will have lots of nasty names and scurrilous lies to tell about Barr if he shows any more DISloyalty.
2
@Allison
I suspect this is a bad cop/worse cop routine that he his boss have cooked up.
4
America has been hopelessly corrupted with crimes endorsed by a Majority of the United States Senate.
We are a nation in decline as a consequence.
Such a shame!
44
@Bert Gold
Vote them out of office and take back the senate and the White House
6
@Bert Gold Sorry friend america has been hopelessly corrupt since the europeans introduced it here.
Sometime late in the 15th century, if my memory serves me.
1
“Horrible!...So unfair!” Will quothe the donal’ evermore.
6
@DK Thanks! I needed the laugh.
1
"required that Amazon pay a $42 million deposit"
=
Bezos walks in with a suitcase, puts on judge's desk and walks out again......
7
@GvN
Sends a flunky in a very nice suit.
42 mil is chump change, a rounding error.
1
Interference from Trump? Impossible.
15
Upside- we don't have to pay for it. Take your time.
Company squabbles aside ... $10 BILLION contract?
It's time for another Pentagon audit. Especially since Trump has put $1 trillion on the middle class's credit card to pay for his $800 billion tax give away to the rich and corporations.
Doesn't anyone scratch their head at the fact that Amazon pays almost zero federal taxes while they're going after a $10 billion tax payer paid program? It's literally like we're living in crazy town.
28
@Don Actually, Microsoft only paid $30 Million in taxes last year, their lowest amount since at least 2003 and a pittance given their revenue. There is really no difference between both companies.
3
@Don
Oh dear,
You are quite right about Amazon not paying taxes.
Why not ask why?
You need to understand. Taxes are paid on profit.
The correct answer is that Amazon does not actually make a profit.
In fact Amazon uses its income to increase its business. That is reinvesting in the future of American business.
That is capitalism 101.
1
Anyone in tech knows that when it comes to cloud, Amazon and Google are the players. Not Microsoft...the bid was influenced away from Amazon by Mr. Trump.
51
I loathe Amazon and its strong arm tactics - but I think they may have a point because, well, Mr. Trump handed them one on a silver platter when he so very publicly railed against them.
28
Amazon won contract then Trump ordered JEDI contract be given to Microsoft.
8
A mission-critical military project is now being delayed because of Trump's ongoing inability to manage the country. Trump is incompetent, and needs to be summarily fired.
23
@Observer Slight variation on your theme: " A mission-critical military project is now being delayed because of Trump's ongoing ability to manage himself."
Yes, definitely cause for dismissal.
Amazon should f won this contract outright. They have the best cloud products and basically invented the business model. Only the government would choose an inferior product in what must be an effort to spread the wealth. There is a reason that the vast majority of e-commerce sites from small to large run on Amazon Web Services.
Trump interjecting himself tainted the process.
19
This could be a serious setback for the Trump crime family. Payoffs have been made to people in high places. Promises have occurred that can no longer be honored. The judiciary has stepped in and put a wrench in this fixed deal. Now we will watch how Trump weakens the US Judiciary, gives Microsoft the contract he promised them, and gets his grift payoffs going again. Most corrupt presidency ever!
16
Too big to fail... Monopolies that has to be broken asap for america to have a fighting chance with china.
1
Anything touched by Trump ends in a kind of obstruction.
11
@Armandol The whole thing was hosed up before he got involved. They should have been awarded it and would have been before the DoD decided they better defer and release a new request for proposal.
No matter the case Amazon has the far more experience and a superior product.
2
Thank God we live in a country where one billionaire can sue another billionaire for a weapons contract, which is designed to kill millions of ordinary people.
9
I'm sure Microsoft staffed up in anticipation of this contract and expanded recruitment when it was awarded. What happens to all those people? They get laid off, and then you can't get them back. Meanwhile the country's defense systems remain outdated and unreliable. All because Bezos, in his own infinite wisdom, thinks that he should have gotten the contract? The judge obviously has no understanding of defense procurement. You don't just toss a coin and call heads or tails.
6
Amazon must have been surfing for Obama judges with a grudge against Trump - and they got one. Now she will delay implementation of this technology, perhaps costing lives.
@sh Funny how Obama is to blame for everything. Oh wait, liberals. Oh, wait . . .
4
It should be obvious to anyone at this point that Amazon's entire drama over site selection for "HQ2" was a charade, with the selection of the nation's capitol pre-ordained in pursuit of the JEDI contract. This was unfair to the other communities which wasted resources and bent over backwards (or more correctly, forwards) in hope of becoming the next cyber-boomtown after Seattle when the deck was already stacked against them. On the other hand, the prospect of Microsoft using this as an opportunity to "embrace and extend" its influence over virtually all defense and aerospace technology choices for years to come bodes ill for any and all advancement of technologies that aren't under Redmond's tight control.
1
Oh, dear, the rich in my county are having at it. They don't seem to be happy being the first and second richest person on earth.
To me, it doesn't seem to make sense to give either company a military contract. A book dealer gone Sears and Roebuck Catalogue? Or the software developer known for being susceptible to bugs.
Wouldn't it have made more sense to give it to Apple since our government is always begging them for help to crack something so simple as an old i-Phone?
9
Another thing that Trump touches that ends in chaos. I suspect Microsoft will continue with most of the upgrades to their environment. I wouldn't bet on this tornado of a president losing.
2
An Pentagon IG investigation will very likely find that Donald Trump interfered with the contract award to Microsoft. As we now see Trump on his “2020 Retaliation Tour” we have further proof that Trump’s desire for revenge knows no bounds and is without consideration of our country’s best interests.
As a “techie”, I can posit that Microsoft may well have been the correct choice. As a political observer with a pulse I can also reasonably surmise Trump never cared about making the right choice, only that it such a choices would never benefit Jeff Bezos.
Trump’s jealousy of Bezos, both as Bezos is ( unlike Trump) an actual billionaire and owner of the WaPo - “Democracy Dies in Darkness “ - knows no bounds. Sure, the Pentagon will claim no interference just like the GOP Senators who swore an oath to be impartial. Uh-huh.
The judge made the right call. Now the voters must do so in November and remove Trump as an existential threat to the United States and the free world.
101
@Robert: And the bonus is Trump under oath - will be the "video for the century" - no way he couldn't make a fool of himself - a ready made clip for election ads.
6
Surely Amazon's lawyers are delusional to think Trump would show up for a deposition. He ignores and interferes with congressional subpoenas, and tells the Attorney General how to do his job. It would be nothing for him to ignore a subpoena to give testimony regarding a federal bid procurement case. He's above the law and we all know it.
Amazon should instead seek the deposition of Mattis, and ask him what Trump told him about steering the award to another company not named Amazon. That should get around the mere "speculation of bias" argued by Microsoft.
33
I hope that this is tied up in courts for at least five years. By then something new and better will have been developed and it will be available at a much lower cost.
23
@William McCain - you may be correct ("right")!
4
Although I know that Amazon hardly needs more money and I resent their tax free status, I think it is important for this case to go forward. The government is supposed to award contracts based on the bid without bias but this administration breaks all the rules when it comes to interference in what is supposed to be a fair process. Trump has shown open hostility to Amazon and has threatened the company with retribution, so it is entirely possible (if not probable) that he interfered with the process. If true, we cannot let him get away with this, so I am glad that Amazon is pushing for an investigation.
35
Well I'm sure Jeff enjoys making Trump jump so good for Amazon I mean wouldn't you fight for a 10 billion dollar contract that has been tampered with by a guy who thinks cloud computing is calculators up in the atmosphere.
23
Just what America needs, a huge contract to Amazon which pays almost nothing back in taxes.
17
@roderick eyer Microsoft doesn't pay much taxes either, but has avoided press on this. There is really no difference between the companies in that regard.
2
Whatever the merits, I’d rather see work of this magnitude divvied up among numerous vendors. Seems unwise to have a single vendor responsible for such a massive project.
If I owe the bank $100,000, they own me. If I owe the bank $100,000,000, I own them...or ‘sumpin like that.
9
Having worked in government contracting for many years I can tell everyone that without a doubt the government is the worst buyer of goods and services. There is no fiscal restraint because you have incompetent buyers and unscrupulous contractors. The simplest example is that in the commercial world you buy a product or service for a negotiated price and both parties follow through. The government accepts one price when a contract is awarded, but the contractor can manipulate the price with cost overruns. In the private sector cost overruns are the fault of the company not the entity that is the purchaser.
12
@JimH It's not just price; too many of the people who evaluate proposals do not have the technical background to understand the implications of what the bidders propose, or they fall for untested performance claims from vendors - or, they have some weird ideas about outside always being better than inside when it comes to training and day to day support having never done the job. Evaluating proposals is just as tough as writing them.
Personally I feel IBM should have been awarded the contract but that's another issue.
Politics aside, Amazon is a Linux-based company so their work with open source software would be more open and in the public domain. Microsoft is a closed source company; do you want this software hidden from public view and owned by one company.
17
@garyv Actually I DO want this software hidden from the public. DOD, national security and such -- not open-source and prone to hacking.
6
Yeah, like Microsoft WIndows hasn’t ever been hacked.
5
Excellent news.
However, at this rate, this judge will be harassed off the bench, and Trump surrogates, sitting on all judicial benches. Before the year is out. There is no restraining a tyrant with a complicit ruling party.
25
It's Seattle versus Redmond! As a local, I feel like I am watching Godzilla and Mothra battle it out.
19
@Kathy I work in one of these two companies. This Trump-fueled chaos is not good for business or morale. That's all I'll say.
17
@Kathy LOL, so true!
1
Uh oh. I hope that Patricia Campell-Smith is prepared to deal with the Trump Firestorm that is sure to follow.
Bravo Campell-Smith for taking a stand.
40
@Larry I think she wrote the "vaccines don't cause autism" case in the vaccine court years ago. She can see through the crazies.
3
I thought it was 50/50 between Amazon and Microsoft on this contract. Amazon has the lion share of cloud business but Microsoft has been steadily closing the gap and they win a lot of the huge contracts.
I would love to see Trump get nailed on interference but is that ever going to happen. I don't think this a good move for Amazon.
3
Perhaps you should all go read some of the accounts from other protests against AWS in this particular deal and look at the inside persuasion they were trying to do. All outlined in court documents filed by another party, Oracle, where they caught the company offering a job to and later hiring one of the technical architects... who by the way did not immediately recuse himself from the process either. AWS needs to be very careful in who they're pointing fingers at...
5
Yes, except that the Oracle-Amazon case has already been ruled. And in favor of Amazon.
So I am unsure as to what you imply.
11
Another reason why Trump must be remove. He inserts himself where he doesn't belong and turns everything into a petty feud. All these billionaires being spoil-sports and waving their wallets around is really destroying the country.
17
Will Trump let the emails and other evidence out? I say Executive privilege or classified or something and Barr will bob his head "Yes boss.'
15
How long before Trump starts a campaign against this judge too. Trump has to be stopped. He thinks he is Putin.
36
@hjw418
Trump is being tutored by Putin. The only way to understand why he has withheld information about his multiple tete a tete with Vlad the Impaler.
6
Well one small step in the fight against trumps corruption.
Good for the judge, the way this contact got highjacked has conman trump finger prints all over it.
30
@Steven "contract got highjacked"?????? Come on - Microsoft is a great company. How did the contract "get highjacked"??? You were privy to the contract specifications, negotiations, submissions and all the rest? Isn't it just possible that Microsoft won the contract on the merits of its bid? Does Amazon really have to rule the world?? I have great respect for Jeff Bezos and his purchase and funding of the Washington Post and its reporters. I love how the WP has Trump throwing a fit almost daily. But, come on, give Microsoft some credit.
1
On March 19, 2013, President Obama nominated Campbell-Smith to serve as a Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims.
On February 13 2020 the liberal judge played politics and ruled against the president and the military and for Amazon and Bezos.
5
@Panama Mitch Thanks for the sad but useful reminder that yes, there are people who actually believe Trump.
29
@Panama Mitch
You going to say the same thing about every decision made by a conservative judge appointed by a 3 person majority in the Senate over the past 3 years?
Funny, you only seem to care about judges playing politics when it is liberal judges. If your real concern was an independent judiciary you'd be way more upset about what McConnell is doing in the senate.
Where is that outrage? Oh, that's right, you only care when it is a judge appointed by Obama. Typical right wing hypocrisy at work ladies and gentlemen.
14
Wow, the judge didn’t rule ‘against’ anybody, she issued a temporary injunction. And apparently, the next time a Democratic President is in power all these judges Mitch McConnell is working so hard to confirm won’t matter because the will be ‘Trump judges’ and therefore won’t be allowed to rule against anything the new president wants according to the logic of Trump supporters. Ridiculous.
7
Get the emails and communications. We know there will be evidence of Trump’s new brand of crony capitalism.
12
Many of us know well Mr. Trump's penchant for cheating in business. He has done it all of his life and will continue to do so until his dying days. Scratch under the surface and you will see the spots. Unfortunately, unless we wake up as a nation and overwhelmingly pack him on his way out in November, Mr. Wannabe Dictator will have his way.
62
@SoulMan This has nothing to do with business and everything to do with petty jealousy - Jeff Bezos is a real billionaire, and it's hilarious watching the effect that has on Trump.
5
Jeff bezos is Trump's worst nightmare. Bezos and Amazon will destroy Trump's re-election. Bezos, Bloomberg and Sanders are the "father, son and holy ghost" that will end the Trump dictatorship. Dump Trump 2020. And why not?
17
@Jacob Avi Cohen
I pray you are right.
6
Let Microsoft win on the condition they subcontract the whole effort to Amazon. Win-win.
3
If it is legal for the President to extort an ally before turning over voted military assistance, what's the problem with taking political retribution when awarding military contracts?
L'État c'est moi
21
I propose a kind of "Chinese Auction" solution, which could be a model for the awarding of such multi-billion dollar contracts in the future.
Each side gives its maximum donation, kept secret, to the government to be considered for the job; the one with the higher donation gets the contract, but both companies still have to give the pledged donation.
This scheme obviously only works when only extremely wealthy companies are candidates for a job, but there are conceivable sliding-scale approaches. For example: companies with a value less than the value of the contract could have the option of pledging a percentage of their own company's value equaling the percentage pledged by the highest bidder of *its* value. So if Amazon pledges a billion dollars, but only .1% of Amazon's value, .3% of my company's value would be considered a higher bid.
This is a very casual, spontaneous brainstorm on my part, but it attempts to address ways we could re-channel skyrocketing corporate wealth back into the public institutions (for the common good) that makes this corporate wealth possible. We must be creative countering trends of corporations becoming more powerful than the government. The same economic leverage (market forces) should be applied by government to exact the most favorable terms for "The People" as corporations would use to maximize profits.
Any corporation reliant on the government (protection, infrastructure etc.) in any way should pay proportionally to its profits.
2
Bring a businessman who has shown a lack or scruples and will never admit when was clearly caught in error brings mistrust to anything that person becomes involved in. You'll still have crowds of adulation but many of those too will also start to remember President Ronald Reagan's famous words "Trust but Verify" . Lots of verifying coming up!!
11
Please rent, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” Frank Capra’s 1939 classic comedy-drama about an idealistic, young Senator, Jefferson Smith, who is thrown into endless conflicts with corrupt politicians. This movie is as relevant today, as it was, in 1939, even more so. In the end Jimmy Stewart’s character, prevails, against all odds. Truth wins out, and trumps the lies and deceptions of corruption. It will lift your spirit, which we all need right about now. No one person can destroy our country. We will survive this divisive period. Lincoln understood that our country had been ripped apart by the Civil War and he delivered his world famous Gettysburg Address to heal our nation. Lincoln was so humble that he mistakenly stated, “the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here.” We see young Senator Jefferson Smith standing in awe, at the Lincoln Memorial, reciting, “...government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Today, justice was served when a brave judge ruled in favor of Amazon, if only temporarily. This shows our system is working. The truth matters, and will win out, in the end.
36
@RBL
Unfortunately, there are hundreds of fascist dictatorships and oligarchies (we are close to joining them) over the past few hundred years that put the lie to your wishful thinking about truth winning out.
Power wins out. Unfortunately.
6
@RBL No one person can destroy our country, but one person backed by a rubber stamp Senate sure can.
7
I think Bezos and Bloomberg should have a billionaire showdown... with Mackenzie (former Mrs. Bezos) and her $40B thrown in too.
They all despise Trump. Let them outspend each other in an effort to oust him. I don't see why the 3 of them can't kick in a collective $10B+ for the war effort.
And make no mistake about it... this IS a war.
26
They could have helped out Hilary for a lot less. Although she outspent Trump by a factor of three, an extra billion would have bought her the Presidency.
2
@Dan
A long lost friend used to say, "Politics is money fighting."
He was not far off the mark.
1
Trump has successfully bullied every department and government agency to do his bidding. It's very clear. From the Fed to the DOJ, Defense Department, EPA- All of these agencies have rationalized reversal of policy in order to avoid Trumps whining, cheap shots and outright harassment.
78
@Displaced yankee You are right and here is what Barr said today to shield himself from criticism. Who believes that?
"“I’m not going to be bullied or influenced by anybody,” Mr. Barr said. “And I said, whether it’s Congress, newspaper editorial board, or the president, I’m going to do what I think is right. I cannot do my job here at the department with a constant background commentary that undercuts me.”
8
No worries, William Barr to the rescue and he will take care of that little problem Trump created.
41
@Jacquie
Is that irony that I see and hear?
God bless you if it is.
1
Wait, Trump lied, cheated and showed political bias???? Clutch your pearls America! Who would believe it?
184
@Dan
Oh Dan!
Dare I call you Danny Boy?
I laughed heartily at your image of Americans "clutching their pearls.".
The full ten points to you!
5
Well, yes. This is payback by Trump on Bezos.
But what are we talking about? A contract that two companies shouldn't be fulfilling given what else it is they do and how ubiquitous they are.
What else are we talking about? Funding the military industrial complex when we have a crisis of infrastructure and a crisis of climate change and an economic crisis with tens of millions of people working three, four, and five jobs just to pay the rent.
It's hard to feel sorry for Bezos or Microsoft.
We are an oligarchy now. These are oligarch problems.
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@Rima Regas
No these are not "oligarch problems". This is our money that is being spent. The federal contracting process is such that many years of people's lives were spent in forming the original decision. This is a huge process at this size level, and there are many laws and rules that must be followed. Throwing all that work away on the whims of a childish President in order to come up with the preferred outcome by said President is hugely wasteful, and will affect many Americans' lives.
I understand that you are fed up with the military industrial complex. That is no excuse for throwing up our hands and saying "it's not my problem". This is large scale corruption that is coming straight from the President, and it is obscene.
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@John in the USA
You completely misconstrued my comment and this lawsuit.
The lawsuit, itself, has nothing to do with the merits of the contract itself - only who gets to fulfill it. That money would be wasted regardless.
The lawsuit by Amazon has to do with Microsoft being given preferential treatment in order to get back at Jeff Bezos. That is an oligarch problem.
@Rima Regas Thank you, you and Socrates give us all hope!!
I am not a major fan of Amazon, per se, but support a fair contracting process in all Government entities. If Amazon was blocked by Mr. Trump for reasons unrelated to the actual procurement requirements then I trust they will make a good show and possibly win the contract on appeal. Let us hope that fair and competent contracting processes win out over rashness, subjectivity, and pure vindictiveness.
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Memo from Trump to Bezos: You don’t bite the hand that feeds
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The President of the United States is not daddy warbucks. Federal funding is made by and for American citizens. It is wildly inappropriate for any president to take citizens hard earned tax dollars to dole out billion dollar contracts to their friends.
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@Chrysse
Assuming this was directed at Tyler, who seems to think Trump is the hand that feeds.
4
Amazon’s vain pursuit of this case because it can’t accept losing only hurts Microsoft and ultimately the military, who is the customer. I’d understand if Amazon’s product was far superior and you couldn’t justify Microsoft winning the contract based on merit. But, Amazon lost, Microsoft won and let’s let them get to work so our military’s tech infrastructure is upgraded to modern demands! Let’s not let this work be held up in courts for years simply because Jeff Bezos got his feelings hurt. Seems like he really needs the money to pay for his divorce. Next time don’t open Whatsapp videos from Saudi princes...
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The fact that Amazon was awarded an injunction means that they have credible evidence and a good chance of legal success. We as citizens should expect that contact procurement be completed with proper attention to the best choice for our nation and not the President.
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@Tyler Barkley
It's actually Donald Trump who got his feelings hurt. Hence, his interference to ensure Amazon wouldn't get the contract.
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@Petra,
Actually it means nothing that an injunction was granted. In recent years lone judges have been granting injunctions against the Trump administration like handing out candy. Mostly by Judges appointed by Obama & Clnton - Go figure. Also several of them have been overturned!
Sorry but in private and Government business, relationships matter when it comes to contracts. Does Bezos not consider relationships when Amazon awards contracts? Should all of the companies rejected by Amazon file a lawsuit and have them stranded with NO work being done?? Think about it fairly.
Trump would be looking at a civil lawsuit for interference with prospective business advantage if he did this in the private sector. Can't wait to read his tweets in response to today's result.
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A municipal mayor would be facing jail time.
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