Tag Archives: Amazon.com

Trump vs. Bezos, er … Amazon

Gosh, do you suppose just possibly the president of the United States is angry with Amazon.com because its owner, a guy named Jeff Bezos, happens to also own one of the nation’s leading newspapers — which has written deemed to be critical articles of the same president?

Let’s try to assess the real reason for Donald J. Trump’s anger.

He contends that Amazon is undercutting the U.S. Postal Service. He’s been tweeting his brains out over Amazon. It’s been Amazon this and Amazon that. He’s been browbeating and berating the company via Twitter.

I have to wonder out loud: Why hasn’t he gone after Facebook with equal ferocity, given that medium’s relationship with a company, Cambridge Analytica, that used Facebook customers’ individual data for political purposes — which allegedly sought to benefit the Trump presidential campaign?

Not a peep from POTUS on that one.

Amazon? That’s a different story.

Bezos’s newspaper, The Washigton Post, has been dogged in its reporting of matters affecting, let’s see, “the Russia thing,” Trump finances, the Cabinet shuffle, the chaos and confusion within the West Wing, Jared Kushner’s role as a Middle East peace broker … that kind of thing.

Trump keeps yapping that The Post is reporting “fake news,” which in itself is the height of irony, given that the president is the “purveyor in chief” of fake news. But … I digress.

Trump’s so-called anger with Amazon looks to be nothing more than a case of cyberbullying by the leader of the free world against an Internet mogul who moonlights as the owner of a first-class newspaper that doesn’t slobber all over the president to his liking.

Drones at my door? No thank you

Allow me to toss a wet blanket on what I will acknowledge to be a truly unique idea for delivering goods to people’s homes.

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, says he intends to fill the sky with commercial drones to drop products ordered through his company.

Door-to-door drones spook lawmakers

Members of Congress want to hold hearings on the idea to examine ways to protect people’s privacy.

I’m thinking they also should have hearings to ensure that the drones don’t clutter the sky with traffic that could put people’s lives in danger.

I watched the “60 Minutes” segment Sunday night when Bezos knocked Charlie Rose over with the idea of drones. I’ll admit to being floored by the idea. Then I thought a little about it.

Do we really need to launch these vehicles into the air to ensure prompt delivery of these goods? I’m wondering now if we’re taking technology a bit too far.

“As we move forward toward integrating drones into civilian life and capitalizing on the economic opportunities they offer, we must make certain that these aircraft meet rigorous safety and privacy standards,” said Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

Do you think?

I’m all for technology. Heck, I’m learning — finally — to embrace much of what many millions of others embraced long ago. There’s just something vaguely creepy, though, about unleashing these drones to deliver mail-order gifts to people’s front porch.

Just how many of them will take flight? Our airspace seems a bit crowded as it stands right now.