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   Obama-Biden alum Jay Carney arranged the massive gift   
      
   Faced with scorn from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, Amazon   
   billionaire Jeff Bezos appears ready to "grease" his way into the   
   Democratic establishment with a $100 million donation to the Obama   
   Foundation, according to Puck News.   
      
   The donation was arranged by Amazon executive and former Obama press   
   secretary Jay Carney. The no-strings-attached gift comes as Bezos   
   faces growing opposition from the left. The gift is the largest ever   
   made to the foundation, which has chosen to forgo the traditional   
   presidential library in favor of building a privately managed   
   presidential center.   
      
   Bezos's donation comes at a difficult political moment for Amazon.   
   Lawmakers from both parties fault the company for its poor treatment   
   of workers and abuse of its market power. The company has also come   
   under fire for banning conservative voices. This year, Amazon banned   
   a book that criticizes transgender ideology and blocked an ad for a   
   book that criticizes the Black Lives Matter movement.   
      
   Bezos has tasked Carney, who served as then-vice president Joe   
   Biden's communications director, to ingratiate Amazon with   
   Democratic lawmakers. Under Carney's leadership, Amazon's lobbying   
   team has grown from about two dozen to 250 members. Reuters reported   
   Friday that Carney has successfully lobbied to kill privacy   
   protections for consumers in 25 states.   
      
   Amazon is not the only Bezos project to pique the ire of leading   
   Democrats. NASA administrator and former Democratic senator Bill   
   Nelson blamed Bezos's Blue Origin for causing a delay in a U.S.   
   return to the moon. The space exploration company sued NASA after it   
   lost a major contract to Elon Musk's SpaceX.   
      
   Obama's presidential center is the first presidential library or   
   museum to be run by a partisan nonprofit, rather than by the   
   National Archives and Records Administration. Bezos's ex-wife   
   Mackenzie Scott and Bill and Melinda Gates have already made   
   substantial donations to the center, which presidential scholars   
   worry will become a partisan slush fund.   
      
   Activists on Chicago's South Side said the center will force out   
   longtime neighborhood residents. The center received a tax-free, 99   
   -year lease on almost 20 acres of public parkland from the city of   
   Chicago, for $10 in total. The center will be allowed to charge fees   
   and keep the profits.   
      
   Bezos has ramped up his philanthropy over the past four years,   
   pledging millions of dollars to liberal causes and figures. Earlier   
   this year, he pledged $1 billion to conservation efforts and gave   
   $100 million to CNN contributor Van Jones.   
      
      
   https://freebeacon.com/democrats/bezos-greases-way-into-dem-   
   establishment-with-100-million-obama-donation/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)