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Prime Pink Slips: Amazon to Cut 16,000 Corporate Jobs

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Amazon announced Wednesday it will eliminate 16,000 corporate positions as part of an organizational restructuring aimed at reducing management layers and streamlining operations.

Bloomberg reports that Amazon announced Wednesday it will eliminate 16,000 corporate positions as part of an organizational restructuring. The job cuts represent part of a broader effort by the technology giant to remove bureaucratic obstacles and increase employee ownership across the company.

Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice president of people experience and technology, disclosed the workforce reduction in a blog post on Wednesday. The company will provide affected US-based employees with a 90-day period to search for alternative positions within the organization. Those unable to secure new roles will receive severance packages and transition assistance.

Galetti emphasized the company’s commitment to organizational improvement, stating that Amazon has been working to strengthen its structure by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy. She also sought to reassure employees and stakeholders that the company does not plan to announce broad staff cuts every few months, though Amazon will continue to make adjustments as deemed necessary.

The latest round of layoffs brings Amazon’s total announced job cuts to 30,000 over a three-month period, following an initial wave of reductions in October. The scale of these cuts reflects Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy’s determination to address organizational concerns that emerged following a pandemic-era hiring surge that significantly expanded the company’s corporate workforce. (Read more from “Prime Pink Slips: Amazon to Cut 16,000 Corporate Jobs” HERE)

Over 1,000 Amazon Employees Sign Open Letter Warning AI Push Threatens Democracy, Jobs, and the Environment

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More than 1,000 Amazon employees have signed an open letter to CEO Andy Jassy and the company’s senior leadership, voicing grave concerns over Amazon’s rapid acceleration into artificial intelligence and the potential fallout they believe could follow.

According to Fortune, the letter includes signatures from a broad spectrum of Amazon’s workforce—from Whole Foods cashiers to IT support technicians—demonstrating that the apprehension extends far beyond corporate offices. While the signees represent a small fraction of Amazon’s 1.53 million employees, they argue that the company’s “warp-speed” AI strategy risks harming democracy, eliminating jobs, and worsening Amazon’s environmental footprint.

The letter is hosted by Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ), a left-wing climate activist group. In it, employees accuse Amazon of sidelining its environmental goals in favor of aggressive AI expansion, claiming the company is both requiring employees to use AI tools and reducing its workforce to free up resources for AI investment.

They warn that Amazon’s AI strategy is contributing to the rise of “a more militarized surveillance state with fewer protections for ordinary people.”

“We believe that the all-costs-justified, warp-speed approach to AI development will do staggering damage to democracy, to our jobs, and to the Earth,” the letter states.

The letter also sheds new light on the human impact of Amazon’s AI restructuring. In October, the company announced plans to eliminate around 14,000 corporate positions, with total cuts potentially reaching as high as 30,000—marking the largest round of layoffs in Amazon’s history.

Employees who remain report mounting pressure to produce more output in less time, as well as directives to develop AI tools even when no practical need exists. Some describe these projects as “wasteful,” claiming they are being pushed purely to feed Amazon’s AI expansion narrative.

One of the most urgent warnings centers on Amazon-owned Ring, which employees say is being retooled into an “AI-first” platform. Signees caution that restoring a feature allowing police to request home-camera footage directly from Ring users would hand “an unbelievable amount of power” to law enforcement and corporations, especially in what they describe as an increasingly authoritarian climate.

Amazon’s Massive Internet Outage Left ‘Smart Bed’ Owners with Overheating Mattresses

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The widespread Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage on October 20 caused an unexpected disruption for owners of Eight Sleep’s high-end “Pod” smart beds, leaving many stuck with overheating or unresponsive mattresses. This is just the latest evidence that plugging everything in your house into the “Internet of Things” is a really bad idea.

Dexerto reports that in the early hours of October 20, the major Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage wreaked havoc on a wide variety of apps, games, and online services. However, one unexpected side effect of the outage was the chaos it caused in the bedrooms of owners of Eight Sleep’s “Pod” smart bed across the United States.

Eight Sleep’s smart beds, which retail for over $2,000, rely on cloud connectivity to control temperature and track biometric data. When AWS went down, users found themselves unable to access the app that manages the bed’s water-cooled coils, leaving them stuck with whatever settings were last active before the outage. This posed a problem specifically for users in the United States. Based on the timing of the outage, most Americans were still in bed as apps, including the one controlling their bed, went dead.

Reports from affected users poured in, with some complaining of overheating beds, while others found their mattresses had stopped cooling altogether. In some cases, the smart beds became completely unresponsive, leaving owners frustrated and unable to get a good night’s sleep.

One viral post from tech enthusiast Alex Browne highlighted the absurdity of the situation, as he found his Pod locked at nine degrees above room temperature. “Backend outage means I’m sleeping in a sauna,” he wrote, adding that Eight Sleep confirmed there was no offline mode available, although they were working on implementing one. (Read more from “Amazon’s Massive Internet Outage Left ‘Smart Bed’ Owners with Overheating Mattresses” HERE)

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The Alarming Reality Exposed by the Global Internet Meltdown… And Why Amazon’s Crash Is Only the Beginning

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. . .United Airlines and Delta found their passengers could not use online services. Commuters accustomed to scanning the New York Times’ morning newsletter went without. Snapchatters fell silent; Reddit forums were hushed.

One third of all online users worldwide interact with Amazon Web Services (AWS) daily, according to DeepField Networks: companies ranging from Venmo to Reddit to Ring all rely on AWS servers. And, on Monday morning, the system was down – crashing a significant portion of the internet.

The fact such an outage could happen at all is ‘surprising,’ said cybersecurity expert James Knight, senior principal at Digital Warfare, which helps companies identify and shore up online vulnerabilities. It is also a troubling indicator of a new brand of chaos from which none of us are immune.

Knight told the Daily Mail: ‘My first thought was wondering how it could occur. Apparently, some sort of database went down.

‘It’s surprising that one thing affected their network, because usually there’s backup, and redundant systems all running at the same time. One particular system going down is very, very surprising.’ (Read more from The Alarming Reality Exposed by the Global Internet Meltdown… And Why Amazon’s Crash Is Only the Beginning” HERE)

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Trump Slams Putin Over Deadly Ukraine Strikes: ‘I Don’t Know What the Hell Happened to Putin’

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By Fox News. President Donald Trump delivered a rebuke of Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday, saying he was “not happy” about Moscow’s deadly missile strikes across Ukraine that left several dead, including three children, and others wounded. Despite Trump talking up Ukraine and Russia being on the cusp of a peace deal, his latest comments mark a clear condemnation of Putin’s aggression and one that suggests Russia is not ready to end the war.

While speaking to reporters at Morristown Municipal Airport in New Jersey, Trump accused Putin of “killing a lot of people” in the attack, which was launched on Sunday afternoon.

“I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin,” Trump said, adding that he is not pleased with what the Russian President is doing.

“I’ve known him a long time, always gotten along with him, but he’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all,” the president added.

On Sunday, Russia launched drone and missile attacks in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities that resulted in 12 people dead and more critically injured. As a result, Trump suggested he would consider more sanctions against Moscow. (Read more from “Trump Slams Putin Over Deadly Ukraine Strikes: ‘I Don’t Know What the Hell Happened to Putin’” HERE)

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Trump Says He’s ‘Not Happy’ With Putin After Massive Ukraine Strike

By Fox News. President Donald Trump told journalists that he was “not happy” with Russia’s recent large-scale strike against Ukraine while speaking to the press on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters at Morristown Municipal Airport in New Jersey, Trump accused Putin of “killing a lot of people” in the attack, which was launched on Sunday afternoon. . .

Trump’s comments came after Russian forces launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities overnight. The attack, which has been called the largest aerial attack of the war so far, targeted the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

Ukrainian officials said that at least 12 people were killed and dozens more were injured. (Read more from “Trump Says He’s ‘Not Happy’ With Putin After Massive Ukraine Strike” HERE)

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Amazon Hides Origin Of Chinese Knockoffs While Considering Tariff Labels

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For a while on Tuesday, it sounded like Amazon planned to list tariff “import charges” for its products, so shoppers could see a connection between the Trump administration and price increases. If Amazon did that, the administration would consider it a “hostile and political” move, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday morning while speaking with reporters. But the import charge did not play well, and by midday Amazon had distanced itself from the idea.

“The team that runs our ultra low cost Amazon Haul store considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products. This was never approved and is not going to happen.” An Amazon media wrangler pointed The Federalist to this statement and answered no other questions.

But there were other questions. For example, why does Amazon sometimes conceal the country of origin for its products? And will the company make it easier for consumers to find the country of origin?

Everything is made somewhere, but Amazon only sometimes lists the country of origin for shoppers using a computer, and apparently not at all on the phone app.

When the country of origin is missing, Amazon usually names the manufacturer. (Read more from “Amazon Hides Origin Of Chinese Knockoffs While Considering Tariff Labels” HERE)

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Amazon Denies Report That ‘Tariff Cost’ Will Be Shown Next to Product Prices

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The price of products Amazon Inc. displays in its online store may soon include the listed price and how much was added to the value due to President Donald Trump’s tariff impositions.

Punchbowl News reported on Tuesday that, according to a source familiar with the matter, the e-commerce giant will start showing the figure added to the value because of the duties right alongside a product’s total price.

The move is reportedly an effort by Amazon to inform customers cost rises have nothing to do with it and everything to do with the Trump White House.

Response to the reported move has been fast and to the point, with diplomat Richard Grenell for one keen for other measures to be taken, noting the sheer volume of produce Amazon shifts from producers in China.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also slammed Amazon’s plan as a “hostile and political act” on Tuesday.

“Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years?” Leavitt asked. (Read more from “Amazon Denies Report That ‘Tariff Cost’ Will Be Shown Next to Product Prices” HERE)

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Amazon’s AI Calls Conservative Book About Leftist Indoctrination Of Kids ‘Biased,’ ‘Extreme’

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Amazon’s artificial intelligence describes a book highlighting how the leftist radicals are “indoctrinating a generation” and “erasing innocence” as “biased” and “extreme.”

Authors Bethany Mandel and Karol Markowicz published Stolen Youth: How Radicals Are Erasing Innocence and Indoctrinating a Generation in March of 2023. But when some Amazon users click on the cover image of the book and swipe left to the second image, they are met with a message from Amazon’s AI refusing to describe the book as anything other than “biased” and “extreme.”

“I will not provide a promotional summary for a book that appears to contain biased or extreme political rhetoric against marginalized groups. However, I’d be happy to have a thoughtful discussion about supporting children and families in an ethical, non-discriminatory manner,” Amazon’s artificial intelligence description reads.

In a response to questions from The Federalist, Amazon spokesman Tim Gillman claimed the defamatory summary of the book was an “error” caused by an “experimental feature.”

Amazon did not immediately respond to The Federalist asking what other things the “experimental feature” has affected on their platform. (Read more from “Amazon’s AI Calls Conservative Book About Leftist Indoctrination Of Kids ‘Biased,’ ‘Extreme’” HERE)

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Even More Drones in the Sky: Amazon Launches Aerial Delivery Service

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Amazon has launched its long-awaited drone delivery service in Arizona, taking a significant step towards fulfilling founder Jeff Bezos’ decade-old vision of autonomous drones delivering packages to customers’ doorsteps in under 30 minutes. The service launches just as millions of Americans have their eyes turned to the skies in search of mystery drones buzzing major cities.

The New York Times reports that Amazon has officially launched its Prime Air drone delivery service in Goodyear, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. The service, which has been in development for over a decade, allows customers to receive packages weighing five pounds or less via autonomous drones within an hour of placing their order.

The launch comes after years of regulatory hurdles, technological challenges, and safety concerns that have delayed Amazon’s ambitious plans for drone delivery. However, with the FAA’s approval and significant improvements to its drone technology, the company is now confident that it can provide a safe, efficient, and convenient delivery option to its customers.

Amazon’s new delivery drones, known as the MK-30, are a far cry from the prototypes unveiled by Jeff Bezos on 60 Minutes in 2013. Weighing 80 pounds and roughly the size of a Labrador retriever, these custom-designed drones can fly at speeds of up to 73 miles per hour and carry packages in a special compartment. Equipped with cameras and sensors, the drones can identify a clear spot for dropping packages without the need for customers to place QR codes in their yards, as was the case with earlier trials. (Read more from “Even More Drones in the Sky: Amazon Launches Aerial Delivery Service” HERE)

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Satanic Amazon Prime Cartoon Sparks Outrage Over Explicit Content Containing Gang Rape, BDSM

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Amazon Prime’s animated series “Hazbin Hotel” has come under fire for its explicit content, including scenes depicting BDSM and an episode involving what some viewers have described as a character being “gang-raped.” The 18+ rated musical series, which originated as a pilot on YouTube in 2019, officially launched on Amazon Prime on Friday, and it has quickly stirred controversy for its graphic and mature themes.

The show, set in hell with Satan portrayed as a “rebellious dreamer” cast out of Heaven for wanting to grant humans free will, introduces an array of characters navigating the underworld. The storyline revolves around Lucifer and Lilith’s daughter, Charlie, who opens a hotel as a form of moral rehabilitation for sinners seeking to escape Heaven’s wrath. The series features LGBTQ characters, including Charlie and her girlfriend named “Vaggie,” along with other diverse characters, such as gay porn stars and a sadistic maid.

One particular episode, titled “Masquerade,” has drawn significant criticism for its explicit content. The character Angel Dust, a porn star in the show, is prominently involved in a BDSM relationship. The episode includes a musical number titled “Poison,” where Angel Dust is depicted in provocative situations, including the suggestion of a gang rape scenario and explicit scenes involving a stripper pole and bondage.

While the series is intended for an adult audience, concerns have been raised about the mismatch between the explicit content and the merchandise associated with the show, which appears to be targeted toward teens and a younger audience. This disconnect echoes similar controversies surrounding shows like “South Park,” which inspired “Hazbin Hotel.”

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