Warren Champions Indian Gaming Bill Tied to Special Interests

''Legislation would expedite Native American casino project backed by Malaysian conglomerate with deep pockets''

Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) is backing legislation that would heavily benefit a foreign gambling conglomerate and a string of special interests, despite pledging to end public corruption in Washington. Warren, a potential 2020 presidential contender, introduced the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act in March of this year along with the rest of the Massachusetts congressional delegation. The act aims to circumvent legal obstacles currently thwarting the Mashpee Wampanoag's attempts to establish a casino. The senator, who has been dogged by controversy surrounding her claims of Native American heritage, has embraced Mashpee Wampanoag's cause as her own. The embrace has been especially surprising considering Warren, until recently, was hostile to legalized gambling.As a candidate for the Senate in 2011, Warren strongly opposed successful efforts to expand casino-style gambling in Massachusetts. In 2014, she backed an unsuccessful ballot initiative to repeal the expansion on economic grounds. "It's a tough call here. People need jobs, but gambling can be a real problem economically for a lot of people," Warren told the Boston Herald. "I didn't support gambling the first time around and I don't expect to support it [now]."

Earlier this year, however, Warren's tone shifted. Before the National Congress of American Indians, the senator promised the tribal leaders in attendance she would fight against "our country's mistreatment of your communities." Shortly after making that promise, Warren sponsored the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act. The senator's transformation was on display last month when Warren and her Democratic cosponsor from Massachusetts, Sen. Ed Markey, offered a response to the Interior Department's September ruling against the Mashpee Wampanoag. "America has a painful history of systematically ripping apart tribal lands and breaking its word," the senators said in a statement. "We cannot repeat that history. Today's action by the Trump Administration is yet another deal the federal government is reneging on with Native Americans, and it underscores why Congress must pass our legislation." The legislation, if enacted, would force the Department of the Interior to place over 320 acres of land owned by the Mashpee Wampanoag in Southeastern Massachusetts into a federal trust, thereby designating the land a tax-exempt Native American reservation. Since reservations are sovereign in nature, state and local governments have limited ability to regulate what occurs within their borders. Tribes across the country have used this provision to skirt prohibitions against gambling and establish their own noncommercial casino-style resorts, which appears to be the end goal for Mashpee Wampanoag.

https://freebeacon.com/issues/warren-champions-indian-gaming-bill-tied-special-interests/

Cotton Criticizes Google for Working With China, Declining US Government Contract

Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) criticized Google on Tuesday following news the technology giant would not compete for a major Pentagon contract. Google claimed the contract, which involved moving Department of Defense data onto a private cloud system, might violate their "AI Principles." The project, the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud, was expected to run up to $10 billion, and is seen by many as an opportunity to compete with Amazon for a share of federal dollars. "We are not bidding on the JEDI contract because first, we couldn’t be assured that it would align with our AI Principles, and second, we determined that there were portions of the contract that were out of scope with our current government certifications," a Google spokesman said in a statement.

In response to the decision, Cotton wrote: "This is sadly not the first time Google has refused to work with the United States military, while still entertaining the authoritarian demands of the Chinese Communist Party." The critique is a reference to reports Google has been working on a project, code-named Dragonfly, with China’s authoritarian government to produce a censored search engine, one that the Chinese government would approve for use in its country. Google CEO Sandar Pichai met with top Chinese officials last year to discuss the prospect of Google establishing a footing in the country of 1.4 billion people. "I care about servicing users globally in every corner. Google is for everyone," Pichai said. "We want to be in China serving Chinese users." Cotton is not the only one to sound the alarm about the project. One Google source told the Intercept that Dragonfly threatened to help the Chinese government "oppress" its civilians. "I’m against large companies and governments collaborating in the oppression of their people, and feel like transparency around what’s being done is in the public interest," the source said. Google had previously been secretive about its work with the Chinese government. The Washington Free Beacon‘s Adam Kredo reported last month that U.S. Senators had received no answer from Google about the project.

Google informed a bipartisan team of senators—including Sens. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.), Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), Robert Menendez (D., N.J.), and Cory Gardner (R., Colo.)—that it is not in a position to answer a series of questions about the company's rumored plans, according to a copy of Google's correspondence with the lawmakers obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. Google’s refusal to bid on the AI project may be the result of internal pressure. Bloomberg reported that The Tech Workers Coalition credited the decision to "sustained" pressure from employees who "have significant power, and are increasingly willing to use it." The tech company's "AI Principles" are the product of a previous employee-led push against cooperation with the United States government. In June, Google declined to renew its AI contract with the Department of Defense, following employee resistance.

In response to Google’s latest decision not to work with the government, Cotton pushed for the company to reevaluate its approach. "I hope Google takes a long, hard look at their so-called ‘principles,’" he wrote. "They ought to remember they’re an American company and reconsider this decision."

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/cotton-criticizes-google-working-china-declining-us-government-contract/