UPDATE: An AWS spokesperson responds to the IG's decision —-

This report doesn’t tell us much. It says nothing about the merits of the award, which we know are highly questionable based on the Judge’s recent statements and the government’s request to go back and take corrective action. And, it’s clear that this report couldn’t assess political interference because several DoD witnesses were instructed by the White House not to answer the IG’s questions about communications between the White House and DoD officials. The White House’s refusal to cooperate with the IG’s investigation is yet another blatant attempt to avoid a meaningful and transparent review of the JEDI contract award.

A U.S. judge on Thursday ordered the Pentagon to temporarily halt work on the cloud computing 'JEDI' contract, in what represents a major win for Amazon.com and Jeff Bezos. Read the rest

White House plans to divert $3.8 billion from DoD to build Trump's long-promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, for which he lied that Mexico would pay Read the rest

In Tel Aviv, a man protesting circumcision was threatened by a man with a knife. The protestor sprayed the attacker with pepper spray, and the attacker ran away. It is interesting to see how effective pepper spray is against someone with bad intentions.

Anti circumcise activist gets knife threatened by religious guy in Tel Aviv from r/PublicFreakout

Image: Reddit Read the rest

Aides to President-elect Donald Trump are focusing on former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and former U.S. ambassador to U.N. John Bolton for the role of Secretary of State under our new fascist white supremacist groper-in-chief. Read the rest

The legendary underground lair of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) was so secretive that few photos have been published. Russ Kick at Memory Hole was good enough to locate one of 27 libraries in the world with an obscure book titled NORAD Command Post: The City Inside Cheyenne Mountain. The photos he shared will make you want to watch Dr. Strangelove again. Read the rest

MuckRock News reports that Freedom of Information Act requests faxed to the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) started coming back as undeliverable a couple weeks ago. The OSD confirms their fax machine is down, possibly for another few months, because there's no money in their tens of billions of dollars a year budget for a new one, and they can't switch to email as a request method. "The office that oversees the most powerful military in history (not to mention the best-funded) is unable to project when its single fax machine will once again be operational." Read the rest

This surveillance video clip shows 71-year-old Samuel Williams thwarting an armed robbery at an internet cafe in Marion, Florida on Friday, July 13, 2012. Williams, a licensed gun owner, may now become the poster child for those who support "concealed carry" rights in the state.

Williams was present when two masked thugs walked into the Palms Internet Cafe in Marion County, Florida. One of the men was brandishing a gun while the other had a bat. They started ordering patrons around and one smashes a computer screen. That's when Williams took action.

Williams was seated toward the back of the cafe dressed in a white shirt, shorts and baseball cap. One of the masked men, identified as Duwayne Henderson, 19 [at left in photo], comes in pointing a handgun at customers. The second man, Davis Dawkins, 19 [at right in photo], is seen swinging a bat at something off screen, which was later identified as a $1,200 computer screen.

As Henderson turns his back, Williams pulls out a .380-caliber semi-automatic handgun, stands from his chair, takes two steps, nearly drops to one knee, and fires two shots at Henderson, who bolts for the front door. Williams takes several more steps toward the door and continues firing as Henderson and Dawkins fall over one another trying to exit the building. The two eventually run off screen.

Both suspects received non-life threatening gunshot wounds, and were later captured by police. Williams will not face any charges, according to a rep from the State Attorney's Office (via Joe Sabia). Read the rest

Geert Matthys, research and development manager at Barco, a Belgian company specializing in high-definition projectors and displays, gives an explanation inside a fully immersive 360-degree flight simulator in Kuurne October 11, 2011. Barco has unveiled what company executives claim is the ultimate fighter jet training tool designed to reproduce reality exactly as a pilot sees it. The dome is the first flight simulator to give trainee pilots a full 360-degree view of the world as they conduct virtual missions, said Barco.

More photos below. Related story here at Reuters. Read the rest