I CAN’T SAY I’M SMILING:  Amazon is terminating its Amazon Smile program whereby customers can direct a tiny portion of the money they spend at Amazon to the charity of their choice.  Amazon says it wants to concentrate its money on programs with greater impact.  That’s its right, of course.  But I fear the translation should go something like this:  We’re not that keen on the charities that our customers choose.

Amazon’s policy of deferring to the execrable Southern Poverty Law Center on the question of which charities are really hate groups is well known.  For example, the company excludes the Alliance Defending Freedom from the Amazon Smile program on that basis.  Now it won’t have to try to justify that exclusion.  It can direct its contributions to the groups it really likes and not worry about its customers’ preferences.