Republic Report

> then we've actually created a lobbying group with a vested interest in keeping trolling alive That was my first thought when reading this article. It's a shame that lobby groups can petition for outcomes that are worse for everybody but their broken business model - where profits are the only virtue worth considering. Lobby groups for keeping marijuana illegal[0] perfectly describe this. Google, Microsoft, Apple, Samsung, and any other big tech-player need to band together, form a lobby group, and destroy software patents. It should be in their best interests considering all the patent litigation that goes on among them. [0] http://www.republicreport.org/2012/marijuana-lobby-illegal/

When the war on drugs will inevitably be over in US, within a decade or so (the trend towards it is growing), by then there will already be two new wars started to "replace" the war on drug for anyone who benefitted from it (such as the police, private prisons [1], etc): the War on Pirates, and the War on Child Porn. If not both, they'll just use whichever works best. The real agenda behind it will be the same either way. Then you can start expecting SWAT teams raiding people's homes for downloading songs illegitimately (and yes, you'll even see more dogs and even innocent people shot in the process - just like in that "parody" video where the SWAT team shoots the kid who was downloading songs in the head at the end, which I can't find right now). Some of these are not felonies yet, but they're working hard [2] to "fix" that "problem". Current and future surveillance technologies, used by either NSA, FBI, DHS, or even the police will make that ever easier and more "tempting" to do. [1] http://www.republicreport.org/2012/marijuana-lobby-illegal/ [2] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/07/unauthorized-streaming-felony…

Yes, profitable. For example, prison guard unions lobby ferociously against relaxing drug laws, in order to protect prison guards' jobs and salaries: http://www.republicreport.org/2012/marijuana-lobby-illegal/ http://mic.com/articles/41531/union-of-the-snake-how-california-s-pris… EDIT: Here's a cute quote from Corrections Corporation of America, one of the largest for-profit prison companies: "any changes with respect to drugs and controlled substances or illegal immigration could affect the number of persons arrested, convicted, and sentenced, thereby potentially reducing demand for correctional facilities to house them." [0] [0] - http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9NDE5MTEwfEN…

... and a few more mentioned here: http://www.republicreport.org/2012/marijuana-lobby-illegal/

The thing is, the owners of the private prisons want to get richer and invest serious money so their cells are kept as full as possible: http://www.republicreport.org/2012/marijuana-lobby-illegal/ See "2.) Private Prisons Corporations" Lobbying is legalized corruption, in most cases. It's obvious that we need to get rid of it if we want to fix the country.

> I suspect the police force would dislike being put in this category. I suspect you're right, but it seems to be true. Unless this source is unreliable (let me know why if you think it is!): http://www.republicreport.org/2012/exclusive-why-cant-you-smoke-pot-be…

It won't be happening any time soon. Here's why: http://www.republicreport.org/2012/corruption-taxes-fivemins/

eldemar is providing some of the information. I'd add some color the i2 suit. The fraud perpetrated by Palantir was actually so organized and so bad (they set up an entirely fake front company in another state), that the suing company asked the judge for the case to be tried under RICO rules...which are basically rules put in place to fight the mafia. The judge agreed that it qualified under the law (immediately tripling any damages that would have been awarded) and Palantir settled with i2 immediately after that and the case was dropped. Word on the street is the settlement was for an almost 9 figure sum and Palantir immediately went into another fundraising round to cover the loss and sustain operations. The employees (all senior execs) at the center of the fraud kept their jobs but didn't show their faces in public for a couple years (they had been acting as a de facto spokespeople during trade events). They're back in the public eye now. Yes, that's correct, Palantir is currently run by people who's activities were qualified by a judge as falling under legal guidelines setup to fight the Mob. You can say what you want about the big defense contractors, incompetence and lobbying and all that (which Palantir does in spades and has even gotten in trouble for not disclosing some lobbying deals) but mafioso they ain't. Some more here:…

Verizon is in a process of eliminating 10K managers. >https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/25/verizon-offers-separation-plans-to-tho… Art Institutes are disintegrating >https://www.republicreport.org/2018/dream-center-closing-numerous-ex-e… Under Armour has massive cuts - 400+ >https://www.reuters.com/article/us-under-armour-layoffs/under-armour-c… Wells Fargo announced 26K cuts (10% of total workforce) >https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/20/wells-fargo-plans-to-lower-headcount-b… Sears is about to close >https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/11/sears-laid-off-200-more-people-at-its-… The list is much longer, you can just use news search and you'll see a ton of stuff...