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Lugh's avatar

Ben knows. He just can't stand that we know.

"We would be thrilled with dual loyalty" - Joe Sobran

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Ben's avatar

I can't stand that you know what?

Lugh are you Don Black?

Come on sack up and tell us.

Do you still run around in a dirty sheet and hood?

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Ben's avatar

I don't trust that source to be honest Nova.

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Nova's avatar

Yeah, it's really well known that AIPAC is a major and maybe the biggest lobbying group in DC. And likely at the local level. Whether one likes it or not, it is the case.

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rd3's avatar

They don't lobby. They own.

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Nova's avatar

Well that is even worse!

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rd3's avatar

It's worse than you could ever imagine.

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Ben's avatar

Top and biggest.

No actually not even in the top ten.

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Nova's avatar

How do you know that?

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Ben's avatar
Apr 11Edited

I was listening to a podcast and the podcaster went down the rabbit hole of lobbyists and how utterly uninformed most people are on the subject.

There is a list of the 18 biggest lobbyists in Washington AIPAC is or was at 21.

The list is very eye opening.

https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/top-spenders?cycle=2024

Lobbying Client Total Spent

National Assn of Realtors $86,385,941

US Chamber of Commerce $76,280,000

Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America $31,720,000

American Hospital Assn $28,997,803

American Fuel & Petrochem Manufacturers $27,650,000

Blue Cross/Blue Shield $27,246,300

American Medical Assn $24,782,000

Meta $24,430,000

Business Roundtable $23,400,000

American Chemistry Council $22,330,000

AARP $19,940,000

Amazon.com $19,140,000

Pharmaceutical Care Management Assn $17,552,844

CTIA $17,330,000

Alphabet Inc $14,860,000

NCTA The Internet & Television Assn $14,240,000

General Motors $14,230,000

Comcast Corp $13,931,000

RTX Corp $13,510,000

Altria Group $13,230,000

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Nova's avatar

This is very interesting! Thank you for sharing! Ugghh, i hate real estate developers. Generally that is lol. Because so much land gets consumed for uses that are not appropriate if we want to preserve nature and open spaces and wilderness areas. So these are disappointing. But just to show you what i am trying to get at is if you look at the data this way.

https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus?cycle=2024&ind=Q05

You can see the lobby I discussed is actually really big. It's may be somewhat more decentralized than I thought though but you get the drift. Lobbying of any kind really needs to be banned. Citizens not businesses or interest groups should be the only ones allowed to lobby. And presumably that is what representatives are supposed to be but go figure.

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Ben's avatar
Apr 11Edited

Did you know the "Palestinians" also have a lobbyist group and not just one but dozens.

As does China, England, India and every other country that wants the US to do something.

I agree 100% foreign lobbyists should be a no go and are actually by Law supposed to register as such.

In 1938, Congress enacted the Foreign Agents Registration Act ("FARA"), requiring “foreign agents” to register with the Attorney General. As amended over the years, it applies broadly to anyone who acts on behalf of a “foreign principal” to, among other things, influence U.S. policy or public opinion.

https://www.opensecrets.org/fara

In 2024 Israel compared to some of the others is a complete joke and as a country they still don't make the top of the list or even this list but as Jews now there is the power of lobbying.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Zionist_organizations_in_the_United_States

Not a peep about China from the Israel haters and China is trying to be a global superpower not scratching for a couple of acres and survival.

Have you ever wondered where all the anti-Israel sentiment comes from Nova?

Like everything else we are being bombarded by propaganda.

Ever consider that Saudi Arabia has literally killed several hundred thousand civilians in Yemen and not a peep from the media about it but Israel and Palestine is front and center non-stop.

Now look at who throws the most money around year after year.

As some say follow the money.

On the open secrets list of countries type in Iran and watch what happens.

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Sedgwick C. Hartung's avatar

WOW. Thank you!

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Nova's avatar

You're welcome! Just imagine if it was me running the DOJ lol 😊.

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Sedgwick C. Hartung's avatar

We could certainly use more focused, fiery citizens in Washington, that's for sure!

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