Not sure. There are so many potential factors that could be playing a part:

1. Rising inequality leading to more discontent from the masses and an broader appeal to populist leaders wanting to consolidate power under them "to fix the system."
2. Weakening global standards for journalism as social media has made everyone a journalist and traditional print media has been forced to cut jobs, increase the speed at which they pump out news and cut quality to compete in a world where few if any are paying subscribers for their news.
3. Civil/nonviolent resistance has been a potent weapon in the 20th century for democracies to oppose choices that are very unpopular from their leadership. But dictators and wannabe dictators have become more experienced with putting it down and outlasting the 🔥 of revolution.
4. It might be easier to monitor your population for discontent and snuff out the leadership. For instance China, with wechat has been very successful in monitoring and enforcing greater control over their people during the pandemic. Russia has also shown that you don't even need to take control over the media like you used to when it is so cheap and effective to run a disinformation campaign.
5. The Pax Americana fear of a American (or under the table CIA) intervention may have declined with (a) American failures at taking over nations in Afganistan and Iraq, and (b) increasing American preference for Isolationism.

Guess we know why Montañez, the former janitor, made it all the way to being a marketing executive. And why others like Lynne Greenfield, who was part or the team that did create it, didn't rise as high up the corporate ladder.

I don't really see the incentive for them to lie. They did the internal investigation because Lynne Greenfield, who was part of the team who created flaming hot cheetos, complained about the lies used to sell a motivational speaking career.

Also, Montañez has never tried to claim damages in court over them taking idea. Instead he was turning it into a motivational speaking career and two books.

I remember the University of Hawaii sports teams used to be called the Rainbow Warriors (or Rainbow Wahine for women's teams). In 2000, many of the men's teams dropped the "rainbow" part and just kept the Warriors name though as the rainbow became heavily associated with the LGBT community and wasn't a powerful or intimidating mascot. They eventually reversed this in 2013 as it was now cool to be pro-LGBT and uncool to be avoiding LGBT symbols. Oh who am I kidding, it was because the alumni donors didn't like dropping the rainbow and they will do whatever people pay them to do.

To be fair, it wasn't some super revolutionary idea. Snow cones go back to the 1850s and Kakigori goes back to the Heian period in japan (more than 1000 years ago). What he invented was just a machine that could make it easier and more convenient to serve.

I would blame the executives more than the lawyers. It wasn't the lawyers that broke the contract and tried to rip off their spokesman. That said, it wouldn't surprise me at all if their leadership sacked their legal team and said "the problem is fixed."

I knew it had to be a son. I'd never let my daughter touch a cigar until she was at least 5. And if they were a less responsible parent than me it would be a cigarette instead of a cigar.

I imagine most countries would give you a pretty light sentence or not even charge you for working on a tourist visa (without overstaying it). It can have a negative effect on your tourism industry if it is high profile.