#i started this cause i just wanted to post rana's tweet

[sakhiya]

Baahubali: Fact Vs. Fiction

“Prabhas and Rana were not the original choices”

The entire team of Baahubali worked so hard for 5 years on the 2 films, so it’d be great if people didn’t disrespect the actors by recasting their roles. Also for the love of God, kill the rumors that the movie was first offered to Hrithik Roshan or John Abraham or whatever bollywood actor’s diminishing career you’re trying to validate. Here’s proof from Rana himself:

and this is the article that he was referring to:

And here’s a direct quote from Rajamouli from this interview:

“Surprisingly it is quite difficult for people to believe that he was on board even before the script was done. I wanted to make this huge, epic war film for a long time and we didn’t have the script on hand, but somehow I knew that he was my protagonist. I used to tell him…I didn’t have the story so I didn’t have anything to tell him, but I used to tell him the kind of historical kings we had, the characterizations of Rana Prathap, the characterizations of Sivaji, of Sri Krishna Devaraya, of all of the kings of India. And I used to tell him that these are the lines that I’m thinking on and wanted him to play. He loved it, he loved the idea, and when I finally told him the story of Baahubali, and said that I would be needing him for one or one and a half year, he laughed and he said ‘You’re not going to make this in one and a half year, I know it will take more time, let it be two or three years, I’m there for you’ and he gave his dates without committing to any other film”

“The VFX was done with hollywood talent”

There were also so rumors that Baahubali utilized the same VFX team that worked on Jurrassic World which was denied by producer, Shobu Yarlagadda. One of the co-founders of Makuta VFX, which previously worked with Rajamouli on Magadheera, Maryada Ramanna, and Eega, stated: “ Most of Baahubali was developed in Hyderabad, home to Tollywood, and used local talent. It was principally a homegrown feature produced by homegrown talent.“

“Karan Johar came on board because Baahubali needed Bollywood money to be made.”

That’s not true. Arka Media Works produced both films. What started as a single film, shot simultaneously in Telugu and Tamil was then split into two after realizing the scope of the story. The Hindi version was not on the cards until Rana, who has bollywood connections due to his prior movies, pitched the film to Karan Johar and convinced him of its capacity to be a national phenomenon. Then only did Karan Johar come on board as a presenter. He certainly deserves credit for heavily promoting the film and grabbing bollywood’s attention by having his name attached but he was not involved in the film making process. Rajamouli has stated many times that if Prabhas committed to Baahubali by not taking on any other projects, Rana did so by being the team’s “mascot” and taking it to new terrain.

“Rajamouli enhanced the character of Devasena after the criticism of Avanthika in the first part”

I have my personal opinions about the character of Avanthika but in general some of the criticism the character received is valid. However, the character of Devasena was not changed in order to avoid the backlash. Devasena is the character she was since the film went on floors. When the movie was first started, it was supposed to be a single film which is why they began shooting with the flashback portions that are seen in the second part. This still, which is from a scene in The Conclusion, surfaced even before the release of the first part which shows that the story did not change much. Also, the team has stated in many interviews that they did not make any changes to the story after the response to the first one. They did make some changes in terms of editing and VFX but the characterizations did not change.

Tamanna has said before that she came on board pretty late into the making. Its highly likely that the character of Avanthika was added to bring some “masala” and appeal to a larger audience. If you consider the role of Avanthika, the film could have technically happened without her in the story but that is not the case for the strong characterization of Devasena which is the driving force of second part’s plot. This isn’t to excuse some of the issues with Avanthika’s character but just to say that it was a result of last minute tweaking and Devasena was not was an “afterthought”.

“The Hindi audience supported Baahubali more than the Telugu audience”

Obviously if we look at the numbers, the Hindi version did bring in more money than the Telugu Version. However, its really unfair to say that Telugu people did not support the film as much when it was us who saw its rise from being a rumored project to the sensation it is today. If you want to look at the numbers, just look at the stats of the Hindi audience vs. Telugu. The Hindi speaking population in India is almost at 50% whereas Telugu is around 8%. Then take into account people living in the diaspora and there’s no way we can compete. Also there is a huge audience that does not speak any of the languages the film released in and by default probably saw the Hindi version because its closest to their native language or the one they’re most familiar with. Either way, we shouldn't quantify support with BO numbers because the odds are always going to against non-Hindi speakers. Don’t take this victory away from the Telugu industry that has long been ridiculed in the national media for producing only “masala” films. Don’t make this about you, because its really, really not. oh and btw, STOP TAGGING BAAHUBALI CONTENT AS BOLLYWOOD

Final Thoughts

Its really easy for us to sit here and just say, ‘of course they all gave their time and dedication to this project, anyone, given the chance, would have. its a once in a lifetime kind of franchise’. But keep in mind that when the film first began production, it was seen as HUGE gamble that had the capacity to end careers if it had gone wrong. It’s because they committed to this project and worked day and night on it that it is what it is today, not in spite of it. So please don’t undermine their success and hard work by basically deeming them as replaceable and let’s give credit where its due. 

Of course no cinema is without its faults but sometimes we just need to set aside our critical lens and lets ourselves succumb to the masterpiece in all its glory.

Also the team is full of genuinely kind and humble people who have racked up a lot of goodwill over the years in the industry and I couldn’t be happier that they’re the ones receiving all this success and glory because if it was anyone else, it probably would’ve gone to their heads. 

and finally for good measure here’s an Instagram post from Rana, just in case you didn’t love these two enough already

[thestuckylibrary]

So I just saw infinity war and i have read about 90% of ur fluff tag and I was wondering if you could recommend your fave so cute you feel like dying fanfics bc I’m honestly dead. Thank you so much y’all are all awesome.

introducing mister and mister united states by moonythejedi394 (complete | 18,440 | T )

“HE’S BEAUTY HE’S GRACE HE’S MISTER UNITED STATES!” “Bucky, what the [bleeped]…?”

“Following his pardon by the President of the United States, Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, former Nazi prisoner of war and brainwashed Hydra agent, took to an unusual method of adapting to the modern world: Twitter. His Twitter handle was tweeted out by Tony Stark, and in the following two days, he gained over ten million followers. Barnes posted only four tweets as well as sharing and retweeting several Vines, but two of his tweets were videos of the famed Steven Rogers, also known as Captain America. The latest of these featured Barnes entering Captain Roger’s bedroom and shouting the line: “He’s beauty, he’s grace, he’s mister United States”, just to cause Captain Rogers to fall out of bed before confusedly saying, “Bucky, what the [bleeped]?” The rest of the world seems to agree with Captain Rogers; Barnes, what the hell?”

undersell, overcommit by silentwalrus (complete | 10,222 | unrated ) 

Steve goes so hard for Bucky that he becomes a licensed, practicing massage therapist.

Steve, Bucky, and the Tinhat Collective by mypedia (complete | 7,015 | G )

The internet and the Avengers fandom react to the events of Civil War.

***

avengers-daily:

How do they get 200% more attractive when they’re covered in dirt

2554 notes

Bucky Barnes Defense Squad by biblionerd07 (complete | 2,949 | G )

Steve is astounded to find Bucky’s gone down in history as a bad boy. He makes it his mission to fix it.

If Ye Be Worthy (the Stubborn as a Brick Wall Remix) by Taste_is_Sweet (complete | 6,937 | T )

Bucky didn’t even glance up from beating the trembling heavy bag to death. “You’re gonna tell me that being turned into the Red Room’s assassin and then Hydra’s fucking attack dog for seventy-whatever years wasn’t my fault and that Tony was talking crap and you can’t think of anyone more worthy to hold Mjölnir than me.”

“Well, you’re right,” Steve said, only barely surprised. “So why the hell are you still down here?”

The look Bucky threw him was too resigned for a glare. “Because we both know that’s bullshit.”

just goddamn marry me already, for fuck’s sake by newsbypostcard (complete | 6,376 | E )

“Do you,” Steve says, fingers newly tugging Bucky’s underwear until it starts to slide off his hips, “want to marry me, or not?”

Bucky sighs. “You know, in some circles people would consider this interrogation under duress.”

The Wedding of Bucky Barnes by stephrc79 (complete | 67,805 | T )

This is the story of how an instagramming, trolling, pain in the ass got married to an equally annoying, artistic, bossy, stubborn blond oaf.

Or, you know, how one James Buchanan Barnes, Instagram Extraordinaire, married Captain America himself, one Steven Grant Rogers.

White (Boi) Wolf by Lasgalendil (complete | 3,323 | T )

The one where Shuri sciences the shit out of everything and adopts a puppy—er, sad disgruntled POW in desperate need of a snarky little sister and an upgrade.

(Or, Shuri lends a hand.)

Your 21st-Century Boy by gwyneth rhys (gwyneth) for Rana Eros (ranalore) (complete | 1,765 | T )

Clint had peered at him out of one eye and said, “You know pink’s a girl’s color.”

“Not in my day, bub,” Bucky said, sliding the tube of the grenade launcher up, chambering the shell, and racking it back down as he stared coolly at Clint. “You know who started that pink is feminine shit? Hitler.”

Circling Back by chaya (complete | 59,642 | E ) 

Steve looks for Bucky, Bucky finds Steve, Steve tries desperately to put Bucky back together. Bucky tries desperately to let him. (Spoilers for Winter Soldier.)

First Kisses and Fridge Magnets by HolmesAndNotQuiteWatson (complete | 805 | G )

Steve and Bucky meet again in an unlikely place, and what happens when Tony mixes Bucky and fridge magnets.

scene unseen by Ark (complete | 1,040 | T ) 

Steve charts their course, fingers quick on the quinjet’s controls. Bucky watches from behind, then: “Am I remembering right?”

Run Until the Road Runs Out by ignipes (complete | 5,265 | T )

Sam’s along for this ride because he’s not about to let Steve Rogers go it alone, but Steve’s not the only one who needs a friend.

Steve Rogers at 100: Celebrating Captain America on Film by eleveninches, Febricant, hellotailor, M_Leigh, neenya, tigrrmilk (complete | 10,228 | G )

“Heil Hydra,” the enemy agent shouts.

“Heil this, motherfucker,” says Captain America, shooting off a rocket.

Steve and Bucky find out Hollywood has been busy since they went away. A historical survey, including but not limited to: one set of exploded genitals, a brief interlude in France, Mel Gibson and other masterworks of casting, eight Academy awards, several dinosaurs, and something Tony Stark has ominously dubbed “the masterpiece.” Art included.

Collected Letters (1930-1943)* by brokentoy, triedunture (complete | 16,654 | T ) *mention of Bucky/others ; period typical attitudes 

The collected private correspondence—unedited, uncensored—of Steven Rogers, later known as Captain America, and his longtime companion, James B. Barnes, spanning the years from childhood to World War II.

Things the men of the Howling Commandos are no longer allowed to do in the SSR by Odsbodkins (complete | 769 | G) 

The Captain America: The First America version of Skippy's list - Things the men of the Howling Commandos are no longer allowed to do in the SSR.

[ohsoethical]

LET’S TALK ABOUT ETHICAL FASHION PLS

Ethical fashion: ‘an approach to the design, sourcing and manufacture of clothing which maximises benefits to people and communities while minimising impact on the environment.’ Ethical Fashion Forum

(Source: https://airrclothingblog.com/2015/03/06/brand-profile-beaumont-organic-available-at-airr-clothing/)

Wow. Where do I begin?

Actually let me begin with this disclaimer: ANY CRITICISM I MAY MAKE ABOUT CERTAIN SITUATIONS/ORGANISATIONS/GROUPS OF PEOPLE IS NOT AN ATTACK ON THESE PEOPLE AS INDIVIDUALS BUT THE SYSTEM FROM WHICH THEY HAVE DERIVED FROM. 

K lets begin.

 So I guess you could say I’ve been in/observing the ethical fashion scene for about 4/5 years now. During my first year of uni I realised I needed to go beyond complaining about the oppression of garment workers and start acting, and decided to create a blog called Oh So Ethical. My first thought was to create an ethical fashion blog where I styled outfits I’d made out of secondhand clothes, and raved about the latest ethical brands I loved (I cringely called this ‘Fridays Five Ethical Faves’ ffssssssss). After a while I stopped, but went back into it when my cousins and I realised we needed somewhere to share our opinions, ideas,and hopefully inspire others to think and act ethically- and so we rebranded Oh So Ethical and made it what it is today. 

At the beginning I tended to place a large emphasis on ethical brands that we liked and bought from. ‘Ethical is the new black’ was my favourite slogan. However, as the years have gone on, and with more interaction with activists, friends, random people I’ve met, and having witnessed the ongoing exploitation of garment workers continue year after year, I have become extremely cynical of the effectiveness of ethical brands, particularly ‘ethical fashion’.

Indeed, through learning from others and seriously thinking about ethical fashion, questioning whether it is an actual means of empowerment for workers,and if it will ACTUALLY dismantle the system of oppression, I have come to a conclusion:

It’s a resounding NO.

Here’s y.

(Source: https://fashionindustrybroadcast.com/2017/06/12/sustainable-ethical-fashion-faux-has-never-looked-so-real-or-this-stylish/)

I recently read an amazing article in The Guardian by Martin Lukacs, which really helped me understand the underlying processes behind ethical fashion. To sum it up, we live in a neoliberal society, where we are taught to act and thrive individually. When it comes to activism, we are taught to focus on how we, as individuals, can change the situation, and are made to feel personally responsible and guilty for the world’s problems. Due to the guilt created by this individualism,we feel the need to relieve our guilt by acting in a way that makes us feel better, and as we are seen as consumers (as opposed to citizens) within neoliberal ideology, our means of creating change is through buying and consumption e.g. buying ethical clothing. 

While these individual actions are undoubtedly important, by placing such a great emphasis on individualistic activism, we are intentionally being steered away from focusing on the real perpetrators at large: CORPORATIONS- who are out here exploiting workers and the environment, and continue to get away with it. In turn, we are made to neglect the fact that we need to be targeting the root causes of exploitation, including the deregulation of state power that allows corporations to get away with murder, and the capitalist system that puts profits over people, encouraging exploitation and greed. By steering our attention away from such issues, corporations can continue making profits and getting away with their bullshit, while we discuss the pros and cons of bamboo leggings. (see more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/true-north/2017/jul/17/neoliberalism-has-conned-us-into-fighting-climate-change-as-individuals)  

Author of Stitched Up: The Anti-Capitalist Book of Fashion’ Tansy Hoskins provides a similar discourse, adding that we are encouraged to trust in capitalism to make change and better the world; that companies can be made ethical through our consumer actions. However, the contradiction is that corporations have only become stronger and continue to exploit workers/resources, despite their greenwashing and attempts to come across as ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’. More shopping is not going to free workers from this system. By using consumerism as a sole means of empowering workers, we are utilising the very system that has led to the exploitation of workers in the Global South, namely capitalism, without even acknowledging or striving to challenge or dismantle it. (see more: https://oxfordleftreview.com/olr-issue-14/tansy-hoskins-neoliberalism-and-fashion/)

In an insightful article on White Saviour Complex and Fair Trade, Bani Amor delves into the colonial connotations of attempts to ‘save’ the world via ethical companies, which are argued to share parallels with the colonial activities of the West going into the Global South and attempting to civilise the ‘Other’ with its saviour tactics, thus ensuring domination over the GS and its resources, validating supremacy. I’m not saying ethical companies are going to these countries on colonial conquests, but we really do need to understand the historic relevance of colonialism in interactions between the Global North and South such as these. If you go to these countries, get products made, sell them in the name of ‘liberating workers’ while not giving them a say or listening to them, and continue to stay silent on the structural system that has resulted in your existence as an ethical brand, you are falling into dangerous territory.

The article also reviews research on cause-related marketing, which is basically when corporations and nonprofit charities combine to promote sales and causes simultaneously. By tying serious social causes such as poverty and exploitation to making profits, this results in the depoliticising and downplaying of such causes, and provides an undignified, extremely simplified solution to a complex, very dire situation. 

Finally, one pivotal point made is the fact that coloured women, through this process of ‘saviourism’ are made both “hypervisible, but also invisible- ‘seen but not known’”. Their existence is highlighted, but they are simultaneously being silenced, as workers are spoken over, dehumanised and patronised by brands and movements that are supposed to be ‘empowering’ them. (read more: https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/spend-save)

In general, the ethical fashion movement tends to solely focus on how we can individually change the industry and ‘save’ workers in a way that utilises and continues to prop up the very system that is screwing workers over in the first place, conflicting with its ‘empowering’ rhetoric.

 GREAT SO WTF DO I DO NOW THEN MAYISHA.

(Source: http://www.vqronline.org/reporting-articles/2014/04/ghosts-rana-plaza)

Okay so I know I’ve painted a very dull image of ethical fashion, and I know not all ethical brands are the same, etc etc. However, when the  industry constantly paints ethical fashion as a positive means to an end, neglecting the issues surrounding ethical fashion, alternative viewpoints are needed.

I get a lot of people asking me for advice e.g. about ethical brands, how to be more ethical etc. Ultimately we want our goods to be made by workers who were treated fairly. Personally, I stick to secondhand- it’s cheaper for me and helps reduce waste in landfill. I do like ethical clothing, and knowing where my clothes/jewellery has come from, but if I do buy ethically I will from now on be seeing what that brand is doing to support garment workers and in calling out corporations, so if you’re an ethical brand prepare for a QnA sesh with ur girl.

One thing I would advise is to not simply boycott the high street- this comes from trade unionists and garment worker activists in Bangladesh. They want to produce garments and a source of income, they just don’t want to be tortured in the process (obviously). At the same time, we cannot deny that our excessive consumption is part of the problem, so if you need a new jacket- please just buy your jacket and not a jacket, 5 tops and 6 dresses because they were half price- really think about your purchases. Being a ‘shopoholic’ is a cute insta aesthetic but its seriously impacting the environment and feeding the system of worker exloitation.

Also acknowledge that a lot of people simply cannot afford to buy ethically, and should not be made to feel guilty for going to primark to buy jeans. 

One thing I also really want to highlight, as you would have probably guessed from the blog, is that our activism is not limited to our purchasing. We need to be vocal, we need to be out there demanding change from corporations, calling them out, exposing them etc. Something as little as a tweet, an email, and insta post can go a long way guys. I know its not in fashion to support such movements (pardon the pun) but we really have to keep pushing- we cannot afford to wait for another Rana Plaza for us to take action.

This might piss people off. I’m sorry. But understand that a few years ago I was the same as the very organisations and brands I’m talking about, and it took criticism like this to understand that I needed to rethink my activism if I were to truly create change. Plus, you feel pretty helpless after hearing of a factory fire every other week, another worker protest because factory owners didn’t pay their workers that month, stories of sexual abuse of young females from management, refugees being exploited, masses of workers fainting simultaneously, and NO ONE CARING. Not even the very people who by default should be sharing and raising concerns about these issues. It’s surreal.

We have groups and regular discussions on twitter that enable ethical brands to get together, support each other and discuss how we can promote ethical brands and use them etc. It’s nice how such elaborate forms of unity can be created surrounding ethical branding but little is done to address the very problems that has led to the reason these ethical brands exist, and how to put an end to worker exploitation. Again, we are steering towards ‘solutions’ that aren’t actually solutions, but are utilising capitalism and perpetuating the neoliberal stance that we need to individually create the change.

BUN THAT SHIT.

Things are going to start changing.

We are not only going to change the world with our individual practices, we are going to change the garment industry in a way that emphasises our solidarity and support for garment workers, creating a mass solidarity movement. We are going to call out corporates when we clock their messy moves and let them know as consumers we don’t f*ck with them unless they treat their workers with dignity. We are not going to buy our way to change, we are going to collectively DEMAND it.

 We have no choice but to.

(Source: http://thechronicleherald.ca/world/1126316-bangladeshi-garment-workers-protest-on-may-day)

[aidorism]

Concerning Yamaguchi Maho

Alright, listen. Most people have probably already heard what’s going on with NGT48 at the moment but I still want to make sure I did everything I could to spread the word, because there’s almost nothing about it on here. I don’t follow the 48 groups as a whole, only certain members and honestly, I didn’t know who Yamaguchi Maho was before this incident but the issue of stalking, harassment and victim shaming doesn’t only affect the Idol scene in Japan, it’s a problem of society as a whole and it’s present worldwide. I followed this whole thing from pretty early on, thanks to the people on my twitter timeline who posted and retweeted about it. I’m trying to get everything in while keeping it easily understandable but if there’s any mistake or you think I missed something important, feel free to correct me.

Also I’ll tag this outside the 48G, because I’m guessing that if there are people who haven’t heard of this or don’t know what’s going on, they’re probably not invested in the 48G.

In early december, NGT48 member Yamaguchi Maho returned to her dorm after performing at the NGT theater. Right before entering her room, she was assaulted by two men who pushed her to the ground and tried to keep her quiet. Thankfully the commotion attracted other people’s (members’) attention and Maho was rescued. The police as well as NGT’s management was called and Maho was assured that the situation would be dealt with. She was put on a social media hiatus. After a month of nothing happening, Maho went on an unauthorized Showroom stream to address the incident. She talked about her frustration that nothing had been happening and how other NGT members were involved in this. She was cut off after a few minutes by management. The stone, however, was rolling.

So, here are the facts:

the dorm where Yamaguchi Maho lives is rented by NGT to host all members who aren’t originally from Niigata. They have since moved.

Other members of NGT told the men when Yamaguchi would be returning home. They also told them her parents’ address. (The official statement says that a member accidentally gave away this information to some fans on the street but I mean, come on)

The two men were arrested but released shortly after. They told the police that they just wanted to talk to Maho but the situation got out of hand.

Either the two men or management took away Maho’s phone. I’m not quite sure what happened here, I’ve seen conflicting reports on this.

The two men are J.P and Kitagawa Joe/Jou, long standing NGT fans who bring in a lot of money.

Maho and some other members have been complaining about certain members bringing boys into their rooms despite the no boyfriend rule.

J.P is a fan of hers.

A third man (known as Inapooh/ Inaoka Ryuunosuke) was involved in the attack but was not physically present when it happened. He’s known among 48/Sakamichi groups for selling members’ addresses and personal information. Since he’s also a big fan and contributes financially to the groups, nothing has been done about him. (Another very interesting thread on him)

Here’s the detailed timeline:

December 8th: Yamaguchi Maho arrives home from a theatre performance and is assaulted by two men. Police and Management are called. The men were released after 3 weeks.

After a month of nothing happening, Yamaguchi hosted a Showroom live on January 8th (videos), which was cut short by management. There are also now deleted tweets about the incident, I’m honestly not quite sure where in the timeline they take place but I think were posted right after the Showroom.

A day later, a magazine whose editor is affiliated with AKS (the agency managing NGT and I think all 48 group members?) released a report saying that there’s no connection between the men and NGT members. The police never confirmed this. As of January 18th the article has been removed.

Tano’s mysterious messages seemingly supports the suspicion of her involvement.

Yamaguchi appears on stage during NGT’s birthday live on January 10th and appologizes (translation) for the inconvenience she has caused. This is when it hit the international news. While she is apologizing, her attackers are sitting in a front row seat at the theatre, watching her bow to them.

AKS issues a statement containing a lot of bs saying they’ll be holding councelling sessions for all members (starting with Maho), issue an alarm system for all members and increase patrols near the dorm. It was also confirmed that other members were involved as well as a 3rd man (he wasn’t present when the physical attack happened though). They also announce that the three men have been banned from all NGT events.

Nakai Rika (who was suspected by Fans in the beginning but quickly dismissed), Tano Ayaka and Nishigata Marina deny their involvement.

Fans are calling for NGT’s manager Imamura Etsuro to resign. An online petition reaches over 30′000 signatures.

NGT is losing sponsors and commercial deals left and right.

A video surfaces showing one of the attackers mocking the Niigata police for not being strong enough to actually charge them

January 13th: NGT announces the immediate removal of Imamura as NGT’s manager. He’s not fired though, he’ll still be working with AKS. His replacement is Hayakawa Maiko (a woman!) and her vice is Okada Tsuyoshi

January 14th: The new management (who wasn’t even in effect when the incident took place) issues an apology about the poor handling of the situation in less than a day (reactions from the public are translated here)

Akimoto Yasushi releases a ‘statement’

NGT cancels upcoming concerts and events

Inapooh (the guy selling addresses) threatens revenge on NGT

A newspaper releases an article about NGT’s former Manager (the one before Imamura) and how she was harrassed and forced out of her position by these guys as well

Around January 16th/17th it was announced that NGT members living in the dorm where the attack happened have been moved to a different quarter.

International media are still picking up on the story, but this is mostly what happened so far. I tried to include as little speculation as possible to keep it easily understandable. If you’re interested in what the Japanese public has to say about the international attention, there are some translations here as well as a relationship chart (includes speculation!).

Here’s the speculation:

A lot of people are taking it as fact but is not officially confirmed that this was an attempted rape.

Tano Ayaka and Nishigata Marina are the members who gave up Maho’s personal information. This is not officially confirmed.

The two men were allegedly partying with those two members in one of the girls’ room and Kitagawa is supposedly Tano’s boyfriend.

Apparently the police expressed sympathy for the two men because they did it out of love (??)

AKS is not pressing charges against the two men, even though they acknoledged their assault and banned them from events.

Several celebrities started to speak out on the incident, even people involved with 48G or AKS (compilation)

Sashihara Rino addressed it in a tweet and on a TV-Show (rough translation about the segment) (to which a male comedian replied ‘Why don’t you use your body to make things right? You’re good it’).

Kashigawi Yuki who was standing next to Maho on stage apologizes as well

Nakamura Ayuka (NGT) apologizes

Shibata Aya (Ex-SKE) talks about the safety alarm

Muramoto Daisuke (AKBINGO host) talks about the poor handling of the incident by management

Kitahara Rie (Ex-AKB/SKE/NGT) thinks it’s wrong that Maho had to apologize

Masuda Yuka (Ex-AKB) talks about her own bad experiences with fans

Translation of the Japanese public’s reaction to how management handled the situation

Oomoto Honoka’s mother speaks about the situation. Honoka committed suicide after being harrassed and threatened by her management

Kawakami Akira (Stardust manager) tweets about protecting Momoiro Clover Z from such incidents

Murakami Rana (Ex-GEM) tweets about an attempted rape

Iikubo Haruna assures fans that things like this don’t happen in H!P

Niigata’s Governour releases a statement

[rennyji]

June 3rd tweets...wondering, thoughts, relationships, past, normal tweets...

June 3rd tweets...as follows...-

-You know something, I mentioned how I like the name Rachel and once “knew of”(not know) a girl named Rachel. I remember being in one of the reading rooms in the library at Binghamton, during my last year there. -

-Before I figured this girl was going out with someone, random girls would shout the name “Rachel” in the quiet of the reading room- alluding to my interest reaching an audience-

-...but in hindsight, why shout the name...was i to react to it in someway? Or was it because this cr*p started a little earlier?! I mean, what?, shout the name and see how I react? On “what ‘level?’” This girl would always post a profile pic with two of her best friends.-

-On one occasion, I told a guy I was interested in this girl. One of her best friends was sitting a distance away, diagonally, at another table, in the food court. I’ve always wondered if this girl had super sonic hearing...-

-or is something relaying what I’m saying...the very next day, after my conversation,-

-I go to the coffee kiosk in the library and there are girls acting differently...when the girl dates a mechanical engineering major, after Easter or spring break, I go through the dining hall and there are random girls with the look, “lol you lost ur chance”...-

-then when I’m at the Starbucks up in Binghamton, there’s another best friend taking a picture of me through the glass window of the starbucks. Was that to show her friend that I’m not bothered about anything or because they were feeding into a medium? It could be-

-the medium as there were other kids with cameras...I think I remember telling my own friends about it. When I wrote about the girl on Facebook in Albany, a friend from a part time job in Binghamton messaged me on Facebook saying it’s a bad idea. -

-I guess I forgot 2remove him before writing was intended. But the thing with this is, in my calculus class in Albany, there was white male - little older than the rest- on 1day, who seemed enthusiastic to talk to me. Post writing on Facebook, he looked serious and ignoring me.-

-How could all of these social or environmental reactions happen within a day?! While I was in freedom apartments in Albany, there was what sounded like these slight male/female voices for a brief time while I was only there. Were those my roommates or...-

-questions questions, is cr*p American psychology waiting for something like this as part of their ridiculous methodology for some sissy American girl treatment? Trust me, in saying that I’m not advertising myself as “gangsta.” What do you think of me? -

-You see a soft angle to a multi angle personality and think I’m going to sensitively handle or cannot handle everything? What is my focus, and who is my audience?- remember that from the complaint form writing?! Am I not repeating everything from 11 years ago?-

-Compared 2habits now like buying sh*t, back then I was working out &swimming @ the local YMCA. So what is this cr*p about?! When I went to the FBI office in Bethlehem, NY , before the agent I spoke with, spoke to me, him &a woman on the upper floor of that area had these looks -

-on their faces like why is “he” here... when I wrote on a complaint form he suggested-probably as part of the f*kin country’s conspiracy to get me to write all day everyday- about certain kids, they walk past me, enraged, the next day. -

-When I went to Guilderland police department in the middle of the night, there was an officer behind a computer screen and an female officer talking to me. After talking to me partially, the female officer goes to the guy at the computer and I hear “what! You means it’s true?!”-

-Then she returns and tells me that what I’m saying is nothing. This much denying and getting people to follow instructions. I tell people to do something good with their lives, for themselves, they won’t do it. But you manage the world to be fake around me!-

-How is that, why is that? Remember you racist f* of orchestrators, in the end of this, one of us will be ruined. Whites and blacks, see your country in all its glory.

now in shifting the mood, focus...moving onto the next thing...

so a thought on relationships...-

-I believe before meeting a woman to be your girl friend or wife, having a career or at least a promising academic career, is essential. I means it’s different if ur just friends. When I first started college with my first major of engineering, it wasn’t going well. -

-In trying 2also have a good routine/schedule/full life, I still made time 4working out, part time jobs, &a girl friend. But as engineering went south, despite the great girl friend (she would walk from her off campus apartment to the campus library to study with me at 6 am),-

-I didn’t feel comfortable being in a relationship or asking someone out, when priority wise, my academic career was on the line. I want to have a life like my friend Sean and his wife. -

- Both of them have degrees, both of them are lawyers, both of them have each other’s back in all aspects-what a quality life you can build like that. They were best friends when we were all in college-What a privilege. -

-In my opinion, a career or academic career is essential 2a relationship, because when, in whatever regard, things get serious, u have a way of supporting each other or a potential way of supporting each other. When married or in a relationship, I want 2be an asset 2my partner, -

-I want 2make her day, and I want her to make mine. Even with the concept of flings, a career or academic career is essential. I mean regarding that, I feel Im from a different time. Amongst present college kids and that age group, things seem to be liberal and ok being liberal.-

-I mean, I went 2college in 2006 when Facebook 1st started- from a different time. When I’d interact with kids as a Residential Consultant ( label for IT Support part time jobs for college dorms) while living in the dorms in 2007 and 2008, I noticed every year, students change-

- in personalities. I think 2006 freshman were the last of an era, at least at Binghamton. I went to schools in the 90s where they tell you to act responsibly and be mindful of the consequences of your actions in a relationship and elsewhere- different time.-

-When I transferred to the party school, maybe my peers of the time thought I’m a freshman or that I’m a teenager. But I was in my very early 20s. I grew up with a private education and transferred to a state school- a different sub culture. -

- I was in grade school when Britney Spears came out with “Oops I did it again,” the age of the Spice Girls, and the maca rana (the dance, if that’s how it’s spelled). If a fling goes south, with no career or academic career, how do you take care of things?...-

-I mean in most cases, not the kinda thing you’d ideally want to go to your parents about. In the time I grew up, having a lot of girl friends or flings put women off. It ruins ur chances of meeting that dream girl for the future. -

-But nowadays, I think people think or are taught differently or are set one way by their friends. Honestly, I don’t know what to make of things anymore -  not in a good way or a bad way. -

-I think women as a whole have changed. U always hear guys are after only 1 thing, but there was 1 girl I liked, who I wasn’t sure liked me, there were some interactions like we became Facebook friends, then all of a sudden she deletes me without cause &goes a step further to -

-block me- a little extreme. You get curious and manage to see the profile pic of her under the covers with the lead guy in a band. To make someone jealous? Or wanting to fulfill a - I guess - a girls dream of being with a guy in a band?..-

-no offense to him, but I don’t think on my worst day, I’d lose a girl to him, but whatever. Even compared to her, or in general, I don’t get how girls pick guys. -

-Point being women can be strange and have changed over time. On that note, I think it happened in April. In Binghamton, it was a time for spring dances at the school, and I couldn’t help but think, amidst her friends, -

-this girl would wanted to take part in something like that or might feel left out. There was a time I’d see her going up the stairs to the dorm as I’d go down, and she was carrying a red suitcase with I think wheels and a handle. -

-Might remember it wrong. I thought maybe she has a strict family and they make her go home on the weekends in the beginning and she just wants to live her life to the fullest, like in what she may feel her friends are doing. -

-While I’m a solo act since the first grade despite passing friends and the interest of others(due to the story that comes after this whole thought/section), she needs friends and clearly gets supportive friends..I mean I could be reading into the whole thing...-

-but that was my impression...when her mother (or I think it was cuz it’s different from the pictures online) came to pick her up at the end of the school year, I kind of waved goodbye to her, and as they were driving, they paused for a moment, and I couldn’t help but wonder if-

-her mother wasn’t asking her about the boy that waved at her. My school wasn’t going well and I couldn’t dance. I was hoping she would find someone, but letting go of an interest for responsibility is a sacrifice that requires effort.-

-I mean you wait for a combination of characteristics and the universe delivers at the most inconvenient time. When I’d go to Church around that time, out of my interest and resulting thoughts for the girl, I’d pray she’d find someone good for her.-

-Kind of feel like doing stuff like that as part of the aforementioned effort a sentence or two ago. If there was anything to be angry about, it was the psychotic after effect. She gets the guy and randomness follows for me.-

-In order to be away from familial and cultural obligations on a level beyond college, I need a career, and for that I need a good degree, all so that I can live and experience life to the fullest. I couldn’t help but feel there were those who’d read into my actions. -

-All that said, pull something like that while dating me, I’m Not so well wishing or understanding, or forgiving that is if it happened to a couple dating. -

-My whole life of going to catholic schools and all boys high school, I aimed for the dream of making the prettiest woman my best friend in college and marrying her.-

-Then this present day 11+ year “situation” happened, messing up my academics, limiting my career options, keeping women as a whole away from me...I mean, such was my dream, as mentioned, as a kid and in my teenage years and 20s. -

-Now I’m in my very early 30s and my dream about a woman seems to carry no value or effect. The dream just seemed like a waste of time (although no dream, especially marrying a best friend should be) cuz life itself went out of its way to go upside down for me. -

-I mean in hindsight, you wonder, did you have high morals, think too much, or are you in fact right that the rest of the world didn’t think enough or think things through. I mean, in all humility, 11+ years ago, I was a pretty decent looking guy...-

-.if nothing else, I had the thickest of hair and it was long...at that time, I had so many female prospects but stayed focused on my dream...-

-here I am 11+ years later, bald, losing muscle and gaining weight from inflicted lifestyles by the orchestrators, tired, and having the world on one team or one side while I’m on another.-

-It makes you think about morals, right and wrong, and a bunch of things like that, as ur left alone and bored out of ur mind, feeling like in a pretty jail cell’s bed, for all these years. -

-I think right & wrong, boils down 2 whats right “for an individual,” at a particular point in their life. In life, there are rules, religion, traditions, cultures...but ur job as a person is 2 live in each second, making both smart & wise decisions, as appropriate 4 ur life, -

-without caring about what others think. Don’t model your life on anyone, but your goals and dreams. Going back to the main point, Time and opportunities were stolen from me, and here I am today, in a different world, with the dream squashed.

Regarding something mentioned in the previous section/thought/set of tweets, here's a tale from the past:-

-You wanna know how long my dream of marrying my best friend dates back? Here’s a story. Although born and brought up here, when I was in pre-k, I didn’t speak that much English, because I spent time with my paternal grandmother mostly. -

-She would speak to me in our Indian dialect, and with my parents being Indian immigrants, she was of the belief, “why does their son need to learn English?” In pre-K, there was an Indian girl that I  friended and spent all of my time with. -

-Our parents friended each other and carpooled and we went over each other’s houses and birthday parties. While she gathered together in a circle with her girl friends, I’d hover around her.-

-In the same way, I expect potential girl friends and my wife to teach me how to dance, my kindergarten friend would teach me how to bike ride and roller blade. She was my courage. -

When we were in kindergarten, if she was absent from school, I would run away from school. I managed, on one such occasion, to escape my kindergarten teacher’s notice, and ran for home, as the school was 5 min away from my old house near central ave in Yonkers.-

-My dad was walking home and caught sight of me, and I forget if he took me back to school or took me home with him. When I graduated from that school, the kindergarten teacher was sure to write about that in my year book. That was my relationship with this girl. -

-Then, as first grade approached, her father, a doctor, had a job transfer far away. She was going to leave me. It was something I had to accept about my first friend as first grade approached.- 

-But at that time, I decided I would find a replacement to be my best friend, and marry her. That’s the origin of the dream the orchestrators squashed.

and now, normal tweets...-

Was listening 2"All 10's" playlist on Spotify the other day. Heard this girly song called Shower, by an artist w/a very girly name of "BeckyG"..Despite transitioning from Memories-Kid Cudi/David Guetta-I couldn't help but think ofMyself dancing w/a potential daughter 2that song.

Bad Blood music video from Taylor Swift...with all those Wonder Woman like women in the video, makes a guy wish he was taller to be with them...

I heard on the news that you should wash you hands with soap for 30 seconds after touching money, as cash and coins have been handled by who-knows-how-many-people-doing-whatever... I wonder if anyone else does it...kind of a pain, and more incentive to use the card...-

-especially if you get rewards for using it or get benefits...

How do eat your yogurt? When I eat my cup of Greek yogurt, with one lick off the spoon-without too much tongue exposure-I consume my yogurt. I mean, I eat it kind of like a chocolate soft cone from Carvel, not like cereal.

Yeah life is a journey...awaiting my destination, as I’ve been traveling for 11+ years...

Why isn’t there a Wegmans in Yonkers/Bronxville?! You can still shop there through InstaCart App...you get some exotic stuff like Japanese energizing cold green tea in a can...

[monopolizednotes]

Monopolized End Notes, p.251-295

Here are the end notes for pages 251-295 of Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power by David Dayen.

10. Monopolies Are Why A Woman Found Her Own Home Listed for Rent on Zillow

251 roughly 9.3 million American families Jann Swanson, “Buyers Returning to Housing Market Ready, Willing, and Able?,” Mortgage News Daily, April 20, 2015, www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/04202015_boomerang_buyers.asp.

251 focusing on areas John Gittelsohn, “Real Estate Investors Plan to Purchase More Homes in U.S.,” Bloomberg, September 19, 2012.

251 a $40 billion flurry Private Equity Stakeholder Project et al., “The Con- tinuing Threat of Private Equity Investment in Single Family Rentals,” April 2019, pestakeholder.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Private-Equity-Single-Family-Rental-4-2019.pdf.

251 spent $1 billion David Dayen, “News Leaks of $1 Billion Blackstone Invest- ment in Foreclosed Properties . . . Just in Tampa Bay,” Shadowproof, September 24, 2012, shadowproof.com/2012/09/24/news-leaks-of-1-billion-blackstone-investment-in-foreclosed-properties-just-in-tampa-bay.

251 27 percent of all home purchases David Dayen, “Your New Landlord Works on Wall Street,” New Republic, February 11, 2013.

251 swelled to 42 percent Aaron Glantz, “Report: Investors Buy Nearly Half of Oakland’s Foreclosed Homes,” The Bay Citizen, June 28, 2012.

251 90 percent of homes sold Chris Campbell et al., “A Look at Private Equity Investors and the Atlanta Foreclosure Residential Market,” Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, May 1, 2013, atlanta.uli.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2012/12/ANDP-Atlanta-Neighborhood-Development-Partnership-Report.pdf.

251 many of the renters Right to the City Alliance, “Renting from Wall Street: Blackstone’s Invitation Homes in Los Angeles and Riverside,” July 2014, homesforall.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/LA-Riverside-Blackstone-Report-071514.pdf.

252 Atlantans found black mold Adam Murphy, “Tornado Damaged Home Causes Health Issues,” CBS 46 Atlanta, October 30, 2018.

252 home in California was deemed unsafe Jim Holt, “Family Displaced for a Week After Home Yellow Tagged as Unsafe,” Santa Clarita Valley Signal, September 7, 2018.

252 fairly common problems Right to the City Alliance, “Renting from Wall Street.”

252 leaving the worst problems Michelle Conlin, “Special Report: Spiders, Sewage and Fees: The Other Side of Renting from Wall Street,” Reuters, July 27, 2018.

252 empire of homes is rotting Brian Ross, Cindy Galli, Cho Park, and Pete Madden, “Billion-Dollar Landlords: Rental Home Giant Once Led by Trump Ally Is Under Fire from Some Tenants, Critics,” ABC News, November 16, 2017.

252 a 2019 Atlantic article Alana Semuels, “When Wall Street Is Your Landlord,” The Atlantic, February 13, 2019.

252 I went to South Los Angeles David Dayen, “Slumlord Millionaires,” New Republic, July 24, 2014.

253 institutional investors evicted tenants Elora Raymond et al., “Corporate Landlords, Institutional Investors,and Displacement: Eviction Rates in Single-Family Rentals,” Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, December 2016, www.frbatlanta.org/-/media/documents/community-development/publications/discussion-papers/2016/04-corporate-landlords-institutional-investors-and-displacement-2016-12-21.pdf.

253 “Happy 30 Day Eviction Notice” cake Property Management Memes, Facebook, January 24, 2019, www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_id=2045942045490387 &id=792535127497758.

253 touting automated fees and charges Semuels, “When Wall Street Is Your Landlord.”

253 a 2018 report Maya Abood, “Wall Street Landlords Turn American Dream into a Nightmare,” ACCE Institute, Americans for Financial Reform, and Public Advocates, 2018, d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/acceinstitute/pages/100/attachments/original/1516388955/WallstreetLandlordsFinalReport.pdf?1516388955.

253 $17.5 billion in outstanding bonds David Dayen, “Private Equity: Looting ‘R’ Us,” American Prospect, March 20, 2018.

253 Trump ally Tom Barrack Aaron Glantz, “Profiting Off Pain: Trump Confidant Cashed In on Housing Crisis,” Reveal News, June 8, 2017, www.revealnews.org/article/profiting-off-pain-trump-confidant-cashed-in-on-housing-crisis.

254 Blackstone finally cashed out Ryan Dezember, “Blackstone Moves out of Rental-Home Wager with a Big Gain,” Wall Street Journal, November 21, 2019.

254 The experience in America Fred Clasen-Kelly, Anna Douglas, and Julianna Rennie, “Company Bought Hundreds of Houses. Now, Poor Are Getting ‘Priced Out,’ Critics Say,” Charlotte Observer, December 5, 2018.

254 blamed investor-owned rentals Lauren Lambie-Hanson, Wenli Li, and Michael Slonkosky, “Leaving Households Behind: Institutional Investors and the U.S. Housing Recovery,” Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, January 2019, www.philadelphiafed.org/-/media/research-and-data/publications/working-papers/2019/wp19-01.pdf.

254 formally accused Blackstone United Nations Human Rights O ce of the High Commissioner, “States and Real Estate Private Equity Firms Questioned for Compliance with Human Rights,” March 26, 2019, www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24404&LangID=E.

255 proposed class-action lawsuit Jose Rivera v. Invitation Homes, United States District Court, Northern District of California, May 25, 2018, leasinglifestyle.org/class-action-rivera-vs-invitation-homes-inc.

255 also tweets Tweet from Dana Chisholm (@TenantsINVH), December 28, 2018, twitter.com/TenantsINVH/status/1078723561626296321.

255 chaired President Trump’s economic advisory council Lucinda Shen, “Stephen Schwarzman: This Is the Real Reason CEOs Left Trump’s Councils,” Fortune, September 12, 2017.

255 advises the president Michael Kranish, “Trump’s China Whisperer: How Billionaire Stephen Schwarzman Has Sought to Keep the President Close to Beijing,” Washington Post, March 12, 2018.

255 there was a loophole Dayen, “Private Equity: Looting ‘R’ Us.”

255 a $20 billion real estate fund Peter Grant, “Blackstone Aims to Throw Weight Around with a Record Real Estate Fund,” Wall Street Journal, January 15, 2019.

255 raised $8 billion Alana Schetzer, “Private Equity Funds Build Firepower for Property Slump,” Financial Times, April 7, 2019.

255 started to build Felipe Ossa, “Why ‘Build to Rent’ Is Having Its Moment,” American Banker, February 14, 2018.

255 at least one million apartment units Americans for Financial Reform, New York Communities for Change, and Private Equity Stakeholder Project, “Wall Street Private Equity Landlords Snapping Up Apartment Buildings,” April 2019, pestakeholder.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Private-Equity-Apartments-PESP-AFR-NYCC-April-2019.pdf.

255 staking funds for other landlords Diana Olick, “This Private Equity Giant Wants to Give Landlords Millions—Here’s How,” CNBC, June 30, 2016.

256 one out of every six dollars Rana Foroohar, “US Private Equity Moves into Trailer Parks,” Financial Times, May 20, 2019.

256 $15 billion in no-strings loans The Capitol Forum, “Fannie Mae: Mobile- Home Loan Program Leaves Evictions, Billionaire Profits in Wake,” May 16, 2019.

256 resulted in a wave Zachary Owen Smith, “Private Equity Firms Rapidly Investing in Mobile Home Parks,” Associated Press, April 20, 2019; Private Equity Stakeholder Project, MH Action, and Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, “Private Equity Giants Converge on Manufactured Homes: How Private Equity Is Manufacturing Homelessness & Communities Are Fighting Back,” February 2019, pestakeholder.org/wo-content/uploads/2019/02/Private-Equity-Glants-Converge-on-Manufactured-Homes-PESP-MHAction-AFR-021419.pdf.

256 controlling half the market Data from the Open Markets Institute, concentrationcrisis.openmarketsinstitute.org/industry/mobile-home-manufacturing.

Interlude

257 the one I came across Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, “Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Settles Claims with Sterling Jewelers, Inc.,” January 16, 2019, www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/consumer-financial-protection-bureau-settles-claims-against-sterling-jewelers-inc.

257 mired in a legal odyssey Taffy Brodesser-Akner, “The Company That Sells Love to America Had a Dark Secret,” New York Times, April 23, 2019.

258 Signet’s 2019 annual report Signet Jewelers, 2019 annual report, s2.q4cdn.com/912924347/files/doc_ nancials/2019/SIG_2019_AR_10K.pdf.

258 National Retail Federation’s 2017 figures Stores (National Retail Foundation magazine), “The Top 100 Retailers,” 2018, stores.org/stores-top-retailers-2018. Data from Kantar Consulting, 2017.

258 Signet bought in 2017 Scott Suttell, “Signet Jewelers Buys Online Retailer for $328 Million,” Crain’s Cleveland Business, August 24, 2017.

258 according to Labor Department statistics Signet Jewelers, 2019 annual report.

258 Signet’s share at 15.3 percent Tanvi Kumar, “Jewelry Stores in the US,” IBISWorld Industry Report 44831, December 2018.

258 now part of a conglomerate Matthew Dalton, “Inside LVMH, Tiffany to Fall Under CEO Arnault’s Exacting Eye,” Wall Street Journal, November 25, 2019.

258 Harriet Samuel opened her shop H. Samuel, “About Us,” www.hsamuel.co.uk/about_us.

258 Kay began as a department store Kay Jewelers, “The History of Kay Jewelers,” www.kay.com/kay-about-us.

258 Zales came out of Wichita Falls Zale Corporation, “The Zale Corporation Story,” www.zalecorp.com/History.aspx.

258 Henry Shaw founded LeRoy’s Jewelers Israeli Diamond, “ e Jewelers from Akron: The Story of Sterling Jewelers,” en.israelidiamond.co.il/wikidiamond/diamond-industry-history/jewelers-akron-sterling-jewelers.

11. Monopolies Are Why a Family Has Seen Only the Top of Their Loved One’s Head for the Past Two Years

261 first state penitentiary in America Law Library—American Law and Legal Information, “Walnut Street Prison,” law.jrank.org/pages/11192/Walnut-Street-Prison.html; Adam Jay Hirsch, The Rise of the Penitentiary: Prisons and Punishment in Early America (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992).

261 small lockup in Auburn, New York Law Library, “Walnut Street Prison”; Hirsch, The Rise of the Penitentiary.

261 something called convict leasing PBS, “Convict Leasing,” Slavery by Another Name, 2012, www.pbs.org/tpt/slavery-by-another-name/themes/convict-leasing.

261 three-fourths of Alabama’s state revenue Digital History, University of Houston, “Convict Leasing System,” 2019, www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=2&psid=3179.

261 periodic rebellions James B. Jones Jr., “Convict Lease Wars,” Tennessee Historical Society, October 8, 2017, tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/convict-lease-wars.

261 inmates still work Genevieve Carlton, “50 Large American Companies That Use Prison Labor,” Ranker, August 2018, www.ranker.com/list/companies-in-the-united-states-that-use-prison-labor/genevieve-carlton; Jaime Lowe, “The Incarcerated Women Who Fight California’s Wildfires,” New York Times, August 31, 2017.

261 as little as 2¢ Whitney Benns, “American Slavery, Reinvented,” The Atlantic, September 21, 2015.

262 Unicor, which solicits clients Unicor, “The Best Kept Secret in Contact Centers,” www.unicor.gov/publications/services/CATMS361.pdf; Unicor, “The Onshore Advantage,” www.unicor.gov/publications/services/CATS3103_C.pdf.

262 jumped five-fold within forty years The Sentencing Project, “Criminal Justice Facts,” www.sentencingproject.org/criminal-justice-facts. Data from the Bureau of Justice Studies.

262 in a 1988 report David F. Linowes et al., “Privatization: Toward More Effective Government,” Report of the President’s Commission on Privatization, March 1988, pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNABB472.pdf.

262 organs like the Heritage Foundation Dana Joel, “A Guide to Prison Privatization,” Heritage Foundation, May 24, 1988, www.heritage.org/political-process/report/guide-prison-privatization.

262 a billion-dollar business Nzong Xiong, “Private Prisons: A Question of Savings,” New York Times, July 13, 1997.

262 Friedmann first learned about David Dayen, “The True Cost,” Talking Points Memo, June 2016.

263 well under those for public corrections officers In the Public Interest, “Cutting Corners in America’s Criminal Justice System,” April 2016, www.inthepublicinterest.org/wp-content/uploads/ITPI_CuttingCorners_Corrections_April2016.pdf.

263 Shane Bauer received Shane Bauer, “My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard: A Mother Jones Investigation,” Mother Jones, July–August 2016.

263 Reduced training and insufficient equipment Beryl Lipton, “OSHA Com- plaints Show Awful Conditions Inside Private Prisons . . . for the Employees,” Muckrock, January 15, 2015, www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2015/jan/15/osha-complaints-show-awful-conditions-insides-priv.

263 a state audit in Idaho In the Public Interest, “Cutting Corners.”

263 told to “just fake it” Karen Lehr, “Employees Sue Corrections Corporation of America for Poor Work Conditions,” ABC 6 KITI-TV, January 27, 2014.

263 reports detail Spencer Woodman, “Mold-Infested Prisons Sicken Guards and Prisoners,” The Intercept, May 28, 2016; U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Citation and Notification of Penalty, June 11, 2012, www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/The_GEO_Group_Inc_315306357_06_11_2012.pdf; Grassroots Leadership, “A ‘Groundbreaking’ Example of Prison Privatization: Squalor and Violence at Lake Erie Correctional Institution,” 2013, grassrootsleadership.org/cca-dirty-30#2.

263 A 2014 ACLU report American Civil Liberties Union, “Warehoused and For- gotten: Immigrants Trapped in Our Shadow Private Prison System,” June 2014, www.texasobserver.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/060614-ACLU-CAR-ReportOnline.pdf.

263 a Justice Department report Katie Benner and Shaila Dewan, “Alabama’s Gruesome Prisons: Report Finds Rape and Murder at All Hours,” New York Times, April 3, 2019.

263 agreed to end their use Charlie Savage, “U.S. to Phase Out Use of Private Prisons for Federal Inmates,” New York Times, August 18, 2016.

263 GEO subsidiary gave $225,000 Campaign Legal Center, “Trump Super PAC Received Illegal Donations from Private Prison Company,” December 20, 2016, campaignlegal.org/press-releases/trump-super-pac-received-illegal-donations-private-prison-company.

264 CoreCivic pushed $250,000 Fredreka Schouten, “Private Prisons Back Trump and Could See Big Payoffs with New Policies,” USA Today, February 23, 2017.

264 two former Jeff Sessions Senate aides Taylor Gee, Kaitlyn Burton, and Mary Lee, “Private Prison Company GEO Hires Three Firms,” Politico, October 12, 2016.

264 Sessions revoked the Obama-era guidance Jefferson B. Sessions, “Memorandum for the Acting Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons,” Office of the Attorney General, February21, 2017, www.politico.com/f/?id=0000015a-6d3f-d49b-a77a -7fbf234a0001.

264 cover only around 8.5 percent The Sentencing Project, “Private Prisons in the United States,” August 7, 2018, www.sentencingproject.org/publications/private-prisons-united-states.

264 median bail in America Bernadette Rabuy and Daniel Kopf, “Detaining the Poor: How Money Bail Perpetuates an Endless Cycle of Poverty and Jail Time,” Prison Policy Initiative, May 10, 2016, www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/incomejails.html.

264 nine insurance companies underwrite Color of Change and the ACLU Campaign for Smart Justice, “Selling Off Our Freedom: How Insurance Corporations Have Taken Over Our Bail System,” May 2017, thecrimereport.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/ACLU-Bail-Report.pdf.

264 takes convicts into lockups Eli Hager and Alysia Santo, “Inside the Deadly World of Private Prisoner Transport,” Marshall Project, July6, 2016, www.themarshallproject.org/2016/07/06/inside-the-deadly-world-of-private-prisoner-transport.

265 a 2019 Worth Rises report Worth Rises, “The Prison Industrial Complex: Mapping Private Sector Players,” April 2019, worthrises.org/picreport2019.

265 the largest food and commissary giant Tim Requarth, “How Private Equity Is Turning Public Prisons into Big Profits,” The Nation, April 30, 2019, https://www.thenation.com/article/prison-privatization-private-equity-hig.

265 more than one million meals Aramark, “Serving Up the Right Meals for a Safer Environment,” www.aramark.com/industries/business-government/correctional-facilities/food-services.

265 stocked kitchens with spoiled food Requarth, “How Private Equity Is Turning.”

265 workers covered a cake Paul Egan, “E-mails: Aramark Fed Inmates Cake Chewed by Rodents,” Detroit Free Press, March 17, 2015.

265 meat that had been thrown in the trash Matthew Kovac, “Aramark’s Recipe for Disaster,” Progress Michigan, March 30, 2015, www.progressmichigan.org/2015/03/aramarks-recipe-for-disaster.

265 2,945 food quality and sanitation violations Progress Michigan, “A Failed Privatization Experiment: Aramark and the Michigan Department of Corrections,” August18, 2015, www.scribd.com/document/275004778/A-Failed-Privatization-Experiment-Aramark-and-the-Michigan-Department-of-Corrections.

265 ban seventy-four employees Progress Michigan, “A Failed Privatization Experiment.”

265 acting as contraband couriers Christopher Zoukis, “Aramark’s Correctional Food Services: Meals, Maggots and Misconduct,” Prison Legal News, December 2, 2015.

266 Inmates protested chow hall conditions Roland Zullo, “Food Service Privatization in Michigan’s Prisons: Observations of Corrections Officers,” University of Michigan, March 2016, irlee.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/PrivatizationOfPrisonFood.pdf.

266 leading Michigan to end its dalliance Paul Egan and Kathleen Gray, “Gov. Rick Snyder: State to End Problem-Plagued Privatization Experiment with Prison Food,” Detroit Free Press, February 7, 2018.

266 Aramark got New York State Tina Luongo and Caroline Hsu, “Care Packages at Inmates Can Afford,” New York Daily News, January 11, 2018.

266 impersonal, standardized care packages Taylor Elizabeth Eldridge, “ e Big Business of Prisoner Care Packages,” Marshall Project, December 21, 2017, www.themarshallproject.org/2017/12/21/the-big-business-of-prisoner-care-packages.

266 can cost over $7 Luongo and Hsu, “Care Packages That Inmates Can Afford.”

266 JPay leads the market Dayen, “The True Cost.”

266 perusing JPay’s fee schedule JPay, “Availability and Pricing,” www.jpay.com/pavail.aspx.

266 can incur $5.95 in fees JPay, “Florida State Prison System,” www.jpay.com/Agency-Details/Florida-State-Prison-System.aspx.

266 JPay release card Amadou Diallo, “‘Release Cards’ Turn Inmates and Their Families into Profit Stream,” Al Jazeera America, April 20, 2015.

266 cough up co-pays Victoria Law, “Behind Bars, Co-Pays Are a Barrier to Basic Health Care,” Truthout, April 3, 2019, truthout.org/articles/behind-bars-co-pays-are-a-barrier-to-basic-health-care.

266 220 facilities in seventeen states Corizon Health, “About Corizon Health,” www.corizonhealth.com/About-Corizon/Locations.

266 that number has shrunk Michael Winerip and Michael Schwirtz, “New York City to End Contract with Rikers Health Care Provider,” New York Times, June 10, 2015; John Kennedy, “Controversial Prison Health Provider Walks Away from Florida Contract,” Palm Beach Post, December 1, 2015; Abigail Hauslohner, “D.C. Council Rejects Corizon Health Contract A er Lobbying Battle,” Washington Post, April 14, 2015; Beth Schwartzapfel, “How Bad Is Prison Health Care? Depends on Who’s Watching,” Marshall Project, February 26, 2018, www.themarshallproject.org/2018/02/25/how-bad-is-prison-health-care-depends-on-who-s-watching.

267 constitute cruel and unusual punishment Marc F. Stern, report to United States District Court, District of Idaho, February 2, 2012, www.clearinghouse.net/chDocs/public/PC-ID-0004-0013.pdf.

267 were “swarmed by flies” Victor Parsons et al. v. Arizona Department of Corrections, United States District Court, District of Arizona, April 11, 2016, www.themarshallproject.org/documents/3549306-Parsons-4-11-16-PLAINTIFFS -MOTION-TO-ENFORCE-THE.html#annotation/a348196.

267 led to his going blind Jan Skutch, “Former Chatham County Jail Inmate Sues Sheriff, Corizon over Blindness,” Savannah Morning News, May 20, 2016.

267 Corizon’s unconscionable health care Southern Poverty Law Center, “Cruel Confinement: Abuse, Discrimination and Death Within Alabama’s Prisons,” June 5, 2014, www.splcenter.org/20140604/cruel-confinement-abuse-discrimination-and-death-within-alabamas-prisons.

267 New Mexico dropped Corizon Geert de Lombaerde, “Corizon Dropped by New Mexico,” Nashville Post, May 25, 2016, www.nashvillepost.com/business/prison-management/article/20781043/corizon-dropped-by-new-mexico.

267 another concoction of HIG Capital Marsha McLeod, “The Private Option,” The Atlantic, September 12, 2019.

267 at least 1,395 lawsuits since 2003 Edward Lyon, “Correct Care Solutions Redux: Poor Medical Care Leads to More Deaths, Lawsuits,” Prison Legal News, December 7, 2018.

267 forcing one woman in Florida Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken, “Dangerous Jail Births, Miscarriages, and Stillborn Babies Blamed on the Same Billion Dollar Company,” CNN, May 7, 2019.

267 mostly the payers are families Ella Baker Center for Human Rights et al., “Who Pays? The True Cost of Incareration of Families,” September 2015, whopaysreport.org/who-pays-full-report.

267 a 2015 Prison Policy Initiative report Bernadetter Rabuy and Daniel Kopf, “Prisons of Poverty: Uncovering the Pre-incarceration Incomes of the Imprisoned,” Prison Policy Initiative, July 9, 2015, www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/income.html.

267 branched out into “community corrections” Christopher Zoukis, “From Cages to the Community: Prison Profiteers and the Treatment Industrial Complex,” Prison Legal News, March 6, 2018.

267 bought BI Incorporated Business Wire, “The GEO Group Closes $415 Million Acquisition of B.I. Incorporated,” February 11, 2011, www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110211005372/en/GEO-Group-Closes-415-Million-Acquisition-B.I.

267 ex-cons pay for such monitoring Ava Kofman, “Digital Jail: How Electronic Monitoring Drives Defendants into Debt,” ProPublica, July 3, 2019.

268 real growth area for monopolists Adam Snitzer, “The Nation’s Largest Private Prisons Operator Is Based in Florida. And Profits Are Up,” Miami Herald, April 22, 2019.

268 number rises to 72 percent Worth Rises, “Immigration Detention: An American Business,” June 2018, worthrises.org/immigration.

268 immigrant-only prison system Seth Freed Wessler, “Separate, Unequal, and Deadly,” Type Investigations, January 27, 2016, www.typeinvestigations.org/investigation/2016/01/27/separate-unequal-deadly.

268 compared to Japanese internment camps Satsuki Ina, “I Know an American ‘Internment’ Camp When I See One,” American Civil Liberties Union, May 27, 2015, www.aclu.org/blog/immigrants-rights/immigrants-rights-and-detention/i-know-american-internment-camp-when-i-see.

268 contract for immigrant electronic monitoring Zachary Kligler, “Trump’s Turn to Electronic Monitoring Isn’t a Humane Solution,” In These Times, July 24, 2018.

268 firms like Southwest Key Kim Barker, “Southwest Key, Known for Migrant Shelters, Cashes In on Charter Schools,” New York Times, March 15, 2019.

268 under the “ICE Air” brand John Burnett, “ICE Air: The Airline You Never Want to Fly,” NPR News, September 26, 2018.

268 All those border camps David Dayen, “Below the Surface of ICE: The Corporations Profiting from Immigrant Detention,” In These Times, September 17, 2018.

270 will set you back $3.75 Prison Phone Justice, “Federal Bureau of Prisons Phone Rates and Kickbacks,” www.prisonphonejustice.org/state/BOP.

270 Kentucky, where the price is $5.70 Prison Phone Justice, “Kentucky State Prison Phone Rates and Kickbacks,” www.prisonphonejustice.org/state/KY.

270 families worked for two decades Ulandis Forte, “My Grandmother’s 20-Year Fight for Prison Phone Justice,” Truthout, June 21, 2019, truthout.org/articles/my-grandmothers-20-year-fight-for-prison-phone-justice.

270 rolled back by an appeals court Victoria Law, “$15 for 15 Minutes: How Courts Are Letting Prison Phone Companies Gouge Incarcerated People,” The Intercept, June 16, 2017.

270 prices can range as high Peter Wagner and Alexi Jones, “State of Phone Justice: Local Jails, State Prisons and Private Phone Providers,” Prison Policy Initiative, February 2019, www.prisonpolicy.org/phones/state_of_phone_justice.html.

270 Congress complained in 2018 Katy Sword, “Murray, Cantwell Urge ICE to End Phone Call Practice,” The Columbian, July 24, 2018.

270 Amsani Yusli submitted Lorelei Laird, “Appeals Court Stymies Bid to Regulate High Cost of Prison Phone Calls,” ABA Journal, May 1, 2018.

270 wrote longtime prison phone activist Forte, “My Grandmother’s 20-Year Fight.”

271 using digitized phone calls George Joseph and Debbie Nathan, “Prisons Across the U.S. Are Quietly Building Databases of Incarcerated People’s Voice Prints,” The Intercept, January 30, 2019.

271 dozens of smaller mergers Private Equity Stakeholder Project, “Platinum Equity’s Not So Securus Investment,” May 2019, pestakeholder.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Platinum-Equitys-Not-So-Securus-Investment-PESP-052119.pdf.

271 owns the Detroit Pistons Laurence Darmiento, “Troubled Companies Made Him Billions. A Prison Phone Investment Made Him Enemies,” Los Angeles Times, September 5, 2019.

271 Securus serves over 1.2 million inmates Private Equity Stakeholder Project, “Private Equity-Owned Firms Dominate Prison and Detention Services,” December 2018, pestakeholder.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/PE-Incarceration-Detention-PESP-122018.pdf.

271 GTL grew through acquisitions Private Equity Stakeholder Project, “Platinum Equity’s Not So Securus Investment.”

271 Securus often wields patents Business Wire, “Securus Technologies Granted Additional Eight (8) Patents for Law Enforcement and Corrections,” October 18, 2017.

271 expensive licensing agreements PR Newswire, “Securus’ Bilateral Patent License Agreements Allow Facilities to Share Technology Developed and Bring More Products to Corrections/Law Enforcement Quicker,” September 29, 2016.

271 Securus will happily sue Jessica M. Karmasek, “Inmate Technology Company Continues to Challenge Competitor’s Patent Portfolio, Files 10 New Petitions with PTAB,” Legal Newsline, May 19, 2015, legalnewsline.com/stories/510550763-inmate-technology-company-continues-to-challenge-competitor-rsquo-s-patent-portfolio-files-10-new-petitions-with-ptab.

271 Securus attempted to buy Bianca Tylek and Connor McCleskey, “This Call May Be Monopolized and Recorded,” Marshall Project, July 11, 2018, www.themarshallproject.org/2018/07/11/this-call-may-be-monopolized-and-recorded.

271 blocking that merger David Shepardson, “Inmate Calling Services Companies Drop Merger Bid After U.S. Regulatory Opposition,” Reuters, April 2, 2019.

271 GTL acquired it John Dannenberg, “Nationwide PLN Survey Examines Prison Phone Contracts, Kickbacks,” Prison Legal News, April 15, 2011.

271 GTL acquired VAC Global Tel*Link, “VAC,” www.gtl.net/vac.

272 acquired seventeen different companies Eric Markowitz, “Amid Death Threats, An Embattled Prison Phone Company CEO Speaks Out,” International Business Times, January 26, 2016.

272 police departments have employed Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, “Service Meant to Monitor Inmates’ Calls Could Track You, Too,” New York Times, May 10, 2018.

272 Securus bought it PR Newswire, “Securus Technologies, Inc. to Acquire JPay Inc.,” April 24, 2015.

272 who need a stamp Victoria Law, “Captive Audience: How Companies Make Millions Charging Prisoners to Send an Email,” Wired, August 3, 2018.

272 an album can cost $46 Patrick Lohmann, “Company Giving Tablets to NY Prisoners Expects to Get $9M from Inmates over 5 Years,” Syracuse Post-Standard, February 15, 2018.

272 increase prices on any of these services Stephen Raher, “The Wireless Prison: How Colorado’s Tablet Computer Program Misses Opportunities and Monetizes the Poor,” Prison Policy Initiative, July 6, 2017, www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2017/07/06/tablets.

272 tablets are sometimes “free” Lohmann, “Company Giving Tablets.”

273 banned greeting cards Law, “Captive Audience.”

273 Pennsylvania banned the delivery Jodi Lincoln, “Incarcerated Pennsylvanians Now Have to Pay $150 to Read. We Should All Be Outraged,” Washington Post, October 11, 2018.

273 using the security excuse “Governor Wolf Meets with Corrections O cers to Discuss Safety Concerns, Announce New Protocols,” Pennsylvania Pressroom, September 5, 2018, www.media.pa.gov/pages/corrections_details.aspx?newsid=355.

273 GTL’s 8,500 ebook titles “GTL E-Book Availability List,” www.cor.pa.gov/Inmates/Documents/master-ebook-list.pdf.

273 After public outcry Amistad Law Project, “Cancel the New Punitive PADOC Policies, Respect the Rights of Prisoners and Their Families,” Change.org, October 2018, www.change.org/p/tom-wolf-cancel-the-new-punitive-padoc-policies-respect-the-rights-of-prisoners-and-their-families.

273 rolled the policy back Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, “Department of Corrections Announces Book, Publications Policy,” November 1, 2018, www.cor.pa.gov/About%20Us/Newsroom/Documents/2018%20Press%20Releases/Updated%20 Book%20Policy%20PR.pdf.

273 pushing out bans on used books Nila Bala, “There’s a War on Books in Prisons. It Needs to End,” Washington Post, February 8, 2018; IDoc Watch, “Call-In to End Used Book Bans in Indiana Prisons!,” May 15, 2019, https://www.idocwatch.org/blog-1/2019/5/15/call-in-to-end-used-book-bans-in-indiana-prisons.

273 confiscated the old players Ben Conarck, “Florida Inmates Spent $11.3 Million on MP3s. Now Prisons Are Taking the Players,” Florida Times-Union, August 8, 2018.

273 Prisoners filed suit Demler et al. v. Inch, United States District Court, Northern District of Florida, February 19, 2019, www.documentcloud.org/documents/5743758-Demler-v-Inch-Complaint-Filed-07202845xB3B17.html.

274 “feelings of being welcome” Joan Petersilla, When Prisoners Come Home: Parole and Prisoner Reentry, Studies in Crime and Public Policy (London: Oxford University Press, 2009).

274 2011 Minnesota Department of Corrections study Minnesota Department of Corrections, “The Effects of Prison Visitation on Offender Recidivism,” November 2011, www.coursehero.com/file/21712260/11-11MNPrisonVisitationStudy.

274 over six hundred correctional facilities in forty-six states Jack Smith IV, “The End of Prison Visitation,” Mic, May 5, 2016, www.mic.com/articles/142779/the-end-of-prison-visitation.

274 around three-quarters of the jails Shannon Sims, “The End of American Prison Visits: Jails End Face-to-Face Contact—and Families Suffer,” The Guardian, December 9, 2017.

274 local jails block access Rayna Karst, “Newton County Jail Video-Only Visitation Policy Draws Praise, Criticism,” Joplin Globe, April 6, 2019; Isabelle Altman, “Lowndes County Jail Implements Video Visitation for Inmates,” The Dispatch (Columbus and Starkville, MI), April 5, 2019; WPTA21 (Fort Wayne, Indiana), “Allen County Jail to Use Video Visitation Instead of In-Person Visits,” March 11, 2019.

274 as much as $1 a minute Bernadette Rabuy and Peter Wagner, “Screening Out Family Time: The For-Profit Video Visitation Industry in Prisons and Jails,” Prison Policy Initiative, January 2015, www.prisonpolicy.org/visitation/report.html.

276 A 2015 report Ella Baker Center for Human Rights et al., “Who Pays?”

276 healthy family relationships reduce Ryan Shanahan and Sandra Villalobos Agudelo, “The Family and Recidivism,” American Jails, September–October 2012.

276 sells video visitation Securus Technologies, “Watching Them Grow with Securus Technologies Video Visitation,” May 31, 2016, youtu.be/ictEY26Tw8M.

276 bans on the practice Grassroots Leadership, “Legislation Protecting In-Person County Jail Visits Goes into Effect,” September 1, 2015, grassrootsleadership.org/releases/2015/09/legislation-protecting-person-county-jail-visits-goes-effect; Lucius Couloute, “New Massachusetts Reform Package Aims to Protect In-Person Jail Visits,” Prison Policy Initiative, March 26, 2018, www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2018/03/26/ma_cj_reform18.

276 California has required in-person visits Bernadette Rabuy, “California Legislators Continue Fighting for In-Person Jail Visits,” Prison Policy Initiative, September 6, 2017, www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2017/09/06/california-hearing-visits.

276 Texas cut inmate phone calls Angela Helm, “Texas Prison System Slashes Price of Inmate Phone Calls by 77 Percent, Contractor to Set Up Video Phones,” The Root, August 26, 2018, www.theroot.com/texas-prison-system-slashes-price-of-inmate-phone-calls-1828612862.

276 made all calls free Joshua Sabatini, “SF Plans to Make Jail Calls Free for Inmates,” San Francisco Examiner, July 12, 2019; Zoe Greenberg, “Phone Calls from New York City Jails Will Soon Be Free,” New York Times, August 6, 2018.

276 call volume increased 38 percent Tweet from Worth Rises (@WorthRises), May 3, 2019, twitter.com/WorthRises/status/1124407971667161091.

276 Connecticut was about to follow suit Rachel M. Cohen, “Free Prison Calls Could Finally Be Coming to Connecticut,” The Intercept, April 2, 2019, theintercept.com/2019/04/02/connecticut-free-prison-calls.

277 wavered on supporting it Rachel M. Cohen, “Connecticut’s Democratic Governor Is Stonewalling a Bill  at Would Make Phone Calls from Prison Free,” The Intercept, May 23, 2019, theintercept.com/2019/05/23/connecticut-prison-inmate-calls.

277 protesting video-only visits Matt Lakin, “Rally Demands Return of Face- to-Face Visits at Knox County Jail,” Knoxville News Sentinel, January 29, 2018; Matt Lakin, “Lawsuit Blasts Video Visitation Rules at Knox Jail, Demands Return of In-Person Visits,” Knoxville News Sentinel, January 14, 2019.

277 left to go work for Tech Friends LinkedIn, “Terry Wilshire,” www.linkedin.com/in/terry-wilshire-a79b3015.

277 immediately reinstated in-person visitation WFAE 90.7, “In-Person Visitations Restored at Mecklenburg County Jails, Sheriff’s Office Says,” January 16, 2019.

Interlude

279 owned 1,478 funeral homes SCI Corporate Communications, “Service Corporation International Announces Second Quarter 2019 Financial Results and Raises Guidance,” July 29, 2019, investors.sci-corp.com/news-releases/news-release-details/service-corporation-international-announces-second-quarter-2019.

279 2013 purchase of Stewart Enterprises Erin Mulvaney, “2 Top Funeral Services Companies Join in $1.2 billion Deal,” Houston Chronicle, May 29, 2013.

279 more than one of every five dollars Tanya D. Marsh, “Regulated to Death: Occupational Licensing and the Demise of the U.S. Funeral Services Industry,” Wake Forest Journal of Law and Policy 8, no. 1 (2018): 5–27.

279 expressed ghoulishly Service Corporation International, Annual Report for the Year Ending December 31, 2018, Securities and Exchange Commission, investors.sci-corp.com/static-files/c1a836de-f4f7-4878-9521-2aac16e64925.

279 Investor concerns about changing desires Spencer Jakob, “Death-Care Stocks Have Made a Killing for Investors. Now It’s Time to Say Goodbye,” Wall Street Journal, March 29, 2019.

279 never heard of SCI Michael Waters, “The Death Industry Is Getting Away with Murder,” Washington Monthly, July 23, 2019.

279 earns more than five times Marsh, “Regulated to Death.”

279 virtually no prices for burials Joshua Slocum and Stephen Brobeck, “A Needle in a Haystack—Finding Funeral Prices Online in 26 State Capitals,” Funeral Consumers Alliance and Consumer Federation of America, January 29, 2018, consumerfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/needle-in-a-haystack-finding-funeral-prices-online-report.pdf.

279 47 to 72 percent higher Joshua Slocum, “Death with Dignity? A Report on SCI/Dignity Memorial High Prices and Refusal to Disclose These Prices,” Funeral Consumers Alliance and Consumer Federation of America, March 2017, consumerfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/3-6-17-Funeral-SCI_Report.pdf.

280 82 percent of all coffins Data from the Open Markets Institute, concentrationcrisis.openmarketsinstitute.org/industry/coffin-casket-manufacturing.

280 SCI takes this to a higher level Waters, “The Death Industry Is Getting Away with Murder.”

280 2018 lawsuit in Brownsville, Texas Service Corporation International and SCI Texas Funeral Services, Inc. v. Maria Ruiz, Court of Appeals, 13th District of Texas, January 25, 2018, law.justia.com/cases/texas/thirteenth-court-of-appeals/2018/13-16-00699-cv.html.

280 SCI stacks its consumer contracts Service Corporation International and SCI Texas Funeral Services, Inc. v. Maria Ruiz.

280 Federal Trade Commission announced plans Federal Trade Commission, “FTC Announces Regulatory Review Schedule,” May 7, 2019, www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2019/05/ftc-announces-regulatory-review-schedule.

280 current rule is routinely flouted Tracy Samilton, “Why the Funeral Rule Is One of the Least-Known Consumer Protection Laws in the Country,” Michigan Radio, October 22, 2018, www.michiganradio.org/post/why-funeral-rule-one-least-known-consumer-protection-laws-country.

280 substitute the language “price by request” Slocum and Brobeck, “A Needle in a Haystack.”

12. Monopolies Are Why I Traveled to Chicago and Tel Aviv to Learn How to Stop Them

281 beyond just consumer welfare Open Markets Institute, “Restoring Anti- monopoly Through Bright-Line Rules,” ProMarket, April 26, 2019, promarket.org/restoring-antimonopoly-through-bright-line-rules.

281 structurally separate functions Elizabeth Warren, “Here’s How We Can Break Up Big Tech,” Medium, March 8, 2019.

281 laws preventing “supermarket”-style banks Ganesh Sitaraman, “The Case for Glass-Steagall Act, the Depression-Era Law We Need Today,” The Guardian, June 16, 2018.

281 Robinson-Patman Act Will Kenton, “Robinson-Patman Act,” Investopedia, October 20, 2019, www.investopedia.com/terms/r/robinson-patman-act.asp.

281 a state-run bank David Dayen, “A Bank Even a Socialist Could Love,” In These Times, April 17, 2017.

281 local ownership of pharmacies Olivia LaVecchia, “In Big Win for Local Ownership, North Dakota Votes to Keep State’s Pharmacy Law,” Institute for Local Self-Reliance, November 5, 2014, ilsr.org/big-win-local-ownership-north-dakota-votes-states-pharmacy-law.

281 public wireless companies Community Networks, “Community Network Map,” muninetworks.org/communitymap.

281 restrictions on dollar stores Marie Donahue, “Dollar Store Restriction—Tulsa, Okla.,” Institute for Local Self-Reliance, July 2, 2019, ilsr.org/rule/dollar-store-dispersal-restrictions/dollar-store-restriction-tulsa-okla.

281 antitrust authorities’ guidelines United States Department of Justice Archives, “1968 Merger Guidelines,” www.justice.gov/archives/atr/1968-merger-guideline.

281 Bell Labs consent decree David Dayen, “Big Tech: The New Predatory Capitalism,” American Prospect, December 26, 2017.

282 case against Microsoft changed the culture Victor Luckerson, “‘Crush Them’: An Oral History of the Lawsuit That Upended Silicon Valley,” The Ringer, May 18, 2018, www.theringer.com/tech/2018/5/18/17362452/microsoft-antitrust-lawsuit-netscape-internet-explorer-20-years.

283 The current roster Arnold & Porter, “Antitrust/Competition,” www.arnoldporter.com/en/services/capabilities/practices/antitrust-competition.

283 routinely overruled lower-level FTC staffers David Dayen, “Why Are Drug Monopolies Running Amok? Meet Deborah Feinstein,” The Intercept, December 16, 2015.

283 in a 2013 speech Deborah L. Feinstein, “The Significance of Consent Orders in the Federal Trade Commission’s Competition Enforcement Efforts,” Federal Trade Commission, remarks at GCR Live, September 17, 2013, www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/public_statements/significance-consent-orders-federal-trade-commission%E2%80%99s-competition-enforcement-efforts-gcr-live/130917gcrspeech.pdf.

283 Feinstein represented Elizabeth Amon, “Davis Polk, Arnold & Porter, Skadden: Business of Law,” Bloomberg, June 18, 2013.

283 most recently NxStage Medical David Dayen, “Watchdog Group Slams FTC for Revolving-Door Practices Ahead of Pending Staples Merger,” The Intercept, February 26, 2019.

283 current FTC chair represented Joseph J. Simons, bio, Paul Weiss, web.archive.org/web/20171112123136/https:/www.paulweiss.com/professionals/partners-and-counsel/joseph-j-simons.

283 worked at Kirkland & Ellis Sue Reisinger, “FTC Nominee Christine Wilson Discloses Her In-House Earnings at Delta,” Law.com, February 2, 2018, www.law.com/corpcounsel/sites/corpcounsel/2018/02/02/c-nominee-christine-wilson-discloses-her-in-house-earnings-at-delta.

283 an incredible 120 different corporate clients Public Citizen, “Federal Trade Commission’s Andrew Smith Has Conflicts with 120 Companies. How Can He Do His Job?” December 6, 2018, www.citizen.org/news/federal-trade-commissions-andrew-smith-has-conflicts-with-120-companies-how-can-he-do-his-job.

283 with Google’s main law firm David Dayen, “From Google Payroll to Government and Back Again,” The Intercept, January 13, 2016.

283 now writes papers Google Transparency Project, “Research Papers by Google-Funded Academics,” django.googletransparencyproject.org/table.

283 Makan Delrahim . . . worked David Dayen, “Democrats Face an Important Anti-Monopoly Test,” New Republic, September 6, 2017; Steven Overly and Margaret Harding McGill, “Google’s Onetime Hired Gun Could Now Be Its Antitrust Nightmare,” Politico, July 6, 2019.

283 Edith Ramirez joined Hogan Lovells Chris Johnson, “Former FTC Chair Joins Hogan Lovells to Lead Antitrust Practice,” Law.com, September 6, 2017, www.law.com/americanlawyer/almID/1202797350571.

283 repped YouTube last year Law360, “Google, YouTube Shake Privacy Suit over Kids’ Data Use,” April 1, 2019, www.law360.com/media/articles/1145087/google-youtube-shake-privacy-suit-over-kids-data-use.

283 now at Covington & Burling Terrell McSweeny, bio, Covington, www.cov.com/en/professionals/m/terrell-mcsweeny.

284 Democratic and Republican former enforcers Rick Claypool, “The FTC’s Big Tech Revolving Door Problem,” Public Citizen, May 23, 2019, www.citizen.org/article/ftc-big-tech-revolving-door-problem-report.

284 ProPublica estimates Jesse Eisinger and Justin Elliott, “These Professors Make More than a Thousand Bucks an Hour Peddling Mega-Mergers,” ProPublica, November 16, 2016.

284 between Shapiro’s economic models and Carlton’s Hadas Gold and Jessica Schneider, “With First Witness, AT&T Aims to Undermine DOJ’s Case Against Time Warner Bid,” CNN, April 12, 2018.

284 Tepper wrote in 2019 Jonathan Tepper, “Why Regulators Went Soft on Monopolies,” American Conservative, January 9, 2019.

284 A 2017 Harvard Business School study Mihir N. Mehta, Suraj Srinivasan, and Wanli Zhao, “Political Influence and Merger Antitrust Reviews,” Harvard Business School, June 4, 2019, hbswk.hbs.edu/item/political-influence-and-merger-antitrust-reviews.

284 Administration officials held meetings David Dayen, “Google’s Remarkably Close Relationship with the Obama White House, in Two Charts,” The Intercept, April 22, 2016.

284 augments its millions Alana Abramson, “Google Spent Millions More than Its Rivals Lobbying Politicians Last Year,” Time, January 24, 2018.

284 underwriting hundreds of “independent” papers Olivia Solon, “Google Spends Millions on Academic Research to Influence Opinion, Says Watchdog,” The Guardian, July 12, 2017.

284 side with big business Zephyr Teachout, “Neil Gorsuch Sides with Big Business, Big Donors and Big Bosses,” Washington Post, February 21, 2017.

284 Economics Institute for Federal Judges Henry N. Butler, “The Manne Programs in Economics for Federal Judges,” Case Western Reserve Law Review 50, no. 2 (1999): 351–420.

284 a recent working paper Elliot Ash, Daniel L. Chen, and Suresh Naidu, “Ideas Have Consequences: The Impact of Law and Economics on American Justice,” working paper, March 20, 2019, elliottash.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/ash-chen-naidu-2019-03-20.pdf.

284 Elizabeth Warren met her husband Stephanie Ebbert, “Family Long a Bedrock for Elizabeth Warren,” Boston Globe, October 25, 2012.

284 antitrust agency funding falling David McCabe, “Mergers Are Spiking, but Antitrust Cop Funding Isn’t,” Axios, May 7, 2018.

285 to go after organists Sandeep Vaheesan, “America’s Most Insidious Union-Buster? Its Own Government,” The Guardian, June 29, 2018.

285 supporting Uber over Uber drivers Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America and Rasier, LLC, v. City of Seattle, et al., Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, brief of the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, November 6, 2017, www.ftc.gov/policy/advocacy/amicus-briefs/2017/11/chamber-commerce-united-states-america-rasier-llc-v-city.

285 supporting Apple over Apple customers Apple v. Pepper, Supreme Court of the United States, amicus curiae brief, United States Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, May 2018, www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/17/17-204/46060/20180508135603183_17-204%20Apple%20v.%20Pepper%20%20-%20AC%20Pet.pdf.

285 slobbers over tech giants Matthew Buck and Sandeep Vaheesan, “Trump’s Big Tech Bluster,” New York Times, March 6, 2019.

285 in the space of a few months David Dayen, “The Big Tech Investigations  at Should Have Started in 2012,” American Prospect, June 11, 2019.

285 became the launching pad David Dayen, “This Budding Movement Wants to Smash Monopolies,” The Nation, April 4, 2017.

286 funds came into control Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Israel, “The Silver Platter,” April 12, 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuIY7jn2w2E.

286 Nochi Dankner ran IDB Government of Israel, report of the Centralization Decrease Committee, July 31, 2016, www.gov.il/BlobFolder/unit/centralization_decrease_committee/he/Vaadot_ahchud_CentralizationDecreaseCommittee_opinion_RotemAmpartNegev.pdf.

286 controlled half the stock market Konstantin Kosenko, “Evolution of Business Groups in Israel: Their Impact at the Level of the Firm and the Economy,” Bank of Israel, April 16, 2008, www.boi.org.il/en/Research/Pages/papers_dp0802e.aspx.

286 seemingly impenetrably concentrated Dany Bahar, “Delivering on Eco- nomic Prosperity in Israel: How Monopolies Are Hampering the ‘Start-up Nation,’” Brookings Institution, May 4, 2016, www.brookings.edu/blog/markaz/2016/05/04/delivering-on-economic-prosperity-in-israel-how-monopolies-are-hampering-the-start-up-nation.

286 Audiotapes produced later Al Jazeera, “Caught on Tape: Netanyahu Pulling the Media Strings,” January 16, 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI3HyewNrG4.

287 Four straight government bank supervisors FES Israel, “The Silver Platter.”

287 ran a special weekend edition Guy Rolnik, “Democracy or Economic Concentration. Your Choice,” Haaretz, July 6, 2010.

288 challenged incumbent telecom owners Guy Rolnik, “Learn from the French—Reducing Our Mobile Bills by 90%,” Huffington Post, October 20, 2014.

289 posted a Facebook message Naor Meningher and Eytan Weinstein, “Daphni Leef: Leading Israel’s Biggest Protest,” Two Nice Jewish Boys (podcast), December 31, 2018, jewishjournal.com/podcasts/twonicejewishboys/291641/episode-119-daphni-leef-leading-israels-biggest-protest.

289 said the chair Isabel Kershner, “Protests Grow in Israel, with 250,000 Marching,” New York Times, August 6, 2011.

289 as large as 430,000 Harriet Sherwood, “Israeli Protests: 430,000 Take to Streets to Demand Social Justice,” The Guardian, September 4, 2011.

289 they were instructed to stop coverage “Feder and Tiffenbron Hind It Up,” Pine Parsico, The7Eye, April 2, 2015, www.the7eye.org.il/153541.

290 interim report of the committee Steven Davidoff, “Overhaul of Israel’s Economy Offers Lessons for United States,” New York Times, January 7, 2014.

290 driving prices down 90 percent Rolnik, “Learn from the French.”

290 passed the Knesset unanimously Knesset vote, December 9, 2013, www.knesset.gov.il/vote/heb/Vote_Res_Map.asp?vote_id_t=19913.

290 The effect was dramatic Eran Azran, “Israeli Tycoons’ Holding Groups Have Been Cut Down to Size,” Haaretz, August 20, 2019.

290 IDB turned insolvent Sharon Wrobel, “Israel’s Dankner in Last-Ditch Debt Fight for Control of IDB,” Bloomberg, June 3, 2013.

290 tycoon-run conglomerates were dissolved David Wainer and Yaacov Ben-meleh, “Israel Turns the Screw on Tycoons,” Bloomberg Businessweek, January 15, 2018.

290 Danny for bribery Steven Scheer, “Former Hapoalim Chairman Dankner Gets 3 Years in Jail for Bribery,” Reuters, May 13, 2014.

290 Nochi for stock fraud TheMarker and Jasmin Gueta, “Israeli Ex-Tycoon Nochi Dankner Sentenced to Two Years for Stock Manipulation,” Haaretz, December 5, 2016.

290 Even Netanyahu Asher Schechter, “Benjamin Netanyahu Sided with Israel’s Oligarchs—and It Led to His Downfall,” ProMarket, November 25, 2019.

290 Rolnik won the Israeli version Haaretz, “Guy Rolnik, Founder of TheMarker, Receives Prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award,” December 29, 2013.

291 As The Economist wrote The Economist, “The University of Chicago Worries About a Lack of Competition,” April 12, 2017.

291 most well-known law review essays Lina Khan, “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox,” Yale Law Journal 126, no. 3 (2017): 564–907.

291 I wrote for The Nation Dayen, “This Budding Movement.”

292 writing a platform Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State, “2019 Antitrust and Competition Conference—Digital Platforms, Markets, and Democracy: A Path Forward,” University of Chicago, May 15–16, 2019, research.chicagobooth.edu/stigler/events/single-events/antitrust-competition-conference.

292 figures as varied as Elizabeth Warren, “Reigniting Competition in the American Economy,” remarks at New America’s Open Markets Program Event, June 29, 2016, www.warren.senate.gov/files/documents/2016-6-29_Warren_Antitrust_Speech.pdf; Asher Schechter, “The White House Acknowledges: The U.S. Has a Concentration Problem; President Obama Launches New Pro-Competition Initiative,” ProMarket, April15, 2016, promarket.org/the-white-house-acknowledges-the-u-s-has-a-concentration-problem-president-obama-launches-new-pro-competition-initiative; Senate Committee on the Judiciary, “Oversight of the Enforcement of the Antitrust Laws,” March 9, 2016, www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/oversight-of-the-enforcement-of-the-antitrust-laws-2016.

292 Lynn got ousted from New America Kenneth P. Vogel, “Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant,” New York Times, August 30, 2017.

292 Roger McNamee, an early tech funder Roger McNamee, “I Invested Early in Google and Facebook. Now They Terrify Me,” USA Today, August 8, 2017.

292 so did Chris Hughes Chris Hughes, “It’s Time to Break Up Facebook,” New York Times, May 9, 2019.

292 “blood in the water” in Silicon Valley Ben Smith, “There’s Blood in the Water in Silicon Valley,” BuzzFeed, September 12, 2017.

293 more discussion of monopoly Elena Schneider, “How Sen. Amy Klobuchar Would Regulate Big Business,” Politico, May 19, 2019; Matthew Yglesias, “Booker Calls on Antitrust Regulators to Start Paying Attention to Workers,” Vox, November 1, 2017; Franklin Foer, “Elizabeth Warren’s Theory of Capitalism,” The Atlantic, August 28, 2018.

293 Bernie Sanders to John Hickenlooper Tara Golshan, “Read: Bernie Sand- ers Defines His Vision for Democratic Socialism in the United States,” Vox, June 12, 2019; John Hickenlooper, “Leveling the Playing Field for Small Businesses,” Medium, April 25, 2019.

293 proposed a “do not track” Makena Kelly, “Senator Proposes Strict Do Not Track Rules in New Bill,” The Verge, May 20, 2019.

293 studying the effect of tech concentration House Committee on the Judiciary, “House Judiciary Committee Launches Bipartisan Investigation into Competition in Digital Markets,” June 3, 2019, judiciary.house.gov/news/press-releases/house-judiciary-committee-launches-bipartisan-investigation-competition-digital.

293 forced Amazon to take down Eugene Kim, “Amazon Quietly Removes Promotional Spots That Gave Special Treatment to Its Own Products as Scrutiny of Tech Giants Grows,” CNBC, April 3, 2019.

293 holding meaningless field hearings Federal Trade Commission, “Hearings on Competition and Consumer Protection in the 21st Century,” September 13, 2018–June 12, 2019, www.ftc.gov/policy/hearings-competition-consumer-protection.

293 came to the Chicago conference Makan Delrahim, “Don’t Stop Believin’: Anti- trust Enforcement in the Digital Era,” remarks at Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, April 19, 2018, www.justice.gov/opa/speech/file/1054766/download.

293 sort out jurisdictional issues David McLaughlin and Naomi Nix, “Google’s Enemies Sharpen Complaints as DOJ Opens Antitrust Probe,” Bloomberg, June 4, 2019.

293 the parties abandoned the merger Arjun Panchadar and David Shepardson, “LSC, Quad/Graphics Abandon $1.4 Billion Merger After U.S. Antitrust Suit,” Reuters, July 23, 2019.

293 Justice Department announced a lawsuit Diane Bartz, “U.S. Sues to Stop Merger of Two Printing Companies,” Reuters, June 20, 2019.

293 judge sided with the FTC Tripp Mickle, Brent Kendall, and Asa Fitch, “Qualcomm’s Practices Violate Antitrust Law, Judge Rules,” Wall Street Journal, May 22, 2019.

293 Apple v. Pepper Apple v. Pepper, Supreme Court of the United States, oral arguments, November26, 2018, www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2018/17-204_32q3.pdf.

294 She joined the majority Apple v. Pepper, Supreme Court of the United States, ruling, May 13, 2019, www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/17-204_bq7d.pdf.

294 India prevented Amazon BBC News, “Amazon Forced to Pull Products in India as New Rules Bite,” February 1, 2019.

294 Germany outlawed Facebook’s Emily Dreyfuss, “German Regulators Just Outlawed Facebook’s Whole Ad Business,” Wired, February 7, 2019.

294 investigations against Big Tech John D. McKinnon, “States Prepare to Launch Investigations into Tech Giants,” Wall Street Journal, June 7, 2019.

294 pursuit of pharmacy benefit manager middlemen Bob Herman, “States Are the New Battleground for Drug Price Middlemen,” Axios, December 19, 2018.

294 bipartisan coalition in Virginia Gregory S. Schneider, “Coalition of Unlikely Allies Calls on State to Break Up Utilities, Deregulate Energy,” Washington Post, May 7, 2019.

294 Arizona has also taken aim Millicent Dent, “In Battle to Break Up Utilities, Arizona Steps to the Front Line,” Bloomberg, August 8, 2019.

294 forced fast-food giants Rachel Abrams, “8 Fast-Food Chains Will End ‘No-Poach’ Policies,” New York Times, August 20, 2018.

294 states banded together to sue Emily Birnbaum, “Four More States Join Attorneys General Lawsuit to Block T-Mobile-Sprint Merger,” The Hill, June 21, 2019.

294 increasingly used the same power Lydia DePillis, “Corporations Are Getting Bigger. Thank a Trial Lawyer for Keeping Them in Check,” CNN, May 14, 2019.

294 analyst’s report or activist investor Steve Schaefer, “JPMorgan Worth More in Pieces? Goldman Analysts Think Breakup Makes Sense,” Forbes, January 5, 2015; Patrick Thomas, “Daniel Loeb’s Third Point Calls for Breakup of Sony—Again,” Wall Street Journal, June 13, 2019.

294 United Technologies split Ankit Ajmera and Greg Roumeliotis, “United Technologies to Separate into Three Companies,” Reuters, November 26, 2018.

294 Google employees marched out Claire Stapleton et al., “We’re the Organizers of the Google Walkout. Here Are Our Demands,” The Cut, November 1, 2018, www.thecut.com/2018/11/google-walkout-organizers-explain-demands.html.

294 they won Kara Swisher, “After Paying Off Men Accused of Sexual Harassment, Google Says It Will Meet Many of the Protesters’ Demands,” New York Times, November 8, 2018.

294 Citizens organized long-shot initiatives Nicholas Confessore, “The Unlikely Activists Who Took on Silicon Valley—and Won,” New York Times, August 14, 2018.

294 supporters of public Wi-Fi David Z. Morris, “Private Providers Spent Nearly $1 Million to Fight Municipal Broadband in One Small Colorado City,” Fortune, December 10, 2017.

294 taken over Hollywood talent agencies Writers Guild of America, West, “Agencies for Sale: Private Equity Investment and Soaring Agency Valuations,” March 18, 2019, www.wga.org/uploadedfiles/members/member_info/agency_agreement/Agencies_for_Sale_WGA_31819.pdf.

294 new goal is “packaging fees” Steven Pearlstein, “Big Agencies and Studios Have a Lock on Hollywood. It’s High Time to Apply Antitrust Law,” Washington Post, September 7, 2019.

295 writers fired their agents Ross A. Lincoln, “‘ ousands’ of Members Have Signed Letters Firing Agents, WGA Says,” The Wrap, April 15, 2019, www.thewrap.com/thousands-of-members-have-signed-letters-firing-agents-wga-says.

[mediacalling]

Our Very Worst Social Media Fails: The Expert Roundup

With so many so-called social media gurus out there, it’s hard for mere mortals not to have “imposter syndrome.”

Should we be trusted with others’ social media accounts? Should call ourselves an expert on our Website if we’re not perfect?

The truth is, even the most experienced social media managers have made at least one gigantic mistake in their career. Here are seven professionals with their tales to back me up.

 Dorien Morin-van Dam, More in Media

A few years back I met a prospective client whose budget for managing Facebook only allowed for management, not for advertising. At the intake meeting I addressed this concern, as well as the fact that there was barely any content on their website so there was very little content for me to use.

Despite this, they offered me my going management rate, and I accepted the six month project. To date, this has been my biggest fail.

I got no traction; no engagement and no new likes on the Facebook page. I didn’t have a budget to create video content or run ad campaigns or even run a contest.

Then I did something I am not proud of. As a last-ditch effort in the last two months, I took a portion of my fee to run a few ads to see if throwing a bit of money would in the end make a difference. It didn’t.

To off-set and justify me taking money out of my own pocket, all posts in those last two months were recycled posts from the previous months. The Facebook page was a fail and so was working with this client. This experience served as a lesson to me to go with my gut to not take on clients who ‘want it all’ but aren’t willing to spend the money to get there.

Charli Day, Charli Says

Back in 2010, I was fairly new to social media management and was in charge of a financial services page with a high international fan count but low engagement.

I decided that I would run a social media contest to increase likes, shares, and overall engagement. Back then, I wasn’t really aware of the need to use page apps to run contests. Contest apps are an absolute must, not only for legally collecting data, but also for regulating entries and ensuring that users adhere to the terms and conditions of your contest. I had no idea.

So my contest was as follows. “Take a great photo of you holding the company logo and the one with the most likes will win” (another Facebook page violation). The idea was to show fans around the world and the prize was a top of the range Canon camera. Of course, the fans started submitting photos to the page and at the beginning it was great. Beautiful photos of India, Italy, Australia, all with our company logo.

I was pretty pleased with myself.

But then, I noticed that some of the photos were getting an insane amount of likes. If the average on each photo was 50, these were getting 10,000. I realized that they were using bots to bump up their likes to win the prize. With no way to control the number of votes or entries, or any way to prove that the rules had been broken (because I hadn’t written any), I sat helplessly watching as some of the least inspiring photos gained thousands of likes.

When the time came to announce the winner, the photo was an obviously photoshopped background of the leaning Tower of Pisa with a little guy from Indonesia holding our logo. It was a poor quality and obviously tampered with image. I announced him as the winner and then spent the net week receiving furious messages from the other genuine participants who accused him of faking the photo likes and our brand of not properly controlling the contest.

To make matters worse (again no terms and conditions) the winner then went on to demand a camera with a much higher value than the company wanted to give. Our company lawyers eventually concluded that as we had simply specified a “top of the range” camera, and not written a maximum value, we had to give it to him. Therefore the prize cost 3,000 Euros more than it should have done.

It was a huge lesson for me. ALWAYS use page apps for contests. Plan every single detail and make sure your terms and conditions are signed off by legal!

Daniel Pinne, Organik Social

I managed the social accounts for a large professional sports team with hundreds of thousands of followers across all social media channels. Sports an emotional industry and sometimes you can get lost in the support of the team’s fans and the action on field. There was a lot of feedback about the quality of commentary and I sent the following tweet with a comment about one of the commentators in particular.

Thanks to the 16,828 fans that turned up tonight and didn’t have to listen to Tim Gilbert commentate. Worth the ticket price #purplepride

— Melbourne Storm (@storm) July 5, 2013

Understandably, there were mixed reactions. The fans of the team (and the primary audience) understood the humor of it and supported the tweet. Others in the media were very critical, labeling it unprofessional and came to the commentator’s support.

In hindsight, I certainly got caught up in the emotion of it all a bit much. It was a spur of the moment decision that I should have asked others in my team if they thought it was appropriate, they would have advised otherwise.

I spoke to the commentator in person, apologized and followed up afterwards. We all moved on and learned from it, but it wasn’t one of my finest memories managing social media.

Amanda Webb, Spiderworking

I made a lot of mistakes when I started blogging. I used to write terrible headlines, I wasn’t thinking about the importance of getting people to read, I just assumed they would come.

My first blog covered environmental issues and one classic headline was “Water Labeling.” I spent ages writing the post but I’m pretty sure few people read it. I’m always working at writing better headlines, each time I do I see the payback in traffic.

Hiral Rana, E2M Solutions

In one of my previous firms, I was juggling several responsibilities in social media marketing and SEO. As a part of an in-house project back then, we forgot to set the end-date of our Facebook ad campaign. Thankfully, this got us more attention, leads, and everything in between.

I quickly learned how to use automated rules in the Facebook Ads Manager. All I have to do is enter my maximum spending amount. This gives me more control of the ad budget even if I forget to set the end date again!

Anastasia Melet, Wave by Animatron

Perhaps our biggest social media fail happened during a Facebook Live broadcast. Our Live featured a well-staged video, a part of which had been recorded in advance, to be operated with a special broadcasting software.

Everyone was excited and also a bit nervous preparing for the Live. During the Live, a social media team member pressed the wrong button and… cut the video almost a minute too early.

There was no option to resume the video.

The first thing we did was to quickly address the questions we started receiving in the comments from the viewers. I think it was the prompt reaction of our social media team that helped de-escalate the possible disappointment of our followers. Later on, we sent an email explaining the situation and offering an incentive as a “We Care” token.

Our followers are a very loyal and understanding audience and we had almost no negative effect caused by the incident. We learnt this lesson and were fully prepared for the next Live. So to fail-proof your social media initiatives, I would advise to be especially careful with new technologies, keep anxiety under control, and always have a backup plan.

Rivka Hodgkinson, Meet Rivka

One of my clients is a real estate agent, so I try to make the content interesting by posting local goings-on, news, and events.

To simplify that process, I have a Google Alert set up for the city and state that she is located in. One day while going through my email, I was excited to see an Alert post about a famous celebrity who broke down and was taken out to lunch and helped by some local guys with a pickup truck.

This is perfect, I thought! A recognizable name, and a fun story that happened right in her area! It didn’t mention the name of the restaurant, but it did mention a street name, so I thought I could get some great engagement by asking people to guess which local treasure they stopped to eat.

Then it all fell apart.

I was so excited about the article, I told my husband about it. “I am pretty sure that is a scam dear,” was his response. He had heard the same story with a different celebrity for his hometown. Sure enough, I did a Google search of the longer text, and it was an oft-repeated urban legend. Despite being from a reputable looking website, I had been bamboozled.

Don’t get me wrong. I got engagement — just not the kind I anticipated. With several people within minutes telling me it was a scam, providing links to Snopes, and one share by someone as excited about the story as I was. And so the cycle of misinformation continues.

Needless to say, not a finer moment. I hid it from the timeline and thanked the helpful citizens who pointed out my mistake.

Lesson learned? ALWAYS check sources on factual stuff. I should have known better when it wasn’t one of the handful of local news media outlets that I recognize the names of. Now, I am sure to only post news stories from a brand I know and trust, or do a little more digging into the who and what of the origin.

What social media fail are you most embarrassed about? Share your sad tale in the comments!

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