#livenation

The most ENSHITTIFICATION-PROOF way to get the Enshittification audiobook, ebook and hardcover is to pre-order them on my Kickstarter! Help me do AN END RUN around the AMAZON/AUDIBLE AUDIOBOOK MONOPOLY and DISENSHITTIFY your audiobook experience in the process.

The US government has abandoned antitrust. Today, companies facing antitrust jeopardy can just pay key Trumpland figures a million bucks, and they will make a discreet visit to the fifth floor of the DoJ building, have a little shufty around the Antitrust Division and the whole thing will just…go away:

https://prospect.org/power/2025-08-19-doj-insider-blows-whistle-pay-to-play-antitrust-corruption/

Federally speaking, antitrust is now just another hustle. The fish rots from the head down, of course: Trump brings baseless lawsuits against media companies so that they can offer him a (colorably) legal bribe in the form of a "settlement":

https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/03/institutional-failure-cbs-wimps-out-pays-trump-16-million-bribe-to-settle-baseless-lawsuit/

This opens space for "MAGA influencer lobbyists" whose boozy back-Broom deals with antitrust targets like Hewlett-Packard Enterprises and Juniper Networks swap legal immunity for personal "consulting" payments in the millions of dollars:

https://unherd.com/2025/07/the-antitrust-war-inside-maga/

But here's the thing: even though the fish rots from the head down, the world rises from the bottom up. The global wave of antitrust vigor (which swept up federal enforcers in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Germany, France, Spain, the EU and China) did not start with government enforcers.

Rather, these enforcers were driven forward by an unstoppable current of popular fury over corporate power. That fury is ubiquitous, and it's growing. Federal enforcement was the channel that current was forced into, but merely damming up that channel does not cause the current to abate.

Right now, that rage is finding vent in municipal politics, which makes sense if you think about it, because corporate power is most vividly felt at the local level. When a billionaire rains flaming space-junk down on your home, or poisons your water with fracking, or jacks up your electricity and water bills by building a data-center, that's because a local politician has been captured by an oligarch. Very few of us are personally familiar with America's oligarch class, but a hell of a lot of us know where the mayor lives.

Some days are about the ways we’re fighting back, and some days are about the ways the people we elect fight back, and some days are about the power of one.

This has all three. Starting in New York…

New York

Wed, April 15 - 40 state Attorney General started a lawsuit against LiveNation and Ticketmaster back in May 2024. When the DOJ reached a settlement in March, 7 took the deal, the remaining 33 AGs (a bipartisan group) stayed in, and they won.

A jury agreed that LiveNation created an illegal monopoly when they bought Ticketmaster and now there are going to be consequences. Though those won’t be decided till a separate trial, that will probably go into 2027.

NY AG Letitia James lead the lawsuit. In a statement she said:

For far too long, Live Nation and Ticketmaster have taken advantage of fans and artists by raising prices for tickets and stifling any competition that threatened their power. A jury found what we have long known to be true: Live Nation and Ticketmaster are breaking the law and costing consumers millions of dollars in the process.

I love how, even though the DOJ made a deal, the 33 AG who stayed in won anyway. Trump can care about monopolies as little as he wants, and even help create new ones. But, the fact of the matter is, they are still illegal.

Fighting back is always the answer. Especially when the administration tells us not to anymore.

This will have a lasting impact. We don’t know how yet, and won’t for a bit, but something will have to change with how LiveNation and Ticketmaster operate.

This consumer and anti-monopoly win makes me feel less Doomed.

Toronto

Wed, April 15 - Thomas Reuters, yes, that Reuters, is a massive conglomerate that includes a whole host of companies other than just the newspaper. One of the things they are is a data broker, and oh yes, they are selling your data to the US federal government. AND they have a software called CLEAR, a public records and investigative platform that is DEFINITELY being misused by ICE.

So you will be very unshocked when I tell you that Billie Little, an employee, started asking questions about ICE using their products, and she was unceremoniously fired as a result. Now she’s suing, because, in Oregon, where she lives, you cannot be fired for being a whistleblower

And that would already make me feel less Doomed, but wait, there’s more.

Reuters shareholders are now demanding an independent Human Rights Impact Asessment into these contracts with ICE. And the proposal will get a vote in June. Naturally, TRI is hoping that their shareholders vote no.

The British Columbia General Employees Union is urging them to vote yes.

In a memo, they said:

This proposal about whether TRI has the due diligence infrastructure to identify, assess, and mitigate risks from specific, high-risk product applications, and whether investors have the information to evaluate that question. In our view, TRI’s disclosure has not kept pace with the changing risk environment it operates within, particularly when we consider the risks of data and software integration and interoperability.

I love that even though the company does not have anyone’s best interest at heart, except their own business interests, it seems like there’s a good chance that the shareholders do. And people like Billie Little definitely do.

As long as we keep seeing people fight back like this, I don’t feel Doomed.

Pennsylvania

Wed, April 15 - Governor Josh Shapiro signed three executive orders give dignity and support to the commonwealth’s disabled community.

The first is about data. And says that any data collected on the disabled community can only be used for healthcare and disability research and may not be shared with anyone outside of those specific areas.

The second creates a 30 volunteer commission called The Governor’s Advisory Commission on People with Disabilities. It will be focused on changing and improving disability policies for all types of disabilities at all levels of government.

And the last one reestablishes the Development Disabilities Council which has a narrower focus than the new commission of working directly with the governor on developmental disability related policies. To make sure those with developmental disabilities are given the dignity they deserve and able to be included.

Shapiro signed the orders saying:

Far too often, decisions have been made about people with disabilities, but not with them. These new executive orders that I signed today will not only improve services for Pennsylvanians with disabilities, they’ll also give this community a real seat at the table — helping my Administration bring about real change and deliver on policies that Pennsylvanians with disabilities actually need. Here, we treat people with respect and dignity, and we believe in listening to Pennsylvanians with disabilities and giving them a seat at the table as policy advisors.

As as disabled person, this is all very exciting to me. I sit in so many meetings where the disabled community just isn’t given a second thought, and it seems like Shapiro is trying to change that in PA. I’m not saying any of this will be perfect right off the bat, but god does that make me feel less Doomed.

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I hope these stories help you feel more prepared to continue fighting back!

Ghost fans when Secondo has received new merch, is on the tour poster, has done an official puck drop, and was photographed in Detroit by an official venue with the help of Livenation staff two months ago:

What this looks like per ticket:

So the band gets about 17.86% of each ticket sale.