News

Sunday 2026-05-17

01:00 AM

“Here’s a pillow the cat didn’t pee on” [Seth Godin's Blog on marketing, tribes and respect]

Highlighting the non-existent negative is confusing.

“Don’t be late,” isn’t as useful as, “We’re going to leave on time.”

“I don’t want to be rude, but…” can easily be replaced by simply saying something that isn’t rude.

And of course, “with all due respect…” is often the preface to something said without due respect.

      

Pluralistic: Making sense of Trump's unscheduled sudden midair disassembly of the American empire (16 May 2026) [Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow]

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Today's links



A detail from Dore's engraving depicting the drowning of the Leviathan - a great sea-serpent thrashing in a chaotic dark sea. The image has been altered: it has been hand-tinted. The sea serpent is wearing a MAGA hat. Drowning nearby are a beleagured Uncle Sam, an Android robot, and the Statue of Liberty.

Making sense of Trump's unscheduled sudden midair disassembly of the American empire (permalink)

For generations, the American empire was the most powerful force on earth, and so we tended to assume that it was the most durable force on earth – surely anything so powerful must also be eternal?

But power and durability aren't the same thing, as Le Guin reminded us with her oft-quoted maxim that "We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable — but then, so did the divine right of kings":

https://www.ursulakleguin.com/nbf-medal

Monarchs may be powerful, but that power is derived from a manifestly incorrect belief in special blood, a belief that requires monarchs to inbreed. At best, this produces heads of state who can't stop bleeding and also can't tell you if their blood is blue or red; at worst, it yields heads of state who can't speak intelligibly, much less produce another generation of royals:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_Spain

Oligarchy also produces a sequence of progressively weirder and more terrible rulers who rely on a mix of lies, flattery, coercion and personal cult nonsense to hold their coalition together in the face of mounting evidence for the system's bankruptcy. Thus Reagan begat GW Bush, who begat Trump, whose potential successors are a kennel of the least-charismatic chud podcasters ever to curse an RSS feed.

Trump's second term has resulted in a rapid, unscheduled, mid-air disassembly of the American empire. As Baldur Bjarnason writes, under Trump, America "first turned on their trading partners, then their allies in Europe, and then they delivered one of this century’s biggest economic and energy crises to their allies in Asia":

https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/2026/the-old-world-of-tech-is-dying/

The line comes from an excellent post entitled "The old world of tech is dying and the new cannot be born," about the impact of Trump's de-Americanization of the world on the US tech industry, and thus the world's relationship to tech more broadly. As Bjarnason writes, Trump's tech giants dominate the world because America dominates the world. It's not because the world likes American tech. As Bjarnason writes:

They are, more often than not, about as popular and respected as tobacco or pharmaceutical companies – some of them and their products are polling in terms of public sentiment in ranges similar to child molesters or authoritarian immigration enforcement entities – and their CEOs are some of the more despised public figures in recent history.

These very, very unpopular tech companies dominate because American trade policy insists that they must. They are allowed to violate local laws because stopping them from doing so would result in trade sanctions. It's true that US tech companies face fines abroad from time to time, but these are "the price list for inflicting societal suffering. Pick the one that suits your business model." US trading partners haven't really attempted to extinguish the unlawful conduct of US tech companies.

All of that is up for grabs now, thanks to Trump's uncontrollable compulsion to repeatedly hormuz himself (and America) in the foot. But – as Bjarnason writes – this didn't start with Trump. As ever, Trump is as much an effect as a cause, and the most important cause of Trump is the conversion of America into a financial economy, which started under Reagan, but was only finalized by Obama, who let the Wall Street looters who destroyed the world economy walk away unscathed, even as they stole the homes of millions of Americans:

https://web.archive.org/web/20170130083243/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/16/how-barack-obama-paved-way-donald-trump-racism

Financial economies "suck the air out of the rest of the economy and make it less competitive." Keeping billionaires in megayachts comes at the expense of "research, education, infrastructure, and healthcare." Countries that financialize lag behind countries where the economy is based on making things, not extracting or financing things.

Generations of both imperial looting and domestic investment made America the richest country on earth. That wealth cushioned America's transition to oligarchy: for a while, the country could both "finance and billionaire parasites sucking its blood" and continue to invest in itself. But while you can double the wealth of a billionaire at the expense of a town or two, doubling the wealth of a centibillionaire requires the destruction of whole regions.

As America looted itself into irrelevance, China – a very different kind of autocracy – invested in domestic capacity and domestic consumption. China's hardly a well-run place: like any autocracy, it functions according to the whims of extremely fallible officials, which produces real-estate bubbles and other crises of production (to say nothing of the demographic crisis of the One Child policy) and necessitates steadily increasing oppression, from online surveillance to concentration camps in Xinjiang.

Bjarnason writes about how this Chinese/US world presents a "double bind" for the EU. Siding with the US is increasingly untenable: the EU exists in large part to promote its domestic industries, but the US is no longer content to leave these alone. As Bjarnason says, US economic policy is now, "whatever our oligarchs want to steal this month, they get."

US tech has extended so many tendrils into so many sectors that it's not possible to defend any industrial sector without impinging on the "technopoly," where "the only ideas and thoughts that have social and cultural legitimacy are those that support, are supported by, and are mediated through technology."

This means that continuing to work within the American system means a steady transfer of economic and political control of every aspect of your life to the US, a decaying empire ruled over by a mad king. Nevertheless, there is a strong, vestigial reflex to protect American tech in the EU, which leaves European power-brokers scrambling to come up with reasons that the EU should confine its tech regulation to empty symbolic gestures, while avoiding meaningful action at all costs:

https://cerre.eu/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/CERRE_Horizontal-Interoperability-of-Social-Networking-Services.pdf

But the American tech sector relies on the other sources of American power – the ones that Trump is so bent on destroying. Trump's de-dollarization of the world economy is pushing the world away from using American tech for payment processing and networking. The American empire created the form of the US tech sector. As Bjarnason writes, "without the weight of the US political empire behind it – if Airbnb or Uber had been local startups – much fewer countries in the world would have loosened their regulations and consumer protections to accommodate them to the point where they prospered as they did."

Trump isn't the first US leader to make a strategic blunder (the US has lost every war it's fought since WWII, after all). But Trump's blunders are different in that they "deliberately signal the end [the US] empire." Hormuz and tariffs have driven people away from the US dollar, and everyone knows who to blame for the senseless deaths in the Gulf and the global privation caused by oil rationing.

That's bad news for a software industry that "shifted its entire value proposition from 'we make tools that help you make or save money' to using political clout and the dollar hegemony to capture, control, and loot entire sectors of the various economies of the world. That strategy only works when you’re in charge."

DOGE wiped out the health systems of the global south, and now Trump's trade negotiators are demanding that these countries promise to keep their hands off of US tech in exchange for reinstating a small trickle of the aid they lost. These countries are rejecting those demands:

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/zambia-says-us-health-deal-must-be-uncoupled-minerals-access-2026-05-04/

It's all up for grabs, in other words. The post-American internet is being born in a post-American world, and the shape of both is impossible to determine from this side of the veil. Bjarnason quotes Gramsci: "the old is dying and the new cannot be born."

I hold out high hopes for a world of international digital public goods: free and open software that replaces America's extractive, defective black boxes with transparent, auditable, trustworthy alternatives that are under the control of the people who use them:

https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/16/pascals-wager/#doomer-challenge

But – as Bjarnason says – even the intellectual property framework that the free/open source movement relies on to make its licenses enforceable is an artifact of the collapsing American empire. If the global copyright system collapses with America, there won't be any impediments to reverse-engineering and improving the tech around us – but there also won't be any way to enforce the free software licenses that keep that software open:

https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/02/limited-monopoly/#petardism

The whole essay is very good and – like so many great essays – it raises more questions than it answers. It's also full of standout one-liners like this one:

How do LLMs affect productivity and quality? (Much like leaded petrol. There’s some potential benefit for individual users with literally decades of expertise, provided nobody else uses LLMs. The results are catastrophic when everybody is using them.)

Consider moving it to the top of your weekend reading.


Hey look at this (permalink)



A shelf of leatherbound history books with a gilt-stamped series title, 'The World's Famous Events.'

Object permanence (permalink)

#25yrsago Is the law copyrighted?
https://web.archive.org/web/20010519134232/http://www.uniontrib.com/news/uniontrib/sun/news/news_1n13own.html

#15yrsago Canadian copyright collective wants a music tax on memory cards https://web.archive.org/web/20110517205114/https://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/5798/125/

#10yrsago FBI Director: viral videos make cops afraid to do their jobs https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/12/us/comey-ferguson-effect-police-videos-fbi.html?_r=2

#10yrsago Banker implicated in one of history’s biggest frauds says boss beat him with a tiny baseball bat https://web.archive.org/web/20160516173952/http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/barclays-banker-accused-rigging-libor-rate-hit-assistant-baseball-bat-1559792

#10yrsago Infested: an itchy, fascinating natural history of the bed bug https://memex.craphound.com/2016/05/14/infested-an-itchy-fascinating-natural-history-of-the-bed-bug/

#5yrsago A weapon of mass financial destruction https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/14/billionaire-class-solidarity/#club-deals

#1yrago Are the means of computation even seizable? https://pluralistic.net/2025/05/14/pregnable/#checkm8


Upcoming appearances (permalink)

A photo of me onstage, giving a speech, pounding the podium.



A screenshot of me at my desk, doing a livecast.

Recent appearances (permalink)



A grid of my books with Will Stahle covers..

Latest books (permalink)



A cardboard book box with the Macmillan logo.

Upcoming books (permalink)

  • "The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book about being a better AI critic, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2026 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374621568/thereversecentaursguidetolifeafterai/)

  • "Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2026

  • "The Post-American Internet," a geopolitical sequel of sorts to Enshittification, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2027

  • "Unauthorized Bread": a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, April 20, 2027

  • "The Memex Method," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2027



Colophon (permalink)

Today's top sources:

Currently writing: "The Post-American Internet," a sequel to "Enshittification," about the better world the rest of us get to have now that Trump has torched America. Third draft completed. Submitted to editor.

  • "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux about being an effective AI critic. LEGAL REVIEW AND COPYEDIT COMPLETE.

  • "The Post-American Internet," a short book about internet policy in the age of Trumpism. PLANNING.

  • A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING


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Just for Skeets and Giggles (5.16.26) [The Status Kuo]

The week kicked off with Mother’s Day last Sunday, and Donald Trump was on message once again!

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Trump’s cabinet, assembled around him per usual, had trouble connecting with ordinary Americans.

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Note: Xcancel links mirror Twitter without sending traffic. Some GIFs may load; just swipe them down. Issues? Click the gear on the Xcancel page’s upper right, select “proxy video streaming through the server,” then “save preferences” at the bottom. For sanity, don’t read the comments; they’re all bots and trolls. Won’t load? Paste the link into your browser and remove “cancel” after the X in the URL.

Speaking of fascist bootlickers, this piece of moving art captures our current situation perfectly.

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They erected a golden statue of Trump at Mar-a-Lago, because we’re that on-the-nose these days, but this comment from the internet’s top men’s fashion maven was pitch perfect.

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The Nodfather couldn’t stay awake through it, despite once boasting he’d never fall asleep on camera.

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Trump woke up to find himself in China for a long anticipated summit with Xi Jinping that had already been rescheduled once.

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When the Chinese greeted him, Trump seemed to light up. I’m just going to leave this here because we were all thinking it.

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Would Donnie manage to stay awake through the long dinners and talks?

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The results of the summit were clear for all to see. Borowitz’s satirical account:

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Here with a painfully humorous report on what actually happened is The Daily Show.

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With Americans focused mostly on Western Europe, we needed a cultural ambassador.

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Trump brought along high powered CEOs. Jensen Huang of Nvidia scored points by breaking off from the group to try some local hutong noodles, while Elon Musk, well…

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Musk’s unusual demeanor and behavior at the banquet raised questions.

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This made me chuckle to picture it unfolding.

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China’s best Trump impersonator garnered a lot of attention online given the official state visit.

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On the way home, reporters had a chance to ask Trump myriad questions. When he said James Talarico was “six genders,” I thought “Huh?” Until I saw this and started laughing.

699941316_1593925702740412_4923139592809599534_n.jpeg

Saturday Night Live brought back some favorites to play infamous drunks in this epic sketch.

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Speaking of Ka$h Patel, that private label bourbon story isn’t going away.

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Meanwhile, ordinary Americans at the pump be like

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Conservatives sometimes still try to own the libs but it’s not going well, given the playing field.

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Speaking of trying to own the libs, this burn made the rounds again. (Tom Fitton heads the far-right group Judicial Watch.)

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Meanwhile, conservatives be like

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The commentary is both sharp and dark these days, indeed.

On a brighter note, over in the UK, they’re moving forward with 21st century governance.

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Thanks to everyone who voluntarily supports this little corner of internet sanity. If you enjoy these weekend diversions (and weekday outrage), consider upgrading to a paid subscription. It helps keep the the newsletter free for those on fixed income or disability. Thanks for considering.

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On to the animals! My feed has been filled lately with “helpful” doggos like this one, which is a constant reminder that my corgi Windsor won’t even come when you call her.

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It’s really the voiceover that gets me here.

Windsor is much closer in disposition to this princess:

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I can’t stop smiling at all the noses to boop here!

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Somehow this birthday pup knows whose day this is!

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The memes keep coming with this internet star.

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This clip had me on edge waiting for him to notice!

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We couldn’t find Riley for a minute, then found her curled up next to Shade smothering him. He had the same look as some of these kitties.

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A new cat trend overseas: virtual box-car rides. The results are amazing.

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Sound up for this. But be prepared for your cat, if one has chosen you as its human, to take an interest.

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I did not know such beautiful creatures existed!

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I had to watch to the end. Not really that surprised but still, hahaha!

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I didn’t know they made little outfits like this for them.

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A chameleon compilation for your weekend.

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This is a very cool photo.

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An animated tribute to Sir David Attenborough, who recently turned 100. The animals weigh in!

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Witchcraft is alive and well.

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It was a week of auction-related humor. First the gas pump, and then this absolute gold on SNL. I can’t believe they did this live!

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My dreams will be haunted for weeks.

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The sculpture is beautiful. But the commentary is truly elevated.

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I need to try this the next time I’m faced with the plastic packaging challenge.

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This Waymo story is an allegory for our times.

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The comments though.

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10/10, no notes.

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Have we seen this be—oh, that’s right, we have.

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I can see myself making this same error with a best friend. Hard not to laugh along here.

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I have had this very experience.

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Oh, and this one.

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Future space station docking expert here.

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We end with a dad joke, an important question in these grave times:

Have a great weekend!

Jay

Saturday 2026-05-16

10:00 PM

Updated Debian 12: 12.14 released [Debian News]

The Debian project is pleased to announce the fourteenth update of its oldstable distribution Debian 12 (codename bookworm). This point release mainly adds corrections for security issues, along with a few adjustments for serious problems. Security advisories have already been published separately and are referenced where available.

Updated Debian 13: 13.5 released [Debian News]

The Debian project is pleased to announce the fifth update of its stable distribution Debian 13 (codename trixie). This point release mainly adds corrections for security issues, along with a few adjustments for serious problems. Security advisories have already been published separately and are referenced where available.

08:00 PM

Kanji of the Day: 届 [Kanji of the Day]

✍8

小6

deliver, reach, arrive, report, notify, forward

カイ

とど.ける -とど.け とど.く

届け   (とどけ)   —   report
届け出   (とどけで)   —   report
届く   (とどく)   —   to reach
届ける   (とどける)   —   to deliver
婚姻届   (こんいんとどけ)   —   marriage registration
被害届   (ひがいとどけ)   —   filing a (criminal) complaint
届出   (とどけで)   —   report
不届き   (ふとどき)   —   outrageous
届け出る   (とどけでる)   —   to report
無届け   (むとどけ)   —   without notice

Generated with kanjioftheday by Douglas Perkins.

Kanji of the Day: 帝 [Kanji of the Day]

✍9

中学

sovereign, the emperor, god, creator

テイ

みかど

帝京   (ていきょう)   —   the capital
帝国   (ていこく)   —   empire
帝王切開   (ていおうせっかい)   —   Caesarean section
皇帝   (おうだい)   —   emperor
帝王   (ていおう)   —   sovereign
帝都   (ていと)   —   imperial capital
女帝   (じょてい)   —   empress
ローマ帝国   (ローマていこく)   —   Roman Empire
帝国主義   (ていこくしゅぎ)   —   imperialism
帝廟   (ていびょう)   —   imperial mausoleum

Generated with kanjioftheday by Douglas Perkins.

GIMP @ Linux App Summit and ADULLACT Congress 2026 [GIMP]

We have been trying to encourage contributors to be more present on various events, international or local. Here is where you will find someone from the GIMP team in the coming weeks:

Linux App Summit 2026

The Linux App Summit (LAS) brings the global Linux community together to learn, collaborate, and help grow the Linux application ecosystem.

Linux App Summit 2026 banner
Linux App Summit 2026, May 16-17, 2026 - Berlin, Germany

It happens this week-end, from May 16 to 17 in Berlin, Germany, and we will have one person attending, Michael Schumacher, one of our long term contributor, as well as member of our Committee.

Unfortunately our project did not submit a talk, but we are still interested to meet more of the desktop software ecosystem contributors and see what’s happening around us! So if you attend too and spot Michael, do not hesitate to go and speak with him. He will likely have Wilber stickers to distribute too! 😍

10th Congrès ADULLACT

The Congrès ADULLACT is a conference gathering elected representatives of French local authorities, to discuss Free Software usage in the public sector.

10th Congrès ADULLACT 2026 banner
10th Congrès ADULLACT, June 4-5, 2026 - Montpellier, France

Jehan, GIMP Maintainer, will be present there to showcase GIMP as a Community, Free Software. Obviously GIMP is already quite massively present in France, but as many Free Software, administrators and users alike may not realize how it is being developed, by whom, why and how. Nor do they know that it is being developed by a major part in Europe and more particularly in France. Since one of the two main topics this year is the digital sovereignty, this is quite a major stake in this context.

The event happens from June 4 to 5, 2026, in Montpellier, France. As one can imagine, it is a close event for elected representatives and civil servants only, so if this is your case, we hope you will show up and Jehan will be happy to discuss with you!

Jehan’s talk will be on Friday, June 5, 2026, at 14:20 (French time) and he will introduce GIMP as a “Free Software and Community”.

We hope you’ll be many to attend! (oh and Jehan as well will have Wilber stickers, even though it may less a selling point in such a conference 😋)

02:00 PM

Developer Promises To Keep Failed Online Game Servers Up: Art Deserves To Be Preserved [Techdirt]

In all of our conversations about video game preservation, one common thread is the general apathy of developers and publishers when it comes to this sort of thing. It’s actually a bit mind boggling to me that apathy is even a thing here. After all, this is the work done by these developers and, to a lesser extent, the publishers. When we have seen instances in the past of game servers being shut down, and even more so in cases where publishers have gone after fan-run servers of online games that have already been shut down, this represents the loss and potential erasure of what is often years and years of work by very talented artists and programmers.

It’s with that in mind that I found it so refreshing that the developer behind one online game that didn’t perform so well, Blindfire, has committed to keeping the servers up and running for “years” because they actually take pride in their work.

Blindfire was released back in October 2024 with a unique hook: It was an online first-person shooter set in the dark and was built around finding your enemies or remaining out of their sight. Sadly for developer Double Eleven, it never found much of an audience. Now, a year after its last patch, Blindfire will get one last big update and will go free, with devs promising to keep the servers on because they are “proud of it” and want to preserve it for others.

“We are doing this because we believe games are art and they deserve to be preserved,” said Double Eleven.  “We refuse to bury what we built just because things didn’t go perfectly. We are keeping it alive because we are proud of it. You won’t see adverts or marketing campaigns trying to drag you back in. This is just a gift to those who want to see what we created.”

When you read the comments from Double Eleven, you immediately wonder why the hell this isn’t the posture of every developer of online games out there. This is their work, after all. Why in the world would they want it scattered to the ether?

Now, this also cannot be the end state, if we’re truly looking at this from a preservation standpoint. A commitment directly from the developer to keep the game around for several years is a good thing. But it’s perpetuity we’re after here, after all. And there’s no guarantee that Double Eleven will live on long enough to keep the game available for whatever passes as “forever” these days. Coupling this with the eventual release of source code, so that fans and preservationists can scatter the game to the wide ranging corners of the internet, is what will end any danger of this art and culture ever disappearing. That hasn’t been done yet, but hopefully Double Eleven is thinking along these same lines.

But if you can find a more human, kind, and engaging message for a situation like this than the following, I’ll be surprised.

“We loved making [Blindfire],” said the studio on Steam. “Watching playtesters get to grips with our twist on the FPS was a massive highlight for us and seeing some big streamers jump into our world was a proper thrill. Blindfire was a flash in the dark. It was weird, loud, and ours. It is staying online for anyone who wants to play it today, tomorrow or years from now. Thanks for being part of the journey.”

Bravo on step 1 in the preservation process, folks. Now let’s take this further.

01:00 PM

ICE and CBP Are Broken Beyond Repair [The Status Kuo]

The head of the U.S. Border Patrol resigned on Thursday. If you’re confused because you think that already happened a while ago, you can be forgiven. The recent cascade of firings and resignations at the Department of Homeland Security would make anyone’s head spin.

Former Border Patrol chief Michael Banks, who had led the agency since Trump’s second inauguration, announced his departure effective immediately, citing 37 years of service and a desire to return to his family and ranch in Texas.

The official story is retirement. The actual story is far Trumpier. It involves allegations, reported six weeks ago by the Washington Examiner and never credibly denied, that Banks had bragged to colleagues for years about paying for sex with prostitutes on foreign trips. Reportedly, two internal investigations into his conduct were quietly shelved.

Banks is the third senior DHS official to leave in two months. His character and abuse of his position, along with the conduct of other recently departed officials, raise a serious question: If ICE and CBP are broken beyond repair, why are we still trying to fix them?

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A chief and his character

Banks was no ordinary political appointee. He had more than three decades in public service, including a stint as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s border czar, overseeing Operation Lone Star. Trump appointed Banks as Border Patrol’s top official at the start of his second term, and Banks took pride in the role, claiming credit even this past week for delivering “the most secure border this country has ever seen.”

His colleagues tell a different story. Six current and former Border Patrol employees told the Washington Examiner in April that Banks had bragged openly for years about taking regular trips to Colombia and Thailand to pay for sex with prostitutes—and had personally invited at least one colleague to join him. “I don’t know how he became the chief of the Border Patrol with his character,” one former agent told the Examiner. CBP investigated the allegations twice. The second investigation was opened last year, while Kristi Noem was still running the department and, like many investigations of Trump officials, was quietly closed before it reached a conclusion.

Again per the Washington Examiner, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin met privately with the National Border Patrol Council president on Wednesday, the day before Banks’s resignation, reportedly in anticipation of a second damaging story about Banks set to drop Thursday. By the next morning, Banks had announced his retirement, effective immediately. “It’s just time,” he told Fox News.

When asked to comment about the allegations, CBP responded with a non-answer. “These allegations date back more than a decade and were reviewed years ago,” the agency told the Washington Examiner. “The matter was closed.”

The body count at the top

To set the stage, let’s review who else got shown the door recently at DHS.

There was the canning at the top, of course. Trump fired Kristi Noem as DHS Secretary in March. She was under fire for publicly defending the shootings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti before the facts were in. She was in constant friction with career officials in her department. But of greatest concern to Trump was that she had spent hundreds of millions on splashy immigration ads featuring herself, and in hearings said under oath that Trump had greenlit the spending. Noem and her “special government employee” companion Corey Lewandowski, who reportedly shared a bed on board a jet she used for personal travel, had forced out at least 15 senior CBP employees. Among them were the agency’s chief operating officer, its top border wall official, and the HR chief overseeing the hiring of 8,500 new agents.

There was also the cosplaying übergroupenführer, Greg Bovino, Noem’s handpicked “commander at large” and the public face of the urban immigration crackdowns. After the killings in Minneapolis, to which Bovino responded by publicly amplifying false claims about the shootings that video evidence directly contradicted, he was stripped of his national command role and sent back to his sector in El Centro, California.

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons resigned last month after Politico reported he had been hospitalized twice for stress-related issues. Sources described White House policy director Stephen Miller screaming at Lyons on morning calls until he was visibly unable to make basic decisions. Reportedly, a bodyguard once had to borrow a defibrillator from a nearby government office in case Lyons needed it on the road. The White House called the story “inaccurate trash.” But Lyons still resigned three weeks later. His replacement is a former private prison executive.

Border czar Tom Homan somehow remains in his post, despite being recorded on film by undercover FBI agents accepting $50,000 in cash. This incident was reportedly documented in internal Justice Department records as an exchange for promises to steer federal contracts in a second Trump administration. The investigation, once again, was closed by Trump’s DOJ. When Attorney General Pam Bondi was asked directly by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) whether Homan kept the money, she refused to answer.

Built broken

The nonstop scandals and resignations are shocking, but to those who have studied ICE and CBP as agencies for decades, they are unsurprising.

The agencies were both created in the chaotic reorganization that followed September 11, when Congress dissolved the old Immigration and Naturalization Service and Customs Service and rebuilt them as part of the new Department of Homeland Security. The pressure to staff up fast was enormous, and the consequences were predictable.

Journalist and historian Garrett Graff, who testified before Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Accountability Commission in January, has spent more than two decades reporting on ICE and CBP and describes what followed as “the largest law enforcement scandal in American history.”

Graff testifying before Illinois’s Accountability Commission in January 2026.

Between 2005 and 2024, according to CBP’s own disciplinary records, at least 4,913 CBP officers and Border Patrol agents were arrested. That number by itself is the size of the fourth-largest police department in the country, roughly equal to the entire Philadelphia police force. The agency saw one of its own agents arrested on average every 24 to 36 hours, year after year, for two decades.

The hiring surge also created a structural blind spot that persists to this day. Because CBP agents are classified as street-level law enforcement rather than special agent investigators, the agency was built without the legal authority to investigate its own misconduct. That made it the nation’s largest law enforcement agency with no internal affairs division. This glaring problem wasn’t addressed until the final months of the Obama administration, more than a decade after DHS was created.

The culture that took root in that vacuum was, in Graff’s words, a “fascist-secret-police-in-waiting—troubled agencies simply waiting for an ambitious would-be authoritarian.”

Trump did not create that culture. He found it, handed it a mandate and then flooded it with money. The “One Big Beautiful Bill” pumped $75 billion into ICE and $65 billion into CBP on top of their existing budgets. ICE’s new allocation alone exceeds the entire military budget of France. As part of a hiring surge to add 10,000 new ICE officers, the agency cut its training academy from five months to 42 days. A whistleblower who resigned from the ICE academy testified to Congress that by the final days of training, cadets still could not demonstrate basic command of the tactics or the law.

Last week, the administration quietly announced it was ending the fast-track program and reverting to a standard 72-day curriculum, while dispatching veteran officers to give the undertrained agents already in the field the extra 30 days of instruction they never received. That means thousands of half-trained deportation officers are on the streets right now, ostensibly learning on the job.

But the training problem goes beyond hours and days. A whistleblower complaint obtained by the Associated Press revealed that in May 2025, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons issued an internal memo that was addressed to all ICE personnel but kept secret even within the agency. It told instructing officers that they could forcibly enter homes using only an administrative warrant, without a judge’s approval. The memo acknowledged this was a departure from how DHS had historically operated. New ICE recruits were being taught to follow the memo’s guidance rather than the agency’s own written training materials, which explicitly state the opposite.

The distinction matters enormously. As I wrote about in January, an administrative warrant is neither issued by a judge nor reviewed by an independent party. Any supervising ICE officer can sign one. ICE’s own 2021 basic training materials stated flatly that an administrative warrant “does NOT alone authorize a 4th Amendment search of any kind.” The new memo simply declared that the agency’s general counsel had decided otherwise, with no legal explanation provided. Senior ICE officials had refused to distribute physical copies even within the agency, providing only oral instructions to agents rather than updating written training materials.

Why reform won’t work

Congress has spent months arguing over accountability for ICE and CBP as a condition of funding them. Democrats demanded judicial warrant requirements, mandatory body cameras, a ban on masks, use-of-force standards and protections around sensitive locations. In response, the White House offered language that largely restated existing policy.

The parties were at an impasse, but it reflects something real. ICE and CBP were built without adequate vetting, without internal affairs capacity, without meaningful oversight and without professional training standards. For two decades, those deficiencies were either papered over or ignored. When Trump and the Republicans handed these agencies billions of dollars, a mandate for cruelty, and apparent immunity from consequences, the result was predictable.

Calling for reform at this point requires believing that the same institutions that buried two investigations into their own chief, hospitalized their director under pressure to break the law faster, secretly rewrote the Fourth Amendment in a memo they were afraid to put in writing, and killed two American citizens in the streets of Minneapolis can be rebuilt from within. That belief is no longer reasonable.

Time to start over

“Abolish ICE” has been treated as a slogan since the first time it appeared on a protest sign. It deserves to be taken seriously as policy.

What abolition actually means in practice is not open borders or the end of immigration enforcement. Several serious proposals are already on the table.

Representative Shri Thanedar (D-MI) has proposed the Abolish ICE Act, which would cancel its funding, wind down the agency within 90 days, and redistribute its functions to other parts of the government.

The ICE Security Reform Act, which attracted more than 70 co-sponsors in the House, would separate ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations division, which handles legitimate criminal work like drug trafficking, human smuggling and organized crime, from its Enforcement and Removal Operations arm, which is currently engaged in a program of mass deportation.

The American Immigration Council released a framework just this week proposing to replace indiscriminate enforcement entirely with a civil administrative agency focused on compliance, proportionate consequences, and a pathway to legal status for long-term residents with no criminal history.

These proposals differ in scope and ambition, and reasonable people can argue about which replacement would work best. The point is that the conversation has moved well past the question of whether reform is possible and toward the harder question of what comes next.

What seems clear is that maintaining the agencies as currently staffed and structured is not the answer. An institution that selects for misconduct, rewards impunity, and treats the Constitution as an obstacle to be routed around through secret memos is not an institution that can be fixed by merely changing the people at the top.

The rot is deep in the roots of both ICE and CBP, and has been from the start. It’s time to yank them out completely.

10:00 AM

09:00 AM

Why The US Can’t Adopt Ukraine’s Innovative Approach To Unmanned Warfare Systems [Techdirt]

It is widely accepted that drones have changed the conduct of modern war dramatically. The war in Ukraine, in particular, is driving the rapid evolution of drone technology. Evidence of how far things have come was provided recently by the following claim from Ukraine, reported here on The Next Web (TNW):

In April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that his forces had, for the first time in the history of warfare, seized an enemy position using only unmanned systems. No infantry. No human soldiers entering the contested ground. Drones and ground robots identified the target, suppressed defensive fire, and captured the position without a single Ukrainian casualty. The claim has not been independently verified in detail, and Ukraine’s military has declined to provide specifics.

The TNW article goes on to give some details about the company that apparently played a major role in that unmanned assault:

a Ukrainian-British defence technology startup called UFORCE, has conducted more than 150,000 combat missions since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, achieved unicorn status with a valuation exceeding one billion dollars, and is now scaling production from a discreet London headquarters designed, the company says, to protect it from Russian sabotage. The age of unmanned warfare is no longer a conference-circuit prediction. It is a line item on a defence contractor’s balance sheet.

Politico interviewed the Ukrainian commander in charge of the Third Assault Brigade’s ground robotic systems unit, the one which carried out the attack. Mykola Zinkevych provided some interesting indications of what robotic systems were already doing today, and what Ukraine’s future plans were for unmanned warfare systems. For example, Zinkevych said:

Delivery of important cargo, evacuation of the wounded, conducting surveillance in open areas, destruction of enemy fortifications, sabotage operations behind enemy lines, laying minefields — all this is now performed by ground robotic systems

In the short term:

Infantrymen can and should be taken out of direct fire. Our goal for 2026 is to replace up to 30 percent of personnel in the most difficult areas of the front with technology

In a post on Facebook (in Ukrainian), Zinkevych gave details of the ambitious longer-term goals (via Google Translate), which will involve the wider deployment of unmanned ground vehicles (UGV):

In March alone, 9,000+ missions were completed by the military. Our goal is for 100% of front-line logistics to be performed by robotic systems.

In the first half of 2026, due to increased demand, we will contract 25,000 UGVs, which will be gradually delivered to the front. This is twice as much as in the entire year 2025.

A new paper from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, written by the former defense minister of Ukraine, Andriy Zagorodnyuk, explores what he calls “The New Revolution in Military Affairs”, which is being brought about by “rapid innovation and adaptation, introducing new types of unmanned systems, countermeasures, and operating methods at unprecedented speed.” A key element of this is “affordable precise mass” the highly effective deployment of cheap, long-range drones on a massive scale. He calls this transformation:

a structural shift in warfare in which new technologies drive the development of novel operational concepts and doctrines, fundamentally altering how military power is generated and employed, and forcing enduring changes in military organizations. These trends include the emergence of affordable precise mass, the fragmentation of the air domain, the growing difficulty of maneuver, the centrality of networked warfare, and the elevation of rapid adaptation as a core military capability. This transformation is still in its early stages, but countries that fail to recognize and adapt to it risk preparing for a form of war that has lost its decisiveness.

One important aspect of this shift touches on an area that will be familiar to Techdirt readers. As noted in the quotation above, Zagorodnyuk underlines the importance of rapid adaptation for this new kind of warfare:

The decisive advantage lies with those who can shorten the loop between combat experience, technical adaptation, and redeployment. As a result, ultra-fast adaptation becomes a paramount requirement for survival—and directly shapes force organization.

In Ukraine, this has led to drone operators being deeply involved in the technology’s evolution:

Units maintain their own repair facilities, component stocks, and small-scale production capabilities. Some operate informal research-and-development cells. Successful adaptations spread laterally through personal networks, messaging platforms, and volunteer communities rather than through centralized bureaucratic channels.

But Zagorodnyuk points out a key reason why the important lessons emerging from the wars in Ukraine and Iran are unlikely to be learned in many Western countries, including the US:

legal, contractual, and technical restrictions often prevent units from modifying or repairing their own equipment. In the United States, for example, defense contractors frequently retain control over maintenance data, software, and diagnostics, limiting what military personnel can do independently. The debate around the “right to repair” reflects this tension. While intended to protect intellectual property and safety standards, such restrictions can slow adaptation cycles and reduce operational flexibility—precisely the opposite of what high-intensity, technology-driven warfare now demands.

In other words, today’s obsession with protecting intellectual monopolies above all else could one day prove a major obstacle to fighting and winning future wars.

Follow me @glynmoody on Mastodon and on Bluesky

07:00 AM

Let’s Help Children, Not Trial Lawyers [Techdirt]

The recent “internet addiction” verdicts against Apple, Meta, and YouTube drew applause from those eager to see big tech take a hit. But look behind the headlines and the result is something else entirely. These cases won’t help children. They will fuel a litigation plague that raises costs, chills innovation and hits smaller companies the hardest. 

The legal theory behind these cases tries to work around Section 230 by shifting the focus from user content to product design. Plaintiffs argue that features like infinite scroll or “like” buttons create harm independent of users’ personal content. It is a creative argument. It is also a slippery slope with no clear limiting principle.  

Once product design becomes the hook for liability, any widely used product becomes a target. Newspapers, magazines and even packaged goods design headlines with catchy taglines to capture attention. Platforms do the same with feeds, to deliver value to their users. Labeling these as “addictive” design shouldn’t be seen as a viable path to sidestepping Section 230. 

This shift also has broader economic consequences. 

Trial lawyer lawsuits do not stay in the courtroom, they are priced into everything. Companies pay more for insurance, more for compliance, and more for legal defense. Those costs flow through to consumers in the form of higher prices and fewer options. At a moment when affordability dominates national conversations, this is a factor we cannot ignore. 

These cases are shaped by a litigation system that rewards scale and escalation. They are enormously expensive and often backed by third-party funders, which drives plaintiffs’ lawyers to seek the highest possible damages. In last month’s Los Angeles trial, plaintiffs asked for billions but secured just $6 million, about 0.5% of what was requested. Even that figure is diminished when measured against the cost of bringing the case. And when outcomes fall short, the incentive is to pursue more cases or larger awards to justify the investment. 

This burden is uniquely American. U.S. companies face a level of litigation exposure that most global competitors simply do not. That gap acts as an innovation tax on American firms, particularly small and early-stage companies that drive job creation and new ideas. We should be asking how to reduce that burden, not expand it. 

Roughly 80% of CTA’s members are small or early-stage companies. They do not have the budgets or legal teams to absorb years of litigation risk. For them, the threat of open-ended lawsuits is not theoretical. It shapes what they build, how they build it, and whether they can exist it at all.  

This is how an innovation economy slows without a single vote in Congress. Startups pull back, new features go unbuilt, and investment shifts away from risk. Over time, innovation slows, and momentum shifts from startups to incumbents. 

None of this means concerns about children’s online experiences should be dismissed. They should be taken seriously. But lawsuits are blunt instruments that do little to address the underlying issues. 

There are better and more effective paths. 

Platforms have already invested heavily in tools that give parents real control over how their children use technology. Supervised accounts, screen time limits, content filters, and transparency into usage patterns are improving quickly and becoming easier to use. Industry efforts like NetChoice’s Digital Safety Shield build on that progress by putting parents in charge rather than outsourcing decisions to courts. 

Congress also has a clear role. A national privacy law that protects personal data, including children’s information, would provide real safeguards while giving companies a consistent set of rules. What Congress should avoid is layering on vague obligations that invite more litigation. It’s delayed action for years. It should not delay further. 

And parents remain central. Technology has changed, but the need for engagement has not. Knowing what children are doing online, setting boundaries and staying involved matters more than any verdict. 

Social media is a powerful tool with real benefits and real risks. The right response is to manage those tradeoffs in a practical way that protects children without undermining innovation. 

Recent verdicts move us in the opposite direction. They reward litigation, raise costs and make it harder for the next generation of companies to succeed. 

We should focus on solutions that help children, not expand a system that is already very good at benefiting trial lawyers.

Michael Petricone is the Senior VP of Government Affairs at the Consumer Technology Association.

05:00 AM

Keeping the doors open [Tor Project blog]

This guest post is part of a spotlight series on the organizations defending the free internet.

A user in China once said this about our work:

"You have helped many many people to overcome the great firewall. Without your help, I would be in the totally darkness trap and being brain-washed."

We don't hear from the people who use our services very often. Most of them can't or don't feel that they can safely send a message. When one comes through, it's a reminder of what's actually at stake.

We're Unredacted, a US-based 501(c)(3) non-profit. We build and operate Internet infrastructure that helps people reach the open Internet and protect their right to privacy. We do this by operating a network of over 300 servers around the world. We're a way through when the front door is locked, and a place to communicate when the public square isn't safe. Most of the work is invisible: datacenter work, hardware, automation, open source software, bandwidth, abuse queues, monitoring alerts, and the late nights spent keeping all of it online.

What we do falls into three areas. Censorship Evasion is where Unredacted Door lives, our umbrella for the services designed to route around blocking. Secure Infrastructure is where we run things like XMPP.is and our Matrix homeserver, and other free services built with security and privacy in mind. Unredacted Education is the writing and documentation side: guides and explainers for the people who want to understand the work and replicate it. Alongside those, Unredacted Labs is where we experiment with infrastructure ideas that aren't quite production-ready. GreenWare is one of those, our effort to run real network capacity on hardware that doesn't burn a lot of power.

Unredacted Door

The name is literal. When the entrance to the open Internet gets walled off, people need another way in.

Unredacted Door brings together several of our circumvention services: FreeSocks, messaging proxies for Signal and Telegram, Tor bridges, and Snowflake proxies. In a recent 30-day window, these services carried nearly 300 TiB of traffic for tens of thousands of people routing around censorship in their countries. That's roughly the equivalent of bandwidth to stream tens of thousands of hours of 4K video. Demand isn't slowing, and we need to continue building more. Every new filter, every new law, every "for your safety" rollout sends more people looking for a route the censors haven't found yet.

The largest piece of Unredacted Door is FreeSocks: free proxies for people in places where censorship is severe. If you've never run into one, a proxy is a relay point. Your app doesn't talk directly to the blocked service. It talks to a server that carries the connection past whatever filters are sitting between you and the wider Internet. FreeSocks is built to make that relay quietly unremarkable, which is exactly the trait a standard VPN tends to lack. A VPN advertises itself. There's a known endpoint, a known handshake, an obvious shape on the wire. Censors are very good at blocking things they can recognize.

No single tool covers every situation. Tor Browser gives you strong privacy and anonymity for browsing. Snowflake helps people reach Tor when access to the network itself is blocked. FreeSocks proxies push specific traffic through a route that's harder to spot. People living under censorship usually need a few of these on hand, because no single door stays open forever.

That's why we're putting serious work into the next version of FreeSocks (v2). It uses Xray - a powerful and versatile traffic-routing engine, which can make proxy traffic look more like ordinary web traffic bundled with our open source control plane that allows us to rotate endpoints automatically when censors find and block a server. The less a user has to fiddle with their setup while they're already under pressure, the better.

GreenWare: sustainable infrastructure, literally

Tor relays, bridges, proxies, and more. They run on hardware in datacenters, and that hardware has a real footprint: financial, operational, and environmental. If we want privacy infrastructure to last, we have to ask what's actually sustainable to operate.

GreenWare is our attempt to shrink that footprint without shrinking what we can carry on it. The premise is straightforward: most Tor relay traffic doesn't need a server that draws power like a space heater. A relay needs a steady network, predictable CPU, and enough memory to hold its state. That's a workload a single-board computer can handle, if the chassis around it is built to take it seriously.

We started with Raspberry Pi 5 boards powered over PoE, fed entirely through their network cables. The idea worked. A typical server in a datacenter draws as much power as a small space heater. A Pi draws less than a lightbulb. But the first generation had ceilings. Density wasn't where we wanted it, and a few of the supporting components weren't built for the hours we were putting on them.

So we run two deployments in parallel now. The first is a 1U chassis with 20 ComputeBlade modules stacked into it. We deployed all 20 in our datacenter and moved a chunk of our Tor exit relays onto them. That chassis pulls a little over 100W under load, roughly what an old incandescent bulb burns. The second is a custom Raspberry Pi chassis we designed after the ComputeBlade work taught us what we actually wanted in the field. Both are live, and as of writing all 123 of our Tor exit relays run on this combined infrastructure, drawing roughly 400W in total. As time goes on, we'll have more to say about the chassis design and the project as it matures.

The Tor network runs on people and organizations willing to operate infrastructure for it. Exits are the hardest part of that job. They need bandwidth, maintenance, abuse handling, legal nerve, and money. If we can drop the cost and the power required to run real exit capacity, more people can take on a piece of the work and diversify and grow the network.

Our longer-term ambition is to keep pushing on efficient hardware, carbon tracking, and eventually renewable-powered micro points of presence. We'd be more than glad to partner with organizations and companies that want to see this grow.

The open Internet is kept open by many people and organizations investing energy, time, and effort: The researchers measuring censorship, the relay operators providing bandwidth, and the communities that refuse to leave one another behind. At Unredacted, our part is building and maintaining the routes people may need when the obvious ones disappear.

Appeals Court Upholds Block Of ICE’s BS ‘Seven Day Notice’ Detention Center Inspection Policy [Techdirt]

Something that never was a problem for years suddenly became a thing after Trump’s return to office. As his administration ramped up its cruelty towards non-white people, Democratic leaders suddenly became much more interested in seeing how ICE was handling this influx of detainees.

Not that they were wrong to do so. The history of ICE detention is extremely ugly, with detainees regularly treated like the subhumans ICE (and their subcontractors) seem to believe these human beings are. But with ICE and the DHS making all the wrong kinds of headlines as the administration carried out its racial cleansing programs, DHS started to pretend congressional members were no longer allowed to perform inspections of ICE detention facilities.

In some cases, this refusal to comply with the law resulted in the arrest of politicians trying to engage in their legally ordained oversight duties. When that intimidation failed to stem the flow of congressional reps to ICE facilities, DHS started issuing its own limitations on inspections — exactly zero of which were supported by current law.

Kristi Noem issued “guidance” last year pretending that Trump’s budget bill freed ICE from having to open their facilities to congressional inspection. Noem’s theory was that while normally DHS couldn’t make congressional reps give ICE 72 hours to seven days advance notice of inspections, the “Big Beautiful Bill” concocted by the GOP created pathways for pretending existing law didn’t exist.

That guidance specifically noted the DC Appeals Court had already ruled against the DHS by stating its current demands for advance notice were “inconsistent” with existing law. No doubt we’ll see similar misleading “guidance” issued by the DHS again in the near future as the DC Appeals Court has (again) rejected the government’s attempts to violate the law while litigation over these new policies continues.

A federal appeals court on Friday required the Trump administration to continue allowing lawmakers to inspect immigration detention facilities without advance notice, ruling unanimously that the impromptu visits posed minimal problems for the government.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit preserved, for now, the ability of Democrats in Congress to make unannounced visits to detention centers and check on the conditions inside.

The one-page order [PDF] (and its 10-page explanation by Judge Rao) is inexplicably absent from the New York Times reporting. But it’s embedded below (and linked above).

Judge Rao says the government does have some interest in controlling access to its facilities for several, mostly credible reasons. But its belief that these concerns override existing law allowing congressional inspections is misplaced.

The government is entitled to deference on how it maintains the security of detention facilities, but the current record does not substantiate the government’s claim that oversight visits without advance notice impose harms beyond administrative inconvenience. While a close call, particularly because of the strong likelihood of success on the merits, I concur in denying a stay.

As Noem pointed out in her memo, the Big Beautiful Act created a flow of funding that was (theoretically) outside of the purview of existing appropriations laws governing ICE facility inspection. This order points out that this is no longer the case as that particular rider attached to the Act lapsed along with the rest of the DHS’s funding during the shutdown. The dead rider has not been re-attached, so the DHS’s insistence this means this particular funding can be used to thwart congressional oversight isn’t exactly a foregone conclusion.

That’s not to say this decision will ultimately lead to the DHS abandoning its demands for advance notice before inspections. While the government has failed to show it will suffer irreparable harm if congressional reps are allowed on-demand access to detention facilities, the plaintiffs here are legislators — people who aren’t generally allowed to sue the same government that employs them to obtain relief.

Judge Rao says the administration is likely to emerge victorious because the Democratic congressional reps don’t have standing. But that doesn’t mean the government has presented solid arguments about its own interests in denying access to detention facilities.

The government has credibly alleged inconvenience and disruption caused by congressional visits. But the government has not shown that these harms arise from congressional visits undertaken without seven days’ advance notice, as opposed to congressional visits generally. The government cites a single security incident involving the unauthorized presence of the Mayor of Newark in the secured area of an ICE facility and the alleged obstruction of the Mayor’s arrest by Representative McIver. But the government does not explain how this incident resulted from a lack of prior notice of the Representative’s oversight visit.

To be sure, the mayor of Newark is not allowed to access ICE facilities without advance notice or explicit permission. But that doesn’t extend to everyone else ICE wishes to keep out of its facilities — a list that seems to include every congressional rep that actually might want to perform an inspection.

In addition, this never used to be a problem. The Appeals Court isn’t convinced that it’s suddenly a problem now, just because this version of the DHS wants to pretend it is.

By contrast, the Members have provided numerous declarations attesting to congressional visits made with less than seven days’ notice that were conducted without incident since 2019. The government does not meaningfully dispute these accounts and responds only that the pending litigation incentivizes the Members to conduct their visits in a nondisruptive manner. Even if that is true, this pending appeal will continue to provide the same incentives for good behavior.

For now, congressional reps don’t need to give ICE a heads up before engaging in an inspection. That may change (at least temporarily) if the administration can show these congressional reps don’t have standing to pursue this litigation. But we can hope that any final dispensation of this case only grants the administration its argument about standing. The law is still the law, no matter how the DHS might feel about the law. When this all wraps up, the status should be reset to quo: Congressional reps have a legal right to inspect facilities without advance notice. Everything else is just mud in the water.

Daily Deal: Babbel Language Learning (All Languages) [Techdirt]

Become a language expert with a Babbel Language Learning subscription. With the app, you can use Babbel on desktop and mobile, and your progress is synchronized across devices. Want to practice where you won’t have Wi-Fi? Download lessons before you head out, and you’ll be good to go. However you choose to access your 10K+ hours of online language education, you’ll be able to choose from 14 languages. And you can tackle one or all in 10-to-15-minute bite-sized lessons, so there’s no need to clear hours of your weekend to gain real-life conversation skills. Babbel was developed by over 100 expert linguists to help users speak and understand languages quickly. With Babbel, it’s easy to find the right level for you — beginner, intermediate, or advanced — so that you can make progress while avoiding tedious drills. Within as little as a month, you could be holding down conversations with native speakers about transportation, dining, shopping, directions, and more, making any trip you take so much easier. It’s on sale for $159 when you use the code LEARN at checkout.

Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated by StackCommerce. A portion of all sales from Techdirt Deals helps support Techdirt. The products featured do not reflect endorsements by our editorial team.

03:00 AM

Trump’s $10 Billion IRS Lawsuit May Become a $1.7 Billion Slush Fund for MAGA’s Self-Proclaimed Victims [Techdirt]

The saga of Trump suing his own IRS for $10 billion just got weirder. What started as a brazenly corrupt attempt to personally pocket $10 billion in taxpayer money has now morphed into something arguably worse: a $1.7 billion patronage slush fund — unappropriated by Congress — that Trump could dole out to loyal MAGA allies who claim they were “victimized” by the Biden administration.

As you’ll recall, Trump sued his own IRS over something that a contractor (who has already been convicted and is currently serving in prison) did: leaking some tax returns Trump had promised to release, but never did. He asked for $10 billion, in a situation where he, himself, would decide if he got paid or not. When his own DOJ told the court that it was negotiating a settlement, the judge pointed out that she was concerned that it looked an awful lot like a single party negotiating with itself over how much of the Treasury it should receive.

The judge — Kathleen Williams — asked for further briefing from “both” parties on this, and the deadline is coming up quickly, which is why various purported “settlements” are leaking to the press. A few days ago it was going to be that Trump and all of his family and all of his related businesses would magically have all IRS audits dropped, which would be an astoundingly brazen level of corruption.

But now ABC is reporting about another potential “settlement” (again, “settlement” is the wrong word — it’s Trump’s legal team negotiating with Trump’s DOJ, which is run by his former legal team. It’s one team negotiating with itself) which is just as egregious and corrupt: Trump would apparently agree to drop his case against the IRS in exchange for… a $1.7 billion slush fund of taxpayer money that he could dole out to his friends who whine to the government that they were “targeted” for retribution by a “weaponized” Biden administration.

President Donald Trump is expected to drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service in exchange for the creation of a $1.7 billion fund to compensate allies who claim they were wrongfully targeted by the Biden administration, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

The commission overseeing the compensation fund would have the total authority to hand out approximately $1.7 billion in taxpayer funds to settle claims brought by anyone who alleges they were harmed by the Biden administration’s “weaponization” of the legal system, including the nearly 1,600 individuals charged in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol attack as well as potentially entities associated with President Trump himself.

So, yeah, a $1.7 billion slush fund for Trump supporters who (in some cases) literally engaged in insurrection to overturn the results of a free and fair election, or for various hangers-on who play the victim every chance they get and pretend the Biden administration “weaponized” the government against them.

It’s not worth getting into the possibility of using this slush fund to pay off the ~1,600 Trump supporters who were duly convicted in a court of law for various crimes, all of whom were later pardoned by Trump (even as dozens of them have been re-arrested for other crimes, which should put to rest any remaining notion that Trump is the “law and order” president — but of course it won’t).

But we can talk about the various claims of “weaponization” because we covered many of them. Remember, Jim Jordan got himself appointed as the anti-weaponization czar in Congress, and used that to actually weaponize the government to investigate and attack individuals and organizations who were not the government, but who Jordan felt unfairly pointed out disinformation and lies from those MAGA supported.

The supposed investigations into the “weaponization” of the government to suppress speech served only to suppress the First Amendment protected speech of academic researchers and organizations. And now all those who falsely insisted that the Biden administration “censored” them, even as all the evidence showed that social media companies removed content because they found that the content violated their own rules, will get to line up at the trough to get free money from American taxpayers.

This is Donald Trump handing out American taxpayer money that has never been appropriated by Congress for this purpose — shoveling it to anyone who claims victimhood under his banner, whether convicted insurrectionists, Trump allies who want their legal bills paid, or propagandists who got called out for spreading disinformation. We’re already seeing this play out. This week, Trump’s DOJ “settled” with the pandemic’s wrongest man, Alex Berenson, who got suspended from Twitter not because of any government action, but because Twitter felt that he violated their rules against spreading health misinformation.

Berenson has been suing over this for years (and mostly losing), but this week Trump agreed to pay him $150,000 and “admit” that the Biden administration tried to censor him. While some are trying to present this as some sort of big victory, getting Donald Trump to blame Joe Biden for something that didn’t happen — while shoveling taxpayer money to a man who publicly supports Trump — is not exactly a landmark legal victory. It’s almost expected in the Trump era.

The Berenson payout is a preview. Once the $1.7 billion fund is running, expect a line out the door of Trump’s groveling fans making false claims about Biden “weaponizing” the government — all of it paid for by taxpayers, none of it appropriated by Congress.

Universal Wins Indian Court Order Against IMDb-Themed Pirate Streaming Sites [TorrentFreak]

imdb logoFor more than two decades, pirates have used the Internet Movie Database, better known as IMDb, in ways its operators never intended.

Back in 2005, for example, there was already a popular Greasemonkey browser script called “IMDb torrent linker,” which added links to torrents directly on the site.

Similar scripts still exist today and, with streaming sites being far more popular now, the IMDb connections have evolved as well. Instead of linking to torrents, IMDb URLs can now be tweaked to stream pirated content directly in the browser.

Add ‘Play’ to the URL

One of the sites that openly uses the IMDb connection is Playimdb. This site can be used by simply adding the IMDb link to a search box, which then redirects users to a pirate stream.

PlayIMDb

playimb

In addition, people can also use the official IMDb site as their main navigation tool. Then, they can simply “add” play to the URL, which will then trigger the redirect.

Add Play

add play to imdb

“Just modify the URL and start watching instantly,” PlayIMDb’s operator explains.

And indeed, at the time of writing, Playimdb points visitors to pirated movies that are streamed through streamimdb.ru, which loads the video from vidapi.ru.

Aside from the usual malware concerns that always come with untrusted sites, movie studios and other rightsholders are not happy with this ‘playful’ use of IMDb, which infringes the copyrights of their movies.

Indian Block, Suspend, and Expose Order

This prompted Universal City Studios to take action against the site and similar pirate portals. At the High Court of Delhi, the movie studio requested an injunction that targets PlayIMDb, StreamIMDb, and a cluster of associated embed and streaming domains from several angles.

Universal complained that, through these sites, pirated copies of its films, including “Fast X,” “F9: The Fast Saga,” and “The Secret Life of Pets 2” were widely shared.

Justice Tushar Rao Gedela granted the interim injunction against the sites’ operators last week. In addition to copyright infringement, the order notes that these sites exploit the goodwill of IMDb.

“The material on record demonstrates that the defendants have devised a mechanism whereby users are redirected from legitimate IMDb title pages to unauthorized streaming interfaces merely by altering the domain structure while retaining the same IMDb Title ID.”

“Such conduct, coupled with the use of domain names incorporating the expression “IMDb”, prima facie reflects dishonest adoption intended to exploit the goodwill and recognition associated with IMDb and to induce users into accessing infringing streams under the guise of legitimacy,” the order adds.

The order targets 17 unique domain names, and it directs Indian ISPs to block access to all of them within 72 hours. This also applies to several popular embed services, including VIDSRC and MoviesAPI.

Def No. Domains Registrar
1 vidsrc.icu NameSilo
2 vidsrc.vip, godriveplayer.com, and moviesapi.club Namecheap
3 vidsrc.me and streamimdb.me Immaterialism
4 playimdb.com, www.playimdb.com, vidsrc.stream, vidsrc.xyz and vidsrc.net Tucows Domains
5 vidsrc.to and moviesapi.to Tonic Registry
6 streamimdb.ru, vidsrcme.ru, vsembed.ru, vidrock.ru, and vidapi.ru R01-RU

As we have seen before with these types of broad court orders, the injunction also expanded to domain name registrars, including American companies such as NameSilo, Namecheap, and Tucows, which are instructed to suspend the associated domains.

At the time of writing, Namecheap has indeed suspended the listed domain names by placing them on Clienthold. The other domain names remain active.

Clienthold

clienthold

The Indian court order also requires all the named registrars and registries to share the available personal details of the associated account holders, including credit card information and mobile numbers, within 72 hours.

Dynamic Injunction Extends to Mirrors

As with previous blocking orders from the Delhi High Court, the injunction is dynamic. If Universal identifies additional domains while the lawsuit is ongoing, it can request additional blocks through the Department of Telecommunications without going back to court.

Among others, it covers any “mirror/redirect/alphanumeric website which appears to be associated with any of the rogue defendants, either based on its name, branding, the identity of its operator, or source of the content..,” the order explains.

From the Court Order

order

Through this dynamic extension process, the Indian Government quietly approves hundreds, if not thousands, of new domain blockades every month.

For now, the effect of the IMDb-themed order is limited. While local ISPs in India are blocking the site, most foreign domain registrars have not taken action, likely because they fall outside the jurisdiction of the Delhi High Court. This means that these domains remain operational.

A copy of the Delhi High Court’s order in Universal City Studios Productions LLLP v. Playimdb.com & Ors., CS(COMM) 492/2026, is available here (pdf). Thanks to Bar and Bench for sharing the order.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

12:00 AM

Personally [Seth Godin's Blog on marketing, tribes and respect]

Professionals take their work seriously.

Hobbyists can take it personally.

We arrive and make a promise. We do it on behalf of the client, and that promise has little to do with what we might want to do–it’s what they need us to do.

And so we make our promises carefully, and keep them with effort. That’s serious.

But it’s not personal.

      

Pluralistic: No one wants a permanent gerontocracy (15 May 2026) [Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow]

->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->-> Top Sources: None -->

Today's links



The Supreme Court building, with the justices seated before it. The justices float, disembodied, their skins tinted green, their skulls shining through their faces. The court is titled at a spooky angle. Behind it loom dark clouds and a glowing moon.

No one wants a permanent gerontocracy (permalink)

Perhaps the most demoralizing part of Trumpismo is the fear that the people around you are so cruel and senseless that they approve of the violence, the racism, the pig-ignorant lies and rampant theft:

https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/08/who-goes-maga/

One of the things keeping me going in these dark days is the pollster G Elliot Morris, whose "Strength in Numbers" newsletter is a reliable, robust and nuanced source of information about the way other people – including Trump's base – feel about him from moment to moment. Reading items like "A reminder: Very few people support Donald Trump's presidency" make it easier to get through the day:

https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/a-reminder-very-few-people-support

It's a very good piece, breaking down the collapse in support for Trumpismo and confidence in Trump's mental health, even among the people who have historically stood by him, even though – incredibly! – about a third of Americans still support him and believe in his fitness to rule.

But the most interesting part of this post is the eye-popping poll result on a question that is only incidentally about Trump: the extremely broad, bipartisan support for both age limits and term limits for the House, the Senate, the Presidency and the Supreme Court.

How broad and bipartisan are these results?

  • 80% of Americans want age limits in the House and Senate (D78%, R83%; I79%);

  • Most Americans want age limits for the presidency (R73%, I61%) (the most popular age limit is 79);

  • Most Americans (65%) want an 18-year term limit for Supreme Court justices;

  • Most Americans (79%) want age limits for Supreme Court justices.

As Morris writes, this represents "a level of cross-partisan agreement that’s almost unheard of on a high-salience issue."

There are different ways to parse this out. The past decade has shown that, in the absence of a hard rule to the contrary, incumbents will stay in office long after it's obvious they should step down. That was true of Biden, who continued to campaign for a presidential term long after it was obvious that he was no longer physically and mentally capable of doing the job.

It was true of Ruth Bader-Ginsburg, whose commitment to the symbolic value of having her successor appointed by the first woman president allowed Trump to appoint the monstrous Amy Coney Barrett to a lifetime on the Supreme Court, which could well last another 30 years. It was true of Antonin Scalia, who would have handed a Supreme Court pick to the Obama administration if it wasn't for Mitch McConnell's willingness to steal a seat for Neal Gorsuch.

It's true of Kay Granger, a sitting congresswoman whose staff hid the fact that her dementia had progressed to the point that she had to be moved to an assisted living facility – while still holding office:

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/03/14/kay-granger-dementia-dc-media-00210317

It was true of Gerry Connolly, who insisted that he – not AOC – should be the head of the Oversight Committee, despite the fact that he was dying of cancer:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/rep-gerry-connolly-announces-return-of-cancer-steps-down-as-top-oversight-democrat

It was true of Dianne Feinstein, who continued to serve in the Senate despite having advanced dementia:

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/04/sen-dianne-feinsteins-saga-is-a-very-public-example-of-a-national-crisis/

These politicians are wed to a system of seniority and patronage that insists that everyone who "pays their dues" should get a turn. It's a system that relies on politicians banking favors from their peers and then paying them back by anointing successors, thus requiring politicians to serve until they are ready to choose that successor.

We have created a system in which no one dares to hand over power, because to do so is to unilaterally disarm, while the other side keeps their permanent gerontocrats in positions of authority. Not only does this system starve the pipeline of young politicians who can progress to fill those new roles, it also exposes each party to significant risk. If your majority rests on a handful of seats and your caucus includes a dozen people who are actuarially certain to die soon, then the whole system could be upended by a couple of highly likely blood-clots:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/01/designated-survivors/

It's not that every politician over the age of 70 (or 80, or 85) is incapable of doing the job: it's that a system that runs on a mix of incumbency advantage, seniority, patronage and hubris is a bad system and the only fix for it is to put hard limits on terms – both based on how many years you hold office, and how many years you walk the earth.

The system where everyone who pays their dues gets a turn was never going to work, and that should have been especially obvious to the system's longest-tenured participants, who've had decades to notice how long-lived their colleagues are, and to compare those lifespans to the number of committee chairs, senate seats and other treasures there are to be had in the halls of power.

There are lots of good ideas – like abolishing the Electoral College or limiting political spending – that are popular with a majority of Americans, but these ideas are often very unpopular with conservatives:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/18/the-people-no/#tell-ya-what-i-want-what-i-really-really-want

But this is a realm in which – as Morris says – there is "almost unheard-of…cross-partisan agreement." It's the one idea that all Americans – including older Americans (at least the ones who aren't in the House, Senate or Oval Office; or on the Supreme Court) agree on: rule by permanent gerontocracy is bad, and should end.

In not so many months, both parties are going to have to pick their next presidential candidates (in the case of Republicans, it may be sooner, depending on Trump's cheeseburger intake). Those primary contests are going to implicitly raise the issue of whether we should be ruled according to the principle of "everyone who pays their dues gets a turn." But a shrewd politician could win a lot of favor among voters (and fury among their colleagues) by campaigning on age- and term-limits for high office.

(Image: Pacamah, CC BY-SA 4.0, modified)


Hey look at this (permalink)



A shelf of leatherbound history books with a gilt-stamped series title, 'The World's Famous Events.'

Object permanence (permalink)

#25yrsago The life of a celeb PA https://www.theguardian.com/education/2001/may/14/highereducation.comment

#20yrsago DOJ moves in dark of night to quash EFF wiretapping lawsuit https://web.archive.org/web/20060524092447/https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004659.php

#20yrsago WolfenGitmo: Guantanamo Bay mod for Castle Wolfenstein https://web.archive.org/web/20060520203517/https://a.parsons.edu/~evan/school/?q=node/29

#20yrsago Where does booing come from? https://web.archive.org/web/20181215223044/https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2006/05/where-do-hecklers-come-from.html

#15yrsago Steven Levy on Facebook’s ironic privacy charge against Google https://web.archive.org/web/20110514121727/https://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/05/facebook-privacy-problems/

#15yrsago Michael Moore’s “Some Final Thoughts on the Death of Osama bin Laden” https://web.archive.org/web/20110513181408/https://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/some-final-thoughts-on-death-of-osama-bin-laden

#15yrsago DHS’s “Secure Communities” program will deport battered woman for calling 9-1-1 on her abuser https://web.archive.org/web/20110514142235/https://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2011/05/isaura_garcia_battered_secure.php

#15yrsago TSA: we’ll search your baby and it will make the country safer https://www.loweringthebar.net/2011/05/tsa-says-baby-frisking-justified.html

#10yrsago Telcoms companies try to rescue TV by imposing Internet usage caps on cord-cutters https://www.techdirt.com/2016/05/13/isps-are-now-forcing-cord-cutters-to-subscribe-to-tv-if-they-want-to-avoid-usage-caps/

#10yrsago The weird, humiliating nicknames George W Bush gave to everyone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nicknames_used_by_George_W._Bush

#10yrsago “Tendril perversion”: when one loop of a coil goes the other way https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tendril_perversion

#10yrsago Clicking “Buy now” doesn’t “buy” anything, but people think it does https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2778072

#5yrsago Uber (Ch)eats https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/13/uber-cheats/#50-companies

#5yrsago The Democratic establishment https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/13/uber-cheats/#party-bosses

#1yrago Who Broke the Internet? Part II https://pluralistic.net/2025/05/13/ctrl-ctrl-ctrl/#free-dmitry


Upcoming appearances (permalink)

A photo of me onstage, giving a speech, pounding the podium.



A screenshot of me at my desk, doing a livecast.

Recent appearances (permalink)



A grid of my books with Will Stahle covers..

Latest books (permalink)



A cardboard book box with the Macmillan logo.

Upcoming books (permalink)

  • "The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book about being a better AI critic, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2026 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374621568/thereversecentaursguidetolifeafterai/)

  • "Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2026

  • "The Post-American Internet," a geopolitical sequel of sorts to Enshittification, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2027

  • "Unauthorized Bread": a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, April 20, 2027

  • "The Memex Method," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2027



Colophon (permalink)

Today's top sources:

Currently writing: "The Post-American Internet," a sequel to "Enshittification," about the better world the rest of us get to have now that Trump has torched America. Third draft completed. Submitted to editor.

  • "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux about being an effective AI critic. LEGAL REVIEW AND COPYEDIT COMPLETE.

  • "The Post-American Internet," a short book about internet policy in the age of Trumpism. PLANNING.

  • A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING


This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net.

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ISSN: 3066-764X

Friday 2026-05-15

11:00 PM

Bari Weiss Let Benjamin Netanyahu Pick His Own Softball Interviewer [Techdirt]

What’s left of CBS News recently landed an interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It’s a bit of a doozy (transcript, video). There’s a part where Netanyahu tries to blame foreign social media bot farms for the rise in people disgusted by his government’s carpet bombing of children. There’s a part where he pretends to not actually want billions in U.S. taxpayer dollars.

And there’s this part where he likens himself to Churchill and makes some strange comments about Hitler:

PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: They implant themselves among civilians, you know, so that they have civilian casualties and they can put it on the tube or in your cell phone. So, yes, I mean, I don’t know how to fight it. I mean, Churchill, without cell phones and without digital campaigns and farm bots was labeled a warmonger in the 1930s because he said, “You have to stand up to Hitler.”

MAJOR GARRETT: Hitler, right.

PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: And they accused him of being a warmonger. And Hitler didn’t even say “death to America, death to Britain,” you know. I– I think he might have planned it, but he didn’t say it. And still they accused him of that.

The interviewer, Major Garrett, spends absolutely no serious time pushing back against the claims Netanyahu makes. Or meaningfully addressing indisputable evidence that the Israeli government has engaged in widespread genocidal war crimes on the U.S. taxpayer dime. When Netanyahu tries to dismiss the massive civilian casualties in Gaza, Iran, and Lebanon as minor and innocent mistakes, Garrett has no response.

Garrett doesn’t normally work for 60 Minutes. He was brought on board from elsewhere within CBS because Netanyahu specifically asked for him. According to Oliver Darcy’s excellent media newsletter Status, 60 Minutes correspondent Leslie Stahl was trying to land the interview with Netanyahu when Weiss intervened and shuffled the interview over to Garrett, causing (more) internal anger:

“But behind the scenes, Status has learned that famed “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl had also been gunning for the interview but was upstaged by CBS News boss Bari Weiss, who booked Netanyahu herself and handed the interview to Garrett, who is notably not a “60 Minutes” correspondent. The move sparked hostility and amplified the already strained relationship between Weissand the reporting team at the iconic newsmagazine.”

Not so iconic anymore.

The New York Post (for what it’s worth) also indicates that Netanyahu got to select his interviewer as a condition of CBS landing the interview. Weiss, a self-described “Zionist fanatic,” was hired by right wing billionaire Larry Ellison specifically for this sort of softball treatment of global autocrats, and had already been under fire for censoring stories that displeased the Trump administration.

There’s been a mass exodus at CBS for months as actual journalists bristle at the obvious shift toward soggy corporatist agitprop under Weiss. While Weiss was hired on to modernize CBS and make autocratic billionaire ass kissing exciting, viral, and good for ratings; the whole experiment has been a monumental failure so far, with CBS News recently seeing its lowest ratings in a quarter century.

Weiss rose to prominence at her weird little troll blog Free Press, which obviously hasn’t translated well to running a television network. Case in point: Weiss’ preferred new CBS News anchor, Tony Dokoupil, is having to broadcast the network’s coverage on Trump’s China visit from Taiwan because Weiss and friends failed to secure his visa on time for the trip. This mirrors other similar competency issues like Weiss making last-minute unapproved changes to teleprompter text that screws up broadcasts.

Beyond the clownish nature of it all, it remains an open question who this sort of stuff is actually for (beyond the extremely rich people endlessly trying to control information flow). Despite having a massive fortune, Ellison seems incapable of creating propaganda people actually want to watch, and even their target audience — center-right bigots with impaired critical thinking faculties — aren’t tuning in because they have a universe of other terrible (but far more entertaining) choices.

Like Jeff Bezos’ sad and desperate effort to repurpose the Washington Post into what now feels like a satirical billionaire-coddling rag, all the money in the world can’t seem to produce class warfare agitprop actual human beings want to consume. Almost as if the behaviors of the global authoritarian extraction class are starting to reach a point where they’re simply too heinous and ham-handed to spin.

08:00 PM

How Retail Book Distribution Actually Works [The Business of Printing Books]

How Retail Book Distribution Actually Works

Do you dream of seeing your book on a shelf in your favorite indie bookstore? Can you picture it displayed next to other bestsellers on Bookshop.org? Have you already started working on your pitch for why your local library should add your book to their catalog? 

Whether you’re independently published or traditionally published, there are ways to make these dreams a reality. But many authors focus on convincing bookstores and libraries to carry their book, while overlooking the most essential part of the process.

Before you pitch your book to bookstores, retailers, and libraries, you have to make sure that your book is available to those outlets. To do that, you need to understand how book distribution works, and how to ensure your book is eligible for retail distribution. 

Don’t feel like reading today? Listen to Matt & Lauren break down book distribution in Episode #114 of Publish & Prosper!

Book Distribution 101

If you’re confused about how distribution works, or confused about why your book doesn’t seem to be eligible or available for distribution, you’re not alone: distribution is confusing. Distribution is especially confusing if you’re new to the publishing industry, unfamiliar with the terminology, and/or trying to understand the different stages and players involved. 

It definitely doesn’t help that some of the language used to describe distribution is interchangeable and overlapping with other industry terms. We’re only a few paragraphs deep into this blog post, and I’ve already used two different phrases, book distribution and retail distribution, to describe the same process.

So before we break down the steps of the distribution cycle, there are a few key phrases and players to know:

Retail Distribution vs. Global Distribution

In the Lulu ecosystem, retail distribution is the primary phrase used when referring to the distribution of books to third-party retailers and libraries. In the past, we’ve also used the phrase global distribution, which you may still see in some older educational resources and knowledge base articles.   

Publisher vs. Distributor vs. Wholesaler vs. Retailer

Throughout the five stages (described below) of distribution, books will pass through several different outlets, including:

  • Publisher → The original source responsible for publishing the book, whether that’s a traditional publisher like Penguin Random House, a small or indie press like Limelight Publishing, or a publishing platform like Lulu.
  • Distributor → Works on behalf of publishers as the middleman between the publisher and the retailer. Distributors can manage warehousing, inventory, and fulfillment for publishers, but don’t usually own the inventory themselves. 
  • Wholesaler → The retailer for retailers. Wholesalers buy bulk inventory of books from publishers and retailers and resell them. 
  • Retailer → Online and brick-and-mortar purveyors of books, including Amazon, Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Waterstones, and your favorite local indie bookstore. 

Distributors and wholesalers do serve different purposes, but in reality, they often overlap. Many of the major worldwide book distributors like Ingram, Gardners, and formerly Baker & Taylor, are also wholesalers… And yes, that does add to the confusion. For the purpose of this blog post, we’ll stick to just saying distributor. 

Ingram vs. Ingram

Ingram Content Group is the largest book distributor and wholesaler in the United States, and one of the largest worldwide distributors. Any book, whether traditionally or self-published, being distributed through the US is likely being handled by Ingram Content Group, known colloquially through the industry as Ingram. 

However, indie authors in particular might confuse Ingram with IngramSpark, the self-publishing company. In the context of retail distribution specifically, IngramSpark is the publisher, Ingram is the distributor


Breaking Down the Distribution Cycle Into 5 Steps

Many different resources online cover the book distribution cycle, breaking it down into a nuanced step-by-step process that often reaches double digits. If you’re really curious about the minutiae of the process, go forth and dig deep into that content! 

But for most indie authors just trying to understand how it all works—and where you fit into the cycle—we can boil it down to a high-level 5 steps. You’re welcome.

Step 1: Publisher Creates the Book Metadata

In the publishing industry, a book officially exists once it has been assigned an ISBN. In traditional publishing houses, that record is usually created well before the publication date. For self-published titles, that record is usually created at the time of publication. 

Once a book has its ISBN, and the subsequent metadata attached to that ISBN, it is officially discoverable. A book that does not have an ISBN is virtually invisible to the entire distribution system, and will be ineligible for retail distribution.

Step 2: Book is Listed with Distributors

Now that the metadata exists, the book can be listed with a distributor, making it discoverable to retailers. However, just because a book is assigned an ISBN and metadata does not mean it will automatically be added to distributor catalogs. The publisher needs to submit the book and metadata to the distributor. 

It’s important to complete Step 1 and Step 2, and to confirm they’ve been done correctly and successfully, before making any efforts towards Step 3.

Step 3: Retailer is Made Aware of the Book

After a book has been successfully listed with a distributor, it is discoverable by retailers, but that discovery comes in many different ways. 

For online retailers, this is automatic; they will systematically scrape their distributors’ catalogs for new titles and add the metadata to their online stores. While this step is automatic, it is not instantaneous; many indie authors have found themselves stagnating here while waiting for approval.

For brick-and-mortar retailers (and libraries), it’s a much more manual discovery process. This is where the pitch and promo efforts come into play. Traditional publishers often rely on sales reps to promote new and upcoming titles to bookstores; indie authors are responsible for pitching their own books directly. Booksellers will also pay attention to buzz on social media, write-ups in trade publications, unexpected bestsellers, and frequently requested titles. 

Step 4: Retailer Orders the Book From the Distributor [Brick-and-Mortar Only]

Whether they’re interested in ordering inventory for the store or fulfilling a customer order, the retailer will search their distributor’s database for the title of interest and check for three things: availability, returnability, and wholesale discount.

If the book meets all three requirements per the retailer’s standards, they can now place an order through the distributor. Requirements may vary from retailer to retailer, but they are often that the book must be: available (obviously), returnable, and offered at a 40% (may be 30-50%) wholesale discount. 

Step 5: Order is Fulfilled

The order is placed with the distributor and/or online retailer, who in turn passes it on to the necessary fulfillment channel. 

Recently released and bestselling traditionally published books are often warehoused by distributors, in which case they (not the publisher) will handle order fulfillment. Print-on-demand titles will be fulfilled by the publisher and shipped directly to the bookstore or customer. 

What Indie Authors Need to Know

On the surface, the distribution cycle is the same for traditionally published and independently published books, but how each step is managed—and who is responsible for it—can vary. 

In general, retail distribution is baked into the overall publishing process for every single title released by a traditional publisher; all books are assigned ISBNs and appropriate metadata, meet standard distribution requirements, and are listed with distributors. The first two steps are always handled in-house. Step 3 may be partially the author’s responsibility, but with support from the publisher’s sales reps. 

Indie authors, on the other hand, are responsible for managing their own book distribution. Here’s a checklist of what you’ll need to do if you’re publishing your book through Lulu and are interested in retail distribution: 

Lulu Retail Distribution Checklist 

  1. Before you publish, make sure that your book is eligible for retail distribution
    Use our pricing calculator to make sure your binding type, trim size, and other design details are approved for retail distribution. Refer to this help article for other eligibility requirements, including interior content.
  2. Secure an ISBN for your book
    Either purchase your own from Bowker or use one of the free ISBNs Lulu provides during the publishing process. 
  3. Carefully fill out all metadata details
    Make sure that your book’s metadata is thorough, accurate, and meets industry standards to maximize your discoverability and avoid potential distribution rejection.
  4. Opt into Retail Distribution
    When publishing your book, choose Global Distribution in the Select a Goal step.
  5. Set a competitive and acceptable list price
    Use our retail pricing calculator to ensure that your book is priced to have at least a 40% retail profit margin over the minimum print cost.
  6. Confirm that your book’s distribution was approved
    Search your ISBN in online databases like Ingram and online retailers like Bookshop.org to confirm your book’s availability (before pitching stores and libraries!).
  7. Let the world know!
    Pitch your book to booksellers and librarians! Ask your friends, family, and fans to request your book from their local stores! Get the word out there and watch the buzz grow! 
How Retail Book Distribution Actually Works

Your Free Lulu Account

Create a Lulu Account today to print and publish your book for readers all around the world

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Retail distribution isn’t for every author. If your book doesn’t meet eligibility requirements, or you want more control over your sales, Lulu offers plenty of other ecommerce options, including our Lulu Direct and API solutions and our very own Lulu Bookstore

But if your publishing dreams include your book on bookstore shelves, retail distribution is a must. Hopefully, now it makes a little more sense! 

Kanji of the Day: 住 [Kanji of the Day]

✍7

小3

dwell, reside, live, inhabit

ジュウ ヂュウ チュウ

す.む す.まう -ず.まい

住民   (じゅうみん)   —   inhabitant
住宅   (じゅうたく)   —   residence
住む   (すむ)   —   to live (of humans)
在住   (ざいじゅう)   —   residing
住所   (じゅうしょ)   —   address
住まい   (すまい)   —   dwelling
住宅ローン   (じゅうたくローン)   —   housing loan
移住   (いじゅう)   —   migration
住居   (じゅうきょ)   —   dwelling
住宅街   (じゅうたくがい)   —   residential area

Generated with kanjioftheday by Douglas Perkins.

Kanji of the Day: 督 [Kanji of the Day]

✍13

中学

coach, command, urge, lead, supervise

トク

監督   (かんとく)   —   supervision
映画監督   (えいがかんとく)   —   movie director
総監督   (そうかんとく)   —   general manager
美術監督   (びじゅつかんとく)   —   art director
音楽監督   (おんがくかんとく)   —   music director
監督官   (かんとくかん)   —   inspector
督促   (とくそく)   —   urge
助監督   (じょかんとく)   —   assistant director (in taking professional movies)
提督   (ていとく)   —   admiral
監督者   (かんとくしゃ)   —   superintendent

Generated with kanjioftheday by Douglas Perkins.

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