Podcast Bookclub

I had honestly given up, but I saw this this morning:

Is it a bit? Or a work? Or is the bit the work?

Today's links The Nuremberg Caucus: What do Democrats have to lose? Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Bradbury x LA monorails; Red Cross vs first aid kits; Wyden on CIA Senate spying; Coates x Sanders; Nerdy Valentines; Duke U, trademark troll; "The Murder Next Door." Upcoming appearances: Where to find me. Recent appearances: Where I've been. Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em. Colophon: All the rest. The Nuremberg Caucus (permalink) America's descent into authoritarian fascism is made all the more alarming and demoralizing by the Democrats' total failure to rise to the moment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KADW3ZRZLVI But what would "rising to the moment" look like? What can the opposition party do without majorities in either house? Well, they could start by refusing to continue to fund ICE, a masked thug snatch/murder squad that roams our streets, killing with impunity: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-passes-sprawling-spending-package-democrats-split-ice-funding-rcna255273 That's table stakes. What would a real political response to fascism look like? Again, it wouldn't stop with banning masks for ICE goons, or even requiring them to wear QR codes: https://gizmodo.com/dem-congressman-wants-to-make-ice-agents-wear-qr-codes-2000710345 Though it should be noted that ICE hates this idea, and that ICE agents wear masks because they fear consequences for their sadistic criminality: https://archive.is/0LNh8 This despite the fact that the (criminally culpable) Vice President has assured them that they have absolute impunity, no matter who they kill: https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/08/politics/ice-immunity-jd-vance-minneapolis The fact that ICE agents worry about consequences despite Vance's assurances suggests ways that Dems could "meet the moment." I think Dems should start a Nuremberg Caucus, named for the Nazi war-crimes trials that followed from the defeat of German fascists and the death of their leader: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_trials What would this caucus do? Well, it could have a public website where it assembled and organized the evidence for the trials that the Democrats could promise to bring after the Trump regime falls. Each fresh outrage, each statement, each video-clip – whether of Trump officials or of his shock-troops – could be neatly slotted in, given an exhibit number, and annotated with the criminal and civil violations captured in the evidence. The caucus could publish dates these trials will be held on – following from Jan 20, 2029 – and even which courtrooms each official, high and low, will be tried in. These dates could be changed as new crimes emerge, making sure the most egregious offenses are always at the top of the agenda. Each trial would have a witness list. The Nuremberg Caucus could vow to repurpose ICE's $75b budget to pursue Trump's crimes, from corruption to civil rights violations to labor violations to environmental violations. It could announce its intent to fully fund the FTC and DoJ Antitrust Division to undertake scrutiny of all mergers approved under Trump, and put corporations on notice that they should expect lengthy, probing inquiries into any mergers they undertake between now and the fall of Trumpism. Who knows, perhaps some shareholders will demand that management hold off on mergers in anticipation of this lookback scrutiny, and if not, perhaps they will sue executives after the FTC and DoJ go to work. While they're at it, the Nuremberg Caucus could publish a plan to hire thousands of IRS agents (paid for by taxing billionaires and zeroing out ICE's budget) who will focus exclusively on the ultra-wealthy and especially any supernormal wealth gains coinciding with the second Trump presidency. Money talks. ICE agents are signing up with the promise of $50k hiring bonuses and $60k in student debt cancellation. That's peanuts. The Nuremberg Caucus could announce a Crimestoppers-style program with $1m bounties for any ICE officer who a) is themselves innocent of any human rights violations, and; b) provides evidence leading to the conviction of another ICE officer for committing human rights violations. That would certainly improve morale for (some) ICE officers. Critics of this plan will say that this will force Trump officials to try to steal the next election in order to avoid consequences for their actions. This is certainly true: confidence in a "peaceful transfer of power" is the bedrock of any kind of fair election. But this bunch have already repeatedly signaled that they intend to steal the midterms and the next general election: https://www.nj.com/politics/2026/02/top-senate-republican-rejects-trumps-shocking-election-plan-i-think-thats-a-constitutional-issue.html ICE agents are straight up telling people that ICE is on the streets to arrest people in Democratic-leaning states ("The more people that you lose in Minnesota, you then lose a voting right to stay blue"): https://unicornriot.ninja/2026/federal-agent-in-coon-rapids-the-more-people-that-you-lose-in-minnesota-you-then-lose-a-voting-right-to-stay-blue/ The only path to fair elections – and saving America – lies through mobilizing and energizing hundreds of millions of Americans. They are ready. They are begging for leadership. They want an electoral choice, something better than a return to the pre-Trump status quo. If you want giant crowds at every polling place, rising up against ICE and DHS voter-suppression, then you have to promise people that their vote will mean something. Dems have to pick a side. That means being against anyone who is for fascism – including other Dems. The Nuremberg Caucus should denounce the disgusting child abuse perpetrated by the Trump regime: https://www.propublica.org/article/life-inside-ice-dilley-children But they should also denounce Democrats who vote to fund that abuse: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/fetterman-shutdown-dhs-ice-senate-b2916350.html The people of Minneapolis (and elsewhere) have repeatedly proven that we outnumber fascists by a huge margin. Dems need to stop demoralizing their base by doing nothing and start demonstrating that they understand the urgency of this crisis. Hey look at this (permalink) Prescription: Social Media https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7_GTts4XTY&t=114s ENIAC Day Celebration https://www.helicoptermuseum.org/event-details/eniac-day-celebration Matrix is quietly becoming the chat layer for governments chasing digital sovereignty https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/09/matrix_element_secure_chat/ The Children of Dilley https://www.propublica.org/article/life-inside-ice-dilley-children Martin Shkreli Had a Point https://lpeproject.org/blog/martin-shkreli-had-a-point/ Object permanence (permalink) #20yrsago Ray Bradbury: LA needs monorails! https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-feb-05-op-bradbury5-story.html #20yrsago How statistics caught Indonesia’s war-criminals https://web.archive.org/web/20060423232814/https://www.wired.com/news/technology/1,70196-0.html #20yrsago Canadian Red Cross vows to sue first aid kits, too https://memex.craphound.com/2006/02/10/canadian-red-cross-vows-to-sue-first-aid-kits-too/ #20yrsago Sports announcer traded for Walt Disney’s first character https://web.archive.org/web/20060312134156/http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-nbc-michaels&prov=ap&type=lgns #15yrago Government transparency doesn’t matter without accountability https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2011/feb/10/government-data-crime-maps #10yrsago Hackers stole 101,000 taxpayers’ logins/passwords from the IRS https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/02/irs-website-attack-nets-e-filing-credentials-for-101000-taxpayers/ #10yrsago CIA boss flips out when Ron Wyden reminds him that CIA spied on the Senate https://www.techdirt.com/2016/02/10/cia-director-freaks-out-after-senator-wyden-points-out-how-cia-spied-senate/ #10yrsago Ta-Nehisi Coates will vote for Bernie Sanders, reparations or no reparations https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSJmxN-L300 #10yrsago Gmail will warn you when your correspondents use unencrypted mail transport https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/gmail/making-email-safer-for-you-posted-by/ #10yrsago Detoxing is (worse than) bullshit: high lead levels in “detox clay” https://www.statnews.com/2016/02/02/detox-clay-fda-lead/ #10yrsago Nerdy Valentines to print and love https://www.evilmadscientist.com/2016/valentines-4/ #5yrsago A criminal enterprise with a country attachedhttps://pluralistic.net/2021/02/10/duke-sucks/#openlux #5yrsago Tory donors reap 100X return on campaign contributions https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/10/duke-sucks/#chumocracy #5yrsago Duke is academia's meanest trademark bully https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/10/duke-sucks/#devils #5yrsago Crooked cops play music to kill livestreams https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/10/duke-sucks/#bhpd #1yrago Hugh D'Andrade's "The Murder Next Door" https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/10/pivot-point/#eff Upcoming appearances (permalink) Salt Lake City: Enshittification at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (Tanner Humanities Center), Feb 18 https://tanner.utah.edu/center-events/cory-doctorow/ Montreal (remote): Fedimtl, Feb 24 https://fedimtl.ca/ Victoria: 28th Annual Victoria International Privacy & Security Summit, Mar 3-5 https://www.rebootcommunications.com/event/vipss2026/ Berkeley: Bioneers keynote, Mar 27 https://conference.bioneers.org/ Berlin: Re:publica, May 18-20 https://re-publica.com/de/news/rp26-sprecher-cory-doctorow Berlin: Enshittification at Otherland Books, May 19 https://www.otherland-berlin.de/de/event-details/cory-doctorow.html Hay-on-Wye: HowTheLightGetsIn, May 22-25 https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/hay/big-ideas-2 Recent appearances (permalink) America's Enshittification is Canada's Opportunity (Do Not Pass Go) https://www.donotpassgo.ca/p/americas-enshittification-is-canadas Everything Wrong With the Internet and How to Fix It, with Tim Wu (Ezra Klein) https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-doctorow-wu.html How the Internet Got Worse (Masters in Business) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auXlkuVhxMo Enshittification (Jon Favreau/Offline): https://crooked.com/podcast/the-enshittification-of-the-internet-with-cory-doctorow/ Why Big Tech is a Trap for Independent Creators (Stripper News) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmYDyz8AMZ0 Latest books (permalink) "Canny Valley": A limited edition collection of the collages I create for Pluralistic, self-published, September 2025 "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 7 2025 https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/ "Picks and Shovels": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels). "The Bezzle": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 (thebezzle.org). "The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org). "The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245). "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com. "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com 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 "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, 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 (1007 words today, 25708 total) "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. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution. 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You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer. ISSN: 3066-764X

The resolution, though nonbinding, is a significant shot at those who seek to erode transgender rights on the continent.

It was wicked cold, you guys.

What if we didn’t fix anything because things are fine actually, you maniacs.