Arjun Basu
@arjun.bsky.social
Novelist. Proud Montrealer/Fier Montréalais. Beer league hockey. Habs. Board member Access Copyright. A "Certified Elder.” Brand/content consultant. Host The Full Bleed, a podcast about the future of (print) magazines. https://linktr.ee/arjunbasu
So much winning
The Cabinet this week
*RFK Jr. bragged about snorting cocaine off of a toilet seat
*Lutnick acknowledged taking his family to Epstein island
*Bondi “The Dow” / refuses to look at victims
*Noem blanket
*Hegseth loses to Kelly, tries to tweet through it
*Bessent “tariffs don’t cause inflation”
*RFK Jr. bragged about snorting cocaine off of a toilet seat
*Lutnick acknowledged taking his family to Epstein island
*Bondi “The Dow” / refuses to look at victims
*Noem blanket
*Hegseth loses to Kelly, tries to tweet through it
*Bessent “tariffs don’t cause inflation”
February 14, 2026 at 3:01 AM
So much winning
Bogs, bugs, freedom and loss: walking alongside Ontario’s early Black settlers: thenarwhal.ca/ontario-nort...
Walking 1,300 km of Black history in Ontario | The Narwhal
Ken Johnston walked from Niagara Falls to Owen Sound, following the boggy, buggy Underground Railroad path of early Black settlers in Ontario
thenarwhal.ca
February 13, 2026 at 2:53 PM
Bogs, bugs, freedom and loss: walking alongside Ontario’s early Black settlers: thenarwhal.ca/ontario-nort...
Yesterday I waited to Godot
February 12, 2026 at 7:39 PM
Yesterday I waited to Godot
Has an ad ever been so poorly received so quickly? It almost happened in real time.
People on Reddit are getting Amazon to refund their Ring products because of their partnership with Flock and that creepy Super Bowl ad
www.reddit.com/r/FlockSurve...
www.reddit.com/r/FlockSurve...
February 11, 2026 at 10:28 PM
Has an ad ever been so poorly received so quickly? It almost happened in real time.
I want this to be my writing room. I might never leave it. This was a “self contained office capsule” designed to alleviate eye strain and neck pain. 1992 by Canadian designer Douglas Bell. They built 100 of them. I would never leave it.
February 11, 2026 at 9:36 PM
I want this to be my writing room. I might never leave it. This was a “self contained office capsule” designed to alleviate eye strain and neck pain. 1992 by Canadian designer Douglas Bell. They built 100 of them. I would never leave it.
Nothing more beautiful than a bunch of typewriters.
February 11, 2026 at 9:31 PM
Nothing more beautiful than a bunch of typewriters.
B.C. community of Tumbler Ridge in mourning after mass shooting kills 9, including 6 inside school | CBC
www.cbc.ca
February 11, 2026 at 2:43 PM
Reposted by Arjun Basu
This is quite literally a fundamentalist honor killing
A MAGA freak in Texas murdered his own daughter in cold blood after they had an argument about Trump.
A grand jury in the Dallas area then *declined to indict him*, and he has not yet faced charges.
Seems like many Texans believe a man has the right to kill his own child for disobedience.
A grand jury in the Dallas area then *declined to indict him*, and he has not yet faced charges.
Seems like many Texans believe a man has the right to kill his own child for disobedience.
British Woman shot by dad in Texas after 'arguing about Donald Trump'
Lucy Harrison, 23, was alone in a bedroom at her father's home in Texas when she was shot dead.
www.bbc.com
February 11, 2026 at 9:27 AM
This is quite literally a fundamentalist honor killing
Reposted by Arjun Basu
Dozens of researchers will move to France from US following high-profile bid to lure talent. Large proportion worked at Columbia University, which had its grants cut and frozen by the administration of US President Donald Trump. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Dozens of researchers will move to France from US following high-profile bid to lure talent
Large proportion worked at Columbia University, which had its grants cut and frozen by the administration of US President Donald Trump.
www.nature.com
February 10, 2026 at 5:27 PM
Dozens of researchers will move to France from US following high-profile bid to lure talent. Large proportion worked at Columbia University, which had its grants cut and frozen by the administration of US President Donald Trump. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Arjun Basu
So sad
Trump Opens Marine National Monument in Atlantic to Commercial Fishing
www.nytimes.com
February 10, 2026 at 9:59 PM
So sad
Exactly. Like there was not a single person that said “Hold up!” or “what are we doing here?” or curled up into a ball and started shaking with the realization the evil was coming from inside the room?
I am genuinely surprised they ran the “we can find your dog LITERALLY ANYWHERE!” ad in February 2026 and didn’t think anyone would be like uhhhhhhhh
February 10, 2026 at 9:56 PM
Exactly. Like there was not a single person that said “Hold up!” or “what are we doing here?” or curled up into a ball and started shaking with the realization the evil was coming from inside the room?
Reposted by Arjun Basu
Both these options sound objectively amazing, why do racists keep assuming everyone's racist?
February 10, 2026 at 5:15 PM
Both these options sound objectively amazing, why do racists keep assuming everyone's racist?
Hate that this will always be correct.
February 10, 2026 at 8:44 PM
Hate that this will always be correct.
Reposted by Arjun Basu
Listen to this. Not a penny more for this. Abolish and prosecute anyone who had anything to do with it.
"A modern-day concentration camp ... People have been killed by the staff here." Irish citizen Seamus Culleton has been in ICE detention since September, despite having a valid work permit and his own business in the US.
February 10, 2026 at 3:41 PM
Listen to this. Not a penny more for this. Abolish and prosecute anyone who had anything to do with it.
Reposted by Arjun Basu
If you’ve been vaguely worried but unsure how to talk about the kidnappings happening all around us, this might help.
February 10, 2026 at 3:09 PM
If you’ve been vaguely worried but unsure how to talk about the kidnappings happening all around us, this might help.
As the manuscript lies dormant between drafts, it becomes a magnet for post it notes, some masquerading as ideas, or even coherent thoughts.
February 10, 2026 at 2:47 PM
As the manuscript lies dormant between drafts, it becomes a magnet for post it notes, some masquerading as ideas, or even coherent thoughts.
Reposted by Arjun Basu
Reposted by Arjun Basu
This is the 38th time that the U.S. military has unlawfully killed civilians on the orders of Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump. At least 130 people — never charged with crimes, their identities unknown to their executioners — are now dead.
We are murdering people and it is basically just background noise at this point. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/u...
U.S. Boat Strike Kills 2 in Pacific, With One Survivor
www.nytimes.com
February 10, 2026 at 11:29 AM
This is the 38th time that the U.S. military has unlawfully killed civilians on the orders of Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump. At least 130 people — never charged with crimes, their identities unknown to their executioners — are now dead.
Reposted by Arjun Basu
Environ 55% des consommateurs québécois disent toujours éviter d’acheter américain selon un récent sondage.
Que reste-t-il du mouvement de boycottage des produits états-uniens?
www.ledevoir.com
February 10, 2026 at 11:31 AM
Environ 55% des consommateurs québécois disent toujours éviter d’acheter américain selon un récent sondage.
Reposted by Arjun Basu
"I'm going to Mars" "I'm going to the moon" You can't even go to visit your children
Elon Musk's ambition to one day settle Mars appears to have taken a back seat for a rather nearer and more achievable goal – sending humans to live on the moon. https://cnn.it/46sbAMm
February 10, 2026 at 12:23 AM
"I'm going to Mars" "I'm going to the moon" You can't even go to visit your children
So what is being conserved then?
A group of conservative activists has worked for 16 years to stop all government efforts to fight climate change. Their efforts are now paying off.
The EPA is expected to revoke the endangerment finding, which has underpinned the government’s ability to fight global warming since 2009.
The EPA is expected to revoke the endangerment finding, which has underpinned the government’s ability to fight global warming since 2009.
A Campaign to Revoke the Endangerment Finding Appears Near ‘Total Victory’
A small group of conservative activists has worked for 16 years to stop all government efforts to fight climate change. Their efforts seem poised to pay off.
nyti.ms
February 10, 2026 at 1:46 PM
So what is being conserved then?
Levi's is, like, best stadium naming rights deal ever.
I'm hardly the first person to note this, but it's enormously instructive that our President and his followers saw the message "THE ONLY THING MORE POWERFUL THAN HATE IS LOVE" and understood it, correctly, as an attack on them
What a moment.
February 9, 2026 at 5:26 PM
Levi's is, like, best stadium naming rights deal ever.
They got a week's worth of content out of Super Bowl.
So did everyone else, to be fair.
So did everyone else, to be fair.
I assume Fox News hosts and the right-wing Committee on What We Should Be Angry About is meeting as we speak to decide its post-Super-Bowl topic.
February 9, 2026 at 5:25 PM
They got a week's worth of content out of Super Bowl.
So did everyone else, to be fair.
So did everyone else, to be fair.