Yan Basque
@yanbasque.com
Writer, artist and musician. Queer. Critic of technology. Grad student (Information Studies at McGill). (He/him)
https://linktr.ee/yanbasque
https://linktr.ee/yanbasque
Reposted by Yan Basque
the outsized place of nobel prize as an actual thing in idiots' minds would be easily erased with its abolition
January 19, 2026 at 12:01 PM
the outsized place of nobel prize as an actual thing in idiots' minds would be easily erased with its abolition
Reposted by Yan Basque
New: We built an interactive map of every ICE contractor working with the Trump administration.
readsludge.com/2026/01/16/t...
readsludge.com/2026/01/16/t...
The Companies Behind ICE
Sludge built an interactive map of every ICE contractor working with the Trump administration.
readsludge.com
January 16, 2026 at 8:19 PM
New: We built an interactive map of every ICE contractor working with the Trump administration.
readsludge.com/2026/01/16/t...
readsludge.com/2026/01/16/t...
Reposted by Yan Basque
I don’t know how to help people on this app understand that you can just let people have happy moments! and in fact you *should*
The world is shit, if someone is smiling for a second, AWESOME
The world is shit, if someone is smiling for a second, AWESOME
January 16, 2026 at 3:06 AM
I don’t know how to help people on this app understand that you can just let people have happy moments! and in fact you *should*
The world is shit, if someone is smiling for a second, AWESOME
The world is shit, if someone is smiling for a second, AWESOME
Someone had to say it!
As the world burns, let's get one thing straight. A video podcast is just a TV show.
January 16, 2026 at 12:27 AM
Someone had to say it!
The section in this article that challenges the use of the term "AI literacy" is so good! I'm going to keep referring to this from now on.
In “Against AI: Critical Refusal in the Library,” I examine LIS as in need of a values-realignment, asking readers to refuse the technosolutionism we are so often offered in place of human-centered possibilities, like taking racism, climate change, and labor rights seriously
doi.org/10.1353/lib....
doi.org/10.1353/lib....
Project MUSE - Against AI: Critical Refusal in the Library
doi.org
January 15, 2026 at 11:19 PM
The section in this article that challenges the use of the term "AI literacy" is so good! I'm going to keep referring to this from now on.
Wikipedia is dead. techcrunch.com/2026/01/15/w...
Wikimedia Foundation announces new AI partnerships with Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Perplexity, and others | TechCrunch
The AI partnerships allow companies to access the org's content, like Wikipedia, at scale.
techcrunch.com
January 15, 2026 at 6:47 PM
Wikipedia is dead. techcrunch.com/2026/01/15/w...
Wild
Astonishing admission from Ollie Ilott, the Director General for AI in the British government.
He says you wouldn't want an opt-out from AI training to be too easy to use, because the primary goal would be to get more work for AI companies to train on 🤯
🧵 1/3
He says you wouldn't want an opt-out from AI training to be too easy to use, because the primary goal would be to get more work for AI companies to train on 🤯
🧵 1/3
January 14, 2026 at 2:25 PM
Wild
Reposted by Yan Basque
Meta, Microsoft and Google are all coordinating with the European far right in order to dismantle EU digital laws designed to protect citizens, according to a new report.
The recent 🇺🇸NSS strategy outlined regime change plans to support the European far right.
A public-private partnership.
The recent 🇺🇸NSS strategy outlined regime change plans to support the European far right.
A public-private partnership.
US tech giants allying with European far-right to strip back EU rules
Amid rising EU-US tensions, a new report has accused Big Tech of courting far-right MEPs to weaken the EU's regulatory power on AI and data.
www.brusselstimes.com
January 14, 2026 at 10:40 AM
Meta, Microsoft and Google are all coordinating with the European far right in order to dismantle EU digital laws designed to protect citizens, according to a new report.
The recent 🇺🇸NSS strategy outlined regime change plans to support the European far right.
A public-private partnership.
The recent 🇺🇸NSS strategy outlined regime change plans to support the European far right.
A public-private partnership.
Reposted by Yan Basque
Everyone say hello to Tupi, a lil’ capybara baby at the San Antonio Zoo. 🥹
September 5, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Everyone say hello to Tupi, a lil’ capybara baby at the San Antonio Zoo. 🥹
Reposted by Yan Basque
Okay, let me weigh in. “Birthrates” are a fake problem, the reason only conservatives weigh in on this is because they see it as a measurement of female subordination or racial purity or both.
The US and other countries face aging, shrinking populations. Conservatives have shaped debate over the issue. Some liberals say it's time for progressives to weigh in. n.pr/3NH3yso
As birthrates tumble, some progressives say the left needs to offer ideas and solutions
The US and other countries face aging, shrinking populations. Conservatives have shaped debate over the issue. Some liberals say it's time for progressives to weigh in.
n.pr
January 13, 2026 at 3:28 PM
Okay, let me weigh in. “Birthrates” are a fake problem, the reason only conservatives weigh in on this is because they see it as a measurement of female subordination or racial purity or both.
Wrote this last night. Reflections on queerness, queer spaces, violence…
Thoughts while returning home from the sauna
What does it mean to be queer in academia
and how vulnerable do I want to be in that space?
I dropped a critical theory class that I had been looking forward to
because I didn't want to confront a st...
www.yanbasque.com
January 13, 2026 at 1:37 PM
Wrote this last night. Reflections on queerness, queer spaces, violence…
Reposted by Yan Basque
We love to see it!
Community-created harm reduction infrastructure to contest the alarming integration of AI agents into the Windows operating system (which is currently the most reckless deployment environment) ♥️
github.com/zoicware/Rem...
Community-created harm reduction infrastructure to contest the alarming integration of AI agents into the Windows operating system (which is currently the most reckless deployment environment) ♥️
github.com/zoicware/Rem...
GitHub - zoicware/RemoveWindowsAI: Force Remove Copilot, Recall and More in Windows 11
Force Remove Copilot, Recall and More in Windows 11 - zoicware/RemoveWindowsAI
github.com
January 12, 2026 at 6:48 PM
We love to see it!
Community-created harm reduction infrastructure to contest the alarming integration of AI agents into the Windows operating system (which is currently the most reckless deployment environment) ♥️
github.com/zoicware/Rem...
Community-created harm reduction infrastructure to contest the alarming integration of AI agents into the Windows operating system (which is currently the most reckless deployment environment) ♥️
github.com/zoicware/Rem...
So the thing I was most dreading about going to grad school in 2025 has happened (in 2026). A (relatively minor) conflict with another student who was using AI for a group assignment. I ended up dropping a class I was excited about over it. I refuse to have my name attached to any AI-generated work.
January 12, 2026 at 7:43 PM
So the thing I was most dreading about going to grad school in 2025 has happened (in 2026). A (relatively minor) conflict with another student who was using AI for a group assignment. I ended up dropping a class I was excited about over it. I refuse to have my name attached to any AI-generated work.
Exactly! Are we really going to go down this path again?!!
Hey just quick question.... how did this plan go under biden?
okay since it appears i have to spell this out even more: “training” — a thing that sounds good to sensible moderate voters, who exist and are uncomfortable with sudden change — can, if we make it, be a stalking horse for “moves that effective neuter the agency”
January 12, 2026 at 6:19 PM
Exactly! Are we really going to go down this path again?!!
This is the way!!
If I was in charge we would transfer the entire police budget to the public library system
January 12, 2026 at 6:16 PM
This is the way!!
Reposted by Yan Basque
If I was in charge we would transfer the entire police budget to the public library system
January 12, 2026 at 6:15 PM
If I was in charge we would transfer the entire police budget to the public library system
Reposted by Yan Basque
It was successful in changing the conversation and moving a lot of people toward abolitionist politics, including me! I was already anti-police but defund the police (and the conversation around it) gave me the language to better articulate what it means to envision a society without police.
January 12, 2026 at 6:03 PM
It was successful in changing the conversation and moving a lot of people toward abolitionist politics, including me! I was already anti-police but defund the police (and the conversation around it) gave me the language to better articulate what it means to envision a society without police.
Reposted by Yan Basque
This is pure centrist nonsense. You don’t move the overton window by compromising IN ADVANCE! You move it by asking for radical change and THEN you compromise for incremental change.
January 12, 2026 at 5:59 PM
This is pure centrist nonsense. You don’t move the overton window by compromising IN ADVANCE! You move it by asking for radical change and THEN you compromise for incremental change.
In what fucking universe, though? Has this kind of tactic ever worked? A few years ago when anti-police sentiment was on the rise with the success of the Defund campaign, reformists argued for more training (and body cams) and this led to more funding and more militarization of police.
okay since it appears i have to spell this out even more: “training” — a thing that sounds good to sensible moderate voters, who exist and are uncomfortable with sudden change — can, if we make it, be a stalking horse for “moves that effective neuter the agency”
January 12, 2026 at 5:57 PM
In what fucking universe, though? Has this kind of tactic ever worked? A few years ago when anti-police sentiment was on the rise with the success of the Defund campaign, reformists argued for more training (and body cams) and this led to more funding and more militarization of police.
Reposted by Yan Basque
The reason no journalist in Canada is going to ask our prime minister why he still posts on a nazi website that produces and distributes CSAM is that those journalists are also still posting on that website.
January 11, 2026 at 10:34 AM
The reason no journalist in Canada is going to ask our prime minister why he still posts on a nazi website that produces and distributes CSAM is that those journalists are also still posting on that website.
Reposted by Yan Basque
This is funny because our prime minister, pretty much all elected officials and official government departments all have accounts on X and continue to use it to release official statements.
BREAKING: The UK Government is working with Canada and Australia to launch a coordinated ban on X, per the Telegraph
January 11, 2026 at 10:29 AM
This is funny because our prime minister, pretty much all elected officials and official government departments all have accounts on X and continue to use it to release official statements.
This is funny because our prime minister, pretty much all elected officials and official government departments all have accounts on X and continue to use it to release official statements.
BREAKING: The UK Government is working with Canada and Australia to launch a coordinated ban on X, per the Telegraph
January 11, 2026 at 10:29 AM
This is funny because our prime minister, pretty much all elected officials and official government departments all have accounts on X and continue to use it to release official statements.
Reposted by Yan Basque
KARE 11
@kare11.bsky.social
Jana Shortal
Renee Good’s wife has a statement. Hear it in full no edits, here.
@kare11.bsky.social
Jana Shortal
Renee Good’s wife has a statement. Hear it in full no edits, here.
January 9, 2026 at 9:32 PM
KARE 11
@kare11.bsky.social
Jana Shortal
Renee Good’s wife has a statement. Hear it in full no edits, here.
@kare11.bsky.social
Jana Shortal
Renee Good’s wife has a statement. Hear it in full no edits, here.
Reposted by Yan Basque
when it's definitely going the way you thought it would
January 10, 2026 at 6:06 PM
when it's definitely going the way you thought it would