Samit Sarkar
@samitsarkar.bsky.social
✊🏾 formerly & forever Vox Union | 📝 past life: @polygon.com, next thing: TBD | ⁉️ proud @jeopardyofficial.bsky.social loser | reading, writing, playing, watching, sleeping | he/him
![a screenshot from a certain Wikipedia article; the screenshot contains the entirety of a section titled "Trump campaign use":
Donald Trump played the Rolling Stones' recording of the song at campaign appearances during the 2016 Republican primaries and the presidential election, including his nationally televised acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in July.[20] Although the campaign had attained a blanket licence from ASCAP,[21] after the convention, the band said publicly that they do not endorse Trump and requested that he cease all use of their songs immediately.[22] Despite the requests to stop, Trump continued using the song at campaign rallies before and after the 2016 election.[23] According to Jagger, the band considers the use of the song as a play-out at rallies to be "odd", given that it is a "sort of doomy ballad about drugs in Chelsea".[24] The Trump campaign continued to use the song during 2020, and after it was played to close his political rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on June 20, 2020,[25] Trump was again warned by the Stones not to use their music. They said they were working with the performing rights organisation, BMI to prevent unauthorised use.[26] The Trump campaign stopped using the song soon after and began playing "Y.M.C.A." by Village People to end his rallies instead.[27] As of 2025, the Trump administration has been playing both songs at political events.[28]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:fx3fhjmycoch4eaebv5jczmy/bafkreihevnjcn6ktl3m4i2ut3f6p5xe5yx26ha2kox64cjttsiyxza2aju@jpeg)
me looking at my movie library last night: ah, here's my copy of the Equalizer trilogy on 4K Blu-r—waitaminute
*scrutinizes credits on back of case*
Steve Tisch produced these movies? New York Giants co-owner and billionaire-who-asked-Jeffrey-Epstein-to-send-him-women Steve Tisch???
*scrutinizes credits on back of case*
Steve Tisch produced these movies? New York Giants co-owner and billionaire-who-asked-Jeffrey-Epstein-to-send-him-women Steve Tisch???
February 9, 2026 at 7:41 PM
me looking at my movie library last night: ah, here's my copy of the Equalizer trilogy on 4K Blu-r—waitaminute
*scrutinizes credits on back of case*
Steve Tisch produced these movies? New York Giants co-owner and billionaire-who-asked-Jeffrey-Epstein-to-send-him-women Steve Tisch???
*scrutinizes credits on back of case*
Steve Tisch produced these movies? New York Giants co-owner and billionaire-who-asked-Jeffrey-Epstein-to-send-him-women Steve Tisch???
Yesterday afternoon, I threw on the Switzerland-Canada women's hockey game for our 2-year-old while I took care of some laundry.
This morning, in the kitchen, he pointed to the basement door and said "hockey basement?" 🥹
So now we're down here watching France-Sweden!
This morning, in the kitchen, he pointed to the basement door and said "hockey basement?" 🥹
So now we're down here watching France-Sweden!
February 8, 2026 at 4:28 PM
Yesterday afternoon, I threw on the Switzerland-Canada women's hockey game for our 2-year-old while I took care of some laundry.
This morning, in the kitchen, he pointed to the basement door and said "hockey basement?" 🥹
So now we're down here watching France-Sweden!
This morning, in the kitchen, he pointed to the basement door and said "hockey basement?" 🥹
So now we're down here watching France-Sweden!
a few hours after hedging on whether Trump knew what was in the video when he posted it, NYT has completely revised its story (and included context pretty high up about how this fits into his long history of, y'know, being a racist), and isn't mincing words about the nature of the clip
February 6, 2026 at 4:43 PM
a few hours after hedging on whether Trump knew what was in the video when he posted it, NYT has completely revised its story (and included context pretty high up about how this fits into his long history of, y'know, being a racist), and isn't mincing words about the nature of the clip
just a perfect sequence of posts, no notes
February 6, 2026 at 1:48 AM
just a perfect sequence of posts, no notes
the "funny" thing about reading this is that I immediately flashed back to being blindsided by an 11 AM email on May 1st last year informing me that Vox had sold Polygon to Valnet and that I was being laid off — there was no team-wide call or anything from Vox management, before or after
![Over recent years, they’ve repeatedly cut the newsroom—killing its Sunday magazine, reducing the staff by several hundred, nearly halving the Metro desk—without acknowledging the poor business decisions that led to this moment or providing a clear vision for the future. This morning, executive editor Matt Murray and HR chief Wayne Connell told the newsroom staff in an early-morning virtual meeting that it was closing the Sports department and Books section, ending its signature podcast, and dramatically gutting the International and Metro departments, in addition to staggering cuts across all teams. Post leadership—which did not even have the courage to address their staff in person—then left everyone to wait for an email letting them know whether or not they had a job. (Lewis, who has already earned a reputation for showing up late to work when he showed up at all, did not join the Zoom.)
[the penultimate sentence is highlighted in blue]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:fx3fhjmycoch4eaebv5jczmy/bafkreicu4vshustiyzg5alxdply73jpau3cwyyy5atm7o5cpgh2tteeyca@jpeg)
February 4, 2026 at 7:26 PM
the "funny" thing about reading this is that I immediately flashed back to being blindsided by an 11 AM email on May 1st last year informing me that Vox had sold Polygon to Valnet and that I was being laid off — there was no team-wide call or anything from Vox management, before or after
checked my email and burst into laughter — just incredible timing by my guy Matt today
February 4, 2026 at 5:12 PM
checked my email and burst into laughter — just incredible timing by my guy Matt today
me watching Marty Supreme: wow, it's wild that they cast Indian Rob Manfred to play the head of the International Table Tennis Association
me watching the Marty Supreme credits: OH
me watching the Marty Supreme credits: OH
January 30, 2026 at 7:31 PM
me watching Marty Supreme: wow, it's wild that they cast Indian Rob Manfred to play the head of the International Table Tennis Association
me watching the Marty Supreme credits: OH
me watching the Marty Supreme credits: OH
things you can do when you're unemployed (and your kid's in daycare): see a two-and-a-half-hour movie with your wife at 12:35 on a Tuesday afternoon, sitting dead center of one of the optimal rows
January 30, 2026 at 7:20 PM
things you can do when you're unemployed (and your kid's in daycare): see a two-and-a-half-hour movie with your wife at 12:35 on a Tuesday afternoon, sitting dead center of one of the optimal rows
one sentence that illustrates how insane and ass-backwards everything is these days www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...
January 25, 2026 at 2:45 PM
one sentence that illustrates how insane and ass-backwards everything is these days www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...
![[the second paragraph is highlighted in blue]
Still, the messages kept coming.
One day, a woman wrote to me on Signal, asking me not to respond. She lived alone, she messaged, and planned to die that weekend. Before she did, she wanted at least one person to understand: Trump had unraveled the government, and with it, her life.
I called William, feeling panic rise like hot liquid in the back of my throat.
He told me to stay calm. He told me to send the woman a list of crisis resources, starting with the 988 national suicide hotline. He told me to remember that reporters are not trained therapists or counselors, just human beings doing the best we can.
“You should try to help, but whatever this woman does or doesn’t do, it may happen regardless of anything you say,” William said. “It’s not up to you.”
I did what he said, then fell asleep refreshing the app, checking for a reply. The next morning, a message appeared below her name: “This person isn’t using Signal.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:fx3fhjmycoch4eaebv5jczmy/bafkreigvrlslwslx6tzmyxt4grkmfz4iryongukuumrt5u6xpglwqytw44@jpeg)
huh, I wonder if one of them ended up by me in Westchester this evening...
January 14, 2026 at 3:57 AM
huh, I wonder if one of them ended up by me in Westchester this evening...
regional sports network postgame show-ass idea for a "news" show
January 13, 2026 at 9:43 PM
regional sports network postgame show-ass idea for a "news" show
oh, fuck allllllll the way off with this shit, Gmail
(I could post other screenshots where Gmail went ahead and summarized an email conversation without me asking it to do so, but they'd have private info in 'em)
(I could post other screenshots where Gmail went ahead and summarized an email conversation without me asking it to do so, but they'd have private info in 'em)
January 13, 2026 at 6:30 PM
oh, fuck allllllll the way off with this shit, Gmail
(I could post other screenshots where Gmail went ahead and summarized an email conversation without me asking it to do so, but they'd have private info in 'em)
(I could post other screenshots where Gmail went ahead and summarized an email conversation without me asking it to do so, but they'd have private info in 'em)
Mamdani is speaking in the first screenshot here; he has just asked Samina where in Pakistan she's from, and he's responding to her answer of Lahore.
She echoes him — "a very beautiful city" — and then images 2-4 capture what she says next.
She ends with: "The people above and the below, both."
She echoes him — "a very beautiful city" — and then images 2-4 capture what she says next.
She ends with: "The people above and the below, both."
January 11, 2026 at 2:24 AM
Mamdani is speaking in the first screenshot here; he has just asked Samina where in Pakistan she's from, and he's responding to her answer of Lahore.
She echoes him — "a very beautiful city" — and then images 2-4 capture what she says next.
She ends with: "The people above and the below, both."
She echoes him — "a very beautiful city" — and then images 2-4 capture what she says next.
She ends with: "The people above and the below, both."
GRUV dot com... c'mon, man, read the damn room
January 10, 2026 at 12:57 AM
GRUV dot com... c'mon, man, read the damn room
The morning after ICE killed Renee Good in cold blood, NYT and WaPo are no longer both-sidesing the shooting, thanks to the work of their (terrific) forensic visual analysis teams
January 8, 2026 at 2:47 PM
The morning after ICE killed Renee Good in cold blood, NYT and WaPo are no longer both-sidesing the shooting, thanks to the work of their (terrific) forensic visual analysis teams
things you can do when you're unemployed (and your kid's in daycare): see a three-hour-and-17-minute movie with your wife at 11:30 on a Monday morning, in IMAX 3D/HFR, sitting dead center of one of the optimal rows
January 6, 2026 at 8:29 PM
things you can do when you're unemployed (and your kid's in daycare): see a three-hour-and-17-minute movie with your wife at 11:30 on a Monday morning, in IMAX 3D/HFR, sitting dead center of one of the optimal rows
I felt like a capital-G Gamer™ after 100%-ing Indy the other day... and now I've been humbled by Dispatch
January 4, 2026 at 6:27 PM
I felt like a capital-G Gamer™ after 100%-ing Indy the other day... and now I've been humbled by Dispatch