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Jamie Merchant

@jamiemerchant.bsky.social

2.2K followers 520 following 200 posts

Rock over London, rock on Chicago WRITING check out my book: https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/endgame MUSIC youtube channel: https://youtube.com/@pathtopraxis?si=rzkAYWMS37_zkvpi bandcamp page (originals): https://jamiemerchant.bandcamp.com/

reaktionbooks.co.uk

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Jamie Merchant @jamiemerchant.bsky.social · Nov 18

If you’re tired of the Democrats’ feckless failures and their vapid attempts to blame woke or w/e, and are looking for a critical history of the present that goes far back into the twentieth century to explain how we got into this mess, I got you

press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

Endgame

A new account of globalization’s decline as the natural outworking of market economics. Globalization as we know it is over. Industrial policies dismissed as obsolete for decades have been embraced ...

press.uchicago.edu

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Jamie Merchant @jamiemerchant.bsky.social · 16h

they sent the elite special forces unit FAT-HOUND

www.newsbreak.com/share/427873...

Texas National Guard arrives in Illinois, as Pritzker decries 'authoritarian march' - NewsBreak

Gov. JB Pritzker accused the president of using troops for political gain.

www.newsbreak.com

Reposted by Jamie Merchant

The People's Fabric @peoplesfabric.com · 22h

Was just talking to a friend about this exact thing. Yes they want protesters to do something violent to justify more violence and fewer rights. But in the absence of that, they will manufacture a narrative to do the same thing.

I mean, read a history book.

Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 22h

Are you starting to get it? He was always going to hit us. You will not change the math by insisting that people assume some magical form of perfect victimhood that somehow reels in a monster. That's not real. And I am so sick of hearing it.

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Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 22h

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Nancy Drew: Girl Detective @sonjajacobsen.bsky.social · 1d

Republican Congressman offers bold statement defending the government shutdown.

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Leporello @sigill.bsky.social · 1d

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Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 1d

I do think it is extremely important for people to know that the NVE label started being used under Biden. This is not a creation of Trump's DOJ.

olive consumer's ambulatory skeleton @machete.gay · 1d

Once again, I will note this claim from Ken is completely untrue and does not comport with causality or the forward motion of linear time.

The term was developed while Biden was in office.

ZADROZNY: Yeah, for sure. You just mentioned nihilistic humor. Does that play into nihilistic violent extremism, the FBI’s terrorism classification that replaced the Biden-era focus on Jan. 6-style anti-government extremism?

KLIPPENSTEIN: Yeah, I won’t pretend not to be proud that I was first to report on this. It’s the Trump administration’s designation.

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K. Thor Jensen @kthorjensen.bsky.social · 1d

this is going to be so fucking funny and he’s going to get so fucking mad

Every Film Now @everyfilmnow.bsky.social · 2d

Elon Musk announces xAI game studio will release a great AI-generated game before end of 2026.

Powered by Grok, the studio aims to revolutionize gaming with dynamic, photo-realistic experiences.

#xAI #Grok #AIGaming

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jeff computers @helldude.bsky.social · 1d

it is useful not to lose sight of how, underneath everything else, hollow all of this noise is. portland and chicago are warzones, so i am dispatching a couple hundred best buy assistant managers there to quell the insurrections. potemkin stuff, paper thin

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Jamie Merchant @jamiemerchant.bsky.social · 1d

ever think about how the people running the country are the same people from the Black Hole Sun video

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mbB...

Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun

YouTube video by SoundgardenVEVO

www.youtube.com

Reposted by Jamie Merchant

Sean T. Collins @seantcollins.com · 2d

CHATGPT: I understand where you're coming from. You worked really hard to get here, and now it's time to enjoy the fruit of your labors.

ISILDUR: So I should keep it? Elrond says I shouldn't

CHATGPT: The ring is precious. Sometimes friends don't have your best interests at heart.

ISILDUR: true

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Jamie Merchant @jamiemerchant.bsky.social · 2d

"AI better deliver for the US, or its economy and markets will lose the one leg they are now standing on"

NARRATOR: AI did not deliver for the US.

www.ft.com/content/6cc8...

America is now one big bet on AI

It’s seen as the magic fix for every threat to the US economy

www.ft.com

Reposted by Jamie Merchant

Joey Scott @joeyneverjoe.bsky.social · 2d

Chicago press organizations, along with @unraveledpress.com, @peoplesfabric.com, and @blockclubchi.bsky.social are suing DHS and ICE for detaining and assaulting journalists. Journalists in LA were successful in their suits against the dept.

Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 2d

JUST IN: Chicago journalistsa re suing DHS and ICE over force used against reporters:

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

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Jamie Merchant @jamiemerchant.bsky.social · 2d

sad!

Thomas Kennedy @tomaskenn.bsky.social · 3d

Not even the prospect of a $20 billion bailout paid by U.S. taxpayers is stabilizing Argentina after Milei’s peso/dollar manipulation failed. His sister (and chief of staff) is caught in a bribery scandal, and his top candidate was caught taking $200k from a narco. It’s over.

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 3d

Argentina’s wily currency traders drain Javier Milei’s dollars on.ft.com/4pUkn1R

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Jamie Merchant @jamiemerchant.bsky.social · 2d

👍

The Information @theinformation.com · 2d

OpenAI has projected a net loss of $13.5 billion in the first half of 2025. This is up from a loss of $3.1 billion in the same period a year ago. Learn more: https://thein.fo/42m2Oh4

OpenAI’s First Half Results: $4.3 Billion in Sales, $2.5 Billion Cash Burn

OpenAI generated around $4.3 billion in revenue in the first half of 2025, about 16% more than it generated all of last year, according to financial disclosures to shareholders. The company said it bu...

thein.fo

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Jamie Merchant @jamiemerchant.bsky.social · 3d

Now's the time to show up Chicago, if you're able

Reposted by Jamie Merchant

Jathan Sadowski @jathansadowski.com · 3d

The AI bubble is gonna tank the economy. The ironic future of AI is to throw us backwards into a great depression. Let’s gooooo www.marketwatch.com/story/the-ai...

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unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 3d

CPD just relieved feds from this line too. Then a moment later the feds gassed the whole area, including the cops.

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 3d

This is an outright lie.

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 3d

State, county, and local law enforcement have been working together and coordinating to ensure public safety around the Broadview ICE facility, and to protect people’s ability to peacefully exercise their constitutional rights.

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Michael Roche @michaelroche.bsky.social · 4d

ICE just gassed a group a civilians near the Rico Fresh supermarket intersection on Armitage in Chicago - bystanders say this was in response for being heckled from the street.

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Eric Reinhart @eric-reinhart.com · 4d

ICE just blatantly violated the law and arrested sitting Chicago Alderperson Jessie Fuentes while seeking to illegally arrest a patient in a hospital. Fuck these fascists.

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shawn @mulchy.bsky.social · 5d

some pushing and shoving from cops as a group of protesters attempted to rush out in front of an ice vehicle that was arriving back at the broadview ice facility.

one state trooper gets pretty handsy with father david black, a regular protester here.

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shawn @mulchy.bsky.social · 5d

moments ago: pandemonium.

a huge mass of border patrol agents, led by greg bovino, pushed the crowd of protesters and started grabbing people at random.

leading up to this, folks were just calmly standing in the grass, following isp’s orders.

multiple people detained. no clue how many.

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Caroline Kubzansky @ckubzansky.bsky.social · 5d

Greg Bovino in the middle of this arrest. I have counted six so far. Agents and protesters are standing off at the intersection with ISP and other agencies scattered around. ISP masking up.

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Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 5d

“Fuck them kids.”

That’s literally what an ICE agent said when ICE, the FBI et al. raided an apartment in Chicago, including with a Blackhawk helicopter, separated children from their parents, and zip-tied them to each other.

abc7chicago.com/post/ice-chi...

bangs.

"They was terrified. The kids was crying. People was screaming. They looked very distraught. I was out there crying when I seen the little girl come around the corner, because they was bringing the kids down, too, had them zip tied to each other," Watson said. "That's all I kept asking. What is the morality? Where's the human? One of them literally laughed. He was standing right here. He said, 'f*** them kids.'"

Watson said trucks and military-style vans were used to separate parents from their children. Other neighbors said agents destroyed property to get in the building.

"They had a big, 15-inch chainsaw with round blade on it, cutting this fence down," said witness Darrell Ballard. "We're under siege. We're being invaded by our own military."

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Erin Fogg says Free Link @criminalerin.bsky.social · 5d

Excellent tips for keeping ICE out of your phone now featuring alt text

Android:

Don't give apps your
tracking ID!

One big way your Android phone tracks you is by making up an ID for itself and giving that to advertising companies, which eventually winds up in the hands of investigators. It calls this ID its "advertising ID." In the latest Android versions, you turn off delivery of this by going into the Settings app and navigate to Security & Privacy > Privacy > Ads. Tap "Delete advertising ID."

In older Android versions where that option isn't there you reset it instead, which protects you better if you do it often.

iPhone: Don't give apps your
tracking ID!

One big way your iPhone tracks you is by making up an ID for itself and giving that to advertising companies, which eventually winds up in the hands of investigators. It calls this ID its IDFA, or "ID for advertisers."

Whenever an app asks for this, you can click "Ask App Not to Track" and that app (and the creeps which sweep up information from it) won't be able to follow you! Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking to turn this off for apps you might have already allowed.

You can turn off another tracker by going to Settings > Privacy > Apple Advertising and set the "Personalized Ads" switch to "off"

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