Jamie Merchant
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jamiemerchant.bsky.social
Jamie Merchant
@jamiemerchant.bsky.social
2.3K followers 540 following 220 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/
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jamiemerchant.bsky.social
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
Reposted by Jamie Merchant
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
NEW: @propublica.org investigated the Chicago apartment raid where kids were zip-tied and citizens detained for hours. They find:

- NONE of the arrested were criminally charged
- NO evidence the building was "filled with TdA terrorists."
- ZERO legitimate reason for DHS to rappel from a Blackhawk.
As a Black Hawk helicopter roared overhead, the slender, 28-year-old immigrant from Venezuela answered softly, his eyes darting to a television crew invited to film the raid. Next to Caicedo, masked Border Patrol agents inspected another man’s tattoos and asked him if he belonged to Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang that the Trump administration has designated a terrorist group. Until that moment, Caicedo’s only interaction with law enforcement in his two-and-a-half years in the United States had been a traffic stop two weeks earlier for driving without a license or insurance, according to the records we reviewed. Chicago police had run a background check on him and found no prior arrests, no warrants and no evidence that he was in a gang. Caicedo said he had a pending asylum application, a steady job at a taco joint and a girlfriend whose daughter attended elementary school across the street. None of that mattered. The U.S. government paraded him and his neighbors in front of the cameras and called their arrests a spectacular victory against terrorism. But later, after the cameras had gone, prosecutors didn’t charge Caicedo with a crime. They didn’t accuse him of being a terrorist. And after a brief hearing in immigration court, the government sent him back to the country he had fled nine years earlier. “I lost everything,” he said in a phone interview from his mother’s home in the Venezuelan city of Valencia. “For those fools, everyone from Venezuela is a criminal.”
November 13, 2025 at 2:08 PM
jamiemerchant.bsky.social
The ongoing 'bailout' of AI covered here is just another aspect of creeping state capitalism in the U.S., and how even it's supposedly most "innovative" sectors can't survive without truly massive infusions of state money because they're not actually profitable

www.wsj.com/opinion/you-...
Opinion | You May Already Be Bailing Out the AI Business
Washington is treating the industry as if it’s too big to fail, even as the market sends lukewarm signals.
www.wsj.com
November 13, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Reposted by Jamie Merchant
solidaritygoth.bsky.social
I got to work this morning to find a close coworker weeping.
They're in bad $ trouble bc of our bad pay & a weak social support network... $7 in the bank for a week.
I told them I could help bc my people help.
So I ask if anyone can spot $5 to my Venmo so I can transfer as a lump: @Kristofer-Nivens
November 13, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Reposted by Jamie Merchant
harmscommitted.com
"Solidarity is literally in LA's DNA."

"The goal: to weave a grassroots shield against ICE crackdowns and social services cuts and offer a model for how neighbors, not institutions, can bridge fear and isolation."
#California #USA #Policing #Deportation #EthnicCleansing
In South LA, Black and Latino neighbors unite against ICE as systems fail
As Trump-era immigration enforcement arrests hit 540 weekly and cuts to SNAP threaten families, neighbors are launching mutual aid hubs to keep each other safe.
lapublicpress.org
November 13, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Reposted by Jamie Merchant
sbworkersunited.org
As of this morning, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history.

Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
Don't Buy Starbucks! At any location, today and beyond, while workers are on ULP strike!
November 13, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Reposted by Jamie Merchant
onachtwey.bsky.social
German capitalism as we know it is coming to an end.
November 13, 2025 at 5:35 AM
Reposted by Jamie Merchant
kickstarterunited.org
WE WON! After 42 days of striking we have a tentative agreement in hand that protects our existing 4 day work week, establishes a minimum salary, and adds protections against AI replacing jobs at our workplace!
Graphic celebrating our strike ending. It reads: November 12, 2025 The Strike is Over! with a raised fist and the Kickstarter United logo in each corner After 7 months of bargaining, and 42 days of striking Kickstarter United has voted to end the strike Graphic with multiple picket signs that reads "[up arrow] Minimum Salary", "4 day Work Week", and a big cancel sign over "AI Replacing Jobs" and so much more. Go to kickstarterunited.org to see it all!
November 12, 2025 at 10:54 PM
jamiemerchant.bsky.social
absolutely cannot be stressed enough how incompetent and stupid these goons are. add the hundreds of detainees being released in Chicago today (& prolly more to come) because these morons were too dumb to think for a minute about what they were doing. self-defeating stupidity all the way down
chrisgeidner.bsky.social Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 5d
The WSJ on how unbelievably stupid Noem and Lewandowski are.

I don’t care that I’m late to this; it’s to good to pass up.

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
More broadly, officials across ICE say Noem and Lewandowski have directed them to use a $170 billion infusion of cash from Congress to launch splashy ideas that have proven ineffective or impractical. Among the examples some ICE officials have cited: A few weeks ago, the pair ordered ICE officials to buy 10 737 jets from Spirit Airlines that they said would be used to boost deportation flights— and for their own travel, according to people familiar with the matter. Some officials warned the pair that the effort would be prohibitively expensive compared with hiring more flight contractors, the people said. Once the officials looked into the proposal, they learned that Spirit, which filed for bankruptcy for a second time in August, didn't own the planes. The planes also don't have engines, which would need to be purchased separately. The project has since been put on pause, though DHS recently purchased two Gulfstream jets for $200 million, according to Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee, who were notified by the department. A spokesperson for Spirit didn't respond to a request for comment.
November 13, 2025 at 2:10 AM
jamiemerchant.bsky.social
great news and great example of how the admin’s “move fast and break things” approach really just amounts to being so stupid and reckless they undermine themselves

www.nbcchicago.com/investigatio...
Hundreds of individuals detained by ICE, CBP in Chicago to be released after judge's ruling
‘Independence Day’ will be any time before Friday for hundreds of Chicago and Midwestern immigrants who were arrested and detained by U.S. law enforcement.
www.nbcchicago.com
November 12, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Reposted by Jamie Merchant
As a forever night owl, this is sometimes my favorite time in the city.
www.chicagomag.com/chicago-maga...
Photo Essay: 2 a.m. in Chicago
We asked six photographers to capture a slice of the city at an hour when most Chicagoans are asleep. Here’s what they came back with one Thursday in September.
www.chicagomag.com
November 12, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Reposted by Jamie Merchant
rmfifthcircuit.bsky.social
The crazy thing is that he’s the one who is right in this exchange
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

TRUMP: You have to bring in talent

INGRAHAM: Well, we have plenty of talented people in America

TRUMP: No you don't. No.

INGRAHAM: We don't have talented people here?
November 12, 2025 at 3:18 AM
Reposted by Jamie Merchant
nikolajbill.bsky.social
Rod Dreher putting on a hot dog costume as he sits down to type this out..
10. Anti-Semitism is spreading like a virus among religious conservatives of the Zoomer generation. They're getting it through online influencers, but apparently their pastors and parents are either not fighting back, or have lost authority in the minds of these young people. This is irrational. For example, I heard from a number of Zoomercon Christians that Zoomer trad Catholics are making antisemitism part of their spirituality - this, despite the fact that the Catholic Church explicitly condemns it. The same phenomenon, I am hearing, exists among Zoomercon Orthodox and Protestants. Putting aside politics, this is total spiritual poison. From https://roddreher.substack.com/p/what-i-saw-and-heard-in-washington?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true
November 11, 2025 at 3:08 PM
jamiemerchant.bsky.social
surprise, this entire federal immigration “enforcement” action is completely illegal

abc7chicago.com/post/ice-chi...
Judge considers releasing hundreds arrested in Chicago-area immigration enforcement 'blitz'
Attorneys for the National Immigrant Justice Center have argued hundreds of undocumented migrants arrested by federal agents were arrested in violation of a consent decree in place in Illinois and fiv...
abc7chicago.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Reposted by Jamie Merchant
ilcofchi.bsky.social
Our next ILC Chicago member meeting will be on Sunday, November 16th at 2pm!

Non-members who would like to get involved are encouraged to attend, but we ask that everyone RSVP first. Location details will be shared with registrants a few days before the meeting.

RSVP: forms.gle/hdZXZN16XRT8...
Background image of a woodcut print of Chicago buildings in autumnal colors. Overlaid text says "Independent Labor Club of Chicago, Monthly Member Meeting. November 2025. Sunday, Nov 16th, 2-4pm. RSVP for location. Linktr.ee/chicagoilc
November 6, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Reposted by Jamie Merchant
ilcofchi.bsky.social
If you want to help build independent working class power in Chicago and make some fantastic new friends, contact us! The Independent Labor Club of Chicago is new and growing fast. We'd love to hear from you! forms.gle/VWJurD3YHJsu...
CHICAGO INDEPENDENT LABOR CLUB
forms.gle
November 10, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Reposted by Jamie Merchant
ilcofchi.bsky.social
Starbucks workers are kicking off a super ambitious, and EXTREMELY IMPORTANT nation wide strike this Thursday. The success of this highly visible strike, in this political moment, is likely to determine whether other workers have the confidence to organize and strike in their own workplaces.
Funky poster for a Starbucks workers union rally with bold text and hand drawn green lips shouting "No union contract? No coffee!" The event details are: Red Cup Rally, Thursday, November 13th, 2025, at 4pm at Dempster & Dodge in Evanston. Accepting non-perishable food items for workers.
November 10, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Reposted by Jamie Merchant
ilcofchi.bsky.social
ILC Chicago members are invited to next month's Bowling Night and Friendsgiving Potluck! We'll be gathering at Timber Lanes on Sunday, November 23rd at 4pm. Families welcome! Learn more and RSVP here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
November 6, 2025 at 1:31 AM
jamiemerchant.bsky.social
bovine and a clutch of his chucklefucks will leave Chi but leave behind a detachment as in LA
November 11, 2025 at 4:49 AM
Reposted by Jamie Merchant
kathbarbadoro.bsky.social
Google AI is like an Eric Adams quote generator
Al Overview Men in New York have done countless things throughout history, from building the city to participating in major events like the Stonewall riots and the September 11 attacks. Their actions have ranged from daily life and economic hardship during the Great Depression to playing significant roles in the city's political and social landscape, such as the assassination of Malcolm X or the fight for LGBTQ+ rights.
November 10, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Reposted by Jamie Merchant
thebaffler.com
“Worldbuilding” has become synonymous with the creation of endlessly exploitable IP. This doesn’t resemble what’s going on with Elysium, which is both too expansive in scale and too scathing in its analysis of our own reality to be so reduced.
The World’s Memory of the World | Gabriel Winslow-Yost
The world of Disco Elysium evokes both postrevolutionary melancholy and communist fervor for a more just world.
thebaffler.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Reposted by Jamie Merchant
nhold.bsky.social
I finished this tonight, it's excellent, highly recommended, check it out!
October 27, 2025 at 6:31 AM
Reposted by Jamie Merchant
prayingmantis.bsky.social
THESE COLORS DON'T RUN
The Chicago flag
August 26, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Reposted by Jamie Merchant
unraveledpress.com
Crying cat emoji
royalpratt.bsky.social Gregory Pratt @royalpratt.bsky.social · 5d
On X, Bovino has a comment
November 9, 2025 at 1:11 AM
Reposted by Jamie Merchant
mandophotos.bsky.social
Members of the community argue with federal officers during an immigration enforcement action in the Little Village neighborhood Saturday in Chicago.
November 8, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Reposted by Jamie Merchant
solidaritygoth.bsky.social
I've been working on this fantasy project since the year 2000 (that's two thousand with three zeroes).
There are novels in the works - of which two are almost complete, with two others partly drafted.

The shorts on Patreon are free to read, but please support me if you feel inspired to do so. :)
November 8, 2025 at 10:19 PM