ian
@merc.nyc
🇵🇭 SRE living in NYC. originally from seattle, but NYC is home. i write sometimes on redbluemagenta.com
i think this is essentially what drove me nuts about living in the UK - brits talk about american racism all the time, but pubs were segregated until the 60’s and are still largely white british institutions! there just seems to almost no retrospection comparatively
reminded of eric williams's observation about britain's relationship to its history with slavery. "British historians wrote almost as if Britain had introduced Negro slavery solely for the satisfaction of abolishing it."
holy shit: “Among the 2,000 UK adults surveyed, 85% were unaware that Britain forcibly transported more than 3 million Africans to the Caribbean, 89% did not know that Britain enslaved people in the Caribbean for more than 300 years” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
November 17, 2025 at 1:39 AM
i think this is essentially what drove me nuts about living in the UK - brits talk about american racism all the time, but pubs were segregated until the 60’s and are still largely white british institutions! there just seems to almost no retrospection comparatively
i remember having to open a PR because they didn’t filter the n-word at all
This is genuinely some bullshit on bsky's part. A reaction meme of charlie kirk gets a Black person a permanent suspension, but people who actively doxx and spread hate against marginalized people not only get to stay, but het followed by mods?
We see you, bsky, and it's pretty fucking disgusting.
We see you, bsky, and it's pretty fucking disgusting.
Unfortunate update: Link reached out to BlueSky and got email back now on reason.
His appeal is denied. He will remain permanently banned on BlueSky’s side.
Here are the screenshots he just sent me as of 8:22 AM EST(my time)
His appeal is denied. He will remain permanently banned on BlueSky’s side.
Here are the screenshots he just sent me as of 8:22 AM EST(my time)
October 6, 2025 at 11:11 PM
i remember having to open a PR because they didn’t filter the n-word at all
Reposted by ian
Reposted by ian
New, w/ @mulchy.bsky.social & @djbyrnes1.bsky.social:
ICE shot & killed an immigrant in the Chicago suburbs yesterday.
Then they immediately gave a misleading account of events.
Chicago erupted in chaos and a father who lived here for decades is dead. This is what really happened:
ICE shot & killed an immigrant in the Chicago suburbs yesterday.
Then they immediately gave a misleading account of events.
Chicago erupted in chaos and a father who lived here for decades is dead. This is what really happened:
What happened to Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez
Immigration agents shot and killed an unarmed 38-year-old father outside Chicago on Friday—and their initial narrative of events was quickly disproven by videos captured by witnesses.
unraveledpress.com
September 13, 2025 at 9:23 PM
New, w/ @mulchy.bsky.social & @djbyrnes1.bsky.social:
ICE shot & killed an immigrant in the Chicago suburbs yesterday.
Then they immediately gave a misleading account of events.
Chicago erupted in chaos and a father who lived here for decades is dead. This is what really happened:
ICE shot & killed an immigrant in the Chicago suburbs yesterday.
Then they immediately gave a misleading account of events.
Chicago erupted in chaos and a father who lived here for decades is dead. This is what really happened:
Reposted by ian
At least he died with the love of his life, school shootings
September 10, 2025 at 8:54 PM
At least he died with the love of his life, school shootings
oh hey there’s me and my gf behind the lakers jacket guy just barely representing the under 40 demographic
I just cannot imagine Cuomo or Adams getting this many people, especially people 40 and under, on a beautiful summer Sunday afternoon to do a scavenger hunts accessible by public transit
August 28, 2025 at 12:09 AM
oh hey there’s me and my gf behind the lakers jacket guy just barely representing the under 40 demographic
ended up failing out of the #zcavengerhunt but now hanging w friends on the LES - haven’t been out here in a minute, good excuse to be in the city
August 24, 2025 at 9:42 PM
ended up failing out of the #zcavengerhunt but now hanging w friends on the LES - haven’t been out here in a minute, good excuse to be in the city
“look at that three eyes over there”
*zuck takes off his glasses and starts sobbing in the corner, stupidly*
*zuck takes off his glasses and starts sobbing in the corner, stupidly*
Zuckerberg says superintelligence is in sight, and, when personal superintelligence comes, context-aware devices like glasses will become our primary computers (Mark Zuckerberg/Meta)
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
July 31, 2025 at 1:08 AM
“look at that three eyes over there”
*zuck takes off his glasses and starts sobbing in the corner, stupidly*
*zuck takes off his glasses and starts sobbing in the corner, stupidly*
Reposted by ian
This is on @kirstengillibrand.bsky.social and @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social and @ericswalwell.bsky.social and @danielsgoldman.dg4ny.co and everyone else who has aligned with the Republicans on their hyper Islamaphobic shit. You guys are the GOP.
Karoline Leavitt indicates the administration is open to a denaturalization-oriented investigation against Zohran Mamdani
June 30, 2025 at 5:51 PM
This is on @kirstengillibrand.bsky.social and @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social and @ericswalwell.bsky.social and @danielsgoldman.dg4ny.co and everyone else who has aligned with the Republicans on their hyper Islamaphobic shit. You guys are the GOP.
Reposted by ian
it’s wild how shameless the right has been over the years poising themselves as the “free speech” party and when they get power they do this to people using free speech
June 30, 2025 at 7:19 PM
it’s wild how shameless the right has been over the years poising themselves as the “free speech” party and when they get power they do this to people using free speech
Reposted by ian
In the words of Nelson Mandela: it always seems impossible until it’s done.
My friends, it is done. And you are the ones who did it.
I am honored to be your Democratic nominee for the Mayor of New York City.
My friends, it is done. And you are the ones who did it.
I am honored to be your Democratic nominee for the Mayor of New York City.
June 25, 2025 at 5:54 AM
In the words of Nelson Mandela: it always seems impossible until it’s done.
My friends, it is done. And you are the ones who did it.
I am honored to be your Democratic nominee for the Mayor of New York City.
My friends, it is done. And you are the ones who did it.
I am honored to be your Democratic nominee for the Mayor of New York City.
Reposted by ian
I wonder if the reason ICE agents conceal their identities, and the Trump administration is concerned about them being identified, is because they don't want anyone finding out how many J6 insurrectionists and white supremacist gang members are amongst their ranks?
June 17, 2025 at 5:02 PM
I wonder if the reason ICE agents conceal their identities, and the Trump administration is concerned about them being identified, is because they don't want anyone finding out how many J6 insurrectionists and white supremacist gang members are amongst their ranks?
Reposted by ian
Shit ain’t been right since Desus & Mero went to Showtime.
June 11, 2025 at 2:14 AM
Shit ain’t been right since Desus & Mero went to Showtime.
Reposted by ian
I think the thing a lot of people are like just refusing to grasp is the point was always that the US cutting off aid would cause mass death. That under developing these countries, creating a network of soft power and dependence was always the liberal agenda. That it was set up this way.
May 18, 2025 at 6:53 PM
I think the thing a lot of people are like just refusing to grasp is the point was always that the US cutting off aid would cause mass death. That under developing these countries, creating a network of soft power and dependence was always the liberal agenda. That it was set up this way.
Reposted by ian
It's important to remember the police that murdered this man's son claimed the son was armed however the body camera footage could not verify that fact.
Seriously. It's fuck the police until they stop killing people and even then it's still fuck the police.
Simple as that.
Seriously. It's fuck the police until they stop killing people and even then it's still fuck the police.
Simple as that.
I haven't seen the same outpouring of support for Rodney Hinton, Jr. that we saw for Luigi Mangione. GoFundMe took down the fundraiser for Hinton, who is accused of killing an officer shortly after he watched bodycam footage of police killing his 18-year-old son.
May 11, 2025 at 4:49 PM
It's important to remember the police that murdered this man's son claimed the son was armed however the body camera footage could not verify that fact.
Seriously. It's fuck the police until they stop killing people and even then it's still fuck the police.
Simple as that.
Seriously. It's fuck the police until they stop killing people and even then it's still fuck the police.
Simple as that.
Reposted by ian
This is one of the reasons why I don’t believe in up front design. Like I said to a junior once: «You’ve made all sorts of decisions, but you don’t know enough to decide these things.»
This is also why estimation is fundamentally broken: we don’t know enough. Finding out is part of solving it.
This is also why estimation is fundamentally broken: we don’t know enough. Finding out is part of solving it.
May 1, 2025 at 12:08 PM
This is one of the reasons why I don’t believe in up front design. Like I said to a junior once: «You’ve made all sorts of decisions, but you don’t know enough to decide these things.»
This is also why estimation is fundamentally broken: we don’t know enough. Finding out is part of solving it.
This is also why estimation is fundamentally broken: we don’t know enough. Finding out is part of solving it.
Reposted by ian
The US used to have free to low tuition until schools couldn't discriminate based on race
Countries with free tuition: Germany, France, Denmark, Czech Rep, Sweden, Uruguay, Turkey, Taiwan, Iceland, Austria, Finland, Greece, Egypt, India, Norway, Brazil, Argentina, Kenya, Luxemb., Slovenia, Mexico.
Something about the next generation being the future of the country, I guess.
Something about the next generation being the future of the country, I guess.
I was a first-gen, working-class Black student who took on student loans to get here.
This GOP budget would've slammed that door shut on me—and now it will for future generations.
We should be expanding access to college, not widening the achievement and racial wealth gap.
This GOP budget would've slammed that door shut on me—and now it will for future generations.
We should be expanding access to college, not widening the achievement and racial wealth gap.
April 30, 2025 at 2:52 AM
The US used to have free to low tuition until schools couldn't discriminate based on race
during my trip to japan, it was an honor to be almost ran over by a k-truck backing into the lot we were staying in w the tiniest of wheels
April 26, 2025 at 7:19 PM
during my trip to japan, it was an honor to be almost ran over by a k-truck backing into the lot we were staying in w the tiniest of wheels
Reposted by ian
As the author of a history of concentration camps, I would like to emphasize that this is a very bad idea, and we should definitely not do it.
Leavitt confirmed that the WH is working on deporting US citizens to El Salvador
April 8, 2025 at 8:52 PM
As the author of a history of concentration camps, I would like to emphasize that this is a very bad idea, and we should definitely not do it.
Reposted by ian
Unidentified men grabbing someone off the street and putting her in a car because she wrote an op-Ed. This as flatly authoritarian as anything we’ve seen in this country in a very long time.
Video of the international student at Tufts being arrested by "federal authorities" in Massachusetts has been released and it's terrifying.
They're not even uniformed officers. Just secret police thugs in hoodies and masks.
From WCVB: youtu.be/PuFIs7OkzYY
They're not even uniformed officers. Just secret police thugs in hoodies and masks.
From WCVB: youtu.be/PuFIs7OkzYY
March 26, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Unidentified men grabbing someone off the street and putting her in a car because she wrote an op-Ed. This as flatly authoritarian as anything we’ve seen in this country in a very long time.