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👻 hampton. 👻

@hampton.bsky.social
3.9K followers 890 following 340 posts

rhetoric PhD student @ UGA | senior researcher @ Princeton | staring into the abyss at: state violence & paramilitarism + radical memes & graphic media + paranormal realities & haunted presents

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Stephen C. Rea @stevierea.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
The “ceasefire” will be one year old next week. Since then, Israeli strikes have killed more than 1400 Gazans
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Robin @oloonik.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
WXQT's first complaint column, in which I gripe about an admittedly trivial matter — ads and hostile user interfaces in free-to-download mobile games. Edited by the illustrious @hampton.bsky.social wxqt-radio.ghost.io/adversarial-...
wxqt-radio.ghost.io
Adversarial User Interfaces: A Complaint Column
A complaint column about the utter disdain select app developers seem to have towards their user base, as reflected in their increasingly hostile user interfaces.
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Kate Burns @katerqburns.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
“Do I do a genocide?” Asks Trump at the fucking UN.
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The Great Pumpkin Papers 🎃🎃🎃 @professormusgrave.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
It really should be a morally serious thing to take a life or encourage a life to be taken, and with rare exceptions supporters and apologists for this war have not met that burden
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Robin @oloonik.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The fourth, and perhaps(?) final, of our Kirkening series, in which @hampton.bsky.social and I check our previous work on Kirkification, and discuss the real spirit of this past Kirkiversary. wxqt-radio.ghost.io/kirk-redux/
wxqt-radio.ghost.io
The Kirkening Part 4: Kirk, Redux
It’s the one-year anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s death, and the world’s first Kirkiversary. And as we tentatively predicted last year in the weeks A.K. (After Kirk), the Internet has certainly changed ...
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I'm trying to think of a way to phrase this that doesn't make me sound insane, but Ka$h Patel's bizarre bestiality stuff is probs pretty directly tied to his turbo-cringe form of masculinity (as a performance of domination & violence) I wrote about Patel's performative masculinity late last year:
wxqt-radio.ghost.io
Performative Patel
Kash Patel's new challenge coin and the actual performative male moment. In early October, journalist Ken Dilanian posted an image of the two faces of an alleged new challenge coin issued by the dire...
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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 16/08/2026
this is what the most mediocre, cowardly, never met a cop they didn’t want to please apologists for fascists want you to think is less important than their imaginary HR ladies
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Spencer Sunshine @transform6789.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
this is very, very bad
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
I also have to say the book metaphors for all of this have been so fascinating. Mehta says of J6 legal action that the "book is now closed." One of the highest profile militia-associated defendants convicted, Guy Reffitt, said upon his return from the riot that this was "the preface of the book."
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
if you know me you know i'm not gonna really advocate for carceral anything, but this is certainly a wild end to the J6 sedition charges
screenshot of end of judge amit mehta's august 4 2026 order on oath keepers case, which concludes with the following text: 

This is the last of the prosecutions seeking to hold accountable those responsible for the events of January 6. That book is now closed. Today’s epilogue diminishes the gravity of that day, denigrates the work of the prosecutors and law enforcement officers who secured these
convictions, and excuses criminal acts that caused a centuries-long pillar of our democracy—the peaceful transfer of presidential power—to buckle. The court cannot write a different ending.
For the foregoing reasons, the government’s Motion to Dismiss Indictment, ECF No. 967, and Supplemental Motion to Dismiss Indictment, ECF No. 979, are granted. The Superseding Indictment, ECF No. 167, is hereby dismissed with prejudice.
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MilitiaWatch @militiawatch.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
June + July BiMonthly is up on the blog now, covering some of the following: + DOJ letting J6 seditionists off the hook + Militia leaders getting pwned at the ballot box + Some notes on PF 250th event
militia.watch
BiMonthly: June+July 26 - MilitiaWatch
Two months of news updates on the US militia movement, including their election results and DOJ action.
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
("the last decade" is being too kind to much longer trends that seem inherent to the GOP since at least 2009, if not 1964)
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Disco Elysium Quotes @discoelysiumbot.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Moralists don't really *have* beliefs. Sometimes they stumble on one, like on a child's toy left on the carpet. The toy must be put away immediately. And the child reprimanded.
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
I've been thinking a lot about the president who, to quote Graham, "loves blowing stuff up." Here's another post on my blog from a while back: bsky.app/profile/hamp...
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Some pretty bizarre (but on brand) admissions from Graham in footage captured since the start of America's war on Iran: edition.cnn.com/2026/07/26/p...
Screenshot of CNN article titled "Graham called yearslong push for war with Iran ‘the best thing I’ve ever done’ in new footage"“It’s the best thing I’ve ever done. He loves blowing stuff up,” Graham said of his efforts in one clip.

“He hasn’t tweeted much at all,” Graham added, speaking about Trump, “No drama. He’s been a great wartime president. I said last night that Trump and Bibi are like Roosevelt and Churchill.”
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Timothy Burke @bubbaprog.xyz · 25/07/2026
Donald Trump at the World Cup final, as called around the world (PART ONE):
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
we had a brief (unintentional) hiatus for a minute, but @oloonik.bsky.social and I have some new WXQT content coming your way, starting with my personal essay on consuming Squid Game slop content (and the psychic damage it did to me). You can read it on our blog here:
wxqt-radio.ghost.io
AI-Generated Lost Futures, Trainwreck Viewing, and Hallucinating Engagement
Warning: big spoilers for Squid Game (all seasons) and also for AI slop content purporting to be continuations of the show (just in case you’re bizarre and care about that!). Continue only if you are ...
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The Asheville Blade @avlblade.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Our local journalism co-op, all working class trans people, faced intense harassment for a solid week for our reporting on Dem congressional candidate Jamie Ager's transphobic statements, and that he was openly allying with other anti-trans and pro-ICE Democrats. A very telling experience.
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
fifth post if you want to read: bsky.app/profile/hamp...
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
fourth post if you want to read: bsky.app/profile/hamp...
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
third post if you want to read: bsky.app/profile/hamp...
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
second post if you want to read: bsky.app/profile/hamp...
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
first post if you want to read: bsky.app/profile/hamp...
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
i'm running the gamut of many of my research interests on my blog this summer (RW politics, crumbling urbanism under neoliberalism, spectacles of absurd society, paramilitary violence, horror psychoanalysis, &c). if any of this is of interest to you, consider signing up: dead-air.ghost.io#/portal/
screenshot of recent blog posts on dead-air.ghost.io, including:
+ "My Time with Lindsey: Gunrunning, Doomsday, and the Iranian Bomb"
+ "Living in the Ruins: Killer of Sheep, Still Life, and Urban Development"
+ "UFC on the Lawn: Bread and Circuses without the Bread During Trump 2"
+ "More Trouble with the Belfast Pogroms: Examining Loyalist Bonfire Sites as Marching Season Kicks Off"
+ "'We're Gonna Need a Bigger Backrooms': Archetypes, Masculinity, and the Maladaptive Hunt"
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
I posted a blog reflection about that time I flunked out of an internship with America's most-recently-deceased war hawk. You can read it on my Ghost -- with a humble admission of teenage failure, notes on strange TV, and reflections on the frustrations of the early 2010s -- at the link below:
dead-air.ghost.io
My Time with Lindsey: Gunrunning, Doomsday, and the Iranian Bomb
Few people know this, but I was an unpaid intern in a local office for Lindsey Graham my first summer after starting college. I worked a few hours a week, filling time in the days while I ran the take...
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
(just a note, I used Bluesky and 4chan data for these searches, simply because they were two of the sources from the original OM post by Jared. they also ostensibly represent one left-leaning and one right-leaning platform, but i imagine this would be replicable with other platforms, too)
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
some further reading on some of the calls during these matches if you're curious: + Egypt match netted FIFA response: sports.yahoo.com/articles/fif... + Swiss match 'mistaken identity' red card: sports.yahoo.com/articles/swi... + rough refereeing with England match: www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footba...
sports.yahoo.com
FIFA give official response to Egypt claims that Argentina World Cup game was ‘rigged’
The back-and-forth between FIFA and Egypt is continuing after the drama in the Round of 16 clash with Lionel Messi’s Argentina. Egypt’s controversy stemmed from two critical decisions by French refere...
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
also, just for ref (and to be cute w/ a graphic), I've added match days to an @openmeasures.io graphic here. obviously, convos around a team will spike around match days, but the massive spike on the day of the (deeply controversial!!) Egypt match is, unsurprisingly, what brought this to the fore.
line graph of volume of posts containing the word "vargentina" since June 13, with team flags over match days. the egyptian flag is over a massive spike, the swiss flag over a growing spike, and english flag over a final spike.
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
due to the favor that Argentina seems to have received -- from FIFA, from refs, and especially from the video assistant referee system (VAR) -- they have received the nickname "VARgentina" from their haters this cup. I ran a quick @openmeasures.io search and google trends search for this term:
openmeasures graphic showing volume of posts containing the word "vargentina" on 4chan and Bluesky, with intermittent spikes since july 5screenshot of google trends interest in the United States for "vargentina" between June 12 and July 17, showing intermittent spikes since July 5
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
this is, of course, a confluence of my interests -- conspiracy posting and the best sport, so I wanted to add a bit about Argentina, who are mentioned in passing in @jaredlholt.bsky.social's post. they have been accused of cheating (+referee favor) throughout the tournament, some of which is valid.
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Writing for @openmeasures.io's blog, @jaredlholt.bsky.social discussed a surge in World Cup conspiracy theories, especially after Trump's intervention to get Balogun's suspension overturned. Interesting search graphic from the post here: openmeasures.io/world-cup-co... (short thread below)
export of a graph from the open measures platform showing a significant spike in activity shortly after july 5
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
has Leavitt been reading anarchist texts lmfaoooo
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A.R. Moxon @juliusgoat.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
This alone should be a decade-defining political scandal resulting in prison sentences.
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
leo dicaprio jump scare
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
(to note i've been reading comics -- incl marvel comics -- since i was a kid. i've been playing magic for over a decade. the MCU soured me a LOT on the comics, and marvel's appearance in MTG is deeply negative for me when it comes to my respect for the card game)
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
what makes it worse is in most of this (likely paid) content, really none of the creators look like they're having a good time. probably finding the rub of what it means to shill vs critique when the former means money and the latter could risk the corporate-sponsored payout
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
the marvel heroes MTG set is (to put it lightly) controversial. i skipped prerelease and intend to engage with it as little as possible. but, man, have i been served a deluge of wizards-sponsored creator content across all socials that have video ads. a real ad blitz over this stuff, truly.
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
turned on Fox to watch some of the 250 coverage given the evacuation notice and they're just oscillating between talking heads sharing free association discourse that would make an INGSOC officer blush. I turned it off when the marquee was like "CAPITALISM IS THE AMERICAN WAY" or something similar 😂
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Christian Christensen @chrchristensen.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Absolutely insane that Cape Verde — a country of 500,000 — played Spain, Uruguay and Argentina…and lost to none of them in regulation. Easily one of the greatest performances in World Cup history.
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
His works are technically fine but man are these dead paintings. They're famous because of how ubiquitous they are, not because they are great works.
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Somewhat tangential, but Jean Leon Gerome Ferris is probably known simply bc of his decision to sell the reproduction rights to his paintings rather than sell them. His works, like "Let Us Have Peace" (pictured), are literally the commercialized history of the US.
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Interesting to see a Call of Duty patch among Totenkopf and Sonnenrad ones. The bottom left patch from the insta stories is for the Konni Group from the MW reboot. It's the ultranationalist terror group run by antagonist Makarov in the game.
Screenshotted detail of image from OP, showing an elongated hexagon patch with a sword through a skull. The background of the patch is black, with white Cyrillic text and red details (including the sword). A totenkopf and sonnenrad are visible at the top and bottom of the image Image of a Konni group patch from the call of duty game. Text around the outside includes Russian for "military" and "operation". The patch is dark grey with white text and skull, with a red sword through the skull and red details
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
blogged some thoughts on urban ruins on the screen: dead-air.ghost.io/living-ruins/
dead-air.ghost.io
Living in the Ruins: Killer of Sheep, Still Life, and Urban Development
This blog post discusses the work of two very different directors, American filmmaker Charles Burnett and Chinese director Jia Zhangke. It includes light spoilers for Killer of Sheep and Still Life, s...
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Osita Nwanevu @ositanwanevu.com · 18/06/2026
This piece is another example of how evidentiary standards for covering young people basically don't exist. It's a take on the supposedly widespread and normal use of this language anchored around guesstimates from two (2) people about behavior at a single high school.
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
in other words, water wet
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Call me divisive, but the polls in this CNN article also seem to indicate the following: 1. Support for human rights is the majority view (so we should govern that way) 2. GOP wants to be racist and sexist while not feeling ashamed 3. 1950s nostalgia is popular with a small but growing set of freaks
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
This poll, article, and the responses to it indicate how degraded the term "culture war' has become. It was initially used to describe the struggle over the role of the church and state in society. Now it is used as a naughty word to describe literal human rights vs those who want to take them away.
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End Deportations Belfast @enddbelfast.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
We are 91 years on from the 1935 Belfast pogroms. Brutality that echoes throughout our history. [1/7]
Armoured car, Belfast 1935.

THE 1935 BELFAST POGROMS
SAW AT LEAST 11 DEATHS, HUNDREDS OF INJURIES, AND THE DISPLACEMENT OF APPROXIMATELY 2,000 PEOPLE, WHO WERE
PREDOMINANTLY CATHOLIC.
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👻 hampton. 👻 @hampton.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Really solid work by @hopenothate.org.uk, though admittedly pulls punches on naming loyalism's role -- many of the 6 county names are noted loyalists (tons of other English folks named, of course)
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