Scott Ross, animate candy corn
lecturer, wustl | africanist anthro | humanitarianism, infrastructure, war, media, sound | gwu phd | hella left | he/him | arizonan in exile | wants to be your friend
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornNonviolence is, in fact, working. This administration is weaker than it was a year ago. More and more of the public is becoming galvanized against it; its agents are being impeded.
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornThere's a prison revolt at a concentration camp in Texas in solidarity with Minneapolis:
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornHAPPENING NOW: A massive crowd is gathered in freezing temperatures outside ICE headquarters in DC to demand ICE OUT OF ALL COMMUNITIES NOW.
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornKare 11 local news just read, in full, this statement from Michael and Susan Pretti, the parents of Alex Pretti. "Please get the truth out about our son."
- It strikes me that at least some of the asylum parolees ICE is targeting to detain in northern cities and shipping to Texas detention centers may themselves have been bussed out of Texas border facilities to DC, NYC, and other cities beginning in 2022. Just a horrific cycle of state trafficking.
- In solidarity with the statewide shutdown in Minnesota protesting ICE/CBP, I'm sharing some of the most insightful reads about the powerful, beautiful community response there - these pieces should inspire similar collective action everywhere. please link to others.
- The community warning, defense, and mutual aid we're seeing in Minneapolis is the product of years of responding to state violence. Amazing essay from @nplusonemag.com : www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...
- "ICE Watch works because it surrounds men seeking approval with people loudly expressing their disapproval. And the noise has the added benefit of drawing large crowds of bystanders who can quickly outnumber the ICE agents." www.ms.now/opinion/minn...
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View full thread“You can only preach against ICE for so long before God calls you to get out of the pulpit and get to the streets.” Hundreds of clergy from across the country mobilized in Minneapolis—and will be taking lessons learned back with them: religionnews.com/2026/01/22/h...
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornThe “don’t take down history” crowd is awfully silent.
- The horrors of ICE/CBP violence are very real - but the scale, organizing, beauty, and bravery of community defense and resistance are too.
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornIf you have read even a single history of fascism, you are already aware that one thing that its rise has in common in every case is an opposition party that refuses to intervene for fear of looking weak or putting the left into power
- To quote one source: “They’re terrified of being labeled anti–law enforcement. They want this to go away so they can talk about the cost of living more. Problem is, it’s not going away.” prospect.org/2026/01/21/j...
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornThey didn’t want a university without cancel culture. They didn’t want to be criticized for their retrograde views so they created a pretend school funding by their rich friends. The only people surprised that this failed were credulous enough to believe the fairy tales these folks told.
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornSt. Louis University will now cover the tuition for incoming freshmen whose families earn no more than $60,000 per year and have assets of $50,000 or less.
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornThe scale and speed of state censorship of campus really is amazing. More than half of America's college students attend institutions in states that have passed laws censoring higher education since 2021. From @penamerica.bsky.social pen.org/report/ameri...
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy corncold-blooded murder by the state.
- Holy shit. Renee Good was alive when the bystander physician asked to check her pulse. She was alive when ICE refused to let him help. She was alive when they told him “I don’t care.” www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornRemember when everyone was concerned about DOGE sharing data between government agencies last year? This app for ICE is built on HHS data.
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornA reminder that Lewiston, Maine was recently on a list of the ten safest cities in the U.S.
- "How does it feel to learn through a genocide? How does one teach on the same campus where student protest is forcibly quelled?" Eager to dive into this experimental dialogue in @amanthro.bsky.social on pedagogy and praxis from the grounds of the Gaza encampments: doi.org/10.1111/aman...
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornIt’s great that 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi is coming right out swinging. Not having a second of this bullshit! I think coddled hacks like Bari Weiss have no idea what to do with righteous fury like this except, if anything, somehow play victim. Let’s see!
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornCECOT segment correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi: Bari Weiss giving the government a "kill switch" for stories they don't like transforms 60 Minutes from an "investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state." www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
- "As of December 19, the known death toll from 28 lethal U.S. strikes on civilian vessels [in the Caribbean] is 104." www.wola.org/analysis/fac...
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornlook, evil aside: his rhetorical strategies seem to hinge on hoping no one compares numbers at the gas station, confuses "TrumpRx.gov" with affordable coverage of their dialysis, or has ever been to Minnesota. if you ask me Trump is moving like a cooked guy moves
- Horror of horrors, this is absolute evil.
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy corn1. Amazon has become a major force in how cities, counties & schools buy basic supplies. Our new report finds Amazon is using opaque pricing algorithms to drive up costs and eliminate transparency—while harming competition by pushing out better-performing independent suppliers.
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornit's not lowering the bar when you do it for men, it's actually a really important step toward addressing the male loneliness crisis
- Powerful piece about WashU international student frustrations with the university's lack of support in a time of immense uncertainty and potential danger: www.studlife.com/news/2025/12...
- A new pattern has emerged out of the repression of pro-Palestinian protests: "the Zionist provocateur spoiling for a fight, the police gunning for pro-Palestine students, a protester taken to the ER, and the university adopting wholesale the narrative spun by pro-Israel actors."
- This article explores the violent and repressive environment at post-encampment UCLA, but a variation of this applies at many university campuses now: jewishcurrents.org/portrait-of-...
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornHow do people not see that the entire OU essay thing is just an attempt by this girl and the Turning Point chapter to turn her into another Riley Gaines grifting on trying to push trans people out of society?
- For Black Studies, Critical University Studies folks: Our AFAS Dept is looking for a postdoc (1 yr, maybe 2) as part of a seminar on “Black Studies, Academic Freedom, and the Future of the American University.” Due Feb 1, details here: apply.interfolio.com/177073
- Some good news that shows faculty can still shape the university when they move and act together. This move would have consolidated AFAS, WGSS, Global Studies, American Studies, Jewish Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, and Education
- Student journalists and columnists have been relentless on this beat, glad they get to break this news: www.studlife.com/news/2025/10...
- new zine circulating campus just hours after the Chancellor stated that WashU is engaged in "dialogue" with Trump admin about future of higher ed
- The WashU Faculty Senate Council (elected representatives across the whole university) have issued a statement emphatically opposing the Compact after their meeting with the Provost and the Chancellor's statement yesterday:
- Two WashU professors are in @stltoday.com against the Compact: "This isn't really an offer — it's a bait and switch. The administration is asking WashU to make costly sacrifices in exchange for vapor." www.stltoday.com/opinion/colu...
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornIt’s kind of wild that after seven million people were in the streets protesting, the president posted a hallucinated video of himself wearing a crown and shitting on Americans and then proceeded to start demolishing parts of the White House
- Gross.
- Great and immediate response from our local AAUP chapter, alongside those from across the country. sites.wustl.edu/aaup/ "The alleged offer is pure political interference in higher education, and it blatantly opposes the mission of the University."
- Great reporting by our student paper too: www.studlife.com/news/2025/10...
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy corn“They literally ushered us into the street to protest and immediately after started beating the shit out of us.”
- "We now have armed soldiers from the state of Texas eagerly volunteered by their governor to impose the president’s will on the citizens of Illinois. I don’t want to be alarmist, but this is an emergency." www.thebulwark.com/p/emergency-...
- "There is no crisis in Chicago that requires the National Guard. To the extent that there is civil instability in Chicago it has been caused by Trump’s surge of federal agents into the city and their lawless assault on the citizens of Chicago." Some examples:
- This essay is a really succinct and important read. The manufactured crisis in Chicago is an attempt to use state violence to justify more state violence to oppress whole cities, breaking every norm about democracy. www.thebulwark.com/p/emergency-...
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy corn[This post could not be retrieved]
- Shit just comes coming
- More here: www.studlife.com/news/2025/10...
- "There is no doubt that the Trump administration has wielded Title VI with the goals of discrediting institutions of higher education, undermining academic freedom and institutional autonomy, and unmooring the Civil Rights Act from its foundational commitments to addressing structures...
- ...of discrimination that prevent or limit educational access. The Trump administration’s attempt to unmake the Civil Rights Act by hijacking the language of discrimination is nothing less than an attempt to rewrite the history of the nation."
- From @aaup.org's new report on Title VI and academic freedom: www.aaup.org/reports-publ...
- Another must-read response to Ezra Klein's "Charlie Kirk did politics the right way" argument, this from @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social in @bostonreview.bsky.social on political correctness, stigma, and shame as fundamental to living together.
- How Can We Live Together? www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy corn"Common decency stigmatizes people that do not participate in it—removes them from voluntary association. We indeed have to live with one another, but terms and conditions apply." me on why Ezra Klein should be ashamed / why shame is Good Actually www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...
- Oh nothing to see here, just a Missouri U.S. Senator spouting white and Christian nationalist rhetoric about how America is only for descendants of "Western" "European" "settlers" and non-white immigrants are not American: www.dailysignal.com/2025/09/02/s...
- As this column summarizes, Schmitt's speech is "full blood and soil" nationalism, refuting ideas about equality and opportunity and doubling down on white supremacy: missouriindependent.com/2025/09/15/m...
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornIn Pam Bondi's America bakers may refuse to make cakes for gay or trans people, medical pros may refuse to provide women with complete healthcare, military personnel may refuse vaccination orders—all for "religous" or "conscience" reasons—but an Office Depot employee may not refuse to print a flyer.
- "Over the past 23 months, Israeli forces have killed nearly 3,000 people attempting to get aid in the Gaza Strip and wounded almost 20,000 others." New @newhumanitarian report with open database and timeline of aid killings in Gaza: www.thenewhumanitarian.org/investigatio...
- "Many of the facile defenses of Kirk and his legacy are predicated on the idea that it’s acceptable to spread hateful ideas advocating for the persecution of perceived enemies as long you dress them up in a posture of debate. This is just class privilege." www.thenation.com/article/poli...
- Israeli commander says that the IDF has killed more than 200,000 people in Gaza - 10% of its population - and has not been constrained by the law one time: www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...
- Charlie Kirk Was Not Practicing Politics the Right Way: www.404media.co/charlie-kirk...
- Seven Theses Against Viewpoint Diversity: www.aaup.org/seven-theses...
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornthis is such a grotesquely cynical excuse for letting both gigantic tech companies and Donald Trump's MAGA aristocracy run rough-shod over the interests of everyone else
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornlike so many products to come out of silicon valley in the last decade or so, AI is a legal innovation masquerading as a tech innovation. the legal theory seems to be that AI is entitled to everything but liable for nothing.
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornthe maga constitution doesn’t allow any institution, public or private, to explicitly work to ameliorate racial inequality but allows the government to racially profile
- In addition to their redistricting attempt to gain a seat in Congress, Missouri Republicans are seeking to make citizen-led initiatives more difficult to pass. MO voters recently overruled the GOP statewide on abortion, minimum wage, marijuana, sick leave. missouriindependent.com/2025/09/04/a...
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornno surprised that brett ”almost certainly flunked his remedial classes” kavanaugh thinks the constitution authorizes a race-based federal “papers please” regime. quick, someone ask him what he thinks of the fugitive slave act.
- Incredibly bleak how half this country is ready to gleefully cheer on state violence repeatedly, anytime, anywhere so long as it's against brown people or uppity activists they don't like. Every day this society sinks further into fascist hell.
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornWeird that these mass shootings get narratively framed as random violence caused by an imprecise miasma of social pathology and not as independent contributions to a specific and highly organized political program.
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornHere's what the third day of elementary school looked like in Mount Pleasant, Washington DC.
- "A famine declaration is not an anticipatory warning; it means that a deadly trajectory has already taken hold." @jeremykonyndyk.bsky.social refutes the lies and bad faith misinformation being trotted out in defense of famine and genocide in Gaza: www.telegraph.co.uk/global-healt...
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornNational Guard soldiers called into service for President Trump's law enforcement surge in D.C. have been assigned to spread mulch at federal monuments. Normally the Park Service does that, but the administration laid off the workers. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
- this semester's first-years were born the year I started college you're welcome
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornthe crisis in which the University of Chicago is now engulfed -- one entirely of its own making, and which has led to the (hopefully temporary) suspension of admissions into numerous PhD programs in the humanities -- represents I think a seismic event in the history of American higher education 1/
- "even as a wide range of essential American institutions—universities like UChicago, but also hospitals and health insurers—increasingly sacrifice their duties to society on the altar of asset accumulation, they fail at accumulating assets." stanfordreview.org/uchicago-los...
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornthis iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like
- my AI policy might be a little agro 🤷♂️
- “What does a human slowly going insane look like to a corporation? It looks like an additional monthly user.” www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/t...
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy corn
- Reposted by Scott Ross, animate candy cornone question to ask the editorial board is whether there is a minimum bar for what constitutes "american democracy." if most people in most states are gerrymandered out of effective political representation, is that democracy?
- Wesley Bell @wesleybell.bsky.social, fresh back from his AIPAC-funded field trip to Israel amid its ongoing genocide, got an earful last night from his constituents at his first townhall: www.stlpr.org/government-p...
