@candesskos.bsky.social
Philosophy lecturer. Interested in ideology, aesthetics, propaganda, and pedagogical authority. 🇿🇦
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Not a shitpost: #NoKings is feel-good performative activism for comfortable mostly upper and upper middle class white folks and that’s good, actually. Millions of people in the streets protesting a fascist regime is good. It is good for the normie baseline to be massive displays of public dissent.
October 19, 2025 at 1:37 AM
Not a shitpost: #NoKings is feel-good performative activism for comfortable mostly upper and upper middle class white folks and that’s good, actually. Millions of people in the streets protesting a fascist regime is good. It is good for the normie baseline to be massive displays of public dissent.
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The Bluesky government accounts want unhinged engagement with their accounts to screenshot and provide to Fox News to justify their authoritarianism and I’m not going to do their work for them it’s my day off.
October 18, 2025 at 11:33 AM
The Bluesky government accounts want unhinged engagement with their accounts to screenshot and provide to Fox News to justify their authoritarianism and I’m not going to do their work for them it’s my day off.
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So much to mourn here. ICE shot and killed a single father just after he has dropped his two kids off at daycare. Their justification for stopping him was traffic violations form 12 years ago. Their justification for shooting him was that he was driving away.
A completely needless tragedy.
A completely needless tragedy.
ICE lied about the person it shot, claiming he was a "criminal," but NBC finds that he had no criminal history whatsoever. Not even traffic tickets in 12 years! It also lied about the extent of the injuries to its agents....
October 4, 2025 at 2:22 AM
So much to mourn here. ICE shot and killed a single father just after he has dropped his two kids off at daycare. Their justification for stopping him was traffic violations form 12 years ago. Their justification for shooting him was that he was driving away.
A completely needless tragedy.
A completely needless tragedy.
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About a hundred journalists and activists held a vigil in Johannesburg on Thursday evening in memory of Palestinian journalists who were murdered by Israel.
Read groundup.org.za/article/sout... by Ihsaan Haffejee
Read groundup.org.za/article/sout... by Ihsaan Haffejee
South African journalists condemn murder of colleagues in Gaza
Israel has killed 184 Palestinian journalists since 7 October 2023, 26 of whom are believed to have been deliberately targeted
groundup.org.za
August 15, 2025 at 10:01 AM
About a hundred journalists and activists held a vigil in Johannesburg on Thursday evening in memory of Palestinian journalists who were murdered by Israel.
Read groundup.org.za/article/sout... by Ihsaan Haffejee
Read groundup.org.za/article/sout... by Ihsaan Haffejee
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NEW: Indigenous activists opposed to Nevada’s Thacker Pass lithium mine have for years been surveilled by law enforcement agencies and the company behind the mine, records show.
“They treat us like we’re domestic terrorists,” an organizer said.
“They treat us like we’re domestic terrorists,” an organizer said.
“Under the Microscope”: Activists Opposing a Nevada Lithium Mine Were Surveilled for Years, Records Show
Law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, have collaborated with private security to surveil largely peaceful protesters opposed to the Thacker Pass mine, according to a ProPublica review of thousa...
www.propublica.org
July 23, 2025 at 1:01 PM
NEW: Indigenous activists opposed to Nevada’s Thacker Pass lithium mine have for years been surveilled by law enforcement agencies and the company behind the mine, records show.
“They treat us like we’re domestic terrorists,” an organizer said.
“They treat us like we’re domestic terrorists,” an organizer said.
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Now THAT's a cease and desist letter
July 14, 2025 at 6:49 AM
Now THAT's a cease and desist letter
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A thing that makes that Times story especially odious is that Zohran Mamdani's father was LITERALLY expelled from Uganda during Idi Amin's fascist effort to scapegoat Asian Ugandans as not really African www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Mahmood Mamdani · The Asian Question: On Leaving Uganda
President Yoweri Museveni was careful not to refer to Asians as citizens; he explained that they were ‘investors’,...
www.lrb.co.uk
July 4, 2025 at 3:05 AM
A thing that makes that Times story especially odious is that Zohran Mamdani's father was LITERALLY expelled from Uganda during Idi Amin's fascist effort to scapegoat Asian Ugandans as not really African www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
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June 15, 2025 at 3:24 AM
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Really disturbing to see this framed as though it is unclear whether this is an abomination.
May 17, 2025 at 4:28 AM
Really disturbing to see this framed as though it is unclear whether this is an abomination.
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Just reposting this which I think is the most gorgeous thing I have seen in my career - a critically endangered orange-bellied parrot feeding on a carpet of daisies after an ecological burn. This was the first time they’d had the chance to feed naturally in 15y and was wonderful to witness
😭😭😭🧡🧡🧡🧡
😭😭😭🧡🧡🧡🧡
May 17, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Just reposting this which I think is the most gorgeous thing I have seen in my career - a critically endangered orange-bellied parrot feeding on a carpet of daisies after an ecological burn. This was the first time they’d had the chance to feed naturally in 15y and was wonderful to witness
😭😭😭🧡🧡🧡🧡
😭😭😭🧡🧡🧡🧡
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“Now is your time to stand up to the authoritarian Trump regime.”
An elderly activist was forcibly carried out of Mike Lawler’s town hall as attendees booed the New York Republican.
An elderly activist was forcibly carried out of Mike Lawler’s town hall as attendees booed the New York Republican.
Yet Another GOP Town Hall Descends Into Chaos as Constituents Revolt
Rep. Mike Lawler became the latest Republican lawmaker to host a chaotic town hall as constituents revolt against Donald Trump's administration.
www.rollingstone.com
May 5, 2025 at 8:27 PM
“Now is your time to stand up to the authoritarian Trump regime.”
An elderly activist was forcibly carried out of Mike Lawler’s town hall as attendees booed the New York Republican.
An elderly activist was forcibly carried out of Mike Lawler’s town hall as attendees booed the New York Republican.
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Trump’s Easter message: Jesus had it coming. Woke loser with terrible numbers. After all that effort only 12 disciplines and one of those had doubts and another betrayed him.
April 18, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Trump’s Easter message: Jesus had it coming. Woke loser with terrible numbers. After all that effort only 12 disciplines and one of those had doubts and another betrayed him.
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Please do not let anyone you know travel to the US if they can avoid it--this is a country that is collectively looking to harm and harass everyone who looks or is or believes differently. It is not safe, and we need to treat it as such--that is goal of such public abductions.
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 6:02 PM
Please do not let anyone you know travel to the US if they can avoid it--this is a country that is collectively looking to harm and harass everyone who looks or is or believes differently. It is not safe, and we need to treat it as such--that is goal of such public abductions.
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JFC, Fulbright scholar not accused of any crime, no immigration violation, no reason to expect any violence -- just Marco Rubio's whim -- and instead of summoning her first step is no-uniform / no-ID guys in masks and hoodies grabbing her off a public street.
Not sure if this has been shared here yet, but this is video of Rumeysa Ozturk's arrest posted by WCVB. It's terrifying.
March 26, 2025 at 5:42 PM
JFC, Fulbright scholar not accused of any crime, no immigration violation, no reason to expect any violence -- just Marco Rubio's whim -- and instead of summoning her first step is no-uniform / no-ID guys in masks and hoodies grabbing her off a public street.
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So Meta jacked multiple editions of my two books to train their AI. They even ingested the Spanish-language version. I don't recall granting permission.
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
March 21, 2025 at 6:34 PM
So Meta jacked multiple editions of my two books to train their AI. They even ingested the Spanish-language version. I don't recall granting permission.
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
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I am already hearing many European academics becoming unwilling to travel to the US for political reasons
Stories like these 👇 add safety concerns to the list. Especially, as access to social media accounts are required to enter
How do we best support our US academic colleagues as things escalate?
Stories like these 👇 add safety concerns to the list. Especially, as access to social media accounts are required to enter
How do we best support our US academic colleagues as things escalate?
I decided to start a #thread 🧵 of stories about legal residents and tourists being (illegally) arrested, detained and/or deported by the Trump regime. I'll only post stories from serious sources, as rumors and conspiracies are really not needed in this authoritarian moment.
March 16, 2025 at 10:48 AM
I am already hearing many European academics becoming unwilling to travel to the US for political reasons
Stories like these 👇 add safety concerns to the list. Especially, as access to social media accounts are required to enter
How do we best support our US academic colleagues as things escalate?
Stories like these 👇 add safety concerns to the list. Especially, as access to social media accounts are required to enter
How do we best support our US academic colleagues as things escalate?
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Stories like this are becoming increasingly common. A British woman is now in detention after getting caught up in the U.S. immigration dragnet. Organizers of upcoming conferences in the U.S. should make virtual options a priority.
Becky Burke of Book Island (a picture book publisher in the UK founded by my fellow Tokarczuk translator Greet Pauwelijn) was "detained" by ICE at the Canadian border on 2/28. Her father asked that her story be shared in case someone can help her. He writes:
March 9, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Stories like this are becoming increasingly common. A British woman is now in detention after getting caught up in the U.S. immigration dragnet. Organizers of upcoming conferences in the U.S. should make virtual options a priority.
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"This attempt to restrict #AcademicFreedom and #FreedomofSpeech has now reached Finland. The University of Helsinki has already been issued demands to remove terms like ‘climate change’ and ‘egalitarian society’ from Fulbright scholarship announcements"
www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?sto...
www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?sto...
Petition to defend academic freedom against US interference
Nearly 900 scientists have signed a petition demanding that UNIFI, the Council of Rectors of Finnish Universities, and Arene, the Conference of Finnis...
www.universityworldnews.com
March 9, 2025 at 9:05 AM
"This attempt to restrict #AcademicFreedom and #FreedomofSpeech has now reached Finland. The University of Helsinki has already been issued demands to remove terms like ‘climate change’ and ‘egalitarian society’ from Fulbright scholarship announcements"
www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?sto...
www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?sto...
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For a man born in 1930 George Soros seems to have incredible organisational ability, if Musk and co are right about what he’s been up to. Why isn’t Soros President?
March 9, 2025 at 9:10 AM
For a man born in 1930 George Soros seems to have incredible organisational ability, if Musk and co are right about what he’s been up to. Why isn’t Soros President?
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🧵 This is a perfect example of what I've be describing as disordered discourse, and it's threat to democracy. Politicians are afraid to speak openly about key issues.
Why? Because disordered discourse has captured the system itself—forcing obedience, punishing dissent, and making truth irrelevant.
Why? Because disordered discourse has captured the system itself—forcing obedience, punishing dissent, and making truth irrelevant.
“Frightened for the safety of their families.”
America, 2025.
America, 2025.
March 9, 2025 at 7:43 AM
🧵 This is a perfect example of what I've be describing as disordered discourse, and it's threat to democracy. Politicians are afraid to speak openly about key issues.
Why? Because disordered discourse has captured the system itself—forcing obedience, punishing dissent, and making truth irrelevant.
Why? Because disordered discourse has captured the system itself—forcing obedience, punishing dissent, and making truth irrelevant.
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As an author of a book devoted to modern propaganda methods, I can attest that all of this looks incredibly professional. Impressive operation.
Unsealed documents indicating significant Russian interference in domestic U.S. affairs. The thematic propaganda themes are interesting. Modern technologies in use to spread content & analyze its reach, including psychological operations. www.justice.gov/archives/opa...
March 8, 2025 at 6:09 PM
As an author of a book devoted to modern propaganda methods, I can attest that all of this looks incredibly professional. Impressive operation.
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Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly: “President Trump poses an existential threat to Canada and Europe is next.”
March 8, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly: “President Trump poses an existential threat to Canada and Europe is next.”
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Over 80 years of post WW2 allied support gone in less than 40 days of Trump's time in office.
Germans' trust of the US is now on par with Russia, with 3 times as many Germans trusting Ukraine over the US.
Only 16% of Germans now trust America, with 75% "do not trust".
Germans' trust of the US is now on par with Russia, with 3 times as many Germans trusting Ukraine over the US.
Only 16% of Germans now trust America, with 75% "do not trust".
March 8, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Over 80 years of post WW2 allied support gone in less than 40 days of Trump's time in office.
Germans' trust of the US is now on par with Russia, with 3 times as many Germans trusting Ukraine over the US.
Only 16% of Germans now trust America, with 75% "do not trust".
Germans' trust of the US is now on par with Russia, with 3 times as many Germans trusting Ukraine over the US.
Only 16% of Germans now trust America, with 75% "do not trust".
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Tom Homan confirms on Fox News that he's asked the DOJ to investigate AOC
February 17, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Tom Homan confirms on Fox News that he's asked the DOJ to investigate AOC
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Philosophy Job: Fully funded PhD position in Practical Philosophy at the Stockholm Center for the Ethics of War and Peace here at Stockholm University 🇸🇪 su.varbi.com/en/what:job/... No Swedish skills required. Deadline March 5. #philsky
PhD student in Practical philosophy
The Department of Philosophy at Stockholm University is the largest in Sweden, boasting a lively community of philosophers with a broad range of scholarly interests. The department has a strong intern
su.varbi.com
February 11, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Philosophy Job: Fully funded PhD position in Practical Philosophy at the Stockholm Center for the Ethics of War and Peace here at Stockholm University 🇸🇪 su.varbi.com/en/what:job/... No Swedish skills required. Deadline March 5. #philsky