Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

This skeet will self destruct

@pardoguerra.bsky.social

7.8K followers 1.2K following 400 posts

Sociologist at UC San Diego. Author of Automating Finance (2019) & The Quantified Scholar (2022) http://tinyurl.com/2p82v69n Director Latin American Studies (2023-?) and the International Institute (2024-26) at UC San Diego.

tinyurl.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · Nov 14

Ok, so I typed down some definitional thoughts on what makes an Influencer Intellectual so unique. I consider this my academic contribution of the year, thank you.

pardoguerra.org/2024/11/14/i...

Influencer intellectuals, a quick summary

In my newfound condition as a part-time bureaucrat, I have dropped the ball on some of my academic projects. I’ve carved out a little bit of time in between grant applications, emails, and pa…

pardoguerra.org

12 28 120

This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · 24m

Today I learned about Chiweenies.
Today I learned about true evil.

1 1

This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · 1h

I had exactly the same experience. And it was really quite a chase trying to come up with strategies to make things “stimulating” for students along the consumption-oriented logic of the survey. Eg. “The staff as entertainer” model.

1 1

This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · 1h

And that institutions just don’t organize against it. One would think the Russell Group could come up with something less idiotic and just tell the NUS to buzz off. It really isn’t that difficult.

1 1

This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · 1h

The fact that “having the upper hand” means being endorsed by an absolute political quack says lots and lots about politics today.

The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 1h

"Here's how you can tell Democrats have the upper hand in the week-old shutdown fight: Marjorie Taylor Greene just endorsed their key demand."

The latest edition of The Breakdown from @citizencohn.bsky.social: www.thebulwark.com/p/democrats-...

Democrats Are Winning the Shutdown Fight

Turns out Republicans still haven’t figured out the politics of health care.

www.thebulwark.com

This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · 1h

It’s one of the most dreadful instruments I’ve ever encountered in higher education—and I’ve seen quite a few monsters. I’d have failed whoever designed that.

1 2

Reposted by This skeet will self destruct

Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 2h

"It is not hyperbole to say that the future of higher education in America requires that every university reject it. If any schools capitulate, the pressure will be enormous on all to fold. The only solution is solidarity and collective action against this effort at federal control over higher" ed.

Philip N Cohen @philipncohen.com · 4d

Chemerinsky: The Trump extortion demands are unconstitutional as well as odious (gift link). Me: Any school that signs must be shunned, faculty affected must walk. No room for this.

Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion

www.nytimes.com

37 80

This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · 2h

Odd thing for a convicted felon to say.

This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · 2h

In addition to the REF, the other ranking that hang over our heads was NSS. Imagine the most poorly designed teaching evaluation but at a national level and leading to a ranking…

1 6

This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · 2h

Re: the difference in information environments between the US and UK available for applicants, one of the largest culprits of poor funneling is, imho as a former UK academic staff member, the ill designed National Student Survey.

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 3h

Something grimly predictable about the way that the conversation about 'ripoff degrees' in the UK is always about degrees that aren't rip-offs, but are instead fairly obvious 'this student has chosen something unlikely to pay off economically' rather than the short tail of crap business degrees:

Everyone needs educating in the fight over university degrees

Political confusion over the purpose of these institutions means the obvious fixes are being neglected

www.ft.com

1 5 24

This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · 14h

FINALLY they hired someone for coms.

Chuck Schumer @schumer.senate.gov · 16h

The government is shut down because Trump and the Republicans are hellbent on taking health care away from you.

And they won’t even come to the table to talk to us about it.

This is not about politics. It's about people.

Let’s break it down:

This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · 14h

Prediction for the Econ Prize: not Granovetter.

Mike Boylan-Kolchin @mbkplus.bsky.social · 1d

Prediction for tomorrow's Nobel Prize in Physics: not me

This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · 14h

OpenAI 500 billion? If we are making things up, can I say I’m a trillionaire?

1 13

This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · 14h

Whatever form the tomorrow may take, it must include punishments and disincentives so profound that these kinds of behaviors will never again be allowed.

Denise Wheeler @denisedwheeler.bsky.social · 17h

Reuters photographer Jonathan Ernst noticed that Bondi flipped open a file during the Senate hearing and he zoomed in.

Inside were her crib notes for attacking the senators.

The GOP now practicing Cliff's Notes Fascism

In other words, under oath Bondi was purely a performance.

Bondi senate hearing had a folder full of notes for attacking the senators

1 3

Reposted by This skeet will self destruct

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 17h

"Look, the President clearly has some kind of dementia" should be how Democrats begin every single comment to reporters these days.

Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 22h

Ruben Gallego on whether Trump is talking to Democrats:

“Look, the President clearly has some kind of dementia, so I think there's a he's probably talking to himself, or think he's talking to a Democrat, but I sincerely doubt that that's actually he's actually physically talking to a Democrat.“

80 1.8K 7.2K

This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · 18h

I have the inkling that many billions will go into opaque contracts that will lead to nothing...

Reposted by This skeet will self destruct

David S. Bernstein @dbernstein.bsky.social · 21h

Josh Hawley, Yale Law School ‘06, Missouri Attorney General 2017-2019, pretending he doesn’t know what tapping a phone means

44 390 1.3K

This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · 22h

I’ve prepared a small library on “surviving and thriving in grad school” for my Masters students, which will reside in their lounge next to a (soon to be bought) coffee machine.

This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · 1d

That’s because, at the core, the NYT *is* bad faith bullshit

Mike Masnick @mmasnick.bsky.social · 1d

The NY Times continues to be the biggest sucker in the world for bad faith bullshit, just so the publisher can claim they're not too liberal and to pretend they'll somehow convince MAGA they're being fair to them.

Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 1d

Despite appearances, this is not a @nytpitchbot.bsky.social joke, it's an actual @nytimes.com column by some Claremont hack who praises Hegseth for his "nuanced vision of the military’s purpose and its relationship to civilian society."

1 4

This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · 1d

Essential reading by @sivav.bsky.social

Deborah McDowell @dem8z.bsky.social · 1d

“Any university leader who signs on to this compact wld betray everything good and solid about the university & would do deep and permanent harm to the United States & the world.”

Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down newrepublic.com/article/2013... via @newrepublic.com

Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down

How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education

newrepublic.com

1 2 9

This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · 1d

Hey, @npr.org, remember these shitty headlines next time you’re asking for money from listeners who are fed up with your weakass reporting

This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · 1d

“Bucking tradition and legal precedent” is a reaaaaaally weird way of saying “breaking his constitutional oath”

NPR @npr.org · 1d

President Trump is bucking tradition and legal precedent in pushing to deploy the National Guard to Democratic-led cities like Portland, Oregon, and Chicago due to what he says is rampant crime and to support his crackdown on illegal immigration.

Trump's power to deploy National Guard, explained

n.pr

2 2 11

This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · 1d

13/ Anyway, this was, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most perniciously naive things I've read in a while. No wonder The Atlantic connection. And the viewpoint from privilege.

2 2 10

This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · 1d

12/ What's worse, Allen doesn't seem to know that these "asks" are also largely how many universities ALREADY OPERATE. The University of California has been doing this for decades and decades. What a "compact" does now enshrining specific forms of discrimination forever as if legitimate.

1 7

This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · 1d

11/ Again, more naiveté:

1 7

This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · 1d

10/ This is also, of course, an incredibly elitist and naive take on how a contract could be renegotiated. Why these institutions? Who died and made them kings?

1 7