Mo Torres
@motorres.bsky.social
sociologist: cities, political economy, race/racism
umich.edu/~motorres
umich.edu/~motorres
see also: Clinton’s recent rant about how tiktok is feeding kids lies (read: exposing truths) about Israel
Same with TikTok. We were told it was a "national security" threat. But the forced divestiture wasn't about data privacy.
It was about transfer of ownership. Handing the algorithm to politically safe tech oligarchs ensures that the last algorithmic feed not under their thumb is brought to heel.
It was about transfer of ownership. Handing the algorithm to politically safe tech oligarchs ensures that the last algorithmic feed not under their thumb is brought to heel.
Trump allies to control TikTok under new US deal
Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order laying out a proposed deal for a US version of TikTok that would see Chinese ownership reduced to 20 percent and put
www.southtexasnews.com
December 15, 2025 at 2:20 AM
see also: Clinton’s recent rant about how tiktok is feeding kids lies (read: exposing truths) about Israel
Reposted by Mo Torres
i think it's funny how centrists pivot back and forth between using class politics to decry identity politics and using identity politics to decry class politics. Hillary Clinton's 2008 primary campaign vs. Hillary Clinton's 2016 primary campaign.
November 2, 2025 at 12:57 AM
i think it's funny how centrists pivot back and forth between using class politics to decry identity politics and using identity politics to decry class politics. Hillary Clinton's 2008 primary campaign vs. Hillary Clinton's 2016 primary campaign.
Reposted by Mo Torres
Reposted by Mo Torres
this, from @kevinbaker.bsky.social, is a better analysis of the intersection between LLMs and academic science than 98% of what's out there.
Context Widows
or, of GPUs, LPUs, and Goal Displacement
artificialbureaucracy.substack.com
December 14, 2025 at 5:47 PM
this, from @kevinbaker.bsky.social, is a better analysis of the intersection between LLMs and academic science than 98% of what's out there.
Reposted by Mo Torres
Holiday gift idea for the trade union internationalist in your life.
December 14, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Holiday gift idea for the trade union internationalist in your life.
Reposted by Mo Torres
‘They’re trying to get rich off it’: US contractors vie to rebuild Gaza, with ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ team in the lead
‘They’re trying to get rich off it’: US contractors vie to rebuild Gaza, with ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ team in the lead
Exclusive: group behind notorious Florida immigration detention center created bid for reconstruction deal
Trump administration insiders and well-connected Republican businesses have been jostling to dominate pending humanitarian aid and reconstruction logistics in the shattered Gaza Strip, according to sources and documents reviewed by the Guardian.
With three-quarters of Gaza’s structures damaged or destroyed by two years of Israeli strikes, the rebuilding effort to come – estimated at $70bn by the United Nations – could be a rich prize for companies that specialize in construction, demolition, transportation and logistics. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
December 14, 2025 at 11:13 AM
‘They’re trying to get rich off it’: US contractors vie to rebuild Gaza, with ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ team in the lead
Reposted by Mo Torres
Hello friends, I recently lost my health insurance + benefits & am currently looking at a bill of over $16,000 for which I cannot pay. This would not necessarily be an issue if I were not visually impaired and currently out of full time work, but I am humbly asking for assistance now. Any bit helps.
Donate to Help EmissaryOfNight Pay Emergency Expenses, organized by Y, Al-Sheikh
I'm a blind writer and analyst who was just recently removed from receiving S… Y, Al-Sheikh needs your support for Help EmissaryOfNight Pay Emergency Expenses
gofund.me
December 14, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Hello friends, I recently lost my health insurance + benefits & am currently looking at a bill of over $16,000 for which I cannot pay. This would not necessarily be an issue if I were not visually impaired and currently out of full time work, but I am humbly asking for assistance now. Any bit helps.
Reposted by Mo Torres
7News Australia reports that the hero who jumped and disarmed one of the terrorist shooters
His name is Ahmed el-Ahmed
A 43 year old married father of two
He owns a fruit shop in Sutherland
No experience with guns
He was walking past
He has two bullets in his arm
His name is Ahmed el-Ahmed
A 43 year old married father of two
He owns a fruit shop in Sutherland
No experience with guns
He was walking past
He has two bullets in his arm
December 14, 2025 at 1:15 PM
7News Australia reports that the hero who jumped and disarmed one of the terrorist shooters
His name is Ahmed el-Ahmed
A 43 year old married father of two
He owns a fruit shop in Sutherland
No experience with guns
He was walking past
He has two bullets in his arm
His name is Ahmed el-Ahmed
A 43 year old married father of two
He owns a fruit shop in Sutherland
No experience with guns
He was walking past
He has two bullets in his arm
Reposted by Mo Torres
hope someone’s doing a scorched earth study of the current political economy of student athletics gambling: google scholar shows older studies on the psych of student gambling or the pathology of student *athletes* gambling. this is extraction on top of exploitation, not just an individual issue.
Warner also links back to an earlier article on MSU’s 2022 deal with Caesar’s on online student gambling rights—students may not be the ones for those elite seats, but their gambling bets are welcome.
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
Students as ATMs: Online Gambling Edition
A new way to squeeze more revenue out of students. I predict far more harm than benefit.
www.insidehighered.com
December 14, 2025 at 1:26 PM
hope someone’s doing a scorched earth study of the current political economy of student athletics gambling: google scholar shows older studies on the psych of student gambling or the pathology of student *athletes* gambling. this is extraction on top of exploitation, not just an individual issue.
Reposted by Mo Torres
Extraordinary courage from Ahmed al Ahmed, a Muslim, 43-year-old father of two, who bravely risked his life to save his neighbors celebrating Hanukkah.
Praying for his full & speedy recovery.
And so deeply inspired by his example.
Praying for his full & speedy recovery.
And so deeply inspired by his example.
December 14, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Extraordinary courage from Ahmed al Ahmed, a Muslim, 43-year-old father of two, who bravely risked his life to save his neighbors celebrating Hanukkah.
Praying for his full & speedy recovery.
And so deeply inspired by his example.
Praying for his full & speedy recovery.
And so deeply inspired by his example.
Reposted by Mo Torres
It seems to me The New School's 'leadership' created a budget hole then went 'oh no, a budget hole! we must attack the faculty!' That's gross but not unfamiliar as an administrator play. What's surprising from this document is that they seem to be doing so while paying many millions to a trustee?!
Newest memo demonstrating the claims of financial exigency can‘t be taken seriously
drive.google.com/file/u/1/d/1...
drive.google.com/file/u/1/d/1...
December 14, 2025 at 7:24 AM
It seems to me The New School's 'leadership' created a budget hole then went 'oh no, a budget hole! we must attack the faculty!' That's gross but not unfamiliar as an administrator play. What's surprising from this document is that they seem to be doing so while paying many millions to a trustee?!
Reposted by Mo Torres
We are citizens of a country in which someone might be expected to survive two school shootings thousands of miles apart before they have finished their education
Parkland survivor, current Brown student being interviewed 💔
December 14, 2025 at 1:04 AM
We are citizens of a country in which someone might be expected to survive two school shootings thousands of miles apart before they have finished their education
Reposted by Mo Torres
I teach Sociology of Childhood, and when we talk about school shootings, my students tell me about how they also do these checks in their classes--noting locks on doors, thinking about how to escape and where to hide. I hate that they have to mind those risks while trying to learn.
Each semester I go in my classroom and I try to figure out what we would use to block the doors, if it would be safe to crawl out the windows, where we could hide if there was a mass shooter in campus. It’s such an indictment of this country how we have normalized these preventable tragedies.
December 14, 2025 at 12:28 AM
I teach Sociology of Childhood, and when we talk about school shootings, my students tell me about how they also do these checks in their classes--noting locks on doors, thinking about how to escape and where to hide. I hate that they have to mind those risks while trying to learn.
Reposted by Mo Torres
I think a lot of people don't fully appreciate that this administration and all of the people backing it are in it to make content as content creators
I’m sorry but why is the head of cbs news on tv herself
December 14, 2025 at 1:42 AM
I think a lot of people don't fully appreciate that this administration and all of the people backing it are in it to make content as content creators
Reposted by Mo Torres
Lets check in at how things are going at CBS News
December 14, 2025 at 2:10 AM
Lets check in at how things are going at CBS News
Reposted by Mo Torres
We need to flood them with letters now. Write today!
"Faculty and staff—who have given decades of their lives to the university—have been given less than two weeks to accept insulting “offers” and pack up as early as January 2, 2026."
Please support our colleagues at @newschoolaaup.bsky.social
actionnetwork.org/letters/stop...
Please support our colleagues at @newschoolaaup.bsky.social
actionnetwork.org/letters/stop...
Stop the Cuts at the New School
The restructuring proposed by the New School’s upper administration will harm faculty, students and the larger New School community. Faculty and staff—who have given decades of their lives to the univ...
actionnetwork.org
December 13, 2025 at 6:34 PM
We need to flood them with letters now. Write today!
Reposted by Mo Torres
"Faculty and staff—who have given decades of their lives to the university—have been given less than two weeks to accept insulting “offers” and pack up as early as January 2, 2026."
Please support our colleagues at @newschoolaaup.bsky.social
actionnetwork.org/letters/stop...
Please support our colleagues at @newschoolaaup.bsky.social
actionnetwork.org/letters/stop...
Stop the Cuts at the New School
The restructuring proposed by the New School’s upper administration will harm faculty, students and the larger New School community. Faculty and staff—who have given decades of their lives to the univ...
actionnetwork.org
December 13, 2025 at 6:15 PM
"Faculty and staff—who have given decades of their lives to the university—have been given less than two weeks to accept insulting “offers” and pack up as early as January 2, 2026."
Please support our colleagues at @newschoolaaup.bsky.social
actionnetwork.org/letters/stop...
Please support our colleagues at @newschoolaaup.bsky.social
actionnetwork.org/letters/stop...
Reposted by Mo Torres
Researchers at the University of California San Francisco track how abortion comes up on television. They say the trends from 2025 are concerning. n.pr/4oQlr52
Fewer characters on TV had abortions this year — and more stories reinforced shame
Researchers at the University of California San Francisco track how abortion comes up on television. They say the trends from 2025 are concerning.
n.pr
December 13, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Researchers at the University of California San Francisco track how abortion comes up on television. They say the trends from 2025 are concerning. n.pr/4oQlr52
Reposted by Mo Torres
“Road repairs, bridge reconstructions and sewer overhauls are at risk of getting delayed as the data center boom sucks up resources in the construction market.”
www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
AI Boom Threatens to Suck Resources Away From Road, Bridge Work
The data center construction boom is sucking up resources from other parts of the market. State and local projects may face particular competition for labor.
www.bloomberg.com
December 13, 2025 at 2:43 PM
“Road repairs, bridge reconstructions and sewer overhauls are at risk of getting delayed as the data center boom sucks up resources in the construction market.”
www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
Reposted by Mo Torres
New article based on my dissertation, which shows how economic experts have historically conceptualized and measured “quality” through a comparison of education and healthcare journals.openedition.org/oeconomia/19...
From “Quality, Not Quantity” to “Quality as Quantity”: How the “Car...
At a time when seemingly every aspect of social life is being subjected to quantification in one way or another, “quality, not quantity” remains an omnipresent aphorism. Scholars have meticulously ...
journals.openedition.org
December 13, 2025 at 2:53 PM
New article based on my dissertation, which shows how economic experts have historically conceptualized and measured “quality” through a comparison of education and healthcare journals.openedition.org/oeconomia/19...
Reposted by Mo Torres
Carnegie Mellon’s literature PhD is being liquidated in favor of “computation,” casualized labor, and AI.
That has profound ramifications for, students, faculty, and program alums like myself.
I wrote it about it (w/ Catherine Evans, a current PhD student).
www.chronicle.com/article/a-co...
That has profound ramifications for, students, faculty, and program alums like myself.
I wrote it about it (w/ Catherine Evans, a current PhD student).
www.chronicle.com/article/a-co...
Opinion | A Coup at Carnegie Mellon?
The university is replacing the humanities with more computers.
www.chronicle.com
December 12, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Carnegie Mellon’s literature PhD is being liquidated in favor of “computation,” casualized labor, and AI.
That has profound ramifications for, students, faculty, and program alums like myself.
I wrote it about it (w/ Catherine Evans, a current PhD student).
www.chronicle.com/article/a-co...
That has profound ramifications for, students, faculty, and program alums like myself.
I wrote it about it (w/ Catherine Evans, a current PhD student).
www.chronicle.com/article/a-co...
Reposted by Mo Torres
Exciting times at UoM: we are hiring up to 15 postdocs. See below
www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
Bicentenary Research Fellowships in Humanities:Oxford Road
The University of Manchester has been celebrating 200 years of achievement in research-driven learning, development and innovation: this has included investing in our prestigious Bicentenary PhD Studentships and Fellowships. The scheme represents a major University investment of £28 million to recruit and fund more than 200 early-career researchers between 2025/26 and 2026/27.
www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk
December 12, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Exciting times at UoM: we are hiring up to 15 postdocs. See below
www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
Reposted by Mo Torres
This -- a model bill to effectively decimate non-STEM research by requiring 3-3 teaching loads outside of "STEM or Americanism and western civilization" -- seems...extremely bad but also quite plausible.
Proposed Model Bill Would Change College Tenure, Teaching, & Research
Three conservative groups have proposed model legislation that would dramatically change faculty tenure paths, teaching loads, research activities and hiring authority
www.forbes.com
December 12, 2025 at 12:45 PM
This -- a model bill to effectively decimate non-STEM research by requiring 3-3 teaching loads outside of "STEM or Americanism and western civilization" -- seems...extremely bad but also quite plausible.
Reposted by Mo Torres
Job: 2 years Post-Doc Fellowship at the University of Bayreuth, on the history and sociology of USAID
December 12, 2025 at 8:40 AM
Job: 2 years Post-Doc Fellowship at the University of Bayreuth, on the history and sociology of USAID
Reposted by Mo Torres
It's clear from the article that ICE is *miserable* here. They're freezing their asses off and being harassed everywhere they go. Property managers aren't allowing them access to rental properties and people know their rights and aren't letting them in.
KEEP IT UP.
KEEP IT UP.
December 12, 2025 at 7:06 PM
It's clear from the article that ICE is *miserable* here. They're freezing their asses off and being harassed everywhere they go. Property managers aren't allowing them access to rental properties and people know their rights and aren't letting them in.
KEEP IT UP.
KEEP IT UP.