Christy Thornton
@llchristyll
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Author, Revolution in Development (@UCPress 2021) / Co-director, @HPE_Project / #PellGrant professor / @NACLA siempre / #NoMoreDrugWar(s)
Joined January 2011
A student just tried to email the IT department about a grade not showing up correctly but somehow emailed an address (which does have the letters IT tbf) that distributed to the ENTIRE faculty at NYU. It now appears most of my colleagues don’t know what a replyallpocalypse is.
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Cool, so, uh, 8% of what he spent on trying to keep Bernie Sanders from becoming president?.
Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he's committing $40 million to fight coronavirus in middle and low-income countries.
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“She has not proposed to seize the means of production.”.
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The chair of the History dept at Lewis & Clark was shot in the face by federal forces in Portland last night.
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Love an indignant dentist replying “You are not even in my college” this is going to be great.
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Students at JHU just shut down a planned town hall on the new private Hopkins police force.
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Cuomo threw out two decades of work & planning by health officials and instead created a totally new vaccine plan, relying on consultants, lobbyists, and donors.
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Extra scorn for the folks changing the subject line when they reply all and therefore start a new thread. They should be made to do some kind of terrible ed-tech training module as punishment.
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“When students vote overwhelmingly for divestment and administrators ignore them, the unmistakable conclusion is that the development of students’ critical thinking is an inconvenience to the institution, not its primary purpose.”.
Read Gabriel Winant on how the response to the student encampments for Gaza reveals the problem of the undemocratic university:. Why Students Must Shout to Be Heard
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The workers who were on the Key bridge fixing potholes when it collapsed:.
The missing men are from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras & Mexico, and live in Dundalk & Highlandtown. They are in their 30s and 40s, he said, w spouses & children. All of them came to the city for a better life. “They are all hard-working, humble men"
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Only now that Biden only has a week left in office, the legacy media is going to tell the truth about Gaza?.
Former U.S. diplomat Hala Rharrit said she documented images coming out of Gaza for the State Department – “fragments of U.S. bombs next to massacres of mostly children.” . Warning: This clip contains graphic images from the war in Gaza.
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At least this one didn’t go to all 40,000 students this time 😅
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Bruce Springsteen both-sides, Dolly Parton side-hustle, Wayne’s World gig-economy. Bleak AF.
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@_SabinaMartin All the folks who are (rightly) not checking email rn are gonna be so confused when they come back to their inboxes.
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They know what they are doing, and why. Listen when they tell you.
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Assault rifles, tactical gear, in the early hours of the morning. Over some paint thrown on a statue on campus. These university administrators have lost their damn minds.
NEW: 13 cops raided a UPenn student residence in West Philly armed w assault rifles & donned in tactical gear. The reason for the raid? Suspicion of vandalism related to paint thrown on a statue a month ago as part of protests against the war on Gaza
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Which wall is going to keep these Green Berets out, exactly?.
U.S. soldiers plead guilty to attempting to smuggle $1 million worth of cocaine from Colombia aboard a military plane
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Jesus. The reason we haven’t seen masses of dead animals in this storm is because the photos were so controversial after earlier storms that now companies lock the barns & let the animals drown inside, where no one can take a photo.
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The long contradiction of the US-Mexico relationship: a desperate need for Mexican labor with a contemptuous disregard for the health, wellbeing, and prosperity of Mexican people. (I'm teaching an entire class about this this semester!).
The US is now actively urging Mexico to reopen factories closed due to its #Covid19 emergency declaration of March 30th. Yesterday, the Pentagon said this is affecting major prime DOD contractors. This, while #Covid19 deaths have been reported at Mexico’s maquila export factories
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We desperately need to build a real anti-war movement, to claw back what democratic controls we have over war-making, and to elect officials who make restraint a central platform. This is a multi-front struggle. No war with Iran. No war.
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These cops got out of their cars to take a posed picture with white vigilantes weilding baseball bats. This is the social order they want - Listen when they tell you.
i think this has been posted before but i can’t get over it. here’s the police hanging out with members of the white militia in fishtown, past curfew. compare this to earlier in the day when they teargassed and trapped peaceful protesters.
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While everyone is paying attention to protests in higher ed, you should know that 800,000 people took to the streets in Buenos Aires this week to fight Milei’s cuts to free public university education in Argentina:
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“Many rank-and-file union members said they supported Mr. Sanders precisely because of his health care proposal, explaining that they wanted their friends and relatives to have the same kind of access to care that they have.”
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While most probably don’t say it out loud, “you are not going to find it from me or taking my thing away” is far too often white women’s response to efforts to diversify our fields.
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I’ve heard there are some concerned elected officials and law enforcement officers on the lookout for public displays of anti-semitism?.
White supremacists are now marching in Charleston, West Virginia. With no police in sight.
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@ashleyruba @anthonyocampo @APA On the other hand, the wonderful and very well organized @LASACONGRESS covered my registration fee for their conference and arranged a special award panel about my book - so it is possible for associations to figure this out!.
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After unidentified federal agents detained a protestor in an unmarked vehicle, took him to an undisclosed location, and later released him with no paperwork, the US Marshalls denied that they had even arrested the protestor. This is terrifying.
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I would really love to know how NYT headline writers are trained. Fascist party uses fascist logo, draws on fascist history, pursues fascist policies, but argues publicly that nobody cares about fascism anymore, and the NYT writes this headline.
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Wow - as one of her first acts as the new governor of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum disbanded the granaderos, the riot police force. This has been a demand of movements since 1968.
⚡️ “Claudia Sheinbaum ya es jefa de Gobierno; desaparecerá a granaderos”.
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This is what I’ve been calling ‘theory telephone,’ and I think that the way we as a profession train historians means that most grad students genuinely *don’t know* what they are arguing against.
every humanities work written in the past 30 years begins with lip service about how history is not “teleological,” capitalism is not a “monolith,” and categories are “constructed” and “porous.” it is hard to even tell who they are arguing against anymore!.
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Today in crimes against the Spanish language, Baltimore City edition:
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Ok, some news: as of today, I am now officially an Associate Professor of History at NYU. It’s an unbelievable privilege to get an academic job in the place you call home, and I couldn’t be more excited to be coming back to New York.
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Things I have to tell myself every day: academia is not a competition; being non-normative is not failure; youth is not an accomplishment; meritocracy and status-obsession are both bullshit. We are building fields here, building knowledge. Together, cumulatively, collectively.
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Academic reality check: this field-changing book was produced by a contingent faculty member. Who has no research funds; had to pay out of pocket for expensive images, indexing, etc. Who does everything TT faculty do for 60% of the pay. Who has no year-to-year job security.
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Graduate students are managing the anxiety of disrupted research and an increasingly uncertain professional future. They are taking care of kids. They are watching friends & family get sick and die. “Now you have more time to write” is not acceptable counsel from their advisors.
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Thrilled to announce the launch of a new initiative, headed by @zeithistoriker and me: The History & Political Economy Project
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Almost 50 years later, this is what we can see of the President’s Daily Briefing from the morning of the coup that overthrew the elected government of Salvador Allende. There is no security reason for this file to remain secret - we must know what Nixon knew that day.
The President's Daily Briefing from the day of the coup - 9/11/73 - remains censored & top secret, 49 years later. @NSArchive calls for full disclosure of covert history of US role in Pinochet putsch
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The victories in Chile and Bolivia came not only because people refused to give up on building a truly inclusive democracy, but also because activists refused to leave the streets, even in the face of massive state repression. We should look to these struggles for lessons.
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@ashleyruba @anthonyocampo @APA I got two honorable mentions from the ASA this year, and it's going to cost me >$1300 to go accept them in person.
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Wow: Today, a jury found Chiquita Brands International liable for funding a violent Colombian paramilitary organization, the United Self-defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), that was responsible for major human rights atrocities during the 1990s and 2000s.
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“The conditions created by the pandemic drive home the fact that we essential workers — workers in general — are the ones who keep the social order from sinking into chaos. Yet we are treated with the utmost disrespect, as though we’re expendable.”
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I published a thorough but quite critical review of a book by a very senior scholar this fall, and today I got a very gracious and humble note from him thanking me for the deep engagement with his work. Refreshing as hell, honestly.
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Incredible to feel such pride of my fellow historians as the room erupts in a huge standing round of applause for @shereneseikaly’s argument in favor of condemning scholasticide in Gaza. #AHA25
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NYC broke the hourly rain record 10 DAYS AGO during Henri, with almost 2 inches in a hour. Broke it again TONIGHT with more than 3 inches in a single hour. We are so not ready for what is coming.
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It’s terrifying that the United States is provoking this violence on the border with Venezuela, in order to justify the use of force. It’s appalling to use ‘humanitarian aid’ in this way.
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This seems obvious, of course, but why should we expect the political-economic bases of fascism today to be the same as the 1930s? With the state and the economy organized in radically different ways than they were in the 1930s, how could the underlying conditions be the same?.
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“At no time during its years of plenty did American improve how it treats its customers. Change fees went up to $200 for domestic flights and to $750 for international. Its widely despised baggage fees were hiked to $30 and $40 for first and second bags.”
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“Eateries near the Brooklyn Army base, which handed over an undocumented pizza deliveryman to immigration agents last week, are now refusing to send their own workers into the garrison.”
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If you had told me even three months ago that I would find myself marching down Prospect Park West with a couple thousand new comrades chanting ‘Abolish the Police’ I could not have believed you.
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Saw a job cmte announce they received 1,000 apps. The ad required:. - CV.- Letter of Interest.- Writing Sample.- Research Statement.- Teaching Statement.- Sample Syllabi.- Diversity Statement.- Teaching Evaluations.- 3 letters of reference. So much material that won’t be read.
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Imagine an institution that asks a field-defining faculty member to serve on a defense committee for a dissertation that cites that scholar’s work more than almost anyone else, and then decides that that scholar’s NTT title disqualifies them from serving a day before the defense.
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“It’s long past time for a realignment of the US relationship to Lat Am,” AOC said… “The US needs to publicly acknowledge the harms we’ve committed through interventionist and extractive policies, and chart a new course based on trust and mutual respect.”
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Uh, I don’t know if you can tell how excited I am, but OMG I JUST MET @MagnusCort! #kingofthemountain #marylandcyclingclassic
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This image of farmworkers continuing to work as the California fires rage nearby is just staggering. Photo by Andy Holzman.
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PUB DAY! My book, Revolution in Development: Mexico and the Governance of the Global Economy, is officially out with @UCpress. Can I tell you a little bit about it? Thread:
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Knowing there was basically no way for the math to make any sense in this assertion, I googled quickly & found the stats: even in the precinct with the most violent crime in NYC right now, rates are down 70% from 1990.
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When she's right, she's right.
Mexican President Sheinbaum fires back at Trump in a statement: "Seventy percent of the illegal weapons seized from criminals in Mexico come from your country. We do not produce these weapons, nor do we consume synthetic drugs. Tragically, it is in our country that lives are lost.
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Literally shocked to learn that my article, "Developmentalism as Internationalism," has won the 2024 Sociology of Development Award for Best Article. This piece benefited enormously from feedback from @jgo34, @zyedwards, and @coreyrpayne. Very grateful!
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Becoming punk in the 90s meant a political formation centered around opposing neo-nazis, police brutality, and animal agriculture - three major contributors to our current crisis.
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Advice? Gave a mid-term evaluation to my undergrads and it's clear I need to figure out strategies for not allowing a few students to dominate discussion during lecture. Looking for new suggestions to address this without overly discouraging my enthusiastic participators.
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Official word from the board of trustees is that I have become a category of person I truly never imagined I would be: a tenured professor of sociology. Is it normal to feel, just, like disbelief?.
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Now we need to build an internationalist left to mobilize solidarity with Brazilian movements fighting back against this odious regime.
89% of the real results are in (not exit polls) - . 55.7% Bolsonaro.44.3% Haddad. Jair Bolsonaro will almost certainly be the next President of Brazil. This is a sad day for fans of democracy and human rights all around the world.
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I deeply dislike the office of the presidency of the United States, but I very much like Bernie Sanders. #ILikeBernie.
I like @BernieSanders, pass it on!.
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Deep breaths. @desperatelyred just emailed me this photo of my actual, physical, existing book. What a very strange feeling this is!
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I can’t deal with the cognitive dissonance of Trump supporters taking his medical advice and DRIVING ACROSS THE MEXICAN BORDER to buy pharmacies out of unproven drugs. I have to get off the internet now, I think I might explode.
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One good way to reduce the carbon footprint of the US military is to massively defund it, stop building bombers and warships, and close bases. Any Green New Deal has to have demilitarization at its core.
The Pentagon is the single largest government consumer of energy, and it’s dependent on fossil fuels. To improve military readiness and help us achieve a #GreenNewDeal, the Pentagon should achieve net zero carbon emissions for all its non-combat bases and infrastructure by 2030.
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The most brutal part of the APSA statement is the total failure to recognize that hotel workers are KEY to academia. Conferences, campus visits, invited talks - these all require hotel workers, rely on their totally unseen labor. These workers - & others! - are key to our labor.
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As an alum, I feel ashamed of @BarnardCollege for this. As a professor fighting against the creation of an armed private police force here at @JohnsHopkins, I fear for my Black students and colleagues in these all-too-common situations.
This happened yesterday at Barnard College. A black Columbia University student was entering the library when he was racially profiled by public safety officers. They took his ID. They pinned him down. 🎥: Caroline Cutlip
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Yes! Congratulations to the Columbia grad workers who have fought so long for this. Collective action gets the goods!
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Oh, but I thought the problem was progressive DAs in "woke" cities?.
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I thought you all should know that this life sized Keynes greets you when you arrive at the World Bank archives reading room
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Of 106 tenure cases heard between 1998 and 2012 at USC, 92 percent of white males were tenured, whereas only 55 percent of women and minority scholars were.
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There’s a big part of rural America that everyone’s ignoring: 1/5 rural residents are people of color.
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"Her name is Maura Moynihan, the daughter of the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan."
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I feel like I’ve ‘finished’ this book SO many times already, but now: there are page proofs. Terrified.
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Now can the state and city use the funds they apparently have available for massive corporate tax-breaks and subsidies to start fixing the damn subway?.
Breaking News: Amazon said it is canceling plans to build a campus in New York City
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As the world shuts down around us, it's really surreal to get the final version of my book's cover, but here it is. Revolution in Development, out late 2020 from @ucpress.
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Has the Biden administration insisted that the Los Angeles regime refrain from repressing protestors bravely asserting fundamental and universal rights?.
Woman was just shot by a rubber bullet as she asked to please put down your guns—
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Echeverría has finally died. May he be haunted in the afterlife by those whose death & torture he oversaw.
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I’ve said this over and over, but in the academic job market, the overwhelmingly decisive factor is luck. Without a doubt.
I’d go bigger: Any successful person incapabale of appreciating that their success is MOSTLY the result of luck—defined here as “factors other than their own individual virtues & talent”—is a pathological narcissist who is unaware of the social context in which they operate.
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Turns out the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (the irony of this name, my god), which runs the grid, is a 501c4. This means it’s a nonprofit, yes, but one that is specifically organized to do advocacy and lobbying. The Texas power grid is run by a lobbying organization.
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It is exceedingly hard to watch so many folks traveling like it’s normal. I’m missing four months of writing & research in Mexico right now, and people are just. going on vacation? Tips for coping/keeping yourself from raging out about other people’s choices?.
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Been doing a tour of the many Maradona murals in Napoli, and this is the best one I’ve seen so far
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I was standing near the entry door at last night’s vote, next to someone who quickly made clear that he was a no. As I said hello by name to basically every third person who walked in the room, I watched him realize the numbers weren’t gonna go his way, even before anyone spoke.
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“Most of the nearly 1,000 people the U.S. has prosecuted for terrorism since 9/11 never came close to committing an act of violence. Like the Liberty City Seven, most had no connection to terrorist groups and many were set up in FBI stings.”
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This story about how UC Davis made itself a community testing/tracing hub in the pandemic is really remarkable, and something that much richer institutions in much poorer cities should really be doing.
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Solidarity with every contingent academic spending their summer ‘break’ waiting for someone else to make a decision about whether or not you’ll be employed in the fall. That university admins can ignore that they hold people’s actual lives in their hands is exhausting & enraging.
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Today marks 10 years since I lost my mom, the result of decades of hiding a disease she got using IV drugs, which sent her to prison. I didn’t know any of this when she was alive - the shame was too strong. Our drug war kills, both quickly & slowly. It must end.
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At what point are we going to get acknowledgment from university admin that this is a coordinated, well-funded, concerted strategy on the right? Why do we keep getting one-off, ad-hoc panic responses from our employers in the face of a organized campaign against them?.
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Mae Ngai 💚.
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - "THE AGITATORS ARE THE REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS, MAYOR ADAMS & SENATOR CHUCK SCHUMER".- Nae Ngai Professor .@KSaloomey reports | @AJEnglish
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This interview is incredible, mostly for what it reveals about so many journalists' knee-jerk nationalism. I lol'd at Bernie asking "Are you shocked to learn that there was anti-American sentiment?"
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Excited to share that Revolution in Development (@ucpress) has won the 2022 @LASACONGRESS Luciano Tomassini Latin American International Relations Book Award. LASA has been long been a key intellectual home for me, so I'm so grateful for this recognition!
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Thrilled to say that the editorial committee at @ucpress just approved the publication of my book, and I got permission to use a very cool cover image from the Centro de Estudios Lombardo Toledano. Can’t wait for Revolution in Development to be out in the world!.
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So, so honored by this. Thank you to @LASACONGRESS & the committee members!.
Congratulations to the winner of the 2022 Luciano Tomassini Latin American International Relations Book Award. Christy Thornton, Revolution in Development: Mexico and the Governance of the Global Economy (University of California Press, 2021).
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“Only 46.1% of white Americans over the age of 16 — and a mere 40.8% of Black Americans — now have a full-time job paying more than $20,000 per year.”
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ABC is playing the sound of bombs/ explosions audible in Kyiv. I don’t have anything insightful to say here, but watching this televised launch of war, 19 years after shock and awe, makes me so sick to my stomach again and still.
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