One basic lesson from political research is that secret police generally rely on mediocre men willing to do the dirty work of authoritarian regimes in order to advance their careers.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/how-the-fb...
@profhat.bsky.social
Professor of Public Administration | Chair of Social Sciences Augusta University | The Curious Public Administrator
One basic lesson from political research is that secret police generally rely on mediocre men willing to do the dirty work of authoritarian regimes in order to advance their careers.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/how-the-fb...
PhD social scientist here who uses surveys to collect data for my research. Would be glad to help you all with this process!
18.12.2025 00:08 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0This really is painful to watch. I donβt know if they believe what they say or they believe they have to say it. Regardless, these are people opposed to American democracy who will be given a lifelong opportunity to corrupt it.
17.12.2025 22:00 β π 287 π 82 π¬ 15 π 2βWe found over 35 cases in which the judges have specifically said what the government is providingβ¦false information. It might be intentionally false information, including false sworn declarations time and again," says Ryan Goodman, law professor at New York University.
19.10.2025 23:43 β π 13663 π 5620 π¬ 314 π 310The Worst Way to Cut Government Spending - The Atlantic
12.10.2025 00:18 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Serious scholars have examined what happens when we change the number of H1-B visas issued.
Cities that get more H1-B immigrants subsequently see the wages of natives *rise* substantially.
Skilled immigrants bring new ideas, fill labor shortages and make us all more productive.
There is no world in which it is normal for the president to publicly call upon his attorney general to hurry up and prosecute his political foes. Itβs like the Watergate tapes but posted on social media. Letβs get a grip on whatβs happening here.
21.09.2025 00:56 β π 58869 π 16292 π¬ 1337 π 634βAnxiety disorders are the most common mental illnesses in America today,β Arthur C. Brooks writes. The key to conquering it may be seeing your dread as part of βthe great opportunity and adventure of lifeβ:
07.09.2025 11:15 β π 70 π 16 π¬ 11 π 2βHe said, βWeβll notify next of kin if she dies.β And at that moment, I knew that I was no longer dealing with humans.β www.masslive.com/news/2025/08...
25.08.2025 11:29 β π 1292 π 627 π¬ 43 π 62Essential reading (by @jasonstanley.bsky.social) for every American. The media, aided by a handful of reactionary academics and compliant university administrations, has sold the public a huge lie about wokeness on college campuses, enabling the extreme right. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
13.06.2025 19:02 β π 1306 π 470 π¬ 18 π 37If you see reactionary centrist takes that universities did this to themselves by being too woke, or not being friendly enough to conservatives, remember there are always people willing to make the arguments of the authoritarian respectable
31.05.2025 12:25 β π 286 π 80 π¬ 5 π 2How soon they forget.
In WWII, US Army hired sociologists to advise on how to integrate troops, improve morale, organize units & pay structures. Some current practices still based on this work.
In 1990s, West Point sent officers to Stanford to earn Sociology PhDs, then hired them as faculty/deans.
Even if you (wrongly) believe that some immigrants lack due process rights, whatβs to stop the government from claiming that *you* are an undocumented immigrant; removing you to El Salvador; citing an βadministrative errorβ; and refusing to do anything to bring you back?
The answer is due process.
The destruction of the US State is happening so fast, and being reported with such earnest pragmatism, I cannot fathom the capital it will cost to repair it, should we have the opportunity in my lifetime.
15.04.2025 10:38 β π 51 π 4 π¬ 1 π 1When I say you donβt have to worry about microplastics in your brain I mean that there is much stronger evidence that you should be worrying about other things that you donβt ever think about, like the draining of peatlands for agriculture, and things that you think about all the time, like fascism.
13.04.2025 15:50 β π 20588 π 2264 π¬ 293 π 57WOW. Watch a constitutional law expert completely DEBUNK Republicansβ censorship crusade, while articulating exactly how Donald Trump is threatening freedom of speech. π₯
25.03.2025 23:57 β π 5041 π 2189 π¬ 137 π 244Canβt emphasize this enough: if youβre feeling overwhelmed by the debased assault on our country, the antidote is connecting with other people in the flesh who are feeling the same way. There are millions of us.
15.03.2025 18:14 β π 69636 π 12077 π¬ 2044 π 708Godβs work from the @nytimes.com aka math www.nytimes.com/2025/03/13/u...
16.03.2025 01:20 β π 1956 π 569 π¬ 39 π 23The βshutdown would have been worseβ argument is only true if you assume oppositional forces are stagnant. Voting with the GOP to avoid shutdown is the embodiment of feeble opposition and it enables the GOP rampage to continue. If only the 10 could imagine an alternative, more assertive use of power
15.03.2025 13:07 β π 48 π 10 π¬ 3 π 0One columnist, a professional pundit, is living in a paranoid delusion. The other, a sociologist, is living in America.
15.03.2025 12:01 β π 12718 π 2105 π¬ 345 π 384The provision of the 14th amendment that the Supreme Court unanimously wrote out of the constitution existed for a reason. Its drafters knew what would happen if you allowed insurrectionists back into power.
14.03.2025 20:57 β π 32091 π 7237 π¬ 608 π 204When the history of this time is written down, the cowardice will be remembered as much as the fascism
14.03.2025 12:41 β π 31866 π 4886 π¬ 721 π 280Gosh this is just vile
14.03.2025 15:32 β π 35 π 10 π¬ 2 π 0My goodness what an incredible story.
13.03.2025 14:00 β π 6 π 2 π¬ 0 π 0Since Reagan, the US has intentionally undercounted homelessness and hidden its structural roots.
So, workers and their kids are sleeping in cars and motels but aren't officially counted as unhoused and are scorned for "bad choices" they're presumed to have made.
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/01/o...
"Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty." - Hannah Arendt
28.02.2025 19:38 β π 3651 π 998 π¬ 93 π 27"officials at the Dept. of HHS... have pressed staff at the agency to ignore court orders, according to nearly a dozen former and current NIH officials I spoke with. Even advice from NIH lawyers to resume business as usual was dismissed by the agencyβs acting director, those officials said."
27.02.2025 19:44 β π 703 π 307 π¬ 19 π 46