Varda Star-Kindler
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vardastar-kindler.bsky.social
Varda Star-Kindler
@vardastar-kindler.bsky.social
4.5K followers 2.9K following 1.6K posts
Educator, mom, artist, writer, pro-democracy, pro-common sense.

🚫Nazis, 🚫KKK, 🚫 Fascist USA!

Impeach Krasnov!
Deport Moscow Musk!
Pay attention to the man behind the iron curtain!
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vardastar-kindler.bsky.social
Wow, it’s crazy to see how the war-ravaged city of Portland looks today.
November 29, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Reposted by Varda Star-Kindler
lottesenkelin.bsky.social
November 2, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Varda Star-Kindler
donmoyn.bsky.social
If you lower the standards, degrade the organizational culture so anything goes, you attract people drawn to that environment; people who cannot make it in other work environments. These are not the people who want excercising state power over your liberty. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1...
Abstract: Autocrats depend on a capable secret police. Anecdotal evidence, however, often characterizes agents as surprisingly mediocre in skill and intellect. To explain this puzzle, this article focuses on the career incentives underachieving individuals face in the regular security apparatus. Low-performing officials in hierarchical organizations have little chance of being promoted or filling lucrative positions. To salvage their careers, these officials are willing to undertake burdensome secret police work. Using data on all 4,287 officers who served in autocratic Argentina (1975–83), we study biographic differences between secret police agents and the entire recruitment pool. We find that low-achieving officers were stuck within the regime hierarchy, threatened with discharge, and thus more likely to join the secret police for future benefits. The study demonstrates how state bureaucracies breed mundane career concerns that produce willing enforcers and cement violent regimes. This has implications for the understanding of autocratic consolidation and democratic breakdown
November 2, 2025 at 2:26 PM