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Nate Schenkkan

@nateschenkkan.bsky.social

5.1K followers 1.1K following 6.9K posts

Independent human rights expert working on global authoritarianism, transnational repression, Turkey and Eurasia. Ex-Freedom House, SPLC. For your freedom and ours. https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/the-golden-age-of-transnational-repression/

www.journalofdemocracy.org

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Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · May 29

And here is my first post, explaining what I hope to do with this notebook while writing and looking for work: open.substack.com/pub/natesche...

Now What?

Starting a notebook on the current crisis

open.substack.com

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Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 7h

Wild. Had never occurred to me

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Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 7h

Brought to you by the person with the branded Monster energy mug at the park every day, just the right size for a Monster energy drink

Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 7h

Fascinated by the number of people who I see drinking energy drinks for breakfast, now thinking I’m the weirdo for drinking coffee every morning

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Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 7h

Got it, thanks

Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 7h

Is the last person here a specific person, and is it Barghouti?

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Reposted by Nate Schenkkan

Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 13h

Brett Kavanaugh assures me this is the sort of minor inconvenience that shouldn't disturb anyone.

CollinCountyDems @collincountydems.bsky.social · 14h

This is terrifying!

ICE breaks into this woman’s car in the pick-up line at West Loop Elementary school in Chicago and detains her before she can pick her kids up from school. (They were eventually let go after showing their documents)

This is Trump’s America.

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Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 13h

Only empanadas

Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 13h

Finally we have adequate Argentine pesos

David Gura @davidgura.bsky.social · 14h

Secretary Scott Bessent says the U.S. has “directly purchased Argentine pesos,” and the Treasury Department has “finalized a $20 billion currency swap framework with Argentina’s central bank.”

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Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 13h

RFK Jr: Y’know when I was a boy we used to say the girls had cooties and if they kissed you you got the cooties, but it turns out they protected you, and that’s why we’ve got autism now. Kids need the cooties

Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 14h

Spare yourself

Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 14h

You have to hand it to the screenwriters, it is a stroke of genius to have this particular individual be the person to test the concept that the president’s opinions, even when baldly at odds with reality, must receive deference from the courts

Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 14h

We are approaching the core of the issue

Heather Cherone @heathercherone.bsky.social · 15h

Perry: DOJ's definition of rebellion would mean that
"literally all nonviolent protest” could be considered evidence of rebellion. Is that your argument?
Hamilton: The president has determined there is a danger of a rebellion, and you must defer to that finding

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Reposted by Nate Schenkkan

Jenny Croft @jenniferlcroft.bsky.social · 21h

I took this picture of Olga and László in London in 2018. Congrats to Krasznahorkai and his translators, including George Szirtes and @ottiliemulzet.bsky.social, and long live a Central Europe free of dictators (foreign and domestic) and full of magnificent minds like these!

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Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 14h

Yes I’m outraged and sometimes scared, but more frequently I feel crackling shame

Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 14h

Dying of embarrassment for my country again

a cat is giving a thumbs up sign while crying .

ALT: a cat is giving a thumbs up sign while crying .

media.tenor.com

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Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 16h

While the actual Pope is talking about the rights of migrants, checking in on one of our most prominent Catholic converts

Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 18h

Doug Wilson co-authored a (plagiarized) book that defended the institution of slavery *as it was practiced in the antebellum South*. This is how Douthat introduced the subject while providing him with the NYT's platform:

Douthat: So, just to take a related example, one of the controversies of many that you’ve been mixed up in has to do with slavery, and whether slavery is absolutely forbidden by the Bible, absolutely forbidden to Christians, or whether it is critiqued, but allowed for.

Wilson: Right.

Douthat: And you think it is critiqued, but allowed for.

Wilson: Right.

Douthat: On this, on a straightforward reading of the New Testament, I would agree with you. I would say, pretty clearly, there is a pretty clear path from the message of the Bible to the abolition of slavery. But there is no moment in the New Testament when Jesus insists on the manumission of slaves.

Wilson: Right.

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Reposted by Nate Schenkkan

Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 21h

President Donald Trump's threatened crackdown on the finances and activities of liberal non-profits and groups opposed to his agenda is a multi-agency effort with top White House aide Stephen Miller playing a central role, according to officials.

www.reuters.com/legal/govern...

www.reuters.com

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Reposted by Nate Schenkkan

Carnegie Endowment @carnegieendowment.org · 17h

Delegitimizing women and limiting their rights goes hand in hand with democratic backsliding around the world.

@saskiabr.bsky.social explained the relationship between women’s rights and democratic resilience, for @nytimes.com: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/w...

As Democratic Institutions Erode, Women See a Loss of Rights

www.nytimes.com

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Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 17h

Cf!

bsky.app/profile/404m...

404 Media @404media.co · 17h

BREAKING: A catastrophic breach has impacted Discord user data including selfies and identity documents uploaded as part of the app’s verification process, email addresses, phone numbers, approximately where the user lives, and much more.

🔗 www.404media.co/the-discord-...

The Discord Hack is Every Users’ Worst Nightmare

A hack impacting Discord’s age verification process shows in stark terms the risk of tech companies collecting users’ ID documents. Now the hackers are posting peoples’ IDs and other sensitive informa...

www.404media.co

Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 17h

I also think this is an issue where the details *really* matter. How do you verify ages? How costly is that process? How is the information stored?

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 18h

A government ban on social media for kids under a certain age is narrow enough that most of the harms on the internet will still be in play for them, yet still broad enough that it will prevent these kids from getting access to the various benefits we all get out of being here.

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Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 18h

Obvious Turkish politics angle is that this is right on message for a government that is floundering while cracking down

Reposted by Nate Schenkkan

Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 18h

From @jasonaw.bsky.social's excellent *reporting* on Wilson.

“a life of plenty, of simple pleasures, of food, clothes, and good medical care”

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/n...

In the early 2000s, Wilson received criticism over a book, Southern Slavery as it Was, which he had co-written in the previous decade with J Steven Wilkins. Wilkins is a Louisiana pastor who was a co-founder of the neo-Confederate organization, the League of the South. His church is a member of Wilson’s congregational umbrella group, the CREC.

The book depicted slavery in the antebellum southern United States as “a relationship based upon mutual affection and confidence”, and argued that the enslaved enjoyed “a life of plenty, of simple pleasures, of food, clothes, and good medical care”.

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Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 18h

I think there have been a bunch yeah? It was always a big deal when US operators had the patches. I think this one is because Syria is supposed to be unifying and Barrack is supposed to be an advocate for that (or whatever it is he’s doing)

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Reposted by Nate Schenkkan

Patrick De Klotz @patdeklotz.bsky.social · 1d

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Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 18h

Staff work fail

DW Türkçe @turkce.dw.com · 18h

ABD’nin Ankara Büyükelçisi Tom Barrack tepki çeken fotoğrafla ilgili açıklama yaptı

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