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Maya Chhabra

@mayachhabra.bsky.social
335 followers 170 following 1.5K posts

Author of FIREBIRD CAGED, CHIARA IN THE DARK, and more. Translator. Not willing to let democracy die quietly. 🇺🇸 🇮🇹 🇮🇳 she/her mayachhabra.com

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Reposted by Maya Chhabra
Feena van @feenavan2099.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
"Before Stonehenge was raised, before Egypts first pyramid broke ground,before the Nazca people drew their famous lines across the Peruvian desert,someone in what is now southern Arizona shaped a 272-foot fish into the earth On April 23,2026,"a border-wall contractor drove heavy equipment across it"
gadgetreview.com
Trump's Border Wall Construction Destroys 6,500-Year-Old Arizona Geoglyph – Older Than Stonehenge
Arizona's 6,500-year-old Las Playas Intaglio, the oldest dated geoglyph in the Americas, was irreparably damaged by border wall construction in April 2026.
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Maya Chhabra @mayachhabra.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Running the UNRWA Gaza 5K again next week--donations go to supporting children and local mental health professionals on the ground working with children in Gaza. Please give any amount to help me towards my goal. getinvolved.unrwausa.org/fundraiser/7...
getinvolved.unrwausa.org
2026 NYC Gaza 5K
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Maya Chhabra @mayachhabra.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Honest question: what is the point of having media witnesses if they're escorted out whenever something goes wrong? Isn't that what they're supposed to be witnessing?
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Indivisible ❌👑 @indivisible.org · 02/10/2026
Read more about the dangerous conditions the whistleblower exposed in Florida:
oversightdemocrats.house.gov
Ranking Members Robert Garcia, Bennie Thompson, and Maxwell Frost Demand Answers From ICE on Dangerous Conditions in Florida Immigration Facilities
The Official U.S. Congressional website of The Democrat Oversight Committee
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Indivisible ❌👑 @indivisible.org · 02/10/2026
They are the exact locations where human beings missing from official ICE databases are hidden, shuffled covertly between ICE flights, transit buses, and known detention camps to keep them off the public radar and out of judicial reach. This cannot be allowed to stand. Shut them all down now.
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Indivisible ❌👑 @indivisible.org · 02/10/2026
DISCLAIMER: This post contains graphic photos. Men, women, and families are being abused in lawless, cramped, mold-choked facilities in Florida. A horrific new whistleblower report has pulled back the curtain on the dangerous and lawless practices operating inside two federal facilities in Florida.
Conditions inside of the Miramar Holding Facility sally port where more than one hundred detainees are being detained for days and forced to sleep on the ground.Piles of trash have accumulated outside of the Miramar Holding FacilityHuman waste has overflowed onto the ground outside of the portable toilets placed outside of the Miramar Holding Facility sally port.Detainees brushing their teeth using water from a hose attached to a jug outside
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Maya Chhabra @mayachhabra.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
If true, this nurse, Chloe Freeman, is a hero and an inspiration to us all for how to act if we have the opportunity. themetrodetroitnews.com/going-to-set...
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Benjamin Park @benjaminepark.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
My favorite archive, @mhs1791.bsky.social, took this great photograph of Theodore Parker’s letter books, which serve as a textual core of my book coming out next year. I’ve argued they’re among the richest collections for antebellum religion & abolition. Documents are cool. Archives are the best.
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Prasad Jallepalli, MD, PhD @prasad.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
5 potatoes cubed is still 5 potatoes because potatoes are root vegetables
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Project Salt Box @projectsaltbox.com · 28/09/2026
On Friday, ICE posted 33 detainee mortality reports to their online FOIA Library. Over the weekend, those reports were inexplicably deleted. We have archived them on our GitHub and are sharing them in hopes that the information is useful to journalists, researchers, and the general public.
github.com
psb-foia/ice/FOIA Library Artifacts/ICE Mortality Reports at main · projectsaltbox/psb-foia
FOIA requests and released records for Project Salt Box's reporting on ICE detention and federal contracting. - projectsaltbox/psb-foia
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Nicholas Whithorn @nickwhithorn.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
After Prosecutors in Milan investigated exploitation of 300 mostly Indian workers employed on the construction site of new US Consulate in Milan, American company Caddell Construction is paying €19m in back pay & compensation to the workers. They were forced to work a 12h day & paid less than €2/h.
open.online
Caporalato nel cantiere del Consolato Usa a Milano, 19 milioni di risarcimento e permessi di soggiorno a centinaia di operai
Caporalato nel cantiere del Consolato Usa a Milano: oltre 19 milioni agli operai sfruttati e permessi di soggiorno
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Maya Chhabra @mayachhabra.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Detailed account of numerous recent attacks on Christians and Christian religious services in rural West Bengal by Hindutva extremists, as well as the failures of police to protect the victims.
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Maya Chhabra @mayachhabra.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Which of these does not belong? Only thing I can say is Marconi actually had worse politics than Berlusconi (see "Fascism") and Columbus was a worse person. But this is still embarrassing. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gugliel...
en.wikipedia.org
Guglielmo Marconi - Wikipedia
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
We’re at the “shipping container courts” stage of ICE’s mass expansion of the enforcement system.
Each detention unit would sit on asphalt or concrete behind an office's existing security fence, with a counter for processing people and a separate holding area fitted with a toilet and sink for detainees according to the draft work statement.
The agency also wants a 300-square-foot unit for interviewing people in custody and a 60-square-foot "Virtual Immigration Court Unit" for hearings run by the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the Justice Department agency that operates the immigration courts.
Both must also be designed for their purpose before delivery.
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Maya Chhabra @mayachhabra.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
To summarize, this local jail (detaining pretrial prisoners and those with less than a year sentences) has terrible conditions that have resulted in deaths, and is also currently used for ICE detention. If you are in Brooklyn, I recommend this weekly vigil: www.mobilize.us/indivisiblea...
mobilize.us
Weekly Vigil for Democracy at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center · Indivisible Actions and Alerts
Join us in standing up for our neighbors, held at the notorious prison in our own back yard. For years, the Metropolitan Detention Center has had a reputation for inhumane conditions: rancid food, lac...
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David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
After @gillianbrockell.com reported that ICE was violating a court order to stop third-country removals, a lawsuit cited her reporting and a judge, agreeing with the case, demanded that ICE not move a detainee to send them to a third country. We get results. prospect.org/2026/09/24/j...
prospect.org
Judges Reject ICE’s Underhanded Attempt to Maintain Third-Country Removals - The American Prospect
An appeals court made clear deportation flights to third countries must stop immediately, but flight data showed ICE may be violating the order.
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Brad Lander @bradlander.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This ruling affirms what we've long known to be true. The holding room conditions at 26 Federal Plaza are completely deplorable.
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Maya Chhabra @mayachhabra.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Stuff America and Belarus have in common--being the lone country that legally executes people on our respective continents, and obnoxious leaders who are past their sell-by dates. In the case of Belarus, stuck with the same dictator since 1994.
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Maya Chhabra @mayachhabra.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Review by a journalist in Gaza--and a call to go beyond believing what is happening and to bring actual safety to the people living and dying under this dystopian killing machine. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Watching NAZA was like peering through a window – and seeing the machinery of killing in Gaza | Mahmoud Mushtaha
I now know that the only difference between life and death may have been an AI algorithm, says Mahmoud Mushtaha, a Palestinian journalist from Gaza
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Maya Chhabra @mayachhabra.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Really not a good look for the Auschwitz Museum to have denied a survivor the ability to take back her own work. And despite stating they were pictures of Roma victims, it doesn't sound from the article like they actually reached out to any surviving relatives? www.nytimes.com/2026/09/17/a...
nytimes.com
Heirs Sue Auschwitz Museum Over Art Their Mother Made Under the Nazis
Josef Mengele, the “Angel of Death” doctor, ordered Dina Gottliebova Babbitt, an Auschwitz prisoner, to create watercolor paintings. Her daughters want them back.
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Maya Chhabra @mayachhabra.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
www.nytimes.com/2026/09/16/w...
nytimes.com
Turkey Begins Broad Crackdown on L.G.B.T.Q. Community
The government has called the campaign an effort to protect families. Rights organizations have accused the authorities of criminalizing L.G.B.T.Q. people and of seeking to thwart political activism.
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Maya Chhabra @mayachhabra.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
53 years ago. www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46562/...
poetryfoundation.org
Ballad of Birmingham
“Mother dear, may I go downtown Instead of out to play, And march the streets of Birmingham In a Freedom March today?” “No, baby, no, you may not go, For…
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Rise and Resist @riseandresist.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Icon Parking is allowing ICE vehicles in its garage. Demand ICE vans be removed from Independence Plaza. Here’s what you can do right now - Call Mon–Fri, 9–5: • ICON (877) 727-5464 • Vornado (212) 594-7000 x7400 • Stellar Mgmt (212) 406-0030
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Maya Chhabra @mayachhabra.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Happy book birthday! This also features the opera singer Jenny Lind, and a very alt 19th century London. And cake.
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Maya Chhabra @mayachhabra.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
More reporting on the Kings County Democratic County Committee, this time on corruption and judicial nominations. nysfocus.com/2026/09/14/b...
nysfocus.com
In Brooklyn, a Judge-Maker’s Steady Wins Raise Eyebrows
A court battle over a dramatic rewriting of party rules will shape the selection of future judges.
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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
ICE and Oklahoma state police are illegally arresting and detaining Ukrainian truck drivers who are here legally via TPS. tulsaworld.com/news/state-r...
tulsaworld.com
Truck drivers who fled Ukraine war are being jailed by ICE in Oklahoma
Many believed they had proper paperwork but have been ensnared by inconsistent immigration policy and a federal push for deportations. Most remain in custody at Oklahoma prisons.
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Maya Chhabra @mayachhabra.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
My very basic AI opinion: more of this kind of thing, less slop and token-maxxing. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/14/w...
nytimes.com
‘I Have a Lot to Say’: Brain Implant Helps a Disabled Patient Speak
In the latest advance in brain-computer interfaces, a company said its wireless device enabled speech even when a patient just imagined saying words.
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Maya Chhabra @mayachhabra.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/w...
nytimes.com
Emma Bonino, Italian Campaigner for Civil Rights, Dies at 78
In nearly five decades in politics, Ms. Bonino wielded outsize influence on Italian discourse, helping erode the political sway of the Catholic Church.
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Maya Chhabra @mayachhabra.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Richard Allen Pearlman was an 18 year old ambulance volunteer, still working toward his EMT certification, when he joined the response to the attack on the WTC. He died attempting to save a life. www.ems1.com/9-11/he-was-...
ems1.com
He was 18 when he ran toward the Twin Towers — 25 years later, we still ride for him
Richard Allen Pearlman was the youngest first responder killed on 9/11. For a small volunteer ambulance corps, keeping his memory alive has become part of the job.
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Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
This MetaFilter forum _from September 11, 2001_ is a primary document that makes it very difficult to make the "unity" argument www.metafilter.com/10034/Plane-...
metafilter.com
Plane crashes in to the word trade center.
Plane crashes in to the word trade center. Apologies for not linking to anything besides the main CNN page but there are no full stories on this yet. The plane crashed into the building about six...
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Eilish Hart @eilishhart.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Must-read reporting about the more than ten thousand Ukrainian civilians who have disappeared into the Russian prison system. For the @newyorker.com, Joshua Yaffa tells the story of the women held in one cell in Russia's “new Gulag.” www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
newyorker.com
Inside Russia’s New Gulag
Human-rights groups estimate that more than ten thousand Ukrainian civilians have disappeared into the Russian prison system. This is the story of one cell in the new Gulag.
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Maya Chhabra @mayachhabra.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Rereading ALL THE KING'S MEN and...this is Hamlet. Jack=Hamlet Anne=Ophelia Adam=Laertes Jack's mom=Gertrude The Scholarly Attorney=the Ghost Willie Stark=Claudius
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Tom Cartwright @tomcartwright.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
👀✈️‼️ Noting that there were over 2,000 ICE Air flights in each of June and July. These flights represent an enormous number of human rights violations and malicious cruelty and pain.
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Maya Chhabra @mayachhabra.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Been reading a lot of books about apartheid in South Africa and denial of contact visits is frequently mentioned by political prisoners and their family members as a memorably cruel policy. The company we keep.
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I'd been doing bits and pieces of this (amazingly, or amazing to me, this epic Hugo masterpiece of satire and invective has never been translated into English) for a while. Then two years ago I decided to finish the whole thing, and now have. medium.com/adams-notebo...
medium.com
Medium
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I have literally just finished a complete translation of Victor Hugo's epic anti-Napoleon III polemic "Les Châtiments" (1853). This could be MY TIME!
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Maya Chhabra @mayachhabra.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Reading Paul Norwood (J.P. Nettl)'s The Prize-Giving and there is a very funny depiction of an absolutely excruciating canvassing shift.
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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 28/08/2026
On Raksha Bandhan, a single thread symbolizes a powerful promise: to protect, support, and stand by one another. Today I shared in the joy of this ceremony with elders at India Home, where South Asian seniors find community, care, and chosen family.
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Maya Chhabra @mayachhabra.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
@bsky.app Could you make a non-infinite scroll option? Would love more control over my feed that way.
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Greg Britton @gmbritton.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
What I love about this story is that it was probably some researcher studying cactus cell structure or the biochemistry of some totally obscure succulent and then it turns out that it might just save millions of lives. This is the cool thing about pure research—you just never know.
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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
A tetanus-diphtheria vaccine that doesn’t need a fridge has passed its first human trial. UK scientists reformulated a licensed shot using trehalose, the sugar that lets desert plants survive without water, keeping it stable for up to two years at 30°C. Gavi buff.ly/1kNIUHB #ShareGoodNewsToo
gavi.org
Fridge-free vaccine passes first human trial, raising hopes for the hardest-to-reach
Unreliable electricity makes it hard to keep vaccines at the right temperature – this development could change that.
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Bergstrom Press and Books @bergstrompressbooks.com · 28/08/2026
Once again, we receive word that another Russian missile has destroyed, not a military target, but Ukrainian books. Our friends Ababahalamaha reported that their warehouse was hit. Other reports mention at least 60,000 books burned and destroyed in the attack. Why?
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Maya Chhabra @mayachhabra.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Madison Square Garden really wants another fascist rally, huh? Absolutely disgraceful to host the head of the RSS, an organization that has spent an entire century undermining religious pluralism in India. www.hindusforhumanrights.org/en/blog/new-...
hindusforhumanrights.org
New Yorkers Unite Against RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat’s Madison Square Garden Appearance — Hindus for Human Rights
Hindu, Muslim and interfaith groups will gather at City Hall on August 25 to oppose the spread of Hindu nationalism and RSS influence in the United States.   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   NEW ...
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Passengers on Delta 5483 (operated by Endeavor Air), your flight is being used to deport someone.
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Louis @louisevans.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
restricting wars to those declared by the legislature is a costly signal of certain levels of political mobilization and deliberation not unrelated to winning them.
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Maya Chhabra @mayachhabra.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
The ankle monitor stuff here--we all know what that is. "Wear this identifying badge to make it easier for us to round you up later." www.nytimes.com/2026/08/18/u...
nytimes.com
Haitians in Springfield Hunker Down as ICE Begins Detentions
Federal agents have begun detaining Haitians in the Ohio city, signaling an increase in ICE activity that has panicked the community and kept many from leaving home.
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Maya Chhabra @mayachhabra.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Horrific. Abolish ICE. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/20/n...
nytimes.com
Trans Migrants in ICE Detention Are Losing Their Rights and Medical Care
U.S. officials have sometimes eliminated access to gender-related treatment and dissolved measures meant to shield transgender detainees from harassment.
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Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 19/08/2026
People who don’t know the difference between ‘entomology’ and ‘etymology’ bug us in ways we cannot put into words.
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New Kings Democrats @newkingsdems.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
“We have a leader that we believe in. Who has a spine. Who is going to make the right choices – or we’re going to make sure he makes the right choices because he has a movement behind him." Great story about how @juliopenabk.com is going to transform the party chair role in Brooklyn
cityandstateny.com
Meet the new kingmaker who could lead the Brooklyn Democratic Party
What would reform look like, if Julio Peña III takes over for Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn?
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Marissa Lingen @marissalingen.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
What have I been up to lately? Oh, not much, just a little thing called...gender-bent Richard III generation novella! Okay actually we call it THAT FATAL DISCONTENT and it's coming to you NEXT SUMMER FROM UNION SQUARE!
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