Chase Madar
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madar.bsky.social
Chase Madar
@madar.bsky.social
Author, attorney, translator. Teaching law ~and society~ at NYU Gallatin. Make the Road NY legal alum.
Pinned
I like how a dead tree is the star of this one, gesturing like an elated lottery winner in front of their new house
Libby House, Portland, Maine - 1927
Grim but what else is a parent going to say after making a lethally poor choice? It’s hard to admit mistakes, especially the worst ones. Real measure of impact is whether this encourages others to vax their kids
February 20, 2026 at 3:23 PM
With the Voting Rights Act of 1965 still intact? Just spitballing
“Progressives unhappy with the Supreme Court have long castigated the judiciary as ineffectual, political, or worse. But where would we be now without them?” —an interview with @davidcole-gtown.bsky.social
Contempt of Court | David Cole, Daniel Drake
Since the Trump administration began its strategy of indefinitely detaining people it has targeted for deportation, federal judges across the country and
www.nybooks.com
February 20, 2026 at 3:12 PM
Early Miles Davis erasure
February 20, 2026 at 1:54 PM
This is important. There’s plenty of rational inquiry to be made into the Epstein affair and that same rational spirit means not becoming an indiscriminate QAnon kook
It’s been a while since I wrote about conspiracy theories but since Cenk Uygur took the Epstein drop and used it to justify becoming a 9/11 truther, I had to. The last two weeks saw the resurgence of Wayfair & Pizzagate— and those theories aren’t travelling as QAnon anymore, they’re everywhere.
February 20, 2026 at 12:22 AM
Wish I could catch this in Sydney later this month
👉 Join Najwan Darwish to explore No One Will Know You Tomorrow, his multi-award nominated collection. He testifies to endurance in the face of tragedy, waking up in an occupied land and the toll of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

🎟️ redroompoetry.org/events/najwa...

#sydney #palestine
Najwan Darwish: No One Will Know You Tomorrow
Australian poems by Australian poets are at the heart of Red Room Poetry, an organisation devoted to creating, publishing and promoting the reading and writing of great new work.
redroompoetry.org
February 20, 2026 at 12:14 AM
Reposted by Chase Madar
a government for, by and of degenerates
Labor Secretary’s Husband Barred From the Department After Sexual Assault Reports
Labor Secretary’s Husband Barred From the Department After Sexual Assault Reports
www.nytimes.com
February 19, 2026 at 10:11 PM
“Purpose” can just be filled in later #strategy
The WSJ reports that the Trump administration has massed "significant" air power in striking distance of Iran, but hasn't yet decided what the purpose of an attack would be.

www.wsj.com/world/middle...
February 19, 2026 at 10:19 PM
Reposted by Chase Madar
Summer Streets is one of New York City’s most popular attractions — a remarkable feat in a city known for its entertainment, and a testament to the simple delight of a car-free street!

It's time to grow Summer Streets into the spring, fall, and evenings, with:

NYCICLOVIA
February 19, 2026 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by Chase Madar
I do not think some folks in the Dem establishment are yet aware that money from AIPAC is a red line for many voters now, many many more than in the past. They are defenders of genocide and MAGA. No candidate backed by them should get Dem votes.
Jan Schakowsky has withdrawn her endorsement of Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller in the 2nd Congressional District race over Miller receiving funding from AIPAC donors — and an AIPAC super PAC that is running TV ads to support her.

@tinasfon.bsky.social with the report
Rep. Jan Schakowsky pulls Donna Miller endorsement in 2nd Congressional District over AIPAC support
Schakowsky on Thursday told the Sun-Times she "cannot support any candidate running for Congress who is funded by these outside interests."
chicago.suntimes.com
February 19, 2026 at 7:10 PM
Reposted by Chase Madar
I recently received “The Bomber Mafia” as a birthday gift (heh). It was bad, so bad that I believe it cannot be read as a reliable account of strategic bombing in World War II. In so many ways, it demonstrates the worst tendencies of the “pop history” genre. My review (and latest)⬇️
Strategic Bombing and the Pop History Problem
Reviewing Malcom Gladwell’s “The Bomber Mafia”
secretaryrofdefenserock.substack.com
February 18, 2026 at 10:04 PM
Reposted by Chase Madar
any official who claims to "know" about "trafficking" is making stuff up: "In the latest report, BJS admits that it has essentially no idea about the overall prevalence of human trafficking here."
Despite what Trump says, human trafficking is mostly a homegrown offense. 96% of ppl charged were for US citizens. Just 2% were undocumented immigrants reason.com/2026/02/19/9...
96 percent of people charged with human trafficking are U.S. citizens
Just 26 undocumented immigrants faced federal trafficking charges in 2023.
reason.com
February 19, 2026 at 8:23 PM
Our Senate opposition leader, that lion, voted _for_ the Iraq invasion and _against_ Obama’s nuclear diplomacy with Iran
February 19, 2026 at 2:58 PM
Truly fantastic joint statement by Chuck and Hakeem against a new war on Iran! Haha just joshin’. Unbelievable! Cause I made it up! Unconvincingly!
February 19, 2026 at 2:21 AM
Reposted by Chase Madar
If I were you, as people say when they’re so glad that they aren’t . . .

—Elizabeth Jane Howard, Falling
February 19, 2026 at 12:20 AM
Blob à l’Orange
AXIOS: “The Trump administration is closer to a major war in the Middle East than most Americans realize. It could begin very soon.”

Is Iran in the Epstein files?

www.axios.com/2026/02/18/i...
February 18, 2026 at 10:16 PM
Yes, focus attention on the Wexner-Epstein nexus because what media attention their plainly hinky relationship has gotten has been mostly deferential and obtuse, that of the NYTimes especially
🇺🇸BREAKING: Rep. Dave Min says that not a single Republican Congress member showed up for the deposition of Les Wexner today. They seem to literally don’t care about Epstein and his co-conspirators.
February 18, 2026 at 9:21 PM
This sums up why I dislike the pinched, perfectionist art of figure skating but thrill to the aesthetics of tennis where even champions like Rafa and Federer won only 53% of their career points
Three-time U.S. champion Amber Glenn is picking up the pieces after a missed jump in the Olympic short program dropped her to 13th place.

“It wasn’t the pressure that got to me, it was just a literal lack of balance,” she said.
Amber Glenn’s dreams were ‘smashed to pieces’ with just one mistake
The three-time U.S. champion is picking up the pieces after a missed jump in the short program dropped her to 13th place.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 18, 2026 at 6:41 PM
Reposted by Chase Madar
Diego Rivera, El Pintor en Reposo (The Painter in Repose), 1916, from Rivera's early & lesser-known - but still stupendous - Cubist period. Now on view at the Museo Carrillo Gil in Mexico City
February 18, 2026 at 6:31 PM
Reposted by Chase Madar
Peru is in many ways the extreme opposite of the US, with our imperial executive, neutered Congress, and total presidential impunity for corruption and other crimes. Peru's model of impeach everyone and send them to jail is...refreshing, but not an aspirational model either.
February 18, 2026 at 5:59 PM
What’s good writing on why many Americans loathe and resent Western Europe (i.e. not Douthat’s pursed-up bundle of misdirection yesterday)? Did Henry James tackle this?
February 18, 2026 at 5:50 PM
Reposted by Chase Madar
ICE is crushing Minneapolis economy. On the pod, Mayor Jacob Frey tallies up damage:

$203 million overall
$80 million small biz losses
$5 million hotel cancellations
75K people food insecurity

"Impact is staggering," Frey tells us. Bleeding city for being diverse:
newrepublic.com/article/2066...
Minneapolis Mayor’s Emotional Message to Trump: You Failed to Break Us
In an interview, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey says ICE’s attack came from the top—and shares new details about how badly it damaged his city, while explaining how the people there are emerging utterly...
newrepublic.com
February 18, 2026 at 5:43 PM
Reposted by Chase Madar
Calling the requirement for a judicial warrant before entering a person’s home one of the Democrats’ “new restrictions on federal immigration agents” crosses the line into outright falsehood. It’s in the Bill of Rights! A rule as old as the republic.
February 14, 2026 at 4:29 AM
The truth about Kathy Hochul’s opposition to raising taxes on the very rich (who just got a huge tax cut from Trump):
It's not weird when her husbands' friends and clients are tightly connected to that 2%, it just marks her with a time stamp.
February 18, 2026 at 5:17 PM
Don’t tell @governor.ny.gov Kathy Hochul
notorious radical left communist rag says tax the rich
February 18, 2026 at 4:58 PM
NY Governor Kathy Hochul’s weird opposition to raising taxes on the wealthiest 2%, who are paying less tax than ever, is another indicator of her fossilized political judgment and conservatism!
February 18, 2026 at 4:57 PM