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Peter Nickeas

@peternickeas.bsky.social

1.7K followers 240 following 670 posts

Reporter now, @illinoisanswers. Chicago. Gun violence, childhood trauma, early life adversity. PeterNickeas.01 on Signal. Formerly University of Arkansas, CNN, Chicago Tribune. Nieman! Dart Center. UIS PAR. Chicago. Also baseball and pollinators.

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Peter Nickeas @peternickeas.bsky.social · Aug 27

Wrote about art and violence and the ways they've overlapped in my life over the last year or so.

peternickeas.substack.com/p/the-founda...

The Foundation: 028

This one is about art.

peternickeas.substack.com

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Seth Stern @sethstern.bsky.social · 10h

A federal grand jury declined to indict two people charged with assaulting law enforcement agents outside a suburban Chicago ICE facility, an attorney for one of the defendants said, Megan Crepeau and @benjaminpenn.bsky.social report

news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Grand Jury Declines to Indict Two Chicago-Area ICE Protesters

A federal grand jury declined to indict two people charged with assaulting law enforcement agents outside a suburban Chicago ICE facility, an attorney for one of the defendants said.

news.bloomberglaw.com

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Peter Nickeas @peternickeas.bsky.social · 19h

😎

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Casey Toner @ctoner.bsky.social · 1d

Her team did "The Twitter Files" 👎. My team did "'Where is the Glock?' Gun Turned Over to Chicago Police Wound up in the Hands of a Teenager" 👍. Put me in charge of CBS News, I will do a good job

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Peter Nickeas @peternickeas.bsky.social · 1d

things are moving pretty fast

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Mezentine @mezentine.bsky.social · 2d

What a strange headline to place over this video.

A video from Washington Post on Instagram with the headline “Protests escalate against ICE agents in Chicago” while a famous video of an ICE officer violently assaulting a heckler and tackling him to the ground plays.

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Micah @rincewind.run · 2d

we simply do not have a union anymore if the president is using troops from one state to invade others entirely on the basis of political disagreements

Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 2d

UPDATE: Hegseth today called up 400 members of the Texas National Guard, with Gov. Abbott's apparent permission, to be deployed "where needed, including in the cities of Portland and Chicago." www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

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Quantian @quantian.bsky.social · 3d

We should do cap and trade for takes on here. I would happily sell off my right to participate in Swift discourse for a few more shots on goal about burrito taxis. Really force people to lock in, clear out the amateurs on any given subject.

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Nicholas Slayton @nslayton.bsky.social · 2d

It is fair to ask if -- assuming a change in political power happens goes through, etc -- if they'd relinquish their arms and assets if ordered to.

Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 2d

US immigration enforcement is now the 13th most well-funded military in the world, ahead of Canada and, incredibly, just behind Israel.

inthesetimes.com/article/ice-...

If the immigration enforcement apparatus of the United States were its own national military, it would be the 13th most heavily funded in the world. This puts it higher than the national militaries of Poland, Italy, Australia, Canada, Turkey and Spain — and just below Israel.

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Peter Nickeas @peternickeas.bsky.social · 3d

Chaos in Brighton Park. This is representative of the amount / direction of pepper and smoke sent into the neighborhood, in this case, for no reason I can discern other than because they were leaving. Feds had a clear path out in a different direction, and residents were vocal but not violent here.

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Mike Fourcher @vouchey.bsky.social · 2d

This weekend’s ICE activity has confused and set every Chicagoan on edge. Like everyone, I'm working to figure out what sources I can trust in this moment. (apologies to @peternickeas.bsky.social for appropriating his photo)

Whom to trust in Chicago | Middling.Industries

As a former journalist, I’d say I have a finely tuned bullshit meter, so here’s how I make my news choices.

middling.industries

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Geoffrey Cubbage @geoffreycubbage.bsky.social · 2d

Name it for what it is — because Chicago is certainly occupied territory right now; not conclusively and not always effectively, yet undeniably host to hostile armed forces — and don’t let the reality of the peaceful or the beautiful or the everyday make you deny the occupation, or vice versa.

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Geoffrey Cubbage @geoffreycubbage.bsky.social · 2d

Living these contradictions makes it hard to trust one’s own perception of reality, but this is exactly what life is under occupation. It has been documented many, many times, in histories ranging from the ancient to the still-ongoing, all over the globe.

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Geoffrey Cubbage @geoffreycubbage.bsky.social · 2d

Both experiences are real! They do not even require denial of one or the other — people whose bodies are on the line in real, physical struggle in this city are also still going about their ordinary lives in beautiful, late-summer weather.

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Geoffrey Cubbage @geoffreycubbage.bsky.social · 2d

A thing I think it’s important for USians not in currently-occupied cities to grasp is that the normal and everyday goes on alongside the violent and unprecedented.

In Chicago right now you can be forced off teargas-soaked streets in the morning and have a peaceful evening picnic on the lake.

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Peter Nickeas @peternickeas.bsky.social · 3d

Hoping for extras, for chaos of October baseball, and for my night

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Peter Nickeas @peternickeas.bsky.social · 3d

Thank you

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Kim Bellware @bellwak.bsky.social · 3d

Today’s story: www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...

Trump authorizes National Guard in Chicago as ICE, protesters clash

A woman was shot, sparking protests Saturday. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker warned that 300 National Guard troops are being activated against his wishes.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Peter Nickeas @peternickeas.bsky.social · 3d

Here's a detail I forgot - @chicagotribune.com and @cwbchicago.bsky.social reported first.

CPD chief of patrol ordered CPD to not respond + pull people from the scene.

At some point he changed his mind or was made to. He's only really ranked in the department by CPD Supt. Larry Snelling, so.

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Peter Nickeas @peternickeas.bsky.social · 3d

I don't know. I didn't see any obvious cameras on agents other than body-worn, and a couple drones overhead. I suppose we have to expect / at least not be surprised anymore by the govt releasing videos like they did for the S Shore raid

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Peter Nickeas @peternickeas.bsky.social · 3d

Thank you sir

Peter Nickeas @peternickeas.bsky.social · 3d

Thank you

Peter Nickeas @peternickeas.bsky.social · 3d

I've never seen such escalation and use of force toward ends I just could not see. There was no real property destruction, no pushing into the neighborhoods to make arrests, very little obstructing of traffic. Saw chemicals and bangs deployed down streets the feds were not facing and did not travel.

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Peter Nickeas @peternickeas.bsky.social · 3d

There was a point where CPD moved up to handle the perimeter that the feds had been holding, and a little static when the feds started leaving. Some people threw water bottles. But when the feds left, they left FAST, in convoy, usually after deploying bangs or gas.

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Peter Nickeas @peternickeas.bsky.social · 3d

Some of it was: fuck y'all for supporting this, for doing security for the feds. A lot people seemed to be able to pick 009th District regulars out of the responding officers and made personal pleas. I didn't see any CPD in sticks/shields, zero PPE.

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Peter Nickeas @peternickeas.bsky.social · 3d

The vibe with CPD was drastically different than anything I've ever encountered. Some people were like, yea fuck CPD. But a ton of people appeared to show CPD ... grace isn't the word. Some people did. But it was more a lot of - what are you even doing out here, this isn't your fight.

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