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Steve Held

@peoplesfabric.bsky.social
13K followers 1.3K following 5.8K posts

Chicago journalist. Formerly The People’s Fabric. Co-founder @UnraveledPress.com. Got a tip? Signal is @sheld.01. Email:steve@unraveledpress.com

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Steve Held @peoplesfabric.bsky.social · 23h
this totally unlocked childhood memories of secretly watching this dude host Friday late night double feature horror movies on a little b&w tv.
A man with hair shaping his face like owl horns, wearing owl glasses, a t-shirt picturing a cartoon owl, and a black leather jacket.

Frederick C. Peerenboom, better known as Fritz the Nite Owl (born December 27, 1934, in Nekoosa, Wisconsin), is an American radio and television personality in Columbus, Ohio.
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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 23h
We murdered four more people in a boat today
U.S. southern Command: On October 4, under the direction of #SOUTHCOM, Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere executed a lethal, kinetic strike on a go-fast vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean. Confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel's active involvement in narco-trafficking. The operation killed four narco-terrorists. @DeptofWar
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unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 04/10/2026
From photographer Evan Stone: a member of Lang's crew inside a silly string covered car waved what appears to be a gun at the crowd this afternoon. A Bridgeview police officer can be seen peering inside the vehicle. He then swipes its side mirror back into position:
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unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 04/10/2026
A lot just happened. Police cleared an exit for Lang and his group, who left in a large caravan. A cop in riot gear pushed at least one person hard to the ground in the process. Someone, not sure if police or one of Lang's, sprayed people with mace. Hearing reports of arrests but can't confirm atm.
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unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 04/10/2026
People are also corraling this group of guys in white polo shirts on the edge of the crowd, one of whom proudly declared they're the "real nazis" a few moments ago.
People in white polos stand with their backs to yellow concrete bubkers while other people in black clothes yell at them. One of the people in white polos is shouting into a megaphone.
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Gregory Pratt @royalpratt.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Outside Mother of the Americas church in Little Village, crosses commemorating immigrants have died in immigration custody or during enforcement actions in the United States
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unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 04/10/2026
Happening now in the Chicago suburb of Bridgeview: A few hundred people are out protesting right-wing provocateur Jake Lang and his attempted "crusader march" on the local Palestine Fest going on nearby. Police in riot gear just formed a line, with Lang's group behind them.
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Steve Held @peoplesfabric.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
these people really need to touch grass
time.com
We Won't Know the Answers to AI's Most Important Questions Until It's Too Late
"I believe there’s about a 50% chance we all die because of the development of smarter-than-human AI systems," writes Geoffrey Irving.
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Tyler King @tyleraking.com · 03/10/2026
Meta has enabled Muse to build extensive and ever-growing profiles on the orbit of people in a user’s life. Based on user input but also “publicly available information.” Whether that means a web search, Facebook’s own extensive data, or buying data broker info…we don’t know? And we can’t opt out.
wired.com
Muse Creates Detailed Profiles of All Your Friends and Family
Millions have downloaded Meta’s AI agent Muse. But getting it to do your bidding comes with privacy costs.
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Steve Held @peoplesfabric.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
He and a lot more people should face more serious consequences than resignations.
nbcnews.com
Governor says Tennessee’s prisons chief is resigning after failed execution of Christa Pike
Pike was placed on a ventilator and remained unconscious in a hospital, her attorneys said in a court filing Friday.
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Steve Held @peoplesfabric.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
won’t anyone think of the PGA tour?
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Alyssa Harad @alyssaharad.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
If ever there was a time for the “I think you spelled” meme…
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Steve Held @peoplesfabric.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
lol “‘Juice wasnt worth the squeeze amd frankly I dont blame (Fox),’ Portnoy wrote Friday on X.” (all typos in original)
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Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Nicole is a leading expert on the issue of campus sexual violence. I am floored that USA Today would do this to her. I find this kind of journalistic behavior unethical and morally reprehensible, twisting an interview with a renowned advocate for survivors into a hit piece against a survivor.
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Alex Ip 葉清霖 @alexip718.com · 02/10/2026
The kicker is *chef's kiss*
“You think we’re getting a little too close to Meta?” [John Georges, co-owner of Georges Media Group, the state’s largest media organization and parent company of the state’s largest newspaper, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate], asked. “I’m not afraid of the sun. You know — Icarus? I’ll get as close to the sun as I can.”
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Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Today, 8 years ago, my friend, Saudi Journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered.
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Steve Held @peoplesfabric.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
🤦‍♂️
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Renee Good's family filed two lawsuits today. The first, against, USG, is a standard wrongful death. The second is a Klan Act lawsuit against Jonathan Ross, AND STEPHEN MILLER and Greg Bovino. It names Nick Shirley and Christopher Rufo as non-party co-conspirators for their racist propaganda.
44. At all relevant times, Defendants Ross, Miller, Noem, Lyons, Homan,
Bovino, and the John Doe Federal Agents acted under color of federal law and within the
scope of a joint enterprise with the private actors described below. Defendant
Lewandowski acted in part under color of federal law and in part, as alleged below, as a
private person, his federal status having been limited to a temporary part-time designation
that his conduct exceeded. Shirley, Rufo, and Ben Bergquam, and the other non-party
private actors described below, agreed to and in fact participated in the conspiracy alleged
here: each acted in concert with, and with the knowledge and encouragement of, federal
officials.
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Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Parente urges the feds to "just pay the actual rate that these guys had to pay, because [the government] brought forth a bad indictment."
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Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
U.S. District Judge April Perry has taken the bench to hear oral arguments over the potential consequences of apparent prosecutorial misconduct in the “Broadview Six” case.
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brian nam-sonenstein @bson.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
There is truly no comparison between the blood on Yoo's hand and that of Pike's. Yoo has participated in far more brutal atrocities and it's not even close. The fact that he's on TV and she's been in a cage is not an accident of the US legal system — it's the point
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Steve Held @peoplesfabric.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
How the police defund cities: Part infinity
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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
As expected, the Supreme Court, among the new cases it took today, will be considering the Trump administration’s mandatory immigration detention policy (Rhoney v. Barbosa). This instantly becomes one of the most important cases of the term.
(ORDER LIST: 609 U.S.)
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026
25-5343
25-1131
25-1349
26-104
ORDER IN PENDING CASE
BEAIRD, KENDRICK J. V. UNITED STATES
The motion of the Solicitor General for divided
argument is granted.
CERTIORARI GRANTED
MISSIONARIES OF ST. JOHN, INC. V. FREDERIC, JOEL, ET UX.
The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted limited to
Question 1 presented by the petition.
MARSCHNER, ROXANE M. V. MARSCHNER, RICHARD A.
RHONEY, ACTING DIR. V. BARBOSA DA CUNHA, RICARDO A.
The petitions for writs of certiorari are granted.
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Whitney Curry Wimbish @whitneycwimbish.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Another person has died in Trump's concentration camps. 47-year-old Julian Curo-Churata was from Peru. He died on Sept. 29 after he was imprisoned for three months in Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana. That camp is run by LaSalle Corrections. There's no cause of death listed.
ice.gov
Illegal alien from Peru passes away in ICE custody in Louisiana
ICE is committed to ensuring that all those in custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments.
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Olivia Messer @oliviamesser.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This 33-year-old nurse told the FBI she knew she was “going to set him free” after border patrol agents brought in a man whose face was bloodied and seriously injured. She treated him and helped him escape, and she faces charges now. He got away, and they never relocated him.
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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
NEW: Statement from Christa Pike's lawyers: ”Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution. ... Christa is being treated at a nearby hospital. We have not been informed as to her condition.” www.lawdork.com/p/the-big-pr...
Statement from Christa Pike's attorneys Randy Spivey and Kelly Gleason from the TN
Office of the Post Conviction Defender, and Stephen Ferrell and Luke Ihnen from Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee
Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution. We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms. Pike proved to be true: difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy.
Christa is being treated at a nearby hospital. We have not been informed as to her condition.
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Aaron Cynic @aaroncynic.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
This is a threat to free and fair elections. Cartoonish levels of supervillainy here.
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shawn @mulchy.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
it’s super cool and fun that the university of chicago police department—one of the nation’s largest private police forces—has a network of alprs in a pocket of the south side that it runs without any outside oversight or transparency
an automated license plate reader on a blue light pole in chicago’s hyde park neighborhood another alpr mounted to a different blue light camera in hyde park. a third alpr mounted to a third blue light camera in hyde park
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Steve Held @peoplesfabric.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Does anyone else recall one of the in-school anti-drug campaigns where they’d sing “Heigh-ho” from Snow White but it goes: Heigh-ho heigh-ho It’s off to a party we go We’ll drink and smoke and snort some coke heigh-ho heigh-ho heigh-ho heigh-ho
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Dave Byrnes @djbyrnes1.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
In our latest for @unraveledpress.com, @peoplesfabric.bsky.social and I tracked months of ICE using Chicago police parking lots, in defiance of a mayoral executive order barring immigration enforcement operations in city-owned lots. Some of these incidents happened in full view of CPD officers:
unraveledpress.com
In plain sight: a year of ICE using Chicago police parking lots for its operations
Videos and witness testimony show immigration agents continue using Chicago police station parking lots despite a ban on their access to city property. Records obtained from the Civilian Office of Pol...
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unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 29/09/2026
New: We obtained witness videos and surveillance footage showing ICE parking their cars, arresting an observer, and transferring detainees in parking lots across 4 of Chicago's police districts. Local officials have tried banning ICE from city property. But incidents in the lots keep stacking up:
unraveledpress.com
In plain sight: a year of ICE using Chicago police parking lots for its operations
Videos and witness testimony show immigration agents continue using Chicago police station parking lots despite a ban on their access to city property. Records obtained from the Civilian Office of Pol...
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Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The "Broadview Six" are in with an "ICYMI" for Judge April Perry, making sure she's aware of ex-AUSA Sheri Mecklenburg's "widely published" retirement letter:
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) Plaintiff, )
v. ) ) MICHAEL RABBITT, ) KATHERINEMARIEABUGHAZALEH, ) ANDRE MARTIN, BRIAN STRAW, ) and CATHERINE SHARP )
Defendants. )
No. 25 CR 693
Judge April M. Perry
DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
Defendants, by and through their respective counsel, respectfully seek to supplement the record with the attached resignation letter from the proposed intervenor, Sheri Mecklenburg, which has been widely published in the local and national news media (attached as Exhibit A).
Included in Ms. Mecklenburg’s resignation letter are additional facts that directly and materially implicate issues in the pending motions before the Court (Dkt. 225, 226, and 227). Specifically, the following factual disclosures made by Ms. Mecklenburg in her letter are of particular note:
• The Front Office threatened to discipline and/or terminate Ms. Mecklenburg, thereby resulting in a loss of healthcare benefits, if she attempted to file anything with the Court to provide her recollection of events. (Ex. A, AUSA Mecklenburg’s ForcedResignation Letter, at 1; id. at 2 (“you [U.S. Attorney Boutros] have threatened to terminate me if I attempt to rebut the false allegations and bring additional matters to the Court’s attention.”).
• Ms. Mecklenburg “repeatedly sought guidance from, kept informed, and followed the directions of the Front Office — including [U.S. Attorney Boutros] — at every consequential stage” of this failed prosecution. Id. at 2.
• U.S. Attorney Boutros “personally directed” a felony prosecution of the Defendants be pursued over Ms. Mecklenburg’s objection. Id.
• In May 2026, U.S. Attorney Boutros “placed [Ms. Mecklenburg] on leave and cut off [her] devices and credentials without any notice.” Id.
• Ms. Mecklenburg expresses her severe disappointment in the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s handling of the post-dismissal briefing to the Court because she expected that “the leaders who directed or approved the prosecution would accept responsibility for their own roles and decisions rather than assigning the consequences to me alone.” Id. at 3.
In response to Ms. Mecklenburg’s resignation letter which was published in the media, the Department of Justice in Washington D.C. (not the local U.S.Attorney’s Office) disputed one of Ms. Mecklenburg’s factual assertions about the involvement of U.S. Attorney Boutros (and perhaps other higher-ups in the DOJ) in the prosecutorial decisions and conduct here as flat-out “false,” based on what it claims is contained in Ms. Mecklenburg’s written recommendation on this case:
The claim that AUSA Mecklenburg proposed a misdemeanor and was told instead to file a felony charge is false. Mecklenburg’s recommendation in writing to the supervisory chain of the U.S. Attorney’s Office included the section 372 felony as the strongest charge.
Jason Meisner, ‘Broadview Six’ prosecutor pens fiery resignation letter saying US attorney pushed for felony charges, CHI. TRIBUNE, Sept. 25, 2026, available at: https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/09/25/broadview-six-prosecutor-resignation- letter-us-attorney/ (last visited Sept. 29, 2026).
The Defendants will be prepared to further discuss the materiality of the information contained in Ms. Mecklenburg’s “Forced Resignation letter,” which reinforces Defendants’ position that there are ripe factual disputes concerning positions taken by the U.S. Attorney’s Office before the Court at Thursday’s hearing or as directed by the Court in writing.
Respectfully submitted,
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Steve Held @peoplesfabric.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
so many words for “pinky swear.”
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Steve Held @peoplesfabric.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
“prosecutors had also obtained roughly three hundred [‼️] photographs of Martinez’s and Ruiz’s cars from Flock ALPR cameras throughout Cook County,” over a 30 day span.
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shawn @mulchy.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
alder matt martin is pushing for an audit the city of chicago’s alpr system
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Stephanie Kollmann @slkollmann.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This from the GOP nominee for IL governor is why you don't cede civil rights issues to these people by uncritically supporting the surveillance state.
Darren Bailey

3w

If Flock cameras had been as widespread during COVID as they are today, do you really think they wouldn't have been used to track who left their house, who crossed state lines, and who showed up to Church?

We lived through it. Remember that.

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Stephanie Kollmann @slkollmann.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
1. This is great reporting 2. Support @unraveledpress.com 3. Do the CPD lot camera math here: "The video provided is missing 118 minutes of its final two hours."
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unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 29/09/2026
We spoke with that observer, who said ICE agents held her for hours. By the time they released her, her car had been towed. She also said she saw Chicago cops glad-handing with ICE. Hard to confirm, as the surveillance video file we obtained via FOIA request is missing nearly two hours of footage.
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unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 29/09/2026
In one violent incident on August 1, immigration agents in CPD's 25th District station lot boxed in an ICE observer, ripped her from her car and moved her to one of their SUVs to detain her. We asked for security footage from that morning. It shows ICE agents in full view of local police:
youtube.com
ICE agents box in and detain observer in CPD's 25th District parking lot on August 1, 2026
YouTube video by unraveled
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Greg Boysen @gregboysen.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Bears just won a nationally televised game by 20 points with their third string quarterback. What a time to be alive!
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Ryan Ottignon @ryaninevanston.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
UPDATE ON ICE IN EVANSTON LAST WEEK: Just got a FOIA back for 911 calls, police dispatch audio, and police reports associated with the arrest. There's a lot to unpack. 1/ 🧵
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Arturo Dominguez @extremearturo.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The Texas Tribune, one of the most reliable news outlets in Texas, just named the ICE agent who shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. Gregory Feathers www.texastribune.org/2026/09/28/h...
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Steve Held @peoplesfabric.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
good morning
opossum opossuming in the yard
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Steve Held @peoplesfabric.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
love an epic Cowboys L
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unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 27/09/2026
Imagine hearing these screams, breaking this window, and going home at night believing what you are doing is right and good.
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Steve Held @peoplesfabric.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Rahm discourse makes me almost care about iced coffees.
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Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
ICE has abducted Senegalese WBB player Aminata Seck and won't release her. DHS 'policy' is to provide medical care to prisoners at intake, yet they admit to denying her care for an ACL injury for 1.5 months. The NCAA is letting it happen, despite its predatory recruitment of ICAs. We explain.
theguardian.com
ICE has abducted a college athlete. What are the NCAA and universities going to do about it?
Aminata Seck’s detention shows the bargain facing international college athletes: universities eagerly recruit them, but support can disappear when their immigration status becomes precarious.
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 26/09/2026
Amazing detail in this @wsj article about Kimberly Guilfoyle, US ambassador to Greece: she told a Greek minister, in a conversation about the collapse of the Romanian government,“We can do that to any country we want. We can do that here." www.wsj.com/articles/kim...
wsj.com
The Mystery Man Shadowing Kimberly Guilfoyle as She Pushes Deals Across Europe
Christos Marafatsos works as an energy lobbyist while also closely advising the U.S. ambassador to Greece.
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Luke LeBrun @lukelebrun.ca · 26/09/2026
Tech companies suddenly decide they can, in fact, moderate content on their platforms after all
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Steve Held @peoplesfabric.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Cop actually tried to enforce the law against ICE is a real man bites dog moment.
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