Peter Sterne
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Peter Sterne
@petersterne.com
19K followers 1.1K following 5K posts
State Editor at cityandstateny.bsky.social. Previously @nysfocus.bsky.social, @freedom.press and @politico.com. He/him.

Email: psterne@cityandstateny.com

Signal: petersterne.91

https://petersterne.com
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Peter Sterne @petersterne.com · Dec 22
Here's a list of all the congressional and state legislative seats that NYC-DSA is targeting next year: www.cityandstateny.com/politics/202...
Here are the NYC seats DSA is eyeing in 2026
Nepo babies, Eric Adams allies, representatives of lefty districts, beware.
www.cityandstateny.com
Reposted by Peter Sterne
scottnover.bsky.social
Inbox: The New Yorker is hiring Washington Post book critic Becca Rothfeld.
February 9, 2026 at 4:02 PM
Reposted by Peter Sterne
ericumansky.bsky.social
My colleague got into Trump's sprawling family detention camp, which is full of toddlers, kids, & teens.

- Kids have cut themselves or talked about suicide

-There's worms & mold in food

-300 kids have been held for 30+ days, far longer court settlement allows

www.propublica.org/article/life...
February 9, 2026 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Peter Sterne
josephcox.bsky.social
404 Media just had an ad during the #SuperBowl! We Googled "smallest TV markets in the United States" and bought an ad for $2,550 that only ran in Ottumwa, Iowa, population 25,000. That still counts

www.404media.co/watch-404-me...
Watch 404 Media’s Super Bowl Ad
WE BOUGHT A SUPER BOWL AD.
www.404media.co
February 9, 2026 at 2:48 AM
petersterne.com
Is the WFP backing Hochul or Delgado for governor?

Neither.

@rebeccaclewis.bsky.social reports from the WFP convention: www.cityandstateny.com/politics/202...
WFP declines to nominate Hochul or Delgado for governor
The progressive third party avoided endorsing either candidate by nominating placeholder candidates for both governor and comptroller, who will later be replaced by whoever wins the Democratic nominat...
www.cityandstateny.com
February 7, 2026 at 11:17 PM
petersterne.com
NEW: NYC Council Members Chi Ossé and Shahana Hanif are applying to join NYC-DSA's City Socialists in Office bloc. If NYC-DSA members vote to accept them, it will double the number of DSA-backed City Council members from 2 to 4. www.cityandstateny.com/politics/202...
Chi Ossé and Shahana Hanif apply to join DSA’s City Council bloc
The lawmakers are NYC-DSA members, but they want to take the next step with the socialists and make it official.
www.cityandstateny.com
February 7, 2026 at 9:10 PM
Reposted by Peter Sterne
nkalamb.bsky.social
ICE told nurses this Minneapolis man “purposefully ran headfirst into a brick wall.”

What actually happened is that they pulled him from a car, beat him so viciously with a steel baton that he had 8 skull fractures, 5 life-threatening brain hemorrhages, and couldn’t remember he had a daughter.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Alberto Castañeda Mondragón says his memory was so jumbled after a beating by immigration officers that he initially could not remember he had a daughter and still struggles to recall treasured moments like the night he taught her to dance. But the violence he endured last month in Minnesota while being detained is seared into his battered brain. He remembers Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pulling him from a friend’s car on Jan. 8 outside a St. Paul shopping center and throwing him to the ground, handcuffing him, then punching him and striking his head with a steel baton. He remembers being dragged into an SUV and taken to a detention facility, where he said he was beaten again. He also remembers the emergency room and the intense pain from eight skull fractures and five life-threatening brain hemorrhages.
February 7, 2026 at 5:54 PM
Reposted by Peter Sterne
dceiver.bsky.social
I wrote about ways to bridge the gap between the national party and the civil resistance.

newrepublic.com/post/206262/...
When Will Democrats Decide to Join the Resistance?
The party needs to forge a closer connection with the people fighting for democracy in the streets. Here’s how to do it.
newrepublic.com
February 7, 2026 at 8:24 PM
Reposted by Peter Sterne
status.news
"Andor" creator Tony Gilroy spoke to us about how his acclaimed "Star Wars" series on a festering rebellion against authoritarian power became an anti-ICE symbol and seeped into our real-world political moment.

Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/andor-ice-...
'Andor' and the Real-World Rebellion
Series creator Tony Gilroy talks to Status about how his acclaimed Disney+ series became an anti-ICE symbol, and where it might fit in the future of “Star Wars.”
www.status.news
February 6, 2026 at 10:46 PM
Reposted by Peter Sterne
aryasundaram.bsky.social
Armed immigration officers entered a Brooklyn man’s home last summer without a judicial warrant or his consent, arrested him, and took his personal documents.

That’s according to a lawsuit advocating for his release.

gothamist.com/news/ice-kno...
ICE knocks on a door in Brooklyn. A 'traumatic nightmare' follows.
Immigration enforcement officers stormed the home without a judicial warrant or the occupants' consent, according to a legal challenge.
gothamist.com
February 6, 2026 at 4:25 PM
Reposted by Peter Sterne
atrupar.com
Mamdani announces a new executive order protecting New Yorkers from "abusive immigration enforcement," including requiring ICE to have a judicial warrant to enter NYC property
February 6, 2026 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Peter Sterne
keezyyoung.bsky.social
welp, this destroyed me first thing upon waking up
But Liam was scared and frequently asked what they had done wrong, where they were and what happened to the little blue knit hat he wore the day he was detained, Conejo said. There wasn’t much he could say to his son, “except hug him and tell him everything would be OK,” Conejo said. Worried about further upsetting his son, Conejo said, he was forced to bite back his own tears. Liam has since been reunited with his hat and continues to wear it, even inside the house, his dad said Thursday. Asked how he might one day explain to Liam everything that has happened, Conejo said he would tell his son that he had become the face of hope and change. "He was the global figure who did all this so that the voices of the people demanding freedom would be heard, especially those of the children who are still locked up," Conejo said. “I would tell him he was very brave and that I am very proud of him.”
February 6, 2026 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by Peter Sterne
wihorne.bsky.social
Been reading over gut-wrenching Reconstruction-era election testimony recently & may write something on the paramilitary & institutional tactics white conservatives are again employing in a desperate bid to permanently seize power.

Key takeaway: vote, but also agitate & disrupt captured systems.
February 6, 2026 at 3:46 PM
Reposted by Peter Sterne
wihorne.bsky.social
FWIW this is more or less how white conservatives destroyed multiracial democracy after emancipation. That & paramilitary violence, but of course they would never... oh yeah they're doing that too.
gregsargent.bsky.social Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 3d
Here's @rickhasen.bsky.social detailing the scenario in which Trump uses search warrant to seize ballot boxes in a contested 2026 locale. This is more worrisome than ICE at the polls. Hasen also suggests ways to act against this now.

It's harrowing stuff:

newrepublic.com/article/2062...
February 6, 2026 at 3:43 PM
Reposted by Peter Sterne
sesmith.lol
Remember that horrific immigration raid in Chicago? Turns out it was just ICE doing the work of landlords, because of course the landlord class is a collaborator.
The Real Story Behind the Midnight Immigration Raid on a Chicago Apartment Building
The Trump administration has claimed the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua had taken over the building. But new documents make no mention of the gang and reveal federal agents had information about “ille...
www.propublica.org
February 6, 2026 at 3:48 PM
Reposted by Peter Sterne
socialconcarne.bsky.social
The policy director at Open New York, the state's main YIMBY group, is leaving to join Zohran's administration 👁️
February 6, 2026 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by Peter Sterne
bdlimm.bsky.social
At least 9 companies hold active contracts with both ICE and NYC totaling at least $260M, @documentedny.bsky.social finds.

Will Owen of @stopspyingny.bsky.social is right: "You can’t be both a sanctuary city and a surveillance state."
Screenshot of bar graphic from the article by Kennedy Sessions in Documented, linked in the original post by Samantha Maldonado. Title: "Private Companies that have contracts with ICE and NYC" Subtitle: "All listed companies have at least one payment from NYC in the 2026 fiscal year." The bar-graph shows specific companies that have both contracts with ICE and contracts with the NYC government. There are two bars for each company: one showing the dollar value of the NYC contract(s) a given company has with NYC, the other showing year-to-date spending. The companies listed in the graphic are— • Axon Enterprise ($124.24M, $32.54M) • Accenture ($53.5M, $7.22M) • GuideHouse Inc. ($51.31M, $2.71M) • Peraton ($19.92M, $2.54M) • Deloitte ($61.01M, $1.32M) • Idemia Security ($13.3M, $943.97K) • Ernst & Young ($1.41M, $111.52K) • Sig Sauer Inc. ($14.79K, $14.07K) • Lionbridge Technologies ($18.66M, $26.08) Notes at the bottom of the graphic: "Totals reflect active contracts and master agreements with New York City as of Feb. 2026 and may vary as new purchases are made or contracts are updated." "Chart: Kennedy Sessions • Source: Checkbook NYC • Get the data • Created with Datawrapper"
February 6, 2026 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by Peter Sterne
rebeccaclewis.bsky.social
Construction on the Hudson River Tunnel Project has officially been suspended after the federal government failed to release promises funding. Both the Gateway Development Corporation and New York state are suing the feds to get the funding back
February 6, 2026 at 3:29 PM
Reposted by Peter Sterne
wolflovernj.bsky.social
The ads drove voters TO him more, especially among young voters here.
February 6, 2026 at 4:05 AM
Reposted by Peter Sterne
tomh4.bsky.social
It would be a delightful irony given Mejia’s pro-Palestinian sympathies, but the ad campaign got so much press coverage that it may actually have boosted Malinowski.
February 6, 2026 at 3:46 AM
petersterne.com
Given how close the NJ-11 primary is (Mejia beating Malinowski by less than 1 point), it seems clear that Malinowski probably would have won if AIPAC hadn't done everything it could to drive liberal voters away from him, right?
February 6, 2026 at 3:33 AM
Reposted by Peter Sterne
notalawyer.bsky.social
finally, the ICE reform we’ve been waiting for: no masks unless you really want to wear them
eoinhiggins.bsky.social Eoin Higgins @eoinhiggins.bsky.social · 4d
Yes. Yes! Thank you
February 5, 2026 at 2:29 AM
Reposted by Peter Sterne
jonathancohn.bsky.social
"except in extraordinary and unusual circumstances" is a big enough loophole for a family of elephants to walk through. www.huffpost.com/entry/democr...
Democrats Ease Up On 1 Of Their Biggest ICE Demands
Masks might still be OK in "extraordinary and unusual circumstances," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
www.huffpost.com
February 5, 2026 at 2:32 AM
Reposted by Peter Sterne
startribune.com
A Minneapolis City Council committee delayed action Tuesday on renewing liquor licenses for two Minneapolis hotels that have housed federal immigration officers.
Minneapolis Council committee delays liquor licenses for 2 hotels over hosting federal agents
The City Council will hold a public hearing on the liquor licenses for the Canopy by Hilton in the Mill District and Depot Renaissance Hotel.
www.startribune.com
February 4, 2026 at 1:44 AM
Reposted by Peter Sterne
unraveledpress.com
NEW: since last year, a pair of "highly trained" feds have been involved in an array of incidents attacking crowds with chemical weapons.

We used public records and open source analysis to identify Edgar Vazquez and Michael Sveum, alongside some other members of their tactical team.

Read more:
Identified: the El Paso BORTAC crew rampaging through the Midwest
One violent duo in particular, U.S. Border Patrol agents Michael Sveum (EZ-2) and Edgar Vazquez (EZ-17), have been frequently seen alongside former commander-at-large Greg Bovino terrorizing crowds wi...
unraveledpress.com
February 4, 2026 at 9:24 PM