Abigail Swingen
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abigailswingen.bsky.social
Abigail Swingen
@abigailswingen.bsky.social
EM British & Atlantic history. Competing Visions of Empire (Yale, 2015). Now: Britain's Financial Revolution & Moral Crisis. She/her. New Englander (usually) in Texas. Views my own. Latest article: https://doi.org/10.1017/jbr.2023.74
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"ICE OUT" on Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis, as seen from my flight leaving MSP airport
January 26, 2026 at 6:28 PM
In 1974, my parents lived less than a mile from here, on South Colfax and 26th. They used to eat at this restaurant. When I lived in St Paul last year, my dad visited and showed me around this area, near-ish to the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
An overhead view of protesters gathering at the scene of the shooting.

Live coverage: www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...

📽️ Aaron Lavinsky/The Minnesota Star Tribune
January 24, 2026 at 10:01 PM
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The minimum moderate position is not abolishing or defunding ICE, it's Trump's removal. He is a tyrant, he has declared war against peaceful people, he is a criminal, he is corrupt, and he has violated his oath of office innumerable times.
January 24, 2026 at 8:34 PM
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With that mind, here’s some righteous leadership from someone who didn’t ask to lead bsky.app/profile/cjze...
The whole interview is worth it
January 24, 2026 at 9:01 PM
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"The gentleman I was standing next to was focused on helping people who were coming into Nicollet Avenue understand that they needed to take it slow and helping them get through. ...

"Next thing I knew, they shot him." www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
January 24, 2026 at 5:56 PM
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Tomorrow's front page of the Minnesota Star Tribune: Jan. 24, 2026
January 23, 2026 at 11:45 PM
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I don’t know, ICE taking babies off the street and imprisoning them seems like a kitchen table issue.
January 24, 2026 at 12:01 AM
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My goodness these pictures from the Twin Cities today. ❤️ Don't fuck with Minnesota.
January 23, 2026 at 9:46 PM
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this photo. minneapolis. 💜

📷️ Alex Kormann/Star Tribune
January 23, 2026 at 10:04 PM
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Anti-ICE protesters fill the streets of downtown Minneapolis during an "ICE Out" rally on Jan. 23.

📷️ Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune

Continuing coverage: bit.ly/3ZsrBxQ
January 23, 2026 at 9:40 PM
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Ben Damberg protest volunteer: “None of us want to be doing this — I don’t, but we simply cannot stand by as other Minnesotans are being hurt — we will march, we will protest, & we will do it all peacefully above all else”
January 23, 2026 at 8:58 PM
My goodness these pictures from the Twin Cities today. ❤️ Don't fuck with Minnesota.
January 23, 2026 at 9:46 PM
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It’s -9 degrees. Downtown Minneapolis is packed for the anti-ICE rally and the crowd keeps growing
January 23, 2026 at 8:16 PM
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It is -9 degrees without windchill. I have retreated to the Skyway. But the streets are full and they keep coming. There have been larger protests but I can’t think of that’s been more hazardous to bare skin.
January 23, 2026 at 9:19 PM
Good thing all those universities stood their ground and didn't preemptively shutter offices and programs. Oh, wait...
January 23, 2026 at 1:49 PM
Teaching a grad class via Zoom this semester and tonight my dog barfed at my feet while a student was talking and I made a face and had to write in the chat "sorry my dog just threw up." 😬
January 23, 2026 at 3:39 AM
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Here's one of the panels that Trump just removed from the President's House site in Philadelphia. (I took this picture of it last March. A couple of weeks later I led a walking tour that included the site.) Does this information "disparage" the United States?
January 23, 2026 at 3:08 AM
My great grandmother's hometown.
From someone on the ground in Lewiston, Maine:
January 22, 2026 at 7:31 PM
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#StealingIsntInnovation

Graphic provided by The Authors Guild.
January 22, 2026 at 6:52 PM
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If an auditorium full of middle aged white people in Hickory NC exploded into sustained applause because an author criticized ICE then the Dems need to get on board
January 22, 2026 at 2:37 AM
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Sorry for the screenshot, but here's info about how to donate to the Community Aid Network of MN, which distributes food and other necessities to folks in the Cities. Got this from my favorite bookstore in St Paul, Next Chapter.
January 19, 2026 at 12:53 AM
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📢📢 On this MLK Day, a reminder that faculty at Texas public colleges and universities are now uncertain whether or not they can legally teach Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” ⬇️

thebarbedwire.com/2026/01/19/w...
What Can I Teach? Will Martin Luther King’s Work Be Censored Next?
I’ve taught “Letter From Birmingham Jail” more than 100 times and have never questioned whether I’d be violating university policy. Now I am.
thebarbedwire.com
January 19, 2026 at 4:25 PM
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Breaking: Three unions are calling on the University of Minnesota to shut down for Jan. 23. They include the Graduate Labor Union Electrical Workers Local 1105, AFSCME 3800, & Teamsters Local 320. Campus undergraduate organizations are joining the call. labornotes.org/2026/01/will...
January 20, 2026 at 1:58 AM
Sorry for the screenshot, but here's info about how to donate to the Community Aid Network of MN, which distributes food and other necessities to folks in the Cities. Got this from my favorite bookstore in St Paul, Next Chapter.
January 19, 2026 at 12:53 AM