William M. Cavert
@williamcavert.bsky.social
Historian of Britain, its animals, pollution, energy, climate, nature, and people. Author of The Smoke of London: Energy and Environment in the Early Modern City. Living in St Paul, MN.
Reposted by William M. Cavert
Lincoln at Gettysburg talking about tax credits
January 15, 2026 at 9:39 PM
Lincoln at Gettysburg talking about tax credits
Reposted by William M. Cavert
Your read of the day. So much out there about how ICE is marauding its way through Minneapolis but very little about grass roots resistance. Here I speak to a teacher on the front lines and he breaks down the *numbers* of people involved in resisting ICE. Chills.
www.thenation.com/article/acti...
www.thenation.com/article/acti...
A Minneapolis Teacher Wants the Whole Country in the Streets Confronting ICE
Dan Troccoli, a public middle-school teacher, says everyone should start “emulating” Minneapolis’s resistance to the Trump regime.
www.thenation.com
January 15, 2026 at 8:32 PM
Your read of the day. So much out there about how ICE is marauding its way through Minneapolis but very little about grass roots resistance. Here I speak to a teacher on the front lines and he breaks down the *numbers* of people involved in resisting ICE. Chills.
www.thenation.com/article/acti...
www.thenation.com/article/acti...
Reposted by William M. Cavert
St. Paul Public Schools said today that two vans operating under contract to carry students and staff have been pulled over by federal agents while enroute to school this week.
Live: Trump threatens Insurrection Act as federal agent shoots man over alleged attack
The Department of Homeland Security said a federal law enforcement officer is in the hospital after being attacked by shovels. A car chase followed a “targeted” traffic stop.
bit.ly
January 15, 2026 at 6:52 PM
St. Paul Public Schools said today that two vans operating under contract to carry students and staff have been pulled over by federal agents while enroute to school this week.
Pollsters need to find real ways to measure intensity of public opinion. "Yeah, I disapprove very much and I also disapprove very much when my NFL team loses" is not the same as "this policy is actually ruining my life" or "my children won't sleep because they are afraid of being kidnapped."
January 15, 2026 at 6:54 PM
Pollsters need to find real ways to measure intensity of public opinion. "Yeah, I disapprove very much and I also disapprove very much when my NFL team loses" is not the same as "this policy is actually ruining my life" or "my children won't sleep because they are afraid of being kidnapped."
How can we get our babies away from tear gas and convince our children that they won't get shoved into vans, when the base inflation rate remains over 2.6%?
Schumer as a major American metro is being brutally occupied by Trump goons: "The affordability crisis will be our focus throughout 2026 because that's what the American people are demanding"
January 15, 2026 at 5:59 PM
How can we get our babies away from tear gas and convince our children that they won't get shoved into vans, when the base inflation rate remains over 2.6%?
If you asked me to list the most absurd and idiotic places in MN for the NYT to do its self-parodying "we talked to white people in a rural diner" schtick, Nisswa would be the very top of the list. I'm actually impressed that they aced it.
NYTimes has truly outdone itself with this latest in its "ask white guys in diner" genre. Thank goodness we get a perspective on what's happening in Minneapolis from people in **Nisswa** who probably mean Brainerd when they say they "prefer not to go the city anymore" www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/u...
One State, Two Very Different Views of Minneapolis
www.nytimes.com
January 15, 2026 at 5:38 PM
If you asked me to list the most absurd and idiotic places in MN for the NYT to do its self-parodying "we talked to white people in a rural diner" schtick, Nisswa would be the very top of the list. I'm actually impressed that they aced it.
Even the very framing of what's been happening in MN as "protests" isn't quite right, because it's mostly people on their own street, yelling at and filming troops. These aren't mass demonstrations or marches, they are handfuls of people coming outside and telling troops to leave them alone.
Republican on CNN: You peacefully protest with a letter to the editor. You peacefully protest by starting a Substack or a podcast.
January 15, 2026 at 5:27 PM
Even the very framing of what's been happening in MN as "protests" isn't quite right, because it's mostly people on their own street, yelling at and filming troops. These aren't mass demonstrations or marches, they are handfuls of people coming outside and telling troops to leave them alone.
Reposted by William M. Cavert
My daughter's school in Richfield, MN (adjacent to Minneapolis) is closing tomorrow due of out-of-control federal agents. Fourth graders spent the week building walls of snow at recess to protect their classmates from ICE. This isn't about immigration enforcement, it's about terror.
January 15, 2026 at 12:54 PM
My daughter's school in Richfield, MN (adjacent to Minneapolis) is closing tomorrow due of out-of-control federal agents. Fourth graders spent the week building walls of snow at recess to protect their classmates from ICE. This isn't about immigration enforcement, it's about terror.
The abuse these guys are taking from people standing on their own sidewalks in 14 degree weather.
Okay, you should tune in to this stream:
They're interviewing a guy from Prior Lake, Minnesota who is protesting for the first time, and explaining just why he's coming out.
They're interviewing a guy from Prior Lake, Minnesota who is protesting for the first time, and explaining just why he's coming out.
BREAKING: LIVE SHOTS FIRED Amidst ICE Raids in Minneapolis
YouTube video by Status Coup News
www.youtube.com
January 15, 2026 at 4:10 AM
The abuse these guys are taking from people standing on their own sidewalks in 14 degree weather.
Reposted by William M. Cavert
Witness Sam Warburton said he was able to get through an alleyway and could see the front of a north Minneapolis house, where agents in tactical gear were shooting through a second-floor window, he said.
Live: Federal agent shoots, injures man in north Minneapolis
Gov. Tim Walz addressed Minnesotans in a live broadcast Wednesday night on the surge of federal immigration agents in the state. A federal judge has declined to immediately rule on the ICE surge in Minnesota.
bit.ly
January 15, 2026 at 3:37 AM
Witness Sam Warburton said he was able to get through an alleyway and could see the front of a north Minneapolis house, where agents in tactical gear were shooting through a second-floor window, he said.
I thought besieging elementary schools was the lowest thing this vile regime could do, but there's always another lower level with them, as this plan to abduct nurses and hospital workers shows.
January 15, 2026 at 3:49 AM
I thought besieging elementary schools was the lowest thing this vile regime could do, but there's always another lower level with them, as this plan to abduct nurses and hospital workers shows.
Hi, it's them, they're the problem, it's them
nobody likes ICE, nothing is better because of ICE, nobody is safer because of ICE
January 15, 2026 at 3:41 AM
Hi, it's them, they're the problem, it's them
live feed here:
January 15, 2026 at 3:36 AM
live feed here:
A watertight narrative: a man was fleeing in a car, crashed, and then ran. He armed himself with a shovel and 2 random people joined him. An agent approached but was somehow also "ambushed" by these 3 people (who had just met) "attacking" him. He then fired defensive shots to save his life.
BREAKING: A federal officer shot a person in the leg after being attacked with a shovel during a Minneapolis arrest, an AP source says.
Federal officer shoots person in leg after being attacked during Minneapolis arrest, AP source says
A federal officer has shot a person in the leg in Minneapolis after being attacked with a shovel during an arrest Wednesday.
bit.ly
January 15, 2026 at 3:28 AM
A watertight narrative: a man was fleeing in a car, crashed, and then ran. He armed himself with a shovel and 2 random people joined him. An agent approached but was somehow also "ambushed" by these 3 people (who had just met) "attacking" him. He then fired defensive shots to save his life.
This was beautiful. Lots of adults were present, but standing around on the perimeter as the kids ran everything and gave all the speeches on the steps of the capitol.
Happening Now: Students have walked out of school and are protesting against ICE in Saint Paul, Minnesota
January 14, 2026 at 10:18 PM
This was beautiful. Lots of adults were present, but standing around on the perimeter as the kids ran everything and gave all the speeches on the steps of the capitol.
Reposted by William M. Cavert
Can confirm I have personally seen three attempts just today of agents in a convoy of ICE vehicles trying to snatch random POCs along Central Ave - and then being chased off by neighbors with whistles. It's blatant racial profiling.
Minneapolis city council member says POC should stay home:
Minneapolis city council member says POC should stay home:
Dear neighbor,
HIGH ALERT‼️ If you are vulnerable to deportation please stay home today. I’m sorry to say this but it’s not safe to be outside. ICE is tearing families apart.
Children of immigrants please keep your family safe.
Jason Chavez 1/
HIGH ALERT‼️ If you are vulnerable to deportation please stay home today. I’m sorry to say this but it’s not safe to be outside. ICE is tearing families apart.
Children of immigrants please keep your family safe.
Jason Chavez 1/
January 11, 2026 at 7:16 PM
Can confirm I have personally seen three attempts just today of agents in a convoy of ICE vehicles trying to snatch random POCs along Central Ave - and then being chased off by neighbors with whistles. It's blatant racial profiling.
Minneapolis city council member says POC should stay home:
Minneapolis city council member says POC should stay home:
Yes
The MN Leg could start its own version of these hearings tomorrow. The IL leg too. Months and months and months and months of them. Don't stop.
over the course of 1871, congress held seven months of hearings on ku klux klan and other white vigilante violence in the south, they took detailed testimony from hundreds of black men and women attesting to klan terror. (1/?)
January 14, 2026 at 4:40 PM
Yes
Federal agents besieging children in an elementary school.
Can double confirm. ICE vehicles were circling the Chinese immersion school in our neighborhood within the past hour.
Can confirm. My brother's boss had to leave a meeting because they're terrorizing her kid's daycare. This is just what passes for normal now in the cities.
January 14, 2026 at 4:17 PM
Federal agents besieging children in an elementary school.
Reposted by William M. Cavert
I wrote about Renee Good, Venezuela, Greenland, and what it means to be a human being. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
January 14, 2026 at 3:26 PM
I wrote about Renee Good, Venezuela, Greenland, and what it means to be a human being. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
This is good. Christie and also Sayers novels work a lot like History of Science in a colonial mode: elite person talks to indigenous/proletarian/servant person, extracts facts, and uses superior reason to form them into coherent causal narrative.
It’s one of my favorite little games about the genre — you can map the consensus of what counts as knowledge across place but particularly in Christie, across social class.
Reading Agatha Christie's lesser work does show you how much of what counts as "fair play" in mysteries depends on the assumption of shared social context.
Just read a short story where the crucial clue was, as Miss Marple says, "Gardeners don't work on Whit Monday. Everybody knows that."
Just read a short story where the crucial clue was, as Miss Marple says, "Gardeners don't work on Whit Monday. Everybody knows that."
January 14, 2026 at 2:58 PM
This is good. Christie and also Sayers novels work a lot like History of Science in a colonial mode: elite person talks to indigenous/proletarian/servant person, extracts facts, and uses superior reason to form them into coherent causal narrative.
Reposted by William M. Cavert
NEW: My dispatch from *inside* Minnesota's Whipple building today (the facility where ICE has rooted its operations in the region), where a group of clergy attempted to offer pastoral care to immigrant detainees.
They were denied — an emerging national pattern. religionnews.com/2026/01/13/f...
They were denied — an emerging national pattern. religionnews.com/2026/01/13/f...
Faith leaders are denied access to immigration detainees in Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS (RNS) — The question of offering pastoral care to immigrant detainees has become a theological and legal flashpoint since President Donald Trump launched his mass deportation effort last y...
religionnews.com
January 13, 2026 at 9:34 PM
NEW: My dispatch from *inside* Minnesota's Whipple building today (the facility where ICE has rooted its operations in the region), where a group of clergy attempted to offer pastoral care to immigrant detainees.
They were denied — an emerging national pattern. religionnews.com/2026/01/13/f...
They were denied — an emerging national pattern. religionnews.com/2026/01/13/f...
Reposted by William M. Cavert
They don’t know who they’re taking because:
-they don’t talk to them
-they’re random pedestrians
It is literally indistinguishable from a kidnapping when you see it, except there are so many of them, and they are more heavily armed and armored than any kidnapper would ever be.
-they don’t talk to them
-they’re random pedestrians
It is literally indistinguishable from a kidnapping when you see it, except there are so many of them, and they are more heavily armed and armored than any kidnapper would ever be.
January 14, 2026 at 2:33 PM
They don’t know who they’re taking because:
-they don’t talk to them
-they’re random pedestrians
It is literally indistinguishable from a kidnapping when you see it, except there are so many of them, and they are more heavily armed and armored than any kidnapper would ever be.
-they don’t talk to them
-they’re random pedestrians
It is literally indistinguishable from a kidnapping when you see it, except there are so many of them, and they are more heavily armed and armored than any kidnapper would ever be.
Reposted by William M. Cavert
As immigration enforcement actions have ramped up in Minnesota, people of faith have been at the forefront of the response to ICE detentions and the killing of Renee Macklin Good by a federal agent. n.pr/4qRhXAy
How Minnesota faith communities are resisting aggressive immigration operations
As immigration enforcement actions have ramped up in Minnesota, people of faith have been at the forefront of the response to ICE detentions and the killing of Renee Macklin Good by a federal agent.
n.pr
January 14, 2026 at 12:15 AM
As immigration enforcement actions have ramped up in Minnesota, people of faith have been at the forefront of the response to ICE detentions and the killing of Renee Macklin Good by a federal agent. n.pr/4qRhXAy
And many of the kindergartners my relative tutors in literacy aren't in school this week, hiding with their families.
My niece's preschool in the St. Paul suburbs had to go into lockdown bc of ICE yesterday.
I really want ppl w/o Minneapolis connections to understand
You might've heard that Mpls public schools went hybrid bc so many families are in hiding. Well, a coworker just told me that today, during his kid's hybrid class, a kid's apt building was raided onscreen
*Everyone has stories like this*
You might've heard that Mpls public schools went hybrid bc so many families are in hiding. Well, a coworker just told me that today, during his kid's hybrid class, a kid's apt building was raided onscreen
*Everyone has stories like this*
January 14, 2026 at 12:07 AM
And many of the kindergartners my relative tutors in literacy aren't in school this week, hiding with their families.
Reposted by William M. Cavert
@mprnews.org did a very good series today about peoples’ interactions with ICE this week, but i swear to god I’ve never gotten close to violence than listening to this story.
www.mprnews.org/episode/2026...
www.mprnews.org/episode/2026...
January 13, 2026 at 11:32 PM
@mprnews.org did a very good series today about peoples’ interactions with ICE this week, but i swear to god I’ve never gotten close to violence than listening to this story.
www.mprnews.org/episode/2026...
www.mprnews.org/episode/2026...