Nate Holdren
@nhold.bsky.social
Hey bluesky. Historian. In decline. Views expressed here are those of a future insightful majority.
Pinned
Nate Holdren
@nhold.bsky.social
· May 29
harrumph. harrumph, I say!
Reposted by Nate Holdren
You can very clearly see this is county sheriffs and others brutalizing demonstrators now.
February 7, 2026 at 9:32 PM
You can very clearly see this is county sheriffs and others brutalizing demonstrators now.
Reposted by Nate Holdren
Getting word and video from whipple that there are mass arrests happening by state police and sheriffs against peaceful protestors now.
February 7, 2026 at 9:30 PM
Getting word and video from whipple that there are mass arrests happening by state police and sheriffs against peaceful protestors now.
Reposted by Nate Holdren
The Crespo-Gonzalez family is home.
Our community refused to stay silent in the face of such an immoral, unethical detention. Now, we must continue speaking up for the countless other families and children imprisoned by Trump.
Stay loud.
Our community refused to stay silent in the face of such an immoral, unethical detention. Now, we must continue speaking up for the countless other families and children imprisoned by Trump.
Stay loud.
February 7, 2026 at 7:54 PM
The Crespo-Gonzalez family is home.
Our community refused to stay silent in the face of such an immoral, unethical detention. Now, we must continue speaking up for the countless other families and children imprisoned by Trump.
Stay loud.
Our community refused to stay silent in the face of such an immoral, unethical detention. Now, we must continue speaking up for the countless other families and children imprisoned by Trump.
Stay loud.
Reposted by Nate Holdren
Martin, an 18-year-old citizen and soccer player, traveled with his Madison-area team to Minneapolis for a Futsal tournament (which my kid's team was going to play in, then opted out). While there, ICE stopped Martin and took his mom, who has been detained since.
www.jsonline.com/story/news/l...
www.jsonline.com/story/news/l...
Mother's immigration arrest leaves Madison soccer standout reeling
Federal immigration agents detained a Madison soccer player's mother while she was in Minnesota for her son's games. Now, he's struggling.
www.jsonline.com
February 7, 2026 at 6:15 PM
Martin, an 18-year-old citizen and soccer player, traveled with his Madison-area team to Minneapolis for a Futsal tournament (which my kid's team was going to play in, then opted out). While there, ICE stopped Martin and took his mom, who has been detained since.
www.jsonline.com/story/news/l...
www.jsonline.com/story/news/l...
Reposted by Nate Holdren
MPD just dismantled a blockade in Minneapolis, helping ICE to move more freely through the city.
February 7, 2026 at 6:06 PM
MPD just dismantled a blockade in Minneapolis, helping ICE to move more freely through the city.
Reposted by Nate Holdren
My extremely hot take, as a community college faculty member who generally teaches 5 history classes per semester, is that I could totally do any history superstar's job but none of them could do mine.
February 7, 2026 at 7:34 PM
My extremely hot take, as a community college faculty member who generally teaches 5 history classes per semester, is that I could totally do any history superstar's job but none of them could do mine.
Reposted by Nate Holdren
There’s a “superstar” layer at every R1 institution I’ve been at that isn’t composed of academics in any sense I recognize. They’re there so the institution can claim them, but they use the university as a launchpad to contracts and speaking engagements. They’re not teaching the intro classes.
February 7, 2026 at 4:26 PM
There’s a “superstar” layer at every R1 institution I’ve been at that isn’t composed of academics in any sense I recognize. They’re there so the institution can claim them, but they use the university as a launchpad to contracts and speaking engagements. They’re not teaching the intro classes.
Reposted by Nate Holdren
Update: They succeeded: www.mississippifreepress.org/byhalia-ice-...
February 7, 2026 at 12:54 AM
Update: They succeeded: www.mississippifreepress.org/byhalia-ice-...
This is incredibly awful, heartbreaking stuff. I also think it's very important that the response to this be long lasting. Our response to conditions worsening for immigrants under Trump should be to raise our standards for today and in perpetuity.
This is Maria, a 6-year-old detained by ICE last year.
She began to unravel soon after arriving at a detention center in Texas, wetting the bed after years without accidents, crying through the night and begging to breastfeed again.
Most of all, she wanted to be reunited with her cat, Milo. 1/
She began to unravel soon after arriving at a detention center in Texas, wetting the bed after years without accidents, crying through the night and begging to breastfeed again.
Most of all, she wanted to be reunited with her cat, Milo. 1/
February 6, 2026 at 9:28 PM
This is incredibly awful, heartbreaking stuff. I also think it's very important that the response to this be long lasting. Our response to conditions worsening for immigrants under Trump should be to raise our standards for today and in perpetuity.
Reposted by Nate Holdren
I wrote about the strangeness of following events in Minneapolis—where I'm from—and watching a citizenship naturalization ceremony in St. Louis, which is my home now. Not sure if anyone wants or needs more words about these things, but here are mine.
jeffmanuel.com/blog-1/2026/...
jeffmanuel.com/blog-1/2026/...
Reflections on Minneapolis While Watching a Citizenship Naturalization Ceremony – Jeff Manuel
jeffmanuel.com
February 6, 2026 at 9:04 PM
I wrote about the strangeness of following events in Minneapolis—where I'm from—and watching a citizenship naturalization ceremony in St. Louis, which is my home now. Not sure if anyone wants or needs more words about these things, but here are mine.
jeffmanuel.com/blog-1/2026/...
jeffmanuel.com/blog-1/2026/...
Reposted by Nate Holdren
BREAKING: 4 students at the University of Minnesota are currently chained to Morrill Hall, demanding that their school end all cooperations with ICE and establish itself as a sanctuary campus.
February 6, 2026 at 8:08 PM
BREAKING: 4 students at the University of Minnesota are currently chained to Morrill Hall, demanding that their school end all cooperations with ICE and establish itself as a sanctuary campus.
Reposted by Nate Holdren
always read nate (i'm dangling this in front of my face like a carrot as inducement to write a particularly unpleasant email right now)
Since there's been some conversation about historical analogies for the present stuff with ICE, I figured I'd share this. In it I argue the similarity between (opposition to) border enforcement and (the effort to abolish) slavery.
buttondown.com/nateholdren/...
buttondown.com/nateholdren/...
Against The Border Power
As I’ve mentioned while back I wrote a letter to Little Village saying deportation as such is wrong, that we should think of it as something like slavery and...
buttondown.com
February 6, 2026 at 5:32 PM
always read nate (i'm dangling this in front of my face like a carrot as inducement to write a particularly unpleasant email right now)
Reposted by Nate Holdren
There *is* a danger that we end up thinking - in these vulgar times - that this is the *necessary* way in which all this stuff works.
Like the thing with the - tired and boring - Miliband/Poulantzas fake-debate, is that obviously the most vulgar form of Milibandism could be empicially true ...
Like the thing with the - tired and boring - Miliband/Poulantzas fake-debate, is that obviously the most vulgar form of Milibandism could be empicially true ...
the real conspiracy is the one to convince us that the most vulgar, caricatured version of Milibandite state theory is true.
February 2, 2026 at 4:54 PM
There *is* a danger that we end up thinking - in these vulgar times - that this is the *necessary* way in which all this stuff works.
Like the thing with the - tired and boring - Miliband/Poulantzas fake-debate, is that obviously the most vulgar form of Milibandism could be empicially true ...
Like the thing with the - tired and boring - Miliband/Poulantzas fake-debate, is that obviously the most vulgar form of Milibandism could be empicially true ...
Reposted by Nate Holdren
Since there's been some conversation about historical analogies for the present stuff with ICE, I figured I'd share this. In it I argue the similarity between (opposition to) border enforcement and (the effort to abolish) slavery.
buttondown.com/nateholdren/...
buttondown.com/nateholdren/...
Against The Border Power
As I’ve mentioned while back I wrote a letter to Little Village saying deportation as such is wrong, that we should think of it as something like slavery and...
buttondown.com
February 5, 2026 at 7:57 AM
Since there's been some conversation about historical analogies for the present stuff with ICE, I figured I'd share this. In it I argue the similarity between (opposition to) border enforcement and (the effort to abolish) slavery.
buttondown.com/nateholdren/...
buttondown.com/nateholdren/...
Reposted by Nate Holdren
In today’s episode, @nhold.bsky.social returns to discuss how deportation is unjustifiable state violence no matter one’s immigration status or citizenship, and how that violence is naturalized when demands are framed around who or what is “legal”
on.soundcloud.com/HjCstFKypwOY...
on.soundcloud.com/HjCstFKypwOY...
Deportation Is State Violence w/ Nate Holdren (Unlocked)
This episode was originally released December 1st for Death Panel patrons and is being unlocked today for the first time. To support the show and help make episodes like this one possible, become a pa
soundcloud.com
February 5, 2026 at 2:54 PM
In today’s episode, @nhold.bsky.social returns to discuss how deportation is unjustifiable state violence no matter one’s immigration status or citizenship, and how that violence is naturalized when demands are framed around who or what is “legal”
on.soundcloud.com/HjCstFKypwOY...
on.soundcloud.com/HjCstFKypwOY...
Reposted by Nate Holdren
free them all
February 6, 2026 at 4:39 AM
free them all
Reposted by Nate Holdren
This is my friends’ 73-year-old dad. He was protesting against DHS’s murder of Alex Pretti when ICE goons broke his jaw in three places with a flashbang grenade.
“I wanted to go [back to protest] this morning. … they need to be told that what they’re doing ain’t going to happen here.”
“I wanted to go [back to protest] this morning. … they need to be told that what they’re doing ain’t going to happen here.”
February 6, 2026 at 3:39 AM
This is my friends’ 73-year-old dad. He was protesting against DHS’s murder of Alex Pretti when ICE goons broke his jaw in three places with a flashbang grenade.
“I wanted to go [back to protest] this morning. … they need to be told that what they’re doing ain’t going to happen here.”
“I wanted to go [back to protest] this morning. … they need to be told that what they’re doing ain’t going to happen here.”
Reposted by Nate Holdren
Living in Minnesota right now means getting your heart broken every day, multiple times a day. Some days it also means having your faith in humanity restored. Please keep watching Minnesota, if you live elsewhere. Things are still dire.
February 6, 2026 at 3:34 AM
Living in Minnesota right now means getting your heart broken every day, multiple times a day. Some days it also means having your faith in humanity restored. Please keep watching Minnesota, if you live elsewhere. Things are still dire.
Reposted by Nate Holdren
TRIGGER WARNING, because here is a US Marshal from Trump‘s Gestapo Force in Memphis kicking a puppy today in the Whitehaven neighborhood and breaking its rib. They were serving a warrant and I guess BIG MAN got scared of the schnauzer.
(I didn’t take the video, the dog’s person did)
(I didn’t take the video, the dog’s person did)
February 6, 2026 at 4:20 AM
TRIGGER WARNING, because here is a US Marshal from Trump‘s Gestapo Force in Memphis kicking a puppy today in the Whitehaven neighborhood and breaking its rib. They were serving a warrant and I guess BIG MAN got scared of the schnauzer.
(I didn’t take the video, the dog’s person did)
(I didn’t take the video, the dog’s person did)
Reposted by Nate Holdren
BREAKING: The federal government has filed a motion seeking to end asylum claims for the family of Liam Conejo Ramos, according to the lawyer representing the family.
DHS has requested expedited deportation proceedings against family of Liam Conejo Ramos
The federal government has filed a motion seeking to end asylum claims for the family of Liam Conejo Ramos, according to the lawyer representing the family.
www.mprnews.org
February 6, 2026 at 2:17 AM
BREAKING: The federal government has filed a motion seeking to end asylum claims for the family of Liam Conejo Ramos, according to the lawyer representing the family.
Reposted by Nate Holdren
2000 agents are still here. Woke up this morning to horns and whistles down my street -- panic jumped out of bed ready to run outside, but the cars were being pursued. ICE is still kidnapping people, still getting stymied at every turn, still brutalizing observers because they know they're losing.
The headline should be, "DHS to keep 2,000 immigration officers in Minnesota."
Instead, it seems the entirety of the traditional media went with, "DHS to withdraw 700 immigration officers from Minnesota."
This presser worked like a charm.
Instead, it seems the entirety of the traditional media went with, "DHS to withdraw 700 immigration officers from Minnesota."
This presser worked like a charm.
Homan in Minneapolis: "Effective immediately, we will draw down 700 people effective today."
February 4, 2026 at 4:35 PM
2000 agents are still here. Woke up this morning to horns and whistles down my street -- panic jumped out of bed ready to run outside, but the cars were being pursued. ICE is still kidnapping people, still getting stymied at every turn, still brutalizing observers because they know they're losing.
Reposted by Nate Holdren
My book is now available for pre-order!
Beneath The Wage: Tips, Tasks, and Gigs in the Age of Service Work - Zone Books
Zone Books
www.zonebooks.org
February 5, 2026 at 10:16 PM
My book is now available for pre-order!
Reposted by Nate Holdren
Iowa closing the African American studies major during Black history month is diabolical.
This article is from 4 days ago, but it is now official. The minor will continue.
This article is from 4 days ago, but it is now official. The minor will continue.
Iowa universities reviewing low-enrollment majors, could close or merge programs
The University of Iowa is reviewing undergraduate majors with low enrollment – like African American studies and gender, women's, and sexuality studies – after the Board of Regents last year mandated ...
www.thegazette.com
February 5, 2026 at 9:07 PM
Iowa closing the African American studies major during Black history month is diabolical.
This article is from 4 days ago, but it is now official. The minor will continue.
This article is from 4 days ago, but it is now official. The minor will continue.