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.
Emergency healthcare funds needed: A Twin Cities 18-yr old student, w/ parents unable to work because of ICE, suddenly diagnosed with leukemia. She is uninsured, has huge bills, and can't help support her family. Please help if you can. (I confirm this is genuine) www.gofundme.com/f/support-an...
Donate to Support Anita’s Fight Against Leukemia, organized by Vicky Hidalgo
Hi, my name is Anita. I’m 18 years old, and I was just diagnosed with leukemia (A… Vicky Hidalgo needs your support for Support Anita’s Fight Against Leukemia
www.gofundme.com
February 17, 2026 at 3:36 AM
Emergency healthcare funds needed: A Twin Cities 18-yr old student, w/ parents unable to work because of ICE, suddenly diagnosed with leukemia. She is uninsured, has huge bills, and can't help support her family. Please help if you can. (I confirm this is genuine) www.gofundme.com/f/support-an...
Despite strained US-UK relations, conservative political leaders on both sides of the Atlantic are united in being scared of walking on sidewalks in big cities because of that one time they saw a guy who was just sort of, you know, a bit . . . as a parent of a teenager, I wouldn't feel . . .
Nadhim Zahawi thinks London is now unsafe, because the other day a tired-looking man walked past him during the morning rush hour.
February 13, 2026 at 9:35 PM
Despite strained US-UK relations, conservative political leaders on both sides of the Atlantic are united in being scared of walking on sidewalks in big cities because of that one time they saw a guy who was just sort of, you know, a bit . . . as a parent of a teenager, I wouldn't feel . . .
White identity? Oh, you know, Anglo things, like the history of Celtic people.
Trump nominated a legit white nationalist to a top post at the State Department. I asked him some basic questions about his belief in the “erasure of white culture”. Watch this embarrassing, fumbling answer. Like he has never before been asked to explain his views.
February 13, 2026 at 6:28 PM
White identity? Oh, you know, Anglo things, like the history of Celtic people.
So one of the disgraced professors was the director Duke's The Center for Advanced Hindsight, whose center is being closed. I guess in retrospect he should have seen this coming.
www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
Professors in the Epstein Files Begin to Face Consequences
Several faculty members who spoke regularly with Epstein have been stripped of their titles or teaching duties.
www.insidehighered.com
February 12, 2026 at 5:46 PM
So one of the disgraced professors was the director Duke's The Center for Advanced Hindsight, whose center is being closed. I guess in retrospect he should have seen this coming.
www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
Reposted by William M. Cavert
Someone was abducted at 10 AM by ICE on Central Ave. Their coworker says they’ve lived here for over 20 years, are documented, and have 3 kids who were born here.
Don’t be fooled by headlines when they’ve been lying to us the whole time. We still need you out patrolling until every agent is gone.
Don’t be fooled by headlines when they’ve been lying to us the whole time. We still need you out patrolling until every agent is gone.
February 12, 2026 at 5:22 PM
Someone was abducted at 10 AM by ICE on Central Ave. Their coworker says they’ve lived here for over 20 years, are documented, and have 3 kids who were born here.
Don’t be fooled by headlines when they’ve been lying to us the whole time. We still need you out patrolling until every agent is gone.
Don’t be fooled by headlines when they’ve been lying to us the whole time. We still need you out patrolling until every agent is gone.
Absolutely. Except that of course they did "accomplish" many people being removed from their homes and incarcerated, many others who self-deported, and many many more who have hid themselves from public life.
This episode has been a nightmare for my city and state, but I hope people realize it’s also a profound defeat and political catastrophe for Trump and DHS, who are slinking away having accomplished nothing. Minneapolis simply wouldn’t bend to them and they lost
Homan in Minnesota: "I have proposed, and President Trump has concurred, that this surge operation conclude. A significant drawdown has already been underway this week and will continue."
February 12, 2026 at 3:16 PM
Absolutely. Except that of course they did "accomplish" many people being removed from their homes and incarcerated, many others who self-deported, and many many more who have hid themselves from public life.
In today's The Ethicist: Is it wrong to steal a pet dog from a 4-year-old orphan who's devastated by his parent's murder-suicide, and who lost the dog during Hurricane Katrina, and who begs you to give him back his dog?
February 11, 2026 at 9:12 PM
In today's The Ethicist: Is it wrong to steal a pet dog from a 4-year-old orphan who's devastated by his parent's murder-suicide, and who lost the dog during Hurricane Katrina, and who begs you to give him back his dog?
Reposted by William M. Cavert
My sense of Minnesota today is that there’s less tear gas and the same amount of unlawful detention, destruction of families, loss of livelihood, people in hiding.
There is less tear gas at places like Lake and Lyndale, so it’s not making news.
There is less tear gas at places like Lake and Lyndale, so it’s not making news.
February 11, 2026 at 1:25 PM
My sense of Minnesota today is that there’s less tear gas and the same amount of unlawful detention, destruction of families, loss of livelihood, people in hiding.
There is less tear gas at places like Lake and Lyndale, so it’s not making news.
There is less tear gas at places like Lake and Lyndale, so it’s not making news.
Reposted by William M. Cavert
Yessir that's my colleague Jorell Meléndez-Badillo (@jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social) and here's his history of Puerto Rico - available in English and Spanish press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
February 10, 2026 at 2:56 AM
Yessir that's my colleague Jorell Meléndez-Badillo (@jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social) and here's his history of Puerto Rico - available in English and Spanish press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
Reposted by William M. Cavert
Another classic post-Homan day where around school dismissal time we get a flurry of ICE vehicles all across our neighborhoods. Today one vehicle led an observer to their own home and pointed at it. This is a sick game to them, but we won’t be intimidated and we won’t stop until DHS is abolished.
February 9, 2026 at 11:20 PM
Another classic post-Homan day where around school dismissal time we get a flurry of ICE vehicles all across our neighborhoods. Today one vehicle led an observer to their own home and pointed at it. This is a sick game to them, but we won’t be intimidated and we won’t stop until DHS is abolished.
Reposted by William M. Cavert
My commute home from work is littered with abandoned cars. Just sitting there, in the middle of the road. Windows broken out. Lives scooped up and taken away. Just like that.
February 9, 2026 at 11:54 PM
My commute home from work is littered with abandoned cars. Just sitting there, in the middle of the road. Windows broken out. Lives scooped up and taken away. Just like that.
In my own neighborhood yesterday it was only because observers, who were just out to walk the dog, reported an ICE abduction that police were able to arrive to remove the car that ICE left in the middle of the street, as they always do.
In one 30-minute stretch, three legal observers were arrested — as Trump’s Border czar Tom Homan calls on locals to “end the resistance.”
“Uptick In Abductions”: ICE Ramps Up Targeting of Minneapolis Legal Observers
In one 30-minute stretch, three Minneapolis legal observers were arrested as ICE ramped up its targeting of community volunteers.
interc.pt
February 9, 2026 at 9:19 PM
In my own neighborhood yesterday it was only because observers, who were just out to walk the dog, reported an ICE abduction that police were able to arrive to remove the car that ICE left in the middle of the street, as they always do.
time to go play in the old man futsal league, have fun with your endless series of commercials before the Bad Bunny concert
February 8, 2026 at 11:41 PM
time to go play in the old man futsal league, have fun with your endless series of commercials before the Bad Bunny concert
Reposted by William M. Cavert
It's always interesting to see which Super Bowl team Jesus punishes.
February 8, 2026 at 11:29 PM
It's always interesting to see which Super Bowl team Jesus punishes.
There is so much evidence that, in addition to being pointlessly violent, ICE also deliberately tries to trick people who have been following the rules.
Metry and her husband of 4 years go to DHS to get their I-130 in motion. "Good news" a DHS employee told them, the form to start her naturalization was approved.
DHS employee asks the husband to follow him through a secure door. When it locks behind him, ICE detains his wife to deport her.
DHS employee asks the husband to follow him through a secure door. When it locks behind him, ICE detains his wife to deport her.
EXCLUSIVE: Terez Metry was 13 when her family fled to Tennessee from Egypt in 2011. Then, they left her behind. She only recently discovered she had an order of removal from 2011. But she was following the legal path to citizenship. On Monday, at a routine DHS meeting, Metry was detained.
February 6, 2026 at 11:43 PM
There is so much evidence that, in addition to being pointlessly violent, ICE also deliberately tries to trick people who have been following the rules.
Reposted by William M. Cavert
Metry and her husband of 4 years go to DHS to get their I-130 in motion. "Good news" a DHS employee told them, the form to start her naturalization was approved.
DHS employee asks the husband to follow him through a secure door. When it locks behind him, ICE detains his wife to deport her.
DHS employee asks the husband to follow him through a secure door. When it locks behind him, ICE detains his wife to deport her.
EXCLUSIVE: Terez Metry was 13 when her family fled to Tennessee from Egypt in 2011. Then, they left her behind. She only recently discovered she had an order of removal from 2011. But she was following the legal path to citizenship. On Monday, at a routine DHS meeting, Metry was detained.
Immigration process turns sour for an Antioch woman - Nashville Banner
Terez Metry, a dental assistant in Middle Tennessee with no criminal history, was detained by ICE during an interview as she followed legal steps toward citizenship.
nashvillebanner.com
February 6, 2026 at 10:00 PM
Metry and her husband of 4 years go to DHS to get their I-130 in motion. "Good news" a DHS employee told them, the form to start her naturalization was approved.
DHS employee asks the husband to follow him through a secure door. When it locks behind him, ICE detains his wife to deport her.
DHS employee asks the husband to follow him through a secure door. When it locks behind him, ICE detains his wife to deport her.
The "Jesus was a protester" point misses how different that world was. Way back in AD 30 the empire was ruled by a disgusting old man who hung out on an island where he could have sex with young people, with real power held by an upstart who controlled a private army. (Tiberius+Sejanus, obviously)
February 6, 2026 at 10:42 PM
The "Jesus was a protester" point misses how different that world was. Way back in AD 30 the empire was ruled by a disgusting old man who hung out on an island where he could have sex with young people, with real power held by an upstart who controlled a private army. (Tiberius+Sejanus, obviously)
Reposted by William M. Cavert
Everything you’re hearing from the Trump administration is a lie. Today was one of the most active days in Northeast since the entire Operation Metro Surge began.
Nothing is changing on the ground in Minneapolis, no matter what headlines Trump and Homan try to create.
Nothing is changing on the ground in Minneapolis, no matter what headlines Trump and Homan try to create.
February 5, 2026 at 11:22 PM
Everything you’re hearing from the Trump administration is a lie. Today was one of the most active days in Northeast since the entire Operation Metro Surge began.
Nothing is changing on the ground in Minneapolis, no matter what headlines Trump and Homan try to create.
Nothing is changing on the ground in Minneapolis, no matter what headlines Trump and Homan try to create.
Great, who can we get rid of next?
Elon Musk will have to testify over his role in shuttering USAID, a federal judge has ruled.
The DOJ tried to protect Musk from testifying, arguing it would “intrude on White House activities," but given Musk wasn’t a secretary or agency head, this reasoning doesn't excuse him. trib.al/MAY31hu
The DOJ tried to protect Musk from testifying, arguing it would “intrude on White House activities," but given Musk wasn’t a secretary or agency head, this reasoning doesn't excuse him. trib.al/MAY31hu
February 5, 2026 at 11:11 PM
Great, who can we get rid of next?
Reposted by William M. Cavert
The Trump administration's detention camp at the Whipple Building needs to close and ICE needs to leave.
Nobody deserves to be treated this way.
Nobody deserves to be treated this way.
February 2, 2026 at 9:02 PM
The Trump administration's detention camp at the Whipple Building needs to close and ICE needs to leave.
Nobody deserves to be treated this way.
Nobody deserves to be treated this way.
Reposted by William M. Cavert
I will believe that ICE enforcement has changed on the ground when I stop getting daily notices that armed, masked goons are circling my kids’ schools and trying to sow fear in the parent patrols.
January 29, 2026 at 2:59 PM
I will believe that ICE enforcement has changed on the ground when I stop getting daily notices that armed, masked goons are circling my kids’ schools and trying to sow fear in the parent patrols.
Reposted by William M. Cavert
There isn’t any indication that immigration activity has changed in Minneapolis. In fact, this afternoon, federal immigration agents began staging at Holy Rosary Catholic Church located in East Phillips. This activity is disgraceful and creates an unsafe environment for our neighbors. 1/
January 29, 2026 at 1:44 AM
There isn’t any indication that immigration activity has changed in Minneapolis. In fact, this afternoon, federal immigration agents began staging at Holy Rosary Catholic Church located in East Phillips. This activity is disgraceful and creates an unsafe environment for our neighbors. 1/
Reposted by William M. Cavert
A retired Minneapolis couple who had guns pointed at them by ICE in a church parking lot.
"They were obviously not trained at all. I've known many police officers in my life. These people were right off the streets."
"They had the professional demeanor of criminals."
ht: @paulgraham.bsky.social
"They were obviously not trained at all. I've known many police officers in my life. These people were right off the streets."
"They had the professional demeanor of criminals."
ht: @paulgraham.bsky.social
January 28, 2026 at 7:09 PM
A retired Minneapolis couple who had guns pointed at them by ICE in a church parking lot.
"They were obviously not trained at all. I've known many police officers in my life. These people were right off the streets."
"They had the professional demeanor of criminals."
ht: @paulgraham.bsky.social
"They were obviously not trained at all. I've known many police officers in my life. These people were right off the streets."
"They had the professional demeanor of criminals."
ht: @paulgraham.bsky.social
On the radicalization of the attacker of Ilham Omar yesterday. I scrolled through these accounts last night and it was sad: he seems like a common MN type, likes football, hunting, his kids. Not great at spelling, pro-Ukraine in 2022, briefly a black gf. Then increasingly trump, guns, racism, etc.
January 28, 2026 at 7:22 PM
On the radicalization of the attacker of Ilham Omar yesterday. I scrolled through these accounts last night and it was sad: he seems like a common MN type, likes football, hunting, his kids. Not great at spelling, pro-Ukraine in 2022, briefly a black gf. Then increasingly trump, guns, racism, etc.
"Crackdown"
ICE deported a 5-year-old US citizen to Honduras, where she had never been, after holding her & her mother in a hotel room 80 miles from home for several days and not allowing them access to a lawyer www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Five-year-old deported to Honduras despite being US citizen is latest child victim of Trump crackdown
Mother whose visa application was pending says she will send girl back to US soon accompanied by another relative
www.theguardian.com
January 28, 2026 at 5:39 AM
"Crackdown"