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Mary Cygan

@marycygan.bsky.social

320 followers 1K following 160 posts

Chicagoan, emerita UConn History

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Reposted by Mary Cygan

Indivisible ❌👑 @indivisible.org · 13h

This is what democracy looks like. #NoKings

Mary Cygan @marycygan.bsky.social · 11h

Thank you @rozhki.bsky.social for seeing my posts!

Mary Cygan @marycygan.bsky.social · 12h

Mary Cygan @marycygan.bsky.social · 12h

Woman (yours truly) with salt and pepper hair wearing a maroon half-zip sweater and black pants holding a sign with these words printed in black bold-face calibri font on white paper and pasted on yellow poster board, "They blame immigrants so you won't blame billionaires." She is surrounded by other protestors whose signs are partly visible.

Woman (yours truly) with salt and pepper hair wearing a maroon half-zip sweater and black pants holding the reverse of the sign in the previous photo. The sign is black poster board with these words in black block lettering on white paper, "Boycott Avelo, No Flights for Deportation" and another piece of white paper with a drawing of an Avelo plane and the QR code for the DSA Boycott Avelo campaign.

Mary Cygan @marycygan.bsky.social · 12h

Mary Cygan @marycygan.bsky.social · 13h

The Stamford Advocate missed about 10K protestors today. @indivisiblestam.bsky.social
@indivisiblenorwalk.bsky.social
www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article...

"Nearly 80 miles away,in Stamford, several protestors gathered outside the local courthouse in solidarity against the Trump administration."

Mary Cygan @marycygan.bsky.social · 12h

Woman (yours truly) with salt and pepper hair wearing a maroon half-zip sweater and black pants holding a sign with these words printed in black bold-face calibri font on white paper and pasted on yellow poster board, "They blame immigrants so you won't blame billionaires." She is surrounded by other protestors whose signs are partly visible.

Woman (yours truly) with salt and pepper hair wearing a maroon half-zip sweater and black pants holding the reverse of the sign in the previous photo. The sign is black poster board with these words in black block lettering on white paper, "Boycott Avelo, No Flights for Deportation" and another piece of white paper with a drawing of an Avelo plane and the QR code for the DSA Boycott Avelo campaign.

Mary Cygan @marycygan.bsky.social · 12h

Scene with three protestors holding hand made signs. A woman in black leggings and a No Kings graphic tee is holding a white poster board with red and blue hand-colored lettering saying, "History has it's eyes on you, No Kings." A tall man with a grey buzz cut wearing an olive polo shirt and dark gray pants is holding a white poster board with a photo of Trump and the words "If you want to stop criminals and rapists from entering the country stop electing them as president." A woman in a black long-sleeve sweater topped by a yellow vest and a navy jacket tied around her waist is holding a sign with photos of Putin and Trump that says, "to defend America against all enemies foreign and domestic."

A smiling 20-something male in a black and gray Nike baseball cap and a black tee-shirt is holding a piece of cardboard approximately 11" x 17" hand stenciled with the words "NO ONE IS ILLEGAL."

Mary Cygan @marycygan.bsky.social · 12h

Stamford protestors were determined to reclaim the flag today. US flags were everywhere.

Scene on Tresser Blvd with protestors waving US flags and three others holding signs. One sign on large white posterboard with black handlettering reads, "When Injustice becomes law resistance becomes duty." Ahother on white poster board with multi-colored hand lettering says, "Fuck Trump, Capitalism, Fascism, ICE." The thrid is a cartoon image of Trump in a black and white striped convict uniform and red tie with the word, "Justice for all."

Male protestor with a grey beard wearing an Aussie outback hat and yellow and grey striped shirt over a yellow tee-shirt holding an aluminum pole approximagely 8 feet high with a right-angle brace to hold a banner rigid in a breeze. Painted in red, orange and black on a canvas banner are the words "No Kings Since 1776." The baluminum pole is topped with a rainbow flag and the end of the right-angled brace is topped with a US flag.

Mary Cygan @marycygan.bsky.social · 13h

Maybe they meant "several thousand"? The Advocate and its reporters are only on Xitter. I kept my account just for this purpose and posted a query there. We should push Hearst media to use Bluesky.

Mary Cygan @marycygan.bsky.social · 13h

Small crowd of protestors on Tresser Blvd in Stamford, CT, facing east, away from the camera. Two persons are holding the top of a single large US flag at shoulder height. Nearly everybody else in the shot is also holding in their hands a smaller US flag on a stick

A petite senior citizen with a determined expression wearing a white baseball cap and a dark red long sleeve tee-shirt with a white puffy jacket tied around her waist is holding a white poster with bold black hand-lettering that says, "FIGHT BACK." She is surrounded by other protestors. One is holding a black poster with bold white hand lettering that says, "Nazis are Dorks."

Mary Cygan @marycygan.bsky.social · 13h

Protestors in Stamford, CT Oct. 18, 2025. Square photo shows a woman in a black sleeveless top and black jeans holding a sign saying " It's We the People NOT We the Rich People." She is flanked by two protesters in red plaid shirts holding US flags.

A woman in a red sweatshirt and black jeans and a young girl in a black tee-shirt and purple leggings together holding up a giant poster hand-lettered in white on black background that says, "Are we profiting from the concentration camps or just being polite while our neighbor does?"

Mary Cygan @marycygan.bsky.social · 13h

Woman in black coat and black tights holds a long flag pole topped with a large US flag and a a large red poster depicting the head of the Statue of Liberty and the words No Kings. The distinctive Stamford cylinder apartment buildings on Tresser and Washington are in the background.

People lined along Tresser Blvd in Stamford -- about a dozen in focus -- holding signs protesting the Trump administration.

Mary Cygan @marycygan.bsky.social · 13h

The Stamford Advocate missed about 10K protestors today. @indivisiblestam.bsky.social
@indivisiblenorwalk.bsky.social
www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article...

"Nearly 80 miles away,in Stamford, several protestors gathered outside the local courthouse in solidarity against the Trump administration."

Reposted by Mary Cygan

David Bier @davidjbier.bsky.social · 1d

An ICE agent, who is being arrested for drunk driving and nearly killing his little kids & others, tries to stop the arrest by racially profiling the officers arresting him. Amazing to watch the courtesy given to him as he is belligerent and uncooperative

Mary Cygan @marycygan.bsky.social · 1d

mobilize.us/s/w2vNnv

NO KINGS Stamford · No Kings

**In America, we don’t put up with would-be kings.** Our peaceful movement is only getting bigger and stronger. “NO KINGS” is more than just a slogan—it’s the foundation our nation was built upon. Bo...

Mary Cygan @marycygan.bsky.social · 9d

Hoping more people find, download and share this zine with guidelines for helpful reporting. drive.google.com/drive/folder...

Mary Cygan @marycygan.bsky.social · 10d

As of Sept. 21, 2025:
71.5% of current detainees have no criminal convictions
tracreports.org/immigration/...

Pie chart from TRACReports at Syracuse University showing the 71.5% of current immigrant detainees have no criminal convictions. Also a line graph showing the change in the total numbers of immigrants detained by ICE and CBP between May 2019 an Sept 2025. The total held on Sept. 21 was 56,762.

Reposted by Mary Cygan

Feral Human Rights Lawyer @natcad.bsky.social · Mar 23

If your client or loved one has been disappeared by the US gov, whether to Guantánamo, a Salvadoran gulag, or some other incomunicado/unregistered ICE or CBP facility, I urge you to report it to the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (thread): www.ohchr.org/en/special-p...

Reporting a disappearance to the Working Group

Mary Cygan @marycygan.bsky.social · 12d

TIL:
The Militia Act of 1903,
also known as . . . the Dick Act,
was legislation . . . to create what would become the modern National Guard from a subset of the militia, and codify the circumstances under which the Guard could be federalized.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militia...

Militia Act of 1903 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Mary Cygan @marycygan.bsky.social · 12d

Also "became known for" is doing a lot of work here:

"in recent years, the city became known for boarded-up storefronts, open-air drug use, homeless encampments and explosive protests."

Alex Baumhardt @alexbaumhardt.bsky.social · 14d

This was lazy reporting, and the Times would have done better for its audience exploring why so many Portlanders voted in DSA council. Article includes nothing from these voters. Describing Republicans in Portland as an “endangered species” is a choice.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/04/u...

What Happens When Socialists Are in Charge? Portland Offers a Glimpse.

www.nytimes.com

Mary Cygan @marycygan.bsky.social · 12d

Actual quote NOT the pitchbot. "At a downtown art gala last month, affinity for Portland’s socialists among champagne-sipping attendees was in short supply."

Alex Baumhardt @alexbaumhardt.bsky.social · 14d

This was lazy reporting, and the Times would have done better for its audience exploring why so many Portlanders voted in DSA council. Article includes nothing from these voters. Describing Republicans in Portland as an “endangered species” is a choice.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/04/u...

What Happens When Socialists Are in Charge? Portland Offers a Glimpse.

www.nytimes.com

Mary Cygan @marycygan.bsky.social · 13d

After district courts blocked arbitrarily withholding funds from prestige universities, the feds rolled out a "compact" of "incentives" & is targeting schools w interim presidents who are "inherently weak, sometimes because a prior president was successfully forced out by the right.”

Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 14d

I thought I'd put the administration's proposed "compact" with universities in context, so I wrote the blog post below.

It's especially for journalists covering this story!

Many details about how the compact itself works and why the administration has retreated to this strategy.

Balkinization: The Art of Replacing the Law with the Deal

A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics

balkin.blogspot.com

Mary Cygan @marycygan.bsky.social · 14d

Protestors complying with orders to remain off the street are suddenly, violently rushed by DHS and ISP in tactical gear to create a chaotic scene for pre-positioned videographers making content for MAGA videos. Protestors were manipulated into being props in a MAGA propaganda video.

Mary Cygan @marycygan.bsky.social · 14d

Maybe it sounds banal to you when Pritzker says the ISP were there to “ensure public safety” and “ protect people’s ability to peacefully exercise their constitutional rights." But it is the opposite of what actually happened.

Mary Cygan @marycygan.bsky.social · 14d

Pritzker must insist on accountability for the State Police who introduced violence into a peaceful protest. Anything less is gaslighting everyone present.

Reposted by Mary Cygan

Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · Sep 18

I don't think pointing out the fascists' 'hypocrisy' is a good use of time. It's not hypocrisy, it's hierarchy. They actually do believe that they have the right and obligation to dominate you because they are superior to you. They are using their power not being hypocritical.