IB News, Friday, 11/14:,Visibility Brigade TODAY, Solidarity Harvest is Happening Now, Join Indivisible Bangor, Epstein Files, L.D. 1971 Still in Play

Thank you to supporters who have been donating to our ActBlue fund!

Welcome to all the new members on our mailing list!

Here is today’s newsletter from Indivisible Bangor, followed by the great list of important actions and information from our friends at Mid Maine Indivisible, including:
-CURRENT information about the Senate Democrats’ vote to end the shutdown and, of course, the Epstein Files, the Discharge Petition, and H.R. 4405. Read this CNN article (11/12) for background information on this process.

Also, actions from Hancock Country Democrat: Action 180 – Medicare Option (11/14), that discusses the concept of a Medicare Option Amendment to the Affordable Care Act. Click here for a list of more actions from the HCD, including those concerning ICE and more.

Also, check out the latest from the Bold Coast Civic Alliance (11/14) that discusses the Epstein files, permanent ACA credits, and, very importantly, Maine-specific actions.

A lot of research goes into these additional actions, so be sure to read them!


Current News:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Weekly Vigils

Weekly vigils are happening here in the Bangor area!

First up is the Tuesday Weekly Vigil at the Federal Building in Bangor at 11:00 am followed by the Wednesday Weekly Orono Vigil from noon to 1:00 pm.  

Bangor Visibility Brigade – Fridays
TODAY!!

We finish the week with our Visibility Brigade on Fridays. Join us on the Essex Street overpass at the new time of 3:00 p.m. as we hold letters to spell out messages for the drivers on I-95! Learn more here. Tell them you read about it here!

New Action Planned at Home Depot

Home Depot continues to allow ICE to terrorize, intimidate, and abduct people, non-citizens and citizens alike, from their property.

Home Depot keeps quiet on immigration raids outside its doors (8/19)

As ICE Targets Home Depot Stores, Advocates Say Company Is Failing To Protect Day Laborers (10/31)

US: ICE Abuses in Los Angeles Set Stage for Other Cities (11/4)

We need more volunteers for this action

We are planning a regular vigil action on Stillwater Avenue in Bangor across from the entrance to Home Depot on Saturdays and we need more volunteers for planning and participating!

Please contact George for more information.


Release the Epstein Files

Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., was officially sworn into the House on Wednesday, 50 days after she won her special election to take her late father’s seat — the longest time a lawmaker has waited to take the oath of office. (Desert News, 11/12/2025). She then became the 218th person to sign the petition to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files. This petition allows a vote without the blessing of the House leadership. It has been reported (MSNBC 11/12) that President Trump met with Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert (one of only four House Republicans who have signed) to try to get her to remove her name from that petition. However, once that 218th signature was made, the process was triggered and the vote will be held.

Please call your House Representative and ask her or him to vote in favor of H.R. 4405 the Epstein Files Transparency Act.  For more on this go here.   Just tap the phone numbers to make the call.

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree      
DC: (202) 225-6116
Portland: (207) 774-5019  
Waterville: (207) 873-5713  

Congressman Jared Golden         
DC: (202) 225-6306 
Bangor: (207) 249-7400
Caribou: (207) 492-6009 
Lewiston: (207) 241-6767


Ask Mills to Sign L.D. 1971

A recent article in The Maine Campus, the newspaper of the University of Maine, the flagship university of the University of Maine System, discusses the ICE action that occurred at Kobe Steakhouse in June of this year.

From the article:
LD 1971 and LD 1259 were introduced earlier this year to combat ICE’s impact in Maine. LD 1971, “An Act to Protect Workers in This State by Clarifying the Relationship of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies with Federal Immigration Authorities,” was introduced in May.

While this bill passed in both the House and Senate, when it was given to Gov. Janet Mills, she did not sign it. This means it is currently waiting for the next legislative session.  LD 1259 is also waiting for the next legislative session. This bill would prohibit state and local law enforcement agencies from entering into contracts with ICE.”

Please contact Governor Mills and ask her to sign these bills.

Governor Janet Mills
Email Governor Mills
Call (207) 287-3531


Join Indivisible Bangor!

Do you want to become more involved? Would you like to help with the website and communications? How about helping to organize events, such as rallies and overpass actions or be a peacekeeper? Or do you just want to keep up with what we’re doing?  Volunteer with Indivisible Bangor! You level of involvement is up to you!

Weekly member meetings are on Zoom with in-person meetings on the first Wednesday of the month. Please click the link below to sign up and we’ll help you with the process of becoming a member of Indivisible Bangor!

New members, and current members, too, are invited to join one of our monthly Zoom informational meetings! The next NEWCOMERS MEETING is next Thursday, NOVEMBER 20, so sign up and join soon!


Upcoming Events:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Food AND Medicine Annual Solidarity Harvest
Starting TODAY!
November 13-24

Food and Medicine will be holding its annual Solidarity Harvest next month. Please consider volunteering to help them assemble and distribute locally-sourced meal baskets, each with nearly 30 pounds of produce, which is enough food for 8-10 people. The dates for this year are November 13-24. More information, donation, and sign up is here!


UMaine Fall 2025 Series:

DIVERSITY, EQUALITY, INCLUSION, AND RELATED DEMOCRATIC VALUES AND POLICIES UNDER ATTACK AT UMAINE AND BEYOND
Next Thursday,November 20

In 2025, DEI policies at UMaine and beyond are under attack; students, researchers, and others are threatened and live with great fear and uncertainty. This program will explore these current threats and how we can respond, resist, uphold freedom of speech, and create democratic alternatives. Elliot Benjamin has a Ph.D. from the University of Maine and has been deeply committed to Indivisible Maine and Indivisible nationally, especially in 2025. Doug Allen retired after 46 years as a professor of philosophy at UMaine and has served as Coordinator of the Socialist and Marxist Studies Lecture Series since its inception in the mid-1980s.

Please email Elliot Benjamin (ben496@prexar.com) for more information on this discussion and for the Zoom link.

Thursday, 11/20/2025
12:30-1:45 P.M.
Bangor Room, Memorial Union
The University of Maine, Orono


National Protest in Washington, D.C.
November 20-22, 2025

We the People mean business.  Our presence is our power, and this time we’re showing up with firm demands and intend to change history. Remove the Regime is the moment we’ve been waiting for.

This is not a 50-state protest. On November 22, 2025, we will peacefully descend on the seat of power in Washington, DC to demand that this lawless administration come to an END.

We will no longer tolerate inaction or delay from elected officials as Donald Trump commits actual treason.  We are calling out their complicity in the sabotage of American democracy unless and until they honor their oath.  We are demanding impeachment and removal, and we are demanding it NOW.

We will lobby Congress directly beginning on Thursday, November 20, joined by movement leaders, veterans, artists, pastors, farmers and more. The Dropkick Murphys will headline our main event on Saturday!  


Shopping Boycott
Black Friday Weekend
November 27 – December 1

We Ain’t Buying It

We Ain’t Buying It is an economic action and solidarity campaign designed to defend democracy and reclaim community power. This Thanksgiving, choose freedom over shopping. Family over corporations.

This action is taking direct aim at Target, for caving to this administration’s biased attacks on DEI; Home Depot, for allowing and colluding with ICE to kidnap our neighbors on their properties; and Amazon, for funding this administration to secure their own corporate tax cuts.

(And you don’t have to limit it to these only these three companies on these few days. Many people have added Walmart to this list and have stopped shopping at these places all together- George).


Other News:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Donate to a Food Bank or Pantry

Please DONATE to a local food pantry- food, personal items, and even cash.  Faith Linking in Action maintains a database of all food pantries and free meals– organized by both location and day of the week– in the Bangor area. Check it out here.

Also, ActivateMaine has created a site, SNAP Into Action: “a statewide effort to help those who are affected by the freezing of benefits due to the Government shut down.” If you know of any food drives that are happening, please visit this site to add it to the database!


The Maine ICE Watch Hotline

The purpose of the hotline is to protect immigrant families by providing accurate, real-time information about ICE and Border Patrol activity and connect Maine families to resources and support services during a time of heightened enforcement and targeting of immigrants and refugees.

Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition ICE Watch Resource Hub.

Read more about it here in this Newscenter Maine article.

(207) 544-9989

Other Ways to Take Action­ (Courtesy of Indivisible Cumberland County:

Maine’s ICE Watch Hotline Training: Get trained to field, verify, and document potential community ICE sightings and provide trusted, reliable information on ICE activity to immigrant communities.

Action Alert on LD 1917Contact Governor Mills and tell her to sign into law this bill to protect Maine’s immigrant communities, workforce, public safety, and future! 

NO I.C.E. for Maine: Learn more about this effort to reign in ICE.

Donate to the Maine Solidarity Fund

The Maine Solidarity Fund (MSF) is an initiative of the People’s Coalition for Safety & Justice (PCSJ), a collective of frontline organizations, cultural anchors, and direct service providers with deep ties to Maine’s Black and Brown immigrant, and Trans communities.

This statewide fund is one arm of the coalition’s broader community defense strategy, designed to provide rapid, direct, and equitable support to community members facing increased detention, targeted harassment, policy rollbacks, and systemic discrimination under the new Trump administration.

Rather than scrambling to crowdfund every time a neighbor is detained or faces a medical emergency, our fund pools resources from across communities into a shared fund we can draw from immediately when urgent needs arise. 


New Indivisible Program

From Ezra Levin, Co-Executive Director, Indivisible (National):

Indivisible is launching the largest Democratic primary program we’ve ever run

This isn’t about left vs right. This is about fighting back vs losing. The regime’s threats are too real and the stakes are too high to settle for the feckless, loser version of the Democratic Party we saw this week. As we head into the midterms next year, we need a Democratic Party that inspires and instills pride. In this moment when the fascists are on the march, we need a Democratic Party with a spine.

Our primary program will include both the House and Senate. We will work with Indivisible groups to identify key races, provide support on the ground, and tap into movement energy across the country to boost candidates with a spine. One thing we can say for sure: We will not back any Senate primary candidate unless they call for Schumer to step down as Majority Leader.


LEAVING MAGA

Are you someone or do you know someone who wants to leave MAGA? Please visit this site created by a man who was once in MAGA and has since left. Leavingmaga.org


Boycott Spotify

From Ezra and Leah-

Earlier this month, Spotify began running ads to recruit for ICE, making them an active enabler of the hiring spree to build an American secret police force. That’s bad, and if we want there to be consequences for capitulation, we have to be the consequence!

If you’ve joined a weekly “What’s the Plan?” call, you’ve probably heard me and Leah reflect on the lessons from the successful Disney/ABC/Kimmel campaign. The regime bullied, the institution capitulated, the people rebelled, the institution reversed course, and democracy sat up a little straighter the next day.

What worked to influence Disney can work with Spotify! Like Disney, Spotify is a multi-billion dollar corporation that relies on subscriptions. That means we, the paying customers, have real influence.

PANDORA & SIRIUSXM

Note, according to the Huffington Post (10/31) and Rolling Stone (10/15), Pandora is also running ICE recruitment ads. Pandora is a subsidiary of SiriusXM satellite radio. SiriusXM acquired Pandora in 2019 “to form the world’s largest audio entertainment company.”


Stop the Military Occupation of American Cities!

We cannot allow Donald Trump’s continued use of armed federal agents and the military on American soil to intimidate and terrorize civilians to stand. This cannot be the new norm. The sole purpose of these actions is to intimidate and terrorize the local communities into compliance. Please contact your congressional delegation in Washington to let them know this is unacceptable and un-American. This should not be tolerated in our country!


OBAMACARE Price Hike Info Now Available

Information on premium increases for ACA healthcare plans for a dozen states has been made available, according to a New York Times article “Higher Obamacare Prices Become Public in a Dozen State – Consumers are facing greater costs for their 2026 A.C.A. health coverage as Congress continues to debate whether to extend subsidies that help people afford their premiums.”

From the article, “Based on the newly posted information, a family of four making $130,000 in Maine would face an increase of $16,100 in annual premiums next year.” Such an increase will result in many Mainers simply not having healthcare insurance any longer.

This is what the Democrats in the Senate WERE fighting against. Please contact your Maine senators and let them know you would like them to vote with the Democrats on the Continuing Resolution to extend the ACA tax credits!

Angus King             
DC: (202) 224-5344
Augusta: (207) 622-8292 

Susan Collins         
DC: (202) 224-2523 
Augusta: (207) 622-8414
Bangor: (207) 945-0417


Make Some Calls!

It’s mentioned a few times in these newsletters about calling your representatives in Washington, D.C. It’s one of the most important things we can do and it’s so easy!

Write Some Emails!

If you are more comfortable with sending emails to our Maine congressional delegation in Washington, click the links/buttons. This is a good option if you have lengthy comments or questions.


We are on Blue Sky, Instagram, and Facebook!

Follow us! Invite your friends! Comment! You’ll be glad you did!


We have an easy way to donate to Indivisible Bangor. Drop off your returnable bottles and cans to Ohio Street Redemption in Bangor and tell them to put it on the account of Dave Cox. They’ll add the money to our kitty, mail out a regular check, and the money goes to our bank account to help with our expenses! You can find them here!

****Be sure the attendant writes down “Indivisible Bangor” because several donations have not been credited. Thank you!****

And you can donate here, too! Donations help pay for supplies, website, outreach, and to fund the many upcoming actions in Maine.


Thank you for all you do! – Indivisible Bangor

And now to the Mid Maine Indivisible morning Call to Action:


Action Friday November 14th: Solidarity With Sexual Abuse Survivors: Call Collins + King to Support The Epstein Files Transparency Act 

Good Morning Folks, it’s the last day of the working week, and we are moving into the darkest season of the year. Time for community, and solidarity.

Top Action to Take Today

Take a stand to support sexual abuse survivors by contacting Senators King and Collins to vote in favor of H.R. 4405 the Epstein Files Transparency Act which will be coming to them as soon as next week once the House passes the bill, which will most likely happen this coming Tuesday.  For more on this go here.  If you haven’t contacted Representatives Pingree and Golden on this, please do.  They are both likely to vote in favor of the release. Regardless of the political effect of the release of these files, it’s something the survivors of this sex trafficking ring have been working on for decades and at last they are being heard

More Actions Today if You Have the BandwidthTrump and his gang have started an illegal war through extra-judicial killings in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific. A dozen civilian vessels have been blown up and dozens of people killed, with no hearings, no due process. .  Trump wants to distract from his problems at home by creating a “war” on drug traffickers in which he can order anyone he wants killed by claiming they are drug dealers.  What could go wrong? Congress has done nothing about this. Our lawmakers should be demanding an investigation of these murders NOW. For more information go here.

Although the deal put forward by the Senate and House includes full funding for SNAP benefits, the food emergency will be  gathering force. One approach is to get involved with or start a mutual aid effort if there are no food banks in your area. Here is a resource for starting a mutual aid campaign put together by the No Kings Alliance.  If you have a food bank/soup kitchen in your area send them some money. 

 If you want to find out the food assistance programs nearest you, here is a listing by town. Donating to Good Shepherd or your local food bank is one of the most effective things you could do at this moment. The Winslow Food Cupboard goes all over Kennebec County, If you are able to help, please click here (WCCPantry.com) and then click on the white “Donate Now” button. 

GOT MORE TIME? HERE ARE SOME MORE ACTIONS  (just pick one!)

  • Join the Maine People’s Alliance in bringing your story to our Congresspeople: Are your insurance rates going up? Did you lose SNAP benefits – the MPA wants to hear your story and use it to fight for Mainers in the ongoing shutdown budget battle. Fill out this form and tell your story here.
  • Ask our Maine Law Makers to Ring the Alarm on Trump’s murder of civilians in the Caribbean: Trump’s orders to blow up boats in the Caribbean because they are carrying drugs is illegal, unconstitutional, and a trial run for what he would like to start doing at home. These killings must be investigated and Trump must be held accountable. Call Pingree, Golden, King and Collins to raise a storm about these killings. Go to 5calls.org for a script.
  • Call or email our Congressional Representatives to publicly condemn the administration’s use of our Military to create havoc in Blue Cities:  It is time to publicly denounce these unconstitutional, king-like actions of our Executive branch. Where is the outrage? Go to 5calls.org for a script on this request

As always, throw a little sand in their gears! 
~~Mid Maine Indivisible


It’s a piece of cake to email or call with these links!

The names of our senators and representatives listed below are links that go right to their official congressional contact form pages. The telephone numbers are links that should open your phone app to call that number. It’s that easy!

Senator Angus King             
DC: (202) 224-5344
Augusta: (207) 622-8292 

Senator Susan Collins         
DC: (202) 224-2523 
Augusta: (207) 622-8414
Bangor: (207) 945-0417

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree      
DC: (202) 225-6116
Portland: (207) 774-5019  
Waterville: (207) 873-5713  

Congressman Jared Golden         
DC: (202) 225-6306 
Bangor: (207) 249-7400
Caribou: (207) 492-6009 
Lewiston: (207) 241-6767

Find your State Representative
By nameHere
By district: Here

Find your State Senator:
By name: Here
By district: Here

Our government in Augusta:

Governor Janet Mills
Email Governor Mills
Call (207) 287-3531

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows
Contact Secretary Bellows
Call (207)626-8400

Attorney General Aaron M. Frey
Contact Mr. Frey
Call (207) 626-8800

Questions or comments? Contact George!


Discover more from Indivisible Bangor

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Discover more from Indivisible Bangor

Subscribe to get these updates sent right to your inbox!

Continue reading