IB News, Wednesday, 12/3: Matt Dunlap Town Hall Tomorrow; Tenn Election Update; UMaine Grad Workers Union Forum

Good morning!! Here is today’s (shorter!) newsletter from Indivisible Bangor.


Following this newsletter is the “Top Action to Take Today” from Emanuel’s Daily Action Email, with a link to his great list of important actions and information for the week.

Also, actions from Hancock County Democrat: Action 183 – We Need Nurses (11/24), that discusses the U.S. Department of Education’s plan to reclassify a number of professions, such as nursing, physician assistants, and social workers, as “not professional” (Newsweek, 11/21), which will adversely affect the way students can borrow money for their education. This is part of the Big Beautiful Bill that was passed this past summer and the MAGA attack on higher education. And it is worth noting that these real professions attract a high number of women to them-this is not a coincidence.

Also, check out the latest from the Bold Coast Civic Alliance (11/24) that asks to save the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and to pressure Apple to take back its donation to Trump’s ballroom.

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

And “thank you” to supporters who have been donating to our ActBlue fund!


Current News:

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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, and today is the Wednesday Weekly Orono Vigil from noon to 1:00 pm.  


Bangor Visibility Brigade
Fridays

The week finishes with the Visibility Brigade on Fridays. Join the brigade 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

Home Depot Saturdays

For the next three Saturdays of holiday shopping, we will be out on Stillwater Ave at noon for one hour, across from the entrance to the Home Depot shopping center. Contact George for more info!


Upcoming Events:

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Shopping Boycott

We (still) Ain’t Buying It

The shopping boycott weekend is over, but if you can, continue to focus on local businesses and others that are not collaborating with the Trump administration. Effective boycotts take time and sacrifice and we CAN do it!

Home Depot has allowed its parking lots to become ground zero for ICE raids on immigrant day laborers, and its billionaire co-founder Bernie Marcus has funneled millions into Trump’s campaigns.

Target, which once branded itself as the friendly, inclusive big-box store, has now scrapped its DEI goals and scaled back LGBTQ+ offerings to avoid angering the regime.

Amazon didn’t just shower Trump’s inauguration with cash — Jeff Bezos’ company pitched facial-recognition tools to ICE and powers the Palantir systems ICE uses to track and deport immigrants, making Amazon a core contractor for the regime’s deportation machine.

(Amazon owns Audible.com, Whole Foods Market, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Studios, Ring doorbell cameras, and other companies, so keep those in mind, too-George).


***Tomorrow Night***
Town Hall with Matt Dunlap
December 4, 2025

About this event

“I’m excited to invite you to a town hall in Bangor! This is a chance for us to sit down together, talk about the issues that matter most to Maine families, and hear directly from you.

“I’ll share my vision for Maine, answer your questions, and listen to your concerns. I’ve always made it a priority to be accessible to voters, and I look forward to having an open conversation with you.

“I hope you can join me — bring your questions, ideas, and your voice!”

The Norman Minsky Lecture Hall is located on the third floor of the Library. It is accessible by stairs or elevator.

Sign up here.

Thursday, December 4
6:30 – 7:30pm EST

Bangor Public Library
145 Harlow St
Bangor, ME 04401

Here We Go Map


Home Depot Picketing
Saturday, 12/6

We had a nice turnout on Saturday, 11/29, that sunny, but windy day. Our signs were clear and visible to the drivers on Stillwater Ave in Bangor, both passing by and going in and coming out of the Home Depot shopping center. While we got a few “fingers,” a few thumbs down, and a few drivers hollering at us, the overwhelming response was supportive honks, thumbs up, and waves & smiles!

We will be out there every Saturday at noon for the next three Saturdays with our signs for an hour to inform people about Home Depot’s complicity with and support of the Trump administration.


UMaine Grad Workers Union Forum – The State of Affordability in Maine

Join Grad Workers, ME Legislators, and the community for an important public forum discussion on affordability for workers at the Universities of Maine!

One of the major issues that we as Graduate Workers have been working to address in our first union contract is the crisis of affordability for GWs. Cost of living has risen dramatically over the last five years, and yet GW pay has not gone up since 2022, healthcare expenses have skyrocketed, and the economic pressures on GWs are worse than ever. The University of Maine System as a public institution that should be lifting up Maine families, not perpetuating low wage, low benefit working conditions.

When: 12/9 6pm
Where: UMaine Orono Campus, building and room TBD
RSVP HERE


Other News:

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The Tennessee Election

Even though Aftyn Behn did not win last night, the margin was very close!

From WPLN, Nashville:

“Republican Matt Van Epps has won Tennessee’s 7th Congressional seat, in a special election that turned into an unexpected battleground. Van Epps fended off Democratic state Rep. Aftyn Behn with nearly 53% of the vote, a much narrower margin than previous years.

“The contest attracted national attention and millions of dollars from outside groups and both political parties — a departure from last year’s race when now-retired U.S. Rep. Mark Green scored a 22-point victory without much campaigning. Both parties have looked to this race as an indicator of how next year’s midterm elections may go.”


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, which will resume after the holidays!


Donate to a Food Bank or Pantry

The shutdown is over, but the need is not. There are still cuts to programs that help people with food and other needs.

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!

Also, this just in from Newsweek:SNAP Benefits Update: USDA To ‘Completely Deconstruct’ Program”. The battle continues.


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! 

Donate to the Maine Solidarity Fund: Fund pools resources from across communities into a shared fund we can draw from immediately when urgent needs arise. 

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


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!


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 Emanuel’s Daily Call to Action:

Action Wednesday December 3d: Ask Our Senators and Representatives to Call for Pete Hegseth’s Impeachment + Stop the War Plans for Venezuela

Good Morning Folks, it’s the first Wednesday of December. Another “win” last night – Democrat Aftyn Behn came within 8.8% points of beating Republican Matt Van Epps in a deep red congressional district in deep red Tennessee. This was a district that Trump won last year by 22% points!! She ran on an anti-oligarch, progressive platform and will continue organizing. 

Top Action to Take Today:

Ask our Senators and Congressional Representatives to support an impeachment resolution for Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense.  He is now guilty of war crimes due to his ordering the killing of wounded combatants on a boat blown up in September by US drones. Both King and Collins voted AGAINST his nomination in the first place. For more information on this go here.

While you are at it, Ask Representatives Pingree and Golden to support the No Unauthorized Force in Venezuela Act bill presented by Seth Moulton and others. (This war on Venezuela is about OIL – Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world, and it is a distraction from the…..EPSTEIN FILES)


On Tuesday, Congressman Seth Moulton (MA-06), along with Reps. Jake Auchincloss (MA-04), Chrissy Houlahan (PA-06), Jimmy Panetta (CA-19), and Eugene Vindman (VA-07), announced the introduction of new legislation, called the No Unauthorized Force in Venezuela Act, at a press conference by the House steps. 


The No Unauthorized Force in Venezuela Act prohibits the executive branch from spending any federal funds on the use of military inside Venezuela or against Venezuelan forces, including remote or intermittent strikes, unless Congress passes a specific Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF).

Congressman Moulton, a Marine Corps veteran who served four tours in Iraq, emphasized that the legislation is urgently needed in light of recent developments. For a live stream broadcast of his press conference go here.

For “More Actions Today if You Have the Bandwidth” from Emanuel’s Daily Call to Action (12/1), click here.

With great appreciation for all the engagement everywhere!  

As always, throw a little sand in their gears! 

~~Emanuel


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!


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