Good morning! After a relatively pleasant last-days-of-fall weekend, we are back in for some sub-freezing weather all week, but no snow in the forecast for Christmas day.
Here is today’s newsletter from Indivisible Bangor.
Following this newsletter is Emanuel’s Daily Action Email from Augusta; the daily action along with a link to his great list of important actions and information. Today’s action (12/22) is asking us to take a break and restore!
Also, an action from Hancock County Democrats: Action 188–Stop the dog waggin! (12/19), that discusses President Trump starting a war with Venezuela to distract from his disastrous administrative blunders, revenge efforts, failing health, and downright grift. More HCD actions here.
Also, check out the latest from the Bold Coast Civic Alliance (12/22) with information about supporting the right of troops to disobey orderand other important topics, including Maine-specific issues. More BCCA actions here.
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! Planning events and maintaining the website and email list take money, so these donations are appreciated!
Current News:
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Weekly vigils are happening here in the Bangor area!
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Tuesdays
Weekly Vigil at the Federal Building in Bangor – 11:00 am
***This rally WILL continue this week!***
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Wednesday
Weekly Orono Vigil in the town center,
noon to 1:00 pm.
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Fridays
Bangor Visibility Brigade
The week finishes with two highway overpass actions! There is the Visibility Brigade on the Essex Street I-95 overpass at the new time of 3:00 p.m. Learn more here. Tell them you read about it here!
Please note, there will be no Visibility Brigade on 12/26 and 1/2.
Thank you and Happy Holidays!
Upcoming Events:
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We here at Indivisible Bangor wish you all Happy Holidays and a wonderful Happy New Year!
Faith Linking in Action’s
2026 Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration
Sunday, January 19, 2026
Faith Linking in Action will host a Martin Luther King Day gathering featuring singer/educator Reggie Harris and artist Bob Shetterly on Sunday afternoon, January 18.
Join them at the First United Methodist Church in Bangor at 3:00 p.m. Contact Faith Linking in Action for more information!
2026 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast
Monday, January 19, 2026
The Greater Bangor Area Branch NAACP is hosting our annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast at a new location, Jeff’s Catering & Event Center in Brewer, ME on 01/19/2026.
This year’s keynote speaker is Darmita Wilson, Northern Light Health Vice President of Medical Education and Research.
Join us for good food and inspiring speeches. Individual, business, and organizational sponsorships gratefully accepted!
Please visit https://www.bangornaacp.org/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-breakfast for more information and tickets! Thank you!
Other News:
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Immigration Enforcement Activity in American Cities
We cannot let the illegal and questionable actions done by ICE, CPB, and other federal agencies be routine and normal. Federal action in cities where there is no emergency or crisis should not be tolerated. These are exercises in intimidation; terrorizing the people, rounding them up, regardless of citizenship status, and sometimes depriving them of their right to due process.
“Let’s be clear, the terror and cruelty is the point, not the safety of anyone living here,” Gov. JB Pritzker said Sept. 2. – The Chicago Tribune, “What to know about immigration enforcement raids in Chicago,” gift article, 12/16/2025.
Please contact your senators and your representative in Washington to remind them that this is not acceptable and must stop. There have been numerous court orders addressing this, but Bovino, Noem, and Trump have ignored them.
Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter for the list of Maine senators and representatives or click here to for more Maine options.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Policies and Academic Freedom
Fellow IB member and member of the American Association of University Professors, Elliot Benjamin, is forming a network with like-minded individuals at other US colleges and universities to organize and gather support for maintaining this kind of academic freedom.
Please read his latest blog post, “Join Me in Supporting DEI Policies and Academic Freedom” in the Academe magazine blog for more information. Thank you!
Governor Mills will NOT veto LD 1971!!
Governor Janet Mills has announced in an op/ed piece in the Portland Press Herald that she has decided that she will NOT veto LD 1971. Read the piece here on the PPH site.
Read the official notice from the Office of the Governor here: In Press Herald Op-Ed, Governor Mills Announces LD 1971 to Become Law.
Representative Ambureen Rana, D – Bangor, was one of the co-sponsors. Thank you, Rep. Rana, and to the other Bangor representatives, Sean Faircloth, Amy Roeder, and Laura Supica, along with Reps. Laurie Osher of Orono and Jim Dill of Old Town, and Senator Mike Tipping of Penobscot! Their work and your work of telephone calls to, emails to, and talking with Governor Mills did the trick!
Next up:
An Act to Enhance Public Safety in Maine by Defining the Relationship Between Local and Federal Law Enforcement
Presented by Representative RANA of Bangor. Cosponsored by Senator TALBOT ROSS of Cumberland and Representatives: ABDI of Lewiston, CLOUTIER of Lewiston, DHALAC of South Portland, KUHN of Falmouth, MCCABE of Lewiston, SACHS of Freeport, SATO of Gorham, Senator: CARNEY of Cumberland.
This bill, LD 1259, will ban 287g agreements (read about 287g agreements here) and is still in the Judiciary committee.
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Speaking of ICE– Activate Maine has a great resource addressing ICE here in Maine: https://www.activatemaine.com/icetoolkit
Cancel Spotify Until They Stop Collaborating with ICE
From Indivisible Project:
Today, social media feeds are full of people sharing their Spotify Wrapped results, while Spotify is full of … ICE recruitment ads.
Here are a few things you can do right now:
- If you’re still paying for Spotify premium, cancel your subscription. We’ve got instructions (and some suggestions on alternatives) here.
- (I have found a fun streaming site alternative, Soma.FM, based in San Francisco. They are listener supported and feature an eclectic selection of channels, including holiday, soul, and groovy pop! And another fun and quirky alternative, also based in California, is Luxuriamusic.com. Any other suggestions, just let me know! -George).
- Don’t use Spotify’s free version either. You don’t need to delete your account. Just close out your apps and don’t open them again until Spotify stops forcing ICE ads into people’s feeds.
- Instead of sharing your Spotify Wrapped this year, share our Wrapped-themed posts calling on others to cancel Spotify. As long as Spotify is willing to take money from ICE, they don’t need (and don’t deserve) free advertising on our social feeds. And there’s no reason you can’t post your own list of top songs/artists on social — maybe alongside a message about why you chose not to stream them on Spotify.
- Use this social media moment to have GENTLE, NON-SHAMING conversations with friends about the Spotify boycott. Seriously, no one is going to respond well to judgy DMs when they’re just trying to post something fun about the music they like. So approach with kindness, maybe compliment their music tastes, and then talk about why you’ve decided to stream from other platforms for the time being (one point you can make: Those platforms probably treat their favorite artists much, much better than Spotify does).
- Help us track the growth of this economic campaign by taking our one-question survey.
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 visibilty actions or be a peacekeeper? Or do you just want to keep up with what we’re doing? Sign up to volunteer with Indivisible Bangor! Your 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!
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.
| 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 1917: Contact 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. |
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 Indivisible Bangor. 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! – George and Indivisible Bangor
Emanuel’s Daily Call to Action:
Action Monday, December 22nd: Take a Break This Week or Work on Current Actions on the List – Keep an Eye on the ACA Votes Coming Up
Good Morning Folks, we are into the first week of winter, a holiday week for many, and so, I have decided unless there is some emergency, all-hands-on deck action, this will be my last email of the week. For those of us who finally have some time off work and greater capacity to do things there is plenty to do below!!
Top Action to Take Today:
Take a break. Restore, spend time doing things that energize you and take you out of the adrenaline loop that our political actions often pull us into. I will keep an eye on the ACA votes, and please let me know if something emerges that has to be acted on this week. In the meantime have a great break.
For “More Actions Today if You Have the Bandwidth” from Emanuel’s Daily Call to Action (12/22), 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 name: Here
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!
