Hi Folks, it’s May Day!  Find the closest action to you at Activate Maine. So far I see actions scheduled at Freeport, Bath, Machias, Camden, Farmington, OOB, Rockland, South Berwick, Wells, Bangor, Saco, Biddeford, Bridgton, Portland, Brunswick, Houlton, Waterville. A win in 2 special elections in Minnesota puts the GOP out of power in their House. Enjoy taking to the streets today, wherever and whenever you can. 

Top Action to Take Today: 

Find a May Day Action near you and take part in it.

And, if there isn’t one near you take action against the Budget Reconciliation effort going on in the House and Senate to fund ICE/CBP + possibly Iran war costs,  and cut essential social services to balance this funding.  More on this at 5calls.org. So far, Golden, Pingree and King have opposed this effort.

More Actions Today if You Have the BandwidthOn the Climate:  Ask your Congress People to vote against the “Stop Climate Shakedown Act of 2026” which would hold Oil and Gas companies immune from lawsuits based on their effect on the climate.  “It would bar states, cities, and private citizens from filing lawsuits against oil and gas companies, outlaw superfund legislation, and immediately void any active climate cases or polluter-pays laws — leaving communities to bear the costs of climate disasters while industry profits continue to grow obscenely.”  You can sign a petition on this here. (Thank you Shelley for this action)
   Child care is a huge issue for working parents in Maine.  Contact your local Representative and Senator and the Appropriations Committee and ask them to support: LD 2066 will make the Child Care Affordability Program Educator Employment Award permanent. This will ensure that current employees at licensed childcare programs receive tuition support and will help to both recruit and retain qualified staff.LD 1955 $10 million to make child care affordable      LD 1414will increase infant and toddler payment rates through the Child Care Affordability Program for eligible families.    Use the MPA’s Action Network to write a letter to your Rep and Senator on these supports for childcare in Maine go here. Remember Quality Child Care for all is great for the economy!!!!

   Our Primary Election is June 9th. Here are some things you can do to prepare yourself for the election: 1. Understand how semi open primaries work. You can vote in any of the party’s primaries if you are unenrolled (Independent).  See the full guide to voting in the primary from the Maine League of Women Voters here.

  2. If you plan to vote absentee request your absentee ballot now; June 4th is the last day to request an absentee ballot.  Get one online here. 3. Because the USPS is taking a long time to deliver mail, whenever possible hand deliver your ballot to your town office or your town’s voting drop box (if your town has one). 4.  Volunteer to become a nonpartisan election observer with the Maine League of Women Voters here. (thanks to the League for all this information!)

    Call/write your Congress people to demand the resignation or impeachment of Kash Patel FBI Director. Patel has a  standard Trump Lackey Profile – he lies, he drinks, he is corrupt, he spends our taxes protecting his girlfriend with a SWAT team, and investigating the non-existent people who stole the 2020 election from his boss. Now he is suing the Atlantic for publishing an unflattering article about him. Trump is not happy with him for getting so much negative attention. More on him at 5calls.org.  

Write Senators King and Collins and your Representative to vote against the Save ACT.  Maine’s League of Women Voters has it all set up to do this here.  See Joyce Vance’s excellent sub stack attached below on the facts associated with the non-problem that the Save Act solves. Go to 5calls.org for more information on the SAVE ACT, and 5calls.org for more information on the MEGA act and a script for a call/contact.     Help bring Universal Health Care to Maine:  Health Care for All Maine is starting a citizen’s initiative directing the Maine Legislature to write and pass a plan for comprehensive, publicly funded health care coverage for every Maine resident—with cost-lowering protections, freedom to choose your provider, and prompt payment to providers—implemented by 2028. You can volunteer to collect signatures for this ballot initiative now – go here to learn more. (Thanks Noreen for this one!)    Contact Governor Janet Mills here (207-287-3531) and ask her to sign LD 395 and LD 785 into law. 

Educate yourself about ICE Prison Camps. The closest one to Maine was planned for Merrimack New Hampshire and that has been cancelled due in part to community protests. Here are some resources to bookmark on this issue: Detention Watch Network , a toolkit on how these Camps get started is here. USA Today has an ICE warehouse tracker here. There has been a death every week in 2026 in these camps due to inhumane conditions. Let’s keep fighting their location and their funding. 

   Call/Write our Congressional Delegation and ask them to STOP THE WAR in Iran by doing the following: Enacting the War Powers Act, Refusing to Fund Supplemental Funding Requests and moving to impeach Trump. See 5calls.org for more details. The ACLU has a simple form letter you can personalize that they will send to our Reps.

Thank Senator King and Representative Pingree for supporting the War Powers Act in the Senate and the House this past Wednesday.

Call/write Susan Collins + Jared Golden to let them know you are opposed to how they voted on this resolution. Golden was the deciding vote in the defeat of this act. The War Powers Act checks the powers of the President by giving Congress the power to vote on the legitimacy of this war.

    For more detailed info go to 5calls.org.  There will be more War Powers Act Votes in the coming weeks.    Call/Write our Congressional Delegation and ask them to begin Impeachment Proceedings for Pete Hegseth, Defense Secretary. He has taken a wrecking ball to the military leadership of the Pentagon by removing 13 top level people including: the Army Chief of Staff, Chief of Chaplains, Head of Defense Intelligence Agency, US Military Representative to NATO, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Chief of Naval Operations, Commandant of the Coast Guard. 

5calls.org has more arguments to support his impeachment. (In Reference to Pete’s Christian Nationalist Ideology, check out this song by the Rainbow Girls covering Jordan Smart’s :  “Who Would Jesus Bomb” It’s wonderfully sung with great lyrics.)    Call our Congressional Delegation and ask them to speak out on Trump’s latest series of threats to commit genocide in Iran:  There are two routes to removing Trump – Impeachment and invocation of the 25th amendment.  Both exceedingly unlikely to succeed, both absolutely necessary to push for. We simply have to respond to our unhinged, destructive President with all the tools at our command. Chellie Pingree has already signed on to the 25th amendment effort, let’s try to get Golden, King, and …..yes, Collins on board with this. Go to 5calls.org for more on impeachment.

    Let our Congressional Reps know that we need them to oppose the recent Executive Order issued by Trump that he doesn’t need to abide by the Presidential Records Act. Go here for more information on this. (Thank you to Noreen for this!)    Maine Related Actions

    Even though the legislative session is over it appears that the Appropriations Committee continues their work until June 18th and will be deciding whether or not to fund the following bills:

LD 1870 The climate superfund bill “Resolve, to Assess the Total Cost to the State of Greenhouse Gas Emissions,” is on the Appropriations Table. It has a $600,000 price tag but will result in much more than that coming in from Companies who pollute in Maine.  If you support this important legislation, please contact members of the Appropriations Commitee  (207-287-1635) and your local representatives to support its passage.    Maine’s LD 814, the “Older Mainers Act”  is on the appropriations table and should be passed this session. Contact your local legislators and the appropriations committee to support LD 814. The Older Mainers Act will pay for itself if the Agency on Aging services can keep just 103 older Mainers out of Medicaid-funded nursing homes for one year. More information on this act go to AgeWise Maine. The Southern Maine Agency on Aging has a letter you can personalize to send.  The bill asks for 9.75 million dollars to fund these programs in the oldest (per capita) state in the nation. This bill will save the State over 10.5 million dollars annually, so essentially it more than pays for itself.Ask our local legislators to support several important bills that have gotten into the appropriations committee budget:   $11 million for the eviction protection program (LD 1522).  The Maine People’s Alliance make it easy to contact your folks and have a letter you can personalize right here. These bills are referenced below and can also be found in full on the Legislature’s website here.     Keep ICE out of our DMV records.  Ask Secretary of State Bellows (207) 626-8400, and your local Representative and Senator to act to prevent ICE from having access to our Motor Vehicle records without a Judicial Warrant. So far 5 states have blocked ICE including:  Washington, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts and Minnesota with Oregon in process. Blocking ICE will achieve greater Public safety from preventing illegal scrutiny of our movements, illegal deportations,  as well as increasing trust between immigrant communities and law enforcement.  For more on this go to 5calls.org.

Educate yourself about Local and Statewide Elections.    Here are some things to explore:To find local elections going on in your area try these resources: The Maine Monitor listing of town meetings; the Secretary of State’s listing here; and finding your municipal clerk who has the answer to your questions here.  When you call her, check out the possibility of working the primary and next year’s election as a poll worker, or getting your students, or adolescents (must be 16 and preregistered to vote) to do the same. (Thank you Zoe for these links!)    If you haven’t yet, please email Aaron Frey Maine’s Attorney General and ask him to join Rob Bonta, California’s Attorney General in launching an anti trust suit against the companies that will be owned by one man – David Ellison – a huge Trump backer.  His company will own: CBS News, Tick Tock (where 1 in 5 Americans get their news), CNN, HBO (John Oliver),  and Comedy Central (John Stewart) as well as AI company Oracle.  An Anti-Trust suit is in order, and the States Attorney Generals can get one going. More at 5calls.org on this. At the same time request that he sue to find out what DOGE did to our Social Security data – a whistleblower is alleging that it has been transferred to a non-governmental actor.From the Maine League of Women Voters: Sign up to support fair elections with the Maine League of Women Voters here.Also, here is your annual reminder to check for Clean Elections on your tax return. Learn more here.  On the Maine Income Tax Form, Line 1, check a box to designate $3 to the Maine Clean Election Fund. Checking yes on the form does not impact your tax bill or refund in any way.       Federal Actions:    Contact King, Collins, Pingree, and Golden to refuse the new Iran War funding request for 200 Billion Dollars and Impeach Pete Hegseth!! Indivisible has set up a quick email you can send to them here.  Get more background information and another way to contact them at 5calls.org. After you email your folks, call them with the same message.          Ask Representatives Golden and Pingree to support the  “Prevent an Unconstitutional War in Cuba Act,”introduced by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The text provides an exception for the president to use force if there is an imminent threat. This puts Democrats and Republicans on record for opposing or supporting the unconstitutional Trump wars. More on this in the Hill.

Call Senators King and Collins to urge them to support a formal conflict-of-interest review before the Paramount deal closes (around March 20^th). The government must require strong data firewalls and full transparency around Oracle’s (AI firm owned by the Ellison Family) role. Also see request to Attorney General Frey on this above.

Epstein Files Related Actions

See the More Bandwidth action above and check out Joyce Vance’s sub stack attached below about the Bank of America’s 72.5 million dollar settlement with survivors around the charge that the Bank enabled sex trafficking.

Contact King, Collins, Pingree or Golden to demand the following in relation to the Epstein Files: Demand the DOJ release all documents legally mandated by the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Ask them to demand as well that the DEA(Drug Enforcement Administration) release an UNREDACTED version of their 2015 “Project Chain Reaction” investigation into Epstein and 14 co-conspirators into a massive drug trafficking ring they were involved with. Todd Blanche has blocked this release. See the full details in Heather Cox Richardson’s post which is attached.  For more on this please go to 5calls.org. We have not forgotten. (Where is a Daniel Ellsberg when we need them?)

To support Sexual Abuse Survivors:

Ask your Congressional Representatives to co-sponsor and support “Virginia’s Law”, a billthat would  remove the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits related to sexual abuse and trafficking. This law, named after Virginia Guiffre an Epstein abuse survivor and outspoken advocate for justice,  would empower survivors by giving them a legal means to seek justice with not expiration date. More details on this law here. 

Call Senators King and Collins to urge them to cosponsor S. 2746, the Produce Epstein Treasury Records Act and to support the bill with members of the Senate Finance committee where the bill resides currently. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), the Ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee (that oversees US banking) has been demanding access to Epstein’s finances. To this end, he introduced S. 2746  which would require the Secretary of the Treasury to produce suspicious activity reports relating to Jeffrey Epstein and his associates. More on this at Democracy Now   For a script and more information go to 5calls.org. So far not a single perpetrator named in these files has been prosecuted. 

ICE related Actions    Inform yourself about ICE prison camps. Detention Watch Network is a great source of information about this echo of 1940’s Germany.    There is a move afoot to tax corporations who wish to build ICE prison camps in Maine at a higher level than regular corporate tax to offset the demands on local resources. Along with simply disallowing these camps through local zoning action and public outcry, cutting into the profit margin of these businesses is another way to dissuade them from trying to settle in Maine. ICE has 45 billion dollars to build/rent/purchase prison camp facilities – see a full report on this 

here from the Brennan Center.Maine’s Attorney General Aaron Frey has started an ICE tip-line Citizens are urged to report intimidating and excessive federal enforcement behavior to CitizenReporting.OAG@maine.gov. “Emailers should be advised that any content sent may be subject to public dissemination under Maine’s Freedom of Access Laws.

”The Maine Immigrant’s  Rights Coalition has set up a resource hub on responding to ICE.  If you see what you identify as an ICE vehicle in your town call the ICE Watch hotline in Maine:207 544 9989. You can also text them a photo of what you believe to be an ICE vehicle, or any ICE actions in your area.

Activate Maine has an ICE toolkit including links to sign up for ICE verifier and de escalation trainings.If you want to get more involved check out 

this training manual for becoming an ICE verifier.

The Maine ACLU has a page on being prepared for ICE actions in Maine: go here. 

Other resist ICE resources: Resources from the Democracy Security Project:  Printable De-Escalation Pocket Guide  Printable Protest Pocket Guide       Other DSP Resources Finally, consider volunteering and/or donating to one of the worthy immigrant support organizations listed below: 

 Capital Area New Mainers Project, Mainers for Humane Immigration, Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, (all Maine based), and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, go here to donate to the Capital Area New Mainers Project. Environmental Actions

LD 1870, the climate superfund bill was passed out of committee!  It sits on the Appropriations Committee “Special Table”, please continue to contact your legislators and the Appropriations Committee about LD 1870 and urge them to Make Polluters Pay!   To learn NRCM’s priority bills for this short session,check their YouTube channel  Check out  https://www.nrcm.org/events/  (thank you Linda for this info.)

Keep glyphosphate out of our food supply: 

 Contact Representative Jared Golden and urge him to cosponsor HR 7601 to protect us from glyphosate poisoning by corporations who have no interest in our health or well-being. On February 20th, Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY-4) introduced HR 7601, the “No Immunity for Glyphosate Act.” Co-sponsors so far are Chellie Pingree (D-ME-1), Lauren Boebert (R-CO-4), Nancy Mace (R-SC-1), and Ro Khanna (D-CA-17). This legislation would prohibit federal funds from implementing the Executive Order Trump issued recently expanding the production of Glyphosphate and Phosphorous under the Defense Production act. The Act is currently in Committee and has not been debated yet.

ACA Related Actions

Call/write Senators King and Collins to support extending the ACA tax credits as the House did on January 8th.  The House’s version is a “clean” extension with no amendments.  The Maine People’s Alliance makes this really easy, go here. If you wish to write your own note or call, our Senator’s  contact information is below in the Contact Information part of this email. For more information go to 5calls.org. For a full toolkit on how to support this action  go here. This bill passed in the house!!Boycott: Being a consumer is one of the greatest powers we have as members of a capitalist economy.   For a complete list of ICE related boycotts go to https://www.resistandunsubscribe.com/ a new website that lists and explains all the corporations that are directly enabling the Trump administration’s nasty policies and/or helping ICE and CBP: (Thanks Shelly for this link)  Another resource on Boycotting – Scott Galloway’s podcast – Raging Moderates, discusses boycotting TechBro products at about 14:30 into the podcast, go here. (thank you Wendilee for this)

Mutual Aid

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.”   Activate Maine also has a Mutual Aid page with lots of resources.

Heating Assistance:  If you have friends, neighbors, or need support for Heating Assistance, Li Heap funds have been authorized for Maine, Click here to learn more about applying for LIHEAP assistance. 

Insurance Crisis:  The ACA cuts are in the Senate to be voted on. Please contact Esther at the Maine People’s Alliance who is collecting personal testimony to support the passage of the ACA tax cuts. 

ICE Related Mutual Aid: Both documented and undocumented immigrants are staying home in Maine, scared to leave the house to go shopping, bring their children to school, go to Dr’s appointments etc. You can help go here to find out how.

Arts and Politics

Check out “Who Would Jesus Bomb” a Jordan Smart song performed by the Rainbow Girls.

Another artist I wasn’t aware of – check out Carsie Blanton who is writing highly politically charged songs with accompanying videos. Check out Everything is Great.

From Indivisible: Faya Ora Rose Touré, the civil rights legend who cofounded the Jubilee,  shared a song she’d written for No Kings. You can see the lyrics here.Nils Lofgren — guitarist for the E Street band with Bruce Springsteen — sent us his new song: No Kings, No Hate, No Fear..Bruce C. has written and performed a wonderful new resistance song you can access here.Check it out and send it to your friends.  Let me know if you would like to be in touch with him.

If you live near Skowhegan check out Kevin James Studios at 127 Water Street for a whole gallery of resistance art!  (Let me know if you know of other art galleries showing political art and I will list them here.)

Research!

Here are Robert Reich’s favorite resources for information:  Democracy Now, Business Insider,The New Yorker,The American Prospect,The Atlantic, Americans for Tax Fairness, Economic Policy Institute, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, The Guardian, ProPublica, Labor Notes, The Lever, Popular Information, Heather Cox Richardson, and, of course,this Substack.If you use gmail, AI is reading your email unless you change your settings:  Here is an explainer on this issue. 

Here is an amazing resource for arguments about the First Amendment : https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/amendment-1/  But for a simple explanation see https://www.acluaz.org/news/first-amendment-101-the-freedom-of-the-press/ (Thanks Mitchell for this)

Learn more about Chenoweth’s 3.5% rule – go to one or more of these links: Wikipedia:    BBCHarvard:The Resource Alliance . (Thank you Beth for these links!) Get connected to Govtrack.US for daily information on what’s going on in Congress in terms of bills and votes.

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

• Consider putting together a Postcarding Group – you could postcard people in Maine to encourage them to register to vote, or work on initiatives in other states where races are close. Check out Abbie McMillen’s list of options attached below.
• Consider volunteering and/or donating to one of the worthy immigrant support organizations listed below:  Capital Area New Mainers Project, Mainers for Humane Immigration, Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, (all Maine based), and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, go here to donate to the Capital Area New Mainers Project.

State Wide Actions

• See Maine Related Actions Above
• Also it is Primary season and there are debates on TV: here’s how to watch all the debates coming up.
• Consider working the elections this year, or if you are a teacher, encouraging your students to do so (must be 16 and pre-registered to vote): Here is the page for election worker recruitment, and here is the page for registering to vote online. Here is the page to sign up for election protection with the League of Women Voters.
• Mid Maine Indivisible has a great weekly newsletter and website – To sign up: go here. Indivisible Bangor has a great daily newsletter and actions go here to sign up. If you are in the Mid Coast area consider joining Audacity – learn more here. The Bold Coast Civic Alliance has a newsletter as well as the Hancock County Democrat.   Cumberland County Indivisible newsletter go here.  Greater Portland Indivisible, go here. We are developing a great ecosystem for resistance communications in Maine.

Find Your State Senator: By name:

Here , By district: Here

Find your State Representative: By name: Here , By District:Here

For Maine State Legislative Calendar day by day go  here   For links to US Legislative Calendars go here

Check complete bill listing  here.   Find the text of any bill here  Instructions for testifying are here 

Local Actions: 

If you are interested in supporting Shenna Bellows for Governor, contact me or Karen Heck to join the effort in Mid Maine. We will be working for her in the upcoming primary.

Support Patric Moore who is a Democrat running for State Senate in Maine District 16 by contributing to his clean election fund here  and supporting seed money for his election expenses here. Patric will be running against Republican Scott Cyrway who votes party line Republican. (Do the same for Cassie Julia, Flavia DeBrito, and Taylor West (if you are in their District) who are running for representative seats in our area go here to contribute to their clean election fund!)

Join Mid Maine Indivisible (Kennebec and Somerset Counties) Please join us if you are in the Mid Maine area.  To sign up: go here. 

Are you interested in helping New Mainers learn/improve their English?  To sign up for English tutoring or any of our other volunteer opportunities, please visit: Capital Area New Mainers Project (CANMP) to fill out a volunteer interest survey. An English Learning option at the Waterville library at 1:00 on Mondays is also an option for volunteers. Contact CANMP for the details. You can also Donate to the Capitol Area New Mainers Project’s rapid response fund. CANMP is actively helping those affected by ICE abductions, both with legal funding and other financial support for family members.New – Climate activists in Central Maine, The time has come for a weekly climate demonstration in Waterville to get people thinking about becoming climate voters in November!  Come hold one of a series of 13 signs that make a statement about climate, the fossil fuel industry, and voting (see attached).  Time: Every Friday at Noon, starting this week on 5/1/2026 

Where: Main Street in Waterville (2 blocks toward downtown from McDonald’s)

About this event: Join the Third Act Central Maine climate protest. The first protest will be on May 1st.  Please email richardmacomberthomas@gmail.com, or call Dick at 207-423-4927.New – May Day Events in Waterville: Indivisible Mid Maine will be sponsoring the following events TODAY Friday May 1st 1-6 in Downtown Waterville:

Tabling for voter registration, reproductive freedom, a bake “no sale” and essential goods drive; register here.

March of the Victims Murdered by ICE 3:45 to 5 pm – Bringing awareness to the fact that ICE is killing people in their inhumane detention centers, as well as on the streets of our nation. Starts at Railroad Square – register here.

Friday, May 1st, (And Every Friday), Next to the Children’s Museum, 12 pm Third Act  Climate Protest: End bail outs for the fossil fuel industry, promote clean energy, activate your representatives. For more information, please email richardmacomberthomas@gmail.com, or call Dick at 207-423-4927. 

First Saturday of Each Month: Somerset Stands Up Rallies 2:30-Margaret Chase Smith Bridge, downtown Skowhegan. Bring your signs, American flags, your voice, your friends, families and neighbors for this peaceful gathering of concerned residents of Somerset County.

 Sunday, April 26th : 1:00 (and every Sunday) Bridge on KMDby the CVS Waterville: Stop the Killing, (ICE, Iran, Cuba, USAID closing, ACA extensions dropped, etc.) 

Tuesday, May 5th: 12:00-1:00 (and every Tuesday) Tesla Charging Stations at Elm Plaza, Waterville  Stand with us to remind the traffic that we need to WAKE UP and start resisting the authoritarian take over of our Government. We have been at this location since Tuesday, Feb. 4th 2025!

Wednesday, May 6th: Mainers for Reproductive Freedom (MRF) demonstrates every Wednesday across from Resolve, the local anti-abortion center.  For more info please contact Elayne Richard  at mailto:recordconnection@gmail.com

Thursday, May 7th, (And Every Thursday) Fairfield Benton Bridge 4-5 pm:….stop the coup, support Democracy, ICE OUT
SOLIDARITY*If you would like to join Maine People’s Alliance Federal Lobby Group, please contact Jim Parakilas at mailto:. We meet Mondays at 2 pm on Zoom. jamesparakilas@gm
With great appreciation for all the engagement everywhere! As always, throw a little sand in the gears.Emanuel
“How many deaths of other people’s children by bombing or starvation are we willing to accept in order that we may be free, affluent, and (supposedly) at peace? None. Please, no children. Don’t kill any children for my benefit.”Wendell Berry