From our friends at Mid Maine Indivisible (and don’t forget to check out the weekly to-do list, link on the bottom):

Hi Folks,

Good morning everyone, Susan Collins voted against the Rescission Bill  last night. However it passed with an AIDs related program spared.

Today is “Good Trouble” Action day throughout Maine. Grab some water, a piece of blue clothing, a sign, and head to the streets near you. Solidarity and action will give us heart and  and build the resistance. The rally in Augusta is designed to encircle the State House. Join us. There are rallies all over the state see below.

For the Heart
For Your Heart this Fourth Week of Summer: (while we stand in our rallies today)Standing centered in life, I feel my posture, my breath breathing itself. What sounds are being received? What sights? I welcome in and get to know the feeling of unpleasant in the body. The more I open to the feeling of unpleasant, not the thinking that goes around in the gerbel cage, but the feeling, the more centered I am. The more centered I am, the more I can respond with clarity.
-Nancy Hathaway  Center for Studying Mindfulness 

Mysteries, Yes

Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous
to be understood.

How grass can be nourishing in the
mouths of the lambs.
How rivers and stones are forever
in allegiance with gravity
while we ourselves dream of rising.
How two hands touch and the bonds will
never be broken.
How people come, from delight or the
scars of damage,
to the comfort of a poem.

Let me keep my distance, always, from those
who think they have the answers.

Let me keep company always with those who say
“Look!” and laugh in astonishment,
and bow their heads.      

Mary Oliver

TODAY’S ACTION (s)

• Prepare to join “Good Trouble” Actions throughout Maine TODAY Thursday, July 17th:  Activate Maine has 18 events listed for that day! Here is a map of where events are taking place tomorrow.
  • (We here at Indivisible Bangor have organized an action on Stillwater Ave between Chic-Fil-A and Washville TODAY! Go here for more info and to sign up for the Bangor action! – Dave)
• Join Indivisible today for their One Million Rising Training: Go here to register for this training that will be happening over the next two weeks. Strategies for demasking ICE locally, bringing friends into the resistance, fighting authoritarianism and more – see details in attachment below. 

From Last Week

• If you live in Mid Maine contact the Somerset County Commissioners: Ask them not to oppose LD 1971. For talking points go to the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project. Contact the current board chair, Robert Sezak, who is a Democrat and reachable at: robert.sezak@somersetcounty-me.org; if you live in Somerset County find your Commissioner here and contact them. For the full article on this in Friday’s Morning Sentinel go here.
• Build the Resistance: Make a list of friends you think have not engaged yet. Pick one to talk with. Let them know how important public resistance is to dictatorship. Invite them to join you in whatever way they can. Indivisible Attachment Below has a toolkit for this.

Statewide Actions This Week:

• Get in touch with your Maine Representative and Senator and ask them to put in a bill to ensure proper identification of ICE agents acting in Maine. Lawmakers in California have introduced legislation requiring the identity and affiliation of ICE agents to be displayed while interacting with the public.
• PROTECT THE PENOBSCOT RIVER TOMORROW:Rally for Environmental Justice and the River and in Opposition to Juniper Ridge Landfill Expansion at 12 Noon, before the hearing, in Bangor, 78 Exchange Street, WEAR BLUE, NO SHORTS, For more information, please visit Sunlight Media Collective,
• Indivisible Actions – Register Here
• Prepare for a “Good Trouble” Action in Augusta Tomorrow July 17th! See Local Actions below for details. Go to Mobilize to find Good Trouble Actions near you! Activate Maine has 18 events listed for that day check their calendar out! Here is a map of where events will take place.
• Join the Maine League of Women Voters in opposing the GOP voter suppression referendum this fall. They will be canvassing in Brunswick and Portland this Saturday, July 19th. There will be coffee, donuts, and door knocking training. Register here. 

• Buy some American Flags for your next Demo (Reny’s in Bangor has a good selection of American-made flags at affordable prices – Dave).

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

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

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

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

Find Your State Senator: Here

Find your State Representative: Here – (by name), By District: Here,

LOCAL ACTIONS: 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. 

Thursday, July 17th: 4 – 5 pm, Fairfield/Benton Bridge,  Stop the Coup + Save Democracy. 

Thursday, July 17th National Good Trouble Demonstration: 12 – 1:30, Augusta; We are going to encircle the State House on the streets around it. Sign up for this event at Mobilize. 

On July 17, Indivisible Mid Maine, Capitol Area Indivisible, and other partners, in honor of John Lewis, will have a SILENT/Quiet sign rally on the sidewalks around the Maine State House building and property in Augusta. Participants will–to the extent possible based on how many people join us–line the perimeter, beginning on the State Street side and extending around the corner to 

Sewall Street, and down Sewall as far as Capitol Street, left on Capitol, and then left  through the State House Parking Lot back to State Street. 

Dress with some blue in your clothing.

Saturday, July 19th: at 2:30 pm (and every Saturday)-Somerset Stands Up Rallies-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, July 20th: at 1:00 (and every Sunday): Stand with us against Trump/Stephen Miller; For Peace in the Middle East, For Ukraine, Stop the War in Iran, etc. on the Bridge by CVS in Waterville.

Tuesday, July 22nd: 12:00-1:00 (and every Tuesday)  Stand against Tesla/Musk and the Federal Budget Bill in Waterville    around the Tesla Charging Station Elm Plaza on Main Street, Waterville. 

Wednesday, July 23d: (and every Wednesday) 12:00-1:00 Waterville, Maine. Corner of Main and Chaplin St. Grandmothers for Reproductive Rights, GRR! demonstrates every Wednesday across from Resolve, the local anti-abortion center. Please join us in assuring all Mainers have access to safe, legal, shame-free reproductive health care including abortions and contraceptive care. For more info please contact Elayne Richard  at recordconnection@gmail.com. 

MORE ACTIONS

*If you haven’t yet, write your letter to Governor Mills thanking her for her stand against Trump, and asking her to run against Collins. SHE IS STILL THINKING ABOUT THIS! Hand written if possible.  Mail to: State House Station 1, Augusta, Maine, 04333. 

*If you would like to join Maine People’s Alliance Federal Lobby Group, please contact Jim Parakilas at jamesparakilas@gmail.com. We meet Mondays at 2 pm. Consider joining the MPA for trainings in June and July on resistance strategy, lobbying, and other areas. Contact Jim on this.

With great appreciation for all the engagement everywhere! 

As always, throw a little sand in their gears! 

“I believe there’s no such thing as a conflict that can’t be ended. They’re created and sustained by human beings. They can be ended by human beings. No matter how ancient the conflict, no matter how hateful, no matter how hurtful, peace can prevail.” ~ George J. Mitchell