A personal message from Mr. Graham Platner and my response to his thank you letter

Thank you Mr. Graham Platner and to your beautiful wife Amy, for the enthusiasm you brought to our Democratic party. We must continue this momentum.

Your victory in the Maine June primary was impressive, driven magnificently by a huge ground swell of social media support.  I have never seen anything like it in Maine.  I hope you will both continue to bring enthusiasm to our important work ahead to defeat Senator Susan Collins.   

To Juliana,  I believed – and still believe – in the people of Maine and the vision we have been fighting for. I believe in all of you.

For the first time, in a very long time, our campaign gave people hope. Hope that there is a light at the end of this very dark tunnel. You did that. Thank you.

To those of you who believed in me, I want to make clear: You’re the reason I believed.

I always said this race was not about me. It never was. It was about us.

On June 9th, 150,000 Mainers didn’t just reject a broken politics; they voted for something. And they made their voices louder than ever before in the history of our great state. We won, and we did so spectacularly.

I feel a deep sense of gratitude and also a deep obligation to all of you. To ensure that the voices of 150,000 people who voted for me, and our 15,000 volunteers, are heard. The past few days have been tough, but the weight I have felt was not about me. It was out of a responsibility to you.

Almost exactly a year ago, Amy and I sat down and looked each other in the eyes and decided that entering this race was a sacrifice we had to make if we really believed in what we thought we believed in. And this week, Amy and I sat down and looked at each other again, and we decided that exiting this race is the sacrifice we must make again to best steward the movement we have been honored to help build.

Today, I notified the Secretary of State to remove my name from the ballot. My name might have been on the ballot, but that ballot line belongs to the people of Maine.

Our sole goal from the beginning was defeating Susan Collins and building a working class movement in the state of Maine. We have already brought half of that to fruition together. I am confident the remainder will be accomplished on November 3rd.

All we were asking for is health care. For an end to genocide. An end to corruption. To get money out of our politics. For real democracy. And I remain hopeful and optimistic that we will see that future one day.

I am proud of what we did and how we did it. We organized. We fundraised with grassroots money, not corporate PACs or AIPAC. We built far more than just a political campaign. Even as the entire system pushed back against us.

This is not the end for our movement. Continue to build relationships with your neighbors and have real conversations. Go join a union or organize your workplace. Join a local community organization. Volunteer at a food bank. Just do not give up.

I love you. I love all of you. I love this state. I love what we have built. This has been the honor of my lifetime.

Thank you – from the bottom of my heart – for everything. Your time, your energy, your money, your voice. You made this possible.

Solidarity forever,

Graham Platner

Unfortunately, news media were quick to report negative stories about Mr. Graham Platner, but somebody must speak to his friends too.

‘They don’t know Maine’

Democratic US Senate candidate Graham Platner speaks at his Primary Election event on Tuesday in Blue Hill, Maine.

Maine Writer opinion: Regardless of how voters will respond to Mr. Graham Platner as a US senate candidate from Maine, the facts about how his wife's friend went to The Wall Street Journal to betray a confidence shared by Amy Gertner, who is Mr. Platner's wife, was a terrible betrayal. The informant had no business invading the couple's privacy with her "probably a paid for" interview.  Of course, The New York Times was not to be outdone, so somehow the editors decided to interview a few girls who said they dated Mr. Platner when he was single, but they did not provide proof about the unusual behavior they reported in the Times. Meanwhile, of course, Donald Trump sits and sleeps in the White House as a 34 times convicted felon, a philanderer, an enabler of child sex trafficking with Jeffrey Epstein and as a military draft dodger who claimed to have "bone spurs" during the Vietnam war.  

Mr. Graham Platner/A friends view published on social media

by Larry Hayden 

This is updated, I posted a while ago - which I just sent via email to the two women who wrote the hit piece, I mean the article about the ex-girlfriends of Graham Platner in the New York Times - one of whom, Fifield, may or may not have been an old girlfriend of Graham, but does seem to have been an old Republican operative for a while. It is strange how that seems to have been overlooked…
Subject: My friend Graham. Regarding your recent piece on my friend: “This is nonsense…”- to the New York Times

My friend Graham a year ago was sitting on his dive boat about to fix my mooring chain. He may not walk on water but he can walk and work under water - so there is that ability he has, which is considerably more useful around here than what most of the politicians, pundits, and journalists can do that I know of.
I am a School Board Director in RSU24, which recently voted to violate the Maine Human Rights Act and to require the staff, teachers, nurses, counselors etc, to discriminate against gay & trans students. As a result of this and subsequent votes, my school district is now being sued by the State of Maine for violating the laws of this state.
I voted against these measures, with the numerical majority. As it was a weighted vote, based on the population of each the nine towns in the district, a weighted minority could outvote the numerical majority on the Board and they did.

Anyway, a year ago last May, Mr. Platner, who is from Sullivan, ME, one of the towns in our district, came to the School Board meeting on May 6th 2025, when the anti-trans/anti-gay policy was first proposed by a School Board Director. During the public comment time Graham spoke out strongly against the anti-LGBTQ policy that members of the Board were proposing.

“This is nonsense,” he began in his gruff voice.

He went on to point out to the Board and to the public in attendance that we had no trans athletes in our sports program, that the kind of discrimination the Board was considering was in violation of State and Federal law and that Executive Orders are not in fact law, that this proposal was not about protecting girls but about persecuting gay and trans kids.

There were many in the audience that strongly disagreed with him but he made it clear where he stood on this matter. His point was that instituting this policy would hurt all children, regardless of their gender identity.

This was months before he declared his campaign for Senate. He has continued to defend communities of color, women, trans and gay kids, and stand up for old and young people of this state during literally hundreds of public meetings he has attended. His candor about his past and his own failings is simply uncompromising.

Mr. Graham Platner is my neighbor and my friend. I know his mother who runs a local restaurant. His father was my lawyer and represented many of my neighbors until he retired, handling our title searches, divorces, bankruptcies, and wills. He was the closest thing to Atticus Finch we had in Ellsworth.

When I needed new top chain on my mooring last spring Graham simply said “No problem.” He drove his dive boat over from Sullivan to our harbor, suited up, dove down fixed things up
for me. That is the kind of neighbor he is.

We in Maine know a good man when we meet him. Thousands have now had that honor, although Mr. Graham would insist that the honor his, to be able to meet, to speak with, and listen to so many good people in these troubled times.

As for Graham’s friends old and new, we will stay the course we have embarked on. We will hold fast & do our best to elect this good man to do his best for all of us.

Oh yes, I saw that tattoo when he put on his wet suit - I saw a crude cartoon skull and bones. I saw a pirate tattoo. It looked nothing like the SS Nazi Totenkopf. The skull and bones is a symbol that appears on grave stones in every old graveyard in New England, often with “Momento Mori” written below it, or “Remember Death,” - not a bad thing for a soldier, or any of us, to remember.

Skull and Bones is also the name of the most famous secret society at Yale, whose symbol is: a skull & bones. It is or was for sale in the gift shop embroidered on neck ties. I do not recall hearing talk about their members being Nazis, nor the Knights Templar, nor the Free Masons, nor the numerous college fraternities that use that symbol.
The powers that be want desperately to discredit my friend Graham. They will have to do a lot better. I am sure they will do their best or their worst but we who know him and his wife will hold fast, like the new mooring chain Graham fixed for me.

Written by Newbold Noyes in Sorrento, Maine

Senator Susan Collins clutching her pearls in "concern" about Mr. Graham Platner but her voting record is dangerous maga

I must make a post about Mr. Graham Platner. Democrats are ☘lucky to have Mr. Platner in the Senate race running against maga Senator Susan Collins.

Echo Facebook essay by Joel Johnson: 

First of all, that stupid tattoo. I have made three films about the holocaust, looked at more than 5,000 still photographs of the Holocaust in the German national archive in Koblinz, spent two weeks in the photo archive at Yad Vashem in Israel looking at thousands of photographs, did a 90 minute PBS special about the French resistance against the Nazis, and I have an entire book about German military uniforms and I did not recognize his tattoo as an SS Totenkopf insignia when I first saw it. The actual Totenkopf insignias are small and silver, and when I saw the large black version on Platner’s chest I did not recognize it. I wish I had a dollar for every tattoo I ever saw that was a bad choice.

But really, and most important, what this guy is about is challenging the very foundations of American politics and economics, which favor the corporations and the rich and leave the working Americans behind. The same message as Bernie Sanders and AOC. This message is very threatening, not just to republicans, but to many main stream democrats as well. His genuine talent as a retail politician is truly remarkable and if American politics is going to change we need guys like this. People love him and Maine voters are going to make him their nominee, and he will probably beat Susan Collins.

As for the piece in the New York Times, whose shocking reveal is that ex-girlfriends are not always the best character references—especially if they are republican operatives—I just think it is shabby journalism. Not a word about his policies, which are the entire reason the guy is running and why Mainers are supporting him, no matter what bullshit is thrown at him. If you got about a thousand men together in a stadium somewhere and asked them “Have any of you ever been an asshole in your life?” I am afraid, everybody who was honest would say “yes”.

So let’s just keep our eye on the ball. If you are a liberal democrat, or better yet, a progressive democrat, you should be grateful that this guy and his long suffering wife are willing to stand out in the force 10 shitstorm being directed at them in order to make America a better place for working people.

And for all the “liberals” clutching their pearls in horror over this guy’s behavior or background, just ask yourself whether you want to have a democratic senator in Maine (and maybe a democratic senate) and a new force in American politics that is less worried about what Yale graduates think and more worried about what the majority of Americans thinks. We are lucky ☘to have this guy in the race.

Senator Susan Collins has 28 years seniority in the senate but refuses to show courage against Donald Trump

Senator Susan Collins is facing sharp criticism for her recent votes to increase health care costs in Maine. News Center Maine reports that “more than 60,000 Mainers … are seeing their health care costs rise drastically” after Susan Collins voted with Donald Trump to take away health care tax credits. In Maine, the average premium increase is 💲886, according to a recent study by CAP. Mainers say they are already struggling to afford housing, groceries, gas and health care – and Susan Collins is making life even more expensive.

Susan Collins no longer represents Maine | Echo Letter published in CentralMaine.com

Why is Sen. Susan Collins so silent❓ Donald Trump established an unconstitutional💲 slush fund to pay his criminally convicted supporters; he takes gifts from Qataris and others; he has enriched himself by $4 billion; he enables his sons and son-in-law to profit on government contracts; he obstructs the release of the full Epstein file trove as required by law; he pardons drug lords and embezzlers who then pay his PACs; and the list goes on. But Sen. Collins has said nothing about most of these actions.

All while Mainers are losing their healthcare, paying high prices at the pump and facing growing inflation — all perpetrated by an immoral president, and Collins is silent. Senator Collins accepted a 💲6.2 million donation from the Senate Political Leadership Pac, in other words, "hush money". 

She no longer represents the hard working people of Maine.

From Paul Josephson in Vinalhaven, Maine

Donald Trump and maga Republicans including Senator Susan Collins must stop illegal ICE raids in Maine- Gestapo Alert!

OPINION | Speaker Fecteau: ICE activities in Maine do not match our state’s moral values February 12, 2026 ~ Randy Seaver
By RYAN FECTEAU, Special to the Gazette

"What has been happening outside the State House, and in our own community here in Biddeford, is anything but normal.”

Augusta ME- A new legislative session is now underway in Augusta, and there are many pressing matters in front of us that impact Biddeford residents and Mainers from all over. 

Whether addressing Maine’s housing crisis to overcoming federal funding cuts to important programs like support for SNAP (supplemental nutrition) and healthcare, we have a lot of work to do to make sure Maine families can get ahead and stay ahead.

While our legislative work progresses with the normal cadence of public hearings, work sessions, and floor votes, what has been happening outside the State House, and in our own community here in Biddeford, is anything but normal.

I was dismayed by the surge of ICE agents in our state under the grotesque title of ‘Operation Catch of the Day’. 

These (evil Gestapo style) agents were shirking good policing standards in favor of warrantless, indiscriminate, and quota-driven detentions. I know their actions sowed fear in our community, especially for people of color. It was painful to hear from friends, including those who are lifelong U.S. citizens, who feared they could be profiled and detained based entirely on the color of their skin. 

So many are now carrying their “papers” (e.g., a birth certificate or passport). Is this America❓😢

Moreover, the surge of (evil) ICE agents and their actions were completely inconsistent with Donald Trump’s campaign promise to “go after criminals”. The headlines told the true story: whether restaurant workers at Kobe in Biddeford, or corrections officers at Cumberland and York Counties, or a civil engineer with a work visa, this “immigration crackdown” appears less focused on criminals and more about inciting fear and terror among people who came here to chase the promise of America: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I was horrified at the news 💢of a single mom snatched by agents after dropping her daughter off at Biddeford Primary school, and the arrest of Marcos Gaspar Da Silva, who worked on a home renovation project for me. He’s highly rated on the handyman app Thumbtack, because, as I learned, he is hardworking and diligent.

While politicians in DC may say that the “surge” or “enhanced operations” have ended, the devastation left in the wake of ICE’s actions is far from over. ICE agents are still operating in Maine. Families are still seeking information on loved ones who continue to be detained. Lawyers are still trying to connect with their clients as those clients are shuffled among detention centers outside Maine and across the country. Our neighbors in Biddeford and in Maine are still fearful of going outside, of simply being seen in our community, because they worry they could be next.

If what’s happening in Maine wasn’t enough, Mr. Alex Pretti, a nurse who worked at the VA hospital in Minneapolis, was killed by an ICE agent just a few weeks ago, at least the fourth shooting fatality linked to immigration enforcement since Trump returned to the Oval Office. The Trump Administration hurriedly made public comments that suggested Mr. Alex Pretti was going to carry out a mass shooting against ICE. Of course, this assertion unravels when you see with your own eyes the video of Alex with his hands down on the pavement, surrounded by six or more ICE agents, while he was being shot. Alex is shot just moments after a different agent removes Alex’s gun from a holster. Alex was exercising his Second Amendment rights and had a permit to carry. It didn’t matter. He was killed. (Ms. Renee Good was also murdered😰)

These operations across our country are not making us safer. What we are seeing is inconsistent with safety. There is a reason why we are a nation of laws. There is a reason why warrants are required to conduct searches and arrests. These things demand precision and liability. The rogue, indiscriminate, inhumane, and brutish nature of these ICE operations means innocent and lawful people are being wrongfully detained. It means this agency’s credibility is now nonexistent.

In the legislature, we’ve taken action to protect the rights of Mainers. This fall, LD 1971 became law, ensuring that workers are not detained, investigated, arrested, or searched by state, county, and local law enforcement officers solely for immigration enforcement purposes. And this session, LD 2106 proposes to require a valid, judge-signed warrant for immigration enforcement in sensitive locations like schools, hospitals, daycares, and libraries.

These are uncertain and perilous times. I’ll be honest, it can feel hopeless to see such federal abuses of power and have little oversight. However, I am proud of the ways in which Mainers across our state are standing up for their neighbors, and making it crystal clear that ICE is not welcome to bring their reckless tactics here to foment fear and chaos. These are the moments where we show the best of who we are. These are the moments where we conquer hate with love, fear with hope, and stand strong against a tide that seeks to weaken the pillars of our constitutional republic. 

These are the moments that define us❗

.

Donald Trump and maga Republicans must protect America's foriegn alliances: claims to take over Greenland are stupid

“Trump Mocks Leaders Who Seek to Curb His Greenland Ambitions as Weak” (news article, January 21):

Echo opinion letters published in The New York Times:

As tensions rise between the United States and Europe, Donald Trump has not done anything to cool things down but instead derided Europe as weak ahead of his meeting with European leaders in Davos, Switzerland. Donald Trump has gone too far.

For years the U.S. has been able to build strength through its alliances, but Donald Trump has turned this idea on its head. 

Obviously and unbelievably, it has come to a point where Donald Trump is willing to bully allies and make threats in order to obtain Greenland, an island that few Americans care about and that would not improve the security of the country, whatsoever. (IOW "stupid")

Donald Trump has made a dangerous assumption that the U.S. on its own would be able to stand strong on the global stage, particularly against two superpowers: Russia and China. If the Donald Trump really wants to pay off the national debt (a financial impossibility) and improve the economy, losing allies is not the way to go about it ❗ Perhaps it is time for Trump to learn the meaning of the word “cooperation.”  From Maxwell Mercado in  Collegedale, Tennessee

To the Editor:  This is not a test. Donald Trump’s increasingly flagrant and bellicose threats to violate Greenland’s sovereignty represent an existential threat. There is no telling what will befall us if the United States shatters the NATO alliance and cements its abrupt shift from leader of the free world to global pariah.

Congress and all Americans: If you oppose this perilous path, now is the time to speak. 

 (Maine Writer post script:  #WhereIsSenatorSusanCollins ❓)

From Emily L. Cooke in Cape Elizabeth, Maine

Donald Trump and maga Republicans: 250 years but now GOP violates the principles Americans fought for during the War of Independence

PennBay Pilot/talk:  Opinion letter to the editor:

Donald Trump's attack on Venezuela exemplifies totalitarian mindset
From James Matlack in Camden, Maine

In 1776, Tom Paine's widely read pamphlet "Common Sense*" energized Colonial resistance to British rule setting the stage for the ultimate success of the Revolution.

In part Paine wrote: "In America the law is king. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king, and there ought to be no other."

Donald Trump defies this premise totally and relentlessly. He breaks both domestic and international laws in nearly every action he takes, scorning those who obey such legal guidelines. He demands slavish devotion from his followers as if he were a king.

As Peter Baker observed in the New York Times, "In his first year back in office, Trump has unabashedly adopted the trappings of royalty just as he has asserted virtually unbridled power to transform American government and society to his (hideous❗) liking."

Donald Trump's illegal recent attack on Venezuela exemplifies his totalitarian mindset. Without consultation with much less a vote of support from the Congress, a severe assault was made on a foreign capital city including abduction of that country's President after which Trump said that he would "run" Venezuela and "keep the oil" there.

Every day produces additional lawless conduct, arrogant boasts, and delusional claims. No guard rails now curb Trump's monarchical aspirations or his addled speeches. British historian Thomas Macaulay wisely said that "a good constitution is better than the best despot." Alas we seem to be losing our Constitution to a second-rate despot.


Yet Trump is losing public support. His charade of power is being challenged on all fronts with sagging poll numbers. His shrinkage in office reminds me of Shakespeare's description of Macbeth exercising his stolen powers: "like a giant's robes upon a dwarfish thief," his "ill-gotten title hangs loosely" upon him.


James Matlack lives in Camden

*Common Sense, published anonymously by Thomas Paine in January 1776, was a hugely influential pamphlet that argued for American independence from Great Britain, using clear, persuasive language to rally colonists to the cause of revolution by attacking monarchy and advocating for a democratic government. It became an instant bestseller, selling widely and being read aloud in public, and is considered a foundational document of the American Revolution, converting many undecided colonists to the idea of separation.

Donald Trump and dangerous maga Republicans must resign because they are creating a Nazi "Mein Kampf" government

Echo opinion: FIRST HAND ACCOUNT: WORSE THAN HITLER AND THE NAZIS (Letter to the editor, Portland Press Herald)

Comparison between Trump administration, Nazi regime is chilling❗

I am a 94-year-old Jewish American ✡️who still has fire left in the belly. I enlisted and served for three and a half years in the United States Marine Corps. My father was born in Odessa, Ukraine, and my mother was born in a small village near Moscow. 

She was persecuted by pogroms, they emigrated to Canada and then the United States. Many of my father’s family perished under the Nazi regime.

When I see, hear and read about the immigrant policy under the current presidential administration, it is — without a doubt — a carbon copy of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” from the 1930s, and ’40s in Nazi Germany. However, the present seizing of immigrants and racially profiled citizens has become worse than the Gestapo “rounding up” the Jews. 

The systematic, dehumanizing process employed by this cruel Donald Trump administration far surpasses Hitler’s Nazi Germany.

My hope and wish is that the American people will wake up, see through this sham, and take appropriate action before we soon become a fascist state and lose our precious democracy. 

God bless America. - From Ed Fraktman, in Scarborough, Maine

Robert F. Kennedy jr uses a bibliography to cancel millions in COVID vaccine research but the document was created using a word search

"The COVID vaccine prevented 3.2 million U.S. deaths"...But, every day is another incompetent statement from RFKjr (Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, jr.). Kennedy cut funds designated for COVID (mRNA) vaccine research and used a 180 page report to justify his wrongminded, stupid decision. At least one social media friend wrote to her Maine Congressman Jared Golden to oppose RFKjr's actions.  In the newsletter STAT, Dr. Jake Scott, an infection disease physician, actually read the document referenced by RFKjr as justification for the cuts to research funding. In fact, the document is just a bibliography created by using particular search words, but some of the articles listed actually contradict Kennedy's false premise becasue, obviously, they were not read for content by an individual who could competently understand the data. 

Kennedy’s case against mRNA vaccines collapses under his own evidence: RFK Jr.’s ‘evidence’ doesn’t support ending the research — it makes the case for expanding it.* Reported by STAT

My social media friend Sally-Ann joins millions who are worried about RKjr's stupidity, so she immediately sent an email to Maine Congressman Jared Golden. The news always reminds me of the book title from the 1980s--A Confederacy of Dunces. (A good book--I've read it probably a dozen times, but not recently.) I decided I would just type and not worry about a pretty letter, because I am already worried.

Dear Congressman Golden: First I would like to thank you for the work you are doing in Washington D.C. in these unprecedented times. It seems that daily we have bad news that touches us or people we love. Today's news comes from Robert Kennedy Jr., who is not going to renew contracts for rna vaccines in spite of their wide-spread use and effectiveness.

Back in the 1970s, I worked as a Certified Nuring Assistant (CNA) for three years. During these years I put myself through nursing school. After that I worked as an R.N. for 41 years. I worked in med-surg units, in an ICU, in home care, and in both inpatient and outpatient psychiatry and addiction medicine. I now am working as a volunteer Faith Community Nurse, and still have my nursing license.

I also worked during the pandemic, giving vaccines to people at the Augusta Civic Center. (And even President Trump benefited from the COVID vaccine!) That was some of the most rewarding work of my career. People were so grateful to receive the vaccines. Many of them had not seen their families since the beginning of the pandemic, and the vaccine was their ticket to traveling to see their children.
Now that RFKjr is wielding his power, things are different. He is not qualified for the position he is in. I hope Congress can do something about this travesty--at least regarding the mRNA vaccines, which have saved so may lives.

*When Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. terminated $500 million in federal funding for mRNA vaccine research last week, claiming he had “reviewed the science,” his press release linked to a 181-page document as justification.  After reviewing Kennedy’s “evidence”,  it doesn’t support ending mRNA vaccine development. It makes the case for expanding it.

The document isn’t a government analysis or systematic review. 

Rather, it’s a bibliography assembled by outside authors that, according to its own title page, “originated with contributions to TOXIC SHOT: Facing the Dangers of the COVID ‘Vaccines’” with a foreword by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.). The lead compiler is a dentist, not an immunologist, virologist, or vaccine expert.

NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya has suggested the funding was terminated due to lack of public trust in mRNA vaccines. 

But misrepresenting evidence to justify policy decisions is precisely what erodes public trust. If we want to restore confidence in public health, we need to start by accurately representing what the science actually says.

Here’s what Kennedy obviously missed: Most of the compiled papers are in vitro studies (laboratory experiments in test tubes or petri dishes) documenting effects of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, not vaccination. These laboratory experiments, while limited in their clinical relevance and unable to establish causation, consistently show harmful effects from the spike protein produced during infection. The implicit message throughout: Infection produces spike protein that can cause harm, therefore vaccination, which produces controlled amounts of spike without the virus making copies of itself, makes sense.

Some of the papers included in the bibliography are even explicit about this. One examining neurological effects concludes “the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination far outweigh the risks of a neurological complication.” Another review in the packet directly compares infection with vaccination and concludes vaccination is “the more favorable option for protection.” Kennedy is literally citing evidence that contradicts his position.

The document’s methodology reveals how this happened. The authors of the compilation acknowledge that “most in vitro studies cited here used recombinant spike proteins or spike proteins in pseudoviral vectors,” not actual vaccines. They grabbed papers using any mention of spike protein, whether from infection or vaccination, and presented them as evidence against vaccines.

The apparent deception runs deeper. Multiple cited studies inject spike protein or mRNA intravenously into mice, inducing myocarditis, or even directly into brain tissue, routes obviously never used in human vaccination. (Vaccines are injected into shoulder muscle.) The packet includes studies with hippocampal injection of spike, brain infusion in mice, and injection into cerebrospinal fluid. While these experiments help identify theoretical hazards, they reveal nothing about the real-world risk from the intended intramuscular injection in humans.

When it isn’t misreading studies’ conclusions, the compilation uses them in an intellectually dishonest way. For instance, it misleads about how long spike protein stays in the body. It cites studies showing spike protein from SARS-CoV-2 infection lasting months, driven by the virus continuously making copies of itself, to suggest vaccine spike persists similarly.

But vaccine spike typically clears within two weeks because there’s no replicating virus. Those who assembled the document know this distinction but obscure it.

The safety distortions are egregious. The document highlights anaphylaxis rates as high as 1 in 2,280 doses from selective studies, while systematic CDC surveillance estimates 4.5 per million doses, 400 times lower. 

They emphasize myocarditis (a treatable infection in the cardiac muscle) in young males, which peaked at about 100 per million among males ages 16-17 after the second dose, without mentioning that SARS-CoV-2 infection causes myocarditis at higher rates with worse outcomes, or that rates have since dropped to background levels.

Most damning is what’s absent. The compilation ignores the Danish nationwide study of approximately 1 million JN.1 booster recipients that found no increased risk for 29 specified conditions. It omits the Global Vaccine Data Network analysis of 99 million vaccinated across multiple countries finding no new or hidden safety signals. It excludes CDC data showing the unvaccinated had a 53-fold higher risk of death during Delta, demonstrating the critical importance of mRNA vaccination. The Commonwealth Fund estimates Covid vaccines prevented approximately 3.2 million U.S. deaths through 2022.

The papers themselves often contradict the compilation’s framing. Multiple studies state “we cannot infer any causality” from their findings. The document’s own sources describe challenges as surmountable, not fatal flaws. 

Nevertheless, the incompetent Kennedy presents these tentative findings, which the authors themselves call preliminary, as definitive evidence requiring immediate action.

Beyond Covid vaccines, Kennedy’s decision undermines pandemic preparedness. The 22 terminated projects worth $500 million represent the expensive late-stage development that BARDA uniquely funds — Phase 3 trials, manufacturing scale-up, and strategic stockpiling that private companies can’t afford. Kennedy promises “safer, broader, whole-virus vaccines” as alternatives, apparently unaware these take six months minimum to update versus weeks for mRNA. When the next pandemic virus emerges, those extra months will translate directly into preventable deaths.

I’ve analyzed Covid vaccine safety data intensively since 2020. There are real discussions to have about rare side effects, risk communication, and policy trade-offs. But those require honest representation of evidence.

What Kennedy has done is different. Most papers in the compilation found infection-related harms, evidence that actually supports vaccination, yet he is wielding it against vaccines. 😓😕💢He’s citing sources that explicitly support vaccination while claiming they oppose it.

This isn’t scientific disagreement. It’s either staggering incompetence or willful misrepresentation. When half-billion-dollar decisions affecting pandemic preparedness rest on such foundations, the scientific community must respond clearly: Kennedy is using evidence that refutes his own position to justify dismantling tools we’ll desperately need when the next pandemic arrives.

Jake Scott, M.D., is an infectious disease physician and clinical associate professor at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Donald Trump and maga Republicans need a history refresh about "We Hold these truths- All men - and women- are created equal"

Opinion letter to the editor published in the Maine Pen Bay Pilot/Talk: No President has been so historically illiterate
By Jim Matlack

On July 4, 2025, American just celebrated the 249th Anniversary of the founding document of our nation — the Declaration of Independence. 

I am proud to have a direct family link to the facsimile text of the Declaration, so widely published in days celebrating our nation's independence. That precious text — carefully written out on vellum with a quill pen was the handiwork of Timothy Matlack, who is often called the Scribe of the Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia in 1776.

Timothy was a Quaker and sometime small businessman who was called upon to draft various legal documents due to his skill with a quill pen. He joined the militia in a battle against British troops in New Jersey early in the war for which he was thrown out of his Quaker meeting. Through the rest of a long life he was active in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania state politics on behalf of expanding the vote to ordinary (white, male) citizens.

I take pride in the family connection to the Declaration and its "created equal" affirmation however short we have fallen at times from this ideal that lies at the heart of our political heritage. 

Never more so than now under the corrupt and lawless conduct of the Trump Administration.

In countless ways Trump has violated both law and custom under the Constitution in a shameless quest to establish authoritarian rule. The long list of offenses by King George in the Declaration can be matched one for one by modern-day counterpart episodes of misconduct by Trump. The legacy of the founders and their caution about an over-strong executive have been swept away by mindless MAGA support for Trump's excesses.

This whole situation was exemplified in a recent encounter in the Oval Office. On May 2, when Trump was seated at the Resolute Desk while Terry Moran (ABC News) was standing beside, looking about the office. Their exchange was recorded and later broadcast for all to see.

In addition to all the gaudy gold newly installed by Trump — a vulgarian's notion of how to look successful — Moran noted a framed version of the Declaration on the wall. Rumor was that Trump had tried to get the original text written out by Timothy Matlack but was wisely denied by the Archives. 

Instead, a vintage printed version may be involved since the frame has a curtain to draw across in order to reduce fading due to bright light.

Moran said: "I see that you have the Declaration there. What does it mean to you?"

Trump's astonishing reply was: "Well, it means exactly what it says. It's a declaration. It's a declaration of unity, love and respect and it means a lot and it's something very special to our country."

What the Declaration of Indpendence really says is this: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It further establishes that governments are instituted to secure these rights and derive their just powers from the consent of the governed..."

Trump reveals his ignorance of the actual content and significance of the document. No President has been so historically illiterate or done more to betray the promise and the ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence.

From Jim Matlack, who lives in Camden, Maine

Essay about American citizenship "I Love America"

Reflections on citizenship- Echo opinion letter published in The County, an Aroostook County newspaper, in Maine.

https://thecounty.me/2025/07/11/houlton/reflections-on-citizenship/

To the editor:  I love America.

This year I enjoyed my first Fourth of July celebration since becoming a U.S. citizen, at ceremonies help this past April. 

I have been reflecting deeply on what it means to be a citizen. 

For me, citizenship was not something simply given; it has been a journey that took 19 years. But beyond the length of time, it has been about understanding its meaning.

I was born a citizen of South Korea, which does not allow dual citizenship for males due to mandatory military service. 

I had to make a choice. After much thought and prayer, I chose to become a U.S. citizen. For me, it was not about gaining privileges, but about becoming one of the people I serve as a pastor.

As I prepared for citizenship, I reflected on two ways about belonging to a nation: nationalism and patriotism.

Nationalism is often rooted in fear of others. It elevates the concerns of “my people” at the expense of those who are not. It excludes those deemed outsiders. Patriotism, on the other hand, is love for one’s people and community. It brings people together for the common good. It celebrates what is virtuous while speaking truth about what is unhealthy or unjust.

I love America. I love its people. I celebrate its diverse cultures and ways of life. Out of love, I will speak truthfully about its failures. 

I will care for the poor and for immigrants. I will seek to be a bridge builder for social and racial justice and reconciliation. I will be a good steward of the planet. I hope to live as a patriot, not a nationalist.  May God bless America.

From SeungRi “Victor” Han, in Houlton, Maine

Republicans who are cult loyalists to Donald Trump are destroying America's economic safeguards to protect poor and middle class

Echo opinion published in The County, Maine newspaper in Aroostook County.  Help the rest of us, not billionaires

To the editor:  Don’t be fooled: Trump and his billionaire friends want to steal our money.💲

Trump and his Republican cult are making it even easier for them to pick our pockets.

How do I know❓ First, Trump closed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It was created after Wall Street caused the Great Recession. It’s returned billions to regular people who were ripped off by banks and credit card companies. Don’t get me wrong: Washington should do more to fight financial predators. But, Trump and his Republican cult are making it even easier for them to pick our pockets.

Second, he’s fired thousands of IRS employees. Some might say, “Isn’t that a good thing❓” But it turns out that with more IRS workers, the more they go after rich people. The rich are by far the biggest tax-evaders, but they have armies of accountants and lawyers hiding their crimes. Every $1 spent at the IRS gets us $5 to $9 back. Again, don’t get me wrong: Washington should tax the rich much more, like we did back in the ‘50s. But Trump is making it even easier for billionaires to avoid paying their fair share, and now Republicans in Congress are hard at work trying to lower billionaires’ taxes.

Trump says his biggest donor Elon Musk is cutting government waste. But, he isn’t. Musk is handing himself government contracts while firing the regulators investigating his companies. This administration is gutting healthcare for the elderly, firing people who keep airplanes flying and keep nuclear bombs secure. These workers’ jobs made America a better place to live; Trump is putting them on unemployment. Now he and Musk are using money from these layoffs to enrich themselves.

Trump wants us to believe he has the magic power to make our lives better. Why hasn’t he used it❓ Why is the price of eggs higher than ever when he said he’d fix it❓ Because he lied. He is a con man, and he is laughing at us.

There is a small group who don’t care: “As long as minorities get hurt, Trump can rule us like a king.”

But to everyone else: We need new, accountable leaders who will help poor and working-class people, not billionaires.

From Rob Kipp in Presque Isle

American voters have the tools to fight Donald Trump autocracy: YES you and I have ability to make change

I was introduced to the Holocaust as a middle schooler. 

Echo guest editorial published in the Penn Bay Pilot newspaper, in MidCoast Maine/Rockland, Thomaston, Camden. 

Like any child would, I had a hard time fathoming the mass murder of so many people- over 6 million (+ plus 😔😡😨). 

I am not sure I was taught about the slippage of democratic norms, the years of capitulation and fear. I remember asking my mother why no one tried to stop it❓ She had vague answers, about it being far away, with it being hard to tell what was going on. 

Needless to say, the question lingered.

I kept that question with me while touring our nation’s Holocaust Memorial Museum in D.C. more than two decades ago. I stood for many minutes in the room dedicated to America's response, reading New York Times articles from the late 1930s, finding vague information, a lack of clarity, and what I perceived as a lack of alarm.

I worry. We Americans are now in the same place of inaction and vague, unfocused alarm, even though hate, racism, and an authoritarian regime are plainly amongst us. 

No ocean separates us from this horror. Not one location in the USA has been spared the change in our method of governance.

You and I — all the American people, no matter who we voted for, or even if we voted (a third of the electorate didn’t) — have been gut-punched and rolled.

We no longer live in a democracy. The administration is on a path to an autocratic regime in which dissent, rule of law, peaceable, and non-corrupt behavior is replaced by lies, intimidation, corruption, violent destruction of institutions, and disregard for the courts — replaced by the whims of the new leaders.

The Trumpzi-ism administration has fundamentally altered the way our country is governed. This is not a time to pretend this will solve itself, or go away. It won’t. We, the American people, are the ones who’ll change what’s happening. We are now at war, and we, the American people are the troops. (According to the Oxford Dictionary, war is “any active hostility or struggle between living beings; a conflict between opposing forces and principles.”)

Now’s the time to fight. These are your weapons:your emotionally regulated self that does not quiver in fear or dive back under the covers (or get lost in doom-scrolling);

• Your attention and understanding of context and big picture — this is not a singular shift, it’s part of a global trend — read Autocracy, Inc.; On Tyranny; How Democracies Die;]
• Your voice—it’s time to be loud, and get used to speaking up for democracy;
• Your words — talk to others about what you’re seeing and feeling. Write. There is certain to be several negative comments made at the bottom of this essay. Our best work is to ignore them. 
• Your energy is precious. Instead of taking the bait from those who are gullible enough to believe that they’re actually safer, or that their eviscerated autocratic government is now more efficient, use your words and energy to chat with your neighbors, call a friend, gather at one of the many democracy meetings being held (visit indivisible.org or jointheunion.us to search for a group near you); your imagination—spend some time considering where this is all heading. 

The Trump administrations’s power grab and the moves of Project 2025, plus the capitulation of the Congress, is a sign that those currently in power in the Trump administration want to move this country permanently to an autocratic state. 

These aren’t the moves of an administration that intends to allow free and fair elections or to cede control even if elections are held. Once you’ve gone down that deep hole, consider the country you’d like to live in. Consider how you want to be governed. What role can you play in the next USA? Use your imagination to paint those pictures of the after time, when we rebuild from this destruction. There will be a resurgence of democracy.

• Your creativity: it’s well known that autocrats don’t like to be ridiculed. So write the script of an absurdist play about where these leaders wind up in their dotage; or get out your paints and depict the way you want this war to end; or channel your rage into a bakeathon whose goods you share with neighbors; or create the best protest signs; or write the next anthem (creative endeavors also bring joy, which nourishes us during the struggle); 

• Your ability to show up and protest (March 29 was national take down Tesla day teslatakedown.com; April 5 is a day of national protest about all of the administration action—Hands Off; see indivisible.org);

• Your pocketbook—he current administration is motivated by greed, using corruption and dealmaking to line their pockets. Circumvent their money grabs: boycott large corporations, shop local, reduce your consumption overall. Consider delaying paying taxes until you’re convinced those dollars are being legally spent. 

• Your trust in yourself—your voice matters, your behavior makes a difference;

• Your trust in an inclusive, USA of the future — keep up your practices that promote diversity, many voices, the role of women; refuse to diminish people to “other;”

• Your community and your trust in your neighbors—do what you can to tighten those bonds;

• Your local government—get involved, inquire about your community’s plans for emergency notifications, mutual aid, and formation of neighborhood teams to help when crises strike; 

• Your belief in our democracy, and our ability to come together to win it back.

We’ll overturn this administration and win this war — non-violently, with the world’s strongest force: human hearts and minds pulling together to serve the future of our one planet.  

I’ll see 👀 you out there.

From Molly Mulhern lives in Camden, Maine

Donald Trump turns his back on the people who voted for him because he wants more tax cuts for billionaire

Don’t be fooled: Trump and his billionaire friends want to steal our money. Echo opinion letter from Maine published in The County newspaper

How do I know? First, Trump closed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It was created after Wall Street caused the Great Recession. It returned billions 💲 to regular people who were ripped off by banks and credit card companies. 

Don’t get me wrong: Washington should do more to fight financial predators. But Trump is making it even easier for them to pick our pockets.

Second, Trump and Musk fired thousands of IRS employees. Some might say, “Isn’t that a good thing?” But it turns out that with more IRS workers, the more they go after rich people. The rich are by far the biggest tax-evaders, but they have armies of accountants and lawyers hiding their crimes. Every $1 spent at the IRS gets us $5 to $9 back. 

Again, don’t get me wrong: Washington should tax the rich much more, like we did back in the ‘50s. But Trump is making it even easier for billionaires to avoid paying their fair share, and now Republicans in Congress are hard at work trying to lower billionaires’ taxes.

Trump says his donor Elon Musk is cutting government waste. He isn’t. Musk is handing himself government contracts while firing the regulators investigating his companies. This administration is gutting healthcare for the elderly, firing people who keep airplanes flying and keep nuclear bombs secure. These workers’ jobs made America a better place to live; Trump is putting them on unemployment. Now he and Musk are using money from these layoffs to enrich themselves.

Trump wants us to somehow believe he has the magic power to make our lives better. Why hasn’t he used it❓ Why is the price of eggs higher than ever when he said he’d fix it❓ Because he lied. 🤥He is a con man, and he is laughing at us.

There is a small group who don’t care: “As long as minorities get hurt, Trump can rule us like a king.”

But to everyone else: We need new, accountable leaders who will help poor and working-class people, not billionaires. 

From: Rob Kipp in Presque Isle, Maine

Postscript Maine Writer note: Donald Trump has thumbed his nose to the people who voted for him. For the life of me, I cannot understand how his cult cannot see his greed and avarice. 

Elon Musk has a dangerous free pass to destroy our government but he is an unqualified-unelected South African immigrant !

Making America miserable again?

Echo opinion letter published in the Penn Bay Pilot, published in Rockland Maine. 


We are only seven weeks into the Trump Presidency, and most of what he promised on the the campaign trail is evidently all lies😝😡😱❗

Instead of a stronger economy, the markets are crashing in response to Trump's tariffs, inflation is up 3%, and jobless claims are up 242,000.

Instead of improving the health and safety for U.S. citizens, there is an unprecedented and deadly measles outbreak, 36 million Americans' health insurance is at risk due to GOP Medicaid cuts, and both airline safety and critical weather forecasting are threatened by DOGE cuts.

Instead of protecting U.S. veterans, veteran services, jobs, and healthcare are under attack. Instead of protecting the elderly, Social Security checks are at risk of interruption.

Meanwhile, Trump has played golf on 13 of the 48 days he has been back in office, costing U.S. taxpayers $18 million.

And Musk has had a free pass to destroy and reconstruct Government Agencies in ways that result in expanded contracts with his companies — Tesla, SpaceX, and Dogecoin — enhancing Musk's personal fortune manifold.

Waste and fraud, you say❓

From Karin Lockwood lives in Rockport Maine

#FireElonMusk❗

Trump tariffs create economic chaos: Risk of higher prices and even the "R" word recession

Duck and cover: The Trump economy takes ghastly shape.😱

I don’t recall a recession being among Donald Trump's campaign promises.

Echo opinion letters published in The Boston Globe:

Dear Editor: I followed the 2024, presidential campaign pretty closely. I do not recall ever hearing Donald Trump promise the American people that his policies in the first few months of his new term would raise consumer prices, alienate our allies, and threaten to plunge the United States into a recession. Did I miss something?

From: Barry Brodsky in Swampscott, Massachusetts

Dear Editor: Trump… a Dadaist? (Translated: Someone who embraces or is associated with Dadaism, rejecting traditional artistic values and embracing the absurd.)

Look at the stock market if you dare. Donald Trump pledged to “make America great again” yet look at the results. Destroying the country in order to improve it is much like the rationale behind Dadaism (destruction is creation). Can we survive such recklessness?

From James R. Weiss in Salem, Massachusetts

Dear Editor: Like Massachusetts, Maine has strong economic ties with Canada, especially in the summer when carloads of Quebecois fill the restaurants, hotels, beaches, and amusement parks of Vacationland. Maine's Republican Senator Susan Collins should work with her Republican congressional colleagues to stop the Trump tariff threats. Failure to do so could prove economically crippling.

From Mark S. Sternman in Somerville, Massachusetts