Cherie the Mainer
@cheriethemainer.bsky.social
100% New England. Part-time pirate. Notorious scold. "I shall get up Sunday morning and wind the clock, as a contribution to order and steadfastness." - EB White
I'm seeing a lot fewer stories about Minneapolis, so please continue to amplify them. The media will move on to other pressing stories--Epstein, Nancy Guthrie, Olympics--because that's what it is designed to do. It's up to us to continue to press this one.
NEW: The Trump admin certainly put on a show last week about changing tactics in Minnesota after ICE agents killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old VA nurse.
Trump even suggested it's time for "a softer touch."
Except residents say nothing has changed. At all. www.huffpost.com/entry/ice-mi...
Trump even suggested it's time for "a softer touch."
Except residents say nothing has changed. At all. www.huffpost.com/entry/ice-mi...
Trump Using A ‘Softer Touch’ With ICE In Minnesota? Residents Say Don’t Be Fooled.
Two weeks after Alex Pretti’s killing, federal agents have shown no signs of backing down. The resistance definitely hasn't.
www.huffpost.com
February 8, 2026 at 5:30 PM
I'm seeing a lot fewer stories about Minneapolis, so please continue to amplify them. The media will move on to other pressing stories--Epstein, Nancy Guthrie, Olympics--because that's what it is designed to do. It's up to us to continue to press this one.
This is honestly the hardest part for me. We are still at a point where so many men (the majority?) refuse--simply refuse--to see women as fellow human beings. And that this is the prevalent view at the highest tiers of society.
the Epstein files are really devastating because they remind me of how many girls and women miss out on professional opportunities, mentorship and careers because of how many powerful, rich and influential men only view girls and women — and interactions with them — through the lens of sex
February 6, 2026 at 6:27 PM
This is honestly the hardest part for me. We are still at a point where so many men (the majority?) refuse--simply refuse--to see women as fellow human beings. And that this is the prevalent view at the highest tiers of society.
Read all of these witness testimonies. These are brave people.
Next witness to testify is Marimar Martinez, a U.S. citizen and Chicago resident who was shot five times by CBP agents in October and was later charged with assaulting the agents who shot her. The U.S. Attorney's Office dropped those charges six weeks later.
February 3, 2026 at 10:51 PM
Read all of these witness testimonies. These are brave people.
Thinking again about that community leader in a podunk town decades ago who, when I asked her how she dealt with the inevitable obstructionists and naysayers, simply said "I invite them to join me. If they decline, I just drive around them." It's still as good a guide to change as I've ever heard.
February 3, 2026 at 4:23 PM
Thinking again about that community leader in a podunk town decades ago who, when I asked her how she dealt with the inevitable obstructionists and naysayers, simply said "I invite them to join me. If they decline, I just drive around them." It's still as good a guide to change as I've ever heard.
I had coffee with a friend this morning and I'm still thinking about how we literally just stared at each other with big WTF eyeballs for like five minutes before we started talking. This is the new handshake.
February 1, 2026 at 10:07 PM
I had coffee with a friend this morning and I'm still thinking about how we literally just stared at each other with big WTF eyeballs for like five minutes before we started talking. This is the new handshake.
Reposted by Cherie the Mainer
Midcoast Maine Food and Necessities Drive
1/30-2/14
1/30-2/14
January 31, 2026 at 12:19 PM
Midcoast Maine Food and Necessities Drive
1/30-2/14
1/30-2/14
Reposted by Cherie the Mainer
Imagine what’s happening in the camps.
Imagine how much they’d be lying about what happened without all the videos showing it from multiple angles.
January 24, 2026 at 11:29 PM
Imagine what’s happening in the camps.
Instead of circling the social media drain today or giving your energy to assholes, go read Letter From Birmingham Jail. Figure out which part implicates you. Then go do something to fix it. letterfromjail.com
Letter from Birmingham Jail, by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter to 8 white church leaders, written from a jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963.
letterfromjail.com
January 19, 2026 at 2:33 PM
Instead of circling the social media drain today or giving your energy to assholes, go read Letter From Birmingham Jail. Figure out which part implicates you. Then go do something to fix it. letterfromjail.com
I would love local leadership and police departments to go beyond "we don't cooperate" and move into "we will protect our community from abuses like they pay us to do." But I guess that's just a bridge too far.
BREAKING — Mayor of Lewiston, Maine posts on FB that ICE is coming to the city imminently. This confirms my reporting the agency is planning a surge in the city and state generally.
Lewiston is home to a large Somali-American population, which made up 4.6% of the population as of the 2020 census.
Lewiston is home to a large Somali-American population, which made up 4.6% of the population as of the 2020 census.
January 14, 2026 at 11:28 PM
I would love local leadership and police departments to go beyond "we don't cooperate" and move into "we will protect our community from abuses like they pay us to do." But I guess that's just a bridge too far.
A few days ago I had to reactivate my Facebook account for the first time in four years for a specific reason. With fresh eyes, I was overwhelmed by what a hellscape that place is. I am deactivating again this evening. I promise you can live without it. I PROMISE. Flee.
January 7, 2026 at 9:36 PM
A few days ago I had to reactivate my Facebook account for the first time in four years for a specific reason. With fresh eyes, I was overwhelmed by what a hellscape that place is. I am deactivating again this evening. I promise you can live without it. I PROMISE. Flee.
I meant to bake two kinds of cookies yesterday and two kinds of cookies today but yesterday got kind of screwy so I am baking four kinds of cookies today and I am here to tell you that this was a very, very bad tactical choice.
December 21, 2025 at 7:41 PM
I meant to bake two kinds of cookies yesterday and two kinds of cookies today but yesterday got kind of screwy so I am baking four kinds of cookies today and I am here to tell you that this was a very, very bad tactical choice.
This is overall great, but as someone from rural Maine I particularly want to draw attention to her focus on what the military means to a certain kind of rural man. Not only is it the only job they feel can get, it's the only job they feel they are *fit for.* That is a key difference.
December 12, 2025 at 1:17 PM
This is overall great, but as someone from rural Maine I particularly want to draw attention to her focus on what the military means to a certain kind of rural man. Not only is it the only job they feel can get, it's the only job they feel they are *fit for.* That is a key difference.
I feel like this is a severely "Okay, Gen X" complaint but am I the only one who feels like albums are too damn long now? At no point do I want to listen to 20 songs in a row by one artist. Go back to 10-12 songs like god and CD storage limits intended.
November 27, 2025 at 3:20 PM
I feel like this is a severely "Okay, Gen X" complaint but am I the only one who feels like albums are too damn long now? At no point do I want to listen to 20 songs in a row by one artist. Go back to 10-12 songs like god and CD storage limits intended.
One of the worst parts about living in a tourist area is the shoulder season where you build plans around a favorite place's closing date only to learn they closed early. Just because. 🙃
November 22, 2025 at 6:02 PM
One of the worst parts about living in a tourist area is the shoulder season where you build plans around a favorite place's closing date only to learn they closed early. Just because. 🙃
"Did Women Ruin the Workplace?"
Gavin and Tanner, planned and trained for nearly a year, legal documents say, in an elaborate attempt to invade a Haitian island, kill its Black men, enslave its Black women and Black children and fulfill their "rape fantasies."
www.fox4news.com/news/haitian...
www.fox4news.com/news/haitian...
NTX men planned to murder men, enslave women on foreign island: Indictment
Two North Texas men have been indicted for an alleged scheme to sail to a foreign island, murder all the men, and enslave the women and children.
www.fox4news.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:02 PM
"Did Women Ruin the Workplace?"
Hey, look, a coordinated public response to a short-sighted policy had results. Sometimes this stuff works. (Also this is an excellent example of why rural America needs champions who get it.) www.bangordailynews.com/2025/11/18/s...
Under pressure, Maine Library Commission postpones vote to adopt new requirements for libraries
Commissioners will seek a legal opinion on the agreement before voting on the document to attempt to avoid punishing rural libraries.
www.bangordailynews.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Hey, look, a coordinated public response to a short-sighted policy had results. Sometimes this stuff works. (Also this is an excellent example of why rural America needs champions who get it.) www.bangordailynews.com/2025/11/18/s...
Reposted by Cherie the Mainer
Abortion is supported by 3 out of 4 Mainers, but a popular network of clinics that provides it alongside primary care has been shut out of Medicaid by the Trump administration, which also targeted Planned Parenthood. n.pr/48jMkt4
How 'defund Planned Parenthood' came to threaten primary care in rural Maine
Abortion is supported by 3 out of 4 Mainers, but a popular network of clinics that provides it alongside primary care has been shut out of Medicaid by the Trump administration, which also targeted Planned Parenthood.
n.pr
November 18, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Abortion is supported by 3 out of 4 Mainers, but a popular network of clinics that provides it alongside primary care has been shut out of Medicaid by the Trump administration, which also targeted Planned Parenthood. n.pr/48jMkt4
Reposted by Cherie the Mainer
I don’t want to seem out of touch but I don’t actually understand the economy anymore.
November 18, 2025 at 3:23 AM
I don’t want to seem out of touch but I don’t actually understand the economy anymore.
Eons ago someone recommended Alice Hoffman's The Dovekeepers and I finally got around to reading it. It is an absolutely gorgeous book but reading it at this particular point in time feels like opening up your skull and letting Hoffman punch directly into your brain. Is that a rec? Who knows?
November 16, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Eons ago someone recommended Alice Hoffman's The Dovekeepers and I finally got around to reading it. It is an absolutely gorgeous book but reading it at this particular point in time feels like opening up your skull and letting Hoffman punch directly into your brain. Is that a rec? Who knows?
This is a great loss. I strongly recommend Alice's book Year of the Tiger. It challenged and opened my mind and heart in ways few books have.
I don’t want to formulate words yet, but my friend Alice Wong, @sfdirewolf.bsky.social of the Disability Visibility Project, has passed.
Here are the words she left behind:
www.instagram.com/p/DREMDNBjnq...
Here are the words she left behind:
www.instagram.com/p/DREMDNBjnq...
Alice Wong on Instagram: "ID: Yellow background with black text "This is Alice's friend Sandy Ho, posting. Per Alice's wishes, this message is being shared at the time of her passing. Hi everyone, it ...
423 likes, 73 comments - alicatsamurai on November 14, 2025: "ID: Yellow background with black text "This is Alice's friend Sandy Ho, posting. Per Alice's wishes, this message is being shared at the t...
www.instagram.com
November 15, 2025 at 1:10 PM
This is a great loss. I strongly recommend Alice's book Year of the Tiger. It challenged and opened my mind and heart in ways few books have.
I have been browsing the news for 90 seconds and I have already seen too much.
November 14, 2025 at 12:54 PM
I have been browsing the news for 90 seconds and I have already seen too much.
You know what CD2 needs? Someone else running who doesn't actually live in the district. We are not your consolation prize. *screams into the void*
Maine Senate candidate Jordan Wood dropping out to run for 2nd District seat
Maine Senate candidate Jordan Wood dropping out to run for 2nd District seat
Wood said he made the decision after learning Rep. Jared Golden won't seek reelection, and said he believes the resources of his campaign would be better spent in the 2nd District.
www.pressherald.com
November 12, 2025 at 2:38 PM
You know what CD2 needs? Someone else running who doesn't actually live in the district. We are not your consolation prize. *screams into the void*
Reposted by Cherie the Mainer
A family friend was telling us about what her husband shared about his experience in Broadview before he was deported back to Mexico. She's been sharing to friends and family because she's just in disbelief & horror what her husband told her. She wasn't able to talk to him until he was in Mexico.
November 7, 2025 at 3:08 AM
A family friend was telling us about what her husband shared about his experience in Broadview before he was deported back to Mexico. She's been sharing to friends and family because she's just in disbelief & horror what her husband told her. She wasn't able to talk to him until he was in Mexico.
Me, a near-lifelong CD2 resident, watching the takes on Jared Golden's retirement unfold:
a close up of a woman wearing a necklace and a pink shirt smiling .
ALT: a close up of a woman wearing a necklace and a pink shirt smiling .
media.tenor.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Me, a near-lifelong CD2 resident, watching the takes on Jared Golden's retirement unfold:
Did my first stint as an election clerk tonight. It was a very satisfying kind of fun. I got an insider look at elections. I had many short and cheery conversations with neighbors. I was reminded that no one gets shit done like a pack of middle-aged ladies. Good times.
November 5, 2025 at 3:49 AM
Did my first stint as an election clerk tonight. It was a very satisfying kind of fun. I got an insider look at elections. I had many short and cheery conversations with neighbors. I was reminded that no one gets shit done like a pack of middle-aged ladies. Good times.