| To submit an item for inclusion in next week’s newsletter, write contact@audacitycat.com. |
| Friday, January 9 @ 10:30AM: The Audacity Weekly Office Hours at Camden’s Villager Cafe Where: Villager Cafe, 25 Mechanic Street, Camden When: Fridays, 10:30 AM — 11:30 AM Owners of the Midcoast Villager, the sole remaining newspaper for Knox County, have invited groups to use its Villager Cafe breakfast restaurant in Camden as a gathering space where community members can meet, discuss issues of the day, and hatch plans to improve life around Maine. Taking that invitation, attendees of The Audacity’s December 2025 voted unanimously to start holding weekly office hours for The Audacity every Friday at 10:30 AM. Grab a coffee or a sticky bun, come find our table, and sit a spell with fellow Audacitizens! We’ll catch up, gear up, and hatch plans to act up. Who’s welcome? Everyone! |
| Saturday, January 10 @ Noon: Stand Out and Sing Out in Rockland’s Chapman Park Every Saturday from Noon to 1 PM, we sing, hold signs, have conversations, collect food and hygiene donations for the local food bank, give away free political buttons, and demonstrate the perseverance of local opposition at the corner of Park & Main Streets. Bring food and hygiene items to donate. Bring a sign (we have signs you can borrow too), your voice and your heart. Make a friend. Bring a friend! And as winter sets in, dress warmly and know your own limits. We are a diverse group. Together, we exemplify democracy. |
 |
| Call to Action: here are 3 things you can do this week!!! |
| Number 1. The Trump administration is now accepting public comments on two proposed rules that would severely restrict access to gender affirming care for young Americans. Advocates for the trans community are asking Americans to make as many comments as possible in order to help support legal challenges aimed at blocking the new rules. The Human Rights Campaign has made it easy to submit such a comment using this form. Please do! |
| Number 2. Two bills are scheduled for public hearings on Thursday, 1/8 at 10:00 AM. If you cannot attend this committee hearing in person, please consider submitting testimony to the state legislature online at this link: https://www.mainelegislature.org/testimony/. Select “Public Hearing,” choose the committee “Judiciary,” and select the date “January 8th, 10:00.” The bills are LD 1911: An act to automatically seal criminal history record information for certain crimes, and LD 1941: An act to implement recommendations of the commission to examine reestablishing parole. These bills would secure human rights for incarcerated Mainers. Questions? Check out these links for more info: * Read the bill LD 1911 here: https://legislature.maine.gov/backend/App/services/getDocument.aspx?documentId=117009 * Why is a Clean Slate law a good idea for Maine? https://www.maineprisoneradvocacy.org/legislative-bills/ld-1911 * Read the bill LD 1941 here: https://legislature.maine.gov/bills/getPDF.asp?paper=HP1300&item=1&snum=132 * Why is parole a good idea for Maine? https://www.parole4me.com/home * Video: https://www.parole4me.com/news/video-why-maine-needs-parole |
| Number 3. The executive regime has begun an invasion of Venezuela. This is the latest in a long line of times the president has misused his position as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Please call your congressional delegation to tell them to act in stopping the invasion of foreign nations, escalating military confrontations, and using the military as domestic police. All these acts are illegal. Your representatives work for you! Flood the Phonelines! You can use the website/app 5 calls to get the phone numbers of your congressional representatives and suggested talking points. https://5calls.org/issue/trump-venezuela-extrajudicial-murde… |
 |
| SoF (Signs of Fascism) sets (2) are available for loan. Contact E.K. (contact info in email newsletter) to reserve a set of placards for a demonstration in your town. Spread the word about this critical message. Offer our creation to church groups, civic groups, school groups, activists and political groups. Let’s get them circulating! E.K. has written instructions/suggestions for a display and has a list of willing participants. Take advantage of this meaningful proclamation! |
 Ongoing Standouts to Oppose Gaza starvation and genocideParticipate in regular “standouts” with Maine Voices For Palestinian Rights: In Rockland, at Chapman Park on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month at 3 PM — next standout is January 8. In Camden, on the Village Green, every Friday at 5 PM. |
 Thank you everyone for donating food and hygiene products to the AIO every week! These small contributions can make a huge difference to members of our community. “Not bad for a bitterly cold day!” – Livka |
| Valentine Dance Party! Saturday, February 14, 6:00-8:00 @ The Thomaston Academy Gym Rockin’ the Resistance: Valentine’s Day Dance and Costume Party. Come as ‘someone’ you ‘love’. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, MLK Jr, Abraham Lincoln, James Madison, the Statue of Liberty, Superman, le chat noir, yourself… Or, ‘something’ you love! Parking and entrance off of Gleason Street. |
 |
| Public Service Announcement!!! Postmarks will now be dated on the day of processing and no longer on the day mail is dropped off. This means your mail is likely to be dated a day or two later than when you dropped it off. This change is likely made by the Trump Regime as an attempt to invalidate mail-in votes, as those unaware of this change of service may assume the postmark is from the date of their ballot being mailed rather than a few days later. People are being set up to miss the deadline. If you plan to vote by mail, please mail your ballot early or go to the counter at the Post Office and have your ballot manually stamped.Link: https://www.aarp.org/government-elections/usps-postmark-changes/ |
| Midcoast Villager Meetup is Scheduled for January 30 at 10:30 If you want to talk to representatives from the Midcoast Villager, come to the Villager Cafe at 25 Mechanic Street, Camden on January 30. Ask questions and make comments about what you think our local newspaper should cover both locally and nationally. |
 Lawn signs, art supplies…Together, we can!Pick up a Clynk bag at a Saturday demonstration, fill it with returnables to support Audacity CAT… Link: Clynk drop off locations. |
| “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.”-Frederick Douglass, 1886 |
| === The Audacity (audacitycat.com) is grassroots, local, and self-funded, a coalition with broad boundaries: We are nonviolent and creative. We oppose authoritarianism, bigotry, and corruption. We support inclusive, diverse, and equitable democracy. Within those boundaries, we act and speak in many different ways that not everyone agrees to. We fit them all under our umbrella, because that is what democracy and human creativity look like. |