Free Republic

Illegal aliens are known to cost U.S. citizens billions to support, but rarely is that experienced as directly as it is now in Portland, Maine, where city officials voted to raise property taxes in order to house 1,200 "asylum-seekers," along with 500 homeless. According to WGME : PORTLAND (WGME) — Portland property taxes will soon be going up by 4.8 percent. Last year, families with a $400,000 home paid about $5,200 in property taxes. With this new increase, it'll be around $5,550 for that same home. That's an increase of about $350. Portland's finance director says without federal help, it...

Families of asylum seekers warehoused outside of an overcrowded family shelter in Portland, Maine, on May 25, 2022. (Steven Kovac/Epoch Times)Facing an impending humanitarian crisis, Portland Family Shelters Director Mike Guthrie has a simple message to anyone who will listen, “We need help!” Guthrie, a hands-on, frontline worker in the effort to feed, clothe, and house a continuous flow of foreign nationals arriving in Portland by airplane or bus from the U.S. southern border, told The Epoch Times, “Our family shelter facilities, our warming room, and even area hotel space is at capacity. We have maxed out our community resources....

In an effort to boost downtown businesses, thousands of dollars will be distributed for downtown workers to spend directly. According to the Portland Business Alliance, it has partnered with the city of Portland, Worksystems and Kuto — a local Black, Indigenous, People of color start-up — to issue 500 $50 Kutu app stimulus credits to downtown workers that can be spent at participating small businesses in the downtown area.

@ChadPergram 1) Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and 3 GOP senators just met Zelenskyy in Kyiv. Also there: John Barrasso (R-WY) Susan Collins (R-ME) John Cornyn (R-TX) 2) Note this comes as the Senate is trying to align with the House and approve $40 billion in Ukraine assistance. There is a procedural vote Monday night to break a filibuster. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky) is singled-handedly holding this up. 3) If Paul sticks to his guns, it may take the Senate until the end of next week to approve the bill. Paul wants an inspector general to oversee the money...

Various areas of Maine, including the Bangor International Airport, are reimplementing mask mandates due to changes in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) transmission map. The CDC’s map currently has several Maine counties, including Aroostook, Cumberland, Hancock, Knox, Lincoln, Penobscot, Piscataquis, and Sagadahoc, in a “high risk” level, recommending them to “wear a mask indoors.”

Vassalboro official had ordered marijuana growing business to close prior to fire VASSALBORO — The marijuana cultivation facility that was destroyed by an accidental fire Monday was unlicensed by the town of Vassalboro and had been ordered at the end of January to vacate the building within 60 days. In a letter dated Jan. 25, Ryan Page, Vassalboro’s code enforcement officer, informed Patrick Waibel, owner of GameBred, that he had 60 days from the date of the letter to stop all unapproved medical marijuana cultivation at the building at 647 Webber Pond Road. The business has apparently run afoul of...

The rackin' frackin' sassafrassin' salty language on hundreds of Maine license plates is one step closer to being removed from the road. Maine's secretary of state released draft rules Thursday that would eliminate references to genitalia, sex acts and profanities that proliferated after the state severely loosened language restrictions on so-called vanity license plates in 2015. The rough and foul language on the plates led to a steady stream of complaints.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) has not changed her position on keeping the legislative filibuster intact, as her Democrat colleagues demand its abolition in the wake of a leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. On Monday night, Politico published a leaked draft Supreme Court opinion, concluding that Roe “must be overruled.”

Responding to the Monday night leak of a draft majority opinion that, if adopted, would overturn Roe v. Wade, Republican Senator Susan Collins accused Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch of reneging on commitments they allegedly made ahead of their respective confirmations. “If this leaked draft opinion is the final decision and this reporting is accurate, it would be completely inconsistent with what Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh said in their hearings and in our meetings,” Collins wrote. “Obviously, we won’t know each Justice’s decision and reasoning until the Supreme Court officially announces its opinion in this case.”

In the aftermath of George Floyd's death while in Minneapolis police custody in May 2020, millions of Americans took to the streets to protest the manner in which he was killed while calling for greater attention to criminal justice reform throughout the United States. However, Trump was not keen on the protests surrounding Floyd's death, and in a phone call with governors stressed that they needed to display a show of force against the activism that was increasingly becoming a part of the national conversation, according to a forthcoming book by New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns.

California and 15 states that want the U.S. Postal Service to electrify its mail delivery vehicles are suing to halt purchases of thousands of gas-powered trucks as the agency modernizes its delivery fleet. Three separate lawsuits, filed Thursday by the states and environmental groups in New York and California, ask judges to order a more thorough environmental review before the Postal Service moves forward with the next-generation delivery vehicle program. Plaintiffs contend that purchases of fossil fuel-powered delivery vehicles will cause environmental harm for decades to come. The lawsuits could further delay the Postal Service's efforts to replace the ubiquitous...

Never forget. These six Republicans voted to put this little demon in charge of the US borders. FOX News reported: The Senate confirmed Alejandro Mayorkas as President Biden’s Department of Homeland Security secretary, despite opposition from a number of Republicans. The final vote was 56-43, with Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., not voting. Mayorkas, a former head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and deputy Homeland Security secretary, will be the first immigrant to hold the top DHS spot. Mayorkas’ confirmation was less bipartisan than another member of Biden’s cabinet confirmed Tuesday: Pete Buttigieg became transportation secretary in an 83-13 vote....

The alien invasion across America’s porous southern border has turned every state into a border state – and every Fake News editor into an agent and a cheerleader for a foreign occupation army. Here in Maine, 2400 miles northeast of the Texas border, we are the final destination for thousands of illegal immigrants who are being resettled here at taxpayer expense, to the applause of all the really smart people in both political parties. When I attempted a few weeks ago to push back against a fellow Republican’s praise for the invasion and the invaders, I was confronted once...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) claimed that more Senate Republicans would have voted to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court than did if her sentencing history had not been brought to light. Cruz, speaking on the most recent episode of his Verdict podcast, said that besides the three Republican senators — Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Mitt Romney (R-UT) — who voted for Jackson, more would have voted for her if her sentencing history was not exposed.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) offered electric vehicles as a solution to Mainers’ increased energy costs during a recent discussion with a Northeastern University technology center in Portland. A host read questions to Mills during the March 30 discussion, and on one related to energy costs, which the host noted were “top of mind for many,” she asked Mills, “What do you see as the best short-term solution, and then maybe some of the longer-term ideas that you and the administration have?”

After a lengthy delay on Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee finally voted on whether to send Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination to the Senate floor. The result was a deadlock of 11-11. While disappointing to Democrats, President Joe Biden’s nominee remains on track to be confirmed this week as the first Black woman on the high court. ... With the support of three Republicans, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah planning to vote yes, Jackson is expected to be confirmed by the end of the week. ...

Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney Monday said they will vote for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be confirmed to the Supreme Court, bringing the total expected GGOP votes for Jackson's confirmation up to three. "After reviewing Judge Jackson’s record and testimony, I have concluded that she is a well-qualified jurist and a person of honor," Romney, R-Utah, said. "While I do not expect to agree with every decision she may make on the Court, I believe that she more than meets the standard of excellence and integrity."

Jackson’s confirmation is being hurried to a Monday committee vote ahead of the Easter recess. What’s the rush? Around the Ides of March 2020, the United States entered into a period we might call “corona communism.” From church closures to the widespread assault on property rights, the communist onslaught was allowed on these hallowed shores by simply claiming to benefit the public health. Over the past two years, a particularly troubling revelation is how children have been taken advantage of, harmed, and relegated even further to an inferior—almost subhuman—status in society. With this concern on my mind, I watched Supreme...

Senate Democrats, backed by three GOP senators, voted on Monday night to break a deadlock on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination, paving the way for her to be confirmed by the end of the week. Senators voted 53-47 to formally discharge Jackson’s nomination to the full Senate. It’s the first time the Senate has had to take the procedural step for a Supreme Court nominee since 1853. GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Mitt Romney (Utah) voted with Democrats to make Jackson’s nomination available for a full Senate vote.

Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) announced Monday night that they will vote to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, making them the second and third Republicans to confirm their vote for President Joe Biden’s court pick. “After multiple in-depth conversations with Judge Jackson and deliberative review of her record and recent hearings, I will support her historic nomination to be an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court,” Murkowski said in a statement. Romney soon followed in a tweet: