Plus poetry, a chance to harangue Janet Mills about poetry, and exposing the real sources of poverty in South Asia

Dig in!

Verso book's theory sale ends today. Last chance (for now) to get The Double Shift for 40% off. www.versobooks.com/products/292...

April South Portland scoop🎉 @sarahdavisgoff.bsky.social @readbookpage.bsky.social @the-bollard.bsky.social #booksky

for the morning crowd… the band i’ve been singing and playing guitar in for the last year or two has a song out! we are playing at apohadion next sunday 3/12 with Field Studies and @gumparker.bsky.social ! come out!

Behold! The band that defeated Death itself!

Our hard-hitting April issue is now online for our Substack supporters. Join us today & read all about it!

Comedy, Americana, acrobatics, an AI doom movie and this week's guide to museums and galleries await your click:

"A recent survey of Americans appears to confirm this, with nine of ten respondents reporting that existence, as they perceive it, 'sucks.'"

The average driving-age Mainer will pay an extra $30 a month from an increase in gas prices of $1/gallon thanks to Trump's War. That's $36 million a month statewide #mepolitics itep.org/gas-prices-s...

This also tracks with Mills’ opposition to reinstating parole: self-improvement is either impossible or a lie. This dark and destructive view of human nature pervades her politics.

There'll be a listening party for this one tonight at DTL

This weekend's schedule of delightful local strangeness:

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Susan Collins's taxpayer-paid chief of staff leaves his govt job to join her campaign and her former comms director who left last year for K Street rejoins her staff. The line between govt service, campaign work and DC influence peddling ceases to exist once you enter Collins's orbit. #MEpolitics

Bollards save lives AND bring immense joy and happiness to the world. #WorldBollardAssociation

Bollards save lives. End of story. #WorldBollardAssociation

A truly magnificent sight (slightly ruined by Windsor Castle). #WorldBollardAssociation

Get news of the future today at our Substack!

If you were cool, you'd be getting our Bollard Bulletin arts & entertainment guide each morning. It's never too late to be cool.

March South Portland scoop🎉 @readbookpage.bsky.social @the-bollard.bsky.social @silviamg.bsky.social #booksky

BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR EVIL CRIMINAL MASTERMINDS ROAMING SOUTHERN MAINE!

The mind products of our socialist utopia:

Our resident Elvis expert (!) Kelli Schmidt writes about Baz Luhrmann’s second feature about the King. 👑 open.substack.com/pub/themaine...

This is a publicly funded industry, proof that the U.S. can create jobs programs and design industrial policy when it wants to, but only substantially does so for the purpose of war and violence.

Let's get ready to rumble & rhumba!

For Maine's art scene, spring has definitely sprung!

We're spending more EACH DAY on Susan Collins and Donald Trump's deadly war of choice than Collins procured in earmarks over the last SEVERAL YEARS. Worth thinking about the next time Maine press runs a warmed over press release about the money Collins is supposedly bringing home. #MEpolitics

The “euphoria” with which these US jihadists preach to our troops is the scariest part. 100% CULT

Susan Collins and Jared Golden are praying for U.S. troops. We’ve received a response!

One of my favourite sides of politics/media.

A stunningly beautiful album by the Maine gothic-folk artist awaits your ears and hearts...

Our monthly contribution to the fine folks at @the-bollard.bsky.social: This Month at the Movies! bollardhead.substack.com/p/this-month...

"I'm just a small-town lawyer from Brunswick, Maine. I don't know what a 'war' is." — Sen. Angus King, paraphrased

HERE IT IS: Your entertaining and enlightening free guide to upcoming film screenings

"The draconian policies of our city manager and elected mayor and councilors are de facto death sentences for the poorest Portlanders. ... Medieval villages had more enlightened and compassionate public health and safety practices than Portland does now."

EXCLUSIVE: A view inside ICE's Maine detention machine and what it takes to escape it and survive

Today's selection of censored material:

A whopping 700,000 Mainers don't have a passport. That (or an "enhanced REAL ID," which Maine doesn't use, are acceptable ids for voting under the SAVE Act. #mepolitics. dailybulldog.com/opinion/lett...

"No amount of terrorism talk renders this slaughter lawful."

Let the good times roll!

Tomorrow! Join us ~

Janet Mills claimed to have raised $1 million from small donors in the first 24 hours of her campaign. It turns out half that was big donations, and her small-dollar fundraising has sputtered since then.

None of this is normal

New proposal would tap real estate tax on million-dollar homes to fund homeless shelters mainemorningstar.com/2026/02/11/n...

I just voluntarily signed up for the PSILOT program ~ only available from @the-bollard.bsky.social

February South Portland scoop 🎉 @readbookpage.bsky.social @the-bollard.bsky.social #booksky

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Police not policing violent ICE agents IS COOPERATION

"How are you folks doing tonight?" — Officer Nightstick