Author: Seamus Othot

Seamus Othot is a reporter for The Maine Wire. He grew up in New Hampshire, and graduated of The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, where he was able to spend his time reading the great works of Western Civilization. He can be reached at seamus@themainewire.com

Police have confirmed that a massive illegal Marijuana grow discovered last month in Tennessee was operated by a Chinese National, according to a report from the Daily Wire. “The sheriff’s office named its suspect, 55-year-old Ruian Huang, a foreign national who is believed to be from China,” said the Daily Wire. The Stewart County Sheriff’s Office discovered 2,000 Marijuana plants being cultivated inside a former Methodist Church in Indian Mound, Tenn. on Nov. 30. [RELATED: Triad Weed: How Chinese Marijuana Grows Took Over Rural Maine…] They destroyed the illegal plants and arrested one suspect, Huang. The Sheriff’s office did not confirm…

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Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) said that Democrats should engage with Republicans on border security, acknowledging that illegal immigration is a serious issue. Sen. Fetterman gave his opinion in an interview with Politico. “I hope Democrats can understand that it isn’t xenophobic to be concerned about the border,” said Fetterman. “It’s a reasonable conversation, and Democrats should engage.” Fetterman wants Democrats to acknowledge the problems that come with the unprecedented amount of people coming across the southern border. He cited one statistic saying that there were nearly 270,000 encounters at the U.S southern border in September 2023 alone. “You essentially have…

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A group of 300 scientists warned that Anthony Fauci would start a global pandemic as far back as 2014, according to independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “300 scientists sent a letter to president Obama, asking him to shut down Anthony Fauci’s research on gain-of-function, saying that it was highly likely that he would start a global pandemic,” said Kennedy last week. Kennedy’s comments came as part of programming for Children’s Health Defense, a non-profit he runs. The group of scientists, known as the Cambridge Working Group, were concerned because Fauci’s gain-of-function research, which seeks to artificially enhance the…

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A house in Arlington Virginia exploded Monday night while police were attempting to gain entry while executing a search warrant. “As officers were attempting to execute the search warrant, the suspect discharged several rounds, from what is believed to be a firearm, inside the home. Subsequently, at approximately 8:25 p.m., an explosion occurred at the residence. The investigation into the circumstances of the explosion are ongoing,” said the Arlington police department in a press release. The police secured a search warrant for the home of James Yoo, identified by ARLnow, on Monday evening after a suspect allegedly fired a flare…

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In its quarterly newsletter, The Spotlight, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) highlighted the Biden Administration’s plan to combat anti-semitism and hate with food, while displaying a recipe for cheesy potato soup. The recipe includes bacon, making it unacceptable for religious Jews attempting to follow a kosher diet. “The President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition is proud to play a role in helping to highlight how social activities such as sports, cooking, and breaking bread together can build community solidarity and counter antisemitism and other forms of hate,” Maine’s DHHS said in its newsletter. [RELATED: Portland…

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Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Florida) battled Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-California) on Thursday night in a contentious debate about the governance Florida, a red state, and California, a blue state. “What Biden would do, the people around him, they would look to California for the model to go forward in the next four years. That would accelerate the decline of this country,” said Gov. DeSantis. https://twitter.com/RonDeSantis/status/1730428195478859825 The first ever Red State vs Blue State debate, moderated by Sean Hannity on Fox News, saw the two governors taking aim at each other’s governmental records, and auguring fiercely over political and social questions. The…

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A state lawmaker from Guilford unveiled a proposal on Friday to protect the rights of Mainers to bear arms in self defense by allowing property owners to be liable for violence that occurs in so-called “gun free zones.” “An Act Relating to Firearms Exclusions in Certain Locations would hold property owners liable if people are harmed at a location that doesn’t allow them to carry firearms for their own protection,” said Rep. James White (R-Guilford). The potential liability would discourage property owners from forbidding people from carrying firearms, or other self-defense articles such as pepper spray, onto their premises. “I…

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Nearly every resident of the state of Maine has had their personal data, including social security numbers and medical records, stolen by a foreign criminal organization, the state revealed last month. “The State of Maine has determined that this incident has impacted approximately 1.3 million individuals, with the type of data affected differing from person to person,” the state said in a Nov. 9 press release. The press release was not attributed to a particular state agency or spokesman. Despite the breach happening between May 28 and 29, the state waited more than four months before informing residents that their…

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The Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office has said it is investigating the illegal Marijuana grow facilities that have proliferated throughout northern Maine. But Sheriff Troy Morton would prefer the media not mention the fact that these facilities are operated by what the Department of Homeland Security describes as Asian Transnational Criminal Organizations (ATCOs). The Penobscot Sheriff’s department was asked for comment by Fox News for the Laura Ingraham Show in advance of an interview with Steve Robinson, Editor-in-Chief of the Maine Wire. “I respectfully request that you not indicate that these illegal operations are being operated by any certain demographic,” said…

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Rumble, a video sharing site meant as an alternative to YouTube came under cyberattack Monday from China. Rumble hosts all of The Maine Wire’s videos, including videos exposing illegal Chinese cannabis operations throughout Maine. “We are currently experiencing a major DDOS attack. Our engineers are investigating and we will report back here with updates,” Rumble on Monday on X. https://twitter.com/rumblevideo/status/1726690599007637675 The cyberattack on Rumble comes less than 24 hours after Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski expressed his support for Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Media Matters and other legacy media outlets for spreading misinformation about X in an attempt to harm the…

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Maine’s Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry (DACF) was, until November 10th, offering free state park passes based exclusively on race. The initiative was made by Maine’s Nature Based Education Consortium (NBEC). Despite desiring “to ensure that every Maine youth has access to powerful outdoor learning experiences,” as the NEBC says on its website, they focus their efforts on minority youth, rather than helping the poor regardless of race. (The webpage for this program was deleted after reporters began asking questions.) The NBEC and DACF partnered to raffle off state park passes to minorities as part of the Thrive Outside…

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U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn.) expressed his desire for a ban on entities affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from buying American farmland. “I hope many of our colleagues agree the Chinese government and other U.S. Adversaries should own zero agricultural land in our country,” said Sen. Fetterman in a September meeting of the United States Agriculture Committee. “We should take back all of their farmland,” Fetterman said. As of 2021, China held 383,935 acres of American farmland, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Other sources suggest that this number is much higher, with the China Merchants Holding International Company (CMHI) claiming…

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Democrats on Maine’s legislative council recently approved a proposal which would repeal Maine’s current law limiting town municipal spending. The current law establishes a limit on how much can be levied in property tax by any town in a given year. If any town wishes to increase their spending through the property tax levy beyond the limit set forth by law, then that increase must be approved by a vote of the people. The current Maine law, known as the “Limitation on Municipal Property Tax Levy”, was initially established in 2005 in order to curb rampant spending and high taxes.…

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Rep. Michael Soboleski’s (R-Phillips) attempt to appeal his failed proposal to ensure enforcement of Maine’s cannabis laws once again failed on Thursday. The bill came in response to a Maine Wire report uncovering over 100 illegal Chinese Marijuana grow sites. Last week, Soboleski joined the Maine Wire to tour several of the locations in Belgrade, including a property on the McGrath Pond Road. "I'm going to do some investigation to see if public funds and tax dollars are being used to finance these triad operations."@mike_soboleski reacts to our reporting on a bank in NY financing almost 70 illegal Chinese marijuana…

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Maine’s top legislators considered the appeal on Thursday of a bill concerning the use of advanced Artificial Intelligence (A.I) in state decision-making. The Bill — “An Act to Ensure Determinations Made by the State Are Free from Unethical,Unsafe or Illegal Interference by Artificial Intelligence” — was proposed by Sen. Nicole Grohoski (D-Hancock) The proposal failed with four “yes” votes and six “no” votes. Every Republican on the council, as well as two Democrats, voted against Grohoski’s bill. Sen. Grohoski said that her bill warranted emergency status. “Senator Grohoski considers this bill an emergency, because we are currently in a moment…

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The State of Maine intends to develop the untouched Sears Island in Searsport to build and ship offshore wind turbines, according to Downeast lawmakers who oppose the controversial project. “It is the largest undeveloped uninhabited causeway accessible island on the eastern coast of the United States,” said Rep. Lynne Williams (D-Bar Harbor) in her letter defending Rep. Reagan Paul’s (R-Winterport) proposal to stop the development of Sears Island. The lawmakers see the Sears Island project as a negative environmental effect of Maine’s offshore wind plans, which are supposed to lower Maine’s greenhouse gas emission and thereby forestall anthropogenic global warming.…

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Maine’s Republican National Committee members are keeping quiet about RNC Chairwomen Ronna McDaniel’s future as the leader of the top GOP fundraising committee as calls mount for her to resign her post following the Nov. 7 elections. Calls for McDaniel to step began almost immediately after the election results came in, but they reached a fever pitch when Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy blamed McDaniel for Republican’s disappointing losses in recent elections during an RNC-sponsored presidential debate the following day. .@VivekGRamaswamySLAMS Ronna McDaniel "Ronna if you want to come on stage tonight, you want to look the GOP voters in…

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Following the Maine Wire’s Report on the Illegal Marijuana grow facilities throughout the state operated by Chinese criminals, Rep. Michael Soboleski (R-Phillips) made a proposal to Maine’s legislative committee designed to combat these illegal grow facilities. The proposal was rejected, and unanimously opposed by committee Democrats. The Proposal read “An Act to Provide Investigative Authority to the Maine State Police, Sheriffs and Local Police Regarding Maine’s Recreational Cannabis Laws and Ordinances to Ensure Proper Enforcement.” Rep. Soboleski believes the bill to be extremely important to Maine’s well-being. “This is a serious issue and we need action. “ said Soboleski He…

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Rep. Ann Fredericks (R-Sanford), Rep. Lucas Lanigan (R-Sanford), and Sen. Matt Harrington (R-York), submitted a formal letter Saturday objecting to the consolidation of Sanford’s three polling locations into one. “There have been numerous studies that show consolidating polling locations disenfranchises voters,” the Sanford Republicans said in the letter. Harrington announced their official letter of opposition on X (formerly known as Twitter). https://twitter.com/mattaharrington/status/1724116173044777224?s=46&t=xE2MHxG7vFbVWVUqWXYobA The letter comes after the proposal to consolidate the city’s three wards and polling locations into one was discussed at a Sanford city council meeting on November 8th, just one day after a very close election in the…

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According to the yearly surveys conducted by the Maine State Housing Authority, homelessness has more than tripled throughout the state since 2019, especially in Cumberland County. At the same time, the state has given vast amounts of taxpayer money to the largest homeless shelters in Portland. According to tax filings, one such organization, Preble Street, brought in $34,328,653 in government funding from 2019-2022, While Shalom House, another similar organization in Portland, brought in a staggering $79,834,717. That money doesn’t include other taxpayer resources, such as services provided by the city or General Assistance. [RELATED: Portland Spends 50 Times More Per…

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The Maine State Legislature next year will consider establishing a “Civil Rights Unit” to educate the public on hate and bias following approval by the Legislative Council of a bill from House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland). The proposal, which is only a draft at this point, states “This bill would establish a civil rights unit within the Office of the Attorney General to provide public education on issues regarding hate and bias.” Talbot Ross previously served as the director of equal opportunity and multicultural affairs in Portland, a position she left after an altercation with a parking attendant. The…

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The Sanford City Council is considering eliminating two polling locations in future elections, a move Republicans say will disproportionately inconvenience GOP voters. “Since I became the town clerk in 2011, I have had a dream to narrow down the voting places in Sanford and Springdale,” said Sue Cote, the Sanford city clerk, speaking from behind a mask at the City Council meeting. The city council is now considering reducing the number of polling locations in the town from three to one. Sanford is Maine’s eighth largest municipality by population. At the start of her time as city clerk, the town…

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Maine’s electrical utilities will not be seized by the state and placed under the control of a quasi-governmental body following the overwhelming rejection of Question 3 by Maine voters on Tuesday. Question 3 asked Mainers “Do you want to create a new power company governed by an elected board to acquire and operate existing for-profit electricity transmission and distribution facilities in Maine” The new, state-owned company was to be called Pine Tree Power. Question 3 would have dissolved Maine’s two leading, privately owned power companies, Central Maine Power (CMP), and Versant, and replaced them with the state-run Pine Tree Power…

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More than 200 colleges across the country, including two in Maine, collectively received billions in funding from foreign powers, including authoritarian, Middle Eastern states, and failed to properly disclose the donations, according to a study conducted by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI). The University of Maine in Orono and Bates College in Lewiston were both listed among institutions that received the funding and failed to report it to the U.S. Department of Education, as is required by federal law. “In 2019, the Department of Education developed an online portal and issued a call to institutions of higher learning to…

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