Steve Collins
@stevecollinsyji.bsky.social
Maine politics columnist, a founder of Youth Journalism International, servant to 2 collies, with a beloved wife & 2 adult children. UVA grad. Red Sox fan. Sifter of quirky old tales & objects.
My work: https://www.sunjournal.com/author/steve-collins
My work: https://www.sunjournal.com/author/steve-collins
Let me tell you what I’ve seen of the Somali community in Maine.
My Somali neighbors are people with deep faith, families they cherish & determination to secure a better future for their children and grandchildren, much like every immigrant who came before them.
www.pressherald.com/2025/12/03/s...
My Somali neighbors are people with deep faith, families they cherish & determination to secure a better future for their children and grandchildren, much like every immigrant who came before them.
www.pressherald.com/2025/12/03/s...
Somalis are not 'garbage,' President Trump | Column
President Trump doesn't know what he's talking about. This makes yesterday's comments all the more repugnant.
www.pressherald.com
December 3, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Let me tell you what I’ve seen of the Somali community in Maine.
My Somali neighbors are people with deep faith, families they cherish & determination to secure a better future for their children and grandchildren, much like every immigrant who came before them.
www.pressherald.com/2025/12/03/s...
My Somali neighbors are people with deep faith, families they cherish & determination to secure a better future for their children and grandchildren, much like every immigrant who came before them.
www.pressherald.com/2025/12/03/s...
You can give a one-year digital subscription to all of the Maine Trust for Local News' papers -- including the Press Herald and Sun Journal -- for just $65.
New subscribers don't have to read my columns, but what an opportunity to keep up with the news!
www.pressherald.com/blackfridayg...
New subscribers don't have to read my columns, but what an opportunity to keep up with the news!
www.pressherald.com/blackfridayg...
Portland Press Herald gift subscriptions
Give the latest Maine news to someone you care about with a Sunday home delivery or digital Press Herald gift subscription.
www.pressherald.com
November 19, 2025 at 8:13 PM
You can give a one-year digital subscription to all of the Maine Trust for Local News' papers -- including the Press Herald and Sun Journal -- for just $65.
New subscribers don't have to read my columns, but what an opportunity to keep up with the news!
www.pressherald.com/blackfridayg...
New subscribers don't have to read my columns, but what an opportunity to keep up with the news!
www.pressherald.com/blackfridayg...
For sure, one thing our dysfunctional Congress doesn't need is @MainePaulLePage.
www.pressherald.com/2025/11/04/t...
www.pressherald.com/2025/11/04/t...
The last thing Congress needs is Paul LePage | Steve Collins
If we're in the market for thoughtful, courageous leadership next year — and there's no doubt we are — we've got to look elsewhere.
www.pressherald.com
November 4, 2025 at 11:56 PM
For sure, one thing our dysfunctional Congress doesn't need is @MainePaulLePage.
www.pressherald.com/2025/11/04/t...
www.pressherald.com/2025/11/04/t...
Purchase of Kennebec dams is worth celebrating | Douglas Rooks www.pressherald.com/2025/09/25/p...
Purchase of Kennebec dams is worth celebrating | Douglas Rooks
In ways, the fate of salmon restoration may mirror our own.
www.pressherald.com
September 25, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Purchase of Kennebec dams is worth celebrating | Douglas Rooks www.pressherald.com/2025/09/25/p...
Reposted by Steve Collins
"Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative.”
Bowing down to a bully never works.
And we can’t become numb to this corruption in plain sight.
Bowing down to a bully never works.
And we can’t become numb to this corruption in plain sight.
September 24, 2025 at 1:28 PM
"Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative.”
Bowing down to a bully never works.
And we can’t become numb to this corruption in plain sight.
Bowing down to a bully never works.
And we can’t become numb to this corruption in plain sight.
Reposted by Steve Collins
This is delusional but you don’t have to read the whole thing.
Boils down to: he’s shutting down the government because he thinks he’s a king.
Boils down to: he’s shutting down the government because he thinks he’s a king.
September 23, 2025 at 2:23 PM
This is delusional but you don’t have to read the whole thing.
Boils down to: he’s shutting down the government because he thinks he’s a king.
Boils down to: he’s shutting down the government because he thinks he’s a king.
Susan Collins says shutdown can be averted. Now to prove it. | Steve Collins www.pressherald.com/2025/09/23/s...
Susan Collins says shutdown can be averted. Now to prove it. | Steve Collins
Democrats have no good reason to force this issue.
www.pressherald.com
September 23, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Susan Collins says shutdown can be averted. Now to prove it. | Steve Collins www.pressherald.com/2025/09/23/s...
Reposted by Steve Collins
There is no world in which it is normal for the president to publicly call upon his attorney general to hurry up and prosecute his political foes. It’s like the Watergate tapes but posted on social media. Let’s get a grip on what’s happening here.
September 21, 2025 at 12:56 AM
There is no world in which it is normal for the president to publicly call upon his attorney general to hurry up and prosecute his political foes. It’s like the Watergate tapes but posted on social media. Let’s get a grip on what’s happening here.
It’s one thing to mourn a young man cut down too soon. It’s quite another to pretend Kirk, a racist who plugged an anti-gay, anti-women agenda, was a model American.
www.pressherald.com/2025/09/16/c...
www.pressherald.com/2025/09/16/c...
Charlie Kirk was wrong about Maine | Steve Collins
Our state isn't becoming a 'Third World dumping ground,' is it?
www.pressherald.com
September 16, 2025 at 7:26 PM
It’s one thing to mourn a young man cut down too soon. It’s quite another to pretend Kirk, a racist who plugged an anti-gay, anti-women agenda, was a model American.
www.pressherald.com/2025/09/16/c...
www.pressherald.com/2025/09/16/c...
"A lot of people are saying, ‘Maybe we like a dictator.'"
Name one.
Name one.
August 25, 2025 at 7:45 PM
"A lot of people are saying, ‘Maybe we like a dictator.'"
Name one.
Name one.
Help my colleagues join the union at the Maine Trust for Local News. Please sign this petition to management.
actionnetwork.org/petitions/su...
actionnetwork.org/petitions/su...
Support One Big Union at the Maine Trust for Local News
Under nonprofit ownership, the Maine Trust for Local News is building a business model that could be a roadmap to sustainability for local news organizations across the country. We are here because we...
actionnetwork.org
August 25, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Help my colleagues join the union at the Maine Trust for Local News. Please sign this petition to management.
actionnetwork.org/petitions/su...
actionnetwork.org/petitions/su...
Reposted by Steve Collins
Tired of the constant claims that this war is somehow our fault. Ukraine had only one choice: to defend itself against russia or to succumb and become cannon fodder in russia's future wars of conquest. As anyone with a clear mind can see, neither of these options is peace.
August 11, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Tired of the constant claims that this war is somehow our fault. Ukraine had only one choice: to defend itself against russia or to succumb and become cannon fodder in russia's future wars of conquest. As anyone with a clear mind can see, neither of these options is peace.
Reposted by Steve Collins
Trump pardoned Jared Wise, a January 6th rioter who repeatedly urged the mob to “kill” police officers there. He called the cops Nazis and “the Gestapo”
The same Jared Wise currently serves as a senior adviser in Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice.
The same Jared Wise currently serves as a senior adviser in Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice.
Trump: "You know, they love to spit in the face of the police ... They’re standing and they’re screaming at them an inch away from their face, and then they start spitting in their face. And I said, ‘you tell them you spit, and we hit’, and they get hit real hard."
Trump places Washington DC police under federal control and will deploy National Guard – live updates
Trump declares ‘public safety emergency’ despite record crime low; DC mayor says ‘any comparison to a war-torn country is hyperbolic and false’
www.theguardian.com
August 11, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Trump pardoned Jared Wise, a January 6th rioter who repeatedly urged the mob to “kill” police officers there. He called the cops Nazis and “the Gestapo”
The same Jared Wise currently serves as a senior adviser in Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice.
The same Jared Wise currently serves as a senior adviser in Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice.
Reposted by Steve Collins
Reposted by Steve Collins
NEWS --> Sen Ron Wyden writes to Pam Bondi, urging DOJ to probe $1.5 billion in Epstein financial transactions that banks flagged for Treasury Dept. He lays out roadmap for DOJ to examine money flow related to sex trafficking. Challenges Bondi in new way.
Read here:
newrepublic.com/article/1982...
Read here:
newrepublic.com/article/1982...
Trump’s Epstein Fiasco Takes Darker Turn as Dem Senator Drops New Bomb
Ron Wyden has some ideas for Pam Bondi to pursue—if, that is, she’s genuinely interested in getting to the bottom of the Epstein scandal.
newrepublic.com
July 23, 2025 at 11:05 AM
NEWS --> Sen Ron Wyden writes to Pam Bondi, urging DOJ to probe $1.5 billion in Epstein financial transactions that banks flagged for Treasury Dept. He lays out roadmap for DOJ to examine money flow related to sex trafficking. Challenges Bondi in new way.
Read here:
newrepublic.com/article/1982...
Read here:
newrepublic.com/article/1982...
Reposted by Steve Collins
“When the Executive publicly announces its intent to break the law, and then executes on that promise, it is the Judiciary’s duty to check that lawlessness, not expedite it.”
-Justice Sonia Sotomayor
-Justice Sonia Sotomayor
July 15, 2025 at 10:01 PM
“When the Executive publicly announces its intent to break the law, and then executes on that promise, it is the Judiciary’s duty to check that lawlessness, not expedite it.”
-Justice Sonia Sotomayor
-Justice Sonia Sotomayor
Just want to encourage fans who love Van Morrison's old stuff but cringe at some of the crazy crap he's put out in recent years to give his new 'Remembering Now' a listen. It's a surprisingly lovely, hopeful record.
July 16, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Just want to encourage fans who love Van Morrison's old stuff but cringe at some of the crazy crap he's put out in recent years to give his new 'Remembering Now' a listen. It's a surprisingly lovely, hopeful record.
Extremely upsetting: Minnesota Lawmaker Is Assassinated in Act of ‘Targeted Political Violence’ www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06...
Live Updates: Minnesota Lawmaker Is Assassinated in Act of ‘Targeted Political Violence’
www.nytimes.com
June 14, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Extremely upsetting: Minnesota Lawmaker Is Assassinated in Act of ‘Targeted Political Violence’ www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06...
That racism motivates decisions like giving Medgar Evers the heave-ho is obvious.
Trump removed Medgar Evers, a fearless veteran and civil rights leader, from an Arlington Cemetery website commemorating Black soldiers.
Now the Pentagon may strip his name from a naval vessel.
This isn’t about “military preparedness.” This is about erasing history.
Now the Pentagon may strip his name from a naval vessel.
This isn’t about “military preparedness.” This is about erasing history.
June 14, 2025 at 11:14 AM
That racism motivates decisions like giving Medgar Evers the heave-ho is obvious.
Take heart, students everywhere: Brian Wilson got an F in music in high school.
June 11, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Take heart, students everywhere: Brian Wilson got an F in music in high school.
Exactly so.
The disparity btwn what’s actually happening in Los Angeles and the way it’s being mischaracterized is one of the biggest stress tests of modern media in recent memory. Botted socials, AI, old clips, declining literacy—it’s like seeing a broken emergency response system hit by a storm.
June 11, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Exactly so.
Reposted by Steve Collins
🔴 Zelenskyy: "We are not kids with Putin at a playground. He is a murderer who came to this park to kill the kids."
June 7, 2025 at 7:48 AM
🔴 Zelenskyy: "We are not kids with Putin at a playground. He is a murderer who came to this park to kill the kids."
Reposted by Steve Collins
5 years ago: “An incalculable loss”
Today: Banning masks and restricting vaccine access
Today: Banning masks and restricting vaccine access
May 25, 2025 at 6:36 PM
5 years ago: “An incalculable loss”
Today: Banning masks and restricting vaccine access
Today: Banning masks and restricting vaccine access
I remember when presidents went to war against poverty, disease and tyranny.
Now our president thinks the enemy is @harvard.edu and turns a blind eye to suffering around the world as he cozies up to dictators.
Now our president thinks the enemy is @harvard.edu and turns a blind eye to suffering around the world as he cozies up to dictators.
May 23, 2025 at 5:25 PM
I remember when presidents went to war against poverty, disease and tyranny.
Now our president thinks the enemy is @harvard.edu and turns a blind eye to suffering around the world as he cozies up to dictators.
Now our president thinks the enemy is @harvard.edu and turns a blind eye to suffering around the world as he cozies up to dictators.
Long before the House Freedom Caucus arose, the always-perceptive Mark Twain said that legislators possess "the smallest minds and the selfishest souls and the cowardliest hearts that God makes."
May 23, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Long before the House Freedom Caucus arose, the always-perceptive Mark Twain said that legislators possess "the smallest minds and the selfishest souls and the cowardliest hearts that God makes."