He wants to IMPEACH the Two Justices who are making Decisions based off who BRIBES them the Most? BUT HE HAS A BAD TATTOO! I GUESS I’ll have to vote for Susan Collins AGAIN instead!
-The Mainstream Media!
*had a bad tattoo, he had it covered.
If that’s all they still have to smear, given the time and exposure he’s been under, that’s probably a pretty good sign.
It seems just about every statement on policy he has expressed just keeps on being a solid good take.
-The Mainstream Media!
and, apparently, some people in lemmy too.
One of the wealthiest men in maine, served with war criminals, and had a nazi tattoo for decades but he says all the things you want to hear while campaigning.
My honest assessment is he a liar and will show his true colors once in office.
Plus the Democratic leadership doesn’t seem half as freaked out by him winning as they were with Mamdani, probably because they’ve assessed he’s not an actual leftist but more of a fetterman type.
at least you’re being honest with your oppo bullshit instead of the “oh geez, fellow leftists, I don’t know…” facade.
Basically if the Mass Media is backing them you know they are corporate shit MAGA or MAGA-Lite
If the MM is against you, you know you are on the side of the people.
It is incredibly sad to see how captured the MM has become, real news is alternative news.
My favorites :
Secular Talk https://youtube.com/@seculartalk
Zateo https://youtube.com/@zeteo
I’ve Had It https://youtube.com/@ivehaditpodcast
I’ve seen him speak. dude is pretty based.
I’ve actually met him, heard him speak, seen how much he actually cares and is sick of the current system, the current weak Democratic party leadership. He wants change and since no one else seems to be doing anything about it, he’s running for senator. Probably the most down-to-Earth, honest and genuine candidate I’ve ever seen. He’s even refusing to play dirty politics with his campaign and it’s working. His competition here tried it and Mainers are just so sick of dirty political shit that it backfired.
Sure he’s got a troubled past, but he’s got my vote here in Maine. I wish there were more politicians like him.
But you’re forgetting that MLs will viciously attack anyone doing anything about any of the problems they like to bring up, because they would prefer if everyone stayed at home and was a keyboard warrior instead. Because only true believers do nothing while fantasizing about some grand plan that will never happen.
On second thought, I don’t care what MLs think. This guy checks out.
impeach two Supreme Court justices
Only two?
Two are blatantly and brazenly corrupt. Four are right wing shitheels who while they may have a ludicrous interpretation of the law, do actually have it and hold to it (hence opus dei member Amy Coney Barrett ruling in favor of gay marriage, for example because she believes that marriage is the fundamental structure of social life).
Of the infamous six, you can absolutely get a democratic majority to impeach Thomas and Alito, but Roberts, Barrett, Kavenaugh, and whatever the other one’s name is are more difficult.
Personally I want all 9 investigated for corruption, there’s just too much that’s blatantly there to not do so.
I feel like an argument could be made that at least Kavenaugh should be impeached due to McConnell’s fuckery.
Of the infamous six, you can absolutely get a democratic majority to impeach Thomas and Alito, but Roberts, Barrett, Kavenaugh, and whatever the other one’s name is are more difficult.
From very recently: The Chief Justice and His Wife Took $20 Million From Firms He Rules On. I’m Filing for His Disbarment Today. If true, then it is certainly enough for impeachment.
Gorsuch
He got the totenkopf and wore the bolts during an era when Marine Scout Snipers and Force Recon were using a lot of Nazi iconography.
He can’t be any worse than Collins, I just hope all that shit is actually behind him. He waited a long time to address his tattoo. He also has said some WILD shit on Reddit.
I once knew a very educated and kind man with a Confederate flag tattoo something related to his military service. Everyone in his group got one it was tradition.
He came to regret that tattoo as he grew as a person and grew to understand its meaning and context.
I would vote for him in a heartbeat. Honestly one of the best people I’ve ever known.
All of this is to say, don’t disregard a person’s past actions but also don’t allow that to forever overshadow someone’s actions. Especially when they are trying to be better.
And before anyone says it of course context matters. Someone puts on their robes and attends a KKK rally is going to have a lot less forgiveness from me unless they can prove they’ve made major changes.
But if we don’t leave a path for people to improve they won’t. They will be further and further pushed into their ideologies.
I fully believe the narrative of “I got a skull tattoo from the wall of the shop that my marine buddies all got together.”
As far as Nazi symbolism goes, that’s one of the lesser used and more generic symbols. It was only used on uniforms of a specific subset of Nazis, the ones DIRECTLY involved w/ concentration camps, not the MILLIONS of other troops. It was not emblazoned on flags/banners, money, vehicles, etc. Basically, it wasn’t part of the branding you would see anywhere outside of a (relatively) small group of people, conservatively < 5% of uniforms. Tons of different military orgs have used skull symbols throughout the ages.
I could definitely see anyone impressionable enough to join the marine infantry just not having enough historical knowledge to recognize that particular skull as Nazi symbology.
If the tattoo was on his arm or somewhere commonly exposed, I could see someone calling him out on it in the intervening years. Of the people who would see him bare chested, how many would recognize it? Of those, how many would bring it up to him vs silently judge him?
I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt that he was ignorant of what he had tattooed on his body. Much like his past, when he learned the error of his ways, he addressed it and corrected it. This is the definition of what leftists do and the source of the (now tainted) concept of “becoming awakened” to how fucked up the world is. He started off surrounded by people who successfully encouraged him to join the marines, he’s come a lot further than most of us.
Agreed whole heartedly. Im a leftist through and through and It’s the most important thing I challenge friends on. How much grace should be afforded to those who have illustrated a capacity for change?
We have to give people an achievable path forward, if we commit ourselves to condemnation then we condemn ourselves to failure.
I’m least worried about the Reddit comments. I think he addressed them well by going through them chronologically and showing, “yes, I said some shitty stuff between 2009-2013, but if you look at the last 5 years, I’m clearly saying the opposite of that. These are shitty views that I outgrew.”
The Nazi tattoo has not been well addressed, to my mind. I can believe that he didn’t know it was a Nazi symbol when he got it. I can’t believe that he didn’t find out, in 20 years of having it, that it was a Nazi tattoo. I think he might have been some sort of Groyper when he was younger, and while (like the things he said in Reddit) I think he outgrew that, I don’t think he wants to admit it.
That being said, Platner seems like a genuine progressive, but there is a small chance he is actually secret Nazi, while Mills is a centrist hand-picked by Schumer, who has spent the last two years capitulating to Nazis. Seems to me that there isn’t much difference between a Nazi and a Nazi collaborator, so you might as well gamble on Platner being genuine rather than hand Schumer and the collaborators another vote.
Honestly as someone who grew up on a weird peripheral of SoCal biker culture it would be real easy to misidentify a lot of more obscure Nazi symbols as just biker symbols. Those guys ran with it pretty damned thoroughly.
Also as to what mean by weird peripheral. My 2x great grandfather was well respected by the Redlands and Berdoo biker community since he let kids who grew up into bikers use his go kart shop for repairs and even builds. My 2x great aunt was well respected and even known by the Hells Angels, same with her son. And I can invoke my 2x Great grandfather’s name around old bastards to instantly break the ice, seriously I’ve gotten more than a few claps on the shoulder by just saying I’m a grandson of old Mr Wilms.
As for his tattoo, the kind of people that get Nazi tattoos are not likely to get just one Nazi tattoo. Nor are they smart enough to plan far enough ahead to gin up a leftist political career while being “secretly a Nazi”. Also , it doesn’t make any sense to for someone with that Ideology to try and win on a progressive platform.
It makes more sense for that person to infiltrate already right wing spaces and increase the tension with grievance politics and dog whistles to push the Overton window further right. Then it would make sense for that movement to secure support in the media and in the capitalist class to ensure access to non-rightwingers TVs and Internet to push constant culture war grievance culture to exhaust any effort to stop them from seizing power.
As for him being a “Groyper” in his younger years, it would be impossible considering he is 14 years older than Nick Fuentes, the founder of that “movement”.
Agreed that it’s unlikely he’s a secret Nazi, but given the tattoo, we can’t rule it out entirely. I definitely think he’s not telling the entire truth about it, though.
The official story is that he got the tattoo in Croatia while he was a marine and he had no idea it was a Nazi tattoo until it came to light during the campaign, and I don’t buy that for a second. Maybe he got it because he was a far-right extremist in his 20s, maybe he got it having no idea what it was, but there’s no way he made it through 6 more years in the military and then the rest of his adult life without someone going, “Hey Graham, you know that’s a Nazi tattoo, right?”
And when I say, “some kind of Groyper,” I mean, generally, a far-right troll. Platner’s only a little older than me, and there were plenty of people getting pilled on 4chan when I was in my early 20s. I wouldn’t be surprised if Platner made some regrettable posts on /pol/ when he was younger, but if he did, I don’t think he believes them now.
The reason I believe his tattoo story is because I spent 8 years in the Navy, and I know how much alcohol is consumed when visiting foreign ports. I can see a very intoxicated group of young marines in a foreign port making a poor decision and getting a cool looking tattoo together without really thinking what it means. And since it’s on his chest, not many people who aren’t family or friends are going to see it that often. Not to mention the Totenkopf predates the Nazi party and was used by imperial Germany in WW 1.
Not excusing it’s use by the Nazis, but I would like to have an honest and frank discussion about how we let bigots appropriate existing and non offensive symbol, which robs the culture that created them of their own heritage.
As for his past comments, being voted most likely to start a revolution in highschool as well wearing communist styled outfits to highschool in the 90s in Maine of all places shows me his convictions lie a little left of center at a minimum.
I can see a very intoxicated group of young marines in a foreign port making a poor decision and getting a cool looking tattoo together without really thinking what it means.
Yeah, I think this the most likely scenario, I just don’t believe it was never realized it was also a Nazi thing. There’s even a deleted Reddit thread where they’re discussing the totenkopf, and he comments on soldiers using the Punisher skull iconography without knowing where it comes from. There’s just no way he didn’t realize, at any point, that his tattoo was also a Nazi tattoo.
Yeah he might have known, but at the same time, does it reflect who he is now and what he stands for?
Briefly circling back to the whole “iconography” topic, I think symbols do hold power, but the nature and scope of that power are determined by individuals. I also think that an effort should be made to reclaim these symbols for a more pro-human message (admittedly difficult to do for a skull and crossbones) because I believe it takes away messaging and in group camaraderie between bigots.
As for Platner, he has a past, but if we can’t look at who he is today and how he has grown as a person, what hope is there for any of us? I won’t make the claim that I haven’t said or believed wrong things, and even failed to grow when first confronted, but eventually I did begin to deconstruct, as I got older and experienced life.
On top of that, the alternative choice is 78 year old Susan Collins or equally decrepit, but Republican, Janet Mills. I think Democrats are having a “Tea Party” moment with the new progressive push by people like Platner and Mamdani.
On a side note: it’s refreshing to have a nuanced conversation online with anothet human, instead of a bot programmed to scream the most extreme position. I just migrated from reddit after being banned from r/Seattle because I suggested that the homeless problem will get worse if we don’t address the glaring structural issues. I got in an argument and got called a junkie, so I abandoned reddit altogether.
Yeah, agree on all points. Personally, I’ve been getting a little sick of the discourse on the left about Platner. A lot of people’s take has become, “fuck Platner, he’s a Nazi, he’s gonna be the next Fetterman,” and it doesn’t go any further than that. If you’re skeptical of Platner, fair enough, but then you have to articulate a better alternative. Do you think Mills would be safer? Is there another leftist to support? If you don’t have a better vision, that’s just doomerism, and at that point, you’re just doing the fascists’ work for them.
If you think it’s all behind him, and want to support him over the corpo picks… why even bring it up? It’s old news at this point. The people who care, already know. The only thing you’re doing now is running oppo by keeping it fresh, unasked; that’s the opposite of support. At least be honest with your bullshit, rather than trying to play the “concerned voter” schtick.
That’s what you sound like.
If you never allow people to change they won’t. Everyone is waiting for Trump to lose support, but every time some that voted for them begins to regret their choice people go full on to ridiculing them. Honestly this is something I’m guilty of doing myself
Also context is important. When I was in elementary school the teachers had us make headdresses and wear them for Thanksgiving. Pretty racist stuff. At the time I didn’t think anything of it as I did not know the meaning of these symbols just that I was being encouraged to wear/user them.
Sometimes I also think people forget that being able to Google anything at anytime is relatively new.
Same here, I have a single Trump friend (I keep him close more to keep tabs on him and have an occasional argument). He’s very suddenly soured on Trump, like in the last week or 2. I’m still not sure if it’s genuine regret, or just that whatever Tucker says he believes. My response has been low key and understanding, bot gloating or told-you-so-ing.
I don’t know if it’ll last or what the next stage of his insanity will be. I’ve been trying to push him toward class warfare instead of the right/left bullshit and I think some of it’s starting to stick, but he definitely started his political leanings to own libs and because he thought Trump was funny.
that’s not at all what I said, but okay, use your cool reference. Everyone thinks you’re soo cool now, sooo cool, you’re so cool dude, cool meme.
I think he Britta’d the meme.
They’re really streets ahead.
I think you mean “totenkopf”
Thanks, I’ll make that correction.
Old news. I’d rather see a guy change for the better and do the right thing than switch sides while in office like Fetterman and Sinema did.
He’s so hot. And based
I’ll take “Things That Will Never Happen” for $200, Alex.
Stop being a doomer. If he gets elected more will start saying it. Support him if you want this to happen, don’t critique his stances as stuff that will never happen.
4 years ago no one would ever say Israel shouldn’t get offensive or defensive weapons. Now there are 40 senate Democrats actually voting against it in Congress.
This is how Republicans push us towards fascism. They move the Overton window. Saying stuff and getting elected, even if it doesn’t happen slowly changes the conversation and what’s acceptable. Support the people that are pushing us in the right direction, don’t dismiss them.
