I think everyone who’s observed American, indeed, Western politics is aware that whenever a strong economic left winger comes along the attacks on him are almost always primarily about violations of “woke”.
Corbyn was attacked for anti-semitism, when he might be the most anti-racist person on the Earth. The idea that he was anti-semitic was laughable on the face, he’d be the first person putting his body on the line if there were actual threats to Jews.
What was remarkable about the smears against Corbyn is that the guy is practically a Saint. He’s as pure as driven snow or aquifer water run through a triple filter.
Not everyone is. Al Franken did some inappropriate things, though none of them rose to the level where he should have stepped down.
Woke is used because it works, especially sexual harassment allegations. It doesn’t just work against the left. New York Governor Cuomo was taken down for sexual harassment, which I always found hilarious, because this is a guy whose policies killed thousands of people during Covid when he stuck Covid patients in old folks homes. That’s gross negligent manslaughter, in my books, and he should have gone to prison, not just lost his job, but it was the sex stuff that took him down.
That doesn’t mean the Democratic establishment wanted him gone. Oh no. They supported him to the hilt against Mamdani in the NYC elections. Anything can be forgiven if you serve corporate interests, nothing can be forgiven if you don’t.
Platner’s the latest target, and man is he ripe. There’s the skull and crossbones tattoo: Nazi symbology which he got as a soldier twenty years ago.
They attacked him on that. It didn’t work. It didn’t work for the same reason attacks on Trump didn’t use to work: because Platner appears very anti-establishment (and unlike Trump, probably is.) He’s a left wing economic populist. This is from the top of his policy page:
So out came the sexual allegations. First the fact that near the start of his marriage he sent texts to women. That caused marital issues (surprise!) but Platner and his wife got counseling. Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner:
“It makes me really angry, disappointed,” Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, said in a direct-to-camera video Platner’s campaign released Saturday night. “And I find it really shameful that there’s a group of media outlets and people who are willing to spread gossip instead of talking about real issues that Graham is running on.”
One might wish to discount this: political wives are famous for publicly dismissing scabrous behaviour. But it was years ago, and she has stayed with him.
Of more interest, I think, is this:
The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported that Gertner told Platner’s campaign about the sexually explicit texts last year, near the start of his Senate bid. Her disclosure came during a conversation with campaign officials about potential opposition research into Platner, the two outlets reported, with the Times citing a former senior official in Platner’s campaign and the Journal citing people familiar with the matter.
I believe this falls under “the call came from inside the house!” Platner and his wife were foolish enough to trust Democratic officials, not realizing that the Democratic party is the opposition, far more than the Republicans.
Now we have the New York Times, doubling down:
Amid the turmoil, Mr. Platner worked the phones, rolling through calls to ex-girlfriends who might publicly acknowledge that while he may have been a bad boyfriend, he was, in fact, a decent guy.
In interviews with The New York Times on Wednesday, several women did just that, describing Mr. Platner as a fun and caring partner, and saying they felt safe with him. Some remain friends with him to this day, years after their relationships ended.
But in extensive conversations over the past two months, three other women who had been romantically involved with Mr. Platner offered a far more complicated assessment, describing volatile and “toxic” relationships that were unsettling and at times emotionally wrenching.
Mr. Platner could be charming and charismatic, they recalled in interviews, but also demeaning to women and, in at least one case, even physically threatening. He drank heavily and was regularly unfaithful.
OK. Sounds like some of his ex-girlfriends like him, and others don’t. But there’s no allegation of rape or assault, only “once physically threatening” and you know that if there were, they’d have run with it.
I don’t think Platner sounds like the greatest guy with women, but I think it’s also unlikely you’ll find many people, men or women, who have had multiple relationships and all their ex’s don’t have anything bad to say about him. I also don’t think that any of this is disqualifying for office.
Serious war crime allegations, since he was a soldier, would be. A pattern of corruption in business would be. “Has, on occasion, been a jerk to women and unfaithful” is laughable. Neither FDR nor JFK were faithful, their behaviour was far worse than Platner’s, and FDR, at least, was arguably the best President America ever had for ordinary citizens.
But for whatever reason, Americans take allegations like these much more seriously than gross corruption, bribe taking, insider trading, or mass murder.
Or—they did. Because so far this doesn’t seem to be working against Platner. Americans are finally getting their priorities straight again: certainly rape or assault should be disqualifying (though neither were for Trump), but sexual immorality? Please.
The woke attack takedown, perfected and used for a couple generations now, is beginning to fail. Voters are looking at the actual issues and thinking “actually, I care more about the fact that I can’t afford rent, food, gas and healthcare.”
In this I finally see some hope that Americans voters might be growing up. For may years now Americans have basically gotten the politicians they deserve, with some exceptions. To deserve better they have to stop being suckers. The takedown of Thomas Massie by the Israeli lobby was a bad sign. The failure, so far, to take down Platner is a good one.
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Defending Platner is a waste of time. They are ALL imposters of one sort or another and to one degree or another. As Jan said, the predicament is rooted structurally and systemically. One imposter pushing favorable rhetorical buttons isn’t going to make one iota of difference even IF they were genuine and Platner certainly is not.
https://www.reddit.com/r/armedsocialists/comments/1oxewa6/fork_found_in_kitchen_photo_of_graham_platner/
As far as I’m concerned, he’s another Fetterman sans the stroke — a rough and tumble man of the people. As if. Platner, despite being an “Oyster Man”, hails from a privileged background. He attended elite private schools.
https://freebeacon.com/democrats/working-class-graham-platner-attended-elite-75k-a-year-prep-school-known-for-famous-government-alumni/
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Maine Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner relies on two primary political consultancy firms to handle his campaign communications, strategy, and media:
Fight Agency: A progressive Democratic media consulting firm that helped launch Platner’s campaign. Founding partner Rebecca Katz serves as a lead strategist and media consultant.
Good Influence: A digital and influencer firm that managed the campaign’s digital and social media strategies.
https://www.fight.agency/team
Fight Agency is a Democratic media and political consulting firm founded in 2025 by veteran strategists Rebecca Katz, Tommy McDonald, and Julian Mulvey. The founders previously served as key strategists and ad-makers for Senator John Fetterman’s successful 2022 Senate bid.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5581737-mamdani-campaign-strategy-agency/
What a tangled web that’s been woven.
Ian Welsh
Is Ilhan Omar a fake?
But the point I’m making isn’t primarily about defending anyone.
Buffalobob
Contrast the media’s treatment of Platner with that of Paxton in Texas. Paxton has been indicted on Securities Fraud and impeached on bribery charges while Texas Attorney General. In fairness he was acquitted in both instances. He is currently involved in sordid divorce proceedings with ample evidence of infidelity, while a candidate for Senate in Texas, representing the ‘family values” party.
The Republican party seems quite comfortable with his candidacy, because he will serve their financial and political overlords.
Platner is a boy scout in comparison, but threatens the Democratic Party’s big money masters. Democracy at work!
Dan Lynch
No major disagreement with Ian’s essay but on the other hand I am not invested in Platner because 1) he won’t be on my ballot and 2) if he is elected he won’t make an iota of difference. Look, you’re not going to reform the Democratic party, and you’re not going to reform the U.S. two party system by continuing to vote for either of the two parties who have a vested interest in maintaining that system. Major change will only come after a war, a collapse, a revolution, or some other tumultous event, and when change finally comes, it may not be the flavor of change that you and I had in mind.
Howard Zinn repeatedly emphasized that voting — as it exists in the U.S. two party system — was only marginally useful. Ian, on the other hand, still believes that voting matters and that people get the politicians they deserve. I’m with Zinn. Blaming Americans for their bad political system is like blaming children for their bad parents. We did not choose this system, we were born into it, and we are constantly brainwashed by an oligarch controlled media so that even if we could choose a new system, few would know how to go about it.
spud
Platner is running for a state wide office. this dilutes the power of the rural second coming of jeebus crowd.
if he was running for a house seat, all 435 house seats are gerrymandered by law, to give a over sized representation to rural folks, thus they have a veto on just about everything in many house districts.
this violates constitutional representation.
———–
A quarter of rural voters in U.S. Senate battleground states make voting decisions based on their faith rather than finances. This trend shows that faith plays a significant role in shaping the political preferences of rural communities, particularly among Republicans.
themainemonitor.org
Influence of Evangelicals in Rural Voting
Faith Over Finances: A recent poll indicates that 25% of rural voters in U.S. Senate battleground states prioritize their faith when making voting decisions, rather than their financial situations.
Republican Preference: Among rural voters, Republicans are more likely to be influenced by faith in their voting choices compared to Democrats. Approximately 80% of Republicans believe that faith unites communities, while only 55% of Democrats share this view.
Demographic Insights
Demographic Group Likelihood to Vote Based on Faith Likelihood to Vote Based on Finances
Republicans Higher (most likely) Lower (less likely)
Democrats Lower (less likely) Higher (more likely)
Rural Maine Example: In Maine, a state with a less religious profile compared to others, rural voters are less conservative than those in more religious rural areas, such as Alabama. This indicates that the influence of faith on voting can vary significantly by region.
Political Dynamics: The role of faith in rural voting reflects broader trends in American politics, where religious beliefs can significantly shape electoral outcomes, particularly in Republican-leaning areas.
Understanding these dynamics is crucial for analyzing the political landscape in rural America, especially as elections approach.
themainemonitor.org Brookings
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Corbyn was a fool. he gutted the U.K.’s best chance to escape neo-liberal hell. he stood by and took all of the smears with barley a blip out of him. he even went to tony blair for advice, that’s like sherrod brown of ohio asking bill clinton for advice in the 2024 election. he even wanted a second vote on leave, you can’t make this stuff up.
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as predicted, the dope corbyn managed to turn the U.K. election into a rerun of the american 2016 election; they even demonized people like me that said its the policies stupid.
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snicker:) And if you think that the almost 100% correlation between the strength of the Leave vote and the change in seats in the heartlands is not meaningful then you lack analytical capacity (being polite).
And if you think that the almost 100% correlation between the strength of the Leave vote and the change in seats in the heartlands is not meaningful then you lack analytical capacity (being polite)
just like in america,
“If you didn’t see Trump’s victory coming, you weren’t paying attention to the anger of your fellow citizens — and neither was the Democratic Party.
For those who opened their eyes to see, every aspect of Trump’s “surprise” win was visible in plain sight.”
i love victory laps:) Last Thursday Britain held the ‘2nd’ referendum that all those smart-alec, urban, educated, cosmos were demanding, and which so perverted the Labour Party’s message to the people.
If the massive swing to the Tories is anything to go by, the Leave vote intensified.
And it was entirely predictable.
here is Mitchell’s take, a towering MMT economist. its a great take down of incompetence. its copyrighted, so i just give a peek. please go read the whole thing.
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http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=43876
An evolving 6-point plan for British Labour
Monday, December 16, 2019 bill Britain, Politics, Reclaim the State, UK Economy 54 Comments
In the last few days, since the British General Election last Thursday, I have seen the rising denial of so-called progressives trying to come up with all sorts of excuses for Labour’s devastating defeat.
I have seen various aggregations of the votes presented on Twitter and elsewhere attempting to claim that, in fact, the vote was a vote for Remain rather than Brexit.
The line being spun is that the Tories do not have a mandate to implement Brexit, that the strong majority of British voters want to remain in the European Union and that, and that Labour’s defeat was about other things.
Other things certainly impacted – such as the UK Guardian’s relentless and ridiculous campaign against Jeremy Corbyn which gave air to the anti-semitism ruse. And, the continued passive insurgency within the Parliamentary Labour Party from the Blairites who could not move beyond the past.
…
—————-
L&S:
you could be right. but there maybe something there that the clintonites see as danger will Robinson! even something left wing that is very small, sets off alarm bells for the clintonite’s.
BJ
The government you have todays stems directly from choosing the lesser of two evils for generations.
Mark Level
A very timely piece by Ian, and he wisely takes the same tack that the 2 gents at Due Dissidence do: Platner sincerely means well, therefore if you live in his district, vote for him with fingers crossed, do you want the 90+ year old sellout fossil Susan Collins, or the other, fake Zio-allied DimmieCrap shill?
Now, LAS’s take was entirely predictable, and as usual he makes one good point after a steady stream of bad-faith cynicism and urging Learned Helplessness on those of us who are genuinely Left. (He previously admitted that he is “not left”, no ally to those of us who believe in Comfort the Afflicted and Afflict the Comfortable. At least a small shred of integrity.) Final sentence and link in his first post ARE relevant, despite being very privileged, the Dude as a youngster was toxically masculine, young, dumb and full of cum, he signed up to kill brown people. He got all the trauma and brain-scrambling that killing random brown people will give you in time in his “service.” Great minds think alike, dull minds do too, his take is quite consistent with the LG&M Chowderheads, see here– https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2026/06/on-platner I’ve repeated ad nauseum he should be over there, he’d be highly respected.
Immediate pushback in the first comment, “vote for the dirtbag, it’s important” remains the correct position for the general election.” I usually eschew Lesser-Evilism voting but every case is different, and up to one’s individual conscience (if one even bothers to vote, rarely a consequential action, it’s about as useful as taking a random survey.)
Now I can go not just to LG&M, formerly blocked due to my Ad Blocker coz 3 months ago some losers tried to scam me, dumping a ringing alarm in my browser from “Microsoft Teams” (sic), claimed my Credit Union account had been hacked etc., total bullshit, they had me going for a moment, had also dropped a link to a gross porn site into my browser, I knew I had never been there. But I was not fooled, I told them to fuck off and then blocked the phone #s, etc. had just upgraded my old phone to 5G, and it has good scam warning software on it now. Still, those bitches tried it a 2nd time, a waste of their and my time 2 months later, so I belatedly installed a VPN (should’ve done so years back) and now I can not only not get blocked at LG&M, same via New York Times links, etc. Should’ve been 21st century years ago, my bad!!
Look, as spud has pointed out, Thomas Frank has written very well for decades on the history of genuine Progressive and Populist movements, the early-20th century successes long before FDR, finally betrayed by the scumbag wanna-be Messiah, Woody Wilson, who had feminists beaten, jailed and force-fed, “Red Squads” against anyone to his left and mass deportations (something Trump now trying of course), lied he was anti-War, wanted to be a Global Power Player and fucked up all his fake idealism at Versailles, then dying after a stroke, his wife was the first Woman President, none since. I’m sure that at the initiation of the Populist movement, there were cynical Cryers of Doom and Failure like LAS and the LG&M crew. Trolls have their own culture, and much staying power at times.
But the Monopolies were broken up; Banks were regulated; people’s material needs were improved over decades before the inevitable betrayal by the political class occured.
We ARE entering a new cycle worldwide, not necessarily in the US, but change has to start somewhere. Platner did some incredibly stupid (& murderous) things when young, his brain is fairly scrambled, the Nazi tattoo was a stupid, drunken thing. I had a friend once who did something similar. He and a friend went to a tattoo parlor, there was a free machine with tattoo patterns you could hit, they both agreed to get the one that randomly came up, he (luckily) got the Anarchy Circle A, showed it to me when we first met, better luck than Platner. (Though he knew next to nothing about Anarchy, I tried to teach him a bit. Met him while traveling, we traded a couple emails, very short term friendship.)
FDR was very wealthy, as his cousin Teddy was as well, and yet they did some things for the distressed and exploited Proletariat. They were “forced” to of course, did it to triangulate (as Bill Clinton always did to the Right) to the Left, allow reform but avoid full-scale Revolution.
Good response from BuffaloBob, also I take Dan Lynch’s point from Howard Zinn as fitting, even if there is only “marginal utility” better to do something than nothing in this case (if you live in his District.)
Let’s look at what both Obama with his “Hopey-Changey” lies and fake “Our Revolution” Bernie did when they’d built up actual movements for actual Change. Obama as soon as in office quashed his own “movement”, having pretended that if they “pressured him” for change he would enact it. He pulled in Hillary and all the other slimy Finance and NeoCon garbage, and ran a 3rd and 4th Bush Jr. term, with a veneer of respectability and Olympian wisdom, won his Nobel Prize just for not being W. His campaign donor lists were preserved for HIS use only, status quo rinse and repeat. Won’t close Gitmo (barely tried), doesn’t enshrine Roe as he promised, etc.
I was up very early this morning because the cupboard was pretty empty so I needed groceries. Happened to hear Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now on the radio, later streamed more at home, still somewhat genuinely left despite occasional bad takes. They supported removing Assad in Syria like their State Dept. friends, so we get Al-Qaeda head-choppers and murderers of Christians, Alawites and other ethnic minorities, they do excellent coverage of Palestine and the Genocide now, but Assad’s being, like the Iranians & the “Houthis” on the actual side of the Palestinians counted nil for them.
So here’s someone far more consequential with greater potential than Platner running in New Jersey, Adam Hamawy, who as an Army (I think, could be another branch) surgeon volunteered in Gaza in 2024-25, I distinctly recall his testimony to the U.N. at that time that the majority of his patients were 12-13 year old children, shot by the Zionists in the head or groin, etc. & he also saw child victims as young as 4. He saw relatively few adults in surgery, and he said never treated a single “Hamas” or other group fighter.
See the link here at the Old Gray Lady if you too have a VPN: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/02/nyregion/new-jersey-house-primary-hamawy.html
Now, I have mixed feelings about his “service”, I imagine he does too, but that said, he put his life on the line for Palestinians. Is endorsed by Tammy Duckworth, a Matamoros (Muslim Killer) who I despise, during her “service” killing brown people I believe in the Afghan “theater”, her plane was shot down and she lost both legs, he was the surgeon who saved her life, per her account, at the time. So when Hamaway was threatened with Extermination if he tried to leave Gaza, she used her professional Congressional power to get him out in one piece, one good turn deserves another. He just won the N.J. primary, it’s a blue state, he is likely to beat any Genocidal, RapePublican opponent, the tide of public sentiment has changed greatly as we approach 3 years of Genocide, not just in Palestine now but up to the southern suburb, Dahia, of Beirut itself. Only Hamas protects the locals, the Christian Maronites in the French-created bullshit sectarian government are like, Yes, steal the southern 1/3 of our country, we don’t mind, kill the worthless Muslims so we are more powerful as a result.
spud does a great and informative post as usual– no typos either so he can’t be easily straw-manned. Yes, we do not want the armies of Jaybus in control, yes, Corbyn was well-meaning but a lame wimp on the scale with Bernie and other sock-puppets of the Establishment DNC crew, took being shivved in the back and shills for eternal Austerity and surrender. Bernie says there can be no 2-State Solution in Palestine, “that would be the end of the (oh so wonderful, despite deliberately sowing anti-Semitism and death, now bogged down in a 7 or 8-front war) Jewish state.” Oh, the 8th front is USA, I bet many here know Trumpists are trying to integrate Zionist Forces within US as a 5th Column inside USA, train ICE, kill or jail protesting Americans, etc.
I second spud, LAS “could be right,” but isn’t usually. If we accept Lesser Evil Voting, which I usually think is stupid, this might be a case where (per DC) it actually might move things to the Left, not to the Right, where the DNC/Cop Kamala Dimmies always go with their “Daddy” friends in the Permanent Duopoly.
The System now is unsustainable. Amy also had Hassan Piker on, Cenk Uyghur is his uncle and they were both just banned from attending SxSW confab in London, visas revoked, being dirty Muslims (don’t know if either is practicing, I’m referring to ethnicity) + anti-Zionists, Starmer and the rest warn they are “dangerous” and their setting foot on British soil would increase “anti-Semitism” in the Kingdom of Empire. Because British Jews are “afraid” everywhere they go, amrite? Some support the genocide but shouldn’t be shunned or despised, killing brown Untermenschen is entirely acceptable to Starmer’s Labour and to Farage’s fascisti. Comply, you worms. Orwell’s Foot Kicking a Face Eternally is here, Tommy Robinson a great “influencer” for Race War just as Elon wants in the USA. Comply. Hamawy declared on Democracy Now that his Primary win showed DimmieCraps can no longer be all for Woke Kindness, but oh, “not Palestine.” Enough Dimmie voters agree. Hell, even among the R’s, 47% now support Palestinians more than Zionist swine, “The times they are a-changing.”
Hassan Piker NOT a radical, a semi-Left Dem shill, but has a huge platform, millions. Also I believe under threat for having provided aid to Cuba. But mildly progressive is preferable to full-on Zionist shill, he is unpopular with the Dimmie Leadership but not yet driven out.
They are appearing via Zoom at Oxford and whatever the other venue is, however, even Fascisti can’t block internet access.
somecomputerguy
Platner is an OG leftist. As a former infantryman, when he talks about opposing fascists, “with guns if necessary” is absolutely always implied.
I believe this comes from a realistic understanding of violence’s role in America. I have heard that he gave firearms safety classes to fellow leftists and LGBT under threat via the Socialist Rifle Association.
The second I heard he was an ex-Marine Infantryman, and a lefty I pretty much knew where he would be comming from. And my heart sunk. There was a time when a Second Amendment socialist would have been monstered out of the left.
The fact that, that isn’t happening, is very strange to me.
The rambling book review I posted a month ago was an attempted defense of what I believe his orientation is. To summarize; historically, the powerless need the Second Amendment more than the powerful.
His military service in a war he protested against, is a citizen taking responsibility for shit his country does. Probably, he thought better him than some poor black kid or some psycho. At an individual level, you can still do damage control; particularly, you personally hold your fire and keep an eye out for illegal shit.
mago
Platner’s sexual escapades are pretty weak tea compared to the Epstein crowd, one of whom is president of the USA last time I checked, But, yeah, let’s try to whip up some froth with 2% milk. The hypocrisy is pretty rank per usual.
Of course, Platner’s not the working class hero that he’s hyped up to be, and as others have noted he won’t make much of a difference, although he’s far superior to the competition, which isn’t saying much. Collins! Jesus.
Anyway, that’s not the point. I hope people are finally wising up to the Establishment woke playbook as Ian posits.
Corbyn, btw, proves the cynical observation that nice guys finish last.
Oakchair
Exhibit 1 of the concept that western society has become a circus where everything is shallow mindless entertainment*.
The topic causing uproar on mainstream serious news media is that a candidate sent sexual “texts” and has former girlfriends who say he “drank heavily” and was in one instance “physically threatening”
If I went and thumbed through books written for 10 year olds I’d find more intellectually stimulating, and mature content than this pile.
Soak a brain in aluminum/mercury, fill the stomach with pesticides and processed foods, and put in front of a TV and this is what you get.
*Hat tip as this was pointed out decades ago in the books “Amusing ourselves to death” By Neil Postman and “The society of the spectacle” by Guy Debord.
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He previously admitted that he is “not left”, no ally to those of us who believe in Comfort the Afflicted and Afflict the Comfortable. At least a small shred of integrity.
Correct, I did say that and I will say it again. I am not left. If you are left, which is dubious, I am certainly not left. I’m not right either. Defining oneself is self-limiting. You paint yourself into an idealogical corner and ultimately you will defy principle and instead adopt and hold contradictory perspectives.
You keep plugging the LG&M venue. You appear to be obsessed with it considering the honorable mentions you give it here. I truthfully have no idea what it is and don’t care to know. You think you know me, but you don’t. You’re not even close and one of the reasons is because it’s irrelevant who and what I am. You’re never going to know me, so you fill it in with your prideful prejudices.
I’m surprised you’re not in Russia for the SPIEF with the incomparable Catholic conspiracy theorist, Candace Owens. You have advertised for her here on several occasions as you have for Tucker Carlson too. Andrew Tate is also in attendance. So many special people.
The following is an excellent read and you certainly can’t accuse the author of being a shitlib considering the author hates the Dem party, rightfully so, with a passion.
https://www.thefp.com/p/why-candace-owens-went-to-russia
All Tucker Carlson has to do is tweak his rhetoric a bit more and no doubt lefties will be singing his praises for POTUS in 2028 just as they currently sing Platner’s praises. Pathetic, impotent desperation. Woe to those who need a hero.
Feral Finster
Well, yeah, if Plattner had a different attitude towards Israel and the oligarchy, he could fly a swastika flag and the press would sing his praises.
Take Ukraine for example. Open nazis are held up as freedom fighters, because their cause is convenient to the empire at moment.
Corporate imperialist muppets cheer.
At the same time, if Plattner were Mister Rogers running for office, the powers that be would accuse him of something, much the way mild-mannered meek Jeremy Corbyn is accused of antisemitism AND Zack Polanski is depicted like a caricature straight out of Der Stürmer.
Corporate imperialist muppets cheer.
Mark Andrew Oglesby
When Ian states: “Americans have basically gotten the politicians, they deserve” PLEASE, state the obvious: There are no alternatives when it comes to voting (I refuse to participate in such a perverse undertaking) as the two parties are actually one. We have no choice in the matter. To every American out there: REFUSE to participate in these scam elections as your vote doesn’t matter in the least!
KT Chong
Reminder on how America became overrun by “woke”:
It was the infamous BlackRock — the world’s largest asset manager, overseeing trillions in assets — that used its enormous institutional leverage to enforce and normalize DEI, ESG, and “Woke Capitalism” in America.
In a widely-cited 2017 interview, CEO Larry Fink stated that “you have to force behaviors, and at BlackRock we are forcing behaviors” in relation to gender and racial diversity, linking executive compensation and corporate governance expectations to measurable diversity outcomes. Under his leadership, BlackRock embedded DEI into its broader ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) metrics, effectively tying access to capital to compliance with these standards. Companies that failed to align with his DEI, ESG and broader “woke” governance criteria risked shareholder pressure, including BlackRock voting against board members or withholding capital.
BlackRock’s ESG incorporated the Corporate Equality Index (CEI), originally launched in 2002 by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). The CEI scores Fortune 500 companies on LGBTQ+ workplace policies, benefits, marketing practices, and corporate conduct. Over the years, HRC incrementally expanded the CEI to include transgenderism and BLM (Black Lives Matter). What began as a niche HR benchmarking tool in early 2000s gradually gained outsized influence once the “Big Three” asset managers — BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street — incorporate CEI into their ESG.
ESG metrics — including CEI-related LGBTQ+ and transgender criteria — became tied to proxy voting decisions and corporate governance pressure. Companies with weaker scores could face opposition to board nominations or reduced institutional support. As a result, many executives adopted these policies less out of personal belief than from financial coercion, and Hollywood, media, and marketing firms began to push for LGBTQ+ and transgender agendas, in order to maintain favorable ESG ratings and secure continued access to capital.
Once embedded in ESG scoring and proxy voting frameworks, these metrics — including LGBTQ+ and transgender-related criteria — became directly tied to corporate governance pressure. Companies with weaker scores could face opposition to board nominations or reduced institutional support. As a result, many executives adopted these policies less out of personal belief than financial coercion, while industries from corporate America to Hollywood, media companies, and marketing firms increasingly push feminism, racialism, LGBTQ+ and transgender messaging and internal policies to maintain favorable ESG ratings and secure continued access to capital.
Y’all are woke because some trillion-dollar asset management firms, the Big Three, have made you comply.
Y’all have been played.
Carborundum
If character functions the way you have asserted and is so critical to elected officials, I rather think one should be very wary of this candidate. “Early in his marriage” was less than three years ago, aged 40 something not some youthful screwup in the distant past.
Beyond that, he may be a great guy, but I really don’t see a lot there that screams US Senator – being a combat vet is doing the bulk of the heavy lifting, which folks shouldn’t be as impressed with as they are. History with the green machine is *a piece* of someone’s background, not the primary lens through which it should be viewed. More than anything, he looks to me like a great blank slate on which people / media can project – AOC reinterpreted.
KT Chong
While the Big Three asset managements (BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street) are promoting and normalizing DEI, ESG, woke capitalism, feminism, BLM, LGBTQ++, and transgenderism, they are also massive drivers of environment destruction, human rights abuses, the expansion of the military industry complex, and profiteering from wars and genocides:
Driving Climate Catastrophe, Propping up Police Power and Weapons Manufacturers:
https://corporateaccountability.org/blog/blackrock-for-2022-corporate-hall-of-shame/
Profiting off the Gaza Genocide:
https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/07/07/blackrock-wall-street-banks-profit-israel-gaza-un/
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/1/un-report-lists-companies-complicit-in-israels-genocide-who-are-they
https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/blackrock-did-not-respond–to-urgent-call-by-un-experts-to-cease-the-transfer-of-arms-to-israel/
Fossil Fuels, Private Prisons, Weapon Manufacturing, and Immigrant Detention:
https://justfutures.com/?learn-library=why-doesnt-just-futures-offer-funds-from-vanguard-blackrock-or-fidelity
Sponsoring Indigenous Displacement and Amazon Destruction, Propping Up Private Prison Monopolies:
https://blackrocksbigproblem.com/reports/category/human-rights/
… as well as energy market manipulation and forming anticompetitive, antitrust cartels:
https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/biggest-antitrust-story-youve-never-heard
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/05/ftc-doj-file-statement-interest-energy-collusion-case-against-blackrock-state-street-vanguard
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5284367
Maybe people should stop and think: why would BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street promote and push for all those social justice progressivism in the first place?
Jan Wiklund
It probably wouldn’t work in France. On the other hand, if somebody is guilty of murder he gets a sentence for that and not for tax evasion. So they seem better on priorities in France.
breac
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“Defining oneself is self-limiting.”
Hard disagree, for two reasons:
1. anyone who doesn’t define themself as part of something bigger and to some degree pick a side will never affect anything at all. i think you’ve got a very idealist, bourgeois notion of identity.
2. not defining oneself is impossible anyway. you for example implicitly define yourself as above the fray, a rational actor in contrast to those stupid partisans.
Ian Welsh
Misunderstanding of how character works, that. FDR was a great President, but cheated on his wife. This goes back to the old “how do you act towards people you don’t know”.
Mind you, I’m not a great Platner booster or anything. He’s better than the alternatives, by a lot, that’s enough.
The article is actually about how this style of attack is losing its effectiveness against left populist politicians.
Carborundum
I get what you’re saying and mainly agree – my disagreement (among a few*), relevant to how I am viewing Mr. Platner, would be that character is more than how one acts towards people one doesn’t know. I agree when one is acting with character, it frequently plays out that way – but I would view that as a consequence, not the prime mover. I can’t say that I have a complete or even coherent definition of character, but to me the root of it is along the lines of consistent actions against self-interest, commonly with a longer term orientation. Much easier to act with character if one accepts the notion that one can have “enough”.
I completely agree that bad actions in one domain do not guarantee bad actions in other domains; people are just more complex than that. What I would say, however, is that someone who would lie to his new wife at that age will lie in other domains; caveat emptor (particularly given how he and his campaign are soft-selling what he did). FDR’s infidelity occurred in a very different social, economic and cultural environment than Mr. Platner’s and quite different personal circumstances within the marriage; knowing the specifics of FDR’s infidelity, as a reflection of character, I view it quite differently.
Bigger picture, I agree, this type of attack is losing its effectiveness. I think this is a manifestation of how superficial modern campaigns are and the candidates such blank slates lacking substance onto which perception is painted. The best background these days for an initial political run is to come from nowhere with one or two counter-intuitive hooks, parroting whatever negativity sells best to the electorate where one is running. Not surprisingly, this does not lead to great policy.
* Primarily, I would disagree that the character of some matters much more than the character of others and that the character of the people rises to the character of their leaders. My views, we think the character of some matters a great deal more because history focuses on them (and because we are currently suffering from a fairly significant outbreak of the character defect of comfortable helplessness) and the character of leaders tends to rise or sink to the character of the populace, based on what they think they can get away with and/or the standards they are bound to uphold.
TM
I don’t live in America and don’t particularly care about what they get up to domestically; that’s their business. I do worry about them as a destabilizing, imperialist force abroad. If Graham Platner is your best/only option that will give you some personal benefit in his constituency, then no worries, it is what it is in terms of “personal realpolitik”. Real change will not come from the ballot box, it will take actual organising to maintain a permanent disciplining force against the politicians that are elected to represent you.
I do think there are several extremely disgusting things about Platner that go beyond woke scolding. He was a privileged boy that gleefully went off to kill innocents in Iraq and Afghanistan multiple times. He signed up in ’04 and I believe his first posting was Abu Ghraib. He has many positive things to say regarding his experiences. I’ve yet to see any true remorse, and his ‘anti-war’ posturing doesn’t go beyond questioning the efficacy of the wars for the material and political benefit of Americans. Platner enjoyed combat so much that he went on multiple tours, left to go to university, then signed up with the army national guard to deploy to Afghanistan. He enjoyed *that* so much that he went on to sign up as a private military contractor for Constellis.
I’m not sure an “OG leftist” contracts his way through Afghanistan after helping murder Iraqis. This isn’t the Partizani against the Nazis, Četniks and Ustaše. I don’t know many leftists who decide to go to a tattoo artist in Croatia that gives them a Totenkopf, given the history of that nation. He now claims to not know what the symbol was; it’s possible. Maybe he’s just incredibly stupid and thought it looked cool, or he walked into an Ustaša tattoo parlour and they pranked him. I’ve never heard him speak about the victims of his country’s actions beyond cursory platitudes, but there is a lot of the usual American whining about how emotionally hard it is for them to fly across the world to murder people.
I’m not sure that any of this is a sign of some sort of growth for American voters, other than economic pressure allowing people to reduce their expectations of candidates as long as there is the promise of some domestic benefit for them. It’s certainly the same over here in the UK. Too broke for principles.
Mark Level
Thanks all around, including to Carborundum (not usually my ally, rarely in agreement, but smart certainly, esp. viz war) and especially to breac for calling out the troll so I can respond more briefly.
The position that I am a free actor with no convictions, like a jellyfish floating without intent in an amniotic sea, this makes me very “principled” passes nobody’s smell test. And you’ve made your convictions well known here since early appearances. All Russians are evil and need to be starved and exterminated, they bear the taint of a more than Century old “Leninist” blood spot like the one that Lady McBeth vainly tried to scrub off herself. How dare they kill the so noble and self-sacrificing Czar and his family and then go on to defeat the 3rd Reich!! Banderism is kewl, let’s drag the Cocaine Comedian’s failed War on a few more years. I bet 10-12 days back when the Ukros sent a drone into a children and youth dorm and killed dozens of innocents, you really felt your oats.
You should visit the Carolinas and get an autograph from Ms. Lindsay Graham, “spending billyuns to kill lotsa Russians is the best money we’ve ever spent!!”
Bob
Corbyn wasn’t just useless. He got on board with throwing a bunch of loyal and decent people under the bus. He kicked Labour legend Ken Livingstone out of the party as well as people like Jackie Walker and Tony Greenstein and other people who’s names elude me right now but who were supporters of his. His grovelling to the Jewish lobby was absolutely pathetic. A person with no spine accepting a leadership position is almost as bad as the usual mendacious type.
spud
Bob:
well said. the best way to destroy opposition to fascism, is run a idiot that thinks the fascists can be managed placated, they cannot.
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No matter what you do at this point, it benefits “them”. It’s best to do as little as possible in order to minimize your complicity with the imminent genocide of the human species. Just Say No. Refuse to obey their orders. Voting at this juncture, and maybe it always was thus, is sanctioning the slaughter. It’s legitimating an illegitimate system. Yes, be a jellyfish, metaphorically speaking. It’s the most ethical strategy, all things considered. I know, I know, that’s an extremely bourgeois notion as all my notions are versus the proletarian notion of imploring people to support a murderous, warmongering, philandering, elite, privileged prep school-educated “Oyster Man” who’s big pal brother-in-law just so happens to be an Israeli intelligence agent and whose campaign managers just so happened to be Fetterman’s campaign managers and they’re still proud of that achievement.
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Well, I’ll be. Here is Platner’s stance on Russia’s illegal war of aggression on Ukraine, if his word is to be believed.
I am a firm supporter of Ukraine’s right to resist a Russian invasion. But it is very hard for us to make the case the reason we support the Ukrainian fight is because they had their sovereignty impeded upon, that international law was broken when we support people that break international law every day. It is impossible for us to say the Ukrainians have every right to do this and then turn around and invade Iraq. Or drop bombs in Iran. Or murder fishermen in the Caribbean.
https://www.threads.com/@marco.foster/post/DZGKdFSj2mN/you-said-platner-is-pro-ukraine-war-and-pro-iran-war-he-is-pro-ukraine
I agree with him and have said what he has said numerous times but more articulately and sans the “us” crap. State the principle, apply it and say that’s your moral belief and you will fight to help make it America’s moral belief whether you are elected or not.
That aside, couple his words here with the Nazi tattoo and what do you know, by ML’s and speckled fruitcake’s logic, Platner is a Banderist and yet they support him nonetheless because, I guess, he’s a handsome manly man stud like Putin and Stalin (not Lenin).
Hey, I wonder if Platner’s wife married him for his personality or his character. Chong, what do you think?
Warvigilent
Was never a fan of the insults and attacks against l&S but much less sympathetic to this “Dont do anything, just give up” bullshit.
hey maybe its time you followed your own advice and ya know give up and stop posting here. you admit its useless.
Though to the rest , seeing a whole lot of circular firing squads again. I think you are giving too much credit to the CEOs, etc. trump proved that they are far more incompetent than the appear to be. Identitiy politics wasn’t just top down, it was the only room the left was able to get movement and traction.
If it was purely a top down policy of appeasement, then I guess Ian has to throw out one of his main criticisms of Obama was that he has had to be pushed to follow through on campaign promises. Only passing gay marriage after constant activism and harassment by gay rights activists. So all that was just wholly useless on the part of the activists cause O was gonna do that according to his Blackrock masters anyway?
yeah, gotta get a little more consistent with the thinking here folks , lots of back and forth and poor arguments and evidence.
Warvigilent
So I cant tell L&S off but anyone else can go around tossing wild accusations of the deeply held political ideologies and/or willing commitment to propaganda and psychological manipulation campaigns.
My post point still stands , Ian’s point about Obama and gay rights is meaningless and what was the point of dems throwing minorities under the bus if the Corps wanted to force it? they weren’t selling out to big labour, they weren’t screwing over trans so they could hand money to Too Orphaned to Fail . Why would Theil and the Epstein class pour so much money and time into stirring up anti minority/anti gay/anti trans sentiments if their finance corps were making it policy?
But same as if voting didnt matter why do they spend ever growing millions/ billions on manipulating the vote in every possible way, why would they try to rig and cheat and gerrymander so much if the outcome didn’t matter? republicans exist as a party because of the stupid gerrymanders , not because of some BS backlash against ohhh minorities and gays in the workplace !!!@#@!!! OHHH their not forced to work only menial positions or never get any credit what so ever despite even historic world changing achievements like the black nasa physicists or the guy who basically invented most of the all time popular toys.
Id honestly love to see someone who ditched identity politics stuff and actually tried to help people but ill admit ignorance I cant actually think of any…. kinda seems like when they sell out on that its cause they sell out on everything like fetterman. Fake left in every sense, even loves him some trump ballroom . But dont worry, he isn’t keen on the trans or gays, so he will totally fight for socialist policies !!@#@#!!!! Cant wait for all that sweet sweet harry potter money !!! just toss the trans in death camps and the british witch will fund everyone will her billions!!! That’s totally what will happen !!! RIGHT GUYS !!!!
Bob
@L&S
I tend to concur with the notion of not-doing. And have the same awareness of it being maybe a bit of a bourgey response. As soon as I was old enough to vote I realised that voting any way at all was an act of will, however mild. It was the will to support the system. Voting for the lesser evil was supporting evil.
I’ve avoided institutional education, day jobs, politics and activism. After the massive demo against the Iraq war I never went again. It felt like that even was supporting those bastards somehow.
What can we do other than profoundly stop believing in the system? Can that spread?
Maybe I’m just trying to avoid getting crushed by the iron heel, and that’s where they’ve got us?
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But same as if voting didnt matter why do they spend ever growing millions/ billions on manipulating the vote in every possible way, why would they try to rig and cheat and gerrymander so much if the outcome didn’t matter?
Eureka, that’s it. They go to those lengths to ensure your vote doesn’t matter and electoral politics, like AI, is an over-hyped bubble. It’s an industry unto itself at this point. There are billions upon billions to be made and you don’t have to produce winning candidates to cash in, you just have to talk a good game, i.e. Katz & Katz & Stern.
I didn’t mean to say voting couldn’t potentially matter because surely it could, but it certainly doesn’t per the configuration of the current system in America.
Eclair
My relationship with Maine stretches over 80 years, beginning in 1945. I had family living there and my parents had a summer home.
So, Platner? Not ‘working class Mainer.’ Because he shows absolutely no trace of the classic Maine accent. At least in the video clips that I can find.
If you have grown up in a family that speaks with The Accent, it is never completely erased. Even people who get it beaten out of them by stints living in other places, can revert to it. And the ‘lobstah men’ who were my uncle’s neighbors, would converse with each other in a heavy accent, barely understandable, then turn around and talk to someone ‘from away,’ using a much lighter version.
So, my conclusion: the ‘working class’ persona, with the beard, billed cap, rumpled work shirt, is imposed by his PR people. And, oh yeah ….. he has no missing teeth! Dentition is a real tell in our contemporary America.
But, he has served multiple terms in the military, posted to the Middle East, which maybe says a lot about his need for danger and risk-taking and living on the edge. Which could serve him well in Government. Or, not
My experience with the Boston/Maine accent is real. My working class family and friends spoke with a heavy accent until I went away to an ‘elite’ woman’s college, where I was subjected to gentle ridicule, for ‘paahking the caah in Haavahd Yaahd.’ My accent is now standard American, unless I am angry or excited. Or, I spend a couple of days on the coast of Maine, where I can easily revert to my childhood tones.
bruce wilder
Can any sane person survive the slanders and threats and shunning and poverty to assume a role as a populist leader and then act reliably on behalf of some reasonable concept of the public interest?
Feral Finster
“After the massive demo against the Iraq war I never went again. It felt like that even was supporting those bastards somehow.”
What happened was the election of St. Obama. Once the wars became St. Obama’s wars, any opposition to those wars was blasphemy.
different clue
I have only a few minutes left before break ends, and I saw an article on reddit which will be gone by the time I am “off for lunch”.
So I will offer it here and now with the tiny bit of thought that time allows.
The Cultural Maoist Left invented Woke to play its games of Left Upmanship and Lefter Than Thou in the Leftist houthouses of Academe and elsewhere. ( ‘Cultural Maoist’? Yes. Self-criticism, struggle sessions, ‘calling-out’ and all the rest of it).
The ClintoBamacrats saw how useful accusations of “not Woke enough” could be against the merely ecoNOMic populist, to get them and their threat to money and power removed from the field of political combat. And they are Wokemailing Platner now.
If I lived in Maine, I would vote for Platner in the primary against the Clintobamacrat Mills or whatever other Clintobamacrat the DemParty Establishment ran. I would accept the unWokefulness to get the power-economic benefits.
The KlanMAGA Republicanfederates have their own Woke. Reverse-Woke or MAGAwoke or ConservaWoke or whatever you want to call it. They use it agains the not-KlanMAGA-enough political wannabes to get them off the field and get their upper class warriors into office. They use alleged violations of MAGA-Woke to get their militant Backwardite Stupidite Retardite base to vote against economic and power uplift for poorish people, possibly including themselves to their great after-the-fact surprise.
Here is an example of weaponised MAGA-Woke on parade and in use.
“Girls will be forced to undergo vaginal inspections if voters approve anti-trans sports measure. Medical providers statewide have said that such exams are unnecessary and invasive.”
Troll those Radical Woke Leftists! Make them go on record defending boy-perverts in girl-disguise sneaking onto girls teams!
https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1u0gjyt/girls_will_be_forced_to_undergo_vaginal/
Cherek
Mainer here. He won the primary. Cruised to victory.
The loudest voice against him regarding his exes was from a Lyndsey Fifield, a Repub influencer who feels NYT downplayed her story. Basically Platner and Fifield’s camps are both claiming to be screwed by the establishment/liberal media.
A political watcher once told me that the cynic in him felt Platner knew this might be coming from Fifield and disclosed all of this himself to get ahead of it. Platner, at the very least, isn’t a guy who has been preparing to run for Senate all his life. He passes the old “guy you’d most want to have a beer with” standard (which is a shitty standard and makes me suspicious).
The rest of the elections are interesting. I’m paying no mind to the Rs as a sustainable model for a better world won’t come from their current crop of candidates. A Bush – that family of Bush – ran as the “Outsider” candidate – for a sample of how things are going on that side of the aisle.
Baldacci is the leader in the District 2 Primary and he’s known as the insider. Wood and Loud are the better options. In the D Gov Primary Shah is basically a moderate centrist dipshit on everything save public health. He’s leading currently as he hosted fireside chats during the pandemic and made everyone feel safe.
Ian, I don’t feel we’re growing up or maturing. I feel we still very much vote off the vibes.
Maine has ranked choice voting for these elections tho. If nobody hits the threshold to win outright (they wont) they’ll be counting ballots in Augusta for the next week. Should be fun to watch if you’re into that sort of thing.