cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/63712
At the Marxism 2026 conference in Toronto last month, Ian Angus spoke at a release event for his new book, Metabolic Rifts: Capitalism's Assault on the Earth System, out now from Monthly Review Press.
From MR Online via This RSS Feed.
cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/63684
Members of the Democratic Socialists of America circulated a letter calling on candidates and elected officials to refuse to work with the consultants who handled Graham Platner’s campaign, according to screenshots of the letter shared with The Intercept.
“We, the undersigned, call on DSA candidates and elected officials to no longer contract or work with Morris Katz or Fight Agency, his political consulting firm,” the letter reads.
Katz is not a member of DSA.
The letter also noted consultants at the agency like Rebecca Katz, who is not related to Morris, were also behind the campaign of Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., and said they continued to advise him even after he made a hard-right turn after entering the Senate.
Two sources with knowledge of the letter confirmed its authenticity.
“Morris Katz is one of the chief parties responsible for the catastrophic campaign of scandal-ridden Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner,” the letter says. “Billed as a top adviser to the campaign, Katz helped recruit Platner and supercharged his candidacy with slick video production, friendly media placements, and political connections.”
The letter circulated as pundits and observers pinned the failures of Platner’s campaign on Katz and others at Fight Agency, including Rebecca Katz. (A spokesperson for DSA’s national organization said they had not seen the letter. Neither Morris Katz nor Rebecca Katz immediately responded to requests for comment.)
[
Related
The People Who Stood By Graham Platner — Until He Was Accused ofremoved](https://theintercept.com/2026/07/07/graham-platner-maine-senate-democrats-midterms/)
The agency is also currently working with Maine Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who is not affiliated with DSA. The Democratic socialist group has reportedly shifted resources to Michigan, where DSA is backing congressional candidate Donavan McKinney.
Katz’s Timeline
In a statement posted to X on Thursday, Katz said, “As soon as the team became aware of theremoved allegations against Graham Platner we advised he suspend his candidacy, and in the following days worked to wind down the campaign.”
CNN said the Platner campaign first denied the allegation in response to questions after an interview with the accuser, Jenny Racicot, whose allegation was first reported by Politico. The DSA members’ letter disputed Katz’s account.
“Even as the scandals mounted, Katz continued to put the full weight of his consultancy behind Platner’s candidacy.”
“According to reports, Katz and others on the campaign were aware of at least some of Platner’s disturbing history,” the letter reads. “Yet even as the scandals mounted, Katz continued to put the full weight of his consultancy behind Platner’s candidacy, foreclosing the possibility of replacing Platner with another candidate before the primary election. Katz also reportedly threatened a former Platner staffer for helping verify allegations and controversies surrounding the campaign.”
The alleged threat, first reported by the Bangor Daily News, targeted a Platner campaign staffer who had publicized an earlier sexting scandal and later left the campaign over Platner’s controversial Reddit posts.
Progressive Defenders
Some Democrats and progressives have pushed back against the criticisms of Katz and Fight Agency, arguing that Democratic consultants who worked with candidates they knew faced credible allegations of sexual misconduct, like former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo or former Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif. — or even former President Joe Biden — did not face the same kind of blacklisting.
“Did we go knives out for Eric Swalwell’s consultants?” said one progressive strategist who requested anonymity in order to speak freely.
Some of the moderate Democratic critics of Katz’s role in the Platner campaign worked for politicians with their own scandal-ridden histories.
“The political world is chock full of useless consultants. Nobody cares when they fuck up a race.”
“This is not a problem unique to the left,” the strategist said. “This comes down to holding candidates accountable, and I think it’s no surprise that the same consultants who have laundered even worse politicians through the Democratic Party are the loudest ones right now.”
“The political world is chock full of useless consultants. Nobody cares when they fuck up a race,” said another progressive strategist. “The knives are out for Morris and Fight, because they’re actually good at what they do.”
Fellow Traveler?
Fight Agency’s most notable work for a DSA candidate was creating ads for Zohran Mamdani’s successful run to become the mayor of New York City, a race where Katz served as a political adviser. Katz also worked on the campaign of state Assembly Member Claire Valdez, the DSA candidate who won a New York Democratic primary for a House seat last month.
In the wake of Platner’s downfall, the letter says, liberals and conservatives have tried to claim that Katz represents the left as a whole.
[
Related
There’s a New Democratic Machine. It’s Unabashedly Socialist.](https://theintercept.com/2026/07/06/dsa-democrats-midterms-wisconsin-colorado-new-york/)
The letter said, “Katz is linked in the mind of the media and political class to NYC-DSA,” the local chapter that boosted winning, Mamdani-backed congressional primary candidates like Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier.
The letter noted that such claims were bad for DSA, its candidates, and its movement.
“Men like Platner must not represent the American Left, and those like Katz who push such candidates should have no role in our movement.”
“Our movement must be both ethical and strategic,” it says. “Katz has not shown an ability to be either. Any movement for democratic socialism in this country must be rooted in feminism and the multiracial working class, not archaic ideas of what constitutes a ‘worker.’ Allowing Katz an outsized influence in our movement undermines these ideals.”
The post DSA Members Urge Campaigns to Ditch Platner Consultant Who Advised Mamdani appeared first on The Intercept.
From The Intercept via This RSS Feed.
Join an illegal underground communist party.
Oh look, you've collected all the fascists in one thread!
Oh hey! This was the guy who was going to save Britain from Stormtrooper! Very cool m'lord, thank you.
I tell ya, I tell ya, I love my wife. She walks around the house like she owns the place! And she does! It's true. She's a real breadwinner, let me tell ya, hoo-boy. She's such a breadwinner that I do all the grocery shopping! I'm making lists, and checkin'm TWICE I tell ya!
Go home ChatPPB, you're drunk!
Well... That's fun.
This removal happened in 2022, something that was overlooked or ignored by Sanders team. Clearly no real information sharing happening between different Democratic orgs or groups to prevent creeps like this being able to orchestrate a campaign like this one. It also explains all the denial in my perspective.
The PSL is trying to bring that party into existence, maybe we should be rallying behind them.
cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/63495
PITTSBURGH, PA. - Yesterday, Payday Report learned that Congresswoman Summer Lee barred Moraff from her 2022 congressional campaign after receiving at least three complaints of sexual misconduct against Moraff.
Now, Moraff, who recruited Graham Platner to run for Senate in Maine, is at the center of a massive controversy after he admitted that he spent only a few days vetting Platner, who just withdrew from the Senate race after he was accused ofremoved.
Given the fact that both Congresswoman Lee and Justice Democrats stop working with Moraff following these accusations, questions have been raised about why so many on the left trusted him to give a thorough vetting and assessment of Platner.
“Birds of a feather flock together and Moraff and Platner were predators,” said one woman, who says she was sexually harassed while working to elect Congresswoman Lee.
The Toys “R’ Us Heir Who Broke the Costa Political Machine in Pittsburgh
Graham Platner’s guru and top strategist, Daniel Moraff, was the grandson of Seymour Ginsburg, the founder of Toys “R” Us and its first president. As the head of Toys “R” Us, Ginsburg was innovative, shaking up the toy market across the United States and helping make it one of the largest big-box toy stores of the 1990s.
His grandson, Daniel Moraff, likewise was an innovative force who shook up Pittsburgh politics. Moraff played a bold leadership role in beating the old Democratic machine in Western PA, electing a string of socialist magistrates and local elected officials.
In 2017, Moraff led efforts to recruit Summer Lee, then a local community organizer, to run for the State House from Pittsburgh’s Mon Valley. He then played an essential role in leading her campaign to defeat Paul Costa, a 20-year incumbent from a historic Democratic machine, whose family held four major elected offices, in a little less than one year.
However, by the end of 2022, Moraff was barred from participating in Lee’s historic run for Congress, in which she overcame $5 million in AIPAC spending to become the first Black woman elected to Congress from Western PA.
Payday Report has learned that Moraff was barred from Lee’s campaign following at least three complaints of sexual misconduct leveled against him, leading Lee to ban Moraff not just from his previous leadership positions in her campaign, but from even attending campaign events for Lee.
In the winter of 2022, consultants working for the group Justice Democrats, which was founded by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and was assisting Lee, told activists, staff, and volunteers to stop communicating with Moraff, despite his repeated attempts to contact them to influence Lee’s campaign.
Given that both Lee and Justice Democrats were refusing to work with Moraff after multiple sexual misconduct claims against him, questions are raised about what people in the movement should have done to address these
Platner Revived Moraff’s Career after Sexual Misconduct Allegations
Sanders with Platner May in Orono, Maine. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Following Lee’s dismissal, Moraff struggled to find work as a political consultant. He instead focused his efforts on attending Yale Law School.
In 2024, Moraff and his partner Leanne Fan traveled out to Nebraska to recruit Kellogg strike leader Dan Osborn to run for Senate as an independent. Riding the popular support he received as a strike leader, Osborne exceeded expectations in his race against two-term Republican Senator Deb Fischer, losing to her by a mere 6%.
Moraff, with his career revived, sought to build on his brand as a consultant by recruiting other unusual politicians who could appeal to white working class voters.
In the summer of 2025, Moraff was sent a video of Platner advocating against an industrial salmon fishing farm, where Platner lived in Frenchman Bay, Maine, a wealthy seaside community outside of Bar Harbor.
A marine combat veteran from an elite wealthy Maine family, Platner served four tours in combat overseas. After returning from combat, he attended George Washington University in Washington, D.C., while working as a bartender at one of Capitol Hill’s most infamous dive bars, the Tune Inn.
Drop Site News founder Ryan Grim, who has drawn criticism for trying to debunk well-documentedremoved claims against Platner, admitted to first meeting Platner when Platner was a bartender at the Tune Inn.
On a "Breaking Points broadcast with his co-host Krystal Ball, Grim blushed about how Platner had been his bartender for many years at the Tune Inn.
"You would be maybe the second bartender serving in Congress, but you would be the first one that I knew when he was a bartender," said Grim as Platner smiled and laughed. "You worked Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights at - I was often there every Sunday night.
"I was basically there every Sunday and some Friday and Saturdays," Grim told his millions of viewers as Platner broke up a big smile.
In July of 2025, Moraff and his partner, Leanne Fan, traveled to meet with Platner and recruit him to run for the US Senate against Susan Collins. After a week of conversations, Moraff persuaded Platner that he could receive the backing of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and raise the millions needed to win the Senate seat.
A month later, on August 19, 2025, Platner launched his campaign for Senate.
“Everywhere I’ve gone it seems like the fabric of what holds us together is being ripped apart by billionaires and corrupt politicians profiting off destroying our environment, driving our families into poverty, and crushing the middle class,” Platner said in his announcement video.
Less than two weeks later, Senator Bernie Sanders endorsed Platner at a Labor Day rally in Portland on September 1, 2025, emailing millions of followers across the country, encouraging them to give to Platner
“We need senators in Washington who are prepared to take on the billionaire class and fight for working people,” said Sanders at Portland’s last Labor Day rally. “That is why I am proud to endorse Graham Platner for U.S. Senate."
Within a month, Platner had raised $3.2 million with Sanders’s backing. While other left candidates were considering running for Senate, Sanders’s political and financial backing of Platner dissuaded serious challengers, guaranteeing Platner the left lane of the Democratic primary against Maine Governor Janet Mills, who had angered many labor unions and progressives in the state.
Many on the left began to scratch their heads about why Sanders would endorse Platner so quickly given the combat veteran’s thin public record. However, Moraff assured Sanders that he had vetted Platner and thought he was solid. Given Moraff’s prior relationships with Summer Lee and Dan Osborne, operatives in Sanders’s political network decided to back Platner.
“Without Moraff’s assurance, there is no way Bernie backs Platner,” said one longtime political operative, who worked with Bernie, and refused to be named publicly for fear of retaliation.
Platner’s Persona Unravels Under Media Scrutiny
Platner fishing in the Bar Harbor community of Sullivan, where he lives in Maine
Quickly, though, questions began to emerge about how much work Sanders and Moraff had done in vetting Platner.
While campaign videos distributed by the Sanders campaign described Platner as a working-class oyster farmer, this was far from the truth. Platner’s grandfather, Warren Platner, was a wealthy interior designer and architect who designed the iconic restaurant Windows of the World on top of the World Trade Center and the headquarters of the Ford Foundation.
His father was a wealthy attorney and his mother owned a high-end restaurant outside of Bar Harbor, Maine. His father gave him the money to buy a house and his mother bought his oysters for her high-end restaurant outside of the tourist haven of Arcadia National Park. Platner lived on a $60,000-a-year military pension and by all accounts did not struggle to pay bills.
Then, in October, photos of Platner drunk, stripped down to his underwear, and dancing at a family member’s wedding went public. The photos revealed that Platner had a tattoo on his chest that resembled the Totenkopf, the symbol of the SS.
Platner claimed that he got the tattoo in Croatia in 2007 while drunk with other members of his Marine unit.
Many Zionists used photos of him drunkenly exposing his tattoo to claim that he was a Nazi. However, many anti-Zionist Jews, including myself, pointed out that the skull and crossbones symbol resembled many such symbols regularly used in the punk rock world.
Deleted Reddit posts began to emerge with Platner making various racist and misogynistic statements. In one post, Platner even mocked a video of an Army soldier, Teddy Daniels, who was wounded and crying for help in Afghanistan in 2012.
The video of Daniels pleading for his life was widely mocked and had over 23 million views on YouTube. Many soldiers, especially Marines, including Platner, mocked Daniels, a recent recruit, for failing to follow proper procedures.
"This video never gets old," joked Platner in a 2019 Reddit post. "Dumb motherfucker didn't deserve to live. At least his stupidity and fat ass wheezing are available for all future infantrymen to witness and hold in contempt. Poor marksmanship on the Taliban's part is the only reason this mouthbreather made it home, he managed to make every possible shit decision possible when it comes to small unit combat."
Platner apologized, telling people that his disturbing posts years earlier were the result of PTSD and heavy drinking.
“I got out of the Army in 2012. I had PTSD, I had depression. I had all of the things that come with serving in a war, in two wars that I eventually began to not believe in at all. It left me feeling very unmoored,” said Platner. “And I think, like a lot of people, I went on the internet to post stupid things and get in fights and find some form of community in some way. Some outlet for my feelings, for my rage, for my isolation. It wasn’t until I found the actual community that all went away.”
Still, polls showed Platner soaring to a landslide Democratic primary victory. His opponent, Maine Governor Janet Mills, even suspended campaigning as she struggled to gain support.
However, eleven days before the primary election, news reports began to emerge that Platner, just a few months after his marriage, had sexted with multiple women in 2023. Platner’s wife Amy Gertner quickly posted a video on social media, saying that she and Graham had worked through their issues.
Many were upset at the time about how the leaks were unfair since Platner’s wife Amy Gerter had told a former campaign staffer about their infidelity issues in confidence.
Then, on June 4th, The New York Times came forward with the story that he was previously abusive to an ex-girlfriend, Lyndsey Fifield. However, The New York Times admitted that they could not corroborate the story. Many dismissed it quickly since Lyndsey Fifield had a history of lying about Palestinian activists. She had also led a group that was accused of lying about the sexual assault accusers of Brett Kavanaugh during his Senate confirmation hearings.
Five days later, Platner soared to a 72% victory in the Maine Democratic primary for Senate.
Many took his victory as a sign that Mainers were willing to look past Platner’s faults and focus on his politics.
removed Accusations Emerge Against Platner*
Jenny Racicot accused Platner ofremoved her on CNN.
Then, on July 6th, Politico publishedremoved accusations against Platner leveled by an ex-girfrlend, Jenny Racicot .
“I remember him grabbing my pelvis and being really forceful of me,” she said. “I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, ‘This is no longer my choice.’”“One of the reasons I didn’t come forward sooner was, the huge moral conflict that I had between supporting his politics, but not supporting him as a person,” Raciot told POLITICO. “I just want the truth out there. I just want people to have a whole scope of who he is as a person.”
Quickly, many urged Platner to drop out of the race. Senator Bernie Sanders, his chief sponsor, called on him to drop out.
Quickly, many began to wonder why Bernie had cleared the left lane for Platner so quickly. Activists pointed the finger at Moraff for doing an expedited vetting of Platner. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Moraff admitted that he spent only a few days researching Platner before approving him.
The interview with Moraff sitting next to his partner Leanne Fan, laughing as they described how they saved thousands of dollars by doing a quick vet, was quickly mocked online.
“We're going to be led off a cliff by people doing ‘’what if JD Vance was in a Portlandia’ skit’ fuckass cosplay,” wrote the host of Executive Dysfunction podcast Amanda Nelson to her 350,000 followers on Threads.
In Pittsburgh, some activists began contacting Payday saying that it was no coincidence that Moraff would so quickly approve Platner without doing the type of deep background research needed for a candidate for that office.
Worse, many speculated that Moraff may have overlooked Platner’s record while vetting him given Moraff’s own record of sexual misconduct, which ultimately led Congresswoman Summer Lee to ban Moraff from participating in her campaign or attending her events in her first run for Congress in 2022.
Payday Report has learned that during Summer Lee’s 2022 campaign for Congress Lee received at least three sexual harassment complaints against Moraff. At the time, Moraff was attending Yale Law School, and the heir to the Toys “R” Us fortune was working on a pro bono basis on Lee’s campaign.
Due to his family wealth, Moraff did not need a job like most Pittsburgh activists, and arrived in the city in 2017 after working on several controversial campaigns in New York City. In 2016, Moraff managed the losing campaign of left-wing organizer Debbie Medina, who admitted on record to beating her son. She lost terribly.
Then, he moved out to Pittsburgh and managed the successful campaign of socialist Mik Pappas to be elected as magistrate in Pittsburgh’s East End. Following that success, he steered the election efforts of now-Congresswoman Summer Lee in her first election for State Representative, successfully defeating 20-year incumbent Paul Costa in Pittsburgh’s Mon Valley. He also helped to defeat Paul’s cousin Dom in a state representative election in the hipster neighborhoods of Pittsburgh’s East End.
As a workaholic and unconventional organizer, who had defeated one of Pittsburgh’s oldest family political machines to elect socialists, Moraff quickly became a rockstar.
“I had spent about a decade organizing in Pittsburgh before he came to town, and I never saw so much true movement of power in such a short time. Not even close,” said one female organizer, who said she later experienced Moraff yelling regularly at her and others for not living up to his expectations when working on Congresswoman Summer Lee’s first campaign for Congress in 2022.
Full disclosure, Summer Lee and I attended Woodland Hills High School together. She was a year younger than me, and we were mere acquaintances. I reached out to Congresswoman Lee for comment late in the day on Tuesday, but have not heard back from her yet.
However, the story is confirmed by seven well-respected activists who worked to elect Lee to Congress and supported Lee’s decision to ban Moraff from her campaign events back in 2022.
Congresswoman Summer Lee launches her campaign in October of 2021
During Lee’s first run for Congress in 2022, Moraff was attending Yale Law School and not formally employed on the campaign. However, he was calling in regularly, phone calls where Moraff would regularly yell at activists and staffers who had less experience working with Lee.
At one point on a conference call in the winter of 2022, when Moraff began berating a key staffer, Lee interrupted Moraff, telling him that if he continued to treat her staff in that manner, he would no longer be welcome to be involved in her campaign.
Around the same time, Lee’s campaign manager Annie Weinberg and consultants from Justice Democrats began weighing what to do about the multiple sexual harassment complaints that they had received against Moraff over the years. They began receiving multiple complaints that Moraff was sexually aggressive with volunteers and activists on the campaign.
Summer Lee’s campaign received complaints from at least three women, and he was dismissed. One woman, who complained about his sexual misconduct while organizing in Pittsburgh, said she wasn’t surprised that Moraff would have championed someone like Platner.
“None of his current embroilment really surprises me because he doesn’t have boundaries with women, nor much of an ethical code,” said one woman.
Still, despite many of these Pittsburgh activists complaining about Moraff’s conduct, they also expressed respect and a desire that he fix his ways, as one woman, who found him abusive, asked that I put in this story.
“[Moraff] as a person didn't make a good impression,’ said one activist, who worked for Lee. “But the work and movement he ignited was incredibly valuable and he was instrumental in that. Honestly I still think he transformed Pittsburgh politics in a way that was sorely needed and wasn't happening otherwise,” she wrote in a message. “It ignited something that was needed. An important igniter, not the person (that) needed (to) continue the work imho.”
Mike Elk is an Emmy-nominated labor reporter, who founded Payday Report with an NLRB settlement from being illegally fired for union organizing at POLITICO. The New York Times once described him as an "abrasive gadfly” for taking on sexual assault in the labor movement.
If you have information about sexual misconduct in Pittsburgh or the movement, you can contact us anonymously on Signal at 412 613 8423 or email melk@paydayreport.com.
For sexual assault survivors looking for assistance, the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800- 656-4673 is run by theremoved*, Abuse, Incest National Network, and* they offer a list of resources online. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania offers guidance and resources for those in an unsafe and inequitable workplace and who wish to file a complaint with the PHRC or U.S. EEOC.
From Payday Report via This RSS Feed.
Right, she followed up with "do not come over" and he did anyway. At that point it doesn't matter what she said before she explicitly said "do not come over". To drag out this "detail" under these conditions is to hold water for removeds and nothing else. Ryan Grim and Drop Site's twitter replies on these posts had people taking this news exactly as you would expect and thanking them for their "reporting". Disgusting.
It’s similar to people who ask what a victim was wearing before an assault.
Its so similar that when I heard this "key detail" the MSM "neglected" to reveal to the public, it struck me as exactly the same as asking "What were you wearing?" Shit, even the detail of "Her door was unlocked" ALSO rings in the same tone as that question. Its utterly ridiculous for Drop Site, Breaking Points, and Ryan Grim to try and characterize it in any other way.
cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/63112
Graham Platner's campaign manager on Wednesday accused the Maine Democratic Party of coordinating with national Democrats "behind closed doors" and cutting the embattled US Senate nominee's supporters out of the process to determine his potential replacement in the wake of a sexual assault allegation—and amid expectations that he will soon drop out of the race.
In a text message sent to Platner supporters, campaign chief Ben Chin wrote that the Maine Democratic Party "allowed the DC-based Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to send staffers to plan a potential nominating process behind closed doors. Both the state and national parties cut our team, our volunteers, and our vast networks of supporters out of the conversation completely."
"We firmly believe that the supporters and volunteers who built this movement deserve to have a real role in any nomination process," Chin's message continued. "If the Maine Democratic Party hopes to harness our movement, and avoid disillusioning the hundreds of thousands of supporters who came into the fray because of our movement’s policies, it must consult the feedback and proposals of the people who built and sustained this."
The text included a link to a two-question survey asking Platner volunteers, "What message do you have for the Democratic Party?" and, "What message do you have for Graham?"
The defiant message came as Platner's campaign was reportedly planning the nominee's exit from the US Senate race to pave the way for a different Democratic candidate to take on five-term Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) in November. Platner has denied the sexual assault allegation that prompted mass calls for him to exit the race, including from his most prominent supporters such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Chin's text message was circulated a day after Devon Murphy-Anderson, the Maine Democratic Party's executive director, said in a video posted to social media that the party has been "working around the clock" to develop a plan to replace Platner that is "open, inclusive, transparent, and fair." The party has not yet publicly specified what that plan could entail, saying Platner must formally withdraw from the race first.
Murphy-Anderson accused Platner's team of "repeatedly reach[ing] out" to the Maine Democratic Party "in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like."
"We have repeatedly reiterated to Graham Platner's team that they have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee for the US Senate," Murphy-Anderson added.
In response to Murphy-Anderson's statement, the Platner campaign denied that it has attempted to exert influence over the replacement process, saying it simply "reached out to the party to try and understand what this process would look like."
"Over 150,000 Mainers voted for this movement, and over 15,000 Mainers volunteered their time and energy to it," an unnamed Platner campaign official told NBC News late Tuesday. "While Graham wouldn't want to be a part of the process, he would want to make sure the voters and volunteers make this decision—not the political establishment."
On Wednesday, the Maine Democratic Party issued a new statement decrying what it called the Platner team's "false accusations against us" while also expressing gratitude for "his supporters and all of their efforts to defeat Susan Collins."
"They are a vital part of our party and deserve to participate in an open process to select Platner’s replacement," said Maine Democrats.
CNN reported that Platner is "expected to announce his decision" on his candidacy "through a recorded video, which could come later Wednesday."
Platner must drop out of the race by July 13 if he's to be replaced on the November ballot. If he exits the race, an alternative must be selected by July 27.
Politico reported that Platner "quietly fielded a poll Tuesday gauging the strength of people who could replace him on the ballot."
"The flash poll, obtained by Politico, was conducted by Public Policy Polling and commissioned by Platner’s campaign," the outlet reported. "It tested head-to-head match-ups between Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Platner, along with five possible Democratic replacements for Platner, including former Maine state Senate President Troy Jackson and Secretary of State Shenna Bellows."
"Of the Democrats tested, Jackson performed the best, leading Collins 49% to 44%, with 7% of voters undecided," Politico reported. The outlet also noted that the poll, conducted the day after the sexual assault allegation against Platner was first reported by Politico, showed Platner trailing Collins 47% to 42%.
Jackson has filed paperwork to explore a Senate bid in preparation for Platner's expected exit, and Bellows—who lost badly to Collins in 2014—has said she would "seriously consider entering this race." Nirav Shah, former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, is also weighing a Senate bid.
From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.
I'm talking like, Bubblegum Crisis, an Anime that I am somehow aware of but have never watched.
I've seen bits and peaces of the stuff that was airing here in the 2000 like; Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Sailor Moon, Big O, Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Yu Yu Hakusho, Inuyasha, Full Metal Alchemist, Ranma 1/2, Gundam Wing. I have not even begun to touch 1 Peace. Basically, if it was on Toonami, I've probably seen some of it.
I feel like there is stuff from the late 80s through the 90s that were popular through the import scenes that I probably never heard of, that everyone who is in that scene knows and loves.
cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/62882
[Jennifer Taylor Skinner (@jennifertaylorskinner) on Threads
If you’re looking for someone to blame, start with the consultants who handpicked Platner, and admitted that they knew their vetting process was flawed. This interview is from early June, from the WSJ.](https://www.threads.com/@jennifertaylorskinner/post/Dad8a13Ab5m?xmt=AQG0SlTTq0vu5dRZRYNlXrmPk4djK-9IUYdZ-8QCCf1FNoneTMIBYKuZZftgkkNlxiUhCngs&slof=1)
In the news about Graham Platner, one name keeps coming up that is familiar to those of us in Pittsburgh: Daniel Moraff. The Wall Street Journal labeled Moraff “The ‘Mad Scientist’ Behind Graham Platner’s Scandal-Plagued Rise.”
Moraff recruited Platner after seeing a video of him advocating for Frenchman Bay. Moraff told The Wall Street Journal that he spent only a few days vetting Platner, but was convinced that he was the guy they needed after seeing only a video of him.
I first got to know Moraff when he worked on Summer Lee’s first campaign for state representative. Later, he was dismissed from Summer’s campaign for reasons that were never entirely clear to me, and it remains a subject of debate here.
I didn’t know Moraff well, but would occasionally see him around town. We weren’t close friends, but when we ran into each other, we would often talk politics and share a few laughs. As a journalist, I saw him as a source, not a friend.
In September of 2022, I was down in Rio de Janeiro when I received a message from Moraff saying he needed to speak to me urgently. I tried to blow him off because I was deep into covering the election of President Lula and didn’t have time. In November, after Lula’s election, he contacted me again, and I agreed to talk to him.
What happened next shocked me and raised questions about what may have happened in his work for Platner.
Moraff told me he was recruiting Brian Pietrzak, a General Electric locomotive factory worker and UE member, to run for Congress in Erie. He said he wanted Pietrzak to run as an independent. While researching Pietrzak, Moraff found anti-Trump quotes he had given Payday and asked me to delete them.
In October of 2020, Pietzrak spoke at a Biden rally at Carrie Furnaces in Rankin, PA, where he blasted Trump at length.
“No union member should vote for Trump,” Pietrzak told Payday Report in October of 2020.
Moraff explained at length that Pietrzak’s quote against Trump could hurt his chances of appealing to Trump voters in Erie. I told him deleting a quote as a political favor would violate journalistic ethics. He insisted I do it even after I said no.
Cajoling me, Moraff told me that, “No one would know that I deleted the quote.” I told him that wasn’t the issue, and that it was unethical, so I refused. He told me to forget the conversation and never mention it to anyone. It's important to know Moraff asked me to lie for a candidate he was recruiting.
Given what happened with Platner, I think the incident with Moraff asking me to lie is important. If Moraff felt comfortable asking me, someone that he didn’t know that well, to lie, it means that he possibly got influencers and journalists in the past to lie on his behalf.
When I heard that Moraff was involved in vetting and recruiting Platner, I recalled this experience. It showed me that Moraff was willing to lie to get someone elected and to ask journalists to do unethical things to help sell those lies.
Sadly, in the age of influencers and content creators, many former journalists would be willing to engage in the kind of lying that someone like Moraff requested. I would not.
As we examine what went wrong with Platner, we should question the political consultants and influencers, such as Moraff, who shape public opinion. When reporters like me raised questions about Platner’s character, we were repeatedly dismissed by left influencers who said we were applying “purity tests” to folks like Platner.
While none of us knew that he was aremoved, it was very clear that he was an abuser. As an oddball, autistic kid who was bullied and beaten up by folks like Platner, I knew the type: domineering, dismissive, and dishonest—classic traits of a narcissist.
Platner even mocked a soldier in a viral video, who was crying for help while wounded in Afghanistan. Ted Daniels, the soldier, who Platner mocked, had struggled with PTSD himself and rejected the idea that PTSD was an excuse for abusive behavior.
“PTSD is a real thing. I've dealt with it myself, and I've had to learn to live with it. It is not an excuse for dirtbag behavior,” said Daniels. “It's insulting to every veteran, every first responder, every sexual assault survivor who suffers from PTSD. There are good people out there suffering and getting the help they need and functioning every day in society.”
When we raised these concerns about clearly narcissistic and abusive behavior, we were dismissed as applying “purity tests,” but those of us who have suffered abuse from those like Platner knew the warning signs all along.
I think there are deeper lessons here about how people invested in political programs can engage in “hero worship” and dismiss clear signs of troubling narcissism. The most important lesson is that we need independent journalism on the left that does not take orders and tell lies.
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Oh, that's fun!