Suggested approach for Maine Democrats when (not if) Platner drops out. Just a few weeks ago in the Dem Governor primary, three candidates emerged as the strongest competitors to the eventual winner: Nirav Shah, Shenna Bellows, and Troy Jackson. They just demonstrated voter support. Why not have the three compete in caucuses and a convention. (Troy Jackson is a strong Platner supporter). Then we can avoid the "Biden/Harris" problem of a dictated choice, and all of them have campaign staffs and have been vetted.
I agree this would be the best course. My worry is that Schumer will get involved and they will try and run Mills. That would most assuredly cause us to lose that seat.
We've already lost. Trump was proved to be a rapist and accused of pedophilia, but Platner needs to drop out due to non stop, overwhelming coverage of his, yet undisclosed sexual attack on a woman, who mysteriously decided years later to come out about it. Im not even denying she might be right in feeling she was abused, but how does that effect Platner's ability to be a good Democratic Senator?
Probably no more than Trump's history of sexual assault, and Kavanaugh's history of sexual assault affect their ability to be a good Republican President and a good Supreme Court Justice.
I mean, he'll probably be no worse than any other sexual predator we've sent to Congress.
I hope you threw up in your mouth a little when you wrote that sentence.
Oh, get over. All I care about is we get the fascist dictators out of office. Why are there five articles about an accusation against Platner of alleged sexual misconduct today in the Hill? Because its a hatchet job!
Why are the Republicans laughing? Because Trump just refused to pay Carrolll for sexually molesting her. WTF!. THAT should be the headline.
Platner was never going to be a good senator. He is a flawed human being who shouts a lot but has never fought anything politically.
He is the equivalent of the pyramid scheme, NFT, Trump crypto. He made the young people feel good and made them think they knew something no one else did. When in fact everyone knew this guy was garbage from the beginning. His resume fit the Proud Boys better than the senate.
Now it’s time to get an adult to actually win this race.
The NYT reported that the Maine Democratic committee has already said they will not just decide who is put on the ballot themselves. The report said that they are considering either a pop-up convention or a caucus. Fingers crossed they make this as democratic as possible (small D). I also hope that Platner gets input into this. As fatally flawed as his candidacy is, he has energized Maine Democratic voters and that is a critical piece of this.
Of course. And considering Trump has been credibly accused of molesting a teenager and just was told to pay Carroll for attacking her in a dressing room, you'd think no one would even blink about some woman accusing Platner of something he may or may not have done years ago. But no, get rid of our only exciting Democratic candidate in Maine. The Republicans knew they couldn't beat him so they dug up a scandal.
There is a lot of corroborating evidence. The man has been dishonest about other shoes dropping. And unlike the GOP, we do have red lines. I don’t know what happened. Neither do you. But the place to adjudicate that is a court room, not a senate race on which may hinge the fate of the nation.
It would be wonderful if it could be shown that the woman, whether a victim of Plattner or not, was paid to come out with her story by some R operative.
Up till now, it would have taken a close reading of the actual Maine statute. It's disappointing that mainstream media couldn't get this info quickly. A phone call to officials in Maine should have cleared it up quickly.
It's a tight time frame indeed. I'll admit that I don't know the rules, but it seems that local caucuses could be held and the votes from those gatherings tallied rather than holding a convention.
turnout would probably be low, only the most engaged party members, who are following the news closely enough to respond to seek out participation. that's still better than an executive decision tho.
Kitzsu - doesn’t Maine have a tradition of town meetings for local governance? Could be some culture of participation different from states I’ve lived in, which could be tapped into to make this effort more feasible there than would be most places
I could argue that people are used to assholes in their daily life and have accepted that politics right now is a bunch of assholes so let's get our own in there. We don't hold assholes in our own life accountable a lot of the time so why are we suprised that it is cascading into our politics?
Why? Trump got elected. No one seems to care that he was just ordered to pay Carrol for attacking her in a dressing room. If he were Democrat he'd be forced to resign. But a Republican can literally can get away rape and probably murder.
and the Hollywood Access tape, and the reporting on ogling partially dressed young girls in the Miss America pageant, and the potentially explosive Epstein revelations if that ever happens........I guess Trump is just SO awesome, sent by God himself to save the world, that he has total and complete moral immunity. GAAAAAAH. What has happened to society??!! Why are we even debating Platner, and what-abouting him? There MUST be someone else!!!
Well, there are warts and then there is full-blown, body parts falling off, leprosy. And I think that credible accusations of rape is full-blown, body parts falling off, leprosy.
It looked like Belgium was particularly motivated to win. The presidential involvement likely was something along the lines of bulletin board material for them to go out and embarrass us as much as they could. I'm sure their fans are particularly pleased today.
In his statement after the red card, he said he thought the call was wrong but it's the ref's call to make and players respect that principle. Then Trump corrupted his sportsmanship.
It was hilarious how he admitted that he didn't even know what a red card was but then pivoted to posing as an expert on what's an improper call and said he knows sports really really well.
I don't know much about soccer either, except that when I suggest improvements my English friends take great offense. I see why you might want even an inadvertent "high spikes" be a foul; I don't see why it should be a red card plus suspension.
The USA team wound up being a victim of Trump's sticking his nose in where it didn't belong. 1) They no longer were standing on their own merits but were like the kid whose well-connected parents got them a job/university. They suddenly had less personal power since they got special treatment, due to Trump's corrupt influence. Balagan in particular would have been conflicted even if only on a subconscious level. A 'favor' not asked for but foisted upon him 2) Any win by the US team would have been tainted 3) Belgium had a real fire in their belly and may have been fiercer opponents. Trump degrades everybody.
Additional question. Should the USA ever be allowed to host again? Also can somebody tell me were the pre game flyovers on for the US team? That doesn’t seem to me the was a host nation should behave.
I also notice that it’s only Americans insisting that Balogun’s red card was incorrectly given or that the US had “an airtight case for appeal”. There is no appeal against these things in the World Cup; the ref’s decision is (except apparently when the US president starts making threats) final and whether you agree or not tough. It’s how football works.
England fans are still angry about Maradona’s handball being ignored by the ref which enabled him to score knocking England out of the 1986 World Cup in the quarter finals 40 years on (hilariously I’ve just discovered that there’s a fairly lengthy Wikipedia article on the controversy named “Hand of God” -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_hand_of_God). But we had to live with it.
Football is not like American sports where violence by players is either encouraged or gets you a brief spell in the sin bin at worst. A red card is a serious thing; especially in an international tournament where every game is vital and a suspension can be devastating. Not that my opinion matters but personally from the video and frame by frame it doesn’t look unreasonable to conclude Barogun deliberately stamped on Muharemović‘s ankle. At the very least it was an overly aggressive tackle of the sort football authorities have been cracking down on heavily in recent years.
To give a feel for how strongly the rest of the world feels about this. Despite none of the British teams being directly affected, Trump’s interference and FIFA’s capitulation is a front page story on all but two of the main British papers today (including the broadsheets). The other two go with intra-Royal family shenanigans relating to Harry’s visit to the UK.
The US getting thrashed 4-1 is being categorised as karmic comeuppance. It was probably the best outcome for the USMST (and FIFA for that matter). Had they won things really could have started spiralling out of control. At the very least the US team would forever be labelled the Trump cheats and booed and jeered wherever they played. I can’t come up with a good terrace chant myself but football fans can be quite imaginative about these things.
Although it does not apply in this case every time I hear chants of U S A I want to bellow An Ti Fa. I’m not against our military or our athletes, but I am furious about republicans deciding who has free speech.
Sam: "In a new, devastating report from Politico on Monday, a woman who once dated Platner said he sexually assaulted her nearly five years ago. The details are both disturbing and well-documented. Her substantiation alone—Facebook messages supporting her account and corroboration from another ex-boyfriend whom she told about it—gives her account credibility. That Platner denied the accusation is far from convincing. At a certain point, the pattern of behavior becomes impossible to dismiss, even if the details are obscured by the fog of memory."
I've been waiting for this particular shoe to drop. Imagine how arrogant you have to be to run for Senate with the majority in the balance with this many skeletons in your closet. Platner obviously thought he could weather this. After all, he probably looked at Donald Trump and concluded you can be a piece of shit and still have a 50/50 shot at winning. That sort of thinking leads to ruin. Planter needs to go, and if he doesn't drop out on his own, he needs to be forced out.
Talarico in Texas is being called a girl and a trans. He's a seminarian with a clean record.
paxton is the middle of divorce on biblical grounds. Going off to Iceland with his mistress for the 4th. Corrupt as hell and out loud and proud about it. Should've served time.
Democrats police themselves, republicans don't. For the rethugs it's a source of manly pride. And Democrats lose.
But then you have Mark Robinson. Roy Moore. Donald Trump. They didn’t drop out. One got crushed, one lost a squeaker, the other was elected president … twice.
So true and disgusting. I hate that anything resembling virtue is seen as weakness. You can be a fighter and strive to be a good human being. Both can be true.
The trick is arriving at a single set of standards. Currently, the Dems have many standards. Too many to arrive at guiding principles. Which is probably worse.
JD, or whatever he's calling himself these days, can have a hot cup of "shut the fuck up". The man has no principles, and it's an indictment of our nation that such a man can ascend to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.
But only if the candidate is one of them. When it's not, then they decry the lack of morals and character. The mind of the GOP base voter is heavily compartmentalized. This is why they can be weapons grade hypocrites and not experience any cognitive dissonance.
Not only morally degenerate in their personal lives, but morally and legally compromised in the manner in which they conduct themselves as elected officials in the duties of their office. See: Ken Paxton.
For whatever set of reasons, the Democratic Party has lost its ability to circle the wagons around its own creeps.
Mind you, this is the same party that once successfully defended Bill Clinton, a serial sexual predator and a man of profoundly skeevy morals; this is the same party that rallied around the feckless, reckless Ted Kennedy and kept him in the US Senate for years (although he had to give up his dream of the presidency) even after he left Mary Jo Kopechne dead at Chappaquiddick.
Somewhere after the turn of the 21st century, perhaps in an appeal to the women's vote, Democrats became harsher on their sexual miscreants: to the extent of knifing Al Franken in the back and driving him out of the US Senate even though he was guilty of just about nothing at all, the target, in fact, of a right wing dirty op.
The Republicans, meanwhile, postured as Great Christians right up until 2016 when it became clear Donald was going to be their candidate, at which point they decided he was a figure out of the Old Testament, a depraved sinner sent by God: one of many depraved sinners in the GOP, including Ken Paxton, and realized they could go on blaguing about what Great Christians they are even as they committed the most atrocious sins.
I don’t disagree, but it says as much about GOP VOTERS as anything. And though I don’t expect or want my candidates to be completely pure in character — those types are invariably pearl-clutching moralists — I do expect them to have a sense of shame and remorse. Even Teddy got sober and didn’t defend his awful behavior.
I wonder if Platner, who obviously has some speaking talent, had been up front from the beginning, might still be running (assuming he would have made it through the primary). The rule politicians, particularly GOP politicians, has gotten from Trump is never admit or apologize. Just keep defiantly lying.
Donald had it dinned into him by his mentor, the infamous Roy Cohn: deny everything, admit nothing, never apologize, never concede a loss. If challenged, attack.
In that schema, utterly amoral ruthlessness is the hallmark of a winner, and even more than Cohn, Trump is a living embodiment of Lombardi’s dictum that winning is the only thing. For people who see themselves as part of a despised minority, that’s the hero-champion to stick with.
Yes; the fact that the outrageous Franken thing happened [and the two jackasses who did it, NY's Senators, are both still in office] is one of the prime reason why people like me opposed Platner being forced out initially. It seemed to stink to high heaven.
Not any more. "When the facts change, my opinion changes. Why? What do you do? "--Orwell.
MAGA has no shame. It's wrong that they get away with it most of the time. But its their brand. They are proud of breaking the rules both informal and formal.
Let's not forget Chuck Schumer's role in this. He decided that Janet Mills should be the next Senator from Maine. She is a capable and talented woman, who nevertheless is very old and part of the establishment that voters are rejecting. Chuck cleared the field of anyone except Platner and Mills, and here we are. Platner needs to go, and so does Chuck Schumer.
I don't mean to offend any USA soccer fans, but America losing to Belgium after Trump's blatant corruption of the game gives me hope that the arc of the moral universe really does bend toward justice.
One of the biggest struggles I see in the Trump era is fighting back against the MAGA-level acceptance of ‘everything is good as long as the candidate is on my team’. There was a lot of that in the acceptance of Platner as a candidate. I hope when there is a next time, people decide it is right and good to say no to a Nazi tattoo. That really should have been enough.
As usual, there will be only one winner of the World Cup this time around. All other teams will be losers, though there will be opportunity to claim 'a good run" in varying degrees. As far as I can tell, there will be only one team that is both beaten and disgraced: USA, thanks to the President of the United States.
At first glance, I read the title as "A Case for Recklessly Endangering the Senate." Thank you, Sam Stein, for not writing that article!
My biggest issues is how do these guys think they should run for political office when there might be even a hint of a scandal in their background? Is the thirst for power that great or is there some sort of character deficiency that they think their history won't be found out or won't be an issue? Neither option is great.
Good article. But Sonny, you fell into a trap. "I couldn’t help but think back to the Jimmy Kimmel suspension in September of last year, following a tasteless crack about Charlie Kirk in the aftermath of his assassination. " Actually it was NOT a crack about Charlie Kirk! Not even a little. It was a crack about MAGAs reaction to it. [Kimmel: "We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it."]. NEVER concede to the reality distortion that MAGA has tried to enforce on everyone.
In today's digital world, how could anyone be so stupid as to try to run for office when you have that in the background. Nothing is hidden, and unless you are a Guardian of Pedophile supporter, things like this matter.
“I couldn’t help but think back to the Jimmy Kimmel suspension in September of last year, following a tasteless crack about Charlie Kirk in the aftermath of his assassination.”
I went back and watched the Kimmel clip and I can’t see what it was he said that was “tasteless.” The only thing I can see MAGA getting upset about is Kimmel exposing Trump’s lack of sympathy for Kirk and his obsession with monuments to his greater glory.
Suggested approach for Maine Democrats when (not if) Platner drops out. Just a few weeks ago in the Dem Governor primary, three candidates emerged as the strongest competitors to the eventual winner: Nirav Shah, Shenna Bellows, and Troy Jackson. They just demonstrated voter support. Why not have the three compete in caucuses and a convention. (Troy Jackson is a strong Platner supporter). Then we can avoid the "Biden/Harris" problem of a dictated choice, and all of them have campaign staffs and have been vetted.
I agree this would be the best course. My worry is that Schumer will get involved and they will try and run Mills. That would most assuredly cause us to lose that seat.
That would be the worst case scenario but reading the chatter, it seems unlikely. I think Schumer and Mills recognize it would go over poorly.
Your words in their ears.
Is the attitude Mills takes going to be help or hindrance?
I think that is an important question as I do believe she has a role to play here and hopefully it will be to help this transition.
We've already lost. Trump was proved to be a rapist and accused of pedophilia, but Platner needs to drop out due to non stop, overwhelming coverage of his, yet undisclosed sexual attack on a woman, who mysteriously decided years later to come out about it. Im not even denying she might be right in feeling she was abused, but how does that effect Platner's ability to be a good Democratic Senator?
Probably no more than Trump's history of sexual assault, and Kavanaugh's history of sexual assault affect their ability to be a good Republican President and a good Supreme Court Justice.
I mean, he'll probably be no worse than any other sexual predator we've sent to Congress.
I hope you threw up in your mouth a little when you wrote that sentence.
Oh, get over. All I care about is we get the fascist dictators out of office. Why are there five articles about an accusation against Platner of alleged sexual misconduct today in the Hill? Because its a hatchet job!
Why are the Republicans laughing? Because Trump just refused to pay Carrolll for sexually molesting her. WTF!. THAT should be the headline.
I get your point. But if we abandon all standards of decency for office why don't we just let the trumpelsteins stay?
Platner was never going to be a good senator. He is a flawed human being who shouts a lot but has never fought anything politically.
He is the equivalent of the pyramid scheme, NFT, Trump crypto. He made the young people feel good and made them think they knew something no one else did. When in fact everyone knew this guy was garbage from the beginning. His resume fit the Proud Boys better than the senate.
Now it’s time to get an adult to actually win this race.
Mills would win because come general election the primary fever types have little influence.
Age is a message board on political websites issue. Not an overall Maine voter issue.
2024 while people were rightfully scared of Joe Biden’s age issues no one in Maine thought twice about electing the 80 year old Angus King Jr.
The NYT reported that the Maine Democratic committee has already said they will not just decide who is put on the ballot themselves. The report said that they are considering either a pop-up convention or a caucus. Fingers crossed they make this as democratic as possible (small D). I also hope that Platner gets input into this. As fatally flawed as his candidacy is, he has energized Maine Democratic voters and that is a critical piece of this.
Of course. And considering Trump has been credibly accused of molesting a teenager and just was told to pay Carroll for attacking her in a dressing room, you'd think no one would even blink about some woman accusing Platner of something he may or may not have done years ago. But no, get rid of our only exciting Democratic candidate in Maine. The Republicans knew they couldn't beat him so they dug up a scandal.
There is a lot of corroborating evidence. The man has been dishonest about other shoes dropping. And unlike the GOP, we do have red lines. I don’t know what happened. Neither do you. But the place to adjudicate that is a court room, not a senate race on which may hinge the fate of the nation.
Is this woman taking him to court? Has he been arrested?
It would be wonderful if it could be shown that the woman, whether a victim of Plattner or not, was paid to come out with her story by some R operative.
Maybe she wasn't even paid. Maybe she is just a a MAGA Republican who wants to keep the Democrats out of office.
No need to make her a double victim, but you are certainly entitled to your opinion of what may be doing on behind the scenes.
Deadline is in 6 days though to put forth a name.
No it is not GP has 6 days to withdraw. Then Dems have 2 weeks to name a replacement candidate.
Actually, only the drop-out deadline is the 13th, new name has to be chosen by the 27th. That 2 week gap is gonna be HUGE to get this done correctly.
Thanks for the clarification! That wasn't clear on the NPR report yesterday.
Up till now, it would have taken a close reading of the actual Maine statute. It's disappointing that mainstream media couldn't get this info quickly. A phone call to officials in Maine should have cleared it up quickly.
The indie journalists I follow all had the boring but important timeline/process details correct. It’s been the MSM that’s been purposefully vague.
Why purposefully? There's no benefit to anybody. Lazy, clueless or in a rush. But not on purpose.
There is much lazy vagueness.
I don’t see how caucuses and a convention could be held by the end of this month, even in a relatively small state like Maine.
If Taylor Swift is truly committed to liberal democracy, she will loan her wedding planning team to Maine Dems.
Thanks for the only chuckle I have found in this story.🥂
It's a tight time frame indeed. I'll admit that I don't know the rules, but it seems that local caucuses could be held and the votes from those gatherings tallied rather than holding a convention.
turnout would probably be low, only the most engaged party members, who are following the news closely enough to respond to seek out participation. that's still better than an executive decision tho.
Kitzsu - doesn’t Maine have a tradition of town meetings for local governance? Could be some culture of participation different from states I’ve lived in, which could be tapped into to make this effort more feasible there than would be most places
Perhaps in the search for authenticity, it would be wise not to vote for someone who is authentically an asshole.
The problem is that a lot of people seem to prefer assholes, as long as that asshole is on their side or is thought to be.
Bingo. They like their asshole
I could argue that people are used to assholes in their daily life and have accepted that politics right now is a bunch of assholes so let's get our own in there. We don't hold assholes in our own life accountable a lot of the time so why are we suprised that it is cascading into our politics?
Well we're told all the time that "both parties are the same", or similar BS by the MSM
He ran in the wrong party.
If he wants a political future after this, he'll end up in the GOP. He's done in the Democratic Party, though.
Tell it to TrumpWorld.
Trumpers are pretty open in their belief that the indulgence they give to Trump should not extend to other people.
"Trumpers are pretty open in their belief that the indulgence they give to Trump should not extend to non-Trumpers" Fixed that for you.
Exactly. Platner should say FU to the Democrats and run as a Republican. He'd win in a landslide.
But if we exclude assholes are we really being transparent and fair? /s/
Agreed, but the search for an outsider is not some weird fixation of progressives. It's a response to the empirical state of politics in 2026.
"And how was it that political neophytism was treated as an asset and not a liability?"
Easy: because being a political neophyte is an asset. It's Platner's other stuff (like the asshole-ness) that were the liabilities.
Why? Trump got elected. No one seems to care that he was just ordered to pay Carrol for attacking her in a dressing room. If he were Democrat he'd be forced to resign. But a Republican can literally can get away rape and probably murder.
and the Hollywood Access tape, and the reporting on ogling partially dressed young girls in the Miss America pageant, and the potentially explosive Epstein revelations if that ever happens........I guess Trump is just SO awesome, sent by God himself to save the world, that he has total and complete moral immunity. GAAAAAAH. What has happened to society??!! Why are we even debating Platner, and what-abouting him? There MUST be someone else!!!
Yes, we Dems need blue collar workers to just VOTE for us, not actually have the audacity to run for office, warts and all. (Yes, sarcasm).
Well, there are warts and then there is full-blown, body parts falling off, leprosy. And I think that credible accusations of rape is full-blown, body parts falling off, leprosy.
Assholes come in all shapes and sizes. Quiet and polite ones, too.
Plus, and I can speak to this as an asshole, if you aren't an asshole, I bet you have one to call when you need one.
Since our hosts have not heard of soccer, Professor Deutschmeister is here to offer them, and you, a timely lesson in non-numerical mathematics:
A) DJT opted to make himself an active part of the World Cup proceedings +
B) Everything DJT touches, dies =
_______________________
C) The USA is bounced from said World Cup immediately afterward.
Group discussion amongst yourselves as to the relevance of cause and effect in the proceedings.
Class dismissed.
Trump absolutely put the team in the wrong headspace for competing effectively.
It looked like Belgium was particularly motivated to win. The presidential involvement likely was something along the lines of bulletin board material for them to go out and embarrass us as much as they could. I'm sure their fans are particularly pleased today.
All fans of comeuppance are pleased today.
Except it wasn't the team that deserved the comeuppance.
I feel bad for Balagan. Yeah, he got to play, but not with his head held high. Ultimately, Trump's 'favor' infantilized him
In his statement after the red card, he said he thought the call was wrong but it's the ref's call to make and players respect that principle. Then Trump corrupted his sportsmanship.
ETTD. It's almost like it's a law of physics.
The NY Knicks -[13 game win streak blown up by Trump] tried so damn hard to warn the US World Cup team, but did they listen?
At this point, "almost" seems superfluous, ya know....;)
Yeah, I think you're right.
Add sport to the list of subjects Trump doesn't know a thing about. He thinks about the World Cup like he thinks about his golf tournaments.
(Remember that caddies used to call him 'Pele" behind his back due to his frequent kicking of balls.)
It was hilarious how he admitted that he didn't even know what a red card was but then pivoted to posing as an expert on what's an improper call and said he knows sports really really well.
And I would bet that his MAGA followers don’t know what a Red card meant. They give him a pass on everything!
I don't know much about soccer either, except that when I suggest improvements my English friends take great offense. I see why you might want even an inadvertent "high spikes" be a foul; I don't see why it should be a red card plus suspension.
The USA team wound up being a victim of Trump's sticking his nose in where it didn't belong. 1) They no longer were standing on their own merits but were like the kid whose well-connected parents got them a job/university. They suddenly had less personal power since they got special treatment, due to Trump's corrupt influence. Balagan in particular would have been conflicted even if only on a subconscious level. A 'favor' not asked for but foisted upon him 2) Any win by the US team would have been tainted 3) Belgium had a real fire in their belly and may have been fiercer opponents. Trump degrades everybody.
I guess the Soccer gods have as little regard for Trump as does Mother Nature.
Additional question. Should the USA ever be allowed to host again? Also can somebody tell me were the pre game flyovers on for the US team? That doesn’t seem to me the was a host nation should behave.
I also notice that it’s only Americans insisting that Balogun’s red card was incorrectly given or that the US had “an airtight case for appeal”. There is no appeal against these things in the World Cup; the ref’s decision is (except apparently when the US president starts making threats) final and whether you agree or not tough. It’s how football works.
England fans are still angry about Maradona’s handball being ignored by the ref which enabled him to score knocking England out of the 1986 World Cup in the quarter finals 40 years on (hilariously I’ve just discovered that there’s a fairly lengthy Wikipedia article on the controversy named “Hand of God” -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_hand_of_God). But we had to live with it.
Football is not like American sports where violence by players is either encouraged or gets you a brief spell in the sin bin at worst. A red card is a serious thing; especially in an international tournament where every game is vital and a suspension can be devastating. Not that my opinion matters but personally from the video and frame by frame it doesn’t look unreasonable to conclude Barogun deliberately stamped on Muharemović‘s ankle. At the very least it was an overly aggressive tackle of the sort football authorities have been cracking down on heavily in recent years.
To give a feel for how strongly the rest of the world feels about this. Despite none of the British teams being directly affected, Trump’s interference and FIFA’s capitulation is a front page story on all but two of the main British papers today (including the broadsheets). The other two go with intra-Royal family shenanigans relating to Harry’s visit to the UK.
The US getting thrashed 4-1 is being categorised as karmic comeuppance. It was probably the best outcome for the USMST (and FIFA for that matter). Had they won things really could have started spiralling out of control. At the very least the US team would forever be labelled the Trump cheats and booed and jeered wherever they played. I can’t come up with a good terrace chant myself but football fans can be quite imaginative about these things.
Although it does not apply in this case every time I hear chants of U S A I want to bellow An Ti Fa. I’m not against our military or our athletes, but I am furious about republicans deciding who has free speech.
Sam: "In a new, devastating report from Politico on Monday, a woman who once dated Platner said he sexually assaulted her nearly five years ago. The details are both disturbing and well-documented. Her substantiation alone—Facebook messages supporting her account and corroboration from another ex-boyfriend whom she told about it—gives her account credibility. That Platner denied the accusation is far from convincing. At a certain point, the pattern of behavior becomes impossible to dismiss, even if the details are obscured by the fog of memory."
I've been waiting for this particular shoe to drop. Imagine how arrogant you have to be to run for Senate with the majority in the balance with this many skeletons in your closet. Platner obviously thought he could weather this. After all, he probably looked at Donald Trump and concluded you can be a piece of shit and still have a 50/50 shot at winning. That sort of thinking leads to ruin. Planter needs to go, and if he doesn't drop out on his own, he needs to be forced out.
It's that "fire in the belly"...or close.
He's a "man of action". Or something like that.
Ask E. Jeane Carroll about it... .
Yup. And Trump didn't pay a price for that. 77 million people were willing to overlook what he did.
Talarico in Texas is being called a girl and a trans. He's a seminarian with a clean record.
paxton is the middle of divorce on biblical grounds. Going off to Iceland with his mistress for the 4th. Corrupt as hell and out loud and proud about it. Should've served time.
Democrats police themselves, republicans don't. For the rethugs it's a source of manly pride. And Democrats lose.
I just don't know how to square this.
I presume Platner will drop out, as Swalwell did.
But then you have Mark Robinson. Roy Moore. Donald Trump. They didn’t drop out. One got crushed, one lost a squeaker, the other was elected president … twice.
What’s wrong with this picture?
One party has standards. The other laughs at standards and revels in nominating moral degenerates.
So true and disgusting. I hate that anything resembling virtue is seen as weakness. You can be a fighter and strive to be a good human being. Both can be true.
The trick is arriving at a single set of standards. Currently, the Dems have many standards. Too many to arrive at guiding principles. Which is probably worse.
One party is a bunch of misogynists and the other isn't....oh wait, the other is a bunch of childless cat ladies according to the #2 misogynist.
JD, or whatever he's calling himself these days, can have a hot cup of "shut the fuck up". The man has no principles, and it's an indictment of our nation that such a man can ascend to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.
And MAGA Mike is two heartbeats away. Unreal.
He's an empty vessel, which is precisely why he's Speaker under this president.
But the GOP base loves authenticity!
But only if the candidate is one of them. When it's not, then they decry the lack of morals and character. The mind of the GOP base voter is heavily compartmentalized. This is why they can be weapons grade hypocrites and not experience any cognitive dissonance.
They equate authenticity with a perpetual middle finger towards their opponents.
But when someone calls them to the carpet for their moral vacuity, they consider that "tyranny".
Or they are poor victims and it really isn’t their fault!
Ah, the JVL observation. GOP base voters do not have agency.
Not only morally degenerate in their personal lives, but morally and legally compromised in the manner in which they conduct themselves as elected officials in the duties of their office. See: Ken Paxton.
Don't forget clarence thomas and kegger kavanaugh .
For whatever set of reasons, the Democratic Party has lost its ability to circle the wagons around its own creeps.
Mind you, this is the same party that once successfully defended Bill Clinton, a serial sexual predator and a man of profoundly skeevy morals; this is the same party that rallied around the feckless, reckless Ted Kennedy and kept him in the US Senate for years (although he had to give up his dream of the presidency) even after he left Mary Jo Kopechne dead at Chappaquiddick.
Somewhere after the turn of the 21st century, perhaps in an appeal to the women's vote, Democrats became harsher on their sexual miscreants: to the extent of knifing Al Franken in the back and driving him out of the US Senate even though he was guilty of just about nothing at all, the target, in fact, of a right wing dirty op.
The Republicans, meanwhile, postured as Great Christians right up until 2016 when it became clear Donald was going to be their candidate, at which point they decided he was a figure out of the Old Testament, a depraved sinner sent by God: one of many depraved sinners in the GOP, including Ken Paxton, and realized they could go on blaguing about what Great Christians they are even as they committed the most atrocious sins.
I don’t disagree, but it says as much about GOP VOTERS as anything. And though I don’t expect or want my candidates to be completely pure in character — those types are invariably pearl-clutching moralists — I do expect them to have a sense of shame and remorse. Even Teddy got sober and didn’t defend his awful behavior.
I wonder if Platner, who obviously has some speaking talent, had been up front from the beginning, might still be running (assuming he would have made it through the primary). The rule politicians, particularly GOP politicians, has gotten from Trump is never admit or apologize. Just keep defiantly lying.
Donald had it dinned into him by his mentor, the infamous Roy Cohn: deny everything, admit nothing, never apologize, never concede a loss. If challenged, attack.
In that schema, utterly amoral ruthlessness is the hallmark of a winner, and even more than Cohn, Trump is a living embodiment of Lombardi’s dictum that winning is the only thing. For people who see themselves as part of a despised minority, that’s the hero-champion to stick with.
Yes; the fact that the outrageous Franken thing happened [and the two jackasses who did it, NY's Senators, are both still in office] is one of the prime reason why people like me opposed Platner being forced out initially. It seemed to stink to high heaven.
Not any more. "When the facts change, my opinion changes. Why? What do you do? "--Orwell.
It seems to me like 2016 is around the time when I stopped even considering voting Republican. Until that point I tended to look at both parties.
I would say Paxton is watching with bated breath, but his heavy breathing seems focused on his Christian influencer mistress in Iceland…
I don't want to like this because its so full of ick and ew. It's funny and true though.
Jeri- I can only imagine how much worse Paxtonmania apologencia is in-state. We may win this one, tho🫰🏻
MAGA has no shame. It's wrong that they get away with it most of the time. But its their brand. They are proud of breaking the rules both informal and formal.
Let's not forget Chuck Schumer's role in this. He decided that Janet Mills should be the next Senator from Maine. She is a capable and talented woman, who nevertheless is very old and part of the establishment that voters are rejecting. Chuck cleared the field of anyone except Platner and Mills, and here we are. Platner needs to go, and so does Chuck Schumer.
I don't mean to offend any USA soccer fans, but America losing to Belgium after Trump's blatant corruption of the game gives me hope that the arc of the moral universe really does bend toward justice.
I feel bad for the team. They are one of the many victims of Trump's meddling.
One of the biggest struggles I see in the Trump era is fighting back against the MAGA-level acceptance of ‘everything is good as long as the candidate is on my team’. There was a lot of that in the acceptance of Platner as a candidate. I hope when there is a next time, people decide it is right and good to say no to a Nazi tattoo. That really should have been enough.
As usual, there will be only one winner of the World Cup this time around. All other teams will be losers, though there will be opportunity to claim 'a good run" in varying degrees. As far as I can tell, there will be only one team that is both beaten and disgraced: USA, thanks to the President of the United States.
Surely FIFA knows that at the end they must present Trump with a participation trophy?!
Don’t worry. It will be in gold. FIFA is on Felon’s side.
At first glance, I read the title as "A Case for Recklessly Endangering the Senate." Thank you, Sam Stein, for not writing that article!
My biggest issues is how do these guys think they should run for political office when there might be even a hint of a scandal in their background? Is the thirst for power that great or is there some sort of character deficiency that they think their history won't be found out or won't be an issue? Neither option is great.
The sort of abuser who ignores consent and forces themselves on partners is probably also going to force themselves on voters ...
Everything Trump touches dies. Why should the USMNT's 2026 run be any different?
I feel bad for Balogun though. He didn't ask for or deserve any of this. He's been a stand-up guy throughout the entire process.
Trump emasculates every man he 'helps'. Don't think he doesn't love that.
Good article. But Sonny, you fell into a trap. "I couldn’t help but think back to the Jimmy Kimmel suspension in September of last year, following a tasteless crack about Charlie Kirk in the aftermath of his assassination. " Actually it was NOT a crack about Charlie Kirk! Not even a little. It was a crack about MAGAs reaction to it. [Kimmel: "We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it."]. NEVER concede to the reality distortion that MAGA has tried to enforce on everyone.
White men don't get properly vetted, but a man of color is maligned when he's done nothing wrong.
Pick a new Democrat Candidate and keep going.
Republicans better keep mouths wide shut considering their Pedo PINO.
In today's digital world, how could anyone be so stupid as to try to run for office when you have that in the background. Nothing is hidden, and unless you are a Guardian of Pedophile supporter, things like this matter.
“I couldn’t help but think back to the Jimmy Kimmel suspension in September of last year, following a tasteless crack about Charlie Kirk in the aftermath of his assassination.”
I went back and watched the Kimmel clip and I can’t see what it was he said that was “tasteless.” The only thing I can see MAGA getting upset about is Kimmel exposing Trump’s lack of sympathy for Kirk and his obsession with monuments to his greater glory.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2025/09/17/jimmy-kimmel-charlie-kirk-comments/86209731007/
I can see the Maine Democratic Party deferring to Schumer and running Janet Mills. If they do that, they will lose to Susan Collins - Again.