I think they’re at least fine with him if they’re not actively colluding with him. The “establishment” campaign against him was pathetic and they’ve fully transferred their support behind him after Mills dropped out even though the primary isn’t even over yet.

And why wouldn’t they be? He’s clearly a petty bourgeois nationalist and stupid. He’ll be very easy to keep in line.

There are sort of two lefts in Maine. The “populists” which have deep Trotskyist roots but are more like Greens (and the AFL), then the Marxist left which is much smaller and mostly Trotskyist ultras and two small MLish groups. The former have deep ties to the Bernie network (which is why he’s gotten so much national coverage) and are all in for Platner. The latter might be quietly supportive of Platner but notably haven’t endorsed him.

Trust them with what?

A lot of people end up in management because that’s the only way to actually make a living wage in a lot of industries nowadays. Managers generally have fewer protections under labor law though so if they’re told to punish (or fire) you for something they’ll probably do it unless they’re willing to risk their job for you.

I usually keep my distance and keep things professional with management just because it’s safer.

I mean unions in the sense of actual organizations of workers in common trades or industries, not state sanctioned bargaining units created by the NLRA.

A worker’s party is pointless without a labor movement (unions) that support it. No party in the US has demonstrated any success at either attracting existing unions to them or cultivating new unions aligned with them.

Iirc, Platner’s unit was ordered to stop using mortars in populated areas so instead they used automatic grenade launchers like mortars, rapidly firing multiple grenades in high arcs over the city to try and hit their target.

The thing is, he is in the club. Multiple generations of petty bourgeois precede him and he spent his entire career directly engaged in the most heinous crimes of the empire. Now he gets a comfy pension, health insurance, and like $5k a month in veteran disability pay while he also runs his businesses. The median salary in Maine is less than his disability payment.

The only effort the party put into stopping him was initially backing an unpopular septegenarian who ran one attack ad and gave up. They’re not afraid of him because he is one of them, and he’ll happily start acting like it if he wins office.

The united front stuff really loses its legitimacy when the guy they want me to unite behind was a Nazi tattood murderer for the empire until like last week.

Mills is just a conceited old boomer trying to cap off a decades long political career with a Senate seat. She’s running for the same reason Biden tried to run for president again and it’s going about as well for the same reasons. Hell it wouldn’t shock me if she’s senile and her aides are just puppeting her to further their careers in Washington.

Platner got recruited by the Bernie people who sort of have some traction in the local labor movement, and the local labor movement hates Mills (with good reason). They really did pull him out of the woodwork. He was a nobody before this and I think it was a surprise to Mills and the state Dems that the Berniecrats put someone forward.

I still wouldn’t be too shocked if Mills won the primary despite all this though. Platner is popular with young people but the average voter in Maine is like over 60 and the old folks don’t like him.

My coworker just finished explaining how the wages we’re paid aren’t enough to reproduce labor-power and is now on a diatribe against people on welfare.

I know that the “party line” or whatever is that generational conflict is reactionary but at least in the US the legal system and common social and economic practices absolutely lead to the oppression (maybe even exploitation) of the young by older people and fuel hatred for the young by the old.

The older generations deciding that a positive ROI on real estate is a natural right is one such example of that.

Tbh I do believe that the Republicans could have stolen the 2024 election. They had no problem stealing 2000, some weird shit happened in 2004 to their favor, in 2016 they won on a technicality, and they did try to change the outcome of 2020 as well (no matter how ridiculous the whole thing was).

If someone does believe the Republicans illegally subverted democracy the question should be why they would continue to support Democrats who have done absolutely nothing to fight back for decades though.

Do we have to contract 18th century diseases that kill 80% of us before we get into the fight too or are we just using the weapons and tactics?

The bombers will be taking off on Friday right as the NYSE closes.

I feel like Trump could have had one of the easiest presidencies ever. Just play up the dumb MAGA shit, maybe stir some culture war BS, and let the machine brrr. Instead he’s brought us to the edge of a nuclear war.

Also tons of oil would get irradiated making it basically worthless.

Shower wasn’t draining well so I pulled up the grate and a strand of gunk about a foot long and the width of the pipe came up with it. Absolutely nasty.

It’s crazy how bad doctors are allowed to be at their jobs. I know a lot of it is systemic to the US’ hyper-decentralized market driven triaged medical system but basically everyone I know has a story about a doctor who just totally ignored them, got a diagnosis wrong, or made a serious surgical mistake. Unless they cause you serious physical harm and you win a lawsuit against them there’s really no repurcussions for mistreatment.

I understand people make mistakes but the fact that it’s so prevelant in medicine, one of the few jobs that really doesn’t have room for mistakes, is absurd.

It’s crazy how good having two consecutive days off is. This will probably end for me next month though and I’m dreading it.

Israelis, famous for being very inclusive of all identities and definitely not hating everyone that isn’t a white-ish Jew with genocidal rage.