Idk what is most surprising here:

  • he hasn’t gotten it covered (apparently had since 2006)
  • this made it through the pod save edit to be shown on their video
  • pod save had him on

Wonder what the excuses will be this time on why it’s okay he’s still in the race as if he wins probably will be another fetterman.

Or maybe I’m so conspiracy brained I wonder if this is a way to make the ancient governor running look like the best candidate

  • Leegh [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    5 days ago

    Western/ Global North “leftists” try not to fall for another social fascist challenge (Impossible).

    Even before this came out, the fact that this guy is an Iraq/ Afghan War vet who went there FOUR times, once as a BLACKWATER MERCENARY who is also proud of this fact and refuses to acknowledge what he did was wrong should have been a massive red flag. I know a lot of people here don’t like BadEmpanada, but he was 100% in the right to condemn Hasan and everyone else who supported this guy.

    • mkultrawide [any]@hexbear.net
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      5 days ago

      BadEmpanada’s stance is basically that no veterans should be part of the left regardless of their opinion now about the US military or any regrets they may have. Him being right is less about good analysis or good judgement of character and more about being a broken clock. He has the same opinion of Mike Prysner that he does of Graham Platner.

      • WildWeezing420 [he/him]@hexbear.netBanned
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        5 days ago

        no veterans should be “leaders” of the western left. simple as. They can be rank-and-file if they are truly penitent. None of this “as a veteran” horseshit

        • mkultrawide [any]@hexbear.net
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          People should be judged based on where they are now, their actions in the present, and their self-criticism of their past actions. Graham Platner is unfit to be a leader in any leftist movement because, among many other reasons, he basically thinks the US wasn’t engaged in anything wrong overseas. Someone like a Mike Prysner is the opposite of that and has done a lot of action to prove that he is not the same as he was. AES wouldn’t exist in a lot of AES countries if people like Zhu De had been continuously rejected over their imperial/mercenary military past instead of being brought into the party by leaders like Zhou Enlai.

          I have to question what your theory of revolution is, and how to hold onto it against capital, if you really think that it isn’t going to involve a good amount of military conflict against reactionary forces. That doesn’t mean you just left anyone who is a veteran into the movement, but that also doesn’t mean you reject everyone who was one, either. If they are a fucking heinous war criminal, that’s one thing, but some grunt who regrets what they did, understands and owns up to it, and wants to work towards a communist future is a different thingm

          • WildWeezing420 [he/him]@hexbear.netBanned
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            5 days ago

            No. They should not be “judged where they are now” on a pragmatic political level. Our representatives should be unimpeachable with a long history of doing what’s right and being correct and principled. We have a large enough pool of people to draw from, nobody has a “right” to some type of atonement of their sins and re-appraisal. If some bloodsoaked warmonger wants forgiveness, he can ask it of his victims, and he can become a rank-and-file.

            There’s a difference between a soldier who has proved their merit and allegiance to the revolution, and grifters trying to gain personal political power on the backs of leftists.

            • CleverOleg [he/him]@hexbear.net
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              What’s key here though is I really don’t think ANYONE who we should take seriously or consider a comrade is saying Platner is a “leader” of the left. I believe most hexbears who are positive about Mamdani (or Platner before all this), myself included, see these people as weather vanes. They show there is definitely potential for the working class in the US to congeal into a class for itself. They show that people think the status quo is fucked and they want something better. But our class consciousness is so fucked and we have such a long row to hoe, it’s not unreasonable to point to political reps that might do things that the working class wants (even if they are only doing it for opportunistic reasons) and leverage that into more class consciousness.

              • WildWeezing420 [he/him]@hexbear.netBanned
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                What’s key here though is I really don’t think ANYONE who we should take seriously or consider a comrade is saying Platner is a “leader” of the left

                Elected representatives are leaders. Just one more social fascist with a nazi tattoo bro, just one more - electoralist addicts coping

                • CleverOleg [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                  5 days ago

                  They are leaders in a definitional sense, not in a leader that we are upholding as our leader.

                  You are seeking out the least charitable possible explanation in this entire thread, including calling me a Nazi / social fascist elsewhere.

                  • WildWeezing420 [he/him]@hexbear.netBanned
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                    5 days ago

                    They are leaders in a definitional sense

                    ah so… leaders?

                    You want guys like this to win and for America to become more like this guy? We could have one billion mamdanicans and we’d still be a social fascist shithole. This is a flawed conception of how to do politics

                  • WildWeezing420 [he/him]@hexbear.netBanned
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                    You literally deleted your comment in shame where you said that “hexbear is getting too leftcom for me” because we were purity testing over nazism.

            • mkultrawide [any]@hexbear.net
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              We have a large enough pool of people to draw from, nobody has a “right” to some type of atonement of their sins and re-appraisal.

              Let me guess, this doesn’t apply to criminals who have killed, assaulted, or stolen from working class people?

              You still haven’t answered my question, Mr. Allende: what’s your theory do revolution as it regards military struggle, and where to you intend to find people with the knowledge and experience to train a revolutionary military force if not from the militar?

              Actually, it’s hilarious that you are making this argument less than 24 hours after defending Napoleon as a progressive when others pointed out he was a colonial imperialist who reinstated slavery.

              • WildWeezing420 [he/him]@hexbear.netBanned
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                5 days ago

                Let me guess, this doesn’t apply to criminals who have killed, assaulted, or stolen from working class people?

                Correct, these criminals should not be put into leadership positions of the revolution or the working class party.

                • mkultrawide [any]@hexbear.net
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                  Oh, I see, so if they had previously engaged in protection rackets or organizied and conducted bank robberies where regular people were killed intentionally or in the crossfire, that would be proof they shouldn’t be leaders?

                  Napoleon gets a pass through for colonialism and reinstituting slavery in the third world, though, huh? He’s a progressive in your mind since he at least smashed the feudal system in Europe?

    • AssortedBiscuits [they/them]@hexbear.net
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      Dude enlisted in the marines, the branch you go to when you want to commit heinous warcrimes (euphemistically termed as “fucking shit up”). The people who sign up for financial reasons or don’t really want to be there join the army or navy. You can see it in racial statistics where the US navy has the most POC while the marines has the least. Even using propaganda as an excuse, there’s an (overly simplified and misleading) understanding that you’re going to shoot people if you’re a marine while you’re just stuck on a boat if you’re a sailor. Now factor in the fact that the marines has the highest minimum physical requirements compared with the other branches, and it paints him and every other marine recruit as people who really want to commit warcrimes.

      • godlessworm [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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        im pretty sure most people on this website did up til about a week ago, as evidenced by the fact that all i know about him is that about a week ago he was well regarded and now its come out his whole shit was a lie

        • SickSemper [she/her, they/them]@hexbear.net
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          Anyone could look at his national socialist platform and guess where this was going. He was talking about helping veterans and revitalizing the shipbuilding industry while being an unrepentant mercenary/imperialist

        • MarmiteLover123 [comrade/them, any]@hexbear.net
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          im pretty sure most people on this website did up til about a week ago,

          ?

          Didn’t it come out a week ago that this guy had done multiple tours in Iraq (including as a mercenary) and had minimal regrets, while calling himself a communist at one point? That’s all I knew about him and was enough to set off the alarm bells.

        • SevenSkalls [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          Ya I remember telling a friend I don’t know anything about this guy but from what I had seen so far, he was pretty based before. Now I’m pretty embarrassed, but oh well, you’ve got to adjust with new information. All I remember seeing on here was posts of his leaked reddit comments saying capitalism needs to be torn down, the shit the US is doing abroad is bad, the military radicalized him, things like that.

          I didn’t know he was a Blackwater mercenary who had reenlisted multiple times, doesn’t regret it and says everything he did was good, and he has a Nazi tattoo. Obviously, thats some different context lol.

        • WashedAnus [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          Never heard of the guy before today. There’s one Post on this site with the guy’s name in it before today. Guess I’ve succeeded in being less online?

    • ConcreteHalloween [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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      This is what I find wacky about this story. I can buy a vet having a genuine change of heart, but a FUCKING BLACKWATER MERC???

      Seriously why would anyone left if Clinton touch this guy with a ten foot pole?