Free Republic

Candidate for the Democrat nomination for US Senator from Maine Graham Platner's Nazi SS tattoo has stirred up some controversy. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt), who has endorsed Platner, urged voters "to not fall victim to those who would unfairly judge this solid fighter for socialism. Remember, Nazi is short for National Socialist German Workers' Party. While Hitler took a wrong turn when he reneged on his deal with Stalin to carve up the smaller nations of eastern Europe between them during World War II, his previous program of socialist investment in German factories helped rescue the country from the Great...

A growing number of Republicans on Capitol Hill have raised concerns about President Trump’s expanding war against drug cartels carried out without consultation or authorization by Congress, and are pressing for more information and involvement in a campaign whose legal basis remains murky. Most in the group have not expressed explicit opposition to the strikes that have been carried out so far against boats in the Caribbean Sea and, this week, expanded to the Pacific. The vast majority of Republicans have enthusiastically rallied behind them, and this month, all but two of them voted to block a measure that would...

Now that the heavily hyped Maine "oyster farmer," Graham Platner, who is running as a Democrat to defeat incumbent Senator Susan Collins has been exposed as deeply flawed, Politico's senior political columnist Jonathan Martin has lashed out at who he considers responsible for foisting Platner upon us with minimal/no vetting. And according to Martin that culprit is primarily the Democrat party as you can see in his Wednesday column, "Democrats Keep Falling for Political Fantasies. When Will They Learn?."However, what is notable is that although he mentions "journalists" in passing, he conveniently overlooks Politico's own role in promoting the flawed...

Why it matters: (Graham) Platner drew the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as an anti-establishment outsider, but his campaign is already trying to clean up recently resurfaced Reddit posts where he espoused offensive views about Black people and sexual assault victims. Platner’s campaign shared video with Pod Save America of him singing shirtless that exposed a skull tattoo on his chest that resembles the “Totenkopf,” a symbol used by Hitler’s Schutzstaffel (SS). The move was intended to get ahead of opposition research, and the GOP’s Senate campaign arm seized on the images, accusing Platner of having a “Nazi tattoo.”...

A member of the Bush family running for Maine governor attempted to get ahead of his dark past unveiled by the Daily Mail before launching his campaign, according to a new report. Jonathan Bush, the 56-year-old cousin of former President George W. Bush and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, launched his gubernatorial bid earlier this month. In 2018, the Daily Mail revealed Bush confessed to ‘numerous physical altercations’ with his ex-wife Sarah Selden. This included him 'repeatedly slamming his closed fist into her sternum [breastbone]', while in the presence of their child who was a baby at the time. The...

"An older male was seen picking up approximately $7,400 in cash that had fallen from the roof of the car of its rightful owner," police said.Police in Kennebunk, Maine are looking for a man who, they say, pocketed more than $7,000 in cash that was left in a roadway after falling off the roof of a car. A report of stolen property came in on Oct. 15, the Kennebunk Police Department said on Facebook. “An older male was seen picking up approximately $7,400 in cash that had fallen from the roof of the car of its rightful owner. The money...

Ah! It seemed too good to be true. A Marine veteran who was also an oyster-farmer man of the people who, as a Democrat, promised to take down Maine's Republican Senator Susan Collins in the 2026 election. The new Golden Boy of Democrats everywhere as well as an eager media who sung his accolades across the land.Unfortunately for them, it all came crashing down as you can read in a sad report on Thursday by Benjamin Hart of New York magazine's Intelligencer section which bluntly proclaimed, "Graham Platner’s Honeymoon Is Over."

Two years after signing a radical measure that cleared the way for abortions through all nine months of pregnancy, Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced she is jumping into the race for U.S. Senate Her decision sets up a high-stakes showdown with Republican incumbent Susan Collins. The Democrat governor, who cannot seek a third term due to term limits, declared her candidacy in an interview with the Bangor Daily News, ending months of speculation about her political future. “I think I can win this, and I think I’m the one who can beat Susan Collins, because I have a track record...

Three activists stripped to their underwear during a Maine school board meeting this week in protest of the district’s policy allowing trans athletes to compete in women’s sports. The morally-tinged burlesque show, spearheaded by local activist Nick Blanchard, unfolded in Augusta on Wednesday in front of the city’s school board members, according to the outlet Central Maine. Two women and a man slowly and perfunctorily took off their clothes at the close of Augusta School Department meeting as Blanchard, who goes by the name “Corn Pop,” delivered an impassioned monologue. “I’m about to show you guys how uncomfortable it is...

🚨 FBI Joins Investigation After 250 Maine Ballots Found in Amazon Package | Newburgh, Maine Election Scandal The FBI is now assisting Maine officials after 250 official election ballots were discovered inside a woman’s Amazon delivery package in Newburgh, Maine. The shocking discovery has raised serious questions about ballot handling, election integrity, and voter security just weeks before Mainers head to the polls. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows confirmed her office is working with the Maine State Police, Attorney General’s Office, and FBI to determine how the ballots ended up misplaced between Ellsworth and Newburgh, two towns less than...

Sen. Susan Collins is reportedly shopping around a potential off-ramp to the government shutdown that has paralyzed Washington, but the Maine Republican is not ready to give in on the primary demand by her Democratic colleagues. Collins has been circulating a “discussion draft” of a proposal that would include GOP pledges on a deal related to enhanced Obamacare tax credits, Punchbowl News reported. But Collins is insisting that any extension of the Affordable Care Act subsidies should be negotiated after Congress passes a funding resolution that would allow the government to reopen. Collins told reporters Monday that she has a...

Maine Rep. Jared Golden, the only Democrat in the House to vote for the Republican-led government funding bill, drew a primary challenger Monday who accused him of consistently siding with the GOP over his own party. State Auditor Matthew Dunlap’s bid sets the stage for a high-profile showdown in a district Democrats will likely need to hold to regain control of the US House. Golden represents one of the country’s most competitive districts, winning his 2024 race by less than a percentage point while President Donald Trump carried it by roughly 10 points. Dunlap told CNN ahead of his announcement...

Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) is blaming leftist groups and his own party for the ongoing government shutdown. In a social media post on Wednesday, Golden wrote, “This government shutdown is the result of hardball politics driven by the demands far-left groups are making for Democratic Party leaders to put on a show of their opposition to President Trump.” He added the shutdown is “hurting Americans and our economy, and the irony is it has only handed more power to the president.” Golden continued: This fight is ostensibly about health care, so let me be clear: I opposed the GOP’s Medicaid...

The secretary of state's office told Maine's Total Coverage that these allegations are being investigated. VIDEO AT LINK................ NEWBURGH, Maine — A woman in Newburgh said she ordered paper plates, rice and coffee from Amazon. When she opened the package, she said it looked like it had already been opened and retaped, so she expected those items to be damaged. Instead, she said she found all the items she ordered as well as hundreds of bundled, blank Maine state ballots for the November election. She said she called the Newburgh town office right away and handed the ballots over. The...

Law enforcement is investigating how 250 ballots ended up in a Maine resident's Amazon package, the secretary of state's office said Wednesday. “We are aware of the serious allegations that packages of ballots were received by a private citizen. Law enforcement is investigating the matter,” the office told WABI. The news outlet did not report which law enforcement agency that is. The alleged discovery comes just weeks before Question 1, a voter ID citizens referendum, is expected to appear on the Maine ballot. The news stories are unclear whether the question appears on the apparently blank ballots.

CNN host John Berman confronted Senator Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday for previously opposing government shutdowns. Along with most Democrats, Schumer voted to shut the government down since the Republican-led stopgap bill did not include an extension of enhanced tax credits in the Affordable Care Act. While he defended his party for voting in favor of the shutdown on “CNN News Central,” Berman played previous clips of the New York Democrat previously calling government shutdowns “self-defeating” and “a politics of idiocy.” “That was you three times in the past,” Berman said. “That was in March, John, before they had...

Three Senate Democrats voted in favor of the Republican Continuing Resolution, bucking their party and hoping to avoid a Schumer Shutdown. Those Senators are Catherine Cortez Masto (NV), John Fetterman (PA), and Angus King (ME). In a post on X, Fetterman explained his vote, writing, "I voted AYE to extend ACA tax credits because I support them -- but I won't vote for the chaos of shuttering our government." He added, "My vote was our country over my party." Earlier, Sen. King had expressed concerns over the CR and played coy as to how he would vote. "You'll find out...

From Ohio to Illinois, the ACLJ is standing on the front lines defending the constitutional rights of pro-life advocates against government overreach. We now have a new case defending pro-life rights from assault by the state. In a troubling case out of Maine, we are representing John Andrade Jr., a Maine resident whose sincere religious expression outside a Planned Parenthood facility has made him the target of an unconstitutional lawsuit brought against him by the state of Maine. We filed a major brief Thursday on his behalf, defending his constitutional rights against the state’s motion for an injunction. The State’s...

This morning the House passed a clean CR designed to fund the government through November, thereby avoiding the possibility of a shutdown at the end of this month. Democrats how vowed not to support it in the Senate.The vote was 217-212, with one Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, joining Republicans in voting yes. Two Republicans — conservative Reps. Tim Burchett of Tennessee and Victoria Spartz of Indiana — and all other Democrats voted against the bill.The short-term funding bill, known as a continuing resolution or CR, now heads to the Senate, where Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other...

A school board meeting in Maine descended into chaos after a board member slapped a phone out of an attendee's hand during a heated exchange. Tensions flared during a Regional School Unit 67 meeting on Wednesday night when Tim Bodnar, a social media personality, targeted a teacher. The unknown teacher was placed on leave last week over comments they made about the killing of Charlie Kirk, with an investigation pending. Bodnar, known online as the 'Truth-slinger' and followed by tens of thousands on social media, repeatedly disrupted the otherwise orderly meeting. He condemned the teacher and accused the district of...