Maine’s embattled Democratic Senate nominee, Graham Platner, dropped out of the race on Wednesday after a former partner accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2021.“We believe for the movement to continue, it can’t be me and for that reason, we are suspending campaign operations,” Platner said in a video posted to social media.My name might be on the ballot right now, but that ballot line belongs to the people of Maine. pic.twitter.com/RKVyLU76tm— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) July 9, 2026Jenny Racicot, a 41-year-old Maine resident who dated Platner on and off for two years, told Politico on Monday that the former Marine drunkenly entered her home uninvited five years ago and forced himself on her even as she asked him to stop. Platner initially denied Racicot’s allegations, and he maintained his innocence in his announcement. He called the accusations “all false” and blamed a “corporate media system and the political establishment [that] got to act as judge, jury, and executioner.”Maine’s Democratic Party now has until July 27 to pick a candidate to appear on the ballot in November’s general election.Calls for Platner’s exit had been brewing since Racicot’s announcement. Platner’s insurgent progressive populist campaign had come close to derailing on multiple occasions. Last October, Platner had to apologize for commenting on Reddit that people concerned about sexual assault had to “take some responsibility for themselves and not get so fucked up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to.” Around the same time, there was the controversy around his Nazi Totenkopf tattoo, which Platner said he and other Marines had done on leave in Croatia in 2007. And less than two months ago, there was the warning his current wife gave to his Senate campaign about how he had sent sexually explicit texts to several women while they were married. Now, finally, Platner is recusing himself from this political moment. Hopefully, we’re all better off for it.
The first 22 kilometers of a planned 500-kilometer Israeli military barrier are cutting off Palestinians from a large swathe of some of the most fertile agricultural land in the occupied West Bank.
A former judge was spared a prison sentence Wednesday after being convicted for helping an immigrant evade ICE agents in her Wisconsin courtroom.U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman only gave Hannah Dugan a $5,000 fine, saying, “I think this is a situation where an otherwise good person, upset by immigration policies in this country, made a bad decision in the moment.” Dugan faced up to five years in prison.“This is a few minutes of conduct for someone who has dedicated her life to public service,” Adelman said. “It’s a marked deviation from an otherwise law-abiding life.”Dugan was found guilty last December on two counts of federal obstruction, though jurors did not charge her with concealing an individual from arrest. The case followed an incident in which federal immigration agents entered the court in April 2025 to arrest Mexican immigrant Eduardo Flores-Ruiz. Dugan confronted the agents outside her courtroom and redirected them to the chief judge’s office on grounds that their warrant was insufficient. Flores-Ruiz was later arrested outside the court.In his ruling, Adelman noted that Dugan had decades of public service, no pattern of criminal behavior, and an otherwise clean record. He added that the consequences of Dugan having a criminal record and losing her judicial position were enough, and that Flores-Ruiz was ultimately detained and deported anyway.Before her sentencing, Dugan told the court that she meant to preserve “decorum and safety of the courtroom” by helping Flores-Ruiz.“I have been cast as both a scofflaw and a hero. I am neither. I am a public servant who’s just trying to do my job,” Dugan said.Six ICE agents showed up at Dugan’s Milwaukee courthouse in April last year, preparing to arrest and deport Flores-Ruiz, who was set to appear before Dugan in court over three misdemeanor counts of battery. According to prosecutors, Dugan led Flores-Ruiz out of a private door instead of the courtroom’s public exit, telling her court reporter she’d “get the heat” for her actions.The FBI subsequently arrested Dugan, sparking a backlash from Democrats and even some conservatives. She later resigned from the Milwaukee County Circuit bench after Wisconsin Republican legislators threatened to impeach her.
Governments worldwide are moving to restrict VPNs, but these tools protect privacy, secure remote work, and defend digital considering.
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