Nazis try to get on the ballot in Massachusetts - but may not have collected enough signatures

By adamg on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 12:34pm

Ploss and her Nazier-than-thou running mate, showing off the special cup he had made.

Dianna Ploss used to just be another screamy Trump crank, but now she's running for governor - as an independent - with a platform that calls for a crusade against Jews in Massachusetts.

Today's the deadline to file enough signatures statewide to get a place on the November ballot; Ploss said Sunday she doesn't think she'll have enough.

Her would-be lieutenant-governor candidate, Jim Rizoli, is a "proud" Holocaust denier who used to froth about Brazilian immigrants in Framingham but now concentrates on hating Jews and she's assisted by a woman she calls her "minister of Third Reich Advocacy."

In one video, Ploss said she'd keep bitching about the Jews until they hang her. But then, she continued, "they don't do that, that's too easy." Instead, she said, Jews punish their enemies by cutting open their stomachs, and reaching for their intestines, which they then tie to a pole and make the victims run around the pole.

"Maybe that's where they got the Maypole from," she said.

She won't come anywhere close to winning, of course, but worth remembering, perhaps: In 2018, virulent homophobe and forced-birth advocate Scott Lively got 98,214 votes in the Republican primary against Charlie Baker.

Topics:

Politics

Free tagging:

2022 elections

Nazis

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Comments

Wow

By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 12:42pm

How is it that such a "platform" is even legal?

Isn't this a straight up hate crime? RICO conspiracy?

Swirls, I may not agree with

By anon
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 12:45pm

Swirls, I may not agree with you ALL the time, but I certainly do agree with you on your comment.

How it is legal?

By Aron
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 1:38pm

The First Amendment, for better or for worse.

Which has limits

By lbb
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 1:46pm

The First Amendment, for better or for worse.

Which has limits. Ploss and co's ability to govern their big yaps is so incredibly poor that they're going to cross that line soon if they haven't already.

Probably better to focus on private means

By monkeynaut
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 2:32pm

The limits on protected speech are quite broad under the first amendment. Odious as these people may be, it's unlikely they will cross the line into imminent incitement of violence. That is pretty much the only way to pick up a 1A violation as a citizen these days.

As others have pointed out below, those limits are just for the Gov't. Private businesses and services can set all sorts of speech regulations that the gov't cannot. This makes it a better use of one's energy to deplatform these cretins and make sure that their message isn't spread any farther than whatever Gab/Telegram/Discord rathole they slinked out of. Limber up your typing digits and help get the banhammer dropped on their awful views.

I don't disagree

By Aron
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 3:29pm

But until Ploss commits an actual crime, her hate speech is just that: Speech.

And I write this as a board member for a major civil rights organization in the Boston area, who may or may not focus on fighting defamation against the Jewish people, and all Americans ;)

Some speech acts can be crimes

By Tim Mc.
Wed, 08/03/2022 - 8:20am

and I won't be surprised if she commits one and is prosecuted for it.

Familiar with RICO?

By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 2:35pm

Racketeering statutes specifically cover conspiracy to deprive people of their civil rights.

I would say a political organization planning a pogrom fits that description.

It is legal...

By Don't Panic
Wed, 08/03/2022 - 1:06am

because this is the United States not Germany.

Sometimes the feds let these

By anon
Wed, 08/03/2022 - 3:20pm

Sometimes the feds let these people run free because they're useful idiots, gathering up leads and evidence against bigger more dangerous players, especially now that everybody's using facebook and email and nobody has to even go tap a phone to follow her. I'm sure her inbox is a treasure trove of eventual domestic terrorism, and it's not like she's going to beat Mickey Mouse in terms of ballots cast.

Why doesn't she just join the Diehl campaign?

By Ron Newman
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 12:49pm

She hates Diehl

By adamg
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 1:04pm

But I reached my limit and couldn't stand to click on the links on her site to find out why. Also, I don't care.

Diehl

By Aron
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 1:14pm

He's probably too moderate on the Jewish Question.

You mean

By jmeltzer
Wed, 08/03/2022 - 8:27am

he still thinks the Madagascar solution is a good idea?

Part of me is a little sad that plan never came to pass.

By Aron
Wed, 08/03/2022 - 7:47pm

Part of me is a little sad that plan never came to pass.

By Aron
Wed, 08/03/2022 - 7:47pm

Tradition

By SamWack
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 3:31pm

It’s traditional. Speer hated Himmler, Göring hated Speer, Bormann hated Göring, and Goebbels hated everybody. What’s-his-name hated everyone who failed him, which was also everybody. One big family.

As Always, Tom Lehrer Had it Right

By Aron
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 4:20pm

https://youtu.be/CgASBVMyVFI

Last time I saw Ploss

By Brian Riccio
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 1:49pm

and Diehl together outside the State House, his words to Ploss were "I don't have time for you today, Dianna".

Wow!

By Aron
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 3:30pm

I actually agree with Geoff Diehl on something!

As it turns out, tweets can

By MattyC
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 12:54pm

As it turns out, tweets can be reported (I've had moderate success reporting all sorts of twitter bullshit) and since twitter mods aren't going to go looking, we can assist in deplatforming this monster by reporting her racist hatemongering. They're frighteningly easy to find in her history.

Deplatforming works

By dan r
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 1:31pm

Anywhere she spreads her hate & ignorant tirades, follow her there and report, report, report.

And follow up if you don’t get a reasonably prompt and serious response. Be polite but firm, make no threats, state the case plainly and give examples.

It’s fun!

Aaaand

By MattyC
Wed, 08/03/2022 - 11:00am

She's locked. In twitter jail until the hate comes down.

How many signatures do you need to get on the ballot?

By Michael
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 12:55pm

Because if that number is more than 4 and she qualified, that's pretty damn terrifying

(EDIT: you need 10,000 signatures. Time to be terrified)

Did she make the ballot?

By Hardy Har Har
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 1:16pm

IIRC, someone said on twitter that she had given up on collecting signatures.

De-

By Aron
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 1:35pm

Lightful!

10,000 signatures doesn't cost too much

By jrkatz
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 1:21pm

A nazi, like anyone else, buys its way on to the ballot by paying people who don't care whether it lives or dies to stand in front of a supermarket and convince people they also don't care about, who in turn don't care whether _they_ live or die to 'participate in the democratic process by helping a candidate [who they can't even tell you that much about] get on the ballot'. Alternately, they employ canvassers who will look like the above, but will actually be lying, and will lie to you if asked about the candidate. Plenty of stooges out there, the kind who decorate their lawns with American flags AND "In this house, we believe in..." signs year round, are easily swayed by such talk. It cheap and it feels good, like a bite of a cookie. I'd be surprised if the people who signed these petitions in full knowledge and support of this platform numbered beyond the low hundreds.

For what it's worth, this is why you shouldn't sign those. I figure a candidate with a reasonable chance statewide should be able to hit 10k without much issue using their preexisting networks of supporters and small political interest groups instead of browbeating little old ladies at the roche bros.

It's terrifying enough that someone feels comfortable promulgating this hatred non-anonymously in public. Why are nazis comfortable?

In some fairness

By BostonDog
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 2:09pm

She has almost no name recognition and the people with clipboard aren't going to mention the Nazis part. They probably say something generic like, "Would you support someone who will stand up to the establishment?" and that garners enough signers.

This actually happened to me

By Michael
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 2:29pm

At the Stop & Shop in Somerville last week, there were two ladies with clipboards and a couple of kids, and anytime I answered what she stood for, she said that she was trying to change the system and that our elected officials don't represent us and blah blah blah and I was 80% sure I recognized the name (thanks entirely to UH) but not 100% and I said I wanted to do some more research before I signed and left, and sure enough it was one of the anti-vax bucket banging nutjobs. So I wish I could have done more but at least I kept her from getting signatures for a couple of minutes.

Unfortunately

By eeka
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 2:10pm

There are entirely too many people of the "I don't get into politics" sort who take the idea of everyone having a chance to run too far and will sign any petition to get on the ballot. They're like, oh, I would never vote for her, but more candidates is what democracy is all about. Ehhh.

All you have to say is "She

By anon
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 2:33pm

All you have to say is "She opposes immigration" and the lowest common denominator Herald crowd will eat her up.

Is Shiva....

By Friartuck
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 12:56pm

Warming up the bus?

He said he was running ...

By adamg
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 1:05pm

But seems to have given up. What a shame.

The buses Shiva is warming up

By Aron
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 1:13pm

Probably have their exhausts plumbed back into the sealed passenger compartment.

email

By cybah
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 2:02pm

I think his invite just got sent to spam in EMAIL

HI

By Aron
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 3:31pm

YO!

Speaking of Shiva

By Spud
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 1:55pm

One of his biggest supporters, Catherine Vitale along with Shana Cottone and a few others have recently donated to Ploss’ campaign.

About that

By Hardy Har Har
Wed, 08/03/2022 - 8:56am

Catherine says they attended a "lunch event" that Dianna threw in the North End, and Dianna turned the admission fee into a campaign contribution:

ATTN: anybody who attended Dianna Ploss lunch event back in May, in the North End, the $25 that we paid was accepted and registered as camapaign contributions. Dianna Ploss’ campaign somehow obtained all of our names and addresses and listed us as donors on OCPF website, which is public record. Some trolls have found this list of “donations” and posted it on twitter, which could essentially be considered doxxing, as I don’t believe any of us were aware that the money was going to her campaign, nor did we consent to our information being listed on OCPF website.
If you want to get your name off there, file a complaint with OCPF and explain what happened.

She also came up with this gem:

Dianna does some good work. If you understood what is in store for humanity, you would get that. But that’s not, and never was to say that she’s a good person. I’ve stated from the beginning she’s a liar and I’ve even called her out on it. I never claimed to be her friend. I said I’ve never seen her be a hateful, mean spirited person. Questioning history and being frustrated with society doesn’t make someone a horrible person, it makes them human.

Excuses, Excuses

By Spud
Wed, 08/03/2022 - 10:37am

The I didn't know excuse is garbage. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if a candidate is hosting a lunch and is charging a fee, it is considered a campaign contribution. It also isn't doxxing to report on a public list. This happens all the time especially at the end of every month when campaign finance reports are due.

If she truly wants to run for elected office, she should probably learn the basics of campaigning before attempting to get on the ballot.

It doesn't work that way

By lbb
Wed, 08/03/2022 - 12:40pm

Campaigns that are on the up and up are scrupulous about handling campaign contributions because they are required to track and report donors. It's standard boilerplate when you're getting a donation to a campaign from anyone.

The Shiva bus

By Deedle
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 6:48pm

I passed the Shiva bus a couple of weeks ago, in its traditional parking spot on Concord Ave in Cambridge Highlands, and it was painted over -- the sides were totally blank. I wondered if he was going to rent it out to another candidate.

Rizoli Cannoli

By Aron
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 1:13pm

I've dealt with the Rizolis for years. Their ideas are incredibly dangerous, but the brothers are so pathetic they are effectively harmless.

Ploss is a different story.

I forgot she ran Lively's campaign.

And she needs to be countered and ridiculed at every single turn.

Also, where's Meyer Lansky when you need him?

https://www.jta.org/2022/06/06/culture/before-wwii...

Three guesses on who Lively's press secretary was

By Hardy Har Har
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 1:14pm

First two don't count

Aid and comfort

By lbb
Tue, 08/02/2022 - 1:34pm

Scott Lively found plenty of aid and comfort among the state's most active GOP members. Geoff Diehl is a lying racist dogwhistler at best. This is the ground in which the likes of Dianna Ploss takes root. Does she stand a snowball's chance in hell of winning? Absolutely not, but we need her and her ilk out of politics. Giving them a platform to declare that other people are undeserving of human rights is not the way to build a civil society.