Well, OK, Lindsey Graham. Not on my bingo card, and not necessarily the obituary I most wanted to see this weekend, but I’ll take it. His legacy has already been well-pawed-over, and I don’t really have anything to add. I’m reminded of a line from a Martin Cruz Smith novel, describing two informers whose handler had died suddenly, something like, “Confused, they looked for a new hand on the leash.” Anne Applebaum of The Atlantic has written two excellent pieces with Graham at their center, this one, from 2020, about the nature of collaboration and his final obit, written Sunday, here.
Both should be gift links; I hope they work.
I won’t spend any time snarking about his obvious homosexuality and his refusal to acknowledge it; that’s between him and his…whoever. His God. His constituents. None of my business, except if perhaps some terrible kompromat was behind his cleaving to Trump. But honestly, I don’t think so. In pursuit of “relevance,” however he defined it, he wanted a hand on his leash. And he got it, and it destroyed him.
And speaking of the dead and near-dead, I see Mitch McConnell is claiming his lengthy absence from work is no biggie, that he suffered a fall and was “briefly unconscious,” blah blah blah. Eyewitnesses say he EMTs were doing CPR on him, and you don’t do CPR on the unconscious, but someone who has no pulse. He — or the people trying to pass this off as the truth — needs to take that bullshit elsewhere.
Let’s talk something else: The columns on the White House portico, which are now tarped off, allegedly for “restoration.” More bullshit, if you ask me. I think this story, filed back in March, is closer to the truth:
For nearly two centuries, the White House’s main entrance — framed by a row of graceful Ionic columns — has been a signature image of the seat of American power.
Now the Trump-appointed head of a federal arts commission is proposing to replace them with a more ornate style favored by President Donald Trump. Those more decorative columns, a style known as Corinthian, are considered the most luxurious in classical architecture and appear on buildings such as the U.S. Capitol and the Supreme Court. They have long been deployed on Trump’s properties, and the president has handpicked them for his planned White House ballroom, too.
If you don’t know the difference between ionic and Corinthian columns, look it up. The latter are fancier, more pimp-style, and I have no doubt they’ll be gilded, too. Where are the British when you need them? Burn this sucker to the ground.
What a weekend of news. My head is reeling, but maybe that’s just the heat dome, approaching to blow out the rest of the week. Stay cool, y’all.
Mark P said on July 12, 2026 at 8:24 pm
My wife fell and knocked herself unconscious. She spent two weeks in the hospital, and three weeks at a nursing home, and came home with an increase in her cognitive impairment. That’s probably better than cardiac arrest, but it’s not nothing.
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Peter said on July 12, 2026 at 9:01 pm
“The latter are fancier, more pimp style…” You said it: DJ The OG King of Queens, pimpin’ out the house and the low riding jet for the gap toothed homies, pouring out a 40 for his baby mama Lynnnzay Graham.
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Deborah said on July 12, 2026 at 10:43 pm
These architectural changes Trump is making aren’t the least bit appropriate for the building, historically or expressively, especially if they’re gilded. Lordy that would be tacky. How can he make those kind of changes with no push back? Have you seen the hotel signage he’s putting up all over the place now too? The rose garden has been ruined, the colonnade and the oval are beyond ruined. He’s a “short fingered vulgarian” for sure. I hope all this crap can be removed when he’s gone without too much damage to the original.
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Jeff Gill said on July 13, 2026 at 8:00 am
Mark P, I’m think of you & your wife through this. Working on a care plan meeting twice canceled (not on our side) for my mother at her memory care place; each time she goes to the hospital she comes back physically stronger, but mentally worse than she started. This is usual I’m told by all and sundry. Institutional stays just tug at the fraying threads of what memory is left.
I did a funeral for a friend’s mother on Saturday at Green Lawn in Columbus, saw Gov. James Rhodes & spouse a few niches down. He’s still dead, but his gifts to architechtural Brutalism around the state just keep giving, and he does get remembered every May 4, especially around Kent. He probably did his best work with the Ohio State Fair, which starts July 29th. And there is this story of his final resurgence, which crossed my mind as I stood there after the family left the chapel, gazing upon his last resting place:
https://www.columbusmonthly.com/story/lifestyle/2017/08/15/an-oral-history-pieing-gov/19655984007/
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nancy said on July 13, 2026 at 8:01 am
Mark, of course falls are serious, in fact very serious, but they don’t require CPR unless you’re in cardiac arrest. That was my point.
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Julie Robinson said on July 13, 2026 at 8:58 am
We aren’t getting the truth about McConnell, which leads to all the conspiracy theories. I’ve read some wild stuff. Same with Trump. At least they released cause of death for Graham.
I’m wondering about that long plane trip he’d been on and the possibility of blood clots, though. So, asking the room, how many of you wear compression stockings when you travel? Do you sit on the plane doing ankle circles and calf raises? Did Lindsey?
And now Sam Neill. Geez…
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alex said on July 13, 2026 at 9:08 am
Speaking of hypocrites and toadies, Michael Cohen has renounced his renunciation of Trump and is back in the president’s good graces. So what’s his motivation? Rank opportunism? Cold cash? Death threats?
This gift article doesn’t delve that deeply, but the news itself comes as a shock: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/12/us/politics/trump-cohen-meeting-show.html?unlocked_article_code=1.xVA.X8Jr.hiedUVYXQt73&smid=url-share
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Mark P said on July 13, 2026 at 10:15 am
Nancy, of course I got your point. I was too elliptical in my comment. My (unstated) point was that choosing “Oh, it was just a fall that knocked an 84-year-old man unconscious” as cover for what actually happened would mean that what actually happened was even more serious.
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Mark P said on July 13, 2026 at 10:51 am
I should have mentioned that survival rate for in-hospital cardiac arrest is only around 25%. It’s lower if it happens outside the hospital. If someone immediately begins effective CPR for cardiac arrest outside the hospital, the survival rate can be higher than 7-10%. But obviously, if McConnell actually suffered cardiac arrest, his odds for long-term survival are low.
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FDChief said on July 13, 2026 at 1:37 pm
We need a revival of that Kissinger “reaper-playing-the-crane-game” thing:
“Graham. Wait. Lindsey Graham? The fuck..? Dammit! Is Mitch McConnell even IN here?!?”
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Icarus said on July 13, 2026 at 2:19 pm
When is the last time we heard from commenter Dexter?
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Brandon said on July 13, 2026 at 4:00 pm
“Madonna & Michael Jackson Are in the Billboard 200’s Top 10 Together for the First Time in 25 Years.”
As Madonna’s new studio album, CONFESSIONS II, debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (dated July 18), the Queen of Pop joins the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, in the top 10. Jackson’s 1983-84 No. 1 Thriller falls 7-8 on the latest chart. Perhaps surprisingly, this is only the second time that the pair has appeared in the top 10 at the same time, and it last happened nearly 25 years ago.
Madonna and Jackson previously shared space in the top 10 on the Dec. 1, 2001-dated chart. That week, Jackson’s chart-topping Invincible fell 3-4 in its third week on the list, while Madonna’s compilation GHV2: Greatest Hits Volume 2 debuted at No. 7.
—
Also, Michael has earned over $1 billion, becoming the most lucrative biographical movie in history.
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Heather said on July 13, 2026 at 4:22 pm
Now the governor of SC has appointed Lindsay’s sister to fill his seat until the election. How’s that meritocracy Republicans love to talk about so much going?
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Dorothy said on July 13, 2026 at 5:09 pm
Icarus – I checked. Last time Dexter commented was June 26.
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Bob (not Greene) said on July 13, 2026 at 5:20 pm
Re: Dexter. He’s been posting on Facebook as recently as yesterday.
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Deborah said on July 13, 2026 at 9:16 pm
I spent the day going to an urgent care, taking specimens to 2 different labs because the first lab didn’t do testing for cyclospora. So had to take that one to a different lab.
There was a young man at the urgent care at the same time who was there for explosive diarrhea, he had fevers and chills which I didn’t have. The Dr had thought I probably don’t have cyclospora but to be on the safe side she wanted to test for that. But she was fairly sure that young man has it. That young man and I were the first patients they’ve had at the urgent care who might have it, so far.
I’m having to be on the BRATT diet, to try to get everything in my system to calm down. I got a prescription for abdominal pain. I haven’t had much to eat since Friday, and the only good news is I lost 2 or 3 lbs since Friday.
I was either waiting in a waiting room or carting things to labs all day. In the middle of all of that I had a zoom call back at the condo. I got some pedialyte popsicles to keep my electrolytes up. I want this to be over.
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Dorothy said on July 14, 2026 at 5:23 am
I’m so sorry you’re going through that, Deborah. I’m glad you got it checked out.
I broke a tooth on Saturday morning after taking ONE caramel M&M out of a bag in the fridge, and biting down on it too soon. It was rock hard and thus one of my back molars broke off a chunk. I called my dentist and heard a recording that she’s on vacation this week, and referred callers to a dentist in Clintonville. So of course I called THAT dentist, left a message, and thought they’d call me Monday morning after they opened the office. Crickets. I called at 9:04 and they told me he has no openings until the very end of July. Naturally I left a message at MY dentist’s office to let them know how unhelpful the referral was. I pulled some strings with my son’s former brother-in-law who is a dentist in Chillicothe. They worked me in for 8:50 AM today and I’m so grateful. No more caramel M&Ms for me unless they’re room temperature. Or maybe none at ALL.
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David C said on July 14, 2026 at 6:01 am
I’ve spent so much time in the dentist’s chair in the past month that when I walk in they say “Hi Dave”. I had one tooth break that had to be capped, one that had a cavity but had so much filling already that it had to be capped, and I have one more to go. That one is the worst. I didn’t know this, but my previous dental practice is a fake independent practice owned by vulture capitalists. My cap was made in China and it didn’t completely seal. My new dentist said that there was no way the previous dentist didn’t know that the cap wasn’t made right. I don’t know how she knew it was made in China but I believe her. So with three caps in a month, I’m way over my yearly maximum for my pathetic dental insurance and I’ll be paying a good chunk of change out of pocket. We seem to treat getting dental care like it’s purely cosmetic, like getting a nose job. How many people would have had to have the teeth pulled instead of getting them fixed like I was able to afford?
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Jeff Gill said on July 14, 2026 at 7:58 am
Dexter messaged about two hours ago; he seems fine!
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Julie Robinson said on July 14, 2026 at 9:39 am
Good to know, Jeff. Seems like a long time since we heard from Brian Stouder, too.
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Deborah said on July 14, 2026 at 10:46 am
This is quite a good essay by Hunter Biden on Substack. I’ve been following him lately https://substack.com/home/post/p-207016243. It’s about balance in journalism and life.
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Dorothy said on July 14, 2026 at 1:47 pm
Good news. The break in my tooth is not a very thick one and the dentist smoothed it out (well, a technician did) so it will stop making tiny cuts on the tip of my tongue. Dentist said it will probably need a crown, but he has some patients who don’t bother and have lived with a broken tooth in that condition for years. I’ll follow up with my dentist at my next appointment which is in late August. Whew!
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Sherri said on July 14, 2026 at 7:27 pm
We’re still sorting out Medicare options for my husband, but it’s clear that until I qualify for Medicare, COBRA is the best alternative for me. Expensive as it is, it’s cheaper or similar to the marketplace plans, for less coverage, even on the gold plans.
It’s a wonder anyone can afford health insurance.
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brian stouder said on July 14, 2026 at 10:13 pm
Julie – you got me laughing! My lovely wife and I did a change-of-base from Fort Wayne to Logansport. We now reside in a beautiful home in rural Cass County ( just west of Logansport), which is where she grew up. She did a change-of-base 30-plus years ago to Fort Wayne, and after her dad and then her mom went to the pearly gates, we called it a day and moved here, to her home. Every other day (or so) I ask her how she ever left this place; very beautiful indeed!
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Julie Robinson said on July 15, 2026 at 7:59 am
You’ve been missed around here, Brian, glad to know you’re doing well. I think we need a proof of life photo like McConnell!
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