Lay down your bubble wand, faithful servant
Well, damn. We were so busy waiting for ghoulish news about Mitch McConnell that we’ve been completely surprised by the abrupt demise of Lindsey Graham.
He will be greatly missed by one man, and no one else.
His death is a personal blow to Trump, for whom he was a political cheerleader and frequent golf partner. The president posted on his Truth Social platform:
Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, is dead! He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!! DETAILS AND ARRANGEMENTS TO FOLLOW. So sad!
No, I shouldn’t say just one. Every Zionist in Israel will be mourning him.
I can’t honestly say that I regret his death, except to note that he was just two years older than I am. We’re all living in the death zone, and it gets more acute every year.
To quote Randy Savage: OOOOH YEAH!!!
First Turtle Man, now Graham Cracker, do TACO next.
Well, I’ve lived with death threats for some time now, and until now, nothing happened.
Live healthy if you can afford it, and if at all possible, please post some more scientific material, both here and on your YouTube channel. These are all very enjoyable, and I do feel that I’m being drawn into biology by it, which I very much appreciate.
I do hope finishing a small treatise on certain aspects of mathematical biology in one or two months or so. Also, I’ve been exploring some species of monkeys (that’s where AI indeed appeared to have been helpful; it could write neat texts describing some features of monkeys, and it could also notably recall some species names I’d forgotten). I hope that in the very near future, I shall have the occasion of revisiting some aspects of cell biology as well.
I suspect you won’t be having to wait long for news about Mitch. The paramedics were wheeling him out of his home with less urgency than I’ve seen from trash collectors on garbage day.
Just going to repeat what I wrote last night.
One more monster dead.
That is two recently, even though McConnell is more accurately, most likely only brain dead.
It is eerie though how you can be rich and powerful, with the best medical care money can buy in the USA, and then…die suddenly anyway, at a relatively young age.
At this point, the only thing interesting about Lindsey Graham is exactly what happened to kill him suddenly like that.
I suspect Trump is next. He has been pretty wobbly as of late.
“I have never wished a man dead. But I have read some obituaries with great pleasure”
– Clarence Darrow
This narrows it down a little bit.
A lot of medical conditions can lead to sudden cardiac arrest.
raven @ #4 — What killed him suddenly may be interesting, but 71 is not a “relatively young age” except perhaps in comparison to Dumpster (80), Mitch (84), and me (78). Per the Wikipedia report EMTs were called to his home in DC for a patient with “chest pain” which suggests a heart problem. Hard to believe he had a heart.
What is interesting is what happens to the campaign. Dr. Annie Andrews is…was… running against him. From what I’ve read she’s close…a point or two…so this could flip a seat.
If Annie Andrews is running against a brain dead opponent it is no guarantee for victory.
I recall 1980, 1984, 1988, 2000, 2004, 2016 and 2024.
Arguably, George Herbert Bush was not brain-dead. He was just an opportunist that jumped on Reagan’s coattails.
birgerjohansson @ #8 — But Lindsey isn’t just brain dead…nothing new in that…but he’s dead dead. So they have to get someone to step in. I’m not saying Andrews is a shoo-in as she was a point or two behind Graham but death does change things a bit.
They say you should only speak good of the dead. He’s dead. Good. (I stole that from former San Francisco supervisor Tom Ammiano, who probably stole it from Mae West.) I don’t believe hell exists, but hope he was in LOTS of pain before them paramedics arrived. Good riddance to the blot on humanity that he was. And for our next act, we have, waiting stage right….
“We’re all living in the death zone, and it gets more acute every year.”
True, but my experience, having unaccountably living well beyond my expectations, that feeling has faded somewhat. I’m 82 and not all that healthy so it could happen any old time. And that’s fine.
Of course I will fight to stay alive anyway, because I am the product of evolution and it is kind of etched into my genes. Every one of my ancestors going back to the first living organism survived to have children and I am one of the results. My particular line ends here because I never had children. That’s fine too.
Ding Dong.
Christopher Hitchens on Jerry Falwell: If you gave Falwell an enema you could bury him in a matchbox.
Ding dong, the witch is dead.
Wow, a state funeral for his office wife but his first ex-wife gets buried under one of his crappy golf courses.
Don’t worry, he’ll find a replacement soon enough. He always does.
Considering that he visited Ukraine last week, I’m surprised he died in bed as opposed to falling out a window.
I’m just wondering how Trump will move the spotlight back to himself.
He actually does see this as some sort of opportunity.
In realpolitik, Graham’s death represents a minor setback for Ukraine and a small advantage for the Democratic Party.
Plus a short-term career boost for some South Carolinian Republican nonentity.
Will anything, ahem, interesting finally fall out of Lindsey’s closet?
— from Robert Reich’s substack
14 silvrhalide – Don’t worry, he’ll find a replacement soon enough. He always does.
My reoccurring thought. Where will they find the next POS to fill the vacuum?
Wasn’t he supposed to be a gay man too afraid of conservative censure to come out of the closet? Or am I confusing him with some other hypocrite?
Anyway, what matters is the genuine harm he did by the way he voted.
@19:
Yes, there were persistent rumors about Graham’s sexual orientation. I’m not aware of any actual evidence that holds up to scrutiny.
@20: If by “persistent rumors” about Graham you mean that every(gay)body and their dog referred to him as “Miss Lindsay” and considered him to be a hateful bigot and closet case, since probably the Reagan administration, then yeah, the rumors even reached here to California. Graham was 2 or 3 years younger than me.
Lindsey Graham was, as one might expect, pretty unknown to Finnish audiences until last year. Then Trump started his second term, and our own president Alexander Stubb (who’d taken office a year earlier) started using his extensive contacts in the US political class to get in touch with Trump. Graham appears to have played a central role in this, being a personal friend of both Trump and Stubb. He was occasionally praised in Stubb’s comments to the Finnish media during 2025.
The main diplomatic goal of this ass-licking campaign was apparently to make Trump more amenable to Ukraine’s cause and the European security in general. Stubb became internationally known as a “Trump whisperer”, being a skilled diplomat who happened to have an agenda and the right contacts. It looked like could succeed at talking sense to Trump. But he did not succeed, as became increasingly clear by this year. There was a tangible sense of frustration, and the effort was apparently toned down.
At the same time came the great Greenland escalation of last winter, and the joint US-Israel campaign of Sisyphean aggression on Iran. Those of us in Finland who were extremely online noted that Graham was increasingly known for being a rabid supporter of Israel’s various genocides and a war hawk on Iran (the “surprising” flip side of him being a hawk on Russia). IIRC, he also publicly sided with Trump on the Greenland thuggery.
Upon Graham’s death, Alexander Stubb posted a social media message that was longer and appeared more heartfelt than the usual boiler-plate international condolences. Normally, the death of a US senator in office would hardly even warrant a response from foreign heads of state. I guess they were still friends (in the rich white golf-playing fiscally conservative brotherhood way) after all.
@19
The confusion is understandable. The GOP is filled with homophobic gay men. There’s so many to choose from… Mark Foley, who preyed on underaged Senate pages; Lindsey Graham, Jim Kolbe, Larry Craig, with his foot tapping ways who completely denied being gay despite the 94 men he solicited for sex (94 that investigators found anyway); Dennis Hastert, who was also a pedophile… and Jim Jordan, who covered for the predatory athletics doctor Richard Strauses when Jordan was a wrestling coach but who is not actually gay himself (or at least hasn’t been reported as such). (Not a complete list FYI)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Foley
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/tag/Dennis-Hastert
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_State_University_abuse_scandal
Barney Frank, on the other hand, seems to have lead a happy and fulfilling life as the out gay senator from MA.
https://theonion.com/why-do-all-these-homosexuals-keep-sucking-my-cock-1819583529/
Interesting piece in Vox: https://www.vox.com/politics/495146/lindsey-graham-dead-donald-trump-legacy-senate-ukraine
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Lindsey Graham sacrificed his reputation to Donald Trump. He got plenty in return.
His career explains why so many Republicans made peace with Trump — and what they gave up to do it.
There’s a “one weird trick” to identify closeted gay Republicans:
Ask them if “being gay is a CHOICE”.
If they answer “yes”, then they’re a closeted gay.
Congratulate them on finally coming out of the closet. From a safe distance.
(Because the sexuality IS NOT a choice, but being in the closet IS.)
Wouldn’t surprise me if Trump misposted and Lindsay Graham read it and thought “Oh, I better pop-off and die then”.
I really, really, hate Graham even more so than all the ugly evil ass-lickers. His spinelessness was just … so much more nauseating and apparent.
Your obsessive preoccupation with people your hate is disturbing. I hope that you will eventually disconnect yourself from the algorithm a little bit.
Your obsessive preoccupation with this blog is disturbing. Seek help.
sinuousrills, you are a true specimen.
The irony is strong.
Sure. Become a hermit, ignore the world.
<snicker>
Shaping up to be a great month for dead bad guys alright!
New information: LG apparently died of a rupture of the aorta.
I was myself in for a free ultrasound scan of a large blood vessel near the stomach, it is apparently a risk factor for men that have turned 65.
.
A relatively young co-worker of mine died suddenly at home in 2017. A blood vessel in the heart got blocked by a blood clot. She smoked, so there would have been a build-up of junk on the inside of blood vessels that can come loose.
.
BTW if you can, move to a nation that provides free health checks for people in a ‘problematic’ demographic. And without for-profit hospitals.
If you cannot move, vote for non-corrupt politicians willing to improve health care.
John Morales @ 29
Agrees 100%.
Indianajones @ 30
Just starting with USA, there must be a lot of superannuated politicians with a ‘questionable’ legacy.
And while I do not know much of Australia the place that spawned Rupert Murdoch is likely to have a lot of corrupt big cheese of a likely age.
.
Britain? This is the place of bent members of the House of Lords, given a knighthood by other crooks. If there is a particularly nasty flu season hitting these elderly villains, it will be Jackpot time.
Dang! Moscow Mitch is still alive!
Mitch McConnell reveals fall led to hospitalization after weeks of silence | Mitch McConnell | The Guardian .https://share.google/zxf1ERhsVVjHgwPiM
@birgerjohnson I could name a few fellow aussies that I am looking forward to cackling at on death, tis true. Shame about Mitch!
Oops misspelt quite badly your name, sorry about that!
Preliminary report on Graham.
Sen. Lindsey Graham likely died after aorta tear, medical examiner says
“died after a tear in his aorta, according to a preliminary medical examiner finding shared by his office.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/us-senator-lindsey-graham-died-063842950.html
stuffin, heartbroken, then.
birgerjohansson @33: Don’t believe it. There’s still been no independent confirmation that McConnell’s still breathing: a note is hardly evidence and there’s a lot of people stating that that photo is from ’23, which certainly seems likely since he hasn’t looked that healthy in years.
I guess on his credit side he was pro Ukraine.
I’m watching Keith Edwards’ take right now and Graham allegedly reported feeling unwell to others before his demise. It’s probably a teaching moment on Lindsey’s part to not hesitate on that stuff, but could he have foreseen the fatality? I heard indirectly about someone I knew telling someone they weren’t feeling well and going home only to be found dead days later on their living room floor. Kinda scary actually. Not that I am all teared up about Graham, but death can be abrupt. Not lost on me. Yipes given my own vicarious experience.
When someone posted about Graham on a Discord I at first thought they were talking about McConnell. Graham was quite unexpected.
NBC is reporting that Graham’s death was caused by an “aortic rupture”.
It happens and yeah, it is scary.
We saw that a lot during the Covid-19 pandemic.
A lot of people who died never even made it to the hospital.
Happened to our friend.
She survived a Covid-19 infection but ended up with a long Covid-19 syndrome.
Two years ago my friend went to do a welfare check on her after no one was able to reach her.
She was dead on the floor at age 61.
An Ukrainian take: https://kyivindependent.com/lindsey-graham-dies-from-illness-after-returning-from-kyiv-trip/
Ruptured aorta is a health problem that will normally kill you even if it happens during an operation with the entire staff there. Of all the possible ways to go, it’s pretty decent; no long drawn out suffering. It’s also not likely to be an assassination.
microraptor@38: You say “he hasn’t looked that healthy in years” — but he looks absolutely terrible. Someone who looks that bad could recover and live years longer, but they could also just not wake up tomorrow.
That photo is an old photo from 2023.
This whole announcement from McConnell is very suspicious.
They couldn’t even be bothered to use a current photo when everyone carries a cell phone with a camera around with them?
McConnell knows hundreds of people at the least, as one of the most powerful people in the USA.
He has been in the hospital for 3 weeks and no one has been there to visit him?
None of this is believable.