On the Devil's pallbearers
A wolf bays at our door, dripping in fresh blood and stinking of old. It paws at the doorknob and sniffs at the crumbling concrete threshold. It demands we let it in, and we close our blinds and double check our locks. We'll go out tomorrow and look for the wolf; we'll pass by the house where the old lady sleeps, her innocent voice roughened, we assume, from age.
Lindsey Graham is dead. To Amy Klobuchar, he had "almost kid-like exuberance about his job". Elizabeth Warren admired his "humor and wit". Adam Schiff admired his "sense of humor". Mark Warner praised his "quick wit", "sharp laugh", and "uncanny ability to break the tension with a well-timed joke or story".
Lindsey Graham is dead. He bragged that under Trump, we are "killing the right people". He justified Renee Good's murder by saying that ICE is under "unprecedented siege by radical leftist open border activists", and described the murder as "eventual defensive shooting of the woman who tried to run him over". He dedicated his career to bombing Iran; he helped Trump try to overthrow the democratic results of the 2020 election.
On social media, cooler heads remind us that if your coworker died suddenly, you'd say something nice too. I don't have Nazi coworkers, to my knowledge. I imagine I wouldn't praise their humor if I did. But of course, being a Senator is not a normal job. Senators enjoy generous healthcare and leave policies, secure pensions, no penalties for truancy, legal immunity, and perks for everything from flights to their workplace, which boasts a pool among its many unusual amenities.
Lindsey Graham is dead. He believed that Americans have no right to protest our government if our protests do not meet with his sensibilities. He advocated for the internment and murder of innocent men, women, and children. He spent his dying days propping up a self-admitted authoritarian, who upon his passing said that "this is a big blow to the SAVE America Act, let me tell you".
On July 5, Elizabeth Warren helped lead a round of questioning regarding failure to prevent civilian casualties during war. Congress has not authorized war with Iran. The report's findings have not been made public. Warren has not released a statement referencing the Minab school bombing victims by name.
One fascist is dead. Many more remain. We do not live in normal times. The killers of Keith Porter, Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Victor Manuel Diaz, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, and countless others walk free among us, guns at the ready. Class solidarity is a term which describes the recognition and perpetuation of shared interests along social and/or economic class.
My condolences to the Democratic Senators on the loss of their friend, colleague, and sparring partner.
