As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.
The passing yesterday of former Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS) at the age of 98 is noted here by the Washington Post editorial board, with an a propos dig toward the current Republican vandals in the Senate:
Mr. Dole was a sometimes controversial figure occasionally given, especially early in his career, to irritated outbursts. None of that should obscure the substance and significance of his accomplishments. He led — as minority and majority leader — with a sense of the need to get things done. We didn’t always agree with him, but on big matters such as the vital civil rights bills of the 1960s and later on expanding food stamp coverage, he took strong and principled stands in favor. And he worked with members of both parties.
“The Senate does not reward extremes,” said a colleague, Bill Bradley of New Jersey, when Mr. Dole left that body in June 1996. Mr. Dole, he continued, “knew how to use power because he understood how to make things happen in the center of this institution. And that is ultimately built on a couple of personal facts. I mean, he always kept his word. He listened very carefully. He never held a grudge.”
This was, keep in mind, a prominent Democrat discussing the leader of the Senate’s Republicans, and it was barely 25 years ago. Kind of makes you wish there really was a bridge to the past.
You can read President Biden's statement on Dole here and the presidential proclamation here.
The Malignant Loser admits to obstruction of justice ... again:
In an interview that aired last night, Trump sat down with Fox News' Mark Levin, apparently to help promote a new book with photographs from his time in the White House. Their discussion turned to the Russia scandal, which the former president said may have been made up in Hillary Clinton's kitchen. He added:
"[A] lot of people say to me, 'How you survived is one of the most incredible things.' Don't forget, I fired Comey. Had I not fired Comey, you might not be talking to me right now about a beautiful book of four years at the White House. And we'll see about the future. The future's going to be very interesting. But I fired Comey, that whole group, and now that group is coming back again. I mean, it's not believable. It shouldn't be allowed to happen. It shouldn't be allowed to happen."
The host tried to change the subject, but later in the interview, Trump seemed eager to talk about this some more.
"I was going to say before, if I didn't fire Comey, they were looking to take down the President of the United States. If I didn't fire him, and some people said, 'He made a mistake when he fired Comey.' And now those same people said it was the most incredible instinctual moves that they've ever seen, because I wouldn't — I might be here with you, perhaps we'll be talking about something else. But I don't think I could have survived if I didn't fire him, because it was like a hornet's nest."
It was three years ago when The Atlantic's Adam Serwer wrote, "Donald Trump can't stop telling on himself." A year later, Nick Akerman, a former Watergate prosecutor, said, "What he's been saying in public is the kind of thing I used to prosecute people for doing in private." [snip]
... Unprompted, Trump seemed to volunteer to Levin that the FBI was on his trail, so he fired the FBI director in order to save his own skin.
Meanwhile, here's your "Republicans in disarray" story of the moment:
A spokesman for Kemp on Sunday accused the former senator of running to “soothe his own bruised ego,” and risking Republican control of Georgia after bungling his runoff campaign and putting Democrats in charge of the Senate.
Leonard Pitts, Jr., gets a lot of email from the Malignant Loser (a lot!), who's grifting the MAGA suckers seemingly more than ever:
There are two schools of thought on whether he’ll seek the presidency again. Both center on his fragile ego. One holds that he must run because that ego simply can’t absorb the humiliation of losing. The other holds that he can’t run because that ego simply can’t risk the humiliation of losing twice. One wonders if even he knows where the ego will land. Meantime, raising money is an end unto itself, and to watch him con it out of people who should know better is fascinating and repulsive in equal measure.
He weaponizes their fear and foolishness, and the cash comes rolling in. How sadly, grotesquely and absurdly American that is. “In 2022,” goes an email in my queue, “we will SAVE AMERICA from the radical left.” It offers an “official” Trump calendar for any contribution over $45.
"From heroine, to villain, to convict" Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi :
Put on trial by the generals who overthrew her elected government in a coup that cut short democratic reforms she had fought for decades to bring about, Myanmar's ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced on Monday to four years in prison.
She was convicted of incitement and violations of a law on natural disasters in the first verdict in more than a dozen criminal cases filed against her since the Feb. 1 military takeover. Suu Kyi is 76 years old.
Finally, please take some time to check out Infidel 753's always - stimulating link round-up for his collection of links to posts from around the Internet. If you haven't already bookmarked his blog ... =sigh=.
