(Permanent Musical Accompaniment To The Last Post Of The Week From The Blog's Favourite Living Canadian)

One of the most amusing aspects of the rise of He, Trump, purely for spectator value, is his nearly limitless capacity to force people of great pretensions to make complete buffoons of themselves. I'm not talking about sending Chris Christie out for burgers, although that's pretty much a laff riot all on its own. I'm talking about the elaborate balletic dick-stepping he's forcing on people like Rick Perry and Paul Ryan. And now we have a series of new steps on the ol' dickeroony that he's drawn out of the Florida congressional delegation.

Suddenly, with Republican hopes of retaining the Senate taking on water from every seacock, who has re-emerged but Young Marco Rubio, who hates the Senate like grim death, but who now apparently realizes that the Republic can't survive its current vicissitudes without his sage, if relentlessly repetitive, counsel. Lo and behold…talk to us, mother Times.

The likelihood of a re-election bid seemed to grow on Friday when one of Mr. Rubio's potential rivals, Representative David Jolly, suddenly dropped out of the race and said he would seek another term in the House instead. Earlier in the day, Mr. Jolly foreshadowed his move, telling CNN, "Marco is saying he's getting in." Ever restless, strategic and ambitious—and only 45 years old—Mr. Rubio has spent the past few weeks discussing with his friends and colleagues the difficulties he would face maintaining his political profile if he left the Senate. He would like to run for the presidency again, either in 2020 or 2024, and is concerned that his opportunities would be far more limited if he were no longer in office.

Dare to dream, big guy.

Anyway, Rubio's sudden return from enforced political Coventry has put the serious screws to the people who already were planning to replace him. Take, for example, Republican Congressman David Jolly, who was out there in the early summer sunshine campaigning like a little powerhouse. Then, the Rubio rumors started and Jolly bailed, which was good because the national Republican party had bailed on him, if The Atlantic is to be believed. For connoisseurs of pure electoral chaos, you just can't beat Florida. Now, they're falling like dominoes made out of nitroglycerine.

Apologies for the lateness of our usual weekender, but, on Friday afternoon, I was tied up at the second of two remarkable memorial services that I attended last week. The week began in Louisville, with the altogether transcendent two-day memorial to Muhammad Ali. You know someone has lived a life when, at their funeral, you can see Kris Kristofferson get introduced to the president of Turkey.

You know someone has lived a life when, at their funeral, you can see Kris Kristofferson get introduced to the president of Turkey.

And on Friday, in Boston, we all got together to honor the memory of Bud Collins, the tennis journalist, indefatigable world traveler, and wearer of amazing pants. Again, you know someone has lived a life when, at their funeral, you can chat with both Toure and Rod Laver. (And, yes, Laver's business arm still looks like it's made of freaking iron.) As it happens, Bud was along on the champ's bus when the second fight with Sonny Liston got postponed, moved out of Boston, and up to a rec center in Lewiston, Maine. The conversation in the Beyond just improved about 150 percent, and, goddamn if 2016 isn't a godawful year for icons.

My favorite bit at the Tonys last Sunday was the riff James Corden constructed out of how many people in the audience had appeared on Law and Order. We longtime fans of the show knew very well that the segment could have gone on for about three days. And, if there's anybody in America who enjoys his work more than Lin-Manuel Miranda does, I can't think of who it is.

Chris Hayes is writing another book, this one about what he's calling the colonization of poor people and people of color within the United States. This is good news.

Weekly WWOZ Pick To Click: "Whiskey Drinking Man" (Chubby Carrier). Yeah, I pretty much still love New Orleans.

Weekly Visit To The Pathe Archives: In honor of Bud (and his pants), here's Bill Tilden warming up at Wimbledon in 1921. Tilden's life ended in a welter of morals charges, some of which probably were based in rank homophobia. History moves in strange and wonderful ways, but it remains cool nonetheless. Speaking of cool history, it seems that they're looking for another dead king in another British parking lot. From LiveScience:

On Friday (June 10), archaeologists began a survey of the grounds of the long-closed Reading Abbey, the final resting place of King Henry I, who ruled England from 1100 to 1135. In order to image the subsurface, they relied on ground-penetrating radar (GPR), which uses reflected radar waves to reveal buried structures. The abbey was shut in 1539, though some of its buildings still stand in ruins. The rest of the grounds lie under a defunct prison, parking spots, a nursery school and a playground.

I have to admit that, while I figured there had to have been a Henry I for there to have been Henrys IV (parts I and II), Henry V, and Henry VIII, this dude pretty much got by me, although overdosing on eels seems an undignified way for a king to have kicked the bucket.

Those of you who spend time on the electric Twitter machine or on the Intertoobz are missing something glorious if you haven't yet tapped into Reykavik Grapevine, an English-language site that's been covering Iceland's surprising run in the Euro 2016 by live-tweeting it as though it were a Norse saga. Iceland took a tough last-ditch draw with Hungary on Saturday, but, prior to that, the scribes at the Grapevine had a question to ask of the governing officials.

Can @UEFA or @FIFAcom tell us the rules on unleashing the god-wolf #Fenrir to run amok amongst the #Hun defence?

That, my friends, is some kind of sportswriting right there.

Is it a good day for dinosaur news? It's always a good day for dinosaur news!

The remains of a giant dinosaur known as "Big Monty" is believed to be the biggest dinosaur ever discovered in Montana. The sauropod, or long-neck for the Land Before Time generation, was unearthed last summer at a private ranch near the Little Snowy Mountains, just north of Roundup. A vertebrae measuring 3-feet and pieces of a rib that could measure up to 9-feet were recovered from a hillside where researchers were working. Nate Murphy, the Director of the Judith River Dinosaur Institute, said he believes the dinosaur could be upwards of 100 feet long. For the teams from the Judith River Dinosaur Institute and Dino Lab, locating the fossil is only half the battle. The next task will be removing it from the earth. "As you can imagine, an animal's body that big is going to require a lot of work to uncover it," Murphy said. To aid in the excavation, Murphy enlisted the help of Titan Machinery in Lockwood, as well as 60-plus volunteers from across the globe. The removal process may take two or three years to complete based on the size and condition of the fossils.

Whaddya say, gang? Road trip! Who's with me?

The item this week about the Mississippi congressman who doesn't want a ship named after John Lewis, but not Because Of Race because nothing ever is About Race, drew some strong contenders for Top Commenter Of The Week. Top Commenter Ernest Lamonica reworked "Sympathy For The Devil" to fine effect, but the award goes to Top Commenter Rob Cervenik, who knew very well how to suck up to the proprietor of this shebeen.

Somewhere Rick Santorum (and has it been mentioned what a colossal dick he is?) Is thinking 'Damn I have to step my game'.

Fine sycophancy, my good man. 68.23 Beckhams to you.

I'll be back on Monday with some Republicans Gone Mad gobshitery. Be well and play nice, ya bastids. Stay above the snake-line, or the god-wolf Fenrir will be stopping by.

Click here to respond to this post on the official Esquire Politics Facebook page.

Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io