It’s already the second Friday in September?! How did that happen? Oh, well! Don’t forget: September babies are superior!

I’ve done very little writing and a lot of revising this week.

Anyway, here are links to some of the interesting things I read on the web this week, sorted into various topic areas.

Links of the Week

On Peace Between Christians and GBLT People.

This week in Seahawks

Building a New Beast Mode: It Will Take a Small Army to Replace Marshawn Lynch.

This week in Food

How Americans pretend to love ‘ethnic food’.

So what exactly could be wrong with having taco trucks on every corner?

Don’t Fuck with Librarians

Stage Play Spotlights Alabama Librarian’s 1959 Defense of Children’s Book.

This week in awful news

Syrian government ‘drops chlorine gas’ on rebel-held part of Aleppo.

Wells Fargo Fined for Fraudulently Opening Accounts for Customers.

National Guard put on alert as protesters await decision on North Dakota pipeline.

Dakota Access Pipeline Protests: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know.

The Latest: Large Crowds in 3 States Protest Pipeline.

Aleppo: Key battleground in Syria’s civil war.

Camerawoman Who Kicked Refugees in Hungary Is Charged With ‘Breach of Peace’.

Rights Group: Refugee Children Still in Greek Police Cells.

This week in the environment

Dakota Access Pipeline Company Attacks Native American Protesters with Dogs and Pepper Spray.

News for queers and our allies:

‘LGBT’ is Not a Synonym for ‘Gay’.

Sleepless in Seattle: The Chef, the Quarterback and Transgender Rights.

The first openly lesbian contestant will take part in this year’s Miss America pageant.

19 LGBT Hindu Gods that Defied the Gender Binary.

Letter From a Greek Activist Fighting the Binary.

I WAS TAUGHT TO HATE MY LESBIAN NEIGHBORS. THEY TOOK ME IN ANYWAY.

Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters. Alvin had been fighting the good fight!

Science!

Freddie Mercury has an asteroid named after him.

Bizarre ant colony discovered in an abandoned Polish nuclear weapons bunker.

Philae lander found on comet 67P as Rosetta mission draws to a close.

Why Canadians drink more coffee than most people in the world.

The giant panda is no longer an endangered species.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

A Bleary-Eyed (And Slightly Furious) Post World Con Recap.

N.K. Jemisin and the Politics of Prose.

March of the living dead lit mag submissions.

A related post by the same author: A personal rejection letter, sent to the literary journal which took 6 years to reject my story.

Here’s what I saw from the front row of the “State of Short Fiction” panel.

The Hugos, the Sad Puppies and 1970s science fiction paperback covers, which were ridiculous.

The 2016 Dragon Awards or Participation Trophies for Puppies.

World Fantasy tries again with programming.

Even More Hugo and Clarke Awards Reactions.

And other news:

New York’s Attorney General Just Announced a Major Investigation into Makers of EpiPen.

Pacific Northwest College of Art Cancels an MA Program Days Before Classes.

This week in Writing

WRITE BETTER SCI-FI STORIES WITH THIS SIMPLE IDEA.

This Week in History

Naming Demons: The Aramaic Incantation Bowls and Gittin.

This Week in Tech

Warner Brothers reports own site as illegal.

This Week in Covering the News

You Failed, Chumps.

Hillary Clinton Gets Gored.

This Week in Inclusion

If We Don’t Exist We Don’t Exist.

This Week in Police Problems

When Police Unions Impede Justice.

Culture war news:

The Women Who Challenged Sweet Cakes on the Cost of Their Battle. “We’re not political people, never wanted this attention, and only filed a claim with Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries after six months of relentless media attention and harassment. Meanwhile, the Kleins quickly became media darlings of the right wing. Conservative groups flew them out to appear at events, Ted Cruz featured them in a campaign video, and their fundraising page raised over $600,000. In contrast, we became the target of hateful, violent threats and a daily onslaught of negative calls and emails from around the world. Over the past three years, we have received several thousand Facebook messages calling us fat, evil, and dumb — some with threats so violent that we have sincerely feared for our lives, moved houses, and lived in hiding in hopes of protecting our family.”

Mere Months After Orlando, Evangelicals Declare New Commitment To Rejecting LGBT People.

New Jersey GOPer Tells Female Reporter He Hopes She Gets ‘Raped’.

What Phyllis Schlafly Might Have Been, if It Weren’t for Women Like Phyllis Schlafly.

Donald Trump’s Extremist Allies: Who’s Who At The Values Voter Summit 2016.

Gays Who Lived Through Anne-Imelda Radice’s Tenure as NEA “Decency Czar” Aren’t Celebrating Her Gay Wedding.

This Week in Hate Crimes

Double Murder a Likely Anti-LGBT Hate Crime in Missouri.

This Week Regarding the Lying Liar:

Donald Trump still hasn’t paid most of his top staffers, and some of them aren’t happy about it.

Trump policy staffers quit after not being paid.

Donald Trump upstaged when Mexican taco truck arrives in protest and proves more popular than him.

At Least 110 Republican Leaders Won’t Vote for Donald Trump. Here’s When They Reached Their Breaking Point.

Trump Time Capsule #92: ‘How the Media Undermine American Democracy’.

Fox News Turns On Trump And Busts Him For Lying About Black Poverty Statistics.

Donald Trump Is Playing the Religious Right for Rubes.

Donald Trump Does Detroit: after weeks of preaching his sinister sermon of black pathology to mostly white audiences as part of his utterly fake “black outreach” — which is in fact the effort of a bigot to disguise his bigotry — Donald Trump finally brought his message before a few mostly black audiences.

Did Trump Happen Because Liberals Are Too Mean?

This week in Politics:

Hillary conversed with Colin Powell two days after becoming Secretary of State, not “a year later,” as Powell has claimed. Second, Powell essentially told her that he had just gone ahead and broken the law by “not using systems that captured the data.” Hillary, by contrast, chose instead to retain everything as the law required.

The 7 Biggest Deadbeat States Who Mooch Off Taxpayers All Vote Republican.

Gallup: Life got better for pretty much everyone under Obama.

Democrats Troll Donald Trump With a Taco Truck in Colorado.

The New York Times Screws Up Its Clinton Coverage, Part Infinity.

Why Hillary Clinton’s perceived corruption seems to echo louder than Donald Trump’s actual corruption.

Save the Republican Party: Vote for Clinton.

5 worst right-wing moments this week: Michele Bachmann’s apocalypse now.

Farewells:

Savannah drag legend Lady Chablis dies at 59.

Jon Polito Dies: Coen Brothers Actor & ‘Homicide’ Original Was 65.

Dabney Montgomery dies; Tuskegee Airman was 93.

In Unmourned Departures:

Anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly’s philosophy perfectly captured in 15 disturbing quotes.

Conservative Phyllis Schlafly, Foe Of Equal Rights Amendment And Founder Of Eagle Forum, Dies At 92.

Phyllis Schlafly, One of History’s Worst Homophobes, Dies at 92.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 9/2/2016: cute otters and delicious tacos.

The first draft is always… well, a draft.

Wrestling the bear: getting to the end of your novel.

No one likes change before and while it’s happening….

Videos!

An Emotional Surprise for an Orlando Survivor:

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Australian | Aussie Shirtless Men Answer Boxers or Briefs in Los Angeles | 2016 Mens Fashion:

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Saade – Wide Awake ft. Gustaf Norén (Official Music Video):

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Sia – The Greatest:

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