Sometimes a story comes along after I posted Friday Links that I really, really, really wish I’d learned about a few hours early so I could share. Today I’ve got one that will give you a much needed laugh: SEX TOYS USED TO HELP CHASE OFF ARMED ROBBER AT SAN BERNARDINO SHOP. Go, watch the video! It’s hilarious and will make you feel good.

My favorite parts, from the security video: The moment the woman behind the register sees the gun, she starts angrily shouting at him. We can’t hear what she’s saying, because the security video has no sound, but look at her pound that counter! She is not taking this guy’s nonsense! Next! Next the other woman working in the shop saunters into the frame with her hands on her hips. I know that pose! She’s not panicking about that gun. That body language is all, “I do not have to put up with this!” The dildos don’t happen until he reaches across the counter to grab the woman, some how having no already discerned from their reactions that he is not intimidating them at all.

It’s only then that the second woman start’s thowing the dildos right at his head. And hitting!

But my favorite is some that’s in the news footage but no one comments on. This crime occurred at a quarter to ten on Wednesday night, right? Notice the sign on the door of the store: “Cashless Store After Dark. Credit, Debit, and Checks Only.” That should tell the robber that all the cash from the cash register has been put in a safe around sundown. By 9:45pm there is no cash in that register for them to give him.

Of course, what do you expect from a robber who isn’t paying enough attention to notice security camera outside the store, and puts his face mask on right in front of one? That isn’t a very high resolution pic of his face they got, but they did get it.

There’s also more serious stuff that we probably should be more worried about: China ‘seizes US underwater drone’ in S China Sea, China accuses US of ‘hyping-up’ seizure of underwater drone. If we’re going to be worrying about what China’s doing in international waters, we probably should be paying attention to things like South China Sea: Satellite images appear to show weapons systems on artificial islands, which the U.S. and other governments have been protesting for some time. But I’m a bit more concerned that Orange Julius Ceasar, a man who claims he’s so smart he doesn’t need intelligence briefings, is not only too dumb to spell unprecedented, but also thinks that sending angry tweets in the middle of the night to a country that has nuclear weapons is the proper way to conduct diplomacy: US President-elect Donald Trump misspells ‘unprecedented’ in a tweet on China, Twitter roars.

Meanwhile, Voting Rights Roundup: North Carolina Republicans execute legislative coup against democracy itself. Yep, North Carolina voters ousted anti-gay, anti-queer, anti-civil-civil-rights-for-anyone-he-pleases, as well as some of the more extreme members of the legislature, and what do they do? Hold a special session behind closed doors, pass a bunch of laws taking away the newly elected governor’s powers, have capitol police arrest protesting citizens and reports at the capitol, and get the outgoing governor to sigh these acts (that well may be unconstitutional) before the terms end. Lame duck politicians always try to rush things through before a change in administration, but usually never anything that is so blatantly not just an attack of the will of the voters, but an attack on the idea of voting itself (among the laws are changes to the election system in the state).

A lot of people are justifiably upset to the extent that it’s being revealed that Russia played in out recent national elections. But U.S. Republicans at both the state and federal level have been working diligently for years to purge voter rolls of voters likely not to vote for them, taking power away from elected officials, municipalities, and so forth when voters make choices they don’t like, and so forth. It’s not merely that the Republicans have been waging a war on queers, women, and people of color for years, but they’ve also been waging a war on our system of government itself.

But what else do we expect from a party that keeps equating having to treat other people with respect as being oppressed?