It’s Friday, the second Friday in September. Usually at this point I will wax poetic about the blessédness of this month and the superiority of people burn during it, but right now with all the insane weather and earthquakes and wildfires and tsunamis… I’m not sure it’s really appropriate

All week long locally they’ve been promising us that the hellish smoke layer (seriously, ashes were falling from the sky like snowflakes on Tuesday, and the sun has been blood red for days) would start to clear out and be all gone before the end of the week. And then each day the forecast has revised and moved that day back. As I right this Thursday night we are still under a layer of smoke, air quality has only improved to Moderately Bad, and there has been no sign of the promised rain.

Anyway, here are the links I gathered this week, sorted into categories as accurately as I could.

Links of the Week

Donald Trump Is the First White President. This essay is incredible and devastatingly honest and should be read even if you think you’ve heard enough about Donald.

Life is All the Negative Space Surrounding Orgasms and Belly Laughs.

The Week in Credit Where Credit is Due

We found the photographer who took these dramatic pictures of golfers in front of a hill on fire in Oregon.

Even Mister Rogers Knew What to Do with Haters

In 1990 Mister Rogers Sued The KKK For Impersonating Him (and won!). In 1990, Mr. Rogers sued the KKK for impersonating his voice in prerecorded messages. These messages said “AIDS was divine retribution” and included radio skits simulating lynchings of black children on a playground. The messages were spread to elementary and middle school children by passing out misleading fliers with a phone number to call for a special message from a friendly neighbor.

Science!

Yes, humans are still evolving. Here’s how you can tell.

Bad Astronomy | UPDATE: Supertyphoons and Global Warming.

Swiss confectioners invent a new kind of chocolate for the first time in 80 years.

This Week in Weather and the Atmosphere

Tsunami warning issued for ‘hazardous’ waves after huge earthquake hits Mexico.

Tropical triple threat: Hurricanes Jose and Katia could join Irma striking land this weekend.

Hurricane Irma: storm batters Bahamas and Haiti while Florida evacuates – latest updates.

Floridians jam highways to flee wrath of Hurricane Irma.

Wildfires, poor air quality to plague western US as extreme heat persists.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

John Barrowman dressed up as Wonder Woman because John Barrowman.

Doctor Who Writer Gareth Roberts Talks Vile, Ignorant Trash About Trans Women.

An Open Letter to Gareth Roberts .

Sexual Harassment in the Science Fiction & Fantasy Communities Survey Results.

This Week in History

No, Your Ancestors Probably Didn’t Come Here Legally.

The Search For ‘The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong’.

Don’t Fuck with Librarians

One woman’s story of how a bookmobile transported her away from a deadly life and toward her human potential.

The Women Who Rode Miles on Horseback to Deliver Library Books.

News for queers and our allies:

Christians Give Your Tithe Towards Trans Surgeries.

The Identity Asymptote.

Pro Wrestler Anthony Bowens: Bi Stigma Is Real.

This week in Writing

Silvia Moreno-Garcia | When a YA writer ‘tanks’.

This Week in Tech

Three Equifax Managers Sold Stock Before Cyber Hack Was Revealed.

Nearly half of U.S. population has data affected by Equifax breach.

Culture war news:

Robert E. Lee descendent forced out of church after speaking against white supremacy.

Manslamming Street Experiment Take Up Space Experience.

Married Oklahoma GOP state Senator Ralph Shortey, who resigned in March after being caught with a male teen in a motel room, has been hit with four federal child porn and sex trafficking charges.

This week in so-called Christians

Trump’s Spiritual Adviser Doubles Down: Resisting Him Is Resisting “the Hand of God”.

This week in the Resistance:

Washington Among 15 States Suing Trump to Protect DACA Recipients.

This Week Regarding the Lying Liar:

When Trump denounces the ‘fake media’ his anti-Semitic fans hear ‘Jewish media’.

5 times Trump made life miserable for Republicans (including this week).

Why Trump’s Immigration Gambit Will Likely Backfire.

Appeals Court Rejects Family Limits In Trump Travel Ban.

News about the Fascist Regime:

DOJ to retry woman who laughed during Sessions’ confirmation hearing.

Sheriff Clarke Was In Talks for a Trump White House Job.

This week in Politics:

Hillary Breaks Silence on Bernie — and She’s Not Wrong.

Hillary Clinton is right about Bernie Sanders.

Texas Republicans Helped Chemical Plant That Exploded Lobby Against Safety Rules.

Nancy Pelosi Actually Dictated Trump’s Last Tweet to Him.

House Conservatives Angry at Trump’s Debt-Ceiling Deal, Threaten Paul Ryan.

Senate passes debt-limit deal Trump struck with Democrats.

Trump bucked his own Treasury secretary and every top Republican by agreeing to a deal with Democrats on the debt ceiling.

This Week in Racists, White Nationalists, and other deplorables:

Uh-oh. Genealogist goes back through Tomi Lahren’s family tree and it looks like she needs DACA.

The Alt-Right View of ‘Free Speech’ isn’t Even Simplistic.

This Week in Foreign Enemies

The Russian Company That Is a Danger to Our Security.

Farewells:

Kate Millett, 1934-2017.

Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen on Walter Becker: ‘Hysterically Funny, a Great Songwriter’.

The Great Poet John Ashbery Is Dead.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 9/2/2017: More words and pictures.

If you don’t know labor history, you’re doomed to repeat the bad parts.

But it made perfect sense when I was reading it to myself….

Where is the missing generation of rabbit drag queens? — more adventures in dictionaries.

Videos!

A New George Michael Single Has Been Released, and It’s a Nile Rodgers-Produced ‘Fantasy’:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

FUTURE FRIENDS by SUPERFRUIT:

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Kelly Clarkson – Love So Soft [Official Video]:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)