It’s Friday! It is the final (and fifth) Friday in November.

Today is the first of my string of Fridays off. For many years now, when I can, I have been taking the Friday between the Thanksgiving holiday and New Year’s Day off. Having a string of three-day weekends leading up to Christmas makes shopping and decorating and other holiday prep a whole lot easier.

Welcome to the Friday Five. This week I bring you: the top five (IMHO) stories of the week, five stories from the realm of science and sf/f, five stories of the blue wave, five stories about awful people, and five videos (plus notable obituaries and my blog posts).

Stories of the Week:

Rising from the ashes.

A Dutch church is holding non-stop services for a refugee family.

Why legal pot is forcing some drug dogs into retirement.

What is ‘Judeo-Christian,’ anyway?

Layoffs Begin At NRA’s Media Arm.

Science and Science Fiction stories:

Dog finds ancient woolly mammoth tooth in Whidbey Island backyard.

‘Siberian unicorn’ walked Earth with humans.

Humans ‘off the hook’ for African mammal extinction.

Twitter bans misgendering and deadnaming in pro-trans move.

A Note on Robert Silverberg.

This Week in the Blue Wave:

Black Voters Propelled Blue Wave, Study Finds.

Congress’s incoming class is younger, bluer, and more diverse than ever.

House Progressives Are Set To Wield A Lot Of Power In 2019.

Last undecided House race is in California; here’s the latest midterm tally.

The 2018 blue wave included quite a few LGBT wins – even though voters are still wary of gay, trans candidates.

Awful People:

He Says He Got Away With 90 Murders. Now He’s Confessing to Them All.

Salvation Army slaps ‘gag order’ on employees so they don’t talk about LGBTQ issues. Because when people find out their bigoted policies, they donate to other, more worthy causes.

GM Lays Off 14.7K North American Workers, Puts 5 Plants Up For Closure.

Trump gets ‘raging hot angry’ every time a staffer tells him something is ‘against the law’.

Alexander Acosta gave Jeffrey Epstein the deal of a lifetime.

In Memoriam:

Harry Leslie Smith was a gift. I’ll miss him.

“World’s oldest rebel”, wartime hero, author, activist and fierce defender of the NHS – RIP Harry Leslie Smith.

Harry Leslie Smith dead: ‘World’s oldest rebel’ dies aged 95 after long fight for the poor.

Harry Leslie Smith: War veteran who spoke out against austerity, the far right and Trump.

Andrew Burt (1945 – 2018). Appeared in classic Doctor Who, Blake’s Seven, and various other shows.

‘SpongeBob Squarepants’ Creator Stephen Hillenburg Dies at 57.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 11/25/2018: Pictures and headlines.

Don’t stop writing!

Stop digging, don’t you see how deep you already are?

Videos!

The Original Cinematic Universes (how certain unrelated historical films can be viewed like a franchise):

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MARVEL || Lions Inside (collab w/ djcprod):

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Once Upon A Deadpool | Official Trailer:

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“The Story Continues” Featurette | Mary Poppins Returns:

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Gwen Stefani – You Make It Feel Like Christmas ft. Blake Shelton:

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