It’s Friday! It is both the final Friday before Christmas and the Winter Solstice! Wow!

It was a month of insane deadlines at work, so I worked very long hours last week and this. In fact, it is actually in the wee small hours of Friday morning that I’m typing this, because it took my past midnight to finish the things that had to be done before I could leave for my Christmas vacation.

Enough of that. Welcome to the Friday Five. This week I bring you: the top five (IMHO) stories of the week, five stories about awful people, and five videos (plus notable obituaries).

Stories of the Week:

Neighbors Are Saying This Woman’s Christmas Dragon Decorations Are Inappropriate, So She ‘Fixes’ It.

Ursula K Le Guin remembered by her son Theo Downes-Le Guin .

How young is too young to talk about LGBTQ stuff?

Top of mind: ‘Justice’ is Merriam-Webster’s word of the year.

Bumblebee Review: For the First Time in Over 30 Years, Playing with Transformers Is Fun.

Awful, Deplorable People:

What happens when the No. 1 cable news channel is steeped in white nationalist rhetoric?

The stock market is on pace for its worst December since the Great Depression.

Investors seeking tax breaks skip poverty-stricken areas.

Suspected White Supremacist Arrested in King County.

The study found that black, mixed-race, Asian, and Latina women were mentioned in abusive or problematic tweets 34% more often than white women, while black women specifically were targeted 84% more often than white women.

In Memoriam:

Penny Marshall, ‘Laverne & Shirley’ Star, Director, Dies at 75.

Rosie, Madonna Mourn Penny Marshall.

Penny Marshall, Beloved Sitcom Star and A League of Their Own Director, Dies at 75.

Things I wrote:

A season of light and love in my queer taoist/wiccan household.

It’s time we hung some tinsel on that evergreen bough….

Need a little angel sitting on my shoulder… or, save me from the well-meaning enablers.

Mixing up some festive tunes… or, how else do you think I manage 2538 Christmas songs?

Videos!

Brandon Stansell: Hometown [Official Music Video]:

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Stephen Colbert Destroys Fox News’ Tucker Carlson: ‘The Little Racist Who Could’:

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Package Thief vs. Glitter Bomb Trap:

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Def Leppard – We All Need Christmas:

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White Wine In The Sun by Tim Minchin – A sentimental song about Christmas:

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