It’s Friday! It’s the first Friday in 2019. I am typing the year correctly most of the time, now, so that’s an improvement.

I have reached the end of the anti-biotics and most of the related medications, and while I feel less sick, I don’t yet feel well. But no one is feeling great right now, so I’m in good company.

Anyway, welcome to the Friday Five. This week I bring you: the top five (IMHO) stories of the week, five stories about things that should need proving or explaining, five stories of interest to queers and our allies, five stories about science, five stories about the government shutdown and five videos (plus notable obituaries and things I’ve written).

Stories of the Week:

Cyntoia Brown Is Granted Clemency After 15 Years in Prison.

Black farmers were deliberately sold ‘fake seeds’ in scheme to steal their land.

Four Best Friends Were Buried Under ‘FRIENDS’ Tombstone.

The Daily Caller Bewildered to Learn Obama Has Secret Service Protection.

Gavin McInnes, Hate Group Founder, Writes Letters to Neighbors to Take Down Anti-Hate Signs.

This Week in Water is Wet and Other Revelations:

Fake news on Facebook is more likely to be spread by people over 65.

Millennials Didn’t Kill the Economy. The Economy Killed Millennials. “The American system has thrown them into debt, depressed their wages, kept them from buying homes—and then blamed them for everything.”

American Psychological Association links ‘masculinity ideology’ to homophobia, misogyny. Yes, we’ve been calling this phenomenon toxic masculinity for years.

There Is No Crisis At The Border – And DHS Stats Prove It.

Samuel L. Jackson: ‘Calling that Muthafukkah a Motherfu**er is not an issue, calling that Muthaffuqah President Is’.

Queer stories of the Week:

Queer Films Won Big at the Globes — But Queer Representation Did Not.

This Transgender Woman Says a Message From Her Doctor’s Office Turned Into a Transphobic Tirade.

Evangelicals Think LGBT People Shouldn’t Be Protected From Lynching and just hours later: Liberty Counsel Tries To Backpedal On Lynching LGBTs.

“Death To Gays” Pastor Apologizes For Fucking Hookers But Wants You To Know He Still Hates Gays.

3 in 10 California youth have been mocked by family for being LGBTI – Half have been bullied at school.

This Week in Science:

Zero is just 1,500 years old. Before it, there was nothing.

This Professor Teaches Advance Mathematics Through Knitting.

Milky Way to face a one-two punch of galaxy collisions.

Edinburgh scientists discover mammoth secret in ivory DNA.

New Report On HIV Viral Load and Transmissibility of HIV Infection Supports Undetectable Equals Untransmittable.

This Week in Government Shutdown News:

Trump Walks Out of ‘Waste of Time’ Meeting with Democrats: Shutdown Update.

TSA union says airport screeners are quitting as government shutdown continues.

HUD instructed landlords to use reserve funds during shutdown – not knowing federal program had expired.

FBI Agents Warn Shutdown Hampers Anti-Terror Work.

Common Saw Easily Cuts Through Wall Prototype.

In Memoriam:

Norman Gimbel, Oscar-winning lyricist of ‘Happy Days’ theme, ‘Wonder Woman’ TV series theme, and ‘Girl From Ipanema,’ dies at 91 .

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 1/5/2019: It’s ugly, oh, so ugly….

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, or Undecorating on Three Kings’ Day.

Public Service Announcement: How to Delete Online Accounts You No Longer Need.

Truth.

Fighting toward the light at the end of the tunnel—or why hope is important in sf/f.

Sometimes Extinction Arrives on Wheels — more of why I love sf/f.

Videos!

Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel | Special Look:

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Stephen Colbert Trump Just Wants To Be On Primetime TV:

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The Late Show with Stephen Colbert – Trump: It’s My Right ‘To Do National Emergency’:

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Trump’s Wall Has Changed a Lot: A Closer Look:

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Troye Sivan – Lucky Strike:

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