And were’ already at the third Friday in January

I’m breaking a long standing tradition with my Friday post of links. No videos this week. I’ve been sick but have a crazy deadline at work, so I haven’t been looking at as much news. I didn’t have a single new video bookmarked, and decided not to spend a lot of time looking for them.

Meanwhile, welcome to the Friday Five. This week I bring you: the top five stories of the week, five stories about interesting things happening in two genres of writing, and five stories about deplorable people (plus things I wrote).

Stories of the Week:

Researchers create new embryo of nearly extinct rhino species.

The estranged anarchist daughter of the Republican gerrymandering mastermind inherited and published all his files online.

Meet 2020 AV2, the first asteroid found that stays inside Venus’s orbit!.

Secrets of ‘1,000-year-old trees’ unlocked.

Donald Trump impeachment trial begins in US Senate — the same day the GAO said the president broke the law.

This Week in Genre Writing:

What We Talk About When We Talk About Gender: Lessons from a Recent Incident in Secular Storytelling.

An open letter to the author of “I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter.”.

Inside the Spectacular Implosion at the Romance Writers of America: Racism Fight Over Romance Writers of America, Explained.

The New Rude Masters of Fantasy & Science Fiction – and Romance.

The Big Idea: Kameron Hurley looks at what it takes to get a book right — and how her latest novel.

This Week in Deplorables:

Chris Wallace Busts Trump Trying To Game Fox News Coverage During Impeachment Vote.

Parnas and Ukraine aid bombshells jolt impeachment trial.

FBI Arrests Alleged Nazis Ahead Of Virginia Gun Rally.

Virginia teen charged in ‘swatting’ ring linked to neo-Nazis – The U.S. Justice Department has charged a former Virginia college student with calling in fake emergencies to prompt law enforcement responses, in coordination with a group the FBI labelled as sympathetic to neo-Nazi ideology.

Trump releases ‘religious freedom’ plans to remind evangelicals why they support a profane adulterer.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 1/11/2020: Bitter lies, obscured truths, and the failure of “fairness”.

Confessions of a self-reconstructed queer.

Confessions of a former self-loathing closet case.

Perfect is the enemy of the good, or, how trying to be noble actually advances the cause of evil.