Friday Five (let’s begin the rebuild edition)

In keeping with last week’s announcement in this space that I’d decided to join those who were considering everything up until the moment the new President was sworn in as part of 2020, welcome to the first true Friday of 2021!

I took Wednesday off from work and spent a good chunk of the day watching the Inaugural. I admit half of the reason I did so was because I didn’t trust the nazis, traitors, and fascists not to cause some kind of trouble. I have to admit, I was a little surprised when, while Lady Gaga was singing the national anthem, that I started crying extra hard at the line, “that our flag was still there.” I mean, the flags that she pointed to at the moment were U.S. flag, but in the same space she was singing, exactly 14 days earlier, the Murder Mob had literally pulled down U.S. flags and raised Trump flags in their place. Full disclosure: I’m the kind of bleeding heart liberal who cries whenever I hear or sing the Star Spangled Banner under any circumstances. And I’m also the kind of bleeding hear liberal who was a boy scout as a child and I get incredibly, incandescently angry at people who disrespect the flag and don’t even know the flag code. As Stephen Colbert noted later that day, usually the Star Spangled Banner isn’t a cliffhanger, right? Anyway, as I have said elsewhere, defeating the grifter at the ballot box last November wasn’t enough; winning the two Georgia senate seats wasn’t enough; getting Biden and Harris safely inaugurated wasn’t enough. There is still a lot of work to do, and we have to stay engaged and be ready to hold our Representatives, Senators, and President accountable if they falter or fail to advance the causes of justice and equality. But I have to admit, for a day and a half it has been an incredible relief that some things have become boring, again.

Time will tell. Until then, we have the Friday Five. This week I bring you: the top five fun stories of the week, five stories of interest to queers and our allies, five stories about the pandemic, five stories about the seditious traitors, five stories about deplorable people, and five videas (plus things I wrote and some notable obituaries).

This Week in Seditious Traitors:

Trumpists, Here Are Your Terms of Surrender. Also, Fuck You. I feel the need to point out that the author of this piece was a Republican operative who has a whole lot of his own awful to answer for, but I think we have to–until they prove otherwise–accept it when people claim they have seen the error of their ways. And his list is really good.

Little Man, What Now? — MAGA should be properly understood as the product of a bored and restless upper middle class.

Sen. Ron Johnson calls editorial ‘unhinged.’ Editorial Board responds – Senator Johnson objects to the Editorial Board’s call for him to resign over his actions after the presidential election.

Evidence collected by federal investigators details Capitol rioters attacking police.

“This Is Not A Peaceful Protest”: Prosecutors Charged Capitol Rioters Using Their Own Words – Charging documents in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection quote Trump supporters prepared — and excited — for violence.