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And here we are at the first Friday in May. Wow!

With both my husband and I getting vaccinated within days of each other late last week, we spent the weekend dealing with an ever-changing set of side effects. All of the side effects we had are the sorts of things one experiences when one immune system is having a strong reaction to something, so I’m taking it as a good sign, but it threw me off for the whole week. Still, thank you science!

Meanwhile, we have the Friday Five. This week I bring you: one story that made me chuckle, the top five stories of the week, five stories of interest to queers and our allies, five stories about deplorable people, and five videos (plus one thing I wrote and some notable obituaries).

This Week’s Story That Made Me Wonder:

Mountlake Terrace Police close to filing charges in serial crow killings. This is local to me, but the best part is the if you go to this related link and jump to page 16, where they detail such things as the crow murder board assembled by volunteers, and the ludicrous attempt the culprit made to cover his tracks, thus giving police a lot of the evidence they needed: First quarter 2021 Police Report

Stories of the Week:

Rare lobster saved from being dinner at Red Lobster: ‘One in every 30 million’

Maddow: Arizona ‘Recount’ May Violate Federal Law – And Rachel Maddow has a new technical term for the bamboo sniffing "recount" team…

Biden decision on COVID vaccine patent waivers is more about global leadership than Intellectual Property

The reopening of the US economy is driving a steel boom so strong that some are convinced it will end in tears

Alabama Legislature votes to legalize medical marijuana

Stories of Interest to Queers and Our Allies:

Push against trans athletes in girls’ sports fails in Kansas

Country Duo Graciously Responds To Republican Who Blocked Honor For Gay Singer – Tennessee Rep. Jeremy Faison expressed “some concerns” about congratulating T.J. Osborne of the Brothers Osborne, who came out as gay in February

Florida Republican gets slammed by her own daughter: Kids’ lives are at stake

Utah Supreme Court rules in favor of transgender rights – With a sharp rebuke, the court overturned a district judge’s decision to deny two transgender people the right to change their birth certificates to reflect their gender identity

Middle school teacher loses control & scrawls “heteros rule” over students’ Pride flag chalk art – When the group of students refused to erase the Pride flags from their drawing, the situation escalated quickly

This Week in Deplorables, Haters, and Obstructors

Neo-Nazi Hero Tucker Carlson Says ‘Cat Cafes’ Are The Real Threat To America – Tucker Carlson opened his show by doubling down on his love of white nationalism and saying the real threat to America isn’t from these violent racist bastards at all

Traitor Trump Launches A Blog Like It’s 1995 – Donald Trump has been forced to launch his own "social media platform" after being banned from Twitter, Facebook, Tiktok, YouTube, Pinterest, Etsy, Yahoo Groups and Ask Jeeves

Giuliani evidence should be reviewed by an outside lawyer, Justice Dept. says

“Sorry” Neo-Nazi Gets 41 Months In Swatting Scheme

Trump family travel cost $140,000+ in just the first month post-presidency

In Memoriam:

Olympia Dukakis dead: ‘Moonstruck’ actress was Oscar winner – Los Angeles Times

Armistead Maupin & Cher pay tribute to iconic actress Olympia Dukakis – She was one of the first actresses to portray a trans character on American television when she took on the role of Anna Madrigal in Maupin’s Tales of the City

Billie Hayes Dies: Wicked Witchiepoo Of ‘H.R. Pufnstuf’ Was 96

Billie Hayes, ‘H.R. Pufnstuf’ and Broadway Star, Dies at 96

Things I Wrote:

Weekend Update 5/1/2021: Astronauts, Unhinged pundits, Crazed substitute teachers, and how I accidentally quit smoking 26 years ago

Videos

Click on the image to be taken to the video!

Covid Vaccines: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Republicans Lash Out at Liz Cheney for Not Supporting Trump’s Big Lie: A Closer Look

‘Deep sh–‘: Giuliani Criminal Raid Has Trump Worried | The Beat With Ari Melber | MSNBC

Stranger Things 4 Teaser | Eleven, are you listening? | Netflix

**ETERNALS Teaser Trailer | NEW 2021 Marvel Superhero Movie HD **