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It’s Pride Month, y’all! We’re at the second Friday in June. Happy Pride Month!

I reached full vaccination last week, and now my husband is fully vaccinated, as well. That means I’m starting to try to clean up the house that we’ve let get taken over by piles of things so that we could invite some fully vaccinated friends to visit in the near future. I am quite happy with that development!

Meanwhile, we have this week’s Friday Five. This week I bring you: one headline that is extremely sobering, one headline that should have made me laugh instead of cry, the top five stories of the week, five stories of interest to queers and our allies, five stories about Pride Month, five stories about seditious traitors, five stories about deplorables, and five videos (plus some notable obituaries).

The Story of the Year, Perhaps:

Service Workers Aren’t Lazy – Service workers didn’t decide one day to stop working — rather huge numbers of them cannot work anymore. Because they’ve died of coronavirus.

This Week’s Headline That Made Me Cry But Not In A Good Way:

Lunar New Deal: GOP Rep. Gohmert suggests altering moon’s orbit to combat climate change – The Texas congressman asked whether there was anything the U.S. Forest Service could do "to change the course of the moon’s orbit or the Earth’s orbit around the sun."

Stories of the Week:

Joy Reid Delivers History Lesson About U.S. Exploitation in the Countries of Central and South America Everyone Needs To See

Forty years after first documented AIDS cases, survivors reckon with ‘dichotomy of feelings’

Treasure Trove Of Secret IRS Files Reveals How Rich Avoid Taxes – Pro Publica has obtained a vast trove of never-before-seen tax data on thousands of the richest Americans covering more than 15 years

What My Covid-19 Vaccine Saga Taught Me About the U.S. Health Care System – I had to change Covid-19 vaccines midstream. Two months, five doctors and multiple Benadryls later, it was very clear the system isn’t set up to help non-cookie-cutter patients like me

The rise and fall of Chrissy Teigen shows how drastically Twitter changed in 10 years

Stories of Interest to Queers and Our Allies:

Candidate Biden said he’d overturn the Pentagon ban on Pride flags. Will President Biden do it?

Depicting LGBTQ+ People in the Media, Without Stereotypes

Biden Recognizes 40th Year of HIV, Calls for Billions to End It

11-year-old trans girl sues her state because they’re banning her from cross-country

10’s Across the Board: Why ‘Pose’ Deserves Every 2021 Emmy Nomination

This Week in Pride:

It matters that (almost) all of baseball is embracing Pride now. It changes the game – The activism happening in baseball, on the corporate and individual level, sends a clear message to everyone in sports: do something more than change your logos or send social media posts

Secretary of Defense celebrates LGBTQ+ military members at Pentagon Pride Month celebration

Texas Bakery’s Pride Cookies Sparked Backlash, Now Customers Are Lined Up Down the Block

Record-High 70% in U.S. Support Same-Sex Marriage

Tiresome debate around kink at Pride sends worrying message about sex and sex workers

This Week in Seditious Treason:

Feds obtain another conspiracy indictment against six militia members in Jan. 6 riot – Six men connected to a California-based “Three Percenter” group are hit with charges over unrest at the Capitol

Judge Finds Proud Boy’s Pleas to Get Out of Jail ‘Without Merit,’ Highlighting Vulgar Threats He Made Against People Who ‘Ratted’ Him Out

Capitol Rioter Pleads Guilty In Plot To Bomb Amazon Servers – He brought a sawed-off rifle to the Capitol on Jan. 6. Then he plotted to bomb Amazon data centers

Trump Appointee Riot Suspect Rejects Plea Deal Offer

Riot Suspect Collared After Mom Shares Boasting Posts

This Week in Deplorables, Haters, and Other Evil People:

Even Joe Scarborough Knows This Lafayette Park IG Report Is A Complete Joke – He called it "laughable on its face."

Trump’s PAC, Save America, repeats scam – PAC is opting supporters into extra ‘surprise’ donations for Trump’s birthday

The 45th president was in bed financially with foreign governments, a precedent for America’s enemies to wield influence over the Oval Office. Lawmakers and voters must prevent this from becoming common practice

‘Ex-Gay’ Organization Gathers Paltry Group for Sad D.C. Rally

State GOPs Can’t Explain Millions in ‘Trump Victory’ Cash

In Memoriam:

Honoring Chief Crow Dog, His Many Gifts, and Wishing Him A Peaceful Journey

Lakota Spiritual Leader Leonard Crow Dog Walked On at 78

Videos

Click on the image to be taken to the video!

The World’s Biggest Asshole – Funniest Commercial Ever

Why No Progressive Agenda Can Survive the Senate Filibuster

Vaccine Magnetism? These Anti-Vax Theories Come Straight From Crazytown

Bezos’s Space Trip, Manchin’s Break from Democrats & Nigeria’s Twitter Block | The Daily Show

The GOP’s Insane Election Conspiracy Theories Now Include ‘Italygate’: A Closer Look