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And here we are at the first Friday in July!

My vacation was less relaxing than it ought to have been, what with the reaching breaking all time high temperature records for several days in a row. For most of my adult life you didn’t really need air conditioning in your home in the Seattle region, because our usual definition of "hot day" was if the temperature got up in the 80s, and we seldom had more than three such days in a row. I personally have gotten by in most previous summers by owning a small roll out a/c unit that lived in the closet most of the year, keeping one room in the house cool giving us a place to retreat to. Those units aren’t really able to deal with outside temps in the upper 90s and higher. At least our a/c didn’t catch fire. A friend of ours reported two co-workers whose home a/c units overheated and caught fire–one burning down the entire house.

Anyway, it’s time for this week’s day late Friday Five in which I bring you: two headlines I felt needed each needed their own topic, the top five stories of the week, five stories of interest to queers and our allies, five stories about haters and deplorables, and five stories about seditious traitors (plus one post I wrote plus a notable obituary).

This Week in Ha-Ha!:

The Trump Team’s New Social Media Platform Is Already Flooded With Hentai

This Week in Climate:

Blistering heat wave demolishes all-time records in northwestern US, Canada

Stories of the Week:

‘Sedition Hunters’: Meet The Online Sleuths Aiding The FBI’s Capitol Manhunt – Six months and 500 arrests into the Jan. 6 probe, a motley crew of online sleuths is generating leads, making connections, and keeping the feds on their toes

Rep. Adam Smith pushes back against private funding for National Guard deployment – The chair of the House Armed Services Committee criticized the move by South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and said the Guard shouldn’t be treated like a “private militia.”

Missouri Hospitals Straining Under Delta Variant Surge – Health care ‘breaking point’: Cox confirms some Springfield COVID-19 patients transferred to St. Louis, Kansas City

YouTube Bans and Then Unbans Right Wing Watch, a Media Watchdog Devoted to Exposing Right-Wing Conspiracies

NYT Issues Astounding Minute-By-Minute Video Analysis Of The Cultist Insurrection At The US Capitol

Stories of Interest to Queers and Our Allies:

U.K. Methodist Church allows same-sex marriages in historic vote – Marriage for the church is now also defined as “a lifelong union in mind, body and spirit of two people who freely enter into it."

Win For Trans Students As SCOTUS Rejects Appeal

Pride means knowing LGBTQ history — including that of Indigenous Two-Spirit people

Biden’s pro-LGBTQ stance comes with a surge of anti-LGBTQ misinformation

Court overturns gay bias verdict against ex-Iowa governor – The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled that former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad did not illegally discriminate or retaliate against a gay state official — overturning a landmark $1.5 million jury verdict

This Week in Haters, Hate Crimes, and Discrimination:

Georgia boy who had ‘gay’ shaved into head by family placed in protective custody

Queer valedictorian’s silenced LGBTQ identity speech may see federal civil rights review

Conservatives want to ban transgender athletes from girls sports. Their evidence is shaky

Catholic & Southern Baptist leaders are making faith more about their politics than God – America has become more secular and less religious. So religion has responded by becoming more political, and conservative causes are used as the litmus test

Marjorie Taylor Greene claims that learning about LGBTQ people is child abuse

This Week in Seditious Traitors:

Manhattan DA charges Trump’s company, CFO with tax fraud

An Oath Keeper Admitted His Group Stashed Guns Outside DC For Jan. 6 – Mark Grods testified before the grand jury as part of his plea deal

‘LIKE TWITTER BUT SH*TTIER’ – New MAGA Social Media Gets Less Than Warm Reception, Even From Trump

Brian Williams On Trump’s Flop Of A Rally – "You can still hear his voice in the background there as the president relitigated his loss in Arizona. As you saw, people’s thoughts turned to ‘where did we park?’" said Williams in his usual laconic style.

‘It’s a failure’: Arizona audit appears to be backfiring on Republicans – and could come back to haunt them at the ballot box

In Memoriam:

Mike Gravel, former Alaska senator and anti-war campaigner, dies aged 91

Things I Wrote:

Happy Freedom Day!