Friday Five (unwinnable war edition)

Well, here we are at the third Friday in August!

The air cleared up and the temps went down this week. I had to turn the a/c back on for part of Thursday, but the daytime highs are supposed to be even cooler in the coming days.

Anyway, it’s time for this week’s Friday Five in which I bring you: two topics stories in each of two unusual topics, plus the top five stories of the week, five stories about the pandemic, five stories of interest to queers and our allies, and five stories about deplorable people.

This Week in Confused Angry White Men:

A Man Who Had Ranted Against Joe Biden Surrendered To Police After Threatening To Blow Up His Truck In DC- The man appeared to have been livestreaming and threatening President Joe Biden and Democrats before surrendering Thursday afternoon I feel it necessary to point out that while he did call for Biden and other Democrats to resign, he said they reason they needed to resign is because no one can afford health care any more… in other words, what motivated him to his act of terror was a Republican-caused problem…

‘The revolution is on’: Would-be D.C. truck bomber demands Biden’s resignation, then surrenders

This Week in the Graveyard of Empires:

Americans rank George W. Bush as the president most responsible for the outcome of the Afghanistan war: Insider poll

America’s Afghanistan occupation was always going to fail – The unfortunate disaster we’re seeing right now underscores how much the U.S.’s extended occupation of the country was always a mistake

Stories of the Week:

Column: We can’t blame the unmasked and unvaccinated for being irresponsible? Really? – As thousands of unmasked motorcyclists carouse in the streets of Sturgis, S.D.; as protesters greet vaccine and mask mandates with comparisons to Hitler; as vaccination rates lag and COVID caseloads climb, we’re also seeing — paradoxically — a wave of sympathy for those who have failed to behave responsibly.

US Capitol riot judges step up as the conscience of democracy

OnlyFans Says It Will Ban Sexually Explicit Content How to say you want to go bankrupt without using the work bankrupt…

Haiti quake death toll rises to 1,419, injured now at 6,000

T-Mobile Investigating Claims of Massive Customer Data Breach

This Week in the Pandemic:

Nearly 5,600 Hillsborough students isolated or quarantined one week into school year

Vaccine Outrage: Why the Delta Variant’s ‘Sudden Doom Effect’ Is Making Us Snap – We’ve tried being resilient. We’ve tried having rational conversations with friends and family members about the importance of vaccines and face masks. We are long out of f–ks to give

Texas requests five mortuary trailers in anticipation of Covid deaths – The state’s seven-day average of coronavirus deaths is at its highest since March 2021

Fox News Is Requiring Its Employees to Disclose Their Vaccination Status – Mask-wearing will also be required of everyone irrespective of vaccination status in certain in-office situations

An Alabama doctor watched patients reject the coronavirus vaccine. Now he’s refusing to treat them

Stories of Interest to Queers and Our Allies:

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Approves LGBTQ Rights Ordinance

Illinois expands legislation to protect LGBTQ service members

LGBTQ freedoms — all of our freedoms — depend on restoring voting rights – Our democracy has long been improved by marginalized communities pursuing a place in American life

How Lil Nas X Is Revolutionizing Hip-Hop as an Empowered Gay Star

Residents build giant Pride flag in view of high school after school board bans it – "I wish it could be 10 times bigger," one of the organizers said. The school board said that Pride flags are "divisive" because they don’t include straight students

This Week in Deplorable People:

Grand jury indicts Minn. GOP operative on child sex trafficking charges

Pharmacist Arrested for Selling COVID Vaccination Cards Online – A licensed pharmacist was arrested in Chicago on charges related to his alleged sale of dozens of authentic Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 vaccination cards on eBay

Oregon School Board Passes Motion to Ban Pride Flags, BLM Signs

‘A Big Win’: USPS Must Turn Over Docs About DeJoy’s Potential Conflicts of Interest – "The stench of corruption wafting up from Louis DeJoy’s office is so thick seagulls are flying in from the Jersey Shore and circling overhead."

Trump Gushed About Handing Afghanistan Over to the Taliban, Who Would Then ‘Kill Terrorists’