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We’ve made it to the fourth Friday in August!

Work has been weird and stressful. I realize I say that a lot; yet then Thursday of this week good things happened. One of the good things was it was the the first time in well more than a week that my workday wasn’t interrupted by multiple calls from managers, directors, and veeps (both in and out of my chain of command) with emergencies that needed addressing now. I made more progress on my to-dos by midday than I had it the week proceeding. Make no mistake, I did lots of stuff during the last two weeks, it’s just that the majority were emergencies that hadn’t been on my to-do list at the time. There was also one piece of much appreciated good news, so even though I’d already been planning to make Pork Scallopini for dinner Thursday night — which, since 1/3 of a cup of wine is needed for the sauce that means that once I open the bottle I’m obligated to drink the rest — that first sip of wine felt very celebratory.

Anyway, it’s time for this week’s Friday Five in which I bring you: the top five stories of the week, five stories of interest to queers and our allies, five stories about hateful deplorabloe people, five stories about the pandemic, and five stories about the graveyard of empires (plus something I wrote and some notable obituaries).

Stories of the Week:

13 U.S. troops killed in ISIS attacks on Kabul airport – The bombings came just hours after defense officials warned about an increased terrorist threat from the Islamic State’s branch in Afghanistan – the rest of the Afghanistan news has its own section, "Graveyard of Empires" below.

Capitol Police officers sue Trump, allies over insurrection

White evangelicals are in precipitous decline — and the younger generation is pulling them in new directions

It’s time to give Republicans the fight of their lives on voting rights

The first ‘murder hornet’ nest of 2021 has been destroyed in Washington Yes, we found more…

Stories of Interest to Queers and Our Allies:

Statue of trans icon Marsha P. Johnson erected in New York City park – It is considered to be the first monument of a transgender person in the city park system

A School Board Will Pay $1.3 Million To Gavin Grimm Over An Anti-Transgender Bathroom Polic – The decision ends a yearslong battle that brought national attention to the rights of students to use the facility that corresponds with their gender identity

‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’ is The Gay Coming-Of-Age Tale For Everyone With an Inner (and Outer) Drag Queen

Brothers Osborne’s TJ on Creating Safe Space for LGBTQ Fans: ‘That’s Worth More Than Anything’ – "I didn’t realize what a sense of purpose it would bring to my life to be here," the country singer said

How LGBTQ+ Excellence Helped Shape Broadway

This Week in Deplorable People:

Death sentence upheld for church shooter Dylann Roof – He was the first person in the U.S. to be sentenced to death for a federal hate crime

Trans teen required to undergo genital examination at airport & people are speaking out – Trans people called out TSA’s "sophisticated system of someone pressing a pink or blue button" after a mom sued the agency for demanding to see her daughter’s genitals because of an "anomaly." This is yet another reason why the TSA, which is 99.9% security theatre and not actually protecting anyone, needs to be disbanded.

School district may ban Pride flags after parent spots one inside a classroom & freaks out – "If a teacher is not even able to hang a flag which represents that protection, what does that say to the LGBTQ students in that community?"

Federal Judge Lets New York Attorney General Try to Sue Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman for $2.75 Million This is separate from all voter intimidation criminal charges in several states.

Josh Duggar wants his child pornography charges thrown out because of Donald Trump – Duggar’s attorneys are trying to get his charges dismissed because Homeland Security investigated him under the leadership of two Trump-appointed officials, both of whom were later deemed to have unlawfully held the positio

This Week in the Pandemic:

US COVID-19 hospitalizations top 100,000 for first time since January

100,000 more COVID deaths projected unless US changes its ways – Coronavirus case counts are once again rising across the US, near and far. Health officials are scrambling to vaccinate as the Delta variant takes hold

COVID Vaccines Show No Signs of Harming Fertility or Sexual Function

How to get the authoritarian far-right to cave in a hurry

Arkansas doctor under investigation for prescribing parasite pill thousands of times for Covid-19 despite FDA warning

This Week in the Graveyard of Empires:

Afghanistan News: ‘We Will Not Forgive,’ Biden Says, Vowing Retaliation for Kabul Attack

Planes, guns, night-vision goggles: The Taliban’s new U.S.-made war chest

Fearful LGBTQ Afghans can’t receive money raised for them through GoFundMe ‘due to Taliban control’

‘Let Me Explain to You How Our Process Works’: Psaki Derails Doocy’s Attacks on Administration’s Afghanistan Airlift

Hillary Clinton has been arranging charter flights out of Afghanistan for at-risk women, reports say

In Memoriam:

Charlie Watts, Rolling Stones Drummer, Dies at 80

Don Everly, Half Of The Quintessential Harmonic Duo The Everly Brothers, Dies At 84

Tom T. Hall, singer and ‘Harper Valley P.T.A.’ songwriter dies at 85

Things I Wrote:

That’s not what defines a complete story