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We have reached the first Friday in December. Wait. What? December? How the heck did that happen?

My husband and I have been having odd symptoms that hint at a cold — no serious respiratory symptoms. It’s been weird and annoying.

Anyway, it’s time for this week’s Friday Five in which I bring you: two stories about bad-ass women in the news, one story of the WTF is wrong with people type, the top five stories of the week, five stories of interest to queers and our allies, five stories about seditious treason, five stories about hate, and five stories about the pandemic. Plus notable obituaries and somethings I’ve written.

This Week in Badass Women:

Sotomayor Nails Forced-Birth Lawyer To The Wall

Stacey Abrams announces she’s running for governor in Georgia

This Week in WTF:

Another school shooting happened while you weren’t looking – At this point, slaughtering children in school doesn’t even merit top billing on the evening news broadcasts

Stories of the Week:

Congress averts shutdown after vaccine mandate fight

Local Democrats Only Flip 40-ish Seats In Georgia Elections, Probably Excellent News For John McCain

Menorah Lighting Is Back At The White House This Year – Last year, the so-called president held a partisan food reception, but no menorah

This dinosaur had a weapon shaped like an Aztec war club on its tail – A new ankylosaur species found in Chile may be an early version of the armored creatures

The deputy who shot Casey Goodson Jr. 5 times in the back is charged with murder

Stories of Interest to Queers and Our Allies:

This guy 3D-printed a mirror array to make sunlight propose marriage for him

How a Seattle man became a lifeline for persecuted LGBTQ people in other countries

Biden’s World AIDS Day proclamation mentions LGBTQ people in break from Trump – Donald Trump and Mike Pence refused to acknowledge the impact HIV has had on LGBTQ people. Joe Biden changed that

Library Association Battles Attempts To Ban LGBT Books – There were 155 efforts to censor books in US schools and libraries, group says

Leslie Jordan and Cheyenne Jackson release holiday duet of ‘Little Drummer Boy’

This Week in Seditious Traitors:

Very, very, very bad news for Donald Trump

Judge Sends Signal To Capitol Rioters Who Blame Trump – "No one was swept away to the Capitol, no one was carried,” U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson told a defendant’s lawyer

Two Georgia election workers sue far-right website over false fraud allegations

FBI Arrests Capitol Rioter With The Help Of The ‘F**k You’ Tattoo On His Middle Finger – Justin Jersey, known as "Fingerman," was one of the earliest suspects sought by online sleuths investigating the Trump supporter who attacked cops

Sidney Powell And ‘Kraken’ Lawyers Must Pay More Than $175,000 To Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer And Others

This Week in Hate, Discrimination, and Bad People:

Google Sued for Anti-Trans, Antigay Discrimination by Former Employees

North Carolina Lt Gov Threatens Dem Lawmaker After Speech In Support Of LGBTQ Rights – "He has no power or authority over me," Sen. Mayfield says of exchange with lieutenant gov

Liberty University professor charged in sexual battery, abduction of student

Canada’s “QAnon Queen” Arrested After Death Threats – Self-declared ‘Queen of Canada’ detained by RCMP after alleged threats to health-care workers

‘I was given training to de-gay my voice’: what it’s really like to work in TV if you’re LGBTQ+

This Week in the Pandemic:

Stricter testing requirements for travelers coming to the US will take effect Monday

Parts of King County seeing big demand for COVID booster, appointments hard to come by

New York officials confirm 5 cases of omicron Covid variant in NYC metro area

Omicron vs. Delta: More mutations don’t necessarily make a meaner Covid-19 virus

NFL suspends Antonio Brown, two others for submitting fake vaccination cards

In Memoriam:

Stephen Sondheim, Titan of the American Musical, Is Dead at 91 – He was the theater’s most revered and influential composer-lyricist of the last half of the 20th century and the driving force behind some of Broadway’s most beloved and celebrated shows

Legendary gay composer & Broadway genius Stephen Sondheim passes at 91 – From "West Side Story" to "Sweeney Todd" and everything in between, the public searches hopelessly for words that encapsulate the incomparable creative

Some Insufficient Words About Stephen Sondheim

Eddie Mekka, Carmine on ‘Laverne & Shirley,’ dead at 69

Dave Draper, iconic American bodybuilder, dies at 79

Lee Elder, the first Black golfer to play at the Masters, dies at 87

Things I Wrote:

Transgender Day of Remembrance

It’s nearly time for the jangle java jingle!

Mid-week News Update: Lack of moral compass edition

Some pre-Thanksgiving Dinner humor

It’s time for Turkeys!

Thanksgiving Greeting

Time to be Thankful

To absent friends… 2021