


Welcome to the second Friday of May!
Our weather isn’t quite ready to become fully spring here. Given how bad the weather is many other places I suppose I should be grateful.
Anyway, it’s time for the Friday Five in which I bring you: two stories about the liars and traitors, the top five stories of the week, five stories about science fiction fantasy and related topics, and five stories of interest to queers and our allies. Plus some notable obituaries.
Meat Packers Manufactured Pandemic Meat ‘Crisis’ To Stay Open – At least 269 workers died.
NASA Releases Ridiculously Sharp Webb Space Telescope Images
The music lives on – iPod touch will be available while supplies last
The Inarguable Logic of UNpacking the Court
The Sandman creator and star discuss bringing Morpheus to the screen
Random Roles: The Addams Family Star John Astin
Like Elizabeth Olsen, I Also Get ‘Feisty’ Defending Marvel
2022 Locus Awards Top Ten Finalists
Mars Is a Hellhole – Colonizing the red planet is a ridiculous way to help humanity.
Opinion | How the New York Times Helped Keep People in the Closet – POLITICO
His mother tortured him for years. Child services found out he’s gay & let him be raped
Lil Nas X Wins Outstanding Music Artist at 2022 GLAAD Media Awards
The Pope says that God “doesn’t disown” LGBTQ people, but his Church certainly does This pope keeps trying to find ways to lie about what the church wants to do to queer people…
Joe Rogan claims teachers are telling straight kids they’ll “burn in hell” if they don’t turn gay
George Pérez, celebrated comic book artist who redefined Wonder Woman, has died
Welcome to the first Friday of May!
Our weather isn’t quite ready to become fully spring here. Given how bad the weather is many other places I suppose I should be grateful.
Anyway, it’s time for the Friday Five in which I bring you: two stories about the destruction of fundamental rights, five stories that generally aren’t about awful things, five stories of interest to queers and our allies, five stories about what’s going on with the destruction of fundamental rights, and five stories sedition traitors. Plus some notable obituaries.
Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights, draft opinion shows – “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Justice Alito writes in an initial majority draft circulated inside the court Every person who told me I was over-reacting when Trump won needs to offer us all abject apology. Not that I expect any of them to have that much integrity…
Things Straight Men Were Told Not To Do Because It’s Gay
Honoring the 50th Anniversary of a Speech That Changed LGBTQ+ History
The ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Trailer Revealed My New Villain Crush
US provided intelligence that helped Ukraine target Russian warship
Lawmakers in 19 states want legal refuge for transgender youth
University of Maryland students march for LGBTQ rights on ‘Maryland Day’
Anti-LGBTQ laws inspire many LGBTQ people to seek public office
Justice Department challenges Alabama law criminalizing transgender health care for minors
Don’t Say Gay copycat bill shut down in Louisiana
In A Post-Roe America, Expect More Births In A Country Where Maternal Mortality Continues To Rise
How the leak might have happened Most important bit: "Start from the premise that there were actually (at least) two leakers, and three leaks. The first leak was to the Wall Street Journal editorial board last week… The second leak was to Politico… The third leak was also to Politico."
Leaked decision to overturn abortion rights shows that marriage equality & sodomy laws are next
Roberts investigation could make the Supreme Court very uncomfortable
Sobbing Oath Keeper Pleads Guilty, Rats Out Leader
Ex-Marine Gets 27 Months In Assault On Capitol Police
Neal Adams Dead: Batman Comics Artist Was 80
Bob Krueger, the last Democrat to represent Texas in the Senate, dies at 86
Welcome to the fifth and final Friday of April!
I’m still way behind on review posts.
Anyway, it’s time for the Friday Five in which I bring you: one story about a dumb prohibition, the top five stories of the week, five stories of interest to queers and our allies, five stories about haters, and five stories about science. Plus something a notable obituary.
Banning Menthol Cigarettes: Are They That Cynical Or Are They That Stupid?
What a U.N. team has seen while documenting possible war crimes in Ukraine
George H. W. Bush-appointed judge warns of GOP blueprint to steal 2024 election
Queer comic book artist conjuring up trans fantasies and Victorian romances
Disney Plus finally sees sense and pulls U-turn on Love, Victor
Parents challenge Alabama law banning treatment of trans kids
Literary-themed drag shows in St. Petersburg strike chord over recent LGBTQ issues
Kansas Anti-Trans Sports Bill Officially Dead
A look inside banned Florida math textbooks suggests Republicans simply lied about what’s in them
Gay Republicans supported anti-LGBTQ legislation. Now they’re surprised some of it is bad – The gay conservatives called Chasten Buttigieg a "groomer" for opposing Florida’s Don’t Say Gay law just a few months ago. Now they’re finding out that anti-LGBTQ legislation is "truly dangerous." "When I voted for the Let Rabid Dogs Run Wild and Bite Party I didn’t think they’d let the Rabid Dogs Bite Me!"
A dog’s breed isn’t the main reason it acts the way it does
Ingenuity helicopter takes photos of debris field on Mars
‘Fish lizard’ fossils found in Swiss Alps belonged to some of the largest creatures that ever lived
Clyde Robinson, one of Seattle’s last Buffalo Soldiers, dies at 101
Welcome to the fourth Friday of April!
I was at NorWesCon last week and I wound up blowing off last week’s Friday Five. I hope this week’s offering makes up for that a bit. Also, between lots of bad hay fever days and lots of deadlines at work I haven’t gotten much of my own writing done. I have dropped the ball of Star Trek: Picard reviews and Moon Knight reviews in particular. That also figured into my decision not to push myself to do Friday Five last week. I was on vacation and part of the point of vacation is to rest and recharge.
Anyway, it’s time for the Friday Five in which I bring you: two takes on Tucker Carson’s latest insanity, one story about a major scam, the top five stories of the week, five stories of interest to queers and our allies, five stories about haters, five stories about voting suppression and similar crimes, and five stories about traitors. Plus something a notable obituary.
Macho Poser Tucker Carlson’s Journey from ‘Dancing With the Stars’ to ‘The End of Men’ The promo for this special looks like a soft core gay porno. There is no plausible hetero explanation for Tucker’s obsession with hard male bodies and testicles…
Opinion: Why Tucker Carlson wants men to aim lasers at their private parts
Ukrainians Line Up For Hours To Buy Special ‘Russian Warship, Go F*ck Yourself!’ Stamp
Your Guide to Independent Alternatives for Books, Audiobooks, eBooks, and Beyond
Frank James: Why did it take NYPD so long to find the Brooklyn shooting suspect?
Missing set of rare Charles Darwin notebooks anonymously returned to Cambridge University Library
Omicron subvariant now almost 90 percent of US COVID cases: CDC
Jen Psaki breaks down in tears answering question about GOP attacks on trans kids
For the LGBTQ community and other minorities, war is fought every day
Air Force Offers Help To Military Families Hurt By States’ New Anti-LGBTQ Laws
‘100 Years of Men in Love’: New film unearths old stories of gay romance
Comedian makes a fool out of Republican candidate who wants to make Bible a “basic textbook”
Republican vilifying high school over drag show was part of a high school drag show
School bans unicorn book because it “could be promoting a gay lifestyle”
Transgender Treatment Ban Challenged By Lawsuit In Alabama
Texas GOP activist, donor Steven Hotze indicted for voter scheme
Wisconsin Conservatives: Disabled Voters Don’t Exist
Stephen Colbert Reveals Trump’s Most ‘Embarrassing’ Low Point Yet
Brian Kolfage Of We Build The Wall Agrees To Plead Guilty To Fraud
‘Stop the Steal’ leader cooperating with DOJ’s investigation of Capitol riot
Welcome to the second Friday of April!
The pollen count went down last weekend, and I had two whole days where I woke up with NO sinus headache first thin in the morning. Then Monday arrived. The pollen count has been hovering close to the highs of the previous week, but not always as bad all week. So it’s not quite as bad as last week.
Anyway, it’s time for the Friday Five in which I bring you: one really good video editorial, one scary story about bribed Secret Service agents, the top five stories of the week, five stories of interest to queers and our allies, and five stories about haters. Plus something a notable obituary.
SFF180 Editorial – The Implosion of Silver Shamrock Publishing
2 men impersonated federal agents to get close to the Secret Service, FBI says Some details: they provided these Secret Service agents with very expensive gifts and allowed them to live rent free in luxury apartments valued at over $40,000 a year, and the agents are trying to claim they didn’t realize these were bribes. It’s a scary story.
Protocluster has too many dead galaxies in it – What is killing all these galaxies?
Phil Lord, Chris Miller: Animation Is Not a Lower Art Form
Fox News’ viewers can change their attitudes with exposure to CNN
Covid: Record 4.9 million people have the virus in UK
Apple wields its lobbying might against anti-gay laws
Kentucky Gov. Vetoes Anti-Trans Sports Bill, But Override Possible
Businesses are speaking out against anti-LGBTQ laws
Ginni Thomas Is Not A Liar – She’s just deeply, deeply deluded
Trey Gowdy Demands Madison Cawthorn Name Names
Trump’s Truth Social Is Doing Even Worse Than You Thought
Bobby Rydell Dead: 1960s Pop Idol and Star of ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ Was 79
Welcome to the first Friday of April!
My hay fever has been much worse this week than last week. I am having a very difficult time finding any energy to write or otherwise be productive once my work day has drained me.
Anyway, it’s time for the 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 haters, five stories about traitors, and five stories about science. Plus something I posted.
House passes bill to cap the cost of insulin
Ariana DeBose becomes first out person of color to win an Oscar in historic moment
BFD ALERT! Judge Rules Trump Likely Committed Crimes
Ginni Thomas Texts to Mark Meadows Indicate She Is Several Fries Short Of Happy Meal It’s not just seditious treason, it’s batshit bonkers seditious treason!
Jan. 6 DOJ probe expands to Trump “VIPs” — and maybe members of Congress: report – New subpoenas issued by the Justice Department could "reveal if members of Congress were in on the plot" I’ve seen lots of folk online dismissing this report because, "They’ll just ignore the subpoenas" You’re confusing the House of Representative’s Committee subpoenas with Department of Justice subpeonas. If someone ignores a Congressional committee subpeona, the Committee has to vote on whether to hold the person in contempt, and then the full House has to vote as well, at which point the Department of Justice has to decide whether to convene a grand jury… right? But this is the DOJ already convening a criminal proceeding. If you ignore the subpoena, U.S. Marshalls and/or the FBI take you to jail. So this is a very different situation.
Lil Nas X’s “baby registry” initiative raises almost $500,000 for HIV/AIDS organisations
The New Head of GLSEN on How She’ll Protect Queer Kids
Utah Students Organize Queer Prom After State Passes Anti-Trans Bill
Texas school superintendent slams Attorney General who demanded she cancel Pride Week
2-time Maine gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler arrested on child porn charges
Ben Shapiro Gonna Make His Own Razors, And His Own Disney, And, And, And … Other Stuff Too
DeSantis signs "Don’t Say Gay" bill into law The lie underlying this bill is the myth that people “become gay” by talking about it. The harm that this bill will cause to LGBTQ kids isn’t a myth — it is all too real.
Arizona, Oklahoma Governors Sign Anti-Trans Bills Into Law
Feds Reached Deals with Brian Kolfage, Timothy Shea
Judge Cites Tucker Carlson as Validation of ‘Actual Malice’ in Defamation Suit Against Fox News
Jan. 6 Rioter Admits to Taunting Police With Confederate Flag on Stick
Time for my (over due) review of the most recent episode of Star Trek: Picard. This is for episode 4, entitled "Watcher."
It is a really fun episode with some very funny moments. I’m still quite enjoying it and look forward to the next episode.
I have been trying to avoid other people’s reviews until after I write mine, even though I link to a bunch once I do start reading them. Because I’ve been doing that I have sometimes missed something that others noticed that I would like to comment on. I’ll be doing that below.
I do want to note before I get into the spoilery stuff that a lot of people whose reviews/recaps/reactions I have been reading have been commenting on how slow the plot seems to be moving in this season. I don’t completely disagree with them, because I really enjoy a lot of the character development stuff that is happening in the episodes. But I also understand that that isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
I can’t talk about the episode any further without spoilers so…
If you don’t want to be spoiled for this episode or episode one, turn back now!
Turn back now if you don’t want any spoilers!
If you haven’t seen the episode you should (if you can) go watch it now!
Seriously!
This is your last chance before the spoilers!
Episode three ended with our heroes split up into three locations: Picard and Dr Jurati are in the ship with the Borg Queen, Raffi and Seven are somewhere in L.A. trying to track down both Rios and the Watcher, while Rios managed to get himself arrested by immigration enforcement (and his comms badge is so far as we know still sitting on a desk in the clinic where Rios got his injuries worked on). So we pick up with these three threads.
One of the things we learn answers a question that was being debated since episode three: where, exactly, did La Sirena crash? Because the dialog in episode three indicated that they were headed right at Los Angeles when Picard asked for navigational control and said he was aiming them "home." Many of us assumed he meant he was aiming for Chateau Picard — but that’s in France, on the other side of the globe from L.A. If you already don’t have enough power to come down in a soft landing and you’re falling toward Los Angeles, how could you aim just a little differently and hit France?
So others assumed he had crash landed them somewhere else in the western U.S. and we were all misinterpreting the "home" line.
Turns out that some how Picard did crash them into the vineyards around Chateau Picard, and he chose it because he knew during the early 21st century no one was living there. We find this out because it’s getting cold inside the ship (systems are self-repairing now, but heating apparently isn’t working, yet). Also, Picard thinks Jurati need to rest, whereas she’s convinced if she keeps busy she’ll recall more information she swiped from the Borg Queen’s mind.
Meanwhile, in Rios is in custody at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility where he learns what it feels like to be tasered. He also has another conversation with the doctor from the clinic before the officials have to release her because they’ve confirmed her U.S. citizenship.
One of the things I missed in the last episode was the name of the doctor’s clinic: the Mariposa Clinic. Mariposa is Spanish for butterfly. And in the previous episode Jurati had warned everyone about the dangers of altering the timeline by referring to the butterfly effect. Just as the Ray Bradbury story, "A Sound of Thunder" when a time traveller accidentally killed a butterfly in the distant past it changed the future. While I had noticed a few butterflies inside the clinic, I had just assumed that this was a visual choice to reinforce the notion that such metaphorical butterflies were everywhere. But now I’m worried that Rios’s budding relationship with the doctor is going to become a problem — specifically that they might find themselves in a situation where they have to let her die or the timeline is broken further.
Meanwhile, Seven and Raffi track Rios comm link to the clinic where they meet a nurse who explains the clinic was raided and that the doctor and a patient who matches Rios’ description was taken away. What follows is a series of funny scenes (no, seriously, hilarious!) as Raffi tried to get the cops to tell her where Rios is, while Seven is trying to keep her calm. A friendly bystander explains them the local police wouldn’t have any records of someone taken my ICE. As Raffi figures out how undocumented people are treated in the U.S.A of 2024 she becomes even more determined.
So, despite the warnings earlier from Dr Jurati, and continued efforts from Seven to talk her down, Raffi breaks into a cop car to use the police laptop to hack the feds computer, which puts Seven in the position (as cops come running from the nearby station), of jumping into the drivers seat of joining in on the theft of the car.
The following car chase was very fun. Technically, as car chases go there have been many examples in film and television that were more pulse-poundingly thrilling. It’s just a good chase. But what makes the scene work is that the whole time they are trying to evade the police while Seven figures out how to drive the antique is the continued banter/spat between Raffi and Seven throughout.
Back in France La Sirena has repaired enough that they can attempt to transport Jean Luc to the coordinates Jurati swiped from the Borg Queen’s mind, so they do.
This is another example of Picard making an unwise choice, in my opinion. Jurati has been compromised before she ever mind-linked with the Borg Queen, so I think leaving her alone with the Queen is a terrible idea. I hope I’m wrong.
Jurati and the Borg Queen have a conversation where the Queen continues to be scarily charming and sinister at the same time. Jurati seems to be holding her own, but…
Jean Luc finds himself at Guinan’s bar in L.A. The same bar he will visit in three hundred years/did visit in episode one. Despite the fact that I have enjoyed the Luke Skywalker scenes in The Mandalorian, I am really glad that the decided to cast a younger actress to play this younger Guinan rather than to do a CGI de-aged Whoppi Goldberg.
Jean Luc finds Guinan in a very cynical and bitter mindset. She is preparing to leave Earth entirely, having given up on humanity. This seemed like an odd choice, given that in canon Guinan, though an alien, appears to be an African-American woman, and by 2024 had been living on Earth for more than a century, and has witnessed a lot on human inhumanity to fellow humans, particularly aimed at women and people of color. Why is it only by 2024 that her patience has run out?
Anyway despite many fan theories leading up to this episode and Jean Luc’s initial though when the Borg Queen’s coordinates brought him to Guinan, she insists she is not a Watcher, but she knows who the Watcher is. She talks a bit about them, saying that they are supervisors who are always very cryptic and are set on Earth to protect particular people. This is a direct call back to the Star Trek Original Series episode, "Assignment: Earth" where the Enterprise travels to 1968 Earth and encounter a mysterious guy named Gary Seven. Seven claims to be a human raised on another planet and sent to Earth at this point in its history to protect the human species during a "delicate time." Seven referred to himself and his colleagues who had been killed just before the episode began as Supervisors.
Anyway, once Jean Luc convinces Guinan to help, she offers to take him to the Watcher.
Rios is loaded up on a bus supposedly simply to be deported, but there have been hints in earlier scenes that possibly in 2024 ICE is actually making people "disappear." So maybe his actually being taken somewhere to be killed and thrown into a mass grave.
Raffi finds Rios finally while the car chase continues, and Dr Jurati has gotten communications boosted enough to talk to them. She can beam them from where they are to a location near the bus… but they will have to stop because the transporters aren’t up to grabbing a moving target. This means the bus chase ends with the completely empty stolen cop car stopped in the middle of a street surrounded by a bunch of confused police officers.
Guinan takes Jean Luc to a park, where they are approached by a child who is being mind controlled by the Watcher. The Watcher threatens Guinan and sends her packing, but agrees to meet with Jean Luc. We have an odd and creepy couple of minutes as the Watcher takes on different bystanders as temporary mental puppets to lead Jean Luc to… a woman who looks exactly like Jean Luc’s old friend, ex-Romulan spy Laris. Who promptly teleports herself and Jean Luc away.
In the brief moments we can see of actress Orla Brady as the Watcher, she doesn’t appear to be Romulan. I’m assuming that the character she is playing is not related to Laris at all. We will presumably get an explanation for why she looks like Laris (other than the meta explanation that Brady is a great actress and this gives her something to do while Laris is in a different timeline).
Toward the end of the episode we finally see Q, and he is apparently targeting a woman who is connected with a NASA mission to Europa that we had seen mentions of in the background of earlier episodes. Exactly why he is targeting her we don’t know, but we do see him try to use his powers–and they don’t work, surprising him.
We end the episode with Seven and Raffi standing on the side of a highway, with no vehicle and virtually no equipment. The bus containing Rios and other undocumented people being deported can be seen coming toward them. How are they going to rescue Rios?
I can’t wait to find out what happens next!
Welcome to the fourth Friday of March!
It is officially spring–and I have had the hay fever symptoms to prove it all week long![^1]
Anyway, it’s time for the Friday Five in which I bring you: the top five stories of the week[^2], five stories of interest to queers and our allies[^3], five stories about haters, and five stories about traitors. Plus some things I posted and some notable obituaries.
Dr. Jill Biden went on ‘Sesame Street’ to promote kindness and conservatives are PISSED
Seattle Pride Cut Ties With Amazon Over Anti-LGBTQ+ Donations We have to find ways to push back at hypocritical corporations that claim to be pro-LGBT every June, while donated millions to anti-gay politicians.
Dr. Fauci Isn’t Going Anywhere Until There’s a Cure for HIV
Christianity Today publishes a shocking exposé – about itself
The bodies of Russian soldiers are piling up in Ukraine, as Kremlin conceals true toll of war
On The Money — Unemployment claims at lowest level since late 1960s
The Crosses We Bear: The Butch Martyr in Science Fiction/Fantasy
Out Judge Alison Nathan Appointed to Court of Appeals
More Than One-Third of Trans Kids Are at Risk of Losing Care
Even Alan Dershowitz Thinks Ted Cruz’s Questions Were ‘Bigotry’
15-Year-Old Florida Teen Arrested Over Antigay Attack on Another Boy
Watergate Reporter Calls Ginni Thomas-Mark Meadows Bombshell ‘Unprecedented Entanglement’
Pro-Trump group sent armed members door-to-door in Colorado to “intimidate” voters
MI Gov Kidnap Plotter: We Wanted To Help Trump – Whitmer kidnapping aimed at stopping Biden win
U.S. Capitol Riot Suspect Granted Asylum in Belarus After Fleeing America
Madeleine Albright, former U.S. secretary of state and feminist icon, dies at 84
John Roach, Pioneer of the Personal Computer, Is Dead at 83
Star Trek Picard Tries to Avoid “Assimilation”
[^1]: This is a footnote.
[^2]: In my opinion. And this is my blog, so why not?
[^3]: Even those so-called allies who object to the term queer.