The Weekly Town Crier (07/31/20)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (07/31/20).



We’ll Miss You:

Read “Fleetwood Mac blues guitarist Peter Green dies at 73” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Ronald L. Graham, Who Unlocked the Magic of Numbers, Dies at 84” at New York Times.

Read “Regis Philbin, TV Host With the Most Congenial Demeanor, Dies at 88” at The Hollywood Reporter.

Read “Olivia de Havilland, star of 'Gone With the Wind,' dies at 104” at CNN.

Read “Former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain dies of COVID-19” at MSNBC.

Read “Malik B. – Co-Founder of The Roots – Has Died” at Relix.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Multiracial Congregations May Not Bridge Racial Divide” at NPR.

Read “Evangelical, Midwestern, Southern churches most likely to be meeting in person again” at Religion News Service. “A new survey found that 7 out of 10 Protestant churches held an in-person service last week.”

Read “Supreme Court Rejects Nevada Church’s Appeal to Reopen Like Casinos” at Christianity Today.

Read “Sex Offenders Can Find Hope in Christ But Not Necessarily a Place at Church” at Christianity Today. “Most Christians believe offenders belong at worship. Most congregations aren’t prepared to welcome them.”

Read “Coronavirus, Conspiracy Theories, and the Ninth Commandment” at French Press. “A better political theology can make us less vulnerable to lies.”

Read “Rep. Ted Yoho removed from board of Christian charity over his comments about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez” at Washington Post.

Read “Faith in protest as young people find fervor on the street” at Associated Press.

Read “For Third-Party Christians, Some Things Are More Important Than Winning” at Christianity Today.

Read “Alabama Pastor Resigns After Praying at KKK Leader’s Birthday” at Christianity Today. “The pastor and state representative also posted a photo of himself standing in front of a portrait of the first KKK Grand Wizard and surrounded by Confederate flags.” “Baptist leaders said the controversy was not good for his church.”

Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “Sterilization abuse of Uighurs in China meets international legal criteria for genocide, experts say” at PRI.

Read “The World’s Most Technologically Sophisticated Genocide Is Happening in Xinjiang” at Foreign Policy.

Read “Alan Yang on anti-Asian bias: We're all 'fighting the same common enemy' at MSNBC.

Read “Confronting Racial Disparities in America, From Cradle to Grave: A Reading List” at Also A Carpenter.

Read “It's Time to Admit That the Department of Homeland Security Has to Go” at Esquire.

Read “‘Empowerment’ Selfies Are Burying a Turkish Women’s Rights Campaign” at KQED.

Read “LeBron James joins push to turn out ex-felon vote in Florida” at Politico.

Read “A Rare Look Inside Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Draws Legal Threats A new documentary peers inside the secretive world of immigration enforcement. The filmmakers faced demands to delete scenes and delay broadcast until after the election” at New York Times.

Read “The late Rep. John Lewis to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol next week” at News and Guts.

Read “US sued over expulsion of migrant children detained in Hampton Inns” at AZ Central.

Read “NBA players pick social justice jersey messaging” at Axios.

Read “Permission Required to Change Your Tampon” at ACLU.

Read “Bill by Sen. Tom Cotton targets curriculum on slavery” at Arkansas Online.

Read “Santa Clara County will no longer seek death penalty, DA says” at Palo Alto Online.

Read “Tom Cotton calls slavery 'necessary evil' in attack on New York Times' 1619 Project” at The Guardian.

Read “House passes legislation to create Smithsonian Latino museum” at The Hill.

Listen to “'Rednecks For Black Lives' Urges Southerners To Fight For Racial Justice” at WBUR.

Read “America Has Been Addicted To Whiteness For 400 Years” by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove at Sojourners.

Read “The Poison of Male Incivility When a woman dares respond to it, she’s seen as “disruptive” at The Cut.

Read “Switzerland opens criminal case against FIFA boss Infantino” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Judge blocks Trump administration's "public charge" rule on immigrants during pandemic” at Axios.

Read “Republican senator deletes ad that made Jewish opponent’s nose bigger” at Forward.

Read “10 Ways Good White People Can Help Black America (If 'Good White People' Exist)” at The Root.

Read “Census Door Knocking Cut A Month Short Amid Pressure To Finish Count” at NPR. “The change increases the odds of an undercount of hard to reach groups, such as people of color.”

Read “ICE Agents Complain About Nazi Comparisons, Say They're Only Enforcing the Laws” at Newsweek. In related news,

  • Read: “How the Nazi’s defense of ‘just following orders’ plays out in the mind” from PBS News Hour, originally posted in 2016.

  • Read “Ex-Nazi concentration camp guard, living in U.S. since 1959, faces deportation”” at Washington Post. “Reached by phone, Berger, now 94, said he was ordered to work in the camp . . . “

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):

Read “Robert E. Lee high school in Virginia to be renamed for late Rep. John Lewis” at NBC News.

Read “Christopher Columbus statues taken down at 2 Chicago parks” at Yahoo.

Read “Virginia evicts Confederate monuments from its state Capitol” at The Black Wall Street Times.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Protesters March for Release of Fellow Demonstrator” at Nashville Scene. “A Black Lives Matter protester who is experiencing homelessness has been held by the Davidson County Sheriff's Office for a week.”

Read “Black Lives Matter Organizer in Florida Facing Felony Charges for Snatching Flags at Pro-Trump Event” at The Root.

Read “In Portland, this rabbi leads the clergy resistance” at Religion News Service.

Read “Portland Mayor Tear-Gassed By Federal Police After Joining Crowd Of Protesters Calling For His Resignation” at Comic Sands.

See “A literal tear gas tornado in downtown Portland” on Twitter and remember, kids: Tear gas is illegal in war but legal for police . . .

Read “The Lead Federal Agency Responding to Protesters in Portland Employs Thousands of Private Contractors” at Medium. “Congress needs to shine a light on the use of private security firms, including ‘Blackwater’ legacy companies, in Trump’s response to ongoing civil rights protests.”

Read “How One of America’s Whitest Cities Became The Center of B.L.M. Protests.”

Read “'The first step': Yankees, Nationals players all kneel before national anthem in MLB opener” at USA Today.

Read “Trump Expands Deployment Of Federal Agents To End 'Explosion Of Shootings'“ at NPR.

Read “Massive Protests in Portland Continue After Judge Denies State Request for Restraining Order Against Federal Agencies” at Common Dreams.

Read “Police declare a riot at Seattle protests” at Axios.

Read “Fatal shooting at Black Lives Matter protest in Austin, Texas” at Axios.

Read “Riot Ribs to Transfer Leadership to Don't Shoot PDX” at Portland Mercury.

Read “Black armed militia demands swift decision in Breonna Taylor case” at WLKY.

See “Videos Show How Federal Officers Escalated Violence in Portland” at New York Times.

Read “Police declare riots as protests turn violent in cities nationwide; 1 demonstrator dead in Austin” at Yahoo.

Read “Philadelphia DA on federal agents: Trump is acting like an ‘authoritarian dictator’ at MSNBC. “"My dad volunteered and fought in WWII to fight fascism. I wouldn't be doing my part for this country if I didn't say the obvious: We have a president who is acting like an authoritarian dictator."

Read “Anti-fascists linked to zero murders in the US in 25 years” at The Guardian. “As Trump rails against ‘far-left’ fascism, new database shows leftwing attacks have left far fewer people dead than violence by rightwing extremists.”

Read “'Umbrella Man' was a white supremacist trying to incite George Floyd rioting” at Star Tribune.

Read “What The 'Wall Of Moms' Protests Say About Motherhood, Race In America” at NPR.

Read ‘AG Barr agrees he ‘misspoke’ about FBI arrests in Kansas City under Operation LeGend” at Kansas City.

Read ‘Portland protesters released from jail on condition they no longer attend protests” at Boing Boing.

Read “Minnesota Twins hold moment of silence for George Floyd at 8:46” at AZ Central.

Read “It’s like they’re testing it on us': Portland protesters say tear gas has caused irregularities with their periods” at Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Read “Federal Agents Will Begin Leaving Portland in a 'Phased Withdrawal,' Says Oregon's Governor” at Time.

Read “Analysts Say Armed Groups At Protests Raise Specter Of A 'Street War'“ at NPR.

Read “'It's About the Core Values of Black Lives Matter.' Portland Activists Are Trying to Remind People Why They Started Protesting to Begin With” at Time.

This Week With The Police:

Read “How the state uses “police morale” to divert from the violence inherent to policing” at Black Youth Project.

Read “NYPD admits it’s used unmarked vehicles to apprehend suspects for “decades” after “disturbing” video” at Slate.

Read “Federal encroachment on local police raises mission creep concern” at MSNBC.

Education and The Learnings:

Read “Chinese students who once set their sights on US schools now weigh other options” at PRI’s The World.

School Re-Openings:

Read “Many Arizona Grandparents Raising Grandkids Worried About Going Back To School” at KJZZ.

Read “CDC director concedes schools in ‘hot spots’ face tougher call on reopening” at Washington Post.

Read “GOP Senator Says They 'Can Kiss My A**' as Teachers, Unions Oppose School Reopenings Over COVID Concerns” at Newsweek.

Read “Ireland: Schools set to fully reopen before end of August” at BBC.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “As US passes 150,000 coronavirus deaths, experts at Johns Hopkins call for reset in national response” at CNN.

Read “Public health expert says ‘zero doubt’ most U.S. virus deaths were avoidable” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Fed chair warns path of the economy depends on path of coronavirus” at Axios.

Read “China Superspreader Gave COVID-19 to 71 People in a Single Elevator Trip” at Newsweek.

Read “A Doctor Who Specializes in Long-Term COVID-19 Effects Is Alarmed by What He Sees” at New York Magazine.

Read Fauci tells MarketWatch: I would not get on a plane or eat inside a restaurant” at Market Watch.

Read “McDonald’s to Require Face Masks in U.S. Restaurants” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “More than 60% disapprove of Ducey’s handling of pandemic, poll finds” at KTAR.

Read “Osteoporosis drug could be repurposed to fight Covid-19, say scientists” at The Telegraph.

Read “Would you like a side of glitter with that burger? Thanks to COVID-19, Houston is home to Texas’ first drive-thru strip club.” at CHRON.

Read “Fauci says family, including wife and daughters, receiving 'serious threats' at 12 News.

Read “Why casinos remain open despite experts saying gambling is a high risk activity during Arizona's COVID-19 spike” at AZ Central.'

Read “N.M. governor blasts Trump's virus response as "worst abdication" of duty” at Axios.

Read “Ex-CDC head: Total tests conducted is a "useless number" if results are delayed” at Axios.

Read ‘MLB faces its first coronavirus crisis with Marlins outbreak less than a week into season” at Washington Post.

  • Read “MLB Temporarily Suspends Miami Marlins' Season After 15 Players Test Positive for COVID-19” at Time.

Read “Florida surpasses New York to become the state with the second highest number of coronavirus cases” at CNN.

Read “White House, Senate GOP race to finalize coronavirus package ahead of Monday rollout” at The Hill.

Read “Study identifies six different "types" of COVID-19” at CBS News.

Read “Reality Winner, former NSA contractor who leaked classified intelligence, contracts coronavirus” at Washington Examiner.

Read “Senate GOP coronavirus bill includes $29.4B for Pentagon” at The Hill.

Read “Senators Introduce Bill to Fund Independent Venues Struggling During COVID-19” at Rolling Stone.

See “Video compares droplet sprays when wearing different masks -- and no mask at all” at Boing Boing.

Read “Why these retail chains won't require customers to wear masks” at CNN. “they aren't introducing mask mandates because they are difficult to enforce, and they don't want to put their workers in the position of having to tell shoppers to put on facial coverings.”

Read “Pandemic Is Overwhelming U.S. Public Health Capacity In Many States. What Now?” at NPR.

Read “How Airlines Are Changing the Flying Process” at AARP.

Read “Rep. Gohmert Tests Positive for COVID-19, Cancels Trump Trip An eight-term lawmaker, Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas is often seen without wearing a mask” at Snopes.

  • Watch “Kevin McCarthy accidentally calls Louie Gohmert "Congressman COVID" at Twitter.

Read “Can Masks Save Us From More Lockdowns? Here's What The Science Says” at NPR.

Read “Buddy, first dog to test positive for COVID-19 in the U.S., has died” at National Geographic.

Read “We Thought It Was Just a Respiratory Virus We were wrong” at University of California San Francisco.

Read “Retailers are canceling coronavirus hazard pay. That's a mistake” at CNN.

Read “Coronavirus pandemic pushes U.S. economy to worst-ever contraction” at Axios.

Read “How Jared Kushner’s Secret Testing Plan “Went Poof Into Thin Air” at Vanity Fair. “This spring, a team working under the president's son-in-law produced a plan for an aggressive, coordinated national COVID-19 response that could have brought the pandemic under control. So why did the White House spike it in favor of a shambolic 50-state response?” // “Most troubling of all, perhaps, was a sentiment the expert said a member of Kushner’s team expressed: that because the virus had hit blue states hardest, a national plan was unnecessary and would not make sense politically. “The political folks believed that because it was going to be relegated to Democratic states, that they could blame those governors, and that would be an effective political strategy,” said the expert.”

Read “Three-quarters of adults with COVID-19 have heart damage after recovery” at UPI.

This Week in Hydroxychloroquine News:

Read “Misleading Virus Video, Pushed by the Trumps, Spreads Online” at New York Times. “Social media companies took down the video within hours. But by then, it had already been viewed tens of millions of times.”

  • Read “Trump’s New Favorite COVID Doctor Believes in Alien DNA, Demon Sperm, and Hydroxychloroquine” at Daily Beast.

  • Read “Madonnna Heralds Demon Semen Doctor As “My Hero” Following Bizarre COVID-19 Presser” at Consequence of Sound.

  • Read “Social media giants remove viral video with false coronavirus claims that Trump retweeted” at CNN.

  • Read “Trump is retweeting complaints of censorship after Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter take down hydroxychloroquine video” at Business Insider.

  • Read “No Evidence That Doctor Group in Viral Video Got Near COVID 'Front Lines' at Med Page Today.

  • Read “'America's Frontline Doctors' may be real doctors, but experts say they don't know what they're talking about” at USA Today.

  • Read “Who Are ‘America’s Frontline Doctors’ and Dr. Stella Immanuel?” at Snopes. “During the course of our investigation, we found a doctor who describes herself on Twitter as “God’s battle axe and weapon of war,” health care providers some of whose claimed credentials and affiliations could not be confirmed, and some questionable and outright dangerous claims regarding an unproven “cure” and preventative treatment for COVID-19.”

  • Read “Fauci: Trials have "consistently" shown hydroxychloroquine is "not effective" at Axios.

  • Read “Former FDA head Scott Gottlieb: "We can definitively say hydroxychloroquine doesn't work" at Axios.

  • Read “Ohio Board of Pharmacy bans sale of hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus” at WKBN.

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “On Anthony Bourdain in a Tearing World” at The Millions.

Read “Culture, Claims ‘PAW Patrol’ Was Dropped, But It Wasn’t” at Deadline.

Read “Hi, my name is Karen. Embarrassed to meet you” at America Magazine.

Read “Former X-Factor Live star exposed as 'pure evil' serial rapist is jailed for life” at the Daily Record.

Read “A cyberpsychologist explains why you can't stop staring at yourself on Zoom calls (and everyone else is probably doing the same)” at Insider.

Read “Americans Aren’t Making Babies, and That’s Bad for the Economy” at Bloomberg.

Read “How America weaponizes motherhood” at Washington Post. “The experience of motherhood in America is a political question just as much as it is a question of flesh. We allow white mothers a sainthood not extended to other types of mothers.”

Read “Greta Thunberg Wins $1.15 Million Prize; Pledges to Donate All to Environmental Groups” at A Mighty Girl.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Fire at Arizona Democratic Party headquarters under investigation” at MSN.

Read “Russia satellite: Kremlin accuses US and UK of 'distorting' truth” at BBC.

Read “Twitter Finally Cracked Down on QAnon—but There’s a Catch” at Slate.

Read “Down In The Polls, Trump Pitches Fear: 'They Want To Destroy Our Suburbs' at NPR.

Read “Reagan Foundation Calls on Trump Campaign to Stop Using Ex-President’s Image to Raise Money” at Slate.

Read “Ocasio-Cortez calls for end to federal funding for military recruitment in schools” at The Hill.

Read “How Shannon Watts Says You Can Be A Mom And Advocate During Coronavirus” at Forbes.

Read “Record number of Black women are running for U.S. Congress” at NBC News.

Read “Democrats seek to shame Barr over politics at the Justice Department” at Washington Post.

Read “Biden says he will pick running mate by end of next week” at Washington Post.

Read “Trump: Republicans who oppose funding FBI building in stimulus "should go back to school" at Axios.

Read “Former President Obama to speak at Rep. John Lewis’ funeral” at News and Guts.

  • Read “John Lewis’ Final Words Published” at News and Guts.

Read “Trump Tries To Appeal To 'Housewives' And White Suburbs, But His Views Seem Outdated” at NPR. “Whatever you call them, they're not in Trump's corner. Trump needs them back, and he's trying to use fear to do it.”

  • Read “Trump Plays on Racist Fears of Terrorized Suburbs to Court White Voters” at New York Times.

Read “Pending Postal Service Changes Could Delay Mail And Deliveries, Advocates Warn” at NPR.

Read “AOC Introduces Measure to Stop the Military from Recruiting on Twitch” at Vice.

Read “More Than Half Of Young People Lack Resources To Vote By Mail” at NPR.

Read “Yankees surprised by Trump announcing plans to throw first pitch without invite” at The Hill.

Read “Senate adjourns without extending expiring unemployment benefits” at Axios.

Read “Postal Service backlog sparks worries that ballot delivery could be delayed in November” at Washington Post.

Read “Trump-backed postmaster general plans to slow mail delivery” at Fortune.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Trump floats delaying November election” at Axios.

  • Read “2020 Election Live Updates: Republicans Reject Trump’s Suggestion to Delay Election, Something He Cannot Do” at New York Times

Read “Tax burden from the Pentagon budget authorized by the NDAA wipes out COVID stimulus payments” at Responsible StateCraft. “The new defense budget imposes a $4,711.11 cost on each tax filer. The average coronavirus stimulus check was $1,809.”

Read “White House Lies About Paw Patrol Being Cancelled While Criticizing So-Called 'Cancel Culture' for Cops” at The Root.

Read “Obese politicians signal corruption, study finds” at Eurasianet. “Post-Soviet nations with the biggest corruption problem have the biggest politicians.”

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “The Man Brian Eno Called ‘the Daddy of us all.” at New York Times.

Read “Grateful Dead, Dead & Company, Bob Weir and More To Be Featured on Rex Foundation and Jerry Garcia Family’s ‘Daze Between’ Livestream” at Relix.

Read “The Endurance of Bob Dylan’s Rough and Rowdy Ways” at Pitchfork.

Read “Marilyn Manson announces new album ‘We Are Chaos,’ shares video for title track” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Taylor Swift Has Been Working Toward ‘Folklore’ All Along” at Rolling Stone. “Her new album’s indie-folk touches fit into a career full of effortless reinvention.”

  • Read “5 Takeaways From Taylor Swift’s New Album, folklore” at Pitchfork. “The superstar singer-songwriter teams up with Bon Iver and members of the National for her quiet, personal eighth album.”

  • Read “Aaron Dessner Describes Keeping Taylor Swift Album Secret From His 8-Year-Old Daughter” at Stereogum.

  • Read “Black-Metal Legend Ihsahn Calls Out Taylor Swift Over Album Artwork” at Consequence of Sound.

Read/Listen to “Reclaiming Boogaloo” at NPR. “Boogaloo was a music developed in the 1960s by Nuyoricans who were listening to American pop music, James Brown, Tito Puente and Machito – young folks bringing together disparate sounds and cultures to make their own. But recently, an informal network of white supremacists and other hate groups have adopted the word "boogaloo" to signify an impending race war or some other form of mass violence.”

Read “Bloodshot co-founder responds following allegations of unpaid royalties and plans to sell label” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read as Pitchfork considers “Bad Brains I Against I”. Each Sunday, Pitchfork takes an in-depth look at a significant album from the past, and any record not in our archives is eligible. Today, we revisit the hard-fought third album by the D.C. hardcore icons who played faster and better than everyone else.”

Read “Lalo Guerrero: The Forgotten Father Of Chicano Music” at Daily Chela.

Read “Rilo Kiley Will Reissue And Finally Stream Their 1999 Debut” at Stereogum. “After attending Rilo Kiley's first show, comedian Dave Foley of 'Kids In The Hall' and 'NewsRadio' funded the recording sessions for the band's 1999 debut, soon to be streaming for the first time. He recalls, "I was in a full on, pop music fan swoon."

Read “The Killers respond to allegations of sexual misconduct against band & crew members” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Amid a Racial Justice Reckoning, Pioneers of Rap, Reggae, and R&B Recount Their Struggles to Get Paid” at Pitchfork.

Read “Jerry Garcia’s “Pretzel” Guitar Resurfaces” at Relix.

Read “A Neil Young Time Capsule” at the New Yorker.

Read “Yo La Tengo announce socially distant shows at MASS MoCA, share Matmos collab” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Trent Reznor, Kamasi Washington, RZA, More Nominated for 2020 Emmys” at Pitchfork.

Read “New Orleans Musician Offers Kids Trumpets In Exchange For Their Guns” at NPR.

Browse “10 Best Quarantine Concerts Online” at New York Times.

Read ‘Pop music is getting faster (and happier)” at BBC. “The average tempo of 2020's top 20 best-selling songs is a pulse-quickening 122 beats per minute. That's the highest it's been since 2009.’

Read “Phish Lyricist Tom Marshall Hospitalized for Bacterial Blood Infection” at Jambands.

Read “Merge Records cuts ties with Ian Svenonius” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Want live music back? Wear a mask and call Congress” at Reader.

Read “Trey Anastasio Announces New Album, ‘Lonely Trip’” at Relix.

Read “MTV VMAs 2020: See The Full List of Nominees Here” at Pitchfork.

Read “Spotify CEO Daniel Ek says working musicians may no longer be able to release music only “once every three to four years” at The Fader.

Movies/TV/Etc.:

Read “Disney is remaking its classic 1973 Robin Hood film as a CGI Disney Plus exclusive” at The Verge.

Read “Wes Anderson’s New Movie The French Dispatch Pushed to 2021” at Pitchfork.

Read “Dystopian series ‘Watchmen’ leads all Emmy nominees with 26” at Associated Press.

Read “IMAX has lost $26 million due to coronavirus closures” at NME.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Stuck in an imperial system that has outlived its promise Ross Douthat wonders what will get us beyond decadence” at Christian Century.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “33% of U.S. museums are "not confident" they will survive next fall”

See “Design Inspiration: Bailey Elder” at Raven Sings The Blues.

Movies/TV/Etc.:

Read “Disney is remaking its classic 1973 Robin Hood film as a CGI Disney Plus exclusive” at The Verge.

Read “Universal and AMC strike historic movie distribution deal” at Axios.

Books/Reading/Authors/Podcasts:

Read “Michelle Obama to "Explore Meaningful Topics" in New Spotify Podcast Launching This Month” at Pop Sugar.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “33% of U.S. museums are "not confident" they will survive next fall” at Axios.

Read “Is It Time to Repatriate Africa’s Looted Art?” at Foreign Policy.

Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Etc.:

Read “No Longer in Shadows, Pentagon’s U.F.O. Unit Will Make Some Findings Public For over a decade, the program, now tucked inside the Office of Naval Intelligence, has discussed mysterious events in classified briefings” at New York Times.

Read “It’s Still Not Aliens The latest report on military study of UFOs is just as tantalizing—and unilluminating—as all the ones before” at Slate.

Read “Baboons 'carrying knives and chainsaw' spotted in safari park” at Yahoo.

Food Cultures:

Read “The 19th-Century Swill Milk Scandal That Poisoned Infants With Whiskey Runoff” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Coca-Cola Entering Hard Seltzer Market With Topo Chico Hard Seltzer” at Paste.

Browse “The Best Burger in Every State” at The Daily Meal. What do you think of their picks?

Misc. Oddities:

Read “How to Outrun a Dinosaur” at Wired. “If, through some scientific malfunction, you found yourself transported 70 million years into the past, you might be safer from certain hungry reptiles than you think.”

Local:

The Weekly Town Crier (04/10/20)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (04/10/20)

Read “John Prine 1946 – 2020” at JamBase.

Read “Hal Willner, Music Producer and ‘SNL’ Veteran, Dies at 64” at Variety.

Read “Mort Drucker, Master of the Mad Caricature, Is Dead at 91” at New York Times.

Coronavirus Weekly Roundup:Education:

  • Read: “I’ve Spent 27 Years in Solitary Confinement. Here Are Some Tips on Making the Best Use of Time Alone” at Mother Jones.

  • Read “Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp admits he just learned asymptomatic people can spread coronavirus” at NBC News.

  • Read “Liberty University student tests positive for Covid-19 after Falwell reopens campus Nearly a dozen students showed symptoms of coronavirus after Jerry Falwell Jr defied calls for closures and invited them to return” at The Guardian.

  • Read “As coronavirus death rates multiply, these monks are giving away caskets” at Religion News Service.

  • Read “The coronavirus pandemic is exposing the myth of self-reliance The people we deem invisible are holding us together right now” at Christian Century.

  • Read “Fox News Is Preparing to Be Sued Over Coronavirus Misinformation Polls show that Trish Regan, Sean Hannity, and others successfully bamboozled viewers about coronavirus. Now, Fox is reportedly lawyering up for a potential legal backlash” at Vanity Fair.

Read “President Obama & Marilynne Robinson: A Conversation in Iowa” at The New York Review of Books.

Read “Sen. Elizabeth Warren Calls For National Voting Overhaul” at NPR. “Sen. Elizabeth Warren is unveiling a plan that includes $4 billion in new elections funding and that would require 30 days of early voting and a mail-in ballot to be sent to every registered voter in the country.”

Read “Bernie Sanders drops out of the 2020 race, clearing Joe Biden's path to the Democratic nomination” at CNN.

Read “Everybody Loses: Tiger King, Greek Tragedy, and Spectacle as Entertainment” at Christ and Pop Culture.

Read “Why Do We Even Listen to New Music? Our brains reward us for seeking out what we already know. So why should we reach to listen to something we don’t?” at Pitchfork.

Listen to Henry Rollins’ 4-Hour Radio Show The Cool Quarantine” at Pitchfork.

Read “When I Get To Heaven”: A Candid Conversation with John Prine” at Relix.

The Weekly Town Crier (08/16/19)

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Welcome to the Weekly Town Crier. Here’s a collection of some of the links I found particularly interesting this week. What’s been on your mind?

Browse the “Complete Archive of Folk Music For All Countries.”

Listen to all 52 episodes of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Listen to a mix of artists who have performed Habañero Collective house shows.

Read/Watch about the “Man wearing TV on head caught on camera leaving old TVs on Virginia front porches.”

Watch Paul Simon & Bob Weir duet on "The Boxer" at JamBase.

ReadKurt Vonnegut on Reading, Boredom, Belonging, and Our Human Responsibility” at Brain Pickings.

Because I know you were wondering: “Q&AZ: How Many State Parks Does Arizona Have?

Watch the piece “SPAM is jumping on the pumpkin spice bandwagon. Really.”

Watch “1,000 Musicians Gather To Cover Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name”

Watch Stephen Colbert say that president Trump is a “heretic to reality,” saying: “Our president wants to live in a fantasy world where only the way he perceives the world is the way it is, only things that sort of serve his vision, and he's also trying to convince us that that is the only world that exists. It's extremely solipsistic. But he's also trying to invite us into this madness that he has, and that is heresy against reality."

Read “How Two Sisters Started Miami's First Afro-Cuban, Woman-Owned Cigar Company” at Miami New Times.

Read about the “driver at a quasi-privately run immigration detention facility in Rhode Island drove their pickup truck last night into a crowd of 'Jews Against ICE' protesters, seriously injuring a 64-year-old man, and others.” “Captain Thomas Woodworth has been placed on administrative leave.”

Read as ABC News and Good Morning America finds “36 cases invoking 'Trump' in connection with violence, threats, alleged assaults.”

Watch Cardi B and Bernie Sanders Talk About the Issues at a Detroit nail salon” at Flood Magazine.

Read Consequence of Sound’s report: “St. Elmo’s Fire series being developed by NBC.”

Read/watch as Republican Steve King tries to defend a total ban on abortions by arguing that rape and incest have helped grow society.

Read Slate’s piece: “The New Hate Pastors Sarah Silverman is “a God-hating whore of Zionism.” We need to “Make America Straight Again.” How a new class of religious zealots is going viral—and already tearing itself apart.”

Read Universal-Sci’s piece: “The Milky Way’s Black Hole Just Flared, Growing 75 Times As Bright For A Few Hours!”

Read Atlas Obscura’s piece about “Champing,” or “Camping in Abandoned Medieval Churches.”

Read as Christianity Today argues: “Preaching Against Racism Is Not a Distraction from the Gospel.”

Read Sojourners piece: “Politically Homeless: How Republicans — and Democrats — Are Leaving Many Christians Behind.”

Read AV Club’s piece: “Hugh Grant says Paddington 2 is his best movie, so don't tell him otherwise.”

Read AV Club’s piece: “Flea is dropping a dreamy, jazz-inflected memoir later this year.”

Read “Tom Waits: Our 1985 Interview, Tom Waits for No Man” at Spin.

Stream Here Lies Man’s new album ‘No Ground To Walk Upon’ at Brooklyn Vegan.

Watch the “the Trailer for Terrence Malick’s New Religious War Drama ‘A Hidden Life’” at Relevant.

Hear “Wooden Wand – The Thump Sessions” at Raven Sings The Blues.

Read “Voice of the Desert: After Making a Name at Gawker and Wonkette, Ken Layne Created the 'Desert Oracle' to Showcase the Wacky, Weird and Wonderful of the High Desert” at CVIndependent.com.

Read as Jambands.com report: “Garcia Peoples Announce Five-Night Nublu Residency.”

Listen to Jeff Tweedy with Tape Op.

Read the Santa Maria Times’ piece: “Santa Barbara County supervisors agree to use cannabis revenue to close three libraries’ budget gaps.”

Read Post-Punk’s report: “Peter Murphy Suffers Heart Attack During NYC Residency.”

Read the Riverfront Times’ piece: ‘Burglary Suspects Foiled by Meddling Comic Book Store Owner’.

Read the Independent’s 2011 piece: “Douglas Adams said it was the answer to the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. He meant it as a joke, but a new book shows how the number 42 has played a significant role in history.”

Pre-Order the latest Garcia Peoples album One Step Behind at Bandcamp.

Read about the Americana Awards giving Elvis Costello a Lifetime Honor at Variety.

Read about the “The pickle sandwich” (pickles instead of bread) at The Take Out.

Read “Mr. Bungle reunite for first concerts in 20 years” at Consequence of Sound.

Browse Treble Zine’s “Top 150 Albums of the ’70s.”

Relive the moment Andy Warhol went digital with his portrait of Blondie’s Debbie Harry” with Far Out Magazine.

Watch “Watch Jeff Buckley Tear Through ‘Mojo Pin’ in Previously Unreleased Video” at Rolling Stone.

Read as Rolling Stone considers the question we’ve all been wondering: “How Randy Newman ended up on a Chance the Rapper song.”

Read Vinyl Factory’s piece: ‘Krautrock guitarist Dominik von Senger collages archival recordings on Brüsseler Platz.”

Download “oichai daen-isan: molam brake taek” from monrakplengthai.blogspot.com.

Read “Arizona's Troubadour Hans Olson Reflects on 50 Years” at Phoenix New Times.

To celebrate the return of AMC’s Lodge 49 for season 02, read Jason Woodbury’s talk with show “creator Jim Gavin about the “inexhaustible metaphor” of alchemy and secret societies—and the gap between the seen and unseen—last fall for Aquarium Drunkard. No big spoilers, so feel free to read even if you're not caught all the way up.”

Read Vulture’s piece “Lodge 49 Wants to Be the ‘Least Aspirational Show on TV’.

Stream the first episode of Lodge 49 Season Two at the AMC site.

Read AZ Central’s piece: “Misfiled in the Don Bolles files: Filming 1976's 'A Star Is Born' at Sun Devil Stadium,” which reports about “A misplaced document shows how "A Star Is Born" producers got crowd scenes for the movie. They put on a dirt-cheap concert at Sun Devil Stadium.”

Read Relevant’s piece about Hillsong writer Marty Sampson, who says: “I’m genuinely losing my faith, and it doesn’t bother me. Like, what bothers me now is nothing."

  • Read as Michael Frost wonders: “What could have helped Marty Sampson's faith?”

  • Read Relevant’s piece: “Marty Sampson Has Responded to the Skillet Frontman’s Viral Criticism of His Doubts About Faith,” in which Sampson is cited as saying: “Wow. Where do I begin? What right have you to put words in my mouth? I wouldn’t presume to put words in yours."

ReaRead as Vanity Fair profile Ta-Nehisi Coates about his forthcoming novel, The Water Dancer.

R.I.P. Toni Morrison.

  • Read as the New York Times considers 12 of Morrison’s most memorable quotes.

  • Read as the New York Times considers “Toni Morrison’s Essays and Criticism".

  • Read as The Believer considers “Five Poems by Toni Morrison.”

  • Read as Image Journal reflects: “Toni Morrison Wrote the Novel That Will Help America Heal.”

R.I.P. David Berman.

  • Read as Jagjaguwar remembers Berman.

  • Read one of Berman’s last interviews with City Pages.

  • Read as “Drag City Shares Eulogy For David Berman” at Stereogum.

  • Read as Thomas Beller remembers Berman for the Los Angeles Times.

  • Watch Phosphorescent, Hiss Golden Messenger & more cover Silver Jews songs live in tribute to David Berman at Brooklyn Vegan.

  • Read Pitchfork’s piece: “David Berman Changed the Way So Many of Us See the World.”

Stream a new track from Moon Duo at Paste Magazine.

Read David French’s piece “Another Pop-Culture Christian Loses His Faith” for National Review which states in part: “Christians are not prepared for the social consequences of the profound cultural shifts — especially in more secular parts of the nation. They’re afraid to say what they believe, not because they face the kind of persecution that Christians face overseas but because they’re simply not prepared for any meaningful adverse consequences in their careers or with their peers.”

Reserve your place at Arizona’s Changing Hands Bookstore for a Debbie Harry book reading.

Read NPR’s piece: “On The Border With Maybelle Carter And Lydia Mendoza.”

Read as Brian Falduto (“the gay kid from School of Rock,”) shares new, exciting chapters of his life.

Browse Dead & Co.’s Fall tour dates at Jam Base.

Read as Pitchfork reports: “A$AP Rocky Found Guilty of Assault in Sweden.”

Read as Aquarium Drunkard interviews Terry Allen.

Watch “Stereolab perform “Miss Modular” live in Chicago for Pitchfork Music Festival 2019.”

Stream a new song from the Pixies at Spin.

Help Preemptive Love help Refugee kids get an education.

Read as Vice considers “Ten Essential Books That Illustrate Toni Morrison's Literary Legacy.”

Read as Aauarium Drunkard reconsiders Bob Dylan’s Oh Mercy as the album turns 30.

Read as The Current Rewind interviews Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker about their 25 years in the band Low.

Read “Duane Allman 1957 Goldtop Les Paul Scores $1.25 Million At Auction” at Jam Base.

Watch the latest trailer for “The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance” which AV Club says “somehow looks even more impressive” than the last. What do you think?

Stream a new Guided By Voices song at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read as The New York Times recommends books to better understand the U.S.-Mexico border.

Read NBC News’ piece: “'Green shirt guy' goes viral over reaction to 'sanctuary city' heckler.”

Read as #GreenShirtGuy considers “How I went viral’ at CNN in which he states: “I was lucky in many ways to be where I was: inches away from hate but miles away from danger. In another locale, or with different bigots, I could have been in serious trouble."

Read Rolling Stone’s report that “Lady Gaga is Funding Classrooms In Cities Affected By Recent Mass Shootings.”

Read about the “Lost David Bowie, Krautrock, and Sly Stone Outtakes Found in Fab Philly Funk Soul Archive” at Dangerous Minds.

Stream a new song from Mudhoney: ““One Bad Actor” from their upcoming EP Morning In America.

Read “Relevant’s” piece "How to Grieve With People Who Are Suffering” and please let me know what you think.

Read as Brooklyn Vegan looks back on The Stooges' debut album, released 50 years ago.

Read What’s Your Grief’s piece: “Grief and Regrief (aka growing up with a grief monster).”

Stream a new track from New Pornographers at Spin.

Read The Telegraph’s piece: “Why diners look like trains – a brief history of the American fast food icon.”

See John Coltrane’s “Picture Illustrating the Mathematics of Music.”

Read “Jon Foreman on Mass Shootings: ‘This Is a Volcano That We Need to Face’” at “Relevant.”

Stream a new track from Bat For Lashes at Spin.

Stream a playlist of cover songs curated by David Byrne.

Browse Egyptian Street’s post: “Summer Read Suggestions: 11 Literary Works by Egyptian Writers.”

Read Christianity Today’s piece “Jesus, Deliver Us from This Racist Evil Age” which states: “Regardless of political affiliation, Christians must not play political games with racism and white supremacy. We must reject all forms and expressions of racism and white supremacy. We must not employ racist rhetoric about image-bearers who are immigrants and people of color. We must not dehumanize or hate any image-bearer based on the color of their skin (Asian, black, brown, or white).”

Stream a new song from Elbow featuring Jesca Hoop.

Read AV Club’s piece: “A TV adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's memoir A Moveable Feast is in the works.”

Read Relevant’s piece: “Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Forms Social Justice Partnership with the NFL.”

Read Jambands.com’ report that ZZ Top has announced a biographical documentary.

Listen to a new song from the Muffs at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read NPR World Cafe’s piece: “T Bone Burnett On Producing Legends And Singing His Own Tunes.”

Stream the new Sleater-Kinney song ““Can I Go On” at Stereogum.

  • Watch “Sleater-Kinney Perform ‘Stripped Down’ Version of New Song ‘Broken’” at Rolling Stone.

  • Read as Hanif Abdurraquib considers “What It Means To Listen To Sleater-Kinney Now” for NPR Music.

Hear Eamon Fogarty and Chris Schlarb of Psychic Temple’s free-jazz version of Chris Bell of Big Star's "I Am the Cosmos" at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read about the “Single Dad Has Fostered More Than 50 Young Men In The Last 12 Years” at HuffPost.

Read “Boots In Transit: An Appreciation of the Dead on Cassette” by J Jackson Toth at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read about “President Trump’s top immigration official suggested a footnote to the iconic poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty,” to say: “Give me your tired and your poor — who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge.” Later, clarifying himself: “Trump official says Statue of Liberty poem is about Europeans.”

See Shepard Fairey’s largest mural yet in Vancouver.

Read Rolling Stone’s piece: “Museum of London to Host ‘The Clash: London Calling’ Exhibition.”

Read app.com’s piece: “Jimmy Cliff and 'The Harder They Come': 'It's the story of politics and religion.'

Listen To David Crosby, Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart Perform As ‘David And The Dorks’ at Live For Live Music.

Read AZ Central’s piece: “Toxic groundwater lies beneath Phoenix, and a cleanup has been delayed for years.”

Read the Relix report: “Apparently Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon Dropped Acid Backstage with Dead & Company”.

Read the Brooklyn Vegan report: “Dave Navarro, Billy Idol & more performing Stooges & Bowie albums at benefit show.”

Watch a 1952 Anti-Prejudice PSA at Archive.org.

Read NPR Music’s report: “Los Tigres Del Norte Announce Documentary, Album Of Historic Folsom Prison Concert.”

Read Stuff’s report: “Crowded House reunite to headline Aussie music festival.”

Read AZ Central’s report: “Jimmy Eat World drummer calls out Third Eye Blind's Stephan Jenkins on Twitter after tour.”

Hear Amanda Palmer Read Wendell Berry’s Stunningly Prescient Poem “Questionnaire” at Brain PIckings.

New music from Sahel Sounds! “Tuareg guitar gets the electronic treatment, with a reissue of the cassette by legendary Nigerien composer Abdallah Oumbadougou. Produced in Benin in 1995, “Anou Malane” is one of the first studio recordings of Tuareg guitar”.

Watch the Highwomen and Jimmy Fallon Cover Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’” at Rolling Stone.