The Weekly Town Crier (07/23/21)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (07/23/21).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Rapper Biz Markie dies” at The Hill.

Read “Byron Berline, Master of the Bluegrass Fiddle, Dies at 77” at New York Times.

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

Read “Sikhs, finding religious freedom on the road, take outsize role in American trucking” at Religious News Service.

Read “John Piper’s Successor Latest to Resign as Allegations of Abusive Leadership Mount at Bethlehem Baptist” at Roys Report.

Read “Why God is still the best scientific theory to explain our life on Earth” at New York Post.

Read “Despite white Christianity’s role in Capitol assault, some signs of hope and change” at Religion News Service.

Read “Is evangelical Christianity a religious movement, or is it something else?” at Current.

Read “The Six Way Fracturing of Evangelicalism” at Mere Orthodoxy.

Read “House panel rejects SBC-backed Hyde Amendment” at Baptist Press.

Read “Women’s Search for Women Leaders in the Early Church” at Daily JSTOR. “Some nineteenth-century women writers argued that the first Christians included women who were close to Paul—and maybe apostles themselves.”

Read “David Platt’s dreams for McLean Bible Church sour as members file lawsuit over elder vote” at Religion News Service. “Platt, the best-selling author of ‘Radical’ and beloved Bible preacher, finds his church facing controversy over critical race theory.”

Read “12 Women File Lawsuit vs Liberty U for Unsafe Environment, “Enabling On-Campus Rapes”” at Roys Report.

Read “Florida Youth Pastor Arrested 3rd Time for Video Voyeurism” at Roys Report.

Read “Among Mormon Women, Frank Talk About Sacred Underclothes” at New York Times. ““People are scared to be brutally honest, to say: ‘This isn’t working for me. It isn’t bringing me closer to Christ, it’s giving me U.T.I.s.’” Interesting story on Mormon women pushing for changes to their (often itchy, non breathable) holy undergarments:”

Read “Sanctifying the Status Quo: A Response to Reverend Kevin DeYoung” at Front Porch.

• Read “Distinctively Christian? An Additional Response to Reverend Kevin DeYoung” at Front Porch.

Read “White Christian America built a faith-based safety net. What happens when it’s gone?” at Religion News Service.

Read “Evangelical' Prof’s ‘Biblical Comma’ Tweet Exposes Paradox of ‘Respectable’ Evangelical Anti-Intellectualism” at Religion Dispatches.

Read “UMC edges toward historic split over LGBTQ inclusion. This church showed the way.” at Religion News Service. “Community of Hope was founded in 1993 as an outreach to ‘people on the margin,’ including LGBTQ people and people living with HIV/AIDS, according to its former pastor.”

Read “Catholic priest who wants to prevent Biden from receiving communion resigns in sex scandal” at Boing Boing.

Read “In-Laws of Mark Driscoll’s Children & Key Pastor: ‘Cultic’ Church Is Dividing Families” at Roys Report.

• Read “Postcards from Phoenix: When Church Divides a Family” at Warren Throckmorton.

Read “Former Pastor at Florida Megachurch Charged with Grooming & Sexually Molesting Young Girl” at Roys Report.

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

Read “Federal judge declares DACA program illegal, but halts only new applications” at NBC News.

Read “Biden administration invites UN experts on racism to visit U.S. in bid to combat racial injustice”

Read “Voting Rights Activists Are Planning a Selma-Style March in Texas” at Vice.

Read “Alabama city leader won't quit after using racial slur” at Yahoo.

Read “Harvey Weinstein, Convicted Rapist, Claims He Didn't Rape Anyone in LA’” at Vice. “On Wednesday, Weinstein pleaded not guilty to 11 sexual assault charges.”

Read “Texas Starts Jailing Immigrants on State Charges After Crossing U.S. Border” at Democracy Now.

Read “U.S. Won’t Seek Death Penalty in 7 Cases, Signaling a Shift Under Biden” at New York Times.

Read “Mississippi's attorney general asks Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade” at The Hill.

Read “Giuliani being investigated over Turkish lobbying” at ABC News.

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

Read “Two men charged in alleged scheme to attack Democratic headquarters in Sacramento inspired by Trump defeat, DOJ says” at CNN.

Read “Father and son police officers charged with joining Proud Boys at Capitol riot” at The Hill.

Read “Garland bars prosecutors from seizing reporters' records” at Yahoo.

Read “Anti-Jewish manifesto found on California man arrested with ammo, high-powered weapons” at Forward.

Read “Men accused of Whitmer kidnapping plot say FBI set them up” at The Hill.

Read “Prosecutors say 'incel' planned mass shooting of sorority members on Ohio college campus” at The Hill.

Read “Pelosi Says Jan. 6 Panel To Move Ahead Without GOP’s Choices” at Huff Post.

• Read “In Trump’s Jan. 6 recast, attackers become martyrs, heroes” at Associated Press.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio pleads guilty in Black Lives Matter banner burning” at AZ Central.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Police officers treat Black and white men differently. You can hear it in their tone of voice” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “The case of the mugshot with the missing tattoos concludes on hopeful note: ‘It’s like hitting the lottery’” at Oregon Live.

Read “Rapid City Police Officer Let Go After Racially Profiling Native Americans” at SDBP.

Read “NYC's Non-Police Mental Health Pilot Increasing Rate of Those Getting Aid, Data Show” at NBC New York.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “What the Author of the Poem “White Privilege” Thinks of a Teacher Getting Fired for Showing It to His Class” at Slate. “I know that it was just a terrible excuse for their discomfort,” said Kyla Jenee Lacey.

Read “Texas “critical race theory” bill limiting teaching of current events signed into law” at Texas Tribune. “Texas is one of a handful of states that have approved legislation that prescribes how teachers discuss current events and prohibits students from receiving credit for participating in civic activities.”

• Read “Texas Senate Bill Drops Teaching Requirement That Ku Klux Klan Is ‘Morally Wrong’” at Huff Post. “Eliminated requirements also include the writings of Martin Luther King Jr., United Farm Workers leader Cesar Chavez and suffragist Susan B. Anthony.”

Read “California to provide free school meals for all students” at The Hill.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Delta Is Driving a Wedge Through Missouri” at The Atlantic. “For America as a whole, the pandemic might be fading. For some communities, this year will be worse than last.”

Read “Biden says platforms like Facebook are ‘killing people’ with COVID-19 misinformation” at The Verge.

Read “High-Profile COVID-19 Cases Are Disrupting Olympic Rosters And MLB Games” at NPR.

Read “World-renowned St. Jude children's hospital tells employees: Get vaccinated or get fired” at The Blaze.

Read “Music festival in the Netherlands leads to over 1,000 Covid infections” at CNBC.

Read “L.A. residents torn as mask mandate takes effect” at Yahoo.

Read “Federal judge will not block Indiana University's vaccine mandate” at The Hill.

Read “Federal appeals court to consider whether Michigan students can be required to wear masks” at Michigan Radio.

Read “Prisoners Keep Dying of COVID While ‘Compassionate Releases’ Stall in Court” at Vice.

Read “Unvaccinated Trump supporter who spread coronavirus conspiracy theories dies of COVID-19” at Raw Story.

Read the opinion piece: “Fox News' Covid vaccine denials can't go unpunished.”

Read “‘I’m sorry, but it’s too late’ Alabama doctor on treating unvaccinated, dying COVID patients” at AL.com. “One of the last things they do before they’re intubated is beg me for the vaccine. I hold their hand and tell them that I’m sorry, but it’s too late.”

Read “Tokyo hits six-month high in COVID-19 cases one day before Olympics begin” at The Hill.

Read “Guinea withdraws from Olympics, citing COVID-19” at The Hill.

Read “More Variants Are Coming, and the U.S. Isn’t Ready to Track Them” at Bloomberg.

Read “Klobuchar Takes Aim at Online Covid Lies With Section 230 Bill” at Bloomberg. “Senator Amy Klobuchar introduces a bill to make online platforms like Facebook and Twitter legally liable for misinformation about health issues such as Covid-19.”

Read “COVID-19 is surging again in Arizona, ASU disease expert says” at AZ Central.

Read “The New COVID Panic” at Slate. “What vaccinated people should really know about their risk from the delta variant.”

Read “NFL warns teams that COVID-19 outbreaks could lead to forfeits in 2021” at ABC 15.

Read “Under HIPAA Rules, Can Businesses Ask If You Have Been Vaccinated Against COVID-19?” at Snopes. “Where does HIPAA's privacy rule apply?”

Read “More than 1.5 million children lost a primary or secondary caregiver due to the COVID-19 pandemic” at NIH.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Dr. Anthony Fauci named 2021 Humanist of the Year” at Religion News Service. “The American Humanist Association awarded the honor to Fauci for embodying humanist values in the global fight against COVID-19.”

Read “Twitter Suspends Marjorie Taylor Greene For COVID Misinformation” at News and Guts.

Read “Deion Sanders Scolds Reporter For Calling Him ‘Deion’ And Walks Away” at Huff Post. “The Jackson State football coach, a Hall of Fame retired pro, griped that the journalist was being “cute.”

Read “The Inevitable Weaponization of App Data Is Here” at Vice.

Read “Mercedes-Benz going all-electric by 2025” at The Hill.

Read “Controversial USPS Plan To Slow The Mail Slammed By Postal Regulator” at Forbes.

Read “Hundreds Demonstrated Against Poverty at Apollo 11 Moon Launch” at Space.

Read “Surprise Jump in Unemployment Claims Shows U.S. Labor Market Churn” at Time.

Read “Female Soldiers Are Getting New Body Armor Designed Just For Them” at NPR.

Read “A Defunct Video Hosting Site Is Flooding Normal Websites With Hardcore Porn” at Vice. “Stories on major news sites like ‘The Washington Post,’ and ‘New York Magazine’ currently have porn embedded in them.”

Internationalities:

Read “U.S. blames China for Microsoft hack” at World.

Read “‘Mom, I Don’t Think I Can Make It’: Inside the Subway Train Flooded by Extreme Rainfall” at Vice. “At least 12 people died in the subway system as a record-breaking rainstorm hit central China.”

Read “US House passes bill to provide 8,000 special visas for Afghans” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Room for 10,000: Inside China’s largest detention center” at Religion News Service. “This site suggests that China still holds and plans to hold vast numbers of Uyghurs and other minorities in detention.”

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Matt Gaetz’s ‘America First’ Rally Dumped By Third California Venue Hours Before Event” at Huff Post. “In last-ditch attempt, Gaetz asked supporters to join him outside Riverside City Hall to “protest against communism.”

Read “Biden's silence on filibuster strains Democrats' patience” at The Hill.

Read “Tech executives increased political donations amid lobbying push” at The Hill.

Read “American Dental Association Bares Teeth, Extracts Funding for Paul Gosar” at Vice.

Read “Senate Democrats propose requiring women to register for military draft” at Politico.

• Read “Senate panel votes to make women register for draft” at The Hill.

Read “Sparse Voter-Fraud Cases Undercut Claims of Widespread Abuses” at Bloomberg.

Read “Democrats criticize FBI's handling of tip line in Kavanaugh investigation” at The Hill.

Read “Kyrsten Sinema’s Strategy of Refusing to Do Anything About Anything Is Not Impressing Voters, Poll Says” at Slate. “Arizona offers a natural experiment in whether people would rather see a Democrat hold out for Republican cooperation or just pass stuff they like.”

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “A false narrative of 74K extra votes in Arizona” at Associated Press.

Read “Elements of Trump's Big Lie sound alarms for students of history” at MSNBC.

Read “Republicans renege on deal with Democrats, strip funding for IRS in gift to rich tax cheats” at Salon.

Read “Trump campaign really did pay fake supporters to attend 2015 campaign launch, aide admits” at MSNBC.

Read “Trump still says the election was rigged (it wasn't)” at MSNBC.

Read “GOP Rep. Cawthorn Claims House Republicans Will ‘Prosecute’ Fauci For Doing His Job” at Huff Post. “We want to prosecute this guy to the full ability of the law,” the North Carolina congressman told a right-wing website.”

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Britney Spears Posts Fiery, Brutally Honest Response to Critics on Social Media” at Pop Culture.

Read “Yasmin Williams: A New Voice in Fingerstyle Guitar” at Premier Guitar.

Read “Johnny Rotten sued by ex-Sex Pistols members over upcoming miniseries” at Brooklyn Vegan.

• Read “John Lydon likens contract at heart of Sex Pistols legal dispute to “slavery”” at NME. “Lydon is being sued by his former bandmates after refusing to grant permission for Sex Pistols music to be used in Danny Boyle's 'Pistol'.

Read “Faces are recording their first new music in four decades” at NME.

Read “Def Jam appears to confirm rumours of new Kanye West album after Las Vegas listening event” at NME.

Read “Olympics Opening Ceremony Composer Steps Down And Apologizes For Bullying” at NPR. “Japanese musician Keigo Oyamada, who performs under the name Cornelius, has resigned from the Tokyo Olympics after being criticized on social media for having bullied children with disabilities while he was himself a student.”

Read “Music Was Key Coping Tool During Lockdown, Says Survey” at The Quietus.

Read “‘Woodstock 99’ Documentary Clip: That ‘Mud’? It’s Shit” at Rolling Stone. “HBO’s Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage focuses on infamous music festival.”

Browse Vice’s picks for “16 Essential Albums You May Have Missed in 2021.”

Read “What Will Happen to My Music Library When Spotify Dies?” at Atlantic.

Read “Farm Aid Announces 2021 Lineup With Willie Nelson, Neil Young, & More” at Stereogum.

Read “Remembering the Phoenix rockabilly star behind 'the most important record ever cut here'“ at Arizona Central.

Browse “A Brief History of Philly Psych” at Bandcamp.

Read “Inside Sun Ra’s 1971 trip to Egypt” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “When a loudmouthed DJ tried to kill disco, the homophobic and racist implications were impossible to ignore’ at Timeline.

Read “The Sounds of Struggle” at Boston Review. “Sixty years ago, a pathbreaking jazz album from Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, and Oscar Brown, Jr., fused politics and art in the fight for Black liberation. Today many Black artists—women at the forefront—are taking similar strides.”

Read “Are You Relivin’ the Years?: How Steely Dan Became a Cult Favorite for Millennials” at The Ringer.

Read “Don Cherry on creativity and “the mysticism of sound” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “Hiss Golden Messenger :: Quietly Blowing It” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “From Soldier to Jazz Giant: The Life of Billy Bang” at Bandcamp.

Read “WILLOW's New Pop-Punk Album Comes From Her Mom's Wicked Wisdom” at NPR.

Read “Hyundai Mercury Prize 2021: Full Nominations Announced” at Clash Music.

Read “Yasiin Bey Steps Back From Thelonious Monk Biopic After Estate’s Disapproval” at Rolling Stone. ““I was given every indication by the production company that the family was on board,” rapper-actor says. “I took them at their word, and clearly that wasn’t the case.”

Read “Hall and Oates’ ‘Diddy Woo Wop (I Hear The Voices)’ Is The Most Sinister Kind of Earworm” at Treble.

Read “Eric Clapton Says He Won't Play Venues That Require COVID Vaccines” at NPR.

Read “Whitney Houston’s Hologram Is Coming to Las Vegas” at Rolling Stone.

Read “David Crosby On His New Album 'For Free' & Why His Twitter Account Is Actually Joyful” at Grammy.

Read “Buckcherry’s Josh Todd Wants To Front A Minor Threat Reunion” at Stereogum.

Browse JazzTimes’ picks for “JazzTimes 10: Great Albums of the Loft-Jazz Era.”

Read “Live Nation Offering $20 All-In Tickets to 1,000 Concerts As Part of Return to Live Promotion” at Consequence.

Read “The Roadrunner Director Made a Playlist Full of Anthony Bourdain's Favorite Music” at Esquire.

Read “Disc-go: Should you get rid of your CDs?” at The Guardian. “They’re ugly and they clog up your cupboards. But just like vinyl spun back into fashion, the compact disc could too.”

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “HBO apparently gave James Gandolfini $3 million to not do The Office” at AV Club. “The legacy of The Sopranos was apparently worth a lot of money to HBO.”

Read “Nicolas Cage on acting with a pig: "She was very, like many of us, payment-oriented"“ at AV Club. “The actor discusses the upcoming Pig and his love of animals in new interview.”

Read “The Anthony Bourdain documentary gets his #MeToo devotion all wrong” at The Week.

• Read “Anthony Bourdain documentary sparks backlash for using AI to fake voice” at The Guardian.

• Read “Why Roadrunner Director Morgan Neville Skipped Interviewing Asia Argento” at Vulture.

Read “Carl Sagan Tells Johnny Carson What’s Wrong with Star Wars: “They’re All White” & There’s a “Large Amount of Human Chauvinism in It” (1978)” at Open Culture.

Read “Dan Harmon still believes in a Community movie, despite the looming philosophical questions it poses” at AV Club. “The sitcom's creator says the "the gears are turning.”

Watch “15 Hours of The Pink Panther for Free” at Open Culture.

Read “When David Bowie Played Andy Warhol in Julian Schnabel’s Film, Basquiat” at Open Culture.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Spike Jonze’s Stop Motion Film Hauntingly Animates Paris’ Famed Shakespeare and Company Bookstore” at Open Culture.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “Jerry Garcia Family Partners With Yellowheart For NFT Collection” at American Songwriter.

Science/Health/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “Two Rods and a ‘Sixth Sense’: In Drought, Water Witches are Swamped” at New York Times.

Read “Clinical Trial: Cannabis Extracts Effective for Refractory Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea” at NORML.

Read “UFOs over Northeast Michigan skies” at The Alpena News.

Read “No, You Beg Adopting used to be a good thing that good people could do. These days, you’re probably not good enough” at The Cut.

Read “Photo shared of acid-squirting 'land lobster from hell' found in US National Park” at The Hill.

Read “A powerful jet emerges from a black hole in unprecedented detail in new images” at Space.

Read “Bezos: Trip to space 'reinforces my commitment to climate change'“ at The Hill.

Read “US border agents seize 15 giant snails” at BBC.

Read “DeSantis dismisses calls for a red tide state of emergency” at Sun-Sentinel.

Read “Bin There, Done That: Scientists Learn How Cockatoos Learn To Lift Trash Lids” at Huff Post.

Read “Rare and beautiful blanket octopus caught on camera” at The Hill.

Read “Scientists discover 15,000-year-old viruses frozen in glacier ice” at CNET.

Read “Enactment of Adult-Use Marijuana Legalization Associated with Immediate, But Temporary Reductions in Opioid-Related Emergency Room Visits” at NORML.

Food And Drink Cultures:

Read “Meet the Italian Brothers Who Grew the World’s Biggest Cherry” at Gastro Obscura.

Misc. Oddities:

Read ‘The Hilarious History of 'OK'“ at Merriam Webster.

Local:

Read “Few Arizona voter fraud cases undercut Trump's claims” at ABC 15.

Read “Advocates Call For Arizona To Give Federal Funds To Former Foster Care Youth” at KJZZ.

Read “Desert in distress? New study ranks Arizona as worst place to live in 2021” ABC 15.

Read “AZDHS Director Says Arizona School Quarantine Policies Are Appropriate In Some Cases” at KJZZ.

The Weekly Town Crier (05/28/21)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (05/28/21).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “R.I.P. School Of Rock star Kevin Clark” at AV Club.

Read “Eric Carle, Author Of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar,’ Dies At 91” at Huff Post.

Religion and Stuff:

 Read “Why Complementarianism Can’t Be a “Gospel” Issue” at Heidel Blog.

Read “More Churches Closed than Opened in 2019. Then Came the Pandemic.” at Christianity Today.

Read “Southern Baptist decline continues, denomination has lost more than 2 million members since 2006” at Religion News Service.

Read “QAnon is spreading in churches. These pastors are trying to stop it” at CNN.

Read “Can America Be America When Jews Are Beaten in the Streets?” at David French. “George Washington’s promise to American Jews helped define this nation. Breaking that promise would define us again.”

Read “From DNA to NDA” at Christianity Today. “Can you separate Ravi Zacharias International Ministries from Ravi Zacharias?”

Read “15 percent of Americans believe central QAnon theory” at The HIll.

Read “Gun Church That Worships With AR-15s Bought a 40-Acre Compound in Texas for Its ‘Patriots’” at Vice. “The Rod of Iron Ministries has become more militant since leader Hyung Jin “Sean” Moon attended the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.”

Read “Understanding QAnon’s Connection to American Politics, Religion, and Media Consumption” at PRRI.

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

Read “Poor People’s Campaign, lawmakers unveil sweeping resolution to tackle poverty” at Religion News Service.

Read “Why Conservatives Want to Cancel the 1619 Project” at The Atlantic.

Read “The War on Critical Race Theory” at Boston Review. “Turning a blind eye to the realities of racial injustice, the highly orchestrated right-wing attacks cast a body of scholarship about race in the law as a great threat to American society.’

Read “Greenwood, 1921: One of the worst race massacres in American history” at CBS News.

Read “U.S. revises policy that denied citizenship to children of gay couples” at NBC News.

Read “Black Lives Matter activist in critical condition after being shot in head in London” at CNN.

Read “Joe Biden, Kamala Harris Condemn Jewish Hate Crimes in Stance Against Antisemitism” at Variety.

Read “TV stars Chip and Joanna Gaines donate to campaign against critical race theory in schools” at The Hill.

Read “Secretly recorded audio of Dave Ramsey reveals question of double standards in company” at WSMV.

Read “Texas Gets Ready To Allow Unlicensed Carrying Of Handguns” at NPR.

Read “Jewish Groups Call for Federal Action Amid Rise in Antisemitic Attacks” at Democracy Now.

Read “In historic first, climate activists are now on Exxon's board” at The Hill.

Read “Biden to visit Tulsa to commemorate 100th anniversary of Tulsa Race Massacre” at NBC News.

Read “Amy Cooper's "racial discrimination" lawsuit and the scourge of white whining” at Salon.

Read “America’s unique gun violence problem, explained in 16 maps and charts” at Vox.

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

Read “Baked Alaska of Capitol riot notoriety, out on bail, is now a hostile bully to store employees” at Boing Boing.

Read “Live From The Sahara Clermont Music” at The Hill.

Read “Largest US shrine to the Confederacy getting new exhibit describing KKK history” at The Hill.

This Week With The Police:

Read “How to use the Siri 'I'm Getting Pulled Over' shortcut to record police encounters during traffic stops with your iPhone” at Business Insider.

Read “Legalization of marijuana forcing some police K9s in Virginia to retire” at Fox5DC. (EDITOR’S NOTE: Please stop making dogs be cops.)

Read “Former Montana Police Chief Charged With Distributing Child Porn” at Huff Post.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Howard University Announces Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts” at Pitchfork.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Houston doctor trying to figure out why some COVID-19 patients develop massively enlarged tongues” at 12 News.

Read “US issues Japan travel warning weeks before Olympics” at BBC.

Read “Indiana AG says university mandating vaccines violates new state law” at The Hill.

Read “Tennessee anti-vaxxer arrested after deliberately plowing car through vaccination site” at Raw Story.

Read “California to pay $116.5 million in gifts, cash to those who get COVID vaccinations” at Los Angeles Times.

Read ‘Flight attendants: Spike in unruly passengers who refuse to wear a mask a safety issue” at Boston 25 News.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Target bans Pokémon and sports trading cards after fights between speculators” at Boing Boing.

Read “10 Questions About Empathy In America, A Year After George Floyd's Death” at NPR.

Read “Seth Rogen on cancel culture: 'If you've made a joke that's aged terribly, accept it'“ at The Hill.

Read “The Many Identity Crises of Sonic the Hedgehog” at Wired. “Sega's beloved speedster arrived on the scene 30 years ago. Since then, he's gone through numerous transformations—not all for the better.”

Read “Kellogg's robot vending machine lets you mix your favorite cereals” at CNet.

Read “K-Pop Group BTS And McDonald's Launch Exclusive Meal And Clothing Line” at NPR.

Read “‘Ax’ vs. ‘Axe’: Which is correct?” at Merriam Webster.

Internationalities:

Read “Kim Jong-un bans mullets, skinny jeans in North Korea” at New York Post.

Read ‘Eurovision winners under investigation for partying suspiciously hard” at AV Club.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Trump Is Marching Down the Road to Political Violence” at The Atlantic. “The Republican Party must counteract lies rather than indulge them.”

Read “Biden: 'Simply wrong' for Trump DOJ to seek journalists' phone records” at The Hill.

Read “Americans See Broad Responsibilities for Government; Little Change Since 2019” at Pew Research. “Share of adults ‘basically content’ with federal government rises to highest point since 2004, driven by Democrats.”

Read “88% of children covered by monthly payments starting in July” at ABC 13.

Read “It happened there: how democracy died in Hungary” at Vox.

Read “Democrats to introduce bill to prevent default recurring political donations” at The Hill.

Read “Democratic leaders discussed restraining order for Ocasio-Cortez against Greene” at The Hill.

Read ‘Americans Are Fine With a Broad Definition of ‘Infrastructure” at Slate. “Voters want bridges and roads, but they want child care, long-term care, and clean energy too.”

Read “66 percent of GOP want Trump to run for reelection” at The HIll.

Read “Sen. Tammy Duckworth: Republicans would rather ‘spread lies than defend our democracy’” at MSNBC.

Read “Senate confirms Wormuth as first female Army secretary — for real this time” at News and Guts.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Trump's election "audit" should be treated as a trojan horse, Arizona secretary of state warns” at Salon.

Read “Trump Has Charged Secret Service $40,000 For Mar-a-Lago Room Since Leaving White House” at Huff Post.

Read “Cheney primary challenger says he impregnated 14-year-old when he was 18” at NBC News. "She was a little younger than me, so it's like the Romeo and Juliet story," state Sen. Anthony Bouchard said of the girl he later married and divorced.”

Read “Emails show DEA’s “covert surveillance” of racial justice protesters in Philadelphia, Chicago, Albuquerque” at Citizens for Ethics.

Read “Trump supporter's nonprofit will help decide who counts ballots as election audit resumes” at AZ Central. “This is why it matters who’s paying for the audit. They outsourced the funding to election fraud conspiracy theorists, and now they’re calling the shots on important decisions.”

Read “Gaetz, Greene cheer election audit in Arizona rally” at KTAR.

Read “Florida, in a First, Will Fine Social Media Companies That Bar Candidates” at New York Times.

Read “They tried to overturn the 2020 election. Now they want to run the next one.” at Politico. “Trump supporters who back his claim that the 2020 vote was rigged are running to become the top election officials in key states.”

Read ‘Kansas Republican charged with battery allegedly kicked high school student in the crotch” at The Hill.

Read “Long After Trump's Loss, a Push to Inspect Ballots Persists” at Yahoo.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Guitarist Yasmin Williams’ Techniques Are Second Only To Her Songs” at Bluegrass Situation.

Read “Now That We Know Diddy Once Scrapped With J. Cole, Who Will the Mogul Fight Next?” at Pitchfork.

Read “Megadeth part ways with bassist David Ellefson following allegations” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “The Linda Lindas Sign With Epitaph Records” at Variety.

Read “Lil Nas X Has Wardrobe Malfunction in Middle of ‘Call Me By Your Name’ Performance on ‘SNL’ Finale” at Pop Culture.

Read “A Brief History of Talking Heads: How the Band Went from Scrappy CBGB’s Punks to New Wave Superstars” at Open Culture.

Read “Sunday Reading: Bob Dylan at Eighty” at New Yorker.

Read “Mdou Moctar on the Recording and Meaning of "Afrique Victime" at Reverb.

Read ‘The The announces ‘Comeback Special’ live album and film” at Slicing Up Eyeballs.

Read “Willie Nelson announces 2021 Outlaw Music Fest tour w/ Sturgill Simpson, Lucinda Williams & more” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “80 Artists Pick Their Favorite Bob Dylan Song For Bob Dylan’s 80th Birthday” at Stereogum.

Read “Just in time for the long weekend: Tragically Hip Road Apples cider”at A Journal of Musical Things.

• Read “An oral history of The Tragically Hip’s Saskadelphia album” at A Journal of Musical Things.

Read “Renaissance Knives Had Music Engraved on the Blades; Now Hear the Songs Performed by Modern Singers” at Open Culture.

Read ‘Primavera Sound Barcelona Announces 2022 Lineup: Tame Impala, The Strokes, Khruangbin, The National and More” at Relix.

Read ‘Marilyn Manson Wanted In New Hampshire For Spitting On A Videographer” at Stereogum.

Read “How Eddie Van Halen, Homemade Hot Pepper, and a Simple Fuzz Pedal Inspired Mdou Moctar’s New Album” at Pitchfork.

Read “The Eden of Kraut Rock: The Sounds and Stories of the Zodiak Free Arts Lab” at In Sheep’s Clothing Hi Fi.'

Read “How the Rembrandts’ ‘Friends’ Song Became the Most Iconic TV Theme of the ’90s… and Beyond” at Variety.

Read “The Beat Behind Afrobeat: A Guide to the Music of Tony Allen” at Bandcamp.

Read “Robert Plant Asks for His Songwriting Archive To Be Released “Free of Charge” When He Dies” at Relix.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Tom Waits to Voice “The Narrator” in New AMC+ Animated Show Ultra City Smiths” at Pitchfork.

Read “Flavortown mayor Guy Fieri is now the highest-paid chef on cable” at AV Club.

Read “Danny McBride Developing Garbage Pail Kids Animated Series for HBO Max” at Consequence.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Read 12 Stories By Haruki Murakami Free Online” at Open Culture.

Read “John Steinbeck wrote a violent werewolf mystery novel and no one will let us read it” at AV Club.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “CDC urges against kissing, snuggling poultry in salmonella warning” at The Hill.

Read “I Look for Aliens for a Living, and No, I Don’t Study UFOs” at Slate.

Read “Extinct giant bird claw with the flesh still on it resurfaces online” at The Hill. “The claw belonged to a moa, an extinct flightless bird from New Zealand.”

Read “I Just Learned Why Olympic Divers Take Showers After Each Dive, and It Makes a Lot of Sense” at Yahoo.

Food And Drink Cultures:

Read “Craft beer industry undergoing a #MeToo-style reckoning” at ABC 15. “Women sharing stories of misogyny in the workplace.”

Read “The Lost Art of Growing Blueberries With Fire” at Atlas Obscura.

Browse “The 9 Best Spiked Cold Brews for Satisfying Your Alcohol and Coffee Cravings” at The Manual.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “The Collectors Who Hunt Down Radioactive Glassware” at Atlas Obscura.

Local:

Read “Why Arizona Cities Oppose Governor’s Flat Tax Proposal” at KJZZ.

Read “New law says Arizona bars, restaurants, liquor stores can sell to-go cocktails” at 12 News.

Read “Pre-lawsuit letter: Maricopa County doubling down that it did not delete election data” at ABC 15.

• Read ‘How national news is covering the Arizona audit: 'I've never seen one this mismanaged'“ at ABC 15.

The Weekly Town Crier (05/21/21)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (05/21/21).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Charles Grodin, deadpan comic actor known for 'Midnight Run' and 'Beethoven,' dies at 86” at NBC News.

Read “Paul Mooney, 'Bamboozled' and 'Chappelle's Show' actor and comedian, has died” at CNN.

Read “Roger Hawkins, legendary Muscle Shoals drummer, RIP” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Religion and Stuff:

Read the opinion piece: “The debate over women pastors is a Southern Baptist smoke screen” at Religion News Service. “The fiery arguments distract from constructive conversations about entrenched racism, Christian nationalism and sexual abuse.”

Read “Survey: Faith groups showcase media divide” at Religion News Service. “White evangelicals were also the group most likely to say the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.”

Read “White evangelicals after Trump: What now?White evangelicals after Trump: What now?” at CNN.

Read “A Pennsylvania Lawmaker and the Resurgence of Christian Nationalism” at New Yorker. “How Doug Mastriano’s rise embodies the spread of a movement centered on the belief that God intended America to be a Christian nation.”

Read “Franklin Graham urges evangelicals to get vaccinated before it’s ‘too late’” at Religion News Service.

Read “Mark Driscoll Paid for Honeymoon with Church Funds; Uses Gift Cards to Pay Interns, Former Members Say” at Roys Report.

Read ‘DC Talk’s Kevin Max Is Now ‘Exvangelical,’ Says He’s Been ‘Progressing’ for ‘Decades’ at Faith Wire.

Read “Why grievance studies hoaxer and atheist James Lindsay wants to save Southern Baptists” at Religion News Service. “Much of the recent debate over critical race theory in the Southern Baptist Convention has been driven by an atheist, sword-wielding, former massage therapist best known for writing hoax academic papers.”

Read “If You End Church Mask Mandates, My Family Can’t Be There” at Sojourners.

Read “Russell Moore to Join Christianity Today to Lead New Public Theology Project” at Christianity Today.

Read “The New Republic postpones religion and politics forum. Replaces Eric Metaxas with Peter Wehner” at Current.

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

Read “Joel Greenberg, key player in Matt Gaetz sex trafficking probe, agrees to cooperate with feds” at ABC7NY.

• Read “Former Matt Gaetz associate Joel Greenberg pleads guilty to six federal charges” at CNN.

Read “House passes bill mandating accommodations for pregnant workers” at The Hill.

Read “Black homeowner had a white friend stand in for third appraisal. Her home value doubled” at Cincinnati.com.

Read “Mass shooting insurance in high demand as U.S. emerges from lockdown” at Reuters.

Read “How Black Lives Matter Changed the American Conversation About Israel and Palestine” at Slate. “The surge of attention to the occupation is unimaginable without last year’s protests.”

Read “80% Of Asian Americans Say They Are Discriminated Against” at NPR.

Read “The Supreme Court Just Took a Case That Could End Roe v. Wade’ at Vice.

Read “Trump legal bombshell? 45 'might be implicated' in Giuliani probe” at MSNBC.

• Read “Trump Organization Probe Becomes Criminal Investigation” at Time. “The investigation "is no longer purely civil in nature" a spokesman for the New York attorney general's office said.”

• Read “New York AG's office opens criminal probe into Trump Organization” at NBC News.

• Read “I think Donald Trump is going to flip on all of them’: Michael Cohen on the new NY State criminal investigation into the Trump Organization” at MSNBC.

Read “S.C. governor signs bill requiring death row inmates to choose firing squad or electric chair” at Axios.

Read “Giuliani asks judge to block review of records seized in raid of home, office” at The Hill.

Read “Hundreds of PPP Loans Went to Fake Farms in Absurd Places” at Pro Publica.

Read “‘I have lived through the massacre every day’: Tulsa massacre survivors testify before House committee” at MSNBC.

Read “In a Small Town, a Battle for Racial Justice Confronts a Bloody Past and an Uncertain Future” at Pro Publica. “A frustrated Black Lives Matter activist. A die-hard Confederate loyalist. A sheriff who won’t back down. In a place where protests are restricted and violence feels imminent, many cry: “We don’t want to die no more.”

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

Read “Democrat moves to censure three Republicans for downplaying Jan. 6” at The Hill.

Read “Romney: Capitol riot was 'an insurrection against the Constitution'“ at The Hill.

Read “America’s Deadly Domestic Extremism Worst In 24 Years, Reveals New FBI Report” at Huff Post. “Most extremist killings in 2019 were committed by white supremacists.”

Read “Alleged Capitol Rioter On House Arrest After Killing Mountain Lion” at Huff Post.

Read “Arizona resident photographed with Proud Boys on day of Capitol riot is arrested in Phoenix” at AZ Central.

Read “Threats, videos and a recall: A California militia fuels civic revolt in a red county” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “FBI releases videos of 'horrifying assaults' on officers during Jan. 6 riot” at The Hill.

Read “House Votes To Establish Capitol Riot Commission Over Republican Opposition” at Huff Post.

Read “Trump calls for Jan. 6 commission debate to end 'immediately'“ at The Hill.

Read “Now the "QAnon Shaman" wants to use autism as an excuse: Hell no” at Salon.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “51 Years Later, Brother Of Kent State Victim Reflects On Iconic Photo — And One That Just Emerged” at WBUR.

This Week With The Police:

Read “The Enemy Within” at Rolling Stone. “Race and White Supremacy in American Policing.”

Read “The Ball Was Dropped by All”: How Cops Got More Than $400,000 in Unlawful Sick Day Payouts” at Pro Publica.

Read “Bodycams haven't lived up to promises of exposing police misconduct. One reason: The police decide what to release” at USA Today.

Read “There's a database whose mission is to stop problematic police officers from hopping between departments. But many agencies don't know it exists” at CNN.

Read “Police unions plan to update guidance on defending officers” at The Hill.

Read “Police in Cities Across U.S. Brace for a Violent Summer” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “How US police training compares with the rest of the world” at BBC.

Read “Can Police Be Taught To Intervene When Colleagues Violate Safety Rules? One Professor Says Yes” at WBUR.

Read “Monroe Louisiana Arrests: ‘I’m scared’: AP obtains video of deadly arrest of Black man” at Associated Press.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Texas GOP Passes Bill To Stop Teachers From Talking About Racism” at Huff Post.

Read “University of California system will no longer consider SAT, ACT scores in admissions process” at The Hill.

Read “Tech Companies Want Schools to Use COVID Relief Money on Surveillance Tools” at Vice.

Read “Arizona schools chief says GOP budget plan takes state in ‘negative direction’” at KTAR.

Read “UNC won’t offer tenure to Nikole Hannah-Jones after wave of conservative criticism” at 19th News. “Despite approval from faculty and the tenure committee, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist will be the first Knight Chair professor at the university to be denied tenure by the board of trustees.”

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Ricky Schroder confronts Costco employee over mask requirement in viral video: 'You're just going to listen to their rules?'“ at Yahoo.

Read “Texas governor bans local governments, schools from requiring face masks” at The Hill. (EDITOR’S NOTE: As David Dark sometimes says: “There are so many ways to hate God.”)

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Meghan McCain Blasts Marjorie Taylor Greene For ‘Behaving Like An Animal’” at Huff Post.

Read “PETA Slams The Offspring For Chimpanzee Strip Club Video With John Stamos” at Stereogum.

Read “Apple locked users into its ecosystem. Tesla wants to do the same with its ‘iPhone on wheels.’” at Washington Post.

Read “We Found Joe Biden’s Secret Venmo. Here’s Why That’s A Privacy Nightmare For Everyone.” at Buzzfeed News.

Read “Nearly two dozen cities are handing out cash with no conditions” at The Hill. “Los Angeles is working on a plan that would offer $1,000 per month to 1,000 families using public funds.”

Read “The IRS Tried to Take on the Ultrawealthy. It Didn’t Go Well.” at Pro Publica.

Read “Chrissy Teigen Is a Cyberbully. Could It Sink Her Career?” at Slate. “The answer is a lot less obvious than you’d think—or is it?”

Read “Naked Homes: Nudist Architecture and Rethinking Domestic Space” at Wolfsonian.

Read “Woman says she accidentally put $26M winning lottery ticket in the washer” at The Hill.

Read “AT&T is reportedly in talks to merge its media business with Discovery” at The Verge.

Read “Long Before Divorce, Bill Gates Had Reputation for Questionable Behavior” at New York Times.

• Read “Bill Gates's reputation reeling from affairs, 'uncomfortable' workplace behavior and ties to Jeffrey Epstein” at The Hill.

Read “Space Force commander fired after comments made on conservative podcast” at AZ Family.

Read “Your Electric Vehicle Can’t Get There from Here—At Least, Not Without a Charge” at New Yorker. “Why we need to build a national network of charging stations fast.”

Read “Seth Rogen Reveals How Beyonce's Bodyguard 'Humiliated' Him When He Tried to Meet Her” at Pop Culture.

Read “10 Celebrities Who Use Their Influence to Fight Injustice” at Global Citizen.

Read “The Mexican Mountain Town Feeding the International Crystal Market” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “The Sound of Silence: Have We Forgotten How to Be Quiet?” at The Millions.

Internationalities:

Read “Israel pounds Gaza with air raids, shelling” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Israel airstrikes kill 8 children, flatten building housing Associated Press, Al Jazeera offices” at NBC News.

Read the opinion piece: “Israel Doesn’t Have a “Right to Exist” — But Israelis and Palestinians Do” at Jacobin Magazine.

Read “Israel and Palestine: What Will it Take to Stop the Violence?” at Preemptive Love.

Read “Justin Trudeau Caught Using a Fake Apple MacBook” at Vice.

Read “Tayyip Erdogan Accuses Joe Biden of 'Bloody Hands' After Report of $735M Weapons Sale to Israel” at Newsweek.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “House Democrats moving to censure Rep. Paul Gosar, 2 others for Jan. 6 comments” at AZ Central.

Read “Democratic Congressman Wants To Censure Rep. Gosar, Other Republicans” at KJZZ.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Rep. Matt Gaetz Snorted Cocaine With Escort Who Had ‘No Show’ Gov’t Job” at Daily Beast.

• Read “Troubles grow for Gaetz as former associate flips” at The Hill.

Read “Deleted video shows Greene taunting Ocasio-Cortez's office in 2019” at The Hill.

• Read “Investigation: Marjorie Taylor Greene filed homestead exemptions on 2 homes, violating state law” at WSBTV. “A Channel 2 Action News investigation has found that Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and her husband have two active homestead exemptions, which is against Georgia law.”

Read “Man charged with wife’s murder illegally cast her ballot for Trump, officials say: ‘I just thought, give him another vote’ at Washington Post.

Read “Former President Trump Accuses Maricopa County Of Deleting Voter Records; Recorder Responds” at KJZZ.

• Read “Audit official says he ‘recovered’ files, undercutting claim county officials deleted them” at AZ Mirror.

Read “GOP leaders look to curtail ballot initiatives after red state voters opt for legal weed, expanded Medicaid” at Yahoo.

Read “Georgia Republicans oppose measure condemning Atlanta spa shootings” at Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Read “Feds investigating alleged illegal donations to Collins’ re-election bid” at Axios.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Shabaka Hutchings Goes Back to the Future” at Esquire. “The saxophonist and bandleader of Sons of Kemet is the most exciting voice in British jazz.”

Read “Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour Composes a Soundtrack to Arthur C. Clarke’s Documentary Fractals: The Colors of Infinity” at Open Culture.

Read “The Great American Songwriter Mr Bill Callahan Picks His Texas Playlist” at Mr Porter.

Read “David Byrne, Jonathan Demme, and 35 Years of ‘Stop Making Sense’” at The Ringer.

Browse Rolling Stone’s picks for “The 50 Greatest Concerts of the Last 50 Years.”

Read “The Green Album” Turns 20” at Stereogum. “After the release of Pinkerton in 1996, Rivers Cuomo decided that he needed to straighten some things out — so he got braces.”

Browse Vinyl Factory’s picks for “50 of the greatest Trojan Records".

Read “George Clinton, Robert Glasper Headline 2021 Blue Note Jazz Festival” at Okay Player.

Browse Far Out’s picks for “The 6 best songs written about disasters.”

Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 50 Best Shoegaze Albums of All Time.”

Read “James Taylor announces tour with Jackson Browne and new album” at Rock and Roll Garage.

Read “Guitarist Sin Quirin quits Ministry a year after allegations of sexual relationships with minors” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Punk Rock Priests Offer Up Their ‘Parallel Love’ in Music and Sacrament’ at Christianity Today. “There’s no other band quite like Luxury, the evangelical indie rockers from the ’90s who journeyed through tragedy and faith to Eastern Orthodoxy.”

Read “Apple announces lossless Apple Music is coming in June at no added cost” at The Verge.

Read “A famed folk singer won a presidential pardon after molesting a child. Did he prey on others?” at Union Leader.

Browse Vinyl Factory’s picks for “The essential Yusef Lateef in 10 records.”

Read “Sinead O’Connor Remembers Things Differently” at New York Times.

Read “Marilyn Manson Sued by Former Assistant for Sexual Assault, Battery, and Harassment” at Pitchfork.

Read “Times they are a-changing! Bob Dylan is seen in public for the first time in a DECADE while running errands in LA - just days before this 80th birthday” at Daily Mail.

Read ‘Alanis Morissette Releases Chester Bennington Tribute Song ‘Rest’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “The Future Now: An Interview With Black Monument Ensemble’s Damon Locks” at Ghetto Blaster.

Read “The World Outside of Tropicalia: A Survey of the Psychedelic Sounds of South America” at In Sheep’s Clothing Hi-Fi.

Read “The Guardian talk to The Necks' Tony Buck about improvising and bypassing the brain onstage” at Le Guess Who.

Read “Mdou Moctar’s Songs of Revolution and Love” at Rolling Stone. “The Tuareg guitar hero on his excellent new album and the ongoing fight for freedom and justice in neocolonial Niger.”

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “‘Wonder Years’ Reboot Among Four ABC Series Orders for 2021-2022 Broadcast Season” at Variety.

Read “Miley Cyrus Signs Overall Deal With NBCUniversal, Will Develop Programs and Star in Three Specials” at Variety.

Read “Wanna See Keegan-Michael Key and Kenan Thompson Beat Up Statler and Waldorf?” at Slate.

Books/Reading/Authors

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “Compliments of Chicago – Gang Business Cards from the 1970s and 1980s” at Flashback.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “When this octopus sees a threat it doesn't put up a fight – it just disappears” at Boing Boing.

Read “Freshly Made Plutonium From Outer Space Found On Ocean Floor” at NPR.

Read “This Moth Is Huge in Australia” at New York Times. “A giant wood moth, the heaviest of all known moths, appeared on the side of a school building in Queensland, Australia, enthralling students who are used to diverse wildlife.”

Read “'Extinct Fossil Fish' Dating Back 420 Million Years Found Alive in Madagascar” at Newsweek.

Read “Why can’t we remember our early childhood?” at Universal Sci.

Read “Explorer Details His 40 Days In French Cave Without Clocks Or Sunlight” at WBUR.

Read “Fungus full of psychedelic drugs could cause Indiana Brood X cicadas' butts to fall off” at Courier Press.

Read “Watch a Navy Pilot Explain His Encounter With a UFO” at Vice.

Read “Leaked Navy video appears to show UFO off California” at Yahoo.

Read “Skinwalker Ranch Owner Reveals UFO Moment That Struck Cow Dead, Made Him Believer” at Pop Culture.

Read “Scientists Shot Tardigrades from a Gun to See If Interplanetary Travel Is Survivable” at Vice.

Food Cultures:

Read “How Crowns & Hops is building a Black-owned craft beer brand — and a community” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Drinking any amount of alcohol causes damage to the brain, study finds” at AZ Family.

Read “‘Mindfreak’ Magician Criss Angel Dives Into the Restaurant Business in Overton” at Vegas Eater.

Misc. Oddities:

Local:

Read “Roundup: Chino Bandido Has a Food Truck, Tax Day Pizza Deals, and More Food News” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Chino Bandido opens food truck at new location in Phoenix” at KTAR.

Read “Pointing To Economic Harm, Arizona Communities Call For Border Reopening” at Fronteras Desk.

The Weekly Town Crier (04/30/21)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (04/30/21).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Michael Collins, command module pilot on Apollo 11, dies at 90” at 12 News.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Biden’s Armenian Genocide Stance Pleases Christians, Angers Turkey” at Christianity Today.

Read “Muslim Americans Reflect On Another Ramadan During The Pandemic” at NPR.

Read “Black and Asian Christian leaders discuss role of church in fighting racism” at Religion News Service.

Read “Dave Ramsey’s Bestseller Slips from Top 10 List” at Christianity Today.

Read “Mark Driscoll’s Elderless Church” at Throckmorton. “It should come as little surprise that Mark Driscoll’s new church apparently has solved the elder problem which led to his demise at Mars Hill. Just don’t have any.”

• Read “A Family is Allegedly Driven From Mark Driscoll’s The Trinity Church in Scottsdale, Arizona” at Wondering Eagle.

Read “Virginia GOP reverses course, will let those with religious obligations cast absentee votes for Saturday convention” at The Hill.

Read “‘If you have eyes, plagiarize’: When borrowing a sermon goes too far” at Religion News Service.

Read “‘Beautiful’ Ramadan returns for Israeli Muslims as restrictions lift” at Religion News Service.

Read “US Catholic bishops may press Biden to stop taking Communion” at Religion News Service. “At issue is a document coming from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Doctrine clarifying the church’s stance on an issue that has repeatedly vexed the bishops.”

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

Read “Lindsay Lohan's father arrested for alleged 'patient brokering' in Florida” at The Hill.

Read “Maryland launches review of cases handled by ex-medical chief after Chauvin trial defense” at The Hill.

Read “Montana governor signs bill to protect Second Amendment from federal gun restrictions” at Fox Propaganda Network. “Republicans in the state passed the law amid President Biden’s push for federal gun reform measures.”

Read “NJ Man Charged with Sex Assault after Prior Case Dropped Amid Trooper Protests” at Newsweek. “A New Jersey man is facing new sexual assault charges after a prior case was dropped four years ago amid protests by state police that fueled a corruption probe with far-reaching ramifications, Newsweek has learned.”

Read “Five Myths About Red Flag Laws” at Washington Post.

Read “We all want something done.’ Peace Walk promotes end to gun violence in Lexington” at Lexington Herald Leader.

Read the opinion piece “Why I support reparations — and all conservatives should” at Washington Post.

Read “Erasing The Stain: 15,000 Pardoned Of Marijuana Possession Convictions” at WBHM.

Read “Parents Want Justice for Birth Injuries. Hospitals Want to Strip Them of the Right to Make That Decision” at Pro Publica.

Read “The Department of Homeland Security will undergo an internal review to root out white supremacy and combat extremist ideology in the federal government” at New York Times.

Read “Secret Court Reveals: FBI Hunted for Domestic Terrorists Without a Warrant” at Daily Beast.

Read “3 Indicted On Federal Hate Crime Charges In Ahmaud Arbery Death” at Huff Post.

Read “US Supreme Court hands victory to immigrants facing deportation” at Al Jazeera.

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

Watch ‘American Insurrection’ at PBS Frontline.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Oklahoma passes law protecting drivers who kill or hurt rioters” at NBC News.

This Week With The Police:

Read “1 Verdict, Then 6 Police Killings Across America in 24 Hours” at NBC Washington. “At least six people were fatally shot by officers across the United States in the 24 hours after jurors reached a verdict in the murder case against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.”

Read “Doorbell video captures police officer punching and throwing teen with autism to the ground” at CBS News.

Read “Yes, Black America Fears the Police. Here’s Why: at Pro Publica.

Read “Newark cops, with reform, didn’t fire a single shot in 2020” at NJ.com. “At the same time, crime is dropping, and police recovered almost 500 illegal guns from the street during the year.”

Read “Deputy Shoots Unarmed Man Repeatedly During 911 Call, Officials Say” at New York Times. “Isaiah Brown was on a cordless phone with an emergency dispatcher when he was shot, his lawyer said. His family said he was in intensive care.”

Read “Virginia deputy gave Black man a ride home, then shot him after 911 call” at NBC News. “Brown had a phone in his hand and was speaking to a dispatcher when he was shot, his law firm said.”

Read the opinion piece “The look in Derek Chauvin's eyes was something worse than hate” at CNN.

Read “Baltimore police commissioner expects Minneapolis PD to be placed under federal consent decree” at The Hill.

Read “Judge rules Andrew Brown Jr. bodycam videos will not be released, but will be disclosed to family” at MSNBC.

• Read “US judge: no immediate release of video of Andrew Brown shooting” at Al Jazeera.

Read “In North Carolina, a Familiar Pattern After the Police Killing of Andrew Brown Jr.” at Slate.

Read “Bodycam Video Released Of California Man Who Died After Police Knelt On Him” at News and Guts.

Read “Justice Department will investigate Louisville police department in aftermath of Breonna Taylor shooting” at NBC News.

Read “Report: Police treatment of African Americans in the US amounts to crimes against humanity” at PRI’s The World.

Read “The World Recognizes Police Violence Against Black Americans as Crimes Against Humanity.” at The North Star.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Miami private school won't employ teachers who get the Covid-19 vaccine” at NBC News.

Read “Embattled Florida superintendent pleads not guilty to perjury charge” at The Hill.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “How Bill Gates Impeded Global Access to Covid Vaccines” at The New Republic.

Read “U.S. defends restrictions on export of COVID-19 vaccine raw materials amid India's request to lift ban” at The Hindu.

• Read “U.S. to provide Covid vaccine components, medical supplies to India” at NBC News. “The White House said they will send raw materials required for India to manufacture the Covishield vaccine, as well as therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits, ventilators and protective equipment.”

Read “Millions Appear to Be Skipping Second COVID-19 Vaccine Shot in the U.S.” at Slate.

Read “Airline Bans Alaska State Senator For Violating COVID-19 Mask Rules” at Huff Post.

Read “West Virginia will offer $100 savings bonds to young people who get vaccinated” at Axios.

Read “French Biotech Firm Has a Weapon for the Mutation War” at Bloomberg.

Read “Washington state poker night linked to nearly 100 COVID-19 cases” at The HillI.

Please Read “Fauci: Joe Rogan's COVID-19 comments 'incorrect” at The Hill.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “The Newest Status Symbol for High-Net Worth Homeowners: Trophy Trees” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “82-Year-Old NFL Alum Arrested, Found With Massive Amount of Cocaine” at Pop Culture.

Read “How Capicola Became Gabagool: The Italian New Jersey Accent, Explained” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Prancer, The 'Haunted Victorian Child' Dog From Viral Ad, Has Been Adopted” at NPR.

Read “When Ayn Rand Collected Social Security & Medicare, After Years of Opposing Benefit Programs” at Open Culture.

Read “The Problem With Apple’s Plan to Stop Facebook’s Data Collection” at Slate.

Read “It Was Just Thrilling': 2 NPR Founders Remember The First Days, 50 Years Ago” at NPR.

Internationalities:

Read “Food pantries for hungry Filipinos get tagged as communist” at Al Jazeera. “People turn against the Duterte administration after a military-led agency accuses volunteers of a popular feeding initiative of being communist sympathisers.”

Read “Erdogan threatens to recognise killings of Native Americans as genocide in response to Armenia resolution” at Independent.

Read 'I Remember Them Screaming': Afghans Detail Alleged Killings By Australian Military” at NPR.

Read “Filipino investigative journalist to receive UN press freedom prize” at UN News.

Read “U.S. Contractors Are Still Helping Maintain Saudi Warplanes Used in Yemen War” at Democracy Now.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Caitlyn Jenner announces run for California governor in recall election” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Democrats warn Waters censure move opens floodgates” at The Hill.

Read “LinkedIn billionaire: Cut off funding for politicians who limit voting rights” at CNN.

Read “Kerry faces calls to step down over leaked Iran tapes” at The Hill.

Read “Newsom recall effort has enough signatures to make ballot” at The Hill.

Read “Biden to pitch sweeping ‘family plan’ in speech to Congress” at Associated Press.

Read “Biden nominates Texas sheriff to lead ICE” at NBC News.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “This family thought Biden would stop Trump's wall. Now his administration is plodding along to seize their land” at Business Insider.

Read “Documents Show Trump Officials Skirted Rules to Reward Politically Connected and Untested Firms With Huge Pandemic Contracts” at Pro Publica.

Read “Marjorie Taylor Greene Dragged After Announcing She'll File Resolution To Expel Maxine Waters From Congress” at Comic Sands.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “DMX's casket borne through streets of New York on a monster truck, which feels right” at AV Club.

Read “Why Boards of Canada’s Music Has the Right to Children Is the Greatest Psychedelic Album of the ’90s” at Pitchfork. “Unlocking the mysteries behind the Scottish electronic duo’s hallucinatory classic, which turns 20 this month.”

Read “25 Greatest Punk Rock Movies of All Time” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Van Morrison Blames ‘Freedom of Speech’ Over Negative Response to Anti-Lockdown Songs” at Spin.

Read “St. Vincent Told Me To Kill This Interview” by Emma Madden.

Read “Ryley Walker “Course In Fable” at Foxy Digitalis.

Read “Relive being in CBGB via this 360 VR tour” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Arts Coverage Commentary: A Conversation with Ted Gioia About New Approaches to Publishing” at Arts Fuse.

Read “Questlove’s Music Trivia Game at Oscars 2021 Ends With Glenn Close Doing “Da Butt” at Pitchfork.

Read “John Lydon Threatens to Sue Danny Boyle Over “Disrespectful” Sex Pistols TV Series” at Consequence of Sound. "They went to the point to hire an actor to play me but what's the actor working on? Certainly not my character"

Read “Charles Mingus’ Instructions For Toilet Training Your Cat, Read by The Wire’s Reg E. Cathey” at Open Culture.

Read “The Art of Japanese Portable Record Players” at In Sheep’s Clothing Hi Fi.

Read “Kurt Cobain’s ‘The Last Session’ Photoshoot Will Be Sold as an NFT” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Foo Fighters, Radiohead, LCD Soundsystem, and More Design Bikes for Fundraiser” at Pitchfork.

Read “Rig Rundown: Yasmin Williams” at Premier Guitar.

Listen: “The Lumineers And Gregory Alan Isakov Cover Each Other's Songs” at NPR.

Read “How Jamaica shaped the creative spirit and evolution of music production” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “A new Hollywood biopic movie detailing the life of late, great Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister – titled, Simply Lemmy is set to begin production early next year and stars American actor, director and narrator Morgan Freeman” at Vintage Heavy Metal.

Read “Julien Baker Triumphs Over Her Inner Demons” at Spin.

Read “Lady Gaga’s Alleged Dognappers Arrested For Attempted Murder And Robbery” at Huff Post.

Read “Bringin’ it Backwards: Interview with The Mother Hips” at American Songwriter.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Here’s what happens to the extra food in cooking competition shows” at Marketplace.

Read “China censoring reaction to Chloé Zhao's historic Oscar win” at The Hill.

Read “Josh Gad, Isla Fisher to Star in Romantic Comedy Series ‘Wolf Like Me’ at Peacock” at Variety.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “Follow-up study finds a single dose of one drug can ease anxiety and depression for five years” at The HIll. “Participants “rated it among the most personally meaningful and spiritually significant experiences of their lives,” according to the study.”

Read “Mars helicopter Ingenuity snapped a fantastic aerial photo of the Perseverance rover” at Boing Boing.

Food Cultures:

Read “The Planet on the Plate: Why Epicurious Left Beef Behind” at Epicurious.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “The Josh Fight is Real and Delightfully Bizarre” at The Big Lead.

Read “Inside the multi-million dollar orgasm cult endorsed by Hollywood” at Cult News 101.

Read “Famed Scots UFO expert returns home after 23 years to crack Bonnybridge 'alien' mystery” at Daily Record.

Local:

Read “Security lapses plague Arizona Senate's election audit at State Fairgrounds” at AZ Family.

• Read “Experts raise concerns about processes, transparency as election audit begins” at AZ Mirror.

Read “Seller's market in Phoenix real estate is brutal for local buyers” at AZ Family.

The Weekly Town Crier (04/16/21)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (04/16/21).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “DMX dead at 50, family confirms” at Fox 59.

Read “Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth's longtime consort, will be laid to rest in low-key ceremony” at CNN.

Read “Sonny Simmons, Fiercely Independent Alto Saxophonist, Dies At 87” at NPR.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Proud Boys and other far-right groups raise millions via Christian funding site” at The Guardian.

Read “Pastor: Lawmakers Making Churches Obey COVID Rules Are “Non-Essential” to God!” at Friendly Atheist.

Read ‘High court halts Calif. virus rules limiting home worship” at Religion News Service.

Read “Former Moody Professor & Author for Desiring God Announces He’s No Longer a Christian” at Roys Report.

Read “Evangelical Pastor Faces Prison Time After Recording Child Changing Her Clothes” at Friendly Atheist.

Read “John Wayne, Jesus, and the Struggle to Define the Christian Man” by David French. “Would the Son of God slide into home with his cleats up?”

Read “Hillsong Shuts Down Dallas Campus Following Reports Pastors Misused Funds” at Roys Report.

Read “New York City's Next Mayor Could Be Decided in the Black Church” at Bloomberg.

Read “A Pastor’s Son Becomes a Critic of Religion on TikTok” at New York Times.

Read “Brazil building new Jesus statue even taller than Rio's Christ the Redeemer” at The Hill.

Read “The Supreme Court Broke Its Own Rules to Radically Redefine Religious Liberty” at Slate. “Even Chief Justice John Roberts dissented from the majority’s unusual move.”

Read “Head of Elite Catholic School Is Fired Over Sexual Misconduct Charges” at New York Times.

Read “Pope Francis asks Minnesota bishop to resign following Vatican probe” at The Hill.

Read the opinion piece “Why Democratic Socialism Isn’t Anti-Christian” at Sojourners.

Read “At online symposium, Pope Francis says religions can eradicate sexual abuse together” at Religion News Service.

Read ‘Why Pastors Should Read Literature” by Karen Swallow Prior at Pastor Theologians.

Read “'The Making Of Biblical Womanhood' Tackles Contradictions In Religious Practice” at NPR.

Read “Orlando sanctuary nurses largest cluster of Florida corals rescued from a devastating disease” at Orlando Sentinel.

Read “Pat Robertson slams policing in America” at MSBNC. "We cannot have a bunch of clowns running around who are underpaid and who really are not the best and brightest, we've got to have the best in there."

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

Read “Tucker Carlson, the face of Fox News, just gave his full endorsement to the white nationalist conspiracy theory that has motivated mass shootings” at Media Matters.

Read “Expert Witness Pinpoints the Exact Moment George Floyd Died Under Chauvin’s Weight” at Slate.

• Read “The claim that drugs killed George Floyd relies on a racist trope” at VOX. “In the Derek Chauvin trial, the defense’s attempt to blame George Floyd’s death on drug use relies on retrograde and racist myths.”

• Read “Medical Examiner Reaffirms George Floyd Homicide Ruling, Caused by Derek Chauvin’s Restraint” at Democracy Now.

Read “Alabama GOP Senate Candidate Is Extremely Outraged at Affair Allegations Before Being Presented With a 17-Minute Tape” at Slate.

Read “Matt Gaetz Reportedly Sent $900 on Venmo to Indicted Tax Collector Buddy, Who Then Paid Three Young Women for ‘Tuition’ and ‘School’ at Mediaite.

• Read “Matt Gaetz Now Complains He’s A Victim Of The Deep State” at Huff Post.

• Read “Indicted Gaetz Associate Is Said to Be Cooperating With Justice Dept.” at New York Times.

Read “Same, but different: Notes on Black Christian solidarity against anti-Asian racism” at Religion News Service.

Read “N.R.A. Chief Takes the Stand, With Cracks in His Armor” at New York Times.

Read “The first Southern state legalizes marijuana — what it means nationally” at The Hill.

Read “President Biden set to further regulate 'ghost guns'“ at PRI. “The Biden administration faces pushback from Republicans as it tries to pass legislation to further regulate "ghost guns" assembled with homemade parts.”

Read “South Dakota GOP Gov. Blasted For Telling Illegal Immigrants To 'Call Me When You're An American'“ at Comic Sands.

Read “Conservative Judges Are Manipulating the History of Eugenics to Overturn Roe v. Wade” at Slate.

Read “Illinois House passes bill mandating Asian American history in schools” at NBC News.

Read “At least 8 dead in shooting at Indianapolis FedEx facility” at The Hill.

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

Read “‘Clear the Capitol,’ Pence pleaded, timeline of riot shows” at Associated Press.

Read “Far-Right Extremist Planned to Blow Up Amazon Data Center, Feds Allege” at Variety.

Read “White supremacists plan nationwide rallies on April 11” at The Hill.

Read ‘Huntington Beach braces for yet another demonstration — a White Lives Matter rally on Sunday” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “‘Darn’ Tootin’ It Is!’: Gov. Tate Reeves Again Declares Confederate Heritage Month, SCV Says” at Mississippi Free Press.

Read “Heritage Versus Hate: Assessing Opinions in the Debate over Confederate Monuments and Memorials” at Wiley Public Library. “When it comes to wanting to leave Confederate monuments alone, it’s racial resentment, not southern identity.”

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Protests erupt after death of Daunte Wright, 20-year-old Black man shot by police during traffic stop: What we know” at USA Today.

Read ‘Second night of unrest after fatal police shooting of Daunte Wright outside Minneapolis” at CBS News.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Cops Caught on Video Holding a Black Army Lieutenant at Gunpoint, Then Pepper-Spraying Him” at Vice.

• Read “Army officer sues police for pepper-spraying him, drawing guns during traffic stop” at The Hill.

Read “Police officer with connection to Proud Boys fired” at The Hill.

Read “Protests erupt after death of Daunte Wright, 20-year-old Black man shot by police during traffic stop: What we know” at USA Today.

• Read “Minnesota officer meant to draw Taser, not handgun” at Associated Press.

• Read “Medical examiner declares Daunte Wright death a homicide” at KTSP.

• Read “Brooklyn Center city manager fired following police shooting of Daunte Wright” at The Hill.

• Read “Rev. Al Sharpton on the police killing of Daunte Wright: ‘You can die for having expired tags’” at MSNBC.

• Read “How Could the Police Have Mistaken a Gun for a Taser?” at Yahoo.

• Read “Brooklyn Center officer in Daunte Wright shooting, police chief submit resignation” at KSTP.

• Read “The Minnesota officer who killed Daunte Wright will be charged with manslaughter.” at New York Times.

  • Read “Minnesota Police Officer Kimberly Potter Charged with Manslaughter for Shooting Daunte Wright” at Democracy Now.

• Read “Daunte Wright's death proves a more interracial America can't protect us” at MSNBC.

Read “Cincinnati police raise ‘Blue Lives Matter’ flag outside justice center” at Guardian.

Read “Legal experts on whether police testifying against Derek Chauvin portends real change” at MSNBC.

Read “Bill to give Arizona troopers body cameras would also restrict video release” at ABC 15.

Read “Maryland state trooper fatally shoots 16-year-old after responding to reports of an armed man” at ABC News. “Peyton Ham was allegedly carrying an airsoft gun and a knife.”

Read “Daunte and the Debt Collectors: How the Cops Became Robbers” at The Root.

Read “For years, the Boston Police kept a secret: the union president was an alleged child molester” at Boston Globe.

Read “Video of fatal Chicago police shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo released” at NBC News.

Read “Three Georgia officers injured after suspect opened fire with AK-47 during chase” at The Hill.

Read “Pat Robertson slams policing in America” at MSBNC. "We cannot have a bunch of clowns running around who are underpaid and who really are not the best and brightest, we've got to have the best in there."

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Teen student arrested for having gun at Sandra Day O'Connor High School in north Phoenix” at ABC 15.

Read “One person dead, officer wounded in shooting confrontation at a Tennessee high school, officials say” at Click 2 Houston.

Read “Florida education official tells school districts to make masks optional next year” at The HIll.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “You Can’t Trust Anyone’: Russia’s Hidden Covid Toll Is an Open Secret” at New York Times.

Read “Nearly 40% of Marines have declined Covid-19 vaccine” at CNN.

Read “WHO chief laments 'shocking imbalance' in vaccines for poor countries” at The Hill.

Read “Meat-packing plants were the earliest COVID hotspots, but vaccinating workers isn’t easy” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Loneliness, Anxiety and Loss: the Covid Pandemic’s Terrible Toll on Kids” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Covid vaccine hesitancy among men is its own public health issue” at MSNBC.

Read “Wisconsin Supreme Court rules against restaurant, bar capacity limits” at The Hill.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Nike Settles With Lil Nas X 'Satan Shoes' Manufacturer” at Pop Culture.

Read “Under Capitalism, the Deck Is Always Stacked Against Unionizing at Companies Like Amazon” at Jacobin Magazine.

Watch “The Tony Alva Story” at Open Culture.

Read “Nike’s idea of ‘woke’ is to kill the small businesses, in Philly and elsewhere, that made its sneakers popular” at Inquirer.

Read “Staying Home Gave Some Black Women the Chance to Take Care of Their Own Hair” at Slate. “Some aren’t sure they’ll go back to salons at all.”

Read “'You Can't Escape the Gravitational Pull of Jeff Bezos.' How Amazon Won the Preliminary Union Vote in Alabama” at Time.

Read “‘Huge’ Explosion Rocks St. Vincent As Volcano Keeps Erupting” at Huff Post.

Read “Steak-Umm Twitter Beef with Neil DeGrasse Tyson Explained” at HITC.

Read “Meet the Ransomware Gang Behind One of the Biggest Supply Chain Hacks Ever” at Vice.

Read “Apple might not release an iPhone Mini in 2022, analyst predicts” at CNet.

Read “There Will Be No Swearing or Taking God’s Name in Vain on Mike Lindell’s New ‘Free Speech’ Platform” at Right Wing Watch.

Read “A 23-Year-Old Coder Kept QAnon Online When No One Else Would” at Bloomberg.

Internationalities:

Read “What About China?” Is No Defense of American Injustice” at Slate.

Read “Iran Blames Israel for Attack on Nuclear Facility, Vows to Retaliate” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “China sends 25 warplanes into Taiwan's air defense zone, Taipei says” at CNN.

Read “How Biden’s team overrode the brass on Afghanistan” at Politico.

Read “Japan announces it will release treated radioactive water from Fukushima nuclear plant into sea” at South China Morning Press.

Read “Forthcoming Russia sanctions won't include Nord Stream 2” at Politico.

Read “Biden administration sanctions Russia for SolarWinds hack, election interference” at the Hill.

Read “Biden Administration Says Russian Intelligence Obtained Trump Campaign Data” at New York Times.

Read “Intel chiefs sound alarm on China in global threats hearing” at Politico.

Read “Russian Troops Amass on Eastern Border as U.S. and NATO Pledge Support for Ukraine” at Democracy Now.

Read “UK facing garden gnome shortage following the Suez Canal fiasco” at Indy 100.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read ‘The GOP Is Voting Against Its Base” at The Atlantic. “Republicans are making a risky bet by opposing Biden’s infrastructure plan.”

Read “High number of Trump political appointees sought permanent jobs in final year” at NBC News.

Read “Can America's 'Civil Religion' Still Unite The Country?” at WPR.

Read “Dwayne Johnson says he’ll run for President “if this is what the people want”” at NME. “46 per cent of poll respondents would welcome him in the Oval Office.”

Read “Stephanie Murphy: Let Florida voters know which election systems were hacked by Russians” at Orlando Sentinel.

Read “Congressional Black Caucus members post selfie celebrating first WH visit in four years” at The Hill.

Read “Mitt Romney And Kyrsten Sinema Team Up On Bipartisan Bill To Increase Minimum Wage” at Huff Post.

Read “Biden Administration Moves To Undo Trump Abortion Rules For Title X” at NPR.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Republicans Accused Of Election Rigging Conspiracy As Congress Demands DOJ Probe” at Politicus USA.

Read “McConnell versus the First Amendment” at Popular Info.

Read “Gaetz was denied meeting with Trump” at The Hill.

Read “Senate Report: Former Trump Aide Paul Manafort Shared Campaign Info With Russia” at NPR.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Prince’s ‘Welcome 2 America,’ an Unreleased Album, Is Due Out in July” at New York Times.

Read “Penn Jillette Tells the Most Amazing David Allan Coe Story” at GQ.

Read “From the Eagle Mall to Terrapin Station: A Skeleton Key to Robert Hunter” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “How The Wrecking Crew Secretly Recorded Some of the Biggest Hits of the 1960s & 70s” at Open Culture.

Read “The Spiritual Power of Pharoah Sanders” by Shabaka Hutchings” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “Kelly Clarkson's Onstage Bathroom Disaster Will Forever Change the Way We Think About Trash Cans” at Yahoo.

Browse Bandcamp’s picks for “The Best Albums of Winter 2021.”

Read “Phoebe Bridgers’ Smashed Guitar from SNL Sells for $100k in Auction” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “We All Get To Benefit From Taylor Swift’s Sweet Revenge” at Stereogum.

Read “How Auto-Tune Revolutionized the Sound of Popular Music” at Pitchfork. “An in-depth history of the most important pop innovation of the last 20 years, from Cher’s “Believe” to Kanye West to Migos.”

Read “Madonna Buys The Weeknd's Hidden Hills Estate for $19 Million” at Pop Culture.

Read “Grateful Dead’s ‘Wall of Sound’ Lives Again in Some Dude’s Basement” at Wall Street Journal. “Anthony Coscia spent two months building a working one-sixth replica of the legendary system, to the delight of Deadheads everywhere.”

Read “Liz Phair Details New Album Soberish, Shares New Song” at Pitchfork.

Read “Mudhoney Is No Longer Just the Name of a Band in Seattle: 'This Is Anything But Boring'“ at Billboard. “Seattle Public Utilities announced on Monday (April 12) that it has named its tunnel boring machine after local grunge band Mudhoney after a public vote.”

Read “M.I.A. Launches Fundraiser for Saint Vincent Volcano Relief” at Pitchfork.

Read “CD of the Month: Ryley Walker - "Course In Fable” at WYSO.

Read “Queens of vinyl: 6 female record store owners share the secrets to their success and the struggles that became strengths” at Jumble and Flow. (Featuring Phoenix’s own Kimber Lanning!!)

Read “60 U.S. Music Venues Are Getting ‘Turnkey Livestreaming’ Abilities” at Rolling Stone. “As the live music industry weighs its post-pandemic future, Live Nation and Veeps will outfit venues including The Wiltern, The Fillmore, and House of Blues with livestreaming tech.”

Read “What the Hell Is Spotify’s Tragically Named “Car Thing”?” at Pitchfork.

Read “Morgan Wallen Says He Won’t Play Shows This Summer, Is Still Working on Himself Following Scandal” at Variety.

Read “José González Announces New Album Local Valley, Shares New Song” at Pitchfork.

Read “Inside Sun Ra’s 1971 trip to Egypt” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “Screamers, a Missing Link of Los Angeles Punk, Is Missing No More” at New York Times.

Read “Low Cover Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” at Pitchfork.

Read “Arcade Fire Share New 45-Minute Song for Headspace Meditation App” at Pitchfork.

Read “Alan Vega Left a Robust Vault. The Excavation Begins With a New Album” at New York Times.

Read “Angel Bat Dawid :: Transmissions” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “TV Is Having a Talking-Head Crisis, From Sharon Osbourne to Dr. Oz to Meghan McCain” at Time.

Read “Bill Hader Talks Overcoming Anxiety and ‘Barry’ Season 3 as He Receives USC’s Master of Comedy Award” at Variety.

Read “The Problem With ‘The Problem With Jon Stewart’” at Vice. “Can the beloved former host of ‘The Daily Show’ be relevant in 2021 without copying the work of his former staff?”

Read “Melissa McCarthy, Please Stop Making Bad Movies With Your Husband” at Slate.

Read “ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres to Close” at The Hollywood Reporter.

Browse “Ronin Roundup” at Burning Shore.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read ‘The Strangest Books in the World: Discover The Madman’s Library, a Captivating Compendium of Peculiar Books​ & Manuscripts’ at Open Culture.

Design/Artsy Things:

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “4 Gray Whales Found Dead In San Francisco Bay Area In 9 Days” at Huff Post.

Read “How far does light travel in a year?” at Universal-Sci.

Read “When a Mantis Shrimp Fights a Disco Clam, It Meets Its Match” at Wired.

Read “Woman gets pregnant while already pregnant, gives birth to twins” at The Hill.

Read “The Sand Octopus Was Hiding in Plain Sight” at The Atlantic. “And yet it took a 19th-century naturalist, a 21st-century grad student, and some Brazilian fishers to crack the mystery.”

Read “The Carnivore Paradise That Keeps Changing the Story of Human Evolution” at Atlas Obscura. “New research at Dmanisi continues to challenge what we think we know about our deep past.”

Read “Scientists Create Early Embryos That Are Part Human, Part Monkey” at NPR.

Read “How scientists found 'Nemo,' Australia's newest dancing spider” at National Geographic.

Food Cultures:

Read “How India’s ‘Mango Man’ Grew a Tree With 300 Flavors” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “The Sandwich Scandal at the Heart of the World’s Greatest Golfing Event” at Atlas Obscura.

Misc. Oddities:

Local:

Read “Queens of vinyl: 6 female record store owners share the secrets to their success and the struggles that became strengths” at Jumble and Flow. (Featuring Phoenix’s own Kimber Lanning!!)

The Weekly Town Crier (04/02/21)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about and more (04/02/21).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Pioneering Synth Designer and Stevie Wonder Producer, Malcolm Cecil, Dead at 84” at Okay Player.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Church membership in the U.S. has fallen below the majority for the first time in nearly a century” at Washington Post. 

Read “LIL' NAS X Satanic Panic Publicity Makes Me Long For When Conservative Christians Got Mad At Metal” at Metal Injection. “The rapper's limited release Satanic sneakers and new music video are causing an uproar that used to be reserved for metal acts.”

• Read “Lil Nas X's 'Satan' shoes that contain drop of human blood sold out in less than a minute” at The Hill.

Read “'Scolded us for being female': Woman says fishing trip prize taken away because she is a woman” at KETV. ““Living in the days of sexual scandals & accusations many pastors including myself, take the personal position that we will not put ourselves in a position that could bring about a false accusation.”

Read “Dozens of Christian students sue the U.S. Education Dept., hoping to pressure Equality Act negotiations.” “Students from across the country allege being ejected, punished and harmed by policies barring LGBTQ relationships and advocacy, and they are fighting back.”

Read “Celebrating Easter on the anniversary of MLK’s death” at Christian Century.

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

Read “Biden blasts new Georgia voting laws as civil rights group sue” at Al Jazeera.

Read “In the latest debate on guns, a hobbled NRA takes a backseat” at CNN.

Read “Carmichael Man Facing 19 Felony Weapons Charges After Discovery of Massive Gun Cache, Fake Explosives” at Sacramento CBS Local.

Read “A history of “wokeness” at Vox. “Stay woke: How a Black activist watchword got co-opted in the culture war.”

Read “Derek Chauvin Trial Live Updates: Lawyers Present Case in George Floyd’s Death” at New York Times.

Read “Supreme Court reinstates Tennessee inmate's death sentence” at The Hill.

Read “Arkansas becomes first state to pass bill prohibiting doctors from providing gender-affirming medical care to trans youth” at Business Insider.

Read “George Floyd news: Witness says Derek Chauvin used ‘blood choke’ as Floyd ‘pleaded for his life’” at Independent.

• Read “Officers didn't let me into the scene': Witness, Off-duty firefighter says she would have given Floyd medical attention” at MSNBC.

Read “Asian woman brutally beaten in suspected hate crime as security guard does nothing to help” at New York Post.

• Read “YouTube employees upset at company's refusal to remove song considered anti-Asian” at The Hill.

• Read “Minnesota High Schoolers Stage Walkout After Asian Teen Receives Racist Texts From Classmates” at Comic Sands.

Read “Amazon Security Staff Reported Its Own Hostile Tweets as ‘Suspicious,’ Fearing They’d Been Hacked” at The Intercept. “These tweets are unnecessarily antagonistic (risking Amazon’s brand), and may be a result of unauthorized access,” read an employee help ticket.” Instead, in reality, the order for the bad tweets came directly from big man Bezos.

• Read “‘She-Wees’ and Plastic Bags: Amazon’s Pee Scandal Is Much Worse for Women” at Vice.

Read “NRA Board Member Upends Bankruptcy With Demand to Probe LaPierre” at Bloomberg.

Read “The Myth of the ‘Underage Woman” at The Atlantic.

Read “Matt Gaetz Is Said to Face Justice Dept. Inquiry Over Sex With an Underage Girl” at New York Times.

• Read “Gaetz showed lawmakers nude photos of women he claimed to have slept with: report” at The Hill.

• Read “Justice Dept. Inquiry Into Matt Gaetz Said to Be Focused on Cash Paid to Women” at New York Times.

Read “500 Migrant Kids Crammed Into Plastic ‘Pods’ Meant for 32 People” at Daily Beast.

Read “Revisiting the Black power dream of North Carolina's Soul City” at Facing South.

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

Read “Capitol riot suspect arrested while wearing 'I Was There' T-shirt” at The Hill.

Read “Charlottesville Can Remove Statues Of Confederate Generals, High Court Rules” at Huff Post.

Read “How Do You Solve A Problem Like The Proud Boys?” at Rantt Media. “Given the challenges law enforcement faces when trying to tackle extremist groups, it's clear that other counter-extremism measures have to be on the table.”

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Biden’s First Big Break With His Allies Is Over School Reopenings” at New York Mag : Intelligencer.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Dr. Deborah Birx says thousands of U.S. Covid deaths were preventable” at MSNBC.

Read “The Pandemic Ignited a Housing Boom—but It’s Different From the Last One” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “The Stunning Art That’s Waging War On COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy And Disinformation” at Huff Post.

Read “I just can't face another surge': Premature reopenings threaten vaccine successes” at MSNBC.

Read “U.K. Government Distributes $553 Million More From Culture Recovery Fund to Arts Organizations” at Variety.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Annie's Mac and Cheese is based in the Bay Area, but Annie is not. Here's her story” at SF Gate.

Read ‘Miss me yet?’ Donald Trump tears into Biden and border crisis at Mar-a-Lago wedding” at The Express.

Read “Detroit restaurant warns people who smell like marijuana to not 'even think of stepping inside'“ at The Hill.

Read “A Q&A With the Real Estate Agent Selling This Sexy Funeral Goth House in Baltimore” at Slate.

Read “Can a scammer hypnotize you over the phone? Let’s ask professional hypnotists” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “National Building Museum to reopen with exhibit on gun violence” at The Hill.

Read “Were Rampage’s Monsters Really Based on King Kong, Godzilla, and The Wolf Man?” at Den of Geek. “Before Godzilla vs. King Kong, we spent years pretending Rampage put those legendary monsters on the same screen. However, the true origins of Rampage's monsters are stranger than you think...”

Read “How One of the World’s Largest Container Ships Can Get Stuck in the Suez Canal” at Wall Street Journal.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Fox News sued by Dominion Voting Systems over election fraud claims” at NBC News.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Georgia Lawmaker Arrested As Governor Signs Law Overhauling Elections” at NPR.

Read “Graham cites Hurricane Katrina as reason to own AR-15” at The Hill.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Rick Nielsen Of Cheap Trick Reviews Cheap Trick’s Biggest Albums” at Uproxx.

Watch “the Weather Station Perform on CBS This Morning” at Pitchfork.

Read “Bob Weir: Saint of Circumstance” at Relix.

• Read “Dead & Company Confirm Dates for Playing in the Sand 2022” at Relix.

• Read “Phil Lesh to Perform Socially Distanced Show at Terrapin Crossroads” at Jambands.

Read “The Many Lives of Judee Sill” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Officially Sanctioned ‘Jerry Garcia, Artist’ Documentary To Focus On 1987 Interview” at Live For Live Music.

Read “BTS Discuss Facing Discrimination, Condemn Racism in #StopAsianHate Statement” at Pitchfork.

Read “Sons of Kemet Announce New Album Black to the Future, Share “Hustle” at Consequence of Sound.

Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “30 Great Records You May Have Missed: Winter 2021.”

Read “Benevento/Russo Duo Confirm Relix Studio Full Acoustic Livestream Concert” at Jambase.

Read “Nils Frahm: ‘NFTs are the most disgusting thing on the planet’” at Independent.

Read “Kevin Shields on My Bloody Valentine’s Return: Time Is ‘More Precious’” at New York Times.

Read “Celebrating 15 Years of Musical Eclecticism with Aquarium Drunkard’s Justin Gage” at In Sheep’s Clothing Hi Fi.

Read “Archie Shepp :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview”.

Read “Janis Joplin’s Last TV Performance & Interview: The Dick Cavett Show (1970)” at Open Culture.

Read “Grammy Museum To Honor Blue Note Records For Jazz Appreciation Month” at U Discover Music.

Read “Matt Sweeney Loves “Guitar Playing That You Don’t Understand” at Premier Guitar.

Read “A Quiet Revolution” at Spin. “Indigo Girls' Amy Ray and Emily Saliers on their life in music, activism and friendship.”

Read “Learning to Be OK With the Word ‘Vinyls’” at Variety.

Read “Ryley Walker Explains How He Made His Best Album, ‘Course In Fable’” at Uproxx.

Read “Soundgarden Accuse Vicky Cornell of Locking Band Out of Social Media Accounts” at Consequence of Sound.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Did you spot them? 'Coming 2 America's best throwbacks to the classic comedy original (Spoilers!)” at USA Today.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Howl: illuminating draft of Allen Ginsberg's seminal poem found” at The Guardian. “Early draft of Howl is on sale for $425,000 and ‘allows a look into the mind’ of the influential Beat poet.”

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Who Built the Egyptian Pyramids & How Did They Do It?: New Archeological Evidence Busts Ancient Myths” at Open Culture.

The Weekly Town Crier (03/12/21)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (03/12/21).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Roger Mudd, longtime TV newsman, dies at 93” at Politico.

Read “Lou Ottens, inventor of the audio cassette tape, has died” at NME.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “After Ravi Zacharias report, Christians examine how to avoid ‘betrayal blindness’” at Religion News Service. 

• Read “Ravi Zacharias’s Ministry Plans Name Change, Calls for More Victims to Come Forward” at Christianity Today.

Read “A Missouri pastor is reportedly seeking 'professional counseling' after he told women to lose weight and strive to be like Melania Trump for their husbands” at Insider.

Read “Slavers and Heresy: A Response to Tom Nettles” by Marty Duren.

Read “Bible teacher Beth Moore, splitting with Lifeway, says, ‘I am no longer a Southern Baptist’” at Religion News Service. “Because of her opposition to Trump and her outspokenness in confronting sexism and nationalism in the evangelical world, Moore has been labeled as “liberal” and “woke” and even as being a heretic for daring to give a message during a Sunday morning church service.”

• Read “Beth Moore Inspired Scores of Southern Baptist Women. They Don’t Blame Her for Leaving.” at Christianity Today.

Read “‘Til Kingdom Come’ examines link between end-times theology and Israel politics” at Religion News Service.

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

Read “How the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act is being used in this latest Trump lawsuit” at NBC News.

Read “Many Juvenile Jails Are Now Almost Entirely Filled With Young People of Color” at The Marshall Project.

Read “The Secret Burglary That Exposed J. Edgar Hoover's FBI” at NPR.

Read “Google HR 'suggested medical leave' for racism victims” at BBC.

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

Read “Transcript theater: Defendant in Trump riot case throws 'tantrum' over being held in jail” at MSNBC.

Read “Trump White House associate tied to Proud Boys before riot via cell phone data” at The Hill.

Read “'QAnon Shaman' scolded by federal judge for appearing on '60 Minutes'“ at The Hill.

Read “White supremacists 'seek affiliation' with law enforcement to further their goals, internal FBI report warns” at Yah

Read “Florida Man With Alleged Links To Oath Keepers Charged Over Capitol Riot” at NPR.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Ducey back-to-school order leaves educators shocked, scrambling, upset” at Cronkite News.

Read “Texas state lawmaker introduces bill to set minimum teacher salary at $70K” at The Hill.

Read “Lawmaker pushes to allow concealed weapons in Texas public schools” at News 4 San Antonio.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Cuomo staff hid higher COVID death toll as New York governor sought to profit from book” at Salon.

Read “Florida Official Calls On FBI To Investigate ‘Red Carpet’ Vaccines For State’s GOP Donors” at Huff Post.

Read “Biden Administration To Order 100 Million More Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Shots” at Huff Post.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Crypto enthusiasts burn and digitize Banksy artwork” at CBS News.

Read “The Improbable Time When Orson Welles Interviewed Andy Kaufman (1982)” at Open Culture.

Read “The Myth of Drug Expiration Dates” at Pro Publica.

Read “Guam governor offers Greene history book after falsely calling US territory a foreign land” at The Hill.

Internationalities:

Read “Prepaid postcards going to every household in Canada to boost 'meaningful connection'“ at The Hill.

Read “Man running for office in Japan has Joker makeup and an unusual platform” at Boing Boing.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “No One’s Buying the Republicans’ Deficit Fearmongering Anymore” at The New Republic.

Read “Trump presses GOP to stop using name for fundraising” at The Hill.

Read “Senate rejects Cruz effort to block stimulus checks for undocumented immigrants” at The Hill.

Read “Broad Public Support for Coronavirus Aid Package; Just a Third Say It Spends Too Much” at Pew Research.

Read “'Cold war-era weapon': $100bn US plan to build new nuclear missile sparks concern” at Guardian.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Paul Gosar: MTG In Lifts” at The Bulwark. “An insurrection-planning, white-nationalist-collaborating congressman remains uncensored and unchallenged. Why?”

Read “Trump Appointee At VOA Parent Paid Law Firm Millions To Investigate His Own Staff” at NPR.

Read “Texas utility manager rejects calls to fix $16B in overcharges” at The Hill.

Read “Song of Suppression” at Public Citizen. “Disney Backed 96% of Florida Republicans Who Sabotaged Voting Rights Ballot Initiative, Contributed Over $800,000 Between 2016 and 2020.”

Read “Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen to meet again with Manhattan DA in Trump probe” at Reuters.

Read “Trump told Ga. investigator he won the state: 'You'll be praised' for 'the right answer'“ at The Hill.

Read “New York Assembly to investigate Gov. Andrew Cuomo; 59 state lawmakers call for resignation” at USA Today.

• Read “New York Lawmakers To Launch ‘Impeachment Investigation’ Into Cuomo” at Forbes.
  
  
  

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Metallica Donates $75,000 to Texas Food Banks” at Spin.

Listen to “Jeff Parker on John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” at Maximum Fun.

Read “John Lurie: ‘I wanted to break into Martha Stewart’s house and change the curtains. My lawyer said no’” at Guardian.

Read “Women Underrepresented in Popular Music, New Study Finds” at Pitchfork.

Read “Audio Ammunition: A Documentary Series on The Clash and Their Five Classic Albums” at Open Culture.

Read “Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”: Music’s Greatest Work in Progress” at Pitchfork.

Read “With Seven Weeks at No. 1, Morgan Wallen Breaks a Chart Record” at New York Times.

Read “Why Do NFTs Matter for Music?” at Pitchfork.

Read “See Patti Smith’s Special Pop-Up Mini-Concert at Brooklyn Museum” at Rolling Stone.

Read “'The party that never ended': An oral history of Alice Cooper's 'Love it to Death' at 50” at AZ Central.

Read “In the Beatles' "Hey Jude," you can hear someone say "Fucking hell!"“ at Boing Boing.

Read “Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson on Keeping the Texas Band Alive, Alert and Swinging for 50 Years” at Variety.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “John Amos Looks Back on 50 Years in Hollywood” at Time.

Read “Understanding Trauma, Grief, and Resilience In WandaVision” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Bad Reputation: An Oral History of the Freaks and Geeks Soundtrack” at Consequence of Sound.

Read ‘Fox News will be 'loyal opposition' to Biden, Fox CEO says” at NBC News. “Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch says it is the job of Fox News to serve as the opposition to the Biden admin., stating clearly the political biases of a network that until 2017 billed itself as "fair and balanced."

Read “‘We Started With Sitcom Boot Camp’: Director Matt Shakman on the Making of ‘WandaVision’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Safdie Brothers-produced Pee-Wee Herman / Paul Reubens documentary coming to HBO” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “Who Spends Millions on NFTs? Meet Beeple’s Crypto-Rich Early Collectors” at Art News.

Read “Download Vincent van Gogh’s Collection of 500 Japanese Prints, Which Inspired Him to Create “the Art of the Future” at Open Culture.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “Soft robot reaches the deepest part of the ocean” at Nature.

The Weekly Town Crier (02/26/21)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (02/26/21).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Akron/Family’s Miles Seaton Has Died at 41” at Pitchfork.

Read “Johnny Pacheco, Who Helped Bring Salsa to the World, Dies at 85” at New York Times.

Read “Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Beat Poet And Small Press Publisher, Dies At 101” at NPR.

Read “John Baker, founder of the Christian support group Celebrate Recovery, has died” at Religion News Service.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Founders Ministry President: VP Kamala Harris “Going to Hell” at Word & Way. “While defending Southern Baptist pastors who called Vice President Kamala Harris a “Jezebel,” prominent Southern Baptist pastor Tom Ascol declared Harris was going to hell.” 

Read “New planets raise old questions” at Religion News Service. “The discovery of seven Earth-sized planets orbiting a nearby dwarf star, Trappist-1, is raising lots of questions with religious implications.”

Read “Christians, Conspiracy Theories, and Credibility: Why Our Words Today Matter for Eternity” at Lifeway Research.

Read “More Christian Groups Cut Ties with Ravi Zacharias & RZIM” at Roys Report.

• Read “Ministry leaders’ rush to empathize with Ravi Zacharias is beyond alarming” at Religion News Service.

• Read “Ravi Zacharias posthumously defrocked, ministry suspends fundraising after abuse report” at Religion News Service.

Read “As US refocuses anti-extremism programs on far right, many Muslims still oppose them” at Religion News Service. “After the Capitol attack, the Biden White House called for countering violent extremism programs to shift to a focus on white supremacists. But Muslim groups say the programs are still a waste of resources.”

Read “Before Rush Limbaugh, Father Coughlin was America’s first demagogue of the airwaves” at America Magazine.

Read “Southern Baptists divided over politics, race, LGBTQ policy” at SBC News. “Divisions over race, politics, gender and LGBTQ issues are roiling the Southern Baptist Convention ahead of a meeting of its executive committee next week.”

Read “Evangelicals perfected cancel culture. Now it’s coming for them.” at Religion News Service. “One Alabama megachurch preacher is experiencing a cautionary tale about a central spiritual idea: What goes around comes around.”

Read “Why Is it So Hard to Reach the Christian Conspiracy Theorist?” by David French. “When fellowship is superior to facts.”

Read “George Saunders on What Buddhists Can Offer the World Right Now” at Tricycle.

Read ‘Fewer Churches Held In-Person Services in January” at Christianity Today.

Read “Palestinian Christians Promised an Outsized Voice in New Legislature” at Christianity Today.

Read “SBC president J.D. Greear: “God did not call Southern Baptists to save America” at Religion News Service. “In a speech to the SBC Executive Committee meeting, Greear asked, “Do we want to be a gospel people, or a Southern culture people? Which is the more important part of our name — Southern or Baptist?” “We should mourn when closet racists and neo-Confederates feel more at home in our churches than do many of our people of color,”

• Read “Southern Baptists Expel Two More Churches Over Abuse” at Christianity Today. “Top leaders address divides in the denomination at the first in-person Executive Committee meeting in a year.”

• Read “Floyd, Greear stare down division, call for refocus on the Great Commission at EC meeting” at Baptist Press.

Read “Written in Protest The impeachment vote was a vote for white supremacy” at Religion News Service. “The refusal to confront the white supremacy at the Capitol is a refusal to reconcile America’s lofty democratic rhetoric with the state of its floundering institutions.”

Read “No, Rush Limbaugh Did Not Hijack Your Parents’ Christianity”at Religion Dispatches. “Many conservative Christians embraced Rush Limbaugh because they had already embraced a faith that championed an us-vs.-them militancy... and a thinly veiled misogyny that kept women in their (God-given) place.”

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

Read “Federal judge temporarily blocks South Carolina 'heartbeat' abortion ban” at CNN.

Read “Nazi Concentration Camp Guard Sent to Germany From Tennessee” at Bloomberg.

Read “New Mexico Legislature moves to preserve abortion rights” at Associated Press.

Read “Iowa lawmaker Brad Zaun cited for having gun at airport” at Des Moines Register.

Read “Woman who gave birth alone in cell secures $200k settlement” at Associated Press.

Read “Whistleblowers: Software Bug Keeping Hundreds Of Inmates In Arizona Prisons Beyond Release Dates” at KJZZ. “Sources say Department of Corrections leadership has known about the problem since 2019.”

Read “New Jersey governor signs bills legalizing marijuana” at The Hill.

Read “Supreme Court Clears Way For NY Prosecutor To Obtain Donald Trump’s Financial Records” at News and Guts.

Read “Supreme Court won't review Pennsylvania GOP election lawsuits” at The Hill.

Read “Mike Lindell Just Got Sued for $1.3 Billion Over Election Conspiracies” at Vice.

Read “Minnesota returns land to Lower Sioux Indian Community after decades-long battle” at The Hill.

Read “Supreme Court turns down Stormy Daniels's defamation suit against Trump” at The Hill.

Read “James Franco Reaches Settlement with Former Students in Sexual Exploitation Suit” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “UN chief labels white supremacy a 'transnational threat'“ at The Hill.

Read “Why Clarence Thomas' Trump-like dissent in election case matters” at MSNBC.

Read “Illinois governor signs bill making state the first to end cash bail” at The Hill.

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

Read “Acting Capitol Police Chief, House Sergeant at Arms to testify before House Appropriations Committee” at The Hill.

Read “U.S. alleges wider Oath Keepers conspiracy, adds more charges in Jan. 6 Capitol riot” at Washington Post.

Read “Feds Charge Pa. Cop For Rioting During Capitol Insurrection: ‘I May Need A Job’” at Huff Post.

Read “His pastors tried to steer him away from social media rage. He stormed the Capitol anyway.” at Washington Post.

Read “Several Charged Capitol Rioters Complained On Social Media About Antifa Getting Credit For Their Work” at Comic Sands.

Read “Oath Keeper claims she was VIP security at Trump rally before riot and says she met with Secret Service agents” at CNN.

Read “Former North Miami Beach cop went live on Facebook from inside the Capitol during riot” at Miami Herald.

Read ‘Justice Dept. Is Said to Be Examining Stone’s Possible Ties to Capitol Rioters” at New York Times.

Read “Reporter's Video From Inside Senate On Jan. 6 Shows A Crowd Prepared For Violence” at NPR.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Video Shows NYPD Cop Repeatedly Punching a Restrained Man in the Head” at Vice.

Read “Phoenix Council Debates Moving Money From Police Oversight To Homeless Services” at KJZZ.

Read “Newly released video shows deputies confront Black man over alleged jaywalking before fatally shooting him in San Clemente” at KTLA. “The deputies themselves can be heard debating whether Kurt Reinhold was jaywalking, with one telling the other, “Don’t make case law.”

Read “Martin Gugino sues city of Buffalo, mayor and police after fracturing skull” at Religion News Service. “A grand jury declined to indict the Buffalo police officers, but the Catholic social justice activist filed a civil suit alleging his constitutional right to peaceably protest was violated.”

Education and The Learnings, And/Or School Re-Openings

Read “Cornel West Says Harvard Denied Him Tenure Consideration, Calls It 'Political'“ at Huff Post.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Watch “Fmr. FDA Commissioner: Vaccine supply could exceed demand as soon as April” at MSNBC.

Read ‘Sedentary and stressed? Get outside to improve health during COVID, experts advise” at Cronkite News.

Read “Israel: Pfizer vaccine prevents 98.9 percent of COVID-19 deaths” at The Hill.

Read “Aging Out of Foster Care During COVID-19 Pandemic Brings Additional Challenges” at Teen Vogue.

Read “Meghan McCain calls for Biden to remove Fauci” at The Hill.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Video shows man screaming 'get a f---ing job' at family in line for church's food drive” at The Hill.

Read “Robinhood CEO apologizes for limiting GameStop trades” at MSBC.

Read “Politico finds Ted Cruz's Cancun scandal 'refreshingly normal'“ at The Week.

Read “DeSantis to lower Florida flags in honor of Limbaugh” at The Hill.

Read “Kim Kardashian Reportedly Files To Divorce Kanye West” at MTV.

Read “Why Were There So Many Serial Killers Between 1970 and 2000 — and Where Did They Go?” at Rolling Stone. “The answer is manyfold — encompassing everything from sociological changes, to biology, to technology, to linguistics.”

Read ‘Turkish Garbage Collectors Open a Library from Books Rescued from the Trash” at Goodnet.

Read “Free speech on campus is to be protected, but the war against cancel culture rages on” at Telegraph.

Read “Coolidge man fakes kidnapping to get out of work, police say” at 12 News.

Read “Some Texans got electric bills up to $17,000 after the storm. How does that happen?” at Washington Post.

• Read “Power Companies Get Exactly What They Want”: How Texas Repeatedly Failed to Protect Its Power Grid Against Extreme Weather” at Pro Publica. “Texas regulators and lawmakers knew about the grid’s vulnerabilities for years, but time and again they furthered the interests of large electricity providers.”

Read “The Comedy Industry Has a Big Alt-Right Problem” at The New Republic. “How safe spaces for transgressive humor, both online and in real life, helped breed a hateful ideology.”

Read “Twitter Kicked Donald Trump Out and Its Stock Surged to a Record” at Bloomberg.

Read “Mark Changed The Rules”: How Facebook Went Easy On Alex Jones And Other Right-Wing Figures” at Buzzfeed News. “Facebook’s rules to combat misinformation and hate speech are subject to the whims and political considerations of its CEO and his policy team leader.”

Read “Barack Obama, Bruce Springsteen Launch Spotify Podcast” at The Hollywood Reporter.

Read “28-Year-Old Dad-to-Be Dies in Explosion While Building 'Gender-Reveal' Device” at People.

See “Woman Yelling at Cat" in LEGO” at Boing Boing.

Read “The Army Is Building a New High Powered Laser” at Vice. “The Army wants to build a new kind of laser that fires in 1 quadrillionth of a second.”

Read “How Disney is using ‘Star Wars’ to help Chevy sell electric cars” at Los Angeles Times.

Internationalities:

Read ‘US sanctions inflicted $1 trillion damage on Iran’s economy: FM” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Canada's parliament declares China's treatment of Uighurs 'genocide'“ at BBC.

Read “North Korean Defector’s DMZ Crossing Raises Questions About Border Security” at Wall Street Journal. “Man swam across the border, went through a drainage conduit and appeared on South Korean military cameras eight times before being detected.”

Read “China denies requiring anal swabs from US diplomats” at BBC.

Read “US bombs Syria facilities used by Iran-backed militia; first airstrikes under Biden” at USA Today.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Ocasio-Cortez calls for full investigation of Cuomo's handling of coronavirus in nursing homes” at The Hill.

Read “Mike Pence Declines Invite to CPAC Event Where Donald Trump Will Speak” at Newsweek.

Read “Progressive caucus chair: Income thresholds for direct payments should stay at $75,000” at The Hill.

Read “The GOP is rapidly becoming the blue-collar party. Here's what that means” at NBC News.”Most of the GOP's blue-collar growth took place during the presidency of Donald Trump.”

Read ‘Trump to claim total control of GOP” at Axios. “In his first post-presidential appearance, Donald Trump plans to send the message next weekend that he is Republicans' "presumptive 2024 nominee" with a vise grip on the party's base, top Trump allies tell Axios.”

Read “Florida official tells offices to disregard DeSantis order to lower flags in Limbaugh's honor” at The Hill.

Read “Riot Romney predicts Trump would win the 2024 G.O.P. nomination if he ran for president.” at New York Times. “He has by far the largest voice and a big impact in my party,” Mr. Romney said.

Read “Bill would strip pension for president convicted of felony” at The Hill.

Read “Why Biden Can’t Fire Postmaster General Louis DeJoy” at Slate. “Trying to force DeJoy out could lead to constitutional chaos.”

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “McConnell Wants the Law Changed to Ensure He's Replaced by a Republican If He Leaves the Senate Early” at Second Nexus.

Read “Georgia Republicans Are Doubling Down on Racist Voter Suppression” at Mother Jones. “After Black voters turned out in record numbers, the GOP wants to make it harder to vote.”

Read “Matt Schlapp on Banishing Mitt Romney From CPAC: I Would Be ‘Afraid For His Physical Safety’ If He Came” at Mediaite.

Read “Trump’s blunt weapon: State GOP leaders” at Axios. “Virtually every Republican who supported impeachment was censured back home, or threatened with a primary challenge.”

Read “Trump to reemerge on political scene at CPAC” at The Hill.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Dinosaur Jr’s Green Mind Turns 30” at Spin. “We spoke with frontman J Mascis about the band’s early days, and why 'Green Mind' is still a pivotal work.”

Read “Sub Pop opens new flagship record store in Seattle” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “Courtney Love Says She Stopped Acting Because of “A Bunch of #MeToos” at Consequence of Sound. ‘"No one would believe me, and it wouldn't stop. So I left, and it left."

Read “Decades Since ‘3 Feet High & Rising’ & De La Soul Still Isn’t In Control Of Its Legacy” at Okay Player. “In an age where countless veteran rap acts are benefiting off of nostalgia, pioneering hip-hop group De La Soul hasn’t fully been able to do the same.”

Read “Bill Callahan, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy & Cassie Berman Cover Silver Jews’ The Wild Kindness’” at Jambase.

Read “Marilyn Manson under investigation by LA County Sheriff’s Department” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Browse Jerry Garcia’s guitars.

Read “José González Returns With First New Song in 5 Years” at Pitchfork.

Read “R.I.P. Miles Seaton of Akron/Family” at Talkhouse. James Toth (Wooden Wand) remembers his friend.

Read “Daft Punk Break Up” at Pitchfork. “The legendary dance duo have called it quits 28 years after forming in Paris.”

Read “U-Roy: the singularly musical toaster was a vital part of reggae's bloodline” at The Guardian. “His inspired technique made toasting into an international phenomenon, yet he was endearingly modest to the end.”

Read “Dinosaur Jr. Announce New Album, Share New Song “I Ran Away”: Listen” at Pitchfork.

Browse Bandcamp’s picks for “The Best Experimental Music on Bandcamp: February 2021.”

Read “Can Live Series Begins With Release Of 1975 Stuttgart Show” at The Quietus.

Read “Spiritualized to Reissue Their First Four Albums on Vinyl” at Pitchfork.

Read “Post Malone Covers Hootie and the Blowfish for Pokémon Day Celebration” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Uproar at KCRW as former producer accuses public radio giant of 'blatant racism'“ at Yahoo.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “What Are the Commercials in WandaVision Telling Us? at Vulture.

Read “32 Memorable ‘Muppet Show’ Musical Moments to Stream on Disney+” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “David Lynch’s Industrious Pandemic” at New Yorker. “Checking in with the director as he turns seventy-five.”

Read “Disney+ Adds Disclaimer to The Muppet Show” at Consequence of Sound. “The streaming platform warns viewers of "negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures."

Read “E.T. II, the mega-dark sequel that never happened” at Boing Boing.

Read “Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn trash HBO documentary series as a ‘hatchet job’” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “From Heroes to WandaVision: How superheroes learned to meet TV halfway” at AV Club.

Browse Paste’s picks for “The 10 Best Movies on Apple TV+ Right Now, Ranked.”

Read “Tom Morello to Serve as Executive Music Producer on Netflix’s ‘Metal Lords’ Film” at Rolling Stone. “Coming-of-age comedy about high school metal band to premiere later this year.”

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Brian Eno Lists 20 Books for Rebuilding Civilization & 59 Books For Building Your Intellectual World” at Open Culture.

Read “Stan Lee and the Dot-Com Disaster” at Vulture.

Read “How the Internet Archive Digitizes 3,500 Books a Day–the Hard Way, One Page at a Time” at Open Culture.

Read “Cindy McCain planning 'intimate memoir' of life with John McCain” at The Hill.

Read “What Are Magazines Good For?” at New Yorker. “What is the cultural sway of magazines when there are 20-year-old TikTok influencers with many more subscribers than Time?”

Design/Artsy Things:

Browse “Uncanny Portraits of Perfectly Symmetrical Pets” at Wired.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “First Arctic Navigation in February Sends a Worrying Climate Signal” at Bloomberg.

Local:

Read “37 suspects accused of child sex crimes arrested in Phoenix-area” at AZ Family.

Read “Banner Health Eases Visitor Restrictions” at KJZZ.

Read “What did Allister Adel know about protest ‘gang’ charges?” at ABC 15. “ABC 15 obtained radio calls and dispatch logs that show (a specific MCAO prosecutor) was directly advising Phoenix police officers before the arrests against the group were even finalized on the night of the protest."

Read “The U.S. Air Force is going to set up a distribution center in Glendale and give out bottled water to nearby residents/business owners who had their drinking water contaminated by Air Force activity” at AZ Central.

Read “Spend Or Save? Phoenix Estimates $153 Million Budget Surplus” at KJZZ.

The Weekly Town Crier (02/12/21)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (02/12/21)

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Christopher Plummer dead as Sound of Music star dies aged 91” at Daily Record.

Read “US congressman Ron Wright dies with coronavirus, aged 67” at BBC.

Read “Supremes Co-Founder Mary Wilson Dead at 76” at Pitchfork.

Read ‘Elliot Mazer, Engineer-Producer for Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, and the Band, Dead at 79” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Larry Flynt, Founder of Hustler Magazine, Dies at 78” at Variety.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “An American Lent: It’s time for evangelicalism to embrace the act of confession” at Religion News Service. “Without disciplines like corporate confession and Lent, there is little within popular evangelicalism to restrain the triumphalism of white American culture from overshadowing the cross of Christ.”

Read “A Catholic scholar weighs Biden’s future with Vatican and US bishops” at Religion News Service. 

Read “Christian Rapper Lecrae Brushes Off GOP Activist’s Attempt To Cancel Him” at Yahoo.

Read “Faith-based refugee resettlement groups describe what it will take to rebuild program after Trump cuts” at Religion News Service.

Read “No touching! Churches get ready for Ash Wednesday in a pandemic” at Religion News Service.

Read “LGBTQ singer-songwriter ‘GameStops’ Christian music with No. 1 Christian album on iTunes” at Religion News Service. “‘Preacher’s Kid’ carries a parental advisory for explicit lyrics and at turns lacerates youth group lock-ins and short-term mission trips — staples of an evangelical Christian upbringing — while professing a complicated faith.”

Read “Still Baptist. Still evangelical” at Karen Swallow Prior at Religion News Service. “My childhood church has come to mind a lot lately, perhaps because these days in church life have so dismayed and disoriented me.”

Read “If I Were an Abuser, What Church Would I Want to Attend?” by Dr. Nancy Murphy.

Read “Welcoming Migrants and Refugees: A Biblical Ethic of Kinship” at Christianity Today.

Read “Don’t Immanentize the Eschaton: Against Right-Wing Gnosticism” at The Public Discourse.

Read “It’s Time to Talk About Violent Christian Extremism” at Politico.

Read “Most Evangelicals Support Women in Church Leadership” at Christianity Today. “Despite the ongoing debates over gender roles, surveys show significant agreement in favor of female Sunday school teachers, worship leaders, speakers, and preachers.”

Read “Evangelist Ravi Zacharias taught his followers to ask tough questions — just not about his sexual conduct” at Washington Post.

• Read “Religion Evangelist Ravi Zacharias engaged in rape, financial misconduct and spiritual abuse, report says” at Washington Post.

• Read “Ravi Zacharias Hid Hundreds of Pictures of Women, Abuse During Massages, and a Rape Allegation” at Christianity Today.

• Read “Investigation Finds Ravi Zacharias Reportedly Raped a Massage Therapist; Sexually Molested Others” at Roys Report.

Read “Christian financial guru Dave Ramsey: If you need stimulus check, you are ‘screwed’” at Religion News Service.

Read ‘Survey: More than a quarter of white evangelicals believe core QAnon conspiracy theory” at Religion News Service.

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

Read “Immigrants, activists worry Biden won’t end Trump barriers” at KTAR.

Read “'We cannot tolerate extremist behavior': Admiral condemns recent racist incidents in Navy” at NBC News.

Read “Inside Trump and Barr’s Last-Minute Killing Spree” at Pro Publica. “Private executioners paid in cash. Middle-of-the-night killings. False or incomplete justifications. ProPublica obtained court records showing how the outgoing administration is using its final days to execute the most federal prisoners since World War II.”

Read “Violent attacks on elderly Asian Americans in Bay Area leaves community members 'traumatized'“ at ABC News. “A community leader say there have been at least 20 attacks.”

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

Read “FBI Raids Home Of Rachel Powell, Mercer County Mother Of 8 Suspected In Capitol Attack” Pittsburgh CBS Local.

Read “The Barbarians at the Gate: The Sack of Rome and the Attack on the U.S. Capitol” at The Reveal. “The problems with imagining who the barbarians are in the U.S. today.”

Read “The majority of the people arrested for Capitol riot had a history of financial trouble” at Washington Post.

Read “Sen. Shirkey baselessly claims U.S. Capitol riot was 'staged' by Trump haters, recording shows” at Metro Times.

Read “She Lived Through the Capitol Attack. Now This GOP Staffer Is Calling Out Her Friends’ Conspiracies” at Vice. “Leslie Shedd used to politely change the topic when friends would float fringe right-wing conspiracy theories. Not anymore.”

Read “Texas woman charged in Capitol riot says she bought into Trump 'lie': 'I regret everything'“ at The Hill.

Read “Five people associated with Proud Boys arrested for Capitol riot on conspiracy charges” at CNN.

Read “Military officials were unaware of potential danger to Pence's 'nuclear football' during Capitol riot” at CNN.

Read “FBI arrests two Kentucky men associated with the 'Boogaloo Bois'“ at The Hill.

Read “Mark Finchem Planned Jan. 6 D.C. Visit With Right-Wing Activist Ali Alexander” at Phoenix New Times.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Tucker Carlson Bizarrely Ties The Capitol Riots To George Floyd’s Death” at Okay Player.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Health care workers replaced Denver cops in handling hundreds of mental health and substance abuse cases — and officials say it saved lives” at CBS News.

Read “Is This Beverly Hills Cop Playing Sublime’s ‘Santeria’ to Avoid Being Live-Streamed?” at Vice. “Police officers in Beverly Hills have been playing music while being filmed, seemingly in an effort to trigger Instagram’s copyright filters.”

Read “How ABC15 Linked A Phoenix Police 'Challenge Coin' To Neo-Nazism” at KJZZ.

Read “Charges dismissed against Buffalo cops who shoved elderly protester” at New York Post.

Read “The Staten Island Files: Explore Hundreds of Previously Secret NYPD Misconduct Findings” at Gothamist.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “This Health Advocate Is Calling on Rich Countries to Stop Hoarding COVID-19 Vaccines” at Global Citizen.

Read “Fully vaccinated people don't need to quarantine if exposed to Covid” at NBC News.

Read “Fauci says it will be “open season” for COVID-19 vaccine by April” at Salon.

Read “Biden Announces Deal For 200 Million More COVID-19 Vaccines” at NPR.

Read “Why Are Chicago’s Playgrounds Still Closed?” at WBEZ.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Who Really Created the Marvel Universe?” at The New Yorker. “Stan Lee presided over a world of superheroes, but his collaborators and readers sustained his vision—and his characters outlasted it.”

Read “Hacker Changed Chemical Level in Florida Water Plant” at Bloomberg.

Read “Dallas Mavericks cease playing national anthem before games at Mark Cuban’s direction” at The Athletic.

• Read “The Dallas Mavericks Stopped Playing the National Anthem Before Games and No One Noticed” at Okay Player.

Read “Twitter considering subscription fees to ensure 'revenue durability'“ at The Hill.

Read “How the Measles Vaccine Went From No Big Deal to Anti-Vaxxer Obsession” at Slate.

Read “When Republicans Attack 'Cancel Culture,' What Does It Mean?” at NPR.

Read “Portia De Rossi Says Ellen DeGeneres Helped Her Realize Being Gay Was OK” at Huff Post.

Read “Looking to avert evictions, L.A. seeks $46 million to buy Chinatown apartment building” at Los Angeles Times.

Read ‘Donald Trump’s Twitter Ban Is Permanent, CFO Confirms” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Twitter permanently bans Project Veritas account” at CNN.

Read “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been banned from Instagram” at CNN.

Read “After the ballots are counted: Conspiracies, political violence, and American exceptionalism” at American Survey Center. “Findings from the January 2021 American Perspectives Survey.”

Read “Thread Man” by Liz Lenz. “Seth Abramson’s viral meta-journalism unreality.”

Read “Some Parkland Survivors Are Not Amused By David Hogg's Pillow Venture” at Jezebel.

Internationalities:

Read “Haitian Gov’t Claims It Halted a Coup Amid Dispute over Jovenel Moïse’s Presidency, Ongoing Protests” at Democracy Now.

Read “Saudi Activist Who Led Campaign To Legalize Driving For Women Is Released From Jail” at NPR.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “American Democracy Isn't Doing So Hot” at Vice. “Almost half of Americans say U.S. democracy isn't functioning very well.”

Read “GOP Sen. Richard Shelby announces he won't seek re-election in 2022” at NBC News. “Shelby, 86, is now the fourth Republican senator to announce plans to retire at the end of the current Congress.”

Read ‘House Oversight chair demands Parler financing information” at The Hill.

Read “Biden DOJ to continue to seek Assange extradition” at The Hill.

Read “The Predator in the Lincoln Project. “Weaver used his power to get jobs for young men he allegedly harassed. His colleagues were warned” at New York Magazine.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Trickle down Trumpism: How Pennsylvania's Republican Party radicalized against democracy” at Salon.

Read “Georgia Prosecutors Open Criminal Investigation of Trump Phone Call” at New York Times.

Read “Trump’s political operation paid more than $3.5 million to Jan. 6 organizers” at Open Secrets.

Read ‘One Of Trump’s Impeachment Lawyers Once Sued Him Over Baseless Ballot ‘Fraud’ Claims” at Huff Post.

Read “Trump's attack on Gov. Doug Ducey, Maricopa County election protest cited in impeachment trial” at AZ Central.

Read “As riot raged at Capitol, Trump tried to call senators to overturn election” at CNN.

Read ‘A Million-Dollar Pardon Offer at the Trump Hotel” at Atlantic. “Corey Lewandowski allegedly wanted a hefty fee in exchange for helping a government whistleblower win a pardon from the former president.”

Music-Related News and Such:

Read ‘Inside Sun Ra’s 1971 trip to Egypt” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “KISS’ Gene Simmons says young fans are “culprits” for the death of rock: “You killed the thing that you love” at NME. “He also blamed streaming and digital downloads.”

Read “Robbie Robertson on Reworking the Band’s ‘Stage Fright’: ‘This Is What It’s Supposed to Be’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Wolf Alice Singer Ellie Rowsell Says Marilyn Manson Filmed Up Her Skirt” at Consequence of Sound.

• Read “Marilyn Manson’s streaming figures for his back catalogue rise despite abuse allegations” at NME.

• Read “Corey Feldman Has Accused His Former Band Members Of Being Satanists Working With Marilyn Manson Since 2018” at Celebrity Insider.

• Read “Marilyn Manson Accused Of Sexually Assaulting Minors In Florida, Calls For An FBI Investigation Under Way” at Celebrity Insider.

Read “Danielson’s Daniel Smith Wrote These Fake Christian Hair Metal Songs For The New Movie Electric Jesus” at Stereogum.

Read “Goodbye, Dolly” at The Baffler. “Mythmaking in Dolly Parton’s America.”

Read “Kill Rock Stars Is Turning 30. No One Is More Surprised Than Founder Slim Moon” at Williamette Week.

Read “Celebrities Join Push To ‘Free’ Britney Spears After New Documentary Airs” at Huff Post.

• Read “Court blocks Britney Spears' dad from re-taking full control of her estate” at AV Club.

Read “Morgan Wallen's record sales skyrocket after racial slur controversy” at CNN.

• Read “Jason Isbell Donating Royalties From Morgan Wallen’s Version of “Cover Me Up” to the NAACP” at Pitchfork.

• Read Morgan Wallen: Country star says fans shouldn't defend his use of racist language” at ABC News.

Listen to “JPR Live Session: H.C. McEntire” at Jefferson Public Radio.

Read “Breaking Down Bruce Springsteen’s Uncharacteristic Super Bowl Commercial” at Pitchfork. “The rock icon’s first-ever ad appearance is filled with the sorts of platitudes he has transcended in the past.” (EDITOR’S NOTE: Let’s not forget the Christian Nationalism imagery.)

• Read “Bruce Springsteen faces drunken driving charge in New Jersey” at 12 News.

• Read “Bruce Springsteen’s Jeep Ad Pulled From YouTube After Report of DWI Arrest” at Pitchfork.

• Read “Bruce Springsteen busted for DWI after one shot of tequila” at New York Post.

Browse Rolling Stone’s picks for “Black Women Who Shaped Rock & Roll".

Read “Did Van Halen Have a Fourth Singer? Mitch Malloy Tells His Story” at Rolling Stone. “Mitch Malloy tells all about his (very brief) time with Van Halen, after Sammy Hagar and before Gary Cherone.”

Read “The Prodigy to Receive Full-Length Documentary Treatment” at Spin.

Read “Shaun Ryder says his home is still being invaded by aliens” at NME. “It comes after the Black Grape frontman previously claimed to have been visited by a "spider" spaceship.”

Read “Saint Disruption: John Medeski & Jeff Firewalker Schmitt Travel From the Jungle to the Street” at American Songwriter.

Read “Mark Cuban Wants A Piece Of The Growing Audio Business.” at Inside Radio.

Read “Phoebe Bridgers Reflects on ‘Kyoto’ and its impact: “Forgiveness Is A Gift To Yourself” at MTV.

• Read “Phoebe Bridgers Calls SNL Guitar-Smashing ‘a Bucket List Thing’ as Boomers Continue to Fume” at Spin.

Read “Man builds guitar out of his dead uncle’s skeleton, uses it to play black metal” at Guitar World.

Read “Someone collected 1.5 hours of Slayer’s ’80s stage banter” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill Reaches Diamond Status” at Consequence of Sound. “23 years after its release, the iconic LP has has surpassed 10,000,000 units sold.”

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Browse The Guardian’s picks for “52 perfect comfort films – to watch again and again.”

Read “Why Fox News canceled Lou Dobbs” at MSN. “Fox News' official reason for canceling Lou Dobbs' show -- a post-election programing adjustment -- doesn't quite add up.”

Read “'Buffy' star Charisma Carpenter accuses Joss Whedon of abusive behavior” at The Hill.

• Read “Sarah Michelle Gellar, More ‘Buffy’ Actors Respond to Joss Whedon Allegations: ‘I Stand With All Survivors of Abuse’ at Variety.

Read ‘Netflix's Cecil Hotel Doc Attempts to Find Out What Happened to Elisa Lam” at Vice. “Infamous CCTV footage of her behaving bizarrely caught the attention of online sleuths who thought it was proof of paranormal activity. The reality is much more grim.”

Read “You Literally Can't Believe The Facts Tucker Carlson Tells You. So Say Fox's Lawyers” at NPR.

Read “Lucasfilm Calls Gina Carano Social Media Posts “Abhorrent”; Actress No Longer Employed By ‘Mandalorian’ Studio” at Deadline.

Read “Tucker Carlson claims George Floyd died of a drug overdose — and links it to Trump's impeachment” at Salon.

Books/Reading/Authors

Design/Artsy Things:

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “The world's first 3D printed lab-grown rib-eye steak is unveiled” at The Hill. ““It incorporates muscle and fat similar to its slaughtered counterpart,” Aleph Farms said.”

Read “Hallucinatory 'voices' shaped by local culture, Stanford anthropologist says” at Stanford News. “Stanford anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann found that voice-hearing experiences of people with serious psychotic disorders are shaped by local culture – in the United States, the voices are harsh and threatening; in Africa and India, they are more benign and playful. This may have clinical implications for how to treat people with schizophrenia, she suggests.”

Food Cultures:

Misc. Oddities:

Local:

Read “Inside the case: Watch testimony behind the Phoenix protest gang charges” at ABC 15.

Read “Arizona Republicans Threaten to Arrest GOP Officials If They Don't Turn Over Ballots for Another Recount” at Second Nexus.

Read “Arizona legislators to hear first in series of 'anti-protest' bills Wednesday” at 12 News.

Read “Arizona Senate OKs asking voters to curb governor's emergency powers” at Tucson.com.

The Weekly Town Crier (01/15/21)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (01/15/21).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Hall of Fame Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda dies at 93” at ESPN.

Read “Joanne Rogers, Widow of Fred Rogers and Classical Pianist, Dies at 92” at People.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “A Christian Insurrection” at The Atlantic. “Many of those who mobbed the Capitol on Wednesday claimed to be enacting God’s will.”

• Read “Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States” at Dallas Seminary.

• Read “Truth over power: It is past time for the church to speak plainly about the election” at Religion News Service.

• Read “Taking the white Christian nationalist symbols at the Capitol riot seriously” at Religion News Service. “The attack exposed the comfortable juxtaposition of Christianity and white supremacy.”

• Read “About 60 the 138 House members who objected to the Electoral College count were evangelical Christians” at The Way of Improvement.

• Read “SBC leader Russell Moore to Trump: Time to leave. ‘People are dead’” at Religion News Service.

• Read “How White Evangelical Christians Fused With Trump Extremism” at New York Times. “A potent mix of grievance and religious fervor has turbocharged the support among Trump loyalists, many of whom describe themselves as participants in a kind of holy war.”

• Read “Statement signed by 223 faculty and staff at evangelical Wheaton College condemns the "vicious lies, deplorable violence, white supremacy" and "blasphemous abuses of Christian symbols" on display in Washington last week” (via Ruth Graham).

• Read “The Roman Road from Insurrection” by Russell Moore. ‘You cannot stand for “law and order” while waving away lawlessness. You cannot champion the pro-life cause while waving away murder. You cannot support police by the murder of police officers. You cannot support religious liberty by trashing the United States Constitution.”

• Read “For insurrectionists, a violent faith brewed from nationalism, conspiracies and Jesus” at Religion News Service.

• Read “Political and religious violence at the US Capitol” at KCRW.

• Read “Scholars of Religion and Politics Respond to the Capitol Insurrection” at Religion and Politics.

• Read “Christian Nationalism Is Worse Than You Think” at Christianity Today. “Millions of Americans believe in this political ideology. What church leaders need to know—and how they can help those under its influence.”

• Read “'How Did We Get Here?' A Call For An Evangelical Reckoning On Trump” at NPR.

• Read “QAnon is the Perfect Evangelical Conspiracy” at Christian Socialism.

Read “Southern Baptist leaders meet after critical race theory document caused controversy” at Religion News Service.

Read “Evangelicals face a reckoning: Donald Trump and the future of our faith” at USA Today.

Read

“Capitol Hill Trump rally organizer Ali Alexander goes into hiding, raises $20k on Christian crowdfunding site” at Occupy Democrats.

Read “Only the Church Can Truly Defeat a Christian Insurrection” by David French. “It’s time to combat the right’s enabling lies.”

Read “Life or Debt Dave Ramsey's Capitalist Theology” at Christian Socialism.

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

Read “Domestic Terrorism: A More Urgent Threat, but Weaker Laws” at Pro Publica. “Authorities dissuaded some extremists from traveling to Washington, and shared intelligence with Capitol Police, but could not stop the mob that stormed the Capitol, a senior FBI official says.”

• Read “Proud Boys member arrested after allegedly threatening to kill Warnock” at The Hill.

Read “For Black Americans, The White Terror In D.C. Looks Familiar” at Huff Post.

Read “Illinois GOP Rep. Mary Miller apologizes for Hitler remark at pro-Trump rally: Calls remain for her to resign” at Chicago Sun Times.

Read “The US economy lost 140,000 jobs in December. All of them were held by women” at CNN. (EDITOR’S NOTE: “ALL OF THEM were held by women.” This is not OK.)

Read “Woman who accused Black teen of stealing her phone charged with attempted assault” at The HIll.

Read “Michigan Capitol Commission bans open carry of guns inside state Capitol” at Detroit Free Press.

Read “FBI bulletin warns of nationwide armed protests” at The Hill.

Read ‘Credit card companies need to help stop the spread of untraceable 'ghost guns'“ at Business Insider.

Read “The Lies We Tell Ourselves About Race” at NPR. “Pro-Trump extremists breached the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. The insurrection was just the latest chapter in America's ongoing battle over race, writes NPR host Sam Sanders.”

Read “New York State Bar Association Weighs Stripping Giuliani of Membership” at Wall Street Journal.

• Read “Nearly 6,000 lawyers and law students call for disbarment proceedings against Cruz and Hawley” at The Hill.

• Read “New York State Bar Association moves to oust Rudy Giuliani” at NBC News.

Read “Democrats Unveil Legislation To Abolish The Federal Death Penalty” at NPR.

Read “Rittenhouse seen out on bail drinking with members of Proud Boys, prosecutors say” at The Hill.

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

Read “US Capitol police officer is dead after injured during pro-Trump riots” at Yahoo.

• Read “Experts: Arizona's far-right extremism "getting worse," DC rioters on-the-run” at ABC15.

• Read “‘Senate Being Locked Down’: Inside a Harrowing Day at the Capitol” at New York Times. “Three New York Times journalists were at the Capitol when it was breached. Here’s how they experienced it.”

• Read “If the mob’s attack on the Capitol surprised you, you weren’t paying attention” at Religion News Service. “The truth is, this is precisely who we are. White supremacy is at the foundation of this country.”

• Read “Donald Trump's Ex-AG Bill Barr Calls President's Conduct During Capitol Mob a 'Betrayal'“ at Newsweek.

• Read “Capitol Rioters Planned for Weeks in Plain Sight. The Police Weren’t Ready” at Pro Publica.

• Read ‘NAE Denounces Insurrection at the U.S. Capitol” at National Association of Evangelicals.

• Read “LeBron James on Capitol riots: 'We live in two Americas'“ at The Hill.

• Read “Pro-Trump rioters smeared poop in U.S. Capitol hallways during belligerent attack” at Orlando Sentinel.

• Read “Sen. Mark Warner Says FBI Assured Him Prior to Rioting Situation Would Be Under Control” at Wall Street Journal.

• Read “The Police’s Tepid Response To The Capitol Breach Wasn’t An Aberration” at Five Thirty Eight.

• Read ‘Will the riot in Washington deter foreign investment in the U.S.?” at MarketPlace.

• Read “Some state legislators face calls for resignation after taking part in Capitol turmoil” at MSN.

  • Read “Video surfaces of Oregon GOP Rep holding state Capitol door open, allowing protestors to enter” at The Hill.

  • Read “Republican lawmakers caught helping pro-Trump mobs at U.S. Capitol, Oregon statehouse” at Salon.

  • Read “Republican AGs group sent robocalls urging march to the Capitol” at NBC News. ““At 1 p.m., we will march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal,” said the voice on the recording, which was obtained by NBC News.”

  • Read “Mikie Sherrill claims Congress members gave 'reconnaissance' tours day before Capitol raid” at North Jersey.

  • Read “Law enforcement and the military probing whether members took part in Capitol riot” at NBC.

  • Read “Rep. Jim Clyburn Says Mob Knew Where His Unmarked Office Was Suggesting A Coordinated Attack” at PoliticusUSA.

• Read “U.S. Diplomats Draft Dissent Cable Following Storming of Capitol by Pro-Trump Mob” at Foreign Policy.

• Read “Alabama man had 11 Molotov cocktails 'ready to go' at U.S. Capitol riot” at Montgomery Advertiser.

• Read “Fallout intensifies over Trump's response to Capitol riot” at CNN.

• Read “An 18-Year-Old Saw Her Mom, Aunt, And Uncle In DC In A Video — So She Named Them” at Buzzfeed.

  • Read “Capitol Rioter Seen in Horned Hat, Carrying Spear Arrested: US Attorney” at NBC Washington.

    • Read “Arizona man wearing horns during U.S. Capitol riots, 'Q Shaman,' now faces felony indictment” at ABC 15.

  • Read “Capitol Rioter Spotted in Chamber with Zip Ties Is Arrested After Ex-Wife Calls FBI” at People.

  • Read “Man in 'Camp Auschwitz' sweatshirt during Capitol riot identified” at CNN.

• Read “Georgia attorney among those who broke into U.S. Capitol” at AJC.

  • Read “West Virginia lawmaker, charged after filming himself storming U.S. Capitol, resigns” at CBS News.

  • Read “Republican lawmaker resigns after arrest for storming US Capitol” at Ars Technica.

  • Read “Oregon state lawmaker who opened door for armed protesters kicked off committees, billed for damages” at The Hill.

• Read “It Was No Accident’ Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal on surviving the siege” at The Cut.

  • Read “Capitol Police Officers Said They Wouldn’t Be Surprised If Members Of Congress Helped Plan The Attack” at Buzzfeed.

• Read “The Inaction of Capitol Police Was by Design” at The Atlantic. “The spectacle of Wednesday’s tepid police response to riotous mobs shocked many. But the passivity is not some surprising anomaly—it is the status quo.”

  • Read “Seattle police investigating officers who were in DC amid Capitol riot” at The Hill.

  • Read “An Air Force Combat Veteran Breached the Senate” at The New Yorker.

• Read “Members of Several Well-Known Hate Groups Identified at Capitol Riot” at Pro Publica.

  • Read “For Black Americans, The White Terror In D.C. Looks Familiar” at Huff Post.

• Read “Ivanka Calls Mob of Trump Supporters 'American Patriots' in Now Deleted Tweet and People Are Calling Her Out” at Second Nexus.

• Read “Gold medalist Olympic swimmer recognized amid Capitol mob” at The Hill.

• Read “Now it's sinking in: Wednesday's Capitol Hill riot was even more violent than it first appeared” at CNN.

• Read “These Black Capitol Police Officers Describe Fighting Off "Racist Ass Terrorists"“ at Buzzfeed. “Two Black officers told BuzzFeed News that their chief and other upper management left them totally unprepared and were nowhere to be found on the day.”

• Read “Fox News Host Dragged for Calling Siege on the Capitol 'a Huge Victory for These Protesters'“ at Second Nexus.

• Read “A Christian Insurrection” at The Atlantic. “Many of those who mobbed the Capitol on Wednesday claimed to be enacting God’s will.”

  • Read “Read “For insurrectionists, a violent faith brewed from nationalism, conspiracies and Jesus” at Religion News Service” at Religion News Service.

• Read “‘The storm is here’: Ashli Babbitt’s journey from capital ‘guardian’ to invad” at Washington Post.

• Read “Arizona Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar implicated by activist in Capitol insurrection” at AZ Central.

• Read “One Trump Fan’s Descent Into the U.S. Capitol Mob” at Wall Street Journal. “Doug Sweet joined rioters who breached the Capitol, where he was eventually arrested.”

• Read “GOP Congressman Who Investigated Benghazi Calls Trump Inciting Riot ‘A Misstep’” at Huff Post.

• Read “Rep. Meijer: I experienced the heinous assault on Capitol; now, time to face reality” at Detroit News.

• Read “The FBI Says There's No Evidence Of Antifa Involvement In The Capitol Mob” at Buzzfeed.

• Read “Ex-Capitol Police Chief Says Requests For National Guard Denied 6 Times In Riots” at NPR.

• Read “Six hours of paralysis: Inside Trump’s failure to act after a mob stormed the Capitol” at Washington Post.

• Read “'Hate in their heart': Lawmakers fear more violence after Capitol attacks” at Politico.

• Read “Before Capitol Riot, Republican Lawmakers Fanned the Flames” at New York Times. “A “1776 moment”: Several of the president’s closest allies in Congress used bellicose language to urge their supporters to attend the Jan. 6 rally that turned into a deadly riot.”

• Read “A Federalist Society Star Helped Foment the Capitol Riot” at Slate. “The Federalist Society has no comment.”

Read “Trump Rallies Were a Preview of the Capitol Attack” at The Atlantic. “Those following the president’s events around the country for the past four years were not surprised by the mob violence that unfolded in Washington.”

• Read “Pro-Trump Rally Organizer Name-Checks Theory Pushed by Violent Extremists” at Vice. “Ali Alexander denies that he was agreeing with advocates for violent social collapse, saying the statement was made in the "context of technology."
  

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read ‘NAE Denounces Insurrection at the U.S. Capitol” at National Association of Evangelicals.

Read “Protesters, many armed, gather for a 'patriot rally' outside Kentucky state Capitol” at Courier-Journal.

Read “Police three times more likely to use force against left-wing protests” at The Hill.

This Week With The Police:

Read “The Inaction of Capitol Police Was by Design” at The Atlantic. “The spectacle of Wednesday’s tepid police response to riotous mobs shocked many. But the passivity is not some surprising anomaly—it is the status quo.”

• Read “Seattle police investigating officers who were in DC amid Capitol riot” at The Hill.

• Read “Capitol Police Chief Sund has stepped down, leaving earlier than expected” at Washington Post.
  
  

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read ‘Pandemic Pricetag: U.S. Employers Cut 140,000 Jobs In December” at NPR.

Read “State Farm Stadium To Operate As 24/7 Vaccine Site As Maricopa County Enters Phase 1B” at KJZZ.

Read “Arizona again ranks No. 1 for weekly COVID-19 case rate as state reports nearly 9K new cases, rising hospitalizations” at AZ Central.

Read “Idaho Lawmakers Sue Saying Returning To State Capitol Amid COVID-19 Violates ADA” at NPR.

Read “Disneyland Resort in Anaheim to house COVID-19 vaccination ‘super’ site” at KTLA.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Letter to Jack Dorsey from Twitter employees asking to permanently suspend Donald Trump's account” at Washington Post.

• Read “Twitter bans President Trump permanently” at CNN.

Read “Google Pulls Parler as Apple Threatens the Same in Wake of Capitol Riot” at Wall Street Journal.

• Read “Pro-Trump Lawyer Lin Wood Calls For Pence to Be Executed, Parler Removed Posts” at Media-ite.

• Read “Amazon Is Booting Parler Off Of Its Web Hosting Service” at Buzzfeed.

• Read Parler CEO Says Service Dropped By “Every Vendor” And Could End His Business” at Deadline.

• Read “PGA pulls 2022 tournament from Trump's Bedminster after Capitol riot” at MSNBC.

• Read “Conspiracy theories collide online as Parler goes dark” at CNET.

Read “Platforms Must Pay for Their Role in the Insurrection” at Wired. “Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have spent years fomenting and enabling yesterday’s violence at the Capitol. Policymakers need to do something about it.”

Read “A Truth Reckoning: Why We’re Holding Those Who Lied For Trump Accountable” at Forbes.

Read ‘American Airlines pilot says he'll divert plane and strand Trump supporters in Kansas if they don't 'behave'“ at Business Insider.

Read “4 in 5 say US is falling apart” at The Hill.

Internationalities:

Read “Treasury Department sanctions inner circle of Russian agent Derkach for election interference” at The Hill.

Read “China plans further Hong Kong crackdown after mass arrest” at Reuters.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Lawmakers, governor condemn Rep. Mary Miller’s ‘Hitler was right on one thing’ comment” at WCIA.

Read “Sidney Powell Sued by Dominion for $1.3 Billion Over Vote-Fraud Claims” at Bloomberg.

Read “Senior Trump Official: We Were Wrong, He’s a ‘Fascist’” at New York Magazine.

Read “Multiple Democratic senators call for Cruz and Hawley to resign” at The Hill.

Read “Blue Cross Blue Shield Association suspends donations to lawmakers who opposed Electoral College count” at The Hill.

• Read “Marriott Suspends Donations to Senators Who Opposed Vote Result” at Bloomberg.

• Read “Stripe Stops Processing Payments for Trump Campaign Website” at Wall Street Journal.

• Read ‘Major corporations say they will stop donating to members of Congress who tried to overturn the election” at Popular Info.

Read “Mayor Demands Tighter Security in D.C. for Biden Inauguration” at Bloomberg.

Read “House GOP leader tells members to quit spreading lies on riot, antifa” at The Hill.

Read “Pence letter to Pelosi rejecting calls to invoke 25th Amendment” at The Hill.

Read “John McCain movie in the works with support from family” at The Hill.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “The Republicans Have an Insurrectionist Caucus” at Slate.

Read “Amash's Successor Peter Meijer: Trump's Deceptions Are 'Rankly Unfit'“ at Reason. The rookie GOP congressman describes Capitol Hill chaos, says that some Republicans who knew better voted against election certification out of physical fear, and explains how serving in Iraq and Afghanistan made him want to "end the endless wars."

Read “Bankrolling the Disenfranchisers” at Citizen.Org. “Since 2016, Corporate and Trade Association PACs Have Given $170 Million to Lawmakers Who Voted to Challenge the Presidential Election.”

Read “Marjorie Taylor Greene says she will introduce impeachment articles against Biden” at The Hill.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Why So Many Pop Stars Are Trying to Be Working-Class Heroes Now” at Pitchfork. “Artists including Justin Bieber, Drake, and Travis Scott are making clumsy plays at humble relatability during an era of deepening economic inequality.”

Read ‘Nicki Minaj to Pay Tracy Chapman $450,000 in Copyright Infringement Lawsuit” at Pitchfork.

Read “R.E.M. For The People” at Oxford American.

Browse “Rare and Stunning Photographs of Iggy Pop Taken by His Girlfriend Esther Friedman” at The Mind Circle.

Read “See Devo Perform Live for the Very First Time (Kent State University, 1973)” at Open Culture.

Read “Sex Pistols biopic series from ‘Trainspotting’ director Danny Boyle coming to FX” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Ariel Pink Dropped by Record Label Mexican Summer After Attending Pro-Trump White House Rally” at Pitchfork.

Read “Dr. Fauci Believes Venues Could Reopen For Live Music This Fall” at Jambase.

Read “When Punk Got the Funk” at Pop Matters. “As punks were looking for some potential pathways out of the cul-de-sacs of their limited soundscapes, they saw in funk a way to expand the punk palette without sacrificing either their ethos or idea(l)s.”

Read “New Billie Holiday Film Gets First Trailer: Watch” at Pitchfork.

Read “Why Are the Backstreet Boys Tweeting About QAnon?” at Vulture.

Read “Joan Baez to Receive Kennedy Center Honor” at Pitchfork.

Read ‘Hiss Golden Messenger’s First New Song In Over A Year Is The Breezy ‘Sanctuary’” at Uproxx.

Read “Donald Trump Reportedly Presents Toby Keith & Ricky Skaggs With National Medal of the Arts” at Billboard.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “The Evolution of Ted Danson, Mr. Mayor of Television” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Katie Couric, Aaron Rodgers, Bill Whitaker and Mayim Bialik to Guest Host ‘Jeopardy!’” at Variety.

Read “Chris Evans Reportedly In Talks to Reprise Role as Captain America in the MCU” at IGN.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “The Painter Subverting Art-World Economics, $100 at a Time” at New York Times.

Science/Health/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “Study identifies first potential treatment for meth addiction” at The Hill.

Read “A Guy Tried Mainlining Shrooms. Then They Grew in His Blood” at Vice.

Local:

Read ‘Arizona State Senators Prepping Another 'Skinny' Budget Option Amid The Pandemic” at KJZZ.

Read “U.S. Supreme Court REJECTS Efforts to Expedite Remaining AZGOP/Ward's Election Appeals” at Arizona Politics.

Read “Arizona state GOP moves to censure Cindy McCain, Jeff Flake” at The Hill.

The Weekly Town Crier (12/11/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (12/11/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Chuck Yeager, 1st to break sound barrier, dead at 97” at KREM.

Read “Howard Wales on Jerry Garcia, ‘Hooteroll?’ and Beyond” at Relix. “On December 7, 2020 keyboard iconoclast Howard Wales passed away. Here is a look back at our 2017 piece on Wales.”

Read “US composer Harold Budd dies aged 84” at The Guardian.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Senator Manchin, Your Faith Teaches You Better Than This” at The Nation by William J Barber II.

Read “Thomas Jefferson Tried to ‘Fix’ the Bible. He Only Succeeded in Making It Sad.” at Christianity Today.

Read “Southern Baptists Keep Quarreling Over Critical Race Theory” at Christianity Today.

Read “Disgraced Hillsong pastor Carl Lentz might get payoff despite ‘multiple affairs’” at Page Six.

• Read “The Rise and Fall of Carl Lentz, the Celebrity Pastor of Hillsong Church” at New York Times.

• Read “The Crisis of Christian Celebrity” by David French at The Dispatch.

• Read “The sad irony of celebrity pastors” at The Spectator. “Instead of making me want to become more like them, it looks very much as if they want to become more like me.”

• Read “The Celebrity Pastor Problem Is Every Church’s Struggle” at Christianity Today.

Read “St. John Paul II Did Not Change Catholic Teaching on Capital Punishment: A Reply to E. Christian Brugger” at Public Discourse.

Read “Looted Nazi Art Again Before Supreme Court” at NPR.

Read “Black pastor leads his white North Carolina church toward a fuller reckoning of race” at Religion News Service.

Read “It’s time to end ‘name and shame’ religious freedom policy” at Religion News Service. ”President-elect Biden and his foreign policy aides need to focus on a broader strategy of religious engagement.”

Read “In Which I Stop Saving Myself for Marriage” at Fathom.

Read “Church in The Woodlands where woman was abused will not face repercussions from SBC” at Houston Chronicle.

Read “New Labor Department rule expands religious exemption for federal contractors” at Religion News Service.

Read “The Mandalorian’ is an indictment of holy wars, and a celebration of pluralism” at Religion News Service.

Read “Leonard Cohen on Christianity” by David Dark.

Read “Sacred Tension: Overcoming the Faith Cartel with David Dark” at Stephen Bradford.

Read “The Decline of the Christian Consensus” at National Review.

Read “With vaccines on the horizon, faith leaders could play a crucial role in promoting their use” at Religion News Service.

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

Read “The House Just Voted to Decriminalize Weed” at Vice. “In a historic first, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to end the federal ban on cannabis. Senate Republicans are unlikely to take it up.”

• Read “Matt Gaetz warns GOP that arguments against legalizing marijuana increasingly unpopular” at The Hill.

• Read ‘Why So High? More Than Half the Cost to Legalize Weed in VA Goes to Police, Report Says.” at Dogwood.

Read “Leader of the Pro-Black ‘NFAC’ Militia Arrested and Charged by Feds” at Vice. “John Fitzgerald Johnson, aka Grand Master Jay, could get up to 20 years for pointing his gun at authorities.”

Read “Gun violence has become a disturbing public health crisis. The Biden administration must step in and immediately do something about it” at Business Insider.

Read “This Is the Case That Could Bring Down Roe v. Wade” at Vice. “Amy Coney Barrett has only been a Supreme Court justice for a few weeks, and she’s already facing a test on abortion.”

Read “14 Fort Hood soldiers fired, suspended over violence at base” at Associated Press.

Read “Michael Flynn judge says pardon doesn’t mean ex-national security adviser is innocent” at Washington Post.

Read “Black Michigan Lawmaker Got Racist Threats for Calling Out Giuliani's Lies” at Vice.

Read “U.S. Justice Department To Investigate Killing Of Casey Goodson Jr.” at WOSU.

Read “DC attorney general sends cease-and-desist letter to DoorDash over premium service” at The Hill.

Read “6 Dark Places Aleister Crowley Performed His Particular Brand of Magick” at Atlas Obscura.

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

Read “Virginia Military Institute Removes Confederate ‘Stonewall’ Jackson Statue” at Huff Post.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Hong Kong police arrest 8 activists over anti-government protests” at The Hill.

Read “Portland mayor authorizes ‘all lawful means’ to clear protesters from occupied area on Mississippi Ave.” at Oregon Public Broadcasting.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Law Enforcement Took More Stuff From People Than Burglars Did Last Year” at Washington Post.

Read “Hartford detective demoted, suspended for suggesting bet on first homicide of 2021” at NBC News. “The Hartford police chief said the text "represents an appalling lack of judgment" and "an extreme insensitivity toward our community."

Read “Providing police with military gear does not reduce crime or protect officers” at ABC News.

Read “The Police Have Been Spying on Black Reporters and Activists for Years. I Know Because I’m One of Them” at Pro Publica.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Paradise Valley Superintendent Dr. Jesse Welsh and his family harassed, threatened over school closures” at ABC 15.

Read “Jill Biden to advocate for debt-free community college as next first lady” at The Hill.

Read “Male Texas teen suspended from school for wearing nail polish” at The Hill.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Oregon doctor's license revoked over refusal to wear mask during pandemic” at NBC News.

Read “Trump announces Rudy Giuliani has Covid” at NBC News.

• Read “Witness Mellissa Carone says she's not self-quarantining after Giuliani's COVID-19 diagnosis” at The Hill.

• Read “Giuliani from hospital calls COVID-19 'a curable disease'“ at The Hilli.

Read “Tipped Service Workers Are More Vulnerable Amid Pandemic Harassment Spike” at NPR.

Listen to “Wrecking Public Trust” at The Gist. “Those who downplayed the virus because their brand is contrarianism have greatly damaged our ability to recover.”

Listen to “Anti-Vax Ideas Have Metastasized in 2020” at WNYC.

• Read “Vaccine opponents rebrand as rollout of Covid-19 shots looms” at Politico.

Read “A whistleblower says the FDA isn’t properly regulating vaccine facilities” at PBS News Hour.

Read/Listen to “Iris Meda Came Out Of Retirement To Teach Nursing. She Died Of COVID-19 After Exposure From Student” at WBUR.

Read ‘Wyoming Governor Issues Statewide Mask Mandate” at Wall Street Journal.

Read ‘Canada preparing to administer COVID-19 vaccine this month” at The Hill.

Read “Arizona legislature shuts down after Giuliani tests positive for coronavirus” at The Hill.

• Read “'Cowardly' say some Arizona Republicans of their leaders following closure of Legislature” at AZ Central.

Read “Yes, some Americans may be required to get a COVID-19 vaccine but not by the federal government” at USA Today.

Read “How were COVID-19 vaccines made so fast? Scientists had a huge head start” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “How big could a COVID baby bust be?” at Market Place.

Read “Arizona Businesses Navigating Liability Issues Related To COVID-19” at KJZZ.

Read “Ohio club cited for Covid violations after 500 people attend indoor Trey Songz concert” at NBC News.

Read “COVID-19 hospitalizations exploded the week of Nov. 6. They still haven't slowed down” at 12 News.

Read “Pastor Celebrates COVID Outbreak at Church: “THE FAVOR OF GOD IS ON THIS HOUSE!”” at Patheos.

Read “West Wing fears COVID spread after Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis attends WH party” at Axios.

Read “Americans Aren’t Actually Quarantining” at The Atlantic.

Read/Listen to “Boston Reverend Enlists Dr. Fauci To Help Black Community Get Behind COVID-19 Vaccine” at WBUR.

Read “The Danger of Assuming That Family Time Is Dispensable” at The Atlantic. “Americans who are desperate to see their loved ones need advice that goes beyond “Just say no.”

Read “The FDA says Pfizer’s Covid vaccine is safe and effective. But trial participants warn of intense symptoms after second shot” at NBC New York.

Read “'How a picture of my foot became anti-vaccine propaganda'“ at BBC.

Read “'A slap in the face': Yuma hospital fires ER doctor for talking about COVID-19” at AZ Central.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Browse “20 Diversion Tactics Highly Manipulative Narcissists, Sociopaths And Psychopaths Use To Silence You” at Thought Catalog.

Read “Chick-fil-A Sues Poultry Suppliers, Alleging Price-Fixing” at Wall Street Journal. “Lawsuit adds one of the U.S. chicken industry’s biggest customers to expanding litigation that alleges long-running collusion among poultry processors.”

Read “Guy Fieri, the Fundraiser of Flavortown” at Bloomberg. “Guy Fieri has raised $21.5 million for unemployed restaurant workers, which means Guy Fieri has done more for unemployed restaurant workers than Congress has in the last 8 months.”

Read “Breakdancing to become an Olympic sport, will debut at Paris in 2024” at Boston Globe.

Read “Uber, After Years of Trying, Is Handing Off Its Self-Driving Car Project” at New York Times.

Read “The FTC is suing Facebook to unwind its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp” at The Verge.

Read “Time Nominates “Racial Justice Movement” As Person Of The Year” at Okay Player.

Read “Disney Increases Layoff Plans to 32,000 Employees in First Half of 2021” at Variety.

Internationalities:

Read “How will US President-elect Biden deal with Iran?” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Iran Says Scientist Was Killed Using Satellite-Controlled Gun” at Bloomberg.

Read “Argentina passes new tax on wealthiest people to pay for cost of coronavirus pandemic” at BBC.

Read “Greek police detain dozens to stop march in memory of slain teen” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Senior Saudi Prince Blasts Israel at Security Conference” at Bloomberg.

Read “Major Jewish Group Joins Fight Against Trump’s Massive Middle East Weapons Sale” at Huff Post.

Read “Mexican president proposes stripping immunity from US agents” at The Hill.

Read “Civilians killed in air strikes in Afghanistan soars by more than 300%” at BBC.

Read “Denmark apologises to children taken from Greenland in a 1950s social experiment” at BBC.

Read “Archaeologists find vast network of Amazon villages laid out like the cosmos” at Live Science.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Barr Is Said to Be Weighing Whether to Leave Before Trump’s Term Ends” at New York Times.

Read “Biden will pick California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to lead Health and Human Services” at NBC News.

Read “Biden picks retired general Lloyd Austin to run Pentagon” at Politico.

Read “Trump’s Election Attack Ends December 14—Whether He Knows It or Not” at Wired.

• Read “Trump's election push causing long-term damage, experts say” at The Hill.

• Read “Arizona GOP Dragged After Suggesting Trump Will Be 'Inaugurated for His Second Term' on January 20th” at Second Nexus.

Read “Today marks an important Electoral College deadline. Here's why that's bad news for Trump” at USA Today.”

Read “Deficit climbs 25 percent to $430 billion through November” at The Hill.

Read “Biden's Victory Cemented As States Reach Key Electoral College Deadline” at NPR.

Read “Mitch McConnell is destroying the case for Georgia’s GOP senators” at Washington Post.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Pompeo spent over $40,000 in taxpayer funds for State Dept dinners” at The Hill.

Read “Trump Trade Adviser Violated Hatch Act With Biden Attacks, Watchdog Says” at Huff Post.

Read “ER doctor who criticized Trump's actions to be removed from Walter Reed schedule” at CBS News. “Dr. James Phillips, the emergency room physician who publicly criticized President Trump's decision to drive with Secret Service agents to greet supporters while he was hospitalized with COVID-19 in October, has been removed from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center's schedule starting in January, according to sources familiar with the situation.”

Read “Armed Mexicans Were Smuggled In to Guard Border Wall, Whistle-Blowers Say” at New York Times.

Read “Agents raid home of ousted Florida health scientist who accused state of manipulating data” at The Hill.

• Read “Republican lawyer resigns appointed state post over treatment of data analyst” at Miami Herald.

• Read “Florida’s justification for raiding COVID data whistleblower Rebekah Jones is looking a little shaky” at The Verge.

This week in the GOP Election Kerfuffle:

• Read “Election Lawsuits Withdrawn Under Threat Of Sanctions” at KJZZ.

• Read “Cruz offers to argue Pennsylvania election case before Supreme Court” at The Hill.

• Read “Texas sues states Biden won in Supreme Court, seeking to delay Electoral College vote” at The Hill.

• Read “Trump Asked Pennsylvania House Speaker About Overturning His Loss” at New York Times.

• Read “Hobbs Begins Recovering Taxpayers' Funds From AZGOP For Defending Trump Election Challenges; Gloves Come Off” at AZ Law.

• Read “US Supreme Court rebuffs attempt to block Biden’s win in Pennsylvania” at Financial Times.

Read “1,500 Attorneys Call On Bar Associations To Condemn Trump Campaign Lawyers” at Huff Post.

Read ‘More voters say pardons for Trump's family would be inappropriate” at The Hill.

Read “After Democrats flip state, Georgia moves to shut down early voting locations ahead of Senate runoff” at Salon.

Read “Trump Roasted For Bragging That 'Bookies' Favoring Him On Election Night Is Proof That He Won” at Comic Sands.

Read “Rush Limbaugh Says Conservative States Are 'Trending Toward Secession' From U.S.” at Newsweek.

Read “The GOP Abandons Democracy” at The Atlantic. “One hundred and six members of Congress, and 18 state attorneys general, are asking the Supreme Court to overturn the election.”

Music-Related News and Such:

2020 Year-End Lists:

• Browse “Brad's Top 50 Albums of 2020” at Amoeba Music.

• Browse Bandcamp’s picks for “The Best Soul of 2020.”

• Browse “Top 30 Metal + Hard Rock Albums of 2020” at Consequence of Sound.

• Browse Crack’s picks for “The Top Albums of 2020.”

• Browse “Glide’s 20 Best Albums of 2020.”

• Browse Ted Goia’s picks for “The One Hundred Best Albums of 2020.”

• Browse Gorilla Vs. Bear’s Albums of 2020.

• Browse the New Yorker’s picks for “The Best Music of 2020” (topped by a 2018 album which I can get behind).'

• Browse the New York Times’ picks for the “Best Albums of 2020.”

• Browse NPR’s picks for “The 100 Best Songs Of 2020.”

• Browse NPR’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums Of 2020.”

• Browse Paste’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums of 2020.”

• Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 30 Best Electronic Music Releases of 2020.”

• Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 100 Best Songs of 2020.”

• Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums of 2020.”

• Browse Stereogum’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums Of 2020”.

• Browse Time’s picks for “The 10 Best Albums of 2020.”

• Browse Treble’s picks for the “Top 100 Songs of 2020.”

• Browse Treble’s picks for the “Top 50 Albums of 2020.”

• Browse Vice’s picks for “The 100 Best Albums of 2020.”

• Browse Vinyl Factory’s picks for their “favourite vinyl artwork and packaging of 2020.”

• Browse Yardbarker’s picks for “The 30 best albums of 2020.”

Browse “The 2020 No Depression Guide to Holiday Music That Doesn’t Suck.”

Read “So, How Was Your 2020, Thurston Moore?’ at Rolling Stone. “Former Sonic Youth singer and guitarist reflects on the music, books, TV, and movies that helped him get through this year.”

Browse “The 35 Best Lesser-Known Artists of the Last 35 Years, Picked by 35 Well-Known Artists” at Spin.

Read “The Cultural Impact of the Technics SL-1200 Turntable, Then and Now” at Discogs.

Read “Why You Should Listen to John Fahey’s Christmas Music—Even If You Hate Christmas Music” at Pitchfork.

Read (and listen to) “Frozen Fingers :: An American Primitive Holiday Meditation” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Browse Louder Sound’s picks for “The 50 Greatest Live Albums Ever.”

Read “‘Gimme Shelter’ at 50: How The Rolling Stones Got Conquered By America” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Here’s The Story Of The 1970s Most Forgotten Funk Star” at Okay Player.

Read “Bob Dylan Sells Songwriting Catalog to Universal Music Publishing” at Pitchfork.

• Read “Wait, Bob Dylan Owned ‘The Weight’? An Explainer” at Rolling Stone. “In selling his own catalog to Universal Music, Dylan also sold the publishing rights of the Band’s first album Music From Big Pink — thanks to a peculiar arrangement that goes back to 1967.”

• Read “Bob Dylan’s Overlooked Christian Music” at Sojourners.

Read “Sinéad O’Connor Announces Memoir Rememberings” at Pitchfork.

Browse “An introduction to Don Cherry in 10 records” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “Neil Young Drops Lawsuit Against Donald Trump Campaign” at Pitchfork.

Read “Fiona Apple Explains How She Ended Up On Bob Dylan’s New Album And The “Tramp Stamp” She Got For David Blaine” at Stereogum.

Read “Kanye West’s Sunday Service Choir Is Suing Him For $1 Million For Unpaid Wages” at The Jasmine Brand.

Read “Without Music, I Wouldn’t Have Been Able to Navigate My Breakups” at Vice.

Read “Ethan Hawke On How Music Shaped His Film Career” at Pitchfork.

Read “‘Take Five’ Is Impeccable. ‘Time Outtakes’ Shows How Dave Brubeck Made It.” at New York Times.

Read “Fiona Apple on How She Broke Free and Made the Album of the Year” at Pitchfork.

Read “Pharrell Discovered His Synesthesia Listening To A Tribe Called Quest” at Okay Player.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Why an All-Streaming Movie World Won’t Look Like You Think It Will” at Variety.

Read “Netflix says it won't add disclaimer to 'The Crown'“ at The Hill.

Read “Mario Lopez plays sexy Colonel Sanders in Lifetime movie, because it's 2020” at CNet.

Read “Culture Clash: Warner Bros.’ HBO Max Move Signals New Day in Hollywood” at Variety.

Browse Vulture’s picks for the “Best Movies of 2020.”

Read “John Mulaney and Andy Samberg are your new Chip 'N Dale, we guess” at AV Club.

Read “‘Moana: The Series’ Set for 2023 on Disney Plus” at Variety.

Read “John Lurie Returns to TV in New HBO Series ‘Painting With John’” at Variety.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Yes, Roald Dahl was a Jew-hater” at Religion News Service. “The family of the late British novelist and screenwriter has given the Jewish people an early Hanukkah gift: an apology.”

Browse Los Angeles Times’ picks for “The Ten Best Books of 2020.”

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “What is the largest desert on earth?” at Universal Sci.

Read “Everest Gets an Altitude Adjustment: Nepal and China Agree on Height” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “A New Report Says Microwave Attacks Caused Mystery Illnesses In US Diplomats. Scientists Say That Makes No Sense” at Buzzfeed News.

Read “So You Think You Know Gravity? Let Us Drop Some Knowledge” at Wired.

Read “Former Israeli military leader opens up about contact with "Galactic Federation" of aliens” at Boing Boing.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Giant Penis Sculpture Disappears from German Mountaintop” at Vice.

Read “Mysterious Monolith Update: Racists Destroy California Monolith, Proclaim Christ Superior to Space Aliens” at Vice.

Read “How a Young Eagle Huntress Kicks Butt at a Kazakh Tradition” at Atlas Obscura.

Local:

Read “Effort To Recall Ducey Gains Unlikely Support From Paul Gosar” at KJZZ.

Read “'Shut the hell up': Arizona GOP at war over Trump's election loss” at MSNBC.

Read “Arizona gets $1.4 million in nationwide settlement with a mortgage servicer” at KTAR.

The Weekly Town Crier (09/18/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (09/18/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Diana Rigg, star of 'Game of Thrones' and 'The Avengers,' dies at 82” at NBC.

Read “Hal Singer, Saxophonist and Tulsa Massacre Survivor, Dies at 100” at New York Times.

Read “R.I.P. Toots Hibbert, Reggae Pioneer and Frontman of Toots & The Maytals Dies at 77” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Original Bad Brains singer Sid McCray, RIP” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “No Pearl-Clutching Allowed” by Diana Butler Bass.

Read “Former Avalon Singer Michael Passons Says He Was Kicked Out of Christian Band for Being Gay” at People.

Read “It’s Out Of Control’: How QAnon Undermines Legitimate Anti-Trafficking Efforts” at Huff Post. “The child sex trade is a global crisis. Far-right conspiracy theorists are harassing, distracting and intimidating the organizations fighting to end it.”

Read “Black Lives Matter co-founder denounces Pat Robertson for saying the movement is 'anti-God' at Religion News Service.

Read “'God Has a Mission for Me': Roger Stone Tells CBN News He's Not Out for Revenge but on a New Path” at CBN News.

Read “On the Use and Abuse of Critical Race Theory in American Christianity” at The Dispatch.

Read “Christian Apologist Ravi Zacharias A Serial Liar And Molester? Brothers In Faith Blame “Demonic” Hindu Yoga In His Spa” at Swarajya Mag.

• Read “Betrayed Trust, Part One: New Testimony, Emails & Other Documents Portray Ravi Zacharias as Predator in Sexting Scandal” at Roys Report.

• Read “Betrayed Trust, Part Two: Woman Accused in Sexting Scandal Claims Ravi Zacharias Groomed & Exploited Her” at Roys Report.

• Read “Betrayed Trust, Part Three: Ravi Zacharias Claimed Accusers in Sexting Scandal Were Extortionists, But Evidence Indicates Otherwise” at Roys Report.

Read “How Did Martin Luther Become So Popular?” at Sojourners.

Read “Former Christianity Today Editor Mark Galli to be Confirmed a Catholic” at Roys Report.

Read “Baptist Calvinists defend slavery of Southern Seminary founders” at Baptist News.

Read “Catholic group launches $9.7M campaign against Biden targeting swing-state voters” at The Hill.

Read “White Christians Have Become Even Less Motivated to Address Racial Injustice” at Barna.

• Read “No race problem here: Despite summer of protests, many practicing Christians remain ambivalent” at Religion News Service.

Read “Evangelical Pastor Urges Christians to 'Mobilize' to Fight Civil War Against Left-Wing Activists” at Newsweek.

Read “An evangelical activist could draw big crowds to Milwaukee, Madison and Kenosha as Wisconsin reaches record COVID-19 cases” at Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Read “The Complicated Importance Of Abortion To Trump Voters” at NPR (EDITOR’S NOTE: Abortion would not be legal nor exist as it currently does without Republican support).

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

Read “Conor McGregor arrested for alleged attempted sexual assault in Corsica” at Mirror.

Read “Former Judge Gleeson's response to Justice Department efforts to drop Michael Flynn's prosecution” at CNN.

Read “The IRS offers a $625,000 bounty to anyone who can break Monero and Lightning” at Coin Telegraph.

Read “Naomi Osaka Says She Wore 7 Masks About Black Lives During This Year's U.S. Open to 'Make People Start Talking' at Time.

Read “A Coded Word From the Far Right Roils France’s Political Mainstream” at New York Times.

Read “Young US Latinos are at the forefront of a climate revolution” at PRI.

Read “19 families buy nearly 97 acres of land in Georgia to create a city safe for Black people” at CNN.

Read “Judges halt plan to exclude unauthorized immigrants from count used to award seats in Congress” at CBS News.

Read “Oregon prisoners report ‘inhumane’ conditions following fire evacuations, transfers” at Oregonian Live.

Read “How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled” at NPR.

Read “California Woman Goes Off On Racist Rant At Man During Dispute About His Kids’ Sidewalk Art” at Percolately.

Read “‘Like an Experimental Concentration Camp’: Whistleblower Complaint Alleges Mass Hysterectomies at ICE Detention Center” at Law and Crime.

• Read “Whistleblower Alleges 'Medical Neglect,' Questionable Hysterectomies Of ICE Detainees” at KCRW.

Read “A Civil War Political Movement Reawakens — Complete With Capes” at New York Times.

Read “The Top 1% of Americans Have Taken $50 Trillion From the Bottom 90%—And That's Made the U.S. Less Secure” at Time.

Read “ICE deported a key witness in investigation of sexual assault and harassment at El Paso detention center” at Texas Tribune.

Read “Donald Trump accused of sexual assault by former model Amy Dorris” at The Guardian.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “George Floyd family attorney slams defense claim he died from drug overdose” at NBC News.

Read “City of Louisville agrees to 'substantial' settlement in Breonna Taylor shooting” at Louisville Courier-Journal.

Read “Portland slaps new $20K daily fine on fed courthouse fence” at Pamplin Media.

Read “Portland Protesters Say Their Lives Were Upended by the Posting of Their Mug Shots on a Conservative Twitter Account” at Willamette Weekly. “What Andy Ngo is doing is legal. The mug shots are public records. And Ngo told WW that it is his “duty” to report on protesters who have been arrested.”

Read ‘KPCC Journalist Tackled, Arrested While Trying To Cover L.A. Protest” at NPR.

Read “Violent protests erupt in Colombia after the death of a man repeatedly tasered by police” at CBS News.

Read “Massive Protests Continue In Belarus As Demonstrators Demand Lukashenko Resign” at NPR.

Read “Attacks on journalists during protests risen sharply: UNESCO” at Al Jazeera. “Journalists attacked, arrested or killed in 21 protests between January and June of this year, UNESCO said.”

Read “Whistleblower says officials considered using "heat ray" on D.C. protester” at Axios. “Federal officials stockpiled ammunition at the D.C Armory and sought crowd control devices before law enforcement forcibly cleared protesters from Lafayette Square in June, a whistleblower said in written submissions to Congress.”

This Week With The Police:

Read “4 Texas police officers fired after fatally shooting man 'having a mental breakdown' in April” at USA Today.

Read “NLVPD officer accused of kneeing handcuffed suspect, asking others to turn off bodycams” at Las Vegas 3.

Read “Salt Lake police chief, former chief address shooting of teen with autism” at KSL.

Read “Flagstaff police officer dead after reportedly taking his own life” at 12 News.

Read “2 L.A. deputies shot in ‘ambush’ attack recovering after surgery” at Los Angeles Times.

• Read “Shooting of L.A. deputies new flashpoint in a 'tinderbox moment'" at Yahoo.

Read “Policing in Arizona is at a crossroads as long-simmering issues involving race and use-of-force come to a head” at KJZZ.

Read ‘Roderick Walker: Georgia Police Tackle & Pin Cab Rider in Viral Video” at Heavy.

Read ‘Maryland Police Officer Indicted After Man Left Partially Paralyzed” at NBC Washington.

Read “Officer-involved shooting leaves one person injured in North City” at KMOV.

Read “Openly-Gay Congressional Candidate Hits Back After Police Union Calls Him A 'First Class Wh*re'“ at Comic Sands.

Read “A Newark Officer Was Filmed Punching Someone. Jelani Cobb Asked a Police Union Head If It Was Justified” at PBS’ Frontline.

Read “8 Times Cops Let People Go as Personal Favors (And One When They Didn’t)” at Vice.

Read “Documents Reveal How the Police Kept Daniel Prude’s Death Quiet” at New York Times.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Nearly two-thirds of US young adults unaware 6m Jews killed in the Holocaust” at The Guardian.

Read “Trump announces commission to further 'patriotic education' at The Hill.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Canada reports zero COVID-19 deaths for first time since March” at Reuters.

Read “U.S. closes in on grim pandemic milestone: the 200,000th COVID-19 death” at NBC News.

• Read Trump told Bob Woodward he knew in February that COVID-19 was 'deadly stuff' but wanted to 'play it down' at NBC News.

• See “32 times Trump said the coronavirus would go away” at Washington Post.

• Read “RNC chairwoman says history will vindicate Trump's coronavirus handling” at NBC News.

• Read “Joy Reid on Trump downplaying coronavirus dangers: Your President lied to you” at MSNBC.

• Read “Trump’s coronavirus death toll estimate exposes his failure” at Vox. “Trump had a chance to avert the unfolding coronavirus disaster. He blew it.”

• Read “Trump’s COVID-19 Culpability” at Niskassen Center.

Read “CDC Director Says COVID-19 Vaccine Likely Won't Be Widely Available Until Next Year” at NPR.

• Read “Trump says CDC director "made a mistake" when he said vaccine won't be widely available until at least summer 2021” at CBS News.

Read “Political Appointees Meddled in C.D.C.’s ‘Holiest of the Holy’ Health Reports” at New York Times. “Trump loyalists at the Health and Human Services Department have been exerting influence on the Centers for Disease Control’s weekly reports on all disease outbreaks, the coronavirus and beyond.”

Read “Trump Pressed for Plasma Therapy. Officials Worry, Is an Unvetted Vaccine Next?” at New York Times.

Read “Adults with Covid-19 about 'twice as likely' to say they have dined at a restaurant, CDC study suggests” at CNN.

Read “COVID creeps into a sprawling Syrian refugee camp in Jordan” at CBS News.

Read “Bullfighting has reached a crisis point in Spain” at PRI. “Spain has just become the first country in Europe to register half a million coronavirus cases, leaving bullrings empty and bullfighters out of work.”

Read “Florida bars to reopen even as state battles coronavirus” at CBS News.

Read “Coronavirus pandemic taking much bigger mental health toll on young adults compared to older adults, survey finds” at CBS News.

Read “Tom Hanks' Blood Will be Used To Develop COVID-19 Vaccine” at Today.

Read “A top disease expert is warning of 'another 12 to 14 months of a really hard road ahead of us,' and says the US has no national plan to stop it” at Yahoo.

Read “Israel to Enter Second Virus Lockdown After Bungled Reopen” at Bloomberg.

Read “Utah County behind ‘clear’ spike in coronavirus cases, state health officials say” at Salt Lake Tribune.

Read “UArizona recommending 14-day shelter-in-place for students to curb spread of COVID-19” at KGUN9.

Read “Coronavirus cases are growing in 11 U.S. states as Fauci warns of 'disturbing' data” at CNBC.

Read “The Sturgis Biker Rally Did Not Cause 266,796 Cases of COVID-19” at Slate.

Read “Bill Gates: CDC being 'written out of the picture' on coronavirus” at The Hill. “The CDC is largely being written out of the picture because you have people at the White house who aren’t epidemiologists, saying what a great job they’ve done, and so it’s no longer a set of experts.”

Read “Coronavirus: Ukraine accuses Belarus over stranded Jewish pilgrims” at BBC.

Read “Hungary Tightens Rules With Virus Wave Expected to Last Months” at Bloomberg.

Read “Iran’s Daily Coronavirus Cases Surge to Three-Month High” at Bloomberg.

Read “West Coast Fires Are Raising Covid-19 Risks” at Wall Street Journal.

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “In Oregon, a New Climate Menace: Fires Raging Where They Don’t Usually Burn” at New York Times.

• Read “As the West Coast Burns, Communities Unravel With Each Death” at New York Times.

• Read “West Coast Fires: Climate, Forest Management, Lax Rules, Plenty Of Blame To Go Around” at NPR.

• Read “Trump Bucks Climate Science in Wildfire Briefing” Fact Check.

Read “Former Daily Caller Editor Reveals He Was Forced To Publish Oleg Deripaska” at Empty Wheel.

Read “Alicia Keys interview: ‘I despise the word celebrity – it’s such an empty word’” at The Telegraph.

Read “‘World’s Loneliest Elephant’ Is Finally Free After 35 Years in Confinement” at Global Citizen.

Read “Bush’s Empty Words on Post-9/11 Tolerance Were Good, Actually” at Slate.

Read “In Oregon, a Year of Political Tumult Extends to Devastating Wildfires” at New York Times.

Read “13-year-old dies from brain-eating amoeba after vacation in Florida, family says” at CBS.

Read “Facebook deleting posts linking activist groups to Oregon fires” at CNet.

Read “Oracle Picked as Winning Bid for TikTok U.S. Over Microsoft” at Bloomberg.

Read “What I Learned From Writing Letters To Strangers Across America” at NPR.

Read “David Lynch Tries to Make a List of the Good Things Happening in the World … and Comes Up Blank” at Open Culture.

Read “Bill Gates: “Our values do change what gets funded in this economy” at MarketPlace.

Internationalities:

Read “Liberia declares rape a national emergency after spike in cases” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Iran: Secret execution of wrestler Navid Afkari a ‘travesty of justice’” at Amnesty International.

Read “India-China dispute: China returns five missing Indian nationals” at BBC.

Read “Afghan-Taliban talks: Government calls for ceasefire” at BBC.

Read “Officials: Iran weighs plot to kill U.S. ambassador to South Africa” at Politico.

Read “Sweden and France Confirm Aleksei Navalny Was Poisoned With Novichok, Germany Says” at Vice.

Read “Yemen: Aid Obstruction Puts Millions at Risk” at Human Rights Watch.

Read “US ambassador to China stepping down” at The Hill.

Read “Trump says he wanted to kill Assad, but Mattis opposed” at France 24.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “The Trump campaign played a song about rich kids dodging the Vietnam War draft — which the president did 5 times — at a Michigan rally” at Business Insider.

Read “Ohio high court says no to Kanye West’s ballot request” at Fox 8.

Read “Trump Campaign Staffer Slammed After He Tried Mocking Joe Biden as He Visited His Son's Grave” at Second Nexus.

Read “Top Aide in Review of Russia Inquiry Resigns From Justice Dept.” at New York Times.

Read “A major American city may soon allow 16-year-olds to vote — and others could follow suit” at NBC News.

Read “Years after 9/11, the political use of fear continues on” at Chicago Tribune.

Read “Republicans Are Knocking On Doors. Democrats Aren't. Biden's Campaign Says That's OK” at NPR.

Read “Mary Trump says reporters 'continue to pull these punches' at CNN.

Read “NRA's political influence dwindling ahead of the election” at Axios. “The National Rifle Association has spent $9.2 million on political expenditures this cycle, about one-sixth of the $54.4 million reported in 2016, according to Federal Election Commission data tracked by Open Secrets.”

Read “Biden Creates Legal War Room, Preparing for a Big Fight Over Voting” at Yahoo.

Read “Scientific American Endorses Joe Biden” at Scientific American. “We’ve never backed a presidential candidate in our 175-year history—until now.”

Read “400,000 people have registered to vote through Snapchat” at The Verge.

Read “At Least Someone's Trying to Pass a Stimulus Package” at Vice. “The House Problem Solvers Caucus — a bipartisan group of 50 lawmakers — is trying to broker a compromise between Democrats and Republicans before benefits completely run dry.”

Read “Pelosi: House to stay in session until COVID-19 rescue pact” at KTAR.

Read “Schumer, Sanders call for Senate panel to address election security” at The Hill.

Read “Pelosi: We're supposed to be crushing the virus; Trump is crushing the ACA” at MSNBC.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “The CARES Act Sent You a $1,200 Check but Gave Millionaires and Billionaires Far More” at Pro Publica.

Read “Twitter And Facebook Flag Trump's Mail-In Voting Post for Platform Violations” at NPR.

Read “As Energy Secretary, Rick Perry Mixed Money and Politics in Ukraine. The Deals Could Be Worth Billions” at Time.

Read “Longtime Climate Science Denier Hired At NOAA” at NPR.

Read “Fact-checking William Barr: Is your vote no longer secret with mail-in ballots?” at CNN.

Read “Trump Says He Will ‘Negotiate’ Third Term Because He’s ‘Entitled’ To It” at Forbes.

Read “Pompeo’s wife assigned State Dept. work on secretary’s behalf using private email” at The Olympian.

Read “Companies Owned by This Billionaire Governor Received up to $24 Million in Bailout Loans” at Pro Publica.

Read “South Dakota AG Involved in Fatal Car Accident Kept Driving, Thinking He Hit Deer: Cops” at Daily Beast.

Read “Jacob Wohl Staged Fake FBI Raid on Business Partner, Actor Hired for Production Says” at The Daily Beast.

Read “Judge rules Chad Wolf likely unlawfully serving as Homeland Security secretary and temporarily blocks some asylum restrictions” at CNN.

Read “Democratic lawmakers call for an investigation into allegations of medical neglect at Georgia ICE facility” at The Hill.

Read “Wray says Russia engaged in 'very active efforts' to interfere in election, damage Biden” at Politico.

Read “Judge blocks 'politically motivated' changes to U.S. Postal Service ahead of election” at Reuters.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Jazz Lives in Clubs. The Pandemic Is Threatening Its Future.” at New York Times.

Read “Cocteau Twins’ vast influence lives on :: 24 great artists they’ve inspired” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Pearl Jam Announce ‘Take-Three Pledge’ Vote By Mail Initiative” at Jambands.

Read “Bob Dylan Is Bringing Back His “Theme Time” Radio Show” at Pitchfork. “His first installment in over a decade airs September 21 in honor of Bourbon Heritage Month.”

Read “John Fogerty on Trump’s ‘Confounding’ Use of a Creedence Classic About Draft Dodgers: ‘He IS the Fortunate Son’ at Variety.

Read “‘American Utopia’ Review: One of the Best Concert Docs Since ‘Stop Making Sense’” at Indie Wire.

Read “The Cure Finished Their New Album While in Lockdown” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Blues singer Lady A sues the band fka Lady Antebellum” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Amoeba Music plans to open San Francisco store for first time in 6 months” at Date Book.

Read “A New Prescription: A Dose of Live Music for Hospital Patients” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Bill Callahan: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert” at NPR’s Tiny Desk.

Read “Biggie’s Plastic Crown Sells for Nearly $600,000 in Sotheby’s Hip-Hop Auction” at Pitchfork.

Read “The Psychedelic Sound of Rüstəm Quliyev, King of Azerbaijani Guitar” at Bandcamp.

Read “Kanye West tweets video of himself pissing on a Grammy” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Van Morrison to release lockdown protest songs” at BBC.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “49 Years Ago, Harry Belafonte Hosted the Tonight Show—and It Was Amazing” at The Nation.

Read “Warner Bros. Won’t Share ‘Tenet’ Box Office Data, Angering Rival Studios” at Variety.

Read “How the Kardashians turned celebrity into something monstrous” at The Telegraph.

Read “How Cuties, a French movie on Netflix, became part of America’s culture war” at Vox.

Read “Jeremy Tardy Parts Ways With ‘Dear White People,’ Cites Racial Discrimination” at Okay Player.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “The Novel and the Secret Police” at Boston Review. “In Vineland, his underappreciated 1990 novel, the author of Gravity’s Rainbow anticipated a United States in which security would become the greatest good.”

Read “Bookstore Sales Fell 24.6% in July” at Publisher’s Weekly.

Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Etc.:

Read “A ball python laid 7 eggs at the Saint Louis Zoo, even though she hasn't been around a male in years” at CNN.

Read “NASA sets out to buy moon resources mined by private companies” at Reuters.

Read “13 mysterious mummies discovered in Egyptian well” at CNN.

Read “Scientists baffled by orcas ramming sailing boats near Spain and Portugal” at The Guardian.

Read “Scientists find gas linked to life in atmosphere of Venus” at The Guardian.

Read “A perfectly preserved Ice Age cave bear has been found in Russia -- even its nose is intact” at CNN.

Read “'We Really Don't Know' If Bird Die-Off In New Mexico Is Related To Climate Change, Expert Says” at WBUR.

Food Cultures:

Read “To Save Madagascar’s Wildlife, an Entomologist Is Helping Revive a Bug-Based Cuisine” at Gastro Obscura.

Read “Japan Is Combating Rural Decline With a National Network of Ice Cream” at Gastro Obscura.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Where Did the Monk’s Haircut Come From? A Look at the Rich and Contentious History of the Tonsure” at Open Culture.

The Weekly Town Crier (09/11/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (09/11/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read ‘Jazz Bassist Gary Peacock Dead at 85” at Pitchfork.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Christian Group Seeks Removal Of Dinosaur From Tucson McDonald's” (EDITOR’S NOTE: I have no idea if this is satire or not).

Read “Black Christians Play a Crucial Role in Athlete Activism” at Christianity Today.

Read “Falwell swipes at media: 'You got nothing'“ at The Hill.

• Read “Trump's ex-lawyer Cohen links Falwell’s endorsement in 2016 to suppression of racy photos” at Reuters.

• Read “Reforming Liberty University in the post-Falwell era should begin with the Falkirk Center” at Religion News Service.

• Read my own piece on LIberty University idolatrous Falkirk Center: ‘We're All Biblical Literalists (Until We're Not)”

Read “The Manosphere and the Church” at Theopolis.

Read “Jen Hatmaker, Christian author and former reality TV star, files for divorce” at Religion News Service.

Read “Christian musician Sean Feucht held defiant Seattle worship protest after concert was banned” at Religion News Service.

Read “The Church of Individualism” at Mere Orthodoxy.

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

Read “I CANCEL MYSELF’ White professor Jessica A Krug reveals she pretended to be black during entire career teaching African history” at The Sun.

Read “Akon Says His Senegalese Smart-City Will Be a Safe Haven for African Americans. Some Locals Wonder If There’s Room for Them, Too” at The Root.

Read “We Need to Talk About the GOP’s ‘Black Friends’ at The Nation.

Read “The Inevitable Whitelash Against Racial Justice Has Started” at The Nation.

Read “'The Gotaway': Online video produced and posted by the Border Patrol spreads fear of migrants” at Yahoo.

Read “White House memo calls for ban on federal agencies conducting training on "critical race theory," "white privilege" with taxpayer dollars” at CBS News.

• Read “Trump Bans Diversity Training, Claiming It’s Divisive, Anti-American Propaganda” at Forbes.

• Read “More Than Ever, Trump Casts Himself as the Defender of White America” at Yahoo. “Sorry liberals! How to be Anti-White 101 is permanently cancelled!”

• Read “Trump says schools teaching NY Times’ 1619 Project ‘will not be funded’” at New York Post.

Read “On Kenosha and the difficulty of recognising Nazism in the US” at Al Jazeera. “Nazis have not disappeared. They have simply said they are not Nazis.”

Read “Census Work Has Been Winding Down, But A Judge Says It Needs To Press On For Now” at NPR.

Read “History gives us reason for hope that inequality can be beaten” at Open Democracy.

Read “Appeals court agrees R&B singer R. Kelly should stay jailed” at 12 News.

Read “She Was Sued Over Rent She Didn’t Owe. It Took Seven Court Dates to Prove She Was Right.” at Pro Publica.

Read “ACLU Calls On Tech Companies to End Their Alliance with ICE and CBP” at ACLU.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Car drives through protesters in Times Square” at Bronx 12 News.

Read “Thomas Massie praises Kyle Rittenhouse, says he showed 'incredible restraint” at Louisville Courier-Journal. "He didn't empty a magazine into a crowd."

Read “Portland shooting suspect killed by officers” at Axios.

Read “Naomi Osaka Wears Face Mask with Breonna Taylor’s Name at U.S. Open” at Democracy Now.

Read “Alleged Boogaloo members face terrorism charges in Minnesota” at Yahoo.

Read “Michael Reinoehl appeared to target right-wing demonstrator before fatal shooting in Portland, police say” at The Oregonian.

Read “Kentucky Derby 2020: Empty stands and armed militias at America's most famous race” at The Guardian.

Read “Jacob Blake says from hospital bed it "hurts to breathe" following shooting” at Axios.

Read “93% of Black Lives Matter Protests Have Been Peaceful, New Report Finds” at Time.

Read “Proud Boys Seen in Video Attacking Protester With Bat at Oregon Rally” at Daily Beast.

Read “Across the Country, Protests Demand Release from Prisons, Jails, Detention Centers” at American Friends Service Committee.

Read “'Because I'm Scared': Jane Fonda's New Book Details Her Journey To Taking Climate Action” at WBUR.

Read “Michael Brown protest organizer suing Phoenix police, city for wrongful arrest” at 12 News.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Gilbert officer charged with falsifying arrest report, court records show” at ABC 15.

Read “From soldier to worker” at Reader. “Police unions were born of resistance to discipline for brutality. Do they belong in the labor movement?”

Read “A Black man was detained while jogging for fitting a suspect description and later offered a job with the sheriff's department” at CNN.

Read “Call police for a woman who is changing clothes in an alley? A new program in Denver sends mental health professionals instead.” at Denver Post.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “After Beirut Explosion, Lebanon Sees A Spike In Coronavirus Infections” at NPR.

Read “Fact check: No, the CDC has not reduced the death count related to COVID-19” at WFLA.

Read “Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was 'superspreading event' that cost public health $12.2 billion: analysis” at The Hill.

Read “Gatherings of more than six people banned in England from next Monday” at NME.

Read “Governor Ducey Issues Enhanced Surveillance Advisory To Track The Impact Of COVID-19 And Influenza On Health Care Capacity” at AZ Governor.

Read “U.S. closes in on grim pandemic milestone: the 200,000th COVID-19 death” at NBC News.

• Read Trump told Bob Woodward he knew in February that COVID-19 was 'deadly stuff' but wanted to 'play it down' at NBC News.

• See “32 times Trump said the coronavirus would go away” at Washington Post.

Read “We Need to Take Care of the Growing Number of Long-Term COVID-19 Patients” at Time.

Read “Union president: Grocery stores should kick out unmasked shoppers” at CBS News.

Read ‘AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine study put on hold due to suspected adverse reaction in participant in the U.K.” at Stat News.

Read “California’s GOP Senate leader was under quarantine. She spoke with no mask at a huge prayer event anyway” at Washington Post.

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “Jim Carrey Pens Striking Political Essay Urging Americans to Vote Out Trump” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Beyoncé Pledges Another Million for Black-Owned Small Businesses” at Teen Vogue.

Read “Are Your Texts Passive-Aggressive? The Answer May Lie In Your Punctuation” at NPR.

Read “California wildfires set record as more than 2 million acres are scorched” at San Francisco Chronicle.

• Read “As Wildfires Ravage the State, the Dark Side of the California Dream Slinks Out of the Shadows” at Los Angeles Magazine. “Fires have always loomed large over the California landscape—both a cleansing promise and an obliterating threat. But like so much else these days, they suddenly seem out of control.”

• Read “Shocking pics show blaze devastation at 'national treasure' Scots woodland” at Daily Record.

Read “Facebook engineer quits, accuses social network of 'profiting off hate' at CNET.

• Read “Zuckerberg to "Axios on HBO": "Just wrong" to say Facebook driven by conservatives” at Axios.

Read “We Talked to the Host Accused of Doing “Satanic Rituals” In His Airbnb” at Vice.

Read “The Atlantic gained 20,000 subscribers after Trump dismissed it as a 'dying' magazine” at CNN.

Internationalities:

Read “The Ghost Towns Behind The Gates” at NPR.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Trump's Base Is Shrinking As Whites Without A College Degree Continue To Decline” at NPR.

Read “Trump Faces Fallout From Report He Calls Military 'Losers' And 'Suckers' at NPR.

Read “Trump Weighs Putting Up to $100 Million of His Cash Into Race” at Bloomberg.

Read “Kanye Loses Arizona Supreme Court Appeal, Off the Ballot In Key Swing State” at “AZ Law”.

Read “Schiff: Barr “Flat Out Lying to American People” About China Election Threat” at Slate.

Read “White House lawn, Rose Garden being re-sod after damages from GOP convention” at Washington Post.

Read “Polls show Biden lagging among Latinos in close Florida race” at Al Jazeera.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “'People Around The President Are Trying To Stop Him,' 'Times' Journalist Says” at NPR. “New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt says it's unusual for advisors to be so focused on preventing a president from breaking the law. "Trump's use of power is so unusual that we have a phenomenon here where the people around the president are trying to stop him," he says.”

Read “Trump Reportedly Spent $58 Million In Campaign Funds On Legal Fees And Compliance” at Huff Post.

Read “Strzok: Trump's financial involvement with Russia is very broad” at MSNBC. “"There are a variety of entanglements that he holds that ... are of great concern and present prime opportunities for leverage over the president."

Read “Whistleblower alleges briefings on Russian interference stopped because it made Trump look bad” at MSNBC.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Taylor Swift 'Shake It Off' lawsuit goes forward in Los Angeles” at Fox7 Austin.

Read ‘M.I.A. Shares New Song “CTRL” at Pitchfork.

Read “Slow music: Chord change in Germany of 639-year organ piece” at Associated Press.

Read “Foreign Artist Visa Fee To Increase By Over 50% In The US” at The Quietus.

Listen “to New Order’s First New Song in 5 Years” at Pitchfork.

Read “Holy Roar Records founder accused of rape, several bands respond” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Rush’s Geddy Lee Confirms He’s Alive After Trending on Twitter” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Netflix Announces BLACKPINK Documentary Light Up the Sky” at Pitchfork.

Movies/TV/Video GamesEtc.:

Read “Ellen Promises (Threatens?) to ‘Talk About It’ When Her Show Returns” at Vulture.

Read “'Keeping Up with the Kardashians' coming to an end on E!” at CNN.

Read “Peacock lands the gritty Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air reboot, gives it a 2-season order” at AV Club.

Read “Black-ish’ Spinoff ‘Old-ish’ Starring Laurence Fishburne, Jennifer Lewis in Development at ABC” at Vulture.

Read “The Return of Colin Kaepernick — To The Madden Franchise” at NPR.

Read “TMZ’s Newsroom Is A Hotbed For Racism, Misogyny, And Verbal Abuse, Ex-Employees Say” at Buzzfeed News.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Reed Hastings on New Book, Netflix’s Future — and Why He Fired His Last CFO” at Variety.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “Explore 1,100 Works of Art by Georgia O’Keeffe: They’re Now Digitized and Free to View Online” at Open Culture.

Food Cultures:

Read “The Egyptian Egg Ovens Considered More Wondrous Than the Pyramids” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Fuddruckers, Luby’s Restaurant Chains to Be Sold in Liquidation Plan” at Wall Street Journal.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “When Botswana Farmers Paint Eyes on Their Cattle’s Butts, Everyone Wins” at Atlas Obscura.

The Weekly Town Crier (08/14/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (08/14/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Lorenzo Wilson Milam, Guru of Community Radio, Is Dead at 86” at New York Times.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “What white evangelical Christians can't see when they see racism” at Religion News Service.

Read “GOP lawmaker calls on Falwell Jr. to resign over photo” at CNN.

• Read “Liberty Chancellor Falwell takes indefinite leave of absence” at WFIR News.

• Read “Jerry Falwell Jr. taking indefinite leave of absence from Liberty University amid calls to step down” at Religion News Service. "The Rev. Dwight "Ike" Reighard, a Liberty board member, told Religion News Service he was "concerned" about "recent events" and that the board's statement addressed "the beginning steps the University Board will more fully address in the days ahead."

• Read “To save Liberty University's soul, its board must reject Jerry Falwell's vision” at Religion News Service.

Read ‘Virtual worship has become the people’s work” at Christian Century. “Discovering the limits—and possibilities—of common prayer via Zoom.”

Read “Democrats plan interfaith service to kick off convention” at Religion News Service.

Read “The Importance of "And" by Diana Butler Bass. “The Forgotten Political Message of Christianity.”

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

Browse “Children’s Books by Black Authors” at the Conscious Kid.

Read “It's Time for American Leaders to Wake Up to the Threat of Climate Change for the Good of the Planet and Business” at Time.

Read “Louisiana man serving life for $30 drug sale set to be freed” at 12 News.

Read “Dallas Doctor Reflects on Being Treated as a 'Hero' in His Scrubs But 'Hated in a Hoodie'“ at People.

Read “Performative masculinity is making American men sick” at Vox. “The coronavirus has issued an undeniable taunt to American men on their home turf, and some have chosen to prove their virility through risk with no foreseeable reward. It’s a narrow vision of manhood that ignores other tropes like self-sacrifice and being a protector; performative masculinity for an audience of one that puts many more people at risk. And the solution would be so easy, if it weren’t left in the hands of the manliest men in the country.”

Read “New reports find Arizona at the top for kids testing positive for COVID-19” at 12 News.

Read “Russia’s approval of a COVID-19 vaccine is less than meets the press release” at Science.

Read “The Case for Abolishing the Department of Homeland Security” at Teen Vogue.

Read “Murder rate surges in big cities” at Axios.

Read “Trump: Biden, Booker would allow low-income housing to "invade" suburbia” at Axios. (RACiST)

Read “Trump says men may be "insulted" by Biden picking a woman for VP” at Axios. (SEXIST)

Read “Facebook steps up hate speech crackdown, removing 22.5 million posts in Q2” at Axios.

Read “Feds accuse Yale of discriminating against some applicants’ at Associated Press. “A Justice Department investigation has found Yale University is illegally discriminating against Asian-American and white applications.”

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

Read Georgia city votes to remove pavilion where slaves were sold” at Al Jazeera.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “N.Y.P.D. Besieges a Protest Leader as He Broadcasts Live” at New York Times.

Read “Winfrey demanding justice for Breonna Taylor with billboards” at SF Gate.

Read “Phoenix records prove that police officers disproportionately use force against minorites.”

Read “‘I felt like my chest was on fire’: Photo shows Dallas police officer shooting protester with pepper-ball gun” at Dallas News.

Read “'Unprecedented' protests erupt in Belarus following election” at CNN.

Read “Viral Video Seemed To Show BLM Storming A Church. The Real Story Is Much Darker” at Buzzfeed News. “What people need to know is we’re not protesting churches. We’re protesting this church.”

This Week With The Police:

Read “Abolish the Police? Those Who Survived the Chaos in Seattle Aren’t So Sure” at New York Times.

Read “Police face new lawsuit, probes after Elijah McClain’s death” at Associated Press.

Read ‘Marion County deputies ordered not to wear masks” at OCALA.

Read “How police can use Brady lists to discredit whistleblowers” at ABC News 15.

School Re-Openings:

Read “I cannot lose another teacher’: Ariz. superintendent terrified over school reopening’ at MSNBC.

Read “Covid-19 Cases Among U.S. Children Jumped 40% in Late July” at Bloomberg.

Read “The Coronavirus Seems to Spare Most Kids From Illness, but Its Effect on Their Mental Health Is Deepening” at Time.

Read “Coronavirus prompts closing of Georgia high school in district with over 1K in quarantine” at NBC News.

Read “Florida's GOP governor compares reopening schools to the raid that killed bin Laden” at Business Insider.

Read “Ventilation should be part of the conversation on school reopening. Why isn’t it?” at PBS News Hour.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Antarctica is the last continent without COVID-19. Scientists want to keep it that way” at National Geographic.

Read “The Unique U.S. Failure to Control the Virus” at New York Times. “Slowing the coronavirus has been especially difficult for the United States because of its tradition of prioritizing individualism and missteps by the Trump administration.”

Read “Bill Gates on Covid: Most US Tests Are ‘Completely Garbage’” at Wired.

Read “Europeans Say COVID-19 Revealed America as 'Fragile,' Inconsiderate” at Newsweek.

Read “US tops 5 million coronavirus cases, continues to lead world in infections and deaths” at Fox News.

Read “Heart condition linked with COVID-19 fuels Power 5 concern about season's viability” at ESPN.

Read “Your View by Bethlehem heart transplant recipient: ‘I am in danger. Please wear a face covering.' at The Morning Call.

Read “Big Ten Votes to Call Off Football Season: Reports” at WCCO Radio.

Read “Fauci ‘seriously doubts’ the Russia vaccine is ready for widespread use” at National Geographic.

Read “Employees need masks even for at-home Zoom calls, Wisconsin agency says. Here’s why'“ at Kansas City Star.

Read “What Will It Take to Pass More COVID Relief Now?” at Slate.

• Read “Pelosi says Mnuchin told her White House is "not budging" on stimulus position” at Axios.

Read ‘Face masks with valves, vents banned from most US airlines” at 12 News.

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “LEGO is launching braille bricks for students across the US” at CNN.

Read “Lebanon PM Hassan Diab resigns amid anger over Beirut blast” at Al Jazeera.

• Read “Lebanon's government resigns as public anger mounts” at BBC.

Read “Twitter, George Soros, and Porn Subjective and Objective Realities” at The Margins. "A terrifying part of pandemic life is thinking about how, for so many of us, our understanding of reality is increasingly being shaped by algorithmically-curated, ad-funded digital representations."

Browse “17 Maps Of The United States That Made Us Say "Whoa" at Ranker.

Read “China's days as 'the world's factory' are over says iPhone manufacturer” at The Telegraph.

Read “The Strange Costumes of the Plague Doctors Who Treated 17th Century Victims of the Bubonic Plague” at Open Culture.

Read “CDC director warns high-school-age suicides and overdoses outpacing teen COVID deaths” at WND.

Read “Jake Paul says FBI raid on his home was ‘entirely related to the Arizona looting situation’ at The Verge.

Read “QAnon Followers Are Hijacking the #SaveTheChildren Movement” at New York Times.

Read “Why the Mauritius oil spill is so serious” at BBC.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “A ‘radical’ leftist who is ‘against God’? Trump paints Biden in a picture many don’t recognize” at Washington Post. “President Trump is increasingly trying to run against a Joe Biden of his own making. Rather than look for campaign ammunition in the former vice president’s long track record of politically vulnerable votes and policy proposals, Trump has instead chosen to describe Biden as a godless Marxist bent on destroying the country with a radical agenda that would make Che Guevara blanch.”

Read “Aides walk back Trump’s vow to "permanently" cut Social Security tax if he’s re-elected” at Salon.

Read ‘Trump says 1918 flu pandemic ‘probably ended the Second World War,’ which ended in 1945” at Military Times.

Read “U.S. Intelligence: China Opposes Trump Reelection; Russia Works Against Biden” at NPR.

Read “Trump signs executive orders enacting $400 unemployment benefit, payroll tax cut after coronavirus stimulus talks stall” at AZ Central.

• Read “Payroll Tax Delay To Boost Take-Home Pay, But Don't Spend It Yet” at NPR. “Critics say this particular relief measure is misguided since it benefits only people who are lucky enough to have a job still. What's more, because the tax relief is only temporary, workers are expected to repay the taxes next year.”

Read “In Historic Pick, Joe Biden Taps Kamala Harris To Be His Running Mate” at NPR.

• Read “If Kamala Harris is also of Asian descent, why does the press only label her ‘Black?’” at Poynter.

• Read “At least 11 women have vied for U.S. vice president. Here’s what happened to them” at National Geographic.

Read “U.S. budget deficit swells to $2.81 trillion” at Axios.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Trump gets millions from golf members. CEOs and lobbyists get access to president” at USA Today.

Read “New York Times: White House reached out to South Dakota governor about adding Trump to Mount Rushmore” at CNN.

Read “I Worked at a Polling Place for the Michigan Primary” at Slate. “There wasn’t much concern about masks. There was plenty about voter fraud.”

Read “DeVos: 'Yes,' Trump's leaked tape comments describe sexual assault” at CNN (from January 2017).

Read “'Friday Night Massacre' at US Postal Service as Postmaster General—a Major Trump Donor—Ousts Top Officials” at Common Dreams.

• Read “Postal Workers Decry Changes And Cost-Cutting Measures” at NPR. “"Mail is beginning to pile up in our offices, and we're seeing equipment being removed," said one postal worker.

• Read “We Cannot Hold an Election Without a Functional Post Office” at Slate. “Trump’s refusal to save the U.S. Postal Service is an attack on voting rights.”

• Read “The Post Office Is Deactivating Mail Sorting Machines Ahead of the Election” at Vice. “Good thing nobody's predicting a huge surge in mail any time soon.”

• Read “Trump says he’s blocking Postal Service funding because Democrats want to expand mail-in voting.”

Music-Related News and Such:

Browse “The Aquarium Drunkard Guide To Three Lobed Recordings”.

Read/watch “25 Years After Jerry Garcia’s Death, the Grateful Dead’s Popularity Endures” at San Francisco CBS.

Read “Bruce Hornsby Looks Back on Jerry Garcia’s Last Days: ‘I Miss Him So Much’ at Rolling Stone. “The sometime Grateful Dead pianist recalls his final shows with the group and what made Garcia “a great hang”

Read “The Scientific Benefits of Listening to New Music” at Pitchfork.

Read “Burna Boy Details New Album Twice as Tall Featuring Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Stormzy, More” at Pitchfork.

Read “Coronavirus Won’t Kill Independent Record Stores” at Vice.

Read “Mark Kozelek of Sun Kil Moon Accused of Sexual Misconduct by Three Women” at Pitchfork.

Read “How mid-2000s emo groomed underage girls and poisoned teen boys” at Medium.

Read “Peter Capaldi picks his 5 favorite punk songs of all time” at AV Club.

Read ‘Beck Teams With NASA for New Hyperspace Visual Album” at Pitchfork.

See “Patti Smith Shares Performance of “Grateful” In Honor of Jerry Garcia” at Jambands.

Read “The Stooges' most infamous performance comes back to life, thanks to unearthed tapes” at Detroit Free Press.

Read “John Legend, Variety’s Music Mogul of the Year: Big Business, Bigger Love” at Variety.

Read “Watch Trey Anastasio and The Roots Perform “I Never Needed You Like This Before” on ‘The Tonight Show’ at Relix.

“Watch Sufjan Stevens’ Video for New Song “Video Game” at Pitchfork.

Read “Neil Young Makes Stand Against Google and Facebook” at Jambands.

Read “Bob Mould Announces Career-Spanning Box Set” at Pitchfork.

Read “Herding Cats: Harlem 1958” at Downbeat. "Many jazz fans have seen the iconic image, but few know its complete backstory. On Aug. 12, 1958, graphic designer and fledgling photographer Art Kane took a 35mm photograph of 57 jazz musicians on the doorstep of a Harlem brownstone at 17 E. 126th St.”

Read “Why do people keep risking their lives to see shit bands?” at NME. “In the past few months, punters have put it all on the line to see – *checks notes* – The Chainsmokers, Static X and Smash Mouth. Wait, what?”

Read “The Black Music Action Coalition Wants to Hold the Industry Accountable” at Pitchfork.

Movies/TV/Etc.:

Read “High Fidelity Reboot Canceled By Hulu” at Pitchfork.

Read “Layoffs Start at WarnerMedia” at Variety.

Read “Quentin Tarantino’s Star Trek Movie Was a 1930s Gangster Film Set on Earth” at The Film Stage.

Books/Reading/Authors

Pre-order Jeff Tweedy’s newest book 'How To Write One Song’.

Read “The ‘Cancelling’ of Flannery O’Connor?” at Commonweal Magazine.

Read “Bob Woodward's new book details letters between Trump and Kim Jong-un” at Axios.

Design/Artsy Things:

See “Milton Glaser’s Stylish Album Covers for Bob Dylan, The Band, Nina Simone, John Cage & Many More” at Open Culture.

Meet “Morten Viskum: The Artist Who Paints With Severed Hands” at Cult of Weird.

Food Cultures:

Read “For Sale: Shipwrecked Whisky That Spent Decades Underwater” at Gastro Obscura. “Winning bidder take note: It is not safe to drink.”

Read “Postponement of weddings and other celebrations leads to a crash in champagne sales” at Boing Boing.

Local AZ:

Read “Statement from Mayor Jenn Daniels Regarding Resignation” at Gilbert.gov.

Read “It's official: This is Phoenix's hottest summer ever recorded” at AZ Central.

The Weekly Town Crier (05/22/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (05/22/20).

Read “Jorge Santana (of Malo and brother of Carlos), RIP” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Fred Willard, Comic Actor Who Thrived in Ensembles, Dies at 86” at New York Times.

Read “Ravi Zacharias Dies of Cancer The famous apologist was 74” at Christianity Today.

Read “Carlos Santana's brother, guitarist Jorge Santana, dead at 68” at Fox News.

Read “Al Mohler, Southern Baptist leader, says he was ‘stupid’ to defend slavery in 1998 CNN interview” at Religion News Service.

Read “When States Don't Talk with Churches about Covid Timetables, Tensions Increase” at Christianity Today.

Read “Despite Bad News, Evangelical Philosophy Is Flourishing” at Christianity Today.

Read “‘Laudato Si’’ was not enough. The Vatican needs to prioritize climate change” at America Magazine.

Read “Churches obsessed with their right to reopen are missing the point Genuine Christian faith is larger than the US Constitution” at Christian Century.

Read “We’re all monks now” at America Magazine.

Read “At New York hospital, a friar watches over those dying: ‘The miracle is to let go’” at Washington Post.

Read “Jane Roe’s Deathbed Confession: Anti-Abortion Conversion ‘All an Act’ Paid for by the Christian Right” at Daily Beast.

Read “Writer Anne Rice: 'Today I Quit Being A Christian'“ at NPR.

Read “'Sleeping While Black': Louisville Police Kill Unarmed Black Woman” at NPR. #BreonnaTaylor

Read “Ahmaud Arbery’s lynching begs America to respond What would it take to stop seeing neighbors as intruders and threats?” at Christian Century. #AhmaudArbery

Read “Meet The Woman Who Led Denmark to Cut Food Waste By 25% in 5 Years Selina Juul isn’t a politician. But she’s leading Denmark’s food waste revolution” at Global Citizen.

Read “Hacker Group Leaks Confidential Lady Gaga Files, Threatens to Next Take Down Donald Trump” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “After My Wife Died I Was Consumed by Both Grief and Paperwork. We Must Work Together to Change the Medical System” at Time.

Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

• Read “Obama team left pandemic playbook for Trump administration, officials confirm” at PBS News Hour.

• Read “Replace Trump And Bolster The CDC, A Leading Medical Journal Urges” at NPR.

• Read “Defying all odds, the world's last Blockbuster thinks it can outlast the pandemic” at AV Club.

• Read “Michigan Coronavirus Cases Jump By Over 1,000 As Armed Anti-Lockdown Protesters Shut Down Capitol.”

• Read “'A Lot To Be Hopeful For': Crisis Seen As Historic, Not Another Great Depression” at NPR.

• Read “The Pandemic as God’s Judgment Does the biblical pattern of disaster and discipline with a call to repent apply to COVID-19?” at Christianity Today.

• Read “'Us Vs. Them' In A Pandemic: Researchers Warn Divisions Could Get Dangerous” at NPR.

• Read “Coronavirus Brings Beer Drinkers Back to Bud Light Craft brewers face a reckoning as Americans opt for value and familiarity with brands like Miller Lite and Coors Light” at Wall Street Journal.

• Read/Watch “US coronavirus death toll passes 90,000 but influential model lowers its prediction” at CNN.

• Read the AZ Central opinion piece: “State won't name nursing homes where seniors are dying because it's .... bad publicity?”

• Read “Where Do White Evangelicals Get Their Coronavirus News? The White House While most agree with the response from public health officials, confidence in the Trump administration outweighs the news media” at Christianity Today.

• Read “Reports: Inexperience and cronyism slowed Kushner-led efforts to procure medical supplies” at CNN. “The volunteer group was also told to prioritize leads from "VIPs," including political allies, conservative journalists and associates of Trump, outlets reported.”

• Read “Trump threatens to halt WHO funding, review U.S. membership” at Reuters.

• Read “Covid-19 lockdowns could drop carbon emissions to their lowest level since World War II. But the change may be temporary” at CNN.

• Read “Aiming for novelty in coronavirus coverage, journalists end up sensationalizing the trivial and untrue” at The Conversation.

• Read “Pakistan Is Giving Tree-Planting Jobs to Workers Unemployed Due to COVID-19” Global Citizen.

• Read “U.S. Could Have Saved 36,000 Lives If Social Distancing Started 1 Week Earlier: Study” at NPR.

Read “Send Nudes": A New Study Shows How Often Boys Pressure Girls For Explicit Photos” at A Mighty Girl.

Read “Social, Political Animals: Embodied Learning and the Limits of Online Education” at Public Discourse.

Read “Tell Me How This Is Not Terrorism People with firearms forced the civil government of the state of Michigan to shut itself down” at Esquire.

Read “Trump, Unveiling Space Force Flag, Touts What He Calls New 'Super-Duper Missile' at NPR.

As we move into campaign season, let’s not forget:

• Read “How Donald Trump Shifted Kids-Cancer Charity Money Into His Business” at Forbes (from 2017).

Read “The Prophecies of Q American conspiracy theories are entering a dangerous new phase.” at The Atlantic.

Read “Democrats Bet Health Care Will Deliver 2020 Victories” at NPR. “"Democrats are betting that Americans will vote for the party of health care over the party of drinking bleach.

Read “Trump says administration will continue legal fight to eliminate Obamacare” at CNN.

Read “Trump wants payroll tax holiday to mitigate coronavirus economic pain” at Reuters.

Read “Texas mayor says women can't pray at city council meetings in email to fellow councilmember” at WFAA.

Read “Monopoly was invented to demonstrate the evils of capitalism” at Aeon.

Read “Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and 2 remaster soundtrack revealed - and it's missing a few classics” at EuroGamer.

Read “Live Nation to trial socially distanced shows in New Zealand” at NME.

Read “This Is What America’s First Socially Distanced Concert Looked Like” at Stereogum.

Read “Jeff Tweedy, Sharon Van Etten Join Daniel Johnston-Inspired Mental-Health Initiative Hi, How Are You Project asks people to spread awareness of mental health by simply asking others ‘Hi, how are you?’ at Rolling Stone.

Read “Dirty Projectors’ David Longstreth Reflects on ‘Workingman’s Dead’” at Relix.

Read “Americana ‘Wunderkind’ Sammy Brue Opens Up About Balancing Fame And Youth” at American Songwriter.

Read “Neil Young’s Lost 1975 Album ‘Homegrown’ To Be Released in June” at Relix.

Read “The Complicated Legacy of Joy Division’s Ian Curtis We honor the life of the tortured frontman by living and enduring as long as possible” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Jason Molina's 'Eight Gates' To Get A Posthumous Release In August” at NPR.

Read “Massive Attack's 3D raises £106,000 for Bristol food banks with art print fire sale” at The Guardian.

Read “Wu-Tang Clan Selling “Protect Ya Hands” Sanitizer For every purchase, a bottle will be donated to a homeless shelter in Canada” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “He Thinks He is Pink Floyd”: Roger Waters Calls Out David Gilmour Over Use of Pink Floyd Website” Jambands.

Read “A 3,350-Song Playlist of Music from Haruki Murakami’s Personal Record Collection” at Open Culture.

Read “How the Coronavirus Is Affecting America’s Vinyl Record Industry” at Pitchfork

Read “Grab a book. It’s good for your health. That’s one good thing about sheltering in place” about Christian Century.

Watch “Missouri Penguins Enjoy 'Morning Of Fine Art' At Local Museum” at NPR.

Read “Antidepressant Microbes In Soil: How Dirt Makes You Happy” Gardening Know How.

Read “Are Creative People Crazier? Yes, being "a little bit" bipolar or schizophrenic is linked to creativity” at Psychology Today.

Read “Peyton Manning, Drew Holcomb and others launch top-shelf Tennessee bourbon whiskey” at Tennesean.

Read “Ducey Asks Businesses To Self-Police On Safety Protocols” at KJZZ.

Read “From the Grand Canyon to Stevie Nicks, here are 130 reasons why The Republic loves Arizona” at AZ Central.

The Weekly Town Crier (05/08/20

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (05/08/20).

Read “R.I.P. Sam Lloyd, Scrubs Actor Dies at 56” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “R.I.P. Irrfan Khan, Legendary Indian Actor Dies At 53” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Kraftwerk Co-Founder Florian Schneider Dead at 73” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Was (Not Was) Singer Sweet Pea Atkinson Dead At 74” at Stereogum.

Read “Barney Ales, Indispensable Motown Executive, Is Dead at 85” at New York Times.

Read “New report finds nonreligious people face stigma and discrimination” at Religion News Service.

Read “How dying churches abuse pastors Gene Fowler examines why traumatized congregations so often attack their leaders.” at Christian Century.

Read “Sudan Makes FGM a Crime in 'New Era' for Women's Rights The crime will be punishable by up to three years in jail” at Global Citizen.

Read “Don’t Look Away: Why Ahmaud Arbery’s Tragedy Must Be Addressed Head On” at Christianity Today.

• Read “Ahmaud Arbery Should Be Alive Convicting his killers is the start. But the family of this modern lynching victim can’t have “justice” in a country with laws that protect white people who kill black people” at Rolling Stone.

Read “An Indianapolis Police Officer Fatally Shot A Black Man Who Reportedly Livestreamed The Encounter On Facebook” at Buzzfeed News.

Read “Why People Cling To Conspiracy Theories Like ‘Plandemic’” at Forbes.

Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

• Read/watch “Protesters Swarm Michigan Capitol Amid Showdown Over Governor's Emergency Powers” at NPR.

• Read “Two Arizona County Sheriffs Are Refusing to Enforce Coronavirus Emergency Orders” at Phoenix New Times.

• Read “White House Denies Congressional Request For Dr. Anthony Fauci's Testimony” at NPR.

• Read “Phoenix airport sees almost 50% drop in number of travelers due to coronavirus” at AZ Central.

• Read “With Trump's Coronavirus Response, U.S. Forfeits Global Leadership Role” at NPR.

• Read “Trump’s Favorability Among White Christians Falls In Double Digits, Particularly In Counties Hit Hardest By Coronavirus, Poll Says” at Newsweek.

• Read “The US just reported its deadliest day for coronavirus patients as states reopen, according to WHO” at CNBC.

• Read “Pope Francis joins Muslim leaders in calling for world day of prayer to end the coronavirus” at American Magazine.

• Read “A new clinical study is investigating whether prayer might make a difference in the outcomes of COVID-19 patients who require intensive care. “We all believe in science, and we also believe in faith,” says the principal investigator” at NPR.

• Read the opinion piece “Donald Trump's four-step plan to reopen the US economy – and why it will be lethal” by Robert Reich at The Guardian.

• Read “Why Conservatives and Liberals Are Not Experiencing the Same Pandemic” at Heterodox: The Blog.

• Read the opinion piece: “We’re Still Living and Dying in the Slaveholders’ Republic The pandemic has brought the latest battle in the long American war over communal well-being” at The Atlantic.

• Read “WHO says it has seen zero evidence to support White House claim that COVID-19 came from Wuhan lab” at Salon.

• Read “A Mexican 'Lucha Libre' Wrestler Is Sewing Masks To Fight Coronavirus” at NPR.

• Read “Coronavirus Lingers in Air of Crowded Spaces, New Study Finds” at Bloomberg.

• Read “Black Bodies Are Devalued And Overlooked In Georgia” at Sojourners.

• Read “Franklin Graham calls for coronavirus quarantine defiance: Only God ‘knows the number of our days’” at Raw Story.

• Read “Ohio lawmaker refuses to wear mask because he says it dishonors God” at NBC News.

• Read “Why Pandemics Are the Perfect Environment for Conspiracy Theories to Flourish” at Snopes.

• Read “Pastors Claim Bill Gates Will Use COVID Vaccines to Impose the Mark of the Beast” at Friendly Atheist.

• Read/Watch “Arizona state health department tells modeling team to stop work” at ABC 15.

• Read “Without Federal Aid, More than 1,000 U.S. Music Venues Are in Danger of Closing” at Rolling Stone.

• Read “40 People Were Arrested on Social Distancing Violations. 35 Were Black” at New York Times.

Read “Joe Walsh Reflects on Kent State Shootings: ‘We Are as Divided Now as We Were Then’ “The solution then, as it is now, is to be able to peacefully assemble and understand each other and accept our differences,” says artist who was a present at the massacre” at Rolling Stone.

• Read “Devo’s Jerry Casale Looks Back at Kent State 50 Years Later: ‘Time Stood Still’ “I saw somebody in charge yelling at these two lines of National Guardsmen and then he made a hand gesture,” says Casale. “That is when they started shooting” at Rolling Stone.

Read “DeVos finalizes regulations that give more rights to those accused of sexual assault on college campuses” at CNN.

Read “Betsy DeVos unveils new Title IX rules: Are they aimed at "silencing survivors"?” at Salon.

Read “Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces ban on assault-style weapons” at MSN.

Read “Joe Biden denies he sexually assaulted a former Senate aide, calls on National Archives to release complaint if one exists” at Washington Post.

• Read “Obama team fully vetted Biden in 2008 and found no hint of former aide’s allegation” at News and Guts.

Read “How Mitch McConnell Became Trump's Enabler In Chief” at New Yorker.

Read “Retired Republican Senator Jeff Flake will vote for Biden over Trump and says GOP needs 'a sound defeat' in 2020 election” at Yahoo.

Read “DOJ dropping case against former Trump adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying about Russia contact” at AZ Central.

Read “Trump’s Narcissistic Punishment Of Withholding Michigan Aid” at Forbes.

Read “Amanda Palmer announces separation from Neil Gaiman on Patreon” at AV Club.

Read “Quincy Jones Won't Be Awarded $6.9 Million in Royalties on Behalf of Michael Jackson Estate” at Okay Player.

Watch “Rodney Mullen and the First Kickflip Ever” at The Berrics.

Watch “Olympic Channel Investigates Norway’s Ban On Skateboarding In The ‘80's” at The Berrics.

Read “watch hours and hours of early ’80s MTV, complete with commercials Read More: watch hours and hours of early ’80s MTV, complete with commercials” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read/Listen to “The Triumphant Return of Fiona Apple, Pop Music Renegade” at New York Times.

• Read “What Happens If I Don’t Like Fiona Apple? It seems like everyone in the world loves “Fetch the Bolt Cutters.” So why don’t I? On the isolation of disconnection” at Long Reads.

Read “An interview with the incomparable Jim O'Rourke” at Tone Glow.

Read “Channeling the cosmic imperfections of Sun Ra’s record sleeves” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “Win Butler Reveals Secret Influences Behind Arcade Fire’s ‘Reflektor’ Frontman says additional James Murphy collaborations could be in band’s future: “We have more work to do” at Rolling Stone.

Browse “Pitchfork Staffers Recommend 16 Great Indie Record Stores You Can Support Online”.

Read “Marilyn Manson Wants to Team Up with Brandi Carlile for “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” Duet The Antichrist Superstar "cried so hard" during Carlile's Joni Mitchell tribute” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Bob Dylan announces new album ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways’, shares single ‘False Prophet’” at NME.

Read “Nicolas Cage will play Joe Exotic the Tiger King in his first TV role, report says” at CNet.

Read “Five Bottles of Whiskey We’re Revisiting During Quarantine” at Paste.

The Weekly Town Crier (05/01/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (05/01/20).

Read “BREAKING: Fela's Ex-drummer, Tony Allen, Dies In France” at Sahara Reporters.

Read “Knock Knock. It's Weird Evangelical Twitter. Online, millennial Christians embrace the absurd” at Christianity Today.

Read “Can Staying Home Help Us Regain a Sense of Place? How rediscovering creation around us can deepen our connection with God” at Christianity Today.

Read “America's billionaires have become even richer since Donald Trump became president, and it says a lot about the country's record-high wealth gap” at Business Insider.

Read “Microsoft Word now flags double spaces as errors, ending the great space debate” at The Verge.

Read Pentagon Officially Publishes Tom DeLonge’s UFO Videos Confirming what DeLonge's known since Enema of the State -- that "Aliens Exist" at Consequence of Sound.

Read “'This is no damn hobby': the 'gangsta gardener' transforming Los Angeles” at The Guardian.

Read “The Great Gatsby and Catch-22 among classic books banned from Alaska classrooms Works from Maya Angelou, Joseph Heller, Tim O'Brien, Ralph Ellison and F Scott Fitzgerald erased from curriculum” at The Independent.

Read “Land O’Lakes quietly gets rid of iconic Indian maiden mascot” at Minnesota Reformer.

Read “We are living in an apocalypse” by David Dark at American Magazine.

Your Weekly Coronavirus News Roundup:

• Read “Tom Cotton: Ban Chinese students from learning science so they can’t ‘steal’ coronavirus vaccine” at Raw Story.

• Read “Miami goes seven weeks without a homicide for first time since 1957” at CBS News.

• Read the opinion piece “Lysol and UV Rays: Running A Pandemic Like A Reality TV Show” at Empty Wheel.

• Read “Tennessee Restaurants Reopen As State Sees Biggest 1-Day Jump In COVID-19 Cases” at NPR.

• Read “How Some Phoenix Record Labels Are Surviving the Coronavirus” at Phoenix New Times.

• Read “States Warn That Workers Will Lose Unemployment If They Refuse To Return To Jobs” at The Intellectualist.

• Read/Watch “The dangerous global flood of misinformation surrounding COVID-19” at PBS News Hour.

• Read “How Are Rich People Getting Richer During the Coronavirus Pandemic? Jeff Bezos has reportedly made another $25 billion since the beginning of the year” at GQ.

• Read/Listen to “Grief is Everywhere in the Age of COVID-19” at WNYC.

• Read “King Crimson’s Robert Fripp Launches “Music for Quiet Moments” Quarantine Series” at Consequence of Sound.

• Read “THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS 'I Am Mourning The Loss': Two-Thirds Of Artists Report They're Now Unemployed” at NPR.

  • BUY MUSIC, SUPPORT ARTISTS (Listen to music. Love Your Neighbor): Beginning this Friday, May 01, Bandcamp will again waive their revenue share for everything sold. Until otherwise stated, they will be doing this on the first Friday of each month. Please use these chances to support artists during this difficult time.

Read/Listen to “How Will Chief Justice And Supreme Court Conservative Majority Affect 2020 Election?” at NPR. “Chief Justice John Roberts has worked hard to persuade the public that the Supreme Court justices are fair-minded legal umpires — not politicians in robes. But that image was tarnished by the Court's decision on Wisconsin's election earlier this month.”

Read “Here are the largest public companies taking payroll loans meant for small businesses” at MSNBC.

• Read “U.S. Citizens Married To Immigrants Are Blocked From Getting Stimulus Checks” at Yahoo.

Read “Trump’s History With the Word Sarcasm Is Littered with Excuses and Ignorance When Trump uses the sarcasm excuse, it’s because he knows he’s gone too far but can’t bring himself to admit it” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Nancy Pelosi Endorses Joe Biden: “The Personification Of Hope And Courage, Values, Authenticity And Integrity” at News and Guts.

Read “Hillary Clinton Endorses Joe Biden” at News and Guts.

Browse the 2017 piece “11 Warning Signs of Gaslighting Gaslighting is a manipulation tactic used to gain power. And it works too well” at Psychology Today.

Read “I Love Phish Concerts, and I Can’t Wait for Them to Come Back”: Trey Anastasio Speaks About Quarantine, Tour Plans and ‘Sigma Oasis’ in New Interview” at Jambands.

Watch “Post Malone Performs Nirvana Covers With Travis Barker” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Quarantine Creativity Interview Series: Ethan Miller” at Savage Henry.

Read “Library of Congress Launches Open-Source Hip-Hop Sampling Tool Producers will have access to the library's vast audio collection, which dates back more than a hundred years” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “This Is Heartbreaking For Us": Amoeba Music's Original Hollywood Location Permanently Closed” at Okay Player.

Read “Tori Amos Believes the Muses Can Help A conversation about music, politics, and what you learn about America from being on the road” at New Yorker.

Read “How Do You Sell Concert Tees Without Concerts? Merch Companies Are Up Against a Wall “I was thinking this is a bulletproof business,” says one of many merch execs who have lost their biggest revenue stream” at Rolling Stone.

Read “PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, More Sign Letter Calling for Creative Industry Funding From UK Government” at Pitchfork.

Read “It Has to Be About Need :: The Mysteries of Lucinda Williams’ Good Souls Better Angels” at Aquarium Drunkard.

• Read “Lucinda Williams on the Music That Made Her The venerable singer-songwriter talks about the artists and albums that have meant the most to her—Sade, Audioslave, Tricky—five years at a time” at Pitchfork.

Read “Live Nation Updates Ticket Refund Policy” at Jambands.

Read “Stephen Malkmus on Traditional Techniques :: We’re Just Going To Wing It” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “Charlie Parker's Story to Be Told in Graphic Novel 'Chasin' the Bird' at The Hollywood Reporter.

Read “European Cities Launch Drive-In Concert Series With Great Success” at Live For Live Music.

Read “Watch Fiona Apple Give a Rare TV Interview on Democracy Now!” at Pitchfork.

BUY MUSIC, SUPPORT ARTISTS (Listen to music. Love Your Neighbor): Beginning this Friday, May 01, Bandcamp will again waive their revenue share for everything sold. Until otherwise stated, they will be doing this on the first Friday of each month. Please use these chances to support artists during this difficult time.

Read “For this year only, movies that had to go streaming will still be eligible for Oscars” at AV Club.

Read “AMC Theatres Refuses to Show Universal Films Following VOD Release of Trolls World Tour Universal seemed to imply that the commercial success of Trolls was proof that VOD was the way of the future” at Consequence of Sound

Read “Museums are sharing their creepiest objects in apparent attempt to digitize ancient curses” at AV Club.

Read “In Thailand, Funeral Cookbooks Preserve Recipes and Memories Though their origins are tragic, the books provide invaluable inspiration” at Atlas Obscura.

The Weekly Town Crier (03/27/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (03/20/20).

Read “Legendary country singer Kenny Rogers dies at 81” at CNN.

Read “Tres Warren Of Psychic Ills Dead At 41” at Stereogum.

Read “Mike Longo, Prominent Jazz Pianist Known For His Tenure with Dizzy Gillespie, Dies at 83” at WBGO.

Read “Albert Uderzo, a creator of French hero Asterix, dies at 92” at Art Canvas.

Read “Ray Mantilla, Percussionist Who Blazed a Trail in Both Jazz and Latin Music, Is Dead at 85” at WBGO.

Read “Sax maestro Manu Dibango has died from Covid-19, aged 86” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “Playwright Terrence McNally, 81, dies of coronavirus-related complications” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Dear Liberty University board: Please stop Jerry Falwell Jr. before it’s too late” at Religion News Service.

• Read “Jerry Falwell Jr. is inviting some students back to Liberty University amid pandemic, argues he’s ‘protecting’ them” at News and Guts.

Read “If you can’t go to confession, take your sorrow directly to God, pope says” at Crux News.

Read “Robert Jeffress suggests that Tim Keller is a “wimpy Christian” who has “cloaked” his “cowardice in theology” at The Way of Improvement.

Coronavirus Weekly Roundup:

• Read “Coronavirus: Rough sleepers in London given hotel rooms” at BBC.

• Read “Vinyl Delivery? How Local Record Stores Are Adjusting to Coronavirus Concerns” at Phoenix New Times.

• Read “‘I’m going to keep pushing.’ Anthony Fauci tries to make the White House listen to facts of the pandemic The infectious disease researcher has become America’s most trusted coronavirus expert” at News and Guts.

• Watch “How to practice #SocialDistancing, according to the films of #WesAnderson. Edited by Luís Azevedo” at Little White Lies’ Youtube page.

• Read “Spit On, Yelled At, Attacked: Chinese-Americans Fear for Their Safety As bigots blame them for the coronavirus and President Trump labels it the “Chinese virus,” many Chinese-Americans say they are terrified of what could come next” at The New York Times.

• Read “DOJ Wants to Suspend Certain Constitutional Rights During Coronavirus Emergency The Department of Justice has secretly asked Congress for the ability to detain arrested people “indefinitely” in addition to other powers that one expert called “terrifying” at Rolling Stone.

• Read “Volunteers produce 3D-printed valves for life-saving coronavirus treatments 101 Volunteers made the valves for about $1” at The Verge.

• Read “R.E.M's Mike Mills on why It's the End of the World resonates during the COVID-19 pandemic Social Sharing For the record, he still feels fine” at CBC.

• Read “Trump says he wants the country 'opened up and just raring to go by Easter'" at CNN.

• Read “White supremacists encouraging their members to spread coronavirus to cops, Jews, FBI says” at ABC NEWS.

• Read “Arizona national-forest campgrounds are closed due to coronavirus. Here's what we know” at AZ Central.

  • Read “National Park Service to waive entrance fees at open parks to aid social distancing” at CNN.

• Read “Conservative churches need to get the social distancing memo” at Religion News.

• Read “How Panic Buying Affects Our Personal Finances For many, it will lead to overspending, credit card debt, and greater anxiety” at Psychology Today.

• Read “Target Spends $300 Million To Give Raises, Paid Leave To Workers” at Forbes.

• Read “How the Pandemic Will End The U.S. may end up with the worst COVID-19 outbreak in the industrialized world. This is how it’s going to play out” at The Atlantic.

• Read “Senate Passes $2 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Package” at NPR.

• Read “NY Gov. Cuomo Counters Trump: Don’t Put a Dollar Figure on Human Life” at News And Guts.

• Read “Fact Check: Trump Compares Coronavirus To The Flu, But It Could Be 10 Times Deadlier” at NPR.

• Read “The coronavirus is now the American virus As deaths and infections mount, our historic failure to stop the outbreak will become a dark lesson” at The Verge.

• Read “#GenX is Trending on Twitter Because of How They're Handling Coronavirus—Here's Why” at Parade.

• Read “The U.S. Now Leads the World in Confirmed Coronavirus Cases Following a series of missteps, the nation is now the epicenter of the pandemic” at New York Times.

• Read “Jackson Browne Tests Positive for COVID-19, Shares New Song “A Little Soon to Say” at Jambands.

Read “Wisconsin Humane Society Finds Home for Every Animal Up for Adoption: 'We’re Near Tears'“ at Yahoo.

Read “GOP Congressman Blasts Sen. Richard Burr For Suspicious Stock Sale” at News and Guts.

Read “Federal Reserve to lend additional $1 trillion a day to large banks” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Beatles’ Iconic Abbey Road Crosswalk Gets Repainted Because Nobody Is Outside The London landmark, which is usually clogged with tourist traffic, gets a fresh coat” at Pitchfork.

Read “The lost art of deep listening: Choose an album. Lose the phone. Close your eyes” at Yahoo News.

Watch “Neil Young’s Stunning First Fireside Session Got a Little Weird: Watch Including performances of "Vampire Blues", "Razor Love", and "Tell Me Why" at Consequence of Sound.

Read “The Never-Ending Couch Tour: How Livestreams and Social Media Have Already Transformed Live Music” at Pitchfork.

Read “Sinéad O'Connor Is Still In One Piece” at Washington Post.

Read “Musicians Earned $4.3 Million From Bandcamp on Friday Nearly 800,000 items were sold on the day the site waived its revenue shares” at Pitchfork.

Read “Track By Track: African Head Charge - Songs Of Praise Ahead of the mighty reissue of the dub ensemble's back catalogue, band leader Bonjo guides us through one of his favourite albums...” at Ransom Note.

Read “Nine Inch Nails Release Two New Albums ‘Ghosts V - VI’ For Free Download” at Revolver.

Read “Montreux Jazz Festival Releases More Than 50 Full Sets from Johnny Cash, Nina Simone, Marvin Gaye” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Should Music’s Biggest Companies Be Doing More to Help Right Now? Spotify, Amazon, Warner Music Group, and other major music companies are donating to coronavirus relief — but how do the acts stack up against meaningful measures elsewhere in the industry?” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Bob Weir Shares “Gymming Playlist” for Active Deadheads” at Jambands.

Read “Wes Anderson Made His ‘French Dispatch’ Cast Watch These 5 Movies Before Filming Wes Anderson fans might want to prioritize watching these five French classics before the July 24 release of "The French Dispatch." at Indie Wire.

Read “Japan’s Toei Launches YouTube Channel for Classic Tokusatsu Shows” at Variety.

Read “David Lynch Is Coming to Disney+ in April, So Get Your Children Ready” at Indie Wire.

Read “Using Art to Expose What Government Hides: An Interview With Laurie Anderson” at The Nation.

See the “‘Where’s Waldo’ Coronavirus Edition Is Here And It’s A Tad Easier To Spot Waldo Than Usual” at Bored Panda.

See “Rooms From Famous Paintings Brought to Life With Realistic CG Renditions” at My Modern Met.

Read “The Oregon Creamery Making Vodka From Milk” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “KEZ will bring a little cheer to the airwaves with Christmas music. Here's when to tune in” at AZ Central.

The Weekly Town Crier (02/28/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (02/28/20).

Read “Monkees Singer and Bassist Peter Tork Dead at 77” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Katherine Johnson, one of NASA's 'Hidden Figures,' dies at 101” at 12 News.

Read “Mazzy Star’s David Roback Dead at 61 The producer and instrumentalist also co-founded the bands Rain Parade and Opal” at Pitchfork.

Read “Clive Cussler, million-selling adventure writer, dies at 88 Clive Cussler was an adventure writer and real-life thrill-seeker” at 12 News.

Read “This Political Moment: A Way Forward in a Divided Age. Conflict is opportunity, my friend says optimistically.”

Read “SEC Charges Son of John MacArthur & Grace to You Board Member with Fraud” at Julie Roys.

Read “Internal report finds that L’Arche founder Jean Vanier engaged in decades of sexual misconduct” at America Magazine.

Read “Why Christ wouldn't aspire to ‘Christic Manhood’” at Religion News Service.

Read “Misogyny in Baptist Higher Education” at Baptist Voices.

Read “I Really Want to Skip Church” at Mockingbird. "As much as I’d love to tell people: 'Church should be your excuse for missing everything else,' I’m acutely aware of two things: (1) Church might be the reason you are missing love, grace, and mercy in your life; and (2) Church might be a lot more work than you can handle at the moment."

Read “Must Pro-Life Mean Pro-Trump? We have placed too much faith in the political calculus and not enough faith in God’s power” at Christianity Today.

Read “The “Music from Saharan WhatsApp” Series is an Experiment in Immediacy” at Bandcamp and browse my own posts about “Music from Saharan WhatsApp.”

Read “Conservative columnist and political commentator David Brooks awarded Calvin University’s Kuyper Prize” at MLive.

Read “Pope Francis: Give Up Trolling For Lent” at Sojourners.

Read “25 Black Theologians Who Have Grown Our Faith Scholars and authors reflect on the significance of African American leaders in the church” at Christianity Today.

Read “Dialoguing Across Difference: Abortion & Big Tent Theology” at Red Letter Christians.

Read “How Stephen Miller Manipulates Donald Trump To Further His Immigration Obsession. Donald Trump’s senior adviser has been the true driving force behind this Administration’s racist agenda. How far will he go?”

Read “Women and Girls Contribute Trillions of Dollars in Unpaid Labor Every Year The world’s 22 richest men have more wealth than all of the women in Africa” at Global Citizen.

Read “Howard Thurman’s contemplative nonviolence The pastor and mentor to Martin Luther King formed a vision of resistance around prayer, not politics” at Christian Century.

Read “White Supremacist Group Arrested for Murder Plot, Found to Have More Targets in Mind Than Previously Known” at The Root.

Read “Survivors of Japanese Internment Speak Out Against Immigrant Detention” at Our Prism.

Read “Harvey Weinstein Taken to Hospital for Chest Pains Hours after being found guilty of rape” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “America's Mental Health Crisis Hidden Behind Bars” at NPR.

Read “Religion may be good for your health! People of faith are less likely to fall or feel ill compared to non-believers, official stats reveal” at Daily Mail.

Read “New Zealand Has Lifted 18,400 Children out of Poverty: Report” at Global Citizen.

Read “9th Circuit Denies Request To Vacate Arpaio Guilty Verdict” at KJZZ.

Read “The Last Slave Ship Survivor Gave an Interview in the 1930s. It Just Surfaced” at History.

Read “Colonialism’s Cages: When Indigenous People Were Placed In Human Zoos” at All That’s Interesting.

Read “What is döstädning, or Swedish Death Cleaning, and why is it causing such a decluttering buzz?” at Yahoo News.

Read “It’s Time to Let the Five Stages of Grief Die The five stages of grief are ingrained in our cultural consciousness as the natural progression of emotions one experiences after the death of a loved one. However, it turns out that this model is not science-based, does not well describe most people's experiences, and was never even meant to apply to the bereaved” at McGill.

Read “Supreme Court Pipeline Fight Could Disrupt How The Appalachian Trail Is Run” at NPR.

• Read “The Forest Service says the Appalachian Trail isn’t “land” in a pipeline fight at SCOTUS” at Quartz.

Read “Inspired by Little Free Libraries, a free pantry helps feed hungry neighbors in St. Paul” at Star Tribune.

Read “How To Give Advice: Less Fixing, More Listening” at NPR.

Read “Steve Jobs' signature is the star of retro Apple gear collection at auction An original 1983 Apple Macintosh is going for $25,000” at CNet.

Read “Korn’s Brian “Head” Welch Opens Wellness Spas Inspired by the Rigors of Touring” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Italy Just Became the First Country to Require Schools to Teach Climate Change” at Global Citizen.

Browse “The Worst Things Michael Bloomberg Has Said About Women” at The Cut.

Read “Nevada Democratic Party asks caucus volunteers to sign confidentiality agreements” at CNN.

Read “Buttigieg Warns Against Sanders As The Democratic Nominee” at NPR.

Read “Admiral William McRaven: We Should Be Frightened, Deeply Afraid” at News and Guts. “When good men and women can’t speak the truth, when facts are inconvenient, when integrity and character no longer matter, when presidential ego and self-preservation are more important than national security — then there is nothing left to stop the triumph of evil.”

Read “Pompeo appeared to coordinate with Giuliani on Ukraine, new documents show” at Yahoo News.

Read “With An Election On The Horizon, Older Adults Get Help Spotting Fake News” at NPR.

Read “The Trump Era Proves That Women’s Studies Matters” at Ms. Magazine.

Read “'It's About Time': House Approves Historic Bill Making Lynching A Federal Crime” at NPR.

Read “Why Millennials Refuse to Let Go of Physical Media The last generation to know life before the internet hasn't fully switched over to streaming” at Inside Hook.

Read “Public Enemy Will Perform at Bernie Sanders’ Los Angeles Rally” at Paste.

Read “And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out Turns 20” at Stereogum.

Read “Robbie Robertson (The Band) Talks with M.C. Taylor (Hiss Golden Messenger) on the Talkhouse Podcast They talk road-dogging with Dylan, scoring for Scorsese, and creating the seminal Music from Big Pink” at Talk House.

Read “Jerry Lee Lewis Returns to Music: ‘I Thought I Would Never Play Again’ After a stroke last year robbed him of use of his right hand, the Rock and Roll legend thought his piano-playing days were over. Now, at 84, he just recorded a new album” at Rolling Stone.

Read “For the Record(s): There's No Shame in Owning a Crosley” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Rebecca Foon Gets Honest and Raw with the Gorgeous 'Waxing Moon' at PopMatters.

Read “Mavis Staples Reflects on the Stax Years: Watch New Episode of 'Memphis Masters' at Billboard.

Read “Don Letts: ‘Punk was a refuge from racism’” at The Guardian.

Watch ‘Wetlands Preserved: The Story of an Activist Nightclub’ with Bob Weir, Phish, The Roots and More” at Relix.

Read “Yeasayer Suing Kendrick Lamar and the Weeknd Over Black Panther Song A new lawsuit alleges that “Pray For Me” infringes on the band’s 2007 song “Sunrise” at Pitchfork.

Read “The “Music from Saharan WhatsApp” Series is an Experiment in Immediacy” at Bandcamp and browse my own posts about “Music From Saharan WhatsApp.”

Read “Neil Young wants to tour historic venues but is struggling to find many still in operation He thinks that new arenas feel “soulless" at NME.

Read “One of Rock’s Most Doomed Romances Started on the Floor of Portland’s Scuzziest Punk Club No one at Satyricon who saw the two tangled bodies grappling in front of the jukebox could’ve known what they were witnessing” at Williamette Week.

Read “'It sounded like the future': behind Miles Davis's greatest album On the 50th anniversary of Bitches Brew, one of the contributing musicians and the director of a new documentary share their thoughts on the record” at The Guardian.

Read “New Order and Pet Shop Boys Announce Co-Headlining Tour The new wave legends will play 11 shows together this fall” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “City Of Liverpool To Open Memorial Garden In Honor Of George Harrison” at Live For Live Music.

Read “This black female musician you may not know has written songs you probably do’ at Good Morning America.

Read “RZA Shares New EP of Guided Meditation Songs” at Pitchfork.

Read “Revisiting Talk Talk, A Band Worried About Being A 'Laughing Stock'" at NPR.

Read “'She exists out of time': Umm Kulthum, Arab music's eternal star” at The Guardian.

Read “Heavy Rain: The Exodus of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry” at Please Kill Me.

Watch “More Than 400 Classic Korean Films Free Online Thanks to the Korean Film Archive” at Open Culture.

Read “Sinclair stations are airing a dramatic special fearmongering about socialism, and it’s hosted by former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka” at Media Matters.

Read “The One Where the Friends Reunion Is Officially Happening on HBO Max” at Vulture.

Read “'Just Mercy' Wins Big At NAACP Image Awards” at BET.

Read “Daredevil 'Mad' Mike Hughes Killed In Crash Of Homemade Rocket” at NPR.

Read “Greg Kinnear to Make Broadway Debut as Atticus Finch in 'To Kill a Mockingbird'" at Hollywood Reporter.

Read “We’re gonna do economic activity—without money!”: Inside the criminal glamour of the San Francisco Diggers with Kent Minault” at Diggers Docs.

Read “Turkish Trash Collectors Built a Library of Discarded Books” at Global Citizen.

See “Thousands of life jackets worn by refugees attached to pillars at Minneapolis Institute of Art” at Twin Cities Pioneer Press.

Read “Surrealism Was a Decidedly Feminine Movement. So Why Have So Many of Its Great Women Artists Been Forgotten?” at Art Net.

Read “Scientists Found a Plastic Grocery Bag in the Ocean's Deepest Trench The bag was spotted in the Mariana Trench at a depth of 36,000 feet” at Global Citizen.

Read “An Iceberg Triple The Size Of San Francisco Breaks Off Antarctica's Most Endangered Glacier” at WBUR.

Read “Survival Of The Friendliest: How Our Close Friendships Help Us Thrive” at NPR.

Read “A New Theory On Time Indicates Present And Future Exist Simultaneously” at Science Philes.

Read “This 8-Year-Old Mexican Girl Won a Prize for Making a Solar Heater From Recycled Objects” at Global Citizen.

Read “You Cannot Heal Your Way Out of Being Human And you were never meant to” at Human Parts.

Read “A woman took 550 times the usual dose of LSD, with surprisingly positive consequences” at CNN.

Read “The Planet Is Doomed Unless We Stop Eating So Much Meat, UN Warns” at Global Citizen.

Read “Supermarkets in Thailand Are Replacing Plastic Packaging With Banana Leaves” at Global Citizen.

Read “C.S. Lewis’s Greatest Fiction Was Convincing American Kids That They Would Like Turkish Delight What would the perfect fantasy treat look like? Depending on where you’re from, probably not this” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “The Creepy Small Town In Arizona With Insane Paranormal Activity” at Only In Your State.

Read “Arizona Leads The Nation In Auto Glass Insurance Claims” at KJZZ.

Read “The 25 Best Places To Eat & Drink In Phoenix” at The Infatuation.

Read “Students walk out of Centennial High School after former principal resigns” at 12 News.

The Weekly Town Crier (01/24/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (01/24/20).

Browse all the Weekly Town Crier posts so far.

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.

Browse the Musical Worldview posts.

Stream/download an introductory mix of Sacred Steel music.

Browse all my favorite music of 2019.

• Listen to Volume 01 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

• Listen to Volume 02 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

• Listen to Volume 03 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

• Listen to Volume 04 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

Read “Singer-songwriter David Olney dies on stage at age 71” at CNN.

Read “Jazz Saxophone Legend Jimmy Heath Has Died” at NPR.

Read “Terry Jones, Monty Python Co-Founder and Comedy Polymath, Dead at 77” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Jim Lehrer, journalist who co-founded PBS' nightly newscast, dead at 85” at NBC.

Read “When Your Theology of Pain Is Painfully Bad” at Mockingbird.

Read “The Heresy of Christian Nationalism” at John Pavlovitz.

Read “Kindness, kinship, and the boundaries of justice The virtue of kindness depends on who we see as kin” at Christian Century.

Read “70% of people in local jails are not convicted of any crime” at Prison Policy.

Read “Depressive realism We keep chasing happiness, but true clarity comes from depression and existential angst. Admit that life is hell, and be free” at Aeon. “What if depression is the collapse of the illusions that help us cope with a truly depressing reality?”

Read “Indiana's Oldest State Worker Is Retiring At 102: 'I've Been A Pretty Lucky Guy'" at NPR.

Read “The Mysterious “Order of the Odd Fellows” that frankly, belongs in a Wes Anderson Movie” at Messyness Chic. “A secret society that outnumbered the Freemasons at one point. But had you ever heard of them??”

Read “Patagonia’s CEO is donating company’s entire $10M Trump tax cut to fight climate change.” at Upworthy.

Read “If the National Archives Blurs Anti-Trump Speech From Its Exhibits, Is It Really an Archive?” at The Root.

Read “The National Archives Has Apologized For Altering A Photo To Remove Criticisms Of Trump” at Buzzfeed.

Read “Italy passes law to send unsold food to charities instead of dumpsters Italy joins growing list of countries looking to end food-waste” at Global Citizen.

Read “Richmond Gun Rally: Thousands Of Gun Owners Converge On Virginia Capitol On MLK Day” at NPR.

Read “Football and Brain Trauma – Recommended Books” at Englewood Review of Books.

Read “Why Do You Think They Cross the Border?” by John Pavlovitz.

Read “High School Transforms Hallways Into Iconic Book Covers” at For Reading Addicts.

Read “Trump Administration to Roll Back Obama School Lunch Rules” at News and Guts.

Read “Pelosi impeachment manager is calling for McConnell’s recusal from Trump Senate trial” at Miami Herald.

• Read/watch “Lev Parnas remarks on role of Devin Nunes in Trump Ukraine Scheme” at MSNBC.

Read “NRA Was 'Foreign Asset' To Russia Ahead of 2016, New Senate Report Reveals” at NPR.

Read “Trump’s Plan to Reduce Trade Deficit Falters as It Hits an All-Time High Instead” at Fortune.

Read “In a break with convention, the editorial board has chosen to endorse two separate Democratic candidates for president” at New York Times.

Read “Wiggles member Greg Page goes into cardiac arrest during reunion concert” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “M.I.A. receives M.B.E. from Prince William” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Without Small Venues, the UK Doesn't Have a Music Industry How many more have to be railroaded by rent hikes and property developers before we lose our grassroots scenes completely?” at Vice.

Read “Nick Cave says Kanye West is currently “our greatest artist” "There is no musician on Earth that is as committed to their own derangement as Kanye" at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Radiohead Add Rarities to Streaming Services in Online Archive Launch The Radiohead Public Library corrals band trivia, visuals, HD performances, rare songs and merchandise, and more” at PItchfork.

Read “The Wall of Sound The untold story of the Grateful Dead's short-lived mega PA, arguably the largest, most technologically innovative sound system ever built” at Vice.

Read “Why We Need MTV Now More Than Ever The struggle to find music in a world with too many options and not enough community” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Aerosmith Drummer Sues Band for Excluding Him Ahead of Grammys” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Josh Klinghoffer on Red Hot Chili Peppers Exit: ‘Complete Shock But Not a Surprise’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “‘Punky Brewster’ Is Coming Back to Traumatize a Whole New Generation” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Quentin Tarantino plans to write and direct Bounty Law series He also teases his tenth movie may have a connection to his first” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Joe Pera Talks With You’ Is the Best Thing Adult Swim Has Ever Done The comedian plays a gentle, Mr. Rogers-like figure who navigates our anxiety-ridden world with unfailing kindness” at Vice.

Read “Ozzy Osbourne Reveals Parkinson’s Disease Diagnosis” at Rolling Stone.

Read “A vending machine for books” at Bookish Buzz.

Read: The Secrets of The ‘80’s New York Art Scene - As Told By John Lurie.”

Read “Hoverboarding dentist found guilty of 'unlawful dental acts' at NBC.

Read “In 1930s New York, the Mayor Took on the Mafia by Banning Artichokes” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Ranking says Phoenix is a top 50 city in the world, top 20 large city in the US” at KTAR.