The Weekly Town Crier (07/16/21)

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

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We’ll Miss You:

Read “Paul Orndorff Dies: Wrestling Legend Known As “Mr. Wonderful” Who Fought In 1st WrestleMania Was 71” at Yahoo.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “The Rapid Decline of White evangelical America?” at Washington Post.

• Read “What is a mainline Christian, anyway?” at Religion News Service.

• Read “Why It’s Unlikely US Mainline Protestants Outnumber Evangelicals” at Religion Unplugged.

• Read this 2020 piece “The Power Worshippers: A look inside the American religious right” at Al Jazeera.

Read “QAnon moves into the shadows but movement remains active” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Southern Baptist Convention sparks small COVID-19 cluster in Nashville” at Tennessean.

Read “Santa Fe Church Forgives Entire State of New Mexico Medical Debt” at Episcopal News.

Read “SBC President Ed Litton Announces Task Force to Review Mishandling of Abuse Allegations” at Roys Report.

Read “Family loses appeal in lawsuit over priest’s funeral remarks” at Religion News Service. “A priest who criticized a teenager's suicide during his funeral is protected by the First Amendment.”

Read “Atheist and humanist groups sue Mississippi over state’s ‘In God We Trust’ license plate” at Religion News Service. “The suit says car owners have to choose between displaying the state’s standard license tag, with the words ‘In God We Trust,’ on their vehicles or paying an additional fee to display a special tag of their choice.”

Read the opinion piece: “Why are White Evangelicals embracing an anti-democratic movement? Because they’re panicking” at Washington Post.

Read “Church leaders arrested on sex-related charges involving minors” at Baptist Press.

Read “MAGA Pastor Jackson Lahmeyer Discovers the Downside of QAnon” at Right Wing Watch.

Read “United Methodist Church Seizes Assets of Conservative Georgia Megachurch” at Roys Report.

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

Read “Biden administration bars ICE from detaining pregnant or nursing women” at CBS News.

Read “Police investigating child’s death at Maggie’s Farm in Manitou Springs” at KRDO. “Two Colorado parents were arrested and charged with "criminally negligent child abuse resulting in death" after their 4-year-old son unintentionally shot and killed himself while left unattended in a car in Manitou Springs.”

Read “Previous ACLU: Miami Correctional inmates lived in total darkness, frequently shocked” at Okaloosa.com.

Read “Federal court blocks Tennessee's anti-trans bathroom law from going into effect” at Business Insider.

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

Read “White nationalists prep for "physical" altercation with security at Dallas CPAC conference” at Salon.

Read “Charlottesville begins taking down Confederate statues” at CNN.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Officers sue California city over Black Lives Matter mural” at AZ Family.

Read “Cop Accused of Hiding Stepson’s Body in a Hole in the Wall of His Home” at Vice.

Read “All DPS Troopers To Get Body Cameras, But Arizona Limits Release Of Video” at KJZZ.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Arizona governor signs bill to prohibit critical race theory teaching” at The Hill.

• Read “What Is Critical Race Theory, and Why Is Everyone Talking About It?” at Columbia.edu.

• Read “Nikki Haley calls on 'every governor' in US to ban funding for critical race theory in public schools” at Yahoo.

Read “Tears, politics and money: School boards become battle zones” at Associated Press.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Rand Paul, Fellow GOPers Fighting Mask Mandate On Airplanes” at News and Guts.

Read “'Surprising amount of death' will soon occur in these US regions from increased Covid-19 cases, expert says” at CNN.

Read “Canada donating AstraZeneca doses to other countries” at The Hill.

Read “Anti-vaxx nurse dies from COVID-19 in Louisiana” at Raw Story.

Read “Tennessee abandons vaccine outreach to minors — not just for COVID-19” at Tennessean.

Read “Surgeon general warns of dangers of misinformation amid misleading vaccine claims” at CNN.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Tobacco group Philip Morris buys maker of inhalers” at Economic Times. “US cigarette giant Philip Morris said Friday that it has agreed to buy Vectura, a UK company making breathing inhalers, as part of a push into healthcare.”

Read the opinion piece “Only the Rich Could Love This Economic Recovery” at New York Times.

Read “Rachael Denhollander: Let's channel our anger over the FBI and Nassar and save the children” at USA Today.

Internationalities:

Read “US sanctions a Chinese facial recognition company with Silicon Valley funding” at The Verge.

Read “Biden Tells Putin Russia Must Crack Down On Cybercriminals” at Huff Post. “U.S. President Joe Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that he must “take action” against criminals within his country.”

Read “Haitian police: Foreign hit squad killed President Moïse” at PRI The World.

Read “UK mom killed hubby with boiling water for allegedly sexually abusing her kids” at New York Post.

Read the opinion piece “Abolish the Olympics” at The New Republic. “They’ve long been a financial boondoggle that ruins lives and enriches the corporate class. This year, they might also spread a deadly Covid variant among a largely unvaccinated population.”

Read “World disgusted by racist abuse toward players” at The Hill.

Read “South Africa Deploys Army to Contain Unrest Over Former President Zuma’s Arrest” at Wall Street Journal.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Why Toyota's reversal on Republican financial support matters” at MSNBC News.

Read “Senate Democrats Announce $3.5 Trillion Budget Agreement” at NPR.

Read “Schumer: Marijuana legalization will be a Senate priority” at The Hill.

Read “Democratic Senators Call for Investigation of Tax Avoidance by the Ultrawealthy” at Pro Publica. “Calling ProPublica’s Secret IRS Files series a “bombshell,” Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Sheldon Whitehouse demanded an investigation into how the rich use “legal tax loopholes to avoid paying their fair share of income taxes.”

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Dissension in AZGOP as Trump dumps Ducey” at AZ Capitol Times.

Read Greg Abbott Says Fleeing Texas Democrats 'Will Be Arrested' When They Return to State” at Newsweek.

Read “Kremlin papers appear to show Putin’s plot to put Trump in White House” at The Guardian.

Read “USA Today Investigation Links Ducey With Efforts To Extract $100M In Tax Refunds” at KJZZ.

Read ‘Democratic Rep. Beatty arrested while calling for Senate action on voting rights” at Yahoo.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “The Creative Urge: John Coltrane on Perseverance Against Rejection, the Innovator’s Mindset, and How Hardship Fuels Art” at Brain Pickings.

Read “The Residents Announce 50th Anniversary Tour” at Consequence.

Read “Iggy Pop to Narrate King Tutankhamun Documentary” at Pitchfork.

Read “Grateful Dead’s best album is ‘In the Dark’ – even if Deadheads won't admit it” at Herald-Tribune.

Read “Why Are Independent Artists and Labels Turning Away From Vinyl?” at Pitchfork. “Faced with interminable manufacturing delays, some of music’s DIY players are giving up on the beloved format.”

Read “Heartbreakers Keyboardist Benmont Tench Talks ‘She’s the One,’ Life After Tom Petty” at Rolling Stone.

Read “UK Lawmakers Call for Sweeping Reform to Streaming Payouts” at Pitchfork.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Hannity tells fans to 'take their sports back' by singing national anthem” at The Hill.

Read “Lea Thompson is volunteering to direct a Howard The Duck reboot” at AV Club.

Read “Rob Schneider Unwilling to Take COVID-19 Vaccine, Is Willing to Shoot People” at Consequence.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “The battle for the public library” at Current. “It looks like some conservatives are running for local library boards so they can remove books on race and racism from the stacks.”

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “At least seven states report mosquitoes carrying disease that can paralyze humans” at The Hill.

Read “Meth Pollution in Waterways Turns Trout Into Addicts” at Smithsonian.

Read “Mass bird die-off in eastern US baffles scientists” at Live Science.

Read “EPA: 11,000 facilities illegally discharged pollutants into nearby waters in 2018” at The Hill.

Read “Wobbling’ moon will cause devastating worldwide flooding in 2030’s NASA warns” at Telegraph.

Read “Scientists are tracking the loneliest whale in the world” at The Hill.

Local:

Read “72% of Arizona taxpayers will save less than $45 per year under @dougducey ‘s tax cut. But he repeated again and again that the average taxpayer would save $300. There are two possible explanations: he was being dishonest or he didn’t check the math” at AZ Central.

Read “Phoenix Firefighters Union Asks City To Shutter Two Trails On Extreme Heat Days” at KJZZ.

Read “Arizona Supreme Court halts projected execution dates for 2 inmates” at KTAR.

Read “Arizona flood swept this Prius down a street, caught on video” at Boing Boing.

The Weekly Town Crier (07/02/21)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (07/02/21).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Blackalicious Rapper Gift of Gab Dead at 50” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Richard Altuna, Who Redesigned What Retail Looks Like, Dies At 70” at NPR.

Read “Jon Hassell, pioneering electronic musician, RIP” at Boing Boing.

Read “‘Cops’ Creator John Langley Dead at 78” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Former Skid Row Singer Johnny Solinger Dead at 55” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Donald Rumsfeld, former secretary of defense, dies at 88” at CNN.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “The American church needs to reckon with its legacy in Indigenous boarding schools” at Religion News Service. “The American church will not be able to hide from its history of complicity in the treatment of Indigenous peoples — and the ongoing colonization Indigenous peoples continue to face today.”

Read ‘Are We Attempting to Serve Two Masters, Jesus and Gun Rights?” at Christianity Today. “Reflections from a school shooting survivor.”

Read “White hysteria, Critical Race Theory, and eyes that dare not see” by David Gushee at Baptist News.

• Read “Where Did White Evangelicalism’s Hatred of Critical Race Theory Really Begin?” at Religion Dispatches.

• Read “Critical race theory is a gift to Christians” at Christian Century. “The good news about collective and institutional sin is that, like individual sin, it can be redeemed.”

Read “Who are the Catholic bishops drafting the controversial Communion document?” at Religion News Service. “A look at the clerics tasked with penning a document many see as a rebuke of President Joe Biden.”

Read “More churches burn down on Canada indigenous land” at BBC.

Read “How the Southern Baptist Convention Rejected Populist Fundamentalism” at The Bulwark.

• Read “As Southern Baptists Begin to Grapple with Sexual Abuse, Looming Challenges Remain” at Roys Report.

Read “Indian priest’s wife chops off his penis after he wanted to marry again” at New York Post.

Meet “the Theobros, who want you to know they’re right about everything” at Baptist News.

Read “Pope to meet with delegation of Indigenous People of Canada” at Vatican News.

Read “Behind Biden’s 2020 Victory” at Pew Research. “Trump’s support among white evangelicals rose from 77% in 2016 to 84% in 2020.”

Read “Catholic bishop of Syracuse decries Doctrine of Discovery, suggests pope do the same” at Religion News Service.

Read “UK Methodist Church Votes to Allow Same-Sex Marriages, While US Methodists Anticipate Split” at Roys Report.

Read “How Philadelphia’s reform DA is teaming with clergy to tackle rising gun violence” at Religion News Service.

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

Read “In Suing Georgia, Justice Department Says State's New Voting Law Targets Black Voters” at NPR.

Read “An Iowa County Chooses to Be Named for a Black Professor, Not a Slaveowner” at New York Times. “Johnson County selected Lulu Merle Johnson, a Black educator and historian, as its official eponym, replacing Richard Mentor Johnson, the ninth U.S. vice president.”

Read “How Did This Anti-Labor Lawyer Become One of Joe Biden’s First Judicial Nominees?” at Slate.

Read “Clarence Thomas says federal laws against marijuana may no longer be necessary” at NBC News. “The federal government's current approach is a half-in, half-out regime that simultaneously tolerates and forbids local use of marijuana,” the conservative Supreme Court justice wrote.”

Read “US Supreme Court rejects Virginia school board’s trans bathroom ban appeal” at AL.com.

Read “Supreme Court lets lawsuit continue in death of man detained in prone position” at NBC News.

Read “Bill Cosby to Be Freed as Court Overturns His Sex Assault Conviction” at New York Times.

Read ‘James Franco Agrees to Pay $2.2 Million in Sexual-Misconduct Lawsuit Settlement” at Vulture.

Read “Supreme Court Invalidates Key Part of Voting Rights Act” at New York Times.

Read “Adding to Trump's woes, grand jury indicts his core business” at MSBNC.

Read “NFL Levies $10 Million Fine, Biggest in League History, Against Washington Football Team for Workplace Culture” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “City sells former police academy to become a marijuana grow facility” at Boing Boing.

Read “Woman who falsely accused Black teen of stealing phone charged with hate crime” at The Hill.

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

Read “A Florida man admitted storming the Capitol, feds say. Then he told the FBI his pastor had come with him” at Washington Post.

Read ‘‘Castrate, kill, remove voting rights’: Ex-Marine, Georgia deputy was in extremist cell, feds say” at Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Read ‘Spurred By The Capitol Riot, Thousands Of Republicans Drop Out Of GOP” at NPR.

Read “California’s yoga, wellness and spirituality community has a QAnon problem” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Toyota under fire for giving $55K to 37 Republicans who objected to certifying election” at MSNBC News.

Read “Marine Corps officer pleads not guilty in Capitol riot” at The Hill.

Read “House Votes to Remove Confederate Statues from the Capitol” at Democracy Now.

Read “House Approves Creation of Select Committee to Probe Jan. 6 Attack” at Wall Street Journal.

Watch “Day of Rage: An In-Depth Look at How a Mob Stormed the Capitol” at New York Times.

Read “GOP Rep. Paul Gosar appears to ally with white nationalists — again” at Washington Post.

Read “Former cop who allegedly attacked police with flagpole during Capitol riots to be released from jail, placed on house arrest” at The Hill.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Ex-Cop Chauvin Gets 22 1/2 Years in Prison for Floyd Murder” at Bloomberg.

• Read “How Former Police Officers Are Treated in Prison” at Vice. “We spoke to some experts to find out what life is like for ex-cops behind bars.”

Read “Oakland to divert $17M from police budget” at The Hill.

Read “US Border Patrol launches new marine unit amid rise in maritime smuggling” at PRI.

Read ‘Proposed law making cell phone video of cops a crime moves forward by Ohio legislators” at News 5 Cleveland.

Read “Family demands justice after teen fatally shot by Lonoke County sheriff's deputy” at KATV.

Read “Fox News Sunday host asks GOP congressman why it's "the Republicans who are defunding the police"“ at Salon.

Read “Budget bill provision allows DPS to block release of all video records” at AZ Mirror.

Read “UN calls for US, others to end 'impunity' for police violence against Black people” at The Hill.

Read “Watch a police officer admit to playing Taylor Swift to keep a video off YouTube” at The Verge.

Read “Police group says ambush attacks on officers up 91 percent over past year” at The Hill.

Read “Ex-Nashville officer Andrew Delke takes plea deal in deadly shooting of Daniel Hambrick” at Fox17.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “The hypocrisy of cancel culture means young people can never learn anything” at The Telegraph.

Read “The Death of Gratitude in the American Classroom” at Public Discourse. “Encouraging people to be gracious, and to recognize what others have provided them through no merit of their own, is not about “guilt tripping” them. It is to encourage a particular way of existing in the world. Gratitude acknowledges the plenitude of goodness that surrounds us every moment of every day in millions of small acts of people we do not know.”

Read “Spanking can worsen a child’s behavior and do real harm, study finds” at CNN.

Read “UNC trustees approve tenure for journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones after students removed from meeting area” at CBS News.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

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

Read “WHO Urges Vaccinated People to Keep Taking COVID Precautions as Delta Variant Spreads Across Globe” at Democracy Now.

Read “American carnage: What we are now learning about Trump's nightmarish mishandling of COVID” at Salon.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “The Meet-Cute That Made WrestleMania How a ponderous wrestler and a pop star from Queens formed an unlikely friendship that started it all” at Vulture.

Read “Kanye West sues Walmart for allegedly copying his foam runner shoes” at NME.

Read “The Teamsters Announce Coordinated Nationwide Project to Unionize Amazon” at Vice.

Read “Grief Is Another Word For Love” at Guernica Magazine.

Read “Well, now we know what happens when you swallow an AirPod” at AV Club.

Read “Leaving Conservatism Behind” at Dissent Magazine. “How I renounced the God-and-guns conservatism of my blue-collar roots and embraced class politics.”

Read “Nurse suspended for TikTok videos about mistreating her patients claims they were comedy skits” at The Independent.

Read “NCAA Votes To Let Athletes Earn Money Based On Their Names And Images” at NPR.

Read “Amazon Delivery Companies Revolt Against Amazon, Shut Down” at Vice.

Internationalities:

Read “The Dominican Republic Is Building a Wall to Keep Haitian Migrant Kids Out” at Vice. “Close to half a million Haitians are living undocumented in the Dominican Republic, and many of them are children.”

Read “Roughly 650 troops to stay in Afghanistan after withdrawal” at The Hill.

Read “Classified UK military documents found at bus stop” at The Hill.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Pence says it would have been 'un-American' to not certify results of 2020 election” at ABC 15.

Read “Ron Johnson calls for Republicans to run for local office and 'take back our culture'“ at The Hill.

• Read “Milwaukee newspaper blasts Ron Johnson as 'irresponsible representative of Wisconsin citizens'“ at The Hill.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “In Arizona, GOP Lawmakers Strip Power From a Democrat” at Yahoo.

Read “Audit leader Doug Logan appears in conspiracy theorist election film” at AZ Mirror.

Read “Trump Sought Justice Department Intervention to Stop SNL from Making Fun of Him” at Second Nexus.

Read “Documents Show Ivanka Trump Didn’t Testify Accurately in Inauguration Scandal Case” at Mother Jones.

Music-Related News and Such:

Browse “2021.5 : Our Favorite Albums + Songs From The First Half Of The Year” at Gorilla vs. Bear.

• Browse “Alt.Latino's Best Music of 2021 (So Far)” at NPR.

• Browse “The Best Of 2021 – Halftime Report” at Uncut.

Read “How Black People Created All Your Favorite Music” at HighSnobiety.

Read “Ed Sheeran turned to Bono for fatherhood advice: “We had a three-hour chat”” at NME.

Read “One Day the Music Goes Away” at Passion Weiss. “After Myspace lost over 50 million song uploads, Will Hagle ponders the fleeting shelf-life of digital music and the impermanence of a life lived online.”

Read “New Hawkwind book to be published in October” at Louder Sound.

Watch “The Ramones on Regis and Kathy Lee (1988)” at Boing Boing.

Read “Rich Robinson Rehashes Black Crowes Split, Calling Drummer Steve Gorman “Extremely Negative” and “Manipulative” at Jambands.com.

Read “Britney Spears’s Courtroom Plea Spurs Questions for Her Lawyer” at New York Times. “The singer said she had not known she needed to petition the court to be released from her conservatorship, placing a focus on the court-appointed counsel who has represented her for 13 years.”

• Read “Is It Legal to Prevent Britney Spears From Having a Baby and Removing Her IUD?” at Variety.

• Read “Britney Spears: ‘I Just Want My Life Back’” at New York Times.

• Read “Management Firm Pulls Out of Britney Spears Conservatorship” at Variety.

Read “Review: Hiss Golden Messenger’s ‘Quietly Blowing It’ Belies Its Title” at American Songwriter.

• Read “Hiss Golden Messenger's M.C. Taylor Processes His Pandemic Blues In Latest Album” at NPR.

Read “A Race ‘Report Card’ Measures Whether the Music Industry Changed” at New York Times.

Read “Courtney Love Demands ‘Rude’ Olivia Rodrigo Send Her Flowers For Copying Album Cover” at Huff Post.

• Read “Courtney Love and Olivia Rodrigo Spark Debate About Creative Homage vs. Theft” at Flood.

Read “Sharp Ascent: In Conversation with Six Organs Of Admittance’s Ben Chasny” at Sun-13.

Read “Antifa Defeats Mumford & Sons” at Slate.

Read “Avril Lavigne partners with real-life 'Sk8er boi' Tony Hawk in TikTok debut” at CNN.

Read “Add to Your Record Collection With Amazon’s New Monthly Vinyl Subscription Service” at Variety.

Read/Listen to “Talkhouse Weekend Playlist: Inside the World of Jaubi” at Talkhouse. “The bandleader behind Jaubi shares up-and-coming artists and some influences behind the new record, Nafs at Peace.”

• Read “Jaubi | Interview | Spiritual Journey from Pakistan” at Psychedelic Baby.

Read “Wanda Jackson Announces Final Album ‘Encore’ With Joan Jett” at Rolling Stone.

Read “How Japanese Breakfast Builds An Album, Sound By Sound” at NPR.

Read “How Sun Ra Taught Us to Believe in the Impossible” at New Yorker. “The visionary jazz artist sketched an “Astro-Black mythology” that aligned ancient Egyptian history with a future human exodus “beyond the stars.”

Browse Americana-UK’s picks for “Essentials: The top ten Howe Gelb albums.”

Read “Supreme Partners with Butthole Surfers for Clothing Collection” at Consequence.

Browse “Ishmael Butler On The 10 Best Shabazz Palaces Songs” at Treble.

Read “Biz Markie Is Still Alive, Manager Confirms Amid Death Rumors on Social Media” at Pitchfork.

Read “Ryley Walker Talks Moving to Vermont and His New Album” at Seven Days VT.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Browse “37 Hitchcock Cameo Appearances Over 50 Years: All in One Video” at Open Culture.

Read “‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ at 25: ‘The Most R-Rated G You Will Ever See’” at New York Times.

Read “Apple TV+ Shortening Its Free One-Year Trials” at Pop Culture.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “David Bowie art from Ontario landfill sets $50K auction record, but some locals aren't happy with the fame” at CBC. “Some from the small community of South River fear an influx of treasure hunters following rare find.”

Read “Picasso Painting Hidden In Maine Closet For 50 Years Sold” at Huff Post.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “Discovery of ‘Dragon Man’ Skull in China May Add Species to Human Family Tree” at New York Times.

Read “'Important first step': Highly anticipated UFO report released with no firm conclusions” at AZ Central.

• Read “For UFO enthusiasts at Oregon festival, ‘it’s all extraterrestrial’” at Religion News Service.

• Read “U.S. Has No Explanation for Unidentified Objects and Stops Short of Ruling Out Aliens” at New York Times.

• Read “How the Pentagon learned to start worrying and investigate UFOs” at National Geographic.]

• Read “New video shows unidentified glowing objects near US Navy ship” at Mystery Wire.

Read “This Is My Brain on Salvia” at Wired. “I loaned my head to the world’s first fMRI study on the effects of salvinorin A, a potent psychedelic. Here’s what it revealed.”

Read “Does drinking hot tea in summer really cool you down?” at Universal-Sci.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Uncover the (actually not very mysterious) origins of Massachusetts' toy horse graveyard, Ponyhenge” at AV Club.

Local:

Read “Phoenix firefighters union pushing for change after 2 firefighters hospitalized from back to back trail rescues” at 12 News.

The Weekly Town Crier (06/11/21)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (07/11/21).

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Russell Moore’s Warnings Should Bring a Reckoning” by David French. “How much more evidence do we need that the church needs reform?”

Read “Godless grifters: How the New Atheists merged with the far right” at Salon. “What once seemed like a bracing intellectual movement has degenerated into a pack of abusive, small-minded bigots.”

Read “A refugee agency rebuilds its pipeline after Trump: ‘We’re starting from scratch’” at Religion News Service.

Read “Keep COVID-19 restrictions during in-person worship, ecumenical guide suggests” at Religion News Service.

Read: “A Chronicle Invesigation: Abuse of Faith” at Houston Chronicle. “In the past 20 years, a disturbing number of Southern Baptists with formal church roles have engaged in sexual misconduct, a new investigation by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News reveals. They were pastors. Deacons. Youth pastors. They left behind more than 700 victims. Read and hear the stories of those victims, and learn the depths of the crimes and misconduct of the church leaders they trusted.”

Read “PTL! Andrew Garfield, Jessica Chastain to star as Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker in biopic” at Religion News Service.

Read “Biden DOJ updates court filing after LGBTQ advocates blast its stance in religious schools case” at CNN.

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

Read “Judge overturns California’s 32-year ban on assault weapons” at Associated Press.

Read “Supreme Court Will Hear Case Of FBI Allegedly Surveilling Some Muslim Californians” at Huff Post.

Read “Why Arizona May Resume Gas Chamber Executions” at KJZZ.

Read “America’s gun obsession is rooted in slavery” at The Guardian.

Read “The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax” at Pro Publica. “ProPublica has obtained a vast cache of IRS information showing how billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth — sometimes, even nothing.”

• Read “Wealthiest Executives Paid Little to Nothing in Federal Income Taxes, Report Says” at New York Times.

Read “Michael Cohen on Trump criminal probe: Everyone in the company lied for Donald” at MSNBC.

Read “America’s Dangerous Obsession With Innocence” at The Atlantic. “Most people on death row are guilty. That doesn’t mean they deserve their fate.”

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

Read “"It's now or never": Bipartisan congressional report finds Capitol police ignored Jan. 6 warnings” at Salon.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Could Brain Training Help Address Police Brutality?” at Wired. “New neuroscience-based technologies aim to improve decisionmaking under pressure. But solving systemic problems will take a lot more than that.”

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Judge orders reinstatement of Virginia teacher who opposed transgender rules” at The Hill.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Fauci calls on China to release medical records of Wuhan researchers” at The Hill.

Read “Washington state to allow free pot with vaccines” at The Hill.

Read “Experts Knew a Pandemic Was Coming. Here’s What They’re Worried About Next” at Politico. “Nine disasters we still aren’t ready for.”

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Bill Gates' affairs were an open secret, and someone in Melinda's inner circle hired a private investigator before she filed for divorce, report says” at Business Insider.

Read “Why Is Growing Pot So Energy-Intensive?” at Slate. “Federal regulations, budtender preferences, and a weird trick with carbon dioxide.”

Internationalities:

Read “Nigerian gov’t says it ‘indefinitely’ suspends Twitter” at Al Jazeera.

Read “The world has gained a brand new ocean” at CNet. “On World Ocean Day, the Southern Ocean was officially recognized by National Geographic's mapmakers.”

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “There are already 19 QAnon candidates running for Congress in 2022” at Mic.

Read “Bye-bye Miss American Pie — whatever happened to the Republican Party and conservatism?” at The Hill.

Read “Our Welfare Puritanism” at Democracy Journal.

Read “Trump Spawned a New Group of Mega-Donors Who Now Hold Sway Over the GOP’s Future” at Pro Publica.

Read “3 in 10 Republicans believe Trump will be reinstated as president” at The Hill.

Read “Bipartisan Senate group rules out tax hikes on infrastructure” at The Hill.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Iowa GOP advances bills to shorten early voting, restrict absentee ballots” at The Hill.

Read “Arizona's ballot audit could spread to other states. Here's what to know” at AZ Central.

Read “Giuliani Audio Proves Trump’s Team Was Lying About Ukraine” at Rolling Stone. “A new recording confirms that Trump and his allies were full of shit when they claimed “there was no quid pro quo” in Ukraine.”

Read “Joe Manchin Cares More About ‘Bipartisanship’ Than Fighting Jim Crow” at The Nation.

Read “Joe Manchin is opposing big parts of Biden’s agenda as the Koch network pressures him” at CNBC.

Read “OAN correspondent who is covering the Arizona election audit has been aiding the effort since at least December, documents show” at Business Insider.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Spotify Facing House Judiciary Committee Probe Over “Discovery Mode”” at Pitchfork.

Read “Reservoir Acquires Iconic Tommy Boy Music, Groundbreaking Hip-Hop Label, for $100 Million” at Variety.

• Read “De La Soul's Catalogue Could Be Coming To Streaming Services” at Clash Music.

Read “Home Is Where My Record Collection Is” at Apartment Therapy.

Read “Sinead O'Connor Says She Is Retiring From Music” at Clash Music.

Read “Kid Rock Screams Homophobic Slur During Performance at Tennessee Bar” at Consequence.

Read “Foo Fighters to Play Madison Square Garden’s First Full-Capacity Show Since Start of the Pandemic” at Pitchfork.

Read “Moby on Making ‘Reprise’ and ‘Moby Doc,’ His Rise to Fame, and Living Sober” at Ozy.

Read “Dreamers Wait No Longer—An Expanded Crowded House Returns After A Decade Away” at American Songwriter.

• Read “Neil Finn On Working With His Sons On New Crowded House Album, Canada Memories & Future Of Fleetwood Mac” at ET Canada.

Browse Stereogum’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums Of 2021 So Far.”

Read “Danny Elfman Is Here to Remind Listeners "It's Always Been About Politics"“ at Exclaim.

Read “East Meets West In Anoushka Shankar's Latest Album” at NPR.

Browse “The Strange World Of… Don Cherry” at The Quietus.

Read “Jimmy Eat World’s Zach Lind: Suns are special in ‘The Middle’ of playoff ride” at KTAR.

Read “YouTube Is Poised to Overtake Spotify as Music’s Biggest Bankroller” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Dancing With The Noise: A Conversation with Ben Chasny” at Record Crates United.

Read “The Enduring Appeal of Italian Composers’ Dramatic ‘Library Music’” at New York Times.

Read “Uncovering the Rich History of Spanish Experimental Music” at Bandcamp.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Enjoy these surreal "One Minute Movies" by The Residents” at Boing Boing.

Read “Carole Baskin to “bring bad guys to justice” in new ITV show” at NME.

Read “Cowboy Bebop Composer Yoko Kanno Returns to Score Netflix’s Live-Action Series” at Consequence.

Read ‘Elizabeth Olsen was “frustrated” watching her ‘WandaVision’ performance” at NME. "I can see my 10-year-old theatre-kid self playing out to the audience.”

Read “Anthony Bourdain Didn’t Just Travel the World, He Let It Speak for Itself” at Variety.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Those times the US military hoaxed the public about extraterrestrial contact” at Boing Boing.

The Weekly Town Crier (06/04/21)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (06/04/21).

We’ll Miss You:

Read ‘Actor Gavin MacLeod of 'The Love Boat' and 'Mary Tyler Moore' dies at age 90” at CNN.

Read “Patrick Sky, Folk Singer and Bob Dylan Contemporary, Dead at 80” at Rolling Stone.

Read “B.J. Thomas, 'Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head' singer, dies at age 78” at CNN.

Read “Buddy Van Horn, Clint Eastwood’s Stunt Double and Director, Dies at 92” at Hollywood Reporter.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Zondervan won't publish ‘God Bless the USA Bible,' says marketing was 'premature' after backlash” at Christian Post.

Watch “The 15 year old that Mark Driscoll targeted for kissing his daughter tells his side” at Youtube.

• Read “Postcards from Phoenix: When Church Divides a Family”

Read “Kentucky ties to Baptist kids agency at risk over LGBTQ rights” at Religion News Service. “Baptist-affiliated Sunrise Children’s Services is refusing to sign a clause in a new contract with the state that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation.”

Read “‘It is a constituency:’ QAnon embraced by many in the U.S.” at MSNBC.

Read “The Untold Story of Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard’s Secret Pact With Nazi Propagandist Leni Riefenstahl” at Daily Beast.

Read “Exclusive: Sex abuse allegations by Carl Lentz’s former nanny put spotlight on Hillsong culture” at Religion News Service.

Read “Preaching at FBC Dallas, Patterson Denounces “Lynch Mob” Trying to Get Him” at Word and Way.

• Read “Patterson disputes allegations he improperly took items, used SWBTS’ donor list” at Baptist Press.

Read “Leaked Russell Moore letter blasts SBC conservatives, sheds light on his resignation” at Religion News Service. “In a letter written more than a year before his resignation, Moore explained his troubles with the SBC leadership in bitterly frank terms. Then-President Donald Trump barely makes an appearance.”

• Read “Russell Moore to ERLC trustees: ‘They want me to live in psychological terror’” at Religion News Service.

Read “I'm a teacher but I serve God first': Virginia teacher refuses to comply with proposed pronoun policy” at NBC News.

Read “Rape Victim Says Liberty University Deceived & Betrayed Her” at Roys Report.

Read “How Is The GOP Adjusting To A Less Religious America?” at NPR.

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

Read “Latino or Latinx? The Linguistic Debate Over Inclusive Terms” at KJZZ.

Read “Texas State Rep. Moody On Bill That Would Allow Anyone To Carry A Handgun Without A Permit, License” at WBUR.

• Read “Miami Police Chief Slams Texas Bill That Would Allow Unlicensed Carrying Of Handguns” at Huff Post. “Common sense tells us” that the new gun measure is “ridiculous,” said Art Acevedo, the former Houston police chief.”

Read “The U.S. forced them into internment camps. Here’s how Japanese Americans started over.” at National Geographic.

Read “The Gig Economy’s Business Model Is a Racial Justice Issue” at Vice.

Read “San Jose Gunman Expressed Hate for Co-Workers for Years, Had History of Sexual Violence” at Democracy Now.

Read “One hundred years ago, white mobs burned Tulsa’s Black neighborhood to the ground.” at Wall Street Journal.

• Read “Tulsa's Greenwood neighborhood found prosperity after the 1921 massacre. Then the highways arrived” at NBC News. “The plot to take it over has happened — it just didn’t happen in 1921,” a researcher said of the once-thriving Greenwood district.”

• Read “When Our Forefathers Fail” by David French. “On the moral imperative of mourning the Tulsa Race Massacre today.”

• Read “The job is not done yet": Black Wall Street documentaries detail the massacre & still seek justice” at Salon.

• Read “Tulsa pastors honor ‘holy ground’ 100 years after massacre” at Associated Press.

Read “Biden leaves Hyde Amendment out of budget” at The Hill.

Read “Roger Stone predicts a Donald Trump criminal indictment is on the horizon” at Salon.

Read “2 dead, 20 injured in mass shooting in Miami” at The Hill.

Read “One-fifth of Americans who bought guns last year were first-time buyers” at The Hill.

Read “Judge approves plea deal of Gaetz associate Joel Greenberg; sentencing set for August” at The HIll.

Read “NFL pledges to halt ‘race-norming,’ review Black claims” at Associated Press.

Read “Giuliani and Prosecutors Agree on Former Judge to Review Seized Materials” at New York Times.

Read “How the Supreme Court has tilted election law to favor the Republican Party” at Los Angeles Times.

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

Read “Jan. 6 defendants continue to struggle as Trump continues to lie” at MSNBC.

Read “DOJ adds four defendants to Oath Keepers conspiracy case” at The Hill.

Read “Former Trump advisor Michael Flynn said the US should have a coup like Myanmar, where the military overthrew the democratically elected government” at Yahoo.

Read “Neo-Nazi Was Behind Walmart Mass Shooting Plot, Group Claims” at Vice. “The Texas man was arrested and police confiscated guns, ammo, and extremist paraphernalia, including a T-shirt featuring the image of the neo-Nazi group that claims he was one of their own.”

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Thousands marched in Phoenix against police brutality a year ago. So, what's changed since?” at 12 News.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Deputy demoted after leaving his K-9 partner in a patrol car, the dog died” at AZ Family.

Read “What If Your Abusive Husband Is A Cop?” at New Yorker.

Read “Phoenix Settles Rape Claim Against Former Police Officer” at KJZZ.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Oklahoma teacher says summer class canceled due to bill that bans teaching critical race theory” at KOCO.

Read “How Hillary Clinton Went Undercover to Examine Race in Education” at New York Times.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Methodist Hospital employees sue over vaccine requirement, citing violation of Nuremberg Code” at Houston Chronicle.

Read “Costco says free samples and food courts will fully return by June” at USA Today.

Read “Florida rock concert tickets are $18 if you're vaccinated – $1,000 if you're not” at The Hill.

Read “Hat makers distance from Nashville store amid uproar over 'Not Vaccinated' badges” at The Hill.

Read “Vietnam Detects New Highly Transmissible Coronavirus Variant” at Slate.

Read “Anti-vaxxer sheriff's deputy dies from COVID-19 complications shortly after mocking the vaccine on Facebook” at Yahoo.

Read “'Karen' baby name popularity drops over 170 spots in 2020” at The Hill.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “The Colorado River is facing an alarming water shortage for the first time ever” at The Hill.

Read “U.S. Military Personnel Spilled Nuclear Secrets in Online Flashcards” at Vice.

Read “Homebuyers Squeezed As Western States See Prices Double Or More In Last Decade” at NPR.

Read “Matt Gaetz says $155k to close on yacht with his fiancee ‘went missing’” at Yahoo.

Read “TikTok’s ‘Americancore’ Trend Shows Americans How the Rest of the World Feels at Vice.

Read “American Airlines joins Southwest in delaying return of alcohol sales” at The Hill.

Read “How Would You Feel About a 4-Day Workweek?” at The Nation. “As productivity has soared, time off has not kept pace. It’s time to change that.”

Read “Mental Health Struggles Don't Care About 'Success'“ at Huff Post. “Naomi Osaka is just one of many examples where compassion evaporates the second someone publicly discusses their well-being.”

Read “World No. 1 Ash Barty Withdraws From French Open Due To Hip Injury” at Huff Post.

Internationalities:

Read “NGOs say Biden's proposed military aid to Egypt undermines human rights” at Al-Monitor.

Read “Germany Officially Recognizes It Committed Genocide In Present-Day Namibia” at NPR

Read “US returns ancient stone carvings to Thailand” at BBC.

Read “Remains of 215 children found at former residential school in British Columbia” at APTN News.

Read ‘AI emotion-detection software tested on Uyghurs” at BBC.

Read “Tiananmen: Hong Kong vigil organiser arrested on 32nd anniversary” at BBC.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “The six GOP senators who backed Jan. 6 commission bill” at The Hill.

Read “Trump Slams Paul Ryan For Calling End To His Presidency ‘Disgraceful’” at Huff Post. “The ex-president claimed the former House speaker is “a curse to the Republican Party.”

Read “A win for DeSantis? Fla. law fines social media companies for banning candidates” at MSNBC.

Read ‘Fmr. DHS Secretary Napolitano slams GOP Senators for ignoring national security threats” at MSNBC

Read “Alaska: Biden to suspend Trump Arctic drilling leases” at BBC.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Senate Republicans block commission on January 6 insurrection” at CBS News.

• Read “These 11 senators skipped the Jan. 6 commission vote” at Daily News.

• Read “Sen. Kyrsten Sinema Won’t Explain Why She No-Showed for the Capitol Riot Commission Vote” at Daily Beast.

Read “Sen. Cruz shares far-right Russian propaganda video to attack U.S. military” at MSNBC.

Read “Texas Republicans finalize bill that would enact stiff new voting restrictions and make it easier to overturn election results” at Washington Post.

Read “DOJ Asks Judge to Dismiss Lawsuits Against Trump for Violent Clearing of Lafayette Square” at Slate.

Read “The RNC's scandal-plagued finance team, four years later” at MSNBC. “Four years ago, the RNC announced its national finance team. How many of the quartet have faced Justice Department investigations? All of them.”

Read “National Review writer 'can attest' to Trump pressing conservatives to say election was 'stolen'“ at The Hill.

Read “Postmaster General DeJoy under investigation for claim he once called ‘outrageous’” at MSNBC.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “It Came Out of the Sky: Creedence Clearwater Revival’s ‘Willy and the Poor Boys’ at 50” at The Ringer (originally from 2019).

Read “10 big talking points from the posthumous new DMX album ‘Exodus’” at NME.

Read “What Is Asian American Music, Really?” at Pitchfork.

Read “Jeff Tweedy in Conversation with Jeff Tweedy” at Believer.

Read “Man Returns Bob Dylan Album to Library After 48 Years Overdue” at Consequence.

Read “Resistance Songs: Mdou Moctar's Favourite Music” at The Quietus.

Read “Hanson Tap Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen for New Song ‘Don’t Ever Change’” at Rolling Stone.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Apple Orders ‘The Big Door Prize’ TV Adaptation From ‘Schitt’s Creek’ Producer David West Read” at Variety.

Read “'Rugrats' Reboot: Phil and Lil's Mom Betty Will Be Openly Gay in Paramount+ Show” at Pop Culture.

Read “‘Paddington 2’ Loses Top Movie of All Time Honor Due to New Bad Review” at Hollywood Reporter.

Read “The Healing Power of Lodge 49 How a Short-Lived Show Broke Through My Pandemic Fog” at Vogue.

Read “Universal Reportedly Wants A Fast & Furious And Jurassic World Crossover” at We Got This Covered.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “A Medieval Book That Opens Six Different Ways, Revealing Six Different Books in One” at Open Culture.

Design/Artsy Things:

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “UFO whistleblower says Pentagon tried to silence him” at The Hill.

• Read “UFO filmmaker releases 46-second video allegedly showing swarm of objects hovering near Navy ship” at Yahoo.

• Read “U.S. Finds No Evidence of Alien Technology in Flying Objects, but Can’t Rule It Out, Either” at New York Times.

Read “Even Creatures in The Deepest Ocean Trench Have Eaten Plastic” at Global Citizen.

Read “It’s really beginning to look like Tom DeLonge can blow the lid off the mystery of UFOs” at A Journal Of Musical Things.

Read “Viral video shows massive shark circling boat in Atlantic Ocean” at 12 News.

Read “China to send 3 astronauts to its new space station in June” at 12 News.

Read “Nasa to launch baby squid to International Space Station” at BBC.

Food And Drink Cultures:

Misc. Oddities:

Local:

Read “Arizona ‘refurbishes’ its gas chamber to prepare for executions, documents reveal” at The Guardian.

Read “Ducey vetoes 22 bills, says nothing will be signed until budget is approved” at AZ Mirror.

Read “‘We should be very worried’: Top Arizona election official sounds alarm over GOP’s war against democracy” at The Independent.

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 (05/14/21)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (05/14/21).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Vans co-founder Paul Van Doren dies At 90” at PennLive.

Read ‘Pervis Staples, Co-Founder of the Staple Singers, Dies at 85” at Pitchfork.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “For some pastors, the past year was a sign from God it was time to quit” at Religion News Service.

Read “Why Nathan Cartagena Teaches Critical Race Theory To Evangelicals” at Sojourners.

Read “Saddleback Church Ordains 3 Women Pastors, Defying Southern Baptist Position” at Roys Report.

Read “How American Christendom Weakens American Christianity” at David French.

Read ‘German priests defy Pope Francis with blessings of same-sex unions” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Mark Driscoll Accused of Cult-Like Actions; 24/7 Surveillance, Mandated Loyalty” at Roys Report.

Read “Inside Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam’s Strange Ties to Scientology” at Daily Beast.

Read “Meet Kashmir’s ‘Midnight Drummers,’ keeping alive an age-old Ramadan tradition” at Religion News Service.

Read “Religion plays a role in the renewed conflict in Israel, but it may not be what you think” at Religion News Service.

Read “Former Members of Indiana Church Accuse Pastor of Sexual Abuse & Presbytery of Covering it Up” at Roys Report.

Read “The Eugenics Roots of Evangelical Family Values” at Religion and Politics.

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

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 “Two Asian women repeatedly attacked with cinder block as they closed Baltimore store” at NBC News.

Read “Maryland governor pardons 34 victims of racial lynching” at The Hill.

Read “Sub shop owner allegedly pays manager to kill employee to avoid back pay” at Crime Online.

Read “'Woke,' Leftist & Black: The Incomplete Glossary of White Slurs” at The Root.

Read “DA to seek death penalty, hate crime charges against 22-year-old spa shooting suspect” at 11 Alive.

Read “Bodycam video shows Andrew Brown Jr. didn't drive into deputies who shot him, lawyers say: "He did just the opposite"“ at CBS 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 “In Exclusive Jailhouse Letter, Capitol Riot Defendant Explains Motives, Remains Boastful” at Pro Publica. ”The material obtained by ProPublica sheds light on the radicalization of a Jan. 6 defendant whom prosecutors have characterized as a “serious danger ... not only to his family and Congress, but to the entire system of justice.”

Read “Rep. Paul Gosar defends the 'peaceful patriots' who rioted on Jan. 6” at AZ Central.

Watch “GQP reps claim Capitol riot was a "normal tourist visit" at Boing Boing.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Washington bans open carry of weapons at state capitol, public protests” at The Hill.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Two More Lawsuits Filed Against Williamson County Sheriff's Department For Its Use Of Force” at KUT. “Attorneys say Ramsey Mitchell was punched, kicked and tased by deputies multiple times, and that he was put in a chokehold before being rendered unconscious. The incident was captured on camera for the the now-canceled reality television show “Live PD.”

Read “Alabama officer convicted of murdering suicidal man while on duty” at The Hill.

Read “Federal grand jury charges 4 former Minneapolis cops with violating George Floyd’s civil rights — Chauvin also charged in teen arrest” at CNBC.

Read “KARE 11 Investigates: New data shows MPD searches Black drivers at 29 times the rate of whites after minor stops” at KARE11. “A KARE 11 analysis reveals huge racial disparities continue in Minneapolis for minor traffic stops and searches despite reforms promised after George Floyd’s death.”

Read “Virginia prosecutor says Black motorist should never have been pulled over, asks for investigation” at CNN.

Read “Witness: Man angered by Texas deputies in yard killed them” at Yahoo.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Schools Seeing Relief, Conflicts Since Arizona Lifted School Mask Mandate” at KJZZ.

Read “Dillard University Receives $1 Million From The Ray Charles Foundation” at Offbeat Magazine.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Nurses Honor 400 Colleagues Who Lost Their Lives to COVID-19, Call for More Protections” at Democracy Now.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Pro golfer arrested for attempting to meet with minor for sex” at ABC 15.

Read “Caitlyn Jenner tells Hannity friends are fleeing California because of homeless people” at The Hill.

Read ‘Logjam! A journey to the heart of the lumber shortage.” at Slate.

Read “Anyone can claim copyright to your videos - and YouTube stands by and watches” at My News Desk.

Read “Kintsugi: The Centuries-Old Japanese Craft of Repairing Pottery with Gold & Finding Beauty in Broken Things” at Open Culture.

Read “Called by God” at Slate. “In 2014, I went on a vigilante raid to “save” kids sold for sex. What we did haunts me now.”

Read “Diamond in the rough: Japanese Americans imprisoned at Arizona camps during WWII found solace in baseball” at Cronkite News.

Read “Who Should John Mulaney Be Now?” at Vulture.

Browse “Leonardo da Vinci’s Handwritten Resume (1482)” at Open Culture.

Read “Hummer destroyed by fire after driver stockpiles gas” at The Hill.

Read “The 1970s Fashion Designer Who Was Outlandishly Ahead of His Time” at The Atlantic. “Twenty years ago, fashion lost the visionary designer—and prophet—behind P-Funk and Kiss.”

Read “McDonald's-owned U.S. restaurants boost pay to lure new workers” at Reuters.

Internationalities:

Read ‘Man Trapped on Bridge After Glass Deck Blown Off By Strong Wind” at Vice.

Read “8 dead in Russia school shooting” at The Hill.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read the opinion piece “Republicans will never certify a Democratic win ever again” at Boing Boing.

Read “Liz Cheney removed from position as House GOP conference chair over anti-Trump stance” at New York Post.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Trump Justice Department secretly obtained Post reporters’ phone records” at Washington Post.

Read “Arizona Republicans to brush off DOJ concern about election audit” at The Hill.

Read “Are Donald Trump & Rudy Giuliani Sitting on Secret Pardons?” at News and Guts.

Read “Tennessee cuts off $300 federal unemployment supplement” at The Hill.

Read “Election security experts say giving Maricopa County routers to Arizona Senate's election auditors would be concerning” at AZ Central.

Read “Activists and Ex-Spy Said to Have Plotted to Discredit Trump ‘Enemies’ in Government” at New York Times.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Van Morrison: Latest Record Project Volume 1 review – depressing rants by tinfoil milliner” at Guardian. “The veteran bluesman loudly wakes up the sheeple with this boring and paranoid double album, reminiscent of a dinner party with a bitter divorcee.”

• Read as Pitchfork reviews Van Morrison’s newest album: “It’s a terrible night for a moondance: On this risible and intermittently lovely 28-song collection, Van indulges in some of his most cherished paranoid theories and deepest-held grudges.”

Read “Mac Miller’s Family Condemns Unauthorized Biography” at Pitchfork.

Read “Chrissie Hynde Details New Bob Dylan Covers Album Standing in the Doorway” at Consequence.

Read “David Lynch Directs New Music Video for Donovan’s “I Am the Shaman”” at Consequence.

Read “On maintaining creative relationships” at The Creative Independent.

Read “The Artist Impostors of Spotify” at Salon. “I tracked some down.”

Read “Rodney Crowell Previews New Album With Urgent ‘Something Has to Change’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Listening to Hard Rock and Metal Can Lead to Unhealthy Food Choices” at Consequence.

Read “Dead & Company on Summer Tour: ‘You Couldn’t Turn Your Back on This Music’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Archie Shepp’s 1974 Paris concert set for first vinyl release” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “JAY-Z, Foo Fighters, Tina Turner Inducted Into Rock Hall of Fame 2021” at Pitchfork.

Read “Kraftwerk FINALLY gets into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Oh, and the Foos made it, too)” at A Journal of Musical Things.

Read “Can’s Live Shows Will Be Heard at Last, Thanks to a Bootlegger in Big Pants” at New York Times.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “NBC Is Dropping Golden Globes After Criticism Over Diversity” at Bloomberg. “Musician Matt Sweeney discusses confidence, different types of collaboration, paying attention, and creating and sustaining your lane.”

Read “The "Ted Lasso" way is comforting – and a counter to the hollow nationalism Americans have embraced” at Salon.

Read “'American Idol' finalist Caleb Kennedy out after KKK-style hood video surfaces” at CNN.

Read “Bong Joon Ho working on animated film involving "deep-water sea creatures"“ at AV Club.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction: 17,500 Entries on All Things Sci-Fi Are Now Free Online” at Open Culture.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “A Private Company Is About to Send the First Paying Crew to the International Space Station” at Time.

Read “The Psychedelic Miracle” at Rolling Stone. “How some doctors are risking everything to unleash the healing power of MDMA, ayahuasca and other hallucinogens.”

• Read “A New Study Points to MDMA as a Powerful Treatment for PTSD” at Time.

Read “The Soviet Doctor Who Cut Out His Own Appendix” at Flashback.

Food Cultures:

Read “Restaurants are running out of chicken wings” at ABC 15.

Local:

Read “21 and Over! Here are 21 New Craft Beer Releases from Arizona Breweries” at Phoenix Magazine.

Read “What were those strange lights in the Arizona sky?” at AZ Family.

Read “Arizona's Early Voting List Is No Longer Permanent” at KJZZ.

The Weekly Town Crier (05/07/21)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (05/07/21.

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Nathan Jung, 'Star Trek' and 'The A-Team' Actor, Dead at 74” at Pop Culture.

Read “Paul Oscher, Blues Musician in Muddy Waters’s Band, Dies at 74” at New York Times.

Read “RIP: Bassist Tony Markellis” at Relix.

Read ‘Ed Ward, Rock Historian and Early ‘Rolling Stone’ Editor, Dead at 72” at Rolling Stone.

Religion and Stuff:

 Read “Ravi Zacharias’s Ministry Investigates Claims of Sexual Misconduct at Spas” at Christianity Today.

Read “Faith, Freedom, Fear: Rural America’s Covid Vaccine Skeptics” at New York Times.

Read “Faith, Freedom, Fear: Rural America’s Covid Vaccine Skeptics” at New York Times.

Read “How Eric Metaxas went from Trump despiser to true believer” at Religion News Service. “How a onetime aspiring public intellectual and Trump doubter turned into a true believer in stolen elections.”

Read “The evangelical sexual abuse crisis is the spiritual warfare of our time” by Karen Swallow Prior at Religion News Service.

Read “John Piper: Ravi Zacharias turned 'position of power' into 'neediness and woundedness'“ at Christian Post.

Read “Study: Trauma-Informed Bible Reading Reduces Depression, Anxiety, Anger” at Christianity Today.

Browse the list of “Ministries With an “F” Transparency Grade” at Ministry Watch.

Read ‘As COVID-19 swamps India, decision to allow Kumbh Mela’s crowds is scrutinized” at Religion News Service.

Read “Canadian Pastor Calls Lockdowns “Greatest Threat” to Health in First Day of Trial” at Roys Report.

Read “Inside The Evangelical Beliefs and Practices That Facilitate Abuse In Families Like The Duggars’ at Religion Dispatches.

Read “‘She didn’t deserve to die the way she did,’ says family of cult leader found dead and mummified” at Washington Post.

Read “Russell Moore had a crisis of faith, but it didn’t help him understand ex-evangelicals” at Flux.Community.

Read “LifeSiteNews removed from Facebook for violating COVID-19 misinformation policies” at Religion News Service.

Read “The Lament of the Christian Disney Dad: What Evangelicals Really Hate About ‘Wokeness’ at Disney World’” at Religion Dispatches.

Read “Remembering Marva Dawn, a Saint of Modern Worship” at Christianity Today.

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

Read “Tests from 1993 killing reveal another man's DNA other than executed Arkansas inmate” at KATV.

Read “Five people charged after authorities find 97 migrants in Houston home” at The Hill.

Read “Derek Chauvin files motion for new trial in George Floyd case, alleging jury misconduct” at NBC News. “Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, filed the request alleging that the former officer's ability to have a fair trial was affected by pretrial publicity.”

Read “This Board Game Uses Vampires To Fight Anti-Asian Racism” at Huff Post.

Read “Lawyer for separated migrant families 'hopeful' they will soon be reunified, allowed to stay in U.S.” at NBC News.

Read “Josh Duggar Charged On 2 Federal Child Pornography Counts; Pleads “Not Guilty,” Requests Bail” at Deadline.

• Read “Josh Duggar Hearing: Homeland Security Agent Details Timeline of Child Porn Case” at People.

• Read “Josh Duggar allowed out of jail while awaiting trial on child porn charges” at Northwest Gazette.
  
  

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

Read “New "weapons of mass destruction" charges filed against accused Whitmer kidnap plotters” at Salon.

Read “Canadian chapter of the Proud Boys, designated a terrorist group by the government, says it has ‘dissolved’” at Washington Post.

Read ‘White Nationalism Is Far Worse Than a 'Disease'“ at Wired. “Most analogies for racism as a pathology oversimplify its blight. Better diagnosing it means knowing how to treat it.”

Read ‘Former Neo-Nazi Terror Leader Gets Three-Year Prison Term” at Vice.

Read “Wisconsin National Guard member charged in Capitol riot” at The Hill.

Read “FBI still after 'worst of the worst' in Capitol riot as new arrests come at steady pace” at NBC News.

Read “Lawyer blames 'Foxitis' for his US Capitol riot client's actions, as another defendant derails hearings with profane outbursts” at CNN.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Federal judge finds that Columbus police ran 'amok' during peaceful protests, restricts uses of force” at NBC News.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Georgia deputy said that beating Black man was 'sweet stress relief,' feds say” at The Hill.

Read “Watch: South Carolina cop harasses a man for being "suspicious" (as in Black)” at Boing Boing.

Read ‘How activists fought Joe Arpaio’s immigration roundups” at High Country News.

Read “Officers no longer at jobs after video showed them laughing at violent arrest of elderly woman” at The Hill.

Read “Recording the Police: What to Know, and How to Stay Safe Doing It” at KQED.

Read “Man killed himself after LAPD officer fired Taser during foot pursuit, officials say” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Atlanta police officer fired after fatally shooting Rayshard Brooks has been reinstated” at ABC News.

Read “Kansas City officials seek to end jaywalking penalties noting racial disparity in citations” at The Hill.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “College Coach Arrested, Accused of Tricking Student-Athletes Into Sending Nude Photos” at Pop Culture.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “The U.S. never had a shot at herd immunity” at Salon. “Hostility to scientific expertise plus rejection of the concept of the common good led to anti-vaxx conservatism.”

Read “Actor Arrested for Ignoring COVID-19 Protocols to Film Movie” at Pop Culture.

Read “Less than half of NYPD cops have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine” at New York Post.

Read “PPP is out of money for most businesses ahead of planned May 31 closure” at AZ Family.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “US Space Force scientist says military ‘human augmentation’ is necessary in next decade” at Metro.

Read “NPR Turns 50! Its Hosts and Stars Share Their Favorite NPR Moments, Memories and Near-Disasters” at People.

Read “German Gymnasts Cover Their Legs In Stand Against Sexualization” at NPR.

Read “Bill and Melinda Gates announce they are getting divorced” at Associated Press.

Read “‘MDMA cured my alcoholism’: Inside the remarkable ecstasy trial offering an escape from trauma” at The Telegraph.

Read “Verizon sells AOL, Yahoo for $5B” at The Hill.

Read “The FBI is breaking into corporate computers to remove malicious code” at Salon.

Read “Trump hypes new "communications platform": It's a blog — run with Big Tech's help” at Salon.

Read “Account tweeting Trump statements suspended by Twitter” at The HIll.

Read “How Video Games Are Saving Those Who Served” at Wired.

Internationalities:

Read “Mexico City rail overpass collapses onto road, killing at least 23” at Reuters.

Read “Belgian farmer moves border with France by mistake” at AZ Family.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Mitt Romney booed at raucous Utah GOP convention as speakers attack the Biden agenda” at Salt Lake Tribune.

Read “Mitch McConnell: 1619, American slavery starting point, not an important date in history” at Louisville Courier-Journal.

Read ‘DOJ slow to resolve Trump-era legal battles” at The Hill.

Read “Biden Raises Refugee Admissions Cap to 62,500” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “TheHill.com Bush: If Republican Party stands for 'white Anglo-Saxon Protestantism, then it's not going to win anything'“ at The Hill.

Read “The first 100 days can define a president. Here’s how the internet saw Biden and Trump” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Cheney hits 'Trump cult of personality,' says she'll keep speaking out” at The Hill.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Iowa governor signs law allowing landlords to refuse Section 8 vouchers” at The Hill.

Read “Former FBI director represented Russian firm at center of major money-laundering probe” at Business Insider.

Read “Judge orders release of Trump obstruction memo, accuses Barr of deception” at The Hill.

Read “'Do it right or don't do it': Arizona's top elections officer warns of serious problems with ballot recount” at 12 News.

Read “Former Ukrainian prosecutor says he was fired for not investigating Hunter Biden” at The Hill.

Read “Despite GOP rhetoric, there have been fewer than two dozen charged cases of voter fraud since the election” at Washington Post.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read ‘Marilyn Manson Sued for Sexual Assault, Sex Trafficking by ‘Game of Thrones’ Actress Esmé Bianco” at Rolling Stones.

Read “Ex-Cannibal Corpse Guitarist Pat O’Brien Finally Sentenced for Bizarre Headline-Making Incident” at Consequence of Sound. “The metal musician's case involved assault, burglary, a house fire, 80 firearms, and three skulls.”

Read “Young The Giant’s Sameer Gadhia: Rock Music Must Unearth Its Diverse Roots” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Esme Bianco Sues Marilyn Manson for Sexual Assault” at Consequence of Sound. “The Game of Thrones actress also accuses the disgraced rocker of assault and human trafficking.”

Read “Catholic Group Calls for Shutdown of Influential College Radio Station WSOU over “Satanic” Music” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “The Story of the Rolling Stones: A Selection of Documentaries on the Quintessential Rock-and-Roll Band” at Open Culture.

Read “Lucinda Williams Is Recovering From a Stroke” at Consequence.

Listen “to Phife Dawg’s New Posthumous Song “French Kiss Deux” at Pitchfork.

Read “José González Announces Tour With Rufus Wainwright, Shares New “Visions” Video” at Pitchfork.

Read “Over 180 Musicians Protest Spotify’s Speech Monitoring Patent in Open Letter” at Pitchfork.

Read “Bad Brains :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “NOFX’s Fat Mike gives a presentation on NFTs–and it’s really good!” at A Journal Of Musical Things.

Browse “10 Unbelievable Performances by Saxophone Virtuoso Rahsaan Roland Kirk” at In Sheep’s Clothing Hi Fi.

Read “Digging in the Mags: Hi-fidelity Illustrations from the 1970s” at In Sheep’s Clothing Hi Fi.

Read “Bruce Springsteen Receives 2021 Woody Guthrie Prize” at Consequence.

Read “Tokyo Flashback: An essential guide to Japanese label PSF Records” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “Los Lobos Detail New Covers Album ‘Native Sons’ & Share Singles” at JamBase.

Read “Willow Smith Reunites and Fronts Mom Jada Pinkett Smith’s Metal Band Wicked Wisdom for Mother’s Day Surprise: Watch” at Consequence.

Read “Sons of Kemet’s Journey of the World of the Artist” at Treble.

Read “Live Nation Weathers Rough Quarter as Concert Business Slowly Rumbles Back to Life” at Variety.

Read “UK vinyl sales surpassed 1 million units in early 2021” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “You Can Buy Six Strands of Kurt Cobain’s Hair at a Music Auction If You’re Into That Sort of Thing” at Spin.

Read “J Mascis :: Transmissions” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “Red Hot Chili Peppers Sell Publishing Rights to Song Catalog for $140 million” at Jambands.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “The Strange Bipartisan Appeal of Ted Lasso” at Politico. “It's an apolitical show. So why do politicians keep talking about it?”

Read “Fox Staffers Hate Tucker Carlson But They Say He’ll Never Be Fired” at Politics USA.

Read “What’s A Wrinkle in Time Doing in Ted Lasso?” at Madeleine L’Engle.

Read “You Won’t Live to See the Final Star Wars Movie” at Wired.

Read “George A. Romero’s final zombie film is being finished by his widow” at NME.

Read “Inside Netflix’s Quest to End Scrolling” at Vulture.

Read “New Stranger Things 4 Teaser Reminds Us Eleven Is Not Alone” at Consequence.

Read “‘Tiger King’ Subject Jeff Lowe Reveals Federal Authorities Are Seizing Animals at Joe Exotic’s Former Zoo” at Pop Culture.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “The Pentagon Inspector General Is Investigating the Military's UFO Program” at Vice.

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 (04/23/21)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (04/23/21).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “R.I.P. Felix Silla, Actor Who Played Cousin Itt on The Addams Family Dead at 84” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “World reacts to death of Chad President Idriss Deby” at Al Jazeera.

Read ‘Ole Anthony, longtime critic of prosperity gospel televangelists and head of Trinity Foundation, dies at 82” at Religion News Service.

Read “Walter Mondale, former US vice-president and celebrated liberal, dies aged 93” at The Guardian.

Read “Jim Steinman, bombastic hitmaker for Meat Loaf and Celine Dion, dies at 73” at Los Angeles Times.

Read ‘Bay City Rollers frontman Les McKeown, dead at 65” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Rapper Shock G Of Digital Underground Dies at 57” at WBLS.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Liberty University Sues Jerry Falwell Jr. for $10 Million” at New York Times. “he lawsuit claims that Mr. Falwell, the university’s former president, withheld scandalous and potentially damaging information.”

• Read “Apparently Jerry Falwell Jr.’s pool boy has a “cache of compromising photos” he’s willing to leak” at Queerty.

Read “The Greatest Christian Novel” at First Things.

Read “Meet Mercy Haub: The 16-year-old cancer survivor and preacher’s kid who inspired Ellen” at Religion News Service.

Read “Biden reverses course on refugee cap after faith groups express outrage” at Religion News Service.

Read “America Without God” at The Atlantic. “As religious faith has declined, ideological intensity has risen. Will the quest for redemption through politics doom the American idea?”

Read “D.C. Pastor Used $3.5 Million in Fraudulent PPP Loans to Buy Himself a Tesla, FBI Says” at Daily Beast.

Read “Dostoyevsky, Just After His Death Sentence Was Repealed, on the Meaning of Life” at Brain Pickings.

Read “Religious unaffiliation is growing in the US. Why isn’t it in Congress?” at Religion News Service.

Read “Sex discrimination suit against Florida church tests ‘ministerial exception’ rulings” at Religion News Service. “A woman’s lawsuit alleging gender discrimination may reconcile unanswered questions about the so-called ministerial exception.”

Read “The Splintering of the Evangelical Soul” at Christianity Today. “Why we’re coming apart, and how we might come together again.”

Read “Why Defining Gossip Matters in the Church’s Response to Abuse” at Christianity Today.

Read “Christian peacemaking and the role of forgiveness” at Christian Century. “Seeking justice is critical. Is it enough?”

Read “General Baptist pastor who criticized wives’ weight ‘deeply sorry’ for sermon” at Religion News Service. “‘In the sermon, I made insensitive remarks about women and made statements deemed unbiblical,’ said Pastor Stewart-Allen Clark in a statement.”

Read “Margie Zacharias Breaks Silence, Defends Ravi” at Roys Report.

Read “White Evangelical Racism: An Interview with Anthea Butler” at Religion and Politics.

Read “Remembering Prince: A Pop Music Priest in a Secular World” at Christianity Today.

Read “Religious Identities and the Race Against the Virus: Engaging Faith Communities on COVID-19 Vaccination” at PRRI.

Read “AI unlocks ancient Dead Sea Scrolls mystery” at BBC.

Read “Algerian scholar gets three years in jail for ‘offending Islam’” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Amy Coney Barrett was a “paid speaker 5 times, starting in 2011, at the Blackstone Legal Fellowship, a summer program established to inspire a ‘distinctly Christian worldview in every area of law...’ at Washington Post.

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

Read “Officer in George Floyd case found guilty of murder” at NME.

• Read “Chauvin being held in solitary confinement for his own safety” at The Hill.

Read “Maybe America Is Racist” at The Root.

Read “Justice Dept. sues Trump ally Roger Stone for unpaid taxes” at The Hill.

Read “Ethics committee finds probable cause in sexual misconduct allegation against Idaho lawmaker” at The Hill.

Read “Freedom Caucus member condemns GOP group pushing 'Anglo-Saxon political traditions'“ at The Hill.

Read “Florida woman charged for allegedly threatening to kill Kamala Harris” at AZ Family.

Read “13 investigations, no court-martials: Here's how the US Navy and Marine Corps quietly discharged white supremacists” at Yahoo.

Read the opinion piece “GOP's new 'America First Caucus' follows in some blatantly white nationalist footsteps” at MSNBC. “The ‘America First Caucus’ continues the country’s long history of white nationalism.”

Read “Mass Shooting In Austin Leaves At Least Three Dead” at News and Guts.

Read “Most Americans want to end lifetime Supreme Court appointments for justices” at NBC News.

Read “A National Policy Blueprint To End White Supremacist Violence” at Center For American Progress.

Read “Indiana's Red Flag Law Was Designed To Prevent Mass Shootings Like The FedEx Facility Rampage. Prosecutors Never Tried To Use It” at Buzzfeed News.

Read “Virginia governor signs bill legalizing marijuana possession” at The Hill.

Read “Ben Carson defends op-ed arguing racial equity is 'another kind of racism'“ at The Hill.

Read “I’m Actually Glad Nancy Pelosi Thanked George Floyd for “Sacrificing” Himself” at Slate.

Read “Governments That Are Occupying Land Are Criminalizing Indigenous Peoples for Occupying Land” at Vice.

Read “Florida Supreme Court rules against effort to legalize recreational marijuana” at The Hill.

Read “US Supreme Court rejects limits on life sentences for juveniles” at The HIll.

• Read “Brett Kavanaugh Rules Children Deserve Life In Prison With No Chance of Parole” at Vanity Fair. “Kavanaugh, who said it was absurd to judge him based on who he was in high school, thinks children convicted of crimes should die in prison.”

• Read “Sotomayor blasts Kavanaugh's decision on juvenile life sentences” at The Hill.

Read “State Foster Care Agencies Take Millions Of Dollars Owed To Children In Their Care” at NPR.

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

Read “Heavy metal guitarist with ties to Oath Keepers is first US Capitol rioter to plead guilty” at CNN.

Read “The Radicalization of Kevin Greeson” at Pro Publica. “How one man went from attending President Barack Obama’s inauguration to dying in the mob protesting Donald Trump’s election loss during the Capitol insurrection.”

Watch “American Insurrection” at PBS Frontline. “Over the last three years, FRONTLINE has collaborated with ProPublica to investigate the rise of extremism in America. In the aftermath of the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, FRONTLINE, ProPublica and Berkeley Journalism’s Investigative Reporting Program team up to examine how far-right extremist groups have evolved in the wake of the deadly 2017 Charlottesville rally — and the threat they pose today.”

Read “Marjorie Taylor Greene Calls Off America First Caucus Following Backlash” at Forbes.

Read “Oath Keepers: How a militia group mobilized in plain sight for the assault on the Capitol” at 60 Minutes.

Read “The Hybridity of Rural Fascism” at Society for Cultural Anthropology. “The community praised patriarchy as God-ordained, employing apocalyptic language to decry what they saw as the Marxist LGBTQ+ agenda disrupting traditional Christian family values in America.”

Read “Capitol Police officer allegedly told units to only monitor for 'anti-Trump' protesters on Jan. 6” at The Hill.

Read “Jan. 6 commission must focus only on insurrection” at The HIll.

Read “17 Requests for Backup in 78 Minutes” at Washington Post.

Read “Kevin McCarthy Says Capitol Riot Commission Should Look At Unrelated Riots’ at Huff Post. “The top House Republican doesn’t want too much focus on that time Donald Trump and his supporters tried to overturn the 2020 election.”

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “How the G.O.P. Is Creating Harsher Penalties for Protesters” at New York Times.

Read ‘GOP Lawmakers in Iowa and Oklahoma Pass Anti-Protest Bills” at Democracy Now.

This Week With The Police:

Read “US police and public officials donated to Kyle Rittenhouse, data breach reveals” at The Guardian. “That donation also carried a comment, reading: ‘God bless. Thank you for your courage. Keep your head up. You’ve done nothing wrong.’” “Officers and officials also donated to fundraisers for far-right activists and fellow officers accused of shooting black Americans.”

• Read “The Fraternal Order of White Supremacy” at North Star. “Murderer Kyle Rittenhouse is being financially supported by various law enforcement agencies. It's the latest in several cases in which systemic racism protects boots-on-the-grounds supremacists.”

Read “A pair of 'pro-police' GOP bills in Missouri draw scrutiny from free speech advocates” at Yahoo.

Read “Detroit police restrained man and beat him for 2 minutes after he tried to help protesters, lawsuit claims” at Yahoo.

Read “Colorado police accused of injuring elderly woman with dementia during arrest” at NBC News.

Read “Man accused of throwing bleach in NYPD officer's face, hurling Molotov cocktail at others” at The Hill.

Read “Louisville officer punches protester during arrest” at Chron.

Read “Fear and Paranoia in American Policing” at Slate. “Everything around police officers tells them that they should be scared.”

Read “No convictions for St Louis officers who beat Black undercover colleague at protest” at Guardian. “Officer Luther Hall, who was recording criminal activity during protests, required multiple surgeries after the attack.”

Read “Chris Cuomo: Police reform won't happen until 'white people's kids start getting killed'“ at The Hill.

Read “Florida Sheriff Tells People Moving to State Not to 'Vote the Stupid Way You Did Up North'“ at Newsweek.

Read “‘Defund the Police’ Actually Means Defunding the Police” at Vice.

Read “The police officer who fatally shot 13-year-old Adam Toledo was listed as a victim on an incident report. One law-enforcement expert said it's 'an old cop trick meant to muddy the murky waters.'“ at Yahoo.

Read “'I'm also a police officer': Arizona deputy uses racial slur, pleads for release after being pulled over for DUI” at Yahoo.

Read “Bravery of witnesses made the difference in Chauvin trial” at MSNBC.

• Read “Police across U.S. respond to Derek Chauvin trial: 'Our American way of policing is on trial'“ at NBC News. “While some officers see the trial as an example of a rogue officer being held accountable, others see it as a sign that the country has turned against them.”

Read “Columbus Police release body cam footage of officer shooting, killing girl, 16” at NBCi.

• Read “Columbus cop shouts "blue lives matter" at the scene of deadly police shooting of Ohio teen” at Salon.

Read “Cops Killed a Black Man in North Carolina. Protesters Are Demanding Answers” at Vice.

Read “One of America's most popular police trainers is teaching officers how to kill” at Insider. (NOTE: Article from 2020 but highly relevant today).

Read “Most officers never fire their guns. But some kill multiple people — and are still on the job” at NBC News. “In Seattle, one officer's multiple deadly encounters offer a window into this little understood corner of American policing.”

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Arizona Supreme Court hears case about legality of education tax” at KTAR. “Reformist initiatives like '8 Can't Wait' have already failed. Here's what you need to know about defunding and abolishing the police.”

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “The Grief Crisis Is Coming” at New York Times.

Read “A Vaccine Is Not a Personality” at Slate. “The memes and merch inspired by Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson are not helping the fight against COVID.”

Read “Pfizer Says COVID-19 Booster Vaccines Likely Needed Within a Year” at Democracy Now.

Read ‘India Reports Record 217,000 New Cases as Millions Gather for World’s Largest Pilgrimage” at Democracy Now.

Read “Coronavirus: 'Double mutant' Covid variant found in India” at BBC.

Read “Proud Boy charged in Capitol riot gets coronavirus while jailed” at The Hill.

Read “3 million COVID-19 deaths recorded around the world” at ABC News.

Read “The Pandemic Proved That Our Toilets Are Crap” at Wired.

Read “Has outdoor masking turned into 'meaningless political theater'?” at The Week.

Read “More Than Half Of U.S. Adults Have Gotten At Least One COVID-19 Vaccine Dose” at NPR.

Read “Ted Nugent tests positive for COVID-19 after claiming outbreak is 'not a real pandemic'“ at ABC 15.

Read “New Data Shows How Much COVID-19 Has Disrupted Life For The Youngest Americans” at Huff Post.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Apple reinstates Parler app, stands by initial ban” at NBC News.

Read “‘No One Was Driving’ Tesla in Crash That Killed Two People, Police Say” at Vice.

Read “The United States of Weed” at Rolling Stone. “Curious about the status of cannabis? Here’s where legalization stands, state by state.”

Read “Gretchen Carlson Says the 'Pain' of Being Body Shamed 'Stays with You for Life'“ at People.

Read “What Is Triller Fight Club, Snoop Dogg's Weird Celebrity Boxing League?” at Vice.

Read “Mike Lindell's new social platform crashes — and MyPillow guy didn't even notice” at Salon.

Read “Company Behind Krysten Sinema’s F*** Off’ Ring To Donate All Proceeds To Fight For Increased Minimum Wage” at Independent.

Read “Influencer Boxing Is the Circus-Sport America Deserves” at Vice.

Read “Right-Wing Trend of Buying or Not Buying Things to Own the Libs Reaches Nadir With Accidental Boycott of Semen” at Slate.

Internationalities:

Read “Raul Castro to Stand Down as Head of Cuba’s Communist Party” at Bloomberg.

Read ‘China posts record economic growth after plunge 12 months ago” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Harvard’s Digital Giza Project Lets You Access the Largest Online Archive on the Egyptian Pyramids (Including a 3D Giza Tour)” at Open Culture.

Read “At least 97 injured in Egypt as train derails” at CNN.

Read “Afghans who fled to Turkey are worried — and hopeful — about the prospect of peace at home” at The World.

Read “Biden Preparing to Declare That Atrocities Against Armenia Were Genocide” at New York Times.

Read “UK Parliament declares China's treatment of Uighurs a genocide” at The Hill.

Read “The Thrilling Collapse of the European Super League” at Slate.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Greta Thunberg will testify in Congress on Earth Day” at The Hill.

Read “GOP Reps. Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene were the only 'no' votes on a bill reauthorizing the National Marrow Donor Program” at Business Insider.

Read “Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert Invent Reasons to Vote Against Bone Marrow Bill” at Daily Beast.

Read “Marjorie Taylor Greene Calls Off America First Caucus Following Backlash” at Forbes.

Read “Kinzinger Says GOPers Who Join Nativist Caucus Should Be Stripped Of Committees” at Talking Points Memo.

Read “House rejects GOP resolution to censure Waters” at The Hill.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “How Josh Hawley and Marjorie Taylor Greene Juiced Their Fundraising Numbers” at Pro Publica.

Read “The Postal Service is running a 'covert operations program' that monitors Americans' social media posts” at Yahoo.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “The world’s biggest music companies are scrambling to sign African artists” at Quartz Africa.

Read “Sun Ra’s musical poetry — and how it began in Chicago — captured in new gallery exhibit” at Chicago Tribune.

Read “Apple Music, in Contrast With Rival Spotify, Says It Pays a Penny-Per-Stream Average” at Pitchfork.

Read “This Youtube Channel Has Been Uploading J Dilla Rarities for Months” at Okay Player.

Read “Gillian Welch Talks Tom Jones, John Prine and John Steinbeck” at Relix.

Read “Van Morrison Confirms First-Ever Livestream Special” at Jambase.

Read “Man 'stalking' Taylor Swift arrested in New York” at BBC.

Read “Mt. Westmore (Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, E-40, Too $hort) Deliver Debut Performance at Triller Fight Club” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Star Songwriter Ali Tamposi Sells Catalog to New Female-Focused Music Fund” at Rolling Stone.

Read “The Mountain Goats Announce New Album Dark in Here, Share New Song “Mobile'“ at Pitchfork.

Read “Ryley Walker – ‘Course In Fable’” at Ears to Feed.

Read “Morrissey Says He’d Sue The Simpsons for Slander, But “It Requires More Funding Than I Could Possibly Muster” at Consequence of Sound. “I've had enough horror thrown at me that would kill off a herd of bison"

• Read “The Simpsons Releases Morrissey Episode Music Video” at Den of Geek.

Read “South by Southwest Stake Is Sold to Owner of Rolling Stone in Effort to Keep Festival Alive” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Frank “Poncho” Sampedro :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “Kurt Vile Signs With Legendary Jazz Label Verve Records” at Pitchfork.

Read “Igloo Launches Beatles Yellow Submarine-Inspired Collection of Coolers” at Rolling Stone.

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

Read the story behind “Here Comes The Flood, by Robert Fripp and Peter Gabriel” at Music Afficianado.

Read “Louis Armstrong Plays Trumpet at the Egyptian Pyramids; Dizzy Gillespie Charms a Snake in Pakistan” at Open Culture. “During the Cold War, the United States made the case for the American way of life by sending its best ambassadors abroad — jazz musicians.”

Read “Eric Andre Says He Was Racially Profiled at Atlanta Airport” at Pitchfork.

Read “Chvrches share powerful video for new single ‘He Said She Said’” at NME.

Read “The Best and Most Misunderstood of Green Day, According to Billie Joe Armstrong” at Vulture.

Read “Yo La Tengo’s ‘I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One’ Set A Benchmark In Indie Rock” at Treble.

Read “Cardi B snaps back after GOP congressman blames her for “the moral decline of America" at Salon.

Read “I Get Around: The Oral History of 2Pac’s Digital Underground Years” at Rolling Stone.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Sharon Osbourne gives Bill Maher first interview since leaving 'The Talk': 'I’m angry. I’m hurt.'“ at USA Today.

Read “‘Community’ Star Yvette Nicole Brown Says Reunion Movie ‘Is Coming’” at Variety.

Read “The MCU's Relationship With the Military, From Iron Man to Captain Marvel” at CBR.

Read “Tom Hopper Gives an Update on ‘The Umbrella Academy’ Season 3 Filming: “We've Got a Long Way to Go” at Collider.

Read “You may have to actually pay for Apple TV Plus to watch Ted Lasso’s second season” at The Verge.

Read “LeVar Burton Will Fly Twice As High As Jeopardy!’s Next Guest Host” at Vulture.

Read ‘Disney to Get Online, TV Access to Sony Films After Netflix” at Bloomberg.

Read “Major Update on 'Stranger Things' Season 4 Premiere Date” at Pop Culture.

Read ‘The CW Released The First Official Photo From The Live-Action "Powerpuff Girls" After Their Costumes Caused Controversy” at Buzzfeed News. “The cartoon-accurate dresses are nowhere in sight.”

Read “Jonah Hill was going to star in ‘Transformers’ but Seth Rogen made him turn it down” at NME.

Books/Reading/Authors

Browse “The Golden Guide to Hallucinogenic Plants: Discover the 1977 Illustrated Guide Created by Harvard’s Groundbreaking Ethnobotanist Richard Evan Schultes” at Open Culture.

Read “A Beautiful 1897 Illustrated Book Shows How Flowers Become Art Nouveau Designs” at Open Culture.

Read “Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s place in San Francisco literary history” at Datebook.

Read “The Faulty Lines in Voddie Baucham’s “Thought Line” at Bradley Mason.

Read “Tsundoku,” the Japanese Word for the New Books That Pile Up on Our Shelves, Should Enter the English Language” at Open Culture.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “Pentagon confirms legitimacy of Navy pilot's unidentified aerial phenomena video” at The Hill.

Read “NASA selects SpaceX to land first woman, next man on Moon” at 12 News.

Read “How America’s most endangered cat could help save Florida” at National Geographic.

Read “A Song of Spider Silk” at The Scientist. “Scientists from MIT reveal the hidden music in spiderwebs.”

Read “Mars Perseverance rover successfully inhaled carbon dioxide and exhaled oxygen” at Boing Boing.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Why a Vancouver Cemetery Is Planting Squash, Kale, and Corn” at Gastro Obscura.

Read “What about those flying pyramids?” at Mystery Wire. “Former Pentagon UFO investigator responds to questions about leaked images.”

Local:

Read “Governor signs tribal gaming compact, legalizes sports gambling in Arizona” at Cronkite News.

Read “SanTan Brewing closes its Phoenix taproom and restaurant” at ABC 15.

Read “Supporters Of Changes To AZ Voting Laws Pushing To Move Them Forward” at KJZZ.

Read ‘Ducey to station troops on the border” at AZ Capitol Times.

Read “Arizona Is Rolling Back Voting Rights, and Kyrsten Sinema Is Refusing to Stop It” at Mother Jones.

Read “Arizona governor vetoes strict sex education legislation” at NBC News.

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 (03/19/21)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (03/19/21).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Died: Larry Walker, NIV Translator Who Loved Bible Details” at Christianity Today.

Read “Henry Goldrich, Gear Guru to Rock Stars, Is Dead at 88” at New York Times.

Read “Boxing Legend Marvin Hagler Dies At Age 66” at Huff Post.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “RZIM will end apologetics ministry” at Christianity Today. “Ravi Zacharias International Ministries will become a grant-making organization, CEO Sarah Davis tells employees.”

Read “Faith leaders push back against proposed ‘Souls to the Polls’ voting restrictions” at Religion News Service.

Read “My Mom Believes In QAnon. I’ve Been Trying To Get Her Out” at Buzzfeed.

Read ‘Cruelty Is Apostasy” by David French. “Reflections on Beth Moore’s departure from the Southern Baptist Convention.”

Read “Conservative Activist Charlie Kirk Leaves Liberty University Think Tank” at New York Times. “Liberty University opted not to renew Charlie Kirk's contract at the Falkirk Center. The unconventional think tank, which is now missing both halves of its portmanteau (Falwell + Kirk), will be renamed the Standing for Freedom Center.”

Read “A Kentucky Church’s Secret to Handling Abuse Allegations: Humility” at Christianity Today.

Read “Atlanta suspect blamed women for ‘tempting’ him. Purity culture does the same” at Religion News Service. “Christian communities must reexamine attitudes that blame women for men’s sexual problems.”

Read “LifeWay Research: U.S. Protestant Pastors See Gender Change as Immoral” at Christianity Today. “As gender fluidity grows more accepted in wider culture, most Protestant pastors remain traditional.”

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

Read “George Floyd Family Reaches $27 Million Settlement With City of Minneapolis” at Wall Street Journal.

• Read “What It’s Like Inside the Now ‘Cop-Free’ Zone Where George Floyd Was Killed” at Vice.

Read “Breonna Taylor’s Killing Forced Black High School Girls To Grapple With Uncertainty” at WFPL.

Read “Restoring Pell Grants—And Possibilities—for Prisoners” at The Atlantic. “Classes inside prison give people a sense of community, a sense of purpose, a sense of identity, and a sense of hope.”

Read ‘Racists attack Asian American chef who criticized Texas over mask mandate” at The Hill.

• Read “Asian American community on edge after deadly shooting in Atlanta” at The World.

• Read “Elderly Asian woman fights off attacker in San Francisco” at The Hill.

Read “Georgia massage parlor shootings leave 8 dead; man captured” at Associated Press.

• Read “Massage Parlor Massacres Suspect Said He Loved Guns & God” at Daily Beast.

Read “Is Critical Race Theory Racist?” by Brad Mason.

Read “Immigration Is Not a “Crisis”” at Slate. “What would our laws look like if we stopped treating migration as a problem to be solved?”

Read “Sentenced to death, but innocent: These are stories of justice gone wrong” at National Geographic.

Read “Man Wanted by Police Arrested Near Residence of Vice President Kamala Harris, Gun and Ammo Found in Car” at NBC Washington.

Read “Dem Rep. Plays Some Of The Racist Voicemails She Was Hit With For Condemning Anti-Asian Hate” at Comic Sands.

Read “Judge Rules Some Ghislaine Maxwell Details Are Too ‘Sensational and Impure’ to Be Revealed to the Public” at Law and Crime.

Read “Armie Hammer under investigation by LAPD sex crime detectives” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Teen Vogue’s New Top Editor Out After Backlash Over Old Racist Tweets” at Daily Beast.

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

Read “Two Men Have Been Charged With Assaulting The Officer Who Died After The Capitol Riot” at Buzzfeed News.

Read “George W. Bush on US Capitol insurrection: 'I'm still disturbed when I think about it'“ at CNN.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Essential California: LAPD’s handling of summer protests sharply criticized in report” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Retired Gila County sergeant wins PTSD workers’ compensation claim” at KTAR.

Read “Kentucky Senate votes to criminalize insulting police in way that could cause ‘violent response’” at Washington Post.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “How Google's New Career Certificates Could Disrupt the College Degree” at Inc.

Read “DeSantis: Civics curriculum proposal will 'expressly exclude' critical race theory” at The Hill.

Read “Education Dept. Begins Rolling Back Trump-Era Policies On Defrauded Students” at NPR.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “How anti-vax rhetoric sneaks past Instagram’s content moderation system” at Salon.

Read “Passenger on flight from Seattle to Denver accused of refusing mask, urinating in cabin” at Oregon Live.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Seth Rogen’s new cannabis site temporarily shut down due to high demand” at NME.

Read “Michigan State announces basketball team will now be called 'MSU Spartans Presented by Rocket Mortgage' at Yahoo.

Read “Why the GameStop story is far from over” at BBC.

Read “Don’t Trust Civilization”: ‘Soldier of Fortune’ Magazine and the Masculine Myth” at We Are The Mutants.

Read “Serial stowaway Marilyn Hartman arrested yet again, at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport” at CBS News.

Read “Goldman Sachs Commits $1 Billion to Fund Diverse-Led Businesses” at Forbes. “Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it’s doubling a commitment to investing in companies run by women and people of color to $1 billion.”

Read “No One Has Ever Wanted Anything More Than This City Wants a RoboCop Statue” at Vice.

Read “San Antonio Tussaud’s Pulls Wax Donald Trump Because People Keep Punching It” at Consequence of Sound. “The former president has been moved to a storage closet for his own protection.”

Internationalities:

Read “Myanmar’s Suu Kyi Charged With Bribery, Faces 15 Years In Prison” at Bloomberg.

Read “Kenya's High Court Upholds Crucial Ban on FGM in Much-Needed 'Boost' for Activists” at Global Citizen.

Read “China: 'Furious and sad' about violence against Asian Americans in US” at The Hill.

Read “Sri Lanka Mulls Banning Burqas and Closing 1,000 Madrassas” at Christianity Today.

Read “Japan’s Pot Laws Are Harsh, But Its Pensioners Invest in Growers” at Bloomberg.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Sen. Marco Rubio endorses Amazon warehouse union drive in surprise op-ed” at The Verge.

Read “A survey of Republicans shows 5 ‘tribes’ have emerged following Trump’s presidency” at New York Times.'

Read “GOP Rep. Suggests Gun Control Isn't Needed Because Bible Characters Killed Each Other Without Guns” at Comic Sands.

Read “How Mean Tweets—And Bad Predictions—Threaten to Derail Another Biden Nominee” at The Dispatch.

Read “Effort to recall Newsom gathers over 2M signatures, enough for possible ballot measure” at The Hill.

Read “Harry Reid calls for killing the filibuster: ‘60% is not a real democracy’” at MSNBC.

Read “Why Attacking ‘Cancel Culture’ And ‘Woke’ People Is Becoming The GOP’s New Political Strategy” at Five Thirty Eight.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Cuomo Says He Will Not Resign Despite Calls From Prominent New York Democrats” at NPR.

Read “'Dangerous for democracy': Why these GOP state legislatures want to restrict voting rights” at Go Erie.

Read “McCaskill: 'Treasonous' Giuliani played into Putin's hand” at MSNBC.

Read “Republicans who tried to overturn election vote against medals for Capitol, D.C. police at Salon.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “The Weeknd 'will no longer submit music to Grammy Awards' after snub” at BBC.

Read “Genre Is Disappearing. What Comes Next?” at New Yorker.

Read “Why Spotify’s Ex-Global Head Of Music Publishing Thinks Streaming Services Should Be Paying Songwriters More Money” at Music Business Worldwide.

Read “R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe and Mike Mills Look Back at Out of Time at 30” at Spin.

Read “Grammys 2021 Winners: See The Full List Here” at Pitchfork.

• Read ‘Taylor Swift Wins Album of the Year at 2021 Grammys for folklore” at Pitchfork.

• Read “Billie Eilish Wins Record of the Year at 2021 Grammys, Says Megan Thee Stallion Should Have Won” at Pitchfork.

Browse all the covers the Grateful Dead performed.

Read “Henry Rollins on Some of His Favorite Crate-Digging Experiences” at Discogs.

Read “The Many Lives of Judee Sill” at Rolling Stone. “After an abusive childhood and run-ins with the law, she grew into one of the most captivating singer-songwriters of the Seventies. More than 40 years after her death, could the world finally be ready to appreciate her?”

Read “Garth Brooks Lays Plans For Chris Gaines Album Reissue With Unreleased Songs” at American Songwriter.

Read “Justice Send Cease-and-Desist to Justin Bieber Over New Album” at Pitchfork.

Browse “A Guide to 25 Years of Mogwai” at Bandcamp.

Read “What the Spotify/K-Pop Showdown Underscores About the Future of Streaming” at Ptichfork.

Read “Artists Earned $21 Million on Bandcamp in the Last 30 Days” at Microchip Substack.

Read “Britney Spears Is Reportedly Considering a Tell-All Interview with Oprah Winfrey” at Harper’s Bazaar.

Read “Sunburned Hand of the Man merges woe and joy on Pick a Day to Die” at Chicago Reader.

Read “Sun Kil Moon’s Mark Kozelek Accused of Sexual Misconduct by Seven More Women” at Pitchfork.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “'The Talk' extends hiatus; Sharon Osbourne says she's 'been set up' after heated exchange” at USA Today.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “The 69 Pages of Writing Advice Denis Johnson Collected from Flannery O’Connor, Jack Kerouac, Stephen King, Hunter Thompson, Werner Herzog & Many Others” at Open Culture.

Read “Atwood, Grisham among contributors to pandemic novel” at WOKV.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “Halsey to sell her art for the first time in NFT auction” at NME.

Read “Visit the Largest Collection of Frida Kahlo’s Work Ever Assembled: 800 Artifacts from 33 Museums, All Free Online” at Open Culture.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “Scientists created human tear glands in a dish — and then made them cry” at Salon.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Trying To Explain Aliens To Your Kids” at WPDH.

Read “Mysterious UFO above Phoenix remains a mystery 24 years later” at 12 News.

Read “It started flying towards us’: Mysterious fireball ignites blaze in Peachland” at Global News.

Local:

Read “Mountainside Fitness founder leaves CEO role, considers run for governor” at KTAR.

The Weekly Town Crier (03/05/21)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (03/05/27)

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Bunny Wailer, Reggae Legend and Wailers Co-Founder, Dies at 73” at Pitchfork.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “After Sermon Criticizing Wives’ Weight, Pastor Resigns as Moderator of General Baptist Meeting” at Roys Report.

Read “Spectacular Politics On the Culture of Trumpism” at The Bias Magazine. 

• Read “The Golden Trump Statue Is the Talk of CPAC. It Was Made in Mexico.” at Slate.

Read “White evangelicals' dominance of the GOP has turned it into the party of resistance” at CNN.

Read “First Jehovah’s Witness woman sentenced in Russia after faith declared ‘extremist’” at Religion News Service. “The faith group’s spokesman called the ruling ‘a mockery of the rule of law — both international human rights law as well as Russia’s constitution.’”

Read the opinion piece “Phil Johnson’s Defense of MacArthur’s Salaries & Nepotism Raises More Red Flags” at Roys Report.

Read “Meet the spouses whose marriages were destroyed by QAnon” at Salon. “A therapist who specializes in cult recovery says he's "never seen anything like this before"

Read “Appeals court decision allows sex abuse lawsuit against SBC's Paul Pressler to proceed” at Houston Chronicle.

Read “More than 500 evangelicals, other faith leaders condemn religion at insurrection as ‘heretical’” at Religion News Service.

Read “Major Evangelical Adoption Agency Will Now Serve Gay Parents Nationwide” at New York Times. “The decision comes as more cities and states require organizations to accept applications from L.G.B.T.Q. couples or risk losing government contracts.”

Read “Stryper’s Michael Sweet Fears It’s “Just a Matter of Time” Before the Bible Is Canceled” at Newsbreak.

Read “Shame, grace and #STOPtheSTEAL” at Religion News Service. “How we read the world depends on the kinds of stories we traffic in.”

Read “Sam Horn Resigns as President of The Master’s University and Seminary, Capping Three Years of Tumult” at Roys Report.

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

Read “Second Former Aide Accuses New York Gov. Cuomo of Sexual Harassment” at Slate.

Read “Bruce Springsteen’s Drunken-Driving Charges Are Dismissed” at New York Times.

Read “Rep. Gosar denounces 'white racism' after controversial appearance” at The Hill.

Read “Cuomo Is Accused of Sexual Harassment by a 2nd Former Aide” at New York Times. “The woman, 25, said that when they were alone in his office, Gov. Andrew Cuomo asked if she “had ever been with an older man.”

Read “Marijuana use no longer automatic disqualification for Biden appointees” at The Hill.

Read “How Jane Fonda Convinces Her Famous Friends to Get Arrested” at Vulture.

Read “Supreme Court Seems Ready To Uphold Restrictive Voting Laws” at NPR.

Read “House fight for Trump's financial records poised to stretch into the summer” at Politico. “The House Oversight Committee reissued a subpoena for the former president’s accounting firm, Mazars USA.”

Read “D’Elia faces child-porn lawsuit from woman who says he had sex with her at 17” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “South Carolina Senate adds firing squad as alternative execution method” at The Hill.

Read “Nadria Tucker On Being Fired From ‘Superman & Lois’: ‘Toxicity’ Is Pervasive” at Huff Post. “The TV writer says she was dropped from the new CW show after pushing back on racist and sexist storylines and tropes.”

Read “Hours After an Employee Accused Him of Sexual Misconduct, Prominent Alaska Executive Resigns” at Pro Publica.

Read “Threats to lawmakers up 93.5 percent in last two months” at The Hill.

Read “DoD Report Describes Trump Doctor Ronny Jackson as a Lecherous Boozehound and All-Around Terrible Colleague” at Slate.

Read “Wray says no evidence of 'antifa' involvement in Jan. 6 attack” at The Hill.

Read ‘Refugees are being removed from flights to the US as they await Biden's signature” at CNN.

Read “Right-Wing Social Network Parler Files New Lawsuit Against Amazon” at Variety.

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

Read “The Boogaloo Bois Have Guns, Criminal Records and Military Training. Now They Want to Overthrow the Government” at Pro Publica.

• Read “U.S. alleges Proud Boys planned to break into Capitol on Jan. 6 from many different points” at Washington Post.

Read “‘Q Shaman’ Deeply ‘Wounded’ And Disappointed That Trump Didn’t Pardon Him” at Forbes.

Read “Rioter who broke into Pelosi's office: Not 'fair' I'm still in jail” at The Hill.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “CPAC attendees boo, yell 'freedom' when asked to wear masks” at The Hill.

Read “Fauci Worried That U.S. Virus Cases Will Stick at 70,000 a Day” at Bloomberg.

Read “Trump Got Vaccinated Secretly, Because Otherwise He Might Have Helped the Country” at Rolling Stone. “Getting vaccinated publicly could have gone a long way toward dispelling Republican doubts about the Covid vaccine — so of course Trump didn’t do it.”

Read “Texas becomes biggest US state to lift COVID-19 mask mandate” at Associated Press.

Read “Texas and Other States Ease COVID-19 Rules Despite Warnings” at Time.

Read “Covid-19 Variant in Brazil Overwhelms Local Hospitals, Hits Younger Patients’ at Wall Street Journal.

Read “U.K. Extends COVID Insurance Scheme for Film and TV Industry, Renews Furlough” at Variety.

Read “Alamo Drafthouse files for Chapter 11, keeping COVID safety measures amid TX reopening” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “When Did the Pandemic Become Real for You?” at New York Times. “The World Health Organization declared the spread of the coronavirus a pandemic on March 11, 2020. But when was the instant you knew your life would change?”

Read “New York Music Venues Can Reopen at 33% Capacity in April, Governor Says” at Pitchfork.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Atlanta Has Created the Largest Free Food Forest in the Country” at Modern Farmer.

Read “Michaels to Go Private in Apollo Deal” at Wall Street Journal. “Private-equity firm Apollo Global Management’s acquisition offer values crafts retailer at $3.3 billion.”

Read “The Growing Threat Of Disinformation And How To 'Deprogram' People Who Believe It” at NPR.

Read “CPAC, conservatives and the culture war: Why Republicans will become more extreme in Trump's absence” at Salon.

Read ‘'The Sinking City' Developer Uses DMCA to Remove Its Own Game From Steam” at Vice.

Read “Keith Gill Drove the GameStop Reddit Mania. He Talked to the Journal” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Jeff Grosso: The life and death of skateboarding’s soul” at Los Angeles Times. “To best understand skateboarding — its counter-culture roots, its rise to the Olympics, its helter-skelter tale of competing styles, clashing customs and self-sabotaging plot twists — you need to understand Jeff Grosso.”

Read “Clubhouse Is Recording Your Conversations. That's Not Even Its Worst Privacy Problem” at Inc.

Internationalities:

Read “US intel: Saudi crown prince approved Khashoggi killing” at The Hill.

Read “How Europe Became the World’s Biggest Electric-Car Market—and Why It Might Not Last” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “US Missile Strike in Syria: What You Should Know” at Preemptive Love.

Read “Medics risk lives to treat injured in Myanmar anti-coup protests” at Al Jazeera.

Read “At Least 18 Killed In Another Bloody Day For Myanmar” at NPR.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Biden hails House passage of $1.9T virus bill, now to Senate” at KTAR.

Read “CPAC stage is shaped like a Nordic rune used on some Nazi uniforms” at Business Insider.

Read “Rep. Karen Bass: $10 and $12 are not livable wages, we need to have a $15 minimum wage” at MSNBC.

Read “Another New York Democrat Calls on Cuomo to Resign” at Bloomberg.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “McConnell says he'll 'absolutely' support Trump in 2024 if he's the GOP nominee” at CNN.

Read “Postmaster General DeJoy introduces plans to overhaul USPS, draws criticism” at MSNBC.

Read “Hawley gets boisterous ovation at CPAC for Electoral College objection” at The Hill.

Read “Rep. Ronny Jackson made sexual comments, drank alcohol and took Ambien while working as White House physician, Pentagon watchdog finds” at CNN.

Read “Biden administration still hasn't briefed top senators on Syria strike” at Politico.

Read “"This has gone beyond the messiah of President Trump": Former GOP congressman on why parts of the GOP can't let go” at MSNBC.

Read “Texas grid manager responsible for $16B in overcharges, says watchdog” at The Hill.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Justin Bieber Announces New Album Justice” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Freddie Gibbs Covers Gil Scott-Heron’s “Winter in America” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Spotify just unveiled “lossless” CD-quality music. Your move, Apple” at Fast Company.

Read “Primavera Sound 2021 Cancelled” at Pitchfork.

Read “Bigger Black: 5 Easy Pieces w/Steve Albini” at Eugene Robinson. “Five questions, not a single one about music, that's the deal.”

Read “Biggie Smalls, the Human Behind the Legend” at New York Times. “The new Netflix documentary “Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell” captures the rapper before fame, and history, got hold of him.”

Read “Council says “nothing has been agreed” on Reading Festival 2021 go-ahead” at NME.

Read “The Mighty Mighty Bosstones announce new album ‘When God Was Great,’ share new song” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “David Crosby on dinner with Joni, Phoebe Bridgers and the 50th anniversary of his haunted solo debut” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “A Guide to the Music of John Lurie” at Pitchfork.

Read “Tyler, the Creator Releases Song Used in Coca-Cola Commercial: Listen” at Pitchfork.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Inside Joss Whedon’s ‘Cutting’ and ‘Toxic’ World of ‘Buffy’ and ‘Angel’ (EXCLUSIVE)” at Variety.

Read “Billy Ocean's Loverboy video is way weirder than you remember” at Boing Boing.

Read “Schitt’s Creek Mansion Returns to Market With Price Reduction” at Bloomberg.

Read “Meet the Songwriters Behind the ‘Wandavision’ Hit ‘Agatha All Along’” at New York Times. “It isn’t the first time the songwriting power couple has created an ear worm, having written the Oscar- and Grammy-winning “Let It Go” for the Disney animated movie “Frozen” and the Oscar-winning ballad “Remember Me” for the Pixar animated film “Coco.”

Read ‘Golden Globes org says it will recruit Black members after outcry’ at 11 Alive.

Read “Soul Is Pixar at Its Most Unpredictably Weird” at Vulture.

Read “Common to Produce Biopic of Voting Rights Activist Fannie Lou Hamer” at The Hollywood Reporter.

Read “Rachel Maddow Is Most-Watched In February, As MSNBC Leads All Cable Networks” at Forbes.

• Read “‘We are lost’: Fox News suffers worst ratings in 20 years” at The Independent.

Read “Former Trump spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany joining Fox News” at The Hill.

Read “Spate of awards-season films track FBI tactics against Black activists” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “The Comics History Behind that WandaVision Credits Reveal” at Vulture.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “So you want to start reading comics?” at The Verge. “A guide to figuring out the best and most cost-effective methods.”

Read “Black Panther Comic Writer Ta-Nehisi Coates To Reboot Superman for DC, And More Movie News” at Rotten Tomatoes.

Read “Dr Seuss: Six books withdrawn over 'hurtful and wrong' imagery” at BBC.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read ‘YInMn Blue, the First Shade of Blue Discovered in 200 Years, Is Now Available for Artists” at Open Culture.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “Cuttlefish show self-control, pass 'marshmallow test' at Live Science.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Rooster with blade kills man during cockfight in Telangana” at New Indianan Express. “Accidentally, the knife that was tied to the rooster's leg, got pierced into Satish's groin, injuring him grievously.”

Read “Inside the Gently Competitive World of Giant Vegetable Growing” at Atlas Obscura.

Local:

Read “Judge sides with Senate, says Maricopa must turn over election materials for audit” at AZ Mirror.

Read “Wildlife, rights coalition asks Biden to remove miles of Arizona's border wall” at Tucson.com.

Read “Apple and Google lobbyists are swarming Arizona over a bill that would reform the app store” at Protocol.

Read “Bill purging Arizona early voting list clears state Senate’ at KTAR.

The Weekly Town Crier (01/29/21)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (01/29/21)

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Hank Aaron, Home Run King Who Defied Racism, Dies at 86” at New York Times.

Read “Larry King, legendary talk show host, dies at 87” at CNN.

Read “Gregory Sierra, ‘Sanford and Son’ and ‘Barney Miller’ actor, dies at 83” at Wish TV.

Read “Cicely Tyson, an Actress Who Shattered Stereotypes, Dies at 96” at New York Times.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “The Disgraced Preacher and the Songwriter” at The Atlantic. “The man who wrote one of the most popular worship songs is linked to the leader of an organization hit with allegations of sexual abuse.”

Read “Five myths about evangelicals” at Washington Post. “They aren’t all conservative.”

Read “COVID-Spreading Preacher: Joe Biden is Promoting an “Anti-Christ Agenda”” at Patheos.

Read “Franklin Graham Defends Former Tennis Star Who Compares LGBTs To Hitler: She’s Quoting Biblical Truth” at Joe My God.

Read “SBC president JD Greear’s church launches inquiry into past actions of Bryan Loritts” at Religion News Service.

Read “SBC pastor calls Vice President Kamala Harris a ‘Jezebel’ two days after inauguration” at Baptist News (EDITOR’S NOTE: If you’ve ever wondered why I no longer affiliate with the SBC, you could start here).

Read “John MacArthur Returns to Pulpit after Apparent, Undisclosed Illness” at Roys Report.

Read “Biden’s first 100 days: What’s not for evangelicals to like?” at Religion News Service.

Read “Jesus Plus Masculinity for America’s Sake: Replying to “Jesus and John Wayne”” at Mere Orthodoxy.

Read “A group of Catholic bishops issues statement condemning bullying of LGBTQ youth” at Religion News Service.

Read “Some Black Southern Baptists Feel Shut Out by White Leaders” at U.S. News.

Read “A Baptist, a Catholic, and a Neo-Pagan Shaman Walk Into a Bar...” by Diana Butler Bass.

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

Read ‘Texas Supreme Court Silently Denies Alex Jones All Forms of Relief: Sandy Hook Families and Others Can Now Sue Conspiracy Theorist and InfoWars into the Ground” at Law and Crime.

Read ‘Supreme Court wipes out lower court rulings in Texas abortion battle” at NBC News. “The governor ordered a halt to nonessential medical procedures last year, which the attorney general then said applied to "any type of abortions."

Read “When White Extremism Seeps Into The Mainstream” at NPR.

Read “Biden lifting Trump's transgender military ban” at The Hill.

Read “Judge: Kenosha shooter can’t associate with supremacists” at Associated Press.

Read “Fatal Police Shootings Of Unarmed Black People Reveal Troubling Patterns” at NPR.

Read “States eye allowing concealed carry of guns without a permit” at Associated Press.

Read “It’s about freedom from fear’: Deportations loom despite Biden executive order” at MSNBC.

Read “Biden to order DOJ to end private prison contracts as part of racial equity push” at CNBC.

Read “In major new move, Disney to erase 'negative depictions of native peoples' from famous 'Jungle Cruise' ride” at The Hill.

Read “Lawmakers in 14 states have proposed anti-LGBTQ bills, many of which target trans youth” at CNN.

Read “DHS issues warning on 'violent domestic extremists'“ at PRI.

Read “Leader of Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, Was a Government Informer” at Democracy Now.

Read “South Carolina Senate votes to outlaw most abortions in state” at The Hill.

Read “Poland to implement near-total ban on abortion imminently” at The Guardian.

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

Read “A Total Failure’: The Proud Boys Now Mock Trump” at New York Times.

Read “U.S. files conspiracy charge against Oath Keeper” at Washington Post.

Read “Supporters’ words may haunt Trump at impeachment trial at Associated Press. “The words of Trump’s supporters who are accused of participating in the deadly U.S. Capitol riot may end up being used against him in his Senate impeachment trial. At least five supporters facing federal charges claim they were taking orders from him.”

Read “Capitol rioter charged with threatening to 'assassinate' Rep. Ocasio-Cortez” at CNN.

Read “Calls grow for 9/11-style panel to probe Capitol attack” at The Hill.

Read “Strange costumes of Capitol rioters echo the early days of the Ku Klux Klan - before the white sheets” at The Conversation.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “AZ Board Of Education Sees Dramatic Increase In Discipline Cases Against Educators” at KJZZ.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “A Vaccine Road Trip And what else you need to know today” at New York Times.

Read “Undercounting of Covid-19 deaths is greatest in pro-Trump areas, analysis shows” at Stat News.

Read “Cactus League asks the MLB to delay the start of spring training due to COVID-19” at AZ Family.

Read “California Lifts State Stay-at-Home Order as Virus Spread Slows” at Variety.

Read “Charges still stand against pastor Tony Spell for violating COVID-19 crowd limits” at WJTV.

Read “South Carolina detects first US cases of coronavirus strain first seen in South Africa” at CNN.

Read “America's botched vaccine rollout puts its broken health care system on full display” at MSNBC.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Microsoft Files Patent to Create Chatbots That Imitate Dead People” at IGN.

Read “Fauci Refutes Biden Admin Claim that Trump Left ‘No Plan’ for Vaccine Distribution” at Yahoo.

Read Newsweek’s opinion piece: “Student Debt is a Curse Upon America's Future. Biden Must Wipe It Out—All Of It.”

Read “K-Pop Fans Who Hijacked ‘ImpeachBidenNow’ Hashtag May Have Violated Twitter Rules” at Variety.

Read “A look at Michelle Wolf’s most “controversial” WHCD jokes, one year later” at Fast Company.

Read “I Think My Gmail Has Crashed”: The Teacher Who Made Bernie Sanders’ Mittens on Watching Them Go Viral” at Slate.

Read “Mar-a-Lago is a 'sad place' since Trump moved in as members begin quitting” at Raw Story.

Read “Twitter launches 'Birdwatch' community forum to combat misinformation” at CNET.

Read “Budweiser to skip Super Bowl ads, donate to coronavirus vaccination awareness instead” at The Hill.

Read “Robinhood faces backlash from both parties for limiting trades” at The Hill.

Read “Toxic ‘Black Mayonnaise’ Seeps Into Gowanus Bay After Barge Accident” at New York Times.

Read “Healing the Imagination: Art Lessons from James Baldwin” at Image Journal.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Dem’s New Bill Aims to Bar QAnon Followers From Security Clearances” at Daily Beast.

Read “Biden replaces controversial White House physician” at CNN.

Read “GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert and husband racked up arrests in home district” a New York Post.

Read “Leahy, not Roberts, to preside over impeachment trial” at The Hill.

Read “Biden wants to unite America. Republicans have a different idea of what that means.” at NBC News. “Republican pleas for unity focus on urging Biden not to take actions that upset their voters. But that's incompatible with the new president's agenda.”

Read “Sarah Huckabee Sanders to Run for Arkansas Governor” at New York Times.

Read “Sen. Sinema Opposes Eliminating the Filibuster, ‘Not Open to Changing Her Mind’” at National Review.

Read “Democrats reintroduce $15 minimum wage bill” at The Hill.

Read “McConnell Relents On Senate Filibuster Stalemate” at NPR.

Read “Senate committee advances Biden's DHS pick despite Republican pushback” at The Hill.

Read “Giuliani election witness who testified at Michigan hearing says she's running for state house seat” at The Hill.

Read “Marjorie Taylor Greene indicated support for executing prominent Democrats in 2018 and 2019 before running for Congress” at CNN.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “The Ignominious Deceits of Congressman Cawthorn” at The Nation. “Representative Madison Cawthorn has misled the public about training for the Paralympics, just as he misrepresented his education and business history.”

Read “Kevin McCarthy: ‘Everybody Across This Country’ Is To Blame For Capitol Attack” at Huff Post.

Read “Sen. Tom Cotton campaigned on his "experience as an Army Ranger" — but he didn't have any” at Salon.

Read “Trump Reportedly Pressured DOJ to File Case in Supreme Court to Overturn Election” at Slate.

• Read “Internal watchdog to investigate whether DOJ officials sought to interfere with 2020 election” at The Hill.

Read “Madison Cawthorn is trying to use ableist stereotypes to exploit America” at MSNBC.

Read “Resurfaced Videos Of QAnon Congresswoman Harassing Parkland Survivor David Hogg Spark Outrage” at Comic Sands.

• Read “Reporter Tossed Out of Marjorie Taylor Greene's Town Hall by Cops for Trying to Ask Question” at Newsweek.

Read “GOP bill would allow lawmakers to override electoral votes” at Arizona Capitol Times.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read ‘Yasmin Williams puts a fresh spin on finger-style guitar” at Washington Post.

Read “What to Know About Music’s Copyright Gold Rush” at Pitchfork.

Read “The Art of Kinda Fittin’ In: ZZ Top Begins” at Tidal.

Read “Black musicians, led by Alicia Keys, ask Biden to create racial justice commission” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Lucinda Williams Looks Back on Every Album She’s Ever Made” at Spin.

Read “Venues Offer COVID-19 Vaccine Spaces and Assistance in Open Letter to Biden” at Pitchfork.

Read “Kris Kristofferson Retires from Stage and Screen” at No Depression.

Read “DistroKid Announces New “Upstream” Program to Share Streaming Data With Record Labels” at Pitchfork.

Read “‘Meaningless’ at 20: Jon Brion Looks Back on His Obscure Solo Masterpiece” at Rolling Stone.

Browse “Unlocked Recordings” at the Internet Archive. “Recordings made available under the Music Modernization Act. A reasonable search has been conducted to determine that these items are not commercially available.”

Read “Every Issue of Punk Planet Is Available on the Internet Archive” at Pitchfork.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Browse Time’s picks for “The 20 Best Anime Series to Watch on Netflix Right Now.”

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Rolling Stone seeks 'thought leaders' willing to pay $2,000 to write for them” at The Guardian.

Read “He dreamed of creating his own African superhero universe. Now it’s finally paying off.” at Washington Post.

Read “The old gods died” at Abraham Joseph (Substack).

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “This 392-Year-Old Bonsai Tree Survived the Hiroshima Atomic Blast & Still Flourishes Today: The Power of Resilience” at Open Culture.

Read “Harvard’s top astronomer says our solar system may be teeming with alien technology” at New Statesman.

Food Cultures:

Read “How Orange (the Fruit) Inspired Orange (the Color)” at Atlas Obscura.

Local:

Read “Nearly 4,000 Maricopa, Pima County Republicans Switched Parties Within 1 Week Of U.S. Capitol Insurrection” at KJZZ.

Read “For a local reporter in Arizona, Trump’s collapse in the state was a longer story going back years.” at Slate. “For a longtime local reporter in Arizona, Trump’s collapse in the state was several narratives finally colliding.”

Read “2 Arizona fugitives captured 5 days after prison escape” at KTAR.

The Weekly Town Crier (01/01/21)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (01/01/21).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Guitarist Tony Rice Dead at 69” at Pitchfork.

Read “In Memoriam: Leslie West (1945-2020)” at Jambands.

Read “Pierre Cardin, iconic Space Age fashion designer, dead at 98” at New York Post.

Read “MF DOOM, Elusive Bard of Hip-Hop, Dead at 49” at Rolling Stone.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “From cruise ships to Trump’s hotel, Calvinist Christian nationalism is making moves” at Religion News Service. “Michael O'Fallon argues that America's Judeo-Christian heritage and 'the right of self governance' are under attack by the Open Society Foundation and society at large.”

Read “The Nationalist Roots of White Evangelical Politics” at Dissent. “From its origins, white evangelicalism has been marked by a vision of a Christian America, driven to overcome its perceived enemies.”

Read “The Church Needs Prophets, But It Wants Lawyers” by David French. “It’s time to listen to men and women who tell us what we need to hear.”

Read “RZIM Confirms Ravi Zacharias’s Sexual Misconduct” at Christianity Today.

• Read “RZIM Branch in UK Calls on U.S. Board to “Reform Radically”” at Roys Report.

Read “Several Black pastors break with the Southern Baptist Convention over a statement on race” at Washington Post.

Read “If You Want to Understand White Evangelicals, Tour a Hobby Lobby Store” at Daily Beast. “The merch illustrates a cultural identity that is clearly Christian but less about loving thy neighbor and more about loving thy guns and a militant white masculine ideal.”

Read “How Jesus became white — and why it’s time to cancel that” at Religion News Service. “Nearly a century later, both ‘Head of Christ’ and criticism of its role in enshrining Jesus as white endure.”

Read “CT’s Top 20 Stories of 2020” at Christianity Today.

Read “Mormon church sued for alleged role in Boy Scouts sex abuse” at KBTX.

Read “The path to enlightenment is an ego trip: Meditation and mindfulness linked to narcissism and feelings of 'spiritual superiority', study finds” at Daily Mail.

Read “There’s no theological education pipeline anymore” by Justo L. González at Christian Century. “It’s been replaced by a thriving irrigation hose.”

Read “Los Angeles activists say Sean Feucht is ‘waging biological warfare’ ahead of homeless outreach events” at Religion News Service. “Activists are holding car caravans on Wednesday and New Year’s Eve to block Christian recording artist Sean Feucht from holding outreach events in two homeless communities in Los Angeles.”

• Read “Christian Singer Sean Feucht Moves Ahead With New Year's Eve Concerts in LA Despite COVID-19 Rules” at Billboard.

Read “Justin Bieber reportedly studying to be a minister for Hillsong church” at Page Six.

Read “Jericho March plans DC return in the new year to pray Pence will overturn election” at Religion News Service.

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

Read “Possible human remains found near Nashville explosion site, police chief says” at CNN.

• Read “These six Nashville police officers evacuated residents moments before motor home exploded” at CNN.

• Read “Authorities probing whether Nashville bomber Anthony Warner blew up dogs” at New York Post.

• Read “Investigators reportedly looking into whether Nashville bombing suspect believed in alien lizards” at Task and Purpose.

• Read “Nashville Bomber's Girlfriend Warned Police About Him In 2019” at NPR.

Read “The Economy Isn’t Working. That’s Exactly the Plan.” at Common Dreams. “Inequality is reaching feudal proportions, where very few own almost everything, and everyone else is crushed under the wheel of engineered destitution.”

Read “Longtime Anti-Nuclear Activists Face Prison, Again, After Breaking Into Naval Base” at NPR.

Read “A Woman Attacked a 14-Year-Old Black Boy on Video After She Falsely Accused Him of Stealing Her Phone” at Vice.

Read “Ghislaine Maxwell denied $28.5m bail in sex crime case” at BBC.

Read “Religion, Abortion, Guns And Race. Just The Start Of A New Supreme Court Menu” at NPR.

Read “Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signs bill requiring fetal remains be buried or cremated” at Cincinnati.com.

This Week With The Police:

Read “What we know about the fatal shooting of Andre Hill, a Black man, by Columbus police” at Columbia Dispatch.

• Read “Ohio police officer fired in fatal shooting of Black man” at AP News.

Read “Phoenix police officer said, 'If the mayor defunds the police, I'm going to shoot her'“ at AZ Central.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Betsy DeVos tells Education Department employees to 'resist' Biden administration, report says” at USA Today.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Covid-19 Aid Bill Remains in Doubt as Congress Braces for Showdown With Trump” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan jailed for 'provoking trouble' with Wuhan reporting” at NBC News.

Read “L.A. County is probing whether a new, more contagious COVID strain is spreading locally” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Still Disinfecting Surfaces? It Might Not Be Worth It” at NPR.

Read “Small Number of Covid Patients Develop Severe Psychotic Symptoms” at New York Times.

Read “If you want to travel next year, you may need a vaccine passport” at CNN.

Read “COVID-19 is taking a heavy toll in America’s mental health-care deserts” at National Geographic.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology and/or “Celebrities”):

Read “Shia LaBeouf to Enter Rehab for Addiction and Psychological Issues” at Consequence of Sound.

Internationalities:

Read “US begins labelling illegal settlement products as 'Made in Israel'“ at Middle East Eye.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Growing number of GOP lawmakers back Electoral College challenge” at The Hill.

Read “Senate filibuster designed to oust Mitch McConnell over $2000 survival aid” at Raw Story.

Read “Georgia signature audit finds no fraud in presidential election” at The Hill.

Read “Ossoff slams Loeffler criticism of Warnock: She's 'been campaigning with a Klansman'“ at The Hill.

Read “Graham calls for stand-alone vote on $2K checks” at The Hill.

Read “Biden's Incoming Press Secretary: Briefings Won't Be A Platform For Right-Wing Spin” at NPR.

Read “Republicans Propping Up the Fossil Fuel Industry Is Borderline Socialist” at Slate.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Trump's final days try to turn the military into a political pawn” at The Hill.

Read “GOP lawmaker sues Pence in bid to overturn Biden win” at The Hill.

• Read “Pence asks judge to toss GOP lawmaker's bid to overturn election results” at The Hill.

Read “Trump Races to Weaken Environmental and Worker Protections, and Implement Other Last-Minute Policies, Before Jan. 20” at Pro Publica.

Read “Sen. Josh Hawley Will Contest the Electoral College Vote Count” at Slate.

Music-Related News and Such:

Browse The Allmusic 2020 Year In Review.

Read “Interview: Jeff Tweedy on Creativity and Catharsis” at Relix.

Read “How Music Persisted During the Pandemic” at Pitchfork. “From Bandcamp Fridays to Verzuz battles, these were our silver linings from a strange, stuck year in music.”

Browse “Lee Ranaldo lists his favorite guitarists of all time” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Vinyl Just Had Its Best Sales Week in History” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Ticketmaster To Pay $10 Million Fine Following Songkick Legal Dispute” at Relix.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Nadine Labaki to Star in Arabic ‘Perfect Strangers’ Remake” at Variety.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “Photographer Crafts Special Camera To Capture Delicate Snowflakes in the Highest Resolution Ever” at My Modern Net.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

National Geographic has chosen their favorite photographs of the year:

• Browse “The best science pictures of 2020.”

• Browse “our best animal photos of 2020.”

• Browse “Family Life 2020—in photos.”
  

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Wanted: albino python thieves in Massachusetts” at Boing Boing.

The Weekly Town Crier (10/16/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (10/16/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Baseball Hall of Famer Joe Morgan dies at 77” at ESPN.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “5 Ways Your Predominantly White Church Can Work for Racial Justice and Reconciliation” at Missio Alliance.

Read “I was in the pro-life movement. But then, widowed with 6 kids, I prepared for an abortion” at USA Today. “The pro-life movement's caricatures make for good propaganda but terrible policy. People, real people, become pregnant.”

Read “One Jehovah’s Witness acquitted in Russia as others get months of restrictions” at Religion News Service.

Read “God intended it as a disposable planet’: meet the US pastor preaching climate change denial” at The Conversation. “Every so often you come across a piece of writing so extraordinary that you cannot help but share it. One such piece is a sermon on global warming by American pastor John MacArthur. Full of beautifully constructed rhetorical flourishes, it is forcefully delivered by an experienced and impassioned preacher to a large and appreciative audience.”

Read “Jesus Christ, Superspreader?” at Rolling Stone. “Preacher-musician Sean Feucht stages Nashville concert, ignoring Covid-19 precautions.”

Read “Vatican takes step toward making teen youngest contemporary person declared a saint” at The Hill.

Read “How will the post-pandemic church pay the bills?” at Religion News Service.

Read “The Fundamentalist War on Wokeness is a War on Christian Love” at Patheos.

Read “CRT: conservative evangelicalism’s latest Marxist chimaera” at Faith, Philosophy, and Politics.

Read “Investigation into Allegations Against Chris Rice” at Tates Creek Presbyterian Church.

Read “Trump refuses to disavow QAnon conspiracy theory” at Financial Times.

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

Read “Militia group plan to kidnap Whitmer was part of attempt to start civil war” at The Hill.

• Read “13 charged by state, feds in plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer” at WXYZ.

Read “Graham says SC people of color can go anywhere in the state but 'need to be conservative, not liberal' at The Hill. “I care about everybody, if you’re a young African American or an immigrant, you can go anywhere in this country,” Graham said. “You just need to be conservative, not liberal.”

Read “In this LA neighborhood, residents unite to bless one of its most sacred murals” at Religion News Service. “On a recent Sunday afternoon, more than 100 people gathered at a northeast Los Angeles intersection to honor what some refer to as the neighborhood’s most sacred mural.”

Read “We have a story to tell: Indigenous scholars, activists speak up amid toppling of Serra statues” at Religion News Service.

Read “The All-American Mind of a Militia Member” at The New Republic. “I’ve spent years with men like the ones charged in a Michigan plot to kidnap the governor. They aren’t outsiders—they’re intimate products of American democracy.”

Read “Early voting begins in Georgia with long lines, high turnout” at NBC News. “Race is one of the strongest predictors of how long a person waits in line to vote, research shows.”

Listen to “No Compromise” at NPR. “Discover a social media empire with an unapologetic vision of gun rights—generating millions of likes, follows, and dollars. From Guns & America, reporters Lisa Hagen of WABE and Chris Haxel of KCUR expose how three brothers from the most uncompromising corner of the gun debate are turning hot-button issues into donations and controversy.”

Read “Mexico says 2 women may have had nonconsensual surgery in ICE detention” at NBC News. “Mexico said it has identified two women who may have been operated on without their consent while they were detained by U.S. immigration authorities.”

Read “Giffords launches national Gun Owners for Safety group to combat the NRA” at The Hill.

• Read “I’m a Teenage Biathlete Who Grew Up Shooting. Here’s Why I Support Gun Safety Laws.” at Giffords.Org.

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

Read “SBTS trustees retain building names, address history, establish $5 million scholarship for African American students” at SBTS.

• Read “Al Mohler Needs to Say Their Names” at Word and Way.

This Week With The Police:

Read “11-Year Old Boy Busted For Jacking School Bus . . . Went on JoyRide, Cops Say” at TMZ.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Despite a Strong COVID-19 Rebound, China Isn't Going Back to Normal Anytime Soon” at Time.

Read “Harris Says Covid Aid Should Be Senate Priority” at Bloomberg.

Read “Maynard James Keenan Had COVID-19” at Spin. "It was ugly," Tool/A Perfect Circle/Puscifer frontman says.

Read ‘Chris Christie has been hospitalized with COVID-19 for a week. That’s not unusual for this disease, doctors say” at NJ.com.

Read “Fox News Doctor To Examine Trump, And Twitter Users Jokingly ‘Leak’ Footage” at Huff Post. “Trump’s televised medical exam will be as honest and transparent as Trump’s taxes,” one Twitter user promised.”

Read “As a pandemic presses on, waves of grief follow its path” at Associated Press. “In a strong voice tinged with her Irish homeland, Fiona Prine talks hauntingly about loss. From her COVID-19 infection and isolation — self-imposed in hopes of sparing her husband, folk-country legend John Prine — to his own devastating illness and death, she’s had more than her share in this year like no other.”

Read “Is There a Safe Way to Be Home for the Holidays?” at The Atlantic. “Throughout the pandemic, Americans have been tempted to violate public-health experts’ recommendations. The winter holidays might be the strongest temptation yet.”

Read “A Redding Megachurch Leader Came to Humboldt and Flouted Mask Rules. Her Ministry is Now the Source of a Major COVID Outbreak.” at Lost Coast Outpost.

Read “CDC optimistic coronavirus vaccines will be released by end of the year” at CNN.

Read “Alabama Coach Nick Saban Tests Positive for Covid-19 as Virus Disrupts SEC” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Putin Announces Approval Of A Second Unproven Coronavirus Vaccine” at NPR.

Read “Oxford researchers develop rapid COVID-19 test capable of producing results in under five minutes” at The Hill.

Read “Jetliner Cabins Are Quickly Cleared of Virus, Pentagon Says” at Bloomberg.

Read “OSHA Doesn’t Expect Employers To Report COVID-19 Hospitalizations Anymore” at Huff Post.

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “California Will Keep Burning. But Housing Policy Is Making It Worse.” at Pro Publica.

Read “How Airbnb Pulled Back From the Brink” at Wall Street Journal. “Lessons from the home-sharing giant’s near-death experience: Focus on the core business, keep expenses low and listen to customers.”

Read “Facebook removes hundreds of fake profiles tied to pro-Trump group” at The Guardian.

Read “Removing Holocaust Denial Content” at Facebook.

Read “An Ethical Computer-Repair Shop Wouldn’t Do That to Hunter Biden” at Slate. “The New York Post’s controversial “scoop” involves some shady behavior by a laptop repairman.’

Read “NBC Actors, Producers Protest Network’s Decision to Host Trump Town Hall at Same Time as Biden’s ABC Event” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Twitter Changes Course After Republicans Claim ‘Election Interference’” at New York Times.

Internationalities:

Read “Vietnam flood death toll rises as storm Nangka dumps more rain” at Al Jazeera.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Biden Campaign Continues To Deflect On Court-Packing” at NPR.

Read “Biden Affirms: “I Will Eliminate Your Student Debt” at Forbes.

Read “Why the Affordable Care Act Is Such a Hot Topic” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “'Courts Are Not Designed To Solve Every Problem,' Barrett To Say In Opening Statement” at NPR.

Read “Marjorie Taylor Greene spars with GOP lawmaker over QAnon, antifa” at The Hill.

Read “The battle over a Texas order limiting ballot drop-off locations, explained” at Vox.

Read “Texas surpassed 1 million votes on first day of early voting” at Houston Chronicle.

Read “Ice Cube Clarifies Role in Helping Trump Admin Develop ‘Platinum Plan’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Senate committee sets Oct 22 confirmation vote” at Al Jazeera.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Williamson nurse charged after shooting woman in abdomen” at WCHSTV.

Read “White House Refuses to Say if Trump Still Contagious Before First Event Since Diagnosis” at Slate.

Read “Trump Told Supporters to ‘Watch’ Voting. His Staff Is More Than Watching" at New York Times.

Read “Mike Pompeo: Clinton emails could be released before election” at New York Post.

Read “California elections officials order GOP to immediately remove unofficial ballot boxes” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Supreme Court allows Trump administration to end census count” at Politico. “A federal judge had ordered the Census Bureau to continue enumeration until Oct. 31.”

Read “As Virus Spread, Reports of Trump Administration’s Private Briefings Fueled Sell-Off” at New York Times. “On Feb. 24, Trump's economic team privately addressed the Hoover Institution and implied that a COVID outbreak could prove worse than advisers were signaling to the public. Aides appeared to be giving wealthy party donors an early warning.”

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Juice WRLD’s Mother Pens Open Letter About Son’s Struggles for World Mental Health Day” at Rolling Stone.

Read “The Haunting of Slint’s “Good Morning, Captain” at Treble.

Read “Anatomy of a Sound: Garcia Peoples” at Inside Hook. “These are the songs fueling one of the best new jam bands around.”

Read “The Best Tenor Player In the World; Pharaoh Sanders at 80” at Los Angeles Times. “Just let the music come, and spend as much time as you can listening.”

Read “Crass Walks Us Through Their Entire Bandcamp Discography” at Bandcamp.

Watch “Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires Cover John Prine’s ‘Storm Windows’” at Rolling Stone.

See “‘In My Room’ With Thurston Moore” at Rolling Stone. “Musician performs mostly instrumental versions of songs off his latest solo effort, By the Fire.”

Read “Jeff Tweedy Wants To Teach You How To Write One Song” at Uproxx.

Read “The Mountain Goats Post New Song Picture Of My Dress” at StereoBoard.

Browse “From Brian Eno to Sufjan Stevens: A playlist of chill out music to keep you calm” at Far Out Magazine.

Read “The Flaming Lips: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert” at NPR.

Watch “Bill Callahan & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy cover Hank Williams Jr w/ Matt Sweeney” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “The Age Of Adz Turns 10” at Stereogum.

Read “On Leaders And Leadership - A Conversation With Chuck D” at The Quietus.

Read “Jerry David DeCicca — The Unlikely Optimist and His Domestic Adventures (This Is a Self-Release)” at Dusted.

Read “How to Handle the Hate in America’s Musical Heritage” at New York Times.

Read “David Crosby apologizes for “not cool” Eddie Van Halen tweet” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Sturgill Simpson to Release First Bluegrass Album ‘Cuttin’ Grass Vol. 1′” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Jimmy Page says he “reconnected with guitar” during lockdown” at Guitar World.

Read “Texas Punk Rock, Straight From the Pit” at New York Times.

Read “Yo La Tengo :: We Have Amnesia Sometimes/Sleepless Night” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “An Oral History Of Tom Petty’s Landmark 1994 Album, ‘Wildflowers’” at Uproxx.

Read “Remembering the Original Knitting Factory” at JazzTimes. “Owners and musicians tell the story of the New York jazz club that defined "downtown".

Read “Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill Musical Leads Tony Awards with 15 Nominations” at Consequence of Sound.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “HBO to Develop Scripted Series About Elon Musk’s SpaceX” at Variety.

Read “C-SPAN's Steve Scully suspended after admitting to lying about Twitter hack” at The Hill.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Five Indigenous SFF Authors You Should Be Reading” at TOR.com.

• Browse “Honoring Indigenous Peoples: 20 Recommended Reads” at New York Public Library.

• Browse “10 Native North American Women Writers To Read This Fall” at Book Riot.

• Read “Bookworms, How Many Of These Classic Books By Indian Authors Have You Read?” at BuzzFeed.

Read “Alan Moore Gives Rare Interview: ‘Watchmen’ Creator Talks New Project ‘The Show’, How Superhero Movies Have “Blighted Culture” & Why He Wants Nothing To Do With Comics” at Deadline.

Browse “5 books not to miss: 'Culture Warlords' by Talia Lavin, P. Djèlí Clark's 'Ring Shout'“ at USA Today.

Read “Every page makes you hungry': 20 chefs pick their favourite starter cookbooks” at The Guardian.

Local:

Read “Interim Tempe Police Chief Glover to be sworn in at city council meeting” at KTAR.

The Weekly Town Crier (06/19/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (06/19/20)

Read “Legendary Batman writer, Denny O'Neil dies at age 81” at Games Radar.

Read “Evangelicals perfected cancel culture. Now it’s coming for them” at Religion News Service.

Read “Jesus Was Divisive: A Black Pastor's Message To White Christians” at NPR’s Code-Switch. “Of course, they are willing to sacrifice black and brown bodies to hear a full-throated hymn.”

Read “Apartheid’s Roots Nourished By Religion” from January 1985’s Chicago Tribune.

Read and Sign an “Open Letter to Our Nations’ Lawmakers on Systemic Racism” from The Poor People’s Campaign. "The question before us is whether America can be what it has promised to be." We will not stop until we can all breathe.

Read “Most US Pastors Speak Out in Response to George Floyd’s Death Survey finds many still worry discussing race is “too political” at Christianity Today.

Read “Before protests, black Americans said religious sermons should address race relations” at Pew Research.

Read “A Brief History of People Using Romans 13 to Justify White Supremacy” at The Root (originally published 2018).

Read ‘In landmark case, Supreme Court rules LGBTQ workers are protected from job discrimination” at NBC News. “The decision said Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which makes it illegal for employers to discriminate because of a person's sex, also covers sexual orientation and transgender status”

Read “Supreme Court blocks Trump’s bid to end DACA, a win for undocumented ‘Dreamers’” at Washington Post.

Read “Number of Refugees World-Wide Has Doubled in Past Decade Nearly 80 million people were displaced from their homes at the end of 2019, according to the U.N.’s refugee agency” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Colonialism’s Cages: When Indigenous People Were Placed In Human Zoos” at All That’s Interesting.

HAPPY JUNETEENTH!

• Read “The meaning of Juneteenth and how we should commemorate it today” at MPR News.

• Learn about Juneteenth at Teen Vogue.

• Read “Trump claims he made Juneteenth "very famous" at Axios. “I did something good: I made Juneteenth very famous." The president claimed that "nobody had ever heard" of the June 19 celebration before he planned a rally in Tulsa on that day.”

• Read “Juneteenth: A Truer Independence Day The official end of slavery in America more fully embraces the self-evident truth of all people as created equal” at Christianity Today.

• Read “Juneteenth – 7 Books for Kids!” at Englewood Review of Books.

• Read “Amid Calls for a General Strike, Labor Will Shut Down 29 Ports on Juneteenth” at Truthout

Learn about Medgar Evers.

Learn about Ruby Bridges.

Learn about “The Trail Of Tears: Government-Approved Ethnic Cleansing That Removed 100,000 Native Americans From Their Ancestral Lands” at All That’s Interesting.

Read “Top Military Leaders Acknowledge Black and Hispanic Service Members Get Treated Unfairly in Its Justice System” at Newsweek.

Read “Top State Department official resigns in protest of Trump’s response to racial tensions in the country” at Washington Post.

Listen to “'Lean Into Discomfort' When Talking About Race” at WBUR.

Read “The Unmistakable Black Roots of 'Sesame Street' at Smithsonian.

Read “Aunt Jemima brand to change name, remove image that Quaker says is 'based on a racial stereotype' at NBC News.

• Read “Aunt Jemima's logo has changed 6 times, and its history is rooted in racial stereotypes and slavery — check out how the brand started and evolved over 130 years” at Business Insider.

Read “Is Genocide Happening In Nigeria As The World Turns A Blind Eye?” at Forbes.

Read “Beyond Berets: The Black Panthers as Health Activists” at US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health.

Learn about the “Boogaloo movement” at CNN.

• Read “The 29-Year-Old Bodybuilder Behind the Armed Effort to Reopen Texas A month ago Philip Archibald was stuck inside his Dallas home, unable to work. Now he commands a heavily armed network of anti-lockdown vigilantes, some with extremist leanings” at Texas Monthly.

• Read “Members of armed civilian group arrested, suspected gunman identified after man is shot at Albuquerque protest” at Washington Post.

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments):

• Read “George Floyd's uncle calls on South Dakota police department in his hometown to remove Confederate flag from their logo” at Daily Mail.

• Read “Trump's history of defending Confederate 'heritage' despite political risk” at ABC News. (EDITOR’S NOTE: You don't get to call yourself "The Party of Lincoln" while defending Confederate symbols.

• Read “Taylor Swift Speaks Out Against Tennessee’s Confederate Monuments” at Stereogum.

• Read “Tennessee just showed that white supremacy is alive and well; Honoring a former Confederate general and KKK grand wizard in 2019 is outrageous” at Washington Post.

• Read “Is this the end for public monuments to the Confederacy?” at PBS News Hour. "While some argue the monuments honor Southern ancestors, Lecia Brooks of the Southern Poverty Law Center says most went up either early in the 20th century or during the civil rights era, as racist groups like the Ku Klux Klan flexed their muscle.”

• Read "NASCAR’s Bubba Wallace on banning the Confederate flag and a new generation of fans” at PBS News Hour.

• Read “Cities Are Removing Racist & Confederate Statues That Protesters Have Targeted” at Now This!

• In modern-day Confederate news, Read: “Mitch McConnell: We paid for 'sin of slavery' by electing Obama” at USA Today.

• Read “Statue of Josephus Daniels, publisher and white supremacist, removed from Raleigh square” at The News and Observer.

• Read “Columbus To Remove Christopher Columbus Statue At City Hall” at WOSU.

• Read “Letting Go Of The Lost Cause: Confederates Were Racist Traitors The Civil War ended 155 years ago. We need to finally correct the historical record. The Confederates were racist traitors and should not be celebrated” at Rantt Media.

• Read “Kingston Decides to Swap One George Clinton for Another” at Hudson Valley River News.

This Week in Protest News:

• Read “'Riots', 'mobs', 'chaos': the establishment always frames change as dangerous” at The Guardian.

• Read “Tear Gas: An Investigation. What it is, how it is abused and why you should care” at Amnesty.org.

• Read “What the Heck is Going On In Seattle?” at Medium.

• Read “Fox News runs digitally altered images in coverage of Seattle’s protests, Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” at Seattle Times. (EDITOR’S NOTE: MAYBE, Just Maybe, Fox “News” isn’t news after all but propaganda?”

• Read “Trump draws rebukes for suggesting 75-year-old protester pushed to the ground in Buffalo was part of a ‘set up’ at Washington Post.

• Read “As protests continue, black women activists are leading again” at PBS News Hour.

• Read “The Small-Town Antifa Invasion That Never Came Hundreds of people in Klamath Falls, Oregon, rallied with guns and bulletproof vests in response to a Facebook rumor” at Slate.

• Read “US law enforcement surveilled protests with drones, spy planes” at Al Jazeera.

  • Read “AOC Wants to Know Why the Hell a Predator Drone Was Spying on Protesters The military-grade Predator B drone was far outside the 100-mile operational zone of Customs and Border Protection” at Vice.

• Read “Kneeling Protest, Once a Flashpoint, Now a Widespread Symbol of Solidarity Four years after Colin Kaepernick was shunned, demonstrators, police and lawmakers embrace the gesture” at Wall Street Journal.

• Read “The George Floyd demonstrations turned into a movement when the protesters began to sing It was as if the spirituals of the Civil Rights waited, just below the surface, to surge forth once more” at Dallas News.

• Read “Black Lives Matter is Winning, and They Don’t Need Advice from the Liberal Establishment” at Due Dissidence.

• Read “Cornel West on US protests: The chickens have come home to roost Activist and scholar talks to Middle East Eye about the Black Lives Matter movement and the roots of neoliberalism that need to be dismantled” at Middle East Eye.

George Floyd:

• Read “George Floyd’s Autopsy and the Structural Gaslighting of America” at Scientific American. “The weaponization of medical language emboldened white supremacy with the authority of the white coat. How will we stop it from happening again?”

Breonna Taylor:

Read “Sen. John Cornyn’s distorted interpretation of ‘systemic racism’ displayed what a lot of Americans don’t get about it. A witness at Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary hearing on policing reform offered a lesson on what it means” at Washington Post.

This Week With the Police:

• Read “Unarmed professionals will now respond to non-criminal police calls in San Francisco to reduce 'police confrontations' at Yahoo.

• Read “Atlanta officer who fatally shot Rayshard Brooks has been terminated” at

• Read “Police Have Long History of Responding to Black Movements by Playing the Victim” at Truthout.

• Read “Defunding the Police Will Actually Make Us Safer Policing in this country evolved from slave patrols. It has never been a neutral institution” at ACLU.

• Read “'I can't breathe,' Oklahoma man tells police before dying. 'I don't care,' officer responds. Newly released video of the 2019 incident shows officers restraining Derrick Scott, 42, who is heard asking repeatedly for his medicine and saying he can’t breathe” at NBC News.

• Read “Why Minneapolis Was the Breaking Point Black men and women are still dying across the country. The power that is American policing has conceded nothing” at The Atlantic.

• Read “They Were the Authority and I Didn’t Argue With Authority” In an era before rape kits, Sue Royston decided to fight for justice even though the police doubted her, the prosecution discouraged her, and those around her dismissed her story” at Pro Publica.

• Read “Seattle Council Bans Police Use of Crowd Control Weapons” at New York Times.'

• Read “Lawsuit: Arizona's Use Of Private Prisons Violates The U.S. Constitution” at KJZZ.

• Read “'Hey Siri, I'm getting pulled over' - iPhone shortcut helps record police interactions An iPhone shortcut that allows users to automatically record their interactions with the police is gaining popularity” at ABC 7.

• Read “Defund The Police? Columbus Police Account For More Than A Third Of City's Budget” WOSU.

This Week In Prison Abolition:

• Read “What Is Prison Abolition? The movement that is trying to think beyond prisons as a tool to solve society’s problems” at The Nation.

• Read “Is Prison Necessary? Ruth Wilson Gilmore Might Change Your Mind” at New York Times.

• Read “What Abolitionists Do” at Jacobin Magazine. “Prison abolitionists aren't naive dreamers. They're organizing for concrete reforms, animated by a radical critique of state violence.”

• Read “The Challenge of Prison Abolition: A Conversation” at History Is A Weapon. A conversation between Angela Y. Davis and Dylan Rodriguez.

Read “Autopsy report says Rayshard Brooks was shot twice in the back, lists manner of death as homicide” at CNN.

• Read “Ex-Atlanta Police officer who killed Rayshard Brooks charged with felony murder” at CNN.

Read “A short history of black women and police violence” at The Conversation.

Read “The Sacrifice Black Children Shouldn’t Have to Make This country prizes Black children’s precocity — insists on it, even, much of the time” at The Cut.

Read “Law Professor On Misdemeanor Offenses And Racism In The Criminal System” at NPR.

Read “Loving Day: 53 years after the Supreme Court overturned laws banning interracial marriage Mildred and Richard Loving took their case to the highest court after they were arrested for living together as an interracial married couple in Virginia” at WFAA.

Read “‘A change is gonna come’: Reimagining public safety” by Jim Wallis for Religion News Service.

Read “In U.S., 87% Approve of Black-White Marriage, vs. 4% in 1958 Ninety-six percent of blacks, 84% of whites approve” at The Guardian.

Read “Starbucks to allow baristas to wear Black Lives Matter attire and accessories after social media backlash” at CNBC.

Read “Transgender Health Protections Reversed By Trump Administration” at NPR.

Read “How some researchers are using data science to fight sex trafficking” at America Magazine.

Read “John Cleese Blasts the BBC After 'Fawlty Towers' Episode Gets Removed for Using the N-word "We were not supporting [these] views, we were making fun of them... If people are too stupid to see that, what can one say?" at Exclaim.

Read “'There Is No Neutral': 'Nice White People' Can Still Be Complicit In A Racist Society” at NPR.

Read “Making people aware of their implicit biases doesn’t usually change minds. But here’s what does work” at PBS News Hour.

Read the history of NYPD Challenge Coins at Research and Destroy.

• Read “Stories about people who have the right to remain silent, but choose not to exercise that right—including police officer Adrian Schoolcraft, who secretly recorded his supervisors telling officers to manipulate crime statistics and make illegal arrests” at This American Life.

Read “Federal Executions Set To Resume After Nearly 2-Decade Hiatus” at NPR.

Read “These companies are giving their employees time off for Juneteenth A growing list of companies have decided to make Juneteenth, which commemorates the ending of slavery in America, a paid company holiday” at 5 News Online.

Read/Listen to “A 'Forgotten History' Of How The U.S. Government Segregated America” at NPR.

Read “University of California divests from fossil fuels, puts $1 billion into clean energy” at Cronkite News.

Read “Study: 70% of Facebook users only read the headline of science stories before commenting” at Science Post.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

• Read “#TheArizonaWay doesn’t include a plan to stop spiking COVID cases” at Arizona Mirror.

• Read “CDC warns U.S. may reimplement strict coronavirus measures if cases go up ‘dramatically’” at CNBC.

• Read “‘The direct result of racism’: Covid-19 lays bare how discrimination drives health disparities among Black people” at Stat News.

• Read “Our masked future Wearing a mask all the time affects how we interact with each other. But how?” at Vox.

• Read “After six months of coronavirus, how close are we to defeating it?” at The Guardian.

• Read “Argentina pastor turns church into bar in protest at uneven coronavirus restrictions” at The Guardian.

• Read “Florida fired its coronavirus data scientist. Now she’s publishing the statistics on her own” at Washington Post.

• Read “FDA revokes authorization for hydroxychloroquine” at Market Watch.

• Read “How Independent Music Venues Are Fighting for Their Existence” at Pitchfork.

• Read “Pence Tells Governors to Repeat Misleading Claim on Outbreaks” at Washington Post. In other words: “Pence Tells Governors to Lie Like He Does . . . “

• Read “Fauci said US government held off promoting face masks because it knew shortages were so bad that even doctors couldn't get enough” at Business Insider.

• Read “Partygoers have been packing Arizona bars. Now the state is a coronavirus hot spot” at Los Angeles Times.

• Read “Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey: Arizonans Must Learn To Live With The Coronavirus” at KJZZ.

• Read “Record spike in new coronavirus cases reported in six U.S. states as reopening accelerates” at Reuters.

• Read “Judge Orders Trump Administration To Give Tribes Their COVID-19 Relief Funds The Treasury Department was planning to sit on $679 million in emergency aid that was due to go to tribal governments months ago” at Huff Post.

• Read “'It may save your life': Facing virus surge, more U.S. states mandate masks” at Reuters.

Read “There’s No Going Back to ‘Normal’ Once we accept, and grieve, that our old way of life is gone, we can build a better future” at The Atlantic.

Read “When Donald Trump tried to stage a coup: Was June 1 the turning point? Last week our president tried to send the Army into America's streets. Aides pushed back, but it was a close call” at Salon.

Read “Bolton Says Trump Impeachment Inquiry Missed Other Troubling Actions at New York Times. “Mr. Bolton also adds a striking new allegation by saying that Mr. Trump overtly linked trade negotiations to his own political fortunes by asking President Xi Jinping of China to buy a lot of American agricultural products to help him win farm states in this year’s election. Mr. Trump, he writes, was ‘pleading with Xi to ensure he’d win. He stressed the importance of farmers, and increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat in the electoral outcome.’”

• Read “Trump asked China’s Xi to help him win reelection, according to Bolton book” at Washington Post.

Read “Facebook Removes Trump Ads With Symbol Used By Nazis. Campaign Calls It An 'Emoji' at NPR.

Read “Twitter labels Trump video tweet as manipulated media, continuing its cra

Read “Twitter labels Trump video tweet as manipulated media, continuing its crackdown on misinformation The label marks the fourth time Twitter has added labels to the president’s tweets” at Washington Post.

Read “Democrats also gain from the border wall The militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border was always a bipartisan effort, with symbolism that’s useful to both parties” at High Country News.

Read “History says Trump's low approval rating is unlikely to move” at CNN.

Read “Biden running mate search zeroes in on group that includes at least four black women” at Washington Post.

Read “Poland Accidentally Invades Czech Republic In 'Minor Misunderstanding' at NPR.

Read “For Fans Of: Sonic Boom’s “All Things Being Equal” at Bandcamp.

Read “Understanding Blackness to understand Black art” at The Wire. “Does the diversity of your record collection reflect the diversity of your real social life or approach to the world?”

Read “Lady Antebellum Is Now ‘Lady A.’ But So Is a Blues Singer Who’s Used the Name for 20 Years “This is my life. They’re using the name because of a Black Lives Matter incident that, for them, is just a moment in time,” says the original Lady A, a 61-year-old black singer who’s released multiple records under the name” at Rolling Stone.

Read “David Crosby: ‘Trump Is Far More Dangerous Than Nixon’ “My democracy that I love so much is failing and being abused to death,” Crosby says” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Bob Dylan Has a Lot on His Mind” at DNYUZ.

Read “Trouser Press’ entire ’70s/’80s magazine run now available online for free” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “The Prescient Power of ‘Jagged Little Pill’ Maybe Alanis Morissette was angry, but mostly she was lucid” at Tidal.

Read “Lemmy Kilmister Biopic in the Works” at Pitchfork.

Read “2020 Americana Music Award Nominations Reflect Roots Music’s Rich Diversity” at No Depression.

Read “GET TO KNOW… SAMMY BRUE” at DIY Magazine.

Watch “David Bowie blast MTV for not playing enough Black artists in 1983” at Brooklyn Vegan. “It occurred to me, having watched MTV over the last few months, that’s it’s a solid enterprise, really. It’s got a lot going for it. I’m just floored by the fact that there are so few black artists featured on it. Why is that?"

Read “The Roots and Michelle Obama to Host Virtual Music Festival” at Pitchfork.

Read “Rose City Band: Summerlong review – a gorgeous record” at The Guardian.

Read “Bob Dylan Has Given Us One of His Most Timely Albums Ever With ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Michael Stipe, Chad Smith and other rock stars featured in trailer for 'Creem' magazine documentary” at ABC News Radio.

Read "Neal Casal Music Foundation Launches With Tribute Album to Late Guitarist Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, and Billy Strings cover Casal’s songs on ‘Highway Butterfly’; a book of the musician’s photos is also on tap” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Live Nation Wants Artists to Take Pay Cuts and Cancelation Burdens for Shows in 2021” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Inside Out makes the profound case that sadness is good” at AV Club.

Read “Inside Out makes the profound case that sadness is good” at AV Club.

Read “Meet Hercules, One of America’s Early Celebrity Chefs Heralded for his food, the enslaved cook headed the first presidential kitchen” at Gastro Obscura.

Read “Phoenix artists fighting racial injustice with public murals Around town, murals are starting to appear supporting a message of equality” at 12 News.

Read “Roll The Windows Down And Take A Drive Down Kayenta-Monument Valley Scenic Road In Arizona” at Only In Your State.

Read “There may be more than 36 intelligent alien civilizations in the Milky Way, scientists say” at CBS News.

Read “Surge Letter To Churches - June 2020” at Surge Network.

The Weekly Town Crier (05/15/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (05/15/20).

Read “Died: Darrin Patrick, Who Used His Fall and Restoration to Help Struggling Pastors” at Christianity Today.

Read “Betty Wright, Iconic R&B Singer, Dead at 66” at Pitchfork.

Read “Little Richard, Founding Father of Rock Who Broke Musical Barriers, Dead at 87” at Rolling Stone.

Read “R.I.P. Andre Harrell, Hip-Hop Mogul and Founder of Uptown Records Dies at 57” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Jerry Stiller, Comedian With Enduring Appeal, Is Dead at 92” at New York Times.

Read “'Double Rainbow Guy' Paul Vasquez has died” at CNN.

Read “Roy Horn of Siegfried and Roy duo dies of coronavirus” at CNN.

Read “Largest Christian Radio Company Faces Financial Crisis Due to Coronavirus Downturn Salem Media makes cuts as more churches and ministries pull spending during the pandemic” at Christianity Today.

Read “Germany Just Banned Conversion Therapy for Minors” at New Now Next.

Read “Nearly 2000 former DOJ officials call for AG Barr to resign over Flynn case” at ABC News.

Read “White Man Who Wore KKK Hood to Store Won't Face Charges” at The Root.

Read “Ahmaud Arbery died for the indefensible principle of white control” at Religion News Service.

• Read “Ahmaud Arbery and the Trauma of Being a Black Runner” at Christianity Today.

Read/Watch“High school senior, mother say large group of armed people, including off-duty deputy, terrorized them in their home” at WCET.

Read “Trump Believes Giving Black Voters Access to Voting Is Stealing the Election” at The Root.

Read “Breonna Taylor’s Life Mattered The young EMT didn’t need to be a hero. She just needed to be alive” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Senate Votes to Allow FBI to Monitor Browsing History Without a Warrant Federal agencies no longer need probable cause to access your online browsing data” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “The many failures revealed by the Afghanistan Papers US officials have been lying about the war since it started. Why don’t we care?” at Christianity Today.

Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

• Read “Trump says doing too much coronavirus testing makes the US 'look bad' as he pushes for the country to reopen” at Business Insider.

• Read “White House Rejects C.D.C.’s Coronavirus Reopening Plan” at New York Times.

• Read “Costco’s Mask Requirement Reminds Businesses The Customer Is Not Always Right” at Forbes.

• Read “Americans widely oppose reopening most businesses, despite easing of restrictions in some states, Post-U. Md. poll finds” at Washington Post.

• Read “Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: The Perils of Hollywood’s Reckless Social Media Posts” at Hollywood Reporter.

• Read/watch “Trump administration cuts funding for coronavirus researcher, jeopardizing possible COVID-19 cure” at CBS News.

• Read “CEOs, Farm Bureau President Told To Remove Face Masks Before Meeting With Mike Pence” at Huff Post.

• Read “The U.S. is exporting Covid-19 to Latin America. We should instead be working with our neighbors” at America Magazine.

• Read “Trump won't wear a mask in public because he's afraid he might look ridiculous and it will harm his reelection chances, report says” at Business Insider.

• Read “Unreleased White House report shows coronavirus rates spiking in heartland communities” at NBC News.

• Read "Dr. Anthony Fauci Said Reopening The Country Early Could Lead To Avoidable "Suffering And Death" at Buzzfeed News.

• Read “Coronavirus cases are on the rise in Texas and other states that reopened early, former FDA chief says” at CNBC.

• Read/Watch “Doctors Without Borders dispatches team to the Navajo Nation” at CBS News.

• Read “Cancel The Rent’ at The New Yorker. “If our government can spend trillions of dollars to bail corporations out of a worsening economic situation, then there is no reason why that same gesture cannot be extended to poor and working-class families.“

• Read “Bill Gates on how to fight future pandemics The coronavirus will hasten three big medical breakthroughs. That is just a start” at The Economist.

• Read “COVID-19 and The Mark of the Beast” at The Logos Academic Blog.

• Read “Americans more worried about reopening too quickly than not opening quickly enough, survey says” at USA Today.

• Read “Heavily Armed Protesters Gather Again At Michigan Capitol To Decry Stay-At-Home Order” at NPR.

• Read “Thousands of Americans Have Become Socialists Since March The Democratic Socialists of America have an estimated 10,000 new members—growth that organizers attribute, in part, to the coronavirus pandemic” at The Atlantic.

• Read “Trump Feared Testing Too Many People for Virus Would Spook Stock Markets, Says Report” at Daily Beast.
  

Read “Liberty University Dumps Its Philosophy Department” at The Way of Improvement.

Read “One For The History Books: 14.7% Unemployment, 20.5 Million Jobs Wiped Away” at NPR.

Read “Fight Over Vote-By-Mail Is ‘Spiritual Battle’ For ‘Control of the Free World,’ Says True the Vote Leader” at Right Wing Watch.

Read “Trump says Washington, DC, will never be a state — because of all the Democrats” at New York Post.

Read “Court Allows Emoluments Case Against Trump Over D.C. Hotel To Proceed” at NPR.

Read “After FBI Warrant, Sen. Richard Burr Steps Down As Intelligence Chairman” at News and Guts.

Read “QAnon Is More Important Than You Think: The Prophecies of Q. American conspiracy theories are entering a dangerous new phase” at The Atlantic.

Browse “Deaf People Show How To Swear In Sign Language, And It’s Shamefully Entertaining” at Design Your Trust.

Read “Live Nation Planning to Resume Concerts at “Full Scale” Beginning in 2021 In the short term, the concert promoter will experiment with fan-less or reduced-capacity shows” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Supreme Launches Daniel Johnston Clothing Line” at Pitchfork.

Read “Brian May taken to hospital after tearing buttock muscles while gardening” at The Guardian.

Read “Nirvana, Siouxsie and the Banshees, David Bowie and Hundreds More Peel Sessions Hit YouTube” at Flood.

Read “Coachella Radius Clause Lawsuit Dismissal Reversed Oregon-based promoter Soul'd Out Productions can now re-file their anti-trust suit in U.S. District Court” at Pitchfork.

Read “Jason Isbell Discusses New Album ‘Reunions’ On ‘CBS This Morning’” at JamBase.

Read “Laurie Anderson and Michael Stipe on Music, Art and New Chapters “You’ve got to fall on your face to sit at the table,” says the erstwhile R.E.M. frontman” at New York Times.

Read “'I found the roots of electronic music in a cupboard!': the tale of India's lost techno pioneers” at The Guardian.

Read “My Cymbals Were Melting”: Bill Kreutzmann Joins Carrie Fisher, Ad-Rock and Nick Offerman in ‘Have A Good Trip’ Which Debuts Today” at Relix.

Read “Listen to Iggy Pop Read a Bedtime Story About His Dog” at Pitchfork.

See “Salvador Dalí’s Illustrations for The Bible (1963)” at Open Culture.

Read “Original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater Games Getting Re-Released for PS4, XBOX One, and PC” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “An ASU researcher is working on a virus that's harmless to humans, but kills cancer cells” at AZ Central.

Read “Stanford scientists created a sound so loud it instantly boils water” at CNet.

See “Musician who loves danger invents a flame-throwing trombone” at Classic FM.

Read “Arizona Schools Plan For The Possibility Buildings May Not Open This Fall” at KJZZ.

The Weekly Town Crier (03/20/20)

All the week's news that's fit to cry about (03/20/20)

Read “Genesis Breyer P-Orridge Dead at 70 The Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV co-founder was diagnosed with leukemia in 2017” at Pitchfork.

Read/Listen to “Survey: White Evangelicals See Trump As 'Honest' And 'Morally Upstanding'“ at NPR. And stay tuned for more news from the Isaiah 5:20 channel soon!

Read “White Christians: Trump May Not Be a Good Person, But He Is a Good President New Pew Research data details the mixed feelings among Trump’s faithful supporters” at Christianity Today.

Read “Why outbreaks like coronavirus spread exponentially, and how to ‘flatten the curve’ at Washington Post.

• Read “America Is a Sham Policy changes in reaction to the coronavirus reveal how absurd so many of our rules are to begin with” at Salon.

• Browse “Coronavirus: Updated List of Tours and Festivals Canceled or Postponed Due to COVID-19” at Pitchfork.

  • Read “Record Store Day 2020 Postponed Due to Coronavirus Concerns The global music event has been moved from April to June” at Pitchfork.

  • Read “Coronavirus Should Be a Turning Point for the Music Industry” at Vulture.

• Read “Trump Dissolved Pandemic Response Team Because He Doesn't Like Having People Around "When You Don't Need Them" at Paste.

• Read “He Has 17,700 Bottles Of Hand Sanitizer And Nowhere To Sell Them. Amazon cracked down on coronavirus price gouging. Now while the rest of the world searches, some sellers are holding stockpiles of sanitizer and masks.

• Read “Racist Attacks Against Asians Continue to Rise as the Coronavirus Threat Grows” at People.

• Read/Listen to “When School Is The Safest Place For Kids; Concerns Over School Closures For Low-Income Students” at KJZZ.

• Read “AMC Theatres to Close All U.S. Locations as Cinemas Across the Country Go Dark” at Hollywood Reporter.

  • Read “NBCUniversal Breaks Theatrical Window, Will Make Movies Available On Demand Immediately” at Hollywood Reporter.

• Read “Amazon Will Cease Stocking Vinyl Records Due to Coronavirus The retail giant needs to make room on its shelves for more essential items” at Consequence of Sound.

  • Read “Bandcamp Waives Revenue Shares to Support Musicians During COVID-19 Outbreak The platform will not collect their cut of sales for 24 hours on March 20 in an attempt to “put much needed money directly into artists’ pockets” at Pitchfork.

• Read “Coronavirus Could Decimate Touring Musicians’ Livelihoods” at Rolling Stone.

• Read “America begins drinking at home With states and cities shutting down bars and restaurants, the government response to the coronavirus outbreak enters a new phase” at Politico.

• Read “Need to stock your pantry? These L.A. restaurants are temporarily flipping to corner stores.” at Time Out.

• Read “Russia deploying coronavirus disinformation to sow panic in West, EU document says” at MSN.

Read “Moog and Korg make synth apps free to help musicians stuck at home” at Engadget.

In honor of Phil Lesh’s 80th birthday listen to the official “In The Phil Zone” mix from the Grateful Dead at Spotify.

Download the new John McLaughlin, Shankar Mahadevan, Zakir Hussain album for free at Bandcamp.

Read “You can now download over 300,000 books from the NYPL for free” at Time Out.