The Weekly Town Crier (06/04/21)

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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

ReadUS 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 (03/19/21)

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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 (02/26/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (02/26/21).




We’ll Miss You:

Read “Akron/Family’s Miles Seaton Has Died at 41” at Pitchfork.

Read “Johnny Pacheco, Who Helped Bring Salsa to the World, Dies at 85” at New York Times.

Read “Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Beat Poet And Small Press Publisher, Dies At 101” at NPR.

Read “John Baker, founder of the Christian support group Celebrate Recovery, has died” at Religion News Service.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Founders Ministry President: VP Kamala Harris “Going to Hell” at Word & Way. “While defending Southern Baptist pastors who called Vice President Kamala Harris a “Jezebel,” prominent Southern Baptist pastor Tom Ascol declared Harris was going to hell.” 

Read “New planets raise old questions” at Religion News Service. “The discovery of seven Earth-sized planets orbiting a nearby dwarf star, Trappist-1, is raising lots of questions with religious implications.”

Read “Christians, Conspiracy Theories, and Credibility: Why Our Words Today Matter for Eternity” at Lifeway Research.

Read “More Christian Groups Cut Ties with Ravi Zacharias & RZIM” at Roys Report.

  • Read “Ministry leaders’ rush to empathize with Ravi Zacharias is beyond alarming” at Religion News Service.

  • Read “Ravi Zacharias posthumously defrocked, ministry suspends fundraising after abuse report” at Religion News Service.

Read “As US refocuses anti-extremism programs on far right, many Muslims still oppose them” at Religion News Service. “After the Capitol attack, the Biden White House called for countering violent extremism programs to shift to a focus on white supremacists. But Muslim groups say the programs are still a waste of resources.”

Read “Before Rush Limbaugh, Father Coughlin was America’s first demagogue of the airwaves” at America Magazine.

Read “Southern Baptists divided over politics, race, LGBTQ policy” at SBC News. “Divisions over race, politics, gender and LGBTQ issues are roiling the Southern Baptist Convention ahead of a meeting of its executive committee next week.”

Read “Evangelicals perfected cancel culture. Now it’s coming for them.” at Religion News Service. “One Alabama megachurch preacher is experiencing a cautionary tale about a central spiritual idea: What goes around comes around.”

Read “Why Is it So Hard to Reach the Christian Conspiracy Theorist?” by David French. “When fellowship is superior to facts.”

Read “George Saunders on What Buddhists Can Offer the World Right Now” at Tricycle.

Read ‘Fewer Churches Held In-Person Services in January” at Christianity Today.

Read “Palestinian Christians Promised an Outsized Voice in New Legislature” at Christianity Today.

Read “SBC president J.D. Greear: “God did not call Southern Baptists to save America” at Religion News Service. “In a speech to the SBC Executive Committee meeting, Greear asked, “Do we want to be a gospel people, or a Southern culture people? Which is the more important part of our name — Southern or Baptist?” “We should mourn when closet racists and neo-Confederates feel more at home in our churches than do many of our people of color,”

  • Read “Southern Baptists Expel Two More Churches Over Abuse” at Christianity Today. “Top leaders address divides in the denomination at the first in-person Executive Committee meeting in a year.”

  • Read “Floyd, Greear stare down division, call for refocus on the Great Commission at EC meeting” at Baptist Press.

Read “Written in Protest The impeachment vote was a vote for white supremacy” at Religion News Service. “The refusal to confront the white supremacy at the Capitol is a refusal to reconcile America’s lofty democratic rhetoric with the state of its floundering institutions.”

Read “No, Rush Limbaugh Did Not Hijack Your Parents’ Christianity”at Religion Dispatches. “Many conservative Christians embraced Rush Limbaugh because they had already embraced a faith that championed an us-vs.-them militancy... and a thinly veiled misogyny that kept women in their (God-given) place.”


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

Read “Federal judge temporarily blocks South Carolina 'heartbeat' abortion ban” at CNN.

Read “Nazi Concentration Camp Guard Sent to Germany From Tennessee” at Bloomberg.

Read “New Mexico Legislature moves to preserve abortion rights” at Associated Press.

Read “Iowa lawmaker Brad Zaun cited for having gun at airport” at Des Moines Register.

Read “Woman who gave birth alone in cell secures $200k settlement” at Associated Press.

Read “Whistleblowers: Software Bug Keeping Hundreds Of Inmates In Arizona Prisons Beyond Release Dates” at KJZZ. “Sources say Department of Corrections leadership has known about the problem since 2019.”

Read “New Jersey governor signs bills legalizing marijuana” at The Hill.

Read “Supreme Court Clears Way For NY Prosecutor To Obtain Donald Trump’s Financial Records” at News and Guts.

Read “Supreme Court won't review Pennsylvania GOP election lawsuits” at The Hill.

Read “Mike Lindell Just Got Sued for $1.3 Billion Over Election Conspiracies” at Vice.

Read “Minnesota returns land to Lower Sioux Indian Community after decades-long battle” at The Hill.

Read “Supreme Court turns down Stormy Daniels's defamation suit against Trump” at The Hill.

Read “James Franco Reaches Settlement with Former Students in Sexual Exploitation Suit” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “UN chief labels white supremacy a 'transnational threat'“ at The Hill.

Read “Why Clarence Thomas' Trump-like dissent in election case matters” at MSNBC.

Read “Illinois governor signs bill making state the first to end cash bail” at The Hill.

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

Read “Acting Capitol Police Chief, House Sergeant at Arms to testify before House Appropriations Committee” at The Hill.

Read “U.S. alleges wider Oath Keepers conspiracy, adds more charges in Jan. 6 Capitol riot” at Washington Post.

Read “Feds Charge Pa. Cop For Rioting During Capitol Insurrection: ‘I May Need A Job’” at Huff Post.

Read “His pastors tried to steer him away from social media rage. He stormed the Capitol anyway.” at Washington Post.

Read “Several Charged Capitol Rioters Complained On Social Media About Antifa Getting Credit For Their Work” at Comic Sands.

Read “Oath Keeper claims she was VIP security at Trump rally before riot and says she met with Secret Service agents” at CNN.

Read “Former North Miami Beach cop went live on Facebook from inside the Capitol during riot” at Miami Herald.

Read ‘Justice Dept. Is Said to Be Examining Stone’s Possible Ties to Capitol Rioters” at New York Times.

Read “Reporter's Video From Inside Senate On Jan. 6 Shows A Crowd Prepared For Violence” at NPR.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Video Shows NYPD Cop Repeatedly Punching a Restrained Man in the Head” at Vice.

Read “Phoenix Council Debates Moving Money From Police Oversight To Homeless Services” at KJZZ.

Read “Newly released video shows deputies confront Black man over alleged jaywalking before fatally shooting him in San Clemente” at KTLA. “The deputies themselves can be heard debating whether Kurt Reinhold was jaywalking, with one telling the other, “Don’t make case law.”

Read “Martin Gugino sues city of Buffalo, mayor and police after fracturing skull” at Religion News Service. “A grand jury declined to indict the Buffalo police officers, but the Catholic social justice activist filed a civil suit alleging his constitutional right to peaceably protest was violated.”

Education and The Learnings, And/Or School Re-Openings

Read “Cornel West Says Harvard Denied Him Tenure Consideration, Calls It 'Political'“ at Huff Post.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Watch “Fmr. FDA Commissioner: Vaccine supply could exceed demand as soon as April” at MSNBC.

Read ‘Sedentary and stressed? Get outside to improve health during COVID, experts advise” at Cronkite News.

Read “Israel: Pfizer vaccine prevents 98.9 percent of COVID-19 deaths” at The Hill.

Read “Aging Out of Foster Care During COVID-19 Pandemic Brings Additional Challenges” at Teen Vogue.

Read “Meghan McCain calls for Biden to remove Fauci” at The Hill.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Video shows man screaming 'get a f---ing job' at family in line for church's food drive” at The Hill.

Read “Robinhood CEO apologizes for limiting GameStop trades” at MSBC.

Read “Politico finds Ted Cruz's Cancun scandal 'refreshingly normal'“ at The Week.

Read “DeSantis to lower Florida flags in honor of Limbaugh” at The Hill.

Read “Kim Kardashian Reportedly Files To Divorce Kanye West” at MTV.

Read “Why Were There So Many Serial Killers Between 1970 and 2000 — and Where Did They Go?” at Rolling Stone. “The answer is manyfold — encompassing everything from sociological changes, to biology, to technology, to linguistics.”

Read ‘Turkish Garbage Collectors Open a Library from Books Rescued from the Trash” at Goodnet.

Read “Free speech on campus is to be protected, but the war against cancel culture rages on” at Telegraph.

Read “Coolidge man fakes kidnapping to get out of work, police say” at 12 News.

Read “Some Texans got electric bills up to $17,000 after the storm. How does that happen?” at Washington Post.

  • Read “Power Companies Get Exactly What They Want”: How Texas Repeatedly Failed to Protect Its Power Grid Against Extreme Weather” at Pro Publica. “Texas regulators and lawmakers knew about the grid’s vulnerabilities for years, but time and again they furthered the interests of large electricity providers.”

Read “The Comedy Industry Has a Big Alt-Right Problem” at The New Republic. “How safe spaces for transgressive humor, both online and in real life, helped breed a hateful ideology.”

Read “Twitter Kicked Donald Trump Out and Its Stock Surged to a Record” at Bloomberg.

Read “Mark Changed The Rules”: How Facebook Went Easy On Alex Jones And Other Right-Wing Figures” at Buzzfeed News. “Facebook’s rules to combat misinformation and hate speech are subject to the whims and political considerations of its CEO and his policy team leader.”

Read “Barack Obama, Bruce Springsteen Launch Spotify Podcast” at The Hollywood Reporter.

Read “28-Year-Old Dad-to-Be Dies in Explosion While Building 'Gender-Reveal' Device” at People.

See “Woman Yelling at Cat" in LEGO” at Boing Boing.

Read “The Army Is Building a New High Powered Laser” at Vice. “The Army wants to build a new kind of laser that fires in 1 quadrillionth of a second.”

Read “How Disney is using ‘Star Wars’ to help Chevy sell electric cars” at Los Angeles Times.

Internationalities:

Read ‘US sanctions inflicted $1 trillion damage on Iran’s economy: FM” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Canada's parliament declares China's treatment of Uighurs 'genocide'“ at BBC.

Read “North Korean Defector’s DMZ Crossing Raises Questions About Border Security” at Wall Street Journal. “Man swam across the border, went through a drainage conduit and appeared on South Korean military cameras eight times before being detected.”

Read “China denies requiring anal swabs from US diplomats” at BBC.

Read “US bombs Syria facilities used by Iran-backed militia; first airstrikes under Biden” at USA Today.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Ocasio-Cortez calls for full investigation of Cuomo's handling of coronavirus in nursing homes” at The Hill.

Read “Mike Pence Declines Invite to CPAC Event Where Donald Trump Will Speak” at Newsweek.

Read “Progressive caucus chair: Income thresholds for direct payments should stay at $75,000” at The Hill.

Read “The GOP is rapidly becoming the blue-collar party. Here's what that means” at NBC News.”Most of the GOP's blue-collar growth took place during the presidency of Donald Trump.”

Read ‘Trump to claim total control of GOP” at Axios. “In his first post-presidential appearance, Donald Trump plans to send the message next weekend that he is Republicans' "presumptive 2024 nominee" with a vise grip on the party's base, top Trump allies tell Axios.”

Read “Florida official tells offices to disregard DeSantis order to lower flags in Limbaugh's honor” at The Hill.

Read “Riot Romney predicts Trump would win the 2024 G.O.P. nomination if he ran for president.” at New York Times. “He has by far the largest voice and a big impact in my party,” Mr. Romney said.

Read “Bill would strip pension for president convicted of felony” at The Hill.

Read “Why Biden Can’t Fire Postmaster General Louis DeJoy” at Slate. “Trying to force DeJoy out could lead to constitutional chaos.”

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “McConnell Wants the Law Changed to Ensure He's Replaced by a Republican If He Leaves the Senate Early” at Second Nexus.

Read “Georgia Republicans Are Doubling Down on Racist Voter Suppression” at Mother Jones. “After Black voters turned out in record numbers, the GOP wants to make it harder to vote.”

Read “Matt Schlapp on Banishing Mitt Romney From CPAC: I Would Be ‘Afraid For His Physical Safety’ If He Came” at Mediaite.

Read “Trump’s blunt weapon: State GOP leaders” at Axios. “Virtually every Republican who supported impeachment was censured back home, or threatened with a primary challenge.”

Read “Trump to reemerge on political scene at CPAC” at The Hill.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Dinosaur Jr’s Green Mind Turns 30” at Spin. “We spoke with frontman J Mascis about the band’s early days, and why 'Green Mind' is still a pivotal work.”

Read “Sub Pop opens new flagship record store in Seattle” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “Courtney Love Says She Stopped Acting Because of “A Bunch of #MeToos” at Consequence of Sound. ‘"No one would believe me, and it wouldn't stop. So I left, and it left."

Read “Decades Since ‘3 Feet High & Rising’ & De La Soul Still Isn’t In Control Of Its Legacy” at Okay Player. “In an age where countless veteran rap acts are benefiting off of nostalgia, pioneering hip-hop group De La Soul hasn’t fully been able to do the same.”

Read “Bill Callahan, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy & Cassie Berman Cover Silver Jews’ The Wild Kindness’” at Jambase.

Read “Marilyn Manson under investigation by LA County Sheriff’s Department” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Browse Jerry Garcia’s guitars.

Read “José González Returns With First New Song in 5 Years” at Pitchfork.

Read “R.I.P. Miles Seaton of Akron/Family” at Talkhouse. James Toth (Wooden Wand) remembers his friend.

Read “Daft Punk Break Up” at Pitchfork. “The legendary dance duo have called it quits 28 years after forming in Paris.”

Read “U-Roy: the singularly musical toaster was a vital part of reggae's bloodline” at The Guardian. “His inspired technique made toasting into an international phenomenon, yet he was endearingly modest to the end.”

Read “Dinosaur Jr. Announce New Album, Share New Song “I Ran Away”: Listen” at Pitchfork.

Browse Bandcamp’s picks for “The Best Experimental Music on Bandcamp: February 2021.”

Read “Can Live Series Begins With Release Of 1975 Stuttgart Show” at The Quietus.

Read “Spiritualized to Reissue Their First Four Albums on Vinyl” at Pitchfork.

Read “Post Malone Covers Hootie and the Blowfish for Pokémon Day Celebration” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Uproar at KCRW as former producer accuses public radio giant of 'blatant racism'“ at Yahoo.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “What Are the Commercials in WandaVision Telling Us? at Vulture.

Read “32 Memorable ‘Muppet Show’ Musical Moments to Stream on Disney+” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “David Lynch’s Industrious Pandemic” at New Yorker. “Checking in with the director as he turns seventy-five.”

Read “Disney+ Adds Disclaimer to The Muppet Show” at Consequence of Sound. “The streaming platform warns viewers of "negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures."

Read “E.T. II, the mega-dark sequel that never happened” at Boing Boing.

Read “Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn trash HBO documentary series as a ‘hatchet job’” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “From Heroes to WandaVision: How superheroes learned to meet TV halfway” at AV Club.

Browse Paste’s picks for “The 10 Best Movies on Apple TV+ Right Now, Ranked.”

Read “Tom Morello to Serve as Executive Music Producer on Netflix’s ‘Metal Lords’ Film” at Rolling Stone. “Coming-of-age comedy about high school metal band to premiere later this year.”

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Brian Eno Lists 20 Books for Rebuilding Civilization & 59 Books For Building Your Intellectual World” at Open Culture.

Read “Stan Lee and the Dot-Com Disaster” at Vulture.

Read “How the Internet Archive Digitizes 3,500 Books a Day–the Hard Way, One Page at a Time” at Open Culture.

Read “Cindy McCain planning 'intimate memoir' of life with John McCain” at The Hill.

Read “What Are Magazines Good For?” at New Yorker. “What is the cultural sway of magazines when there are 20-year-old TikTok influencers with many more subscribers than Time?”

Design/Artsy Things:

Browse “Uncanny Portraits of Perfectly Symmetrical Pets” at Wired.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “First Arctic Navigation in February Sends a Worrying Climate Signal” at Bloomberg.

Local:

Read “37 suspects accused of child sex crimes arrested in Phoenix-area” at AZ Family.

Read “Banner Health Eases Visitor Restrictions” at KJZZ.

Read “What did Allister Adel know about protest ‘gang’ charges?” at ABC 15. “ABC 15 obtained radio calls and dispatch logs that show (a specific MCAO prosecutor) was directly advising Phoenix police officers before the arrests against the group were even finalized on the night of the protest."

Read “The U.S. Air Force is going to set up a distribution center in Glendale and give out bottled water to nearby residents/business owners who had their drinking water contaminated by Air Force activity” at AZ Central.

Read “Spend Or Save? Phoenix Estimates $153 Million Budget Surplus” at KJZZ.