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 (01/22/21)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (01/22/21)

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Phil Spector Dead at 81” at Pitchfork. “The producer, who was in prison for murder, reportedly died of “natural causes”.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Is Dave Ramsey’s empire the ‘best place to work in America’? Say no and you’re out” at Religion News Service. “For years, Dave Ramsey has boasted that his company is the best place to work in the country. COVID-19 and a failure by a high-profile leader put that to the test.”

• Read ‘Full Ramsey Solutions Response” at Religion News Service. “We are horrible people," the financial advice and media company told RNS in a sarcastic email.”

Read ‘Insisting on Healing May be the Death of Us” at Red Letter Christians.

Read "Where Does the South End and Christianity Begin?” by David French. “Understanding the role of shame/honor culture in the roots of Christian rage.”

Read “The Mandalorian’ is an indictment of holy wars, and a celebration of pluralism” at Religion News Service. “Religion is a constant in the galaxy far, far away....”

Read “Why Is It Difficult to Get Christians to Care About the Earth?” at Sojo.net.

Read “QAnon believers grapple with doubt, spin new theories as Trump era ends: 'We all got played'“ at Chron.

• Read “It’s Over’: Devastated QAnon Believers Grapple With President Joe Biden’s Inauguration” at Huff Post.

Read “In rare rebuke, Cardinal Cupich criticizes USCCB president’s letter to President Biden” at America Magazine.

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

Read “Man Arrested in D.C. With Unauthorized Inauguration Credentials, a Loaded Gun, and Lots of Ammo” at Slate.

Read “Biden will sign executive order to reunite migrant families separated at the border” at MSNBC.

Read ‘Two Guard members removed from Biden inauguration over ties to far-right groups” at The HIll.

Read “The 'Racial Caste System' At The U.S. Capitol” at NPR.

Read “Wayfair workers, supporters protest furniture sale to U.S. immigrant camp” at Reuters.

Read “Supreme Court faces bomb threat during Biden's inauguration” at Business Insider.

Read “NRA can’t dodge accountability by moving to Texas: N.Y. AG James” at NY Daily News.

Read “The DEA May Have Botched a Mexican Cartel Case Over Slang for ‘Balls’” at Vice.

Read “House leader calls for FBI investigation into Parler” at The Verge.

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

Read “The Whole Story In A Single Photo” at The Atlantic. ‘An image from the Capitol captures the distance between who we purport to be and who we have actually been.”

Read ‘Capitol rioters included highly trained ex-military and cops” at Associated Press.

Read “Capitol riots: Police describe a 'medieval battle'“ at BBC.

Read ‘Criminal charges filed against Jenna Ryan, Frisco real estate broker who was part of Capitol mob” at Dallas News.

Read “I think this is a wake-up call”: Seeing a familiar face in the Capitol riot” at Vox. “Some are grappling with the prevalence of extremism in America, after seeing co-workers and fellow churchgoers in the riot.”

Read “Capitol Police intelligence report warned three days before attack that ‘Congress itself’ could be targeted” at Washington Post.

Read “Selfie-Snapping Rioters Leave FBI a Trail of Over 140,000 Images” at Bloomberg.

• Read “Dating apps are using Capitol images to ban rioters’ accounts” at Washington Post.

Read “Sasse: Capitol rioters 'came dangerously close to starting a bloody constitutional crisis'“ at The Hill.

Read “Pelosi suggests criminal charges for any lawmaker who helped with Capitol riot” at The Hill.

• Read “Colorado officials pen letter requesting probe into Boebert's actions” at The Hill.

• Read “Lauren Boebert vowed to shake things up in Congress. She has delivered in her first week” at Colorado Sun.

• Read “Comms director for gun-toting congresswoman quits” at Axios.

Read the opinion piece “Congress Is Still Littered With Insurrectionists” at Slate. “It’s time to remove the busts of these traitors from Statuary Hall.”

Read “The January 6 insurrection was a last gasp for white supremacy” at MSNBC.

Read “Experts say Trump, Congress members could be targets of Capitol invasion investigation” at MSNBC.

Read “A Former Marine Stormed the Capitol as Part of a Far-Right Militia” at New Yorker.

Read “Online far-right movements fracture in wake of Capitol riot” at NBC News.

Read “Former US attorney general William Barr tells ITV News questioning election legitimacy 'precipitated Capitol riots'“ at ITV.

Read “The Confederate battle flag: Longtime symbol of white insurrection” at Salon.

Read “The FBI is tracing a digital trail to Capitol rioters” at Axios.

Read “Mitch McConnell Says Capitol Rioters Were ‘Provoked’ By Trump” at Huff Post.

Read “MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell Says Bed Bath And Beyond, Kohl’s To Drop His Products; Dominion Voting Systems Threatens To Sue” at Minnesota CBS Local.

Read “An apparent leader of Oath Keepers charged with planning and coordinating breach at US Capitol” at CNN.

Read “Scottsdale Prosecutors Seek to Revoke Baked Alaska's Release Due to Capitol Livestream” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Nearly 1 In 5 Defendants In Capitol Riot Cases Served In The Military” at NPR.

This Week With The Police:

Read Sheriffs Helped Lead This Insurrection” at Slate. “Sheriffs play a key role in right-wing white supremacist movements.”

Read “The Cops at the Captiol” at The Appeal. “Law enforcement officers from around the country attended and supported last week’s rally in support of President Trump that sparked a riot.” “At least 32 members of law enforcement agencies from 15 states have been identified as having participating in the Jan. 6 pro-Trump rally.”

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Europe’s Schools Are Closing Again on Concerns They Spread Covid-19” at Wall Street Journal. “Countries are abandoning pledges to keep classrooms open as concerns mount over children’s capacity to pass on the virus.”

Read “‘A hack job,’ ‘outright lies’: Trump commission’s ‘1776 Report’ outrages historians” at Washington Post.

• Read “Biden to rescind 1776 commission via executive order” at CNN.
  
  

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read, “Yes, the Pandemic Is Ruining Your Body” at The Atlantic. “Quarantine is turning you into a stiff, hunched-over, itchy, sore, headachy husk.”

Read “Vaccine reserve was already exhausted when Trump administration vowed to release it, dashing hopes of expanded” at Washington Post.

Read ‘COVID-19 exposure on flights is more common than you think. The US doesn't share details, but Canada does” at USA Today.

Read ‘There have now been over two million virus-related deaths worldwide” at New York Times.

Read “Arizona has highest rate of COVID-19 in world, data shows” at ABC 15.

Read “Charles Barkley: Athletes pay more in taxes, 'deserve some preferential treatment' for COVID-19 vaccine” at The Hill.

Read “This Coronavirus Is Unlike Anything in Our Lifetime, and We Have to Stop Comparing It to the Flu” at Pro Publica.

Read “Dallas County axes plan to prioritize vaccinating communities of color after state threatens to slash allocation” at Texas Tribune.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read The Importance, and Incoherence, of Twitter’s Trump Ban” at The New Yorker. ““It’s coherent—and in my view absolutely appropriate—to believe both that (i) the social media companies were right to suspend Trump’s accounts last week; and (ii) the companies’ immense power over public discourse is a problem for democracy.”

Read “NRA files for bankruptcy” at CNN.

Read ‘Biden plans early legislation to offer legal status to 11 million immigrants without it” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Pepsi, Coca-Cola will not run ads during Super Bowl” at The Hill.

Read ‘‘Guardians’ Star Offers $20,000 Reward in’TRUMP’ Manatee Case” at Huff Post.

Read “Social media has been radicalizing people for years” at Marketplace.

Read “Technologists Use Facial Recognition on Parler Videos” at Vice.

Read “One of President Biden's first orders of business: Following Chrissy Teigen on Twitter” at AV Club.

Internationalities:

Read “Japan Virus Surge Makes Suga More Look Like Short-Term Premier” at Bloomberg.

Read “Saudi Arabia Curbs Death Penalty in Move to Soften Image” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Joe Biden to Cancel Keystone Pipeline, Another Blow to Canadian Oil Industry” at Vice.

Read “US calls China's abuses of Muslim minorities 'genocide' and 'crimes against humanity” at ABC News.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Josh Hawley, who led Senate efforts to overturn the election results, is being targeted by a super PAC” at New York Times.

Read “Conservative Website Admits Its Stories About Dominion Were ‘Completely False’ in Massive Retraction” at Media-ite.

Read “Biden Covid-19 Relief Plan Aims to Ease Poverty, Advance Democratic Priorities” at Wall Street Journal.

• Read “How Joe Biden’s $1.9 Trillion COVID-19 Relief Proposal Helps Women” at Huff Post.

Read “Three days after President Trump's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Rep. Andy Biggs threatened to sue former political rival Joan Greene for defamation in a letter” at AZ Central. “Greene's lawyer said the letter "has all of the strength of a sloppy Kleenex."

Read “Former GOP congressman says he's leaving party: 'This has become a cult'“ (EDITOR’S NOTE: “AMEN”).

Read “Manchin: Removing Hawley, Cruz with 14th Amendment 'should be a consideration'“ at The HIll.

Read “The 15 most notable lies of Donald Trump's presidency” at CNN.

Read “FBI vetting service members ahead of inauguration amid reported fears of insider attack” at NBC News.

Read “Dominion threatens MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell with lawsuit over ‘false and conspiratorial’ claims” at Washington Post.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read ‘Newly sworn-in GOP senator suggests delaying inauguration” at The Hill.

Read “Limbaugh falsely says Biden didn't win legitimately while reacting to inauguration” at The Hill.

Read “At This Trump-Favored Charity, Financial Reporting Is Questionable and Insiders Are Cashing In” at Pro Publica.

Read “Giuliani associate told ex-CIA officer a Trump pardon would 'cost $2m’” at The Guardian.

Read the opinion piece “What Does Josh Hawley Think He’s Doing?” at Washington Post.

Read “Trump Does His Part in Scandalizing the Presidential Pardon Power” at National Review.

• Read “Trump commutes 40-year sentence of Clearwater Ponzi scheme operator” at Tampa Bay Times.

• Read “Joe Exotic says he was ‘too gay’ to be pardoned by Trump” at New York Post.
  
  

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Bruce Springsteen and Foo Fighters to Play at Biden-Harris Inauguration Event” at Pitchfork.

• Read “Lady Gaga to Sing National Anthem at Biden-Harris Inauguration” at New Now Next.

• Read “MF DOOM, Kendrick Lamar Highlight Joe Biden Official Inauguration Playlist’ at OkayPlayer.

• Read “New Radicals Reuniting After 22 Years to Perform at Biden Inauguration Event” at Pitchfork.

Read “Ariel Pink and Tucker Carlson Are Both Parasites” at Vice. “Pink played the victim on Fox News Thursday night, and Carlson gladly let him do it. No one mentioned that Pink is facing allegations of abuse.”

• Read “Ariel Pink Accused of Sexual Abuse and Misconduct” at Spin.

Read “Marianne Faithfull: 'I was in a dark place. Presumably it was death'“ at The Guardian. “After battling Covid-19 for three weeks in hospital, Faithfull went on to finish her 21st solo album – and possibly her last. She reflects on how she might never sing again, her hatred of being a 60s muse and why she still believes in miracles.”

Read “Dr. Dre Released from Hospital Following Brain Aneurysm Scare” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Mozart apparently liked to imitate cats. Here’s the tail as we know it” at Classic.fm.

Read “Rough Trade Closing Current Brooklyn Location” at Stereogum.

Read “Gary Numan: 'One of my songs got over a million streams - I got £37'“ at Sky News.

Read “With COVID-19 Transmissions Under Control, New Zealand Hosts 20,000-Person Concert” at Relix.

Read “A Probably Futile Attempt To Figure Out What Happened To Mark Kozelek” at Uproxx.

Read “Trump Pardons Lil Wayne and Kodak Black” at Pitchfork.

Read “Van Morrison to start legal action over Northern Ireland Covid ban on live music” at The Guardian.

Read “An Update From The Wrens On The Most Delayed Indie Album In History” at Uproxx.

• Read “Charles Bissell Details New Wrens Album And Teases 2021 Release: “Plans Are Afoot”” at Stereogum.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Historian Dr. Ibram X. Kendi to Produce Three Netflix Projects Based on His Anti-Racism Books” at People.

Read “Ken Burns Says U.S. Has 3 Viruses: COVID-19, White Supremacy And Misinformation” at NPR.

Read “‘The Muppet Show’ Heads To Disney+” at Deadline.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Ex-Trump lawyer Cohen to pen foreword for impeachment book” at The Hill.

Read “Why Should You Read Toni Morrison’s Beloved? An Animated Video Makes the Case” at Open Culture.

Read “'Wow, you're awesome': Cooper left speechless by youth poet laureate” at CNN.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “The most expensive comic art in the world was folded up in a drawer for decades” at Boing Boing.

Read “Wanna buy a Botticelli? The masterpiece coming to auction, and who might nab it” at Los Angeles Times.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “Mice may ‘catch’ each other’s pain — and pain relief” at Science News.

Food Cultures:

Read “Oscar Mayer Is Hiring Wienermobile Drivers for Road Trips Across the U.S.” at Thrill List.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Hanging Pillar of Lepakshi Veerabhadra Temple Lepakshi, India” at Atlas Obscura.

Local:

Read “Bill aims to disallow Sharpies to be used on ballots” at AZ Mirror.

Read “Oatman Ghost Town Oatman, Arizona” at Atlas Obscura. “This Wild West ghost town on Route 66 is filled with wild burros.”

The Weekly Town Crier (01/15/21)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (01/15/21).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Hall of Fame Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda dies at 93” at ESPN.

Read “Joanne Rogers, Widow of Fred Rogers and Classical Pianist, Dies at 92” at People.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “A Christian Insurrection” at The Atlantic. “Many of those who mobbed the Capitol on Wednesday claimed to be enacting God’s will.”

• Read “Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States” at Dallas Seminary.

• Read “Truth over power: It is past time for the church to speak plainly about the election” at Religion News Service.

• Read “Taking the white Christian nationalist symbols at the Capitol riot seriously” at Religion News Service. “The attack exposed the comfortable juxtaposition of Christianity and white supremacy.”

• Read “About 60 the 138 House members who objected to the Electoral College count were evangelical Christians” at The Way of Improvement.

• Read “SBC leader Russell Moore to Trump: Time to leave. ‘People are dead’” at Religion News Service.

• Read “How White Evangelical Christians Fused With Trump Extremism” at New York Times. “A potent mix of grievance and religious fervor has turbocharged the support among Trump loyalists, many of whom describe themselves as participants in a kind of holy war.”

• Read “Statement signed by 223 faculty and staff at evangelical Wheaton College condemns the "vicious lies, deplorable violence, white supremacy" and "blasphemous abuses of Christian symbols" on display in Washington last week” (via Ruth Graham).

• Read “The Roman Road from Insurrection” by Russell Moore. ‘You cannot stand for “law and order” while waving away lawlessness. You cannot champion the pro-life cause while waving away murder. You cannot support police by the murder of police officers. You cannot support religious liberty by trashing the United States Constitution.”

• Read “For insurrectionists, a violent faith brewed from nationalism, conspiracies and Jesus” at Religion News Service.

• Read “Political and religious violence at the US Capitol” at KCRW.

• Read “Scholars of Religion and Politics Respond to the Capitol Insurrection” at Religion and Politics.

• Read “Christian Nationalism Is Worse Than You Think” at Christianity Today. “Millions of Americans believe in this political ideology. What church leaders need to know—and how they can help those under its influence.”

• Read “'How Did We Get Here?' A Call For An Evangelical Reckoning On Trump” at NPR.

• Read “QAnon is the Perfect Evangelical Conspiracy” at Christian Socialism.

Read “Southern Baptist leaders meet after critical race theory document caused controversy” at Religion News Service.

Read “Evangelicals face a reckoning: Donald Trump and the future of our faith” at USA Today.

Read

“Capitol Hill Trump rally organizer Ali Alexander goes into hiding, raises $20k on Christian crowdfunding site” at Occupy Democrats.

Read “Only the Church Can Truly Defeat a Christian Insurrection” by David French. “It’s time to combat the right’s enabling lies.”

Read “Life or Debt Dave Ramsey's Capitalist Theology” at Christian Socialism.

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

Read “Domestic Terrorism: A More Urgent Threat, but Weaker Laws” at Pro Publica. “Authorities dissuaded some extremists from traveling to Washington, and shared intelligence with Capitol Police, but could not stop the mob that stormed the Capitol, a senior FBI official says.”

• Read “Proud Boys member arrested after allegedly threatening to kill Warnock” at The Hill.

Read “For Black Americans, The White Terror In D.C. Looks Familiar” at Huff Post.

Read “Illinois GOP Rep. Mary Miller apologizes for Hitler remark at pro-Trump rally: Calls remain for her to resign” at Chicago Sun Times.

Read “The US economy lost 140,000 jobs in December. All of them were held by women” at CNN. (EDITOR’S NOTE: “ALL OF THEM were held by women.” This is not OK.)

Read “Woman who accused Black teen of stealing her phone charged with attempted assault” at The HIll.

Read “Michigan Capitol Commission bans open carry of guns inside state Capitol” at Detroit Free Press.

Read “FBI bulletin warns of nationwide armed protests” at The Hill.

Read ‘Credit card companies need to help stop the spread of untraceable 'ghost guns'“ at Business Insider.

Read “The Lies We Tell Ourselves About Race” at NPR. “Pro-Trump extremists breached the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. The insurrection was just the latest chapter in America's ongoing battle over race, writes NPR host Sam Sanders.”

Read “New York State Bar Association Weighs Stripping Giuliani of Membership” at Wall Street Journal.

• Read “Nearly 6,000 lawyers and law students call for disbarment proceedings against Cruz and Hawley” at The Hill.

• Read “New York State Bar Association moves to oust Rudy Giuliani” at NBC News.

Read “Democrats Unveil Legislation To Abolish The Federal Death Penalty” at NPR.

Read “Rittenhouse seen out on bail drinking with members of Proud Boys, prosecutors say” at The Hill.

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

Read “US Capitol police officer is dead after injured during pro-Trump riots” at Yahoo.

• Read “Experts: Arizona's far-right extremism "getting worse," DC rioters on-the-run” at ABC15.

• Read “‘Senate Being Locked Down’: Inside a Harrowing Day at the Capitol” at New York Times. “Three New York Times journalists were at the Capitol when it was breached. Here’s how they experienced it.”

• Read “If the mob’s attack on the Capitol surprised you, you weren’t paying attention” at Religion News Service. “The truth is, this is precisely who we are. White supremacy is at the foundation of this country.”

• Read “Donald Trump's Ex-AG Bill Barr Calls President's Conduct During Capitol Mob a 'Betrayal'“ at Newsweek.

• Read “Capitol Rioters Planned for Weeks in Plain Sight. The Police Weren’t Ready” at Pro Publica.

• Read ‘NAE Denounces Insurrection at the U.S. Capitol” at National Association of Evangelicals.

• Read “LeBron James on Capitol riots: 'We live in two Americas'“ at The Hill.

• Read “Pro-Trump rioters smeared poop in U.S. Capitol hallways during belligerent attack” at Orlando Sentinel.

• Read “Sen. Mark Warner Says FBI Assured Him Prior to Rioting Situation Would Be Under Control” at Wall Street Journal.

• Read “The Police’s Tepid Response To The Capitol Breach Wasn’t An Aberration” at Five Thirty Eight.

• Read ‘Will the riot in Washington deter foreign investment in the U.S.?” at MarketPlace.

• Read “Some state legislators face calls for resignation after taking part in Capitol turmoil” at MSN.

  • Read “Video surfaces of Oregon GOP Rep holding state Capitol door open, allowing protestors to enter” at The Hill.

  • Read “Republican lawmakers caught helping pro-Trump mobs at U.S. Capitol, Oregon statehouse” at Salon.

  • Read “Republican AGs group sent robocalls urging march to the Capitol” at NBC News. ““At 1 p.m., we will march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal,” said the voice on the recording, which was obtained by NBC News.”

  • Read “Mikie Sherrill claims Congress members gave 'reconnaissance' tours day before Capitol raid” at North Jersey.

  • Read “Law enforcement and the military probing whether members took part in Capitol riot” at NBC.

  • Read “Rep. Jim Clyburn Says Mob Knew Where His Unmarked Office Was Suggesting A Coordinated Attack” at PoliticusUSA.

• Read “U.S. Diplomats Draft Dissent Cable Following Storming of Capitol by Pro-Trump Mob” at Foreign Policy.

• Read “Alabama man had 11 Molotov cocktails 'ready to go' at U.S. Capitol riot” at Montgomery Advertiser.

• Read “Fallout intensifies over Trump's response to Capitol riot” at CNN.

• Read “An 18-Year-Old Saw Her Mom, Aunt, And Uncle In DC In A Video — So She Named Them” at Buzzfeed.

  • Read “Capitol Rioter Seen in Horned Hat, Carrying Spear Arrested: US Attorney” at NBC Washington.

    • Read “Arizona man wearing horns during U.S. Capitol riots, 'Q Shaman,' now faces felony indictment” at ABC 15.

  • Read “Capitol Rioter Spotted in Chamber with Zip Ties Is Arrested After Ex-Wife Calls FBI” at People.

  • Read “Man in 'Camp Auschwitz' sweatshirt during Capitol riot identified” at CNN.

• Read “Georgia attorney among those who broke into U.S. Capitol” at AJC.

  • Read “West Virginia lawmaker, charged after filming himself storming U.S. Capitol, resigns” at CBS News.

  • Read “Republican lawmaker resigns after arrest for storming US Capitol” at Ars Technica.

  • Read “Oregon state lawmaker who opened door for armed protesters kicked off committees, billed for damages” at The Hill.

• Read “It Was No Accident’ Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal on surviving the siege” at The Cut.

  • Read “Capitol Police Officers Said They Wouldn’t Be Surprised If Members Of Congress Helped Plan The Attack” at Buzzfeed.

• Read “The Inaction of Capitol Police Was by Design” at The Atlantic. “The spectacle of Wednesday’s tepid police response to riotous mobs shocked many. But the passivity is not some surprising anomaly—it is the status quo.”

  • Read “Seattle police investigating officers who were in DC amid Capitol riot” at The Hill.

  • Read “An Air Force Combat Veteran Breached the Senate” at The New Yorker.

• Read “Members of Several Well-Known Hate Groups Identified at Capitol Riot” at Pro Publica.

  • Read “For Black Americans, The White Terror In D.C. Looks Familiar” at Huff Post.

• Read “Ivanka Calls Mob of Trump Supporters 'American Patriots' in Now Deleted Tweet and People Are Calling Her Out” at Second Nexus.

• Read “Gold medalist Olympic swimmer recognized amid Capitol mob” at The Hill.

• Read “Now it's sinking in: Wednesday's Capitol Hill riot was even more violent than it first appeared” at CNN.

• Read “These Black Capitol Police Officers Describe Fighting Off "Racist Ass Terrorists"“ at Buzzfeed. “Two Black officers told BuzzFeed News that their chief and other upper management left them totally unprepared and were nowhere to be found on the day.”

• Read “Fox News Host Dragged for Calling Siege on the Capitol 'a Huge Victory for These Protesters'“ at Second Nexus.

• Read “A Christian Insurrection” at The Atlantic. “Many of those who mobbed the Capitol on Wednesday claimed to be enacting God’s will.”

  • Read “Read “For insurrectionists, a violent faith brewed from nationalism, conspiracies and Jesus” at Religion News Service” at Religion News Service.

• Read “‘The storm is here’: Ashli Babbitt’s journey from capital ‘guardian’ to invad” at Washington Post.

• Read “Arizona Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar implicated by activist in Capitol insurrection” at AZ Central.

• Read “One Trump Fan’s Descent Into the U.S. Capitol Mob” at Wall Street Journal. “Doug Sweet joined rioters who breached the Capitol, where he was eventually arrested.”

• Read “GOP Congressman Who Investigated Benghazi Calls Trump Inciting Riot ‘A Misstep’” at Huff Post.

• Read “Rep. Meijer: I experienced the heinous assault on Capitol; now, time to face reality” at Detroit News.

• Read “The FBI Says There's No Evidence Of Antifa Involvement In The Capitol Mob” at Buzzfeed.

• Read “Ex-Capitol Police Chief Says Requests For National Guard Denied 6 Times In Riots” at NPR.

• Read “Six hours of paralysis: Inside Trump’s failure to act after a mob stormed the Capitol” at Washington Post.

• Read “'Hate in their heart': Lawmakers fear more violence after Capitol attacks” at Politico.

• Read “Before Capitol Riot, Republican Lawmakers Fanned the Flames” at New York Times. “A “1776 moment”: Several of the president’s closest allies in Congress used bellicose language to urge their supporters to attend the Jan. 6 rally that turned into a deadly riot.”

• Read “A Federalist Society Star Helped Foment the Capitol Riot” at Slate. “The Federalist Society has no comment.”

Read “Trump Rallies Were a Preview of the Capitol Attack” at The Atlantic. “Those following the president’s events around the country for the past four years were not surprised by the mob violence that unfolded in Washington.”

• Read “Pro-Trump Rally Organizer Name-Checks Theory Pushed by Violent Extremists” at Vice. “Ali Alexander denies that he was agreeing with advocates for violent social collapse, saying the statement was made in the "context of technology."
  

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read ‘NAE Denounces Insurrection at the U.S. Capitol” at National Association of Evangelicals.

Read “Protesters, many armed, gather for a 'patriot rally' outside Kentucky state Capitol” at Courier-Journal.

Read “Police three times more likely to use force against left-wing protests” at The Hill.

This Week With The Police:

Read “The Inaction of Capitol Police Was by Design” at The Atlantic. “The spectacle of Wednesday’s tepid police response to riotous mobs shocked many. But the passivity is not some surprising anomaly—it is the status quo.”

• Read “Seattle police investigating officers who were in DC amid Capitol riot” at The Hill.

• Read “Capitol Police Chief Sund has stepped down, leaving earlier than expected” at Washington Post.
  
  

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read ‘Pandemic Pricetag: U.S. Employers Cut 140,000 Jobs In December” at NPR.

Read “State Farm Stadium To Operate As 24/7 Vaccine Site As Maricopa County Enters Phase 1B” at KJZZ.

Read “Arizona again ranks No. 1 for weekly COVID-19 case rate as state reports nearly 9K new cases, rising hospitalizations” at AZ Central.

Read “Idaho Lawmakers Sue Saying Returning To State Capitol Amid COVID-19 Violates ADA” at NPR.

Read “Disneyland Resort in Anaheim to house COVID-19 vaccination ‘super’ site” at KTLA.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Letter to Jack Dorsey from Twitter employees asking to permanently suspend Donald Trump's account” at Washington Post.

• Read “Twitter bans President Trump permanently” at CNN.

Read “Google Pulls Parler as Apple Threatens the Same in Wake of Capitol Riot” at Wall Street Journal.

• Read “Pro-Trump Lawyer Lin Wood Calls For Pence to Be Executed, Parler Removed Posts” at Media-ite.

• Read “Amazon Is Booting Parler Off Of Its Web Hosting Service” at Buzzfeed.

• Read Parler CEO Says Service Dropped By “Every Vendor” And Could End His Business” at Deadline.

• Read “PGA pulls 2022 tournament from Trump's Bedminster after Capitol riot” at MSNBC.

• Read “Conspiracy theories collide online as Parler goes dark” at CNET.

Read “Platforms Must Pay for Their Role in the Insurrection” at Wired. “Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have spent years fomenting and enabling yesterday’s violence at the Capitol. Policymakers need to do something about it.”

Read “A Truth Reckoning: Why We’re Holding Those Who Lied For Trump Accountable” at Forbes.

Read ‘American Airlines pilot says he'll divert plane and strand Trump supporters in Kansas if they don't 'behave'“ at Business Insider.

Read “4 in 5 say US is falling apart” at The Hill.

Internationalities:

Read “Treasury Department sanctions inner circle of Russian agent Derkach for election interference” at The Hill.

Read “China plans further Hong Kong crackdown after mass arrest” at Reuters.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Lawmakers, governor condemn Rep. Mary Miller’s ‘Hitler was right on one thing’ comment” at WCIA.

Read “Sidney Powell Sued by Dominion for $1.3 Billion Over Vote-Fraud Claims” at Bloomberg.

Read “Senior Trump Official: We Were Wrong, He’s a ‘Fascist’” at New York Magazine.

Read “Multiple Democratic senators call for Cruz and Hawley to resign” at The Hill.

Read “Blue Cross Blue Shield Association suspends donations to lawmakers who opposed Electoral College count” at The Hill.

• Read “Marriott Suspends Donations to Senators Who Opposed Vote Result” at Bloomberg.

• Read “Stripe Stops Processing Payments for Trump Campaign Website” at Wall Street Journal.

• Read ‘Major corporations say they will stop donating to members of Congress who tried to overturn the election” at Popular Info.

Read “Mayor Demands Tighter Security in D.C. for Biden Inauguration” at Bloomberg.

Read “House GOP leader tells members to quit spreading lies on riot, antifa” at The Hill.

Read “Pence letter to Pelosi rejecting calls to invoke 25th Amendment” at The Hill.

Read “John McCain movie in the works with support from family” at The Hill.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “The Republicans Have an Insurrectionist Caucus” at Slate.

Read “Amash's Successor Peter Meijer: Trump's Deceptions Are 'Rankly Unfit'“ at Reason. The rookie GOP congressman describes Capitol Hill chaos, says that some Republicans who knew better voted against election certification out of physical fear, and explains how serving in Iraq and Afghanistan made him want to "end the endless wars."

Read “Bankrolling the Disenfranchisers” at Citizen.Org. “Since 2016, Corporate and Trade Association PACs Have Given $170 Million to Lawmakers Who Voted to Challenge the Presidential Election.”

Read “Marjorie Taylor Greene says she will introduce impeachment articles against Biden” at The Hill.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Why So Many Pop Stars Are Trying to Be Working-Class Heroes Now” at Pitchfork. “Artists including Justin Bieber, Drake, and Travis Scott are making clumsy plays at humble relatability during an era of deepening economic inequality.”

Read ‘Nicki Minaj to Pay Tracy Chapman $450,000 in Copyright Infringement Lawsuit” at Pitchfork.

Read “R.E.M. For The People” at Oxford American.

Browse “Rare and Stunning Photographs of Iggy Pop Taken by His Girlfriend Esther Friedman” at The Mind Circle.

Read “See Devo Perform Live for the Very First Time (Kent State University, 1973)” at Open Culture.

Read “Sex Pistols biopic series from ‘Trainspotting’ director Danny Boyle coming to FX” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Ariel Pink Dropped by Record Label Mexican Summer After Attending Pro-Trump White House Rally” at Pitchfork.

Read “Dr. Fauci Believes Venues Could Reopen For Live Music This Fall” at Jambase.

Read “When Punk Got the Funk” at Pop Matters. “As punks were looking for some potential pathways out of the cul-de-sacs of their limited soundscapes, they saw in funk a way to expand the punk palette without sacrificing either their ethos or idea(l)s.”

Read “New Billie Holiday Film Gets First Trailer: Watch” at Pitchfork.

Read “Why Are the Backstreet Boys Tweeting About QAnon?” at Vulture.

Read “Joan Baez to Receive Kennedy Center Honor” at Pitchfork.

Read ‘Hiss Golden Messenger’s First New Song In Over A Year Is The Breezy ‘Sanctuary’” at Uproxx.

Read “Donald Trump Reportedly Presents Toby Keith & Ricky Skaggs With National Medal of the Arts” at Billboard.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “The Evolution of Ted Danson, Mr. Mayor of Television” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Katie Couric, Aaron Rodgers, Bill Whitaker and Mayim Bialik to Guest Host ‘Jeopardy!’” at Variety.

Read “Chris Evans Reportedly In Talks to Reprise Role as Captain America in the MCU” at IGN.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “The Painter Subverting Art-World Economics, $100 at a Time” at New York Times.

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

Read “Study identifies first potential treatment for meth addiction” at The Hill.

Read “A Guy Tried Mainlining Shrooms. Then They Grew in His Blood” at Vice.

Local:

Read ‘Arizona State Senators Prepping Another 'Skinny' Budget Option Amid The Pandemic” at KJZZ.

Read “U.S. Supreme Court REJECTS Efforts to Expedite Remaining AZGOP/Ward's Election Appeals” at Arizona Politics.

Read “Arizona state GOP moves to censure Cindy McCain, Jeff Flake” at The Hill.

The Weekly Town Crier (12/25/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (12/25/20).

Religion and Stuff:

Read “The Darker Side of Christmas” at Wall Street Journal. “In many times and places, the joyful holiday has been a time for melancholy reflections and ghostly visitations.”

Read “Luter, Greear latest Southern Baptist leaders to weigh in as turmoil over race theory grows” at Religion News Service.

Read “Yule traditions new and old wish good riddance to 2020 at the winter solstice” at Religion News Service.

Read “Members of John MacArthur’s Church Say They’re Being Pressured Not to Report New COVID Outbreak” at Julie Roys.

• Read “GCC Pastor Accuses Journalist of Lying About Outbreak Reporting” at Church Leaders.

Read “Homeless advocates organize against Sean Feucht’s upcoming outreach in Skid Row” at Religion News Service. “Pastor Stephen ‘Cue’ Jn-Marie said the area’s homeless community doesn’t need ‘people to come in for a photo op.’”

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

Read “France charges Epstein ex-associate over sex crime claims” at Al Jazeera.

Read “The Proud Boys are using YouTube to organize violence at Joe Biden’s inauguration” at Daily Dot.

Read “Bar complaint filed against Trump attorneys in Arizona” at 12 News.

Read “The truth in Black and white: An apology from The Kansas City Star” at Kansas City Star. “Today we are telling the story of a powerful local business that has done wrong.”

Read “White Drug Crime? What’s That?” at Ozy. “Justice is not nearly as blind as it should be.”

Read “The Coronavirus Bill is Also ‘The Most Significant Climate Legislation’ Ever” at NY Mag

Read “Militias Are Getting Fired Up About Gun Control Under Biden” at Vice.

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

Read “Robert E. Lee statue removed from US Capitol” at The Hill.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Videos Show Boston Police Shove, Pepper-Spray Protesters” at Huff Post.

Read “Far-right protesters storm Oregon Capitol calling for end of COVID-19 restrictions” at The Hill.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Lori Lightfoot Tried To Block Video Of Cops Raiding Wrong Home, Cuffing Naked Woman” at Huff Post.

Read “Texas governor announces proposal to take control of Austin police department” at The Hill.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Texas passes 1 million COVID cases, and experts warn of a surge ‘unlike anything we have seen’” at Dallas News.

Read “Valley healthcare workers say they haven't been able to get appointments for the COVID-19 vaccine” at 12 News.

Read “Wuhan scientist would 'welcome' visit probing lab leak theory” at BBC.

Read “Did Covid Lockdowns Really Clear the Air?” at

Read “Epidemiologists Urge A Cautious Christmas, After Thanksgiving Surge in Some States” at NPR.

Read “Republican club whose maskless conga line went viral responds: Adults have the right to make their own decisions” at The Hill.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “New virus strain found in Australia for first time” at The Hill.

Read “John Mulaney in rehab for cocaine and alcohol abuse” at Page Six.

Read “The Radical Act of Letting Things Hurt: How (Not) to Help a Friend in Sorrow” at Brain Pickings.

Read “U.S. Household Spending Slipped in November” at Wall Street Journal.

Internationalities:

Read “The U.S. missed its window to prevent Russia's huge cyberattack” at MSNBC.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Pence announces that Space Force personnel will be called guardians” at CNN.

Read “GOP senator blocks bill to provide $1,200 stimulus checks” at The Hill.

Read “Barr: No need for special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden, election fraud” at The Hill.

Read “Is Trump Cracking Under the Weight of Losing?” at Politico.

Read “House plans Dec. 28 vote to override Trump's possible defense bill veto” at The Hill.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Michael Flynn tells Newsmax that Georgia runoffs are 'fake elections'“ at The Hill.

Read “Officials increasingly alarmed about Trump’s power grab” AT Axios.

Read “AZ Trump Electors Join Suit To Force County To Comply with Subpoenas for Dominion Voting Machines” at Patriot Project.

Read “Pro-Trump network Newsmax airs 2-minute video admitting it has 'no evidence' of outlandish fraud claims against 2 voting-machine companies” at Business Insider.

Read “5,000-Page Funding Bill Including COVID Relief Also Has Section Detailing Reincarnation of Dalai Lama” at Newsweek.

• Read “Funding deal includes $696B for Pentagon” at The Hill.

• Read “Congress to approve $1.375 billion for border wall in 2021” at The Hill.

Read “Trump pardons Blackwater contractors jailed for massacre of Iraq civilians” at Guardian.

Music-Related News and Such:

• Browse Record Crates United’s picks for “100 Records We Loved in 2020.”

Read “David Byrne tells us why there “probably won’t” be a Talking Heads reunion” at NME. “"There’s a lot of differences that haven’t entirely gone away"

Read “Jackson Browne and Bruce Springsteen Added To Steve Van Zandt’s ‘Stand With Teachers’ Benefit” at American Songwriter.

Read “R. Kelly Has New Date Set for Federal Trial in Chicago” at Pitchfork.

Read “Calexico Connected With Friends on Their First Holiday Album” at Phoenix New Times.

Read BrooklynVegan’s “Top 55 Albums of 2020.”

Read “The Tunnel Reflections on a life in motion by Kevin Morby” at We Present We Transfer.

Read “12-Year-Old DJ Has Equipment Confiscated After School Bathroom Rave” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Independent Venues, Movie Theaters to Get $15 Billion in Federal Aid” at Pitchfork.

Read “An Interview With Willie Nelson at 87: “I Didn’t Ever Think I’d Get This Old”” at Slate.

Read “Listening to the Joy in James Baldwin’s Record Collection” at Hyperallergic.

Read “Josh Kaufman Launched 2 Indie Supergroups And Worked On 2 Surprise Taylor Swift Albums This Year” at Stereogum.

Read “King Khan and Saba Lou Suing Rihanna for Copyright Infringement” at Pitchfork.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “How Marvel Studios Is Reassembling for 2021 and Beyond” at Variety.

Books/Reading/Authors

Browse Brain Pickings’ picks for their “Favorite Books of 2020.”

The Weekly Town Crier (12/18/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (12/18/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Charley Pride, country music's first Black superstar, dies at 86 of COVID-19 complications” at Tennessean.

Read “Tony-Winning Broadway Legend Ann Reinking Dies at Age 71” at Broadway.com.

Read “In Memoriam: “Nationally Recognized Tastemaker” Rita Houston (1961-2020)” at Relix.

Read “Jeremy Bulloch, 'Star Wars' actor who played bounty hunter Boba Fett, dies at 75” at USA Today.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “So, Why is Evangelicalism Not Declining? Because Non-Attenders Are Taking On the Label” at Religion In Public.

Read “The Dangerous Idolatry of Christian Trumpism” by David French. “We can pray peace will prevail, but we’d be fools to presume it will.”

Read “What I Saw At The Jericho March” by Rod Dreher at American Conservative.

• Read “A Review of Rod Dreher's Live Not by Lies” at Christian Socialism. “Rod Dreher's back in our feeds because of his heroic stand against crass Trumpists. But aside from some aesthetic and rhetorical differences, Dreher depends on the very industrial fear-mongering complex he's decrying.”

Read “‘Proud Boys’ burn Black Lives Matter signs at churches in Washington” at Religion News Service. “'For me it was reminiscent of cross burnings,' said the Rev. Ianther M. Mills, pastor of a church whose Black Lives Matter sign was burned.”

Read “RZIM Apologist Sends Stunning Letter: Says Ministry Has Lost Trust & Needs to Make “Meaningful Reparations” at Julie Roys.

Read “It’s Desecration, Not Vandalism”" at Slate. “A longtime congregant on the Proud Boys’ violent attacks on Black churches in Washington.”

Read “Racism, Misogyny and Abuse: Why the SBC Keeps Getting it Wrong” at Faith, Philosophy, and Politics.

Read “Biden should reestablish the faith-based office” at Religion News Service.

Read ‘How to Be Pro-Life in Our Real Lives” at Christianity Today. “The Christian call to care for the vulnerable starts with facing the heightened needs in our own communities.”

Read “White evangelicals, don’t just condemn Christian nationalism. Own it.” at Religion News Service. “Piously opposing Trumpism as evil is empty, because it does not deal with white evangelicalism's own racism.”

Read “CA Pastor Charged With Contempt After Holding Indoor Maskless Church Services” at Patheos.

Read “Fifth Jehovah’s Witness receives six-year sentence in Russia for practicing his faith” at Religion News Service.

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

Read “Justices rule Muslim men can sue FBI agents over no-fly list” at Religion News Service.

Read “The Pandemic Gave Men a New Way to Sexually Harass Female Restaurant Workers” at Vice. “Pull that mask down so I can see if I want to take you home later,” one customer told a worker.”

Read “Peter Nygard: Fashion mogul faces sex trafficking charges” at BBC.

Read “Right-Wing Embrace Of Conspiracy Is 'Mass Radicalization,' Experts Warn” at NPR.

Read “Report Finds Federal Execution Numbers Top States' for 1st Time” at NBC Philadelphia.

Read “Trump Twitter ‘hack’: Police accept attacker's claim” at BBC. “Dutch prosecutors have found a hacker did successfully log in to Donald Trump's Twitter account by guessing his password - "MAGA2020!"

Read “Sexual Harassment Isn't a Party Issue, It's a Power Issue” at Men Yell at Me. “Or, how the Iowa Democratic Party promoted a state senator accused of harassment.”

Read “38 states file anti-trust lawsuit against Google” at 12 News.

Read “How did a Proud Boys leader with a felony record get into the White House?” at Salon.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “MAGA Protesters Chant ‘Destroy the GOP’ at Pro-Trump Rally” at Rolling Stone.

Read “1 person shot, 5 arrested after opposing protests turn violent in Olympia” at King 5.

Read “MAGA Marchers and Proud Boys Descend on D.C., Setting Fire to Churches' Black Lives Matter Signs and Getting into Stabbing Fights” at The Root.

This Week With The Police:

Read “To Stop Police Violence, We Need Better Questions — and Bigger Demands” at Medium.

Read “Ex-Cop Held Man at Gunpoint to Search for Fraudulent Ballots That Didn't Exist, Prosecutors Say” at Vice.

• Read “Former Houston police captain accused of violent attempt to prove election conspiracy was hired by GOP activist's group” at Texas Tribune.

Read “The latest tool to help police develop empathy for the public: Virtual reality headsets” at Washington Post.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Harold Budd's Family Confirm Cause Of Death” at The Quietus.

Read “Around America’s ‘Christmas City,’ Rural Churches Left Heartbroken by COVID-19” at Christianity Today.

Read “COVID-19's effects include seizures and movement disorders -- even in some moderate cases, study finds” at AZ Family.

Read “CMA Awards: Unmasked, Indoor Ceremony Raises Questions About COVID-19 Precautions, Producers Cite 'Extremely Diligent' Measures” at TV Line.

Read “Rick Rubin Court Date Set for COVID-19 Quarantine Violation” at Pitchfork.

Read “Dave Ramsey, Christian personal finance guru, defies COVID-19 to keep staff at desks” at Religion News Service.

Read “Arizona has 'all but locked in a humanitarian crisis' ahead of Christmas, expert says” at 12 News. “Dr. Joe Gerald from the University of Arizona said a lack of harsh mitigation tactics have pushed the state into crisis.’

Read “The Mass Distribution of Covid-19 Vaccines Is Under Way. ‘Everything Has to Come Together” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “As U.S. Deaths Surpass 300,000, Obituaries Force Reckoning with Covid” at New York Times.

Read “What The Pandemic Means For The Future Of Movie Theaters” at KJZZ.

Read “Melania Trump breaks children's hospital rules by taking her mask off to read to patients” at CNN.

Read “How Profit and Incompetence Delayed N95 Masks While People Died at the VA” at Pro Publica.

Read “California sheriff refusing to comply with order to release inmates due to COVID” at The Hill.

Read “FDA panel backs Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for use in the US” at CNET. “This follows the backing and subsequent authorization of Pfizer's vaccine last week.”

Read “Arizona Rep. Debbie Lesko In Quarantine After COVID-19 Exposure” at KJZZ.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris named Time Person of the Year” at CNN.

Read “Tennessee lawmaker pushing for Presidential Medal of Freedom for Dolly Parton” at News Channel 9.

Read “How Rita Moreno Found Dignity and Strength With Her ‘West Side Story’ Role” at Variety. “I was not treated like a serious young actress and that was very hard. It sent me into psychotherapy, which is one of the smartest things I ever did. It taught me that I had to find value in myself.”

Read ‘U.S. needs estimated $4.5 trillion in stimulus to recover, analysis argues” at Yahoo.

Read “Red Flags for Economy as Retail Sales Fall for a Second Month” at New York Times

Read ““A Ray of Sunshine in a Dark Time”: A Look at ‘Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President’” at Relix.

Internationalities:

Read: (Canada) “Federal government to pay for COVID-19 vaccine costs as Canada’s death toll surpasses 13K.”

Read “Treasury breached by hackers backed by foreign government - sources” at Reuters.

Read “Australia: NSW man charged over allegedly corrupt betting on table tennis” at BBC.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Fox News poll: Majority say US worse off than it was 4 years ago” at The Hill.

Read “House Democrat says 126 Republicans backing Texas election challenge shouldn't be seated” at Washington Examiner.

Read “Chris Christie calls Trump's legal team's legal theory an 'absurdity'“ at The Hill.

Read “Georgia Supreme Court Rejects Trump's Last-Minute Request To Toss Election Results” at Georgia Public Broadcasting.

Read “Joe Biden picks Pete Buttigieg to be transportation secretary” at CNN.

Read “McConnell urges GOP senators not to object to Electoral College vote” at The Hill.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Rep. Katie Porter Exposes 'Corruption In Real Time' After McConnell's Attempts To Tank Relief Bill” at Comic Sands.

Read ‘GOP Lawmakers in Missouri Propose Bills Making It Legal to Hit Protesters With Cars” at Newsweek.

Read “USPS Finally Releases Louis DeJoy’s Calendar — And Everything’s Redacted” at Huff Post.

Read “At This Trump-Favored Charity, Financial Reporting Is Questionable and Insiders Are Cashing In” at Pro Publica.

Read “The CARES Act Sent You a $1,200 Check but Gave Millionaires and Billionaires Far More” at Pro Publica.

Music-Related News and Such:

2020 Year-End Lists (* = New This Week):

• Browse “Brad's Top 50 Albums of 2020” at Amoeba Music.

• Browse “Aquarium Drunkard :: 2020 Year In Review.” *

• Browse AV Club’s picks for “The 20 best albums of 2020.” *

• Browse Bandcamp’s picks for “The Best Soul of 2020.”

• Browse Clash’s “Clash Albums Of The Year 2020.” *

• Browse “Top 30 Metal + Hard Rock Albums of 2020” at Consequence of Sound.

• Browse Crack’s picks for “The Top Albums of 2020.”

• Browse The Fader’s picks for “The 50 best albums of 2020.” *

• Browse “Glide’s 20 Best Albums of 2020.”

• Browse Ted Goia’s picks for “The One Hundred Best Albums of 2020.”

• Browse Gorilla Vs. Bear’s Albums of 2020.

• Browse the New Yorker’s picks for “The Best Music of 2020” (topped by a 2018 album which I can get behind).'

• Browse the New York Times’ picks for the “Best Albums of 2020.”

• Browse NPR’s picks for “The 100 Best Songs Of 2020.”

• Browse NPR’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums Of 2020.”

• Browse Paste’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums of 2020.”

• Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 30 Best Electronic Music Releases of 2020.”

• Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 100 Best Songs of 2020.”

• Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums of 2020.” *

• Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 35 Best Rock Albums of 2020.”

• Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 20 Best Music Videos of 2020.”

• Browse “Tunes that kept The World spinning in 2020: A playlist” at PRI. *

• Browse Stereogum’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums Of 2020”.

• Browse Time’s picks for “The 10 Best Albums of 2020.”

• Browse Treble’s picks for the “Top 100 Songs of 2020.”

• Browse Treble’s picks for the “Top 50 Albums of 2020.”

• Browse “The 2020 Uproxx Music Critics Poll.” *

• Browse Vice’s picks for “The 100 Best Albums of 2020.”

• Browse Vinyl Factory’s picks for their “favourite vinyl artwork and packaging of 2020.”

• Browse Yardbarker’s picks for “The 30 best albums of 2020.”

Read “Family affair: Tengger reunite after Covid enforced separation” at The Wire.

Read “FKA twigs sues Shia LaBeouf, alleges sexual battery and assault in new interview” at The Fader.

• Read “Sia Says ‘Pathological Liar’ Shia LaBeouf ‘Conned’ Her ‘Into an Adulterous Relationship’” at Spin.

• Read “What We Know About the Domestic Abuse Allegations Against Shia LaBoeuf” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Harold Budd's Music Was Heaven On Earth” at NPR.

Read “Rapper Lil Wayne pleads guilty to illegal gun possession” at The Hill.

Read “Streaming payments 'threaten the future of music,' says Elbow's Guy Garvey” at BBC.

Read/Listen to “How independent musicians are planning for 2021” at MarketPlace.

Read “‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ Drummer Jerry Granelli :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview” at Aquarium Drunkard (REPOST).

Browse “A Visual History of The Rolling Stones Documented in a Beautiful, 450-Page Photo Book by Taschen” at Open Culture.

Browse The Ringer’s picks for “The Top 100 Albums in the Rick Rubin Extended Universe, Ranked.”

Read “An Update on Bandcamp Fridays” at Bandcamp.

Read “Chance the Rapper Says He and Dionne Warwick Are Working on New Music on ‘Colbert’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “H.C. McEntire Delivers Her Masterpiece with 'Eno Axis'“ at Pop Matters.

Read “Emily Eavis says Glastonbury is “a long way” from being able to confirm 2021 festival” at NME.

Read “6 Paths Through Jazz in 2020” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Carlos Santana Launches New Coffee Company” at Jambands.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “The Best Films of 2020” at Flood Magazine.

Books/Reading/Authors

Browse “Christianity Today’s 2021 Book Awards.”

Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “Our 15 Favorite Music Books of 2020.”

Design/Artsy Things:

Take “a Close Look at Basquiat’s Revolutionary Art in a New 500-Page, 14-Pound, Large Format Book by TASCHEN” at Open Culture.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “‘Cat scratch’ fever may cause human madness, study says” at New York Post.

Read “Kangaroos Can Learn To Communicate With Humans, Researchers Say” at Huff Post.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Mysterious Radio Signal Is Coming From Inside Our Galaxy, Scientists Announce” at Independent.

The Weekly Town Crier (12/11/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (12/11/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Chuck Yeager, 1st to break sound barrier, dead at 97” at KREM.

Read “Howard Wales on Jerry Garcia, ‘Hooteroll?’ and Beyond” at Relix. “On December 7, 2020 keyboard iconoclast Howard Wales passed away. Here is a look back at our 2017 piece on Wales.”

Read “US composer Harold Budd dies aged 84” at The Guardian.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Senator Manchin, Your Faith Teaches You Better Than This” at The Nation by William J Barber II.

Read “Thomas Jefferson Tried to ‘Fix’ the Bible. He Only Succeeded in Making It Sad.” at Christianity Today.

Read “Southern Baptists Keep Quarreling Over Critical Race Theory” at Christianity Today.

Read “Disgraced Hillsong pastor Carl Lentz might get payoff despite ‘multiple affairs’” at Page Six.

• Read “The Rise and Fall of Carl Lentz, the Celebrity Pastor of Hillsong Church” at New York Times.

• Read “The Crisis of Christian Celebrity” by David French at The Dispatch.

• Read “The sad irony of celebrity pastors” at The Spectator. “Instead of making me want to become more like them, it looks very much as if they want to become more like me.”

• Read “The Celebrity Pastor Problem Is Every Church’s Struggle” at Christianity Today.

Read “St. John Paul II Did Not Change Catholic Teaching on Capital Punishment: A Reply to E. Christian Brugger” at Public Discourse.

Read “Looted Nazi Art Again Before Supreme Court” at NPR.

Read “Black pastor leads his white North Carolina church toward a fuller reckoning of race” at Religion News Service.

Read “It’s time to end ‘name and shame’ religious freedom policy” at Religion News Service. ”President-elect Biden and his foreign policy aides need to focus on a broader strategy of religious engagement.”

Read “In Which I Stop Saving Myself for Marriage” at Fathom.

Read “Church in The Woodlands where woman was abused will not face repercussions from SBC” at Houston Chronicle.

Read “New Labor Department rule expands religious exemption for federal contractors” at Religion News Service.

Read “The Mandalorian’ is an indictment of holy wars, and a celebration of pluralism” at Religion News Service.

Read “Leonard Cohen on Christianity” by David Dark.

Read “Sacred Tension: Overcoming the Faith Cartel with David Dark” at Stephen Bradford.

Read “The Decline of the Christian Consensus” at National Review.

Read “With vaccines on the horizon, faith leaders could play a crucial role in promoting their use” at Religion News Service.

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

Read “The House Just Voted to Decriminalize Weed” at Vice. “In a historic first, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to end the federal ban on cannabis. Senate Republicans are unlikely to take it up.”

• Read “Matt Gaetz warns GOP that arguments against legalizing marijuana increasingly unpopular” at The Hill.

• Read ‘Why So High? More Than Half the Cost to Legalize Weed in VA Goes to Police, Report Says.” at Dogwood.

Read “Leader of the Pro-Black ‘NFAC’ Militia Arrested and Charged by Feds” at Vice. “John Fitzgerald Johnson, aka Grand Master Jay, could get up to 20 years for pointing his gun at authorities.”

Read “Gun violence has become a disturbing public health crisis. The Biden administration must step in and immediately do something about it” at Business Insider.

Read “This Is the Case That Could Bring Down Roe v. Wade” at Vice. “Amy Coney Barrett has only been a Supreme Court justice for a few weeks, and she’s already facing a test on abortion.”

Read “14 Fort Hood soldiers fired, suspended over violence at base” at Associated Press.

Read “Michael Flynn judge says pardon doesn’t mean ex-national security adviser is innocent” at Washington Post.

Read “Black Michigan Lawmaker Got Racist Threats for Calling Out Giuliani's Lies” at Vice.

Read “U.S. Justice Department To Investigate Killing Of Casey Goodson Jr.” at WOSU.

Read “DC attorney general sends cease-and-desist letter to DoorDash over premium service” at The Hill.

Read “6 Dark Places Aleister Crowley Performed His Particular Brand of Magick” at Atlas Obscura.

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

Read “Virginia Military Institute Removes Confederate ‘Stonewall’ Jackson Statue” at Huff Post.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Hong Kong police arrest 8 activists over anti-government protests” at The Hill.

Read “Portland mayor authorizes ‘all lawful means’ to clear protesters from occupied area on Mississippi Ave.” at Oregon Public Broadcasting.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Law Enforcement Took More Stuff From People Than Burglars Did Last Year” at Washington Post.

Read “Hartford detective demoted, suspended for suggesting bet on first homicide of 2021” at NBC News. “The Hartford police chief said the text "represents an appalling lack of judgment" and "an extreme insensitivity toward our community."

Read “Providing police with military gear does not reduce crime or protect officers” at ABC News.

Read “The Police Have Been Spying on Black Reporters and Activists for Years. I Know Because I’m One of Them” at Pro Publica.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Paradise Valley Superintendent Dr. Jesse Welsh and his family harassed, threatened over school closures” at ABC 15.

Read “Jill Biden to advocate for debt-free community college as next first lady” at The Hill.

Read “Male Texas teen suspended from school for wearing nail polish” at The Hill.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Oregon doctor's license revoked over refusal to wear mask during pandemic” at NBC News.

Read “Trump announces Rudy Giuliani has Covid” at NBC News.

• Read “Witness Mellissa Carone says she's not self-quarantining after Giuliani's COVID-19 diagnosis” at The Hill.

• Read “Giuliani from hospital calls COVID-19 'a curable disease'“ at The Hilli.

Read “Tipped Service Workers Are More Vulnerable Amid Pandemic Harassment Spike” at NPR.

Listen to “Wrecking Public Trust” at The Gist. “Those who downplayed the virus because their brand is contrarianism have greatly damaged our ability to recover.”

Listen to “Anti-Vax Ideas Have Metastasized in 2020” at WNYC.

• Read “Vaccine opponents rebrand as rollout of Covid-19 shots looms” at Politico.

Read “A whistleblower says the FDA isn’t properly regulating vaccine facilities” at PBS News Hour.

Read/Listen to “Iris Meda Came Out Of Retirement To Teach Nursing. She Died Of COVID-19 After Exposure From Student” at WBUR.

Read ‘Wyoming Governor Issues Statewide Mask Mandate” at Wall Street Journal.

Read ‘Canada preparing to administer COVID-19 vaccine this month” at The Hill.

Read “Arizona legislature shuts down after Giuliani tests positive for coronavirus” at The Hill.

• Read “'Cowardly' say some Arizona Republicans of their leaders following closure of Legislature” at AZ Central.

Read “Yes, some Americans may be required to get a COVID-19 vaccine but not by the federal government” at USA Today.

Read “How were COVID-19 vaccines made so fast? Scientists had a huge head start” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “How big could a COVID baby bust be?” at Market Place.

Read “Arizona Businesses Navigating Liability Issues Related To COVID-19” at KJZZ.

Read “Ohio club cited for Covid violations after 500 people attend indoor Trey Songz concert” at NBC News.

Read “COVID-19 hospitalizations exploded the week of Nov. 6. They still haven't slowed down” at 12 News.

Read “Pastor Celebrates COVID Outbreak at Church: “THE FAVOR OF GOD IS ON THIS HOUSE!”” at Patheos.

Read “West Wing fears COVID spread after Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis attends WH party” at Axios.

Read “Americans Aren’t Actually Quarantining” at The Atlantic.

Read/Listen to “Boston Reverend Enlists Dr. Fauci To Help Black Community Get Behind COVID-19 Vaccine” at WBUR.

Read “The Danger of Assuming That Family Time Is Dispensable” at The Atlantic. “Americans who are desperate to see their loved ones need advice that goes beyond “Just say no.”

Read “The FDA says Pfizer’s Covid vaccine is safe and effective. But trial participants warn of intense symptoms after second shot” at NBC New York.

Read “'How a picture of my foot became anti-vaccine propaganda'“ at BBC.

Read “'A slap in the face': Yuma hospital fires ER doctor for talking about COVID-19” at AZ Central.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Browse “20 Diversion Tactics Highly Manipulative Narcissists, Sociopaths And Psychopaths Use To Silence You” at Thought Catalog.

Read “Chick-fil-A Sues Poultry Suppliers, Alleging Price-Fixing” at Wall Street Journal. “Lawsuit adds one of the U.S. chicken industry’s biggest customers to expanding litigation that alleges long-running collusion among poultry processors.”

Read “Guy Fieri, the Fundraiser of Flavortown” at Bloomberg. “Guy Fieri has raised $21.5 million for unemployed restaurant workers, which means Guy Fieri has done more for unemployed restaurant workers than Congress has in the last 8 months.”

Read “Breakdancing to become an Olympic sport, will debut at Paris in 2024” at Boston Globe.

Read “Uber, After Years of Trying, Is Handing Off Its Self-Driving Car Project” at New York Times.

Read “The FTC is suing Facebook to unwind its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp” at The Verge.

Read “Time Nominates “Racial Justice Movement” As Person Of The Year” at Okay Player.

Read “Disney Increases Layoff Plans to 32,000 Employees in First Half of 2021” at Variety.

Internationalities:

Read “How will US President-elect Biden deal with Iran?” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Iran Says Scientist Was Killed Using Satellite-Controlled Gun” at Bloomberg.

Read “Argentina passes new tax on wealthiest people to pay for cost of coronavirus pandemic” at BBC.

Read “Greek police detain dozens to stop march in memory of slain teen” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Senior Saudi Prince Blasts Israel at Security Conference” at Bloomberg.

Read “Major Jewish Group Joins Fight Against Trump’s Massive Middle East Weapons Sale” at Huff Post.

Read “Mexican president proposes stripping immunity from US agents” at The Hill.

Read “Civilians killed in air strikes in Afghanistan soars by more than 300%” at BBC.

Read “Denmark apologises to children taken from Greenland in a 1950s social experiment” at BBC.

Read “Archaeologists find vast network of Amazon villages laid out like the cosmos” at Live Science.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Barr Is Said to Be Weighing Whether to Leave Before Trump’s Term Ends” at New York Times.

Read “Biden will pick California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to lead Health and Human Services” at NBC News.

Read “Biden picks retired general Lloyd Austin to run Pentagon” at Politico.

Read “Trump’s Election Attack Ends December 14—Whether He Knows It or Not” at Wired.

• Read “Trump's election push causing long-term damage, experts say” at The Hill.

• Read “Arizona GOP Dragged After Suggesting Trump Will Be 'Inaugurated for His Second Term' on January 20th” at Second Nexus.

Read “Today marks an important Electoral College deadline. Here's why that's bad news for Trump” at USA Today.”

Read “Deficit climbs 25 percent to $430 billion through November” at The Hill.

Read “Biden's Victory Cemented As States Reach Key Electoral College Deadline” at NPR.

Read “Mitch McConnell is destroying the case for Georgia’s GOP senators” at Washington Post.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Pompeo spent over $40,000 in taxpayer funds for State Dept dinners” at The Hill.

Read “Trump Trade Adviser Violated Hatch Act With Biden Attacks, Watchdog Says” at Huff Post.

Read “ER doctor who criticized Trump's actions to be removed from Walter Reed schedule” at CBS News. “Dr. James Phillips, the emergency room physician who publicly criticized President Trump's decision to drive with Secret Service agents to greet supporters while he was hospitalized with COVID-19 in October, has been removed from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center's schedule starting in January, according to sources familiar with the situation.”

Read “Armed Mexicans Were Smuggled In to Guard Border Wall, Whistle-Blowers Say” at New York Times.

Read “Agents raid home of ousted Florida health scientist who accused state of manipulating data” at The Hill.

• Read “Republican lawyer resigns appointed state post over treatment of data analyst” at Miami Herald.

• Read “Florida’s justification for raiding COVID data whistleblower Rebekah Jones is looking a little shaky” at The Verge.

This week in the GOP Election Kerfuffle:

• Read “Election Lawsuits Withdrawn Under Threat Of Sanctions” at KJZZ.

• Read “Cruz offers to argue Pennsylvania election case before Supreme Court” at The Hill.

• Read “Texas sues states Biden won in Supreme Court, seeking to delay Electoral College vote” at The Hill.

• Read “Trump Asked Pennsylvania House Speaker About Overturning His Loss” at New York Times.

• Read “Hobbs Begins Recovering Taxpayers' Funds From AZGOP For Defending Trump Election Challenges; Gloves Come Off” at AZ Law.

• Read “US Supreme Court rebuffs attempt to block Biden’s win in Pennsylvania” at Financial Times.

Read “1,500 Attorneys Call On Bar Associations To Condemn Trump Campaign Lawyers” at Huff Post.

Read ‘More voters say pardons for Trump's family would be inappropriate” at The Hill.

Read “After Democrats flip state, Georgia moves to shut down early voting locations ahead of Senate runoff” at Salon.

Read “Trump Roasted For Bragging That 'Bookies' Favoring Him On Election Night Is Proof That He Won” at Comic Sands.

Read “Rush Limbaugh Says Conservative States Are 'Trending Toward Secession' From U.S.” at Newsweek.

Read “The GOP Abandons Democracy” at The Atlantic. “One hundred and six members of Congress, and 18 state attorneys general, are asking the Supreme Court to overturn the election.”

Music-Related News and Such:

2020 Year-End Lists:

• Browse “Brad's Top 50 Albums of 2020” at Amoeba Music.

• Browse Bandcamp’s picks for “The Best Soul of 2020.”

• Browse “Top 30 Metal + Hard Rock Albums of 2020” at Consequence of Sound.

• Browse Crack’s picks for “The Top Albums of 2020.”

• Browse “Glide’s 20 Best Albums of 2020.”

• Browse Ted Goia’s picks for “The One Hundred Best Albums of 2020.”

• Browse Gorilla Vs. Bear’s Albums of 2020.

• Browse the New Yorker’s picks for “The Best Music of 2020” (topped by a 2018 album which I can get behind).'

• Browse the New York Times’ picks for the “Best Albums of 2020.”

• Browse NPR’s picks for “The 100 Best Songs Of 2020.”

• Browse NPR’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums Of 2020.”

• Browse Paste’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums of 2020.”

• Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 30 Best Electronic Music Releases of 2020.”

• Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 100 Best Songs of 2020.”

• Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums of 2020.”

• Browse Stereogum’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums Of 2020”.

• Browse Time’s picks for “The 10 Best Albums of 2020.”

• Browse Treble’s picks for the “Top 100 Songs of 2020.”

• Browse Treble’s picks for the “Top 50 Albums of 2020.”

• Browse Vice’s picks for “The 100 Best Albums of 2020.”

• Browse Vinyl Factory’s picks for their “favourite vinyl artwork and packaging of 2020.”

• Browse Yardbarker’s picks for “The 30 best albums of 2020.”

Browse “The 2020 No Depression Guide to Holiday Music That Doesn’t Suck.”

Read “So, How Was Your 2020, Thurston Moore?’ at Rolling Stone. “Former Sonic Youth singer and guitarist reflects on the music, books, TV, and movies that helped him get through this year.”

Browse “The 35 Best Lesser-Known Artists of the Last 35 Years, Picked by 35 Well-Known Artists” at Spin.

Read “The Cultural Impact of the Technics SL-1200 Turntable, Then and Now” at Discogs.

Read “Why You Should Listen to John Fahey’s Christmas Music—Even If You Hate Christmas Music” at Pitchfork.

Read (and listen to) “Frozen Fingers :: An American Primitive Holiday Meditation” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Browse Louder Sound’s picks for “The 50 Greatest Live Albums Ever.”

Read “‘Gimme Shelter’ at 50: How The Rolling Stones Got Conquered By America” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Here’s The Story Of The 1970s Most Forgotten Funk Star” at Okay Player.

Read “Bob Dylan Sells Songwriting Catalog to Universal Music Publishing” at Pitchfork.

• Read “Wait, Bob Dylan Owned ‘The Weight’? An Explainer” at Rolling Stone. “In selling his own catalog to Universal Music, Dylan also sold the publishing rights of the Band’s first album Music From Big Pink — thanks to a peculiar arrangement that goes back to 1967.”

• Read “Bob Dylan’s Overlooked Christian Music” at Sojourners.

Read “Sinéad O’Connor Announces Memoir Rememberings” at Pitchfork.

Browse “An introduction to Don Cherry in 10 records” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “Neil Young Drops Lawsuit Against Donald Trump Campaign” at Pitchfork.

Read “Fiona Apple Explains How She Ended Up On Bob Dylan’s New Album And The “Tramp Stamp” She Got For David Blaine” at Stereogum.

Read “Kanye West’s Sunday Service Choir Is Suing Him For $1 Million For Unpaid Wages” at The Jasmine Brand.

Read “Without Music, I Wouldn’t Have Been Able to Navigate My Breakups” at Vice.

Read “Ethan Hawke On How Music Shaped His Film Career” at Pitchfork.

Read “‘Take Five’ Is Impeccable. ‘Time Outtakes’ Shows How Dave Brubeck Made It.” at New York Times.

Read “Fiona Apple on How She Broke Free and Made the Album of the Year” at Pitchfork.

Read “Pharrell Discovered His Synesthesia Listening To A Tribe Called Quest” at Okay Player.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Why an All-Streaming Movie World Won’t Look Like You Think It Will” at Variety.

Read “Netflix says it won't add disclaimer to 'The Crown'“ at The Hill.

Read “Mario Lopez plays sexy Colonel Sanders in Lifetime movie, because it's 2020” at CNet.

Read “Culture Clash: Warner Bros.’ HBO Max Move Signals New Day in Hollywood” at Variety.

Browse Vulture’s picks for the “Best Movies of 2020.”

Read “John Mulaney and Andy Samberg are your new Chip 'N Dale, we guess” at AV Club.

Read “‘Moana: The Series’ Set for 2023 on Disney Plus” at Variety.

Read “John Lurie Returns to TV in New HBO Series ‘Painting With John’” at Variety.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Yes, Roald Dahl was a Jew-hater” at Religion News Service. “The family of the late British novelist and screenwriter has given the Jewish people an early Hanukkah gift: an apology.”

Browse Los Angeles Times’ picks for “The Ten Best Books of 2020.”

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “What is the largest desert on earth?” at Universal Sci.

Read “Everest Gets an Altitude Adjustment: Nepal and China Agree on Height” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “A New Report Says Microwave Attacks Caused Mystery Illnesses In US Diplomats. Scientists Say That Makes No Sense” at Buzzfeed News.

Read “So You Think You Know Gravity? Let Us Drop Some Knowledge” at Wired.

Read “Former Israeli military leader opens up about contact with "Galactic Federation" of aliens” at Boing Boing.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Giant Penis Sculpture Disappears from German Mountaintop” at Vice.

Read “Mysterious Monolith Update: Racists Destroy California Monolith, Proclaim Christ Superior to Space Aliens” at Vice.

Read “How a Young Eagle Huntress Kicks Butt at a Kazakh Tradition” at Atlas Obscura.

Local:

Read “Effort To Recall Ducey Gains Unlikely Support From Paul Gosar” at KJZZ.

Read “'Shut the hell up': Arizona GOP at war over Trump's election loss” at MSNBC.

Read “Arizona gets $1.4 million in nationwide settlement with a mortgage servicer” at KTAR.

The Weekly Town Crier (12/04/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (12/04/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Darth Vader actor David Prowse has died at 85” at The Verge.

Read ‘‘Mad Max’ villain Hugh Keays-Byrne has died” at NME.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Ruling Striking Down Limits on Religious Services Shows Trump Effect on Supreme Court” at Slate.

Read “Is Healing Even Possible?” at The Atlantic. “In an extended interview, the Reverend William J. Barber II explains why healing the soul of the nation will take more than returning to “normal.”

Read “Most ‘Fox News Republicans’ believe Christians face most discrimination” at Religion News Service.

Read (Russel) “Moore presented with Defending Religious Freedom Award” at Kentucky Today.

Read “Churches return land to Indigenous groups as part of #LandBack movement” at Religion News Service.

Read “Lawsuit: LDS Church officials, teacher knew of abuse but kept silent” at AZ Central.

Read “Seminary presidents reaffirm BFM, declare CRT incompatible” at Baptist Press.

• Read “Southern Baptist seminary presidents reaffirm their commitment to whiteness” at The Witness.

Read “How Prison Ministry Inspired an All-Female Audio Bible” at Christianity Today.

Read “Faith takes the forefront as Georgia Senate runoffs heat up” at Associated Press.

Read “Eric Metaxas and the losing of the evangelical mind” at Religion News Service. “Christians can’t wait for the sociologists to sort out why our fellow congregants believe in ‘Q’ or that Trump won the election. We need a strategy to restore a few basic truths.”

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

Read “Three ways to create sacred moments at home this Advent” at Christian Century.

Read “Why Some Evangelicals Refuse To Acknowledge That Trump Has Lost The Election” at Huff Post.

Read “In leaked call, Hillsong founder Brian Houston details ‘narcissistic’ Carl Lentz’s firing” at Religion News Service.

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

Read “New rule could allow gas, firing squads for US executions” at AP News.

Read “Man receives racist note after putting up Black Santa decoration” at The Hill.

Read “Restructuring A World Without Prisons” at Sojourners. “Making the impossible possible calls for an exercise in radical imagination.”

Read “Ex-Arizona Official Gets Six Years for Smuggling Pregnant Women Into U.S. to Sell Their Babies” at MSN.

Read “President Trump's war on immigration takes on political overtone at Supreme Court” at USA Today.

Read “Supreme Court skeptical of Trump's plan to exclude undocumented immigrants from census” at NBC News.

Read “French government drops draft law curbing filming of police” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Inside a Neo-Nazi Terror Cell as it Reckons with FBI Arrests” at Vice.

• Read “How One Man Built a Neo-Nazi Insurgency in Trump's America” at Vice. “This is the inside story of how Rinaldo Nazzaro built the Base, a neo-Nazi terror organization—and how it all came apart.”

• Read “For Some, Joining the Proud Boys Was a Stop on the Way to Neo-Nazi Terror” at Vice. “Several members and a recruit to the neo-Nazi terror group the Base described the Proud Boys as part of the journey into far-right extremism.”

Read “Bill that could help Black farmers reclaim millions of acres 'a step in the right direction'“ at ABC News.

Read “Hidden in Plain Sight: The Ghosts of Segregation” at New York Times.

Read “Harris County GOP chairman who made racist Facebook post resigns” at The Hill.

Read “DeSantis wants to make ‘Stand Your Ground’ a license to kill vandals in Florida” at Orlando Sentinel.

Read “'Tiger King' star Joe Exotic formally requests pardon, including handwritten letter to Trump” at USA Today.

Read “Black Children Are Six Times More Likely to Be Shot to Death by Police” at Equal Justice Initiative.

Read “The U.S. Spent $11.6B to Stop Cocaine Trafficking. It Was a Massive Failure” at Vice.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Kentucky cop slugs man livestreaming an arrest with ‘solid left hook’” at New York Post.

Read “How America’s deadliest serial killer went undetected for more than 40 years” at Washington Post.

Read “Phoenix approves $3 million payout to family of man fatally shot in the back by police” at AZ Central.

Read “US: No Justice 6 Months Since New York Police Assault” at Human Rights Watch.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Teaching in the Pandemic: This is not sustainable” at New York Times.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “The Unexpected Message Revealed by Long Lines for Virus Testing” at New York Times.

Read “Rhode Island is shutting bars and gyms But leaving schools open Because that's what the data suggests we should do” at Washington Post.

Read “The NFL’s Thanksgiving Weekend Has Become a Covid Crisis” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Larry Fitzgerald tests positive for COVID-19” at 12 News.

Read “In Europe’s Nursing Homes, a Soaring Covid-19 Death Toll and the Pain of Isolation” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “The Yankee Candle phenomenon” at Boing Boing.

Read “Coronavirus Hospitalizations Are at an All-Time High” at Vice.

Read ‘How The Coronavirus Has Affected Individual Members Of Congress” at NPR.

Read “Pope Blasts Those Who Criticize COVID Restrictions in the Name of “Personal Freedom”” at Slate.

Read “Moderna Chief Medical Officer: ‘Once there is marketing authorization, we stand ready to distribute our vaccine’” at MSNBC.

Read “Arizona School, Business Leaders Concerned About Spread Of COVID-19” at KJZZ.

Read “Articles of impeachment filed against GOP Ohio governor over coronavirus orders” at The Hill.

Read ‘Canada not ready to lift border restrictions with US as COVID-19 spikes” at The Hill.

Read “How Safe Is Eating At A Restaurant During The COVID-19 Pandemic?” at Huff Post.

Read “CDC urges Americans not to travel for Christmas” at The Hill.

Read “Why nursing home aides exposed to COVID-19 aren’t taking sick leave at The Conversation.

Read ‘Coronavirus: Here's how you can stop bad information from going viral” at BBC

Read “The Majority Of Children Who Die From COVID-19 Are Children Of Color” at NPR.

Read “Italy bans Christmas travel between regions” at BBC.

Read “Iowa Is What Happens When Government Does Nothing” at The Atlantic. “The story of the coronavirus in the state is one of government inaction in the name of freedom and personal responsibility.”

Read “What the CDC’s New Quarantine Guidelines Mean for You” at Slate.

Read “City of Phoenix halts sports facility reservations as coronavirus cases rise” at KTAR.

Read “Covid Shrinks the Labor Market, Pushing Out Women and Baby Boomers” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “COVID-19 Will Change How We Age, Where We Age And How We Pay For It” at WBUR.

Read “Fauci: 'I don't socialize. It's my wife and I and the federal agents'“ at The Hill.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Family Caregivers In Arizona Are Struggling With Burnout And Isolation During COVID-19” at KJZZ.

Read “Ikea Will Buy Back the Furniture You No Longer Want and Recycle or Resell It” at Global Citizen.

Read “OAN Is So Dangerous Because It Looks Like a Real News Channel” at Vice.

Read “Man caught with nearly 4 tons of stolen sewer lids in pickup truck, cops say” at CWB Chicago.

Read “The Crown Doesn't Fully Explain Why Princess Diana Was So Popular. Here's How She Became a Global Celebrity” at Time.

Read “‘Time For My Flag to Go Up’: How Anti-Trumpers Are Reclaiming the American Flag” at Politico.

Read “'The Real Looting in America Is the Walton Family': GAO Report Details How Taxpayers Subsidize Cruel Low Wages of Corporate Giants” at Common Dreams.

Read “IRS Says Its Own Error Sent $1,200 Stimulus Checks To Non-Americans Overseas” at NPR.

Read “Microsoft files patent to record and score meetings on body language” at BBC.

Read “Facial recognition is getting better at making matches around face masks’ at CNET.

Read “Facebook Content Review Board Chooses First Six Cases for Review” at Bloomberg. “Oversight Board has picked the first six cases it will review to determine whether the company took appropriate action with controversial content.”

Read “Airbnb Sets IPO Terms Sending Valuation as High as $35 Billion” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “UCLA Paid Student Workers With Amazon Gift Cards” at Vice.

Read I'm an 'LSD Specialist' Who Sells Acid to Oxford University Students” at Vice. "I’m not really in it for the money. If I was, I’d probably sell something like ketamine."

Read “Elliot Page Announces He is Transgender” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “How To Fix A Food System That Wasn’t Designed To Feed People” at Huff Post.

Read “The Justice Department is suing Facebook for side-stepping visa rules” at The Verge.

Read “This ‘Magical Bug’ Exposed Any iPhone in a Hacker's Wi-Fi Range” at Wired.

Read “The Latest OnlyFans Drama Involves a YouTuber Posting a Video of Herself As a Toddler” at Vulture.

Internationalities:

Read “Suspected North Korean Hackers Target COVID-19 Vaccine Maker AstraZeneca” at HuffPost.

Read “Israel, US planning ‘covert ops’ against Iran as Trump’s term ends, report says” at Times of Israel.

Read “How Iranian scientist’s killing could derail future US-Iran talks” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Government ready for 100 per cent increase in Hong Kong citizens coming to UK” at Telegraph.

Read “Canada bans mass exports of prescription drugs” at BBC.

Read “Assassination in Iran Could Limit Biden’s Options. Was That the Goal?” at New York Times.

Read “Eviction of Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah part of Israeli policy” at Al Jazeera.

Read “US sanctions Chinese company for conducting business with Maduro regime” at The Hill.

Read “Japan Puts Its Post-Covid Tourism Hopes In Hands Of Giant Robot” at Huff Post.

Read “Homes raided after Germany bans far-right group” at The Hill.

Read “An anti-gay Hungarian politician has resigned after being caught by the police fleeing a 25-man orgy through a window” at Business Insider.

Read ‘Everyone Looks Terrible in the Grim China-Australia Twitter War” at Slate. “How a nation got trolled into publicizing its own war crimes.”

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Cuomo blames new conservative majority for high court's COVID-19 decision” at The Hill.

Read “NC donor wants millions returned after pro-Trump group drops election fraud cases” at News Observer.

Read “Joe Biden considering Cindy McCain for UK ambassador” at KTAR.

Read “Republicans ready to become deficit hawks again under a President Biden” at The Hill.

Read “Pennsylvania Supreme Court Throws Out Last Active Legal Challenge to State’s Election Results” at Slate.

Read “Carter Page sues over surveillance related to Russia probe” at The Hill.

Read “National Review Calls Out “Trump’s Disgraceful Endgame” at Hill Reporter.

Read “Biden hires all-female WH communications team” at MSNBC.

Read “Biden says he asked Fauci to be a chief medical adviser for incoming administration” at Boing Boing.

Read “Robert Lighthizer Blew Up 60 Years of Trade Policy. Nobody Knows What Happens Next.” at Pro Publica.

Read “The Pardon Power May Be Broad, But that Does Not Mean a Self-Pardon Would Be Legit” at Reason.

Read “More and More Republican Officials Are Standing Up to Trump and His Effort to Overturn the Election” at Slate.

Read “Barr: No evidence of fraud that’d change outcome of presidential election” at WUSA9.

Read “Trump to boycott Biden’s inauguration — and won’t even invite him for White House visit” at The Raw Story.

Read “McCaskill: 'Hypocrisy' for GOP to target Biden nominee's tweets after Trump” at The Hill.

Read “The MAGA Coalition Rallying Behind Trump’s Post-Election Mischief Is Already Cracking” at Daily Beast.

Read “Most Americans support raising taxes on those making at least $400,000” at The Hill.

Read “How Is Trump’s Lawyer Jenna Ellis ‘Elite Strike Force’ Material?” at New York Times.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Trump’s Disinformation Campaign Threatens to Undermine the Government” at Time.

Read “20 days of fantasy and failure: Inside Trump’s quest to overturn the election” at Washington Post.

Read “It's not the first time that an outgoing president refused to work with an incoming one” at Salon.

Read “Arizona Republicans Level More Allegations Of Election Fraud” at KJZZ.

Read “Kemp to Trump: Georgia law blocks him from ‘interfering’ with elections” at AJC.

Read “Trump and his allies won't drop claims of stolen election — because they're cashing in” at Salon.

Read “Trump blasts Ducey over election certification, says he betrayed Arizonans” at AZ Mirror.

Read “Bill Barr Hid Evidence Of A Bribery For Pardon Investigation During The Election” at Empty Wheel.

Read ‘Trump Has Discussed With Advisers Pardons for His 3 Eldest Children and Giuliani” at New York Times.

Read ‘'It has to stop': Georgia official calls on Trump to 'stop inspiring' death threats over election” at USA Today.

Read “Wisconsin Gov. Calls Trump Election Fraud Lawsuit An ‘Assault’” at Huff Post. “He is simply trying to seize Wisconsin’s electoral votes, even though he lost the statewide election,” attorneys say.

Read “Donald Trump’s Latest Grift May Be His Most Cynical Yet” at The New Yorker.

Read “White House liaison barred from DOJ after pressing for sensitive information” at The Hill.

Read “Wisconsin Supreme Court declines to hear Trump's "case"“ at Boing Boing.

Read “Ivanka Trump deposed Tuesday as part of inauguration fund lawsuit” at NBC News. “The suit claims the Inaugural Committee made improper payments to the president's hotel during his 2017 inauguration. Trump called the suit political.”

Read “David Perdue bought Pfizer stock — a week before company said it would develop a vaccine” at Salon.

Read “GOP Attorney Caught Illegally Registering to Vote in Georgia After Video of Him Urging Others to Do So Went Viral” at Second Nexus.

Read “Giuliani's witness draws audible laughter during testimony” at CNN.

Music-Related News and Such:

2020 Year-End Lists:

• Browse “Brad's Top 50 Albums of 2020” at Amoeba Music.

• Browse Crack’s picks for “The Top Albums of 2020.”

• Browse Ted Goia’s picks for “The One Hundred Best Albums of 2020.”

• Browse Gorilla Vs. Bear’s Albums of 2020.

• Browse the New Yorker’s picks for “The Best Music of 2020” (topped by a 2018 album which I can get behind).'

• Browse NPR’s picks for “The 100 Best Songs Of 2020.”

• Browse NPR’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums Of 2020.”

• Browse Paste’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums of 2020.”

• Browse Stereogum’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums Of 2020”.

• Browse Time’s picks for “The 10 Best Albums of 2020.”

Read “Music Legends Eric Clapton, Van Morrison Team for Anti-Lockdown Single ‘Stand and Deliver’” at Variety.

Read “Erykah Badu & Summer Walker Discuss Stardom, Aliens And More” at Okay Player.

Read “When Home Recording Hit the San Francisco Rock Scene” at Reverb.

Read “In Praise of Phoebe Bridgers, a Thoroughly Good Celebrity” at Slate.

Read “AC/DC Debuts at No. 1, Powered by CD Sales” at New York Times.

Read “Phish Frontman Trey Anastasio Raises Over $1 Million For New Drug Treatment Center” at Vanity Fair.

Read “Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein to Write and Direct New Heart Biopic” at Pitchfork.

Browse “Elvis Costello on the Music of His Life” at Pitchfork.

Read ‘Rivers Cuomo is selling thousands of old demos while learning how to code. Here’s his final class assignment” at A Journal Of Musical Things.

Read “Phoenix producer Bob Hoag revisits a 'magical time' with the reissue of Pollen's 3rd album” at AZ Central.

Read “Warp Records Comes to Bandcamp” at Bandcamp.

Read ‘Why Arizona music icon Nils Lofgren's wife is 'not welcome' at this Scottsdale steakhouse” at AZ Central.

Read “Bob Dylan Just Released the Ultra-Rare 1970 ‘George Harrison Sessions’ Without Warning” at Rolling Stone. “The Bob Dylan – 50th Anniversary Collection 1970 was released as a super-limited set to avoid the recordings entering the public domain in Europe.”

Read “Justin Townes Earle’s Cause of Death Revealed” at Pitchfork.

Read ‘Deadicated: Trixie Garcia on Jerry’s Legacy, Garcia’s at The Cap and New Cannabis Brand” at Relix.

“Listen to Neal Casal’s Final Solo Recordings” at Pitchfork. “The previously unfinished “Everything Is Moving” and “Green Moon” were completed by the late singer-songwriter’s friends and collaborators.”

“Support the artists you listen to by buying their stuff” at Hype Machine. “Paste a link to a Spotify playlist (for ex. "Your Top Songs 2020"), and we’ll check what you can purchase directly from them on Bandcamp.”

Read “Pharrell Williams announces new charity Black Ambition to aid underrepresented entrepreneurs” at NME.

Read “Walt Disney Co. shutting down influential Radio Disney after two decades” at Los Angeles Times.

Browse “A Brief History of Cardigans in Music, From Kurt Cobain to Harry Styles and Taylor Swift” at Rolling Stone.

Read “The Origin Story of Carlos Santana’s Abraxas” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Iggy Pop & Elvis Costello” at Rolling Stone. “The old friends on surviving the Seventies, why most hard rock is overrated, and staying in touch with their iconoclastic inspiration.”

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “David Lynch To Start Shooting Netflix Series (Working Title: “Wisteria”) In 2021 at Welcome To Twin Peaks.

Read “New-Streaming-Service Alert: Discovery+ Coming in 2021” at Vulture.

Read “Superstore Is Closing After Six Seasons” at Vulture.

Read “Actors File Age Discrimination Suit Over SAG-AFTRA Health Plan Cuts” at NPR.

Read “Did HBO Max Just Kill Movie Theaters?” at Okay Player.

Read “'Masked Singer' hits highest rating for entertainment show since April” at Los Angeles Times.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Toni Morrison’s 1,200 Volume Personal Library is Going on Sale: Get a Glimpse of the Books on Her Tribeca Condo Shelves” at Open Culture.

Browse “NPR books NPR’s Book Concierge”.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “Meet Congo the Chimp, London’s Sensational 1950s Abstract Painter” at Open Culture.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “For Rats That Coat Themselves In Poison, These Rodents Are Surprisingly Cuddly” at NPR.

Read “Scientists baffled by bizarre sea creature with dozens of legs found on beach” at Express.

Read “Wasps threaten airplane safety” at Boing Boing.

Read “New science tempers hope for life in Venus' clouds — but nothing is ruled out just yet” at Salon.

Read “Too Many Storms, Not Enough Names” at NPR.

Read “Huge Arecibo Observatory Radio Telescope In Puerto Rico Collapses” at Huff Post.

Read “Ginkgo trees nearly went extinct. Here’s how we saved these ‘living fossils.’” at National Geographic.

Read “Australia’s Great Barrier Reef ‘critical’ due to climate change” at Al Jazeera.

Food Cultures:

Misc. Oddities:

Read “A Massive Collection of Dead Insects Lives Inside Filing Cabinets in a Canadian Office” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “That Mysterious Monolith in the Utah Desert? It’s Gone, Officials Say” at New York Times.

• Read “New Mysterious Monolith Appears in Romania” at Vice.

• Read “Photographers captured removal of the mysterious Utah monolith. Here's why it vanished” at USA Today.

• Read “New mysterious monolith appears on top of mountain in California” at Independent.

Read “Dallas Restaurant Owner Seems More Concerned With Twerking Patrons Than Covid In Viral Video” at Okay Player.

Read “How camp explains Trump” at Yahoo.

Local:

Read “Recreational Marijuana: Everything you need to know about Arizona going green” at 12 News.

Read “Remember these people who defended the integrity of Arizona's election” at AZ Central.

Read “GM Rethinks Planned Stake In Phoenix-Based Electric Vehicle Maker Nikola” at KJZZ.

Read “Petersen sentencing looms on federal charges, and Arizona says it isn't part of any deal to cut prison time” at AZ Central.

Read “Tempe's Marquee Theatre postpones reopening as COVID cases spike. What you need to know” at AZ Central.

The Weekly Town Crier (11/20/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (11/20/20).

Religion and Stuff:

Read ‘The Evangelical Reckoning Begins” at The Atlantic. “Andy Stanley, the pastor of one of the largest megachurches in the country, ponders the future of an influential corner of American Christianity.”

Read “How the U.S. Military Buys Location Data from Ordinary Apps” at Vice. “A Muslim prayer app with over 98 million downloads is one of the apps connected to a wide-ranging supply chain that sends ordinary people's personal data to brokers, contractors, and the military.”

Read “What the Study of Religion Can Teach Us About Psychedelics” at Harvard’s Bill of Health website.

Read as Christian Century wonders “How do we grieve the hundreds of thousands of people the COVID-19 pandemic has killed?”

Read “William Barr and the politics of death” at Religion News Service. “We are not executing the ‘worst of the worst,’ as some may believe, but the poorest of the poor, and disproportionately people of color.”

Read “Never the Same Twice: Grace and the (Divinely) Inspired World of Jazz” at Mockingbird.

Read “Vatican Launches Probe After Pope’s Insta Account Likes Very Risqué ‘School Girl’ Pic” at Daily Beast.

Read “Five faith facts about former President Barack Obama’s new book: ‘A Promised Land’ at Religion News Service.

Read “Pastors Launch Church-Planting Network for ‘Black and Brown Neighborhoods’” at Christianity Today.

Read “Chicago church releases a beer for Advent — and the end of the world” at Religion News Service.

Read “Carl Lentz and the ‘hot pastor’ problem” at Religion News Service. “Maybe the problem isn’t hot pastors like Lentz but a toxic megachurch culture that makes narcissism a prerequisite.”

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

Read “The far right is cracking up, as their violent fantasies of Trump's fascist takeover evaporate” at Salon.

Read “University of California agrees to $73M sex abuse settlement over former UCLA gynecologist” at NBC News.

Read “Trump's legal adviser Jenna Ellis in 2016 called him an 'idiot' and said his supporters didn't care about 'facts or logic'“ at CNN.

Read “Rudy Giuliani Isn’t Even Trying to Make Coherent Legal Arguments Anymore” at Slate.

Read “Disturbing new details in alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer” at ABC7 Chicago. “Disturbing new details in alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer reveal their Plan B was to takeover the Michigan capitol building with 200 combatants, who would stage a week-long series of televised executions of public officials.”

Read “7 Ways Biden Could Go It Alone on Gun Violence Prevention” at The Trace.

Read “Make fun of the "Million MAGA March" all you want — white supremacy has not been defeated” at Salon.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Prosecutors say Chauvin kept his knee on teenager’s back for 17 minutes in 2017, while the boy said ‘I can’t breathe’” at Minnesota Reformer.

Read “ACLU, Activist Groups Denounce Prosecutions of Anti Police Brutality Protesters” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Suburban Milwaukee Police Officer Who Has Killed 3 People Since 2015 Set To Resign” at NPR.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “When Schools Closed, Americans Turned to Their Usual Backup Plan: Mothers” at New York Times.

Read “Nicola Sturgeon insists schools in Scotland must stay open even in level 4 lockdown areas” at Daily Record.

Read “Mississippi governor calls for spending $3 million on 'Patriotic Education Fund'“ at The Hill.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “More than 130 Secret Service officers are said to be infected with coronavirus or quarantining in wake of Trump’s campaign travel” at Washington Post.

Read “Super-spreading wedding party demonstrates COVID-19 risk posed by holiday gatherings” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Denver bar owner dies after second battle with COVID-19, cancer” at 9News.

Read “‘No One Is Listening to Us’” at The Atlantic. “More people than ever are hospitalized with COVID-19. Health-care workers can’t go on like this.”

Read ‘Utah Valley Hospital strained by conspiracy theorists trying to enter ICU” at KSL.

Read “Billionaire Medadoners Who Fought Wisconsin’s Plans To Contain Pandemic Get Infected At White House” at Milwaukee Independent.

Read “On Fox News, Dr. Scott Atlas encourages large holiday gatherings: “For many people this is their last Thanksgiving” at Media Matters.

Read as Marketplace wonders “How might COVID-19 vaccine makers compete in the marketplace?”

Read “Alabama Sorority Gets Official Blessing for 600-Person Farm Party Just in Time for Holidays” at Daily Beast.

Read “Dolly Parton partly funded Moderna Covid vaccine research” at The Guardian.

Read “GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa tests positive for Covid-19” at CNN.

Read “Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Trump’s response to the pandemic: ‘Frankly, he hasn’t been any help’” at MSNBC.

Read “Trump’s post-election tantrum is holding up federal vaccine planning” at The Verge.

Read “What we know about face masks has changed. Here's what experts say and which states mandate masks” at USA Today.

Read “FDA Approves First At-Home Coronavirus Test” at KCRW.

Read “McEnany calls state coronavirus restrictions for Thanksgiving 'Orwellian'“ at The Hill.

Read “Tyson managers bet money on how many workers would contract COVID-19” at Iowa Capital Dispatch.

Read “CDC urges Americans against traveling for Thanksgiving as coronavirus outbreak worsens” at CNBC.

Read “U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Surpasses 250,000” at National Review.

Read “Ben Carson says he used unproven COVID-19 treatment recommended by MyPillow CEO” at The Hill.

Read “Biden calls for national mask mandate to fight COVID-19” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Reporters Blow Up at Covid Task Force For Ducking Questions at End of” at Mediaite.

Read “Tennessee mayor won’t require COVID masks until Holy Spirit says so” at Alabama.

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “Trump's next move might be even more dangerous than his presidency” at MSNBC. “Trump's term is ending, but the fight against the extremism he stirred up is far from over.”

Read “The invention of mirrors and why they matter” at Boing Boing.

Read “BuzzFeed to Acquire HuffPost in Stock Deal With Verizon Media” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Big Retailers Made Nearly $15 Billion During the Pandemic, But Most Halted Hazard Pay” at Public Citizen.

Read “Now More Than Ever, Brandon Stanton Makes People Feel Less Alone” at New York Times.

Internationalities:

Read “Russia moves to protect Putin from prosecution” at BBC. “The Russian parliament's lower house - the Duma - has backed a bill granting Russian presidents and their families immunity from criminal prosecution after they leave office.”

Read “Israel scrambles to expand settlement in anticipation of changing U.S. policy under Biden” at Globe and Mail.

Read “Pompeo makes unprecedented visits to Israeli settlement in West Bank and Golan” at BBC.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “The Troubling Reason the Electoral College Exists’ at Time.

Read “The End of Trump? Biden & Harris Claim Victory in Historic Election, Vowing to Heal Divided Nation” at Democracy Now.

Read “Trump Sought Options for Attacking Iran to Stop Its Growing Nuclear Program” at New York Times.

Read the opinion piece “Republicans are letting Trump wage war on democracy” at Washington Post.

Read “Joe Biden wins Georgia, flipping the state for Democrats” at AP News.

Read “Rahm Emanuel under consideration to become Biden's transportation secretary” at CNN.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Evidence suggests several state Senate candidates were plants funded by dark money” at Local 10.

Read “Sore loser or victim? Trump voters struggle with president’s role in defeat” at Washington Post. "A majority of Republican voters — 70 percent — say the election was unfair, according to a Politico/Morning Consult poll"

Read “Trump Administration Ending Like It Began: Lying About Crowd Size” at Slate.

Read “Ga. secretary of state says fellow Republicans are pressuring him to find ways to exclude legal ballots” at Washington Post. “Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger says he has come under increasing pressure from fellow Republicans, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, to question the validity of legally cast absentee ballots in an effort to reverse Trump's loss.”

• Read “Graham says he's talked to officials in two states about election” at The Hill. “After Graham told reporters that he spoke with election officials, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) said on Twitter that Graham had not spoken with her.”

  • Read “Graham faces questions for reaching out to GA election official” at MSNBC.

  • Read “Lindsey Graham’s Alleged Attempt to Toss Georgia Ballots Is Felony Election Fraud” at Slate.

• Read “Trump Fires Election Security Director Who Corrected Voter Fraud Disinformation” at NPR. “President Trump has fired Christopher Krebs, a top cybersecurity official who affirmed the security of the election and rebutted rumors and baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud that Trump promoted.”

• Read “Trump Doesn't Have To Win In Court To Erode Trust In Voting” at NPR.

  • Read “'People will stop believing in the process.' Why Donald Trump's Legal Strategy Is Dangerous Even If It's Likely to Fail” at Time. “Rudy Giuliani, to the chagrin of many, is candidly telling associates the goal of the campaign's lawsuits is sow enough doubt among GOP that legislatures in swing states punt and appoint their own electors”

• Read “Trump Supporters Echo False Claims of Fraud: Election Update” at Bloomberg.

• Read “Trump Campaign Attorneys Admit ‘There Is No Evidence’ of ‘Any Fraud’ in Connection with Challenged Ballots in Bucks County, Pa” at Law and Crime.

• Read “Trump’s Strategy for Contesting the Election: Throw Out Black People’s Votes” at Mother Jones.

• Read “Michigan Republican leaders going to White House Friday; Trump calls GOP canvassers” at Chicago Tribune.

• Read “Illinois Sen. Duckworth says 'silence is deafening' from Republicans on Trump's election maneuvers” at Yahoo News.

• Read “Inside Rudy Giuliani's attempt to sow chaos on behalf of Trump and steal the election” at CNN.

• Read “'Did you all watch My Cousin Vinny?' Sweating Rudy Giuliani presents 'evidence' for 'massive voting fraud' as hair dye runs down his face - alongside 'elite legal strike force' who claim Joe Biden's win is a Venezuelan plot they uncovered on the internet” at Daily Mail.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires Exit Country Music Association After 2020 CMAs Didn’t Honor John Prine” at Pitchfork.

Read ‘Melvins Announce New Album Working With God, Share “I F**k Around” and “Bouncing Rick” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Morrissey and BMG Part Ways” at Pitchfork. “Morrissey accused the label of dictating “how their artists should behave”.

Read “Run The Jewels Release “No Save Point” Video, Announce Craft Beer Collaboration” at Treble.

Read “Electrosoul's SAULT Center Themselves Around Blackness on 'UNTITLED (Black Is)'“ at Pop Matters.

Read “Guitar Center Is Officially Filing for Bankruptcy” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Bandcamp Launches New Livestreaming Service for Artists” at Pitchfork.

Read “Lo-Fi Hip-Hop Has Become One Of The Internet’s Most Popular Subgenres; Is Slowed & Reverb Next?” at Okay Player.

Read “Anti-Flag release vol. 2 of new protest/benefit single ft. Tom Morello, Marcia of The Skints & more” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Why Is The Obscure B-Side “Harness Your Hopes” Pavement’s Top Song On Spotify? It’s Complicated” at Stereogum.

Read “How Elektra Records ushered in the alternative music revolution—and then helped kill it” at AV Club.

Read “It Is Time For The Youth To Wake Up!" Songhoy Blues Interviewed” at Clash Music.

Read “Steve Earle Covers Justin Townes Earle’s “Harlem River Blues” for Upcoming Memorial Record” at Jambands.

Read “How Leonard Cohen Haunted the Trump Era” at Pitchfork.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “John Mulaney joins Seth Meyers’ ‘Late Night’ writing staff” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Nelly Cast as Chuck Berry in New Buddy Holly Biopic” at Pitchfork.

Design/Artsy Things:

Watch “this expert apple sculptor create juicy delights” at Boing Boing.

Read “Art Yard publishes Sun Ra inspired photography book” at The Wire.

Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Public Health/Etc.:

Read “Vaccine Group Hits $2 Billion 2020 Goal for Low, Middle Income Nations” at Bloomberg.

Read “World's only known white giraffe fitted with tracker to deter poachers” at BBC.

Read “Japanese town enlists terrifying robot wolves to protect them from bears” at Boing Boing.

Read “Technology Promises Connection, but Gen Z Sees a Paradox” at Barna.

Local:

Read “As Stores Close At Phoenix’s Paradise Valley Mall, Future Plans Grow” at KJZZ.

The Weekly Town Crier (11/06/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (11/06/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Sean Connery Has Died. Friends, Fans, and the Other James Bonds Are Saluting Him on Social Media” at Slate.

Read “Bob Biggs, Los Angeles Punk-Rock Entrepreneur, Dies at 74” at New York Times.

Read “Gospel legend Bishop Rance Allen dies at age 71” at CNN.

Read “Comedian and actor John Sessions has died” at NME.

Read ‘Jamie Coots, co-star of ‘Snake Salvation,’ dies of a snakebite” at Religion News Service. “Coots, whose father is also a serpent-handling preacher, was a legendary figure among a small group of Pentecostal believers who practiced the so-called “signs of the gospel” found in Mark 16; among them taking up serpents.”

Read “Baron Wolman, Rolling Stone Photographer Who Captured Rock Gods, Dead at 83” at Rolling Stone.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Waking the Witch: The Feminist History of Spiritualism” at Ms. Magazine.

Read “For a growing number of evangelical Christians, Trump is no longer the lesser of two evils” at The Conversation.

Read “Scholars call out Putin and the ‘escalation’ of persecution against Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia” at Religion News Service.

Read “The First Church of Equivocation” at Christian Socialism. “One obvious reason is simply that well-connected people protect other well-connected people. However, another reason is bound up in the story “moderate” evangelicals tend to tell each other: a guy like Metaxas might be going a bit far, but hey, what about those softly totalitarian authors of picture books that humanize gay couples? Aren’t they just as bad?”

Read “They All Got Careless’: How Falwell Kept His Grip on Liberty Amid Sexual ‘Games,’ Self-Dealing” at Politico. “The deposed university president secured backing by ousting critics and hiring the family members and businesses of loyalists.”

Read “It’s time to rescue the ‘pro-life’ label from anti-abortion activists” at Religion News Service.

Read Black faith leaders call for nonviolent resistance, strikes if Trump refuses election results” at Religion News Service.

Read “John Piper’s Liberty Convocation Pulled After Election Post” at Christianity Today.

Read ‘Trump’s refugee policy is a miserable moral failure” at Christian Century. “So is our nation’s long history of choosing economic success over global equity, safety, and wellbeing.”

Read “It’s time to rescue the ‘pro-life’ label from anti-abortion activists” at Religion News Service.

Read “Yep, There’s a Second QAnon Supporter Heading To Congress” at Vice.

Read “Latino Evangelicals Boost Trump in Florida and Texas” at Christianity Today.

• Read “Hispanics’ Support For Trump Tied To Faith” at NPR.

Read “A cemetery is desecrated, shaking Michigan’s Jewish community on Election Day” at Religion News Service.

Read “Carl Lentz, pastor of Hillsong East Coast and Justin Bieber, terminated for ‘moral failures’ says church” at Religion News Service.

Read “Election Civility Is Not Enough” at Christianity Today.

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

Read “2 Former Black Comics Editors Allege Years of Racial Discrimination at DC Comics” at The Root.

Read “Illinois authorities extradite Kyle Rittenhouse to Wisconsin” at USA Today.

Read “Study warns five states at high risk for election-related armed violence by militia groups” at The Hill.

Read “In 1868, Black suffrage was on the ballot” at American History.

Read “MLK's children fire back after McConnell invokes their father in victory speech” at The Hill.

Read “MSNBC’s Joy Reid Calls Clarence Thomas ‘Uncle Clarence’” at Free Beacon.

Read “Steve Bannon and his co-host discuss beheading Dr. Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray” at Media Matters.

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

Read “Mississippi Votes To Replace Confederate-Themed State Flag” at NPR.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Thai pro-democracy leader taken to hospital after ‘chokehold’” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Supreme Court sides with activist DeRay McKesson in lawsuit over officer injured at protest” at CNBC.

This Week With The Police:

Read “N.Y.P.D. Anti-Harassment Official Accused of Racist Rants” at New York Times. “The official was relieved of his command after City Council investigators amassed evidence that he posted vitriolic messages online under the name “Clouseau.”

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Trump Claims Doctors Make ‘More Money’ When They Lie About COVID-19 Deaths” at Huff Post.

• Read “American Medical Association Blasts Trump’s Claim Doctors Inflate COVID Numbers for Cash” at Slate.

Read “Utah Department of Health Utah Department of Health building in Millcreek glass door shot out with pellet gun” at KSL.

Read “Idaho Republicans, including Lt. Gov. McGeachin, decry pandemic measures in new video” at Idaho Statesman.

Read “Trump said not to fear COVID-19. These people beg to differ” USA Today.

Read “German Study Finds Covid-19 Risk Is Low at Indoor Concerts With Safety Precautions” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Dubai Ruler Gets Covid Vaccine, Joining Other Top UAE Officials” at Bloomberg.

Read “Sweden’s Health-Care Workers Get $620 Bonus for Covid-19 Work” at Bloomberg.

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “Halloween in the pandemic: Costumes and candy, at a distance” at KTAR.

Read “What Happened to All Those 'Vote for Pedro' Shirts?” at Vice. “Just in time for the election, we tracked down owners of the 'Napoleon Dynamite' relic and asked them: Why? And then it got deep.”

Read “No One Fights QAnon Like the Global Army of K-Pop Superfans” at Bloomberg.

Read “Yes, nuclear war could still happen” at The Hill.

Read “Why Ivanka Trump Is Coming Out Against Abortion Now” at Slate. “The first daughter has realized that her self-presentation as a “moderating force” no longer makes sense.”

Read “Johnny Depp Loses Libel Case Against British Tabloid The Sun” at Vulture.

Read “Whale sculpture stops Dutch train crashing into water” at The Guardian.

Read “‘Freak Power’: what Hunter S. Thompson’s fight to fix America can teach us in 2020” at NME.

Read “Buying a Gun Ahead of the Election Won't Make You More Powerful. Here's What Americans Should Do to Deal With Crisis Instead” at Time.

Read “Jack Ma’s Fortune Slumps $3 Billion After Ant Group IPO Freeze” at Bloomberg.

Read “Fascism, Then and Now” at Bias Magazine.

Read “Oregon Decriminalizes All Drugs, While D.C. Decriminalizes Psychedelics” at Rolling Stone.

Internationalities:

Read “Russian oligarch nicknamed the 'Sausage King' killed in sauna with crossbow” at BBC News.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Woman in labor stops to vote on her way to the hospital” at The Hill.

Read “Federal Judge Rejects Bid to Toss Texas Drive-Through Votes” at Bloomberg.

Read “How Conservatism Failed Its Women” at Slate.

Read “So How Wrong Were the Polls This Year, Really?” at Wired. “Pollsters spent four years preparing to better capture Trump support and avoid a repeat of 2016. Somehow, they missed it again.”

Read “Kanye West Concedes Presidential Race, Looks Toward 2024” at Los Angeles CBS Local.

Read “Twitter and Facebook slap warning labels on Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud” at Salon.

• Read “Wisconsin official scoffs at idea of voting irregularities: ‘There are no dark corners or locked doors’” at Washington Post.

Read “Networks pulled away from President Trump’s shocking press conference” at Poynter. “Then, even normally reserved news anchors responded swiftly and strongly to Trump’s false claims about the election.”

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Judges Are Already Testing How Far Amy Coney Barrett Will Go for Republicans” at Slate. “In a shocking opinion, two judges tried to hijack Minnesota’s election law to throw out mail ballots.”

Read “Biden camp cancels multiple Texas events after a "Trump Train" surrounded a campaign bus” at Texas Tribune.

• Read “Trump Writes ‘I Love Texas!’ Over Video Of MAGA Truck Attack On Biden Caravan” at Huff Post.

Read “Special interest groups likely spent more than $13 million at Trump properties. They got what they paid for” at Citizens For Ethics.

Read “Attorney General Bill Barr Meets With Radical Right-Wing Activist Dave Daubenmire” at Right Wing Watch.

Read “Arizona elections official sees uptick in calls after Trump spreads false information to voters” at 12 News.

Read “MAGA Fanatics Descend on Detroit Vote-Counting Site As Biden Wins Michigan” at Daily Beast.

Read “AP FACT CHECK: Trump’s big distortions on mail-in voting” at Associated Press.

Music-Related News and Such:

Browse “100 essential Arizona records: The 1920s to 1950s” at AZ Central.

Read “When Music Becomes Political Protest” at Pitchfork. “A conversation about the long and complex relationship between music and social justice movements, on our podcast The Pitchfork Review.”

Read “The Deeply Meditative Electronic Music of Avant-Garde Composer Eliane Radigue” at Open Culture.

Read “Maynard James Keenan on “Arrogant” Pandemic Behavior: “There’s Logic Attached to Just Looking Out for Each Other” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Spotify to offer artists and labels the option to promote their music in your recommendations” at Fader. “In exchange for a lowered “promotional recording royalty rate.”

Browse “Treble Roundtable: Comfort Albums at Treble.

Read “The Rock Hall Figured 2020 Induction Performances Would Be Too ‘Boring,’ So There Aren’t Any” at Vulture.

Read “Musicians’ Union calls for government not to “abandon” self-employed artists” at NME.

Read “Grammys Rename World Music Category Over “Connotations of Colonialism” at Pitchfork. “The Recording Academy sought to name the award with a “more relevant, modern, and inclusive term”

Read “South Carolina Amphitheater to Be Renamed in Honor of Sharon Jones” at Rolling Stone.

Read “The Eyes of Shannon Hoon: Danny Clinch on Using Found Footage to Craft a Documentary” at Relix.

Read “Stevie Nicks On TikTok, Tom Petty And Claiming What's Yours” at NPR.

Read “Why Is ‘Saturday Night Live’ Suddenly Booking So Many Older Rock Bands?” at Variety.

Read “Justin Bieber & Chance the Rapper Are Dropping the Acoustic Version of 'Holy'“ at Billboard.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Marilyn Manson joins anthology series ‘Creepshow’ for second season” at NME.

Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Etc.:

Read “Rare bright yellow turtle spotted for only second time” at CNet.

Read “Did You Know That Some People Can Create a Rumbling Sound in Their Ears?” at My Modern Net.

Food Cultures:

Read “Reviving America’s Forgotten Boozy, Fruity Election Cake” at Gastro Obscura.

Read “BevMo acquired in $350-million deal as booze deliveries surge” at Los Angeles Times.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Why There’s a Columbo Statue in the Middle of Budapest” at Atlas Obscura. “The American television character is memorialized in an unlikely locale.”

The Weekly Town Crier (10/30/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (10/30/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Jerry Jeff Walker (1942 – 2020), “Mr. Bojangles” singer and songwriter” at Legacy.

Read “Diane di Prima 1934–2020” at Poets.Org.

Read “Billy Joe Shaver, Seminal Outlaw Country Songwriter, Dead at 81” at Rolling Stone.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Meet the TikTok Generation of Televangelists” at Christianity Today.

Read “A Photographer's Journey Through the Dangerous New Age of Conspiracies in America” at Time.

Read “New England Churches Buy Up, Forgive $26.2 Million In Medical Debt” at Boston Globe.

Read “AOC credits her Catholic faith for positions on health care, environment” at National Catholic Reporter.

Read “Peeing pastor’ hunt comes to an end” at Religion News Service. “The wife of a North Carolina pastor accused of disorderly conduct during a flight from Las Vegas to Detroit says he had a bad reaction to sleeping medication.”

• Read “Well-Known” N.C. Pastor accused of urinating on Michigan woman during flight identified” at NC Beat.

Read “The Anti-Abortion-Rights Movement Prepares to Build a Post-Roe World” at The Atlantic. “As activists move closer to their goal of making abortion illegal, they have started planning for the infrastructure needed for a world with more babies—and recruiting major CEOs to bankroll their cause.”

Read the Opinion piece “Don’t Vote Trump For Religious Liberty” at Religion Unplugged.

Read “NXIVM sex cult leader Keith Raniere sentenced to 120 years in prison” at Salon. “At the sentencing, one victim said she was treated like a “piece of meat” and a “brainwashed sex slave"

Read “He’s a former QAnon believer. He doesn’t want to tell his story, but thinks it might help” at Washington Post.

• Read “Christian QAnon’ers Want To #Savethechildren. They’re Making Things Worse” at Sojourners.

Read “Mysterious Orb Caught On Camera In Florida Pastor’s Home” at Miami CBS Local.

Read “Trump Becomes the First President Since Eisenhower to Change Faiths in Office” at Christianity Today. “Like many Christians switching churches, he now identifies as nondenominational.”

Read ‘The Alpha-Male Style in American Evangelicalism” at Christianity Today. “A historian asks whether a warped view of masculine authority has corrupted our faith and political witness.”

Read “Jerry Falwell Jr. Sues Liberty University for Defamation” at Julie Roys.

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

Read “'A flat-out lie': Breonna Taylor attorneys seek new prosecutor after jurors speak out” at Yahoo.

Read “US Ice officers 'used torture to make Africans sign own deportation orders'“ at The Guardian.

Read “Kushner questions if Black Americans "want to be successful" in widely criticized Fox News interview” at Salon.

Read “Ida B. Wells was driven out of Memphis in 1892. She might soon have her own statue there” at USA Today.

Read “Neo-Nazi Ex-Marine And Porn Actor Arrested In Conspiracy To Hide Weapons From Government” at Huff Post. “The cases, involving three men, appear linked to threats against Alicia Garza, a Black Lives Matter movement co-founder.”

Read “Number of Women Alleging Misconduct by ICE Gynecologist Nearly Triples” at The Intercept. “Advocates briefed senators on allegations that a doctor working with with an ICE detention center performed unnecessary or overly aggressive procedures.”

Read “Judge blocks DOJ's gambit in Trump's E. Jean Carroll case” at MSNBC. “After a woman accused Trump of sexual assault, he lashed out at his accuser, prompting a defamation case. The DOJ wants to intervene; a judge won't let it.”

Read “Militia leader Stewart Rhodes says that his group will be at polling locations and is ready to kill Democrats” at Media Matters.

• Read “'It's performance art': Lawyer for Alex Jones says InfoWars founder is 'playing a character'“ at Business Insider from 2017).

Read “Unlocking the Vote in Jails” at Slate. “The majority of the 745,000 people held in local jails can vote, but few do. Advocates say it’s voter suppression on a national scale.”

Read “42% of Young Australian Men Don’t Think Punching a Partner Is Domestic Violence” at Global Citizen.

Read “ICE moves to quickly deport more immigrants without court hearings” at CBS News.

Read “Susan Collins: 'I do not believe systemic racism is a problem in the state of Maine' at CNN.

Read “Lil Wayne Voices Support For Trump’s Platinum Plan: “He Listened To What We Had To Say” at Okay Player.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “'Boogaloo Bois' member charged in attack on Minneapolis police precinct during George Floyd protests” at ABC News.

Read “A Look Back at the People's Plaza Protest” at Nashville Scene. “With the process to remove the Nathan Bedford Forrest bust underway, we look back on the summer's longest-running protest.”

Read “A White House Adviser Was Involved in Surveillance of Protesters” at The Nation. “Formerly a Middle East adviser to Mike Pence, an intelligence official central to DHS’s Portland operation has not been made available for congressional testimony.”

This Week With The Police:

Read “Protests in Philadelphia After Police Fatally Shoot Black Man” at New York Times.

Read “Phoenix police officer accused of threatening Mayor Kate Gallego” at KTAR. “A Phoenix police officer allegedly made a “credible threat” against Mayor Kate Gallego, the mayor’s office said.”

Read “Cops Do a Big Lie About Philly Protests, Immediately Get Caught” at Discourse Blog.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Guidelines for keeping classrooms open during COVID-19 revised by ADHS” at 12 New AZ.

Read “Montgomery faith leaders urge voters to approve property tax increase for schools” at Montgomery Advisor.

Read “State leaders in Arizona have quietly changed school metrics as COVID-19 cases rise” at ABC 15.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Health Agency Halts Coronavirus Ad Campaign, Leaving Santa Claus in the Cold” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Certified safe labels coming for face masks” at Boing Boing.

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “Small-business owners say national paid sick leave wouldn’t hurt their bottom line” at Fast Company.

Read “BuzzFeed Expects to Break Even This Year, Thanks to Heavy Cost Cuts” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Facebook’s Top Public Policy Executive in India Steps Down” at Wall Street Journal. “Ankhi Das drew criticism in India over social-media giant’s enforcement of its policy on anti-Muslim hate speech.”

Read “Marilynne Robinson: 'America still has a democratic soul' at The Guardian. “The author of Gilead on the Black Lives Matter protests, the dangers of social media, and her latest novel, Jack.”

Read “A liberal daughter discusses White privilege with her conservative dad” at Christian Century. “What would happen if we listened to each other in love?”

Read “City Pages is closing, ending the era of alternative weeklies in Twin Cities” at Star Tribune.

Read “Sarah Cooper Jokingly Calls Out Stephen Colbert For Creating Trump” at Huff Post. “The “Late Show” host’s fictional “Colbert Report” character has become a reality.”

Read ‘One in Five Holiday Dollars Will Be Spent Online” at Bloomberg.

Read “Trump Has Weaponized Masculinity As President. Here's Why It Matters” at NPR.

Read “The Co-Opting of Rap Criticism Is About More Than Just Music” at Vice. “The strongest reporting on the LA riots of 1992 came from Black writers at a hip-hop magazine. In 2020, the infrastructure for a robust Black press doesn't exist.”

Internationalities:

Read “Putin rejects Donald Trump's criticism of Biden family business” at Reuters.

Read “Kazakhstan’s Tourism Board Embraces Borat’s “Very Nice!” as New Slogan” at Consequence of Sound.

Browse “Photographer Shows Differences Between North and South Korea” at Clever Classic.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “To defend taking immigrant kids from their parents, Trump blamed Biden” at Washington Post.

Read “Trump Told Donors That It Will Be ‘Very Tough’ For Republicans To Hold Senate” at Huff Post.

Read “Texas Supreme Court temporarily reinstates governor's ban on additional ballot drop boxes in state” at The Hill.

Read “Senate Confirms Amy Coney Barrett To The Supreme Court” by NPR.

Read “Boston man charged with setting fire to ballot drop box” at The Hill.

Read “Cruz: Hunter Biden attacks don't move 'a single voter'“ at The Hill.

Read “Ex-Postal Service worker charged with tossing absentee ballots in dumpster in Kentucky” at NBC News.

Read “Murkowski predicts Barrett won't overturn Roe v. Wade” at The Hill.

Read “Middle-finger voting is driving the entire country mad” at The Week. "The animating principle of our public life is the performance of certain rituals that set us apart (or so we fondly imagine) from persons utterly unlike ourselves whom we despise."

Read “Scaramucci: ‘I applaud the President for unifying the country. It just happens to be against him’” at MSNBC.

Read “Miles Taylor, a Former Homeland Security Official, Reveals He Was ‘Anonymous’” at New York Times.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Five Lessons for Fighting Back After a Disputed Election” at Slate.

Read “Trump Basically Just Encouraged Voters To Commit Election Fraud By Changing Their Already-Cast Votes To Him” at Comic Sands.

Read “Thousands of mail ballots may be lost, Pittsburgh-area official says” at The Hill.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “When David Byrne Got Together With Spike Lee” at New York Times.

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

Read “Jah Wobble on his 5 essential bass albums” at Guitar World. “Jah Wobble on his 5 essential bass albums.”

Read as Cameron Crowe interviews Joni Mitchell for The Guardian. “Joni Mitchell: 'I'm a fool for love. I make the same mistake over and over'“.

Read “Trent Reznor, Billy Corgan, More to Play Virtual David Bowie Tribute Festival” at Pitchfork.

Read “Earth Couldn’t Contain Sun Ra’s Ideas. His Arkestra Is Still Exploring Them” at New York Times.

Read “Lamb of God’s John Campbell: Donald Trump Is “Murdering People” at Consequence of Sound.

Listen/Read “Lambchop Cover Stevie Wonder’s ‘Golden Lady’” at Spin.

Read “Stevie Nicks Can’t Wait for the Magic to Come Back” at Rolling Stone. “Nicks discusses her ’24 Karat Gold Concert Film’ and returning to live shows in new interview.”

Browse PopMatters’ picks for “The Top 10 Definitive Breakup Albums”. What are your picks?

Browse Paste’s picks for “14 Creepy Songs From 2020 to Add to Your Halloween Playlist.”

Browse Rolling Stone’s picks for “Bob Dylan’s Greatest Collaborations”.

Browse Consequence of Sound’s picks for “Every Bruce Springsteen Album from Worst to Best”.

Read/Listen to “What Bruce Springsteen Lost And Found” at NPR.

Read “Garcia Peoples :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview”.

Browse PopMatters’ picks for “15 Overlooked and Underrated Albums of the 1990s.”

Browse “Throwing Muses’ Kristin Hersh on the Music That Made Her” at Pitchfork.

Read “Can’t get enough K-pop? Check out these 6 reality shows to feed your fandom” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “‘Stardust’: Young David Bowie Hits the Road to Fame, Self-Discovery in New Trailer” at Rolling Stone.

Read “He Helped Create Lollapalooza. Now He Wants to Save Live Music” at New York Times.

Watch “The Flaming Lips bring their socially distanced bubbles to ‘Assassins Of Youth’ video” at NME.

Read “Chill Vibes, Minus the Wind Chimes: It’s a New Day for New Age Music” at New York Times.

Read “13 Songs for Halloween: "Red Right Hand" + "Song of Joy" by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds” at KEXP.

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

Read “Outkast’s Stankonia Presented An Eclectic Hip-Hop Utopia” at Treble.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Stacey Abrams’ Voter-Suppression Documentary ‘All In’ Will Be Free on YouTube” at Variety.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Lemonheads’ Evan Dando Pens Memoir ‘Rumors of My Demise’" at Rolling Stone.

Browse “10 Recent Books By Asian American Poets” at Book Riot.

Browse “Ten Poets Every Pastor Should Read” at Anglican Compass.

Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Etc.:

Read “NASA discovered evidence of hidden water on a sunlit surface of the Moon for the first time” at Today News Post.

Read “Scientists discover coral reef taller than the Empire State Building” at CNet.

Read “Alphabet's Loon sets record for stratospheric flight by a balloon” at CNet.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “The Myth of the Werehyena and the Fear of the Other in the Horn of Africa” at Astro Obscura.

See “A Glass Floor in a Dublin Grocery Store Lets Shoppers Look Down & Explore Medieval Ruins” at Open Culture.

Local:

Read “How Arizona Wilderness DTPHX Became a Bird-Friendly Beer Garden” at Phoenix New Times.

The Weekly Town Crier (10/23/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (10/23/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Evangelicals opposed to Trump step out of the shadows with new groups and ads” at Yahoo.

Read “Stacey Abrams’ passion for voting began with her preacher parents” at Religion News Service.

Read ‘Collins PAC donated hundreds of dollars to two candidates who support QAnon” at The Hill.

Read “Christian Witness Demands That We Defend Truth—and Reject Donald Trump” at The Public Discourse.

Read “Pat Robertson Prophesies That Trump Will Win Reelection, Then the End Times Will Begin” at Right Wing Watch.

Read “Pope Francis, in Shift for Church, Voices Support for Same-Sex Civil Unions” at New York Times.

Read “Policies, Persons, and Paths to Ruin” by John Piper at Desiring God. “When a leader models self-absorbed, self-exalting boastfulness, he models the most deadly behavior in the world. He points his nation to destruction. Destruction of more kinds than we can imagine.”

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

Read “Black man serving life sentence for stealing hedge clippers granted parole” at NBC News. “Fair Wayne Bryant was sentenced in 1997 under the state's habitual offender law. On Thursday, a parole committee voted for his release.”

Read “Texas social workers can now turn away LGBTQ, disabled clients” at NBC News. “A state regulatory board removed the discrimination protections following a recommendation from Gov. Greg Abbott.”

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “SF archbishop performs exorcism to cleanse protest site” at SF Gate.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Swiss yodellers blamed for worst supercluster of coronavirus cases in Europe” at Telegraph.

Read/Watch “Fact-checking Trump's false claims on virus” at MSNBC.

Read “Covid-19 Patients Put Remote Care to the Test” at Wall Street Journal. “Doctors and hospitals have strived to replace some in-person care with telemedicine during the pandemic.”

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Browse “24 spooky places to visit around the world” at National Geographic.

Read “The future of public transportation in the US depends on who wins the election” at CNN.

Read “Helping Hands Need A Break, Too: How To Lend Support Without Burning Out” at NPR. “If you're feeling numb or overburdened these days in response to another's pain or request for help, that doesn't make you unkind. You could be experiencing compassion fatigue.”

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Americans Are Voting Early At A Record Rate” at Huff Post.

Read “Trump's closing pitch to voters admits that America has to be made 'great again' all over again” at Yahoo.

Read “After GOP Sen. Ben Sasse was recorded unloading on Trump, Woodward said other Republican senators “feel exactly the same way” at MSNBC.

Read “Progressive group: Feinstein must step down as top Democrat on Judiciary panel” at The Hill.

Read “Bob Woodward, Wolf Blitzer Claim GOP Senators Privately Criticize Donald Trump” at Huff Post. “After GOP Sen. Ben Sasse was recorded unloading on Trump, Woodward said other Republican senators “feel exactly the same way.”

Read “U.S. Budget Gap Tripled to Record $3.1 Trillion in Fiscal 2020, Treasury Says” at Wall Street Journal. “Spending soared 47% in year ended Sept. 30 as government rolled out programs to battle coronavirus and recession.”

Read “Inside the Fall of the CDC” at Pro Publica. “How the world’s greatest public health organization was brought to its knees by a virus, the president and the capitulation of its own leaders, causing damage that could last much longer than the coronavirus.”

Read “John Kerry Is Mad as Hell” at Rolling Stone. “The former senator, presidential nominee, and Secretary of State on the “nincompoop” in the White House, the decimation of America’s reputation abroad, and what needs to be done to restore it.”

Read “Court rejects bid to extend vote counting on Navajo Nation in Arizona” at KTAR.

Read ‘Cruz, other Senate Republicans to release plan barring ‘court-packing’” at Washington Post.

Read “Perdue’s mocking of Kamala Harris yields nearly $2M haul for his rival” at AJC.

Read “Trump's Twitter hacked after Dutch researcher guessed password” at The Guardian.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Joe Kennedy III campaign says it improperly spent $1.5 million in Senate primary” at Boston Globe.

Read ‘Rudy: Only ‘50/50’ Chance I Worked With a ‘Russian Spy’ to Dig Dirt on Bidens” at The Daily Beast. “In a wild interview, the president’s personal attorney made clear he believes he’s on a mission to torpedo the Bidens. And he doesn’t care who supplied the ammunition.”

• Read “Giuliani's 'October Surprise' already shows signs of backfiring” at MSNBC News. “This week's revelations were supposed to make Joe Biden look bad. Instead, they're proving to be a far bigger problem for his GOP accusers.”

Read “Inside the Republican Plot for Permanent Minority Rule” at The New Republic.

Read “Kanye West defends his candidacy after 'SNL' joke” at The Hill.

Read “Nicolas Cage and Marilyn Manson in Conversation” at Interview.

Read “Rudy Giuliani faces questions after compromising scene in new Borat film” at The Guardian. “Trump’s personal attorney has indiscreet encounter with actor playing Borat’s daughter in hotel room during pandemic.”

Read “The US Eliminated Nearly 21,000 Election Day Polling Locations for 2020” at Vice.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “First Posthumous Ennio Morricone Collection Will Feature Seven Unreleased Tracks” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Brian Wilson Disavows Mike Love’s Beach Boys Playing Trump Fundraiser” at Pitchfork.

Read “Keith Jarrett Confronts a Future Without the Piano” at New York Times.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Boston news anchor fired for appearing in Hubie Halloween” at AV Club.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read ‘From Miles Davis to Jon Hassell: the psychedelic covert artwork of Mati Klarwein” at Vinyl Factory.

Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Etc.:

Read “This Scientist Is Fighting to Save Coral Reefs—and Recruiting Other Women to Join Her” at Time.

Read “2,000-Year-Old Cat Etching Found at Nazca Lines Site in Peru” at New York Times.

Food Cultures:

Read “A Historical Dig Sheds Light on the Food of the Underground Railroad” at Gastro Obscura. “Archaeologists found muskrat, turtle, and other edible remains in Harriet Tubman Country.”

Read “Remembering When Americans Picnicked in Cemeteries” at Gastro Obscura.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Rancher reports another mutilated cow in E. Oregon” at Capital Press.

Local:

The Weekly Town Crier (10/09/20)

All the week's news that's fit to cry about (10/09/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Helen Reddy Dies at 78; Sang ‘I Am Woman’” at New York Times. ”The Australian-born singer’s first No. 1 hit became a feminist anthem and propelled her to international stardom.”

Read “Eddie Van Halen Dead at 65” at TMZ.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “QAnon Is Going After Members of Congress Now” at Slate. “It’s not every day,” says Rep. Tom Malinowski, “that the fake and likely nonexistent guru of a conspiracy-mongering cult personally attacks you.”

• Read “Facebook bans QAnon across its platforms” at NBC News. “The change is a significant escalation over its previous actions targeting QAnon and one of the broadest rules the social media giant has put in place in its history.” Facebook "will remove Facebook Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts for representing QAnon" like any other militarized social movement, militia or terror group.

• Read “QAnon leaders look to rebrand after tech crack downs” at NBC News. “The shift in tactics comes the same week as Twitter released new data stating that their ban on QAnon-related accounts was severely limiting the reach of the conspiracy theory.”

Read “Stop telling Black people to pray for Donald Trump” at Religion News Service. "Refusing to pray for our anti-Black oppressor-in-chief is logical, human and prophetic."

Read “Justices Thomas, Alito Blast Supreme Court Decision On Same-Sex Marriage Rights” at NPR.

Watch “Why Do People Join Cults? An Animated Primer Explains” at Open Culture.

Listen to “Faith in the modern world” at BBC. “Marilynne Robinson and Rowan Williams discuss faith and humanity with Andrew Marr.”

Read “Four years ago, Donald Trump’s infamous brag about sexually assaulting women made the news. I wrote this then and, sadly, these words are still needed today: Call Out Locker Room Talk for the Sin That It Is” by Karen Swallow Prior at Christianity Today (from 2016).

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

Read “The Turmoil Over ‘Black Lives Matter’ and Political Speech at Coinbase” at Wired. “The CEO of the cryptocurrency pioneer declared political discussions out of bounds—then gave employees a week to agree or leave.”

Read “DOJ Frees Federal Prosecutors To Take Steps That Could Interfere With Elections, Weakening Long-Standing Policy” at Huff Post. “The Justice Department created an exception to a decadeslong policy meant to prevent prosecutors from taking overt investigative steps that might affect the outcome of the vote.”

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Fannie Lou Hamer’s Dauntless Fight for Black Americans’ Right to Vote” at Smithsonian. “The activist did not learn about her right to vote until she was 44, but once she did, she vigorously fought for black voting rights.”

Read “We just want to go home’” at Chicago Reader. “CPD’s violent response to a student-led protest downtown and what it says about this moment in our history”

This Week With The Police:

Read “NYPD Threatens Disciplinary Action For Officers Who Don’t Wear Face Masks” at New York CBS.

Read “MCSO deputy admits to having sex with domestic violence victim” at AZ Family.

Read “Four Austin Women Reported Their Sexual Assaults. But Police and Prosecutors Failed To Hold The Perpetrators Accountable” at The Appeal. “While a debate over defunding the police rages in Austin, a new lawsuit reminds its residents that assault cases in the city are routinely ignored.”

Read “Trump’s Favorite Texas Sheriff Faces Re-Election Amid a Spike in Deaths at His Jail” at Texas Observer. “Conservative media have turned Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn into a right-wing celebrity despite a long list of scandals on his watch.”

Read “Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin Is Released On $1 Million Bond” at NPR.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “The Students Left Behind by Remote Learning” at Pro Publica.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “White House wanted to keep Hope Hicks's positive COVID-19 test private” at The Hill.

• Read “Nine people in President Trump’s inner circle test positive for coronavirus” at Yahoo.

• Read “Chris Christie is the latest in Trump circle to get virus” at Yahoo.

• Read “They want to kiss": Trump appears to blame troops and cops for spreading virus to his inner circle” at Yahoo.

• Read “China's President and other leaders react to Trump coronavirus diagnosis” at MSNBC.

• Read “Drugmaker says White House doctor described Trump treatment inaccurately” at NBC News.

• Read “Dozens Of Secret Service Agents Get COVID During Trump’s Travels” at KHN.

• Read “Covering a cover-up in real time” at Axios. “What is the actual state of President Trump's health?”

• Read “Trump returns to comparing COVID-19 to the flu: 'We have learned to live with it'“ at Yahoo.

• Read "GOP Sen. John Cornyn Criticizes Trump On COVID-19: 'A Lesson To All Of Us' at Yahoo.

Read “GOP Sen. Ron Johnson Went to Oktoberfest Party While Awaiting COVID-19 Test Results” at Daily Beast.

Read “Fearing 2nd Wave, N.Y.C. Will Adopt Restrictions in Hard-Hit Areas” at New York Times. ““Today, unfortunately, is not a day for celebration,” the mayor said of rising virus rates. His plan would affect 20 neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens.”

Read “US Department of Transportation rejected mask mandate on public transportation” at The Hill. “A spokesperson said the department has sufficient mandates already in place.”

Read “White House not contact tracing Rose Garden event considered possible 'superspreader'“ at The Hill.

Read “Senior Pentagon leadership quarantining after exposure to coronavirus” at CNN.

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “Everything to know about the Melania Trump secret recordings” at Yahoo.

Read “The Ultra-Rich Are Using Giant Home Loans to Access Cheap Credit” at Bloomberg. “JPMorgan has issued a $42.5 million loan on a New York penthouse owned by a Russian billionaire’s family.”

Read “Regal Movie Chain Will Close All 536 U.S. Theaters On Thursday” at NPR.

Read “Former MLB player Charles Haeger, suspected in ex-girlfriend's killing, found dead at Grand Canyon” at NBC News.

Read “The Thought Leaders Issue: Mariah Carey” at V Magazine. “The singer talks identity politics, Black Lives Matter, and health care access.” "We’ve been socialized to believe that poverty is a personal failure rather than our systems failing us."

Internationalities:

Read “When the US Became a Rogue State in the Middle East” at Lit Hub. “Noam Chomsky on War with Iran, Both Covert and Overt.” “The US is alone in its ability to impose sanctions. That is a bipartisan consensus freely exercised for many years."

Read “'Zero tolerance' of abuse in aid sector failing to have an impact, MPs told” at The Telegraph. “Governments must do more to stamp out 'culture of impunity' that has allowed peacekeepers to escape punishment for sexual abuse.”

Read “Golden Dawn guilty verdicts celebrated across Greece” at The Guardian. “Ex-leader and MPs found guilty after biggest trial of fascists since Nuremberg.”

Read “How a Chinese company took control of an entire nation’s electrical grid” at PRI. “In the past decade or so, China, via its vast network of state-run companies, has brought a development blitz to Laos.”

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “The definitive case for ending the filibuster” at Vox. “Every argument for the filibuster, considered and debunked.”

Read “Judge blocks ‘unlawful’ plan to end Census Monday; Arizona still lags” at Cronkite News.

Read “More than 1K alumni from Amy Coney Barrett's undergrad college sign letter of concern” at The Hill.

Read “We binge-watched 15 hours of Amy Barrett's speeches. Here’s what we learned about her judicial philosophy” at USA Today.

Read “Viral Post Overstates Effect of Trump’s Order on Preexisting Conditions” at Fact Check.

Read “Pence demands plexiglass dividers not be near him at debate” at Raw Story.

Read “Visionary and Pragmatic'—A Black Feminist Guide to Electoral Politics” at Scalawag Magazine.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Texas governor limits election drop boxes to one per county in sprawling state” at CNN.

Read “How John Roberts Quietly Made It Harder to Vote” at Slate. “The Roberts Court has been rewriting the rules of our democracy via the shadow docket.”

Read “In big states, tiny counties, Trump attacking voting rules” at Associated Press. “It’s clearly based on a strategy to disrupt the election as much as possible. You’re seeing a broad-based, generalized strategy to suppress the vote by the Republican Party.” Barry Richard, who represented George W. Bush in the 2000 Florida recount.”

Read “John McAfee, tech mogul and presidential candidate, arrested on suspicion of tax evasion” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “We need to take away children.” Jeff Sessions and top Justice Department officials pushed hard for migrant family separations in 2018, a watchdog found” at New York Times.

Read “Trump Lashes Out at His Cabinet With Calls to Indict Political Rivals” at New York Times. “Most politicians can handle losing a race, but they really don’t want to be embarrassed. When a loss seems inevitable, people who want a future in politics start looking out for their own interests,”

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “The War on Drugs Detail New Live Album” at Spin.

Read “On following the idea” at The Creative Independent. “Musician Phil Elverum on parenting in a pandemic, expressing universal truths through personal details, and finding the beauty in uncertainty.”

Read “Phoebe Bridgers launches her own record label, ‘Saddest Factory’” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Listening Post: Sun Ra Arkestra” at Dusted.

Radiohead’s Kid A turns 20:

• Read “Kid A Turns 20” at Stereogum.

• Read “Kid A Reaches Adulthood: Radiohead’s Mesmerizing Fourth Record Turns 20” at Spin.

• Read "Between the Grooves of Radiohead's 'Kid A'“ at PopMatters.

• Read “20 Years Ago, Radiohead's 'Kid A' Changed The Way Albums Were Marketed” at Billboard.

Read “Thurston Moore on the Obscure Sonic Youth Songs He Loves the Most” at Vulture.

Read “Sinéad O’Connor Returns With Powerful Cover of Mahalia Jackson’s ‘Trouble of the World’” at Spin.

Read “And The Heat Goes On: Talking Heads' Remain In Light At 40” at Quietus.

Read “The story of grunge in 15 classic albums” at NME. “From Neil Young to Nirvana and their juggernaut anthem 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', along with the post-grunge that followed, the genre has a knotty history.”

Read “Mdou Moctar signs to Matador, shares “Chrismiten” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “The (Mostly) True Story of Vanilla Ice, Hip-Hop, and the American Dream” at The Ringer.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Ever Wonder How The Big Bird Costume Worked?”Ever Wonder How The Big Bird Costume Worked?” at The Mind Circle.

Read “Tom DeLonge directing coming of age sci-fi film with “blink-era dick jokes, skateboarding culture, UFOs” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Books/Reading/Authors

Browse “11 Women Horror Writers You Need to Read” at Mental Floss.

Browse “24 Dystopian Books That Will Suck You In And Make You Think” at Buzzfeed.

Read “A Sneak Peek of Margaret Atwood's Poem, Blackberries” at Waterstones.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “Joy As Resistance” at Vulture. “Artist collective the Wide Awakes takes NYC this weekend. Why we’re marching.”

Food Cultures:

Read “The Court Case That Killed the ‘Ladies Menu’” at Gastro Obscura. “Upscale restaurants once listed prices only for men.”

Read “It's Not Goodbye, But Not Good Either: Ruby Tuesday Declares Bankruptcy” at NPR.

The Weekly Town Crier (10/02/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (10/02/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “In Memory of Mac Davis” at American Songwriter.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Trump Secretly Mocks His Christian Supporters” at The Atlantic. “Former aides say that in private, the president has spoken with cynicism and contempt about believers.” “The president's religious right base doesn't mind that he doesn't share their doctrinal beliefs or even belittles them — they care that he selects conservative justices who protect religious liberty and the unborn and that he fights for them.”

Read “The story behind Amy Coney Barrett’s little-known Catholic group People of Praise” at Washington Post.

Read “The Church Mothers Teach Us to Delight in Scripture” at Christianity Today. “Monica and Macrina didn't just influence Augustine and Gregory of Nyssa. They were biblical interpreters in their own right.”

Read “For Conservative Christian Women, Amy Coney Barrett’s Success Is Personal” at New York Times.

Read “Christian group raises over $500K for Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse” (EDITOR’S NOTE: This should read: “Christian” group raises . . . “

Read “Christians Struggled with Relational Health Prior to the Crisis—So What Has Changed?” at Barna.

Read “What Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination doesn’t mean” at Christian Century. “Don’t bother looking for the political significance of the Supreme Court nominee’s Catholicism. There isn’t any.”

Read “Ravi Zacharias’s Ministry Investigates Claims of Sexual Misconduct at Spas” at Christianity Today. “Three women have come forward with additional allegations against the late Christian apologist.”

Read “Making Your Church Manlier Won’t Make It Bigger” at Christianity Today. “History tells us that denominational growth has nothing to do with sex ratios in the pews.”

Read “Meet the new Justin Bieber: Popstar, husband, holy hugger” at Religion News Service.

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

Read “Racism has cost America $16 trillion this century alone” at WSMV Nashville.

Read ‘Indigenous Groups Protest Border Wall Construction At Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument” at KJZZ.

Read “The US government won't detail why TikTok is a security threat” at CNET.

Read “Ballistics don't support AG Cameron's claim Breonna Taylor's boyfriend shot officer” at Louisville Courier-Journal.

• Read “Officer Charged in Breonna Taylor Case Pleads Not Guilty” at Wall Street Journal.

• Read “Kentucky attorney general didn't recommend any homicide charges to Breonna Taylor grand jury” at The Hill.

Read “A lot of differences’: Experts address health disparities among Asian American subgroups” at Cronkite News.

Read “California will house transgender inmates by gender identity” at SF Gate.

Read “Federal court orders Texas prison system to provide hand sanitizer for some geriatric inmates during pandemic” at Texas Tribune.

Read “They Have Lost So Much But They Will Not Lose Their Right To Vote.' Advocates Fight To Enfranchise Americans Displaced by Wildfires” at Time.

Read “The 'Dindu' Conspiracy: Donald Trump, America and an Inanimate Object Called Whiteness” at The Root.

Read “This Indian Company Just Introduced a Period Leave Policy” at Global Citizen.

Read “Trump refused to condemn white supremacists. The debate didn't get any better from there” at Mashable. “"Proud Boys, stand back and stand by! But I'll tell you what, somebody's got to do something about antifa and the left." Drumpf went on to say: “This is not a Right Wing Problem," once again denying his own security officials.

• Read “A Pro-Trump Militant Group Has Recruited Thousands of Police, Soldiers, and Veterans” at The Atlantic. “....The

• Read “A Pro-Trump Militant Group Has Recruited Thousands of Police, Soldiers, and Veterans” at The Atlantic. “....The leaked database laid everything out. It had been compiled by Rhodes’s deputies as new members signed up at recruiting events or on the Oath Keepers website.... About two-thirds had a background in the military or law enforcement."

• Read “Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism Is On The Rise. Did The Warning Signs Evade Us?” at WBUR (from 07/2020).

• Read “Retailers Are Already Pulling 'Stand Back and Stand By' Merch From Online Shelves” at Vice.

Read "H. R. McMaster: ‘Condemning White Supremacists Should Be a Layup’” at The Atlantic.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “US teen charged in Kenosha shootings fights extradition” at Al Jazeera.

Read “How The Protests Upended Portland’s Mayoral Race” at The Intercept.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Breonna Taylor’s death shocked the nation. In Louisville, many Black people are far from surprised” at Los Angeles Times.

• Read “AG Cameron to release Breonna Taylor grand jury records after juror complains he misled” at Louisville Courier-Journal.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read "Parents Knowingly Sent Kids With Coronavirus to School, Wisconsin Officials Say” at NBC New York. “Never in a million years did we imagine or think to account for parents deliberately sending their sick or symptomatic child to school," one health official said.”

Read “The Federal Government Promised Native American Students Computers and Internet. Many Are Still Waiting” at Pro Publica.

• Read “The federal government gives Native students an inadequate education” at AZ Central.

Read “60% of Portland State University students face housing, food instability” at Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump test positive for Covid-19” at CNN.

Read ‘Pope to UN: Use COVID crisis to come out better, not worse” at 12 News. “Pope Francis said the world has a choice to make as it emerges from the COVID-19 crisis and addresses the grave economic impact it has had on the most vulnerable.”

Read “Over 50 Million People Dually Affected by COVID-19 and Climate Disasters” at Global Citizen.

Read “No Job, Loads of Debt: Covid Upends Middle-Class Family Finances” at Wall Street Journal. “The pandemic is wreaking havoc in loan-laden white-collar workers’ households; ‘I will never claw my way out of this situation’.

Read “Democrats Unveil $2.2 Trillion Pandemic Relief Bill” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “The Coronavirus Mostly Spares Younger Children. Teens Aren’t So Lucky.” at The New York Times.

Read “Titans-Steelers NFL game postponed after positive COVID-19 tests: report” at The Hill.

Read “Trump’s Family Didn’t Wear Masks During Presidential Debate — Except On Social Media” at Huff Post.

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “Everybody Vs. the App Store: Why Companies Are Taking Issue With Apple’s Growing Revenue Engine” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Judge Rules Tucker Carlson Is Not a Credible Source of News” at Slate.

Read “Tracking the Major Wildfires Spreading Across Northern California” at Bloomberg.

Read “Brené Brown, Vulnerability, and The Trump Voter” at Book Riot.

Read “Military Suicides Up As Much As 20% During Coronavirus Era” at Huff Post.

Read “The Legacy of ‘Going Postal’” at Vice. “In the late 80s and early 90s, a spate of shootings by disgruntled postal workers became the primary way most Americans thought of the post office. They also shed light on an agency with a profoundly unhealthy work environment.”

Read “Thousands of Airline Jobs Hang in the Balance as Lawmakers Debate Aid” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Disney cuts: What is life like after 'magic' job?” at BBC.

Internationalities:

Read “Ai Weiwei: 'Too late' to curb China's global influence” at BBC.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Guest Commentary: I served under six presidents — four Republicans, two Democrats — only one has failed to serve U.S. national security interests” at Denver Post.

Read “Why Arizona Is Tilting Blue: ‘The State’s Clearly in Motion’ at New York Times.

Read “57 percent of Americans think next president, Senate should fill Ginsburg vacancy” at The Hill.

Read “Sen. Cory Booker: This president is menacing our democracy” at MSNBC.

Read “Voter registration spiked in days immediately following Ruth Bader Ginsburg death” at The Hill.

Read “Cindy McCain ups support of Joe Biden, joins Democrat’s transition team” at KTAR.

Read “A debate that will live in infamy: That sweaty, red-faced liar is actually our president” at Salon.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Tillis says he has ‘grave concerns’ about voting by mail in NC after board settlement” at News Observer.

Read “The question of how Donald Trump’s Scottish resorts are financed just became even more urgent” at Slate.

Read “IRS: Sorry, but It’s Just Easier and Cheaper to Audit the Poor” at Pro Publica. “Congress asked the IRS to report on why it audits the poor more than the affluent. Its response is that it doesn’t have enough money and people to audit the wealthy properly. So it’s not going to.”

Read “Trump tax records show duplicity. That's devastating for his campaign.” at NBC News.

Read “Detainees at California’s for-profit ICE detention centers will soon be able to sue over abuse, harm” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Police took 10 guns from Trump associate’s Florida home after wife showed them bruises” at Miami Herald.

Read “DeJoy Says Mail Sorting Machines Were Stripped For Parts And Can't Be Reinstalled” at Yahoo.

• Read “Postal service ordered to stop cuts, federal judge says” at 12 News.

• Read “In NC, consequences of Postal Service slowdown extend beyond the mailbox” at WECT.

Read “Foreign Hackers Cripple Texas County’s Email System, Raising Election Security Concerns” at Pro Publica.

Read “Census Cuts All Counting Efforts Short By A Month” at NPR.

Read “Judge orders Georgia officials to provide backup paper poll books ahead of election” at The Hill.

Read “Weissmann: WH didn't fully cooperate with our investigation” at MSNBC. “Andrew Weissmann, former lead prosecutor for Special Counsel Robert Mueller, discusses how Trump manipulated the findings in the Mueller Report and why he says the findings from the NYT report are 'potentially indictable'.”

Read “Secretive group who bankrolled Brett Kavanaugh confirmation is now backing Amy Coney Barrett” at Salon.

Read “Money For Misinformation? Experts Say The First Domestic 'Troll Farms' Are Here” at WBUR.

Read “Trump’s ex-national security adviser says president is ‘aiding and abetting’ Putin” at Politico.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “The Quiet Return of Fleet Foxes and Sufjan Stevens” at Pitchfork.

• Read “Sufjan Stevens’s Cry of Despair and Prayer for Redemption” at New York Times.

• Read “'I have a sense of urgency': Sufjan Stevens wakes from the American dream” at The Guardian.

Read “Stone Roses’ Ian Brown Says COVID Was “Planned,” Releases Anti-Lockdown Song” at Stereogum.

Read “Bonnaroo Shares The Beastie Boys Final Concert” at Jambase.

Read “I Was Bullied for Being Arab. Nine Inch Nails Threw Me a Lifeline.” at New York Times.

Read “It's a bunch of clowns you voted in': Willie Nelson urges fans to 'Vote 'Em Out' in video” at AZ Central.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “‘Black Panther’ Mural With Chadwick Boseman Unveiled at Disneyland” at Variety.

• Read “Sienna Miller says Chadwick Boseman took a pay cut on 21 Bridges so she could make more money” (EDITOR’S NOTE: Now let’s lament a system in which this was necessary in the first place).

Read “Watch Trailer for New Doc on Nickelodeon’s Glory Days, ‘The Orange Years’” at Rolling Stone.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “Studio Ghibli Puts Online 400 Images from Eight Classic Films, and Lets You Download Them for Free” at Open Culture.

Food Cultures:

Read “Why Are So Dang Many Potato Chip Brands From Pennsylvania?” at Gastro Obscura.

Read “Ireland’s Supreme Court rules Subway sandwiches have too much sugar to meet legal definition of bread” at Market Watch.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “The Rise and Fall of North Carolina’s National Hollerin’ Contest” at Atlas Obscura.

Local:

Read “Pedestrians in Arizona are more likely to be hit and killed than nearly any other state. Why?” at AZ Central.

The Weekly Town Crier (09/25/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (09/25/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dead at 87” at CNN.

Read “Robert Graetz, minister who helped organize Montgomery Bus Boycott, dies at 92” at Montgomery Advertiser.

Read “Juliette Gréco, French chanteuse, dies at 93” at Boing Boing.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Prominent Southern Baptists are dropping ‘Southern’ name amid racial unrest” at Washington Post.

Read “Liberal congregations more politically active than conservative ones” at Religion News Service. “new study of 1,262 congregations across the United States shows it is liberal congregations, and particularly Black churches, that have become substantially more engaged in political activity compared to their conservative counterparts.”

Read “Critiquing the Church’s Beliefs about Sex and Gender (Aimee Byrd)” at Hebraic Thought.

Read “Pope Francis will take his Message on Climate Change to the UN General Assembly” at Open PR.

Read “Political Divides, Conspiracy Theories and Divergent News Sources Heading Into 2020 Election” at Journalism. “43% of Republicans identify fraud as a major problem with voting by mail versus 11% of Democrats. 41% of Republicans who have heard about QAnon say it's a good thing for the country, per new Pew poll.”

• Read “Who is behind QAnon? The Reply All podcast investigates” at Boing Boing.

Read “ICE apprehension on church grounds violated federal policy, say faith leaders” at Religion News Service.

Read “Cult leader who claims to be reincarnation of Jesus arrested in Russia” at The Guardian. “Former traffic officer Sergei Torop, AKA Vissarion, arrested in special operation in Siberia.”

Read “The Black Church Is Atlanta’s Original Community Organizer” at Christianity Today.

Read “U.S. bishops urge immediate halt to federal executions” at American Magazine.

Read “AG Barr To Receive “Catholic” Award Hours After Authorizing Execution” at Catholic Mobilizing Newtork.

Read “‘That’s No Accident’: Robert Henderson Credits His Prayer for Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Death” at Right Wing Watch.

Read “People who are highly spiritual tend to be more civic-minded” at Religion News Service.

Read “Pandemic Denial Sows Division and Endangers Others” at Christianity Today.

Read “Prominent evangelical church is the first to sue D.C. over covid-19 worship limits” at Washington Post. “The complaint filed by the 850-member Capitol Hill Baptist Church is the first legal challenge by a religious organization to the capital’s coronavirus restrictions. There have been two others in the region — one in Virginia and one in Maryland — since quarantine measures began, and final decisions are pending in both.”

Read “The Market Made Me Do It: The Scandal of the Evangelical College” at Mere Orthodoxy.

Read “How a Sean Feucht worship service convinced me I am no longer an evangelical” at Religion News Service. “I can no longer call myself an evangelical, because what defines a white evangelical in the United States has become a longing for an authoritarian state where Christianity is prioritized and privileged.”

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

Read “NBC News contributor Hugh Hewitt: “The lockdown ... is other than slavery the most numerous imposition on people's individual liberty” at Media Matters.

Read “McConnell Warns D.C. and Puerto Rico Statehood Part of Democrats' 'Radical' Agenda” at Newsweek.

Read “White Supremacists Are a Threat to Elections, Says the DHS” at The Nation. According to this report, right wing extremists have been encouraging followers to intentionally spread covid in minority neighborhoods and at political rallies.

Read “Nike jerseys commemorating four years since Kaepernick took a knee sold out in under a minute” at The Hill.

Read “What Is Critical Race Theory and Why Is Trump Afraid of It?” at The Nation. “His attacks are an attempt to reach those who repudiate the symbols and premises of white supremacy but worry that anti-racist advocacy can go “too far.”

Read “Whiteness as Property” at Harvard Law Review (originally from 1993).

Read “Satchuel Cole, leader in the fight for racial equality in Indianapolis, lied about own race” at Indy Star.

Read “Female graduates earn less than their male counterparts just one year after university - here's why” at The Telegraph.

Read “A racial slur remains in hundreds of place names throughout North America” at Public Radio International. “Clashes throughout North America about the racial slur "squaw" is starting to lead to place name changes.”

Read “The Top Contender for RBG’s Seat Has a Fundamentally Cruel Vision of the Law” at Slate. “Here’s what we can expect if Trump fills the late justice’s seat.”

Read ‘A Neighborhood’s Race Affects Home Values More Now Than in 1980” at Bloomberg.

Read “He fought wildfires while imprisoned. California reported him to Ice for deportation” at The Guardian. “Kao Saelee worked as an incarcerated firefighter in California. But when his release date came, the state partnered with ICE and transferred him to detention. He now faces deportation to Laos, a country his family fled when he was two years old.”

Read “Wells Fargo CEO ruffles feathers with comments about diverse talent” at Reuters. "[T]he unfortunate reality is that there is a very limited pool of black talent to recruit from." - Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf.

Read “Fight to protect Joshua trees faces stiff local opposition in California” at The Guardian.

Read “GOP will ask Supreme Court to limit mail voting in Pennsylvania in first post-RBG test” at The Hill.

Read “Almost half of NFL fans have changed their mind about Colin Kaepernick” at The Hill.

Read “Program to house homeless people in hotels is ending after falling short of goal” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “In North Carolina, Black Voters’ Mail-In Ballots Much More Likely to Be Rejected Than Those From Any Other Race” at Pro Publica.

Read “Biracial Couple Gets Lower House Appraisal With Black Family Member Present” at WBUR.

Read “The Secret History Of The Word 'Cracker' at NPR. “A 1783 pejorative - "crackers" specifies people who descended from convicts that were transported from Great Britain to Virginia at different times, and inherit so much profligacy from their ancestors, that they are ostracized.”

Read “Until Black Women Are Free, None of Us Will Be Free” at New Yorker.

Read “The Truth About ‘The Truth About’ Memes” at New York Times.

Read “Extremists Pose a Violent Threat, FBI and DHS Officials Say” at Wall Street Journal. “Christopher Wray, Ken Cuccinelli warned a Senate committee of white supremacists, anarchists and militia-style groups.”

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Portland protests resume, demonstrators remain resolute in push for racial justice” at Oregon Public Media.

Read “DOJ Designates New York City as an “Anarchist Jurisdiction” at NBC New York.

• Read “Trump's DOJ Threatens To Strip Funds From NYC And Other "Anarchist Cities," Prompting Cheers From NYPD Unions” at Gothamist.

Read “Tohono O'odham protest at border wall site ends in standoff, scuffle” at AZ Central.

Read “Luxury cars, MAGA flags and Facebook invites: How an unknown Idaho family organized the Portland rally that turned deadly’ at Washington Post.

Read “Video refutes trooper who denied unmasking protester” at Associated Press.

Read “The Problem With Militias and the Constitution” at U.S. News and World Report. “The presence of illegal militia groups at recent racial justice protests increases the chance of violence and has already proved deadly.”

• Read “pro-Trump activists plotted violence ahead of Portland rallies” at The Guardian. “Patriots Coalition members suggested political assassinations and said ‘laws will be broken, people will get hurt’, leaked chats show.”

Read “Jailed Denver anti-racist leaders subjected to dangerous and degrading conditions in custody” at Liberation News.

Read “A fake protest led to armed resistance in Prescott” at AZ Central. “Posts spread on social media in the Prescott area, claiming buses of protesters were coming on Sept. 11. They claimed local police needed help. There was no protest planned, and the police didn't request help, but armed counterprotesters still turned out.”

Read “Suspect charged in connection to shooting of 2 Louisville officers” at 12 News.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Salt Lake City police officer charged after body cam video shows K9 ordered to bite suspect” at NBC News.

Read “Man in MCSO custody dies after being found unresponsive in Cave Creek substation” at AZ Central.

Read “Trooper who shot Dion Johnson will not face criminal charges, county attorney says” at AZ Central.

Read “NYPD Officer Spied on Tibetan New Yorkers for Chinese Government: Feds” at Daily Beast.

Read “Bodycam shows Salt Lake City police shooting 13-year-old boy with autism” at Salt Lake Tribune.

Read “Six Louisville cops under internal investigation for roles in fatal Breonna Taylor search” at Louisville Courier-Journal.

• Read “Kentucky Grand Jury Indicts 1 Of 3 Officers Over Breonna Taylor Killing” at NPR.

• Read “Q&A: Why was no one charged in Breonna Taylor's shooting?” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Is Black Lives Matter Causing a Police Shortage?” at Slate. “Probably not.”

Read “Maricopa County Attorney Calls For Body Cameras For All Arizona Officers” at KJZZ.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read ‘This company says it's 'not a school' and has no teachers. But it gets millions meant for charter, private schools” at AZ Central.

Read "New Zealand Schools Have Been Advised to Use Students’ Preferred Names, Genders, and Pronouns” at Global Citizen.

Read “Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow and family hope 'Bald Beagle' will teach kids 'God and country' American history” at Religion News Service. “President Donald Trump believes American history is under attack. His lawyer — and his lawyer’s kids — want to do something about it. Enter Bald Beagle.”

Read “Telling the Truth About Slavery Is Not ‘Indoctrination’” at The Atlantic. “Our country is made better, not worse, by young people reckoning with the full legacy of the institution.”

Read “University of California wrongly admitted well-connected students, state auditor finds” at ABC 7.

Read “'Where Are the Kids?' School Is Back in Session, but Many Kindergarteners Are Missing” at Time.

Read “Jeff Bezos Announces The First Bezos Academy, A Free Preschool For Students From Low-Income Families” at Forbes.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Fresh curbs in Europe as global coronavirus cases top 30m” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Police Haul Man Out of Library for Not Wearing Mask During Meeting About Wearing Masks” at Herman Cain’s website, saying: “It's time for the obsessive mask-wearing to wear off.” . (EDITOR’S NOTE: Herman Cain died of Coronavirus).

Read “Boris Johnson warns second coronavirus wave has arrived in the UK” at Daily Record.

Read “2-month-old dies from COVID-19 in Michigan: 'Children are not spared' at The Hill.

Read “Anti-maskers in Indonesia are being forced to dig graves for COVID-19 victims” at KXAN.

Read “Boris Johnson says self isolate or face £10,000 fine as tough new virus law imposed” at Daily Record.

Read “CNN's medical expert says 'source' told him '80-90%' of COVID deaths could have been saved by scrapped WH mask plan” at Fox News.

Read “Top US health official says coronavirus vaccine not likely until mid-2021: 'That's just a fact'“ at The Hill.

Read “Scotland Restricts People From Visiting Other People’s Homes” at Bloomberg.

Read “Jorma Kaukonen Honored By The State of New Jersey for Providing “Respite and Entertainment” Through COVID-19 Pandemic” at Jambands.

Read “Officiant At Superspreader Maine Wedding Is An Anti-Mask Evangelical” at Huff Post.

Read “Dr. William Schaffner: CDC's removal of virus transmission guidance 'very distressing'“ at MSNBC.

Read “Despite early, strict quarantine measures, Peru has worst COVID-19 death rate in the world” at Miami Herald.

Read “The media needs to do more to show real Americans' pain during the pandemic” at CNN. “29 million Americans are on unemployment aid, 5% of renters (8 million people) are behind on rent, and 1 in 10 families with kids didn't have enough to eat in August.”

Read “Why SF has the lowest COVID-19 death rate of any other major city” at SF Gate.

Read “Fauci testifies on coronavirus response” at CNN. “You’ve misconstrued that, senator, and you’ve done that repeatedly in the past.” Dr. Fauci pushes back against Sen. Rand Paul’s claims on the coronavirus.

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “Trump Administration to Ban TikTok App Downloads Starting Sunday” at Pitchfork.

Read “I Have Blood on My Hands”: A Whistleblower Says Facebook Ignored Global Political Manipulation” at Buzzfeed News. “I’ve found multiple blatant attempts by foreign national governments to abuse our platform on vast scales to mislead their own citizenry, and caused international news on multiple occasions. I have personally made decisions that affected national presidents without oversight, and taken action to enforce against so many prominent politicians globally that I’ve lost count.”

Read “Kanye West Calls Puma ‘Trash’ and Says He Is the ‘Head of Adidas’ on Twitter” at Footwear News.

Read “The West’s Wildfires Collide With its Housing” at Bloomberg. “Oregon was already short 155,000 homes before fires destroyed thousands more, including a huge share of one county’s most affordable options. Where do people go now?”

Read ‘Wired Magazine: Amazon Takes Down Controversial Job Postings” at KJZZ. “Amazon recently removed job postings for Phoenix that went viral with descriptions that included "collecting information about labor organizing threats against the company."

Read “Facebook says it may quit Europe over ban on sharing data with US” at The Guardian.

Read “California to Ban Sales of New Gas-Powered Cars Starting in 2035” at at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Nikola founder Trevor Milton forfeits $166 million in stock he would have lost anyway and gets to keep $3.1 billion under separation deal” at CNBC. “Electric truck company Nikola is under investigation by the Justice Dept and SEC for fraud. Two-thirds of its value was wiped out in the scandal. The company has sold 0 trucks. The founder just resigned with $3.1 billion exit package.”

Read “If You Live in Illinois, Facebook Probably Owes You $400” at Vice.

Read “Harley-Davidson to exit world's biggest bike market” at BBC.

Internationalities:

Read “Erdogan willing to meet Greek PM over east Med tensions” at Al Jazeera.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “He arrived in NC with big donations, but the money traces to a business with QAnon link” at News Observer. “Four voter support groups suspect someone tried to infiltrate their operations as part of an undercover campaign to discredit them.”

Read “Democratic senator calls for eliminating filibuster, expanding Supreme Court if GOP fills vacancy” at The Hill.

Read Court-packing, Democrats’ nuclear option for the Supreme Court, explained” at Vox.

Read “51 percent of voters want to abolish the electoral college” at The Hill.

Read “Arnold Schwarzenegger Offers Grants to Reopen Polling Places” at Variety.

Read “What The SCOTUS Vacancy Means for Abortion — And The 2020 Election” at NPR.

Read “Democrats Prepare New Coronavirus Aid Proposal” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Mary Trump sues President Trump, family members over fraud allegations” at The Hill.

Read “Democrats prepare bill limiting U.S. Supreme Court justice terms to 18 years” at Reuters.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “U.S. Admits That Congressman Offered Pardon to Assange If He Covered Up Russia Links” at Daily Beast. “Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher offered Assange the deal in 2017, a year after the emails that damaged Hillary Clinton had been published.”

Read “Federal Prosecutors Have Steve Bannon’s Murky Nonprofit in Their Sights” at Pro Publica. “Tucked at the bottom of the long indictment against Bannon, prosecutors say they want to seize the assets of his nonprofit Citizens of the American Republic, shedding more light on the secretive political group’s finances.”

Watch: “The Daily Show Hilariously Cut Together Clips of Trump Doing Exactly the Things He Accuses Biden of Doing” at Second Nexus.

Read “Virginians wait up to four hours to cast early voting ballots” at The Hill.

Read “What GOP Leaders Said About Merrick Garland Back In 2016” at Huff Post.

• Read “Lindsey Graham, Chuck Grassley, and Susan Collins Have Said They Won’t Vote For SCOTUS Nominee During An Election” at Politics USA.

• Read “Lindsey Graham Goes Back on His Word, Vows to Vote for Ginsburg Replacement Before Election” at Slate.

• Read “Sen. Lisa Murkowski Reiterates Opposition To Confirmation Vote Before The Election” at NPR.

• Read “Democrats say 2016 should be the standard for high court nominees in election year” at NBC News. ““They made a new precedent," Hillary Clinton said Sunday about Senate Republicans, "and that new precedent, which they all defended incredibly passionately, is to wait for the next president.”

• Read “Most Americans think winner of election should pick next Supreme Court justice” at The Hill.

• Read “McConnell locks down key GOP votes in Supreme Court fight” (EDITOR’S NOTE: Why is this a “fight” if we’re all just trying to do the right thing?).

Read “DeJoy Didn't Bother to Check Whether His Policies Would Kneecap the USPS” at Vice. “USPS collected the data they needed to know running trucks on time would destroy service, but they didn't look at it.”

Read “ICE Hysterectomy Doctor Wasn’t Even a Board-Certified OB-GYN” at Daily Beast.

Read “Trump, Orbán, and Putin Are Forming an Authoritarian Alliance” at The Intelligencer.

Read ‘The Pentagon funneled nearly $1,000,000,000 of taxpayer money meant for masks and medical equipment to defense contractors building jet engines and body armor” at Washington Post.

Read “DHS awarded $6 million in contracts to firm where Acting Secretary Wolf's wife is executive” at NBC News.

Read “Texas Republicans sue to stop Gov. Greg Abbott's extension of early voting period during the pandemic” at Texas Tribune.

Read “Trump's threat: 'Get rid of the ballots' — 'there won't be a transfer, frankly, there will be a continuation'“ at Boing Boing.

Read “Judge orders Eric Trump to sit for NY Attorney General deposition before the election” at NBC News. “Eric Trump had tried to delay answering questions in the A.G.'s Trump Organization investigation.”

Read “Mary Trump: Take It Seriously That Trump May Not Hand Over Power” at Huff Post. “How far is he willing to go to remain in office if he loses? “Farther than you can possibly imagine,” warned the president’s niece.”

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “How South Africa’s Blue Notes Helped Invent European Free Jazz” at Bandcamp.

Read “Three Years After Tom Petty’s Death, His Dream Project Finally Emerges” at Rolling Stone.

Browse “A Beginner’s Guide To The Interstellar Music of Sun Ra” at Treble.

Read “Final Recordings of the Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie Set for New Album” at Pitchfork. “Listen to a pair of songs from Away Is Mine, a double album featuring tracks recorded months before he died.”

Browse (if you must) Rolling Stone’s picks for “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.”

Read “Sun Ra: ‘I’m Everything and Nothing’” at New York Review of Books.

Read “Punks Unite in Trailer for Rock Against Racism Doc ‘White Riot’” at Rolling Stone. “British punks unite in the trailer for Rock Against Racism documentary 'White Riot,' a new film chronicling the movement against racist rhetoric in the U.K. in the late Seventies.”

Read “Channeling alienation into a cosmic passion project” at Xtra. “John Shepherd dreamed of contacting aliens through music he beamed into space.”

Read “We’ve Got A File On You: Thurston Moore” at Stereogum. “The Sonic Youth legend on Bernie Sanders, black metal, Steve Albini, 'Gilmore Girls,' & more.”

Read “Michael Kiwanuka Wins Hyundai Mercury Prize 2020” at Clash.

Read “‘Wonderwall’ at 25: How Oasis’ Unlikely Ballad Became One of the Last Rock Standards” at Rolling Stone. “A quarter-century ago, the British band broke into America with an uncharacteristically sensitive hit. The song remains shockingly popular — even if the guy who wrote it isn’t really a fan.”

Watch “From The Edge of America :: Lonnie Holley and Richard Swift” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “Terms Of Service” at NCart. “Cory Rayborn had an unlikely bonus task to complete in the midst of his law school orientation, in the summer of 2000: package and ship the debut release from his fledgling record label, Three Lobed.”

Watch “Kraftwerk’s “The Robots” Performed by German First Graders in Adorable Cardboard Robot Outfits” at Open Culture.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “See All the Winners of the 2020 Emmys” at Time.

Read “Microsoft buys Bethesda, publisher of Skyrim, Doom, and Fallout, for $7.5 billion” at AV Club.

Read “‘Family Guy,’ ‘Bob’s Burgers’ Score Two-Season Renewals at Fox” at Variety.

Read “Some monster is tweeting out the entire Shrek 2 script, one line at a time” at AV Club.

Read “Dan Levy On Schitt’s Creek’s Fulsome, Splendrous Emmys Night” at Vulture.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “We're Booked: Join NPR At This Year's Virtual National Book Festival” at NPR.

Design/Artsy Things:

See “Type lovers, over 30,000 old cigarette boxes.”

Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Etc.:

Read “Scientists Race Against Time To Save Coral Off Florida Keys” at WBUR.

Read “The Internet Archive Will Digitize & Preserve Millions of Academic Articles with Its New Database, "Internet Archive Scholar" at Open Culture.

Food Cultures:

Read “Minnesota’s ‘Root Beer Lady’ Lived Alone in a Million-Acre Wilderness” at Gastro Obscura. “The “loneliest woman in America” brewed root beer for thousands of visitors.”

Local:

Read “Ducey signs law adding 2 justices to Arizona Supreme Court” at Tucson.com.

Read “Everything you need to know before voting on Proposition 207 in Arizona” at 12 News.

Read “Live events workers marched with empty road cases to a rally in Tempe to save jobs” at AZ Central.