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.
“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 “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 “‘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.