The Weekly Town Crier (02/05/21)
All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (02/05/21).
We’ll Miss You:
Read “Sophie, Grammy-nominated artist, dies aged 34” at CNN.
Read “People Under The Stairs Co-Founder, Double K, Dead at 43” at Okay Player.
Read “Dustin Diamond: Saved by the Bell star dies aged 44” at BBC.
Religion and Stuff:
Read “Christianity on Display at Capitol Riot Sparks New Debate” at Roys Report.
Read “Archbishop Justin Welby prays 'in tongues' every day” at BBC.
Read “Black clergy offer churches as COVID-19 vaccination sites, roll up their sleeves” at Religion News Service.
Read “Discerning the Difference Between Christian Nationalism and Christian Patriotism” by David French.
Read “How Jesus became white — and why it’s time to cancel that” at Religion News Service.
Read “Meet the Republican Congressman Who Says His Faith Led Him to Vote for Impeachment” at Christianity Today.
Read “Racist letter sent to Black pastor condemned as ‘vile, sick and disgusting’” at Baptist Press.
Read “QAnon Congresswoman Demanded Muslim Lawmakers Retake Oaths On Bible Instead Of Quran In Resurfaced Video” at Comic Sands.
Read “ERLC-focused task force releases report” at Baptist Press.
Read “Missouri church leaders call for Hawley's resignation over election claims” at The Hill.
Read “Critical Race Theory Isn’t a Threat for Presbyterians” at Mere Orthodoxy.
Read “SBC report calls never-Trumper Russell Moore’s agency a ‘significant distraction’” at Religion News Service.
Read ‘She was stunned by Biden's inauguration. How this South Carolina mom escaped QAnon” at CNN.
Read “Why QAnon Survives After Trump” at NPR.
Read “The Prosperous Lifestyle of America’s Anti-Prosperity Gospel Preacher” at Roys Report.
Read “Biden, former presidents urge Americans to forgive and unite at National Prayer Breakfast” at Religion News Service.
Read “The National Prayer Breakfast Isn’t the Only Time Politicians Pray Together” at Christianity Today. “The Christian calls for unity by President Biden and members of Congress continue at weekly bipartisan gatherings.”
Read “Black History Month: 20 Stories Christians Should Know” at Christianity Today.
Read “Secular groups praise Biden’s agenda but express concerns about religious rhetoric” at Religion News Service.
Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:
Read “How did Nazi references get on Alaska license plates?” at Alaska Public Media.
Read “Black patients were losing limbs at triple the rate of others” a Pro Publica.
Read “Louisiana cemetery declines to bury black deputy sheriff due to 'whites only' policy” at The Hill.
Read ‘ICE Guards “Systematically” Sexually Assault Detainees in an El Paso Detention Center, Lawyers Say” at Pro Publica.
Read “Biden Is Reversing Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Acts. Will He Repair Harm from Deportations Under Obama?” at Democracy Now.
Read “House Democrat demands U.S. military screen troops' social media for links to extremist groups” at NBC News.
Read “Evan Rachel Wood makes abuse allegations against musician Marilyn Manson” at Slate.
Read “Tracing Marilyn Manson’s Blurred Lines Between Shock Rock and Alleged Abuse” at Pitchfork.
Read “Phoebe Bridgers Recalls “Horrible” Experience in Marilyn Manson’s House” at Consequence of Sound. “The label knew, management knew, the band knew"
Read “Putting Harriet Tubman on the $20 Bill Is Not a Sign of Progress. It's a Sign of Disrespect” at Time.
Read “'A Sledgehammer To The War On Drugs': Oregon Decriminalizes Illegal Drugs” at WBUR.
Read “GOP senator joins rally to oppose stand your ground legislation” at Arkansas Times.
Read “Deported with their children separated, mothers hope to be reunited years later” at PBS News Hour.
Read “House Oversight leaders request Secret Service briefing amid domestic violence concerns” at The Hill.
Read “Biden to sign memo on protecting LGBTQ rights worldwide” at The Hill.
Read “U.S. military vows to cleanse armed forces of extremists and white supremacists” at Boing Boing.
Read “Movie at the Ellipse: A Study in Fascist Propaganda” at Just Security.
Read “The Charleston loophole": Purchases by people barred from buying guns skyrocketed in 2020” at CBS News.
Read “Gaming Sites Are Still Letting Streamers Profit From Hate” at Wired. “WIRED has found dozens of far-right and white supremacist figures monetizing their livestreams through “donation management services” Streamlabs and StreamElements.”
Read “Fox News sued by Smartmatic for $2.7 billion over rigged election claims” at NBC News.
Read “How a Hacker's Mom Broke Into a Prison—and the Warden's Computer” at Wired.
Read “What Biden can learn from Obama’s immigration mistakes” at Vox.
Read “Ex-Attorney General Sessions needs to answer questions on zero tolerance, says DOJ inspector general” at NBC News.
Read “Judge blocks Texas effort to remove Planned Parenthood from Medicaid” at The Hill.
This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):
Read “Pipe bombs found near Capitol on January 6 were placed the night before, FBI says” at CNN.
Read “Man in Pelosi’s office kept in jail as Capitol riot arrests go on” at Al Jazeera.
Read “Stop the Steal” Organizer Called for “Execution” of Trump’s Foes” at Mother Jones.
Read “Tracking the Oath Keepers Who Attacked the Capitol” at New York Times.
Read “Video Investigation: Proud Boys Were Key Instigators in Capitol Riot” at Wall Street Journal.
Read “GOP congressman deletes tweet saying he met with 'Stop the Steal' and told them to 'keep fighting'“ at Raw Story.
Read “Jacob Chansley: QAnon ‘Shaman’ offers to testify against Donald Trump” at Independent.
Read “'QAnon Shaman' from Capitol riot hasn't eaten in a week due to lack of organic food in jail, lawyer says” at The Hill.
Read “One of Two Proud Boys Charged With Conspiracy in Capitol Riots Had Bomb-Making Manuals” at Slate.
Read “Woman who said she wanted to shoot Pelosi during Capitol riot arrested” at NBC News.
Read “Disproportionate number of current and former military personnel arrested in Capitol attack, CNN analysis shows” at CNN.
Read “The Boogaloo Bois Have Guns, Criminal Records and Military Training. Now They Want to Overthrow the Government” at Pro Publica. “ProPublica and FRONTLINE have identified more than twenty members with ties to the armed forces.”
Read “They stormed the Capitol to overturn the results of an election they didn't vote in” at CNN.
Read “Police arrest man who wore jacket with company name, number during Capitol riot” at The Hill.
Read “Capitol riot suspect asks court's permission to vacation in Mexico” at USA Today.
Read “The Capitol Rioters Aren’t Like Other Extremists” at The Atlantic. “We analyzed 193 people arrested in connection with the January 6 riot—and found a new kind of American radicalism.”
Read “Prosecutors seek new arrest warrant for Kyle Rittenhouse, $200,000 increase to his bail” at The Hill.
Read “Militia alliance in Georgia signals new phase for extremist paramilitaries” at AJC.
This Week In Protest-Related News:
This Week With The Police:
Read “UW Madison Police chief bans use of 'thin blue line' imagery” at The Hill.
Read “Police pepper spray 9-year-old girl in Rochester, N.Y.” at NBC News.
Read “Former police officer Adam Coy charged with murder in death of Andre Hill” at ABC News.
Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings
Read “The Illusion of School Choice” at Men Yell At Me. “It’s not a free market if it’s based on discrimination.”
Read “Fauci backs CDC's school reopening plan: 'We need to try and get the children back to school'“ at NBC News.
Read “What impact is ‘the COVID slide’ having on students?” at PBS News Hour.
Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:
Read ‘Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Is 66% Effective In Preventing Moderate To Severe COVID-19” at NPR.
Read “Why Even a 66 Percent Effective Vaccine Is Such Good News” at Slate. “The exact efficacy might not matter as much as the increased ease of distribution.”
Read “Racism and COVID-19: Why are Black Americans getting vaccinated at much lower rates?” at The Hill.
Read “Legislators go after governors to rein in COVID-19 powers” at The Hill.
Read “New virus cases at U.S. nursing homes have fallen steadily since vaccination began” at New York Times.
Read “Biden coronavirus adviser says we 'have to call an audible' on vaccine distribution” at The Hill.
Read “Anti-vaccine protest briefly shuts down Dodger Stadium vaccination site” at NBC News.
Read “What went wrong with America’s $44 million vaccine data system?” at Technology Review. “The CDC ordered software that was meant to manage the vaccine rollout. Instead, it has been plagued by problems and abandoned by most states.”
Read “Covid vaccines: Rollout in disarray in U.S. and abroad” at NBC News.
Read “The Pandemic Has Erased Entire Categories of Friendship” at Atlantic. “There’s a reason you miss the people you didn’t even know that well.”
Read “Anti-Vaxxers Won’t Stop Harassing Nurse They’re Convinced Is Dead” at Daily Beast.
Read “FBI: Pharmacist who sought to spoil vaccines also believes Earth is flat” at The Hill.
Read “White House awards $230M for over-the-counter, rapid COVID-19 tests” at The Hill.
Read “Line cooks are at the highest risk of dying from COVID, says UCSF study” at SF Gate.
Read “81-person French orgy broken up for violating COVID-19 curfew” at New York Post.
Read “Exclusive: indigenous Americans dying from Covid at twice the rate of white Americans” at The Guardian.
Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):
Read “Grape-Nuts, Supermarket Mainstay, Is No Longer So Easy to Find” at New York Times.
Read “No tuna in Subway's tuna sandwiches and wraps, lawsuit claims” at CBS News.
Read ‘Melania Trump 'told move fast and divorce Donald while he still has millions'“ at Daly Record.
Read “The Black Lives Matter Movement Could Win The 2021 Nobel Peace Prize” at Okay Player.
Read “The Dyatlov Pass incident, one of the most famous missing hiker mysteries, may have just been solved” at Slate.
Read “CNN President to Exit Cable Channel at End of 2021” at Wall Street Journal.
Browse “The LSD Archive at The Institute of Illegal Images” at Flashback.
Read “Yet another study says Uber and Lyft are worse for traffic congestion” at CNet.
Read “Gaming the System” at Slate. “The GameStop surge was just one of the ways Americans have renewed their love of gamblng.”
Read “New Age Jocks: Superstar Athletes Are Getting Very Mystical” at GQ.
Read “How Rob Lowe Embraced Sobriety to Become the Person He Always Wanted to Be” at Variety.
Read “David Hogg to launch pillow company to compete with MyPillow” at The Hill.
Internationalities:
Read “30 Stunning Photographs Show Everyday Life in Glasgow in 1980” at The Mind Circle.
Read “Thousands detained in Russia amid rallies for Alexey Navalny” at CNN.
Read “Kazakhstan's 'Qazaq-pop' boy band Ninety One challenges gender norms” at Public Radio International.
Read “Myanmar’s military stages coup d’etat: Live news” at Al Jazeera.
Read “Myanmar Coup: With Aung San Suu Kyi Detained, Military Takes Over Government” at NPR.
Read “Mexican Police Accused of Slaying Over a Dozen Guatemalan Migrants” at Vice.
Read “Israel and Kosovo Establish Diplomatic Ties, Kosovo to Open Embassy in Jerusalem” at Democracy Now.
Read “New Uighur abuse claims spark call for UN investigation” at The Hill.
Read “China promotes education drive to make boys more 'manly'“ at BBC.
Read “Al Qaeda leader in Yemen in custody, U.N. confirms” at NBC News.
Politics And Sucheries:
Read “Ousted Fox News editor: Reaction to Trump's loss a result of 'informational malnourishment'“ at The Hill.
Read “Republicans Can’t Believe Democrats Don’t Want To Work With Them Just Because Of The Guns And The Death Threats And The Crackpot Conspiracy Theories” at Vanity Fair. “What gives, honestly? Who wouldn’t want to work alongside such well-adjusted, not at all dangerous people?”
Read “Republican governor: I would not vote for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene” at The Hill.
Read “Portman says Republican leadership 'ought to stand up' against Greene's comments” at The Hill.
Read “Parkland victim's mother says she spoke with Marjorie Taylor Greene about school shooting conspiracies” at NBC News. “Republicans politicians were pressed about how the party should respond to Greene, who faces calls for expulsion from Congress.”
Read “On the Trail: GOP divided over growing anti-democratic drift in party” at The Hill.
Read “Republicans are overwhelmingly sticking with Trump, yet again” at Al Jazeera.
Read “Biden Should Defend the Right to Call for a Boycott” at Human Rights Watch.
Read “With 28 Executive Orders Signed, President Biden Is Off To A Record Start” at NPR.
Read “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she's a survivor of sexual assault while describing trauma of Capitol insurrection” at CNN.
Read “What a picture of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a bikini tells us about the disturbing future of AI” at The Guardian.
Read “No Biden family members will have a role in government or foreign policy, President Biden says” at Market Watch.
Read “Both Parties Envision a Short Senate Impeachment Trial for Trump” at Bloomberg.
Read “Mitt Romney has a plan to give parents up to $15,000 a year” at Vox.
Read “Senate Agrees to Power-Sharing Deal That Leaves Democrats in Control of Committees” at Democracy Now.
Read “Sanders Taps Budget-Rules Expert to Push Bill: Stimulus Update” at Bloomberg.
This Week In Political Corruption:
Read “GOP ignored its early fears about Marjorie Taylor Greene” at Axios.
Read “McConnell says Taylor Greene's embrace of conspiracy theories a 'cancer' to GOP, country” at The Hill.
Read “Greene vows to 'never back down' in face of criticism over past remarks” at The Hill.”
Read “'I'm here to do a job': Cori Bush recounts how Marjorie Taylor Greene berated her” at at MSNBC.
Read “Democrats to Oust Marjorie Taylor Greene From Committees If GOP Won’t” at Bloomberg.
Read “Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — and her conspiracy theories — won't get expelled from Congress” at MSNBC.
Read “Marjorie Taylor Greene Was a Moderator of a Facebook Group Featuring Death Threats and Racist Memes” at Mother Jones.
Read “Marjorie Taylor Greene Says She Regrets QAnon Comments” at Wall Street Journal. “Freshman Republican lawmaker is set to be removed from committees in House vote.”
Read “How Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Became a Leadership Test for Kevin McCarthy” at Time.
Read “Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Has Been Kicked Off Her Committees by the Democratic-Led House” at Time.
Read “Jack Posobiec Central in Spreading Russian Intelligence-Led #MacronLeaks Hack” at Southern Poverty Law Center.
Read “Republican Ties to Extremist Groups Are Under Scrutiny” at New York Times.
Read “Five of Trump's impeachment defense attorneys leave team less than two weeks before trial” at CNN.
Read “Arizona GOP rep introduces bill to give Legislature power to throw out election results” at MSNBC.
Read “Law Firm Ad Touting Biden Brother’s Political Connections Raises Ethics Questions” at Huff Post.
Read “Kelli Ward demanded an audit of a local GOP leadership election before refusing one of her election” at AZ Mirror.
Read “Uh-oh. Now Kelli Ward's own peeps are calling out her election audit hypocrisy” at AZ Central.
Read “Trump's Senate impeachment conviction is unlikely. Voters will have to stop him (again).” at MSNBC.
Read “GOP Rep. Nancy Mace said that Trump 'put all of our lives at risk' during the Capitol riots, but rejected impeachment, calling the process 'rushed'“ at Business Insider.
Read “After Trump Failed to Overturn 2020 Election, Republicans Are Trying to Steal the Next One” at Mother Jones. “This is the most concerted effort to roll back voting rights in decades.”
Music-Related News and Such:
Read “Beastie Boys’ Mike D Auctioning Memorabilia for Charity” at Pitchfork.
Read “Coachella postponed for the third time in twelve months” at NME. “Organisers are yet to announce new dates for the Californian festival.”
Read “Foo Fighters Unveil New Sneaker Collaboration With Vans” at Rolling Stone.
Read ‘NuMetal is the reason ‘90s alternative music died out. Agree? Disagree?” at A Journal Of Musical Things.
Read “Jimmy Page Tells the Story of “Kashmir”” at Open Culture.
Read “Coachella Is Canceled Again” at New York Times.
Read “Neil Young announces release of “lost” album ‘Johnny’s Island’” at NME.
Read ‘Tony Bennett has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease” at NME.
Listen to “A Manifesto For Better Song Lyrics” at KQED.
Read “The Obsessive Beat-Making of Madlib” at New Yorker.
Read “The tortured, touching love saga of Cicely Tyson and Miles Davis” at Los Angeles Times.
Read “Record by near-unknown producer sells for $41,000 to become most expensive on Discogs” at The Guardian.
Read “This 1969 Music Fest Has Been Called ‘Black Woodstock.’ Why Doesn’t Anyone Remember?” at Rolling Stone. “The Harlem Cultural Festival attracted everyone from Stevie Wonder and Nina Simone to Jesse Jackson and Marcus Garvey Jr., but quickly faded into obscurity. Fifty years later, a rediscovery is finally underway.”
Read “Morgan Wallen Suspended by Label, Removed from Radio After Using Racial Slur in Video” at Paste.
Read “Morgan Wallen Is Exactly What Country Music Wanted … Now What?” at Vulture.
Read “The Band Shares Previously-Unreleased “The Weight” From Royal Albert Hall, 1971” at Live for Live Music.
Read “The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson & Beatles Producer George Martin Break Down “God Only Knows,” the “Greatest Song Ever Written” at Open Culture.
Read “Jane Birkin On Grief, Jealousy, And Her Most Personal Album Ever” at Stereogum.
Read “Artists like me are being censored in Germany – because we support Palestinian rights” by Brian Eno at The Guardian.
Read “Alice Cooper Celebrates His Birthday With New Single ‘Social Debris’” at Rolling Stone.
Read “FOCUS: Trouble In Mind Records” at Ears To Feed.
Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:
Read “Vintage Movies: “Grosse Pointe Blanke” at Magnet Magazine.
Read “The Best Result of the Streaming Boom? America Finally Loves Foreign-Language TV” The Best Result of the Streaming Boom? America Finally Loves Foreign-Language TV” at Time.
Read “A ‘Black Panther’-Inspired Show Is Coming To Disney Because It’s Wakanda Forever” at Huff Post.
Read “Questlove’s Summer of Soul Documentary Wins Sundance 2021 Grand Jury Prize” at Pitchfork.
Books/Reading/Authors
Read “It Takes A Village To Keep A Book In Print: A Chat With The Collins Crime Club” at Crime Reads.
Read “Amanda Gorman — And Poetry — Will Be Part Of Super Bowl LV” at NPR.
Design/Artsy Things:
Read “Russian Artist Brings Baba Yaga Lego Set to Life” at Moscow Times.
Read “The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Puts Online 90,000 Works of Modern Art” at Open Culture.
Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:
Read “Why you're more likely to cry on an airplane” at Popular Science.
Read ‘Psychedelics as Antidepressants” at Scientific American.”The treatments of the future may arise from a long-stigmatized class of drugs.”
Read “U.S. Navy Has Patents on Tech It Says Will ‘Engineer the Fabric of Reality’” at Vice. “he U.S. Navy's “UFO patents” sound like they've been ripped from a science fiction novel.”
Food Cultures:
Misc. Oddities:
See “Wooden Quilt Doors” at Atlas Obscura. “An artist weaves "wooden quilts" with scraps salvaged from his Katrina-damaged home in Tremé.”
Local:
Read “Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey Sees a ‘Fever’ in the State GOP. Others See the Future” at Wall Street Journal.
Read “Phoenix's FilmBar Adapting To Pandemic Pressures With New Outdoor Location” at KJZZ.
Read “Kelli Ward rejects request for Arizona GOP race audit” at The Hill.
Read “Heat killed a record number of people in Arizona last year, 'a staggering increase'“ at AZ Central.
Read ‘State Farm Stadium passes 100K vaccinations as Phoenix Muni opens” at KTAR.
Read “School voucher expansion is back despite 1.5 million Arizona voters who already said no” at AZ Central.
Read “Politically Charged: Officials create ‘fictional’ gang to punish Phoenix protesters” at ABC 15.