The Weekly Town Crier (08/28/20)
All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (08/21/20).
We’ll Miss You:
Read “R.I.P. Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali” at AV Club.
Read “Justin Townes Earle Dead at 38” at Pitchfork.
Read “Justin Townes Earle Died From ‘Probable Drug Overdose,’ Police Spokesperson Says” at Spin.
Read “Arizona coaching legend Lute Olson dies at age 85” at AZ Desert Swarm.
Religion and Stuff:
Read “To prevent the next Christian scandal, shrink the integrity gap” at Religion News Service. “Currently on a leave of absence from Liberty University because of some controversial social media posts, Falwell has also demonstrated that as a leader’s influence grows, so must his or her commitment to integrity.”
Read “Liberty Trustees Hold Special Meeting, but Don’t Decide Whether to Remove Jerry Falwell Jr.” at Julie Roys.
Read “Business partner of Falwells says affair with evangelical power couple spanned seven years” at Reuters. “Becki and I developed an intimate relationship and Jerry enjoyed watching from the corner of the room."
Read “Jerry Falwell Jr. and the Evangelical Redemption Story” at The New York Review of Books. "The redemption stories peddled by the evangelical right are never about a sinner who repents after a lifetime of exploiting renters as a landlord, after being horribly racist to black people or abusive toward women."
Read “Falwell says Fatal Attraction threat led to depression” at Washington Examiner.
Read “Ready, Set, Trump: Big-Money Faith, Football, and Forgiveness at Jerry Falwell Jr.’s Liberty University” at The Ringer (from 12/2019). ‘Falwell is one of the bulwarks of the religious right, an heir to his father’s Moral Majority. His family has built its legacy on the intertwinement of faith and politics, fighting for prayer in schools and against gay marriage. Yet Falwell seems to be suggesting that his political activity is no longer guided by his Christian beliefs. So I ask how much his faith informs his political views. “Not at all,” he says.
Read “Falwell denies reports of his resignation” at Politico.'
Read “Liberty University says Jerry Falwell Jr. agreed to resign, then changed his mind” at NBC News.
Read “Jerry Falwell Jr. resigns as head of Liberty University” by quoting Martin Luther King, Jr. at Boing Boing.
Read “Jerry Falwell Jr. resigns as head of Liberty University, will get $10.5 million in compensation” at Washington Post.
Read “Was Liberty’s Board Set up to Support Falwell or Liberty?” at Christianity Today.
Read “Jerry Falwell Jr. May Be Owed $10.5 Million by Liberty University” at Wall Street Journal.
Read “Let Liberty University Be A Lesson In Unchecked Power” by Karen Swallow Prior at Religion Unplugged.
Read the opinion piece: “Jerry Falwell Jr.’s fall, Liberty University and the myth of the Moral Majority” at Religion News Service.
Read “‘She was the aggressor’: Former Liberty student alleges sexual encounter with Becki Falwell” at Politico. “A former student at the evangelical university opens up about a 2008 incident with the wife of the school’s president.”
Read the opinion piece: “Let’s help evangelical Christians break free of the shame that drives them” at Baptist News.
Read “Confessing Complicity in Systemic Sin” at Christianity Today.
Read “Summer Unrest over Racial Injustice Moves the Country, But Not Republicans or White Evangelicals” at PRI
Read “Joe Biden’s acceptance speech caps off an unusually faith-filled Democratic National Convention” at Religion News Service.
Read “When What Is Lawful Is Lethal” at Christianity Today. “Structural sin may be legal, but that doesn’t make it right.”
Read “Turkey Turns Another Historic Church into a Mosque” at Christianity Today.
Read “More Than God-Talk” by Diana Butler Bass. “"A Field Guide to Religion and Politics.”
Read “This interview tells us a lot about John MacArthur and the movement he represents” at The Way of Improvement. “Watch what MacArthur does here. He equates biblical teaching with abortion, homosexual marriage, and transgenderism. That’s it. For MacArthur, biblical thinking about politics essentially comes down to these three things.”
Read “Evangelical Anti-Trafficking, Humanitarian and Denominational Organizations Petition Ivanka Trump to Protect Vulnerable Children” at World Relief.
Read “How has religion played a role in Donald Trump’s presidency?” at The Atlantic.
Read “Pastor, 16-Year-Old Girl Among Latest 11 Christians Murdered in Nigeria” at CBN
Read “How QAnon Conspiracy Is Spreading In Christian Communities Across The U.S.” at NPR.
Read “QAnon Is a Wolf in Wolf’s Clothing” at Christianity Today.
Read “Evangelicals are looking for answers online. They’re finding QAnon instead” at Technology Review. “How the growing pro-Trump movement is preying on vulnerable churchgoers to spread its conspiracy theories.”
Read “Trump’s Faithful: Franklin Graham, Navajo VP, Freed Pastor Andrew Brunson on GOP Convention Lineup” at Christianity Today.
Read “Republican National Convention to include several conservative Christian speakers” at Religion News Service. “There’s nothing sheepish about this insidious internet demon.”
Read “American Evangelicalism isn’t patriarchal or feminized. It’s matrilineal” at Mere Orthodoxy. “Matrilineal societies are centuries old systems that organize community life so that the day-to-day activities of women are placed at the center of social thriving for successive generations.”
Read “'Let's Fix Our Eyes on Old Glory' - Pence Speech Draws Criticism From Some Faith Leaders” at CBN. “Pence, however, substituted the flag for Jesus, calling on Americans to support a second Trump term by saying "let's run the race marked out for us. Let's fix our eyes on Old Glory and all she represents.”
Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:
Read “'Severe inhumanity': California prisons overwhelmed by Covid outbreaks and approaching fires” at The Guardian.
Read “Trump Cabinet officials voted in 2018 White House meeting to separate migrant children, say officials” at NBC News. “If we don't enforce this, it is the end of our country as we know it," said Trump adviser Stephen Miller, according to officials present at a White House meeting.”
Read “The scheduled execution of the only Native American man on federal death row is highlighting the Navajo Nation's struggle for sovereignty” at AZ Central.
Read “An RNC Speaker Said Cops Would Be 'Smart' to Racially Profile Her Own Son” at Vice. “"Statistically, my brown son is more likely to commit a violent offense over my white sons," anti-abortion activist Abby Johnson said in a YouTube video earlier this year.”
Read “Gov. Polis Calls Homeless Sweeps Near Capitol ‘A Relief’” at Denver CBS Local.
Read “‘Death is Everywhere’ Millions More Uyghurs Missing CJ Werleman 24 August 2020” at Byline Times.
Read “Alaska’s Attorney General Resigns Hours After We Published “Uncomfortable” Texts He Sent to a Younger Colleague” at Pro Publica.
Read “Guns Are Still Being Sold on Facebook Marketplace” at Wall Street Journal. “Firearm sellers are finding new ways to disguise weapon listings after lawmakers called on Mark Zuckerberg to better police the site’s Marketplace last year.”'
Read “Black Homeowners Face Discrimination in Appraisals” at New York Times. “Companies that value homes for sale or refinancing are bound by law not to discriminate. Black homeowners say it happens anyway.”
Read “U.S. cities sue federal government over untraceable 'ghost guns'“ at Reuters.
Read “Migrants Giving Up on America Are Using Coyotes to Smuggle Them Home” at Vice.
Read “We Need to Talk About the GOP’s ‘Black Friends’” at The Nation.
This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):
Read “Hurricane Laura Topples Confederate Statue After Vote to Keep It” at NBC Chicago.
This Week In Protest-Related News:
Read “Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signs bill upping penalties on some protests” at News Channel 5.
Read “Teens4Equality and People's Plaza lead rally against Tennessee's new anti-protesting law” at The Tennessean.
Read “Protesters rally over fatal police shooting of Black man in Louisiana” at Axios.
Read “Violence in Portland after far-right groups rally” at Axios.
Read “Feds in Portland Now Unrestrained in Removing Journalists at Protests” at Courtroom News.
Read “How rural organizers are building community connections and power” at The Forge.
Read “Chicago police arrest 13 people after tents are set up outside CPS headquarters to protest officers in schools” at Chicago Tribune.
Read “Armed COVID-19 Protests Exploit Open Carry Loophole” at Every Town Research.
Read “Dozens Arrested In Louisville Protest Calling For Justice For Breonna Taylor” at NPR.
Read “What Breonna Taylor's mother thought of AG Daniel Cameron's Republican convention speech” at Louisville Courier-Journal.
Read “Jacob Blake handcuffed to hospital bed, father says” at
Read “Trump says Wisconsin governor to allow federal assistance in Jacob Blake protests” at Axios.
Read “Facebook takes down ‘call to arms’ event after two shot dead in Kenosha” at The Verge.
Read “17-year-old arrested after 2 killed during unrest in Kenosha” at Associated Press.
Read “A 17-Year-Old Aspiring Cop Has Been Charged With Murder In Kenosha” at Vice. “Police arrested Kyle Rittenhouse, a onetime police cadet, whose social media accounts indicated an affinity for the "Back the Blue" movement.”
Read “Facebook chose not to act on militia complaints before Kenosha shootingFacebook chose not to act on militia complaints before Kenosha shooting” at The Verge.
Read “Kenosha police chief says 3 people wouldn't have been shot during protests if they weren't illegally out past curfew” at Insider.
Read “Kenosha Sheriff in 2018: ‘There’s Some People That Aren’t Worth Saving’” at Rolling Stone. “Sheriff David Beth called on shoplifters to be “warehoused” for life to stop “these males [from] going out and getting 10 other women pregnant.”
Read the opinion piece: “Arrested, Charged And…Celebrated By The Right” at News and Guts. “With no denunciation, or even a mention from the president about his actions, a teenage boy who allegedly carried out a murderous spree is suddenly being hailed a hero by some.”
Read “Alleged 'Boogaloo' extremist charged in killing of federal officer during George Floyd protest” at NBC News.
Read “Protesters Try to Drown Out Trump Speech, Confront Sen. Paul” at NBC Washington.
Read “‘We’re more than just basketball players,’ Ray Allen says of sports boycotts” at PBS News Hour.
Read “Kushner: NBA players are "very fortunate" to be "able to take a night off from work" at Axios.
Read “NFL teams suspend practice over Jacob Blake shooting” at Axios.
Read “NBA players decide to resume playoffs after boycott” at Axios.
This Week With The Police:
Read “The NYPD Is Withholding Evidence From Investigations Into Police Abuse” at Pro Publica.
Read “Blue Bloods: America’s Brotherhood of Police Officers” at Vanity Fair. “To understand the citadel of law enforcement, we must reckon with its unions—which resemble fraternities more than labor unions.”
Read “We Are Tracking What Happens to Police After They Use Force on Protestors” at Pro Publica.
Read “Black Family Who Had Phoenix Cop Pull Gun on Them Over 'Stolen Doll' to Receive $475K From the City” at The Root.
Education and The Learnings and School Re-openings:
Read “Career Advice The Pandemic Is Forcing Teachers Out Faster Than Ever, and We Might Not Recover” at We Are Teachers.
Read “Teachers could stay in classroom if exposed to COVID-19” at 12 News.
Read “Teachers shot by plastic pellets during training drill sue sheriff's department, officers” at Indy Star.
Read “New taskforce to examine ventilation in every NYC school classroom by next week” at NY Daily News.
Read “Parties, Basketball, Slip-and-Slides: ASU Student Employees Say Campus Is a Health Risk” at Phoenix New Times.
Read “Some Arizona students may have been exposed to COVID-19 during the first week” at AZ Central.
Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:
Read “Maine CDC now links 53 COVID-19 cases to Millinocket wedding reception” at Press Herald.
Read “Ex-FDA chief rebukes Trump over claim that "deep state" has slowed virus treatments” at Axios.
Read “Mark Meadows defends Trump's "deep state" attacks on FDA” at Axios.
Read “FDA, under pressure from Trump, authorizes blood plasma as Covid-19 treatment” at STAT News.
Read “Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh Terrorized By Neighborhood TikTok Influencers’ “COVID Parties” at Stereogum.
Read “F.D.A. ‘Grossly Misrepresented’ Blood Plasma Data, Scientists Say” at New York Times.
Read “American Airlines to lay off 17,500 frontline workers due to coronavirus travel slump” at USA Today.
Read “Why the economic value of a face mask is $56.14” at The Economist.
Read “Zoom weddings: A blessing in disguise?” at PRI.
Read “Crowd Shatters Glass To Get To Idaho House Session On Virus” at Associated Press.
Read “As His Mom Fought Covid-19, a Med Student Gained End-of-Life Insights” at Wall Street Journal.
Read “Kentucky Man Accused Of Breaking Canada's COVID-19 Rules Faces $569,000 Fine” at NPR.
Read “Are U.S. medical experts being influenced by the Trump administration?” at PBS News Hour.
Miscellany Cultural Items:
Read “Pence on QAnon: "I dismiss it out of hand" at Axios.
Read “QAnon looms behind nationwide rallies and viral #SavetheChildren hashtags” at NBC News.
Read “Texas QAnon Supporter Used Car to Attack Strangers She Believed Were ‘Pedophiles’” at Right Wing Watch.
Read “GOP leader: 'There is no place for QAnon in the Republican Party' at The Hill.
Read “National Enquirer Chief David Pecker Out After AMI Merger” at Daily Beast.
Read “Big Basin, Home To Majestic Coast Redwoods, Is 'Gone'“ at Alt1053.
Read “In secretly recorded audio, President Trump’s sister says he has ‘no principles’ and ‘you can’t trust him’” at News and Guts. “He has no principles. None.”....“His goddamned tweet and lying, oh my God,” she said. “I’m talking too freely, but you know. The change of stories. The lack of preparation. The lying. Holy shit.”
Read “Over 3.5 billion lack reasonably reliable access to electricity” at Axios.
Read “For $5,500, you can have your body composted in Washington for an environmentally friendly burial” at Religion News Service.
Read “Massive California wildfires expected to get worse as lightning, wind storms move in” at Los angeles Times.
Read “Jeff Bezos Becomes The First Person Ever Worth $200 Billion” at Forbes.
Read “Hurricane Laura smashes parts of Louisiana and Texas, killing 6 and leaving widespread wind damage” at CNN.
Internationalities:
Read “Satellite photos appear to show Chinese submarine using underground base” at CNN.
Read “Universal basic income seems to improve employment and well-being” at New Scientist. “Finland’s two-year test of universal basic income concluded that it doesn't seem to disincentivise working, and benefits recipients’ mental and financial wellbeing.”
Read “How Israel wages war on Palestinian history” at Mondo Weiss.
Read “Japanese PM Shinzo Abe to resign for health reasons” at Axios.
Politics And Sucheries:
Read “Sen. McSally urges supporters to donate to her campaign instead of buying a meal” at AZ Family.
Read “Kanye West’s Presidential Campaign Is Both Proceeding and Unraveling” at The Intelligencer. “I called up all of the electors Kanye West submitted in Virginia today. Of the 13 electors on the ballot, 7 were surprised to either be electors, to have signed anything connected with Kanye or both.”
Read “Kushner plans trip to Middle East to encourage more Gulf states to normalize with Israel” at Axios.
Read “Trump Changes Convention Schedule, Plans To Speak Every Night” at News and Guts.
Read “Barr says he's "vehemently opposed" to pardoning Edward Snowden” at Axios.
Read “Trump says the 2020 DNC was ‘gloomiest’ in history” at PBS News Hour.
Read “Pelosi says "of course" she would accept election results if Trump wins” at Axios.
Read “Former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake Endorses Joe Biden For President” at KJZZ.
Read “Kellyanne Conway announces she's leaving the White House and George Conway is stepping away from Lincoln Project” at CNN.
Read “Key moments from Harris and Biden's first joint interview” at Axios.
Read “Poll Finds Just 13% of Voters Still Up for Grabs for Trump, Biden” at Wall Street Journal.
Read “Richard Spencer Backs Joe Biden, Says 'MAGA/Alt-Right Moment is Over' at Newsweek.
Read “Trump campaign releases second-term agenda” at Axios.
Read “The psychological wage of liberalism was laid bare at the DNC” at Christian Century. “If democracy is a moral abstraction instead of an embodied struggle, it won’t survive.’
Read “Don Jr. Threw Some Shade At The Loch Ness Monster During His RNC Speech, And People Are Pissed” at Comic Sands.
Read “RNC Speaker Cancelled After Boosting QAnon Conspiracy Theory About Jewish Plot to Enslave the World” at Daily Beast.
Read “A fascist manifesto is gaining fans on the right, including state Sen. Roger Chamberlain” at Minnesota Reformer.
Read “Ex-Intel Chief: 'I Wish We Had Taken More Action' Against Russian Meddling” at NPR.
Read “'Country First': More than 100 former staffers of Sen. John McCain endorse Joe Biden” at AZ Central.
Read “Trump casts Biden as vessel for "wild-eyed Marxists" in 70-minute RNC speech” at Axios.
Read “CNN adds second chyron to fact-check Trump's RNC speech” at Axios.
Read “Mike Pence hopes four years of subservience to Trump paves his political future” at Washington Post.
Read “House Democrats say subpoena for Trump's financial records meets Supreme Court's requirements’ at Axios.
This Week In Political Corruption:
Read “How Much of the Right Is a Financial Scam?” by David French at The Dispatch. “Steve Bannon’s alleged fraud is the tip of the con-artist iceberg.”
Read “What the Heck Are Trump “Boat Parades”—and How Is the Steve Bannon Arrest Connected?” at Slate.
Read “More Than 550,000 Primary Absentee Ballots Rejected In 2020, Far Outpacing 2016” at NPR.
Watch “Postmaster says ‘no idea’ mailboxes, equipment being removed” at PBS News Hour.
Read “Postal trucks sometimes travel across country - with no mail - after USPS cuts” at News Channel 5.
Music-Related News and Such:
Read “Pyramids Rebuilt: An Interview With Idris Ackamoor” at Passion of the Weiss.
Read “Van Morrison asks artists to speak out against socially distant concerts: 'Fight the pseudo-science'“ at Yahoo.
Read “New Pylon Box Set Announced” at Pitchfork. “The 4xLP collection includes the Georgia group’s two studio albums, unreleased tracks, and more.”
Read “John Doe of Punk Legends X Riffs on Their New Album and Not Winning Awards” at Phoenix New Times.
Movies/TV/Gaming/Etc.:
Read “Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Melissa Fumero Doesn’t Love the Look of Canada’s B99 Remake” at Vulture. The actress was disappointed to see the remake had rewritten two characters as white: 'I'm suddenly curious about the Latina population in Quebec'.
Read “Your guide to intelligent, nonviolent video games” at America Magazine.
Read “Theaters pitch consumers to return with new safety standards” at Axios.
Read “Sterling K. Brown: Black Actors Have Waited 'A Long Time To Be Fully Recognized'“ at NPR.
Read “Judge Tosses Age Discrimination Claim in ‘Simpsons’ Composer Alf Clausen’s Firing” at Variety.
Read “HBO Shares First Trailer for David Byrne’s ‘American Utopia’ Film, Directed by Spike Lee” at Relix.
Books/Reading/Authors
Read “Boris Johnson and the revenge of the school librarian” at TES
Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Etc.:
Read “An Elusive ‘Corpse Lily’ Bloomed Larger Than Ever Before in Indonesia” at Atlas Obscura.
Read “Asteroid heading our way day before presidential election” at New York Post.
Read “Bizarre Brains Of The Animal Kingdom” at Science World.
Read “Mystery human ancestor discovered, Ireland's most haunted mansion goes on sale, 1,300-year-old shipwreck uncovered” at All That’s Interesting.
Food Cultures:
Read “The Greek-Canadian Origins of the Hawaiian Pizza” at Gastro Obscura.
Misc. Oddities:
Read “Netflix Captures One Man’s Weird, Wonderful Mission to Contact Aliens by Playing Kraftwerk” at Daily Beast.
Read “David Bowie used to store his urine in the fridge to stop witches stealing it” at Far Out Magazine.
Local:
Read “Arizona Supreme Court says ballot measure to legalize marijuana can appear on November ballot” at AZ Central.
Read “Instagram deletes account advertising ASU COVID-19 parties” at KTAR.
Read “Maricopa County won't pursue charges over explicit photos of Arizona lawmaker sent to lobbyist” at AZ Central.
Read “NASCAR Legend Michael Waltrip Races into Phoenix to Open a New Brewery” at Phoenix Magazine.