The Weekly Town Crier (10/11/19)
All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (10/11/19 Edition).
Browse all the Weekly Town Crier posts so far.
Listen to all 52 episodes of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.
Listen to a mix of artists who have performed Habañero Collective house shows.
Browse the Musical Worldview posts.
Read “Social Justice Is A Christian Tradition - Not A Liberal Agenda at Sojourners.
Read Christianity Today’s piece: “Teacher’s Lawsuit Reflects Evangelical Educators’ Dilemma Over Transgender Pronouns A fired French instructor says the school board’s policy didn’t allow for compromise.”
Read as Facts and Trends wonders: “When Is It OK To Walk Away From Toxic People in Ministry?” My guess is that it should be a lot sooner than most people would admit, but read the piece for yourself.
Read as Jim Wallis wonders “And Who Is Your Neighbor: “How can so many white Americans, most of whom call Jesus 'Lord,' be so disconnected from the meaning and implications of perhaps Christ’s most famous teaching?”
Read Mike Frost’s piece: “New kinds of churches really are the hope of the future.”
Read “How Augustine responded to the problem of evil without solving it When we make sense of suffering, we lose our ability to protest against it” by James K.A. Smith at Christian Century.
Read “The Utter Strangeness of Christ’s Divinity” at Mockingbird.
Read Christianity Today’s piece: “Make a Joyful Silence Unto the Lord Why quiet is essential to corporate worship.”
Read: “Ancient Megalopolis Uncovered in Israel Was the 'New York City' of Its Time Period” at Live Science.
Watch as MSNBC wonders “What image portrays our national mood today?"
Read: “I Used to Be Homeless—and Here’s What Everyone Gets Wrong About It” at MSN.
Read “Leo Tolstoy on Kindness and the Measure of Love “Nothing can make our life, or the lives of other people, more beautiful than perpetual kindness” at Brain Pickings.
Read AV Club’s report: “HBO is adding mental health disclaimers before certain shows.”
Read Washington Post’s piece: “Researchers say there’s a simple way to reduce suicides: Increase the minimum wage.”
Read “Corporations and guns: How companies are reshaping the gun control debate” at CBS News.
Read/watch ABC7NY’s report: “Dick's Sporting Goods destroyed $5 million worth of assault weapons.”
Read Christianity Today’s opinion piece: “David Was a Rapist, Abraham Was a Sex Trafficker What we miss when we downgrade Old Testament abuse stories to sexual peccadilloes.”
Read: “Undermining Human Rights In The Name of Religious Freedom: The Pompeo commission is at odds with Jesus' radically egalitarian teachings.” at Sojourners.
Read Juicy Ecumenicism’s piece: “Why the Red Letter Christian Movement Is Not Growing.”
Read Slate’s report: “Polish men under 40 now think the biggest threat to the country is LGBT people: The Horrifying Campaign Against LGBTQ People in Poland—and How the U.S. Has Made It Worse.”
Watch “as An Animated Michael Sandel Explains How Meritocracy Degrades Our Democracy” at Open Culture.
Read The Intercept’s opinion piece: “Dear Ellen: The Problem With George W. Bush Is Not His Beliefs — It’s His War Crimes.”
Watch MSNBC’s report: “Two businessmen who helped Giuliani go after Biden in Ukraine arrested on campaign finance charges.”
Read NPR’s report: “After China Objects, Apple Removes App Used By Hong Kong Protesters.”
Read CNBC’s report: “The cost of Trump’s tariffs has fallen ‘entirely’ on US businesses and households.”
Read Pro Publica’s report: “How Trump’s Tariffs Are Creating Jobs — for Canadians.”
Read Rolling Stone’s report: “The Richest Americans Are Now Paying a Lower Tax Rate Than the Working Class The U.S. government isn’t just failing to address inequality. It’s driving it.”
Read NBC’s report: “House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings subpoenas White House for Ukraine documents.”
Browse “A Running List Of Republicans Criticizing Trump's Ukraine Scandal” at HuffPost.
Sign Faithful America’s petition arguing that Christians should not support Trump.
Read Rolling Stone’s report: “Trump Blames Rick Perry for ‘Perfect’ Ukraine Call “I didn’t even want to make the call,” the president said while tossing the energy secretary under the bus.”
Read/watch “2nd whistleblower comes forward after speaking with IG: Attorney” at ABC News.
Read “Kelli Ward to hold anti-impeachment Arizona events for Trump campaign” at AZ Central.
Read “New York judge rules Trump must turn over tax returns for hush money investigation” at ABC News.
Read NPR’s report: “Trump Administration Says It 'Cannot Participate' In Impeachment Inquiry: The Trump White House said in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and three House committee chairman that it would not comply with their requests for witnesses and documents in their impeachment inquiry.”
Watch MSNBC’s report: “The White House says it will no longer cooperate with the House impeachment inquiry.”
Read “Law and Crime’s” report: “Scottish Government Says Trump Org Refuses to Pay Legal Bills After Losing Wind Farm Lawsuit.”
Read Religion News Service’s report: “Christian leaders call for Day of Prayer in support of impeachment inquiry.”
With the White House refusing to cooperate, Read NPR’s piece: “Who Sets The Rules? When Is It Real? And Other Big Questions On Impeachment.”
Read as “Pence Makes Clear There Is No Daylight Between Him and Trump” at MSN.
Read New York magazine’s piece: “Pence: I Participated in the Ukraine Plot But Only As a Patsy.”
Watch as Colbert plays: “Mike Pence: He’s Either ‘Corrupt or Dumb’.
Read NPR’s report: “Trump Bars Immigrants Who Cannot Pay For Health Care.”
Read/Listen to “From Snakes To Spikes, Reporters Reveal Trump's Extreme Border Proposals: When efforts to build a border wall stalled, President Trump suggested other options — including building a trench filled with snakes and alligators, according to a forthcoming book.” at NPR.
Read NPR’s report: “Twitter Analysis Shows How Trump Tweets Differently About Nonwhite Lawmakers.”
Read Christianity Today’s report: “Syrian Christians to US: ‘Don’t Abandon Us Now’ After surviving a civil war and ISIS attacks, the Christian minority fears a Turkish takeover in Kurdish border region.”
Read/Listen to: “Whistleblower Explains How Cambridge Analytica Helped Fuel U.S. 'Insurgency'“ at NPR.
Read “Judge rips into Trump Education chief Betsy DeVos over student debt: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, was supposed to stop collecting on former Corinthian Colleges students’ loans and forgive the debt.“ at LA Times.
Read Phoenix New Times’ report: “County Assessor Paul Petersen Indicted for 'Horrible Crimes' Involving Adoptions.”
Read a follow-up piece: “8 Pregnant Women Found in Home of County Assessor Accused of Adoption Scheme.”
Read “'God Is Not Going to Put It in Your Lap.' What Made Fannie Lou Hamer’s Message on Civil Rights So Radical—And So Enduring” at Time.
Read Chicago Tribune’s report: “A puzzling number of men tied to the Ferguson protests have since died.”
Read “The Ritual of American Racism” at Paris Review.
Read “I've never told anyone': Stories of life in Indian boarding schools” at MNPR.
Read “Joshua Brown, key witness in Amber Guyger murder trial and neighbor of Botham Jean, shot to death in Dallas” at CNN.
Read The Root’s report: “Police Allege Joshua Brown, Witness in Amber Guyger Trial, Was Victim of Botched Interstate Drug Deal.”
Read NPR’s report: “South Carolina Sheriff Candidate: I Wore Blackface 10 Years Ago.”
Read Shane Claiborne’s opinion piece at RNS: “Let’s not ask Botham Jean’s family to choose forgiveness over justice.”
Read The Root’s report: “Baltimore’s Top Prosecutor Marilyn Mosby Moves to Throw Out Nearly 800 Cases Involving Tainted Cops.”
Read “The Banality of Evil: Hannah Arendt on the Normalization of Human Wickedness and Our Only Effective Antidote to It” at Brain Pickings.
Read Christianity Today’s report: “Judge: U of Iowa Officials Have to Pay for Repeated Discrimination Against Christian Groups The recent ruling in favor of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship was the second time the court called out inconsistent policies on campus.”
Read/Listen to “Grab The Train At Grace Jones, Get Off At Yoko Ono: Exploring NYC's New 'City Of Women' Map” at WBUR.
Read: “Street art is a crime Why is the metropolitan elite celebrating this vandalism?” at Spiked.
Read “The 5 richest men in the US have a staggering combined wealth of $435.4 billion. That's more than 2% of America's GDP” at Business Insider.
Read “The Soul of an Octopus: How One of Earth’s Most Alien Creatures Illuminates the Wonders of Consciousness” at Brain Pickings.
Read: “Nostalgia for a Less Innocent Time: On the glory and depravity of hair metal” at Paris Review.
Read Stereogum’s piece: “Goodbye, iTunes: Once-Revolutionary App Gone In Mac Update.”
Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 200 Best Songs of the 2010s.”
Browse Pitchfork’s picks for the “The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s.”
Browse “Remembering the Weirdest Album Launch Stunts of the 2010s” at Pitchfork.
Browse Paste’s picks for “The 100 Best Albums of the Decade.”
Read as “Ringo Starr Remembers ‘Incredible, Inventive’ Ginger Baker” at Rolling Stone.
Read as “Bill Frisell Remembers Ginger Baker: ‘Nobody Sounded Like That’ at Rolling Stone.
Read: “Stewart Copeland Remembers 'Rock God' Ginger Baker” at Time.
Read Noisey’s piece: “Wilco Haven’t Just Endured, They’ve Gotten Better 'Ode To Joy’ cements their legacy as the greatest band of our time.”
Read Vulture’s piece “Wilco’s Ode to Joy Is a Thrilling New Beginning for the Band.”
Read “Wilco, Forever In Competition With Its Own Best Work, Tries Shifting The Stakes” at NPR.
Listen to “Wilco in 10 Songs A sad yet quirky scrapbook into the wonderful world of Chicago's finest rockersWilco in 10 Songs A sad yet quirky scrapbook into the wonderful world of Chicago's finest rockers” at Consequence of Sound.
Read Pitchfork’s reivew of “Ode to Joy” written by friend Jason Patrick Woodbury.
Read NPR’s piece: “Wilco's Jeff Tweedy On Finding Joy In A Complicated World.”
Browse as “Guitarist Bill Frisell Picks His Favorite Blue Note Albums” for Jazziz.'
Read/Listen to “Listen to former R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe’s debut solo single, ‘Your Capricious Soul’ at NME.
Hear “R.E.M’s Gripping New Remix of Kurt Cobain Tribute ‘Let Me In’ Track will appear on Monster‘s upcoming 25th anniversary reissue at Rolling Stone.”
Read: “Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart Remembers Robert Hunter: ‘You Can’t Replace Him’” at Rolling Stone.
Read a profile of Finnish “band” Paavoharju: “"Paavoharju is not a real band," says Lauri Ainala. "Never was."
Read: “Mind Matters: Musicians on How Meditation Keeps Them Focused and Free” at No Depression.
Read Post-Punk’s report “Dead Can Dance Announce North and South American Tour Celebrating Life & Works.”
Read KTAR’s report: “Three Arizona stores to participate in Cassette Store Day.”
Watch: “Take an exclusive first-look at INXS performing ‘New Sensation’ in restored ‘Live Baby Live’ concert film and album.”
Read “Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – ‘Ghosteen’ review: a beautiful account of harrowing grief” at NME.
Read the Guardian’s review: “Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Ghosteen review – a heavenly haunting.”
Read NME’s review of “Nick Cave live at Tennessee Performing Arts Centre, Nashville: extraordinary honesty and coruscating one-liners.”
Read AV Club’s review: “On Ghosteen, Nick Cave invites us into his bright abyss.”
Read Pitchfork’s review.
Read Consequence of Sound’s review.
Read Live For Live Music’s report: “Trey Anastasio Documentary, ‘Between Me & My Mind’, Headed To Streaming Platforms.”
Read “Rihanna Calls President Trump ‘Mentally Ill,’ Talks New Album and Why She Wouldn’t Play the Super Bowl” at Variety: Rihanna explains why she'll never play the Super Bowl: “For what? Who gains from that? Not my people. I just couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler. There’s things within that organization that I do not agree with at all"
Hear “Tears for Fears Perform Selections from Songs From The Big Chair in 1985” at Paste.
Read “Kurt Cobain’s ‘Unplugged’ Sweater Heads to Auction Again, Never Been Washed” at Rolling Stone.
Read as Quietus interviews Suede front man Brett Anderson.
Read “So Many Roads with Mike Vallely (by Mike Vallely) at Relix: A pro skateboarder straddles the line between Black Flag and the Good Ol’ Grateful Dead.”
Read Rolling Stone’s profile of Ramblin’ Jack Elliott: “The Last Folksinger Ramblin’ Jack Elliott befriended Woody Guthrie, hung out with the Dead, and hit the road with Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue. At 88, this self-made cowboy is still on the move.”
Read “Ezra Koenig & Justin Vernon Talk Playing Beer Pong Together, Touring Hardships On Time Crisis” at Stereogum.
Read/listen to “The Story Of José Feliciano's World Series Guitar” at NPR.
Read “University of Kansas apologizes after Snoop Dogg brings pole dancers, money gun "We made it clear to the entertainers' managers that we expected a clean version of the show" at Consequence of Sound.
Read/listen to NPR’s piece: “In U2's 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For,' A Restless Search For Meaning.”
Read Consequence of Sound’s piece “Josh Homme announces Desert Sessions Vol. 11 & 12 Featuring Les Claypool, ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears, and more.”
Read “How Funk Band Vulfpeck Sold Out Madison Square Garden Without a Manager or Big Label” at Billboard.
Read “Philip Glass: ‘Everyone needs a technique, whether they’re a plumber or a cook’” at Irish Times.
Read Reverb Is For Lover’s review of One Eleven Heavy’s Desire Path.
Read about the time “Kim Gordon was sent to ‘Disney jail’ for smoking weed at Disneyland” at Dazed.
Read Rolling Stone’s report: “Sinead O’Connor Plots First North American Tour in Six Years Irish singer details February West Coast run, Midwest, East Coast dates in March, April.”
Read as NPR wonders “All Ears: Music That Maps A Personal History Of Place: Place is never singular. Always layered, the meaning of a place can change based on tiny shifts in perspective. Can music bring these layers together?”
Read Something Else Reviews’ review of the recently released John Coltrane album “Blue World.”
Read “How a Newspaper Article Saved Thousands of Black Gospel Records From Obscurity” at Atlas Obscura.
Read “A History Of The U.K.’s Earthshakingly Bass-Heavy Sound System Culture In 10 Tracks".
Read TalkHouse’s: “On Joker, Fight Club and the Danger of Self-Fulfilling Cautionary Tales Filmmaker Adam Kritzer examines the seductive and deeply problematic vision of Todd Phillips' new movie, and Fincher's classic which preceded it.”
Consider Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five At 50” with Iowa Public Radio.
Listen to “Hear a Radio Opera Narrated by Kurt Vonnegut, Based on His Adaptation of Igor Stravinsky’s 1918 L’Histoire du Soldat” at Open Culture.
Read “In 'Horror Stories,' Liz Phair Writes Of 'The Haunting Melodies' In Her Head” at NPR Books.
Meet the “Badass Female Librarians” who “Delivered Books On Horseback in 1930’s at Bookish Buzz.
Read Variety’s report: “Live-Action ‘Inspector Gadget’ Movie in Development at Disney.”
Read The Verge’s report: “Disney is reportedly banning Netflix ads across its entertainment TV networks.”
Read Wired’s report: “Dyson Sucks the Air Out of Its Electric-Car Dreams The British household-products maker had promised to invest $2.5 billion in EVs. Now, it says it can't produce one that's “commercially viable.”
See “Ghost sculptures in the Castle of Vezio in Lake Como, Italy.”
Read 12 News’s report: “This bar sells drinks by the hour, not the glass For an average price of $10 per hour, customers can drink as much as they can handle, the bar said.”
See “The Fascinating Science of How Trees Communicate, Animated” at Brain Pickings.
Read “New north Phoenix bookstore Enchanted Chapters caters to children with autism” at AZ Central.
Read “Glenlivet's seaweed pouch Scotch pods are a triumphant testament to the power of stupid” at AV Club.
Read “The Secret to Shopping in Used Bookstores First Step: Surrender All Expectations” at Lit Hub.
Read AV Club’s review: “Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal is a harsh reminder that the food chain can’t be beat.”
Read Art News’s report “Actress Jessica Lange Is Paying Homage to Bob Dylan With a Stunning Set of Photographs Taken Along Highway 61. See Her Photos Here.”
Read Rolling Stone’s report: “On the Scene at America’s First Public Cannabis Cafe After years of anticipation, Lowell Café has opened in West Hollywood. For the staff and the patrons, it’s a whole new kind of experience.”
Read as National Geographic wonders “To save birds, should we kill off cats?”
Read PBS’ piece: “Record number of colleges stop requiring the SAT and ACT amid questions of fairness.”
Browse “5 Eateries With Dope House-Made Hot Sauce in Metro Phoenix” at Phoenix New Times.
Read/listen to “The Lasting Legacy Of Bob Ross And His Colorful World Of 'Happy Accidents” at NPR.
Read “A Brief History of the ‘Danse Macabre’" at Atlas Obscura.
Read Atlas Obscura’s piece reminding us poor Americans that we’ve never tried real Wasabi.
Read “Scientists hope to digitally unravel scrolls charred by Vesuvius with light 10 billion times brighter than the sun” at CNN.
Read/Listen to “Arthritis Foundation Releases Guidelines For Patients Who Want To Use CBD To Manage Pain” at NPR’s Here and Now.
Read CNBC’s report: “Researchers find e-cigarettes cause lung cancer in mice in first study tying vaping to cancer.”
Read The Telegraph’s report: “Folklore is dying out due to rise of social media, National Trust warns.”
Watch CBS’s piece: “California teen holds birthday parties for homeless children.”
Read Phoenix New Times’ piece: “9 Haunted Restaurants and Bars in Greater Phoenix.”
Read Atlas Obscura’s piece: “The Macabre Art of Baking ‘People Pot Pies’ Crafting skin and flesh from the sweet and tasty.”
Read AZ Central’s piece: “This Phoenix brewery is one of the fastest growing companies in the US. Meet the founder.”
Read/Listen to: “'Not One Drop Of Blood': Cattle Mysteriously Mutilated In Oregon” at NPR.”
Read Mysterious Universe’s report: “Strange Image Captured In North Carolina Woods Is Believed To Be Bigfoot.”
Read KTAR’s report: “Arizona ranked worst state in the country for teachers.”
Read Phoenix New Times’ report: “Arizona Lost 10 Percent of Its Licensed Foster Homes Last Year, Report Finds.”