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.